Hello again, everyone, and welcome to what is going to be the first half of the Son of Justice version of the third My Hero Academia: School Briefs spinoff.

I would just like to start by sincerely apologizing for taking this long in uploading this. My current semester's workload has not been making it easy for me to find the free time to write like I used to, but this kind of delay after my uploading deadline is unacceptable on my part.

That being said, there have been some changes in my previously stated writing plans. After looking over my chapter covering the School Festival; considering that's what the majority of the fourth School Brief light novel covers, I realize I didn't leave much unexplored territory that could be further delved into, so I've decided to scrap my original plans for adapting that next, and will instead have the fourth School Brief spinoff cover the time period covered in the fifth light novel, but that will wait until after I've uploaded this story's version of the third MHA move, which is coming up next.

However, considering the wealth of material that the third light novel offered me to cover, I've decided to split this third spinoff into two chapters; with this one covering the first two short stories, and the second chapter, which I will upload next week, covering the latter two. Confusing, I know, but this is the best solution I could come up with, that doesn't involve sacrificing my schoolwork.

I hope you'll all enjoy what you read here, regardless of the delay.

A sincere thanks to all of you, once more, for all your continued readership and silent support over all this time. Further heartfelt thanks to my two beta readers and consultants, Jonny and Carlos; and another heaping of thanks to the current roster of artists on DA that are helping this story to ultimately spread its wings, with a fair number more to come in hopefully the near future: Syyndev, Akane Kahomi, AliceKuroCross, Suki-Chan2509, effasempai, Eliza-Frost, Venera-Taro, Shalissey-N, Yumake and AnekoBS.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters and the original events surrounding them.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

My Hero Academia: Son of Justice: School Brief III

Chapter 1

Stories and Games

Scary Stories

(Страшные Истории)

Yuuei Academy, August 17th

After their first official day of Special Move training, Nikolay had gone to bed feeling notably sore. But with the dawn of their official day off in the week, he was feeling especially rejuvenated. He may not have had very much progress in terms of actually perfecting something resembling a Special Move, but in the meantime, today would at least be a good opportunity for him to get the homework from his general education classes done. If lucky, he'd perhaps be able to get some further training in as a head start for tomorrow.

Knock-knock-knock

The knock at his door came the moment he'd finished getting dressed. No matter who it was, Nikolay would've been convinced they were simply waiting with their ear at the door with this kind of timing. Nevertheless, he was still happy, and quite surprised, to find it was not only a naturally excited-looking Mina, but also a similarly eager-looking Tsuyu, Denki, Hanta, Minoru, Tooru and Mezo gathered at his door. "Good morning, you guys. What's up?"

"Glad to see you're already up, Kolya-kun! You got any plans?" Mina immediately asked, before Denki piped in: "Yeah, we're all getting together in Tokoyami-san's room for a scary story group! You wanna join in?"

Nikolay was naturally visibly surprised; such an invitation being the last thing he'd expected first thing in the morning. Seeing that nobody else had any looks of hesitation to join in gave some considerable incentive, but he was nothing if not doubtful. "You guys, wouldn't that be the kind of thing you normally do at night?"

"Yeah, but Tokoyami-kun's room is already super dark, so it's perfect!" Tooru explained excitedly, followed by Mezo and Minoru: "He already said he was okay with us doing it. Everyone else is busy with other things, so that just leaves us. It could be a lot of fun." "Yeah, nothing gets the blood pumping more than getting the hell scared out of you with lots of friends and pretty girls around! It's practically required of healthy teens like us! Come on!"

Momentarily looking back to his textbooks lying on his bookcase, Nikolay answered: "It does sound like a lot of fun, but I've still got plenty of homework from our other classes to get done before tomorrow. Did you all already get yours finished last night?"

Naturally, Mina and Denki both looked awkwardly to each other, and Tooru's body language through her clothes made it clear she was in the same boat; something that got a smug smirk out of Minoru, before Tsuyu opined: "Well, it's not like we'd be spending the whole of our day off doing this. How about if we were to ask Momo to tutor us as another study group afterward-kero?"

Mina immediately clapped her hands in excitement; her pink face practically aglow as she eagerly took Nikolay by the hand: "That's a great idea, Tsu-chan! See, Kolya-kun, we've got all our bases covered? You'll see, this'll be tons of fun!"

Nikolay couldn't rightfully argue that it was a good idea. After what an effective tutor Momo had proved herself to be in the days leading up to their Final Exams, she'd pretty much become her whole classes' go-to for tutoring on any subjects they struggled with; even if his own grasp on English still kept leaving a lot to be desired.

"Oh, what the heck, okay."

With his acceptance, and a resultant cheer from Mina, Tooru and Denki; the whole group was on the rush down to Fumikage's room, where the crow-headed young Hero sat upon what almost resembled a gothic throne in the center of his shadow-enshrouded room, simply lying in wait for his classmates' arrival.

And with the shutting of his door officially isolating them from the comfort of morning daylight; now only able to see through the virtue of a circle of candles glowing around where they were to seat themselves; their unofficial scary story-telling group could finally commence; Nikolay and the others already feeling a chill crawl up their skin as the dim lights flickered against all of Fumikage's macabre souvenirs all over the room.

"Is this everyone? Good, then let us begin." Fumikage officially announced; the natural deep intensity of his voice helping to give everyone further chills, while Nikolay tried to lighten the atmosphere with his innocent lack of know-how: "So, how exactly does this work? I always saw this as the kind of things people do around a fire when they're camping in the middle of the woods until the big killer in the hockey mask comes."

Reminders of slasher movies were the last thing anybody in the circle needed, as Minoru and Tooru both instinctively looked back over their shoulders, while Hanta answered: "There's not really any kind of rules or anything. If anybody's got a scary story in mind, you just tell it and try to be scary about it. For example…"

Before Hanta could even begin, though; Tooru was instantly raising her invisible hands up, excitedly squealing for the chance to be first. Just like that, she proceeded to be the first to step up; recounting a tale of a man in a small poor country village who had been warned of his family coming to financial ruin, and how the worry made him bedridden with sickness, until one night he felt water dripping upon his face, which came from the soaking wet body of a dead-looking child upon the ceiling, with it and many laughing children's voices behind the shoji walls repeatedly asking him if he was dead, until he ultimately died of fear; a fate that left everyone too terrified to sell or even visit his home, thus dooming his family to financial ruin.

Naturally, the climax had Minoru screaming like a banshee, but Tooru's attempt at imitating a bunch of creepy laughing children left a lot to be desired, as nobody else in the circle looked genuinely frightened; not helped by her naturally bubbly and cheerful voice.

Afterward, Mezo proceeded to follow up, and tell the group a tale of a lonely man in a lonely hut named Sakube, who one windy night was visited by the shape of a woman on the other side of his door, who claimed to have her starving baby in her arms, asking for shelter for the night as they had no home to go to. But when the man had opened the door to let them in, the bundle carrying the baby was given to him, but the woman was but a shadow in the shape of a woman, that disappeared back into the night. When Sakube checked the bundle, the baby was nothing but a bundle of coarse black fur with fangs, that likewise proceeded to vanish into thin air. From that point on, whenever the nights were windy, the spirit of the woman would knock at Sakube's door, asking to be let in once more, until he eventually went insane and fled his home, never to return.

Nobody could deny that, in the right circumstances, this was an effective story, except for the fact that Mezo's typically blunt and straightforward way of speaking revealed him to have a complete lack for theatrics, thus the effect was lost…except for when he tried to branch out by using a mouth on the end of one of his Tentacles to click its teeth right behind Tsuyu's head at the mention of the baby with fangs. It caused her and half the group to visibly flinch, and Minoru to once again shriek in terror.

From there, Tsuyu herself decided to give it a go; telling the tale of a couple mountain monks going on a pilgrimage, until they came across a lonely hut in the middle of the forest upon nightfall, which was occupied by a single decrepit old woman sitting at a spinning wheel, who welcomed them into her home and proceeded to sing for a good long while of time and its merciless march forward. Afterwards, she proceeded to leave to fetch firewood, telling the two monks that her home was theirs, so long as they didn't enter the backroom, no matter what.

Unfortunately, as the night progressed, and the monks tried to sleep, one of them could not resist his curiosity and peeked into the backroom, only to find a macabre scene of mountains of skulls, human bones and rusted samurai armor; which prompted the monk to shake his companion awake and alert him of the fact their host was an onibaba, just in time for the demon herself to make her presence known and try to attack and eat the two monks, only to be driven away by their Buddhist prayers.

Once more, the reveal of the human remains and the demon both made Minoru squealing like clockwork, but nobody else was remotely shaken up, as Denki bluntly pointed out afterward: "Oh, c'mon, Asui-san, that's just 'Kurozuka', everybody's heard that story at least once. I thought this was supposed to be a scary story group, not a Japanese fable group! Where's the originality?"

Practically giving himself the floor, Denki went into his own story with all the gusto and theatrics this group was looking for…except that his story was met with nothing but bewildered laughter; as it consisted of some nonsensical stringing-together of countless horror movie and folktale clichés, from escaped mental patients, werewolves, ancient curses, completely unrelated masked killers, and somehow UFO's, ghosts and Bigfoot. Just listening to his fellow members of the group list all of these disparate and nonsensical elements was enough to even leave him looking utterly embarrassed that he'd come up with it.

And yet, several times, it was still enough to leave Minoru screaming.

Hanta, eager to get the right mood for the group going again before they'd risk dying from laughter, proceeded to take the stage this time; spinning a yarn of two women sleeping in a bed together in a vast mansion that was rumored to be deeply haunted, wherein every night they stayed there with their friends, the halls would be filled with an ominous pounding noise at the walls, but there would be no one in the halls themselves.

At last, his story culminated in a scene that had everyone visibly shuddering, as Hanta detailed of one of the women listening in the middle of the night as she lay in bed, but instead of hearing that same pounding, instead heard the indecipherable mumbling of a man's voice, sounding as thought it were coming from the alls themselves, before soon turning into the sound of a similarly muffled woman's laughter, and a small child's pained crying; and how all the while, the woman listening held her partner's hand in an attempt to show courage, but her partner's fear was intense enough that her grip felt it would break her hand.

Finally, as Hanta could feel the eyes of his fellow group members become utterly glued on him, he proceeded to hit them with the devastating ending, of the original woman crying out for the noises to stop, which stirred her partner awake…all the way on the other side of the bedroom, while the heroine herself was laid upon the sofa, with her hand still grasping, but meeting nothing but air, thus prompting the chilling question: whose hand was she holding?

For all intents and purposes, his story was the first step in the truly right direction for the story-telling circle…except that Minoru's continuous bloodcurdling screaming once again broke the tension Hanta had worked so hard to build up. This finally prompted Tooru to ask; unable to hide the beginnings of annoyance in her voice: "Honestly, Mineta-kun, I know we came hoping to get scared, but I didn't think you'd scare that bad that easy. It's getting really annoying now. Why did you even come?"

And, to the bewilderment of everyone, the grape-haired boy was a shivering, bug-eyed nervous wreck as he answered with no subtlety or hesitation: "Why do you even think? A bunch of pretty female classmates more focused on scary stories in the dark are way more open to free handfuls of feminine bliss than anywhere else! If you think I hear of such an opportunity going on at arm's length, and I'm not going to jump on it, then you're sorely mistaken!"

Nobody could deny that it was gutsy of Minoru to actually admit his foul true intentions so openly in the blindness of terror…but that still didn't stop Mezo from having him tightly ensnared in his Tentacles from this point forward, so he couldn't get anywhere close to the girls; who at that point were muttering in quiet agitation to each other: "He really is just getting worse, huh?" "Yeah, we made a real good call asking Hatsume-chan to put in that security system outside our showers yesterday."

As soon as Fumikage could see that Minoru was taken care of, he roughly cleared his throat: "I'm assuming we can count on there being no further interruptions? May we proceed?"

As Hanta took his seat once more, he caught a glimpse of Nikolay giving him a knowing and amused smirk, now that his initial fear had worn off. Hanta could easily identify that look; Nikolay knew just where exactly he'd gotten his little story from, but was being gracious enough not to call him out on it. After all, what harm was there in lifting pieces from classic horror movies like 'The Haunting'* when they worked so damn well?

"YAY, MY TURN! YOU GUYS ARE GONNA JUST LOVE THIS ONE!" Mina suddenly exclaimed with a peppiness that had absolutely no place in an activity like this, and she was having a hard time shaking it off once she began her story: one of a man who came across a scene of a gargoyle devouring a person in an alley, only to save his own life by promising never to tell anyone of what he saw.

Afterwards, the shaken man met a beautiful woman, and the two instantly feel deeply in love, just as he likewise began to gain tremendous success in his career. Soon, they had a wonderful home with two healthy and fun-loving children they both loved immensely. Their lives together were as happy as any married couple could possibly be.

One night, while they were simply basking in each other's presence, the wife asked the man if there was anything about him at all she didn't know, as this was just how much they trusted one another.

The man loved his wife more than anything in the world, and for years he had withheld the secret of his close encounter with the gargoyle that fateful night in the alley. To know that he'd kept it from the woman he loved for so long was like a torture to him, far worse than anything else. He couldn't take it any longer; and thus confessed his secret to his wife, hoping all the while that she would be able to forgive him for not having told her much sooner.

"YOU PROMISED YOU'D NEVER TELL!"

Mina's fake-enraged exclamation at the top of her lungs drew another terrified shriek out of Minoru, as she proceeded to finish her story, telling of how the man's wife had suddenly turned into the very same gargoyle beside him, just the same as their two children proceeded to, and as the man tried to beg for forgiveness and proclaim his undying love to the monster that had masqueraded as his wife for all this time, it could only echo that it loved him as well, but that a broken promise still needed to be punished fittingly, and thus the three creatures proceeded to devour the man.

For all intents and purposes, Mina's story had all the elements in this atmosphere to work perfectly well…except that still, nobody was screaming besides Minoru, and it all boiled down to one blunt answer from Denki: "No offense, Ashido-san, but I don't think you're cut out for the whole scary story telling thing."

As much as Nikolay likewise didn't like to see the disappointed surprise on her face, he likewise couldn't lie: "I actually have to agree. The way you talk, the overall sound of your voice and your energy all-around just doesn't have that dark and dreary aura these stories need to really work."

Mina retreated back to her spot, rocking back and forth childishly with her cheeks puffed out, much like how Tooru had initially done earlier. "Darn, I thought I had a real winner there. Oh well, at least Kolya-kun found a real roundabout way of saying I'm cute, so that's a win, too."

Mina gave the red-faced young Russian a teasing cheeky grin, while he could feel Denki, Hanta and Tooru all giving him knowing smirks. Now he was as desperate as ever to change the subject.

As such, he finally took his turn to tell a story; feeling everyone's eyes and attention focused squarely on him, standing among the candles. He'd long since realized what story he could tell, and while it would have been very familiar to Oleg and his other countrymen, nobody in here could possibly know about it already, so it might as well be like he came up with it on his own.

With a silent mental expression of thanks to the late, great Nikolai Gogol, the young Russian Hero cleared his throat and began:

"A long, long time ago in Kiev; a trio of young apprentice monks from an Orthodox monastery: the quick-handed Khalavya, the happy-go-lucky Khoma Brut, and their junior, Tiberiy Gorobets, were out on a long trek home for their holidays from the seminary. They walked for many days before finally stumbling upon a wheat field, a sure sign of a nearby village. Instead, they found naught but a single lowly farm, inhabited by a single old woman, who offered them to stay in her barn for the night."

"Hey, c'mon man, that sounds just like Asui-san's story." Denki immediately exclaimed, just for everyone else to swiftly shush him so Nikolay could continue; his momentum thankfully not broken.

"Later that night, Khoma was stirred awake to find the old woman pawing at him with no explanation. However, this was not the embrace of a lonely old woman seeking the love of a healthy and strong young man. No, what this old woman proceeded to do, was to jump upon Khoma's back, and ride him about like a horse; something his body did beyond any semblance of his own control, as if this woman was actually compelling his body to obey her every whim; whacking away at his legs with a broom.

"Soon, Khoma found himself taking this old woman out of her farmhouse and into the nearby woods, wherein the trees magically began to part way for them. Before Khoma's eyes, was was not only racing through these woods with this old woman upon his back faster than any man naturally should, but he soon even found himself galloping over the surface of a mirror-like sea, as if he were Jesus Christ himself. All at once did it finally become clear to him just what was happening: he and his friends' elderly host wasn't some old farmer at all, but a witch!

"It was all Khoma could do to pray and recite the exorcism rites of his faith. When it seemed that all would be lost and his heartfelt words to God would meet only the empty and uncaring winds, his unnatural galloping began to slow, and he could feel his control over his body return to him. The moment he felt his feet back upon the ground, he immediately threw the confused witch off his back, grabbed a nearby stick and beat her with it. But as Khoma lost himself to his spiritual rage, his ears were met with the weakened sound of a young woman's voice, calling for him to stop. But no matter where he looked around him, there was no such young woman to be seen…but at his feet. He was horrified: somehow, where there had once been this foul old witch, there now lay a beautiful young girl with long, pointy eyelashes, unconscious."

As Nikolay tried to recollect himself, Hanta suddenly spoke up: "Is that it? I mean, it's weird, but it's not exactly scary."

"Yeah, plus hitting an old woman with a stick, even if she is a witch, just sounds excessive-kero." Tsuyu couldn't help but chime in.

But Nikolay couldn't let himself get thrown off as he continued: "Khoma didn't know what else to do. Surely, even a monk couldn't count on strangers to believe such an outlandish tale. All they would see is a young man who had beaten a young girl to near death. The punishments from the local authorities would undoubtedly be severe, to say nothing of the punishments of God himself. And so, with no other option, Khoma proceeded to run all the way back to his seminary in Kiev.

"However, upon his return, the rector had the most unbelievable of news for him alone: rumors had begun to swirl over the last couple of days, of a Cossack chief who found his daughter crawling on the ground, beaten nearly to death. As she lay dying upon her bed, she had expressed her final wishes: 'Summon Khoma Brut here, and have him pray at my deathbed for my soul, and to pray for me after I die for three successive nights.'

"Khoma was too scared to go, but he didn't know that the Cossack chief had already sent his loyal henchmen with a hefty sum of gold, to bribe the rector into forcing his pupil to go. With no other choice, Khoma accompanied them deep into the rolling countryside, whereupon they finally returned to their village."

"Wait, something about this doesn't add up. Is this supposed to be the same young girl the witch turned into? Do the Cossacks know she was a witch? If this village was anywhere near her farm, then the guy surely would have recognized it and tried to run, right?" Mezo suddenly asked.

"Yeah, and what the heck? He just up and dipped, without even getting his two friends along the way? That's kinda scummy." Mina chimed in as well.

But even if his friends were cherry-picking the details, Nikolay found he was simply having too much fun with this as he went on:

"The Cossack chieftain told the confused Khoma how his daughter had passed away not only before his arrival, but before she could explain exactly how it was she knew of the uninitiated monk. Nevertheless, he swore he would exact brutal vengeance upon whoever her killer was. Khoma tried to be optimistic and fulfill his sworn duty as the only representative of the church in this region…until he was shown to the deceased girl's chambers, wherein he found himself looking upon the very same young girl whom had taken the place of the witch."

"Man, you called it, Shoji-san!" Denki congratulated his masked classmate; only for Mezo himself to silently motion for him to stay quiet so Nikolay could go on.

"As the funeral processions were made and conducted; carrying the chieftain's daughter to their church, long since overgrown and fallen into miserable disrepair, Khoma heard the villagers speak in the most hushed of whispers a myriad of tales relating to the deceased; tales that not only cemented in his heart and mind the reality of what he had experienced before, but also weighed down the growing fear in the pit of his stomach. Tales of her riding some of the local men like horses, only for them to fall dead soon after; of her sucking blood from the throat of one of their wives' newborns; and of her turning a blue necrotic in the dark of night, growling like a dog before killing said wife. The terrified young monk knew for certain now, to his inescapable dread, that not only was his deceased client truly a witch, but the entire village knew her to be, and she had clearly summoned him here to pray for her in some kind of mockery…if not worse. And sadly, despite his attempts to try and convince the Cossack chief to let him simply go, the broad-shouldered brute of a man would not budge, promising that the monk would either leave with a thousand pieces of gold, or he would crawl with a thousand lashes on his back."

For once, nobody else in the group said anything. Nikolay could just feel that all their eyes were on him, and he had all their attention beyond a shadow of a doubt. He had to fight the urge to smile in accomplishment before going on.

"Soon, the sun had set, and Khoma was sent into the church to conduct his first of three nights of constant prayer over the silent and motionless body of the young woman lying in the raised coffin in the middle of the floor. With his Bible in hand, Khoma could only silently wonder to himself in wonder and fear if, in the middle of his prayers, she would suddenly come alive again to wreak whatever horrible vengeance she had in store for what he had done to her. But he wouldn't even begin to recite from his holy passages, before he chanced another glance upwards, and saw the once pristine and peaceful girl suddenly sitting upright in her coffin; her eyes set squarely upon him, a deep and unfeeling black, like the eyes of a doll.

"Poor Khoma was terrified, unable to even scream as he saw the girl climb out of her coffin and head straight for him. However, he still had the sleight of hand fast enough to draw out a piece of chalk from within his robe, hurriedly drawing a protective circle around where he stood; a tried and tested means of protection from unholy forces. He could only watch as the girl tried to reach out for him, only for her hands to stop at the edge of his circle, as though met with an invisible wall.

"As she continuously clawed at the air, only to meet nothing, Khoma saw her once snow white skin quickly turn a cadaverous blue; her black eyes now resembling those of a shark in this new form, as she furiously climbed back into her coffin; the wooden box soon beginning to levitate and fly through the church like a bat, repeatedly slamming itself against the protective border of the monk's circle like a battering ram. The sound of pounding wood was relentless in Khoma's ears, as he kept his eyes fixed to the passages of his Bible, frantically reciting them over and over again in an attempt to try and ignore the unholy sight that floated mere feet from him. He didn't even know how long he kept this up for, before he suddenly heard the rooster's crow from outside the church. When he looked up at last, he could see the first rays of dawn shining through the slats in the windows, and the girl and her coffin once more resting peacefully in the middle of the room, as though none of what he'd seen with his own eyes had truly been real."

Naturally, the reveal of the girl rising from the dead had been enough to get visible shivers out of everyone, but Hanta had thankfully had the foresight to latch a piece of his Tape around Minoru so he couldn't scream and break the immersion again. These looks of dread were perfect, so Nikolay continued on:

"The next night, despite knowing he had survived the witch's wrath through sheer luck, Khoma felt a measure more confident, as when he was led into the church once more, he once more drew the circle of chalk around himself before the sun had even finished setting. The moment the last rays of sunlight gave way to the darkness of night, Khoma once more began reciting his holy passages, even as he could hear the girl's footsteps impatiently plodding against the floor just outside his focused field of view; once more clawing away at the invisible wall that hid the monk from her sight. The fact he was still alive even now was enough to fill Khoma with a measure of relief, feeling that if he could keep this up, he could perhaps walk out of this whole situation unscathed…before he suddenly heard the girl cry out: 'Come to me, winged beasts, demons and spirits of Hell! Come to me, and bring me the wicked priest I hear yet cannot see!'"

Nikolay's attempt at voicing anything other than himself, he felt, was very lacking, but by this point, he'd managed to get his friends into the story enough to get some frightened squeaks out of Mina and Tooru.

"At her beckoning call, Khoma could suddenly hear the flapping of numerous wings high in the air, and the sound of frantic knocking, pounding and scratching at the doors and windows all around the church. He couldn't dare to take his eyes from his Bible, but he knew what it was he was hearing. She had truly summoned the very denizens of Hell itself, Satan's spawn, to come for him, and accomplish what the witch herself could not. Knowing his very life now hanged by a thread, Khoma began to recite the texts like a man possessed, trying desperately to drown out the unholy noises just waiting on the other side of those walls to take him down to their unholy domain for his punishment…and yet, as the hours passed, it never happened. It was as though the protective effects of his chalk circle had actually managed to extend to the church itself, keeping the monstrosities of the night from getting in.

"Once more, after an uncountable number of hours in the head of the restless and terrified monk, the salvation that was the rooster's call pierced the air, and the welcome glow of the warm morning sun drove the witch back to her resting place, and her devious pets and playthings back to the shadows from whence they had come…but when the Cossack villagers had come to retrieve Khoma once more, they were stricken silent, for the young monk emerged, with half his fair blonde hair having now turned as white as the winter snow from fear."

Denki instinctively reached up and clutched onto his own head of blonde hair; earning a mental grin of satisfaction from Nikolay as he squatted down where he stood, finally well and truly getting into it:

"That third day, the terror of his experiences had finally proven too much. Khoma no longer cared for the bountiful reward the Cossack chief had promised in return for his three nights of service, nor did he fear the equal amount of lashings he would receive for failure to see his duties through. There was no telling just what the witch would have in store for him on his third and final night, the last chance for her to gain her vengeance. So, the monk tried to flee the village this day, forcing his way through the relentless biting, poking and tearing brambles that bordered the village. But for all his desperation and ignorance of the pain, it was all for naught. The Cossacks were upon him, as though expecting him to attempt something so meaningless, and dragged him back, his pleas for mercy fallen upon deaf ears.

"At last, the third and final night was upon them, and Khoma was once more trapped in the church with nothing but his chalk circle and Bible to protect him. With hands shaking like leaves against the frigid winds of Autumn, Khoma tried to focus on reciting the passages, even as he could feel the foul shadow of the standing witch before him…but this time, the scratching and pounding at the walls was nowhere to be heard…but instead, the much louder and numerous beating of wings within the air of the church itself, the telltale sign of the unclean powers the witch had complete dominion over, searching the church for Khoma; the apparent invisibility granted by his circle being the only reason he was still unharmed.

"But as Khoma clutched the podium upon which his Bible rested for dear life, the witch suddenly spoke up once more; her voice bellowing through the air far louder and powerful than any human of her frame could muster: 'Unclean powers, go forth…and summon to me the demon known as Viy, the one who sees all! Bring him to me, so he may find the priest where we cannot!'"

To add to the theatrics, Nikolay began raising his feet high and stomping them down hard onto the floor, as if simulating the plodding steps of something far larger and inhuman; initially getting a frightened and instinctive "kero" out of Tsuyu in reaction, while everybody else visibly flinched.

"As these footsteps of pounding iron filled the walls of the church, Khoma could feel himself awash in the most frigid of sweat. His fears had proven true. The witch had gone as far as her deviousness could go for her last attempt at revenge, summoning the demon king known as Viy, which people only ever spoke of in the most hushed of whispers; a demon with a face of iron and eyelids that dragged upon the floor, wielding eyes that could see through all spiritual protection as clearly as through a window, if only that whom he sought was foolish enough to look him in the eyes. Knowing this, Khoma knew only one thing: to keep looking at his Bible and standing steadfast was his only remaining chance at surviving this night. If he did anything else, he would be well and truly lost.

"Finally, the thunderous footsteps had stopped, as did the beating of wings…and all of Khoma's attempts to keep whispering his protective passages fell silent, when he could hear a voice bellow out as though from the mouth of a long rusted metallic cave: 'Come to me and lift my eyelids! I cannot see if you do not! Let me see this fool priest you seek!'

"The sound of Viy's eyelids being lifted sent a deathly chill up Khoma's spine. Now he knew beyond any doubt that if he were to avert his eyes now, it would all be over. He could simply feel those wretched eyes looking from end to end of the church, hunting him down relentlessly, but failing to do so as long as they didn't make eye contact. Khoma had to keep reminding himself over and over that if he simply kept to reciting his holy text, then it would all finally come to an end, and he would be free.

"Viy's presence was like a relentless weight further bearing down upon the young monk's shoulders with each passing moment. Even as he continued to try and read, he simply could not escape the worsening suffocation that was his fear. It was as though all the demons that now lurked outside his protective circle knew where he was, but simply could not see or reach him. There was no way for him to know how much longer this protection would last, or even if the rule of his avoiding looking upon the foul beast behind him even meant anything."

At that moment, Nikolay suddenly tried his best to imitate the call of a rooster, inadvertently getting a startled yelp out of many of his friends, but he couldn't allow the feeling of relief that this sound was meant to induce, actually do so.

"The instant the rooster's crow echoed through the chattering of the nightmarish creatures, Khoma Brut could almost feel his heart leap into his chest as he finally tore his gaze from his Bible and looked back, ready to see the unholy abominations slink back into their shadows with the arrival of dawn's first rays of salvation…only to be met, instead, by the hulking, stony-eyed golem that was Viy, raising but a single finger directly at him; his inhuman and metallic voice growling low: 'I found him!'"

"None of the villagers would ever know just what exactly had happened to Khoma Brut in that moment. All any of them could ever say from that day forward, was that they had heard the young monk screaming for help, whether from his fellow man or from God himself, nobody knew for sure; but none dared to approach, until the sun had fully risen. When the village had awakened, their already decrepit church had become completely overgrown with thorny brambles, to the point that none of their axes could cut through it. The only thing any of them could manage a sight of, was that of an old woman lying in the now destroyed coffin where the chieftain's daughter had been put to rest, and the lonely body of Khoma Brut laid out dead on the floor beside her, looking as though he'd simply died of fright.

"Word soon spread throughout the countryside of the young monk's passing, eventually even reaching the ears of his two companions, Khalavya and Tiberiy Gorobets, living safe and sound in their Kiev seminary. Naturally, rumors abounded as to why exactly he had fallen when he had come so close to making it out with his life. In the end, though, as was common among the likes of their circles of faith, it was ultimately agreed upon that Khoma Brut, in his succumbing to fear, had ultimately lost the faith in God that he was educated to keep strong, and that was ultimately the cause of his unfortunate fate, and the rectors and priests made a lesson of his example to their aspiring students for generations to come."

With that, Nikolay had to actually fight the urge to take a bow, but his prolonged silence was as much of a sign as his friends needed to know that he was finally done.

However, that same silence also filled him with a sense of dread, as nobody was applauding or looking scared anymore. Any doubt he had as to their reactions was swiftly done away with, as Mina suddenly answered: "Aww, that's it, though? All of that awesome spooky stuff happened, and in the end, it all comes down to some kind of Sunday school lesson? You were doing so well up until that part, Kolya-kun."

Many of the others voiced similar agreements, for better and for worse. Nikolay didn't even bother to tell them he was simply reciting a popular short story from Russia; content in at least knowing he'd had them rapt in attention for the most part.

Without any further hesitation, Mina suddenly exclaimed: "Hey, Tokoyami-kun, since we're in your room and all, why don't you tell us a story, too? You've already got a super creepy decoration sense, you're, like, the master of horror of our whole class!"

"Yeah, and with that intense stare, I'll bet you'd be great at it." Nikolay surprisingly echoed; all the while hoping he hadn't crossed a line and accidentally insulted Fumikage; regardless of the fact Denki mindlessly added on: "Yeah, and his voice can give anybody goosebumps if he wants, too!".

Thankfully, he didn't look to be at all perturbed, as he gave a sigh of resignation. "Very well, if you all really think I should. Listening to you all has been…more or less fun, and it's made me think back on a story my grandfather told me a long time ago when I was little."

That was about as good a segue as anyone else could've asked for, as everyone watched and listened with building anticipation as Fumikage sat menacingly in his throne-like chair, looking them all over; his eyes and beak being the only things upon him visible in the candlelight.

Of course, while listening, Nikolay couldn't help but silently wonder at the mention of Fumikage's grandfather: 'Do they all have crow heads like him, or do they all have the heads of different species of birds? I can't be the only person whose wondered that, can I?'

Finally, Fumikage began: "A long time ago, there was a small, well-hidden village out in the countryside, who had a very particular tradition, known as The Hundred Tales. Once a year, the people of this village would gathered, light candles all throughout their streets, and regale one another with a grand total of 99 ghost stories, all to both entertain one another, and to frighten off evil spirits. However, they would never go the full extent of telling the one-hundredth story, for doing so would have the opposite effect, and actually summon forth a genuine demon spirit into their village.

"They carried on this tradition for centuries…but one year, a woman whom none of the villagers had ever seen before, possessing a head of beautiful golden blonde hair, came to the village, and asked to be a witness to this tradition, as it was the very night they were to conduct it. Naturally, they weren't about to turn away a visitor's desire to see their traditions at play, so they happily let her in.

"Throughout the evening and well into the night, the villagers told one another the 99 stories, every one bringing with it frightened screams and raucous laughter. Eventually, the ninety-ninth tale had been told, and everyone was ready to blow out the candles and bid each other good night…until the woman suddenly stood up and exclaimed her desire to participate. Ignoring the terrified faces and desperate pleas by the townspeople to stop, the blonde woman told the fateful one-hundredth story of the night…and the moment she had reached the ending, every one of the candles throughout the village was snuffed out all at once, immediately casting the village into a deep and impenetrable darkness…and once everyone had lit their lanterns to regain their bearings, they'd all noticed that the woman had completely vanished, with not a trace of her to be found anywhere in their humble town."

Just as Nikolay, Denki and Mina had expected, Fumikage's naturally intense demeanor made it all too easy for his storytelling voice to give unsettling chills to everyone in the entire room.

"For days the townspeople had searched all around, even deep into the forests enshrouding their mountains, looking for any sign of the mysterious woman…and every day, they came back with nothing to show for all their efforts. Eventually, she had faded from their memory, and it seemed that life had continued to go on as normal, with no foul omens or the mischief of evil spirits to be seen.

"But then, one day, one of the young men of the village came running into town, his face pale as a sheet and awash in an icy sweat of terror. He spoke frantically of how he had actually found the woman, alive and well, traversing through the woods, completely ignorant of his presence. He told of how he had tried to chase after her, but that she somehow managed to completely slip away, as though she weren't ever actually there. Naturally, none of the villagers truly believed him, simply explaining his condition as a result of the sweltering summer heat making him see things that weren't truly there…but by morning, nobody would truly believe that or any other logical explanation, for the next morning, that same young man was found in his bed completely lifeless, his face twisted in an unspeakable horror…with the only thing out of place in his room, being a single strand of golden hair draped delicately upon his neck."

This time, everyone could hear Minoru's muffled scream, but everybody else had a similar chain reaction to the spike of utter horror Fumikage's story was instilling them with. Nikolay, without even realizing he was doing so, had instinctively reached and clutched on tight to a strip of Hanta's Tape protruding from his left elbow; while at the same time, Tsuyu had similarly reached out and clung tight onto Nikolay's left arm, while Mina had grabbed onto her from around her waist, all while instinctively hiding herself behind one of Mezo's Tentacles, and while Denki and Tooru were both instinctively clinging onto each other for dear life.

Fumikage proceeded; his voice somehow managing to sound even more frightening with each passing minute: "Over the following weeks, one by one, each of the villagers who had been there to hear the blonde-haired woman's story wound up dead in the exact same condition: faces twisted in silent horror, with that same single golden strand draped somewhere upon their bodies. Nothing they did to try and counteract this apparent curse was effective in the slightest. Eventually, it was said that the villagers that still yet lived, had come to the conclusion that the woman had not been a real woman at all, but was rather some foul soul-sucking demon that had haunted their mountains for untold generations.

"You see, there was a legend among the locals of that region, which spoke of a family that had given birth to a daughter with a head of beautiful golden hair like the sun. However, one day, with no explanation, the father in this family suddenly left, abandoning his wife and child. Blinded with heartbreak, rage and hopelessness, the mother eventually did the unthinkable, and sacrificed her only daughter to the demons that dwelled in that region, so they could lay a terrible curse upon her husband in revenge.

"The only reason I know of this particular detail, is because eventually one of the last remaining young men of that same village eventually packed up his belongings and left to begin a new life, in the hopes of escaping the curse that had befallen his home…and when he eventually returned many years later, he'd come back to discover that a terrible plague had befallen his hometown, killing every last one of the people that had still been living there when he'd left. Now there only stood empty, overgrown ruins; completely silent, save for the chirping of cicadas in the summer air. But the one and only thing that confounded the investigators that had looked into what had befallen the village, was the fact that every one of the deceased villagers had but a single strand of golden hair laying upon them somewhere."

In the dim candlelight, Fumikage could still see how much his captive audience was shaking where they sat, still all clinging onto each other for dear life; Mezo even clutching tight onto Minoru's trembling head with one of his large hands.

"Shortly after returning to the village, that same young man soon crossed paths with the one thing he never wanted to see again: that same blonde-haired woman, traversing the only path, and ignoring him as though he weren't even there. To see her with his own eyes, the young man believed he had been cursed twice over, and thus fled the remains of the village, never once looking back.

"In the process of his escape, he eventually crossed paths with my grandfather, and thus told him everything I have just told you here today. Naturally, my grandfather found it very hard to believe…until he tried to contact that young man a couple days later, after investigating what had befallen his village. None of his calls or messages were answered, so it ultimately fell to him to visit his acquaintance personally…and I remember the fear in his eyes when he told me this story, as he thought back on what he saw in that dark hotel room that day: the young man that had told him so much, was dead, with a single golden hair draped upon his face."

Like everyone else's stories, Fumikage wasn't met with a cacophony of terrified screams 9from anyone but Minoru at least), but he knew that his story had ultimately been the most successful, as he could see utter shellshock on all of their faces. In the case of Nikolay, Mina, Denki and Hanta, they looked like they were physically struggling to process just what exactly he'd told them had happened.

Nikolay couldn't get his body to stop trembling, no matter how much he tried to mentally will it. his heart was hammering away at his ribs, and his scalp felt like it was on fire. He'd expected Fumikage to be a master at telling scary stories, and yet the crow-headed young Hero had proven to exceed that role far more than he ever could have been prepared for.

"H-h-hey, T-T-Tokoyami-san…th-that was good…y-you really got us going there, d-d-dude. T-that…I-I mean, there's n-no way that story…r-really real…r-right?" Denki barely managed to stutter the first response among all of them; trying and failing miserably to play it off cool, like he somehow wasn't one muscle spasm away from potentially wetting himself out of sheer terror; something which many of them were almost willing to bet money on that Minoru had already done by now.

But with Denki trying so hard to put on a brave face, Nikolay barely managed to force himself to express the same, still unable to stop shaking: "O-of course it isn't. w-w-we all know how g-good T-Tokoyami-san is at s-s-scaring people. C-coming up with a story like that, and with s-such a c-convincing p-p-plot device was p-probably super easy."

Rising from his chair; his black cloak upon his shoulders making him look more like a reaper than anything else, Fumikage answered straightforwardly: "Make no mistake, Bezpalov-san; my grandfather really did tell me that story when I was small…but as to whether or not he made it up, I unfortunately cannot say."

Without missing a beat, nearly everyone got back up once Tooru stated:"You know what, I think that's enough scary stories for today, maybe we can go out…you know, where there's nice, safe light?"

As everyone hurriedly made a beeline out the door into the sanctity of the morning light in the hallway, Fumikage suddenly called out after them: "Please keep this in mind, all of you: the reason stories live forever is because they all contain some of our most valuable lessons to be learned. Don't treat them like frivolous little things to entertain yourselves and pass the time. After all, you may never know when a real spirit could be lurking nearby, unseen."

It didn't matter to any of them whether or not Fumikage had given them that last little warning as either some sick joke, or a genuine call out of his own concern. The only thing that was real among any of them for the duration of the day after that, was that no matter how hard they all tried to focus on studying like they'd committed to; there was simply no hope of any of them being able to get his story out of their heads and giving them the shivers every time they thought about it.

Game Night

(Ночь Игры)

As such, their study group ultimately turned out far less than productive, even as more and more of their classmates eventually returned from their own much more fun and lighthearted activities on their days off. As Ochako and Momo regaled their classmates of watching Kyouka play the multitude of musical instruments in her room in an attempt to teach the two of them to do likewise; or Izuku, Tenya, Mashirao and Eijirou all went on and on about how good they all felt in their respective forms of training throughout the day; the lonely study group simply could not get all the way past the shivers left over from Fumikage's tale.

Such a display was far from lost on their worried classmates. As their president, it naturally was Tenya who decided to at last break the tension once everyone had gotten all freshened up and eaten dinner. "You've all been looking far less enthusiastic than usual today. What exactly is the matter?"

Thankfully, none of them even bothered to try and play it off, and subsequently told everyone of their ill-conceived scary story circle. Naturally, some could only roll their eyes, having expected such a bad idea to have such results, while others could either only laugh, or even express disappointment at not having gotten to be a part of it (namely Ochako).

With the whole story having been told, Tenya could only sigh. "Well, I hope you've all learned something valuable from this: you need to know your emotional limits in everything you undertake, otherwise you risk debilitating yourselves for who-knows how long."

But while the scary story group all reluctantly expressed that very understanding at Tenya's request; Tooru quickly shattered what semblance of peace had begun to settle among the Class A students, when she chanced a momentary glance at one of the commons area windows, and let out a near banshee shriek of terror, causing nearly everyone to jump. "THERE'S SOMEBODY WATCHING US FROM OUTSIDE!"

With everyone's alertness immediately going through the roof, Kyouka instinctively asked: "Oh God, it's not Mineta trying to catch a peek on us, again, is it?"

But to this, Kouji nervously shook his head. "I-I saw Mineta-san leave for the boys' showers a few minutes ago, he couldn't have finished and slipped outside without any of us seeing him."

With that detail now out in the open, everyone's shock quickly turned into a much more resolute readiness for a fight, especially when Izuku finally asked what the others had dreaded to think: "You think it's possibly a Villain? Could one have actually managed to slip into Yuuei so soon already?"

With that thought in mind, all the students quickly got back on their feet, readying themselves to unleash their Quirks en masse…just as the stranger spotted by Tooru finally stepped into the light coming through the windows, revealing themselves.

It wasn't a Villain, but it was in its own way just as unpleasant: it was the manic grinning face of the blonde-haired loudmouth of Class 1-B, Neito Monoma; eyeing them all through the window like one might have looked at a foul bunch of insects through a looking glass.

Knowing that he was no longer unnoticed, Monoma made a near lightspeed beeline for the front doors to 1-A's dorm building; all but kicking it open as he was met with a chorus of frustrated groans from his self-appointed rivals of the Hero Course, just the sight of his smug grinning face being enough to make Bakugo want to close the distance and blast him to smithereens.

"So, looks like I'm just in time for the rabble to go cajoling about, waxing idiotic about who-cares-what! It only figures a bunch of blowhards like you would be lazing about instead of actually putting in the work necessary to become real Heroes like your clear betters!"

With it being as late in the evening as it already was, nobody was about to actually meet Monoma on his level, with Momo instead playing the civil mediator between the two classes: "Might I ask what you're doing here so close to curfew, Monoma-san?"

But the ponytailed girl's attempt at civic hospitality went completely ignored…as did everyone else's varying questions of what the boisterous young man wanted, as he instead began taking wide strides further into the building; looking over every corner as though he owned the place, much to the visible annoyance on several of the students. "You know, I couldn't help but notice that nearly all of the student dorm buildings look almost identical to one another; it denotes an absolute lack of any originality or personality whatsoever!"

Such uptight-sounding criticism naturally got a few equally aggravated reactions out of Nikolay and Bakugo both: "For the record, we actually worked together to help build all of these places for everyone." "YEAH, SO HOW ABOUT YOU QUIT TALKING SHIT AND SHOW SOME DAMN GRATITUDE, BIG MOUTH!"

Only pausing in his arrogant stride for a moment, Monoma's blue eyes quickly constricted, and his whole body shuddered as if he were about to froth at the mouth with that unexpected information that was entirely new to his own ears.

But Monoma was nothing if not persistent, as he quickly regained himself and announced, as though anyone in the room cared: "Well now, certainly we can't go about saying our two classes' buildings are exactly the same…not without a most thorough inspections of everyone's personal rooms, of course. Then it'll be known beyond a shadow of a doubt just which of our classes has more, and most importantly, the most gravitating and successful personality."

The notion of anything like the Room King game had many of the students instantly trying to protest; with Eijirou once more having to try and restrain Bakugo from laying Monoma out flat on the floor. However, unlike then, Monoma wasn't asking, as he instead went on a rampage in obnoxiousness only; as he quickly sprinted for the boys' wing; spurring many of them to chase after him, lest he tried to go inside and mess with any of their stuff. "You can all argue and protest like the uneducated bunch you are. You're simply too uncultured and unappreciative enough of the fact that one's room is the ultimate representation of their tastes as a person, a window into their true nature."

Unfortunately, with everyone's doors currently being locked, it was within seconds that Monoma was suddenly forcing his way into Izuku's room; bedecked from floor to ceiling in numerous pieces of All Might memorabilia. Seeing such a thing, it was no surprise at all that the first and only word Monoma had to say once the boys had all caught up with him, was a single word description for Izuku's abode: "Fanboy."

It was hardly the first time Izuku had ever been called that, just as it was hardly the first time anyone had ever heard him or his room be described as such. But there was just something about the way Monoma said it that dripped with disdain or utter dismissal of the clear pride Izuku had put into it. As such, he felt like he'd just gotten sucker punched in the gut, while Monoma apathetically made his way for the next door, which led to Yuga Aoyama's room.

Nobody else dared to look inside once the door opened, as many had paid the price for that the last time, as the half was flushed in a blinding light from within. Naturally, Yuga himself didn't even blink once Monoma had opened the door; the Class B boy simply observing the overly pristine setup within, and just as bluntly summing it up: "Too bright."

Completely ignoring Yuga's sudden expression of actual gratitude for such a dismissive description; Monoma went straight on to Fumikage's room next, completely dismissive of said student's piercing stare, as he opened the door and looked at the macabre interior; showing no reaction whatsoever on his smirking face. "Too dreary."

The moment his hand began to grab onto the knob to Minoru's room; Monoma suddenly paused, remained silent for a few moments while the Class A students looked worriedly to each other…and he then proceeded to withdraw his hand and instead head for the stairs leading to the next floor up. "I don't even need to see inside to know this room is too filthy for the human soul."

Ignoring Minoru's indignation at such an insult after having pretty much the same reaction from the girls on their first day here; Monoma continued on an unavoidable tirade from one room to the next; simply relishing in his sense of class superiority with each one he saw, knowing his comments were digging under the skins of is schoolmates like ticks, from calling Denki's room "unsightly with a complete lack of cohesion in the slightest" or Mashirao's room "unimpressive and plain to the point it almost curves back around to becoming impressive", all the way to simply answering the sight of Eijirou's room, by presenting him a photograph of Tetsutetsu's own room, which miraculously looked identical, save for the lack of a old Tunguska poster, and his curtain was one of iron instead.

But while Eijirou and several of the other students likewise couldn't help but marvel at how weird it was for him and Tetsutetsu to have near identical rooms; with Nikolay and Mina in particular unable to comment and snicker in amusement: "I swear, it's like you two must be some kind of long lost twins"; Bakugo immediately noticed Monoma having already observed Mezo's room, and was about to grab the doorknob to his own.

"TOUCH THAT DOOR, AND YOU LOSE THE HAND, SHITHEEL!"

Monoma's face didn't reflect any fear, but the fact he withdrew his hand and shrugged his shoulders was all the proof Bakugo needed to know he'd made an impression. "It's probably just some meat-headed caveman's dwelling, with your typical attitude."

Ignoring the sound of Bakugo furiously grinding his teeth behind his back, Monoma finally continued on to Nikolay's room; sparing it no more time than he had everyone else's, before dismissing it bluntly: "It looks like the decorating attempts of a country bumpkin trying to pass himself off as an intellectual."

This time, even Nikolay couldn't hide his aggravation similar to Bakugo's, as he answered bluntly and humorlessly: "Don't forget, the caveman and the bumpkin are the reason you even have a roof over your head right now."

But nothing he or anyone else had to say mattered an iota to Monoma, as he proceeded to further lambast and insult everyone else's rooms one after the other, boys and girls alike.

The moment they'd finally returned to the commons area, Monoma almost looked like a man possessed, his smug grin was so big and his eyes looking even more manic than usual. "I was right, just like I knew I was! Class A lacks any form of discipline or order, where Class B stands above and beyond! Your lowly little hovels you pass off as homes couldn't begin to measure up to—

CHOP!

Before Bakugo could finally make a lunge to punch Monoma's mouth shut; the boisterous Class B student was suddenly rendered limp and silent; collapsing to the floor in a crumpled heap, with none other than Itsuka Kendo from the same class standing behind him; her enlarged hand quickly returning to its normal size.

And the orange-haired female Hero was not alone, as standing awkwardly to her sides after witnessing the scene Monoma had been making, were Setsuna Tokage, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, the round-eyed and horned blonde-haired Pony Tsunotori, and the diminutive girl with brown mushroom-shaped hair, Kinoko Komori.

Naturally, seeing their Class B friends and company here had Eijirou, Nikolay, Mina and Momo smiling in delight, as they approached to eagerly greet Tetsutetsu, Setsuna and Itsuka respectively: "Hey, it's great to finally see you guys again!" "I hope you've been settling in well so far!" "Isn't this awesome? We could easily hang out all the time now if we wanted!"

After similarly greeting Momo and her classmates; Itsuka, knowing she'd once more shut Monoma up, sighed and gave an apologetic smile to Class A. "I hope our local troublemaker hasn't been bothering you all too much. When he didn't show up for dinner with everyone else, I had a gut feeling he'd be here more than anywhere else. That's still no excuse though; I should've collected him a lot sooner."

"Did that really require all of you to come, though? Not that I'm not happy to see you all." Nikolay asked, to which Setsuna gave a cheeky smirk. "I honestly just came cause I was curious to see what your classes' dorm setup looked like. I understand you and Bakugo-san had a big hand in getting all these places built up, is that right?"

But while Nikolay and Mina answered her, and she and Pony could only look on with visible impression (and Kinoko, admiration); Monoma had already regained consciousness, and stubbornly exclaimed: "How can you talk about me like I'm some kind of troublemaker, Kendo-san? I came here to scout our mortal enemies for weaknesses, just like every brilliant strategist is supposed to do! Our class will owe its future wins to me for this!"

Itsuka gave him a stern glance downward as he picked himself up, already starting to enlarge her chopping hand again. "Nobody told you to go harassing Class A, Monoma-san. We're all supposed to be working towards the same goal together, remember?"

Seeing that hand just waiting to knock him out cold again, Monoma momentarily paused, before he began nervously pulling at the collar of his shirt. "I-I wasn't looking to harass…I simply thought it was right that our classes find a means to properly hang out together; being brothers-in-arms in the wake of the Training Camp attack and all."

A cacophony of either "bullcrap" or "liar" immediately sounded out from nearly half of Class A exclaimed in response behind Monoma's back, with the tiniest smirk on Itsuka's face showing she was thinking the same thing.

But by contrast, Izuku could only observe Monoma's display with a gleam of admiration, and comment under his breath: "He truly does possess a will of pure steel, doesn't he? He doesn't buckle under pressure at all."

At the same time, Eijirou was in the middle of showing the photo Monoma had shown of Tetsutetsu's room, alongside a photo he had quickly taken of his own, to try to compare and contrast; except there was no air of competition between the two boys, but rather that of absolute comradery: "Dude, you've got awesome taste in manly decoration, Tetsutetsu-san! Your room looks awesome!" "So do you, Kirishima! Your room is badass looking! Man, that saying really is true: great minds totally think alike!"

As the present students of both classes continued to socialize and properly introduce themselves to one another better than they had at Training Camp, Momo and Rikido suddenly emerged from the kitchen area with a platter of pastries and tea in hand; the vice president kindly speaking out: "Forgive me for interrupting, but since you all came this way, would any of you perhaps like some refreshments? Sato-san and I have been prepping them for a little while now, and they're as fresh as can be. Of course, I don't want you to feel like you're being pressured into it."

Just like all the girls of Class A previously; the smell of such clearly high-quality tea and delectable pastries was too much for any of the girls of Class B present to turn down. And naturally, not wanting to be seen as cowardly by comparison, Monoma stubbornly forced himself into the resulting crowd as well, snatching up one of Rikido's cookies and a cup of Momo's tea with only the most halfhearted of thank you's.

However, while Itsuka and the rest of the girls all visibly trembled from head to toe with unspoken delight the moment they took their first bites and sips of Class A's offerings; Monoma likewise took his first very hesitant bite…and came to a complete pause, as his dark blue eyes settled on the treats in his hands, looking as though he were deep in contemplation.

While most of the Class A students watched his reaction specifically, to see if he could actually find some way to insult culinary masters like Momo and Rikido to their faces; the two of them personally were looking far less smug, and simply all-around hopeful. "I hope it's all to everyone's liking."

Naturally, Itsuka and the girls were more than pleased, and once Monoma took a second contemplative bite, he finally set his plate aside, cleared his throat, straightened his shoulders, and answered as flatly and straightforward as ever, with none of his typical boastfulness: "Well played, Class A. Looks like there's something a few of you can do that even I can't criticize. Congratulations."

Cheers and enthusiastic high-fives were quickly exchanged all around, but Denki was by far the most vocal out of all of them: "HELL YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT! IT MUST BURN YOU TO HAVE TO ACTUALLY COMPLIMENT US, HUH?!"

"That's mighty big talk from an uncultured baboon who can't even put a dorm room together with halfway decent cohesion." Monoma instantly spat back with ease, not even granting the dumbfounded Denki the courtesy of eye contact.

The blonde-haired sparkplug shook his head in frustration, refusing to accept defeat like that, as he stubbornly replied: "Well if you're so damn confident our rooms suck so hard, then why don't you show us what yours looks like, Fancy Pants?!"

The smirk that formed on Monoma's face sent an instant chill of regret up the spine of everyone listening in, as he swiftly drew out his phone. "and just like the brainless guppy you are, you take my bait. Observe what a truly classy dorm room looks like, you Class A plebeians!"

He instantly held out his phone, and as all of the Class A students crowded around to see for themselves, they were met with a room awash in many cool pastel colors, with articulately painted posters and finely crafted furniture all masterfully organized around the perimeter of Monoma's room, that somehow managed to all come together stylishly and organically, as if it were all simply meant to be put together in such a way.

Monoma felt an even greater swelling of smugness build within his chest and tug at the corners of his grin as he saw the looks of clear impression on the other students' faces as they gazed upon his abode. Finally, with the distinct color palette his room went with, there was something about the aura of his room that Tenya and Yuga both couldn't help but finally comment on: "It is truly a very…French feeling style you went with, Monoma-san." "Oui, it honestly can't help but make one as dazzling as I feel but a touch homesick. And your taste in entertainment with which to supply yourself is nothing to scoff at either, mon frère. I never thought I would meet someone with such a fine library of bandes dessinées in this country, and I'm happy to be proven wrong."

For once, Monoma's confidence visibly shook, as he looked at Yuga with genuine surprise; the smile that came to form on his face now looking genuinely pleased, instead of arrogant, as the twinkling young Hero pointed out his bookshelf of French/Belgian comic books. "Well…ahem…it's nice to see that one of you lot has an eye for genuine quality literature and art, let alone culture. You all could be greatly benefited if you were to try dipping your toes into that world. Perhaps if you ask me properly, as your better, I may impart but a piece for you all to digest, so you can see just how good some real culture can be. It most definitely puts all of that manga you hold so dear to utter shame and ruination."

Instantly, he could feel the air among the Class A students flare up in response to such a bold and disrespectful statement to Japan's most popular art form, but it was fortunately Itsuka who answered first: "Be grateful Fukidashi-san isn't here to hear you say that, Monoma-san. You know how much manga art means to him. If you have to boast, at least try not to sound so arrogant about it."

Tooru and Momo were both quick to capitalize on the break in the growing tension Itsuka had granted with her interruption; both girls eagerly asking: "Do you all have photos of your new rooms, too? OH! Did you all have a room-showing contest for your class, too?!" "Yes, I must admit, I'm more than a little curious to see what yours looks like, Kendo-san. We could show you all ours if you're interested."

The mention of a room-showing game had all the Class B students looking surprised that they hadn't thought of such a thing themselves; but Itsuka still gave a smile of resignation as she pulled out her phone and pulled up a photo of her room before showing it to the two girls, their classmates, and even her own. "I know it's not exactly much. I only took this so my parents wouldn't worry I wasn't comfortable away from home."

As humble a room as it was; decorated with only a low wooden table, black steel chairs and a motorcycle poster on the wall above the bed in the corner; Itsuka was surprised and immediately embarrassed to find looks of impression on so many of their faces; capped off with Tetsutetsu commenting: "Damn, Kendo-san, you got that balance between low-key and badass down to a T. Your room might even be manlier than mine!"

"OH, OH, CAN I SHOW MINE NEXT?! IT'S GOTTA BE THE CUTEST OF 'EM ALL!" Pony suddenly exclaimed with overwhelming excitement; barely able to keep a grip on her phone as she hurriedly pulled up the photo of her own room; adorned in countless bright colors and fluffy and plushy decorations; drawing instinctive swoons of adoration from Mina, Tooru and Ochako.

However, the one element of her room that was far more eye-catching, was the frankly ridiculous amount of manga, anime DVD's and anime statues adorning nearly every inch of furniture space her room had to offer; drawing a deeply impressed response from Nikolay: "Wow, you've got quite the collection there, huh?"

Nodding eagerly, Pony answered: "You betcha! I've always loved anime and all kinds'a Japanese culture, so I try to get all da decorations I can dat can better show dat for everyone! You're a foreigner like me; too! You should try gettin' some statues and wall scrolls for your place, too, if you don't already!"

Before anyone else could say anything, Tooru suddenly gave an adoring coo in response as she searched the span of Pony's room picture that much more; her invisible finger pointing out one of her statues in particular: "You got a Cutie Ninja Shinobi statue?! You're so lucky, it's so cute!"

Pony's large eyes glimmered like she'd just discovered a new best friend, as she and Tooru both began bouncing excitedly together. "You're a fan too, Hagakure-chan?! She's so awesome! I memorized da theme song and everythin'!"

Just as the two of them were about to start singing said song, Izuku suddenly leaned in with a wide-eyed look of fascination in his eyes; likewise pointing to the picture with the same kind of intensity: "Is that All Might statue an American-only release, Tsunotori-san?! That's so amazing! I've tried looking everywhere online to get that specific one, to no luck!"

Smiling widely, Pony replied: "Well, if ya ever wanna take some pictures to hang onto, Midoriya-san, den all ya gotta do is ask, and I'll let ya!"

While Izuku instantly began eagerly bowing in thanks for Pony's generosity, and she and Tooru began excitedly singing the aforementioned anime theme song together; Setsuna had taken the chance to pull out her phone alongside Kinoko; showing the picture of her room to Nikolay, Mina, Denki, Ochako and Minoru: "I couldn't really get the lighting on my camera to get the room the ay I'd wanted, but I'm pretty pleased with how I got the place set up, anyway."

It was easy for them all to see why: Setsuna's room had some very pleasing atmospheric lighting with some dimmer lights set up on the ceiling; her walls were adorned with several posters for different visual kei groups, and her furniture and bed all had generally cool blue and green colors, with a matching humidifier in one corner, while a single glass terrarium with a few iguanas was resting peacefully on top of her dresser drawers. Just the sight of her apparently having some animals to look after had Ochako immediately answering: "Looks like you and Kouda-san have a little something in common for what makes your rooms feel like home, huh, Tokage-san?"

"I'd think so, too. I'm honestly surprised your room doesn't have some kind of small fuzzy animals, too, Komori-san." Nikolay surprisingly stated in agreement, while also drawing the three girls' rooms to the picture Kinoko was showing of her room on her own phone: a brightly-colored and diabetes-inducingly cute-looking room full of the fluffiest plushies, pop idol merch and stuffed mushroom toys that any of them had ever laid eyes on. With how small and bubbly Kinoko herself always looked as she smiled in satisfaction, she couldn't have looked more natural in a dorm room like this.

And Mina especially was thinking this as well, as her eyes sparkled with adoration at how cute the mushroom girl's room was. "OOOOH, IT'S ALL SO ADORABLE, KOMO-CHAN! It's like a fairy princess' room you walked right out of!"

However, while Ochako, Nikolay and Setsuna were all actively nodding in full agreement as they looked the picture over; none of them noticed how Kinoko herself was specifically watching Nikolay alone; an unreadable new kind of smile formed on her face as the seconds passed, before she quickly averted her one visible eye once the young Russian broke his focus from the picture to the girl herself.

"How can you all do this to us?!" Monoma suddenly exclaimed in overwhelming bitterness; silencing all the pleasantries going around, while he began stomping his way to the exit. "Our classes are sworn enemies, and yet you all chatter away like you're friends, like our destinies mean nothing! It makes me sick! You all disappoint me! I'm leaving!"

"Like hell you are!" Denki suddenly exclaimed, not a trace of humor to be heard in his voice for once. Monoma froze and looked back to find him and Mashirao staring him down. "You don't get to just barge in here, insult our rooms to our faces and just walk away without offering us some kind of compensation! We got our pride to think about here, too!"

Monoma cracked another sadistic smirk; once more sending a chill up several of the students' spines. Once again, they had taken his masterfully laid bait.

"I see. Glad to see we're on the same page here. If my classmates are going to disgrace Class B's reputation, then I have something to fight for and regain as well. I propose a contest between us; finally see just who the truly superior class is: mine."

Itsuka and Setsuna were both already rolling their eyes and putting their palms to their faces in response to this, while Denki, Mashirao, Nikolay, Eijirou, Tooru and Mina all began to stand up as well, as if trying to stare Monoma down en masse, as Tetsutetsu, Pony and Kinoko joined his sides in return; ultimately forcing Itsuka and Setsuna to do the same, seeing they were already outvoted.

"Then the line in the sand is officially drawn! Prepare to meet you final undoing, class a barbarians! Surely a fair game of tug-of-war and wrestling will suffice, since you're all surely too uneducated to handle a game of true wits."

Memories of the last class competition back at the Training Camp had Nikolay and the others looking less than enthused, while Mina and Tooru could only look in surprise that there had been such a get-together they didn't get to be a part of because of their own slumber party back then.

Suddenly, Shoto emerged from the entrance to the boys' wing, carrying a notably large plastic replica of an old-fashioned wooden barrel with multiple open slots lining its sides in his hands. "There was already enough trouble to be had that last time, so why not relegate it to a game that's much simpler, then we can just wipe the slate clean and be done with it?"

Nikolay could only look at the clear-as-day toy that Shoto had suddenly returned with, with utter confusion. But he would soon enough get his curiosities answered as the rest of his fellow students notably lit up with a nostalgic look upon seeing it: "Hey, Pirate Panic! I remember playing that all the time as a kid! Todoroki-san, you're just full of surprises, aren't you? This is gonna be ton of fun!"

The only outlier, naturally, was Bakugo, as he just scoffed and stomped his way past Shoto. "What the hell kind of contest is a kid's game gonna solve that a little honest pain wouldn't? Screw this, I'm going to bed!"

But Bakugo's unceremonious exit hardly registered, as Shoto set the game on the nearby table, and Nikolay looked it over closely. "I've never heard of this game. How exactly does it work?"

Naturally, Eijirou was the quickest to explain: "Oh, this game is awesome, Kolya-san, I played it all the time with my buddies in elementary school! You have all these little toy swords, and you stick them into one of the slots. The one that causes the pirate inside to pop out is the loser! It's a total game of chance, like what real men always play!"

"Yeah, it's so much fun, Kolya-kun! Why don't you play with us?" Mina immediately invited her Russian bestie along, with Tooru quickly joining in.

"This one looks a lot bigger than the ones I remember playing back then. Todoroki-san, is this some kind of rare special edition?" Momo asked curiously; but Monoma quickly interjected before Shoto could answer: "What does it matter? Class A has met Class B's challenge, and there's no backing out of that now! Prepare to eat that bitter pill that is reality, you talentless blowhards!"

Even with the toy barrel being as much bigger as it was, there was still ultimately not enough space for the entirety of Class A to play, while there was far too much to last between the six present Class B students.

Ultimately, Class A decided on its own team of six to meet their opponents head on; consisting of Mina, Denki, Nikolay, Eijirou, Mashirao and Tooru to stand against Monoma, Itsuka, Setsuna, Kinoko, Pony and Tetsutetsu. But even with only six of their class being able to play, many more of the Class A students were still choosing to stand on the sidelines to watch how the game would ultimately pan out. With a quick single-round game of rock-paper-scissors, it ultimately fell to Monoma to make the first move.

BZZZT!

But the moment he slipped the first of the many colorful plastic swords into the slot of his choosing, an intense electrical jolt shot through Monoma's body, knocking him flat on his back, while everyone else looked on with wide eyes of shock.

Thankfully, it didn't look like Monoma had suffered anything devastating, as he was rolling back onto his feet within seconds; his cocky grin now twisted with annoyance, pointing an accusing finger at Denki. "YOU CLASS A SCUM ARE FAR SORER LOSERS THAN I GAVE YOU CREDIT FOR! You can't even lose a game of rock-paper-scissors with anything resembling quiet dignity and grace, can you?"

"Hey, that was not me back there, man!" Denki immediately argued back, but before Monoma could argue further, Tetsutetsu suddenly chimed in: "He's right, Monoma-san. I saw it myself, there wasn't a spark coming off him just now. It's like that jolt came from the barrel itself."

Everyone looked confusedly to the inconspicuous toy barrel on the table; Momo pointing out: "That's odd, Pirate Panic never does things like that when someone makes a losing turn, and yet the pirate didn't pop out either."

"Yeah, this whole thing is backwards. Where did you get this, Todoroki-kun?" Tooru asked, while Shoto looked like he was thinking back.

"Well, the day we all first moved in here, I saw something flying outside my window. I went to go investigate, and I ran into Hatsume-san from the Support Course. I helped her recollect some inventions of hers that had been flying about, and she gave me this toy as a show of thanks."

But where Shoto was completely oblivious; everyone else who had gotten to meet and know Mei Hatsume felt a terrified clenching sensation in their gut as they now looked to the toy barrel like a literal death trap; Nikolay even muttering: "Oh, God…she actually designed this thing herself, didn't she?"

"P-perhaps we should clal this off before someone really gets hurt." Tenya suggested, unable to keep his voice from trembling slightly, with even Izuku nodding in agreement.

But despite having gotten a personal taste of what was lying inside this barrel, Monoma remained sitting steadfast. "Not so fast, you cowards! We all accepted this as the deciding game between us, and that's final! I'll take whatever punishment this thing has in store if it means knocking Class A down a peg or two! Who's with me, Class B?"

Despite Itsuka and Setsuna's visible reluctance; Tetsutetsu, Pony and Kinoko all gave a similar cheer of encouragement in response to Monoma's clear enthusiasm and unwillingness to give up…and naturally, that left the whole of competing Class A students feeling just as fired up not to forfeit, either.

"I'll take the next crack at it! If an electric shock is all it's got, then I'm a shoo-in for this!" Denki declared confidently, wasting no time to even think before grabbing another toy sword and slamming it into the first slot he could see; bracing himself with a grin for the electrical current to come.

That was when two little windows opened up in the side of the barrel facing Denki, and several opposable metal tentacles suddenly emerged; topped off with little gloved hands. Before Denki could even process what was happening, two of those hands lunged and firmly grabbed him by the wrists, while the other two proceeded to lay deafening but swift slaps on his hands, leaving him wincing as they retracted back inside just as quickly as they had emerged.

"What the hell?! How many damn punishments does this thing have?!" he exclaimed in frustration once his hands stopped stinging, while Rikido muttered in observation: "An electrical shock, and then a shippe slap?"

Coming to the same conclusion of recognition, Izuku couldn't help but ask aloud: "Is every sword inserted into this thing going to enact some other kind of torture on the player?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Tetsutetsu declared; clenching his hands into tight fists before he grabbed his own piece and took a moment to pick between the couple of slots nearest him…before ultimately deciding to reach around the side and slip it into one of the slots there; silently hoping he'd get lucky.

Like a shot, another window suddenly opened right in front of Tetsutetsu, as if the toy itself knew what kind of trick he'd just tried. Another robotic gloved hand quickly emerged with a rubber band around two of its fingers, pulling it back in quick preparation to smack him in the forehead with it.

DING!

But the Class B tank's reflexes were just a little quicker, as he hurriedly focused his Quirk and turned his forehead into iron the moment the rubber band snapped forward, leaving him completely unharmed as the hands retreated back inside.

"Good thinking, man! Our Quirks make it practically impossible for this thing to hurt us!" Eijirou declared in congratulations to his Iron-Quirked friend, hurriedly grabbing his sword and slipping it into a slot of his own, already activating his Hardening the moment he'd done so.

Another window instantly opened, but instead of the robotic hands, this time a tiny nozzle barely protruded out, and proceeded to release a brief but powerful burst of water straight into Eijirou's face, leaving him shouting in surprise and sputtering for air once the window closed. "HOLY CRAP, THAT'S FREEZING!"

The pace of the game by now had officially been set. Kinoko was the next to take her turn; seeing the potential punishments as something to look forward to for curiosity's sake, rather than something to be feared. The moment she slipped her sword in, however, another window opened, and a single robotic hand with a noticeably wet extended finger emerged, and proceeded to swiftly poke itself into the mushroom girl's ear in a Wet Willy; leaving her squealing and shuddering in horrible discomfort before she could even have a chance to get away.

Nikolay couldn't take the suspense any longer, and proceeded to grab the sword nearest him. With a powerful war cry of "URAAAA", he proceeded to push it into the slot he'd been eyeing this whole time.

Another two windows quickly opened, and another several robotic hands shot out, grabbing Nikolay by the wrists. Instead of slapping his hands, however, the other two hands had what looked like single chopsticks in their grip. Nikolay and the others could only look on in confusion, as two more hands came out and swiftly pulled his middle and ring fingers on both hands away from each other, so that the chopsticks could be inserted in between. The moment they were in place, the hands holding Nikolay's fingers proceeded to forcefully push them back together; the chopsticks in between at his knuckles, sending a jolt of pain through his hands.

"Oh, what the hello, at this point, I'm just curious to see what I could get." Setsuna declared with more enthusiasm than she or anyone else had expected; simply leaving her punishment to fate as she just put her toy sword into the first slot she saw. The moment she did so, another two windows opened, and this time the hands shot out and grabbed onto her ankles, hoisting her feet up and removing her socks.

"Tickling, is that it? Child's play—wait, what?" Setsuna had begun to boast confidently, before two more hands emerged, rendering her silent once she saw what they were holding: two leaves of what she and others could immediately recognize from old books as poison oak.

The leaves were rubbed vigorously against the soles of Setsuna's feet, and by the time the hands had retreated back, she was already rolling on the floor in agony, desperately trying to scratch the instant itchiness away.

The moment Mashirao made his move next, one of the hands had grabbed tight onto his tail, while another laid out a strip of duct tape on the blonde furry patch at the end, and a third hand just as quickly ripped it off, taking a chunk of that fur with it, while he let out an intense shout of pain in response.

Itsuka's following turn ended up with her getting a blast of some foul-smelling gas straight into her face; not helping herself or anyone when she instinctively grew one of her hands and tried to fan it away; thus spurring all the watching Class A students to retreat to the far corners of the commons area in response.

Once the stench had dissipated, it was then Tooru's turn. Setsuna could only watch in bitter jealousy, as the invisible girl got the punishment she'd originally expected, as several of the hands shot out and aggressively tickled her to the floor; her laughter soon mixing with desperate cries for mercy as tears began welling in her invisible eyes after nearly a whole minute.

Next was Pony, and her punishment had nearly everyone wincing, as one hand shot out and actually latched onto her tongue, pulling it out, while another emerged with a spoon of what was unmistakably wasabi, and proceeded to dump it straight onto her tongue.

Everyone's familiarity with how much the stuff burned, subsequently left them all looking dumbfounded, when the half-American student just smiled brightly the moment she'd finally swallowed the stuff; her large eyes glistening afterwards. "YAY, MORE JAPANESE CULTURE TO SAMPLE! CAN'T I GET SECONDS?!"

But the game was already long past that, as it was finally Mina's turn, the last turn of this first round, and she proved no luckier than anyone else, as the moment she put her piece into the barrel, another arm had shot out; this time clutching a single ice cube, which it proceeded to drop down the back of her t-shirt before she could even put together what was about to happen; leaving her shuddering from her head down to her feet in response.

With the first round of turns having passed, and yet the pirate in the barrel still having not popped out, Izuku asked the question that nobody had dared to even think: "a punishment for every turn, and yet nobody has lost yet. So if these are the punishments for regular turns…then what exactly is going to happen to the one who loses?"

Once again, everyone on both sides could feel their hearts plummet at the possibilities. Knowing how dangerous Mei Hatsume's inventions already were, there was no putting anything past her; including potentially devastating punishments for the losing turn.

"The hell with it, we've already come this far." Nikolay suddenly stated with a shaky stubbornness in his voice as he looked all his fellow players in the eyes. "Even if this weren't a contest, could any of us actually be okay with just walking away from this now?"

Everyone's resulting silence was all the answer any of them could have asked for. Everybody's pride was on the line at this point.

As such, Denki was the first one to take his turn this time; shouting like a madman as he grabbed the first sword and stuck it in. By now, he was mentally preparing himself for anything and everything…and yet the damn barrel still blindsided him, as instead of a window opening, like any other turn, this time an arm shot out from the top of the barrel, and swiftly flicked him hard in the forehead, leaving him dizzy.

Now realizing they had attacks from the front and above to worry about, Tetsutetsu was already prepared; his whole body cast in his Iron skin, as he put his own piece in. This time, he'd actually made the smart choice, as not only did the resulting arm once again come out from the top, but it came out swinging a cast-iron skillet at full force, ringing deafeningly against the side of his head on impact.

Mashirao was nervously biting his lip; the pain of his missing tuft of fur on his tail still far too fresh in his mind, as he hurriedly grabbed the next sword and hesitated for a good several seconds; his eyes shifting from one slot to the next and back. Finally, he decided he needed to just bite the bullet and just stab into one.

The moment he did so, another window suddenly flipped open, and a single cream pie came shooting out, splattering straight into his face; drawing torrents of spontaneous laughter out of nearly everyone at such an old school gag.

Pony excitedly slipped the next sword into the nearest slot; visibly licking her lips in the hopes it would be yet more spicy Japanese condiments. Instead, an arm emerged from the top of the barrel with a balloon in hand, which it proceeded to hold out to her. She looked just as surprised as everyone else as she awkwardly took it. But not a moment after she smiled in satisfaction, that same hand suddenly came back out with a tiny sewing needle in hand, which it proceeded to use to pop the balloon in a deafening burst right in Pony's face.

Once Nikolay had finally stopped laughing in response to Mashirao's punishment, he sucked in a deep breath, grabbed his next sword and slipped it into the next slot. This time around, no hands emerged once a window had opened. Instead, it was what looked like a tiny vice on an extending arm, with a single lemon wedge caught in it.

Remembering what had happened to Pony, Nikolay thought ahead and tucked his lips into his mouth, refusing to open up. Unfortunately, he learned the hard way, as the vice instead squeezed the lemon with all the pressure it could, sending a cruelly precise squirt of lemon juice straight into the nervous Russian's left eye, leaving him reeling and clutching at it as the juice stung immensely. "GYAAH! CHTO ATO, CHYORT VOZ'MI, ZA USTROYSTVO DLYA PYTOK TAKOYE (What the hell kind of torture device is this)?!"

While Ochako hurried to the kitchen to get a cup of water to help get the lemon juice out of Nikolay's eyes; Kinoko proceeded to take her own turn, giggling excitedly to herself, before another window opened, and she was met with a sudden puff of pepper directly into her face, leaving her rubbing at her eyes and sneezing like crazy.

Eijirou finally took his turn, but after last time, he was visibly less confident as to what to expect. His Hardening could work against physical punishments, but it still did nothing for him against anything else. If anything, if it seemed liked his last punishment, he could at least try to get out of the way at the last second.

But it was that simple fact that he didn't know what to expect, and having to try and mentally brace himself for one style of punishment over the other, that was Eijirou's downfall, as this time, it was a window opening in the side of the barrel that was much lower than all the others, before a marble-sized metal BB shot out from an unseen barrel, flying straight into his groin faster than he could activate his Hardening to deflect; leaving the red-haired young man in the fetal position on the floor.

When Itsuka took her next turn, her ponytail almost shot straight up into the air when a hand suddenly emerged and blew a deafening soccer horn straight into her ear.

When Tooru stepped up, she was barely able to close her eyes in time when the door that opened shot a large squirt of black ink straight into her face; for the first time giving everyone in the room a vague idea of the shape of her face before she hurried over to grab a towel and clean herself off.

And while the invisible girl tended to herself, Setsuna proceeded to take her next turn, and was left wincing in discomfort when a couple more hands shot out of the subsequent window and grabbed tight onto both her ears, giving them a one-second, but very hard, twist.

At last, it was down to just two more empty slots on the barrel, down to Mina and Monoma. With her heart racing with excitement, Mina was gung-ho as all get out, as she grabbed the second-to-last toy sword and slipped it into the slot nearest her. The moment she did, another mechanical arm suddenly burst out from the top, swinging with insane precision for the hand to grab her by the wrist, and with enough force to pull Mina right off her feet, where it proceeded to swing her round and round through the air like a human lasso; the air permeated with her ecstatic laughter all the while.

The moment she was set back down, Mina was springing up and down where she stood, with the biggest smile on her face. "WOOOOOH! That was so much fun! That felt just like break-dancing!"

However, the building smiles on everyone else's faces on her team were not as a result of what had just happened to her. Instead, it was for the same reason that Monoma now had a palpable look of dread on his face; the last little sword shaking in his fingers.

"Yeah, just one more hole, and still no pirate! You know what this means, Monoma!" Denki taunted with a snarky grin on his face, while Nikolay chimed in: "It means our class is inevitably the winner, right? He's got no choice but to make the final move."

Suddenly, Monoma set his piece back on the table; shrugging his shoulders while giving the same shit-eating grin he always wore. "That's what you think. I don't have to sit here and listen to such vicious barbs from you lot. I have just as much right to forfeit the game as anyone else."

"Oh, for crying out loud, Monoma-san, you were the one who was so eager for a contest, and you're gonna back out at the last second? Here, I'll do it!" Tetsutetsu suddenly exclaimed, unable to hide the same disappointment that was on the rest of the Class B students' faces, as he grabbed Monoma's final piece. All the while, Eijirou was eagerly pumping his fist in the air in response: "THAT'S THE SPIRIT, TETSUTETSU-SAN! You're, like, a total man's man!"

Everyone instinctively braced themselves for something a hundred times worse for the losing move that was about to unfold; Tetsutetsu once again having turned his entire body into Iron in preparation. Even then, his sharp teeth were clenched tight as he finally went the extra yard and pushed the final sword in.

The whole room flinched in anticipation for something insane when the red and white blur of a little toy pirate suddenly popped out of the barrel. Even Tetsutetsu shut his eyes tight, instinctively screaming to try and further psyche himself up…but at the same moment he and the others realized nothing had happened to him yet, the automated sound of Mei Hatsume's voice suddenly spoke out from a little speaker within the barrel: "CONGRATULATIONS!"

Everyone felt all their building tension escape in one collective sigh when Izuku's eyes lit up with realization: "So THAT'S what it is! Hatsume-san modified the game from the start! Where the person who causes the pirate to pop out is the loser, she made it so that they're the winner instead! That's why every other hole prompted some kind of punishment!"

But while this explanation caused all his participating classmates to grumble with annoyance that this meant they'd been doing nothing but losing the whole time; on the other hand, Monoma practically leapt back onto his feet; his smile stretching from ear to ear as he laughed borderline psychotically: "THEN THIS MEANS CLASS B ARE THE WINNERS, JUST AS I EXPECTED! HOW'S THAT HUMBLE PIE TASTE?!"

Suddenly, Nikolay raised an objecting hand: "Actually, nobody here protested to the stipulation of the person causing the pirate to pop out being the loser, since that's how the game is originally played. You can't just go changing the agreed upon rules when it suits you. So Class B is technically still the loser."

But as Monoma's shoulders began to sink, Tenya suddenly spoke out: "I hate to disagree, but I think we can all agree that Class B showed admirable resilience and courage, even in the face of certain defeat, and that is nothing if not very commendable. I personally think they've earned the right to be called the official winners of tonight's little Hero Course competition.

Surprisingly, more and more of the Class A students began to echo the same sentiment; of course with Denki, Mashirao, Nikolay and Minoru all looking the most disappointed. But by now, the late hour was finally catching up with all of them, and they could all look to each other and silently agree that they were all simply too tired to argue any further.

This once more had Monoma laughing madly, as Itsuka and Setsuna forcefully grabbed him by the arms and began to drag him back home, while the class representative and Tetsutetsu all proceeded to further express their thanks and good night wishes to their peers; soon finally leaving the students of Class a to themselves.

As Shoto proceeded to collect the barrel to take back to his room, everyone else was finally letting their mutual exhaustion show; boys and girls alike starting to head for their respective wings. All the while, Denki muttered tiredly to himself: "I can't believe I'm saying this…but block parties can really be Hell, huh?"

"Only if Monoma-san is involved. The rest of the Class B students seem all right to me," Mashirao half-agreed, with Tooru, Eijirou and Nikolay all nodding and mumbling in agreement.

Before Nikolay could say anything further; he suddenly felt a whole person's weight come colliding onto his back, as Mina clutched onto him from behind as he fell onto his knees. "Kolya-kuuun, I'm too tired to walk up all those floors…can't you please carry me up instead? Pleeeease?"

As Nikolay struggled to get back onto his feet, Denki noted with another knowing smirk: "Hey, I know what this is all about, Ashido-san…you're too scared to be alone after Tokoyami-san's story, aren't you?"

But while Mina had her tired-looking face resting on Nikolay's shoulder, she raised a semi-accusing finger in Denki's direction. "That's rich, Kaminari-kun; considering your knees are as shaky as Kolya's kun's hands right now."

Both boys in question quickly noticed that Mina was absolutely right; their bodies reacting against their will now that their scary story session from earlier had been brought up again.

Nevertheless, the two of them stubbornly tried to deny it: "We're not scared, it's just a little chillier in here than we'd like and that's all!" "Y-yeah, they're just stories; they can't hurt anybody! What reason do any of us have to be afraid?"

In a desperate bid to try and avoid talking about this topic any further, lest Mina start seeing through his obvious act, Nikolay hurriedly began running for the stairs of the girls' wing; struggling to try and pace his breathing while carrying Mina on his back; his best friend keeping her grip on him firm with her arms and legs.

By the time they were halfway to her room, she suddenly couldn't help but giggle slyly to herself. "You know, this reminds me of what you did back at the Sports Festival, Kolya-kun. Did I ever give you a proper thank you for that?"

Thankfully, before she could tease him further, Nikolay had all but sprinted the rest of the way; once more awash in a sweat by the time they'd finally reached the door to her room. "Okay, this is your stop, Mina."

However, not only did she notably hesitate to release her full-body hold on Nikolay, but he could even begin to feel an unmistakable trembling emanate from her altogether. This filled him with a renewed sense of energy, as he suddenly spoke up: "So Kaminari-san was right, you ARE scared, aren't you?"

With that, Mina finally let go and got off her foreign bestie's back. "Okay, fine, I am a little scared still, Kolya-kun. I don't like the idea of being alone tonight, so we can all just have one big old laugh at each other for it. It's not my fault I was right about Tokoyami-kun being, like, super scary awesome at terrifying stories."

Nikolay not laughing, and instead nodding in empathy with her now unmistakable fear, somehow filled Mina with a strange sense of relief; even more so when he suddenly pulled out his cellphone. "Yeah…and I admit, I'm still a little freaked out about it, too. Tell you what, Mina: I'll keep my phone on, and if for whatever reason you get really scared at all tonight, just go ahead and call me, and I'll pick up and we can talk for as long as you want, okay?"

Mina's nervous expression softened into another heartwarming smile, as she pulled her own phone out and showed that his number was already highlighted on her speed-dial, just in case. "Thanks a ton, Kolya-kun, and don't hesitate to do the same for me if you're the one who gets scared. But until then, sweet dreams."

"You too." Nikolay answered, and the two of them briefly hugged each other good night, tightly, before finally parting ways for the night; the both of them silently and intensely hoping that all their scary stories this morning wouldn't come back to haunt them.

Alright, everyone, and that was the first half of the Son of Justice adaptation of the third School Briefs spinoff. I'm once again so sorry for this unforgivable uploading delay on my part. I can only promise you all that I'm going to try my damnedest not to let it slip by me this badly ever again.

I hope you all still enjoyed what you got to read here tonight, and I will be back with the second half of this spinoff next week on 09/23!