Chapter 75
[Silence]
The trip to U.A. was silent for the most part. Sora and Izuku were both sitting in the back of the cab that was taking them to their destination, but neither of them really had anything to say to each other. They didn't even really need to say anything to each other. They could both tell how the other felt.
Midoriya was of course a mixed bundle. He was excited, scared, eager, nervous, basically all of the emotions that one would feel when starting something new in their life. However, he was confident that things would turn out fine, because he had Sora with him for now.
The Keyblade wielder was nowhere near as mixed as Izuku was. There were only two emotions coming off of him, and they were happiness and determination. He was happy to go back to U.A., see his friends and assure them that he was fine. But he was also dead set on making sure that he would get stronger there as well, so that the next time that he and Vanitas meet, he won't lose.
[Play KH Project Destati: LIGHT -The Promised Beginning-]
The cab stopped outside the entrance to U.A. high's perimeter gate, and the driver spoke up. "We're here."
"Thanks." Sora told him before Midoriya paid the cab fare. The two boys then exited the car and it drove off. Izuku took a deep breath, then heard the Keyblade wielder speak up. "Let's not keep everyone waiting."
"Yeah." Midoriya replied.
The two boys then walked through the entrance and the first person they saw was Ectoplasm, who noticed the pair and approached them. "Midoriya, Sora. Welcome back."
"Thanks." Both boys said in unison.
"One of my clones will escort you to your assigned dormitory." The teacher said before creating a clone with his quirk, who gestured for the two boys to follow him. As the pair did so, the clone spoke up. "Your luggage will be offloaded by U.A. staff and then dropped off at the front of your assigned dormitory."
"Got it." the boys replied at the same time.
As the three walked around the school's main building and reached the back, the boys could see where they were heading. From where they were standing, they could see at least 36 buildings that were about five stories tall and were divided into two wings, and each building had the word 'Alliance' plastered on the front part of it, while underneath that, the designation for the corresponding class was boldly placed there, easy for any student to see, so that they would know which dorm was there's.
"Wow." Izuku was very surprised.
"You really shouldn't be surprised." The Ectoplasm clone spoke up. "U.A. does things like this all the time."
"Is there anything you guys can't do?" Sora genuinely asked.
"We can't afford being unable to do everything." The clone answered. "Does that count?"
"Uh...no?" The Keyblade wielder replied.
"Well, regardless, we pride ourselves on being able to do anything and everything for our students. Especially after these recent events." The clone said. "How are you faring, Sora?"
"I'm better now, thanks for asking." He answered.
"Well, if you ever start to feel under, you can visit the guidance counselor at any time. Hound Dog is willing to help with your emotional health if it ever starts to deteriorate."
"Um...that's...really nice of him...thanks." Sora responded, a bit unsure of how someone as aggressive as Hound Dog would be able to help through anyone's emotional issues, but he still appreciated the sentiment.
As the three of them were about to reach the perimeter of the 1-A dormitory, the ectoplasm clone spoke up. "You two are actually the last of Class 1-A to arrive. I had just finished escorting Bakugo here when you two arrived." Speaking of Katsuki, he was just outside the main walkway to the 1-A dorm. "There he is now." The clone began to dissipate. "Go ahead and meet up with your classmates and homeroom teacher."
The two boys watched the clone fully dissipate before they both walked together towards the main walkway to 1-A. Bakugo noticed the two, but he didn't say anything. He just silently watched the two approach him. Izuku was the first to speak up, albeit meekly. "H-Hey Kacchan." There was no response from him, which prompted Midoriya to speak up again. "I-I guess I'll go see the others."
As Izuku left, Sora stayed back. "...Katsuki."
"...Sora." He replied.
"...You're looking...better." Sora noted.
Bakugo nodded. "...Same to you." The Keyblade wielder nodded back. And then some awkward silence washed over the pair.
"Uh...good to see you again?" He said.
"Go talk to the others if you want to start a conversation." Katsuki told him. "Some of them don't want to shut up about you, and it's gotten annoying."
Sora softly smiled. "Thanks for the heads up. Anything else?"
"Just get going." Bakugo said.
"Sure thing." The Keyblade wielder said, before gesturing to the explosive student to follow him. "Come on."
"Huh?" Katsuki was confused.
"We all have to be there, don't we?" Sora pointed out.
"Tch, whatever." Bakugo said before he walked past the Keyblade wielder and over to the group of students who were all looking at the dormitory and all its glory. That went well...somewhat. That was probably the most normal conversation that those two could have at this point in time.
Sora followed Katsuki to the students, and stopped next to Izuku and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting the One For All user to look at the Keyblade wielder, before the two of them smiled and looked at Heights Alliance, their new home.
Ochako stopped looking at Height's Alliance and turned to look at Izuku, only to spot him and Sora together, making her do a double take, before she exclaimed "Sora!" snapping everyone else out of their gazes.
"Heya." The Keyblade wielder replied to her with his usual cheery demeanor.
"SORAAAAA!" Mina and Toru's voices were heard before their bodies crashed into Sora's, tackling him to the ground, before he could feel the two girls tightly hugging him.
"Ugh...good to see you too." The Keyblade wielder said as he regained his bearings.
"Hey. Cut that out. Give him some space." Tenya spoke up, getting the girls off of his friend, with the help of Mashirao.
Mezo helped Sora up, and the Keyblade wielder spoke up. "Thanks. Nice to see you guys again."
"Likewise, Sora." The class rep replied. "I hope you're doing well."
"I'm doing better, thanks." The boy stated. "Looks like you guys are doing great, too."
"Now that you're here, we're doing better than great." Ejiro spoke up.
"That's good to hear." Sora said before giving a thumbs up.
"Save the reunion talk for later." Aizawa spoke up as he stood in front of his students.
[Silence]
The 1-A Homeroom teacher then got straight to business. "Given everything that has happened, I'm glad we were able to get Class 1-A back together."
"So we all got the go ahead to move on campus." Hanta said out loud.
Hagakure sighed. "It took a lot of convincing from my parents."
"I was pretty concerned about mine." Kyouka stated.
"It makes sense. You got the worst of the gas attack." Ojiro pointed out.
"We're glad to see the teachers got to come back too." Tsuyu said. "I was afraid you wouldn't be allowed. The people at the press conference seemed pretty upset with you guys."
"Yeah," Uraraka agreed with that.
"I was surprised as well. But circumstances have changed." Aizawa replied. "Now then, I'll explain to you how your dorm assignments will work shortly. First however, we haven't forgotten about the Provisional Hero Licenses you were supposed to get during the training camp."
"Oh yeah. That's what we were there for." Rikido remembered.
"So much has happened. It totally slipped my mind." Ashido said.
"This is important. Listen well." The 1-A homeroom teacher spoke up.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Threat Incoming]
"Kirishima. Yaoyorozu. Todoroki. Midoriya. Iida." He called the five of them out. "You five are the ones who broke the rules and went to go rescue Bakugo and Sora, that night." Most of the other students had worried looks on their faces, sending a clear message to Aizawa. "Based on your reactions, I assume the rest of you were at least aware of their plan."
He didn't mince his words. "I'm going to set aside a number of issues and just say this. If it weren't for All Might's retirement from the Hero seam, I would expel everyone here, except Bakugo, Jiro, Hagakure and Sora. The five of you who went, of course, but also the remaining twelve who didn't stop them. You betrayed our trust, even if it was to keep your friends from getting into trouble. In order to regain our confidence, you'll need to obey every rule to the letter and live as model students."
[Silence]
"That's all." Aizawa said before heading towards the front door to the dorm. "Now, look alive. Enjoy your new home."
Nobody was really excited after that speech. But, one of these people took some initiative and spoke up. "Well, look on the bright side. We're all gonna be neighbors now. Or, would it be roommates?" Sora wondered.
"I think it would be neighbors." Izuku spoke up. "We all have our own rooms, so roommate wouldn't be the correct term."
"Thanks for clearing that up. Now that that's done, reunion talk time!" The Keyblade wielder cheered, which got most of the students' attention, as they all began to express how happy they were to see him.
Taking advantage of the class' attention being drawn to Sora, Katsuki approached a certain red haired student. "Kirishima."
"Huh?" Ejiro turned to Bakugo, who had about 50,000 yen in his hand. "What's this about?"
"To replace what you spent." Katsuki answered.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Aming Kosei]
Kirishima was actually surprised. "How'd you know I bought night vision goggles?"
Putting the cash in Ejiro's hands, Bakugo then walked away. "Don't say I never gave you anything. Now I'm not in your debt." He then spoke up a little louder. "Sora, Kirishima wants to talk to you."
"Huh?" The Keyblade wielder heard that and then spoke up. "What's up, Ejiro? Oh wait, I still have to thank you."
"Wha...huh?" Kirishima looked over to the Keyblade wielder.
"Thanks for donating some of your...you know." Sora told him. "You too, Shoto. You're both life savers."
"It wasn't really much." Todoroki responded.
"Don't you start with the whole, I didn't do much shtick." Sora said. "You know what you did was a lot."
"Wait. I'm confused. What did these two do?" Denki spoke up.
"We donated some of our blood to Sora, when he was really low on it." The ice user calmly replied.
"HUH?!" Most of the students responded to that.
"Yeah. It was after I was...well, let's just say I lost a lot of blood." The Keyblade wielder stated. "These two saved me by donating their own."
"That's awesome!" Sero spoke up.
"Nice work, you two!" Mina cheered.
"Well...I couldn't just sit back. You guys know that. That's why I went in the first place." Ejiro was getting a bit overwhelmed from the large amount of praise, topped over Bakugo's recent kindness. "But, I still feel kind of bad for getting us all into trouble, so..." He looked at the cash he just got from Katsuki and had an idea. "I doubt this will make up for it, but let's all go out to eat tonight, on me!"
Most of the class cheered at that idea, but Sora stepped in. "WAIT! Not that!"
[Silence]
That surprised and confused the students. "What? Why not?" Kaminari asked.
"Yeah. Kirishima is offering you free food. Why say no?" Minoru spoke up.
"Because I already got a buttload of ingredients to make enough food for everyone here already." The Keyblade wielder pointed out.
"Wait, what?!" most of the students replied in unison.
"As thanks to everyone who helped me back at the training camp, and also to everyone who came to rescue me. And now also to everyone who got in trouble for having the other's backs." Sora said.
"How is it that after literally everything you've gone through, you're still so nice?" Mineta asked. "Seriously. A few days ago you were kidnapAHHHHHGAAAA!" He was interrupted by Kyouka using her earphone jack on him.
"Don't just bring that up out of the blue, you moron!" She berated him.
"Hey, it's fine." The Keyblade wielder assured her and the rest of the class. "I'm still like this for a few reasons. First off, I'm just really glad to see you guys again. Like, seriously, it is so good to see you all again. Secondly, while what happened sucked, it's not gonna stop me from pushing past it and focusing on what's important. And thirdly, if I did let that get to me, it would only make Vanitas stronger. You guys already know how his quirk works, because Mic explained it back during the practicals, so dwelling on that only helps him out."
"Y-Yeah...Speaking of him..." Denki spoke up, a bit unsure if he should ask this. "I heard from the guys who were with you at camp say that he...well uh...said you and he were uh..."
"Brothers?" Sora finished.
"...Yeah." Kaminari said.
Sora took a deep breath and then spoke up. "He's not. Well, he is, but...also not? It's super complicated and really hard for me to explain off the top of my head. Can I get back to you on that later?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure, take your time. No rush." Denki was fine with that, as he honestly wanted to end this conversation now too, regretting even bringing it up in the first place.
"Thanks." The Keyblade wielder was able to dodge that bullet for now. Hopefully he can figure out how to properly word his connection to Vanitas while protecting the world order, later. But for now, it was time to enter the dorms, as he and the rest of the class noticed Aizawa waiting for them at the door.
The students then followed their homeroom teacher into the building, seeing the common room while Aizawa began to explain the layout of the house. "Each student dormitory holds one class. Girls are on the right, and boys are on the left. The entire first floor is a common area. That's where you'll find your kitchen, baths and laundry room."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Heights Alliance]
The students looked around, each taking in the scenery in their own way. "Oooohahahaha!" Toru was at a loss for words.
"There's even a courtyard!" Hanta noticed.
"So spacious and new! Ah hahahaha!" Mina was ecstatic.
"I'm living in a mansion." Ochako was so shocked at how big this was that her legs went numb and she fell over.
Luckily, Sora was next to her and caught her before her body hit the ground. "Whoa! You okay?"
"Uraraka!" Tenya noticed those events happen in front of him. "Good catch, Sora."
"Yeah." The Keyblade wielder replied before he helped his female friend stand up straight again.
"Doth mine ears deceive me?" Mineta very quietly uttered out. "Our baths...are located in the common space? Is this heaven?"
Aizawa still heard that. "They're separated by gender, and you'll behave yourself." He made that clear.
"Yes, sir." Minoru quietly conceded, knowing not to tempt fate with his homeroom teacher.
Aizawa then guided them upstairs and continued explaining how the layout of the dorms are. "Living quarters start on the next floor. Four boys and four girls on each level. Everyone gets their own room. You should be comfortable. You've got your own AC, toilets, fridges and closets."
The students entered one of the rooms and saw the standard layout. A pantry, writing desk, adjustable rolling chair, and a full size bed were provided, as were the other things that Aizawa listed off. "We have balconies?" Izuku noticed as well, while looking out from it. "Whoa."
"This room is about the same size as my closet at home, but I'll manage." Momo commented.
"It's the size of my house!" Ochako once again fell back, only to be caught by Sora again, who had a feeling that this would happen again.
"Ok, should I just carry you for the rest of this tour?" Sora asked while wonce again getting her . "You keep falling over."
After leaving the room, Aizawa pulled out a sheet of paper that showed the names of the students and where in the dorms they were assigned. "These are your dorm assignments. The belongings you've sent ahead have already been placed in your new rooms, so spend the day unpacking and getting unsettled. I'll tell you more about your next few lessons tomorrow. For now, get to work."
"Yes, Mr. Aizawa." All students said in unison, before splitting off to do their own unpacking. However, the 1-A homeroom teacher called Yaoyorozu aside for a moment.
[Silence]
When the two of them reached the common area, there was a pyramid of boxes that was in the corner of the common area and he was blunt when he said "Not all of your things will fit. You'll need to pick just five or six boxes to keep. Only the bare essentials. Send the rest back."
"Five or six?!" She stammered. "Surely you jest, Mr. Aizawa!" He walked away, leaving her to decide what she was going to keep and what she was going to have to send back.
[Play KH BBS OST Innocent Times]
While that was happening, everyone else went to their assigned rooms. Izuku, Fumikage, Yuga and Mineta were on the second floor, and no girls were on that floor, because of Mineta, being Mineta. Koji, Denki, Tenya, and Mashirao were on the boys side of the third floor, while Kyouka and Toru were on the girls side of that same floor. On the boys side of the fourth floor was Mezo, Ejiro and Katsuki, while on the girls side was Ochako and Mina. And lastly, on the fifth floor of the dormitory, the boys side was assigned to Rikido, Shoto, Hanta and Sora, while the girls side was assigned to Momo and Tsuyu.
Sora reached his assigned room on the fifth floor and noticed the things he had were indeed already there. The two coolers were placed next to the fridge, the three boxes he had were in the middle of the room, as well as two paint cans and a closed bag. The Keyblade wielder looked around his room for a moment, giving himself a rough layout of what he had to work with, before opening up the first box and getting started.
Meanwhile, two rooms away, Todoroki looked at his room and was dumbstruck with it. The reason why? No tatami mats. He honestly shouldn't have been surprised, seeing as the layout of the rooms was supposed to be the same for every classmate, and he already saw the synthetic flooring, but he was so used to his family's traditional style home that he just thought that he would have tatami mats for some reason.
He then looked at his very traditional style furniture that he had brought from home, and then back at the furniture that was already in the room, noticing yet another dilemma. This furniture would clash heavily against each other. It would not blend well at all. He scowled in spite of himself, before looking at the window leading to his balcony, noticing that the panels were not shoji window panels. Even the curtains were weird to him. The way the lights worked was weird, as he needed to flip a switch on the wall, rather than use a pull cord for it. The color of the room was off to him, lacking the traditional wooden texture that he was used to seeing. The floor itself was hard, unlike the tatami mats he was used to. Everything about this room was just so weird to him.
[Silence]
As he kept contrasting this room to his family's house, he ended up thinking about his father unintentionally, which put him in a bad mood. He went out to his balcony and took in the view in an attempt to clear his thoughts, but that didn't work. He then went back into his room, leaving the balcony door open, opening one of his drawers to grab something from it.
Back over in Sora's room, the Keyblade wielder had just finished putting all of the ingredients in his coolers into his fridge, barely managing to fit it all in. It won't be there for long though, as he intends to start cooking with it after he finishes unpacking and decorating his room.
As he was taking his stuff out of the boxes however, something caught his eye outside for a quick moment. It looked like something blew past his window and out towards the forest area. It was small, and one side of it was completely white, but couldn't make out what the other side had on it. It looked kind of like...a photograph?
Before he could ponder that any further, he then heard a loud pitter-patter of feet quickly pass his room, making its way towards the stairs. That prompted the Keyblade wielder to quickly investigate, looking out of his room to see Shoto, very hastily making his way down the stairs. Figuring out that something was wrong, Sora immediately left his room and quickly began to follow his friend down the stairs.
As soon as Todoroki reached the ground level, he made a beeline for the entrance, panic written all over his face. Prior to this, he was back in his room, finally lightening up after seeing a photo of him and his mother, back when they were happily living together, only for a gust of wind to enter his room and snag that photo away from him and out of the building. He reached the front door and quickly exited the building, not even bothering to notice Momo struggling to figure out what to keep with her, or Sora trailing behind him.
The Ice user quickly ran towards the boys side of the building and then entered the forest area. It was then that he heard a voice call out to him. "Shoto! Wait up!"
He recognized it. "Sora?" He turned back to see the Keyblade wielder catch up to him. "What are you doing?"
"I came to ask you that." Sora replied. "I saw you dash out of your room and down the stairs. What happened?"
"A photo of mine blew out of my balcony." He began to rummage through the bushes, looking for it. "It has to be around here somewhere."
"Oh. So that's what I saw flying outside." The Keyblade wielder figured out.
"Did you see where it landed?" Todoroki asked him.
"Uh, no. When you dashed out and I followed you, it was still in the air. I don't know where it would have landed." Sora told him. "But I can help you look for it."
"Please do. I'm sorry, but..." He was stopped by his friend.
"I got it. It's important." The Keyblade wielder understood, as he began to look around for the photo as well.
"Thank you." The flame user said.
"It's what friends do, Shoto." Sora said to him, before the two of them began their search for the missing photo.
The two of them scoured through the forest paths leading throughout the scattered facilities, but looking for this photo was comparable to finding a needle in a haystack, and it proved to be exceedingly difficult.
"Where is it?" Todoroki was beginning to lose his cool.
"Don't freak out too much. We'll find it, okay?" Sora reassured his friend. "We just need to keep a level..." A fist sized metallic object came into view, blitzing towards Shoto. "HEADS UP!"
Todoroki reacted in time and made a small ice wall to defend himself, letting the metallic object hit the ice before falling to the ground. "What the hell?"
"Ah, my sweet baby!" A female voice was heard. The two boys turned in the direction of where they heard said voice and saw none other than Mei Hatsume, pushing her way past some bushes and immediately grabbing the metallic object on the ground. "Thanks. This little one is my 48th precious baby, perfect for capturing Villains and..."
[Play KH OST Shipmeisters' Humoresque]
The support course student stopped speaking when she took a look at one of the two boys, immediately recognizing one of them. Said boy spoke up. "Hey, Mei. Nice to see that you're still full of energy." She didn't respond and remained still. "Uh...Mei?"
Hatsume then pounced and her body crashed into the Keyblade wielder's. "SORA!" The force of her pounce, combined with Sora being caught off guard was enough to force him to the ground, making this the second time that he was tackled to the ground today.
"Ugh...yeah...it's me." He uttered out.
"Ah! My favorite client came back!" She cheered out. "After I heard about what happened, I was afraid that you wouldn't have been able to come back. I was planning on making some babies specifically for you, so that you could better protect yourself from that jerk who hurt you."
"Oh." The Keyblade wielder was genuinely surprised by that. "Well, thank you. I wasn't expecting such special treatment from you, Mei."
"Are you kidding me!?" Mei exclaimed. "You're one of the only people who helps me and Moogle's many babies take their first steps!"
Sora chuckled. "You mean the only one who doesn't stop after just one test."
"That too." She replied before looking up to see something in the distance. "Oh no! My baby!" She pushed herself up off of Sora and began to chase after another one of her inventions.
Shoto looked around and noticed a few more. "There's more over there too." He pointed out.
"Round them up for me, would you?!" Hatsume requested while still going after the one she spotted earlier.
"Huh?! For real?" Todoroki protested, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Sure thing, Mei." Sora replied.
"Thank you!" She called out before she was out of their sight, still chasing after the machine she was after.
"Aren't you helping me look for my thing?" Shoto reminded him.
"I am." The Keyblade wielder said. "And hey, maybe one of her inventions found it and snagged it."
"You really think that?" The ice user was skeptical of that.
"I mean, these things are everywhere, it seems." Sora pointed out. "I can see one of these things running into it."
"You're stretching it, Sora." Todoroki said to him. "You're starting to sound like Iida."
"Hey, Tenya is right most of the time. Sure, he's a little gullible, and sometimes doesn't get the full picture, but his heart is in the right place, plus he would never turn down a friend in need, even if said friend is doing something he doesn't like."
Speaking of Iida, the class rep was in his room on the third floor of the 1-A Dormitory. "Alphabetically, by author's last name?...Or perhaps by topic?...Or by publisher?" He was pondering how he was going to organize his many...MANY textbooks that he brought from his home. "Should I take the number of times I've read each book into consideration? Or could I simply arrange them by size...But what about...AGH! I could very well angst about this all day and there'd be no end to it! As the Class Representative, I ought to be assisting the others with getting their rooms sorted out! In the meantime, my books will be just fine, arranged by spine color!"
Back inside the forest, Sora and Shoto were able to quickly and efficiently round up the nearby machines and find Mei. Todoroki and Hatsume then properly introduced themselves to each other, before the Support Course student explained how her machines were being transported while she was moving into the dorms, but accidentally turned them on while moving them. "You mean you made all of these?" The ice user realized, seeing the literal cart full of her inventions. "Wow."
"Heh. All my love and talent goes into these babies." She proudly told him, before grabbing one to show him. "This one happens to be my pride and joy. Just push this button here, and..." The machine then transformed from a metal box the size of her upper body into a miniature crane. "It may look compact, but I made this baby to capture gigantic Villains. See that tip of the long boom?" She pointed at what she was talking about. "It shoots out wires that even the rowdiest Villain couldn't shake loose from. Awesome right?"
"Yeah." Sora commented.
"Ooh! How about this gauntlet?" She pulled out what she wanted to show next. "It's a baby that'll multiply your grip strength ten times over, and let you go toe to toe with muscle bound Villains, even!"
"Cool!" The Keyblade wielder liked that one.
"Oh, and there's this one, which..." Hatsume continued to show off her inventions to the two boys, mainly to Sora, while also letting the Keyblade wielder try a few of the easy to equip ones on and show off their effectiveness, while Todoroki patiently listened to her lengthy, exuberant, explanations.
[Silence]
Once she was finally finished, he spoke up. "So. Is that all of them?"
"Lemme see." She inspected her cart. "Still missing one."
"What's it look like?" Shoto questioned.
"It's a teeny tiny baby, but hay heavier than you'd think." Mei described it. "My thought was, you could somehow attach it to a Villain, so they can't make a run for it so easily."
"How small are we talking?" The flame user asked.
"About as big as a cherry, if fruit is your thing." She answered.
"Cherry, huh?" Todoroki replied. "Something that heavy couldn't have rolled too far, right."
"Good point, Shoto." Sora said.
"True!" Hatsume also spoke up. "I'll use my quirk to look for it, since my eyes can zoom in from up to five kilometers away."
"Sure. And we'll check behind the trees and wherever else you can't see." Todoroki added while Sora nodded to that.
"Oh, by the way. Mei, can you keep an eye out for a photo while you're at it?" The Keyblade wielder asked.
"A photo? Sure thing!" She replied while she began to look around. "Is that why you two were out here?"
"Yeah..." Shoto replied as he and Sora began to look around as well.
"My my. What are you kids doing out and about?" Another much older female voice spoke up. "I thought that today was the big move-in day."
[Play FF7 Remake OST Sector 7 Undercity]
The trio of students turned to see Recovery Girl, of all people. Before Hatsume explained to her the situation. After hearing about the dilemmas, she agreed to help them look for the last missing machine and the single lost photo. She helped with the boys, looking around the trees and areas that Mei couldn't see past with her quirk.
"Not over here." She noted before getting her foot caught on something. "Ack!" The boys noticed that she was beginning to fall over and both lunged over to stop her fall, but despite being elderly, she could still keep herself upright with some quick footwork. She still noticed the boys' actions though. "Ready to save me, were you two? Thank you both, but I've got more pep in my step than that, yet."
"I guess we should have expected that. You are a Pro." Sora remembered, before he continued his search for the missing objects of interest.
Meanwhile, Recovery Girl looked at Todoroki. "It still hasn't hit me that Endeavor's boy is grown up already."
"Huh?" Shoto was confused with what she said.
"I've been at U.A. for a long time, you know?" She reminded him. "Known your father since he was a student here." Even though the young Todoroki's face slightly darkened from hearing about his father, he didn't stop her from talking about him. "I was always treating him for scrapes, bruises and cuts back in those days. That boy put himself through the wringer, hoping to be the Number One Hero someday." The reminiscing was starting to trigger Shoto now. "Why, your father was so driven, that one time in class, he..." The Ice user finally spoke up.
"I'd rather not hear about that bastard...ma'am." He requested.
Her expression softened a bit, giving an apologetic smile. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry. Nobody picks their family I suppose."
"Hey! That's weird!" Hatsume's voice was barely heard by the pair.
A loud beeping noise was soon heard and it caught the school nurse's attention. "Now what could that be?" She decided to go investigate it while the boys continued to look around the area for the machine and photo.
[Silence]
The two boys kept looking where they were at, then a gleam caught Shoto's eye. "Huh?" He noticed something small and shiny on the ground and went over to inspect it. It was a small metallic sphere. "Is this?" He tried to lift it with just his fingers, but it was not budging. He then tried with one hand, and it was still very difficult to lift it up.
Sora noticed his friend struggling and walked over to him. "What's going on?" He asked.
"I think...I found Hatsume's invention." The ice user said while struggling to lift the small object.
"You did? Nice job." The Keyblade wielder complimented. "Need some help getting it off the ground?"
Todoroki managed to get it up however, but it was a struggle to hold it, even with both of his hands. "If you think you can...go ahead."
The flame user saw Sora cup his hands out for Shoto, and once the metallic object was given to him, the Keyblade wielder was actually surprised with the weight. "Whoa!...Okay, that is heavier than I thought." It wasn't as hard for Sora to hold it, as it was for Todoroki, but he could still feel weighed down by it.
Before the two of them could call out to the others though, the sound of destructive metal clanging was heard in the direction that Recovery Girl had gone. The two of them quickly made their way towards that sound.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST U.A. Reporting For Duty]
The destructive sound came from the mobile crane that Mei had shown off to Sora and Shoto earlier, as it was turned on and aimed at Recovery Girl, while Hatsume was frantically pressing buttons on a remote of some kind, clearly trying to turn off her creation.
"What is going on here?" Todoroki quickly questioned.
"It fired up on its own!" The Support Course student replied. "The circuitry must have gotten damaged when it fell out of the cart! I think it's convinced that Recovery Girl is a Villain who needs to be hog-tied!"
The school nurse turned to flee, but ended up tripping over her own feet. The crane seized the opportunity and launched binding wires from the tip of its boom. Sora dropped the heavy metal ball, then used his flowmotion to blitz over to Recovery Girl and grab her, but the wires reached the pair and wrapped around them. "Uh oh!" The Keyblade wielder realized.
"Good effort, but..." The school nurse said.
"Sorry." Sora apologized.
As that happened, Shoto couldn't help but think of Ejiro, and how at times like this, Kirishima would trust his gut feeling, for better or for worse.
Speaking of Ejiro, he was in the middle of helping Katsuki with his room on the fourth floor. One of the boxes that was supposed to go to Bakugo's room ended up in his by mistake, so he delivered it to Katsuki's room. And now he's just helping out, because he's here. He pulled out a peculiar stick from one of his friend's boxes. "Yo, Bakugo! What's this stick thing? Some sort of weapon?"
"A walking stick for mountain climbing." The explosive teen answered before realizing something. "Hey! Who said you could stick around? Don't you got your own crap to unpack?"
"Two heads are better than one, right?" Kirishima retorted. "Don't worry. You can help me with my room after this."
"Like hell I will!" Katsuki barked out. "It's quicker doing this stuff alone."
Despite saying that, Bakugo didn't really make too much of an effort to kick Ejiro out, and the two kept unpacking Katsuki's stuff like it was a normal day for them.
[Silence]
Sora struggled to get free, or at the very least get one of his arms loose, but then the wires began to tighten up on them, prompting the inventor of this creation to speak up. "It's gonna pinch even harder if you move around! So just stay still!"
"You always think of everything, don't you Mei?" Sora commented. Normally this would be praise, but in the current context, not so much.
"Get those wires off of them!" Todoroki ordered Hatsume.
"Would if I could! But the remote control is on the fritz too!" She responded to him, still trying to stop her baby.
At this point the crane lifted them off the ground, suspending them in the air, and Shoto needed to think of something, fast. But quick thinking wasn't his forte. 'Shoot. What would Yaoyorozu do in this situation?' He thought.
Speaking of Momo. She was still on the first floor, going through her stuff. "My silverware, made of pure silver...Unnecessary. And I only need a single painting to hang. As for shoes...Three pairs should be enough. Ah, I ought to keep a pair of high heels, just in case...but where would I store them?...No! Only the bare essentials! Right! Just one pair of shoes then!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Threat of Offense and Defense]
Mei then spoke up. "It's a shame, but I'm gonna have to tear my baby down, piece by piece at this rate...Just need to run and grab my tools from the studio!" She turned to do so, but then the crane began to move.
"Uh...what's happening now?" Sora questioned as the crane began to pick up speed.
"Not so fast, my baby!" Hatsume called out, now sporting the power gauntlet she had shown the boys earlier. She ran up behind the crane and grabbed it, pulling back with the strength of the gauntlet, however it wasn't enough as the crane slowly kept moving, dragging her with it.
Shoto then stepped in and created a large mass of ice in front of the machine, but the crane didn't budge, continuing to push against their efforts as it began to break through the ice. "Damn it!"
Sora then noticed something up ahead. "Wait, what's with that giant pit up ahead?!"
"The second years were using that for training." Recovery Girl told him. "They say it goes down pretty deep..."
Even while suspended in the air, they could not see the bottom of the pit, so it was safe to say that it did in fact go down pretty deep. "Oh shoot." The Keyblade wielder uttered.
At this point, Todoroki was beginning to panic, but he didn't let it show. He needed to focus on figuring out some kind of way to help his friend. 'What can I do?' He thought to himself at this moment, now thinking of Midoriya and how he never gave up, even under circumstances as stressful as this.
[Silence]
Speaking of Izuku, he was in his room on the second floor, going through a dilemma of his own right now. "Silver Age, Golden Age suited version. Is that a good order?...Ah but I'd hate to leave out the in-flight version..." His dilemma was organizing his All Might memorabilia. Specifically the figures, as he already finished hanging the posters and organizing the books he had of that same Hero already. "But sometimes the chibi figure is just what I need to feel right at home. And the one with the flexing pose inspires me when I'm feeling down. Hmm..."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Combat License]
"We need to find a way to knock it off balance!" Sora proposed.
"That's a good idea! But how can we do that, without getting too injured, or falling down the pit?" Recovery Girl questioned, as they were getting closer and closer to the pit.
An idea then came to Shoto at that moment. "Hatsume!" He called out, getting her attention. "Get your heavy cherry and toss it at Sora! Quickly! It's in front of that tree there!" He pointed to where Sora dropped it.
"No clue what you're thinking, but sure! Fine!" She did what she was told, letting go of the crane while Todoroki made more ice to slow down the crane as best as he could.
"Sora!" Shoto called out to his friend. "Catch the cherry in your mouth and swing to its right side!"
"Got it!" The Keyblade wielder understood.
Mei came back with her weighted baby. "I got it! Ready to catch it, Sora?!"
"Yeah! Throw it!" Sora replied.
The crane broke through the ice barriers Todoroki made, and the boy got ready to make more mounds of ice. Hatsume reeled her arm back and with the aid of the power gauntlet, managed to throw the weighted cherry sized marble up to the Keyblade wielder, who caught it with his teeth and used all of his strength to swing his and Recovery Girl's bodies to the right side of the crane. The combined weight of those two, added with the heavy machine in Sora's mouth was enough to lift the wheels on the left of the crane off the ground, as the crane began to topple.
"Ok, so what happens now!?" Sora worriedly asked, speaking through his teeth as they still held the orb in his mouth.
"Brace yourselves!" Shoto told them as he made two ice mounds. One underneath the left side of the crane to make it topple over faster, and one that acted as a slide for Sora and Recovery Girl to safely descend from while the crane fell to its side, unable to continue driving towards the uncomfortably close pit. The two tied up residents had reached the ground as well, but were uninjured thanks to Todoroki's plan.
[Silence]
"Close call you guys!" Mei said as she approached the two that were restrained by her baby. "Anyone hurt?"
Sora shook his head no and then spat out the marble. "I'm good."
"I'm just fine too." Recovery Girl assured them.
She then turned to Shoto "Man! Using my weighted baby to stop my other rampaging baby? Great thinking! Never imagined using it that way. I'm already cooking up new plans for it!" She began to inspect her downed baby.
"Good for you." Todoroki commented as he grabbed the wire with his right hand and froze some of it solid, before snapping it off.
The wire around Sora and Recovery Girl then loosened up until it fell off, no longer bound the two together. The pair then got to their feet and the school nurse spoke up. "That was an ordeal. Thankfully it was avoided from becoming an incident."
"Good job, Shoto." The Keyblade wielder complimented his friend's quick thinking.
"It's what you would do for me. It's what you have done for me." Todoroki replied to him before bowing.
[Play FF7 Remake OST Hollow Skies]
"I'm sorry for putting you through so much trouble again, Sora. You ended up in that situation because of me."
Sora put a hand on his friend's shoulder and said, "Hey. You know how I am. I would have come along, even if you told me not to. I'm just that kind of guy, helping out anyone anywhere."
Shoto stood up straight again and saw his friend with a hearty smile on his face, which was honestly assuring to see. "True enough."
"Hey! Ice guy!" Mei called out to him, catching his attention. She had something in her hands that he couldn't make out until she got close enough to hand it to her. "Spotted this caught on a tree branch on the left side of my baby. Gotta be what you were looking for, yeah?"
Todoroki then had a relieved smile on his face, seeing the photo of him and his mother in his hands again. "Yeah. Thanks."
"Thanks? I should be thanking you for helping me round up all of my precious babies." She told him. "And I know just the way to do it properly." She reached into her cart full of inventions and gifted the flame user with one. This one was specifically designed to be like the 'Pop up Pirate' game, as it had multiple fake swords in a bag, tied to a metal barrel the size of a large basket ball, with a large amount of slots in the middle. "Enjoy. Hehe! Give it a go with your friends and let me know what you all think."
"Um...thank you?" Shoto was a bit confused, but accepted the gift anyway.
Before Hatsume was about to leave however, her phone began to ring, prompting her to answer it. "Yello." She heard a familiar voice. "Oh hey Moogle." Moogle asked her something on the line. "I'm pretty close." Moogle asked another thing. "Actually he's right in front of me. Need to talk to him." Moogle answered her question. "Gocha." She looked at who Moogle wanted to talk to. "Yo, Sora. Moogle wants ya to meet him in the studio."
"Wait, like, right now?" Sora questioned.
"Yep." She confirmed. "He's got your phone and wants to ask you something about some datascape thing."
"I mean...sure, I guess?" The Keyblade wielder said. "So, are we both going there? You should probably take your crane back there to fix it."
"Oh yeah. Good idea, Sora." Mei said as she grabbed the cart full of her support items, deactivated the crane and condensed it back into its cubical form, before the pair began to make their way to U.A. High's main building.
Recovery Girl then spoke to Shoto. "Well, that was quite an adventure we just had." She then pulled out a pocket full of candy bears from her pocket. "Consider it a thanks for saving Sora and I, back there. They're haribo bears."
"It's not a problem, really." Todoroki said to her with a blank expression on his face. "I mean, any of my friends would have done the same."
"Of course they would have." The school nurse replied. "All the boys and girls from U.A. tend to do their darndest. They always have. So be sure to give yourself credit where credit is due every now and then."
"Yes ma'am." The ice user responded, receiving the packet from her.
"Anyhow, have you finished moving in yet? Excited about living with all of your classmates?" She wondered. However, she noticed his expressing change a bit and when he opened up about his particular problem, she had an idea. "Is that so? I may just have the answer then. Follow me."
After a bit of walking, she and Shoto made it to their destination. "What is this place?" The flame user asked.
"It's where we store furniture and other bulky stuff before tossing it." Recovery Girl answered, as the pair were in front of a warehouse. She opened the door to it and led him through it until they found something that made the boy's eyes light up a bit. A collection of tatami mats, Shoji window panels, and a square wooden light fixture sitting in a corner, all in great condition. "These were once used for some class or another, but you're free to have them. I'll be sure to let Aizawa know."
"Thank you for this." Shoto said as he bowed to her.
As the school nurse left the warehouse, Todoroki looked at the traditional Japanese style furniture that was gifted to him, took a few deep breaths, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.
And that concludes this chapter. The first half of the day is finished. The class is starting their new lives in the dorm rooms, and we already have a fun little adventure before they're even done unpacking. This also concludes the second chapter of school brief volume 3. What was the first chapter you ask? It was with the teachers after they finished asking for the permission of the students. I didn't really see any reason to write that one into the story, as Sora would have no reason to be with them. Make no mistake though, that stuff happened, but if you want to know what that stuff is, you'll have to read the school briefs book for yourself. (Also, I always leave one chapter of the school briefs books out, as to give people who haven't read them a reason to do so.) Next chapter should finish the day off, and also cover the next school briefs chapter as well. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and until I decide to upload again. ;)