28.08.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and with no comments to answer we can dive straight into your weekly dose of Evil Within!:
The reveal of their Final Exams still being a way away, but coming nonetheless sparked many a conversation. For a couple of days that is. One of the perks of learning in the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan was that you are barely able to experience boredom. The freedom given to teachers ensures that excitement is plentiful and downtime is in short supply.
As such it was only a matter of time before All Might or Eraserhead announced something that was much closer than the Finals, but equally as exciting. Although one could argue that with Kirishima and Ashido being the hype men that they were, they'd be able to blow anything out of proportion. Food for thought and perhaps a spoiler for the future.
They were about halfway through the week, having just left Ectoplasm's Math class and heading to the cafeteria for a much deserved lunch break. Heroing 101 was up next and they'd need all the energy they could get to keep up with All Might's chaotic style of teaching. They were doing simple drills most of the time, but something deep inside their guts was telling them that today was going to be different.
For now though they were more than welcome to enjoy their meals.
Izuku - as per usual - situated himself in one of the more peaceful corners of the cafeteria, hoping to enjoy the quiet alongside his meal. Kirishima and Ashido followed him like shadows however and joined him at this remote table, eliminating the premise of both peace and quiet right out the gates. He wasn't mad though. Spending time with friends was as good - if not better even - as getting some alone time in. It's probably just that he was used mostly to the latter and he had yet to readjust to actually having friends to spend time with.
The best - arguably - was yet to come however.
"Hello Midoriya, would you mind if we joined you?" Oh look, the best just came. "We're a bit late and most of the tables are already taken." Shiozaki added with a smile.
Izuku took one quick look at the cafeteria, noting that it was indeed packed incredibly tightly for some strange reason, before going back to Shiozaki who he just noticed wasn't alone. Standing just behind her was an amber-haired girl - Itsuka Kendo - 1-B's Class Rep.
"You're more than welcome to join us." Izuku responded with a warm smile and scooted over to make some more room for the new arrivals.
Shiozaki squeezed into the booth next to him and Kendo ended up sitting next to Shiozaki. The fit was quite tight - mostly because Izuku was taking up the majority of the space just with his physique alone - but it was still far from uncomfortable. One could even argue that it was quite homey.
The mixed class group dug into their meals whilst making some small talk about classes, homework and the likes. Even after their food was already gone, they'd stayed seated and discussed miscellaneous stuff. None of them knew when they'd get a chance to hang out like this, so they were motivated to make the most of what they had. They covered a variety of topics and eventually got to the recently announced Final Exams.
"Mister Kan actually said something very similar, though he was much less secretive about it." Kendo said after listening to Izuku's story. "We still have like a month to go and they're already hounding me to host study sessions…" The amber-haired girl whined and let her head slam against the table, a slight bruise forming from the impact.
"Kendo is one of our top students." Shiozaki quickly explained, torn between offering input and fussing over her friend's actions. "I'd hate to talk about people behind their back but it's no secret that not many of them are the studious type."
"Oh, they're just like me and Kiri!" Ashido exclaimed with a grin.
"Why are you cheering at that?" Izuku, Shiozaki and Kendo thought at the same time.
"Well, my schedule is a bit on the tighter side, but I'm keeping on top of my studies." Izuku decided to chime in. "I'm nowhere near Yaoyorozu's level, but my grades are slightly above average I'd say." He added.
"Yeah, Midori is super smart!" Ashido confirmed enthusiastically and Kirishima nodded vigorously to second that opinion.
"Oh, speaking of Yaoyorozu, how is she holding up?" Kendo suddenly asked, confusing the 1-A side of the table.
"How is she supposed to be holding up?" Izuku asked curiously. He wasn't aware that there could be something wrong with her.
"Well, we both interned with Uwabami and let's just say that what we did throughout the week had little to do with actual heroing…" Kendo explained, all life suddenly draining from her eyes. It reappeared as quickly as it vanished though thankfully. "I was just making sure that she'd bounced back after that traumatic event." She said with a shiver.
"I'll ask her when I get a chance to." Izuku promised with a smile and a thumbs up. "At least now we know why she was so cagey when talking about her internship." His lip quivered a bit as annoyance overcame him.
He had nothing against people that did hero work for reasons that were less noble than his, they were still helping people regardless of their motivations. Interfering with the futures of young students though was not something he was happy about. Maybe he could help Yaoyorozu choose her next internship? Or at least have Ashido and Kirishima help him help Yaoyorozu. She liked to create various devices and gadgets, right? Then they'd simply need to find a hero that specialized in technology and thingy-ma-bobs that sometimes went boom. But, where would they even begin? Well, they'd just come back from their first internships so they had plenty of time to look for a good match for Yaoyorozu. If she even ends up accepting their help that is.
"Shiozaki, right?" Ashido asked, directing the question at the vine-haired girl. "Where do you fit on the studies scale?" She questioned curiously.
"I'm one of the top students as well, though Kendo usually scores higher than me." Shiozaki answered politely.
"I'm probably gonna have Shiozaki help me with the study sessions or else I might end up strangling some people in the first week." Kendo joked, at least Izuku hoped she was joking, though from what he'd heard from Shiozaki, she probably wasn't. "Still, I don't think just the two of us will be able to handle them either."
"We could probably ask Shishida and Tokage to help us." Shiozaki stated, bringing up people that Izuku was unfamiliar with. He'd heard about Shishida - their class's Deputy Rep - but he had yet to meet the guy. Tokage on the other hand was a complete mystery.
"Shishida will definitely be on board, but I doubt Tokage would agree so easily." Kendo expressed her doubt. "She's crazy smart, but she'd probably spend half the time gossiping and teasing people."
Izuku was a hero, a Grey Knight and above all else a gentleman. The duty of a hero was to help people that had problems. He wasn't sure on the specifics of a Grey Knight, but it had the word 'knight' in the name, so protecting the small folk was most likely on their agenda-
"Grey Knights protecting the small folk!" The daemon burst out laughing like it just heard the funniest joke of all time.
-and being a gentleman meant helping out the members of the opposite sex. As such when Izuku was presented with a young lady that was clearly in need of help, he couldn't simply look the other way.
"Would you like me to join you in your study sessions?" Izuku offered politely, hoping not to come off as pushy. "I don't mean to brag but I'm pretty good at Modern Hero Art History."
"Would you really do that?!" Kendo asked just to make sure as this offer was almost sounding too good to be true. Someone is offering to help her tutor those idiots? Hell yeah!
"Of course. I wouldn't offer my aid if I didn't already decide to help you out." Izuku assured the girl, his heart swelling with pride at the display of excitement.
"Wouldn't it interfere with your schedule?" Shiozaki chimed in with concern written clearly on her features. "You said it yourself that you're quite busy."
"Well, I'm not that busy." Izuku said as he scratched the back of his head. "I just train a lot in my spare time to stay in shape. I can just skip a day or two without any issues."
"Yeah, no shit!" Ashido exclaimed. "I can't even imagine what you'd need to do to lose that brick factory physique of yours. I mean, look at those guns!"
Izuku didn't really understand all of her points, but decided to count them as compliments. He really should look into that brick factory thing. He wasn't infringing on anything, was he? Hopefully not.
"Well, if you're sure then I'd gladly have you." Kendo stated with a smile, relief washing over her as they shook hands to seal the deal. "Shiozaki will text you once we decide on a date."
"Oh, can we join?!" Kirishima suddenly asked.
"Right, the sooner we get to revising the better!" Ashido seconded.
"I guess so?" Kendo decided after a few moments of thought. Adding that chaotic duo to the mix definitely won't cause problems, right?
With the lunch slowly coming to an end, the two classes bid each other farewell before heading off in two different directions. 1-B had a date with Math that 1-A had just escaped and 1-A would spend the entire afternoon in Heroing 101.
Getting to the classroom and taking their seats, the students couldn't help but wonder what they'd be doing today. The last couple of classes were focused mostly on improving their control over their quirks and their hand-to-hand combat skills via various drills and exercises. Some gut feeling however was telling them that today was going to be different, more grandeur if you will.
All Might's arrival was - as per usual - announced by the sound of his footsteps coming down the hall. Getting to hear him before they saw him was like a flex in its own right.
"I am here!" He announced as he threw the door open, the hinges creaking pathetically due to the strain. Izuku really pitied the people that had to keep replacing those. "Alright you zygotes, we've been training a lot these past few days, so I think it's time we put those new skills of yours to the test!" During his speech he flicked the switch in the teacher's desk, causing the back wall where all of their suits were stored to open. "Dress up and meet me outside in fifteen minutes!"
Everyone scrambled to grab their case and be the first to reach the changing rooms, adrenaline riding high due to All Might's announcement and the excitement of finally getting to do something other than simple training drills. They were fine and all, but getting to test yourself against your peers had a certain appeal to it that nothing else could ever hope to match.
Izuku of course was also pretty excited about the mysterious exercise that All Might was planning to put them through today, but he was understandably more tame about it. He was the Class Rep so he should carry himself with at least some sort of maturity even when everyone else was swept by the euphoria.
Putting on his armored suit felt just as amazing now as it did two months ago during their first ever battle trial. It really let him slip into the mindset of a hero, the weight of the armor was nothing compared to the weight of responsibility he'd have to shoulder in the future! As cool as his suit was, putting it on was a lot of work. Thankfully Kirishima was more than eager to help him out just to touch the various pieces. His quirk practically eliminated the need for armor, but it didn't eliminate his tendency to find armor - amongst many, many other things - cool.
Once the Lightning Claw was slotted onto his left arm and the guide-band for his new case slipped underneath the armor so it was protected from damage, Izuku joined his classmates outside and was surprised to find some additions to certain people's hero suits. It seemed he wasn't the only one getting upgrades, though he liked to see that he was the one to incentivize them in the first place.
Yaoyorozu was unfortunately still wearing that skimpy leotard of hers, though she mentioned a few days ago that a new suit was in production and it'd be delivered to her shortly. The sooner the better. Her friend Jirou on the other hand already commissioned and received her upgrade - a new set of reinforced headphones that she could plug her jacks into to filter out the loud sounds and protect her sensitive hearing, effectively covering her biggest weakness with a single piece of equipment. The support guys really are amazing.
Bakugo's giant bracers looked more streamlined and Todoroki's… questionable first suit was completely overhauled some time ago. Shoji's mask looked more like an armored faceguard, Sero's suit was reworked slightly to be more in-line with his newly acquired acrobatic skills, Tokoyami's cloak appeared to have more weight to it - probably meaning that it was also reinforced to provide protection - and Mineta was still wearing a diaper.
All in all, Izuku was pretty happy that his classmates were aware of their weaknesses and strong suits and were already thinking of covering for the former whilst playing into the latter. It reminded him not to slack off on his training or else he might find himself left behind sooner than he'd expect it.
"I'm noticing some new looks!" All Might stated as he scanned the crowd gathered in front of him. "Good for you! Remember though that whilst support gear is very handy and useful, it's no excuse to slack off! Equipment might get damaged or outright destroyed in combat, but no one will be able to take your own skills away from you!" He said in a grandiose manner. "Alright you zygotes, let's get on with the training exercise!"
"Sir, since we're back at Ground Gamma does it mean we're gonna race again?" Ashido questioned with an excited grin.
"Not exactly Young Ashido!" All Might responded before fishing out a script from one of his hidden pockets. "Today you'll be learning about one of the most dangerous scenarios that a hero might find themselves in - a hostage situation!" Even though he was half-talking and half-reading blatantly, it didn't get in the way of the reveal too much.
The class gasped collectively, surprised by the announcement. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd like a wildfire and All Might was forced to raise his voice just to be heard over the whispers.
"You'll be randomly assigned a partner and then divided into villains and heroes." All Might started the explanation, catching the students' attention and silencing the murmurs. "The villains will be given three hostages and a couple of minutes of prep time to prepare for the inevitable arrival of the heroes. Their goal is to either subdue the heroes or run out the clock and escape in the getaway vehicle with the hostages. Heroes on the other hand need to apprehend the evildoers within the time limit and free the hostages!"
"Sir, will we be using real props as hostages?" Someone from the crowd asked, anxious about the possibility of real people getting caught in the crossfire of their exercise.
"You do not have to worry about anything!" All Might assured them with a grin. "Principal Nezu had signed a deal for androids that could perfectly simulate a human person and provide the data about the damage sustained by them like broken bones and such. They are nearly indestructible but operate on the standards of a human body and will limp if their leg is injured for example!" The hero explained. "I'm also legally required to say that Militor Defense Solutions is not responsible for any and all psychological trauma that might be caused by the androids' very human-like reaction to injuries!"
"Well that's ominous." The students thought with deadpan expressions.
Due to the completely random and wholly unbiased way of determining both teams and later matchups, some of them ended up being rather… stacked so to speak. Overcoming overwhelming odds is in the description of being a hero however, so that's to be expected. Knowing your limits is a good thing and some were reminded about it very painfully.
Mineta and Hagakure vs Shoji and Todoroki is one of the better examples. Once again on the side of the law, Todoroki coordinated his efforts with Shoji to locate the villains and then proceeded to freeze the entire place. All Might chewed the dual-haired boy out for endangering the faux civilians, but no frostbite set in, so he was off the hook, but advised to rethink his approach.
On the other side of the spectrum were the perfectly balanced - as all things should be - matchups. Ones that quickly became nail biters and demanded attention from beginning to end like Kirishima and Ashido vs Tokoyami and Iida. Izuku was torn on this one since he had friends on both teams, but Kirishima's stamina and durability coupled with Ashido's flexibility and outside the box thinking amplified by their superb teamwork allowed them to subdue Tokoyami and free the hostages before tackling Iida and securing yet another hero win.
Izuku, just like during the race that they had during their last visit to Ground Gamma, ended up in the very last spot, partnering up with Yaoyorozu to face off against Bakugo and Sero.
And to switch up the scenario just a bit, the most heroic member of their class was chosen to become the villain. Izuku wasn't bothered by it however as he understood that they needed to learn as much as they could to become good heroes. Being able to put yourself in the bad guy's shoes was just another useful skill.
As Izuku and Yaoyorozu marched off to choose their hideout with the androids in tow and the daemon's incessant whispering in the background like an ASMR soundtrack, the students prepared themselves for what's going to be one of the more shocking matches.
*googles Grey Knight's standard Modus Operandi* Gah, that's hot. Oh that's hot. That's hawt!
Hmm... joint study sessions you say? I wonder if there is some deep lore about to be presented there?
We've escaped the Midoriya vs Bakugo from the Battle Trial, but it seems it was inevitable after all! I'm sure nothing bad will happen, especially with 'civilians' in the scene, right? Bakugo why are you grasping that pin so tightly? Oh God. Oh fuck! Oh Lord!
And with those smooth red herrings/potential spoilers it's high time to transition to an even smoother bit where I wish you-
Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!