06.11.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman with your weekly dose of Evil Within in tow and with no comments to respond to, we can dive straight in!
Enjoy!:
His trip back to the observation room would be a lone one if it wasn't for the sense of pride and satisfaction trailing behind him. He had a couple of questions about the whole murder robots thing, but those could wait for a later date. For now he would like to go back to the dorms and get some rest. He managed something really impressive, but it tired him like hell.
"Note to self, more training, less improvisation." Izuku thought as he approached the observation room.
At least he was still able to move. Needing to be rescued after passing the Finals would be embarrassing to say the least. And could potentially change his grade. Neither of the two sounded particularly great, so he was just glad they didn't come to pass.
Finally entering the observation room, Izuku was immediately swarmed by his classmates and bombarded with questions. It was hard to hear much from the cacophony of voices that assaulted him. Unprepared would be a gross understatement, as Izuku found himself completely overwhelmed.
Yet even with everything that was going on at the moment, Izuku was able to distinguish a few voices from the myriad that surrounded him.
"You took that boom like it was nothing!" Kirishima exclaimed with a wide grin.
"Dude, you straight up Palpatined that one bot!" Kaminari stated.
"Did you have another breakthrough with your power?" The more level-headed Tsuyu asked curiously.
It was going on for about a minute or two when someone finally snapped and decided to put an end to this cacophony.
"Silence!" Aizawa exclaimed, activating his quirk and making his hair float.
Their homeroom teacher's command was more than enough for all of the students to shut up in an instant, dead silence invading the room moments later. Izuku was finally given some space as they all returned to the middle of the room so that they could proceed with the announcements.
"First of all I'd like to congratulate you for all the effort you've put in the last couple of months." Nezu began. "I'm sure even you've noticed how much you've improved already and there's still a long road ahead of you. I hope you'll use this time to the fullest and keep challenging yourself over and over again to grow and become the best versions of yourselves. With that being said, I'd like to extend further words of encouragement to those of you who'd fallen short during today's examination." The Principal made a pause here and Izuku noticed a couple crestfallen expressions amongst the crowd of students. "I'm sure that you're frustrated by the outcomes. You've all worked hard to get here and didn't let up at all. You may have been bested today, but I still firmly believe you'll be able to figure out solutions to your problems. Keep your eyes on the goal and you'll eventually reach it."
The students clapped briefly - scared that their homeroom teacher might explode once again if they continued for too long - as the Principal moved to the back and allowed Aizawa to step up.
"You already know your scores for the practical exam. We still have to check your written tests, so we'll go over both of them on Monday. There'll be no classes till then. You're free to discuss your performance with your peers but we'd like you to refrain from revealing the true nature of the exam to the other class. You're free to go." Short and bitter, that's exactly how their homeroom teacher is.
They didn't need to be told twice, as the students started filing out of the room, heading to change into casual clothes, unwind, relax, eat and whatever else they were planning to do.
As expected, Izuku was quickly joined by Kirishima and Ashido, both of whom happened to fail their practical exams. Thankfully it didn't seem to sour their mood at all. In fact, they looked motivated like never before.
"I really gotta work on my game!" Kirishima stated. "I got so caught up in the fighting that I didn't even notice what was going on!"
"Yeah. Kaminari and I were running like headless chickens before Principal Nezu was able to corner us with the crane. I almost coughed out a lung back there!" Ashido added, sharing her own, equally disappointing experience.
"I'm glad that you didn't let it get to you at least." Izuku said, sending them an encouraging smile.
"Ain't no way we're letting that happen!" Kirishima responded enthusiastically. "We took an L on this one, but we're definitely snagging that W next time!"
"Hell yeah, up high Horn Buddy!" Ashido agreed as they high-fived each other.
"Er, good for you?" Izuku responded with confusion evident on his face, not really understanding what the two were talking about.
Sapped of energy, Izuku was one of the last people to get out of his costume. The fact that his costume was literally a bulky suit of armor didn't help matters at all. There was a surprise waiting for him however.
When he went to remove his gauntlets, he noticed a patch of irritated skin running along his right arm, following a pattern that vaguely resembled a lightning bolt. He inspected his arm further, noting several other 'veins' running across his skin. Some of them merely irritated - as if he touched a nettle or was stung by a bee - but there was one that looked almost as if the skin was burnt.
"Admiring your new tattoo?" The daemon sneered.
"Just surprised is all." Izuku responded, immediately going back to changing.
"You've basically bent the Warp to your will and made it your bitch." The daemon continued. "Don't tell me you never expected side-effects. You should be grateful that a rash is all you have to worry about for now."
"So what are some of the things I might have to worry about in the future?" Izuku questioned, mildly curious.
"Becoming an unwilling slave to a Ruinous Power without even a shred of your former self remaining within the hollow husk that now serves a different master. That's a pretty mild one." Alright, he was not expecting that. "Want me to keep going?"
"There's no need. I get the picture." Izuku cut the daemon off.
The link went silent, for which Izuku was very grateful, allowing him to finish changing in peace. He was tempted to cover up his injured right arm or at the very least report to Recovery Girl so that she could check up on those strange marks, but he doubted there was anything she could do about Warp-based phenomena. There was no telling what really happened to his arm.
And he was hungry. Absolutely famished. His connection to the Warp was somehow suppressed right now, but his connection to his stomach wasn't and that's basically all he could think about right now. It's no wonder then that his feet carried him towards the cafeteria where Lunch Rush was already at work, preparing a true spectacle for their taste buds as per usual.
Getting a way larger than usual portion for himself, Izuku scanned the cafeteria in search of a quiet spot where he could enjoy his meal in peace. There was a free corner on the far end of the mess hall and he was about to set out towards it, but was stopped by a distant call.
"Midoriya!" The feminine voice was definitely familiar, though it was hard to connect it to any one person due to the cafeteria chatter.
Izuku scanned the room again, this time looking for any of his friends or classmates that could be calling out for him. Thankfully he managed to spot the raised arm of a certain redhead and a smile graced his lips.
Navigating the maze of tables and students was quite easy, though his legs felt like logs at this point and he was more than eager to have a seat. Putting his tray down on the table and plopping himself down in the empty spot, Izuku couldn't help but release a content sigh. This action - as well as his overall state - didn't go unnoticed and it was no surprise that someone addressed this.
"Damn Mean Green, you look like you've just come back from hell." Tokage struck up a conversation, her ever-present toothy grin firmly in place.
Shiozaki was about to say something to her seaweed green-haired classmate, but Izuku's brief chuckle stopped her in her tracks.
"And I feel even better." Izuku joked, already taking a bite out of his food.
"Rough finals, eh?" Kendo guessed, receiving a nod in response.
"What happened to your arm?" Shiozaki asked with a mix of curiosity and worry in her voice.
"I had to pull some crazy stuff to pass my practical and I might've gone a bit overboard towards the end." Izuku explained, sticking his right arm out so that the other people could see what he was talking about.
"Looks kind of like an electrical burn…" Kendo said after a short examination.
"Whatever it is, it looks cool!" Tetsutetsu stated with a grin. "Does it hurt?" He questioned, realizing that it might not be as cool as it looked.
"Not really, no." Izuku answered, calming their worries. "It tingled at first, but it's alright now."
"That's good to hear." Shiozaki stated, her opinion shared by the other students.
"On the subject of finals! What did you have to do?" Tokage questioned, leaning across the table with an interrogative spark in her eyes.
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you." Izuku answered right away. "Besides, I'm not sure if you'll be subjected to the same exam and I don't want to put ideas in your head."
His words were both a lie and a truth at the same time. They'll most likely end up fighting the teachers as well, but it's impossible to guess which ones exactly. Will they end up fighting their own homeroom teacher or will Aizawa end up appearing again to face another set of quirk-reliant students? It was simply better for them to find out on their own - a logical conclusion one would say.
"Come on!" Tokage whined. "Just a clue? A hint? Anything?"
"Calm down Sets." Kendo intervened. "It's only fair that we go into this as blind as they were. It wouldn't feel right if we knew what to expect ahead of time."
Izuku suspected that Tokage wasn't exactly dead set on getting any answers out of him - especially since he knew she was one of the more skilled students in their class - and was simply trying to fish for gossip. There was a reason as to why she and Ashido were able to befriend each other on the spot.
"Boo-hoo." Tokage eventually gave up, sticking her tongue out at her Class Rep, but still smiling. "Your loss." She added and went back to her own food.
"I was the last one to finish, so I didn't get to watch many fights, but I can tell you about my match later." Izuku said, hoping it'd be enough to satisfy their curiosity.
"I think it'll be nice to compare all of our experiences after the fact." Shiozaki chimed in, a small smile gracing her lips.
"We don't have school till Monday so we can do that as early as tomorrow." Izuku revealed.
"Judging by how you look after the practical part I doubt we'll be able to form cohesive sentences the very next day." Tokage joked. "How about we do it on Saturday? We can all rest up tomorrow and still have a full free day before school."
"That sounds like a good idea." Kendo agreed and then looked to Izuku for confirmation.
"I think it's good. I'll tell Kirishima and Ashido and we can settle on a concrete time and place later, would that be okay?" He responded, opting to finish his meal instead of texting his friends. He would surely catch them back at the dorms.
Nothing mention worthy was said after that, mostly some small talk about this and that, the usual stuff. Izuku made sure to wish the girls and Tetsutetsu luck as they left, hoping they'll all be able to pass.
Later that day - late into the evening hours - Izuku received a text message from Shiozaki. She managed to pass her exam, but was too tired to talk about it in detail right away. As long as she passed, that's all Izuku needed to hear. He shot her a quick goodnight to which she responded in kind and soon enough went to sleep himself.
The extra long weekend was a very welcome thing. It was more than enough time for all of them to recuperate and get back into shape before coming back to school on Monday.
During this time Izuku felt his connection to the Warp return to normal and the itchy markings on his arm fade away in a matter of days. Despite passing his practical exam, he wasn't about to slack off and used the free days to dive into the subject of meditation as much as he could. He didn't spend all this time holed up in his room mind you, making sure to spare some time to hang out with his friends from both classes. They had some fun and before they realized it was Monday already.
The usual chatter that was normally accompanying their mornings was nonexistent, as the students were a bit anxious about the outcome of their written exams. Some more than others of course, but the uncomfortable feeling was definitely there. Izuku himself knew that he did as well as he could all things considered - the joint study session no doubt aiding him in achieving passable marks - and the same goes for both Kirishima and Ashido. No matter the outcome, they should at least be able to accept it, since they did everything they could. It might just motivate them to work even harder in the future.
Aizawa strolled into the classroom, hunched over and looking like his rugged self, with some papers tightly within his grasp. He assumed his usual position at his desk before addressing his class.
"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you for passing all of your written exams without a single casualty. I was expecting at least a couple of you to fail, but I was pleasantly surprised, great work." Aizawa started his monologue, surprising everyone with his - kind of - kind words. Their homeroom teacher was not a man to hand out praise willy-nilly, so to receive a pat on the back from him was a very meaningful thing. "Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for your practical exams. With these outcomes in mind, we'll have to adjust your schedules for the next term accordingly, but we'll inform you of the changes in time."
Well, it couldn't be all good news, though they were already expecting this to be addressed today. Now the question was - what will be the consequences?
"The penalty for failing any part of the end-of-term exams is a week-long remedial course meant to examine your shortcomings and point out what you should focus on going forward. Since you've all passed the written exams this only applies to those of you who failed their practical exams. Namely Kaminari, Sato, Kirishima, Ashido and Mineta. The remedial course starts right after the end-of-term, so you'll have to remain at school for a week longer." Aizawa announced, his words being met with dissatisfied groans.
No one was crazy enough to actually speak out though, the five mentioned students knew they kind of screwed up during their matches and at the end of the day, another week wasn't that bad of a punishment. It might've disrupted a couple of plans, but it was still way better than expulsion or being transferred to the general studies, right?
There were no more grand announcements to make and so the homeroom continued to proceed as normal, Aizawa taking a brief nap at his desk while his students talked amongst themselves in hushed voices so as not to incur their teacher's wrath.
Even though there were still a couple of days left in the term, Izuku overheard nearly all of his classmates discussing their plans for the upcoming break. Unsurprisingly, most of them expressed a desire to go back home and visit their relatives and friends, something that Izuku could certainly understand, despite not being able to do so himself. Listening to those conversations however was enough for Izuku himself to start wondering what HE should do during the break.
He could always stay at UA for the next month and use this time to train his Warp-based powers even more, hopefully achieving a more stable breakthrough than what he was able to do up to this point. He'd probably be able to get some swordfighting exercise in, hoping to hone his skills with the blade even more. Or maybe he'd just take the time to unwind and contemplate in peace? With nearly all of his classmates gone, the dorms would surely become quite the lonely place, but it's not like that was an exceptionally bad thing or anything like that. Although Izuku would certainly love to have someone to talk to over the course of the month.
And that's when he remembered something. He had people he could visit during the break. He wasn't able to see them ever since coming to UA due to his busy schedule, but he promised he'd eventually come back and talk about his adventures. Now was as good of a chance as any, right? God, what if they saw his performance in the Sports Festival?! Well, no matter the case, Izuku promised to visit them every once in a while and - as Kirishima would surely put it - it'd be incredibly unmanly of his to break his promise.
The end of the first term is coming to a close! But wait, remedial classes during the break? Did I just put the canon in the blender and made it go vroom? Who knows?!
Well... I- I know. I guess.
But I also know that that's all I got for today, so have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!