"Go on. Tell us what you learned," said Sensei.
"If my opponent doesn't want to engage in a fight, then my quirk's pretty darn useless!" said Kirishima, removing his helmet. "In a real fight, I'd be dead meat the second I got caught."
"I need to give more specific instruction to my bugs," said Koda.
"I was awesome right!?" cried Kaminari, who was slipping into his foolish mode. "Go on, feel free to heap on the praise! Don't hold back, show me some love! You know you want to!"
Jirou, beside me, was struggling to contain her laughter.
"We lost two," said Tsu. "I wanted to win with the whole team intact. It all got a bit chaotic."
"After everything I learned, I couldn't even put a fraction of it to use," sighed Shinsou. "It's frustrating."
"Nobody's a pro straight out of the gate," replied Mr. Aizawa. "It took me six whole years to master the binding cloth. Remember that frustration you're feeling and use it as motivation."
"Right."
"The two who did work studies are quite hard on themselves," said Aoyama. Meanwhile, Jirou was sniggering harder and harder. "Meanwhile, Jamming-yay doesn't know the meaning of modesty..."
"Shinsou's youthful spirit...I love it!" cried Miss Midnight, hugging her shoulders and smiling, her head rocking back and forth, while behind her All Might grumbled, "Cut that out."
Sensei was giving the remaining students a talking to.
"Kirishima. Focus up on setting up direct encounters where you get to brawl."
"Yes, sir!"
"Koda, as you suggested, you need to work on your strategizing."
"Kaminari! Your early game was a mess! Does it take losing your allies for you to finally put your talents to actual use?"
"Yaayy..."
"Asui, you midhgt've messed up, but you reacted quickly and changed course."
"Kero."
Meanwhile, Vlad King sensei was giving his own lecture.
"You all already know what I'm going to say, yeah? WAs Shishida your central pillar or was it Shiozaki!? With consolidated leadership, you could've won this!"
"Shiozaki just can't bring herself to decieve others," said Monoma. "Faling to take that into consideration ended up costing you."
"I gave our opponents a chance to strategize...sorry about that, Shiozaki," said Shishida.
"Burned by the fires of hell," his classmate replied."
"A certain someone managed to show us his worth, though. I look forward to our joint battle. Hey, Shinsou! Let's cook up a plan to really make Class A Cry!" cried Monoma as he hurled hismelf at Shinsou.
"We need a plan of our own," murmured Midoriya.
He was right. As my teammates and I turned to head towards the battlefield, we saw all the remaining teams sitting down to conference together. Jirou seemed to be having the expected trouble rangling Bakugou; Todoroki's team sat as quiet professionals, and Midoriya had taken out his notebook.
But for us, It was time for...
"The second match! Prepare yourselve,s team 2!"
"Yaoyorozu!" said Kendo, catching up with me as our teams walked towards the battlefield.
"Yes, Kendo?"
"Why didn't you enter the beauty paegeant? I was sure you would."
I flushed a little and smiled despite myself; it was nice to hear such flattering words. "Aizawa sensei never mentioned it actually. He must have decided it was unnecessary. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to, given our band practices." And I would have much rather been playing music with Jirou than being examined by a group of boys and judged for my looks.
"Hmph!" said Kendo. "After that commercial we did during our internship, people see us as equals. Basically putting us in the same box, you could say."
"The same box?" I could picture to myself an odd image of myself pushing Kendo into a cardboard box.
"Seems like people are fans of the whole combo!" cried Hagakure. "That person was screaming 'Yaoyorozu' and 'Kendo' at the culture festival!"
Oh yes, the fans.
"Idolatry. Cultish worship," said Tokoyami.
"Your quirk and grades are way better than mine, but they still lump us together. Honestly, I don't like it," Kendo continued. "Personally, I've been itching for a chance to go head-to-head!"
"I wholeheartedly accept your challenge," I smiled back at her. A rival, properly, of my own.
"tokoyami, you're like me," said Kuroiro, the boy with the quirk black, to Tokoyami.
"Shihai Kuroiro. Your black quirk allows you to meld with the darkness and move within it."
"You and me, we're connected by fate."
"Ho ho. Another who communes with the abyss."
"Hey hey. A fellow resident of perpetual darkness."
Their darkness off concluded in turning away to brood seperately.
"Wowwee!" cried Hagakure.
We separated and prepared for our fight as the announcement for the Start came.
I had a plan already at the ready. We knew their abilities through the Sports Festival and training camp.
"Tokoyami, we'll need dark shadow to strike the first blow," I instructed. There seemed to be no question or objection among us as to my status as leader; the others instantly turned to me to know what must be done. Tokoyami nodded and Dark Shadow took point. We rushed along, following his guide.
"Dark shadow has located them," Tokoyami told us as we neared the denser equipment. "It seems they're directly in front of that towering smokestack."
"You're able to send your companion quite far now, oui?" said Aoyama. "Perhaps you leveled up during your work study?"
"In a way. Though dark shadow won't last as long when its farther away. Let's move." He jumped then. Dark Shadow was coming back.
"Ah, it's returning!" said Aoyama.
"Everyone scatter! Back to me, Dark Sha-" Tokoyami began, but stopped as Dark Shadow - attacked him?
Kuroiro popped out of the darkness.
"Kuroiro popped outta Dark Shadow!" cried Hagakure.
I tossed capture nets his way, but he slipped into the darkness of the shadows on the pipes.
"Ah, Fumikage Tokoyami. I'm gonna wear you like a suit."
"Very well," replied my gloomy teammate, whipping off his cloak. "I shall stand against you with the technique Hawks helped me create - black Fallen Angel!"
League of Villains' Hideout, Mid December.
Tomura Shigaraki skittered along the ground; a giant hand swept down from above and snapped him in two, screaming "WEAK!"
"IN MIDAIR," cried Twice, as the duplicate of the leader he'd created dissolved, leaping for Machia alongside Mr. Compress and Shigaraki, "You're open to attack!"
"Weak! screamed Machia, and again the duplicates were scattered.
Toga and Spinner looked on.
"Our future king is in trouble, huh!?" said Toga.
"Same as always," sighed Spinner.
The doctor had promised his full support, on the condition they could reign in Gigantomachia. It had been a month and a half since then, but the beast still had not come to accept Shigaraki. He could keep attacking without rest for 48 hours and 44 minutes straight, then sleep for about three hours before attacking again. His body grew in battle and he could always sniff out Shigaraki's hiding place. Machia had told them of his great ears adn powerful nose. Hitting him while he was asleep did not work, as he could wake up at once and attack again. For the past month nad a half Shigaraki had barely slept, while the rest had some freedom to wander off and take shifts helping with the mission.
Money had been added to their fund by the doctor, but barely enough for support. He was not ready to give them full funding, not yet. Toga had used a little to buy a new duffle coat.
"Toasty!" she cried, making her way through the woods. "I slow down when I'm too cold."
"Uh huh," sighed Spinner.
"I love how cute A-line cuts look on me," she admitted.
"You joined cuz you love Stain, right?" asked Spinner. "But there's no sign of his influence in the League now, so why're you still here?"
"I love Stainy," said Toga. "I love Izuku and Ochako too! And I wanna become everyone I love!"
"You're so free. Must be nice," sighed Spinner.
"Is he sleeping now?" asked Mr. Compress. "When does that monster find the time to eat?"
"You still alive, Tomura?" asked Toga.
"Yeah. And that thing's slowed down a lot. I'm getting way closer each time, compared to the beginning! I'm definitely gonna trip that gorilla up sooner or later."
"BRAP!" came a sound from Jin's - something.
"Huh? Getting a call from Giran."
"The man hasn't been picking up any of my calls!" cried Mr. Compress. "ASk if this is insured!" he added, pointing to his robotic arm.
"That old broker's been looking out for me ever since he introduced me to the League! A real swell guy!" said Twice. Then, "You there, man! Why don'tcha pick up the phone when Mr. Compress Calls, you jerk?"
"Ah, I'm afraid that would be our fault," came a smooth voice, not Giran's, over teh phone. "I assume I'm speaking to Jin Bubaigawara, the villain known as Twice?"
"A voice changer?" asked Compress.
"Who is this?" said Twice. "And where's Giran?"
"Say, why don't you check the news? Right now, if you can?"
Compress opened up the news on his phone.
"BREAKING NEWS! FOLLOWING YESTERDAY'S EVENTS, ANOTHER FINGER HAS BEEN FOUND. 3 DAYS AGO OUTSIDE THE RESIDENCE OF HTE LEADER OF THE SHIE HASAIIKAI GROUP, A REGISTERED VILLAIN ORGANIZATION, A SEVERED MIDDLE FINGER WAS DISCOVERED. THEN IN FRONT OF HOSU CITY TERMINAL, AN INDEX FINGER. YESTERDAY, A RING FINGER APPEARED ON THE CENTRAL HIGHWAY WHERE A PRISON TRANSPORT VEHICLE WAS ATTACKED. SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. THEN AT GROUND ZERO IN KAMINO WARD A THUMB, AND JUST MOMENTS AGO IN CENTRAL FUKUOKA AT THE SITE OF ENDEAVOR'S FIRECE BATTLE THAT IS STILL FRESH IN OUR MINDS, A PINKIE FINGER. THE FINGERS ALL SEEM TO BELONG TO THE SAME INDIVIDUAL. IN ADDITION, A SCARF, SUNGLASSES AND OTHER ITEMS OF CLOTHING THOUGHT TO BE PERSONAL EFFECTS OF THE VICTIM WERE DISCOVERED AT EACH SCENE. POLICE ARE TREATING THIS AS A CRIME MEANT AS A STATEMENT BY SOME ORGANIZATION OR OTHER."
"Those are the locations where we've done our dirty deeds," murmured Compress.
"Greetings, League of Villains!" said the voice from the phone. "You are speaking to the Grand Commander of the Meta Liberation army, Re-Destro."