Day 108, 10:00 AM

Forest

There are plenty of people in the hero course who dread reliving their moments at the training camp. The training camp... oh man, that's where they felt like they were dying without dying. And some of them felt more dead than others, especially the ones who did not do so well on the final exams. Yes, Kaminari and Jirou passed by only a hairsbreadth, but they still got worked harder by Mr. Aizawa. They were lucky enough to avoid any of the supplemental classes that the other failures had to endure. They weren't going to be dying during their training but they were training on how to make it easier for zombies to die by their quirks.

There were no teachers and only one class rep was there to supervise everyone. Twenty-five students was better than forty but there still had to be supervising of some kind. That's why they did, what's called, the democratic way. Whoever pulled the short branch was to be made leader and to supervise their own group of four people. Kendo volunteered since she was one of the leaders but more people were slightly nervous. Nevertheless, teams were formed and everyone was getting to work, fast.

Team 1: Kendo, Shiozaki, Kodai, Pony, Yangai

Team 2: Monoma, Kaibara, Awase, Shishida, Shoda

Team 3: Deku, Kaminari, Aoyama, Froppy, Koji Koda

Team 4: Shoji, Hagakure, Mineta, Jirou, Kuroiro

Team 5: Tetsutetsu, Kirishima, Kamakiri, Mashiro, Sato

Split up across the open field, each one got to work on how to kill zombies with their quirks. No zombies were in the area so they had some leniency with using their quirks. None of their quirks were too loud, especially for the explosives ones because the most explosive boy stayed behind to watch the fort. Against his will, sure, but he still stayed behind.

With Kendo's team, they set up several action figures that Kodai brought with them. These action figures were toy soldiers from a bucket just like Toy Story. When they grew to human size with Kodai's quirk, they stood on the ground like statues and were then used as targets.

Who would've thought that a bucket of soldiers could be handy in the zombie apocalypse? Kendo thinks. And because we have three buckets, that means we have plenty of targets to destroy during practice.

Kendo watches patiently as the girls get creative with their quirks. Shiozaki uses her quirk and extends her vines ten feet across, picks up a soldier, and holds it up. She then uses her quirk to grab a knife that was brought with them and stab the soldier. She does this with several more soldiers and manages to stab each one without moving.

Nice, Kendo smiles, with Shiozaki's quirk, she can restrain zombies with her vines and use the same vines to stab them in the brains at long distances. And if the worst happens, she can make a shied just like she did against Kaminari in the sports festival. I think Shiozaki found her killing move.

Kodai picks up a large boulder and tosses it in front of her, blocking the path of the station soldier statue in front of her. She goes to retrieve the boulder and uses her quirk to shrink it. With the boulder the size of a pebble, she drops it to the ground, stomps on it, and breaks it into tiny pieces. She picks up each piece and enlarges it. She uses the sharpest pebbles that she can find to throw at the soldier statue and knock it back.

Nice work, Yui. You can turn one weapon into multiple weapons to use against zombies. That can come in handy in case we need ammo or ammunition. Kendo narrows her. Ammo and ammunition are the same thing, right?

Yanagi uses her quirk to float several sharp pieces in the air and stabs them right through the brains of the soldier statues. In one of her moves, she floats three sharp rocks across the air and tabs all three of them in the brain. Afterward, she approaches another soldier figurine and uses her quirk to make the heavy branch easier to carry and swing it like a baseball bat.

Kendo smiles.

As for Pony, she predictable uses her moves to stab at zombies from a distance. And that's when Kendo decides to step in.

"Pony, I think your killing moves are flawless but if there's one thing you can improve on, it's close combat."

"Oh," Pony realizes.

"You too, Kodai." Kendo smiles. "Well, it's time for me to finally show you guys some martial arts skills. I'll show all of you just in case. Gather around."

On the other side of the field, Tetsutetsu, Kirishima, Mashiro, and Sato have no choice but to revert back to their old training way back at the camp. The manly brothers activate their quirks and have Mashiro and Sato attack them with their quirks. With Mashiro, it was like clockwork considering that he was used to striking his opponents with his tail but for Sato, he was undergoing slightly more pain. Because of the zombie apocalypse, sugar products and products to make sugar weren't exactly in heavy supply nowadays so Sato was downing a big bag of sugar to help him activate his quirk. And when that wears off, he has no choice but to attack without his quirk. But hey, if it built up their endurance and durability against zombies, then that sounds like it could work. Another thing they also work on is takedowns so they can get in and kill zombies. Mashiro and Sato trip Kirishima and Tetsutetsu before stomping hard on their skulls.

Kamakiri was too busy using his blades to slash and stab at all the soldier figurines in front of him to even bother paying attention to everyone else.

Elsewhere on the other side of the field, Shoji was using his quirk to hold multiple opponents back at the same time. Said opponents were Jirou, Kuroiro, Hagakure, and Mineta. Shoji holds them back using multiple arms before duplicating more arms to stab each of them in the brain. He doesn't actually stab them, obviously, but he does hold the tip of the blades in front of their eyes. When Shoji's exercise was over, Hagakure and Mineta went. They tagged together as a team with Mineta using his balls to stick the soldier figures to the ground and Hagakrue removed the last of her clothing to sneak up on the figures to stab them in the brain.

"This is going to be fun!" Kuroiro smiles. He merges into Jirou's jacket.

She plugs her amplifiers in the ground. "Heartbeat Distortion!" She breaks the ground apart and causes the figurines to fall. Behind Jirou, Kuroiro acts as Jirou's eyes in the back of his skull and stabs the incoming zombies (Hagakure and Shoji) in the brain. When he leaps out of Jirou's jacket, he runs to a tree as Hagakure and SHoji continue to pose as running zombies. Kuroiro merges into the shadows of the tree behind him and travels upward before getting to an angle where he can kill the zombies.

"Nice," Hagakure praises, "You and Jirou are awesome together."

The dark-themed boy laughs. "Thank you."

"It's easy to work with someone who can merge with shadows when you're wearing a black leather jacket all the time," Jirou jokes.

And with that, there were only two teams left that were to be checked on. And one of those teams happened to be taking a break. That team will be checked on later but for now...

Kaibara activates his quirk and drills a hole into the figurine's head before him. He does the same thing with two more figurines and manages to knock them to the ground. "Nice." He smiles. "Any zombies that try to get up close, I'll make mincemeat out of them."

Monoma chuckles. "Don't forget: if you get so much as a single drop of zombie blood in your eye, you'll be infected. If you get bitten..." He looks down somberly. "You die."

Kaibara looks at his friend. "Right."

"We should probably invest in wearing masks and goggles. That way... we can protect our eyes, noses, and mouth from zombie blood."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Awase welds a knife to the tip of a stick and Shoda uses his quirk to launch it forward. Three figurines go down simultaneously and the two pat each other.

"You and I are going to be the best at killing zombies," Awase smiles. "Weld and Twin Impact work like a beautiful charm." He grabs a stick and hands it to his friend. "Here you go."

Shoda takes the stick and swings it. He reels it back and... "Twin impact." The second swing sets the soldier figure flying across the field and landing on the ground, crumbling to pieces.

"Hey, Shishida?" Kuroiro walks up to them.

Calming down his aggression a little bit, Shishida turns to Kuroiro. "Yes?"

"I couldn't help but notice that the name of your quirk is called 'Beast' and we happened to call the big zombies 'beasts'."

"Yes, what are you saying?"

"Well, I was wondering, since we'll eventually face zombie beasts in the future, we could probably use you for practice."

"Meaning... you're going to launch as many of your killing moves on me?" His tone depends on his fists clenching.

Kuroiro smiles, the big boy's aggressive tone not intimidating him in the slightest. "Just a thought."

"Zombie beasts are very durable," Jirou points out as she joins Kuroiro, "and chances are, we're going to have a tough time taking down a zombie beast."

"But with your Beast quirk, we're hoping you can take on a zombie beast."

Appearing out of nowhere, Kaminari steps in and says, "I zapped a zombie beast with two million volts and he survived." He turns and walks back.

"Maybe we can test the electric boy's quirk on Shishida and see if he's as durable as a zombie beast," Kuroiro snarks.

"Nobody lay a finger on me!" Shishida snaps. He bares his teeth.

"Just a thought." Kuroiro shrugs with a smirk before walking off.

Koji Koda and Froppy were in the forest, using their quirks to navigate the terrain. When they get into the open, Froppy uses her quirk to trip several figurines before leaping over the area and stabbing them in the brain. Koji Koda stays behind and looks around to see if he can find animal life. Finding nothing, he tries yelling into the air to attract bird life but not a single bird in the last 16 kilometers comes to meet him.

"Man." Deku sits down on a log, taking a break from overusing his quirk. He looks down at his palms which start to blister from overusing his quirk. "Damn, why are my hands burning up."

He reaches over and grabs a water bottle. He finds the bottle empty and sighs heavily. He drops the bottle and looks up when -

Aoyama shoves a water bottle into Deku's mouth. Deku coughs before snatching the bottle out and coughing up a storm. He pats his chest before looking up at Aoyama. "What was that for?"

"You looked thirsty so I got you a drink." Aoyama flashes his pearly white with that permanent look on his face.

"But did you have to ambush me? What if I drowned?"

"Non non, I would never let you drown, Izuku." Aoyama finally takes a moment to sit down on the log beside him. "Also, I just wanted to tell you that... I know."

Deku stiffens his back and gazes at the French boy. "You... know... what?"

What the hell is Aoyama talking about? He knows? What does he know?

"I know about your quirk."

"Uhh... what about my quirk?"

"Your quirk... your body... is fragile against your quirk. Incompatible."

"Huh?"

"Ever since I was un petit garcon, I've had to wear this belt. It's not just for show. Without this support belt, my naval laser just leaks out and... I can't do anything about it. Without this belt, I'm afraid that I'll become a liability. I noticed the same thing with your quirk being compatible. I've seen the way you wield your flames."

"What do you mean?"

"If someone like you had a quirk since birth, then you would know about the blisters you get. I think you avoid using your quirk for too long because you know it's incompatible with your body."

Izuku shakes his head. "No, no, it's just that... I'm a late bloomer." He looks up to the sky nervously. "Apparently, it's not exactly common to be a late bloomer with developing quirks since people usually develop quirks when they're around four or so but yeah, it is possible for some people to be late bloomers. That's what I told my mom -" He shuts himself up. Mom? How long has it been since I saw Mom?

"You said 'late bloomer' at lot mon ami. When did you develop your quirk?"

Deku thinks back to the day he met All Might, and how disappointed he was that he couldn't ask his hero his question. Could he be a hero without a quirk? He's wanted to know the answer to that question for over ten years and when All Might was before him, he tripped and the pro hero jumped away to carry that Sludge villain to jail. And then, three days later, his father unexpectedly comes home. After not seeing him for so long, his father just shows up out of the blue, spends the day with them, and then leaves. But before he left, his father grabbed his hand and Deku felt a powerful sensation in his hand. After that, he never saw his father again.

"A little before I got into UA," Deku admits.

Aoyama suddenly loses his smile as he faces Deku with a serious look. "Did you get your quirk from All for One?"

Deku says nothing for the longest time. He keeps his mouth shut before picking himself up and grabs Aoyama. He takes him over to the forest and when they're out of sight from the other students, Deku faces Aoyama.

"What gave you that idea? What are you implying?"

Aoyama looks down. "I... I got my quirk from All for One. It's... why my body is compatible with my quirk. I thought that... maybe you got your quirk from All for One too."

Deku says nothing but keeps his eyes on Aoyama, staring into his soul.

"Did you get your quirk from All for One?"

"No," Deku says firmly. "I did not. I'm a late bloomer, nothing more, nothing less. Were you aware of All for One's nature when he gave you your quirk?"

"I was not, Izuku. My parents felt bad for me because of my quirkless nature and they found a man who can give quirks. That's when All for One gave me my quirk when I was a little boy. Apparently, this came with a favor and the man told my parents that when he calls in that favor, they will owe him. But after ten years, All for One never called in that favor. And then... that fateful night at Kamino Ward... All Might and All for One died fighting each other." A tear rolls down his cheeks. "My parents made a deal with the devil but luckily for them, the devil died before he could do something horrible to them. And now... I just feel so guilty. This quirk of mine doesn't belong to me and it was given to me by the man who killed All Might."

If anything, it was Deku who felt like he didn't deserve to be here at UA. For a long time, he thought that his quirk was the result of him being a late bloomer but after seeing All for One on the news and, even though the name was censored, he knew right off the bat how he got his quirk. Hisashi Midoriya, his father, was All for One, and when his father touched his hand the day before he left, it was to give him a quirk. The media censored All for One's real name and when his name kept leaking in the media, the HPSC decided it would be better to misspell the Midoriya surname so no one would know that a relative of AFO was attending UA.

"Is All for One your father?" Aoyama suddenly asks.

Looking like he was in a daze, Deku nodded absentmindedly. "Yes. He's my father."

Aoyama suddenly looks up, his expression blank but the tears were there. "It looks like we're both being burdened by our quirks, mon ami. But... just because you're the son of a demon doesn't make you a demon, Izuku. I've seen what you've done. The things you did at the USJ... you're a hero. And the way you go out of your way to keep us alive... you are a hero, Izuku. More of a hero than anyone I've met."

"No, I'm not a hero. How can I be a hero?" Deku feels his face going red as his eyes puff up. "I've always wanted to have a quirk and then... my father... the demon himself, gives me a quirk? I wanted to ask All Might if I could become a hero without a quirk and I was too clumsy. And then when I got into UA, I didn't ask him, even though he was our teacher. I thought that since I had a quirk, I didn't have to ask. And then I found out my quirk comes from a villain, a villain who stole this quirk and gave it to me."

"I can see you're sad, vert. In this world, there is always going to be sadness. But there should be optimism too, mon ami." He hugs Deku and pats him on the back. "I remember All Might saying something like... 'It doesn't matter where your quirk comes from but how you use it'. This may be a stolen quirk but at the end of the day... it is up to you how you use it. That's something I learned a long time ago. You're not All for One's son, you're not a little demon, you're you. You're Izuku Midoridya."

Deku sobs, wraps his arms around Aoyama tightly and hugs him. He cries into his shoulder and sniffles a few seconds before he pulls back and looks at Aoyama with puffy eyes. "Thank you, Aoyama."

"Just know, if you ever feel like you need someone to talk to... I will be here, mon ami. If the world hadn't gone à l'envers, then I would've sat down and enjoyed some fine cheese with you."

Deku laughs. "I know you would, Aoyama."

Aoyama begins walking back to the training camp, wiping the tears away before stopping. "Are you coming, Izuku?"

Deku wipes the tears away. "Yeah."

Now I know how Todoroki felt. Man, if only I got through to him at the sports festival...

12:03 PM

With Kaminari and Jirou

When it was time for everyone to take a break, Kaminari and Jirou took a seat on a log and sighed heavily.

"I'm starting to think I should've stayed home," Kaminari admits. "I mean, after one shot, I'm pretty much useless."

Jirou taps him with her jack. "Hey, did you forget everything I told you on the bike ride back? You're not useless. Sure, you go stupid after one blast but you're not useless."

He twitches. "Come on, stop calling me stupid."

She laughs. "Sorry, I can't help it."

Kaminari closes his eyes and sighs once more. "Even after the apocalypse, old habits die hard." He looks at Kendo. "Maybe I should take up a karate session with Kendo; she could teach me a few tricks."

"Please, teaching you martial arts is like trying to teach a brick martial arts."

"Oh come on, Jirou; quit messing with me!"

"Sorry, you just make it too obvious." She takes out her phone and opens her music app. "Do you mind giving my phone a charge?"

"Really, of all the times we could be training and you want me to charge your phone?"

"Please? We're on a thirty-minute break so why not?"

Kaminari takes her phone along with a charging cord Jirou brought with her. He plugs the cord into the phone before putting the other end of the cord into his mouth and activating his quirk.

"You owe me for charging your phone."

"We'll see about that."

As Jirou plays with her jack while Kaminari charges her phone, she suddenly realizes something. "Hey guys, I forgot to tell you something: we found a factory."

The other students gather around the duo, panting hard. That's when Jirou realizes that the students are officially starting to kick the buckets. They had been out here for the last few hours, going beyond and plus ultra with their quirks and most of them were starting to wear down after a while. They may have a lot of stamina from her physical training but they were starting to tire out after prolonged quirk use.

"What kind of factory?" Shishida asks.

"A soda bottling factory," Kuroiro answers, "and a dead one at that. Along with some dead bodies." He looks around. "Dead, not undead."

"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" Kendo scolds.

"I'm sorry, we forgot," Kaminari's voice comes out muffled with the cord in his mouth.

"Coming from you, that's not surprising," Hagakure admits.

Kaminari's eyes twitch once more. "Why does everyone make jokes at my expense."

"We should check it out," Deku suggests, "we got time to kill."

"We were going to scout the place out but it's too big for the four of us to scout all by ourselves." Kuroiro walks forward. "And if we found supplies, we might need a hand in carrying some stuff back so..."

The twenty-five students walk in the direction that the three supply runners direct them to and come upon the factory. Like before, there were the five bodies Kurorio managed to drag out earlier. Without wasting a second of inhaling that foul odor, Deku lights up a match and burns the bodies. While everyone goes inside to search the place, Deku stays behind to make sure to not accidentally cause a forest fire.

"Wow, look at this place," Pony groans. She coughs a little. "Smells horrible."

"This place is scary," Yanagi shivers.

"If it smells dead then that's because it is dead." Shiozaki draws a cross on her chest. "I just hoped these people were spared from a painful fate."

"One can hope," Monoma assures. "And let's hope that they're permanently dead."

When the class goes into the building, Mashiro, Hagakure, Shoji, and Aoyama stay behind to meet up with Deku.

As Deku finishes burning the bodies, he looks away, the urge to vomit rising in his stomach but he wraps his hands around his mouth tightly to prevent such upchuck.

"Do you think their families are still alive?" Hagakure asks Mashiro. "Do you think their families know that their children and siblings are dead?"

Mashiro looks at the charred corpses. "Who knows? But honestly, who would want to know? Would you want to know if your parents are walking corpses would you rather not know at all?"

"My parents are invisible so... it's going to be kinda hard to see them. But..."

"Huh, invisible zombies. The thought never crossed my mind."

Deku puts out the flames before waving his hand to ward off the flames.

"This will be something you gotta get used to, Midoriya," Shoji says using a mouth he duplicated on his tentacles.

"Yeah, you don't have to remind me." Once the flames vanish completely, Deku waits patiently for the others to come out.

"I didn't see you working out a lot," Shoji mentions, "weren't you training killer moves with your quirk?"

"Eh, my quirk's not really handy with zombies. I can set them on fire but that's pretty much it. I can change the size of the flame but not the temperature so it's not like I can cremate them. And the longer I use my fire quirk, the more my body starts to sizzle."

"It's all about going beyond. Plus Ultra, right?"

Deku nods and without even realizing it, a walker pounces him from behind.

Character Cards

Ken Aritomo (Officer That Spotted The Kids in Chapter 4)

Quirk: Irrelevant

Occupation: Police officer

Age: 33

Birthday: February 18th

Height: 167cm

Blood Type: O

Likes: Frisbee

Other Facts: Fluent in Japanese Sign Language.

Yui Miki (The old lady Iida carries in Chapter 5)

Quirk: Irrelevant

Occupation: Seamstress (retired)

Age: 60

Birthday: October 20th

Height: 152cm

Blood Type: O

Likes: Harrods tea.

Other Facts: Retired at the age of 45.