UA HIGH
After what had happened with Todoroki's dad, we were all a little relieved to get back to basic training. Finally we were going to do a real extended hero exercise once more with our classmates in 1B! It was kind of exciting. It was also our first winter training too, so we were getting to see our classmates' winter costumes for the first time.
"Wow Tsu," I said as she suited up next to me in the locker room. "What'd you put on your neck?"
"My froggy cheek neck wrap," she replied. "I'm not great at regulating my body temperature, so in winter my costume is insolated, and the neck is based on a frog's cheeks with a high-performing temperature regulating function. It all keeps my body temperature right where it's supposed to be."
"Wow!" I gasped. "That's really cool. I guess I didn't even think about adding something new for winter weather."
"Well," said Yaomomo, leaning out from behind the lockers to smile at me, "your quirk isn't really affected much by the weather, is it?" She had added a big cape over her regular hero costume, which didn't seem all that warm to me!
But Mina, who'd added on a white jacket with a fur collar, seemed really excited by it!
"So warm!" We gushed as we felt up the edge of the cloak. It was actually quite thermally heated! "Can we go under it, Yaomomo?" Ashido asked.
"Of course. If you like."
We both ducked under. It really was warm! Just like being under a big heated blanket. "Warm!" "So warm!"
"Let's go," snapped Jirou, who was fastening on her knew wrist-guards.
As we headed out towards Gym Gamma, we passed All Might and Midnight Sensei, who were having some sort of conversation.
"Interesting take on your winter version!" Miss Midnight called to Yaoyorozu, waving. "Accommodating quirks like ours in winter is tricky. Well done in finding a way to keep your basic style."
"Thank you, Sensei," she smiled, as we headed out. It occurred to me then that I was probably the only girl who hadn't made any modifications to my costume since the start of term. Most of hte kids in class had changed something about their costumes, to do better with their quirks or guard against winter, but I was still wearing the same outfit and using the same gear I used when we started. That old insecure feeling suddenly welled up again, that same weird vibe I'd been getting before the License Exam. I mean, everyone else is doing so well, but I'm just...paddling along?
Well, ok, I wasn't the only girl who hadn't changed. Hagakure was toughing out the cold in her boots and gloves.
"Aren't you cold, Hagakure?" Jirou asked her.
"Totally freezing!"
"Toughing it out, huh?"
"My winter style's cool as heck, don'tcha think?" Smiled Ashido, spreading out her arms to show off the cape.
"All of our costumes have undergone considerable transformations since the school year began," said Iida, whose costume looked to me identical to the first he'd worn. But heck, even he'd broken out a new special move since semester started.
"It's crazy how you made it through the summer in that getup, Iida," said Sato as he pulled on his mask.
"You've got a new look too, Kacchan!" I heard Deku cry out. I turned to check it out.
"Huh? Got a problem with it? Then say it - to my face, you stupid nerd!" Bakugou was yelling. He'd changed his tank top for a turtleneck, and I couldn't really see what was so different about it. But Deku was already gushing.
"Your costume must guard against the cold and generate heat, yeah? Since your sweat glands serve as weapons, it only stands to reason. What great modification!"
"I don't want your praise either!" Bakugou snarled back.
Deku always has something nice to say about Bakugou and his improvements...he never even notices me...
"You've got the most drastic upgrades though, Midoriya," said Ojiro. "Those gloves are recent, right?"
"I need to keep up my new abilities, and yeah the gloves are pretty awesome. This is already my second pair, actually. Hatsume modified them to take more of a beating!"
Oh right, Hatsume. Oh crap...
That awful jealous feeling I'd gotten watching Hatsume all over Deku was flaring up again, darn it. Go away, go away! I punched myself in the face. "GET OUT!"
"Oh, are we slacking off?" Came that smarmy, arrogant voice we all knew way too well. "Is that your way of underestimating us?"
"Oh, they're here," said Kirishima. "Nope, we're not underestimating anyone. Just excited!"
"Hey, is that so? Too and for you. The tides are rolling our way now! Hear me Class A! Today is the day we settle this rivalry!" Monoma screamed as Class 1B shot him weird looks.
Monoma pulled a sheet of paper dramatically out of his pocket.
"Check out this survey I took at the culture festival! Which did people prefer - Class A's dinky concert or Class B's ultra-high-quality Theatrical production? Well take a look! Yes, our margin of victory was two entire votes!"
Kirishima and Jirou both took up the paper, and Jirou's face fell.
"For real? Well, can't argue since we didn't see their show."
"You've been hogging the spotlight like pigs in slop ever since school started, but those days are coming to an end! Because today it's A vs. B! Our first joint battle training! And we're gonna - argh!"
Kendo had been heading towards him to karate chop him silent, but Mr. Aizawa got there first.
"Quiet, you."
He and Vlad King Sensei were facing both our classes now.
"We've got a special guest today," said Vlad sensei.
"So try not to make fools of yourselves," said Mr. Aizawa.
"A guest?" asked Yaoyorozu.
"Fresh meat!" Bakugou yapped.
"A girl, I hope!?" Said Kaminari.
"We'll show em the ropes!" Said Tetsutetsu.
"He's hoping to transfer to the hero course," said Mr. Aziawa, and Deku and Ojiro both gasped.
It was the guy from the Sports Festival that Deku had fought in the first round!
"Hitoshi Shinso, from Class C of General Studies!"
"Shinsou!" Gasped Ojiro.
"So that explains the look you gave me earlier in the hall!" Said Deku.
Everyone had started buzzing about our new guest. He was dressed in regulation gym uniform, but with a neck cloth like Mr. Aizawa's and a strange thing on his neck like Deku's grille. He kinda looked a bit like Mr. Aizawa's kid, standing next to him.
"Isn't that Aizawa-sensei's binding cloth?"
"The mask looks unique, though."
"Good to have ya, man!"
"He can brainwash those who respond to him, right?" Aoyama asked Ojiro.
"I didn't stand a chance."
"Midoriya got whammies too, but broke the spell somehow," Mineta commented.
"That was just a fluke, really," said Deku.
"Go on, introduce yourself," Sensei told Shinsou.
He looked around at all of us, sporting a serious frown.
"I had encounters with several of you at the Sports Festival, but don't think that we're friends just because we fought. I'm not the type for displays of good sportsmanship like that. I'm already so far behind you all. I'm doing everything I can to catch up. I'll be a great hero some day, and strive to use my quirk to help people. So to me, all of you here are just obstacles to overcome. I'm not here to make friends."
"Wow, delightful," I grimaced. Not another Bakugou type...
"How stiff," said Tokoyami, clapping politely.
"Reminds me of Early-roki," Sero snarked at Todoroki, who glanced at him rather good-naturedly. "Oh yeah?"
"Uh huh."
Monoma was grinning. "I like this guy."
"Let's get right to it, then…" said Sensei.
"Battle training time. It's a series of matches pitting class A against Class b. The Battlefield is one section of Athletic field Gamma. Both classes will split into teams of four and square off against another team!"
"Four person teams!" Said a 1B girl in a lizard suit. "Should be fun!"
"Yep, fun!" Said a girl next to her, who was dressed like a large mushroom.
"With Shinso added in," said a boy who looked like a large beast, "we've got 41 altogether. How do we account for him?"
"Shinso will be participating in two matches, joining Class A for one and Class B for the other. Meaning two of the five matches will be five vs. four."
"That's not fair for the four person teams!" Cried Hagakure.
Vlad King sensei shook his head. "The four students who have to incorporate the inexperienced Shinso are actually at a disadvantage. Having five members will give you the edge numbers-wise, but it's also a handicap. The scenario this time around is 'Heroes trying to capture steam of villains." So think of the opposing team as villains! Capture four of your opponents to win."
"Villains do the team-up thing too, huh?" Said the Mushroom girl to Tetsutetsu, the boy Kirishima fought at the Sports Festival. He punched his hand and fist together. "Nice n simple! Love it!"
Iida seemed to be having some kind of stress-inducing crisis. "So we're heroes, but the opponent views us as villains!? Which role to we play up then!?"
"Let's go with heroes," said Yaomomo.
"Each team's home base has a cutesy-cutesy lock-em-up prison. The instant someone's thrown in the cage, they count as captured."
"What high stakes!" Cried Iida.
"The efficient strategy would be to disable the enemy near our own base," said the beast boy. "Easier said than done, probably."
"Capture four opponents to win? Is that what you meant by handicap?" Asked Bakugou.
"Yes," said Sensei. "Not only is Shinso inexperienced, by the five-person team he's on still loses if four members are caught."
"So that team's gotta fight while carrying deadweight? Crap," said Bakugou.
"That's a nasty way to phrase it."
"He's not wrong," said Shinsou.
"This guy's light-years ahead in the maturity department!" Cried Kaminari.
Sensei and Vlad King both held up boxes labeled "Lots A" and "Lots B."
"Now, time to draw lots."
We drew. Me and Deku were on a team with Mina and Mineta, going fifth. Tsu had the first team with Kirishima, Kaminari and Koda. Yaoyorozu, Aoyama, Tokoyami, and Hagakure were on the second team,. Iida was on the third with Todoroki, Shoji and Ojiro; Bakugou on the fourth with Jirou, Sero and Sato.
"Now you, Shinso," said Vlad King. "You'll join one team from each class."
He was to be with 1A for the first round, and 1B for the fifth. So we'd be fighting him...
"I know you said all that stuff," said Kirishima. "But heck, I still wanna be friends! Good to have ya!"
"Tell us how your quirk works," said Tsu.
"Wit those looks, you must be popular with the ladies. I can tell," said Kaminari.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"I like you already! You seem ready to crush that rotten Class A into the dirt!" called Monoma.
"Please ignore everything he says," said one other 1B boys on his team.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"He's on Class B's team five," I muttered to Deku. "You'll get a rematch wtih him, Deku."
"Okay," he nodded, not even looking at me. "With Shinso all powered up, I'm excited to see how he fights." And he drew one of his notebooks out of nowhere.
"Where'd you pull that from?" I asked him, but he was already too focused on Shinsou to pay me any attention. I felt ignored again, and a sinking feeling once more...Why do I always feel so insecure around Deku?
"Teams start at their home bases. The time limit is 20 minutes per match. If time runes out, the team with more remaining members wins."
We gathered then in the Entertainment Zone, where we could watch the Field on the monitors. Ashido had turned around and cried, "All Might and Midnight are here! Together! Is love in the air?"
"Cut that out," Midnight replied. "I don't mess with older men."
That triggered another uncomfortable memory, Mina teasing me "Is it love?" way back then. But hey, all she'd needed to say that about All Might and Midnight Sensei was them standing by teach other...She just wants to see romance. It doesn't mean I think about Deku THAT way.
They joined us and continued speaking in the back. We watched as Tsu's team got ready to fight their Class 1B opponents: Shiozaki, the girl with long hair Kaminari fought in the Sports Fest; the beast boy, a boy with a braid and a visor, and a boy with sieways eyes.
"Now," said Vlad King Sensei. "Match 1, START!"
The League of Villains' Hideout - Undisclosed Location
After cutting up those awful CRC jerks we headed back to our current hideout. Honestly it's kinda crappy! Just this totally wrecked old place in the mountains. But hey we call it home!
"How long are we gonna keep living like this?" Spinner whined.
"Until we finish," Tomura told him. He knew how to take it easy with his feet up on the table! Jin and me were going through the junk we got from the mansion in our corner, while Compress was leaning against the back wall.
"Had we agreed to cooperate with the Hassai group, we might be dining on fine sushi now," he said to answer Spinner.
"Is that a joke? Not funny," snapped Tomura.
"Ha ha ha. Come now. . We're the Mighty League of villains that terrorized the nation, and we live in squalor? We do a disservice to all those who idolize us and what we stand for."
Jin sighed as he reached the bottom of the drawer. "It's just junk."
"Yeah...Ooh, this is pretty though!" I noticed as I found a really nice necklace.
"Ooh, real cute!" Said Jin, then as usual contradicting himself corrected, "For a spinster, maybe! Toss it!"
The door opened and Dabi joined us again.
"You're all just kicking back?" He growled out. "I guess I'm the only one pounding the pavement looking for recruits."
"Yeah?" Said Jin. "Too bad you roast everyone you bump into. And you haven't brought in any fresh blood!"
"They were all worthless. Just trash, living day to day without any real ambitions."
I smiled at him. "Maybe you're just bad at judging others!"
"You, of all people, don't get to say that."
Tomura, who was eating a biscuit, added, "It has been about a month since they caught Kurogiri, right? He said he was getting us some new power…Oh well. He failed, so that's that. No luck finding the Doctor either."
"Kurogiri was your babysitter," I remembered while Jin helped me fasten the necklace, "so you must miss him a lot, Tomura. What's so important about that Doctor anyway?"
"He was master's personal doctor. A real cautious guy. The only way to get in touch with him was through the computer at the hideout. Since he's the one who developed and managed the Nomu."
Compress nodded. "No matter how cautious the doctor is, you'd think he could drop us a line, and maybe give us a hand. Especially when you consider that his former employer's golden boy is reduced to squatting."
"He didn't deny missing Kurogiri," I pointed out. "Aw, Tomura really does miss him!"
"Hey," interrupted Spinner. "Where're we going with all this? I'm only here cuz Stain inspired me to take action! I was born in a real backwater place, stuck in the last century. Around there I was known as the Lizard freak. And I just accepted it! That whole time my heart was totally empty. That is, until I learned about Stain's final stand on the evening news! He was trying to change the world on his own! That day was the day I realized how suffocating society really is. I just couldn't take it anymore! This is the reason I joined up with you people!"
Dabi sneered, "So what you're saying is basically you're just an empty cosplayer.
"That's right! Totally hollow!" He reached down, seized Tomura's coat, and pulled him off his rear to look him in the eye. "Which's why I don't get why we're sitting around doing nothing! I was ready to have some new life breathed into me! To be inspired! So answer me, Shigaraki! Where're we going?"
There was silence. I yawned. So dramatic.
"Like I said, he -" Tomura began - but he was interrupted by a terrible rumbling sound.
Something was approaching.
We all seized our stuff and hurried towards the door to see who the new visitor was. I grabbed my knives and blood gear, ready for a good rumble.
"I WAS WAITING FOR THE SIGNAL," came a booming, terrible voice from far, far above them. We all looked up to see a guy the size of a gigantic mountain towering over, a muscular and powerful being that seemed to dwarf them all in size by a mile. Big radio around his neck. He screamed at Tomura,
"ARE YOU THE ONE WHO SUCCEEDED ALL FOR ONE?"