A/N: I've always wanted to do a fic about airsoft, so here's one.
Since today was Saturday, Deku didn't have classes today, so he spent time playing Perfect Dark. He'd already beaten the game at least 50 times on each difficulty, but no matter how many times he'd beaten it, he still got a kick out of it. Then, he heard knocking on his door.
"I'm coming!"
Deku headed to his door, and…
"Hey Deku!"
Todoroki gave Deku a big hug and kiss.
"Glad to see you again, Todoroki! Please, come on in!"
Todoroki entered Deku's dorm, and she couldn't help but take notice of the game…
"Perfect Dark, huh?" Todoroki smiled. "It's interesting that you should be playing that, because I've got something better!"
Deku raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What?"
"Come to the backyard and I'll show you!"
Deku followed Todoroki into the backyard, where there was a paper target taped to the back fence. There was a folding table with a bunch of guns set up, much to Deku's shock:
"Todoroki, you can't bring guns to school!"
Todoroki smiled. "Relax, they're only airsoft guns! Besides, I told the school staff before I brought them here, and they're all right with it so long as I keep them in cases when not in use and don't use them in the front yard or anywhere else on school grounds without approval."
"Um…what's an airsoft gun?"
"It's a gun that looks like a real gun, but it only shoots little plastic pellets. It's used for a sport called airsoft, which is very similar to paintball."
Deku smiled. "That actually sounds fun!"
"Glad you think so! Anyways, before I let you handle any of these, let me give you four basic rules of gun safety: 1. Treat all guns as if they were loaded AT ALL TIMES, 2. Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire, 3. Don't point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy, and 4. Don't shoot unless you're sure of your target and what's beyond it. Got it?"
Deku nodded. "Got it!"
"Good. Also, put these safety goggles on for protection."
Todoroki handed Deku a pair of green-framed safety goggles.
"Do you know how to use a gun?" asked Todoroki.
"Sort of."
Todoroki picked up a G&P M16A1. "First, take a magazine and load it into the gun." She slapped a fresh magazine in. "This M16 is what is known as an AEG – auto electric gun – so you don't have to cock it. Grab the pistol grip with your dominant hand, use your other hand to support the foregrip, press the stock against your shoulder, line the blade of the front sight up with the notch in the rear sight, place the sight over the bullseye and pull the trigger. Oh, and don't forget to turn the safety off." Todoroki turned the safety lever to "SEMI". "The M16 is also select-fire, so you can fire it in semi-auto – one shot for every pull of the trigger – or full-auto – meaning it will continuously fire as long as the trigger is held down." Todoroki fired a few shots with the M16. "Go ahead, take any one of these guns!"
Deku picked out an E&L AKMS.
"OK, how do I use the safety on this gun?" asked Deku.
"The safety is located on the right side. Unlike the M16, the middle position is full-auto, and bottom is semi."
"OK."
Deku set the safety switch to "SEMI", unfolded the stock, took aim and fired. His first shot hit the bullseye. After a few more shots, he set the safety for full-auto and really let loose. Todoroki smiled.
"You're good, Deku. Where did you learn to shoot like that?"
Deku shrugged. "I dunno."
"ALL RIGHT, WHAT THE CRAP IS ALL THIS WEIRD NOISE!?"
Deku and Todoroki turned to see Kacchan, who immediately reacted upon seeing the airsoft guns:
"WHY THE CRAP DO YA HAVE GUNS IN SCHOOL!? YOU'RE GONNA GET ARRESTED FOR THAT!"
Todoroki giggled. "Relax, Bakugo, they're only airsoft guns!"
Kacchan opened his mouth to yell something else, only for the words to die in his mouth. Instead, he formed a flat look on his face.
"What?"
"OK, so airsoft is a sport similar to paintball, except it uses these realistic-looking guns that shoot little plastic pellets," said Todoroki.
"That sounds stupid, but at the same time, it actually sounds fun. Mind if I try those?"
Todoroki smiled. "Go ahead!"
After giving Bakugo some safety goggles and rattling off the rules of gun safety, she allowed him to pick out a gun. He ended up picking out a Tokyo Marui FAMAS, and after letting off a few bursts in full-auto, he made no bones about his opinion:
"HELL YEAH! I have the power of GOD!"
"If you like, there's a field not too far from UA where they host airsoft games," said Todoroki.
Kacchan let out an evil chuckle. "Hey, if it means kickin' your asses, I'm in!"
On Sunday, Deku, Todoroki and Kacchan headed over to Shizuoka Survival Sports, located just outside of the northeastern border of Musutafu City. For this game, Todoroki had a selection of military uniforms for them to pick out. Deku picked out a Soviet M69 uniform with the blue epaulets, patch and collar tabs of the VDV, Kacchan picked out a West German Flecktarn uniform, and Todoroki picked out an American BDU in Woodland camouflage. After Todoroki parked her Oldsmobile, they grabbed their gear and headed for the front gate, where a man – a big fat guy with a black beard – in a trailer was waiting for them.
"Good morning. Here to play some airsoft?"
"We are," said Todoroki.
"OK, I'll need you three to fill out these waivers."
The guy handed out waivers for Deku, Todoroki and Kacchan to sign, which were basic liability waivers. After filling out the required info – that is, name, address, phone number, E-mail and all that – they handed them in."
"Your entry fee is 4,000 yen each."
Deku, Todoroki and Kacchan forked over the bones for the entry fee, and the man gave them some adhesive paper bracelets.
"Have fun."
Todoroki led Deku and Kacchan over to the staging area, where there were a bunch of picnic tables. Various players were setting up here, so the three of them set down their gear and readied up. Soon, one of the referees made an announcement:
"Airsoft players, if you're ready, step up to have your guns chrono'd."
Deku, Todoroki and Kacchan grabbed their guns and headed for a target practice area just outside of the main playing field. Deku stepped up first. The referee – a thin, clean-shaven man with red hair – held up a hand-held chronograph.
"OK, whenever you're ready."
Deku took aim and fired. With .25 gram pellets, his gun gave a reading of 95 meters per second, that is, 311.68 feet per second.
"OK, you're good."
After everybody had chronographed their guns, the ref called everybody together for a briefing and counted how many people there were in each group. As it stood, the teams were a bit lopsided, 12 to 10.
"OK, does anyone from any group not care about being split up?"
Kacchan raised his hand. "I'll go."
With that, there were even teams. Another ref passed out colored elastic armbands. Deku and Todoroki's team got blue, while Kacchan's team got red.
"OK, is there anyone who hasn't played here before?"
Deku, Kacchan and a few other people raised their hands.
"Here's some maps."
The first ref passed out maps of the playing field showing each of the different areas. He then explained the rules:
"Rules are simple: keep your barrel socks on your guns and safeties on when not in the playing field, no blind firing – in other words, you have to see where you're aiming – and wear your goggles at all times. If you need to defog, just tell a ref. If you're hit, call out "HIT!", raise your hand and either A. Walk back to your spawn or B. Walk to the dead box. We allow full-auto, but we generally encourage semi-auto. If you're caught cheating, we'll give you a warning the first time, we'll remove you from the game the second time, and if you keep doing it, you'll be ejected from the field for the day. You can't use your Quirks to win, and the same rules apply for cheating. If you're within three meters of someone, raise your gun and shout "FREEZE!", "SURRENDER!" "BANG BANG!" or anything like that and that counts as a "safety kill". If they refuse to surrender, you have the right to shoot. You can use rubber or foam knives for safety kills, but don't hit someone in the face. Game rules vary, and we'll explain them when we get there. Any questions?"
No one had any questions.
"OK, goggles on and head out to the field."
Everyone donned their goggles, and for the first game, the ref took them out to a field called "Grenada", a heavily-forested area with some big rocks.
"OK, for this first game, we'll be doing a simple Elimination game. The rules are simple: if you get shot, you're out. Last team standing wins. Starting points are at the red and blue flags. Any questions?"
Again, no questions.
"OK, head for your start points.
Each team got into position.
"Red team, are you ready?"
"READY!" said Kacchan.
"Blue team, are you ready?"
"READY!" said Deku and Todoroki.
"Game starts in 3…2…1…GO GO GO!"
The players ran off and headed to take up cover so they could get good shots off at the other teams. Kacchan, however, got cocky and came out Duke Nukem style:
"EAT LEAD, SLACKERS!"
Unfortunately for Kacchan, doing this and spraying pellets everywhere only resulted in him getting killed:
"HIT!"
"Player's down; let him out!" said the ref.
Kacchan walked to the dead box, grumbling. Meanwhile, the game got intense, with long periods of dead silence and players not being able to find each other, followed by short, intense periods of gunfire. Deku found the whole thing tense yet exciting at the same time. In a way, it was like being a part of a real war, but he found it to be more fun than any video game he'd ever played. At one point, he thought he saw some movement, so he fired a brief burst with his AKMS.
"Hit!" called out another player.
"Player's down; let him out!"
The game didn't let up from there. Eventually, Todoroki tapped Deku on the shoulder.
"Deku…"
"Yes?"
"Don't look now, but I think we might be the only two players left."
Deku nodded. "You might be right. Here's what we'll do: you draw their fire, and I'll sneak around and try to get the rest of them."
"OK."
Deku went prone and crawled over to a nearby log, while Todoroki peeked out and occasionally took potshots at any players she could potentially see, ducking back in whenever she got shot at. Since airsoft pellets travelled slower than real bullets, this was no trouble for her. Fortunately for Deku, his strategy seemed to be working so far. Then, his Danger Sense Quirk went off, and he saw the rest of the players closing in, so he opened fire to draw them away from Todoroki. Sweat poured down his forehead as he adamantly clung on to the hope that somehow, him and Todoroki would get out of this winners. Then…
"THAT'S GAME!" shouted the ref. "CEASE FIRE!"
Deku's strategy allowed him and Todoroki to win the game, and the rest of the players gathered around the ref.
"Good call, Deku!"
"Thanks, Todoroki! This game is actually really fun!"
"Glad you like it!"
"Oh yeah, real fun!" said Kacchan.
Todoroki chuckled. "Hey, it's not our fault you got shot out in the first few seconds!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, ICYHOT!?"
Deku and Todoroki had a good laugh, the former looking forward to another game of airsoft.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.
