Simulation, Villain Attack!
Back at last, back at last! Hello everyone, it's been a little while since this story's last update but at long last it is here! Now I'll try to keep this announcement brief so y'all can get to the story reading and it goes like this: For those who have read or are reading my Re:zero Fanfic 'A New Crusade', the idea has been pitched to me to make side stories with branching paths in a similar fashion to the Re:zero IF stories. Let me know what you all think about it in your reviews and comments on either this story or 'A New Crusade'. Now then, with no guest review questions to answer, let's get back into the Hero Academia!
U.A. High School: Homeroom
It was another normal day at U.A. Academy, one of the top schools for training heroes. At least, that's how Clay Cero would've described it at first glance. But there were a few subtle differences this time around. For starters, they'd recently witnessed a clash on the news between Endeavor, the new number one ranked hero, and an especially strong Nomu. It had been a tough fight for the flame wielder but with a massive effort, and some assistance from the number two ranked hero, Hawks, he'd been able to pull out a win by burning the creature to ashes.
Most of the class had been talking about it excitedly ever since they arrived save for Clay, wielder of the quirk 'storm cloud', who currently had his mind on other matters. Namely, he was thinking about what happened at the end of the school festival with Jirou. 'In hindsight, it was obvious she had a thing for me,' Clay thought as he absentmindedly flipped through some of his notes, 'but I never thought she actually liked me in that way.' It had made for a slightly awkward morning as whenever he glanced over at Jirou and made eye contact, the two would look away immediately while trying to hide the blush that threatened to creep onto their faces.
"You alright there, Clay," asked his friend, the towering density shifter Slade Mason who was dwarfed only by Shoji in terms of height, "you haven't said much this morning."
"Huh," said the Cloud User as he broke out of his own thoughts for a moment, "Oh, yeah I was just thinking about Endeavor's fight like everyone else. Gotta admit, it was a good finish but it's a little worrying if he has that kind of trouble against a Nomu of all things."
"You remember All Might was nearly taken out by a Nomu too, right," Momo Yaoyorozu pointed out as she was turned towards them from her desk while adjusting her ponytail a little, "those creatures are frighteningly strong with the right combination of quirks."
"That one was specifically crafted to fight All Might and it only got an advantage due to his weakened state," Said Clay, "from what we know, this Nomu was some sort of rogue with no flame-resistant properties taking on Endeavor at his full strength."
"Maybe it was and maybe it wasn't," said Slade, "with the League of Villains still on the loose, those creatures are gonna keep showing up, so we'd best be prepared."
"But is that really what's on your mind?" Questioned Momo with a raised eyebrow, "you shouldn't be blushing at random times at the thought of Nomu attacks." 'Shit she noticed,' thought Clay as he tried to think of something to deflect the question to another topic. Thankfully, he was saved by the sound of the classroom door sliding open to admit their homeroom teacher, Shoto Aizawa, better known as the hero Eraser Head. The man was also his Uncle, but that didn't mean he played favorites when it came to Clay. Heck, in some ways he'd been even harder on him than some of the other students because they were family.
"Hey, I know the bell rang a long time-," he started to say until noting that everyone was in their seats and ready to begin class, "Alright then." He walked to his desk at the front of the class as he spoke once again. "You need to all stop playing around and have a bit more awareness about who you are. You may only have provisional licenses now, but don't forget that you've been given the certification and the responsibility to act as heroes in an official capacity. Currently, there are still two of you who are in supplemental classes," Todoroki showed no reaction to this but Bakugou grit his teeth a little at the reminder, "but either way be prepared, because we'll be kicking class up a notch from now on."
'There's a line we've heard more than a couple of times now,' thought Clay as he started going through some possible scenarios of what could be thrown at them now. He didn't have to imagine long as two red lights suddenly popped out of the wall on either side of the clock and began flashing as an alarm sounded in the classroom. "Emergency Drill! Emergency Drill!" Said a mechanical voice over the loudspeakers, "hypothetical villains have infiltrated U.A. High School grounds! Hero Course Class 1A is requested to assist immediately!"
The wall panels containing their costumes all opened up automatically and slid out as the gathered students stood up from their desks. "Please change into your hero costumes and report to the scene as quickly as possible!"
'Well I guess this is homeroom today,' thought Clay as he stretched his arms a little while glancing at Slade cracking his knuckles. "Hero Class 1A, Let's go!" Ordered Iida who was met with a resounding 'Yeah' from the rest of the class.
A Few Minutes Later: Urban Training Ground Beta
"Villains have infiltrated Training Ground Beta. That's the only confirmed information we have right now," said Iida as he and the rest of Class 1A, now in their costumes, stood on top of the roof of one of the false buildings. In the distance, a plume of smoke was rising from one of the taller structures. "Even if this is only a drill, we still need to carry out this mission with everything we've got!"
"Our first step should be getting a better understanding of the situation," said Momo as she turned to Jirou, Shoji, and Koda, "reconnaissance squad, if you would."
"Leave it to us," said Jirou with a confident smile as Koda stepped forward and began calling for the birds to look for areas that have suffered damage. Jirou got to work by plugging one of her ear jacks into the roof of the building and began listening for any out of the ordinary sounds. It didn't take her long to locate one of the disturbances. "I got something Northeast about…900 meters…..it's intermittent sounds of destruction!"
"Guess that building is only the starting point for the villain attack," said Clay as he summoned a few of his clouds, coating his hands and feet in his trademark cloud gauntlets and greaves.
"I've got confirmation that the smoke is from an explosion at the building Earphone Jack indicated," said Shoji, using Jirou's hero name while viewing the area with several stalks that had eyeballs on the end of them. To those unfamiliar with his quirk, Dupli-arms, he'd look like some kind of freaky flesh tree with eyes right now. "There's also a building that's collapsed towards the river and is currently on fire. However, I don't have a visual on any villains in the area."
"Roger," said Iida into the radio he had as the rest of the class proceeded down to ground level, "our first priority is to put out that fire."
"Roger that," said Momo as she turned away and opened up her costume to expose her skin a bit more. She used her quirk to produce an entire, yellow walking carriage which would normally be pulled by a person. "Ingenium, please form a firefighting squad and head to the scene."
"Shoto," said Iida, picking the ice-wielder as the obvious choice for such a mission. He was followed by Tokoyami, Sato, and Aoyama. But before they could get too far, Koda had another report for them from one of the pigeons.
"Oh no," he said as the bird on his arm relayed him information, "there's someone who fell in and got swept away by the river."
"That means it's our turn, Grape Juice," said Asui as she indicated Mineta.
"Good, the rescue squad will also head to the scene first," said Iida as both teams loaded onto the cart and he took hold of it, "Ingenium, GO!" The engine quirk user sped off with his load of both the firefighter and rescue teams, leaving the remainder of the students to look for the villains and other possible civilians in danger. Though as they rushed off, Bakugo grabbed Kaminari and drug him over to a nearby car with a confused Kirishima following after him.
"We're looking for villains," he stated, "let the extras do the rescuing." 'Still a pain in the ass like always,' thought Clay with a quick glance back before producing a large amount of his own clouds, quickly forming it into a raft-like shape.
"Hurry up and get on everyone," he said, "we need to head out too." A chorus of agreements was heard as the remainder of the hero class leapt onto his cloud raft with Uraraka using her quirk over gravity to lighten the load. Slade also decreased his density to take some of the weight off as Clay sped towards the smoking building, flying just high enough to see the river as he did so. "Froppy, I got eyes on that civilian in the river, check near the bridge."
"Got it," replied Tsuyu over his radio. It took her little time to get there with the rest of the rescue team while Todoroki was already getting to work on the fire with his ice quirk.
"Jirou, Shoji," said Slade over his own radio, "we're in the air but we got nothing as far as villain sightings go. You having any better luck on your end?"
"We haven't been able to locate any so far," replied Shoji, "be wary. I feel as if they'll strike soon." Clay was about to comment on that when another explosion occurred where Todoroki had used his eyes to put out the fire, restarting the blaze from earlier.
"The fire, it's stronger than before," noted Midoriya as he and some of the others readjusted themselves to get a better view of the situation.
"If we don't stop it soon, it'll spread to the other buildings," added Momo before turning to the cloud wielder, "Cirrus, get us down there as fast as you can!"
"Already on the way," said Clay as he increased their velocity while maneuvering around the occasional building, "but we still need a plan to put out the fire. Todoroki's occupied on his end, so I'm open to suggestions."
"If we just need to put out the fire, Cellophane, Uravity, and I might have something that'll work," assured Mina as she pointed at the edge of the burning rubble, "swing us around here." Clay did as instructed, bringing his cloud raft down closer to the ground as Mina jumped out, her body floating thanks to Uraraka's quirk while Sero leapt out behind her and attached his tape to her back.
"Go Pinky!" He exclaimed as he flung her towards the flaming wreckage.
"Let's go, Team Rainy Day!" Cheered Mina as she began raining her acid down from above. It created a trench of sorts which stopped the flames while also corroding a large portion of the burning debris, leaving nothing else to catch on fire.
"Me too!" Said Aoyama as he hopped out onto the ground and fired several blasts from his navel laser in a barrage-like pattern. The remaining rubble collapsed onto the flames, preventing them from spreading any further. 'It's a good thing we determined there were no people in the wreckage beforehand,' thought Clay as he dropped everyone else off before taking to the sky again to continue his own reconnaissance. 'But why in the world haven't the villains-,' his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his radio going off.
"Cirrus, something's coming your way, be care-," Clay didn't get to hear the rest of Jirou's report as he was blasted back several feet higher in the air by yellow energy waves. Midoriya and the others were also blasted off their feet as Mina yelped in surprise from the newcomer yanking on Sero's tape that was still attached to her back. 'Shit, I know that quirk,' he realized as he righted himself in the air to get a better look at their adversary.
"Did you forget about me," said Nejire as she floated in the air with a hand on Sero's tape and a now wrapped up Mina floating behind her due to the continuing effect of Uraraka's quirk, "you did know there were still villains around, right?" She was wearing a pink tank top over her hero costume with the number '1' on it.
"Nejire," said Clay as he repositioned himself in the air to float in front of her while also prepping his clouds for combat, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised the rest of the big three is here, given what I overheard about Mirio playing the civilian in the river. Though I gotta wonder if Amajiki is playing wallflower again instead of coming out where we can see him?"
"I'm not…..Amajiki right now," said the final member of the big three as he stepped out of an alley behind the rest of Class 1A, "I'm…..a villain." The white tank top over his costume with the number '2' on it confirmed what he was saying.
"A villain with stage fright muttering to himself about imagining everyone as potatoes," Slade pointed out with a frown.
"I didn't want to be…a villain," replied Amajiki, "I feel like.…..everyone is staring at me."
"We are all staring at you," said Slade, "but if you want, you can just do like those guys who realize how outmatched they are and surrender. Then you can leave and not worry about any more people staring at you."
"That's..…..a good point," admitted Amajiki as he turned around and started walking away, "I'm going home." 'He's leaving just like that?!' was the resounding thought on everyone's mind as the big three member appeared to be done.
"Part of fighting villains is breaking their will to fight," Slade whispered to Midoriya, "that's something Kirishima said he learned from Fat Gum. When applied right, you can win without even throwing a punch."
"Yeah, but is this really okay?" Questioned Ojiro, "I mean we're supposed to be fighting the villains." This turned out to be a problem that Nejire was more than capable of addressing.
"You can't just leave Amajiki!" Called the blue-haired girl while still floating in the air, "you have to play your part properly!" She then directed her gaze towards Clay and the others upon seeing the cloud wielder twitch slightly, "and you don't move. Remember, I'm a villain right now and I even got a hostage."
"And I," said Clay as he crossed his arms, "don't believe you, not even for a second."
"What," said Nejire, mildly surprised by his choice of words, "but I am a villain, I have the evil T-shirt and everything!"
"Lies I say," Clay shot back as he pointed an accusing finger at the big three member, "someone as cute and bubbly as you could never stoop to being a villain, I know it!"
"Hey, I'm cute and bubbly too ya know," exclaimed Mina despite the current situation she was in, "what's she got that I don't?!"
"Pipe down you," said Nejire as she puffed her cheeks out in a pout, "you're my hostage right now and that means I'm the one in charge. And if you don't believe I'm a villain, take a look at this!" She began charging yellow energy in her hand before swinging around to her back right, "full charge, output level 30!" She fired a blast of yellow, spiraling energy then which went sailing towards Iida's group.
'Shit, even with me distracting her she still caught sight of them while they were going around the back,' Clay realized as Todoroki quickly threw up an ice wall the size of a small building to block Hado's attack. The impact was still quite powerful, causing a good bit of wind pressure as the ice wall collapsed under the force of the impact, shaking the whole area. "What do you have to say to that," said Nejire as she turned back around with a smile on her face.
"I'll give you this," said Clay as he took a fighting position, "you're a lot more attentive than you'd lead someone to believe. You almost foiled the hostage rescue."
"What do you mean 'almost'," said Nejire before glancing towards Mina. Her eyes widened as Sero's tape was suddenly cut and Mina was yanked over by a small cloud resembling a bird which Clay had attached to said tape during Hado's little power demonstration. The cloud wielder flew forward and met the acid girl halfway, catching her bridal style. "Hey, that's my hostage!" She fired another blast of yellow energy, narrowly missing Clay as he climbed even higher into the air.
"We'll handle Nejire for now, you guys get Amajiki!" Called Clay as he dove in between a couple of buildings with the blue-haired girl right on his tail.
"Right," said Midoriya as he and the others turned to Amajiki, "villain, what is it that you want?"
"I," began Amajiki, "want to go home." 'Then go home already,' thought everyone with a sigh. "But I can't, or Hado will get mad at me and so will Mirio. He asked me to help you guys become proper heroes as soon as possible. So that's why, I can't go home!" He activated his quirk then, sprouting both wings and tentacles from his body as he prepared to do battle as a villain against Class 1A.
'Can't say I don't appreciate it,' thought Slade as he took a ready stance, 'the Big Three, the best students in U.A., are willing to help us improve and become heroes. Though at the same time, that's exactly why this is gonna be a little tough.' Amajiki made the first move then, attacking with a swing of his tentacled fingers. Momo, Uraraka, Ojiro and Sero all dove out of the way in different directions while Slade and Midoriya used their quirks to increase their agility and leap through and around the tendrils.
The One For All Holder attempted a strike then, coming down with a falling side kick which Amajiki blocked by turning his left hand into a giant clam shell before retaliating with a swipe of his right leg, which he'd turned into a giant bird's foot. Even with the green-haired boy managing to raise his arms in time to protect his body, he was still sent flying back by the force of the blow. "Deku," called Slade as he leapt off of one of the tentacles before increasing his density midair. Midoriya took the cue as he repositioned himself midflight and planted his foot against Slade's arms before shooting back towards Amajiki.
"That tactic didn't work last time," said the Big Three member as Midoriya's foot again landed against his shell hand, "so why are you trying it again?"
"Because," said Midoriya as he used the arm for a platform to leap up and behind Amajiki with his hand positioned to make a flicking motion with his fingers, "I'm not using the same tactic." The shapeshifting student whirled around, or rather, attempted to whirl around before he noticed that he couldn't move towards Deku. He quickly discovered why upon seeing that his tentacles had been wrapped up by Sero's tape with a now much heavier Slade standing on it to keep him from moving. "Delaware Smash!" Midoriya unleashed a powerful blast of air pressure with a flick of his One for All powered finger, hitting Amajiki's location and kicking up just a bit of dust as he landed a short distance away.
"So," said Amajiki as the smoke cleared to reveal he'd enlarged his clam hand even more while breaking off the fingers of his tentacled hand to gain his movement back, "you guys really have been improving. But I have to ask, why didn't you hit me head on, Midoriya?" He indicated the hole right in front of him where Deku had wound up shooting his attack.
"I couldn't do it," said Midoriya, "you, Mirio, and Hado are my friends."
"In class, we are," said Amajiki, "but not following through can be FATAL!" He grew and swung more tentacles at Midoriya, knocking the 1A student to the ground, "Remember, I'm not your friend right now, I'm a villain!" Slade and Ojiro both jumped in then, trading blows with the big three member in order to keep him from striking at Midoriya again. While this was going on, Clay was still busy evading Nejire as he circled around the group of buildings where the rest of the class was.
"You can't run forever," called Hado as she fired another blast at Clay, who narrowly avoided it by spinning out of the way while keeping a hold of Mina, "And if your plan is to wear me down through overuse of my quirk, don't count on it. I've been working on my endurance for a long time now!"
"That wasn't my plan but thanks for the info anyway," Clay called back as he sent some of his clouds at the big three member which were in the shape of small lion heads. Hado easily dissipated them with another blast of her spiraling energy, barely slowing down as she continued her pursuit.
"Do you actually have a plan?" Questioned Mina as she finally managed to free herself with some strategic use of her acid on the tape binding her, "I mean aside from saving me, thanks by the way, what was your next step in fighting someone like Hado?"
"Thing is, I doubt I can win in a straight up fight against her just yet," admitted Clay, "but since you're asking, I do have something of a plan if you're able to make a little call for me on the radio." He dropped down between two buildings again to avoid another attack from Nejire, "I'd recommend making it quick." Mina nodded as she pulled out her radio before Clay began explaining his idea. She relayed all of the information to a certain Class 1A member before hanging up.
"We're all set," said Mina, "all we need now is for you to get us over there."
"Thankfully, that'll be the easy part," said Clay as he sent out more clouds behind him, this time shaped like missiles.
"Don't think altering the shapes will make all that much difference against me," said Hado as she blasted them away yet again before attempting to close the distance between her and her quarry. "Remember, I was faster than you the last time we did a versus match like this."
"That's what I'm counting on!" Clay called back as he rounded the corner of the building they'd started at, flying over his classmates as Nejire was getting close to completely bridging the gap between them. "Now," he said before suddenly dropping his altitude as a bit of dust was disturbed on the windowsill of one of the buildings, almost as if someone had just leapt off of it.
"Say Cheese!" Cheered Hagakure, her lack of costume attire rendering her form completely invisible as she used her signature move: "Warp Refraction!" The area was suddenly flooded with a blinding light, forcing Hado to stop while also covering her eyes. The sound of Uraraka yelling 'release also caught her ears.
'This is, the Invisible Girl Hagakure,' realized Nejire before noticing something else, two shapes were coming right at her. "Let's see how you like getting captured!" Exclaimed Mina with a cloud supporting the pinkette as she and Clay each grabbed one of her arms and yanked them behind her back. The acid girl quickly wrapped the remains of Sero's tape around her hands while Clay bound her arms with his clouds before the both of them pushed her downwards towards the ground.
The cloud wielder also generated a cloud to catch both Hagakure and slow her fall while they were still in midair. "You think this'll be enough to stop me," declared Hado as she righted herself and projected her energy out of her feet, completely stopping her fall just a few feet from the ground.
"No, but this might," said Momo as she hefted a yellow bazooka she'd made onto her shoulder and fired a weighted net. Nejire wasn't able to move in time and got tangled up in the capture weapon which pinned her to some nearby rubble. Not wanting to take any chances, both Sero and Clay wrapped her body up even tighter with a combination of tape and cloud ropes.
"Now try not to make any sudden moves," said Clay as Mina and Hagakure hopped down to the ground from his cloud platforms, "I don't want to accidentally stick you with spikes or something because you happen to startle me."
"Alright fine, you got me," said Hado with a pout, "but you still need to catch Amajiki to clear the exercise."
"I'm not too worried about that," said Clay as he watched Midoriya, Slade and Ojiro all fighting the big three member at the same time, and were pushing him back while doing so.
'Not good,' thought Amajiki as he swatted away a strike from Ojiro's tail before dodging another kick from Midoriya, 'there are more people now, and they got Hado.' Not that he had time to worry about her with Slade flipping in behind him before increasing his density for a powerful falling punch. Amajiki raised his clam hand just in time, but the weight of the blow still hurt enough to stagger him. Midoriya took the opening and came in low, attempting a sweep kick which Amajiki leapt over, using his bird feet and wings to extend his time in the air as he did so.
Ojiro leapt at him then with a spinning tail strike, but the shapeshifter was ready this time as he grabbed him in midair with his tentacles, using the momentum to spin around before throwing the tailed boy past Midoriya and Slade. "Tailman!" Called Midoriya as he watched his friend sail towards some rubble, right before impacting against a cloud.
"I got 'em," said Clay, "focus on Amajiki!"
"Way ahead of you," said Slade as he charged forward with lower momentum to increase his speed. His opponent landed and swung his tentacles at him again, this time attempting to ensnare him as opposed to simply batting him away. But Slade's low density allowed him to flip through the tendril attack with impressive agility before heading in for a punch. Amajiki went to block with his clam hand again, but Slade had a plan for that. "Deku, now!"
"On it," said Midoriya as he fired a Delaware Smash into Slade's back at the same time that he was raising his density. It kept his momentum going despite the rapid increase in his weight, allowing for a much more powerful blow which knocked the clam hand aside and went straight into his opponent's face. Amajiki let out a pained grunt as his face contorted in anguish from the force of the punch which sent him flying back.
"Hey, who said you guys could start without us," yelled the familiar voice of Kirishima as he came speeding in on a red car that Kaminari was currently powering with his electricity quirk. Bakugou was right behind Kirishima and hit him in the back with an explosion the moment he hardened his body, propelling him forward in a very similar fashion to how Slade had been sent forward earlier. Amajiki couldn't turn around in time to counter the attack as Kirishima flew into him at full force, knocking him even higher into the air in the opposite direction.
"That's our chance," said Slade as he, Midoriya and Ojiro all leapt up and hit him in quick succession, the final one of which sent him down into the ground where a crater was formed from his impact.
"Now comes the star of the show," declared Kirishima as Bakugou, after complaining that Kaminari was driving too slow despite him holding charging cables in his teeth and steering the car at the same time, blasted himself off the hood of the vehicle and flew over to deliver the final blow. Then, he was halted completely as a high-density Slade grabbed his ankle which resulted in him faceplanting on the pavement.
"Hey what gives baldy?!" Exclaimed Bakugou as he stood up angrily with his right hand crackling.
"Sorry to ruin your moment, but the fight's over," Slade pointed out as he cocked his thumb towards Amajiki, who was currently out cold, "guess we overdid it a bit with those last few moves. Also, my hair is just short, I ain't bald."
"You did that on purpose didn't you?!" Accused Bakugou, "this fight would've been over in a minute if I'd been here and you know it, which is why you waited until I showed up to get serious yourselves!"
"For starters, no, we just took advantage of the opening Kirishima gave us," said Slade, "and had you been doing the main part of your job like the rest of us, you wouldn't have missed the fight. Heroing 101, villains usually aren't far from the disasters they cause, or did that slip your impressive but very short-term memory?"
"Oh I'll give you something to remember bal-," Bakugou started to say before an announcement rang out over the speakers.
"The Drill is over, the drill is over," said a mechanical voice as everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. It also meant that Iida and the others had succeeded on their end as well.
"Guess that means we're done here," said Clay as he used his clouds to cut open the net and bindings holding Nejire, "you're free to go, villain, but remember you're on probation now so watch your step."
"What if I said I'm really sorry about all the awful things I've done and that I'm turning over a new leaf," questioned Hado innocently with her hands behind her back.
"Well," said Clay as he scratched his chin, pretending to mull it over until his thoughts were interrupted by the loudest student in class.
"No, it's not over yet!" Exclaimed Bakugou as he pointed to Amajiki who was picking the likely worst time to wake back up, "you went easy on them didn't you?!"
"I mean I wasn't trying to actually kill-," the Big Three Member started to explain before being quickly cut off by Bakugou.
"I knew it!" Yelled the Explosion quirk user, "you too scared to fight me, is that it?! Don't think I'll let you get away with this, because even if you are acting, and even if you're an upperclassman, a villain is a villain and that makes you….MY ENEMY!"
Clay sighed at his classmate's angry antics causing problems yet again before turning to Nejire. "I know I was joking when I said probation, but would you mind helping us out with this maniac for a bit? There's no talking to him when he gets like this."
"Sure thing," said Hado with a sigh as she, Clay and a few others activated their quirks.
A Couple Minutes, and a Few Giant Explosions, Later
"Don't.….think you'll…..get away…..with this," grunted the currently unconscious Bakugou as he hung from one of the lamp posts by Momo's net and Sero's tape.
"That asshole probably caused more damage to the area then you so-called villains," said Slade as he observed the number of scorch marks on the street and buildings. As expected, he hadn't been all that cooperative when it came to standing down, prompting a nice sedative of Nejire's, Clay's, and Slade's quirks alongside Kirishima restraining him. Momo and Sero were nice enough to wrap him up for Aizawa to take care of. Now they just needed to wash the ash from the explosions off themselves.
"What a start for the winter season," quipped Clay as he brushed some of the ash off his costume. He would've said more, but his phone caught his attention as he took it out and quickly read the message: 'Hey, it's Jirou, you still on for music night?' Clay quickly replied that he was. A good jazz piano session would definitely help after the events of today, and he was reminded that there was one subject he and Jirou had been skirting around for a bit. Though addressing it would probably be easier said than done, especially given that the situation was a little more complicated than even he realized.
And that wraps up the start of the new season for Hailstorm Vol. 2! Again it's good to be back and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. As always, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as Clay and Jirou have a bit of a discussion about the change in their relationship, among other subjects. 'Til then.