Chapter 32: Calm before the storm

The rest of the exam went out as usual, with some minor changes for some of the examinees.

For example, Sero and Hagakure manages to passed the exam in the same way the original canon pairing did, by Sero acting as a very mobile distraction while Hagakure snuck around (in the nude) and handcuffed the teacher without him noticing her. Apparently, he was going with the spiderman quips as he swings around taunting Snipe in very curious ways.

It did, however, lead to Snipe accidentally elbowing her in the boobs, which was pretty rude if not for the fact that her bodyline is literally invisible, so I can't blame the teacher.

A big change was how Kirishima and Satou handled their exam.


Kirishima gritted his teeth as he massaged his sore knuckles, the wall of cement not budging much even after so many hits. "Damn it, this is getting us nowhere…"

"Sleepy… Satou want to sleep…"

"Hang in there, man!"

As his partner pants out in agony, the redhead took a deep breath and starts thinking. Cementoss has been continuously building up walls the moment the exam started, the first one was to block their forward strategy of rushing right at the teacher and hope for the best, while the following ones are formed like a cement cage of sorts to stop them from running away.

Not that he would do that. Manly men don't run from a fight!

'Thinking back, charging in like that probably wasn't the best idea…' He grimaced internally, 'Come on, Eijirou, think! Satou has been using his quirk for a very long time, and the side effects are starting to show…'

Ideally, it would be for the best if they can take down Cementoss quickly before Satou's sugar quirk starts to backfire on him too badly. But with how fast Cementoss is building up walls, they are left to no way of tackling him or heading towards the exit.

'Wait, didn't Tatsuya-san say something about fighting smart?'

He recalls the sparring bouts he had against his speedster classmate over the past couple of weeks, ones that he couldn't win no matter how much he tries. And every time, she did bring up the topic of his lack of tactical thinking when it comes to fighting.

"You always seem to rush in and depends on your quirk to take the damage. But that makes your movements very monotonous and really predicable. You need to think before you act, and try to find a way around the problem instead of bullheadedly rushing in."

"A way around…"

He looked up and notices the lack of a certain something in their 'cage', and came up with an idea.

"Hey, Satou! I've got an idea!"

Cementoss looked on the concrete encasement he has formed around the two students, noting on their obvious weakness as a duo. His mental clock is counting down the seconds until the time limit is up, which to his estimate is about fifteen minutes away.

"Well, I guess that's over-huh?"

A sudden silhouette appears over him as Kirishima lands and skids to a stop behind Cementoss. The surprised teacher slams his palms onto the concrete street and hastily creates a wall to separate them.

But that wasn't enough, as Kirishima easily smashes through the wall with his harden fists and rushes towards Cementoss. The teacher quickly unleashes more concrete walls at him to hold him back-

"Satou SMASH!"

"What in the!?"

At the same time, Satou falls down from the air towards Cementoss, with his arms pulled back for a hammer fist strike. He would have crash into the teacher if Cementoss didn't reacted in time and maneuver the cement to shield him from the strike, if even the attack broke through the concrete like it was Styrofoam.

Cementoss quickly pull more concrete from the previous encasement and pushes Satou into the nearby building, trapping him in a cocoon of cement.

"Got you!"

Kirishima smashes through the final layer of concrete walls and swings a punch right at Cementoss; the teacher without a moment hesitation unleashes another wave of concrete towards the redhead and sends him flailing about in the fluid cement before trapping him in it, leaving only his head out in the open.

"Nice try, Heroes, but-"

*Clank*

"Huh?"

He looked down at his wrist to see the examination handcuff has somehow found itself around it. Within that final charge towards Cementoss, Kirishima has actually tossed the handcuff at the teacher in an act of desperation to past. The odds of the cuff managing to get around Cementoss's wrist is against him.

But in a stroke of good luck, it did.

"Well, well… would you look at that?" Cementoss noted in awe, "Looks like lady luck has graced you with her presence."

"Kirishima & Satou team, passed!"


It was pretty surprising for Kirishima to do that and cleared the test. Talk about good luck.

Either way, the practical test is over and we are given the next day off to rest up. The day after, we all gathered in our class for our last homeroom period for the week, anxiously await the final verdict for those who passed and those who failed.

"Uuuhhh…" Our resident pink-skinned girl held back her tears the best she can, "I-I'm… looking forward to…*hic* a bunch of… awesome stories from the trip…!"

"Just hold on, now. There could a twist to this…!" Midoriya tries to assured the only failing students in our class, Kaminari and Ashido.

"Don't you get it!?" Kaminari shouted at the freckled teen, "Failing our exams meant summer school hell instead of the exciting summer camp! And we flunked the practical! The only twist it could have is if your average score is even worse than mine!"

"E-Eh!? Well that's…"

"Oh, calm down, Kaminari." Kirishima tells him, "Me and Satou are probably on the same boat as you guys. Sure, we passed the test, but it was out of pure luck that my plan even worked. If anything, we could easily get a failing grade like you guys."

"Save us your pity!"

I awkwardly look at Ashido as she actually begins to openly sob as the other girls starts to comfort her. I eventually walked up to her and just stiffly patted her on the shoulder. What else can I do?

As if on cue, the classroom door slides open and in walked Aizawa, "The bell has rung. To your seats, now." We all quickly head to our seats as our homeroom teacher slowly made his way to the podium before turning to address us, "Now, about your finals. Sadly, we have some failures. As such…"

He then gives us the same troll face back during the first day, "All of you are going to the summer training camp."

""WHAT A TWIST!""

"Everyone passed the written tests. But in the practical, only Kaminari and Ashido failed."

"Why are you singling us out!?" Kaminari cried out.

"Are we really allowed to go!?" Ashido asked almost desperately, as if the previous statement doesn't sound truthful enough for her.

"As the Villains in the examination, we teachers came up with assignments that perfectly suited all of you. Ones that gives you chances to devise winning strategies. If we hadn't, none of you would have stood a chance."

"So…" Ojirou raises his hand and asked, "When you said you were going to try and crush us…"

"That was just to push you forward." He stated, "This is a training camp, after all. More than anyone else, those who failed are in dire need of this. In short, it was all another rational deception."

He just uses that phrase to justify all his underhanded methods! Not that I don't see that as unnecessary or unjustified, but still!

"But now that we've been lied to twice, aren't you worried that our faith in you has been shaken!?" Iida cries out.

"Way to be a wet blanket, Iida-kun." Uraraka noted.

"Perhaps. But considering the facts, it isn't a complete lie." Aizawa stated, "Failure is still a failure. The two of you will receive special supplemental lessons during the camp. It would be way worse than what the summer camp will throw at you, so I advise to mentally prepare yourselves."

The complexion on those two immediately went from intense joy to pale terror within seconds after that sentence was said. If I were them, it would be the same for me.

"Anyway, I'll be handing out the camp manuals. Take one and pass it on to the back."


"I still can't believe I've managed to pass!"

Kirishima happily announced the final results for our exams to our little lunch groupies as soon as the class is released for lunch. And as I have hoped, everyone at our table all passed their finals.

"Good job, bro!" Tetsutetsu cheered as they two high-fived, "It looks like everyone here passed!"

"Yeah, if barely." Taikou noted with a sigh.

"I take it you have a tough time?" I pointed out, "Who was your partner?"

"…Monoma…"

"Yikes."

"You know it." He shoves a spoonful of curry into his mouth, "We could barely agree on anything, especially with the teacher we are tasked with."

"Who did you get?" Tsuyu asked.

"Nezu."

"Even more yikes."

Taikou got Nezu as his examiner!? Damn, I'm surprised that he managed to even pass! That little mouse-bear is considered a genius strategist, and have countless plans for any situation, including back-up plans for his back-up plans! Taikou may not be the dumb, but he is not smart enough to outmaneuver him.

"How did you even pass!?" Kirishima cried, "He absolutely dominated two of our classmates with no effort at all!"

"With insane levels of luck, a rude awakening." Taikou sighed, "As much as I really, really, hate to admit, Monoma knows strategy when he puts his mind to it. It was thanks to him that we even managed to pass."

"It must have been painful." I noted. If I know Taikou, once he disliked someone, he hardly changes his outlook on her or him. And aside from Bakugou, Monoma is pretty high up in his blacklist.

"Very. But it did open my eyes a little." He noted, "And apparently, so did Monoma. He actually apologized for his behavior in the past months."

"Wow, really?" Kirishima noted in awe, "I thought he was as stubborn as a mule."

"It was a surprise to all of us." Pony stated, "He even did it in front of the whole class. He bowed and everything."

"He must be really genuine with that apology." Tsuyu noted.

"Either way, we have all passed the finals." Tetsutetsu stated with a wide grin, "All that's left is to wait for the summer camp. I can't wait! A whole week of camping!"

"But the packing list is huge." Kirishima stated, "A lot of stuff I have to get before the camp begins."

"Me too." I noted with a tired sigh, "I don't think the bathing suit I currently have doesn't fit anymore."

"Yeah, I can imagine why." Taikou noted, eyes glancing up and down at me.

"Are you implying something?"

"Not implying anything. Just saying that your excessive sugar intake might have widen your waistline-OW!"

"How rude can you get!?"

I kicked his shin from under the table with a growl. Seriously, why does he do this every time!? There are just some things you don't ask a lady in public! Actually, not just in public either! There are questions you don't ask, period!

"What, it's the truth!" He cried out, "Because you are definitely heavier looking compared to last month-GAH!"

"Again, Taikou!?"

Tsuyu then noted, "Well, the couple banter aside-"

""We are not a couple!""

"-The list does have quite a lot of stuff on there. And since it is the end of exams and the weekends are coming up, why don't we all have a shopping trip tomorrow?"

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Pony quickly agrees, "We have only meet outside school for training and group study. It would be nice to gather for some fun instead!" Her eyes glanced at Taikou for a second before glaring at me for another.

Urgh, this has been going on for the past weeks since our first group study with that little kissing accident. I have made it very clear that I'm not romantically interested in Taikou to her, yet she keeps thinking me as a love rival!

"I don't mind." Kirishima noted, "I have no plans for the weekend., and I have quite a lot of stuff on the list I need to buy."

"Same here." Tetsutetsu noted, "How about you, Tatsuya-san?"

"I'm down." I nodded. It would be nice to have another day out with friends. I haven't hanged out with Taikou or Shinsou like that since the school term begin.

"Then it's settled! Let's all meet at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall tomorrow morning!" Tsuyu noted pretty excitedly, even if her face hardly shows it.

Kind of think of it, me and Tsuyu haven't hang out since the USJ incident. I have been too busy worrying about the canon events and changes to the timeline that I didn't think of inviting her out. I guess I should make it up to her.

The summer camp arc might have some changes I need account for, but that could wait.


The shopping mall in the Kiyashi Ward is pretty massive, way more massive than the shopping mall I've frequented for most of my stuff. It is filled with all sorts of stores with many of them catering to all kinds of body types, and I mean all kind of body types. With mutation quirks being on the rise over the years, there are many stores that sold things that could work with Shoji at least.

I couldn't help my snicker when I saw the name of the shopping mall.

"What's with you?" Taikou asked me.

"T-The mall is called Wookies…!" I laughed. Horikoshi really love his Star Wars references.

"Oh, from that one movie. What was it… Star Wars?"

"Yup, that's the one!"

"You watched that old movie?" Kirishima asked with an eyebrow raised, "I've heard that it's good, but I have never watched it-Woah!?"

"You never watched Star Wars!?" I nearly screamed at his face.

"N-No…?"

"Unforgivable!"

"Oh boy, you set her off…" Taikou groaned in the background. Tsuyu said something as well, but I didn't catch it.

I got to fix this right away! No friend of mine is going to not know about the classics! And maybe introduce him to the world of western comic books! Yeah, and he could really go all Juggernaut on the Villains!

"That's it. You're coming with me."

"H-Hey!"

"Hold on, Genko." Taikou stopped me before I can drag Kirishima away to find a comic book store, "We're here to shop for our camping supplies, remember? You can show Kirishima the glory of Star Wars afterwards."

"…yeah, I guess you're right." I let Kirishima go, "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Well, I needed a new duffel bag." Tetsutetsu noted.

"Bug spray, for me." Pony pointed out.

"I'm here for some shoes." Tsuyu stated.

"Oh, same here." Taikou stated.

"Looks like we all need different stuff. Why don't we all split up?" Kirishima suggested, "We can meet back up here at noon."

"Sure, why not?" I nodded.

"I'm going with Taikou!"

"Huh?"

Pony slides next to my confused childhood friend the instant she says that. You're really laying in on thick there, Pony… And Taikou is as dense as he always has been.

In the end, we split up according, with me and Kirishima in one team and Tsuyu and Tetsutetsu in another. Pony was beaming the whole time. I don't why Tetsutetsu gives Kirishima a thumbs-up when we picked our partners.

Taikou, I better hope you notice soon… for both your sake and mine.


"How's this?"

"I… don't really know."

I check myself over the mirror with the bathing suit I have in hand; a red one piece with a strip down the sides but shows quite a bit of cleavage. Kirishima's lack of opinion is making this to be pretty difficult to choose. This is third one I have found in my size and NOT a risqué bikini. Like one is watermelon themed, a not so subtle reference to one's massive size.

Tsuyu would be helpful with her suggestions, even Taikou would say something about it if a bit tactless.

"I mean, can't you just pick one out and just go with that?" He asked with his choice of a trunks in his hand, "It can't be that hard."

"I could, but those in my size are… well…" I take out the infamous string monokini that barely covers up anything other than my pubes and nipples.

"…yikes."

"I know, right?" I frowned as I put it back, "Makes me wish that I have a smaller bust. These things really get in the way sometimes."

"I… I see…" Kirishima awkwardly said, his face turned away with ears burning red.

"…Oh, am I making this awkward?" I asked worriedly, "I'm sorry. I'll just pick one out of the decent ones." That simple red one piece looks nice.

"Oh, no, it's fine!" He assures me, "Just… I didn't think shopping with a girl could be… well…"

"Boring? Embarrassing?" I stated with a sheepish smile as I finally choose the red one piece from before, "Yeah, Taikou mentioned the same thing when we entered middle school. You wouldn't believe how red his face became when I almost brought him into the lingerie store by accident."

"You two are really close, huh?" Kirishima asked.

"Yup. Like two peas in a pod." I noted as I took the bathing suit and make my way to the cashier, "We are childhood friends after all."

"So… um, just wondering…" He nervously asked as he walked up to me, "Did you two… you know."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, did you two… date each other before?"

"…Oh, no." I tell him with a heavy sigh, "Me and Taikou would never be a couple, like ever. Dating him would be like dating a brother, which is both weird and wrong."

"I…see…" Kirishima nodded.

"Now if only Ashido-san and Pony would understand…"

That would make my life so much easier…

"…Maybe I have a chance…?"

"Did you say something?"

"O-Oh, nothing! Just-Hm?"

"Ah."

After we paid for our items and left the store, we both turned the corner just to see Ashido and Hagakure comes out of the shoe store with Iida and Kaminari behind them, their purchases in white plastic bags.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Kaminari greeted, "You guys came here too?"

"It really is." I noted.

"You two together, alone?" Ashido snickered, hand on her wide toothy grin, "And you said you have no interest in romance, Tatsuya-chan. Yet here you are here, out on a date with Kirishima of all people."

"So sneaky~!" Hagakure stated cheerfully.

"D-Date…!?"

I don't know why Kirishima is so freaked out about this. We came with like four other people, so technically this isn't one. I decided to stop the misunderstanding before it gets too far.

"Ashido-san, we came here with Tsuyu-chan and the others." I told her, "We just decided to split up to buy our stuff."

"Are you sure about that~?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Damn it. Working with this girl is impossible. Just because we are hanging out doesn't mean we are on a date!

Come to think of it, didn't Midoriya and some of class 1-A went to a mall for a shopping trip together? I think they also split up and Midoriya ended up encountering-

I felt my heart stop for a moment as I remember the person that Midoriya would soon face and what that meeting would end up resulting down the line.

"Tatsuya-san? Is something wrong?"

This is bad. I got to stop that from happening before-

"This is an emergency message! A Villain has been spotted in the premises! Please evacuate in an orderly fashion! This is not a drill! Repeat-"

My thoughts halted when that message is blared over the intercoms, with policemen appearing to usher all of us out.

No… it has already happened…

"A-A Villain!?" Kirishima cried out, "Here!?"

"What's going on!?" Iida asked worriedly as he gestures to the police officers, "Please, tell us what's happening!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't disclose any information of the situation. Please evacuate in an orderly manner."

"B-But…!"

I can't believe that I forgot about this event! This is really bad…! At this point, canon would follow through and…

"Tatsuya-san." Kirishima's hand pressed on my shoulder, shaking me out of my thoughts, "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"Huh? O-Oh, i-it's nothing…" I assured him.

It's fine. Shigaraki would have grown in some shape of form soon or later, even if I were to intervene. Besides, adding me into the equation would be disastrous, considering what I did to him back during the USJ invasion. He wouldn't be able to hold back at all and would kill a lot of people in the process.

Just focus on the summer camp. Deal with that, and it will be fine.

It will be fine.

It will be… fine…


Omake

"How long you think it would take before she notices?" Tetsutetsu asked Tsuyu as he look through the duffel bags on sale.

"Who knows?" She replied as she picked up one particularly green one, "She seems pretty oblivious to it. She might not realize it unless he says it out loud to her."

"That's what I told him." He stated, "But he seems to think that Taikou and Genko are an item, so…"

"With how they act around each other, they might as well be."

"No kidding. They would be perfect for each other. Ah, don't tell Pony I said that."

"I won't."

"You would think that Taikou would notices her obvious crush by now."

"Those two really are two peas in a pod, down to their obliviousness."


And yup. This is done! Man, writing slice of life moments is really rough for someone like me, who has little to no social life outside of doing this.

I just depress myself by writing this…

Anyway, this is pretty much an interlude for the next few chapters. Every action-packed arc need some cooldown interlude arc afterwards to loosen up tension, after all.

I also have Kirishima pass, because unlike the one in canon, this Kirishima has some sparring practice with Genko, so his approach would be slightly different.

With that, I thank you for reading this!