Chapter Six
"First of all," Deku said, hands on his hips and shoulders squared, chest puffed out with joy, "I'm proud of all of you." The four students all smiled at him, more than aware that he was being utterly genuine. "You trusted your teammates and gave your all in this exercise." He held up a finger. "As such, it was tough to pin down an MVP for this match." He gestured to the class as a whole. "Anyone want to give a guess?"
A boy in a black body suit covered in slats of metal to resemble samurai armor, though his head was bare to reveal iron-grey hair and orange eyes, raised his hand and Deku called on him. "While it may seem like Shimano was the key player as the one who secured the device, I would think it was Izumi. He kept his head and held off Shimano with minimal effort."
"Are you kidding me?" asked a skinny boy with brown hair slicked back and square glasses, dressed in a red vest and denim pants, a sash around his waist as a belt and a bandana covering his head. "Shimano used his brain to get around a Quirk with superior firepower."
"So are we gonna ignore that the girls held each other back pretty spectacularly," Tategami commented, her arms folded, "which was the only thing that gave the boys a chance for their 'brains vs brawn' showdown?"
"Okay, easy," Deku said, and everyone settled immediately. "You all raise excellent points." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "So, I guess you're all MVPs in this one."
"Joy," Kota said sarcastically, and the rest of them laughed it off.
"Now then, who's next?" Deku asked.
The next round was Kashikoi Joren, the spider girl who had gotten in on recommendation, like Kota had — dressed in a charcoal-grey halter top with a teardrop-shaped hole baring her cleavage and plates of armor over the spider thorax and abdomen — and the guy dressed like a metal samurai, Tetsu Shirudo, as heroes.
Up against them were Hitachi Yumi, a svelte girl with golden-red hair dressed in an outfit reminiscent of a medieval archer's uniform who could grow a crossbow from her forearm, and Fynn Fujiwara who had spiky red hair and sharp green eyes with teardrop-shaped markings at the inner corners, dressed in a red shirt and orange vest with a yellow scarf, baggy charcoal-grey pants and armored shoes.
As the class watched Joren and Shirudo climb the walls of the building, with her spider legs and what appeared to be his magnetization Quirk, Eri took a place next to Katsuma. "Nice work on the win, by the way," she whispered.
"I barely made it," he admitted, a bead of sweat running down his face. "Kota's got serious skills."
"Hard to believe he once hated heroes, huh?"
"He did?" Katsuma asked in surprise, glancing over at Kota.
"From what I hear, when he first met Deku," Eri tried to hold back her laughter, "Kota punched him right in the nuts."
Katsuma choked on air and instinctively crossed his legs. "Oh?" he squeaked.
"Then he wrote an apology letter after Deku saved his life a few days later from some crazy-strong villain."
"That definitely sounds like Mr. Deku," Katsuma laughed quietly.
They settled down and watched the screens as Joren crawled quickly along the ceiling around the weapon, trailing webs in her wake that would be burned away by Fujiwara's thrown fiery discs while Yumi fired crossbow bolts to cover him. But given the bolts were made of metal, Shirudo could repel them away until he flew across the room toward the weapon and touched it to secure the win.
The other matches came and went with Yayoi dressed only in leather pants and heavy boots paired with Kinzoku Hito dressed in a red tracksuit with white highlights and steel-toed running shoes up as villains winning against the Kyu Hotaka who had steel ball bearings for knuckles that he could punch with or detach and grow as projectiles and Tatsumoki Rasen who made whirlpools in solid objects and surfaces.
The moth-looking boy, Steve Silver from West Virginia, USA was paired up with Saru Teashi who had complimented Katsuma's performance and could stretch his limbs great lengths lost to the hero team of Hane Toreka, the boy dressed as Hermes who could make wings all over his body, and Ame Senko who could teleport short distances with a step.
Finally, Scott Knight from Scotland who could reflect impacts back at their source and Matsuge Yoru who could stretch his shadow to grab others and pull them around lost to the villain team of Tategami, whose guardian lion form served her title well, and Kushina Wani whose lavender, snake-like scales grew into scaly armor.
All through it, Deku left most of the critique to the class, only jumping in on occasion with deeper insights and anecdotes from villains and heroes he had fought or worked alongside. And because it was Deku, he commented on their Quirks as much as their strategies or costumes, picking them apart like puzzles until the class got his attention again.
"Nice work, all of you," he congratulated when the class had migrated back to the training ground exit. "You've shown what you can do well and hopefully learned a bit about what you can improve on. Because rest assured," he gave them a thumbs up, "the best heroes are always finding ways to improve." He saluted them. "I'll see you all again soon. Until then, head back to the classroom and spend the rest of the period as a study hall. Then go and rest up. Because tomorrow's going to be just as tough!"
With that he leapt bodily into the sky and rocketed away, New Hampshire Smash-style.
"Man, he's even cooler than he seems on TV," Toreka said, stars practically shining in his eyes.
"C'mon, people, move it," Shirudo said, taking the lead towards the exit. "The sooner we get showered off, the sooner we can relax."
"And get on our homework, like Deku said," Tategami said, stretching in place like a cat before following. "UA's a top school in the country, period. I doubt it's going to get easier, so we might as well start chipping away at it early."
"Do you guys want to work together?" Satsuki asked.
"Oh, a group study session," Eri said. "That sounds fun."
"Maybe after a nap," Kota said.
"A nap?" Satsuki asked. "After less than twenty minutes of fighting?"
"How about we rest up in class and tackle homework back at the dorms?" Eri suggested, just a bit nervously. "Or we can talk between subjects, you know?"
"I'm in," Satsuki said.
"Sure, sounds good!" Katsuma said.
"Fine," Kota agreed.
Two hours later, Satsuki collapsed into a lawn chair on her dorm room's balcony. She looked into the pinking sky as her thoughts turned and tumbled over her and her friends' experiences today. In her mind, the battle trial was a break-even. She and Kota may have lost the scenario, but she'd defeated Eri one-on-one. That was no small feat, and she was content in there being no bad blood between them. Heaven knew Eri had beaten her time and again.
As for bad blood … she was worried about Kota. Katsuma clearly held not a single bitter feeling toward Kota, and was seemingly warming up to him as a tentative friend. It made Satsuki wonder if he'd had many friends growing up. Kota, though, had clearly taken the loss personally. He'd shelved his outward antagonism under Eri's gentle guidance, but there was no doubt these feelings would flare up in time.
Satsuki sighed and closed her eyes. She could honestly say she liked Katsuma. He was not only determined to be a hero, but had a kind of gentleness that reminded her of Midoriya. There was no doubt that he could and would stand firm in his convictions, but he was … sweet. Yes, that seemed the best word. It was clear that he would be a good friend and a great upcoming hero in one way or another.
And so she worried for Kota, that his pride and prickly nature would lead to conflict between himself and Katsuma. If things got bad … Satsuki had a feeling whom Eri would side with. Satsuki, though …
"Enough doom and gloom," Satsuki said aloud. "It could be that I'm reading too deeply into things. Maybe everything will work out fine and no drama at all will come in between our little square of friends." She gave a shakey laugh. "It could happen."
But "could" was not the same as "would."
The next day, Jiro announced that it was time to decide class representative and vice-representative. The class was given the rest of the day to figure it out, with Jiro offering the story of how Deku and Creati had been elected their rep and vice-rep before Midoriya passed it on to Ingenium.
"Just so you know," she said at the end. It certainly gave the class a lot to think about.
"So who do you think would be a good class leader? Kero," Satsuki asked at lunch.
"I'd take the job," Kota said with a small smirk.
"I doubt I could handle it," Katsuma said humbly.
"I disagree," Eri said warmly. "I'm sure you'd be great."
"So do you want to do it, Eri?" Satsuki asked coyly, noting the sour twist to Kota's lips as he ate his food more aggressively.
"Not a chance," Eri said with a bright smile. "I've got enough issues of my own without handling all of that."
After lunch came Foundational Heroics, where Aizawa and Jiro gave them some time to settle their representatives. As soon as she was done speaking, the tall moth-boy Steve Silver raised his hand and stood. "I realize that two or three days is not long to get to know the entire class, but there's certainly people who have made an impression. Why don't we do this democratically? But first," he held up a finger, "everyone has a chance to nominate candidates — someone that is not themself — and a student supporting that puts them on the ballot. When we have enough nominations, everyone can vote on that smaller group of people."
The class was quiet for a moment before Hitachi Yumi spoke up with a small smile in her voice. "Leave it to the American to think about a democratic process." With that it was settled and Jiro opened the class to nominations.
"I nominate Silver," said Senko, the blue-haired girl who could teleport, "just for coming up with the idea."
"Seconded," said Yoru, with long, dark hair, sallow skin, and the ability to interact with shadows. His voice seemed disinterested as he slouched in his chair with his arms folded.
"I nominate Shirudo," said Joren, the blond spider girl. "For his initiative in analyzing our performances yesterday and coming up with our own winning strategy."
"Seconded," said Yoru, again, just as deadpan.
"I nominate Kota Izumi for his experience around a functioning hero team," Satsuki piped up.
Everyone looked back at Yoru, waiting for him to say something. "…Seconded," he sighed, though a small grin could be seen.
"I nominate Tategami," Kota said clearly, looking directly at her. "For calling me out on the first day of class when I told everyone to shut up." Everyone was quiet as they looked between Kota and Tategami, who seemed stunned at the nomination, the source, and the reasoning.
"Seconded," Katsuma said brightly. Kota looked at him sharply, but Katsuma kept smiling.
"Any other nominations?" Jiro asked. No one spoke up. "Alright, everyone take out a sheet of paper and write your vote and pass them up." Everyone did so and Jiro counted them before writing the results on the chalkboard: Tategami - seven, Shirudo - six, Silver - four, Kota - two.
"It seems we have a rep and vice-rep," Aizawa said. "Finally, we can move on from that."
"Wait a moment," Teashi said, adjusting his glasses as he peered at the results. "That only adds up to nineteen. Did someone not vote?"
"I didn't," Yayoi rumbled. "I don't care for any of the candidates."
The class began to mumble with disapproval, but Eraserhead flashing his Quirk settled them. "Enough. Yayoi has every right to stay out of the democratic process. You have your representatives," he motioned for them to come forward and they did, joining Jiro at the front of the room, "so let's move on."
The rest of the hero class covered first aid and rescue procedures, with Recovery Girl making a special trip and enlisting Eri to help her demonstrate. When everyone had gotten down the basics, they were given materials to study and class was dismissed.
As the class packed up and began to file out of the room to return to the dorms, Tategami approached the group. "Thank you for your nomination, Izumi," she said with a small smile. "I guess you're not that bad."
"Don't make me regret it," Kota replied, though he couldn't fight a small grin right back.
Tategami accompanied them on their way back and asked Eri, "If I may, Togata, Recovery Girl seemed very quick to pick you as her assistant in class. Is there a story behind that?"
"I've known Recovery Girl since I was little," she explained, going into the latter half of her life story, the part about being raised at UA. Recovery Girl had been on hand to help her with her training alongside Aizawa. Given the nature of her Quirk, it was a natural leap for the adults to suggest a Quirk license, which would allow her to use Rewind in a professional capacity. But Eri's many hours in Recovery Girl's office for training and witnessing her age creep up on her and no one with a comparable healing Quirk that would keep UA running had helped her to decide a different path.
"I asked Recovery Girl if I could become the next school nurse," she revealed. "She said she didn't want to ask a child, but since I asked … she began training me to take her place when I graduate." Eri smiled sadly. "Ms. Shuzenji has been working hard for decades to keep the hero course and UA afloat despite how dangerous it all is. And even on her time off she visits hospitals to fix people up. She's more than earned a peaceful retirement."
"Knowing that old bat," Kota said bluntly, "she'll probably keep volunteering until she finally stops breathing."
"Hey!" Eri spun on her heel and stared daggers at Kota, her cheeks reddening to match her eyes. Kota jumped back and held his palms up in surrender.
"Sorry. I won't say it again."
"Good," Eri said, visibly calming down. "I mean, you're probably right about the volunteer thing," she held up a finger to level in front of his nose. "But don't insult Recovery Girl." When Kota nodded jerkily, Eri smiled, patted his cheek, and spun right back to resume walking.
"Is it just me?" Tategami asked quietly as everyone fell back a bit from Eri. "Or is she actually kind of scary behind that sweet smile?"
"She is," Kota said fondly.
"She can be," Satsuki stressed with a smile.
"Nah," Katsuma said casually, and everyone looked at him in surprise. "My sister's way worse. Her temper's like oil on a fire and can flare seemingly at complete random. I think Eri's just really big on justice." He carefully kept himself silent as he mentally added, 'That was also … kind of attractive.'
"Sir."
Hari Kurono — known within the criminal underworld by his Quirk name, Chronostasis — looked up from his drink to who appeared to be an unassuming, bespectacled Japanese man. He couldn't help but smirk inwardly at the fact that this very man was Shin Nemoto, Confessor, who had been almost as trusted within the organization as Kurono himself.
"Hello, Nemoto," he said, giving his associate his full attention. "Did you make contact?"
"Better," Nemoto said. "She's ready to discuss employment."
"Bring her in," Kurono said.
Nemoto took out his phone and pressed a single button. From the door of an upscale hotel bar entered a woman with mint-green hair in a small bun, dressed in a conservative charcoal business suit. She found them and approached, glancing at Nemoto before taking a seat in front of Kurono while Nemoto took a seat beside him.
"You know why you are here," Kurono said without preamble.
"Your friend's Quirk made it hard to disguise such a thing," the woman said bitterly.
"We can pay handsomely for your services," Kurono said. "No one could hold a loss against the 'Big Three' of the famed Class A against you. Our own organization fell in part due to those student heroes."
"Money is of no concern," the woman said flatly.
"Then what is it you want?" Kurono said, his eyebrows raised in faint intrigue.
"What I want," she said, leaning in closely, "is to be cured."
Now that got his attention. Their fallen leader had been on a crusade to cleanse the world of an infection that the populace celebrated. This woman had been an agent of a particular terrorist organization whose goals were similar, even if their methods were vastly different. Kurono had certainly hoped for such a piece of leverage, but he had not honestly thought she would hand it to him. He had assumed she had given up her loyalty when the group had been disbanded.
Humarise had been disbanded with the fall of Flect Turn, with many members disavowing the cult upon the failure of their Trigger Bomb operation. But this kind of dedication was … promising.
"Can you truly accomplish this?" the woman asked.
"If we succeed in our plans," Kurono said, steepling his fingers. "Yes, we can. That is the overall desire of our organization. To return humanity to what it was before Quirks emerged. Not through genocide," he said, his words heavier on the final word, "but through treatment."
The woman was quiet for a long moment, studying Kurono. "If you can cure me, then you will have my lifelong gratitude."
"Excellent," Kurono said with a small smile. "Nemoto will act as your liaison until the time is right to begin preparations." Nemoto nodded in understanding. "But to make it official, we really must drink to it." He poured two glasses of sake from the bottle he'd ordered and placed them before Nemoto and their newest agent.
"To a world returned to normalcy," he toasted.
"To return of the Shie Hassaikai," Nemoto said.
"To a cure," the woman replied, and they all tapped their glasses and took a drink.
"Remind me, please," Kurono said, "what would you prefer to be called?"
"You may call me Beros," she said.
Here we are with chapter six! A bit shorter than usual, but the next one will be longer to make up for it.
*For the sake of reference – Kyu Hotaka, Fynn Fujiwara, and Ame Senko are visually based respectively upon Terra, Lea, and Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.
*The brief running gag of "Seconded" is based on a scene from Futurama. Scruffy the Janitor is just great.
*For those of you screaming, "Hey! Beros jumped off a helicopter!" - she was not confirmed dead. For the sake of this story, she was certainly injured from her fall, but survived and had plenty of medical care in prison. I just really like her character as an antagonist and wanted her to help round out the crew.
As always, I hope it was a fun read! Leave a review if you can! And may your own inspirations flow freely!
