Chapter Eighty-Three
I could feel the eyes of the others on me, but, to put it bluntly, I didn't give a shit.
We were going into that forest, and, unless we got canon levels of lucky, not all of us were going to be walking back out of it.
Unless, of course, I was wrong.
And. . . I might be. God knows I'd taken a sledgehammer to canon, the only parts still recognizable being events that had probably been in planning before I completely dismantled things. Then again, Ida had still been attacked by Stain, with Midoriya and Todoroki coming to his aid, but the insane vigilante had gotten away, and all three boys had kept mum about what'd actually happened.
I'd blown off Shigaraki's hand, which might've been why he hadn't paid us a visit when we, as a class, went shopping for clothing for the trip, though, with all of the Quirks out there, I'd be surprised if it hadn't been regrown for him. That kind of thing was rare for use on others, but all All-for-One would need to do was give Mr. Bad-Touch a Nomu's High-Speed Regeneration for a few minutes and he'd be fine.
No, while I hoped things would be different, a feeling in my gut told me the trees would soon be painted with blood.
"Class B is going to start out as our 'Scarers,'" Pixie-Bob announced with forced cheer, Tiger holding up a projector that displayed a simple loop through the forest, both of them trying to pretend my not-so-subtle tête-à-tête with Aizawa hadn't happened. "When they're in place, Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes! There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those!"
Tokoyami muttered grimly, "Revelry in the dark," which. . . yes? That was what they were, however misguidedly, proposing.
"Now!" the blonde continued, still ignoring anything that might dampen the mood. "Those who are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your Quirks to terrify the others. Got it?"
Tiger pointed to us, announcing, "The winners are. . . the creative students who make the most people piss their pants!"
"Did we need that visual?" Jiro muttered, while Ida nodded.
"I see!" the high-strung boy announced, and part of me wondered if he'd be one of the ones to die tonight. "They're encouraging us to stoke our imaginations as we compete with each other, all while showing us more uses for our Quirks in the process! As expected of UA!"
"Except this isn't UA, and this is a terrible idea," I muttered, quiet enough that only Mina, and, from her look, Jiro heard me.
"All right!" Pixie-Bob butted back in. "Everyone draw to see who your partner will be!"
We did and I looked at my slip bearing the number six, looking at Mina who's pulled a four, and frowned. "Oh, you're my partner," Ochaco cheerily announced, jumping over to me, though her smile diminished as she looked at me face. "I, uh-"
"You mind if we switch, sweetie?" Mina asked her, and the anti-gravity girl hesitated, looking between the two of us as I held still, hoping she'd say yes, but not wanting to say anything to make the situation worse.
"Uh. . . sure, okay," Uraraka agreed, swapping papers, and moving over to Tokoyami, who also held a number four, asking, "Okay, so, why 'Revelry in the dark'?"
However, the crow-headed boy's answer was lost as my girlfriend slipped an arm around mine, whispering, "Feel better?"
I nodded slightly, gaze shifting over to our friend. "Momo will be right in front of us, so when everything starts, it'll be easy to find her. And Aoyama being with her will make it that much easier as well."
The pink skinned girl sighed, holding my hand, and threading her fingers through mine. "Sparky, it'll be fine-"
"Like the USJ was?" I snapped quietly, "Like I-Island was?" At her hurt look I closed my eyes for a second, and realized I was sparking, pulling it back. "Sorry," I whispered. "But, counting that shit with Stain, we're three for three with my," I paused, aware of the almost certainty of attentive ears, "with my feelings being more than feelings."
We both paused, as Class 1-B, along with Bradley, were sent off to set up.
"And idiots like Ida are going to make this worse, not better," I added after they left.
Mina giggled, "What is it this time?"
"Well," I started to say, then turned to Toru and Kyoka, the pair listening in, both holding the number two slips, the seemingly floating one drifting closer and closer. "Just come over here you two," I told them, both girls making no pretense at not having eavesdropped, both of them pretty bad when it came to that in a way that part of me understood would not have been nearly as accepted if they were men.
"So what's Emergency Exit Ida got wrong this time," Jiro questioned with a smirk.
I merely lifted an eyebrow, "How is Mineta going to scare people, other than possibly perving on the girls of 1-B?"
"That could be pretty scary," Hagakure joked, then hmm'd. "Actually, how would he?"
"There's ways," I admitted, "But at that point you're not 'creatively using your Quirk', it's 'you've only got a hammer, so let's find some nails.' If Kirishima and Sato hadn't been dragged off by Aizawa, they'd have the same problem. I know Ida will, and other than almost hitting you with his beam unexpectedly, what's Aoyama gonna do?"
My girlfriend frowned. "Oh phooey, what're we gonna do?" she asked, concerned.
"You have a puppet power, even if you haven't trained up that use that much. I can carve up a framework for you and we've got a slime-covered skeleton in about five minutes. Jiro can do things with subsonics, likely, and Hagakure, you're as suited for this as you were unsuited for the first time they dumped us in a forest. Well, unsuited to help with what we ended up doing," I amended, before she, or Mina, could say anything. "If we'd gone 'every hero for themselves' you might not've made it in the time-limit, but you would've been guaranteed to make it in the end, unlike most of our class."
I felt the air move, and realized she'd waved at me, as the invisible girl said, "I know. But thanks for letting me help."
"And we couldn't've done it without you," Mina told the other girl, elbowing me in the ribs to back her up, but I shook my head.
"You did help," I reiterated, "but the plan didn't hinge on any single person's Quirk, except maybe Todoroki's. But that kid's kinda nuts."
There was a moment where we all turned to look at the thermokinetic, standing next to Koda, the scarred boy shooting us a mildly concerned look in return.
"So," Jiro said quietly, and with an undercurrent of wary worry, "you think we'll get hit again? Like the USJ?"
"What!?" Toru yelped, then whispered as people looked our way, "But, but last time weren't the bad guys looking for All Might?"
I sighed, shrugging, "And who's to say they didn't make the same mistake again? Or maybe it's something else? Or maybe I'm just wrong. But, well, that's the other reason this is dumb, and one I actually agree with Aizawa with. Why I agreed with Aizawa," I corrected, looking around. "Class 1-B had the normal UA experience, but we've not. Hagakure, I took care of the fighting at the USJ, but Jiro, did you have to handle people that were literally trying to kill you?"
The musician winced, then nodded, looking away. "I, yeah. We took 'em down, but it wasn't like, wasn't like class, or the sports festival."
"Oh honey," Mina cooed, voice full of sympathy. "Are you okay?"
Kyoka shook her head, "I'm fine. Talked to my parents. I-Island? We heard there was a problem, but-"
"Armed terrorists, and a Villain that was near All Might's level, though thankfully not at it," I stated neutrally. "I put myself between Momo and one that was half-a-second from sniping her, and Mei stuck him to the wall. If I hadn't armored my suit, and couldn't enhance myself, I would've had a lung blown out and might've died then and there." I smiled grimly, "So take however twitchy you might be, and cube it. Now put those kinds of people in a situation where we'll be scared."
I let sparks trail up the arm Mina wasn't holding for emphasis.
"Holy shit that's dumb," Jiro murmured, a moving, "Uh-huh," from Toru indicating she was nodding.
"And why I'm here to keep this big lug from jumpin' too hard," my girlfriend said, hugging me a little tighter.
Looking at the two of them, I commanded, "So consider this training. Keep your cool, but pay attention. People will likely be screaming, but surprise and fright sound different then screams of pain."
Jiro's face screwed up. "I-I know. I heard Ojiro, a little. At the USJ."
This time Mina let go of me to give the girl a hug, something Toru was also doing by how Kyoka's clothing moved, while I just sighed. "I think our school has a councilor, one who might actually know what he's talking about, given UA's a Hero academy. But for now, just do your best, and prioritize getting back here, and staying alive. At least now you've got a decent attack you can unleash."
At the girl's confused look, I waved to the forest. "Turning a tree into a claymore because of directed soundwaves is the kind of insta-kill deadliness that had Eraserhead confiscating my necklace over." Turning the fingers of my extended hand into electric claws, I added, "Not that I'll really need it."
Jiro turned to look at Ashido. "Your boyfriend's kinda intense."
"I know," my girlfriend grinned, "Isn't he just adorbs!"
MHA
I waited, watching the others enter the forest, tensing at every shriek and wail, but as far as I could tell it was just people being scared, not hurt. The first time I heard Momo's voice, tone high in terror, I flinched, sparking, but Mina was there with me, whispering in my ear that things were fine, and Yaoyorozu was just frightened, as the sheltered girl could easily be.
"It's, uh, your time! It's, uh, not as bad as it sounds!" Pixie-Bob announced a little weakly, grimacing as I looked her way and stiffly started to walk, the Pussycats at least realizing how phenomenally retarded this exercise was. Well, Mandalay and Pixie-Bob showed it, while Tiger frowned in my direction. The green-haired bitch, if anything, seemed to smile wider every time someone screamed, and I once again was reminded of the unequal nature of Quirks, as the two brown-haired Pussycats seemed like decent people with weaker powers, while the other two had their actions excused by the strength of their abilities.
Muscles tense, coiled, and ready to move if need be, I entered the forest, keeping OfA running, holding onto Mina as much as she was holding onto me, ready to grab her and dodge the very fucking second something happened.
And towards the sound of screams.
Nothing happened at first, moving through the forest carefully, until something darted through the underbrush, at speed, circling all around us. It practically ripped through the bushes, and I jerked OfA up to max as a shape flew out of the forest, coming right for us, and I reflexively, moved a grasping hand to my neck, the other shifting Mina behind me as-
"Sparky!" Mina warned, and I looked around, for the other attack, the pause just long enough to show the shape wasn't a Villain, but a set of shirt and pants stuffed full of and, covered with, pure white mushrooms, carried aloft by two horns.
Two familiar looking horns.
Looking at the proto-ghost, I sighed, nodding. "Not bad," I called out, still wary, pushing my hand down from the necklace that was no longer there. "Good use of nonstandard materials for coloration."
"Oh you're no fun-gus!" a girl called out from the woods, right behind the 'ghost'.
Which meant she would've been in my line of fire.
"Just a nonstandard fear response," I replied without thinking too much about it, allowing Mina to move up beside me.
"Yeah, it was totes scary!" my girlfriend agreed. "But, like, maybe don't stand right behind it? If Todoroki gets so scared he freezes it, he might get you guys too!"
There was a moment of silence, before Pony quietly informed her partner, "~Told ya.~"
"Did you get the others?" I questioned, forcing myself to calm.
The first girl, the mushroom grower, giggled menacingly. "Yeah! The guy with glasses was a total scaredy-cap!"
"Well, we better get going," I said, shifting gears, though my muscles still twitched a little, ready to react to an inopportune interruption, "wouldn't want to take too long and get in. . . truffle."
From the woods, the girl laughed so hard she snorted, and the two of us continued onwards.
Moving forward, there was a baleful, bestial howl which would've set my nerves to jangling. . . if I hadn't already heard a more distant version of it used on the first five pairs of students before us. Ibara's attempt was less scary and more sad when the vines, slithering like vile snakes, came for us, and, while muffled, I could distinctly hear her call of, "Repent, Sinners!"
"Okay!" Mina called back, smiling, and the vines stopped.
"Really?" the spiritual florakinetic questioned.
"Yep!" my girlfriend replied.
". . . have a blessed night," the girl told us, pulling her vines back, even as someone else whispered, "Ibara, what the hell!"
Further on, the forest floor rippled, and Kodai's head popped out, body likely still underground, and while abrupt. . . that was it.
We stared at each other.
"Uh, hi?" Mina offered, glancing at me with an expression that read 'what the heck?'
"Hello," the other girl replied, deadpan.
The silence stretched.
"Um, we're gonna go. Seeya later!" my girlfriend said, her cheer a little forced.
"Bye," the buried girl replied, with just as little emotion as before.
And then we left.
Moving on, I could distantly hear a boy's voice going, "Don't feel bad, Kodai. It got all the others."
"I don't feel bad," the buried girl replied, at the edge of my perception, a different girl saying something else, but we were too far away to hear what it was.
After a minute of walking, Mina mused, "Gotta say, I kinda thought they'd be scarier."
"The kinds of thing that scare me aren't something they'll be able to produce," I replied, taking a sniff, but there was neither the sickly-sweet stench of poison gas, nor the acrid scents of smoke, just the standard smells of the forest.
"And what would those be?" my girlfriend questioned, interested.
"Losing you," I informed her instantly. "To a lesser extent, losing Momo, Mei, and my family. Things like youma, werewolves, and vampires, they just don't rate." And I had the distinct feeling that I personally knew at least one of the third category, though I couldn't say why. I didn't fear. . . her? I didn't fear her, but I did hate her fucking guts. But I didn't know why.
"Denki?" Mina asked, concerned. "You 'kay?"
Shaking my head, clearing it, I reassured her, "I'm fine. Just. . . I'm fine."
She didn't say anything, merely hugged me for a long moment, and took my hand once more, leading me forward.
Moving onwards, something creaked in the dark, and, waiting, I felt something push against my Defenses. I stiffened, sparking, while, at my side Mina brought a hand up, acid pooling around it.
From the trees something large stalked forward, a skeletal figure, with burning blue eyes, and at the sight of the cerulean flames I launched myself forward, crackling, an electric claw sinking into the enormous skull, which gave way, a girl's voice shrieking the only thing that stopped me from shocking the shit out of whatever this was.
Landing, holding a skull the size of my torso, I realized the flames were actually the kanji for the word 'Fear', and that, while I'd decapitated my opponent, the body was waving there uncertainly.
". . . Spooky," A girl's voice to my side whispered, the girl herself previously hidden behind a tree, eyes wide, as I absently closed my hand, claws slicing through the wooden skull which I only now realized she'd animated with her telekinetic ability. She was limited to a certain amount of weight, but, looking at it, the shape I'd attacked was a skeleton wearing a tattered robe made of vines, and only the wooden 'bones', made of tree branches, were moving.
"I, uh, sorry 'bout that," I apologized, a little awkwardly, letting go of the marred wooden skull, which was hollow, and it floated in the air where I'd left it. Drawing down on OfA, I sparked less, the thin golden lines of power narrowing until they functionally disappeared. Looking around, I couldn't see the comic-headed boy, but warned, "Be careful with mind-affecting effects. When it comes to fight or flight, some of us lean pretty heavy towards the fight."
"Hidden. Okay," a voice across the path called, another nudge to my Defenses, likely Mind Defense, blocked his attempts as the onomatopoeia-teen replied while trying not to be spotted.
Leaving the two, Mina and I kept going, finally hitting the halfway point, grabbing our nametags, Todoroki and Koda's there, along with Midoriya's, Bakugo's, Kirshima's, Sato's, and Sero's, which told me the Pussycats had expected everyone to participate, Aizawa pulling rank on the remedial students at the last moment.
"So. . . How ya doin'?" Mina questioned as we started to make our way back, still without any sign of impending attack. Then again, though, I didn't know when the attack had started, only that Midoriya, the very last one, hadn't entered the forest yet.
"Could be better," I answered honestly. "Remember those Villains I talked about? The fire one used blue fire. Same shade and everything."
My girlfriend didn't rebuke me over my reaction, just held me a little tighter for a moment, and I appreciated her all the more for it.
We continued onwards, the only moment of tension when Tokage staggered into our path, holding her chest as her flesh gaped open from a deep cut, but instead of the overpowering metallic smell of blood and viscera, all I got was. . . tomatoes?
"Oh noes!" Mina cried out fakely, after we both froze, and, looking to me, she realized there was nothing to worry about. "She's hurt! Quick, Denki! Administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!"
Despite myself I laughed at the sheer absurdity of her suggestion, that doing nothing for that kind of almost surely lethal wound, and, paired with the realization that this was just another scaring attempt, I rallied with, "I'm pretty sure that's not how it works, but far be it for me to question my girlfriend! Hold on, Setsuna! We'll get you the help you need!"
Dashing over to her, I slid forward on electric knees, the other girl frowning in confusion but trying to stay in character. I reached down to pick up her head, which came off her neck bloodlessly in my hands, and I looked to Mina, leaning into the ridiculousness, because why not, telling her with mock-worry, "It's worse than we thought!"
"She definitely needs that mouth-to-mouth now!" Mina informed me, giggling, and I shrugged, bringing the girl's head closer to mine.
Tokage's eyes flew open, her skull trying to pull away on its own, and I let go, her body reassembling itself on the ground. "Dudes, what the heck!?" she demanded, sitting up, whereupon Mina lost her battle with levity, and started guffawing, holding her sides as she fell over.
"Oh. My. God! Your face!" my girlfriend howled, and Tokage looked up at me, as I, smiling down on her from my position on one knee, doing my best not to show how keyed up I still was and trying to be funny, shrugged.
"Eh, okay. You two got me good!" the green-haired girl admitted, coming apart, floating up, and putting herself back together. "How'd ya know it wasn't real?"
And just like that, my attempts at good humor died. "Someone cut like that, it smells different. You can't forget it. Trust me."
Setsuna winced. "Damn, you two have been through some shit, haven't you?"
Mina was still smiling, not having the same reaction I had, but she still shot me a concerned look, "Yeah, you could say that. Some of us more than others. Where'd you get ketchup, anyhow?"
Tokage smiled impishly, her hand detaching at the wrist, "No one said we couldn't use props."
My girlfriend shot me a teasing look. "YaoMomo?"
"YaoMomo," I agreed, with a hint of a smile, which was as much as I could muster.
The Separator glanced between us, realization dawning. "Oh, come on! That's cheating!"
Mina grinned, throwing up a peace sign. "All's fair in love, war, and scaring the bejesus out of our classmates!"
Tokage chuckled, then waved us on. "Lookin' forward to what you can do Pinks, Sparks!"
I nodded to her, continuing down the path, my girlfriend quietly asking after we were out of sight, "You seen someone hurt like that, Sparky?"
Frowning, I told her, "I. . . yes, I think so. But. . ." I trailed off. "Sorry, it's weird."
She was quiet for a long moment. "Someone mess with your memories?"
"If they did it was before. . . before we ended up together," I murmured back. "As soon as I realized. . . the thought of having someone mess with your mind, so that you, I don't know, didn't know who I was? That would be hell."
"Gah," Mina replied at the thought, hugging me, and smiling into my shoulder. "I'm glad you did that. Waking up one morning and finding out ya didn't know me? That'd be, just, the worst." She looked around, then grabbed my head and pulled me down into a deep kiss, the kind that took my complete attention to properly enjoy, the two of us pulling apart a moment later, and she rested her head against mine. "But that's not gonna happen, so let's keep going, together, okay?"
"Together," I agreed, holding her hand as we continued, seeing what other surprises the rest of Class 1-B had for us. However, instead of a feeling of increasing tension, as I'd felt going in, each one now, oddly enough, seemed to take just a little more weight off my shoulders. Part of me was still convinced that only the timing had changed, and we'd be attacked when it was our turn to be the scarers, but, well, it should've happened by now.
When we finally emerged back into the main clearing, where most of my class was gathered, but there wasn't a hint of smoke, gas, or really any kind of mass disturbance at all?
Looking around, despite myself, I found myself believing that we had finally changed things for the better.
Music-
Not all of us were going to be walking back out of it. - 06 Tomodachigokko ja Irarenai - MY HERO ACADEMIA 2nd OST 1
the sound of screams - 17 Yonaka ni Kiku to Kowai. - MY HERO ACADEMIA 2nd OST 1
Two familiar looking horns - Boku No Hero Academia [Original Soundtrack] - "Kosei Iroiro" (Among Kosei)
AN: Next Four Chapters are up on , as usual!