Chapter 26: Work and Play
Izuku re-fastened his face mask. It was slightly ajar after doing some warm-up stretches.
Mashirao then walked out of the bathroom and asked, "You guys ready to go?"
"Of course! Let's make the best of today out there," Tenya said with a thumbs up. He was currently suited up but without a helmet on, which he held in his right hand.
As the three made their way out of the boy's locker room, Ida asked, "So did you go on another date with Yaoyorozu-chan yesterday?"
Ojiro groaned before asking, "Was it that obvious again?"
"My apologies. I didn't mean to pry. I only figured that was the case when I texted her yesterday night about some details pertaining to this Saturday and she didn't respond until quite late," Tenya explained.
Mashirao sighed in relief before saying, "That makes sense I guess."
Izuku then asked, "Where did you go with her this time?"
"A few thrift shops and then dinner at a food truck. It's weird, but it was all Momo-chan's choice," Ojiro answered.
Midoriya was then reminded of Yaoyorozu's fascination with the Donki store that they used to buy disguises so as not to be recognized when they rescued Bakugo during the summer.
"Yaoyorozu-chan seems to have had a sheltered upbringing. All these are new experiences to her and what better way to spend it than with her new boyfriend," Tenya explained.
"Yeah I figured as much, but I was hoping to take her somewhere nice at least once. Though I'm pretty limited on yen for obvious reasons," Mashiro stated as he scratched the back of his head. He sighed, "Ida-kun, did you have a sheltered upbringing as well?"
Ida crossed his arms as he thought for a few moments. He then responded with, "Sorta. I mean I was raised in high-class surroundings but from what I've seen, not to the level of Yaoyorozu-chan. I feel another factor was that Tensei made sure to have me do things outside my demographic when I was younger."
Ojiro then said, "I see. I was just worried she might be taking me to these places only because it's cheap. But even considering that I don't have much to work with."
"Is there a reason you have dates each weekend with her? Tooru-chan and I decided on going out monthly," Midoriya stated.
Mashirao was quick to answer, "We talked about it, and we wanna see if this is gonna work or not. And the best way she thought was to have a bunch of dates to gauge how things are between us in the quickest way possible."
"There's nothing wrong with taking things slow," Izuku said, speaking from experience.
"Yeah but Momo-chan was adamant to speed things along, so I went with it," Ojiro replied as the trio rounded a corner.
Ida then stated, "That's odd for Yaoyorozu-chan to act that way. She's usually quite slow and cautious concerning most things."
Midoriya wondered if this had to do with Yaoyorozu's past with boys trying to take advantage of her, as her head butler had mentioned months ago. Did she want to confirm that her feelings were more than just a crush or if Ojiro was genuine in his interest? Izuku figured Momo would have known Mashirao long enough by now to know he wasn't a jerk. Then another thought came. Maybe she was just excited to date someone finally and outside the watchful eye of her mother. Perhaps this was the reason.
Either way, Midoriya was glad things were going well between the two. When he finally watched the battle between the couple it left him concerned. Their fight had been quite long, and it looked to have frustrated Ojiro. Aizawa was right that most of their scuffle had them not committing to end it. At first, Izuku thought they were testing each other's resolve, but it became apparent that neither wanted to hurt one another. Finally, Momo had enough and produced a cannon and fired upon Mashirao. When asked later by Midoriya, he found out she had used it at a lower power setting since it was against a person. However, this allowed Ojiro to catch and use its momentum to swing it back at Yaoyorozu and destroy her cannon. The two then went into an all-out brawl with Momo summoning her bo staff to do battle. The range the weapon gave her was able to push Mashirao back, but the match was called before a winner was decided. He seemed frustrated at this and Izuku hoped whatever was bothering his tailed friend had been resolved by now.
"Regardless, I'm gonna have to come up with something about my money situation," Ojiro said.
"Might I suggest stuff like maybe walks at scenic areas, like the park or beach and bringing some prepared meals for food. It's what Ochako-chan and I decided to do as she doesn't want me spending money on our dates for her. And if you need any help cooking something up, just ask! I'd be happy to help," Tenya said with a bright smile.
Mashirao smirked as he replied, "Yeah I think I'll have to take you up on that offer."
Their conversation got Izuku to think about his own financial situation. He had enough for about one more date he figured. Since they had started dating, they always split the bill on her request, which he agreed with. The boy wondered if he should go along with asking his mother for money or implement something along the lines of Ojiro's plan. Either way, he would need to figure something out by next weekend. Midoriya wanted to go on a date then and not in the final week of October as it would be too close to the festival. He figured they might be exhausted from all the work going into perfecting their live performance.
At this point, the trio arrived at their destination. Ground Beta.
It was Monday night, so the members of TAC were about to train once more. Due to preparing for the cultural festival, they had to meet later than usual, and this would have to continue for another few weeks.
"Evening boys," All Might stated as the trio approached. As they all then greeted their heroics teacher, Midoriya looked behind his mentor to see Aizawa was a distance away looking at a sheet of paper.
The former pro hero then said, "Once the girls are here we'll get started."
Suddenly though, Izuku felt a tackle hug from behind and nearly toppled over.
"Oh, we're already here sensei," Tooru said with glee.
Midoriya looked down to see no gloves wrapped around his chest. She must have taken them off to sneak up without being noticed, he figured. Izuku then heard footsteps behind himself.
"Hagakure-chan, was it essential to run ahead? All you had to do was take off your gloves if you wanted to catch him off guard," Ochako said while huffing.
Momo then spoke up and said, "Well we didn't have to chase you know Uraraka-chan. I just followed you after you started running after her."
"Hagakure-san you can squeeze your boyfriend to pieces another time. Now is the time for work not play," Aizawa said from afar in an irritated tone.
"Sorry sensei," Tooru said as she took her gloves out of her pockets and proceeded to put them on.
Eraserhead folded his paper and put it in his pocket as All Might said, "Well since we're all here now let's get to our destination for tonight."
Suddenly the gate to Ground Beta opened, and Aizawa motioned everyone to follow. They walked for a few minutes but then stopped between two office buildings that were across the street from one another.
"These will be where you all will be training today," Eraserhead stated while pointing to both structures. He then said, "These two structures are identical in height and have ten floors."
"We'll be splitting you into two groups of three," All Might said while holding up the corresponding numbers with his fingers.
"As was mentioned in our initial meeting two weeks ago, you all have experienced mostly single partner exercises, so today we will slightly bump up that trend," the homeroom teacher said as he approached his students. He then stated, "The first team will consist of Ida-san, Ojiro-san, and Uraraka-san. The remaining will be on the other team."
The students then separated into their two groups, but before they could even talk to one another, Eraserhead spoke up once more and said, "Each team will start by riding the elevator to the top floor of their assigned buildings. You will then be given a few minutes to come up with a plan before we announce the start of the exercise."
"The objective will be simple. Travel down your designated building and battle the opposing team whenever you meet them. Note that we will be turning off the elevators once you have reached the top floor. And like last week, fight until you are told to stand down but also keep damage to your surroundings to a minimum," All Might explained.
"Beyond that, the point of the training will become clear once it concludes," Aizawa stated as he reached into his pocket. He then pulled out communicators and handed them to everyone.
As Tooru received hers, she asked, "Does that mean I can go all out again?"
"Indeed. Unless otherwise stated, it's best that you are fully invisible while doing these extra lessons," Eraserhead replied before returning to All Might's side.
Hagakure giggled happily as she pocketed her gloves.
Aizawa then pointed to his left as he said, "Ida-san, your team will be stationed here." He then pointed to his right as he stated, "And the opposing team here."
"Good luck everyone," All Might stated with a grin and thumbs up.
Midoriya and his two teammates made their way to the right.
Within seconds Tooru asked, "I wonder which team can run down ten flights of stairs the fastest?"
Momo shook her head as she said, "That's probably not the best method. I think our teachers want us to get downstairs in a different way."
"Yeah, there has to be a faster method. I feel both teams would reach the bottom floor at around the same time if we both took the stairs. Then we would end up fighting in the streets," Izuku explained while crossing his arms.
"Making us trek downstairs would be pointless if so. There has to be more to this," Yaoyorozu stated as the trio entered their assigned building.
The first room they entered was large and spacious. There was a receptionist desk, a few hallways behind it which lead to some administrative offices judging by some signs, a security room to the right, and a few support pillars here and there.
"So they want us to use our quirks to get down faster," Hagakure said in a curious tone. She then asked, "But how are we going to do that?"
"I might have an idea," Izuku said as he entered the security room. He then said, "Help me find some keys."
It took her a moment, but Momo's eyes lit up as she said, "Ah I see your plan." Then her face turned to concern as she asked, "But wouldn't this be against the rules?"
"They just said it would be deactivated. Nothing about not using the elevator shaft," Midoriya explained as he started looking through some drawers.
Izuku saw objects moving by a nearby cabinet as he heard Tooru say, "You want us to slide down the elevator cables?"
The class vice president nodded as she answered, "It could work, but we need access to the elevator drop key to manually open the doors since it will be shut off. Sometimes it's just a regular key and others it's a rod. Security should have a keyring with everything to the building."
The trio then spent a few minutes looking through two rooms, the front being an office and the back being storage. Nothing was locked, but there were no keys in sight.
Hagakure groaned as she said, "I guess these buildings aren't one hundred percent authentic. I'm sure this security room is just for show since these facilities are just used for training purposes."
Midoriya sighed as he said, "I'm sure they exist, but I bet they are in the underground monitor room that our teachers are stationed at."
"And I doubt we are allowed down there during the exercise," Momo stated.
"I forgot about that floor. That explains why we weren't given body cameras this time," Tooru said.
Izuku looked up to his left. A camera was looking right at him. He figured Eraserhead and All Might had already arrived at the monitor room. The teachers hadn't said anything about Izuku's team wasting time searching for the keys, so it further cemented the fact in his mind that they needed to find an alternate route downstairs.
"I think we can still make this work. Follow me," the vice president said as she left the security room.
Izuku then felt Tooru's hand grab his as she said, "Let's see what she has in mind."
The couple followed Momo to the elevator, where she was already standing inside and holding the door for them. Once inside, Midoriya noticed the button label as ten light up on its own. Tooru must have pressed it, he thought.
Once the elevator door closed and the team started to rise, Yaoyorozu stated, "It's a bit of a long shot, but I think I can make a key of my own with my quirk if I'm careful."
Curious, Midoriya asked, "How would that work?"
"Normally when I create an object, it's ready to go as it exits my skin. This is so it can be used immediately for combat purposes. But I can delay its formation somewhat," Momo explained with excitement in her voice.
Izuku figured she enjoyed explaining her quirk in detail. He then asked, "So I figure if you want to make an iron mold they would settle into the keyhole's shape?"
The class vice president responded with, "In theory, yeah. Though I haven't tried it before to this extent."
"Makes sense. Yaoyorozu-chan doesn't seem like the type to break into things," Tooru giggled. Momo scratched the back of her head in confusion at the comment.
The elevator then stopped, and the team walked out before the door closed behind them. The sound of the elevator descending followed.
Izuku sighed in relief. If the elevator car had stayed on their floor then descending would have been much harder for them to do quickly. He then asked, "Yaoyorozu-chan could you try and make the key and open the doors now? I wanna know that we can do this before we go with a plan that might fail."
Yaoyorozu cocked an eyebrow at him, "Shouldn't we wait until we get the go-ahead to start descending?"
"We won't be heading down until the designated time. But I wanna see if this will work and if so we can get a head start,"
Momo turned around and looked at the small hole on the door. She sighed and popped her fingers as she said, "Looks like it needs the rod kind, so this will be a bit harder than I thought. Luckily the key to open the door from the inside looks to only need a normal key so that should be easier. I'm hoping the key to open the top hatch is just as simple."
Yaoyorozu then waited a moment before clicking the button to call for the elevator. No response. The button didn't even light up.
Hagakure then asked, "What was that for?"
"Just making sure the power is off. The doors will stay closed even if I use the key unless the power is off. I was just making sure of that," Momo answered before lifting her right hand and making a grey blob appear on her index finger. She then placed it inside the small circular hole on the elevator door. A few moments passed before a click was heard.
Izuku pumped a fist as he said, "That's the locking mechanism. It worked!" He then let go of Tooru's hand and walked forward and opened the door.
Midoriya heard Hagakure beside him say, "That's a long way down. I can't even see anything."
"I got that covered," the class vice president said as she made a flashlight and batteries from her left shoulder.
As Momo started to put the batteries into the flashlight, Tooru asked, "So are we just gonna slide down the elevator wires to the bottom?"
Izuku asked, "Yeah. Is there a problem?"
"Do we have the equipment to do that? My suit offers some protection, but I think it's too thin to take that much friction."
Yaoyorozu stepped forward and handed the flashlight towards Hagakure's voice as she said, "Then ride on Midoriya-kun's back. He has more than enough protection to take it. We need someone to hold the flashlight as we descend anyways."
Tooru responded with, "But you have no protection as well Yaoyorozu-chan."
"Give me a second. I got an idea," Momo replied as she reached behind her and pulled out an encyclopedia that hung off her belt. She then explained, "I just need to refresh myself on certain materials, and I should be able to make something lightweight around my hands and legs that should be able to take the friction, no sweat."
As Yaoyorozu flipped through various pages of her massive book, Midoriya said, "So we should make a game plan for what to do once we get down there."
Unburdened by her work, Momo stated, "We can't rule out that the others are going to think up a method to get down the stairs faster too."
"Hopefully our plan is better," Tooru said in a hopeful tone.
"Yeah. I want to avoid meeting in the street if we can," Izuku stated in agreement.
The class vice president looked up from her encyclopedia as she asked, "To hinder Ida-kun right?"
"Exactly. His quirk is going to be the biggest issue I think. Given enough room, he can obtain high enough speeds that we won't be able to counter. Plus indoors he runs into the issue of turning around and needing to stop which should make him more manageable," Midoriya explained.
Hagakure then suggested, "So do we wanna confront them in the first-floor lobby of their building? Whatever method they are gonna use they are gonna have to exit from there."
Izuku nodded as he answered, "Yeah that sounds like our best option. An ambush there would work really well."
Momo closed her book and placed it back behind her before saying, "I suggest we all target a specific person first, incapacitate them, and then move on to our next target."
"I say we target Uraraka-chan first," Tooru blurted out. Both her friends looked at blank space with intrigued looks. She then said, "I mean if she touches you it's game over for that individual."
"I agree," Yaoyorozu stated as she pulled three handcuffs from her upper chest. She then gave one to Midoriya and Hagakure as she said, "If we can restrict her hands then she should be easy to deal with after that. From there I think Ojiro-kun should be our next objective, leaving Ida-kun for last."
Midoriya crossed his arms before saying, "We should also expect them to do the same to us. The question is who will they target."
"Well, definitely not me," Hagakure stated with glee.
Momo sighed before saying, "Yeah if anybody it's most likely going to be me or you, Midoriya-kun, that they go after first."
Izuku then stated, "Once we know whoever they are going to target first we should defend that person then counter-attack and go after Uraraka-chan first. But our priority should be to get to their building first for the element of surprise."
"Just to be sure, I'll run ahead and make sure they aren't ready to ambush us and relay that the coast is clear," Tooru stated.
The vice class president then asked, "Um, how are you gonna be discreet about telling us if you're wearing the communicator?"
"No problem at all. I'll hold on to it inside my fist and whisper into it when I need to talk," Hagakure replied.
Momo brought up a hand to her chin as she said, "Ah, that should work then."
"Hello, students!"
It was All Might's voice from the communicator.
"Guess we're out of time. Just give me a moment to make the clothing I'll need," Yaoyorozu stated. She then closed her eyes but maintained a face of concentration.
The former pro hero's voice rang through his ear once more and stated, "In a few seconds, tonight's training shall begin. Remember to keep fighting until we say the exercise is over and try not to go overboard with your quirks."
Suddenly Momo's hands and legs were quickly covered with a thick black material. She then gave a thumbs up.
All Might then cleared his throat before saying, "And we start in 3...2...1...GO!"
Izuku immediately felt Tooru jump on his back. She then proclaimed while turning on the flashlight, "And we're off! Onward my steed!"
Midoriya sighed as he pulled his mask over his head and jumped on the elevator cable first. He then loosened his grip and let himself descend at a moderate pace. If Izuku went too fast, it would be too painful and possibly damage his suit. He then felt a small jolt. Momo had just jumped and was now going down as well.
In no time, they had reached the top of the elevator. Hagakure shined the flashlight downward during the final descent, and Midoriya slowed down so as not to land too hard. Yaoyorozu was quick to follow, and with the help of the light, they quickly found the keyhole.
"Sweet, it's just a normal keyhole," Tooru stated with enthusiasm in her tone.
Momo made a key much quicker this time and opened it. She dropped first, and Izuku followed.
Hagakure then shouted, "Catch me!"
Midoriya was quick to do so, only being able to tell her position via the flashlight she was holding. He then said, "That was unnecessary."
"Oh come on. It's our first training exercise working together as teammates! I'm just so excited," Tooru said as her boyfriend let her down.
"I got the door unlocked. Go scout ahead, Invisible Girl," Momo stated as she opened the door.
The heroine handed Izuku the flashlight before saying, "Stay tuned to your communicators then for my report."
Yaoyorozu then started to take off her created clothing. Once she was finished, she and Midoriya walked outside and discarded their items behind a pillar.
Momo then asked, "She's enjoying this huh?"
"Well, she was right. We have never directly worked together during hero class. Kind of feels odd that we haven't," Izuku answered as he and the vice president made their way to the building's front entrance.
"Uh guys we got a problem," Tooru's voice came over the communicator.
Midoriya then asked, "What? Are they already there?"
"No, they're floating towards our building. Ingenium is holding the others as they make their way here. It looks like they are heading for the upper floors," Tooru responded.
"They're trying to ambush us from behind. Hagakure-chan, head back, we need to regroup and get ready for them," Momo said with a stern voice.
Tooru replied with, "Roger."
Izuku then said, "We don't have much time to come up with a new plan."
"We will think of something, don't worry," Momo stated with confidence.
Midoriya, however, was angry at himself. He should have thought of this possibility. Ida had demonstrated using Uraraka's quirk as a way to somewhat fly before during the break-in way back during the start of school. Izuku had observed it first hand, yet it had slipped his mind.
Tooru then arrived and asked, "Okay what are we going to do?"
"We ambush them once they get down here. They'll most likely take the stairs down, but just in case they take our route down, we should position ourselves to cover either," Midoriya answered. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could come within such little time.
"Not much to hide behind though," Hagakure stated.
Yaoyorozu looked around before saying, "There are pillars near both. We can hide behind them and then get the jump on Uravity."
"But we can't see anything from behind them without exposing our position," Izuku argued.
A few seconds passed before Tooru suggested, "I can stay out in the open and whisper which side they are coming from with the communicator."
Midoriya nodded, "That can work. Though I think it would be best that whichever side they don't come out of, show themselves as a distraction to divert attention before the other makes their move."
Momo started making her way to the elevator as she said, "Fine by me but we need to get into our positions if this is going to work. They should be here any second."
Izuku then ran over to the pillar by the stairway and took his position.
Within about a minute the sound of Tooru's voice whispered, "They're peeking out of the door from the stairwell."
Midoriya tensed up but quietly reached into his pocket and grabbed the handcuffs.
"Okay, they are heading out. Ingenium is in the front with Uravity behind him and Tailman taking the rear. They are coming to your left, Izuku-kun, so get ready," Hagakure whispered.
Izuku adjusted his position but then saw Momo run out of her position towards the front entrance of the building.
Tenya then yelled, "I got her!"
The class president then sped forward towards his assistant, passing by Midoriya without being seen. Uraraka and Ojiro then followed.
Izuku activated Full Cowl at 8% and lunged forward with a kick towards his tailed friend's side. Ochako was too far out of reach, so he needed to get through Mashirao first if he was going to have a chance.
Ojiro didn't see it coming as Midoriya struck his side and knocked him over. He then ran forward towards Uraraka who had just turned around at hearing her teammate grunting from being kicked. She assumed a stance and then reached forward to grab Izuku as he got close. He dodged to the right and just as he was about to slap the cuffs on her outreached hands he received a kick to his stomach from Tenya.
"Nice surprise but that won't be enough against us," Ida said as he proceeded to launch a flurry of kicks at Midoriya.
Izuku had already recovered and activated 15% but was surprised to find that Tenya's kicks didn't have much power to them. Was it because of his boost of One for All or was his friend holding back? Now wasn't the time to ponder however.
Mashirao and Ochako were quick to rejoin the fight, and soon Izuku was being pushed back by the flurry of punches, kicks, and tail swipes. He already bumped up his power to 20% when the other two joined. He was able to keep up but not counter-attack at all.
Suddenly Ida was sprung backward as a steel chain with a hook wrapped around his right arm.
It was Yaoyorozu! She had wrapped it around a pillar and was currently making another one to throw at her class president's other arm.
Uraraka also fell back as her right arm was cuffed from nowhere. That must be Hagakure, Midoriya thought.
Izuku then turned his attention towards Mashirao. The tailed teen's stance was different from what Midroiya remembered during his friend's fight on the rooftop months ago. The stance was narrow, and both his feet were positioned evenly on the ground, different from the broad and rear-foot based defensive stance Izuku was used to. Perhaps this was an offensive stance?
Tired of being pushed back, Midoriya deflected an elbow blow from his friend, which unbalanced Ojiro.
"Sorry Tailman I need to rejoin the others and you're in the way," Izuku stated before delivering a full force roundhouse kick towards Mashirao's chest.
Ojiro however only slid back a few centimeters from the impact. His tail had caught the blow.
"I'm glad you're finally getting serious Deku," Mashirao said with a wince of pain upon his face. He then wrapped his tail around Izuku's leg and threw him towards the building's entrance.
Midoriya was just meters from the door. As he got up to take on the oncoming Ojiro, he realized why he had been thrown in this direction. They want to get me outside to take advantage of Ida's quirk, he thought.
From the corner of Izuku's eye, he saw Tenya dash towards him. However, something was different about him. Ida's arm armor was gone. Midoriya thought, did he remove them to get out of Momo's chains? Also, where was she?
There wasn't much time to think as Izuku dodged a tail swipe from Mashirao on his left and then a leg sweep from Tenya aimed at his legs.
As both boys started fighting Midoriya together, he began to notice something. Ida's movements were off and even slower than before.
Taking advantage of this, Izuku sidestepped another kick from the class president but grabbed it. He then twirled to gain momentum and threw Tenya at Mashirao. The tailed teen opened his arms to grab his partner but was knocked onto his back from the force of the catch.
Midoriya then bolted back towards the center of the room to see Uraraka struggling by herself near a pillar. Her arm was extended behind her, the one that was handcuffed. Ochako's other arm was struggling as she waved it back and forth on her side. Tooru must be still trying to handcuff her, he thought.
Izuku pulled out his pair of handcuffs but then heard Tooru yell, "Deku, behind you!"
Midoriya felt a blow to his back as Ida proclaimed, "Recipro Burst!"
Izuku was sent forward a few meters. He however quickly recovered and stomped down his feet to stop. Midoriya then turned around to take on the onslaught of kicks from Ida. In his head, he started to countdown in seconds as he took some blows and dodged some others. Izuku knew that Recipro Burst only lasted for ten seconds and was waiting for Tenya's speed to drop. From there he would counterattack before his friend could cool down and use Recipro Extend to achieve even higher speed.
Suddenly Mashirao came into view and was about to join in the brawl, but Momo jumped from behind a nearby pillar onto her boyfriend's back. Both were then quickly wrapped by a large number of fibers created from her quirk and then the couple fell to the ground.
As Ojiro struggled, Yaoyorozu yelled, "I got Tailman! Worry about the others!"
Ida's movements slowed. Time was up. But then Tenya stopped in his tracks. Sparks were coming from his exhausts, and he knelt down to both of his knees and clenched his legs.
Izuku was tempted to stop and see what the issue was but when he heard nothing from his teachers over the communicator, he approached the fallen class president.
But then another blow came from his back, and Midoriya lost his balance and fell forward. He felt a weight on his back as he tried to get back up.
"Sorry, Deku. I couldn't hold Uravity any longer," came Hagakure's voice from behind.
Tooru then got off of her boyfriend allowing him to stand. He turned to see Ochako standing in front of Tenya with her fists up ready to fight.
"I told you not to push yourself," Uraraka stated with a disappointed tone.
"Sorry. I couldn't let them handcuff you," Ida said with a grunt.
Midoriya then felt a tug on his handcuffs, which he was still holding behind him at the moment. He almost was startled about it before he realized who it was. She must have a plan, Izuku figured, and he let Tooru take his pair.
"This is just practice. It's not worth getting seriously hurt over this," Ochako retorted.
Tenya slowly stood up and said, "Yeah but for this to work I still need to train as if everything was normal."
Mashirao grunted as he continued to try and break out of his bindings. A few had started to break from his struggle.
Momo then said, "You know if you break them all I'll just make more to make you stay put."
"Then I'll just have to tear them faster than you can make them when that time comes," Ojiro replied with a smirk.
"We'll join you in a moment Tailman," Ida stated while assuming a fighting stance. He then said, "Just need to take care of Deku first."
Uraraka then said, "Keep an eye out for Invisible Girl though."
"Right," Tenya said as he took a step forward. Though, almost immediately, he fell forward onto his face. A pair of handcuffs then appeared, and his arms were quickly cuffed.
"Gotcha Ingenium," Tooru cried victoriously.
All Might's voice then spoke up through the communicator, "And that's a wrap! Good job everyone! Aizawa-san and I will be there momentarily so sit tight please."
Ochako then shouted, "But my team can still fight sir!"
Aizawa's voice then said, "It's over. We will explain everything soon."
Uraraka sighed in defeat.
"It's alright Ochako-chan. I think I know why that exercise ended the way it did," Ida said. He then cleared his throat and said, "Hagakure-chan if you would please get off my back."
Hagakure was quick to respond, "Oh right. Sorry!"
Tenya then flipped himself over and got into a sitting position before asking, "Anyone mind getting me out of these cuffs? I would prefer not to break them."
"Give us a second here," Momo stated as Mashirao ripped through the last of the fibers that held them together. She then got up and produced a key from her index finger to unlock the handcuffs on the class president.
Midoriya took a few steps forward before asking "Ida-kun what's with you lately? Your match with Uraraka-chan last week and today was off."
Uraraka was quick to answer, "Um... Tenya-kun is just going through some intense training as of late."
Ida stood up, now without cuffs on and said, "Ochako-chan is correct. This method of training has hindered my speed as of late but once I recover I should be vastly more swift than before."
Izuku felt Tooru grab his hand as she asked, "How is this training you are doing causing you to be slower?"
"I'm sorry to say, but I cannot reveal it at this time until I see the results of it. But I can say it's effectively left me at 66% of my normal performance for the time being," Tenya explained.
"Perhaps if you and Ojiro-kun's plan weren't so hellbent on taking down Midoriya-kun you wouldn't have had to push yourself so hard," Ochako huffed as Momo was unlocking the handcuffs that were hanging off her right wrist.
The class president sighed before saying, "As I've said before, despite the downgrade in my speed my brother said I would still need to act as normal during training for this to work properly. It was only logical that we would need to focus on Midoriya-kun to achieve this."
Uraraka made a face of disagreement but didn't say another word.
Ojiro then spoke up and said, "That would have been nice to know before going ahead with our plan Ida-kun. I wouldn't have agreed to such a plan if I had known this."
Ida bowed before saying, "You are right. And I apologize. I want to display my new move once it's finished during our normal classes for all to see my growth. It was a selfish desire, and it caused us to lose in the end."
Mashirao had a surprised look on his face upon hearing the apology. He then said, "Oh, it's okay man. Maybe I was too harsh there."
Momo then said, "You were right to bring it up Mashirao-kun. Ida-kun knows better than to withhold such information from a teammate."
The elevator then pinged, grabbing everyone's attention.
All Might was the first walkout once the doors opened and he proclaimed, "Good show everyone!"
The group then made their way over their teachers as the former pro hero congratulated everyone on the battle.
"Alright, that's enough chatter. It's late enough as is, so let's get this over with," Aizawa stated with slight annoyance in his tone.
All Might gave Eraserhead a concerned look before saying, "Ah yes. The lessons taught today. Can anyone surmise why we ended the exercise the way we did?"
Before anyone could answer, the homeroom teacher asked, "Anyone not named Yaoyorozu-san, Ida-san, and Midoriya-san have an idea?"
Izuku guessed Shota wanted to hear from someone outside the top-scoring students in the class.
Ojiro spoke up and said, "I'm guessing the lesson deals with teaching that all team members are important. So even losing one teammate is considered a loss."
"Quite right," All Might stated with a thumbs up. He then said, "Even having one partner being incapacitated can hinder the entire operation."
"Ida-san's quirk was rendered useless, and then his movement was restricted even further once handcuffed. It was at this point we decided that it was your team's loss," Eraserhead explained as he looked over at Uraraka.
"Indeed, though there was another objective we hoped you noticed," All Might stated.
Ida raised his hand which got a grunt from Aizawa, but he then stated, "Indulge us then Ida-san."
"Moving as a team despite our different speeds and means to get around sir," Tenya responded with zest.
The homeroom teacher nodded before saying, "And thankfully you all did as we had hoped in that department. If you had both taken the stairs, then it would have been quite a boring exchange in the streets."
All Might nodded as he said, "Yes I must say I was most impressed by the winning team's use of the elevator shaft to descend quickly."
Ida and Uraraka were quick to inquire about the opposing team about what they had done which led to Midoriya and Yaoyorozu explaining it all. Hagakure did say that she was the one to see the other team trying to ambush them from behind. Then Ida explained his reasoning for their plan.
"I think that's enough, for now, kids, it's getting late into the night," the former pro hero stated to break up the current discussion.
Everyone looked over to notice that All Might was alone. Eraserhead had again left it seemed.
Uraraka then asked, "Sir is everything alright with Aizawa-sensei?"
The teacher scratched the back of his head as he replied, "He's just tired is all. Well, more than usual. It doesn't help that we had to do this late today."
Ochako looked somewhat skeptical about the answer but didn't say anything further. This did interest Izuku though, and he figured he might ask about it the next time he trained with All Might one-on-one again.
All Might then stated, "We'll look forward to next week kids! We have something very different planned for you all!"
The students said goodbye to their teacher and left for their respective locker rooms. After a quick shower they left together but Izuku asked Tooru to hang back.
Tooru leaned against the building as she asked, "Something up?"
"I, uh, noticed you addressed me as Deku back there." Twice even the boy mused.
"Well we were doing hero work, even if it's just training it's how heroes address one another. Nothing too hard to think about, " Hagakure stated after a shrug. "Besides, we never have worked directly with one another during heroics so it never has come up before."
Midoriya wasn't exactly buying that. "You would have truly addressed me as Deku back in our first term if we had to work together?"
The girl grunted. "Back then? I guess not."
"Did you dislike saying it tonight?"
"It did feel weird after the fact."
Izuku then tried to say, "If you don't-."
Tooru interrupted with, "It's fine. It doesn't bother me as much anymore. Besides, it's the name you chose despite its history so I should respect it. Uraraka-chan still uses it, even outside hero work, so I should at least address it as such in this situation. Things are starting to look brighter between you and Bakugo-san so it doesn't feel as awkward as it did before for me."
Midoriya sighed in relief, he approached his girlfriend and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Tooru."
Hagakure returned the embrace with a tight squeeze in silence.
Izuku figured Tooru was still conflicted about this but decided he was satisfied enough with the gesture for now.
"Make this quick Midoriya-kun. I'm working with Yaoyorozu-chan and Sero-kun after this to start designing our outfits," Mina stated while crossing her arms.
"Trust me. It should only take a few minutes," Izuku reassured his impatient classmate.
It was Wednesday night, and both students were just outside the dorms having finished their daily training. The night chill air was refreshing since both were hot and sweaty from practice.
Ashido sighed before asking, "This is about me firing you earlier today is it not?"
"Sorta," Midoriya said while scratching the back of his head.
Izuku wasn't truly fired from the dance team. He had merely been given a smaller role in the dance routine to help the staging team, who was short on hands, with Yuga's role as the disco ball. Though Ashido showing up in a business suit and shades declaring Midoriya had been fired did give the impression he was, at first.
"Look no offense, but out of everyone on the dance team, your dancing is the most subpar Midoriya-kun. I mean Ida-kun is struggling too, but at least he can do the robot well. I'm sure I can get you up to par by the end of the month, but it made the most sense for you to be the choice to get the cut," Mina explained.
"And I understand that Ashido-chan but I wanna discuss something else," Izuku argued.
Ashido put a hand up to her chin before asking, "Okay then, what's up?"
Midoriya gulped before asking, "Could you teach me how to dance after the cultural festival is over?"
Mina stayed silent for a few seconds before answering, "So you want additional lessons later."
Izuku nodded and said, "Yeah. I mean it doesn't have to be right away. If you want to wait till after the second term is over, I would understand."
"I don't mind doing it this term. You are right that we should wait to do it. Training everyone else is hard enough as is," Ashido stated after taking a seat on one of the steps leading up to their dorm. Midoriya took a seat beside her before she asked, "What kind of dancing do you want to learn though?"
"The kind I could do with my girlfriend," Izuku replied with a slight blush.
Mina produced a thin smile as she said, "Ah, I get it now. For your precious Tooru-chan." Her face then switched to a more serious one as she began to ponder. After a few moments, Ashido said, "I think ballroom dancing would fit you both best."
"I don't exactly know what all that entails but you're the expert here Ashido-chan, so I'll go with whatever you judge is best," Izuku said with a shrug.
Ashido nodded before saying, "I'll do it, but I expect a favor from you when the time comes."
Confused, Midoriya asked, "Favor? What do you have in mind?"
"No need to concern yourself about that now, just know I want a payment of sorts in return for doing this for you," Mina replied while grinning.
Izuku sighed. He didn't have much choice here.
Ever since learning to dance a week ago, Midoriya had played with the idea of dancing with his girlfriend. But what Ashido was teaching wasn't something he wanted to do with her on a date. It was for entertainment, not romance. Izuku was going to wait to ask Mina until after the festival but being semi-fired earlier had spurred him to ask now. He wasn't sure if his dance teacher was going to give up on him entirely or not, by the end. Ashido's confidence that she could make Midoriya learn the routine despite his lack of talent for dancing did comfort him.
The question though was the favor Mina would want. He doubted it was money but nothing else came to mind at what she would want from him. Then there was the fact that the girl was a handful to Izuku. While he could keep up with Tooru's antics, his pink classmate was on a whole other level. What could she have in mind? Was he overthinking this again? Sure Ashido was impulsive and erratic in her behavior, but she was still a good person from what Midoriya could tell. The favor she wanted couldn't be that bad, could it?
"Alright, I'll owe you for teaching me how to ballroom dance when the time comes," Izuku stated as he outstretched a hand towards his dance coach.
Mina was quick to shake her classmate's hand almost violently as she said, "We have a deal! I can't wait for November!"
Izuku rubbed his shoulders as he ascended the stairs towards his bedroom. He never figured dancing would be this intense. Despite all that hero training encompassed, it couldn't prepare his muscles for the art of dancing. Today was Friday. Daily training for the festival had just concluded, and Midoriya was ready for a shower. However, just as he grabbed the handle to his door, he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey what up Midoriya-kun!"
Izuku looked around upon hearing the feminine voice to see it was Kyoka.
Midoriya held off from opening his door and said, "Oh hey. Do you need something?"
Somewhat reluctantly Jiro answered, "I need some advice."
Izuku opened his door before saying, "I'd be happy to help."
Kyoka walked in first and then took a seat on her host's desk chair.
Midoriya walked over to his dresser and started pulling out some clothes to change into. As he did, he asked, "Is this related to Koda-kun?"
"Sorta," Jiro replied as she crossed her arms.
Izuku then asked, "Is he still avoiding you?" He hadn't taken time to notice if things had changed between the two since the dance lessons started.
"Well, I finally was able to reestablish contact with him yesterday. Looks like he couldn't ignore me if I asked for help," Kyoka smirked while answering the last sentence.
"Oh, that's good for you Jiro-chan," Midoriya stated while closing his drawer and placing his clothes on top of it.
Jiro sighed before saying, "Yeah but he only said I should seek you out to solve my problem. And dropped the conversation after that. I mean I was going to consult you with this question in the first place but-" She then groaned before finishing her sentence. Kyoka exhaled before saying, "Sorry I'm getting off subject. I need some help in condensing note-taking to teach the band better as it's too complicated in its current state." She then pulled out a large stack of notes and laid them on the desk.
Izuku turned around towards his guest and began to ponder what she meant by this. It sounded like Kyoka was hoping that asking for help would trigger a longer conversation between the two. There had been progress, but she was too impatient again. Either way, it was an issue for another time, and one Midoriya thought he couldn't just solve at the moment.
Izuku instead walked over and pulled up a foldable chair and sat next to Kyoka. He grabbed one of his notebooks before saying, "Well we got a lot of work to do then. Let's get started."
"You look like hell Izuku," Tooru said with a bit of a laugh.
"And I told you already it's because I was assisting Jiro-chan early into the morning simplifying her notes," Izuku stated while rubbing his eyes.
Hagakure poked her boyfriend's shoulder as she said, "Well I meant before that. Ashido-chan's lessons have been putting you through the wringer."
"Oh right, that too." Midoriya chuckled.
It was Saturday night, and after practice, Tooru asked her boyfriend to spend some time together outside the dorm so he would relax. He took the offer in a heartbeat of course. They were sitting at their typical meeting spot, the bench beneath the Japanese maple tree. By now its leaves were blood red. It wouldn't be long though until the leaves would fall.
Izuku continued by saying, "I mean I thought I was detailed with my notes, she was on a whole other level. It wasn't until 4 am that we finished."
Midoriya then felt a pat on his back as Hagakure stated, "I'm sure it will be worth it, but please get some rest after we're done here. I don't want you sleeping through the karaoke tomorrow."
"I promise," Izuku lazily stated as he raised a hand as if swearing an oath. He then thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to sing at it?"
Tooru shook her boyfriend as she proclaimed, "Oh of course! Karaoke is the best kind of fun when in a large group of friends!"
Once the shaking stopped, Midoriya said, "I look forward to it. Though I think I'm gonna pass."
"I figured, maybe someday though," Hagakure said in a teasing tone.
The two continued to chat about the dance lessons until, to their surprise, Bakugo came into view. He was jogging, wearing all black, sweatpants and a loose jersey. He was also wearing earbuds.
Tooru sighed and said, "Well better now than later." She then sprang up in the middle of the path just as Katsuki was about to pass by then and yelled, "Good evening Bakugo-san!"
The hell is she thinking, Izuku thought as he stood up.
Bakugo halted just a step or two away from Hagakure. He looked ready to explode but took a few breaths before taking off his earbuds and said, "This better be good no face."
Tooru then asked, "What are you doing out here jogging?"
"All this damn band practice for the festival is cutting into my work out routine. Now I have better things to do than play twenty questions with you two," Katsuki said as he was about to put in his earbuds again.
"Well good luck with your run and congratulations on passing the provisional hero license test," Hagakure stated before turning away from Bakugo.
Katsuki raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and then asked, "You're hella late to say that now, what gives?"
"Oh, I just learned a few days ago what you had passed. You're growing for the better so I thought I should say something is all," Tooru explained.
Bakugo's hands twitched, and sparks started to form as he proclaimed, "Who the hell told you what happened? It had to be Icy Hot! I'm gonna blast him right the hell now!"
"Would you calm the hell down already," Hagakure stated in a louder volume than before.
"Um Tooru-," Midoriya tried to say.
"Shut your trap Deku, I'm talking to no face at the moment," Katsuki stated while pointing a firm finger at Izuku. He then turned his eyes back at Tooru and asked, "So spill it. How and why should you care what I did?"
"Kirishima-kun," Hagakure stated bluntly.
This got Bakugo's attention right away judging from his change in facial expression. He then said, "Go on."
"I've noticed him asking Todoroki-kun about what you two did since you passed. Each time though he couldn't get an answer. So on Tuesday, I provided support with Kirishima-kun, and we both were finally able to crack Todoroki-kun," Tooru answered with confidence.
Katsuki exhaled loudly before asking, "So why give a damn?"
Tooru took a step forward before responding, "You passing means you're learning from your mistakes. And from what Todoroki-kun said, it's the whole truth. So it's just another step closer for you to own up to what you did to Izuku-kun one day. Plus your growth reaffirms the faith I put in him in believing you're worth a damn."
A few moments passed before Bakugo put on his earphones again and said, "You got no reason to congratulate me in the first place. I fucked up during the initial exam, so I don't deserve any thanks for correcting them, but just you wait. I still have remedial lessons to take until I get the license. I'm gonna run circles around Deku in both heroics and academics once I get it."
"I look forward to it Bakugo-san," Hagakure stated with a hint of anger in her voice.
"I can't hear you. This music is too damn loud no face," Katsuki stated before taking off at a brisk pace.
With a sigh, Tooru returned to the bench and took a seat.
Izuku joined her and grabbed her hand before saying, "You can be scarier than Kacchan sometimes. You know?"
"Well, you can't let a guy like him get to you. You have to fight fire with fire. Besides, that felt good honestly," Tooru replied with a chuckle at the end.
Midoriya then asked, "Why did Todoroki-kun not wanna tell Kirishima-kun in the first place?"
"From what I could tell, he knew that it would upset Bakugo-san and didn't want to bother dealing with the fallout," Tooru responded. She then sighed before saying, "On Tuesday I decided to step in as I was curious myself. I argued that Kirishima-kun was conflicted about when Bakugo-san fought with you."
Confused, Izuku asked, "How did you know Kirishima-kun was having issues with Kacchan?" He never told anyone about Ejirio visiting his room to talk about Katsuki.
"I mean it's clear as day to me. Ever since you two beat the crap out of each other Kirishima-kun has kept his distance from Bakugo-san. It was very apparent the day after you came back from the hospital. Bakugo-san asked for Kirishima-kun's assistance during training, and he refused and instead said he was going with Ojiro-kun. The Kirishima-kun I know would have never turned down such an offer, so I knew something was up," Hagakure explained.
Tooru then got up and said, "I'll tell you later what happened as I'm still a bit angry with him. I need to clear my head." She then turned around and pulled Izuku up and asked, "How about some more 'training' on the dorm roof before bed?"
Midoriya gulped before replying, "That s-sounds like a g-great idea."
"About time you two showed up. It's gonna start soon," Ojiro complained. He was standing on the steps leading up to their dorm.
"Hey! The video chat with our parents ran later than we thought it would. My mom can be such a chatterbox at times," Hagakure huffed as her tailed friend descended the stairs.
Midoriya, who was beside his girlfriend, said, "And besides we did this a lot later than we usually do. Tooru's parents were busy meeting a family friend."
"I didn't even know you both did this every Sunday. Your parents are already friendly with each other after a couple of chats? That's quick," Mashirao said as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
Tooru then bluntly asked, "And is there anything wrong with that?"
"Nah. Just thinking about how it's going to be a very different situation concerning my parents and Momo-chan's. I know very little about your folks, but I bet they get along. I'm kind of jealous. Though we haven't been together long enough to do such things," Ojiro answered while taking the lead ahead of the couple as they began their short walk.
Hagakure asked with a teasing voice, "I getcha, but speaking of which, how did your date with Yaoyorozu-chan go this morning?"
Mashirao turned his head and said, "Go ask Momo-chan."
Angrily, Tooru retorted, "Why? I bet you tell Izuku-kun everything."
"Not really, I try not to pry too much Tooru-chan.. Ojiro-kun tells me what he wants to and I leave it at that," Izuku said to calm her down as she waved her arms in protest. He felt that now that they were together, he shouldn't be as nosy. Midoriya recalled how most of their interactions outside school had been about Yaoyorozu since his birthday. Minus the occasionally harmless teasing, Mashirao hadn't prodded Izuku about his relationship with Tooru since they got together. And he felt he should do the same for his tailed friend.
Hagakure argued, "Come on, we're all good friends here! I want to hear if they are enjoying themselves."
Ojiro turned his head back as he said, "If you must know things are going well. Ida-kun helped me make a nice lunch for her and next week we plan to look at the Halloween decorations and lights together. That's all you need to know."
Tooru reached forward and patted Mashirao's back as she stated, "See? That wasn't so hard."
Mashirao then asked, "You're still gonna ask her for more info, huh?"
"Duh," Hagakure was quick to respond.
This got a chuckle from Midoriya but a short groan from Ojiro.
The trio then arrived at 1B's dorm. Vlad King was standing just outside the front entrance, and he held the door open for the students.
Mashirao then said, "Evening Kan-sensei."
"The internship is long over Ojiro-san, you can just call me Vlad King now," the homeroom teacher stated with a confused look.
Ojiro gave a big grin as he replied, "No can do sir."
Kan smirked as he said, "If you say so, kid." He then looked at the others and said, "Well with you three here that makes twenty total. That's good; I was hoping everyone from your class would show up."
"Wait everyone did come? No way," Hagakure stated in disbelief.
But sure enough, when the three walked into the common room, everyone from 1A was present.
Koda and Bondo, a tall muscular yellow student with an odd shaped head, were in a corner quietly drinking punch. Bakugo was being pestered by Kaminari as Tetsutetsu offered some snacks to both. Shoji and Tokoyami were both just to the right-leaning on the wall. Kuroiro, whose skin was entirely black, was talking to the two. The students that were most likely not to go, were all present and accounted for.
"See. All here," Izuku said with a smile. He was glad everyone had come, the two classes needed to get to know each other better. He then approached the trio to the right as Tooru and Mashirao followed.
Kuroiro noticed the newcomers and looked back to Tokoyami as he said, "Well if you change your mind, you know where to find me."
"Sorry to disappoint," Fumikage stated as he turned his head away.
As the 1B student left, Tooru asked, "What was that about?"
"He knows what this karaoke program entails. He was wondering if Tokoyami-kun would assist him or not," Mezo answered.
"As if I would ever sing," Tokoyami stated with distaste in his voice. He then said, "We might both be one with the darkness, but that doesn't mean we share the same shade of black."
In an ecstatic voice, Hagakure proclaimed, "This is going to be a duo? Yes!" She then quickly left and joined a crowd of some of the girls.
"Well it's nice that someone is enjoying this," Shoji stated as he watched the invisible girl runoff.
Ojiro then asked, "Why did you come Shoji-kun? You don't seem the type to be into this, no offense."
"None taken, but anyways, we are a family. One must be able to put up with things we dislike if it's for the betterment of the group. Sato-kun spoke the truth that the rivalry between our classes is disadvantageous. We are all seeking to be heroes and anyone here might be allies one day. So there should be no ill will among our fellow classmates," Mezo explained.
Fumikage was taken aback at the answer. He then coughed and said, "Um, same for me."
Midoriya figured Tokoyami had a similar response, but it wasn't as heartfelt and didn't know how to follow up to that. Still what Shoji said did resonate with him. This experience would be good for both classes, and Izuku hoped for the best.
The lights then dimmed as a voice from a microphone spoke up.
"Good evening everybody, and thanks for coming tonight," Kendo stated.
In the middle of the common room, a small stage had been set up with a monitor to the side that would show the lyrics of what was going to be sung. Currently, Kendo and Ida were both standing on it with a spotlight on them.
Ojiro motioned to Midoriya to sit at an empty couch to the left of Bakugo and Kaminari.
Ida then raised a fist as he said, "Yes a hundred percent attendance in both classes for an optional activity like this is much deserving of praise."
This statement got a few chuckles among the crowd.
Tenya then continued once the laughing died down, "Now even though this was a joint effort between both class presidents to put together, credit still belongs to Sato-kun for inspiration and for working behind the scenes."
The spotlight then darted to Sato, who was standing between Tsunotori and Sero. He got up and made his way to the stage as Ida stepped off and handed him a microphone.
During this, Midoriya looked around, wondering who was controlling the spotlight. He noticed Shoda, the one who forfeited during the Hero Festival along with Ojiro, on a computer in the background. It had wires going to the stage and the speakers on the side. Izuku figured he was dealing with the logistics of everything on his own.
"Thank you Ida-kun," Sato stated as he took the stage beside Kendo. he then said, "Now to drive home the point that we should get to know each other better, Kendo-chan and I have decided that this Karaoke event should be done as a duo!"
"Yes! How this will work is that we will give some time for students from each class to form a duo to sing together. We have changed the settings to incorporate a cooperative singing arrangement for each song," Kendo explained.
A couple of concerned murmurs shot through the crowd at this statement.
So not everyone in 1B knew about this, Midoriya thought.
Sato smirked as he said, "We figured this would be the case, so allow us to have two demonstrations before we let everyone else have a go."
Kendo then said, "Yaoyorozu-chan. Shiozaki-chan. Please come up!"
Ojiro then said, "Well this is news to me." He then got up and looked more interested than before. Midoriya swore he even saw a tail wag for a few seconds.
The two planners left once they handed off their microphones. Momo talked to Ibara briefly before the light dimmed even more before they started to sing.
And it was beautiful. While Yaoyorozu's singing voice was wonderful, Shiozaki's voice was divine. The song was inspiring and powerful, and Midoriya felt some religious undertones from the lyrics, but from start to finish it was breathtaking.
Once it was over, a loud applause followed.
"She never mentioned she could sing," Mashirao stated slowly as he clapped.
"Um, Ojiro-kun, your tail," Izuku said while pointing.
Ojiro's tail was wagging quite a bit. He immediately grabbed it and said, "Damn it!" Mashirao then looked over at Izuku and said softly, "You saw nothing."
Midoriya chuckled before asking, "Saw what?"
This got a smirk from Mashirao.
"Thanks you two! That was wonderful," Kendo stated with a cheerful tone.
"Now for our second demonstration, Fukidashi-san, would you please join me up here," Sato stated with confidence in his voice.
Manga got up and joined Rikido and what followed was bizarre. The two sung, what Midoriya could describe, some parody or comedy piece. It depicted a crazed individual being excited to go to a hardware store at its grand opening. While neither were talented in their voices, the absurdity of it all was hilarious. The music itself was mostly rock and roll, and the speed at the climax was insane. Manga sang the solo at the end which had lyrics coming at a mile a minute and Izuku was for sure no one could match singing so fast for so long as the 1B student just demonstrated.
The piece got a lot of laughs, especially from the boys. Bakugo, however, was groaning by the end. Why did he come, Midoriya wondered. As surprising as Shoji and Tokoyami deciding to come were, Bakugo was much more unbelievable.
"Thank you all. I figured a lighter tone for the second piece would be good after the seriousness of the first," Sato stated with a thumbs up.
Kendo nodded as she then said, "And now we will have a break to let those that are willing to find a partner to sing with. If you have any questions about our selection of songs, please see Shoda-san in the back."
The lights brightened, and a good number of students got up to talk to one another.
Mashirao then asked, "You wanna sing now?"
Izuku sunk his shoulders as he said, "N-No. But now I feel bad I'm not."
"I sorta have the same feeling but a lot of other people look interested, so I don't feel as bad about it," Ojiro stated.
Before Midoriya could respond, however, Monoma approached the two.
The 1B student then stated, "Evening Ojiro-san."
Mashirao exhaled before responding with, "Monoma."
Neito shrugged before saying "Even now, no honorifics." He then sighed before asking, "Anyways, want to give this karaoke thing a try?"
"You have to be joking," Ojiro replied as he crossed his arms.
Midoriya thought he was being sarcastic too.
"I'm quite serious. Kendo-chan will scold or maybe even strike me if I don't try and play nice. So if I'm gonna do this with anyone from 1A, I figured it should be you Ojiro-san," Monoma explained.
Mashirao took a moment to respond, "I don't get your reasoning."
"I was quite clear why just seconds ago," Neito stated in a confused tone.
Ojiro shook his head before saying, "Not that. This whole trying to turn a new leaf with me. What gives?"
"Ah that. Well, this isn't exactly the best place to discuss that in detail but just know that I want us to be friendly rivals going forward. Maybe sometime later I can speak with you in private about the matter," Monoma said while cupping his chin with a hand.
"Still sounds like a joke to me and I don't understand the punch line," Mashirao stated with a grunt.
Monoma just sighed before Kendo appeared at his side. She then asked, "Are we behaving over here?"
"Everything's fine Kendo-san," Izuku said.
Itsuka looked unconvinced and asked, "You sure?"
"It's fine Kendo-san. No problems here," Mashirao reluctantly said.
"I'll take my leave, Kendo-chan. I made my point already," Neito stated before walking away.
Kendo followed her classmate as Ojiro asked, "Do you trust him?"
"Hard to tell, but I think at the very least you should talk to him. It seems he's willing to give you an explanation," Midoriya answered.
Mashirao scratched the back of his head as he said, "Yeah. It's just hard to feel anything but hatred for the guy even though I've put most of that aside by now."
The two remained silent for a few minutes until a commotion to the right caught their attention.
"Come on shitty hair, I need your help. I don't ask often, but I think working together we can beat this guy," Bakugo stated.
Kurorio then asked, "The hell are you talking about? I come over here asking if you wanna be my partner and you ask another student in your class. What gives?"
"Hey now, they never said we couldn't do more than two people," Katsuki stated with a smirk.
Ejirio sighed before saying, "Man I don't know."
"You've been avoiding me since I fought Deku. It's pretty obvious," Bakugo said sternly. He then asked, "Guessing that's the reason why?"
Kirishima's face got a more serious look as he answered, "Among other things, but yeah."
Katsuki shot a glance at Izuku before saying, "Yeah I don't blame you, but this whole awkward shit is the worst you know?" He paused for a moment before saying, "I've done some stupid stuff growing up. And nothing I do is gonna make that go away easily but I'm trying to turn for the better, and you've been a part of that Kirishima-san."
Bakugo held out a hand and said, "And right now I need your help to teach these 1B students that we're better. I can't do it alone."
Kaminari then stated, "Kacchan, doesn't that go against the whole point of why Sato-kun and the class reps set this up?"
"I told you to stop fucking calling me that," Katsuki said as he grabbed and shook Denki.
"Alright then, let's give a shot Bakugo-kun," Eijiro answered with a grin and holding out a hand.
"Let's knock 'em dead Kirishima-san," Bakugo said he dropped Kaminari to outreach an arm and shook Kirishima's hand.
"Guess I'll go find another partner from my class then," Kurorio stated with a sigh as he turned around and walked off.
Suddenly, Mashirao snapped his fingers in front of Izuku's face as he said, "Earth to Midoriya-kun."
Midoriya shook his head before asking, "Huh? What?"
"You've been transfixed there for a while since Bakugo-san made up with Kirishima-kun," Ojiro explained.
"Oh? I have? Sorry. I just. Wow, I wasn't expecting that from Kacchan and-," Izuku tried to say. He thought, did a few minutes just whiz past?
"Breathe," Mashirao said as he interrupted his friend's mumbling.
Midoriya took a couple breaths and then said, "I'm just happy I am seeing a change in him."
Ojiro sighed and then said, "Still a pretty big asshole."
"Yeah," Izuku awkwardly said with a nod.
"But maybe Monoma is going through the same thing," Mashirao then said.
Midoriya didn't know how to respond to that, but he didn't have much time to think about it as only moments later did Kendo and Sato ask for everyone willing to participate to come forward. Once everything was settled, the first to go on stage was Tooru and the aloof Reiko Yanagi. The two performed a pop song about Halloween that Midoriya didn't recognize. Tooru's singing voice, while not as good as Momo's, was still pleasant to Izuku's ears. Reiko's monotone voice somewhat worked here as she sounded ghastly, which fit the Halloween theme.
Once it was over Hagakure returned to her boyfriend and sat between him and Ojiro to his dismay.
Next up, was a big shocker to everyone.
Minoru and Pony.
Izuku recalled Denki asking, "How the hell did Mineta-kun set this up?"
But it turned out Mineta had appealed to Tsunotori's love of anime. They both sang a popular anime opening song and surprisingly it wasn't too bad. Minoru's singing voice was still terrible, but it was bearable now at least. Perhaps it didn't stick out so bad as Pony's wasn't that great either. Izuku wondered if his friend had gotten around to asking Kyoka for advice.
Kaminari looked somewhat uncomfortable about it though and when Midoriya asked the response was, "That anime is like, super ecchi."
Izuku didn't wanna delve any further after learning that.
While there were many other songs sung, the one that stuck out most afterward was Katsuki's performance.
Kuroiro had asked Tetsutetsu to join him, and their clash with Bakugo and Kirishima had been deafening. The song they played was some long-winged heavy rock epic that almost lasted ten minutes. It contained lyrics about adventure, glory, and victory with insane guitar solos that had stunned Midoriya with how complicated they were. It also meant half the song didn't even have lyrics. The song choice played with Eijiro's odd choice of singing style plus Tetsutestu and Bakugo's extreme yelling. Kurorio had a decent singing voice but was just drowned out by his partner.
In the end, there was no victor, which Katsuki argued wasn't true but it got a good laugh from both classes.
Despite the hardships of training, school, and romance; Midoriya was content with how his life was going, and couldn't ask for more.
Well for once I released this late due to real-life bullshit (that lasted two weeks). It's thankfully done and over with and everything is better now (minus my Aunt dying Sunday and her funeral being today, which is unrelated to the two-week thing) but it still sucks y'all have to wait so long for this. The good news is my changes to how I was writing was working well until the bullshit hit and stalled my writing to a halt.
But enough of that, let's just jump right in shall we?
The first scene got two major changes. Originally Izuku's team was going to have Mashirao but I eventually came up with the elevator idea and I needed Momo for this. The fight itself ended up being shorter than I planned but I think short bursts of action are the best I can do at the moment. Plus writing the planning was fun. Hopefully, as I write more action I'll be more comfortable writing longer fights. One positive for releasing late was that I was able to foreshadow Ida's improvement seen in Chapter 204. This changed that I wanted Izuku's team to lose at first and instead have it show the repercussions of Tenya's training. The reason for the training still stands even if it turned out different. If you wish to know, the difference would have been that Midoriya would have been forced outside and been taken out from teamwork between Ojiro and Ida.
Mina! I finally get to use her for more than a few lines! Though we won't see her again until the time skip after the School Festival arc, I got lots of plans with her during the dance lessons.
Initially, I was going to have a Koda scene but decided this would be the best place to do my rendition of Jiro asking for Midoriya's help, even if it's pretty short. Plus now that I think about it, it would have been a bit hasty to use what I wanted to do with Koji, so best to shelf it for later.
Now the Bakugo scene. I pushed this back two chapters but it still worked here well enough. As short as the retest arc was, it was some great development for Katsuki. So it felt obvious to use this as a way from Tooru to affirm why she supported Izuku's faith in Katsuki. This was also used to resolve Kirishima's earlier issues with Bakugo which then bridged into the Karaoke scene.
The Karaoke scene was quite something. It went through a few rewrites and was the bane of my existence for a time. But in the end, I think it worked out and re-reading it makes me feel happy I did it. Again the idea was conceived during Spring Break so I was so glad to finally have a go at it. I wanted to do this also to get some more development between Monoma and Ojiro as well as cap off Kirishima's beef with Bakugo. Note there will be more joint activities between 1A and 1B but don't expect one until the third term considering the joint battle arc that is currently happening in the manga.
Night Foliage completed editing chapter 14, with 78 edits and is now 13,252 words! She's also more than halfway done with chapter 15, which is still my longest chapter written to date.
Lots happening on my Tumblr. First I have over 100 Tumblr followers! Posting art definitely gets you a lot more followers than just text, lol. Anyways, Just a few days after posting the last chapter my MHA x Persona 5 commission request featuring Cubicity's main characters finally was completed. Both pieces turned out wonderful and it exploded on the Reddit BNHA main page getting over 3,700 upvotes! Two weeks ago another commission request got done and was also different from my usual commissions. Up until this point, I've been doing stuff to promote Cubicity. This one was a MinaDeku piece as a gift to QuirkQuartz for his fanfic, Awkward Energy, turning two years old on the 24th of October. That fic and The First Generation, also made by him, were the fics that inspired me to write in the first place. Also, I wanted to do something for MinaDeku as it is my top ship and this felt like the best way to do (the idea has been in my head since like March). I got plans for two more commissions this year so look forward to that!
Also yesterday I got a big surprise. An artist from the Kacchako discord I visit regularly sketched me some IzuTooru smut as a gift. I can honestly say I never expected this to happen and was overwhelmed. Now my Tumblr is a sfw blog so I won't post it there but if you happen to stumble upon some smut of the ship made by vagitisart, then you know why it exists.
So yeah...the next chapter. It will release sometime in December, hopefully, sooner than later. Once this weekend is over I plan to rush straight into it. I need to get myself back on a good schedule as it's unfair for you guys for me to keep breaking my promises. Hopefully, I see you all soon!