Chapter 35: Winter Warfare

Tooru and Izuku climbed the school stairs with a mission. One was hesitant if they could do it, the other was confident that they would succeed. They reached the top and turned a corner. Now the entrance to the teacher's offices stood before them.

"Well, let's hope for the best, I guess," Midoriya said with shaky confidence.

"Not with that attitude, we won't. We can't show any weakness in there," Hagakure argued. Her boyfriend nodded with a bit more vigor than his earlier demeanor, and the two walked in. After making their way past a few desks, Tooru spoke up and stated, "Afternoon Aizawa-sensei. Can we have a moment of your time?"

Said party stopped typing at his computer and slowly spun in his chair to look at his students. The look upon his face read, "Well, of course, you two are here." Either way, the homeroom teacher sighed before saying, "If you're here to argue the new rules, you best speak to the principal. I had no hand in this, even if I do support it."

Their Monday homeroom class had started with a huge announcement. Students were no longer allowed to leave the campus during their free time unless it was school-related. Everyone knew it had to be because of the recent incident in Deika City, even if it was never stated during the declaration. Even their optional New Year's visit to see their families would require an escort. But the former was the more significant issue at the moment, as it would prevent the upcoming dates planned.

"We are not here to argue that. We want to ask for your help," Tooru said with determination.

Shota raised an eyebrow at this. Perhaps they had a chance, Izuku thought. The boy then said, "We know that at New Year's, we will have faculty escort us home."

"So technically, if we have a teacher with us, we can leave the campus for other occasions," Hagakure stated with glee.

Aizawa closed his eyes as he pondered what was just said. After a few moments passed, his eyelids opened, and he bluntly asked, "When?"

Both were taken aback at the question. Midoriya then answered, "Oh uh, Christmas and the 27th, if possible."

Eraserhead brought a hand up to his chin before asking, "The 27th is Uraraka-san's birthday, is it not?"

Tooru then proclaimed, "Yes, sir!"

The commotion had some of the faculty turn their heads with questionable looks. All Might, however, had a hearty grin.

"Please keep your voice down," the homeroom teacher stated while rubbing his temple. "Anyways, I should be able to accompany your celebration of her birthday on the 27th."

Izuku was confused. This was too easy, but he didn't have much time to ponder this as his girlfriend was quick to speak up.

"And Christmas?"

"What's the plan then?"

Tooru grabbed her boyfriend's left arm as she said, "It's Christmas, only the most romantic time of the year!"

Shota held the bridge of his nose as he said, "Volume, please. Anyways, I'm busy that day, but I can look around for another faculty member to cover for you."

Hagakure then asked more quietly, "What's the catch to all of this?" Midoriya was glad he wasn't the only one to notice how little push back there was.

"I have a favor to ask," Aizawa answered while pulling out a notepad. "I need to be elsewhere this Friday and Saturday for something bothersome. I could put it off, but it's much more convenient if I get this done and over with. However, I ran into a snag." He then flipped a few pages in his notepad. "While I am gone, I need someone to watch over Eri-san. I first asked Togata-san, but he will be away with his family in Chiba. I declined to ask Hado-san and Amajiki-san as they have their midterms to worry about."

Tooru then asked, "Why not ask another teacher to look after her?"

Another page was flipped as Shota explained, "All Might is engrossed in some sort of research at the moment, so I don't want to bother. Present Mic and Midnight are a bad influence on her if left alone. Together they would be a disaster. Eri-san is afraid of dogs, so asking Vlad King is out of the question. Finally, I only want people she knows well enough to watch over her, so anyone else in the faculty not mentioned isn't an option."

Izuku then asked, "So why not any of us that were in the internship?"

"I figured it would be a bit much for kids your age, but considering you two would be together and now have the incentive to do it, this could work."

Hagakure then stated, "We could even ask the others if they could cover one day, and us a different one."

"I'm sure Uraraka-chan and Tsuyu-chan would love that," Midoriya said with glee.

Aizawa then asked, "About the Christmas outing, though. Will this be inferring with you two attending the party planned in the evening?"

"No, sir, we'll be back for that," Midoriya responded.

"Good, Eri-san would be upset if you weren't there," Eraserhead said as he spun back in his chair. "I'll talk with you two tomorrow about the details for watching over Eri-san."

Both students thanked their homeroom teacher before exiting the office.

"See? No problem at all," Tooru stated with confidence.

"I've never been a babysitter, though."

"Then be glad you have me, considering I've helped my mom with her work. Besides, it's just a few hours, easy stuff."

"Hopefully," Izuku said before sighing. As the two reached the bottom of the stairs, he checked his phone.

"Anything new?"

"No, and it's driving me nuts."

The electric wielding villain had struck again last night. Midoriya was hoping for an update in the news, but there hadn't been a peep. All that was known was there was a fire involved and another perp being arrested. The odd thing was that for the first time he could remember, this was at night.

"Why does this guy bother you so much?"

Izuku had only told Tooru about it that morning. She noticed her boyfriend being glued to his phone, so he spilled the beans.

"His MO is just so odd, and it's weird all information on him is never expanded upon. Like the press don't care to follow up on it."

"Whatever detective that's been assigned to him must be lazy or incompetent," Hagakure said before giving a light laugh.

"Or a pro hero." Not all heroes dabbled in investigative work. Sometimes that was left entirely to the police. Perhaps the districts he kept cropping up in had these types of heroes. Then again, it's not like this villain stayed in one area, Midoriya thought. All reports were coming from all over the Tokyo Metropolis.

"Either way, I still find it weird that this is bugging you so much compared to everything that happened in Deika City," Tooru said while shrugging.

There was that too. Other than updates on the victims and reconstruction, there wasn't much more to report about that day. Izuku almost wanted to meet with All Might in private to talk about it. However, as Eraserhead stated earlier, the former pro hero was quite busy researching the previous users for One for All. The boy didn't want to interrupt that at all with his worries. Midoriya then scratched the back of his head as he stated, "I guess cause it just happened is all." He thought hard for a few moments and sighed before saying, "I think I'll drop looking into both further, for now, it's giving me enough stress as is." Christmas was a much more present obstacle, he figured.

"If you say so. Anyway, let's get back to the dorms. I want to change into something more comfortable before dinner," Hagakure said as she pulled her boyfriend forward to quicken his pace.

Momo proclaimed, "So Mashirao-kun and I have come up with a list of activities to do for Uraraka-chan's birthday!"

Mashirao held up his hands and said, "I only helped a little. She did most of the work."

Yaoyorozu gave her boyfriend a distinct look, and he avoided her eyes.

To break the awkwardness, Tooru then asked, "So is it going to be an all-day thing?"

"Not exactly. We checked in with Uraraka-san, and she didn't want us to go overboard."

Ochako then explained, "I figured if we packed some lunch while we traveled to wherever we were going and then ended after dinner, that should be plenty of time."

Tenya spoke up and said, "Besides, we don't want this to be too expensive for everyone." He then winced slightly to his left.

"I told you money wasn't a factor in this decision," Uraraka stated as she brought up her right arm from under the table to point at Ida. She was also displaying a soft blush on her face at this point.

Midoriya appreciated it regardless of the intent. He had received mail from his mom yesterday containing a decent amount of yen and a letter.

Figured you might want to spend some time with Hagakure-san on Christmas. Here's an early present to take her somewhere nice!

Considering Izuku had the Christmas date and had to buy a gift for the party on top of Ochako's birthday, this was music to his ears.

Momo cleared her throat before saying, "Anyways. The first destination will be Fuji Q Highland."

Tooru was shaking Izuku as she said, "I love that place! I've been there a bunch of times."

As Midoriya was shaken around he still felt confused. This sounded different from the plan he heard from Ojiro.

"Ah yes, that place. My brother had mentioned it has a few record-breaking roller coasters in Yamanashi," Ida stated while adjusting his glasses.

"R-roller coasters," Uraraka stated while chattering her teeth.

"Oh, don't worry, Uraraka-chan, they have some that are not too intense. We can try those before we do the crazy ones," Hagakure stated to assure her friend.

Izuku had somewhat mixed views on such rides. He wanted to enjoy them but became easily sick to the stomach. However, he had yet to be on one since all his training. Perhaps he could better resist the urge to hurl now.

"I mean, I've just never been on one. I don't know what to expect," Ochako stated as she hung her head.

Tenya then offered a hand to his girlfriend. "Think of it this way. At worst, you can close your eyes and hold my hand. You tend to calm down easily whenever you get angry or scared." This statement sent his girlfriend into a raging shade of red.

Mashirao raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What's happening to make you upset Uraraka-chan?" An empty small milk carton flew across the table and struck the tailed teen harmlessly in the face. "Really, Hagakure-chan?"

"They were having a moment with her dummy."

Ojiro's hand started to inch towards his empty cup, but Yaoyorozu cleared her throat to put a stop to that.

Ignoring the drama between her friends, Uraraka took Ida's hand and said, "Alright, I'll manage."

After giving them a few moments, Momo continued by stating, "From there we can stop by a nearby museum and then head on over to a steakhouse for dinner."

Ochako wiped her mouth upon hearing that last part.

Mashirao then spoke up and said, "From there we'll head home, but before we head back to U.A. I know of a place that has some fantastic Christmas lights. Sure the holiday will be over by then, but the lights are usually up until New Years'."

Midoriya then asked, "Did you frequent this place a lot in the past?"

"Yeah, my parents and I used to walk it on Christmas Eve every year."

"Must be quite a treat then," Ida stated before turning to his girlfriend. "So, how does it all sound?"

"Better than I imagined!"

The group expressed similar emotions about the plans, and once talk died down on the subject, Hagakure then spoke up and asked, "So Uraraka-chan, are you still okay about watching over Eri-chan tomorrow?"

"Yeah, Tsuyu-chan and I are beyond excited for it. We already have a game plan set in place."

Momo then said, "Thanks again, you two for getting Aizawa-sensei to escort us. I nearly had a heart attack on Monday after the new rule was announced."

Mashiaro sighed before saying, "Sucks though, that it's going to be a lot harder to go on dates going forward. I feel it's only because it's the holidays that Aizawa-sensei approved of this."

Tenya nodded before saying, "It would be rather bothersome to have a teacher have to escort us each time, for both parties."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to get creative about staying on campus for our dates from here on out," Izuku argued. It certainly makes things cheaper, he thought.

Tooru then said, "That's the spirit! Plus, things might change back to how they were once things die down. Not like this is set in stone."

Midoriya wasn't so sure, but this wasn't the time to argue on such unknowns.

Uraraka then asked, "I wonder if we could get Aizawa-sensei to have some fun as well. He deserves a break."

"I really can't picture sensei on a roller coaster," Ida answered.

"Me neither," Ojiro said with a nod.

Yaoyorozu shrugged before saying, "It's hard to say. We don't know much about his personal life."

"Well, maybe we can try to get him to open up a bit that day," Hagakure stated with enthusiasm.

"This might be beyond what we can do," Midoriya said with a sigh. As much as he agreed to the idea, it felt hopelessly impossible. Aizawa had been quite accepting of things as of late, but at no point has the pro hero been open about himself. Well minus the one time he was drunk, that All Might mentioned. Something Izuku knew wasn't an option in any circumstance with them around.

Ochako then said, "Wouldn't hurt to try."

"At the very least, I want to see him ride a roller coaster. That would be a treat to see," Mashirao stated with a smirk.

This got a good laugh at the table, though it was cut short by the bell signaling that lunch was over.

Izuku and Tooru stood in front of the faculty dorm with some hesitation. The winter chill was not helping the situation. A decent flurry of snow had come in last night, but tonight a large amount was predicted to fall. To combat the cold, the former was wearing jeans with a black coat, and the latter had black pants and a white jacket.

Hagakure spoke up first and asked, "So do we just like walk-in?"

Midoriya looked around for a few moments before saying, "I mean, this looks almost identical to our own, other than being bigger." It did make him wonder if this place just housed the pro hero teachers or all the faculty. Even more curious, though, was if Principal Nezu was here as well.

"I was hoping for something like a doorbell or something," Tooru stated after a sigh.

"What's up, kiddos!"

That was in English. Both students recognized it immediately and turned around to see their English teacher, Present Mic, with Eri at his side at the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing his typical black hero gear but with a large white scarf around his neck. She was wearing a long brown coat that almost hid her green skirt and black leggings. White earmuffs, gloves, and boots adorned the rest of her. Izuku had also noticed her horn had grown a bit since he last saw her.

Hagakure leaned close to her boyfriend and whispered, "What was that last word?"

Midoriya whispered back, "Uh, sounded like kids. Maybe it's some type of slang?"

Izuku then walked down a few steps before asking, "What are you doing here, sensei?" He thought Eraserhead disliked the idea of him being alone with the child.

"I have no seventh period to teach on Saturdays, and when I got back, Eri-chan was begging to go outside."

"I've never played in the snow before. I only saw it from time to time when we had to move," Eri stated while walking up to the couple.

Tooru then asked, "Is that what you want to do today?"

"Yes, please!"

"Well, let's head over here! There's a big pile by that tree."

As the girls went off to the left, Present Mic approached Midoriya and said, "Hey, thanks for covering for Eraserhead today. He really couldn't hold this trip off any longer."

Trying his luck, Izuku asked, "What exactly is he doing? And where?"

"No can do Midoriya-san. I like keeping my head intact and telling you would go against that," the pro hero stated with a shrug.

Midoriya figured it wouldn't be so easy. Either way, he then asked, "That's fine, but are you okay that Aizawa-sensei would rather students watch over Eri-chan than you?"

Present Mic waved off the question and answered with, "Eraserhead only says that cause I know how to make sure a kid has a bit of fun. Of course, my version of what's fun and his are quite the opposite. However, he is her assigned guardian, so he makes the rules. Besides, this just means I can relax instead of babysitting for two days, and that's fine by me." The pro hero then gave a thumbs-up before entering the faculty dorm.

Tooru's voice came from behind, proclaiming, "Hey Izuku-kun, come on over here, we need a target dummy!"

Izuku made his way over to the girls who both had snowballs ready in their hands.

"Alright, we got a snowball construction down, next is the aim!" Hagakure then tossed hers lightly forward, landing squarely on Midoriya's chest. It shattered into many pieces upon contact, and he brushed away what remained.

Izuku then took a few paces forward and said, "Alright, try to do the same to me, Eri-chan. Give it all you got." He then proceeded to stretch out his arms and close his eyes. "I'm wide open."

Within seconds the snowball instead was planted on Midoriya's face.

"Perhaps a bit much," Hagakure stated while trying to hold back laughter. She then took a deep breath and said, "Just remember you should try and avoid the face. You can hurt someone if you do that."

"Wait, are you alright?"

Izuku then wiped the snowball from his face, "I'm a hero in training remember? It's going to take a lot more than that to hurt me. Hagakure-chan just means when playing with others your age is all."

"Oh, okay."

The trio then had a snowball fight for a while until Eri needed to use the bathroom, which Tooru accompanied her inside the faculty dorm to do so.

While Midoriya waited, he considered what could happen tomorrow. Classes 1A and 1B were going to have another joint social event. Sato had announced the event earlier in the week. And considering what Rikkido said last week when Izuku asked when it would happen:

"That's up to mother nature."

He could conclude that it involved the coming snowstorm that was going to hit late tonight. A snowball fight sounded like pure chaos if it meant forty people. Perhaps they would be building snowmen? No, they could do that on their own time. Heck, Midoriya figured by the time he went back to the 1A dorms, he would see a few around the building. So what could it be?

Hagakure's voice came from behind, proclaiming, "We're back!"

Izuku turned around and asked, "So what should we do next?"

Tooru responded with excitement, "Build a snowman!"

"A what?"

Both teenagers looked at the small child in disbelief.

Hagakure then asked, "You...never seen a snowman?"

"Is that like a person or something?"

"No no, it's uh, here let me make a quick one," Midoriya replied before trekking off to gather snow. Within minutes he had produced a small basic snowman that went up to his knee. "They are usually much larger than this, but the idea is the same. We make three large snowballs with the bottom being the largest, a smaller one for the body, and the smallest for the head. And from there, we can decorate him to look like somebody" He then grabbed some small sticks and stuck them at the mini snowman's sides. "See, like these are its limbs. We can even give him a face and clothing."

Eri looked at it long and hard before asking, "Wouldn't it be better to make it square?"

Both teens responded with, "What?!"

"Isn't stacking squares easier than circles?"

Tooru brought a glove to her face as she said, "I never thought of it that way." She then shook her head. "Anyways, because it's snow, it will stick better than, say, toys. Plus, people are round, not square silly."

Eri again stared at the mini snowman before saying, "I guess that makes sense."

Trying to change the subject, Izuku asked, "So who do you want to make into a snowman?"

"Aizawa-san!"

The response was immediate, and it took Midoriya by surprise. He didn't think his homeroom teacher was a lousy guardian, but he still didn't expect him to be the little girl's favorite either.

Tooru then said, "Oh, that shouldn't be too hard. We give him some angry eyebrows and a scarf, and we won't be able to tell the difference between the two."

This got a cute giggle from Eri, and then the two began to get to work.

As the three started to shape the bottom portion, Izuku asked, "So Eri-chan, what did you do with the Uraraka-chan and Tsuyu-chan yesterday?"

"We stayed inside, mostly. We only left my room when," Eri tried to say before she paused.

As Hagakure placed another mound of snow, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I can't remember his name. The man who came over."

"Could you describe him?"

"He was very tall and wore glasses. He only stayed for a few minutes and then hugged Uraraka-chan before leaving."

"Oh, him? That's Ida-kun. He's a good friend of ours."

Midoriya then asked, "Do you know why he visited you?" He didn't recall Ida ever saying he was going to help babysit when he relayed the news to Uraraka on Monday.

"He brought some crossword puzzles. They were tough," Eri said as she started to make a new pile of snow to the snowman's base.

Hagakure sighed before saying, "Yeah, that sounds like Ida-kun alright, but still, why is he giving you stuff like that? It's not like you are in school right now."

"Aizawa-san said, I start in January."

Tooru then said in a frenzied tone, "Hold on. Why during the third term? Shouldn't he wait till April? And besides, isn't this still too early? You're like six, right?"

Eri nodded before saying, "I am six, but my birthday is in two days."

"Huh, the same week as Uraraka-chan's," Izuku noted.

Hagakure then lifted the child by the armpits and proclaimed, "Why didn't you say something earlier?! We should do something together that day."

Eri shook her head before saying, "Aizawa-san already has plans for it."

Tooru set her down before asking, "Oh, like what?"

"I don't know. He just said we were going somewhere to celebrate in the evening."

"That just makes me more curious," Hagakure stated as she started to pace back and forth. As the other two finished the middle section, she continued to speculate at what Eraserhead was planning. Eventually, Tooru gave up and joined in as they started to work on the head. "So do you know who's going to be teaching you, Eri-chan?"

"Aizawa-san said they were hiring a special tutor for me."

Izuku then asked, "How do you feel about starting school?"

Eri seemed to be lost in thought about it for a few moments until she responded with, "I mean, it seems fun, but I am worried since I am behind for my age."

Midoriya figured this might be the issue. She had only recently learned to write, which was thanks to Mirio during his visits.

"Well, you'll be by yourself with this tutor so they can focus on catching you up to other kids your age in no time."

"Yeah! And if you ever need help, you have all of us to rely on," Hagakure stated while hugging the child from behind.

"Uh, Thanks," Eri said with a nervous tone. It sounded like she was still unsure about it all.

As Izuku smoothed out the head, he said, "Should be about done. Now we need some props."

Eri lit up as she said, "I know the perfect scarf for his neck!" She then dashed into the faculty dorm.

"I'll go see if I can find a carrot inside, I guess," Tooru stated before leaving to catch up with the child.

Midoriya started to gather what small stones and sticks he could find. Once he had placed the eyes, the two girls had already returned. Hagakure was carrying a carrot and the Eri, a familiar white scarf. He then asked, "Is that Present Mic's?"

"Yep! He said I could borrow it."

Within a few minutes, it was complete, angry eyebrows and all. Tooru was even able to position the sticks as if he was crossing his arms. After she took a few pictures of Eri with the snowman, she asked, "Are you ready for some dinner?"

"Yes, please," the child replied as she grabbed her stomach.

The trio went inside and grabbed her prepared dinner from the fridge. Aizawa had mentioned the meal plan when he explained to the students what he expected after class on Wednesday. The couple had brought their meals, courtesy of Ida. They then all ate in Eri's room. She had some kyaraben (a bento with food decorated as animals, plants, or people) while the couple had some katsu sando (fried pork cutlet sandwiches). While they ate, the couple asked what Eri had done with the other girls yesterday. They learned they mostly stayed inside and did some coloring books and watched a movie before she got tired and went to bed early. As they finished, the door opened to reveal Aizawa had returned. After cleaning up, Eri left to take a bath.

"Thanks again for doing this on short notice," Eraserhead said as he started to make himself some dinner in the kitchen.

"We should be thanking you for agreeing to accompany us next Sunday," Tooru answered.

Aizawa simply gave a soft grunt as he continued to cook.

Trying to break the silence, Hagakure asked, "Did you like our snowman?"

"I believe you might have exaggerated a bit. I doubt my eyebrows are always in such a position. Though I can see why you might think that considering the trouble your class gets into. Now you two should be going. It's getting late even if it's not a school night."

Before they left though, Midoriya asked, "So is everything okay now?"

The pro hero gave a glance at his student before saying, "It's never enough, but they are satisfied for now."

Izuku wasn't expecting much, so that was enough to satisfy him. The two then said their goodbyes and then left.

"That was a bit bold to ask that Izuku," Tooru stated while poking her boyfriend's shoulder as the couple descended the outside steps.

"Well, it gave us something. Though I think he knows that we know now."

"If anything, that means that Yagi-sensei will take the brunt of that."

Oh right, Izuku forgot about that. Though he thought, perhaps it's better that way. It just shows that All Might was concerned enough to tell his students. Midoriya then felt Hagakure come in close as they continued to walk.

"Let's get home already. The snow is going to come down on us hard soon."

"Where did he get off to?"

A bunch of footsteps followed until Izuku heard another voice.

"Are you sure you saw someone?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. If it were a teammate, they wouldn't have run away."

"Could be a trap, you know. We should find others in our class before rushing into a possible fight."

"And we have another knockout by 1B. Awase-kun eliminates Mineta-san as he tries to shield a partner," came Komori's voice in Midoriya's earpiece.

"That's six already! And we're only down two."

"Don't get cocky. We're sitting ducks out here. Let's move."

"Yeah yeah, I hear you."

Izuku waited for a few minutes after he could no longer hear footsteps before climbing out of the bush. He sure was glad he was wearing mostly green today and covered his bright red sensors with his hands. That seemed to be enough to keep Kosei and Juzo from finding him. The former had spotted him not long ago.

It turns out; the joint activity was a snowball fight after all. Once the students gathered in the late afternoon, Sato and Kendo explained the rules.

Using the forest behind the campus as the battleground, they would be split along the edge of the woods and then head inside once the event started. Everyone was given three modified sensors derived from their provisional license exam. It seems the two had been working with the support department to do this. Izuku was surprised Mei was able to make it a secret from him all this time. Either way, these sensors, instead of taking a ball, now reacted to snowballs. Once someone had been hit in all three, they were out.

"Tooru-chan has taken out Shoda-san," Tsuyu's voice rang out.

Midoriya sighed in relief. At least she was having fun. This was very stressful for him so far.

Asui and Komori were acting as announcers for the event. Sato had approached the former in advance to see if she would be okay staying outside for so long due to her quirk's weakness to cold. She declined to be a part of it but still wanted to help. They decided to have her and another from 1B, to keep teams even, as announcers, so the homeroom teachers could focus on monitoring the activity. Everyone was wearing a body cam so that no cheating could occur. While quirks were allowed, they couldn't be used for combat as fighting wasn't allowed, only snowballs. Even then, some students were given limits to what they could do by their respective teachers. Finally, damage to the forest was prohibited.

Since the start, Izuku had been trying to hide as much as he could. He heard voices from time to time, and only Tsuburaba had spotted him so far. I have to keep fighting 1v1 until I find another 1A classmate, he kept telling himself.

"And the amazing Tsunotori-chan bests Kaminari-san!"

Almost half the class is nearly gone, Izuku thought. But something else distracted him. He swore he saw a floating eyeball dart behind a tree. There was no doubt, Setsuna was stalking him. Midoriya knew she was one of the students that had been limited in their quirk use. Tokage could only separate parts of her body that didn't have the sensor attached. Otherwise, taking her down would be almost impossible considering how much ground there is to cover. Even limited, Lizard Tail Splitter was still quite powerful here.

Izuku hoped she was alone. Otherwise, she would have alerted others to his location. She already eliminated Koji earlier in the game, so he wasn't so sure. However, within seconds he felt something strike his right shoulder.

Beep.

Midoriya whipped around to see a floating arm before it floated up into a tree. Only two left now, one on his back, the other on his left leg. But now what? Tokage could see his every movement while staying almost undetected and could, in theory, throw a snowball from any angle. Izuku considered running away at Full Cowl speed, but that could just attract more trouble.

Suddenly a snowball darted into view in front of Midoriya, but it wasn't aimed at him. Instead, it whizzed past and struck near a tree. Tokage's eye came into view and shook off the snow from the blow, revealing a furrowed eyebrow.

"I got your back Midoriya-kun," Ojiro stated as he came into view to his friend's right.

The eye retreated once more.

"Thanks, man," Izuku said as he approached his classmate.

Mashirao stayed alert as he stated, "Stay vigilant. She could be anywhere."

Midoriya noticed Ojiro's sensor placement. They were right arm, left side of his chest, and back. The one on his arm wasn't bright red anymore. Izuku then got behind Mashirao and faced the opposite way before asking, "Who got you?"

"Tokage-san. Koda-kun and I were together until she got him, and she's been following me ever since. Though now we're in big trouble because she has both eyes and arms now."

"She split them up to cover more ground."

"Clever, but doesn't that leave her vulnerable?"

"Probably has a classmate watching her main body. I never did run into anything but her right arm and whatever eye."

Midoriya took a deep breath before saying, "Well, if we move back to back, that's better than we were before."

"No argument there. Let's head to your right. It's just an open field to the left, and that's where I was before this."

After moving for a few minutes with no sign of Tokage or anyone else, Ojiro said, "This wait is killing me. What I wouldn't give to be Shoji right now."

"Mezo-kun has defeated both Bondo-san and Tokage-san by catching them off guard."

The two boys relaxed upon hearing the news.

"Speaking of," Izuku stated with a chuckle.

"Well, that explains why she withdrew," Mashirao said with a sigh of relief. He then turned to his friend and asked, "So run into anyone before all this."

Midoriya nodded before replying by saying, "Only two, but I lost them. I haven't scored a shot on anyone yet though, like you."

"Yeah, Koda-kun and I were able to nab Kaibara-san before we ran into Tokage-san."

Izuku recalled that it was the first elimination. They must have run into one another at the start of the game.

"I'm starting to wonder if losing is a better option. It's freezing out here."

"Just adds to the challenge," Midoriya said while shrugging.

"I suppose. Either way, we should get moving."

Only moments later did the boys hear a loud noise from behind them.

"PYUU!"

A sudden gust of chilly wind from behind nearly knocked Izuku over, but Mashirao fell face-first into the snow. The former shot around to see Manga running away from them in a hurry. He could see a still-lit sensor on his back.

Midoriya quickly caught up, thanks to a sudden burst of 20%. Fukidashi noticed and was quick to yell, "Pyon pyon!" The words then appeared in front of him, and he jumped on them, sending him sky-high. Izuku scooped up snow before jumping as well. Just as he heard Manga say, "Fuwa Fuwa," he threw a direct hit.

"Izuku-kun eliminates Fukidashi-san in a mid-air battle!"

Fukidashi immediately repeated the words and threw the second batch at Midoriya as he passed by when falling. They both landed softly on the cloudy Fuwa Fuwas.

"That was very risky of you, Midoriya-san."

"I was hoping you would have made one for me too." Of course, Izuku was also banking that it was the last sensor. He figured Manga wasn't able to get away scot-free after each skirmish.

"And if not?"

"That would have hurt a lot," Izuku stated with a chuckle. The backup plan was to try and land in a tree. There was an oak he was considering. All of this would have been so much easier if Black Whip was in a usable state. There had been progress, it was manifesting, but too small to be of any use.

Manga only grunted as a response. Mashirao had caught up at this point and said, "Gotta say your hit and run tactics were pretty genius."

Midoriya was confused at this until he saw Ojiro's chest sensor was no longer lit. Only one left for his friend.

"It's the best I could come up within a short time. I might have only eliminated Todoroki-san with this method, but I did score a couple of hits with a few others."

Izuku recalled Shoto was the last one to be brought down before Kosei saw him.

"Good luck out there," Manga said before retreating into the woods.

"Well, we are almost tied now with him out of the picture," Midoriya stated while turning back to his friend.

Ojiro pointed behind him as he said, "I heard talking from over there. Want to check it out?"

"Might as well. Better than being ambushed a third time."

The two made their way towards the suggested direction, and it wasn't long before they heard voices.

"Katsuki-kun has taken down Honenuki-san, Kodai-san, and Tsuburara-san all in one go."

Mashirao then proclaimed, "Ha! We're in the lead now."

"And almost immediately after the victory, Bakugo-san is put down by Monoma-kun and Kendo-chan."

"Okay, still true, but less so."

A loud screech echoed through the forest.

"DAMNIT!"

Izuku chuckled before saying, "Well, I guess we know who those voices we heard were from now."

The duo approached the racket and walked by the four that had just been knocked out of the game. The three from 1B looked exhausted as they passed. Katsuki, however, was seething but didn't say a thing. He didn't even bother to give a glance at Izuku.

The boys found themselves in a small field. To their right was a sizable sizzling crater in the snow, which was probably where the three were eliminated. Monoma and Kendo were on the opposite end, arguing. Though it quickly ended once the former noticed his new opponents.

"Ah, that saves us the need to find more of 1A. Good evening both of you," Neito said with a bow.

Mashirao inspected the boy before saying, "So only one left eh Monoma?" The two on his back weren't lit as his exposed back showed — only the one on his left shoulder remained.

Itsuka sighed before saying, "Real smart."

"Quite intentional, on the contrary, my dear class rep. I only wish to have an even duel with my good friend Ojiro-san. It's only fair that I show that I too am down to one left, like him."

Kendo gave his classmate an odd look before looking over to the arrivals and saying, "Well, Midoriya-san should be a good enough challenge for me."

Midoriya whispered, "Uh, you okay with this?" He noticed his possible opponent had all three sensors on her front — two on each shoulder and one square on the chest. Only the one on the right wasn't lit.

"Most definitely. Have fun with Kendo-san," Ojiro stated with a grin.

Monoma then casually threw a snowball into the air. "Don't worry; this will be over in a snap." He then proceeded to slap his palms together.

The snowball grew to an immense size and was looming above Mashirao. "The fu-," he tried to say but was snatched out of the way by a speed-boosted Izuku. They landed face down, to prevent the former's sensor from tripping.

They both then got up and rushed to hide behind the cascade of snow made by Neito, barely making it in time as a few snowballs whizzed into the spot they were just at.

"Thanks, man. I should have seen him copying the quirk of one of his classmates," Ojiro stated as he rubbed his forehead.

"Which also means there's a good chance he has Kendo-san's too." Midoriya then looked to his right and said, "I'm faster so I'll make a break for it this way."

"Go ahead. I'll try and draw him towards me here so I can have the advantage."

Izuku then did just as he said, and Kendo was right around the corner. Her right hand was already large and had a scoop of snow ready to fire.

"Let's see how well you can dodge in the deep snow." She then launched the flurry just a few meters away. It was not something Izuku was prepared for. He was going to get hit; there was no doubt, but he just needed to position his body just right. The snow hit his body and face square on, but his leg was safe.

As the boy wiped his face to get his vision back, he was greeted by the girl being right in front of him.

"Gotcha."

Midoriya was pushed onto his back and was immediately on the ground.

Beep.

Izuku then shot up to avoid another dump of snow that was aimed towards his right leg.

As Itsuka readied her next shot, she said, "A simple shove isn't technically considered 'combat.' It worked on Bakugo-san for the finishing blow."

"Ah yes, the look on his face was priceless," Neito said with glee from a distance. "Being done in by such a simple maneuver really got his blood boiling."

Izuku glanced to see said party, and Mashirao trading blows with the snow. The former was already displaying Big Fist and was using it to block any attempt, as was the latter's use of his tail. Midoriya, however, had to deal with 1B's class president at the moment. He turned back to his opponent and grabbed two fists full of snow.

Kendo, this time, threw the snow horizontally. Forcing Midoriya to jump high over it and proceeded to toss a snowball at her shoulder, which she quickly blocked with her free hand. However, Izuku let himself fall back first from behind Itsuka. Just before hitting the ground, he threw the second snowball and hit his target on the mark. The boy then put his other hand on his sensor as he let the deep snow cushion his fall.

They each had one left now, but Midoriya wanted to end this quickly. He slammed a fist into the snow at a low level, which created a haze of white into the air. This gave him enough cover to back away safely as Kendo also backed away. He then chanced another glance at Ojiro. His friend was closing the gap between Monoma, just as planned.

Izuku focused back on his fight. Itsuka had both hands enlarged now, both with large scoops in hand. It was then he knew what she was planning and how to counter it. Midoriya reached down and grabbed a handful with his left hand. And rose his percentage to the needed level.

Kendo then used her right hand to throw another horizontal slice of snow. As he jumped, a vertical slice of snow was on course towards his body. Midoriya then flicked his finger from his free hand to create enough pressurized air to blow away her throw. The flurry kicked up enough to cause a flinch in his opponent. He then launched himself forward, and within moments had his left fist of snow placed on her chest.

Beep.

"Izuku-kun topples the class rep of 1B, Kendo-san!"

Itsuka dusted herself off and then asked, "You can do that without those fancy gloves?"

"It's not as precise without them." Izuku stepped away before massaging his index finger for a moment. His right snow glove had been blown open because of the air bullet. "Plus, it's riskier for my body without them." He had grown too accustomed to the Air Force Gloves. It had been some time since he had used the technique without their aid.

Midoriya then looked over at Ojiro to see how he was doing. Monoma looked distressed. They were still evenly matched, but the look on his face didn't show it.

"Better go join Ojiro-san if you want to end this quickly."

"I'll let it play out. I think they would prefer it that way." With how eager Mashirao was to fight Monoma, Izuku figured it would be best to stay out of it. Their quarrel was more important than this game.

Itsuka smirked as she said, "You might be right. Anyways, thanks for the good match."

"You too, see you at the end." Izuku kept his focus on the other fight.

"Hopefully, sooner than later. My classmate can become obsessed sometimes." Kendo then made her leave.

Midoriya noticed that Ojiro was now focusing on using his tail to scoop snow to try and catch Monoma if he got too close, which prompted the latter further and further back as the former attempted to close the distance immediately.

Then Neito bumped into a tree, surprised that he had been pushed back so far. Mashirao then spun around as his tail threw a much more substantial amount of snow than the previous throws. Monoma had no choice but to block with Big Fist. With the opponent's vision obscured, Ojiro then used his tail to spring himself high and tossed the needed hit. Midoriya recalled his friend using this move during their performance at the cultural festival.

"Mashirao-kun eliminates Monoma-san. Only half of 1B remains!"

Neito let his fist shrink, but his smirk did not fade. "Bravo Ojiro-san. I wasn't sure if my time limit was going to be my undoing or a slip-up on my part would happen first. But it seems the latter has occurred. Either way, that was fun. We should do more friendly competitions like this again soon."

"We'll have to wait and see Monoma-san," Mashirao stated while rubbing his hands together to try and warm them.

Monoma nodded and began to walk. As he passed Midoriya, he stated, "And thanks for not butting in Midoriya-san. We both appreciate it."

Ojiro then approached his friend, and the two watched the 1B student disappear into the thicket.

"Glad that's over," Mashirao stated before walking away from the clearing.

"Did you not want help, as Monoma-san suggested?" Midoriya then began to follow his friend.

With a shrug, Ojiro answered, "I wouldn't hold it against you if you did, but I prefer you didn't, so thanks." He then walked past a few trees and sat down near a large maple.

"Need a moment?"

"Yeah, just a minute."

Izuku stayed close to the tree by his friend's side and kept a lookout for anything suspicious. The game was far from over. After a few moments, he said, "Sounds like things are improving between you and Monoma-san." The honorific change was noticeable.

Mashirao grunted before saying, "Perhaps, but it's going to take more than a friendly snowball fight to mend things."

"Of course, but hey, progress is progress no matter how small."

"Right. We should get going; it's already getting dark. The game is going to only get more difficult because of it."

Midoriya offered a hand, and Ojiro took it. However, suddenly a dark blur appeared between the two. Hands full of snow had been placed on both of them.

Beep. Beep.

"Both Ojiro-san and Midoriya-san had been taken down by the sneaky Kuroiro-kun!"

"Don't know about you guys, but nightfall is only going to make it that much easier for me."

"Too quick," Mashirao stated in a disappointing tone.

"You scared me," Izuku said as he pulled his friend upright.

"Sorry, but it was the only way I could think of to catch someone like you off guard. But man, that was a long wait. Could you two have taken any longer to get buddy buddy? Shihai then climbed out of the ground's darkness. "Been waiting outside the field ever since Monoma-kun threw that massive snowball at you, Ojiro-san."

Ojiro scratched his head as he said, "So only a few minutes. What's the rush?"

"I got bigger fish to fry to worry too much about the likes of you two. Tokoyami-san is still out there and needs to be put down," Kuroiro said before trotting off.

"Well, on the bright side, we're still in the lead," Mashirao stated with a shrug.

"Shishida-kun mows down Hagakure-san and Yaoyorozu-san in one quick dash! 1B takes the lead!"

Ojiro face palmed before saying, "And I jinxed it, and of course, it had to be both of them."

"I don't like the phrase, 'mowed down' at all."

"I'm sure they're fine. She's just spicing up whatever happened to make it sound cool."

"If you head to your left, you'll exit the forest within a few minutes."

That was Aizawa's voice.

"Let's not keep sensei waiting," Mashirao said as he did as he was told. Izuku soon followed, wondering how both their girlfriends had been eliminated.

By the time the duo made it back to the meeting area, the game was down to the wire. Six remained on 1B and three for 1A. Uraraka, Shoji, and Tokoyami took a last stand and were able to eliminate Awase and Yanagi before falling to Kamakiri, Tsunotori, Shishida, and Tetsutetsu. It turned out Aoyama was able to defeat Kuroiro by blinding him. The former took great satisfaction in the fact.

Both classes then went over to 1A for some dinner that was specially prepared by Lunch-Rush, as the game ended after dinner.

As everyone mingled about the day's event, Izuku was pleased with the change of pace the day brought. Next week would bring the final days of his second term, but more on his mind were the dates that followed. He hoped with all his might that all the planning that went into both would come to fruition.

Happy 2020!

And yes, I am not dead. And also yes, this is a DOUBLE CHAPTER RELEASE! This is to make up for skipping so much. Initially, I was going to do a double release on Christmas, but I wasn't happy with Chapter 36 and needed some more time to work out its kinks. But to explain the absence, I just needed a break. Being in the mood to write has become more seldom, which isn't a surprise considering I have done this for about 2.5 years now. Nothing sucks more than forcing yourself to write. Thankfully after a long rest, I feel ready to get back into the thick of things.

I did something different during this time. I WROTE A ONESHOT! ON A ZINE!

In no way did this cause my absence as I have been working on it since September. I gradually worked on it here and there until the due date on December 15th. Plus, it was only about 2.2k words long. I will eventually post it here once it's officially released. The zine itself is nonprofit, called Reflections, and was made to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the Camp Kacchako discord. The idea was to have members of the discord come together to work with a partner to create fics/art that reflected one another. My partner was afreakingdork. So more on that later!

I have a plethora of things to go over via commissions, so I'll just go over what I have released since chapter 34 in these author notes and what I have in progress/planned in 35's. To start, back in October, I commissioned anyanary (Instagram/Tumblr) for some IzuMina to celebrate Awkward Energy's 3rd anniversary. And I had some Halloween art done for all three ships in Cubicity by hazel0219 (Twitter/Tumblr). In November, I worked with a discord friend Ancho (AnchoisaB on Twitter) for some IzuJiro. This was the first time I was stumped with what I wanted to do, but she quickly came up with something unique and creative. I applied for the Secret Santa once more on the Boku No Ship Academia subreddit, and this time, I had Selephi on Tumblr ( sel3phi on Twitter) draw some TodoDeku for my recipient SadUwus on Reddit (crying-on-the-outside on Tumblr). Also, for Christmas, I sought Erijaime once more, this time for some IzuTooru! And finally, for Ochako's birthday on the 27th, I commissioned Branbrandio for some Iichako. The last two birthday commissions involved cake, so I asked something quite a bit different this time. ;p

So onto the chapter!

The first two scenes were mainly to show the effects of the Villain arc. It's hard just to ignore it happened but equally as such to make it relevant to this story. I think I found a decent answer to this. When going into this chapter, the 2nd scene was not planned. It's been a long while since I've done a lunch scene with everyone, and I considered it would be an excellent opportunity to give a general direction for the triple date.

The Eri scene was a long time coming, but again, I wanted to ease her into the story. Not suddenly like I have seen other fics do. I figured them playing in the snow would be cute, plus it kind of foreshadows the next scene. It also let me push some headcanons in my head of how things were going for her at the school as we get very little in the manga.

And now the snowball fight. The bane of my existence for a few weeks. Only three things have stayed consistent through its many revisions. 1A would lose, Midoriya would pair up with Ojiro, and they would battle Monoma at one point. I was tempted to have Tokoyami be the partner way back when, but the opportunity for Monoma usage outweighed that want. The fight with Manga was a very late edition, which was short, of course, but it was fun to look up Japanese onomatopoeias to use for his quirk. Setsuna's portion began sort of as a psychological warfare thing, having her taunt Izuku and popping a shot when he became angry. This was way back when this was only an idea (no chapter assigned to it) and was simply based on an outline I wrote more than a year ago. Once we saw more of her in the Joint Training arc, I changed my mind to instead focus on her quirk. Also, it wasn't until I started writing the chapter in full did I decide for Kuroiro to do the guys in. Before that, I was just like, I'll think of something eventually. All in all, this scene was a very hectic but worthwhile writing experience. Oh, and I finally had Tsuyu speak in some capacity! As super minor as it is. ;p

Night Foliage has been busy during the holidays and was only able to edit Chapters 24 and 25 (though a decent amount of 26 is done as well). They received 85 and 30 edits, respectively.

So, uh see on the next page because chapter 36 is done as well! ;p