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No one in the world would forget the day All Might announced his retirement. Society was further split. It was chaos for the good and heaven for villains.
During the protection of All Might, the small percentage of women who found themselves trapped within a villain’s grasp knew how to somehow defend themselves. They were also heroes always on patrol.
But with Endeavor leading the Heroes, he was expected to set an example. Lifestyle-wise, he was not doing a good job. The media finally caught up with his family issues.
And the villains turned his mindset - of reproducing for the sake of creating the perfect generation of Quirks - against him. They started ‘mass-producing’ and ‘training’ children to be villains that wreak havoc.
The shortage of women villains meant that civilians had to fulfill the role. Women were targeted for their looks and their Quirk’s ability.
And for months, this vicious continued: A steady growing number of villains, and aspiring heroes wanting to vanquish them.
Endeavour really tried, to the best of his abilities, to fill in the void that All Might left-- but it was not enough. His flames could not burn the flesh of evil and ignite the heroic spirit in everyone. Simply put, he was not enough.
Villains continued to roam the streets, taking every advantage they can get from women and then kidnapping the baby from the hospital.
As precaution, every school came up on their own curriculum to protect and equip female students from becoming a villain’s prey.
U.A. decided to hold special night classes for their female students. The lessons were tailored specifically for female students and it varied in schedule.
Midnight, being one of the instructors, sent out the location and time of the lesson in secret to all female students and they were instructed to keep their whereabouts secret in return. Their classmates can only know that they were out for training, nothing more. It was not as if Principle Nezu doubted the integrity of the male student population,rather, this was his method of assuring the parents that their daughters remained safe inside the campus.
For tonight’s class, the girls of Hero Class 3-A were having a lesson on advanced self-defense. Midnight produced a marionette which was programmed to act like a villain.
The girls’ main objective was to detain the marionette-villain until police arrives. The catch: the villain had an ability to steal someone’s quirk temporarily.
Quirkless self-defense/combat training.
As expected, Ashido used her flexibility in dodging the assailant’s attack and eventually ‘knocked’ him out. Ochako, on the other hand, applied what she learned during her ongoing internship with Gunhead but still struggled in bringing the villain down without removing the gravity holding him. Hagakure was able to control her invisibility and slipped past the marionette’s attack. She played hide-and-seek-and-attack with the marionette until time was up.
But the other half were struggling with the exercise. Momo had no means of creating weapons so she tried remembering the books she read on self defense. Her motor skills and reaction instincts failed to sync on time. Aside from not making a significant damage on the marionette, she suffered a huge bruise on her arm.
Asui was called out multiple times by Midnight for not improvising and relying too much on her frog reflexes. Jiro’s ground vibrations just did damage to school property, not much on the marionette.
“This is impossible!” Jiro exclaimed in frustration when they were changing clothes in the girl’s locker room.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Momo sadly replied. “But I understand where Midnight-sensei was coming from. The Quirkless combat would really help in--”
“--I know, and I understand her too!” Jiro snapped, banging her locker door. The rest of the girls looked at her. They were exhausted with the training and worrying about their lives once they’re out of U.A.’s grounds.
Inheriting a very discouraging society in a few weeks, one could not really blame someone of feeling disheartened.
“Hey guys,” Asui interjected. “Midnight-sensei didn’t say anything about not using support items during her class, right?”
All the girls lit up with her idea.
“You’re a genius, Tsuyu-chan!” Ochako hugged Asui and looked at the rest of her classmates. They nodded in agreement.
“Then let’s go seek help from the Support Class!” Ashido exclaimed.
-----
Early next morning, the ladies eagerly waited for Midoriya to walk into the classroom so they could ask, on their behalf, if Hatsume Mei’s can invent support items for their night classes.
A shocked Iida heard of their conversation with the green blob by the classroom entrance. He strongly recommended they look for support items elsewear. He clearly still harbored bitter feelings over being used during their first Sports Festival.
Midoriya giggled at the recollection of that event. Then his eyes wandered at Ochako’s hands which was covered in bandages. Worry came over him instantly.
“Ah-Are you alright?” Midoriya sheepishly asked.
Midoriya may have asked softly but the classroom’s atmosphere went down with his question. The rest of Class 1-A looked at the group of girls. They saw how tired and overworked they looked. Aside from the scratches and bandages, the once hero spark present in their eyes during the early years of study can no longer be found. They were too worn-out to even care about their hairstyle and fix the frays of their uniform.
“We-we’re okay!” Ochako replied nervously. She flexed her arm and showed him how the training built her small muscles.
“It’s just that… I guess, our quirks aren’t that suited for both combat and defense.” In just a sentence, Ochako summarized how the evening training made them harbor more self-doubt and anxiety. Counterproductive from the intentions of the program.
The guys understood the depth of what she just said. For three years, they knew the grit of their female classmates-- and for them to be this discouraged meant a lot.
“Hey…” Kirishima broke the glooming silence. “If you girls need help with anything, please don’t hesitate to call us, okay?” His toothy smile radiated and relaxed the girls.
Tears formed in Momo’s eyes and she found it trailing down her cheeks. Todoroki placed his hand on her shoulders and offered his handkerchief. Normally, she would create her own handkerchief but under this circumstance, she gently took the cloth from him and wiped her tears away.
A heartfelt “Thank you” was all the girls can say to their friends.
Homeroom and the rest of their morning classes went off as usual.
-----
By lunchtime, Midoriya, Todoroki, Iida, Kirishima, and Bakugou-- after being pestered by Kirishima, accompanied the ladies to see Hastume Mei’s workshop.
They were welcomed by a grease-covered mechanic who, without introduction of why the sudden visit, immediately went back inside her workshop.
“I knew you’d come!” she exclaimed in the dark. The visitors heard clanking and dropping of things on the floor.
“Uhm… Hatsume-san…?” Midoriya nervously asked. He still hasn’t removed his habit of being anxious when meeting and speaking to people. Before he could continue asking what she was looking for, she ran towards them with a couple of items at hand.
“We girls need to look for one another, right?” Mei softly said as she handed support items placed in black boxes to the girls.
“Don’t worry,” she started. “I knew you would eventually need support items. I mean, who doesn’t, right? The evening classes’ too harsh! Even my babies can’t keep up.
I asked Aizawa-sensei for your files and measurements and he finally handed them to me.” Mei said. “But as expected, it came with a condition. He forced me to promise to only give you my babies when you asked for it.
He also told me to remind you that no matter how desperate the circumstance you’re in, you’re not to depend on these items and instead improve your Quirks. Pfft as if my babies doesn’t match your Quirks.
No, Sir! I’ve specifically designed and developed these to go with your abilities, hero costume, and how often you expose yourselves to danger.”
Tsuyu sobbed after hearing the concern of their homeroom teacher. Ochako hugged her again and Kirishima patted Tsuyu’s head. Midoriya thanked the mechanic on their behalf.
“Hey freaky-eyed woman, what do these do?” Katsuki asked, annoyed with how his classmates still cry at the littlest thing. They’re supposed to start practicing how heroes act, not having a competition who would be the fastest one to cry.
“I can’t reveal my babies’ functionalities unless my client asked me directly!” Mei protested. She looked at her clients and told them that they’re welcome to clarify what her babies do of the manual inside the box was too troublesome to understand.
“I’ve designed a new security system to make sure that only the owner can open the box and use my babies to protect themselves.” she added before initiating a quick chat with Midoriya’s costume upgrade.
Iida was impressed with her thoroughness in design and her client-relations skills. Katsuki frowned while Kirishima joined Midoriya’s hero costume discussion. Todoroki examined the boxes resting at his classmates’ hands and wondered how else he could help in improving their Quirks.
The bell chimed and the group started walking back to their classroom.
-----
For their Hero Class, All Might instructed them to change into their costumes for a round of afternoon rescue training.
While waiting for the others to finish dressing up, Todoroki stood up and called for their attention: “Hey everyone, I have an idea.”
“Huh?” Katsuki was the first to react and taunted Todoroki by standing up and placing his foot on his table.
“Bakugou, stop that!” Kirishima and Kaminari went over Katsuki’s side and tried to calm him down. They urged Todoroki to elaborate his idea.
“I have been thinking,” he started. “Since our female classmates are undergoing their self-defense training with a U.A. teacher, or someone hired by the school, shouldn’t we also do something to help them?”
“Help them? How?” Kaminari asked.
“For example, give instructions on how they could improve their attacks? Counter a villain’s Quirk using their own Quirk? Uraraka-san said that most of their Quirks were not that good in combat after all.” Todoroki paused before continuing.
“I am also concerned with the recent news reports that a villain might possess a Quirk that cancels his/her victim’s Quirk. Should that be the case, our friends need help outwitting the villain before their Quirks malfunction.”
Everyone looked at Todoroki and analyzed his suggestion. Iida seconded the thought and even called it great.
“Heh,” Mineta scoffed. “That’s just Aizawa-sensei’s way of joining us perv---”
Sero placed his tape over Mineta’s mouth before flinging his arm over Todoroki’s shoulders. He teased him that that was the longest speech he has given in their whole student life.
Is Todoroki becoming somehow soft, one can only wonder.
Before they left the dressing room, Tokoyami spoke another perspective to this plan.
“Wait.” Tokoyami said and everyone turned their heads to meet his eyes.
“If we proceeded carrying out Todoroki’s idea, we have to do it in a way that won’t injure their pride. Remember, they’re aspiring heroes too. They’ve worked too hard to learn and improve their Quirks. If we interfere and added another pressure by pointing out their weaknesses, they might take it against us.”
“Well, it’s a fact that they did not ask our help.” Shoji added. “They asked for support items, not instructions, right?”
Eyes were casted on the floor and no one spoke for a minute.
“We should just ask them…” Midoriya softly suggested.
“Just how are we going to that?” Mineta asked, removing Sero’s tape from his mouth. “You know that there’s a huge possibility that they’ll just lie, or worse, they won’t talk to us after that, right?”
“Uhm…”
“We won’t ask them directly.” Todoroki said, replying in Midoriya’s stead. “We can try giving them subtle pointers later at the training grounds.”
Tokoyami sighed and looked at Shoji.
“Look at the whole scenario from their perspective for a minute.” Tokoyami crossed his arms and studied the body language of his classmates. “If we just hand them pointers out of nowhere, they might think that we were looking down at their abilities.”
No one rebutted his input.
He sighed and glanced at Shoji. He nodded and they both conceded with the earlier plan.
“Do what you thought would be best for them, but be careful.” Tokoyami reminded them for the last time. “The girls seem tired from all the training they’re getting.”
Midoriya smiled at Todoroki. The rest of the class followed the idea of trying to help their female classmates enhance their fighting abilities and strategy.
-----
All Might and Aizawa, who happen to observe his homeroom class that afternoon, noticed the sudden encouraging attitude that the male students were exhibit. They knew something was up but decided to ignore it in the meantime.
For their afternoon lesson, they were to expand their rescue skills, with a couple of hostage dolls. One team acted as a ‘Villain’ and the another acted as the ‘Hero’. What made this lesson unlike the ones they had before was the surprise support items given to each student and the partners assigned to them. All Might wanted them to test the progress of each other so he re-used the teams during their Final Exam.
Katsuki and Midoriya became partners again, only this time as ‘Villains’, and fought against Todoroki and Momo.
“Kacchan, are you going to join the plan?” Midoriya whispered.
“Hmph.” He smugly replied.
Midoriya knew it was useless to get more from this conversation so he remained silent and waited for the ‘Heroes’ to arrive.
“It’s all your fault.” Katsuki suddenly spoke, his eyes away from Midoriya. “If you weren’t so fucking weak, the girls wouldn’t feel vulnerable.”
Midoriya shuddered and looked at Katsuki.
In no time, his eyes produced unwarranted tears. He knew from the start that the responsibility of taking All Might’s Quirk would be overwhelming. But he wasn’t able to foresee the early retirement of the Symbol of Peace.
He thought, no, he strongly believed that All Might would be able to guide him until he mastered One for All and then proclaim him his successor in public. Only then he would retire from saving the world.
“Kacchan, I--”
“That’s why,” Katsuki shouted and met his eyes. He grabbed Midoriya’s suit and whispered angrily to his ear. “Hurry up and become the fucking hero All Might wanted you to be.”
Midoriya sank on his knees and cried.
The spectators from the other side of the screen were confused of what happened. Kirishima called out Bakugou’s unmanly habit of bullying Midoriya has not subsided a bit, and Iida became worried.
“Kacchan…” Midoriya said in between tears. “Thank you…”
Taken aback by his reply, Katsuki grunted and remained aloof for the rest of the training session.
Then suddenly, Katsuki stretched an explosion on his left and ice formed from thin air. Todoroki revealed himself.
“How did you know?” Todoroki asked as he distanced himself from Katsuki’s smoking palms.
“Heh. It’s easy.” Katsuki replied. “Even if you try to hide yourselves from me, you can’t mistake Ponytail’s distinct smell from someone else.”
Momo shivered from the revelation. Todoroki assured her earlier that her idea of going in stealth mode was good since both Katsuki and Midoriya specialized in close combat.
If they go in and face them hand-to-hand, Katsuki would disregard Midoriya’s skills and target both of them. Todoroki won’t be able to charge an attack and cover for Momo while she move forward rescue the faux hostages.
Her lips quivered from the thought of being caught by a stupid mistake.
Todoroki knew Momo’s tendency to blame herself and ended up being trapped in a loop of self-doubt.
Remembering the plan, Todoroki countered Katsuki’s statement, “But you haven’t seen where Yaoyorozu-san is hiding. For all we know, she hid her smell by now.”
‘Nice, Todoroki-kun!’ Midoriya internally exclaimed and hoped that Momo got the prompt to hide her perfume.
“That’s what you thought!” Katsuki launched himself near the wall and his palms exploded, revealing a very shocked Momo.
“Yaoyorozu-san!” Todoroki stomped his feet and ice covered the whole area. Midoriya and Katsuki jumped to avoid being frozen.
“Is that all you got?” Katsuki taunted Todoroki while twisting himself to release Howitzer Impact on Momo.
Collecting her thoughts, Momo produced a giant shield to protect herself from the incoming explosion and created a small machine that started digging the ground filled ice to retrieve the dolls.
Midoriya noticed this and was torn - he wanted to help Yaoyorozu-san regain her self confidence by letting her succeed in her plan but then again, he knew that she won’t learn to improvise tactics at fight-or-flight situations.
Using 3% of his power, Midoriya went ahead and relocated the dolls further back of the room before placing himself behind Katsuki.
Now the heroes, Momo and Todoroki, had to go through Katsuki first then Midoriya before rescuing the hostages.
Momo created amplifiers to aid Todoroki’s flame and ice while she protected herself from being caught at crossfire. She released multiple swords and knives hoping one will land on Midoriya and Katsuki’s skin. The two easily avoided these and Shouto’s Quirk by their jumps and explosions.
“Heroes out!” All Might voice echoed from the whole building. Katsuki stopped his attacked and Midoriya tripped on Todoroki’s ice.
Confusion was clearly in their face.
“You brats,” Aizawa said over the speakers. “You focused too much on disabling one another and killed one hostage in the process. This is a rescue lesson, not combat training.”
The four students slowly turned their heads and saw Momo’s knife perfectly pierced one of the doll’s arm while another doll sat frozen on the floor.
All Might asked them to return to the briefing room to analyze what had happened.
Momo controlled her sobbing when they reached the room full of monitors.
“Sorry.” She murmured when Todoroki passed by to join Midoriya’s group.
He looked back and saw how distraught her figure was. He knew she trapped herself again in the rabbit hole of self-doubt.
“It’s okay.” he assured her. “All part of training. You learned something today, right?”
She nodded and bit her bottom lip to control her tears.
Midoriya saw the exchange and felt the warmness that Todoroki expressed to Momo.
All Might and Aizawa called the class in order and explained how Todoroki and Yaoyorozu can actually win against Midoriya and Bakugou.
The next set of teams went of as intense as the first.
It was an easy win for Sero and Mineta who acted as ‘Heroes’ and fought against Jiro and Koda. They stacked Mineta’s balls in their ears which protected them against Jiro’s shockwaves. Sero’s tape trapped the ‘Villains’.
Tokoyami and Asui played as ‘Villains’ and secured the hostages in the middle of the room while Dark Shadow alerted them of the movements of Kaminari and Ashido. Tokoyami knew he had great disadvantage when fighting against Kaminari but with Asui as his partner, she can handle herself against Ashido’s agility.
As expected, Kaminari targeted Tokoyami and tried electrocuting Asui too. He can’t unleash his 3 million volt after witnessing what Todoroki’s ice and Yaoyorozu’s knives did to the hostages. He and Ashido tried copying Midoriya’s technique of releasing their Quirks through their fingertips and saved the dolls.
Shoji and Hagakure applied their previous stealth combo when they fought with Snipe-sensei, only this time, against Kirishima and Sato. Shoji entertained the two boys with his attacks to refrain them from looking at the back where Hagakure worked on freeing the dolls.
Hagakure gasped when a handful Sato’s sugar encircled the dolls. Any imprint meant traces of her presence. Not a good indicator for someone mastering the art of stealth mode.
In response to the challenge, she placed herself closely behind the dolls and tiptoed to untangle the ropes. She successfully removed the ropes and All Might declared them winners.
Uraraka and Aoyama’s team fought against Iida and Oujiro as ‘Villains’. The ‘Heroes’ re-enacted their technique: Oujiro on Iida’s back and Iida used his Recpiro Burst. But Uraraka knew from watching the their exam clips that they would do the same technique. So she used her quirk and levitated items inside the room so that Iida and Oujiro will have a hard time passing through.
Aoyama, on the other hand, hid behind the floating debris and set out navel lasers at different intervals at different locations. What Ochako didn’t know was that Oujiro’s mutated tail became more powerful and agility complemented Iida’s speed. Oujiro leapt from Iida’s back and grabbed the dolls before Iida’s engines gave out.
Uraraka and Aoyama lost the battle.
-----
Needless to say it was a challenging afternoon for the class. None of them were able to focus for the remainder of their lessons. Momo did not dare raise her hands to answer the teacher’s question. Midoriya covered for her and the whole class.
Aizawa noticed this lack of participation and asked the boys to remain in the classroom. The girls went straight to their dorms and prepared for their evening defense class.
“What’s wrong Aizawa-sensei?” Aoyama asked.
“What was with the performance in the training?” When he returned the question, almost all of his students looked at their desks and avoided his eyes.
“Well, what was it?” he asked again and looked at Iida.
Iida trembled but stood up. He knew it was his duty to liaise between the teachers and his classmates but to reveal their plan was betrayal to his friends.
He looked at Midoriya and Todoroki, then to the rest of the male population. He received the permission he sought.
“We were trying to show our support to our female classmates.” he started. “We thought that we should also help improving their battle skills while they receive the defense lessons from U.A.”
“Did everyone agree to this idea?” Aizawa examined the class.
“Well, at first, not everyone,” Iida confessed. “But we briefly discussed about it. All went down to the approach so we decided to just try it out during the training awhile ago.”
“And you thought it helped?” Aizawa saw Iida’s fists clenched at his question. The same went with the others.
He sighed then continued.
“I’m sure that you had nothing but good intentions and the girls would appreciate it. But intentions differ from what actually happened. People have their own ways of coping with pressure and handling their own weaknesses. What you did was to pinpoint the areas that they need to improve on without actually having a follow-through explanation. They might think otherwise.”
“Otherwise?” Sato asked.
“Yeah.” Aizawa sighed again. He temple started aching. “At this point in time, it’s not impossible for them to think that their abilities and Quirks were becoming useless as their training progressed.
Although unlikely, they might act rash and go leave the perimeters of the school just to get validity for their skills.”
“But those are just possibilities.” Todoroki pointed out.
“Yeah, possibilities. But not far from reality.” Aizawa shot back. The atmosphere became gloomier as the class understood what they had done.
“Then, what should we do?” Kirishima asked. His teacher looked at him with eyes telling him that he asked a very dumb question. “I-I mean --”
“Fix your own mess.” Aizawa replied while preparing to leave the room. Before exiting, he added “I’m neither your Mom or your Dad. I’m your homeroom teacher and you guys are students aiming to become top heroes in the country. You have to look after the damages that you’ve caused, both emotionally and physically.”
He left them in their own thoughts.
-----
Later that night, the girls returned from their evening training beyond exhausted. They noticed that no one was at the dorm lobby goofing around. It seemed unusual at first but after considering the training they received that afternoon, it was logical that the boys slept in early.
But Jiro felt vibrations coming from upstairs.
She informed the others of her discovery-- the footsteps upstairs were unrecognizable. Fighting their weariness, the girls readied themselves for combat and headed upstairs.
Momo created a lockpick to open the door Jiro identified as the source of the vibrations. Ashido’s palms secreted enough acid to melt a villain’s face.
With a nod, the door was opened and Ashido released her acid towards the well-lighted room while the other girls entered with their Quirks activated for battle.
“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Kirishima shouted, dodging Ashido’s acid blasts.
“Huh?” Uraraka scanned the room. She saw the boys getting ready for a party.
Midoriya was wearing an apron alongside Todoroki and Sato. Aoyama, Sero, Mineta, and Iida were placing Christmas lights in the ceiling with Sero’s tape. Kirishima, Ojiro, Bakugou, Shoji, and Tokoyami were re-arranging the couches to make more space while Koda and Kaminari organized the sound system.
“What’s happening?” Ashido asked Kirishima.
“Well… we…” Kirishima looked at Iida to explain the situation.
“As you can see, we were preparing for a house party.” Todoroki interrupted. The ladies relaxed but remained curious at the guys antics.
“Wha-What for?” Uraraka asked wiping a beadsweat from her brow. “It’s not yet Christmas and it’s no one’s birthday, right?”
“Well, we noticed how tired you girls were for the past few days.” Iida explained. “We tried helping a while ago during the training lesson with All Might but it didn’t go as we planned.”
“Sorry for making you worry.” Uraraka said, softly.
“No, it was our fault for meddling with your business.” Midoriya replied. “It’s just that, we wanted to help you and let you know that we got your back, okay?”
“The all-girls training is exhausting, right?” Todoroki asked Momo. She nodded, teary-eyed.
“Then, what are you waiting for?” Sero exclaimed. “Go take a shower while we finish preparing for your party.”
“Hey! I left some lotion and moisturizer from France at the floor of the girls’ shower. You can have those.” Aoyama smiled and returned to his work.
The ladies thanked him in between tears and left the room to freshen up.
-----
The girls found dresses laid outside the shower room with instructions to wear them. They glanced at each other before wearing them. It was flattering.
But bought these? Aoyama?
Fixing their hair to complement their dresses, the girls returned to the common room and were surprised to see Kaminari, Kirishima, Todoroki, and Iida outside, dressed in formal clothing too.
“Hey guys, isn’t this a bit too much?” Ashido asked when Kaminari and Kirishima opened the door to the party while Midoriya and Iida acted as their escorts.
“Nah, you ladies deserve this.” Kaminari replied.
“‘Ladies’? Since when did you call us ‘ladies’?” Jiro sarcastically asked.
She did not wait for a reply for her eyes laid on the party the boys prepared for them. They were all clothed in formal coat and tie. The food was definitely high class.
Ochako went straight to Midoriya’s side and asked who organized this party.
“It was everyone.” he replied and looked at the rest of the class.
Ochako smiled at the sincerity and efforts of the boys.
The sound system that Kaminari and Koda set the tone of the evening. They had cake-eating contest which Momo won. Ochako did the same with their chubby bunny contest.
When the song changed, Mineta started dancing on the dance floor. He invited the girls to dance with him but the declined.
Seto took role of the bartender later in the evening. Since they cannot drink alcohol yet, Iida initiated a ‘mock-tail’ - which is just fruit juice - toast to congratulate the girls’ hard work for the past few weeks.
“KAMPAI!” they cheered amidst the music playing in the background. They actually forgot that it was a school night and they had to go to school a few hours from now.
Hagakure took a sip of the drink and screamed to the others.
“Don’t drink it!” she said while smashed the Ashido’s glass.
Everyone stared at her.
“What’s wrong Toru-chan?” Ochako asked as she drank the juice to the last drop. She felt weird. Her vision blurred and had trouble breathing.
“Uraraka-san!” Momo cried and went straight to aid her now fainted friend. She created an inhaler hoping to ease Ochako’s air intake.
Ashido stood up but after drinking half of the drink felt her knees wobbly and struggled to walk towards the girls. Asui followed and defended Ochako’s now unconscious body.
The faces of their classmates disintegrated into mushy forms and combined into a huge green slime. It stood as tall as their Christmas tree.
“You - you’re the villain from the slime incident!” Ashido exclaimed. “The news said All Might defeated you and yet ---!”
“And yet I returned!” He said proudly. “Now it’s time to take revenge!” The slime stretched out its arms and targeted the girls.
“We won’t let you!” Ashido mustered her strength and produced acid from her feet. She glided and aimed her fingertips at the sludge.
“Jiro-san, Asui-san, please assist Mina-san in keeping the villain occupied.” Momo said in a low voice. “We need to buy time for Hagakure-san to get help from our teachers. Hagakure-san, please get Thirteen-sensei. I’ll try to wake up Uraraka-san and use Thirteen-sensei’s Black Hole in trapping the villain in a bottle.”
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Jiro asked.
“At this point, I’m not sure. But this is the best chance we got.” Momo replied with her eyebrows curled. “We also need to look for the boys.”
“You’re right. When we entered the dorm, Jiro-chan mentioned hearing different footsteps.” Asui recalled.
The four looked at each other and nodded.
Jiro and Asui prepared for combat and went straight to Ashido’s direction. Hagakure stripped her dress off and took control of her invisibility.
Ashido grinned when she saw Asui hopping beside her and Jiro planting her earphones on the ground. She also noticed the discarded clothes on the ground and noticed a pair of sandals carefully walking towards the stairs.
“I’ll try to predict the villain’s movements so listen carefully. While we wait for back-up, let’s protect each other and look for our friends!” Jiro whispered to the others.
Ashido prepared another handful of acid in her palms and prepared for another acid barrage. Before she slid in her acid and attack the villain, Asui’s tongue wrapped in her forearm.
“Wait Mina-chan,” Asui said softly. “I have a plan.” Ashido leaned closer to the group while maintaining her fighting stance. At this point, any movement might compromise their survival.
“It’s funny how girls always compress and mutter amongst yourselves when being cornered by me,” the villain said proudly. “Say your prayers loudly, idiots!”
Six sludge arms aimed at once. Ashido released her Acid Veil and the sludge smirred. “Guess, you’re not as invincible as you think!” she taunted the enemy. Ashido went on and produced acid from her feet and slid towards the villain’s direction.
It was hard to forecast the movements of the villain since the vibrations of the sludge differs from the usual footsteps she’s used on hearing. Jiro felt useless but after hearing Asui’s plan, she focused on meeting the villain head-on.
Placing her hands on the ground, Jiro produced strong sound waves that shocked the whole building.
“Sorry guys!” Jiro shouted amidst the banging and crashing of furniture. Ashido stropped her tracks and desperately tried to cover her ears. Their ears started to bleed but Jiro had to increase her vibrations more.
“In case you forgot, my quirk makes me a sludge! These vibrations won’t slow me down!” the villain declared.
“That’s what you thought!” Jiro smiled and looked up. “Now, Ashido!”
“Gotcha!” Ashido replied, pleased.
Jiro pressed her hands on the ground and released a blasting shockwave right under the position of the villain. The sludged trembled but did not cease his attacks.
“Release!” Ashido cried while placing her fingers together. As if using Ochako’s technique, the acid lying on the floor vibrated along with the shockwave. Small acid droplets floated in the air. It stung the villain’s lower form but not enough to halt his movements.
“Is that all you can do?” he mocked.
“No, Home Run Comet!” The real Ochako screamed while swinging the dinner table wrapped in acid-resistant cover, courtesy of Yaoyorozu. The wind pressure from her signature move guided more acid droplets on the floor towards the villain.
Despite the ingenious cooperation of the girls, the acid did not spare Ochako’s friends. It affected the skin of Jiro who was kneeling between the villain and where Ochako and Momo were located. It burned the back part of the dress she was wearing and some of her skin. She silently screamed and her vibrations softened.
The villain took this opportunity and slithered quickly in her direction. Ashido extended the acid from her feet to cover the villain’s route but the villain displayed his new trick: hardening his sludges to make him bounce. It propelled him greater than he expected thanks to the increased shockwave of Jiro.
“Now, Asui!” Jiro screamed, looking up.
“Kero!” she replied hanging from the chandelier. Asui discharged her Quirk’s poison, a clear and slimy mixture, from her mouth that dripped directly to the villain’s head.
Screams of profanity filled the room.
“IT BURNS!”
“Fuck you!”
“Fuck you all!”
The sludge villain realized his need to retreat to safety. He desperately looked for a way out and went straight to the window. The glass shielding the students from anticipated intruders were long shattered from the constant waves from Jiro’s quirk.
Becoming fully aware of the villain’s efforts, Ashido fought her fatigue for the final attack. She increased her acidity level and she released these from her fingertips.
Momo motioned for Asui to get the giant bottle she created to trap the villain. Ochako lightened the weight of the container then Asui lengthened her tongue and leaped to position the bottle’s opening near the window, blocking the villain’s exit.
“Sorry guys! It took awhile!” Out of nowhere, Hagakure’s voice sounded like the salvation the girls were waiting for. “I bought reinforcements!”
The last word of Hagakure’s statement made the sludge villain crawl for his life. He thought of breaking the container or ripping the tongue holding the bottle.
Before he executed any of those plans, Aizawa appeared in the adjacent broken window and in an instant, the sludge villain lost the ability to his slither his way out. Thirteen followed behind Hagakure and immediately released her black hole, sucking the villain towards the bottle’s opening.
“NOOOO!” The villain struggled and attempted to break free from the vacuum by digging some of his sludge in between the floor cracks, hoping to find a hole big enough to accommodate even his core being.
Ice immediately covered the floor, sealing all possible exit points.
The girls turned and looked at the rest of their classmates behind Thirteen.
Katsuki rushed to greet the sludge villain with a explosive palms ready. “Hey bastard, remembered me?” The villain remembered him alright. How can he forget when Katsuki, Midoriya, and All Might were his source of initial downfall?
Aizawa removed his Quirk from the villain and moved away from the window to help the others. His bandages covered his steps from making contact with Ashido’s acid.
“Oi, oi, where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Katsuki screamed when the sludge still thought of making the run. He placed his smoking hand to a non-poisoned area and set a small explosion as warning. “We’re not finished!”
The next attacks were just Katsuki getting his even from the incident years ago. He only stopped when the villain’s retreat reached the end of the bottle and Sero said they have to seal the container soon and hand it to the police.
While Katsuki was busy torturing the villain, Midoriya and the others went to tend to the wounds of the girls. Ashido’s acid made it impossible for them to rush to their classmate’s aid.
The long-ranged quirks started the rescue. Dark Shadow worriedly fetched Asui from the ceiling while Shoji stretched his arms, with Sero’s tape serving as protection, to collect Ashido who collapsed on the floor in the middle of an acid pool.
Kaminari got some tape from Sero and placed some to his shoes. Todoroki’s ice path enabled him to fetch Jiro’s collapsed body to join the rest of the class. Midoriya and Todoroki went to Ochako and Momo’s side, helping them to stand. Ojiro and Seto assisted in carrying the two girls whose knees were too weak to stand.
The remaining students went to assess the damage of the battle. They segregated the furniture that can be salvaged and discarded.
A few minutes passed and the police arrived at the scene and took the container for safe keeping.
They relocated into a different floor for the police to collect the important evidence of the attack and interrogate the class about the incident.
Both Ashido and Jiro regained their consciousness and insisted to be included in the class debriefing. The rest of the girls followed suit and after applying first aid treatment to their wound, Aizawa allowed them to join.
It turns out that they boys were really planning to surprise their female classmates and hopefully remove some of the stress they were feeling. Food, music, dance floor - even the program for the night was carefully planned. Everyone knew their responsibility and worked hard.
A tear escaped Ochako’s eye at the thought of her classmates feeling nervous during the preparation.
“So, why were we attacked?” asked Jiro.
“We assigned Kaminari-kun and Mineta-kun to serve as look-outs should you return earlier than expected.” Iida explained.
Jiro looked at Kaminari with an eyebrow raised.
“Hey, in our defense, we did not see the villain, right Mineta?” Kaminari replied. “It’s true! The last thing I remembered after taking the task was Hagakure waking me up. Apparently I fell unconscious in the bush.”
“Same here!” Mineta exclaimed with his hands raised above his head. Likewise, Hagakure confirmed what Kaminari explained.
“Weird, what I remember last, before Hagakure waking me up was Kaminari and Mineta panicking that the girls are already here.” Todoroki narrated.
“Oi, we’re not ly--” Kaminari’s protest was interrupted by Midoriya’s voice.
“He improved.” Midoriya solemnly declared. “Back then, when Kacchan and I tried to fight him off, he needed to possess Kacchan’s whole body to take control of his Quirk. I guess this time, he just needs some sort of DNA from us then he can already copy our appearance.”
“Come to think of it,” Momo recalled. “When we arrived, we partied with copies of you. Jiro-san said that your footsteps were different from the usual but we dismissed that---”
“Yeah, I thought I was too tired to recognize any of your footsteps so we went along the party.” Jiro confirmed.
“Wait, hold up,” Kirishima stood and scratched his head. “So you mean, the villain multiplied and copied us? And you partied with him, thinking it was us?”
The girls nodded.
“As Midoriya-kun said awhile ago, the villains are enhancing their abilities.” Iida gravely affirmed.
Katsuki raised his feet and let an explosion off his right palm. “So what?!” Everyone looked at him confused. “Let them fucking improve their skills. Let them learn from their fucking stupid mistakes. Let them become more fucking powerful--”
“Kacchan, now’s not the--”
“--Shut up, Deku. I’ll kill you!” Katsuki stood and scanned at his classmates. Their nods satisfied Katuski’s question.“Hey, aren’t we all aiming to be pro-heroes?” Katsuki stood and scanned at his classmates. Their nods satisfied Katuski’s question. “So why are we fucking cowering in fear?”
Katsuki's question earned jaw drops and more silent questions to their own selves. But Midoriya knew that Katsuki’s logic ignited the fire that All Might said during his prime years of service.
Midoriya studied Katsuki’s back again. Even after many years had passed, Katsuki never failed to make Midoriya admire him more. How he did that was still a mystery for Midoriya.
“Bakugou-kun’s right,” Thirteen said. “The more powerful the villains become, all the more reason why heroes should exist and protect civilians.”
“Just to be clear,” Katsuki added. “I’m still going to be the Number 1 hero!”
Midoriya smiled sheepishly while he scratched the back of his head. ‘Oh Kacchan…’
Before Kirishima and the others argue otherwise, Aizawa’s bandages floated and the class knew it was time to shut up.
Tsukauchi softly laughed at the class dynamics and resumed talking. He explained that since U.A. will be under investigation, it would be most likely that the class will undergo further interrogation too. He’ll update the class of the case development and proceedings as soon as they sorted out the necessary details.
“However, on behalf of the Police Department, we thank you for capturing the villain and keeping the city safe.” Tsukauchi smiled and lowered his body, bowing to the class.
It was a heartfelt moment for the class to receive such words of appreciation.
“Thanks, Tsukauchi-san.” Aizawa replied on their behalf. “I’ll take it from here.”
Tsukauchi then excused himself and wished for the speedy recovery of the ladies and good luck at the said improvement of their individual skills. Thirteen accompanied him to the crime scene.
Aizawa controlled himself from reprimanding the class for their actions. He somehow gave them the idea of hosting an after-class party for their classmates. So, instead of emphasizing to be more careful next time, he commended the female students for being alert in their surroundings and capturing the elusive villain, despite intensive training they constantly underwent for the last few weeks.
“Oh right,” he said lazily. “Since the police will be all over your dorm, I’ll talk to Class B if they can share some of the unoccupied rooms ---”
“Hey! Aizawa-sensei, wouldn’t be troublesome if we suddenly knock on their door asking for some place to sleep? They might ask questions on what happened and we have no clearance yet from the police on what information we can say,” Aoyama’s statement made sense and everyone nodded in agreement.
“It’s not that we don’t get along with Class B…” Kirishima said thinking about the dangers they went through with Class B during their field trip/training. “It’s just that… I think now is not the right time…”
Aizawa sighed. He looked at Aoyama who, despite falling short academically, managed to spot a loophole in his suggestion in a short amount of time.
‘The brats are getting better without them knowing.’ Aizawa mused.
“Sensei!” Iida’s hand went straight up. “If I may suggest, we can camp inside our classroom instead. The boys can take turns in keeping watch.”
The boys beamed at Iida’s suggestion.
“As expected of the Class President!” Kaminari exclaimed. “I second the suggestion!”
“Sleeping next to the girls… Sleeping next to the girls… Sleeping next to the girls…” Mineta’s mumbling earned him a slap in the face again by Asui’s tongue.
“Sensei,” Ojiro softly said after witnessing the exchange between Asui and Mineta. “We can use our tables as dividers so that the girls ---”
“Agree!” Iida enthusiastically replied.
Aizawa wondered where his students get their energy from. It’s wee hours of a school night and they just fought a villain. Is it the energy of the youth?
“Suit yourselves.” Aizawa decided before exiting the room. “Class president, take charge.”
Iida replaced Aizawa in front of the room and assumed the responsibility. First, they were to help the girls get into their respective rooms, and then get their own clothes and toiletries. The others can move on to setting up their classroom for an impromptu sleepover. He assigned the tallest boys in the class to serve as assistants to the girls, emphasizing that despite the height difference, they have to be careful in carrying their injured classmates.
Ochako and Iida immediately agreed to be partners alongside Jiro and Kouda. Momo was paired with Shoji, Asui with Todoroki, Hagakure with Seto, and Ashido with Seto.
The rest of the “shorter boys”, as Sero teased Katsuki, circled Momo and picked a paper to know their shift schedule.
Before dispersing to accomplish their tasks, Todoroki spoke loud enough for everyone to hear: “Sorry, everyone.” He bowed in shame.
“What are you apologizing for, Todoroki-chan?” Asui asked.
“It was I who convinced the others too--”
“Don’t mind it!” Ochako interrupted with a smiled and immediately went to Todoroki’s side. “We really appreciate what you’ve done. Besides, the villain was really planning on trespassing U.A. in the first place. Without the preparation you guys thought of, Jiro-chan won’t have been able to warn us.” She patted his head while explaining.
Hearing Jiro’s name made Kaminari shiver. He stole a glance over the burned marks on her back and fingers. It made him admire her even more. He slipped a ‘Take care of her, okay?’ when Kouda followed the other boys, carrying Jiro’s now sleeping body.
While arranging the room in pajamas, Midoriya can’t shake off what Katsuki declared earlier and how his classmates suffered. They were reckless alright, but who was he to talk to them like that? He understood the physical and emotional stress they went through, and heck, they defeated a villain despite being exhausted.
“I know that look.” Katsuki's voice snapped Midoriya’s thoughts. “You were also muttering.”
“What?! Really?” Midoriya covered his mouth embarrassingly. “What did you hear, Kacchan?”
“All of it.” He replied softly. “Stupid Deku. Nothing will change if you keep fucking thinking like that.”
He nodded in reply. ‘Kacchan, thank you.’
Midoriya went towards the door and opened it for the girls and the rest of the guys to enter. Iida made sure that everyone’s all accounted for before officially starting the shifting.
“Hey move.” Everyone jumped when they heard Aizawa’s groan from below. He was already inside his yellow sleeping bag, getting ready to sleep.
Iida reported that everyone was already here and the classroom arrangement was set up accordingly. Their desks were positioned in the middle of the room, enclosing the ladies inside.
Outside the makeshift barrier, the tallest guys who assisted the earlier slept and will take the third watch. The remaining students divided the first and second shifts to themselves. Those who will take the second shift napped inside the classroom while some of the first shift students stayed outside the classroom and others watched inside the classroom.
Aizawa was pleased with how the class turned out.
From rowdy and competitive brats rose companionship and camaraderie that he have not seen in his years of teaching. Plus, with just a few weeks before graduation from U.A., he knew that the moment the brats become pro-heroes, they will outshine the current pro-heroes in no time.
It was as All Might said, they have to pass down the torch to the next generation.
Inside the desk barricade, the girls recalled their day. Sure it was hell-- their bodies ache, their ability to think and adapt were tested.
But then, amidst the challenges they faced, they solidified their friendship with their other classmates. Well, some gained more than that.
And with heavy eyes, the girls bid themselves and their classmates goodnight and sweet dreams.
Such was the life of those aiming to be pro-heroes…
Another day, another chance to live and prove yourself.