[UP FOR ADOPTION] Nozomu (A My Hero Academia fanfic)

Chapter 28: Study Group

They soon realised that they had reached the point at which their paths diverged. "Say, Hitoshi, would ya mind joining me in training 'em tomorrow? Could really use your help in demonstrations, seeing as half of them can't even throw a punch right," Midoriya asked, chuckling to himself at the last comment. "Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do," Shinso calmly replied as he walked off into the distance.

Tomorrow was certainly gonna be interesting.

Izuku sat alone on the beach, his eyes moving from sand to stone, from rock pools to breaking waves. In the gentle summer sunshine he felt as if he were swimming in the briny aroma, as if the new rays of the day brought a frisson of energy to his finger tips. The gulls brought their high notes to the percussion of pebbles at the shoreline. Soon the air became a soothing orchestra coinciding with the ball of light's early rise from its darkened slumber. Ultimately, he was grateful that he had chosen this location of all places to restore over a year ago; it was the perfect mesh of undeniable beauty and incredible practicality.

Midoriya peered at his watch again. 6:59 am. "They should be here any moment now" he thought to himself. Speaking of which, here they were now. First came Shinso, of course, accompanied shortly after by a variety of fellow classmates. Kaminari, Jiro, Ashido, Kirishima and Sero were to be expected; they were the ones who originally asked in the first place. Then oddly enough Bakugou showed up although he did immediately exclaim that he was here to 'keep those numbskulls in check' as he put it. Midoriya heavily doubted that was the only reason he was here but he didn't particularly care enough to ask.

"For this, We'll be showing ya the basics of hand-to-hand. It won't be enough to put down your opponent single handedly, however when in a situation where you're unable to use your quirk for whatever reason, it'll be sure to keep ya alive long enough for backup to inevitably arrive," Izuku explained. "To begin with, Shinso and I will give a short demo of what we're gonna be doing today," Hitoshi then stepped out of the small crowd, settling himself into an appropriate stance. Likewise, Midoriya followed, mirroring the insomniac's movements until they were both set to start the match. 

"Basic manoeuvres." Izuku reminded him, prompting the duo to change positions slightly, adopting a more relaxed stance than the prior one. 

"3… 2… 1… Go!" Midoriya barked. Right off the bat, Shinso charged, closing the distance between the two until they were only a few inches apart. Within seconds, he was performing a variety of punches each meticulously angled at different sections of the former's torso, all of whom were effortlessly parried by Midoriya. With every step the sand shifted, albeit minorly. It reminded the group watching this spectacle of the obstacle course a few days ago. Not only was the way in which one dodged the other comparable to that session, but the whole aesthetic conveyed by their dynamism was parallel more so.

On the other hand, one member of the crowd couldn't help but correlate the two with a certain pair of vigilantes that had gone off the radar a month ago. It was a ridiculous thought, but plausible nonetheless.

"Yield!" Izuku commanded, ending the demonstration. "That may have appeared tad beyond the realms of possibility for you guys, however I'm sure you'll be at least a quarter of that by days end!" He continued, ignoring the shocked expressions on many of their faces. 

"Now, for the first exercise…" Midoriya spoke. He went on to separate the small cluster into groups of two, allowing them to spar one another with the prime rule of no quirk usage, for that was the entire point of it. To much surprise, the day went better than expected, even to where they had managed to stick to the haphazardly cobbled-together schedule Izuku had curated the night before.
The next thing they knew, the breeze of mid afternoon had caught up to them. The eventful session was nearing its end.

Currently it was Izuku versus Kirishima, and Izuku was the attacker.
"Remember the stances Shinso taught you. Ready positions," Midoriya motioned, the opponents settling into their accustomed style. Fists were thrown 6 times in rapid succession, all coinciding with a number that he would call out as he engaged, fully anticipating and expecting the other to block with the appropriate motion that also related to a specific number, which he did. After every successful round, the digits would be yelled out quicker in sync with a sped up offensive. It was up to the defender to keep up until either one of the combatants tuckered out. Unfortunately, as mentioned previously, the attacker was none other than Midoriya, who had become known at this point for almost never giving in unless at the brink of absolute collapse. This predictably resulted in Kirishima faltering at one point or another, his defeat ensuing soon after.

"Good work! Honestly if you kept that up, I might have actually yielded that time!" Izuku complimented. "Somehow I doubt that man, but I'll take it!" Kirishima replied, miraculously more pumped than when he started.

"We could meet here, same time tomorrow to continue, if you guys want to of course!" Midoriya suggested. "Ok dude! We'll be off now, bye Midori-bro!" Kaminari agreed, setting off back home again. the group of teens would be lying if they said they weren't tired as heck from the day's events yet at the same time they were positive they would not regret it. 

Exams would take place in 2 weeks time. The leading rumour was that the mysterious practical section was against robots not too dissimilar from those at the entrance exams. Thus, they felt somewhat at ease considering they had faced such things before. It couldn't be that bad, right?

Oh how wrong they were.