Kimitsuki had went to the I-Island with hopes of having a good time... but unfortunately, things rarely ever went her way, she had learned by now – well, entirely. She had made a new friend, that was one of the biggest silver-lining; Melissa and her had exchanged numbers when the blonde had come to visit her in the hospital with Izuku, and they promised that they would keep in touch even after they had returned to Japan. Kimitsuki was grateful for it.
Izuku had told Kimitsuki that the device had been destroyed when they defeated Wolfram, and quite frankly, Kimitsuki was relieved. He also admitted to her that the tower would've been destroyed had she not used her Flames, and that made Kimitsuki realise just how much more she needed to train her Quirk. And lastly, Izuku wondered why she was being kidnapped.
"I'm not quite sure, either," Kimitsuki admitted as she looked down at her bandaged hands from being scalded by melted metal. She was still sitting in the hospital, waiting to be discharged. "I did... try to ask him why he was doing all this to me but he didn't answer,"
"Maybe it had something to do with your family, Tsuki-Chan?" Izuku asked, extremely concerned. "What if he wanted to kidnap you and hurt you for ransom –?!"
"Izu-Chan, stay calm," Kimitsuki said quickly. "But... you may be right, I will mention this to them and see if there is anything to it,"
It would take a week for Kimitsuki to fully recover from all of her injuries but she was informed she could return to normal activities within two days of discharge. Kimitsuki was grateful of this because she was scared that getting shot would bring long-term impact on her. However, she felt very well by the time she joined Izuku and All Might on the flight back.
Return journey was calm and quiet – both Izuku and All Might had fallen asleep in their chairs and Kimitsuki found herself with ample of time in knitting. As she worked through the stitches, her mind wandered off to everything that had happened that night.
Wolfram had been taken away by the police, and Kimitsuki wondered if he would ever reveal why he wanted to kidnap her. Her eyes fell onto her bandaged thigh and sighs.
The doctors at the I-Island had told her that she was lucky that she was not shot in any sensitive spot – although Kimitsuki had lost a lot of blood. Strangely, they told her that she did good by taking in nitro-glycerine to clear out her breathing but Kimitsuki didn't respond.
Katsuki hadn't come back around to the hospital after that – and while Eijirou mentioned that the ash-blond just slept the entire day, he had still asked about her.
That behaviour was not new to Kimitsuki, and frankly, she was okay with him not coming by to check by himself because she felt like she wouldn't know how to react to him. She still sent her thanks to him through Eijirou. She was genuinely grateful for what he had done – carrying her all the way to the infirmary, setting her shoes down and giving her eyedrops.
"I'm going to sleep the entire day," Kimitsuki mumbled tiredly to Izuku as they were being driven to their homes. "Let's meet tomorrow morning at the park..."
A week went by like that, and before long, the summer camp was upon them.
Kimitsuki had visited her maternal family two days before she was to leave for the undisclosed location. She had mentioned her trip to her grandfather already on the phone and he had assured her that he was looking into it. For the remainder of the day, Tsukitarou had taken Kimitsuki with himself to go and visit Kimihiro at the hospital.
Fujimori came out to talk to Kimitsuki and Tsukitarou this time, and he inquired a lot of personal things from them so he could convey them to Kimihiro. Kimitsuki did not hesitate and informed him whatever that she could to help Kimihiro with memories.
Kimihiro was still in his coma and they were not allowed inside the room, no matter how much Kimitsuki internally wanted to be able to stroke her brother's hair.
Although she would've preferred a better goodbye, Kimitsuki felt full by simply seeing his face and was sure that it would get her by while away at the summer camp. She sat outside the room and simply watched him for hours until it was time to go back home.
"I'm heading off to school now, Oba-San," Kimitsuki informed Granny Haruna, meeting her in the lobby. "I left Neko-Chan and Kit-Chan in your room... they won't give you any trouble,"
"That is alright," Granny Haruna replied, reaching up to pat her cheek. "Be careful on your summer camp, okay? Don't get yourself hurt this time – I'm always worried about you,"
"I can't promise that I won't get hurt," Kimitsuki said with a smile. "But I will try my best not to be. I will text you when we leave school... we cannot use them any further than that,"
Kimitsuki set off from her home with her stuff and joined Izuku to head to the train station together, talking about everything that they could think about regarding what was to come up for them in the summer training camp. Kimitsuki was very excited for it.
At the school, Aizawa took the entirety of his class and took them out to the parking vicinity where the buses were parked. The students hadn't gotten talk to each other much but Kimitsuki knew that they were all as excited as she was. She just had to make a quick stop by Recovery Girl's office to make sure everything was okay before she was to leave for the camp.
"U. A. High has finished its first semester and started summer vacation," Aizawa informed the students. "However, ... those of you trying to be Heroes will not receive days of rest. At this summer training camp, we'll have you aiming for even greater heights – for 'Plus Ultra'!"
"Yes, sir!" answered the class in a chorus.
"Deku-Kun, it's finally time for the training camp in the woods, huh?" Ochaco asked as she bounced her way over to where Kimitisuki and Izuku were. "Are you doing well now, Kimitsuki-Chan?"
"Y-Yeah, that's right, Uraraka-San!" Izuku stammered, turning red at how close Ochaco was peering up at him while Kimitsuki nodded quietly in reply, smiling.
"What's the matter?" Ocacho inquired, also noticing Izuku's embarrassment.
"Well, um..." Izuku replied, trailing off.
"I-It's time for training camp!" Ochaco shouted suddenly, going as far away from Kimitsuki and Izuku as she could in a second, her face burning a red colour that was very similar to one on Izuku's cheeks. "Training camp! Training camp!"
"Training camp!" sang Mina and Denki, joining the embarrassed brunette and her strange dance around the lot. "Training camp! Training camp!"
"Uraraka-San and the others are so excited, aren't they...?" Izuku asked.
"They certainly are," Kimitsuki replied, glancing at her friend curiously and in wonder if he was aware what had made Ochaco react in this manner.
"What?!"
The sudden voice made Kimitsuki jump slightly, she had been on her toes ever since yet another attempt to kidnap her, but as she turned around to look in the direction of the voice, she saw that it was actually Momoma Neito, appearing with his Class 1-B.
"There are people in Class A taking extra classes?" shouted Neito in that strange demeanour of his. "Does that mean you had people who failed the finals? What? Isn't that weird? Isn't that weird? Even though they're supposed to be way better than Class B? How can that be?"
"Monoma-Kun!" Kimitsuki exclaimed, knowing very well that he was going out of the way to worse and worse things the more he spoke. "Please, be calm,"
Before Neito could react, Itsuka smacked the back of the blond's neck to knock him out clean.
"Sorry!" Itsuka apologised and dragged the blond away.
"It's alright, Kendo-Chan," Kimitsuki replied, sweat-dropping.
"Monoma's scary," said Yanagi Reiko in a quiet voice that reminded Kimitsuki of herself, especially since both of them had white hair (with Reiko's bluish and hers silvery-ish).
"Good morning, it's nice to see you all," Kimitsuki greeted the additional students, bowing her usual bow before looking at them. "I hope you will have a safe and fun trip,"
"We kind of met during the sports festival," spoke up Tokage Setsuna. "It's nice to meet you, too!"
"We're getting on the bus!" Itsuka called out to her class.
"Not just the girls from Class A, but the girls from Class B will also be there!" Minoru shouted, salivating at the sight of seven more females that would be, most likely, joining them on the summer training camp separately. "It'll be like a buffet we can pick and choose from!"
"That's about enough out of you," Eijirou told him when Kimitsuki turned to look at Minoru in horror and disbelief, which the miniature Hero took as a threat and rushed off. "He's always going on about things like that, isn't he, even when he knows it upsets you,"
"Yes..." Kimitsuki replied, brushing her long bangs onto her face. "It just... reminds me of my old classmates. They always made 'jokes' of that sort..." Eijirou looked at her curiously and she blushed, looking away. "It's nothing too serious..."
"Well, it has to be serious if you're upset," Eijirou pointed out.
"Do you have to chat everyone up all the damn time?" interjected Katsuki sourly, and Kimitsuki turned to look at him and so did Eijirou, whom the ash-blond was addressing.
"Ka-Chan, we were just talking," Kimitsuki spoke up.
"Yeah, you need to stop yelling all the time," Hanta said as he walked over to them, rubbing his ear and giving the ash-blond a look at his loud tone. "Oh, Kuroyanagi-Chan, you looked really good! Well, before you got hurt... hope you're doing well now,"
"I'm doing well, thank you," Kimitsuki replied, blushing even more. "I wish you were there at the party, well... if it hadn't gone in such a wrong direction,"
"How the hell you know what everyone was wearing?" Katsuki demanded, now scrutinising Hanta with his narrowed red gaze. "You weren't there!"
"There are pictures in the group chat," Hanta responded, holding up his phone. "Everyone but you and Kirishima – you would know if you didn't exit the group,"
"You left again, Ka-Chan?" Kimitsuki asked as she quickly reached for her phone to check.
Katsuki rolled his eyes at the two boys and glanced at Kimitsuki, whose fingers were working hurriedly on her phone, her lips pulled down in a small frown. He eyed her phone and her similar-coloured eyes looked right up at him just as his phone buzzed, indicating that he had been added back into the group chat. He felt his ears burn at her inquiring gaze –
"Class A's bus is this way!" Tenya called out to the students, motioning with his chopping arms at the bus they were assigned to board. "Line up in seat order! Kuroyanagi-Kun, you must help me!"
"Yes, Iida-Kun!" Kimitsuki called out. "I apologise, Ka-Chan, Kirishima-Kun and Sero-Kun but we must get on the bus now. Let me lead you there, let's go,"
Kimitsuki helped Tenya with getting everyone onto the bus and she herself got on at the last. She looked around, finding Eijirou and Denki sitting together in the front with Mina and Toru. Behind the girls were Ochaco and Tsuyu and next to them were Izuku and Tenya. Momo and Kyoka were together, so were Shoto and Yuga.
Behind the two boys was an open seat next to Katsuki since Fumikage seemed to have preferred sitting by himself at the end while Hanta was with Mashirao, and Mineta, Rikido, Koji and Mezo were all sitting together. Kimitsuki realised now that the girls were ill-numbered.
"Everyone has settled down, hm?" Kimitsuki asked as she walked down to where she could find an open seat next to Katsuki. "Would you like the window seat, Ka-Chan?"
"No," Katsuki muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away.
"Okay," Kimitsuki replied, moving past his knees carefully to get to the seat next to him and setting her stuff down by her feet. She pulled her phone out to text her family and Hitoshi.
The bus rolled out of the school soon after Aizawa had boarded as well, and Kimitsuki set down her phone to busy herself with quickly finish knitting a jumper for her younger brother since it was smaller in size, and she hoped that he would like it whenever he woke up – she would love to make him everything and anything that he wanted from her.
Almost everyone on the bus, aside from a bunch, was too excited to settle down. Kimitsuki smiled to herself as she focused on her work, listening to her classmates make an excited ruckus while Tenya was trying to stop them. She couldn't really blame them for their excitement.
"Everyone, the bus will stop once in about an hour," Aizawa announced as he turned to look at his class. "After that –" He stopped at the loud chatter that was blissfully ignoring him. "Oh, well. This is the only time they'll be able to play around,"
Music and chatter were filling the air but Kimitsuki was still rather relaxed with her work. She didn't really have time to look out the window, and was about to turn and ask Katsuki (who had been quiet the entire time) if he still didn't want her seat when she felt something brush against her left shoulder. She looked over and almost jumped in surprise –
For Katsuki's head had moved down to rest against the edge of her shoulder. Kimitsuki bit into her lower lip, staring at his sleeping face, waiting for him to wake up but there was no movement as he continued to sleep, breathing far more lightly than he usually did.
It was surprising that he had managed to sleep in the excited chatting of their classmates and Kimitsuki looked back down at her knitting, trying not to move her shoulder too much as she returned to her work. Katsuki would fix his posture on his own – yet it took Kimitsuki a long time to get used to the warm weight against her shoulder.
🤍
The rest of the journey in the bus went by fairly smoothly as Kimitsuki mostly focused on her work or chatted a little with Hanta who was sitting behind her until the bus slowed down to a stop about an hour later. Tenya jumped up to quickly begin escorting the students outside while Kimitsuki asked those behind to stay put until it was their turn to get out – Minoru was the hardest to control because he was demanding to go to the bathroom.
"Mineta-Kun, wait just a moment," Kimitsuki told him, trying to not make an issue as she watched the small male make a fuss. "This is why I warned you not to drink so much juice!"
Minoru opened his mouth to retort but quickly clamped it shut and Kimitsuki was confused until her head trailed down to Katsuki next to her, who was glaring in the direction of Minoru's ruckus, seemingly woken up by the Grape Hero's screams to hurry up.
"Ka-Chan, you woke up?" Kimitsuki asked and Katsuki's cheeks burned. "Are you feeling hot in the bus? We're about to get off now... yes, now you can go, Mineta-Kun!"
"He always makes a mess, doesn't he?" Hanta commented as they followed after the Grape Hero. "What does he want? To get trampled under others?"
"I'm going to make him sit near Iida-Kun and Aizawa Sense next time," Kimitsuki replied as she walked behind Katsuki, who was still rubbing his face. "Is everything alright, Ka-Chan?"
"Of course, it is!" Katsuki grunted toughly and walked off the bus.
"And he's always grumpy," Hanta said, shaking his head and Kimitsuki chuckled, stepping out to look around at the location that they had arrived at.
However, it was now that Kimitsuki realised that it was not exactly a rest area that one would expect – instead, it appeared to be a viewing point over the edge of the mountain road they had been travelling on. There was no store for snacks or toilets to relieve oneself – there weren't even any sitting arrangements. Kimitsuki looked around curiously.
"Oh, there's another car here..." Kimitsuki spoke up, her eyes falling upon a black car stopped nearby. She couldn't see who it belonged to. "I wonder..."
"Tsuki-Chan," Izuku acknowledged as he stretched his arms in a yawn as he came to a stop next to the silver-haired girl, unaware where she was looking.
"I gotta pee!" Minoru screamed as he raced past Kimitsuki and Izuku, and all around the resting area like a headless chicken, holding the front of his jeans.
"Anyway, does this even count as a rest area?" Denki asked. "Also, where's Class B?"
"They left ahead of us," Kimitsuki said as she looked around curiously as well.
"B-B-B-Bathroom –!" Minoru shouted as he came rushing over to where Aizawa was standing and Kimitsuki, along with Izuku and Shoto, looked over.
"There's no point stopping without a reason," Aizawa said, catching his students' attention.
"Where's the bathroom?" Minoru asked.
"Hey, Eraser!"
It was a feminine voice and Kimitsuki turned around just in time to see the doors of the nearby car – the black one – burst open to reveal two women make their way out. Both of them were dressed in cat-like costumes and Kimitsuki excitedly realised who they were.
"Long time no see," greeted Aizawa.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!" exclaimed the lady in pink and also Kimitsuki's favourite, named Sosaki Shino, or better known in the Hero world as Mandalay.
"Stingingly cute and catlike!" exclaimed the lady in blue, named Tsuchikawa Ryuko, or better known to the public by her Hero name Pixie-Bob.
"Wild, Wild...
... Pussycats!"
"These are pro heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats," Aizawa introduced the two Heroes to the students, and Kimitsuki was slightly surprised that he knew of the Pussycats – but then again, he rarely mentioned Heroes he had worked with, even to her.
"They're a four-person hero team who set up a joint agency!" Izuku exclaimed and Kimitsuki smiled at him while others looked at him strangely. "They're a veteran team that specialises in mountain rescues! This year will be their twelfth workin –"
"I'm 18 at heart!" Pixie-Bob shouted, cutting into Izuku's words and putting her hand onto his mouth before he could continue with exposing their ages. "At heart...?"
"Y-You're 18!" Izuku replied immediately and Kimitsuki figured it was for the better.
"Greet them, everyone," Aizawa instructed his class.
"Nice to meet you!" chorused the student.
It was then that Kimitsuki noticed that there was another person there... or rather, it was a child. He was standing away from the students. His hands were stuffed into his dark shorts and his face – the little it could be seen under his large red spiked cap – was very grumpy.
He looks almost like Ka-Chan, huh?
"We own this whole stretch of land here," Mandalay informed the students, motioning to the distant forest with her pawed hand. "You all will be staying at the foot of that mountain,"
"So far!"
"Huh?" Ochaco spoke up suddenly as she looked around the place in confusion, and her feelings reflected on the rest of the students as well. "Then why did we stop here?"
"Could this mean...?" Tsuyu trailed off.
"No way..." Rikido muttered.
"Why don't we get back to the bus, huh?" Hanta asked, laughing uncertainly as he looked toward Kimitsuki. "Isn't that right, Kuroyanagi-Chan?" He started off for the bus. "Fast,"
"Yeah," Denki agreed quickly. "Let's do that,"
"It's 9:30 a.m. right now," Mandalay told the students playfully and Kimitsuki was starting to understand where this was going now. "If you're fast... maybe around noon?"
"No way... guys..." Eijirou said.
"Let's get back!" Mina shouted.
"Get back to the bus!" Eijirou screamed as all of them moved to get back onto their bus. "Hurry!"
"Kitties who don't make it by 12:30 won't get any lunch!" Mandalay called after them.
"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen," Aizawa spoke up, watching leisurely as his students tried to flee away from the scene. "Training camp has... already begun,"
Kimitsuki, who had been standing still and accepted her fate, looked up as Aizawa held out his Capturing Weapon to her since hers was packed away. She sighed and took it just as Pixie-Bob intercepted their way and placed her pawed-hands onto the ground, causing the soil beneath to rise up into the air and carry all of the Class 1-A away from the bus – throwing them right over the viewing point railing and down the cliff to the forest before.
"Good luck," Aizawa told Kimitsuki as she walked over to the edge of the cliff, hopping over the railing to get to the other side. "Make sure they don't get in trouble too much,"
"Yes, Sensei, thank you," Kimitsuki mumbled before moving down to where her fleeing classmates had fallen while she skated down the loose soil down to them to help them up.
"Since it's private land, you can use your Quirks as you wish!" Mandalay called down to the students, looking over the edge. "You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet! After getting through... the Beast's Forest!"
"'The Beast's Forest'...?" Kimitsuki asked, frowning.
"That name sounds like it came right out of Dragon Quest!" Eijirou exclaimed.
"Oh, Dragon Quest is a good game," Kimitsuki said conversationally.
"Do you like to play video games as well, Kuroyanagi-Chan?" Hanta asked.
"Shut up about these video games!" Katsuki shouted, interrupting their conversation, causing Kimitsuki, Hanta and Eijirou to give him strange looks. "What?!"
"U. A. does stuff like this way too much," Kyoka muttered.
"It's no use complaining," Eijirou replied. "We just have to go,"
"Kirishima-Kun is correct," Kimitsuki agreed just to spite Katsuki, glancing from the corner of her eyes to watch him narrow his own between her and Eijirou.
"I held it!" Minoru screeched as he went running past others, his hands clamped between his legs. "I held it!" Kimitsuki sighed as he went rushing toward the forest. "Now to hide in the shadows and –
"It's a beast!"
"Calm down, kind beast!" Koji exclaimed, trying to stop the beast but the dirt-like creature brought its foot down at Minoru. "Stay back!"
"It's not a conscious animal," Kimitsuki informed her classmates, having used her Visual Quirk to check and she managed to get Minoru out of the way by using the Capturing Weapon that Aizawa had lend her for the journey. "They're made entirely of dirt,"
Setting Minoru away, Kimitsuki moved quickly with Izuku, Katsuki, Tenya and Shoto toward the beast in order to subdue it. She could see with their eyes what they were going to do so she quickly covered the rest – Shoto used his Ice to quickly bind the beast's hindlegs and Kimitsuki used her Capturing Weapon to restrain its arms, sending her Flames to soften the dirt body. That allowed both Katsuki and Tenya to use their respective Quirks to break his arms – and it all finished with Izuku as he destroyed the dirt beast with his One for All Smash.
"You guys defeated that beast in an instant?" Rikido asked as he and the rest of the class 1A walked over to them, all of them looking stunned at how quickly they had moved.
"You did it!" Hanta exclaimed. "You were the best, Kuroyanagi-Chan!"
"It's nothing like that!" Kimitsuki replied, waving her hands around with a blush.
"You did it... and I did, too..." Minoru cried, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"You're amazing, Bakugo!" Eijirou added in.
"Not yet!" Katsuki shouted back, looking off deeper into the forest as yet another dirt creature appeared and started to walk over toward them.
"Hey, come on," Denki spoke. "How many of them are there?"
"What should we do?" Mina asked. "Run away?"
"This is no joke," Rikido said. "If we don't make it to the facility by noon, then we don't get lunch,"
"Then we have no choice but to get through here and take the shortest route," Momo spoke up, causing Kimitsuki to nod in agreement with her.
"Yaoyorozu-Chan is correct," Kimitsuki replied. "We must work hard together, as Class 1-A, and get through this forest as quickly as we can. Don't forget to look after each other as well,"
Everyone was quick to partner themselves up according to their Quirks and if they worked effectively together. Mezo and Kyoka used their Quirks to pinpoint the locations and numbers of the dirt creatures as they made their way out of the depths of the forest and informed them to their fellow classmates to get through the barrage of them quickly and safely.
"There are three up ahead!" Mezo called out. "Two each on either side!"
"Seven in total," Kyoka added in she listened to the movements with her earphones, which were embedded into the ground. "They're coming!"
"All right, here I go!" Hanta shouted as he went swinging through the trees with his Tape, heading to the flying creature and taking him down by taping one of his wings down. "Sato! Kirishima!"
Rikido ate his sugar cubes and increased his strength, while Eijirou hardened his arms and the two of them set off to finish the creature as it dropped onto the ground, unable to fly due to the tape. Kimitsuki had always been inspired by Hanta's Tape.
"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage said, making his shadow go off to the next creature, distracting it away with constant blows just long enough until Mashirao struck it down with his tail.
"Aoyama, now!" Mashirao exclaimed as he managed to disorient the creature enough to get it to the ground, and that gave way for Yuga to jump forward.
"The finishing blow, right?" Yuga asked as he eagerly used his Laser Quirk to destroy the beast.
"Damn it!" Minoru screamed as he went running at another creature, throwing his sticky balls to attach them down. "It's you guys' fault that my pants are wet!"
"Get away, Mineta!" Denki called out as he went running up the compromised beast and grabbed its head, shocking it until it collapsed. "1.3 Million Volts!" He also short-circuited himself again. "Yay...!"
"Birds of the forest!" Koji exclaimed loudly, louder than he had been before, as he fought another creature, using the birds to distract it. "Remove the evil beasts from this place!"
"Take that!" Mina exclaimed as she used her Acid Quirk on the creature's leg and evaporating it, causing it to fall over.
"Oh, no!" Toru shouted as she ran away from one of the creatures. "It's gonna get me!"
"Hagakure-San, good job being the bait," Momo said and Mina ran forward and used her acid on the creature, taking it down. "Everyone, please take cover!"
"You did it, Yao-momo!" Mina shouted as Momo used the cannon she had created to take down the two compromised creatures.
"Okay, Tsu-Chan!" Ochaco exclaimed as she snuck behind one of the creatures and used her Quirk to make the creature float off the ground.
"Leave it to me!" Tsuyu called out as she grabbed the creature with her tongue. "Ribbit! Ribbit!" She threw the creature into the air.
"Release!" Ochaco shouted, causing the creature to come crashing down in a heap of dirt.
"More have appeared!" Mezo called out.
Shoto was quick to use his ice to freeze the creature in its path and Katsuki used his explosive Quirk to take it down, yelling as always, "Don't get in my way, Half-and-Half Bastard!"
"I'm not in your way," Shoto replied calmly.
"Let's go, Midoriya-Kun, Kuroryanagi-Kun!" Tenya called, causing Kimitsuki and Izuku to nod as they followed after him to help out with the rest of them.
"Be careful!" Kimitsuki called out.
Kimitsuki used her Capturing Weapon to restrain and melt the legs of the creatures on the ground, moving back to allow Izuku and Tenya to use their respective Quirks against them. She pulled herself onto the tree and raised her hands up to melt away the flying beast that was coming toward the rest of her classmates from above, the clay eroding away.
🤍
That day, PM 5:20:
The sun was starting to set as the Class 1-A made their way through the forest. Kimitsuki was feeling tired and a little disappointed but mostly grateful that none of her classmates had gotten injured. She was pulling the short-circuited Denki along, wrapped in her Capturing Weapon so he wouldn't go wandering around in the forest and getting himself lost again.
Kimitsuki looked toward Katsuki in concern as he grunted with every move through the forest – she had cooled down thanks to Shoto, and Shoto had warmed down due to Kimitsuki's fire but Katsuki didn't have a way out like that. She could smell the intense nitro-glycerine.
It didn't help, either, that Katsuki had been too eager to prove that he was the best and clearly was exhausted due to the lack of gauntlets slinging on his arms.
"Are you okay, Ka-Chan?" Kimitsuki asked, pulling the Capturing Weapon over her shoulder as Denki 'Yay'-ed behind her. Katsuki only grunted again.
Rest of the class trudged through the forest similarly to Katsuki, now able to see their designated location in the distance, which was just beneath a mountain. As they left the treeline, they found themselves into the clearing where Aizawa was with Mandalay and Pixie-Bob, waiting for them. Kimitsuki cheered up lightly but was mostly exhausted.
"What do you mean, three hours?!" Eijirou shouted at them.
"That's the time it would've taken us," Mandalay replied. "Sorry!"
"You were trying to boast about how much better you are?" Rikido asked. "That's mean..."
One by one, all the students doubled over or dropped onto the ground. Kimitsuki looked at them in concern as she unravelled Denki, allowing him free to sit down.
"I'm hungry..." Eijirou groaned out. "I'm gonna die..."
"But honestly, I thought it would take even longer," Pixie-Bob said. "You guys didn't have as hard a time beating my earth beasts as I thought you would. You guys are great... especially you four!"
Pixie-Bob was pointing at Izuku, Katsuki, Tenya and Shoto.
Kimitsuki furrowed her eyebrows, trying to see why they singled out and was about to go over the mistakes she could've made to be not considered good when –
"Were you able to act without hesitation because of your experience?" Pixie-Bok asked. "I'm looking forward to where you'll be in three years! I call dibs!" She jumped at the four boys.
"Wh-What are you...?!"
"Stop that...!"
"Get away...!"
"Um, Aizawa Sensei..." Kimitsuki spoke up, looking away from the sight of Pixie-Bob and the four boys and toward her teacher. "I don't think that is... very healthy..."
"Mandalay..." Aizawa said. "Was she always like that?"
"She's a little desperate," Mandalay replied. "Since she's about the suitable age for, you know..." Kimitsuki blushed and looked away with realisation.
"Speaking of 'suitable age'..." Izuku started but Pixie-Bob placed her hand over his mouth again, looking rather scary at the mere mention of it.
"What about it?" Pixie-Bob demanded.
"I-It's been bothering me for a while..." Izuku said. "Whose child is that?" He was pointing at the same child that Kimitsuki had noticed all that time ago.
"Oh, not one of ours," Mandalay answered. "He's my cousin's kid. Come on, Kota. Greet everyone. You'll be with them for the next week,"
"Kota-Chan?" Kimitsuki asked, looking positively toward the boy as she loved little children very much. "Or would you prefer being called Kota-Kun?"
"Oh, um, I'm Midoriya from U. A. High School's Hero course," Izuku introduced himself as he walked over and looked at the boy. "Nice to meet you," He held out his hand.
Rather than shaking Izuku's hand or bowing in greeting as Kimitsuki expected from him, the boy decided to punch him between the legs, causing Izuku's soul to escape momentarily. Kimitsuki gasped, her hands clamping over her mouth to stifle her shock.
"Midoriya-Kun!" Tenya shouted, rushing in defence of their fallen classmate before turning on Kota. "You brute of a nephew! Why would you do that to Midoriya-Kun's scrotum?!"
"I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to become heroes!" Kota shouted back.
"'Intend'?" Tenya repeated. "Just how old are you?!"
"Precocious brat," Katsuki commentated, and Kimitsuki looked toward him to find that he was smiling a strange smile. She stared at him and he jumped slightly when he saw the silver-haired girl staring at him curiously, and he looked away quickly.
"Isn't he kind of like you?" Shoto spoke up, unaware of what was going between them.
"What?" Katsuki exploded as he turned to get into Shoto's face and Kimitsuki sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Not at all! Anyway, shut up, you GG bastard!"
"Sorry," Shoto replied calmly.
"Ka-Chan, rest your arms," Kimitsuki interjected, looking at Katsuki seriously, knowing that he might break his arms again. Before he could retort, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Rest your arms, I said,"
"Don't tell me what to do, Class Rep," Katsuki responded but didn't do anything further, looking away from her and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Thank you, Ka-Chan," Kimitsuki replied, and frowned as his head fumed. "Are you...?"
"I'm fine, damn it!" Katsuki shouted.
"Enough with this charade," Aizawa ordered his class. "Get your stuff off the bus. "Once you've put your bags in your rooms, we'll have dinner in the cafeteria. After that, you'll bathe and go to sleep. We'll start for real tomorrow. Now, move quickly,"
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