The day continued with excited students and people coming to 1A's haunted house after the first couple came out. The horror enthusiasts jumped at being able to experience a new haunted house to sate their horror fix. Most people were satisfied by the end of the maze and the remaining few who weren't were very vocal about it.
"This is supposed to be a fun festival! Not, not, not this!" A higher-pitched voice shouted. A woman in her mid-thirties with a sobbing boy at her side loudly complained to the two girls in charge of the haunted house, Yayoruzo and Mina.
Yayoruzo was about to open her mouth to apologize but Mina beat her to the punch. "Who said it was supposed to be fun? It's a haunted house, it's supposed to be scary. Sure some people find that kind of stuff fun but to each their own." She shrugged. "The pamphlet specifically said that it wasn't for any casual passersby." She tapped on the pamphlets they made on the table. "We even made a sign!" The pink girl pointed at the sign on the table with big letters saying 'Super Scary!' In red.
"We did make a sign," Yayoruzo mumbled with a nod. She was sent a glare by the woman and quickly continued. "We are not responsible for each person who decides to go through. You decided to do so and with a young child no less." While she did feel bad for the crying child, she did blame the mother for dragging them along into a haunted house.
"Are you calling me irresponsible?!" The woman said indignantly.
"Now you're putting words in our mouths on top of yelling unnecessarily." Mina crossed her arms and shot the mother an unamused look.
"The staff will hear of this!" The mother said in a growl and left dragging her crying child behind her. The few people who gathered to watch the scene parted to let her leave.
"Was that so wise? To antagonize her, that is." Yayoruzo asked after a moment of watching the woman go in a huff.
"She's one of those people who think the world will cater to their every need." Mina waved her friend's concerns away. "Those are the worst to deal with."
Yayoruzo nodded along. "Yes, I've gathered that but don't you worry that the staff will shut the haunted house down?" She glanced at the large crowd lined up to go through the haunted house.
Mina also looked around and hummed in thought. "Probably not, it's too popular. The festival is supposed to be fun for everyone and having to satisfy one to anger a mob isn't 'logical' as someone would say." She dropped her tone and added some gravel to mimic someone.
Yayoruzo stared at her friend with pursed lips. "You are picking up Midoriya's bad habit."
"Hm? Which one?" She asked confused. "Being confrontational?"
"No, well yes but I was talking about you mocking or looking down on Mr.Aizawa," Yayoruzo explained.
Mina stopped in her tracks to head back to her post at the end and turned to Yayoruzo with a serious look in her eye. "I am aware that Eraserhead is a great hero but Aizawa is a less-than-stellar teacher, especially when he always is making sure my good friend doesn't turn and kill everyone. I don't see him do that to anyone else and I don't think that's very fair!"
Yayoruzo stepped back at the sudden anger Mina showed. She gathered herself and responded. "Aizawa doesn't do that to Midoriya."
Mina cut her off before she could continue. "He literally told Izuku that the only reason he wasn't expelled for the midterms was so the school could keep an eye on him." She took a step back and took in a breath before continuing. "We should get back to our posts." And turned to leave.
Yayoruzo was left there standing, unsure what to do next. She took in what Mina had said and tried to look at it from another angle but if what Mina said was true then she could see why their little group disliked Aizawa so much. And that was just one incident she was told about, only Midoriya would know how many more. She finally turned and headed to her post at the beginning of the maze to welcome more people into the haunted house.
The day continued with more people coming in and checking out 1A's haunted house. It was a little past midday where 1A decided to take a break for food. Most of them gathered up and ate from the stalls other classes had set up. Izuku's gang was seated at a picnic table with Eri at their leader's side eating a plate of fried squid.
"How is it, Eri?" Izuku asked the little girl beside him. She swung her feet on the bench and took another bite happily. She looked up at him with a full mouth and nodded. Izuku chuckled and patted her head. "Good to hear, take smaller bites."
"I mean I've had better stall food," Denki complained while swallowing his bite of food.
"Makes sense it's not the best since a bunch of teenagers made the food. Sure there are a few who know how to cook but I doubt any of us know how to cook something other than cereal." Hanta explained.
Everyone at the table turned to Izuku and he he noticed everyone's eyes on him. He shifted slightly in his seat. "Not my fault you guys burn boiling water."
Mina slammed her hands on the table and stood up indignantly. "That was one time! I went to the bathroom and forgot!"
"Kinda weird that the water blackened the pot. You sure you didn't put anything else in it?" Tooru asked her friend.
"It was just water!" Mina shouted to the sky.
"But what kind of water? Cold water, hot water, tap water?" Denki asked and was subsequently hit in the back of the head for his question by Kyouka.
Mina glared at her electric friend and took one of his skewers. "I'm taking this." She used the meat and vegetable skewers like a nun would use a ruler on a disobedient student. She proceeded to take a bite and chew for a moment before looking at the skewer. "You're right, it's not that good."
That's when a loud laugh drew everyone's attention to a flamboyantly dressed man standing on nothing above the trees. Izuku immediately recognized him from the video Denki showed everyone, that's why he relaxed some. As far as he could tell Gentle Criminal was a gentle criminal. He never intentionally hurt anyone other than some bumps and bruises while not even stealing property.
"Oh hey, it's that guy!" Denki pointed. "Should we do something?" He looked at everyone but most especially Izuku for guidance.
Izuku looked down at Eri who watched everything while still eating. She could sense Izuku being calm so she was calm too. Izuku shrugged at his friends. "Make sure no one gets hurt. We're at a hero school with dozens of heroes. We don't have our hero licenses just ones to help keep people safe." He said logically.
Everyone nodded and began to make sure all civilians were pushed away from the villain. Gentle Criminal for his part began to shout out his thoughts on hero society. Izuku kept an ear open as he carried Eri to a safe place.
"Zuku, is that a villain?" Eri asked while being carried to the building.
"It is." Izuku nodded while keeping his senses locked onto the villain just in case he changed his routine and began to become a threat. "He is named Gentle Criminal and wants attention for some reason. Some people are like that. Pretty harmless from what I've seen."
Eri nodded along and asked. "Shouldn't you stop him? You're a hero. Heroes stop villains."
Izuku smiled at her. "Not a hero yet, just a student learning how to be a hero. But there are heroes around to deal with him so no worries."
Once far enough away from any collateral damage, Izuku sat down with Eri at his side. He pulled out a juice box for the girl and gave it to her as they watched on. More and more civilians were escorted away while heroes tried to catch Gentle Criminal as he jumped around and was an all-around nuisance. Izuku caught on that his partner who films everything was missing and looked around to find someone with a camera.
"If I were to be filming, where would be the best spot?" Izuku mumbled to himself. He looked up and there was a short woman on the roof of the building with a camera.
Izuku debated with himself if it was worth it to go up there and take her out but he was reluctant to leave Eri alone. He looked around and found Tsuyu guiding a small family to where the crowd was gathered behind a line of 1B students holding them back.
After calling her over, he asked. "Could you watch Eri for a bit?" He trusted Tsuyu with Eri both because she had taken care of children before and she frequently visited her at the hospital while she recovered.
"Sure, but why?" She asked bluntly.
Izuku motioned to the roof with his chin. "Gentle Criminal always has someone recording for him and I found who it was."
Tsuyu looked between Izuku and the unknown villain before nodding. "Very well, I'll keep her safe." She patted Eri on the head.
"Thanks, Tsuyu. I'll be right back." Izuku smiled at the child. He absorbed the gravity around him and jumped up to the roof.
He silently landed and approached the woman who was gleefully recording Gentle Criminal running around the heroes who tried to catch him while monologing. The woman was short with a pink flamboyant outfit to match Gentle Criminal. She had a small duffle bag with her that contained a laptop with many devices Izuku couldn't put a name on. He was still wary of what kind of quirk she could have so he watched for a moment longer before approaching her from behind. He didn't say anything and waited for Gentle Criminal to look at the camera.
Gentle Criminal was laughing as he gave the runaround to a young woman flying in a dress. "How is it that heroes have fallen so low!" He gave a beaming smile at the camera and froze at seeing a young man behind La Brava.
His partner caught the emotion on his face through the camera and began to look around but was stopped by a hand on her head. She yelped in surprise and froze. "Could you please call your association over here?" She tried to pull away and run but suddenly felt tired. "Never mind, here he comes." The voice said.
"Unhand her!" Gentle yelled at Izuku in both fear and anger. "She has done nothing wrong!"
Izuku filed that away. He doesn't want La Brava implicated in his crimes. "You preach about gentlemanly behavior but here you are ruining a festival. Seems a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"
Gentle ignored the rest of the heroes on the ground and landed on the roof across from La Brava and the young man. "Who are you?" Gentle asked.
"Flux. Are you willing to surrender peacefully?" Izuku asked with his hand still on top of La Brava's head.
"The young lady you have has nothing to do with me. If I surrender, will you let her go?" Gentle asked with tense shoulders.
"That's not up to me, but I will say what I saw. Someone recording on a rooftop with multiple devices in her possession." Flux said with a shrug. "Do you surrender?" La Brava tried to fight but more stamina was drained away.
Gentle stepped forward at seeing La Brava move sluggishly but restrained himself. "Yes, please don't hurt her." He raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. The next thing he knew, he was very tired.
Gentle Criminal floated on the rooftop unconscious. Flux let La Brava go and grabbed Gentle so he wouldn't float away. He set the harmless villain down and stopped absorbing the gravity. He didn't have anything to tie his hands and figured anything less than a quirk suppression cuff wouldn't do anything so he let it be. He turned back to La Brava who was stumbling to her associate.
"What did you do to him?" She slurred sleepily.
"Drained his stamina, he's unconscious," Flux said simply. He looked around and pursed his lips. "Where are the heroes? They seem to be taking longer than usual. Did you have others with you?" He spread his senses but found nothing unusual.
"Why?"
Izuku turned back to La Brava kneeling over Gentle Criminal's unconscious form. "Why what?"
"Why did you talk him down instead of fighting like most others would?" La Brava asked.
Izuku shrugged but she didn't see it. "Because I do that for everyone. If they don't then I fight but I've asked everyone I fight to surrender peacefully. My tormentor, my opponents, villains, teachers, and even All Might." He said with a small smile at the memory of beating All Might with raw power.
"You'll be a good hero." La Brava mumbled.
Izuku sighed. "I hope so." He said to himself as the first hero arrived. Aizawa was the next one to appear as he swung up to the roof with his support gear. "Had a nice nap?" Izuku asked with a raised brow.
"What happened?" Eraserhead ignored the quip and looked over the two incapacitated villains.
"Saw her recording so I came up here. He came and I asked him to surrender, he did and now we're here." He said plainly.
"Where's Eri?"
"With Tsuyu."
Aizawa nodded and made to take the unconscious Gentle Criminal. Izuku jumped off the roof and landed easily. He made his way to where he left Eri. She was still in the same spot but now with his friends gathered around the little girl.
"See, told you he would." Denki pointed at Izuku.
"I would what?" Izuku asked the group.
"You would leave as soon as the other heroes began to arrive at the roof," Tooru said with Eri on her lap.
"What happened?" Tsuyu asked.
"The woman was the assistant to Gentle Criminal. He saw me and then surrendered after I asked." Izuku summarized.
"What did you do to her?" Hanta asked first.
"What's that supposed to mean? I didn't do anything to her!" Izuku said somewhat indignantly.
"Well, why would he surrender so easily? There must have been some reason he did." Mina said.
"I think he didn't want her implicated in his crimes. It's one of the first things he said."
"That's pretty romantic," Kyouka smirked. "That could be a bomb of a song too."
"Izuku, would you surrender if I was a hostage?" Tooru asked sweetly.
"Of course not, I would burn everything away to save you," Izuku said crossing his arms.
"He has such a way with words." Mina swooned and draped herself over Kyouka dramatically. "I wish I had someone that would commit war crimes to save me."
The group laughed at her antics and Izuku sat next to Tooru and Eri. "What's a war crime?" Eri asked innocently.
"Nothing you have to know until you are older," Izuku said.
After some time, the staff began to dispel the crowds and send them away from the festival. Since there was a villain attack, the rest of the festival was cut short. Most of the students complained but accepted the outcome of a villain infiltrating school grounds, again. Izuku was sure something would come of that. This would mark the fourth time UA was attacked if you count the press on the first week of school. Not to mention this was a harmless villain just doing it for attention. That would make UA's security look like a joke.