After the sports festival ended classes returned to normal, except for the three winners of the tournament. They were told they would go on a surprise visit to an important hero place but werent exactly told where they were just told to be ready and to bring things necessary for an entire week.
The week of the trip came in and the Shado, Riza and Shihiro were waiting until a black van pulled to the entrance.
From it Shota Todoroki came out.
Shota: Hey there kids!
Riza: Auntie!
Shihiro: Ms. Todoroki!
Shado: So you will take us in this trip.
Shota: Indeed! I wasnt able to be with you in the last trip even though it was supposed to be my responsability so I convinced Aizawa to let me be in charge this time!
Riza: Great!
Shota: Now come on in!
The thre students entered the back of the van while Shota sat in the driver's seat.
Shihiro: W-wow...
Shado: This is.... Quite luxurious...
Riza: What are you waiting for? Lets sit!
Riza pushed them inside and then they sat down inside the van. Riza sat next to Shihiro while Shado sat infront. Shado then asked Shota.
Shado: Why such luxury?
Riza: Well its going to be quite the long road trip until we reach our destination.
Shota then started the van and off they went.
Shado: How long?
Shota: About 6 hours if there is no delay!
Shado: 6 hours?! I cant beleive I'm gonna be stuck with you two love birds for so much.
Riza: W-what?!.
Shihiro and Riza both turned red from that comment but Shihiro regained his composure and asked Shota.
Shihiro: Umm, Ms. Todoroki may I ask where are we going?
Shota smiled at the question.
Shota: I was wondering when you were going to ask! We are going to Deika City!
Shado/Riza/Shihiro: Deika City?!
Shota: Yes!
Shado: You are not joiking right?
Riza: You mean THE Deika city?
Shihiro: Yeah the H.Qs of the Hero Association?
Shota: Of course which other Deika City you know?
Shihiro: None, but to think we are going there its just....
Riza: Y-yeah...
Shota: You will do a small internship there being taughh by the best instructors out there!
Shado: Amazing... Although Ms. Todoroki I do have a question, is it true that city was once the hub of criminal activity?
Shota: Uh yeah, well guess its time for a history lesson!
The students looked at her with a bored expression.
Shota: What? Its an educational trip after all! Anyways you see Deika City used to be the H.Qs of the Meta Liberation Army.
Riza: Meta Liberation? I think I have heard that name before.
Shado: Yeah me too.
Shota: No surprise they beleived thag people should be able to use their quirks without restrain and wanted to abolish all laws regarding quirk usage.
Shihiro: That would be anarchy.
Shota: Indeed, Deika was a liberated district fully under their control so when the civil war started it broke off and formed its own faction.
Riza: Then what?
Shota: Well they lasted for some time until the Q.R.A came rolling into their city and took it over, heavily destroying it in the process. The city was later recaptured after the death of General Jin and the end of the quirkless resurgence. The city was later rebuilt and became the H.Qs of the hero association.
Shihiro: The association was built from the ashes of the civil war right?
Shota: Dark Phoenic basically destroyed the old HPSC ane the Ministry of Heroics, that meant that hero management fell in the hands of the military, which is why we became human weapons in the war. After the Q.R.A retreated well many heroes wanted to break from military control so the hero association was formed and soon it took over the running of hero business.
Shado: I'm surprised the imperial government allowed it to happen.
Shota: Well they didnt have much choice, society was unstable and we were an essential part in keeping order so the government was pressured into accepting.
Shihiro: Couldnt you have done the same about quirkless treatment?
Shota widened her eyes and the a sad expression formed in her face.
Shota: We couldnt..... Anti-quirkless sentiment was even higher at the end of the civil war then it is now. Some tried to push change.... Including me but mostly we were "silenced" or their careers ended after public pressure.... Some of us were lucky to remain in the job, though that is why I became history teacher, to bring light to the new generations about the horrors of the war and the truth. The government likes to portray it like and honorable and just war but in reality it was just a senseless massacre.
Shihiro: I guess there was really nothing good to come out of the war...
Shota: Well I guess the only thing to truly be good out of it is that organized crime is pretty much over.
Shado: How?
Shota: Well during the first weeks of the civil war Dark Phoenix led his armies to conquer Japan's underworld, during that campaign drug carterls, villain organizations, Yakuza groups, they all fell like dominos until Dark Phoenix ruled the underworld just like All for One before him.
Shota: Thanks to that all villain organizations are dead, at least that we know of but I doubt there are any left.....
....
The sound of military boots could be heard all over the Q.R.A H.Qs. We could see Jitsuna with a file on his hands walking quickly to reach the Fuhrer's office. He reached the office and saluted his commander.
Jitsuna: Sir I beleive we have found him!
D.P: You did?
Jitsuna: Yes sir! I will personally go and take matters into my own hands.
D.P: Very good Jitsuna I beleive you will be succesful then.
Jitsuna: I have never failed you before and I dont plan to start doing it now.
Phoenix smiled at the determination of his subordinate.
D.P: Very well, you may go there General.
Jitsuna: Thank you sir!
Jitsuna left the room.
D.P: 'You will soon pay for your treachery my old, old friend...'
The ride was indeed a long one for the students they Riza and Shihiro mostly talked with each other as Shado tended to keep for himself, but that didnt stop the ever extrovert Riza to try and talk to him, needless to say her efforts were mostly in vain although she did managed to make him talk balk a few times and at one point Riza swears she saw him crack a small smile. At one point Shado tried to cover his ears with a pillow as he tried to sleep but couldnt because of the constant chattering between Riza and Shihiro.
Shado: For the love of everything that is sane! Please shut up! Im trying to sleep here my head aches!
Riza: Why?
Shado: Well your little boyfriend there punched me with the force of a meteor on the face remember?
While Riza got flustered at the idea od Shihiro being her boyfriend, Shihiro was looking at the window as something caught his attention.
Shihiro: Ummm, Ms. Todoroki what is that?
This made Shota, Shado and Riza to look to where Shihiro was saying.
Shota: Oh, those are the ruins of Nagoya....
Shihiro: Nagoya....
They didnt need to know more then that, everyone knew about the massacre that took place in that city at the beginning of the war, which will be forever known as the rape of Nagoya.
Shado: Are we going to go through it?
Shota: Yes, it is the only way through here, after all both Deika and Nagoya are part of the trail of tears.
Shihiro: Trail of tears?
Shota: Its what the route from Kyoto to Tokyo is commonly known now, as it is the route that the Q.R.A took to reach Tokyo, leaving almost 5 million casualties in its way. Every year a caravan is set off from Kyoto until it reached Tokyo as a way to honor all those who died in the war.
The van drove for about 10 minutes more until finally they were in.
Shota: Welcome to Nagoya I guess...
Shihiro: Its.... Like a gatewsy to the past....
Shota: Yeah.... But if this walls could talk.... They wouldnt stop screaming....
Riza: Why didnt they rebuild it?
Shota: They did some reconstruction, if not the city would be just a pile of rubble right now. They decided to keep like this a living monument and museum to serve as a reminder of the war.
Shota stopped the van.
Shota: Lets go, if you enter the city you must go to the statue of the fallen to pay respects.
The three students nodded and stepped out of the van and followed Shota. The students looked around at the destroyed buildings some even had bullet holes and marks of the fire that the bombers brought from the sky. Shihiro turned to look at Riza who seemed a bit more pale. Shado noticing Shihiro also turned to look at Riza.
Shihiro: Riza? Whats wrong?
Riza: Its just.... I dont know.... But knowing im in a place where so many people died and many atrocities happened... Its just something I wasnt entirely ready to face...
Shihiro: Its hard for all of us I think.... But we have to keep going...
Shado: Yes although it is true, knowing your stepping in a place that ended up being the final resting place for thousands of people can be.... Disturbing...
They walked for about 15 minutes until they reached the center of the city.
Shota: There, the monument of the fallen.
They walked closely to the monument but then they noticed a blonde woman standing infront of it, she had sword which she held infront of her face and was looking down at the inscription that read "To all the brave soldiers and civilians who died in Nagoya".
Shota recognized her and went to her.
Shota: General Olivia Armstrong!
Armstrong turned her head to look at Shota.
Olivia: Shota it has been a while.
Shota: Yes it has.
Olivia: What are you doing here?
Shota: Well I'm taking this kids to Deika but we stopped to pay respects to the statue.
Olivia looked behind Shota to see the three teens.
Olivia: Oh the winners of the sports festival I see.
Shota: Kids introduce yourselves.
Shihiro: I'm Shihiro Atara.
Shado: I'm Shado Kage.
Riza: I'm Riza Todoroki.
Olivia: Todoroki?
Shota: She is the daughter of Izumi and my brother.
Olivia: So those two did settle together in the end.
Shota: Haha, yes, kids this is General Olivia Armstrong.
Olivia: Ex-General, I retired after the civil war.
Riza: Miss. Olivia, what are you doing here all alone?
Olivia: I come to pay respects to my fallen soldiers every monday and say the names of all those who died in my head.
Shado: Why?
Olivia: No one is ever truly dead unless we the living forget about them.
Shihiro: Were you their commander?
Olivia looked down.
Olivia: Yes I was... I was in charge of defending the city but I couldnt hold back that monster, he was too powerful.
Shihiro: You speaking about Dark Phoenix?
Olivia: He broke through my lines like of they were made of paper, cutting through it with his swords, no matter what we did we couldnt stop him and soon the Q.R.A broke in, we lost too many people, good people, that day...
Olivia: The civil war only brought destruction, it changed everything, and no side was truly the good one. Long are gone the days when I carried my uniform and sword with honor pride and my loyal men at my back.
Olivia closed her eyes remembering about the glory days.
Olivia: And those days are never coming back...
There was a moment of silence as the students processed what they had been told, letting the information sink in.
Then a noice from inside the old buildings was heard, the 5 of them went into alert and looked around until.
???: Well, well, well, if it isnt the dogs of the government.
The group turned and looked up to see the source of the voice.