School starts back about a week later. We all figure that Mr. Aizawa is still recovering which means there's a great possibility for a sub. Most of the class talks about the attack, complimenting how powerful All Might was and pointing out their terrifying close scrapes. I hardly give a squat at the moment, so I just sit at my desk, getting some meditation time in. Samae lazily leans in his desk, and Auxi is somewhere around the room doing whatever. Tojuta is drawing ideas for his own special move on a scrap piece of paper.
After he, Samae, and Auxi asked what I was talking about in the group chat the other day, I showed them what I had learned after air hockey. Samae insisted I try to fight with it against him, and he got it good.
Tojuta taps me on the shoulder. I look over and he shows me his paper. "What do you think?" It's a basic sketch of him on his hands and feet in a push-up position with a new gadget of some kind around his chest, hidden in his back quills. A few vents at his sides and plates to attach to his back that look like their supposed to hold about half his quills upward. He explains, "I'm thinking something that can aim my quills straight off my back. If I can have these air compressors built onto my costume, I can shoot a barrage of my quills if I get down on all four like this. I call this move Pin Missile!"
I glare at him. "That's Pokémon, dude."
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice," he sighs.
"Just get a more original name for it, and I think it's cool."
"AUXORIYA!!" Iida runs in and explodes up front, swinging a demanding ax hand.
"What?" Auxi innocently answers as she steps back from the chalk board with a big smile on her face. As she steps back, she reveals to the class a picture of a whack, disoriented face she probably got off the internet. Below it, she has written 'Auxi was here.' Some of the class laughs at the picture.
"This is disrespectful to UA property! Erase it immediately and return to your desk!!"
"But I want the sub to see my art," she complains with a smile, bouncing on her knees like a whiney child.
"They will disapprove! This is UA, the best school in Japan! You are being a bad example!"
"Well then it sure is a good thing I'm not class rep then, huh?" She continues with her drawing. Hopeless, Iida walks back to his desk. "Now if Mr. Aizawa was still right as rain, then-."
The door slides open, and, to our great surprise, Mr. Aizawa walks in, his face all bandaged up like a mummy and both his arms in casts. The guy may be injured still, but he's still intimidating.
"Morning, class," he greets. His usual tired voice is muffled from the many layered bandages around him.
"MR. AIZAWA, WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!?" the entire class yells from the surprise. One would think that after getting mauled in an all out fight, Mr. Aizawa would be resting to recover from his fatal injuries. He must take his job too seriously!
Iida raises his hand. "Mr. Aizawa! I'm glad you're okay!"
"My condition isn't important. We've still got work to do. So I'm here to teach."
He steps in up to Auxi, who's wearing a terrified face of pride. He glances at the chalk board then at Auxi. "I see we have an artist that likes to fool around in here," he sarcastically comments. "Do you think heroes should fool around, Auxoriya?"
"Uhhhhh..."
"You're dusting erasers after class. Put the chalk down and return to your desk."
Auxi does as she's told and sits up straight in her desk. She's really pushing Mr. Aizawa's limits here.
As I had heard from my classmates and Mr. Carver yesterday, Mr. Aizawa announces the ever popular UA Sports Festival. Kirishima, Bakugo, and a few other students get hyped up about the news.
"Let's go kick some butt!!" Kirishima cheers.
"Hang on," Jiro interrupts the redhead's enthusiasm. "Is it really a good idea to have the sports festival this early?"
Ojiro joins in. "Yeah, after the villain attack and all?"
Our teacher gives the explanation I received yesterday. We're still strong, notify the public that, etcetera etcetera. Mr. Aizawa suggests that we should begin training as soon as possible after class.
The usual school day goes on. My main goal is to avoid Sicuto at all times before he gives some crappy threat about kicking my butt and junk. My goal is unfortunately broken after the school day in home room.
I'm packing up my stuff and sliding my jacket on myself at my desk when I hear Uraraka yell up front, "Why the heck are you all here?!"
I look up and lean to look at the door. I start to get familiar vibes from back when gate was swarmed with reporters, because now our home room door is being blocked by dozens of UA students, staring into the room. Curious, I get up and walk to the door to join my confused classmates.
Iida, just as curious asks, "Do you students have some sort of business with our class?"
"Why are you blocking our doorway?" Mineta asks, concerned. He raises a fist. "I won't let you hold us hostage!"
Bakugo comes from behind me with his bag slung over his shoulder and explains, "They're scouting out the competition, idiots. We're the class that survived a real villain attack. They wanna see us with their own eyes." As Bakugo walks up to them all, the students stare at him in intimidation. We can only pray he doesn't threaten anybody. He looks them all straight in the eyes. "At least you know now what a future pro looks like. Outta my way, extras."
I... guess that's better...?
Iida wildly swings his arm. "You can't call people extras just because you don't know who they are!"
"So this is class 1-A, huh?" A tired voice asks from the crowd. "I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound a jerk. Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?"
Bakugo groans in annoyance as my classmates quickly shake their heads to defend themselves. Bakugo's giving us all a bad impression!
A purple-haired boy with tired eyes pushes out of the crowd to step up to Bakugo, staring down to scratch his head. "How sad to come here to find a buncha egomaniacs. I wanted to be in the hero course. But like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track." He looks up. "If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teachers can decide to transfer those of us who are in the support course to the hero course. They'll have to transfer people out to make room in order to do that."
Wait... as in 'replacements?' By all means, he can take Mineta's. Or Auxi's; she would fit in the support better anyways.
"Scouting the competition," he continues. "maybe some of my peers won't, but I'm here to let you know that if you don't bring your very best, I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war."
Wow... just.. wow...
"Aw, c'mon, Shinso. It ain't that bad," a girl with caramel colored hair steps up beside our new rival. She shrugs and glances at us all. "Sorry 'bout him. He's a bit sore to be in the general studies course."
A kid with silver hair and sharp teeth roughly pushes to the front of the crowd and clutches a fist. "Hey you! I'm from class 1-B next door to you! We heard you fought some villains, so I came to see if that was true! But you're just a buncha brats who think you're better than us! Talk all you want! It'll just be more embarrassing when you're KO'd!"
Oh my word. Thanks for the first impression, Bakugo.
I start to turn back to my desk to wait for the crowd to die down when I hear another voice from beyond the door. "Move, losers! Lemme through!"
Dang. My heart sinks, and I sigh as I recognize the voice.
Sicuto shoves past the three with a scowl on his face. Another boy follows behind him, looking like he could dragged anywhere without caring. I see Tojuta try to hide a bit behind his desk at the sight. Sicuto slams his hands on the doorframe as if to prevent anyone from going in or out.
"Seshin!!" he angrily screams upon noticing me.
"What?" I lazily turn around, not in the mood for this right now.
"You just heard what Baggy Eyes here said. Once I move up, I'll be kicking you out!!" He scans the room. "Or better yet, where's Quills? Maybe I can start having fun with him again."
Tojuta hides further behind his desk, hugging his knees and possibly praying that he can turn invisible.
"Is that all you want, or can I leave now?"
Sicuto growls and continues screaming. "You just mark my words, Seshin! I'm gonna kick your butt and win the sports festival! You hear me!?!"
Sheesh-Luigi! Chill!
This seems to get Bakugo's attention. "Good luck with that, Vegeta. Cuz I'm gonna be the one winning this thing."
"Pfft! Suck an egg, dummy! You're just a bug I can squish like that!" Sicuto snaps his fingers at the last word.
Bakugo's frown deepens in rage. "You piece of-!That's MY threat!!"
Oh boy. This is definitely not a scene I've wanted to see.
"Oh, is it now?" Sicuto teases. "If I weren't restricted, I'd challenge you to a battle right here!"
"Ha! That'd be a grave mistake, extra! I'd kill you before you can throw in the towel!"
Midoriya, being an innocent soul tries to step between the two before they try something rash. "Um! Let's just back down so we can all go home and train! You guys can save your hate to each other for the festi-."
"SHUT UP, NERD!!" the two yell simultaneously.
"Uh! Okay..." Midoriya backs down, hopeless to keep the peace. The pliable kid behind Sicuto steps between the two.
"Woah, dudes!" he glances at them both as he smoothly scolds them in a laid back tone. "Let's just calm down, yeah?"
"Stay outta this, hippy!" Sicuto growls.
In response, the new kid raises his hands to lay them on each of the violent students' shoulders. He closes his eyes and concentrates for a bit.
"Get your freaking hands-!"
Before Bakugo can finish his demand, I can see the anger slightly die down in his and Sicuto's eyes. Finally Bakugo scoffs and pushes through the crowd down the hallway. Sicuto just growls and heads back to his own classroom. Having done his job, the student follows him.
Did that kid just break the most violent people I know?!
Either already growing annoyed, satisfied, or just straight up uninterested in this trash, the crowd of students disperse after a while. Once the path is finally cleared, I head out. I'm about halfway down the hallway when I hear a familiar voice.
"Seshin."
I turn to see Tokoyami steadily catching up to me at his own pace. "Hi, Tokoyami. What's up?"
"Quick question: did my theory work? With your relationship with others and all?"
I think back to the attack and remember that my minion successfully materialized when I was trying to defend Aoyama. "I think so. Thanks again."
He nods. "That's good. Now thinking about what our teacher had suggested earlier today, I believe we need to train to get ready for the big event. I'm going to be training in a stadium to tame and grow strong with Dark Shadow. Seeing as our quirks are somewhat similar, I was thinking you would want to come along."
I consider my options. I've been wanting to get to know Tokoyami more. Plus I could better try out Inner Demon against someone with a similar technique. Even though we have a couple weeks till the festival, I shrug. "Sure, why not? I've been meaning to try something anyways."
"Good. I'll be at the Sapporo Dome. Meet up at nine tonight? I have a friend who can let us in."
"Sure, I can come." A bit late, sure, but I guess Tokoyami would be a bit of a night owl, being a bird and all. Heh.
"Alright. Bring your best. See you tonight." With that he turns back to the classroom to pack up.
"Yeah. Later."
You know, I don't think I've really seen Tokoyami socialize this much. Either way, the training is definitely something I could use against someone with some similarities as me.
I continue out the door, my backpack slung over my shoulder. Used to the bus schedule by now, I know it doesn't come for another ten to fifteen minutes, but I got nothing else to do. As I near the bench, I see a few people already there. Just from the backs of their heads, I recognize Sicuto and his friend from earlier. The caramel-haired girl is there as well.
"I'm just saying, Sicuto," the girl gets within earshot. "does the hero course mean that much to you?"
"Yes," Sicuto groans. "I would gladly take anyone's place, but I just have a few preferences. Seshin, the porcupine, or mostly that stuck up brat that thinks he can top me."
"The green-haired kid?"
"No! The blonde!"
"Either way, bro," the laidback kid inserts. "if it means that much to you, I won't stand in your way."
The girl hears me and looks over her shoulder. She smiles. "Hey! Speaking of the hero course!"
The two boys follow her gaze at me. I give a small nod, to which the nameless kid smiles and nods back and Sicuto just groans. He looks at his friend. "We're waiting for the bus after the next."
"Naw, man! It's cool. He's not bothering anyone."
"You idiots can get on the bus with that loser! I have no problem ditching you guys!"
"Whatever, dude!" the boy laughs. He looks at me. "Sorry bout him. I take it you know each other?"
"Yeah. Acquaintances back in middle school," I reply as I walk around the bench.
"I see." He holds up his hand for a high-five. "Lakiri Hironaga. But most people call me Lax."
I keep my hand to myself. Lax glances at his hand then back to me to give a hint until using his other hand to give himself the gesture. "Not a feely person. I get it."
"Yeah. I'm Yurei Seshin."
"And I'm Qwik Janju!" the girl butts in. "Guess you know by now, but I'm in the support course, while Lax and Sicuto are in general studies."
"Yes, I figured that out."
"Say, Seshin," Lax thinks to himself for a bit. "Would the hero course be opening up any more positions? You know, without booting anyone?"
"I don't think so." I shake my head.
"Ah. Bummer."
"You looking to come into the hero course?"
"Oh no, not me!" Lax waves his hands as if to say 'you've got the wrong idea.' "I'm happy where I am as well as Janju here, but Sicuto on the other hand, he would kill to get in!"
Wouldn't be surprised.
"So if someone in your class is being dismissed, put in a good word for our buddy here! You've got friends in the general studies course, so please be cool help 'im out, yeah?"
"I don't need this loser's pity!" Sicuto shouts.
"Or, don't if he doesn't want it." Lax shrugs.
I exhale a chuckle. "Yo, Riyaki, gotta say, I like your current friends here than the ones back in Naetwo."
"Shut up."
Janju brings up another subject. "You know, Sicuto talks a bit about your ghost quirk." She leans over to quickly whisper. "I think he's tryna be your rival." She backs away as Sicuto glares at her. "So you must have some quirk, huh?"
"I guess. I mean, yeah, you're right. I do work with spectral things and such. But that's about it. You guys?"
Janju gets excited as if she's hardly asked this question. "Alright! My quirk is called Tutorial. If I watch someone doing something that doesn't involve their quirk, I can perform it myself exactly as done!"
Guess this girl gives a whole new meaning to 'watch and learn.' Heh. I look at Lax, who puts his hands behind his head. "My quirk is called-."
"Chill Pill." Sicuto interrupts. The three burst out laughing, leaving me in the dark as I have no idea what's so funny.
"Okay, no no!" Lax calms down. "My quirk is called Calm Mind. If I touch someone with all five if my fingers, I can take them to their, say happy place."
"Sicuto's and Bakugo's 'happy place' is beating people up, so I don't think that's the case." I say.
"So I've picked up. But you get what I mean."
I nod. I then look at Sicuto. I still don't know his quirk, so this is my chance to find out.
Sicuto notices me watching him intently. "Pfft. Like I'm telling you."
So close.
"Forget it, man," Lax shrugs. "Sicuto likes to surprise, so you just gotta wait I guess."
Finally the twenty bus comes around the corner. I climb on after Janju boards. Lax stands to get on himself, but then glances at Sicuto, who's not moving a muscle. Lax smiles and sits back down. "You guys go ahead. I'll see ya around."
Not caring what he does, I walk to the back and take a seat. I hear Sicuto say to his friend, "Get on the dang bus, hippy."
"Hm. Pass."
Their conversation fades out as the doors close. Wow. Their attitudes are exact opposites, yet they get along pretty good. Reminds me a bit of Bakugo's and Kirishima's difficult friendship.
——————————————————————————————————————
I get off the train and look around the station. Judging from where my phone says my destination is, I should be fairly close to the Sapporo Dome. I step out of the station and onto the lamp-lit sidewalk. My jacket guards me from the harsh, night breezes as I stroll along the sidewalk.
It took a bit of convincing, but Mom allowed me to train with Tokoyami. I think the factor of the argument that won was how I brought up that the festival was coming, so I wanted to be at my best.
As he had promised, Tokoyami knows one of the guys who cleans up after the place closes, so he got in no problem. Seems like the guy was expecting me, because it didn't take him long to answer the locked door for me. I walk through the large stadium until coming to doorway that led to the field. A couple floodlights surrounding the stadium provides just enough light for me to locate Tokoyami in the middle of the field, having Dark Shadow tackle and slash at a few training scarecrows around him.
As I near them, Dark Shadow stops for a bit to catch its breath. Tokoyami in a black cloak rests on his knees for a short break as well. He looks up at me as I approach him on the grass.
"There you are," he greets.
"Sorry. I live in a couple cities over. Didn't realize it takes this long to get here."
"You're fine, you're fine. I'm taking a break at the moment anyway."
Dark Shadow floats from his resting position to curiously inspect me like it had a mind of its own. "This is the guy? I thought he looked stronger in the entrance exam."
"He has his own quirk, Dark Shadow. I believe it's one that matches ours." He looks at me. "Seshin, for training, I have an idea for both of us to work with."
"I'm listening."
"In order for it to make sense, let me explain a few things about my quirk. Dark Shadow has a feeding method. The darker my environment is, the more powerful and wild he gets. If there's not enough light to calm him however, he can get out of control until flashed with a light source."
"Makes sense. It's like a regular shadow. No light, then basically your shadow is the surrounding darkness."
"Correct. So here's my idea. We'll have a one on one training battle. I will attempt to catch you with Dark Shadow while the lights in the stadium are their brightest." He looks over at the power control to see his friend at the controls. "As our match progresses, my friend up there will turn off the six floodlights one by one, making Dark Shadow stronger. We stop when either one of us gets to each other or I lose control of Dark Shadow. Understood?"
"Yeah, I get it."
"Very well." He looks up at the control room and nods. The rest of the lights all around flash on, shining on both of us at all angles.
"There's so much light!" Dark Shadow shouts a complain, slightly shaking in fear.
I step back a few times and ready my flames. I haven't really paid attention to the two's fighting style, so I should play it safe. I get in position and offer them the first move.
"Dark Shadow!"
"Can't we just start with one of them off?" Tokoyami lowers his gaze. "Fine. I got him!" Dark Shadow starts to charge in for a tackle. He's as big as Tokoyami right now, but that doesn't mean I can afford to underestimate it. This is supposed to be training, so I don't wanna cheaply phase to dodge. I instead call in all three of my minions. I send them forth to block off the incoming demon.
Dark Shadow pulls off just in time for my minions to swipe at it. I mentally jump around from one minion to the next then to the third, giving commands as quickly as possible. Dark Shadow swings violently at them.
Noticing that Tokoyami and I are just giving commands of combat, I feel like a Pokémon Trainer, commanding my team against the opponent's beast. I smile at the humorous thought then return my attention back to the battle at hand.
I command a minion to swoop around and attack from behind. Once it comes around though, I notice my third minion is a sitting duck having no command to perform. I quickly move it out of the way of Dark Shadow's swinging claws. I transfer back to the surprise minion, only to have it hit away and extinguish.
I ply myself from the match real quick to call on a replacement. As I'm doing so, Dark Shadow spins to take out both my unaccompanied minions in the mess then comes soaring at me. I finally bring in my replacement minion and have it grab Dark Shadow by its claws, who is just inches from me.
Gourds! Multitasking has never been this hard! It was okay before with just two, but now with three minions, this kind of battle is a chaotic mess! How'm I supposed to do Paranormal Chaos with an army of minions if I can't keep track of three?!
I hear a loud clicking sound as the arena gets a little darker. The first floodlight has been turned off! I watch Dark Shadow get slightly bigger and push harder against my already struggling minion. Just before I lose my grip on my minion, I bend my knees to get ready for my next move. As soon as the minion breaks, I immediately summon five of my flames around myself and leap up in the air, using my levitation to float over Dark Shadow, who soars straight under me.
I have my flames orbit my waist to keep myself balanced as I look back over my shoulder. Dark Shadow keeps up its momentum by smoothly turning and comes directly at me. I look down at Tokoyami, who's keeping a hawk's eye on me. Pun intended.
If I can just get to him, I win. I can't send a minion at him. Most of my flames are already focusing on my levitation. I can't use this window I have.
I look back over to see Dark Shadow rapidly flying at me. Having no other choice, I extinguish my flames and allow myself to fall to the ground.
Click! Another light turns off. The charging beast becomes a bit bigger, getting faster as it grows. I gotta defend myself here! I quickly bring in all six of my flames and press them together.
"Inner Demon!" I shout as my own bigger monster grows from my flames and stares up at Dark Shadow. The two beasts collide, grabbing the other by the hands and pushing roughly. Dark Shadow then unexpectedly pulls back and punches hard at the demon's arms. My beast's guard remains unbroken as it continues to protect me, blow after blow.
All too soon, another floodlight turns off. Dark Shadow is now three times bigger than when we started. The dude is turning them off too fast! I can't adjust properly to each different power level! It must be nearing time to leave, so that dude's lazily having us hurry up.
I continue the command at my beast to keep Dark Shadow at bay. I feel my one flame quiver as Dark Shadow grows even bigger. It's about to go out!
"Seshin! Move!" Tokoyami warns as I call off my ghost and phase myself. Dark Shadow charges straight through me and rushes at Tokoyami. Even looking at his master though, Dark Shadow speeds up! "Dark Shadow!! Calm yourself!"
Before Tokoyami's own quirk could attack him, all the floodlights turn back on, forcing the shady demon to shrink back down and return to Tokoyami's body. With it over, we both fall to ground to catch our breaths.
"That," I begin. "was too close for comfort."
"Yes. I still work to do before I can obtain complete control of Dark Shadow." He looks up at me. "You look like you were having a bit of trouble as well."
"Yeah. I haven't controlled three minions like that before. I gotta find a pattern or something."
"What about that other ghost? The bigger one holding off Dark Shadow?"
"It's a new move I made I call Inner Demon. It's a stronger version of my minions, but can more easily be put out and denies me use of my hands."
"Interesting. Well, good training. We'll end it here. I think we need to get out before we're locked in."
"I picked up on that. With it being this late, I think I should head back anyways. Thanks for inviting me." I turn toward the door to conclude our exercise. "Have a good night."
"Thanks. You too."
I continue out the building and back to the train station. I think about our fight. The sports festival is gonna be pretty intense if this is just a sample of it. I then remember my struggling in the middle of the fight. Now I know that not only do I need to summon more flames, but I gotta control them faster, too. Otherwise, multitasking will just stay this difficult. Guess that's another thing I should shape up on.
My train finally comes to a stop at the station, and I board it to head home.
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Whew! I'll admit, I posted this one way later than I had wanted! Sorry for the wait. Even though it's summer and all, I don't really have a lot of free time. The chapter would've come sooner, but my sister, the creator of Orika Auxoriya, threatened me to- I mean!... insisted that I put more of her characters in. So, yes, Lakiri Hironaga and Qwik Janju are her creations. Just a warning, one more will come up in a few chapters or so. Depends on where I can stick it. Anyways, thanks for reading!