Chapter 43: Mall Trip
There was one more day of classes following the completion of final exams, mainly for the sake of allowing the teachers to make announcements and tie up any loose ends before the summer break.
With the exams finally behind them, the atmosphere in the Class 1-A homeroom was buoyant, with a few notable exceptions.
"Hey, cheer up, Kiri," Ashido said as she patted Kirishima's back. "Remember, Kendo said that Vlad King told Class 1-B that anyone who failed the exam would still get to go to camp and would just have to take some makeup classes, so Yaomomo and Midoriya think Aizawa was just lying to us about that."
"We don't know that for sure, though," Sato pointed out, shoulders slumped.
"Ugh, I thought we were really using what Yaoyorozu and Midoribro taught us!" Kirishima scowled, balling his hands into fists.
"You did!" Izuku was quick to speak up. "Deciding to attack Cementoss from two different directions was a legitimately clever opening move!"
"Indeed," Momo was quick to agree. "You just needed to…keep thinking cleverly for the whole battle, rather than sticking with a plan that isn't working."
Privately, she thought they should've run rather than trying to defeat Cementoss, especially once it had become clear that the teacher had succeeded into turning it into a battle of attrition they were ill-suited for and didn't have the time to deal with regardless. However, even after their defeat, neither Kirishima nor Sato seemed to be even considering that, so she felt it was best to leave that issue for another day.
Yet if Kirishima and Sato were being miserable without fully reckoning with the reasons for their failure, they were still being better than the other pair who hadn't managed to pass the practical.
Bakugo was somehow managing to be aggressively surly without saying a word to anyone, glaring murderously at whatever happened to be in his line of sight. It seemed a safe bet that he'd erupt on anyone with the slightest provocation or excuse, so even the most reckless of their classmates were scrupulously avoiding getting his attention.
Todoroki, of course, wasn't broadcasting white hot menace in the same way. Instead, he was frowning down at his desk as though it had personally offended him, expression even frostier than usual.
Momo also strongly suspected he was making the classroom a couple of degrees colder than it otherwise would've been, perhaps without even realizing he was doing it. She was tempted to ask him to stop, but she couldn't be certain it wasn't just her imagination, and in any case, it wasn't the worst thing in the world, especially considering it was summer.
"Man, I bet Aizawa's gonna be all kinds of salty today," Kaminari remarked suddenly.
"Huh? Why do you think that?" Izuku asked.
"Don't say that," Sato groaned softly in the background at the same.
Kaminari ignored the larger student to focus on the green-haired young man. "I mean, you and Yaoyorozu completely smoked him yesterday," he said. "I dunno what he expected to happen, but I'm sure it wasn't that. Even though it was totally obvious that's how it was gonna go down."
Mineta snickered. "He was so ticked off at us for saying how they were totally gonna win no problem, but we were totally right!"
"I still don't know what whoever set that matchup was thinking," Ashido noted.
Momo cleared her throat, feeling a slight heat in her face at the way the others were talking about her and Izuku like they invincible. "I'd hope he wouldn't take out any feelings he might have about the exams on all of us," she said.
"Indeed!" Iida agreed, doing his usual chopping motions with his hands. "I'm sure the staff of this august institution are too professional to let their emotions affect their conduct in such a manner!"
The door suddenly opened with a slam, and Aizawa stalked in. "Be seated," he growled.
Even Iida swallowed as the students scrambled to their desks.
"Morning," Aizawa grunted as he took his place behind the lectern. "Regarding your final exams, you all passed the written tests, but unfortunately, we had some failures in the practical tests. Therefore…you're all going to the summer camp!" he exclaimed, smiling sadistically at the class.
He seemed disappointed when the response was a chorus of sighs containing varying levels of exasperation and disgust rather than gasps of abject shock. Even Bakugo and Todoroki, who hadn't learned of what Vlad King had told Class 1-B because they hadn't come to the training session at Momo's home, didn't visibly react.
Kirishima and Sato looked relieved, though, if not terribly surprised.
The homeroom teacher cleared his throat. "Ahem, Kirishima, Sato, Bakugo, and Todoroki failed the practical portion of their tests," he said. "As the villains in this test, we teachers came up with assignments perfectly suited to all of you." He glared at Kaminari, Ashido, and Mineta as he said this, silently warning them against contradicting him. "This was to ensure you all at least had a chance to pass."
"So telling us that anyone who failed wouldn't get to go to camp…" Ojiro spoke up.
"That was another rational deception to motivate you," Aizawa said, though he looked less amused this time, given the lack of surprise from before. "It would be irrational to keep the ones who need this training camp most of all from attending."
"Mr. Aizawa!" Iida shot to his feet, raising his hand. "Now that we've been lied to twice, aren't you worried that our faith in you has been shaken?"
Momo was impressed he had the nerve to come out and say it.
"Perhaps," Aizawa shrugged.
Momo had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. It would've been better, in her opinion, if he'd just come out and admitted he didn't care about that. With how often he lied to them, it was clear that he wasn't overly concerned with whether they trusted his word or not. At least he could've been honest about that.
"In any case, it wasn't entirely a lie," the underground pro continued. "Failure is still failure. The four students who failed will receive special supplemental lessons while some of the more lighthearted activities are occurring. It'll essentially be additional classroom time, far worse than summer school."
Kirishima and Sato sighed. Bakugo and Todoroki didn't react, simply continuing to look surly.
"Sir!" Iida raised a hand again. "If they passed the written tests, shouldn't they be doing training exercises rather than additional classes?"
The dark glare from Aizawa was enough to make the bespectacled student retake his seat without getting an answer.
With the prospect of the summer camp before them and classes having all been about tying up any loose ends before the term officially ended rather than actual work, the mood at lunch was excited, with the hero students happily chatting and laughing.
"I can't wait to go to the camp!" Uraraka said between mouthfuls of rice. "I've never gotten to go to one before. Do you think we'll get a chance to sit around the fire and tell spooky stories?"
"Possibly," Iida said. "But keep in mind that the primary purpose for the summer camp is heroics training! I'm certain we'll be spending much more time on that than on any frivolities!"
"Geeze, Iida, did someone teach you how to be such a buzzkill, or does it just come naturally to you?" Jirou asked.
The bespectacled youth looked taken aback. "I was merely trying to keep her from building up unrealistic expectations!"
Izuku cleared his throat. "Mr. Aizawa did mention more lighthearted activities in home room, so I'm sure there will be some fun stuff, even if the main focus is training."
"I guess even UA can't do a summer camp without anything actually enjoyable," Jirou smirked. "Or maybe they just added it in so they'd have something they could exclude the students who failed from."
"I can't believe this respected institution would have such a sadistic attitude!" Iida insisted.
Uraraka giggled. "Iida, she's kidding."
"I dunno, have you met the principal?" the violet-haired girl smirked.
Izuku looked away from the two as they bickered back and forth, turning to Momo. "You've been pretty quiet. Is everything okay?" he asked.
She gave him a smile that caused his heartbeat to accelerate. "Oh yes, I'm quite fine, thank you," she assured him. "It's just…can you all keep a secret?"
Iida and Jirou immediately stopped arguing.
"Sure, Yaomomo, what is it?" the musician asked.
"You all have heard of the I-Expo, correct?" she asked.
"Of course!" Izuku nodded.
"That's the big show where the scientists on that artificial island show off all their new tech, right?" Uraraka asked.
The raven-haired girl smiled. "You're essentially correct, though I'd argue you're underselling it," she said. "The I-Expo is filled with attractions and advances. Some of the technology shown off at previous expos has been quite revolutionary, and the whole thing occurs on the largest mobile landmass in the world, which itself is home to the most advanced technology on Earth."
"So, why is the Expo on your mind?" Jirou asked.
Momo leaned forwards toward the center of the table, lowering her voice. "My parents are stakeholders in some of the companies that sponsor the expo, and as a result I have some tickets for early access to it," she explained.
"Whoa," Uraraka said.
"I was actually planning to take all the girls in class to the island with me, in addition to the two of you, of course," Momo said, gesturing at Izuku and Iida. "But the problem is that I only have two extra tickets to the expo itself."
Uraraka blinked. "Wait, hang on, you can just invite all of us on a trip to I-Island?"
"Oh, yes. My parents have already assured me I can use our private jet for the trip, and it's more than capable of carrying us all, so that's not an issue!" Momo assured her, smiling brightly.
Uraraka leaned back in her chair, looking vaguely like she'd been punched in the gut when the other girl said the words "private jet" like it was no big deal.
"There's plenty to do on I-Island even if you don't have access to the expo itself, but since you're my closest friends, I'd hoped to share that experience with all of you, and the last thing I want to do is choose among you who gets to go and who doesn't," Momo added, looking downcast.
"Your generosity and thoughtfulness are touching, but unnecessary in my case," Iida said. "My family received an invite to the I-Expo and my parents and brother elected to send me in their stead."
"And I actually got a ticket to the expo because I won the Sports Festival," Izuku added.
"Oh, that's perfect!" Momo clapped her hands together. "Then I can give my extra tickets to Uraraka and Jirou and we can all go to the I-Expo! It'll be the perfect break between school and the summer camp!"
Izuku found himself smiling helplessly. He loved seeing those moments when Momo got so excited and bubbly like this.
He didn't notice Uraraka and Jirou smirking knowingly at him after he'd gazed at Momo for a little too long, but thankfully the bell signaling the end of the lunch period saved him from any teasing.
After a heroics course that consisted mainly of All Might reviewing the practical portion of the final exams with them, Aizawa returned to the classroom to hand out the camp manuals.
"Make sure you get everything on the list," he said. "The camp will be challenging enough without having to worry about missing needed supplies and equipment."
The bell signaling the end of the school day sounded just as the students finished distributing the papers among themselves. "Try and get some rest between now and the training camp," Aizawa grunted, before slinging his sleeping bag over his shoulder and exiting the classroom, seemingly off to heed his own advice.
Class 1-A was quick to depart from the school, several of the students eyeing the packing list as they stepped out of the main building and into the summer sunshine.
"An entire week of training," Iida remarked. "I'm sure we'll be much better off for it afterwards!"
"This packing list is really big," Izuku said, green eyes wide as he scanned the paper.
"Yeesh, you're not kidding," Jirou agreed. "I have most of this stuff already, though, but I'll still need to pick up a few things."
"I don't even have a swimsuit," Kaminari put in. "There's a ton of stuff I've gotta get."
"Oh, I know!" Hagakure exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Why don't we all go shopping together? As a class!"
"Good idea!" Kaminari said. "I think this'll be the first time we all went somewhere together outside of school."
"I'm down!" Kirishima pumped his fist. "Hey, Bakugo, you should come, too!"
The explosive blonde responded by flipping him off before stomping away without a word.
Izuku couldn't say he was surprised, if he was being honest.
"What about you, Todoroki?" Momo asked. "Will you be joining us?"
"May as well," the boy with the two toned hair replied with a shrug. "Not like I have anything to do tomorrow, and I do need to pick up a few things, too."
"Yes!" Ashido exclaimed, raising a fist to the sky. "Class 1-A mall trip!"
After years of acting as Tomura Shigaraki's de facto caretaker, Kurogiri had learned to read even the most subtle nuances of the young man's moods. It had been extremely necessary, given his volatile temperament and destructive Quirk.
Which was why he could tell that, despite just sitting at the bar and gazing contemplatively into a glass he was carefully holding with only four fingers, Kurogiri could tell he was rapidly approaching an eruption of fury. There was just something to his posture and the energy about him that immediately set off alarm bells in the misty villain's mind.
"Are you all right?" he asked, looking to prevent the explosion of temper and damage to the bar.
"I'm pissed off," Tomura growled.
"May I ask why?" Kurogiri asked, keeping his tone as mild as possible. "The recruits that Giran delivered seemed promising, and things appear to be going well in general. I'd thought you'd be pleased."
"Things have only been looking up lately because we managed to convince everyone we're Stain's successors," Tomura replied, scratching his neck.
Kurogiri hoped he didn't keep at it until he bled this time.
"I was under the impression it amused you to do that," he pointed out.
"It did, but I'm getting sick of pretending to a big, devoted fanboy to that loon," Tomura grumbled. "We shouldn't need his rep to get new recruits. We're the League of Villains! We attacked UA! Why doesn't that impress anyone?"
"I'm afraid I'm not the best at reading the public's fickle moods," Kurogiri said, choosing his words carefully and very much not pointing out that their attack on UA had ended in inglorious defeat before All Might had even arrived on the scene.
"Then what good are you?" Tomura demanded, abruptly rising from the bar stool he'd been occupying.
Kurogiri, well accustomed to the blue haired man's verbal barbs, let the comment slide off his back. "Where are you going?" he asked.
"Out!" Tomura snapped, slamming the door behind himself as he departed.
The mostly intangible villain allowed himself a sigh as he resumed cleaning the bar.
The Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall was nothing short of enormous, almost awe inspiring in sheer size.
From what Izuku had heard, malls had been going out of fashion at the end of the pre-Quirk era, with many people preferring to purchase things online. However, the rise of mutant Quirks had brought about the need for specialized shops, everything from places that had clothes and merchandise for common mutations to what were essentially tailor shops for people with more unusual body types. And that wasn't even accounting for goods created or enhanced via the use of particular Quirks, which most people wanted to test out in the store before they purchased them. Add it all together, and it had resulted in a major return to in-person shopping once the age of chaos that had accompanied the rise of Quirks had concluded.
"Damn it, Deku, shut the hell up with your creepy mumbling!"
"Sorry!" Izuku said, embarrassed. He hadn't realized he'd been saying all of that aloud.
Momo frowned at the explosive blonde. "I thought you weren't planning to come today," she remarked.
Kacchan looked ready to chew nails and spit staples. "I wasn't, but this idiot wouldn't leave me alone until I changed my mind," he said, hooking a thumb at Kirishima.
"Hey, c'mon Bakugo, you admitted you needed to pick up some stuff for the camp, too," Kirishima said. Then he turned to Momo. "I didn't want him to miss out like he did when we went to your place. It wouldn't be a Class 1-A trip without everyone, ya know?"
"Yes, thank you so much for convincing him to join us," Momo said in a flat tone that conveyed anything but gratitude.
Judging by way Kirishima beamed, he failed to pick up on that.
Probably for the best, really, Izuku mused, fighting to keep an amused smile off his face.
"Come on, Baku-bro, you said you needed some new shoes, right? Let's go find a place where we can pick 'em up!" Kirishima said, either aware that not everyone would want to spend time with their volatile classmate or just wanting to hang out with him.
"I need some rugged shoes myself," Kaminari said, moving to the follow the two of them.
"The camp manual said to bring well-worn footwear!" Iida called after them, with the trio of other boys ignoring him entirely.
It wasn't long before most of their other classmates were breaking up into groups of two, three, or four and heading in various different directions.
"Looks like everyone's going off in different directions," Uraraka observed.
"Kind of makes you wonder what the point of coming to the mall as a class was," Jirou remarked dryly.
"We can meet up again later," Momo said. "In the meantime, we should focus on getting what we need, too."
"I need a big duffel bag," Jirou said.
"And I need to get some insect repellent," Uraraka said. "I think there's a sporting goods store where we can get both on the north side of the mall! Let's go!"
Izuku held back a sigh as the two girls practically dashed off. Not exactly subtle…
He and Momo exchanged a look. "I need to get a sleeping bag and some other camping things," she said. "What about you?"
"I was thinking to get some wrist weights," he said.
She smiled. "You put a lot of effort into your physical training, despite your green powers," she remarked.
He noted immediately how she avoided referring to it as a Quirk without making it obvious she wasn'ttalking about a Quirk.
"A hero can't rely on just one thing," he said, looking away bashfully.
"Quite," she agreed. "I'm sure we can find a place to buy your weights and somewhere to get what I need as well."
He nodded, and the two fell in step next to each other, going in the opposite direction that Jirou and Uraraka had gone.
They exchanged a few bits of small talk as they went but were mostly content to walk in comfortable silence.
With the rest of the class scattered for the moment, he could almost pretend he was on a date with Momo, or even that they were a couple just out and about, shopping together, he mused, moving a little bit closer to the raven-haired beauty without realizing it.
He felt a sudden, powerful urge to hold her hand, recalling the couple of times he'd gotten to do it in the past, such as when he'd taken her to Athmoora. Izuku could still remember just how right her warm hand in his had felt then…
"Hey, look! It's those kids from the Sports Festival!" a sudden voice snapped him out of his daydreaming.
Izuku looked up to see a small crowd of people staring at them.
"Oh, yeah, the first and second place winners! That final match was crazy!" a second person remarked.
People still remember that?!
"And look! The tabloids were right! They are dating!"
He felt his face heat. "W-We're j-just friends!" he stammered out.
"Indeed!" Momo agreed, and he was surprised to note that the usually composed heiress was blushing as well. "And we have things to do. Thank you for watching us in the festival, but we must be on our way."
Izuku couldn't help but notice how skeptical the small crowd looked as he and Momo retreated at a brisk pace, both of them making a point of not running.
Watching all his classmates break up into multiple small groups and then scatter about the mall, leaving him alone, Shoto mused that he would've been annoyed, had he come on this outing in order to spend time with his classmates.
As it was, he'd only joined the others because he did need to pick up a few things in preparation for the summer camp and this was a convenient opportunity to get them, so he shrugged and started heading off toward one of the stores he intended to visit.
However, he didn't get very far before someone in a black hoodie rushed up to him. "Hey! You're one of those kids from UA! So cool!" a raspy voice exclaimed. "Can I get your autograph?"
"What?" Shoto asked, surprised that anyone would recognize him or want his autograph. He hadn't even made it to the tournament in the Sports Festival, after all.
The fan suddenly put an arm around his shoulders. Shoto immediately tensed up, unaccustomed to people touching him in general, never mind random, nameless fanboys he encountered in public.
"Yeah, you're the guy who was throwing ice all over the place!" the guy in the hoodie said. "Man, it sucked how you were screwed in the cavalry battle!"
"Please get your arm off me," Shoto deadpanned.
"Hey now, is that any way to treat a fan?" the young man asked, and suddenly his hand was on Shoto's neck, all but one finger touching his throat.
"What…?"
"Let's have a seat and chat, Todoroki," Tomura Shigaraki said.
"You!" the UA student hissed.
"Hey, calm down," the villain said in a harsh whisper. "Act like we're a couple of old pals. Breathe normally. I just want to have a talk. Or I drop this last finger and your throat turns to dust."
"I could freeze you," Shoto countered.
"You could, but are you sure you'd win the draw if you did?" Shigaraki replied, grinning like a madman.
"And what if you do kill me?" Shoto tried again. "You couldn't just walk away, not in a crowd like this. You'd be caught and taken to jail. They'd throw you into Tartarus."
"No doubt," Shigaraki agreed. "But how many of these stupid little NPCs do you think I could dust before some takes me down? Twenty? Thirty? As a hero in training, it seems like you should want to prevent that, right?"
Shoto looked into the villain's eyes and saw the madness of someone who was beyond caring about the consequences of his actions. "Fine."
"Come on, we may as well sit for this," Shigaraki said, leading his captive over to a bench, where they sat down.
"So, you said you wanted to talk," Shoto said. "So talk."
Shigaraki smirked. "Right to the point, huh? Fine with me," he chuckled before his face settled into a dark scowl. "I hate basically everything, but right now the Hero Killer is what's really pissing me off."
Shoto frowned. "I thought your whole thing was promising to carry on his mission?"
The villain scoffed. "That was just a lie to convince some rubes to join up with us."
"Bold of you to just come out and tell me, then," Shoto remarked.
Shigaraki smiled. "Like anyone would believe you."
The hero student had to admit that he had a point; among villains, a hero's word probably carried little weight.
"But it pisses me off that we need to use him," Shigaraki continued. "I attacked UA, I was the one who unleashed the Nomu on Hosu, but no one's talking about me except in relation to him. That asshole did a ton of grandstanding, but in the end, we were both just destroying what we hate. So why do people worship him and ignore me?"
It seemed like claiming the mantle of the dead serial killer would pretty much guarantee always being mentioned in the same breath as him, but Shoto realized it would be unwise to say so.
"Well?" Shigaraki demanded, his grip on the hero student tightening slightly. "If you can't give me an answer, then you're useless to me."
"Can I ask you a question first?" the boy with the two-toned hair blurted out.
Shigaraki blinked in surprise, then snorted a laugh. "Sure, why not?"
"Why are you asking me?" Shoto questioned. "Was it just because I was the only UA student you were able to get alone, or is there another reason?"
The villain's smirk morphed into a wide, disquieting grin. "I wanted to ask you because I know you're aware of how the image of perfect, upstanding heroes is total BS."
"What do you mean?" Shoto demanded.
"Please," Shigaraki laughed mirthlessly. "The FlameHero's youngest son suddenly gets a huge, horrific burn on his face one day and mommy dearest gets all the blame for it? Then she gets tossed into a mental facility for forever, never getting a chance to tell her side of the story? Everyone knew that was garbage, but because Endeavor's the number two hero, he was untouchable."
"You…you don't know what you're talking about," Shoto said, mouth dry. His objection sounded weak even to him.
Of course, he knew that his father wasn't the one who'd given him his scar, even though Shoto did feel he was largely responsible for it, if only indirectly. But if it had been Endeavor, well, the man certainly could have made his mother take the fall like that, and Shoto wouldn't put it past him to do just that.
"Maybe some of the details I'm assuming were wrong, but tell me that I've got the broad strokes of it wrong," Shigaraki challenged him.
Shoto tried to shake his head, but the villain's grip on him stopped him.
"You asked me a question and I answered," Shigaraki rasped. "Now, do me the politeness of answering my question, little hero."
The student took a deep breath then exhaled through his nose. "I think….it has to do with the way you're perceived by people," he said. "To you, it might look you're the same, but to the average person, you seem to be just lashing out wildly, like a child having a temper tantrum."
Shigaraki scowled darkly, but he didn't tighten his grip on the hero student's neck. "And the Hero Killer was different?"
"All that 'grandstanding' he did let people know what he was about," Shoto said. "You said it yourself, people when things with heroes and the hero system aren't right, even if they can't always prove it or know the details. So what he was saying struck a chord with people. And even if people found his methods horrifying, at least he did something about the problem. Most people feel helpless when it comes to that sort of thing. And it probably helped that he wasn't attacking students and random civilians. Even pro heroes were afraid of him by the end."
Shigaraki was quiet for a long moment, then he grinned, wide and grotesque. "I see. It's all so clear to me now," he said. "Like I've connected the dots."
Shoto gazed at the villain with wide eyes, afraid to interrupt whatever epiphany he was having.
"It's because the heroes aren't scared of me yet," Shigaraki said, like he was speaking some kind of profound truth.
"What?" Shoto blurted out before he could stop himself.
"All these brainless NPCs here are able to smile and mindlessly go about their day because they know their protectors, their heroes aren't scared of the League. But they were scared of Stain, and that's why he made such an impact," Shigaraki said.
Shoto didn't think the villain drawing this conclusion would lead to anything good, but he also felt certain that Shigaraki would try to kill him if he attempted to debate this issue with him.
"After all, these sheep here probably figure that if their heroes aren't scared, then they shouldn't be, either!" Shigaraki continued. "I don't know why I didn't see it earlier! Thank you, Todoroki."
"…don't mention it," Shoto said flatly.
The villain chortled at that, then, abruptly released his hostage, getting up from his seat and walking off all in one quick, shockingly smooth motion. Shoto blinked, and he disappeared into the press of people at the mall.
The hero student reached into his pocket to take out his phone and call the authorities…then hesitated.
What good would it do? He wondered.
Shoto would have to deal with hours of the police questioning him about every minute detail of the encounter, not to mention Endeavor telling him that he should've detected a threat before the villain could get so close and should've been able to restrain him rather than letting him get away. He couldn't imagine how using his father's fire could've made the situation better, but the number two hero would come up with some theoretical way it would've helped, no matter how absurd in reality, and use it to beat him over the head with.
It all would be worth that ordeal, if it helped the police and the heroes find or combat the League of Villains, but would it? Shigaraki would be long gone before the authorities could arrive at the mall, and it wasn't like the villain had dropped any particularly useful information. They'd already known he was probably in general area, and the fact that he'd like to make even pro heroes afraid of him wasn't exactly going to shock anyone, or give them a clue as to what he'd do next. The fact that he'd confessed to duping the villain community in regards to Stain was interesting, but the villain himself had pointed out that other villains wouldn't believe that claim coming from a hero student.
With the smallest trace of a scowl, he put his phone away and resumed his hunt for camping equipment.
Bakugo really didn't know how he'd ended up at the damned food court.
In all honestly, he was still a little foggy on how the hell Shitty Hair had managed to cajole him into coming to the mall with the rest of these extras at all, but at least for that he could truthfully say that he needed to go anyway to pick up some things for the summer camp.
He had no idea how he'd been talked into getting a damned smoothie with these rejects, but somehow that had happened, so he sat at the table pointedly not touching his while glaring at nothing in particular.
The explosive blonde had been prepared to just spend the entire time in the food court like that, but he happened to catch a stray remark from Dunce Face that immediately made him abandon that plan.
"—so jealous of Iida, Midoriya and the girls, getting to go to the I-Expo, free of charge."
"What the hell did you say?!" he demanded.
The electric boy jumped in surprise, then blinked dumbly at him. "Uh, I was just talking about everybody's plans for the break, before the camp starts, you know."
"You mentioned Deku and the I-Expo. What was that about?" he snapped.
"Oh, um, well, Yaoyorozu got some tickets to the expo, and she's taking Uraraka and Jirou with her. I heard she's actually taking all the girls to I-Island, but only those two are getting to go the I-Expo with her," Dunce Face started to explain.
"What about Deku?" Bakugo demanded.
"Oh, he got a ticket because he won the Sports Festival," Dunce Face said. "And Iida's getting to go because he comes from a big hero family and they decided to send him."
Bakugo really didn't care what Engines was up to, but the news that Deku was definitely going to the I-Expo immediately got his mind racing.
Goggles in the Support department had said that I-Island was the only place where she thought a piece of support gear advanced enough to allow someone to fake the Quirk that Deku claimed to have could potentially be made. If the nerd was going to I-Island, it was very likely that he'd go to check in with whoever had given him the thing, so he could report how it had been working and possibly to have it adjusted or whatever.
"Like I was saying, I'm so jealous of how they get to go and don't even have to do anything," Kaminari added.
Crimson eyes narrowed. "The way you say that makes it sound like you have a way to get to I-Island in time for the expo, and it just requires you to do something."
"Oh, yeah. Some of the businesses are looking for extra hands, since so many people will be visiting the island for the expo, so Mineta and me signed up to work for one of the local cafés. We'll have to work, but we'll get a free trip to the island and be able to explore it on our breaks," Kaminari said.
"You're going to get me one of those gigs, too!" Bakugo commanded.
Dunce Face blinked. "Uh, okay, it's not hard to sign up, if you know where…"
Shitty Hair chuckled. "I didn't know you were so interested in the I-Expo, Baku-bro."
The explosive blonde grinned. "There's one specific piece of support gear I really want to know more about."
Enjoy your last days being big man on campus, Deku! As soon as I have proof of your lies, everyone will realize how worthless you really are!
Chapter 44: I-Island
It was a beautiful day, with nary a cloud in a blue sky that seemed to stretch on into infinity and the ocean below sparking in the sunlight, serene and gorgeous. All in all, it was perfect weather for flying.
Ochako knew this because she was getting a brief taste of living like a rich person, in the form of a ride on the Yaoyorozu family's private jet, where she was currently gazing out one of the windows from her absurdly comfortable leather seat.
"Now this is living!" Ashido said, kicking her feet in her seat like an exuberant child and raising her glass.
Most of the other girls were a lot more comfortable indulging in the experience than she was and had wasted no time raiding the drink cabinet.
The thing had been stocked with nothing harder than designer waters and extremely fancy fruit juices, possibly in anticipation of the jet being used by a group of teenagers, but that wasn't stopping most of the 1-A girls from partaking with gusto.
"I'll say!" Hagakure agreed as she dropped a maraschino cherry into a martini glass filled with seltzer and lime juice.
The brunette smiled at her classmates' antics, quietly envious of their ability to enjoy this experience to the fullest. For her own sake, Ochako felt more out of place than anything, like she was somewhere that she didn't belong.
She was also low-key terrified of breaking something here, even though she knew Yaomomo wouldn't expect her to pay for it if she did.
And speaking of the heiress…
"You okay, Yaomomo?" she asked, turning to her. "You've been pretty quiet all day."
"Probably bummed that Midoriya couldn't join us for the flight," Jirou teased.
The terms of the trip to the I-Expo that Midoriya had won by placing first in the Sports Festival had required him to use the included plane ticket, so he wasn't on the Yaoyorozu family's jet.
Neither was Iida, for that matter, who also had his own way to the island.
They were all meeting up once they arrived on the island, of course, and most of the girls were quite happy to have a bit of girls-only time on the ritzy jet.
"It's not that," the raven-haired girl assured her.
"Then what?" Ashido asked. "We're off to an amazing vacation! You shouldn't be down in the dumps!"
"I'm not," Yaomomo assured them. "I…oh, I might as well tell you, but you need to promise me to not immediately spread this around and exercise a little discretion."
"Sure thing!" Ashido said.
"Of course!" Hagakure agreed.
The heiress looked a little skeptical but went forward anyway. "I'm planning to confess to Izuku while we're here," she said in a small voice.
"Finally!" Jirou said, as Ashido and Hagakure released squeals of excitement.
"Congratulations," Ochako said.
A light blush appeared on Yaomomo's face. "Thank you, but it's a little early to be congratulating me…"
The horned girl and the invisible girl abruptly went silent. "Wait, you don't seriously think there's a chance he'll turn you down, do you?" Ashido asked.
"Yeah, don't be crazy, girl," Hagakure agreed.
"I'm not being crazy," Yaomomo frowned.
"It's okay," Ochako assured her friend. "I'm pretty sure confessing to someone is always nerve-wracking, no matter how close you are beforehand. But you should really try not to worry. There's zero chance that Midori will reject you. We can all see that he's totally over the moon for you."
"Seriously," Jirou agreed. "I just hope that someday, someone looks at me the way Green looks at you."
"Same," Asui put in.
"Thanks," Yaomomo smiled.
"So…" Ashido drawled. "Do you have an exact plan on when you're gonna do this?"
"Well," Yaomomo said, "there's a big party that's scheduled to happen…"
Izuku stretched as he exited the plane, glad to be free of the cramped seat. Once again, he pledged that he'd fly everywhere using his power ring once he got his pro hero license, assuming that neither the Corps nor the HPSC took issue with it.
He claimed his suitcase from the baggage carousel, then took out his phone, texting the hastily created group chat that consisted of him, Iida, and the girls of 1-A.
Me: Just got off the plane. What about all of you?
Momo: We all disembarked a little more than twenty minutes ago. We decided to head to a café near the airport to wait for you. Come and join us. We can relax for a bit before we head to the hotel.
A moment later, he got a notification that she had dropped a pin.
His eyebrows rose slightly, mildly surprised the group was making a pit stop rather than reuniting and then going directly to the hotel to drop off their luggage.
He mentally shrugged, then opened the GPS app on his phone to see where the pin was. Making a note of the location, he put his phone in his pocket and headed off.
The instant he got out of the airport, he was confronted with a sight that he knew never could've occurred in Japan.
Even though it technically hadn't begun yet, many of the events and displays for the I-Expo were already in full swing, and since I-Island allowed people to use their Quirks freely, that made it possible to do some very impressive looking things indeed, especially when combined with the high tech the island was famous for. As he looked about, he saw a harp the size of a house playing a lilting melody, its strings lighting up as the piece moved forward, and huge, rainbow colored musical notes floating through the air. At the same time, jets of water shot out of an elaborate fountain, the liquid twisting and shifting to spell out welcome messages in various languages. Everywhere he looked, there was another wonder of technology and Quirks.
Izuku could've easily spent hours taking in the sights, but his friends were waiting for him. He nearly started walking toward his destination before remembering that he could use his "Quirk" here, too.
Taking to the air, he quickly made his way to the location that Momo had pinned, finding his friends sitting at one of the café's outdoor tables, their suitcases nearby.
"Hi, everyone!" he greeted them, coming down for a landing.
"Hello, Izuku," Momo smiled at him. "I hope you don't mind that we ordered a drink for you already."
She gestured to a glass with a fancy, multicolored beverage of some kind. A small piece of fruit floated in the beverage, with some yellow leafy bits stuck to it to make it resemble All Might's famous bangs.
He felt quite moved by the little gesture. Not that it was surprising that she knew he was a huge All Might fanboy, since honestly anybody who spent more than a few minutes around him would probably learn that about him. Still, after ten years of being either ignored and disregard or actively abused and bullied by nearly everyone in his life, having someone besides his mother know and care about his preferences left him more than a little touched.
"It's great, thanks," he said, sitting down. "I'm surprised you didn't go straight to the hotel, though."
"It was a fairly long flight," Momo said. "The rest of the girls and I were quite comfortable, but I thought that you and Iida might've wanted a break."
"That's very considerate of you!" the speedster chimed in. "However, I'm quite capable of going on, and I'm sure Midoriya, as a top hero student, is as well!"
Momo's smile turned rueful, and she released a small sigh. "Ah, yes, I'm sure you both are," she said. "I suppose I might as well admit that I had another motive for stopping here."
"Oh, what was that?" Uraraka asked.
"Well, as the representative for Class 1-A, I have access to parts of the students records, I was looking for something else just before the term ended, and I happened to find out when your birthday is, Izuku," Momo explained.
"Wait, does that mean it's your birthday?" Uraraka turned to Izuku. "Midori, why didn't you tell us?"
"I…uh, it just passed," Izuku stammered out, completely caught off guard both by Momo revealing this and the following reaction.
"You should've told us," Iida said. "Even if it had occurred in the run up to the exams, as your friends, we would've taken the time to observe the occasion in some way!"
"Why did you keep it a secret, Green?" Jirou asked. "Don't like people celebrating it or what?"
"Um," Izuku scratched the back of his head nervously. "It's not that, it's just…nobody except my mom bothered to do anything for my birthday in years. In fact, if anybody at school noticed it, they were more likely to try and do something to make the day worse for me instead of wishing me a happy birthday or whatever."
"What?!" Ashido exclaimed.
"Why?" Hagakure yelped at the same time.
Izuku shrugged. "I mentioned before that my Quirk came in really, really late, right?" he asked, and they nodded. "Well, people thinking I was Quirkless didn't exactly win me a lot of friends back in elementary and middle school. Just the opposite, in fact."
Part of him wanted to just melt into his chair with embarrassment. Indeed, if not for Mogo having told him, more than once, that he had no reason to be ashamed for other people's bad behavior in his past so far as the bullying he'd endured was concerned, he might've been desperately seeking any flimsy excuse to flee this situation.
"So people gave you grief over it, and nobody except your family even celebrated your birthday because of it?" Asui asked. "That's messed up, kero."
"Bullies are the worst," Ashido said with disgust.
"How are we all doing?" a very familiar voice, tight with barely restrained ire, suddenly broke into the conversation.
Izuku whirled around, eyes wide. "Kacchan?! What are you doing here?!"
"The hell does it look like, shitty nerd?!" the explosive blonde snapped, gesturing toward his current outfit, which consisted of a white, button up shirt, bow-tie, black pants, and a black apron.
"We probably should've mentioned that he's our waiter," Asui put in.
"Excuse me, garçon, but Green here is a member of our dining party," Jirou said, trying to look both innocent and stern at once and not quite succeeding at either, thanks largely to her barely suppressed smirk. "And I don't appreciate you addressing him that way. If I hear you directing that sort of language at him or any of us again, I'm going to have to speak with your manager."
Kacchan ground his teeth so hard that the sound was audible. "Sorry," he grunted out, the apology visibly paining him. "Do any of you need anything?" he ground out.
"I'm fine!" Izuku rushed to say.
"I could use a refill," Jirou said. "And considering your rudeness earlier, I think it would be a good idea if you comped it." She added pointedly.
"Right away," Kacchan growled through clenched teeth before stomping off.
"…so, he's here," Asui said into the silence that followed. "We were surprised, too. Kaminari and Mineta are also working here, apparently, but they're on a break or something now. All three of them took waiter jobs here as a way to get to come to the island and see the expo."
Now that he was over the initial shock of seeing the explosive blonde here, and as their waiter, Izuku realized how…odd Kacchan's presence here was. In all the time Izuku had known him, the other hero student had never had a particular interest in support gear beyond what his own might someday look like, so Izuku found it more than a little surprising that he'd consent to take a menial job as a server in order to reach I-Island.
He mentally shrugged it off. Whatever Kacchan was doing here, Izuku was sure it had nothing to do with him.
"Someone should have a talk with him about not misbehaving and sullying the good name of UA and Class 1-A while he's here," Iida proclaimed.
"I suspect that would be counterproductive," Momo said.
"Never mind Bakugo!" Uraraka said. "Yaomomo, you were saying how you had some reason for wanting us to stop here, and how it has to do with Midori's birthday?"
"I was," Momo agreed, leaning down to grab her sizable suitcase. Opening it, she withdrew a large box that was wrapped in colorful paper and placed it on the table and turned to Izuku. "I wanted to give this to you today, but I also didn't want to make you carry it around all day, so I thought it was best to do this before we went to check into the hotel."
"You got me a present?" he asked, eyes suddenly glassy with unshed tears.
"Of course I did," Momo replied, as though the notion of her failing to do that was absurd.
"We would've as well, if we'd known," Iida put in.
"Yeah," Jirou agreed.
"Well, don't just stare at it all day," Uraraka giggled. "Open it!"
Nodding, Izuku tore the paper off, finding an unmarked cardboard box beneath. Opening the top, he found several more boxes inside, but these were anything but unmarked. Hero nerd that he was, Izuku knew immediately that they contained pro hero merch.
Taking out one of the ones on the top, he saw that it contained a Mirko figurine, but the whole thing was different shades of green, from the tips of her ears to her toes. The words "MIRKO: Jade Rabbit Edition" were emblazoned on the front of the box.
Blinking, he put it aside and grabbed another of the boxes inside. This one had an equally viridian Best Jeanist figurine inside of it, labelled as the "Green Jeans" edition.
"Whoa," he said as he took out a box with a jade version of Hawks inside. "Are all these…?"
Momo nodded, smiling. "Nearly all the pro heroes you created a construct of during the Sports Festival have put out merchandise of their 'green' forms," she said.
"Wow," he said, looking at the merchandise with wide eyes. "I can't believe so many heroes released figures because of my constructs."
"They did look really cool," Uraraka said. "And I heard that Mt. Lady sold about a zillion of those 'Green Lady' figures, which I'm sure didn't hurt."
"Since you were so excited about that one and the figure of Kamui Woods he gave me to give you, I thought this would make a good birthday present. Do you like it?" Momo asked him, suddenly looking nervous.
Izuku beamed. "Like it? I love it! This has to be the coolest gift I've ever gotten! Thank you so much!"
She smiled. "Happy birthday, Izuku."
The group finished their drinks while Izuku excitedly took each figurine out of the box that had contained them all to see which ones were there, finding that the raven-haired beauty hadn't been kidding. With the exception of All Might and Wash, it looked like every pro he'd made a construct of at the festival really did have a "green" figure of themselves.
The lack of a green All Might explained why he hadn't heard about these until now; he definitely would've known if that had been released.
Wonder if it would be weird if I asked him whether his agency has one coming down the pipeline…
"Well, shall we head for the hotel, now that we've all had a chance to relax and Yaoyorozu was able to give her gift to Midoriya?" Iida suggested.
"You go ahead, I'm actually kinda hungry, and this seems like as good a place as any to get some brunch," Ashido said.
To Izuku's surprise, most of the girls, including Jirou, quickly agreed, with only himself, Momo, Iida, and Uraraka wanting to proceed to the hotel.
"If that's what you all want," Momo agreed with a shrug. "But Jirou, please make sure to catch up with us once you're ready. It would be a shame if you missed too much of the expo."
"Of course," the shorter girl nodded.
That said, the group of hero students split into two, with Izuku holding the box containing his new figurines like it held priceless treasure.
"I heard it's completely legal for hero students to wear their costumes here, even without a provisional hero license or anything," Uraraka said. "We should get changed into ours once we get to our rooms. There's supposed to be some events and stuff at the expo for heroes, so we should be able to try them out."
"A sound plan!" Iida agreed.
Jirou waited until Yaoyorozu's group was out of sight and out of a normal person's earshot, then gave Ashido and Hagakure's floating clothes a flat look.
"You two are totally planning to try and 'help' Yaomomo with her confession to Midoriya, aren't you?" she asked.
"What? No, why…why would even think that?" the horned girl stammered out, tone far too innocent.
Jirou just glared at her.
"All right, fine, yes!" Ashido admitted. "How are we supposed to sit it out when something so romantic and juicy is happening?!"
"Easy, you mind your own business," Jirou said bluntly.
Ashido groaned. "Can we at least make sure that Midori's presentable for it?"
Jirou almost said no automatically, then she remembered what he'd worn the couple of times she'd seen him in something other than his school uniform. "Yeah, that would be okay," she said. "But I swear, if I find out you snuck into the I-Expo reception to interfere with things, you're going to find out what ten thousand decibels feels like."
"Fine, fine," Ashido agreed. "So, is that why you stayed behind with us? To warn us against meddling?"
"Oh no, that's not the only reason," Jirou said, glancing at Bakugo as he stomped around the café.
"Is that so?" Hagakure asked, and while it was of course impossible to see on the invisible girl, her grin was audible.
Jirou nodded. "Bakugo fired a bazooka at my best friend, and even if I don't know the details, it's obvious he gave Green all kinds of grief before they got to UA, likely for years. Yaomomo would probably say something about being the bigger person and not taking advantage of this situation and that she got payback at the Sports Festival anyway. And I don't think Green could hold a grudge if his life depended on it," she said. "I don't have that problem, and I'm totally willing to not be the better person here, so I'm going to go absolutely Turbo Karen on Bakugo's ass."
Asui croaked a laugh. "You're evil, and I love it."
Meanwhile, in the far less glitzy underbelly of I-Island, the villain Wolfram and his crew were busy moving their equipment through one of the artificial landmass's many labyrinthine maintenance tunnels.
"Get a move on!" he snapped at his underlings. "This could be the biggest score we've ever seen, but the whole plan goes to hell if we're not in position by the time the heroes' prissy party starts tonight!"
"Don't worry, boss," Swordkill reassured him. "We've got more than enough time to get everything ready and get to the central tower's control room before it's go time. I just hope the codes that Abramson guy gave you work."
"They will," Wolfram reassured him with a smirk. "I've dealt with his type before and—"
He didn't get any further before a heavy metal door at the far end of the tunnel they were in swung open with a shriek of poorly maintained hinges. Several members of Wolfram's crew groaned loudly as piercing light flooded the tunnel, dispelling the previous gloom and blinding them.
Squinting against the sudden brilliance, Wolfram was able to spot someone standing in the doorway that had just opened. The light stopped him from truly seeing the person, but he could make out the silhouette well enough to determine that the mystery interloper was a woman and wore an outfit too elaborate to be anything but a hero costume of some kind. He could just make out blonde hair along the edge of the silhouette's head.
"Who the hell are you?!" he demanded.
The mystery heroine ignored the question. "Sorry, villains, but your attempt to infiltrate this place and hold the island hostage ends now!"
"Don't think that just because you took us by surprise, you're a match for us!" Wolfram growled.
"Boss," Nobu whispered to him. "If the heroes on the island know about the plan, the whole operation's already doomed. And she seems really confident. Maybe we should…"
Wolfram ignored him. "Bring it on, bitch!"
"Just remember afterwards that you asked for this!"
"Wow, that was incredible!" Izuku exclaimed as he, Momo, Uraraka, and Iida departed from the Hall of Innovation, where the most cutting edge new support technologies were being shown off for the I-Expo.
"Indeed, it's truly amazing what the scientists here have come up with!" Iida agreed.
The four of them had all checked into the hotel, dropped off their luggage, and changed into their hero costumes, then finally gone out to have a look at what the I-Expo had to offer. Considering the whole point of the expo was to showcase the scientific progress that those on the island had made, it was little surprise that displays of new technology and support gear took center stage.
"It was super cool, but a lot of the stuff in there seemed so complicated that it feels like you'd need to train with it for months before you could use it in real life," Uraraka remarked. "Either that or it was really specialized. I mean, being able to go down 9,000 meters in the ocean is crazy impressive, but how often do even marine heroes need to do that?"
"Keep in mind that everything here is bleeding edge tech," Momo reminded the gravity girl. "It's more proof-of-concept than anything. By the time products with any of this technology make it to market, it'll be considerably refined and easier to use than the prototypes on display."
"It was really cool of you to take us around and get us the exclusive tour," Izuku smiled.
She smiled at him, causing his heartbeat to accelerate. "Oh, it was nothing," she said. "I merely asked the groups that are sponsored by my family's company if they could give us a closer look."
"I think it's more than what most people got," Uraraka remarked with a grin.
"Most people aren't even able to get in here so early," Iida pointed out.
Momo looked like she was about to say something when they heard someone call out to them. "Hey, guys!"
"Jirou!" the raven-haired girl smiled. "I'm glad you were able to rejoin us."
"Oh, you have something on your cheek there," Uraraka said, pointing at her own face to indicate the spot. "Is that…soot?"
Jirou smirked as she wiped the black smudge from her face. "Me and the other girls had a very exciting lunch."
Knowing who their waiter had been, Izuku immediately decided not to ask.
"Anyway, we just went through the Hall of Innovation," he said. "We can go back in if you'd like to take a look, too. I'm sure there's stuff we missed. The place is huge!"
"Thanks, Green, but I can check it out later. I don't want to drag you all through something you've seen already, and I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff to see and do here," Jirou said.
"It might be prudent to start preparing for the reception tonight," Iida put in.
The punk rocker gave him a look of disbelief. "That's hours and hours from now," she said. "We've got tons of time. Let's find something fun to do!"
Momo looked like she was about to suggest something, but she was interrupted by a glacier abruptly forming in the distance.
"What was that?!" Uraraka exclaimed, pointing at it.
Izuku held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "Nobody near there seems to be freaking out, and it looks like it's some kind of arena or something," he said, observing the faux natural rocky area the glacier had erupted from.
"Let's go check it out!" Uraraka exclaimed.
Nobody protested, so the group was soon rushing off toward the glacier that had rapidly appeared. What they found was some kind of arena, where a pretty young woman in a tube top, miniskirt, thigh high boots, and a jacket that didn't cover her midriff was trying to commentate while visibly shivering thanks to the massive amount of ice that had appeared nearby.
"A-Amazing! Our l-latest contestant destroys all the opponents w-with one massive attack and m-moves to the t-top of the leaderboard with a time of f-fourteen seconds!"
Izuku and the others looked down at the arena itself, quickly spotting a familiar face standing in the center of the arena.
"Is that Todoroki?" he asked.
It was a silly question; if the two-toned hair wasn't enough of a tip off, the all-white hero costume certainly would've erased any doubt.
"It is," Iida said, before calling out to their classmate. "Hello, Todoroki! Good to see another fellow student here!"
The boy in question turned to look at his classmates with an expression of dull surprise. "Oh, you're here, too."
"Yes, we came as a group. Midoriya and I had our own tickets, while Yaoyorozu invited Uraraka and Jirou," Iida explained. "What about you?"
"My father received an invitation, but he was unable to attend and sent me in his place," Todoroki answered, somehow coming off as nearly emotionless and vaguely annoyed at once.
"Ex-Excuse me!" the announcer broke in. "Can you please remove this ice so we can proceed with the next contestant?"
"Yes," Todoroki answered, pressing a hand to the ground.
The glacier rapidly began to shrink, mist rising into the air as it quickly sublimated. The chill air caused most of the people nearby to shiver, but it was a warm, sunny day, and a hot summer wind quickly blew away the cold.
"Thank you! Let's hear it one more time for the current first place competitor!" the announcer said as Todoroki walked off, returning to the spectator section. "Do we have any other heroes or prospective heroes who want to tackle this simulated villain attack course?"
"How cool!" Uraraka said. "Yaomomo, you and Midori should totally do it!"
"I'll bet you could beat Todoroki's time," Jirou added.
"Oh, I don't know…" Izuku said.
"I think it's a good idea," Momo said.
"Well, okay then," Izuku said.
Jirou and Uraraka snickered at his abrupt about face. The green-haired hero student decided to do his best to ignore them.
"It looks like we've got some new challengers!" the announcer proclaimed as the two of them came forward. "Which of you two would like to take this challenge first?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like to take the first crack at this," Momo said, reaching down to fiddle with her boots.
"Of course," Izuku quickly agreed.
"And the first of our new challengers steps up!" the announcer said as the onyx-eyed hero student went to the starting position. "Remember, folks, the name of the game is to traverse the area and defeat the robots here in the shortest possible time without enduring any of their attacks! Challenger, are you prepped to begin?"
"Yes," Momo nodded.
"In that case, the attack course is set! Get ready, go!"
The raven-haired beauty took off like a rocket—literally. Explosions erupted from the bottoms of her feet, propelling her into the air at amazing speed.
"Wow, look at Yaomomo go!" Uraraka exclaimed as the Creation user shot out a strand of tape, using it adjust her course.
"She really stepped it up since the festival!" Jirou agreed.
Still moving at dizzying speeds, the rep of Class 1-A created a pair of ultra-sharp blades from her forearms and surged toward the first robot enemy, slicing through it as though it was nothing and leaving it to collapse into two neat pieces. Then she was onto the next, still using explosions from her feet to rocket herself forwards while using tape and smaller explosions from her hands to alter her trajectory as needed, slicing down one robot after another.
"That speed is amazing," Izuku said, awed.
"Indeed," Iida agreed. "I'm capable of going that fast in high gear, but the level of agility she's displaying is completely beyond me."
Almost as quickly as she'd begun, Momo reached the summit of the artificial mountain, cutting down the final robot there with ease before perching herself at the highest point, panting with the exertion of her explosive burst of movement.
"An incredible run!" the announcer gushed. "Our newest challenger takes the lead with a time of only twelve seconds!"
"Congratulations, Yaomomo!" Uraraka cheered as the Creation user returned to the spectator area.
"That was amazing!" Izuku said. "How did you do that?"
Smiling, Momo lifted one foot, showing that the sole of her boot had holes like Swiss cheese, revealing a thick, dark red fabric beneath it. "I had my shoes modified by the support department recently. This is the same material used in Bakugo's gloves," she explained. "It makes much more sense for me to create the nitro substance from my feet for personal propulsion, since I don't usually use my Quirk from my feet otherwise. And I have a piece I can slide into my boot if I'm not using them." She added, sliding a metal piece into place to demonstrate, concealing the holes.
"So, you can fly now, too?" Jirou asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Only for short bursts," Momo answered. "With the concentration required to do it correctly, the force on my legs, and the drain on my body's reserves needed to constantly create so much of that nitro, it's not something I'd want to try to do for an extended period. In practice I may end up using it more for an enhanced jump than flight."
"Will the next contestant please proceed to the starting position?" the announcer asked, gazing pointedly at Izuku.
The green-haired young man chuckled bashfully. "Almost forgot I was going to do this, too," he said as an emerald aura appeared around him and he lifted slightly off the ground.
"Izuku," Momo said just before he took off. "Don't you dare hold back so I can keep the top time."
He blinked, then smiled and nodded. "Right!"
"Everyone welcome our newest challenger!" the announcer said as Izuku touched down at the starting position. "Our last contestant set a seriously impressive time! Can he beat it? There's only one way to find out! Contestant, on your mark, get ready, go!"
Izuku shot straight up into the air, rising until he was looking down at the highest part of the course, then poured willpower into his ring.
Jade missiles immediately sprang into being and went careening toward the robots. A series of orange fireballs erupted along the field as each one met their marks, reducing the machines acting as villain stand-ins to so much scrap.
"Incredible! Our latest challenger sets the bar even higher with a time of only nine seconds!" the announcer exclaimed.
Izuku waved nervously as several in the audience cheered and flew back to Momo and the others.
"Well done," the raven-haired girl praised him, smiling. "A very straightforward and effective approach."
"Indeed!" Iida did his customary chipping motions. "Truly you both did UA proud with your performances!"
"Thanks," Izuku said. "Todoroki, I hope you don't mind. You did really well too…"
He trailed off as he saw that the boy with the two-toned hair was stalking away and had nearly reached the exit by this point.
"Todoroki…"
"Let him go, Green," Jirou said. "You can't force him to open up and quit being so cold all the time. No pun intended." She added.
"Indeed," Momo agreed. "I understand that you worry about him, and feeling a sense of responsibility as one of the class reps to reach out to him, but ultimately we don't have the authority to force him to change his behavior."
"Yeah, you're right, of course," Izuku said, accepting it but not liking it.
"Hey, let's not get gloomy about something we can't change," Uraraka said. "Especially not now. We're on vacation in one of the most amazing places in the world, and we still have a few hours before we need to get ready for the big party tonight. We should just have fun for once."
"See, she gets it," Jirou grinned.
"You're right," Izuku said, managing a smile this time. "Let's go. I still need to get a souvenir for my mom and Eri, anyway. Let's see what this place has to offer."
The group of teenagers headed off, and for a little while they were allowed to be unconcerned with villain groups hero training or even confessions of romantic feelings, and to just be a bunch of young people having fun.