Chapter 66: Well, a Rather Unpleasant Surprise
The bus doors hissed open, and the class stepped out into the vast open area leading to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint—USJ. The massive domed structure loomed ahead, its exterior sleek and imposing, divided into distinct zones visible even from a distance: a flooded cityscape, a burning ruin zone, a landslide area, and more. Everyone paused for a moment, taking in the sheer scale of the facilities the school had constructed specifically for training future heroes.
Uraraka's eyes widened in awe as she gazed around.
"How incredible! So we're going to have our rescue classes here?"
Izuku nodded, his voice filled with admiration.
"As expected from the country's top hero school—nothing less."
Aoi stood there, arms crossed, looking at the impressive setup with a quiet sigh. He thought to himself: "It's like this school must be sponsored by a lot of powerful tycoons just to protect their interests. Well, even being heroes, in the end, the government is the one pulling the strings."
Out loud, he muttered:
"Well, what a bunch of evil capitalists."
Aoi then noticed the entire class turning to stare at him. He blinked, confused.
"What's wrong, everyone? Why the looks?"
Kaminari laughed, pointing at him.
"Dude, you're one of those evil capitalists too!"
Momo smiled knowingly.
"It's true. Aoi, you and I are the evil capitalists you're talking about—we come from those kinds of families."
Aoi paused dramatically, then shrugged with a grin.
"Really? So now I'm officially part of the dark side of the force."
He looked at them all and said, joking:
"Then line up quickly. I need more employees. I offer one annual vacation of 2 days. How about that? Aren't I a nice guy?"
Everyone hearing this thought simultaneously: "You accepted your position way too quickly."
While they were still laughing and chatting lightly about it, a cheerful voice suddenly echoed from the entrance platform.
"Hello, everyone. Welcome to the USJ!"
The class turned toward the voice and saw a hero in a full space suit standing there, waving welcomingly.
Uraraka, recognizing them immediately, shouted excitedly:
"It's the hero 13!"
Izuku's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
"Professional hero 13. They're a famous hero specialized in search and rescue operations."
Aoi chuckled.
"Izuku, you're such a nerd."
Aoi sighed inwardly and thought: "Only Izuku would memorize the names and specialties of all the famous heroes like that. But honestly, I still find it strange for a person with a destructive quirk like hers to work in rescuing people in disasters. But if you stop to think about it, she did the same thing I did. Despite having a destruction quirk, she chose to work in rescue. I, despite having a healing quirk, want to work fighting villains. If I wasn't a reincarnated person, I'd even believe our quirks got switched at birth."
Uraraka, still buzzing with excitement, looked at 13.
"I'm a big fan of yours. Can you give me your autograph?"
Aizawa turned to 13 and asked directly:
"Where's All Might? I thought he was going to meet us here for the training."
13 replied calmly.
"About the veteran... It seems he reached his limit during his daily patrol."
Aoi glanced at this exchange and thought: "As expected from All Might. Even when he's all worn out and pushing his time limit, he's still totally focused on helping people out there. Well, I really admire that dedication. But honestly, I could never live like that—sacrificing everything for the role."
13 continued.
"Well, he's resting in the teachers' lounge now to recover."
Aizawa grumbled.
"He's really as irresponsible as always, acting like that without thinking every single time. Well, whatever then—we'll manage."
He then looked at the students gathered in front of the entrance and said:
"Well, let's get started. No more delays."
13 stepped forward, addressing the class with a professional yet warm tone.
"Before we begin the actual training, I have three things to say to all of you."
She paused for emphasis, then continued.
"As you know, my quirk is black hole. It can suck in and destroy everything it touches."
Izuku said excitedly, unable to contain himself.
"Yes! And you've used it to save many people in disasters, right?"
13 nodded.
"That's true. But my power could easily kill many people if misused. I have no doubt that among you, there are some with quirks that could also kill many people if you're not careful. In our current society, quirk use is heavily restricted and monitored for good reason. But one wrong move in using your quirk, and many innocent people can get seriously hurt—or worse."
Aoi looked at 13 with a somewhat strange, almost awkward expression. After all, he felt that her lecture didn't really apply well to him in the conventional sense. He was a person who had taken a simple healing quirk and turned it into something far more dangerous and versatile. So it was pretty strange hearing her emphasize caution like that. But it was a matter of not being able to use your individuality freely in daily life, and it was hard to fully agree with the restrictions. After all, if everyone could get a license for civilian quirk use—like a driving license—it would help a lot. Imagine a school or program where you'd learn the basics of safe quirk usage, and after passing tests, get a basic license to use it in everyday situations without legal issues. That way, if a villain attacks, ordinary people wouldn't be so helpless—they could at least use their quirks to escape the area or hide effectively. Unlike today, where if a villain appears, the only thing civilians can do is scream for help from a pro hero and hope one arrives in time.
13 then concluded her speech.
"This class will show you a new way to use your powers. You'll learn to use your quirk to save lives—because your power wasn't made to hurt anyone."
Aoi, hearing this, felt even more embarrassed and turned his head to the side while thinking desperately: "Please, 13, stop talking. You're saying this to a person who awakened a healing quirk and thought it was way cooler to fight villains than save people in disasters. And who turned their quirk into a full-on weapon of war. So 'hurting someone' is still way too light to define what I transformed my quirk into."
Momo, glancing at Aoi's embarrassed reaction and recalling what 13 had just said, quickly put the pieces together and understood that everything in the lecture inadvertently went against the path Aoi had chosen with his own quirk.
13 then smiled warmly at the class.
"Well, that's all I had to say. Thank you for listening."
Everyone then applauded enthusiastically, appreciating the insightful words.
When suddenly Aoi sensed something powerful with his Haki and looked up sharply, detecting a high energy signature approaching fast.
Aizawa, who had also noticed something off in the air, shouted urgently:
"Students, stay together! Don't move!"
Then everyone looked forward in alarm, where a swirling portal of black mist suddenly opened in the central plaza, and several figures began emerging from it one by one.
Kaminari asked nervously.
"Are they fake villains participating in the exercise too—like actors?"
Aizawa replied firmly.
"No. Stay away from them. They're real villains."
Iida exclaimed in disbelief.
"Villains? Impossible! What villains would be crazy enough to enter the country's most famous hero school?"
Momo asked quickly.
"Professor, why weren't any alarms triggered? The security should have gone off immediately."
13 said:
"There are alarms here, but..."
Aoi interjected calmly.
"Well, they're not idiots to enter a hero school without at least some planning. In other words, they must have someone with a quirk that blocks distress signals or interferes with the sensors. In other words, we're isolated—alone with them for now."
Kaminari stared at him.
"How are you so calm knowing that?"
Aoi smiled confidently.
"Well, when you're strong enough, calm comes as a bonus with the strength."
Momo said, smiling tiredly.
"Aoi, now's not the time to show off. We're dealing with real villains here."
Aoi smiled reassuringly at her.
"You can relax. I'll protect my dear childhood friend—no matter what."
Kirishima interrupted with a grin.
"Well, I don't want to interrupt your romantic moment there, but they've arrived—and there are a lot of them."
Aoi then looked forward seriously.
Aizawa commanded.
"Enough messing around. Iida, I need you to go get help right now. As Aoi said, they must have a quirk to block signals. So you're the only one who can get out of here fast enough with your speed."
Iida hesitated.
"But professor, how will you handle so many villains alone? Your quirk can't erase that many at once."
Aizawa smiled faintly.
"No good hero has only one trick up their sleeve. So go already. Iida, I'm counting on you."
Iida nodded determinedly and started running toward the exit and the school beyond. The villains tried to stop him, swarming in his path, but Aizawa leaped into action, using his capture weapon to bind and disable them, creating an opening for Iida to escape the area safely.
A villain shouted angrily:
"Die, you shitty hero!"
But he suddenly couldn't activate his quirk, and Aizawa yanked him forward with the scarf, delivering a powerful kick to the nose that sent him flying far away.
He then continued fighting the incoming villains efficiently. The villains shouted in frustration:
"That's Eraser Head!"
Another yelled:
"You idiots! He can erase your quirks just by looking at you. Don't let him see
A villain with a mutant-type quirk smirked.
"Well, let's see how your quirk works against a mutant type."
Aizawa swiftly pulled him in, landed a solid punch that sent him tumbling far away, and said coolly:
"It doesn't work"
While Aizawa was holding off the villains at the entrance, at that moment 13 said urgently:
"Let's go quickly. While Aizawa is holding them back, I'll take the opportunity to get you all out of here safely."
13 then activated her quirk, trying to evacuate the students away from the central battle area. But suddenly Kurogiri appeared in a swirl of black mist right in front of them and said:
"Sorry, but I can't allow more of you to escape so easily."
He then introduced himself formally:
"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our rude behavior and sudden intrusion, but we came to this place to take down two rather annoying individuals: All Might... and a certain annoying genius, right, Todoroki Aoi?"
Aoi looked at him steadily and said:
"Well, it seems it was your leader who sent me those little 'gifts' when I was a child, right? The assassination attempts."
Kurogiri replied smoothly.
"Well, our master thought it would be very kind of him to try early."
13 asked, confused and protective.
"What is he talking about, Aoi?"
Aoi said calmly.
"It's nothing major, professor. It's just that since I became famous as a genius kid, I've been targeted and attacked by villains multiple times. And from what it seems, these guys here were the main ones responsible for most of those attacks over the years. And now it looks like they want to take the opportunity to get rid of both All Might and me while we're here."
13 said firmly:
"I understand."
She then stepped protectively in front of Aoi and declared:
"I will never let you hurt my students."
Kurogiri responded.
"Then that's a shame. I'll have to be rude about it."
He then activated his warp gate quirk to teleport the remaining students to various scattered locations throughout the USJ zones.
Aoi, seeing this unfold, thought analytically: "It's not bad, after all. It's better for them to be separated and fight smaller groups of villains they have a real chance against than stay clustered here in the center of the battlefield with him and those monstrous things."
Aoi thought this while glancing at the two hulking Nomus standing silently behind Shigaraki.
He only intervened when Kurogiri attempted to teleport 13 herself. In a flash, Aoi grabbed her arm and leaped far out of the warp gate's range, landing safely away.
Kurogiri sounded mildly surprised.
"Well, look at that. You managed to save one. So why didn't you act sooner to stop me completely? You know, you could have prevented the others from being scattered if you'd moved earlier."
Aoi, seeing that 13 was looking at him curiously for an explanation, said straightforwardly:
"Well, simple. Because I know the things you brought here to try to kill me and All Might—those Monsters and the rest. So I know the scattered students will be much safer fighting the weaker villains they have a real chance against than staying grouped here in the middle of the main battlefield with those things."
He also thought privately: "Besides, I can monitor everyone's positions and conditions with my Haki from here. And if something goes wrong in one of the zones, I can tell 13 the exact location and send her there for quick reinforcement. That was the main reason for saving her specifically— and can evacuate or support rapidly."
Kurogiri acknowledged.
"Well, as expected from you, Aoi Todoroki. You quickly figured out which situation is most advantageous for your classmates' survival and let it happen accordingly. Well, I'm impressed by your strategic thinking."
Aoi replied dryly.
"Well, I'm not very happy to have a villain who wants to kill me impressed with me."
At that moment, Aizawa reappeared beside Aoi and 13 after clearing a wave of villains. 13 quickly explained the teleportation situation to him.
On Kurogiri's side, Shigaraki also approached casually, scratching his neck impatiently, with the two Nomus looming behind him like silent guardians.
Shigaraki looked around the central plaza and said impatiently:
"Where's All Might? He hasn't arrived yet? I was really looking forward to this. But whatever. Just kill everyone here, and he'll show up eventually, right?"
At that moment, Kurogiri pointed out:
"But one of our primary targets is still here. Look."
Shigaraki turned his gaze to Aoi and said with a creepy grin:
"Well, we can have some fun with him first, before All Might arrives."
Aoi looked at the approaching threat, sighed deeply, and said:
"Well, it seems the only way to get out of here alive today is to surpass all our limits."
He then flashed a wild, determined smile and said fiercely:
"Let's go, you shits."
Aizawa, seeing Aoi's battle-ready stance, was about to say something—perhaps to tell him to fall back or leave it to the pros—but stayed quiet. After all, even if he ordered Aoi to leave it to them, it was impossible for these villains to ignore and leave Aoi alone, since Aoi was explicitly one of their main objectives for invading the USJ in the first place.
Aizawa then simply dropped into a combat position, facing the enemy side alongside 13, ready for the fight ahead.