Chapter Text
Hatsume Mei was having mixed feelings about what she was doing today.
On the one hand, getting another opportunity to visit Yaomomo’s home was awesome! Even if it was just for a study session instead of hanging out, Mei had no doubt that she would be having plenty of opportunities for having fun!
On the other hand, there was a realistic chance that spending today with this study group would ruin the already pretty tight schedule Mei and Izuku had laid out to finish Yaomomo’s gear in time. Once they had gotten the invitation from the hero course girl they had to shift quite a few things around in hope it wouldn’t disrupt things too much. To say that this sudden development had inconvenienced them would be an understatement, but neither Mei nor Izuku had the heart to say no after hearing Yaomomo being so excited over the phone, at least not without first making the effort to see if their plans could be readjusted for this occasion.
Realistically everything should be alright, since they wouldn't be just goofing off today anyways. If the study session went well then it might even save them some time in the end! To be honest it’s not like they could get any substantial work on the support items done anyway, since U.A. unfortunately wouldn’t let its students stay overnight on the weekend, or ever for that matter. Should they be able to get most of the studying for the exams out of the way today, though, then they should be able to focus all their efforts on finishing up their little surprise for Yaomomo!
Mei honestly was looking forward to finally bringing their little plan to fruition. She didn’t like to admit it but those all-nighters these past couple days had started to wear her down. Thinking about the face her raven-haired friend would make once they got to surprise her with the gear she had ordered, was what had kept Mei going so far, together with her desire to keep up with Izuku’s fierce determination. Still, in a way Mei was glad Maho-nee had put her foot down and forced her to have a good long night's rest yesterday, she doubted she would be able to benefit much from participating in a study group if she was too tired after all.
On that topic, Mei was also quite curious who else besides her and Izuku would be part of this study group. She didn’t really know any people from the hero course besides Yaomomo and Jirou. Maybe if she played her cards right Mei could snatch herself another client for the future?
Studying, networking and even the possibility of making some new friends made this visit to Yaomomo’s home sound more and more like it will allow Mei to kill several birds with just one stone! The more she thought about it the more excited she got!
First she needed to actually get there of course. Yaomomo had instructed her to take the train to the station closest to the manor, meet up with the other participants of the study group and then together take a car she had sent for them so they could reach the lavish Yaoyorozu estate without having to walk for miles. Unfortunately for Mei she seemed to be the first to arrive, meaning she had to walk to the pick up point on her own, thanks to Izuku missing the train she had taken.
At least finding the car was not that difficult. It’s hard to overlook the large luxurious limousine parking close to the exit of the train station. Neither was the big guy standing next to it who was wearing a simple, black suit and some sunglasses, as if he was trying to cosplay as a professional bodyguard. Then again the Yaoyorozus were very rich and important people, so they probably did employ a couple bodyguards. Mei was wondering, though, why they felt the need to send one to pick up some students in one of Japan’s safest cities, crime statistics wise.
Once she approached the car Mei’s initial hunch was quickly proved right, when the man went through the trouble of confirming her identity. Having her student pass with her had made that thankfully a quick and uncomplicated affair, although she suspected the bodyguard had pictures of her and the other students he was sent to collect on his phone, since he had moved to get his phone out before Mei had shown him her ID.
With that out of the way the bodyguard suggested to Mei that she should take a seat in the car while they waited for the rest of the guests to show up. Being curious about who else would show up as she was, Mei naturally declined and remained outside, her eyes directed towards the constant stream of people leaving the train station.
Thanks to her Quirk scanning the crowd for familiar and/or unfamiliar but interesting faces was pretty easy. Using Zoom like that in public might technically be illegal, but Mei didn’t particularly care. While not officially exempt from Quirk regulations, no sane prosecutor would try to press charges against people with sensory mutation Quirks, since most of them either couldn’t be switched off or, like in her case, had very subtle signs of activation. Pupil dilation and constriction had many different causes after all, so proving she was using her Quirk was pretty darn difficult.
If Mei was perfectly honest she never quite understood what all the fuss about public Quirk usage was about. Sure there were some pretty fucking dangerous Quirks out there but the overwhelming majority of them was just lame. The average person could easily deal a lot more damage to people and infrastructure with just a swiss army knife than with sixty or seventy percent of the Quirks out there! Seriously! Being so restrictive only made sense during the dark age when there were still too many unknowns regarding Quirks!
In this day and age, after decades of Quirk research and numerous systems for Quirk identification and registration in place, the government had no logical reason to continue this harsh stance. Unless they seriously believed someone turning his tongue green in public posed a grave threat for national security.
If Mei were to guess, she’d say the real reason for this was simply the tendency of security services in particular and governments in general to accumulate as much power as they possibly could. The era right before the dawn of Quirks was rife with examples of states doing exactly that in the name of fighting ‘terrorism’ while in truth only expanding their own power at the expanse of the human rights and privacy of their citizens.
Before Mei could spend any more time and energy thinking about the exhausting topic that was politics, she got disrupted by the bodyguard doing his ID confirmation spiel on a couple boys that had suddenly shown up. She instantly recognized them from the Sports Festival, especially the tall and lanky one from how he ended up encased in a friggin glacier and the blonde guy with the black stripe in his hair for losing in the shortest match of the whole tournament. The blonde guy with the tail was also ringing a bell, wasn’t he the guy that had declined moving up into the tournament for some weird reason?
“Oh, hey you’re that support course girl right? Did Yaoyorozu invite you too?” the blonde boy, who if Mei recalled correctly had some kind of electrical emitter Quirk, asked.
“Yep! Not gonna pass up a chance to hang out with Yaomomo!” was her enthusiastic reply.
“Hangout? Not sure we will have time for that, this is a last minute studying session, so we’ll likely be too busy cramming as much as we can,” the guy with the tail said.
“Probably not for her, the support course students are all hella smart I heard. Guess they have to be to make gadgets like that!” the blonde with the black streak in his hair commented.
“You’re not entirely wrong! When it comes to STEM related subjects, I have yet to see a test that comes even close to challenging me! Yaomomo even asked me to help out tutoring you guys in those subjects! The stuff from the other classes though… well… I guess I could use a refresher there. I have been busy lately and have fallen behind a bit as a result.” Mei explained.
“Well, I guess it's kinda comforting to know that even smart people struggle a bit with exams from time to time. It probably means there is still some hope left for us idiots!” the tall lanky guy said in a joking tone.
“Idiots?! I ranked eighth in the midterms!” the tailed guy huffed at that remark.
“Yet you are here with us, making you an idiot by association,” the black haired boy retorted with a teasing grin on his face.
“Are you going to say that to Jirou too? She was seventh and still asked to join Yaororozu’s study group.” The tail guy challenged, his arms crossed in front of him.
“Hell no! I may be an idiot but I’m not stupid enough to deliberately piss off Jirou, unless there is a easy escape route nearby. Being on the receiving end of those jacks ain’t fun let me tell you!” the tall guy answered.
“So, hey your name was Hatsume right?” the guy with the electrical Quirk asked her. Giving her a smile after she nodded in confirmation, he continued. “Nice! I’m Kaminari Denki from class 1-A nice to meet you!”
“Ohh, right where are my manners! I’m Ojiro Mashirao.” The other blonde introduced himself.
“I’m Sero Hanta” the last boy chimed in.
“With that out of the way, do you mind me asking you something Hatsume?” Kaminari asked her.
“Nope. Fire away!”
“So do you have any plans for after the exams? We could go and grab something to eat some time. My treat, you know, as thanks for helping out with tutoring and stuff.” Kaminari continued, while having his hands in his jacket’s pockets and giving her a smirk that Mei had trouble identifying the meaning of.
Electing to ignore the unknown non-verbal message Mei answered. “Yep! Yaomomo invited me to the I-Expo! It’s gonna be awesome!”
“What? Wow! That makes sense! Yaoyorozu was going around asking people if they wanted to join her there! I thought she was just asking people from our class, but I guess it makes sense that she asked people from the support course too!” Kaminare said after recovering from what looked like surprise on his part. “That means you’ll be there on the opening weekend right? That would be perfect! I’ll be there too! We could meet up, have a look around the Expo and then grab something to eat together! What do you say?”
Mei blinked for a moment out of confusion. She really had no clue at all why this boy she had never exchanged any words with before was so eager to go eat somewhere with her. While he seemed friendly enough there would be, unfortunately for him, no time to indulge in his offer. She would be there with Yaomomo and Izuku, after all, and she planned to spend every possible moment there together with her best friends!
Before Mei had the opportunity to decline the offer Kaminari suddenly flinched, his body immediately going tense, while letting out a high pitched ‘eeep’.
“Miss, I have to ask you to pull these things away from that boy!” The bodyguard demanded.
“Don’t you worry man, by now he should have built up a resistance to it, considering how often he tends to be on the receiving end of those!” Sero snickered.
“Careful Sero, if you continue running your mouth you’ll be next!” a familiar voice threatened.
“No thanks! I’m good! I’ll shut up now!” the boy in question responded with his hands held up defensively but still grinning mischievously.
Looking behind the blonde boy with the black streak in his hair, Mei could finally see what the commotion was about. Turns out Jirou and that pink-skinned girl she met the other day had arrived while she had been talking with Kaminari. Although, for some reason Jirou had currently one of her jacks buried in the blonde boy’s neck and was looking majorly pissed.
“What the hell Jamming Yay?! Can you just for once talk to a girl you haven’t met before without immediately trying to hit on her?! Seriously! It never works! Utsushimi was the only one that flirted back a little bit before turning you down!” Jirou said angrily to Kaminari.
“P-please calm down Jirou! I was just asking her if she wanted to go out for lunch sometime! It was just an innocent question! I swear!” Kaminari desperately argued.
“Innocent question my ass! You were trying to smooth talk your way into her panties weren’t you?” Jirou accused, calmer now but her voice still dripping with venom.
“I mean eventually I’d love to but… eeeph!” Kaminari started before being interrupted, likely by the jack pressing harder against his neck.
“Way to dig yourself deeper Kaminari…” Ojiro said while facepalming.
“I-I mean eventually! I’d like to get a girlfriend and go all the way before graduating, you know? I-it's not like I’ll have much time for dating once we’re out in the field!” Kaminari explained.
“And you think the best way to achieve this is to use the first few sentences you exchange with literally every new girl you meet to hit on them? You’re coming off like a damn creep!” Jirou shot back.
“Ok, I’m gonna step in here. While I agree with you Jirou, that Kami has awful timing when it comes to when and where to flirt, he’s still pretty harmless. He never bothered any girl that turned him down again after all! Also, he hasn’t tried hitting on literally every girl he meets, he never tried with Yaomomo for example.” The pink-skinned girl, Ashido if Mei remembered correctly, cut in, attempting to appease the other girl.
“Y-yeah! I never tried asking her out! She’s always so classy and refined, I feared she wasn’t into having a casual date, so I decided to first try and get to know her better before I try asking!” Kaminari added.
Sighing heavily, Jirou finally retracted her earphone jack from Kaminari’s neck, much to Kaminari’s relief, before crossing her arms in front of her and addressing him again with a pout. “Why don’t you do that everytime? U.A. isn’t a normal highschool, many of us don’t want or can’t afford to start dating! You going around asking almost every girl out makes you look like a desperate creep! Especially to someone that can actually hear every lame pickup line you use!”
“You could really hear me every time I tried asking a girl out?”
“Your annoying ass voice is pretty easy to make out even with all that background noise Jamming Yay. The universe seems to take a great deal of pleasure to make me overhear the things I want to hear the least.” Jirou deadpanned.
“Wow, I didn’t know Kami flirting with other girls is upsetting you sooo much Jirou-chan! Interesting…” Ashido whispered with a mischievous smirk.
“Nope! Not gonna go there!” Jirou cut the pink-skinned girl off adding an annoyed glare for good measure.
“Okay, if someone is feeling too grumpy already then I’ll drop it… for now.” Ashido replied before addressing Mei. “Hi Hatsume! I did not expect to see you here! Oh, my gosh does that mean Midori is coming too?!”
After confirming Ashido’s question and the other 1-A students explaining why she and Izuku would be attending, the pink-skinned girl suddenly grew quite excited. Mei could relate, having Izuku around just made things better! All those hours in the workshop and lunch-periods they were having together provided ample empirical proof!
Speaking of the devil, when Mei glanced at the train station again for a moment she quickly noticed a familiar shade of green, which upon closer inspection turned out to be her best friend. Mei lost no time calling out to Izuku, who in turn quickly joined their group and had his identity verified by the bodyguard. It also turned out that Izuku had been the last person on the list, so they were quickly ushered into the big car so they could finally make their way to Yaoyorozu Manor.
“So, you guys already visited Yaomomo’s place once, right?” Jirou asked them during the drive, continuing after getting nods of confirmation. “What’s it like?”
“I think we’ll find out soon enough.” Sero chimed in.
“Yeah, I know! I still wanna hear it, so I’m prepared. I don’t wanna spend most of my time there being floored by whatever kind of mansion Yaomomo lives in.” Jirou replied.
“That’s not gonna work. Yaomomo’s place is huge! Like mind bogglingly huge!” Mei answered.
“What do you mean by that?” Ojiro asked in turn.
“Well, I checked and I’m pretty sure that U.A.’s campus is the only single property in Musutafu that is larger than the Yaoyorozu estate and not by much. As Mei said, mind bogglingly huge!” Izuku interjected helpfully.
“No way! U.A. is bonkers! They have an Olympic sized stadium on campus for crying out loud! I know Yaoyorozu is rich and all but who would need such an enormous home?!” Kaminari said in complete disbelief.
“To be fair most of the estate seems to be made up by the gardens, the hedge maze and a pretty big forest. I guess the Yaoyorozus just like to be surrounded by nature, though, the manor itself is still pretty big.” Izuku added.
Before they could continue their conversion they reached the main gate of Yaomomo’s home, where the car was stopped for a moment. A group of security guards, at least half a dozen by Mei’s count, approached the vehicle, talked with the driver and the bodyguard in the car for a moment and checked the faces of each passenger before letting them drive in further.
“Damn, do they have a private army too?” Sero commented.
“No idea, those guys weren’t there the least time.” Mei replied, quite confused herself.
Granted, Mei has not been paying attention to the environment when she last visited, but she did remember that they had not been stopped during the drive to the manor. Maybe there were different protocols for when members of the family were present? Either way they would be arriving at the manor soon.
Like Mei had suspected, all kinds of banter died down once the huge building became visible, and the students started staring at it in silent awe. She herself had not felt all that different when she had been invited for the first time.
With the other teens still too stunned from taking in the sights, it fell to Mei and Izuku to lead the group inside once they had left the car. Yaomomo, thankfully, was already waiting for them in the huge entrance hall. Mei couldn’t help herself from looking her tall friend over, from the pink and white blouse, the tasteful cream coloured miniskirt to the light blue leggings which did wonders to emphasize Yaomomo’s long, graceful legs. It was an elegant yet casual look that suited the raven-haired beauty well, not that Mei had ever seen her friend in an outfit that didn’t suit her.
“Ah! You’re finally here! Did everyone have a nice trip?” Yaomomo asked, visibly radiating enthusiasm, stunning everyone, Mei included, into silence for a moment with how unbelievably adorable she was acting. “Marvellous! If you would kindly follow me, I had a room prepared for us where we’ll be able to work undisturbed!” their hostess continued after everyone had recovered enough to answer her.
Mei herself was quite surprised with how much into this her hero course friend seemed to be. She had known that Yaomomo was looking forward to today thanks to how she had sounded during the phone call where she had invited her, but damn had she underestimated the other girl’s enthusiasm!
There was no way Mei herself wouldn’t start to feel pumped as well!
Midoriya Izuku may be quite an anxious person, but he liked to think that he was getting better.
Compared to the first time he was walking through these halls, his anxiety was barely noticeable at all, despite all the new people he was with! Still, walking through those lavishly decorated corridors was making him feel small, out of place and insignificant, a feeling Yaomomo’s classmates seemingly shared, if he was reading their expressions correctly.
The biggest source for his feelings of unease, though, was the noticeably higher presence of security personnel. Last time he had been able to catch a short glimpse of one guard when they passed the gate in the car, and maybe one or two making their rounds through the halls when Yaomomo had been giving them the tour through the manor. Today he had seen more than a dozen between the squad at the gate, the guards in the entrance hall and the two men that were escorting them to whatever room their hostess had prepared for them. What was going on?
He really hoped the Yaoyorozus were not in trouble. Although, Izuku had a hard time imagining who in their right minds would try to threaten one of the richest families in the country. The short but stern warning he had been given by Mrs. Yaoyorozu had convinced him that the family matriarch had an intimidating aura that even seasoned Heroes or veteran police interrogators would have trouble to match.
He wouldn’t have any more time to ponder about this when the group finally reached their destination and Yaomomo asked everyone to enter and make themselves comfortable. Her friendly expression until this point started to look noticeably strained when the guards tried to position themselves within the room as well.
“Excuse me gentlemen, but would you mind waiting outside and giving me and my guests some privacy?”
“I’m sorry miss Yaoyorozu but our instructions are quite clear. Just act like we aren’t here.”
“Your dedication to your mission is commendable!” Yaomomo said as she bowed politely. “Yet, this is supposed to be a group studying session, which requires an environment as devoid of distraction as possible. I’m not doubting your professionalism but me and my friends would feel more at ease if you were waiting outside. Surely our security wouldn’t be compromised too much if you were to indulge this request, would it?”
Thankfully for his raven-haired friend, the security guards radioed whoever their superior was, asked for permission to do as she asked and left the room when they got confirmation.
“So, what’s the deal with those guys? Are your parents meeting the prime minister or something?” Sero asked.
“Ohh, how I wish that was true! That would mean all of this would only be temporary!” Yaomomo said with a heavy sigh. “I sincerely apologize, I hope all that additional security has not bothered any of you, has it?”
“No, not at all.” Ojiro replied. “I think we are all just surprised since your friends said all those guards are new.”
“There definitely were nowhere near as many of them last time.” Izuku chimed in. “Are you alright? Your family is not in trouble or anything? If you…”
“Thank you for your concerns Izuku, but they are not necessary. This increase in security is the result of the ‘risk assessment’ my Mother has been doing regarding YST.”
“Risk assessment?” he repeated curiously.
“I suppose that’s what my Mother calls it when she hires every private investigator or ‘specialist’, whatever she means with that, which she can find and throws them at a task. Although it appears that she had made a quite concerning discovery.”
“Please tell me she didn’t find the League of Villains and their plans to enact horrible vengeance upon us!” Kaminari pleaded, visibly shaken at the idea.
“Well, I can reassure you then, since that is not what she found. My Mother discovered a large-scale smuggling operation that has been inserting phony orders into Detnerats system and intercepting their shipments of high grade support equipment while on route.” Their hostess explained. “Thinking about it, this smuggling ring might be the reason why the thugs that attacked us at the USJ have been so remarkably well outfitted.”
“Damn! How did Detnerat not notice any of this? You’d think a large corporation like that would have better security.” Jirou wondered.
“While that’s awful and all, I still don’t see how that resulted in all those men in black walking around your home now. It’s not like those smugglers have stolen anything from you, right?” Mina added.
“They haven’t stolen anything from us yet , Mina. The speed and precision of their thefts convinced my Mother that they have inside help, potentially even from high ranking Detnerat executives. A young, still rapidly growing support company like YST would make an attractive target to expand their operation, hence why my parents are increasing security not only at our home but across all of our companies. I can’t shake the feeling that she might be overdoing it a little bit, however. I highly doubt those smugglers would be bold enough to assault us in our home. Still, these measures will hopefully deter these scoundrels until they can be arrested!” Yaomomo explained.
“Come to think about it, when we went over all those crime statistics last month for that homework assignment, the numbers for possession of illegal support equipment have clearly been rising for years! Could those guys be behind it?” Ojiro mused.
“I have been thinking the same thing, Ojiro-san! While I doubt they are the only suppliers of stolen support gear, they are likely the largest in the whole country. One more reason to hope for their swift dismantlement.” The raven-haired girl replied.
“Anyway, let us move on to a more pleasant topic!” Yaomomo declared, some of her earlier enthusiasm returning. “Travelling surely must have been exhausting, right? Let me get you some refreshments from the salon! I’ve got a broad selection of tea, coffee and assorted pastries prepared in advance. Anybody wishing for something in particular?”
Izuku for his part was a bit unsure what to order. While he was definitely preferring tea over coffee, he didn’t really know all that much about all the different blends that were available out there. He usually stuck with whatever kind of sencha was available to him. Trusting the tea expertise of the raven-haired girl, Izuku simply told Yaomomo that he’d take whatever she recommended. A sentiment which, as he immediately found out, was shared by his fellow guests.
“Alright! If you excuse me for a moment, I shall leave for the salon and return with our refreshments post-haste! Please use the time and discuss what subject we should start with so we can dive right in once I return!” the heiress said to them.
“I feel so out of place, it’s making me nervous.” Ojiro said once Yaoyorozu was out of earshot.
“Me too…” Sero admitted while looking around and taking in how large the conference room, which they were using, was.
“Yeah, I felt similar too, when I first visited. This place is so huge, and everything here looks so expensive that you’re scared that one wrong move could break something you can’t really afford to reimburse the owners for. Thankfully I know now that the Yaoyorozus keep the really expensive stuff in glass showcases, so my worries were unfounded.” Izuku told the other guests.
“That’s what you were worried about? I thought you were nervous because of the job interview.” Mei cut in.
“That too, but I try not to think about it. God, I was so nervous before entering Mr. Yaoyorozu’s office I almost felt like I was about to puke…” Izuku admitted wearily.
“So, does that mean you met both of Yaoyorozu’s parents?” Ojiro inquired.
“Yep!” Mei immediately answered.
“Cool! What are they like?” Ahsido cut in, before Ojiro could follow up.
“Her Dad seemed kinda nice, he definitely was very patient and understanding with us. Yaomomo’s Mom on the other hand could be pretty scary but she was fairly nice other than that.” Mei recounted her impression on the parents.
“Uhmm, scary is not the word I would use.” Izuku interrupted, hoping to avoid a misunderstanding. “Stern and intense are better ways to describe Mrs. Yaoyorozu. She can also be very intimidating if she wants to. We kinda got a taste of that because she thought we were using our friendship with Yaomomo to get this internship, so she felt the need to tell us that we should not expect preferential treatment in the future.”
“Hmm, I guess that means Yaoyorozu is taking more after her Dad, since I have a hard time imagining her being scary.” Sero mused.
“Actually, it’s the opposite, at least physically. Her Mom pretty much looks like an upscaled version of Yaomomo.” Mei said in response.
“Really? How much of an upscale are we talking about here? Is it only in height or the whole body? Do you have pictures…” Sero enthusiastically attempted to follow up before he flinched hard all of a sudden and violently jerked and vibrated in his seat.
“While all this banter is nice and all, I think it would be better if we got back to what we are actually here for.” Jirou suggested while retracting her jack from Sero.
“Jirou is right, we should be discussing what subjects we are going to tackle first.” Ojiro joined in.
“In that case, I guess it’s better to just get it over with and start with Math. I should be fine with the stuff we did earlier this year but everything we covered from the Sports Festival onward doesn’t make a lick of sense to me…” Kaminari lamented.
“Ugh, I hate to say it, but same!” Mina said in agreement.
“Considering those two are needing this the most, I’d say we go with what they are suggesting.” Jirou suggested. “Anyone here disagreeing?”
With nobody voicing any disagreements, the students have finally picked the first subjects to tackle. Not a second too soon, since their hostess returned just a few moments later. Pushing a large serving trolley in front of her through the doors, which were helpfully held open by one of the guards waiting outside, Yaomomo entered the room with a noticeable spring in her step.
“Here are the refreshments I promised! When it comes to keeping my energy up during studying, matcha tea has yet to fail me, so I took the liberty to prepare us a batch large enough to last us through today. Alternatively I can offer this delightful jasmine tea to everybody who is not partial to stronger blends. A soothing aroma like this can do wonders to help you recover before you tackle whatever is next on the agenda!” the heiress enthusiastically explained as she started to pour everyone a cup of their preferred beverage.
Grabbing a sizeable etagère from the trolley, Yaomomo continued as she walked around offering everyone to take from it. “Of course I brought a small selection of pastries too, for your enjoyment. I’d say everybody take one and then leave the rest for later, we wouldn’t want to gorge ourselves with food before we start working, would we? That being said, have you decided on a subject to start with already?”
“Yeah. We’re gonna start with Math, since that’s where Mina and Kaminari are the weakest.” Jirou told the heiress.
“Ah, yes! Taking care of the biggest challenge right away while you are still well rested, quite the prudent choice! Now that means we need to decide how to split everyone up. I’d say we…” Yaoyorozu started, trying to divide everyone into suitable groups.
“DIBS on Midori!” Mina yelled, while jumping up from her seat with a hand raised into the air, interrupting their hostess in turn.
This sudden outburst stunned the room into silence and had almost everybody stare at the pink-skinned girl. As surprising as this has been, Izuku was particularly confused at the reaction of Mei, that he had caught thanks to said girl sitting on the opposite side of the table, within his field of view. His classmate had noticeably tensed up and he also saw her eyebrow twitching in an eerily similar way than it usually does when she grows annoyed with something or someone. Why Mei was suddenly angry at Ashido Izuku didn’t know, yet his fellow support student’s glare, which was directed at the pink-skinned girl made it pretty obvious that was the case.
“What? When I visited him in the support department he had a solution for my problem in like five minutes tops! He’s obviously a smart cookie, so I’ll trust that he can help me out with studying as well!” Mina defended herself, clearly feeling a bit awkward after having everyone stare intensely at her in surprise.
“I, see…” Yaomomo said in a much more reserved tone than earlier and Mei visibly calming down, as if whatever had just drawn her ire was gone now almost as fast as it had appeared. “I suppose that makes sense. That means I’ll sit with you Kaminari-san and we’ll go through every issue together, step by step.” Turning to the remaining students she continued. “Recalling how you three fared in the midterms, having you share Mei as tutor should be fine. Still, if any of you are facing any difficulties feel free to join me or Izuku, especially you Sero-san.”
“Don’t worry I’ll be fine, I’m not that bad at Math!” Sero waved off the offer.
With that the students changed seats to group up like discussed. Mina for her part wasted no time to take the seat next to him with a big grin on her face and what Izuku interpreted as a mischievous glint in her eye.
“Soooo, guess it’s us two then.”
“Y-yeah…” Izuku stammered out. He may have known already that Mina was far from being a mean person, but Izuku still couldn’t help himself from feeling a little bit on edge around the pink-skinned girl. Friendly teasing was a fairly new experience for him after all, so he still had issues properly dealing with it in a way that wasn’t embarrassing. Hopefully they could just focus on studying.
“You know, I was quite jealous when I first heard that Yaomomo had invited people over. I like to think of Yaomomo and the rest of the girls in my class as close friends, so I couldn’t help feeling left out when I wasn’t invited. Getting to know you and Mei though helped me get over it. You are such good friends and unlike me and the girls, Yaomomo doesn’t get to see you almost every day, so it makes sense you two got to visit first. It’s also super nice of you to agree to help us out today! Thanks for that!” Mina told him, making Izuku feel touched by her sincerity. “That being said, words are cheap, so I’d like to show my appreciation by returning the favor!”
“T-that’s not necessary! I’m happy to help where I can, so…”
“No! I insist! I may not be able to help you with schoolwork but I do possess some particular skills that you might find useful!”
“O-ok?!”
“Yeah! Firstly, I’m being told that I have an impeccable fashion sense, so if you ever wanna dress to impress then I’ll gladly help out! Secondly, I’m an amazing dancer, so if you want to learn some awesome moves then let me know! Last but not least I’m a girl that knows how to have fun, so I can offer you a certain… perspective.”
“Uhhh… I don’t think I’m following.”
“Well… if you ever need some…” Mina started before pointedly looking in Yaoyorozu’s direction, returning her gaze to him with a coquettish smirk and whispering to him. “...dating advice… then gimme a call!”
Izuku blanked at that, feeling all his blood rushing into his face as the implications sank in. She couldn’t be serious right? This had to be a very bad joke! Sure, he admired Yaoyorozu a lot, she was amazing after all! Also smart, kind, brave, inspiring, eloquent, patient and probably the prettiest girl he has ever seen. That does not mean that he had romantic feelings for her, though! Even if he did, there was no way he could just ask her out! He didn’t want to risk everything getting super awkward, in the very likely case of a rejection!
Unfortunately for Izuku his racing mind did not translate into an eloquent reply, or anything resembling coherent human speech at all for that matter. His flustered stammering did little to dismiss the implications, instead only achieving to amuse the pink-skinned girl next to him even more.
“While I’m glad to see that you’re getting along so well with Izuku, I find it quite disappointing that I have to remind you of the purpose of today’s gathering. Please refrain from teasing him and get to work!” Yaomomo chided Ashido, seemingly unaware of what exactly they had just been talking about much to Izuku’s relief.
“Ehehe… just trying to break the ice! We’ll get going, no worries!” Mina replied to appease their hostess.
Yaoyrorozu’s response was just a skeptical look paired with an raised eyebrow, before she addressed Izuku. “If Mina starts to become too bothersome, please don’t hesitate to tell me. We can switch at any time if you’re feeling uncomfortable.”
“N-not necessary! I’m fine!”
“Alright. Just keep what I said in mind.” Yaomomo said, while giving him a gentle smile before returning her attention to Kaminari again.
God, that smile. It always did things to him when she smiled at him like that, no matter how hard he tried to ignore the feelings that were bubbling up. Could he really be crushing on her?! How would he even know for sure? It’s not like he had any experience with this kind of thing!
Nope, he was not going to do this! Now was neither the time and definitely not the place to think about that!
“The offer still stands,” Mina whispered to him, after throwing a nervous glance to make sure Yaomomo wasn’t listening. “But I guess it would be for the best to get down to business.”
Yes! That’s what he was here for after all! Focusing on Math should provide a welcome distraction from the thoughts and fears currently running through his head. Opening his school bag Izuku quickly got out his relevant notes and put the stack of papers on the desk.
“What the fuck?!” Mina yelped in shock, her eyes almost looking like they were jumping out of her eye sockets.
“Mina! Language!” Yaomomo chastised.
“Well excuse me, but I was not expecting Midori to just drop a stack of notes thicker than most of our school books combined!” Mina defended herself.
“Admittedly, it is quite a big stack indeed. That being said, it shouldn’t be surprising since Izuku is quite the prolific note taker,” the raven-haired girl admitted. “I suppose that means there won’t be a lack of material to cover at the very least.”
Having noticed what was going on, Mei took her time to chime in as well. “Don’t worry! Izuku has always been really bad at conserving paper. He’s always writing down every single step when he’s doing Math, which is why he’s so slow and uses up so much paper.”
“I want to be thorough and avoid making mistakes!” Izuku said to defend himself with a pout, eliciting a giggle from Mei. “Oh! That reminds me! Mei, don’t forget to…”
“Yeah, yeah I know!” Mei interrupted. “Don’t skip too many steps, cause not everyone can just do them in their heads as easily as I do, so everybody can still follow what I’m doing. I got it the first time you told me Izuku!”
“That still doesn’t explain why there is so much! I’m pretty sure our Math textbook doesn’t have enough Math problems to fill out that much paper unless Midori needs both sides of a sheet for each problem!” Mina argued.
“Well, I do use other textbooks besides the one we got from U.A., so I guess that should explain why I have more notes to cover. They should be alot more detailed as a result, though, which might be helpful!” Izuku explained.
“Seriously?! Why would you voluntarily pile on that much extra work?! It’s not like Ectoplasm Sensei is cutting us much slack!” Mina asked him, clearly still shocked.
“To be honest, I need the practice. I’m not as naturally gifted as Mei and Y-Yaomomo are, so I have to compensate by working harder. Also, making support gear like me and Mei used in the Festival is pretty much impossible with just middle school STEM knowledge. I had to work ahead of the curriculum to even have a chance.” Izuku told the pink-skinned girl.
“Wow! I’m not sure whether I should be impressed with your dedication or concerned that you apparently don’t have a life outside of school. You really gotta chill out more, at the rate you’re going you’ll suffer burnout before graduation!”
“I-I’ll keep that in mind. More importantly, though, let’s get started. Is there anything in particular you want to go through first?”
“Ugh…” Mina groaned, letting her head hit the desk. “I don’t even know where to begin! Math has never been my strongest subject, but I never struggled like that before! It’s not just that U.A. is a lot more intense, I went to a pretty good middle school you know? I just can’t deal with Ectoplasm Sensei, every time we have class with him I struggle just to stay awake!”
“He can be pretty dry, I grant you that. Mei actually did fall asleep during one of his lessons during the first school week. He tried punishing her by making her solve a difficult problem in front of the class, only for her to chew through it in five minutes at most.” Izuku recounted hoping it would raise the mood of the girl sitting next to him. “Although we will have to work our way through everything the hard way. Since you’re unsure where to start, I’ll say we go through everything step by step from the beginning of the term. Does that sound ok to you?”
Having seemingly resigned herself to her fate Mina agreed and they got to work. Izuku’s detailed notes did turn out to be quite useful, much to his delight. Mei occasionally liked to make fun of his supposed wastefulness with paper, but Mina made great progress thanks to his detailed notes, something he’ll no doubt rub in Mei’s face next time she was feeling like making this tired old joke.
With the studying session underway, Izuku could fully focus his attention on instructing Mina, without having to think too much about the offer said girl had made. Still, the confusing question regarding his feelings would undoubtedly be keeping him up tonight.
Yaoyorozu Momo was feeling optimistic, all things considered.
While discovering the true scope of the gaps of knowledge both Kaminari and Mina had allowed to develop had been an unpleasant surprise to say the least, their current work ethic was commendable. After a slow start both students had been working really hard, clearly motivated by the prospect of being left behind for supplementary lessons while everyone else would be leaving for summer camp.
Momo admittedly would have preferred the two students, who had ranked at the bottom during the midterms, to have a more high minded motivation, like pursuing knowledge for the sake of improving themselves as people and future Heroes. That being said, she wouldn’t argue with results.
Thankfully the other students, who she had agreed to tutor, were also making progress, without having to invest as much energy as the ‘slacker duo’ as Jirou had dubbed the two struggling students, much to their annoyance. Sero in particular had positively surprised Momo. He had clearly been disappointed with his ranking during the midterms and seemed to have used this as an impetus to apply himself more, and it clearly showed.
Of course everyone still had topics they struggled with. Sero clearly had big trouble with Japanese literature. Jirou was struggling with Biology, Chemistry and a little bit with Physics. Mei too wasn’t particularly fond of literature as a subject but she also needed a little help with history of all things, thanks to the rather odd way the support course girl tended to memorize historic facts. Ojiro was rather well rounded with his knowledge, requiring fairly little assistance to work past his problems.
Izuku himself proved to be the most curious case, however. He had warned her when she had invited him that he himself had numerous gaps of knowledge to worry about, making him unsure if he would be any help as tutor at all. So far Momo had not seen any issues occur at all, quite the opposite, really. Her green-haired friend had proven himself to be quite knowledgeable in every subject, except the theoretical parts of Heroics for obvious reasons, although even there he was remarkably quick on the uptake. Not to forget the fact that his kind and understanding nature was a great deal of help in assisting the other students to push through any slumps, whereas Mei would grow noticeably frustrated every time she had to explain a certain topic repeatedly. Despite his misgivings he had been tremendously helpful so far.
It did dampen Momo’s mood a fair bit when her thoughts strayed to the potential reasons behind this behavior. Having to grow up with being constantly belittled at every opportunity certainly was not conducive to Izuku developing a healthy self esteem. She should make sure to give him her thanks for his assistance today, while it might not seem like much right now, ensuring he would get proper affirmation from this time onwards should eventually help him get into a much healthier state of mind.
Unfortunately for her, Momo was unable to keep her mind from drifting to the one tormentor of Izuku she knew personally. To Bakugou’s credit ever since the end of his suspension he had made a conscious effort to keep his temper in check. That being said, his attitude remained far from amicable. He may not be yelling and gloating about his superiority anymore the way he used to everytime he was confronted with any kind of critique, but it was blatantly obvious that he was still thinking like that. It was most apparent in his continued use of the unflattering nicknames he had for everyone.
While she had not expected an immediate transformation into a model classmate from the explosive blond, her patience with him was still running thin. Admittedly her personal standards for propriety might be significantly higher than most, and her personal biases against Bakugou were certainly not helping matters, yet she doubted anybody enjoyed interacting with the boy.
Perhaps she should have a little chat with him at the earliest opportunity? As little as she was looking forward to the prospect, someone had to lay down a proper code of conduct for Bakugou, which should help minimize any negative impact his ill-tempered demeanor might be having on the class. It would also provide the perfect opportunity to ask Bakugou for his side of the story regarding his relationship with Izuku.
While Momo had little reason to believe the explosive blonde would be truthful with her, if he entertained the notion at all, she still needed to know. Izuku had been frustratingly sparse with the details of what he had to go through, even if he had understandable reasons. Momo knew she would never have peace of mind until she knew the reason, any reason , for why Bakugou would turn on someone that was supposed to be his friend in such a horrid fashion!
Having made the decision, Momo once again returned her attention to the group of students in the room. As steady as progress has been, a quick glance over the faces of her friends and classmates made it quite apparent that exhaustion was setting in. She should allow everyone to take a breather, sooner rather than later.
“Everybody, may I have your attention? We have been working for a considerable amount of time and I’m happy with the strides everyone has been making! I’d say a short break is in order!” Momo addressed the gathered students.
“Ughh, finally!” Kaminari groaned in relief. “Any longer and I might have fried my brain without my Quirk!”
“Wait! That’s a thing?” Jirou inquired curiously.
“I dunno, but every time I get a big headache I do feel some sparks going off similarly to when I’m close to overusing my Quirk. Maybe with a bad enough headache I could short circuit myself sooner than normal. Not really that eager to find out if that is true, though…” Kaminar explained.
“What do you mean exactly with short circuiting? You got some implants or something?” Mei asked her interest, having clearly been piqued.
“Remember his fight during the first round of the Sports Festival, Hatsume? Have you seen the way he was standing around like an idiot with his thumbs up after his initial attack failed? That’s what he calls short circuiting his brain. That’s what happens every time he overuses his Quirk, it turns him into a drooling moron, well, a bigger moron than usual.” Jirou explained before Kaminari had the chance.
“Thanks Jirou! I almost feared my own explanation wouldn’t be insulting enough!” Kaminari shot back sarcastically.
“To be fair you were being a moron in that fight. Why did you go all out immediately? Even if that had worked you wouldn’t have been able to recover before the next fight, you know that right?” Sero chimed in.
“Not to forget that Jamming Yay tried to hit on the devout Christian girl that probably considers handholding before marriage a mortal sin.” Jirou added in a deadpan tone.
“Now that is not fair! Shiozaki-san may be a pious catholic, but she is not as narrow minded as you might imagine her to be! According to Kendo-san she seems to have a particularly pronounced dislike for lies and other forms of deception but otherwise never judges people for failing to conform to her faith’s standards.” Momo interjected.
“Say, while we’re talking about her, do you know how Kendo found out about the practical exam? I’d like to know where she heard that the exam will be against robots again.” Mina inquired.
“The way I understood, Kendo-san appears to have an acquaintance among the second years, who is from the same town as her. She met them during lunch and asked them how their practical exam last year went, with them saying it was a combat exercise against robots.” Momo explained.
“So it’s a reliable source then? Thank God! You have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear that! I’m having enough trouble as is with the written exam, having to stress about the practical as well would have been horrible!” Mina replied, seemingly happy to have been reaffirmed.
“Uhmm, guys?” Izuku meekly said, as he asked for everyone's attention. “I don’t want to ruin your mood, but… uhmm… I don’t think you guys will be fighting robots for the practical exam.”
“Really? Would you care to explain why that is the case?” Momo asked, having grown quite anxious at the green-haired boy's words, like the rest of the other Hero course students.
“Well, you see… I was sent to deliver some paperwork to Power Loader Sensei recently by one of the other teachers. No idea what that was about but the important part was where I found him.” Izuku started, having the undivided attention of everyone in the room. “He was in one of the big warehouses by the scrapyard, which was filled to the brim with the remnants of broken robots.”
“Wait! U.A. has a scrapyard?!” Mina interrupted for some godforsaken reason.
“Yeah, of course! Where else do you think all the equipment you trash during training goes?” Mei helpfully contributed.
“Well, anyway, I asked Power Loader Sensei why there are so many more broken robots there compared to the start of the year and he said… he said…” Izuku continued, clearly being extremely uncomfortable with being the bearer of what had to be very bad news. “They were all from the entrance exam and the Sports Festival. Usually there wouldn’t be that many, since the staff of the support department would spend much of the summer semester repairing as many robots as possible to make up for the deficit these events cause. This year, though…”
“They didn’t…” Ojiro said, somberly in realization.
“Yeah… Power Loader Sensei said that they have all been so busy working on upgrading U.A.’s security that they just didn’t have the time to deal with the robots. With some of the training robots having been refitted for guard duty and the broken ones piling up at the scrapyard, U.A.’s reserves of training robots are running pretty low. At least the ones suitable for first years.” Izuku confirmed soberly.
The room remained silent as the news was sinking in. Momo herself was not feeling particularly jubilant after that revelation. The robots during the obstacle race had barely been an inconvenience for her. Their armor was clearly made out of some cheap structural steel or even just iron, considering how easily the shots of her smooth bore cannon had been able to pierce them. Having to face only foes like that during the practical had been a comforting thought.
Looking around the room at her classmates, made it clear Momo was not alone with the sudden onset of worry this new information had caused. Mina and Kaminari in particular were looking like they were close to descending into panic, considering how they had been writing off the practical as an easy affair based on this false information.
“So you’re trying to tell us that we’ll either have to face robots meant to challenge second years and above, if we’re lucky, or have to deal with whatever bullshit Aizawa Sensei has cooked up for us?” Jirou inquired, being the first to regain some modicum of composure.
“In other words, we’re screwed?” Sero added sardonically, in an uncalled attempt at gallows humor.
“Now, please everyone calm down!” Momo started in an attempt to combat the doom and gloom setting among her peers. “As disappointing as these news are, Aizawa Sensei surely won’t be giving us an impossible task!”
“We’re talking about the guy that threatened to expel people literally on the first day. Anything is possible!” Sero interjected, clearly not feeling reassured at all.
“Wow, you guys are really that worried about the practical exam? Maybe I can make you guys feel better? I think I stumbled over a clue of what the teachers are planning.” Mei chimed in immediately catching everybody's attention.
“Wait! Hatsume, do you know what the teachers are planning?!” Jirou asked in disbelief.
“Nope!” the pink-haired support student replied, earning her annoyed glares. “But while Izuku was busy doing that errand I visited Power Loader Sensei’s office cause I needed to ask him about a shipment for the gau… I mean the project I’m currently working on. He wasn’t there of course, but the door was unlocked so I walked in and saw something odd lying on his personal workbench.”
“Mei! You can’t just waltz in when our teacher isn’t there!” Izuku interrupted, shocked.
“Not my fault if Sensei forgets to lock the door! Anyway, he had these weird capture handcuffs lying there that don’t match any model I’m aware of. There were also ten pairs of strange weighted bracers, which widely ranged in size and weight as if each set had been tailor made for a specific person, unlike the cuffs which were pretty large and capable of adjusting to the size of the wearer. No idea what these are for but Sensei refused to tell me when I got to ask him later, which is very odd. Usually he doesn’t mind explaining everything about the gear he makes when you ask him.” Mei explained.
“You’re right, this really is odd for him!” Izuku agreed.
“That isn’t much to go on, though… we don’t even know if this is actually connected to the practical exam!” Ojiro noted.
“While I don’t completely disagree, Ojiro-san, this information might still pose a vital clue. Creating new custom made capture equipment right before the exams is suspicious, especially since U.A. already has equipment similar to that for training, like the capture tape we use in class. Assuming the equipment is indeed for the practical, I suspect the faculty plans to do something new, likely involving subduing and capturing a target.” Momo theorized.
“Ok. If that’s true then who the hell are we going to fight against? It’s not like U.A. can just hire a temp agency to send some guys to act as villains for us!” Mina argued.
“The bracers might provide the answer for that. Mei, are you certain they are not some kind of support equipment?” Momo asked.
“Yep! I checked! They are just solid metal with additional removable metal weights on the outside. They have no other functionality, they are just fucking heavy. Seriously! Whoever is going to wear the biggest ones must be absurdly strong! I tried lifting them and I needed to put my whole body into it to get it off the workbench and I’m no wimp I can tell you that!” Mei explained, rolling up her sleeve and flexing her well developed biceps as proof.
“Why would anybody wear something heavy like that? It would only slow them down!” Kaminari exclaimed in a frustrated and confused fashion.
“Maybe that’s the point? You know, as a handicap maybe?” Izuku suggested, sounding not particularly sure about this himself.
“I’m not sure this is going to be the case, Izuku. U.A. wouldn’t just decrease the difficulty of our exams by giving our opponents a handicap unless…” Momo started when she was hit with a sudden realization. Unless their task would become impossible without a handicap. There was only one type of potential opponents she could think of where such measures would be necessary for the sake of fairness.
Looking at Izuku, whose shocked expression indicated to her that he might have come to a similar realization, she continued. “... they might have us fight pro-Heroes!”
“No way! How is that supposed to be fair?! What are we going to learn from getting our butts kicked by pros?!” a distraught Kaminari exclaimed.
“It being unfair is probably the fucking point, Kaminari. I’d bet good money that Aizawa Sensei is getting off to see us getting trounced!” Jirou hissed.
“Jirou-san!”
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you Yaomomo, but our homeroom teacher is a dick! He is having way too much fun with all those ‘logical ruses’ he’s pulling on us all the time!” Jirou said defensively.
“Logical ruses?” Mei repeated curiously.
“That’s what he calls bullshitting us! Like, for example, on the first damn day of school he had us do a Quirk assessment test instead of letting us go to orientation and threatened to expel whoever scored lowest. After presenting us with the score he of course told us he lied only to immediately add that he will make good on the treat the second he feels we’re slacking off too much. Just normal stuff any trustworthy adult would do!” Jirou explained her voice dripping with sarcasm at the last statement.
“Eh, you didn’t miss anything, Nezu’s speech during orientation was so boooooorrrrring!” Mei replied.
“Mei, you fell asleep barely ten minutes in!” Izuku interrupted.
“Yeah, your point? Did the principal say anything noteworthy that wasn’t in the syllabus?” Mei retorted.
“...”
“See? You guys didn’t miss anything!”
“Ok… that aside, who would even show up for the practical? I’d like to think that pro-Heroes have better things to do than fight us in an exam!” Ojiro wondered.
“It doesn’t have to be active pros specifically. I think prominent sidekicks or rookie Heroes are more likely. They need all the clout and renown they can get to secure the sponsors and loans necessary to start or keep afloat their own agency. U.A. could certainly offer assistance with that in exchange for help with the practical exam. Otherwise some recent retirees might also be possible candidates.” Izuku speculated, before starting to mutter off about the most likely candidates to show up.
“There he goes!” Mei giggled. “God I have to ask Power Loader Sensei if we could watch you guys during your exam! It sounds like it’ll be pretty spectacular! It certainly beats sitting at home doing nothing!”
“I’m happy that our suffering will at the very least be entertaining to you Hatsume.” Jirou deadpanned.
“That’s great to hear! Also, watching you guys fight might give me some ideas for more babies!” Mei replied in a chipper fashion, which indicated the sarcasm had flown way over her head. “You have no idea how much I hate having to go to school after the end of term exams! Sitting around doing nothing, while waiting out the clock is not fun. At least in the week after the exam Power Loader Sensei might allow me and Izuku to work on some projects to kill some time, but the day of your practical exam would have been super boring since they have given us that day off!”
“What? No fair! You get to enjoy a long weekend while we’re stuck in school to get our butts kicked?!” Mina whined out of jealousy.
“You think having to sit alone in my sister’s apartment is enjoyable? She doesn’t let me use any tools more complicated than a frigging screwdriver when she is not home! How am I supposed to get any work on my babies done like that?” Mei shot back.
Mina was obviously not convinced by Mei’s statement and continued pouting and whining about this, grave in her mind, injustice. Admittedly the knowledge that their peers would be able to wind down at home while they would have to go through an undoubtedly very intense trail, was a little bit upsetting. Still, Momo was convinced that there was a perfectly sensible reason for… this… situation…
Goodness gracious! This really was no coincidence!
“I know who we will face in the exam!” Momo loudly proclaimed, shooting up from her chair, getting the undivided attention of everyone, Izuku, who had just been ripped from his mutter induced trance, included. “On the day of the practical only the students of the hero course will be at school, meaning our teachers won’t be occupied by their usual duties!”
“Just think about it! Ten teachers, forty students, if they test us one by one giving us fifteen minutes of time, like at the entrance exam, then they could finish everything up in one hour. If they spread those tests out over the course of a normal school day, then each teacher will have more than enough opportunity to recover before moving on to the next student!” Momo continued to her guests, who were stunned into silence.
“The teachers know us and our capabilities better than anyone, which should reduce the risk of injury dramatically compared to if they involved any third parties to test us. This also elegantly avoids any potential security risks that inviting people from outside could cause, which is an important consideration since principal Nezu is unlikely to want anything resembling the USJ incident from happening again!” Momo concluded.
“That’s… not really much of an improvement, isn’t it? We still are going to get destroyed, aren’t we?” Sero lamented.
“It is better than going in blind. We do know the Quirks of our teachers for the most part at the very least. Maybe all of us can come up with something, right Yaomomo?” Jirou said as she turned to Momo.
“We don’t have much time and we can’t disregard the possibility of me being wrong, but yes we should inform everyone and discuss some possible strategies together. I should also reach out to Kendo-san, her intel might have been wrong but she shared it with us in good faith. It’s only fair if we share what we learned with our sister class in return!”
“Oh man, this is going to suck so bad! Why can’t the teachers go easy on us for a change?” Kaminari groaned.
“Guess, that’s the price we pay for attending the best Hero school in the country. Gotta say, though, that I’d appreciate it if they stopped with the nasty surprises. Hard work I can deal with, but being thrown into the deep end over and over again without warning really is starting to get annoying!” Ojiro added in frustration.
“W-well to be fair, Heroes do have to deal with the unexpected all the time. If you get used to it early maybe it’s gonna be a help for your career later?” Izuku valiantly tried to point out the bright side.
“I suppose that is one way of looking at things. That being said, in this instance we have the advantage of being warned ahead of time, so I suggest we do our best to make the most of it!” Momo said in encouragement.
“Yaomomo is right! We’re not beaten yet!” Jirou joined in sporting a gleeful smirk. “Also, just try to imagine Aizawa Sensei’s face when he realizes he doesn’t get to pull a fast one on us for a change!”
“I’m NOT gonna spend summer break being stuck taking remedial classes! I’m gonna go to summer camp or die trying!” Mina yelled, jumping up from her seat in turn, drawing similar cries of defiance from the other hero course students with her example.
“While I am a bit concerned with the somewhat fatalistic outlook at display here, I’d say we use this burst of motivation to continue. We’ve made great strides today but there is still plenty left to cover and any success in the practicals will be moot if any of you fail the written exam.” Momo addressed her guests.
With that the group of students continued on with renewed vigor, even though the fears and worry from the prior revelation were still very much palpable. The prospect of facing their teachers in the practical was daunting to say the least, so she fully understood why her peers were feeling anxious about that. The fact that they had no clues of the remaining parameters of the exercise didn’t help either.
After they finished up with their agenda for the day Momo was at the very least confident that the written exam should not pose an insurmountable challenge. While some weaknesses and uncertainties remained, overall each of her guests should be able to earn a passing grade.
Momo was convinced that without the help of her two outstanding co-tutors, things might not have gone so swimmingly. As a result she elected to call out for Mei and Izuku to wait for a moment, when everybody else was starting to say their goodbyes and heading out for the car which would return them to the train station.
“I’d say today has been a tremendous success, concerning discoveries notwithstanding! I highly appreciate both of your assistance, especially considering how my invitation has been on quite a short notice. Allow me to present you with a few small tokens of my gratitude!” Momo told her two friends.
“T-that’s not necessary! Me and Mei loved to help today! Right?”
“Yeah! It was pretty fun all things considered. I’d do it again anytime!”
Reaching into the lowest compartment of the service trolley she had brought into the room, Momo recovered the little gifts for her friends before continuing. “As much as I’m happy you two enjoyed yourselves, I still must insist you take these presents! For you Izuku I took the liberty to acquire the textbooks we use to study the theory of foundational heroics in class. You’ve already shown remarkable aptitude when we covered this subject earlier, so I’m confident that these materials should enable you to keep pace with the hero course in this matter!”
“T-thanks! Is it really ok, though, since..”
“Izuku, those are just textbooks! Yaomomo is not sharing top secret documents with you, I could order them too if I knew which ones U.A. is using!” Mei interrupted, shaking her head in light-hearted disbelief.
“Mei is right, there is no reason to be concerned, Izuku. Heroics as a subject at U.A. is more than just combat training, so I got you these materials to get started over summer break. Once the winter term starts I should be able to book one of U.A.’s training gyms to allow us to do some sparring on the regular after school. Developing your skills is paramount to making sure you can fulfill your dream, even if there won’t be an opportunity to prove yourself anytime soon.”
“Wait! If you two are sparring after school, does that mean we won’t be together at the workshop anymore?” Mei asked, visibly concerned.
“I suppose that will result in making our workshop sessions a rarer occurrence, yes. You are of course invited to join us during our training. I reckon that U.A.’s training facilities will make for perfect testing grounds for your inventions,” Momo said to reassure her pink-haired friend. Thankfully she succeeded since Mei immediately perked up after hearing this, likely already having a selection of prototypes for field testing in mind.
“I also have a gift for you, Mei. It is not as practical as Izuku’s but I believe you will find this Belgian chocolate to your liking,” Momo continued while handing the other girl the little box containing the sweet treats. “I also planned to have you try some exotic Austrian chocolate I’m quite partial to, but unfortunately it hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe by the time we depart for I-Island, I’ll be able to share it.”
“Wow! Fancy chocolate! Thanks!” Mei responded while pulling Momo into a hug which she returned without hesitation.
“I guess that means it’s time for us to go. Uhm… good luck with the exams! I-if you want I could try and come up with some strategies for dealing with the teachers!” Izuku offered.
Disentangling herself from the tighter than anticipated hug from Mei, Momo closed the distance to Izuku, put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him before responding. “I appreciate the offer, but I’d prefer it if you focused on your own exams first. While you’re quite well prepared, I’d hate it if you overworked yourself for the benefit of me and my classmates. We will be fine.”
“Yeah, Izuku! I know you wanna help, but we’ll be busy with our project !” Mei chimed in, while holding onto his other arm and resting her head on his shoulder, causing the boy in question to flinch.
“Project? What project?” Momo asked her friends. Surely those two were not reckless enough to spend their time tinkering when they had exams to focus on!
Letting out a playful giggle beforehand, Mei replied. “Can’t tell you! It’s a secret!”
“I-it’s nothing you need to worry about! J-just a silly little experiment we wanted to try before the term ends!” Izuku nervously stammered out in reply, after Momo threw a concerned look his way.
“Don’t worry Yaomomo, we won’t blow up the workshop! We got to make sure we’re not getting rusty, we don’t want to embarrass ourselves once we start working for your Dad, you know?”
“I see…” Momo started, not entirely convinced but unwilling to press the issue because she has been delaying the two support course students for long enough. “I suppose with that it is time to bid you farewell, it is getting late after all. Have a pleasant trip home and good luck with your endeavours, both the exams and your little project!”
After saying their goodbyes and Mei going in for another affectionate hug for good measure, Momo’s friends finally left the building and departed together with the other guests for the train station to head home. With the plans for the day completed she enjoyed a quick supper before retreating to her room.
Being a hostess and a tutor had been surprisingly exhausting, so the option of spending the rest of the evening relaxing and heading to bed early held quite a lot of appeal. That being said, Momo instead spent her time in front of her computer doing research on her teachers. While she had no doubt that Izuku would be able to provide great counter strategies to use against the U.A. faculty, Momo wanted first to see what she and her classmates could come up with before consulting him, if she would at all.
Was it foolish not to draw on her green-haired friends encyclopedic knowledge of Heroes and Quirks from the get go?
Possibly.
Yet she couldn’t help herself from viewing this as a great opportunity.
Thanks to Izuku’s and Mei’s kind encouragement, Momo has been able to escape the downward trajectory she had been stuck in after the Sports Festival. Despite feeling a lot better about herself now, Momo was still keenly aware that she was yet to demonstrate that her fears and doubts had been unwarranted.
The daunting challenge ahead of her at the practical exam would be her chance to rectify that!