Mandalay followed Midoriya's pointing finger, her expression softening slightly. "Ah… him," she said. "That's Kota."
The boy in question didn't react. He stood a short distance away from the group, arms loosely at his sides, gaze turned off to the side like none of this concerned him in the slightest.
"He's… a relative," Mandalay continued after a brief pause. "My cousin's kid. He'll be staying here during the camp."
Pixie-Bob leaned in with a grin. "Think of him as our temporary little mascot!"
"Please don't call him that," Mandalay sighed, then looked back at the boy. "Kota, come here for a moment and greet everyone. You'll be with them for the next week."
There was no response. "Kota."
Still nothing.
A vein pulsed faintly on Pixie-Bob's forehead. "Oi—brat, we're talking to you—"
"I'm not deaf," the boy cut in flatly, not even looking at them as he slowly turned his head. His eyes passed over the gathered students with clear disinterest.
Mandalay pressed on, unfazed. "These are U.A. students. They'll be staying here for a while, so—at the very least—introduce yourself properly."
Kota's gaze shifted again, this time directly toward the group.
"…Tch."
He clicked his tongue and looked away. "I don't care." Then proceeded to walk away. A small ripple went through the class.
"Wow," Kaminari muttered. "He's kinda rude."
"Kids these days…" Sero added under his breath.
They were the only ones who had the energy to even mutter. The rest were either so tired they couldn't care less, or actually couldn't care less either way.
"Um ... Hey wait." All except one of course. Midoriya, ever with his heroic heart, leaned forward slightly, concern already written all over his face. Yuta noticed immediately.
'…Yeah. There it is.'
That instinctive pull. See someone isolated → approach → try to help.
It was so predictable. Yuta's gaze flicked briefly back to Kota. Then back to Midoriya who was approaching.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." How could he not recognize this scene and what was about to happen?
Midoriya blinked. "Eh?"
"He doesn't look like he wants company."
That was putting it lightly.
Midoriya glanced back at Kota, then back at Yuta, uncertainty flickering across his face.
"…But ... he's just a kid, right? If he's acting like that, maybe something's wrong."
'Yeah,' Yuta thought. 'That's exactly the problem.'
Facts proved that some things were destined to happen. And just like in Canon, Midoriya took a punch to balls. One step for heroism. The class was dismissed by Mr. Aizawa under Iida's frantic screams of Kota's cruelty towards Midoriya's scrotum and the wincing of every boy in the class.
"…Oh that's… yeah that's bad." Sero covered his mouth. "Right in the—yep. Okay."
"Ribbit…" Yuta stared down at Midoriya for a second. Then at Kota. Then back at Midoriya. "…I did say be careful." Midoriya couldn't even respond.
In the end, Mandalay could only apologize on Kota's behalf. The tension lingered for a moment longer after Mandalay's apology, hanging awkwardly in the air like a bad aftertaste. Until ..
"…Alright. You're all filthy. Drop your things inside, then head to lunch." That was all it took. The next moment, Midoriya's plight was promptly forgotten as everyone rushed into the building like a bunch of starving ghosts.Minutes Later, the cafeteria was practically in was chaos.
"I CALL THAT ONE—!"
"GET YOUR OWN, DENKI!"
"MOVE YOUR ELBOW!"
"I'M TRYING—!"
Plates clattered. Chairs scraped. Someone nearly flipped a table trying to reach for seconds before finishing firsts.
Kaminari was already on his third serving. "I swear ..." he said between mouthfuls, " ... This is the best food I've ever had in my life."
"Better than lunch rush's cooking."
"You say that every time you're starving," Jiro deadpanned, though she wasn't exactly eating any slower. Kirishima laughed, shoveling food into his mouth. "Nah, he's got a point! This is amazing!" Even the usually graceful Yaomomo was left out. No surprise, her quirk quite literally ran on her body fat, and who knows just how much she had expended in today's exercise. The sky soon darkened, and everyone settled into the last amenity of the day. The hot springs.
"…Oh man…" Kaminari groaned, sliding deeper until only his face remained above the surface. "I'm never leaving."
Steam curled into the cool mountain air. The tension from earlier slowly melted away as the boys sank into the water one by one. "This is heaven," Kirishima added, stretching his arms along the edge. "My muscles were screaming earlier."
"Yeah… this alone almost makes up for everything." For a while, there was peace. Just water. Steam. And relaxed breathing.
Then. "…So," Kaminari said, one eye cracking open. "We're just not gonna talk about it?"
No one needed clarification. Kirishima turned his head. "Yeah, seriously. Yuta—what did you even do with Aizawa-sensei?"
A few heads turned.
Even Todoroki, sitting quietly off to the side, shifted his gaze slightly.
Yuta blinked.
"…Well…"
_
Flashback — 6 Hours 33 Minutes Earlier
The forest was too damn quiet. Which made the sound of leaves crunched under uneven footsteps all the more glaring. "...I'm telling you, this is stupid," A man muttered while trailing in the middle of his companions. He was tall, thin, sharp-featured with sunken eyes and patchy stubble.
The most eye-catching feature wasn't his looks but rather the prison uniform that hung loose on his frame.
"We should've stayed near the city. More chances to grab food."
"And more chances to get caught," another replied calmly. This one looked like the average middle aged man with a protruding gut, glasses and a high hairline.
"But wouldn't it be better? Now we don't even have the chance to get these things off. Anyone can practically recognize us with a single look due to these uniforms."
"Bluecage easily got caught while fishing for supplies. You wanna go back and try your luck with heroes swarming everywhere?" The reply was enough to shut him up. They used to be four in number. The fourth had snuck out into the city to grab food and supplies. Then got spotted by heroes and arrested. The Middle aged looking man whose quirk gave him vision for up to a mile away had seen the whole thing from the forest where the rest were hiding.
It had been a day since then. "Good, now we wait."
"Tch."
The third man hadn't said anything since they entered the forest.
This was notable because the third man was not, by nature, quiet. He was broad across the shoulders in ways that suggested his quirk had been active since before he stopped growing, with coarse dark hair that ran down the back of his neck and forearms that were more arm than human proportions strictly required. His fingernails were thicker than they should have been and his mouth, when opened, revealed rows of teeth resembling animal canines.
He had been crouching at the edge of a shallow stream for the past four minutes, nostrils constantly sniffing.
"Genta," the thin one said. "What's wrong with you?"
Genta didn't answer. The middle-aged man with the mile-range vision adjusted his glasses and looked at him. "Is it an animal?"
"No." Genta's voice was practically that of a beast's growl. "Something's off." He lifted his head. His nostrils worked again. Then his brow furrowed. "Two people. Maybe two hundred meters north. Moving this way."
The thin man swore under his breath. "How did they find us? You said this place was isolated—"
"I said it looked isolated from a mile out," the middle-aged man said, patience thin. "Looking isolated and being isolated are different things."
"Yeah, well that doesn't help us now, does it?" the thin man snapped, already turning in a slow circle like he could somehow see through the trees. Finally, he calmed down after running a hand through his hair.
"So, what's the play now? Should we circle around?"
"Nah. That's too much work. Besides, even if we avoid them, it's unknown what type of quirks they have. For all we know, one of them might have a quirk that grants them X-ray vision or something. If they call the cops, we'll have a tail on our asses in no time."
The middle aged man sighed as he adjusted his glasses.
"Genta? Can you tell if any of them are heroes?" Genta's lips peeled back slightly, exposing those jagged, canine-like teeth.
"…One smells… strange."
The thin man froze. "What does that even mean?"
Genta didn't answer.
The middle aged man sighed yet again. "Unfortunately, there's only one solution to this, even though it's one I despise. Genta .."
He turned to his beast companion. "Kill them, but please make it quick. It would be preferable if there were no ...."
The sound of wind cut through his discussion
The Beastman's instincts went off.
"—MOVE!" The middle aged man had no time to process what was happening when he was shoved aside violently. Genta himself, lunged sideways without thinking. A blur sliced through the space where his head had been.
A strip of cloth snapped taut midair—
—and missed.
"…!"
The thin man stumbled back, eyes wide. "WHAT THE HELL—?!" A figure landed between them. In an instant, Genta's form changed drastically, body bulking to grow in height.
Then suddenly returned to normal.
"Huh?" ... The thin man was stunned. "Genta, what the hell are you doing, transform alread .."
His voice stopped when he saw the man before them clearly.
"You do know that ..." His hair was floating erratically with no wind in sight, eyes glowing red. "... This is private property."
"SHIT—ERASERHEAD—!" The thin man cursed and raised his arm. It contorted and stretched to form a fleshy sledgehammer.
"Fuck you Pro ...." A figure descended from the sky and slammed into him before he could do anything.
BANG!
The ground cratered beneath the impact.
The thin man's words died in his throat as his body was driven straight into the earth, the force folding him in half before the shockwave even had time to spread.
"…Guh—?!" Dust burst outward in a ring.
_
Back to Present — The hot spring was still steaming. Kaminari was still waiting with one eye open. "...That's it?"
Yuta shrugged slightly. "Pretty much."
"Man ... Honestly, I thought it would be juicier than that." Yuta rolled his eyes. "What did you expect? They weren't exactly in great condition, and even if they were, they're pretty weak to begin with."
"It's still pretty manly though." Kirishima scrubbed water through his hair. "So we spend three hours getting eaten by earth monsters and you spend four minutes catching real villains and then just... show up."
"Didn't you guys fight villains at the USJ too? No one complained about that."
".."
He paused. "Minus that Monoma guy from class 1B."
Across the spring, Bakugo said nothing. But beneath the water, his hand clenched tight. Water rippled faintly around it. Anyone looking at him would find his face carrying a seething scowl behind the mist of hot springs.
Of course, no one would. Primarily because at that moment, a sudden splash drew everyone's attention.
"Hehehe…" In the distance, a small figure had somehow reached the wooden divider and was drooling incessantly like a starved dog.
Mineta.
"Mineta ... What are you doing?" Everyone looked with furrowed brows. Yuta's brows creased. This better not be ...
"Tonight's been good and all, but ultimately, food and drinks aren't really that important. That's not what I'm here for."
Mineta mumbled like a mindless drone. "What I'm here for ... Is to see what is on the other side of that wall." Yuta's eyes narrowed to the extreme.
'It is that scene.'
"Mineta! Stop!" Iida stood up immediately. "What you are doing is demeaning to not just you, but also the girls."
"Oh you're too fussy." Mineta reached for the balls on his head. "... I'm not asking for much. ... All I want is just a quick peek—!"
In an instant, he was already halfway up, climbing with a fervor in his eyes that burned brighter than anything Endeavor could ever cough up in his prime. In an instant, he was halfway up. In that same instance, Yuta's chakra seeped into the water of the hot spring. The water instantly came to life, shooting up and forming a coiling water dragon that locked onto Mineta who was nearly at the top. The fire in Mineta's eyes was extinguished by growing terror.
"Gulp! Um ... Hello. How many I believe of .. I mean be of ..."
The water dragon locked around Mineta's ankle mid-climb and yanked.
The squeal that followed was not heroic. Mineta hung upside down over the hot spring, face cycling through terror, indignation, and something approaching self-awareness in rapid succession. His grape-cluster hair hung below him, dripping. His eyes found Yuta, who was watching him from the water with the look of someone who had expected this and was unfortunately ... annoyed to have been right.
Several people around had already jumped out of the water in fright, now looked at the tall water dragon, and were practically stunned speechless at the sight before them. Before they could say anything else, Mineta was thrown into the air and subsequently ... Swallowed in one gulp by the water dragon which subsequently returned to the spring and dissolved.
The water returned to calm, leaving nothing but a washed up Mineta floating with his butt cheeks practically naked on the water.
Yuta sighed. "So ... Who's going to check and see if he's not dead yet. I'm all up for the funeral and everything so ..."
__
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