Chapter 54: Departure and Forced to Relax
The next morning they arrived back at the base early in the morning before most reasonable people would even be up.
The jet was already prepped and waiting on the tarmac. Stars stood near the stairs with her hands on her hips.
"Don't you be strangers," she said. "Call or message every now and then atleast alright." she said that more to yui know how cid was
Yui nodded quickly. "I promise we will every week at least."
Cid gave a short nod of agreement.
After a few brief goodbyes with the others, they boarded. From the window, the base began to shrink as the jet lifted off and turned toward the ocean. Yui watched until it was only a shape in the distance. Cid sat beside her, quieter than usual, eyes half on the clouds.
Back on the tarmac, Stars stayed where she was until the jet was gone.
One of her bros glanced over. "You're quieter than usual."
Stars didn't look away from the sky right away.
"…That kid's going to become important one day, I can feel it," she said.
Her mind drifted briefly to the conversation on the flight over, Cid's words about the system, about what happened when everything was built on one person. She exhaled through her nose, expression tightening into something more focused.
'That's why I decided to take your words to heart, Cid. I won't let that mistake stay as is for long'
She turned back toward the base with a determined set to her shoulders.
The flight back was quiet.
By the time they landed in Japan and made it onto U.A. grounds, there was almost no time left. The buses for the training camp were already waiting near the main lot, bags being loaded, teachers moving students along with the kind of efficiency that rushed everyone to have things in order and ready. It had only been an hour at most since touching down, and they were already being pushed straight onto the buses after they got back.
Yui walked with Cid to just before they had to split up for their buses. Class 1-B was loading a short distance away. She gave his hand a light squeeze, thumb brushing once over his knuckles.
"See you there."
Cid nodded. "Yeah."
She held his gaze a second longer than necessary, then turned and headed for her own bus.
Cid boarded the 1-A bus and took a seat near the window, dropping into it slouching immediately letting out a slow sigh. He felt exhausted from the jet lag as he rubbed his eyes tiredly trying to get comfortable.
He barely had time to settle before the others started noticing him.
"You're back."
"How long have you even been on the ground?"
"Did you seriously spend the whole time with Star and Stripe?"
"What was America like?"
The questions stacked quickly. Cid gave short answers where he could but his voice started to reflect his tiredness and growing annoyance at everyone barraging him with questions.
A moment later, Momo paused in the aisle beside his seat. She looked at him, noticing how tired he was. She sat down beside him. "Her cid take these you look exhausted" she created a pillow and noise cancellation headphones.
Cid looked at the items, then at her like she was a savior.
"…Thanks, I needed this."
He put the headphones on, set the pillow against the window, and leaned into it as the last of the class finished boarding. The questions stopped as they noticed him trying to sleep. The noise of the class faded under the noise cancellation and the low rumble of the bus as it finally pulled away from U.A.
Cid felt like he was only asleep for maybe a few minutes when the bus jolted to a stop.
Cid blinked awake, the headphones still on and the pillow pressed against the window. Outside, there was nothing but mountains and a dense stretch of forest dropping away below the road. No rest station. No buildings. Just a wide pull-off near the edge of the trees.
The rest of Class 1-A was already stirring, some of them stretching, others complaining about the sudden stop.
"Cid." Aizawa said from nearby. His voice was low enough that only he caught it. He gave a short nod to the side signaling for him to follow.
Cid pulled the headphones down around his neck, left the pillow on the seat, and stepped out after him. Aizawa didn't explain. He just positioned Cid to his side and slightly behind him then stood there waiting.
Two heroes ,Mandalay and Pixie-Bob, were already there waiting for the class.
They introduced themselves as the Wild, Wild Pussycats and striking a pose that looked like it was missing some members, though Pixie-Bob immediately started needling the class. Mandalay pointed down toward the forest and explained that the base camp sat several kilometers away at the bottom of the mountain range. The land belonged to them. The training would be done on it.
A few students asked the obvious question of why they stop so far from camp?
Aizawa answered it flatly.
"Training camp has already begun."
That was when Mandalay gave them the condition: reach the facility in three hours, or no lunch.
The reaction was immediate. Several students turned back toward the bus but weren't quick enough.
Pixie-Bob grinned, dropped to one knee, pressing her hands to the dirt, and the ground under Class 1-A gave way. A controlled landslide tore the edge of the cliff out from under them and sent the entire class spilling down the mountainside into the Forest below in a mess of shouts and flailing limbs.
Dust hung in the air.
Pixie-Bob straightened, then blinked when she noticed Cid still standing up top beside Aizawa.
"Hey. Why isn't that one going with them?" she asked while pointing at Cid.
Aizawa didn't look particularly concerned about the students crashing through the trees below.
"He has a different job during the training camp."
A black car was already waiting a short distance up the road. One of the Pussycats' vehicles. Aizawa motioned for Cid to get in. The doors shut and the car pulled away from the drop-off as the last sounds of Class 1-A fighting their way into the forest faded behind them.
For a while neither of them spoke.
Cid stared out the window, jaw set.
"So I'm not doing the forest trial," he said eventually. It wasn't a question.
"No." Aizawa kept his eyes on the road. "Putting you through it would defeat the purpose of why you're even here."
Cid's fingers curled slightly against his knee.
"I have some news for you. Nezu and your doctor had a talk and decided to put you on restricted activity for the duration of camp." Aizawa continued, "No full training. No pushing your body the way you normally would. You are to rest and recover for the duration of the camp."
Cid turned his head just enough to look at him.
"…You're serious."
"Yes."
"That's a waste of time."
"It's the condition under which you were cleared to come at all." Aizawa's voice stayed even. "You are to relax and rest your body. That isn't a suggestion."
Cid sat back against the seat, clearly unhappy about it. The silence stretched for several seconds before he finally exhaled through his nose and looked back out the window.
"…I'm against this."
Aizawa gave a short nod, as if that settled it, and kept silent the rest of the way to camp.
By the time Class 1-A made it back, it was already late. They were scraped up, exhausted, and leaning on each other as they staggered around. Cid and Yui found a place to sit a little off to the side.
Cid poked at his tray more than he ate.
"This is stupid," he muttered. "I'm fine. There's no reason I can't train with everyone else."
Yui deadpanned at him and raised 4 fingers, starting to list off recent things he's done.
"You went through six weeks of intense training, then you fought Stars, then you trained another three weeks straight with her, and finally you used your Quirk to take us all over the usa for a full week straight." She looked at him then added "which I love you very much for, but You probably don't even realize how tired you are. Look what flying back did to you, you're dead tired you need rest."
Cid didn't answer right away.
After a moment, he let out a short breath and leaned back a little.
"…Maybe you're right, I'll try."
The next day Cid tried laying up on a cliff overlooking the main training areas. He lasted maybe ten minutes before his attention kept drifting back toward the others. He'd always think of how he could use that or how he could improve it to be different or do something better.
Eventually he gave up and went down.
He walked the edge of the training zones, offering help where he could. Most of them turned him away almost immediately. They'd clearly been told. A few looked apologetic. Others just shook their heads and kept working.
He was still trying when Aizawa stepped into his path.
"That's enough, you're distracting the others."
Cid stopped.
"Any more of this is counterproductive," Aizawa said. "You were given a recovery window for a reason. If you actually rest properly for the next few days, Nezu already has your next training plan prepared and waiting. That's why you were told to rest, if you don't ill have nezu stop training you entirely."
Cid held his gaze for a second, jaw tight.
Then he sighed, the argument finally leaving his shoulders.
"…Fine."
A few days later, while the rest of the students prepared for the test of courage, Cid went to the hot spring alone.
He'd been there before, just never alone.
The water was hot enough to sting at first. He stepped in anyway and sank down against the stone, arms resting along the edge. For a while he just sat there, listening to the quiet and the distant sounds of camp.
Then he started making a conscious effort to relax his body. His shoulders loosened first, then his back eased as he slumped more comfortably against the rock. He finally unclenched his muscles and let out a slow breath sinking in the water a little more.
"…This is actually kinda nice."
The tension kept bleeding out of him in small increments. A few minutes later his breathing had evened out, deeper and slower, the kind that came with being half-asleep. His head tipped back against the stone as his eyes drifted closed.
For once, he was actually fully relaxed just enjoying the moment.