The class began with All Might's usual entrance, telling them to head to Ground Gamma for a Heroic Class.
I was honestly looking forward to seeing Aizawa more than All Might. I don't know, but All Might's permanent enthusiasm was starting to bore me a bit.
'I guess I just got used to his presence...'
I was snapped out of my thoughts by All Might's boisterous voice, who welcomed us back to UA. He talked about how he was proud that we had completed our internships without risk or danger.
'Uhhh... yeah right, because fighting an assassin isn't dangerous, nope, not at all...'
To test how far we'd come thanks to the internships, we would do a small Heroic rescue exercise at Ground Gamma, which is a large industrial area with numerous buildings, pipes, machines, etc. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how damn big UA is.
At first, I thought the exercise should be held at USJ, but All Might put our doubts to rest by saying that USJ is a specialized area for disasters, such as fires, tornadoes, floods, etc. Whereas Ground Gamma is specialized in a more urban and enclosed area, giving little room for the Hero to move around.
Basically, four Heroes would search for the civilian who desperately asked for help, who would be in the center of the area, and the Hero who reached their position first wins. We could move as we wished, but we had to keep destruction to a minimum.
In this training, the civilian would be All Might, and the four Heroes would be randomly picked by a roulette wheel.
The exercise was fun for the most part. I hadn't been in such an enclosed area, so it was a bit of a challenge, but it didn't go badly at all.
Although Midoriya came in last place during his turn, he showed clear progress in the way he used his Quirk, as this time he wasn't breaking bones using it. But it seemed that this control drastically decreased his attack power, so he could no longer one-shot his enemies.
I honestly think it's a good change for him (mainly so he doesn't kill himself), although his moves are quite stiff and unnecessary; it was pretty obvious that he was just copying his boyfriend (?) Bakugo.
Other than Midoriya, no one showed a drastic change in their strength. Overall, we all had a good boost in our strength or experience thanks to the internships.
"Oi, Kyoka, is something wrong?" I called out to Kyoka as I continued to eat my lunch. God, I had forgotten how amazing UA's food is. "You've been... a little quiet."
We were both sitting at a table a little more secluded than usual, this due to being a little late thanks to All Might's class. I was wolfing down my food as usual while Kyoka was eating several sandwiches along with a salty strawberry grape smoothie.
Compared to the Kyoka of a few months ago, who barely ate anything, it was a noticeable change.
Kyoka stopped eating while giving me a blank look. "Well, yeah, I'm a little annoyed with you."
"Huh?" I blinked twice, feeling a bit confused and perplexed at how blunt Kyoka was, although that last one was usual. "Why?"
Kyoka was quiet for a moment as she looked down at the table, lost in thought, before looking into my eyes with a slight frown. "You suddenly disappeared without telling me absolutely anything. I was worried about you, you know?"
"Besides," Kyoka averted her gaze as she pouted slightly. "We were supposed to go out during the week off. I was really looking forward to it."
"I'm really sorry, I promise to compensate you for—"
"I don't want compensation or anything," Kyoka interrupted sharply as she looked at me with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. "I want you to promise me that if something serious happens to you, you'll tell me if you're okay or not. Because... shit, I was upset when I saw you sitting there like nothing, I was going to complain to you or something, but then I find out you fought Reaper face to face and were hospitalized for days, and I'm not an idiot to get upset about that."
"Then I'm going to get upset because you don't think enough. Lena, you have people who love and care about you. What if you had died during your Reaper fight? How would your father feel? How would your friends feel?... how would I feel..."
Kyoka clenched her fists as she spoke, losing strength at the end before quickly regaining it. "And I understand that we are Heroes, and we can die at any time during our duty. Heroes fight to save the day but also to live and fight another day. But throwing ourselves into danger like idiots is not what makes us brave or heroic."
Kyoka took a deep breath as I stood silently, thinking about every word Kyo said.
"So... just if anything happens, anything at all, I want you to know that you can tell me, got it?" Kyoka averted her gaze with a grimace as she mumbled. "Even if you don't want to talk about something, I just want to know if you're really okay... and... that."
We both fell into an awkward silence. Kyoka seemed to have lost her appetite while I thought deeply about the last week.
"I..." She broke the silence, but I was struggling to find the words to speak. "I'm sorry, I really am. I have no excuse... and you're right, I shouldn't have disappeared just like that. I hadn't even told my father about the operation, and it gave him quite a scare when he found out I had been hospitalized..."
"I guess I was too excited about... everything, really," I let out a small chuckle at my own comment before looking Kyoka in the eyes with seriousness and a bit of embarrassment. "I had accomplished so much in such a short time that... I guess it went to my head... and I'm sorry if I made you worry."
"I forgive you. I know it was possibly hard for you too; I can't imagine fighting Reaper as a walk in the park, exactly," Kyoka commented sarcastically, drawing a small smile from me. "I just... want to let you know that I can be there if you need someone, even if it's for the stupidest thing. And promise me that you won't just disappear again without telling me anything... I don't want to go back to being the girl without a single real friend..."
I got up from my seat and sat down next to Kyoka to give her a hug, which she quickly returned.
"I promise."
Entering through the big door, Class 1A's favorite grumpy teacher, Aizawa, aka Eraserhead, appeared. He stepped up to the podium to look around at the entire class before giving a brief announcement. "I hope you enjoyed your internships as much as I enjoy my free time. Anyway, Summer Vacation is almost upon us, but I guess you already know that you won't have 30 days to relax at home."
The whole class tilted their heads, a bit confused by this, since they are called 'Summer Vacation' for a reason; no days off, so where was the vacation?
Aizawa looked blankly at all his students before speaking in his usual bored and disinterested tone. "We're going to Heroic Summer Camp."
"""WOOOAHHHH!""" Stars appeared in the eyes of the entire class as they cheered loudly for the new 'vacation' they would receive. Some of them could already imagine the things they would be doing.
"Curry!"
"Fireworks!"
"And Games!"
Aizawa, seeing the joyful state of his students, was inwardly glad that they liked the idea that some of the teachers had planned. But he couldn't let his students have all the fun, could he?
The bored teacher gave a dark and gloomy smile to his excited students, which made them wince slightly.
Aizawa then dropped a harmless little bombshell. "But that's only if they pass the final exams. If they fail the exams, even if just barely, then they will be trapped in UA for the next 30 days, living hell on Earth... understood?"
"""..."""
"Understood?!"
""""UNDERSTOOD!!!"""
"WHAAAAAAA! ONE WEEK LEFT AND I HAVEN'T STUDIED ANYTHING!" exclaimed Kaminari, making a commotion. "I CAN'T MISS MY VACATION!"
"..." Ashido just cried silently at the misfortune that was slowly approaching them.
Yesterday, Aizawa released the class grades, ranking each student from junior to senior with different numbers. Obviously, everyone was curious as to where they would stand.
... 1/20 - Yaoyorozu Momo 2/20 - Oxton Lena 3/20 - Izuku Midoriya ... ... ... 18/20 - Sato Rikido 19/20 - Kaminari Denki 20/20 - Ashido Mina ...
To no one's surprise, Momo, Lena, and Midoriya were recognized as the three smartest people in the Class. Momo was someone who had to store vast knowledge for her Quirk to function properly. Lena, although she usually acted without thinking, showed that she was quite intelligent during classes. And Midoriya was a maniac at analyzing Quirks and generating ideas for them, so he possessed a great deal of knowledge in his head.
After some crying from Kaminari, the other students left the classroom, leaving Kyoka, Toru, and Lena, who was about to leave until she saw Kyoka talking to Toru.
Putting a mischievous smile on her face, Lena sneaked up on Kyoka, and before Kyoka could do anything, she was already in a tight embrace with Lena. "Kyo~ I want to sleep~"
Kyoka jumped a little, but when she heard Lena's voice, she could only roll her eyes, looking at her friend. "Oi, I'm not a pillow, you know?"
That just made Lena hug Kyoka a little tighter. "I don't think so~ You're too much of a hugger not to be~"
Kyoka just let out a sigh and lowered her head to hide her blush, while Toru laughed at her friends' actions. Once Toru stopped laughing, she looked at Lena with thoughtful eyes. "Hey, Lena, you came second in the rankings, didn't you? How come you know so much? I've never seen you study."
The question took Lena by surprise before she answered with a simple shrug. "Well, my father is a former scientist, and my uncle is a world-renowned scientist, so from a young age, I was taught a wide variety of things."
Kyoka raised her head, giving Lena a curious look. "Everyone in your family is a scientist, by any chance?"
Lena gave a thoughtful look before giving Kyoka a small smile. "I guess you could say that... I mean, my cousin is a scientist too, so..."
It was at that moment that Momo approached the trio of girls. "I'm back, girls. I was helping Kaminari and Mina with some stuff. What are you guys talking about?"
"About how half of Lena's family are scientists."
"Uh, I wouldn't say half..." Lena muttered before a thought assaulted her. 'Wait a minute, actually my whole family are scientists... what the fuck...'
"Huh? So your mother isn't a scientist?" Toru asked, tilting her head in confusion.
It was at that moment that Lena put on a slightly uncomfortable expression, but answered anyway. "Well... no, I don't know. I was adopted by my father when he was working in America. After an incident, he decided to retire from his job as a scientist and moved to Japan."
"""Oh."""
Toru gave Lena an apologetic look as she gave a slight bow. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable!"
Shaking her head, Lena gave Toru a reassuring smile. "Nah, no problem. I just hadn't gotten to thinking about my family. To me, my father and uncle are my family. I never needed anyone else to take care of me... but maybe I should ask my father about my birth mother?"
It was at that moment that a thought flashed through Momo's head, as if some wires had connected. 'Lena Oxton... United States... Scientists... oh...'
"By any chance... your father was Winston Oxton?" Momo asked with wide eyes.
Blinking a couple of times at Momo, Lena couldn't help but feel surprised that Momo knew her father's name. But that only made her give her a proud smile as she replied, "That's right! My adoptive father is Winston Oxton!"
Momo simply gave her a puzzled look, while Toru and Kyoka exchanged confused glances. Seeing her friends confused, Momo gave them a brief explanation. "Winston Oxton was a great scientist in the United States, known for his inventions in Mechanics and Medicine. He was said to be a great genius when it came to creating inventions. His last invention before retiring was in collaboration with David Shield. Together, they created the Quirks Detector, which is what all the doctors in the world currently use to analyze people's Quirks."
That made them look at Lena with surprise on their faces. The said girl showed a proud and smug face. "I'm amazing, right?"
Toru simply rolled her eyes at Lena's boastfulness. "I think your father is the awesome one here."
Kyoka, seeing that Lena was distracted, stood on her tiptoes and gave Lena a quick peck on the cheek, changing her smug face to a flushed and nervous one. "K-Kyo!"
Kyoka simply gave her a pleased smile as she ignored Lena's stare. The other two girls looked at them in surprise before letting out a small giggle, which made Kyoka blush as well.
After chatting for a while, the break ended, and everyone went back to their desks for the next class.
The teacher's lounge was in total silence while each teacher processed the information Nezu was providing.
Aizawa was the first to speak as he narrowed his eyes at Nezu. "You want us to play with her morality like she did with Todoroki in the bomb exercise, right?"
"Excellent, Aizawa, as expected of you!" Nezu simply gave Aizawa an innocent smile, which made the bored teacher internally shudder. "It's going to be very exciting!!"