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Fastest Hero Academia

Which Hero should Genko intern under for the Workplace Experience Arc?

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Chapter 31
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    • Chapter 31: The Unexpected Examiner​
    "W-Why is dad…?"

    Sure enough, there in his old hero costume is dad, Hermes himself. Metal hat, red jacket, winged boots, all of it on full display. The only thing out of place is the blue metal brace around his fractured knee that looked pretty familiar.

    "It's a personal request of mine." Dad tells me with a grin, "When the principal told me of the change in the exam details, I volunteer for the first years' examiner spot."

    "Which we had originally refused due to his…disability." Aizawa tells us but he looks like he is fed-up with the current situation, "But then he pulls that brace out and Principal Nezu agreed, unfortunately…"

    Brace? So that brace is special or something?

    "This here is a prototype support leg brace." Dad explains to us, patting the thing, "It has a unique design that lessen the pressure on the knees. Think of it as an external knee joint. With this, I'll be able to use my quirk without any major repercussion to my health."

    "Wait… wasn't that the thing Tetsu-nii shipped home the week before!?"

    I knew I saw that somewhere before! The week before the exams, we had received a parcel from Tetsu-nii and that was inside of it. I recall dad being very ecstatic about it and rushes into his room for some reason. I now know why.

    "Sure is! Quite a nifty thing, isn't it?"

    "If we can get back to the exam now…?" Aizawa's glare frighten me while dad nervously chuckled before gesturing to him to continued, "Now, I will now read out the teachers and their students. First of…"

    The pair up is as follows:

    Todoroki & Yaoyaorozu VS Eraserhead

    Midoriya & Bakugou VS All Might

    Kaminari & Ashido VS Principal Nezu

    Uraraka & Aoyama VS Thirteen

    Jirou & Koda VS Present Mic

    Tsuyu & Tokoyami VS Ectoplasm

    Tatsuya & Iida VS Hermes

    Hagakure & Sero VS Snipe

    Kirishima & Satou VS Cementoss

    Ojirou & Shoji VS Power Loader​

    All in all, almost everyone's pairings are exactly like canon dictates, except for mine, Hagakure's, and Ojirou's.

    I felt faint at the thought of having to deal with dad as my examiner, let alone the change in test pairings. I honestly have no plans on how to even defeat him!

    Dad is everything I am not. Fast yet accurate, not to mention extremely experienced with speed-based combat, especially with his quirk. I'm not sure we could have a chance of passing this exam, even if Iida and I could work together.

    Dad's…just that amazing…

    Aizawa then reads out the exam details for us, "Ten stages have been prepared for this exam. All teams are to begin simultaneously. The test guidelines will be explained by your respective opponents. None of the areas are outside school grounds, but let's not waste anymore time. Get going."

    We all split up to board our respective buses, I took a small glance at the frustrated Bakugou and a worried Midoriya boarding the bus after All Might. If there's any solace in all of this, is that those two ended up the same pair as always. This is always mean to be, and a necessary step of both of their development.

    Bakugou would need to learn to let go of his ego and allow someone to help him out, and Midoriya would need to learn the determination to strive for victory against impossible odds. Those two need to learn those lessons if they are to become the best Heroes they can be.

    "Tatsuya-san, let's go!"

    "O-Oh, right!"

    Iida thug my arm and jolt my attention back to reality as we board the bus.
    The bus ride to the examination stage is quiet, and nerve racking.

    Dad sat next to the driver seat, reading over some paper which are either the exam rules and details, or the third year's exam papers that he is grading right now. By how his pen is moving, it's definitely the latter.

    I and Iida seat next to each other near the rear, the both of us quite quiet and sitting stiffly. Although I think that's Iida usual straight sitting. Despite thinking it over countless times, I couldn't think of any way we could deal with dad and past the exam.

    Dad's quirk is Acceleration. And it is everything that word meant.

    Any motion he do, anything involving momentum, he can accelerate that up to speeds of Mach 1 in an instant. Even if it's something as simple as like a finger flick, he could accelerate it. That's how he achieved the title of 'Fastest Hero in Japan'.

    He could easily speed up to us and knock us down for the count the moment the exam starts.

    "Tatsuya-san."

    Even if we avoid that, he could easily outrun us and just keep his distance until time runs out.

    "Tatsuya-san?"

    Even if we catch up to him, evading our movements will be cakewalk for him which he can no doubt keep doing until time runs out

    "Tatsuya-san!"

    Even if we decided to break for the exit instead, he would catch up and put us down until time runs out.

    "Tatsuya-san!!"

    No matter how many times I try to think of the plan, the hypothetical end would often result in dad winning and us failing the exam. It is hopeless!! I'm never going to pass the exam–

    "TATSUYA-SAN!!!"

    "AAHH!!"

    I screamed when Iida suddenly yell into my ear. I look at him with an annoyed expression, only to drop them when he is glaring at me in earnest worry. "I have been calling your name for a while now. We need to start formulizing our strategy to beat Hermes-sensei."

    "Y-Yeah, of course… do you have any ideas?"

    "None at the moment."

    I sighed at the obvious answer, "Well, I have a few, but they all ended in hypothetical failure."

    "But you have some plans? Why don't you share them?"

    "Because they all end in failure!" I tell him, "Dad's quirk is too powerful! His speed is beyond what any of us can hope achieve! Not to mention is way more experienced with it, and dealing with similar powers! He'll take us out within seconds!"

    "…I'm surprised." He stated with wide blinking eyes, "You have always portrayed confidence and the drive to overcome any obstacles back at the Sports Festival. And you are brave enough to go against Stain. But against Hermes-sensei, you lack the usual courage and drive."

    "I, well…" I groaned before telling him, "Dad has always been my role model of what a Hero is. He's this dominating force that I want to emulate as a Hero. But to fight against him? To see how I stand next to him? It's… it's daunting… and terrifying… what if I'm not good enough? What if I'm still can't match up to him?"

    It's no lie that my quirk isn't that good. Sure, it can allow me to go super-fast, but I would need to gain a charge of electricity first, and as soon that charge runs out, I'm back to normal. And my speed isn't even that fast when compared to Iida. The only reason I've made it second during the Obstacle Race is because of my very early start, and I have the charge from the robots when we passed through them.

    If Iida and I race, there's no doubt he would beat me.

    "I get it."

    I blinked at Iida's response to my depressing explanation in confusion. He then continued,

    "There are times that I felt like I'm not good enough compared to my brother. That Tensei is the way better hero that I can ever hope to be. But in the end, I told myself that it's okay. That there's no point in belittling yourself. That me and my brother are two different people with our own strengths and weaknesses. I may not be the Ingenium that my brother is, but I'll be the best Ingenium that I can be."

    "Iida-san…"

    "So what if your father is better than you? That's fine! You can still be a great Hero regardless!" He gave me a thumbs up, "And I think you are already one, you know."

    I felt myself blushing at that compliment, the fears of failure fading away. I found myself nervously chuckling before giving out a small sigh. He's right. No matter how you see it, I can't be the same Hero dad is. But I can be a great Hero all the same.

    "Thank you, Iida-san. I needed that." I smiled at him.

    "A-Ah… y-yes! Of course! Anything to help!" He noted with a soft blush as he adjusted his glasses franticly. Huh? What's up with him all of the sudden? For some reason, I started to feel's dad's glare aiming at Iida. Seriously, what's going on with him now!?

    Iida took a deep breath to my confusion before asking seriously, "Now, about strategy to deal with Hermes-sensei. While I felt like it isn't fair to do so but, do you know of any of your father's weakness, Tatsuya-san? Any limitations to his quirk we can take advantage of?"

    "Limitations…"

    If there's a limitation to that insane quirk, it would be that he can only accelerate and not decelerate. He could only slow down by cutting off his quirk and let friction do the rest. Once he starts moving, he could only keep going until he hit something or he literally stomps on the brakes that are his shoes.

    I think that's why his shoes' soles are made of the same material as racing tires. My own soles are the same way.

    "Hm?"

    Wait. Maybe if… we could use that to… yeah, yeah… if it worked before, maybe it can…

    "Have you thought of something?" Iida asked.

    "That I did, a couple actually." I noted with a grin as I got into explaining the idea we have.
    We soon made it to the exam site, the same exam site as in canon if Power Loader was our examiner. A dirt field with little in terms of obstruction, so we speedsters can go full out without the fear of slamming against some wall.

    Guess Sero and Ojirou would be using that rocky terrain. And with Power Loader's quirk? Yup, their exam is going to be a tough one.

    "This is where we'll do battle." Dad tells us as he adjusts his cap, "Pretty nice of Principal Nezu choose this site for our test."

    "What does the test entails, Hermes-sensei?" Iida immediately raises his hand up to ask.

    "Quite an excited one, aren't ya?" He stated with a cheeky grin, "Well, allow me to explain the exam. Your objective for the exam is to either," He pulls out a pair of handcuffs to show us, "put these cuffs on me, or get one of you out of this site. You guys are given thirty minutes time limit to do so."

    "It's like our Battle Training." Iida noted.

    "Oh ho, I can assure you that it is nothing like that." Dad, no, Hermes smirked, "For you see, you guys aren't up against up-comers like yourself. You're up against a seasoned Pro, someone way beyond your level right now. The purpose of this test is to simulate actual battle scenarios, so you guys must consider me as a powerful Villain to take down. If you fight and win against me, that's fine. But if you are overwhelmed, it might be the best option to retreat and call for back-up."

    "I'm sure one of you know what I'm talking about."

    I sheepishly turn my head, breaking into a cold sweat as I felt my father's glare at me. He has already tear into me for the Stain situation both on the phone and in person, so I can't really retort back. He is right, after all.

    "To test our decision making, is that what you are stating?" Iida pointed out.

    "You are correct! You must choose to either fight or flee. Deciding that based on the information available is crucial for a Hero, especially in the current times." Hermes stated, "Well, considering our stark difference in experience and skills, you may consider fleeing be your only option. That's why we have these." He pulls out a pair of wrist and ankle weights, "These are Ultra Compressed Weights made by the Hero Support Course. These weights… 'weights' me down with fifty percent of my body weight."

    "Boo."

    I boo at his dad joke, his growing grin at that annoys me even further. Why does dads love those kinds of puns?

    "Anyway, with this on me, my movement would be slowed and stamina would drain quicker. Is what I would say, but I think you both know what my quirk does, right?"

    We both nodded at that. Yeah, with his quirk, those weights don't change his movements that much. If any, they might be faster thanks to the extra weight.

    "Well, that's all I need to say as an examiner." He noted before turning to me, "So here's a little fatherly advice for my lovely daughter."

    I felt my cheeks flush at his remark. He continues on.

    "You had better go full out if you want to pass. For I'm not going to hold back." My back stiffens at that as he carries on, "Being Hero is no easy job. There are risks and dangers that you have no doubt experienced with Stain. If you want to carry on this path, you must prove to me that you have what it takes to be a Hero. And surpass me if you can. You got that?"

    "…Yes, sir!" I declare to him with a grin. Damn straight I will!

    "Good. Now, take your positions."
    We stood right in the middle of the massive dirt field, dad standing right at where the exit gate is as he stretches his body. It is only seconds left till the start of the practical exam.

    "So, we are clear with the plan, right?" I asked my partner.

    "Yes." Iida nodded, "Your father won't know what hit him."

    I nodded back as I starts moving my fingers about, building up as much as charge as I can.

    "Everyone in position?" The speakers blare out, "Then let's begin the first year's Finals practical examination! Ready…GO!!"

    The moment the horn is blown, my father became a blur that shoots towards us within a single second. I was able to react in time and trips Iida before ducking under the insanely fast lariat that would have slam into our heads if I didn't do what I just did.

    "To the exit, go!!"

    We both charge towards the exit as fast as we can. Dad shouldn't be able to stop himself fast enough to catch up right now.

    "I see your reflexes are as top notch as always. Then, how about THIS!?"

    Hermes suddenly appears to our far right for a moment, his body down low on the ground with his hand on the ground before his hands tensed and he blurs and lands a kick into Iida's side; the carried over momentum sending him flying away.

    "Iida-san!"

    "Here's daddy!!"

    "Guh!!"

    An accelerated punch lands in my side, sending flying away and crashing onto Iida in a heap. We both quickly got back up, just in time to sidestep under a blurry flying kick coming at us like a speeding bullet. Damn, he's faster than I thought.

    "Tatsuya-san, the plan?"

    "Stick to it. We can still make it work."

    Surprising fast or not, it still doesn't change how his quirk operates.

    "Care to share with daddy dearest?"

    Hermes suddenly blurs towards us and slams us to the dirt ground hard, his hands holding us down at a firm grip.

    "Come on, let daddy in on your little secrets."

    "Dad, it's starting to get creepy!"

    "Oh, sorry. A little too much–whoa!"

    Thanks to some lucky timing, Iida is pushed down on his back. That meant his engine thrusters are facing downwards which allows him to power through Hermes's grip by igniting them and somersaulting into the air. He then spun in the air and launch a rocket powered kick at my captor.

    Hermes blurs out of harm's way and got to a distance, giving me enough time to get back up and speeds away with Iida towards the exit.

    "Oh, not so fast now!!"

    Hermes blurs towards us again, but this time we put my plan into motion.

    "Now, Iida-san!"

    "Right!"

    "Huh?"
    Hermes skids to a stop when he saw his daughter and partner split off dashing in two separate directions. 'Now what are you up to, Genko?'

    The reason that he wants to be his daughter examiner is due to one thing alone. No one else can test his daughter better than him.

    Their original plan was to have her partner with Ojirou and go up against Power Loader. Both of them has nothing outstanding physically and quirk-wise, but Genko could no doubt easily deal with Power Loader's pit traps no problem and get a pass.

    But against him? Someone who has a way speedier quirk than Ingenium? That would definitely test her smarts and skills, especially with the fleeing option being way harder than with Power Loader or Midnight. And having her partner against Iida would limit both of their options with how they are going to pass the exam.

    And if he knows his daughter, she is going to find a way to do so.

    "Well, I'm not definitely not going to wait and find out!!"

    Hermes blurs into action and charges right at the one person that could be the biggest threat to him quirk wise, his daughter.

    Unlike what she thinks of her own quirk, he knows her quirk is quite versatile despite its shortcomings. The ability to speed up one's reflexes on all levels is already pretty useful, especially for a speedster-like hero she is going for. Despite her inability to process information just as fast, the fact of the matter is that her fast movements can no doubt deal with his pure acceleration quirk.

    "Here I come!!"

    He got up to her and prepared to push her down. But she has thought that might be the case and speedily got out of the way of his charge and speeds off in another direction. He cut off his quirk and go low for his standard quick brake on dirt, fingers gripping onto the dirt to slow down before twisting his arm to swing his body towards her.

    Activating Accelerate, he blurs forward yet again and dashes towards Genko. Again, she dodges his charge and runs off in another direction.

    This continue again and again, each time Genko going in some random direction to dodge his attack. That strikes him as suspicious but he couldn't think of a reason for her erratic behavior. If anything, it feels like she is leading him somewhere-

    "Huh? Why is she-Oh shit!!"

    Genko suddenly speeds past him, just as he is about to crash into the site's walls hard. He quickly cut off his quirk and dug in his heels to slow down. He then slams into the wall hard metal hat first, but not hard enough to warrant a concussion.

    "Take this!!"

    Genko charges back towards him with fist ready to knock him out. Hermes was impressed, using the same tactic as the one she used against young Tenya in the quarter finals. After all, his quirk does share a similar flaw in quick turns like the Ingenium Heroes.

    "But it won't work as well on me!"

    Hermes pushes up against the wall and activates his quirk, the quick momentum accelerates to near his top speeds as he aims to tackle his daughter to the ground.

    "Recipro Burst!!"

    What he did not expect was for her to go low and for his partner in Iida to come flying over her, thrusters igniting in blue flames and rocketing towards him.

    'Crap! Even if I cut my quirk now…!'

    Inevitably, Hermes took a rocket-powered knee to the face, knocking him out for a moment. And within that short moment, Genko swipes her feet at her father's leg, knocking him off balance and fall forward, and then grabs him by the wrist and pull him down onto the dirt face first.

    She then immediately got on top of him and into the standard wristlock before slapping the exam cuffs on him, as she states with a tired grin:

    "Capture… complete…"

    "This is an announcement! The first team to pass is Tatsuya and Iida!!"
    I panted out as I almost cheered out at my plan's success.

    When I realized that dad's quirk has the exact same turning issue as Iida's, I formulate a plan to take advantage of that the same way I did for him.

    Step one was to split up and run into two separate directions, so to make sure that dad could only go after us one at a time. Even with his quirk, chasing two different targets doing two separate directions is impossible.

    Once he starts chasing one of us, step two commenced. Either one of us has to make sure to lead him around and towards one of the walls, all the while to make sure he doesn't suspect it. I did it by going in erratic and seemingly random patterns to hide that fact. I don't know how Iida would have done it.

    Once he slams into the wall, we got into step three. The one doing the leading is to charge at him in pretense to hit him, which no doubt would cause him to counterattack by pushing against the wall and accelerating towards him or her. At the same time, the other person would run up behind and wait for him to do so before going full speed at him for a surprise attack.

    Since he just accelerated, he couldn't slow down even if he wants to and would take that attack, that would be aimed to stun him for a moment. In that moment, all we have to do grab in and pushes him down onto the ground and slam the cuffs on him.

    To be honest, I was shock that my plan actually worked! And that we have ac finished first!

    "Rawr!"

    "Gah!!"

    Although Iida body slamming onto dad's leg might be a little overkill.

    "Iida-san!?"

    "We have to be sure!" He explains as he presses his body weight onto my dad's legs, "He could easily accelerate out of your grasp and get away!"

    "But what if you worsen his bad knee!? He already could barely walk with a cane!!" I cried out. His fractured knee is already as bad as it is!! What if he needs another surgery because of this!?

    "…Ah, right…"

    He speedily got off my father's leg, dad heaving a huge sigh of relief from that as our class president sharply bows to him. "I'm extremely sorry, Hermes-sensei! I got too carried away!"

    "Nah, it's fine. It didn't break anything." He assures him, "Also Genko, you can get off me now. Once the cuff is on, the test is over."

    "Oh, okay."

    I got off him as he got back onto his feet. "I've got to say, luring me towards the wall is pretty ingenious, if a bit a huge gamble. What if I have chosen to go after Iida-kun instead?"

    "I've would have lure you to the wall all the same." Iida declares, "When Tatsuya-san came up with the plan, she considered it in a way so that it would work with either of us."

    "But I admit that it would have a better chance of success if it is me that's luring you." I added, "Although, I wasn't expecting for the plan to work so well. Were you going easy on us?"

    "Nah, I was going all out with you." Dad stated with a wave of his cuffed hand, "If anything, it's me being rusty from not doing any Hero fieldwork for over a decade now. I've got to practice some more."

    "…you know." I have a wide smile as I tell him, "It's great to see you running around in that costume again."

    "…Yup, it's great for me too." He nodded.

    "Are you planning going back to active duty?"

    "Nah, not likely. But I might be the back-up if the other active Hero teachers are too preoccupied. I'm definitely keeping this costume on, though."

    "Oh, that's great! I can't wait to see the great Hermes in action again!" I'm ecstatic at the thought of dad in his Hero costume teaching us. That would be so awesome!!

    "Yes, I can't wait to see Hermes's sensei in his full costume glory teaching us!!" Iida agrees with me, as his arm is ecstatically chopping like an overcharged robot arm.

    "Although, I might have to lose some weight first. This jacket is way tighter than I remember."

    "Huh, it is. I think your belly button is showing too. And-ew, your pubes too!"

    "Well, I'm an old man now, after all. Some belly is standard for men my age."

    "It's gross!! Cover it up!!"

    With that, I passed my finals with flying colors.
    Omake (What if Genko is paired with Ojirou and has to fight Power Loader)​

    "Are you sure this is going to work, Tatsuya-san?"

    "Oh definitely!! It's the perfect strategy against Power Loader-sensei!"

    "If you say so…" The tail quirk teen noted as he sat on Genko's small shoulders. He's surprised that she can even hold him on her shoulders at all.

    "Okay, ready?"

    "As I'll ever be…"

    "Alright then, let's win this thing!!"

    Genko charges right into the field of pit traps at her fastest speed while carrying someone of Ojirou's weight class. She was able to speed through most of them before her charge runs out and she fell into one.

    "Fly, Ojirou!!"

    "Hiyah!!"

    But before she did, she made sure to be as close to the exit gate as she can so that Ojirou can leaps off her with his tail and lands right through the exit gate.

    "Team Tatsuya and Ojirou, passed!"

    "Yeah!! We did it!! Also, can someone get me out of this hole? It's really deep in here."
    Alright!! Sorry to take so long to write this! I was busy with my Shield Hero reboot and I wanted to have at least two chapters of it before moving on to this fic.

    So yeah, Genko has to content with her father with Iida. Two speedsters against the grand speedster daddy himself (sorry not sorry). As you can see, they are victorious and pass the finals.

    Now before you guys asked, I will show the other non-canon pairing do on their exams. If anything, I have an idea of how Sero's is going to go down.

    With that, I thank you for reading this!    ​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 32
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 32: Calm before the storm
    ​
    The rest of the exam went out as usual, with some minor changes for some of the examinees.

    For example, Sero and Hagakure manages to passed the exam in the same way the original canon pairing did, by Sero acting as a very mobile distraction while Hagakure snuck around (in the nude) and handcuffed the teacher without him noticing her. Apparently, he was going with the spiderman quips as he swings around taunting Snipe in very curious ways.

    It did, however, lead to Snipe accidentally elbowing her in the boobs, which was pretty rude if not for the fact that her bodyline is literally invisible, so I can't blame the teacher.

    A big change was how Kirishima and Satou handled their exam.
    Kirishima gritted his teeth as he massaged his sore knuckles, the wall of cement not budging much even after so many hits. "Damn it, this is getting us nowhere…"

    "Sleepy… Satou want to sleep…"

    "Hang in there, man!!"

    As his partner pants out in agony, the redhead took a deep breath and starts thinking. Cementoss has been continuously building up walls the moment the exam started, the first one was to block their forward strategy of rushing right at the teacher and hope for the best, while the following ones are formed like a cement cage of sorts to stop them from running away.

    Not that he would do that. Manly men don't run from a fight!!

    'Thinking back, charging in like that probably wasn't the best idea…' He grimaced internally, 'Come on, Eijirou, think! Satou has been using his quirk for a very long time, and the side effects are starting to show…'

    Ideally, it would be for the best if they can take down Cementoss quickly before Satou's sugar quirk starts to backfire on him too badly. But with how fast Cementoss is building up walls, they are left to no way of tackling him or heading towards the exit.

    'Wait, didn't Tatsuya-san say something about fighting smart?'

    He recalls the sparring bouts he had against his speedster classmate over the past couple of weeks, ones that he couldn't win no matter how much he tries. And every time, she did bring up the topic of his lack of tactical thinking when it comes to fighting.

    "You always seem to rush in and depends on your quirk to take the damage. But that makes your movements very monotonous and really predicable. You need to think before you act, and try to find a way around the problem instead of bullheadedly rushing in."

    "A way around…"

    He looked up and notices the lack of a certain something in their 'cage', and came up with an idea.

    "Hey, Satou! I've got an idea!"

    Cementoss looked on the concrete encasement he has formed around the two students, noting on their obvious weakness as a duo. His mental clock is counting down the seconds until the time limit is up, which to his estimate is about fifteen minutes away.

    "Well, I guess that's over-huh?"

    A sudden silhouette appears over him as Kirishima lands and skids to a stop behind Cementoss. The surprised teacher slams his palms onto the concrete street and hastily creates a wall to separate them.

    But that wasn't enough, as Kirishima easily smashes through the wall with his harden fists and rushes towards Cementoss. The teacher quickly unleashes more concrete walls at him to hold him back-

    "Satou SMASH!!"

    "What in the!?"

    At the same time, Satou falls down from the air towards Cementoss, with his arms pulled back for a hammer fist strike. He would have crash into the teacher if Cementoss didn't reacted in time and maneuver the cement to shield him from the strike, if even the attack broke through the concrete like it was Styrofoam.

    Cementoss quickly pull more concrete from the previous encasement and pushes Satou into the nearby building, trapping him in a cocoon of cement.

    "Got you!!"

    Kirishima smashes through the final layer of concrete walls and swings a punch right at Cementoss; the teacher without a moment hesitation unleashes another wave of concrete towards the redhead and sends him flailing about in the fluid cement before trapping him in it, leaving only his head out in the open.

    "Nice try, Heroes, but-"

    *Clank*

    "Huh?"

    He looked down at his wrist to see the examination handcuff has somehow found itself around it. Within that final charge towards Cementoss, Kirishima has actually tossed the handcuff at the teacher in an act of desperation to past. The odds of the cuff managing to get around Cementoss's wrist is against him.

    But in a stroke of good luck, it did.

    "Well, well… would you look at that?" Cementoss noted in awe, "Looks like lady luck has graced you with her presence."

    "Kirishima & Satou team, passed!"
    It was pretty surprising for Kirishima to do that and cleared the test. Talk about good luck.

    Either way, the practical test is over and we are given the next day off to rest up. The day after, we all gathered in our class for our last homeroom period for the week, anxiously await the final verdict for those who passed and those who failed.

    "Uuuhhh…" Our resident pink-skinned girl held back her tears the best she can, "I-I'm… looking forward to…*hic* a bunch of… awesome stories from the trip…!"

    "Just hold on, now. There could a twist to this…!" Midoriya tries to assured the only failing students in our class, Kaminari and Ashido.

    "Don't you get it!?" Kaminari shouted at the freckled teen, "Failing our exams meant summer school hell instead of the exciting summer camp!! And we flunked the practical!! The only twist it could have is if your average score is even worse than mine!!"

    "E-Eh!? Well that's…"

    "Oh, calm down, Kaminari." Kirishima tells him, "Me and Satou are probably on the same boat as you guys. Sure, we passed the test, but it was out of pure luck that my plan even worked. If anything, we could easily get a failing grade like you guys."

    "Save us your pity!!"

    I awkwardly look at Ashido as she actually begins to openly sob as the other girls starts to comfort her. I evenetually walked up to her and just stiffly patted her on the shoulder. What else can I do?

    As if on cue, the classroom door slides open and in walked Aizawa, "The bell has rung. To your seats, now." We all quickly head to our seats as our homeroom teacher slowly made his way to the podium before turning to address us, "Now, about your finals. Sadly, we have some failures. As such…"

    He then gives us the same troll face back during the first day, "All of you are going to the summer training camp."

    ""WHAT A TWIST!!""

    "Everyone passed the written tests. But in the practical, only Kaminari and Ashido failed."

    "Why are you singling us out!?" Kaminari cried out.

    "Are we really allowed to go!?" Ashido asked almost desperately, as if the previous statement doesn't sound truthful enough for her.

    "As the Villains in the examination, we teachers came up with assignments that perfectly suited all of you. Ones that gives you chances to devise winning strategies. If we hadn't, none of you would have stood a chance."

    "So…" Ojirou raises his hand and asked, "When you said you were going to try and crush us…"

    "That was just to push you forward." He stated, "This is a training camp, after all. More than anyone else, those who failed are in dire need of this. In short, it was all another rational deception."

    He just uses that phrase to justify all his underhanded methods!! Not that I don't see that as unnecessary or unjustified, but still!

    "But now that we've been lied to twice, aren't you worried that our faith in you has been shaken!?" Iida cries out.

    "Way to be a wet blanket, Iida-kun." Uraraka noted.

    "Perhaps. But considering the facts, it isn't a complete lie." Aizawa stated, "Failure is still a failure. The two of you will receive special supplemental lessons during the camp. It would be way worse than what the summer camp will throw at you, so I advise to mentally prepare yourselves."

    The complexion on those two immediately went from intense joy to pale terror within seconds after that sentence was said. If I were them, it would be the same for me.

    "Anyway, I'll be handing out the camp manuals. Take one and pass it on to the back."
    "I still can't believe I've managed to pass!!"

    Kirishima happily announced the final results for our exams to our little lunch groupies as soon as the class is released for lunch. And as I have hoped, everyone at our table all passed their finals.

    "Good job, bro!!" Tetsutetsu cheered as they two high-fived, "It looks like everyone here passed!"

    "Yeah, if barely." Taikou noted with a sigh.

    "I take it you have a tough time?" I pointed out, "Who was your partner?"

    "…Monoma…"

    "Yikes."

    "You know it." He shoves a spoonful of curry into his mouth, "We could barely agree on anything, especially with the teacher we are tasked with."

    "Who did you get?" Tsuyu asked.

    "Nezu."

    "Even more yikes."

    Taikou got Nezu as his examiner!? Damn, I'm surprised that he managed to even pass!! That little mouse-bear is considered a genius strategist, and have countless plans for any situation, including back-up plans for his back-up plans! Taikou may not be the dumb, but he is not smart enough to outmaneuver him.

    "How did you even pass!?" Kirishima cried, "He absolutely dominated two of our classmates with no effort at all!"

    "With insane levels of luck, a rude awakening." Taikou sighed, "As much as I really, really, hate to admit, Monoma knows strategy when he puts his mind to it. It was thanks to him that we even managed to pass."

    "It must have been painful." I noted. If I know Taikou, once he disliked someone, he hardly changes his outlook on her or him. And aside from Bakugou, Monoma is pretty high up in his blacklist.

    "Very. But it did open my eyes a little." He noted, "And apparently, so did Monoma. He actually apologized for his behavior in the past months."

    "Wow, really?" Kirishima noted in awe, "I thought he was as stubborn as a mule."

    "It was a surprise to all of us." Pony stated, "He even did it in front of the whole class. He bowed and everything."

    "He must be really genuine with that apology." Tsuyu noted.

    "Either way, we have all passed the finals." Tetsutetsu stated with a wide grin, "All that's left is to wait for the summer camp. I can't wait! A whole week of camping!"

    "But the packing list is huge." Kirishima stated, "A lot of stuff I have to get before the camp begins."

    "Me too." I noted with a tired sigh, "I don't think the bathing suit I currently have doesn't fit anymore."

    "Yeah, I can imagine why." Taikou noted, eyes glancing up and down at me.

    "Are you implying something?"

    "Not implying anything. Just saying that your excessive sugar intake might have widen your waistline-OW!"

    "How rude can you get!?"

    I kicked his shin from under the table with a growl. Seriously, why does he do this every time!? There are just some things you don't ask a lady in public!! Actually, not just in public either! There are questions you don't ask, period!!

    "What, it's the truth!" He cried out, "Because you are definitely heavier looking compared to last month-GAH!"

    "Again, Taikou!?"

    Tsuyu then noted, "Well, the couple banter aside-"

    ""We are not a couple!!""

    "-The list does have quite a lot of stuff on there. And since it is the end of exams and the weekends are coming up, why don't we all have a shopping trip tomorrow?"

    "Oh, that's a good idea!" Pony quickly agrees, "We have only meet outside school for training and group study. It would be nice to gather for some fun instead!" Her eyes glanced at Taikou for a second before glaring at me for another.

    Urgh, this has been going on for the past weeks since our first group study with that little kissing accident. I have made it very clear that I'm not romantically interested in Taikou to her, yet she keeps thinking me as a love rival!

    "I don't mind." Kirishima noted, "I have no plans for the weekend., and I have quite a lot of stuff on the list I need to buy."

    "Same here." Tetsutetsu noted, "How about you, Tatsuya-san?"

    "I'm down." I nodded. It would be nice to have another day out with friends. I haven't hanged out with Taikou or Shinsou like that since the school term begin.

    "Then it's settled! Let's all meet at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall tomorrow morning!" Tsuyu noted pretty excitedly, even if her face hardly shows it.

    Kind of think of it, me and Tsuyu haven't hang out since the USJ incident. I have been too busy worrying about the canon events and changes to the timeline that I didn't think of inviting her out. I guess I should make it up to her.

    The summer camp arc might have some changes I need account for, but that could wait.
    The shopping mall in the Kiyashi Ward is pretty massive, way more massive than the shopping mall I've frequented for most of my stuff. It is filled with all sorts of stores with many of them catering to all kinds of body types, and I mean all kind of body types. With mutation quirks being on the rise over the years, there are many stores that sold things that could work with Shoji at least.

    I couldn't help my snicker when I saw the name of the shopping mall.

    "What's with you?" Taikou asked me.

    "T-The mall is called Wookies…!" I laughed. Horikoshi really love his Star Wars references.

    "Oh, from that one movie. What was it… Star Wars?"

    "Yup, that's the one!"

    "You watched that old movie?" Kirishima asked with an eyebrow raised, "I've heard that it's good, but I have never watched it-Woah!?"

    "You never watched Star Wars!?" I nearly screamed at his face.

    "N-No…?"

    "Unforgivable!!"

    "Oh boy, you set her off…" Taikou groaned in the background. Tsuyu said something as well, but I didn't catch it.

    I got to fix this right away! No friend of mine is going to not know about the classics! And maybe introduce him to the world of western comic books! Yeah, and he could really go all Juggernaut on the Villains!

    "That's it. You're coming with me."

    "H-Hey!"

    "Hold on, Genko." Taikou sighs as he stopped me before I can drag Kirishima away to find a comic book store, "We're here to shop for our camping supplies, remember? You can show Kirishima the glory of Star Wars afterwards."

    "…yeah, I guess you're right." I let Kirishima go, "So, how are we going to do this?"

    "Well, I needed a new duffel bag." Tetsutetsu noted.

    "Bug spray, for me." Pony pointed out.

    "I'm here for some shoes." Tsuyu stated.

    "Oh, same here." Taikou stated.

    "Looks like we all need different stuff. Why don't we all split up?" Kirishima suggested, "We can meet back up here at noon."

    "Sure, why not?" I nodded.

    "I'm going with Taikou!"

    "Huh?"

    Pony slides next to my confused childhood friend the instant she says that. You're really laying in on thick there, Pony… And Taikou is as dense as he always has been.

    In the end, we split up according, with me and Kirishima in one team and Tsuyu and Tetsutetsu in another. Pony was beaming the whole time. I don't why Tetsutetsu gives Kirishima a thumbs-up when we picked our partners.

    Taikou, I better hope you notice soon… for both your sake and mine.
    "How's this?"

    "I… don't really know."

    I check myself over the mirror with the bathing suit I have in hand; a red one piece with a strip down the sides but shows quite a bit of cleavage. Kirishima's lack of opinion is making this to be pretty difficult to choose. This is third one I have found in my size and NOT a risqué bikini. Like one is watermelon themed, a not so subtle reference to one's massive size.

    Tsuyu would be helpful with her suggestions, even Taikou would say something about it if a bit tactless.

    "I mean, can't you just pick one out and just go with that?" He asked with his choice of a trunks in his hand, "It can't be that hard."

    "I could, but those in my size are… well…" I take out the infamous string monokini that barely covers up anything other than my pubes and nipples.

    "…yikes."

    "I know, right?" I frowned as I put it back, "Makes me wish that I have a smaller bust. These things really get in the way sometimes."

    "I… I see…" Kirishima awkwardly said, his face turned away with ears burning red.

    "…Oh, am I making this awkward?" I asked worriedly, "I'm sorry. I'll just pick one out of the decent ones." That simple red one piece looks nice.

    "Oh, no, it's fine!" He assures me, "Just… I didn't think shopping with a girl could be… well…"

    "Boring? Embarrassing?" I stated with a sheepish smile as I finally choose the red one piece from before, "Yeah, Taikou mentioned the same thing when we entered middle school. You wouldn't believe how red his face became when I almost brought him into the lingerie store by accident."

    "You two are really close, huh?" Kirishima asked.

    "Yup. Like two peas in a pod." I noted as I took the bathing suit and make my way to the cashier, "We are childhood friends after all."

    "So… um, just wondering…" He nervously asked as he walked up to me, "Did you two… you know."

    "Huh? What do you mean?"

    "Well, did you two… date each other before?"

    "…Oh, no." I tell him with a heavy sigh, "Me and Taikou would never be a couple, like ever. Dating him would be like dating a brother, which is both weird and wrong."

    "I…see…" Kirishima nodded.

    "Now if only Ashido-san and Pony would understand…"

    That would make my life so much easier…

    "…Maybe I have a chance…?"

    "Did you say something?"

    "O-Oh, nothing! Just-Hm?"

    "Ah."

    After we paid for our items and left the store, we both turned the corner just to see Ashido and Hagakure comes out of the shoe store with Iida and Kaminari behind them, their purchases in white plastic bags.

    "Oh, what a coincidence!" Kaminari greeted, "You guys came here too?"

    "It really is." I noted.

    "You two together, alone?" Ashido snickered, hand on her wide toothy grin, "And you said you have no interest in romance, Tatsuya-chan. Yet here you are here, out on a date with Kirishima of all people."

    "So sneaky~!" Hagakure stated cheerfully.

    "D-Date…!?"

    I don't know why Kirishima is so freaked out about this. We came with like four other people, so technically this isn't one. I decided to stop the misunderstanding before it gets too far.

    "Ashido-san, we came here with Tsuyu-chan and the others." I told her, "We just decided to split up to buy our stuff."

    "Are you sure about that~?"

    "Yes, I'm sure."

    Damn it. Working with this girl is impossible. Just because we are hanging out doesn't mean we are on a date!

    Come to think of it, didn't Midoriya and some of class 1-A went to a mall for a shopping trip together? I think they also split up and Midoriya ended up encountering-

    I felt my heart stop for a moment as I remember the person that Midoriya would soon face and what that meeting would end up resulting down the line.

    "Tatsuya-san? Is something wrong?"

    This is bad. I got to stop that from happening before-

    "This is an emergency message! A Villain has been spotted in the premises! Please evacuate in an orderly fashion! This is not a drill! Repeat-"

    My thoughts halted when that message is blared over the intercoms, with policemen appearing to usher all of us out.

    No… it has already happened…

    "A-A Villain!?" Kirishima cried out, "Here!?"

    "What's going on!?" Iida asked worriedly as he gestures to the police officers, "Please, tell us what's happening!"

    "I'm sorry, but I can't disclose any information of the situation. Please evacuate in an orderly manner."

    "B-But…!"

    I can't believe that I forgot about this event! This is really bad…! At this point, canon would follow through and…

    "Tatsuya-san." Kirishima's hand pressed on my shoulder, shaking me out of my thoughts, "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

    "Huh? O-Oh, i-it's nothing…" I assured him.

    It's fine. Shigaraki would have grown in some shape of form soon or later, even if I were to intervene. Besides, adding me into the equation would be disastrous, considering what I did to him back during the USJ invasion. He wouldn't be able to hold back at all and would kill a lot of people in the process.

    Just focus on the summer camp. Deal with that, and it will be fine.

    It will be fine.

    It will be… fine…
    Omake​

    "How long you think it would take before she notices?" Tetsutetsu asked Tsuyu as he look through the duffel bags on sale.

    "Who knows?" She replied as she picked up one particularly green one, "She seems pretty oblivious to it. She might not realize it unless he says it out loud to her."

    "That's what I told him." He stated, "But he seems to think that Taikou and Genko are an item, so…"

    "With how they act around each other, they might as well be."

    "No kidding. They would be perfect for each other. Ah, don't tell Pony I said that."

    "I won't."

    "You would think that Taikou would notices her obvious crush by now."

    "Those two really are two peas in a pod, down to their obliviousness."
    And yup. This is done! Man, writing slice of life moments is really rough for someone like me, who has little to no social life outside of doing this.

    …I just depress myself by writing this…

    Anyway, this is pretty much an interlude for the next few chapters. Every action-packed arc need some cooldown interlude arc afterwards to loosen up tension, after all.

    I also have Kirishima pass, because unlike the one in canon, this Kirishima has some sparring practice with Genko, so his approach would be slightly different.

    With that, I thank you for reading this!    ​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 33
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 33: I-island​
    In the last week of school before summer vacation begins, we had a homeroom in which our teacher gave us some last minute changes to our scheduled training camp.

    "Due to the incident during the weekends, we have decided to be more wary of the Villains' movements. As such, we have changed the destination for the summer camp. The new location won't be announced until the actual day."

    "EH!?"

    As expected, the summer camp's renewed destination would remain a secret. Aizawa even made a show of it by ripping the list of necessary items he gave out days prior.

    "But I've already told my parents…!" Sero moaned.

    "It can't be helped; the school can't control how and where this information will spread." Yaoyorozu noted, "We're lucky they didn't straight out cancel the whole trip."

    But not that would do any good. The League of Villains will still figured out where the summer camp is held and attacked it. That part in canon I highly doubt I'll be able to change at all, considering it was still unknown how the location was leaked in the first place.

    "You should have killed them." Bakugou told Midoriya, "Even if it meant breaking a bone or two."

    "Hey Bakugou, did you not hear how Midoriya was knee-deep in it!?" Hagakure scolded him, "And you of all people should know that it is illegal to use our quirks in public!"

    "Whatever. He should have at least cracked a few skulls in the process."

    "K-Kacchan…"

    As the discussion turns to a debate of whether Midoriya should have fought back, the feeling of intense guilt flooded my chest.

    I was too careless into thinking that nothing of major importance would've happened during finals, and forgotten the little meeting between Midoriya and Shigaraki, and the catalyst that sparked the start of Shigaraki's dark path as All-For-One's successor.

    Granted, I haven't read the manga in years, but I should have remembered such an important turning point! Now the future looked so bleak…
    Lunch soon came and I sat with my small group of friends as we talked about what happened at the mall.

    "What happened last Sunday really shook up the teachers, huh?" Kirishima noted.

    "It is only natural." Tsuyu pointed out, "One of our classmates nearly got killed."

    "Man, you guys at Class 1-A have quite the luck with the Villains, huh?" Tetsutetsu noted, "First the USJ, then Stain, and now this?"

    "It's not like we want that to happen." I shrugged my shoulders. When you are in the same class as a shounen protagonist, stuff like these tend to happen.

    Unless you are actively searching for them, though…

    "We know, we know." Pony chuckled, "It's just that Monoma went on a tirade on this whole thing. I believed he mentioned 'cursed' a few times in one sentence."

    "Classic Monoma…" Taikou sighed, "Taking any chance to downplay Class 1-A…"

    "It's terrifying to think that a Villain was in the mall with us without anyone realising it." Tsuyu noted, "Midoriya-chan was really lucky to walk out unharmed."

    "He was pretty brave, though!" Kirishima added, "To remain that cool-headed, even when your life is in the line, is manly as all heck!"

    "Yeah, he was…" I muttered.

    I guess that's what it appeared to those unrelated third parties. After all, they don't know why Shigaraki talked with Midoriya for, and what that meeting would bring about to our Hero society.

    It's a bit unnerving to think about…

    "You okay, Genko-chan?"

    Tsuyu's question snapped me out of my thoughts, "Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking about some stuff."

    "…if you say so."

    Tsuyu definitely did not look convinced by my attempt to cover up my anxiety. She can be frighteningly perceptive when she wants to be.

    "Come aboard, and bring along~ all your hopes and dreams~!"

    My phone suddenly rang, startling everyone at the table. "Wasn't that song from that very old—?"

    "Tetsutetsu, wait—!"

    "One Piece is a classic!! Not old!!"

    As the metal quirk user coiled back from my rightful outburst, I took out my phone and saw that it was a video call from Tetsu of all people. Huh, I wonder why the sudden call?

    "Hello, Tetsu-nii—"

    "Gen-chan, you alright!?"

    My brother's loud voice startled us even more than my phone's ring tone, as his worried face covered my entire screen.

    "I've just heard what happened!! Are you hurt anywhere!? Did that bastard did anything to you!? Do I need to—"

    "T-Tetsu-nii! Calm down! The Villain didn't even come anywhere close to me! Also, quiet down! I'm in the cafeteria, not my room!"

    I felt my face burning red under the watchful gaze of my friends; Taikou himself is desperately holding back chuckles while Kirishima and Tetsutetsu are looking at each other with confusion.

    "Is that your brother?" Tsuyu asked me, "He sounds really… intense."

    "Well, after the USJ and Stain, he is a little on edge…" Dad was the same way, but he didn't show it so blatantly. He was much more subtle in his overprotectiveness.

    "Understatement of the year!" Taikou laughed as he scooted over to lean on my shoulder, "Hi, Tetsu-san!"

    "Oh, is that Taikou? I haven't seen in years! How are you?"

    "I'm good. You, on the other hand, looked quite worn out."

    "Well, I had to deal with quite a bit over the past couple of months…"

    "Are you getting enough sleep?" I asked him. The bags under his eyes could rival Aizawa's.

    "Eh, I had plenty, about 4 hours with a few power naps in between, but my boss has gave me a week off so I can rest for real."

    "That's good to hear…" Tetsu has always been bad in following a sleep schedule.

    "Ah, that reminds me! I-island is hosting the I-Expo during the first week of summer vacation! I was given three early-access tickets for family members! I've asked mom and dad, but they are too busy to come over. If you aren't too busy, I can send you one. Taikou and Shinsou can come with the extra two."

    "Oh, really!?"

    The I-Expo is a massive global event that showcase the evolution of quirk research and development, one that normal people couldn't even afford to get a ticket to, unless you have the right connections. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

    But besides that, I haven't seen Tetsu for so long! It's one thing to talk to each other via video calling, but to physically interact with my brother is a rare thing since he moved to I-island! The camp isn't until the second week of summer vacation, so I have plenty of time to go!

    "Then I'll definitely come!!" I then turned to my childhood friend, "What about you? Want to come along?"

    "Sure, why not."

    "That's great! I'll email you the tickets and the date for the flight! See you soon!"

    "Okay! I'll see you when I see you!"

    I hung up the phone, and turned to my group whom most of them were looking at with this warm smile on their faces, specifically my two female friends.

    "…what?"

    "The way you interacted with your brother is really wholesome~" Pony cooed at me.

    "You are really cute as a little sister, Genko-Chan." Tsuyu added, "Can I call you Gen-chan?"

    "I've known that you and your brother are close, but that shit is straight up adorable." Tetsutetsu noted in awe.

    "I-Is that so…?" Do I really act that different to Tetsu compared to everyone else?

    "Yeah, you should see her back in elementary school." Taikou noted with a snicker, "She would tackle and hug him whenever she gets a chance and then wouldn't let go."

    "I was eight!"

    "She was often nicknamed a brocon too."

    "Taikou!!"

    "Yeah, I can see that happening."

    Everyone all laughed as my cheeks started to burn from the sheer embarrassment over the situation as I just returned to my meal.

    We asked Shinsou later if he wanted to come, but he declined so we have one ticket free for grabs which we asked the rest of our friends if they want to come along. As such, I decided to invite Tsuyu along for the ride, which she gratefully accepted. Hopefully, this would make up for not hanging out with her due to all the stuff that had happened over the semester.

    The last week of the school term was uneventful, even by the standards of a Hero society goes. Classes went on as usual and we had the usual end of term assembly.

    After that, summer vacation officially starts!
    "So, this is I-Island."

    Me, Taikou and Pony all landed at I-Island's airport at about the early evening, and we just collected all our luggage and exited onto the island proper. I've expected the place that housed the greatest quirk researchers and scientists in the world to be more futuristic, but…

    "Looked rather average-looking." I muttered under my breath. That's disappointing…

    "What were you even expecting?" Taikou asked with an eyebrow raised.

    "I don't know, more sci-fi-ish? Maybe some hover cars and holograms?"

    "That's a bit of a stretch, Genko."

    "A girl can dream!!"

    "You sure have some amazing dreams, Genko-chan."

    It is already an artificial island, but they choose the most generic layout there is? That feels like some wasted potential to be had there. At least they have these cool white R2D2-looking cleaning robots everywhere.

    "What a crowd." Tsuyu commented, "I-Expo really attract a lot of people."

    Looking around, there were banners and screens all over announcing and advertising the I-Expo that we were here for. Today was only for those with early-access tickets, but there were already so many people arriving onto the island. I think I saw a few high-profile Heroes among them as well.

    As expected from I-Expo. Even with its insanely expensive tickets, it still managed to attract so many people. Can't imagine the actual crowd during opening day.

    "Where is Tetsu-san picking us up?"

    I checked his mail from last night, "He said he'll be waiting by the exit."

    Which was at a massive courtyard filled with a lot of colourful flowers, with an archway that has the word [WELCOME] in big colourful letters.

    "Gen, over here!"

    I turned at the recognisable voice of my older brother, Tetsu waving at us while standing by the driveway next to a white car.

    "Tetsu-nii!!"

    "Whoa, whoa, wait-Oof!"

    I immediately dashed towards him and jumped, tackling him with a big hug. Tetsu must have gotten a bit stronger, seeing as he didn't topple over when I did so. His hair is still a shaggy mess, the bags under his eyes are mostly gone now, and his 9 o'clock shadow is now a neatly trimmed goatee.

    "…You seriously need to stop doing that." Tetsu groaned as I squeezed him tight.

    "Not anytime soon!"

    "I've figured…"

    "Long time no see, Tetsu-san." Taikou and Tsuyu walked up to us, my childhood friend pulling the luggage I had left behind to tackle hug my brother. "Dig the goatee."

    "Thanks, I'm really proud of it." Tetsu stayed with a grin. I reluctantly let him out of my hug as he turned to Tsuyu, "Nice to meet you. I'm Tatsuya Tetsujin."

    "Asui Tsuyu." Tsuyu greeted as she shook hands with Tetsu, "You seemed way more average looking than your sister put you to be."

    "Told you she is a brocon."

    "Am not!"

    I huffed in indignation at Taikou's rude remark. It is perfectly normal for a little sister to be this affectionate with her brother! Sure, I may have made him up to be some super genius, but he might as well be one with how much he has achieved!

    When he brought us to his car, I wasn't expecting to find a robot dog sitting at the back.

    "What in the…"

    The robotic canine was pretty big, at least the size of a German Shepard. Its red metal body shows off its silver mechanical joints with a black visor for eyes and a cord for a tail. It kind of reminds me of that robot wolf from that one Metal Gear game.

    "Tetsu-nii, what is that?"

    "Hello. How are you? I am fine."

    "I-It talked!?" I stumbled back in shock.

    "That is my little side project." He told us, "Meet Adcom. She is a robotic dog with the state-of-the-art AI technology ever invented."

    "Why is she called Adcom?"

    "It is short for Assistant Dog Companion."

    "Ah…"

    "A pleasure to meet you all." The robot, Adcom greeted us in a feminine voice, "I am Adcom, Tetsu's beloved assistant and partner."

    "Kero, that's amazing!" Tsuyu noted in awe, "She moves just like a dog!"

    "Why a dog, though?" Taikou asked.

    "I had originally created her as a prototype robotic guide dog for the blind, but I ended up tinkering with her settings too much and now her AI was too advanced for one." Tetsu chuckled, "Now I just kept her around as an assistant."

    "Oh, like Jarvis!"

    "Like who?"

    "…Why do people not know about movies anymore…?" I sighed. It has only been a few decades since that movie aired! People couldn't have forgotten about them so quickly!!

    "Searching… Search found. If you are referring to that butler AI from the 2008 movie Iron Man, then yes, I am indeed his 'Jarvis'." Adcom stated, "He wouldn't be able to function like a proper human being without me."

    "Um, was she programmed to say that?"

    "I've connected her to the internet so that her GPS would function better, but after I added in a learning software, she often uses it whenever asked for any trivia by my colleagues…" Tetsu sighed, "Now she would not stop spouting random trivia whenever she gets a chance."

    "She… isn't going to go all skynet on us, is she?" I asked worriedly. This felt like the beginning of every robot revolution movie ever produced.

    "Be assured, that is no way part of my programming to do so."

    "That just worries me even more!" It always started that way!

    After putting our bags in the trunk of his car, my brother drove us to our hotel to get checked in; after which he brought us to an American steak house for dinner.

    "Tonight's dinner is my treat." He told us as we took our seats.

    "Awesome! Love you, Tetsu-nii!" I cheered.

    "You really don't have to." Tsuyu stated.

    "It's okay! I don't really spend my salary on much to begin with, so my wallet was feeling a little heavy."

    "He had only spent money on microwave meals and juice packets."

    "…Tetsu-nii."

    "Hey, my work needs commitment! And they are cheap and easy to make!"

    As we waited for our meals to be delivered, Taikou asked, "Hey Tetsu-san, what are you researching here on I-Island? Genko told me you got scouted to be an assistant to David Shield and that's about it."

    "David Shield?" Tsuyu noted in surprise, "As in All Might's former sidekick, that famous award-winning scientist and creator of many famous Heroes' support gears, THAT David Shield?"

    "Hm hm~! That very one~!" I nodded with great pride. Who's average now?

    "It's not you she's talking about…" Tetsu sighed before turning to Taikou, "I've been mostly helping Professor David with his research on Quirk Factors, but I have been working on making Hero support items freelance from time to time. "

    "You made the brace Hermes-sensei is currently using, right?" Tsuyu pointed out.

    "Yup. But lately, that research has been…"

    "…Tetsu-nii?"

    "Oh, it's nothing."

    It doesn't seem to be nothing with how worried he looked just then. Did something happen recently? I mean, it is rare that he would get a week off especially with how hard it is for him to have time to even video call back home.

    Whatever it is, I hope Tetsu can push through it.

    "Did you know that the reason the American cheesesteak was created was—"

    And the tense mood was ruined by Adcom's unnecessary trivia. Although it was interesting hearing about cheesesteak of all things.

    "…Well, enough about me. How's life as a UA student? Oh, tell me how a class taught by All Might is like! Is he as bombastic with his lessons as he is on TV?"

    "As well as any teacher, I guess?"

    We shifted away from the serious topic and to small talk about our school life as our food finally arrived. For some reason, he seemed rather miffed at the fact that my class has more guys than girls.

    In the end, it was a pretty good first night on I-Island with my brother.
    "So, this is I-Expo…"

    "Haven't you done this bit already?"

    I ignored Taikou's somewhat meta commentary and looked around.

    I-Expo officially opened the next morning with a big fanfare. Fireworks and the whole shebang. I personally don't really care about it all that much. I'm just happy from the fact that I'll be spending some time with my big brother since forever!

    When we finally made it to exhibition, it might as well be called a festival now with how much was happening all around us.

    There were large balloons with their company brand mark floating all about, small blimps carrying monitors that were announcing events in their schedule.

    And that's not mentioning the amount of people just walking about and checking the exhibits. And this was just the early access people! I couldn't even imagine how many people would there be on the actual opening day!

    If I were to make a comparison, it would be that of Comic-Con, only the Heroes in costumes are real ones and not cosplayers.

    "Woah! Is that Godzillo!?" Taikou cried out as we followed his finger to the Kaiju Hero giving us a V-sign with his fingers, which he immediately took a photo of, "He's not as big as people said, but still as cool!"

    "I saw Captain Celebrity flying by too." Tsuyu noted, "The I-Expo sure attracts many high profile people."

    "Come to think of it, a good majority of them are Heroes from other countries as well." I pointed out.

    "I-Expo is an exhibition that showcases the latest in Quirk-related technology, with 90 percent of them being support items for known Heroes." Adcom told us, "It is common practice for companies to sponsor Heroes to advertise their product at such events. Godzillo was one of the many Heroes that attend regularly for the past decade."

    "Damn, really?" Even with Heroes, the celebrity business practices were still the same.

    "There's also a pre-opening reception party tonight that most of them are to be attending. I believe Tetsu and his guests are attending it as well."

    "They come with the tickets, sadly." Tetsu told us.

    "That would explain why you said that formal wear is a requirement." Taikou noted, "I had to borrow a tux from my uncle."

    "You would not believe how excited mom and Nemuri-nee were when I asked for an evening dress."

    "Mom and Nemuri-neesan really put you through the ringer, huh?"

    I groaned at the memory. They brought me all the way to Shinjuku just to shop for one. They even made me wear so many types before finally deciding for me. The nerve of them to say that I have no taste in fashion…!

    At least Tsuyu came with me to lessen the burden of it all…

    "So, where do you guys want to head to first? There's the exhibit at the pavilion for all the support items—"

    A message beep rang from my brother's pocket as he took out his phone. His eyebrows raised when he saw what was on his screen.

    "Professor…?" As he tapped away on his smartphone, his eyes narrowed a little, "Why does he…?"

    "Tetsu-nii? Is something the matter?"

    "Sorry, but I have to cut our time together short."

    "Eh!? Why!?" We only just got here! We haven't even seen a single exhibit yet!

    "Sorry, Professor David really wants to see me for some urgent matter. I'll make it up to you tonight, okay?"

    I pouted at his words, so very annoyed that our brother-sister time was so rudely interrupted. Can't Mr David wait till tomorrow at least!?

    He then turns to his robot assistant, "Adcom, I need you to chauffeur them in my place."

    "Should I have the stun guns on standby, sir?"

    "Stun guns!?" Taikou flinched away from the robot dog in fear.

    "No need to go that far. Although… Feel free to use them if any random boy tries to do you-know-what to Gen-chan."

    "Isn't that a little overkill?" Tsuyu pointed out.

    "Understood. Your sister is in good paws."

    A roll of his eyes at the robot's use of puns, he walked back to his car and drove off.

    I slowly turned my gaze to the robotic dog, "…are you sure you won't go skynet on us?"

    "That is never part of my programming, ever."

    I'm really beginning to doubt that to be the case…
    For a robot, Adcom make for a decent guide. Although we do get confused stares from the people around us, which is only natural considering that a robotic dog was leading us on a tour around the expo, all the while spewing unrelated puns and trivia left and right.

    Some of them even stopped us to ask about her.

    Right now, we were currently being guided through the pavilion that Tetsu had mentioned. The one that was currently holding an exhibit of all the new Hero support items that had come out in the past two years; many of them are based on David Shield's many patented designs.

    "And these are the boots used by Grav. She specifically asked for them to soften her landing, thus this very unique design."

    "Those kind of look like the boots from Portal." I recognise that design anywhere.

    "Professor David had credited that old video game as inspiration for their design. It was one of his favourite games growing up."

    "…Oh. Cool."

    I wanted to shout at her for calling it old, but considering it was released at least several decades ago, I decided against it.

    "Also, did you know that the reason cats always land on their feet is—"

    We all let out a groan as the robot dog sprouted off yet another unrelated trivia. It was interesting for the first few times, but it started to get annoying after she kept spewing one after introducing a new support item to us. God knows how many weird trivia I had heard come out of her within the past couple of hours since we started our small tour of the place.

    At least I now know that decades later, the spongebob memes are still a thing on the internet. Like seriously, I expect that to die out by the turn of the new century…

    "Oh, Tatsuya-san!! Tsuyu-chan!!"

    I turned at the sound of a very familiar voice as Uraraka, Jirou and Yaoyorozu all walked up to us. "Oh, you guys are here too?" I asked.

    "Yup, Yaomomo invited us!" Uraraka told me.

    "I got some extra tickets thanks to my father holding some of I-Expo's stocks, so I invited them." Yaoyorozu explained, "What about you?"

    "It's the same for me as well. My brother got some extra tickets that he shared with me."

    "Is your brother related to the I-Expo?"

    "Hmhm~ He's the assistant researcher to the one and only David Shield~!"

    "Woah, really!? To that famous quirk researcher!?" Jirou noted in awe.

    "Wait, that means your brother is Tatsuya Tetsujin? The one of the youngest researchers ever invited onto I-Island ever?" Yaoyorozu pointed out.

    "The very same one~!" I nodded with glee. So glad to see that there are people that are aware of Tetsu-nii's greatness~!

    "Why are you so happy like they just praised you?" Taikou commented with a groan, before walking up to Yaoyorozu, "You're Yaoyorozu Momo, right? I'm Naru Taikou. We met back at the Sports Festival."

    "From Class 1-B, right? Pleasantly met." She greeted back with a shake of his hand, "You are remarkably skilled back then."

    "Thanks. You were pretty good yourself."

    "Hm? What is that?" Uraraka kneeled down in front of Adcom, who was uncharacteristically silent to my worry, "A robot dog?"

    "Hello."

    "HYAH!? I-It talked!?"

    Uraraka fell on her butt in shock when Adcom did the same trick she had pulled on me. The robotic dog then continued on, "It is nice to meet you all. I am Adcom."

    "What is that thing?" Jirou asked, "A robotic dog?"

    "I am the Jarvis to Tetsu's Tony Stark."

    "The who to the what?"

    "And now it is starting to make pop culture references…" Maybe it wasn't a good idea to mention that… "This is Adcom, my brother's AI assistant. She is a bit… unique."

    "A highly intelligent AI capable of learning…" Yaoyorozu noted in awe, "My father had funded such projects before, but I have never thought that someone would actually make one."

    "According to him, she turned out like that due to accidentally tinkering too much on her."

    "How can someone accidentally make that?" Jirou asked.

    "Many great inventions and discoveries are found and made by accident." Adcom stated, "For example, do you know that–"

    Me and Taikou let out a groan as Adcom just listed out yet another weird trivia. Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Jirou looked at her with great interest while Tsuyu patted me on the back comfortably. I looked around, hoping for anything to distract me from the trivia hellhound that is Adcom.

    "Oh, isn't that Midoriya-san?"

    "Hm? Deku-kun?"

    A fair distance away, Midoriya was indeed there, looking at an exhibit with a slightly taller blonde foreign girl. She looked to be a bit older than us, and looked to be quite friendly and close to the freckled teen.

    "Is he on a date?" I mused out loud.

    "A-A date!?" Uraraka looked to be extremely agitated by that prospect as she quickly dashed over to confront the duo.

    "Um… am I missing something here?" Taikou asked.

    "I think Uraraka-san might have a small crush on Midoriya-san." I noted.

    "Huh. Is that so? Although it looks to be more than just a crush."

    "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?"

    Pretty much anyone looking in from outside would say that. With how flustered Midoriya was when Uraraka confronted him, it was clear that those two have feelings for one another, at least Uraraka seemed to have. I can't say anything about the freckled teen.

    It didn't help that he pulled the blonde girl aside to whisper to her, a very clear sign that he was hiding something about his relation to her.

    She looked very familiar, though. Have I saw her somewhere before?

    "Things do not looking good for Midoriya." Jirou noted, "Let's go help him out before he digs himself further into the ground."

    "Yeah, let's." The poor boy looked to be completely out of his element.

    Man, with how obvious Uraraka was being with her jealousy, I'm surprised no one had put two to two together. Although I'm pretty sure most of our class knew about them and just stayed out of it.

    Except for Aoyama, because he is one can of worms I'm not willing to open.

    "Did you know that the world 'grave' came from—"

    "Oh, quit it with the trivia already!!"
    Tetsu entered the warehouse that once hosted the equipment for the quirk factor research he and Professor David was working on, before the whole project was scrapped.

    Right there was Professor David Shield with his fellow assistant Sam.

    After exchanging pleasantries, Tetsu asked directly, "What did you wish to talk to me about?"

    "It's about Sam's… suggestion the other day—"

    "Don't tell me you are going along with it!?"

    "Tetsu, let me explain—"

    "Professor David, I get that it wasn't fair that our hard work didn't pay off, but what Sam is suggesting is a larceny on the highest scale! What he wants to commit is larceny!"

    I-Island was built with the sole intention of housing scientists and researchers of all fields of study, as well as the protection of said people from the various villains that wished to use their research for their own selfish gains. It didn't help that a majority of them were catered towards the study of quirks and solving the mystery behind their emergence.

    But there lies another reason for the island's creation: the regulation and supervision of quirk research.

    Just the study of quirks itself was a dangerous prospect, but what people did with the results that came from them were often heavily criticised by everyone. The illegal quirk doping Trigger was the result of such research, after all.

    As such, with monetary support from both the UN and EU, I-Island was built as a solution to not let another Trigger be created. And to that end, the Quirk Research Committee was founded to judge each quirk research on such a basis.

    David Shield's latest creation goes against everything that committee was founded on.

    A device that not only enhanced its wielder's quirk to new heights, it did not have any bad aftereffects the Trigger drugs are notoriously known for. Such a thing would no doubt cause massive international strife and would spark a new arms race that will no doubt lead to another world war.

    As such, that device was confiscated and any blueprints of its creation were to be destroyed.

    Tetsu wholeheartedly agreed with the committee's decision, even if it displeased him to abandon what felt like years of hard work down the toilet. He had the feeling that the device wouldn't fly with the committee's policy, not to mention the cons of it outweighs any good it might bring.

    His coworker Sam, however,couldn't accept their project getting canned without any compensation for their work. Which was why he had suggested stealing the device back. Tetsu was against such a criminal act, and he thought David was the same.

    He wouldn't never have ever imagined that would change overnight, if at all!

    "That device is needed if we are to keep this world safe!" David cried out.

    "The world…?" Tetsu was more confused than ever, "What do you mean?"

    "All Might is fading fast, Tetsu. He could not keep up with Hero work any longer. Without him, without the Symbol of Peace, the crime rates around the world would skyrocket back up. Everything he had struggled to establish would come crumbling down! But if we had that device, we can restore him back to his prime. No, we can make him stronger than ever before!"

    "All Might is… fading…"

    The thought of All Might no longer being this great Hero that protected everyone, sent a shiver down Tetsu's spine. After all, it was thanks to All Might always being there as a pillar of hope that there was such peace worldwide.

    Losing him would no doubt shatter that peace. Villains like the ones that infiltrated UA High all those months ago would rise up undeterred and unopposed.

    But even so…

    "Would All Might accept that his closest friend would commit a crime just for him to remain a Hero?"

    "Tetsu…?"

    All Heroes would eventually retire. Tetsu knew that cold hard fact very well. "No matter how powerful and otherworldly All Might seemed to be, he is still a human. Sooner or later, his age would eventually catch up to him.

    He was sure All Might knew that, which was why he went to UA High to teach in the first place, to no doubt find a successor. That much was clear to see.

    But if he knew that his most trusted friend did the unthinkable for his sake…?

    "Professor David." Tetsu looked at his employer with a firm resolve in his eyes as he took out his phone, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do this. I can't let you commit a crime, even if it was for a good cause."

    "Tetsu, please wait—!"

    He quickly scrolled through his fast dials to call the I-Island police hotline—

    "Grgk!?"

    Tetsu was foiled from doing so when Sam pulled out a high voltage stun gun and zapped him before he could tap the number. He collapsed on the floor unconscious, his phone dropping next to him.

    "Sam, what have you done!?" David cried out in shock.

    "I had no choice, Professor! He was about to call the cops on us!"

    "But now he's…!"

    "He will be fine. He is just unconscious." Sam let loose a shaky breath, "He wasn't going to budge, no matter what you say. And now he knows too much. We can't just let him go."

    "Oh, Tetsu…" He then turned to Sam, "Tell them to not be too rough on him."

    "Of course. They would be very gentle with him."

    David walked over to pick up Tetsu's phone, catching a glimpse of small photos plastered on the back, one of them being that of a teenage version of him with his younger sister. He had remembered how excited he had been to spend the day with his beloved sister. Yet now…

    "I'm really sorry, Tetsu… please forgive me…"
    Omake

    "The I-Expo sure is something to let us wear our Hero costume." Taikou noted.

    "It is an exhibition to show off the latest in quirk research on this island, after all. Naturally they would let us use our quirks freely." Asui noted.

    Genko looked at his costume and chuckled.

    "What?"

    "Oh, nothing. Just your costume doesn't make you look that hero-like."

    His costume made him looked like a parkour artist! Or at least a hip hop dancer from a bygone era! He even got the shades to pull off the look!

    "At least it is practical, Miss-jacket-with-skintight-suit."

    "Hey, it has a flair to them!"

    "Sure, they do…"

    "I think they suit your style, Genko-chan."

    "Thank you, Tsuyu-chan! Your costume fits your cuteness too!"

    "It still looked weird to me. Although it is way better than your other design. The swimsuit is kind of pushing it."

    "Yeah, what was I thinking? I think I let Nemuri-nee influence too much…"
    Yup! This monster of the chapter is just about done! Never thought I would finish it!

    Sorry it has took this long. It has been a while since I watched the movie, so I had to go and rewatch it to get a good grasp of how this arc is going to go. That, and Genshin Impact kind of took over my life for a while there.

    And before you ask, yes Genko had watched the movie, but it has been years since then and as you can see, her memory of the plot is pretty much nonexistent.

    The only reason that she thought Melissa looked familiar was due to her being very prominent in the trailers and posters.

    With that, I thank you for reading this!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • You know, I can't help but admire your dedication for this. No one's really commenting, and only a handful of people are liking the posts, but you're persistent.

    I respect that.
    Well, that and your surprisingly good fight choreography. The execution of the choreography in terms of description isn't the greatest, though.
     
    Chapter 34
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 34: Unexpected disaster​
    I took a long sip of the ice cream float I had ordered, feeling refreshed as the cool and sweet fizzy drink went past my throat. "Ah, that's the stuff…"

    "You sound like a drug addict." Taikou commented.

    "Hey, it is really hot today, okay!"

    "The temperature today is 38 degrees celcius, the hottest the island had experienced in this region."

    "There, see!? Thanks Adcom."

    "Don't mentioned it. Also, did you know that the—"

    And Adcom went off to list another weird unrelated trivia, getting another groan from me.

    We were currently at a small cafe close to where the pavilion had been. We moved here at the request of Midoriya's acquaintance, who turned out to be Melissa Shield, David Shield's daughter. On a side note, Adcom's voice was based around hers.

    She was apparently pretty close to Tetsu, who had helped her through her studies at the local tech school. Though when I grilled her on it, she just stated that they were just friends.

    She was currently talking with me, Uraraka, Tsuyu, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu about our time in UA, mostly about what we had done during our week-long internship. Taikou, meanwhile, sat with Midoriya, who looked even more skittish than usual.

    "I've always wanted to meet you, Genko-san." She told me in surprisingly fluent Japanese. I guess when your father is the best friend of Japan's greatest Hero, you are bound to pick it up, "Tetsu had told me a great deal about you."

    "Did he now?"

    "He would not stop parading around how you got third place in the Sports Festival every chance he gets! Not to mention the number of photos of you he had shown us over the years! He just would not stop!"

    "Quite a doting brother…!" Uraraka noted in awe.

    "More like overbearing…" Jirou noted

    "You should have heard him when he called last week." Tsuyu noted with a chuckle.

    I let loose an embarrassed laugh. It was one thing for me to dote on my brother, but it was another when Tetsu was the one acting like a proud parent. Geez, is he trying to emulate Maes Hughes or something? Just dad alone was bad enough!

    "So, Midoriya." Taikou spoke up, startling him even further, "I'm quite surprised to find you here. How did you get early-access tickets?"

    "Huh? O-Oh, well, I-I was really lucky with, um, the… lottery…?"

    "There's a lottery for this?"

    "There was an internet lottery for tickets held a week before. I believe there were a few early-access tickets among them."

    "Oh, really?"

    Huh. I didn't know that. And judging by Midoriya's expression, neither did he.

    As much as he tried to hide it, it was pretty obvious that Midoriya was brought along with All Might, who was probably here to visit David Shield. He did seem like the kind of guy who cherished his friends very dearly.

    I wonder if that had anything to do with why the professor wants to talk with Tetsu…

    "W-What about you guys?" Midoriya asked him, "How did you get tickets to the I-Expo?"

    "Genko's brother worked for David Shield. He got some early-access tickets for family members, but their parents are too busy so she invited me and Asui-san with the remaining two."

    "Brother…? Ah!! I-Is he Tatsuya Tetsujin, the youngest researcher accepted onto I-Island to date!?"

    "That's the one~!" I nodded with a grin.

    "Again, not praising you." Taikou noted, but I ignored him all the same.

    "That's amazing!!" Midoriya cried in awe, "I've heard of him! Starting with the vocal translator collar, he invented and patented many creations that had won lots of awards! All that before he even graduated from college! Since then, he became widely known for being one of the few freelance Hero support item creators! Lots of well-known Heroes used items made by him!"

    Okay, whoa. I knew the guy was a Hero(All Might) otaku, but hearing someone other than me gush about my brother was bizarre to say the least. And how does he know so much about Tetsu's accomplishments? Wasn't he supposed to be obsessed with All Might?

    "Now you know how I feel." Taikou pointed out with glee.

    "I'm not that bad."

    "Yes, you are. Especially when it comes to your brother."

    "That's not true!"

    Taikou looked ready to retort to my answer—

    *BOOOMMM!!*

    "What was that!?" Midoriya cried out.

    "That appears to have come from the robotics exhibition's game section."

    "Game?" I turned to Adcom in confusion, "Like festival games?"

    "The robotics department is put in charge of the games this year." They helpfully informed us, "I believe that one is Villain Attack, which is about how fast one can destroy all the target robots within a certain time limit."

    "Ah, I know that one!" Melissa stated, "Tetsu had a part in its production!"

    "That sounds interesting." Tsuyu noted.

    "Then let's check it out! Lead the way, Adcom!"

    Following the robot dog, we came to a large arena where a fake mountainous terrain was made in the middle of a pool overlooked by a small crowd. Dotted on it were robots that were soon destroyed by a familiar blonde teen firing off explosions with his palm, followed by the announcer gaping in awe before addressing the crowd.

    "Amazing!! He finished in 15 seconds! A new top score!"

    "Kacchan!?" Midoriya cried out in shock, as much as everyone else was about his presence here.

    "What is he doing here?" Taikou growled.

    "Oh, hey! Never thought I'd see you guys here."

    A familiar voice caught our attention as Kirishima walked up to us with a big smile in his hero costume, minus his mask.

    "Kirishima-kun!" Midoriya cried out in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

    "Bakugou there got early-access tickets to I-Expo for getting first place in the Sports Festival." He explained to us, "I just tagged along for the ride."

    "Wait, that was the prize for getting first place?" I noted in surprise.

    "Yeah? Didn't you get something for getting in third?"

    "Uh…"

    "We did." Taikou told me, "Some coupons for a buffet restaurant or something, remember?"

    "Oh, yeah." The days after the Sports Festival had been so hectic that I had completely forgotten all about it, "…are those still—"

    "Expired weeks ago."

    "Damn it."

    "DEKU!!"

    Bakugou suddenly launched himself at us, slamming into the railings as he glared at Midoriya, "What are you doing here, huh!?"

    "O-Oh, me? Well… I got lucky with the lottery…?"

    "Tch, typical lucky…"

    "Huh?"

    "I said you are a shit-head, Deku!!"

    "Whoa there, Mr I-can't-speak-without-cursing!" Taikou immediately got up at Bakugou's face, "Why don't you piss off and get mad at someone else for a change!?"

    "You piss off, Spark Foot!!"

    "Spark Foot? Really? Man, Genko really was telling the truth when you have no creativity."

    "I'll show you creativity…!"

    "Come on then! Bring it!"

    "Please stop that, Naru-san, Kacchan…! There are people watching…!"

    "So, what!? What are you going to do about that, Deku!?"

    "Hey, you back off from him!!"

    "Why is that boy so angry?" Melissa asked, no doubt completely bewildered by the ball of rage and ego that was Katsuki Bakugou.

    "That's just how he is…" Jirou groaned.

    "It's a fated battle between men!" Uraraka stated.

    "I wouldn't put it like that…" Yaoyaorozu sighed.

    "Those two really hate each other, huh…?" Tsuyu noted.

    "Oh, Taikou…" I groaned at the pissing contest unfolding in front of me. Great, the last thing we needed on this trip was for this bastard to show up…

    "STOP THIS AT ONCE!!"

    A very familiar voice shouted at us as Iida of all people ran towards us, before stopping in front of Bakugou, "That kind of attitude is unacceptable for the students of UA's Hero Course, Bakugou-kun! We are representing UA in a foreign land!"

    "Eh, Iida-kun?! You're here as well!?" Midoriya cried out.

    "My family was invited to this event, but unfortunately they weren't able to make it." Iida helpfully informed us, "So, I'm here to represent them."

    "Oh, fuck off, Glasses!!" He shouted at the bespectacled teen, "Don't go acting like a class rep here!! This ain't school grounds!!"

    "A class rep would always be a class rep, regardless of place!"

    "Just give it up." Taikou told Iida, "He probably doesn't even know what proper conduct even is."

    "What does that mean, huh!?"

    "It means you're a dumbass, dumbass."

    "Who are you calling a dumbass, Spark Foot!?"

    "Come on, chill out… No need to get into a fight here." Kirishima got between them and pushed each of them back before their little quarrel escalated any further, "Why don't you settle it in the game instead?"

    "Heh. No problem. Bet I can one up this bomber bastard by a mile." My childhood friend snickered as he leaped over the railings and landed on the starting line.

    "Oh, looks like we have a new challenger already!" The announcer called out to the crowd once more, "What kind of results would we see from him?"

    Taikou crouched down in a runner's stance, his quirk igniting by the sole of his ankles in short bursts. "I'm ready anytime!"

    "Villain Attack!! Ready… GO!!"

    He immediately took off, flames jettisoning him towards the robots at insane speeds. With feet ablaze, he proceeded to tear into robots like a heated knife through butter. One kick destroyed one robot, with the same kick propelling himself to the next one and the next one.

    He had basically turned into a fire version of Gran Torino! Guess all that time with Miruko had shown some more results than I had thought.

    By the time he destroyed the last one, the timer stopped to reveal his time.

    "A-Amazing!! 14 seconds!! A new top score!!"

    "Oh! Nice, Taikou!" I gave Taikou a thumbs-up as he leaped back onto the stand.

    "That was amazing, Naru-san!!" Midoriya noted in awe, "You are way faster than before!!"

    "Heh! Practice pays off, you know." He then turned to face and gave the fuming Bakugou the finger with a snicker, "Take that."

    "Grr…! That was dumb luck!!" The blonde bomber shouted, "I can easily blow that away!"

    "Go on ahead then."

    "I will!!"

    Bakugou explosion-jumped back down to the arena and pretty much demanded the MC to let him try again. As he began his rerun, Taikou turned to me, "You want to have a go?"

    "Sure, why not? It looks like fun." I nodded, and then turned to the freckled teen beside me, "What about you, Midoriya? Do you want to give it a go?"

    "M-Me!? I-I… well…"

    "Give it a go, Deku-kun!" Uraraka cheered.

    "Just give it go, Midoriya-san." Tsuyu stated, "It's just a game, after all."

    "Y-Yeah, I guess you're right…" Midoriya meekly noted, "Alright, I'll give it a go!"

    "That's the spirit!" I laughed while patting his back.

    After Bakugou finished his rerun, tied with Taikou's score of 14 seconds much to his frustration, I stepped up to the starting line. I stretched for a moment, fidgeting my fingers to build up charge and then got ready.

    "Ready… GO!!"

    I immediately dashed towards the first robot in front of me with one arm cocked back. I then delivered a strong punch right into it, the momentum being more than enough for my fist to smash right through into its core. I then repeated it for the other robots, often parkouring walls and swinging from branches to reach the higher ones. I ended up finishing at around 17 seconds, getting third.

    "Not bad, not bad." Taikou noted with a grin, "But I was expecting faster. Are you slowing down now?"

    "Bad terrain, is all!" I stated with a pout, "My quirk only increases my reaction speed, not my physical strength!"

    "Actually, I had calculated a path that would reduce your time to 16 seconds." Adcom pointed out.

    "See?"

    "Oh, screw off!"

    "Speaking of which, did you know that the first screw was–"

    "Shut up, Adcom!!"

    After that, it was Midoriya's turn. The familiar green glow of Full Cowl surrounded his body as he stepped up to the starting line and got ready.

    "Ready… GO!"

    He took off at impressive speeds, leaping towards the robots and punching right through them with relative ease. Leaping up the mountain side like a seasoned parkour artist and destroying robots in the same manner as Taikou and Bakugou, he finished within 15 seconds, 1 second short of Bakugou's latest run and overtaking me, dropping me to fourth place.

    "Oh, so close!!" Uraraka winced.

    "He definitely did better than most, though." Tsuyu stated, "And he got Bakugou's original score."

    "Yeah, I didn't expect to get Kacchan's score—"

    "As if!!" Bakugou shouted, "I'll go again and get a way better score than–"

    "Wow! Wow! Wow!!" The announcer suddenly cried out, turning our attention back to the arena to see the entire arena get encased in ice, with Todoroki at the starting line, "12 seconds!! A new top score!!"

    "Todoroki-kun!?" Midoriya cried in surprise.

    "He's your classmate too?" Melissa asked in awe, "You guys are really amazing! As expected of future Heroes!"

    "Oh, you don't have to say it like that…" Yaoyaorozu sheepishly smiled at the compliment.

    "Hey, Half-half Bastard!!" With a loud boom, Bakugou blasted right into the arena and got right up on the two-toned teen, "Appearing suddenly to make everyone think you are amazing, huh!?"

    "Oh boy, that can't be good." Tsuyu noted.

    "Stop him!!" Iida shouted when we saw Bakugou glaring down at Todoroki all the while shouting at the very terrified announcer lady, "At this rate, he'll embarrass UA to the world!!"

    "Got it!"/"On it!"

    Kirishima, Taikou and Midoriya quickly leaped down after Iida who had sped down to the startling line moments prior; they immediately got to calming Bakugou, though my childhood friend immediately went for a judo throw before restraining him in an armlock.

    Melissa let out a small giggle to our embarrassment, "I'm so sorry you had to see that…" Yaoyaorozu sighed.

    "Oh, no, it's nothing like that." She assured us, "I'm just thinking how much fun you guys at UA are having."

    "Well, it is never boring…" I noted with a groan, "But I would have preferred not to have to deal with Bakugou being… well, him."

    "Duly noted…"

    After that, we just left Bakugou to his own devices and explored the rest of the exhibition. Iida joined us in the tour, while Todoroki had headed off somewhere, possibly to entertain his father's business partners.

    "It sure is a surprise to see our class here." Tsuyu noted as we exited the expo.

    "Yeah, it is." I nodded.

    "Though in hindsight, it shouldn't be any surprise they would be here." Taikou pointed out.

    He was definitely right on that. Todoroki was the son of the number 2 Hero in Japan, Iida came from a prodigious family of Heroes, and Yaoyorozu was the daughter to the CEO of a massive corporation that helped fund the I-Expo. It was a no-brainer that they would be involved.

    Bakugou, on the other hand, completely came out of left field. Who knew that getting first place in the UA Sports Festival would lead him here of all places…?
    "…"

    "…what is it?"

    "Ah, it's nothing. It's just… this is the first time I've seen you in a formal-looking dress."

    Thanks to Nemuri and my mother being rather enthusiastic in picking my first evening dress, I ended up wearing a white sleeveless dress with red accents that hugged my figure and reached down to my shins, along with a red ribbon tied around my waist. They even had me wear red shoes and black stockings to match, along with a hairclip to keep my bangs out of my face.

    "It surprisingly fits you." Taikou sheepishly noted.

    "What does that supposed to mean?" I glared at him.

    "Ah, I mean no offense!" He hastily added, "It's just completely unexpected of you—Ow!"

    I slammed a fist into his side before he could attempt to give an excuse. Surprisingly fits me!? Unexpected!? How rude! After all that mom and Nemuri put me through to find this perfect dress and that's all he could say!?

    "If you are talking about surprises, you look surprisingly dashing in that suit yourself." Tsuyu noted.

    She was right about that. Dressed in a white dress shirt and a black blazer with a pair of matching slacks and shoes, Taikou cleaned up pretty nicely. He even combed his hair back with gel! Too bad he didn't put on a tie, not even a clip-on one.

    "It still feels odd to be in." Taikou noted as he tugged on his collar.

    "Speaking of which, love your attire, Tsuyu-chan." I pointed out.

    "Thanks, kero."

    A light green strapless top with a frilly skirt and a pair of high heel boots, all together made Tsuyu look even more adorable than she usually was. Even her usually long hair was tied up in a bun and held up by a frog-themed hairpin.

    Say what you want about Nemuri, but my aunt had eyes for fashion. How else would she manage to coordinate an attire that made her cute frog-like appearance even more adorable?

    As it turned out, everyone had been invited to the same reception party tonight as us. As such, before we split off to our respective hotels, we agreed to meet up at the entrance of the party's venue, the central tower at 6.30 am to go in together. Even Bakugou and Kirishima were invited, though the blonde bombhead wasn't that keen on joining.

    "Did you know that evening dresses first came to being due to-"

    "We're not interested, Adcom!"

    Naturally, as still being our chauffeur in place of my brother, Adcom was coming along as well. They even upgraded themselves with a somewhat formal attire, which was basically a metal pin shaped like a bowtie around their neck.

    Where they got that, no one knows.

    "The number you are dialling is not available. Please try–"

    "Damn it…"

    "Tetsu-san still not answering…?" Taikou asked me.

    "Yeah… this is really strange…"

    I looked at the number I had dialled at least a dozen times. This was odd. Tetsu usually answered his phone pretty quickly. What did David Shield want with him that required his attention that much?

    "Let's meet up with the others first." Tsuyu suggested, "It is going to be way past the meeting time, and we know how Iida-kun is about punctuality…"

    "And Tetsu-san most likely is going to meet us there, anyways." Taikou added.

    "I guess that's true…"

    With that decided, we hailed for a cab and headed to the meeting point. When we reached it, it turned out that we weren't the only ones late.

    "Wah, you look so adorable, Tsuyu-chan!" Ochako commented in awe.

    "Thank you, Uraraka-Chan. You looked pretty adorable yourself." Tsuyu replied back.

    We had met up with the Yaoyaorozu's group on the way there, who were late as well due to mostly Jirou being a bit too uncomfortable with wearing a dress in public.

    "Don't be so shy, Jirou." I told her, "That dress fits you so well."

    "Tatsuya-san is right, Jirou-san." Yaoyaorozu commented, "You should be more confident with your looks!"

    "Easy for you two to say, with that figure…" Jirou muttered.

    I couldn't understand why she would say such a thing didn't fit her. The black blazer and boots fit her punk aesthetics perfectly, while the pink-purple dress showed off her more feminine side. With the rose hair clip, she looked like a punk rock princess.

    In fact, all of their dresses made them look adorable and beautiful. Uraraka's white pink one piece dress matched her bubbly and round features, while Yaoyaorozu's lime green silk dress made her already impressive figure more sensual than usual. They even had brooches and shoes to match their dress.

    "Sorry we're late." Taikou apologised to the boys waiting for us at the elevator; Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki were all wearing various suits of their own and looking rather dapper themselves. Got to say, the white blazer and dress pants really suit Todoroki to a tee.

    "You ought to be!" Iida exclaimed with furious chopping of his arms, "Heroes must be punctual to all their meetings! If we were to become proper Heroes, we have to respect punctuality!"

    "Yeah, yeah. I know, I know."

    "Are Kirishima-san and Bakugou-san here?" I asked.

    "Not yet." Todoroki told me.

    "Huh, that's surprising. Did they get lost?"

    The doors to the hall suddenly opened, and we all turned around to see the one of the last people to meet up with us; Melissa Shield all dolled up in a blue and white dress along with a pair of white high heels; she was also wearing contacts instead of her usual glasses with her hair tied up in a side ponytail.

    "Oh, you guys are still here?" She asked, "The party has already started, you know?"

    "We're still waiting on two more of our classmates." Midoriya told her.

    "I see."

    I glanced over at Taikou who looked stunned at Melissa's appearance with a small blush on his cheeks. That pissed me off a little and stomped on his foot hard.

    "Ow!! What was that for!?"

    "No reason."

    "Seriously…!?"

    As Iida called their number to no doubt nag them about punctuality, I walked up to the older girl, "Melissa-san, have you heard from my brother?"

    "From Tetsujin? No, I haven't… Why? Is he not with you?"

    "No, he left to meet up with your father before we entered I-Expo."

    "With dad? That's odd…" She noted, "I don't think they have anything work related today. Dad had even given him the day off."

    "Well, apparently there's something that needed Tetsu-nii's attention so badly that he was gone for the whole day. And I couldn't reach his cell either."

    "This is odd. I wonder what's up?"

    On a similar end, Iida let out a groan as he pocketed his phone. "It's no good. They aren't picking up their phones."

    "Maybe they had it on silent?" Midoriya suggested.

    "I bet Bakugou is half deaf from all his explosions and couldn't even hear his phone ring." Taikou added with a snicker.

    "N-Naru-san…"

    "But I'm sure Kirishima-san would at least answer his'." Tsuyu noted.

    "Still, we can't exactly wait for them forever." Jirou noted, "Why don't we all head into the party first and-"

    All of the sudden, alarms blaring throughout the building as the metal shutters all closed down on the doors and windows.

    "THIS IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE I-ISLAND SECURITY SYSTEM! WE RECEIVED REPORTS OF THE APPEARANCE OF AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE IN THE I-EXPO AREA! I-ISLAND IS NOW PUT INTO HIGH ALERT! RESIDENCES AND TOURISTS, RETURN TO YOUR HOMES OR LODGING IMMEDIATELY! THOSE WHO HAD CAME A LONG WAY SHOULD PROCEED TO WAIT AT THE DESIGNATED EVACUATION CENTER! ANYONE STILL OUTSIDE WITHIN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES WOULD BE IMMEDIATELY ARRESTED WITHOUT WARNING. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM GOING OUTSIDE. IN ADDITION, MOST OF THE MAIN BUILDINGS WOULD BE SEALED OFF TILL FURTHER NOTICE. I REPEAT—"

    "A bomb!?" Iida cried in shock.

    "Well, that can't be good." I noted.

    "My phone's signal is down." Taikou noted.

    "The internet connection is too." Tsuyu added.

    "Elevator isn't working, either." Jirou noted.

    "In the event of a high-level alert, the island-wide security system would close down all phone reception and internet connection followed by all electronic equipment." Adcom explained.

    "So, we're stuck here?" Todoroki concluded.

    "Most definitely." Melissa nodded in agreement, "But I find it hard for the security system to switch to a high alert just for an explosive device…"

    "…Iida-kun, let's find a way to the party venue." Midoriya stated in a surprisingly calm manner.

    "Why?"

    "All Might is at the party right now." He explained much to everyone's glee.

    "That's a relief… as long as he is around, we are guaranteed to be safe." Tsuyu noted with a grateful sigh.

    "Are we really…? If All Might was here, he must have heard the reports but there had been no word of him doing anything." Todoroki pointed out.

    "Kero! But… it's All Might…"

    "I have a bad feeling about all this…" I mused to myself. First, I can't reach Tetsu-nii, and now there's a whole island security lockdown? This felt too much like a plot to an action movie. Something is up.

    "Melissa-san, is there any other way for us to get to the party venue from here?" Midoriya asked.

    "If we use the emergency stairs, I think we can reach the floor above the venue." Melissa stated, "There should be a glass ceiling that we could use to see into the entire venue from there."

    "Please lead the way."

    Taking Jirou with him, the freckled teen followed Melissa through the emergency stairs. After several minutes of tense silence, they returned with a grim look on their face.

    "The tower along with the security system was compromised and the entire island is taken hostage by a group of armed villains." Jirou stated with a grimace, "All Might and the other Heroes at the party are tied up as well. He wants us to leave this place as soon as possible."

    "All of the Heroes!?" Taikou cried out in shock.

    "So even if they wanted to do something, they couldn't…" Tsuyu noted worriedly, "This is really bad…"

    "I suggest we follow All Might's instructions and escape at once." Iida stated, "We would then ring up the Heroes outside and inform them of the situation here."

    "That would be the best course of action." Yaoyaorozu agreed, "We are still students, and we cannot fight Villains without Hero Licenses."

    "But it would be very difficult to get out of here…" Melissa stated, "This tower was built with the same level of security system as in Tartarus."

    "And that place was built to house the most dangerous of all Villains…" Taikou noted in worry, "Then do we have no choice but to wait to get rescued?"

    "Shouldn't we at least try to help?" Jirou pointed out, "At least give All Might a way to act?"

    "I want to help as well! But… they even got All Might…" Uraraka noted in worry.

    "It's illegal to use our quirks without the proper authorization." Tsuyu noted, "Even if we try to do something, we would be just like the Villains."

    "But does that mean it is alright to do nothing at all…?" Todoroki added.

    "Tsuyu-chan… Todoroki-kun…"

    All of the sudden, Adcom, who had remained silent this whole time, suddenly jolted up as their eyes blinked in red light and a siren echoed from them.

    "What's going on!?" Uraraka cried, "Why is she doing that!?"

    "What's going on with you, Adcom?" I asked.

    "I've received an SOS signal from Tetsujin."

    "From Tetsu-nii!? Is he in danger!?"

    "I do not know. Tracking signal now." A few tensed moments later, they told us, "The signal seems to be coming from this venue."

    "Then Tetsu-san is here in this tower too?" Taikou muttered.

    "He might be captured like All Might and the other hostages." Tsuyu noted.

    "Jirou-san, Midoriya-san." I turned to them and showed them my brother's photo, "Did you see my brother in the party?"

    "Mm… it's hard to say." Jirou noted, "We can hardly see into the party from the second floor."

    "…Adcom, can you pinpoint where he is in the tower?" I asked.

    "Not a problem. All I need to do is a triangulate with the building's…"

    "Wait, Tatsuya-san, don't tell me you are going to try and rescue him!?" Yaoyaorozu cried as the robot did its work.

    "Of course, I am! He is my brother!"

    "I understand your feelings, Tatsuya-san." Iida stated, "But you will be breaking the law! As future Heroes, we can't be breaking them—!"

    "Screw the law!! What kind of Hero would I be if I couldn't even save my own family!?"

    "Grgh! I-I know that, but…"

    "Genko, these people had managed to capture All Might!" Taikou told me, "Just what is your plan to handle them!?"

    "I'll figure it out!"

    "You'll get yourself killed!!"

    "Even so…!!"

    "…I want to save them."

    Me and Taikou stopped arguing when Midoriya said that.

    "Deku-kun…?"

    "The Heroes, the hostages, even Tatsuya-san's brother. I want to save all of them.

    "So you're planning on fighting the Villains!? That's crazy!!" Taikou cried.

    "No, it's not that!" Midoriya stated, "I've been thinking about this. We need to think of a way to rescue everyone without fighting any of the Villains."

    "That is ideal, but realistically speaking, it is almost impossible…" Yaoyaorozu noted.

    "Even so, we still have to at least try! Try to find the best possible way to save everyone!"

    "Deku-kun…"

    "…I-Island's security system's main control hub is located at the top of this tower." Melissa told us, "If the Villains have indeed taken control over it, then the authentication locks and passwords should have been disabled."

    "If that's the case, we should be able to restart the system ourselves and override their control." I noted. Normally such a thing was only possible with an administrator's access code, but if that is no longer the issue…

    "How are we expected to do that?" Tsuyu asked, "If the Villains have control over the system, they have control over the security cameras as well. We would get spotted before we could reach the system."

    "They might not have complete control over the whole thing." The older teen told us, "I mean, we haven't even been captured despite standing around here just talking for the past couple of minutes. This might be the opening we can exploit."

    "Avoid fighting and get the system back to normal… I see, that might be possible." Todoroki nodded.

    "Even so, the Villains would no doubt be waiting at the top as well." Yaoyaorozu stated, "We would eventually get into conflict with them."

    "We don't have to! Once the system is reset, all the hostages including the Heroes and All Might would be freed!" Midoriya stated, "The tables would turn immediately!"

    "Let's do that, Deku-kun!!" Uraraka suggested loudly, "I don't want to just sit around and do nothing when there is something we can do! I think that's something more important than whether or not we are Pro Heroes or not!"

    "Uraraka-san… yeah! That's right!" The freckled teen nodded, "That's exactly right!"

    "Midoriya. I'll go too." Todoroki stated.

    "Me too." Jirou noted.

    "I'll come as well." Tsuyu added.

    "…I'll turn us back if I decide that we cannot do it anymore." Iida told him, "If you accept those conditions, then I'll go as well!"

    "If that's the case, I'll go too!" Yaoyaorozu stated firmly.

    "Come me in." Taikou noted.

    "Everyone…!"

    "I'll be going along as well." Adcom informed us, "My order to chauffeur Tatsuya Genko and her friends and guarantee her safety."

    "Don't you mean their safety?" Jirou asked.

    "My orders were clear to me."

    "Melissa-san, please wait here—"

    "I'll be going too." Melissa told Midoriya, "Quirk or not, I'm the only one among us that can change the security system's setting. Though I might be a burden on you until then…"

    "Melissa-san…"

    "Please, Midoriya-san; let me help."

    "…All right. Let's go save everyone."
    Omake

    Sorry, no omake this time.
    Wow, this took longer than I had anticipated.

    Sorry for taking this long on this one chapter, I had to rewatch the movie a few times to get some things right and to reinform the plot of it to me. Not to mention the whole Covid issue and my work.

    But the next couple of chapters should end the movie arc soon.

    On another topic, in my spare time, I had written another fic (Yes, another. I can't stop it, can't I?) this time on Danmachi. It is called Thunder Valkyrie. If you have the chance, go take a look.

    With that, I thank you for reading this!    ​
     
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    Seeing as there was no other way to head up, we took to climbing up the emergency stairs all the way to the top. I was tempted to just speed up to scout ahead, but without my special gloves, I had no other way to charge up besides my phone, and it wouldn't last too long for the entire operation.

    Best to save that when we confront any Villains.

    "How tall is this damn tower…!?" Taikou groaned as we made our way up the stairs, "We have been running for hours!"

    "Actually, it has only been about an hour. And 23 minutes. And 30 seconds—"

    "Well, it felt like hours!!"

    "This tower is at least 200 stories tall." Melissa helpfully informed us.

    "Oh, great, and what floor are we on right now?"

    "…the 50th."

    "And with 150 more floors to go…" Tsuyu groaned out. She then turned to our robot companion, "Can't you, I don't know, hack into the elevator and turn it back on?"

    "I could, but it would trigger the security and alert the Villains. I believe it would be counter intuitive to our operation."

    "Is that so…" Todoroki noted in awe, "Honestly, I'm still in shock over such an advanced AI system even existing."

    "According to the databanks, I am currently the only known autonomous AI in the world."

    "Huh. That's cool."

    "Less talking, more running!" Iida told us, "We have to make haste before the Villains notice us!"

    "Yeah! Pick up the pace!" I added.

    "Easy for you guys to say!" Jirou cried, "You two have godly stamina!"

    I turned back to retort, and saw Melissa struggling to get up the stairs. Considering that she wasn't a Hero student, she didn't have the same level of stamina as most of us. It didn't help that she was wearing high heels.

    "Are you okay, Melissa-san?" Uraraka asked worriedly, "You don't look too good."

    "I'm okay…" She panted out as she took a deep breath, "Let's keep moving."

    "Are you sure?"

    "I'm fine…" She pulled off her high heels before tossing them aside, "I've got to see this through to the end!"

    With that declaration, we carried on up the stairs as fast as possible. But when we reached the 80th floor…

    "What the hell!?" Taikou cried as we saw our path up being blocked by what looked like metal shutters.

    "The fireproof shutters…!" Melissa cried, "They sealed up the top floors…!"

    "Great, what now?" Jirou asked.

    "We have to find another way up." Todoroki noted.

    "There's a way to the Botanic Gardens from here. It should span all the way up to the 90th floor."

    "Then let's head over there." Midoriya noted as he went to open the side door.

    "Hold on. With the exception of the door from the first floor, all doors leading into the emergency stairs are monitored by the security system." Adcom warned him, "If you opened that door, the Villains would notice."

    "Then, we are stuck here!?" Jirou cried.

    "Not quite. Give me a moment."

    Adcom walked up to the door; their tail sliding into the panel next to it. Their eyes blinked for a moment before retracting their tail.

    "There. I've uploaded a program that should fool the system into thinking that the door remained closed, but it will not fool it for long. I've also uploaded a route that should lead you the rest of the way."

    "Woah. Nice." Jirou stated in awe.

    "Where did you learn how to do that?" Melissa asked.

    "The internet."

    I turned to them, "And you're absolutely sure you won't turn all Skynet on us?"

    "No, I won't. Nor will I go Ultron."

    Yeah, still not buying that.
     
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    • Chapter 35: Climbing the tower​

    Seeing as there was no other way to head up, we took to climbing up the emergency stairs all the way to the top. I was tempted to just speed up to scout ahead, but without my special gloves, I had no other way to charge up besides my phone, and it wouldn't last too long for the entire operation.

    Best to save that when we confront any Villains.

    "How tall is this damn tower…!?" Taikou groaned as we made our way up the stairs, "We have been running for hours!"

    "Actually, it has only been about an hour. And 23 minutes. And 30 seconds—"

    "Well, it felt like hours!"

    "This tower is at least 200 stories tall." Melissa helpfully informed us.

    "Oh, great, and what floor are we on right now?"

    "…the 50th."

    "And with 150 more floors to go…" Tsuyu groaned out. She then turned to our robot companion, "Can't you, I don't know, hack into the elevator and turn it back on?"

    "I could, but it would trigger the security and alert the Villains. I believe it would be counter intuitive to our operation."

    "Is that so…" Todoroki noted in awe, "Honestly, I'm still in shock over such an advanced AI system even existing."

    "According to the databanks, I am currently the only known autonomous AI in the world."

    "Huh. That's cool."

    "Less talking, more running!" Iida told us, "We have to make haste before the Villains notice us!"

    "Yeah! Pick up the pace!" I added.

    "Easy for you guys to say!" Jirou cried, "You two have godly stamina!"

    I turned back to retort, and saw Melissa struggling to get up the stairs. Considering that she wasn't a Hero student, she didn't have the same level of stamina as most of us. It didn't help that she was wearing high heels.

    "Are you okay, Melissa-san?" Uraraka asked worriedly, "You don't look too good."

    "I'm okay…" She panted out as she took a deep breath, "Let's keep moving."

    "Are you sure?"

    "I'm fine…" She pulled off her high heels before tossing them aside, "I've got to see this through to the end!"

    With that declaration, we carried on up the stairs as fast as possible. But when we reached the 80th floor…

    "What the hell!?" Taikou cried as we saw our path up being blocked by what looked like metal shutters.

    "The fireproof shutters…!" Melissa cried, "They sealed up the top floors…!"

    "Great, what now?" Jirou asked.

    "We have to find another way up." Todoroki noted.

    "There's a way to the Botanic Gardens from here. It should span all the way up to the 90th floor."

    "Then let's head over there." Midoriya noted as he went to open the side door.

    "Hold on. With the exception of the door from the first floor, all doors leading into the emergency stairs are monitored by the security system." Adcom warned him, "If you opened that door, the Villains would notice."

    "Then, we are stuck here!?" Jirou cried.

    "Not quite. Give me a moment."

    Adcom walked up to the door; their tail sliding into the panel next to it. Their eyes blinked for a moment before retracting their tail.

    "There. I've uploaded a program that should fool the system into thinking that the door remained closed, but it will not fool it for long. I've also uploaded a route that should lead you the rest of the way."

    "Woah. Nice." Jirou stated in awe.

    "Where did you learn how to do that?" Melissa asked.

    "The internet."

    I turned to them, "And you're absolutely sure you won't turn all Skynet on us?"

    "No, I won't. Nor will I go Ultron."

    Yeah, still not buying that.

    "Also, I had finally pinpoint Tetsujin's SOS signal." Adcom suddenly announced to us, "He should be located below us, at the opposite wing on the 54th floor."

    "That's too far away from us…"

    "…Midoriya-san, sorry. But I've got to save my brother first." I told him, "You guys go ahead without me. It would take too long to both save him and get to the security system."

    "…I understand." He nodded, "Let's converge at the top floor."

    "Thanks, Midoriya-san."

    "I'm going with you."

    "Taikou, I can—OW!"

    My childhood friend flicked his finger on my forehead hard as I flinched from the pain, "Someone has to look out for you."

    "…fine…" I sighed at him. "…thanks."

    "Don't mention it. Now, let's go rescue Tetsu-san."

    "Yeah! Adcom, lead the way!"

    "Understood."

    The two of us descended down the stairs back to the 54th floor, letting Adcom upload the same program to the door before heading into the passageway.

    ...​

    "God! Damn it!"

    Tetsu let out a groan as he struggled against the handcuffs binding his wrists to the exposed pipe. And as always, it was to no effect at all aside from bruising his wrists even more.

    It had been almost an hour since he had regained consciousness and found himself in this storage room, one that he recognised as one of the many storage spaces in the Shield Tower's office wing.

    "Oh, shut up already!"

    "Guh!"

    "Seriously, how can someone be so energetic while being handcuffed…?"

    Two armed men were in the room with him; they had the tendency to beat into him whenever he got too loud. He could still feel the bruises they gave to his gut when he first woke up shouting at them.

    When he heard the sirens of the security system going off moments later, he knew that Professor Shield had begun his operation.

    Thankfully, the two men hadn't considered taking his watch. Despite its cheap-looking design, it had a built-in GPS beacon along with a hidden switch that sends an SOS signal to Adcom. They didn't even notice him activating it in front of them.

    Hopefully, they would inform the Heroes of his location and rescue him. Until then, he had to at least try to get himself free.

    '…Come to think of it, haven't I asked Adcom to chauffeur Genko and her friends…? …crap…'

    He immediately wanted to slap himself in the head for forgetting that little detail. His sister had a similar instinct of a Hero as their father, in which if there was a chance for you to take action, she would do it without question.

    But unlike the former Hero, she had the tendency to charge in without thinking ahead or of the consequences, and often paying dearly for it.

    The only hope he had was that her friends would reel her in and stop her from attempting to rescue him.

    'Please, Genko… don't come here…!'

    Unfortunately, his wish wouldn't be answered that night as the locked door slammed opened.

    ...​

    Following the robotic dog's lead, we made our way through the series of corridors until we somehow made it to another part of the tower. Judging from the lack of general decor and any other colors, this must be the office wing of the tower.

    "His signal is coming from the fourth room from the right."

    "Got it!"

    Almost there… just hang in there a little longer, Tetsu…!

    "Wait." When I was about to open the door, Taikou suddenly stopped me and moved us back, "We can't just barge in without a plan. There might be some of the Villains in there with him and they might be armed as well."

    "Taikou is correct. Besides Tetsu, there appears to be two heat signatures inside; both looked to be carrying something."

    "That settles it. We can't just barge in."

    "I know that, but we have no other way. And we don't have much time to formulate one."

    I didn't know what Adcom's other special functions were, and both mine and Taikou's quirks would only work best on a full-frontal assault. We didn't have any other options on how to approach this beside charging in.

    "I do have taser guns equipped." Adcom noted as a latch in their shoulders opened up to reveal what looked like square barrels protruding out, "I could use it to stun the Villains and let you two take them out easily."

    "Why do you have taser guns!?" Taikou cried.

    "Tetsu deemed it a necessary part of the self-defense kit he installed into me, along with some flash grenades and tear gas canisters among many others."

    "Flash grenades!? Tear gas!?"

    "Tetsu-nii…"

    Putting aside my brother's odd concept of what a self-defense kit was, or the fact he had installed it in what was essentially supposed to be a guide dog, that stun gun would be useful for our current situation.

    "Adcom, you have that ready to fire at anyone holding a gun."

    "Understood."

    We made our way back to the room. I charged myself up with my phone as Taikou took the front, removing his shoes and socks so he could use his quirk, with Adcom readying their tasers behind him.

    He then raised his hand and counted down from three using his fingers.

    Two…

    One…

    With a great heave, Taikou ignited his foot and kicked the door hard, slamming it wide open.

    "What the fu—"

    Sure enough, there were two armed men standing in front of my brother who was chained up to the pipes; both moved quickly and aimed their rifles at us despite panicking from our surprise entrance.

    The sight of gun barrels being pointed right at us had me stunned for a moment before the memory of my tussle with Stain quickly snapped me out of it.

    Compared to that maniac, these two panicking goons looked almost adorable.

    Adcom was just as quick as them, dashing past Taikou and firing their tasers at one of them; the wires stabbing into him before he started spazzing out from the electrical current being loaded into him.

    That left his partner shocked and surprised, and I took advantage of that small opening to speed into the room and landed a punch into his gut hard. As he heaved from the sudden strike and dropped his weapon, I followed up with a spinning high kick to his temple and knocked him out cold.

    As I did so, Taikou had moved in as well and landed a flying knee to the spazzing man's face, knocking him out as well.

    "Gen-chan…!? Taikou…!?"

    "Tetsu-nii!"

    "Owowow!"

    "Ah! Sorry! Sorry!"

    I ran up to my brother to tackle him in a tight hug, causing him to cry out in pain, which had me quickly let go as I scanned him from head to toe.

    He looked relatively fine, aside from the many bruises all over his face, and probably under his clothes considering how much pain he was in when I hugged him.

    Damn those men, they must have done this to him! How dare they hurt my brother like this!

    "What are you two doing here!?" He asked me.

    "Adcom picked up your SOS." Taikou told him, "Genko wanted to rescue you no matter what, so I tagged along."

    "That was foolish and reckless!" Tetsu shouted at me, "They have guns! What if you got shot!?"

    "I have to at least try!" I shouted back, "Besides, saving hostages is what Heroes do, right?"

    "You're not a Hero yet."

    "Semantics."

    "No, it is not!"

    As we siblings were arguing, Taikou checked the two unconscious men's pockets and pulled out a key before handing it to me to unlock the handcuffs binding my brother's wrists to the pipe.

    I unlocked Tetsu's cuffs, and he nearly fell over if I hadn't supported him. "When we get out of this, you are getting a lecture. You too, Taikou."

    "Wha—me!? What did I do!?"

    "You enabled her!"

    "Hey, you try stopping her!"

    "Not to interrupt your tender sibling moment, but we have more pressing matters to take of first."

    "What is Adcom talking about?" Tetsu asked.

    "The security system has gotten taken over by Villians and the entire island is currently being held hostage." I explained, "Midoriya-san and few of our friends are heading to the top to try and reset it with Melissa's help—"

    "Melissa is here!?" Tetsu suddenly cried out, startling me, "Wait, then I'm in Shield Towers right now!?"

    "Y-Yes?"

    "Damn it!" He turned to our robot canine companion, "Adcom, find me the shortest route to the tower's server room!"

    "Searching now."

    He then turned to me and asked, "Are you guys the only ones free!? Are there anyone else!?"

    "Ye-Yeah… I believe so…"

    "And what about the Heroes?"

    "They are, but they all got captured and couldn't act."

    "E-Even All Might?"

    "Yes, even All Might…"

    "Shit! Not good…!"

    Taikou turned to my brother with an eyebrow raised in confusion, "…Tetsu-san, what's going on?"

    "…The hostage situation is just a diversion; a way to keep the Heroes in check. The villains' real goal is to reach the top of Shield Tower."

    "You mean the security room?" I pointed out, "But they haven't already accomplished that?"

    "No, there's another room just before that; a vault that houses the prototypes of inventions that were deemed too dangerous to create." Tetsu explained, "The villains are looking to steal one of the prototypes."

    "Wait, so all of this is just a heist!?" I cried out; how valuable was that prototype for them to go through all this trouble?"

    "Hold on, if that's the case, shouldn't the vault be inaccessible to them?" Taikou pointed out, "…actually, how do you know all of this, Tetsu-san? Unless—"

    "Don't you dare, Taikou! My brother wouldn't be involved in such villainous deeds!"

    "Woah! Woah! Calm down, Genko! I didn't mean it like that!"

    The nerve of him! How could he even consider my brother would be responsible! Taikou should know that Tetsujin wasn't the type to do such a thing!

    "…I wouldn't say I'm uninvolved, but…" My brother sighed dejectedly, "I do know the ones responsible for this."

    "Really, who?"

    "…a fellow researcher named Sam, and my mentor Professor David Shield."

    ""What!?""

    That was one name I was not expecting to hear. David Shield was one if not the leading inventors in the entire Support Item industry; and yet he was taking part of some grand heist in the tower of his namesake?

    If it wasn't my brother telling me this, I would have just dismissed it as a cruel joke.

    "Bu-But why would he—"

    "I had found the shortest route to the server room." Adcom interjected, "From our current location, we should reach it within five minutes if we hurry."

    "Thanks, Adcom. You guys need to get out of—urgh!"

    "Tetsu-nii!"

    My brother tried to walk away from us but flinched in pain before nearly collapsing on the floor; he would have fallen face-first if I didn't catch him on time.

    "You are in no condition to go anywhere alone." Taikou told him, "Let us come with you."

    "No. You two had done enough. Leave the rest to the adults."

    "What adults!?" I angrily shouted at him, "All the Heroes are captured! Everyone outside the tower is held hostage! And all phones are unusable! The only ones that could do anything about all of this are us!"

    "That doesn't mean that it has to be you!"

    "We are coming with you, Tetsu-nii!"

    "Gen-chan, this is not some training exercise! You can get hurt! Or killed!"

    "I've dealt with Stain, you know! I can handle myself in a fight!"

    "That's not the—!"

    "Just give it up, Tetsu-san." Taikou told him, "You know how stubborn Genko can get once her mind's made up."

    "Trust me, I know that all too well…" My brother let out a huge sigh, "Fine, you two may come. But I expect you to follow my instructions without any complaints, got it?"

    "Got it!" "Okay!"

    "Good. Now, help me get on top of Adcom."

    "Wait, what?"

    "My limbs are built to withstand at least 1000 kilograms of weight." Adcom explained, "A measly 70 kilogram is nothing."

    "What he said." Tetsu noted, "It would be easier if he carried me around."

    Taikou looked at my brother with a raised eyebrow, "What kind of companion robot were you planning on making…?"

    Bweehh!*Bweehh!*

    "Wh-What's that!?"

    Rounding from the corner, over a dozen of the R2D2 bots that we saw wandering the streets of I-Island came rushing towards us; this particular group was red with its head sprung up revealing a blinding red light.

    "What are those robots doing here!?" I cried out.

    "Shit, they must have seen us through the security cameras!" Tetsu cried out, "We have to move, now!"

    Tetsu quickly climbed onto Adcom's back before taking off down the corridor at top speeds, me and Taikou swiftly following after them, with the security drones close behind and were beginning to catch up.

    A few of them even started to fire some kind of metal cable at us, which we barely managed to avoid getting caught by.

    "Don't get caught by those cables!" Tetsu warned us, "It's strong to hold an elephant in place!"

    "So strike one and you're caught!?" Taikou cried out.

    "Less talking, more running!" I shouted back.

    Damn it, if only I have something to charge—wait a minute.

    Those were robots. And they were disconnected from any electrical outlet. Which meant that they ran on…!

    "Wha—Genko, what are you doing!?"

    "Getting a recharge!"

    I turned around and charged right at the horde of robots. They immediately launched their cables at me in quick succession, but I was just fast and flexible enough to avoid them.

    It was a good thing my dress was short enough to not encumber my movements; otherwise I would have been captured within seconds.

    "Thanks for the meal!"

    "No, Gen-chan! Wait!"

    Once I got close, I slammed my hand onto one of them and felt its battery's electricity flowing into me, quickly filling me up with its life energy.

    Though I realised my mistake seconds later as my limit was quickly reached but there was still tons of electricity flowing into me; I greatly miscalculated how much energy one robot held in its batteries.

    "Gen-chan, let go!" Tetsu cried out, "You'll burst!"

    "To-Too late—huh?"

    Just as I felt myself on the verge of bursting, the robot's eyes dimmed as the last remnants of its battery was drained away, before going dark and shutting down with a low groan.

    "Whoa…"

    I looked down in awe at the arcs of excess electricity crackling off my exposed skin like I was performing Ryu's Denji Charge.

    This was the first time since I was a kid that I had over charged my quirk, and it felt just tingly as it was all those years ago; at least I didn't explode into sparks like back then.

    Shwink*

    "Oh, shit!"

    My body instinctively reacted and I swiftly dodged the cables fired at me, and left me surprised at how fast my movements were; that there even afterimages trailing after me each time I move!

    Did overcharging also grant me a significant boost in speed? I wonder if it also boosted me other ways?

    "Hiyah!"

    Deciding to test that theory, I got in close to a security robot and swung my fist at it as hard as I could, and was delighted to see a burst of lightning blasted out of my knuckles as the robot was sent smashed right into the rest of its compatriots like a bowling ball.

    The dozen of them quickly fell over each other like a bunch of dominoes, the drones ended up in a small pile as they struggled to free themselves from each others.

    My joy was short-lived as the arcs of electricity around my body dissipated as I was no longer on the verge of bursting; though I could still felt my quirk still fully charged up.

    "Oh, nicely done!" Taikou cheered, "I didn't think you have that kind of power!"

    "Yeah, I guess overcharging boosted me somewhat." I noted with a wide grin, "Though I guess it was a one charge thing…"

    Looked like I had another trick in my arsenal outside of my speed; now what should I call this state? And that punch? How about—

    "You can think about it later!" Tetsu cried out, "We need to get moving before those bastards sent more drones!"

    "Ah, ri-right! Let's go!"

    ...​

    Tsuyu leaped to avoid the secret cable before wrapping her long tongue around one of the security drones and spinning it around, then throwing them into the others as hard as she could, smashing them over like a bowling ball to pins.

    At the same time, Iida ran forward with the engines on his legs burning red hot from firing on all cylinders from using Recipro Burst and smashed into the drones with a powerful kick, sending them crashing into the walls.

    While they do that, Jirou fired at the drones with the cannon Yaoyorozu had created using her quirk while supplying her with adhesive rounds, coating and trapping them in place with white sticky goo.

    'So far so good… I hope Ochako-chan and the others made it there…'

    The terrorists had noticed their presence once they reached the Botanic Gardens, with two of their men intercepting them when they tried to go for the route laid out by Adcom.

    Todoroki had helped them escape their clutches and decided to stay back to hold them off with Bakugou and Eijirou whom stumbled upon the scene after getting lost of all things.

    Since then, the terrorists taken several steps in trying to halt their advance, from closing down shutters to block their path to deploying security drones to capture them.

    It all accumulated when they entered the server room two minutes ago and were ambushed by more security drones, forcing the group to split up once more with them holding back the security drones in this server room while Melissa and the others headed for the security room via a different route.

    Yet, it was getting harder and harder to push back the drones, for each time they took down one, another arrived to take its place; and Tsuyu knew they were about to reach their limit any time soon.

    'Still, we have to hold them back as long as we can…!'

    "No, the Recipro Burst time limit—Wah!"

    The first to reach his limit was Iida, his engines sputtering as his Recipro Burst ran out on him, leaving him unable to defend himself and was quickly jumped on by several drones before tying him up with multiple cables moments later.

    "Iida-kun!"

    "Yaomomo, look out!"

    "Wah!"

    "Jirou-san—Kyah!"

    Next was Jirou, she had pushed an exhausted Yaoyorozu out of the way and ended up getting tied up by a security drone that had snuck up behind them; though the rich girl was captured soon after.

    "Yaomomo! Kero!"

    And Tsuyu was also quickly captured after she jumped to avoid one cable only for another cable to wrap around her in the air before pulling her back down with a loud thud and joining her classmates on the ground.

    Now tied up and unable to move, all Tsuyu could do was looked up at the robots looming over her, their red lights resembling an eye that lifelessly stared down at them.

    It was a small mercy that the drones didn't have any other functions other than capturing their targets. At least they were safe until Melissa reboot the system.

    'I wonder Genko-chan saved her brother yet…? Or did she get caught by the drones as well…?'

    Her question was soon answered when the drones near the room's entrance were sent flying, and in ran three unlikely saviors to their plight.

    ...​

    Contrary to Adcom's prediction, we took way longer than five minutes.

    It didn't take long for the robbers to send another group of security robots to come after us, and they had even resorted to closing down the shutters in an attempt to keep us from reaching our destination.

    Adcom had to recalculate our route every time our path was blocked off, and we had to take several detours to avoid getting trapped by the drones and the armed men they had placed on look out.

    Though a few times we had to charge right through the robots, which gave me the opportunity to recharge my quirk with their batteries; though not to the point of overcharged like before.

    That would have to wait till we foiled their heist and freed the Heroes, and in a controlled setting as demanded by my brother.

    In the end, it took us at least half-an-hour to reach the server room, and that was before we had to smash through a bunch of the drones blocking the door.

    "This is it! Finally!"

    "This is the server room?"

    As expected of the tower that housed I-island's main security system, its server room within it was extremely massive with two floors worth of GPU that towered over everything else.

    And unfortunately, we weren't the first to arrive here either, as I saw the drones looming over my classmates as they were all tied up with their cables.

    "Tsuyu-chan! Everyone!"

    "Genko-chan!?"

    "Quick! Get out of here!"

    Iida's warnings came a little too late as the drones not tying them down immediately turned their attention to us before charging right at us.

    I immediately placed my hand on one of the drones laying next to me, overcharging my quirk before joining Taikou in an unintended coordinated attack.

    My fist struck the first drone at the exact same time his foot did, resulting in a burst of fire and lightning upon impact that sent the drone flying like it had been hit by one of All-Might's full strength punches.

    The drone soon smashed into the rest of its comrades like a wrecking ball, crashing right through some of them before embedding itself halfway into the wall opposite of us, its robot legs twitching before hanging limp from its chassis.

    Scene left everyone staring at both of us as we looked at our respective limbs in shared surprise; even the robots were stopped in their tracks at the sudden combination move.

    "…we need a name for this." I declared after a little pondering.

    Taikou nodded in agreement, "Oh yeah, we definitely need one. What do you have in mind?"

    "Okay, I was thinking—Wah!"

    "Ah, right. Robots."

    Our discussion was cut short when we had to avoid the security cables the drones had fired at us, with Taikou charging at them and sending the drones flying via striking with his fire-covered feet in quick succession.

    Me and my brother quickly followed through the opening he had created for us; I then overcharged my quirk again with another fallen drone nearby before launching myself at the ones looming over my classmates.

    At top speeds, I slammed my fist into one of them and send it flying in a burst of lightning, the cable snapping free of its port and freeing Tsuyu from its tight grasps.

    The freed frog girl then wrapped her tongue around another drone and threw it into the wall, freeing Jirou who then stabbed her earphone jacks into the drone holding Yaoyorozu captive and caused it to vibrate till it short circuited and release her friend.

    Taikou himself freed Iida via several series of flame-powered kicks that sent the drones flying in all directions; our class president quickly getting on his feet and joining us, his engine stuttering and blowing black smoke from overheating.

    "Where're the others?" I asked them.

    "They went off to try and find another route." Yaoyorozu explained, "What about you? Did you save your brother?"

    "Yeah, I did. But there's a bit of a problem… this isn't a terrorist attack."

    "It isn't? Then what is it?"

    As I explained the situation to her, Tetsu guided Adcom towards one of the GPUs before getting off and pulling what looked like a wireless thumb drive from the robot dog's mouth.

    He then insert into one of the ports, and Adcom's back suddenly flipped around to reveal a computer keyboard as the robot dog's visor projected onto the nearby walls screen containing a series of ever changing rows of codes.

    "Alright… now I just need to—"

    Before my brother could even touch the keyboard, drones came flooding in from the doors as they charged towards us, with some of them even jumping down from the floor above like mechanical spiders.

    "Shit! Buy me some time!"

    "Not like we have any other choice!"

    As Tetsu started typing away on his keyboard, the rest of us started striking back the robots the best we could in our defensive position, which wasn't easy with our lack of any real firepower outside of Taikou and me.

    Tsuyu used her tongue to throw the robots at each other while staying to the wall like she was Spider-Man, and Taikou unloaded fire-coated kicks whenever they got too close.

    Though those that got too close usually get drained by me before allowing me to throw an overcharged punch that sent them flying each time.

    "I'm sorry to trouble you all." Iida apologised, "If only my engine didn't stall…"

    "Appreciate the gesture, but we kind of need to concentrate here!" Taikou told him.

    Thankfully, we didn't need to keep them back for long as they all suddenly stopped moving, their red lights started blinking before the drones began to slowly back away from us, eventually stopping at the walls.

    Their chassis then opened up into various parts which moved about till it was the harmless white robots we saw at the airport that morning.

    "Did… Did Melissa-san made it?" Jirou asked warily, "Is it all over?"

    "Not exactly." Tetsu told us after letting out a huge sigh, "I barely managed to hack into the security system and turn off the security drones in the tower."

    "You hacked into their security system!?" Yaoyorozu noted in shock, "Isn't Shield Towers' security system one of the most secured on the planet!?"

    "Like I said, barely. I was only able to deactivate the security drones before getting kicked out."

    "I'm pretty sure just being able to hack into it is impressive enough, Tetsu-san." Taikou told him.

    "As expected of my brother~!" I noted with a grin.

    "Again, why are you acting like it is you that's getting praise…?"

    "I was able to open up the shutter doors leading to the security room before that happened. And I uploading a virus program that should keep them occupied for the next minute or so."

    "That's a lot!" Iida noted in awe.

    "What an advanced AI…!" Jirou noted in shock, "What can't it do?"

    "At least now we can head straight for the security room to regroup with Midoriya-san and the others." Tsuyu told us.

    "Right! Let's hurry!"

    With Tetsu and Adcom leading us, we quickly made our way down the now barren corridors and towards our final destination.

    …

    Omake

    Sorry, no omake this time.

    …

    Hey there! Long time no see!

    It has been… three years since my last upload!? Damn, time do run fast when you are kept busy…

    So yeah, I am back with uploading with this fic. With the season 7 of the anime all finished airing, and the manga ending, I thought it would be a good time to get back into the heat of things.

    But be forewarned that I might not updating this fic on the regular; so it might take months before the next chapter drops.

    I'll be mostly focusing on my One Piece fic and Danmachi fics in the near future, so if you fans of those series, check those out in my profile!

    With that, I thank you for reading this!    ​
     
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