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Chapter 46: The Easy Part
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 19:07:04 +0000 UTCThe bell rang, releasing the students for their much-deserved lunch period. However, Vlad wasn't about to let his class forget what was necessary. "That's it for today. Remember, you only have one more week before finals start," the pro packed up his things, giving an unsettling smile as he walked towards the door. “Remember, the rest won't be like your mid-terms as while they'll be a written component for all your classes, they'll be a physical portion so we can judge your skills in practical hero-related situations."
“So you should also get some extra training in while you study. Otherwise, we'll spend plenty of time together reviewing the materials until you get it." His laughter at their horrified faces further terrified them as Fukidashi slumped into his desk.
"I didn't have time to study!" He cried out, the boy freaking out. For good reason, as in those same mid-terms, which were just covering stuff they should know from middle school, and the first half of the semester, he performed the second lowest in the class, barely passing most of it.
"With the Sports Festival and our internships, time for proper study was sparse." Kurorio was in that same boat as he got the worst scores in their mid-terms. Fukidashi nodded as he muttered how the hell he was supposed to make up for that. he wanted summertime fun, too, dammit!
"It was a challenge to study while handling so much stuff, and it'll probably get harder as we progress," Yanagi mentioned as she conversed with Shoda, the telekinetic girl having placed 13th in class during their mid-terms, which wasn't bad. Still, it wasn't terrific either, and she knew it.
"It was only the midterms, so they didn't throw everything at us. I think the real killer was the time, as I'm sure we got an hour extra for that kind of stuff in middle school." Shoda replied, though, for someone who placed 6th, it felt a little like an insult.
“So long as you get a passing grade, who cares?” Kamakiri threw his feet up on the table, the boy not minding that he placed 14th in class. He didn't come to U.A. to be an egghead; he came to be a hero, and as far as he knew, his grades there were in the upper ten of the class.
"Well, I want to be better. I can't call my family in the USA and tell them I only for C and Ds." Tsunotori stated the girl was frustrated that she only placed 15th. If the papers had been in English, she could have had an easier time understanding questions and writing out her answers, which her teachers didn't mark as wrong because she misspelled things or constructed her sentences incorrectly. She probably would have made it into the top ten, but it would better reflect her academic ability.
"If you want, Tsunotori, I can help you tidy up your Japanese for the finals," Honenuki offered the boy, who was pretty at the top of the class.
"I can also offer some help. Some of the older people at the sanctuary helped get my grades up, and I'm sure they'll be happy to aid you." Midoriya added, the class rep having made something of a comeback. Despite having a rather underwhelming score in the written entrance exam, he had managed a respectable place at 7th in the class.
"I would worry more for Fukidashi and Kuroiro, as they'll need a refresher course on everything we did." Tokage's floating hand pointed towards the two, the class's second recommendation student sitting pretty at second in class.
“Don’t say it so casually!” Fukidashi yelled back!
"Midoriya, you offered to request aid from your people for Tsunotori. Would you be willing to do the same for me as well?" Kuroiro turned to his friend, who gave him a thumbs-up.
"No problem; the more, the merrier!" Kodai pulled on his sleeve, getting Midoriya to laugh. You too, Kodai." The silent girl nodded. It was hard to tell, but she was happy; she wished to improve, as she had only come in 12th in class.
“So, are we going to create some sort of study group then?" Rin asked, the Chinese-born student seeing where the conversation was going. Would Honenuki or Midoriya host it? It might be best to split into smaller groups if that's the case, but no way either can host all of us." He could offer some help as well. Having come third, he liked to believe he had an above-average understanding of the material.
Monoma scoffed as he wrapped an arm around Rin’s shoulders, leaning on him. “Trust me, that compound Midoriya calls home is massive. They could host the entire grade and have room to spare.” The copy quirk user got 4th place during mid-terms, and he knew Midoriya's master's estate was massive, enough that it was a walk from the dojo to the main gate.
"Still, we all have issues in different classes, so would it not be preferable to split into smaller units that can better focus on just a few things rather than try and cover everything?" Shishida pointed out. The fur-covered boy hadn't done too bad, but his 11th place spoke to how he needed to freshen up here and there.
"He's right. If we can clean up our grades on a couple of papers, it'll go a long way to improving our scores," Bondo said, feeling uncomfortable with his ranking of 18th in class.
"I don't care. I just need to get more knowledge into my brain and then be able to write that down!" Tetsutetsu yelled; the boy, rather than being depressed with his place at 16th, instead had a fire lit in his belly. Heroes needed to be tough, but they had to be smart too, and dammit, he would be the best damn hero they were, even if his finals only saw him climb one rank, that was one rank better than before!
"The estate is pretty large, and studying in nature can help you relax and better absorb stuff. The way I see it, we all arrive there and then split into groups where those in the top 4 handle the bulk of the tutoring.” Midoriya suggested that he had spent plenty of time sitting wherever he wished with Takasame when she would help him with his grades.
Honenuki considered the suggestion. He didn't know how large this place was, but it had to be pretty big. “That’s not a bad idea, and if we remain close to each other, we can better move from group to group when you do have an issue.”
“I’m done.” Monoma supported it, and Tokage did, which got Midoriya into his thinking mode.
“Okay, so I’ll need to call ahead and see who’s available to help, which shouldn't be too hard, though the issue is where we study. Perhaps we can reserve a spot in one of the parks." He thought aloud, grasping his chin with his thumb and index finger and tapping at his chin.
“Parks?” His classmates asked.
Midoriya didn’t hear them as he fell into his own little world. "But maybe it would be better to just request the use of the entire thing. The one by the lake should be good for studying, and with this time of year, it's bound to be great for the soul…"
“A lake?” they asked, with Kaibara looking towards Monoma, one of the few who had seen this place. The copy quirk user merely shrugged.
"But we also won't just be studying; we have something physical to look forward to that'll require food. From what I heard, there should be a surplus of fruits and vegetables from the farm and plenty of fish." Midoriya continued plotting the dietary requirements for healthy brain function while learning and training in real-time.
“What’s this about a farm?” Komori asked the mushroom-loving girl, as lost as the rest.
"It is quite the vast property, with many amenities and functions. I imagine his master wished for it to be as self-sufficient as possible." Shiozaki explained that it would ease their confusion, even if that was only the tip of the iceberg. Still, the girl wasn't against this. While she had placed 5th, one shouldn't get complacent, and she could recall wishing to explore the grounds more when she visited them last.
"Oh, then we could also have time to rest; we can spend some time with the hellraisers; they’ll enjoy that, and we can mess around some of the cats from the Refuge Centre.” Midoriya started giggling, a soft look forming on his face as she waved safely.
"You know, as weird and terrifying as he can be, he's just an oversized kitten when it comes to his siblings, isn't he?" Tokage mentioned Midoriya kept on listing the names of the kids that dragged him and several others off during the festival and later cheered so hard he rose from what should have knocked him out to have another go with the powerhouse that was Kendo.
"Panther likes snuggling with him," Kodai added, leaving out so many details that the others both wanted to ask but were afraid to get those questions. But Midoriya was still there and didn't have any noticeable scars, so it couldn't have been that bad…right?
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In the cafeteria, Midoriya sat with his friend group and several others from the class, thanks to the large table they snagged. Having decided to spoil himself a little, he got a bowl of Katsudon with extra pork. “Hmm, we can prepare for the written portion all we want, but we still have the practical part to deal with.”
"Pretty sure Vlad purposely kept it secret what it would be. I wouldn't be surprised if part of it tests how well we handle the unexpected." Monoma replied as he drank his juice.
"I doubt that it would be anything too crazy," Kaibara mentioned, the boy having 10th in their mid-terms.
"U.A. likes crazy," Kodai added before she returned to quietly eating, hardly making a sound.
"She's right; our teachers are always pushing us. Would our finals really be no different?" Tokage added, as U.A. loved to take everything to their extreme. Who's to say that the exam would be any different?
"That just worried me more," Komori complained, as she had struggled with the mid-terms, being 17th in class, and that was just a written paper on half the subject material. How was she supposed to handle getting double that, in more detail and with an unknown physical portion? If it was like the quirk assessment they did, she was cooked.
"Well, they wouldn't test us on stuff that we haven't gone over during hero training, so we can approach it like we would the written portion," Midoriya stated.
"Yeah…like the written portion," Tsunotori muttered.
"Well, a big component of hero work is being in shape. We should try to eat healthy and work out before it so we're in the best shape." Tetsutetsu suggested.
"I doubt that it'll show the kinds of results you're thinking of in just a week," Kaibara told him, and Tokage chuckled.
"He's not wrong; you wouldn't want to crush halfway through the rest cause you ate the sweetest sugar-filled breakfast cereal after having ice cream and pizza for dinner." She warned, to which the class’s straight man turned to her like she was insane.
“Only you would call that dinner, Tokage. You’re still 8 in that head of yours.”
Tokage laughed, not denying the claim. "And you're 80, loosen up a little. If we get all stressed out, we'll just mess up our own chances. Sure, it's serious, but learn to take a break and just detox." Sure, she didn't have much to worry about. Well, she was outside losing her stop at second place, but that didn't mean she'd sweat the details. It wouldn't help and would just leave her one step away from panicking.
"We can work on that during our extra lessons; speaking of, we're gone mainly basic hero stuff, with some combat thrown in," Monoma stated, a little bitter about that.
"Yeah, it sucks that we missed out on rescue training because class A got attacked," Tsuburaba noted that the solid air user had got 9th in their mid-terms.
Shishida didn't see it like that. Besides, it would be in poor taste to blame class A for being attacked; it wasn't as if they had chosen that to happen. "Can't be helped, though it would be unreasonable for rescue-related matters to influence our exams as even class A never managed it."
"So, it'll probably be something general…or combat-based?" Midoriya placed his bowl down to think. “Yeah, that seems like it would fit.”
“Midoriya,” his cat ears flicked to the side. When he turned his head, he saw Kendo standing with her tray of food in hand. Next to her was Iida, with bandages still around his forearm, and Uraraka, who waved at them. “You guys talking about the upcoming finals?”
"Yeah, we're brainstorming that it'll be. So far, we're pretty convinced it'll be something combat-related." Tokage replied as Kendo smiled.
“You guys seem right on the money; I heard from an upperclassman friend that the first-year finals always pit students against robots, like during the entrance exams." She explained, which got them surprised but then excited. Those robots just looked scary, but most of them had managed to break a bunch of them, and their festival performance only improved on that as they knew what to expect from what.
Shiozaki didn't see this as a boon like most of them did. “That feels like we’re cheating, learning this early when Vlad-sensei went out of his way not to tell us.” It seemed like part of the test was to see how they handled the unexpected. If they knew what would happen, didn't that compromise it?
“I wouldn’t call it that, Shiozaki!” Tokage wrapped an arm around her shoulders, an easy smile on her face. “It’s just gathering info; that’s an essential part of being a hero.”
Monoma was the next, the boy smiling like the devil when you were moments away from sighing your soul away to them. "She's right; I dare say that Vlad wanted us to be proactive and ask around. They did something similar before the Sports Festival, remember? We weren't told why we needed to create groups, and look how well that panned out for those that did."
Midoriya couldn’t help but get in on this, as his smile showed off all his pretty pearly whites, his canines seemingly too big to be normal. “Quite right, Monoma. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of it sooner.”
"Jeez, try not to act like villains, why don't you," Kendo noted as Iida looked weirded out by this. At the same time, Uraraka only laughed at how scheming the trio seemed.
“To defeat villains, one must think like them, and I’m one of the craftiest people in our grade when the mood strikes.” Midoriya cackled for a moment before he suddenly ceased, as something didn’t add up.
“Wait…if Vlad didn’t tell us, and we could have just asked an upperclassman, would that really be it?” He asked, with Kendo and the rest paying close attention. "With the Festival trick, it had never been done before, so outside the staff, no one would have known about it. But this? This seems too easy…"
Kendo also considered it, along with Tokage and Monoma. It did seem a little too clear-cut. Nothing she would expect from the man who lied about expelling someone on their first day just to 'motivate them.' Aizawa was someone willing to use deceit to get things done,…but Midoriya proves that a lie doesn't need to be so clearly spoken.
As far as she knew, he had never outright said he had a quirk or that what he did was the product of one. He merely let others believe that and used their assumptions to keep up the illusion. Who's to say the teachers didn't do the same? They don't tell them what the physical portion of the finals will be. They let them ask around and learn what others did before they did, and they let them keep their false assumptions until they sprung the truth on them.
“That…makes sense. Aizawa-sensei didn’t tell us anything either.” “He doesn’t seem like the type that would have gone for something that could be so easily figured out.”
"You two are thinking too hard about this. The festival is supposed to be a spectacle, and it was. This is just some boring old finals. Maybe we'll change how we need to defeat the robots. Maybe they gave some new models we haven't seen before."
“Could it be a red herring?” Uraraka offered.
"With Aizawa and his penchant for dishonesty…I wouldn't put it past him." Iida admitted, though it visibly pained him to do so, as Aizawa was not the sort of teacher he was used to or thought should be an instructor.
“So we can agree that it’s probably not going to be combat against robots?” Kendo asked them all, to which they nodded.
"But we hardly did any rescue training, so it's gonna be combat-related, right? Will they split us like in our first hero class and make us fight in teams?" Tetsutetsu asked.
"That'll be way too brutal, as then half are gonna fail no matter what." Komori cried as the three from class A recalled their own hero class and how that ended. Yeah, the last thing anyone needed was to give Bakugo a chance to fight Kendo again. He was still salty about the festival.
"Yeah, and I don't think I'll be able to enjoy my summer if I know I screwed yours over." Tokage pointed at the table, with Kaibara calling her out to just assume she'd be the one to pass over one of them.
"I'm not that kind of cat," Midoriya added, as felines could be self-centered at the best of times, but he wasn’t the sort that would try something like that. Even if he had to fail, he would choose that over knocking someone else down.
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"Wow…" Honenuki liked to think he could be level-headed, but what was the appropriate response to standing in the middle of the forest, facing a massive gate with walls taller than most of the trees, going so far in either direction you couldn't see where they bent
?
"Wow, that's right. How does someone have this much money?" Kuroiro asked, as Midoriya always talked about his master like she was just some old martial artist. That profession would net one the funds to begin to dream about land like this, even if it was far out of town. The guards facing them only made the place look all the grander as if it were some temple from an old movie.
"It's huge!" Uraraka cried, nearly toppling over if not for Kendo catching her. Strangely enough, the two girls, along with Iida, Tokoyami, Shoji, and Mineta, had been invited to attend with them. The rest of their class either had already formed study groups like those studying Yaoyorozu or turned them down when they extended the offer Midoriya made in the case of Todoroki.
They were smart not to bother with Bakugo, as they could tell his response. Even if he agreed, putting him close to Kendo and Midoriya, whom he made no secret of his feelings for, was a terrible idea.
Back to the present, they had been told to meet at the gate since Midoriya would help them in, but he wasn't there yet. This was odd for him, as while feline in many of his mannerisms, he was always punctual. Deciding to try and get in with him, those who had been there before stepped forward. “Oh, Shiozaki, Monoma, Kodai, Kuroiro. Welcome.” One of the guards greeted them with a wave.
“You are for training?” The other asked.
“We’re here for a class tutoring session. Midoriya thought it would be best if we all came here.” Monoma explained.
“Because it was a great idea,” Midoriya popped up at the top of the gate, smiling as he spotted the gathered group and the extra faces. As the gate opened, he stuck to it until it was fully open to them. Jumping off and landing on all fours, he stood to greet them. "Morning, everyone. I'm glad to see you didn't get lost."
"There's only one road, though," Tokage pointed out, as it was mainly a dirt road they had to follow for around 15 minutes. She pitied anyone who had to walk it, as their bus, which they rented, certainly hated it.
“Tell that to the mailman,” Midoriya chirped as he turned and marched in. "Anyway, let's get inside. I already spoke with the master about which space we can use, but some kids might still pass by occasionally."
Following him, the group was amazed by the sight that awaited them; even those who had been there before still found themselves in awe at the place. "What the fuck…this place is something else," Kamakiri noted, Shiozaki being too out front, along with Iida, to hear him curse.
"I feel a little out of place, " Rin said, as this place... scared him in a way he couldn't quite describe. The residents were friendly enough, though it was odd for most of them to see such numbers, as well as things like big cats just roaming where they pleased. As they turned off the main path towards a field of green and benches, they saw two lionesses lazing under the shade of an apple tree some kids were climbing.
“All right, here’s the spot!” Midoriya called out as they reached the park's edge, right on the water's edge to a pretty sizable body of water, crystal clear and teaming with life. Around them were several wooden benches, tables with fruits and sandwiches ready for them, pitches of fruit juice, water, and even a coffee machine for the caffeine lovers.
"I got the tables out earlier and brought snacks. Let's split up and get some studying done. We can train a little around lunch." Midoriya declared. He had been so excited to have so many people over that he ended up creating the tables himself and then setting them up. Sure, it meant waking up an hour earlier than expected as he still got his early morning training in, but he was so excited; who cared?
With no reason to object, the students split into their groups. Since Kendo had placed 3rd in class A's mid-term, narrowly losing out to Iida, who took 2nd, both helped divide the group into smaller study units. With that becoming their routine for the rest of the week, they would gather either after school or on their weekend to study, those with the best scores helping their classmates better understand the materials.
But it wasn’t like it was strictly academic as Midoriya hadn’t been kidding about the kids as some came and went, curious about the new faces and having all sorts of questions, the younger ones gravitating towards Shoji and Tokoyami, which to their confusion as they seemed to find them the coolest, Midoriya didn’t mind as he said when Iida asked if they could be instructed to keep away as the worked that the children were like kittens, and kittens don’t listen to anyone.
The bigger cats seemed just as unwilling to follow any rules as Uraraka nearly had a heart attack when during lunch one day, Ruby came along and grabbed her, and dragged her off, the rest not freaking out as much when Midoriya called out to the massive Siberian tiger to be 'gentle' with her. The gravity quirk user ended up the big cat's body pillow for an hour before she managed to sneak away.
She wasn't even the only one. Throughout the week, at some point or another, all of them were accosted by felines, from harmless house cats to tigers and lions. The entire experience was a good window into how Midoriya was, so… if this was the sort of thing he experienced, how much did he see as normal?
Eventually, the time came as they sat in homeroom for their finals. For three full days, they went through tests, finding that they were nothing like mid-terms, with everything they covered touched up in multiple-choice questions, essays, equations, and other sorts of questions.
Tsunotori struggled the most with questions that required long answers, while Tetsutetsu looked like he was contemplating murdering his papers throughout the exams. Finally, on the third day of exams, they finished with the class just being happy that it was over, as most had been struggling with that. But hero-related stuff? They were all handling that, so anything the teachers threw at them would be a breeze.
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Okay, I need to change my schedule. With Demon Reigns having been completed, I can move one of my other stories to Saturday as I'm posting this the same day as another one, which, if I don't correct it, will lead to bad places for me and all of you who read my stuff. But onto other news, I knew that Vigilantes was gonna get an anime sooner or later, but this year is finally its time; shame people on Twitter (still refuse to call it X just to piss off Elon) think it's a step-down, or try and troll their way to getting responses and retweets by saying some of the dumbest stuff out there.
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This chapter was meant to be longer, as is the norm, but I just couldn't finish that part, so I cut my losses to get this out on time. When it came to parts of it, I did try to add the goofiness that comes with Midoriya's character; the part with Uraraka was based on an old documentary scene I remember watching as a child where this guy who works with lions is so close to them, that they could enter his house and drag him out of bed to feed and/or play with them. And they would take the whole mattress to ensure he would stay.
Regarding the mid-term results for class B, I used their biggest showing as a group, joint training, and intelligence rankings from the Ultra Analysis Books. Which, yes, gave our shadow roamer the lowest intelligence points.
