Musume

Chapter 22

Their first internship ended and classes resumed. Most of the time, it seemed like nothing had changed, but then she could also see the growth in her classmates and it reminded her that, yes, things had changed.

Especially now that she knew what she knew.

Her father had told her his and grandpa’s suspicions about her theory being correct and All For One being still alive and moving behind the scenes.

But for now, the only thing they could do, was wait and see what his next move was and that frustrated her a lot.

Her father also had to find the time to explain about All For One to Izuku now.

But in the meantime, they had classes to attend.

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When All Might told them they were going to have a Rescue Race, she wasn’t really surprised. After all, she had helped him make up his study plans earlier that year.

Still, she listened as he explained that they would be divided in four groups, two of five and two of six, who’d have to rescue him individually before all the others. Keeping the damage to the minimum, of course.

If her father was pointing at Bakugo as he said the last thing, well, only Bakugo himself complained.

The first group to do it consisted on Izuku, Hanta, Ashido, Tenya and Ojiro. Hanta won, but it was a close call even with Tenya still hurt.

The second group was Bakugo, Kirishima, Aoyama, Sato and Koda. Of course, Bakugo won by a wide margin.

The third group was Kaminari, Shoji, Jiro, Fumikage, Mineta and Yumi. Fumikage, being the one with the best mobility thanks to Dark Shadow, won.

The last group was Asui, Uraraka, Todoroki, Hagakure, Yaoyorozu and Shinso. And, although it was a close call with Asui’s dexterity, Todoroki ended up first.

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That day, as her father would be home late with having to explain things to Midoriya, Yumi invited her friends over to her home and explained what happened in Hosu whilst baking some bread and muffins.

Her friends ―Shinso, Shoto, Fumikage, Mezo and even Kirishima and Bakugo― listened intently to her explanation about what happened with Stain.

When she was done, the boys all remained silent for a few minutes.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. At least you learnt something in your internship, not like me…” growled Bakugo breaking the silence.

She threw a guilty look towards Fumikage then, knowing he must be feeling much the same thing. But the bird-headed boy assured her he didn’t blame her. Apparently, Hawks had thought she wouldn’t accept his offer and had decided to offer one other member of class 1-A the choice to join him in exchange for information on the League of Villains.

They spent the rest of the afternoon exchanging stories about their experiences in the internship and, slowly, Yumi relaxed for the first time in weeks, All For One and Stain both out of her mind.

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The next few weeks were pretty normal, with them focusing on their classes and little else to bother them.

Yumi went on a few hiking trips with her uncle, went flying once with Keigo, helped Shoto train with his flames and even went to a concert with her friends, but apart from that and studying she did little else. She even placed third in the mid-term exams.

Still, not all her classmates were that dedicated and some of them had not even started to study.

So without even meaning to, Yaoyorozu found herself hosting some of their classmates for an afternoon of studying.

Finding the idea interesting, Yumi did the same with her friends and they helped each other, even Bakugo with his explosive temper.

Fumikage turned out to be great at literature, whilst Shoji picked up languages almost as easy as breathing and so he helped her explain the English lessons, Shinso was good with law and Bakugo was unsurprisingly good at math. Kirishima wasn’t particularly good at anything, but he put a lot of effort into learning when they explained something. Then there was Shoto who was… well Shoto was pretty much a prodigy, he just didn’t put as much effort into theory as he did practice.

And so the exams came and went and, before they realized it, they were on their way to the practical exam.

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The rules of the practical exam were pretty simple: they had to defeat one of their teachers in a two-on-one combat and put a pair of handcuffs on them or escape the area before the time limit of thirty minutes ran out.

However, to make the battles more balanced, there was a handicap for the teachers: they wore weights on their arms and feet that weighed as much as half their weight.

The teachers announced the first battle and gave them fifteen minutes to get ready, advising them to use the time their classmates were in the exam to either think of a strategy or watch the battles.

After being paired together, both Shinso and Yumi decided to watch their classmates’ exam whilst they thought of a strategy and discuss it before their own. And so they did.

The last battle was Mineta and Sero against Midnight and, although they were interested in how Mineta would behave after Shinso’s ‘lecture’ on the first day and Mt. Lady’s treatment of him in the internship, they still decided to skip it to change into their hero costumes whilst speaking about what they would be doing.

A few minutes later, both teens were dressed and ready in front of the door to the training camp.

Surprisingly to their classmates, in addition to his voice modulator, Shinso wore a scarf identical to Aizawa-sensei’s around his neck.

They had probably forgotten that he’d been doing his own internship with their tutor.

Shinso and Yumi exchanged a meaningful look and stepped onto what amounted to their new battlefield.

Their opponent was none other than the Blood Hero: Vlad King.

From what they theorized, he had probably been chosen so they could be tried against a more physical opponent, with both of them being weaker in that regard.

From the little they knew about the man, his quirk allowed him to manipulate his own blood in very versatile ways.

They began trudging carefully through the simulation of the streets of a city, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

They didn’t intend to flee, but the surest way to find their enemy was to try and find the gate out.

However, long before that, it was their enemy that found them.

Vlad King seemed pretty motivated to win despite this being just an exam.

He had blood covering his eyes so he wouldn’t look at her own and there were drops all around the battlefield that he could locate and use to orient himself.

He was using his quirk from the very beginning and soon enough he was using his blood as projectiles. Shinso used his scarf to deviate the projectiles, whilst Yumi didn’t stop flipping in the air.

Shinso didn’t give up even as Vlad King backed them into a corner, asking questions in hope that he would answer and attracting his attention. But they hadn’t counted on there being so much blood around telling him their moves, so it was difficult for Yumi to slip past him.

However, once he had them backed into a corner, the teacher made a mistake: he goaded them.

“Is this all? That Hero Killer can’t have been such a great rival, after all. Any member of class 1-B would’ve given me a harder time.”

Yumi smirked. So that was it.

“I have his weakness.” She whispered in English low enough he wouldn’t hear. “Shinso, repeat after me…”

Shinso smirked back and turned to Vlad King, looking disinterested and just a tad arrogant. As he

“Well, I’m not so sure, after all, most of them didn’t even make it to the final trial of the festival.”

“That was only-”

Too late, the professor realized his mistake and his face fell blank. Immediately, Shinso ordered him to undo his quirk and look into her eyes. Yumi activated her quirk and froze him before even contemplating going near him.

After that, it was only a matter of putting the handcuffs on his wrists and they had passed the final exam.

Both friends high-fived.