Chapter Text
第2章：「意外にも、ベン・テニスンが…」
If we're gonna have a nice little flashback, Tony Stark and I had worked together a few years at least but we were always opposites when it came to solving problems. It wasn't just the generation gap.
He was the visionary, always looking ahead with predictions and wisdom. I was the hot-blooded youth, tackling immediate issues head-on. In meetings, our vastly different approaches often led to heated debates.
But we had one thing in common: we both wanted to fight evil and protect the weak.
I first met him in the countryside of California.
I was a rebellious kid playing vigilante. I punched the drunktard who recklessly used his quirk in the diner. Stopped a robbery using my alien forms. I guess I had been pretty reckless myself.
"Superpowers aren't always a blessing," he liked to monologue. "Sometimes they're a curse. It's all about how you use them or whether you choose to suppress them."
Yet he himself was as powerless as Batman.
At first, I thought he was just an arrogant rich guy looking for a sidekick. But on our journey together, I learned how thoughtful he was about the "future." Ironically, he was the only one who could truly see it.
One fateful day last year, I was asked to have a private meeting with him. I tried to judge the situation based on his facial expressions and gestures, but nothing was off. However, even his close assistant, Peter, wasn't allowed to be in the room.
To be honest, it certainly got me nervous.
"Kid, I heard you've decided to attend the U.A. High for your high school."
"Yeah, sorry, I should've told you first," I said. "I missed the chance."
"No worries. I kind of saw it coming. But there's a little coincidence I want to talk to you about."
"Coincidence?"
I knew Tony well enough to know he was trying to kill two birds with one stone. He’s that kind of guy.
"Answer me this.
Are you stronger than All Might?"
Ok, that was an odd question, but I didn't NOT expect that. It came from Tony Stark of all people. Tony was the most unpredictable piece of my board and an incredible judge of a character thanks to his quirk. He wouldn't randomly drop a joke question now of all time.
I wanted to blink and asked "Excuse me?" and acted like I didn't hear it.
"Yes, I am. I'm stronger than him."
That might've sounded arrogant, but it was the sincerest I'd ever been. But Tony seemed to have known the answer beforehand.
"Then I'll be happy to write you a recommendation. I know their principal personally, too, so you know, you can be a messenger of sorts."
"Thanks, sir…"
I could’ve entered the U.A. through the entrance exams or an exchange program without Tony's help. I knew something was up, but I trusted him to handle it. If there was a problem, he’d know how to fix it better than I could.
"Let's say you're my nice little gift to Japan. I owe All Might a lot, too, so please… protect him."
Whatever he meant, I never asked. I knew there was some unsung drama to it, but I remembered him mentioning a Novel-Prize-winning scientist named David Shield.
But after all, he never said "Ben, you're going to marry his daughter."
Back to Present, (switched to third person perspective)
"Oh, Aizawa, you're not napping today. What a surprise!" Present Mic shouted, almost obnoxiously, as he entered the faculty office. "Motivated in the early morning, huh?! That's so out of—"
Yamada Hizashi, Hero name: Present Mic, 30, Quirk: Voice, is a Pro Hero working as a teacher at the U.A. High. He sported spiky blonde hair that formed a spike, and wore a black leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses combo with a headset. Overall, not very teacher-like in appearance. The same could be said for Aizawa.
The friendship between these two is kinda like Kakashi and Maito Gai from Naruto sometimes except Aizawa is much gloomier and didn't receive a Sharingan from his friend. Yeah, there you go, a meta joke.
Yamada was actually genuinely surprised to see his friend all active and attentive in the early morning. The friend (?) in question, Aizawa Shota, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, was reading what seemed to be the documents about a certain exchange student from the United States.
"Yamada," asked Aizawa without looking up from the papers. "If someone can transform into multiple forms each with different abilities, would that count as multiple quirks?"
"Excuse me?! All of a sudden… Huh, I don't really know. Wow, it's not like you to take interest in your students! Let me see!"
Yamada grabbed one of the papers from Aizawa's table and took a look, only to be puzzled by complicated quirk descriptions.
Up to the last year, Ben Tennyson registered 9 different transformations. Each of them varies in not only shape and size but also battle power and utility they can provide. The list included a red four-armed powerhouse, a dinosaur-like humanoid, a form that could jump and move like a frog… Just in a good few seconds, Yamada understood why Aizawa was intrigued.
"Oi, what is this quirk?! This is seriously amazing!! Almost friggin scary though!"
As Yamada yelled and Aizawa sighed, in the background, the unlikely pair of the teachers: Cementoss and Midnight enjoyed their morning coffee.
Kayama Nemuri, Hero name: Midnight, 31, Quirk: Somnambulist, teaches art and history. She is tall, beautiful, curvaceous, with flowing dark purple hair. She was the one who convinced the anti-social Aizawa to become a high school teacher, so I must say she's quite impressive.
"What are you guys so impressed about?" Vlad King said as he entered the faculty room as well. "Remember, my class also has a kid with Copy Quirk. It's just that kids this year may have a lot of potential…"
Scientifically speaking, there are rare occasions that a quirk may give multiple abilities to its user, like one of his students, Todoroki Shoto. This quirk also reminded him of a third-year student who could use the abilities of anything he consumed. In general terms, Ben's quirk was a rare type, but nothing to be wary of.
"That's right, Aizawa," Kayama chimed in. "It's not like you to fear your own student. Isn't it even better that he's in a Hero Course instead of playing a vigilante or becoming a villain out there…"
After being completely silent for a few more seconds, Aizawa grabbed the papers from Yamada and put all the documents back into a folder.
"Yeah, you're right," he said. "Sorry."
And then he left the room.
Everyone else exchanged puzzled glances. "Did he just…?"
Yamada alone grinned. "But that's going to be trouble for Heroics teachers. Combat lessons will be a freaking headache! Ahaha!"
"Bro, you're part of the faculty, too," Cementoss reminded him.
"I don't wanna teach that kid, too…" the voice hero exploded. "I'm the English Teacher! And he's an American! How the hell am I even—"
"Yamada, shut up," Kayama said, deadpanned before downing the rest of her coffee.
"Hai, sorry, Ma'am."
Meanwhile, in the Principal's Office at U.A., Nezu was engaged in a rather diplomatic discussion with an old friend from overseas via an online meeting.
"To fight a monster, you need a monster? Have you lost your mind, Stark?"
Nezu was acting quite out of character. He didn't look angry, and he wasn't. Normally the epitome of politeness, Tony Stark was the one person who could unsettle him.
"Woah, woah, calm down, buddy. It’s not as crazy as it sounds."
Tony's tone was lighthearted, but the situation was far more serious than it appeared.
"For me, it is, Stark," Nezu replied, struggling to maintain his usual calm demeanor. "Children are the future we must protect, not the other way around."
"That's also one of the reasons I sent him there, Nezu," Tony said. "I'm entrusting him to you and your people. He wields the greatest power you have ever seen, but how things are in America. I can’t take risks with the future."
Tony’s words did get to Nezu. If he put it that way, it was almost like he believed in Nezu than in himself, even. But Tony Stark was nearing his retirement age.
“Also…” Tony broke the pause. “Even I don’t know everything about the lad. My theory is… he’s much stronger than he claims to be, and he holds back his strength to stay low and inconspicuous.”
Nezu couldn’t help but chuckle. “Didn’t he say he’s stronger than All Might? If he’s even stronger than that…”
“Right. That’s gonna be troublesome and that’s exactly why I need you and your school to keep an eye on him. On that note…”
Mid-sentence, Tony's tone grew serious. "I heard All Might’s going to teach at your school. How’s he doing? Is he well?"
The two geniuses fell into silence once again. Their superior brains couldn’t just take the amount of stress as they visualized the future of the world.
"It's unfortunate,” Nezu said. “We all should've prepared a long time ago for a world without the Symbol of Peace."
"You're right. Without him, society could fall into chaos. Japan's low crime rates are mostly because of him, but his influence is global and impactful against villain activities everywhere. It won't be easy for us either..."
But Nezu grinned mischievously. "However, I believe there will be a successor. I can't say for sure, but All Might knows himself better than anyone. I believe he already has a plan."
Tony chuckled lightly. "As always, you have faith in your colleagues, huh."
"It was because I trusted them that I recruited them to my team in the first place."
Those words reflected Nezu's true feelings. As the lone animal in the world with a quirk, and the man who poured his everything into the U.A. High, the level of trust he placed in his teachers was simply unrivaled.
"Then I won't have any regret sending my lad to your place. Maybe he will be taking even that Symbol of Peace position, who knows…"
"I'd love to see that future, heh."
With the meeting ending, Nezu sat back in silence, having a lot of things on his plate to think about. Though Tony and Nezu might retort to each other sometimes, the trust they had in each other was mutual. In fact, Tony was one of the first humans Nezu believed in.
At any rate, he must admit… the kid Tony sent, Tennyson Benjamin, has quite an intriguing quirk. He would love to personally conduct research on it if the opportunity came by. Who knows, maybe he might even find a lead in genetic manipulation technologies.
"Knock, knock."
His thoughts were interrupted by a visitor knocking on the door. Nezu's mind ran through various possibilities, making guesses on who the visitor was; the cleaners? Hound Dog who just took a patrol on his personal request? Or…
"Please come in."
As he'd said that, the door swung open with a clicking sound to reveal the gloomy homeroom teacher of Class 1-A.
"Oh, Aizawa-sensei. What's the matter?" Nezu greeted as he jumped down from his seat. "You don't give me a visit too often. Please take a seat."
Nezu's guess was right. Aizawa must have come here for explanations regarding that American kid. If not?
"I remembered something about Ben Tennyson," Aizawa answered as he sat down on the sofa in the center of the room. "I believe I should inform you about it immediately."
The Principal blinked. For once, it wasn't what he expected. Instead of asking a question, Aizawa was handing in information instead. Intriguing.
"Care for a coffee?" Nezu asked, reaching for a kettle on a nearby table.
"No, thanks," Aizawa refused, not wanting to ruin his napping schedule.
Nezu gently put back down the kettle. "If you say so… Now back to the business."
And so perhaps on a fortunate streak, Principal Nezu gained another valuable piece of information from Aizawa-sensei.
Our protagonist hasn't made an appearance since the beginning, despite everyone talking about him constantly. But now, he will finally step into the spotlight!
Ben Tennyson, 15, Class 1-A, Student No. 21. Quirk: Monster Transformation.
It was the second day of his high school career. Two months ago, he got promoted from a part-timer to a "live-in" butler for Momo Yaoyorozu, a wealthy girl whose looks are as rich as she is financially. He didn't know what exactly was his role there, but after a series of events, he found himself living in the luxurious mansion where Momo Yaoyorozu lived.
But "live-in" was a double-edged trap. (He's already feeling trapped inside though.)
All food expenses were fairly reduced as he was given employee meals everyday. In fact, those meals had been tackling his taste buds, and he wouldn't enjoy peasant food ever again. Uh, it was a bit exaggerated, but it was good food. But since he and his Ojou-sama were going to the same school, there was a major problem.
"Bento? I don't think I need to pack one." — Ben.
Bento?! What is it? Bento is just packed lunch. Pretty often it's categorized differently as if it was a full column of different Bento traditions.
With an audible "Thud," Momo placed an oversized, multi-layered bento box, neatly wrapped in a large cloth, onto the table, leaving Ben jawdropped.
"Um, are you seriously… uh, nevermind," he stammered.
How many layers is that… 4? He got rendered speechless.
Momo Yaoyorozu, 15, Quirk: Creation — grants her the ability to create things out of her body. But creating things out of nowhere is impossible? Yes, which is why she needs to eat a lot to replenish her fat cells. The bento box she brought was just for the first half of lunch, as combat training was scheduled for the evening.
"What? Anyway, this is some high-class bento, you know?" Momo proudly stated. "Wanna give it a try? I can tell the kitchen to pack you one–"
"Uh, Milady, I don't really need it that big."
Rich people are just built different?! Ben wouldn't want to have lunch in that conspicuously and obnoxiously large lunch box anyway. But he really questioned Momo's personal tastes sometimes.
"Still you could take a smaller one," she insisted before heading to the kitchen. She wasn't taking no for an answer today.
Momo Yaoyorozu is an unstoppable force.
And so, Ben ended up with a bento box at school. Although not as large as Momo's, it still contained enough food for two Ben-size meals. Moreover, it had the same contents as Momo's lunch. Yes, a usual anime cliche, but anyone seeing resemblance in their lunches would cause a huge problem.
Ben didn't know whether he had to be impressed or annoyed. But during lunch break, he decided to go up to the rooftop to have lunch in privacy, since he didn't want anyone to find out about his relationship with the rich girl.
"Wow, at least, this is commendable. No, do I even deserve to eat this?"
Made him question his own social class. As always, the meal that came from Momo's kitchen ran on par with food from some of America's top-class diners.
But his luck wasn't on his side anymore.
The door to the rooftop opened quietly, revealing his homeroom teacher in his signature banana sleeping bag. Aizawa's bored expression turned to annoyance upon seeing Ben. He tossed the sleeping bag to the floor with a loud thud.
Ben flinched but refused to turn around, sensing Aizawa's aura. It was only his second day, and he was already caught on the rooftop.
"You… The rooftop is off-limits to students," Aizawa said, not yet recognizing Ben. "You snuck up here anyway… I’ll let you go this time, so finish your meal fast and leave."
"H-Hai… sensei. I'm sorry."
"Hmm?" Aizawa somehow recognized him from his voice. "Ben Tennyson."
"Yes…" Ben replied nervously, turning to face his teacher.
Aizawa’s expression softened as he seemed to ponder something.
"That's good," he said. "I've got something to tell you…"
Ben smelled trouble in his words. He gulped and set down his lunch box.
"When I saw your Dino-man yesterday…"
"It's Humungousaur, sir," Ben corrected him.
"Whatever, when I saw it, I thought I'd seen it somewhere before," Aizawa continued. "Then I remembered. You were in Naruhata, two years ago…"
He paused, waiting for a reaction from Ben. The latter was dumbfounded inside, but stayed composed and pretended to be confused. Of course, a direct interrogation ain't gonna cut it with Ben Tennyson.
"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Heh, I know you'll say that," Aizawa chuckled, but clearly not in a good mood. "Those Naruhata vigilantes may have caused a mess for us heroes, but we knew they weren't bad guys. But you're different. The Crawler didn't know you either and the heroes said they never saw you."
Ben blinked, still feigning ignorance. But Aizawa was going to dig it further all the way.
"... That's why I couldn't write you off as another street vigilante of Naruhata. After the Crawler incident, I searched for witnesses… None came forward. I was the only one who saw you. Worked in your favor, huh…"
"Uh, sir, I don't understand…"
Aizawa continued his rant, his mouth curving into his usual devilish smile.
"A kid who transforms into monsters…," he glared, his eyes turning red with his hair and scarf starting to float around. "... walked into a dangerous battlefield full of heroes, without anyone noticing. And made a shockwave from a mere clap of hands that sent that giant skeleton stumbling… How do you have all those powers to pull that off?"
Ben knew a mere lie wasn't going to get him off the hook. I should've checked it more carefully…
But Aizawa was speaking of the truth. Ben meddled in a really big incident in some district of Tokyo two years ago. Since there were no witnesses, he thought he was safe, but now...
"Tennyson, Japan's laws prohibit vigilantism," Aizawa stated. "But that's irrational. I've witnessed the dark ground of us heroes and how commonplace needs those good-willed small-timers. Vigilantism isn't necessarily a bad thing. But you can't just come out of nowhere and play hero just because you have a good quirk."
The teacher then calmed down, his hair and eyes returning to normal. He picked up the sleeping bag and headed back.
"Remember, I'll be keeping an eye on you," he said before leaving. "No matter how powerful your quirk is, I will get you expelled if you try to do something reckless."
Aizawa Shota had a deep history with vigilantism, as he himself was an underground hero (despite being registered). However, from Ben's records, he had never been to Japan before. This contradicted Ben's involvement in Naruhata, and Aizawa couldn't help but cast doubt on it. Well, it was mainly because he knew nothing about the lad. But he decided to take time trying to understand his students.
With the door slamming shut, Ben turned back around and took a bite of the Karaage, lost in thoughts in silence. He just gotta be grateful that Aizawa wasn't making a bigger issue out of it.
"Whatever, now I can have my lunch in peace."
Good thing Aizawa left him alone, huh…
The afternoon brought with it the eagerly anticipated "Heroics" class. At U.A. High School, the Hero Course students followed a unique schedule: their mornings were dedicated to general subjects like Math and Literature, while their afternoons were reserved for specialized Heroics training, which was an exclusive class for Class A and B, the Hero Course students.
Ben was especially looking forward to this class because of the news of All Might becoming a heroics teacher at U.A. He had never met All Might in person — well, as Ben Tennyson, anyway.
"I am… Coming Through the Door Like A Normal Person!!"
The entrance wasn't flashy, but it was loud enough to jolt Ben back to full alertness after a post-lunch slump. The entire class buzzed with excitement, and Ben's attention zeroed in on the source of the commotion.
"It's really… All Might…" he uttered, completely astonished.
The Symbol of Peace in the flesh!! Right in his classroom!! Though, the costume was unfamiliar to him.
All Might — This 7-feet-tall massive gentleman is the Pro Hero who deemed himself the Symbol of Peace and lived up to his name — and is very well respected all over the world. His power was unmatched, and his history as a hero was legendary. One of the things about All Might was that his identity was effectively disclosed, which was why Ben didn't also know what his quirk was. Ben respected him for it, so he never attempted to breach his identity.
At one point, he had theorized that All Might's quirk might be Super Duper Strength or something along the line.
All Might was clad in his Silver Age suit, a form-fitting ensemble of red, white, and blue, accented with a golden belt and gauntlets, and completed with a red cape that added to his imposing figure. His iconic, wide grin beamed with confidence, and his eyes, shadowed beneath his pronounced brows, his blonde hair swept backward, with two distinct tufts sticking above his head, which even looked like a pair of golden horns.
"That costume is from the Silver Age, right?" a female classmate noted with admiration.
"Wow, is that so— That looks so cool," Ben couldn't help but admit it as All Might slowly took heavy, deliberate steps into the classroom, finally standing before them with his hands confidently resting on his hips.
"I teach Basic Heroics," he announced. "It's a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero."
With that, he struck a pose, flexing his muscles dramatically.
"Let's get right into it… This is what we're gonna do today!! Combat Training!" He declared with overwhelming enthusiasm, holding up a card that read "Battle".
Meanwhile, Ben Tennyson was already overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of All Might's presence and personality. Sometimes he wished he had met people like All Might sooner instead of teaming up with 24/7 serious-looking Americans.
"Alright, we're also going with these!!" All Might said, pointing dramatically at the wall with all his might. His sheer willpower made the wall open into sliding closets… or so Ben believed.
"Costumes made based on your quirk registrations and requests… After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"
"Yes, sir!!" The class replied in unison.
"Okay, that's all for now. You can see the changing rooms around here… somewhere, uh, yeah. See you in a while~"
With that, All Might exited the room as swiftly as he had entered.
"That was so cool!!" "Seriously, we're going to have a combat lesson!!" "Using our Hero Costumes!!" "With All Might of all people, no less!!"
As excited chatter erupted throughout the room, Ben smirked and made his way to the closets to retrieve his own costume.
"Okay, guys!! Let's keep this civil and organized!" Iida Tenya said at the top of his lungs, but apparently no one listened.
Ben found his box, labeled with the number "21," and left the room. He was soon followed by Momo, who carried the box marked "20."
"Hey, wait!" she called out, catching up to him.
"I thought we were going to act like strangers at school," he replied without turning around.
"I never agreed to that. Besides, you haven't made any friends yet, right? If you abandoned me, who else would you have?"
Momo Yaoyorozu believed her butler caught the "edgy teenager syndrome," which was probably the reason why he always acted cool and alone. But she didn't like that attitude a bit though she herself didn't have a slightest clue how to fit in.
"Me," Ben muttered.
"What?"
"If I abandoned you, I still would have me, myself."
That was kind of sad to hear, but deep inside, Momo exploded. That's exactly what the "edgy teenager syndrome" was about. Also, a very ungrateful thing to say, AHHH.
"Forget I said that," she sighed. "Anyway, I thought you were a big All Might fan. You didn't look that excited."
"I'm just kinda overwhelmed…"
And then Ben disappeared into the male changing room. Not that Momo could've followed him into it. As more classmates crowded the corridors, she quickly slipped into the female changing room.
"Ah…"
In the male changing room, there was already someone ahead of him. The elite student who got third place in yesterday's physical tests… Todoroki Shoto!
Oh, damn, just who is he?! Ben narrowed his eyes, turning serious. He just… He just has a lot of main character energy!!
Now that he noticed it, Todoroki sported a burn scar marked around his left eye, apart from his hair split evenly between white and red sides. In Ben's eyes, that was just so cool.
"Ahem, good afternoon," Ben greeted, extending a hand. "I believe we haven't introduced ourselves properly. I'm Ben–"
"Not interested," Todoroki cut him off flatly, continuing to put on his suit. His outfit was simple: a plain off-white shirt with matching pants and boots, accented by two gold-colored straps over his shoulders.
He then put on what appeared to be pieces of armor all over his left side, even wearing a mask that covered half his face with the eye socket glowing red.
Ben gulped in defeat. "Uh, okay, cool."
"Wow, you guys are already here," Mineta said, entering the room. "I wanna see what kind of costume yours is."
"Not so fast," Ben replied confidently. "Let me change first."
"We can see each other's costumes later," Kaminari suggested. "Ahem, I'm excited to compete with you guys though. Because my fashion sense is—"
Okay, let's skip the changing room scene. A couple minutes later…
"Tennyson, your costume is…" Kaminari began, struggling to find the right words to describe it.
"Call me Ben, yes."
"Right, Ben, your costume is, uh… Simple and fashionable. It's what I'd call art."
Kaminari Denki had just praised Ben Tennyson's costume, albeit awkwardly.
"Yeah, he's literally wearing a jacket and a shirt just like you," Mineta quipped, taking a jab at Kaminari. "I do question the practicality though, heh."
Mineta himself was wearing a simplistic costume: a purple shirt and mask with a yellow cape, boots, and gloves. His pants were white with lighter purple trim and stood out around his waist.
"But given his quirk, that makes sense for Ben," Iida commented, nodding thoughtfully. "Since he's going to transform and his hero costume just disappears?"
"Something along that line," Ben admitted.
Ben's hero costume was indeed simple. He wore blue jeans, a black T-shirt, and a green jacket with white stripes on his left sleeve and the number 10 on the right. His footwear was just gym shoes. It's probably more suitable for running around.
"Actually, I had them make two hoodies along with this," he said casually. "A black one and another one was white. So I can change my suit on site depending on my mood."
For what purpose?!! Since his costume wasn't going to help him in any way.
"What a confession," Mineta was humbled.
"What a waste of resources!" Iida remarked bluntly.
Iida's costume looked far more elaborate and practical in comparison. It consisted of various pieces of pale silver armor over a dark blue suit, a metal collar around his neck, and three thick metal pipes around his torso. Looks cool though. His head was also totally covered by a white gundam-like helmet with golden horns. Overall, his costume made him look like a knight.
"Okay, enough, you're gonna make me cry," Kaminari said, hiding behind Ben.
Kaminari himself was dressed in a plain white shirt under a black jacket, unbuttoned, with white lightning patterns, paired with black pants. It was all aesthetics.
"I don't think you need to stress about it," Ben said, looking at the rest of the boys. None of them had chosen an elaborate suit like Iida did.
And definitely not Midoriya Izuka whose costume was just a green jumpsuit that covered his entire body, even his face, with two additional features that resembled rabbit ears above his head. Or… are they supposed to resemble All Might's hair style?
"You're right," Kaminari stepped forward. "It's all about personal tastes. —"
"Wow, man, Kaminari, you look like a rocker!" Kirishima casually joined the chat. "Ben, though, hmm, it's something simple yet I feel like this is going to last long in memories once you see it."
No, Kirishima, I think yours is going to last longer. Ben mentally commented as he scanned Kirishima.
This lad left his chest bare, with dark red gear-shaped shoulder pads and pretty much that's it for the top — yeah, without sleeves. He also wore a wired guard around his face, reaching from just above his hairline to below his jaw, and really baggy black pants. A big "R" was carved on his belt, meeting the red half-cape with a torn hem around his waist, giving him a wild, rugged warrior vibe.
"Mm, you're giving a good comment for once," Mineta remarked nonchalantly before going into creep mode. "Ahhh, for me though, I just wanna take a good long look at the girls' costumes!! You know, female hero costumes can be quite—"
"By the way, the name's Kirishima Eijiro," Kirishima interrupted before Mineta said something outrageous. "Man, but I gotta say your Japanese is so good. You don't sound a bit like a foreigner."
"Well, thanks, you can call me Ben," the brunet said. "I invested some time in learning the language whenever I was free and all. I guess that paid off—"
"Okay, guys, I think we shouldn't waste time," Iida interjected firmly. "Everyone, if you are all done with changing, let's head for the Ground Beta!"
"Yeah!!" Everyone cheered in unison for some reason.
"Ah, wait, one of us is missing!!"
"If you mean Todoroki, he's already left," Ben explained. "He's, you know, kinda difficult to interact with."
"Shut up, foreigner," Bakugou growled angrily for whatever reason and stormed out of the room.
"Speaking of difficult…" Kaminari said. "Bakugou… -san is difficult, too, right?"
"He's like his quirk, exploding all the time," Kirishima agreed. "But I don't think he's a bad guy."
At any rate, later the students gathered at the Ground Beta, which was a mini city-sized training area.
"Okay, not unexpected, but," Ben gulped. "This is huge!"
"You didn't take the entrance exams, right?" Kaminari said, walking alongside him. "We took the practicals in replica cities like this one."
"Wow, as expected of U.A…."
From the looks of it, U.A. High clearly invested so much in such large training grounds that imitated the structures of the urban areas, filled with various sizes of buildings and streets. Just so they could put the Hero Course students through advanced-level combat simulations and prepare them for situations in populated urban areas.
Though it makes me wonder who's funding all these.
"OOOOh, yeah, Hero Course is the best," Mineta whispered in the background.
"Woah, girls also brought some nice costumes," Kaminari pointed out. "Look."
Encouraged by his classmate, Ben took a glance at the girls, his gaze meeting Momo's in the process. He immediately averted his eyes, his expression all stiff and serious as if he were holding back the demons.
"Hey, man, what happened? You're sweating buckets…"
"Nothing," Ben muttered. "Really."
UGHH.
That was probably why Momo had told him she wouldn't show her hero costume to him. It was just a high-collared, sleeveless crimson leotard, open in the front to expose her skin from her neck to just below her navel. She also sported two gold utility belts around her waist, which sort of made up a short skirt.
By the American heroine standards, that might be okay… in terms of marketing, but ahem, Ben Tennyson is still a grown young man.
Anyway, as a butler, Ben was going to give her a good scolding later.
"Wow, that Yaoyorozu girl is—"
Ben quickly intervened, pushing Mineta away before he could ogle his mistress.
"Let's see what you're made of, embryos!" All Might declared with such fiery passion. "It's time for the Battle Trial!"
Now that the suit-up Midoriya and All Might were out in the open, Ben could see the resemblance, though he wouldn't have imagined anyone would be crazy enough to take that heavy inspiration from the Symbol of Peace. The young hero's costume quite mirrored All Might's iconic design, and Ben could imagine while.
But now that he thought about it, Midoriya appeared to have developed his quirk very recently, but the way his quirk worked also shared common factors with All Might's mysterious strength. Uh, never mind, he must've been overthinking too much.
"This is a battle center from the entrance exams," Iida spoke up. "So will we be conducting urban battles again?"
"No!" All Might passionately explained, raising two fingers for emphasis. "We're going to move ahead two steps! Most of the time, fighting villains take place outside, but statistically, most acts of villainy occur indoors. Imprisonment, house arrest, the black market… in this hero-saturated society… Why?! Because any intelligent villains would be lurking in the shadows!!"
Well, that makes sense…
"For this test, we'll form hero and villain teams from you!!"
Following All Might's explanation, questions flooded from the students.
"So how do we determine—" "Is it okay if we just—" "Is there a threat of expulsion—" "If we're separating into different groups—"
"I can't hear you if you all speak at the same time!!"
Ben chuckled seeing All Might being overwhelmed by the students.
Basically, the combat trial was just a game with different objectives for the heroes and the villains. The heroes must either apprehend the villains using capture tape or touch the weapon (a faux nuclear device) within a set time limit, whereas the villains must protect said faux device until time runs out or capture the heroes using the same capture tape. Whoever's side that fulfills the conditions first wins.
"Additionally, your teammates and opponents will be selected by lottery," All Might explained, revealing a lottery box to the class. "Anyway, let's start this!!"
And then everyone started drawing lots.
"Man, I'm getting nervous," Kaminari confessed. "I'd rather not hurt big…"
"I heard the infirmary here is pretty good," Ben whispered back.
"Hmph, if you become a hero, you can't just run away from injuries," Mineta said something real for once.
Soon it came to Ben's turn to draw lots, but as he reached for the box, All Might interjected apologetically.
"Ah, sorry, Young Man Tennyson," he said. "This is only for 20 students."
"Sir?"
All Might flinched, not wanting to hurt the boy's feelings, so he decided to be real with it. Sorry, Eraserhead, gonna have to sell you out.
"Aizawa-sensei asked me to separate you to the last… Uh, no worry, you'll be participating in a battle anyway, heh!"
Ben blinked upon hearing Aizawa's name. So it was clear who the culprit was, but he didn't particularly have any problem with that decision.
That said, it was a pretty "roundabout" way to deal with an odd-numbered class.
"Fine by me, sir."
"Glad to hear that, Tennyson boy! Forgive my colleague too!"
"No, not gonna…"
All Might looked panicked upon hearing his response, especially because he was brand new to teaching and had no idea how to deal with rebellious kids.
"No, Tennyson boy, please forgive Aizawa-sensei! He really thought of the best for you, uh… I think…"
"Sir, it was a joke."
"Is that so… Hahaha, yeah, that's right!" All Might lectured, brushing away his embarrassment. "Sometimes, Pro Heroes need to have a sense of humor to light up the day!"
It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!
Except, there was a certain hero who would light up the day of everyone just by appearing before them.
"Alright, let's take a look at the results!"
With Ben being the only one who didn't belong to any team. All Might then drew the lots again to determine the participants of the first battle.
"Team B as heroes and Team I as villains…" All Might paused, looking at the students and then Ben. "... but with a twist! Young Man Tennyson will join the villains and one of the villains will join the heroes!"
How does that even work?! Ben pondered. 2v3 was actually a fine deal for him, but he suspected it must have been a spite match arranged by no one other than Aizawa-sensei!
"Sorry, Tennyson Boy," All Might whispered, leaning toward Ben. "Aizawa made me do it."
Aizawa-sensei, on second thought, I'm not going to forgive you, Grrr—
In fact, Aizawa's idea was further supported by Principal Nezu when proposed. There was no opposition. In fact, on top of the fact, after the entire faculty learned about Ben's quirk, everyone supported the idea.
"Actually, it's fine…"
"Thanks, you can choose your teammate at least. I'll give him (Aizawa) a good scolding later so…"
"Please do," Ben said without hesitation.
Team I, chosen to be villains, included Ojiro Mashirao and Hagakure Toru, though the latter was… absent? No, she was definitely there, just invisible.
"Dang, I even feel like a villain boss choosing his subordinate," Ben remarked, looking at Ojiro whose hero costume was just a plain karate gi uniform with a black belt and half of his collar decorated with fur.
Meanwhile he didn't know where to look at the invisible Hagakure, her costume being just gloves and boots — which also means she was naked! But at the very least, the invisible girl sparked an explosive idea in Ben.
"Hurry the hell up!! Don't make us wait, you damn foreigner!!" Bakugou yelled, snapping Ben back to reality.
All Might was going to cry inside. Again, he had no idea how to deal with rebellious kids. But thankfully, someone else did his job.
"You shouldn't be rude before the teacher, Bakugou-san," Iida intervened, only to earn a growl back from Bakugou.
"Sorry, sorry, alright, Hagakure…-san, please," Ben said, holding out a hand. The seemingly flying gloves reached for his hand, with Hagakure saying "Yayy!!"
Ojiro let out a sigh of relief, now that he wasn't going to have to team up with a girl in her birthday suit. In the background, Momo stared at Ben in disgust.
As his Ojou-sama, she was going to give him a good scolding later. Even if he was a growing teenage boy with raging hormones…!
"Okay, now the villain and the hero teams have been decided!!" All Might said, handing out building plans to the participants. "In this scenario, the villain team: Tennyson Ben and Hagakure Toru, are already in the building first. So you two, go inside the designated building and prepare your fortress."
"Yes, sir!" Ben and Hagakure replied in unison, then with Ben leading the way.
"Wait, wait," she said. "We should discuss the strategy first."
"Now isn't a good time. We can do it later without letting them know…"
"Okay! It seems I'm gonna have to rely on you anyway!"
Meanwhile back with All Might and the rest of the class…
"Alright, the heroes: Ojiro Mashirao, Todoroki Shoto and Shoji Mezu, you will have to wait about 5 minutes," All Might explained. "Let them prepare in the meantime. And the rest can go to the monitor room."
"The monitor room?" Iida asked. "Where is it, sir?"
"Downstairs," the teacher chuckled proudly. "You'll see the top-notch infrastructure! Hahaha!!"
The monitor room was just right underneath the buildings, well, underground. A large number of surveillance cameras had been set up in every floor of the buildings where the combat training would take place.
The students were then introduced to large monitors displaying whatever was happening on the battleground.
"As expected of the U.A.," Iida said. "I was a fool to doubt it!"
"Take it easy, Iida-kun," Midoriya said, though he himself was taken aback by the monitors.
"Ahahaha, let's see what they're up to!!" All Might confidently tapped a few buttons on the control panel, which somehow shut down the entire thing. "Um, uh, what's going on?!"
"You're not doing it right…" interjected a gravelly, monotonous voice.
"Sensei?!"
With that, a familiar face stepped out of the dark, who turned out to Aizawa Shota, the Class 1-A's teacher, surprising everyone.
"I thought you didn't want to be here…" All Might said, his face still frozen in shock.
Also because All Might found it difficult to get along with Aizawa.
"I changed my mind," the eraser teacher replied, getting to the monitor. "There is a fight I need to oversee. Leaving you to your devices was a bad idea, right?"
Just with a few presses of the buttons, the monitor went back to normal, displaying the hero trio at the entrance of the building. The three seemed to be discussing their own strategy, with Todoroki taking the lead. Ojiro seemed to show disagreement at one point, only to get shut down by Todoroki immediately. Then it appeared both Shoji and Ojiro agreed to Todoroki's idea in the end.
That said, the monitor room couldn't hear any of their voices.
"Hagakure-san," Ben said. "How long did we take to get to this floor?"
The villain duo had barricaded themselves in a room up on the fourth level, which, from Ben's math, was the furthest from the entrance. He already had a couple strategies and possibilities working in his mind, and given his past records as a vigilante, he wasn't going to lose— No, he couldn't afford to lose to Endeavor's son of all people.
Even with the handicap he set on himself, his pride wouldn't allow it.
"Hmm, maybe two minutes?" Hagakure answered, uncertain. "Forget it, what's your strategy?"
"No worry. Remember, I have a strong quirk, but this is a team fight. So we're going to work together and use every resource available."
"Okay? Though I'm not sure what you mean."
"Good thing we're villains, heh…" he smirked, looking down at the capture tape.
"Bravo, you lookin' like a real villain, right now!"
In terms of Aizawa's words, Ben's reasoning to choose Hagakure was quite rational. Ojiro has a tail quirk and presumably an experienced martial art background, judging from his gi outfit. But unfortunately, Todoroki was a bad match-up against Ojiro, leaving the latter with almost no win conditions.
In Hagakure's case though, she's just invisible. Quite frankly she wasn't a much better choice than Ojiro, which was exactly why she could be an element of surprise among Ben's pieces.
Yes, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson chose to play the intelligent evil… Otherwise with his handicap, it wouldn't be easy beating Todoroki Shoto… the elite kid with a strong practical quirk.
"Glad to hear that," Ben said. "The strategy is simple: the floor is lava."
"Um, what do you mean?"
"Make sure you grab onto me if I accidentally destroy the floor," he said with a reassuring grin. "I've already grasped the formula to victory…"
"I'll be counting on you, hehe!"
At the same time on the first floor, Shoji was using his Quirk, Dupli-Arms, to create multiple ears to achieve enhanced hearing and scan the entire building.
"They're on the highest floor," he said. "Both. The bomb must be in the same room."
"Are you really going to be okay to go alone?" Ojiro interrupted.
"You needn't worry," Todoroki said, releasing icy cold mist from his right hand. "It'll be dangerous for you two so stay out of this. I will finish this in no time."
Todoroki Shoto, 15, Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot. — Todoroki could create and command ice from the right side of his body. With every step he took into the building, he summoned icy coatings that quickly covered everywhere and grew into thick, firm chunks of ice.
"He's really planning to clear it alone…" Ojiro muttered as he stepped back in shock. "I wonder how they're gonna counter it."
"Maybe they won't," Shoji suggested with a shrug.
"Ahhh, I would like to see how they're doing from the monitor room!"
As Ojiro said that, in the monitor room, everyone was already glued to the screens, all while shivering in the cold resulted from Todoroki's ice from above-ground. Even All-Might appeared to be trembling comically, but Aizawa kept his cool, intently staring at the monitors.
"I better consider a winter version of this suit," Momo noted.
"But look, Hagakure-san is removing her gloves and shoes!" Uraraka pointed at the outrageous scene.
Meanwhile back in the battle trial area…
Todoroki successfully arrived at the place of villains, without an obstacle on his path. By now, the entire building had been covered in ice from his quirk.
Todoroki grinned as he witnessed the scene inside the room. Ben Tennyson, still in his human form, crouching on the floor and standing on all four. All his limbs were encased in ice, perfectly immobilizing him in an almost humiliating pose.
"I see you couldn't do anything…" he said, looking around. "I believe you won't dare to move with that ice."
There was no sight of the invisible girl — Todoroki couldn't see her either way, but he assumed Ben must've sent her for spying and she must've been trapped somewhere else. She was a non-factor in this fight, and the faux bomb was already in sight a few meters away.
But Todoroki Shoto had the decency to take a mental note to apologize to her later.
"You bet," Ben jokingly replied, but there was no doubt he was already effectively captured.
There was undoubtedly excited chatter in the monitor room.
"He didn't cause any damage to his teammates or the nuclear weapon," All Might said, still shivering. "And on top of that, he restrained the enemy."
"That's amazing, Todoroki-kun's quirk!" Midoriya nervously remarked. "But how come didn't Ben use his quirk…"
"Maybe it was so damn useless!" Bakugou said angrily. "The ice came so fast, bet he didn't get to use his quirk fast enough to counteract!"
Midoriya went real quiet.
"... maybe he was in the middle of the transformation and the ice canceled it," Iida suggested, cupping his chin.
A lot of students began to agree with his theory, given Ben's weird posture.
"He must've been transforming into that fluffy dog, Wildmutt!" Ashido suggested.
"Damn, what a shame…"
Watching her peers feeling bad for Ben, Momo gently shook her head, unnoticed. She was the only one who came closest to the answer, perhaps because she knew him the best.
Aizawa also had a different theory in his mind.
"The gap between us is too big, perhaps…" Todoroki said as he passed by a half-frozen Ben to reach the faux weapon.
"You're forgetting something important, Todoroki," Ben said, chuckling.
"Huh?"
"We never said we'd surrendered!"
With that, Todoroki was caught off-guard by an invisible kick in his face, which sent him flying. Not a big surprise, but the invisible girl Hagakure Toru had been standing on Ben's back all this time.
"Wh-what just happened?" It made Kaminari gasp.
But no one could answer him. They couldn't turn their eyes away from the sudden turn of events.
"Everything's according to the plan…" Ben burst out into a villainous laughter as Todoroki sluggishly stood up from the floor. "Hagakure-san, get ready!"
"Hai—" and it sounded like the girl jumped down onto the icy floor. "Oh, ah, this is so cold! Too cold! Help!"
"Do you think you can win?" Todoroki said. "I've already…"
There was a flash of green light that forced him to close his eyes. It shone upon them almost like the light of hope for the villains.
"You never used the capture tape on me," said the newly arrived voice. "Negative points for you, Todoroki."
It was a red ten-feet tall six-limbed humanoid — Four Arms!! He was now wearing an outfit that imitated his human-form hero costume, just with torn sleeves and the chest bare.
"How did you transform?" Todoroki questioned, while sending another wave of thick ice toward his opponents.
Thankfully, Hagakure clung onto Four Arms' neck just in time, but most of his body including his arms had been trapped in ice. However, he just flexed his muscles and shook his limbs a bit, making all the ice around him fall apart.
"Why would you assume I couldn't transform in the first place?" It was Four Arms' turn to grin in victory. "I'm a villain. I would use any trick to get you into making a mistake, wouldn't I…"
Todoroki gritted his teeth and unleashed another wave of ice, only to be shattered away by powerful winds the villain created.
Four Arms clapped his hands together with such great force that broke apart almost the ice structures and coatings in the room just by the sheer power of the shockwave. Even Todoroki himself almost lost his balance, stumbling.
"Tennyson-kun, you made it even worse!!" Hagakure grumbled. "It's getting even colder!!"
"Sorry!" Four Arms said. "A little more of this, and I would've destroyed a wall or two…"
Without a doubt, everyone in the monitor room had been overwhelmed. Even Bakugou was speechless.
"I don't know what's going on…" Kaminari muttered, rubbing his arms to battle the temperature drop.
"Same," Kirishima replied, unable to look away. "But seems the tables have turned…"
No, young men, this is something that only those with the greatest strength can pull off. All Might seemed to have caught on Ben's moves. The power to control the shockwaves through sheer physical strength… Are you watching it, Midoriya-shounen?
"An interesting kid, right?" Aizawa said, which All Might agreed with a nervous nod.
Back in the combat trial…
"Hagakure-san, we're going to stall him until the time runs out," Four Arms said. "Either that or…"
Unwilling to give up, Todoroki sent out an ice wave again, which in turn got canceled out by Four Arms' shockwaves.
"... or the floor will give out and we'll fall!" Hagakure exclaimed, seeing the cracks in the floor becoming bigger. It definitely wasn't a good sign.
Even then, Four Arms reassured her. "Good thing we're the villains. We don't care about this public building, do we?"
"No, we don't," Hagakure giggled in response.
"Don't get distracted," Todoroki reminded them, summoning large ice chunks toward the red giant. But all those ice chunks were instantly destroyed by a red blurring fist of the beast.
"Give it up, Todoroki!" Four Arms declared. "You heroes ain't gonna do anything!! Leave us alone so we can peacefully destroy the city with this nuclear bomb, HAHAHAHA!!"
This was the only strategy Ben could think of. He hated to run away, but he couldn't risk having his teammate captured or the bomb disabled. So the only way out of this mess was to fight head-on while protecting Hagakure.
"You're oddly fitting in the role, Tennyson-kun," Hagakure noted. "Also, it seems… his arm's getting frostbite or something…"
Only when the girl pointed it out, Four Arms noticed how the right side of Todoroki's body appeared to be coated by a thin layer of ice here and there, unlike the fake ice on his left side. The boy's breathing was also getting frantic, his movements becoming more sluggish as he struggled to maintain control of his Quirk under the strain of the intense battle.
"Tch…"
Yet the pride of Todoroki Shoto wasn't letting him ask his teammates for back-up.
The teammates in question who he left behind right at the entrance, had nothing to do, for the better or not. So they decided to chatter.
"So you buy a whole load of shirts with the same kinda patterns?" Shoji asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Yeah, I don't know, but when I saw it, I knew it was made for me," Ojiro answered proudly. "Before I realized, I'd already paid for it. They were really cool though."
"Fashion has always been an issue for me," Shoji said, clenching and unclenching his fists. "It's hard to get everything tailor-made."
"I feel ya, buddy," Ojiro said, striking the ground with his tail. "But at least we're putting these into good use, right? By the way, sorry if this sounds intruding, but why do you always wear—"
Alright, enough, let's get back to the battlefield.
The "final" battle had been going on for a good few minutes, with what seemed to be a stalemate even though the villain side was obviously on the winning side. But at the very least, Todoroki was able to stop Four Arms from jumping at him, and on the other hand, Four Arms couldn't risk Hagakure getting trapped again in ice.
The poor girl had been completely naked in the cold. If Ben had another shred of humanity inside him, he would have knocked out the heroes as fast as possible and stopped her suffering.
He's obviously reaching his limits. Ben mentally noted. But this is turning into a pain. I don't wanna put up with this sh*t until the time runs out. I wanna pull some flashy moves, but using Heatblast will definitely set suspicions on me.
"Hagakure, change of plans, grab the weapon," the four-armed villain boss ordered. "We're fleeing the scene."
"Huh— okay!" The invisible villainess brushed off the confusion and reached for the faux weapon.
"No, you're not," Todoroki endured the coldness on his right side and sent out another wave of ice chunks.
"The floor's lava!"
This time, Four Arms punched a hole in the floor instead of hitting the ice, breaking the cement apart. And subsequently in the matter of seconds, he grabbed the faux weapon and presumably Hagakure and jumped down to the third floor, just before the ice reached them.
"Tch…"
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Todoroki built a slide made out of ice and went down to the third floor to resume pursuit. But a few seconds in and he found another hole in the floor!
The villain duo reached the second floor!
Todoroki jumped down to look for the villains, but no, without Shoji's help, the unfortunate reality was he wasn't going to find them easily. If it was a head-on loss, he would probably accept it and move on. But how the villains had been playing him around made him much more visibly upset.
"Hey, is it just me or did it get chillier?" Ojiro questioned, rapidly rubbing his arms.
Shoji formed some extra ears on his tentacle limbs and attentively listened into the building. Someone was running… Something quadrupedal… Todoroki was turning up the intensity of his quirk, even when suffering from his own ice covering him.
"You sure this not getting out of hand?" All Might said, trembling even more intensely.
Aizawa wrapped himself in his capture bandages, making him resemble a mummy. "Leave them be. This is the fight of the top two elite students."
"I wonder why Tennyson is running around instead of fighting him head-on," Iida commented. "It's not like he would lose."
The teachers didn't answer his question, but deep down, they knew the reason.
Tennyson boy is trying to stay rational and responsible with his out-of-the-world strength… All Might empathized. Even though he's supposed to be a villain, he's trying his best to not accidentally use too much force against the hero kid. Maybe he's actually too kind to play evil.
I understand, Tennyson-shounen. You're not a rebellious kid after all!
Secretly celebrating inside, All Might of all people could empathize with Ben because he had always been in the same position. The strongest man in the world, who could save thousands all on his own… Humans are fragile beings. It's all about choosing to help people or hurt them.
Aizawa didn't seem to think the same.
That's where you went wrong, Tennyson. This simulation is so you can think in the shoes of the villain. The criminals who are strong enough to beat up the Pro Heroes won't have any shred of kindness. What an irrational choice.
With the ideologies of the teachers clashing with each other, on the monitor, Ben had changed forms again.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes suspiciously. I knew something was fishy.
"I thought he said he had some kind of time limit?" Kirishima questioned. "How did he…"
According to his quirk registry reports, the doctors had advised Ben to use his quirk with moderation as his transformation is usually an unstable one, only stabilized by the device on his wrist that constantly stimulates his genetics. Since then, he had set a time limit on himself to stabilize his cells.
Or so the quirk registry said.
"Green light, there he is!" Todoroki noted, turning around as he immediately wasted no time to produce mountains of ice. Unfortunately for him, all his ice was yet again destroyed by another one of Ben's transformations.
Todoroki was suddenly struck by a powerful invisible wave that flung him across the corridors all the way close to the windows at the end, followed by the sound of the glasses shattering all over the place.
"What is this…"
It wasn't like a mere shockwave or winds produced by a clap of hands…
As the cold mist dissipated in the corridors, a chilling sight emerged—a gray humanoid werewolf-like monster with the recognizable Omnitrix symbol on his chest. Draped in a long black coat trimmed with vivid green accents, and sporting a matching black shirt and dark pants reminiscent of Ben's own hero attire, giving him a stereotypical badass look.
"Sound waves, idiot," answered the werewolf, his gravelly voice accompanied by slight, audible echoes. "The name's Blitzwolfer. I've been saving it for a surprise, but now it doesn't matter anymore."
The ice cold hero unsteadily rose to his feet, casting his gaze beyond Blitzwolfer, but the invisible girl and the nuclear weapon were nowhere in sight. I mean, he couldn't really find Hagakure anyway.
"My plan is perfect, hero. You're running out of time," Blitzwolfer grinned mischievously. "Now if I may give you advice, put your ego aside and call your teammates."
Not yet. Not a choice! Todoroki gritted his teeth and exerted his quirk even further, creating waves of ice that trapped the werewolf off-guard. Even if he was going to over-exhaust himself…
Now his only chance was to "capture" Ben and take him out of the board so he could do the business with the bomb. Ben being here also meant that Hagakure and the bomb were basically unprotected.
Watching Blitzwolfer's limbs completely trapped in thick layers of ice, Todoroki brought out the capture tape.
"This is the end!" He ran up to the werewolf, ready to take him out.
Oi, did you forget where the voices came from?
To his surprise, Blitzwolfer suddenly split his snout into four parts and unleashed a series of sonic howls he couldn't dodge in time. The sounds stopped just before Todoroki hit the wall and got seriously injured.
"Oi, what's that sound? A howl?" Ojiro remarked.
"Todoroki's still fighting," Shoji said, concentrating his hearing senses from multiple ears. "That must be one of Tennyson's transformations."
"No wonder he's been taking a long damn time."
"Maybe we should back him up," Shoji suggested, waiting for Ojiro's answer. The latter finally agreed to the idea with a reluctant nod.
"We can only back him up… I don't wanna fight that 2500kg Grip-Strength Bastard," Ojiro was unsurprisingly honest.
He might have disliked the way Todoroki belittled him, but if he didn't act, it would miss the point of the game. At the end of the day, Ojiro Mashirao was a realistic person.
"The sounds came from the second floor," Shoji said, looking up at the building. "We'll take a fast way up."
"Seriously? I think it's a bad idea."
"It is," Shoji's tone was sarcastic.
On the second floor, as while the ice cold hero was recovering, the evil werewolf freed himself from the ice using sonic howls under moderation.
The correct answer was yes. If Todoroki Shoto had decided to trap the entirety of Blitzwolfer in ice and hence sealed his mouth, it could've been a victory condition for him. Unlike the likes of Four Arms or Humungousaur, Blitzwolfer wasn't going to be able to bruteforce out of it. But too bad for Todoroki, his emotions got the better of him and made a mishap.
That was when the evil werewolf caught a glimpse of it.
Steam. It wasn't the icy mist Todoroki made when he used his ice quirk. He stood up to his feet, pressing his right side with his left hand giving rise to all the steamy mist.
Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot, left-side edition! — from the records, Todoroki Shoto could create ice from his right side and flames from his left. Ben guessed there must be a reason why Todoroki hadn't been using his left side, but now here we are.
He's proved to be a worthy opponent. He looked down at his right hand, judging if it was ready. I must elevate the intensity even more and—
"Man!! Are you all right!!?" It was Ojiro's voice.
The two climbed up from the window to the second floor only to find a rather beat-up Todoroki.
"Why are you here?" Todoroki asked, his expression stern.
"We are a team," Shoji said, taking a good look at Blitzwolfer through his dupli-eyes. "If you wanna blame someone, I suggested the idea."
"Oi, don't make me look bad," Ojiro said, taking a battle stance before his teammates.
All this while, Ben, as Blitzwolfer, had been looking at the trio like a classic villain from tokusatsu shows, waiting for his enemies to complete transforming. Todoroki looked at the two in silence and then broke the pause.
"If you have too much time on your hands," Todoroki took the command, "go look for the bomb."
Shoji briefly exchanged glances with Ojiro who then reminded them. "Uh, but how? He's sort of in the way…"
"I will stall him."
Todoroki Shoto finally decided to work with his team?! Sort of.
"Unfortunately, Todoroki…" the werewolf interjected, followed by a snap of his fingers and an announcement from All Might.
"Ahem, Young Man Todoroki Shoto has been successfully captured!"
"What trick did that bastard use again?!" Bakugou growled for no reason.
"This is nothing like a simple combat trial…" Kaminari said, having seen the whole thing.
"Todoroki fell for the same trick twice," Momo noted. "It seems the villains are taking advantage of his nature."
"I thought he was going to knock him out with the sound waves," said a female student with an earphone jack hanging from each of her earlobes.
Aizawa grinned behind the scarf that covered the lower half of his face. All Might was just thankful for the fact that he hadn't needed to intervene before the fight went out of hand. It could've been much more than Todoroki getting bruises from wall slams.
"What just happened?!" Ojiro exclaimed, looking down at Todoroki's leg, which now had a capture tape wrapped around it.
"You didn't notice it, right?" Blitzwolfer said, cracking his knuckles. "Hagakure was behind you all this time. While you guys were planning a strategy, she took advantage of it and eliminated him."
I had her stationed there just in case. Ben thought. But as expected of the invisible girl.
"Nothing personal, okay?" Hagakure said, jumping back to where the werewolf was.
The duo swung their fists in the air in response, thinking they might catch a Hagakure or two.
A naked girl… A completely naked girl just passed by my side… As a realistic man, Ojiro's imagination went wild and beyond for a moment. What does this mean? This means she's not wearing any—
"Don't get distracted," Shoji snapped him back. "Stay vigilant."
"Ah, yeah…"
Having been kicked out of the battle, Todoroki sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall close to the heroic duo. His entire body was aching here and there as if he had been beaten up over and over again. There was nothing he could do.
"You've already lost, heroes," Blitzwolfer said. "The game's over! The city's going to be destroyed! We won!"
"Yeah, yayy!!" Hagakure in the background cheered him on.
The tension between the heroes and the villains had grown even worse! I wonder which side will take the win…
"No, villain," Ojiro began, wanting to drop a cool line. "Your evil deeds will end—"
"Boom! Aha, sorry to interrupt you kids," announced All Might. "But time's up! The villain team snatched the victory!"
That was anticlimactic. Everyone fell silent for a good few seconds they needed to take in order to recover.
"Well, that's a given…" Ojiro admitted defeat. "Not only are you strong, you made some good strategies."
"Why, thanks…" Blitzwolfer said, before pressing the Omnitrix and returning to human form. "You might wanna take him to the infirmary fast."
At least Endeavor isn't John Wick. Hopefully. Ben did smack his son pretty hard.
"Ah, the paramedics will be there soon," All Might said through the microphone. "So, no need to take further actions. The rest of you, if you're uninjured, come to the monitor room after resting."
Shoji raised three pairs of thumb-ups at the surveillance camera.
Ben took off his jacket and handed it to where he supposed Hagakure was. "Sorry, you must've been cold…"
"Mou, I couldn't just leave everything to you," she said, grabbing the jacket. "But I will take your offer."
I mean, on the contrary if I didn't recruit you, you would be chilling outside. Ben kept those thoughts to himself. At the end of the day, it was his selfish curiosity alone that put Hagakure into his team. In fact, it was all his fault that the fight was dragged out until the time ran out.
If Hagakure caught a cold, Ben would need to visit her home and personally apologize to her parents.
"Also, Todoroki, that was a good fight," he said, extending a hand, hoping the ice cold guy would take it.
Todoroki characteristically responded with a disinterested pair of eyes, which made Ben flinch.
"You're strong and all, but you made a lotta bad decisions," Ben nonchalantly continued, retracting his unfinished handshake. "You should've sealed my mouth when you captured me. You're too rash—"
"Do I need to hear it from you?" Todoroki interrupted.
Ben looked comically shocked upon hearing it, stunned where he stood. Shoji comically waved his hands in front of Ben's eyes, as if the latter had turned into stone.
"Uh, yes, you gave me a good fight," Ojiro tried to tackle the awkward atmosphere, offering a handshake to Ben. "You were hella cool."
"You weren't even in the fight at all," Ben retorted bluntly but took his hand anyway. "See you later."
With that, Ben, Shoji and Hagakure walked away, leaving behind the injured Todoroki and Ojiro, a faint flush of embarrassment coloring his cheeks.
"I'm still wondering how his quirk actually works," Midoriya muttered, rapidly tapping his palm. "His transformations have different shapes and sizes, each comes with their own advantages and potentially disadvantages. That Hyuumongousou and Fou Aamuzu seemed to excel into brute strength. But Hyuumongo is bigger, but he used the four-armed guy instead—"
"Um, Midoriya-kun," Iida tried to interject. "Could you please stop it?"
" — because of the space! There wasn't enough room for the Hyuumon to move around so he used Fou Aamuzu instead. His quirk seems to transform him into different body compositions—"
Meanwhile Ben Tennyson, the man himself, and other participants from the first battle arrived in the monitor room. The second match participants had already been decided. Team J as the villains and Team H as the heroes.
"Okay, is he mumbling about… my quirk?" Ben said, frightened.
"Please don't mind him, Tennyson-kun," Uraraka apologized on her teammate's behalf. "When he's excited, he's like that. He even forgot to be nervous about his battle next."
"Eh…"
Midoriya Izuku in the background continued his mumble rap.
"Who do you think did best in the trial?!" All Might asked the question so passionately he brought Midoriya back from Gaia Library.
"It must be Tennyson," said the girl with earphone jacks.
"Yeah, without a doubt," Iida agreed with her. "He performed great all around."
"If you think so…" All Might paused for the sake of suspense. "What I wanna say is… You're correct! In fact, while Tennyson boy did the best in this trial, Hagakure-san also played the role well. She's the runner-up."
"What about that half-half kid?!" Bakugou asked.
"He was decent," Momo explained on All Might's behalf. "But he cared little for collateral damage and abandoned the teamplay, and that ultimately led to his downfall."
"Uh, yeah, that's right!" All Might said.
"You didn't need to be that brutal…" Ben stared at Momo in disbelief.
And a few hours later, the combat trials ended without any incident… ah, on the better side of it. The first battle (Team B Vs Team I) and the third (Team A Vs Team D) were the most intense, but well, the third battle certainly was rough.
Midoriya seemed to have gotten even much worse injuries than Todoroki and got sent to the infirmary as well. There certainly seemed to be something between Midoriya and Bakugou, something more than being childhood friends.
Ben was often ticked off by how the explosive kid treated Midoriya even in front of other students, but at the same time, he wasn't interested in prying into private matters. On the other hand, it appears there must be some kind of connection between All Might and Midoriya more than being mere inspiration. But for the time being, Ben let the case sit around.
"Ben, wait," Momo said, grabbing her own bag. "Let's go home together."
He hesitantly looked around, but thankfully, no one seemed to catch that. He gave her a reluctant nod while taking a mental note to remind her not to call him recklessly in the classroom.
"Uh, okay, let's go."
Unbeknownst to the duo, Todoroki Shoto blankly watched them see their way out of the class. Uraraka and Iida in the background appeared to be planning to visit Midoriya at the infirmary.
Momo and Ben had a lot to talk about, but they both decided to save the actual scoldings for later.
"You're a sad*st," Momo began, regarding what happened during the heroics lesson.
"Why?!" Ben exclaimed with an oblivious look.
"You toyed around and pushed him into the corner," she said, giving him a stare of disgust. "You're really despicable."
By him, she meant Todoroki.
"Ah, sorry, Ma'am, I got carried away, hehe…"
Ben could've ended the fight swiftly if he wanted. But he didn't mentally prepare to deal with the ice. Todoroki's quirk was simply so powerful that Ben had to use his "Thunderclap" over and over again just to not get trapped.
You're a formidable foe, Todoroki Shoto!
"Should we stop by McDonald's on the way home?" Momo suggested. But her eyes screamed it wasn't a mere suggestion. She really wanted to take a stroll without going straight home.
"Fast food is out of the question, Mi– Yaoyorozu-san," her butler stayed firm. "Especially right after a serious practical exercise. If you want to eat something… Hmm, what about some ramen?"
"What are you, an old man?"
"Ramen isn't just for certain demographic groups!" The butler was unstoppable. "Ramen doesn't discriminate against anyone. Ramen's for everyone! You know how 65% of Japanese highschoolers choose to have ramen on their way home instead of heading to McDonald's?"
"You're not even Japanese," Momo gave up. "Then, okay, let's have ramen, then."
Hell yeah, good thing I made up the numbers, and now she's in!
Momo just wanted to avoid her old man who was going to come home earlier today.
Benjamin Kirby Tennyson was impressed.
This morning when he and Momo came to school, they got interrupted by swarms of journalists sniffing around the U.A. It was 6:30 AM, but over time, it got worse. He and Momo had to help out Todoroki because he didn't know how to deal with journalists invading his personal space.
At least, thankfully, the sacred gate of the school — nicknamed the "U.A. barrier" — didn't let the unworthy inside. — meaning without a student card or staff card, it would gatekeep everyone else from entering the campus.
Ben absolutely agreed that it was completely rational.
"So… yesterday, All Might and I watched you kids fight," Aizawa-sensei said, as soon as the homeroom began. "I wasn't any part in evaluating you, but it's my job to relay the message to you kids."
Of course, he started with the most problematic kid.
"Bakugou," he called him out, making him flinch. "Stop acting like a 7-year-old child. You're wasting your own talent."
"And you," Aizawa's gaze turned toward the green-haired kid. "Are you always planning to destroy your arm, Midoriya? If you keep going like that, you'll never get terribly far. I've said it before. Don't make me say it a third time. Once you've cleared that hurdle, you'll be much more flexible, so I need to see some sweat out of you, Midoriya."
He actually gave some good advice! Ben was taken aback. Now I have no choice but to forgive him—
"Yes, sir!!"
As Midoriya passionately responded, Aizawa's eyes looked for Ben. The brunet was in the corner, the furthest from the teacher's desk.
"Ben Tennyson," Aizawa said. Even after preparing himself mentally, being mentioned by the teacher still sent shivers down his spine.
"You seemed to have a lot of experience with your quirk. I can't tell how much you trained in America, but I'd commend the way you're capable of controlling your strength almost flawlessly. You set a good model example in the class and made some good rational decisions in the trial. There were some behaviors I didn't like, but you're good overall. Sorry for singling you out. You did great."
"Thanks, sir!" I forgive you.
Hmm, it seems I don't need to sell out the entire faculty. Aizawa put down the records, deciding to move on to another activity.
"All right, people," he announced. "We need to pick a class president."
"Finally something school-like!!"
Pretty much everyone raised their hands and volunteered for the position, but of course, it wasn't like everyone could become one.
Ben didn't raise his hand. He was already singled out by the teacher on his second day of school. He wasn't going to try to stand out anymore.
"Quiet!"
The one who silenced the entire class with that cry was no other than the serious no-nonsense elite student, Iida Tenya!!
"This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else's weight!" He said passionately but also seriously. "Just because you'd like to do it doesn't mean you can!!"
There he goes again. Iida went on and tried to persuade people of how sacred the position was, with everyone settling for the voting in the end. Aizawa left everything up to the class and he himself took a nap in his signature sleeping bag. And so…
Tennyson Ben… 4 votes.
Midoriya Izuku… 3 votes.
Yaoyorozu Momo… 2 votes.
"You gotta be kidding me!! Who voted for Deku…?!" Bakugou wasn't even mad about Ben getting it.
Meanwhile, Iida, the man himself, was in despair, seeing no one voted for him.
"So it's decided," Kaminari commented, looking at the board.
No, it's not! Ben screamed internally. How did it even happen?! Who would even…
The young lady in the seat right before him gave him a smile and a thumbs-up. "Give it a try."
"I voted for you!" Ben almost yelled before keeping himself down with all the attention he was getting. "It would've been nice if you became the president instead."
"I personally think the same, but it seems there are people who want you as the president. Come on, they're expecting it from you."
No chance. Expectations are the very thing he was running from.
Just a peek at it, though. Who were those that voted for Ben?
The realistic guy, Ojiro Mashirao. If there hadn't been anyone, he'd have been going to vote for himself, but he gave it a second thought. He'd been given a choice, and he wanted to use it to push forward someone worthy. And then he'd written down Ben's name.
Shoji Mezo. Normally, he doesn't express himself so much. But this time, he saw something new. And so on a whim, he decided to vote for Ben. For Shoji, "whims" were worth so much as wishes.
Hagakure Toru. Frankly speaking, Hagakure fell in love with how delicate Ben had been while protecting her. The contrast between his delicate behavior and otherworldly strength was too "Moe" for her. It doesn't mean Hagakure is in love with Ben or anything!
Who was the mysterious last person who voted for Ben?
With an unwavering stern expression, Ben Tennyson stood in front of the class. Everyone wondered what he was doing and waited in silence.
"First things first, let me thank everyone who voted for me," he began. "The world is still beautiful, I get it."
He's giving… a speech?
"Electing me means people have expectations for me. That's really a good sign for me. I didn't have friends my age for half my life, so that's a big step far from my start line. But… a shame I will have to break those expectations. Let me respectfully decline."
"What?!!"
"Wh-what? For real?" Ojiro said, his eyes widened with surprise. He voted for someone and that someone is voluntarily quitting the game!
"Well, I didn't even raise my hand for it," Ben said. "Sorry, but it's not for me. Fortunately, we have those who have more votes than others, so yeah, we can still decide the candidates."
"We have no choice," Kaminari said. "With the top place quitting, the second and third places should take them."
"I second," Ben winked in the direction of Momo.
And so Midoriya became the class president and Momo became the vice-president. At first, Ben doubted if Midoriya wanted to take the position, given his humble and timid nature. But to his surprise, the greenhead gladly took it.
The case was solved. Now everyone's happy. With a growling Bakugou.
Ah, that said, the class in turn decided Iida was a better man for the job after the lunch break. Ben didn't know what happened exactly in the canteen, but Iida seemed to have actually won over people this time. He had no reason to oppose it anyway.
During the lunch break, as usual he had had his meal alone on the rooftop. Aizawa-sensei didn't come up to the rooftop. The teachers were occupied with something else.
"How stupid…"
The crowd of journalists marched into the U.A. grounds after somehow breaching the U.A. barrier. It wasn't the work of random commonfolk. Some lesser known no-brainer villain must have been involved in this mess.
Surprisingly for once in a long time, Ben Tennyson was genuinely enraged.
- To be Continued -
