Shoji and Kaminari had a unique two-pronged assault as the hero team, with Shoji's eyes and ears allowing them to locate the bomb very quickly. But Yaoyorozu had set up traps everywhere, and captured Kaminari in short order, right after he'd managed to electrocute Koda. Shoji, who'd been listening through several walls, ran in to provide backup, but Yaoyorozu captured him too with some difficulty. The villains won, although Koda was out for most of the match. It was pretty much a Momo solo show.
"That creation Quirk is scary, dude," mumbled Sato, who'd just returned from the infirmary to catch the last match. Midoriya had returned as well, though his arm was in a sling. When the four combatants returned, all twenty students were together again.
All Might closed the class by giving them all some pointers and giving general comments on each battle. There had been only two hero wins, which seemed kinda surprising to Len. There should have been three, he thought, but he was not thinking of himself, but of Mina.
"The villains all had the advantage of having a clear thing to defend, and the time to come up with strategies for that!" All Might told them. "Meanwhile, the heroes had to think a bit more on their feet! As new students to the hero course, you all display a good mind for basic planning, but as far as the quicker instincts go, there's more that can be improved on. Most of the finest moments of heroism spring from pure instinct and lightning-quick thinking. Part of your education will be training your brain into coming up with all those elaborate plans within the span of a few seconds! And then, you can achieve much more! Plus Ultra, you might say!"
The class was eventually dismissed, and it was time to head home. Len put his costume away and picked up his bag, shuffling his feet as he headed out of the building. For a moment, he felt a sudden strike of fear. I'm going home now. What will my parents say when they find out how I lost? Will they laugh at me? But then he realised that they would have no way of knowing unless he told them. He relaxed, feeling kind of ridiculous.
"Kagamine-kun, wait up!" Toru's voice, catching up to his side. "Oh man, that class. Crazy, right? All Might is larger than life! Getting real pointers from him was like a dream! And those battles we had to do were so tense! I felt like my heart was going to burst, and we still have the whole year ahead of us!"
"Congrats on your win," Len told her. They walked down the steps among the other leaving UA students, the sunset washing everything in orange.
"Ah, it was no thanks to me. Tokoyami did all the work. I served as bait and then got tackled. At least you fought Kirishima for a little while."
"I don't know if I would call that fighting. I mostly just zapped around like some kind of poser."
"Ha… well… you know…" Toru trailed off as they arrived at their train platform.
Great. I just said the thing that she was going to leave unsaid, ruining not only her attempt at a safe compliment but also the atmosphere as well. You're such a fucking genius, Len, really.
They boarded the train in an awkward silence. Sitting down in two seats next to each other, sensing everything and saying nothing. Len could hear Toru's foot tap as they waited for the train to depart.
"Kagamine? Hagakure?" A voice asked.
The two of them looked up in surprise. It was none other than his partner from the battle trial, Sero.
"You take this train, Sero-kun?"
"…Yeah. Do you guys?"
"…Yeah. We went to the same middle school. Shinobu."
"Oh neat. I had some friends at Shinobu. Did you know Tsukasa or Takuji, by any chance?"
"Oh yeah, vaguely. We weren't like close or anything."
"Yeah, fair enough. They would have mentioned an invisible girl to me." Sero eyed the seat next to Len. "Do you mind?"
Len looked up at him. "Nah. Go right ahead."
He sat down just as the train doors closed, and they began to move. The three students sat in silence for a moment. Toru got out her phone and began to listen to music.
"Hey," Sero whispered, leaning in a bit. "I really am sorry about earlier. I think it's my fault that we lost, honestly. I distracted you with that stupid question and put you off your game, and then I wasted time wrapping up Asui and let myself get tackled when I could have just bumrushed the bomb."
Len gave him a look. "You're as frustrated as I am." It was all in his words, although that same easy smile remained on his face.
"Heh. I guess I am." Sero leaned back in his seat and scratched his neck with his long arm. "I try not to let it show too much, because I was always known as the laid-back guy in middle school, you know? The kind you could come to with your problems? I kinda wanted to keep that up at UA. Especially since we seem to have some… intense personalities in our class."
"Guilty," said Len lightly.
Sero's grin widened. "Hey, chill out man. I was talking about Bakugo and Midoriya and Iida, mostly. And Kirishima too, I guess. Those four, as well as Todoroki and Tokoyami, were all anybody was talking about. They really commanded all the attention. Those last two seem kinda cold, but…"
"I guess it's inevitable that the people with the most powerful Quirks would be at the forefront of a hero class," said Len. "I mean, it was like that in middle school, too, just because having some flashy power was a general flex. But at hero school it's even more pronounced." He left the other part unspoken, about how he didn't like it, about how he thought it might lead to unhealthy mentalities in a class of heroes-in-training who absolutely needed healthy mentalities to move forward in their desired career.
Sero seemed to chew on that for a moment. "Yeah, makes sense. My Quirk isn't anything special but it gets the job done. I was pretty happy with my fight with Asui, honestly. I feel like I can hold my own against the mid-tier students. And then there's…" he paused, unsure.
"Me," Len finished for him. "By all rights I should be up there with the six you mentioned before. But… I'm not." I pursued hero training so I could put the powers that were given to me to good use. But… they're being wasted on me.
Those powers are wasted on you! He remembered his mother saying that once, when he was younger and stupider and had teleported to go take out the trash. Bad moment. Bad memory.
Toru took her headphones out. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Len's Quirk. How by rights it should put him up with the heavy hitters in the class, but due to the results of the battle trial, no one was really talking about him the way they talked about Todoroki or Midoriya."
"Well, yeah. Kagamine-kun just isn't a showoff like that. He never once used his Quirk during middle school."
"Really?" Sero raised an eyebrow at him. "Warping is every lazy kid's dream, though. I often just used my tape to pull soda cans across the room. With teleportation, the possibilities only widen."
"It's not really healthy for me to think like that," Len explained sheepishly. "I don't like using my powers on something I can just do normally, even if it's not in public." My parents made sure of it.
"Ah, I see. Well, respect to you, then. But it may have helped to get a bit more training in? I mean, your Quirk could be super useful in both combat and rescue situations."
"Did you just seriously just say it may have helped to get more training in ?" Len asked dryly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What the fuck do you think I'm at hero school for? Just to sneak peeks at Midnight's changing room?"
Toru was giggling her invisible head off next to him, and Sero cracked a nervous smile in spite of himself. "Sorry, sorry. Dumb thing to say, I guess."
Len grinned and punched him lightly in the arm. "Whatever, man. I'd be public hypocrite number one if I got mad at everyone who has brainless moments from time to time. I mean, you're looking at the guy who almost walked past UA on the day of the entrance exam."
"It's true, he did do that," Toru supplied between giggles.
The three of them kept talking as their train sped toward home, the sun setting on their long second day.