The news went viral. Even without much connection to the outside world, everyone at UA was talking about Star and Stripe's fight with Shigaraki.
" Now this may elicit some hiccup for us," mumbled Yuu as he closed his phone and set it down on the table.
" What do you mean?" Sora asked, leaning over the back of the sofa he was sitting on. Every one of their class was either in their hero costume or gym clothes, ready to go out and do some training, when Mineta and Kaminari pulled their attention to the news.
" Japan is awaiting support from other countries. Yet what happened to Star is bound to shake the leaders and make them reconsider their decision."
Mineta quirked an eyebrow at that. " So are they going to ignore our request for help?"
" You should think of it from their point of view," Yuu said, meeting the short boy's eyes. " Japan has no guarantee whatsoever of defeating Shigaraki. We don't have a plan in motion to counter him."
" So they would rather not throw their top heroes into a losing battle," Yaoyorozu summarized, arms folded and eyes cast down.
" Who said it is a losing battle!" Bakugo expressed both his disapproval and frustration with a blast.
" We're speaking from the world's point of view, Bakugo-san," Yuu listlessly looked back at the boy whose palms were fuming. " The world's renowned strongest hero lost her life trying. No other country would be willing to take the risk."
Bakugo clicked his tongue furiously at that and averted his gaze, finding little argument to shoot back.
" So, does this mean it was all for nothing?" Sero looked deflated and unmotivated at that thought.
" Not necessarily." The door to the dorm was pushed open, and the thin figure of All Might stepped through the genkan.
" All Might!"
Sora had to concede that even in that diminished state of his, seeing All Might always managed to raise their class' morale and hope. It wasn't something related to his battle prowess, she realized, but something he managed to build within their minds.
A sense of relief.
" All Might, what did you mean it wasn't necessarily for nothing?" Midoriya stepped ahead of them all and asked.
" Star's team managed to gather data about Shigaraki from their fight. And after analyzing it, the results look promising for us. We've got an extension," the former teacher stated.
" An extension?"
" We were able to confirm that Shigaraki's body, which should have been completed tomorrow, now won't be able to move for at least a week." Sora realized for the first time how sullen he looked and how uptight he sounded, as if he was forcing himself to stay in character. " It's Star and Stripe's final gift to us."
One second look at his aura revealed the reason why. He's grieving.
" The New Order he stole ate into Shigaraki like poison. We don't know how many Quirks he had, but we believe a good number of them were destroyed by it."
It wasn't just her; every single one of them found hope in those words. If it wasn't then, while the master mind is severely wounded, when was the best time to attack?
From what they could gather, heroes spared no effort at all searching for AFO and his followers while carrying out the evacuation. Still, it was just Shigaraki who got injured, and despite knowing AFO wouldn't be moving without his strongest piece, he still got plenty of strong pawns at his disposal. And according to All Might, there might be more joining him as they speak.
On the other hand, the heroes had been reduced after the war, be it injury, death, or even losing heart to carry on; they were left with half the number of heroes compared to the previous year.
Sora blinked when she realized her fists were shaking. Of course, they were. Who would hear all of that and not be appalled by their current situation? But she learned to trample over her fear and move on. She couldn't allow them to take any more from her or anyone else. Not on her watch.
She was snapped out of her own thoughts when Bakugo shouted by her side, almost puncturing her eardrums. " What do you think we've been doing?!"
Apparently, the blond took All Might's encouragement for them to grow even stronger during the coming days as an insult. Well, she, too, was a bit disappointed that their former teacher would think they were slacking off.
They were UA's students; they always aimed beyond themselves.
Everyone knew their limits during the last battle, and having realized their own shortcomings, they worked hard to improve. So they would prevent any more losses. So they could even the chances.
Sora took a look at her agitated classmates, each of them bearing the wounds and injuries of relentless and merciless sessions of training, and a small smile manifested on her face. A year prior, they were blissfully ignorant of their own weakness, each of them thinking that they did well by simply enrolling in UA, or even relishing in the fact that they managed to beat their own teachers during the final exam.
That seemed a long time ago.
Now was different. Now was their reality. Now was the time to prove themselves capable for real. That they were no mere heroes in training. That they were full-fledged heroes.
In a way, she might as well be thanking AFO. It was his consistent meddling with them that drove them that far. And it would also be his downfall…
________________
They warmed up in the backyard, which was turned into a training ground much like the camp's, thanks to Pixie Bob's help.
Each of them, depending on the requirements of their training regimen, took a terrain and tried to come up with new moves, be it solo or combo, improve existing ones, and either attack set targets or attack each other.
What Sora and Yuu were doing was the latter. Before Midoriya joined them, Bakugo had forced them to train with him, or rather, be his targets, to improve his new moves. Now that Midoriya joined, it became akin to a mini-war among the four of them.
Sora's transformed claws slashed at the air as Midoriya managed to escape her, and she whirled in time to block a blast from Bakugo as he used her as leverage to get to Midoriya. " Don't treat me like a stepping stone for you!"
She got a grip of his leg and flung him down. Bakugo managed to slow his fall with his blasts, but Sora wouldn't let him flee simply after singeing her feathers. She dropped down on him, claws drawn in a crisscross. Bakugo bolted back and circled her before attacking again relentlessly. Sora managed to hold her ground against him, her hardened feathers shielding her.
Above them, when the green head turned around the moment Sora got hold of Bakugo, the last thing he expected was for Yuu to appear behind him, eyes glowing brightly, and a circle of yellow light could be seen around his pupils. His hair already streaked with yellow and, much to Midoriya's bewilderment, the boy was coated in electricity as he delivered his kick.
Midoriya managed to fend, albeit noting the weight of the attack. It was strong, much stronger than it should have been, given the little time Yuu had to train.
Pushing the matter aside for the moment, he retorted with his own round kick, and it sent Yuu plummeting downward. There was a cloud of dust, and Midoriya considered whether he had overdone it, when the boy came skidding out of the smokescreen.
Midoriya didn't have much time to think of it because Sora came at him this time from below, while Yuu made for Bakugo, skidding on nothing but empty air.
Sora tried to enclose her large claws on Midoriya, but he used his black whips to entangle her and throw her off, slamming her on the ground.
Bakugo avoided the thunderbolts zapping towards him and threw himself forward with a strong explosion, jumping over Yuu and throwing him off balance with another.
The boy managed to defend solely depending on his forearm, which was smoking slightly after the impact, yet otherwise appeared unscathed.
Midoriya was taken by surprise as Bakugo made for him this time. He tried to capture him the same way with Sora, albeit Bakugo was more nimble, and he managed to distract Midoriya with an explosion, which he blocked with Air Force. As he plunged towards his opponent, Sora and Yuu realized Midoriya walked right into Bakugo's trap. With the green head surrounded by his droplets of sweat, Bakugo unleashed an explosion and backed instantly, leaving Midoriya to be cooked in the series of blasts triggered by it.
Moments later, Midoriya was lying on the ground, sporting a smoking afro as he listened to Bakugo explain about his new technique. Sora and Yuu approached them with the girl's enormous form slowly reducing to her more human one.
The boy looked from Bakugo to Todoroki at the other end of the field. While their friend did not join any combat training, what he was doing was by no means less important. Sora had to commend the balance he managed to strike between his two Quirks.
" Everyone is improving a lot," Midoriya said as he looked at the other two by his side. " You two as well. Seijin-kun, I didn't know you managed to get that strong physically."
Yuu blinked and gave a sheepish laugh at that. " I didn't. It was a cheat."
" Eh?" Midoriya blinked at him.
" It's the lightning," Yuu explained, sending a spark out of his index. " If I use Thunderbird's lightning, I can force my muscles to contract further than usual, granting me more speed, flexibility, and strength. But it's so painful I can't use it consecutively. If I overdo it, I might be rendered incapacitated, so it's more of a last resort."
The boy looked down at his right hand and clutched it, the clinking of the metal not going unnoticed by anyone there. " During the battle at Jaku, I was slow and my abilities were limited. So I thought of ways to exploit my Spirits' strength other than flailing them around."
" Tsk, what were those shield scales you used earlier?" Bakugo groaned. " Those were darn tough, dammit."
" If you found them tough, then they're serving their purpose," Yuu replied, rolling up his sleeve to reveal glistening black scales creeping up his arm right where Bakugo's blast should have landed.
" And you're able to slide on empty air as well." Midoriya held both his hands up as if to take notes, an action Sora had dearly missed. " How do you do that?"
" It's another Spirit he managed to make a contract with." Sora smiled, leaning on her friend's shoulder. " Now he can control air currents to a certain degree. Even rides them."
" Shirogane-san, on the other hand…" Midoriya looked back at her. " Your transformation…"
" Nah, I removed the limiter. From now on, I'll he fighting in that form. Even while training." She waved her hand off like it was nothing. " No matter how much I tried, my growth was limited compared to all of you because I was the one holding myself back. It won't do. If I want to improve, then I have to give my all, even in training, so I can make up for the lost time."
Midoriya gave her a small smile at that, realizing she had come to recognize that form of her as that of a hero rather than a monster.
" …So once we find their two bosses, don't you think we could take 'em?" Kaminari's uncertain question shifted their attention to him.
Bakugo walked over to him and Mineta. " There are three things you aren't thinking about."
" What? Three?"
" First, we probably can't find them." Bakugo held his index finger as he delivered the undeniable truth. " Up until now, even though we found the Nomu hangar, Shigaraki's hideout, and the research lab, ever since All Might defeated him, we've never once found All For One. He's the best in the world at running away and hiding."
" It's really frustrating to think that he was caught simply because he gave himself away in Kamino." Yuu frowned as he folded his arms, and Bakugo made an irritated sound.
" That ol' nutsack."
" I don't want to hear about nuts," Jiro interjected as she and Yaoyorozu joined them.
" Second," Yaoyorozu picked up where Bakugo left off, holding up two fingers this time. " The Shigaraki we fought last time was incomplete, right? Considering how many people we've lost since then, it's tough to say if we're even a match for them now."
Sora nodded as she kicked a pebble with her foot. " Apparently," she glanced a look at Shoji and continued. " They're even rallying more forces from the citizens in an attempt to hold heroes back."
" And third," Bakugo added. " Their side can decide when we start. The Quirk stolen from Ragdoll, Search, which can find even faraway Quirks. Even if it was lost during his fight with America, going second likely means we're done for."
Yuu looked over at the blond. " It's like you always say, Bakugo-san, those who move first and create an opening are the ones most likely to win."
Bakugo nodded with an annoyed grumble. " That's probably why we're desperately throwing people at the problem now."
" That's why." Midoriya had joined them at one point in the conversation. " At least for the first move… In order to lead Shigaraki and the others to where we want them, I need to hurry-"
He was cut off by a chop on the head that dropped his frizzy hair over his eyes. " You mean 'we', right?" Iida said, his tone not void of admonishment as he emphasized the we.
Midoriya turned around, looking from behind the scorched bangs, somewhat sheepish and grateful for their class rep's reminder. Even if not spoken out loud, everyone shared the same feelings with Iida; none of them would let Midoriya walk into that fight alone.
Not again.
" Yeah." Midoriya managed to untangle his hair from his face. " Oh, speaking of which… It's okay to walk around, right?"
" It should be fine for a bit. Thanks to Uraraka-kun's speech." He tilted his head to the girl in question, who blushed at having her deeds recognized. " Interaction between the hero course and the evacuees has gotten better, too."
" In the end, no matter how much we corner him, All For One…" Kaminari looked down at his bottle of water as if it might reveal some secret map to the villain's hideout if he kept staring enough. " … keeps laughing."
That… almost drained all the hope they had managed to build throughout the conversation. Before Sora could rebuke him for those glum words along with the rest of the class, she was distracted by the flapping of wings by her side. A considerably large bird landed on Yuu's shoulder, a tad larger than a crow.
As everyone was busy blaming Kaminari for ruining the mood, none of them paid attention to the descending bird.
It was elegant and stood proudly on its perch. Its feathers ranged from white around its belly to dark black, almost rivalling the darkness of the night. Its tail was long and streaked with red. It's face covered in white feathers, with a red protruding beak, and what could be mistaken for thick eyebrows that extended to the bird's neck. It also sported a small black traditional hat, one that could have been swept from a samurai's head.
" What's the matter, Tengu?" Yuu whispered, and the bird inclined its head politely.
" Master, you ought to come and see for yourself." Its tone was that of urgency. " I believe a classmate of yours might be in danger."...