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[After battle]
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| Minutes later.. |
…
Both teams made their return to the monitoring room not long after All Might's announcement.
Though it was immediately clear that only one of them had been truly successful.
While Toru seemed to vibrate with excitement—even if she wasn't visible—and Taka looked strangely satisfied behind his usual poker face, the other team presented the complete opposite picture.
Sato looked nervous, his eyes constantly dodging All Might's gaze. He was clearly beaten up and exhausted from the fight.
Todoroki was worse.
He wasn't nearly as physically battered as Sato, but his expression was a tangled mix of frustration, dejection, and something close to shock.
And threaded through it all was anger—channeled into a sharp glare aimed straight at Taka.
All in all, it was painfully obvious who the victors were.
Not that Class 1-A needed to guess. They had all watched it unfold firsthand on the big screen—albeit without audio.
It had been an utter defeat for the heroes.
A strange one, however.
Even All Might seemed to think so, judging by the faintly confused look on his face.
Still, he had a job to do.
"Very good work out there, young ones," he praised, stepping forward and giving Todoroki's shoulder a gentle tap. "You fought bravely and showed great promise."
The boy acknowledged the gesture only briefly, glancing up at him for a second before his gaze fell back to the floor.
Sighing softly, All Might turned to the rest of the class.
"Now then—can anyone guess who the MVP was this time?"
Instantly, nearly every pair of eyes turned toward Taka.
He remained impassive, arms crossed, and eyes closed—though he was probably fist-pumping internally.
Yaoyorozu raised her hand, though unlike during the first combat exercise, there was a hint of hesitation in her movement.
"Was it… Hagakure-san, perhaps?"
That answer seemed to surprise everyone.
Everyone except Taka, who didn't react in the slightest.
All Might, for his part, didn't correct her. Instead, he simply nodded.
"Could you explain your reasoning, young Yaoyorozu?"
"Well," Yaoyorozu began, glancing apologetically at Taka, "while Takahashi-san was undoubtedly the one who defeated the hero team and secured victory, I believe he committed several errors that, in any real scenario, would have been dangerous or illogical for villains, or any combatant for that matter, to make."
Taka met her look and gave her a curt nod.
Seeing that he didn't object, she continued.
"First, he allowed his opponents to attack first when, judging by his capabilities, he could have apprehended them in minutes—if not less. Second, he abandoned his role of securing the bomb and his partner to pursue combat. If Sato-san had taken an alternate route or climbed the building from the outside, Hagakure-san would have been forced to deal with him alone, leaving both herself and the bomb vulnerable."
She then turned toward Hagakure, who was a bit startled upon receiving her gaze, pointing at herself baffledly.
"In contrast, Hagakure-san remained by the bomb for a significant amount of time, properly assessing the situation before deciding whether to descend and assist or ambush whatever awaited below. She remained faithful to the objective of the exercise."
Finally, she glanced at the two defeated members of the hero team, her expression turning slightly wry.
"As for Todoroki-san and Sato-san, they both committed notable mistakes. Todoroki-san chose to engage alone, which led to his defeat, when the two of them could have worked together to overcome Takahashi-san. He also risked detonating the bomb by recklessly damaging the surroundings. Sato-san, on the other hand, remained inactive for too long despite the limited time, and in the end committed a similar mistake by engaging in combat when there were only a few minutes more to go by."
All Might nodded thoughtfully, then turned his attention to Taka.
"Those are indeed serious mistakes, young Takahashi. Even if your power allows you to overwhelm your opponents, such overconfidence could easily allow them to seize the advantage in a more serious battlefield, and as a future hero, allowing villains to gain an advantage is a grave mistake. Can you explain why you chose that approach?"
Taka didn't bat an eye before the reproach. Instead, he answered calmly. "It wasn't really part of the initial strategy."
"Then?"
He tilted his head casually. "This was an exercise. Preventing my classmates from being evaluated by ending the battle in a single move would have defeated the purpose of the exercise for them. So I allowed them to show what they were capable of before deciding to end either fight."
He let the words linger for a few seconds, allowing them to sink in.
Even though it had been obvious from the footage, hearing them from Taka himself did stir bafflement from the class. After all, Todoroki had been clearly very strong. Yet, even after their fight, Taka was stating he had allowed the fight to go on of his own volition.
The confidence he was oozing was overwhelming.
"Is he serious?"
"Damn, I'd hate to be Todoroki right now."
"Just what is his Quirk?"
The class was already struggling to take his words in. But then, Taka dropped another bomb.
His eyes sharpened, and his tone grew heavier—his costume amplifying the sudden weight of his presence.
"If this had been real, I would've ended it the instant the alarm rang."
A few surprised gasps escaped the room at the boast.
Yet no one objected. No one called it arrogance.
After the display they had just witnessed, not a single person found it in themselves to doubt his words.
If he had wanted, he could have indeed brought the exercise to an end in a brief moment.
Sato scratched the back of his head, visibly embarrassed at hearing—out loud—that he'd only been given a chance to fight so he could be evaluated properly. Even if he already knew it.
Todoroki, however, reacted differently.
His expression tightened as the true reason he'd been allowed to fight back settled in.
A single question echoed in his mind.
If Taka had attacked first… would he have even been able to respond?
In a real fight, would he have stood a chance at all?
As Todoroki brooded over the thought, his heart heavy, All Might nodded, a wry smile forming as he looked at Taka.
"Taking your classmates into consideration is a wonderful quality, young Takahashi. However, from now on—especially as these tests grow harsher—don't forget to take care of yourself as well. You came to this institution to learn, did you not?"
Taka huffed softly, but nodded.
Satisfied, All Might turned his attention to Hagakure.
"As for you, young Hagakure, just like young Yaoyorozu pointed out, you were the one who remained most faithful to the objective of the exercise. For that, I must commend you."
"Hehehe~! It was nothing." Toru laughed, her index finger brushing under where her nose would be in unmistakable smugness—at least, that's what seemed she was doing. She was invisible, after all.
Then, All Might turned toward the losing team—his expression shifting into something more complex.
"As for you, young men, don't forget that today is only the second day of school. While your performances weren't stellar, that simply means you have plenty of potential left to develop!"
Todoroki nodded absentmindedly.
Sato, however, clenched his fists, his expression pensive as he stared down at them.
"Yes. Today, I realized there's more to fighting than just raw strength."
He then turned toward Taka, who blinked, slightly startled by the sudden attention, and bowed deeply.
"Thanks, man. Without you, who knows how long it would've taken me to figure that out!"
"Uh… sure." Taka waved him off, sweatdropping inwardly. 'I was just aura farming you, man. No need to be grateful at all.'
He might've also released some pent-up frustration from his earlier training sessions with Seiji. Being the one doing the whooping instead of getting whooped was a strange experience—but definitely not an unpleasant one.
'Still, if he feels like he learned something from it, then I guess it wasn't all that bad in the end,' Taka thought, mentally excusing himself.
With the evaluation complete, the next teams soon stepped forward for their respective matches.
Taka could have acted uninterested. With his current level—and his experience in battle—watching the newly appointed heroes was a bit like watching someone with zero experience trying to look like they knew what they were doing.
Not exactly thrilling.
And yet, that was precisely why he watched most of the matches with a sharp, analytical gaze.
'Too weak.'
They were all weaker than he had expected.
Maybe that was only natural. They were just starting school, after all.
…Or maybe this was the real-life effect kicking in.
In anime, everything always looked more epic than it actually was.
And if that were the case, then the same applied to his classmates and their Quirks.
As powerful, prodigious, or outright superhuman as some of them appeared during certain moments in the show, how many of those scenes were simply dramatic exaggeration rather than a reflection of their true capabilities, or what had actually happened?
Crazy techniques. Unnatural speed. Abnormal strength.
That worked in anime, meant to hype up viewers—but nothing guaranteed that those feats translated cleanly into reality.
Of course, he didn't doubt that some of his classmates would eventually scale to great heights.
But from what he was seeing now…
Some of them had been far more hyped than they deserved.
And that bothered Taka.
'I wanted to create a gap, sure… but this is too much, isn't it?' he thought, glaring at his classmates' matches with a wry look. His total aura might have ended up being a bit too much.
As they were right now, they were simply too weak.
Which, on its own, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, weakness makes strength stand out.
But you know what makes it stand out even more?
Collective strength.
Surpassing the weak—no matter how large their numbers—is a given for anyone with enough strength.
But standing at the top among the strong?
That could only be achieved by someone truly powerful.
And right now, they were far too weak for that.
Taka sighed, shaking his head.
His gaze drifted to Sato, who had thanked him earlier for helping him realize his own flaws.
Then to Hagakure, whom he had considered helping unlock her visible form, and thus embark her on a path to develop actual clothes for her Quirk.
Then, to Todoroki, who remained staring at the floor, lost deep in thought. A more delicate case, sure—but Taka had wanted him to reach his full potential for the same reason as the others.
Finally, his eyes shifted to the screen, where Midoriya was currently fighting—fortunately not against Bakugo like in the show.
His form was sloppy.
His physique barely passable.
His combat instincts resembled those of a chuunibyou convinced he could plan ten steps ahead—even as a punch was flying straight at his face.
He—the protagonist—was the biggest future threat to Taka's aura farming.
But he was also the one who could make Taka shine the most, once he proved himself unchallenged even by him, the wielder of One For All.
The Sports Festival would be in a month or two, if Taka remembered correctly.
If he fought a Midoriya like this, it wouldn't be much of a spectacle.
But if he fought an actually trained Midoriya—one who could fight without destroying himself?
And in front of all Japan?
That would be a literal rain of aura.
And the same logic applied to everyone else.
If he stood out as the strongest in their class, it would be a bit awe-inspiring, sure.
But if all his classmates were strong as heck by the time the festival happened, and he stood as the strongest?
Then that could make it much better.
That was enough to form the idea completely in Taka's mind.
He had accidentally made the gap in power a bit too large.
So why not help them narrow it a little—if only to widen it even more later?
'Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew here. Helping an entire class reach their true potential faster than they did in the show won't be easy… especially since I'm no specialist or anything.'
He paused.
'But giving up the chance to aura farm more isn't something an aura farmer would ever do.'
He huffed, closing his eyes as a small smile tugged at his lips.
'I'm sorry about this, y'all, but…'
His eyes snapped open, scanning everyone with a greedy glint.
'You're all gonna become heck strong—whether you like it or not. For the sake of my aura farming.'
Suddenly, a shiver ran down everyone's spine.
They glanced around, uneasy—but all they saw was Taka leaning coolly against a wall, eyes closed and expression relaxed.
And so, they never noticed the anomaly.
If only they had… they might have been able to skip the suffering coming ahead.
For the Aura Farming path was never easy, even for those unaware of it.
…
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| An hour or so later… |
…
Once everyone finished their matches, they received a few general pointers from All Might, and the class came to an end.
After a quick visit to the lockers to change back into their usual uniforms, the students returned to the classroom to await the last lesson of the day.
Taka, of course, was the last to arrive.
—Slam!
The classroom door snapped open as he entered.
Contrary to his expectations, however, no one turned to look. The room remained lively—students chatting, laughing, or busy finding ways to kill time before the final class.
'They're adapting,' he thought grimly.
It seemed he was gonna have to think of other ways to gather attention to himself from now on.
He was just about to head to his seat, slightly dejected, when—
"Yo, Taka! You were amazing out there, man!"
Kirishima's voice rang out, his hand raised in invitation to come.
'... Might as well talk with someone instead of acting like I'm meditating for who knows how long until our last teacher arrives.'
Figuring he had no aura-farming ideas left for the remainder of the school day, Taka shrugged and walked over
Only then did he notice it wasn't just Kirishima. A whole group had gathered around the nearby desks—Mina, Sero, Jiro, Sato, Tsuyu, Kirishima, and Toru.
Before he could even reach them, however, Invisible Girl herself stepped forward.
"Hehe, good job out there, Taka!" she said cheerfully, raising her hand for a high five.
Taka paused for a moment, then indulged her.
He was an aura farmer, not an asshole.
—Tap!
He met her hand cleanly.
"Whoa, that was a really solid high five!" she exclaimed, half excited, half baffled.
Taka gave her a puzzled look.
Seeing his expression, she laughed awkwardly. "Hehehe, I don't usually get such dead-on high fives… or, you know, hand contact in general. Invisibility and all."
Taka nodded, unfazed. "It wasn't that hard."
His aura had somewhat pinpointed the location, after all.
With that settled, he went and joined the rest of the group, Toru following from behind silently.
As soon as he arrived, the first to speak was his opponent from earlier.
"Sup, man. We didn't really get to introduce ourselves earlier. I'm Sato!" The big guy said, offering a fist bump.
Taka met it lightly. "Takahashi. Or Taka."
Sato barely had time to nod before a pink-haired girl popped up between them.
"You were awesome earlier! Just—pshhhh and wushhhh—right through those crazy ice attacks! I'm Mina Ashido, by the way. Nice to meet cha!"
"Likewise, call me Takahashi, or Taka." Taka nodded, fully agreeing with her assessment of his awesomeness.
"And I'm Sero Hanta," another voice chimed in, the boy pointing at himself with his thumb.
Next to him, someone else followed suit. "Denki Kaminari. Nice to meet you, man!"
A girl leaned in. "I'm Tsuyu. You can call me Tsu."
Taka nodded vaguely at each of them.
"Taka." He introduced himself vaguely, starting to get tired of repeating himself.
With introductions out of the way, Kirishima stepped forward again.
"We were talking about the exercise earlier, and your name kept coming up," he said, clenching his fist with passion. "Man, you really made an impression. I've never seen anything like that."
Mina jumped in place, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah! It was insane!"
"Yeah, just what is your Quirk, man?" Sero asked, eyes wide. "Some kind of crazy, overpowered telekinesis?"
"No, I don't think that's it," Sato chimed in, rubbing a spot where he'd been hit earlier—even though it had already healed. "He hit hard even without using his Quirk."
"We asked Jiro," Toru added, sounding mildly exasperated, "but she said we should just ask you ourselves!"
Taka glanced toward Jiro.
She was leaning casually against a desk, smiling.
"We weren't sure about approaching you at first," Tsuyu said thoughtfully, finger resting against her lips. "You're kind of intimidating. But you turned out to be nicer than expected—Ribbit."
Jiro shrugged, giving the group a told you so look. "See? I said he wasn't all that—whoa!"
She yelped as the desk she was leaning against suddenly shook.
Instantly, her eyes snapped toward Taka.
Taka, meanwhile, was averting his eyes from her, facing Sero.
"My Quirk is called Muscle to Mind," Taka spoke evenly, expression impassive. "It converts physical strength directly into pure telekinetic energy that I can control."
"Eh?!" The gasp was collective.
Tsuyu was the first to recover, tilting her head faintly. "No offense, Taka-kun, but—"
"Just call me Taka."
"Then… Taka," she corrected herself. "But your appearance doesn't really match the level of telekinesis you showed."
Taka nodded in understanding.
Jiro did the same—earning herself another desk shake that made her yelp and shoot him a sharp glare.
He ignored it and continued. "My Quirk also enhances my body's limits. My physical strength isn't bound by normal human constraints… and since my telekinesis scales off that, neither is it."
He lifted a fist, clenching it slowly. A red aura wrapped around it, dense and controlled.
"It wasn't like this at first. But after enough training, both my strength and my telekinesis reached this level."
"That's… crazily manly," Kirishima muttered, a single tear slipping down the corner of his eye.
"So that's why you're so skilled," Sato said, nodding as he recalled the beating he'd received earlier. His expression turned thoughtful. "…Training."
The rest of the group nodded, a mix of awe and dawning understanding settling in.
"So that's why you felt stronger than when we first met," Jiro commented, recalling that peculiar day.
Taka nodded vaguely.
"You two went to the same school, right?" Mina asked, even though she already knew the answer from Jiro. She just wanted to hear it confirmed.
Both nodded.
Something lit up in Mina's eyes. "Hee~h? So how did you two meet?"
That question formed a smirk on Jiro's face. As if she had just recalled something incredibly funny.
"I was walking home one day when I saw this guy—"
—Screech!
Her speech was cut short as the desk she was leaning on shook noticeably this time, like in an earthquake, making Jiro yelp as she grabbed onto it for balance.
As soon as it finished, though, she shot Taka a venomous glare.
Taka, however, ignored her and spoke in her place.
"She butted into something I already had under control. After that, we stayed in contact. As U.A. got closer, we ended up talking more."
Jiro looked like she wanted to argue—but before she could—
"She also kept pestering me obsessively about this guy all the time, like she was his fangi—"
"STOP!" Jiro screamed, panic flashing across her face.
Taka narrowed his eyes at her, his meaning crystal clear.
'Mind what you say… or I won't mind what I say.'
She sweatdropped and shot back a silent "got it" look.
Satisfied, Taka huffed.
He couldn't let the beating he'd taken that day stain his current reputation—even if the punks involved had ended up far worse.
And as for Jiro, while she still followed Rockinesis' account religiously, she absolutely couldn't let her new classmates see her as some kind of unhinged fangirl on the second day of school.
Still, it seemed the topic wasn't quite over yet.
"You two are from Shizuoka, right?" Mina asked, curiosity lighting her eyes.
They nodded once more.
"Then—wait, are you talking about Rockinesis?!" Mina suddenly exclaimed, visibly excited. "I heard he's from there!"
The question startled Jiro. She'd assumed they would just gloss over Taka's earlier words.
Had she been caught?!
"Rockinesis?" Kirishima repeated, eyes lighting up. "That guy's super manly! You listen to him too, Ashido?!"
Kaminari cut in, equally excited as he looked between Kirishima and Mina. "Wait, you guys are fans too?"
"Of course!" Kirishima pumped his fist. "That guy's basically the embodiment of manliness!"
"I wasn't a huge fan at first," Mina admitted, rubbing the back of her head shyly. "But his music kinda grew on me over time."
"I think I've heard of him," Tsuyu said thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "Wasn't he a vigilante who got popular recently?"
"Oh, that guy!" Sato nodded, suddenly animated. "I didn't really follow him, but I remember liking that song that blew up."
"Ah, that Rockinesis guy, I've got all his songs on my playlist!" Toru cheered, excitedly.
"Yeah, same," Sero added, squinting as if digging through his memory. "I feel like I hear his stuff pretty often."
This time, Jiro, who had seemed completely reserved about the topic, leaned in instead, eyes wide in excitement.
"So you all like him too?!" she said, grinning. "That's sick!"
Just like that, the conversation derailed completely, turning into an impromptu discussion about Rockinesis.
Leaving Taka standing there, feeling more than a little awkward.
'How do I walk away from this?' he wondered grimly. 'I really don't want to hear people talk about me like this…'
Sure, he loved to hear people praising him and all. But the thought that these people didn't know they were talking about a guy who was literally standing right beside them was giving him some serious second-hand embarrassment.
So much so that some must have slipped through his poker face.
"...?"
Noticing the slight discomfort, Toru tilted her head —to the unawareness of everyone—and asked Taka.
"What's wrong, Taka? You don't like him?"
"Ah." Taka snapped out of his daze, realizing his blunder.
Instantly, all eyes had settled on him.
Scratching the back of his head, he lied through his teeth.
"I don't care much about him." He said, not looking particularly interested in the conversation.
"You don't?!"
That caused outrage in the group—of those more passionate, at least.
"How can you not? His music is godly!" Kaminari asked, exasperated.
"Yeah, and besides, have you seen the moves he pulls off in his shows? They're crazy!" Mina chimed in, looking at him as if he were a lunatic.
"Not liking him is, like, unmanly, man!" Kirishima struggled to come up with a proper protest.
Jiro simply shook his head.
'I should have gone to my seat...' Taka thought grimly.
Fortunately, soon his saviour appeared.
—Slam!
The door opened, and a familiar, unkept figure stepped into the classroom.
"Silence. All of you, to your seats, now." Aizawa commanded, making everyone instantly scramble back to their desks.
'I will never forget this, teacher.' As he escaped the torture, Taka thanked him in his mind, settling on his seat with a content poker face.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Lots of interaction this chapter, so it was a pain to write. Hopefully, nothing seemed off. Maybe just that I repeated myself a bit too much.
Also, it ended up extra long. Hopefully, that doesn't mean it ended up boring as well. Luckily, with the plans I set in Taka's mind, it wasn't.
Anyway, see you next chapter.)