16 Chapter 16: Clothes Make The Hero III

Was… was All Might reading a 'How To Teach For Dummies' book?

His lenses squinted at the man as the group of teens walked into the observation room, watching how the hero was hunched over reading the book.

No way, he was!

As Peter looked around, he couldn't help but note how incredibly big the observation room was; it was empty outside from the command panel at the front and dark with only the big screen above the panel giving light.

It must've been designed to house a full class of 20, right?

As they stopped in front of the man, All Might perked up and pocketed the book behind him before anyone could see it.

Anyone except Peter, that is.

"Oh! Uh, hello, students! You all look amazing, like real heroes!" All Might boomed, Peter and Amajiki winced at the volume for different reasons while Togata and Hado bounced up and down in excitement. "Now, does anyone have any questions?"

Hado raised her hand almost immediately, with Peter leaning in beside her. "I think he means about the exercise." Her hand went down.

While the girl pouted and hit Peter in the shoulder with the force of an angry two-week-old puppy, Amajiki timidly raised his hand.

"W-What exactly will we b-be doing? You only said combat training but d-didn't specify."

Wait, he was right!

They didn't even know what they were doing!

All Might began to open his mouth to answer before Peter's spider-sense buzzed lightly, everyone watching as a floor tile beside their teacher opened up with a hiss.

A white-furred animal with a scar going down one of his beady eyes popped out of the hole with a visible grin.

Was that… Nezu?

Peter didn't know if he should be worried about the principal being here or the fact that there were secret tunnels around the school.

Was that even legal?

It didn't feel like it.

"Why, hello!" With a bit of effort, the chimera scurried out of the hole and onto the floor, standing in front of the students next to All Might. "I could be a dog, a mouse, or even a bear! But another thing I am is Nezu! Principal of this fine school!"

Silence rang out around the room as everyone simply stared at the creature with varying levels of confusion.

A silence that was broken by a squeal

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute! His fur looks super soft!" Hado giggled at the animal, Peter noticing how All Might adopted a mortified expression.

Surprisingly, Nezu only gave a good-hearted laugh at the comment before he started to climb up All Might and sat on his shoulder.

Wait, can he just do that?

And they let him?

Man, having an animal be your boss sure would be weird.

"Why, thank you, miss Hado! I do enjoy a fair amount of brushing! Now, I bet you five have questions as to my presence, correct?"

Silence once again as everyone looked at each other.

"Uh, kinda? No offense sir, but you really scare me."

Peter would remember the high-pitched laughter that Nezu gave off in his nightmares.

And by the way All Might shuddered, the guy was on the same boat as him.

That rat was freaking terrifying.

Peter was at least 60% sure that he was some sort of cryptid passing off as a quirked animal to hide his supernatural and eldritch origins.

"Short answer is that I got curious as to what the four students that Aizawa didn't expel are like! I already know you, mister Parker, but I do not know your classmates!"

Sighing, Peter ignored the looks that Togata and Amajiki gave him, he would explain it to them later.

Probably.

"Also, I want to see how All Might will do as a first-time teacher! But judging by the 'How to teach for dummies' book he's been reading all day, it is good that I am here!" The creature giggled, casually playing with one of All Might's bangs by whipping it back and forth. "But ignore my presence, I will be here to help out if I need to!"

Yeah, Peter didn't know how to feel about the principal sitting in on his first exercise.

All Might looked confused for a second before he cleared his throat and put on a forced smile.

"W-Well… Alright! Originally, we were going to do five matches of 2-on-2 heroes vs villains fights where the heroes would try to find and capture a bomb the villains were protecting. Teams would be assigned randomly to give students a feel for working with others that they didn't know well but uh…"

All Might paused as he looked over the four teens, Nezu kept playing with his hard bang but he didn't seem to mind too much.

"How well do you four know each other, exactly?" He asked, prompting a small chuckle from Nezu.

The students looked at each other for one second before responding.

"Eh…"

"We're friends!"

"Kinda? Not that well."

"We're best friends!"

Peter raised an eyebrow at Togata's and Hado's responses, he didn't know about all of them being best friends but whatever.

"Huh, that certainly does mess things up for me!" A booming laugh echoed across the room, Peter could see the small panic in the man's blue eyes.

He didn't know why but that shade of blue looked familiar to him.

"Alright, give me one moment!" All Might grabbed Nezu in his massive hand and looked around as if not knowing what to do with him, the man quickly shrugged and just gave him to Hado.

The girl grabbed a hold of Nezu in both arms and began to gently stroke the fur on his head while the principal playfully kicked his feet in the air.

"Watch me exit and return, like a hero!" In a blur of movement, a red white, and blue streak rocketed past them and out the door all while kicking up a strong wing.

Peter looked over at Hado who was still stroking Nezu's fur happily. Suddenly, the animal squirmed out of the girl's grasp and landed on the tiled floor.

Walking over to a tile in front of where All Might stood, he tapped his foot in a rhythmic pattern. Quickly, the tile rose up from the ground with a hiss, revealing a steaming teapot, five teacups on a small wooden table, and a wooden cabinet.

What?

"Anyone want tea?" Nezu asked, already pouring himself a cup from a brand Peter didn't recognize.

He wasn't much of a tea guy.

"Oh, oh! Do you have jasmine?" Hado walked forward to the table and sat down on the floor just as Nezu began pouring it.

"Me and Tamaki will take green tea if it's alright!" The blonde teen sat on the opposite side of Hado with Amajiki in tow.

Peter was… confused as to what to do, to say the least. He wasn't too into tea, and he also wasn't sure if just having tea time with the principal as All Might sets stuff up was a good idea.

But on the other hand, it felt rude to just stand there. So reluctantly, he went and sat down next to Hado as Nezu handed her a cup.

"Are you drinking any, Parker-Kun?" Hado asked from beside him, taking a sip of the drink as Peter took off his mask and goggles and put them on his lap. "Your hair is super messy!"

A hand unconsciously ran itself through his hair at the comment, the boy rolling his shoulder. "I'm… not that knowledgeable on tea, you know? Never been my thing a-"

Before he could even finish that sentence, a cup with the same drink that Hado had was placed in front of him; He looked from the girl to see the principal giving him a small smile.

"Well, we can't have that! Here, try jasmine tea that Miss Hado has been drinking; it is rather exquisite if you ask me!"

"Yeah, what he said! It's great and helps out with energy and stuff!"

Eyeing the cup over for a second, Peter grabbed the china and brought it up to his lips.

It was one of the sweetest things he had ever tasted, it was smooth and silky as it touched his tongue along with having the smallest taste of honey and a fragrant scent.

Man, it was amazing!

No wonder Japanese people liked it so much!

He should've given it a try a while ago!

"Woah! This is great! I think I'll try to buy some later, thanks." Peter gave a small chuckle, sipping the tea again and savoring the taste.

Hado said something about energy, right?

Yeah, he should be thankful for that little effect.

He hasn't gotten more than five hours of sleep in the past 3 months, part of him feels like the only thing keeping him from collapsing due to sleep exhaustion has to be his enhanced biology.

Maybe, it's more of a theory if anything that he hasn't met any other people bitten by genetically altered spiders to compare notes with.

This was the last class, right? Maybe he could try and catch some sleep after school was up.

"No problem! It should help you look less tired and stuff all the time!" Hado laughed from beside him, he only raised an eyebrow at her.

"Huh?"

Did she read his mind or something?

She put her cup down and stretched where she sat. "Oh, it's just that you always look super tired all the time, you know? With your eye bags and all so it might help out."

Wait, he looked tired? As in, other people could tell?

That… made him a bit self-conscious.

"I… guess I am." Peter finished his cup, quickly grabbing the mask and goggles on his lap and putting them on again, covering his features.

Hidden by the goggles, his eyes trailed to the side, and saw how Hado had adopted what looked to be a guilty expression, her mouth opened as if to say something but stopping herself.

Sighing, Peter unconsciously traced the scars on his forearm under his costumes still being able to feel the few that weren't covered up by the armor.

Lately, the action of tracing his scars when idle had become a bit of a habit, it helped him calm down every now and then.

Either way, he felt guilty for making Hado feel guilty and all, he'd have to say something when he got the chance.

His spider-sense buzzed, snapping him out of his thoughts just as the door or the observation room slammed opened and rattled the china on the table.

"I am back… with a plan for the class!" All Might boomed, moving from one side of the room to the next in less than a second. The teens quickly got up from the floor and stood where they were before as Nezu tapped a tile a certain way and made the table, cabinet, and tea sink into the floor again.

Peter wondered how many of those hidden tile things were around the school.

"I am sorry for taking so long, students! But, here's what's gonna happen!" Pressing a button on a remote Peter wasn't sure where the man had been keeping it, a holographic screen appeared before them.

It was a cartoon of a 10 story building, with what looked to be a woman on one of the floors next to people dressed in old-time robber outfits, All Might stood smiling at the bottom of the building.

"We shall do… hostage rescue! You shall be separated into two teams of 2, heroes and villains! Heroes will have to either safely rescue the hostage and bring them to a safe zone outside or capture the villains inside the building while the villains have to either capture the heroes or protect the hostage until time runs out!"

You know what? He could do that! Peter had done some hostage rescues in the past when civilians got caught in the middle of a robbery, and he was well suited for fighting in the enclosed space of a building.

As for the teamwork thing, Peter didn't have too much experience with that but all of his classmates seem to be good to work with.

At least he was pretty sure.

"Let's see, uh…" The man's eyes darted from one teen to the next and back as he cupped his chin, All the while Nezu climbed up to his shoulder again. "Young Parker will be with young Hado on the hero team, and young Togata will be with Amajiki on the villain team!"

Hado? He can work with that!

The girl walked ever so closer to him at the announcement.

Beside him, Amajiki breathed a sigh of relief and started to lean on Togata, earning a laugh from the taller boy.

"Now, go down to the testing site and get ready! The villains will have 10 minutes to prepare, then you may begin!"

The four teens nodded, beginning to jog out of the room and into the testing site.

Once gone, All Might looked at Nezu with a serious expression.

"Sir, why are you really here? Shouldn't you already know what they are capable of?"

Nezu laughed lightly, tapping the man on the shoulder and making him turn to face the screen where the teens were shown.

"Mister Parker shows promise, but that does not make me ignore the potential threat he could possess with his respective abilities. I suppose I wanted to see what he could do first hand and act accordingly, I may not even act at all!"

Silence fell over the room as the two watched the screen, a smile broke on Nezu's face.

"If things go according to plan, then I believe we could see the birth of something truly sensational, Toshinori."

All Might's sunken eyes narrowed on Peter as he watched the screen, the boy simply hopping up to a lamppost and hanging upside down off of it.

"I suppose I agree…"

...

I am planning on developing the Nejire/Peter relationship in the next chapter, so I hope you guys are excited about that! With this being the first time they do hero stuff together, we'll get more interactions between them!

Also, I laid the seeds (Is that an expression? Idk) for All Might offering Peter OFA! Given how we are in pre-canon right now, All Might's limit is at around 6 hours so he's not gonna be in too much of a hurry to give OFA away.

And Nezu joining Midnight in the UA teachers that scare him! Cause why not?

PS : I will really appreciate guys if you can throw some power stones To Elevate the ranking

...

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