50 Chapter 50

Panic is the very worst emotion to be filling an entire room. I can't even begin to count how many students are present in the cafeteria, but a great deal of them have descended into a panicked state after the alarm announced a breach and the chaos that followed has given me a terrible migraine. It hurts to blink, it seriously hurts to blink and I'm freaking jittery with nerves because the room is just filled with anxiety, fear, and panic. The place is loud and with my headache, the added shouts and screams are not welcome and I make it worse by accidentally "enhancing" my hearing so to speak. With a deep breath, I dispel the effect and take a look out the window. The damned reporters are causing a ruckus out there and poor Aizawa has to go deal with the parasites. And in here, things have gone to hell and the longer this goes on the closer I am to insanity, I swear it.

Someone bumps into me, I look over and find Nitsu staring at the chaos with his usual expressionless features. He's joined my table today just as he had the day before and the day before that and today he had been unlucky in his decision. Our table is in a neat corner - chosen so I could keep an eye on the gate - and this corner is furthest away from the opening leading back to the halls.

"A school full of fledgling heroes panics after a simple breach" he sounds as disgusted as the expression on his face. I've gotten to know him over the past two weeks or so and he's a pretty down-to-earth guy if anything. He's often stoic, but he likes to make jokes. The best thing about that is that people don't know when he's joking with how well he controls his facial expressions. "This is very counteractive"

"I can't believe there was a breach" Izuku has climbed onto our shared table to get a better view over the heads of our fellow students. At his waist is a strap and within is the gun he's been messing with for three whole days now. He's allowed to walk around with the thing because of his support course status as well as his quirkless status. He had a metal bat last week during combat class when we were allowed to use our quirks. "They're bottlenecking the exit"

"This chaos would make for the greatest rock video" Jiro voices casually, feet up on the table and head tilted back to the ceiling.

"Dark shadow is agitated" I don't know where Tokoyami came from or how he had migrated to our table through all the chaos, but he pulls out a chair and sits at our table. A moment later he places a lunch box on the table and proceeds to continue eating his lunch.

"I feel like we should do something" Kendo is also on the table, though seated and watching the scene with concern.

"Do you think they'd even listen in their state of panic" Monoma, an unexpected friend, says. He's a nice guy and I'm living for it. "And to get their attention we'd need a speaker and someone commanding enough to control the crowd"

"I can provide the speaker" Momo pipes in. "Though I don't know who's up to talk them down"

"This behavior is completely unbecoming of students of UA high," says Iida with stiff movement and motions.

Alissa nods, surprisingly enough. She's still seated with her lunch and has barely paid any attention to the situation at hand. Though she does let off an air of annoyance now her plans to retreat to the lab with Izuku and Mei have been thoroughly crushed.

"Let Hitoshi do it" Denki suggests

"I can't control a large number of people and they would have to answer a question before I could even do such a thing"

"Oh"

Ugh, what a trashy situation.

I scramble onto the table to also get a look over the crowd and the loudness is twofold on my part. This would be the best time to block my quirk but I left the things in my dorm today. I didn't think I would need them but now I realize I should just always have them on hand.

I fully plan on handling the situation, until I see Israel out of the corner of my eye. I spot the top of his head first, a mess of brown curls that stick out at odd ends. He moves near the walls, slipping through anyone in his way with a face I'm very familiar with. He is very much annoyed and he wants this over and done with. Following behind him is a smiling Nejire, who moves just as easily as him and is even the first out of the dense crowd. She's the opposite of my cousin at the moment. He broods while she keeps a cheery smile on her face.

"Hellooo" she greets when she's close enough.

Israel isn't as polite and pushes past Mina and Nitsu to climb onto the table. He has a hand on the wall as he does so and when he moves away he holds a microphone.

"Hey!" His voice booms over the room and no one can say they didn't hear him. The chaos is interrupted now and some areas calm as attention shifts to a glaring Israel. "You're all acting like a bunch of headless chicken! There was a breach, not a damn war. You're students of UA and you've already been drilled on all the emergency procedures and you decide to throw that all out the window and act like a bunch of fools. Get your heads on straight!"

Yep, nothing like being berated and yelled at by a stranger. Things settle down almost immediately and the once panicked students look at Israel like children who've been scolded for eating sugar. What's funny is that most of the kids present are first and second years as the third years aren't usually present during lunch. They've got more important things to do after all.

"The situation is under control. It's just a bunch of nosy reporters and journalists who were dumb enough to pull a stunt to get past the gate" he says after things have settled a bit. He sounds far calmer now, though his annoyance can still be felt. "So just go about your day knowing that you all panicked because of some reporters"

With that he hops off the table, grumbling, complaining, and mentioning something to the still smiling Nejire he casts another look at the room, watching as the crowd slowly disperses and kids go back to eating.

"Took time out of my day for this" he grunts while tugging on his tie.

"Well, this is your job more or less" Nejire points out.

"I'm not the only third-year Rep, Hado" my frustrated cousin sighs heavily and only now decides to pay us any mind. "Yo"

Lissa salutes and I can't help but laugh at his casual greeting. He's such a weird guy sometimes.

"Hey, you're Zena?" Nejire is suddenly in my personal bubble. "I've heard about you, you matched Toga in a fight, right?"

"That I did"

She seems immensely pleased and takes a step away from me and directs her attention to Alissa.

"And you're the one who makes the weird metal"

Alissa beams at being acknowledged and all bit puffs out her chest in pride

"Yes I am, the one and only" she grins. "It's nice to be acknowledged, by an upperclassman no less and a pretty one too. Things are on the up and up"

"That one likes to flirt with pretty faces," Israel says with a roll of his eyes. "And this one will worship the floor a beautiful person walks on, especially if that person is a parent"

"Wh-" ah, wh- th-

Someone laughs, very loudly and I'm not surprised to see Mina barely holding onto the table's edge. She has been quiet up until now and I wish she wouldn't laugh at me like that.

"Israel, why would yo-"

"That was very much unnecessary" Alissa looks as offended and betrayed as I feel right now. "True, but unnecessary"

He doesn't bother apologizing and even if he took the time to say sorry it would be worthless. He leaves as abruptly as he had appeared and Nejire follows after him with a friendly wave to us and a promise to come around some more.

"Well that happened"

"You have a thing for hot moms and dads?"

"Kaminari, shut up"

~~~~~~~~

Aizawa gets to class ten minutes late after lunch had ended. No one questions him, knowing that he's the one who had dealt with the reporters and the whole destroyed gate situation. He walks into the room as he does every other day, with his sweatpants and sweater combo and the scarf around his neck. His hair is tied into a ponytail today and he looks groomed rather than the constant feral state he's in most of the time. He already looks tired of the day but there's this weird smile on his face when he watches us and what he says next stuns the class into silence.

"Good job"

It's been two weeks with Aizawa and we've been through a good deal already and this is the first time we've heard any sort of compliment from him. While his smile is odd and kinda creepy, the fact that he's proud of us for a change fills the room with a warmer atmosphere and I let out a breath. Some cheer is welcome since all I've been feeling since lunch is anxiety and all the negative emotions that can be named. Things have been settled, sure, but people are still spooked and concerned, and it's not helped with the migraine.

"While near everyone acted like the world was about to end, you lot remained calm" he goes on to say. I wonder how he knows this when he had been outside during it all. "I expect nothing else from my students, keep this up and maybe I'll consider you something more than annoying brats"

The silence breaks into an excited buzz and Aizawa doesn't immediately order us to quiet down. He's leaning against the desk and looking at something between his hands.

"Now then, the situation has been taken care of and it was just some reporters curious about the students as well as the word on the street" Aizawa explains. "It won't be happening again, hopefully,"

Nitsu's hand goes up.

"I'm assuming one of the reporters broke the gate" he starts. "Have they been reprimanded for the damage they've caused?"

Imagine the bill they'd have to foot for destroying that massive gate.

"The destruction was not caused by one of the reporters" Aizawa rubs his face. "They had been lingering and saw that the gate had been compromised, but they did report sighting a civilian near the gate"

Ah, okay.

"And this is why Midnight has been bugging everyone to reinforce the damn gate," he says. "Now her fears had been proven, I'm sure she'll be extra persistent about it and the gate should be fixed within a day or two"

Nitsu's hand is up again.

"Is there a chance that a villain damaged the gate in an attempt to get in?" He asks. "The reporters were here because they found out that All Might teaches here now, right? Such news sounds like something that would attract villains as well"

Good point there my friend, he could quite possibly make a good reporter. He'd be a good manager too, and apparently, that's his plan B.

"Yes, the chances of that happening are high, however, no one has made it onto campus, that much I can assure you"

This presents an issue that I have been dancing around - or just not dwelling on - the UA traitor. The issue here is that I know who it is, have known for years - technically. Though it had been only speculation then because the last chapter I had read didn't necessarily confirm it, it was pretty obvious, but I was hoping it wasn't true, which led to not thinking about it too much. But the fact remains; there's a traitor, I know who it is and the dangers this presents.

What do I do with this knowledge?

"That's all I needed to discuss with you lot, a-"

Our teacher is rudely interrupted by a loud voice and the door being thrown open.

"It's me! Coming through the door like a normal person!"

No normal person announces their arrival in that manner and no normal person opens a sliding door that enthusiastically without fear of breaking it, and no normal person is that cheerful when faced with twenty-four teenagers.

All might is all smiles and muscles as he stands before us and Aizawa looks anything but pleased. Next to All Might, Aizawa is small, the height difference incredibly obvious.

"As I was saying" he continues while the class stares at All Might with various degrees of admiration. Some aren't as starstruck and go about their existence as any other. Some can barely keep themselves in their seat - and surprisingly Izuku does not belong in that category. "Your suits have finally been fixed and adjusted as requested - thank god - and you'll have the pleasure or displeasure of trying them out today in your foundational hero studies class with All Might. You'll be accompanied by class B and hopefully, this does not result in massive destruction"

Now that everyone's cleared on what's going to happen, Aizawa takes his stack of documents and wordlessly leaves. Now it's just All Might with us, smiling with hands on his hips, shadowed eyes, and bunny ear bangs.

"Today we start with the trail of battle!"

There's no need to be that boisterous.

~~~~~~~~~

Finally, I get to try out my costume and see if it looks as good as I had imagined. Coming up with a costume is far harder than I had first thought and I went about it in a careful manner of first, thinking of the stuff I could use and what would just be for style or preference. The first layer of my costume is a full-body suit which I thought would be far harder to put on than it had been. Usually, such form-fitting clothing are harder to get on, especially a one-piece type suit, so I was pleasantly surprised with how easily it slid on and even more surprised by how comfortable it felt. Apparently whoever made the stuff thought of all the discomfort that comes with such clothing and got rid of it. It does not feel restricting at all, it's fairly stretchy and incredibly durable. Huh, okay, I like it. It's supposed to regulate my temperature as well as be resistant to - well almost everything. And I test this by attempting to set it on fire. I mean, I can make fire and it wouldn't do for my clothes to burst into flames so it's better to test it now, isn't it?

Nothing happened, thankfully. No fire was started and I didn't even feel the heat of the fire through the suit - another plus. Water slips right off it and leaves it completely dry, so there's that.

The second layer of my costume must be made of the same material because my whole costume has to be resistant to the elements. The second layer is pretty simple as I saw no need for fancy stuff after I had to brainstorm so long. I was never good with choosing clothes anyways. A pair of dark pants come on over the bodysuit, heavy, as most cargo pants are, and secured around my waist with a utility belt. I think that's the name of the stuff. I have another name for it but I can't quite remember. The pouches on the belt are filled with random necessities Ie; a packet of water, a first aid kit, small throwing weapons - metallic - and the likes. The smallest pouch holds a familiar cylindrical contraption that sits snugly within.

I have to sit down to put on my boots and I take the time to admire the feel of it. It's far lighter than most combat boots and upon some inspection, I come to learn that the soles of the boots aren't as thick as most - in fact it's dangerously thin. It slips on easily enough and is secured with some straps. Originally my costume was to consist of purely dark colors, mainly; black, grey, and possibly dark blue. But after I had lost a bet the color scheme had instead become black and orange, with the shade of orange resembling Kurama's fur. I'm not sure if I should be disappointed or not because, while it had been intended to match the name, it will also be matching with Katsuki.

"Welp"

Armguards follow, sturdy and durable things that sit snugly around my arms. They come up to my elbows and go down to my knuckles, resembling a sleeveless glove near the end. Testing it I hit the wall and hear a resounding thud and only feel the softness of the padding inside. Of course, this isn't enough to determine how strong it is, but hearing that sound is somewhat relieving. At least I know I won't break my arm too easily. The damn things are mostly orange with the elbow pad and some intricate designs running down my arm being black. I'll admit that it's nice to see, but I'm still a bit stingy about having lost that bet.

"You'd be far too distracting to fight" Mina appears out of god knows where, fully dressed safely for her mask, which she swings around her finger idly. "Turtle necks are good on you"

"So I've been told" I snicker. "I won't be distracting if you don't let your eyes wander"

"You're literally wearing a skin-tight suit" is her defense. "Literally"

Would be something if I had defined abs wouldn't it? If I'm a distraction now I could only imagine what I would be then.

"I've got a jacket" it was meant to be a reassurance but as I grab the thing Mina doesn't look very happy.

"See now I'm disappointed"

"You'd rather I be a distraction?" I ask as I slip my hands through the thing. It's a cropped hooded sleeveless jacket that would appear to be a puffer jacket at first glance - no maybe a quilted jacket since it isn't as thick as the puffer.

"Kinda, yeah"

"Some other time then" I'd rather have this jacket on for today because I'm not much of a fan of being hit in the chest. This jacket offers protection and also serves as a bulletproof vest, which will be useful should I come against Izuku. He's been working on guns for a while now and I'm not sure what to expect should he pull one out.

Mina's watching me and I try to guess what she can be thinking without roaming her mind. Probably wondering if she can somehow manage to snatch this jacket as well. Or she's admiring the fact that I changed the colors of my costume because of the bet I lost to her. Or she's thinking of all the ways I can be a distraction, I don't know. It's not easy to tell with Mina, not unless I'm literally in her head. She's sporadic and unpredictable, after all.

She moves finally, slips behind the bench to stand behind me, and gets to work on my hair.

"I planned on leaving it down" an idle remark as I don't attempt to stop her. "I doubt it would get in my way"

"I like the bun"

"I know" I grin. "That's why it's become my go-to"

When Mina blushes her cheeks become the red of rose petals. It's just that very specific shade of red that's oddly endearing.

"Okay, I knew you would know, but it's still embarrassing" she admits moments later, still a shade of red that's slowly fading.

"Understandable"

"And you know more than that"

"Yes I do"

She hums, smiling.

"Good"