Ch. 9

I opened my eyes and found myself looking up at a white ceiling. Groaning as I pushed myself upright, I discovered that I was in the infirmary. The last thing I remembered was Teacher Holloway's quirk-powered strike and my subsequent collapse in both mind and body.

I was surprised that there was no one else in the infirmary, primarily the lack of a doctor or nurse. I then put on my shoes that were sitting beside the bed I was on and walked out of the infirmary.

Immediately after walking out of the infirmary, I saw Teacher Holloway sitting on a chair, waiting for me outside.

"You're finally up," Teacher Holloway said as he diverted his attention from the book he was reading.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"As your teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure that you are alright and healthy."

So why did he go so heavy-handed against me, I thought. "May I ask for how long I was in the infirmary for?" I asked.

Teacher Holloway then looked down on his watch and replied, "Almost three hours."

"Did I miss anything important?"

"No, nothing in particular. Today's classes are still very much orientation focused."

"That's good to hear."

"Well, seeing that you look just fine, I'm going to make me leave now, Patton," Teacher Holloway said to me as he stood up from his chair.

"Oh, ok. Thank you for making sure I was fine."

"Don't worry about it," was his last response as he walked away.

Since the school day was very much still in session, I headed toward the class that I was supposed to be at. Very quickly, the school day ended, and I found myself talking to George as we were both heading back to the dormitories.

"Damn, that must've hurt a lot," George said to me.

"What hurt a lot?" I asked.

"That strike by Teacher Holloway this morning. I'll have you know that everyone was frightened by the sound of that strike."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh right, you would not have known since you were knocked out. But, when Teacher Holloway's hit you, it sounded as if the air was being violently ripped apart. Frankly, I'm surprised you're still in one piece after receiving that."

"That's probably because Teacher Holloway was still holding back."

"Damn. I can't imagine what Teacher Holloway's full-powered strike would be like then. I would hate to be facing against him in a fight."

"Same."

It was true that Teacher Holloway's attack did not seriously hurt me. However, the spot where Teacher Holloway struck me was currently dark purple. It was terribly bruised and inflicted incredible pain if I put pressure on it. I reckon it'll take a few more days of recovery before I can start working out again.

Eventually, George left since his dorm was located away from my dorm, so I began walking by myself back to my dorm. On my way back, I found Simon practicing something on a nearby hill. Since I had nothing better to do and was still curious about Simon's quirk, I decided to spy on what he was doing.

Observing from behind Simon, I saw that he had several canvases which he was violently painting on. I noticed that many torn canvases were already resting beside him, and he was currently drawing what looked like a baseball bat. After about five minutes, Simon held the canvas with the baseball bat he had just drawn and placed it on the ground. A grave expression then plastered itself on Simon's face. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. Then, he suddenly reached towards the canvas, and surprisingly, his hand sank into the canvas as if it were a portal. Simon pulled out a baseball bat from the canvas that looked the same as the one he had just drawn. Simon seemed extremely happy as he held the baseball bat in his hand. However, moments later, tragedy struck. The initially intact baseball bat in Simon's hand suddenly started melting, and eventually, all that was left was a puddle of paint on the ground. At first, Simon was sad, then a fit of rage consumed him as he shredded the canvas into pieces, then threw them into the pile of other shredded canvases, and finally got into a fetal position. I now understand why Simon was sorted into the B-class and not A-class.

I proceeded to walk towards Simon, who was still in a fetal position on the ground. I had walked next to him, and it seemed that Simon did not realize that. I gently tapped Simon on the shoulder, which caused Simon to shriek back in surprise.

"Whoa, calm down, mate," I said to Simon as he stared at me with an unfriendly gaze.

"Why are you here?" Simon barked.

"I was walking back to my dorm and happened to stumble upon you training your quirk."

"Oh, so you're here to demean me then as everyone else does."

"No, not at all. I cannot possibly conceive of such a notion."

"Lies! That's what they have all said. Cut the act, just insult me and get over it. Let me know how I'm a disgrace to my quirk that I'm a massive disappointment, how the world has made a mistake with blessing me such a good quirk. Come on, do it!"

Oh geez, it looks like Simon here has had some bad experiences due to his quirk. I decided to reply as courteously as I could, hoping to deescalate the situation, "I understand how you are feeling, Simon. I totally do. Being shamed because of your quirk. I've been through it, and so have many other people. But I understand that my experience must pale in comparison to yours. I can't imagine the expectations that must've been placed on you due to your quirk. Would you like to talk about it?"

Simon looked absolutely shocked upon hearing what I had to say. He couldn't even conjure up a scenario where someone would actually sympathize with him. In a total surprise to me, Simon suddenly broke down and started to cry and spilled his emotions to me. This made me feel a tad bit awkward as for the next two hours, I stayed silent and listened to Simon, who let out everything he had wanted to tell someone for so long, but no one would listen.

After telling me everything from his troubled childhood due to the expectations everyone had towards him because of his quirk to his experiences growing up with his quirk, Simon finally calmed down and was willing to listen to what I had to say.

"May I make one suggestion, Simon?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Next time you draw a painting. Instead of imbuing it with anger, imbue it with serenity. I think you'll be surprised."

"Ok."

It was already getting dark, so I offered to accompany Simon back to his dorm. I later discovered that Simon and I lived in the same dormitory, which worked out pretty nicely.

----

I woke up early and decided to stretch at the gym the next day. I still felt uncomfortable lifting weights because of the bruise from Teacher Holloway's strike. However, it was quickly getting better, so that's good.

At the gym, I happened to bump into Stan, who could temporarily achieve super strength. Stan was lifting as heavyweights as he could to build muscle at the gym. Seeing me enter the gym, Stan and I exchanged a few pleasantries before both of us got back to focusing on what we came to the gym to do.

Not long after, the first period was just about to start, so I headed towards my classroom. As I entered the classroom, I happened to notice Simon, whose complexion was looking for a lot better. In fact, I would say he was feeling pretty giddy as a smile seemed to be plastered itself onto his face. Seeing me enter the classroom, Simon approached me, and just when he was about to say something, the bell sounded, and Teacher Holloway entered the classroom.

"Patton, I've got something to show you after school today. Meet at the hill, ok?" Simon asked excitedly.

"Yeah, sure, see you then."

Simon then returned to his seat, and then Teacher Holloway announced today's training activity, "Students, today we will be conducting a hero vs. villain scenario." After hearing Teacher Holloway's announcement, the class then beamed with anticipation. I didn't know what to expect, but it seemed like whatever the activity would be, it should be pretty exciting.

Teacher Holloway then continued, "You will be grouped with another classmate, and you will randomly be assigned either the villain role or hero role. If you are assigned the villain role, your objective will be to protect an item until you beat the hero team or time runs out. As a hero, your objective will be to destroy the item the villains are protecting or beat the villains. Do you all understand?"

"Yes!" The class erupted.

Later, the entire class stood outside a building where the hero v. villain scenarios would occur. Teacher Holloway was already starting to announce teams, and I was teamed with a girl named Rias Silva. Rias was a girl with luscious red hair which reached her knees, ocean blue eyes, and the body of a supermodel. I then approached Rias.

"Hey," I said to Rias.

"Hey," she responded.

"My quirk is thermo-vision. What was your quirk again?"

"I can mark an object and see the next three seconds into its future."

"Wow, that sounds like a powerful quirk."

"Ha-ha. You jest," Rias said, as she assumed my statement was hollow and was only meant to make herself feel better.

"No, seriously, compared to my quirk, I would much rather have yours," I said earnestly.

"Really?" Rias asked in an unsure tone.

"Really."

Teacher Holloway then suddenly announced, "Rias and Patton will assume the villain role, and Stephanie Summer and Emily Smith will be the heroes. Rias and Patton, you two have ten minutes to prepare before Stephanie Summer and Emily Smith will be allowed into the building. The countdown starts… now!"

Rias and I then sprinted into the building and quickly located our objective. Our objective, a large, blaring red block, was situated in the middle of the third floor of the four floors on the building. Rias and I then immediately got to planning for the heroes' attack.

"Unfortunately, I don't remember what quirk Emily and Stephanie have. Do you know?"

"Yeah, Emily can shoot beams of light from the palm of her hands, and Stephanie can scream extremely loud, forming a sound attack."

"So, it seems like they're both most effective when it comes to mid-range to long-range fighting then."

"So, we've got to bring the fight to them."

"I agree."

"But what if they enter the building from different places? We would be leaving our objective defenseless," Rias stressed.

"No need to worry about that. With my thermo-vision, I can see where they are at all times in this building."

"That's great! I'm sorry that my quirk won't be of much use here."

"No problem. Do you know how to fight, Rias?"

"Yeah, I'm fairly confident in hand-to-hand combat, you?"

"Yeah, I practice boxing."

"Don't hold back on them, Patton. I'm trusting you."

"I expect the same from you."

"Great. That makes two of us then," Rias said with a smile.

A few minutes later, we heard a honk outside, signaling that the ten minutes were up and that the hero team was now going to enter the building. Teacher Holloway then brought the rest of the class into a CCTV room to see what was happening inside the building. Four screens were shown inside the CCTV room, focusing on a different person in the building.

Back at the building, immediately after hearing the honking noise, I turned on my thermo-vision and scanned around the building. I quickly discovered that Emily and Stephanie were together and had entered through one of the back entrances to the building. I quickly relayed this information to Rias, and the two of us decided to ambush them at the stairwell they were heading towards.

----

"Hey, Emily," a girl with wavy, almond-colored hair that reached her shoulders and green eyes whispered.

"What is it, Stephanie?" Emily, who had long, black hair and sky-blue eyes, whispered back

"Don't you feel that it's too quiet?"

"Now that you mention it, it is too quiet."

"What should we do? I have an ominous feeling. It's as if something terrible will happen very soon."

"We can't back down. That'll be too shameful. As long as we reach the top of the building and gain control of the building, we'll be unstoppable."

"Ok. I believe in you, Emily."

"Thank you, Stephanie. Let's just continue quietly going up the stairs then."

"Oh yeah, hey Stephan—Ahhhhh!" Emily had turned around, wanting to tell Stephanie one last thing only to discover me choking her out. Just when she was about to lift her arms and shoot me with her beams, she felt something strangle her from behind and started to lose her vision until she passed out.

I gently put down Stephanie, who was now unconscious, onto the ground then raised a thumbs up towards Rias, who had just finished choking out Emily.

A horn then sounded again, and Teacher Holloway's voice then sounded from the speakers hidden throughout the building, "The winner is Rias and Patton."

Rias and I carefully hauled Emily and Stephanie outside.

"Wow, that was easier than expected," I said to Rias as I gently laid Stephanie onto the ground outside.

"Yeah, it was all thanks to your quirk," Rias said as she performed the same actions as me, except it was with Emily and not Stephanie.

"Don't discredit yourself like that. I doubt it would have been that easy if I wasn't with you. Speaking of which, seeing how you choked out Emily, it seems like you have had tons of experience choking people out. Mind talking about it?"

Rias then looked me in the eyes, smiled, and said, "secret," as she turned around and walked towards the rest of the class. I couldn't help but admire her body from behind as she joined the rest of the class.