Chapter 61 - Promise

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<Japan UA Ground Gamma 11:06>

The class started with All Might's normal entrance to the class telling them to go to Ground Gamma for a Heroic Class.

I was honestly looking forward to seeing Aizawa more than All Might, I don't know, but All Might's permanent enthusiasm was starting to bore me a bit.

'I guess I just got used to his presence...'

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the boisterous voice of All Might, who welcomed us back to UA. He talked about how he was proud that we had completed our internships without risk or danger. 

'Uhhh... yeah right, because fighting an assassin is not dangerous, nope, not at all...'

To test how far we have come thanks to the internships, we will do a small Heroic rescue exercise at Ground Gamma, which is a large industrial area with numerous buildings pipes, machines, etc. Honestly sometimes I wonder how damn big UA is.

At first I thought the exercise should be held at USJ, but All Might put our doubts to rest by saying that USJ is a specialized area for disasters, such as fires, tornadoes, floods, etc. Whereas Ground Gamma is specialized in a more urban and enclosed area, giving little room for the Hero to move around.

Basically, 4 Heroes will search for the civilian who desperately asks for help, who will be in the center of the area, and the Hero who reaches his position first wins. We can move as we wish but we must keep destruction to a minimum.

In this training the civilian will be All Might, and the 4 Heroes will be randomly picked by a roulette wheel.

The exercise was fun for the most part, I hadn't been in such an enclosed area so it was a bit of a move but it didn't go badly at all.

Although Midoriya came in last place during his turn, he showed clear progress in the way he used his Quick, as this time he wasn't breaking bones using it. But it seemed that this control drastically decreased his attack power, so he can no longer One Shot his enemies.

I honestly think it's a good change for him (mainly so he doesn't kill himself), although his moves are quite stiff and unnecessary, it was pretty obvious that he was just copying his boyfriend (?) Bakugo.

Other than Midoriya no one showed a drastic change in his strength. Overall, we all had a good boost in our strength or experience thanks to the internships.

***

<UA Cafeteria>

"Oi, Kyoka is something wrong?" I called out to Kyoka as I continued to eat my lunch, god I had forgotten how amazing UA's food is. "You've been... a little quiet."

We were both sitting at a table a little more secluded than usual, this due to being a little late thanks to All Might's class. I was wolfing down my food as usual while Kyoka was eating several sandwiches along with a salty strawberry grape smoothie.

Compared to the Kyoka of a few months ago who barely ate anything, it was a noticeable change.

Kyoka stopped eating while giving me a blank look. "Well yeah, I'm a little annoyed with you."

"Huh?" I blinked twice feeling a bit confused and perplexed at how blunt Kyoka is, although that last one is the usual. "Why?" 

Kyoka was quiet for a moment as she looked down at the table lost in thought before looking into my eyes with a slight frown. "You suddenly disappeared without telling me absolutely nothing, I was worried about you you know?"

"Besides" Kyoka averted her gaze as she pouted slightly. "We were supposed to go out during the week off, I was really looking forward to it."

"I'm really sorry, I promise to compensate you for-"

"I don't want compensation or anything" Kyoka interrupted sharply as she looked at me with a frown on her face and her arms crossed. "I want you to promise me that if something serious happens to you, you'll tell me if you're okay or not. Because...shit, I was upset when I saw you sitting there like nothing, I was going to complain to you or something but then I find out you fought Reaper face to face and were hospitalized for days, and I'm not an idiot to get upset about that."

"Then I'm going to get upset because you don't think enough. Lena, you have people who love and care about you, what if you had died during your Reaper fight?, how would your father feel?, how would your friends feel?... how would I feel..." 

Kyoka clenched her fists as she spoke losing strength at the end before quickly regaining it. "And I understand that we are Heroes, and we can die at any time during our duty. Heroes fight to save the day but also to live and fight another day. But throwing ourselves into danger like idiots is not what makes us brave or heroic."

Kyoka took a deep breath breath as I stood silently thinking about every word Kyo said.

"So... just if anything happens, anything at all I want you to know that you can tell me, got it?" Kyoka averted her gaze with a grimace as she mumbled. "Even if you don't want to talk about something I just want to know if you're really okay... and... that."

We both fell into an awkward silence, Kyoka seemed to have lost her appetite while I thought deeply about the last week.

"I..." She broke the silence but I was struggling to find the words to speak. "I'm sorry, I really am. I have no excuse... and you're right, I shouldn't have disappeared just like that, I hadn't even told my Father about the operation and it gave him quite a scare when he found out I had been hospitalized..."

"I guess I was too excited about... everything really" I let out a small chuckle at my own comment before looking Kyoka in the eyes with seriousness and a bit of embarrassment "I had accomplished so much in such a short time that... I guess it went to my head... and I'm sorry if I made you worry"

"I forgive you. I know it was possibly hard for you too, I can't imagine fighting Reaper as a walk in the park exactly" Kyoka commented sarcastically drawing a small smile from me. "I just... want to let you know that I can be there if you need someone, even if it's for the stupidest thing. And promise me that you won't just disappear again without telling me anything... I don't want to go back to being the girl without a single real friend..."

I got up from my seat and sat down next to Kyoka to give her a hug which she quickly completed.

"I promise"

***

<Class 1A>

Entering through the big door, Class 1A's favorite grumpy teacher, Aizawa, aka, Eraserhead, appeared. He stepped up to the podium to look around at the entire class, before giving a little briefing. "I hope you enjoyed your internships as much as I enjoy my free time. Anyway, Summer Vacation is almost upon us, but I guess you already know that you won't have 30 days to relax at home."

The whole class tilted their heads a bit confused by this, since they are called 'Summer Vacation' for a reason, no days off, so where was the vacation?

Aizawa looked blankly at all his students before speaking in his usual bored and disinterested tone. "We're going to Heroic Summer Camp."

"""WOOOAHHHH"""" Stars appeared in the eyes of the entire class as they cheered loudly for the new vacation they will receive, some of them could already imagine the things they would be doing.

"Curry!"

"Fireworks!"

"And Games!"

Aizawa, seeing the joyful state of her students was inwardly glad that they liked the idea that some of the teachers had planned. But he couldn't let his students have all the fun could he?

The bored teacher gave a dark and gloomy smile to his excited students, which made them wince slightly.

Aizawa then dropped a harmless little bombshell. "But that's only if they pass the final exams, if they fail the exams, even if just barely, then they will be trapped in UA for the next 30 Days living hell in life... understood?"

"""..."""

"Understood?!"

""""UNDERSTOOD!!!"""

***

<Japan UA 12:04> <Third Person POV>

<Last week of June>

"WHAAAAAAA! ONE WEEK LEFT AND I HAVEN'T STUDIED ANYTHING!" exclaimed Kaminari while making a commotion. "I CAN'T MISS MY VACATION!"

"..." Ashido just cried silently at the misfortune that was slowly approaching them.

Yesterday Aizawa released the Class grades marking each student from Junior to Senior with different numbers. Obviously everyone was curious as to where they would stand.

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1/20 - Yaoyorozu Momo

2/20 - Oxton Lena

3/20 - Izuku Midoriya

..

...

..

18/20 - Sato Rikido

19/20 - Kaminari Denki

20/20 - Ashido Mina

...

To no one's surprise Momo, Lena and Midoriya were left as the three smartest people in the Class. Momo was someone who had to store up vast knowledge for her Quirk to function properly. Lena although usually acted without thinking, showed that she is quite intelligent during the classes. And Midoriya is a maniac in analyzing Quirk and giving ideas for these, so he has a great deal of knowledge in his head.

After some crying from Kaminari, the people left the classroom, leaving Kyoka, Toru and Lena, who was about to leave until she saw Kyoka talking to Toru. 

Putting a malevolent smile on her face Lena sneaked up on Kyoka, and before Kyoka could do anything, she was already in a tight embrace with Lena. "Kyo~ I want to sleep~"

Kyoka over jumped a little, but when she heard Lena's voice she could only roll her eyes looking at her partner. "Oi, I'm not a pillow you know?"

That just made Lena hug Kyoka a little tighter. "I don't think so~ you're too much of a hugger not to be~"

Kyoka just let out a sigh and lowered her head to hide her blush, while Toru laughed at her friends actions. Once Toru stopped laughing, she looked at Lena with thoughtful eyes. "Hey Lena, you came second in the rankings didn't you. How come you know so much. I've never seen you study."

The question took Lena by surprise before she answered with a simple shrug. "Well, my father is a former scientist and my Uncle is a World renowned Scientist, so from a young age I was taught a wide variety of things."

Kyoka raised her head giving Lena a curious look. "Everyone in your family is a scientist by any chance?"

Lena gave a thoughtful look before giving Kyoka a small smile. "I guess you could say that...I mean, my cousin is a scientist too so..."

It was at that moment that Momo approached the trio of Girls. "I'm back girls, I was helping Kaminari and Mina with some stuff, what are you guys talking about?"

"About how half of Lena's family are scientists."

"Uh, I wouldn't say half..." Lena muttered before a thought assaulted her. 'Wait a minute, actually my whole family are scientists... what the fuck...'

"Huh? So your mother isn't a scientist?" Asked Toru tilting her head in confusion.

It was at that moment that Lena put on a slightly uncomfortable expression, but answered anyway. "Well... no, I don't know, I was adopted by my Father when he was working in America after an incident he decided to retire from his job as a scientist and moved to Japan."

"""Oh"""

Toru gave Lena an apologetic look as she gave a slight bow. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable!"

Shaking her head, Lena gave Toru a reassuring smile. "Nah, no problem, I just hadn't gotten to thinking about my family. To me, my Father and Tio are my family, I never need anyone else to take care of me...but maybe I should ask my Father about my Birth Mother?"

It was at that moment that a thought flashed through Momo's head, as if some wires had connected. 'Lena Oxton... United States... Scientists... oh...'

"By any chance... your father was Winston Oxton?" asked Momo with wide eyes.

Blinking a couple of times at Momo, Lena couldn't help but feel surprised that Momo knew her father's name. But that only made her give her a proud smile as she replied, "That's right! My adoptive father is Winston Oxton!"

Momo simply gave her a puzzled look, while Toru and Kyoka exchanged confused glances. Seeing her friends confused Momo gave them a brief explanation. "Winston Oxton was a great scientist in the United States, known for his inventions in Mechanics and Medicine, he was said to be a great Genius when it came to creating inventions, his last invention before retiring was in collaboration with David Shield. Together they created the Quirks Detector, which is what all the doctors in the world currently use to analyze people's Quirks."

That made them look at Lena with surprise on their faces, said girl showed a proud and smug face. "I'm amazing right?"

Toru simply rolled her eyes at Lena's boastfulness. "I think your father is the awesome one here."

Kyoka seeing that Lena was distracted stood on her tiptoes and gave Lena a quick peck on the cheek, changing her smug face to a flushed and nervous one. "K-Kyo!" 

Kyoka simply gave her a pleased smile as she ignored Lena's stare. The other two girls looked at them in surprise before letting out a small giggle, which made Kyoka blush as well.

After chatting for a while, the break ended and everyone went back to their desks for the next class.

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