Chapter 28

The location of our summer camp was changed because of security reasons. With the USJ attack and the League of Villains' attack in Hosu city, there was a high chance that they'd try and attack us during the summer camp.

The day finally arrived when we were going to leave for the camp. Katsuki had been very subdued since the day I took him to see Kaneda's grave. He was still sorting his mind while coming to terms with the fact that his actions had such consequences.

I was chatting and joking around with the guys when class 1-B arrived. My eyes immediately drifted towards Itsuka. She was beautiful as ever.

She looked at me and smiled. It felt brighter than the smiles she'd give to her friends from her class. I looked around and noticed that something had changed. The world seemed to be more colourful than before. The chirping of the birds was louder and more pleasant. The morning summer breeze was more refreshing.

I looked at her again and she waved at me with a faint blush flaring up on her pale cheeks. Was she always this enchanting? The answer instantaneously came to me. Yes, she was always beautiful.

Unlike those dumbass beta main characters from shonen mangas who were too stupid to comprehend the certain spectrum of emotions, I was certain of what I was feeling.

Those budding emotions that gave birth to a new kind of warmth in my chest were enough to tell me. Midnight may have been my first crush but what I was feeling for Itsuka was different. It was certainly much purer than the simple physical attraction I had towards Midnight.

Teenage was a very interesting time in one's life. I had done extensive research on the internet about it. I couldn't help it. My hormones were acting up.

'Way to go Izuku. You fell for your childhood friend.'

I don't know what happened but my sadistic mind suddenly gave me a mental picture of Katsuki...

'... I need a psychiatrist... That was too traumatic...'

We boarded the bus drove to the location of our summer camp. I was happy that we were gonna share the same camping grounds with class 1-B. I wanted to spend a lot of time with Itsuka and explore the spectrum of emotions that was fairly new to me.

An hour later, we stopped by a cliff to take a break from travelling. But, it didn't look like a resting stop. Even class B's bus wasn't there.

Aizawa-sensei spoke up to clear our confusion, "Of course we stopped here for a reason."

From around the corner, we heard someone say, "Hey! Eraser!! Sorry, haven't seen you in a while!"

"Rock on with those sparkling gazes!"

"Stingingly cute and catlike!"

"We're the Wild, Wild..."

"... Pussy-cats!"

Two fully grown, well endowed and athletic women wearing mini skirts and short, sleeveless tank tops that revealed their toned yet creamy soft abdomens? Yeah, I agreed with Mineta's comment that he made during our first battle trial. Hero course was awesome. Did I have a thing for older women? I blamed the internet...

Aizawa-sensei quickly interjected when he saw our confused faces, "These are the pro heroes who'll be helping us this time. The Pussycats."

My nerd self immediately flared up to life, "A four-member hero team that worked under the same hero agency! They're a veteran team that specializes in mountain rescue operations! They've been in it for 12 years now..."

My stupid nerd persona was a character flaw that would sometimes emerge from the pits of my mind when I used to get too excited upon seeing heroes. It was very embarrassing. Itsuka would always tease me for it.

The blonde heroine, Pixie-bob, heard me and quickly said, "... But still eighteen at heart!!"

She was about to shove her gloved hand over my mouth but I instinctively dodged.

Mandalay started, "This whole area is our territory..."

She said while pointing towards the valley below us all the while ignoring Pixie-bob comically fussing and trying to grab my face as I effortlessly dodged her hand with an expressionless face.

Mandalay continued, "... Your lodging is at the foot of the hill over there."

We looked at the hill she was pointing at. It was quite far away...

I suddenly got a bad feeling. UA was known to give surprise exercises and knowing that sadistic Aizawa...

In a cold voice, Mandalay said, "It's 9:30 am now. I'm thinking... around noon should be fine."

Aw, crud... no way...

"Kitties who don't make it there by 12:30 pm won't get any lunch."

While the rest of my classmates began running away, I could feel the ground rising from below and I flew up into the air to avoid any kind of eruption.

"Sorry kids, the training's already begun."

True to my instincts, Pixie-bob used her quirk to throw everyone off the mountain and into the valley.

I landed in the valley and helped Uraraka up who had taken a pretty bad fall. Ignoring the sudden intense blush on her face, I heard Mandalay shouting down at us, "This is our private territory! You're free to use your quirks! You've got three hours to reach our territory on foot!"

I used 'Will of Observation' and spread it all over the valley. I could feel Pixie-bob's will all over the place, even below the ground.

A monstrous being made of earth emerged from the trees. Koda tried to talk to it but he failed. Which meant that it was Pixie-bob's quirk at work.

Without wasting any time, 'Will of Armament' rippled around my body as One for All turned its colour to emerald green.

I jumped at the earth monster and punched it in the face, making it crumble and break apart.

As we were facing the beasts that were ambushing us from all directions, I shouted to everyone, "Guys! these beasts are everywhere in the forest. We won't make it in time if we face them individually! Let's team up in groups of four!"

They all agreed to my suggestion, even Katsuki, and we made five teams of four according to the compatibility of our quirks and skills.

Fighting those earth monsters was a challenge and I didn't hold back while facing them. Extending my will out of my hands, I created constructs of green aura and struck multiple beasts all at once. I even got a chance to extend my arsenal of moves. The training exercise was proving to be very fruitful.

As we got closer the campsite, the number of the beasts attacking us increased. I still had an ace up my sleeve. The beasts were controlled by Pixie-bob's will. It was easy to think of a way to defeat them all at once. With only a few minutes left in our time limit, I felt that enough was enough and shot out a pulse of 'Conqueror's will' in all directions.

The beasts stopped momentarily and began crumbling all at once.

Seeing out chance, we ran straight to the campsite and made it just in time for the clock to read 12:30.

Pixie-bob looked at us in fascination.

"I thought you'll take a lot more time to complete the exercise! Huh, seems like we greatly underestimated you!"

Aizawa-sensei stared at me for a moment and turned around while saying, "I told you that three hours was too easy for them. You should have listened to me."

I was happy. We were getting stronger. Even though I took care of the beasts at the end, I could see that everyone was improving from the way they worked together. The future of heroes was bright.

(BNHA)

A/N: Thank you all for your warm wishes! These are very happy times for my family!

On a side note, I've started working on a Naruto and Game of Thrones crossover and have already released 3 chapters. I started it around the same time as Harry Potter: Rise of the Spiral on ff.net and have recently resumed writing it once again. You can check it out if you want to.

Thanks for sticking with this fanfiction and thanks for all the love and support. May you all have a happy new year.