Chapter 84: Joint Training (2)
[Kaede POV]
I hurriedly ran back to field Gamma where the rest of my friends were waiting for me: "Sensei! I'm ready!" I exclaimed.
Aizawa-sensei nodded and glanced at the two classes: "Uchiha will be versing the teams that won the Joint Training Battle."
"EHHHH?" Everyone, including me, yelled.
"Aizawa-sensei, will Kaede-chan be fighting multiple times then!?" Ochako asked curiously.
However, Aizawa-sensei shook his head: "No, she will battle all the winning teams simultaneously."
Now, everyone was shocked, "Aren't you overestimating me a bit?" I replied, hoping that Aizawa-sensei was just joking. He just shrugged and ordered us to prepare.
[3rd POV]
As Kaede and her friends entered the depth of Field Gamma, Vlad King glanced at Shota's calm expression: "Isn't this too unfair?"
"I know my students better than anyone else. If Uchiha became serious, even we can't defeat her when we're at our peak," Shota explained. Vlad King was surprised by this statement. He heard that Kaede had fought the high-end nomu but never saw the recordings. So he reluctantly nodded and remained silent.
"Begin!" Shota shouted.
Meanwhile, in Ground Gamma...
"Don't worry. We got this!" Ejiro tried to cheer everyone up and smashed his fists together.
However, some were still not convinced and Denki sighed: "Sensei must be punishing us....."
Class 1-A knew how terrifying Kaede could be, so before the match even began, they were already a little discouraged: "Who cares, I'm going to kill her!" Katsuki proclaimed.
"Is Uchiha-can that strong?" Itsuka asked, and the students from Class 1-A nodded.
Kyoka, who had stabbed her earphone jack into the ground, muttered: "She's coming....."
Everyone froze as they got on guard and patiently listened for more news. Kyoka frowned, and her eyes widened: "I've lost her."
While the students were searching for their target, a predator observed her prey. Katsuki felt a weird sensation as he peered into the distance, and there he noticed a pair of blood-red eyes staring straight back at him. His whole body froze and won't follow his command as Katsuki's hand slowly reached for the pins on the improvised grenades attached to his belt.
Realizing what Kaede was doing, Katsuki gritted his teeth and desperately struggled against the Genjutsu, however, it was in vain...
" "Sh*t....." Katsuki cursed, and everyone turned their heads.
The student's eyes widened as they watched Katsuki's fingers wrap around the pin of the grenade: "Everyone run!" Izuku shouted, and all his friends bolted.
*BOOOOM*
An enormous explosion sounded on the battlefield. All the young heroes sprinted to separate directions, while some weren't so lucky and got caught in the blast and were added to the collateral casualties. They all gulped as a third of their team was instantly eliminated and what's worse was that they were all separated from each other.
Kyoka gasped as the explosion swept her off her feet. She quickly recovered and pierced her earphone jack on the floor to locate Kaede. Her eyes widened and she whimpered in fear. Kyoka spun around, but it was already too late...
THUD!!
A few minutes later.....
"Jiro-chan, are you okay!?" Mina called out with concern as they saw the dishevelled appearance of Kyoka sprinting towards them.
The young heroes eventually regrouped and they realized that even if they relaxed for a second, it could be proved to be detrimental. Kyoka winced and nodded. She collapsed on one knee from exhaustion.
"Hey Jiro-san, what happened?" Denki approached her and reached out his hand.
At this moment, only Izuku spotted a slight smirk on Kyoka's face as she grasped Denki's hand. Denki felt all his strength vanish from his body, and everything turned dark. Izuku immediately rushes at Kyoka with Full Cowling.
Kyoka raised her wrist and swiftly blocked a kick from Izuku. She let go of Denki, who collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. The students backed away from Kyoka with horror as she exploded into a cloud of smoke, revealing the figure of Kaede.
Black whips shot out of Izuku's body and attacked his opponent. When Kaede was in the infirmary, Izuku somehow obtained this new ability. He lost control on the first usage but was luckily saved by Ochako and Hitoshi. Knowing that Kaede wasn't aware of this new ability, he decided to risk it and attack her with surprise.
Kaede indeed was caught off guard. Unfortunately, her Lighting Chakra Moded protected her from the black whips, and it can't even break its defences. She grabbed Izuku's shin and slammed his body into a cement wall beside them.
Kaede then tossed Izuku into the air and fired dozens of lighting arrows. The lighting arrows exploded against his back, and Kaede jumped and drove her foot into his stomach. The ground cracked from the force as Izuku's eyes rolled upward. She grabbed the fallen Izuku and teleported away, not before smiling at her friends.
"We're so screwed....." They all muttered in despair.
The group relocated to a good spot before Kaede returned. As they trudged along the arena, Mina noticed something in the corner of her eye: "Ochako-chan, Ochako-chan, look over there!" She excitedly exclaimed.
The heroes turned to where she was pointing. There was a Demon Slayer Volume that they had not read before, just out in the open, sitting there, menacingly.....
Everyone knew it was obviously a trap and told Mina not to go for it. However, she was not deterred and quietly sneaked away from the group.
Mina scanned her surroundings, and she couldn't spot Kaede at all. She carefully approached the book and excitedly picked it up. Kaede, who was watching from a distance, was baffled as she mainly left it there as a joke and didn't expect anyone to go for the obvious trap.
As soon as the book left the ground, a boxing glove attached to a long stick shot out from its hiding spot and smacked her in the head: "Worth it....." She groaned as the boxing glove left an imprint on her pink face.
Kaede appeared beside her and sighed while dragging her friend to the Jail Cell. Back to the group of students, they have already noticed Mina's disappearance and hurriedly traced their path to search for her.
Unfortunately, the aloof girl was nowhere to be found and they assumed that she had already been taken away...
In the end, the group of student's devised a plan. They needed to lure Kaede into an area where she will be disadvantaged and pounce on her in unison. The strategy was crude and there seemed to be too many loopholes, however, with the number of people remaining, it may be the best they had.
"Is everyone ready?" Ochako nervously asked through the communication devices.
Confirmations sounded from each of her teammates and she nodded solemnly. Ochako herself decided to become the bait as she stood in an abandoned construction building. All around her were walls, pillars and large pipes that they assumed Kaede will find hard to maneuver in.
Ochako felt tense and gulped. Sure enough, five minutes later, a black portal appeared in front of her and Kaede's face emerged. She smiled at Ochako and stepped out of the portal. Ochako returned the smile and entered her fighting stance.
"So this is you guy's plan huh?" Kaede chimed and glanced around, "I'm not going to fall this easy,"
Ochako smiled wryly: "We know but it's the best we can do, you're just too scary Kaede-chan,"
"That's hurtful considering you're my best friend," Kaede joked and readied her katana.
At this instance, everyone burst out of their hiding spots and charged in all directions. Kaede smirked and to Ochako's horror, electricity crackled around Kaede's body and she began to mouth the word that send a shiver down Ochako's spine...
"Susanoo...."
BOOOOOM
The whole building collapsed on top of the students. They desperately escaped through the windows and they coughed as the debris dust entered their nostril. Everyone slowly opened their eyes and their face paled.
In the middle of the debris, there stood a gigantic purplish titan wearing a mask of a demon. Her yellow pupils shinned and the student's despaired. Kaede held out her hand and the massive spear appeared in her palm.
She smiled fondly at her friends: "It was a good fight, let's train together next time!"
Before they could respond, Kaede slammed the spear into the ground and the entire field was combusted with electricity...
A few minutes later...
Kaede enthusiastically skipped to the spectator field where Shoto was waiting for her. She glanced at him with anticipation as if saying: praise me!
Shoto chuckled and patterned her head while everyone else stared at them with a strange atmosphere.
'How can someone be this dangerous yet so cute at the same time.....' They all thought in unison.
Later that night...
[Kaede POV]
After school, Class 1-B visited us, and we celebrated the success of the Joint Training. My friends scolded Mina for doing something this dumb and adding salt to the injury. Aizawa-sensei then confiscated the manga and started reading it himself. Mina couldn't do anything but watch...
Seeing everyone smiling as they hung out with each other, I felt a slight pain in my heart and the anxiety returned: 'Will we be able to keep having fun like this in the future?' I thought to myself.
Without anyone noticing, I quietly excused myself and left.
[3rd POV]
As everyone was having fun and socialising in the living room. Shoto was searching for Kaede and he couldn't find her anywhere, he asked Ochako and Mina, but even they were not sure where Kaede was.
As Kaede wasn't in the dorm, Shoto left the building to see if she was outside; after a couple of minutes of searching, he finally found Kaede sitting on the rooftop of the Height's Alliance Dorm.
Shoto elevated himself up with his ice and sat next to her. Kaede leaned on his shoulder, and a small smile appeared on her face: "Today sure is fun." She said.
Shoto nodded. Kaede was still smiling, but Shoto could tell that smile was fake: "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean, Shoto-kun? I'm fine." Kaede casually waved off Shoto's questioning.
However, Shoto didn't give up, and he knew that something was not right. He brought Kaede close to his chest and wrapped her arms around her: "It's okay, just tell me what's wrong."
"It's ..... It's just something stupid and nothing you should worry about." Kaede stammered
Shoto shook his head: "It's not stupid if it got you so worked up about it."
Kaede chuckled at his witty remark, but her smile disappeared as she rested her head on Shoto's chest: "I'm scared of the future, I guess."
"The future?" Shoto repeated.
Kaede nodded and she gripped Shoto's shirt: "Do you think with all the things happening, will we be able to laugh like today again?..."
"There's no point worrying about it if we don't even know what will happen. However, one thing I know is whatever the future throws at us, we will overcome it together." Shoto took Kaede by the hand and kissed her on the lips.
Kaede blushed, but she didn't resist, and they stayed like this for a few minutes before they willingly broke away. Kaede buried her face into his neck: "I love you, Shoto-kun..." She gently whispered into his ears.
"I love you too..." Shoto whispered back as the two cuddled and gazed at the beautiful night sky.
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I hope you enjoy it!