Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It looks like traffic issues are also a multiversal hazard. I grumbled to Emily. I was running late and had caught the last bus that could get me to school on time – as long as it arrived on schedule. It didn't look like that was going to be the case.

Meathead, the massive misshapen muscular menace was throwing down with two heroes in the middle of the road. This of course was blocking traffic.

"Who are they?" I asked Kodai, who had boarded a few stops before the traffic stalled. We didn't see each other often in the morning because I generally took an earlier bus.

There was great tea shop at the bottom of U.A. Hill that I liked to stop at most mornings before school. I'd also started running in the mornings to get in better shape. I used the track at U.A. because my neighborhood was just too depressing.

My current body was in pretty good shape, but I needed to work to improve it. I was surprised that U.A. didn't have students doing the sort of military calisthenics the PRT troops did. I had joined in once I'd established myself in Chicago. When I asked Yuyu-chan about it, she'd told me U.A. expected students to keep themselves fit, just like they expected them to keep themselves clean. It was just part of being a student there.

"I think they are Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady," Kodai answered. She was something of a hero nerd. I could usually get her talking if I started with a question about one of the many Pro Heroes. "I know Mt. Lady can grow much bigger than Habit Headgear."

I winced at the name. I thought that Meathead was an idiot. But he wasn't wrong that the name the media had stuck on him was much worse than his chosen nom de guerre. Why weren't the heroes taking care of business and letting us get to school on time?

"It's too far. I can't see with all these cars and trucks in the way," Kodai complained.

"Me neither," I agreed. Then I sent out a handful of poltergeists to get a feel for what was going on. The action was just inside my hundred-meter range. What I found concerned me. Meathead was holding a family of three in the crook of his arm. I could feel his mouth moving but couldn't make out the words from the motion. Maybe I could practice that – like Helen Keller's lip-reading.

But for now, my concern was the family. Either Meathead was kidnapping them, or he was using them as hostages against the heroes. Either way they were in trouble.

I started thinking about possible courses of action. My goal would be releasing the family. The other heroes could take care of the villain, once the hostages were safe. My secondary goal was to do it without getting caught and arrested or kicked out of U.A.

The giant was much too strong for my spirits to directly challenge his grip. If they were that strong, they might accidentally tear the family apart trying to pull them free.

Which meant going at it indirectly. There was always the old standby of debris up the nose or down the throat. Eyes were also good vulnerable targets. That would distract him, possibly enough for the others to free the family.

But such tactics were visible, therefore incriminating. And Meathead might be tough enough to fully ignore the attacks, or ignore them long enough to hurt the family.

Kodai and I needed to start working together. If I flew a shrunken barrel up Meathead's nose; then my classmate caused it to return to full size – well, I doubted even a really powerful brute would be able to ignore that. But convincing her would take more time than we had. I didn't know the range of her power. And it would almost insure that we both got into trouble. I didn't need to do that to her.

As I decided to risk it and started glass grinding on the side of the road, a yellow blur dropped from the sky.

With a "Mississippi SMASH!" All Might, dressed in a sharp yellow pinstripe suit, dropped the giant with a single blow to the back of the neck. He even managed to scoop the family out of danger before hitting the ground.

"All Might!" Kodai – along with almost everyone else on the bus – gasped in wonder and delight. It was the most emotion I had ever seen from her.

I had never seen him in action. Even holding back to avoid killing a target like Meathead he still demonstrated tremendous strength, speed, and precision. On anyone else his suit would have been goofy, but somehow, he pulled it off. Before anyone could react further, the Symbol of Peace bounded off – in search of more people in need, one assumed. Though he might just have been hurrying to get to school before the late bell.

When we got to the school gate, Kodai shrank all our gear to reduce our combined weight. Together we were much heavier than my spirits could lift. But, they could take our combined weight down to about fifty kilos total. This allowed me to run faster than normal while I carried Kodai on my back up the hill to the U.A. main building. We made it to class just in time.

"Thank you," Kodai said as we entered the room.

"Alright, just take your seats please." Kan-sensei sounded a little put out. "Today's schedule will be a a bit different from normal, as Class 1-A is participating in an all-day exercise off campus."

"No!" Monoma cried. "Why do they deserve this and not us?"

"Yeah," Kamakiri agreed loudly. "That's not fair!"

"We will be doing the same exercise next Tuesday." Kan-sensei said with a sneer. "You may want to hold in your outrage until you're certain it is deserved. I'm sure Class 1-A is going first, again, just because of the numerical order."

Tell us how you really feel, I thought to Emily.

It does appear as though he is harboring some resentment. Possibly the primacy of Class 1-A is a long-established tradition. If so, I can sympathize with the long-term rancor such an injustice might engender.

I knew she was thinking of the Burakumin. The news about the Inoue attacks and the subsequent on-going investigations had not really addressed the caste discrimination issue. I got the impression from Tokuda that most reporters felt that particular bias was so forgotten by most media consumers that it wasn't worth pursuing. I wanted to find something to disprove the idea that discrimination was gone with the fax machine.

After the teacher managed to reign in two of the class' loudest mouths, he resumed his explanation of how this event would impact our day. "This means All Might-sensei will not be available for the scheduled Hero Basics class. I will be taking it in his place. So, after lunch I want you to change into your costumes and wait outside Gym Gamma. Cementoss-sensei and I will meet you there."

During first period, Modern Literature – my most difficult class – the alarm sounded. The system's automated voice sounded over the intercom, "There has been a Level Three Security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly."

"Oh, man … another drill?" Tetsutetsu complained.

"That's the third one since the break-in." Awase agreed. "It's a waste of fu – our time."

"Quiet please," came the gravelly voice of Cementoss-sensei. He was a tall humanoid slab of concrete in a maroon and gold bodysuit – who had no hair but still managed to sport a silly ponytail. "There isn't a drill scheduled for this morning."

A tremor shook the building and a great crashing sound could be heard from outside. The half of the class not already next to the windows quickly rushed to join those of us looking out.

It was another giant.

How common is that quirk? This one looked like a man roughly carved out of grey stone – but with spikey brown hair. He stood about twenty to twenty-five feet tall. About the same as Meathead at his largest. My guess was this guy was a lot stronger though. He was tearing into the gym, each blow destroying a large section of wall. In one corner, the roof was already starting to collapse.

"Evacuation Plan Delta. Head to the front of the building. This is not a drill." Cementoss' voice tore our attention away from the windows. The training drills we had been going through at least once a week kicked in and our class president – Kendo – led us out, her deputy Kaibara bringing up the rear.

I noticed several of the students were moving a little more quickly and talking a little louder than during the drills. That was only to be expected. This was a real attack. The teacher, a Pro Hero with the power to control cement – as well as a secondary brute package – left us to make our way out of the building without him. I assumed he was going to face the monster along with the other Pro Hero staff members. We were to report to non-hero staffers in front of the building to be further evacuated once everyone was accounted for.

I was tempted to slip away to help with corralling the giant, as were I am sure ninety percent of the hero course students and fifty percent of the other students. But I didn't want to start an avalanche. If I ran to help, everyone would follow me. And we'd all get in trouble.

I had to assume the staff could handle it. Given that they included All Might, I figured it was a good bet. But, just in case, I was gathering my spirit swarm and sending out scouts to find any potential trouble.

Soon the sounds of cape combat exploded across the campus. My scouts told me a dozen or more teachers were harrying the giant. Unfortunately, the villain seemed to be holding his own against the lot of them.

"Class 1-B! Gather here." Ito-Sensei, our Health teacher, was waving her hand. We started to line up in front of the middle-aged woman with the flowered hair.

Other teachers were corralling their charges. The fact that several homeroom teachers were fighting left others to handle their responsibilities. That was planned beforehand. Soon all twenty of us were accounted for.

"Walk … gate four." Ito-sensai ordered. Four was the gate about thirty degrees counterclockwise from the main gate. It was further from the ongoing combat, which was why I guessed it was chosen.

From the erratic translation and general feeling of increasing dread I could tell Emily was having a hard time of it. It's ok, Emily. The fighting is far away and we are going in the other direction. Just meditate. And if possible, please keep the translations coming. I need to know what is going on to keep everyone safe.

I will try.

That would have to be good enough. I didn't think I was getting anything else out of her until this settled down.

Emily flaking out and depriving me of the local language at the worst times was a serious safety issue. One I had been working to address almost since day one. But learning Japanese – even with a built in tutor/translator – was proving harder than I expected. I'd made progress. But, I didn't think I'd win a debate with a kindergartener yet. I could count and introduce myself and conjugate verbs – if I knew them.

I had started trying to learn combat-related vocabulary, as that was my greatest need, but was having some trouble finding resources other than manga. And reading was another issue – a bottleneck Emily controlled. I could read two of the three scripts used in writing Japanese. Unfortunately, they were the easy ones, not the ones used in most manga or my textbooks.

It occurred to me that Emily might either be a poor teacher, or might have a vested interest in my not learning the language quickly. I couldn't see her actively sabotaging my learning, but that didn't mean she was doing her best for me either. She might be concerned that I would somehow ditch her when I didn't need her anymore.

Good teacher or not, I would settle for her staying conscious when things went to shit. While Emily told me she was trying to get better at dealing with stress, this showed it wasn't working well enough.

I followed the class, keeping a web of poltergeists circling around us to let me know what was in the area. Mostly it was students moving towards the external rally point. We were too far from the fight for me to track it. But it sounded like it was moving through one of the parking lots. I heard the distinctive sound of cars exploding.

We made our way through the gate. Civilians were gathered on the sidewalks and cars were stopped along the street. Emily didn't bother to translate their chatter and I didn't ask her to. After several minutes of waiting, listening to the battle noise retreating into silence, we finally heard the all clear claxon.

"Let's wait here until one of the other teachers informs me of the next steps," said Ito-sensei. She sounded nervous. "You may need to go home from here if the buildings are not considered safe."

I had snagged my backpack on the way out – mostly because it had my makeshift arsenal in it. If I'd have had to fight, I'd be more effective with the bag than without.

Kendo, as befitted her position, took charge. "I know some of you may have left your money or ID in the lockers, maybe even your keys. Is there anyone that needs money to get home? Or anyone that needs a place to stay until this evening? Check that you have everything to be sure."

"Oh expletive," Awase cursed. "I left my house key in my bag."

"Me too," said Shishida.

"You can stay at my house," Komori offered. Awase sneered at her and looked for someone else to make the same offer. Shishida simply bowed in thanks and acceptance, smoothing the ruffled feathers Awase's rejection had caused.

"You're all welcome at my house," Manga said. "My Mom's got so many kids already, she'd never notice twenty more." His 'face' showed a giant shoe surrounded by stick figures.

His joke, as poor as it was, helped break the tension.

"Will you be ok getting home, Yanagi-san?" Shoda asked. "I think most of the boys have our wallets and keys. We tend to keep them in our pockets or jackets."

We were all in uniform, but the girls' skirts did not have pockets. Our jackets did, but a lot of girls used pocketbooks or just carried things in their backpacks. I used both backpack and jacket pockets. I'd considered wearing my Wild, Wild Pussycats utility belt, but Emily had informed me it would be considered out of uniform. I had thought of the variations in uniform necessitated by the various body types in the student population but decided this was not a battle I needed to fight.

I might change my mind after this.

"I'm ok." I said. I was able to say that much without Emily's help. I was learning and incorporating my own Japanese where I could. It must have sounded bizarre to my classmates. Displaying an ever-changing level of fluency and eloquence with what was supposed to be my native language.

I turned to Kodai, "Are you ok?"

She simply pulled a tiny bag out of her jacket pocket. When she touched her hands together, it grew to a full-sized backpack. "I never bother with lockers."

I turned back to Shoda, "We're good. Thanks."

He nodded stoically.

I think he might have tender feelings for you. Emily piped up. I think the possibility of teen romance won out over rapidly fading anxiety. He has behaved most chivalrously, and his attentions have been somewhat marked.

You sound like a Jane Austen character. I think he's just a nice guy. Maybe a little shy. You notice he was concerned about Kodai as well. I bet he's asking the other girls – or did before he got to me.

Hmmm.

There were times I regretted not being able to punch her in the shoulder.

A mental giggle is an odd thing.

After another five minutes Ito-sensei's phone rang. After checking it she informed us, "You have been released for the day. You are to go straight home. Be prepared for school to be canceled tomorrow. Word will be sent via the U.A. Emergency Notification channels. Do not try to re-enter school grounds until further notice."

She waved us off then started walking around the school wall. She pulled out a cigarette as she went. I think the experience may have been harder on her than on some of the students. We, at least, had combat-related quirks. From what I knew, her quirk was producing different fragrances from her flowered hair.

"To the bus?" I asked Kodai. She nodded. As we walked, I saw Rin was headed in the same direction.

The Chinese exchange student nodded to us, but kept slightly apart. He was often isolated in class. I wondered how much was his personality, how much was language issues, and how much was the discrimination against foreigners in general and Chinese in particular. Pony was also somewhat isolated, though her incredibly perky attitude was slowly breaking down many of those barriers. Rin was more reserved and did not seem to be making the sort of effort Pony was to make friends.

At the bus terminal, there were a lot of students waiting to board the numerous buses that stopped there. Kodai noticed our bus before I did. We were both surprised to see Rin boarding. There were a number of other students getting on the same bus, all from the non-hero courses. One boy – tall, broad, with a weird 1950's hairdo – had been at the first English Club meeting.

Without speaking, Kodai and I took the seats next to Rin.

"I didn't know you rode this bus," I said.

"I do not normally," he said. "I am taking this opportunity to visit a shop I have heard of along this route."

"Ah," Kodai replied. "You're an exchange student, so you don't live with your family, right? Where do you live?" Her face and tone were as expressionless as they usually were – but her curiosity shone through.

"My … family are all dead," he said, his voice quivering just a bit. "I live with an old family retainer in Musutafu City."

"I'm sorry for your loss," I offered. As I occasionally did, I wondered how close Emily's translation was in terms of tone and formality.

I endeavor to recreate your intent as faithfully as I can. Emily huffed. I think I may have impugned either her ability or her honor. Our communication relies on a spiritual connection which must necessarily allow us to share the deepest meanings of our messages. I simply present that message in clear Japanese.

I don't know about the 'deepest meanings'. I suspect we both still filter what the other 'says' though our personal and cultural preconceptions. But I appreciate all the work you put into allowing me to function in this situation.

I've got to improve my Japanese.

Hmmph!

Rin nodded, or maybe it was a shallow seated bow, but didn't reply.

As the bus pulled out of the terminal, I noticed a boy in silver armor run by at super speed. He was headed towards the school.

"Was that the class rep from 1-A?" Kodai asked.

"The boy in the costume that was running towards the school?" I clarified.

"Yes, him."

"I think so," I replied. "I thought I recognized him, but don't know his name."

"Iida Tenya. He comes from the Iida family of heroes." Trust the cape-nerd to know the connected students.

"He looked like he was in a hurry," Rin added. "I thought 1-A was supposed to be in an off-campus exercise."

"Maybe he was running late?" Kodai suggested. I had no idea if the pun was intentional. Her flat affect made it almost impossible to tell when she was joking.

"In costume," I countered. "I don't think so." I pondered for a minute.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said. "Maybe whoever was behind the campus attack also targeted the smaller, more isolated group – wherever they are."

I started thinking. The giant seemed to be driven off pretty easily. If it was that weak in comparison to the known powered faculty, then why send it? As a distraction? Tying up the faculty while the real danger was somewhere else? It was a possibility. Iida's mad dash towards the school might have been to get help.

I pulled out my phone. I had Kan-sensei's number. It couldn't hurt to tell him what I saw and report my concerns. That wasn't really getting involved. I was doing a good job of playing the normal student in all this. Avoiding conflict was so much easier without my alien passenger. I'd report what I saw, then head home. Stay out of trouble.

That's when the explosion rocked the bus, rolling it onto its side.

Outside there were costumed figures in the air and on the ground – closing on the overturned bus from all sides.