Chapter 76

The oasis looked like a nature park in the middle of the desert, with trees as tall as skyscrapers and vines scattered here and there on their branches.

Pink and purple flowers curled around the trunks like leeches, their pistils covered with bee-like insects, but not exactly the same.

Birds soared high into the trees, their silhouettes visible only as they passed in front of the sun. The air was filled with the scent of fresh, sweet fruit.

Bakugo whistled in admiration.

- Yuei really has the resources

- Nezu, I corrected absentmindedly

My eyes followed two colorful feathered birds as they flew from tree to tree, squabbling.

- How is it possible ? Between the giant robots at the entrance exam, the USJ, and the half dozen other training grounds in Yuei... isn't the hill where the school is supposed to be located also private?

- The opposite would have surprised me. Considering that the principal is considered the most intelligent being in the world... with a brain like that, I see no reason why he shouldn't be a multi-billionaire.

If I remember correctly, Nezu holds the historical record of being number 1 on the Forbes list of the 400 richest people in the world for 22 years straight.

My grandmother still pays to be taken off the lists, but I know that even if we "own" Italy we're still a long way from Nezu and his 298 billion.

This explainedwhy studying at Yuei (uniforms and teachers included) was free.

- Well, Katchan

I sat down on a moss-covered tree trunk and crossed my fingers in my lap.

- Why don't you and I have a little chat ?

He eyed me warily.

- Talk ? About what ?

- About the reason for our exercise, why we were attacked at the USJ, and everything that's going to happen from now on.

I'd had time to think during the trip, and I'd made up my mind: if Nezu decided to play me, I was screwed.

Assuming he had the video, he could ruin me socially and reveal my little secrets to absolutely everyone - enough to fuck me deep and crooked - but even with that, he could never win against me.

He may have been the smartest bug that ever walked this earth, but he didn't know what I was capable of: all I needed was ink, parchment, and clones, and I could burn this country to the ground and he couldn't do a thing about it.

Fuinjutsu, truly the most OP thing since the invention of chakra.

But I wasn't sure if he wanted to play aginstme: what I did know was that the whole situation was meant to test me. He wanted to see where my loyalties lay, to see if I was a threat. In my opinion, he must have had all my therapist's files, and he knew that if we were talking about morality alone, I had no business being in the heroic course.

Which, by the way, explained the situation I found myself in.

'Is Shoto Todoroki a threat that's best dealt with now, or can we afford to keep him on our side ?'

I didn't see any reason not to brush it off : the enemy at the end of the game was All for One.

Who knows whether the little genius will come in handy against the final boss...

-… you know you're acting really weird ?

I sighed.

I turned my attention to the sun and estimated how long it would take the fastest idiots to reach the oasis.

...every minute will be precious to convince this empty brain that I'm not talking nonsense.

I patted the seat next to me.

- You should sit down.

His eyes narrowed and he took two steps back.

I held back the sudden surge of anger that came over me as I watched him do it.

Calm down, breathe, one... two... three...

- There's a traitor in the class and the headmaster expects you and me to expose him this afternoon.

He took two more steps back in disbelief.

- What ?

- I thought the same thing when I saw that the only safety device we had was that damn flare gun.

- Wait, a traitor ?

I brushed his comment aside with a wave of my hand.

- Traitor, spy, mole, call it what you will. The fact remains that you and I are in deep shit.

The pink alien's autopsy must have revealed some serious stuff for them to decide that sending two untrained teenagers was the best option they had.

- Wait, wait, go back to the beginning: a traitor? What do you mean, a traitor?

I ran a hand through my hair, already feeling tired of the upcoming conversation.

- This is exactly why I told you to sit down, you idiot. (I breathed in and counted to ten to calm myself down) I will explain everything from the beginning, but don't you dare interrupt me, understood ? Questions at the end

Bakugo sat cross-legged across from me, his eyes wide open: he nodded slowly, still a bit stunned.

- Well, let's keep it simple: Do you remember the bird at USJ? It has been made to kill All Might - that's what the villain with the hands said. Aizawa said at the beginning of the class - still at the USJ - that All Might couldn't make it. None of the students knew that All Might was going to be a guest teacher - we didn't even know we were taking the bus to USJ, remember ? But the vilains did: as soon as we set foot there, they came out of the gate. (He nodded) Right, now remember, on Wednesday of that same week-

- The elections of the class' representants

I blinked.

...I guess Bakugo remembers best the things that affect him directly.

- Yeah, that and the break-in at the high school. I don't know if you saw it, but the entrance is equipped with a scanner for student IDs: after the protective wall went up, only students were supposed to be able to enter. But the wall was destroyed, which means-

- Either the traitor had the student card of one of the students and destroyed the scanner after entering to prevent anyone from knowing whose card it was, or he destroyed the entrance and infiltrated at that point.

My hand twitched.

- Stop interrupting me

His lips curled over his sharp teeth and he sneered at me.

- Then stop saying such obvious things.

- You hadn't even considered the idea of a traitor in our class until I dropped the bomb on you five minutes ago.

He motioned for me to continue, and I silenced my irritation for the sake of the mission.

- ... and we know, given the speed at which the teachers arrived, that the second option isn't possible. In other words, the traitor entered the school with a student's card, either stolen or given to him by an accomplice. Then all students and staff had to evacuate the main building - where the teachers' lounge is located. The intruder must have found a way in and stolen one of the class schedules.

- Okay, but the student ID could have belonged to anyone, right? For all we know, it could have been any third-year student. I don't see why it has to be someone from our class.

- There are two reasons why the teachers believe that the traitor is from 1-A: First, the fact that on that day, just like at USJ, all the means of communication were fried at the same time. Second, Mina Ashido.

Bakugo's eyebrows became one with his hair.

- Communications ? How do you know about that ?

When my clone was in the teachers' lounge, Aizawa noticed that the door was already open: no reason for that, except for the fact that the electrical installations had been blown up and the card reader (as well as, coincidentally, the cameras) no longer worked.

Second, Aizawa had lost his card that day: the person who had entered had most likely done so with his own card, then the electrical installations had blown up, and the door had remained open after he had left.

Especially since Aizawa-sensei had only 1-A class that morning…

- I heard Mic-sensei grumbling about it in the corridors with Ectoplasm right after that. And that's why we couldn't reach Yuei from the USJ last time.

- Okay okay (he shook his hands to shut me up) That makes sense, for the communications. But... Ashido, you said? Who's that ? Someone famous?

Wow, so his rant about calling everyone 'extra'... he really isn't doing it to give himself a style ?

- Don't you remember someone who left the class at the beginning of the year? Right after the USJ?

He took a few seconds to think, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows.

- ... that should tell me something? There are so many weaklings, I can't afford to remember every one of them.

He shrugged, as if that explained everything.

I lifted my eyes to the sky and - again - suppressed a sigh.

Lord, give me the strength.

- The one who left our class was Mina Ashido.

- Okay, so what does this have to do with the spy thing? Don't tell me it's her?

I shook my head.

- The thing is, she didn't leave the school: she died at the USJ.

His arms fell : the smile disappeared from his face. He turned pale in a quarter of a second.

- When you say dead, you mean…

Unconsciously, Bakugo put a hand to his throat.

- As dead as someone in a body bag can be, I continued in a softer tone. I saw the body.

He stared at me for long seconds, no doubt hoping I'd tell him I was just kidding to pass the time.

His lips tightened into two white lines as he realized I had nothing to add.

- And you didn't... you didn't... ?

I shrugged :

- I didn't even know her first name until the others mentioned it in class.

Bakugo nodded several times, his eyes turned to the ground, which he stared at absently. I said nothing more, leaving him to digest the shock of the latest information.

The wind picked up, rustling the leaves. The sun shone down on us in golden rays, bathing the surroundings in shafts of light. One of them made Bakugo's hair glow like a golden halo around his face.

- All right, all right.

Nodding more to himself than to me, he took a deep breath through his nose before looking into my eyes:

- And what does that have to do with her? Apart from the fact that she's dead.

- Don't you find it strange? The fact that of all the students in the class, all but one girl, escaped unharmed?

His eyes widened.

- Do you think anyone in the class would have...?

I nodded.

- My guess is that she was with someone else - in this case, the traitor - and heard something she shouldn't have.

That was just a guess. I'd have to see the autopsy to be sure. Still, I found it hard to believe that one of the villains present could have killed her, since with a quirk like hers, all she had to do was cover herself in acid and run long enough to get help.

Bakugo nodded. Hardly, of course, but he accepted my explanations without flinching - which made me pause.

- You don't doubt what I'm telling you?

His red eyes crinkled.

- Because you're lying to me ?

- No, but if you had been the one who told me about this, I would have doubted it

The arguments were convincing, but there were a lot of things he couldn't verify.

Worse, he couldn't even remember the original 20th student in our class.

He grunted.

- I don't really believe your bullshit, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt until we see Aizawa and he confirms it. And if I find out that you're bullshitting me…

He clenched his fist, black smoke rising from the space between his fingers.

- ... it doesn't matter anyway. We have to spy on other idiots without getting spotted, and I wasn't planning on getting spotted.

I decided to ignore his - oh so subtle - threat for the sake of the mission.

Fighting Bakugo was really at the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do today.

- Okay, any questions ?

- Do you have any suspects?

- Kaminari. And Aoyama.

- For Kaminari, it's pretty obvious. But Aoyama...?

- Don't like his face

A thin smile formed on Bakugo's lips;

- If we're going to blame the guys whose heads we don't like the look of, then Deku is right at the top of the list

- I was going to put him right after Monoma.

At the mention of his name, Bakugo clenched his fist :

- That guy's a total freak.

No, because there was something seriously wrong with him.

- You tell me about it.

Bakugo and I exchanged a knowing look, which was... strange. He and I agreeing on something was- it was-

I was at a loss for words.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts away.

- But you haven't asked me the most important question.

He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest.

- Do you know who the damn traitor is ?

- Do you really think we'd be here if we did?" I replied sarcastically.

- I can't think of a more important question.

Being a genius is so hard.

- Why now

- 'Why now ?', he frowned

- Yes, 'why now'. Why did the headmaster throw us into this hellish chase now ? Why didn't they try it right after the USJ ? Why not during the championship ? What has changed now ?

He was deep in thought.

- Here's a hint : unless we're on the wrong side, there's no reason why Yuei would decide to send two teenagers into the fight.

His face suddenly lit up.

- If they sent us here, it's because they have no other choice. The headmaster has good reason to believe that we'll be attacked again.

Or he has done things to make the villains want to attack us again : you and I think we're hunters, but I think we're nothing more than bait.

I patted his shoulder sympathetically and smiled.

He looked stunned.

- Now do you understand why I said we're fucked ?

*

Author's note :

What a surprise : we get a (relatively) smart Nezu here !

Power stones goal for the bonus chapter : 250

If you want to support me/read ahead of schedule, you can do so on my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !