Chapter 45: Training Camp (2)

{3rd Person POV}

"Welcome to our base! I'm Mandalay! There are three more, but they are with the other students." Mandalay introduced herself to Saiba.

Nodding at her, he said "I'm Jōichirō Saiba." Then gesturing to Eri he said "This is Eri."

"Hello." Eri greeted Mandalay while standing beside Saiba and holding his hand.

Mandalay found Eri cute, so she just smiled at Eri as she didn't want to scare Eri.

"So Saiba-kun, what should I do with you now?" Mandalay asked.

"What do you mean?" Saiba asked as he was confused at what she was implying.

"Well, you're not with your classmates fighting against the magic beasts created by Pixie-Bob. You have to do something to compensate for that." Mandalay said.

"Oh yeah, sure no problem." Saiba agreed to her. "So what will I be doing?"

"You have to assist in the kitchen for the preparation for dinner of your classmates and Class B. Not that much cooking, you only have to bring in the vegetables, fish, meat from the storage and cut them. Nothing more, nothing less." Mandalay said.

"I thought you told them to get here by noon?" Saiba asked.

"I did. But that's on our standards. They will take at least eight hours to reach here from the starting point." Mandalay said.

"Okay." Saiba didn't say anymore, but started to think 'I already know that they will only reach near five, but it might change due to Todoroki who used his fireside way more than the show, and Bakugo who is dead set on surpassing me. What I don't understand is, how does helping in the kitchen be equal to fighting against the magic beasts?'

Looking down at Eri, he said "I'll be back after the job is done, so play around the camp okay?"

"Okay, Jojo." Eri replied in a small voice.

"Jojo?" Mandalay asked Saiba.

"Yeah, that's what she calls me." Saiba replied with a smile.

"Whatever. You can also play with Kota." Saying that she looked around for Kota, and found the boy brooding over in a distance.

Sighing, she said "See that boy over there? That's Kota, you can play along with, okay?"

Eri looked where Kota was and saw him staying there with a displeased look on his face, then she looked at Saiba.

Ruffling her hair, Saiba said "Go on. Just make sure you tell sensei, okay?"

Nodding at him Eri went towards Kota.

Mandalay who watched this asked him "Let's go then, on to the kitchen. I'm going to work you to the bone today."

He just raised an eyebrow at her and didn't say anything as he followed her into the kitchen to help them out preparing lunch for them.

Mandalay gave him some series of orders, and he did them all to the T. She was surprised to see him working diligently, so she gave him more tasks. Like cutting up the vegetables, meat, fish, washing the rice and the utensils that would be used at lunch time.

Mandalay, who looked dumbfounded at his diligence, asked Aizawa, "Erasure, you said that he's strong, but you didn't tell me he's a cook either."

"Yeah, I forgot. His parents own a restaurant, he helps them there." Aizawa replied.

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After four o'clock, Saiba was sitting outside the campsite, watching Eri as she was looking around with curious eyes. Couple of meters away from them stood a boy of the same age as Eri with a frown on his face, which didn't go away even while he was with Eri either.

Aizawa and Mandalay were standing a couple of meters back of Saiba, and Pixie Bob was standing in front of them, while looking towards the woods. She also took glances at Saiba from time to time.

Sighing a bit, Saiba answered her unasked question "I have a girlfriend."

Hearing that, Pixie Bob deflated and asked "Is it that obvious?"

"No, I just overheard Mandalay talking about you trying to find a partner." Saiba told her.

"I'll deal with her later. They are here after all." Pixie Bob said.

"Finally you're here!" She told the Class A students who were coming out of the woods one by one, with Bakugo, Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki at the forefront, followed by the rest of the class.

All of them were exhausted, because of using their quirk non stop to bypass the forest that was infested with the magic beasts of Pixie Bob.

Bakugo was looking at Saiba with anger as he got a free pass this time, he wanted to lash out on him as much as he could, but he couldn't as using his quirk continuously for almost seven hours had strained his hands.

"Looks like we didn't have to threaten you with taking your lunch." Pixie Bob said with a mischievous smile.

"Little over two hours, my ass..." Sero said while holding on to his elbows due to the repeated use of his quirk.

"I'm going to starve to death..." Kirishima said.

"My bad, I mean by our standards." Mandalay told them without meaning anything.

"So it was just to boast." Sato said.

"Hehehe... honestly, I thought you'd take longer. to have figured out my awakened earth beasts 50 quickly and easily. You guys are good..." Then pointing out, Iids, Midoriya, Todoroki and Bakugo Pixie Bob continued "Especially, you four... Your lack of hesitation and indecisiveness ...I take it that comes from the experiences you have acquired?"

Sighing she continued with a crazed glint in her eyes "I'm anxious to see what'll become of you guys three years from now! I call dibs right now!"

Most of them were weirded out thanks to her.

"I've been wondering for a while... Is one of you that child's mother?" Midoriya asked while gesturing to Kota.

"Oh, no, that kid is my nephew. Kota! Come say hi, you're going to be living with them for the next week." Mandalay asked Kota.

As Kota came near Midoriya, he started to introduce himself "My name's Midoriya, I'm studying hero studies at the hero academy. nice to meet you..."

Before he could finish, Kota punched him straight at his family jewels.

"UGH!" Holding his nether region, Midoriya kneeled down on the spot.

"Ooff!" A collective gasp was heard from the boys as Midoriya got hit.

"Damn, that gotta hurt." Saiba said after Kota punched Midoriya.

"Midoriya! You! The nephew! Going for his family jewels is just foul man!!" Iida said out loud towards Kota.

"I'm not going to fuck around with a bunch of losers who want to grow up to be corny ass heroes." Kota said in an irritated voice as he walked into the camp.

"Fuck around!? How old are you!!?" Iida couldn't believe what he heard.

"Kid thinks he's an adult." Bakugo said, looking smug.

"Reminds me of someone I know..." Todoroki said from behind him.

Hearing that, Bakugo turned towards Todoroki and said "Ah? He's nothing like me! At least I don't keep all my emotions pent up inside like a certain someone!"

"Relax, it was a joke." Todoroki told him to drop the subject.

Right then, Aizawa who has been silent for a while spoke up "Enough chit chat, go get our luggage from the bus. Once you've settled into your rooms, grab dinner in the dining hall. After that, take a bath, kick back and unwind. The real deal starts tomorrow. Get a move on it."