An Undead Academic Experience 4
Added 2025-07-23 14:43:28 +0000 UTCChapter 4: Hero Trials
<<<Kana Sato>>>
She’d messed up; she hadn’t considered that there’d be an actual Hero nearby. But that was fine, it was fine. No one got hurt, she hadn’t gotten in trouble, and the only witness she cared about just took it as her being overprotective. It was fine, she was safe, she’d just need to watch herself in the future.
Of course, that same witness worried her. Xiao, “You’re my friend, so call me Lily!” could hurt her; her power couldn’t stop that mystical cold flame. But that was fine, she’d just have to work to ensure that never happened. Ever.
“Good morning, Lily…” She started, sitting next to the girl in their homeroom, “Training yesterday with you was… fun.” It was pleasant, letting loose for a moment.
“Morning, Kana!” The dullahan said as she adjusted her head, “Same! Honestly, you’d think Japan would have places like that scattered around for people to stretch their quirks.” She added thoughtfully, “Hey, do you think I should get some sort of choker instead of using a scarf?”
That was… a question, certainly. “I am… unsure. The size may cause… more issues than it solves,” She answered with a frown, “A scarf, tightened, will hold your head better.” That was the key problem, wasn’t it? Her head would fall off when she was interacted with or if she got too excited.
Helping solve her problem would make her position safer, so she’d do that.
“Maybe… something to do with my hero costume,” Lily said before she scratched her cheek with a faint blush, “I… kinda didn’t think of it when I was drawing it…”
“... you went with a choker then?” Kana asked with a frown, “They’ll… have adhesive on the inside to help.”
“Well, we’ll see how it will work!” Lily said, “Though I was thinking of just outside of Heroing.”
She looked towards the door with a nod, ignoring the jabbering of souls around her for a moment to focus on her other senses. “We’re going to go to… other classes soon, do you… Remember the schedule?” She didn’t, at the very least. She knew their first Hero course was that day, but the others were forgettable.
It wasn’t as though she needed them…
“I do,” Lily said, “Today’s our first Hero class.”
“Period three,” Kana noted, “do you… Remember what the others are?”
“... No?” Lily admitted with a cough, “Maybe someone else does?”
For once, she wasn’t going to blame another person for not paying enough attention; she doubted Lily had any less on her mind than Kana did the day before.
[hr][/hr]
English, then math, were both phenomenally boring. But that was fine, Heroism would likely be far more… useful to her. It was hard to be a hero if she didn’t know how to act like one, no?
They all sat in class, everyone muttering and speculating over who was teaching it. But she knew already, so she couldn’t participate. Such did let her seem mysterious and all knowing, however, so it wasn’t entirely negative.
Particularly when they were directed out into the fake city, UA must have been spending fortunes rebuilding every week to meet their teacher: All Might. She catalogued his speech impassively, acting impressed and awed at the right times (using the others to time it), but otherwise didn’t react.
Though curiously enough, Lily kept giving All Might odd looks. She made a note and decided to ask about it later.
“Now, you can’t be Heroes without uniforms!” All Might said boisterously, “So please take the suitcases under your seats and change!”
That was a surprise, she hadn’t expected her costume idea to even get accepted, let alone made so quickly. The support heroes did good work, fast work.
Her costume was… slightly villainous in looks, covered in small points and what looked like blades as it was, but they’d given it a coloration like a beetle; yellows and blues, a sign of toxicity but broadcasting her presence. She liked it; it was pleasant.
“How did you get that scar!?” A half-dressed Mina exclaimed as she was all in Lily’s personal space, looking at a large round scar in the middle of her back.
“It was a very, very bad car accident,” Lily said with a shrug as she turned around, revealing a matching scar in the middle of her breasts.
“I… like the look of your costume, Lily,” Kana said
“Thanks! Honestly, since I already look the part of a supernatural creature from folklore, why not lean into it?” She replied, “Though it’s more… well… more than I expected, honestly.”
“... It looks like it was made… for… someone with more in the chest region,” Kana noted, “Momo could fill it out…”
“Yes,” Lily said, honestly looking upset, “I sent them my sizes and everything! How the HELL did they get this wrong!? I mean, I know I’m petite, but this is just rubbing salt on the wound!”
Mina coughed as she pulled more stuff out from Lily’s box. “Maybe this will help?”
In her hands was a lot of padding, which looked armored.
“... On one hand, I’m glad it's armored,” Lily admitted, “On the other hand, this is insulting…”
And without another word, she took the padding and started ‘fixing’ her costume the entire time.
“Well, if you don’t like it you can take it up with the Support course, I think?” Mina offered, which soothed the irate dullahan.
“... That’s horrifying, metal as hell but horrifying…” Another petite girl said, her costume making her look like a punk rocker of some sort.
“They are control surfaces,” Kana replied immediately, “They are not required for me to focus my abilities, but they assist.” She’d practiced that statement enough times not to need to think about it.
“I was mainly talking about her scar, but honestly, I think your costume is dope,” The punk said, “Oh, I don’t think I introduced myself. Jiro Kyoka.”
“Kana Sato,” She replied, “My apologies for making the assumption.”
“It’s cool,” She said with a shrug, trying to appear aloof, but Kana could tell she was thankful for that. “I think we should head out before the boys leave us behind.”
Kana nodded. “After you?” She offered, gesturing to the door. “Your soul is very musical. It is singing brightly.”
“Uh, thanks…?” Jiro just shook her head, “That’s good to know?” She added before leaving the locker room.
Another mistake, but one she could use. Maybe. It was better to be seen as ‘a bit weird but nice’ than scary.
“Rude, but she’s not wrong,” A noble-looking and very mature student said, “Shall we?”
“kero, She’s right. Let’s get moving.” Another frog-like student said.
And with that, the rest of the student body was ushered back out, though Lily kept grumbling about the armored padding.
[hr][/hr]
The rules of the lesson for the day were simple, easy, and even. One side was given a few minutes to prepare, the villains, and the other side had to work together at the last minute, the heroes.
She didn’t like the random nature of the teams, but Midoriya pointed out that you couldn’t be picky about who you team up with in the field. Though the split second of surprise from All Might made Kana realize that perhaps the Number One Hero wasn’t that good of a teacher.
Which was… mildly concerning. But she was willing to wait and see.
Of course, her being made a villain was more concerning,
On the ‘plus’ side, at least Lily was a villain as well: “It’s supposed to be a learning exercise.” She said, “What was it… I read somewhere that to defeat your enemies, sometimes you have to put yourself in their shoes or something like that?” Lily said.
“Do not… hold back much,” Kana advised, “Recovery Girl is… the school nurse. I will hide the ‘bomb’ where they will not get it.”
“I’ll still have to be careful,” Lily said, “I can’t dial it down… though… I could set the mood with it…”
“How so?” Kana asked curiously.
“Well, let me ask you this. What’s your favorite scary movie?” She asked with a wide grin.
“... I don’t like horror movies,” Kana replied, pressing her hand against the bomb simulacrum and making it float around as she walked. “I find them silly and nonsensical.”
“Well, our heroes are gonna be in one.~” Kana just decided that… Lily sounded entirely too excited.
“I see. Then I shall play the part of a slasher.” It was better to play along than to have clashing themes; it would earn them a better score and endear Lily to her further.
“Bestie! Let’s terrorize the Heroes!” Lily exclaimed, letting out a deranged cackle.
“Well, at least she’s getting into character…” Her mother commented with some amusement.
[hr][/hr]
Lily had decided to stay with the bomb, her power being what it was, left it too dangerous for her to be on the frontline. Kana, thus, had taken point, standing in the entrance hall with a dull, dead look in her eyes and on her face.
She wasn’t idle, of course, softly bouncing on the balls of her feet to gather energy.
Their plan, overall, wasn’t to hurt their opponents but instead to distract them and run down the clock. They could both hurt people with trivial ease, but that wouldn’t be a good test for their opponents either. Simply overpowering them would ruin the point of the lesson.
Her head tilted as their opponents ran into the building, hair falling to the side. She knew it would give the impression that she’d been hung there, helped by her pale complexion and white hair. Even her outfit, as yellow as it was, would be cast in an eerie hue thanks to the darkness created by the damaged lights.
The cold mist Lily had somehow filled the building with simply added to the overall creepy ambiance.
“... Ok, that is so creepy!” Mina said with a wide grin, “So awesome!”
Kirishima, next to her, choked at the reaction, though Kana didn’t react, just exploding into cover as Lily’s blue flames consumed the spot that had been just ahead of her. They wouldn’t know where she went, which meant she could have been anywhere.
|||In the Control Room|||
“They do seem to be getting into character,” Momo commented, “Though the fact that they can do so so easily is concerning.”
“If you know yourself and your enemies, you need not fear a thousand battles.” Tokoyami said quietly from the corner, “If anything, the fact they’re doing their best means they’re taking this lesson seriously.”
Momo just nodded thoughtfully.
“Doesn’t mean it's not creepy though,” Kaminari said, “Where’d the mist come from?”
“The cold air Lang made caused it to form,” Todoroki noted cooly, “It’s ice crystals suspended in dense air mixed with fog.”
“That makes sense. Can you do the same thing?” Came the follow-up question. “'Cause it’s cool, er… pun not intended.”
Todoroki nodded but offered no more.
“It shows that Lang has surprising control for a Late Bloomer,” Shoji commented quietly, “How much is instinctive, and how much is her experimenting on her own?”
“I’m more concerned about Kana,” Jiro said with a frown, “She doesn’t seem to be reacting to anything, not even smiling in private.”
“Sometimes, Young Jiro, the experiences we live through leave marks on the mind.” All Might, who had been silently listening while keeping an eye on the test, commented, “I’ve known Heroes like that. Also, some might simply be that reserved, I believe your homeroom teacher, Eraserhead, is vaguely similar.”
|||Back Inside the Arena|||
Kana let the attacks pass her by, simply flowing like the mist around them. “Why do you insist on trying to hurt what is already dead?” Lily’s voice rang out in question… though Kana interrupted Kirishima’s retort with a wave of force, flinging him back into Mina and using the chaos, alongside another blast of blue flames, to vanish once more.
While the first part of their plan was about ‘setting the mood’ in Lily’s words, the second part relied on psychological warfare. And while Mina seemed to be enjoying herself, Kirishima was unnerved no matter how well he tried to hide it. That cautiousness and paranoia would slow him down, leaving Mina the only one who could disrupt the plan… if she wasn’t enjoying the ‘spooky vibes’ so much.
Mina was such a perplexing girl.
Kana reappeared behind them, just as they had started discussing ways to find where they’d hidden the bomb, and delivered a ‘slash’ to the back of Kirishima. On regular skin, it would have drawn blood thanks to the points on her fingertips, but on him, it simply hurt a bit and sent him stumbling.
Opening her mouth, she gave a hollow, rattling, moan, affected by her powers to make it warbling and dead-sounding. Lily did the rest, the blue flames freezing the room and dropping temperatures precipitously.
“Do you have to be so creepy!?” Kirishima exclaimed in question, “Can’t we just fight already!?”
Well, that had to be responded to properly… if not directly. So she began tossing him around the room, slamming him against a wall before throwing him backwards into the ceiling and letting him drop to the ground.
“Fight, fight, fight, fight…” Lily echoed before giggling. She was good at that.
Then the timer rang, and Kana let herself relax, turning and taking Lily’s head off her back. “You should… learn how to fly with your flames,” She noted dully, putting a smile on her lips, “That would… work well, I think.”
Mina tackled them into a hug a moment later, with Lily buried face first in Mina’s cleavage, and Kana felt grateful that the spikes and ‘blades’ her costume had were very dull. Lily, she imagined, was grateful for something very different at that moment.
“That was so fun!” Mina exclaimed, “I loved the thing with the mist and being all creepy! You could totally do a horror movie!”
Lily mumbled something muffled, but in a fit of mischief, Kana pretended not to hear anything and instead answered, “Possibly, but I’m not a fan of horror movies. I find them silly,” She admitted, making Mina pout adorably.
She liked Mina; she and Lily were… like dogs. Golden retrievers, maybe.
Then Mina yelped and jumped back, rubbing her boob, “You bit me!” She whined.
“Oi, just cause I’m only a head doesn’t mean I don’t need to breathe!” She paused, “Not sure how that works, but yeah.”
“... You should have… licked her,” Kana mumbled, “And you don’t… need to breathe?” She was pretty sure the girl had said as much the day before.
“Shh, don’t out me like that!” She whined playfully, “And Mina liked it. I mean it’s cold, but I didn’t make it that cold,” She added, somehow gesturing to Mina’s… current issue.
Mina blushed brightly.
“... You may slap her as you wish,” Kana sighed, holding Lily’s head out.
She just flicked the girl’s nose.
Lily just wiggled her eyebrows as her body finally arrived and grabbed her head before putting it on her shoulders, “Well, I guess we should head back to the control room then.” She said like she didn’t just bite Mina’s breast.
“Yeah…” Kirishima coughed, “Uh… can we pretend I gave you at least one good hit?” He asked, “Not that it’s manly to hit a girl, just uh…”
“You didn’t scream,” Kana noted, “That… makes you more ‘manly’ than… others would have been.”
“If anything, you took things seriously,” Lily added, “Mina enjoyed it too much. So there’s that as well.”
“So your grade will… not be harmed by that,” Kana continued, “I didn’t want to… just beat you in a fight… that wouldn’t prove you could be… a hero.”
“And my quirk doesn’t play nice with anything.” Lily said, “And I don’t know much beyond basic self-defense, so you’d probably be ragdolling me.”
His ego soothed, though he seemed annoyed at her comment, he went with them without complaint. He was like a dog, too, just a different kind of dog. Like a Doberman.
She liked dogs; they were pleasant to be around.
[hr][/hr][hr][/hr]
