U.A. High School

U.S.J.

The morning advanced rapidly for John, but even as he dealt with students’ issues, he had a hard time keeping the smile off his face. He woke up with Rumi in his arms, this time able to wake her up with extra enthusiasm to start training. The startled look on her face when he jumped on top of her made him laugh, but by cycling a little water magic, he was able to block her flailing fist easily before planting a kiss on her lips and bouncing out of the room.  

Mei and Momo showed up at his office at lunch again, this time with several suitcases and a new eye patch. The suitcases were filled with drones like the one in his holster, except instead of a telescopic lens, they were equipped with paintball guns. With the eye patch, he could issue orders to their onboard AI, and he could assume control of one if he chose. 

This brought them to the U.S.J. with class 1-A, ready to try out one of his own scenarios rather than follow Momo’s lessons. Aizawa joined him today, but instead of standing in front of the class, he was lying off to the side, wrapped in a sleeping bag. John just shook his head, then turned to the students.

“Alright! Today, we are doing something different. First off, divide yourselves into groups of four and choose a leader. I’ll explain the scenario afterwards.” He said, then waited as they created their groups. As he expected, Bakugo and Shoto both were leaders, along with Tenya and Midoriya. 

“Great. Now, until the end of the scenario, the leaders are not allowed to use their Quirks.” He said, then activated his Quirk to keep their attention.

“Wait! Why can’t I use my Quirk?!?” Baku shouted, clearly not pleased with the idea.

“Because you are playing the role of a VIP. A Quirkless one, or one with a useless one anyway.” John replied. “You will get your chance later. Now, listen. The goal of this exercise is to escort your VIP from the cruise ship, through the fake city, and back to these stairs, unharmed. The fire simulation has been turned off, so you can use that part of the city as well.”

“Unharmed? Are we going to be under attack?” Midoriya asked.

“Yep. By these.” John said, activating the drone swarm. Fifty little drones took off out of the suitcases, buzzing around for a moment before they hovered behind him in a large sphere. 

“Aww!! You brought targets for us to shoot, and I can’t use my Quirk? That ain’t fair- ACK! Ouch! AHHH!!” Bakugo started to complain, but then John peppered him with several shots of paintballs before sending the drones off into the city. 

“Enough Bakugo!” John snapped, then turned back to the rest of the class. “As you can see, they are non-lethal. Just harmless paint. Your goal is to escort your VIP back here without them getting hit by paint. Points are awarded based on how few rounds your team gets hit with, along with the successful escort.”

“Umm… does it count if our VIP is already covered in paint?” Eijiro Kirishima asked, the student who could turn his skin into rock. He was pointing at Bakugo.

Not the brightest bulb here, is he?

“Kirishima, if you want Mr. Wayne to deduct those points, keep asking questions like that,” Aizawa said from his cocoon, clearly used to his students. 

“Just dunk him in the lake first to wash him off, then you don’t need to worry about it,” John said jokingly. 

“Alright! Let’s go!” Eijiro said, then grabbed Bakugo by the back of his shirt.

“Ack! STOP IT, YOU KNUCKLEHEAD! HE WAS JUST JOKING!” Bakugo shouted, struggling in the other student’s grip. “SO HELP ME, I’LL BLOW YOUR ASS UP!”

“Are there any other questions? Good. Make your way to that ship, and Bakugo! Your team is up first!” John said, ignoring the two students’ antics. 

John started running them through their relays, having them swap leaders with every run. He lost over twenty drones to return fire by the end of the afternoon; many of the students were more than capable of bringing them down. Despite their best efforts, he managed to take out most of the team leaders. Momo’s team actually made it through the first few times, with her making a large shell they could carry to block the paintballs. He took that as a challenge, and the next time they tried, he shot them as they were jumping off the deck of the ship.

Almost everyone else he managed to catch from an ambush position, even when Midoriya’s girlfriend, Ochaco Uraraka, made a bunch of metal plates float that they used as shields. There was just one last person to go through as the VIP that he hadn’t been able to catch yet.

He was searching for his last target, another girl on Midoriya’s team. The problem was that Toru Hagakure was the invisible girl. Literally. The team was rushing through the course again, holding their floating metal shields but running hard. He repositioned several times, but he couldn’t even guess where she was hiding-

“Toru, you’re standing beside me, aren’t you?” John said.

“Yep! I win!” A bubbly voice said beside him. 

“Good work… though next time, I’ll be clearer with the rules that you need to stay with your team… where are your gloves and shoes?”

“Midoriya is carrying them.”

“I see. Well, join your class… and get dressed when your team gets back.” He replied, tempted to bring the drones back to saturate the spot she was presumably standing in, but didn’t. She was someone like Rumi and couldn’t actually shut her Quirk off, so she played her role to the best of her ability. He would just remember to adjust any training like this to accommodate her Quirk in the future.

Once they had all returned, he gathered them together. “How was it?” He asked.

“It was hard, man. Those drones moved quickly.” Eijiro said.

“It was fun, but what was the point of that?” Bakugo asked, having calmed down once he could use his Quirk. He was covered in a fair amount of paint, even after his earlier bath.

“Why do you all think? Ochaco?” John asked instead of answering, wanting to hear what the students came up with.

“To use our Quirks as a team to protect the VIP?”

“That’s one. Anyone else?”

“Learning how to adapt to a changing situation?”

“Sure. Anything else?”

They were silent. Momo looked about to provide the answer, but he raised his finger before she gave them his answer. He had already explained it to her when he requested the drones from her and Mei.  

“You wanted them to experience extracting someone from a deadly situation where they were outnumbered and outgunned,” Aiwaza said, sitting up in his cocoon now. “You made it like a game, but it was really to show them how difficult it would be to get someone to safety.”

“Exactly,” John said, then turned back to his students. “You all were hit with paintballs today, but sometime in the future, those paintballs might be bullets, arrows, or some other ranged Quirk. Here, it was just a little bit of paint and maybe some embarrassment. Out there, lives are on the line, yours and your allies. We will try this again next week with the same teams. For your homework, I want you all to think about how you can improve your team’s odds. If you have ideas your teammates can use, share them and work out a plan. Any questions?”

“Wasn’t it a little unfair, using that many drones against us? ” Another student asked, a girl who looked like a pink alien.

Mina Ashido, I think… she can spray acid much like that toxic chainsaw guy did.

“Will the villains always attack in fair numbers?” John replied, then continued before she could answer. “Yes, it was unfair. It was meant to be a no-win scenario today, though a couple of you managed to squeak by.” He said, glaring over at Toru’s gloves. He swore he could feel the girl smirking at him. “Next week, I will be using a more reasonable number of drones, but with the forewarning I’ve given you, I expect much better results. If there are no further questions, you’re done for the day. The bus leaves in five minutes, or whenever I get out there, so don’t be late.”

The students broke off then and exited the building. Aizawa climbed out of his sleeping bag and tucked it under his arm. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. “That sounded almost like you had some personal experience. Didn’t you just officially become a hero?”

“I’ve lived an interesting life,” John replied without thinking, remembering the time that his party dragged his nearly broken body into a dungeon to avoid crossbow fire. It seemed like such a long time ago, though he guessed only a few months had passed since then. “I was lucky to have made it, but it could have easily been much worse. Anyway, what’s with the sleeping bag?”

“I like to take naps when I don’t need to teach. I was just here in case something went wrong again.”

“Didn’t you have coursework to correct or something?”

“I’ll do it later. I’m not off the clock until six, so it gives me something to do when the students have already left the building.”

“Rough. Okay then, let’s get out of here.”

Principals Office

“So, I’ve been thinking about Midoriya.”

“Ah, yes. Quite amazing what he was able to do with just a little bit of your instruction.” 

“Yeah, the kid is incredible, but doesn’t know how to move his body. I’m hardly an expert, but I’m being trained by one.”

“Oh, Mirko? Yes, she is quite the fighter. I must say, her time in the Underground Masquerade forged her into an incredible hero.”

“Yeah. Which is why I wanted to ask. Can we let Ru- Mirko in on the secret? I think she would be ideal to train him in martial arts. In fact, I can’t think of anyone more qualified than her.”

“No? You don’t think you can do a good enough job?”

“Good enough? Probably, but I know when I’m outclassed. After everything she has taught me and watching her fight Star and Stripe last night and winning three bouts out of ten, I can’t imagine a better instructor for him to have.” 

“Hmm? Your sister is in Japan? And Mirko beat her?”

“She won a few matches, but Star didn’t use New Order to disable her, just a straight-up fight. And yes, she came in yesterday for an event this weekend. The same one I’m going to. “

“Ahh, right, the Takeyama’s Ball. Hmm… interesting, very interesting. I wonder if they are trying to snag her from the USA.”

“Hah, not likely. She bleeds red, white, and blue.”

“I don’t mean literally, but with them trying to join you into their family, maybe they are trying to do the same with her. When you live centuries, making plans that take twenty or thirty years to bear fruit is a minor thing.”

“I have no idea. Anyway, aside from my sister being here, would you be good with Mirko training Midoriya? I haven’t brought it up to either of them yet, but we could bring him in under the guise of the hero agency internship.”

“I have no problems if he joins your agency, but why don’t you train him yourself?”

“I mean, I guess I could. I just thought it would be better if an actual hero did it, not some new guy like me.”

“Maybe, but if you take a week and focus on actually training with him, not running around shadowing Mirko like the internship requires, I think you would get better results. All Might will be back that week as well, and I’m sure between the pair of you, Midoriya will be in good hands.”

“So, no?”

“You do whatever you feel best, Mr. Wayne. I’m just the humble principal, who could be a dog, a mouse, or a bear. I won’t stop you from having Mirko train him if that is what you feel is best.”

John walked outside the school after meeting with Nezu. He wasn’t sure what to do now. The ratman gave him carte blanche to train Midoriya however he wanted while All Might was away, but seemed to think John would be the best teacher for the job. 

Maybe he wants me to spout off more pearls of wisdom to the kid. I mean, I can do my best, but I still think Rumi would be a better instructor.

“Mr. Wayne?” Midoriya said. The kid was waiting for him by the door. “Are we training tonight?”

John thought of everyone back in Jaku and the fact that his sister was supposed to be dropping by again. He wasn’t ready for her nonsense yet, so it made the decision easy for him.

Sorry, Twinkle, but you didn’t even bother calling to warn me you were coming to visit. I’m not dropping everything just because you’re here now. 

“Of course! Let’s head behind the stadium again. Only an hour or so this time, though I want you to keep trying to hold OFA later without blasting off into space.” John said, firing off a text to Rumi saying he would be late again and would explain tonight. “How’s your body feel today?”

“Sore. Very sore.”

“Good. We are going to try something different today. Has anyone ever taught you katas?”

“No. We have always been focused on me getting stronger.”

“Well, you have the strength now, albeit just a bit of it. Let’s use a kata to focus on your precision and control.” John said, then pulled out his tin of substance X. He popped one, then offered one to Midoriya. “It’s basically an energy pill, though I do find it helps me retain knowledge when I’m exercising.” 

“Is this some wacky American drug?”

“Not quite, but it isn’t addictive. More like a multivitamin with a dose of caffeine. It just helps you focus for the next six hours or so. I’ve used them on and off for a long time to get the most out of all my training.”

Midoriya just looked at it for a moment, then popped it in his mouth. 

“Now, we will focus on movements today, with the goal to be as precise as possible. I’ll demonstrate first, then you will repeat after me. First, without OFA, then once you’re comfortable, we will add it in.” John said, explaining what he wanted. Inwardly, he facepalmed, realizing he sounded like a drug dealer for a moment there. 

Whatever. If it helps baby Superman develop his skills faster, it will be worth it.  

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep