Chapter 16- What Did I Do

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In total, there were twenty-two students in class 1-A. Five of those twenty-two students had extra lessons with Aizawa, leaving seventeen students left to participate in the test of courage. That meant one student would be left without a partner.

And Izuku's luck was always bad, so obviously the gods would pick him to be alone. But he couldn't help but laugh a bit at the cursed little paper that said '9' on it. He would've made that a joke around his father, saying that he was the ninth user.

Still, even though he found it funny, Izuku did not want to go into the forest alone. He would definitely find the perfect victim to switch with somewhere...

"Hello, Midoriya... Would you like to switch with me?" Momo asked.

...Or, one could just walk up to him. ...Yikes though, Momo had Minoru of all people as a partner. Izuku didn't want him as a partner... but it was probably still better having Momo stay with him. Even better was to give Minoru his '9' ticket, but it didn't seem like he would give up his original ticket even if it cost him his life.

So Izuku swapped tickets with Momo and immediately asked for another trade.

"Don't give me up that easily!" Minoru wailed.

"I hope it's not too presumptuous of me, but I would like to request another one too," Momo said. "I'd like to go into the forest with someone else."

"I'll offer," Dabi said. "No offense." he told Koji after.

"Oi, someone swap with me!" Katsuki yelled. "I'm not getting holed up with Half-and-Half Bastard!"

"No way, you're staying with me." Shoto said.

"Don't get too caught up in swapping, kitties," Pixie-Bob said, tapping her invisible watch. "Time's a-tickin'!"

Izuku didn't think they took too long. Sure, it involved quite a bit of yelling, complaining, and possible crying, but it was all done in a timely manner. In the end, he was finally paired up with Himiko, who he wanted to talk to after the blow-up that just occurred.

She was smiling at him. A sort of smile that didn't exactly fit her. It seemed polite in a way, superficial. Was that the sort of smile she used around her parents?

"Heya, Izu-kun," she said. "Are you ready for the test of courage?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Aw boo, that's such a lame answer," Himiko said. "You gotta sound excited!" 

She didn't sound too enthusiastic either. Izuku asked, "Are you excited?"

"Of course I am, Izu," she said. "We get to do something fun!"

It does sound fun. A test of courage is something Izuku had never heard about, much less thought about it. It didn't sound fun with Neito ruining it, however, and he knew Himiko thought the same.

"Number six, you guys are up!" Pixie-Bob grinned, patting the two siblings on the back. "Try to survive in there, kitties."

"If they do manage to kill us, make sure they get arrested," Izuku said, bowing. "Thank you."

"Wha-"

"Let's go, Izu-kun!" Himiko said quickly, dragging the greenette away from the hero. Once they were out of hearing range, the blonde burst into a fit of giggles. "Hehe, Izu-kun, if you were going to say something like that, you should've said to sue U.A!"

"That... is a good idea," Izuku snapped his finger. "Good thinking, Himiko! If they can't protect us students from killing each other, there's going to be a huge uproar from it, probably one the law can't protect. But I'd prefer arresting the students that kill us."

"But I like 1-B! Tsuburaba can literally make an air wall!"

"Well, if one of them did go, maybe Shinsou could take their place," Izuku said. "His quirk is really good for stealth missions."

"You know who he should replace? Mineta," Himiko stated. "He's so icky."

"Literally," Izuku mumbled. "We should write a complaint."

"We should!" Himiko exclaimed. "Let's also complain about all the security measures on our glass cups and silverware.

"And the Villain Rehab Program in general is definitely a strange thing," Izuku muttered. "To put all their students in potential danger isn't a smart thing to do."

"Eh? But don't you like it here, Izu-kun?" Himiko asked. "Why would you want U.A. to do the... maybe not smart... but just not start the program in the first place?"

"It's not that I don't like it here," Izuku said, pulling the sleeve of his shirt. "I do, but living here differs so much more than inside the bar. I get friends, opinions, freedom... well, I guess more freedom than what I'm used to. But at the same time, you're fighting Neito and just ended the drama with Asui, and Dabi's still not confronting Shoto, and everything with Bakugo... almost seems ridiculous. It's... a lot to handle, I guess."

"I get what you're saying, because you're Izu-kun," Himiko said. "So... you're just not sure how to deal with this kind of stuff?"

"I.. yeah, basically," Izuku agreed, looking ahead into the forest. "Which... also brings me to say that... a few people have made me think about some stuff. When you were fighting with Asui, when you broke down, when you fought with Monoma, I... didn't end up helping you with any of it. And I realize that you were hurting. So because of that, I want to say that I'm sorry. As your mutually proclaimed 'brother', you deserved better from me. Hitting you wasn't doing any good either. In fact, it's actually inappropriate considering your back-"

"Izu-kun! I got the point," Himiko said. "But thanks for the apology, Izu-kun. I forgive you."

"...What?" Izuku was startled. "I wasn't... expecting you to say that so easily."

Himiko smiled. "I don't want to make this a big thing, Izu-kun, like with Tsu or Neito. I hate hating things, you know. It makes the world so hard to live in! But you're not hating anything. So that why, if you want to help me, and you want to help Dabi, and you want to make up for anything, then I forgive you! Because I don't blame you for any of the previous things."

"...Thanks, Himiko," Izuku said, his lip quirking upward. "But... I do hate some things. Like my father."

"But that doesn't have anything to do with me!" Himiko said. "Hate your father some other time!"

Izuku laughed. "Alright then," he said, facing Himiko. "So... while we're on the topic of you, I wanted to ask... how will you approach Neito?"

"Him?" Himiko mused, looking up to the sky. "Ah... I wanna try what Dabi said and talk to him. You know, ask why he hates me now. I don't understand it... and I don't like it... but Nei-kun was a good person before, so I wanna know why he changed."

"That's a good thing you're going for. Do you want me to be there?" Izuku asked. "It doesn't seem like he'll listen to you alone."

"Hehe, sure!" Himiko grinned. "The more the merrier." She down the trail, much happier, and suddenly gasped, "Izu, look! The name cards!"

"Huh, isn't that weird?" Izuku wondered, looking behind him. "Wasn't 1-B supposed to scare us or something?"

"Huh, you're right!" Himiko realized. "What happened to them...?"

Izuku shrugged. "Maybe we were just so caught up in talking we missed them."

"That's pretty sad," Himiko said. "But I'm sure we'll find more of them soon! C'mon, let's focus more on the test of courage now!"

"Sure thing."

Excited, they started making their way down the second trail, name cards on hand. It was only a matter of time until they started smelling smoke.

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