This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 4

The next day, Naoko returned Todoroki's notebook to him a few minutes before class began, proudly showing him their compiled work. Pleased with the result, they nodded at each other when Aizawa began calling up groups to submit their assignments. As their group was called, Naoko stood and padded towards the front of the classroom. She handed the folder to the ever-tired teacher.

"Was it fun choosing the scenarios, sir?" she asked quietly, her smile as bright as always.

Aizawa glanced up. An amused smile briefly flashed across his expression as he took the folder from her, placing it on top of the stack. "Very."

Afterwards, class resumed as usual, and while they were thankful to no longer be subject to the foreboding mountain of essays, the aspiring heroes seemed just a little more worn than usual.

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A few days later, class 1-A was gathered on a bus, heading towards UA's rescue training facility. It was preparation for rescue missions they might face as pro-heroes, as Aizawa had said. The class listened eagerly as he explained the kinds of exercises they would be participating in and their importance to a hero's job, though after a while, the excited chatter of the students began drowning him out a bit.

"This is so cool!"

"It'll be fun to practice some rescue situations, huh?"

"I call dibs on saving all the girls!"

"I'm just happy we get to wear our hero costumes again!"

"Quiet down, everyone. We're here."

The class looked up to see a large dome-shaped building beyond the window, and standing in front of it, waiting eagerly to greet them, was the pro-hero, Thirteen. Buzzing with excitement, the students messily filed out of the bus and followed closely as their teachers led them into the training facility.

"Welcome to USJ! We have a number of simulation disaster zones here, from mountainous terrain to aquatic zones and everything in between! This will let you experience a wide variety of rescue situations and build upon the different skills needed for different terrains. For those interested in specializing in rescue, this will be especially valuable!" Thirteen explained enthusiastically as they headed towards the disaster zones on the lower floor.

Upon reaching the edge of the stairs, however, something unusual caught their eyes. The students paused, curiously leaning over the railing for a closer look.

A swirling purple thing appeared in the center of the open space on the ground floor, and something appeared to emerge from inside.

It was... a person?

An emaciated-looking man with artificial hands all over his body climbed out. He glanced around as someone else appeared behind him. Then another.

Then another.

Then another.

Dozens of people flooded the building in an instant, and judging by the looks of it, they weren't up to any good. One of the people- if it could even be called that; it was definitely not human- that had emerged from the swirling portal looked like... some kind of large black creature with an exposed brain? Naoko had never seen anything like that before.

"Huh? Where's All Might? All Might is supposed to be here..." the thin, blue-haired man wondered aloud, scanning the stunned group of students and teachers.

"Get back, everyone! Don't move!" Thirteen yelled, stretching a hand out in front of them defensively.

"What the...?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the unannounced guests, shifting his stance as he lifted his goggles into place.