Deep Red

46

Time just seemed to fly by until the second day rolled around. And even the second day just flew by. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted that I was practically asleep with my eyes open.

The remedial classes had gone on until 2 in the morning and then we had started training again at 7. It was a hellish schedule that Shouta had put himself, his students and by extension me on. For a constantly sleep-deprived person he sure liked to inflict the same fate on other people.

Somehow I managed to drag myself through the entire day without blacking out (or maybe I did black out and no one really noticed). Dinner went by and I could barely eat a thing, because my brain didn't want my stomach to work, it wanted me to go to sleep right now, without delay.

There was no such luxury, however. There was a test of courage out in the forest and I had to go take care of the remedial class while that thing went on. I was not looking forward to it. All I wanted was some sleep. I had never felt this exhausted in my entire life. And I'd feel worse tomorrow, because I doubted that Shouta would end the night classes any earlier than yesterday.

Maybe I could just go and hand myself over to the League of Villains already. It seemed like a better fate than having to sit through another remedial class that would take several hours and would involve practical exercises this time. What were those kids even thinking when they failed their exams?

I was currently sitting in one of the seats in the classroom and was waiting for Shouta to bring the five kids from his class back. Why the hell did I have to be here? I couldn't even sleep, because the neon lights in the room were just burning straight into my eyes. It was uncomfortable. I heard some voices coming from the hallway. That had to be Shouta and the five kids from remedial class.

"For tonight's lesson I will drill into you how to behave in an emergency. If you don't become more self-aware that you're falling behind the others then the difference between you will grow larger. In a broad sense this is also kind of a treat. Like a mint-flavored one." I heard Shouta say. I rolled my eyes. He wasn't half bad at cooking, but he clearly had no taste when it came to sweets.

"But mint tastes good..." Kirishima protested. The door to the classroom opened and they all filed in. Monoma and Vlad King were already in the classroom with me - another reason why I didn't feel too comfortable taking a nap.

"Oh, that's weird! Even though course A is supposed to be better, there were five people who failed? Even though there was only one person from class B? That's so weird!" Monoma exclaimed as soon as he laid eyes upon the five kids from class 1-A that came walking in.

"He said the same thing trying to provoke us yesterday." Kirishima muttered, glaring at Monoma. I never thought it was possible for Kirishima to glare at anyone, really. But here he was, giving this kid the death stare.

"I'd like to know what his mental state is..." Ashido whispered. She almost sounded concerned. Shouta sighed and walked over to Vlad King who was sitting around, looking bored out of his mind.

"Vlad, I want to add some practice maneuvers this time." he started, but Vlad was having none of it.

"I was thinking about that, too. You don't have to tell me that-"

"Everyone!" they all suddenly heard a voice in their heads. It was a really weird feeling to experience telepathy, no matter how many times it happened. I didn't think I'd ever get used to it.

"That's Mandalay..." Shouta mumbled. What the hell was going on? She'd only use this in an emergency...

"I like this, sounds like it's gonna get exciting!" Mina commented with a giggle. I looked a little more concerned. Mandalay using her telepathy wasn't a good sign. It meant something was going on.

"It's kind of annoying that it only works in one direction and we don't have a way to answer..." Kaminari replied.

"Quiet." Shouta said, trying to listen to what Mandalay was about to tell them. It had to be something important.

"We're being attacked by two people that are not authorized to be here. It's possible that there are more. Everyone that can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across anyone, retreat and do not engage!" she said, repeating the message from the start after this.

"Is this... real?" Sero asked and looked over to me. I just shrugged, still looking concerned. I glanced at Shouta for a solution. He was usually quick to come up with a plan, wasn't he? He had pulled off the USJ incident.

"Vlad, I'm leaving this place to you. Takahashi, help out Vlad, but be on standby, in case we need help. I'll go protect the other students." he said and made his way out of the classroom. Monoma was muttering about something. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have reacted earlier, but by the time I had jumped up to try and stop him, he was already long gone. Whatever this was, it was bad.

Maybe it wasn't a better fate to hand myself over to the League of Villains. No, it definitely wasn't a better fate. If only I wasn't this tired, I could probably come up with a plan much, much easier.

"Okay, I'm freaked out, what the hell is going on?" Kaminari asked, looking really worried now. There was a loud noise coming from just outside the camp. Everyone looked at each other.

"What... what was that?" Ashido asked. I looked over at Vlad who gave me a quick nod. I took a deep breath.

"Everyone, stay in here. I'll go and check what is happening. Keep the door locked while I'm gone, alright?" I said to them and made my way outside. Thankfully, I had taken my knives with me, so I wasn't as defenseless as I'd be if we were on school grounds. Still, it was kind of scary heading out there.

When she got out, she saw Shouta looking at a group of his students that was standing at the other end of the clearing. There were four of them - Iida, Ojiro, Mineta and Koda. Shouta was looking down at some big puddle of mud or whatever the hell it was. He didn't seem to be injured.

"Mr. Aizawa! What the hell was that just there?" Mineta shouted as the group came running towards him.

"Get inside! Takahashi, make sure they're okay! I'll be right back!" Shouta replied and ran past them into the forest, without even looking back at her. It was as if he just knew she was standing there. The four other students came running at me at full speed and I barely had time to react.

I opened the door for them and shooed them all inside. They bolted down the hallway and were banging at the classroom door. Whatever was out there had to be scary as hell. And it wasn't really very comforting to see them in this state. Who knew how many more of them there were.

"Everyone, it's me and I have four students with me!" I shouted and knocked on the door. It took a little while but then Vlad opened the door. I let the students get into the classroom and then followed them, locking the door behind us again.

"Is Mr. Aizawa okay?" Ashido wanted to know.

"Yeah, where is he? What happened out there?" Sero asked as well. I took a deep breath and sighed.

"Okay, I don't know much more than you. Mr. Aizawa is not injured, at least from what I've seen. He went out into the forest to go and check on the other students. That's all I know. I have no idea what that sound was, maybe some villains Quirk-"

"There was a villain there!" Mineta interrupted. Iida was about to go into one of his rants about not interrupting people, but I stopped him with a quick hand motion. I wanted to hear what Mineta had to say.

"Out with it then. What happened, Mineta?" I wanted to know.