Heroics and Other Things

Chapter 6: I'll Take That Bet

Author's Note : i thought last chapter was long. oh my god, this took me forever. i had planned to have about twice as many events in this one as i ended up having, because i realized halfway through writing the planned chapter that it was gonna be way too long. sorry for the wait for the conclusion.

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It was hard to sit through normal classes while Midoriya was off proving himself. Hitoshi hadn't thought it would be this hard. He sat at his desk, alternately trying to pay attention and gazing out the window, wondering how it was going. Midoriya's desk sat empty beside his, as though a space in the shape of his friend had been carved into his life and now stood hollow. He wondered if someone else would take that desk when Midoriya transferred, and who that someone would be.

He had just decided that it would probably be some unfortunate member of the support course who he'd then have to deal with until his own transfer when a loud, blaring alarm cut through his thoughts.

"Level Five Security Breach," came a voice, measured but urgent, over the PA system. "All faculty are summoned to the USJ immediately. All students are dismissed."

The USJ? But that was where Midoriya was! What kind of security breach was there? What kind of situation could require every single Pro Hero on campus at once to deal with it? Surely nothing could be so bad as to really need that many pros. They were just being overly cautious. Right?

The message repeated, but before it had even finished its first run through students were talking over it, turning in their seats to face one another.

"Didn't we just have a security breach?" asked a boy two rows over from Hitoshi.

"Is security here really that bad?" demanded a girl near the front.

"Maybe it's just the press again," suggested someone who Hitoshi couldn't see in the opposite corner of the room.

"That was a level three breach," pointed out the girl just behind them. "This is level five."

Hitoshi ignored them all and raised his hand. "Sensei, what's going on?" he called over the crowd and the alarm, without waiting to be called on.

"Class dismissed," was the only answer he got. "Everyone collect your things and go home. Now!"

The rest of the class began to pack up at once, ignoring the alarm blaring overhead as their teacher bolted from the room. Hitoshi watched him go with a sense of deep unease. His gut twisted, making him want to puke, and his fingers shook as he packed his things with methodical slowness. His extremities felt strangely cold.

The alarm barely registered to him as he filed outside with the others, and he felt curiously insulated from both it and the crowd around him. Once he was outside it was quieter, but he didn't join the throng heading for the main gate, leaving it even further behind. Instead he stepped to one side of the main stairs, sheltering behind the low wall flanking them, and waited. The staff, all the non-heroes who worked at UA, were shepherding students out and away from the school, but he ducked down when one of them looked at him.

He wasn't going anywhere until he got some answers.

"Hey!" said a voice behind him, startling him as he risked a peek beyond the wall.

"What the hell!" he cried, the sound only covered by the loudness of the alarm, and whirled around to see Hatsume crouching beside him.

"Did Midoriya come back yet?" she asked urgently, apparently uncaring that she'd managed to surprise him.

"No," Hitoshi shook his head, "he's still at the USJ, where the security breach is."

"Did your teacher tell you anything?" Hatsume demanded, and Hitoshi was surprised to see she actually looked pretty worried. She hadn't previously struck him as the type to get nervous, over anything. She seemed more a woman of action.