Taste of Poison Paradise

Chapter 3

Midnight explains the Labyrinth. "Each student must reach the end of the labyrinth made by our lovely Cementoss, avoiding obstacles as they go! The top forty move onto the next round!"

The students gasp as the ground below them trembles, and giant walls erupt from the floor. Shinobu grabs onto Aoki, not wanting to get separated. The students end up being separated from each other in groups of two or three and left to their own devices.

Shinobu looks around at the tall walls while Aoki types away on her phone. In Shinobu's hand is a special bokken that the school let her use in place of her katana, and she gives the wall a half-hearted stab.

A dent and several cracks appear in the wall, but regenerate in the next moment. The walls are thick and regenerate, which means there's a low chance of blasting through.

Mirio must be having a field day, Shinobu chuckles. It's too easy for him.

"Kocho, I got the plan," Aoki says, her hands glowing with the activation of her quirk. "Destroy that camera, will you?"

Shinobu nods, and spots the blinking camera mounted to her right. She leaps in the air and spins, destroying the camera with a powerful kick.

Aoki, on the other hand, presses her hands to the walls. The ground rumbles again, and this time, trees sprout from the tops of the walls. Their branches reach and reach, and their leaves spread with them. The high canopy that results shields them from the prying cameras.

"Excellent," Shinobu hums. "Let's go, then."

Aoki brings her hands to the ground and the earth rumbles. A winding tree trunk grows from where she is standing, and she is elevated to the top of the walls. She hops off and grins in triumph, but screams as the wall suddenly tilts. She falls to the ground, being caught by another winding tree trunk. "Ow," she groans. "That hurt—stop laughing!"

"What are you talking about, dear Aoki?" Shinobu turns, under the pretense of being in deep thought, to hide her smile. Recalling the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, she turns back to Aoki. "Can you create a trail of tree roots to follow us?"

"Of course," Aoki agrees easily. Together, they set off through the maze. A turn right, then left, left again, and another right.

After their third right, Shinobu spots a camera and leaps to destroy it. "Keep your guard up!" she calls. If there's a camera, they're definitely trying to capture something.

Sure enough, three stone golems erupt from the ground seconds later. Shinobu pivots on her heel, dashes forward with her bokken, and thrusts it forward. The golem crumbles into pieces.

Aoki's hands glow, and winding tree trunks come to her call. The ends sharpen and wrap around at the remaining golems. Shinobu launches off of the defeated golem and destroys the ones Aoki restrained.

"Is this really all they've got to throw at us?" Shinobu murmurs, stepping lightly over the rubble.

"Doubt it," Aoki answers as they run forward. "Maybe the teachers will add something in."

The teachers, for their part, don't really add anything in. Midnight does try to use her Somnambulist ability. While it certainly knocked out a number of participants, Shinobu easily summoned the antidote. The two girls end up fighting several more golems before reaching the end of the maze.

Mirio, predictably, is waiting for them there, along with several other students. He also is fully clothed, to their relief. "Hi, guys!" he beams. "You finally got here!"

"I hate you..." Aoki mutters, before Shinobu cuffs her on her head. Looking around, it seems that Kazan has finished as well.

The (literally) hot headed man is still slightly fuming. "If I lose my work study I will kill you," he seethes.