Arising from the Ashes

Chapter 19

'They're finally here.'
Looking up from her notebook, Ichika found that Pixie-Bob had indeed been right. Shadows started to appear near the edge of the forest. Limping, huffing and puffing. The first four being Todoroki, Bakugo, Iida and Izuku. All three out of breath and covered in cuts and bruises. And she also noticed that Bakugo was holding his left hand, no doubt due to an overuse of his quirk. Both Todoroki and Izuku were covered by cuts and bruises.
As for Iida, the blue haired boy was limping. His trousers ripped and his engine legs puffing out puffs of smoke.
And these four looked the best out of all of class 1-A. The others barely managed to follow suit.
'I thought you said it would take us about three hours,' Sero managed to say as he fell to the ground next to Kirishima.
'I'm so hungry,' the redhead complained in agreement.
Ichika could understand where they were coming from. They had gone without food for hours, the sun was already setting. Meaning they had taken almost a whole day to reach the campsite.
'I guess we timed it on how long it had taken Phoenix, sorry.' Not that Mandalay sounded sorry in the least.
'Great, now you're bragging about how much better she is!'
'Mew, mew, mew,' Pixie-Bob stepped forth excitedly as everyone came to a halt. 'I thought it would take you kids even longer. And you dealt with my dirt monsters pretty easily too. Not bad. Especially...'
Without a warning, the woman dashed forth towards the four unexpecting boys. Taking in the sight of each and every one of them.
'You four! It seems that you four got quite the experience!' She moved from Bakugo to Izuku. Then to Shoto and Iida and back again. 'I call dips on these kittens! I'll groom them myself!'
Ichika could only let out a laugh as she watched Pixie-Bob circle the boys. While her four victims groaned in annoyance, trying to shield themselves from the overly excited pro hero.
'Say Mandalay, has she always been like this?'
Ichika turned her head a little to hear the woman's reply. Curious to get the answer to Aizawa's question.
'It's gotten worse lately,' the leader of the Pussycats answered with replaced shame. 'She's at the age to take a mate.'
Apparently, Izuku managed to hear Mandalay even while being smothered by Pixie-Bob, for he wondered out loud about "age". Only to be grabbed by the face by the crazed woman in front of him.
'Choose your words carefully, boy.'
'I-I was just wondering since we got here earlier,' Izuku started, his voice slightly muffled by Pixie-Bob's glove. His own hand pointing towards Koda. 'Who's that kid?'
'Oh, this little guy?' Mandalay turned to look at Kota, who stood a little off to her left. 'He's my cousin's son. He's staying with us now. Don't be shy, Kota. Say hi to everyone. You'll be around them for the next week.'
Being the kind kid Izuku was, he walked over to Kota to introduce himself. But unfortunately, he was unaware of the boy's dislike for heroes. Or wannabe heroes, as Ichika had heard him call the students. And as a result, the boy slammed Izuku right in his crotch, much to the horror of everyone. Well, except for Bakugo, who found Kota's action amusing. Stating he had spunk. While Ichika could only stare at her younger brother in shock as he doubled over.
After that, the Wild, Wild Pussycats started preparing dinner, with the help of Ichika of course. Though she was glad it would be the only time she would cook for the whole class. It just wasn't something she was very skilled at. Her food was edible, but that was all there was to say about it. Though she was eager to try out the rotenburo later tonight.
But until then, she was helping out with the food. Bringing the food to the cafeteria or helping out with cutting the vegetables.
Though she did manage to have a small talk every now and then. Having a chat with Uraraka about the fun day at the pool she had with her classmates. And Kirishima, who was bummed that he hadn't passed the practical exam. Though he was glad he was allowed to go to the camp anyway.
And of course there was Izuku, who was just so eager to spend more time with his older sister. Though he was surprised that she was here. He had thought that she would spend her time with her boyfriend. Or at Endeavor Agency perhaps. Not that he minded that she was here as well! It was just, he was surprised.
'Well, it seems the dishes are all done,' Mandalay said after she put away the last plate. 'I'd say you alle deserve to relax a little. What do you say, Eraserhead?'
'Sure. Go ahead. And Phoenix, I expect to see you later on tonight to go over our plans for tomorrow.'
'Yes sir.' And with that, she turned around. 'Let's go, girls. I'll show you where the Cattnip Inn is. There, the rotenburo is waiting for us.'
A cheer erupted from the small group standing with Ichika, as the oldest teen lead them towards the said outdoor bath. Though it seemed the boys had overheard the conversation Ichika had earlier with Uraraka. For soon, everyone of class 1-A was following.
'Ah,' Yaoyorozu sighed as she got into the water. Her towel neatly folded on the ground behind her. 'Exactly what I needed after today.'
There came a choir of agreement from the girls, some of them already in the water, while some sat at the stoney edge with only their feet dangling in the warm water of the rotenburo.
'Totally.' The usually cheerful pink-skined Mina Ashido stretched her back with a pout. 'Like, what was mister Aizawa thinking? Was he trying to get us killed?'
At this, Ichika chuckled. She had suspected that the surprise training of earlier today wouldn't be a success. Well, the training part of it would. And the element of surprise most definitely. But the students wouldn't be as pleased about it as their teacher was. And it appeared that she was right.
'At least his attempt failed, right? Perhaps his next attempt to kill you will be successful.'
She grinned at them as she dropped her own towel, before joining the younger girls in the warm water. Uraraka looked absolutely horrified, while Asui just looked sceptical. Voicing her sceptical thoughts of Aizawa actually wanting to kill them, before their attention was drawn back to to older teen once Uraraka mentioned her name.
'Why couldn't you have warned us in advance? I asked Deku, but even he was unaware.'
'And spoil all the fun?' With a grin, she leaned back against the wall, her arms resting on the edge. Then she continued on a more serious tone. 'But all jokes aside, I wasn't even aware about it. All I knew was that I was to help out the Wild, Wild Pussycats, instead of my usual work-study with Endeavor. To work on my didactic skills.'
'Ah, yes. I remember something about you wanting to become a teacher instead of a hero. Deku told me.'
'Wait, so that's why you've been helping All Might during his hero classes? I thought it was just something UA did. Using one of their top students to help out.'
Ichika blinked at Ashido in surprise. Was that truly what the girl thought was going on? Third years helping out first years during training? Of course it wasn't unheard of that every now and then a third year would come in and talk about their experiences. But wasn't something that occurred regularly. Especially not in the role of a teacher. More of a mentor.
'No, I-'
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence upon hearing some commotion on the other side of the wall. From where the boys were bathing. Someone was loudly scowling about 'bringing shame to both yourself and our female classmates', along with loud footsteps. And was that soft popping she heard?
Oh no! That perverted boy, he wouldn't dare, would he? Ichika glared at the wooden wall as the shouting got louder. Of course she knew better. Mineta would most definitely try and do something to peep at the girls. The small teen was a pervert and proud of it too!
Thinking quickly, Ichika warned the others, not only about Mineta, but also about what she was about to do. Using her quirk, she heated up her body, heating up the water while doing so. Which, as a result, caused more steam to form. Still, it wasn't enough yet, to cover them from prying eyes, should Mineta peep over the wall now. If it had been only Ichika, she would have heated up the water even more. For she wasn't bothered by the heat at all.
But she had to think off the others as well and judging from their flustered faces, she decided to stop heating up the water even more. But at least she was able to make it a bit more challenging to see through the steaming mist. And if they were lucky, she had enough time to create a more dense mist.
Suddenly the voice of Kota was heard from atop of the wall. Stating Mineta should try to be a better person, before he could ever dream of becoming a hero. Then they heard a shout, followed by a crash.
Even without being able to see what had happened, the girls had a pretty good idea of what had happened up there. While none of them knew why Kota was up there, it was clear that he had stopped Mineta's attempt to peep on the teenage girls. So, without thinking, Ashido called out to the young boy. Thanking him and waving at him as he looked over instinctively.
'Oh no! Kota!'
Ichika watched in horror as the boy turned red and tumbled backwards. Letting out a gasp as she watched him fall over the edge, into the boys bathing side.
'I got you!'
Even with the wall muffling the voices a little, Ichika was able to recognise Izuku's voice.
'Is he okay, Izu,' she called over to her brother. Her voice slightly pitched as she desperately wished she could see through the wall. 'You managed to catch him, right?'
'Yeah, I got him,' came his reply. 'Though he's unconscious right now.'
'Okay, can you bring him to Mandalay? She should be in the main building. I'll be there in a minute.'
With her relaxing bathing time cut short, Ichika immediately returned to the dressing room, got dressed to make her way over to the main building too. Hoping this wouldn't be the start of a disastrous training camp.