Mortem ad Wrens

Chapter 2: Battle Trial

tw: self harm, ableism, infantilization, graphic injuries, blood, electrocution, communication access denial, ableism, negligent teacher

Akira: I'd do anything to get you to leave me alone
Recovery Girl: Fine, I want you to eat three square meals a day and have a healthy sleep schedule
Akira: ...anything but that. Best I can give you is 1.5

'text' JSL
text thoughts

---

"I am coming through the door like a normal person!" Akira nearly fell off their chair, thigh ramming into the side of their desk painfully as All Might burst into the room.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me,' Akira signed to themself and ignored a muffled squeak from their right. Of all the heroes we could've gotten, it had to be All Might. If I have to see one more limelight hero today... Forcing a smile onto their face, Akira watched the class explode in excitement. Tokoyami glanced at them as Dark Shadow moved beneath Akira's arm, gently nudging it away from where it had been hovering over their left forearm.

As the class walked into Ground Beta for combat training – of course there'd be more quirk training on the first day – Akira let themself enjoy the swish of their costume strips that almost floated around them as they walked. A fairly simple design with many layers of dark lightweight fabric interwoven with non-conductive metal for protection that would help disguise their movements, Akira's costume included a capture weapon similar in design to Eraser Head's scarf as well as several knives and many compartments for snacks and other supplies. Braces on their ankles and knees would also help if they ran into quirk exhaustion, and Akira could already feel a bit of a difference in their pain levels. The instruction booklet even included an adjustment period section for the braces. Akria had a feeling they wouldn't be stiff enough to provide full support if they were really bad off, but it should be better than nothing.

As Akira waited next to Tokoyami for their classmates who had costumes with more complicated donning and doffing, they gave him a slight glare. He shrugged and Dark Shadow peeked over his shoulder to affix Akira with a matching glare.

They gestured to Tokoyami's outfit and signed 'You. Wear. Cloak. Only cloak?'

Tokoyami blushed and opened the cloak to show a t-shirt, basic pants and boots, and a utility belt. Akira silently snorted, continuing to stare. Why on earth does that constitute a hero costume? There's no way that's armored.

Akira stared as most of the class walked out with barely any protection. Does the Hero Commission want these kids to die? The least they could do is make the costumes look like they offer protection. And what the hell do Kirishima's shoulder gears do? At least he has the excuse of a hardening quirk but oh my gods.

At some point, Akira must've started signing as Koda blushed and Midoriya was trying not to laugh. The latter interpreted what he did see, and Akira glared while signing 'You are literally wearing a homemade costume. You're worse off than the rest of them. Blank, you look great. I see you, too, went for the classiest weapon.' That at least shut Midoriya up as Shinso looked confused and Akira turned on All Might and gestured for him to start.

The "random" teams seemed rather weighted, and while Akira wasn't thrilled to work with little miss prissy, they weren't just going to hand a victory to Team G. It quickly became clear that Yaoyorozu didn't know JSL and had no intention of learning until she had to, leaving another mark against her in Akira's book. Communication through one party writing while the other infantilized them was frustrating at best, and Akira just hoped the others appreciated how much they were trying not to strangle this girl.