The Emperor's Dragon II

Interschool Training

Inasa was watching as the first two groups' scenario ended. Objectively speaking, the villain team had the better strategy. The villain, Yuuna Akamatsu from Kiita Koto High, had gotten into her role well and thought about the weaknesses of her team. Yuuna had found one of the secure rooms in the scenario early and thrown her hostages in there. It appeared she'd gotten two helpers in the draw, because she'd then sent one of the helpers out to search for the hero team. That action had told those watching she was going for the better success outcome.

She hadn't ended up with the better success outcome but Inasa thought it might be a draw. When her helper found the hero team, she'd moved out with her other helper, and attacked. Inasa thought Yuuna might have 'taken out' one of the hero's civilians but the teachers would assess that. But, something had happened to her hostages too.

He now understood what 'expect the unexpected' meant.

The instant Yuuna and her helper had disappeared to face off against the Hero team, something had crept out of the shadows and released her hostages from the secure room. The only way in and out of those rooms was if someone opened the door. Inasa almost hadn't seen it, since that particular action occurred on one of the smaller side screens. The main viewing screens were focused on the action. But he had seen it, and so had Shouto but the UA student had shook his head, indicating he'd explain later.

Inasa wasn't sure if the other team, their opponents, had seen the shadow, which had resolved itself into a person. It was someone dressed in a UA sport's uniform and some fancy face covering gear. Whoever they were, they'd gotten the hostages out and directed them to the exit, which meant they were 'rescued'. Then the person had disappeared back into the shadows. Inasa was pretty impressed with their ability to hide, especially given the white, stylised UA emblazoned on their uniform.

"Time's up!" Meiwaku announced over the loudspeaker.

The still fighting hero and villain team looked surprised about that and it took them a moment to pull apart. "Come to the exits," Meiwaku instructed. "We will discuss the whole class's performance after the second teams go," he added and then turned off the loudspeaker.

"Come pick your positions," Aizawa told the teams, jerking his head towards the boxes of balls with the roles on. During the scenario he'd wriggled into a yellow sleeping bag and appeared to go to sleep.

Inasa wasn't fooled. The underground hero appeared asleep but he was paying attention to everything, including their reactions to what the other teams were doing. He was a formidable hero.

He grabbed his role token and headed to the corner, waiting for the others. Inasa looked down at his token and felt a burst of relief to something he hadn't even realised he'd been tense at. He had the Hero token. These were school exercises. He shouldn't worry too much about the task he was given but-

Ishina was grinning as she joined him and flashed the token in her hand to display a support role. Jozu was the next to join them and he just rolled his eyes as he displayed a civilian token. Fumikage and Shouto joined them last with the Todoroki having an air that was distinctly unimpressed. Inasa could sympathise but he wasn't trading tokens.

"Who was that?" Inasa demanded of Shouto as the other teams returned.

The other members of his team looked at them curiously and again, Shouto shook his head instead of answering. "We should get in position," he said.

They moved out, going to their assigned entry. "Well?" Inasa asked again.

"That was Aizawa's apprentice," Shouto explained.

"What?" Jozu frowned as he asked the question.

"Yuuna's hostages got released by someone who isn't in our class," Inasa told him. Given the surprise on his team's faces, it appeared only Shouto and he had seen that footage. "What is his quirk?"