Villain to Hero: Naruko Motomiya

Chapter 14: The First Class

It felt so weird for the classroom and desks to be completely filled with his classmates. The first day of the second term had come, and today was the day that Motomiya would finally be able to train with the rest of his class. He and the rest of his class had already done their general studies classes earlier in the day, and now it was time to start the hero class.

"Alright, everyone, today we're getting right into the hero training. Get your costumes on and meet at Gym Gamma!" Aozora instructed.

Everyone got up, grabbed their costumes, and headed to the locker rooms before all meeting at the gym. It was a sudden start with no explanation, but then again, the teacher was Aozora, who was known for that.

~

Everyone stood in a clump around Aozora in the empty gym, waiting for instructions. The gym was vast and empty with gray floors and walls, almost resembling a warehouse.

"Welcome back," Aozora said with a smile. "I'm assuming that all of you have improved in some way over the break, whether that be your fighting technique, use if quirk, or just academics. Today, we're going to see how much you've all improved by doing 1v1 matches against each other. I've already made up my mind on who is fighting who, based on the characteristics of your quirks. To save on time, let's get the first match started." He pointed at Tamakawa and Takamura. "You two are up first. There's a five minute time limit. You lose if you surrender, get knocked out, or become immobilized."

Tamakawa and Takamura both stepped out into the middle of the gym, five meters away from each other. Takamura's costume was a dark blue sleevless turtleneck that was cropped, dark blue fingerless gloves, baggy gray pants that tightened at the ankle, traditional Japanese sandles that had been slightly modified to let him run better, and a black mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

"Begin!"

Without warning, Tamakawa pounced, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. She extended her claws, aiming for his face, but he was ready. Two of Takamura's arms blocked the attack while the other two struck back, aiming for her torso. She twisted midair, narrowly avoiding the match ending attack, and landed on all fours.

Tamakawa leaped again, this time aiming for her classmates' legs. With a sweep of the leg, Takamura fell but maintained control of his body with a somersault and pushed himself back up.

Takamura spun himself around, his four arms now moving in a flurry of jabs and strikes. She dodged and weaved in between each attack, narrowly avoiding each one, and when she finally had her chance, she dug her claws into his arms. He grunted from the pain, his movements slowing down just slightly but still quick enough to finally land a blow on her, sending her flying away from him and landing on the cold, hard ground.

"Son of a bitch!" Tamakawa shouted, cradling her shoulder. It had popped clean out of its socket from the punch and now dangled to her side.

"Do you surrender?" Takamura asked confidently.

Tamakawa stared up at him, her eyes imitating daggers as she laid down on the ground and put all of her weight on her dislocated shoulder, popping it back in place. "Nah, I'm good." She got up and darted toward him, her movements a blur, and extended her claws for an attack to the face. But she had forgotten about his extra set of arms. Takamura grabbed her legs and binded them together with the grip of his lower set of arms while his upper set grabbed her arms. She couldn't escape his strong grip no matter how hard she squirmed and struggled. She was immobilized.

"Takamura wins!" Aozora announced as the class clapped and congratulated their classmate. The two of them walked back to the group and rejoined them. "You both did well, but there are some areas of improvement," He told them. "Tamakawa, your speed and agility have definitely improved since the first term, but you need to be more aware of your surroundings and who you're fighting."

"Yeah, I know," Tamakawa brushed off.

"Takamura," Aozora said, "I see that you've strengthened your grip more and have gotten stronger overall, but you need to focus on your speed more."

"I understand, sir," Takamura responded.

Aozora turned to the class. "Heiwajima and Ikishida, you're up."

"Which one?" Asked the black and white-haired twins in unison. They shot a glare at each other when they realized that they had both said the same thing at the same time.

"Yumiko," Aozora clarified.

"Let's get this over with," the female twin said as she walked to the middle of the gym. Her hero costume was simple: a black button-up jacket with a green strip that went across the hem, a white pleated skirt, gray tights, black boots with a green accent, and a green visor that made it hard for her opponents to see where she was looking. She also had her primarily white hair with black chunks tied back into a high ponytail.

Across from her, Ikishida smirked, his eyes glinting with excitement. "You ready?" He asked rhetorically.

"Begin!" Aozora shouted.

Peeling off his body was the full armor he wore as a costume, revealing the black bodysuit underneath it and unwinding the red scarf he wore on top of it, where the armor pieces then swirled around him in a protective ring, keeping himself out of Yumiko's sight.

Yumiko's eyes narrowed as the metal barrier appeared, blocking her line of sight. She could hear him moving behind it, the faint clinks and creaks of shifting metal giving him away. Her power depended on direct eye contact, and now she couldn't use it.

Ikishida didn’t waste a second. With a thrust of his hand, the metal barrier warped, bending into sharp spikes that shot out towards Yumiko. She dodged to the side and rolled underneath the chasing spikes, each one missing her by just a few centimeters.

Suddenly, she heard a rumble, and the ground beneath her trembled. Ikishida was manipulating the metal beneath the floor, pulling up pipes and chunks of iron, sending them flying toward her. She sprang up, sprinting across the gym, her heart pounding as she narrowly avoided the flying debris.

As she ran, an idea sparked in her mind, and she sprinted as far away from Ikishida as she could. "Is that all you've got?! I mean, come on. Your quirk is boring as hell. At this rate, you'll be thrown out of UA from how poorly you perform. Hell, it was a miracle that you even got a provisional license last year. Just give up," She taunted.

Ikishida yelled from behind his metal wall, frustrated by her taunts. He decided to end this quickly and humiliate Yumiko with a crushing defeat. With a flick of his wrist, the wall retracted just enough to create an opening, and he stepped forward, preparing to launch another attack.

It was exactly what Yumiko had been waiting for. As soon as he appeared, she locked eyes with him, her glowing gaze capturing his before he realized his mistake. Ikishida froze, his eyes widening in shock as her power took hold. Yumiko's body dropped to the floor, her consciousness transferring from one body to another.

Now, in Ikishida's body and having taken over his mind and body, she outstretched a hand toward the metal wall made of armor and used his quirk to control the metal and surrounded herself in it, trapping herself in it. For good measure, she said, "I surrender," as Ikishida. The match was over. The short time limit on her quirk had run out, and she returned to her own body. She opened her eyes and got up from the floor. Ikishida regained control of his body and reshaped the metal back into proper armor. They both joined the rest of the class.

"I'm just going to say that Yumiko won since technically it was Ikishida who surrendered," Aozora said, clearing up any confusion on who won. He turned to Ikishida. "You fought well, and you chose the best options for success," He said, "But, you need to control your emotions and keep a level head. Your opponents can and will use your emotions against you."

"I'll keep working on it," Ikishida replied.

Aozora then turned to Yumiko. "Your technique of using your opponents' emotions against them worked very well, and I can see that you've also improved your speed." Yumiko smiled and side eyed her classmate. "There was one error that you made, though. You should've used your quirk as soon as the match began instead of letting Ikishida have an advantage."

"It's not my fault that he's so good with his quirk," She muttered.

Two of the ten matches had happened, and Motomiya already knew that everyone in this class was in a completely different league.