After approximately an hour of travel, Class 1-A's bus began to slow down.
The conversation inside the vehicle had grown calmer over time. Some students were dozing off against the windows, others were talking quietly, and Kaminari had already tried to start three different games to pass the time, all of them rejected by Jiro in less than ten seconds.
Ryo was sitting near Dash, looking out the window with a neutral expression as the urban landscape grew more and more distant, replaced by roads surrounded by trees and plateaus.
The bus stopped.
Outside, there was an open rest area, but not exactly the kind anyone would expect. It was a wide road ending near a ravine protected by a metal fence. Beyond it, the view opened up to an immense, dense, green forest that spread all the way to the foot of the two mountains in the distance.
Aizawa was the first to step out.
"Get out," he said, without emotion. "This is the rest stop."
The class began to leave little by little, confused.
Sero looked around, frowning.
"What kind of rest stop is this?"
Ojiro looked at the road behind them.
"Where's Class B?"
Ryo also observed the surroundings in silence, equally suspicious.
Dash stood beside him, looking at the ravine.
"I don't like this..."
"Relax, it's not even that bad," Ryo replied.
Aizawa turned to the class.
"There's a reason we stopped here."
Before anyone could ask what it was, two voices appeared at the same time, coming from the top of a nearby rock formation.
"Strike down those sparkling gazes!"
"And incredibly cute and feline!"
The class turned toward the voices.
Two women appeared on top of the rock, wearing outfits that looked more like cat-girl costumes. One of them had plenty of energy in her smile and a red outfit, while the other wore a blue outfit and looked ready to turn any introduction into a show. And just below them, near the rock, a small boy watched the class with a closed-off expression and absolutely no desire to be there.
The two jumped together.
They landed in a pose.
"We are the Wild, Wild Pussy Cats!"
Silence fell over the place while the class simply stared without reacting.
Ryo looked at the scene with the deadest expression possible.
"...What the hell is this?"
Aizawa cleared his throat, bringing the class back to reality.
"These are the pro heroes who will be helping with the training camp. The Pussycats."
Midoriya was the first to react with excitement.
"I know you!" he said, his eyes shining. "The Wild, Wild Pussy Cats are a group of four pro heroes who formed a single agency! You specialize in rescues in mountainous areas, and you must have twelve years of servi—"
His sentence died when Pixie-Bob appeared in front of him in a leap.
The enormous cat-paw-shaped glove covered Midoriya's entire head.
"Eighteen," she said, smiling.
Midoriya froze.
"Hm?"
Pixie-Bob tightened the paw around his head.
"We're eighteen at heart."
Midoriya tried to speak from beneath the glove.
"B-but I only wanted to say that—"
The paw tightened more.
"Eighteen at heart."
"E-Eighteen!"
Mandalay took over the conversation as if nothing strange were happening.
"All this area you're seeing is our private territory."
She pointed toward the open horizon, where the forest stretched for kilometers all the way to the mountains.
"Your lodging is at the foot of the mountain, right there."
Dash narrowed his eyes.
"So... why did we stop here?"
Uraraka turned a little pale.
"Don't tell me..."
Kaminari quickly looked toward the bus.
"We can just get back inside, right?"
Sero was the first to enter survival mode.
"Everyone, run!"
He turned and sprinted back toward the bus.
Aizawa closed his eyes.
"Sorry for this, kids..."
Pixie-Bob touched both hands to the ground.
The terrain beneath the class moved.
The earth rose like a giant wave, shaped by her Quirk, and pushed everyone backward. The solid ground became a controlled avalanche of soft soil that dragged the entire class beyond the fence and launched them down the ravine.
Indignant screams filled the air.
"AAAAAAAH!"
"I KNEW IT!"
"THIS ISN'T A REST STOP!"
"I ALREADY HATE THIS CAMP!"
As they fell, the earth beneath them continued shaping itself, preventing the impact from being fatal, but definitely not making the fall pleasant.
Aizawa watched from above.
"The training has already begun."
Mandalay walked to the fence and looked down, where the class was falling amid screams, dirt, and broken branches.
"You're free to use your Quirks however you want," she announced. "This is private territory, so there's no need to hold back!"
Some students looked up, desperate.
"You have three hours to reach the lodge," Mandalay continued. "But to do that, you'll have to cross the Forest of Beasts!"
The screams grew louder.
Mandalay smiled.
"Good luck, everyone!"
She turned and went back near Aizawa.
"You're setting an insane pace for those kids, Eraser."
Aizawa watched the forest with his usual tired expression.
"Normally, this would be something they'd only learn in their second year."
"Then why now?"
"There have been some... unforeseen circumstances."
The word came out dryly.
Mandalay understood that he had no intention of explaining any more than that.
Aizawa continued:
"They need to learn earlier, so the pace is going to increase."
He turned to Pixie-Bob.
"I'll leave them in your care."
Pixie-Bob stretched, excited.
"You can count on me! My fur's already standing on end from all this excitement!"
Mandalay looked at the boy behind her.
"Kota. Let's go."
The boy looked at the ravine where the class had disappeared and grimaced.
"Ridiculous."
He turned to leave, but stopped halfway.
Mandalay noticed.
"Kota?"
The boy was looking toward the side of the bus.
Mandalay followed his gaze.
And saw two figures still standing there.
Dash and Ryo.
The two were beside the bus, staring seriously at the landscape ahead, as if they had not just avoided being forcibly dropped along with everyone else.
Dash crossed his arms.
"What a beautiful view, isn't it?"
Ryo nodded.
"Yeah. It's very natural... and green."
Mandalay blinked.
"Hey! Stop messing around!"
The two looked at her.
"How are you still here?!"
Pixie-Bob also turned her face and widened her eyes.
"Wait, how did you not end up down there with the others?!"
Aizawa looked at the two of them.
Then he let out a sigh.
"I forgot to mention that those two are different cases from the others..."
Mandalay stared at Dash.
Dash looked away.
Ryo simply remained standing there, expressionless.
Aizawa raised his voice.
"Takeda. Dash."
The two turned to him immediately.
"Stop messing around. Go to the lodge. If you take too long, you'll miss the snack."
Dash became serious at once.
"Snack?"
"Yes."
"All right, then."
In the next instant, Dash disappeared.
A gust of wind kicked up dust around the bus. Mandalay raised a hand to her face to protect herself, and Kota narrowed his eyes, nearly losing his balance. The blond had already run down the side of the ravine, crossing the ninety-degree inclined surface as if it were a track and continuing straight into the forest.
Mandalay stared at his trail.
"...He ran down the ravine."
Pixie-Bob blinked.
"He's pretty fast..."
Kota was still covering his face because of the dust when he felt another presence pass by him.
Ryo walked to the edge of the ravine.
Stopped.
Turned his back to the void.
And threw himself into a dive.
Mandalay widened her eyes.
"Hey—!"
In mid-fall, Ryo drove his feet into the ravine wall, scraping them against the uneven rock as he forced his body to slow down.
He leaned his body against the wall, bent his legs, and jumped in the next instant.
The force of the leap opened cracks across the ravine wall and launched Ryo forward like a projectile. Green rings appeared around his body as Gauss Propulsion activated, accelerating him to sonic levels almost immediately.
The air exploded behind him as he broke the sound barrier.
In less than a second, Ryo disappeared into the forest horizon.
Mandalay stood still, shocked.
Pixie-Bob too.
Kota stared at the point where he had vanished, his eyes slightly widened.
Aizawa shoved his hands into his pockets.
"You'll have to get used to seeing things like that while we're here."
Mandalay slowly turned her face toward him.
"Eraser... what kind of class did you bring?"
Aizawa looked at the forest.
"A pretty chaotic one."
Pixie-Bob smiled, her eyes shining.
"I already like them! I need to mark the strongest ones as mine later!"
Kota kept staring for another moment in the direction where Ryo had disappeared.
Then he grimaced, clicked his tongue, and walked grumpily toward his aunt's car.
Aizawa watched everything in silence.
Down below, the screams of earth monsters and desperate students began to echo through the forest.
Far from there, Ryo landed in front of the lodging building a few seconds later.
The impact was light, controlled, just enough to raise a small cloud of dust around his feet. The green rings vanished into the air, and he straightened his posture, looking at the building ahead.
The lodging building was large, simple, and rustic, made of concrete, with wide balconies and large windows.
Ryo spent a few seconds just observing it.
"It's actually pretty nice."
A gust of wind came right after.
Dash appeared a few meters behind him, braking with his feet against the ground and leaving a trail of dust behind him.
He was panting.
And his face was covered in small crushed insects.
Dash blinked, spitting to the side.
"Bleh—! Bleh! I think I swallowed one!"
He ran his hands over his face and saw several dead flies stuck to his fingers.
"Ah, man, this is disgusting! Why were there so many bugs on the way?!"
Ryo tried to keep a neutral expression.
He failed.
A short laugh escaped him.
Dash stopped cleaning his face and looked at him, offended.
"Are you laughing at my misery?"
"Yes."
"That was way too direct."
Ryo was still smiling faintly as he looked at the forest behind them. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of the class fighting against the earth beasts.
"Looks like the others are going to take a while."
Dash also looked back, wiping another fly off his cheek.
"You think?"
A distant roar was followed by Kaminari's scream.
"Yeah, they'll probably take hours," Ryo replied.
He turned toward the lodging building and started walking.
"Good. Then we'd better use the time to eat and relax. I have a feeling Aizawa is going to make our lives hell tomorrow."
Dash followed behind him, still grimacing.
"I support the food part. But first, I need to wash my face."
He spat to the side one more time.
"And maybe brush my teeth about twenty times."
Ryo let out another quiet laugh as the two of them climbed the entrance steps.
----------------------------------------
The sun was already setting when Aizawa, Mandalay, and Pixie-Bob stood in front of the lodge.
The orange light filtered through the treetops, tinting the courtyard in warm shades. The air was cooler, and in the distance, it was still possible to hear branches snapping, leaves being dragged, and a few tired shouts coming from the forest.
Pixie-Bob placed her hands on her hips, her cat tail swaying right behind her.
"Looks like the rest finally arrived."
A little later, the class began to appear between the trees.
One by one.
All of them dirty, scratched, and covered in leaves.
And also completely starving.
Sero came rubbing his arm, wearing the face of someone who had rethought several life decisions.
"Three hours, my ass..."
Kirishima staggered right behind him, holding his stomach.
"I'm so hungry I think I'm gonna die..."
Mina appeared leaning on Kaminari, who looked like he had used his own soul as a battery. Uraraka came with her hair full of leaves. Iida tried to maintain his posture, but even he was panting. Bakugo, covered in dust, looked furious enough to blow up the entire forest just out of spite.
Mandalay looked at them with a sympathetic smile.
"I don't even need to say that you didn't make it in time for snacks. It's already five in the afternoon."
The entire class seemed to take an invisible blow upon hearing that.
Pixie-Bob let out a feline laugh.
"Mew, mew, mew! To tell the truth, I thought you'd take longer. But you managed to deal with my Earth Beasts pretty easily."
She pointed at a few students.
"Especially you four."
Her finger passed over Midoriya, Bakugo, Iida, and Todoroki.
"Your past experiences must have made you act without hesitation."
Midoriya became awkward.
"Ah... well..."
Bakugo clicked his tongue.
"Don't talk like it was a big deal. I didn't even go all out against those piles of dirt."
"Bakugo, accept a compliment with dignity!" Iida complained.
It was at that moment that the lodge door opened.
Ryo and Dash came out.
Both of them were wearing casual clothes.
Dash wore a simple shirt and dark shorts, his blond hair still a little damp after washing his face for the seventh time. Ryo wore a black shirt with the phrase NO SENSE on the chest, beige shorts, and his reliable red Crocs on his feet.
He looked at the ruined class.
"You finally arrived. You took longer than I thought."
Kaminari turned to him, indignant.
"Not everyone can go faster than sound, okay?!"
Toru raised her invisible hand.
"Dash-kun could've waited to carry me on his back!"
Tsuyu tilted her head.
"Takeda-kun and Dash-kun are very fast, ribbit."
Dash became awkward, scratching the back of his neck.
"Ah... my bad. I thought about going back, but then I remembered the snacks."
"Traitor," Toru muttered.
Ryo did not seem even slightly affected by the complaints.
Pixie-Bob turned to the two of them, her eyes shining.
"Ah, if it isn't the course finalists."
Ryo looked at her.
Dash pointed at himself.
"Finalists?"
"You two were the only ones I really wanted to test properly, but you ended up reaching the camp in the same instant I blinked," Pixie-Bob said, smiling. "I really wanted to see how you'd do against my Earth Beasts."
Ryo stayed silent for a second.
Then he turned his gaze to Aizawa.
The teacher stared back and gave a short nod, as if he already knew what he wanted to ask.
Ryo looked back at Pixie-Bob.
"If you don't mind, I can fight some of those dirt monsters."
Pixie-Bob's eyes practically sparkled.
"You really want to?"
"Yes."
"All right! This is going to be fun."
She turned her back slightly, leaning in to whisper with a strange smile.
"This way, I can see if you have potential for the future..."
A few minutes later, Ryo and Pixie-Bob were positioned in the large courtyard in front of the lodge. The class gathered farther back, too tired to move, but too curious not to watch.
Aizawa observed with his arms crossed.
Mandalay stood beside him, attentive.
Pixie-Bob smiled playfully and touched her paws to the ground.
"My quirk allows me to manipulate earth freely."
The ground began to move beneath her feet.
The earth rose in spirals, gathering together, shaping itself, and gaining form. In a few seconds, two enormous Earth Beasts rose in front of Ryo, both with robust bodies, long arms, and animalistic faces.
"That gives me an almost infinite arsenal of possibilities," Pixie-Bob said. "And one of them is being able to make these little guys here."
The Beasts roared.
Pixie-Bob pointed at Ryo.
"Don't disappoint me."
The two creatures charged.
Ryo watched in silence before raising his hand.
And with a flick, a wave of air exploded from his fingers.
The two Earth Beasts were instantly annihilated, turning into a rain of sand and pulverized stone that spread across the courtyard. The gust of wind crossed the entire area, making the class's hair sway and raising dust all around.
Kirishima blinked.
"I was already expecting something like that."
Midoriya, however, narrowed his eyes.
"That movement..."
Ryo kept his arm raised. Two fingers released a thin line of smoke.
"Deku-Style," he murmured.
Midoriya froze.
"M-My style?!"
Ryo looked at Pixie-Bob.
"Is that all?"
Her surprise lasted only an instant before being replaced by pure excitement.
"It's not over yet!"
She touched the ground again.
More Earth Beasts appeared. Five. Ten. Fifteen. They advanced from every direction, roaring and dragging their claws across the ground.
Ryo stood still.
Flick
One beast exploded.
Flick
Two more turned to dust.
He moved his extended arm as if he were handling a weapon with precision, destroying each creature before it could get close. With every shot of air, a gust swept through the courtyard and left trails on the ground.
Pixie-Bob smiled when she saw that he was focused on the front.
"Then what about from behind?"
The earth behind Ryo suddenly rose, forming a dozen Beasts ready to leap.
Ryo did not even turn his body.
He only waved his hand backward.
A brutal gust swept everything away.
The Beasts were pulverized at the same time, and the wind almost reached the edge of the forest behind them, making entire trees shake violently.
But the moment Ryo turned his gaze forward again.
He ended up facing a six-meter golem.
The new creature was much larger and denser than the others. Its body looked compact, heavy, reinforced. Both arms had transformed into enormous hammers covered in stone spikes.
Pixie-Bob pointed at the beast, excited.
"This one is reinforced! Its earth is as dense and hard as steel!"
The golem raised its hammer before bringing it down on Ryo with all its might.
He merely raised his forearm, only for the hammer to split in two the moment it touched him.
Sand and fragments of stone splattered across his shirt, his face, and his shorts.
Ryo looked at the dust on his shoulder.
His expression became slightly irritated.
"You're getting me dirty."
With that, he slapped the golem, pulverizing it completely.
A wave of dust passed through the courtyard, and when it settled, there was nothing left but earth scattered across the ground.
Mandalay stared at the scene, surprised.
Pixie-Bob also stood motionless.
Class 1-A, on the other hand, looked almost bored.
Kaminari scratched his head.
"Yeah... that seems like Ryo."
Sero nodded.
"Pretty much what I expected."
Midoriya was still stuck on the earlier detail.
"Deku-Style... So if he uses explosions, would it be Kacchan-Style?"
Bakugo looked at him irritably.
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"N-Nothing!"
Pixie-Bob began to tremble.
Ryo noticed and became a little uncomfortable.
"Are you okay?"
She hugged herself, shrinking her shoulders, trembling more and more.
Ryo frowned.
"...Are you crying because you lost?"
For an instant, it really seemed like she was shaken by defeat.
But then her face appeared between the paws covering it, revealing that she had a huge smile on her face.
Too huge.
"I found..."
Her eyes sparkled.
"I finally found..."
She stared at Ryo as if she had seen a divine revelation.
"My future man!"
Ryo took half a step back.
"Why are you looking at me like that?!"
Pixie-Bob shot forward.
"MEW!"
She threw herself at him with enough force to knock him onto the courtyard ground.
The entire class was left without a reaction.
Ryo fell onto his back, looking up with wide eyes while Pixie-Bob stayed on top of him, holding his shoulders with her enormous paws.
"You're going to make very good use of the next few years, young man!"
Ryo widened his eyes.
"What does that mean?!"
"Marking what will be mine in 3 years!"
She leaned in dramatically.
"Hey! Wait! What are you doing!"
"Giving you your reward!" Pixie-Bob answered, continuing to bring her face closer theatrically. "You were the first one to reach the lodge! So you deserve a reward!"
Aizawa slowly turned his face toward Mandalay.
"Mandalay."
"Yes?"
"You didn't tell me she was like this."
Mandalay sighed, tired.
"Yeah... She's kind of afraid of becoming an old maid forever."
Aizawa looked back at the scene.
"Hm..."
A loud sound echoed through the courtyard.
"Mwah~!"
Pixie-Bob had planted an exaggerated kiss on his forehead, leaving a pink lipstick mark there.
For a second, the entire courtyard fell silent.
Then Kaminari dropped to his knees.
"Even mature women fall for him..."
Sero quickly approached and grabbed his friend by the shoulders.
"Calm down, man."
Kaminari had tears of pain in his eyes.
"Why isn't he resisting? He just pulverized a six-meter dirt giant with a slap! Why doesn't he just push her aside?!"
Ryo, still on the ground, looked like he was in a complete state of shock.
Pixie-Bob, on the other hand, was radiant.
"Because he's someone who respects a mature woman!"
Kaminari sniffled against Sero's chest.
"We're the background characters of this story, Sero..."
Sero patted his back.
"I know, buddy. I know."
Midoriya was red with secondhand embarrassment as he looked at the scene. Uraraka covered her mouth. Mina laughed shamelessly. Jiro turned her face away awkwardly. And Momo was saying just how wrong this was.
Aizawa finally pulled out his capture weapon and wrapped it around Pixie-Bob's waist, pulling her away from Ryo with a sharp movement.
"Enough."
"Ah, Eraser, you ruin everything."
"He's underage."
Pixie-Bob brought her paws to her face.
"I said when he grows up!"
"Still weird."
Ryo sat on the ground, wiping the mark from his forehead with his hand.
Dash approached and looked at him.
"Are you okay?"
Ryo stared into the void.
"No."
Dash looked at the lipstick mark that still had not completely come off.
"That looks like it won't come off even with water..."
Aizawa sighed and turned to the class.
"Go inside. Take a bath first, and only after that, go have dinner."
The word made everyone react.
"DINNER!"
Kirishima raised his fists.
"Finally!"
Kaminari rose from the ground as if he had been resurrected.
"Does food heal emotional wounds?"
Sero answered:
"Let's find out."
Ryo was the last to stand up, still trying to clean his forehead.
He looked at Pixie-Bob.
She noticed his gaze on her and made a heart with her paws.
"Ehe~❤︎"
----------------------------------------
Later, after dinner, the class was finally given permission to use the lodge's hot spring.
The hot water released steam beneath the dark sky, surrounded by natural rocks and a tall wooden fence that divided the male side from the female side. The sound of nighttime insects came from the surrounding forest, mixed with the calm sound of the water.
For most Japanese boys, this was normal.
For Dash, it was not.
The blond boy stood near the edge of the hot spring, completely stiff, holding the towel around his waist as if it were sacred armor.
He looked at Kirishima, who was already in the water, relaxing as if he had found paradise.
Then he looked at Kaminari and Sero, who looked far too comfortable.
Then at Iida, who was sitting with perfect posture even in a hot spring.
Dash swallowed hard.
"So... you guys just get in here like this?"
Kirishima smiled.
"It's a hot spring, man. You're supposed to relax."
"Yes, I understood the hot water part." Dash lowered his voice. "I just didn't understand the part where everyone is... like this."
"Like what?"
Dash looked around, red-faced.
"Like this."
Sero laughed.
"I forgot you're American, hehe."
"It's not funny."
"It's a little funny," Kaminari said, sunk up to his neck. "Your Japanese has gotten so much better that we keep forgetting you're a foreigner."
Dash sighed, still gripping the towel tightly.
"Where's Ryo?"
The traditional wooden door slid open at that exact moment.
Ryo entered.
Wearing a bathrobe.
The entire class looked at him.
Dash was left speechless.
Ryo stopped when he noticed the silence.
"What?"
Dash pointed at him.
"You're wearing a bathrobe."
"Yes."
"You could wear a bathrobe?"
Ryo looked at him, confused.
"Of course?"
Dash stared at his own towel as if it had betrayed him.
"You could have told me that in the changing room! This is my first time in a hot spring, after all!"
"It's my first time here too," Ryo replied, calmly walking to the edge.
Dash stood still for two more seconds.
Then he sighed, defeated.
"You know what? I'm already here. I'll accept my fate."
Kirishima slapped a hand against the water.
"That's the spirit! Forget the embarrassment and enjoy it! In here, every man is a brother!"
Iida raised a finger.
"Kirishima-kun, while I understand the fraternal intention behind that phrase, we must maintain respectful and appropriate behavior for this environment."
"That too!"
Ryo entered the water without hurry, letting out a low sigh when the heat reached his shoulders.
"This is better than I expected."
Dash entered right after him, still tense, but slowly relaxing.
"Okay... the water is good."
"See?" Kirishima smiled. "Just don't overthink it."
On the other side of the hot spring, Kaminari and Sero were far too quiet.
The two of them stared at the wooden fence separating the male side from the female side like explorers standing before a sacred mountain.
Kaminari narrowed his eyes.
"Sero..."
"I know," Sero replied, serious.
"On the other side... there is treasure."
Sero slowly nodded.
"A treasure every man dreams of witnessing at least once in his life."
Kaminari placed a hand over his chest.
"Girls... Cute... Beautiful... And absolute baddies."
Some of the boys who were pretending not to listen ended up looking at the wall too.
It seemed as if the energy of a certain "someone" had possessed the place for a few seconds.
Iida immediately stood up, water running down his shoulders.
"Stop right now! That line of thinking is completely unacceptable!"
Kaminari raised his fist.
"Today, we do not speak of sin, Iida."
Sero shot a strip of tape toward the top of the fence.
"We speak of discovery."
"Of courage."
"Of sacrifice."
"Of going beyond the limits that restrict us."
Iida advanced.
"Do not use that phrase for this!"
Sero pulled the tape and took Kaminari with him.
The two climbed up the wall in one quick, desperate movement.
"PLUS ULTRA!"
At the top of the fence, a small figure suddenly appeared.
Kota.
The boy was crouched on the partition, holding a pair of scissors with an expression of pure contempt.
"Are you guys really heroes?"
Sero and Kaminari froze.
"Kota-kun?!" Midoriya shouted.
Kota raised the scissors.
"Learn how to be decent people first."
Snip
The tape was cut.
"Brat!" Kaminari shouted.
"Traitor to youth!" Sero added.
The two plummeted back down.
They landed directly on top of Iida.
A painful sound echoed through the hot spring.
"GHK—!"
Iida sank for half a second before returning to the surface, with Kaminari and Sero groaning on top of him.
"I... warned you..."
Kota looked down at them from the top of the fence.
"Hmph."
From the other side, the girls' voices rang out.
"Thank you, Kota-kun!"
"You saved us!"
"Good job!"
Kota automatically turned his face toward the girls' side, but that was a mistake.
He saw something he clearly was not prepared to see.
His face turned red immediately.
A thin stream of blood ran from his nose.
"Ah."
His eyes rolled slightly before he lost his balance.
"Kota-kun!" Midoriya shouted.
Dash rose from the water too quickly.
"I'll handle this!"
Ryo turned his head at once.
"Dash, wait. The floor—"
Too late.
Dash shot forward, and everything slowed down.
Kota was falling in slow motion.
Water dripped onto the floor.
Midoriya was beginning to move.
Kirishima's eyes widened.
Dash stopped and opened his arms, perfectly calculating where the boy would fall.
"Got him."
The problem was the wet floor.
His figure slid to the side due to the momentum he had created.
His body slipped sideways at high speed, arms still raised heroically for a rescue that was no longer going to happen.
"Oh, no."
He slammed into the wall with a dry sound.
BAM!
"Dash!" Kirishima shouted, getting out of the water to help.
Meanwhile, Midoriya managed to jump and catch Kota before the boy hit the floor.
"Got you!"
Kota was unconscious, his nose bleeding, with the expression of someone who had seen the truth of the universe far too early.
Midoriya went pale.
"Kota-kun?! Kota-kun, hang in there!"
He rushed out of the hot spring, carrying the boy away.
On the floor, Kaminari and Sero were still groaning on top of Iida, who looked like he had taken more damage than anyone else that night.
Kirishima tried to help Dash, who was lying against the wall with a red mark on his forehead.
"Are you okay, man?"
Dash weakly raised a thumb.
"I saved... the wall..."
Ryo looked at the whole scene before letting out a sigh.
He looked up at the night sky above the hot spring.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like this camp is going to be pretty lively."