Training Ends

Relieved, Jilan Jiyu decisively pulled Denki Kaminari's hand down. "You're so boring. I didn't touch anything."

Judging by his tone, that meant everyone in the monitoring room had no idea what had happened...

After all, Toru Hagakure was just a young girl, and she was unlikely to say that he had touched her body. Shoto Todoroki and the others on the villain team were even less likely to know. The only one who knew everything was...

"Mr. All Might, do you know where Toru Hagakure went?" Jilan Jiyu walked up behind All Might like a ghost and spoke without warning.

"I didn't hear anything!" All Might said reflexively.

"Oh, really?"

All Might slowly turned his head. Seeing Jilan Jiyu's half-smiling expression, he gave a stiff smile. "Young Jilan, Toru Hagakure said she wasn't feeling well and went back early. I don't know anything about the rest."

All Might was over forty, after all, and his headset could connect him to all four participants, so he naturally knew exactly what had happened between the two at the base. But could this kind of thing be called unavoidable? Jilan Jiyu hadn't done anything wrong, and Toru Hagakure had made the request herself. All Might had no say in the matter either, so he could only pretend not to have heard or seen anything.

Jilan Jiyu had only come to All Might for an answer. Knowing that the matter wouldn't get out and his reputation wouldn't be harmed was enough to satisfy him, so he had no intention of pressing him further. Asking about Toru Hagakure had merely been an afterthought.

Jilan Jiyu looked at the big screen. There were five attack-and-defense matches in total. He had been in the second, and Denki Kaminari's third match had already ended, which meant this was the fourth...

On the screen, Tape Superman of the villain team had used tape to create a barrier around the nuclear weapon. He and Eijiro Kirishima stood openly at the entrance to the base, waiting for the hero team to attack. Unless the two were defeated, the heroes couldn't touch the nuclear weapon.

It hadn't been mentioned before, but Tape Superman was Hanta Sero. Jilan Jiyu thought his costume looked like the cheap suits often seen in tokusatsu shows, and for some reason, it gave him a sense of cheapness.

On the other side, the hero team consisted of Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui, whose Quirks were Dark Shadow and Frog, respectively.

Honestly, looking at the Dark Shadow emerging from Fumikage Tokoyami's cloak, which resembled a Haunter from Pokémon, and Tsuyu Asui crawling along the pipes overhead while surveying her surroundings, it was hard to imagine that they were the team representing the heroes. They and the hot-blooded villains on the other side seemed like complete opposites.

When the two sides finally met, Eijiro Kirishima charged straight at Fumikage Tokoyami,

Watching from the side, Yaoyorozu covered her face. "I really want to make a comment about this. It feels like the villains and heroes have completely switched roles."

Come to think of it, the previous match should have been Momo Yaoyorozu and Minoru Mineta against Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro. Although Jilan Jiyu didn't know how the match had played out, judging by how Kaminari had kept changing the subject just now, he had probably been on the losing side.

"The hero team wins! The match is over!"

Fumikage Tokoyami repeatedly pushed the charging Kirishima away, pulling a few strips of tape loose each time he retracted Dark Shadow. Tsuyu Asui kept Hanta Sero occupied, knocking down the tape with her tongue every time he tried to fire it.

When the tape had been torn to pieces, Kirishima stopped his futile attacks. No matter which direction he attacked from, Dark Shadow pushed him back to where he had started with even greater force. Several times, he had nearly crashed into the nuclear weapon.

He decisively chose to concede. When he had no way to fight back, conceding was the wisest decision. Hanta Sero stopped as well. No matter how he looked at it, their side was bound to lose, so they might as well get it over with.

The next villain team was Mashirao Ojiro and Koji Koda, while Yuga Aoyama and Mina Ashido were the hero team.

"Jilan, watch me closely!"

Mina Ashido waved at Jilan Jiyu, then jogged after Yuga Aoyama, who was walking ahead and humming a tune.

Honestly, Jilan Jiyu didn't have much hope for their team. Yuga Aoyama looked so narcissistic that he didn't seem to be taking the test seriously, while Mina Ashido was so carefree that she looked just like an elementary schooler on a field trip.

Sure enough... not long after they set out, Mina Ashido accidentally spilled her acid on Yuga Aoyama's cape. Seeing the apologetic smile on her face, Jilan Jiyu truly felt helpless.

What did he want me to watch her do, act like a clown? And Yuga Aoyama is only concerned with mourning his cape. Does he think he's some kind of sensitive prince?

Since they hadn't encountered any villains along the way, Mina Ashido soon relaxed again and walked cheerfully to the base. Behind her, Aoyama, who was hugging his cape and crying, wasn't on guard at all either.

When she swaggered into the base, she was quite pleased with herself. Seeing Koji Koda standing by the window, she had no intention of using her Quirk and prepared to go straight up and fight him at close range. But just as she reached the middle of the room, he saw a flock of crows and a swarm of rats suddenly emerge from some unknown corner, surrounding Koji Koda in an instant.

Mina Ashido's expression changed instantly. Although she wasn't particularly afraid of these animals, the dark mass of them looked intimidating enough to make her want to run at once. Who would want to fight these animals?!

Mina Ashido, caught up in the exercise, didn't know what had happened, but Jilan Jiyu saw it all clearly. Mashirao Ojiro, who had a flexible tail, used it to hook onto a pipe above the room's door. Instead of attacking Ashido, who entered first, he waited quietly. When Aoyama came in, he flipped behind him in an instant. Before Aoyama could react, Ojiro pulled his cape over his head, took out some tape, and wrapped him up, dealing with him quickly and cleanly.

When Mina Ashido turned to flee, she saw Mashirao Ojiro standing right behind her in a taekwondo uniform, smiling at her. At his feet was Yuga Aoyama, his head wrapped in his red cape as he wriggled like a worm.

With a formidable enemy in front of her and pursuers behind her, Mina Ashido still didn't want to give up and exchanged a few moves with Mashirao Ojiro.

Soon, after a leg sweep, Mina Ashido lay on the floor. Watching the rats draw closer and closer in her field of vision, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

And so the five matches came to an end. Jilan Jiyu now had a clear idea of everyone's abilities in the class and a direct understanding of them.

Originally, All Might had wanted the students to discuss the reasons for their victories and defeats on the spot, but too many of them were absent, so he decided to hold the discussion during tomorrow's hero basic training class instead.

He gathered those who were still present and, after a few concluding remarks, dismissed Jilan Jiyu and the others before hurrying out of the training grounds.

The entire exercise had taken only one morning, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet, but there were no classes that afternoon.

Just as Jilan Jiyu was wondering how to spend the rest of the day, Izuku Midoriya did something unusual and walked up to him, scratching his head a little shyly. "Jilan, would you like to eat with us?"

Jilan Jiyu looked behind him. Tenya Iida and Ochaco Uraraka both smiled and greeted him.

In the distance, Katsuki Bakugo was watching them. When he caught Jilan Jiyu's gaze, he spat on the ground with some disdain. As he turned and walked away, small explosions like fireworks appeared on the ground.

Clearly, he had turned his saliva into nitroglycerin and caused the explosions. He was making a show of force to Jilan.

"Sure." Jilan Jiyu thought it over for a moment before agreeing. "There's something I wanted to ask you too."