The Yaoyorozu estate was large enough to host foreign diplomats and quiet enough to hear the despair of Class 1-A as they sprawled around the main lounge, nursing bruises and fractured egos.
A steaming pot of tea sat untouched in the center of the low table. Several cushions had been dragged into the room in haphazard piles. The mansion's typically regal lighting was dimmed to a soft glow, matching the wilted mood of its guests.
Most of the class was either draped over furniture or lying spread-eagle on the floor. Others leaned against walls, eyes glazed, wrapped in blankets someone had thoughtfully distributed once they started dropping like flies post-simulation.
Mineta sat in the corner farthest from the center of the room, knees clutched to his chest, mumbling incoherently. His eyes darted to the shadows in the corners, flinching every time one of them so much as flickered.
"He was there, man. One second it was just me and Kaminari—then I turned, and boom! Kaminari was gone!" Mineta whispered hoarsely.
"I-I saw it too," Jiro added from beside him, huddled under a blanket up to her nose. Her earjacks twitched, but whether from fear or residual static, no one knew. "I heard something—behind us. But there was nothing there. Just… breathing. Slow, like it was waiting."
Mina and Koda, similarly traumatized, exchanged glances before looking away quickly when Izuku shifted on his cushion.
They all sat in the same corner, a little shellshocked, the Trauma Corner™ unofficially established.
Izuku, seated nearby on a modest floor cushion, tried to make himself smaller. It was hard to do when your entire body was gently glowing with a soft, golden healing aura. He didn't mean to scare anyone that badly—but after being constantly getting countered and trapped by the class in just the beginning, he thought surprise attacks were the way to go.
His face was red with embarrassment as murmurs floated up around him. Most of the class weren't angry, exactly—just exhausted. Shaken. A little offended by how efficiently they'd been obliterated once the training escalated.
"I thought we'd have the advantage when it turned dark," Ojiro muttered from where he lay face-down on the floor. "But all that did was make it easy to flashbang us."
"Why do I feel like I was in a horror movie," Hagakure said with an exaggerated groan. "Like, full-on 'final girl' energy. I was this close to calling it quits when Asui got snatched up mid sentence. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest!"
"You were invisible," Sero pointed out dryly. "He still found you."
"Don't remind me!" she wailed, clutching a throw pillow to her chest. "I don't even know how he did it! I didn't make a sound! There's no way he should've found me!"
"What I wanna know is how he managed to hide constructs made of light in the dark enough to snatch people silently through trees?" Kaminari grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "It doesn't even make sense."
"It was fun to watch though," Izuki chirped from the plush loveseat, cheerfully swinging her legs. Her voice was as chipper as if this were all a harmless prank. "And I have to say, ten out of ten experiences. Would watch again."
Her fingers threaded calmly through Bakugo's hair as he lay in her lap, arms crossed and face pointed stubbornly away from everyone else. He scowled darkly, not at her, but just in general—as if daring someone to bring it up.
"Shut up," he muttered, ears pink.
"Oh come on, you're comfy like this," Izuki teased, smiling down at him as she pressed an ice pack to his forehead. "Besides, someone has to hold you down before you start kacchaning the living room."
Bakugo growled like a feral beast as he tried to force himself up only to be held down by Izuki monstrous strength.
"Mmm-hmm," she hummed with a wicked grin, not letting up until he settled down. She knew that despite his fussing, he liked her babying him.
He was just putting up a fight so incase his class teased him, he could have an excuse. He'd done it often enough when they were little kids for her to be certain this was the case now.
Momo, standing near the back of the room, cleared her throat softly. "Despite the... surprise tactics, I think we did well overall."
"Barely," Iida muttered, glasses askew and one pant leg torn. "I still can't feel my right thigh and we never managed to rescue Izuki."
"At least you didn't get picked off like a horror movie extra," Mineta muttered. "I was the comic relief! I wasn't supposed to die first!"
Izuku raised his hand sheepishly. "I didn't mean to scare anyone. I—I was really trying to go easy for the first half. Honest."
That earned him a few withering stares and one sarcastic scoff.
"Easy?" Jiro croaked. "You speed blitzed and knocked most of us out in the first twenty minutes. Now that I think about it, how did you get that fast!"
"Ummm, my quirk?" Izuku responded, which only got him the stink eye from the class.
"I'm just saying," Kaminari chimed in, "you could've warned us you were gonna go full cryptid."
"What does that even mean—?"
"You hunted us, dude!" Sero said. "When the sun went down? That wasn't training anymore. That was survival horror!"
"You had me thinking it was a nightmare, I was looking for save points and checking my inventory for sanity pills." Mina chimed in while rocking herself in Asui's comforting arms.
"Guys, guys—please." Momo's voice piped again from near the back. "He won. We lost. Let's at least pretend we're professionals."
"Easy for you to say," Mineta grumbled. "You helped him plan all this! You didn't feel the fear of forgetting it was a training exercise."
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll... tone it down next time. I promise."
"Next time?" several voices echoed in horror.
Bakugo, still in Izuki's lap, scoffed. "Tch. Buncha crybabies. Just get stronger."
"Oh hush," Izuki said, pressing the icepack harder on his head, causing him to squirm more. She looked at Izuku. "Why don't you get to the part where you tell them everything they did wrong since they've had enough time to whine."
Izuku cleared his throat, still glowing as he straightened a bit. "Yeah... I guess since we're all here, I should give some feedback. Just quick points. We can get into more individual critique tomorrow."
The room groaned collectively, but no one stopped him. "First off—great planning at the start. Seriously. The team divisions, scouting formations, and those early combo attacks? That was textbook. You had me second-guessing my approach before I even really started."
A few nods and muffled affirmations rolled through the room.
"But… the execution was a bit sloppy," he continued gently. "Teamwork started breaking down once a lot of people joined the fray instead of getting better. Too much getting in each other way and not enough communication between cells."
The vanguard team and their support groaned. Izuku ignored it tactfully.
"Now, the way you used the healing aura boost—that was smart. I didn't even realize I was capable of doing that and I suspect you knew that as well and pushed me to heal on purpose. So that was a solid exploitation of an enemy ability."
There were a few proud grins at that, mostly from Momo and Bakugo.
"Where you really impressed me was when you shifted tactics and started going for the cage when you realized my speed would make a direct fight impossible to win. So good job there."
Momo's smile twitched wider, just a bit.
"That said…" Izuku winced. "Things kind of… fell apart after the second ambush failed and I split you up."
A heavy silence.
"A lot of you made the mistake of trying to fight me one-on-one when I found you again—Todoroki, Bakugo, even Iida. That kind of solo effort only works if you're stalling or baiting for time. Most of the time, you weren't. The only one who really did that right was Asui. She evaded, hid, regrouped—used the terrain and waited for a chance to strike or escape."
Across the room, Asui gave a tired but humble "ribbit."
"Sure, that was more textbook survivalist behavior than heroic, but if more of you had done that, I might've had a harder time taking you down. But instead, most of you opted to stand your ground and fight me again—which made it easy to neutralize you one at a time. Especially you Tokoyami, I'm a direct counter to you regardless of the time of day, yet you still didn't run."
The bird boy looked away abashed, muttering something about the darkness being his ally.
Izuku let his words settle, then added quickly, "You were all brave, fighting against a superior opponent while split up from your team and unaware of their status while attacked from the shadows. But bravery and smart tactics aren't always the same thing. As heroes, we'll need to find a balance between them if we want to be successful."
Silence hung for a beat longer before Izuku clapped his hands together lightly.
"Anyway, I just wanted to get that out there. You guys did good. Better than good. You pushed me harder than I expected, and you definitely earned a break. Hit the showers and maybe schedule a therapy session or two after the camp ends. Sorry again about the horror movie vibes."
There was a beat of silence.
Then a pillow hit him in the face.
Izuki was laughing again.
Roughly an hour later, cleaned up and vaguely resembling functioning humans again, the class filed into the grand dining room of the Yaoyorozu estate. Long velvet curtains framed the tall windows, and the chandelier above cast warm golden light over a massive polished table already set with an array of utensils that many had only ever seen in anime.
A professional chef stood at attention, overseeing the final touches of the meal with practiced grace, and footmen in white gloves moved smoothly along the walls, ready to assist.
It was so fancy, half of them froze on the spot.
"...So do we sit down, or wait for someone to ring a bell?" Kaminari whispered.
"How am I supposed to know? I never learned rich people etiquette," Sero muttered back.
But then the smell hit.
Perfectly seared meat. Baked vegetables glazed in sauce. Fresh bread, soups, fine rice dishes, pastas, and more. There were full platters of steaming food placed neatly along the table's center, all arranged by cuisine. It was enough to make stomachs growl in unison.
Whatever nervousness they had about manners or etiquette went right out the window.
They descended.
By the time the first course was halfway through, the class had relaxed enough to chat between bites—though many of them tried (and failed) to look dignified while simultaneously stuffing their faces. The exhaustion from earlier in the day made them ravenous, and nobody had the pride to hold back.
Momo's parents sat at the head of the table, looking perfectly at ease with the swarm of teens devouring their food like wolves.
Momo, seated beside them, kept her smile polite but fond. It was clear she was a little embarrassed by how her friends were eating but because parents didn't mind she simply focused on being happy they were here.
The meal had stretched into a quiet lull, filled with the soft clinks of silverware and the occasional satisfied sigh. Then the staff returned, as if summoned by the subtle shift in atmosphere, bearing the second wave of temptation.
Dessert.
They came in an elegant procession—trays and carts wheeled in bearing pyramids of delicate confections. There were mini cheesecakes glazed with fruit syrups, matcha tiramisu, chilled puddings layered in glasses, fluffy mille-feuille stacked with cream, and glossy chocolate tarts that looked almost too perfect to eat. Almost.
"Oh no," Jiro whispered, torn between awe and horror. "I'm gonna explode."
"You'll die happy," Mina answered reverently, already reaching for a matcha roll cake with powdered sugar falling off it like soft snow.
"You've been dead before," Sero said to Izuki with mock seriousness. "How's the post-mortem metabolism?"
Izuki, mid-bite of a strawberry mochi, grinned with puffed cheeks like a squirrel as she answered without bothering to swallow. "Pretty good actually. I came out fit as a fiddle when I revived!"
"Mind your manners," Bakugo muttered beside her, but his voice lacked real heat. He had a spoon in one hand and the last quarter of a decadent chocolate lava cake was already disappearing from his plate.
She leaned over and bopped his cheek lightly with her knuckle, mouth still full. "What are you, my mom?"
"Just swallow before speaking!" Bakugo shot back as he pinched her nose, forcing her to swallow so she could breathe through her mouth.
At the far end of the table, Mineta was grinning pervertedly while poking suspiciously at a flan. "It's like I'm poking boobies."
"Stop being gross Mineta," Jiro deadpanned. "We're eating."
Eventually, as the conversation softened into dreamy murmurs, Momo's father stood, his chair sliding back without a sound. Her mother followed shortly after, dabbing her lips with a napkin before placing it neatly on the table.
"We'll leave you all to enjoy the rest of your evening," her father said with a warm smile. "But do try not to stay up too late. Some of you look as though you're about to collapse where you sit."
"And remember," her mother added gently, "the basement is off-limits."
"We understand!" Iida said quickly, standing so fast his chair clattered. "Thank you for the hospitality, ma'am, sir!"
With that, the adults made their elegant exit, leaving the students behind in a wake of many thank you's and goodbye's. Dessert kept coming in but it was mostly to feed Sato. The boys love of sweets knowing no bounds.
Later, back with Izuki, she leaned back in her seat with a content hum, arms spread wide. "Aaaahhhh~ I can feel my soul leaving my body. Someone wheel me to bed. I'm ready to enter dessert-induced stasis."
Bakugo grunted, snagging her plate before it could slip from the table. "You're not dying again, dumbass."
"I'm not dying," she corrected. "I'm ascendiiiiing~." She flopped sideways across him dramatically.
"Well I'd rather you stay on earth for a lot longer," he muttered as he used a napkin to clean her face.
As chatter faded and post-dessert fatigue settled over them like a fog, Momo gave a small clap and cleared her throat. "Alright. I think it's about time everyone retired to there room. Remember, girls' wing is on the left, boys' on the right."
"What, no more ghost stories in the lounge?" Mina asked, mock-pouting as she rose, half-limping with dramatic flair.
"I think the lounge has seen enough trauma today," Izuku responded jovially.
"Seconded," Jiro said, already dragging herself to her feet.
They filed out in slow groups, yawning and nudging each other playfully. The halls of the estate were quiet, the soft lighting and polished floors giving everything the dreamlike glow of a palace just past midnight.
In the corridor outside the bedrooms, Izuki reached out and flicked her brother's ear as they passed. "Hey. That was a good debrief, by the way."
He gave her a tired smile. "You think so?"
"Sure. You were just the right mix of harsh and supportive. You've really grown into the whole cryptid-mentor thing."
"Gee, thanks," he said dryly.
She cackled, skipping ahead down the girls' wing before calling back loudly to the class, "Sleep tight! Don't let the training-induced nightmares bite!"
Bakugo paused behind him, watching her go, arms crossed.
"Just like old times huh?" he asked.
Izuku sighed then smiled. "Yeah, it really is."
With that, they each turned in for the night, happy and looking forward to a bright future with their best friend and sister.
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Hello everyone! I'm back with a new chapter AND a special announcement. But first, some gratitude!
Huge thanks to recon100035 and genskot for dropping stones to support the fic!And another round of appreciation to all the silent supporters—those who added my story to their library, left comments, or simply kept reading.
Now for the announcements:
1. New Fic Drop: Tomorrow I'm releasing a brand-new story.
Warframe: Earth-Bet Protocol — a crossover between Warframe and hit web serial Worm.I've been working on this one for a while now, and I'm excited to finally share it with you. Expect weekly and consistent updates—no disappearing acts for this one.
2. Ko-fi Page: I've set up a Ko-fi page for those who enjoy my writing and want to support me directly: ko-fi.com/InhumanMan
It's still a work in progress but should be done tomorrow, and I'm also planning to launch a Patreon. With your support, I hope to one day write full-time and build toward publishing my own original work. Baby steps, but we're moving.
That's all i have to say for now, folks.See you next week—Author out! ✌