Mandalay walked out of the Infirmary, wearing a white lab coat.
Erasure Head, Vlad King, Lemillion, Pixie-Bob, Ragdoll, and Tiger were waiting for her outside in the corridor.
"How's she?" Mirio asked, his face lacking all smiles.
"It's…" Mandalay replied, looking astounded, "… unbelievable. It's like Snappy never suffered an injury in her stomach at all. The wound on her leg mimicked the same result if the shard of ice had hit her there originally. It's like… the wound was transferred…"
Erasure Head's eyes narrowed.
He distinctly remembered Luke's hand on Aina's stomach, covering her wound, before he had swept it down to her leg.
At that time, he and Midoriya had been aghast by Luke's action because it felt like he had injured her even more.
However, it was only when Luke began healing Aina's leg using Spot Heal that Erasure Head noticed the disappearance of the hideous injury on her stomach.
"… Did he have such a Quirk before?" Mandalay asked.
Erasure Head shook his head.
"This… Quirk is too amazing to be true," Mandalay remarked. "On the field, it can be a game-changer. Imagine how many lives we could have saved, if… Sigh…"
"Can I visit her?" Lemillion asked, still refusing to smile.
In the absence of Sir Nighteye, Snappy was his responsibility. He knew how important her Quirk was, not only for this mission but also for the overall well-being of society. Perhaps that's why Sir Nighteye had sent him with her. Otherwise, with so many Pros available to train the students, it made little sense that he was needed here as well.
The only regrettable thing in all this was that Aina wasn't injured by a Villain, but… by recklessness.
Mandalay rejected Mirio's request, though.
"Her leg is almost healed," she explained. "Spot Heal seemed to have worked its charm. However, because of the back-to-back injuries, her body has gone into shock. I have given her sedatives. Let her rest. Also, Nyx is with her…"
A silence fell upon the Pros.
In only a few moments, things could have taken the darkest turn.
"… I am sorry, Erasure," Ragdoll apologized. "It's my duty to keep an eye on the students…"
"That's not needed," Aizawa said. "Even if you had caught the oddity in time, it would have been too late to react… We can blame no one but our bad luck for this tragedy. Avoided tragedy…"
"We can blame the tragedy itself on bad luck," Tiger added, "but not the actions contributing to that bad luck… What if Snappy hadn't been keeping an eye on the students? What if the shard of ice had hit the boy himself… on the head? Tragedy seems a very light word compared to what could have happened…"
A disaster…
The word rang like an ominous bell in their minds.
Erasure Head's eyes suddenly gained a hard look, remembering the scene. "Keep an eye on her, Mandalay," he said, turning around. "I need to deal with two unruly, thoughtless boys…"
"Erasure!" Mandalay shouted. "… Don't go too far… They are already thinking it's their fault…"
"Because—," Erasure Head said, the end of his hair flailing, "— it is!"
…
Luke and Todoroki sat in the open, away from the rest of the students, as directed by Erasure Head.
Todoroki's face was blanker than a white sheet of paper.
Luke was holding his face with his hands, imagining what could have happened.
However, now that he had avoided that turn of events, another ill situation was hounding him.
Erasure Head and Midoriya had seen him using Damage Transfer.
By now, he had already used this ability for very crucial purposes and people of importance.
However, two cases stood out more prominently than the others.
As Dr. Blessed, Luke had used Damage Transfer to save Dr. Samuel Abraham from a bullet wound in his head. The I-Island authorities had no footage of him transferring the damage, but Dr. Sam's medical records would have definitely pointed out the oddity of the scar on his head and the bullet wound on his leg, instead.
An even bigger threat was the use of Damage Transfer on All Might, not much later than the previous incident.
The only silver lining in this was that All Might had been on the brink of collapsing at that time, and could barely register what was happening to him and in his surroundings.
Luke had transferred the damage from his waist, where he carried the injury he had suffered from All For One, to his leg, too.
However, for all All Might cared, his leg might have been injured already, and Dr. Blessed had just healed the wound on his waist.
This was, of course, what Decryption kept telling Luke.
But even Decryption couldn't prevent him from seeing a bleeding Aina in his arms.
Luke didn't regret using Damage Transfer at all. If he hadn't acted instantly, instead of waiting to use Spot Heal, it would have been already too late. Because of his dwindling Spirit Points, he would have needed to wait for quite some time to activate a High Complexity or above Healing Quirk. In that time…
Erasure Head appeared in front of them, holding no expression. "I can imagine such a pure reckless action from some students…" Aizawa said. "But… you two… What were you thinking?!"
Luke and Todoroki stood up slowly, keeping their heads down.
"Toilet duties on both campsites for the remaining two weeks," Erasure Head said. "Also, every day in the morning, I need a detailed report on what you two are planning to do…, and if you change that plan, I need a fresh report, first."
The two boys nodded.
Erasure Head looked at the shaking fists of the boys and sighed. He put his hands on their heads and tried to pet… He truly wished All Might were here at this moment.
"Plus Ultra doesn't mean sacrificing yourself," he said. "Plus Ultra means surviving all odds… with a smile on your face. I hope you two have learned a valuable lesson today. Anyway… these new abilities… what have you named them?"
"… Zero Bullet," Todoroki said, remembering the feeling.
Luke sighed within and added, "… Damage Transfer."
Erasure Head nodded before walking away, but stopped.
"Demonstrate your abilities tomorrow…" he said, looking over his shoulder and… smiling. "Let the rest know that this all wasn't a waste."
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