Three days later,
In a clear patch within the forest, not far from the two campsites, the students of Class 1-A and 1-B gathered after finishing their dinner.
Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, Ragdoll, Tiger, and Lemillion were overseeing this activity, which they had named — Pussycats' Horror House!
As the Pros lined up the students in two groups according to their Classes, Momo looked around and noticed that Luke wasn't there.
Midoriya was much ahead of her, though. "Where's the rest, Senior?" he asked, looking at Mirio.
Lemillion grinned. "Erasure Head took them away for the extra lessons."
Mina, Kaminari, Sato, Sero, and Kirishima were part of the remedial group and had been attending extra lessons since the Training Camp began.
Two more students had joined them three days ago, though — Luke and Todoroki!
It seemed the punishment Erasure Head had given them hadn't felt enough to him, making the two boys attend extra lessons at night as well.
"But…" Toru complained. "… Senior Snappy is alright… no?"
Aina had already woken up this morning, but the hurried use of Spot Heal hadn't fully healed her leg. As she was having trouble walking properly, she was also resting at the campsite.
That was also the reason behind Ragdoll's presence here.
Initially, Snappy was tasked to shoot various regions of forests at random. As her Quirk, Snapshot, allowed her to see future events, especially those that she didn't want ever to come true, she was one of the core components of Training Camp security. However, more often than not, her Quirk only captured events from 24 hours in the future. So, she had been taking photos twice a day.
That entire task came to a sudden halt three days ago when she almost lost her life.
Despite her pleadings to go to the forest and resume her duties, the other Pros refused her request for obvious reasons.
Now, the four Pros stationed at the four sites in the forest were already on high alert.
Also, Ragdoll was constantly keeping an eye on everyone within the forest, Aina's accident already weighing heavily on her shoulders.
"Worry not, kittens!" Pixie-Bob winked at them. "It's just a mini-game! And, if some of you are missing out on the fun, don't you think they were being naughty kitties and deserve it?"
Midoriya and others' mouths twitched.
Still, they saw some reasoning in Pixie-Bob's words.
Aina's matter had scared the living breath out of all students, including the Class 1-B's.
Due to her outgoing personality and the fact that she was only a third-year student at UA and was already a Sidekick, many students idealized her.
If it weren't for Luke instantly taking care of her injuries, and Erasure Head punishing them for the rest of the Training Camp duration, then most of the students would have still carried conflicted feelings.
No matter if they were training or not, Luke and Todoroki had indeed been reckless at the end of the day.
"Okay," Pixie-Bob meowed. "It's a typical Horror House-style game. One Class' students will be the Scarers. The other Class' students will be divided into groups of two. The two paths going inside the forest in front of you are actually one big ovally one."
"Momo, Kendo," Mandalay called out the two Class Representatives. "Call it… Winner's Class will be the first Scarers."
The Pro showed them a coin and flipped it up, catching it as it fell.
"Heads," Momo chose.
Mandalay revealed the result differently, showing all her tail.
Class 1-B's students cheered as Momo returned next to Kyoka with sulking shoulders.
"Alright, listen up!" Pixie-Bob continued. "Class 1-B's students will be stationed all around the path in groups as well. Their objective is to scare the incoming students of Class 1-A, who will be leaving here in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names written on them in the middle of the route. You need to bring them back with you."
"Also," Tiger said, picking up where Pixie-Bob ended. "The Scarers must only rely on their Quirks. Points will be given based on how well you use Quirks to scare the other students. The Class that makes most of their rivals piss their pants with creativity and imagination wins!"
"That's filthy…" Ibara Shiozaki from Class 1-B commented, Kyoka nodding in agreement. "Have Lord mercy on your poor soul…"
"Okay!" Pixie-Bob jumped to her feet in excitement. "Class 1-B… Disperse! Class 1-A… We will decide pairs by drawing lots…"
After a while, when all Class 1-B students had disappeared, Class 1-A students had already decided on pairs.
Shoji and Fumikage would go first.
Tenya and Bakugo would follow them.
Kyoka and Toru, Momo and a very-happy Yuga, Uraraka and Tsuyu, and Ojiro and Mineta would go one by one after the second team.
Counting them on his fingers, Midoriya suddenly frowned.
And the moment he realized that he wasn't paired with anyone, his heart sank. Not because he minded going alone. Also, not because he feared exploring the forest alone at night. But because… Midoriya remembered that the forest was being prowled by a wild rabbit, and, in Luke's absence, the chances of this rabbit preying on him were the highest!
"… Tenya…" Midoriya pleaded. "Become my partner…"
Bakugo tsked in disgust.
Tenya outright shook his head. "We must follow the rules, Midoriya…"
"Alright!" Pixie-Bob meowed louder than ever. "First team — Mezo Shoji and Fumikage Tokoyami — Go!"
Just as the Class 1-B students began working on strategies to scare the shit out of Class 1-A students for Vlad King, and just as the first pair of students set foot on the path, something odd was happening in the forest…
All over the forest, in the general region surrounding the ovally path of Pussycats' mini-game, the land was… sprouting.
Tiny holes began appearing on the land, as if a small animal was pushing out chunks of earth.
And the number of these holes kept increasing, reaching over a hundred in a matter of moments.
Then, from all the holes, simultaneously, a purple-colored smog came slithering out…
Ten days after the beginning of the Training Camp — the Villains were finally here!!!
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