"Now that I've explained the rules, let's begin."
Once the group had finally settled down a bit, Thirteen-sensei—wearing her thick astronaut suit—spoke up.
"Since this is rescue training, we'll need some people to act as injured victims. Then, I'll randomly pick four from the remaining students to form a team and conduct the rescue. As for the victims, I'll randomly choose three from the group…"
As she said this, Thirteen pointed toward Konata, Uraraka Ochako, and Iida Tenya.
"I'm going to play the victim?"
Konata blinked and pointed at herself in disbelief.
And that was that.
Sitting at the bottom of the deep ravine, gazing up at the sliver of light above, Konata suddenly felt like being the injured party wasn't such a bad deal after all.
"Alright, let's divide up the roles!"
Turning her head, Konata looked at Uraraka and Iida beside her. Although they were at the very bottom, it wasn't as dark as expected—at least, they could still see each other just fine.
"According to the rules, one of the three victims has a severe head injury and is unconscious, while the other two have broken legs and can't move. So… who wants to play the unconscious one?"
So, when Midoriya Izuku descended slowly on the nylon rope created by Yaoyorozu Momo, the scene that greeted him was:
Iida Tenya, frantically waving both hands and shouting thanks with the enthusiasm of someone who just saw their savior.
Uraraka Ochako, sitting nearby, struggling to hold in her laughter with both hands over her mouth.
And Konata, lying flat on her back, hands clasped peacefully over her chest—perfectly embodying the role of a deeply unconscious victim.
…Well, truth be told, she had fallen asleep. In less than five minutes.
"Hey! Damn Deku! Hurry it up already!!"
Midoriya had barely landed when Bakugo Katsuki poked his head over the cliff and shouted angrily. At the same time, he lowered a makeshift stretcher made by Yaoyorozu.
"Hero, please save our friend first! She suffered a severe head injury when she fell and is now in a deep coma. She needs immediate treatment!!"
Pointing both fingers at the peacefully sleeping Konata, Iida fully immersed himself in his role with passionate sincerity.
"As for the two of us, we only have broken legs! You can come back for us later!!"
"Understood! Please remain calm and wait here for rescue—"
While saying that, Midoriya walked toward Konata… but he stopped in his tracks after just a few steps. That's when he realized a serious problem.
According to the scenario, Konata was unconscious. Which meant she couldn't just get up and crawl into the stretcher by herself. So that meant he had to…
"Midoriya, I can come down and help!!"
Just as he was hesitating, Mineta Minoru called from above—and then his grape-headed figure popped out over the cliff.
Imagining what would happen if Mineta came down, Midoriya's expression instantly changed. Without another second of hesitation, he stepped forward, gently picked up Konata, and carefully placed her into the stretcher.
And throughout all of this, Konata remained sound asleep.
It wasn't until the stretcher was nearly pulled to the surface and the floating sensation began to wake her that Konata stirred. Confused by the swaying and lack of context, she nearly fell out from midair—if not for Bakugo catching her just in time.
"Thanks," she muttered with a shaken breath as she climbed out of the stretcher and turned to Bakugo.
"Idiot."
He glared coldly at her, then turned back toward the ravine below.
Konata: "...…"
She was going to thank him properly, but now she didn't feel like it anymore.
Before long, Iida and Uraraka were also pulled back up, marking the end of the first rescue exercise.
Though… for some reason, Konata felt like Midoriya had been giving her a weird look ever since. Was it her imagination?
In short, about two hours later, all of Class 1-A had taken turns playing both rescuer and victim.
One moment worth noting: perhaps out of Thirteen-sensei's twisted sense of humor, Midoriya Izuku and Bakugo Katsuki were chosen as rescuers—and then again, later, as victims. According to Tokoyami Fumikage, who went down to rescue them, it was quite the scene.
"Next is the collapsed urban area rescue."
After finishing the mountain rescue, Thirteen led the class to a large zone made to look like a post-disaster city.
"In this exercise, we don't know the number or location of injured people. The goal is to simulate searching for and rescuing victims in a city struck by disaster. We'll go by groups again: four students per team, with an eight-minute time limit. The other sixteen students will hide somewhere and wait to be rescued."
She held up a hand.
"However, only eight of the sixteen hiding students are allowed to call for help. The other eight must remain silent. I'll be the one to assign who can and can't speak—this is part of the training."
"Hide and seek?" was Konata's first reaction.
"You could say that," Thirteen nodded.
"For the first rescue team: Midoriya Izuku, Bakugo Katsuki, Todoroki Shoto, and Uraraka Ochako. The rest of you may now choose your hiding spots."
She waved her hand, ignoring Bakugo's protests as she gave instructions to the others.
"Good thing I wasn't chosen... Heh, time to find a comfy spot to nap."
Yawning, Konata glanced around before heading toward a collapsed street.
Meanwhile, a figure hiding in the shadows had been watching quietly—and once the students dispersed, this person silently followed after Konata…