After the Rescue Race and the conclusion of the FHS class, the entire class headed to the locker rooms to change.
In the boys' locker room, the atmosphere was as noisy as ever.
"Darn it…" Kirishima grumbled while taking off his costume. "It's no use being strong if I can't move properly in a place like that. I need to work more on my mobility."
Aoyama carefully removed his protective goggles and wiped his face with a cloth, clearly tired.
"It's been a while since I moved around like that…" he commented. "My sparkle was almost outshone by sweat today."
Kirishima let out a heavy sigh.
"Man… I'm jealous of people like Takeda, Midoriya, and Dash."
He turned to Ryo, taking a better look now that they were changing.
"By the way, now that I think about it… where did you learn to let out those explosions like Bakugo's?"
Ryo replied without looking, pulling his costume jacket off his shoulders.
"As I've already explained about my quirk… it's internal energy. I just… released it outward. It ended up coming out like that."
Kirishima brought his hand to his chin.
"Hmm… that makes sense."
Ryo finally turned his face to him, incredulous.
"But… seriously, you only wondered about that now? I used it twice during the Sports Festival."
Before Kirishima could respond, Kaminari approached, adjusting the towel on his shoulder.
"Ah, it's because that stuff is pretty common," he said, with an oddly serious air. "Sometimes someone just uses their quirk in a new way out of nowhere. The world is a big place, you know?"
Ryo and Kirishima raised an eyebrow at the same time.
"…Since when did you get so deep?" Kirishima asked.
"Yeah," Ryo added. "That sounded… too smart for someone like him."
Kaminari blinked a few times.
"Are you guys making fun of me?"
"A little bit," Kirishima admitted, laughing.
On the other side of the locker room, Shoji was observing Midoriya as he changed his shirt.
"You're a lot more defined than before," he commented. "Even your jawline seems more… firm."
Midoriya immediately became flustered.
"I-I trained a lot during my internship…"
He turned his face to the side and added more quietly:
"…It was kind of hell with Gran Torino."
Shoji crossed his arms.
"If you keep this up, you might end up reaching the same build as Takeda."
The two of them looked almost simultaneously at the boy with black hair, who was shirtless. Ryo's body was ripped, defined, almost on the same level as Shoji's own.
"What kind of training do you think he went through to get like that…?" Shoji wondered aloud.
Midoriya just shook his head.
"I… honestly have no idea."
Ryo noticed their stares and frowned.
"Hey. Could you stop undressing me with your eyes?" he said dryly. "I prefer girls."
The two froze immediately.
"S-sorry!" Midoriya stammered, completely flustered.
Shoji cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
"We were just curious about the kind of training you did."
Ryo sighed and brought his hand to his chin.
"Well, I... actually… didn't do anything that special." He crossed his arms before continuing. "I did judo in junior high when I was, forcibly, placed in my school's judo club. Then I practiced a few other martial arts out of curiosity, at my home."
He shrugged.
"I ended up dropping everything about a year ago."
Kirishima's eyes widened.
"Ahhh… now it makes sense why you fight so well."
At that moment, Ojiro approached, clearly interested.
"What other arts did you learn after judo?" he asked. "I'm curious now."
As Ryo began chatting calmly with Ojiro about the various martial arts he had picked up bits of over the years, on the other side of the wall, in the girls' locker room, a small group of girls had gathered right next to the partition separating the two spaces.
Some of them were practically leaning against the wall.
"You really shouldn't be doing this…" Momo said, shaking her head with visible discomfort. "It's completely unethical…"
Tsuyu, sitting nearby, nodded in agreement.
"She's right… if the boys catch them, there'll be trouble, ribbit."
Before she could continue, Toru put a finger to her lips, shushing her.
"Relax, it's fine," she said in a low tone. "Just don't make any noise."
Immediately after, the invisible girl pressed back against the wall and peered through a small hole that led into the boys' locker room.
At that very moment, she was face-to-face with Ryo's muscular torso.
"Wow…" she blurted out without thinking. "Takeda's abs are really defined…"
"Really?!" Mina's eyes widened, excited.
Not waiting for a response, she pushed aside the floating pieces of clothing and peeked through the hole too.
"Dang…" she said, surprised. "You could grate cheese on those~"
"M-Mina…!" Uraraka tried to warn her. "Stop that, it's a terrible idea…"
The warning was ignored.
A thin trickle of blood was already escaping the pink-skinned girl's nose as Jiro approached, pulling Mina aside by the arm.
"Alright, alright…" she said. "But just one more peek and then we'll st—"
The sentence died midway as Jiro peeked through the hole, coming face-to-face with Ryo's gaze on the other side.
"Kyaa…" he squeaked quietly, in a completely monotone voice.
Ryo extended his finger and firmly plugged the hole. The impact sent a puff of dust jetting out from the other side, hitting Jiro directly in the eye.
"Ow! My eye!" she recoiled, rubbing her face.
"I told you…" Uraraka said, crossing her arms.
"Karma, ribbit," Tsuyu added calmly.
In the boys' locker room, Ryo discreetly positioned a poster against the wall, covering the hole as if nothing had happened.
Dash approached, curious.
"Hey… what was that noise just now?"
Ryo answered without even turning his head.
"A rat."
"…Oh." Dash blinked, confused.
After shrugging, he simply went about his business, while Ryo returned to changing his clothes as if the recent incident had never occurred.
----------------------------------------
Later, back in the classroom, Aizawa held the papers in his hands and got the class's attention.
"Final exams are approaching," he said in his usual tired tone. "And, of course, it would be completely stupid to let you have an entire month of vacation right after that."
"No way…" Kaminari blurted out, already sensing something was coming.
"Don't tell me that…" Kirishima began, apprehensive.
Aizawa made a deliberate pause before concluding:
"That's why you'll be participating in summer training camp in the woods."
The room erupted in reaction.
"I KNEW IT!" Kirishima yelled, raising his fists in the air.
"Truth or Dare!" Mina cheered, already picturing the chaos.
"Outdoor bathrooms!" Kaminari commented, a strange gleam in his eyes.
"Fireworks, ribbit," said Tsuyu, excited.
"Curry, yes!" Iida added, adjusting his glasses enthusiastically.
Dash also seemed excited. After hearing Ryo's quick explanation of what Aizawa had said, the blond turned to him.
"Dude, this is gonna be so cool!" the blond shouted, enthusiastic. "Training outdoors, away from school… aren't you excited too?"
"Not really," Ryo replied, without even looking at him.
Even so, Dash noticed Ryo's foot tapping insistently on the floor.
He was excited.
Very excited, actually. Ryo had always wanted to go camping, even if he would never admit it out loud.
The general excitement was cut short when Aizawa raised his hand.
"However…"
Silence fell over the room.
"Those who fail their final exams will not go to the forest training camp," he continued. "Instead, they will attend the hellish summer school right here."
Tension immediately spread among the students.
"Give it your all, guys!" Kirishima said, trying to lift the class's spirits.
Ryo leaned back in his chair, relatively calm. He had been getting pretty decent grades since arriving at U.A., so he didn't have much to worry about.
His gaze ended up falling on Midoriya.
The boy seemed completely lost in his own thoughts, staring at the desk as if he were about to short-circuit.
Ryo slightly furrowed his brow.
"Is he nervous about the exams…?" he thought.
Ryo eventually set aside his worry about Midoriya and returned his thoughts to the training camp.
He realized now that he wouldn't be seeing his mother again for quite a while.
So, Ryo decided he would make the most of the remaining time until then, visiting her every single day without fail. Maybe he'd even bring more gifts than usual.
When classes finally ended, the classroom began to empty out quickly. Dash was one of the first to move, grabbing his backpack in a hurry and almost running out, clearly ready to disappear down the hallway.
That is, until he felt a tug from behind.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" asked Ryo, holding the back of the blonde's backpack with Kirishima beside him. "We agreed to go to the arcade today."
Dash's eyes widened.
"Today?!" he asked, nervous. "Aw, man… that's a shame, I've got some things to do—"
"Daaasshh!"
A female voice sounded behind them.
All color drained from the blonde's face.
Ryo and Kirishima looked back and saw Pony hurrying over. The girl stopped in front of Dash and frowned slightly.
"Why did you take so long?" she asked him.
Dash stumbled over his words.
"C-class… ran a little late…"
Pony then noticed Ryo and Kirishima.
"Hi!" she said, giving a small wave. "Don't mind me. I just came to get Dash for our study session."
Dash's jaw dropped instantly.
It was then that Ryo's hand landed on his friend's shoulder, making him turn around. He saw his friend with a straight, yet wide, smile on his face.
"So that's what's been making you so rushed lately," Kirishima commented, smiling in the background.
Dash began to sweat.
"If that's the case," Ryo continued, "don't worry about us. Go ahead and enjoy your study session. Kirishima and I can handle the arcade on our own."
"Yeah…" Dash replied, completely flustered. "O-okay…"
Ryo and Kirishima walked past him, but Ryo made a small pause next to Pony before leaving.
"Take good care of our little Dash for us."
Pony blinked a few times, confused.
"L-little… Dash?"
Ryo and Kirishima said nothing more before walking away laughing, leaving Dash, who looked like he was about to die of embarrassment right then and there.
----------------------------------------
Fast-forwarding to the last week of June, with just one week left until final exams, Ryo was sitting in the classroom watching pure chaos unfold around him.
"I'm screwed…" Kaminari clutched his head, completely desperate. "I didn't study at all! The Sports Festival and the Internships wiped my brain clean! If this keeps up, goodbye to the outdoor bathhouses…"
He was in 20th, the bottom of the grade ranking. Next to him, Mina laughed without a care in the world.
"What are you laughing about?" Kaminari complained. "You're the second worst!"
"It's… true…" Mina scratched her head, looking a bit sheepish but still smiling.
On the other side of the room, Dash was shaking Ryo back and forth, clinging to him as if his life depended on it. The blond guy was visibly on the verge of a breakdown.
"Dude, what am I gonna do?!" he whined. "I'm in 18th place! At this rate, I'm gonna get left behind!"
Ryo pushed Dash's face away.
"Calm down," he said with a sigh. "The situation isn't that bad. There's still time to study and pass. You can go to the summer training camp if you put in the effort."
"That's easy for you to say!" Dash retorted. "Mr. First Place!
Ryo raised an eyebrow.
"And what does my ranking have to do with you?"
Meanwhile, Momo let out a sigh from her seat, still surprised to have only managed 2nd place in the ranking.
"I didn't expect to be in second place…" she commented. "I always come in first, ever since elementary school."
"And I didn't expect someone like Takeda to be first either," Jirou added, crossing her arms. "It's almost like he cheated."
Ryo heard that and turned his head.
"Did you ever consider the possibility that someone is just smart?"
Midoriya approached at that moment.
"You must study really hard for that," he remarked. "Congratulations!"
Ryo paused for a moment. He thought that, technically, he did study a lot… but not exactly normal subjects. It was all about learning to control his own Quirk.
"Yeah… maybe too much," he murmured, letting out a sigh. "I should take a break someday…"
Midoriya chuckled lightly.
"By the way… what school did you go to before U.A.?" he asked. "It must have been a really good school for a genius like you to come out of there."
"Don't call me a genius," Ryo replied. "I went to Aldera Junior High School. It's nothing special."
Midoriya's eyes widened.
"Wait… Aldera?" he said, surprised. "I went there too! But... how come I never saw you?"
"Huh," Ryo frowned. "What are you talking about? We were in the same class."
Midoriya froze in place.
Ryo noticed his reaction and sighed, bringing a hand to his face.
"Don't tell me you hadn't realized that until now…" he murmured. "Of all people, I thought you'd be the first to recognize me."
He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"Even Bakugo recognized me, with the two brain cells he has."
"What did you say, emo-corner-boy?!" Bakugo snarled from across the room.
Hearing that, Midoriya's eyes widened even more. The image of the boy with long, messy hair, a hollow look, and a withdrawn posture came to his mind. He compared it to the current Ryo… and gulped.
"N-no way…" he murmured. "You've changed so much… your posture, your hair… even your eye color is different!"
"I still have the same name, dude."
"Yeah…" Midoriya scratched the back of his neck. "But similar names are pretty common…"
"Fair enough," Ryo agreed, not pushing it.
Later, during snack break, the group was gathered at one of the cafeteria tables, eating and still discussing the final exams.
"The written exam is manageable," Midoriya commented, holding a piece of sausage with his chopsticks. "It's stuff we've already covered in class, in the regular subjects. The real problem is the practical exam; I have no idea what that's going to be."
"Being U.A., it'll probably be something we're not expecting," Ryo said, calmly opening his bento box.
Kirishima nodded.
"Very likely. Out of nowhere, bam… the test is to fight the teachers or something like that."
"That would be too extreme," Uraraka chimed in, making a face. "And really random too."
"I agree," Toru added. "I hope it's something like facing the entrance exam robots again."
Tsuyu shook her head.
"I doubt it, ribbit. That would be too obvious."
"We don't have much choice but to prepare for the worst," Iida concluded, adjusting his glasses.
"Let's do our best!" a few of those present said almost in unison around the table.
Uraraka then turned to Ryo.
"By the way… I've noticed you always eat food from your bento," she commented. "Is Lunch Rush's food not good for you?"
"It's not that," Ryo replied. "The food here is great. I just prefer to eat what I bring from home."
"Did your mom make it?" Toru asked curiously.
Ryo froze for a moment at the question but relaxed almost immediately.
"No… I made it by my—"
The sentence died when someone bumped their elbow against the back of his head. Still, Ryo barely moved. The one who really reacted was the other person, letting out a small yelp of pain before quickly stifling it.
Ryo turned around and came face-to-face with Monoma from Class B.
"Ah! S-sorry about that," he said, forcing a smile. "My tray just couldn't get past that big head of yours."
As he spoke, he was biting his lower lip, clearly trying to hide the pain. His left arm was trembling slightly.
"What is this guy made of?! It's like he's made of concrete."
Monoma stared at Ryo in silence, when a memory forcefully came to his mind.
One day before the internships began.
He remembered perfectly his teacher Vlad King pulling him aside to a more secluded corner of the train station. The man, imposing as always, crossed his arms and spoke low, serious.
"Listen carefully, Monoma."
The boy had widened his eyes, surprised by the tone.
"Never copy Takeda's Quirk. Understood?"
"Huh? But why, all of a sudden?"
Vlad didn't answer immediately. He just took a step forward, getting very close, his gaze firm and heavy.
"If you copy his Quirk… your body won't withstand it. The amount of energy that ability emanates is absurd. You would simply explode from the inside out, so don't you even try to copy it, understood?"
Monoma swallowed dryly.
"I-I… understand."
"That's all I needed to hear," Vlad said, stepping back. "Don't do it. Under any circumstances."
Back in the cafeteria, Monoma blinked a few times, returning to the present.
"How dare to you say something like that?!" Iida retorted, indignant.
Monoma, completely ignoring him, continued his speech.
"I heard some of you were in that Hosu incident," he said with a crooked smile. "Seems the Sports Festival wasn't enough, huh? You just keep grabbing the spotlight with one feat after another… Class A."
A mocking smile spread across his face.
"But it seems attention isn't everything, is it? Things are starting to fall apart on your side. And it looks… like they're getting pretty dangerous, too."
Ryo just stared at Monoma with a completely neutral, almost empty expression.
Inside, only one question ran through his head.
"What is this guy yapping about…?"
Before Monoma could continue his stupidly timed speech, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck the boy's neck with precision.
Monoma went out like a light.
Kendo appeared, holding the unconscious Monoma with one hand and his tray with the other, sighing.
"Sorry about that," she said, bowing slightly. "This guy's heart is a bit… never mind."
"His heart is a bit what?" Midoriya thought, with a nervous smile, clearly speaking more to himself than to anyone.
Kendo continued as if she hadn't heard.
"I heard you guys talking just now about not knowing what the practical exam will be like," she said. "Between us… I heard it's going to be a battle against the same robots from the entrance exam."
The group was surprised.
"H-how do you know that?!" Iida asked.
"I know an upperclassman," Kendo replied. "He told me about it."
"Pretty convenient," Ryo commented, crossing his arms.
"Yeah," she agreed.
At that moment, Monoma began to regain consciousness.
"Kendo… you idiot…" he murmured. "Just when we finally had the upper hand against that damn class—"
WHAP
Another sharp strike to the neck, and Monoma was out again.
"They are not damn," Kendo said calmly, beginning to drag him away.
Ryo watched the scene in silence for a few seconds.
"I like her."
The group could only nod in equally silent agreement.
Later, already in the classroom after school ended, Kaminari and Mina practically celebrated when they heard the confirmation that the practical exam would be a fight against the robots from the entrance exam.
"Now we're talking!" Kaminari cheered. "That won't be a problem at all!"
"YES!" Mina agreed, excited.
Ojiro crossed his arms, thoughtful.
"You two always hold back a lot when fighting people… but this way—"
"Against robots, we can go all out!" Mina and Kaminari said in unison, raising their hands.
Ryo turned to Dash.
"What do you think of that?"
"If it's just robots, this exam will be a piece of cake," Dash replied, shrugging. "Even kind of boring, to be honest. Could finish it all in the blink of an eye."
"True," Ryo agreed. "It would be the same for me."
It was at that moment that an irritated voice cut through the conversation.
"What's the difference between a human and a robot?" Bakugo asked, already walking towards the door. "I blow them both up the same way."
He turned his head, throwing a contemptuous glance over his shoulder.
"I don't see what the problem is for idiots like you."
"Hey!" Kaminari protested, pointing a finger. "Who are you calling an idiot?!"
Bakugo stopped at the door and only turned his head.
"Shut up," he growled. "You're an idiot who still doesn't know how to control his own quirk."
His gaze then shifted, focusing on Midoriya.
"And you… don't pretend I didn't notice," he said, serious. "Those moves during the rescue race, another one copying me besides that emo. Getting a big head just because you learned to control that quirk better."
Midoriya slowly turned to face him.
"That pisses me off," Bakugo continued. "I'm not going to lose to you again in some stupid way like at the Sports Festival. In a real fight, I'd crush you like the bug you are."
Midoriya swallowed dryly.
"In this exam," Bakugo finished, "I'm going to open up such a huge gap between us it'll kill you."
Then he shifted his gaze, one by one.
"You too, emo-corner-boy!" he pointed at Ryo.
"You too, two-ton!" at Todoroki.
"And you too, thin-leg!" at Dash.
Without another word, Bakugo left the room, slamming the door hard.
Kirishima approached Ryo, scratching the back of his head.
"I've never seen Bakugo that serious before…"
"I don't know if that's just restlessness or pure hatred," Ryo replied.
Before he could say anything else, Dash appeared beside him.
"Dude… I barely understood half of what Bakugo said, but that doesn't matter now," he said, nervously. "Takeda, I need help studying for the written exams."
"Aren't you studying with Pony?" Ryo asked.
"Yeah… But she said she was going to help her friends study…"
He then looked at Ryo with almost teary eyes.
"Please…"
Ryo sighed.
"I'll think about—"
"Great!" Dash interrupted, already perking up. "You're the best! We can study at my place on Saturday!"
"Hey, wait—"
"It's a deal!" Dash was already grabbing his backpack. "Thanks, Takeda!"
Ryo stood still for a few seconds, speechless.
"…Okay, then."