The initial pause, short though it may have been, with Akeno's eyes being leveled at the shorter girl, made Koumori feel a bit nervous. What if she said no? What if she didn't think her Quirk was strong enough? Her head was swirling with worry and self doubt.
The muscular girl didn't even move until after she called for Azukina, when someone else called out Kudo's name. Koumori's heart sank, as she saw the blue boy, Hiroki, looking at her angrily. What did she do? Did he dislike her because she wasn't able to fly, and he apparently was? Did he think she was less than him? Did he want to take Akeno on his own team? Surely he did, because he had called out her name. She shuddered after that brief moment of eye contact, the boy vanishing in a rush of wind, leaving her and Kudo Akeno alone.
βAh, Yakkaimori-san. Sure, Iβd be happy to work with you; I wanted to ask you to team up anyway.β
Koumori blushed shyly, looking more directly into Akeno's eyes with her own brown ones. "Y-you... do you m-mean it, keekee?" asked the short girl timidly. In truth, something sounded off about Akeno's voice. Was she lying about that? Did she secretly not want to team up with her? Had she had her own plans for a team, but felt it would be too rude to admonish her for ruining them? The small girl seemed to fold up, shoulders hunching, ears drooping, everything about her body language made her look even smaller, and incidentally, more obviously insecure.
After her words with Yasu, Kiko went off to pout and plot her revenge. She was going to show her and everyone up and prove just how amazing her Quirk really was. All she had to do was get a good opportunity to show just how much she could shoot the place up. All she needed was to show everyone how devastating she could be.
But as she pouted, she took notice of some people approaching Yasu. She didn't like it. If those people were talking to her because of what they'd said to each other, that meant they were getting in the middle of her business. Nobody got in the middle of Kiko Mazzini-Ishikawa's business. She would have to make a mental note to make sure they understood to stay out of her business, one way or the other.
Thoughts of keeping people out of her business would have to wait, because the helicopter showed up to deliver the start of their next affair. It actually clicked in Kiko's head that this might have been what Guodo meant by it "getting windy". She was expecting something way more impressive, like a giant wind machine. It also turned out all they had planned for them was a lame rescue mission. Kiko couldn't shoot civilians, at least not without getting chewed out. How could she show off if she couldn't shoot anything? This was going to be a huge disappointment.
Now Kiko had to go to all the trouble of finding people to be in her group. She didn't know anybody except Kenji and Yasu. Yasu was out of the question, and Kenji looked like he already had friends. Kiko would just have to stand around and wait for someone to realise what a great asset she would make to her team. Who wouldn't want an Italian-American badass on their team?
And as if to give her an answer to her question, Soga moved through Kiko's line of sight, his brows furrowed for a moment as he passed by, looking distracted and alone, his jaw hanging slightly open, revealing his sets of serrated fangs and his wings unfurling slightly as he walked by her. In his mind now, he was thinking of who possibly could serve in his own team now since Haruka had seemed to give him the could shoulder as she walked with the other three. So far, he had yet to find anyone for his own team.
The moment she saw him, her jaw dropped. It was the dragon dude. THE dragon dude. Kiko had been keeping an eye on all the best Quirks during the demo, and being a dragon was up there on her list of "badass fucking Quirks". He could fly and everything. It only kindof seemed less badass when she compared it to being able to just smash the dummy like it was nothing, but hey, he was a dragon. All Kiko knew for sure was she had to have a dragon on her team.
"Hey, hey, dude!" She ran up to him feverishly. "Dude! Dragon dude! You gotta be on my team! We can totally fly and shoot things from way up in the sky! Come on dude, say yes! Say yes say yes say yes!" In her excited state, she couldn't even remember dragon dude's name, but that was okay, because dragon dude was a better name anyway. Even she would want to be called dragon dude, even though it wouldn't make any sense.
Soga was snapped out of his thoughts when what seemed to him a little girl approached him and kept calling him "dragon dude". It took him a moment to realize it was Kiko who approached him. He was taken aback for a moment by the girl's exciteful nature, he had yet to deal with somone as with a personality as overwhelming as hers. It took him a moment to get his bearings and put on his usual polite smile, but after he did, he began speaking to her.
"Isn't our mission to rescue civillains?" He asked her, smiling as the image of her on his back and shooting randomly while he flew popped up in his head.
Kiko almost deflated upon hearing him say that. "Ugggggggh....yeah you're right." She was struggling to come up with a way to talk about rescuing stuff that could make her sound badass. "But I can like, shoot down trees and stuff. Or maybe there will be enemies stopping us from attempting a rescue. Or maybe it's all a ruse to lure us into a false sense of security!" She was just pulling combat scenarios out of her arse at this point.
"What I'm trying to say is...just say yes! Say yes to the bullet cavalry!" Bullet cavalry was an impromptu team name. She neglected to consider someone else would even be involved.
"Bullet cavalry?" Even Soga liked the name of that idea and once more pictured Kiko mowing down trees, or dummy villains and he could not help but chuckle at the idea. She was not the one he really wanted to team up with, however, he could not help but be charmed by her enthusiasm, so his grin widened to reveal his terrifying maw. "I would absoultely love it!" He said offering his hand for her to shake as a sign that they were a team now.
"Though, alas, we might need a third member to help the Bullet Cavalry be whole." He said, the name sounding better and better each time he said it.
Meanwhile, Souta's attempts to poke at the princess had failed, and he was instead approached by one of the two assholes of the class. This boy attacked Souta by calling his quirk useless and claiming that he had no right to attack anyone else. Souta glared at him in response, yelling out "I don't even know what your quirk is, you extra!"
Souta didn't really want to engage with this asshole right now, maybe later, but for now he needed to join up with someone, if what he was overhearing was right. He knew this moment would come, but he really wasn't looking forward to it. He had barely paid attention during quirk demonstrations, so he didn't know who was worth joining up with. Looking around the field, he decided upon going with the person who looked the most like they could rescue, or whatever the point of this exercise was. It was easy to identify that person, the tall dragon-man with wings. Flying would probably make it far easier.
He walked over, sort of pushing himself into the dragon's space as he talked to the girl who Souta had attempted to get vengeance for.
"You need a third?" he asked simply.
"Ye-" Kiko was about to greet their third member enthusiastically when she realised who he was. It was that guy that was talking to Yasu. Possibly about her. She didn't really want to know what had been said between the two of them. She didn't really want to have it mentioned at all. But now he was here, and there was the possibility he would say something, or anything.
"Yeah, we do." Kiko said much more calmly. She was going to play it cool and hope it never came up. If it did, she would have to shut the guy up, one way or another.
Souta nodded simply. He didn't want to talk much to them, just enough to get him in a team so that he didn't end up being assigned to one. He looked at the girl for a moment, noticing a shift in her behavior as she turned to look at him. Something was up, probably from his actions earlier. Whatever, it didn't matter.
"Great," Souta said, his voice bored. "Tachibana Souta, my quirk lets me add or remove rotational velocity to objects." He reintroduced himself, hoping that they'd do the same for him.
"My name is Yutsuko Soga." He says, his head bowing his head slightly as he introduced himself. "And I think my quirk is quite obvious. As for you joining our team, I'd be glad to have you Souta-san." Soga was not sure as of yet how Souta's quirk would be able to help them in a rescue mission, still, judging how quickly other teams formed and the fact that nobody other than Kiko invited him in their team, he could not afford to be picky of his partners, so, he just smiled as he spoke.
"I appreciate it, Soga-san," Souta said politely, bowing in response to Soga's own bow.
"The name's Mazzini. Kiko Mazzini." Kiko assumed the only right thing to do was to introduce herself, even if she had said her name loud and proud during her demo. "And if you guys don't know what my Quirk is by now, I'd say you gotta be deaf!" That said, Kiko shot out a single shot into the air in demonstration, just in case they really needed a refresher. The shot landed harmlessly a small distance away from them all.
Souta jumped slightly at the shot, but didn't move to defend himself as most would at such a loud noise. Instead he maintained his stance, frowning. He had forgotten how loud and reckless some of these students were. He began to wonder if maybe he should have tried to find a different group. "Hello, Mazzini-san. Interesting name, you're not originally Japanese, are you?" Souta asked, hand on his chin thoughtfully.
Soga's only reaction to shot itself was a slight twitch of his eye as the sound of it was a bit louder than he had expected, leaving a brief but loud ringing in the draconic teen's ears. He shook his head for a moment to both shake the ringing away and to show his disappointment. "Hmm, sounds Italian if I'm not wrong." Soga said, now curious himself of the girl's name. He himself was only half-Japanese, however, he and his sister had chosen their father's family name instead of their mother's german name, figuring that he would stand out even more with a foreign name like that, something which he did not want to do at all, especially considering his own quirk.
"By the way, I don't want to spoil the immense amounts of fun we're having here, but maybe we should start coming up with a plan for how we're going to do this?" He asked, wishing to move to what the three of them had teamed up for in the first place.
"Ey, I was born and bred in this country. I just got my last name from my dad. He's an OG Italian-American." She explained.
When the topic turned to plans, Kiko just shrugged. "Jeez, man, what is there to even say? We don't know where they are, what state they're in, or if there's anything else waiting for us out there. I say all we gotta do is get in there and think on the fly. Works for me every time." What Kiko neglected to mention is that her on-the-fly thinking rarely worked out for her, but she was never going to admit to that.
Souta looked contemplative, then shrugged. "If we don't know what the test's gonna be, then on-the-fly thinking is the best we can do," he said simply. Kiko's statement about there being nothing to say rung true in Souta's mind. He was definitely intrigued by the fact that the girl was half-American, but he didn't care to put much thought into it, he'd learn more by overhearing things in the future than he would by sticking his nose in right now.
Soga sighed as he looked on at the two. Even if a plan was not needed now, one must always have contingency plans for a rescue mission. It might be just as simply as retrieving a lost child from the forest or rescuing said child from villains who might ambush them, or use traps, or who knows what else. Still, he could not oppose the majority, so instead of forming a plan with the two, he began to mentally prepare himself for all specific scenarios, should they happen. Just because they did not want to get ready did not mean Soga would have to blindly charge into the forests.
"Very well, I suppose you all are right, no use overplanning for things that might or might not happen." He says, mentally preparing to do just what he said was use in doing, all with a wide, friendly smile. "Ok then, now that we are all set up and unless you have any other questions, I believe we should proceed and get a head start, if it's ok with you all?"
"Yeah, let's go!" Kiko moved along with the group. "We can get in there and be all "BANG, POW, DAKKADAKKADAKKA!"" Kiko then figured she should come up with some awesome onomatopoeia for her teammates. "And maybe...."WHOOSH, CHOMP, BURN!"" Those were directed at Soga. "And, uh...."SPIN, WHOOSH"....uh...." She was struggling to come up with good ones for Souta. "Yeah, sorry dude, I ain't got much for you."
Souta responded with an unchanging stare. "...Thanks, I guess." He was kinda worried, now that he got to thinking about this. What would he do if he failed? Where would he go from here? Try to get into a normal high school? Then what? Souta sighed and rubbed his hair out of his eyes. He'd have to put in some effort here just to make sure. Hopefully it all went well. Hopefully.
Kiko, Souta, and Soga meet and greet and get ready to shoot shit up and save civilians in that order
Akeno placed a hand on her hip as she watched Yakkaimori practically shrink to an even smaller size as she folded in on herself, a small frown furrowing her brow. Anyone who had seen Yakkaimori during her demonstration would be able to guess that she was the shy type, maybe a little insecure and lacking in confidence as well, but Akeno hadnβt expected an abundance of self-doubt from the small girl.
βOf course I do; the way you made your way around that maze, Iβm sure your Quirk will be useful in the forest. Iβll be glad to snatch you up before anyone else tries to team up with you.β Smirking confidently, Akeno reached out and gently placed a hand on the smaller girlβs shoulder. βYou want to team up with Azukina-san, yeah? Letβs go talk to her then.β
Hiroki seemed to be pretty unresponsive to the assault that was Umi's little disciplinary action for not taking her social prowess into consideration.He seemed mostly confused. "Mm...mm....ow....ow....ow..." He suddenly turned, looking rather angry at the smaller girl. "Whose ditching who!? You're messing up the plan." He sounded angry, but he wasn't overly yelling. He pointed to the tall black haired runner. "See, Mari i- san s over there already promoting herself like a true leader, getting more people for us-"
"...ya...ya...yawwEEEEEEK!!" Umi ceased her fist thumping and jumped back the second Hiroki turned to face her, evidently taken aback by the sudden unveiling of his anger, "I-I'm s-sorry, OK?! I...! I-I'm not Mari. I c-can't go up t-to someone I d-d-don't know and uh... actually, I-I-I can't even g-go that far, n-now that I th-think about it. N-not with these d-d-... these d-d-d-dumb nerves of mine,"
Hiroki gave her a look, not one of pity, but one of deep contemplation. He wasn't going to throw her to the wolves, but he wasn't going to baby her either. hiHe made a note to make sure her opinion was considered before any action. "Probably best to make that a habit now that I think about it..." He muttered to himself. Best way to avoid problems like this.
Her head sank low, her feeling guilty over testing Hiroki's patience like that. He seemed to have calmed down a little bit, but not by enough for the shame to be lifted off Umi's shoulders. She remained as quiet as ever.
"Since you've come all the way to make such a showy request, I'd be hard-pressed to not grace it"
He looked back in her direction, even though she seemed more focused on getting her leaves back in order she had accepted his proposal to teamup. He shot her a look. A smirk really. He gave a thumbsup pointing to himself. "With the two of us, this is going to be walk in the park." Pun intended.
Luckily it wasn't a complete waste as the flower girl managed to not get completely put off by the sheer lack of a scheme literally falling apart before their eyes. He rubbed the back of his head. "It can't be helped. She's already proved she's built for rescue." A very over exaggeration of Umi's precieved skill. Haruka didn't seem to mind either already playing to spongey's quirk.
Hiroki was immediately a little disheartened by Haruka's plan. "Wait a sec, don't use my quirk? I can give us bird eye views." He defends, hearing the calm logic of leafy greens.
Crossing her arms over her chest whilst extending one forwards, Haruka presented the back of her green, lackluster pointer finger. "First, your turbines generate a large amount of wind and noise. Even if this is a simulation we are to act as if we're dealing with an actual kidnapping, and as such the careless use of your turbines will give out our precise location to the villains, alongside alerting them and taking the surprise factor away"
"Yeah but-!?"
"Actualy, er..." Umi wanted to remind Haruka that Uranishi said nothing about villians or kidnapping, but she intervened her...
"Secondly...." The second finger was extended to join the first digit. "... we may have to rely on tracks left on the forest's ground. Your wind can possibly hide them. Trust me; my way is better". A smile that was meant to be comforting and confident probably came off a little bit too condescending after Haruka dissected why she didn't want Hiroki to use his quirk.
Hiroki gritted his teeth, he looked like he was pouting a bit. 'Who did she think she was?' He thought he was going to be in charge, but her logic was sound, but he was hobbling himself because of something he had no control over. He wanted to protest, he opened his mouth once or twice but he finally just scratched his blonde hair. "Crap..." He concluded. "Fine. We'll go it your way." He relinquished leadership.
Well, she had a point there. Hiroki's turbines could quite easily blow away anything that would otherwise serve useful for tracking purposes. As such, Umi would need some time to revise his defense. After all, completely shutting down one person's quirk could easily lead to failure for the whole team that he or she was trying to support; a fact that Umi knew all too well... if only from what little experience she had.
It was a bit harder than she thought it would be, but she supressed her blossoming smile to an understanding one. Haruka nodded to Hiroki, accepting the baton pass. She remained quiet, however, as the other two seemed to want to have things to say of their own.
With a gulp, Umi made her pitch.
"Wh-why don't we j-just have Hiroki st-stay clear of th-the forest while, um... th-those things are act-t-tive?" Umi suggested, "H-he can't blow aw-way the wrong th-things if he's n-not close enough to, uh... an-nything in p-particul-lar. It'll l-likely come down to h-h-how long he c-can stay airborne, b-but er... if he c-can stay up f-for the whole d-duration..."
While she wasn't confident enough to say that he could, not knowing his limits and all, but Umi wanted to believe that Hiroki could stay up in the sky for as long as he needed to... even if that was just so she could give him the benefit of the doubt.
Hiroki looked uncomfortable as he listened at Umi. She had a good idea but once again Hiroki felt like his original superiority was now becoming a true liability for the whole team. He closed his eyes, lying wouldnt help anyone. He hoped he didn't have to reveal this information on day one. "I feel like I'm letting the team down. Sorry Umi-San. I can't fly like that." He turned compltely in their directions. "I fly far, fast, but I only have a dozen or so seconds of actual air time."
"O-oh. Sorry..." Umi rubbed the back of her head as she said this. She'd suspected that there had to be some limitation to Hiroki's quirk, but she still felt bad for not making it known whether she took it into account.
He lowered his head in a solumn bow to them. He honestly was feeling kind of ashamed. "Please forgive my limitations, I'll try to not to burden you." He perked up, pointing to the sky. "What I can do is atleast give us a direction. I'll scout from out here, if I see anything then atleast we'll know what path to take." It was all his quirk could do for them.
"Oh, and ab-b-bout that whole... v-villain... k-k-k-kidn-napping, thing? I-I highly doubt Ur-ranishi-s-sensei would exp-pect anyt-thing of that c-caliber from us r-r-right of the b-bat. He said n-nothing ab-bout either o-one of those, and uh... h-he doesn't st-strike me as s-someone who'd h-hide details fr-from us like that."
Umi made sure to put that out there this time around. Hopefully her statements would be enough to ease Haruka's concerns.
Hiroki wasn't convinced, he crossed his arms, trying to look tough. "After the crazy that was the entrance exam, I'm not putting it past them. Lets be ready for everything." It did give him an idea though. "Let me take point. I'll walk ahead of you two, if there's a trap or something, I might be best at avoiding them. Any villain or problem, ill be the bait, leaving your ranged quirks open to cover me. If it doesnt come to that, you two can walk on either side of the path and focus on finding anything strange like Haruka-San said. It won't be the fastest, but I think its probably the most thorough, and safest."
"W-well, alright then..." Umi stated, supposing that was for the best. With Hiroki being the most mobile of the three, it would make sense for him to take point. But now that Hiroki had a settled role, it all came down to Umi again. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Haruka pondered for a few moments, weighing both Umi and Hiroki's words. Umi was right, the bit about kidnappings didn't come from Uranishi but rather her own assumptions. But, as Hiroki said, there was a precedent. She nodded along before taking a deep breath and clapping her hands together to get the attention of the two of them. "I concur with Sakimoto-kun. Moreover, his idea is quite good I believe. We'll move in that formation whilst we take the marked paths towards any nearby water source, so that Suguro-san can fill herself with some it. After that, we'll move into the forest and we'll move more closely together, in case we get jumped onto."
"That 's good for you, team?"
"I'm down. Let's kick it." Smirking confidently, smashing a fist into his open palm.
Umi simply nodded. Most everything was settled, then; it was just a matter of trying to find whatever source of water would be there. Then again, it wasn't something she'd want the team to go blindly searching for. Ascertaining its exact location would be preferable, since that water source would be key for Umi to be of any use. She looked over at the teachers, and then back at her team.
"M-maybe one of us sh-sh-should ask for a m-map... just so w-we know where w-we're going..." Umi said to Hiroki and Haruka.
"I'm glad you asked Suguru-San." Guodo Sensei had been waiting for the students to start getting into their perspective teams seeing how Uranishi Yataro had pretty given them the run down. He gave a thumbs up over to Yataro, letting the nurse know that he was on it, and not have to bombard him with the general questions about how this procedure should be run. "I got this bud." Guodo regarded the intellectual teacher as something akin to a nerdy friend. Guodo was the face, Yataro was the brains of this outfit.
Guodo took out his phone. Scrolling a little bit. "Gather round students!" He shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Everyone has their cell phones right? Fully charged?" He then finally just figured it was easier. "I just sent you my number." Everyone has his number now with a nice cheery smiley face emote.
"As stated, you'll be heading into the nature park through the valley. You'll be breaking off into teams, and since we have only twenty... Oh!" He waved. "Kaito Mori! @Light Lord So glad you could make it! You'll have to show off your quirk another time, or even during this excercise!" he laughed and grinned, his winning smile showing off to the crowd. He held up a finger. "So looks like we'll have seven even teams! If you'll follow me!"
He signified the class to follow him, there was a wooden box near a bench at the far end of the field. He opened it, and there were prints of some kind of map, along with sets of colored ribbons. "Now, a member of each team come over, grab three maps, and ribbons for your team."
Guodo would continue. "In case you havent guessed, each ribbon corresponds to a path your team will be taking! You will find a family of three somewhere off these paths! Your goal in this exercise is to safely transport them here for emergency medical treatment! Now remember! These are very real nature trails going through the very real wilderness! Don't do anything silly like eat wild berries, or pick up rattle snakes! Additionally, if you see anything man made, please refrain from damaging it! Wouldn't want any of our students here at JA to have a record for vandalism! Not very hero if you ask me HAHA!" He laughed with his chest out before raising a finger as if to emphasize a point. "If you run into any kind of emergency or trouble, call me immediately!" Another thumbs up with a sparkle teethy grin.
He pointed to a small little building tucked in a corner of the field. "Water and bathrooms are over there! You have fifteen minutes to hydrate and study your maps! If you get lost! Call me or head away from the mountains until you reach another trail or the road! Do not go past where Green forks or blue and green meet! Do not climb on any cliffs unless absolutely necessary! And I--- think that's it! Make sure you give it your all out there! You have two hours to rescue those families! Don't let them down!" He cheers, throwing a fist in the air in a cheer.
"Questions!? Concerns!? Other hassles!?"
Yall got maps, pick your color, and that's what paths you're going! Go save those dummy families so they can go back to their dummy lives!
Suzaku waited patiently as Haruto-san looked him up and down, making him feel... ever-so-slightly self-conscious. Whether it was because he was mulling over how to respond, or (less likely, but still possible) was feeling shy, the boy was taking his time in talking back. He paused for a few seconds more, then...
"H-hello."
...
...Ah. Based on that stammer, it was shyness. Which... didn't bode well. Breathe, Suzaku. Just breathe. Then all bets were off, as the other boy moved forward, gently tugging on his sleeve, pulling him over somewhere.
"Team up," he muttered in Suzaku's general direction, as though worried about speaking too much. Suzaku felt a touch of color warm his face. Oh, gods. He's adorable. Why did I do this? ...Right, cool Quirk and synergy. Which... might make this even worse... dammit. He looked in the direction he was being towed, and saw the same student that Haruto-san had paired with during the Quirk demonstrations. Which, thankfully, boded slightly better for his present situation. Having another individual to talk to would hopefully tone down the awkwardness he was feeling.
...Hopefully.
The two of them came up to the beetle boy- what was his name? Now he felt bad for not remembering. Haruto-san spoke up.
"Kenji-kun. Teamup like the demonstrations?" The beetle hero-in-training took note of them, lighting up like a Christmas tree at Kaito's offer.
I... I'm sensing a theme here.
Kenji immediately nodded his head as quick as lightning at the offer, his antennae pointed to the sky. "Yes!" he exclaimed, before calming himself down. "I mean, of course. But I don't think I've been introduced to your friend yet. I'm Ito Kenji." he said, offering his free hand to Suzaku.
Suzaku grinned, sharing in Kenji's enthusiasm as he shook his hand. "Takeda Suzaku. An absolute pleasure." He opened his mouth to keep the conversation going, but the introductions would have to wait- Guodo-sensei was ramping up his speech about their mission. Suzaku turned his attention to the teacher, and nodded to himself as the explanation went on, tapping on his left arm as he thought.
Family of three... is this a live exercise? Or are they dummies, like during the entrance exam? This could get interesting, either way. Suzaku turned back to his new compatriots, and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"So... any thoughts? Plans? Consternation, perhaps?
==~==
Suzaku meets up with Kaito and Kenji and the three decide to team up.
Shiki was rather taken back by Elina's annoyed response. Oh no, he struck a nerve. At least, she didn't assault him for his so-called joke, unlike some people he knew. Perhaps he should apologize? This was not his intention, he didn't want to be on bad terms with anyone, especially not on the first day. Moron, he thought to himself.
βSorry...β He meekly apologized.
From this point forward, he decided it was best to speak through his phone as much as possible. It provided him a comforting way to think rationally under stressful situations, he considered this to be one of them. His tail slipped into his sweater pocket, retrieving his phone and then established a connection with it. The voice comm immediately booted up.
Player three has entered the fray!
βDatari-Kun!β Shiki's cheerful voice called out from the phone, projecting his filtered thoughts through the use of his tail. His physical body performed a welcoming gesture, all while his device-connected tail swayed behind him. They would be able to see his background picture on his phone, which was just a pineapple. Admittedly, it was just plain weird, but at least his anxiety cleared.
βNyah!β He unintentionally slipped out. βWe are looking for a third member. It's only logical for us to team up again! Besides...β He paused. βI like teaming up with you, Datari-Kun...β He confessed, a small blush building up on his cheeks as he returned a shy smile to Shun. He managed to make brief eye contact with Shun while he spoke, then averted his gaze before Shun's reaction set in.
Overhearing Elina's lack of confidence into contributing for the team, involving her quirk's usefulness, was something Shiki would normally say about himself. Fortunately, there was a solution in front of them that will not go overlooked. No more negativity today!
βI've already mapped out a portion of the surrounding area while I was resting. I discovered you'll be able to use your quirk freely and possibly more effectively in certain areas, Yukira-San.β He then turned to Shun. βSame goes for you, Datari-Kun. Point is, we'll just have to cover each others weaknesses and we'll be fine. Right?β He adjusted his glasses, a confident and stress-free smile shown on his face.
With that said, Guodo-Sensei requested their attention again. There was a slight twitch underneath his beanie after receiving Sensei's number. They had access to an emergency contact, interesting. Although, Shiki doubted his team would get lost with his quirk on their side. He followed Guodo-Sensei along with the rest of his class, but stayed close with his team.
The late arrival of the new student certainly caught Shiki's eye. Mainly, because of the mystery surrounding the student's quirk from the lack of demonstration. Shiki had no intel on him, but that will just have to wait until after this event. He wanted to use the remaining time they had to create a more detailed map of the area, so they don't have to waste precious time later.
βCould one of you get the ribbons and 'maps', please? I'm going to scout a path for us.β Shiki informed his team, then started to walk towards the edge of the field, assuming they couldn't leave until prep time was up. He unplugged his tail from his phone, causing his body to shudder for a brief moment. Then he reconnected his tail to the ground near his feet, gradually synchronizing himself with the land.
Shiki then waited for his team to regroup, so they could come up with a formation together.
Shiki apologized to Elina for his lame 'joke'. Speaks to his team through his phone majority of the time. Slips out a nyah. Semi-interested in Kai. Tells Shun or Elina to fetch the maps/ribbons. Wanders to the edge of the field by himself to create a bigger and more detailed map. Waits for his team.
The sudden (in her eyes) praise of her Quirk caused the short girl to blush. Realizing that they might not all have been able to be as forthcoming as they needed to be during the demonstrations, with such a large crowd, Koumori came up with an idea. However, she still had to deal with the emotionally loaded front portion of the muscular girl's response. "I-I was a p-priority ch-choice, keekee?" the nervous girl began, "Y-yes, I think Azukina-kun w-would round out a t-team very w-well."
However, she did not have time to continue her train of thought. POP! Kiko's ill-conceived stray shot rang out in the field. "KEEEEEE!" Koumori shouted in surprise and pain. Her ears were ringing. Blood rushed through them. She grabbed Akeno's wrist and began to run. Should the more muscular girl not resist, Koumori would drag her along, seeking shelter, wanting to keep the other girl safe. Should Kudo Akeno resist, however, Koumori's hand would slip from her wrist without realizing it.
Either way, she would spring towards anything large enough to hide the two of them and put space between them and further fire. All without being able to hear again quite yet. Her ears were on fire as she gripped the edge of the box near where Guodo-sensei stood. She had missed most of the instructions. She didn't even realize exactly where she had gone.
A red ribbon now in her hand, the girl looked up, the ring of tinnitus still buzzing in her head, to see a familiar head of two-toned hair, "A-Azu... Azukina-kun?" the bat mutant muttered, not entirely able to hear.
The petite lass looked dazed as she shook her head, as her hearing returned at an agonizingly slow pace. Koumori began clearing her throat, reflexively as it were, as though trying to help her regain her full range of senses. Even her visual acuity was effected, as she was frequently reliant on sound-cues for visual information, due to her echolocation.
After about five or ten minutes, Koumori was up to One-Hundred Percent again. Upon regrouping with Akeno and Azukina, she bowed her head in apology. "S-sorry... d-did I m-miss anything? A-anyway, keekee, I th-think we sh-should take s-some time to b-become m-more intimately f-familiar with eachother's Q-Quirks," she offered, heedless to any subtext that may or may not have- after all, this was just three girls on a team for a rescue-op and nothing else, "I c-can do echolocation, a-and my ears are really sensitive, keekee, b-but my eyes a-aren't so good... a-and I can climb a-any surface that i-isn't t-too s-smooth, b-but I c-can't hang upside down o-or anything, keekee," explained the short girl, wiggling her ears to punctuate her mention of her echolocation.
The suddenness of the gun shot that rang out across the field was enough for Akeno to spin her head in the direction of the petite Italian terror, but the effect it had on Yakkaimori was much more profound. The girl let out a high pitched scream that quickly drew Akenoβs attention back to her teammate; she was about to ask what was wrong when the smaller girl grabbed Akeno by the wrist and ran off.
Concerned and a little confused, Akeno let herself be dragged along without putting up any resistance as she was pulled over towards Goudo-sensei and the box of ribbons and then pulled again over to Azukina. It was clear that the loud noise had bothered Yakkaimori and it only took a quick look at her ears to realise why; if she really did have abilities similar to a bat then her mutation surely gave her high sensitive hearing to be able to echolocate. Even her eyes seemed a little clouded over as she shook her head and cleared her throat, the loud noise probably having a similar disorienting effect that something like a flashbang had on someone with normal hearing.
Akeno waited until Yakkaimori recovered before saying anything, in case any more noise aggravated her already damaged ears. When she had recovered and suggested explaining their Quirkβs to each other, Akeno raised an eyebrow at the wording used but listened carefully to what was said nonetheless before giving her own explanation. βWell, what I showed in my demonstration is pretty much it. I can heat up my body to about 60 degrees; itβs enough to burn someone but not right away and if I use it for too long I overheat. It wonβt be very useful here Iβm afraid, but Iβll do my best to help anyway.β
Shun tilted his head curiously as he approached. Shiki was doing that tail thing with his phone again. He'd thought it was just a gimmick to show off his quirk during the demonstration, not some long term habit. Was the other boy shy or just being weird? Either way, he thought it was dumb. His train of thought on the matter was cut off by Shiki's admission that he liked working with the spastic boy, however. That was a sincere compliment in Shun's eyes; he aimed to be a helpful contribution to the team, after all, and his earlier collaborations with Shiki had been... less than stellar performances in his opinion.
"I like working with you too Shikkun!" He chirped gleefully as his face lit up in a bright smile, although Shiki had already returned to looking elsewhere. The phone must've been a shy thing, then. At least, he hoped it wasn't because Shiki found the impromptu nickname aversive. The repetitive K sound in 'Shiki-kun' just didn't have a nice ring to it, and they hadn't exactly known each other long enough for Shun to consider dropping honorifics altogether.
He glanced toward Elina next, flashing a quick thumbs up at her questioning of how effective her quirk would be in this scenario. While it may not be ideal in a wooded area, it was far from unhelpful. Though he could sympathize a bit, her quirk was even less suited to a rescue task than his was, and he was already feeling a bit down at his own ability to contribute.
"Don't worry about it, yeah? Your quirk's super strong, if we run into trouble we'll be counting on you." Shiki's description of a plan had him even more confident in their chances. Shun certainly didn't know where to start with a rescue operation other than just wandering along until they see something, which didn't sound very efficient.
Pixels paced over to Guodo-sensei as he called for their attention, bouncing on the balls of his feet for a better look. And, of course, out of excitement; he really wanted to get moving already. He jumped a bit - though it's not like anyone would notice due to the bouncing - when his phone vibrated at Guodo's mention of him sending his number. He didn't know how he felt about his teacher texting him. It was a little uncomfortable, or at the very least seemed unprofessional. Not that it really bothered him, it was just odd.
As the teacher finished, Shun turned toward his team and opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Shiki, who had already taken charge again. He even mirrored Shun's thought process that he should get started on a map. It was nice to be on the same wavelength.
"I'll get the stuff, you just get warmed up, Yukira-san. Err- pun not intended." Shun called out as he headed for the box of supplies at a light jog. He wasn't strapped for time but he had been standing around far too long, and fidgeting in place was no substitute for proper movement. Plus, he was a tad self-conscious that it made him look weird. He grabbed the three yellow ribbons and maps, eyeing the topmost one over as he turned and walked away at a more leisurely pace. Their path had a lot of water to cross, this could easily become a river rescue situation. He hoped the moniker of 'stream' was appropriate and the water wouldn't have a strong current, especially if the teachers had arranged a hassle like a broken bridge. Otherwise, the map didn't provide too much information on the route they'd be taking. He'd have to rely on Shiki's quirk for that.
"So, we got the path near the waterfall, it looks like. Sensei said to stay off the cliffs so I don't think we'll have to rescue anyone from falling, but it's definitely a zone where I'd expect accidents to happen." Shun said as he returned, holding out the stack of maps and ribbons for them to grab.
Shun acts like a big homo, goads Elina on, and starts jumping up and down in anticipation like a spastic rabbit while Guodo explains the situation. He then grabs the maps and returns to his team to compose a more thorough plan.
Mari nodded as she listened to Kai explain his quirk and as Yasu reaffirmed hers. In response to Kai's admiration of her quirk, Mari simply replied, "Being punctual is about self-discipline and preparedness. A quirk that does not involve speed is no excuse." This statement definitely came out sounding judgmental, as Mari already had her suspicions on why Kai was late in the first place. His statement of admiration only cemented her suspicion that his tardiness stemmed from factors well within his control, causing her to see him as lazy, unserious, or unmotivated.
She turned to listen to Goudo-sensei explain the exercise, giving an audible, 'tch', when he mentioned that each path had a family of three. "Well, looks like I was wrong about there being only one family to rescue," Mari said, explaining her annoyance, "This means that some teams will have an advantage when it comes to searching, and it will be less likely that this is going to be a cooperative exercise between the teams." Finally, she volunteered, "I'll get the maps and ribbons," as she headed over to Goudo to retrieve the team items. When she returned, she addressed Kai, as if she hadn't just given him shade a moment ago for being late, "Mori-san, your quirk might be the most suited to rescuing in this exercise, if and when we encounter the family of dummies. I assume your arms can lift more than normal arms can?"
Mari not so subtly criticizes Kai for being late, calls him a 'tard' for being tardy. Corrects her earlier assumption about there being only one family. Gets the team gear. Asks Kai if he even lifts, breh?
Sure enough, Goudo announced that, yes, everyone was to collect maps so that they knew where they were going. Umi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, th-then uh... I-I'll grab the m-maps and r-ribbons for us, I-I guess."
With that, she left Hiroki and Haruka for just a moment in order to collect the necessities for their. The members from some of the other teams had also came over for that same purpose. But unlike many of them, Umi actually took the time to study her map thoroughly while she was there. The streams over to the bottom right corner caught her eye. The orange path crossed over them once, the green path twice and the yellow path thrice. If she could secure any of those three, the whole team would be in the clear.
Unfortunately, a boy from another team had already collected the yellow ribbons, and was in the process of leaving before Umi had realized that fact. She considered asking for a trade, but reluctantly let that thought go, figuring it'd be a hassle to try and explain that she needed a readily available source of water for her quirk. Neither the orange nor the green ribbons were present when Umi came to collect the maps, rendering them eliminated as options as well. Biting her lip, Umi returned her attention to her attention to her map.
The lake was completely surrounded by the purple path, which made Umi scratch her head. She looked over and noticed that the purple ribbons were still there, but what perplexed her was the possible notion that Hiroki wouldn't be very comfortable with wearing that color specifically.
Interactions: Suguro Umi (Yours Truly :])
It was at this point that Uranishi had noticed Umi gazing blankly at her map for the longest of times, whereas Shun, Mari and many others had already collected their ribbons and returned to their teams. She came across as confused as to which direction to ultimately commit to, so Uranishi had figured it was worth offering his aid to her. Helping students was a key part of his job description, after all.
"Did you need any help?" Uranishi asked out of curiosity.
"O-oh! Er... S-Suguro U-Umi, sensei," Umi made a quick bow as she said this, remembering the request that the teacher in question had made before students were to ask him anything, "M-my quirk needs a s-s-source of wat-ter before i-it will come i-into e-effect, so..."
"...you were hoping for a path that would lead you towards a river or a lake; I see," Umi was surprised that Uranishi was so effortlessly about to complete her query for her; Uranishi had noticed that as well but, being as to the point as he was... "In that case, I'd suggest you take the purple path. It's the most direct path towards Safferon Lake."
"Yeah, ab-bout that, I..." Umi eyes drifted over towards the blue path, where she noticed that it had forked into a separate route that conjoined it to the purple path, "C-can I, er... are w-we allowed to c-cross over i-into the p-purple path? Ass-suming I choose the b-blue ribbons inst-stead, that is?"
Uranishi furrowed his brows for just a moment, which Umi had picked up on. It seemed as though he had reservations on the prospect of one team interfering with and taking credit for the rescue operation of another, but Umi didn't seem like someone who'd do such a thing.
"Well, I suppose there's no harm in it." he stated.
Giving her thanks, Umi picked up the blue ribbons for her team, along with another two maps for Hiroki and Haruka.
Their time had finally come. It was time to get started. Kiko was almost already sick of sitting through explanations and lectures. She wanted to get out there and shoot something. She was still annoyed the mission was just to find three whatevers and bring them back safely. There had better be something out there to challenge them, or she swore to God she was going to consider shooting Guodo-sensei in the rear. Then again, how could she look at that smile and get so mad at him? It probably wasn't his fault. Maybe it was that grody nurse guy. Maybe she could shoot him in the butt instead?
At least there was something she could do in the middle of all this waiting. "Oooh, oooh, I'll get the maps and stuff!" She said to Souta and Soga before shooting off, not even remotely waiting for their approval. She rushed over and snatched up some maps, and then examined the ribbons. She didn't really care what route they took, but picking the right ribbon was important. Kiko settled on green, for that was Italy's greatest colour. She grabbed three green ribbons and then raced off back to her team.
"Okay, Bullet Cavalry, we're going on the green path!" She'd already mentioned the name to Soga, and she didn't care if Souta had a problem with it. They were the Bullet Cavalry now and that was that. She handed out a map and a ribbon to her teammates. "Anybody got anything else to do? Otherwise I say we go go go!" It was beyond obvious that Kiko was excessively eager to get started.
Kiko grabs maps and ribbons for her team and really really really wants to get started.
Soga had wished to find out more about what they needed to do, about what what to expect from this rescue mission, if there would be any potential "villains" that would ambush them, if there would be any other surprises one would have to expect. However, one of his teammates, Kiko in particular was not of the same opinion as him as she quickly grabbed both a map and the three green ribbons without even looking at the path the three of them would have to take. He was a bit disappointed in having such a trigger happy companion, even if her quirk did prove quite useful against large groups of possible enemies.
He wordlessly took one of the ribbons from the hyper-energetic girl and glanced at the green path on the map. Not only was it the forest route, where his bird's eye view would be the least effective, it was also the longest route of all of them. "Chief, just before you go, I feel obligated to inform you that yo... we have chosen the longest path to take." He said to Kiko, looking ever so slightly worried at her, before his gaze lingered on the other students, their respective ribbons and their respective paths. His sight fell upon the Red team, formed of Azukina, Koumori and Akeno, then looked at the map, seeing that their paths would not intersect. He clicked his tongue in slight frustration and looked back at their "team leader" who was now urging the three of them to just go already.
"Well, I think I'll be most useful if I fly above you all, so that I can see further ahead, I'll still be within hearing range of you all, so if you need something just speak a bit louder." With that, his wings unfurled, though he did not take off just yet, not without waiting for the confirmation of the "leader" of the Bullet Cavalry. Even if this team would not be a permanent one, orders from "superiors" would still have to be followed... except if his own personal needs were greater than that of his current "superior."
Soga is disappointed with Kiko's choice of map since he has the least visibility there, he is also annoyed that the paths of his team and the red team don't intersect for some reason. Despite the lower visibility, Soga offers to fly up in the sky to scout whilst staying within shouting range of Kiko and Souta.
Carelessly the monochrome emitter had allowed herself to get lost in thought, after the wave of negativity she had put herself in moments prior. Koumori's request, stuttered as it may be, was enough to snap her out of such thoughts, even if it were for but a moment. A longing stare was directed at the bat-girl, insecurity welling within Checkers about her own ability. Would someone like her even be able to pull their own weigh around a person like Koumori? It didn't seem like this exercise was in her favour. Worse yet was who else would be part of their team. Though she hadn't expressed it before, there was certainly apprehension on Azukina's features when she put Quirks to faces. Kudo Akeno, put simply, terrified her for a reason she couldn't put down. Though it was closer to call it intimidation, the discomfort at working alongside someone who seemed so vastly superior to herself didn't weigh comfortably in Azuki's mind. Up until this point, there wasn't a single person who she felt was better than herself physically without the assistance of a Quirk. With her physical fitness apparently outclassed, a sour taste developed in the cold girl's mouth, discouraging to say the least.
'It's fine, Azukina. She's just a classmate, one you're working to develop a positive, constructive relationship with. Just focus on being cooperative. Focus on being nice.'
Waving kindly, Azukina decides it is best if she briefly introduced herself, then conveniently left for the bathroom as soon as possible. Her strides are a bit forced, but become more relaxed as she hears Akeno and Koumori, albeit due to the latter's presence more so than the former's. She waited patiently for the others to speak first before approaching any significant distance, although a surprise gunshot sent Koumori into a squealing craze that threatened her ears from the proximity alone. "O-ow..." Gently rubbing into them to soothe the light pain, Checkers grumbles about the screech sounding like a banshee, thankfully going unnoticed due to the bat's deafened state. Unfortunately for Azukina, this left her alone without Akeno.
Bowing at Goudo with perfect formality, the black and white girl makes a break for the bathrooms, in no small part thanks to his directions. While she didn't want to be rude, appearing stressed on the first day was a nightmare waiting to happen. Door, door, sink, tap, straight to wash her face clean of the negativity that plagued her.
Azukina was in and out in a matter of minutes, faster than Koumori and beating her back to their original spot. "Apologies for that, I didn't mean to keep you." Despite being the first one back she apologised anyway, directing it mostly towards Akeno. It was a bit nerve-wracking to speak to someone she felt so strangely about. Similar to speaking to boys, she projected a stern and hard-working personality unto the hothead, same with Mari, with the difference being that the karate kid wasn't nearly as naive. Despite not exactly wanting to engage in conversation, it would be rude not to personally introduce herself. "My name is Yomodachi, though please call me by my given name, Azukina. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Perfectly on-time, Yakkaimori completed the team by appearing at the same time. Though she hadn't taken the chance to look over a map herself, it would seem their path would be that of the colour red. Checkers shook her head when asked if Koumori missed anything, followed by a firm nod in understanding about giving out more information with regards to their respective Quirks. They would be working together, unlike the entrance exam, so details were important. Koumori's Quirk was arguably the most useful. Akeno's could be handy in a cold or warm environment from the sounds of things, assuming 60 degrees was her natural limit. At least Azukina could freeze up a stream, river or lake not that their route had any of those, as she would soon find out. "My Quirk, Flash Freeze, is the same as my father's, though not nearly as impressive. I can emit a light from my left palm -- and only my left palm -- which generates a freezing, continuous, stable wind. I can freeze people and objects with continued exposure though water is by far the easiest. If need be, I can create differences in air pressure that can disrupt the flight path of smaller projectiles, and can also freeze smooth surfaces to slide or skate on. At ten to fifteen meters my Quirk is most effective, beyond that the cone becomes too wide to be effective rather quickly. Oh, and finally: using my Quirk always generates wind, and as such I am a terrible light source."
She didn't have much else to say regarding her Quirk, and decided to take the time to have a look at her map before things began. The red path was going to be close to the mountain, suggesting potentially rough terrain. It was a good thing the three had athleticism, else the path might be troublesome. "I feel as though our target will be close to the mountain. Logically, a civilian would seek a landmark so they are easy to find when lost. We have two hours, we could make it there quickly if we ran, however we don't know whether the path is the best way or cutting through the middle..." Best to work out a plan of action before they pushed onward. The other teams may opt to do plan on-the-go but it didn't hurt to have a starting plan so everyone was on the same page. "We wouldn't want to cut into the white path, so perhaps following our own is for the best. Especially if this family is split up. Then we circle around to the white or purple path and head for The Field. Does that sound agreeable?"
Azukina was daydreaming like a hoe and is intimidated by Akeno's build. Koumori's scream hurts her ears and she cries about life in the toilet for 2 minutes and decides she should try not to be a bad person. She introduces herself personally to Akeno and explains her Quirk to the two, going into detail about some of the handy applications of it. She then devises a simple plan of attack, suggesting the family could be near the mountain or spread along the path.
After ridiculing her quirk, Shiki apologised. At least he had manners. Elina turned her eyes away from him feeling a bit bad at getting so annoyed. Awkwardly she mumbled back at him.
"N-no, problem."
With the bad blood out of the way they could focus on more important thing like the teams and tasks at hand. Shiki used his weird tail thing to get his phone from his pocket and loaded a voice app that allowed him to speak through his phone. The use of it was still unclear to Elina, to use it when he was right next to her. It was more showing off then usefull right now. Her eye twitches for a second as she gazed at Shiki doing his thing.
"Nyah?"
That was weird. Shun arrived, taking all Elina her attention to the new person. This was the person that was gonna join them. He was together with Shiki in the demonstration as well. He could teleport so he was very mobile. Perhaps he could help them through any rough terrain with his quirk. Shiki seemed happy he wanted to join and so was Elina.
"Glad to have you Datari-san."
They both gave an encouraged reaction back towards the fiercy haired girl which made her all too more at ease with these two. Shiki had already found spots for her to be free to use her quirk at and Datari pointed it out that there could be dangers that they had to fight. In that aspect she was the strongest of the three for sure! Elina shot a short excited look before blushing tremendously at her own excitement. She twiddled her fingers while looking off at the side.
"Y-you're right. I'll work out I think..."
Guodo-sensei called them over which made Elina jump a bit. He had send his phone number to everyone's their phones. As he said that she carefully pulled a flip phone out of her pocket. Opening it she saw the number of her teacher, she typed away pushing the buttons multiple times to get the name in correct and nodded at the teacher in confirmation.
The teacher then started to hand out the colored bands and the maps of the area. They would rescue a family of dummies from the forest around them. They were suppose to behave and from the looks of it there weren't gonna be any serious treat's?
When Guodo-sensei was done talking Elina prepped herself with a small cheer pep for herself. It would be totally okay. Shun was getting them the map and ribbons while Shiki would scout the area with his quirk... Elina was asked to warm up, or something... While they were both out Elina decided it would be smart toooo... Stretch, or something. Elina did some simple yoga moves to get her body ready to dodge any unexpected attacks. Doing some simple moves on her hands would get her in good shape.
Eventually they both came back with Elina still doing some weird poses that bend your back close to unnatural. Shun explained their route somewhat to the two. It did sound quite troublesome.
"Maybe a river rescue? That sounds quite bad actually. Nevermind, I haven't said anything."
Umi goes off to get them the maps "Get us a good one Suguru Chan!" and Hiroki gets ready doing some stretches on his own. Squats, shoulder rotations, abs and hip stretches. He noticed Haruka's little spray bottle at her hip. It could be some kind of 'hair' spray, which wouldn't really make any sense in the grand scheme of things unless it was needed for her quirk. Plant petals. Water made more sense. "Fujimori San, I was gonna grab some water if you want me to fill that up?" He said holding out his hand, offering a little favor to their team.
Whether or not she accepted he ran off to the water fountain to get himself ready, taking the whole hydration thing seriously. He wished he had an actual bottle for Umi, might be something worth carrying around...
He returned refreshed practically at the same time that Umi was back offering the maps and ribbons. "Blue. Looks like a straight shot. Not a bad pick. I thought you'd be a shoe in for something with water, sponges." He already felt pretty confident around Umi to give her a nickname he liked (though that might be entirely his own opinion) He raised his shoulders a little bit and looked at the map, kind of following it. Green looked like the worst, several bridges and just as long as their own. "Considering there is a whole lotta nothing along blue, probably means were going off the path at some point."
He raises head head from his map and looks over at Haruka. "Flower Pow--er I mean, Fujimori-Chan." She called him Kun so he guessed that was right? He wasn't great with politeness. "Bet the wilderness is your jam huh?" He suddenly gets excited, a glint in his yellow eyes. "Those vine whips must be awesome! Swinging from tree to tree. Pulling down branches! Attacking from out of nowhere!" He then goes off on a bit of a tangent. "Can you control plants too? Make roots grow to snag someone's feet? Make shields out of leaves!?"
Hiroki commends Umi for her pick, does a bit more planning, and then fanboys out over the speculation of Haruka's quirk. He's all about those cool quirks!
Koumori nodded, then clasped her hands together in a little clap. It was time to get a plan under way. She'd explain her formation, before taking input from the other girls and come up with a perfect rescue strategy! And if they were quick enough, they could even help one of the other groups out. "Okay," she began, ducking to the ground, extending a finger into the dirt, and writing a one, two, and three in a nonlinear pattern, "I'll be here in the middle, listening for signs of trouble, and finding the safest ways down suspicious or dangerous paths. Kudo-kun, you stay to one side, handle any up-close th-threats, a-and use y-your strength to help c-clear obstacles a-and free any c-civilians th-that get trapped, keekee. A-also, you'll have to b-be our eyes, since m-my eyesight isn't th-the best. A-Azukina-kun, y-you can scan the p-perimeter and n-neutralize any th-threats from a d-distance that come f-from the front, keekee. W-we move as a unit, a-and s-stay mobile, keekee. W-we're a-all f-fairly mobile, r-right? S-so, o-once we r-rescue the l-lost civilians, w-we go help the o-other group, l-like r-real heroes would! Keekee?" Upon finishing diagramming her plan with her finger in the dirt, the bat girl stood, and gave a little bow. It was clear she was excited about this. Especially acting like a hero would. She seemed extra enthused, compared to how she had been moments ago around simply Akeno, or during her demonstration, or even when talking to Suzaku prior to that, for that matter. "Th-thank you v-very much for listening, keekee. D-do you t-two have a-anything to s-suggest?"
...Did she just take a jab at me for being late? Nice. I hope she take as much as she deals. The thought passed through Kai's mind at the reaction to his praise of the dark haired girl's abilities, but only gave an innocent, unknowing grin to her in response.
Yasu's question directed towards the four armed teen caused him to frown slightly. A thoughtful look taking his face as he put his hands behind his head, his extra limbs doing the same. "I don't actually know myself. I always figured they were made of some type of special muscle cell. Every doctor that's looked me over never really gave me a straight answer." Looking back over to the newest member of their group, Kai smiled. "Anyways, what's your Quirk like, Hayakawa?"
The electrical wire that appeared from thin air between the girl's hands immediately had Kai's attention. His extra arms quivering before turning back to liquid and slipping into his back again. His fist punching into his palm as he flashed an excited grin over towards Yasu. "Electric trip wires huh? That's pretty sweet! We could plan out some killer ambush tactics by combining our Quirks if we're gonna focus more on defense then straight rescue."
A new voice spoke up among the ground, garnering the attention of all of the students, Kai included. He felt his pocket as a small tone chimed, and pulled out his phone to look at the notification. Even his texts have smiles... His eyes were drawn away from the screen however as he heard his name, giving a tiny wave in response to Guodo. I should meet with him after and explain why I was late... His thoughts raced as the crowd moved to follow the teacher, listening to him explain everything as he eyed the ribbons curiously. "Different paths...And I think poisonous berries are gonna be the least of our worries."
Kai nodded towards Mari as she vented her frustration to them, crossing his arms. "Sounds like it's gonna get pretty competitive. But hey, I don't mind a little competition, do you?" He asked the question towards Yasu with a turn of his head once Mari left to grab their supplies, and upon her return, he answered her question with a confident smirk. "Course they can. I could lift three in one limb. But if we gotta give the dummies a quick exit, I might need to pass one to ya."
It was official. Yasu didn't like Mari. Unless by some miracle Kai had carefully explained his exact reasons for being late before Yasu had arrived, then she had a feeling Mari didn't actually know why Kai hadn't been here earlier. She had jumped to a conclusion, and now she was judging him for it. Yasu didn't even know why it would be any of Mari's business, but there she was, making comments about it. Now Yasu was wondering if she was going to be like this about every little thing they said. She had no idea if that was the case, but goodness only knew that if she had all these quips to make over something trivial and unimportant on her own part, she wasn't going to like it. Had it not been for the fact that Kai barely seemed to care about it, Yasu might have been tempted to make something of it right now.
The fact that Kai knew very little about his own quirk came as a slight surprise to Yasu. She had assumed these doctors knew what they were talking about with quirks after all this time. It didn't matter in the end. It made it impossible to gauge how these arm thingies would react to certain situations, but that was hardly all that important to her. Predictably, Kai showed a similar excitement for her quirk as he did for Mari's. She had a feeling he was just like that, showing enthusiasm for everything around him. She didn't take his praise very seriously, given that, but it was at least a more pleasant reaction than being told her quirk was shit. That, or having a certain someone make judgmental comments the whole time.
The teacher's finally ushered them into the final preparations for their task. Yasu wasn't really concerned with the details. Not that she wasn't paying attention, but it really didn't matter to her whether there was only one family total or a bunch of them for each team to rescue. All that mattered to her was getting it done. "Not really." She told Kai when asked about the competition.
For some baffling reason, Mari appeared annoyed at the fact that the activity was structured differently than she imagined. It meant nothing to Yasu, as she could care less if they co-operated with other teams or if the others were done before them. All they had to do was see this through to the end and do what was expected of them. If Mari was going to get all pushy with her about it, then they were going to have a real big problem.
"Do you guys think it's worth a shot for me to climb into the trees? Because I can do that." She asked them. Climbing was easy, she'd been doing it all the time since the orphanage. She imagined there would be some advantage in being able to scout from a high vantage point, but she couldn't be sure it would help. Nor could she be sure there were enough trees to justify her moving around from treetop to treetop on their specific route, and it would be exhausting to climb trees all up and down the trail for no certain gain. But the offer was out there, and she was willing to at least give it a try. Otherwise, she was ready to get going when the others were.
"It's not 'winning' or 'losing' that bothers me, it's the potential for sabotage, and others getting in the way of our task because they think heroes are supposed to fight each other for glory or something?" Mari said with disdain evident in her voice, "Anyways, the strength of your limbs is impressive, Mori-san, and we hopefully won't need speed, since Hayakawa-san's quirk should be perfect for deterring any would-be chasers. As for climbing, it definitely seems like a good idea. I was afraid that our team lacked reconnaissance, but it seems that I am mistaken. We should probably head to a central location along our route..." Mari pointed to somewhere on the map to show the others, "...and have you climb a tree there to get the best vantage of our designated path. Meanwhile, I might just scout ahead and keep you two updated via text if I see anything. I guess we can start getting ready." Mari begins to head towards the start of the white path.
Mari actually compliments her teammates' quirks and Yasu's offer and ability to climb. Creates a simple scouting plan, and a potential escape plan.
