Chapter 177: The Red Oni won't Weep (2)
~Third POV~
[UA Highschool, Ground Omega, Japan]
The explosive high schooler and the little girl looked at each other for a second before quickly and awkwardly breaking eye contact.
*BUZZZ*
The moment the buzzer sounded, Team Momotaro split up. The plan? Scale the hill, as Aizawa informed Ren to go quote and quote 'If you go all out then I'm revoking your Eri meeting privileges'.
In a battle involving varied elevation, those with the high ground had the advantage. Instead of sticking together and possibly getting wiped out as a group, Team Momotaro scattered in the hope that even one member of their ranks might reach the peak.
On the path leading up the hill, a fallen branch suddenly snapped, triggering Toga to emerge from the shadows of the crags as she said, "Is that you, Hagakure?"
"Eek!"
The light girl was second to none when it came to covert ops, but hearing her name called out caused her to yelp. Realizing her blunder, she clammed up and tried to flee, but the [Peak SEN] of Toga's ears picked up the cracking and crunching of sticks and leaves beneath her feet, allowing him to lock on to her exact position as she rushed in closing in on her said, "No escape from me."
Feeling cornered, Hagakure said, "Yeah? Then I've got no choice!"
Hagakure's beans were hidden in her mouth, and now she was throwing them at Toga. Her ploy was no match for her, though, which caught every bean and, in one smooth motion, brought the oni cudgel down upon her with a smug grin, "Caught ya~"
"Hagakure is out."
The sound of the speakers came. Aizawa's voice over the speakers without delay.
Cameras placed around the area let him catch all the action in real-time. Hagakure was now bound for a super-duper cute jail cell set up for players who were knocked out of the exercise as she said, crestfallen, "Blah! I was sure nobody'd spot me."
Toga gave a cute wink as she began to move out in a cheeky tone, "Good thing I scattered those sticks and leaves around. Just the thing to make some noise and alert me."
Elsewhere, Sero was swinging through the trees with his [Tape] Quirk, but his plan to reach the hut as the crow flies was interrupted when Ida came barreling down on him as he yelped, "Ida?"
*VROMMM*
Ida, brandishing his cudgel, yelled, playing into his role, "Rawwr! I am a fearsome oni!"
Sero was quick to alter course and dodge that first attack, but Ida weaved back through the trees to home in on Sero without a hint of slowing. While still swinging, Sero tossed his beans to ward off the speedster, but Ida dodged each one with some deft footwork and used the opening to smack Sero with the cudgel.
*SMACK*
"Sero is out."
Kendo, who was halfway up the hill when he heard Aizawa's announcement, muttered to herself, "That's two of us down."
But her ascent came to a halt at the appearance of Kirishima, who had brazenly swung his cudgel over one shoulder and said, grinning, "You ain't getting past me!"
Kendo, with a grimace, as he shifted into a battle-ready pose, said, "The mano a mano approach?"
As the two prepared to clash, Ren and Asui rendezvoused on their way up the opposite side of the hill as she said calmly, "So Toru and Sero are out of the game, Ribbit."
Ren nodded, agreeing as he pondered out loud, giving his opinion in an honest tone, "Uh-huh. The closer we get to the peak, the higher the probability of encountering an oni, so we'd better be –"
*KRACKLE*
Before he could say "be careful," walls of ice sprang up around the Team Momotaro pair. Todoroki, as he raced down an ice slide, cudgel at the ready, said stoically, "You're making this too easy, Yuki."
*Whip*
But Asui had already wrapped her tongue around Midoriya to drag him out of harm's way as he thanked her, "Thanks, Asu… I mean, Tsuyu!"
She replied bluntly, "Don't mention it."
This oni was possibly the toughest they could've run into, so Ren shouted to Asui and tried to lead Todoroki away, "You go on ahead!"
*KRACKLE*
Todoroki responded by trapping Asui with more ice and dashing after his other quarry. Yet another ice wall sprang up in Ren's path, with Todoroki's cudgel closing in fast from behind.
Without even turning to look, Midoriya flicked one of his beans straight back at Todoroki, but the looming oni blocked the bean with his cudgel. Both boys wore wide grins, excited as the two were going to have a rematch as it had been a while.
From afar, their location, the girls who had just bumped into each other, was far enough away not to get caught in the action but close enough to notice the ice as Ochaco said, "Ice walls… That's gotta be Todoroki, yeah?"
Jiro slowly nodded as she replied nervously, "And I bet he's fighting… Ren?"
But focusing on their objective, the ever-vigilant Jiro, as she scanned their surroundings, said seriously, "Anyway, let's make for the hut."
As they went, Jiro picked up on footsteps and some sort of clacking as she said, "Wait, Uraraka. Someone's coming."
The girls hid behind a boulder, and Jiro reflected on the sounds she'd detected with her sensitive hearing as she thought curiously, 'Those footsteps must be … Momoyao? And that other noise is something she's carrying, but what?'
Jiro whispered her thoughts to Uraraka, and the pair held their breath as Yaoyorozu marched straight toward their boulder. They realized their cover was blown, made eye contact with each other, and waited for the incoming oni to get just close enough before popping out from either side of the rock.
*Click*
No sooner had they tossed their beans than they heard the click of a switch and a low, rumbling whoosh. The massive vacuum hanging from Yaoyorozu's shoulder sucked the thrown beans right out of the air, leaving Jiro and Uraraka stunned.
Momo, with a smile, asked, holding her vacuum in a confident tone, "How do you like my high-powered vacuum cleaner? Your beans are hereby confiscated."
The Team Momotaro girls took a second to recover from the shock, but then they snapped out of it and put some distance between themselves and the oni as Ochaco said, "Nice defense, but you're all bark and no bite."
Momo nodded her head, agreeing with her words, but kept a confident expression as she said happily, "You would be correct, as I decided to outsource my offense to another."
Overhead, Tokoyami came flying in, held aloft by [Dark Shadow]. [Dark Shadow] cried out loud, "I'm that other!"
The girls realized what that meant when they spotted a pair of cudgels—one held by Tokoyami and one gripped by Dark Shadow's claws as Jiro protested, "Oh, c'mon!"
She and Uraraka ran and tossed another pair of beans at the airborne menaces, but Yaoyorozu's vacuum sucked those out of the air as well. Ochaco said quickly losing hope, "We're screwed!"
/////
[UA Highschool, Ground Omega – Oni Team Hut, Japan]
As these brutal battles unfolded outside, only silence pervaded the hut's interior where Bakugo and Eri waited. Aizawa's special assignment for the boy felt like a total paradox.
Bakugo was meant to play the part of a fearsome kidnapper while treating Eri like an actual hostage, and yet, somehow, he also had to befriend her. It didn't make any sense to him as he thought, frustrated, 'What, am I supposed to hope Stockholm syndrome kicks in? Where's the logic, here?!'
Bakugo's thoughts turned to Stockholm syndrome—the phenomenon where a captive eventually feels solidarity with or even love for their captor over a long, stressful period spent together. In any other situation, Bakugo would have let his explosive frustration show on the outside.
Still, based on Eri's previous reaction, he had learned that his typical outbursts would be a sure way to sink this mission. He would keep his thoughts to himself for now, even if they escaped a little bit in the form of a scowl.
Besides, Bakugo could begrudgingly admit to himself that, paradoxical or not, there was some value to this exercise. Not that conceding that point would lead him to a solution.
Bakugo was talented in ways that allowed him to tackle just about any challenge, but thoughtful, careful communication was practically uncharted territory for him as he thought, 'What's a convo with a kid even s'posed to sound like?'
He remembered Todoroki's suggestion as he recalled it in his mind: 'Yuki made friends with the girl. Try following his example?'
This thought made Bakugo react disdainfully, "Screw that!"
Eri flinched at Bakugo's unwitting roar, and he clucked his tongue out of frustration at his childhood friend and his own inability to control himself. The last thing Bakugo wanted to do was to take a cue from Yuki, but he realized that Yuki just happened to excel at thoughtful communication—the one skill he really needed here.
There was no better role model in this particular area, but Bakugo's long-held pride held him back and showed on his face. Upon seeing Bakugo's twisted visage, Eri balled her fists and started trembling, just as an actual terrified hostage might.
Her reaction went unnoticed by him, though. With another cluck of the tongue, Bakugo started thinking again in a serious tone, 'Like hell, I'm following his lead … I'll get this done my own way.'
But how would he play the role of an oni while getting through to the girl's heart? He frowned thinking, 'Except there's just no freakin' way to do it!'
He wondered to himself how a proper oni was even supposed to act. Coming up with nothing, he abandoned that line of thought and switched gears to the hostage angle. If he had been kidnapped as a little kid, what could the hypothetical hostage taker have done to win him over?
Bakugo was no stranger to being taken hostage in recent times, so no matter how many scenarios he ran through his head, the answer always involved him fighting back and beating the villain into submission as he thought seriously, 'What kinda crappy hostage would open up their heart to some bad guy?'
Perhaps, in a truly unusual situation, the villain and victim might have to work together, and some sort of affinity might bloom in the process. Still, the hostage would have to be lacking in the self-respect department to be charmed by a criminal who wouldn't think twice about using a human shield for their own selfish goals as he thought, 'They'd have to be a top-tier moron.'
Having come to that conclusion, Bakugo scratched his head furiously and moved on to the next line of thought. After pondering for a moment, he slowly opened his mouth, asking Eri calmly, "Tell me your favorite food."
Eri was stunned and replied in a confused tone, "Huh? Me? Um, I like apples the best…"
The food question was the safest, most innocuous one Bakugo could think up. Meanwhile, the quizzical look on Eri's face seemed to say, "Why would you ask me that?" If anything, it was clear that she trusted him even less now.
Bakugo scowled grimly as he realized that his conversation opener hadn't done the trick he thought seriously, 'I'm just some shady character, huh?'
/////
[UA Highschool, Ground Omega, Japan]
By this time, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow's aerial assault had taken out Uraraka, Jiro, Ashido, and Kendo, so only six members of Team Momotaro remained to fight on—Midoriya, Asui, Kaminari, Ren, Sato, and Shinso.
Meanwhile, Team Oni hadn't lost a single ogre yet, so what was left of Team Momotaro beat a temporary retreat to a location behind a particular outcrop they'd selected at the very start—a place where they wouldn't be spotted for the time being as Sato asked, "Half our forces are lost. And we're running low on precious beans. What now?"
Denki mumbled somberly at the predicament they're placed in, biting his thumb, "We're gonna be oni chow before we even come close to saving Eri."
Asui thought for a moment before speaking her thoughts in a serious tone, "We need to beat them with limited beans, so we'd better get them in a situation where our throws can't possibly miss, ribbit."
Asui's idea made the gears turn in Midoriya's head, launching him into mutter mode as he spoke out, "Rescuing Eri should be the top priority, but Team Oni won't let us near without a fight… Clearly we can't just dodge past them and our strongest piece –"
*KABOOOOM*
The sounds of fire and power were heard as Todoroki and Ren were both preoccupied with each other. Shinso paled lightly as he asked Izuku in a nervous tone, "Coming up with a plan there, Midoriya?"
Midoriya looked up at the group and explained what he was thinking.
/////
[UA Highschool, Ground Omega – Oni Team Hut, Japan]
Back at the hut, Team Oni opened the door to find their worst fears confirmed. Bakugo snarled at them like he'd just swallowed something unbearably bitter, while Eri was trembling and whimpering in the corner, just like an actual hostage.
The pair had not become pals yet, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Ever the brave hero, Ida took a bold and decisive step forward as he said calmly, "Eri! Despite how he might come off, Bakugo has several appealing qualities! Isn't that right, friends?"
That was when Ida turned to the group and blinked hard repeatedly, as if to say silently, "There's your cue!"
His outrageously straightforward strategy was simply to educate Eri on the appeal of Bakugo, but the rest of Team Oni struggled to catch the curveball Ida had pitched to them. After a moment, Kirishima was the first to speak up and shot Bakugo a big smile that said, 'I got your back pal', "No matter how he seems, Bakugo'll never lie to ya! He's as honest as they come!"
Momo was the next to step forward as she said in an upbeat tone, stating good facts about Bakugo, "Right, yes! You might not believe it, but… Hmm, let me think… Ah, of course! Bakugo prepares the most exquisite food! His every move in the kitchen is like a masterful performance."
Relieved that her turn was over, Yaoyorozu looked over at Kinoko, the next in line. She began wording her words carefully, saying in an unsure tone, "Uh, believe it or not… Believe it or not… um… Bakugo is a real morning person. I've never seen him panicked or running late for anything."
Kinoko shot a glance at Tokoyami, who'd been deep in thought. Noticing her stare, he looked confused before speaking up in a surprised tone, "Who, me? Oh. Bakugo may appear uncouth, but… Ah, he keeps the bathroom immaculate. When a single drop of water lands outside of the sink, he's sure to wipe it up."
Tokoyami seemed satisfied at having come up with a compliment, and he now passed the baton to Todoroki as he struggled, "Despite what you might think… um…"
Todoroki was at a loss for words, so Toga interjected and stole his place in line as she stated cheerfully, "Allow me! You might not think it, but Bakugo is quite dexterous. He would have you believe that the sagging waist of his pants may fall at any moment, but I have never seen it happen even once."
Todoroki raised his head as Toga finished; he'd finally come up with something to say as he said finishing his part quickly, "Despite what you might think, Bakugo is great at lessons and learning stuff. Also, he's uh… Midoriya's childhood friend… and I think Ren's…"
The target of these compliments scowled in silence and allowed each classmate to say their piece, but that last bit was the straw that broke Bakugo's back as he shouted, "The hell?! Why is 'he's known freakin' Deku since they were kids' on the list of what makes me great? And that last bit of that Power Ranger jerk is blatantly slander to me!"
Eri tilted her head as she said cutely, "Huh? Did you say 'Power Ranger?"
That got her attention and earned Bakugo a stare, but her interest in that aspect of his life only fanned his raging flames as he explained, "Y'don't get to choose who you're pals with as a little kid! Besides! What's with all this 'Despite what you might think' and 'Believe it or not' crap? Tell me how you jokers really feel about me, why don'tcha!"
This Baku-blowup took Eri by surprise, and she shrank back even deeper into the corner of the hut. The rest of Team Oni winced to see Bakugo take one step forward and two steps back, which prompted Todoroki to say, "Sorry, I guess."
Not wanting to make the Bakugo-Eri Friendship Experiment crash and burn harder than it already was, Team Oni reluctantly snuck back out of the hut to resume annihilating Team Momotaro. It just wasn't in their power to help Bakugo with his special task.