Itsuka threw a quick one-two punch, trying to stop her opponent from passing through the stairs.
She could tell the boy was searching for the hostage, but he was struggling. Ibara had tied vines to every door on the upper floor, making it nearly impossible to determine where the hostage was actually being held.
Itsuka swiftly shielded her face when her punch missed its mark. Ai, using the momentum of his dodge, twisted his body and launched a back kick straight at her face.
To her surprise, they were at a stalemate. She hadn't expected Ai to have such solid martial arts technique, let alone be able to keep up with her.
Ever since her Quirk manifested, Itsuka had realized early on that there was only so much she could do with a Quirk that simply enlarged her hands. So once she mastered controlling its size without accidentally breaking her surroundings, she shifted her focus to technique—studying every martial art that could complement her ability.
She prided herself on creating a unique fighting style, blending various techniques to maximize the effectiveness of her Quirk. And she had spent years refining it.
Yet, Ai was countering her effortlessly.
She barely dodged as Ai grabbed something off the floor and threw it at her.
Reacting quickly, she blocked his incoming gut punch with her knee. Enlarging her hand, she swung a powerful punch, only for Ai to jump—planting his feet against her massive fist to absorb the impact. Using the force, he pushed himself back, flipping through the air before gliding across the floor and coming to a stop.
Itsuka clicked her tongue in frustration. Despite her efforts, he remained unfazed.
"You're holding back," she accused, steadying her breathing. "I saw how easily you pried open a metal gate and destroyed a Zero Pointer's arm. Why not use your Quirk to fight me?"
Ai tilted his head and straightened up, his relaxed posture confusing her.
"And what about you?" he countered. "Aren't you holding back too?"
Itsuka frowned. It was true—she wasn't going all out. But this was a training exercise. Her goal was to stop him, not beat him into the ground.
But she was using everything at her disposal—her Quirk, her techniques—everything she had trained for.
Ai, on the other hand, wasn't.
Sure, he was fighting back, but only in the form of counters. He wasn't trying to overpower her or land decisive blows. More importantly, he hadn't even attempted to take her blood—the key to activating his Quirk.
She had been careful, attacking in a way that limited his chances of drawing blood, but he hadn't even tried.
"I'm not!" she protested, taking the moment to catch her breath. "Unlike you, I'm using my Quirk to fight."
Ai nodded. "I believe Eve told you about my Quirk, right?"
She gave a small nod.
"Then you should know I could easily win if I relied on it. But I try not to be overly dependent on my Quirk in combat." Ai chuckled. "This is a controlled environment, perfect for sharpening my non-Quirk combat skills without putting myself in real danger. Hard to do that when you're up against actual villains, you know?"
Itsuka sighed, understanding his reasoning. There would be times when a hero wouldn't be able to rely on their Quirk in a fight. Training to hold his own without it was smart.
Even so… she wanted to fight him seriously.
Ever since she topped the practical exam, she had felt an unsettling sense of unworthiness. She hated feeling that way.
And it didn't help that deep down, she believed Ibara was the real top student. The thought nagged at her, and she hated herself for even thinking something negative about her sweet, kind friend.
She was about to suggest they spar after school—so he could train his non-Quirk combat skills separately while taking this exercise more seriously—when Ai suddenly spoke again.
"What happened to that smash attack you used against the big robot?"
Itsuka blinked. "Smash attack?"
Ai nodded. "Yeah. You launched your fist at that Zero Pointer's face, and boom! Its head got obliterated, and it toppled over. That was insane."
She stared at him, processing his words.
"Wait… you helped me destroy it, didn't you? Your Quirk sent me flying straight to its face. I only managed to land the hit because of you."
That was how she had always remembered it.
Her Quirk gave her increased physical strength, sure—but not that much. It wasn't on the level of an All Might-style smash. So when she had taken down the Zero Pointer, she had assumed Ai's Quirk had boosted her somehow.
Ai burst into laughter, confusing her further.
"I… Heh… Heh… I didn't do shit that time," he admitted, holding his stomach. "I lifted you toward the robot, yeah, but my Quirk didn't push you or boost you. You just jumped and punched it so hard that you annihilated its head."
Itsuka's eye twitched. "Wait… what?"
Ai wiped away a tear from laughing. "That explains your score on the test yesterday!"
She scowled. "Explain what? Tell me—don't just laugh!"
Ai took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Sorry, sorry! Please don't tell Eve, I'm not making fun at you" he muttered. Scratching the back of his head, he continued, "I was just wondering why you didn't go all out during the ball throw test. Your score was way too low for someone who can disintegrate a giant metal head with one punch."
That stopped her cold.
She had noticed him watching her during the ball throw, but she had assumed he was just being a perv at the time.
Ai grinned. "Have you ever considered that you're using your Quirk wrong?"
Itsuka growled. That was the most insulting thing anyone could say to a person about their Quirk—that they didn't know how to use their own power.
Ai immediately raised his hands in surrender. "Whoa, I don't mean it as an insult!"
She narrowed her eyes but let him continue.
"Look," he said, "like everyone else here, you were really young when you went to a Quirk doctor. When a so-called professional told you how your Quirk works, you just nodded and used it exactly as they said, right?"
Her angry scowl wavered, replaced by uncertainty.
Because as much as she hated to admit it…
That actually made a lot of sense.
Ai lowered his voice, mimicking a stereotypical old doctor while trying to move like one. "Okay, little miss... you can grow your hand... that's it... that will be 30,000 yen."
Itsuka tried her best not to cry because that was almost exactly how her Quirk doctor diagnosed her ability.
Seeing her expression, Ai stopped making fun of her and decided to tell her what had been on his mind ever since he saw her results from the Quirk Apprehension Test.
"Miss Hero, have you ever considered the idea that growing your hand might just be a prerequisite for unlocking the true potential of your Quirk?"
Itsuka was at a loss. She didn't know if he was being serious or just messing with her. Ever since she was young, everyone told her that her Quirk was as plain as it appeared—that she wasn't flashy enough to be a hero. She worked hard, strengthened her body, honed her mind, polished her fighting techniques, and more, but among all the things she improved, she never actually worked on her Quirk. She had always assumed that once her hand reached its maximum growth limit, that was it. The only thing left to do was make it tougher.
She had never actually sat down to study her Quirk. She had just accepted what everyone told her—that it was nothing more than a simple hand-enlarging ability.
She turned to Ai, about to ask what he meant by "hidden potential," when her earpiece chimed.
"ITSUKA, I NEED YOUR HELP OVER HERE!"
Still dazed by what Ai had said, Itsuka shook her head, snapping back to reality at Ibara's SOS call. She turned to run towards Ibara's location but caught sight of her opponent's fleeting back. Biting her lip, she decided she needed to sit down with that guy after this exercise—there were too many questions she needed answered.
Upon arriving at the upper floor where Ibara was guarding the hostage, Itsuka was met with a floor full of floating orbs of liquid.
She was about to ask what was happening when a vine passed in front of her face, swiping at an orb that had been about to hit her.
"I-Ibara, what's going on?" Itsuka asked, enlarging her hand and swiping at the approaching orbs.
Ibara used her vines to destroy the floating spheres, but they kept reforming. "It's Reiko's Quirk! She's the one telekinetically controlling this water."
"Where is she, then? Doesn't she need to be nearby to control all of this?"
Ibara shook her head. "I have no idea. I've already checked outside the windows and pried open all the doors of the nearby rooms. She's nowhere in sight."
Meanwhile, in the control room with the teachers and 1-B students…
"I-Is this allowed?" Nirengeki asked, looking at Vlad King for confirmation.
Vlad King cleared his throat before answering. "Gym Gamma was created to mimic an actual working city, so hero students can get a feel for real-world scenarios. If the hero team wants to utilize its functions, then they're just being resourceful."
All Might nodded in agreement. "The ability to use the environment to one's advantage is a crucial trait for a hero. Fighting skill alone isn't enough to be truly effective."
The students nodded, understanding their teachers' logic, but still…
"But man, who would have thought that Itami was good with computers and stuff?" Tetsutetsu muttered.
Setsuna twirled her hair. "I mean, he's a total dweeb. He literally admitted during orientation that he's into gaming and dreams of making his own game. So yeah, we should've kinda expected that he knew programming."
On the monitors, they watched Reiko sitting in a nearby alley, holding one of Ai's arm braces hand, which turned out to be a small computer device. Earlier, Ai had connected it to the building's security cameras, giving Reiko a clear view of everything inside.
Reiko flicked her wrist, sending another barrage of water orbs, while Ai sneaked through the vents.
"Spooky companion, our enemies are still guarding the door. Ibara has spread her vines all over the floor," Reiko whispered.
"Got it," Ai responded while crawling inside the vent
"Man, there's not much action. The hero team is being unmanly by all this sneaking. They should fight the villains head-on!" Tetsutetsu complained.
While some students nodded in agreement, others believed the hero team was handling the situation well—distracting the villains while trying to reach the hostage.
Vlad King chose to hold his thoughts for now, but he had a feeling that Tetsutetsu's mindset of charging head-first into fights would become an issue for him later.
Ai carefully pried open the vent and jumped down into the hostage room. Looking at the six figures inside, he grinned. "Oh, hi there."
Seeing that Ai had made it to the room, Reiko took out another one of his hand support items and inspected it. "So all I need to do is remove all the fingers to activate it?" She detached four of the fingers and used her Quirk to send the remaining one-fingered hand towards Ibara and Itsuka's location, where they were still dodging and countering the floating water orbs.
Meanwhile, Ai removed the fake hand from his left shoulder and opened its compartment, revealing two separate bottles—one containing liquid, the other powder. He chuckled softly as he mixed the two, creating a playdough-like material, which he then plastered onto the wall in a circular pattern, big enough for a few people to fit inside.
"Hehehe… My name is Ai, Itami Ai."
He took another hand device from his waist, pulling its fingers to reveal metallic threads. Moving to the mannequins representing the hostages, he bundled them together, securing them with the harness. "Sir, Ma'am, and whatever your pronouns are, I apologize for any discomfort you might be feeling, but since none of you have blood I can use for my Quirk, we have to settle for old-fashioned maximum effort. So hold your breath, tuck your chin, and welcome to your first-ever group bungee jump experience!"
He attached another mechanical hand to the harness and smirked. "This baby can hold a truck!"
Just as Reiko buzzed in his earpiece, warning that the villains were approaching, a loud thud echoed through the room.
Ibara and Itsuka arrived, but before they could react, Ai grinned. "Uh, Eve, did you just play splashing water with your new best friend without inviting me? I'm sad now."
Ibara, unamused, immediately sent her vines to capture him. "Where is Reiko, Ai?"
The boy pouted before pointing with his lips behind them. When they turned, instead of Reiko, they saw a floating hand with only its middle finger attached, confusing them.
Ai chuckled. "You two are pretty wet already, huh?"
Itsuka and Ibara glanced at each other, realizing just how soaked they were from earlier.
A sudden click echoed through the room.
Before they could react, the wall behind the mannequin exploded, creating a massive hole leading outside.
Just as they prepared to move, another click sounded. They turned around to see the floating hand—now missing its middle finger. A surge of electricity burst from the now fingerless hand.
"Thank you for your sacrifice, my spooky friend," Ai cackled maniacally as the fingerless hand dropped into a puddle of water beneath them.
In an instant, the electric current surged through the puddle, racing toward Itsuka and Ibara—right through Ibara's wet vines that were still wrapped around Ai.
A collective shriek filled the room as all three were electrocuted.
Meanwhile, Reiko floated into the room through the gaping hole. Using her Quirk, she attached the hand harness to a sturdy column. With both her strength and telekinesis, she gently lowered the mannequin "civilians" outside the building, guiding them to safety with the metallic threads.
Back inside, the three collapsed onto the floor, still twitching from the shock.
Their earpieces buzzed.
"THE CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN SAFELY EXTRACTED. HERO TEAM WINS!"
End of Chapter 21.