MHA: GAMER PATH

Chapter 117: The 100 Tales of U.A. (3)

~Third POV~

[Nighttime, UA Highschool, Heights Alliance, Japan]

The rain began that evening, and it was coming down in sheets by nightfall. Whipping winds rattled the windows of the sturdy Heights Alliance building. Construction of the dorm building had taken only three days, so the students hoped it would stand up to nature's fury.

Aizawa arrived for his inspection and surveyed the first floor. Outside the windows, the storm buffeted the trees violently as Aizawa thought concerned, 'They might not last the night…'

He also feared for the streetlamps by the front door as well. Then, there was a sudden low rumbling in the distance and a flash of lightning across the dark sky, causing Aizawa to look outside as he thought in a stoic tone, 'A storm of this magnitude could cause a blackout… just great.'

*Rmbl*

He double-checked the location of the breaker switch (in case the backup generators failed), flashlights, and other emergency supplies but thought in a concerned tone, 'The real problem…will be the kids themselves. I just hope what Ren said will help give his classmates closure.'

Aizawa scowled, remembering the childish uproar in the classroom earlier. If they experienced a blackout on tonight of all nights… Just imagining it practically gave him a headache.

The mysterious noise in the night couldn't be overlooked, though; passing it off as a mass hallucination would be irrational indeed, as he muttered to himself, glancing around the first floor stoically, "So what's making this noise…? The problem child said it should be easy to hear…"

*Buzz*

He sensed something nearby and detected a slight mechanical buzzing, barely audible amid the rain, the creaking trees, and the rattling windows as he thought, 'What is that…? That the one…'

With bated breath, he searched the first floor, attempting to track down the source of the noise. Knowing that this was likely what the kids had heard somehow allowed Aizawa to focus his senses even more.

It wasn't coming from any one direction; it was on the move, he thought, surprised, 'Something alive…? Wait, no. Oh, you've got to be kidding me…'

Aizawa stared in surprise at the source, which he discovered in the dining area. And soon was suddenly caught off guard, toppled on the floor, and knocked out.

*Thud*

/////

[Nighttime, UA Highschool, Heights Alliance - First Floor, Japan]

*RMBL*

As the second bolt of lightning struck the earth, Ren was paying a visit to Shinso's room, accompanied by Todoroki, Izuku, and Sero. The class president had found it odd when their teacher hadn't shown up for the roll call at the appointed time, so he'd taken it upon himself to ask around.

"Nope. No Aizawa here. Maybe he started up top?"

"Nope. He didn't show."

Hearing the news, Ren frowned, but soon, a troubled Izuku said in a nervous tone, "Hey, guys… Kinda weird that Aizawa Sensei hasn't come by like he promised…"

Seeing where this was going, Ren sighed out loud in an annoyed tone as he bluntly said, shaking his head, "Come on, guys, stop overreacting. Ghosts don't exist let's just find our teacher, okay?"

The boys nodded, agreeing with Ren as Sero glanced out the window at the pounding rain, pointing out loud in an obvious tone, "Craaazy weather out there, huh?"

Ren nodded his head as they reached the first floor he calmly answered his question going down, "Perhaps Sensei is preparing for the worst outcome of this extreme weather event? He did promise – "

However, his words were stopped as they saw their teacher lying on the floor near the dining table. Izuku gasped in a shocked tone, "Wait! Look, over there… Is that Aizawa Sensei…?"

Seeing this, the students began to place him on the couch as others started coming downstairs over the news. Momo, with a grave shake of her head, asked, concerned, "How on earth did this happen?"

Aizawa was still out cold, though at least the kids had carried him to the sofa. Given the dire situation, the entire class was now gathered in the common area as Denki, almost too scared to look, said in a scared tone, "D-don't tell me he's got blond hair on his neck… Ack! He does! Oh, wait. That's just one of my hairs."

Bakugo roared out loud like always, but a trained ear might've detected a slight stiffness to his voice, "Don't freaking joke about that, dunce-face!"

Mina soon cried out loud in a frightened tone holding Toga's hand, "He got whammied by the curse, for sure! I mean, what else?"

Adding fuel to the fire, Kendo said in a scared tone, letting fear overtake her moving to Ren's location, "It could've been a villain attack. But they'd have to be a tough customer to knock out Aizawa Sensei!"

The rest of the frightened class kept freaking out about curses, ghosts, and villains. Ida shouted, trying to calm his classmates, "Calm yourselves, everyone!"

But his attempt to quiet his classmates went unheard through the din. Asui, however, found just the right moment to insert her levelheaded thoughts in a blunt tone, "Paranormal occurrences aside, we should alert the other teachers about what happened to Aizawa Sensei. Ribbit."

This brought them to their senses. Ren, seeing the chance, nodded his head in a calm tone and said to them, "Well said, Tsuyu! There should be a landline phone in Sensei's room, so –"

*KA-BOOOM*

Ren was interrupted by crashing thunder, and an instant later, Heights Alliance went dark. Ren had an annoyed expression as he knew where this was going and thought, 'Sigh… if this gets to scooby-doo mystery-level shit, I'm about done going to bed for the day.'

With the lights out, there was no telling who was who. Humans have always instinctively feared the dark, and talk of the paranormal and ghosts only triggered that latent, primal fear in the kids of class 1-A.

"Eek!"

"Just what we needed – a blackout…"

"R-restrain yourself, Dark Shadow!"

"Geez, Tokoyami! Don't release Dark Shadow now, in here!"

"Wahhh! Somebody save me!"

"Everyone! There's nothing to fear!"

Everyone is going into panic mode Momo attempts to dissuade the situation, "Th-that's right, no cause for alarm, now!"

She attempted to act by using her [Creation] Quirk to produce a working flashlight, but before she could, something scurried across her feet and yelped, "Ahhh!"

Hearing Momo yelp out loud, Jiro asked in a frightened tone to her friend, "Was that you, Momoyao? W-what happened?"

Jumping back lightly, Momo, her voice shaking, replied in a scared tone, "S-something is running about underfoot!"

Confused by her words Ochaco asked in a startled tone before she felt it, "Whaddaya mean, 'something'…? Eek! I felt it too!"

*Whip*

Whatever it was, it was quick. However, Ren blinked, looking down their feet with his [Peak SEN] to see the dark as he saw energy tendrils, realizing in a surprised tone, 'Ah… that one is my bad. With them acting like idiots, I've used [Blackwhip] unconsciously, getting me mad. Better keep myself calm…'

The disturbance darted around the room, raising shrieks from more members of the class as Denki said in a scared tone, almost in tears, "I can't deal with any more somethings!"

That was when Ida commanded in a stoic tone, "We need some light!"

This was enough to snap Kaminari and Bakugo into action; they used their respective Quirks to illuminate the room for a moment, during which the class saw a flash of black jumping through the air before disappearing back into the darkness. Most students were too stunned to scream at first, but like the light, that silence didn't last either, as Toru said in a scared tone, "W-w-w-what was that?"

Denki was in full panic mode as he asked in a startled tone, eyes darting around the room frightened, "Definitely a ghost! That's what ghosts look like, right? Somebody back me up I've never seen one before!!"

Even Todoroki was shaken, but at least now he knew Midoriya was nearby as he asked in a frightened tone, "M-Midoriya… Which is more effective against ghosts ice or fire?"

Managing to hear Todoroki's question, Izuku manages to provide a reasonable analysis despite being equally disturbed in a startled tone, "Huh? I can't say I've ever thought about that, but we think of ghosts as being cold, right? So maybe fire would work? But honestly, I'm not sure physical attacks have any effect on spirits! Since, by definition, they don't have corporeal bodies."

Hearing that only made Shoto sink into despair asking, "Then what do we do…?"

Kinoko soon screamed out loud in a scared tone, "We're done for, guys shroom!"

*THUD*

It was that moment the front door swung open, and the kids froze. Backlit by a flash of lightning, a figure with long blond hair stepped into the building. As the figure shuffled toward the group, drops of rainwater dripped from its hair onto the floor.

The apparition raising its head toward them said, "Ugh… You kids…"

Somebody screamed, "The blond ghost!"

But seeing who it was, Ren immediately paled, seeing the situation going out of control, quickly reacted, 'Oh shit!! Better nip this now, or else we'll face Aizawa's wrath attacking Present Mic without holding back!'

The class had already received plenty of training on how to counter villains, but none of those lessons had mentioned spectral opponents, so when they attacked the home invader in a panic, they didn't exactly hold back. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow flew ahead of the pack as it roared confidentially, "This prey is mine!"

The blond figure who Ren used [Observe] to deduce was Present Mic said quickly, "Whoa… Hang on!"

*WHIP*

Before things could escalate out of control, Ren used [Negation] on his classmates. Then [Blackwhip] grabbed Dark Shadow as he sternly yelled at them, "What the hell is wrong with you guys?!! Just straight up attacking a teacher?!! WHAT! THE!! HELL!!!"

They flinched, hearing his stern tone, stopping themselves in place and realizing Ren stopped their Quirks. A moment later, the lights came back on, and Dark Shadow retreated into Tokoyami with a yelp, gazing at Ren's angry eyes.

Though the class was relieved to see clearly again, they didn't let their guard down just yet as the light revealed Present Mic coming inside with a sigh of relief escaping his mouth, "I appreciate the save there, Ren-kun! Didn't think you kiddies would get this spooked. Take a chill pill."

The class went pale with shock and horror, with them yelling in complete shock, "It's Present Mic Sensei!"

Their boisterous English teacher's hair was usually gelled to the nines and sticking straight up, so they hadn't recognized him with a flat, soaking wet do. Straightening his hairdo in order, he grinned as he said in a cheeky tone, "That's right! It's the one and only Present Mic in the house! Although I would've appreciated it if you lot didn't try to blast me right away like that."

The class, except Ren, looked guilty as a familiar voice from behind muttered, "What's going on…?"

The class spun around. Aizawa was standing, awoken by the clamor a moment ago. They ran to him, finally feeling a bit less panicked as they asked him.

"We thought the blond ghost was here to murder us, so we attacked on sight!"

"Sensei, what knocked you unconscious? Was it a villain? Or a real ghost…?"

"Hang on, there really is that little white ghost running around the dorm!"

Like a conditioned reflex, they piped down and straightened up after one more sharp word from Aizawa in an annoyed tone, "Enough."

They flinched with Present Mic going to Aizawa in an upbeat tone, "Glad you're wide awake, Eraser Head. Had enough of your beauty sleep?"

Aizawa's eyes flinched as he started scanning the ceiling, moving around the space while the confused class followed behind instinctively. But that was when Jiro asked in a confused tone, "Hold on. What about the buzzing noise?"

The class gasped, suddenly remembering that mystery. But that was when Aizawa spoke up upon finding what he was looking for, he pointed to a spot on the ceiling and said stoically, "I figured it out. Asui, see that tiny thing up there? Get it down."

Looking up on the spot, Tsuyu replied bluntly what Aizawa was pointing, "The black one? Okay, Sensei. Ribbit."

*Fwip*

Asui's long, sticky tongue shot out and nabbed a black object too small to identify from afar. She handed over the buzzing device to her teacher as he said stoically, "This is the source of your noise, and it's what knocked me out, indirectly."

Present Mic tilted his head confused as he asked curiously, "What? How?"

It was when Aizawa explained, revealing a kitchen rag on the table as he stoically replied to them, "I noticed it on the ceiling, but when I climbed on the table to get it down, I slipped on a kitchen rag that somebody had left out."

Seeing the kitchen rag, Toru's eyes widened in surprise as she replied with a sheepish giggle, "Oops, that was me! Totally forgot to put it back when I remembered we had to be in our rooms!"

Aizawa turned to the invisible girl with a glare that promised a good scolding but decided against it as Toru flinched under his gaze as he said to them, "Never mind that. Look."

He extended the hand that held the black object so the class could get a better look. As they stared, Momo said, "Please use this."

She passed around a magnifying glass she'd created on the spot. They realized it was a minuscule machine and that its motor was the source of the buzzing as Kendo asked in a confused tone, "Where'd this thing come from…?"

Aizawa walked toward the newly affixed anti-peeping security panel at the door to the girls' bathing area and tossed the black machine toward it. The tiny device flew over to the panel and slotted into a hole like an insect returning to its hive as he said, "I have a pretty good idea. You don't recognize it?"

Seeing the device began buzzing, saying recharging, Aizawa figured the most rational course of action would be to ask the inventor herself, so he called up Power Loader and asked his colleague to put Hatsume on the phone as she answered happily, "Oh, that? That'd be my supercute add-on baby that goes on independent scouting missions at night! My baby is programmed to fly around at night to make sure that no pervert goes into the girl's bathroom! Heh heh. Pretty handy, huh?"

The conversation ended abruptly, and the phone went dead when Hatsume realized she had blueprints to get back to drawing. Nearly everyone felt a feeling a combination of rage and relief.

But soon, Denki asked in a nervous tone about the black figure passing them earlier, "B-but what was the black figure? You all saw it, right?"

*Whip*

Kaminari screamed before realizing it was none other than Ren's [Blackwhip] as he apologized in a stoic tone, "That would be my bad. I saw you guys got delusional, reaching my angry limit that my Quirk [Blackwhip] manifested when I lose control of my anger."

Listening to his words, the class flinched as Denki sighed in a disappointed tone, "Geez… And here I thought I'd spotted my first-ever real-life ghost."

Aizawa gazed at Ren, hearing that remark as he sighed in a tired tone, shaking his head at the student's ignorance, 'Sigh… better to keep quiet about the ghost thing. The last thing I need for them is to be fearful of the supernatural.'

With this last mystery solved, the kids' faces broke into smiles as they exclaimed, "All's well that ends well!"

However, Aizawa, in a low and menacing tone, prompted his class to gulp and notice the state of their common area, "What, exactly, ended well? From what I recall, you all nearly attacked a teacher during your delusional state… How could you let yourselves go to pieces over fairy tales?"

Present Mic sheepishly grins at the kid's predicament, chuckling at the student's frightened expressions and shaking his head humorously, "Hahaha! Eraser Head does have a point children! Trying to attack your teacher thinking he was a ghost is a big no, no whatever the reason you guys and gals thought."

With his black hair whipped by the wind and his cold, red glare, Aizawa resembled a demon straight out of one of their tales. His class stood at rapt attention, experiencing a new type of fear as he spoke sternly, "I want apology essays from each of you by tomorrow! And for the next few days, at least, it's lights out at eight sharp! And no more ghost stories! Got it?"

The class exclaimed with a gulp returning to their rooms, "Yes, Sensei!"

Hauntings and ghosts were scary, but one of Aizawa's bad moods? A much more rational fear took over as they fled the area.

Seeing them leave, Ren stayed behind with a light chuckle as his classmates ran, asking Aizawa with his hair down in a calm tone, "Heh. Think they bought the act of never doing something like letting a scary story happen again."

Aizawa cheekily grinned, nodding his head with Present Mic looking confused as he said smugly, "Most definitely. That will give them the idea of NEVER doing this crap again. Not when the topic of Work Studies is tomorrow."

Both nodded as Present Mic tilted his head, muttering out loud in a confused tone, "I'm sorry, but I'm lost here. Were both of you trying to scare your friends/classmates?"

Both looked at Present Mic before Ren offered a Sorbet, causing Aizawa to pale lightly in a cheeky tone, "As an apology for my class almost attacking you, I'll share with you Present Mic, my one-of-a-kind Sorbet Ice cream blessed free."

Aizawa froze as Present Mic took the treat in a jar, already tasting it in a blissful tone, "If you are offering, then how can I refuse! Let's see… Mhmm…!!! This is so God damned tasty and sweet!! What's your secret little buddy!"

Tasting the blessed Sorbet, Aizawa looked at the ice cream in Present Mic's hand and then at Ren, feeling disgusted in an annoyed tone, 'Damn it… the brat is taking after Nezu by the fucking day…'

Despite Ren using Present Mic as a guinea pig testing his blessed Sorbet, he let it go, seeing he wouldn't endanger his friend in front of him. Thus ended the 100 tales of UA with the students believing to be their delusions and blaming Mei for their nightly terrors.