The next morning, Class 1-A assembled in front of UA at dawn, luggage in hand and excitement in the air despite the underlying tension.

  Two buses waited for them, sleek and modern with heavily tinted windows. Several pro heroes stood nearby—Aizawa, of course, but also Vlad King from Class 1-B, and two heroes Boa didn't immediately recognize.

  "Listen up!" Aizawa called out. "You'll be traveling in two groups. Class 1-A on bus one, Class 1-B on bus two. The journey will take approximately three hours, with one stop. Do not—and I cannot stress this enough—do not reveal the camp location to anyone via phone or social media. Understood?"

  "YES, SENSEI!"

  As they boarded, Boa found herself sitting next to Katsuki—not by coincidence. He'd deliberately saved her the window seat.

  "Morning," he said quietly as she settled in.

  "Good morning."

  Around them, classmates were finding seats and storing luggage. Ashido immediately claimed the back row with Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero, their excited chatter filling the bus. Todoroki sat alone near the front, staring out the window. Midoriya was frantically scribbling in one of his notebooks, muttering about training regimens.

  "Is it weird?" Katsuki asked suddenly.

  "Is what weird?"

  "This. Us. Yesterday." He kept his voice low so only she could hear. "Because I keep thinking about it and it feels weird. But also not weird. Which is weirder."

  Boa almost smiled. "It's new. New things often feel strange until they become familiar."

  "That's a very logical way to describe kissing someone."

  "Would you prefer I be illogical about it?"

  "No. Your logic is one of the things I—" He stopped himself, ears reddening slightly. "Never mind."

  "One of the things you what?"

  "Nothing. Forget it."

  But Boa had noticed. One of the things he liked about her. The sentence he couldn't quite finish.

  She reached over and took his hand, hidden between their seats where others wouldn't easily see.

  He squeezed back, and they rode in comfortable silence as the bus pulled away from UA.

  The city gradually gave way to suburbs, then countryside. The landscape grew increasingly green and mountainous as they traveled further from Tokyo.

  Boa watched it pass, her mind working through various scenarios. If the League did attack the camp, what would be the most likely approach? Ground assault? Infiltration? Something else entirely?

  "You're overthinking again," Katsuki said. "I can literally see your brain working."

  "I'm being prepared."

  "You're being paranoid. There's a difference."

  "Is there?"

  "Yeah. Prepared is having a plan. Paranoid is having seventeen plans for situations that'll probably never happen."

  Boa considered this. "I have twelve plans, actually."

  "My point stands." But he was smiling slightly. "Look, if shit goes down, we handle it. Together. That's plan one. Everything else is just details."

  "That's remarkably simple coming from you."

  "I contain multitudes."

  "Did you just quote poetry?"

  "Best Jeanist made me read some crap about 'well-rounded heroes.' It was torture. Don't mention it ever again."

  Boa's lips quirked. "I make no promises."

  The bus made its scheduled stop at a rest area halfway to their destination. Students poured out, stretching and complaining about stiff legs.

  "I need snacks!" Ashido announced, making a beeline for the convenience store.

  "I need the bathroom," Kaminari said, jogging toward the facilities.

  Boa and Katsuki walked the perimeter of the rest area together, ostensibly to stretch their legs but really to assess the security. Boa noticed several unmarked vehicles in the parking lot—likely additional pro heroes providing escort.

  "They're taking this seriously," she observed.

  "Good. They should be." Katsuki's eyes scanned the surroundings constantly, always alert. "Question is whether it's enough."

  "We don't know what 'enough' looks like until we know what we're facing."

  "Always so analytical."

  "Always so aggressive."

  "We balance each other out."

  "We do."

  They walked in silence for a moment, then Katsuki spoke again. "After the camp, when we get back to UA, we should tell people. About us."

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Boa glanced at him. "Tell people?"

  "That we're together. Dating. Whatever we're calling it." He shrugged, trying to look casual but clearly feeling anything but. "Ashido already suspects. Half the class probably does. Might as well make it official."

  "You want to make it official?"

  "Don't you?"

  Boa thought about this. Making it public meant acknowledging that she'd let someone in, that she wasn't the isolated girl who needed no one anymore. It meant being vulnerable in front of their entire class.

  But wasn't that growth? Wasn't that the entire point of everything she'd been working toward?

  "Yes," she said. "I do."

  Katsuki's expression softened into something that wasn't quite a smile but was close. "Good. Because I was gonna tell them anyway, whether you agreed or not."

  "How romantic."

  "I don't do romance. I do honesty."

  "I've noticed."

  They returned to the bus where most of the class had already reassembled. Ashido had acquired an alarming amount of snacks. Kaminari was showing off some kind of energy drink that claimed to "enhance Quirk performance."

  "That's probably false advertising," Yaoyorozu said, reading the label.

  "Or dangerous," Iida added. "Kaminari, you shouldn't consume unverified Quirk enhancement products!"

  "It's just an energy drink!"

  The normal chaos of Class 1-A continued as the bus resumed its journey.

  Another hour passed before the buses turned onto a narrow mountain road, surrounded by dense forest on all sides. The paved road gave way to gravel, then to little more than a dirt path.

  "Where exactly are we going?" Sero asked, looking out at the wilderness.

  "Somewhere remote," Aizawa answered from the front. "Which is the point."

  The buses finally stopped at what appeared to be a scenic overlook. Everyone disembarked, confused.

  "Um, sensei?" Midoriya raised his hand. "I don't see a camp."

  "That's because we're not there yet," a cheerful female voice called out.

  Two women in cat-themed hero costumes appeared from behind the buses. One wore a red costume with cat ears and a tail, the other in blue.

  "Hello, Class 1-A!" the one in red said enthusiastically. "We're the Wild, Wild Pussycats! A four-person hero team specializing in mountain rescue!"

  "Currently three-person," the one in blue corrected. "Ragdoll's on a supply run."

  "Right! Anyway, I'm Pixie-Bob, and this is Mandalay! We'll be your hosts for the camp!"

  "The camp is down there," Mandalay said, pointing to the valley far below them. "At the base of the mountain."

  The class peered over the edge. The valley was at least three kilometers away and several hundred meters down.

  "And how exactly are we getting there?" Kaminari asked nervously.

  Pixie-Bob's grin turned mischievous. "You're walking! Or running! Or fighting! However you can manage!"

  "WAIT, WHAT?!"

  "The camp officially started when you stepped off the bus!" Mandalay announced. "You have until noon to reach the facility at the base. If you're not there by then, no lunch!"

  "This is already a test?!" Ashido yelped.

  Before anyone could protest further, Pixie-Bob slammed her paws into the ground. "EARTH FLOW!"

  The ground beneath Class 1-A's feet suddenly became liquid, and everyone slid down the mountainside, screaming, unable to find purchase.

  Boa enhanced her legs and managed to land in a controlled crouch. Around her, classmates were scrambling to their feet, disoriented.

  "That was TOTALLY UNFAIR!" Kaminari shouted up at the overlook, but the Pussycats were already gone.

  "Complaining won't help," Aizawa's voice called from above. "Move!"

  The forest around them suddenly rustled. From between the trees emerged massive creatures made of earth and rock—Pixie-Bob's golems, crafted from her Earth Flow Quirk.

  "You've gotta be kidding me," Katsuki growled as a golem the size of a small house lumbered toward them.

  "Spread out!" Iida shouted, immediately taking charge. "Don't let them surround us!"

  The class scattered. The first golem swiped at Todoroki, who countered with an ice wall that barely slowed it down.

  "Physical attacks only!" Yaoyorozu called out, creating a cannon from her body. "These are earth constructs—most Quirks won't be very effective!"

  "Then let's smash them!" Kirishima hardened his entire body and charged at the nearest golem, his hardened fists crashing into its rocky exterior.

  Boa assessed quickly. The golems were numerous and durable, but they were also slow and predictable. The real challenge was navigating through hostile terrain while fighting them.

  "Katsuki!" she called.

  He was already moving toward her. "Petrification Platform?"

  "Exactly."

  Boa delivered a Perfume Femur kick to a large boulder, petrifying it instantly into solid stone. Katsuki used it as a launch point, his explosions propelling him upward to get a better vantage point.

  "TWELVE GOLEMS!" he shouted down. "SPREAD ACROSS THE WHOLE FOREST! WE NEED TO MOVE FAST AND BREAK THROUGH!"

  "Everyone pair up!" Iida commanded, his engines roaring. "Coordinate your attacks! We need to clear a path forward!"

  The class instinctively formed their teams:

  Todoroki and Yaoyorozu combined ice and created weapons.

  Kaminari and Jirou used electricity and sound waves to disorient the golems.

  Kirishima and Ashido went full offense—hardening and acid against stone.

  Tokoyami's Dark Shadow proved surprisingly effective at breaking apart the constructs.

  And Boa and Katsuki moved like a well-oiled machine. She would petrify strategic points—trees, rocks, the ground itself—creating stable platforms. He would use those platforms to launch devastating aerial attacks, his explosions raining down on the golems from angles they couldn't defend against.

  When a golem tried to grab Boa, Katsuki blasted its arm off before it could connect.

  When another tried to blindside Katsuki, Boa hit it with Slave Arrow, petrifying it mid-swing.

  They moved through the forest together, destroying golems and creating a path forward.

  "LEFT SIDE!" Katsuki shouted.

  "ON IT!" Boa kissed her fingertip and drew the bow. "Slave Arrow!"

  A hundred petrifying arrows burst forth, turning three golems into immobile stone statues. Katsuki followed up with concentrated explosions that shattered the petrified constructs into harmless rubble.

  "ADVANCE!" Iida called out, and the entire class pushed forward as a unit.

  It took them two hours of constant fighting to reach the base of the mountain. They emerged from the forest battered, exhausted, and covered in dirt, but victorious.

  The camp facility was a large traditional Japanese building surrounded by smaller structures. The Pussycats were waiting, along with Aizawa and a small boy—maybe five years old—wearing a hat.

  "Well done!" Pixie-Bob cheered. "You made it with twenty minutes to spare! Much better than last year's class!"

  "That was brutal," Kaminari groaned, collapsing on the ground.

  "That was the point," Aizawa said. "You'll be facing similar challenges all week. Get used to it."

  Mandalay stepped forward. "Let me introduce our fourth member—well, technically not a member, but he lives here. This is Kota."

  The small boy glared at all of them with undisguised hostility.

  "Heroes are stupid," he said flatly.

  An awkward silence fell over the class.

  "Kota!" Mandalay scolded. "That's rude!"

  "It's true though." Kota kicked at the dirt. "Heroes and villains are both dumb. They just hurt people."

  Before anyone could respond, he turned and walked away, hands shoved in his pockets.

  "I apologize for him," Mandalay said with a strained smile. "He's... been through some trauma. His parents were heroes who died in the line of duty. He's had a hard time with the concept since then."

  The class exchanged uncomfortable glances. Boa understood trauma, understood the walls people built to protect themselves.

  She saw a lot of her younger self in that bitter little boy.

  "Anyway!" Pixie-Bob said, forcefully changing the subject. "Let's get you all fed and settled! Training starts in earnest tomorrow morning!"

  As the class filed toward the main building, Boa hung back, looking at the forest where Kota had disappeared.

  "You thinking about going after him?" Katsuki asked, appearing beside her.

  "No. He needs space." Boa turned away. "But I understand him."

  "Yeah. I figured you would."

  They walked to the building together, both thinking about trauma, loss, and the walls people built to survive.

  And both wondering what horrors this week might bring.