NOVEL NEXT 58 – Psalms 37:32
Psalms 37:32
The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death.
Mina finally came out of the room finishing her cursory sweep and was stunned to find Yuga gone. She looked around the hallway trying to find where he went. She looked more surprised than worried probably thinking he had just wondered off. He did come off as a bit of an airhead after all.
Meanwhile Himiko had dragged him off to a room on the other side of the floor and dropped him off. She said something to him before leaving the room without him.
"That was crazy," Toru said. It was exciting for her to watch someone use stealth since that was what she usually focused and seeing how someone did it without invisibility was intriguing and even helpful for her own ability since she still needed to mind the sounds she created when sneaking.
James felt her pressing up against his side. As the match progressed she had unconsciously moved closer and closer to him ending up in this position without even realising it.
He smirked snaking his hand around her back and settling it on her hip.
Toru jumped in surprise blushing heavily as she noticed what she had done and looked at his hand.
She seemed hesitant for a moment, but didn't end up saying anything. James could feel her leaning harder on him though letting him know she wasn't opposed even if she didn't say or do anything.
Though Mina was still relatively calm at first, the more she searched for Yuga without finding him the more noticeably panicked she became. Eventually all she could do was give up on her search though and continue on the path towards the bomb room when the search came up empty.
The relaxed atmosphere that had crept in had completely disappeared as she crept down the hallways peeking around every corner and jumping at any unexpected sound she heard.
From the monitors they could see Himiko following Mina just out of her sight.
"This is kind of creepy..." Ochaco said somewhat unsettled at the idea of being stalked in such a way.
"Y-yeah..." Kyoka muttered in agreement.
When Mina finally entered the bomb room she quickly glanced around the room only finding Rikido there. That didn't make her feel reassured though given that she hadn't come across Himiko and Yuga wasn't in this room either. It was becoming quite clear what happened and she didn't like it one bit.
On the screens they could see Himiko creeping up from behind Mina ready to pounce. At the last moment Mina slid aside using her acid and just barely dodged Himiko's sneak attack.
Himiko seemed annoyed, but undeterred and kept attacking Mina faster and faster. Mina struggled to keep up since her quirk didn't do much to enhance her body instead requiring her to heavily use her acid which consumed a lot of stamina.
"Oh wow. She is controlling Mina-chan's movement, slowly guiding her towards Rikido without her even realising it," Tsuyu said in surprise.
"Right? Right?" Ochaco repeated in agreement.
James smirked seeing Himiko put to use the skills he had made sure to drill into her over the years. She might have been relatively powerful in the original timeline, but she was practically untrained. Being self taught had limited her capabilities and now that James had made sure she received the training she needed, she really bloomed.
Himiko sent a kick towards Mina which she barely managed to dodge again, but this finally sent her into Rikido's range who had been waiting for this. He had used his quirk Sugar Rush to pump up his muscles.
Mina was surprised when she received a hard blow to her liver from behind her that sent her to the ground. The unexpected blow managed to stun her so much that Himiko managed to take advantage of it to capture her ending their match.
"Team F... WINS!!!" All Might announced.
'This guy is really loud,' James thought with a sigh. All Might had a little too much energy for his tastes. Even with All Might running on borrowed time that didn't change and he still maintained his unbeatable hero persona.
All Might retrieved the teams. None of them needed medical help as even Mina should recover pretty easily only dealing with some bruising from Rikido's enhanced blow.
Himiko immediately skipped over to James with a look that just shouted 'Praise me!'
James smiles giving her a caring pat on the head which she seemed to enjoy a bit too much.
"I'm impressed. Good job," he told her.
"What about a reward?" she asked with a sly smile.
"What? This isn't enough?" he teased her.
"Not even close," she said with determination. It was undercut by how she was rubbing her head back into his hand to make the most of his pats.
This seemed to get the attention of most of their classmates. Some of them were eager to hear where the conversation was going. Even heroes couldn't escape the appeal of juicy gossip. Most of all the other girls in class.
"We'll see about it," he said. He was pretty sure what kind of reward she wanted and it wasn't one he could go talking about in front of the whole class.
Momo was frowning at the two of them. She had noticed James and Himiko's relationship had seemed to have gotten closer recently, right around when school started. and she didn't like it one bit.
All Might coughed awkwardly. "Ahem! Well, let's go over how they did," he said.
The screen changed once again.
[Person-To-Person Combat Training]
[Battle 5 review]
Tsuyu raised her hand.
James saw Momo trying to do the same, but grabbed her hand. Him and Momo had already gotten a chance to show off.
You think he was being nice? No, it would make him look good to Tsuyu and also if Momo tried to take this from Tsuyu when she had already had her chance to shine it would actually make her look a little worse, not better.
Momo looked like she wanted to object at first, but when she noticed he was holding her hand she blushed deciding that maybe this wasn't so bad either.
"Yes young Asui," All Might said.
