NOVEL NEXT 52 – Proverbs 16:9
Proverbs 16:9
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Team A and D were selected first putting Izuku and Katsuki up against each other just like they had in canon.
All Might lead the class to the viewing room before bringing the two teams to the test site.
After returning alone All Might explained what they would be expected to do.
The Villains would occupy the building and guard a fake bomb that had a 15 minute timer set. If the villains defeated the heroes or one of them managed to survive until the timer ran out they won. If the heroes captured both villains or the bomb before the timer runs out then they won. It would test both their powers, strategy and teamwork capabilities.
The cameras showed an abandoned building, filled with empty hallways and rooms. One of the rooms had a huge fake bomb in it. It didn't take long after All Might returned for Katsuki and Tenya to show up in the bomb room while Ochaco and Izuku were left waiting out front.
Toru poked James' side. "What do you think will happen?" she asked him in a hushed whisper as everyone was staring at the many screens detailing the test site building.
James smirked. "How about we have a little bet?" he asked teasingly.
"I bet Ochaco and Izuku will actually manage to beat Katsuki and Tenya," he continued.
"No way! Katsuki and Tenya scored way better!" she said.
"Well if you're so sure it shouldn't be a difficult decision to accept." he responded.
"I guess..." she said.
"Now as for the stake. If I win you'll be giving me... let's see... how about a kiss?" he asked playfully.
Toru immediately started blushing hearing what he wanted from her, but she didn't seem put off by the request.
"So what would you like if you win?" he asked.
"D-d-date..." she said hesitantly her blush deepening as she pressed on.
"Oh? Now that's a shame..." he said. She looked rather downcast at his words.
"...now I'd rather lose, but I never lose," he said still sporting his teasing smirk.
The corners of her lips tugged upwards slightly.
"Hmph, I'm going to win anyway. I don't think there is anyone here that thinks you'd win this bet." she said crossing her arms and sporting a pout.
This just meant James got to enjoy the view of her bare breasts being pushed up and together giving him significant cleavage to enjoy. He also enjoyed how expressive she was never having learned to conceal her expressions due to her invisibility, it was rather refreshing even if his abilities made it rather easy to read most people having someone not even trying to hide them was new.
"We'll see, we'll see." James said with a wide smile.
The match concluded pretty much exactly the way it had in the original timeline. Izuku despite winning, was once again left beaten to a pulp which was the norm for him.
The entire class aside from James was entirely stunned silent. Amazed by the end result and the state of the two teams that didn't match the result. No one had predicted this outcome.
"Indoor person-to-person combat training... hero team... WINS!" All Might eventually announced.
'It seems there is at least some amount of "plot" in this world as events seem to get pushed closer towards canon when they can be. The only teams that ended up different are the ones where I got one of the members excluded from class 1A. The rest got assigned the exact same teams and now they even seem to be getting the same match ups and results as they were originally supposed to.' James thought to himself reviewing what had been happening.
'This is both good and bad. The good thing is it'll be easier to predict events as the world seems to really want to follow the original sequence of events, but the bad thing is it'll be hard to tell when I haven't interfered in something enough to make it impossible for the world to enforce the original plot. I can't become too complacent, because who knows when a little change I make ends up having larger consequences I couldn't predict and ends up causing a canon event not to happen or if the opposite happens and against my expectation things still follow the original plot,' James pondered.
It was pretty clear he had irrevocably changed Himiko's plot and very likely the same for Momo. For his family and subordinates he had no clue since they weren't present in the original manga and anime for comparison. For the other people in class he wasn't sure how much of an influence he had had on them just yet. He would need to do further testing to clarify just how strong this "plot" was and how far he could or needed to push it to break an event away from the plot.
James smirked and raised his eyebrow at Toru giving her the side-eye. She blushed and responded by playfully punching his arm. "W-what?" she asked acting like she had no clue.
"You know what. We can wait until we have some alone time if you'd rather do it in private. Or we can do it here, no one would be able to see after all..." he said said teasingly.
He could see her eyes darting to his lips as she licked her own and nibbled on her lower lip playfully.
"Mhm... later," she finally agreed shyly.
"Deal... no backing out now," he said.
Himiko was giving him the side-eye for most of their conversation, but said nothing. It seemed she had calmed down some ever since he taught her his little lesson. When he looked back at her she quickly looked away. Part of her was afraid, the other part really wanted to be taught another lesson.
Momo was already in the middle of a deep conversation with Rikido using what she had seen from the first match to plan their strategy. Unlike Himiko who was here purely so she could be with James and couldn't really care less about actually becoming a hero, Momo still had great aspirations to become one.
All Might left again getting a robot to cart the unconscious Izuku to the nurse's office to be patched up once again. James was just glad it wasn't him that needed to make out with recovery grandma. He felt a shiver go up his spine just remembering the last time he met her.
