MHA: GAMER PATH

Chapter 136: UA School Festival Arc (9)

~Third POV~

[UA Highschool, Festival Grounds – Haunted House, Japan]

Meanwhile, another clone of Ren Yuki being fearless, Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, Kinoko Komori, and Toru Hagakure were quaking in their boots in class C's haunted house. Making their way through the haunted house Denki says in a fearful tone, "Whose bright idea was it to try out a place called 'Labyrinth of Doom'…?"

Mina shot a glare at him shouting, "Yours, Kaminari!"

Ren couldn't help but mutter out loud, making a bead of sweat trickle down, saying, "You know both of you can let go. It's not that scary."

Grabbing both his arms from each side, Toru and Kinoko grabbed on tightly, pressing their chest as they said, "Can't help it… Too scared…"

Kaminari and Ren had initially thought with deadpan expressions, 'Why not?'

Mina had been looking forward to it more than anything, and Ren had only tagged along to make it a curious experience. However, their big mistake was underestimating how spooky a haunted house put together by amateurs could be.

The backstory was that this old house had seen its resident family slaughtered in grisly fashion fifty years back, and class C had spared no attention to the realistic details. The floorboards creaked as visitors walked through, and mountains of dust and cobwebs spoke to the house's decrepit state.

Even the crude crayon drawings on the wall, which might have come off as adorable in any other setting, took on an ominous feel. It was when they heard a narration from above through the speakers, "Yet, even half a century later, only the eldest son's body remains missing… Though the house stands vacant, neighbors claim they can feel an unearthly presence emanating from its walls…"

Upon hearing the weighty narration at the start of the experience, the four members of class A not yet scared out of their wits had been mildly impressed. But then came the falling ax.

*THUD*

And the door was slightly ajar, behind which someone or something was peering. And the grandfather clock that wailed like a baby. The red, infant-sized handprints staining the corridor gradually traveled up the walls until they filled every surface.

By that point, Ren, with a raised eyebrow as the group was trembling, as Denki suggested in a frightened tone, "W-whaddaya say we throw in the towel…?"

Hearing his question, Ren curiously replied, enjoying the atmosphere, "How, exactly? Walk back down this hall in reverse? That'd be just as scary for you guys."

One of the students of Class C was eavesdropping on the terrified group from up in the ceiling crawl space one of the students whispered, "Hey, those Class A kids are coming your way. Scare the pants off 'em, 'kay?"

The student, with a wry grin, ready to play the part of the murdered son, muttered, "Roger that…"

Ren, listening as he paid attention, held an amused grin, enjoying the haunted house scaring his friends as he thought, 'At the very least we're not dealing with the supernatural… again… but that Sorbet though…'

His classmates observed from behind the scenes, feeding timed cues to the jump-scare actors via walkie-talkies. Nearby, the one in charge of dripping blood from the ceiling gave the class C student a thumbs-up before setting about their task.

*Drip*

Hearing and seeing the blood drops Denki asked nervously, "Huh? Is that blood…?"

*Drip*

*Drip*

Drops of blood could be seen as Kinoko clutched tighter to Ren's arm asking in a scared tone, "W-Why's there blood raining down on us?"

*Drip*

*Drip*

The blood gushing from the ceiling soaked the floor, leaving the group frozen in place. That was when the student covered in fake blood himself flopped from a ceiling panel to hang upside down, right in their path as he moaned, "Take me from this plaaaace …"

"Gyaaaaaah!"

He'd been doing his best to scare them, of course, but their extreme reaction had caught him off guard and made him break character surprised, "Whoa, really?"

Without even pausing to think, the group of four ran through the rest of the house screaming, half in tears, as Kinoko exclaimed as she ran, "This Labyrinth of Doom is bad news!"

The screams faded. The students and his classmates of Class C were stunned yet thrilled to have scared members of Class A so effectively as the student who scared them spoke to Ren curiously, "Now they know that General Studies means business too. Although why aren't you scared though?"

Turning their attention to Ren, he chuckled helplessly and calmly explained to them, "Oh, no, I wasn't scared the least from your guy's haunted house. Seen worse but great job on your Haunted House!"

Giving them a thumbs up, the Class C Students smiled, seeing their hard work was being praised for the School Festival. Once outside, the four scare victims collapsed in a heap, but after a quick breather, Ashido and Hagakure laughed and said excitedly, "That was awesome!"

/////

[UA Highschool, Festival Grounds – Obstacle Course, Japan]

Nearby, Itsuka Kendo was up against an obstacle course. It was a race against time, featuring several creative hurdles, including a steeply warped wall. Hanta Sero, Eijiro Kirishima, and a clone of Ren Yuki had already run the course, and beside them stood Katsuki Bakugo, looking as sour as ever.

Kendo after finishing the beauty pageant grunted as she tackled the final obstacle, the warped wall grunted, "Up … I go!"

Her [Big Body] Quirk gave her the extra boost she needed to push up and over and press the timer button on the dais above. Kirishima shouted out loud voicing the time she stopped on, "Fifteen seconds! Same time as me, dude!"

Sero chuckled lightly as he boasted about his time smugly with his arms crossed, "Looks like I won! Me and my thirteen-second record."

Sero's handy [Tape] Quirk had allowed him to sail past the obstacles with ease. All three had done well, but they hadn't even come close to touching the best time posted at the registration desk, which was an impressive five seconds.

It was Ren suggested curiously to Bakugo, getting a rise out of him, "You're next, Bakugo! Show us what you're made of!"

Bakugo spat back, stood up, and started to walk away, not following Ren's words in an angry tone, "What a pain. Nah, cuz even without trying, I know I'd win."

Hearing that, he was about to leave, but Ren said confidentially with a smug grin on his face as Kendo joined them, "Really? But do y'know the best time? I heard it was All Might who set the record when he was a student. I mean nobody's touched that record since there's no else beating All Might?"

Sero and Kirishima's eyes widened, realizing what Ren did as they thought, 'He's gaslighting Bakugo again…'

Upon hearing this, Bakugo spun around and glared as if to say, "Who says I can't beat him?"

Kirishima, seeing this, smirked, joining in on the fun as he said nonchalantly urging Bakugo to try, "Aw well, let's just go check out the food stalls … Huh, Bakugo? Oh, you're giving it a shot after all!"

Ren's trick worked, seeing his friend stomp over to the registration desk without a word. Kendo who had missed the earlier exchange rejoined the group and nonchalantly asked, "Bakugo's gonna try?"

Standing at the starting line, Bakugo stretched his arms wore one of his trademark indomitable grins, and confidently declared, "I'll be the one to beat All Might's record, just watch me."

*BEEP*

The starting buzzer sounded, and he was off. Bakugo vaulted over the initial obstacles with ease, clambered up the warped wall, and smashed the timer button as he said, supremely confident, "Well?"

Ren responded nonchalantly, "Ten seconds."

Getting pissed off like Bakugo style unwilling to accept defeat, Bakugo ran the course again, but All Might's record time was still out of reach, "The hell? That timer's gotta be busted! Lemme try again. Grr! One more time! I … But … Argh! Again! How'd that guy manage five seconds anyhow?"

Despite dozens of attempts, the coveted five-second record remained unassailable. Kendo asked curiously, "How about you call it a day? The more tired you get, the slower you're gonna go!"

Everyone had noticed Bakugo wearing himself out and was concerned for their classmate, but Bakugo said, "Shaddup!!"

After that, he began racing back to the starting line yet again. He then said, with a bundle of pure determination, "I've gotta be the one to beat All Might's record!"

Kirishima was moved almost to tears by this passionate display of guts as he said proudly, "That's our Bakugo! So, freaking manly!"

Bakugo would keep running the course until closing time, with Sero asking Ren by his side curiously, "So… how long you think he gonna keep doing this?"

Ren, listening to Sero's words, replied as he asked another question curiously, "Probably till the whole night or till it closed. Wanna make a bet on how long he'll quit soon? The winner owes the loser a favor but not something too uncomfortable for each other to do."

Sero grinned lightly, shamelessly scolding his friend stoically, "Man, that's just evil, dude…. I'll give it till he collapses from exhaustion first."

Ren slyly smirked, making their deal confirmed, "Deal."

With that, the group looked at Bakugo challenging the obstacle course. Ren provided some homemade food for the workout being entertained by Bakugo determination.

/////

[UA Highschool, Festival Grounds – Tokoyaki Stand, Japan]

Elsewhere, Hitoshi Shinso hummed a tune while munching on crepes. As he strolled down the lane of food stalls, he spotted Yui Kodai, Himiko Toga, and a clone of Ren Yuki running a takoyaki stand for some reason.

Shinso raised an eyebrow, seeing his friends working at the Takoyaki stand asked in a confused tone, "What the heck are you guys doing?"

Noticing Shinso's appearance, Toga grinned happily as she said, "We ended up in charge of this little operation for now."

Yui then spoke next pointing one of her fingers while enlarging the ingredients with her [Size] Quirk stoically, "One of the Business Course classes started this stand, but there's a more popular takoyaki place right over there. Business wasn't doing well, so these guys decided to run off to hold a strategy meeting and scout the competition. We happened to be walking by, and they asked if we could hold the fort."

Shinso glanced where Yui's finger was pointing and saw a crowd lined up for a different takoyaki stall as he snickered, "Damn… I almost feel sorry about those guys. Which brings up another question… why are you actually preparing the takoyaki?"

Surely enough, all of them were clad in aprons and grilling up takoyaki. While the former adroitly poured the batter into the molds, the latter deposited chunks of octopus and other ingredients into each little pool.

Ren, on the other hand, prepared the food using his hands to flip the cooking balls as needed as he explained happily, "Well, they told us we could do some cooking if we wanted. Besides, I always wanted to try to man a Takoyaki stand at least once. That and I was in the mood anyway."

Toga nodded her head, agreeing to finish popping the balls out of the mold, drizzling them with sauce, and topping them with bonito flakes and dried seaweed, "Yeah! And letting Ren-sama cook would guarantee top-level food! You gotta try some Shinso!"

Yui was passing him a plate of Takoyaki-sized cake pop covered in chocolate as he grinned lightly, replying, "Since your offering, why not? I figured why not try your choco-yaki if he made it."

Shinso is holding up a takoyaki-sized cake pop covered in chocolate. He took a bite, humming happily, "Hmm~ Damn, if you have him as your cook, you're gonna start racking in some people."

By this point, several other students had gathered, attracted by the smell. They all drooled a bit as they see Ren put cheese in the Takoyaki as students and other people began to enjoy the smell.

"Did you just say 'cheesy-yaki'?"

"Lemme get one of those!"

"Hey, me too."

"I'll take the chocolate one."

Yui, seeing multiple people coming, tried to turn away the potential customers as she said stoically, "But we're just filling in for now…"

*THUD*

Finishing up another dish of Takoyaki plates with a confident grin, Ren said in an excited tone, "No worries! Just leave the cooking to me and work on getting the customers!! Shinso, mind lending a hand, and in return, you get some of the food?"

*Swooosh*

Quickly holding a sign for a line, Shinso shamelessly said, getting unlimited delicious food from him said, "You son of a bitch. I'm in."

Helping everyone out, Shinso spoke up, taking over line management duty in a cheeky tone, "Alright, everyone, please form an orderly line! Do it, and you get your Taokyaki!"

This resulted in the customers getting their takogaki and choco-yaki as every hummed and drooled blissfully. The takoyaki and choco-yaki were tastier than even they knew, and the blend of savory and sweet aromas wafting from the stall worked as effectively as word of mouth.

They soon gathered a crowd of customers lined up to place orders, forcing them into production overdrive to satisfy the demand. It was when La Brava and Gentle arrived as Ren handed them the food free of charge.

They each took a bite as tears streamed down their faces as they all thought happily eating the food savoring the taste greatly, 'Ah!! This Takoyaki is so delicious…!!'