'Haaa...'
'My ears are ringing...'
It felt like I was losing my balance, probably because my whole body had been shaken.
I don't think the teacher would actually go so far as to burst our eardrums...
I mean, I can regenerate, but Jiro can't...
Then again, Recovery Girl could heal her after the exercise...
"..."
'Damn it...'
Jiro looked like she was in much worse shape, even stumbling a little before leaning against a tree.
'Her Quirk makes her more sensitive to sound...'
That must have felt absolutely awful. It was pretty unfair of the teachers to pair her up against Present Mic.
"Are you okay, Jiro??"
"Urghhh..."
She staggered slightly but managed to stay on her feet.
"Yeah... It was just way too loud..."
"I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING FUN!!!!"
Present Mic's voice echoed again, just as loud as before.
Jiro stepped forward and plugged her Earphone Jacks into her special boots.
She unleashed her own sound blast, but it was nowhere near the power of the teacher's Quirk.
"MEH, NOT ENOUGH POWER, YOUNG LADY!!!"
"THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!!!!"
Deep breath...
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Second after second, he kept increasing the volume.
I tried to stand in front of Jiro with my Koukaku raised, but it didn't help.
I could feel even my bones vibrating, from my toes all the way to my teeth.
A horrible feeling of helplessness washed over me.
Not because the attacks were particularly effective against me...
But because I couldn't protect a friend...
Present Mic finally stopped, but the irritating ringing remained.
I lowered my Koukaku and crouched beside Jiro, who was covering her ears with a painful grimace.
I placed a hand on her shoulder to support her before she collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Her ears seemed to be bleeding...
Tec!
'Damn it...'
Touching my own ears, I saw that they were bleeding too.
And that damned ringing wouldn't go away.
'What's the point of putting weights on Present Mic? His Quirk is long-range!!'
I felt dizzy for a few seconds, but my regeneration quickly restored my eardrums.
"..."
'What do I do???'
Tec...
'I could try to ignore the sound waves and rush Present Mic...'
'But...'
'I can't leave Jiro alone like this...'
Tec...
'A Kagune fortress should greatly reduce the sound or even block it entirely, but there's no time to build something like that...'
'Tsk... I wouldn't even be able to move around with something that heavy.'
Tec...
'Damn it!'
'Think, Kaneki! Thi—'
Jiro tugged on my sleeve, trying to get my attention.
I turned toward her.
She was still covering one ear, her eyes slightly teary as she stubbornly tried to hold back her tears.
She pointed toward the ground, and I followed her finger.
There, on the forest floor, was a centipede desperately digging a hole, probably trying to escape the vibrations from Present Mic's Quirk.
"..."
'Oh!'
The two of us looked at each other and nodded, instantly understanding the plan.
─── ◆ ───
POV Present Mic
"AAUU!! HE-HE!!!"
"Cough! Cough!"
I grabbed my second bottle of water and took a drink before gargling with what was left and spitting it off to the side.
I rubbed my throat, which was already starting to feel sore.
"I guess I overdid it at the beginning... Oh well."
I tossed the empty bottle beside the exit gate.
'Nezu-sensei told me not to hold back... but I think I went a little too far for them...'
I extended my arm and glanced at my watch.
"Hmm."
"It's been fifteen minutes, and still nothing."
I scratched my head.
"The girl didn't even try to counter the sound again..."
"Tsk, tsk... What are those brats—"
My monologue was interrupted by a vibration beneath my feet.
"..."
"Hmmm..."
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.
"That..."
My eyes widened as fingers suddenly emerged from the ground.
"ZOMBIE!!!"
Panicking, I tried to jump backward, but those cursed weights kept me from moving properly.
My shock only grew as the rest of the body climbed out of the earth.
It was Kaneki.
He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me into the air with terrifying ease, weights and all.
"Waah haa..."
I tried to speak.
I even tried to activate my Quirk.
But Kaneki's fingers tightened firmly around my throat, barely allowing me to breathe.
"Got you, teacher," he said with that usual blank expression.
From the hole he'd climbed out of, another head appeared.
Jiro climbed out next, tossing aside a makeshift shovel made from Kaneki's Kagune.
Looking at them now, both of them were filthy, completely covered in dirt, with roots tangled in their hair.
Kaneki looked especially bad, probably because he'd done most of the digging.
'They dug all the way from over there to here??'
'Very clever. Full marks...'
"Haaa..."
'Ow...'
'I'm... running out of air...'
"Hm... He's starting to turn kind of purple..."
"Wait, Kaneki-kun!"
"At least let me kick this bastard in the balls first!"
'Ah...'
'Everything's going black...'
"Haaa..."
"Try to calm down a little... He's still our teacher..."
"Even so!"
"Haaaaa... Haaaaa..."
"..."
'...'
"I think I'd better..."
"Yeah..."
"You... you can let him go now, Kaneki-kun..."
─── ◆ ───
POV Kaneki
We won!
Present Mic went off to rest, and he didn't seem to take it personally that we'd gotten a little carried away.
Our strategy was simply to dig a hole; the soil was quite soft, so it was easy to dig, even with some roots in the way, and with me using my kagune like a drill, we managed to do everything very quickly.
I even ripped off my Koukaku as an improvised shovel so Jiro could help; she could still hear me relatively well, even with her injured ears.
Every now and then we made holes to let the air circulate, and apart from a mole we found along the way, we had no problems.
We both had to take a shower afterward, though Jiro had to receive treatment from Recovery Girl before taking hers.
Neither of us bothered putting our hero costumes back on, so we were already wearing our school uniforms.
We were the first to finish the exam, and it looked like everyone else wouldn't take much longer.
The completion times varied since we had all arrived at our arenas at different times.
Bakugo and Midoriya had already finished.
They passed too.
The destruction All Might caused in the mock city was absolutely insane to see.
At least half of the buildings in the central area had been reduced to rubble.
I wish I'd been able to watch that fight from the beginning, but it is what it is.
Another group that had just finished was Himiko and Sero.
Although Sero had been put to sleep by Midnight almost immediately, so I wasn't sure he'd actually pass.
Out of those two groups, only Midoriya's had already returned.
Himiko's group was still on the way.
By the time I came out of the shower and looked at the results screen, Recovery Girl was already treating both of them.
I think Jiro and I did pretty well in the end.
Both of us managed to learn quite a bit about some of our weaknesses.
Besides that, the whole sound and vibration thing actually gave me an interesting idea.
Something involving radio waves, frequencies, or something along those lines.
But I'd need to test it first.
"Kirishima and Sato aren't doing so well..." Jiro commented as she watched the monitors.
"Yeah..."
The two of them just kept smashing through the walls Cementoss created.
Judging from what we were seeing, they'd been doing it for quite a while.
If they didn't change strategies, they'd collapse from exhaustion before time ran out.
Uraraka and Aoyama had just defeated No. 13, with Uraraka restraining the teacher.
Toru and Shoji seemed to be doing well against Snipe.
Tokoyami and Tsuyu had just turned things around against Ectoplasm.
As for Mina and Kaminari...
Uhhhh...
They were getting bullied by Principal Nezu.
He was laughing maniacally while blocking off every path available to the two of them inside what looked like a factory, preventing them from reaching the exit.
He was doing all of this from the top of a crane, practically ruling over the entire complex.
'At least the principal seems to be having fun... He's even shaking with excitement...'
'Uh, he spilled his coffee.'
"The principal is kind of weird..." Jiro said.
"Yeah..."
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]: Good news! I managed to ace the first two exams for the subject at my university that was giving me trouble, so I should be able to pass.
This means I can go back to working on my books, which I'm already doing.
I think November will still have only one chapter per week, since my stock ran out :P
Another good piece of news about this book is that I already have an idea of how it's going to end. It still has a long way to go, but I don't think it's going to drag on too long... Anyway.
Thank you for your support <3
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P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7