Chapter 90: Craziness

""COMMMMMEEEE OOOOONNNNN OOOOOUUUTTTTTTTTTTT."'

Huff

Toru let out a huff as she put her hands on her knees, desperately trying to regain her breath after running this far.

She took a glance to the side, seeing Jiro also resting, though whenever the girl went to put a hand in her ear, a sharp spike of pain could be seen as the girl let out a hushed, yet still-pronounced, HISS.

'I can only imagine how bad it must be for her.'

Though they both weren't doing well in this exam.

Using the downtime to come up with a plan, Toru revisited the beginning of the exam, remembering how they got to this situation.

The two were explained the rules by President Mic, and the second he said start was when their hell began.

The teacher less than a few feet next to them immediately blasted up the volume in his voice, speaking so loudly that he nearly caused Jiro to collapse.

Luckily or not, Hagakure noticed and dragged Jiro away, with the pro not following and being content with waiting by the exit, their only means of passing.

'Besides this.' The girl looked at her hand, taking in the exam handcuffs.

"Any Plans." 

Jiro's tired voice snapped the girl out of her thoughts, and she looked up, spotting the other girl leaning against a tree while fiddling with her earphone jacks.

"n-n…" A reflexive dismissal almost came out of her mouth.

Yet her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her hands, and as they were a plan, a crazy, stupidly low-probability plan came to her mind.

'That's the most insane idea I've ever had. It won't work. The odds are stacked against us; we can't win.'

Again, the rational part of her brain spoke up, disproving her seeming idiotic plan…yet

Isn't craziness all she's seen so far?

Her initial entrance into the school was based on her utilizing her invisibility and blind spots to knock over some of the entrance robots to gain some measly points.

When she was paired up with perhaps the craziest of their class, taking on some of the strongest, though they lost, they nearly didn't, a feat she wouldn't have believed in prior.

Even a few weeks ago, from what she's heard, Mina confronted Suijin, her crush, overcoming the embarrassment that she'd seen during the sports festival.

'Craziness is my life, huh?' The otherwise normal girl thought.

Even though Jiro couldn't see it, a glint lit up on Toru's face as she came to terms with what they'd have to do to win.

"I have a plan."

'If you want to beat Crazy, you have to be Crazy.'

.

.

.

"So you showed up, huh?"

Jiro's mouth twitched at the normal volume their proctor spoke to them at, clearly messing around and content with letting the clock run out.

"Butttt, I don't seem to see your friend." The pro watched in amusement as the girl's expression shifted, noting how she tried so hard not to let it.

Still speaking in a normal tone, he said, "Next time you guys scheme, understand that…"

He let out a dramatic pause, watching as Jiro stood, rooted to her spot, unable to stop his inevitableness.

"SOUND TRAVELS IN ALLLLLLLL DIRECTIONS." As he shouted, the pro kept craning his neck, moving it in all directions.

The volume of his voice caused the air to distort, pushing trees back and wreaking havoc on the surroundings.

And when he got to his side, a scream all too close to him confirmed his suspicions.

He imagined as her human body got flung away, leaving only the handcuffs meant to bind him close to his leg as a reminder of her presence.

Finished, he turned his voice back to a normal level before giving the remaining girl a sarcastic look, "Still not done? After all, a trait of a good hero is knowing when to quit."

And he meant it; if you didn't and continued to bite off more than you could chew, you'd end up like...

But her determined glint, as he remembered seeing it in his high school years, already told him of her answer in the face of inevitableness.

'Why?'

He still didn't know.

Regardless, he opened his mouth, sucking in air, before expelling it in the form of a large, powerful sonic wave.

"THEN I'LL SHOW YOUUUUUU."

He expected her to lose.

He expected her to simply not be able to compete.

He expected her to helplessly collapse on the ground.

Yet…Jiro did something unexpected.

With her earphones connected to the plug in her boots and her mouth sucking in air, she replied.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!"

It was weaker, nowhere near on the level of a seasoned pro-hero, yet…

It caught the pro off guard, shifting his attention and causing a lapse in his normally attentive concentration.

It was enough.

Due to his lack of attention, he didn't notice the piece of metal glinting out of the corner of his eyes.

Because of his lack of awareness, he failed to notice the footsteps in the wet forest, signaling someone's approach.

He ignored the rough breaths, focusing on the surprise of Jiro's attack being able to perfectly match his.

That was his undoing.

With craziness similar to that of her classmates, Hagakure executed her plan, picking up the handcuffs and slapping them on her teacher.

She ignored her eardrums, threatening to burst the vertigo that made her head feel like it was simultaneously slipping and falling.

Instead, she gritted her teeth, focusing on the sole chance of them winning and slapping the handcuffs, signaling their capture of the villain and their victory, onto their teacher.

"A lesson for you: heroes always need to be attentive."

Relief filled her, not from Jiros' words but from the loudspeaker, which, despite its volume, didn't hurt her ears as much as it used to.

[Kyoka Jiro and Toru Hagakure have passed their Final Exams.]

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