The bus has wheels so then that means... [Kiryu, Karen]

Given the grounds and facilities available on campus Karen was honestly surprised at how they seem to have several activities held outside the school. Today was another such trip. The advisory given was to pretty much prepare for an outdoors trip. The destination was a secret for now however as when they arrived at the bus early in the morning they would find the windows covered. It was a curious set up if not a bit old fashioned. After all nowadays one could simply turn on the GPS on their phone and immediately know where they were. That was unless they were headed somewhere without any reception. You would still get a general idea though of where you were before the signal is completely lost.

Karen was no stranger to waking up early. She occasionally trained in the mornings so this much honestly wasn't a bother. With everyone else being on the sluggish side, there wasn't any particular need for her to play president and watch people and keep order. Their sleepiness was keeping them in line for her. There was a benefit to being a morning person. That didn't mean she wasn't going to keep an eye on people though. Even with a handful of teachers around there might still be a few things she could help out with and whatnot.

She elected to sit near the back where she could see everyone simply by looking up a bit. Joining her was a certain teacher whom she had seen a few times but never really had any formal interactions with. The rest of the teachers took seats closer to the front so it was just the two of them at the back as the bust departed from campus.

It was not the smoothest ride in the world. But with the windows covered it was hard for her to say if it was the driver's or the road's fault. She presumed it was no trouble though as none of the teachers seemed too concerned. If anything some of them looked too comfortable. Hopefully the students who still needed a bit of sleep could find opportunity to rest despite all that otherwise it was quite unfortunate for them.

Unlike the others Karen was wide awake. She would have usually taken this opportunity to chat with someone awake too, but her only seatmate was a teacher and she didn't want to disturb his reading. And so she would spend the time fiddling on her phone checking on things and responding to messages and emails, giving a heads up to people that she may be unreachable for a while once they got to the activity proper.

It would surprise her a bit then that the teacher beside her would start up a conversation. She would hastily put away her phone so as not to be rude. This man was with the disciplinary committee after all and she didn't want to give him any reason to think she was someone irresponsible or uncaring. This would be good chance anyway to learn more about what type of person Spymaster was.

"It's hard to say sensei, since the destination is being kept from us. But I trust it will be a learning experience whatever happens. I'm very much excited and looking forward to it."

Another bump in the road would interrupt her briefly. Were they even still on a road or off it? It kind of felt like the latter.

"Is there a point to keeping the location secret sensei or is it just to surprise us? I did find it odd when we were told to prepare for an outdoors adventure but not where. Imagine if we ended up in a snowy mountain with no winter gear."

She would joke a bit, unsure if Spymaster even had a sense of humor though she didn't show it.

---

Serious teachers were always great. They gave straightforward answers to things and were concise and easy to understand without leaving much room for misinterpretation. With that in mind she would put Spymaster in the bucket of teachers that she felt were easy to deal with and get along with. It wasn't really a short list but with all the things that she busied herself with these days, one less teacher who could be a potential headache was always welcome. Though to be fair she hadn't really met any real "bad eggs" just yet. UA's employee roster was pretty solid.

"It would make all the difference sensei!"

She would say a bit excitedly. It was typical of Karen to worry about whether she had done enough to prepare or if she covered all her bases. She probably had more experience than most kids her age but she wasn't going to be too complacent. So on this point she would definitely affirm that there was a chance she could have done better.

"I don't see why our performance wouldn't increase. If you can prepare for something then you can increase your chances of success."

She avoided saying anything about being certain, even though she would usually think so. If things were being kept secret then it was easy enough to guess that part of the objectives of this trip involved dealing with unexpected and uncertain situations. This was UA after all so it was likely going to be a challenge even if she did know a bit more about it.

It was hard to say if Spymaster was playing along with her joke but she was still glad to hear him entertaining her thoughts about the weather.

"I would have to say it depends. But in general warm weather is better for more types of training and exercise so I suppose I would lean towards sunny days too."

Honestly she was the last person to complain about the weather. Even the most accurate forecast can sometimes make mistakes so it's not like she found herself down from rainy days and such. It simply meant she had to change her plans. There was no point in overreacting and worrying about things beyond your control. You just had to do your best to work with or around it.

Speaking of things she was hoping to do better at, it seemed getting clues out of Spymaster wasn't going to be that easy. Though it was a secondary goal besides just having a nice pleasant conversation with a teacher she didn't know that well.

"You know a lot of people with fire-related quirks sensei?"

---

The honest answer was no. With a quirk as versatile and useful as hers the combinations she could form with the other quirks in her class were endless. Strictly in the context of her quirk working with other quirks she had yet to meet anyone who would be disadvantaged by flight and vice versa. Where the trouble came in was if you factored that her method of fighting was close quarters combat. That meant anyone with a hazardous wide area range quirk would be difficult to work with as there would be a danger of getting caught up in it herself.

"I think I've been fortunate enough so far to not have much trouble working together with others. I'd like to believe I have a decent grasp of figuring out my role in a task with respect to the people I'm teamed up with to accomplish it."

"At the very least I can somehow tell whether someone might get in my way or not. But I'm not so sure vice versa. I'd always thought being able to fly or float was useful in almost any situation. Even in tight enclosed spaces, being able to float means I don't have to crawl. It's quieter too."

She wondered if she sounded too boastful there. It wasn't as though she didn't understand Spymaster's point. But it was precisely because you couldn't always pick your teammates that you had to be able to adapt quickly. She felt that she already put that into practice.

As for personality, again she was fortunate that there didn't seem to be any difficult people in 1-A. She had actually become extra wary about this ever since she had that conversation with Yumi in summer. The second years apparently had a fair share of drama and other such difficulties because of people with unique personalities and views. Said people were no longer in UA but they left their mark and some upperclassmen still carried the weight. She really didn't want to have to experience that herself.

"I would like to think that my class is full of good cooperative kids sensei. But I guess it is true that it's not always the case in the hero business."

"Do you have any stories to share about people with difficult personalities? Just for reference. My guess is same goals but different priorities? Of course I don't have hero work experience, but my family runs a business so I sometimes see it there. People who are on the same team but can't get along due to different views."

Being the kind of hero that he was, she could see why someone might not work well with Spymaster. She had heard about him being a sort of ninja. If she had to imagine the roles he took in a team operation, he was probably the one who worked separately on a side objective while the rest of the flashier team hit the main one. That was a little prejudiced on her part but it felt like a realistic expectation.

---

It dawned on her that Spymaster was one of those people who only seemed quiet and recluse, but had a whole lot to say once they got started on talking. She really enjoyed listening to his views and for the most part they made sense.

His warning about obstructive quirks having poor compatibility with hers was a given. But in her mind someone with a quirk like that shouldn't and wouldn't create obstructions for her if the objective of the mission was to send someone in with amazing mobility to secure a target. If she had to clash and conflict with someone like that, then their problem was not their quirks but the lack of communication and not being on the same page. And in a lot of ways that was a much bigger issue than simply quirks being incompatible.

By this time she wasn't too surprised anymore to hear that Spymaster actually favored a larger group with a wide variety of abilities to work together on a mission. This was something they cold both agree on. While there had not been any inter-class activities just yet she was already pondering how her class could work together in teams against other classes.

"I definitely agree sensei. There are a lot of talented kids in my class. I hope when the opportunity comes, I can bring out the best in them working together."

It seemed in all that talking their mystery bus ride was nearly at its conclusion. It had only been a couple of hours or so since they left Tokyo so it wasn't all that far. A train ride would have been a breeze. Unless of course they went somewhere that trains weren't readily accessible. That was always a possibility.

Spymaster didn't forget that she was curious about their destination earlier. But rather than give out an answer it sounded like he was more interested in knowing if she had figured anything out herself. She smirked. Well the fact that their trip didn't take too long at all meant she had a general idea of how far they went. The problem was that particular region of Japan had all sorts of notable places. Pinpointing where exactly they ended up in was probably a shot in the dark.

"Hmm, let's see. We were heading south to southwest from Tokyo. In the few hours we've been driving, assuming we were going straight not going around in circles, we would be somewhere in Kanagawa, Yamanashi or even Shizuoka at best."

"I don't think we're going to the sea area, since that warrants a different sort of preparations and things to bring that weren't on the list. Unless even that is part of the misdirection and you have things prepared for us on location."

"As for locations on land, I suppose we could be close to the Fuji Five Lakes. Maybe even Mt. Fuji itself. There are also a number of parks in the area near and past Hakone. If we really made it all the way to Shizuoka then that's even tougher to guess as there's mountainous area in the mainland or we could be in the Izu peninsula."

Admittedly Karen pretty much only had tourist spot knowledge with regards to general geography there. Though she would be a pretty well-versed tourist. She wasn't someone who would know about secluded training grounds and the like. Even if Spymaster said to think of places they might benefit being in, she still found it rather vague. There was just too many possibilities and not enough clues to narrow it down. That was the best she could do with the direction they were heading and how many hours they had been on the road.

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