Shoto's mind was clouded with dismay as he walked back from the training center towards the dorms. The boy thought about his classmates at the new training facility as a small frown crept to the edge of his lips. Something about his classmates bothered him as he thought about each one of them briefly. It was nothing with their personalities, or what they had been doing at the time that made him worry. Rather, it was something Todoroki had completely forgotten about. Something crucial to hero work that had slipped his mind. Something that most of his peers seemed to have that he didn't; Midoriya with his new iron soled shoes and pressure compensators, Kirishimas new protective suit, Kaminaris new blaster. Hell, Bakugo had had one since the beginning of school in the form of his grenade gauntlets.
Shoto realized that he still didn't have any changes or upgrades to his hero costume yet! He had no idea what he wanted though. Given his quirk there weren't many options in the way of enhancements, at least that he was aware of. Todoroki stared at his left hand blankly as he began to approach class 1-A's dorm. "Um, Todoroki?" The boy in question turned and looked at the voice that came form behind him. Jirou and Momo walked behind him now, the latter with a slightly worried look upon her face, though she still smiled at him. Jirou appeared to be listening to music, one of her signature plugs inserted into her phone while the other was busy being twirled around her finger. They, much like Shoto, had on their school uniforms as they walked back to their dorms to relax for the remainder of the evening. Shoto slowed his pace as he walked with the girls, Jirou on his left and Momo on his right.
"You seemed bothered, is everything all right Todoroki?" Shoto drew a long breath, his right side adding a dramatic chill upon his exhale. "It's nothing really. I was just thinking about my hero costume is all. I haven't really done much to it other than have its color changed from white to black and have a little padding added". The girl on his left suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Your hero costume?" Jirou suddenly chimed in. "Are you sure you really need any upgrades? Your quirk is already crazy strong. Objectively speaking, it's the strongest in the class. And if not the second strongest." The resident demolitionist Bakugo came to all of their minds as she said this. "What would you even be interested in getting for an upgrade?" Momo questioned.
"Well that's the thing, I don't really know what I want." The taller boy turned his head to look down at the sound quirk user. "And to answer your question Jirou, I want an upgrade cause I've been feel like I'm falling behind everyone else." Both girls turned at stared at the half user with dumbfounded looks upon their faces. He was one of the best in their class! How was he falling behind in any regard? "Todoroki, what do you mean! You're the fifth smartest in our class for academics, and as far as battle skills are considered, well both me and Jirou could easily make a case for you being way stronger than Bakugo!" 'They could make a case for it huh?' The way she said that made Shoto think that they talked about him a lot. Though he imagined it was most likely Momo doing most of the talking, and Jirou doing most of the listening. The latter of which began to speak. "Yeah, you didn't even use your fire and you still made him use his strongest attack to beat you. On top of that, Bakugo's bad temper, excessive pride and piss poor attitude make him a way overall shittier hero than you". Jirou continued twirling her ear-jack around her finger.
Shoto's eyes fell to the ground. Momo's face became that of worry as she tried to cheer up her friend. "Shoto! What's wrong? You shouldn't worry about some stupid hero costume when you're already so strong!" Both of her companions looked up at her as the words left her mouth. Oh god! Had she just called him by his first name! No one ever called him by his first name! Momo's face grew bright red; Todoroki simply looked back to the ground. Jirou could feel the awkwardness emanating from the two to her right. The amp user cleared her throat, trying to save the situation. "So um, what are you so worried about Todoroki? I mean like-" Jirou was cut off by Shoto's words. "It's my skill." Once again, both girls tilted their heads in confusion as they looked at the half user. "Both Bakugo and Midoriya are strategical geniuses on the battle field, much more knowledgeable when it comes to fighting than I am. Midoriya also knows some form of basic martial arts, and even Iida has a huge leg up on me given that he's much faster and stronger than I am at base level, not to mention smarter". Shoto looked at the girl on his right "Yaoyorozu is smarter than me academically as well..." Shoto trailed off for a moment, "Actually i think all of the people surpassing me are." The boys two companions looked at him with sad looks in their eyes.
"I figured it out during our fight with Aizawa," Momo raised an eyebrow as he continued. "Without my quirk, I'm just slightly above average." Momo looked like she was about ready to burst. "What are you talking about Todoroki?! You're way more than just that! And even if you were, above average isn't bad!" Shoto looked at the girl. "Above average isn't number one". Momos' enthusiasm quickly faded after hearing his words. "Well, what do you plan to do about that? And what in the world does it have to do with a costume upgrade". Jirou questioned. Shoto thought for a moment before reaching to an epiphany. "I know what I need to do now!" They had finally reached the dorms, however Shoto took off running towards the main school building once they reached them." Jirou, thank you for the help. You too Momo." He waved them goodbye as he began to walk away. "You're welcome, i guess?" Was all a confused Jirou could say.
As Shoto entered the main building and faced the door he was looking for, he couldn't help but to feel a bit nervous. After all he had no idea what to expect from the girl waiting for him on the other side. He had almost backed out, thinking it'd be too weird for him to just show up after hours like. But he needed this 'upgrade'.
Todoroki could her someone in the room; it sounded as if they were rummaging through a pile of parts. Still a bit concerned, Shoto knocked a few times on the large wooden door. The sound of parts being rummaged through continued. He knocked again only to receive a similar answer. He knocked again and again, getting louder each time until he was basically slamming on the door. After nearly two minutes of just knocking, he decided to slowly creek open the door to peek in. All Shoto could see however was a large pile of scrap in the far right corner of the room that appeared to be moving as if something was inside of it. He opened the door all the way and took a few steps in, shutting the door behind him. The instant the door closed, a bright pink... thing popped up from within the scrap heap. Anyone at UA would recognize that hair. That had to be Mei Hatsume.
Shoto cleared his throat and practically had to yell to get the girls attention. "Um, Ms. Hatsume!" The rummaging stopped as the person sifting through all the junk stood up with a device and a screwdriver in her hand. The girl was looking at said device, which appeared to be a wrist band of some sorts. She was too busy screwing something into it to realize who had just spoken to her, and she began to speak and walk towards Shoto. "Listen Powerloader! I'm trying to change the world here with my revolutionary babies! I thought we already said I could come in here after school to work on- ah!" Mei began to tumble backwards as she bumped into the taller boy without realizing.
Shoto extended his arm to grab hers, pulling her up once his firm gasp touched her gloved hand. Mei dusted herself off, slightly embarrassed by what just happened. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even notice you cause I was trying to take this stupid weight off of my baby!" Shoto looked at what the yellow eyed girl was holding. "Oh no, it's quite alright. I'm not the one who fell, so why apologize? If anything I should have moved out of the way." Hatsume simply shrugged and walked over to one of the many table in the room as she continued to unscrew the metal weights of off the wristband looking device. "So, what brings you to my 'ROOM OF BABY MAKING!' Shhhhh-" Mei seemed to be struggling remembering the half users name. "It's Sh-"
"No! Don't tell me!" The pinkie interrupted the boy midsentence. "Shoji? Shojo? Shatoshi? Sora?" Shoto merely starred at her with a slightly confused look. "Shawn?" Mei tried one last time. Todoroki shook his head as he tried to correct her. "My name is Sh-" Mei suddenly jumped up in joy. "Whew! Finally got all those stupid weights off! That thing was soo heavy!" Mei turned back to slightly annoyed boy standing in the middle of the room. "Oh Shoji! Hi, sorry! Kinda forgot you were there. What'd you need again?" Was this really the best mechanic and inventor in U.A.? "Um, well I was wondering about getting a costume upgrade. I was looking for the weights that were used by the teachers for the midterm exams for the first years. I understand that you're the designer of them and I thought it'd be a good idea to come by and ask you in person rather than make a request for the support course."
Something strange happened as the words left his lips however. The room grew strangely silent as the shorter of the two quieted down. Mei starred at the boy blankly for a few seconds. She walked towards him, standing on her the tips of her toes as she seemed to be inspecting him as she used her zoom quirk to look deep into his eyes. Shoto took a step back; he wasn't quite comfortable with how close the pinkette's face was to his. "Um, so about my upgrade-" Todoroki was once again interrupted by the overly enthusiastic girl as her excitement seemed to return. "You're the guy that got second place in the sports festival! You were the leader of the team that stole the points form Deku!" The half boy was taken aback. Had she not recognized him from the sports festival before hand? "Um, yeah, my name is Shoto Todoroki," Shoto said, slightly nodding his head as he did so. "Sorry about the whole sports festival thing. I'm sure you understand." The girl simply nodded as Shoto looked off into the pile of junk in the corner of the room as he continued. "Anyways, I was looking to see if I could get a costume upgrade-"
"You have really pretty eyes." Todoroki stopped as he heard this, looking back at the mechanic in front of him. He hadn't even noticed the girl had been once again starring at directly at him as if he were some kind of long lost treasure she'd found. "E-excuse me?" Shoto was stunned. This girl barley knew him! Why would she say something like that? "Oh, I'm sorry! Its just so cool meeting someone with multi colored eyes! My quirk lets me zoom in so I can see the pigmentation in your eyes and well, it's just that your eyes are really pretty!" Todoroki still seemed confused, but decided to just try and shrug off this situation. "Oh, well Ms. Hatsume, I was wondering if I could get a set of those weighted bands that were given to the teachers for the end of term exams?" Mei continued to stare at him for a moment before seeming to snap back to reality. "Oh what? Oh! Um- uh- Okay! I'll get right on that! In fact, I was just working on repairing one of them just now! Just give me a minute!" Mei went back to working on her little device that Shoto now knew the identify of.
Todoroki tapped his foot mindlessly against the floor. He felt a little awkward being here; he was alone in a room with a girl after school hours. The whole situation was foreign to Shoto. He didn't really know Mei that well at all, though from what the half user understood, she was good friends with Midoriya and Uraraka, as well a frienemy of Iida's. Hatsume seemed nice enough, though she was a bit...odd. Shoto suddenly realized that the sounds of movement had ceased in the room, and he returned from within his thoughts. The boy hadn't noticed he'd been starring directly at the pink haired girl in the room the whole time, and to make matters stranger, she was looking back at him. "I uh-" Shoto stammered for an excuse as he averted his eyes. He really had no idea he'd been starring at her! Not that she wasn't pretty or anything, but Shoto didn't even think he had feelings like that for girls, or anything for that matter. He always had been too distracted by training and academics to worry about stuff like that, so he wasn't quite sure what he was into. But the girls strange bumble gum pink hair and her even stranger eyes were just so alluring...
"Hey, you can sit down ya know?" Mei didn't even bring up the awkward situation that had just occurred. Instead, she patted a seat next to her for the boy to sit at. A bit apprehensively, Shoto took a seat next to Mei, still looking down at his hands rather than at the girl to his side. The pair sat there awkwardly for a moment, Shoto watching the girl fiddle with the wrist band. The device didn't seem like much, but Shoto still couldn't really make sense of it. "The band should calibrate to about a quarter of your weight once I readjust it. Once I find the other one, the two bands should be about half your weight." The girl stopped and looked up at the boy next to her. "Are you like totally sure you can handle that? Carrying around all that weight can be quite strenuous you know. Isn't this supposed tp be a costume upgrade? It seems more like a hindrance to me." Mei offered her opinion on the matter. Shoto looked up from his hands to look back at the girl. "I suppose most people probably see it that way, but I feel like I need to get stronger. Not just on a quirk level, but on a physical level as well." He looked away from Mei. For some reason, he couldn't hold eye contact with the inventor.
"Really? I mean, you look just fine to me" Mei hadn't really seemed to understand the meaning behind her own words. But hey made Shoto freeze up. Had she just complimented him on his looks? Did she have no filter for her thoughts? "Here you are Anti-freeze! Your first wrist band!" Hatsume handed Todoroki the weighted band. The boy took it, raising an eyebrow at the mechanic inquisitively. "Anti-freeze? The now that one's a bit ridiculous." Shoto had many nicknames throughout his life, after all his powers were ripe with possibilities for names. But Anti-freeze was certainly a new one. "Yeah! You use your ice more often right? But then you use your fire to heat yourself back up! The nickname is totally fits!" Todoroki felt like the smile Mei shot his way would've been warm enough to melt his ice by itself. He couldn't bring himself to ruin her fun, and instead agreed with the pinkete. "Uh- sure. I mean I suppose I can't really stop you from calling me that anyways, now can I?"
"Nope!" Hatsume cheerfully exclaimed. The half user turned his attention back to the weighted bracelet. He could see Hatsume looking at him with an expecting expression. He slipped on the weights and closed the clamp. He instantly felt heavier, his arm fell down to the table. "I told you it's a lot heavier than you think!" Mei teased as she began working on the next set of weights. Shoto started curling his arms up and down, trying to adjust to the sudden increase in resistance. "I understand how the teachers got drained of energy so fast during the exams now..." He thought aloud. "Oh, if you think that that's a lot, just wait until you add on the second one! It's... Really... The mechanic sounded exhausted. "Oh yeah, the second one-" Shoto's thoughts were interrupted as a loud crash could be heard in the room. Todoroki whipped his head around to find Hatsume collapsed in a pile of junk. "Hatsume!" The half user rushed over to the girls side. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?" Shoto put a hand on the girls shoulder and turned her over. Wait, was she...
Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was slightly agape. Shoto noticed the gentle rise and fall of her (sizeable) chest, and her entire body seemed relaxed in his arms. She had passed out right there in the middle of the room. 'Jeez, just how hard did this girl work herself? Does she ever even get any sleep?' The boy inspected the pinkete further. In her current state, he couldn't help but think about how cute the girl was. For some reason, he also thought about a certain green haired boy when he looked at her cute baby face. Though supposed that Midoriya was just as cute as Mei was right? Wait, what was he saying?! Why was he comparing those two? After quickly stamping out any thoughts of Mei and Midoriya's adorable faces from his mind, Shoto grabbed the other wrist band that had been dropped on the floor next to Hatsume. Todoroki clamped on the second band, and thought he wasn't even going to be able to stand. "Jeez Hatsume... You weren't kidding..." He supposed that this was what he asked for. After a moment to get used to his new predicament, Shoto turned his attention back to the pinkete who was currently sleep in a metal scrap heap. He couldn't just leave her here, but her had no idea what he should do. He thought it'd be far too strange if he showed up to the support course dorms, and plus he knew no one else within the support department. He'd have no Idea as to where to take her.
He thought about taking her to the teacher dorms, but those were all the way across the campus much further than the hero dorms were from the school. But what would the others think if he just showed up carrying a passed out girl with him? Would they think he hurt her in some way, or that the school was under attack again? What would happen if he took her to his room? What would the others assume? All these questions and more began to fill Shoto's mind as he began to formulate a plan of action. He could take the girl back to the hero dorms, and then ask Uraraka to watch her for the night. It was getting quite late, and he was wanting to get out of his school uniform and into something more comfortable. And maybe take a shower now that he thought about it.
Shoto picked up the girl, the combined weight of her and the bands seemed to be too much for him, but he continued on, and begun his long walk back to the dorms. More than once, he considered leaving the bands behind, but he had to keep moving forward! This was just as much training as anything else right? I took Shoto 30 whole minutes to get back to the dorms, and it was already dark outside. He entered covered in sweat, and he seemed about ready to pass out himself. Momo and Jirou had been in the main living room, along with Kaminari and Kirishima. "Sh-shoto!" Momo ran over to her half user friend. "M-Momo..." The world around Shoto began to grow dark as he fell to his knees, passing out from fatigue right there in the living area.