The rest of our day progressed pretty smoothly after training. We had a few more hero related classes afterward like Hero Laws. At one point, I ended up getting a glance at Bakugou's face when I turned to look at my brother, and I couldn't help feeling bad for him. Not that I would ever tell the explosive boy that to his face. He was the type to hate any kind of sympathy and would likely blow up my face if I did say anything. As soon as the last bell rang, he was out of his seat and out the door, ignoring all of our classmates who tried to call out to him.

Bakugou had always been a fascinating character, according to my notes. If I went by how much meta and plot info I was able to write about certain characters, then it's easy to see that I favored Bakugou a great deal back then, along with Deku and Shouto (although Shouto won by a landslide nowadays). The old me would've attempted to help Bakugou using the knowledge she had about him and his personality tropes, and while that knowledge was still valid, there was more to it than that now. Bakugou was a human being, with all the complexities that entailed. I could no longer presume to know Bakugou or anyone else, nor would I act like I did. I would get to know them the way I did Shouto. Sure, I might use my knowledge to my advantage, but I wouldn't make assumptions based on fan theories and tv tropes.

Over the decade and a half since I've been on this earth, I have forgotten everything but the most basic of details about the cast of My Hero, but interacting with them, seeing who they are as people, has made me remember just why I'd loved the show so much before. I can see why the younger me who remembered things right off the bat like Bakugou's birthday (4/20, heh) or how Kirishima got his scar could write such passionate essays about them. But that younger me also thought of them as anime characters that she knew inside and out. To Hien however, they were people, complete strangers I didn't know beyond friendly acquaintance. I didn't feel the same attachment as I once did, though I know it would only be too easy for them to steal a piece of my heart if I gave them the chance.

For now, I'd let Bakugou be. If I got to know him and he considered me a friend (at least in his own way) then I'd meddle with his "character development" and butt into his personal business. Same for any other character. With a sigh, I finished packing my things as my twin appeared at my desk.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just about."

The group who tried to stop Bakugou (incidentally, most of the future Bakusquad, if I recall) turned to us in various degrees of disappointment.

"You're leaving too, Hien-chan and Todoroki-kun?" Mina pouted, cheeks puffed up.

"Yes, we're expected at home," I answered for the both of us. Endeavor had scheduled a training session for today, and neither of us was looking forward to it. He probably wanted to ask about All Might and make sure we weren't getting lax just because school started.

"Aww, that's too bad. We wanted to hang out for a bit and talk." Eijirou sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck while giving us his usual toothy smile.

"Sorry, maybe next time." And there would definitely be a next time. I was determined to help Shouto make friends whether he liked it or not. I'm sure he already knew or at least suspected my intentions- I did the same thing when we first met Momo at some charity ball for pro heroes- but he trusted me enough to know his limits and not push him too far.


The next day, we were met with the sight of a crowd of reporters in front of the gates. I eyed them distastefully as one particularly pushy reporter tried to get some kind of statement out of us. We ignored them and stepped through the gates. A few of our classmates got waylaid by the bothersome journalists, but Aizawa-sensei seemed to be stepping out to handle them.

"Todoroki, both of you, get to class or you'll be late."

"Yes, sir."

He must have sent the others in after us because I could hear Bakugou's thundering steps behind us. Well, someone's in a bad mood. The reporters must have annoyed him. Everyone settled down quickly in their seats, not wanting to get on Aizawa-sensei's bad side again. I waved a greeting to Momo before I sat at my desk since I didn't get a chance to say good morning. Sensei went over yesterday's training quickly, rebuking Bakugou and Midoriya who seemed to take his advice to heart. The pro hero mentioned something about a last minute thing and everyone held their breath that it wasn't another crazy test.

"Today you'll be deciding on a class representative."

Everyone started clamoring excitedly to be chosen, making a ruckus I took advantage of to sit sideways in my seat to look at everyone else. Iida cut through the noise with an even louder shout to get everyone's attention.

"This is a job with the serious responsibility to lead others. It is not a job for just anyone who wants to do it. It requires the trust of those around you. That is why we should decide who to elect with a vote."

I huffed a quiet laugh at his very obvious desire to be chosen, despite his attempts to be impartial and fair.

"We don't know each other all that well."

"Yeah, wouldn't everyone just vote for themselves?"

"That just means we need to add a rule that you can't vote for yourself."

The whole class turned to me in surprise. They hadn't expected one of the elusive Todoroki twins to actively participate in the discussion. I may have been more approachable and less aloof than Shouto, but I hadn't gone out of my way to drag him out of his reclusive tendencies, thus making me reserved by default.

"I don't care how you do it, as long as you decide before homeroom is over." With his piece said, Aizawa-sensei laid down in his yellow caterpillar sleeping bag to take a nap.

"Todoroki-chan's right. That'll make it fair."

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. Since Iida was the one to suggest it, he was the one in charge of doing the polling. The results were pretty clear. At the top was Momo. No one else even came close. She must have made an impression on everyone during training yesterday. Good for her. Followed by her at a tie with two votes each was surprisingly Midoriya and even more surprisingly, myself. I could guess that Shouto voted for me, the ass. The second vote probably came from Momo, since we both knew my less sociable brother would hate being class president.

"Well, looks like we have a clear winner."

"Who the hell voted for Deku?!"

"Better than voting for you."

"What did you just say?!"

Seeing Bakugou get all riled up from a little teasing would have been funny if I didn't have the misfortune of sitting right in front of him and getting an earful of his yelling. I looked past him to Midoriya seated behind him and offered him a small smile that immediately had him flushed. Man, this kid would give me such an ego boost if I didn't know that he's had zero interaction with a nice, pretty girl until a few weeks ago and just wasn't used to any kind of female attention.

"Looks like we tied, Midoriya-san."

"Y-yeah, I c-can't believe I got tw-two votes!"

"I'm sure your friends thought you deserved it. You must be pretty reliable then if even they think so after only knowing you a short while."

He laughed nervously, face completely pink. Even the tips of his ears hadn't been spared. I could feel Bakugou glaring daggers at the both of us, which only seemed to make Midoriya even more nervous, but before either of us were subjected to another round of yelling, the guy in the back who sat next to my brother spoke up.

"Ah, but what about Midoriya and Todoroki?"

"Yeah, they'll need a tiebreaker won't they?"

I interrupted before anyone suggested another vote. "Midoriya-san can be vice-president. I don't mind letting him have it. He seems like a pretty cool guy." I couldn't help throwing in that last bit just to tease the poor boy.

Bakugou looked ready to explode again when everyone started saying they wouldn't mind being represented by Momo and Midoriya, but by that point, the matter was settled. I'm fairly certain I changed something accidentally because my notes said Iida was our class representative, but I don't know how. Maybe it was because I got involved in the voting process? It didn't seem like too big a deal and Momo was just as responsible and dependable as Iida anyway.


Lunchtime rolled around and Shouto and I sequestered ourselves in our little corner. Momo had elected to sit with some of our other classmates in order to get to know them better as class president.

"We should follow Momo's example, you know. Make some friends maybe."

He hummed noncommittedly and I puffed my cheeks in displeasure.

"Come on, baby brother. What about that boy who sits in front of you, with the feathers? He seems like he prefers the quiet like you do."

"I don't need you to set me up with friends, Hien. I'm fine with just you and Yaoyorozu."

I gasped, affronted. "First of all, I'm only trying to help you with your people skills you awkward hermit. Secondly, if Yaomomo's your friend, then you should call her Momo! She calls you Shouto, doesn't she?"

"That's because she knows I prefer it over Todoroki, and it's more convenient."

I groaned in annoyance, signaling that I'm giving up the topic, for now at least. I wasn't quite ready to admit defeat just yet. My little strawberry vanilla swirl would learn the power of friendship even if it killed. Already I was making plans to invite the other reclusive students to our table tomorrow. We could start our own introverts club. Just like my old high school days.

Just then, an alarm sounded throughout the cafeteria. Oh, that's today, isn't it? The reporters from before managed to break in. Which means... Shit. The League of Villains. Already? I'd been under the impression that the timeline wasn't so condensed. It's only April and since everything takes place over the course of the semester, I'd thought I had some time. It's a good thing I'd already transferred my notes over to my phone. I needed to study them as much as possible.

Shouto and I calmly followed behind the mob of panicking students, not wanting to get caught up in the crowd. Neither of us was particularly worried about being one of the last ones to evacuate since we were both confident in our abilities, and I knew it was a false alarm anyway.

Things actually calmed down rather quickly thanks to "Emergency Exit" Iida (lol) and Midoriya ended up handing over his vice-president position to him. I was a bit too preoccupied with my own thoughts, which Shouto commented on, but didn't push for information. I never kept things from him, at least not that he knew, so he probably expected I'd tell him whatever was bothering me at some point. I didn't see the point in telling him about the USJ arc now. He'd only worry and probably do something drastic. I know he'd believe me if I ever came clean about myself and my knowledge- it was an unspoken thing that he suspected there was something different about me- but if any of the teachers got wind of what I knew... Well, they would be a lot harder to convince, and I didn't want to be under that kind of scrutiny anyway. I knew given how dire things would get in the future that I might not get the luxury of keeping that secret. There would probably come a day where I'd be forced to tell someone.

I gave Shouto's hand a squeeze as we made our way back to the estate. I'd tell him first. He'd be upset at me for keeping secrets, but he deserved to hear it from me freely and not because circumstances pushed me to.


I don't know if any of you noticed in the last chapter, but in case you were wondering, the student that Hien replaced was Hagakure Tooru, the invisible girl. It always irked me that she somehow made it into the hero course with a non-combative quirk, when they made such a big deal about physical quirks being heavily favored during Shinsou's character development during the sports festival. Like how exactly does being invisible help you destroy robots, and for that matter, how did she beat Midoriya during the quirk tests? There's even a scene where they show her struggling to do a pull-up, so clearly, she wasn't any more physically fit than your average teenage girl. How did her overall scores manage to come out higher than his when, not only is he stronger and faster than her without his quirk, but he also used OFA once during the pitching test with a score she would never be able to come close to? So yeah, that's always bothered me and I decided to get rid of her. I would've gotten rid of the grape, but at least his quirk has some kind of physical application.