Her eyebrows knit together when she kept her attention on the three third years, the tallest on in particular. Togata was standing there with a smile on his face.
Aizawa looked at the three students, "Okay, can you please introduce yourselves briefly?" he leaned forward a bit to address the farthest student. "Let's start with Amajiki."
Mizuha's eyes shifted from Togata to Amajiki who seemed to stiffen at his name. He blinked and briefly looked down at the ground for a moment. Then he looked up and glared at all first-year students.
Hyoumei leaned her head back when she saw it. The first thing she thought was: why the intense glare? Second, what did they do?
Then, she saw his mouth quiver and his eyebrows started coming together. He lowered his head a little. "It's no good. Mirio, Hado… Even if I look out on them imagining that they're potatoes, everything other than their heads remain human." his body was shaking now. "I still can't see them as anything but human. What should I do? I can't… say anything… My mind's blank… It's hurts."
Mizuha felt sympathetic. There were times in middle school where she felt like that during presentations…
Amajiki whipped around and took a few steps before fully hiding his face away by facing the blackboard. "I want to go home…!"
Aah, I know that feeling… but it's not that extreme for me.
Poor guy was still shaking even when he 'hid'.
She remembered how she bumped into both Togata and Amajiki during the Sports Festival. Now that she recalled the memory, she could remember Amajiki shaking a little after he apologized for walking into her, he did his best to avoid eye contact with her too. He also looked flustered when she ran into him the hallway.
His timidity was probably not just reserved for public speaking then.
The girl in the middle smiled and looked back at him. "Oh, listen, Amajiki-kun! That's called having the heart of a flea! Even though you're human! It's so strange!" then she turned to face Class 1-A, displaying more confidence compared to the first one. "This is the flea, Amajiki Tamaki. And then, I'm Hado Nejire. We were asked to talk to you guys about work studies."
Mizuha perked up. She was once again interested in the topic. She was actually looking forward to learning more ever since Aizawa said they'd resume at a later date.
She gave them her full attention.
Let's hear it!
"Hey, hey, why are you wearing a mask? Are you sick?" she asked while leaning closer to Shoji in front of his desk. "Trying to look cool?"
"This is because in the past…"
"Oh! You must be Todoroki, right? Right? How did you get burned right there?"
"That's…"
"Ashido, if your norms break off, will new ones grow in? Can you move them? Well?"
Mizuha frowned and sweat dropped.
"Mineta, are those balls of yours hair? How do you get a haircut? Asui, you're a tree frog— not a toad, right?"
She's the energetic one in this trio, I guess.
Mizuha sighed as the side of her mouth tugged upwards a bit.
"She's not the most rational person, is she?" Aizawa deadpanned.
She saw Togata jerk before he quickly held a hand with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Eraserhead! I'm going last to wrap things up, right?" then he turned to face the class before leaning forward with a hand behind his ear.
"THE JOURNEY AHEAD—?"
Mizuha's eyes darted to the left and right side to see if the others were just as confused. Togata was looking at everyone, expecting some sort of call-and-response. It was so quiet that she nearly laughed but instead she chose to fake a quiet cough.
"Grim!" he finished. He stood up straight. "Alright, my call-and-response was a huge fail!" he started laughing.
Can someone just start talking about the work studies?!
"Well, you guys look like you're not sure what's going on, right? We're third years who suddenly appeared to explain about work studies that aren't even required. That's confusing, right?"
No, I'm confused about how you decided to do your introduction.
"You guys got you provisional licenses as first years, right? This year's first years are really energetic, right? Besides, it look like my jokes didn't work earlier, right?"
"Wait… that was joke?" Mizuha muttered to herself while looking at the edge of her desk. She jumped a little when Togata threw his fist up and spoke a in loud voice, "Why don't you all fight me at once?"
"Eh?"
…
…
…
"EH?!"
"It seems rational to have them feel the full weight of our experiences firsthand!" Togata grinned before turning to face the instructor, "What do you think, Eraser Head?"
"Do what you want." Aizawa looked at the class, "Everyone, go get changed. We're going to the Gym Gamma."
As soon as he said that, everyone glanced at each other before slowly complying. All the chairs were being pushed back as they stood. Mizuha was the last one to get out of her seat as she scratched the back of her head.
Togata put a hand on the shy boy's shoulder and patted him. He looked at Nejire and held up a thumb. "We should get changed too."
She couldn't help but stare at the third years as she walked next to Byakuren when they exited through the back door, still wondering why it was coming to this situation. Seeming like he sensed her stare, Togata turned his head to look at her when he and his friends exited through the front door with their teacher.
He beamed her a smile.
Mizuha's eyebrows furrowed and she looked in front of her.
I should have asked about his Quirk…
Byakuren, Kirishima and Mizuha were at the front of the class as they all walked to Gym Gamma.
Kirishima looked surprised, "Eh? That was the guy you were tutoring?"
"Yeah." Mizuha sighed with a nod. "When I got called in by my uncle with him… He left but not without saying that we'd see each other again soon."
Byakuren scoffed, "See each other again? More like fight each other." He zipped up his jacket as they entered the gym where they found the three third years talking to each other while Aizawa stood on the side. As soon as Togata heard them enter, he moved to the center and began stretching.
Oh, he was serious about fighting us alone. Okay.
She saw Todoroki separate himself from his class and he walked to Aizawa's side. Then he just stood there. Was he not participating?
"Um… seriously?" Sero voiced out the main question.
"Totally serious." He stretched his legs.
"Mirio… you shouldn't do this." Amajiki spoke from afar, facing the wall again. Everyone had to pull out their imaginary dumbo ears just to hear him. "For the work studies, it would have been enough for us to say 'we experienced this and that, and we learned much from it.' Not everyone is filled to the brim with ambition. We can't end up with kids who are unable tor recover after this."
Mizuha's brow lifted and she tilted her head. Do we seem… that weak?
"Oh, listen! Did you know?" Nejire called their attention. They found her with Ashido and she was playing with her horns. "In the past there was a student who got so frustrated the student quit being a hero, and that caused all sorts of problems. Did you know that? It was real bad, right Togata? If you don't think things through properly, this'll be rough. Really tough."
"Please wait." Tokoyami spoke up before the fight could even start. "We've fought against Pros before, albeit with handicaps."
Kirishima stepped up, "And we've fought with villains before, too." he added. "Do we look like such weak small fry to you that you need to worry about us?"
Togata nodded, still smiling. "You can come at me anytime, from anywhere. Who's first?"
"I-"
"I would like to go!" Midoriya stepped up, cutting off Kirishima.
"Didn't expect you, Midoriya!" Kirishima gasped.
Byakuren nudged her arm. With a hum, she turned her head a little and noticed how he was leaning close to her.
"He said to come at him from anywhere… It's just a hunch, but what if his Quirk makes him able to defend from any attack? If so, we should all attack at the same time to try and prevent that."
Mizuha looked at him and leaned back, a little surprised. "You can tell from just that? Aren't you over analyzing that?"
Byakuren rubbed his chin with his fist, "I don't know… because why else would he say that?"
"Then, let's see what happens when Midoriya attacks first."
The two friends nodded to each other and took a few steps back.
"Problem child! That's good! You really are energetic!"
"The close combat team should surround him all at once!" Sato suggested loudly.
"Well then, senpai, thanks for this kindness. We look forward to your teaching!" Kirishima said and that was Midoriya cue.
The green haired boy leaped forward and Togata just stood there.
Looks like Togata and I are switching roles— wait. WHAT THE FUCK?!
Mizuha eyes moved from Togata straight to some random window in the gym. The third year's clothes practically fell off his body. She could hear Jiro shrieking in the back.
Togata swiped his pants off the floor, "Oh, excuse me. The fine-tuning's tricky!"
Midoriya reached Togata and swung his foot towards his head, but his kick went straight through. Mizuha and Byakuren gaped as Midoriya landed behind the third year who glanced at him.
"You went straight for the face, huh?"
Ashido's acid, Aoyama's laser and Sero's tape went through his head and crashed into a nearby pillar.
"Okay, your hunch was kind of right."
Iida told the others to cease their attacks when he noticed that the third year vanished from his spot. "He's gone!"
"First, the long-distance fighters!"
It started with Jiro. He slammed his fist into her and she was down. Byakuren and Mizuha continued stepping away from Togata. They were staying the hell away from him for now. The first was more of a long-distance fighter but he needed to think before rushing and attacking him. If he could figure something out before getting taken out, then his defeat wouldn't be in vain. The last was more than just a long-distance fighter but she needed to figure out what to do too. Seeing how easily he took down Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Aoyama, Sero and Ashido was enough to convince them that.
He was not teleporting because the time he took to cover distance did not seem to be one of teleportation. It only seemed like teleportation because they could not see him! When they would least expect it, he would jump up from behind someone and attack.
In other words, he's underground.
"YO!" Mizuha shouted next to Byakuren. "He's not teleporting. I-It's like Shu and Mokuen! They don't teleport. They move fast. He's doing same thing but he's underground!"
He took down Asui, Shoji and Kaminari.
"No, shit! I can see that now! But knowing that won't change anything if we can't hit him!" Byakuren snapped, feeling the pressure as more students got struck down.
"Talking in the middle of a fight?"
They both paled.
Mizuha did not even turn her head to know where he was. Immediately, she jumped up and kicked Byakuren back. Her water appeared underneath her shoes and she a mini water explosion between them, creating a shockwave to push back Byakuren and herself. Togata appeared in the middle and the water just went straight through his body.
She fell back and rolled next to Kirishima. Quickly, she stood up and looked at her friend who she tried to save. Byakuren sent a powerful whirlwind in Togata's direction but the blond boy just… ran through it without being blown away.
A second later, Byakuren folded on the ground.
… There goes my second brain.
And just like that, more than half of their class was taken down in what seemed like a few minutes. Those who were down were all unable to move and some were coughing.
"This a good chance for all of you." Aizawa hollered. "Make sure you get the most out of this experience because, Togata Mirio, as far as I know, is the closest to being the top Hero even including us Pros!"
The remaining students gaped as they kept an eye on Togata and registered what their teacher just said.
"You're saying this now?!" Mizuha hissed.
Togata glanced at the defeat students. "That's it for the long-distance fighters." He faced the rest. "All that's left are the ones who focus on close combat."
"I have no idea what he just did!"
"He's strong enough being able to slip through things, but he can even warp?"
Mizuha shook her head. "No, listen! He's underground!" she pointed at the floor.
"What?" Ojiro tensed when Togata got ready for another assault.
"He's 'warping' because he can slip through the ground…" she trailed off.
…
That was the answer. She looked up at and stared at Togata with her eyes wide.
"He's phasing through anything."
He grinned before dashing towards them and then he sank into the ground, leaving his pants flying.
It was such a simple Quirk. Nothing flashy but he knew how to use it.
He suddenly came out of the ground behind Midoriya. The younger student was ready. He predicted his move and aimed another kick at his face. Togata did not try to avoid it. He phased his hand through his leg and brought his hand closer to Midoriya's face.
"But here's an ultimate move— Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush!"
He phased his hand through Midoriya's face and shifted in midair to land a blow into his stomach with his other hand. Midoriya dropped and was down for the count while Togata disappeared into the ground again.
Keeping track of him was impossible. He was too fast. They had no idea where he was going to come out and who was going to be next. Their defenses were nothing for him. There was no time to think. That left them wide open. Mizuha could only watch was the others dropped one by one, leaving her as the one of few students standing.
As soon as Uraraka and Hagakure dropped, Togata turned around and faced her. Mizuha scowled and took a step back. A string of curse words ran through her mind.
"And now, for the last one!"
"Oh, come on!" Mizuha groaned, not liking the idea of her being next.
"It's my turn to teach you something!" he said before dashing towards her.
"Teach me what?! PAIN?!"
He simply dipped into the ground, leaving her question unanswered.
Oh geez, here he comes.
Her eyes darted everywhere on the ground, panicking. She had to be ready to block or attack. But then she remembered how Midoriya's foot just went through his head. Attacking was not going to work. Was guarding going to change anything?
She glanced behind her, specifically at one of the pillars in the gym.
I'm not going down without trying something at least!
"And now—"
Togata appeared in front of her and aimed his fist towards her.
Mizuha narrowed her eyes at him. With reeled her arm back and swung it between them. The whole gym rumbled, causing Togata to pause. Then, a giant tsunami rose high, reaching the ceiling of the gym before coming down. Nejire and Amajiki panicked as they saw the water about to crash down on them. Aizawa thought she forget about her surroundings since her classmates were about to get swept away. He was considering erasing her Quirk right there until he saw her jump back.
As soon as a part of the water touched the ground—
If you can't see me.
"Total White-Out!"
Then you can't hit me.
The room was instantly filled with white steam. She focused on evaporating the water that was near people, the rest of the room was soaked since she was also focusing on a certain area of the gym.
"Smart move, Hyoumei." He praised.
Mizuha moved away from her spot and kept an ear out for her senior's movements. She evaded his attack just in the nick of time.
She wasn't about to try attacking him in this fog. He could probably catch her and just knock her down right there. With the help of her ice, she launched herself towards the pillar she was previously look at. She estimated its location and was able to reach the top. Unfortunately, the sudden movement and the chill from the ice she left behind kind of cleared the air.
Steadily, she stood at the top and dispersed the fog to see below. From above, she could clearly see all her classmates. Those who were taken out first were slowly recovering enough for them to sit up and watch the current situation, but they were still dazed. The others were still not moving.
Maybe they'll be able to get back up? I might be getting my hopes up though.
She raised her arm and created the same ice rods from the Provisional Licensing Exam. Her arm swung down and they rained down on Togata's spot. Of course, they just went through him and froze portion of the ground. He started running towards the pillar and then he disappeared into the ground AGAIN.
"You've got to be kidding me." Mizuha deadpanned.
The only thing she can do was defend and run. Offense was not going to work.
"This is useless!"
As soon as those words left her, Togata appeared in the middle of the pillar.
Move, move, move!
She knew she was just running away and trying to buy time fruitlessly. But what else could she do? Her mind was going haywire with panic. She could probably leap to the other pillar with her water. That could work.
However, as soon as she made up her mind, Togata's fist was already an inch away from her stomach. In a split second, her body turned into water and his fist went through it. Shocked, he paused for a moment and watched her suddenly warp towards the nearby pillar in water form. Her body was back to normal as soon as she made on ground, she looked flabbergasted at what just transpired.
For Mizuha, it felt like the water she was focusing on carrying her suddenly crawled up her body. She could only describe it as a cool sensation running up her back until she made it to the other pillar.
She was able to use Point Warping without even realizing it.
Nejire gasped next to Amajiki. "She became water! Ne, ne, isn't that weird?!"
Aizawa's eyebrows rose slightly. Joker said she was not able to do it yet…
As Mizuha snapped out of it, she remembered her uncle saying something about loosing her body parts. Alarmed, she shot up in a panic and checked herself. But her body didn't agree with her sudden movement. Her eyes narrowed. She was seeing double. She saw two Togatas.
She staggered and held up a hand.
"W-Wait…" she tried calling for a timeout when she remembered that the third year was still nearby.
Togata had no intention of pursuing after her. The way she was swaying as she stood atop a tall pillar was enough to stop him. He was getting concerned.
"Hyoumei—"
Mizuha was feeling dizzy which led to her holding up a hand to her head.
"… you'll get really dizzy and give yourself a headache."
She lost her footing, causing her to teeter towards the edge. And then she fell. She was barely able to register that she fell since her head was spinning. With her free hand, she pointed towards the ground and was about to use her Quirk to catch her fall. But before she could use her Quirk, arms caught her fall in midair and then she felt the jolt when she landed on the ground. She narrowed her eyes as her double vision slowly started subsiding. Two pairs of concerned blue eyes became one pair as they stared down at her.
"Hyoumei, are you okay?"
It was Togata.
She groaned and shook her head to shake off the rest of her dizziness. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy from that…" she blinked and looked at him. "Are you about to sucker punch me now?"
"Hmm… good question."
"Oh god."
Togata set her down and steadied her on her feet, and when she was least expecting it, he shoved his forearm into her stomach.
"Guh!"
It wasn't as hard his punch but it was enough for her to feel pain.
"I think you get the point of this fight but I'll still hit you so no one can call me out for playing favoritism." he beamed a smile before patting her back.
The point of the fight? She didn't see it, but she wasn't going to say anything. Being grateful for a weaker hit made her stay quiet. As she turned to face him, she noticed how naked he was and immediately turned away.
"Hm, what's wrong?" he wondered when she started speed walking away from him.
"Your jewels are just hanging out for display!" she snapped before marching over to wear his pants were and literally throwing it at him, "Cover up!"
"Sorry, sorry!"
"Hyoumei."
Mizuha whipped around when she heard her teacher call her. He was walking towards her so she decided to shorten the distance by jogging to him. He was going to use the time the others were using for recovery to ask her.
"Yes?"
"What just happened?"
Mizuha explained how she was learning to do what she told him she was scared of doing before the Training Camp. She was never able to do it before but it just happened to work this one time. She wasn't sure why exactly. All she knew is that she needed to move to the pillar behind her fast, and then she ended up pinpoint warping there. The point of warping was already set when her water touched the pillars. Basically, she was just as confused as her teacher.
Aizawa advised her not to use it during class exercises until she had a better grip on it, for her own safety.
She agreed. Missing a leg was not in her best interest. Neither was getting caught off guard because of it.
…
…
…
When everyone more or less recovered, they all gathered together near the exit as the Big Three stood before them.
"I tried to make it so you wouldn't be able to see my willy, but I'm sorry about that, girls." Togata bowed down as he apologized, fully clothed.
Out of all the girls, Mizuha felt like she should get a personal apology since she got a front row seat of his willy.
Togata straightened up and held his hands behind his back. "But anyway, you kind of get it now, right? Did you think my Quirk was strong?"
Sero, Hagakure and Ashido were the first to answer.
"It was too strong!"
"It's unfair! Think about me, too!"
"You can phase and warp? What're you, some kind of hybrid like Todoroki?!"
Mizuha sighed and scratched the side of her cheek, "But he's not warping… I already said that he was just phasing all along."
"Exactly!" Togata pointed at her, making her jolt in surprise. "My Quirk is Permeation. What you guys called a warp was, as Hyoumei just said, me just phasing the whole time."
"How exactly do you warp?" Midoriya asked while unconsciously taking invisible notes.
"If I activate my Quirk through my entire body, then my body can go through everything. That means, the ground, too. That means I fell underground. And then, when I release my Quirk while I'm falling, something strange happens. Apparently, things that have mass can't overlap, so I get repelled! In other words, I get repelled to the surface in an instant. That's how my warp works. By changing the angle based on the direction of my body or the pose I'm holding, I can aim for where I get repelled to!"
As he finished explaining, Mizuha then whipped around and a look at the pillars. They were obviously connected to the ground. He must have angled his body like he said and made himself eject from the ground in the center of the pillar.
Byakuren dropped his hand in his fist, "So, that's you were able to quickly catch up to Mizuha when she was on top of the pillars."
Togata nodded. "Yep."
"So you can avoid all attacks and move wherever you like in an instant." Tsuyu summarized, "It really is a very strong Quirk."
"No, I made it into a strong Quirk."
He explained that he could never use his senses when he uses his Quirk, and about how there were many steps for doing a simple thing like phasing through a wall. His own Quirk created a disadvantage and he fell behind. He had to learn to use his head in a fight and make predictions. The place where he gained those skills was through his experience during his work-studies with a Pro Hero, and he wanted to demonstrate this experience in a fight.
"During our work-studies, we weren't just guests, but genuine sidekicks! We were treated like Pros! That's really scary. Pros will sometimes end up watching people die. But those scary and painful things you'll go through— All of them are first-rate experiences you wouldn't be able to have at school! I changed the experience I got during my work study into power and took the top spot! That's why I think it's something you should do even if you're scared, first years!"
Experience into power.
She looked at her hands and remembered the incident during her internship with Fat Gum. That type of situation was something she was supposed to be doing when she got a license. But while thinking about it and taking in Togata's words, she had a good idea of what he meant.
She knew she grew from that experience, even if it was just a little.
Her fists clenched and she dropped them to her sides.
Mizuha wanted to work hard to reach her true potential.
Mizuha flinched when Sho started to shake himself. She reached up and grabbed the blue towel she brought along with her. Before she towel dried him, she brought her face close to his fur and breathed in.
With a satisfied sigh, she grinned. "You smell good now."
Sho licked her hand.
As she towel dried him, her thoughts wandered back to the topic of work-studies. She was wondering if Fatgum was accepting studies for work-studies. She never asked him since she didn't know about it before.
But then she remembered Togata saying something about how his friend did his at Fatgum's Agency. The same guy that was too shy to talk in front of the class.
"Then I could do mines there…" she whispered to herself.
Mizuha wrapped Sho in the towel and tucked him inside the black basket she brought along with her to the shower. She heaved up the basket in her arms and walked out of the showers.
Well, whatever she chooses to do for her work-studies, it wouldn't matter if the faculty decides that they shouldn't be doing them. Everyone had to wait for the green light before anything else. They would get their answer tomorrow since the meeting was being held now.
Next Day – Friday
"About the hero work studies that are like a more serious version of the internships, where you go to where Pro Heroes work and them… We talked about them at our faculty meeting yesterday, and almost all the teachers, including the principal, thought you shouldn't do them."
…
…
…
"WHAT?!"
Mizuha groaned, planting her chin in the palm of her hand. That was not fair. They can't just fire them up about getting stronger and then shove a big fat no in their face. That's like holding up meat too high for them to reach.
Kirishima leaned forward on his desk, "After we had that big meeting about it?"
"But think about why we ended up in the dorms, I guess that makes sense…" Kaminari said while playing with Ojiro's tail.
Bakugo shot up in his side with a mad grin, "Serves you right!"
"But," Aizawa interjected, "some think we won't be able to raise strong heroes with our current policies, so we came to the decision that first years will only be allowed to go to agencies with a good track record of accepting work study students."
Since today's Friday, I'll have more time to get things done on the weekend.
First, she was going to search for that paper that listed all her offers. It was somewhere in her room, hidden in some folder. Second, she would figure out which ones were not good enough. And then, she would choose which one she wanted to go to.
Seemed like a good plan.
Mizuha looked over her shoulder to look at Bakugo, he was not happy about not being able to do the work-studies.
A sigh escaped her.
She needed to work out a good schedule with that guy. They had a project to do together but they were both going to be busy doing their own thing. Work-studies and provisional license courses.
On the first day of the weekend, she woke up, ate breakfast pretty early, and then went back to her room to lie down again. After all, taking the time to take it easy after going through a lot for the past two weeks is time well spent. After a period of laziness, she walked her dog around campus.
She really took it easy for the day. As someone who had the habit of leaving things for the last minute, she was going to leave work-studies for Sunday.
...
That is until she heard her name being called when she passed by the common room.
"Amajiki from the Big Three wants to see you." Aizawa informed her.
She froze with her juice box in her hand. What?
"Uhh…"
Everyone looked at her.
"Also," he looked at the girls sitting on the couch, "Hado wants to talk to Uraraka and Asui. Go see them tomorrow or something and hear them out." He turned around and started walking off, "That's all."
WHAT?
WAIT! HOLD ON!
"What could he want with Mizuha?" Kirishima wondered curiously.
"Maybe it's about the work studies?" Tsuyu guessed.
"No way! If so, I'm getting my hopes up!" Urarara shot up from her seat.
Hearing this, Kirishima then looked in Mizuha's direction before approaching her. She looked at him curiously, wondering what he needed.
"Are you going to see him now?"
"… Um, No?"
She didn't want to just waltz into the third years' dorm and track down the guy. She didn't have the courage to do that. Seeing him at school seemed like a better option since Togata might be around, she might feel a little more comfortable—
Kirishima grabbed her wrist and started pulling her along. "I think you should see him now! I'll even go with you."
Mizuha panicked, dropping her juice box, as the redhead started dragging her across the common room, "K-Kirishima! Wait! No! I don't wanna go now!" she cried, already feeling some pre-heat on her arms. "
"Ochaco-chan, let's go, too."
"Yeah!"
"Kirishima! I can do it on Monday or something!"
"It'll be fine! I'm going to be with you!" he reassured as they passed through the door.
"Kirishima!" she whined.
He knew he was just taking advantage of Mizuha's timidity, but he really needed to try and find himself a place to do his work study. He wanted to go and ask Amajiki to introduce him to whoever he was doing his work study with. But he would also be helping Mizuha since she might just chicken out. It was like killing two birds with one stone.
Escape was futile. Kirishima kept a firm hold on her and was not letting her go.
…
…
…
Kirishima was the one who was leading the group to the third years' dormitory. When they arrived at the doorstep, Tsuyu and Uraraka peeked through the window to see if there was currently some people in the common room. While they did that, Kirishima took the initiative to open the door.
"Excuse us for intruding!" Kirishima announced as he led the others inside.
Mizuha almost paled when she saw numerous heads in the common room turn to look at the four of them.
"Huh?"
"Who are they?"
"The first years!" A familiar cheerful voice spoke.
Hado, who was sitting with her friends, stood up and waved at them. Then, Mizuha saw a person pop up from behind a couch. Togata. Oh, she already felt somewhat calmer now.
"Nejire-senpai, we heard that you want to speak with us." Uraraka spoke first.
"Oh, right! I wanted to talk to you two about work study! I want to recommend you two!" She said while approaching them. Togata was following after her, knowing why Mizuha must be at his dorm.
"Hey, Hyoumei!"
"Hi."
He smiled and put his hands on his hips, "You're looking for Tamaki, right?"
"… Uh—"
"Yes, she is!" Kirishima answered for her just in case she denied.
Horrified, she gaped at the redhead.
If Togata figured her out properly, then she was feeling just as anxious as Tamaki. Unlike Togata and Nejire, Tamaki didn't really think about recommending one of the first years to his agency. Talking to other people made him nervous after all. But things happened and Tamaki needed to speak to Mizuha. He was nervous at the thought of it and he considered asking Togata to pass on the message since he already knew her.
Togata smiled at them and gave away his friend's location.
"Thank you, Togata-senpai!" Kirishima bowed down fast before looking at Mizuha, "Let's go!" He started marching to the elevator.
"But…!" she looked at the front door, contemplating her escape. However, Togata grabbed her arm, pulled her further inside and then turned her around. Mizuha looked over her shoulder and shot him a look. The blond haired student merely laughed when he pushed her lightly on her back so that she could follow after her classmate.
"Go on."
Mizuha gave him a look but only made a shoo-ing motion with his hand. Then she slumped and walked into the elevator with Kirishima. The boy pressed button that would bring them to where Amajiki was, and he leaned back against the wall as the doors closed. Mizuha was leaning back against the wall facing the doors, staring at her classmate. He must have sensed her staring at him because he turned his head toward her. She was giving him a tired look, making him grin sheepishly. She quirked up an eyebrow.
"Sorry for dragging you."
She sighed, "Is there a reason why?"
"Well," he rubbed the back of his neck, "I wanted to ask Amajiki-senpai if he could introduce me to whoever he does his work study with."
"Really?" she blinked.
But then he placed a hand on her shoulder, "And so that you don't get too shy to do it." he added with a smile.
Mizuha pouted a little before shaking off his hand, "I said I was going to do it on Monday."
He shot her a skeptical look, "Would you though?"
"… Yeah, I think." She said while looking away, knowing that she might be lying.
Before he could say anything, the elevator stopped and dinged. They both looked at the doors as they opened. She followed Kirishima out the elevator and took in a deep breath as they turned to the boys' wing. Near the end the end of the hall, there were four students talking near the third door. The tallest student saw them and must have mentioned to the others because they all looked at the two. Amajiki was one of the four students.
"Amajiki-senpai!" Kirishima exclaimed.
The said boy stiffened.
Mizuha took in another deep breath.
The three other students took that as their cue to leave and walked past the two first years.
When Kirishima and Mizuha stood before Amajiki, the redhead stepped back and motioned with his hand for Mizuha to go ahead first. At first, Mizuha froze and didn't move for a second. She quickly snapped out of it though.
I was kind of hoping he would do the talking…
Mizuha looked at her senior who was shyly looking at her through his bangs that hung in front of his eyes.
"I heard that you wanted to talk to me?" she said while holding her left arm. She made eye contact with him once but her eyes looked at the wall behind him after five seconds.
Her voice sounded so small despite being in such a quiet hallway. Amajiki almost didn't hear her.
Amajiki held his right arm, "Fat Gum is inviting you to come back to do your work study with him."
This made Mizuha blink in surprise. That was it? She was expecting something else. But then she almost slapped her forehead for being stupid. Of course, it was just going to be about that. Why else would this guy even talk to her?
Welp, I can forget about looking for that list now. I got myself a place for my work study!
"Okay, I'll go."
With nothing else to say, the older boy awkwardly nodded before looking down at the floor while Mizuha rubbed her sleeves against her arms. Kirishima looked at Mizuha, a little surprised by this revelation. "Mizuha, you already went to Amajiki-senpai's work-study agency?" he asked for clarification.
She looked over her shoulder and nodded. "Yeah, for the first internship." then she scratched her neck, feeling the irritation crawling up, "And now I'm going back."
At first, he didn't say anything but then he straightened up and walked past Mizuha, right up into Amajiki's face. "Amajiki-senpai, please introduce me to whoever you do your work study with!" he said loudly, making Mizuha flinch.
The senior stepped away and leaned back on the wall.
"Please. Please, please!" Kirishima stepped closer to him with each other, fully getting into his face.
Mizuha's eyes widened at how forward he was being.
Amajiki turned his face away, "Your spit—"
"Please, Amajiki-senpai!"
The platinum blonde haired girl looked around the hallway and noticed how the three students were still there. They were watching what was happening. When Mizuha looked back in front of her, she found her senior facing the other end of the hallway since his left side was now pressed against the wall. He was trying to evade Kirishima who was bugging him with his persistent begging. As Kirishima got closer, Amajiki started to duck his head.
Oh man, poor guy.
Mizuha hurriedly stepped in between the two, much to Kirishima's surprise. Then she pushed him back a little to give Amajiki some breathing space.
The older boy was grateful for that.
"Too close, don't you think?" she whispered before moving away but not before hearing Amajiki mutter to himself.
"I just needed to pass on Fat Gum's invitation… How did things end up like this?"
Heeding Mizuha's words, Kirishima stood at a reasonable distance but still continued bugging him. "Please introduce me, Amajiki-senpai! Please!"
Mizuha looked at Amajiki.
"Please!"
"If it'll get you to stop… then fine." Their senior said, giving up.
"Thank you!"
Once that was settled, Kirishima arranged the date and time for when they should all go to Fat Gum's Agency. Amajiki just went along with it, seeing as he already gave in. Mizuha just stood there silently, soaking up all the necessary information for the meet up. When everything was done, Kirishima bowed down and thanked their senior once more before happily walking down the hall. The girl scratched the back of her head and watched him go on ahead. Slowly, she looked back at her senior and found him looking at her too.
Awkwardly, she nodded and bowed down a little before jogging after her classmate.
Tamaki silently watched as the two disappeared around the corner.
He turned around to face the wall. He placed a hand against it and held up a hand to his heart, shaking.
"Scary."
...
...
...
"How was Tamaki?"
Mizuha sweat dropped. She pointed at Kirishima while he wasn't looking. "He got up all in his face and started bugged him to bring him to Fat Gum's."
Togata ruffled the back of his hair and sighed, "Aah, poor guy."
"... Yeah."
...
...
...
Eijin looked up from the files and gave the detective a skeptical look.
"There was barely any trace of his origin. Even with all the investigating prior to the raid in Kamino, we still had trouble identifying him. But we do know that he appeared some the time after the disappearance." Tsukauchi explained.
Eijin looked back at the files.
"With your niece's description, and All Might and Gran Torino's descriptions, we were able to realize it after some time. We are 95% certain that it's him."
The educator sighed, "What about that other 5%? Room for doubt?" he dropped the files on the table and leaned back in his chair. He was staring at the information as if trying to make sense of it.
Seriously?
He rubbed his temples with his fingers.
On the table, the files displayed information about a certain villain who went by the name Light, along with the information of a certain U.A. graduate.
Whew, this took a while but that's fine. I did say I was not going to finish this Arc until the anime did. Nothing much happened in this chapter except for interactions (except for the ending), but that's fine too.
For the fight against Mirio, I figured it would go a little differently since one of the top three was in that fight. We didn't see how it would have changed if Todoroki and Bakugo participated and I like to think one of them would last a little longer than the rest.
Tamaki and Mizuha. Anxiety-Team. That's all I have to say XD
Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next chapter! I look forward to reading your reviews!