Aizawa slouched in through the door, looking less enthused than he usually did to be up early in the morning to teach the class. A whole week and a half had gone by – and nothing had changed about her feelings. Kairi had ruled out sickness as there were moments when she felt normal. Tsu seemed very suspicious but had kept quiet. Uraraka got quickly embarrassed and, and Momo found herself incredibly shy if she started to feel that way. It was only Aoyama who constantly had some sort of knowing in his wink and instead just remained silent whenever she asked him what his weird looks were about. Irritation taking place of the odd feeling that reoccurred, Kairi glared death at him and he would tear away from her, chuckling. As good a friend as he was becoming, his little secrets and mystery were also becoming a nuisance.
So she slumped against her desk, growing tired and used to that sensation that seemed to come back after shortly entering the classroom. Her sad eyes looked across the classroom, a few still twitching with her emotions. She breathed and jolted upright when Aizawa threw some thick book onto his desk at the front of the room.
"Listen closely, because today is the day I really don't want to repeat myself," he bellowed firmly. "We have a full day. There are a few things I want to get out of the way before I begin..." he sighed and rubbed both his eyes. "The lecture I have been advised to give."
"A lecture?" Kaminari said sitting straight in his seat. His eyes bulged at the teacher's words. "Was there an incident?"
"Not yet," Aizawa growled. "It's not even an incident just... wait a moment." Kaminari settled back into his chair, but the rest of the class became a little more alert. "First order of business, I would like to remind everyone that our Cultural Festival is six weeks away and I encourage you to begin thinking about what you plan to do." Whispers rose amongst their heads. Momo looked to the ceiling thoughtfully while Iida began to furiously scribble in his open notebook. Aizawa clapped, getting their attention again. "You can begin discussing your ideas after class. I am just telling you to begin thinking. Another reminder: today we are doing our group battles. In just a moment, I will tell you who your pairs up. Now..." He groaned and melted into his chair beyond the desk, looking both bored and uncomfortable. He dropped his hand under his chin.
"You are at an age where most of you might begin..." A heavy sigh. Kairi twirled a pencil in her awkward grasp, agonized by impatient curiosity. Whatever Aizawa was about to say, he seemed very reluctant to speak about it. Apprehension whipped her around as she leaned forward, and waited. "You might begin to experience feelings for others. Romantically, I mean. Likely, it's going to be your classmates and it would not surprise me if some of you were already feeling that way." Uraraka instantly slid down in her seat, while Izuku stiffened, face going white before a bright sheen of red overtook his expression. Kairi shot her eyes in their direction, speculating their obvious infatuation for each other was the reasoning for this discussion. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Aoyama looking at her smugly. She glared poison his direction. Why was he being so coy and irritating?
"Are we getting the sex talk again?!" Mineta shouted, tongue nearly falling out of his mouth. Kairi rolled her eyes.
"No," he said firmly. "That's your health teacher, not me. No, the school thinks it's important that I remind you what it means to have a relationship with someone who is also a hero, or a hero in training." He sighed and leaned forward against his desk, clasping his hands together. "Listen. We are not here to discourage any relationship between any of you. In fact, feelings towards someone else of a romantic nature can be encouraging, or empowering. If they can give you confidence and help you in the field. But it is important to also realize the consequences that could come about from such a relationship. It's easy to become fixated on a partner and have that become your whole world. It's easy for them to become a distraction to you. If you are partnering in the field with someone who is your real life partner, a villain may figure it out and use it against you. If you favor your partner over the rest of humanity, that may be the incorrect call and there may be consequences."
Panic rose in Kairi. The lecture was pin pricking her without a reason why. Her system was tightening and she fidgeting in her seat. Conviction nipped at her, and her mind fogged with confusion as to why. The atmosphere grew heavy with her embarrassed discomfort. Itchy, she wanted to jump from her seat and fling out the window. Why was this bothering her so much, why was he bringing it up? Her seat was burning under her and she wanted to run.
"You don't expect we would ever have to make a decision like that any time soon?" Iida asked, ever the pursuant of knowledge.
"I would say no, but villains invaded our school last year. Students tangled with dangerous villains. We thankfully have had a mellow year so far, but as your training gets harder and you grow closer to officially licensed heroes, it may be something you have to think about. Romance can be one of the greatest disturbances in emotions..." Several heads turned Kairi's direction at the word, and she lowered her head. Emotion. Romance. Something that had been on her mind since she hit puberty, and what it would mean for her quirk. How she would react, what it would do. "I repeat; romance, emotions. They are not bad things to have. But they can also be a weakness too; a weakness that can affect your judgment, or something that a villain could use. Be vigilant, and remember there are times when your feelings may come before logic, but logic may also come before your feelings. Part of being a hero is using that judgment. People will be expecting you to make the correct the decision. Remember that as you go on dates or pursue a romantic interest." His words felt targeted, driving right into her. The pressure grew, expanding against her ribcage and constricting her air. Fingers clutched the sides of her desk as his words scrambled. A romance was out of the question for her anyway, she made that decision, and yet she still felt bound and whipped by whatever whirlwind was travelling through her. Logic versus emotion, a battle she always fought. Logic made sense in theory but it was hard to think when your heart was exploding into your head.
Kairi gulped in air, forcing herself to remain still and sapping her energy to appear physically okay. It didn't matter anyway, as the class turned onto her. Dizzy, she swayed in her seat, holding close to her desk. Her vision blurred around her, thinking about the pressure. Logic. She needed to use logic. Her emotions wouldn't save her every time, like they did with Shoto in the woods. She would need to push away her emotions and be sensible. But how could she do that? It was impossible, with her quirk. Her emotions were great and wild, and took over everything. She couldn't overcome it, couldn't control it, couldn't...
"Hoshino!" Aizawa shouting, shaking through her.
"Huh?" she chattered, shaking in her shoes. His eyes firmly on her, and the relaxed positions of her concerned classmates told her he had suddenly erased her quirk. Her eyes darted around the room, collecting this information. Her eyes fell onto Shoto, and her feelings melted, her panic softening. He was dramatically miming breathing deeply, a reminder to her to do so. She smiled, a flutter under her throat while that warmness rolled back over her. She nodded and took in a heavy gulp of air, holding it for a few moments. Eyes on Shoto, dazzled by the gentle comforting smile he was giving her, her emotions settled back into place. The panic extinguished for the moment, her bubbliness returned, twisting through her stomach.
"Are you okay? Do you need to be sent to Recovery Girl?" he asked. She grinned and looking over at her homeroom teacher, feeling light and dazed.
"I... think I'm okay now..." she told him gently, and folded her hands in front of her. "Please continue."
Aizawa waited a moment, watching her fiercely. Then he blinked, breaking his quirk's hold. Fingers fumbled while he fished out a bottle of eyedrops. Kairi turned back to Shoto, whom she gave a grateful grin. He nodded, face as bright as hers.
"Onto the next, more comfortable order of business," he said, sounding relieved to have gotten past that part of the discussion. "Today we are focusing on more hero training. You are going to be paired off, facing another pair. You will fight the other and you will also be working to protect a civilian – for this exercise, we are using standard issue dummies. You are going to be using a canyon terrain in this exercise. Every person will have one of these attached to them." Aizawa help up a piece of red cloth. "It will be tied to you – please place these in appropriate areas..." He groaned, as if that were a past issue. "A perfect score will consist of both you and your teammate still having your flags, with the dummy unscarred, and the other team having lost their flags."
"That sounds like a long list of things to keep in tact in order to get a perfect score," Izuku said.
"Exactly," Aizawa said. "I don't expect anyone to get a perfect score. However, I remind you, damaging the other person's guarded dummy does nothing for your point system. Accidents happen, of course, and part of this test is to ensure that the dummy doesn't get ruined but there is no need motivation in hurting the other's dummy. Unless you want to hurt the other team's grade." Aizawa sighed and rose from his desk, picking up a piece of paper that laid out in front of him. He cleared his throat and then dully began to read over the list. There seemed to be no sense to how the teams were paired up. It wasn't anyone who was necessarily friends who worked well together, but there also seemed a few who were excited to be together. Mostly it seemed random.
"Todoroki, you are going to work alongside Mineta," Aizawa said dully. Shoto rolled his eyes while Mineta waved over to him. "And the two of you will be fighting against Hoshino..." She looked over to his seat, stomach sinking that she would need to go against him. And Mineta. What a mix. . He was really pitting friends against each other, wasn't he? Plus, he decided to throw in that little pervert, of all- "... and Bakugo."
The room fell silent.
Moving in slow motion, Kairi shifted to face the front of the room again. Everything in her tensed up, while her emotions froze. Unable to think, shocked emotionlessly, she blinked at her teacher. Her mouth fell open but she remained silent. Her wound her fingers together, knitting them tightly. Her jaw stretched as she held her teeth tightly, her neck pulling at the pain.
"What the hell?!" sneered Bakugo, jumping out of her seat. "You want me to work alongside that bi-?!"
"Before you think about letting that word fly," Aizawa interrupted sternly. "I want you to think about if you would enjoy being written up for another offense, Bakugo!" The blonde kid twitched, body vibrating with anger. He spun and gave Kairi a dark expression, body ready to explode under the intense rage that was boiling underneath. He sank into his seat, just at the moment Kairi began to silently seethe.
She held her knees as close to her chest as she could get away with without being seen. Her back rippled with her tight muscles. Her eyes searched the room, almost begging for Shoto for help. His pathetic, worn expression told her he was out of ideas as Aizawa rattled off the list of names. His voice pitched to a drolling ring as her anxiety heightened and shook her form. What to do, how would this work, there was no way this could work. Every possibility ended up badly, with Kairi left behind and Bakugo trying hard to take the credit. He wasn't going to be a team player, the only one he had any success in working with was Kirishima. Each ragged breath scraped on its way down, tearing its talons through her. Kairi gulped, struggling for more air. No, no, there was no way they could pair her with Bakugo? Against her best friend and Mineta?!
"Mr. Aizawa, please," she begged, after her legs finally left her seat and congregated with the rest of the class as they moved in two lines through the hall. Kairi hurried through the throng and reached her teacher, eyes desperate with begging. "This is the worst match up."
"The matches were designed the way they are for a reason," he assured her. "You are expected to work with Bakugo. Not all heroes get along, and sometimes you need to learn to work with those you don't like for the greater good. It's not about liking each other, it's about teamwork."
"But how can you have good teamwork if you can't be in sync?" she panted heavily. "Just switch it. Bakugo and Mineta against me and Shoto. That would be a good match, wouldn't it? Shoto and I are best friends, we would have this rhythm."
"You would then be missing the point of this lesson, Hoshino. To the lockers." He paused at the end of the hall and pointed in the direction of the girls' locker room. Hoshino huffed, as she watched the trail of girls leave. Momo and Tsu looked over their shoulders at her, worried. Down the opposite direction, the boys filed through a door. Bakugo lagged behind and threw a glare her way. She shivered.
"I can't work with Bakugo," she said.
"You're going to have to if you want to pass this lesson. Or I could simply fail you, and it would automatically cause Bakugo to fail too. Then, you may be even worse enemies. Would you enjoy that?" Horror struck her, and Kairi fell into a stiff posture. She bowed her head submissively.
"No, sir. I'll... figure something out." But her heart sunk even further, confidence dwindling away. She whimpered and sadly dragged herself after the girls locker room. Tsu held the door open for her as she slipped inside, muttering a thank you to the frog girl.
The girls were already beginning to slip out of their uniforms, some already beginning to pull their costumes over their legs, over their heads.
"Well, the groupings certainly aren't the most ideal, are they?" Momo asked when Kairi stood before her locker and pulled it open. She shrugged and pulled out the clump of pale green cloth that was her suit.
"You can learn how to work alongside Bakugo," Tsu told her confidently, pulling a sleeve over her arm. "Aizawa just wants to make sure we learn how to fight alongside all kinds of people."
"Well, Bakugo isn't exactly people, is he?" she snarled, biting through her emotions. "He's rude and arrogant and gets angry for no reason and full of himself and flies off the handle about everything and god forbid if he feels something other than pure rage."
"You're not the only with a difficult life, Kairi," Tsu reminded her, strapping her belt around her middle. "Bakugo is dealing with a lot of stuff too. All of us have dealt with things the last year, but Bakugo has had a rougher go off it than some of us."
"Anger is how he projects it."
"I'm just so sick of all of this!" Kairi fastened the plate against her head and snapped her gloves around her wrist. "I understand I am not the easiest to deal with my emotions, my last class showed that. I'm used to it, I get it. But no one has been so... so bloodthirsty to hurt me like Bakugo has!"
"That might be jumping to conclusions, ribbit," Tsu interrupted.
"What does this achieve?! We're only going to get hurt. This is a mess, this whole thing! He's pitting me against Shoto..." her heart flipped with his name. "And Mineta? Like, gladly, I have no issue punching Mineta into the dirt, but as if that wasn't enough to flare me up. Then they make Bakugo my partner?!" She pulled adjusted the sturdy fabric around her legs, and counted the scent tubes to make sure all were accounted for. From a distance, it would almost look like she held a round of bullets about her waist with how plentiful her collection had grown.
"He's teaching us something," Momo said, clasping the yellow belt around her revealing red costume. "We'll just have to trust Aizawa."
"I'm naturally suspicious of everyone and everything," Kairi snapped, touching her hair to make sure it was secured in place.
"Ribbit..." Tsu exasperated as they began to stream out of the lockers and met with the rest of the class at the end of the hallway. Most of the boys had already finished and were shuffling their feet while Aizawa waited. Kairi hung back behind Momo and Tsu, eyes down as dread infected her. Hopelessness suck her, as she already began to give in to her forfeit. A bad grade. All As except for hero training courses. At least those showed she tried, this wouldn't even show that. Was this going to be how it was? Getting more and more difficult as she fought to control her quirk and kept getting pushed back by one reason or another? Was there even a point in remaining enrolled in UA? Kairi sniffling, her doubt growing bigger. Those around her fell into a quiet sadness as she projected.
"Kairi." The voice lifted her and she couldn't stop the movement of her head as she was drawn to it. As a moth does to a flame, she was pulled in by instinctive desire. Her watery eyes dropped on the grey and blue ones of Shoto. For a brief moment, her spirit lifted. It was impossible to be entirely hopeless with him around. "I know this isn't easy for you."
"Being on the subway isn't easy, Shoto. This is climbing Mount Everest, and I have no tools," she moped. He extended a hand and rested it against his shoulder.
"I can promise you I won't damage your elbow?" Kairi shrugged, ignoring the half joke. "Remember what Aizawa said about balancing logic and emotion?"
"I don't want to be logical about this, I want to be pissed."
"Heroes don't always get a choice, Kairi," she sniffed and looked up.
"I can't do it."
"Yes, you can," Izuku jumped in, popping beside Shoto. "This is your chance, Kairi. I know first hand that Bakugo is difficult to deal with. I've had to work with him time to time and he made hate me the most. But you can do it. I know you can. This is the ultimate test about controlling your quirk, isn't? If you can take out your best friend and Mineta, while working alongside someone who despises you, isn't that the ultimate win!" Hope fluttered in her, faintly, briefly. Power surged as his words sailed through. "Focus on your emotions, and use what you can for the situation. Embrace what you feel. Use your emotions logically. You can be both emotional and logical, Kairi! You can do both! You can be both! And you can use them to win!"
"I won't make it easy for you," Shoto promised, his smirk glinting before he pulled her close. Kairi gasped as she fell with his gesture, ear landing against the rushing beat of his chest. Her cheeks became swollen with pink. "You know I won't go easy. But if you beat my ass while paired up with Bakugo, you might be just the most powerful person in class."
"We know you, Kairi," Momo said. "We know you're strong enough. We know you're tough enough. Even if you don't think you are, we know you can reach farther than you think you can."
"Yeah!" Uraraka said, throwing her first in the air. "Plus Ultra, Kairi! You can do it!"
Plus Ultra. The motto pumped through her, invigorating a new determined life. Shoto's heart against her chest pumped in time with her own pulse. Blushing brightly, she ripped herself away, and found the confidence he held for her, in his own eyes. Despite her nerves, despite how down she had felt, her classmates found confidence beyond what she was projecting. They found it outside of the misery she was creating around them. She could manipulate feelings, she could even trick people into feeling certain things. It was how her quirk worked. What she couldn't do was completely change their belief.
And that's what didn't change. Their belief in her. They strongly believed in her abilities, even though she didn't. She looked from Uraraka, to Tsu, to Momo, to Izuku, to... Shoto. Who's eyes shown the brightest, the strongest. Even though he was going to be determined to make it hard. He still somehow... didn't waver in his belief for her. The gaze he poured on her solidified in her soul and she kept it noted to her memory. She would remember his eyes. She would remember this belief. How strongly his faith was, in her. Her chest thumped rapidly again, and she pulled away from him. Hot with embarrassment, she tucked her hair behind her ear. She could go beyond. Their belief and faith fueled her. Never once had anyone, and such a huge crowd, held such faith for her. And here they were.
They believed she could do it. Shoto believed she could do. Her opponent. Her best friend. Her most treasured... person. His belief would become her own. Confidence pulsed through her stronger than she ever though it could, expanding her strength.
Plus Ultra. She would do it. She could go beyond herself, beyond her emotions, her prejudices, her judgements. Whether she won or not, she could find victory in just going beyond.