EDIT: Rewrote the entire chapter and added a scene, oops
Chapter 57: Joint training part 2: rematch! Bonding time?!
The hissing was bone rattling. The students paused, all heads turning to the unnaturally loud sound. Smoke, no, steam rose from the other end of the field. A gust of wind pushed the haze into their direction. Gulping down the anxiety spiking up at the thought of what might have caused it, Izuku forced himself to focus. At least he could make use of that.
She smashed her head against something solid, most likely Shouto's skull. He grunted, the force sent them stumbling apart. Hikari hastily sliced the handcuff off her left wrist, accidentally leaving a cut on her own arm. Whatever, it wasn't deep. The shackles fell to the floor and she made sure to stomp on them as hard as she could, shattering the more delicate parts. They were out of the game. The only ones remaining in reach were in her possession now, giving her some much needed advantage.
The air was thick and humid, also hot, making it hard to breathe. Hikari could barely make out her own hands. her costume clung to her frame, dripping wet of a mixture of steam and sweat. Aside from feeling gross, the suit didn't offer the slightest bit of protection against the cold anymore. She shivered. At the same time, the left half of her face, where the first wave hit her, seemed to be on fire. Her stomach turned at the mixture of unpleasant feelings, her whole body screamed at her to get out of there, but she wasn't done yet. She still had a chance. She couldn't disappoint Aizawa-sensei.
Something crackled to her right. The girl managed to slither out of the way before ice froze her in place. The ground was getting slippery, puddles were forming everywhere. Something moved awfully close and she ducked, only to find the reflection of one of her spider legs on the ground. It gave her an idea.
It was dead silent. The fight between the remaining members of the teams was almost forgotten. Aizawa narrowed his eyes as if he could see better through the mist obscuring the camera lenses. He had feared it might come to something like this. All he could do was hope that neither Todoroki nor Shikogane got too hurt badly, there was even a chance the desperate move had knocked them both out. In that case, team ten was done for, unless Midoriya pulled some genius plan out of his ass within the next minute.
I can't lose.
Driven by pure instinct, Hikari dodged the fist coming out of nowhere. She heard more crackling as Shouto used his quirk to freeze the moisture in the air, freeing his field of vision. A big chunk fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces, each reflecting the dim light of golden particles swirling through the air. Todoroki braced himself, one arm in front of his face, the other firing flames all around him.
At least that was what he thought. It wasn't big, just about twenty degrees somewhere between his middle back and right side, but there was a dead angle his fire didn't reach. Izuku had pointed it out during the internship once and Shouto immediately told him he would work on it, but to her luck, in that exact moment, he seemed to have forgotten about it.
Hikari slammed a fist into his back, careful to avoid his spine. Shouto heaved, having all the air knocked from his lungs. She didn't have more than a few seconds, but it was enough. A jab into his left armpit sent his fire arm jerking before falling loosely to the side.
A click. The first wrist.
Something hard slammed her in the face, her vision went black. But that couldn't stop her. She could still see, or rather feel, through her quirk. Her spider legs wrapped around the two-toned teen, it didn't matter how often he tried to freeze them, she would simply slice through the ice.
As soon as she heard the shot, Hikari sunk to her knees. She closed her eyes and gasped, desperately trying to steady her breathing. The rapid and extreme changes in temperature had left her in a dizzy state.
"Are you alright?"
Hikari slowly opened her eyes. Shouto stared at her. He breathed rapidly, white puffs coming out of his mouth. Most of the haze had faded. A bunch of robots trundled between them, two scanning the boy for injuries. Shouto adjusted his position, otherwise unable to smack away the robotic plies coming dangerously close to his face with his tied-up wrists.
Her eyes widened - she… She did it. She did it. She didn't know how, everything was a bit fuzzy, but still-
She caught Shouto.
"Do you need medical attention? Should I remove you from the exercise?"
"No," Hikari practically shrieked at the robot before regaining her posture. "I can go on." She got back to her feet, ignored the stinging sensation in the side of her face and grabbed a granola bar from one of her belt pouches. Shouto watched her with disbelief in his eyes.
"There's no rule against eating during the exercise," she stated cheekily and took a bite. She really needed that energy to recharge her quirk.
Was the battle over? Were they going to lose just like this? Izuku didn't dare to think about it. He had hoped to get away by using the approaching mist for cover, but it was no use since he lost track of Uraraka and couldn't even call out to her thanks to Shinsou. They were in a tight spot.
"Release!" All kinds of objects rained down, forcing Izuku to dodge instead of focussing on finding his teammate. Her voice had come from above somewhere, but where? If only they could bring some distance between themselves and their opponents, he needed to focus to come up with a new plan - Green flashed before his eyes. Monoma robbed the flames from his arms. His heartbeat and breathing accelerated. Not the time to panic! Those were his flames, they couldn't hurt him. But they could hurt Uraraka.
"Looks like you're done for, 1-A!" Monoma laughed from somewhere to the left. "Looks like all the fuss about your heritage wasn't worth listening to!"
Izuku clenched his teeth. He couldn't let Monoma get to him. If he regained control of his fire and put it out, then followed with an adequate smash he should be able to create a path...
"I truly expected more from yo-" The voice cut off, immediately replaced by a choking sound and soon followed by a crash.
"Don't you dare talking to my friends like that, you piss poor excuse of a hero!"
Izuku held his breath. This was definitely not Shinsou. Raising his hands and clenching his fists he got rid of the flames Monoma stole. Uraraka yelped somewhere, he turned his head into the direction he believed it came from, but something wrapped itself around his torso and tore him off his feet. His first reaction was to burn it off, only the stuff wouldn't catch fire. He peered down, One for All activated and ready- Izuku stopped struggling. He recognized those black tendrils. A moment later he was gently placed on his feet where the air was much clearer. He looked up.
Hikari was standing in front him, Uraraka tossed over her shoulder. Half of her face was glowing red but before he could say anything, she nodded to their left.
The warehouse was empty. It was a training field after all, and the realism had to end somewhere. The three remaining team ten students huddled into a dark corner, far away from the prying eyes of the opposing team. They were safe, for now.
"I never thought I'd miss talking that much," Uraraka sighed. She looked a bit roughed up. "I can't believe you beat Todoroki!"
Hikari, holding the burning half of her face, blinked at the other girl. "I, uh, I did? Yes, I mean, I did. I can't believe it either."
"Is your face okay?" Izuku asked. He reached out but stopped midway. He couldn't risk causing her more pain, so he drew back. Uraraka followed his movement with interest.
"It's fine, could be worse. Anyway, what about Kodai and Yanagi?"
"Brainwashed," he informed her, sourly, "Shinsou's mask is a voice changer, he has no trouble imitating all of our voices. We can't risk talking to each other once we leave this place."
The girls nodded. Uraraka leaned in, "So, Deku-kun, what's the plan?"
The plan… "We still got to catch Shinsou, Sero and Monoma, although you hit the later pretty hard, so he might not be at a hundred percent anymore. And we need Kodai-san and Yanagi-san back."
"You really want to go for a 5:0 win?" Hikari inquired, visibly surprised. Izuku nodded, determined. If Kacchan could do it, so could they.
"Luckily, Monoma can only copy my fire, not my strength. I'm not sure if he figured out how to properly use it, but it could get dangerous for you two. He should run out of time soon, though. Sero's quirk is more annoying than I expected but turns out his tape is highly inflammable. We should get him after Monoma's out, so I can freely use my fire. Last but not least, Shinsou…"
"Where did they go?!"
"You never shut up, do you?" Shinsou noted, in his own voice. None of them expected to lose Todoroki, but it couldn't be helped. They may have lost their strongest fighter, but not their will to win. The remaining members of team nine sat in a tiny hideout, watching Shinsou's two mind-slaves from above. He had sent them scouting the area, knowing if team ten attacked, they wouldn't cuff their own teammates. But Shinsou's own team needed to come up with a new plan as well, he highly doubted their strategy would work a second time.
"Whatever they are scheming, they will never win against class B!"
"Not to be a prick, but you're the only class B member left," Sero reminded Monoma. Too distracted by their exchange, Shinsou missed the movement on the roof across the street. Something dropped between his slaves and an annoying voice sounded, "Sorry girls, but we gotta borrow that!"
Borrow? Shinsou narrowed his eyes. Did Shikogane just steal her own teammates' handcuffs?
God dammit. Of course. He should have gotten rid of them, ordered the girls to cuff each other, but it was too late. Now, more than ever, he couldn't risk losing control over them.
"Monoma, Sero-" he set out, but the latter was already on his way down to the three girls. He shot out tape, apparently catching Shikogane effortlessly. Stupid. It was obviously a trap!
"She's just a decoy!" Shinsou screamed, for naught. The tape suspending the girl in the air lit up in a spectacle of green lights… Midoriya. He should have known the freckled student was up to something. Up on the roof across he dispersed the fire into multiple flames, dropping one at each street leading away from the small place in front, creating a cage of fire. At Shinsou's side, Monoma raised his hands. He couldn't hold the copy of Midoriya's quirk much longer… Shinsou had to act.
"Midoriya! Monoma is on the roof behind!" He yelled in Shikogane's voice. The hero course student didn't even blink. If he and Shikogane were there, Uraraka couldn't be too far-
"GUNHEAD'S MARTIAL ARTS!"
Shinsou swung himself to safety with his capture weapon. Monoma on the other hand, especially after a hard hit to his head, wasn't fast enough. Uraraka dropped onto him from the sky and with a few precise motions, he was out of the game.
"One more student down!"
Shit, this all started so well! Should he get away? Uraraka was currently the closest to him, but she didn't have anything to detain him with. Midoriya and Shikogane were busy holding off their own teammates and Sero…
He couldn't fail. There was more to this practice than the teachers let on. The timing, the framing… It was just too perfect. He had suspected it from the beginning. But how could he impress the hero course teachers if he lost the match, not even using ten percent of what he had learned...?
Izuku grabbed hold of the tape wrapping around his wrist and pulled Sero closer. The other cut himself off and slithered a few meters away. Izuku jumped, but more tape wrapped around his feet. He burned himself free in no time but crashed into the hard, icing floor.
Where was Uraraka? She had gotten Monoma, hadn't she? Could she be in trouble with Shinsou?
The hero in training blew his opposing classmate away with a flick of his finger, including the tape that came soaring his way. He looked over to Hikari who was still keeping Kodai and Yanagi at bay without trying to hurt them. Their eyes met. She gave him a nod. He nodded back.
A well-aimed hit should knock them out of mind control, Izuku had told them. Hikari couldn't get close to her teammates, and thanks to her low energy reserves she was limited to using her spider legs. Maybe it would be enough for one last attack, but that meant she would have to fight quirkless for the rest of the exercise.
Sero was getting back on his feet and Izuku was off looking for Ochako. It wasn't looking good for her.
Well, all or nothing, the previous Seishin student concluded. She got this far, she wouldn't fail, not today. And besides, wasn't fighting without her quirk the only thing she was better at than her internship buddies?
Here goes nothing.
"Spider's web!" With her last bit of strength, the girl shot golden particles from her whole body into the world around. Sero paused, confused by the tiny particles swirling around them. At once they contracted, wrapping around him, Yanagi and Kodai. The 1-A student was yanked far away while the two girls were smashed into each other, drawn together by the particles, before being released. The particles disappeared.
That was it. Hikari raised her fists, a crooked grin on her face. Tape came out of nowhere, wrapped around her ankle and tore her to the her spider legs, she couldn't cut herself free. Had this been a mistake?
The pulling at her leg stopped. Sero howled. Hikari pushed herself up and found her class B teammates holding the boy down, cuffing him.
"Why is the world on fire?" Yanagi asked. Even the stoic looking Kodai blinked in confusion. "Did we get brainwashed?"
The fourth shot. Another member of team nine down. Hikari, on her knees, let herself fall back down to the floor, slapped her forehead, and laughed drily.
Ochako had made herself weightless in an attempt to escape Shinsou. That was how she ended up floating in the air like a balloon attached to Shinsou by the capture weapon wrapped around her ankle. He drew her towards himself menacingly. She did the only thing she could think of, released her quirk and crashed into the boy. Her plan to restrain him with her tights didn't succeed. By the way he very skilfully slipped out of her grasp she could tell he had been training a lot since the sports festival. In addition to that, she had nothing to capture him with. Hits rained down on her with no signs of stopping, her knees buckled in.
"Still not giving up?"
As if I would answer you! She snapped in her head. She wasn't that stupid.
"Uraraka-san! I'm here!" Nope, not gonna work. The look in Shinsou's eyes grew more frustrated.
"You can't keep quiet forever. But if you intend to, I'll have to take you in by force."
Shoot.
Something stuck to his foot. Shinsou looked down and found Sero's tape sticking to his sole. Did some of it survive the fire?
A leg closed in, he barely ducked in time. Midoriya dropped the tape he had apparently taken from the battlefield and charged once more. Shinsou was about to use his capture weapon, but… Midoriya wasn't using his quirk either. They exchanged more hits. This was a rematch, he realized, and this time, they were on a fairly even level.
"You've become strong, Shinsou-kun," Midoriya gasped, a grin on his face. The gen ed student mimicked the other's expression.
"I've been waiting for this."
"So, have I." Midoriya's knee struck him in the side of his tight, causing him to stumble and barely avoid the following kick. "But there's one thing. One thing you still need to learn."
"Don't be so cocky," Shinsou retorted excitedly. Midoriya dodged his fist, but a hit in the chest with the palm sent the freckled teen staggering backwards.
Midoriya chuckled. "This is a team exercise."
Shinsou's grin dropped. He whirled around but it was too late. With a click, one of his wrists was secured by Uraraka. He looked down and found his cuffs missing- The girl must have taken them somewhen during their fight. With his free hand, Shinsou loosened his capture weapon, but the two heroic students charged at him from both sides.
Dammit. How could he forget? He had been so excited to get his rematch, he completely forgot about Uraraka. Aizawa was right. He still had so much to learn.
The fifth shot. "All members of team nine down. Team ten wins 5:0."
Shinsou buried his head between his palms. Despite his defeat, though, he chuckled. "I'll catch up to you. Let's get another rematch in a bit."
"Yeah, I'll be waiting for you."
"Dude, you guys were awesome!"
"I thought you were losing but then BAM, such a perfect victory, that was so manly!"
"I didn't even know you could control your fire, kero, but that was pretty good, Midoriya-chan."
Congratulations came from everywhere, he was patted on the back, even received a secret thumbs up from all Might. Izuku was close to tears when Vlad King finally announced, "Consultations are over! Time for the last review!"
Both teams lined up.
"I expected more from you!" The 1-B homeroom teacher shamelessly yelled at his students. They all hung their heads, even Yanagi and Kodai who had been in the winning team.
"I can't believe we got brainwashed that easily," Kodai sighed, "the match was basically over when we came back."
"You didn't know about Shinsou's voice changer, though," Awase tried to console his classmates, "at least you weren't the first ones to drop out."
"At least we almost won-" Monoma started, only to be interrupted by Vlad King, "Be more careful with quirks you don't know! You almost incapacitated your own teammates!"
Ouch. Izuku flinched for the blonde. He himself had mad respect for his own quirk, not fully having it under control yet. Vlad King was right, Monoma could have easily caused a lot of damage or worse, serious injuries.
"Your teamwork was splendid at the beginning, though! Do not let yourself get discouraged that easily!"
The students hung their heads in defeat. At Vlad King's side, Aizawa stepped forward to take over the scolding. Their match had been a big mess, they most likely deserved that.
"After you were ambushed and your first plan ruined, you failed to come up with a backup for quite some time. Such sluggish reactions could cost you everything in a real fight."
Izuku winced again.
"But your teamwork in the second half of the exercise was noteworthy, with the exception of missing to include your brainwashed teammates."
"I think that was a compliment," Uraraka noted low enough only he could hear it. The corners of his mouth twitched. Aizawa-sensei's eyes bore into his.
"Midoriya, like Monoma, you have to be more careful with your quirk. It could have easily taken over."
"Yes, sensei," he agreed, dejected.
"But your second plan and trust in your teammates helped you win this match." Before he could thank his teacher, Aizawa moved on, "Uraraka, you made great use of your existing skills, but you have to work on your manoeuvrability while having your quirk activated. You need more moves."
"Y-yes, sensei! I will do my best!"
"Todoroki." Aizawa's eyes wandered to the back of the platform where Shouto just arrived, looking much better than after the fight. "You need to be more aware of your surroundings. Also, try to work with your teammates, your power alone can't win a fight."
"I understand."
"Sero, good tactics with those traps." The addressed grinned, only to receive his critique afterwards. "But you need a backup. By the end it did more damage than good."
"Shikogane," the teacher turned to the last student, "your plan was risky and dangerous, you even got yourself injured. You need to think your ideas through. Also, you're still overusing your quirk."
The girl grimaced. "Yes, sensei."
Izuku felt kind of bad for her, it had been her very first time working with all of them. He wanted to send her an uplifting smile, but the girl frowned at the air in front of her, visibly disappointed.
"Alright, on to the last one!" Vlad King's loud voice caught his attention. "Shinsou Hitoshi!"
Forty students and four teachers turned to the boy from the general department. For the first time today, he looked genuinely intimidated.
"Spirit of the exercise was to work with your teammates, which you seem to have forgotten by the end." Why did Aizawa-sensei have to be that harsh? Wasn't he the one who had been training Shinsou all that time? And Izuku honestly believed the gen ed student did amazing.
"But your planning and the way you used your skills and quirk were impressive," Vlad King took over, "even without all the experiences and the training the hero course students went through you were able to keep up with them!"
Shinsou's eyes widened. "Does that mean…?"
"Yes," for the first time, Aizawa-sensei's voice grew somewhat soft, "we have all agreed that from your second year on, Shinsou Hitoshi will join the hero course."
For two seconds, there was nothing. By the third, everyone was screaming and clapping.
"Which class will he join?" Someone asked over the uproar, only to be told that it hadn't been decided yet.
"Awesome," Kaminari, who seemed to have taken a liking to Shinsou, confused the purple haired teen by punching him in the shoulder, "I hope you get into our class!"
Izuku himself was genuinely excited. Shinsou deserved this. But which class would they put him in? Adding him to 1-A would give them an even number, making everyday lessons easier. But that would mean they had two more students than class B, so it would also be logical to put him there to keep the student numbers even-
Although spoken in a normal volume, Izuku almost overheard his homeroom teacher call out, "Shikogane." Alerted, he interrupted his mumbling and turned to them.
"We also came to the decision that you're ready to join your classmates for hero training. You don't need extra classes anymore."
The girl looked puzzled. "But I thought I did bad?"
"You proved that you are capable of teamwork and that you can keep up with your classmates, which was everything we needed to know. You still have much to learn, but you're a first year. None of you did that bad, otherwise you would have lost the match." Even if it wasn't directed at him, Izuku felt somewhat consoled. Despite the critique, Aizawa-sensei had to think he did some good.
"Thank you, sensei. I'll do my best." She bowed, getting a sharp nod as answer, before catching Izuku's eye. She quickly joined his side to escape the teachers.
"Pretty wild afternoon, huh?"
"Congrats. It was about time," Izuku countered, letting her know he heard everything. Hikari bit her lip but smiled softly. "Thanks. Although, I'll miss getting my ass kicked by that idiot over there."
The comment surprised him. "Is Shinsou-kun better than you?"
"Not better, it was more like… Doesn't matter. It's complicated." She shrugged. "Anyway, I could really use some food right now."
Her smile grew wider and he couldn't help but to smile back. Yeah, he was pretty hungry, too.
Hikari felt exhausted, sweaty and cold. In other words: Disgusting. She couldn't wait to rip her costume off and take a long, hot shower.
"Although we've won, it still feels like I've lost to you," Kendou defeatedly admitted to Momo. 1-A's vice class president shook her head. "It was a team exercise. Individual success doesn't matter, what counts is how you worked as a team. And in that way, I've lost fairly to you." They may have been rivals, but they were also becoming friends. Hikari softly smiled at them before opening her locker. Her face hurt. The burns didn't seem bad, her skin was just red, but maybe she should pay Recovery Girl a visit. Also, there was still that nasty cut on her arm.
"I cannot believe God's favour has left our team."
"It's gonna be alright, Ibara, shroom."
The class B girls were weird, in a good way. With her lack of social skills, it would be hard to connect to them, but they seemed likeable so far. Although Tsunotori kind of confused her with that foreign demeanour.
Boots kicked under the bench, gloves and belt thrown in the locker - they desperately needed a wash and repairs - Hikari pulled the zipper of her top down. Her stomach growled, she was absolutely famished. Stupid quirk. Even pulling the clothing piece over a hanger cost too much energy. The rustling sounded strangely loud, and it took her some time to realize it was because the locker room had grown incredibly quiet. Suddenly feeling watched, Hikari peeked over her shoulder.
They were staring at her. All of them. Had she done something wrong? What-
Oh, no.
Ever since entering U.A. she had used every available excuse so she wouldn't have to change or shower with any other person nearby. She had told her class about her scars, but they had only ever seen her lower arms. They couldn't possibly know how fucked up her back, who was she kidding, her whole body, was.
"S-sorry you had to see that," was all she could say. Hikari wrapped a towel around herself, clumsily reaching for her shampoo bottle just to do something. She couldn't look back at them.
Shit, shit, how could I be so careless, they know, they've seen it-
A large hand was gently placed on her arm. Trying not to let the internal panic show on her face, Hikari looked down, directly into Tsuyu's big, watery eyes. God, she made Tsuyu cry.
"Tsu-Tsu-chan-"
Big, crocodile tears rolled down the other's face. "Hikari-chan... You never said… We didn't know..."
Hikari winced. "I'm so sorry, I-"
A pair of arms wrapped around her. Another one followed. Soon, she found herself squished in a pile of her friends, some of them had tears in their eyes, others were fine just patting her head.
We're here for you, they all said in their own words. Hikari would be lying if she said she didn't shed a few tears of her own. Her whole life, she had learnt to hate her scars, to be disgusted by her body. But now… She had never felt so warm. For the first time in her life, she felt genuinely loved by the people around her.
"You know what's still not fair though?" Mina piped up, rubbing her nose. "You eat more than Yaomomo and you still got traces of abs."
Hikari choked. Hagakure and two of class B's girls snickered, the tension snapped like an overstretched rubber band. A mixture of a chuckle and sob escaped her. "I'll gladly trade quirks with you, if that's all you're worried about."
"MIDORIYA, YOU GREEN HAIRED, FRECKLED BASTARD!" Mineta screamed at him, yanking him by the shoulders.
"Wha-wha- Mi-Mineta-ku-kun!"
"Why did you get into an all girls' team?!"
"Eh?" It was hard to focus while his head was being tossed around, but now that he thought about it, Mineta was right. Not that it made any difference to him, personally, but it seemed to offend the small grape-head.
"Mineta, please let go of Midoriya!" Iida sliced the air with his hand. It would have gone on like that for quite a while if the door didn't open that moment, revealing the faces of Fukidashi and Tsuburaba, followed by a whole bunch of other students from class B. "We brought dessert!"
The room fell silent. Twenty students stared at the visitors, baffled. That was until Kendo stepped in and explained, "Sorry about the surprise visit, but we thought it would be nice to hang out for a bit and talk about today! We also brought more food because we heard you were making beef stew!"
Iida immediately hopped on, "What a fantastic idea! Bonding time will be great for our future cooperation!"
Bonding time? Izuku repeated in his head. Where had Iida learnt that word?
"Come on, class 1-A, let's get more chairs and set the plates up! Midoriya, Satou, Shouji, help me carry up the tables!"
Still chewing on the gummy bears, Hikari gladly accepted the cooling pack.
"You're lucky those are all simple first-degree burns. You don't have enough stamina left for me to heal them, but they should disappear in a few days without a trace anyway. Make sure to put that ointment on and dress it overnight."
"Thanks," was all she managed. Recovery Girl scribbled something onto the paper in front of her. It was getting dark outside, dinner would be ready soon. Hikari hoped she would make it in time. Her mouth began to water at the thought.
"Please don't drool on the cooling pack."
"S-sorry!" She blushed and pressed the pack harder to her face. It stung. "Can I go now?"
"One more thing." The school nurse slipped from her chair, crossed the room, and opened a drawer. She fetched a flat, long box and placed it on Hikari's lap.
"What is that?" No answer came. A bit nervous, the girl removed the lid, finding a weird looking black thing inside. If she wasn't completely wrong, it was some kind of glove with only two fingers attached to it.
"You still haven't regained any feeling in your right ring finger and pinkie?"
Oh. It wasn't really a question, the heroine already knew the answer. "N-no."
"That glove will help reduce the strain. You already broke them twice since you don't know your limits yet. I am actually surprised you managed not to injure them today."
Hikari wasn't particularly proud of that. It was just really hard to tell how much pressure and strength she could add without having any pain for comparison. A glove like that didn't sound unreasonable. Sighing, she asked, "Do I always have to wear it?"
"I'd like you to wear this prototype for the next three days just to make sure it won't leave any pressure marks or anything. After that, you'll only need to wear it for physical activities like your training or the internship. Maybe also while cooking, depending on how handy you are with knives and hot pots."
Hikari's face flushed again. Inko had tried to teach her the basics of cooking and Satou had shown her how to bake a simple cake, but during all her time at Seishin and before she had never even touched a stove. All she knew was how to operate a microwave and a kettle.
"Okay, I'll, uh, manage. Thanks. I'll be going then." She slipped the glove on and while not feeling the tightness around her fingers, it was a bit hard to pull over. Curling her fingers also became harder.
"Go on, my dear. And don't go to bed too late, your stamina is low," the school nurse reminded her. Hikari smiled politely.
"Thanks, I will."
The now lukewarm cooling pack fell out of her hand. Hikari had never seen the common area that noisy. And that was saying something, knowing how energetic her own class was. There were just too many people - why was class B here?!
"Oh, there's our MVP! How we doing?" Kaminari appeared out of nowhere, raising a hand for a high five.
"MVP?" Hikari repeated, not understanding. She still slapped her hand against his.
"Yeah, who else beat our one and only Todoroki, son of the number one hero?"
She was going to hear that for the rest of the school year, wasn't she? Poor Shouto. She just hoped Endeavour would never hear about it. Luckily, Kyouka joined them and shoved Kaminari out of Hikari's way. "Jeez, let her step in first!"
"Ow, man, I was just complimenting her!"
"Whatever! We're complete now, time for dinner." Kyouka waved Hikari to follow her. "Come on, Yaomomo saved you a place."
"Fine! It's just too bad Shinsou can't be here."
Hikari, already following her friend deeper inside, stopped at that comment. She turned back to Kaminari, "You didn't invite him?"
"Well, it was a surprise from class B and he disappeared after classes ended, we don't even have his number..."
It seemed like dinner had to wait for a few more. Hikari waved at both her classmates, already walking back to the door. "Sorry, I forgot something, I'll be back in a minute. Just set up one more plate, will you?"
She checked her phone again. 'Seen' was written in italic beneath her text, but nothing had come back. Hikari sighed. Not left with any other option she cautiously walked up to the front of class 1-C's dorm. Two guys were sitting on the porch, playing a trading card game. One of them looked up, Hikari faintly remembered him from her last time coming here.
"Hello," she greeted, hopefully not sounding too awkward. Both boys replied with a dumbfounded 'hey'.
"I, uhm, I wanted to ask if Shinsou-kun might be around?"
They exchanged a glance. The more familiar one got up, opened the front door and called inside, "Hey, Shinsou, your future classmate is here!"
Future classmate? That was one way of informing her that the news had already made their way around. Hikari impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to the other. The stares of the one boy remaining on the porch made her feel quite uncomfortable. It felt so judgemental.
After what seemed an eternity, Shinsou stepped out of the door. His sneakers were neatly tied up, telling her that he was ready to join her, despite ignoring the messages. He saw his classmates off with a nod and slurped down the stairs everything but hasty. Finally stopping in front of her he remarked, "You're persistent."
The tone of his voice got her to relax, he didn't sound mad. Her confidence returned. "Well, you better get used to it, possible future classmate."
He tried to hide it, but the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. The tiniest trace of pride shone in his eyes.
The surprise was a success. The hero course welcomed Shinsou with vigour, questions and compliments rained down on him. Glad the attention fully shifted to him, Hikari was able to enjoy most of the evening in peace. The food was so good, she didn't even mind the bewildered stares of the B students at her eating habits. None of the girls mentioned anything about the incident in the locker room, which she also greatly appreciated. Class B had even brought some tasty matcha cake for dessert. Maybe she would get along with them after all.
Everything seemed fine until the person across the table decided to turn to her, "So, what about you? Why do you want to be a hero, shroom? Why did you join the class late? There's been so many rumours, I don't even know what to believe."
Rumours. Hikari gulped down the last bite of her cake and stared at the long brown bangs covering the eyes of Komori, the mushroom themed heroine in training.
"Yeah, we don't know anything about you! What movies do you like? What's your favourite colour? Why do you eat that much?" Tsunotori joined in. Suddenly, most attention was on her. Taken aback, Hikari had no idea where to start.
"I, uh…"
"Where is that scar on your face from?" Honenuki threw in, unsettling her even more.
"I, uhm, I got punched in the face by a villain with strength enhancement in his arms," she answered the last question asked. The B students grew silent. Wasn't this going to be fun?
"I actually only came to U.A. because I was attacked by another villain at my old school," she couldn't imagine how this had to sound to them, "and before you ask, yes, Neo Kumo is my brother and yes, I got kidnapped by Dragon, my favourite colour is yellow, I'm seventeen years old and my birthday is November 28, I like reading and sparing and I'm really not that interesting!" Hikari added that last info to break the noticeable tension growing, but it only helped so much. She grew nervous. Had that been too much?
Mina gasped. It came out of nowhere, startling Hikari. The horned teen threw an arm around her shoulders, turned away from the tables into the direction of the couches and yelled, "Hey, Bakugou, did you hear that? You're officially not the oldest student of the class anymore!"
"Ha?" The explosive teen growled, very Bakugou-like. His head shot up behind the backrest. "The fuck you talking about, racoon eyes?!"
"Hi-chan is officially four months older than you!"
Hikari pinched her nose. She did not need another argument with him right now. "Mina, please…" It was too late. Red eyes glared at her through narrowed lids. Behind him, another head popped up and Kirishima exclaimed, "Wait, shouldn't you be a second year?"
She pinched her nose harder. "Well, I may or may not have missed three years of school because my family decided to go dark side and lay low, and Seishin wasn't the easiest place to catch up on all that missed stuff."
It grew quiet again. Right, another thing she never mentioned before. But, seriously, this wasn't something that just came up during an everyday conversation!
There was another gasp, followed by a muffled sound. Bondo, the glue quirk guy from class B had his hand tightly pressed against Monoma's face before the blond could even speak. Whatever he wanted to say, it would have been something nasty. Bondo tactfully tried to divert the situation by asking, "So, uhm, who's your favourite hero? Why do you want to be a hero?"
He had no idea he just made the situation worse. Hikari took a deep breath. Was there no way out? She really wished she had Kuroiro's quirk at the moment so she could simply disappear in the shadows and show up somewhere else. But no, with a wince, she admitted, "I don't really have a favourite hero. To be honest, I don't even like heroes very much."
More silence.
"That, that came off wrong… I mean, I like you guys and our teachers and there are a lot of heroes I respect, but it's just... Given my situation, I don't have a lot of trust in them. After everything that happened, it just always feels like they… Like, they failed me, you know?"
They didn't know, they couldn't know. They all loved heroes, they had been adoring them since they could remember. They would never understand. She felt a sudden urge to explain herself.
"I've been attacked, held captive, kidnapped, tortured, but they never did anything. Whenever I was in trouble, they failed to show up in time. The only people to ever make it were my classmates and my mother, who ironically, was a freaking villain."
There was still no reaction. She couldn't look up.
"But at the same time… Those are the exact reasons I want to be a hero. I want to succeed where they failed, so no one else has to go through the things I did. No other child should have to feel abandoned. I want to give them hope, I want them to know that there is still someone out there looking for them, so they know things are going to be okay. I don't care about climbing the ranks or restoring world peace, as selfish as it sounds. I just want to be that tiny spark that keeps them standing, fighting, pulling through. That's the type of hero I want to be. So, sorry if I'm destroying any mental image you had of me, and for making you feel uncomfortable, but that's what you have to expect if you're starting a conversation with me."
It was enough. Hikari couldn't bear to stay any longer. Still unable to look at them she rose to her feet and excused herself, "I need some fresh air."
"Do all of your conversations end like that?" Rin wanted to know as soon as the door shut. The B students did seem a bit unsettled. Izuku, having watched the scene with growing discomfort, thought it to be better to not let his father get mentioned in any way, he didn't want to know how they would react to that.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Hi-chan is actually pretty chill! Guess we should have told you about the three-questions-rule," Ashido spoke up.
The what? Even Izuku hadn't heard of that one. His pink haired classmate raised her index finger. "One: Do not ask about her past." The second finger followed. "Two: Do not ask about her family. And three: Do not ask about her scars. If you can avoid those three topics, you're gonna have a great time!"
Those rules… It was the first time he heard about them. They made sense, now that he thought about it, the class was good at dealing with special cases. They even got along with Bakugou, heck, Kaminari even called him Kacchan without getting blasted out of the window. And rules like these were probably the reason for that. Something didn't add up, though. She had told him bits of her past, they had talked about her family - although he had been the one bringing it up the first time after finding out - and she had shown him her scars by her own free will. Was there a possibility these rules didn't apply to him?
"Either way, what's up with that fire Midoriya? Do you have two quirks or something?" He startled, directing wide eyes at Tokage. His excuse. He needed to say something-
"I-it's not like that!" Izuku waved his hands in front of himself. "I just recently discovered that super strength is not all that's to my quirk." The excuse… "I'm not completely sure myself, but as far as they could tell my quirk is actually bursts of power that I can either use to enhance my strength or produce a bit of fire. It's a mutated mixture of my parents quirk." That was enough, right? Quirks were still largely a mystery
"Hm." 1-B's recommended student crossed her arms, studying him intensely. Izuku shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Iida threw him a concerned glance, Uraraka at his right tried far too hard not to look nervous, making her seem all the more suspicious. Was there no way around the subject?
"It's not that unusual," came his saviour in the unexpected form of Todoroki, "depending on how you look at it, I do have two quirks, too. And Midoriya does have a plausible explanation."
Izuku mentally sent Shouto all the gratefulness he could muster.
"Yeah, the nerd's not that fucking special!" Bakugou barked at Tokage. "One quirk or two, I'm gonna beat both their asses and become the next number one! Oi, half 'n' half, you still owe me a damn rematch!"
"I… Do?" Shouto blinked in confusion.
"The damn sports festival, shitface! How can you be so dense?"
He couldn't help the tugging at the corners of his mouth. Although it sounded like an overly aggressive challenge, Kacchan had done so to help him protect the secret of One for All. Happy that the attention was now on the one-sided argument of his two friends, Izuku rose to his feet.
"Where are you going, Deku-kun?"
"Just… Gotta catch some air. I'll be right back."
Something in Uraraka's expression changed. He couldn't point out what exactly, but it felt like she knew exactly what he was up to.
"Sure, Deku-kun. I'll save you a seat." They waved and he could feel her eyes stick to his back until he shut the door between them.
Had she gone too far, told too much? What if the other class though she was some kind of freak? Although, they were right thinking that, but still… Legs drawn close, she buried her face between her knees. The wind was icing, and so were the concrete steps of the front porch.
Something heavy was draped around her shoulders. Hikari nearly jumped out of her seat. Too occupied by her own thoughts she missed the person stepping out of the building behind.
"You're going to catch a cold sitting out here like that." Izuku plopped down at her side, close enough she could feel the heat radiating from him. He looked at the dimly lit path in front, apparently sinking into deep thought. He brought her jacket, meaning, he had been looking for her. Hikari pulled the coat tighter around her shoulders.
"You know… It's not selfish at all," the boy began after a while, "you want to use your own experiences to give people hope. Looking past other people's mistakes, enduring your own pain just to help others... That's pretty selfless if you ask me." Of course, he would see it that way. Always expecting the best of people.
"It was hard for you to talk about that, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," she finally found her voice, "but I promised not to keep secrets anymore. And I hold my promises."
"I know." He leaned back and raised his chin, green eyes directed at the deep black sky, littered with hundreds if not thousands of stars. "That's why… I wanted to ask you something."
Hikari tilted her head. Izuku turned to her, his expression soft, a hint of unease lingering in there. His usually bright eyes appeared dark, the warm lights coming from the dorm windows reflecting in them. Hikari resisted the sudden urge to wipe that look off his face and replace it with something happier, something unburdened. Instead, the girl nodded her friend to continue.
"One day… Once you're ready… Will you tell me what happened during those three years you lived with them?"
Hikari expected herself to react differently. She thought she would panic, talk her way out, disappear, do anything other than what she did now; she answered, absolutely calm, "Okay."
Midoriya's eyes widened. He didn't expect it to be that easy, apparently. The boy blinked a few times before catching himself. "Th-thank you. In return, I… I will tell you about my quirk. Not Burst but… The other one."
The other one. The one he hadn't been born with. The one that somehow related him to All Might, the one the ex number one possibly even passed down to him. Even Inko didn't seem to know. That was the greatest proof of trust anyone could have ever asked of him. And he offered it to her willingly. Hikari's chest ached. How did she deserve this? How did she deserve him?
A fist was held into her face, one finger raised. "Promise?"
As if she could refuse. The girl held up her own hand and linked her pinkie with his. "Always."
The mostly leafless branches of the trees around rattled, shaken by another breeze. And yet, she didn't feel cold anymore. She had a warm coat wrapped around her, sitting beside the one person that made her feel safe and wanted like no one else. They untangled their pinkies and she wanted to draw back but stopped at the feeling of his fingertips brushing against her palm. Slowly, as if waiting for her to retract her hand, they wandered upwards until slipping between her fingers. Hikari squeezed back. She couldn't help it, she loved his hands. They were rough and strong, yet so gentle. The scars reminded her of her own. Another thought crossed her mind.
"Izuku… If I ever… If I'm ever going too far, if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, you will tell me, won't you?"
His eyes widened. He knew exactly what she meant. They never talked about it, Hikari didn't even know why she did it, it just happened, but the fact remained that she did kiss him on the cheek. That wasn't something friends usually did.
"O-of course! But I doubt anything you do would make me feel that way."
Relief washed over her. Still, she couldn't bite back some teasing, "Even if I call you freckles?"
Midoriya blushed, he really didn't like being called Neko's and Yotsune's nickname for him. Hikari chuckled, feeling a bit lighter than before.
"B-but same goes for you!" He quickly threw in. "If I do something that makes you uncomfortable…"
"I'll tell you, alright."
He relaxed. Izuku wasn't upset about the incident. It made Hikari feel warm. A warmth that increased tenfold when she felt something against the healthy side of her face, that continued to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. Green eyes glanced at her as if expecting she was going to make use of what they just agreed on. But she didn't. Did it feel different? Did it make her a bit nervous? Definitely. But did she feel uncomfortable? No. Hikari gulped. A thumb stroked across her cheek, the rest of the hand cupping her face.
"It doesn't matter how many controversial things happened in the past, or what the others think about you," Izuku whispered, "I know who you are now and you're an amazing person. Please don't let the reaction of the others drag you down."
Unable to answer, the girl placed her free hand on top of the one caressing her cheek. She couldn't grasp a clear thought. So many things were swirling inside of her, all she could do was stare into those honest, beautiful eyes and wait for the storm to pass. A different emotion swept over her and she felt her own eyes drop to his lips.
The front door opened. It wasn't even particularly hard or fast, but the sound was so foreign in that moment that they both almost jumped and let go of each other. Todoroki, eyes glued to the screen of his phone, walked up to them. "I just got a call from the agency-"
His eyes shot up and he halted, something on their faces apparently alerting him. "Is something wrong?"
"No," they both squeaked in unison. Had Midoriya noticed her stare?
Satisfied with their answer, Shouto went on as if nothing happened, "They want us to come by next Wednesday. They have news for us, and the rest will go as always."
Whatever had been building the past few minutes, it puffed out in an instant. Midoriya, back in hero mode, wanted to know, "Do they have any news regarding Overload?"
"Possibly." Todoroki slipped the phone into his back pocket. "Are you two coming back in?"
"Sure!" Izuku got on his feet and extended a hand towards her. Hikari took it, unable to look at him. She had not just thought about kissing him. No.
A/N: Belated happy birthday to this fanfic! Can you believe three years have passed? The first chapter went online on 24.09.2017…
I'm sorry about the constant POV changes and for doing class B so dirty. I really like them but they are so hard to write, despite rereading the whole arc 3 times just to finish this chapter…
My hand slipped a bit while writing that last part ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Review time!
DragonshadowRyukage: Thanks so much for your review and for the compliment! You're actually right... The whole joint training battle was supposed to be in one chapter, but I felt like I couldn't put a 20+ pages long chapter up there. Also it would have taken too long to finish it, so I decided to split it in the middle and work the individual parts out one after the other. I'll try to find a better solution next time!
Yamajiji: Thank you! It's pretty hard to write Monoma, as all of the other class B students, so I ditched him quickly. Hope you're not too disappointed ^^°
