Shinso collapsed onto a seat in the cafeteria. It was lunch time. He looked drained of color and incredibly tired.
It was his first time working out after all.
"He wasn't joking about how tough it would be…. Are you as exhausted as I am? Or do hero students usually have to go through this level of exercise?" Shinso wheezed.
Toru rested her head on the table pretending to be exhausted too. This is such a chill training, actually. There's safety measures in place so we don't accidentally injure ourselves. All for One never had something like that.
"If one of my students breaks then all I need to do is rebuild them from scratch. Perhaps the next model will be better." All for One had been very fond of that saying.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't his only pupil with a saying like that. But the only one of us I met besides me was Shigaraki…And he tended to baby Shigaraki a lot more. She wondered briefly what the other people who were All for One's tools were like.
There's no risk of death or risk of shattering a limb in Aizawa's training. It's such a walk in the park! Toru thought her answer to Shinso. But she didn't say it.
"This is way more difficult than what we usually have to do in class!" Toru shook her arms and said her fake answer. "I'm super tired too!"
Shinso smiled a little bit, visibly relieved. "That's good to know…You know, I was a little worried that since you were a hero in training, you'd judge me on my progress? That you'd laugh that I wasn't at the same level as your classmates. But…I'm glad that if I had to have a training partner it was you. I have to remember that pros work in teams all the time, that partnership is important to hero work."
A robot rolled up to them with two trays of food that Lunch Rush had prepared specifically for them. It looked a lot different than UA's normal food. It was oddly colored, dark green and black covering all the rice and meats which must have been some additional vitamins or something. It didn't look shiny and delicious like Lunch Rush's usual food. And they didn't have a choice in eating it.
Toru noticed rice in the black mush. It must have been filled with a lot of carbohydrates and protein to help them build muscle. This must have been the special diet Aizawa had mentioned.
A note was on the trays that the robot dropped off.
"This has been stoked full of medicine and vitamins to help you two build up muscle. Because of that it might taste a little bitter, or as Mic would say 'gross'. You must eat all of it." -Aizawa
Shinso groaned. "Goodie." He did not look very excited. He took a bite of the new food and his face turned pale and scrunched up in disgust.
Toru took a bite herself after seeing his extreme reaction. It tasted bitter with a metallic aftertaste, but not something too extreme. She was glad Shinso couldn't see her expression.
Maybe he's pickier or has sharper tastes? Toru wondered.
"Do you not like it?" Toru asked, waiting for an explanation.
"It's nauseating! It tastes like garbage! It's hard to keep down and smells foul! You gotta tell me you feel the same? Right? Right?" Shinso said his face turning a little green.
Ah. I guess that explains it. Having lived off actual garbage for a few years, I have a lot lower standards than most people. So, it doesn't taste a whole lot worse than that. One of her skills was not her sense of taste. It was hard to be judgmental when you still feared starvation.
Toru kept eating. "I don't taste anything bad." She admitted. Sometimes having an iron stomach was seen as cute on bubbly girls. She had seen several girls like that on the dramas she liked to watch to get an idea as to how she would mimic being a bubbly nice girl.
Shinso looked horrified. "I…I…I guess your stomach is stronger than mine." He looked stunned as Toru easily ate her meal.
Shinso glared at his meal again and tried to continue what he assumed was his personal torture.
As the two of them ate their meals, a familiar face from the support department wheeled up to them. It was Mei.
She waved as she grabbed a tray of food from Lunch Rush and wheeled up to them on probably self-made roller skates. "Toru!" She sat down next to the two of them with a tray of much better smelling food. "I'm surprised to see you! I thought all the hero students were on their internships."
Shinso looked at Mei. "You're Hatsume Mei, aren't you? You were the other competitor from the sports festival not in the hero program."
Mei nodded, "Yep! I'm glad you remember my name! Means my advertising worked. Don't remember your name at all." She said bluntly.
Shinso frowned. "Shinso. From General studies."
Mei stared at him not remembering anything about him.
"The one with a brainwashing quirk?" Shinso said again.
"He lost to Midoriya." Toru said quietly to try to remind Mei who he was.
"Oh! Oh. Yeah him. Didn't pay that much attention to him, was too busy working on my speech to advertise my babies." Mei smiled.
"You know, I was really disappointed when you lost your match by giving up. It would have been cool to see support courses win the whole sports tournament. I think with your gear you could have done it." Shinso tried to make an impression by complimenting her. Hero students did need a good relationship with support students.
Mei blinked. "Yeah, maybe. But then they might have wanted to transfer me to the hero course! And then I wouldn't be able to work on my babies! And that would have been a travesty." She seemed confident that she could have won with her babies, but just didn't want to. Shinso was now glaring at Mei. He had tried so hard to get into the hero course. Hearing her say it would be a travesty to get in, made him angry. Not that he could do anything, that wasn't hero like at all.
Too bad. A universe where Mei beat Bakugo and Todoroki would have been a great one. Toru thought to herself.
"To get back to your point, Mei. My hero quit on me, so now I'm interning with Mr. Aizawa." Toru explained. "That's why I'm here."
Shinso brushed off Mei's earlier comment, but frowned a little that his chance to network had ended.
Mei's eyes shined. "That's great! That means you'll be in UA a lot the rest of the week. AND I CAN GET MORE OF YOUR HAIR!"
Toru touched her hair. "…My hair?"
"I accidentally charred the first batch." Mei waved her hand awkwardly admitting.
Toru's jaw dropped open. …I see she did some experiments on my hair…I don't want to know what happened to it to make it charred.
"I've been thinking to design a costume for you…I probably need to work on designing support gear with my eyes closed. It's really hard to create something you can't see and since I rely on my eyes a lot it's been super difficult. My grades might fall during my practice, but to create something entirely new it'll be worth it. I shouldn't have moved into trying to do the finished product so quickly…" Mei rambled.
Toru's heart squeezed at the thought that Mei was already trying to work on her hero costume. It was very nice, and she appreciated seeing that Mei was still thinking about it and working hard. "I don't want your grades to drop because of me though…And your eyes are super important to you! Won't that be hard?" Toru asked.
"Pssh. A challenge isn't something I turn my back to!" Mei waved her hand confidently. "It'll be fun! Don't worry about me. And I don't care about grades, I care about creating my babies!"
Toru smiled.
"I was thinking your costume would be easy! I was going to use the same technique the designers for Lemillion's suit use by using your hair in the suit's fibers to make it invisible like you. It didn't work out though because sewing something together you can't see is a mess." Mei admitted.
Toru frowned. Mei must have been able to tell.
"Don't worry! Babies rarely work on their first cycle! And I'm super excited to create a new technique that support course students have never used! Being able to design with my eyes closed! Maybe I'll eventually be able to create with my hands tied behind my back too!" Mei shouted confidently.
Toru squeezed her hand, she appreciated the gesture, Mei's confidence and all she was doing for her. She also appreciated that Mei hadn't forgotten about her promise.
"Thank you…For designing a hero costume for me. I gotta admit I thought you were joking cuz it would be too hard…" Toru confessed.
"I don't turn away from a challenge, Toru! I have fun with it!" Mei laughed.
Shinso looked awkward at being the third wheel in this conversation. He was watching Mei as best as he could, but all her body movements were so big and dramatic. He tried to continue complimenting her to hint that he too wanted support gear. It seemed a bit desperate.
"The support class is really dedicated…I'm glad you're getting her some clothes though. I'd hate to have to battle naked." He complimented. He took another bite of his food and gagged.
Seeing Toru and Mei holding hands because Toru was trying to illustrate just how grateful she was without being able to show her expression on her face made Shinso raise an eyebrow.
"…What's the relationship between you two anyway? You seem close." Shinso observed.
"We're pals." Mei answered swinging her arm around Toru's shoulders. "Gal pals." She grinned wider. "And she's also my first exclusive hero contract!"
"…Yep, we're just a couple of pals." Toru tried to respond in an easy-going fashion. She was caught off guard though by how affectionate and friendly Mei was and answered in a more serious, less emotional sounding way, which was closer to her real personality.
Shinso and Mei didn't seem to notice though.
"If you're her exclusive designer you might be interested in what Mr. Aizawa's training her in. He's planning to get Hagakure to be able to throw caltrops and be a more long-range fighter-"
Shinso was cut off as Mei's eyes started sparkling. "She's going to start using weapons? You'll need even more support gear then!" She leaned even closer to Toru. "AN EVEN NEWER CHALLENGE!" She shouted like she was being told that there was another tournament to narrow down contenders in a tournament she hadn't even finished yet.
Toru giggled nervously at her excitement, but Mei's grip tightened on her wrists as she continued being extra interested.
"What kind of weapons are you interested in? I can start researching and fantasizing about designs…I was reading this magazine last night that said there was this new technology on the market that could make some weapons look invisible at an angle! They're not actually invisible, but it could help if we strapped them to your shoes. It's like this thick plastic sheet around the weapon that reflects light-" Mei wasn't even pausing to take a breath.
Shinso smiled. Mei was sure enthusiastic.
"I like knives best. They're neat." Toru responded.
Shinso chocked. He wasn't expecting that answer.
Mei smiled and nodded. "A great choice! There's all sorts of different ways knives can be designed! All sort of weapon buffs there or support people who specialize in knives, swords and daggers." She nodded. She spun around looking at Toru. "I was honestly thinking you'd be a sniper or something and would want a gun. I was going to steal from Snipe himself for you and get some of his collection, but I can easily come up with some knife support gear or even shuriken's! Ooh I'm so excited! I'll make all sorts of new babies from this inspiration!" Mei was pumped. Fire seemed to be in her eyes.
Her excitement is a little infectious. Toru smiled. Nobody got this excited in the league.
"You're…Very excitable…Aren't you?" Shinso observed. He sighed. "I can understand heroes getting pumped up about something, but I never really imagined the support course having an equal amount of passion. I always kinda imagined the other courses were all vying to be heroes, but you say you never would want to be one. What makes you want to be a support course student so badly?" He asked.
"She really really likes her babies." Toru responded.
Mei nodded. "Designing is my passion!"
"Yeah but…Why?" Shinso asked again. "Like there's no programs on TV that show how glamorous it is to be in support. Unless you're only watching the ads in the superhero shows. How did you get so passionate?"
That was true. Toru had never asked Mei where her passion had started. She very well could be the type of person who just watches ads.
Mei thought for a moment. She scrunched her face up long and hard, because she never deeply thought about the question, "I guess I see support as benefitting people more than what heroes do. I don't really get the glamor in heroics. You can't even create something fun!"
That's a new one. I mean it's true, without the support class a lot of heroes would probably be dead. But not many people point it out. Toru thought to herself. "How so?"
Mei thought for a moment. "Hmm…How to explain this…" She paused and started moving her hands frantically to figure out the right words. "I guess what first inspired me to get into support was my dad."
"Was he a support person?" Shinso asked.
"Nope. Just a normal businessman. But he was caught in a villain attack about 10 years ago. His train crashed into a villain and hero fighting during a commute. Lots of people injured but the hero managed to save them all so there were no deaths or something!" Mei waved her hand.
Shinso sighed. "That's good…But if your dad was saved by a hero why not…worship heroes?"
Mei wagged her finger like she wasn't done with her story yet. "My dad was one of those injured. He lost both arms from the crash and his left eye and because of that he became disabled."
Shinso gasped and gave a look of pity.
Toru's face was filled with guilt. She didn't know the villain who had caused the attack, but she wondered about Mei. Her voice isn't filled with sadness, but does she hate villains because of what happened? Or does she dislike heroes for not keeping the damage to a minimum?
All Might had lectured their class before about how important it was to hit parts of the city that were already damaged instead of causing new damages in villain attacks. It was always interesting to listen to his lectures because she saw it as something important. She had never learned how heroes thought and what they prioritized in battle. All for One didn't know any of that, and that was information she could easily pass along.
In Mei's case had the hero failed his job or was he not acting like All Might and that was why so many were injured?
Toru realized she had been silent for too long. "I'm real sorry, Mei…" She clutched Mei's hand in support. "It can be awful for someone you love to be injured permanently!" She tried to sound sympathetic. She knew somewhat how Mei felt. After all, All for One had been perfectly healthy when she met him, but five years ago he had lost most of his lungs and his eyes in All Might's attack. It had been a real tragedy in her opinion, but he had told her to silence her fury because it wasn't needed of a tool.
"You must really hate the villain and hero who caused the injury!" Toru told her, understanding now why Mei didn't want to be a hero.
Shinso's eyebrow raised at the 'and hero' comment.
Mei shook her head. "Nah! Not really! I don't really think about them much at all!"
"…Huh?" Shinso looked confused.
"Most people would think I'd be thankful to the hero for saving my dad. But I think the real people who helped him were the support companies that gave him new prosthetics. I remember seeing my dad's new eye and arms for the first time and being absolutely fascinated by the design!"
So that's where Mei got her passion. Toru realized.
"He let me tinker with his arms and take them apart for fun while I was growing up. It was really fun and cool! It just made me think about how prosthetic companies save more people than heroes and I wanted to someday be part of that. But to design prosthetics you need a hero support license and then I just naturally fell into how cool it was to design hero gear too. I can do both! I can do all! That is the nature of Mei Hatsume!" Mei proclaimed.
"That's amazing Mei! I fully support your dream!" Toru cheered her on. But she meant it. She saw no reason All for One wouldn't support Mei's love for designing prosthetics and how she just liked doing things that were cool.
Shinso nodded. "I don't hear many stories like that. A lot of people just want to be heroes because All Might inspired them. I assumed for support students it was a similar All Might inspiration."
That was a safe bet. Before anyone could agree with Shinso he immediately dove into his backstory before anyone could ask.
"For me I'm passionate about heroes because I want to use my quirk to help people instead of scare them." Shinso admitted. "I want to help inspire children who are scared and alone and feel worthless in their lives because of their quirk. I want to be the sort of hero I needed as a kid."
Yeah, I know. You went into your whole backstory in the sports festival. Toru thought but didn't act mean outwardly.
Shinso then turned to Toru and asked what she wasn't expecting. "What about you, Hagakure? What inspired you to be a hero?"
Toru almost jumped out of her seat, momentarily startled. She hadn't really come up with a good backstory on why she wanted to be a hero. It was just too hard to come up with because she couldn't relate to it at all. She hated heroes after all, why would anyone want to be one?
In middle school it was just easy enough to say, 'it's just because I want to be one!' they took it without asking anything more because everyone just wanted to be a hero. So, I never came up with a reason. But if I said that it would probably spit on Mei and Shinso's sad backstories…Toru thought.
She was very obviously silent as Shinso waited for her answer. She played with her food, as she tried to think of something that would be satisfying to both Mei and Shinso.
Some student with a cardboard box like head started shouting across the cafeteria. "Endeavor's on television! Look!"
Thank you, distraction. Hope he's getting arrested. There was a big television in the lunchroom to the side that did mostly silent news stories with subs, to keep students informed. A lot of students were clustering around it their attention captured.
Toru, Shinso and Mei joined them.
A female news reporter with a camera was reporting in what seemed like a crowd of people with Endeavor at a podium.
"I'm here in a press conference with Endeavor who captured Hero Killer Stain last night as well as three 'Nomu' as they're called in a riot in Hosu city." The news reporter explained.
"Endeavor, how did you defeat the hero killer all on your own with no help while other heroes have struggled?" Someone asked from the audience.
"I will be taking no questions. All I am here for is to tell you that Stain is in the hospital guarded by police from his heavy injuries!" Endeavor shouted back. "And he's no longer on the streets."
"Hero Killer Stain suffered severe burns in his capture." The news reporter explained. "It's theorized that he and the League of villains are connected due to the fact that three Nomu were attacking the city the same night he was caught. These two individuals…" The screen changed to a picture of Kurogiri and Shigaraki standing atop a water tower and looking down at the city.
"Were also scene in Hosu city, surveying the damages. These two attacked UA in what is known as the USJ incident, and both seem to be deeply ingrained in the league of villains. Thus, it's easy to put the pieces together and realize Stain is part of their group." The news reporter explained.
"Play the footage of Stain's defeat again!" One of her coworkers told her.
The woman nodded and footage started playing from Stain's defeat. He seemed to be standing still, a Nomu and Midoriya on the ground at his feet.
"I'll only allow All Might to defeat me!" He declared menacingly, before passing out standing up.
"He really does have his charisma!" The woman's co-worker commented.
The news continued with the Endeavor press conference, where he mostly dodged questions.
So…Shigaraki and Kurogiri put their plan in motion that very night. So, I didn't really need to distract Aizawa for long…She hadn't really gotten a timeframe for their attack, but that confirmed that Kurogiri had basically given her busy work because of her failure.
There were other things Toru was thinking about too. Why was Endeavor dodging questions? Why did he seem so mad if he had defeated three Nomus and the hero killer?
"Was that…Midoriya just lying on the ground by the hero killer?" Shinso asked, shakily.
"Looks like it was him!" Mei agreed. "He needs a better costume."
Midoriya wasn't supposed to be in Hosu city. And why was he injured? Did he get in the way of the league's plans? Toru wondered.
No, it wasn't just Midoriya in Hosu city anymore. Iida had been there, and if Endeavor was there, Todoroki was there as well.
The pieces started falling into place. Endeavor's bad mood, Midoriya's condition, the fact that Iida's mental state had been fragile when he left for his internship…
Todoroki is using his flames now. So, it could have been Todoroki's flames that injured Stain, and that's why Endeavor's so mad. Because he didn't even defeat him! Toru realized.
There was a law that heroes couldn't fight without a license. Todoroki was sure to get in trouble if he took down a villain unlicensed. The public would praise him, but the police would not. They likely convinced him to let Endeavor take the credit.
Todoroki's not the type to break the law. But if Midoriya was in trouble, he'd likely fight for him, since he feels like he owes him and all. And Midoriya probably went to Hosu to check up on Iida since his mental state was fragile. Iida had probably tracked down Stain on a path of revenge. All three of them had likely taken Stain down.
Shigaraki wanted revenge on Stain, for him to turn into someone that everybody forgot about…But at this rate, they won't. But I hope he finds some solace in the fact that Stain was defeated by a group of untrained kids. Toru hoped Shigaraki already knew that.
Lunch ended just before the interview finished.
Without the need to distract Aizawa constantly, the rest of the week was a breeze, although Toru was in a bit of a bad mood because she had been sent on essentially busy work.
Aizawa would yell at her when he sensed that she wasn't putting her whole heart into things, so she slipped back into her bubbly girl mask. Thinking about things was too much of a bother. Right now, she just had to worry about her first mission, not making anyone suspicious of her.
Shinso struggled a lot during Aizawa's morning regimens, and Toru hoped that his struggles would keep Aizawa's attention off of her, but he still managed to find time to scold her too.
After school during a break when Aizawa and Toru waited for Shinso to rejoin them, Toru managed to overhear Aizawa complaining in the hallways to Mic.
"I can't believe that not only Hagakure was in danger during these internships but Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida got into trouble as well…" Aizawa groaned. "I should have expected Midoriya, but Todoroki and Iida too?"
"UA's got some rotten luck this year." Mic agreed. "But hey! They're all okay now!"
"If they use up all the bad luck hopefully nothing bad will ever happen to the other 16 students…" Aizawa joked a little, more hopeful than he was serious.
Toru skidded to a halt in the hallways, so she could be in plain view of both of them, and now both Mic and Aizawa saw her. "Iida, Todoroki and Midoriya were hurt?" She played dumb. "How?"
Aizawa frowned. Mic looked pale that a student had heard them gossiping.
"If you have time to listen to conversations, you have time to be training. You must be done with your brief break, so both you and Shinso should return to the training course…" Aizawa scolded.
"Yes, sir…" Toru pretended to be sad. Yep, they're injuries were definitely involved with the Stain thing or else the teachers wouldn't be so secretive about it.
Shinso got dragged away from his classroom by Aizawa, "Hey I earned my break! Are we really in such a hurry?"
"Yes." Aizawa told him.
Shinso pouted and continued his training with the binding cloth once he was back on the field. He had managed to make a lasso on occasion but that was it with it.
"What did you do to put him in such a bad mood?" Shinso whispered.
"Asked about Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida. He said they were injured." Toru whispered back as Aizawa sat her in front of a ring toss again.
Aizawa glared at both of them for gossiping.
"I think they were hurt by the hero killer. Didn't you see Midoriya on the ground in that news clip?" Shinso pointed out.
Toru nodded.
Aizawa started approaching both of them. "Okay, I've given you two too much time to gab. You'll both be working on hand-to-hand combat for today. Shinso definitely needs it. Hagakure, I know you don't like it, but this is just for emergencies. You want to be able to know how an opponent moves after all so you can best avoid it. So, worry more about dodging than actually hitting." Aizawa instructed.
Shinso frowned and nodded, and Toru faked disappointment to.
"Did they really get hurt by the hero killer? Are they alive?" Toru wouldn't drop it and pretended to be a worried friend.
"…They're fine." Aizawa wouldn't confirm that. "Iida went home to his brother. I'm sure you've heard the news about Ingenium. He decided to take time off of his internship to help his brother's recovery so there's nothing to worry about and don't pay attention to any rumors."
So, he gets a free vacation but I don't? That's too bad…Toru frowned.
"Straighten your stance, Shinso. Put more weight in your legs to balance yourself." Aizawa taught as he saw Shinso try to strike at Toru.
Toru noticed Aizawa was rarely criticizing how she moved. She suspected it was because he couldn't see her arms well enough to criticize her stance, and although he could see her legs because she was in her track suit he wasn't paying as much attention to them as Shinso's stance.
It's because I'm invisible. He doesn't know what best to help me with even though he can see my legs currently. He's focusing his efforts on what he can help with, which is Shinso. Toru thought.
Toru let herself be hit by Shinso's attacks quite a few times. Shinso was clearly holding back his strength though because he didn't want to hurt her, so he wasn't trying his best either.
"Don't hold back your strength just because she's a girl. She's a hero too." Aizawa criticized.
Shinso started hitting a little harder after that, so as to not be rude. Eventually Aizawa had him move to the binding cloth again.
"Now I want you to try to bind Hagakure. Let's see how much you've improved in the few days. Hagakure your goal will be to not get bound and to dodge." Aizawa requested. He had hoped he had answered enough about Iida to make Toru drop questioning him.
She did not continue asking him things he would not answer.
Shinso tried to twirl his binding around and throw it like he was fishing. Aizawa sighed as Toru easily side stepped it. "Again." He ordered.
They kept repeating that exercise until Shinso could finally give it a bit of distance.
Mostly Toru just easily dodged as he threw a cloth at her.
It was the last day of the 'internship'.
Finally, this nonsense is almost over and then I can go back to observing All Might. Toru thought to herself. She hadn't seen All Might at all in the building. She was sort of wondering where he was because she would have assumed that he would be working on lesson plans and grades too.
"Shinso will still be training with me after school after this because he's not on any hero students' level yet." Aizawa explained that morning. "But Hagakure, your strength I believe has increased since the quirk exam."
Toru fake beamed. Really, she had given him the illusion of steady improvement.
"You could place….15th now I believe if comparing you to the rest of the class…But that's still not good enough. I'm tempted to require you to meet me after school for training too." Aizawa lectured.
Toru frowned. Well, I can't have that now, can I? I need to keep my schedule open for possible meetings with the league and reporting to All for One. Toru thought.
"But I really think I've improved a lot from this! I don't think I need extra training, please Mr. Aizawa! I'll keep up exercising at home, so I don't become weak!" Toru begged, her knees on the ground and her hands clapping to look a little more pathetic so that he would show her sympathy.
Aizawa frowned and nodded. "You have improved a lot. That's why I've gotten permission from Principal Nezu to test you both."
"Me too? Will I make it into the hero course if I pass?" Shinso asked.
Aizawa frowned. "I'll definitely talk to him about it, but I don't personally think you're ready. I will let you get off that muscle improvement diet I put you on if you pass though."
Shinso's eyes shined with hope. He hated eating that stuff!
"What's the test?" Toru asked. She knew she had to pass it at any cost, even if it meant showing some of her real strength.
"I'll make you both face 0 pointers from the entrance exam. If you can take them down, you'll be free." Aizawa told them.
"0 pointers? But most students can't defeat those!" Toru complained. It would definitely make her look a little too strong for her liking if she beat a 0 pointer.
"They were used in the sports festival which means a hero student of your level should be able to take one out, Hagakure." Aizawa told her, smiling.
Toru pouted. "You're too mean, Mr. Aizawa."
"Oh. Shinso will only be fighting a 1 pointer. He has no chance against a 0 pointer if he can't even beat a tiny robot." Aizawa said quickly.
Shinso sighed and looked at Toru with pity.
"Um…But Hagakure doesn't have a power-based quirk…She has no chance—" Shinso eventually decided to help her out.
Aizawa crossed his arms. "She's already defeated a normal robot. Climbing and turning a big 0 pointer off will show her improvement even more." He explained. "But if she really doesn't have a chance to do something most of her classmates would likely be able to do, then I definitely need to continue training her."
In actuality, defeating a 0 pointer would be quite easy. All I need to do is climb it and find the off switch, and I'm really good at climbing even smooth surfaces. But I can't let Aizawa know I'd have an easy time. I need to succeed while also looking like I tried super hard. Toru thought.
"Okay…." She pouted. "I'll try to make you proud, Mr. Aizawa!" She got her optimistic bubbly attitude back.
"Do you want me to brainwash you and order you to defeat it?" Shinso whispered. "That…might give you a better chance because you won't be focused on your own fear…."
"Nope! I doubt Mr. Aizawa would let me keep the win if you brainwashed me." Toru told him. And she didn't know if she'd complete the task too quickly if brainwashed.
Aizawa released Shinso and Toru into the fake city. Shinso's single 1 point robot was supposed to be to the east, and Toru's big 0 pointer was to the west so that they wouldn't risk injuring each other during their fight.
As soon as Shinso was gone, Toru removed her clothing since she wasn't on a time limit. She then went to where the 0 pointer would be.
It was huge. But the panel that held it's control device was very visible and on its back. It was looking around for Toru, it's big metal claws outstretched, but didn't see her because of her invisibility.
Likely Aizawa was relying on the fact that it couldn't hurt her as much as she couldn't hurt it. But Toru was going to hurt it.
She walked up to the 0 pointer's leg, grabbed on and climbed it with ease.
The robot picked up it's leg trying to shake off whatever was on it. It's robotic eyes zoomed in, but couldn't see anything and decided nothing was actually there. It didn't have nerves.
The smoothness was the greatest problem when climbing it. But the groves where the metal plates were melded together were enough for Toru to dig her nails into it and hang on and continue climbing. It was a more difficult climb for someone who had never climbed up a surface like this, but Toru had climbed up quite a lot of different things and parkoured her way through boats and buildings to spy. So, it was easy enough.
She got to the hatch and pulled it apart, with her own arm strength. It started shaking it's body once it realized it was under attack, before it could reach for its back Toru pulled out it's wires and caused it to stop moving.
The robot fell. Toru grabbed onto the hole she created and kept her grip so she wouldn't be thrown off. She then slid down its body and walked out of the fake city.
Shinso was waiting for her outside the city nursing a black eye. He must have finished before her, but she had wasted enough time just walking to it that she didn't look too good at her job.
"I failed…I didn't have enough experience with the capture cloth." He was disappointed, and frustrated. It was written all over his face. "I heard a crashing sound. Was that you?"
"Yep! I won! I went for the hatch just like in the entrance exam! It's my go to strategy!" Toru clapped, excitedly.
Shinso was about to congratulate to her, but Aizawa got to her first. He looked surprised.
"I honestly wasn't expecting you to pass…" He admitted.
Oh. So that was supposed to be a rigged exam against me? Too bad. I need my free time. Toru thought.
"But I guess since you did beat the robots in the entrance exam it makes sense for you to use the same strategy with equal luck. Still… I'm surprised. We didn't go over climbing and you're a much better climber than I expected." Aizawa commented.
"Like a mountain climber!" Toru said something dumb to keep him unguarded. "I'm going to tell all my classmates I climb like a monkey…They'll laugh but they'll be proud!"
The casualness of it kept Aizawa unguarded, but he nodded, startled. "I suppose bigger foes might be one of your elements too…They can't see you even more than smaller foes can, since you're size is about the size of a bug to them. They are paying even less attention to you. I'm proud. Even I struggled as a student with bigger foes."
I'm glad he's not too suspicious. I beat his impossible task. And now I can focus on my mission and regain the trust All for One placed in me. Toru thought. I'll prove to Kurogiri he didn't need to set me up with busy work.
"You on the other hand, Shinso, improved a bit but not a lot. We have a lot to work on." Aizawa scolded.
Shinso looked a bit jealous that Toru had gotten praise, but nodded. "Yes sir…"
And finally, Toru's weird internship was over.
Internship arc is finished!
Fun fact in the original chapter before edits a significant portion of it was focused on Toru's quirk, and the fact that while eating her food becomes invisible because it's not gross and visible while she's chewing it up and how that happens and all. I decided to axe that and put that analysis/quirk study in the story later!
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