After explaining the exercise, with Amaya almost laughing at All Might for having to take out a script at some point because he got overwhelmed with the students' questions, she wondered how today would play out.
This training was to be indoors, and the class was going to be split into heroes and villains who had to fight against each other in pairs. The situation was that the villains had a nuclear weapon hidden somewhere in their hideout, and the heroes had to dispose of that. For the heroes to win they had to either catch both villains or get the nuclear weapon back within the allotted time. The villains, in turn, had to protect the weapon the whole time or capture the heroes.
Amaya sighed and waited for everyone to get a slip before she did. She saw that Midoriya and Uraraka had been paired up together, which made her inwardly smile since they both seemed happy with the result, but Iida was unfortunately stuck with Bakugo.
After everyone had grabbed a slip Amaya quietly went up to All Might and grabbed her own.
It was blank.
Amaya sighed. She should've expected that considering the class had an odd number of students. Still, she couldn't believe she actually got the blank slip, she really didn't have any luck.
All Might looked down at the small girl and felt the urge to hug her. Her face might've been blank, but he could see the pain in her eyes. The want to belong somewhere. He placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking the girl from her quiet state of distress.
"Alright has everyone found their partners?" He asked and watched as the class nodded.
"Young Hitachi you shall battle twice today. You will first join group A and then join group I. Think you can handle it?" All Might looked down at the teen who looked back and nodded in fierce determination.
All Might smiled and clapped loudly. While he felt bad the girl would have to fight twice, he hoped this would allow her the chance to show her class her skills and give her two opportunities to make new friends.
"Good! The first teams to fight will be… these guys!" All Might yelled, holding up two balls with the letter A and D written separately.
"Team A will be the heroes and Team D will be the villains," All Might explained. Amaya was shocked to hear her name and the word hero associated but she didn't let herself dwell on the thought.
She looked to Team A and sighed in relief when she saw she was with Uraraka and Midoriya. However, her face changed to concern when she noticed how pale Midoriya became. Looking over she saw that Team D was Bakugo and Iida.
"Oh… well this is going to make things interesting."
Amaya felt a smidge of worry about her competition but ignored it and walked over to Uraraka and Midoriya. Uraraka gave her a small smile but Midoriya was too busy having a staring contest with Bakugo to acknowledge her. Hesitantly, she placed her hand on Midoriya's shoulder, turning his eyes away from Bakugo's gaze.
"A-ah A-Amaya-chan! You're in our group? That's great!" Midoriya squeaked out, he was looking at her, but his focus was not completely there.
Nodding, Amaya turned to look at Bakugo who glared at her before scoffing and turning his attention back to All Might.
"The villain team will go in first and set up. In five minutes, the hero team will break in and the battle will start."
Everyone nodded and walked over to the building. As All Might explained to Team D about getting into their roles, Amaya kept her gaze on Midoriya who was pacing. She didn't know much about him or Bakugo, and she definitely didn't know anything about their relationship, but she hoped it wouldn't interfere with the assignment.
After the two villains entered the building, Amaya and her team were given the building's layout.
"It's a lot of work to memorize the building's floor plan," Uraraka sighed, "but All Might is just the same as when he's on TV. Unlike Aizawa-sensei, it looks like there's no punishment so we can relax—"
"He's not relaxed," Amaya interrupted bluntly, staring at the sweating Midoriya.
Uraraka gasped and her face filled with worry. Amaya continued to stare feeling slight concern but kept her cool on the outside.
"Well it's because… We're up against Kacchan…"
"Who the hell is Kacchan?" Amaya wondered, her face betraying her and showing her confusion.
"And there's Iida, too, so I feel like I need to be on guard…" Midoriya's shaky voice explained.
"He calls blondie Kacchan? That's such a cute nickname for such an angry guy."
"I see. Bakugo's the one who makes fun of you, right?" Uraraka questioned, staring at Midoriya with sympathy.
At that moment Midoriya stopped shaking and had a mixed look of pride and sadness.
"He's amazing… He's a piece of work but his goal, his confidence, his physical strength and his quirk are way more amazing than mine," Midoriya revealed in a soft tone.
"Midoriya really admires this guy."
Amaya and Uraraka looked at each other wondering how to respond to that when Midoriya stood up straight.
"But that's why right now," he fixed his mask and his eyes hardened, "I don't want… to lose…"
Amaya felt her eyes widen at the sudden strength and determination Midoriya's eyes held. Uraraka smiled and pushed herself off the rail and looked at Midoriya with a soft smile.
"A fated battle between men, huh?" Uraraka announced looking right at Midoriya.
All at once Midoriya returned to his nervous state, fidgeting and saying "Oh, sorry Uraraka-chan and Amaya-chan, this isn't either of your problems."
Amaya gave Midoriya a soft stare and shook her head.
"You're wrong. We're a team. Meaning your problem is our problem," Amaya spoke, surprising her group and herself at her words.
"Ugh you're getting soft."
Uraraka nodded, smiling wider now.
"Let's do our best!" Uraraka cheered, raising a fist up to the sky.
Midoriya looked shocked but smiled brightly back at the two girls.
"Now let's start the indoor person-to-person combat training with Team A and Team D!" All Might's voice announced, scaring the three from their little moment.
The three nodded at each other and proceeded to use the open window near the side of the building to enter.
"Infiltration successful!" Uraraka quietly cheered.
Midoriya nodded, cautiously moving forward with Amaya, who was stretching her ears waiting for any abrupt noises.
"There are a lot of blind spots, so let's be careful," Midoriya said, leading the way with Amaya and Uraraka quietly following him. As they ventured further into the building Amaya gazed at Midoriya's back. For someone so anxious, he had no problem taking control of the situation and keeping calm. He actually looked pretty cool to Amaya.
"Focus dumbass! You don't need these two idiots. Worry about blondie. Based on everything you know he hates broccoli boy over here and will probably come and attack him. He might be really smart, but something tells me it's going to be different."
Amaya frowned at the voice in her head, but she had to agree with that analysis.
"If Bakugo really only cares about fighting Midoriya then he probably won't even care if Uraraka and I escape by him to catch the weapon. But would it be better to help Uraraka or Midoriya?"
As Amaya started to get lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't hear the extra footsteps near her group.
Almost.
Ears twitching, she instinctively pulled Midoriya back behind her by his neck and pushed Uraraka away with her other hand.
Bakugo, who had been aiming for Midoriya, hit the wall instead. Amaya stood before him ready to protect her teammates, who she unintentionally pushed to the ground in her surprise.
"Are you guys good?" Amaya asked, keeping her eyes trained on Bakugo, who glared at her. She heard her teammates get up behind her and heard their thanks for defending them.
"Oi little bitch, don't defend that nerd. This fight is between him and I. If you get in my way, I'll destroy you too," Bakugo snarled, his voice surprisingly not loud but certainly angry. Amaya felt her face harden and she kept herself between the two boys.
"I figured you'd come for me first," Midoriya said, walking to stand next to Amaya.
Bakugo moved fast and started running towards the two with his hand poised, ready to attack. Amaya sensed his next move, but before she could do anything Midoriya pushed her away. He grabbed Bakugo's arm, straining but eventually flipping the blond over his shoulder. Bakugo slammed to the ground, a gasp of shock and pain escaping him.
"Kacchan… You usually start with a big right swing. Don't you know how much I've been watching you? I wrote an analysis for all the heroes I thought were amazing in my notebook," Midoriya panted, looking at the floor.
Suddenly Bakugo looked up with a glare so fierce Amaya actually stepped back. Midoriya proudly announced, "My 'Deku' isn't always going to mean 'useless'! Kacchan… My 'Deku' means 'you can do it'!"
Uraraka gasped and Amaya couldn't help but smile widely at his proclamation.
"I know who I'm helping now."
Because of the way Midoriya threw him, Bakugo had his back facing Uraraka and Amaya was to his right. He didn't even glance at the girls, his entire focus was on Midoriya.
Amaya's ears twitched as she heard a faint buzzing noise coming from Bakugo.
"It's his earpiece. Too bad my hearing isn't good enough to hear whatever Iida is saying."
Bakugo harshly spoke into the quiet, "Just shut up and defend. I'm really angry right now!"
Bakugo was answering Iida and by the looks of it Iida didn't know what was happening based on Bakugo's response.
"Oh yea, this wild card didn't tell his teammate shit. This is our chance!"
Immediately Amaya turned and ran beside Bakugo, grabbing Uraraka's wrist and pushing ahead.
"We're trusting you to defeat Bakugo! Prove to him what Deku really means!" Amaya shouted, not bothering to see Midoriya's or Bakugo's reactions.
The unexpected faith and encouragement warmed Midoriya and caused a faint blush to spread across his cheeks. Bakugo growled and turned to quickly glare at the small girl's retreating form before locking his gaze back on Midoriya.
Those words pissed him off and he was going to show that cat-girl and everyone else just how weak Deku really was.
After running a safe distance away Amaya finally let go of the heavily breathing Uraraka.
"Sorry for grabbing you all of a sudden," Amaya softly apologized before taking a step away from the girl and walking slowly ahead.
Uraraka shook her head and quickly reached out to the shorter girl's shoulder. "Amaya-chan it's fine. We're teammates so I trust you too."
Amaya stared in honest puzzlement. Uraraka brightly smiled at her the way she did with Midoriya. She wasn't shaking like before or acting hesitant. She even purposely touched her and didn't move her hand away, squeezing Amaya's shoulder in comfort instead.
Uraraka could see the surprise displayed across Amaya's face and felt bad it took her so long to feel comfortable around the cat-girl. Amaya really wasn't bad. She was quiet, blunt, but unexpectedly nice and very determined. Now knowing this she pushed her guilt aside and instead focused on being the smaller girl's friend.
"We're going to go after Iida-kun right? But are you sure it's okay to leave Deku-kun by himself? With Bakugo no less?" Uraraka asked, worry evident in her brown eyes.
Shaking herself from her stupor Amaya nodded.
"Mi-Deku has to be the one to fight Bakugo. Even though I want to interfere, Deku needs to do this. So, let's just worry about capturing Iida and taking the weapon back!" Amaya explained before moving forward with Uraraka. The two said nothing more, and the silence that followed felt comfortable.
"This is the first in a very long time since I've felt relaxed in another girl's presence, and one that's my age at that."
"Stop it with that shit. Focus on beating speedo and getting the weapon."
Ears twitching, Amaya could hear Iida pacing away in a room a couple of doors down. Amaya stopped suddenly and turned toward Uraraka, who almost crashed into her.
"Can you just remind me how your quirk works?" Amaya asked, her voice and face flat.
"Amaya I'm not offended but how do you not know what it is? We both literally participated in a quirk test yesterday. Hehehe..." Uraraka began laughing, grabbing onto the wall to keep herself upright.
Amaya furrowed her brows in pure puzzlement at the quiet giggles escaping Uraraka's mouth, beyond confused.
"S-sorry Amaya-chan it's just that your blank face and tone don't suit you at all. You're so small and adorable that your attitude is a funny thing to see," Uraraka confessed, smiling brightly towards a fiercely blushing Amaya.
Uraraka instantly felt the urge to hug the girl for that unexpected innocent reaction but held off considering they still had to build their friendship a bit more.
"Anyways my quirk allows me to manipulate gravity such as making objects weightless or float. I can even make myself fly but if I do that for too long, I'll get nauseous and possibly vomit," Uraraka explained progressively getting more embarrassed as she had to explain the weak points of her quirk.
Amaya nodded and took that into account for her plan.
"Okay. I have tear gas pellets on my belt, but I don't think that'll necessarily work on Iida, especially if he has his metal helmet on. Either way it can provide you a bit of cover. I'll fight him and distract him from the device while you use your quirk to make yourself and it fly. We don't have much time so let's try our best," Amaya stated, her tone straightforward and lacking emotion. However, her eyes were lit up and Uraraka felt the determination coming off the smaller girl.
"I'm just going to inform Deku to keep distracting Bakugo and that we have an idea to capture the weapon," Amaya explained, briefly informing Deku of the plan in case he was busy fighting. With his quick agreement and encouragement, the girls felt ready.
"Let's do this!" Uraraka quietly cheered, smiling brightly.
Nodding, the girls silently crept up, arriving right around the corner from where Iida was.
Iida was talking to himself and Amaya knew this was her chance. Giving Uraraka one last glance she threw the tear gas pellets and ran forwards with a loud battle cry, surprising him hopefully enough to make him forget about Uraraka.
"What's happening?!" Iida cried out in surprise. Using his confusion to her advantage, Amaya ran forward as fast as she could before jumping and bringing her arm down at Iida. He managed to use his jets to get away but not before her claws scratched his metal chest.
"Surprise attack! That's not very hero-like! Yet it does not matter for I will not let you take this weapon, naive hero!" Iida chanted, taking on a fighting stance as he looked down at Amaya.
"He's really taking this villain thing seriously," both girls thought.
Amaya didn't respond and instead ran forward, jumping into the air, hoping to scratch Iida again. He predicted her action, moving to the right before swinging his left hook at her. She felt the wind of his punch near her and blocked his attack before flipping backwards and landing in a cat-crouch.
Not wanting to look up and give away Uraraka's position, Amaya decided she would focus on hand to hand combat. She only hoped that her messy fast attacks would distract Iida.
She threw punches at him left and right, moving in and out of the way each time he tried to counter. While she couldn't really land any hits, he definitely couldn't touch her. She moved fast and her flexibility and agility let her attack from extreme looking positions.
The ground would shake sometimes but she had faith in Midoriya and so she kept pushing forward, using the unstable ground to her advantage whenever she could.
Iida, slightly amazed at how fast she was attacking him, wondered about her training. She was good at evading him, it was like she was dancing, all her movements were graceful. It left him a bit confused, her defense was amazing so why was her offensive so sloppy and disorderly?
Something about that just felt off to him. Intuitively his gaze shot up above him, and he saw Uraraka right above the weapon. Before he could move Amaya pounced at him and used all her weight to effectively pin him down. It was quite a feat considering her small stature, but his surprise certainly helped. At the same time Uraraka dropped onto the nuclear device, touching it and lifting it to the air.
Instantly All Might's voice called out, "Hero team wins!"
The fight was over, and Amaya smiled slightly before straightening up. She held her hand to Iida who took it before standing himself. He used more force than she was expecting, and she crashed into his chest knocking them back onto the floor.
"I apologize Hitachi-san! I knew you were lighter than me, but I did not realize that you could not lift me up just yourself. Instead your hand was merely a friendly gesture!" Iida exclaimed moving up quickly and literally lifting the petite girl onto her feet.
Amaya bit her lip to stop the stupid squeak that wanted to escape and just nodded.
"He called you weak moron."
Amaya scowled as she realized he unintentionally did call her weak.
"He's not wrong."
She sighed and looked back at Iida's defeated face.
"Good job," she muttered, before pausing as she recalled what name he just said. "And please, I know it might be awkward but call me Amaya."
She then hurried over to a pale but smiling Uraraka, missing the faint blush on Iida's face.
"Sorry Uraraka I should've checked on you first. You're my teammate and I knew what floating in the air for too long did to you. I should've rushed right over considering all the pain you had to endure," Amaya apologized, shame filling her eyes.
Uraraka softly shook her head before weakly laughing.
"You're very kind Amaya-chan. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine soon enough. Besides, your plan worked perfectly! You distracted Iida enough for me to float over and touch the weapon. If it weren't for my flying being so slow you wouldn't have had to fight him off for so long," Uraraka said her voice growing softer as she self-deprecated her quirk.
Without thinking Amaya squeezed the girl's shoulder just like Uraraka did earlier and shook her head.
"We only won because you actually touched the weapon. Give yourself more credit," she said before helping Uraraka up and leading her back towards the class, Iida quietly following them.
Before they could move forward the whole building shook and the floors broke apart. Amaya reacted fast, pushing her classmates out of the way, getting a bit of the floor, and ceiling too technically, barely missing her shoulder.
All three, confused, looked down through the holes that were created and saw a statue looking Bakugo and a passed out Midoriya on the bottom floor.
Her emotions getting the better of her, Amaya jumped down into the holes, Uraraka and Iida screaming her name in surprise.
She used the poles that stuck out from the floor/ceiling to slow down her fast momentum. She bent her knees and landed on the floor near the two teens quietly and in crouch position. Like a cat she always managed to land on her feet.
Ignoring Bakugo she rushed to check on Midoriya, landing next to him and checking his weak pulse.
She couldn't inspect him more as a robo-nurse lifted his unconscious body and moved toward the school.
Amaya, ready to run after them, stopped at All Might's voice through her ear devices.
"Relax Young Hitachi, Midoriya will be fine. You have to come back here; you might have won this battle, but you still have one more left," he explained hoping to have calmed the girl down a bit.
While everyone else remained perplexed at the dangerous stunt the small teen performed just to check on their classmate, All Might understood her rash actions. It was very simple; she was worried.
Her eyes betrayed her every time. Her face could be a mask of indifference, but her eyes screamed concern and fear.
Midoriya was one of the few people to be kind to her and now he was hurt. It wasn't illogical for her to be worried.
Slowly she moved forward, looking back to see that Bakugo was silently following too. His eyes were glazed over, he was looking ahead but it felt like he wasn't really seeing anything right now.
She was very curious about what just happened. She knew Midoriya had used his power because his arm looked just like his finger did yesterday. Purple and broken. However, they both should've stopped fighting when All Might declared the winners.
They didn't and she wanted to know why.
Yet when she looked at Bakugo again she knew he wouldn't tell her so giving up for now she quietly entered the room where her fellow classmates were and hoped she could visit Midoriya soon.
The rest of the class was quiet, looking at her strangely. Some were muttering about how the heroes, excluding Amaya, looked worse for wear than the villains.
Silently agreeing with them, she moved to the back watching a wobbly Uraraka lean against a panicking Iida.
When All Might returned everyone straightened up, including Uraraka who looked like she was going to pass out right there.
"Well, even if team A won, the MVPs for this battle were Young Iida and Young Hitachi!"
The class gasped in shock, unable to believe how the villain or Iida was an MVP.
Amaya herself looked confused at the results, wondering if All Might had any validation to this claim.
"That is because Iida adapted the most out to the context of the training. From watching the match, it appears that Bakugo acted on his own because of an obviously personal grudge. And as All Might-sensei said earlier, it is foolish to launch a large scale attack indoors. It's the same way, taking into consideration the damage that he received, Midoriya's plan was also rash. As for Uraraka, while she did complete her mission, if it weren't for Hitachi's plan to distract Iida, I doubt she would have captured the weapon herself. Seeing her now proves that Uraraka struggled to touch the weapon without Hitachi's offensive attack."
Yaoyorozu calmly explained, avoiding looking at Amaya and continuing, "The hero team only won because Hitachi became the decoy. Though honestly, considering that Bakugo and Midoriya continued to fight even after the winner's announcement was made shows how immature some of the students are; some are unfit to be a hero."
She finished looking directly at Amaya who forced her face to remain stoic. Everyone in the class quieted throughout Yaoyorozu explanations and All Might didn't know how to go on from there besides awkwardly agreeing with the tall girl, ignoring the last part.
"All right everyone, let's change locations and start the second match. Tackle this training after thinking about what we just talked about!"
"Match two! Team B are the heroes, and Team I are the villains," All Might proclaimed looking at Amaya who did nothing more than nod and join the villains.
"Hah, that's more fitting for her."
Amaya stiffened a bit having heard someone whisper that, her face remained unaffected, but her ears drooped.
Meeting up with Ojiro, a young man of muscular build with short blond hair and a long tail with a hairy tip, and Hagakure an invisible girl, Amaya saw as Ojiro froze and Hagakure's gloved hands trembled.
Fighting off the urge to roll her eyes, Amaya fixed them with her best friendly looking face. Which was just her regular blank face with the corners of her mouth twitching, scaring Hagakure more than before.
"Listen I get that you guys are scared of me but let's not fail this because of a lack of teamwork," Amaya offered and after a moment's hesitation Ojiro smiled gently back at her.
"I agree. Let's do our best Hitachi-san, Hagakure-san," Ojiro softly agreed, nodding at both girls.
"Y-yea Hitachi-chan! Even though I'm a bit intimidated right now you don't seem so mean so I'll place my faith in you! Let's win this!" Hagakure cheered and Amaya felt a hand tug at her arm.
Face lighting up she gave an awkward thumbs up to her teammates before glancing over at Team B.
Heterochromia eyes glared right at her and Amaya couldn't help but let her own gold eyes transform into menacing slits.
"It's on."
The group of three were on the fourth floor planning out their strategy to defeat the heroes.
"Ojiro-kun, Hitachi-chan I'm going to get serious. I'll take off my gloves and boots too!" Hagakure cheerfully exclaimed, removing her gloves.
"Hold on Hagakure. Shoji's quirk allows him to make multiple body parts appear right? Or something like that? If that's true then his hearing is probably the same as or even better than mine, meaning he'll hear you even if you take your shoes off. Plus, I have a feeling you'll need them on," Amaya explained, questioning whether she was actually looking at Hagakure in the eyes.
"Okay! I believe in you Hitachi-chan," Hagakure giggled leaving Amaya flushing. How was it so easy for this girl to trust her? She was shaking not even ten minutes ago when she saw Amaya. Students at U.A. were certainly weird.
Amaya's ears twitched as she felt something coming. Reacting fast, she grabbed Hagakure and jumped high, ice spreading just underneath their feet.
"Oh wow, that was really close! Good hearing Hitachi-chan. Oh no! Ojiro-kun!" Hagakure rushed forwards to Ojiro who unfortunately got stuck on the ice.
Before he could try and break free Amaya stopped him.
"I wouldn't do that; the ice seems really cold. I think you'll just hurt yourself if you move," she spoke, her breath coming out in white puffs. Her tail wrapped around her arm for warmth and she saw Hagakure's gloves shaking.
"Damn his ice is cold. This won't be easy."
Ears perking up once more, she looked over to see the surprised face of Todoroki. Acting quickly, she took out her katana and ran towards him. She swiped down at his chest with the blunt side of the katana using all her might.
He moved back at the last second and glared at her.
"I was hoping to do this the easy way. You should stop now before you get hurt," Todoroki glared, his voice quiet but irritated.
Smirking, Amaya used her leg to swipe at his feet, catching him off guard. He fell to the ground but rolled away when she pounced. Growling, she kicked up high aiming for his face, but he grabbed her foot and used it to throw her into the nearby wall.
She slid down groaning and saw Hagakure's gloves and white tape in her peripheral. Hagakure was near Todoroki but not close enough to capture him. Yet. Amaya prayed that Hagakure was looking at her as she nodded at the empty space.
Screaming a loud and distracting battle cry, she used the wall to jump off and appear high above Todoroki. He brought his right arm up and shot ice towards her, attempting to trap her on the ceiling. While she wasn't expecting that onslaught of ice, her katana was poised in front of her body and managed to cut just enough of it off for her to escape.
Bursting through the sheet of ice, Amaya slid her katanas back into their sleeves and let her body fall mid-air. No one saw as she grabbed and threw small knives at Todoroki. Those small knives caught him by the fabric of his shirt, throwing off his momentum but not pinning him to the floor like she hoped to because of the dumb ice protecting his other side.
"Nice try. But it'll take much more than petty knife attacks to bring me down," Todoroki taunted as he moved his hand to pull at the knife.
Amaya's tail swayed side to side as her gold eyes lit in amusement. "Arrogance will be your downfall. You should learn to humble yourself before you turn out like him."
Face scowling, Todoroki couldn't retort because he felt a presence behind him and with incredible speed stuck out his hand and froze a squealing Hagakure in her place.
Hissing, Amaya tried to catch him off guard, but he turned at the same moment and slammed his foot down. She jumped to the side, sheathing her sword and quickly crawled up the wall trying to maintain some distance between the two.
"Shit. He's really good. At this pace we'll tie. I need to do something, time's running out."
Amaya let herself free fall when she saw Todoroki's arm strike out again; the bastard was fast and created an ice slide, catching Amaya off guard. She reached for her knives, but he grabbed her wrists and flipped her over. Thankful for her flexibility, she wrapped her legs around his waist in a guard position making him stumble.
They both landed on the floor harshly, tangled in each other's limbs. Amaya squeezed her legs as hard as she could hoping to hurt him just enough to give her time to reach for her knives, but they could barely close around him. Todoroki looked as if he barely felt anything. His weight was keeping her down, so she used her tail to blind him.
Eyes blazing in frustration, Todoroki let out a loud growl and twisted his body enough to get a hand free. He iced her tail causing her to quietly cry out before slamming that same hand hard into her shoulder, pushing her straight into the ground. Not wasting any more time, he froze her in that position.
Amaya bit her lip to keep in the painful whimpers she felt and tried to think of a way out, but it was too late.
"Times up! Heroes win!" All Might's voice rang throughout the building.
Amaya's chest filled with rage and regret for not winning, but she wasn't about to lose her composure like that. She'd still have some dignity and she begrudgingly had to admit that Todoroki was a formidable opponent. So instead of looking like a grumpy cat she took a breath and blew a strand of hair out of her face, shivering and waiting for Todoroki to unfreeze her.
Her teammates didn't speak, only their shivers and the sizzle of ice melting could be heard. Once Hagakure and Ojiro were freed, they remained quiet and moved towards the doors, patiently waiting for Amaya.
Todoroki kept a blank face as he turned toward the cat girl on the floor. He gritted his teeth just the slightest, defeating her shouldn't have been as hard as it was.
As he melted the ice, Amaya couldn't keep her comments to herself. "You know for an asshole you're pretty strong."
She couldn't even begin to understand why she did that. But even she couldn't deny he was powerful, and the words just escaped out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
"Yea just like his father."
He didn't respond and remained mostly unfazed except for the confusion in his eyes.
What was with this cat-girl?
He only knew as much as everyone else did about her family and reputation. He wasn't wrong in calling her the child of villains, but he could see why that'd come off as an insult.
Still… the way she stared at him in class unnerved him. Then she reminded him of his annoying father which really pissed him off. He didn't need friends and so having someone hate him wasn't an issue, he didn't care either way. So then why the hell was she randomly complimenting him?
She didn't get it either. She had just lost to him even after her promise. What the hell was wrong with her?
"Don't forget what his father did to Kou, you idiot. You already failed him by losing this match. I can't believe how weak you are, to think I actually believed you could do this alone."
"Shut up, he's strong and it sucks that I lost to him, but I don't get it. He doesn't look happy, it's strange, he's strange. He might be his father's son, but Todoroki didn't actually do anything. Yea he was an ass earlier, but he never hurt Kou," her mind argued, also reminding Amaya of a very important lesson.
She felt the slightest bit of guilt for doing what everyone always did to her.
They weren't their parents.
She had to remember that; she wasn't about to apologize but she could at least not act like a total bitch.
"You know I thought for sure you would've used your other quirk. So even with just ice you defeated us. Imagine how strong you'd be at full power," she continued, eyes softening after her internal realization. However, she noticed how his expression darkened at the mention of his left side.
"Shut up. You know nothing about me and hearing you speak is annoying," Todoroki responded, eyes flaring at her words. He needed to focus on becoming number one by only using his mother's quirk, he didn't have time for a confusing brooding girl and her weird remarks.
She didn't have the chance to respond because the ice heated up so much that it became liquified and drenched her. Without meaning too she reacted just like her animal counterpart. She yelped, jumping up hissing and trying to get rid of the wet feeling.
Looking up, she saw Todoroki's eyes bright with sadistic mirth. That asshole totally did that on purpose! He could've made the ice into vapor, but he didn't!
Face red, she hissed at him, shoving his arm and walking past him. Damn him and damn her for trying to be nice and relate with him. He really was just a bastard after all, and she just needed to ignore him.
Todoroki couldn't help but do that, wanting to get a reaction out of her. Seeing her angry was definitely new since the serious girl always kept a blank face. Plus, he was angry at her for mentioning his father and left side.
He didn't even know how she knew who his father was, but he supposed it couldn't be too hard to figure it out. It was frustrating, he'd never been so affected by some girl and her words before. It pissed him off with how she insulted him in the beginning and then complimented him now. She was definitely fickle and while his curiosity was piqued at her disdain towards his father, he let that go because his goal was to beat everyone, including her.
He used that as an explanation as to why he felt the strange swell of pride form in his chest after making the stoic girl so flustered.
Returning to the rest of her class, Amaya didn't know what she should ignore, the disgusting wet feeling of her costume sticking to her or the slightest feeling of intimidation she felt from all the stares she was receiving. The strangest part was that for once they weren't looking at her in fear or disgust but in awe.
Moving to the back, she ignored their whispers when Uraraka and Iida appeared before her.
"You were so good Amaya-chan! Todoroki's super strong I doubt anyone would've won against him," Uraraka complimented, smiling widely at the shorter girl.
Iida nodded adding his own comment, "Yes you did very well. Your calm composure and ability to strategize is quite admirable!"
"But I lost," Amaya bluntly stated, surprised by the praise. She looked at the pair in confusion and tugged at her ear in annoyance for that fact.
"It doesn't matter! You still did really good!" Uraraka exclaimed, making the cat girl awkwardly nod and fight off a blush from the sudden compliment.
Thankfully no one else could talk to her since there were still more battles to go. She was upset she lost but she focused on worrying about Midoriya. She really wanted to check on him, but All Might told her in passing that it'd be in her best interest to just wait until the end of the day.
Sighing, she focused on her classmates' battles, oblivious to the heated stare one blond male was giving her.
"Good work everyone! We didn't have any major injuries other than Young Midoriya, either! You guys took this on seriously, you all did a good job for your first training!" All Might cheered, throwing a big thumbs up along with his bright smile.
Amaya ignored whatever was said next, anxious to check up on Midoriya. However, before she could All Might's voice stopped her.
"Well then, I must review the results with Young Midoriya. Change and return to the classroom, that means you too, Young Hitachi! You can visit Midoriya after school!" Without waiting for a response, he ran off leaving the class in the dust.
Scowling, Amaya turned to walk towards her changing room as fast as she could. Putting on her uniform once more and tucking away her costume, she quickly entered the classroom to return her case.
Unfortunately, she was the last one out and had to wait for everyone to file theirs first. What felt like forever soon came to an end and after hanging her costume back she ran out the doors, towards the nurse's office not caring about Iida's voice that tried to stop her.
Almost crashing into the green haired boy, himself, Amaya luckily stopped, standing a few inches in front of him.
"Amaya-chan! W-what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the classroom! Well I mean the day is almost over so I guess you could be heading home too. But still!" Midoriya panicked frantically.
Amaya felt her lips twitch into a smile, she was glad he wasn't too injured, he could still ramble.
"You passed out and your arm was broken. I felt concerned and wanted to make sure you were alright," she quietly explained, rubbing her arm in embarrassment, shy of her own actions.
"Ugh you're letting dumb emotions overtake you. This is so gross."
Ignoring that voice Amaya focused on Midoriya's soft expression.
"Thank you Amaya-chan! I'm okay, Recovery Girl did the best that she could do for now. How did your other fight go?" Midoriya asked with a gentle smile that left Amaya feeling a bit disgruntled.
"It was fine, I need to work harder but that's always the case with fights. You should go back to the class now, everyone wants to speak with you," Amaya dismissed, starting to head back herself. She heard Midoriya laugh a bit to himself and the two walked to class in comfortable silence.
As soon as he opened the door Midoriya was bombarded with compliments and questions. Amaya smiled to herself and walked to her desk leaving the poor embarrassed Midoriya by himself.
She looked up when all the chatter stopped and saw Midoriya staring at where Bakugo usually sat, his expression unreadable. The next second he rushed out of the classroom, and the rest of the class shouted after him.
Amaya didn't know what was happening, but she had a feeling that Midoriya and Bakugo's fight meant a lot more than anyone knew. She just hoped Midoriya would be okay and got her stuff to leave.
As she walked out the doors, she felt heat on the back of her neck. She turned over and had to embarrassedly look up to meet Todoroki's own eyes, damn him for being tall.
He stared directly at her, gaze never faltering. Amaya held it but eventually had to drop it, unused to looking people in the eyes for so long. She quickly hurried out trying not to scowl and letting him see just how he affected her.
Instead of heading towards the gates like everyone, she walked toward the teachers' lounge looking for Aizawa. Thankfully he was asleep in his yellow sleeping bag by his desk.
Letting an uncharacteristic giggle out, Amaya went near him and poked his cheek.
Without opening his eyes Aizawa groaned and swatted her hand away.
"I don't like waking you, but the day is over, and you can sleep more comfortably at home," Amaya stated in a soft tone, her eyes gazing at his tired form.
Silently Aizawa got up and collected his things. Quietly both headed home, peacefully enjoying the atmosphere.
"How'd you do in All Might's class today?" Aizawa eventually questioned, only looking at the small girl through his peripheral vision.
Amaya didn't know how to respond. While she did win one battle, she lost the other so using that would just cancel each other out.
Still she did know one thing that she could say with confidence, "I think people are going to start taking me seriously."
Aizawa smirked and roughly messed up her black hair, mindful of her ears.
"About damn time."