"Do you think I should apologize? I should probably apologize, right?" Mina was frazzled as she walked back and forth by the desks in the classroom after their practice exercise had been finished and the UA students were released to go home.
Tsuyu pat her on the shoulder as if to offer a moment of solace.
Ochako glanced at Mina's worry as she packed up. "I think things will be fine!" She gave her words of advice. "It was a practice exam after all. Injuries are to be expected! Sato probably holds no hard feelings. I don't think Deku feels bad about Bakugo injuring him."
Mina sniffled a little but nodded at Ochako's advice.
Bakugo looked up from his desk at the mention of his name and snorted as if he was going to say something about Midoriya looking down at him but he elected to ignore it and grabbed his bag to head off.
"I agree with…Uraraka, was it?" Jiro glanced over at the brown-haired easy-going girl. "A lot of the people in my test were injured and I see no reason for them to hold that against me."
That's because Mineta and Kaminari were the ones injured. Toru found herself thinking as she packed up her bags. "You're so strong and confident, Jiro!" Toru complimented aloud.
Jiro blushed and played with her earphones. "…I just think it was an exam. They knew what they were signing up for by going into the hero course. Injuries are to be expected in mock battles. It wouldn't be realistic if you didn't get injured. Likely I'll get hurt someday too."
Mina nodded. "That's true….But ugh! I might have seriously given Sato an acid burn! I just don't want to breed any bad will."
"Then let's go! If apologizing is what you want to do, Mina, let's do it. You always know what to do, you aren't the type to hesitate. Trust your gut." Toru advised, giving a rare moment of insight.
Mina smiled. "You're right, Toru….I just…This is the first time I've been in a class of other aspiring heroes and I didn't know what was common courtesy! And some of the people in this class are a lot less like a hero than I was expecting."
"They have 'explosive' personalities, you mean." Sero giggled from the background as he too packed up realizing exactly who Mina was talking about.
A slew of 'Bakugo's echoed throughout the students packing up.
"Our class is going to be together for three years if none of us quit or are expelled. So, I don't want any ill will." Mina agreed. "….I've never injured someone before….Everyone always told me my quirk was powerful and that it was well suited to me becoming a hero someday. I never knew it could be so dangerous."
Toru got up to cheer up Mina. "If you do something wrong, all you have to do is apologize. There's a first time for everything! It's the thought that counts and you just have to take the first step." That's something a hero would say, right? She had read a lot of books and seen a lot of television shows where the nice girl said those words.
Mina smiled and threw her arms around Toru. "Awww…I'm so glad I found a girl as nice as you here, Toru! I'm lucky to have a friend like you!" She hugged her.
Toru hugged back. She fell hook line and sinker. She smiled to herself.
"And me too, right?" Tsuyu pointed to herself a little left out.
"And you too!" Mina grinned, "Honestly all the girls are amazing in this class. I can't wait to be friends with all of them. I'll go apologize, right away."
She grabbed her book bag and darted off. Tsuyu and Toru accompanied her to back her up.
…This is some sort of truly hero dilemma. Toru realized. I've never heard of a villain apologizing. She had never seen Shigoraki apologize to her for glaring at her. And her Master never felt a need to apologize for anything.
In fact, the only time she had ever heard an 'I'm sorry' was when Kurogiri stepped on her foot once. It hadn't been particularly hard since he didn't have a constant weight so she had always been fairly puzzled for why he had apologized. But she just shook it off as Kurogiri being a different sort of person so he had a different attitude. She had heard in passing once that he was a nomu or something so thus he didn't have as much human feelings.
But the world of petty struggles and problems, like the world of heroes, had a need for apologizing. And thus, Toru had to advise her friend on how to do it.
Before she could continue following Mina, Shoji cut the three girls off at the door.
"Um…I was wondering if I could talk to you before you left." He asked, a mouth coming out of his hand as if to come closer.
Mina looked confused. "Sure…Shoji, was it? A pleasure to meet you by the way. What do you need?"
Shoji nodded. "Same here." He shook her hand with one of his six hands, "But….Um I was actually talking about Toru. I was wondering if I could speak to her."
Mina grinned. "OOOH DO I SMELL A ROMANCE BREWING?"
Shoji looked horrified for a second. Three mouths popped up to have their jaws drop open. "No! No. Not to say she isn't a pretty—Well, actually I'm not sure, not to say she isn't a nice girl. It's just that we sit next to each other and I haven't had a chance to acquaint myself with her and I wanted to make sure there was no hard feelings from our exam."
Oh thank god. Toru found herself thinking. It wasn't that she didn't think a romance could have not been beneficial to her spywork. In fact, it might help her fit in in the school even better. And nor was it that Shoji was disgusting or something it was just that she felt this odd uncomfortable feeling at the idea of dating him.
Toru smiled at Shoji. "Sure, I can talk. I've been wanting to talk to you a bit anyway."
Shoji grinned at that.
"Mina…You were a bit too quick in your judgement." Tsuyu criticized. "I think you made him uncomfortable. How would you like it if someone asked you about that whenever Kirishima talked to you?"
"I'd laugh at them." Mina said honestly.
Tsuyu frowned.
Mina waved though. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Toru!"
"Send Sato my best wishes that he gets better!" Toru waved back.
Mina grinned while walking backwards towards the nurse's office. "I will!"
"Should we get him some chocolates or something to aid his recovery? I heard recovery girl's quirk uses people's energy up." Tsuyu suggested as they left.
Mina nodded and continued chattering away. And Toru was left with Shoji.
She followed him to a quieter area to talk.
Now what does he want to talk about? She wondered.
Shoji was an interesting person. For one Toru was absolutely sure he was someone who liked to flex his power or muscles similar to Sato or Kirishima. Because of that she had tried to avoid his line of sight the first day of school despite being seated next to him. But throughout observing him he had seemed a lot quieter and more observant and less judgmental than she had first thought he was.
"Do I scare you? With this quirk I mean." Shoji asked.
"Why do you ask that?" Toru asked. Her shoulders weren't shaking in any visible way.
Shoji's eyes on his actual face looked sad as his mouth hand spoke. "Well, you and I haven't talked much yet. But…A lot of people were scared of me back in middle school. They said my body looks scary. And I didn't want a nice girl like you to be bothered that we were sitting next to each other."
Toru thought for a moment. What would be the best answer to say? Shoji seemed like the type that didn't want to hear a straight no to please him. He likely wouldn't believe it from her new impressions and analysis of him. So she decided to go with the truth.
"Your body doesn't bother me, but I can't say that I wasn't nervous by you. I mean you're a big guy and I'm a small girl! So I was a little nervous by being seated next to you. I mean you did so well in the quirk exam that I thought you were one of those really powerful guys who likely flexed their quirks to intimidate people. But your body wasn't my issue." Toru rambled.
Shoji's hand grinned. A sigh came from below his mask. "Oh good. I thought it was something like that. Nah, I'm not someone like that…Bakugo, guy was it? I don't want to hurt anyone for the sake of hurting them." He cleared up the misunderstanding.
It seemed like telling the truth had won her points though. Shoji seemed to value honesty even if it wasn't a good thing to hear.
"I thought out of everyone, you, Tokoyami and Koda might be the ones to be least distressed by my body. Considering what you three looked like." Shoji's voice was quiet, forlorn, but not rude or offensive despite the clear judgment.
Toru thought for a moment. Koda's the one with the rock looking head, right? Then that makes sense. "Hey! I'll be glad to tell you I look like just any other girl to me! I make sure to brush my hair and make it shine every day!"
Shoji blinked as if he was trying to picture that.
Toru tried to look fake upset as she touched her hair. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about? You shouldn't need to apologize for beating me in our exam. Nobody got injured after all."
Shoji was snapped out of his stupor trying to figure out what Toru looked like. "Oh, no. It wasn't that. It was mostly cuz I wanted to start some good will going between us and because…Well I noticed something when I was listening to the walls trying to find you during our exam."
Toru's eyes widened. Did he realize I was intentionally making enough noise with my feet that his quirk would be able to pick up on it, but only his quirk? She narrowed her eyes. If he had figured out something about her what should she do? Kill him for being suspicious? She reached towards her pocket where she held a mirror for emergencies that she used to reflect light and give her a little boost to her power. She knew that she could make a light dagger from that and throw it at him.
She had never killed before, but she had stabbed. And although she had heard some stories about people under All for One freaking out over their first kill and being needed to be eliminated due to not being able to handle the stress, she was confident she wouldn't be that type of person. After all weapons didn't have emotions like guilt.
"You were making enough noise with your feet that I could pick up on it, but you were obviously trying to sneak, and it got me thinking…" Shoji continued.
She started to pull out her mirror.
"Our quirks are actually pretty compatible, you know?" Shoji finally said. "Your invisibility forces me to use the best of my detection abilities, and my detection abilities forces you to get better at your sneaking abilities. And I was wondering…Well, if you maybe wanted to train together."
Toru blinked. She stopped pulling her mirror out. She wasn't expecting that.
"Huh?" She said blankly.
"I know a lot of people in our class think that they've finally made it into UA and the teachers will help them get their quirks up to the level of being a pro hero but I just couldn't pass up on this opportunity." Shoji admitted. "And I'm sorry if I'm being too forward. I've never asked anyone, girl or not, to be my training partner. And I honestly don't know if UA does anything like this of allowing their students to pair up as training partners or something. I think if they had an official sign up sheet to be paired up together it would bring about too many biases towards working with a certain type of person or something. Which isn't something that's good for a hero since they need to be able to work with all types." More mouths were appearing on Shoji's tentacles as if to say each line, and because he was a little frantic.
"But…?" Toru was waiting for a but.
"But us mutant type quirks have to stick together, you know?" Shoji's eyes twinkled again. "A lot of the non-mutant type quirk students don't really understand…Being judged for looking like you do, or being unable to do certain things. I heard Ojiro the other day complain about the sit ups competition because he couldn't even do it. And it just makes me want to stick up for all the mutant type quirk people who have a harder time than everyone else." Shoji pumped his fist. "That may make me biased as a hero, but I want to work with you, Hagakure. To better train myself. Our quirks do complement each other greatly and I think it would be a good benefit."
Toru thought for a moment very visibly thinking. "I hear what you're saying, I do, but…" Wouldn't this be a waste of time of my mission, training with Shoji? There's less time to sneak around if I do this. Not only that but if he gets better am I confident enough I can remain invisible to his detection? "I don't really want to train together in secret if UA doesn't support it."
He nodded, thinking for a moment. "What if I got approval from Aizawa to use the gym once a week after school? Then it would give us a little bit of edge but wouldn't make us 'official training partners' and wouldn't risk creating a sort of situation where we couldn't cooperate with anyone else? And of course, in class exercises and stuff I wouldn't pair off with you, we'd both work with others that didn't complement our quirks and were more out there?"
With that logic it's a lot harder to reject him. Toru frowned. But I suppose I could use him too. If I started a close friendship with Shoji and asked him questions or something casually about what someone was saying I'm sure he wouldn't suspect anything and would tell me immediately. Not only that but his quirk does complement mine and training together would ensure that I always know how much he's progressed in his quirk and ensure I don't get rusty. She grinned. "Well then, why not! If you get approval to use the gym from Aizawa on Sunday when we're off school I'd be happy to train with you!" She stuck out her hand to shake his.
Despite not having a visible mouth all the time it was obvious Shoji was beaming. By the way his fingers trembled a little when he shook Toru's much tinier hand it was clear he hadn't actually thought that this would work. "I will! I'm glad to have you as my training partner, Hagakure. Thank you for agreeing to my plan." He tried to say it a little more casually.
"No problem! After all your logic was right. And I honestly did want to become better friends with you since we sit next to each other and all." Toru waved her arms excitedly so he could know how she was feeling. This is good in more ways than one. A lot of the people in this class I'm sure have been keeping their true power under wraps or their weaknesses. I can perfectly create an environment where Shoji shows me all of his skills and trusts me completely if we're training partners. Not only that it gives me a public excuse to go to UA on our day off. Toru rubbed her hands together excitedly.
"Oh…Um…Though could you keep this arrangement rather quiet? I suppose you can tell Ashido if you want too, since you two are really good friends it seems but I mean…Don't tell any of the guys in class." Shoji requested.
"I'll keep it a secret!" That worked out for her too. "But I gotta ask, why?"
Shoji looked flustered for a moment. "I worry the guys would be jealous of me if I was training with a girl in secret. And well…I don't want any of them to show up unexpectantly and interrupt our training."
Ah. Mineta. Toru realized. That made sense. She doubted any of the guys would be jealous of Shoji getting private time with Toru but he was a lot more self-conscious than she gave him credit for. Still, she didn't want anyone showing up expectantly either. "My lips are sealed!"
Shoji relaxed. "Good. I'll go ask Aizawa's permission then. See ya." He waved.
And with that he rushed off.
Toru's public cell phone buzzed. She had given her number to as many people as she could to form good bonds. She opened it and saw a picture of Mina and Tsuyu posing with Sato.
"He doesn't have any chemical burns and liked the chocolate!" She was showing a peace sign. "He also says thanks for the best wishes!"
Toru wrote back. "That's great news! I knew you could do it."
"What did Shoji want?" Mina asked.
"To talk about our quirks and something else, but it's a secret." Toru wrote.
"OOOH. Toru getting her first confession publicly!" Mina teased.
"Mina, it's probably something to do with training super moves or something. We are in a hero course and some people do keep their power a secret to get the edge on competition." Tsuyu responded in the group chat.
She's observant, and quick witted. I should watch out for Tsuyu. Toru decided.
"No hints, Tsuyu! 0-0" Toru sent a shocked face to confirm it was that and not something else.
Tsuyu sent a frog emoji and with that conversation was over.
Toru smiled to herself. She was glad she was already forming such close bonds with people. Was it because they were all in the hero course together and knew they had to defend one another when the going got tough? Possibly. But she liked to think it was because heroes were gullible.
They would never ever suspect her.
The next day the Mass Media was crowded around the school gate. People with phones, cameras, microphones and interview pads were all clamoring for a way into UA.
"How do you feel about All Might teaching at UA?" The interviewers would ask each hero student as they passed.
Jiro pulled up the collar of her clothes. "Are you even allowed to ask these questions? And let me in! I gotta get to class!" She was clearly annoyed, her earjacks floated in the air as if considering jamming them into an interviewer's eyeball.
Mina tried a different approach when the interviewers got to her. She decided to answer the question in hope that they'd let her pass. "It's great! Really cool. I mean I didn't think he would teach at UA but he's a pretty good and strict teacher. He doesn't take the carrot and stick approach like our homeroom teacher." She was allowed to pass easily enough.
Yaoyorozu however, crossed her arms when she tried to get in. "You know, I think it's not dignified to mob 15-year-olds trying to get into class. A lot of us are in a rush and due to being adolescence we might give answers that don't befit UA due to rash thinking. We haven't gone through any interviewing courses yet after all. And I think it's pretty skeevy of the mass media to take advantage of our lack of experience and make it impossible to get into our school without encountering them." She lectured.
The cameras were eating this up. Yaoyorozu was unaware they were in fact filming and interviewing her based on her lecture. "Uh huh. That is very true." A female interviewer nodded. "And tell me, do you think All Might supports us due to being a huge symbol in the media or do you think All Might would denounce us talking to his students too?"
Yaoyorozu was caught off guard by that question. The media was very important to All Might's rise as a symbol of peace. "I…I suppose he would support the media showing how caring he is towards his students…"
The female reporter grinned, having got what she wanted. "He must be a very kind teacher who looks out for everyone's wellbeing." She looked directly at the camera. "You heard it here, folks! All Might supports interviewing UA students."
Yaoyorozu fumbled and ran past realizing she had messed up and they had caught her.
Toru on the other hand smiled when she saw the Mass Media in front of UA's gates. The day Master told me about is upon me. Finally, she'd start being useful to the league of villains again.
She briefly looked around to see if Shigaraki had arrived in the crowd yet. There was no sign of him.
I suppose I should go gather some more information first before meeting up with Shigaraki. And with that she walked past the mass media. None of them seemed to even notice her walk by, nor did they mob her.
Toru entered her classroom and sneezed.
"Bless you!" Aoyama yelled across the room, having seen her sneeze.
It didn't seem it was yet time for class and Jiro was loudly complaining about the reporters.
"They mobbed me and wouldn't let me past until I answered they're questions! I swear I almost stabbed one in the eye! They were so annoying!" Jiro complained.
"You should have just answered their questions and been done with it. That's what I did." Sero advised.
Toru sat down and took a handkerchief and wiped at her hair. She then started coughing badly.
Jiro stopped her complaints and looked over. "Are you all right, Hagakure?"
"Yeah!" Toru replied, "I'm fine! I'm just feeling a little under the weather…"
"Did the mass media mob you bad too?" Mina asked from across the room. "If they stressed you out or something…"
"Nah, they didn't mob me." Toru replied. "In fact, they didn't even notice me."
"Lucky…" Jiro rested her head on her desk.
"They didn't notice me so much that one guy sneezed on me. It was so gross." She continued wiping at the top of her head to play up the gross angle.
"NO WAY." Jiro stood up in her seat. "That's disgusting! And he didn't cover his nose or anything? Oh gods…And I thought I had a bad experience with the mass media."
Toru smiled. The seeds of her sickness were starting to be planted.
"That is truly deplorable." Yaoyorozu shook her head. "If you wish for their treatment of you to be reported to Aizawa I'd be happy to oblige. After all they could have gotten you seriously sick!" She seemed to have her own personal grievances that were coloring her biases, but she was trying to care.
"No, no I'm fine." Toru shook her hands. She then started coughing again.
Shoji sent her a look of concern since he was the seat next to her.
"Toru. If you're sick you should go to the Nurses' office." Tsuyu advised. "After all you don't want to push yourself and then get even sicker."
"It could be anything!" Toru tried to defend. "I could have caught a bug earlier yesterday. Like maybe I ate something bad or something... I was feeling a little bit chilly after the exam yesterday." She started shivering as if to illustrate her point.
That got Todoroki to look up.
"I mean, you can easily get sick from being exposed to extreme cold…And you were n-naked in your exam…" Jiro pointed out.
Most of the girls now shot Todoroki a small glare, because they knew exactly who had gotten Toru sick if that was the case.
Todoroki buried himself in a book pretending not to listen.
"He should have gone a little easier on a girl if he was going to get her seriously ill…." Kaminari muttered to himself.
"Do you want me to walk you to the nurse's office, Toru?" Yaoyorozu asked. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"
Toru nodded. "I'm gonna be fine. It's not like I got a serious flu or something." She coughed again. "And it's not like I'm seriously nauseous."
Sero raised an eyebrow. "Seriously nauseous? So, you are nauseous."
"Don't throw up in here!" Kirishima advised. "If you accidentally got any on Bakugo behind you…Well…."
Everybody knew Bakugo would explode.
"I'll be fine." Toru said again and then had another fake coughing fit, very visibly shaking. She pulled her coat tighter as if to illustrate how cold she was.
Nobody believed that she could 'tough it out'.
"It's okay to take breaks…Maybe you should go home early." Mina advised.
Toru shook her head, "I'm gonna stick it out as long as possible!"
After Aizawa walked into the classroom he started his morning lectures talking about how he had reviewed the footage of their fights.
"Lots of injuries I saw. Midoriya, blowing up your own arms to achieve victory is no good." He scolded.
Midoriya started sweating, called out.
Aizawa then turned a page in one of his manuals. "Now, we have something we have to do for homeroom."
Everybody hung onto his every word.
"We need to elect a class representative."
"SOMETHING NORMAL?" Everyone seemed shocked.
Hand after hand raised trying to volunteer for the position. Everyone seemed to want to do it.
This is good. While they're so distracted, I can leave. And she had an excuse now.
She got up as Iida was lecturing about how they should have an election to decide the position.
"I don't care what you do as long as you do it by the time homeroom ends." Aizawa was zipping up his sleeping bag and about to nod off as he saw Toru rush past him and struggle to open the door.
He hopped over in his sleeping bag as the class argued over how this election would be held. "There will be no leaving homeroom—"
"I'm about to throw up, Aizawa. My face is turning green and my stomach is doing spins…" Toru put her hand on her mouth and fake gagged.
Aizawa's eyes opened larger. "If you were ill you shouldn't have come to school—"
Toru opened the doorknob finally, still hand on her stomach and one over her mouth. "I know…I know…But I just…I thought heroes were supposed to push themselves! Plus Ultra, you know?" She whispered.
Aizawa sighed. "How many of my students believe injuring themselves is in their best interests? Go. If you manage to feel better you can come back to class. But I would seriously recommend against that." His gaze flickered to outside the window to the cameramen and reporters. "Actually, stay inside. We don't want any of our students to have to leave the premises alone with them outside. We don't want them to catch a sick student and not let them leave."
"Thanks!" Toru yelled as she bolted for the bathroom.
"She…Won't get to take part in the election, I suppose." Aizawa sighed. None of the students seemed to notice, too excited about being the class representative.
"Can someone take notes for Toru if she misses her morning classes?" Aizawa asked his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the chaos.
"I can." Tsuyu offered. "Poor Toru…I can't believe the mass media got her sick…"
"Excuse me?" Aizawa asked.
"They sneezed on her from what I heard." Tsuyu revealed. "Apparently they didn't see she was there. It's really unfortunate."
Aizawa's eyes got bloodshot as he seemed to seriously consider going down there and yelling out the mass media. He sighed though and pulled his sleeping bag tighter. Could have been anything that got her sick. Could have been Todoroki yesterday. He decided and let his students continue their chaos.
They fell for it. Hook line and sinker. Toru grinned to herself. Her fake sick act had completely bamboozled the heroes. She ran into the bathroom and crouched like she seriously was vomiting into the toilet.
After a moment of listening and waiting, she realized the bathrooms were empty. She locked her stall door and undressed. Taking a deep breath she then parkoured herself over the bathroom door and walked away towards the teachers' lounge.
She had some information to gather.
It was easy enough to get into the Teacher's offices. They were always coming in and out. She paused for a moment as she got in, scanning the room quickly for Hound Dog.
He was not there. Midnight, Cementoss, Snipe and Thirteen seemed to be in the offices today. Midnight kept yawning and stretching as she went over final things for her class.
Toru did what she had been practicing and sat down quietly in the corner. And then she just listened to the teachers converse.
"All Might's pretty lucky that he didn't come in today." Snipe muttered. "He would have drowned in reporters and never made his way into school."
"I'm sure he would have just hopped over the gate or something and fully avoided all of them." Midnight shrugged.
"Even All Might can't do that." Cementoss pointed out. "UA has a grade A security system. It will cover the roof of UA with a metal guard if there's even a chance of a security breach by jumping the gate."
And that pride in that Grade A security system is what I'm going to fully exploit. Toru smiled. Their infrared security system relied on the infrared lights working. If she just changed the sensitivity of the gate to not detect people as "bright" anymore or turned the whole thing off all together UA's gates wouldn't seal themselves shut at all.
"When is All Might coming to school again?" Midnight yawned. "I mean he's a great guy and all but I'm sure you're all hoping that the Mass Media isn't still here when he arrives again or else, he'd be trapped in a vortex of answering interview questions."
"I believe he's been scheduled to come at the end of the week…He's got an exercise for class 1-A." Cementoss answered.
"Yeah! That's actually my exercise that I've prepared." Thirteen boasted. "Aizawa, me and All Might will be going to USJ, my unforeseen simulation joint." They sounded very proud of themselves. "I've been planning the rescue training for the new 1-A for weeks now. Although I wasn't sure who would be in it."
"What about 1-B?" Snipe asked.
"They'll be coming to USJ too next week, but not with All Might. For some reason, All Might's taken special interest in 1-A and is placed as one of their teachers." Thirteen replied.
"And USJ will be safe for the students after only one week of hero training?" Cementoss asked.
Thirteen nodded. "Nobody should be able to get in. It's heavily defended. Anyone not authorized in will trigger the infrared light sensors and start the alarms which will instantly reach all of you teachers. And of course, USJ has a gate that can form around it just like UA. Aizawa, me and All Might can keep the students safe besides that."
Their pride will be the end of them. Toru thought to herself. They hadn't even considered the fact that villains were interested in targeting All Might and there were more quirks than 'I run fast.' Like there was a warp gate or teleportation quirk that villains might have access too.
Toru listened for a bit longer to get precise details on the location and Thirteen's planned exercise. Soon enough it was almost noon, about 20 minutes away from lunch.
Toru got up knowing she had gathered enough information and walked out with the next person who was leaving the room. She then easily walked down the stairs and out of school.
When she was outside she noticed the reporters still hadn't given up. A few of them had decided to try to use their quirks to try to charge at the school gate as if hoping it wouldn't be tripped this time. They always splattered against the metal walls even if they were running fast or trying to punch it hard.
Toru walked up to the gate looking at the big red light in the middle of the archway. She then raised her hand, although nobody could see her and concentrated on the lights working the gate. She snapped her fingers, and the big red light signifying UA's gates were working powered down.
The reporters and cameramen were settling into drinking some tea and sitting down for an early lunch as they watched the school.
They'll realize soon enough the gate won't trigger again. Toru smiled and walked past their little picnics.
Once she was out of UA she quickly looked around for Shigaraki.
Shigaraki was standing at the back rather awkwardly in a dark black shirt. She ran up to meet him.
"You couldn't wear a hoodie or something to hide your face?" She scolded. "What if some cameras get you on them?" She put her hands to the side.
Shigaraki's eyes glimmered as he realized who had finally found him. "To-" He stopped, realizing that the plan relied on the fact that if he would talk it was only to 'himself.' Toru's identity couldn't be revealed. "Took you long enough." He mumbled under his breath.
"I was gathering information and found our in." Toru whispered and walked over to his side.
Shigaraki sighed and motioned for them to take a walk farther away from UA so they could talk more openly.
None of the Mass Media seemed to find it suspicious that a looky-loo was leaving the scene and Shigaraki walked away far enough for them to not be overheard.
UA had a big forest next to the school that they boasted of being wildlife safe and 'taking in the nature' that not many of their students or faculty actually hung around in and that's where Shigaraki and Toru headed.
Once they were out of sight, Shigaraki untied a jacket on his side, carefully not touching it with his fingers.
"Oh? You going to take my advice on wearing a hoodie?" Toru asked.
"I'd never take your advice. You're our information gathering tool, not a planner like Master is." Shigaraki hissed. He then handed the jacket over. "Here."
Toru took it, confused. "Do…Do you need help getting into it?"
Shigaraki scowled. "You get panic attacks sometimes when you're naked if you don't do your whole 'I'm not a person, I'm a tool' mantra, right? Well since we're out of the line of anyone's sight now you don't have to be naked."
Toru took the jacket and quickly put it on. It was a lot warmer than being naked. "I…I wasn't aware you were observing me so closely. I suppose I should work on being less noticeable…"
Shigaraki glared. "I'm not. I just think it would suck for our mission being put in jeopardy just cuz you had a panic attack now that we're alone and you could afford to have one. Also, I think it's weird that someone's in the nude near me all the time."
Toru nodded. Most people did find it weird after all. I wasn't aware Shigaraki even cared about my anxiety though…Why is he being so nice to me? It made her slightly suspicious.
"Well? We don't have all day. What did you learn?" Shigaraki asked.
Toru pulled herself out of her thoughts. "All Might should be attending a practical exercise for class 1-A at the end of the week. It will be in USJ and thirteen, Eraserhead and All Might will be the only pro heroes attending."
Shigaraki was chewing on his nail. He was obviously quite anxious without his many hands as well. But he grinned at that news. "Pro heroes really are filled with way too much confidence. Yes..Yess this is exactly what we've been looking for. I'll obtain a Nomu from Master and the league and attack immediately." He cackled to himself.
Toru waited for his laughing to be over.
"What is USJ though?" Shigaraki asked, realizing he didn't have the info.
"I've got the location. It's a rescue training simulation dome made specifically for heroes in training." Toru revealed and recited the location.
Shigaraki grinned again. "Good, we'll be able to kill All Might will all this information. And then when All Might is dead you won't have to be in that pro hero school anymore."
Toru tilted her head slightly. She was a little doubtful that Shigaraki could kill All Might on his first try. All for One seemed doubtful too, but she wasn't going to say that out loud. "Shouldn't I remain after All Might is removed as the symbol of peace to gain further information on pro heroes we need to defeat?"
Shigaraki looked visibly angry. "I told you I was never in favor of this whole hero spy thing." He chewed more and more on his fingernail. "You should get out of there as soon as possible before the heroes turn you into one of them and you betray us."
Toru bowed in her little jacket. "I will never betray the league of villains. Shigaraki, you have to believe me."
He glared at her again, fully not trusting her.
It was that lack of trust and sometimes jealousy Shigaraki had for her that could make her never fully get along with him.
"I'm…I'm not like the rest of you, Shigaraki. I don't have desires or emotions. I am a tool for Master's plans, and thus your plans as well. I won't ever want to be a hero because I never want anything." Toru insisted.
Shigaraki looked disgusted at her admittance of the lack of humanhood or emotion in Toru. "I'm not even sure why master chose to send you in. How's someone with an invisibility quirk supposed to pass those exams?"
Why do you know about UA's exams? Toru found herself asking. "I pass them easily enough. The heroes all rely on over confidence when designing their exams that only power can pass them instead of intelligence." She shook her head.
Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. He glanced at his watch. "We should be heading back. We need to get you back inside the school I'm assuming before those heroes discover the gates been messed with."
Toru nodded. But then she paused for a second. "Did you ever want to be a hero Shigaraki? Is that why you're so scared they'll turn me?" She finally asked the question that was on her mind.
Shigaraki's eyes widened as if to admit that Toru had actually hit the nail on the head. His hand then leaped out and grabbed Toru's neck, which he was easily able to see thanks to the jacket. One finger was up as if to show her that if he put one more finger down she'd be dead. "Do you think if I disintegrated you I'd be able to see it? Or would nobody ever notice?"
Toru didn't shiver from being moments away from her death. From what she had seen many people reacted this way when someone knew too much. She didn't even accelerate her breathing. "I think nobody would see the disintegration." She said simply. "Well? Are you going to do it?" She said calmly.
Shigaraki looked at what he assumed was her face. He then pulled his hand away from her neck. He couldn't even see a bruise because he couldn't see anything. "You weren't joking about having no emotions. Why is it that your own exposure is the only thing that scares you instead of being moments away death?"
"I'm a girl." Toru said simply.
"I thought you were a tool." Shigaraki countered.
"There are things worse than death. And from observing many humans for a long time I've seen the way some men treat women if their bodies are exposed even a little bit. Not only that but I like the protection that clothing offers me, even if I can rarely wear it." Toru had no reason to hide anything from Shigaraki. After all, according to All for One he might someday be her master.
Shigaraki gave her a moment of pity. A small look. But he didn't apologize. He never apologized when something ticked him off and he either killed it or almost killed it. "Don't ever ask me that question again." He finally said and hissed harshly.
"I understand." Toru nodded.
And with that Shigaraki gestured for her to follow him back to UA.
"I'm going to destroy the gate." He told her as they walked. "So that the heroes don't realize you tampered with their infrared security."
"Won't that reveal we were here?" Toru asked.
Shigaraki nodded. "They should already know something happened to let the media on campus. And I like scaring those hero jerks. Consider it my declaration of war to them."
As soon as they were close to out of the forest, Toru took off the jacket that had been loaned to her so she could become fully invisible again. "Put it on so that they can't see your face."
"Can't you just make all the security cameras have a big flash of white or something? You can do that, right, with your quirk?" Shigaraki asked.
"I can and was planning too, but…You don't want to run into someone who might be able to recognize you." Toru reminded.
"I bet what you're actually saying is I'm ugly and you don't want people to see my face." Shigaraki harshly teased.
"No, no!" Toru shook her head. "I just think it's in your best interest—"
He tied the jacket to his waist again not actually putting it on or listening to Toru. "I don't want to wear something that touched your naked body."
Toru's complaints were silenced.
They walked in silence back. Nobody was around the actual gate anymore, although the entrance to the school itself seemed to be crowded with people. She heard Present Mic yell "BACK OFF" but he seemed to be too far away to see them so he was definitely talking to the crowd of reporters.
Again, she triggered the security cameras to give a big burst of white.
"Turn the gate on so I can destroy it." Shigaraki whispered.
Toru did as she was told and got the infrared signal going again. Shigaraki moved forward and as the gate closed he quickly put his two hands on either side.
The gate crumbled away, completely destroyed. And the best part was despite the loud noise of the gate being triggered nobody could actually hear it because the reporters and Present Mic were so loud.
Toru gave Shigaraki a nod although he couldn't see and ran off to get hopefully back to class.
She hadn't planned how to get back inside the building. And it seemed like the Mass Media were at every entrance, along with Aizawa and Present Mic loyally guarding the doors.
Am I going to have to scale the building? Toru wondered. She needed to get back soon or else Aizawa might send another girl to the bathroom to check on her.
She looked at the left side of the building. There were no windows open. It looked like from the third story people's faces were pressed up against the window as if they were crowding. Likely everyone from lunch had panicked after a security breach.
She looked around carefully. She was so preoccupied she didn't realize when she was approaching another student, outside. She stopped herself before she bumped into her, taking a great leap backwards to put some space between them.
Her startled action was loud enough that the student, Mei seemed to pick up on it.
"Invisible girl?" She asked to the air. She tapped her own ears. "Maybe I need a hearing zooming quirk. Or some headphones that expanded on sounds and replayed them. That would be very cool."
Toru knelt in the grass very carefully and as still as possible. She couldn't be discovered.
"Hmm…Maybe it was nothing…" Mei fumbled.
Toru felt herself ease up a little. That was close…But why is she outside anyway? Shouldn't all the students be indoors because of a security breach? She tensed up.
Mei frowned and her eyes seemed to be looking closer and closer. She then grinned to herself. "There you are! I see a little bit of that grass blade bend. I knew you were out here too, Toru!" Mei pointed.
Toru looked down. She couldn't see the one grass blade that was slightly longer than others and she hadn't stood lightly enough with the palm of her foot to have it bend. It was probably at a ridiculously small level. Crap. I've been discovered. Should I play dumb?
Mei's personality would probably focus in on the fact that she was even able to be here and not discovered verses how suspicious it was for her to be out there at all. "Ah.. .You caught me, Mei. Sorry about that. I just didn't want to be caught."
Mei laughed. "I get you. Aizawa caught me and he's going to talk to Power loader about giving me detention!" She seemed horrified at this.
Should I ask why she was even out here? Or would she ask about me?
Mei seemed to have exactly what Toru didn't want, too much curiosity. Mei zoomed up to Toru as if to be eye to eye even though she didn't know where Toru's eyes were. "So why were you out here? Trying to get attention from the media too?"
"Is that why you were outside, Mei? Did you want to get attention from the media?" Toru asked.
Mei gave a low laugh. "Yeah, yeah you got me pegged good. I wanted to talk about my babies to the media. I knew that the gate wouldn't let me out though, so I sneaked out at lunch hoping to scale the gate with my climbing belt baby." She pointed at her belt which seemed to have little grappling hooks attached and a firm wire.
That wouldn't have worked for you, Mei. Toru thought remembering what the teachers had said about the gate closing if someone tried to jump it.
"When I got outside though the media was just wandering around freely! I thought, must be my lucky day so I went to talk to them but once they heard I was a support student they didn't want to hear anything I had to say." Mei's face froze for a second as if she was trying to show how devastating it was. "The media only wanted to hear from heroes in All Might's class."
"They missed a good opportunity to interview." Toru told her.
"I know!" Mei agreed shaking her head. "I guess my babies will have to become famous another day."
Toru briefly wondered if Mei would get so lost in her story she'd forget about her.
"So before I forget, were you also trying to nab an interview?" Mei asked.
"Ahahaha." Toru nervously laughed. "No. I was feeling sick earlier in the day and after puking my guts up I decided to go get some fresh air to see if that would make me feel any better. Just as I got out here the Mass Media started swarming and now Aizawa and Present Mic have the entrance blocked and I can't get back in—"
Mei nodded listening. "And I suppose you took your clothes off to sneak out because due to the media students aren't allowed outside right now to eat lunch or get fresh air." Mei nodded.
Crap. I forgot an excuse for why I was naked. "Yep." Toru said cheerily.
"Apparently they don't want the media to get shots of the students through the archway." Mei shrugged. "I'd be floundering around for some of that fame though if it was me." She looked back at Toru, "But man, that's some awful luck! And you're sick and all…" She thought for a moment. "Why don't I help you back into the school? Since I'm supposed to get back in too although Aizawa didn't let me use the front doors."
Toru found herself having a sigh of relief. "That would be very appreciated. But how are we going to get in?"
Mei showed off her shoes and belt. "My belt of course! And I've got hover shoes as well! And a support class's favorite tool." She grinned and pulled out a shiny screwdriver. "I'll open a window with this!" She posed as if waiting for Toru's praise.
"Wow!" Toru clapped praising her on cue. "But how am I supposed to get in? You're the one with the belt and shoes." Toru reminded.
Mei paused for a second and froze thinking that over. "Well….I suppose you'll have to hold onto me as we scale the wall…" She turned slightly pink but slapped her cheeks to keep the blush away.
Toru stared blankly. Oh…Oh…I'm naked. Touching people when she was naked was usually the only thing that snapped her out of her 'I'm a tool' attitude and gave her an instant panic attack. It was gross to have the fear of accidentally being groped and the vulnerability was just way too much for her.
For some reason though her anxiety wasn't being triggered by the idea of hanging onto Mei. Instead, a fake flush was on her cheeks too. Why…Isn't the disgust happening? Toru wondered. Her stomach would be turning over herself usually at this point. Is it because Mei's another girl? Have I misinterpreted my own fear wrong this entire time and it's not the nudity itself I'm afraid of but men touching me?
It could be that. During her infiltration work she'd never run into a girl her age accidentally. But perhaps it was something deeper. Her fear still triggered around older woman.
I don't feel weird when Master pats my head though…Toru reminded herself. He had been the one who had saved her from a life of solitude.
Could it be that some people just didn't trigger her fear?
That doesn't make sense. I don't know Mei well enough to feel safe around her. And although she's not a hero and thus not my enemy she still goes to a hero school. Mostly curious for herself she approached Mei and put her arms around her back and neck, draping herself around her waist.
Mei paused for a second waiting for Toru to be secure before fiddling with her belt. Her cheeks were becoming slightly more pink to match the color of her hair.
Toru waited for the fear to trigger, but it didn't seem to. Instead, curiosity as to why nothing was happening entered Toru's thoughts. "Hopefully I don't get you sick. I might be infectious after all." Toru lied.
"I'm sure it will be fine!" Mei said. She then pressed a button on her belt and her wire shot up towards latching onto the outer layer of a window. "Hold on tight, Toru. Um.. Can I hold onto you so you won't fall?" Mei's face was flushing a little more.
Toru chuckled. Maybe that's the difference. Mei's the only person who's ever asked permission to touch me. It felt nice to be asked instead of just bumped into. "You can. My waist is a little lower than your waist. I think you're a little taller than me."
Mei nodded and reached over, reaching the air.
"I'm skinnier than that." Toru replied. "Here. Let me help." She took her arm off of around Mei's shoulders and grabbed Mei's hand and led them to her waist.
Mei pulled her slightly closer.
"Sorry. I didn't want to actually touch your butt. Not that there's anything wrong with your butt it's just that I have big gloves on and being accidentally groped by big gloves or like anything isn't fun I'm sure!" Mei was rambling. The big gloves didn't seem to do with anything but she was clearly flustered. Which was fair. It wasn't everyday you had a naked girl hanging onto you.
Toru found herself chuckling a little.
Mei put that out of her mind and hit a button on her belt to have them start being pulled up. She held on a little tighter as if to ensure Toru wouldn't fall, not quite sure if she'd be able to see if she did.
They got to the second story window and Mei pulled out her screwdriver with her other hand and undid the window so the two of them could slip in.
"Can you not tell anyone I was out there? I don't really want detention too..." Toru asked, pretending to sound shy once they were on firm ground and she was able to detach herself from Mei.
"No problem. I understand the desire of no detention." Mei gave her a thumbs up. "You better head over to the bathroom now to get your clothes. Did the fresh air make you feel better?"
Toru had never been sick, but now she wasn't so sure. Her heart was beating a lot more rapidly and her stomach now felt a little woozy. It didn't feel the same as anxiety though. It wasn't as intense. "A little!" She lied, "I think I can attend class again."
Mei smiled, sweeping some hair out of her eyes but looking kind of at the ground as if trying to avoid eye contact with Toru even though she knew she never could know if she had it in the first place. "That's good. Get well soon!" She tried to sound as casual as possible.
Toru waved at her. "Thank you for the ride!" She said honestly.
And with that she ran back off to the bathroom.
She made it back to Aizawa's class after lunch finally ended.
"I'm feeling much better!" She said aloud. "I guess it wasn't the sneezing or anything else. I think I ate some rancid chicken for dinner or something because now that my stomach is finally empty I'm all better."
"TMI." Kaminari said aloud as Toru found her seat.
"I was wondering if you had decided to go to the nurses office or something." Aizawa muttered.
"What happened while I was gone?" Toru asked Jiro and Shoji her nearest desk mates who might explain things to her.
"A mess." Jiro muttered. "Did you hear the security alarms? The Mass Media broke into UA during lunch."
"Midoriya was elected class president with Yaoyorozu being vice president." Shoji explained.
"Awww bummer…I wanted to be president." Toru complained. "But I guess I can't do anything about being sick." She shrugged.
Midoriya was at the front of the room looking very nervous. "Actually…I think Iida should be class president. He was the one who acted calm and collected in the face of an emergency."
"I don't care who's class president as long as you sort it out yourselves." Aizawa mumbled.
And with that a lot of the class agreed Iida should be class president and the torch was passed.
Toru wasn't exactly sure how Midoriya had been voted in but he didn't have much public speaking skills so this seemed to make more sense. Still, she was glad that her class seemed more preoccupied towards petty things instead of the fact that there had been a break in.
Her spy work was going well.
Sorry this chapter was so long!
Okay some things to note: I wanted to really touch on the fact that so many girls have to expose their bodies for their quirks. Momo, Toru and Toga being a few I can think of off the top of my head. This would be fine if people like Mineta weren't clearly running rampant in society/a lot of the adults don't see this as a problem considering Recovery girl says being popular with girls is a valid goal for Mineta to have to be a hero? When he treats so many ladies so grossly. So I want to really touch on the sexism hero girls/people with unusual quirks face in this society. (Special mention to Mirio who is the only naked hero dude I can think of off the top of my head, bless his heart. There's probably more though)
Also in the summary I have changed Mei off of being a major character. I'm like 22 chapters into my rough draft and she just hasn't had as many chances as I thought I could have to use her. The main pairing is still Mei/Toru but she's gonna be less of a major character (the Ochako of this story as you will, since Todoroki and Bakugo seem a lot more major than Ochako in the real bnha)
Thanks for reading.