The Rumor Mill was beginning to churn that Aizawa would return from the hospital soon. After seeing his broken and battered body it felt like everyone in UA was trying to quickly push USJ behind them.
Did such a huge villain attack really only warrant a few days of thought? Toru wondered. If so they had really messed up.
Did they really all push it out of their heads so quickly? Toru wondered. She had managed to avoid regular trips to see Hound Dog but she had heard Mina and Tsuyu hadn't been so lucky. Although they don't regard seeing Hound Dog nearly as bad as I think of it. They say it's a "healthy and necessary step for their future as a hero."
Toru sat at her seat and decided to probe the people around her to see how much of a reaction they had to the villains. Heroes more susceptible to fear would be useful for Shigaraki and All for One to know about after all.
"Hey, hey, did you see the news?" Toru said trying to make some light chatter to the people around her. "They ran a story on USJ and you could see everyone in Class 1-A for a split second!" She said cheerfully trying to gauge the reaction of people around her.
Shoji, Ojiro, Aoyama and Jiro seemed to be listening closely quite interested in what Toru was saying. She noticed Mina staring at the wall, not quite listening, Tsuyu jumped a little at the mention of USJ. Bakugo seated behind Toru wasn't listening at all.
"I didn't stand out at all." Toru sighed, pretending to be bummed out.
Shoji nodded. "That's true." He agreed.
Ojiro looked horrified that Shoji had admitted that. "It's…kinda hard to stand out looking…like you do." He admitted reluctantly.
Toru smiled to herself. So, my classmates didn't even notice me on TV either. That was good. News reporters were constantly gathering information and it seemed Toru was not built for the cameras which worked in her favor.
"But man, all the channels made a big deal of the attack!" Kaminari seemed to take the bait, further talking about USJ.
"I was surprised." Kirishima agreed.
"Can you blame them? The hero course that keeps pumping out pro heroes was attacked." Jiro was twirling her earphone jack.
Everybody seemed to be talking about it like it was Yesterday's News now. Laughing, smiling, like it was no big deal. All except Tsuyu that is, who's face seemed grim.
Well, that does make sense. She's probably the only one who almost died. Toru recalled. Perhaps she'd make an easier target for the villains in the future then.
"Can you imagine what would have happened to us if the teachers didn't come when they did?" Sero asked, talking about it so casually.
"Stop it, Sero!" It was Mineta that screamed, "Just thinking about that whole thing makes me almost wet myself-"
"Shut up, Scum. Be quiet." Finally, Bakugo said something useful and started chiding Mineta.
Iida ran to the front of the classroom. "Everyone, can't you see class is about to start? Get to your seats and be quiet."
"You're the only one not in your seat." Sero pointed out.
Iida quickly ran to his seat embarrassed.
The door was shoved open and Aizawa walked inside, covered with so many bandages he looked like a mummy. Toru doubted he could see.
"You're too much of a pro!" Kaminari yelled.
"Shouldn't you be in bed resting?" Uraraka asked.
"My wellbeing doesn't matter." Aizawa insisted.
None of the class looked like they believed him. But it was a testimony to his effort to try to teach while heavily injured.
Aizawa dragged himself up to the podium. "More importantly the fight is not yet over."
Many students perked up, some looked frightened like Mineta.
"The U.A sports festival draws near." Aizawa revealed.
Huh? Toru didn't seem to be the only one confused. Although most of her classmates seemed confused because it sounded like a normal school event.
Jiro asked the same question Toru was thinking. "Is it really okay to hold a sports festival when villains just snuck inside a UA facility?"
"What if they attack us again?" Ojiro asked.
"Apparently the principal sees it as our crisis management system being as solid as a rock by holding this event. It's a way to show villains we aren't afraid and easily shook off the attack. Security will be strengthened five times this year though." Aizawa explained.
Toru thought about this. Principal Nezu was one of the heroes I was told to not interact with as much as possible. He's one of the bigger threats to my identity as a traitor because his quirk apparently boosts his intelligence extremely. Usually, he's prone to better judgement than this.
Would it really show UA wasn't afraid? Or would it just show recklessness?
I don't…Think there are any planned villain attacks during the sports festival…Toru thought to herself. She had grown up watching the UA sports festival carefully because it seemed to be UA's stupidest way to showcase their growing heroes and their powers and weaknesses. It was a thing that All for One said was to be analyzed carefully because it showed off so many heroes weaknesses. Thus, he had prohibited any attacks during it. Because why shoot a gift horse in the mouth?
"Above all the UA sports festival is a big chance that shouldn't be canceled because of a few villains." Aizawa sounded determined.
He then went into a spiel about what the sports festival was in case some of the students there hadn't seen it; how everyone in the country watched the UA sports festival.
I can't help but feel that heroes should know that means villains watch it too. Not only that but now that I'm in a hero class I can't help but wonder why the UA sports festival is held three weeks after the year starts? Do heroes delight in seeing teenagers injured because they have minimal training? The more Toru had to pretend she was a part of hero society the more she felt pushed away from it because of some of their stupid decisions and rules.
"One chance a year…That means three chances in all. If you want to go Pro the UA sports festival is very important." Aizawa finished his speech.
A lot of the students, even though villains had attacked just days ago looked determined and excited.
I'm so glad I'm not actually trying to be a hero and aren't infected with this stupidity. Toru sighed. Maybe if she was actually trying, she'd understand how important this was to a future career but it just seemed boundless stupidity to her.
"You have two weeks to train. I'd suggest you train hard. All Might and I will run some special sports festival type exercises to try to prepare you in the meantime, but we can't fully prepare you for some of the more unique events. You'll have to use your own brains for those." Aizawa instructed. "So, don't slack off on your preparations!"
With that Homeroom was dismissed and the students had to go about their more normal classwork.
When it came time for lunch most of the students remained in the classroom to chat before heading off to the cafeteria. It seemed like USJ was completely out of most students minds and they now only could talk about the sports festival.
Toru knew she had to act the same way and just follow the crowd. I suppose my mind needs to be the same as all these other teenagers who become excited by the next shiny thing placed in front of them.
Toru chose Ojiro to chatter too, because she needed someone who was normal and wouldn't question her too much and would be kind to her excitement. Someone who's desk was close to hers. Shoji would have been a perfectly good chatter buddy too, but he seemed rather quiet compared to Ojiro and he'd point out the obvious like that Toru likely wouldn't stand out at the sports festival because of her invisible nature. Ojiro on the other hand cared about hurting people's feelings more and thus would be more careful when speaking the truth.
"I'm getting super excited now!" Toru chattered, shaking her arms. "I gotta figure out a way to really stand out!" In actuality, she had no plans to stand out. She knew she should just do average.
Toru then started cheering "Hip Hip Hooray!" and dancing as if to practice 'standing out'.
"The pros might not see you unless you really do something big out there…" Ojiro was careful when he tried to point this out to Toru.
Toru chose to continue her practice dance. And that's what I'm relying on. After all I don't want a pro to decide I'm someone they want to keep an eye on.
"Oh, what do I do?" Aoyama asked, "I stand out just by standing still!" He gasped at his fake problem. "So, the scouts won't be able to stop looking at me!"
Koda looked flustered as he tried to clean an eraser, standing next to Aoyama.
Toru looked around briefly as she danced, as if practicing how to stand out. All her classmates except one seemed visibly excited for the Sports Festival- Midoriya. He looked like his usual nervous self. She wouldn't have been able to guess by his nervous look that he would have tried to take Shigaraki on all by himself.
After Uraraka started screaming that she was going to do her best but in a very deep punk voice, people finally decided to stop chatting amongst themselves and headed to lunch.
Toru took her normal seat next to Mina and Tsuyu. She noticed Uraraka and Iida sitting down without Midoriya. They usually ate with him, I wonder where he went, she briefly thought to herself.
"I really gotta figure out a great training regimen for the sports festival! I want to at least get to the top 10." Mina was rolling her shoulder and exercising her arm. Tsuyu seemed to be trying to listen to her, but was a little bit out of it. She nodded again and again.
"What's your goal for the sports festival?" She asked both of them. "After all, Mr. Aizawa's right that this chance comes only comes three times! You gotta make a name for yourself quickly!"
"But worse comes to worse you can still make a big splash later on." Tsuyu pointed out. "There's been lots of students who did bad in the sports festival in their first years but did great in later years."
Mina nodded. "That's true but I want to be one of the students who the other students feel like they have to compete with. One of the greats!" She looked at the sky.
Hero society does put a heavy aspect on competition over important things like intent when it comes to rescue. When heroes are more worried about competing with each other for fame and money they miss important things like how stupid it is to advertise their powers in a televised sports festival. Toru kept eating her lunch thinking to herself.
"My goal I think is to just stand out! I want people to see me. Really see me. I don't want pros to be like "there was an invisible girl competing? Really?" Toru said aloud.
Mina and Tsuyu both gave her looks of pity.
"Does…That usually happen to you, Toru? That people don't notice you?" Mina asked a little worried.
Toru fake sighed. "Well on the USJ news program—" she saw Tsuyu wince. Clearly, she still had some huge trauma associated with it. "I could barely see myself. If I want to make it big as a pro, I need people to remember me and look at me! That's why my goal in the sports festival is not to beat everyone into a pulp but do things with flair!"
Mina gave her a forced smile. "I'm sure you'll be able to do that." It didn't look like Mina believed that, but she was thinking to herself as if trying to figure out how Toru could make it pro when nobody noticed her. "Maybe you need to up your movement? Dance moves? I'm good at dance, I could teach you! I saw you practicing in the classroom." Mina suggested trying real hard.
"I'd love to be taught!" Toru said enthusiastically. Focusing on just dancing in a hero competition instead of actually trying to beat anyone seemed perfect to her.
Mina grinned.
"What about you, Tsuyu? What's your goal for the sports festival?" Toru asked.
Tsuyu chewed on her food a little bit, thinking to herself. "I suppose it's to learn to work better with people I don't like."
"Huh?" Mina asked.
"I'm not really worried about making a name for myself since I know what kind of hero I want to be. I want to be a hero who can rescue people in floods or in the sea. Since I'm aiming for such a specific niche, I don't really have to market myself to pros." Tsuyu pointed out, not after the usual fame. "I'm sure the sports festival will have some collaborative events and I want to learn how to collaborate better with other people. After all heroes who work in rescue need to work with other heroes all the time."
"You don't need to work on that though, Tsuyu." Mina pointed out. "You're great at working with others!"
Tsuyu looked down. "In USJ I was stranded in the flood zone with Midoriya and Mineta—"
"He's the exception—" Mina grimaced.
Tsuyu shook her head. "In a life-or-death situation you don't get to choose who you work with. Midoriya made all the plans for us and saved our lives. If Midoriya wasn't there I'd have been stranded on my own with Mineta and forced to be the leader because he was too scared to do anything. I'd like to learn to work with all kinds of people, including Mineta. I need to learn to keep my calm around him."
Toru frowned. Tsuyu was pushing herself to work better with people like Mineta. From what Toru knew it was clearly because Tsuyu blamed herself for the danger they had been in when watching Shigaraki. She thought because she had tried to get Mineta off her boob when he groped her, she had given them away. And she believed the fault was on her, not Mineta.
It's too bad I can't tell her it wasn't her fault…But that would give away that I watched the whole thing. Mineta was clearly the one at fault. Toru had to pity people, just a little, who had to do mental gymnastics to blame themselves.
She took another bite of her lunch while Mina sent Tsuyu a look of pity. As they ate someone who didn't usually come to their table approached them.
"Could I sit here?" Todoroki asked.
Toru looked up. "Sure! We're friendly. We don't bite!"
"I never imagined the tough recommendation student would want to eat lunch with us." Mina gestured for Todoroki to pull up a seat. "Trying to make friends with three beautiful girls?" She posed.
Todoroki shook his head.
"You usually eat lunch on your own, don't you, Todoroki? Do you need something?" Tsuyu guessed.
Todoroki gave a small but simple nod. He then pointed at Toru. "I would like to talk to her."
Well, aren't I popular? First Shoji and now Todoroki. Toru found herself thinking. But a hint of worry had entered her mind. Todoroki hadn't spoken to her yet about USJ. Had he figured out she wasn't actually in the landslide zone?
"I'm done eating, how about we talk outside, where it's sunnier?" Toru asked hoping to get Todoroki alone. If he was suspicious of her it was better for him to not voice those suspicions to Tsuyu and Mina. That would make it so if Toru needed to eliminate him, she didn't have to eliminate Mina and Tsuyu too.
Mina giggled to herself. "You're sure popular with boys, Toru. I didn't expect a recommendation student to try courting you."
Todoroki looked at Mina like he didn't quite understand. "Hound Dog said I should speak to her. I am not taking her to a court. I don't play basketball."
Mina rolled her eyes since Todoroki didn't get it.
Now Toru was more worried since Todoroki said Hound Dog was involved.
"We should give them some privacy then." Tsuyu suggested, "Outside would be the best place to have a serious conversation." She agreed.
Todoroki nodded and followed Toru outside after she dropped off her tray.
Toru chose a spot to talk under some trees. It looked pretty but Toru could see it obscured other students' sight of them, blocking out the window to the cafeteria.
"We can talk here." She smiled, pulling Todoroki along.
Todoroki followed patiently.
She then waited under the trees. "So? What did you want to chat about?"
Todoroki breathed in and the air got colder. Little specks of ice surrounded his ice hand. "I wanted to talk about USJ…"
Toru narrowed her eyes. Her suspicions were confirmed. "Oh?" Perhaps she could deter his suspicions by forcing him to voice them aloud. Maybe Todoroki hearing his suspicions out loud would realize they were stupid.
Todoroki breathed again, deeply as if trying to think. "I…I always knew my fire side was dangerous. I was acutely aware of it. I've seen my father's flames up close and personal, and I know from a separate situation how painful a burn can be." Todoroki gestured to his scarred face.
Why is he going into his backstory? Is he trying to threaten me? Toru wondered.
"I'm not sure you're aware of this but I'm the son of Endeavor. The pro hero. And I've seen on the news how powerful his fire quirk is. When he trained me, he showed me how powerful his fire quirk was. I never wanted to be like him and be dangerous. That's why I don't use my fire quirk." Todoroki seemed to be struggling with his words, as if trying to figure out how much he should say about the situation with Endeavor.
I knew you were related to Endeavor. It's pretty obvious with the name Todoroki. Toru thought to herself. She could tell too, by the way Todoroki was struggling and the fear flashing in his eyes when talking about not being like Endeavor or how powerful fire was that Todoroki had faced some sort of huge abuse. It wasn't something she hadn't completely been unaware of because of various rumors she had heard on the streets.
These rumors ranged from "Endeavor beats up villains with excessive amounts of violence, as if he just wants to display his brute strength, that it wasn't suited of a 'hero'." Other rumors were more dark, they were whispers in the shadows as if to not make it into the public eye, like, "Did you hear Endeavor locked his wife up in a mental hospital. Did he abuse her so badly that she broke?" or "I heard that Endeavor's first son went missing. Do you think he killed him?"
Because of how serious some of these allegations were nobody spoke of them openly.
"What does your flame quirk have to do with me?" Toru asked the question on her mind. Was Todoroki going to awaken to his rage and threaten to use it on her?
"I thought my ice quirk was safe. I was proud of it because it was something my mother gave to me. But not once, but twice have I almost injured you with it." Todoroki's eyes were now wide, horrified.
Twice? Oh, is he talking about the combat exam and USJ? By the way Todoroki's eyes were watering it was clear that this conversation was not one based on suspicion. Toru relaxed. "It's all right! You weren't even close to nabbing me in the landslide zone!"
"But…I didn't even hear you or know you were there." Todoroki pointed out. "Yaoyorozu already pointed out that I could severely injure you with my quirk. And due to your hero costume, I could cause you extreme hypothermia. If I had been more aware of my surroundings, I wouldn't have risked your life so much…But I was momentarily distracted by the danger All Might was in that I forgot there was an invisible student in our class who could be near me."
Toru pat his shoulder. "It's all right! I can take care of myself. You should just focus on yourself instead of worrying about if I'm around you at every moment." She didn't need Todoroki to become hyper vigilante and paranoid about where she was.
Todoroki's eyes watered. "You're too kind. A simple apology won't make what I did right though. I was too confident in my ice quirk believing it couldn't heavily injure anyone. But if something went wrong…" He was struggling with his words. He took a deep breath as if to try to remind her how serious everything was. "I could have killed you, Hagakure. You can never take back a death. My father may be a monster, but he's never killed before. I could have been worse than him."
Todoroki looked like he was near tears, clearly remembering some deeply traumatic stuff. All Toru could do was weakly pat his back as he fell to his knees.
He clearly hasn't heard the rumors surrounding his father and his first son. Toru thought to herself. It would take a lot for Todoroki to be worse than Endeavor. "There, there. You're clearly more worked up about this than I am! I didn't even consider it, after all, Todoroki!"
Todoroki was shaking, having clearly considered the idea that he could have killed Toru a lot.
"Should…I give up being a hero? Is it really okay for someone like me who could kill at any moment to be a hero?" Todoroki asked. "How can I make it up to you? How can I ensure I don't hurt you again?"
Toru wondered if he was really seeing her when he looked up at her, or if he was projecting someone else that he believed he had hurt into her place. Considering his mother had gone 'mad' it could have been her.
I have to choose my words carefully to ensure he doesn't become hyper vigilante of me. She thought to herself. "If it's you, you can be a hero. After all, at least you're thinking about it and worried. I think a bad person wouldn't even worry about the almost death they could cause." She paused, trying to sound just chipper enough not to be insensitive. "Like….Hey, think of Bakugo. Do you think he would apologize to me if he almost blasted me?"
Todoroki thought for a moment and shook his head. "That's…That's also bad. Do you think he's going to blast you?"
"If he could remain a hero after that, can't you?" Toru pointed out, ignoring the possible inquiry of Bakugo probably someday exploding her in the future.
Todoroki was trying to think, unsure if her advice was good or bad.
"And you've already made it up to me by simply apologizing. I can worry about myself, Todoroki. There are all kinds of drawbacks to our various quirks and conditions, right? You must have something like that that you have to accommodate too. Mine is dodging allies' attacks and enemies because I'm constantly invisible. And I've gotten surprisingly good at accommodating it!" Toru revealed, giving him a leading question to try to reveal his weaknesses.
Todoroki thought for a moment. "I start freezing if I use too much ice. So, I guess you're right that we all have drawbacks…"
Toru hurriedly nodded, taking note of that very interesting weakness. He probably starts overheating with too much fire too. That must be why Endeavor wanted a half and half child to fully accommodate both those weaknesses. Todoroki was already so powerful, she had to make sure he didn't start using that fire too or else he'd be a big problem in the future. And she'd have to pass on to All for One Endeavor's big weakness as well.
"Your ice is pretty easy to dodge because it starts forming from you. And worst comes to worse I just get stuck in it. And if I got stuck in it you'd be able to notice me based on my foot prints." Toru used logic to calm him down. She visibly sighed. "I do have to admit though…I'm real lucky you don't use your fire quirk or at least didn't in the landslide zone! Because fire acts much quicker and is a lot harder for me to dodge. And when I get injuries or burns those things aren't visible."
Todoroki nodded, listening carefully. "So…In the end, my fire is more dangerous than my ice."
"I hate to say it but yes. So, you don't have to worry! You chose not to use your fire so I'm doing fine. The choices you made were important, Todoroki and made an impact. So, you didn't do anything bad to me!" She reassured him.
Todoroki let out a small smile of relief. He must have been slightly proud of himself for continuing to not use his fire quirk.
"And I forgive you." Toru nodded.
"Thank you. I'm sorry…for dragging you out here with my drama." Todoroki apologized and got up.
"It's all right." Toru gave him a peace sign that he couldn't see and grinned.
And with that she was confident Todoroki would never use his fire when she was around. She was glad she had defused the situation while figuring out Todoroki's weakness.
All in all, even though she had the sports festival to worry about, it had been a win.
I split this chapter into two as well. Please feel free to tell me if this doesn't work out. I felt in the original that having half the chapter focus on Todoroki and the other half focus on Kurogiri was too jarring.
I kind of want to eventually get into everyone in class A's relationship with Toru, but in my rough draft I've only really gotten into Mina, Todoroki, Momo, Iida, Ojiro, Jiro, Tsuyu Shoji and Bakugo (And technically Mineta). In the future though I'd love to explore other important characters relationships like Midoriya who I've been limiting purposefully due to how much importance he has in actual my hero academia and Ochako. And my sister really wants me to focus on Kirishima because he's her fave.
Anyway thoughts?