Training began immediately for Class A for the Sports Festival. Besides a few combat courses All Might would run, most of the training would be free study. Aizawa was wrapped up like a mummy and couldn't oversee personal or potentially dangerous training on his own. He couldn't cancel quirks while his face was wrapped up in bandages after all.
The preparations Class A were given for the sports festival was essentially the ability to check out and borrow equipment, that they would have to use to train on their own.
"I wonder if Class B is getting a more hands on approach…" Mina said while doing her stretches in the gym during the first free study period. "Not that that's a bad thing! I mean I understand why Aizawa can't train us!"
Toru nodded. "Yeah! We want Mr. Aizawa to rest up and get better soon!" Sweet kindness was buttered up in her voice, "But it is super sad that another teacher can't train us non-stop for the next two weeks…I guess they're all busy with the second and third years."
Mina nodded and sighed. "It really is too bad…"
Toru didn't really agree with her own words. How does this school think it preparing its students to send them into dangerous situations? They're throwing first years into televised battle with 2 weeks of training. And even if there was a teacher helping us, we wouldn't be ready… Their 'free study' period was now no more strenuous than anything they could do on their own. There's bound to be a lot of bloody injuries because nobody's getting training.
UA's gym was very nice and large, and had some fancy equipment the people could use, like a fake gun that shot rubber dodgeballs to train people to dodge and a huge climbing wall and an obstacle course along with others, but it wasn't anything great compared to hands on training.
Toru saw people like Shoji, Tsuyu, and Sero practice climbing up the climbing wall. They were lucky enough that Mineta, who really needed the experience, wasn't climbing up with them. He had elected to go home early to practice his speech for when he won the sports festival.
I don't really care what he's doing as long as he's not here.
"Maybe we should try to train each other." Mina suggested. "The whole class 1-A. I mean we could give each other pointers on what we think are our weaknesses that you yourself can't see." She sounded excited.
"Oh? That sounds like a fun time!" Jiro walked over, accompanied by Yaoyorozu. Yaoyorozu didn't seem to be practicing strenuous activity and was instead carrying many books. "Count me in. What do you think are the weaknesses I need to improve?" Jiro asked.
Mina thought for a moment. "Hmm….I'm not sure! You did really well in your combat exam even though you lost it. And I wasn't with you and Yaoyorozu in USJ." She scrunched up her face thinking more.
"Perhaps you could exercise your earjacks more? They could be quite useful in grabbing things and delivering. And I'm sure the pointy end could be used in an attack motion." Yaoyorozu suggested.
"Thanks, YaoMomo." Jiro smiled.
They don't look like they're the violent and angry type. They look close, like they've already made close kinship with each other. Perhaps now is the time to make friends with them? Ideally Toru could make a sort of group of girls as her allies so she wouldn't look like a loner or anything and would look just like a normal girl.
"I think Jiro's plenty tough the way she is! But that's a really cool idea that I never would have come up with." Toru complimented.
Yaoyorozu gave an elegant smile and nodded in agreement.
Jiro blushed. "I suppose I should work on lifting weights or throwing things with my earjacks then. They could use some more mobility. I'm… uhhh sorry though. I can't think of a single thing you three could work on."
Yaoyorozu put her hand on Jiro's shoulder. "It's all right. I can help." She looked at Mina. "I think you should probably work on your aim, Ashido. You've seen before what your acid can do when you're just throwing it about willy nilly. With a quirk like that you need to be able to use it better as a projectile."
Mina nodded. "That's true! And Yaoyorozu…. Um you could work on…"
Her attitude probably. She's very confident, it looks like she's observed and studied a lot but hasn't actually experienced much. Those type of people with confidence that doesn't actually have a lot of backing crumble away the moment they realize they're not all that. She's going to experience a loss someday and will probably be consumed with self-doubt from then on. Toru thought to herself.
She wasn't going to tell her that though. "I think you're kinda a jack of all trades, Yaoyorozu! Cuz you can just make the things you're lacking! If you need speed: boom, roller skates! If you need defense: boom! Shield. I don't think any of us have any suggestions for you."
Yaoyorozu sighed. "My plan was to just memorize molecular structures and observe the rest of you since you are my competition, but I'm glad you all think I don't need anything."
"Smart…I didn't even think of observing the competition." Jiro complimented. "Who do you think will pose a threat in the festival?"
"Hmm…Probably Todoroki and Bakugo. Todoroki's a recommendation student. You don't become a recommendation student because you're weak. And he's the second-best pro's son. Bakugo also poses a sizable threat. He's got a lot of power and versatility in his quirk." She paused. "I think you could pose a huge threat too, Jiro. You've got an amazing quirk."
Jiro looked stunned.
"Not to say I'm thinking of taking you out early, of course! I just meant that you're powerful and I respect you!" Yaoyorozu tried to wave her hands and not form any bad blood between them.
"I knew you wouldn't do anything like that! I'm just happy you think I'm so tough…I wasn't expecting to be in the levels of Todoroki and Bakugo…" Jiro played with her headphone straps.
"Yaoyorozu's kinda right that in a sports festival with no support gear allowed sound-based attacks are rather hard to defend against…" Mina said to herself. "Your quirk is really powerful, Jiro! I think she's right."
Jiro covered her face, embarrassed.
"Hey, Hey, Yaoyorozu, since you've named so many tough students and can observe quirks pretty well, what do you think I should work on?" Toru asked. "I'm getting all excited when you point out so many tough matches!" she jumped up and down excitedly.
Yaoyorozu frowned for a moment, trying to look Toru up and down. By the frown tugging at her lips, it was clear she was struggling. Toru, after all, was just a normal person who happened to be invisible. How could that put up a fight against the likes of Bakugo and Todoroki?
"Well…Um…" She clearly didn't want to say just give up. Her face drained of color. "What do you think you should work on?" She tried to phrase it politely, asking a question instead of giving an answer.
"Hm…." Toru pretended to think. "My arm strength maybe? I lack the upper body strength a lot of our classmates have. You could see it in a lot of the tests in the quirk exam, I think. I was pretty flexible, but I lacked muscle on my upper body."
Mina nodded along. "I wasn't aware you were flexible! Honestly Toru I would suggest going back to the basics and hard core training your speed, endurance and strength. Like…from now until sports festival time it should be non-stop exercise."
"…Oh." Toru pretended to look disappointed. "Well, I never give up! I'll train as hard as I can!" She flung herself at a pull up pole to demonstrate. She pretended to struggle. "Urgh…This is hard…"
Yaoyorozu put her hand over her eyes and tried to look away, she took a few steps away from the pull up bar, "I'm not sure how she passed the entrance exam…" She said in an audible whisper.
"She probably sneaked up on the robots and disarmed them. Toru might be more intelligent than you give her credit for." Jiro said forgetting to whisper.
Toru could hear Yaoyorozu of course; eavesdropping on people whispering was an essential ability in being a spy.
Mina nodded. "Yeah. And I think she probably got rescue points too. Tokoyami looks like he sometimes looks at her all gratefully? He was in our exam group. I think she might have helped him."
Yaoyorozu covered her mouth, aware now that Toru could hear her. "Oh…Well a rescue hero isn't bad." She looked flustered for a moment and then walked away from Toru's training.
Jiro jumped when she realized they were still around Toru and Toru had likely heard them because of her. She looked conflicted over who to follow but finally approached Toru. "She…She didn't mean anything bad by it, you know. Yaoyorozu's a cool girl! I just think before this she went to a rich middle school and isn't quite used to people who say whatever's the first thing that they think of." Jiro defended.
Toru dropped off the chin up bar. She rubbed her arms as if they were injured when really, she could have hung there for a few days. She shook out her hands. Ah. So, I see I'm having problems winning Yaoyorozu over but Jiro's ready to come to my side anytime.
"It's fine! I take no offense." She replied. She could understand Yaoyorozu's confusion as to how she passed the entrance exams. She was just invisible after all. And there was something else in Yaoyorozu's voice that Jiro and Mina likely hadn't picked up on. Suspicion and a hint of jealousy.
It's the entitlement driving her thoughts. Yaoyorozu was very easy to read even though she might think she wasn't. As a recommendation student she worries I got into this school just because they couldn't prove I didn't destroy any robots. She thinks I got in on a free ride. That's the suspicion in her voice. But there's also a little jealousy when she looks at me. I've seen Shigaraki give me the same look many times. It's probably because I'm having an easier time talking to people than her right now. I've been talking to as many people as possible in my free time after all…She was trying to get the chatterbox persona down to a T after all, or alternatively, she's worried that there's someone who has to rely on intelligence to get by and she feels slightly threatened by it since she's made her identity the smart girl.
Yaoyorozu didn't sound fully aware of the jealousy though. It was just a hint of it in her gaze, in her voice. She must have come from quite a competitive middle school if she was even considering the possibility of a threat so early on. And Toru was already making sure her grades were just "average." Nothing less, nothing more. So, there was no need for Yaoyorozu to worry over her taking her spot.
Still, this was enough information to approach Yaoyorozu and try to befriend her. She and Uraraka it seemed were the girls that she was getting along with least.
Uraraka I've only barely contacted because she's constantly spending time with Midoriya and Iida. I just haven't had a chance to bond with her yet. But the few times I have conversed with her she was very friendly and easy going. When I decide to work on her she should be very easy.
Right now, she had to focus her efforts on Yaoyorozu and trying to smooth things over.
It's time to make some friends!
Toru approached Yaoyorozu who was sitting on the bench and watching Jiro throw rings onto a ring toss with her earjack. Yaoyorozu had a small smile on her face while she watched Jiro. She had a book in her hands, but it looks like she was distracted from reading it.
Either she's taken so quickly to Jiro because of the bond they formed in USJ, or she didn't have many female friends in her middle school and people kept away from her for being too 'cool and perfect or something'. She had seen that happen in a few dramas she had watched to form her bubbly persona.
Yaoyorozu didn't seem to notice as Toru approached her.
"Hey Yaoyorozu! Or would you prefer I call you Momo?" Toru asked.
Yaoyorozu looked startled for a second, but then had a calm smile on her face. "You can call me Momo if you would like. I am the class vice president after all. I want us to get close." She seemed to be playing the political angle. "What do you need, Toru?"
"I just wanted to talk. Am I interrupting something?" Toru asked.
Yaoyorozu shook her head. "Oh no, I can pause my book anytime." She assured.
"Ah no. I meant if you were helping Jiro. I didn't want to interrupt anything. I saw you watching her, after all." Toru pointed out, a smile on her face. Sometimes it was fun to tease people and toy with the fact that you had seen them doing something that would clearly embarrass them.
Yaoyorozu immediately blushed, putting her hands on her cheek. "Oh, no I was just…watching her progress to see if there were any suggestions I could make. I believe that's a normal enough thing a friend should do, right?" She was trying to look calm and dignified but didn't.
Toru giggled to herself. I was right on point to say she didn't have many friends. "Is Jiro your first female friend?" She asked.
Yaoyorozu looked startled and then sighed. She closed her book. "Was I that obvious that it was the case?"
Toru nodded, sure to shake her arms up and down so Yaoyorozu could see her.
Yaoyorozu sighed again. She weaved her hands through her hair. "It…Might come as a surprise to you, but I didn't have any strong friendships in middle school."
It doesn't. "Oh? That is surprising! But you're so cool!" Toru sat by her pretending to be surprised.
"The world of a rich girl's middle school…Isn't anything like you would think. It's all so competitive and filled with you always saying something to trap someone else. I didn't want anything to do with the middle school mind games, so I just focused on studying and bettering myself and soon I had a reputation for being unapproachable. So, I never had any of those fun adventures like middle school sleepovers." Yaoyorozu confessed. "Jiro's…So different than any girl I've ever met. She says what she thinks instead of hiding it. She's confident and tough and very—"
"Punk rock?" Toru suggested.
"Yes, that too. I was surprised that we got along so quickly but she just started hanging around after our battle and I suppose people would say we are friends. I just…want to be the person she thinks I am." Yaoyorozu sighed.
So Yaoyorozu was exactly the person Toru had predicted she was.
"You know, you don't need just Jiro as your friend. Mina, Tsuyu and I would all love to spend time with you!" Toru encouraged.
Yaoyorozu smiled, like she wasn't truly expecting that. "Thank you, Toru…You have a good heart." She paused before brushing a tear out of her eye, moved by that. "Um…. Before it haunts me…did you also come here to talk to me about what you overheard?"
Toru let her shoulders slump a bit to illustrate that she was sad. "Yeah…Honestly, yeah…" She twiddled her fingers. "I was wondering what I had done to make you…I don't know. Not like me."
Yaoyorozu looked startled and quickly shook her hands. "Oh no, no, no. I don't not like you! Don't worry about that! I think you're delightful, Toru." She immediately reassured.
Toru pretended to still look sad. "But you're just not sure if I can make it as a hero."
Yaoyorozu sighed. She didn't look like she was any good at lying. "I think you're a wonderful person, Toru. Honest. You're a lot more charismatic and friendly than me even…." She looked sad for a moment but tried to shake it off to give Toru advice.
"But?" Toru asked.
"But… I worry for you. I've been trying to look after all of Class A and help them by observing us all and seeing if I have any pointers for anyone and you've…always sort of come close to the bottom in our exams. You lost in the combat exam, you were near the bottom in all of the quirk exam and it's just…You're not very physically strong."
"And you're curious to how I beat the entrance exam with just an invisible quirk?" Toru asked, "Or are you unsure of how I can be a hero when I'm so weak?"
Yaoyorozu looked guilty, but nodded.
Toru sighed. "I beat the entrance exam by pulling out the wiring of the robots. It was hard but I'm a lot more agile than I am strong. I was able to climb onto them since they weren't able to detect me." Toru revealed. "It was really really hard though! You're right it was hard."
Yaoyorozu nodded, that mystery finally solved. She didn't seem to ask the obvious which was, how could you climb a robot and pull yourself onto it if you can't even do a pull up? She must not have noticed the discrepancy.
Toru knew lying wouldn't do her any good in explaining her entrance exam. But still…I wanted to test just how observant and smart Yaoyorozu really is by giving some holes in my strength. It seems she's just book smarts and not too great at her analysis yet.
The second recommendation student seemed like they had their own flaws to exploit.
"And I think with a quirk like mine you have to exploit your strengths. Mine is stealth. And I've got the heart to rescue anyone in trouble. I probably won't be a combat-based hero because combat kinda gives away your location, but I think the world could use some more stealth based heroes. The tests so far just haven't played to my strengths." Toru pointed out.
Yaoyorozu crossed her arms. "You can't just play to your strengths though!" She argued, "And the stealth-based heroes have had some strength and combat potential…I just worry you're going to get hurt seriously before you become a hero."
I did a lot better than any of Class 1-A in USJ. None of the pros found me. I had to give away my own location. Toru made sure not to give away any of her thoughts. "You've got a big heart, Yaoyorozu! But don't worry, I'm sure I won't. Worst comes to worse, if I really am going to drag all you down, I just will remain a sidekick and not have my own agency or anything like that."
Yaoyorozu looked pained. "Sidekicks can still get injured…Although there are a lot of sidekicks with less top tier quirks…."
Toru nodded and pat Yaoyorozu 's hand. "So, you see? Nothing to worry about! It would be better to be friends than to get all competitive with each other or knock each other down."
Yaoyorozu didn't seem to realize Toru was leading her into the direction she wanted. Subtly, acknowledging the fact that Yaoyorozu did feel competitive towards her, Toru shoved Yaoyorozu into only one true choice: dropping it.
"I…I suppose I would like that. I'm sorry for being so hard on you. I mean no disrespect." Yaoyorozu promised.
"I know!" Toru smiled and let Yaoyorozu give her a strong handshake.
"You really should get stronger though." Yaoyorozu added.
"I know." Toru responded again.
I'm splitting my chapters that can be split into 2, into 2 from now on since I write fairly long chapters.
Also I forgot characters like Sato, Koda and Sero were in the class. Rip to them but they probably won't be explored that much in this fic even though I like Sero and Koda a lot.