The train ride back to UA was luckily rather undisturbed. Toru kept her eyes on the window. She knew there would be no signs of the struggle that would go down in Hosu City since they were far away from that place, but she had to make sure. If a bunch of heroes were flying in the sky to Hosu City she had to keep Aizawa's attention away.
I just have to keep Aizawa's mind off of Iida. I think he's the only student interning in Hosu city. That sounded like a difficult task. Aizawa had proved that he was a teacher who would do anything to protect his students, in Kamino and now at USJ. If he knew Iida was in danger he'd come running and that would take out at least one of the league's Nomu.
I'm so glad Bakugo or Midoriya aren't in Hosu. Toru thought to herself. She knew she wasn't Aizawa's favorite student by any means. He kind of ignored her. It looked like most of his attention was usually on Bakugo or Midoriya and their eternal conflict, so she had really lucked out that neither of them were there.
Aizawa didn't seem to be paying much attention to the train ride or looking at the scenery. He wasn't even on his phone or anything. He just kept trying to wrap himself up in a sleeping bag.
Toru's bounciness and looking out of the window at every given moment was bothering him though. Harder to sleep if she was so jumpy.
"You should get some rest." Aizawa finally said. "I assume you didn't sleep much during your…accidental borrowing?" The words left his mouth with distaste because he wanted to call it a kidnapping.
"Nope!" Toru replied, easily enough.
Aizawa sighed. "Get some rest on the train then. And once you get home make sure to sleep as much as possible!" He ordered.
I wonder if he's saying that because he wants to sleep and doesn't want to have to wake up because I'm in trouble again. Toru thought. If Aizawa just wanted to sleep through this Hosu attack, then her mission would be super easy!
"I am not an easy mentor to have. As I told Shinso you'll be pushed to your absolute limits." Aizawa told her, his voice holding an imposing air. He wasn't joking or exaggerating.
Still Toru had to smile a bit by how threatening he thought himself. I truly doubt that. Nothing I can imagine you teaching would be stricter than All for One.
Failure was not an option when you were trained by All for One. Worse than yelling or a failing grade, failure meant that you were no longer useful. As All for One liked to remind, there were ways to remedy uselessness. His quirk was for finding someone's best potential. If they used their own quirk poorly, why someone else could better benefit from it!
If it was just a matter of losing a quirk that would be easy enough. But All for One had a newfound joy in Nomu creation.
Failure meant she was boxed up and carted to 'the doctor' who would slice her apart and pick whichever pieces best suited whatever Nomu Project was next on the planning chart.
She shivered a bit. Aizawa probably thought it was from fear of his own teaching. I guess being a Nomu isn't life ending though. That's the fate that befell Kurogiri.
All for One was the one who decided how best to use her. There was nothing to be frightened of. But his teaching method was much stricter than Aizawa's.
Aizawa's eyebrow raised and before he could chuckle or mock her for being scared, she quickly responded to him.
"All right!" She lied. "I'm excited!"
Aizawa sighed and rolled his eyes not believing Toru.
Toru pretended to lean against the window and fall asleep. She didn't want to continue casually chit chatting with her fake teacher.
She did not close her eyes though. There's no way I'm closing my eyes near an enemy. And luckily Aizawa couldn't see her face, so he couldn't tell that she was fully awake! It was one of the easier spying tactics she had, just pretending to be asleep.
Aizawa watched her for a moment, trying to see if she was actually asleep since he couldn't see her eyes. After about 10 minutes of silence had passed Aizawa waved a hand in front of her face, to see if she would make any reaction indicating that she was actually awake.
Toru made no movement or reaction.
Aizawa sighed, finally believing Toru was asleep. He then pulled out a journal and started writing something.
Toru moved her eyes to the side so that she could try to read it without moving her neck or head.
IDEAS TO TRAIN HAGAKURE: The journal read.
Oh. It's a teaching journal. That's why so many sticky notes are sticking out of it. At least Aizawa had some tools as a teacher. He already seemed to be trying more than All Might.
Hand to hand combat ?
Can't train with binding cloth because it's not invisible
Dodging
How do we alert her teammates if she's in danger?
Aizawa was scribbling down a lot of different ideas. Toru could tell he was struggling though because of the nature of her quirk.
With any luck he's struggling with a teaching plan the whole night and doesn't ever check the news between his precious sleep time. Toru thought.
Aizawa struggled with his teaching notes for the rest of the train ride. When the train finally rolled to a stop, he nudged Toru awake.
"We're here." Aizawa told her. "…You live in the same town UA is in…Right?" He asked once Toru had awakened.
Aizawa suddenly had a look of worry that he had brought Toru to the wrong town. Some students didn't live anywhere near UA had long commutes to get to school every day. He hadn't checked her address before taking the train.
"Yep! I live pretty close to UA actually. It's one of the reasons I chose UA as a school!" Toru said chipperly, hoping her pretend good mood would put him at ease.
Aizawa sighed. He nodded. "We have a lot of UA students like those. Mostly from general studies though."
Toru smiled and got up with her bags.
"Now, go home to your parents. If they are worried or concerned about UA's safety protocols, please tell them to call Principal Nezu because I want to sleep." Aizawa told her.
"I will!" She had no intention of calling Principal Nezu. She had no parents to be concerned for her.
"Come to school bright and early. An hour before school normally starts. This is supposed to be an internship after all so it's more difficult." Aizawa told her.
"Yes…" Toru pretended to be sad.
This works in my favor though. Less time at home alone means more of Aizawa's hours awake have to do with me. Toru thought. That meant more time to manipulate him.
She waved and left Aizawa at the train station.
She had five more days of her 'internship'.
Aizawa got home. He was tired. So tired.
Thank god she was alive. He thought, wanting to collapse and sleep until morning.
Present Mic was waiting at his apartment door for him though, a suitcase in hand.
"Hizashi. What are you doing at my house?" Aizawa asked dryly.
"OH, thank god you're okay!" Present Mic wailed. "You weren't at school yesterday and I thought you had gone missing! Before I put up missing posters all over the neighborhood the principal informed me you were on a vacation at Kamino to relax."
"Uh-huh. But that doesn't explain why you're at my home." Aizawa reminded, dead tired.
"You went to a spa…WITHOUT ME? You know how much I love spas!" Present Mic's voice held utter betrayal. "So, I packed up a suitcase and I decided to wait for you so that we could have an amazing second vacation!"
"You have school. You're an English teacher to all the first years. Not just the hero course." Aizawa reminded, he unlocked his door.
"Pssh. Students don't matter as much as spa day." Present Mic joked. "Now come on! Let's pack for second vacation!"
Aizawa glared at him. This is why I didn't tell him I was going. "Hizashi, I'm tired, let me sleep. And I'm not going back to Kamino."
Mic crossed his arms. "Yeah, you're probably tired from all the pampering you got at a spa without me. And they didn't even make you look less tired!" He joked. "That's why you should have brought me. I would have told you which spas were good and which ones weren't." He looked betrayed again. "So why didn't you even tell me you were going?"
Aizawa sighed and slipped past him into his very messy house. His grey cat watching from a pile of clothes on the floor. Despite not being invited in, Mic followed to pester him.
"I wasn't in Kamino for a spa. I lied about that to the principal to get a vacation." Aizawa knew he couldn't keep a secret from Mic for long. He was a bit of a snoop and he'd hear the news about his Purple Highness eventually.
The anger vanished from Mic's face. "Then…Why were you there?"
"….I…um…decided to put bygones aside and visit His Purple Highness. To make sure he actually was treating his new UA student well." Aizawa admitted, neglecting to mention the worry and paranoia he had experienced.
Mic's expression changed to sorrow and shock. "Shota…Why didn't you ask me to help? You know I would have come with you for emotional support and to yell at His Purple Highness if he messed up!"
"I know. But you had your lessons, and you never even met His Purple Highness." Aizawa didn't want to tell him he was just paranoid and didn't want Mic to be involved in that paranoia. "And I thought it would be better for you to hear it now than on various journalists' sites. His Purple Highness has retired."
Mic gasped. "But…We sent a UA student to him! Did he retire during the internship? Oh, I really would have beaten him up. Is what's their name okay?" He had forgotten which student was interning with him already.
"Hagakure is fine. I brought her back home, but she'll be interning with me now. I've decided to train her just like I'm going to train Shinso this week." Aizawa told him. "So no, I did not go on a fun vacation without you, nor will I go on another one. Can I please get some sleep now?"
Mic nodded, but then looked at him suspicious. "You're neglecting to say something to me, right? There's more to this story. Is Hagakure injured? Did His Purple Highness prove himself as awful and hurt another one?"
If there's one person who hates His Purple Highness more than me, it's Hizashi…Because he never met or saw the person Oboro interned with, it's easy to have a sort of secondhand hate for him. The hate was just on Aizawa's behalf without any of the anxiety or fear associated with it.
"…" Aizawa paused about to tell Mic about the kidnapping that Hagakure had experienced, but then stopped himself. If he told Mic, he would speak about it over the radio and he didn't think it would help Hagakure to be remembered as a victim. He knew how hard it was to shake that identity, and UA probably wanted to keep it hush hush that they had failed one of their students. "No. He didn't." Aizawa responding knowing Hagakure's invisibility was to blame more than His Purple Highness. "And…Hagakure was just a little too much for him. It broke him and he realized he wasn't cut out for heroing. He's been grieving as much as we have."
Mic frowned, that not being the answer he wanted to hear. But seeing that Aizawa wasn't very mad he nodded. "I guess…I hope he finds his peace in retirement. I'm glad she's all right."
So was Aizawa. He pushed Mic out of his house and finally went to sleep. His grey cat waddling over to snuggle next to him.
The next morning, Toru was waiting in front of the staff room like a dutiful student.
I'm surprised she's not late. Aizawa thought to himself. It wasn't that he saw Hagakure as a slacker, she just didn't seem as serious as students like Iida and Yaoyorozu.
"I'm here! Bright and early like you asked! I didn't want to get punished so I made sure to be on time…" Toru shivered.
Aizawa nodded. Fear seemed to motivate students a lot. Vlad King barely used that tactic on his own students and instead spoiled them, but Aizawa was much stricter.
"I'm still a teacher at UA, so sometimes I'll need to stop our lessons to work on lesson plans for your actual class and grading. When that happens, I want you to be running laps around the track to get your endurance up, which is sourly lacking. Understand?" Aizawa asked.
Toru saluted. "Yes, sir! Got it!" Super easy. "But you sure you don't want to use me to help with grades? The one thing I did at His Purple Highness's was go through his paperwork, so I think I'm decent at it-" She didn't really want to leave Aizawa on his own to gossip.
Aizawa laughed. "Yeah. I'm not allowing you to cheat that easily." He put his foot down, thinking she was after altering her grade.
Toru's shoulders slumped. He doesn't trust me nor like me enough to let me stay around him at all times.
Aizawa tapped his foot impatiently waiting for the other student who he was supposed to be training.
Shinso eventually ran up to them to join them. He looked out of breath.
"Sorry…I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed before leaving home…I am absolutely honored to have this opportunity and I'm so sorry for being late…" He apologized, holding his bag tightly, his hands shaking as if he just messed up this amazing opportunity.
He's a lot more excited about this than I am. Makes sense since based on his goal in the sports festival he wants to transfer into the hero course. Toru observed.
Now, how best to deal with Shinso? Her orders mostly revolved around Aizawa.
Shinso eventually looked up. His eyes widened as he recognized Toru. "I wasn't aware another student from the hero course would be joining us."
Toru recognized the way he spat hero. The words were filled with jealousy. He thinks it's unfair that I'm being brought in on his training since he's so far behind the other students. But he's trying his best to be polite, nonetheless.
"I've gotten special permission from Shinso's teachers to allow him time off of his morning classes for this week to train him. But he won't be joining you during your afternoon training." Aizawa explained.
Shinso looked sad at that aspect. "Science was deemed too important to miss."
"Shinso, this is Toru Hagakure. She's one of my students in Class A. The Hero she was interning with quit during the beginning of her internship. That was why I wasn't here yesterday because I had to travel out of town to retrieve her. She'll now be interning under me. I hope that's all right."
Shinso nodded, trying to be understanding. He looked a little less happy though with that news. "That's unfortunate that your hero quit…" He tried to be as understanding as possible. "Nice to meet you, Hagakure. I recognize you from the sports festival. Do you remember me?"
He stuck his hand out to shake Toru's.
"Yep! You're the guy who fought Midoriya! You did great to get to the final rounds! I know I didn't…I'm really glad I honestly made a big enough splash that a general studies student would remember me." Toru shook his hand with a lot of energy and then flapped her arms excitedly.
That definitely made Shinso take a step back. He was not expecting Toru's personality to be so bubbly and happy.
Toru watched as the anger, jealousy, and competitiveness washed off his face and was just replaced with confusion as how to best handle her.
Perhaps his competitiveness and jealousy acts out most with men? I've seen a lot of heroes like that who suddenly get turned around when facing a girl hero and have to rethink how they treat them when really, they could probably get away with treating them the same. Some heroes didn't fall in line with these rules like Bakugo and Tokoyami, but this was the usual reaction.
"I'm really sorry for intruding! I would have been okay studying on my own, but Mr. Aizawa said I really needed the training…" Toru apologized.
Shinso was again caught off guard by her apologetic nature. He looked guilty realizing Toru had probably picked up on his jealousy. "Nah…You're fine. Sorry if I seemed antagonistic there. I guess to be honest I was just super excited to get one on one training to be a hero, I saw you, from the hero course and felt it was unfair since you're getting more instruction than me normally…It's not you and that's not your fault though. Sorry if I sounded mean…." Shinso apologized.
Hmm…So he's the type to try to communicate through misunderstandings instead of holding onto grudges. Toru thought. And he wasn't trying to use his quirk to make her leave.
Aizawa started walking, gesturing for them to follow. They were likely being led to the training grounds and Aizawa wasn't intruding in their conversation to let them get to know each other.
"All is forgiven!" Toru smiled and cheerily said putting on her bubbly persona to put Shinso at ease.
Shinso sighed in relief.
"I can understand completely how it feels like I'm intruding and can be upsetting. You're behind the start line and that feels unfair. So, I'll try my best to not interrupt any of your training!" Toru promised.
If Shinso could distract Aizawa, that was even better for Toru. Life was getting easier and easier.
Shinso nodded. "Yeah…You got my feelings pretty accurately. But now that you're here, you don't have to take a step back or anything. That wouldn't be very fair to you." Shinso was willing to share now.
"Oh thanks!" Toru buzzed.
"I do have to say, I'm honestly surprised by how bubbly your personality is and how easily you're talking to me." Shinso admitted.
"Oh? Because you've got a mind control quirk?" Toru stopped walking along happily and paused.
"Hurry up." Aizawa got her moving again.
"That doesn't bother me! I mean you must have people who talk to you easily in the general studies course and at middle school, right? You don't constantly mind control people." Toru reminded.
Shinso rubbed the back of his neck smiling a bit. "Well…Yeah, obviously…. But I just meant…I kinda imagined you as a really cunning individual? A bit on the serious side. Or something."
He definitely did not rewatch the taped version of the sports festival. How did he get that impression? Wait…Is he meaning that I slipped up and he figured out my real personality? What is he talking about? Toru was now worried.
"What do you mean?" She asked playing dumb.
"Well, in the obstacle race…You figured out my quirk, didn't you? I asked you something and you just ignored me. I was really suspicious of you and wary in the cavalry battle…I thought you were dangerous, but really that Koda guy who doesn't talk managed to be the most dangerous." Shinso sighed. "I don't know…I just had a totally different read of you in the sports festival."
Toru laughed out loud. "Hahahaa! Oh Shinso!" She waved her hand playfully. "I didn't even know you were talking to me in the obstacle course. I was just so focused on the task at hand!" She lied. "I'm glad you thought I was smart though! Not many people have complimented me like that!"
Shinso looked flustered. "Oh…So I see I was all in my head trying to get a read on your character and you were just ditzy…" He looked embarrassed.
"It's all right! I kinda like the cool dangerous Toru you made up in your head!" Toru reassured him.
Shinso was now blushing at how wrong he had gotten her.
That was close. Perhaps I should have just let him brainwash me in the obstacle course and then made up the lost time by running to the finish line once I was free…I thought I'd never see him again so I wasn't too worried about the impression I gave him, but it seems like I'll be running into him more often…Toru thought.
Aizawa was just barely listening to their conversation.
"Don't be too mad at Hagakure for interrupting us." Aizawa finally scolded Shinso, believing him to be making fun of Toru for calling her smart. "She needs training just as much as you do, Shinso."
Shinso raised an eyebrow.
"She placed extremely poorly in my initial quirk exam. To be quite honest she's a cut below all of her other classmates." Aizawa said honestly.
Shinso winced.
"Ouch." Toru fake moaned, "That kinda hurts to hear, Mr. Aizawa!"
"It's true." Aizawa replied, he didn't much care about the feelings he might be hurting by being honest, "During combat I think you might be the one at the most disadvantage. But that's why I'm going to personally train you."
Shinso looked at Toru curiously. "…. What is your quirk anyway, Hagakure?" He asked. "You know all about mine, but I know very little about yours." He wondered what kind of quirk would make her so weak.
God. Is this really happening again? She recalled Bakugo asking her straight to her face what her quirk was. That wasn't even the first time. Sometimes I feel I don't even need to be invisible for people to not notice me.
She wondered if some of her other classmates were waiting for the right time to ask her if her quirk was really just invisibility.
"Invisibility!" She responded excitedly.
Shinso nodded, thoughtfully "So you can make things invisible? That's pretty neat-"
Toru smiled. She tried to display this in her arm movements. "Nope! I'm just invisible! My body! Not my clothes or anything!" She finished explaining.
Shinso stared at her blankly. Then horror greeted his face as he realized why Toru was so weak. "No way…It's just that?"
"Yep!" Toru said excitedly.
"That's…. rather weak in comparison to all the other quirks hero students have. How did you even pass the practical exam to get into our school?" Shinso asked, very curiously.
Ah yeah, he didn't pass that exam. So, a student with basically a normal body except being invisible is probably confusing to him. Toru thought.
Aizawa glared at Shinso. "Shinso, don't be rude. It's about how you use the quirk, not what the quirk is." He reminded, knowing he, Toru and Shinso all had similar, 'weak against robots' quirks. "When I was a student at UA, people said my erasure was a very weak quirk. They didn't know how I could be a hero. And now nobody would dare say that." Aizawa lectured.
"Sorry." Shinso apologized, but he looked at Toru curiously, still awaiting an answer.
"I got mostly rescue points to get in." Toru replied easily enough.
Shinso looked disappointed. "Of course…. I didn't get any because I used my mind control to try to get people to destroy the robots. Mind controlling your competition isn't seen as very heroic after all." He sighed.
"I defeated some robots too, of course!" Toru said quickly knowing Aizawa was listening. "But the principal didn't give me any of those points because he couldn't prove I was there. So, I might have been a miracle student, entering UA because the principal couldn't prove I didn't do anything I claimed I did. I had no real grade."
Now Shinso looked at her with a lot of pity and sympathy. "Sometimes I feel like the grading system in UA is a little messed up." He admitted. "I didn't get any points for defeating the robots because the points went to the actual students that I brainwashed who destroyed the robots, instead of me. Even though I was the one who ordered them. I thought I was the only one screwed from the test."
Aizawa sighed, hearing them diss UA and knowing he had to defend the school he worked at. "UA gets thousands of applicants and unfortunately not all teachers can double check the exams math." Aizawa explained. "What you experienced Shinso is a valid concern. That's why I'm trying to remedy it."
Aizawa now glanced at Toru. "It also explains why in Hagakure's initial notes she didn't have a numerical exam score. I was wondering about that."
Shinso had a look of relief that a hero student was on his level, and it wasn't just him.
"If Shinso's initial practical exam was flawed, why isn't the faculty letting him into the hero course right now, Mr. Aizawa?" Toru asked raising her hand.
Heck if they only can take 40 students, he could take Mineta's spot. Wouldn't that be an ideal scenario? Toru thought.
Aizawa sighed. "It doesn't work like that, unfortunately. UA can't admit there was a mistake in the grading system and give him a place in the hero department that isn't yet available for him to take."
It sounded more like UA wouldn't admit there was a mistake because they didn't want criticism from the media. If they trained Shinso up and made it seem like he earned his place things weren't UA's fault, but if they apologized and transferred him into the hero department immediately, it would look like UA bore some responsibility in his situation.
"Not only that, but the student he mind controlled ended up placing fourth in the exam. She earned her place using her quirk, even if she was acting under someone else's orders." Aizawa explained.
Toru glanced at Shinso.
"I brainwashed that girl with the vine hair since vines don't have any nerves when touched. I thought she wouldn't awaken from it." Shinso explained. "It worked, but the points didn't end up being mine."
Ah. Ibara from class B, I see. Toru thought.
"I'm trying to make reparations on my own by training Shinso for an eventual transfer into the hero course." Aizawa explained, "Principal Nezu says that because Shinso just has brainwashing he wouldn't be able to pass any of UA's exams just on his own." He explained again. "He's very physically behind from all your classmates though, so it's going to take a while."
Shinso looked at his limp noodle arms.
They had finally gotten to the training field. It was a wide-open area, with several buildings and cameras along with small robots roaming around that could take students away to the infirmary if heavily injured or shoot at the students if desired to help train them.
"Now my original plan for Shinso this week was to start helping him build up some muscle." Aizawa explained.
Shinso, yet again, looked at his weak noodle arms.
Aizawa eyes Toru's arms. He couldn't see if they were buff or not.
"There will be strict lessons with endurance, speed, agility and strength training this week. I'm putting you both on a strict diet that will help in the development of muscle mass, so there will be no more greasy lunch rush food this week." Aizawa explained.
Shinso gulped but nodded. "…I am prepared to do anything to get into the hero course."
"There will also be a lot of running. You won't be getting a lot of rest from surprise drills. I'm not joking when this will be a very tough week, for the both of you. All my attention and yours will be focused on this training." Aizawa declared.
Toru smiled. So, I barely have to lift a finger to distract him. Good. It was rare that her mission went so smoothly. Had Kurogiri planned for this? If he had known Aizawa…. Had he put her on an intentionally easy mission because he felt bad for her?
Toru would mull that over later. She didn't require his pity or help.
Aizawa tossed two bags at Shinso and Toru.
"Now my original plan was to train you both in binding cloth. It's a technique I came up with myself to capture villains without the use of a quirk, but it's a rather long and difficult venture to master." Aizawa explained. "I still plan to train Shinso in this so he can capture villains but-" He glanced at Toru.
Toru pretended to look dumb and innocent like she didn't know what he was getting at.
"That won't work for her though, right?" Shinso eventually came to the conclusion Toru was supposed to come to. "Because binding cloth isn't invisible."
Aizawa nodded. "I've been racking my brain in what weapon to train her in, but because nothing is invisible, all weapons will give away her location. I'm sure the support class could come up with something that looks invisible in the light at the right moment or something, but it wouldn't really be invisible. So, we might need to train you in hand-to-hand combat. Which luckily I'm also skilled at."
"It might be nice to have a sparring partner." Shinso tried to put a positive spin on things since he knew Toru was going to have a harder time learning combat than him.
"I'm not a fan of that idea." Toru replied honestly.
I do actually know quite a bit of hand-to-hand combat. All for One insisted that it was important that I knew how to fight in case he needed to use me that way or in case I needed to escape a bad situation. I thought it was because when I was older and stronger, I'd be eventually asked to do assassinations, but I guess it was so I could get myself out of tricky situations. Assassinations might still be in her future. She couldn't hope to understand All for One's plans.
Still, fighting as a tool under All for One's orders was different than fighting as a bubbly teenage schoolgirl. She was All for One's weapon, a tool. And a weapon didn't need to worry about being undressed. A schoolgirl though? Fighting naked would lead to many uncomfortable situations. She did not want to do it if she didn't have to.
Aizawa groaned. "You can't just refuse-"
Toru piped up, not letting him scold her. "I'm naked in my hero costume. I don't want to, nor would I feel safe developing techniques that relied on skin-to-skin contact around some of the heroes in our class."
Now Shinso was really looking horrified and at her with tons of pity.
Aizawa's eyes widened as he realized that he forgot that Toru's heroing relied on her nudity. "I stand corrected." He stopped pushing her immediately. "Well…That's unfortunate…" Hand to hand combat had been really his best idea when it came to Toru.
Aizawa looked like he was thinking harder now about what to do about Toru.
Shinso also looked thoughtful trying to help out his temporary classmate. He wanted to form good bonds with his potential hero ally now that they had made peace.
"Wait, you have to do your hero work naked? I'm…Really sorry…That sucks." He couldn't think of anything and instead gave her sympathy.
"Well, you know it happens." Toru tried to brush it off, not wanting to really get into it.
"Wait, you were partially invisible during the cavalry battle, right? That means you were…" Shinso realized.
"Shirtless, yes." Toru confirmed.
Shinso looked absolutely appalled. "I'm…sorry about that. That must have been awkward doing that on public tv." He looked sympathetic.
At least I didn't go into my entire sad backstory like you did on TV. She had some sense. But she didn't say that.
Shinso was thinking deeper about something, and now he was frowning. "If you have to be naked so often… Do you feel uncomfortable around me?"
That caused Toru to tilt her head in confusion. "Why would I be uncomfortable around you?" Shinso hadn't given her any reason to even spare a thought about him.
Shinso rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, as if he didn't want to give her any ideas by explaining, but he eventually spoke. "A lot of the girls in my middle school were fond of pointing out the fact that I could brainwash them into doing weird stuff with their bodies without them even remembering." Shinso admitted.
Ah. So he's wondering if I'm afraid of him doing something awful to me when I'm exposed. Toru realized. He didn't strike her as that sort of person, and if he was, he wouldn't be admitting that he had the power to do that.
"I want to be a hero! Not sexually harass women! I would never do something so disgusting like that…But…It seems like a lot of my female classmates genuinely feared that, even if sometimes they said it as a joke. I don't want girls to be afraid of me." Shinso admitted.
He's a lot better than Mineta. Shinso never seemed like the type to take the opportunity to grope a girl when there was a troubling situation. In fact, opening up about his experiences made Toru believe he definitely wouldn't do anything like that.
That does explain though why he's trying so hard around me. Judging by what he said, he's probably never had a girl not afraid of him. So he was trying to make a fresh start. Toru thought.
It was unfair how people like Shinso faced false accusations, but people who were actually like that like Mineta faced next to no criticism.
"You don't strike me as someone like that! So I don't feel uncomfortable around you." Toru reassured. "And even if I was one of those girls who feared you, it was shown at the sports festival that your quirk is easy enough to break with willpower, like Midoriya showed us."
Shinso smiled a bit. "Breaking a finger isn't exactly easy to do." He joked. "But…Thanks for the trust. I really appreciate it."
Toru shrugged. From Midoriya's fight and from what Ojiro said, Shinso's quirk required an impact or pain to stop it. That meant she didn't even need to break a finger; she could hypothetically dig her fingernails into her hand when she suspected he was about to use his quirk and cause bleeding. He wouldn't even be able to see her do this so he wouldn't be able to guard against it.
Aizawa was still deep in thought about how to deal with Toru's quirk. He looked like he had gotten an idea.
"Hagakure, would you hold the capture cloth for me?" Aizawa asked. "You too, Shinso, just so you can start getting a feel for how you hold it."
Toru pulled out her capture cloth from her bag. She held it. Shinso held his too and practiced different ways to grip it, trying to feel the most comfortable way.
Aizawa corrected Shinso's hold, and then looked at Toru. Disappointment filled his face.
"I was listening to your conversation and was reminded that we usually have aspects of our quirk that we don't realize." He explained. "Like how Shinso's quirk can be broken with a strong impact or willpower."
"And?" Toru asked. Has he realized my quirk has different aspects to it and that I can bend light?
"I was hoping your hands would be able to make the cloth invisible when you held it. That something in the palm of your hand would disappear." Aizawa muttered. "But unfortunately, I can just see through your hand at the binding cloth."
Toru gripped the binding cloth tighter to see if that would make a difference.
All for One said it was a very strange thing that you can see through my hand when I put something in the palm of my hand. Apparently Camouflage quirks don't work that way and they can conceal things in their pockets or in their hands. Toru thought.
"I'm sorry…" Toru apologized.
"It's all right…Hmm…But you take your boots and gloves with you to hero work…" Aizawa was still thinking. "Maybe I can teach you to carry around a small weapon that can be concealed in them? For example, I use spiked Caltrops to throw on the ground when I've captured a villain and am suspending them in midair." Aizawa explained.
Shinso looked excited. Would he learn to do that?
"When you master the binding cloth, you can learn other weapons." Aizawa told him quickly.
Shinso nodded.
"The caltrops might be small enough for Hagakure to carry around discreetly though." Aizawa decided. He rustled something up from his pocket and tossed Toru a small bag of caltrops.
"How do you want me to use these?" Toru asked.
"I want you to get good at throwing things for now. You want to be a stealth-based hero, right? Well stealth based heroes are good at hiding and long ranged combat, so we should focus on getting you good at throwing things small and easy to conceal." Aizawa was smiling now that he had finally come up with a plan on how to train Toru.
Toru looked curiously at the caltrops, and Aizawa snatched them back before she could further examine them.
"If I remember your distance at the ball toss was awful…. An average throw that wasn't at the same level of a pro hero." Aizawa explained. "So, you'll need a lot of training before you're able to use these…"
Toru pretended to look sad and slump her shoulders. As long as I can make you waste time on me it's a win. She thought to herself.
"So I'll start you off on something less dangerous, like darts and dartboards and ring tosses to help improve your distance and accuracy." Aizawa decided.
"Okay!" Toru nodded and agreed.
Mr. Aizawa doesn't know that what I excel at most is long distance fighting. Being able to throw a rock to distract someone, or target someone with a tranquilizer was essential to being a spy. So, she could easily mess up just enough to keep Aizawa training her and then at the end of the week fake improvement. And Aizawa couldn't see how she flicked her wrist or how the muscles on her arms flexed to be able to see how she was holding back so he just had to believe her results and base his training on that.
With a plan now figured out, Shinso and Toru both began their 'training from hell'. Aizawa introduced him to his version of what was a very strict work out regimen that focused on exercising different muscles.
It would hopefully be a very easy week for Toru.
If you saw chapter 27 being posted earlier, that was a weird bizarre error. Fanfiction ate chapter 16 and replaced it with chapter 4 and it would not update and replace on pc so I had to post the chapter, move it to chapter 16 and delete the previous chapter 16. It was bizarre.
My sister added the cat and insisted that Mic be a bigger part of the story. Eventually she won me over and by the time I started writing out what would be the fourth season of my hero academia (since Aizawa leaves for a few days to help Midoriya with the work studies, I can't use him as much in what is early season 4 which I've been trying to plan) I decided to add Mic into previous chapters and start giving him more things to do.
In my original chapter before edits, things in the palm of Toru's hands would be invisible. Then I rewatched the episode with her and Shoji's fight against Snipe and saw her holding the big handcuffs with her hands not blocking out the visibility of those. So I revised things.
Anyway hope you enjoy. I did in fact, decide to split this chapter into pieces. It was too long.