The internship ended. Class A returned to class. The entire classroom was abuzz with excitement over all the fun they had had in their internships, and all the optimism they now had towards their futures.
When Toru opened the door to resume her normal operations of observing the class, she saw Uraraka and Tsuyu chatting about the various things they had witnessed on their own internships.
"I learned martial arts! So maybe now I can have a chance against Bakugo if we fight during the next sports festival!" Ochako bragged.
"I was on the open seas. I learned a lot and had a great time. We even faced a villain!" Tsuyu wasn't trying to make it sound like bragging, she was just honestly amazed.
I usually arrive at school rather early so I can make sure not to miss anything that my classmates are gossiping about. But it seems the internships made them feel the need to rush to school so they could see their friends again. It had been a full week of not seeing their friends faces after all, so perhaps the fact that the classroom was already halfway filled made sense. Toru made a mental note of that to continue being an earlier riser than the rest of her classmates.
Eventually Toru's self-proclaimed class bff Mina Ashido entered the classroom as well. She immediately rushed to Uraraka and Tsuyu's side to gossip about all that she had experienced as well.
It makes sense I suppose that she wouldn't greet me first. We are on opposite ends of the classroom. And no students wanted to get in trouble with Aizawa.
Toru knew she couldn't just sit silently and not be talkative though! That wouldn't do any good for her reputation.
Who to bug…Who to bug…She could chat with Shoji, the easy choice, who was right next to her, but he didn't exactly keep the conversation going, and it would be better to start developing relationships with other people besides the one near her.
As soon as she saw Tokoyami enter the classroom her eyes locked on.
"Oooh I'd love to pick Tokoyami's brains about his internship…" Kaminari said wistfully to himself. "He interned with Hawks after all! That's even higher than the pro Bakugo got!"
Luckily Bakugo was not yet here to hear him.
Tokoyami was kind of a lone wolf in the classroom. He didn't talk to many people currently. He didn't really have a group of friends he regularly hung around, but Toru had seen him spending time with Shoji and Koda on occasion. Really the biggest thing he had done so far though was the sports festival. Maybe his victory there would make him more popular?
Toru immediately bustled up to his seat when he sat down and leaned her hands on his desk, so he knew he couldn't get away.
Tokoyami looked surprised that anybody would want to talk to him.
"Hey, hey, how was Kyushu?" She asked, overly friendly like they had known each other for an entire lifetime.
Tokoyami seemed to look relieved at the overly friendly tone. He didn't mind it and actually smiled a bit to be talked to.
Kaminari glanced at them and looked thankful that someone was asking. Perhaps Tokoyami currently frightened some of their other classmates with his edgy gothic ways, but Toru knew it was a good way to continue her reputation as 'the bubbly girl' if she cemented them as friends.
"Nothing…Special…" Tokoyami admitted.
"Aww…That's too bad! But I'm sure you tried your best! I'm sorry you didn't have a great time…" Toru noticed him gripping his leg.
Hawks has a reputation for being a bit bizarre. He gets a lot of work done well, but he acts like he wants to be lazy. Perhaps he shoved a bunch of work on Tokoyami without training him or something. Toru thought. Tokoyami must have been disappointed that Hawks didn't live up to his expectations.
"I have no complaints…It was just nothing special." Tokoyami said sternly. "…Thank you for asking though. Is there anything else you need?"
"Nope! I just was curious how Kyushu was! Sorry for the misunderstanding!" Toru apologized, and ran off to her chair so she wasn't going to be late.
He acts pretty stern, but his voice made it sound like he didn't want to talk much about Kyushu in particular and he didn't want to get me in trouble for gossiping. Toru thought. Class was about to begin.
She saw Bakugo being teased by both Kirishima and Sero when she got back to her seat. His hair had been slicked down from a lot of hair gel, in more of a Best Jeanist fashion. They were having a great time laughing at it and he was getting very angry about the whole thing.
Oh yeah. Now that I'm back in a classroom setting my goal should be to form positive relations with Bakugo, since the league wants to recruit him. She was thanking her luck that she had chosen not to talk to him now though. He was in a very bad mood from his internship with Best Jeanist.
Two desks behind Bakugo's chaos, Mineta was complaining about his own internship to Kaminari. Something about how Mount Lady had tricked him by making him do work on his internship instead of posing sexily or letting him sneak a peek of her naked.
I don't even want to hear what he's saying, it makes no sense and is all just awful. Toru thought. I'm glad Shigaraki latched onto Bakugo as something that doesn't belong in hero society instead of Mineta. I don't want to work with Mineta in the future.
She shivered a bit at that idea. She'd have to get used to Bakugo's constant anger and tantrums, but that was much easier in comparison to Mineta's near constant objectification of woman.
"Did you learn a lot at Best Jeanist's?" Toru asked trying to insert herself into the conversation Bakugo was having to try to make some impression. She kept her tone friendly, and not antagonistic. "He's the number 3 hero so you must have learned a lot!"
Toru's attempts fell on deaf ears. Bakugo didn't even glance in her direction. Kirishima had managed to wrangle himself free from his grip after all.
"COME BACK HERE, KIRISHIMA! LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE SMOOTH HAIR GEL!" He had a wad of hair gel in his hand and was acting a bit like a child.
Toru was unsure why he was carrying around the hair gel he claimed he hated.
Sero was hiding underneath his desk, avoiding Bakugo's anger. He put a finger to his lips to try to keep Toru quiet, signaling to her to not mention that he was there.
Kirishima just laughed before tripping over his chair, unable to flee. "Nooooo…." He resisted pathetically.
Why is he smiling and laughing still when Bakugo threatens him? I guess he always brushed off Bakugo's threats…But they seem closer than when last I observed them at the sports festival. Toru noted.
Kirishima had been Bakugo's horse though in the cavalry battle. That had to have a lot of trust. But Bakugo barely remembered his name last time she checked.
No, Kirishima isn't my focus or my concern. I care nothing about his relationship with Bakugo. It doesn't impact my relationship with Bakugo at all. She had a bigger problem to focus on. The fact that she was invisible to Bakugo even when she was talking. He didn't care at all for her.
Perhaps she had timed her attempt to communicate with Bakugo wrong, though. Apparently, most of her classmates were now focused on Todoroki, Iida and Midoriya who had gotten injured by the famed 'hero killer'. Everybody was interested in hearing their stories.
"The ones who changed the most or at least went through the most were those three." Kaminari concluded pointing at Todoroki, Iida and Midoriya. "Were you three all right?"
"Oh yeah! The hero killer!" Sero said cheerily, now being held by the back of the coat by Bakugo. Bakugo must have found him.
"I'm glad you made it out alive! Seriously!" Kirishima sounded relieved.
"I was worried…" Yaoyorozu admitted.
"I heard Endeavor saved you, right?" Sato repeated the public story.
Everyone was clustering around Todoroki's desk now, so since Toru wanted to go with the group, she did too.
"That's amazing! As expected of the number 2 hero!" Toru said something that showed she knew very little about public perception of Endeavor and sounded like she was just someone who admired all heroics.
"Yeah…He saved us…" Todoroki agreed, looking sad.
By his body language alone I can easily confirm that's a lie. So Toru's initial assessment that Endeavor was taking the credit for Todoroki's accomplishments were true.
"I saw on the news that the hero killer was connected to the league of villains." Ojiro discussed. "Imagining something that scary coming to USJ freaks me out a bit."
"He is scary, but did you see the video, Ojiro?" Kaminari asked.
Ah yes, there's a video circulating the internet that keeps being taken down of Stain's life story. It links him to the league of villains and is apparently very charismatic. I suspect that it was circulated by All for One to try to get more allies for Shigaraki, only he's capable of that level of charisma. Toru thought.
If her classmates were talking about it, then the video was working, although it being All for One's doing was only her assumption.
"Video? You mean of the hero killer?" Ojiro asked.
"Seeing it you can really see how he's tenacious and single minded! Doesn't it almost make you think he's cool?" Kaminari said out loud.
"Kaminari!" Midoriya scolded.
"Sorry!" Kaminari apologized.
"No, it's fine. It's true, he was tenacious." Iida admitted. "I can understand how people would think he's cool. But he chose purging as his beliefs…No matter what he thinks, that part is definitely wrong." Iida was looking at his hand. He must have suffered an injury.
Exchanges like this were great where Toru could analyze her classmate's inner psychology because none of them noticed her staring at them even though she was right there, next to Iida.
"In order to make sure nobody else turns on the same path as me, I will once again walk the path of a hero!" Iida declared.
So, he did try to take revenge against Stain on his own, and he practically admitted it. His last line nobody seemed to question.
Iida yelled at everyone to get back to their seats even if there was three minutes until class begin. The excitement was starting to die down a little bit of being back in the classroom after hearing about the encounter with the hero killer.
Toru got to her seat and got her notebook and pencil out. Apparently, her time to be a social bubbly girl hadn't ended yet.
"How was your internship, Hagakure?" Ojiro asked across the desks, perhaps trying to get the hero killer out of his mind, perhaps trying to rekindle the initial friendship they had formed during their first combat test.
Shoji inserted himself into the conversation since he was between Ojiro and Toru, perhaps making things less awkward. "You interned in Kamino, right? Did you see some interesting things there?"
A friendly person's work is never done. But perhaps if I make my story interesting enough Bakugo will overhear and take some interest in me. Toru thought.
"I unfortunately didn't see anything interesting there! I wasn't there long. My hero retired mid internship and I had to come back to school early. It was really sad! I'm still disappointed." Toru admitted.
I don't need to add in the stuff about being kidnapped. Bakugo likely is the type to dislike people who have been through similar things to him. Anytime anyone mentions the slime kid incident he gets mad. Toru recalled.
Ojiro's eyes widened. "You came back to school? I've never heard of a hero retiring mid internship!"
Toru shrugged. "It happens."
"Does that mean you had to study on your own with Aizawa?" Shoji asked giving her a look of pity.
Toru nodded. "Yep…. I guess that's what I get for choosing my internship based on location." She sighed as if she was extremely disappointed. "I just got a helping of more school. What about you two? Did you do anything fun?"
Shoji nodded. "I ended up interning with Medusa, who did well with mutant types. We didn't face any villains, but she said with six arms I should work on my pickpocket skills."
"Isn't that a skill villains would need, opposed to heroes?" Ojiro asked. "I guess that makes sense for a hero that's deemed one of the top ten scariest…."
Shoji looked like he was offended when Ojiro said that. "She was very kind. People just don't like her for her looks. And she said being able to take things quickly from someone could be very beneficial when facing villains. They might steal something, and I might need to quickly swipe it. She hired actors to roam around the street while I stole from them."
"Still sounds majorly sketchy to me…." Ojiro laughed nervously.
"I am sure it will be someday important." Shoji insisted.
Ojiro decided to change the subject. "My internship we didn't face villains either, so you weren't the only one feeling left out on the action, Hagakure." Ojiro reassured.
"That's a relief! I overheard that Tsuyu and Jiro both faced villains! I was really jealous." Toru admitted.
"Flashbulb mostly just gave me advice on how to be popular with girls instead of hero advice…" Ojiro said disappointed. "I do need to be flashier though…I kinda don't stand out enough."
Mineta's ears seemed to be burning and he eyed Ojiro jealously. He had overheard the conversation instead of Bakugo. "I should have interned there!" He cried. "I need that advice! Maybe I'll intern with him next…"
Oh joy. Mineta will pair up with a scuzzy hero. Oh goody, he really needs that. Toru thought to herself.
"Man, I wish I had paired with a cool hero like that instead of my mom." Kaminari groaned, "I could have loved talking about girls the whole week instead of my mom riding my coattails about how I had to study more."
"Was your mom hot at least?" Mineta asked.
Kaminari looked disgusted. "Dude, she's my mom. I don't even want to think about that."
"Your mom is rated in hero play magazine as the most likely to be a lesbian hero. So probably not, I'm thinking? She's got really short hair and acts more tough and shocking than a lady hero should be." Mineta lectured.
Kaminari just stared. "She's married, man. To my dad. In a happy marriage. She shouldn't even be rated like that…Nor should she be in hero play magazine! I'm canceling my subscription." Kaminari groaned.
Hero play magazine was a raunchier magazine which featured female heroes. Despite Toru needing to keep up to date on all thing's heroes for her job, she did not read it nor did she know any villains who did.
Before Kaminari and Mineta could get into a physical fight or something, Aizawa finally entered the room, and they were free of gossiping about the internships.
Once morning classes were over, it was lunch. The excitement of internships had finally waned and now everyone in Class A were getting back to their normal schedules.
Toru collected her things to go to lunch but made sure to lag behind the rest of her classmates. That way the usual 'girl's table' would be more populated, and she could snag a seat at Bakugo's usual hang out zone.
She wasn't the only one who wasn't immediately zooming to the lunchroom though. Toru noticed Iida and Todoroki standing behind a corner quietly talking instead of going immediately to the lunchroom.
She paused behind the corner, eavesdropping just a little bit to see what Stain related news they would share.
"Thank you again for saving me, Todoroki." Iida told him gratefully. "I will never be able to pay the debt back to you for saving mine and Midoriya's lives. But I hope you know just how grateful I am!" He was bowing.
Todoroki shook his head. "I did nothing out of the ordinary. I just came when I got a distress signal."
Distress signal…I think I overheard Kirishima say something earlier about getting a text of just a location from Midoriya. I should probably make sure I'm on the class group text. Toru was pretty sure she wasn't the only one who hadn't been invited to a big class group text yet. There were probably only a couple of people Midoriya had made a 'group text with' and he probably hadn't been able to reach her, Mina, or some of the quieter students like Shoji, Tokoyami and Koda yet. She reminded herself to take the initiative to ensure there was an official group text for events like this in the future.
"But…" Iida bit his lip. "It was normal for Midoriya and Uraraka to be keeping an eye on me after my brother's attack…But you and I don't spend much time together. To be looking out for my wellbeing without that prior relationship…I really appreciate it."
Todoroki looked saddened. "I clearly didn't look after you enough though. Another person's hand was permanently injured under me. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner." He absent mindedly took Iida's hand to inspect the nerve damage in it.
Ah. I was right that something was wrong with it. Toru thought to herself.
Iida pulled away quickly. "Again, it's not your fault! It's mine for…" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Going against the heroic way and pursuing a quest of vengeance."
Todoroki shook his head. "I can't fault you for that. When you started acting like you might go after the hero killer…It made me wonder if I would do the same if our circumstances were reversed. Although I can't imagine myself feeling those same feelings if Stain had gotten Endeavor, I wonder if I could ever have those feelings if my brother was injured like yours." Todoroki looked sad.
"…Todoroki? Are you jealous?" Iida asked. "You have nothing to be jealous of. I know your relationship with Endeavor is not extremely strong…But I'm sure you love your brother as much as I love mine."
Todoroki shook his head. "Natsuo and I were raised separately. Endeavor always said we lived in two different worlds, so I never got to know them. You might see what you did as evil, Iida, but I can't help but feel envious for being able to feel that strongly about a family member. I admire your love for your hero family and brother." Todoroki admitted.
"Is that why you kept your eyes out for me?" Iida asked as he put a hand on Todoroki's shoulders, suspecting he might start crying or something.
Todoroki shook his head then nodded, changing his mind. "We're both from huge hero legacies. We have our family's legacies on our shoulders. So, I wanted to keep an eye out on you, class rep."
Iida nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Todoroki!" He paused, "I am sure though you will someday come to love your brother as much as I love mine. Even if you were separated nothing can break brotherly bonds! And I'm sure he loves you too."
Todoroki smiled a little, as if he wished that was the case. "…Thank you."
"May I give you a hug, Todoroki? It looks like you need one." Iida offered.
Todoroki nodded, and Iida hugged him.
Hmm…So that's how Todoroki ended up fighting Stain. He was worried about Iida. It was all interesting and hopefully useful information Toru had heard. But she suspected that the rest of their conversation was probably going to be boring friendly stuff, so she sneaked around them to continue to the lunchroom.
Mina immediately started waving at Toru to come over once Toru had arrived at the cafeteria. The great thing about not having visible eyes was that you could easily pretend you didn't see someone, so Toru pretended not to notice and pretended that she was looking around the opposite side of the lunchroom as if to find Mina.
She eventually pretended to sigh, give up and walk over to Bakugo's table instead.
Bakugo was sitting next to Kirshima, Kaminari and Sero. He did not look happy to be there, even if he was clearly surrounded by friends. This time he noticed Toru when she sat down in front of him.
"Get lost little invisible girl?" Bakugo asked, still not knowing Toru's name.
"Nope!" Toru replied chipperly. "I just thought I should have a change of pace! Eat with you! You always seem so…Popular!" She waved and gestured at Bakugo's three friends.
Kirishima smiled, not hearing anything wrong with what Toru was saying. "That is true! Bakugo is pretty popular."
"Can't get rid of the peanut gallery no matter what I try." Bakugo complained, before taking a bite of his sandwich. He was still eyeing Toru suspiciously. He clearly didn't want her to be there. "Doesn't mean you get a free ticket into the gallery though." He said mouth still filled with food.
Toru pretended not to hear his blatant dislike of her. She leaned forward on her elbows, pretending she was just a part of the group now. What kind of flattery would win Bakugo over? Probably something about his strength.
"Do you have any tips on how to get strong, Bakugo? You are the strongest person in the class after all. I mean, everyone's paying attention to you since you're the strongest and probably the smartest!"
Bakugo nodded. The last test they had done he had ranked 3rd. He was pretty smart. He gave a superior grin. "Be born strong." He licked his fingers, "Win a lot." He said simply.
"That's all? But you clearly have a lot of technique too. I mean with how you beat Tokoyami, Uraraka and Kirishima, it wasn't all brute strength…And when you flew up in the cavalry battle with your explosions that was clearly technique! It was really cool!" Toru layered on the compliments.
Kirishima nodded along, agreeing, even if he was a victim in Bakugo's onslaught of victories.
Bakugo narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so interested in me all of a sudden?" Now he was getting antagonistic. "I don't even really remember you in our class. Where do you even sit? The back or something?"
"She sits in front of you, dude." Sero whispered.
Bakugo looked surprised.
"You should probably apologize. It's not nice to forget girls…" Kaminari advised.
Bakugo ignored him. Toru ignored him too.
"Do you want to copy me or something? I hate copycats." Bakugo said sternly.
Toru waved her hands frantically. "I wasn't trying to do anything to disrespect you, Bakugo! I just wanted to make friendly conversation!" She said quickly.
Bakugo looked like he didn't believe her.
"I want to be friends. You and me. You were so cool in the sports festival, after all!" Toru reminded.
Bakugo looked disgusted.
Hmmm…His personality seems like the type that would bathe in excessive flattery, but it isn't doing anything for him. In fact, he looks like he hates me MORE because I'm trying to compliment him. What can I offer him? Bakugo seems to only like people who can give him something in return. Toru thought.
She couldn't figure out for the life of her what Kaminari and Sero were giving him in the relationship. Kirishima at least he could blast and train with, but what were Kaminari and Sero giving him?
Bakugo laughed at her. "Friends? You and me? I only befriend strong people. And you, little invisible girl, are like one of the weakest in the class."
Kaminari winced.
Sero looked outraged by how blunt Bakugo was being.
"You want to be a leech on my success? I already have enough leeches." Bakugo pointed at Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero.
"Rude." Sero spoke up, crossing his arms.
"I know I wasn't very strong when the schoolyear started up, but I'm steadily getting stronger. And I want to be stronger! It's true that the strong flock together, but I don't want to leech off you, I want to learn from you. I really admire you after all!" Toru tried again to use kindness to try to get Bakugo out of his bad mood.
"You're probably still as weak as you were in the quirk exam, invisible girl." Perhaps Bakugo only remembered her score. "You better hope that Deku and Ball kid haven't already passed you with their training."
"My name is Hagakure." Toru corrected, sounding slightly annoyed. This isn't working. How did Sero, Kaminari and Kirishima succeed? Just hanging around him until he tolerated them? Maybe I should try that then, even if he dislikes me now. "I know you don't like me very much, but I'll be persistent! I'll get you on my side, I just know it!"
If I learned anything from watching him bully Midoriya, Bakugo doesn't react well to weakness. If I backed off and looked scared, he'd probably hate me more, so persistence is what I have to try now. Toru thought.
Eventually she hoped her excited, go gettem attitude would win over Bakugo. Kirishima's had somehow, after all.
Bakugo didn't look like he was even interested in what she was saying though. He wasn't even looking at her anymore and tried ignoring her once again.
Kaminari leaned forward and whispered something into Bakugo's ear. Bakugo's eyes widened, and he finally looked at Toru. He looked absolutely surprised, shocked and then shook his head.
"No." He said very quickly. "That's not it at all." He insisted.
"I'm telling you, man! That's how these things usually work! Can you think of a different reason?" Kaminari asked.
Bakugo looked even more startled and went back to eating his sandwich.
What did he say? I think I picked up on the word 'girl'. Was Kaminari trying to make Bakugo sympathetic to my plight? But Bakugo doesn't treat people differently if they're females. Toru recalled Bakugo and Uraraka's fight.
Toru decided not to bother Bakugo any greater by being curious. She let it go and tried to eat as much of her meal as possible, nearish to Bakugo.
I split the chapter in 2 again. The reason it took so long to post the chapter is I've been having poor health these last few weeks. So probably except infrequent posting in the future.