After lunch it was hero training with All Might. He gathered together Class A in front of a fake industrial zone with many pipes, pillars and industrial pieces. It looked like an awful mess of a maze.

"Okay! I am here!" All Might greeted. "All right, we'll start now. Today, it's hero basic training. Long time no see, boys and girls. How have you been?"

He did not give them time to answer.

"For this time's basic training since you've all gotten back from your internships, we'll have some fun with a rescue training race!" All Might explained.

"If it's rescue training, shouldn't it be at USJ?" Iida asked quickly shooting the teacher a question.

"USJ is for disasters only. Do you remember what I said? That's right, we're having a race! This is Field Gamma! A dense area laid out with factories to resemble a labyrinth. You'll break up in four teams of five people and do the training one group at a time." All Might explained. "When I send a distress signal from somewhere inside, you'll all start at once from the outskirts of the city. It's a race to see who will rescue me first!" All Might paused. "Of course, you'll have to keep damage to buildings to a minimum." All Might wagged his fingers and pointed at Bakugo.

"Don't point fingers." Bakugo turned his head a bit ashamed.

Easy enough. Of course, All Might would throw us into an exercise instead of training us how to do the exercise first, like how to climb pipelines or find our way through industrial areas like this. Toru thought.

All Might wasn't the greatest teacher. He had big, huge exercises, but didn't do much of the actual teaching part.

The first group was Sero, Mina, Midoriya, Ojiro and Iida competing against one another. Besides Midoriya they were all very high mobility people.

The groups weren't divided up that great. Toru thought to herself. Todoroki and Bakugo were better at mobility than Midoriya.

Iida hadn't fully recovered from his injuries but insisted on participating anyway. The five students all took their place waiting for the race to begin.

Toru's classmates all guessed who would make it first. People kept suggesting, Sero or Mina. Iida was usually the fastest, but he was injured, and Sero could swing through areas like this easy. Nobody suggested Midoriya, they all knew he had a horrible grasp of his quirk.

However, Midoriya surprised everyone by using his quirk to power up his speed without exploding any bones. Bakugo was the most surprised and angry when he realized Midoriya was imitating his moves to jump around and be quicker.

Well, any compliments Midoriya's going to get now are going to irk Bakugo because he feels like Midoriya's just copying him and hasn't earned any praise. He's going to be even more on edge and guarded. Toru realized.

Was just optimism and persistence something she could rely on to make a positive impression on Bakugo? But what if that didn't work for her because she was a girl and he preferred strong dudes like Kirishima and Sero's company?

Toru watched the screen as Midoriya almost made it to the finish line but slipped on a pipe and fell. Sero won the competition swinging through the industrial zone with ease as most of the class predicted.

All Might praised Sero heavily, but with one victory came another competition. The next group was up, and it luckily didn't have Toru's name.

Mineta, Yaoyorozu, Sato, Shoji and Bakugo were next.

"Well, we know who's going to win." Kirishima laughed. "Bakugo, easily."

Yaoyorozu, who had been one of the best students when the year started, looked sad. As the race started Mineta tried to throw a ball at Bakugo to latch on and get a piggyback from him.

"No way!" Bakugo blasted it away and launched himself through the sky.

Yaoyorozu created a grappling hook and tried to grapple her way through the labyrinth. Sato jumped with great speed above the pipelines above her, doing much better progress than she did. Mineta latched himself on Sato to piggyback off of him since Bakugo wouldn't let him latch on.

Once Yaoyorozu saw both Sato and Mineta pass her she seemed to lose her confidence and slipped quite a few times with her grappling hook. She seemed to second guess the route she was going on too.

Bakugo easily won, with Sato coming in second, Mineta in third, and Shoji coming in fourth since he had used his eyesight to mentally map a pathway. Yaoyorozu came in last.

She's lost a lot of her confidence since the sports festival. Little things are now getting to Yaoyorozu as I predicted, and she's given up. Toru thought.

All Might didn't scold her or speak to Yaoyorozu about this though. Instead, he scolded Mineta.

"It's not very heroic to make another person carry you, Mineta!" All Might scolded. "Try to navigate on your own, with your balls I'm sure you could bounce quicker to victory than making someone else give you a ride."

Mineta nodded, respecting All Might greatly. "Got it! I'll try that next time! You're a great teacher!"

All Might grinned.

No, he's not. Toru frowned.

"The four extras shouldn't have even shown up. This was barely a competition." Bakugo huffed. "I knew I'd win, but it might have been more fun to compete against Sero…" He mumbled.

He would have blasted anyone in his path anyway. But that's good to remember. He likes Sero because he's skilled in SOMETHING. Toru thought.

The next race was between Aoyama, Uraraka, Tokoyami, Tsuyu and Todoroki.

"It'll be close…This is a good batch of people." Mina said to herself. "Todoroki can just slide along the poles and Tsuyu and Tokoyami have great mobility."

"Oui! I think I will win!" Aoyama bragged.

The race started once again, and Aoyama launched himself off in the lead for a moment. He fell though before he could get very far. Tokoyami swung along with Dark Shadow making decent progress. Todoroki as predicted froze whatever construction pole he came across and slid very quickly. Tsuyu easily jumped and swung towards All Might with her tongue.

Uraraka was running along the ground making herself weightless to increase her speed but wasn't anywhere near the other four's mobility. It made it so first place was either going to be Tokoyami, Todoroki or Tsuyu.

Todoroki ended up falling off the pipe from his slippery ice just before reaching All Might, just like Midoriya had. Tsuyu leaped in front of Tokoyami and took first place.

Tsuyu finished 1st, Tokoyami 2nd, Todoroki 3rd, Aoyama 4th, Uraraka 5th.

"I failed too, Deku!" Ochako said cheerily to try to cheer Midoriya up from his own failures.

"I slipped as well…Not just you. Those pipes are slippery." Todoroki wanted in on the comfort.

Midoriya smiled awkwardly. He hadn't remembered ever being so popular.

"Pipes act differently than ground. It's harder to slide on them. And they sometimes don't go down and up so you can't use momentum to slide. Remember that!" All Might reminded.

With those two matches finishing it was the last match of players. Toru knew her name would be called.

"Kirishima, Kaminari, Jiro, Koda, and Hagakure." All Might called.

This group is a little bit more balanced than the others. Kirishima, I think is the only one with stellar mobility if I remember from the quirk placement exams. But that doesn't mean he'll be able to climb pipes well and navigate a labyrinth. Koda and Jiro should be able to do navigation better than him. Toru thought.

The question though was, did she want to give the win to Kirishima, Jiro or Koda? Her classmates were already cheering Kirishima's name, they seemed to think things were over and done with besides Yaoyorozu. She was rooting for Jiro quite openly.

It's true, Kirishima's fast and tough. Bakugo seems to respect him. If I beat Kirishima, will he think positively of me? Toru wondered.

Bakugo responded to strength. He thought she was weak, which was why he didn't like her. That meant she couldn't come in last place, but she doubted it would be all that impressive if she beat Koda since he was prone to being nervous.

That means, like as Bakugo put it I need an 'overwhelming victory' to get his respect. Toru thought. It wouldn't be hard. She was trained to navigate industrial complexes like this, she was a great climber and was very fast and agile at escape.

It would be very out of character if she competed with more of her true agility, but if anyone asked, she could blame it on Aizawa's boot camp. She had lied to Aizawa already that she was a great climber after all. It wouldn't be too unsettling to him if she won.

All Might's distress signal was sent, and immediately Kirishima rocketed with his own strength and speed.

"You aren't just going to win this race with the rest of us just giving up!" Jiro yelled trying her best to run on the ground and compete against him. She ducked under a pipe trying not to get hit by it.

Koda, Jiro, Kaminari and Kirishima had elected to try finding a route on ground level and climbing under pipes since they didn't have anything to help their mobility over the pipes.

"I think perhaps it's time for some sabotage…" Kaminari grinned, about to shoot his electricity at his competitors.

Kirishima made sure to let Jiro pass him for a second so he could use his body as a shield.

"NO SABATOGE MAN! That isn't heroic!" Kirishima yelled at him angrily before picking up his speed again to pass Jiro. He hardened himself and ran through a pillar even though All Might told him to keep damage to a minimum he seemed to have forgotten.

Koda seemed to be keeping up with the group rather well too. He had a strong pair of legs, but was mostly focusing on dodging pipes. He looked like he might try climbing for a moment, but seemed to get nervous.

None of them are even attempting to climb. They don't want to repeat Todoroki and Midoriya's mistakes. Toru realized. Pipes were slippery, but All Might was likely on the upper level instead of the lower one meaning the group would have to climb eventually. Jiro probably knew that since she plugged her earphone jack in to try to pinpoint his location better.

Not only that, but because Kaminari and Kirishima are in this group, they're getting quite competitive with each other. Kaminari kept trying to knock other people down to get ahead.

Everyone keeps looking at each other instead of going different routes or trying new things. They're all just following Kirishima because he's strong willed. They weren't looking at her very much though. They could only see her shoes and hands after all, so they couldn't see how good her movements were.

Toru launched herself into the air and easily grabbed a pipe and climbed up and started running up top. Even though she was wearing her shoes and gloves, she doubted anyone noticed her easily maneuver around or notice exactly how she was bending her arms and legs.

The labyrinth part of this race is one of the obstacles we have to face. I don't have Shoji's eyes so I won't be able to see what's up ahead if I make a wrong turn. Luckily her group had gone last, and she had been memorizing the pipes and labyrinth in her head during the other exams.

A wrong turn would lose her some time, it would require her to climb a crane or something but because of her excellent memory, balance, and agility she was able to reach All Might with great ease while Kirishima was busy competing with Jiro and Kaminari.

Toru pretended to breath overly heavy, as if she was out of breath and had pushed herself to the limit.

All Might looked surprised to hear and see her. "Congratulations, Hagakure! You won?" All Might seemed a little confused as he gave Toru the victory sash.

Toru could not see her classmates watching the monitor, she imagined quite a few of them were surprised by her winning.

It took more than a few minutes for Kirishima to slide into second place leaving Jiro, Kaminari and Koda in the dust.

Jiro arrived third having eventually used her earjacks to try to keep her footing around pipes, by wrapping them around things that she might fall from like a rope. Koda arrived fourth awhile after that having struggled with his balance on the pipes, and Kaminari arrived last of all having gotten terrible lost.

"No way…I lost?" Kirishima was surprised. He had thought he was the fastest of the team and had it in the bag.

"I'm sorry, young Kirishima, but Hagakure arrived several minutes before you! Although I might have missed it if she hadn't been so loud. Remember young Hagakure, in competitions like this you might be looked over if you don't make a big enough impact. Try to have a bit more presence!" All Might advised.

"Yes, sir, Mr. All Might!" Toru cheerily agreed.

Kirishima just still seemed stunned that he had lost. Kaminari pat his back.

"Don't worry, bud. I lost too." Kaminari reassured him.

"I know! You lost to me!" Kirishima reminded. "I guess I need to be more in tune with my competition though."

"I had no idea you were so fast, Hagakure!" Jiro was amazed and tried to compliment the other girl on her victory. "Do you have invisible engines like Iida does or something? I didn't even see you pass us."

"She made similar time to young Sero, I believe. So, cherish your victory, Hagakure!" All Might complimented.

Toru lightly chuckled. "Thanks! I will! And I guess it was just luck?" She said bashfully. I made similar time to Sero? Is that too unbelievable? He can swing around these sorts of labyrinths with his tape after all… And he was competing against several high mobility people.

Toru scanned her competitors faces, but none of them looked suspicious of her. Just amazed.

"What's your secret? You gotta tell me!" Kaminari begged, still sore from coming in last.

"Well…Um…I was watching the map in the other battles and tried to come up with a route based on that! I don't think I would have won if our group had gone first." Toru explained, knowing she had to give them a reason or else they'd all start making weird theories about her.

I might still have been able to make good time if we went first, but a stealth-based hero needs some observation skills, so this shouldn't seem too suspicious. Toru thought.

Jiro's eyes widened and she nodded. Smart!

"Also, I went plus Ultra because I really really wanted to impress Bakugo! I don't want him to think I'm weak! Sorry I stole your brownie points with him, Kirishima!" Toru apologized.

Kirishima just blinked. "O-oh." He looked very awkward about that. "Um…I guess the power of wanting to impress someone does move you to hysteria?"

All Might nodded. "There's all different sorts of motivators. Impressing someone can be a powerful force!" He did seem curious about Young Bakugo's name being thrown around.

"So, effort and observing things was what made you so quick?" Jiro asked. "That's it?"

"I went to Aizawa's hell boot camp too." Toru slumped her arms so they could see her gloves drift down. "He really worked me to the bone! After my pro hero retired, I thought things would be easy, but Mr. Aizawa was like noooo!" She complained loudly.

Jiro, Kirishima, Kaminari and Koda no longer seemed so impressed. They just looked at her with pity.

"That does sound like hell." Kirishima laughed. Some people had it tough!

It seems like I gave a plausible reason for my improvement. And if anyone asks questions about Aizawa's boot camp I have plenty of real answers to give them. If they ask about my climbing training, I'll mention that 0 pointer I had to climb. Toru thought.

When their group got back to the other students, Toru noticed that several students were looking at her with a look of bewilderment and amazement. Bakugo was not one of them though.

He clearly heard that I wanted to impress him on the monitor and show that I wasn't weak. But he seems to be even more purposefully avoiding me! Toru didn't understand.

Instead of looking at her for even a moment, Bakugo scolded Kaminari and Kirishima for their poor performance instead.

…What will take getting into his good graces?

The girls went to the changing rooms after the race rescue training to change back into their school uniforms.

"So, was all that stuff you said true, Toru? In the monitor I mean?" Mina asked, making idle conversation.

"What stuff?" Toru asked. Was I suspicious by winning? Did I act too strong?

"I think Mina means about Aizawa." Tsuyu replied. "And about your pro hero retiring."

"I guess we were all kinda busy this morning sharing about our own internship stories that we missed talking to you much!" Ochako apologized. "I think it's because your seat is all the way across the room that we didn't have a chance to hear anything."

"I didn't hear much either. I was so focused on Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki fighting the hero killer." Yaoyorozu defended.

Everybody had been.

"Oh! Well yeah! It was all true! My pro hero retired during my internship, and I had to go home. Mr. Aizawa decided I'd stay at school training instead of getting a free vacation. He worked me to the bone! It was awful!" Toru complained.

Mina grimaced. "That must've sucked!"

"But you must have some interesting stories, right?" Jiro tried to cheer her up.

"And it looks like the training was beneficial…" Yaoyorozu pointed out, almost looking a little jealous. She kept failing and yet all the other students were constantly improving.

"Training with Mr. Aizawa isn't the worst thing that could happen!" Tsuyu reassured her. "I'm happy for you."

Hmm…Only Jiro and Mina are pitying me. Uraraka is trying to look cheerful for my sake, but does seem to have some pity in her eyes, but Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu look jealous. She wouldn't mention the training with Aizawa too much if it was making some people jealous.

"My internship was about how to please the public in commercials. What I would give for some hands-on training…" Yaoyorozu said to mostly herself.

"I enjoyed my internship well enough." Tsuyu said. "Selkie was very helpful and showed what it's really like to man a boat and be a hero instead of just the exciting parts you see on tv." She smiled.

"None of your internships can measure up to Jiro's though!" Mina reminded. "She rescued actual hostages! Tell us the story again! Please!" Mina begged.

Jiro wasn't listening much to their conversation anymore.

"Quiet! I hear something!" She got her friends to quiet down.

It sounded like some sort of frantic thing was happening on the other side of the wall, in the boy's locker room.

"Stop it, Mineta! Peeping is a criminal act!" Iida's loud voice was loud enough for them to all hear.

"LEAVING MY LITTLE MINETA ALL ALONE IS A CRIME!" Mineta's voice was on the other end. "I gotta see Yayoyorozu's ample Yaoyorozu-boobies…Ashido's slender waist. Uraraka's fine Uraraka body! Tsuyu's big honkers! Hagakure's floating underwear-"

The girls unanimously looked disgusted as they heard the loud voice on the other side.

"Is…Is there a peep hole or something?" Mina asked, looking disgusted.

I should have been on guard, even in the locker room. But instead, I was focused on creating good will with the other female classmates. Toru felt ashamed. She should have known in UA one could never be off guard, even in the female locker rooms, where women should have been safe.

Jiro quickly found a hole and jammed her earjack in as hard as she could. There was screaming on the other end, likely the earjack had made impact with Mineta. As she pulled back there was some blood on her earjack she shook off.

"There's no need to alert Cementoss. I will create some cement to close that immediately!" Yaoyorozu took initiative to destroy that awful peephole as soon as possible.

He is a disgusting person. It sounded like Iida was trying to stop him, but was anyone else? Or were they unaware of what Mineta was trying to do? Were they focused on their own conversations or could none of the boys in class be trusted either because they would be happy to aid Mineta in peeping on them? Toru didn't know.

She scanned the girl's faces around her. Some of them looked scared. They probably hadn't been spied on or objectified on that level before. Uraraka looked like she hadn't even considered someone peeping on her.

Yaoyorozu looked like she had just accepted that this was the way things were going to be in UA. She sighed and started sealing up the hole, taking it upon her shoulders to fix things. Tsuyu also seemed to be accepting things.

Mina looked angry. And Jiro looked slightly ashamed.

She was the only one that Mineta didn't talk about how much he wanted to spy on. She must be having some sort of mixed feelings of relief, along with feelings of wondering what's wrong with her for not being included. Teenage girls were prone to taking a lot of things personally to their self-esteem. Even something horrible like this might make them wonder why they weren't included in, deep inside.

Self-esteem was a useful weapon to use against girls in psychological warfare. But for once Toru wasn't thinking about how to manipulate her fellow girls. Instead, she felt angry and disgusted with how much they had to endure.

"Hey…Um…How long are we going to leave Mineta with a metaphorical slap on the wrist?" Toru finally asked.

The girls all looked at her very confused, not quite knowing what drove Toru to speak up, or ask.

"What do you mean?" Uraraka asked.

"Isn't stabbing him in the eyeball enough? I'm sure he'll think twice next time." Jiro smirked wanting to feel like she had done something.

Mina's eyes widened. "Oh! Do you mean when should we report him to the teachers?" Mina realized.

Toru nodded. "Yeah! Yeah! That's what I meant!" That would be a normal high schoolers response to things like this, right?

"I could try telling Mr. Aizawa about this incident. So that he's able to take steps next time to ensure it doesn't happen." Yaoyorozu offered. "If…If you all think this needs to be reported, at least." She didn't want to just speak for everyone.

Uraraka looked at the ground. "I don't know…It was just one time…I mean he says things like this often but…" She looked guilty for a moment.

"But! But! It's not a bad idea to tell Mr. Aizawa!" Toru insisted. "Isn't once enough?"

Uraraka still looked worried. She bit her lip. "I'm just worried…What if Aizawa makes a big deal out of things and expels Mineta or something? Aizawa threatened expulsion the first day and I don't want to be responsible for Mineta losing his chance to become a hero."

So? Isn't him being expelled the ideal scenario? Toru didn't understand.

"You won't be! Don't worry! Whatever Mineta does is his own responsibility!" Mina reassured.

"It's just…We don't know a thing about Mineta's home life situation!" Uraraka insisted. "For a lot of people becoming a hero is the only way they can survive. It's the only way for them to live! Because of the law people aren't allowed to use their quirk freely without a heroes license. What if his family is in extreme poverty and that's why he wants to be a hero? We don't know anything about what's going on inside of Mineta's head!" Uraraka was getting louder and quite passionate.

Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu nodded. They hadn't ever considered any of that.

"I live in poverty. I'd feel awful if I ruined someone's chances of getting their family out of a bad situation because I couldn't handle my own problems." Uraraka was near tears.

"We don't know if that's Mineta's life though. We don't know a thing about him." Mina reassured. "That might be your situation, but it isn't necessarily his."

"I'm sorry!" Uraraka apologized. "You can feel free to argue with me, but I want to give him another chance. If I'm unable to know someone's reasons for being here, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. And I think it would always weigh on my conscious if Mineta got expelled and we never heard from him again because we reported him or something. We wouldn't be able to find out what hardships he's endured to be here."

Uraraka's passionate speech managed to win everyone over. Everyone except Toru at least. But since Toru was someone who had to go along with the crowd, she pretended to shed some tears with the rest of them imagining Mineta's sad home life.

Although it is hard to get into UA it doesn't mean Mineta's experienced hardship in his life. And I don't have any sympathy for someone who feels like it's a crime to leave his 'little Mineta' alone. If Mineta was left alone, never punished, his actions could get much worse in the future. Toru couldn't understand Uraraka's line of thinking.

"Well…You're right that becoming a hero is pretty hard. He's gotta have some good reason for trying to become one!" Jiro agreed. "I don't like leaving him and doing nothing though… But I'll agree not to report him to a teacher for now."

Yaoyorozu put her hand on Jiro's shoulder. "I can try speaking to Iida!" She offered. "Iida is our class representative after all! Maybe he can explain to Mineta why we're uncomfortable or keep him from doing anything like this again."

It's unfair to leave everything on Iida's shoulders though…I'm sure he'll try his best, but he's a student here too. Toru thought.

"There's also the fact that perhaps leaving things as is could be seen as a sort of hero training for us in the future. Objectification is nothing new. And Hagakure and I will have to face a lot of it in the field, so perhaps it would be best to try getting used to things now?" Yaoyorozu suggested.

Jiro grabbed Yayorozu's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Just because your costume is showing a little skin…That's awful… And it's not like you have a choice about that!"

Toru bit her lip. She wanted to be angry at what Yayorozu was saying but she couldn't. If I look at it from an analytical situation, she's been beaten down by the system extremely. After all, her costume is pretty bad. And people actually have to see it. She felt pity for the girl. And perhaps if she was training to be a hero for real, she'd feel the same way as her.

"Have you considered talking to the support class about your costume, Yayorozu? Mei was telling me that there's a way to design costumes using your hair so that they count as part of your quirk…If you're uncomfortable with your situation you don't need to 'grin and bear it'." Toru advised.

It took a moment for the words to be processed by Yaoyorozu. She covered her mouth. "I…I had never considered that. Thank you."

I hope that helps her a little. And gains me some trust points. And hopefully the girls will wake up about Mineta. I was kinda hoping they'd unanimously report him for expulsion. Toru frowned.

Wannabe heroes were too sacrificial and good for even themselves. There was no need to think of 'Mineta's situation.'

Toru's mission with Bakugo hadn't been completed. So, she waited for him outside school so she could walk out the school gates with him.

"You going to be like this from now on?" Bakugo asked annoyed.

"I told you I'm persistent!" Toru assured.

Bakugo sighed. He stopped in his tracks and Toru stopped too as other students passed them as if to assure him, she'd still be here.

"You're clearly dedicated because you did win to show me that you're not at Deku's level of pathetic. And I couldn't see if you were copying my moves too because I can't see you, but…" Bakugo shook his head and stared at her.

No more students were streaming past them.

"I'm not interested. I don't care what you do, I will never be interested in you." Bakugo insisted, scowling.

"But I can be tough like Kirishima too!" Toru insisted.

Bakugo scowled and rubbed his hand with his face. He groaned. "Listen, I know you're like in love with me or something but there's a big difference between you and Kirishima! Your 'persistence' isn't going to change that."

Toru froze for a second. In love with him? Ah…That must be what Kaminari told him at the lunch table. That I had a crush on him. I suppose that's a normal conclusion a teenage boy would reach.

Toru moved her arm to her face to look like she was thinking. It's certainly easier to win someone over to your side if you act like you're in love with them. People love attention. But I don't know if I can fake a relationship with Bakugo. Once he finds out I was pretending I'd be dead for one thing. And I've never faked romantic interest. Pretending I have a crush on someone would be natural now that I'm a high schooler, but I don't know if I know enough about romance to pull it off. And the big negative is if he ends up liking me, I'd have to date Bakugo of all people. What if I have to kiss him? Gross. He kinda sucks.

"Ah well um—" She tried to come up with something to say, fumbling, trying to figure out a way to let him down easy without upsetting him.

Bakugo just stared at her. "I'm gay. So, whatever you say it won't make me date you."

Toru's mouth dropped open. Oh. I guess that technique isn't even worth considering. Thank god. Now Kirishima and Bakugo's touchy feeliness…The disgust on Bakugo's face when Kaminari had said Toru liked him, all of it made sense. "I really was just interested in tips for how to get strong. Not hanging around you because I had a crush on you." Toru insisted.

Bakugo didn't look like he believed it. "Listen, I get it. I'm amazing. But you won't have a strong boyfriend like me."

"No. I really do not want a boyfriend! I really just wanted to be friends!" Toru raised her voice. "You don't think Kaminari and Sero are after you when they hang out with you do you? Why think I like you when I want to spend time with you?"

Bakugo had to think that one over. "Crap. Do they like me?" His ego won out. "You make a good point."

He just took two steps backwards instead of one forward. Sero and Kaminari were sure to have a slew of problems now.

Toru sighed. "Fine. We don't have to be friends. But I wanted to show you that I'm not as weak as you think. I want to be strong and even though I thought the best way was being around a winner like you, maybe I can be strong all by myself." Toru tried a big speech about how she was confident.

That got Bakugo to smile a little bit. "Yeah, now you see. Being strong isn't relying on others. You clearly have more in you than I thought, invisible girl—"

"Hagakure." Toru corrected. He really couldn't remember her name.

"So just work on what you have. Which I guess is balance and agility." Bakugo shrugged. "I don't respond well to leeches, but I can understand someone being confident enough to not need others. That's very not Deku."

Perhaps that was the biggest improvement Toru could hope for in Bakugo's mind. The grade of "not a Deku."

It was a partial success.

It bugs me that we don't really see Mineta get punished by the faculty for trying to peep on people. In season 3 during the hot springs Aizawa says something that makes us know he knows about the issue, but he doesn't do much more than putting a child on duty to stop Mineta.

My sister's favorite ship is Bakugo/Kirishima, but because I didn't have enough time or desire to cover the build up or them falling in love and getting into a relationship I wanted to put them in a pre-established relationship which will become clearer in later chapters.

When I was editing the chapter I took a 2 week break in the middle of the relay race. I planned to do more with it originally in the editing process, but eventually decided I didn't have the time now to go over every group in detail.