Rule #27: There are two ways to follow someone. First way: they never notice you, second way: they only notice you

Monday morning, two days later, Toru found herself arriving at the Musutafu train station much earlier than she would've liked. Business men and women rushed about in fine suits and pencil skirts as they raced through the large archways behind her, intent on making it to the right platform in time. Occasionally, an early student would wander by, some were dressed in sports uniforms while others wore exhausted expressions splattered with stress.

Hmmm...What do I want? What do I want? Toru mused to herself as she browsed the rows of vending colourful vending machines lining the back wall of the train station foyer. After gathering her things the night beforehand, Toru had left Aizawa's apartment earlier than needed as she planned to get breakfast from that quaint little bakery on the corner on the way to the station. Too bad they'd been closed due to flooding.

Moving from the fire-engine red vending machine to the dirty white one in front of her, Toru absentmindedly took note that a couple of her classmates had arrived early as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that a bedraggled Ochako had practically fallen asleep against the pole she was leaning against and a brooding Iida was standing stiffly off to her side. Though whenever someone would look in their direction, or made to walk over to them, Iida would stare them down until they squirmed away.

Playing big brother even when's got that stuff going on with his own brother. Toru's lips turned up at the corners as she watched the scene play out several times over. Though thoughts of Ingenium's brutal attack and death soon sobered her thoughts.

Not too long after the Sport's Festival, it had been revealed to the public that a new villain had arisen, one whose threat level made even the Pros wary. It wasn't until Toru had been sitting in the hospital cafeteria that she had heard what had happened.

Apparently Ingenium, Iida's big brother, had been attacked in Hosu city, Tokyo. The person responsible already had a rather long rapt sheet, one that had already included the murderers of seventeen heroes and injuring twenty-three so badly that they were beyond recovery. He was considered by many to be a stain on the Pro community, hence his villain name: Stain, the hero killer.

"Heya Sero! Are you ready?" Called Mina's bright voice as she imitated a gameshow host; pulling Toru from her dark thoughts. Glancing over her shoulder, the albino noticed that by this point a lot more of her classmates had arrived at the meeting point and they were really only waiting for the last few stragglers and Aizawa-Sensei.

I should hurry up...Ooh! Chocolate milk! Toru perked up, happily slipping in the correct change and pressed the sequence of buttons tp acquire her desired beverage. Ooh! Bonus! Toru mentally cheered when an extra milk dropped in behind her other one, Aww! It's strawberry!...Maybe someone else wants it?

Hauling her school bag/travel bag over her shoulder after she pocketed the free strawberry milk she then hefted the large hero costume case under one arm and set off for the chattering group of her peers, all the while sipping on her carton on chocolate milk.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long for Aizawa-Sensei to arrive with a large cup of steaming coffee clutched in one hand and his signature yellow sleeping bag poking out of the top of his backpack, nor the last of the rather tired stragglers who eyed his coffee with envy and longing.

"Everyone has their costumes, right?" Aizawa-Sensei drawled, "Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet and don't lose them or anything"

"Got'cha!" Cheered Mina, practically buzzing in excitement.

"Speak properly, it's 'yes sir', Ashido"

"...Yes sir" Mina grumbled, instantly slumping over in embarrassment at the scolding.

"Make sure you mind your manners with the other heroes during your internships. Now get to it"

"Yes sir!" Chirped 1-A before they dispersed, going their seperate ways.

"Aah, are you going this way as well Todoroki?" Toru asked the boy as both teens boarded the same train, busy though it was.

"Yes" Todoroki nodded, taking a hold of one of the straps hanging ceiling, "I'm interning with my father"

"Endeavour, right?" Toru asked as she looked forlornly at the straps too far out of her reach, and instead settled for bracing her feet wide enough for her to keep her balance as the train moved. Though with the rush hour crowd already on the train, it wasn't much and no sooner had the train begun to move did she lose her balance and crash into Todoroki with a small yelp.

"Sorry, sorry" Toru apologised profusely as she removed herself from the boy's chest where she had collapsed.

"...It's fine" Todoroki muttered, though he appeared to be trying to wash the startled looking off of his face, "Why don't you just hang onto the straps?"

"...I can't reach them..." Toru muttered, swaying slightly as the train turned a corner. Instead of replying to her comment, Todoroki simply grabbed her glove-covered hand and placed it on his forearm (the one that wasn't holding the strap) much like a gentleman would do in a period movie.

Toru didn't have time to question the taller boy's actions as the train lurched to a stop causing her to grip tight to the boy's sleeve in order to stay upright.

"...Thanks" Toru murmured as she hid her invisible red-tinted face in the fuzzy woollen scarf she'd worn that morning; thankful that the two had managed to stay upright. Todoroki nodded again, clearly not relying on his voice not breaking as his own red-tinted cheeks seemed to practically glow in the crowded train car.


Arriving at the Endeavour agency HQ with a suddenly withdrawn Todoroki at her side, Toru couldn't help but stare up at the large skyscraper engraved with a huge cursive 'E' on its exterior. Well,...someone's got a big ego...

"Hagakure, let's go" Todoroki stood by the front door waiting for her to catch up.

"Oh right" Toru jogged over to join him as he held open the door for her. Compared to the sleek exterior of the building, the interior was very swanky.

Cream and copper-accented walls led the eye around the lobby; from the black leather armchairs crowded around coffee tables off to the right, to the many conference rooms encased in glass towards the left, as seen through the narrow hallway leading there. And in the centre of the lobby stood a large slab of granite atop the receptionist's desk where the fiery-looking modern art backlit the tiny woman perched behind her computer.

Readjusting the strap over her shoulder, Toru heaved a breath of courage and strode forth to the front desk with Todoroki following silently at her heels. "Welcome to the Endeavour Agency, how may I help you?" Drawled the tiny woman, who popped her bubble of gum in their faces before slowly chewing it again. The lopsided name tag on her breast read: Chisoe Sumire.

Toru shifted uncomfortably as Chisoe's leering gaze roved over both herself and Todoroki.

"Uh hello" Toru began somewhat affronted by this woman's blatant rudeness. So much for customer service...! "...We're here for the internships, the ones with UA High"

"Names?" POP!

"Uh...Hagakure Toru and..." Toru turned to Todoroki whose withdrawn expression hadn't changed since they'd entered the building.

"...Todoroki Shouto"

At the sound of his name, the young receptionist suddenly perked up, in both attitude and appearance. Clearly she had had no idea that this was Endeavour's son.

"Well, then, Shouto just make your way up the stairs and head straight down the hall. He's expecting you" Purred the woman, batting her eyes at the teen as she leant far too far forward revealing the small amount of cleavage bursting from her too tight blouse.

Todoroki simply nodded his thanks as he grabbed Toru by the wrist and pulled her after him, already knowing where to go despite the directions. As the duo left the lobby, Toru caught a glimpse of Chisoe glaring after the albino like she'd stolen the limelight, though when she thought Todoroki was looking, had gone back to acting the flirty girl. Slut.


That evening, Toru sat curled up on the bed provided as she stared out the 70th floor window in which her dorm room was located. The residential rooms of Endeavour's agency were located on the 70th-77th floors, with the entire top floor designated to Endeavour himself.

Room 70F had been the dorm that Toru had been assigned to when she had arrived and was about the size of a standard single dorm room and coloured with the same cream & copper accents that were present throughout the building.

One single bed, one small desk, one set of drawers and several coat hooks and shelves mounted on the wall were the only things that took up the room. The room itself would've felt cramped if not for the wall-to-wall window that ran lengthways along the back wall where her bed had been pushed underneath.

Upon arriving at the room and having been presented with the card key; Toru had messily scrawled her name, Quirk & who she was interning under onto the laminated sign stuck to the front of the door. The purpose of this was so that if anything ever went wrong, they knew who within the agency to contact and what kind of Quirk they might be dealing with.

Across the hall, Todoroki had occupied a similar room. Though he (obviously) lived not too far from the agency; for the purposes of the internship he had to reside at the agency for the entirety of the week-long internship unless given special permission to do otherwise. Toru understood it to be some sort of security measure in case something went wrong; that way at least they knew where everyone was supposed to be.

Well, that was...an experience. Toru mused as she chowed down on the steaming pot of instant ramen in her hands that she'd nicked from the floor's small communal area at the end of the hall. Who knew Endeavour was really just a fiery asshole? Geez! Even Bitch-Sensei's first impression was better than his! And she'd given no fucks about telling us how much she really didn't like us!

Meeting Endeavour in person —in the full-fledged fiery hero gear— Toru had at first felt the intense heatwave that was emanating from the man before seeing why the heat was so intense. Endeavour's typical hero costume consisted of a body-hugging navy blue bodysuit lined with red stripes and orange flames that streamed across his chest, upper torso, arms and shoulders.

The flames also formed some sort of makeshift mask around his face, kind of like a five-pronged crown that erupted from his brow. The tall boots he wore had been engulfed in flame as well, making it hard to decipher if they were made from fire or just encased in it.

The costume was tied together with white cage-styled bracers strapped around his lower arms and a blue belt with a couple of pouches situated on either hip. The way Endeavour had puffed up when she and Todoroki had entered his office, had reminded Toru of an owl or a cat that puffed itself up to look bigger when threatened.

The 'interview' had consisted mostly of Endeavour expressing his desire to mould Todoroki into his 'perfect self' now that he had accepted his flame side and to follow in his father's footsteps (and possibly) become the number one hero ahead of himself and All Might. Sounded like he was trying to make the perfect little soldier...

Toru slurped her noodles as she recalled how Todoroki had spat back into his father's face how he was his own person, how his Quirk—both ice and fire—was his own and that there was no way he was going to follow in his father's footsteps. By Endeavour's expression, it seemed to be one of the first times Todoroki had finally stood up for himself...and it wasn't appreciated.

Not too long after that Endeavour had deemed to take notice of Toru and had merely dismissed her by saying that she would be spending the week interning under the hero Matchstick. Meeting Matchstick in comparison to Endeavour had almost given Toru whiplash at the sudden change in attitudes between the two men.

Matchstick appeared to be a younger hero, clearly only just recently graduated in the last couple of years; which explained his lack of public image and age. Toru hadn't really met many fire Quirk users and so her only other real comparison to him had been Endeavour and Todoroki (kind of).

Where Endeavour had extruded power like it was sweat upon his brow, emanating from his very Quirk, attitude and appearance; Matchstick was a much more subdued hero at least until he opened his mouth. The man, much like his namesake, had a rather lanky but wiry build that leant itself more to speed and flexibility than power, his long red hair had been pulled back into a top knot with the sides buzzed down to dark fuzz and was paired with a tiny triangular soul patch like an arrow pointing downwards on his chin.

Matchstick had explained that due to his Quirk, Flare, he had a tendency to set himself alight which in turn essentially turned him into a walking ball of molten fire. Due to this, his costume had been rather minimalistic; only really consisting of a pair of ashen grey firemen pants that cut off at his calves with the hems & suspenders lined in a reflective material.

There had been a few things—aside from his appearance— that had stuck out to Toru when she had first met the young man. The first being that he was an incorrigible (but harmless) flirt; even granting her several nicknames (such as Sparky, Spitfire & Lil' Lady to name a few) during the short timeframe that they had known each other.

The second thing she had noticed was that his temperature had run higher than normal; he had been unnaturally warm & slightly sweaty when he had pulled her in for a welcoming hug and lifted her clear off the ground where she dangled in the air like a young child. Not only that, but he smelt strongly of smoke and something burnt. But of course, that's probably because of his Quirk...

All in all it's been a pretty good first day. Smiled Toru placing her empty pot of noodles on the nightstand as she watched the stars glitter and the shrunken moon wane high above the city's skyline. Let's see what tomorrow brings!