Rule #25c: Experience is the best teacher
1-A practically buzzed in their seats that morning as they listened to their teacher go into further detail about how the work studies opportunity would work for them and how it differentiated from that of the internships they had completed previously. "…The Hero Work Studies are a more serious version of your internships" Aizawa drawled, "They entail helping Pro agencies on the streets and with investigations. Your teachers and the principal discussed them at the faculty meeting and we all agree, it's too soon; they should really be cancelled"
"What?!" 1-A despaired in unison, some far louder than others.
"Aw! But we already met about them!" Kirishima whined.
"I guess, when you think about why we had to move into the dorms, it does make sense" Kaminari mused as he fiddled with Ojiro's protruding tail.
"HAHA!" Bakugou jumped to his feet and slammed his hands on his desk at that; much like siblings would tease each other.
"Just because you wouldn't get to do one…!" Toru bitterly muttered under her breath at the explosive blonde's reaction to the news.
"But, some people think that we won't be able to raise strong heroes with that sort of protective outlook" Aizawa continued. Toru found herself nodding along to this sentiment, whilst ignorance was bliss, it did no one any good to be kept helplessly in the dark forever. You just had look at any family action movies to tell you that. "And with that in mind, the compromise is to be selective about participating agencies; so choose one with a proven track record, otherwise you won't be taking part"
Assention travelled throughout the classroom at this notion; the idea that they would still get to participate in the work studies suited everyone just fine, even if they did have to abide by the school's constraints. Unfortunately, that didn't help Toru in the moment as she felt her back quickly heat up as Bakugou's temper reached boiling point. Again. Before they could dissolve further into endless gossip about the work studies, Aizawa cut them off again, only to send them on their way to their other classes with the bleak promise of answering further questions later.
When the weekend finally rolled around with their first day off in weeks, Toru found herself hurrying out of the door and over to UA to meet with Snipe and one of his associates under the guise of counselling in regards to her actions at camp, and again later in Yoshiwara. Shuffling about the living room with a piece of jam-slathered toast hanging from her mouth as she got ready, Toru overheard the languid musings of her peers as they too made plans for the day. "A whole day off, huh?" Kaminari hummed around the toothbrush in his mouth.
"Yeah, after all the exams and special training we can finally take it easy for once—" Mineta agreed, still not quite awake.
"—MORNING!" Midoriya bellowed as he raced passed, kicking up a cloud of dust as he slammed the front door behind him.
"Ok~ay, what's up with him?"
"I 'unno" Kirishima grunted around his chopsticks whilst Tokoyami stared after the greenette with interest.
"Ooh! Lookie there!" Kaminari nodded to the other two teens who were meandering up the path so early on a fine Saturday. "They've got Provisional Licence Training on weekends too"
Even from behind closed doors, Toru could hear Bakugou snapping at Todoroki with all the usual decorum of a nark. She hopped up and down a few times whilst she shoved her feet into her sneakers, only just catching the tailed of the boys' conversation as she made her way out of the door. "…We're having a study session with Yaoyorozu later. You guys wanna come along?" Invited Kaminari.
"Sorry man" Kirishima apologised, "We're busy today"
"I'll be studying some websites" Mineta added making Toru scrunch her face up in disgust at the boy's predictable perviness.
"To each their own, I guess" Kaminari sighed.
In the end, it only took her a few minutes to find the right training gym in which she was to meet the two Pro particular gym had been converted into a gun range with several metallic humanoid targets littered about the place and what she could only assume was a modified tennis ball catapult; whatever it was looked similar to the one she had seen at the convention on I-island before shit had hit the fan. Before her lay a table with a single row of firearms—real firearms—and it did nothing to abate the confusion whirling around inside her. She had presumed this lesson to revolve around questions pertaining to her actions, not a table of firearms and targets.
She turned to the third year teacher and his unknown partner with confusion flecking her tone. "Snipe-sensei? What is this?" Toru questioned, violet eyes gliding over the weapons but really only recognising the ones that were of a similar make to the Anti-Sensei weapons.
"Togata and Hado informed me of yer stint in the Red Light District" Snipe replied, making Toru wince at the reminder of the clusterfuck of a punishment which her homeroom teacher had devised following their return to the dorms. It was best not mentioned; let's just say that Toru envied Midoriya & Bakugou's slaps on the wrist. "And whilst they were concerned about several things that y'all are no doubt aware of, they also reported yer cool head in the face of danger" Snipe continued on, his country drawl somehow sounding both melodic and grating on the ears.
"Alongside the outcome of the training camp and the unofficial incident with Stain, it was decided that your skills in this area should be assessed" Continued Snipe's partner. He was an odd man, short—even by her standards—his head only just clearing the table laid out before them. If he were to stand next to the principal, then he might be a head or two taller, but even then, that was pushing it. Then again, that wasn't the only thing that caught Toru's attention; his Quirk displayed itself in the shiny black button eyes, well-kept red yarn hair and an obscene zipper that began at his chin and dropped down into the neck of his shirt. He was like a walking rag doll.
"My skills?" Toru murmured, "Like an evaluation or something?"
"More so to see if your skills could cut the mustard enough for a work studies"
"What? Like, er cheerleading tryouts?" Toru blinked, still trying to tear her eyes away from the mind-melting action of blinking black buttons and not quite comprehending what the words meant. "Or an interview?"
"If you like"
"Oh, thanks uh…?"
"My apologies, let me introduce myself. My name is Stitch" Despite his rather elegant greeting, Toru noted that the man seemed nervous if not unsettled by the array of guns on the table. She filed it away for later.
"N—nice to meet you, sir" She winced at the way the words sort of just tumbled out of her mouth in a jumble of hushed noise.
"Right" Snipe clapped his hands, gaining her attention once more. "Let's see what yer can do. The kids said you didn't miss a shot, now prove it"
Shuffling forward, Toru hesitantly ran her fingers over the guns lain before her. Her fingertips just barely danced over the selection before she rested on a simple pistol; something which was similar to the Anti-Sensei weapons she had learnt to use over the past year—including that incident at camp. Practised hands loaded the magazine into the firearm, placing live ammo inside just as she had done a thousand times before with the rubber pellets. Absently, Toru wondered what would happen if she aimed at her elders, if that would give her an edge or just send her straight to juvie. Brushing that thought aside, she shoved ear plugs into her ears and lined up her first shot with a deep breath sucked in through clenched teeth. God! What I wouldn't give for nerves of steel right about now! Toru whined internally, her hands shaking only slightly under the pressure of this so-called 'test'.
No sooner had she let go of the breath she was holding did Toru squeeze the trigger. Falling into the rhythmic motions that had been ingrained into her memory, the invisible girl shot at the first three targets with ease. Faintly, she registered Stitch appreciatively whistling in her ear as the bullets seamlessly pierced through the bullseye, leaving behind only a glowing ring of ember. The three further back however, were more of a challenge hidden behind each other and tucked into the back of the room as they were. Switching from pistol to rifle, Toru hoped that the longer barrel would mean further reach and better chance for success. Of course, that didn't stop the stray bullets hitting bullseye-adjacent.
Lowering the weapon back onto the table, she turned to her companions with a self-satisfied smile on her face. Toru didn't particularly favour guns, preferring blades as they seemed more personal in her eyes, but even she couldn't deny the power coursing through her as she pinned down her targets with the firearms.
"Hm" Snipe hummed—neither appreciatively nor disparagingly—as he jotted down a few notes in a notebook he had somehow plucked from thin air. Toru was amused to notice the sparkly kawaii cover of the book, making her think that it was likely one of the cheaper ones he'd managed to find…or maybe Snipe just liked sparkly things? Who knows?
"Er…" Toru shifted nervously as pen flitted across the paper at lightning speeds and she placed the gun back on the table, nestled amongst the others.
"Where'd you learn to shoot like that, kid?" Stitch asked as he clambered up a step-ladder to reach Toru's eye-line.
"Uh, ju-junior high" She replied a little nervously as she was unused to talking about her last year of junior high with anyone outside of 3-E or her family. "Karasuma-sensei and Koro-sensei taught us how to use 'em"
"Koro-sensei?" Stitch mused as Snipe paused briefly in his note taking at the name. "Wasn't that the villain that blew up the moon?"
"Uh, yeah. But he was more of a vigilante than a villain"
"Huh…and what makes you say that?"
"Er, well, I mean he was a pretty great teacher and—and a lot of our class were able to place higher in the school rankings during exams and stuff even though we were considered the class of failures, so y'know…"
"And yet you still killed him"
"Yes—yessir" Toru winced at the reminder. Although Koro-sensei's death had been more of a mercy killing in the end, it still didn't make things any easier. "We promised we would, so we did even if they tried to cut us off"
"What do yer mean?" Snipe piped up, notebook thoroughly forgotten in favour of the rather interesting conversation going on about him.
"U—uh" She jolted at the sudden addition of her teacher into the hushed conversation. Hushed as if though talking any louder would make her all that more guilty. "After Yukimura-sensei's death, when they brought in Koro-sensei to teach us; Karasuma-sensei said that if we killed Koro-sensei before graduation then the government would award as with a large prize money. But uh, the day before graduation, we were dismissed from the contract and our classroom was quarantined from the rest of the school inside this like barrier or dome so that the military could have a go at it"
"Oh, yeah!" Stitch slapped his fist against his hand in registration. "I remember that! There was rumours going 'round that the principal paid them off 'cause he wanted the prize money for himself"
"Yeah, uh, so we uh, we went anyway. Disabled the soldiers and—and k-killed Koro-sensei"
"But if the military couldn't land a single hit on him, how could a class of kids kill him?"
"He—he asked us to" Toru sniffled, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes as she turned away from the two men, no longer able to look at them. "He didn't f-fight back"
"Aw, kid…" Stitch petted Toru's shoulder in an awkward show of affection as she quietly sniffled; more so embarrassed to be doing so in front of her teacher and associate, than anything else.
"Did yer enjoy it?" Snipe cut in, pen poised.
"Snipe!" Stitch scolded like a disappointed parent.
"S-sorry?" Toru stammered, tearily glancing up at the gunslinger.
"Did yer enjoy killing 'im? Or Stain for that matter"
"What? No! Of course not!" She replied indignantly. "We promised Koro-sensei we would, so we did"
"And Stain?"
"I—I—" She glanced down at her feet as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt in nervousness. "I kinda just…panicked. My friends were hurt and I didn't know what else to do"
"Hm, and Yoshiwara? You willingly placed both yourself and your peers in danger"
"Uh, n-no, I knew I had go get my things, but I forgot about the uh, holiday. And—and I did tell them multiple times that they could go back to school—that I could do it alone"
"The kids did say that, Snipe" Stitch supported.
"And the confetti gun?"
"Well—it was a confetti gun, so I knew it wasn't going to do much damage" Toru stumbled over her own words. "Maybe just bruise them a lil' but that was it, I swear!"
"And at no point were you aiming to kill?"
"No sir!"
"One last thing, there's a note here about how you acted towards one of the villains during the USJ incident"
"Um…"
"It says here that you appeared triggered by something that villain said…?"
"Um, maybe?"
"Were there any trigger words that you may have picked up at any point?"
"Er…maybe just the one?"
"And that would be?"
"…Kill"
"Jesus—!" Stitch hissed under his breath, "This eval really should've been done earlier"
Snipe merely hummed as he jotted down a few more notes after giving the invisible girl the once-over. Whatever the gunslinger was thinking, Toru was unable to discern beneath the mask he wore, but the feeling of his calculating age roving over her invisible form still made her uncomfortably anxious.
A beautiful sunset illuminated the cloud-spotted sky as Toru wandered back from UA where she had spent most of her Saturday being interviewed/evaluated by Snipe and Stitch. She half-suspected that Recovery Girl had mandated the evaluation following her reaction to Aoyama's Quirk and the incident in Yoshiwara. And although she'd likely never admit it, it felt rather nice to tell someone—anyone—about what it was they did during her final year at Kunugigaoka, even if it was only brief. Sure, she knew that she could always go to Hound-Dog for councilling (he was the school's councillor after all) but she'd kept it in for so long that it felt like she couldn't even if she wanted to. It didn't matter that she knew the gag order was now null and void; it just felt wrong to do so—too intimate, y'know?
By the time she had made it back to the first years' dorms, pink had begun to give way to violet as the sun set and the first of the stars shined brightly above. There was a sense of peace in the air as her violet eyes picked out the bright bulb of the Evening star, Venus and a smattering of other brightly-lit constellations winking in the new night. All was sweet, at least for the moment. "Toru!" Oishii called, catching her attention and setting her nerves on edge. She hadn't forgotten their last interaction and how awkward it had been, but then there had been witnesses and it worried Toru that she was referring to her peers as witnesses all over a simple greeting from a slightly unhinged boy.
"Yeah?" She hummed, turning to the pinkette with apprehension stiff in her shoulders.
"Can I talk to you?" He shuffled closer, coming to a stop near the bordering hedges that lined the main brick roads.
"Um—" She spared a glance towards the warm and inviting (and safe) dormitory behind her, "S-sure…what is it?"
"Where were you today?" He asked sickeningly sweet with his expression matching neither his tone nor his words.
"What—what do you mean?" Toru shifted nervously as she stopped a good foot or two away from the boy; far enough that she was hopefully out of reach without being too rude.
"I thought I told you not to go back to Yoshiwara"
"Wha—? I—I didn't!" Her heartbeat picked up as his eyes narrowed dangerously on the invisible girl.
"Are you lying to me?" His voice darkened, eyes narrowed as he stepped closer until he was practically hovering above her.
"No! I—I had—Snipe-sensei wanted to talk to me!" Suddenly she felt like a mouse squaring off against a hungry lion.
"All day? Don't lie to me!"
"But I'm not!"
"Liar!"
Toru flinched hard, shuddering away from the older boy in fear as he moved to grab her. With every step that he took close, she matched his steps, moving away as her eyes remained locked on the multitude of lecherously grinning mouths decorating his flesh. Sometimes they talked over each, his own voice overlapping itself as he spewed unfounded accusations that made her question herself even though she knew she was telling the truth—that she hadn't been back to Yoshiwara since the incident a few days prior. And yet…
"OI!" Bakugou's shout ripped through the air and Toru had never been more relieved to hear the explosive blonde. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"Hmm?" Oishii delicately leaned away from Toru and turned to face Bakugou and Todoroki who had returned from their Provisional Licence special training lessons, just as sweaty as she was. Thankfully the small movement, allowed the invisible girl just enough space to step completely out of Oishii's shadow and giving her enough room to breathe without swallowing the third year's breath.
"Toru" Todoroki greeted, coming to stand next to her with concerned eyes roving hover her figure as she latched onto his arm like a small child. She was sure that the heterochromatic boy could feel her heart beating against his arm as it felt like it was trying to escape from her chest. "Are you okay?"
"Of course, she's okay!" Oishii laughed causing Toru's fingernails to dig into Todoroki's forearm in silent protest. She knew what those eyes meant, and she didn't like it one bit. "We were just talking!"
"Doesn't look like it to me" Bakugou snarked, bookending the third year between them. "And he wasn't talking to you!"
"Then maybe you should get your eyes checked" Oishii sassed, his tone turning a little snarkier as his irritation mounted. Toru was just thankful that the two had arrived when they did or who knows what he would have done.
"Maybe you should leave" Todoroki retorted, standing firm against the elder boy like a wall separating him from his prey.
There was a beat of silence where no-one moved or seemingly breathed. The evening birds chirped their last, giving way to the avians of the night and behind them the chatter of their classmates could be faintly heard on the wind as they floated out of open windows and cracked doors. Toru wanted nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow her whole as Oishii glared at her with sickeningly sweet eyes that promised this wasn't over. Even invisible as she was, the pinkette always seemed to know where her eyeline was and what expressions he appeared inflict on the young girl. A pleasant smile (to those not in the know) finally spread across his lips as he leant back with a put-upon sigh, "Well, I guess I'll see you on Monday, Toru" Oishii farewelled, waving goodbye as he trudged back up the path and out of sight.
"Toru, are you okay?" Todoroki turned to her as Bakugou played guard, standing at the end of the path and watching 'til he disappeared out of sight and making sure that he did so before turning back to face the pair.
"U-uh, ye—no—yeah, um, I—I mean—I'm fine, why do you ask?" Toru stumbled over her words, as she tried to calm her wildly beating heart where she remained clinging to her classmate.
"Well," Todoroki shared a look with Bakugou, "I'm burnt, for one"
"O-oh, sorry" Toru flinched as if hurt and stepped back to see that in her fear she had left behind her handprints burnt into his skin. It looked like he had tried and failed to tangle with an oven (with hands).
"What did he do to you?" Bakugou demanded as he inspected his classmate for any invisible hair that was out of place.
"E-er…" Toru's hands fiddled with her backpack strings as her eyes swivelled about, worried that Oishii would suddenly pop out from behind a bush at the mention of him.
"Did he—did he touch you?" Todoroki tried, one cold hand pressing ice to the burns.
"Wha—?" Toru's brows knitted in puzzlement before the question eventually clicked. "N—no! Not—not like that!"
She shook her head as if physically doing so would refute whatever idea was forming in their minds about what had happened. White-knuckled hands clenched around the straps of her backpack as she tried to quell the rising fear within her whenever she thought of the pink-haired boy. It was scary how quickly a person could change—had he always been like this? Maybe she had done something to tick him off? Whatever the answer, there was one thing Toru knew for sure: she should've asked what had landed him in the Dancing for Delinquents classes, because if UA was willing to overlook (unofficial) murder for her, just what else were they willing to overlook?
"You should tell Sensei about this" Said Todoroki, cutting through her thoughts like a hot knife through butter.
"Wh—no! No, it's nothing to worry about" Toru furiously denied.
"It didn't look like nothing!" Bakugou retorted, crossing his arms.
"It's fine! I've got it handled!" She tried again.
"Yeah? Then why're you shaking?"
"I—I'm fine! Just leave it! I'm fine!" Toru grit out through clenched teeth even as her heart ached for her to fall into their arms, weeping and wailing about the injustices of it all. Even if she wished with all her might to be held tight in strong comforting arms, Toru couldn't. She just couldn't; she couldn't explain or understand why she couldn't just ask for help. It was like screaming into the void and hoping someone would call back. "I'm fine"
Peeling away from the two boys, Toru headed inside well aware of the two pairs of eyes burning into her back as if they were trying to get a peek at her soul. Even as she made her way inside and up the stairs to her bedroom, through quiet greetings and tired smiles with hunched shoulders, she felt them watching her still. It wasn't until later when she had spent an obscene amount of time bathing beneath the massaging pellets of water that the shower had offered and shuffled downstairs in her comfiest pair of rainbow pyjama pants and oversized alumni t-shirt (courtesy of one unwilling brother) that she found a small reprieve from wandering eyes.
"…You found an agency for your work study?" Ochako beamed at the anxious greenette. "Congratulations Deku!"
"That's awesome!" Mina agreed.
"Indeed! Well done, Midoriya!" Iida stuck out his hand for a handshake.
"Thanks guys" Midoriya replied, shaking his friend's hand.
"Thank you, you're an example to us all!"
"I dunno how the rest of us are s'posed to compete though" Kaminari lamented as he and a few others made their way over to the small gathering.
"Yeah, you'll be working at Sir Nighteye's agency! That's seriously amazing!" Sero added.
"And I hear Togata recommended you!" Kirishima ended, tone both parts disbelief and awe.
"Pretty impressive, man" Complimented Sato as he nibbled on a packet of chilli-flavoured potato chips.
"Um, yeah, I guess" Midoriya humbly as he scratched at his freckled cheek in thought.
"The distance between us just keeps getting wider" Todoroki mused as he leant against a pillar next to Bakugou, "We have to catch up and soon"
"Hn!" The blonde grunted in agreement.
"I wish I had a place picked out!" Sighed Ochako, "The school said Gunhead hasn't had enough interns, so his agency is a no-go"
"I know what you mean" Tsu agreed, "I wanted to go to Selkie's but that's out too"
"Yeah, so is Fourth Kind!" Kirishima whined from where he had slumped himself over the back of the couch Tsu was sitting on. "He doesn't even accept students for work studies!"
"The teachers' sure aren't making this easy for us, are they?" Sighed Sero from where he sat on the arm rest on the neighbouring couch.
"Thanks to all these requirements, a ton of agencies are ruled out right off the bat" Said Kaminari.
"We can't really blame them" Ojiro added, "Unlike the internships, we'll be directly involved and if anything were to go wrong then—"
"—Then the Pros would have to take responsibility for whatever happened" Aizawa interrupted as he appeared around the corner, likely getting ready to tell them to go to bed.
"Oh hey, Aizawa-sensei!" Kaminari greeted.
"Only Pros who're the real deal will take on rookies like you guys knowing the risks involved. Tokoyami, looks like you've got an offer from one of them. Hawks has invited you to work with him in Kyushu"
"No way!" Kaminari breathed in utter disbelief.
"Dude! He's the Number Three Hero! That's awesome!" Added Sero.
"Whoa! Good job!" Congratulated Sato, chip paused between his mouth and the bag.
"Well?" Aizawa pursued, "What d'ya say?"
"I respectfully accept" Tokoyami replied.
"All right then, I'll make sure you get the relevant paperwork later, Just lemme know when you're expected in Kyushu, so I can sign off on your absences"
"Congrats Tokoyami! You psyched?" Shoji praised.
"I'm grateful, of course" Their avian classmate replied.
"We've really gotta catch up!" Todoroki sighed to himself.
"WILL YOU STOP SAYING THAT!" Bakugou snapped, beyond irritated at his classmate's words.
"Also Kirishima" Aizawa turned next to the redhead, "Apparently Amajiki from the Big Three wants to talk to you about something"
"Huh?" Kirishima sat up. "He wants to talk to me?"
"Uraraka and Asui? You've got your own Big Three summons from Hado, and Hagakure? Snipe summoned you as well. You can track 'em down sometime tomorrow or whatever" Aizawa continued, listing off others before he retreated to his room like a hermit. "That's all for now"
"Amajiki? That's crazy!" Kirishima mused, "I wonder what he wants?"
"Considering the timing, it could be about the work study programme?" Tsu replied.
"No way!" Ochako perked up at that notion. "That'd be too good to be true! Right?"
"I have to wait until tomorrow?" Kirishima whined, "Nope! I'm going over to the third years' dorm right now!"
"Isn't it too late?" Toru asked from where she had been perched on an armrest as she watched her classmates skip out the door.
"Ah! But I don't think I can wait either!" Tsu buzzed excitedly, "Let's go with him!"
"Yeah!" Ochako beamed.
"We've really, really—" Todoroki muttered.
"—JUST SHUT UP!" Snapped Bakugou, more than done with the heterochromatic teen.
"Awe man! I'm so jealous of those guys!" Kaminari complained.
"Well, we'll just have to work harder!" Replied Sero.
"Heh, who cares about work studies anyway?" Mineta scoffed as he not-so-subtly stared at Mina's breasts. "First years like us will just get stuck running errands and doing paperwork all day"
"Oh yeah, that's what happened at your internship, huh?" Smirked Kaminari.
"DON'T REMIND ME OF MY DISGRACEFUL PAST!" The sticky-haired boy cried as the others fell into fits of laughter.
