Rule #3d: Not everything is as it seems
A couple of days later just as winter hit Japan in full stride, Toru found herself happily tucked away in one of the school's numerous nap rooms, taking a well deserved nap beneath a jagged quilt someone had left there with her limbs splayed about all akimbo beneath it. She'd spent the last few days catching up on the work she had missed during her week of absence and researching the League of Villains & the Meta Liberation Army with the sort of reverence that Midoriya would've been proud of. Not to mention the rigorous training that Kage had ingrained into her upon leaving the HBI to return to school. She could almost feel the disapproval from the eccentric detective whenever she was slacking off. And so when lunchtime that day before the afternoon hero classes had rolled around, she had made a beeline for the nearest empty room, shoved a couple of sandwiches down her throat before curling up & going to sleep.
She was having such a lovely dream about the fluffiest of kittens when she felt a hand on her shoulder trying to gently shake her awake. Her nose scrunched up in irritation and a low groan fell from her lips at the interruption, but the shaking continued, this time accompanied by a persistent voice telling her to wake up. Not wanting to do so, Toru felt no guilt when her foot shot out to bat away whatever had brushed passed the extended limb. Faintly she recognised the sounds of a strangled yelp as something hit the floor and the snickers of another someone above her as she rolled over and tried to cling to the last vestiges of sleep.
Unfortunately, now that she was mostly awake, there was no way she was getting back to sleep despite her best wishes. So with maximum effort and another low groan, Toru pushed herself upright and swung her feet over the edge of the couch with a big yawn. "Deku?" Toru furrowed her brows in confusion at the boy she'd found huddled up in pain on the floor at her feet with a shrivelled All Might hovered over him. The only reason she'd even noticed that he was there was because her foot had met something solid when she'd more or less accidentally kicked him. "What're you doing on the floor?"
"Nngh!" Midoriya pitifully replied with a low groan but did not rise.
"Having fun?" The person above her (who she recognised to be Shinso) snickered again, giving her a fright.
"Jesus, Toshi!" Toru jumped in fright, one hand over her heart and the other palming a pillow as she jolted to her feet, before she fully knew what she was doing. "Don't do that!"
"Mmphf!" Shinso grunted as the pillow bounced uselessly off of his face and dropped to the floor, doing nothing to rid his features of the deadpan that had settled there.
"Nn!" She childishly stuck her tongue out at the taller boy even though he couldn't see it. It didn't really matter anyway because she was pretty sure he could guess what she was doing based on the deader deadpan she received in turn.
"Children" Aizawa intoned intensely from the doorway where he remained slouched over a clipboard.
"Geez!" Toru jumped again at their homeroom teacher's sudden greeting. Why did they keep doing that?!
"You should start warming up, it's going to be a busy day"
"Yessir!" The three first years chorused; Toru tiredly, Shinso smirked and Midoriya squeaked.
"I can't believe we're already back at it!" Toru jumped up and down to warm herself up (the brisk air had served to fully awakened her from the drowsiness of her nap) as they stood scattered about in training ground Gamma, waiting for everyone to arrive. Toru's costume hadn't really changed much from her summer edition, except for maybe taller boots and longer sleeves. "Aren't you excited?"
"Don't you get cold like that, Hagakure?" Jiro asked, watching her classmate bounce around.
"Yeah! I'm freezing!"
"But ya got guts, I'll give ya that!"
"I love my winter outfit!" Mina posed, showing off her fur-lined vest that had gained some short sleeves as well. "Isn't it like super cute?"
"It's lovely" Momo replied elegantly from beneath her cloak.
"I hadn't realised the temperature had dropped so much" Ojiro added, tugging on his gloves.
"Everyone's costumes have changed since we started school, haven't they?" Iida beamed from beneath his helmet. "They've adapted just as we've had!"
"You're a champ!" Sato complimented their class president as he fiddled with his own costume. "I'm impressed you lasted through the summer in all that gear!"
"Kaachan's is different too!" Midoriya noted as Bakugou, Kaminari & Kirishima rocked up.
"Huh?! If you've got something to say, then say it to my face, nerd!" Bakugou growled although there was no real heat behind it. Ever since the whole camp-kidnapping thing Bakugou's threats had more or less just become empty threats, like bickering or banter between friends. Or perhaps, they were just all used to him by that point. "WHILE I'M BLASTING YOURS!"
"How does it work?" Midoriya gushed as his words ran on without breath, unfazed by the brash attitude of his childhood friend. Thankfully, he appeared to have recovered from whatever had happened in the nap room which had left him curled up on the floor. "Do the gauntlets come equipped with a heat generator? Since your sweat glands are used as weapons, it's a really smart modification to combat the cold! I'm impressed!"
"STOP PRAISING MY SUIT!"
"Yours may have changed out of everyone's, Midoriya" Ojiro piped up before those two went off into their own little worlds. "How much new stuff do you have on?"
"I had to upgrade because I learned so many new moves!" Midoriya beamed. "The gloves are definitely gonna come in handy—"
Ha! Toru quietly laughed at the unintentional pun.
"—Actually these are the 2.0 versions. Hatsume made adjustments to the original designs that made them even stronger!"
"She's incredibly talented!" Ojiro agreed.
"Ochako, ribbit?" Tsu croaked as the girls noticed the barely hidden agitation on the brunette's face at the mention of the engineer. "Are you okay?"
"Ooh! Someone's in lo~ve!" Mina teased, clearly wanting to get a rise out of her but Ochako was in her own little world that ended with her slapping herself in the face much to Ojiro's shock.
"Look who we have here~" Monoma purred from the front of the pack as Class 1-B sauntered onto the scene.
"Huh?" As one, 1-A seemed to deadpan at the blonde's arrival. He was very annoying.
"Relaxed and as full of yourselves as always. Obviously, you underestimate us"
"There you are!" Kirishima replied, "We've been looking forward to this!"
"Ha! Is that so? I'm not sure why, there's no way you stand a chance against us in this exercise! C'ME ON CLASS A! LET'S SEE WHO'S BEST ONCE AND FOR ALL! YOU MIGHT WANNA TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THIS SURVEY! I TOOK IT AT THE FESTIVAL AND IT'S ENLIGHTENING! I ASKED WHAT WAS BETTER, CLASS A'S PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT BEING ROCKSTARS OR CLASS B'S OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR PLAY! AND OH, WHAT'S THIS? WE WON BY TWO VOTES? YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN HOGGING THE SPOTLIGHT EVER SINCE WE STARTED SCHOOL, BUT YOUR STANDING AROUND CAMPUS IS TRASH—!"
"THIS IS RIGGED! I DEMAND A RECOUNT!" Mineta shouted from the back, although he was mostly ignored.
"Seriously? Did we somehow blow it at the festival?" Kirishima worried as both he and Jiro looked over the 'survey'
"Does he have an off switch?" Mina complained as she slapped her hands over Tsu's sensitive ears.
"Kendo knows where it is, I think" Toru replied as she watched the ginger trudge over to where the blonde was caterwauling only to be intercepted by Aizawa's capture scarf.
"—NOW FINALLY, IT'S CLASS A VS CLASS B! OUR FIRST JOINT COMBAT TRAINING! YOU'RE FINISH—Hurk!"
"That's enough" Aizawa drawled, cutting off Monoma's strange speech.
"Stranglehold!" Awase gasped but made no move to intervene beyond that.
"Phew! That's better!" Mina breathed as her hands returned back to her sides with a thankful smile from Tsu.
"Today there will be another special participant" Vlad King lectured as he too, joined the classes.
"Please try not to embarrass yourselves, if at all possible" Aizawa continued. This just raised a series of questions/comments from the students gathered.
"Who's going to be joining us?"
"All right! I'll murder 'em!"
"Is it a babe?"
"We'll do our best, whomever it is!"
"This person is interested in switching to the Hero track" Aizawa introduced as if they hadn't said anything. Toru's jaw dropped when she saw who had arrived upon that cue, their sneakers scuffing slightly against the concrete as they walked. "From General Studies Class C: Shinso Hitoshi. Shinso will be joining in on your training. He's hoping to be one of you, so treat as you would any classmate"
"He mentioned that before the Sports Festival!" Midoriya beamed as Ojiro shook next to him, likely remembering what his Brainwashing Quirk had felt like.
With the introduction of the general studies student to the others, this too brought forth a series of comments and questions that seemed to slip by Toru. "Uh…is that one of Aizawa-Sensei's capture scarves?"
"The mask looks special too!"
"Welcome to the fight!"
"You'll be brainwashed if you talk to him, mes amies"
"A powerful Quirk"
"Wait one sec, Midoriya got brainwashed once, but he snapped out of it"
"Yeah, that was honestly kind of an accident though"
In all actuality, Toru felt like she was buzzing as she shifted from foot to foot, physically fighting the urge to launch herself across the courtyard at the violet-haired boy and violently noogie him for keeping something like this a secret. Then again, the pair hadn't really seen each other for a few months because they were so consumed in their own little worlds. It saddened Toru to think about.
"Well, Shinso? Why don't you say a few words?" Aizawa stepped up next to his protégée as he eventually released Monoma from his grip now that the blonde had seemingly calmed down. Toru bit her lip as she noticed how closely the two mirrored each other—Like father & son!—and she just knew that Todoroki's brain had to be doing backflips right about now. If he thought that Midoriya and All Might were related, then these might just blow his mind!
"I'm Shinso Hitoshi. I've already faced some of you as opponents during the Sports Festival, but we're not friends just because we've fought before. I don't subscribe to that sort of sportsmanship. We're still competing to be the best and I'm already countless steps behind. I need to prove myself; one day I will become a proper hero, then I can use my powers to help citizens in need. All of you are hurdles I must overcome. I'm not here in search of friends, thanks for having me"
There was a smattering of applause—the most energetic coming from Class B—following the awkward silence and tense glare after that introduction. Toru felt her eye twitch in irritation as she politely applauded and silently lamented on the unnecessary declarations of teenage boys. And they say girls are dramatic? Psh!
"So serious!"
"Indeed"
"He sounds like Bakugou!"
"WHADDAYA SAY, NERD?!"
"Be on guard"
"He's taking intensity lessons from you, Roki"
"Wait—you think so?"
Poor sweet, innocent Todoroki!
"Oh yeah"
"I like this guy! He's got some real panache!"
"Shouldn't we be getting on with this, Vlad?" Aizawa boredly drawled over Shinso's shoulder, his voice cutting through anymore wayward comments.
"Time for combat training!" Vlad King chirped, hands on hips as he puffed up his chest. "This will be a battle between Class A & Class B here, in one corner of training ground Gamma. You'll be grouped in teams of four with each competing one at a time. Shinso, here, will be participating in two matches—once with Class A & once with Class B. In other words, two of the five matches will be five against four, so prepare yourselves"
Vlad King then went on to explain that they would each be playing the role of hero & villain. Essentially, the aim of the game was to take out your opponents and lock all four up in 'jail' (as designed by Principal Nezu) before they locked you up or time ran out. It also meant that if the four out of the five-persons teams was locked up, then you lost no matter how much time was left. In turn, those who had the most people still in play would be considered the winners. It would surely be an exercise in teamwork.
After drawing lots (Toru had ended up on the four-man team with Momo, Tokoyami and Aoyama that would be battling second) the invisible skipped over to where Shinso had sequestered himself as the students were left to mingle before the exercise began. "That was quite the introduction, Toshi" She easily jumped onto his back, catching off guard.
"Can you g'off?" Shinso grunted as the pair drew the eyes of the peers.
"I mean it was impressive, a bit stupid of you, but impressive" She steamrolled on.
"…Why am I stupid?" He almost sounded too afraid to ask.
"Oh Toshi, sweet, innocent foolish lil' Toshi" Here, she reached around to pull at his ears and forcefully turn his head to face their peers. She noticed across the way that Mina was furiously biting at her lips in an attempt to stop the grin from exploding across her face. She just looked constipated. "Look at 'em, they just took that 'no friends' shtick as a challenge! You're gonna have best friends coming out your ears when we're done!"
"Great. Can you g'off now?"
"Never!"
"Argh! Toru! G'off!"
"Whatever you say, Sourpuss!"
