Natural

Fumei didn't bring up their conversation yesterday.

He returned to his usual cheery, which sometimes bordered on annoying, self without a trace of that anger he hid underneath all the smiles. He even stopped ignoring Hitoshi and after their little, awkward, comforting hug in the middle of the street, Fumei seemed to think they were not friends.

Hitoshi had to reiterate that he didn't want, nor need friends. He also would've mentioned their opposing belief on heroes, but seeing as that was a sore topic for the blond, Hitoshi decided not to. It just bothered Hitoshi how quickly Fumei picked himself up from his breakdown yesterday, and acted as though nothing very personal happened between them then.

As the day trudged on, Hitoshi found himself staring at random points in the room. Sometimes he'd stare upfront, taking in the writing on the wall, but not quite comprehending it; other times he'd drift off to stare and count the flowers on Kamimura's hair, or stare at another person's face without full knowledge of it. It wasn't until Fumei called him out on it, that he finally realized that he actually did stare.

"You're staring again," the blond whispered behind his hand.

Hitoshi blinked back to his senses and stared at his half written notes. He mumbled a soft apology at Fumei who chuckled. "I told you you stared a lot."

"Shut up," he hissed, embarrassed. "I didn't get much sleep last night alright?"

Fumei frowned and leaned a little closer out of worry. "You aren't worried about what I said yesterday are you?"

"No." He was, but he wasn't going to tell Fumei that. "Insomnia kept me up all night."

"Because you were thinking about me?" the blond teased, and Hitoshi waved him off.

He didn't stay up all night just to come to terms with Fumei's real opinion towards heroes. Sure it was surprising, but after hearing why, Hitoshi found that he can't blame him either. He stayed up because of insomnia, and then he ended up thinking about Fumei's opinion of heroes.

It wasn't like that was the first thing on his mind that night.

He mostly thought about what Fumei said that he understood being on both sides. He was a hero at heart, and yet he knew the pains of being a villain. Well, called a villain. If the situation then wasn't so heated, Hitoshi would've been offended.

All this time he thought Fumei didn't see his potential to be a villain, but in truth, he actually did. In a weird way… The way he said it felt more like a compliment than a ridicule.

If you were any weaker you could've been just like them, was what he said.

If Hitoshi, all those years ago, fell prey to everyone's jeers because he was weak enough to believe them, then he might've been. He did understand the pains of a fledgling villain. Yet he remained steadfast, and proved to them he was nothing like villains. However… not many people were like him. Villains were made by hero's failures. That may not be true all the time, but it was true nonetheless. To someone with Fumei's experience he held a grudge so strong that murder was a viable option towards heroes.

Hitoshi really didn't know what to make of it.

Fumei flicked Hitoshi's forehead to stop his thoughts and said, "If you need sleep then just go for it. I'll take notes."

By lunch time, Hitoshi and Fumei had fallen back in their routine of sitting on the same table. Nagai tried to invite Hitoshi to join his group for the break, but Fumei stole the latter beforehand, claiming that their quarrel was already settled and Hitoshi didn't need to run away to his new set of friends just to avoid him.

Nagai was a little offended that he and his friends just got called side pieces, while Hitoshi hissed out a complaint regarding anyone as friends. Still, all was well, because Nagai didn't bother arguing about it and left with a quick reminder that they'll check on the equipment again after class.

Fumei, who had been terribly silent about Hitoshi's equipment and new hero training since their…. fight? Finally opened the lid that kept his mouth shut.

While they ate, Fumei sat next to Hitoshi and made sure the latter told him everything he's done with Eraser Head. Hitoshi kept a lot of things private, which made the blond try to force it out of him by annoying the hell out of him using his chopsticks.

Hitoshi retaliated, immaturely, if he might add, by flicking sesame seeds on his plate to the other's face.

Kureito, meanwhile, who sat across them from the table, watched them with observant, half lidded eyes. He scarfed down some fries and said, "So, you two made up."

Hitoshi and Fumei stopped their unusual, childish exchange and stared at Kureito, who had this annoying, all-knowing smile, on his face.

"I wouldn't say made up," Hitoshi said. "It wasn't like we were fighting. He was just jealous."

"I wasn't jealous!"

"You were," Hitoshi and Kureito said in unison, which made Fumei turn red.

"No, I wasn't," the blond insisted and Kureito snickered, leaning his head on one hand as he glanced at Hitoshi.

"Oh, the things he said, Shinsou," Kureito said, and Fumei lunged for him over the table to try and shut him up. Unfortunately for the blond, Kureito had longer arms. "After all I did for him, he never even once asked what I felt about his soon promotion," he said with a voice that tried to mimic Fumei's own. "He's getting official hero training, and yet he won't tell me what it is. It's like I don't exist to him anymore."

"JIN, STOP!"

Hitoshi debated the truth of those… quotes, but watched Fumei earnestly defend his dignity by forcing Kureito to stop. He had a feeling Fumei was jealous, Nagai clearly thought so too, but he never really understood why. Hitoshi just thought Fumei would be happy for him and left it at that. Turns out Fumei wanted to be his confidant too, just as he became his.

"You could've just told me," Hitoshi suddenly said, which made both teens across him stop at once.

"That what? I was jealous?" Fumei said. "Which I'm not by the way."

"If you'd asked, I would've told you."

"As if," Fumei huffed. "You wouldn't tell Tatsu and Nagai what you were doing, you were avoiding me like a plague days before that. You weren't going to tell me anything even if I begged on my knees."

"Oh right," Hitoshi blinked. "You were being pushy about being my friend."

"Which I wouldn't have to do if you just accepted this and admitted that we a-"

"We are not friends."

"Do you two need some space?" Kureito snickered. "Don't want to be in the middle of another couple's argument."

Fumei broke a short fuse while Hitoshi frowned. "We are not - Stop doing that it makes me uncomfortable."

Kureito's smirk grew wider. "I'm only stating what I see."

"You're delusional."

"Only if you stop flirting."

Fumei palmed his face in disbelief.

"Why are you so worried anyway, afraid of a little truth?"

"No, it's barely even real," Hitoshi said. "We aren't flirting. We're hardly even friends."

"Right," Kureito said, unconvinced. "The avoidance phase? The jealousy? The heartfelt, emotional reconnection followed by things going back to normal the next day? It's textbook shoujo. But you're right that is definitely not flirting."

Hitoshi gripped his chopsticks and had the sudden urge to shove it up Kureito's ass.

"Jin, enough teasing," Fumei said. "Please."

The pink haired teen paused, and Hitoshi could've sworn he heard something ring. "Okay, okay," Kureito conceded. "I'll stop this harassment. Doesn't mean I'll stop with everything else. I've got nothing else that keeps me sane."

"Your constant texting doesn't keep you sane?" Hitoshi said

Kureito shrugged. "Girl's bored out of their minds, text; and I'm bored of all of them." His phone buzzed on cue, alerting him of about ten or more messages from five different people. "See? Men are slightly better, they're way more fun to tease." He said while glancing at both Hitoshi and Fumei.

Oh, so that's what this was. Kureito was wasting time with them. "You're despicable, you know that?"

Kureito shrugged off the comment and went back to playing with the hearts of women and men alike.

"Ah, devil man!" Nagai's tail curled around his leg as Hatsume greeted him from inside the studio. "You've brought our customer! You are not going to believe what we finished today!"

"I can't wait," Hitoshi said in a deadpan tone. "Is Power Loader around?"

"Nah! He's out on some planning session. It's just me and my new assistant –" she pointed a wrench to Yasogami, who rolled his eyes at the nickname, "– in the fort today." She then looked at Fumei, curious. "Who's the new guy? Do you need equipment too? I can make you anything!"

"I'm Fumei," the blond said while he took a careful step back when Hatsume pushed her face up close to his. "I'm here to help test it out, and uh - I - I'll pass on the equipment. Thanks for the offer though?"

"Hatsume," she grabbed Fumei's hand and shook it without warning. "Any friend of a customer is a friend of mine too! You may not want one now, but when you do, you know where to ask. The more babies I can make, the better!"

Fumei glanced at Hitoshi, who shrugged. He'd get used to it. Nagai slipped right beside Yasogami and read through the displays attached to the mask. "It'll work properly right?"

"We did three checks today," the taller raven said, "and five yesterday. So far we've had no noises, no discharges, and no explosions. I'm pretty optimistic."

"Fingers crossed."

Hatsume bound over to the table and waved jazz hands around the mask. "I put all my effort into making this –" Yasogami coughed, and Nagai slipped his tongue out in silent correction. "WE! We did everything to make it perfect. Sure, we suddenly had ASAP repair orders last night, but we managed! Between you and me, I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work like we planned to though," she whispered.

Hitoshi frowned, and Hatsume's lips curled. "I'M KIDDING! Learn to take a joke, strings."

Hatsume pulled out the chords connected to the mask the second after Yasogami finished checking it. The latter yelled at her being hastily with his equipment, while she placed the headpiece in Hitoshi's hands.

Hitoshi studied the new design, and immediately noted the massive overhaul. The large bulbous circles on either side of the first mask were replaced with three layers of compact and compressed speakers with a yellow cap. Unlike the first time where it hung close to his chin, the speakers were now much closer to the jawline under the ears. He turned it to the side and noted the weight. "That's lighter than before."

"Of course! Yasochin first used steel on a thing he'd slap on your face! That's a no, no. We don't want you breaking a neck from the weight. Thick alloy is much better! It also gets the job done."

Hitoshi did recall having a hard time moving around in the previous prototype, so that may have been true. They changed the volume control in front of the mask to small metal knobs underneath the speakers by his ears. The microphone was hardly obvious on the mask as it was already interwoven with the metalwork. Overall, the new mask looked subtle and sleek. He liked it.

"It looks great and all, but does it work?" Fumei voiced out the same concern.

Hatsume rolled her eyes. "Ah, so you're the skeptic. I make babies, not test them. That's your job. You tell me if it works, how dandy it feels, then I'll –" Yasogami coughed again. "WE'LL FIX IT!"

"It'll work," Yasogami assured them. Hatsume then took the mask from Hitoshi's hands and slapped the piece onto his mouth, which made Hitoshi cry out in muffled protest.

Hatsume told him to sit still before they heard something click behind his neck, smoothly and neatly attaching two sides of the mask, so that it was one flat curve at his back. Hitoshi looked at Hatsume, who had a permanent grin stuck to her face. "Feels good?"

"Yeah, it's great." He turned his head experimentally, then opened his mouth. The mask adjusted itself to his every action, like a secondary skin attached to his face. The change to alloy was definitely a good call. He turned up the volume to check. "Testing, testing," he said loud and clear, but sounded a little robotic with some static in the background.

"Is he supposed to sound like that?" Fumei asked. Hatsume and Nagai shrugged while Yasogami took off the front panel of the mask and readjusted something in it. "Try again,"

"How's this?" Hitoshi asked, his voice much clearer than the last. Everyone sighed in relief.

"Alright, first bump solved," Nagai rubbed his hands. "Let's try the volume."

"No," Hitoshi shook his head, and glanced at Fumei. "Let's see if my quirk works with it."

"Don't make me do something stupid."

"Was that an offer?"

"Bring it, raccoon eyes."

"Stand in the corner."

They waited for Fumei to do as told, but he simply only stood there, seemingly unaffected by the command. "Stand in the corner." Hitoshi searched for that feeling of cold waves around his mind, or that anchor he should have on Fumei's own but felt nothing. Fumei frowned at him.

"He answered you," Nagai said. "Why isn't he standing in the corner?"

"I… don't know. That's never happened before."

Nagai took the mask back for another diagnostic, while he explained the requirements of Hitoshi's quirk to the support students. Hitoshi sat patiently beside Fumei, who had his arms crossed in deep thought. "You know when your quirk worked right?"

"They do what I tell them to do."

"Can't be just that."

Hitoshi shrugged. "I just feel it." Fumei tilted his head, and Hitoshi shook his head. "No, I didn't feel it earlier."

"Command me again." Fumei said, and Hitoshi did. Without question, Fumei walked to the corner and stayed there until Hitoshi released him.

"So it's not his quirk," Nagai said, "but the mask."

Hatsume made a noise of denial and grabbed the mask from Yasogami's hands. "SPEAK TO ME BABY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She shook it hard, expecting it to actually respond to her. When it didn't she chucked the headgear to her disposal pile. Nagai quickly saved it with a whip of his tongue and placed it back on the table.

"Toshi, have you ever…" Fumei asked pensively. "Used a microphone with your quirk before?"

"No? It's always been like this. Face to face."

Fumei grinned. "You don't happen to have any other microphones lying around do you?"

Hatsume ran to the storage room to fish out a megaphone, then handed it to Hitoshi. Fumei gestured for him to talk through it. When the blond retained his free will, Hitoshi gaped. "It's the microphone."

"If we're being specific," Fumei added, "It's the channel that's limiting your quirk. It doesn't work when mixed with electrical signals." He grabbed the megaphone from Fumei and it back to Hatsume. "Take out the microphone and speakers, it's not going to work."

"But if we do that, how are we going to amplify his voice? Increase his range" Nagai asked.

"Resonance," Yasogami said. "The more hollow space we put inside it, the louder it'll be and the farther it'll reach. I can't say much about the range for now, but we can do that to increase acoustics."

"I think I get it," Hatsume nodded, even though she still didn't grasp the idea herself, but promised to redeem herself. "Unto the next model then!" She then chucked the mask into her pile of failed inventions, much to Nagai's dismay.

"We'll hit the other problems once we get there. For now, we focus on making sure his quirk works with the gear," Yasogami said with more conviction than when they last they met.

"I'll leave it to you then." Hitoshi silently watched as their mechanics planned out their third model. He had no idea what they were doing, or what were the terms used, but watching them work was kind of nice. Fumei politely excused himself not long after, and Yasogami looked over.

"What are you still doing here?"

"I actually have another request, but I can tell you another time, since you're busy re-doing everything." Yasogami shrugged, not that bothered by hearing him out. Hatsume's ears twitched at the sound of yet another project. "Do you think you can recreate Eraser Head's capture weapon?"

Yasogami eyes's grew wide at the request, and silently mulled it over. After a while the raven chuckled and smiled. "You should have asked me to do that first."

Yasogami finished the capture weapon in record time.

Hitoshi passed by the workshop two days later, after he received a message from Yasogami early that morning. The raven sounded very ecstatic through his message and wanted Hitoshi to pick it up right away. Hitoshi was also rather excited to see it for himself and so, he welcomed himself into workshop having already been acquainted with it in the past.

He was surprised to find Yasogami wrapped from head to toe with three blankets sitting on a stool in front of his workbench. The raven cradled a steaming cup of coffee on one gloved hand while his free hand tinkered with a half-finished headgear on his left. Yasogami didn't notice him enter and almost spilled his drink when Hitoshi spoke.

"You didn't go home?"

"I have a terrible work ethic," the raven grumbled. "You finally asked me to do something I know I can do. There's no way I'm stopping to rest. Not after fucking up last time."

"That's good to hear?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't enable me," Yasogami chided. "Yachi is going to hound me for it later." He leaned down and grabbed a metal case under the table. "Try it out, then come back to me if you want any changes. This one's hard to use, so I added a little something to help you start."

Hitoshi raised a brow, but Yasogami didn't expound and pushed him out of the workshop before Hatsume woke up from her futon on the other side of the room.

After they separated, Hitoshi sent Aizawa a quick text about getting a scarf himself and asked if they could meet today. Eraser Head didn't reply. No surprises there, but it didn't hurt to try either. He knew enough of the scarf to attempt learning it on this own.

Nagai noticed the metal case tucked under Hitoshi's table after class and beamed. "Kira finished it! Man, that dude works fast when he's in the zone." He tried to open it, but Hitoshi pulled it away. The raven pouted. "Are you going to try it out with Eraser Head today?"

Hitoshi shook his head. "He's still busy, apparently."

"Then maybe you can join us?"

"Join you where?"

"Gee, Shinsou," Tatsumaki scoffed from his table. "You've only been gone a week and you forgot about us already."

"Oh you meant, that."

"We aren't just called that anymore though," Nagai with a proud huff. Hitoshi humored him and asked, but the latter waved his finger. "If you want to know, then you're going to have to follow us, hero. Let's go!" He grabbed Tatsumaki's wrist and bolted for Koharu, who fumbled with his gloves to quickly open a portal wide enough to fit both students and transport them into a river bank.

Koharu withdrew the energy into his hands with relative ease and resumed fixing his stuff. Hitoshi frowned, a little impressed with the formers improvement.

"Everyone's working twice as hard now that you're a hero trainee. They don't want to lose you," Fumei said.

"I thought you're the big bad."

"Still am," the other snickered. "But you've been promoted to mini boss." Fumei then turned to invite Kamimura to join them, but she waved her hand to pass. "She's on-call medic now," he explained. "We're trying to avoid any visits to Recovery Girl after Jin's accident."

Hitoshi arched a curious brow at him, and Fumei waved his hand. "It was pretty bad. We don't talk about it. Anyway! I hope you're taking Nagai's offer to come along."

"Still thinking about it," Hitoshi said.

"Come oooooon, Eraser didn't text you right?"

Hitoshi stared. How could he possibly know that? "Oh please," Fumei rolled his eyes. "The only time you pull out your phone in class is for him. You leave immediately if you have training, and you're not doing that today so – yeah. You're free."

"You watch me?"

Fumei's cheeks turned red, and huffed, "No. And it's not like you don't stare either!" Hitoshi clicked his tongue in denial. "If you're joining us, the last ride goes before Koharu."

It was easier to practice with someone than alone nowadays after all. Fumei had proven himself quite intuitive about problems Hitoshi had in the past, so he may know a thing or two about practicing with it. Nagai could also help with equipment difficulties, should they arise.

"Alright, but only because Aizawa won't tell me what he's up to."

Travelling through Koharu's portals was surprisingly normal. It didn't feel any different from entering one room and exiting in another. The only weird thing about it was that the next room was miles away from where he was previously. After he and Fumei walked through, Koharu followed shortly after.

Hitoshi lagged behind to compliment him. "You've gotten better with that, huh?"

"Yeah, well…" Koharu chuckled. "Practice makes perfect. It's still not enough to beat you and Fumei but hopefully I get that chance soon." He clasped his hands together and opened another portal behind them which cleared into a room that looked a lot like Yuuei's faculty.

Awaseru-sensei's head peeked through. "Could do a little more to the left, Koharu." He blinked, surprised at the indigo haired teen beside the brunette. "Ah, Shinsou! Good of you to visit the Hero Formation Course."

Hitoshi frowned at the name, and Sensei nodded, seemingly aware of it being a mouthful. "Not my idea, but it sounds a ways better than just hero aspirants. Shota let you off the hook today?" He shook his head and Sensei patted his arm. "Well, you're welcome to join us anytime. Fumei, Nagai!"

Nagai spit his water on Tatsumaki's face in shock. The green haired teen fired a burst of wind towards Nagai as the latter retreated. He missed but there's was definitely more accuracy in his attempt. Fumei on the other hand accidentally shattered one of the light walls he used to cover Nusumi, who was changing into her tracksuit.

"Let's run down progress," Sensei began when both Nagai and Fumei joined them. "Tatsumaki?"

Nagai jumped and nervously opened up his notes. "The gloves helped him fire with accuracy, but he's getting too dependent on it, and…" he grumbled, "when I told him to take it off and replicate the wind speed, he didn't listen."

"Confiscate the gloves if he doesn't fix his power output by today. Next."

"Okami still wants to extend her limit from two to five minutes. Not much progress there," Nagai continued. "She can switch faster, but she still caps at three. She also started something on her own? Like turning half of herself into something dog-ish while still being fully human?"

"Half-formations," Awaseru-sensei said. "I was holding off on that until she got better with her stamina and speed, but if she wants to go with that first, then we'll change focus."

Nagai made a salute then ran off to Tatsumaki and Okami. Awaseru-sensei on the other hand glanced between Hitoshi and Fumei. "It's been a while since we had him here so I know you'd want to see how he's doing. I'll make this quick."

"Right, so…" Fumei started, "Koharu's gone from five small portals to three large portals. He can reuse them thrice with a cool down of at least two minutes. His hands energy is still the same, but that's no problem. I want to focus on increasing the portal's sizes more."

"The more he gets used to creating larger windows, the easier it will be to create smaller ones," Sensei said. "Then we should find a way to ensure his energy stays in the minimum."

"That's what the isotope water's for. Nusumi's getting used to passing around her luck, but her area of effect is still wonky," he threw a game token towards Hitoshi, who caught it. "We found out she can affect luck around her if she uses coins or dice as a medium."

"That's a little on the nose isn't it?" Hitoshi asked.

"Yeah, but it works, so I can't really complain."

"We still don't fully understand what laws her quirks abide by so until then, knowing that it can be contained to objects closely related to chance is a good step forward," Awaseru-sensei said.

"Well she is lucky," Fumei said.

"That she is. I'll take over your charge for the day. I'm certain Shinsou would like your help with his new gear." Sensei clapped their backs then barked at Nusumi and Koharu, who both started to run laps around the field and were closely followed by Okami as a Husky.

"Yasogami finished the new mask already?"

"It's not the mask."

Fumei raised a curious brow at him, and Hitoshi opened the case to reveal the capture cloth. "Is that what I think it is?" He picked up the scarf before Hitoshi could answer, and Fumei wrapped it cozily around his neck. Fumei struck a pose similar to Eraser Head and snickered, "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous."

"Good," he huffed, "because I expect you to look twice as much tripping yourself on it."

Hitoshi scoffed as he fixed the weapon on his shoulders and followed Fumei to a free space in the bank. He held the free end of the weapon on his good arm and swung it around experimentally. Fumei stretched across him in his tracksuit, and Hitoshi frowned.

"Are you alright training me? With this?" A hero weapon, was left unsaid.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Hitoshi pursed his lips, and the blond gaped. "Oh… Well. I'm gon' be fine. I don't have negative opinions over weapons. Besides, it's yours. You use it however you want. Has Eraser taught you how to use it yet?"

"Once, but I never got anywhere with it."

"Seriously?" Fumei asked.

"Unfortunately."

The blond hummed and tried to come up with a plan at the top of his head. "I don't know how he uses it either, so let's just try playing around it a bit. I'm sure we'd get in a few.

"Sounds like a plan." Hitoshi clutched the dangling end and took the stance Aizawa taught him. He ran forward to build momentum then quickly switched his feet around, his chest and arms following the arch, then threw the cloth out. It shriveled down on the floor, like some pitiful plant.

Fumei burst out laughing. "Okay, okay – Obviously not whatever you just did."

"Let's see you do better."

Fumei held his chest out proudly and fixed the weapon around his shoulders. He copied Hitoshi's starting run, and threw the cloth out with a more forceful push, to, unfortunately, similar results. Hitoshi snickered, and Fumei grumbled. "I was sure I could make it work."

"Bet you could."

Fumei tried again, this time without a starting run, and just throwing the weapon out like he'd seen Eraser Head do in videos before. It didn't do much, and thus was convinced that they were missing something. "Doesn't Eraser Head's hair like –" he pushed his hair upwards to imitate the hero's hair "– whenever he activates his quirk? I'm pretty sure his scarf kind of comes alive at the same time too."

"Doesn't answer how he's doing it."

The other hummed in thought until his eyes glanced at the case. "Maybe there's something else inside the bag?"

Hitoshi gasped, suddenly remembering the little surprise Yasogami left for him inside the pack. He searched the case and pulled out a small box with a transparent circular patch in it. They studied it closely, and discovered that the patch's inner side was covered in a white and green grid that resembled a computer chip. "Maybe I put it on my head, control it with my mind?"

Fumei shrugged. "Worth a shot. Put it on."

Hitoshi placed the patch on his temple then focused his thoughts on controlling the scarf. He repeated the idea over and over until he threw out the cloth. The other end of the weapon flew directly towards Fumei who instinctively blocked it with a wall of light. Hitoshi's focus broke and the weapon fell to the ground again.

"Fuck, that's cool."

Hitoshi felt a sense of pride blossom in his chest. "Again?"

"Oh yeah!" Fumei ran forward, his hands outstretched to use his quirk against him. Hitoshi tried not to overthink too much and focused on keeping his thoughts on the cloth and how to control it. Hitoshi dodged right, then rolled under Fumei fist. He swiped his legs across the blond, who jumped over it and jabbed three blades to pin Hitoshi down.

Hitoshi threw the cloth above him to block their hit, and imagined their malleability to grow hard as steel. The light blades shattered upon contact, and Hitoshi was showered with glass like shards underneath the cloth.

Fumei closed his hand into a fist and the falling lights compressed itself to explode right in front of Hitoshi's face. Blinded by the light, Hitoshi swung his arms around without any idea of where his opponent was. Fumei crossed their distance quickly and round-kicked Hitoshi down to his knees. Hitoshi desperately threw out the weapon without a clear thought and the scarf fell down an arm length away from him.

Fumei chuckled to his left, and a whiff of air screamed at Hitoshi's instinct to roll. He very narrowly missed being pinned unto the grass, and Hitoshi picked up his feet. "At least wait for me to recover, you ass."

"Nuh uh, you've got an actual hero training you now. There's no way I'm holding back." He kicked Hitoshi square on the chest, which the latter blocked with two arms. He retaliated with another swing of the cloth, which sliced open a part of Fumei's shirt. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Hitoshi apologized meekly, but was immediately on the defensive when Fumei vaulted up high and dragged a leg down over his head. Hitoshi raised his arms to block, then pushed back.

Fumei flipped in the air and caught himself a few meters off the ground with an elevated platform. He waved his arms across him, throwing out a barraged of blades at Hitoshi's direction.

Hitoshi approached his opponent in a wide circle, then cut off a blade headed his way with a whip of the metallic scarf. The light shattered around him and he grabbed a disconnected piece and threw it towards Fumei, who caught it mid-air and dispersed it in another blinding flash. This time however, Hitoshi was prepared for it and closed his eyes in time. He managed to land two punches on Fumei's chest before he was forced back on the offensive again.

They lost track of the time soon after as they got lost in the rhythm of their dance. Hitoshi was only able to land those two solid hits on Fumei, but he was doing a lot better in anticipating and evading the latter's attacks. Hitoshi knew Fumei was enjoying himself because of the grin on his face, and the former planned to keep it going.

He may have had trouble keeping up with Fumei's speed in the past, but after facing Aizawa in the ring far too many times, Hitoshi had gotten used to speed. And against Aizawa? Fumei was akin to a turtle. Hitoshi chucked the scarf at Fumei, who ducked under it, and readily caught the remaining end with his hand.

Fumei wrapped the cloth around his arm to try and pull Hitoshi forward, which the latter recognized as a rookie. He did the same thing against Eraser Head before too. Hitoshi whipped the cloth outward, which loosened it around Fumei's arm, and with a hard pull, it wrapped itself around Fumei again and dragged him forward instead.

He kicked Fumei to the side, and straddled him from above as they tumbled down on the ground. He raised a fist to the latter's face, and breathed, "I win."

Yellow eyes narrowed confidently beneath him, and Fumei twisted his arms to push off the ground. His legs locked around Hitoshi's waist and flipped them over. Hitoshi groaned when the back of his head hit the ground and Fumei tugged at his scarf to trap Hitoshi in his own weapon. "I think you meant, I win."

He tapped Fumei's arm twice to admit defeat, and the latter happily hopped. "You've gotten really good in just a week huh?"

"Aizawa's just faster than you."

"He's been doing this before I was even born, that comparison means nothing to me," Fumei huffed. "Also, wow, name basis already?"

"He didn't want to be called Eraser Head."

Fumei chuckled. "I also wouldn't want to be called by a stage name. How's he anyway?"

Hitoshi opened his mouth to praise the hero and his methods, but immediately closed it when he remembered Fumei's history. Was it really… alright to place Eraser Head on that pedestal Fumei had averse opinions about.

His silence lingered stayed too long because Fumei leaned on his arm and said, "Look, Hitoshi, I appreciate your silent concern, but it's really fine if we talk about heroes. I'm hanging out with you, a hero trainee, in a school that's literally known for its graduating heroes. You don't have to worry about what I think."

"But you –"

Fumei smiled with his eyes. "You think I'm strong, right?" Hitoshi nodded. "Then don't worry. I'm not always like the mess I am that day. On a regular day like this, I'm find with anything, even heroes. So, spill – what's Eraser Head like? "

Hitoshi sat upright and thought about it carefully. They've only ever met four times in total. The first time was to be acquainted, and their interaction then was horribly stiff. Aizawa was direct to the point, and Hitoshi was far too stunned to say anything other than nod or answer questions. The second time they met, Aizawa said even less than the first time and was focused on gathering as much information as he can about him. They exchanged a few words, but there were nothing too friendly.

The next two days were meant for training his combat skills. In those two days Aizawa hardly ever talked at all. The hero merely wiped Hitoshi's ass on the floor and would only occasionally mouth off advice to make his form or approach better. He never won a single fight against the hero, and he honestly thought he wasn't getting any better until today, when he fought Fumei on almost even ground.

Aizawa was a great teacher, but that was about it.

"He's very quiet," he started, "but that could only be because I don't talk much either, and he's much more focused on teaching me rather than making me comfortable. He's a bit like Sensei I think," he said while glancing at Awaseru-sensei who was facilitating a match against Koharu and Tatsumaki. "He doesn't give me what I want, but what I need. He's always pushing me to hit the limit, and not once pitied me for having a quirk like mine. He wants me to be proud of it. Maybe one day I will."

Fumei bumped his shoulder. "You should be. Your quirk's wonderful."

Hitoshi smiled in silent gratitude and Fumei grinned mischievously. "Hearing all about that was nice and all, but I also want to know what he's like with you. You know, as a person? Heroes are also human, you're the one who said that. Lay it on me, what dirt you got on Eraser Head."

Hitoshi scoffed. "I'm not gossiping."

"Well, why not? Everyone does it with Awaseru-sensei."

Hitoshi didn't even know the class talked about Awaseru-sensei on their spare time. "No. Our relationship is strictly professional. I don't need to know more about him, and he doesn't need to know about me."

"Urgh, that sounds like a boring mentor-mentee relationship," Fumei groaned. "Look, I'll help you get started –" he rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a small cat purse, "TA-DAH!"

Hitoshi stared at the feline themed accessory. "What exactly do you want me to do… with this?"

"I heard Eraser Heard likes cats. If you give this to him I'll earn you brownie points!"

"For what?" Hitoshi sighed, exasperated, "Being a weird admirer? I'm not giving him a cat pouch."

"Don't be a coward," Fumei chuckled. "Just tell him it's like, a token of appreciation or something. I'm sure it'll melt his heart."

"Why do you even want to give him something? You hate heroes."

"I just said I'm not in that low a mood to hate heroes right now," Fumei argued. "Besides, he's training you! I can't hold a grudge on someone like that. Come on, please?"

Hitoshi suddenly heard something ring at the back of his head. He turned around to find the source of the sound but didn't find anything resembling a bell, or a bike that had a bell nearby.

"Just give it to him before summer break, Hitoshi," Fumei said, his voice seemingly louder in Hitoshi's ears. "You'd be closer as mentor and mentee if you give it to him. So, please, give the pouch to Eraser Head before summer."

The ringing grew louder, and Hitoshi found himself reaching out for the pouch. "If this gets me in trouble, I'm going to say it's your idea."

Fumei cackled. "I don't mind. That's one legal way to fight a hero."

Hitoshi scoffed. "You won't win if he gets serious."

"I won't know till I try," Fumei said before he left to join the others who were just about finished with their own training. Hitoshi looked over his shoulder again, searching for that bell that he heard earlier, before he chose to ignore it. It was probably just his imagination.

A/N: Looks like Hitoshi's quirk and microphones don't go well together. Who would a thunk? Had to take some liberties with the Eraser Head's capture scarf too. Let's face it, no one understands how that works with his hair either.

Next chapter we have Aizawa returning from the land of heroics. Keep the reviews and follow/favorite going! It keeps Hitoshi and the other characters fed. Sushiii out!