Their Hero Academia – Chapter 87: Class Action
"Food?" Toshi asked.
Asuka checked her clipboard. "Takoyaki, hot pot, and gyoza, with some liquid options for Kocho, and assorted vegetables and sides."
"Snacks?" Toshi went on.
"Cookies, two cakes, ice cream, and various chips and pretzels for those who prefer salty to sweet. We also have plenty of drinks."
"I want both!" Frog-Shadow announced, from her perch on Asuka's shoulder.
"Of course you do," Asuka said, with what seemed like great patience. She only rolled her eyes very slightly. "Also, their class representative, Satome, said they would bring some snacks and food as well."
"Decorations?"
Asuka gestured around the room. "Keeping it simple, but a few banners and balloons. We're getting to know another class and welcoming Kocho, so nothing too fancy."
Toshi nodded. "Good. Did everybody behave themselves putting them up?"
"For a given value of the word. Aoyama and Mineta nearly had a fight, but neither one wanted to upset Koda, so they called it off."
Toshi shrugged. He supposed that was good enough. Aoyama and Koda had seemed closer the last few days. Maybe something had happened at the training camp?
"Guest list?"
Asuka ticked off answers on her fingers. "Seventeen members of our class, nineteen members of Kocho's former class, Tetsutetsu and Monoma from 1-B, and Shoji's girlfriend Shiryoku."
"Going to be a little cozy," Toshi said, looking around. "But I think we've got enough room."
Once they'd invited Kocho's old class, they'd decided it was only fair to let their classmates who were dating people in other classes invite them as well, making a real party of it. Though Toshi admitted to being surprised that Shoji had a girlfriend. Then again, the six-armed boy didn't talk about himself much. And Kaminari had protested that Monoma wasn't her boyfriend… but had invited him anyway. Mineta had pouted a bit that Shinji wasn't able to come, but had quickly gotten over it when she'd realized Kocho's class came with several potential unattached people.
Which probably wasn't the best way to make a first impression, so someone would probably have to wrangle her throughout the evening. Hopefully Kaminari and Monoma could handle that, as her best friends.
He'd also extracted promises from Katsumi to not start any fights and from Sero, Ojiro, and Sato not to bug anyone for any kind of viral video content. If he was honest, he didn't have high hopes for any of that. But they could do damage control when it happened.
"I can't believe Shoji's taken!" Frog-Shadow wailed. "We wanted to date him!"
"Qu…Quiet!" Asuka snapped, her eyes growing wide. She looked over at Toshi, waving her hands in protest. "She… she doesn't know what she's talking about!"
Yeah, he wasn't touching that with a three-meter pole.
"So, we're ready?" he asked instead.
"I think so."
That was good, because the next thing he heard was Kocho calling out. "Satome just texted me! They're on their way!"
"Oh, I can't wait to see what hot guys Kocho has in her old class!" Mika bubbled, rubbing her hands together. "And hot girls too! I'm not picky. I am, in fact, the opposite of picky when it comes to attraction."
Chihiro just rolled her eyes. "Is that really all you're thinking about? Besides, Kocho already said some of them were taken or dating each other the first time you asked about it. And the second. And the third."
"I wanted to be sure!"
"Is that why you're wearing… that?" Chihiro asked, pointing with her Cords. Mika was wearing a white and blue t-shirt, with the English words Mega Milk in black block letters stretched across her large breasts. It was yet another element of Mika's wardrobe that she was positive Uncle Minoru and Aunt Pony didn't know she had.
"Just showing my cow-person pride, Chi," Mika said, smugly, using the same "I'm lying and I don't expect you to believe it" tone she always used for such things.
Monoma cleared his throat. He was still using a wheelchair, but he looked significantly better than he had at the training camp. Which was good, of course. But it wasn't like she was worried about him. Okay, so she had been worried. But not worried worried. Even if they were sort-of dating. Because if she was worried worried, then that meant she'd caught feelings.
Monoma cleared his throat again. "You okay, 'ro?" Mika asked.
"Just trying to make sure you're paying attention, Mika," Monoma said. "I've no pretensions about why I'm here. I'm here to help ride herd on you." He winced, as he realized what he'd said. "…Forgive the cow pun."
Mika shrugged diplomatically. "I'll allow it."
Monoma went on, "While there is no longer the level of animosity between the Hero Course and General Education that there once was, Kocho is still figuring out how she fits in with us, and these are her friends." He pointed a finger at Mika. "You will not embarrass her, you will not try setting her up with anyone, and you will not throw yourself at any of her former classmates. If they make the first move, have at it, but not until then."
Kocho called out, "They're here!" and the doors flew open. At a glance, Chihiro spotted several unusual shades of hair and a couple Mutant-types among Kocho's old class, as well as a few people who might have, at one time, been called ordinary.
One of those was a tallish boy, with spiky dark hair and extremely plain features. As he stepped in, he somehow managed to stumble over his own feet, letting out an "Ack!" as he fell forward.
Somehow—she was never fully able to grasp how the logistics of that had worked—he collided with Mika and both fell to the ground. Somehow, in the fall, his head had ended up on her breasts.
Mika shot Monoma what could only have been called a shit-eating grin. "You were saying, 'ro?"
Another boy with chalky white skin and hair pulled the clumsy boy off Mika. "Again, Kurusu?" he asked tiredly.
The clumsy boy—Kurusu—looked panicked and waved his hands in the air. "I am so sorry! I don't know why this kind of thing keeps happening to me!"
Mika just grinned mischievously as she got to her hooves. "Hey, I don't mind, but at least buy me dinner first…"
Chihiro exchanged a glance with Monoma. Both of them let out a tired sigh. It was going to be a long evening.
"And to think, you didn't want to come, Sakurai!" the short, silver-haired girl who'd been introduced as Naomi Uzaki said, elbowing the tall and serious-faced boy, Kenji Sakurai, in the ribs. She was smirking, showing off the tiny elongated fangs that she had explained were her Quirk. "If you'd stayed back at the dorm playing video games, you'd have missed all this!"
"Yes, fine," Sakurai growled. "I'm here. Now will you stop that?!"
"Why?" Uzaki asked. She put a hand to her cheek and stuck out her chest, which was large enough to rival Mineta's. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
"Just… just stop acting like a child in front of the Hero Course!" Sakurai snapped. "You're embarrassing Kocho and yourself!"
"Why, Sakurai, I didn't know you cared! Underneath that scary face, you're just a big softie!" She elbowed him in the ribs again.
Kimiko leaned over so she could whisper to Ayana Asai, a dark-haired girl with glasses. "So, are the two of them dating? Because I am getting serious vibes here…"
Asai let out the most world-weary sigh that Kimiko had ever heard. "Not for lack of trying on my part. But neither of them realizes how much they like each other. It's ridiculous!" She threw up her hands in frustration.
"Oh, I hate it when ships fail to launch!" Kimiko agreed. She stomped her foot. "Don't people know what's good for them?!" She was just happy to see so many of her ships for the classes had come true. And even some unexpected ones, like ChiShiro!
"I mean, at first it was funny, but now it's just sad," Asai went on. "And I know they like each other!"
Something about the way she said it triggered Kimiko's curiosity. There was a certainty there she hadn't expected, even more sure than a gossip columnist. She already liked the other girl, who'd said she was a fan of her Gossip Corner webshow, but this promised something beyond even a shared love of shipping. "Explain how!"
"My Quirk lets me see how compatible two people would be romantically," Asai said, as though it were the most normal thing in the world and not a world-changing revelation of the best Quirk ever. "And those two? Off the charts."
Kimiko tried to say something, but it all just came out as a high pitched squee. She quickly found her voice. "So, how'd you like to be on the internet?"
"Observe," Kojirou Miki, a blue-haired member of Class 1-F said. They'd introduced themselves as non-binary and using they/them pronouns. They showed their empty hands. "Nothing in my hands."
They pulled open one of their sleeves as Takuma and Tensei watched. "Nothing up my sleeves."
"And nothing in your head either," their classmate, Musashi Hayashibara, a girl with extremely long magenta hair groaned, sounding bored. Takuma wondered what kind of styling gel she used, since it stayed stuck out at nearly a ninety degree angle to her head. She'd probably seen this demonstration countless times, true, but you just didn't treat a performer like that.
Miki looked crestfallen for a moment. "You know, words hurt."
"Oh, get over it."
"Oh, all right," Miki said, sounding as though the insults were nothing new. "Moving on…" They snapped their fingers, then spun around faster than the eye could follow. In an instant, they were wearing a flowery dress, with a rose clenched between their teeth. Takuma had to admit, he had the legs for it.
Takuma clapped excitedly. "That's amazing!" he told Miki. "Is that a magic trick or…?"
"My Quirk," Miki explained. They snapped their fingers again and in a blur of motion were back in their normal clothes. "I've got a small dimensional storage pocket I can access. Nothing fancy, just enough for a few hundred changes of costume and associated props." A grin crossed their face. "You never know when you're going to need to look good."
"See?" Takuma told Tensei. "He gets it. Fashion is important." His boyfriend gave him a rather skeptical look.
"Is that why you look like you got dressed in the dark?" Hayashibara asked with a laugh.
Tensei barked out a short laugh, surprising everyone. "My apologies," he said quickly, going briefly red. "But she does have a point. Your manner of dress is very unique."
"It's called being a style icon, sweetie," Takuma said. He wasn't too hurt by his boyfriend's accusation. His style was unique. And unique could be spun positively. Which he was choosing to do! After all, he was wearing a loud, floral print Hawaiian shirt, deliberately chosen because the colors of it absolutely did not go together, nor did they go with his pink skin. True outrageous fashion offended everyone, after all. "Look it up."
"Don't worry about her," Miki said. "She wouldn't know fashion if it walked up and bit her. Trust me, I've seen her clothes." They leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "She makes me keep clothes for her in my storage dimension. She brought too many and they won't all fit in her closet."
Anything else they might have said was cut off, as Hayashibara unleashed her own Quirk, launching out six billiard ball-sized glowing orbs that bonked Miki on the head in rapid succession. "Ow," they muttered, as though this was far from the first time they'd been on the receiving end of the blows. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Quit it!"
"Either way," Takuma said, "don't let Midoriya know about your Quirk… he'd ask you a million questions and you'd never have a moment's piece. On the other hand, how do you feel about getting into the performing arts…"
Daisuke had been worried about bringing Emiko by again. He'd barely managed to avoid the third degree from Ojiro the first time. His classmates were his friends; he'd most of them he'd known since childhood, but he was more than aware that they could be a lot. He found himself rolling his eyes at them on a regular basis after all, especially Mineta, Aoyama, Sato, Sero, and Ojiro. But so far, people seemed to be behaving themselves. At least, for a given value of the word.
More fortunately, they seemed to have found a sane member of Kocho's former class to talk to. Yuki Tatara was a slim, blond boy who had four arms. He had a sucker between his lips and toyed with another between his fingertips.
"I do hope you'll take good care of our Kocho," Tatara said, briefly removing the sucker from his mouth. "She's good people. We were sorry to see her go, but this is her dream."
"Business Course likes her," Emiko said, her eyes hidden behind her dark glasses. "We did some analysis after the Sports Festival. The projections are modest, of course, because she's just a first year, like all of you, but marketability factors are strong and she's got a useful Quirk."
Daisuke hadn't spoken to Kocho much, but he did find the other girl likable enough. And a combination of flight and various minimal harm causing takedowns likely did make for a good Hero. He also wasn't surprised that the Business Course was already doing analysis on them.
"And what do they say about me?" he asked, morbid curiosity overtaking him.
Emiko put her small hand on his arm. "Do you really want to know?" she asked.
"I said that out loud?" Daisuke asked, blinking slowly. He really must have let his guard down.
"You did," Tatara confirmed.
Daisuke put a hand to the side of his head. "The craziness around here must be rubbing off on me."
Emiko seemed to be considering something. She snapped her fingers. "Now I know where I've heard your name, Tatara. You're number one on the "Hottest First Year General Education students" list that's going around."
Tatara's mouth dropped open at that, his sucker falling from his lips. He recovered quickly enough to catch it with one of his other hands. "What?"
"People don't show me these things," Emiko said. "But they talk. They think just because my daytime vision isn't great, I don't listen. But I do. Deplorable, of course. Though Daisuke is number one on the list for "Hottest First Year Hero" students, so now I'm wondering if it has something to do with extra arms…"
"E..,Emiko!" Daisuke stuttered.
"Well, this is a surprise," Tatara said, looking very baffled.
"Best to stay away from Mineta then," Daisuke added, trying to recover some sense of equilibrium. "She'd pounce on you in an instant if she knew. …Or even if she didn't."
"Who's that?" Tatara asked.
Daisuke pointed her out. "Oh, not a problem," Tatara said.
"Why's that?" Daisuke asked.
"She has no power over me. I much prefer small breasts," Tatara said. He gave Emiko an apologetic look. "Pardon my bluntness."
Despite himself, Daisuke couldn't stop the laugh that escaped his lips.
"So, you've got a photographic memory?" Toshi asked, one hand on his chin, fingers tapping the side of his face. Sora considered it to be the height of adorable when he got excited about Quirks like that. There was an extremely pleasing aesthetic to his features when he was that interested in something.
It was very nearly quantifiable.
"Photographic and just plain photo!" Keiji Hughes exclaimed. He was dark haired, with glasses, and half American. He was also easily one of the most excitable people she had met, which was an extremely high bar to meet, considering her boyfriend and Shota Shinso. "Anything I've seen, I can project a mental photo of."
That's awesome!" Toshi said.
"Here," Hughes went on. He held up a hand and scrunched up his eyes. In a moment, an image of an American girl, with a pixie cut of brown hair appeared, her eyes scrunched up as she smiled, appeared in his hand. The image itself was perfect, like a photograph, even containing background detail, and outlined in a shiny rectangle. It was small, no bigger than approximately ten by fifteen centimeters (more accurately, 10.16 by 15.24 cm). It would have been easy to mistake it for a very good photo.
"This is Gracia! My girlfriend!" Hughes beamed. "Isn't she amazing? The most beautiful woman in the world and she chose me! How lucky can a guy get?!" He produced more and more pictures as he talked.
Carefully, Sora turned to look at Toshi. A new question had formed in her mind after witnessing Hughes' enthusiasm. "Why do you not get that excited when you talk about me?"
Toshi turned very, very red.
Most people probably would have found Tomoaki Shiroi intimidating. He was tall, with a muscular build, and chalky white skin and hair. One eye was hidden underneath his hair and he carried himself with what Katsumi would have called a "come at me" attitude. Needless to say, Izumi had clocked him instantly as basically harmless.
Especially after meeting his friend (Or something else? Izumi was an extremely poor judge of relationships.), Akane Aka. Aka was a shorter girl, with red hair (with one strand that seemed to be sticking up), and seemed to be brimming with nervous energy. Izumi had inquired if her impression was correct.
"Oh, for sure," Aka said. "Tomaki looks scary, but he's actually really friendly. I mean, on my first day here, I got completely turned around! I somehow ended up in the Support Studio! But he found me and helped me get to class on time!" She blushed, rubbed the back of her head, then smiled. "Honestly, he's still helping me. A lot, really. I still kind of get lost all the time. My sense of direction is pretty terrible. Doesn't help that my Quirk messes with people's sense of direction and sometimes it just kind of sneaks out and then people go right when they want to go left and…"
Izumi returned the smile and nodded politely, letting the other girl continue to ramble. "I believe I know the type." She indicated Katsumi with a small nod. Her dear friend was engaged in a conversation with Shiroi that appeared to be getting very heated, with both of them gesturing wildly. "She would be very cross with me for saying this, but Katsumi's bark is much worse than her bite."
And speaking bark…
"Okay, that's it, you monochrome moron!" Katsumi growled. The room went quiet as all eyes turned to look at the two of them. "We're settling this, right now!"
"Bring it on!" Shiroi challenged. Both of them looked like they were going to come to blows any second.
Aka let out a high pitched squeak. "Oh no…"
Katsumi pushed a chair back from a nearby table and sat down in it. She put her elbow down on the table and propped her arm up, flexing her fingers. "I told you there was no way you could take me, and I'm going to prove it."
Shiroi sat down opposite her and put his own arm down. "You'd better get ready to lose!"
Izumi frowned. "Katsumi, explain."
Katsumi looked over at her, guilt briefly flashing over her face, and gestured with her other hand towards Shiroi. "We were talking about workouts and then got to talking about sparring and stuff. And then, this guy thinks he can take me in arm wrestling. I told him he was wrong. And then he said didn't want to make a scene. So I'm calling his bluff. Guess I pushed the right buttons."
She made it sound so simple. As though it was the most natural thing in the world. Izumi allowed herself to relax. This was just Katsumi being Katsumi, nothing to worry about.
"If we're going to do this," Shiroi growled., "let's do it. No more talking!"
"You're so intense!" Aka scolded. "This is why everyone's afraid of you!"
Around them, other people began to relax. Though several people moved closer to watch the show.
"Should we be worried about this?" Isamu asked, gesturing towards where Kirishima-Bakugo was squaring off with the chalk-skinned boy from 1-F.
"Nah," Kana said, shaking her head and making her orange ponytail sway. She grinned a shark-toothed grin. "Either Katsumi will kick his ass, or she'll get beat and sulk for a day or two. Nothing to worry about."
Of course, his girlfriend was childhood friends with Kirishima-Bakugo and he knew the two were close, so of course she'd take her side. Not that he blamed her. Kirishima-Bakugo scared the ever-loving hell out of him most of the time, but watching how she acted around Izumi, and simply having been in class with her all these past months, he knew now that she was just very intense.
Scary, still, but intense.
"Show her your burning justice, Shiroi!" Miku Ito, one of Kocho's former classmates said. She was a cute, slim girl with brown hair. She bounced up and down excitedly.
"'Burning justice'," Kana repeated, giving the other girl a curious look. "Where have I heard that before?"
"It's an anime thing," Ito explained. "When a character gets really passionate, it gives them the power-up they need to defeat evil! Like when Policure Pink Ranger got hurt, so Policure Blue Ranger got so upset it unlocked a new power up so they could zap the villain!"
Oh.
Oh no.
There were two of them!
Kana snapped her fingers. "That's it!" she said. "Anime's always trying to tell us to unlock our burning justice during training!" She grinned again. "You know, the two of you would get along."
Ito tilted her head. "Wait, what?"
Kana laughed. "Sorry, Anime Fukidashi. One of my classmates. She loves anime and manga too."
"Maybe a little too much," Isamu said, the words slipping out before he realized it. Though it wasn't like it was much of a secret in the Hero Courses. Fukidashi had an extremely questionable relationship with reality.
She'd even suggested, at one point, that he'd been "promoted to main character." Which not only made zero sense, but was existentially terrifying if it was somehow true. He definitely did not consider himself main character material. He was just out there doing his best. So what if he'd won the Sports Festival and interned with Deku and been a key player in stopping everything that went down on I-Island and got to learn about Deku's secret and…
Nope! He wasn't going down that line of thinking. Nope, nope, nope!
"Sorry," he said. "That was harsh."
Kana gave him an affectionate punch in the arm. He let out a yelp and resisted the urge to rub the spot. "Relax," she said. "I mean, you're not wrong. But Anime's great, even if she's a little unusual."
"Does she like One Piece?" Ito asked. "I hear they're finally going to finish it this year!"
"Miku ain't bothering you, is she?" a voice from behind said, making him jump. Isamu turned to see a dark-haired boy wearing tinted glasses. He had a loose posture, his head tilted slightly to the side. And when his glasses fell down his nose a bit, Isamu could see he had some of the most intense eyes he had ever seen. "She gets going sometimes, you see?" A little puff of smoke blew out of his nostrils as he exhaled.
"She's fine," Isamu said meekly. There was an intensity about this guy that chilled him to the bone. Like he was sizing him up for a body bag.
"Oh, relax, Tatsu," Ito said. She gave the terrifying boy a playful smack on the chest. To Isamu's surprise, the scary guy actually smiled, his expression softening considerably as he looked at her. "Oh, sorry," Ito went on. "This is my boyfriend, Tatsu Tsuda. Did you have any of the daifuku? He made those!"
Okay, Isamu was going to need some time to process all of this. The delinquent-seeming guy baked?
"Hey now," Tsuda said, with sudden intensity. "When a man loves a woman, there ain't nothing too good for her! Why, just to see her smile, I'd…"
"Okay, that's too sappy!" Ito shouted. She gave Tsuda a smack, her fist suddenly glowing. The blow launched Tsuda across the room.
Isamu exchanged a glance with Kana, who was looking on in equal confusion.
"And what are your plans for after U.A., Iijima?" Akaya asked. Most General Education students had fairly lofty goals from what she understood. A U.A. education took people quite far no matter what field.
Minmei Iijima was a blue-haired girl of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent. She seemed attractive too, by conventional standards. Akaya was all too aware of those. Though, of course, attractiveness as all relative in the age of Quirks.
Something she'd become much more aware of since the camp. It still boggled her mind that Aoyama had confessed attraction to her when she'd confessed the same to him. And it boggled her all the more that he had not yet changed his mind.
True, they were taking things very slow, but they were spending more of their free time together, simply talking, getting to know each other better. He still had deep walls inside him, pain that he carried, but he was making an effort to go beyond them. He even seemed to be making something of an effort to fight less with Mineta and Sero, though that was also a work in progress.
"I'm still figuring that out," Iijima said. "I mean, it's easy for you guys in the Hero Course, or people in the other courses, but Gen Ed has a pretty wide-open field." Her voice was high pitched and girlish. It probably often led to others dismissing her.
"This is true," Akaya agreed. "But I admire your dedication. My understanding is that your academic classes are among the toughest in the school."
Iijima nodded. "They are! It's a big challenge sometimes. Sometimes, I think I could have listened to my cousin, Kyle…"
"Oh?" Aoyama asked. He'd released a lot of his energy before the party and was now only glowing faintly. "What does he want you to do?"
"He thinks I should quit school and be an idol," Iijima said. "Which, I mean, sounds like fun, but it would just be a big mess." She frowned. "For lots of reasons."
Aoyama gave her a sympathetic look. "Your Quirk?" he asked.
"Yeah," Iijima replied. She looked down. "I love singing. But my Quirk puts men into a trance. It lasts as long as I'm singing. Happens even if they hear it over speakers or a microphone."
Well. That was definitely a challenge. Audience limiting at the very least. Even if she could simply record her songs, live performances were vital to the entertainment industry. Chihiro had discussed the music and concert scene often enough, and Haimawari had backed those statements up.
Akaya did force herself to quash down a pang of jealousy even still. While there were certainly niche markets, idols were still very much a profession dominated by the conventionally attractive.
Aoyama must have sensed her discomfort. He moved a little closer and took her hand. "Quirks can be troublesome sometimes," he said. "My own limits the way I live at times. But I believe Koda would tell you to have faith and you can overcome."
At this, Akaya did smile. Her self-confidence was still rebuilding, but for a moment, she did feel buoyed. "I would. We are all faced with challenges, but we can rise to meet them, whatever you decide to do with your life."
Words she needed to remember to live by herself.
Kenta watched the unfolding spectacle between Kirishima-Bakugo and Shiroi with some amusement. He wasn't, by nature, particularly competitive, but he wasn't without his class pride either. "I feel like I should be filming this," he said. "But she'd probably kill me."
And Takuma would tell him it would be a noble sacrifice. Kenta did enjoy chasing the high of hit counts, though not nearly as much as Kimmie or Takuma did. And it definitely wasn't worth incurring Kirishima-Bakugo's wrath.
He took a bite of cake from the plate he was holding. Once he'd told his dad about the party, he'd volunteered to bake a couple of cakes for them. One of the many advantages of having Sugarman for a dad. And it was good. He was already on his second piece, as well as his second plate. Waste not, want not.
"Cake's good," Ken Tomoatsu said. He was an average looking boy, with a bowl cut. "Hopefully nobody's going to go crazy with it, though."
Kenta gave the other boy a curious look.
"I've been trying to get everybody to eat healthier," Tomatsu explained. "And exercise more. But it's not always easy. Between what you guys put out and what we brought, that's a lot of calories."
"Ah," Kenta said, "isn't that your second piece of cake too?"
Tomatsu looked a little guilty at that. "It's my Quirk," he said. "Everything I eat is healthy for me, basically. My body effectively uses all the calories I take in, no matter what."
"Huh," Kenta said. "Same for me, kind of. Only I can eat anything. Literally anything."
"Right, from the web show?" Tomatsu asked.
"You watch?" Kenta asked, surprised. He'd been doing less segments lately, mostly doing the camera work for Kimmie and Takuma, but he still got in front of the camera every now and then. He was still kind of deciding how much showmanship he really wanted to go for. Even with some advice from Bioshock, he had a long way to go if he really wanted to make his Quirk competitive. Being a joke wasn't going to help him with that.
"Yeah," Tomatsu replied. "Sometimes, anyway. Asai and Aka like Gossip Corner, and Kurusu likes Sero's Stunts. But I like your bits. It's a cool Quirk. Us guys with eating Quirks gotta stick together, right?"
"Right," Kenta agreed, a little bit surprised.
His Quirk?
Cool?
Huh. How about that?
"It's Kurusu, right?" Mika asked as she approached, causing the skinny boy to startle. She only had a few minutes at most before Shiro or Chihiro realized they'd lost sight of her. He nearly dropped the drink he was holding, but managed to keep that from happening, letting out a quick puff of breath.
"Yeah," he said. Junju Kurusu was trying, very hard, to look her in the eye. On the one hand, she appreciated the politeness. On the other hand, what was the point of wearing a shirt with writing on it if people weren't going to try and read the stretched-out letters. "I'm, I'm really sorry about earlier, when I came in. I mean, when I entered, I mean when I…"
He looked so flustered and embarrassed that Mika took pity on him and actually fought the urge to laugh. "It's okay," she said, holding up her hands. "Seriously. But your friend there acted like that's happened before?"
Kurusu blushed again then looked down, almost defeated. "Kind of all the time. I'm pretty much constantly falling into girls, accidentally groping them, seeing them in compromising positions… One time, I was just walking along in the dorm, minding my own business, when the floor gave out from under me and I landed in the girls' shower! Between being clumsy and having such bad luck, if I didn't have a hyped-up healing factor, I'd probably be dead by now."
Lucky bastard, Mika thought. But she was still in polite mode, so she didn't say it. "So, I'm guessing you don't have a girlfriend?"
He shook his head. "Yeah, no. Nobody wants an 'accidental pervert' for a boyfriend.'
Well, she would prefer a purposeful one, but Kurusu was a good-looking guy…
"But if you were looking for a girlfriend," she said, "what would you look for? What're you into? Breasts? Butts? Hips? Legs?" All things she had in great quantities.
"Oh, um, I don't really wanna say…" Kurusu said. This time he looked more embarrassed.
"Hey," she told him, "in case you haven't heard, there is absolutely nothing you can say that would shock me. What do you like?" What could he possibly be into that would be so horrifying to mention? There wasn't anything he could say that could dissuade her.
He took in a breath. "Feet."
…Except that.
"And these are my friends, Mogura and Tokuda," Koharu said. "Mogura, Tokuda, this is Shinso."
The purple-haired boy grinned brightly, as lively as ever. "Nice to meet you!" he said. "Kocho was talking all about you before! Any friend of hers is a friend of mine!"
Tokuda brushed a strand of her own purple hair out of the way of her large, singular eye. "My mom was actually in the same General Education class as your dad and Shoji's mom," she said. "They weren't close, though."
"Oh," Shinso said, looking sad for just a fraction of a second. "That's too bad! But Dad always say he was really, really focused on being a Hero, so he didn't try and get close to anyone because he figured he'd probably leave them someday, only that really wasn't very friendly, even though they were all still really happy for him when he did make it and even threw him a party and…"
"Breathe, Shinso," Koharu said, in the same kind of tone she'd seen Tokoyami and Midoriya use with him. The short boy tended to build up steam and keep talking, even if he wasn't really saying much of anything.
On her command, Shinso took a big breath. "Sorry," he said. "I just get going sometimes. Asuka says I need to be more mindful of when I'm talking too much, but…" He shrugged, helplessly.
His eyes widened suddenly, as though her were only now realizing something. "Oh no!" he said, arms flailing. "But if all of your friends showed up here, then that means they like you! Aren't they going to be sad you're leaving? Aren't you sad?"
She gave him her most reassuring smile. He wasn't wrong; circumstances like hers could cause people to drift apart. She'd have to be really on top of things to keep that from happening in the face of being pulled in so many directions.
"I am a little sad," she agreed. "They're my friends, and I'm sad to be leaving them. But I'm also happy, because this is what I really want to do. And besides, I made a promise that I wasn't going to forget about them."
"And we're going to hold you to it," Tokuda said.
Koharu suddenly realized Mogura had yet to say anything. She looked over to her mole-like friend, who was blushing furiously behind her glasses, practically staring at Shinso. Was she… No, that couldn't possibly… Maybe? She'd try to talk to Mogura later.
"That's right," she said. "You and Mogura are going to keep me in line. Right, Mogura?" She put just a little emphasis on the other girl's name.
"Wha?" Mogura babbled, startled. "Ah, right. Going to hold you to it!"
"Well, that's just great!" Shinso said. If he'd noticed anything strange, he didn't say so. And Koharu was willing to bet money on him having missed it entirely. "Maybe everybody can get to be friends that way!"
"Tell it to me straight, please," Jin Satome said. 1-F's Class Representative was a relatively plain looking boy, with brown hair and glasses. "Is Kocho going to be safe?"
There was an extra hint of worry in his voice, Asuka noted to herself. But it had come up in conversation that he was Quirkless, so it was perhaps understandable. The life of a Hero was intimidating enough to those with Quirks and even to those in the Hero Course. To look at it from the perspective of someone with no powers of their own…
He was also, she realized, only the second or third Quirkless person she had ever knowingly met, depending upon whether or not one counted All Might. Their former teacher turned principal had exhausted the limits of his Quirk and burned it out so thoroughly not even his rejuvenation had been able to restore it. Doctor Shield was more garden-variety Quirkless.
Having had Frog-Shadow beside her since she was quite small, Asukacould not even begin to imagine life without her.
There were, from what she understood, relatively few Quirkless people these days, most of them concentrated among the older population, and making up perhaps ten percent of the global population, and even less than that of Japan's population. Many of them actually worked for Deku at Might Tower, filling a variety of support and administrative roles.
"I won't lie to you," Asuka told him. "The life of a Hero is a difficult one. Though times are better than they were a generation ago, by a considerable margin, it is still a job which demands sacrifice and dedication. Many Villains will not hesitate to kill and Heroes are expected to rush headlong into battle with them. The life of a Hero is anything but safe."
She placed a finger on her cheek, near her beak. "But for a Hero in training? That's a harder question. During our internships, I was injured during what should have been a routine Villain stop."
Asuka brought up a hand and gently stroked Frog-Shadow, who was sleeping on her shoulders after having stuffed herself on cake and ice cream. "I very nearly lost this little one. And, of course, many of my classmates, Kocho included, were present when the Nomu were unleashed."
While she'd been unable to do anything but watch the news reports and HeroNet Alerts at Mob-Goblin's agency.
"We'll be allowed more opportunities to enter the field as we progress. We'll have a second internship next term, and in our second year, we'll pursue our provisional licenses and have work studies." She clicked her beak together a few times, pondering how best to put it. She decided to be straightforward. There was little else to it. "So no, I cannot promise safety. Just that the Hero Course and our teachers will do our best to prepare her for whatever she may face. And that as her classmates, we will watch her back as we hope she'll watch ours."
Satome frowned, but ultimately nodded. "I appreciate your honesty," he said. "Thank you."
Why did Asuka get the feeling she had not, in fact, reassured him at all?
Despite what Toshi, Izzy, Dad, Papa, and many others would have said, Katsumi did have some understanding of when she was outmatched. She'd learned that well enough at the training camp (Though if she'd been allowed to use her Quirk, that would have been a different story…).
And she was not outmatched here, no matter how much she strained against Shiroi. The chalk-skinned boy was strong, that was for sure, but she could probably outlift him. And she could definitely outfight him.
"Give up yet?" she growled.
"Not on your life!" he snapped back, gritting his teeth. Though she could only see one of his eyes, the other hidden under his white hair, what she could see was wide with fury.
Good. She'd take rage that was out in the open ahead of quiet, simmering anger any day.
What had this guy said his Quirk was? Something about being immune to viruses and bacteria. So he was just that tough all on his own. Good. Her own Quirk didn't do anything for her physicality, other than giving her a very slight resistance to heat and flame. That made it nice and even. But she'd have taken him on even if he'd had a strength Quirk.
Sometimes, you just needed to prove yourself.
Shiroi's arm started to go down, ever so slightly.
"Give 'im hell, Katsumi!" she heard Kana call out from somewhere off to the side.
"You can do it, Shiori!" a female voice, one of his classmates, declared.
"Don't you dare lose before you've faced me!" she heard Monoma shout.
"I am wishing for your victory!" Izzy shouted. One of these days, Katsumi was really going to have to teach her how to cheer.
Other voices joined in too, from both sides. Toshi, Loud Kid, Horse Girl, that freaky frog thing of Bird Girl's, even the Newb. Katsumi's eyes never left Shiroi's, but she could feel the support and energy in the room.
Shiroi grunted and she had to strain against him harder, as her own hand inched backwards. She gritted her teeth and redoubled her effort. No way she was losing…
CRACK!
With a sharp noise, one of the legs of the table they were using for their arm-wrestling match cracked, causing the table to fall and both of them to nearly fall over before they released their grips. She looked around in confusion. Who the hell had done that? What the hell did they think they were doing? Especially when she was so close to winning?!
"Which one of you f-" she started, eyes darting around angrily.
Her gaze fell on a mousey and guilty-looking member of Class 1-F. The girl gulped loudly. "S..sorry!" she wailed. "My Quirk… it makes bad luck happen sometimes!"
Shiori crossed the room, looming over the other girl. She gulped again, only for him to reach down and ruffle her hair. "It's fine, Kanako," he said. He looked back over at Katsumi. Kanako visibly relaxed and blushed at the reassurance. So the big guy was a softy, huh?
She looked over to where Izzy was watching her, carefully, as though she wasn't sure what Katsumi would do next.
Dammit.
Shiori walked back over to Katsumi, offering her a hand. "You're pretty tough," he said. The corners of his lips pulled back into a smile.
With all eyes on her, Katsumi fought down the rage simmering up inside her. She wanted a definitive win! She'd wanted to show him up! To show she was still the most Womanly person in any course.
But she'd be damned if she was going to let someone else just get away with being the bigger person while she acted like some fight-crazed lunatic.
Instead, she took the offered hand. He tried to squeeze hers tightly, but she squeezed back just as hard. He locked eyes with her and gave her a small, acknowledging nod. "You're not bad yourself," she said. And that much was true. Not many people could keep up with her like that.
"Consider that high praise from her," she heard Izzy say, utterly ruining her attempts at dominance here.
Fortunately, Shiori was the first to let go. "We'll have to have a rematch sometimes," Katsumi said.
"Anytime," Shiori said.
Monoma, Seung, Shiori, she was collecting quite the to-do list of ass-kickings.
Good.
"Hey, did you know you kind of look like…" Toshi began.
"The Nine-Tailed Hero: Kuzunoha?" the girl finished for him. She had significant Mutant-type features, resembling an anthropomorphic pink and white fox, with nine tails hanging loosely behind her and long ears sticking up. She'd been introduced to him as Nazuna Naganawa. She gave him a somewhat intense look. "Do all fox types look alike to you?"
Oh, oh no, that hadn't been what he'd meant at all… "No," he stammered. "It's just, you do look a lot like her but you don't have the same family name, so I wasn't sure and…"
Naganawa smiled. "Relax," she said. "I'm just giving you a hard time. She's my mother. I've got the same Quirk as her too. Hence the whole fox thing."
To be honest, he hadn't been expecting that, but Toshi hoped he didn't look too surprised. He'd have guessed aunt perhaps, or maybe a cousin. "Oh," he said. "So, you're like a lot of us then." Other than Haimawari and Kocho, all of Class 1-A were second generation, after all. Or even third generation in some cases, like Izzy and Mineta. And himself too, if you counted Grandpa Might, which he did.
"No," Naganawa said, with surprising firmness. "I'm not."
Before he could open his mouth to apologize, she continued. "Don't get me wrong," she said. "I'm proud of her. And you and your classmates, Kocho, what you all want to do is pretty amazing. But I'm where I am by choice. Mom was a symbol, to a lot of people, before she retired. She meant a lot, especially to Mutant types."
Toshi knew about symbols, between his dad and Grandpa Might. It was definitely a lot to live up to. And he knew a lot of people were watching him in particular, to see if he was worthy of the so-called "family legacy."
"That's not something I could live up to," Naganawa finished. "And I don't like the idea of hurting people, even Villains who deserve it. So I'm going into politics. Plenty of Mutant issues to still fight for. There's still extremist groups out there, and there's even a few cults out there, with some Mutant-types pretending to be various deities reborn. Somebody's got to stand up to all of that. Mom says I'm going to be a hero in my own way."
Toshi nodded. "Grandpa Might says there's lots of ways to serve and help people. Hero's just the flashiest."
"I don't need to be flashy," Naganawa said. She smiled, but rolled her eyes. "My girlfriend Michiru does that enough for both of us."
Still, Toshi thought back to his own words. He was trying hard to be a Hero, to be a symbol. But maybe he'd been too hard on his younger sister, Hana. She kept saying she didn't want to go into the family business, even though there were so many routes her Quirk could take her. He'd been more than a little pushy about it sometimes.
Hearing someone else say it, someone in the same kind of circumstances, maybe he owed her an apology.
Chihiro had distanced herself from Monoma after hearing about Class 1-F's Asai's Quirk. Ojiro had not been subtle about dragging her around to spy on all the different couples in the class and she didn't want anybody making assessments about... whatever her and her not-boyfriend's status was, other than that he was definitely not her boyfriend. It was already enough dodging Ojiro's questions about it. And Mika's teasing and "advice" on top of that. Thankfully, there were enough new people to make introductions with and enough food that there were plenty of reasons to be on the opposite side of the room from the pretty-boy.
So why was it that after only five minutes of expert evasive maneuvers later that he caught her gaze, pivoted his wheelchair to be facing her, and pushed back his hair as he winked at her? Chihiro felt her plugs crackle momentarily before she spun 180°, because she needed to refresh one of the snack bowls, and absolutely not because she didn't want anyone to see any hypothetical blushing.
This boy was altogether too pretty to be flirting with her, and here they were at a party together. Practically another date. This was dangerous. No, not together. He was there to handle Mika, and for no other reason whatsoever. Chihiro told herself that a few more times, before realizing she was tugging at the bracelet that he'd given her. ...when had she decided to even wear this for the evening?!
It had been a good party, Koharu thought. It had been good to see her friends and former classmates again, and they seemed to have gotten along well with her new class, even with Kirishima-Bakugo and Shiori getting into it. Though that had been… mostly good-natured competition. Shiori did have a bit of an aggression issue of his own, after all, to match the incredible violence she knew the explosive girl had been capable of unleashing.
And boy had she ever heard it from Mogura and Tokuda about Kirishima-Bakugo…
But with her former classmates gone, there was nothing left to do but clean-up. Currently, she was in the kitchen helping Shinso put the remainder of the snacks (At least, those that hadn't been packed away with their guests) away. Which was perfect for her to run Operation Wingwoman.
Wingwoman. Great. Apparently, puns were contagious.
"So, Shinso," she said. The short boy paused to look over at her. "Did you like meeting my friends?"
"Oh, yeah!" Shinso beamed. "They all seemed like a lot of fun. Even if some of them were a little scary!"
She returned the smile. "That's good. I know they liked meeting you too. Mogura especially." Okay, this was it. Dangle it out there, do a little fishing.
"She seemed really nice," Shino agreed. "Wait? Did you mean me specifically? Or all of us? Because it would be kind of weird if it was just me. I'm really not all that special or interesting, especially compared to Toshi or Haimawari or Izumi or..."
She shook her head. "I think she really liked hanging out with you," Koharu said. Okay, maybe that was a bit much. But at least she wasn't winking yet. She probably didn't need to hint that hard. "She said she'd like to do it again."
"Oh, sure!" Shinso said, and for a moment, her heart soared. Mission accomplished! "I always like making new friends! Mom always says you can never have enough friends, but then Dad says that exactly six friends is plenty and then she says he's joking but he sure doesn't look like he is…"
Well… she tried. Koharu looked around helplessly, spotting Midoriya in the doorway, who was trying desperately not to laugh.
"You know," Asuka said to Toshi, as the two were walking up the stairs to their dorm rooms, "I was a little worried about Kocho fitting in."
"Oh?" Toshi asked.
"Different classes, different cultures," she went on. "But after seeing her old classmates… I think she's going to fit right in."