I stay in the teacher room with Aizawa-sensei and Toshinori-san until the bell rings. Then Sensei kicks me out. He walks me to English with his hands in his pocket and knocks on the door. Present Mic answers and raises both brows, looking between us. The makeup, thankfully waterproof, hides most of my tears.
"Ah, got the hero names cleared up?" he asks, curious. He snaps his fingers and gives me a giant grin and a thumb up.
I grimace and wish I could sink into the floor.
He blinks and turns to Aizawa-sensei.
"Ouch, you wanna throw her back in already?"
"She'll be fine," he says glancing my way. "Be good."
I stare wide-eyed at him before nodding and stepping in. Present Mic makes a little laugh and opens the door, shooing me to my seat. He spends a moment in the hall before returning to the board. I try to ignore the strange looks the other students shoot me. I swallow and start to write.
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Lunch can't come fast enough. I escape to my table and sink quietly into the seat. My head is throbbing, my hands shaking, and I just want to go to sleep. My plans fail. Mineta takes up a seat beside me and I blink.
"Hey," he says grinning.
"Uh… hi?" I mutter, not really sure what he's doing. Beside him, Kaminari takes up a smile and offers a bright smile.
"Hoki-chan," he says in greeting. I give them both odd looks before returning to my food, wondering at my chances of just forgoing lunch and hiding in the classroom.
"So new makeup, a new name," Mineta says, his lips curling into an even bigger smile. "And do my eyes deceive me, or is that a new bra?"
I blink.
"What?" I ask, eyebrows furrowing. Kaminari snorts.
"I'm just saying," the purple-haired boy says, fanning himself. "All these changes, I like. It makes you seem bolder…"
He gives me a side-eye. I just stare.
"What say you and I go out tonight?" he asks. He wiggles his eyebrows and I can't help the snort that erupts. "I'd treat you right, baby." Kaminari grins with a leer beside him. Mineta's nose starts bleeding as his hands move in a downward motion as if sliding down something curvy.
He stops when a tray slams beside me, and all three of us flinch.
"Dude!" Red says, setting himself at the table on my other side, eye ticking. "You two are so unmanly! The hell are you doing?"
He glares at Mineta and I take another bite as the two scramble to eat their food. Then Red turns to me with a scowl.
"Ugh! Hoki-chan, you're the only one that puts up with their shit." He says. "You don't have to be so nice, just tell them to stop."
I don't know what to say. So I swallow my food and shrink a little before grabbing another bite.
Kaminari, across from me, gives me a baleful look.
"We were just worried," the blonde says to Red. He turns dark eyes to me. "You were like all beast-mode at the festival, and now you're wearing makeup and calling yourself a Nightmare. You know girls don't do big changes like that unless someone dumps them!"
I choke on the mouthful and scowl at him. I swallow again and glare.
"Excuse me?" I manage.
Red stares as well.
"Dude, you two are the worst." He says, shaking his head.
"I'm just saying-"
"Nobody dumped me," I snap at the two boys, something dark and hot rising up to burn in my veins. It's irrational and stupid. I force it back down with an iron will.
"But you said that stuff about quirks being nightmares!" Mineta says, looking at me with wide eyes. "Those are the words of someone hurt! Yours is so cool, I mean you even made it to third place with it! So we know you didn't mean-"
"I meant every word," I hiss. The fear from my discussion with the principal, the knowledge that Yui-san's going to kill me, the painful throbbing still echoing in my face. Flames flicker across my knuckles and I clench my fist, suffocating the fire. "Nightmare isn't a title, it's a description."
All three look at me, mouth open. At nearby tables, I can see my classmates turning to watch the scene.
"Hoki, your quirk isn't-" Red says.
"Scary?" I interrupt. I rake my fingers down my arm, scratching the skin and releasing the shadows. They twist and pour out like sand. They curl over my hands and slither like snakes across my skin. I will them to move forward, to stretch across the space between us, to curl across their shoulders, across their chest. To wrap about their throat and in their hair. I hope they smell it. The death in the shadows, the taste of wet earth, the terror of the unknown.
They pale beneath the darkness, eyes wide, bodies shaking.
They look like the cashiers.
I pull it back in an instant, sucking it in with my mouth to swallow the tendrils whole.
They shiver and I grab my food and things, arms shaking. I shouldn't have done that.
I walk out without another word, dumping my half-eaten food and return to class.
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At the end of the day, Sensei gives me a dark look as he passes out our intern choices. I don't meet his eye, I'm sure he knows about the cafeteria incident. How could he not?
He says nothing though, dropping something on my desk before moving forward to pass Mineta three cards. I frown at the loud, yellow envelope, marked with my name. I don't open it though, stuffing it in my bag. Sensei dismisses us soon after and I'm the first to leave.
The moment I'm out of school though, I drag my feet. It doesn't stop me from eventually making it home.
Yui-san meets me at the door with dark eyes.
"What's all over your face, girl?"
I swallow.
"Makeup," I mumble.
"No shit," she snorts and then shakes her head. "Well, that explains why they didn't ask about the bruises. I got a call from the school from your homeroom teacher, Eraserhead. They seem to be under the impression I'm not coddling you enough. What the hell have you been telling them?"
I gulp at her dark eyes.
"N-N-Nothing!" I say.
"Yeah, I doubt that. People don't call over nothing. What happened?"
"Sensei didn't like my hero name," I say, cringing inward.
"What was it?"
"Nightmare," I admit looking away.
"Fuck girl," the old lady says, and I look up in surprise as she snorts, shaking her head. She sighs at my look and rubs her temple. "Brat, stop listening to the shit Niko spouts. And stop with all the crying, we've talked about this before."
I swallow and look down.
Smile.
I stretch my lips across my face, and she snorts, walking away.
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That night, after I finish my homework and settle into my bed, I finally fish out the yellow envelope. Sensei's graph had shown me with no invitations. So why did I have an envelope? My name on the front is clearly mine though. I swallow and gingerly pry open the sides.
Present Mic's face grins back from the other side.
I stare.
What?
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I bite my lip, holding the yellow envelope in my hand and working up the courage to knock on the door. A few students wander down the halls, one giving me an odd look, but I ignore them as they make their way towards the stairs and out to the gate. Aizawa-Sensei had released class at least twenty minutes ago, and it had taken all twenty to work up the courage to come here.
I hesitate, listening to the music from behind the door, a steady pulse of what sounds like American country.
"You can do this..." I tell myself squaring my shoulders.
I lift my hand and hesitate.
"I can't do this…" I mumble, dropping it back down.
What if it's a mistake? What if he didn't mean to? What if he really didn't-
I swallow my million worries and knock. Chest tight, tentacles squirming in my stomach. He probably won't even hear. I should leave, I could leave. It's probably a mistake and-
"Ho? Someone's at the door? Yessssssssssss!? How can I-"
I shrink back as the blonde teacher slides the door away, grinning and posing in the doorway. He sees me and stops, his huge smile still firmly in place.
"Ah, Hoki-chan! Glad to see ya! Oh, and you have my invitation! Yessss, come on in!"
I swallow and step in behind him.
"T-This was for me?" I ask quietly. He scratches his face and gives me a strange look over his glasses before shaking his head.
"Well, yeah," he says. "It's got your name on it, doesn't it?"
I nod and he gestures to a stool situated near his desk.
"Well, I'm glad you came by! Are you going to accept?"
It's my only intern option. I nod.
"Awesome!" he says grinning. He shoots two fingers guns at me and I blush, ducking my head. His grin widens and he drops into a rolling chair by his desk, slouching as he pulls something from one of the drawers.
A phone.
"So, I've got a few questions for yah," he says, looking down as he swipes through some apps. "Let's see, I know I have that list here… Aha! Here we go, alright! What's your favorite color?"
"I… what?"
He laughs.
"Your favorite color, c'mon Hoki, these are the easy ones."
"I… I don't know?" I say looking at him oddly. "Blue?"
"Are you asking or telling?" the Voice hero asks, leaning forward with both hands across his knees. He gives me a silly look.
"Blue," I say more confidently, and he nods his head.
"Ah, better! Next, I'm a radio host and a hero, I run a tight schedule, you dig? So if you wanna hang, your gonna have to bring your best. No flopping out halfway like in that tournament, can you?"
I nod.
"Whaaa?" he asks, voice echoing as he leans sideways, hand around his ear.
"Yes sir," I shout, shoulders scrunching.
He laughs again.
"Alright, alright, relax," he says using English as he leans back in the chair. "I had some more, but I think they can wait. You look nervous enough. So I'll meet you at the train station on Friday for the internship. Pack for a week. Do you have any questions?"
I shake my head; he raises an eyebrow.
"No, sir!"
"Good, alright, go ahead and get out of here!"