Even though, on the whole, Tsuyu Asui hadn't spent a lot of time with her assigned partner, she was going to miss Joseph Wilson when he went back to the United States. The mute teen was spending his last Sunday in Japan with Tsuyu, this time walking together to a local park, each having bought some seeds to feed the ducks. After Tsuyu's team had lost in the second round of the combat exercises to Midoriya's team, their regular practices were cancelled.
As they reached their destination and sat near a pond, Tsuyu's mind turned to her role in the team. She wasn't about to complain about all the extra free time she'd gotten lately, which had given her more time to get to know Joseph. But at the same time, Tsuyu felt a little bitter than Bakugo was just giving up on the team dynamic. He'd been a harsh leader, as expected, but he'd also gotten results, from all of them. He'd quickly singled out Tsuyu as his effective second-in-command, and as good as complimented her for her honesty in critiquing him and her well rounded skills.
In a weird way, Bakugo had almost started to feel like an older brother to her. Suddenly, Tsuyu got a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to look at Joseph, who had written a question for her. "What's on your mind?" The query made Tsuyu realize she must have looked very lost in thought, and felt she'd been a bit rude in just ignoring the person she'd come to the park to spend time with.
"A lot of things," she said simply. "My team, Bakugo, siblings." The second she'd made that connection with how she thought of her explosive classmate, the thought of her own siblings came to mind. Smiling a little, she told Joseph, "I have two, a brother and a sister. Both of them are younger than me, and they look up to me a lot." Then, Tsuyu put a long finger to her chin and asked Joseph, "What about you?"
To most people, Joseph's reaction to the question would have seemed mild, just a blink, but Tsuyu had sharper senses than that. She could see the subtle clues on his face, showing he winced a little. Almost half of her questions about his life gave him that reaction, even if he didn't realize it. After pausing for a second, he wrote out, "Two. Also a brother and a sister."
Unsure why he'd reacted that way to the question, Tsuyu continued on her line of thought. "That's a neat coincidence. Are you the oldest too? What are they like?" So many of her classmates were only children, it was actually really exciting for her to be able to talk to someone in a similar position to her own.
Flipping to a new page to write his next response, Joseph's pencil moved smoothly across the page, flowing like water in a river. Tsuyu's heart fell when he turned it back towards her, so she could see his answer. "I'm the middle child, though in another respect I'm the oldest. My older brother, Grant, died a few years ago. My younger sister, Rose, is still a kid, and was young enough when it happened that I'm the only older brother she knows."
It was a lot to read about. Tsuyu had known for a while now that there was a lot of darkness in Joseph's past, but learning about a dead brother hit home from Tsuyu. Trying not to tear up, she decided to share something just as personal. "I'm...scared. A lot of the missions we go on are really dangerous, and some of my classmates have come close to being killed. I know when I become a Pro Hero, the threats will only get worse. I don't want to leave my siblings behind without me to be there for them anymore." Sure, they were old enough now that there wasn't really a risk of them forgetting about her...but Tsuyu almost felt like a third parent to the kids. That fear of what would happen without her refused to go away.
When she turned her head away from the ducks nibbling on the food they'd brought for them to look at Joseph, she was surprised to see him smiling. On his pad, was a short, simple message: "You're going to be a great hero." After that, the two sat quietly and fed the ducks, happy to have opened up a little.
Considering the third and final round of the Joint Combat Exercise was just a day away, it was no surprise that, weekend or not, Victor Stone was in training most of the day. The same was true for his assigned partner, Mezo Shoji. The only time they could find to meet up was in the late afternoon, just before sunset. At Vic's suggestion, they took a trip to a nearby arcade to relax a little bit. To Vic's surprise, it seemed like Shoji hadn't played a lot of games before.
They went from machine to machine, doing their best to ignore the stares they were getting from the other patrons. Neither broached the subject of the next day's contest. After all, sharing strategy would have been pretty bad form. That said, Vic was confident. Well, he was almost always confident, but specifically for the upcoming match.
The rules, as they'd been explained at the end of the second round, were pretty simple: they'd be in another simulation environment, something like the USJ, and it would be a full five-on-five fight. No match-ups, no leaders picking things. Each team would be released in the area, and given the task of beating the other team. A team would if their leader surrenders or if everyone on the team reaches the point where they can't fight anymore.
Vic had nothing against the other team. Midoriya seemed like a smart guy, and the people on his team were nothing to sneeze at. But they'd only been a team for a few weeks. The New Teen Titans had spent almost a full year working together, and they were the top-rated team in their year. More than that, if they kept it up, they had a chance at taking the original Teen Titan's place as the best team in the school's history. They'd fought HIVE agents, robots, and even a 5th Dimensional Imp together.
As Vic won the third round in a row on a fighting game, Shoji said something. "So, you're that cocky about winning, huh?" The words had come from a mouth that sprouted from the arm closest to Vic, with teeth and everything. Vic had been around Shoji enough not to shiver in panic every time he did something like that, but it had been hard. Dude had a freaky Quirk.
They moved away from that arcade machine, and Vic picked out a racing game to try out next. Sitting side by side, as the race started, Vic decided to answer the question. "I wouldn't say I'm cocky, I just know we're going to win." Part of his words were there to rile up his opponent, but he also just plain thought they were true.
Shoji didn't say anything back for a while, focusing instead on learning the controls as they raced. For the first few laps, Vic was comfortably in first place, but out of the corner of his eye he could see on the map as Shoji started catching up to him, moving past the AI to get further in the ranks. "I think you're underestimating us, especially Midoriya," Shoji told him after moving into second place. "I know that, for the most part, you Titans students get more combat experience than we do. But Midoriya..."
The race was nearing its end, but Vic was starting to see Shoji coming up behind him, trying to get by him and into the lead. "We might all be training to be heroes, but there's not a person in class who hasn't noticed what Midoriya has been through. He's fought more villains than anyone else, and that's not just happenstance. He runs towards danger, risks his life without even thinking about it. Then, when he gets there, he's smart enough to get out of there alive. Even if some of us don't want to admit it, we admire him. That's why I'm happy to be on his team." Just as Shoji finished what he had to say, Vic messed up a drift, giving Shoji the opening to move past him, just in time to take 1st place. Then, the multi-armed hero rose from his seat and said, "We should head back. We've got a big day tomorrow." Vic laughed as they left the arcade. Maybe this fight wouldn't be quite as one-sided as he'd been expecting.
