-Shinobu's POV-

It had been nearly two weeks since mine and Shouta's first date at the cat cafe, and thankfully, things hadn't changed too much. He was a bit more touchy when we were alone on patrol, walking closer to me and occasionally letting his hand brush up against mine, but after dealing with that girl in the cat cafe, I was worried if I could actually even handle any kind of romantic relationship. I mean I had gotten so jealous over a waitress that was flirting with Shouta that he showed no interest in. What am I, a high school girl? No, I'm an adult dammit. A pro hero and a teacher's assistant for the top hero school in Japan!

Not that I had done much as a TA so far besides reviewing previous course material with Shouta and going over the different softwares and such that teachers use for putting in attendance and grades and such. But hopefully, today that would all change. Nezu had sent for me, saying he had an assignment for me to do regarding a specific second year student: Amajiki Tamaki.

Looking at the file in my hands, I saw that this particular student had great promise, but lacked confidence and buckled under any kind of attention, causing him to perform poorly on tests and exercises that involved others looking at him. His quirk was called Manifest and allowed him to procure the properties of any food he has eaten, and apparently his mastery of his quirk was quite good. Nezu had asked me to mentor the young student, knowing that I had struggled similarly while at UA, and because of my ability to overcome my anxiety in a fight. While skeptical about him picking me for the job, it involved a child, which always made my anxiety and self-doubt take a back seat.

Soon enough, I was in front of the door that led to Nezu's office and knocked softly on it before entering when hearing the principal's high pitched voice telling me to enter. As I opened the door, I surveyed the room, my eyes resting on a young boy with indigo hair and elf ears who immediately pressed his head to a wall after meeting my eyes. This must be Tamaki. There was a blonde boy with a big smile on his face who immediately approached me.

"Ah, Muffle, I'm glad you were able to join us. These are two students from Class 2-A, Togata Mirio and your new mentee, Amajiki Tamaki," Nezu introduced before taking a sip of his tea. The blonde boy now right in front of me with a grin as he bowed quickly in greeting.

"Hello, Muffle-sensei! I'm Togata Mirio! I'm Tama's best friend, so I came to provide him moral support and I wanted to meet his new mentor!" Mirio introduced as I gave him a soft bow in greeting.

"Hello, Mirio-kun. My name is Yamada Shinobu. You may call me Shinobu or Muffle… But I'm not really a teacher, so you don't have to call me sensei," I greeted, my voice quiet as usual causing Tamaki to turn slightly to see me in surprise. He probably expected Nezu to assign him a super loud and bubbly mentor.

"Yamada? Wait! Are you related to Present Mic-sensei?!" the blonde asked excitedly before leaning closer to look at me, "Oh wow! You are huh!? You even have the same cool eye color as him!" I backed up slightly at his unwelcomed closeness causing him to notice and back up with an apologetic laugh. I nodded as my way of saying it was fine before making my way silently over to my new mentee.

"Excuse me. You must be Tamaki-kun, right?" I greeted quietly, trying not to intimidate the poor shaking student. The indigo haired boy turned nervously to meet my gaze which he had to look down slightly to do and nodded.

"Amajiki Tamaki. N-nice to meet you, M-Muffle-sensei," he greeted nervously with a low bow to avoid meeting my eyes. I placed a hand gently on his shoulder and pushed upward to indicate him to straighten up. He did so, and I looked to Nezu and signed asking if he was okay with me taking Tamaki with me, to which he nodded and smiled.

"Tamaki-kun, go with Muffle. You will spend this afternoon with her for your training instead of in your hero class today," Nezu informed him, causing the shy boy to get nervous and he bowed deeply before I did the same as before to get him to straighten up once again.

"It was nice to meet you, Muffle-sensei! Please take good care of my best friend! He has potential to become an amazing hero! Please help him find the confidence to believe that," Mirio requested, his smile replaced with a more serious face as he gave me another bow before giving Tamaki an encouraging smile, "You can do this, Tama! Don't give up! Go beyond! PLUS ULTRAAA!"

At that yell, I felt Tamaki loosen up a bit from the encouragement from Mirio causing me to smile a bit. Mirio was like Zashi-nii for me. The cheerleader we didn't want to admit we needed. Grabbing Tamaki's arm to get his attention, I motioned for him to follow me, earning a nod from him as he followed me out of Nezu's office, his shoulders hunched over.

We walked in silence until we made it to a clearing in the trees in the training area on campus. The same area that Shouta and I had first sparred in. Once we reached there, I turned to Tamaki who was now visibly shaking but trying to take deep breaths.

"Tamaki-kun," I called out quietly causing him to look up at me nervously before averting from eye contact with me, "Don't worry about looking me in the eye right away. It can be intimidating when someone has all their focus on you. It's easier when you just blend in with others, right?" Shocked by my understanding, Tamaki looked at me and nodded quickly.

"I-I want to be a hero, b-but I get so an-anxious and I can't, I can't think straight! H-how am I supposed to f-fight villains if I can't even h-handle people looking at me?!" he asked, his voice revealing anguish at wanting to make a dream come true that he was afraid was impossible. I smiled at this. It's like looking in a mirror in some ways.

"Who says you can't be a hero if you have social anxiety?" I questioned as I walked up to him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder and giving him a small smile when his indigo eyes met my green ones, "I have social anxiety too, Tamaki. I also don't tend to talk much. I like to work alone and struggle with having a quirk that's labeled as a villain's quirk. Just because you struggle with things that others don't, doesn't mean that you can't be a hero." He looked at me in shock before giving me a nervous smile.

"W-what is your quirk, Muffle-sensei?" he questioned apprehensively, probably afraid of asking after I mentioned how others had treated me about it. I giggled a bit at his nervousness and ruffled his hair a bit causing him to blush.

"If you insist on calling me sensei, at least call me Shinobu when we aren't in the field. It's weird to be called that outside of patrol or missions," I instructed, trying to use a firmer voice like what Shouta did when he was instructing me before continuing, "I have two quirks, but only one that I have a full grasp on and use regularly. It's called Sensory Cancellation. It allows me to cancel any number of the five senses of any person I can see. The drawback is if I use it too much, I get a massive migraine. My second quirk is the same as my cousin. It's Voice. Your friend back there asked if I'm related to PresentMic. He's actually my older cousin. Our dads are brothers so we both inherited that from their ancestors." I explained starting to sign while I was speaking, not used to speaking so much but finding it a bit easier since it was to encourage the boy in front of me.

"Wow… That's s-such an amazing quirk! Mine isn't like that…" Tamaki said, looking to the side shyly. I huffed in annoyance at this causing his gaze to meet my now stern one.

"Tamaki, your quirk is beyond versatile, and you excel with it. I read your file. You are only falling behind because of your anxiety," I scolded softly before finally telling him what I had been trying to get to this whole time, "You don't have to get over your anxiety. You can still have it and excel in your classes. You just need to figure out what you are fighting for. Keep that in mind and train till all of your actions are practically muscle memory and instinct for the instances where your anxiety does come into place." Tamaki looked at me with his mouth open slightly in shock as I heard the dismissal bell ring for the end of the school day.

"Tamaki, we will continue this on Monday. I want you to be able to tell me your reason for fighting and becoming a hero Monday afternoon," I requested with a small smile, "You are dismissed. Have a great weekend." The shy boy started to walk off before stopping and turning to me slightly.

"Um… Sh-Shinobu-sensei, why did you become a hero?" he asked, and I froze, my lips pursing and my eyes glazing over slightly before I quickly waved him off with a smile that didn't meet my eyes.

"That's a story for another day. Get going. I'm sure your friends are waiting for you," I deflected with my fake smile on my face as he nodded and ran off. As soon as he was out of sight, I sat on the ground with my knees pulled to my chest and my back against a tree with a large sigh. It had been a long time since I had asked myself that same questions.

Why do I fight? Why did I become a hero?

Song: Towards the Sun by Rihanna