Chapter 5

"The More you know ~*"

Alarice settled into using a door like a normal student and was forcing herself to be around her classmates in a social capacity, despite how awkward it was. Kirishima had made an attempt to apologize to her in private, and Alarice had appreciated his descretion. Not that it made it easier for her to be around them in a group sometimes. She thought about attempting a second apology to Bakugou, but upon reflection decided it wasn't necessary. They'd already explained themselves when Aizawa was there.

A new fridge had arrived after only a day or two of not having one. There was a relative norm returned to the Dorms of 1-A, exemplified now by the sort of communal watching of some show after a particularly rough exercise. Some still had a few bruises from it, minor ones any way. Alarice was even watching, sipping on a canned tea and staring almost dead-eyed into the screen.

"Stone." Iida's voice was different than his usual calm but firm like tone. He actually sounded like a teenager now. Ashido was with him, and she noted Sero too when she turned to look. "We're very sorry for the way we treated you last Saturday night." Iida even bowed, Ashido copying him a bit, though her pink cheeks looked redder.

"Thank you... It's okay, I mean it's okay now that I know why you did it. I guess." Alarice offered with a shrug, a bunch of thoughts running through her head all at once, noticing the attention was shifting from the Tv to her. She didn't like it when people tended to stare at her when she was doing nothing. Hero stuff was different, she was Arariel then. Then it happened, and more words tumbled out as her cheeks increasingly tried to imitate Ashido's "I mean it.. it was kind of my fault wasn't it? I'm sorry too, for not being more willing to trust you guys. I'm honestly kinda just glad it wasn't a terrifying initiation hazing like my last boarding school I was in. At least now I guess we have a kind of funny story that's just ours right?"

A little voice said 'don't say any more whatever you do!' but it was promptly ignored as Ashido asked Alarice; "You went to another Hero school and they had an initiation

'hazing'?"

Alarice decided then and there that she really liked Ashido's voice, it was sweet and had a natural, kitten-like feel to it. Obviously she'd heard it before, but the realization had finally dawned on her completely in that moment. Despite the little voice, She couldn't stop herself from continuing to speak. "Yeah, It was the one before this one. It was something they do to the Freshman there, mine was kind of rough. Usually what they'd just, lightly drug your drink or whatever, Tie you up and leave you at the old abandoned building at the edge of the grounds, then you had to get back before you were caught off the grounds past Curfew. They left me in this cave off the grounds." Alarice gave a shrug, it had hurt a lot, emotionally at the time, but it had made her all the tougher. Alarice noted Ashido's look however, and Iida's, and knew instantly that they were definitely hero material.

"They did that to a girl!?" Ashido asked, her voice taking an accusatory tone towards people not even in that country. Alarice hadn't considered her gender at the time, but turned just a bit more red in the face upon realization that she'd been put in a seriously compromising position.

"Well... yeah, I assume they did it to everyone..." Though that assumption was falling apart right now. She gave a half-hearted shrug.

"Didn't you report it?" Sero was apparently invested enough into to the story to suggest actions, Ashido nodding firmly.

"well.. I mean,..." Alarice gave up with a little sigh, "No, I didn't. I told Sunshine but nothing really seemed to come of it.. and I was .. kind of in a situation.. so it wasn't like it mattered to much in the long run... It's really not that big a deal to me any more."

Alarice attempted to brush her embarrassing story under the rug but she could tell they weren't going to be having any of that. Bullying was just part of growing up as she'd been told, multiple times. Impossible to avoid when you parents where as notable as her own with the kind of history they had. Iida's warm hands touching her shoulders popped her out of those thoughts and put her attention right on to him. He was some what taller than her, she realized.

"Students who act like that aren't going to be pros," He stated, very firmly, with so much confidence she almost believed it. "Stone, you haven't said yet, but, why do you want to be a Hero?"

"For.. For my Dad." 'and to prove I can be one.' She thought, but did not add on. They did not need to know how much spite might be behind her drive to be a professional hero.

"Such a noble reason." Iida uttered, still holding her shoulders but looking away from her face directly. He let go and gestured very energetically, yet some how still stiffly at her. "You've found yourself in the right place!"

The conversation seemed to end there, a confident smile and nod from Iida, before he left her to her business. Though she soon found herself being pulled, by Ashido, into more interaction, not just hanging out against the wall watching TV from as far back as possible. She suspected she wasn't going to be allowed to wall-flower socially any more if it could be helped. Annoying as it sort of was, a bead of warmth formed in her heart for the dedication the pink girl had.

Sunshine's role in UA was a temporary teaching position, officially. She found herself primarily assisting the students in the upper years. Which was fine, it avoided any accusations of bias from those who knew she was the 'guardian' who brought Alarice over. Thankfully it was really only the Staff at UA who knew this. She typed away at the little desk she sat at, looking drastically out of place. She would have looked better out on the street stopping crime and helping people. Sunshine was just one of those Heros with that natural born allure and beauty that people thought of when they thought; 'Hey that person is a hero!'

Maybe it was the gold skin ?

Either way, She was 'heroically' typing away into a computer, the room around them desperately quiet as the few teachers in the office-like area worked around her. A smile pulled at her face while she worked, finding herself right at home with this kind of thing. It'd be nice to retire enough to be able to work with kids or something... help the future...

The door slid open to Mic and Snipe coming in with their own work to do, Cementoss leaving to attend to his own students. Leaving the room with just Midnight, Sunshine and the new additions. Contrary to the expectations Mic was surprisingly quiet ssas he brought his work in and clearly began attempting to grade said English work. Snipe was surprisingly the one to break the dead silence in the room. "Havin' a lovely day aren't we, Sunshine?"

Sunshine looked up at him, smiling an easy smile, and nodding pleasantly in his direction. "It is isn't it? On days like this sun is the true star isn't it?"

"Hah! Yes, she is." Snipe said, his body shifting as he was clearly fiddling with something on the desk that she couldn't see. Sunshine could almost hear the held-back pick up line he was threatening to use. Instead he asked; "Miss Sunshine, if I may be so bold, would you mind.. going for dinner at the end of this day?"

Sunshine looked up at him, trying to hold that smile on her face. No time for dates with this golden goddess. "I'm sorry Snipe, I'm very busy, I've got a lot of work to do."

"Ah, is UA workin' you that hard?" He offered trying to be humorous about it.

"Oh absolutely." She responded, her eyes and attention going back to her screen while she completed whatever work a temporary teacher had to do. "You have some very interesting students at this school."

There was a soft chuckle from behind that gas mask. "I suppose we do ma'am but I'm 'fraid it'd be braggin' if I said more than that. Speakin' of students, that littl'n you brought with you has got a smart little head her shoulders."

"Oh, Stone?" Sunshine responded after a quiet moment, "I suppose she does, yes."

Snipe was willing to let the subject drop but his enthusiastic coworker with the stupid hair-cut decided to jump in to try to lighten up the mood. "If Stone's a kid, and she's a Hellhound, wouldn't that make her more of a … Hell-puppy?"

Snipe wanted to to hit Mic for jumping into the conversation but he knew it was going to happen regardless if the Hero was in the room. The voice hero just couldn't ever seem to help himself. Sunshine barely reacted to the joke-esque comment. "Sure. A Hell-puppy."

"Heh, Well, How's Stone taking it after the incident in the dorms?" "There was an incident already?!"

Mic regretted saying anything and he was suddenly not so surprised as to why Aizawa might not have told her immediately about it. The look on her face was one of immediate concerned irritation.

"Stone didn't do anything! I mean, that's kind of what caused it, -"

"Did Alarice get hurt? Who did it?"

"No! No, none of them got hurt, just apparently Stone was too 'good' at avoiding everyone else, so a bunch of other students tried to catch her, that's all, got a little out of hand, she's not in any direct trouble." He would have said 'no trouble' but that would have been just a tiny bit of a lie. Stone was dedicated to making sure that he ( and any teacher really ) knew she used a door. Something he had tried not to giggle at her for, she was clearly feeling a little self-conscious about it. That desire shrank out of him seeing those bright-violet-red eyes look into his own. "Stone's fine, her pride's a little hurt maybe but she's taking it better than the kids who got real punishments."

There was some relief in Sunshine's eyes, though she let out a breath. "Just student nonsense again I suppose." She let out a little laugh following that statement.

"Hey I'm Sorr-" Mic was cut off quickly by the ringing of Sunshine's phone. Some standard but blaring noise that clawed at the ears annoyingly till it ceased. He didn't like it. Sunshine gave the screen a look before smiling in Mic's direction. "I really have to take this call, alright?" Though she didn't wait for a response before answering said phone. Mic being forced by the social laws that bind to sit his ass back down and be quiet. He still couldn't help but overhear the few short words.

"Hang on I'm going to head some where more private, give me a second." Sunshine stated, before standing up, gathering her things, and with a nod to her coworkers as she walked out. Aizawa walked right in as she left, sliding around her like a cat sliding along the door frame. Papers in one arm, sleeping bag in the other. "hey is the lounge empty?"

"Should be? Sunshine left in the wrong direction." Midnight offered, Aizawa nodding before he saw Mic point at him dramatically.

"Errrraser why didn't you tell Stone's Godmother about the Cryptid hunt in the 1-A Dorms!" Mic accused, though his tone was far from any thing close to accusatory or even annoyed. Minor frustration at best. Hell he was almost teasing the man. Aizawa gave him a dead eyed stare back before dropping his papers in the appropriate space for them to sit for the next few hours before he felt like dealing with them again. "It wasn't significant enough to tell her."

"She completely freaked out when I told her !" The other insisted, Snipe mumbling that it was far from a freak out.

"She was probably just worried, Stone's had a history of issues with other students, but it wasn't anything like that. So I didn't tell her about it." Aizawa stated, before yawning more audibly than necessary, and shuffling away to take a nap till he was needed again. He paused before he fully engaged in nap-time. "Also, don't call it a cryptid hunt, Mic."