Katsuki approached Shoto before class started. "Todoroki…"

Shoto looked up.

"She doesn't hate you."

Shoto frowned. "Who?"

"Sano. She doesn't hate or resent you for what happened." He sat down.

"How do you know that?"

Katsuki tapped his nose. "When she wants to speak to you, listen. I'm sure it'll be a weight from your shoulders."

"Wow, Kacchan! You're helping Todoroki?" Deku asked in disbelief.

Katsuki shrugged. "More like helping Sano, but it seems to have a domino effect, so I guess if it helps Todoroki out, it's killing two birds with one stone."

Shoto stared at him. "Thank you, Bakugo." He breathed.

Tenya couldn't quite believe what he was hearing either. Bakugo is doing something for others without expecting personal gain? What has Kahoko Sano done to him?

That evening, Kahoko phoned her parents and they asked her to keep Natsume at the dorms for another night.

"We've finished the job, but your dad and I haven't slept the whole way through, so if you leave him in the staff office tomorrow, we'll pick him up from there."

Kahoko sighed and hung up. "Looks like you and me again, Natsu."

Natsume's eyes lit up.

Kahoko thought for a moment. "Can I trust to leave you here to play video games whilst I go and do something?"

Natsume nodded. "You know you can, I know Hitoshi-nii is on this floor if I need someone."

She petted his head. "I won't take too long, I might bring you a drink from the vending machine too." She grabbed her scarf and left.

Kahoko reached the Hero common room. She peaked in and noticed a distinctive flash of red and white hair. That's him. She took a deep breath and weaved in and out of people to reach him.

Shoto was talking with Tenya and Deku.

Deku looked up and over Shoto's shoulder to see Kahoko approaching them. "Hey, Sano!" He smiled brightly.

She felt her nerves kick in but managed to wave a response. The mixture of voices and loud noises reaching her sensitive ears was making her feel a little claustrophobic.

She couldn't find words to speak so she gained Shoto's attention, making him look up at her. She pointed to him, then to herself before waving, indicating for him to follow her.

Shoto looked to his friends.

"Go." Tenya mouthed, urging him.

Kahoko felt her nerves leaving her, so she turned away and headed towards the exit.

"Follow her." Deku gave Shoto a push in the right direction.

Shoto found Kahoko outside by a big oak tree. "You wanted to see me?"

She nodded. She pulled down her scarf and bowed. "I'm sorry if I acted hostile this morning." She said, her heart was pounding a little.

"You needn't be sorry." He stated.

She looked up to meet his gaze. She heard his heartbeat start to race. Is he nervous too?

"I know about what my father caused. It's natural that you'll have some dislike towards me since I'm his son."

She watched as a flash of anger flickered in his unusual, yet beautiful, eyes. She swallowed the lump that had built up in her throat. "But it's not fair. You are not your father… I noticed the difference between the two of you when I watched you fight in the Sports Festival. You show compassion and care towards your friends, as well as being a brilliant leader that makes sure the job gets done whilst assuring your comrades safety. Your reluctance to use your fire side was obvious, but I'm glad that Midoriya urged you to use it… because he's right… you are you… it's your quirk to master. It made me happy for some reason." She blushed crimson, realising that she was rambling needlessly to this boy, who was practically a stranger to her. Jeez, Kaho… you sound like a fan-girl or something!

Shoto struggled to compose himself a little. She worked all that out, simply from watching me compete in the Sports Festival? "My father is a show off, things got out of hand. Like I said before, I am sorry for what happened on his behalf."

She leaned against the tree, gathering her thoughts. "To be honest… I don't blame it all on your dad either, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If my brother hadn't been using his quirk to give Endeavour a boost of stamina to defeat that Nomu, he wouldn't have been there at all. We stopped so he could use his quirk, next thing I knew, Hitoshi was yelling my name… and I woke up, Tama-chan was gone." She held back her tears. "In a way… he died as a hero… because of his quirk, Endeavour dealt the final blow to take that Nomu down."

Shoto was stood in shock. "Sano…" What was her brother's quirk? Must have been a strong one to be able to boost my father that much!

"So, believe me when I say this… I don't blame you at all. I didn't intend to make you feel that way. My emotions have been all over the place lately."

Shoto stared at her for a long moment.

"Please don't think bad of me for the way I acted." She bowed again.

He gave a chuckle. "Why would I, for something like that?"

She kept her gaze averted from his. "You really are a nice guy." She whispered. "I had planned to tell you that I don't blame you if I had ever met you in person… but the first thing I do is give you a death glare and run away."

He laughed. "Well, that was a scary death glare. But things never really go how you plan out in your head. I am glad that you pulled me aside to talk though, it felt good to air it out."

"I guess." She smiled up at him for the first time. "Thank you for following me, even though you had no idea of my intentions. I'm really glad we've sorta cleared this up."

"Thank you." Shoto bowed to her, feeling his cheeks burn. Bakugo was right… talking to her has lifted a huge weight off.

She heard his heart begin to regulate, indicating that he was relieved. "I've left Natsu in my room, so I need to go back in and check on him." She told him.

Shoto nodded and walked back into the building with her.

"Sano!" Katsuki's voice rang out down the corridor.

She looked up. "Bakugo?"

"Come and stop your kid brother interrogating everyone in the common room!" He yelled.

"Natsu?!"

"Yeah, I think Shinso brought him." He pointed towards the common room. "He's worse than Deku."

Kahoko jogged up to the common room entrance. "Natsu!" She called out.

The entire common room stopped at the sound of her voice, for some of them it was their first time hearing it.

"Kaho-nee!" Natsume waved from where Momo Yaoyorozu and Kyoka Jiro were.

Kahoko inhaled deeply before moving through the crowd of hero students. "What did I say about staying in my dorm?"

"Sorry, Kaho. My bad."

She turned towards the voice, to glare at her best friend. "And you!"

"He really wanted to check out the hero common room." Hitoshi laughed. "I didn't think he'd go and fan girl all over them."

She exhaled. "C'mon, Natsu."

"But, Kaho-nee. These girls are really nice." Natsume pointed to Momo and Kyoka.

"Yeah, but I don't know them, and I'm sure you're being a bother."

"Oh, no! He's not bothering us. He's really sweet." Momo assured.

Kahoko sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Fine. You can stay for ten minutes…" She looked to Hitoshi. "Ten minutes."

He smirked. "Kaho, you try to act scary but you're just adorable when you're mad."

Kahoko pouted.

"So, are you two dating? I see you together a lot." Momo asked.

Hitoshi laughed. "We've been friends forever. I tried to ask her out, but Tama gave me a thorough warning to back off."

Kahoko saw no point in standing around so she sat down in one of the arm chairs.

"So, Sano, what's your quirk?" Momo asked.

Kahoko met her eyes. "Now that would be telling."

"Oh, secret is it?"

"Sorta."

Katsuki sat beside her and leaned in a little. "I see you and Todoroki worked it out."

Kahoko smiled. "Yeah, thank you."

Momo watched the two. "It's nice to see you being kind towards someone, Bakugo. Normally you'd be yelling stuff at her by now if she was anyone else." She raised her brow.

Kahoko frowned. "What do you mean?" She heard Katsuki's heart pick up pace very quickly.

Katsuki scowled at the rich girl. "Maybe because she isn't spouting crap all the time."

Kahoko heard an irregularity in his voice but she didn't let on. It was obviously something Katsuki wanted to keep to himself, and it wasn't her business. "He just sorta invades my personal space from time to time."

Katsuki swallowed. "Fine then… I'm sorry to be a bother." He huffed standing up.

Kahoko caught his arm. "I didn't say I didn't like it." She said in a small voice.

Momo let out an excited squeal, making the pair look at her. She coughed. "Nothing…"

Kahoko frowned.

Katsuki sat back down, trying to control his pounding heart, and burning cheeks. That's the first time a girl spoke to me like that… like she wants me around. He suppressed a goofy smile.

Hitoshi watched the two. She's finally trying to accept people…

"So, does covering your mouth with the scarf help your quirk?" Kyoka asked curiously.

Kahoko nodded. "Yeah, I forgot to pull it up when I came to get Natsu…" She reached up to do so.

"But your face is too pretty to cover up!" Momo whined. "Leave it down for a bit…" She put her hands together.

Kahoko raised her eyebrows but obliged.

Hitoshi chuckled to himself, knowing exactly why she needed the scarf over her mouth.

Shoto and Deku watched from a few metres away.

"I'm glad to see that Natsume has broken the ice for Sano and the others." Deku remarked. "It's surprising that she's getting along with Kacchan more than anyone else."

"She was so nervous when she was talking to me… I mean to be honest, I was nervous too." Shoto added. "But after talking to her, I feel at ease."

"Understandable. I mean she's really pretty and she has a calming aura around her."

"You haven't received a glare that sent daggers to your heart…" Shoto shuddered. "She has a scary side, and I wouldn't like to go against it."

"I wonder what her quirk might be." Deku mumbled.

"Maybe something to do with her voice? I mean it is smooth and pretty and maybe the whole scarf thing is to stop her catching colds and such." Eijiro appeared out of nowhere next to them. "So, you and Sano have cleaned the slate?"

Shoto nodded. "Yeah, she's assured me that she doesn't hold anything against me."

"That's good. Bakugo actually sounds like a hero in this tale… who would've thought." He laughed.

"Yeah, Kacchan seems to be changing a little." Deku stated.

"Yeah, maybe she's a good influence. She's caught his interest, so naturally he wants to please her." Shoto mused.

Deku chuckled. "This is the first time I've seen him take interest in anyone like that."

Natsume had an uncomfortable feeling which often meant Kahoko wasn't feeling okay. He looked to her to see her subtly trying to cover her ears, whilst trying not to act rude at the same time. "Kaho-nee?"

Kahoko met his look. "It's getting too noisy in here..."

Natsume stood up. "Oh right, yeah we should really go."

She nodded and got up too.

Katsuki looked up at the girl and saw visible discomfort in her face. "What's the matter?"

Natsume looked to the everyone and bowed. "Kaho-nee doesn't do well in noisy places. Nice meeting you all, please look out for my sister for me."

Momo had a hard time controlling herself, fighting the urge to hug the boy.

Hitoshi put an arm around Kahoko and led the way out.

Momo looked to Kyoka. "He definitely likes her."

Katsuki gave a snort, which wasn't missed by the observant Momo.

"I think it's more over protective brother, opposed to lover." Kyoka remarked.

"That kid was too cute. Seen the way he could sense that Sano was uncomfortable, he acted on it straight away and got her out of the situation. It's hard to believe that he's ten years old." Ochaco joined them, having eavesdropped from afar.

"I guess… with her brother gone, Natsume wanted to step up to take care of her." Momo added, feeling her heart ache a little.

Katsuki walked up to Shoto. "So?"

Shoto nodded. "Thanks."

Katsuki grinned triumphantly.

"It was a nice thing for you to do, dude." Eijiro clapped his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Well, I thought talking to Todoroki would ease her a little and look! She's talking to more people, so it must have worked somehow."

"I think we have little Natsume to thank for that." Deku piped up

Katsuki shrugged. "I guess."

Momo looked over to the boys. "I think it was cute how she said she likes having Bakugo around."

Katsuki's face reddened. "It's not like that. I think she just wants to be friends, that's all."

"You wanna be her friend too, don't you?" Kyoka wiggled her brows.

"Well… sure…" He scratched the back of his head.

"I hope she's alright, she didn't look too well." Shoto voiced, changing the topic.

Momo sighed. "Something to do with loud noises make her uncomfortable."

"Sensitive hearing?"

"I guess so, might be linked to her quirk."

Hitoshi walked Kahoko and Natsume to their room. "How's your ears? I could see you were getting a bit uncomfortable."

"I'm fine."

"Anyway, I think we're making progress." He grinned.

"Progress?" Kahoko frowned.

"Before moving into the dorms, the only person you'd talk freely to is me. Now you've managed to hold at least a small conversation with a couple of girls and Bakugo, Todoroki and Midoriya." He ticked off the names with his fingers. "Granted they're all lousy hero students, but its progress!"

Kahoko laughed. "I guess so, but I only spoke with them because I had to."

"I know you're going to have to work on trusting them. But until then you've got me to look out for you. I know with you, trust is earned, not a gift. They'll know that. But I think they, Bakugo especially, are making an effort to befriend you, you should give them a chance." Hitoshi patted her head. "Goodnight, Kaho." He smiled down at Natsume. "Goodnight, Natsu."

Kahoko bid goodnight and let herself and Natsume into the room. "Natsu, going to the Heroes' common room… that was Hitoshi's idea, wasn't it?" She quizzed.

Natsume smiled. "He wants you to make more friends."

"Sly git." She hissed before going into her bathroom to change for bed.