Upon noticing some body language that gave away her timidity, Recovery Girl set down the pen that was in her right on back in the pencil holder. She maneuvered her desk chair so that she faced the young girl and to give her full attention with a friendly smile.
"Don't hold back, if something's wrong and you need help you need only say it so I may try and help."
Mizuha let out a sheepish chuckle, "How do I start?"
"Knowing your Quirk might help. I could look for your file." She suggested.
Explanation about the problem with her Quirk was what first came to mind. She explained how she first listed her Quirk as an Ice type until Aizawa had to correct it himself.
"Actually, I've heard about you. Aizawa did tell me about how a certain Class 1-A student had to get her file corrected because she lied about her Quirk."
Mizuha rubbed the back of her head at that.
Recovery Girl hopped off her chair and went over to yellow metal drawer. She blocked Mizuha's view but the young girl was trying to peek over the little old lady. Finally, she pulled a yellow file and read her name out loud.
"Hyoumei?" She repeated before turning around to face her. "Hyoumei... Do you have an older brother?"
Mizuha's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Uh... Y-Yes... His name is Hyoumei Shinsui..."
Instantly, the old lady brightened up with a smile, "So you're the famous little sister he talked about!" She laughed lightly before hopping back on her chair.
"... Famous what?"
Recovery Girl placed her file on her desk. "Your brother liked to talk about his little sister when he was in the infirmary after having a little accident with his Quirk."
Mizuha cringed at the thought. Her brother's Quirk was like hers except he could only manipulate water. Her brother wasn't always the most careful person when it came to handling his own Quirk. She could still remember that time he tried impressing a kid by trying to retrieve their soccer ball from the street by using a certain warping trick but he ended up crashing face first on the ground.
"I would scold him for not being careful during his training but he would just smile and start talking about you. I think he just wanted to interrupt my scolding by talking about you, that little rascal."
"... Nice, I was an excuse, alright then..." Mizuha muttered sourly. She would have thought he talked about her because she was his 'adorable little sister' as he would say. She did remember that he liked bragging.
Nowadays, anyone who tried calling her things such as cute or adorable was only a second away of catching her cute hands (depending on how they said it).
"It says here that you put Cyrokinesis but Aizawa says that your Quirk is Water States. He also added that your Quirk stopped working correctly four years ago after the incident."
Ah, so she knows what happened to Shinsui...
"Yeah."
"What's the problem then?"
"I can only use the solid form of my Quirk; liquid and gas practically doesn't exist anymore."
"Odd... Aizawa told me that the reports stated they you were unharmed..." Recovery Girl paused for a moment, seeing her stop and think for a moment made Mizuha remember that she was dealing with a school NURSE... she wasn't sure if the lady knew anything about Quirk problems. Maybe nurses didn't know about these things...
"Your brother once mentioned that you were proud of your Quirk."
"... Yeah."
She looked at her file thoughtfully. Mizuha was stiff, she was wondering if the school nurse actually an idea about what she had. She hoped that was the case, she didn't want to apply for another school if possible. If that small glimmer of hope existed then she to try grasping it.
"I used to be able to do it. I was good at using gas and liquid... but then I couldn't. So, I just started working on solid until I became proficient at it. Even if I could do it, I don't think I could use them again. Not after that night." Mizuha looked at her hands.
The little old lady then tapped her temple with her finger. "I'm no psychologist, but I think it has something to do with how you suddenly lost confidence in your abilities." Recovery Girl tried to explain it to her in easy words.
Mizuha didn't say a word. Surprised, she remained speechless. It was the last thing she was expecting to her. Among the many possible reasons, some random brain phenomena was not one of them.
"So... my problem is my lack of confidence?" She manage to say after a few seconds of silence.
Recovery Girl nodded, "That is the only thing I could think of. Loosing confidence can do that to you. Your Quirk is fine; you just need to overcome what's been holding you back from using it at its full potential."
Honestly, she didn't know how to feel knowing the real reason, well, a possible real reason. She thought her Quirk might have been defective or something.
The elderly lady looked up at clock sitting on the wall just above her desk, "Well, I hope I was able to help you Hyoumei. But you should probably go eat lunch now or else you won't have time to eat at your own pace."
Numbly, Mizuha nodded and bowed down while saying her thanks.
She forgot to text Byakuren.
"Where did you go?"
Mizuha shrugged and took her seat next to Kirishima, she no longer minded about the red head sitting next to her.
She looked at her pseudo brother and saw him breathing heavily through his nose while he chewed his food. He avoided her stare and continued indulging himself in his food.
Mizuha exhaled deeply, growing more curious by the second. Why the hell did he look like he just came back from P.E?
"What's up with you?"
"Hm?"
"You're panting."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"No."
Mizuha narrowed her eyes at him. Byakuren gave her a foxy smile before booping her on the nose, she slapped his hand away with a scowl.
Kirishima pushed his tray a little further away from him. He then twisted his body to look at Mizuha, "You left class pretty fast. Were you okay, Hyoumei?" asked Kirishima with slight worry.
Mizuha's eyebrows rose up in surprise, "... Oh I was um... I went to the nurse's office."
"What? Whoa, are you okay?" he instantly asked.
Mizuha shook her hands in front of her, "I'm fine!" She quickly replied with a nervous chuckle.
Byakuren laughed in front of them, catching both of their attention. Byakuen was already done with his food and he was simply sitting back and watching both of them, "Wow, I think this is actually the first time that someone other than me has actually worried over Miss Ice Queen."
Mizuha shot him a fixed stare for the nickname.
Kirishima chuckled with a shrug, "Why shouldn't I? Hyoumei is my friend too."
Byakuren gave her a shit eating grin when she was rendered speechless for the second time that day.
"You hear that, Mizuha? Kirishima is your friend~"
Mizuha chuckled nervously once more before kicking his leg under the table. Byakuren comically jumped out of his seat and started hopping on his painless limb.
Mizuha smirked evilly at her current enemy, "Y'know some people would just sit and wallow in their pain. I don't know why you're jumping like a pogo stick."
Byakuren hissed in pain and Kirishima laughed at his display of misery.
Unbeknownst to Mizuha, Kirishima was staring at her with a piqued interest. Perhaps Byakuren was right after all, he was starting to see it now that he knew.
Byakuren ran back into the cafeteria, sitting back at his usual table where Kirishima was staring at him weirdly.
"Welcome back."
"Thanks for guarding my food."
"No problem... but do you mind if I ask why you just rushed outta here like a mad dog?"
Byakuren laughed heartily as he started picking up his chopsticks, "I just went somewhere real quick~"
"Where?"
A devilish glint appeared in the white haired boy's eyes, "You wanna know?"
"I guess?"
"Are you sure you wanna know?"
"... I'm starting to think I probably shouldn't know."
"And I think that you should probably not ask then."
Kirishima made a boyish pout before looking back at his food. Byakuren grinned in a jovial manner.
"Hey, Kirishima."
The red head looked up, "Yeah?"
"What do you think about my little friend Mizuha?" asked Byakuren before taking a bite out of his food.
Kirishima stopped chewing his food and looked up thoughtfully, setting down his cutlery. He paused, leaning back in his seat. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply when he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Well, from what I've seen so far... she's got some bravery in her. Enough to go up against a fourth faux villain to help others. She's also pretty good at combat. She- Oh, she really cares for you, so I guess she really cares about her friends. She can misunderstand what others mean. She's a little shy. But she's pretty cool and she's a nice girl!" He finished with a satisfied smile.
Byakuren bursted out laughing to the point where he had tears coming out of his eye, "Oh my god! Kirishima noooo!" He squeaked.
Kirishima looked around them when he noticed that other students started staring, "Oi! Kyouran! You're too loud!" whispered Kirishima in attempted to calm down the laughing boy.
Byakuren gasped for air and wiped away a tear from his right eye, "Oof... Kirishima you really got me there."
"What was so funny?!"
"You said she was a nice girl! Ah geez, if only you knew her better!"
"... Huh?"
"Okay, listen here." Byakuren leaned closer, "I'm about to spill everything you need to know about Mizuha. And trust me, what I'm about to tell you is the truth and nothing but the truth."
Curiously, Kirishima leaned closer, "... Alright...?"
"The way you described Mizuha is like the first layer of her personality. Especially that last part. She only acts like that when she doesn't know someone that well. But I'm telling you right now... her personality is a total one hundred and eighty degrees. You've seen the abuse she's done to me, haven't you?"
"... You mean when she literally knocked the wind out of you the day of with had our first class with All Might?" Kirishima grinned.
Byakuren sweat dropped, "Yup." He answered with a dejected sigh.
He continued, "But anyway Mizuha is like a one of a kind girl. She's sarcastic, she can be rude as heck, she's lazy- I mean she gives me her money when we go eat together because she's too lazy to get up! She has no problem threatening people and hitting them if they get on her nerves... well I'm not sure because I'm her usual target... but she can get pretty evil when she wants to. She can cuss, my friend. She can be sooo mean."
Kirishima blinked, "... What? Really?"
Byakuren nodded, "Yeah. She's totally different. She's really holding back. Mizuha only acts like this because she's pretty shy around new people. It's like a mask. I mean she is brave and you're also right about the caring part. Trust me, I've known her longer than you."
The red head leaned away from the table and had a conflicted look on his face, "... Well, now that you told me this... I think I need to see that for myself."
Byakuren leaned back in his seat with a soft smile, "Well, just know that if you finally get to know her this way... it's not a bad thing."
"Why is that?"
"Because once you get past that second layer, you can see that genuine part of her that you call a nice girl."
Kirishima stayed silent for a moment, letting Byakuren's final words sink in. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because- crap time's up. Pretend nothing happened. She's coming." Byakuren whispered quickly before looking down at his food.
Mizuha's eye twitched.
There standing outside of Class 1-A's door was a pile of students standing and just staring at the students inside the classroom.
She and Byakuren were standing behind Uraraka. The exit was completely blocked.
"What business do you have with Class 1-A?" Iida's voice came from behind them along with Mineta's who was asking them what they came to do.
Bakugo, not caring one bit about the crowd in front of him, walked towards the door, "Scouting out the enemy, small fry. We're the one who made it out of the villains' attack. They probably wanna check us out before the Sports Festival."
Some of the students at the front leaned back when Bakugo stopped in front of them, "Out of my way cannon fodder."
Byakuren muffled a laugh with his hand while Mizuha sighed in annoyance.
"I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you all just seem pretty arrogant." a student said as he made his way to the front.
In the front was now standing a male student with dark purple hair who had heavy bags under his eyes. Mizuha narrowed her eyes at his next comment, "Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned."
"Those of us who didn't make the Hero Course are stuck in the general studies or other courses because they didn't make it. There's quite a few of us. Did you know that? The school has left those of us a chance, though. Depending on the results of the Sports Festival, they might consider transferring us into the Hero Course. And… I understand the reverse is also possible for you."
Byakuren and Mizuha tensed at the new information. No one was happy about it, that much was pretty obvious. To be suddenly transferred out of the Hero Course based on their performance in the Sports Festival? That wasn't fair.
"Scouting the enemy?" the boy then repeated Bakugo's earlier claim. "For a general studies kid like me... This'll be the perfect chance to knock you off your pedestals. Consider this a declaration of war."
Byakuren kept his eyes in front of him while he leaned closer to Mizuha.
"Let loose for now?" He suggested in a low voice.
Mizuha looked up as if lost in her thoughts, then shrugged, "Do what you want."
With that, Byakuren made his move, "A declaration of war you say?" He did close eyed smile as took a few steps forward, "No problem my purple haired friend. I'd hate to get my place stolen, especially since I've worked hard to get here. All of us here got in because we proved we could be here thanks to hard efforts. Yes, perhaps the Sports Festival is a way to prove yourselves. As Aizawa-sensei once said, the entrance exams weren't rational enough. Some of you probably have Quirks that didn't... how should I put it? Suit a physical entrance exams. Indeed, this is your chance to prove yourselves."
Byakuren was now standing face-to-face with the daring student, "However, please note that none of us would make it easy for you to just... how did you put it? Knock us off our pedestals?" His eyes re-opened dangerously.
Some of the students in Class 1-A had their mouth open as they witnessed a new side of Byakuren.
Kirishima looked bewildered, Maybe Hyoumei isn't the only one hiding their true personality...
"Kyouran?! Not you too! Now they hate us!" Kirishima practically whined.
Ignoring the red head, the white haired boy whirled around, smiling at the irritated girl, "Let's go Mizuha." He said in a cheerful tone before making his way past the crowd.
Said girl followed in suit without a word while shaking her head at what just transpired.
Greeeat, not only did Bakugo make an enemy for us but Byakuren just provoked the hell out of these students... They'll be dead set on trying to prove they can get into the Hero Course... Shit.
Mizuha let Bakugo walk out first and drowned out the loud booming voice of another student that claimed to be from Class 1-B from next door.
As Bakugo began clearing a way for himself, Mizuha followed after to him to facilitate her task of getting past everyone as well. Suddenly, a phone was pushed closer to her face and it smacked her square in the eye.
A crowd was in front of their classroom.
She just wanted to go home.
It was hard enough to leave.
Students were declaring war on them.
Everything was annoying.
And now a phone just smacked her in the face.
She's had enough.
Mizuha growled and grabbed the person's phone without thinking.
"O-Oi! My phone! Give it back!" A girl screeched.
She didn't look back and kept on walking behind Bakugo. Clenching her hand around the device, she started to chill the phone until it became extremely cold. No ice, just cold to the touch as if it just came back inside from going through winter weather.
When she made it out of the crowd, she saw Byakuren waiting for her. Behind her, she heard the same girl yelling after her to give back her phone. She was going to make absolutely sure her phone became sluggish by the time she returned it.
Goddamn, stop screaming like a banshee.
Mizuha spun around her heel and faced the girl who immediately skidded to a stop. She glared her eyes at her, "The next time you wave your phone around like an idiot and hit someone in the face with it, I'll throw it outside." She threatened before pushing the now cold phone into the girl's hands.
The girl gaped at her. Mizuha huffed and joined Byakuren who looked surprised. They both walked side by side as they walked down the hallway.
"Wow, look at you going all mean. I'm actually glad someone else other than me got to see that side of yours." Byakuren chuckled in amusement.
"Yeah, well. You already started a fire with Bakugo over there," she pointed at the ash blond student walking further ahead of them, "and that stupid chick back there smacked me with her phone. Like what the hell is she trying to do? Catch a video of us being normal students? What the hell?"
"Can't be helped, they wanna check us out. We're the cool kids now!" joked Byakuren while giving her a thumbs up.
Mizuha rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well... we'll just have to give it our all and aim for the top the best way we can. We can't let our efforts go to waste."