~NRK~
Sweat fell from her forehead as she pushed up once more.
"Hmm, 50, Fuyu-chan," Kaoruko said from atop her friend's back, a bunch of bubbles forming within each other before they popped as the Bubble Girl squawked. "D-Dammit!" She squeaked as Fuyumi went down again, arms trembling.
"H-Hmph!" The girl pushed up again even as she heard the huff from beside her.
From who? Oh, well, just Obito without his cloak, doing one-handed push-ups as Yu sat atop a large square of ice atop his feet, his other hand behind his back.
The boy went back down as sweat covered the floor beneath his head, Yu's current size easily one foot taller than ENDEAVOR, and Fuyumi was sure that the boy had done this all on one arm already.
Rumi nodded from in front of him, balancing on one leg as a large thick chunk of ice was balanced on her in-the-air foot with a growing-in-size Bocho balancing on it. "Come on! Ten more and it's 150!"
He nodded as he came back down with his one hand, his skin-tight, black, sleeveless top showing every inch of his powerful torso.
Fuyumi blinked as she came up again, blushing as Kaoruko snickered from her back.
"60," she said as she got off, Fuyumi whining as she allowed a rectangular block of ice to lift her body instead of being on the ground. "Someone got distracted," Kaoruko snickered slyly as Fuyumi blushed.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," the Todoroki pouted as the Bubble quirk user grinned while crouching to her level.
"Come on, you even told me that… ya kissed him," she whispered as the other girl burned.
"S-Shhh!"
"I ain't tellin' anyone, I'm just wondering what you're planning on doing with that little info, ya know?"
"... I-I don't know what it really meant but I felt like it was the p-perfect opportunity," Fuyumi admitted with a quiet blush. "Maybe it was just to surprise him? Just to see Obito actually not composed? I don't know."
"Hmm, I get you, more than you think," Kaoruko admitted while rubbing the back of her head, a blush on her face as they looked up to see Keigo currently in an air battle with Moe.
The bird boy flew back as she lunged at him with speed he didn't expect but kept up with.
Then the older flyer grinned as she pulled at her air, dislodging a pair of bunches of fiery hair before mashing them together and stretching them out.
"Huh?!" Keigo's eyes widened as she 'slingshot' numerous small fireballs at him, the bird boy shooting around at sharp angles, powerful turns, and a quick downward flight with a growing grin. "Gonna have to try harder, senpai!" He smirked as he pulled up with amazing control, sending an explosive burst of wind across the ground, tossing the girls' hair up.
"And done!" Rumi said as Obito nodded, Yu getting off his back with a look of disbelief.
"H-How do you function!?" The giantess squeaked as he pulled his legs in and sat down on the ground, wiping his face.
"I've never done such intense training, you have my thanks," he said as her eyebrow twitched, Obito's not-so-hidden and growing smirk all Yu needed to see.
"You liar!"
"I didn't lie, I just told the objective truth," he said.
Clanging rang out as Umi's spear slammed into Kido's guard, the older teen chuckling as he locked her shaft in between the small corner coming out of the base of his weapon's shaft, grinding it up and holding it at her neck.
"And done," he said as the fin-eared girl hit her rear, wiping sweat off her brow. "You're pretty good, I didn't think you girls could have such vigor!" Kido chuckled as Onemu wiped her chin from behind them.
"Yeah, yeah! Let's go again!" The bull girl declared as she got up without hesitation, the senior nodding.
"Give me your best… in ten minutes!"
"Dammit!"
The rest of their classes and fellow senpais were spread out in other hazard zones, the current batch of students in the shore zone, on the smooth stone pier.
"He literally dominated my entire class," Majestic said in disbelief as he looked at Snipe who chuckled.
"Hey now, I don't know how it feels but I'm feeling secondhand embarrassment, I'd hate the idea," he admitted as the Magic Hero groaned, his embarrassed students behind him on a series of floating discs from his quirk. "Keep on doing those SHAME Push-ups, kids! It'll make ya stronger!"
The collective groan of Class 2-A got another chuckle out of him.
Back with Obito, the boy rested for five minutes before he and Rumi were standing apart in a flame ring.
"Alright, we know where to go with your style, any on-the-fly ideas you want to try?" The Rabbit girl asked as Obito nodded, breathing out a heaping amount of flames.
Those same flames then quickly condensed before lining his legs from their usual full-foot coverings up his shins to his thighs with starburst-like marks on his shins and thighs with flowing lines leading up to each one. With one in each direction on his limbs, Obito hummed at the glowing marks.
"Build up to it by applying more Flame Burst to my body," Obito explained as she nodded.
"That the name of your fighting style?"
"Yes. I've always felt a kinship with bursting flames, as you know."
She chuckled before bouncing back and forth with a decently wide stance. "Alright, then your crash course on your new skill is here!
Obito assumed his own stance taking in those energy-increasing breaths Onemu taught him.
'Sharp and then long, focus,' he told himself as he let out one last breath.
The impact of shin to shin tossed their hair back and white sparks flew.
'Keep it going!' Every exhale was to service his technique!
Three more loud 'CRACK!'s rang out before he stomped down.
The floor beneath Rumi's back foot cratered upward but she simply grinned, using what had to only be a slight push to throw herself over him, the former Uchiha's form vanishing from sight.
Rumi leaned back and dodged a screaming roundhouse before her long rabbit leg shot up past her nose in an act of flexibility Obito hadn't expected.
Did she send him flying even from that position? 'She's a third-year, you idiot! Of course, she knows how to fully utilize her quirk!' He admonished himself as his hissing feet skirted across the water area of the shore zone before looking up at a descending, shouting, shadow.
"Don't look away!" Rumi shouted as Obito's eyes narrowed, blazing red orbs locking onto her form.
"FLAME GAIT!" Obito rotated before slamming his foot against her flying kick.
The attacks ruptured the air around them before the water exploded around them into a large wall of liquid.
Then there were explosions all about as two forms' legs kept slamming into one another, moving around without stopping.
The water split and hissed with each powerful lunge and hop, the two students quickly transitioning back to the stone shore.
Their spar never stopped even when Obito lost a breath and his Super Move went away, he kept going, trying to reignite it even in the middle of Rumi's mad rush.
All for naught as she finally found her opening and had him straddled, currently knife-handed fingers placed at his throat.
"And game," Rumi said as Obito nodded, the young woman flipping back onto her feet before standing up and holding out her hand. "Good work, though, it seems more and more like you're getting it."
Taking the offered hand, Obito got up before looking down at his legs with his senpai. "Hmph, this is as much as I can get on in the heat of combat," he said with crossed arms as she cupped her chin.
The starburst points were there but the lines between weren't and even then, the points were only on his shin. As in, 'one', singular.
"Do those line parts actually do anything besides look cool?"
"They give my mental faculties a pathway," Obito explained as she raised a brow at him. "I can feel out my flames, Rumi-senpai." she hummed at that.
"Really? Alright, we'll be working on two things now then," she said as he nodded.
~NRK~
Fuyumi threw her arm down, around, and then up, another spire of ice shooting into the sky but still missing Moe.
"You've got good power!" The older female said as she flew past each arriving spire, dodging with only a bit of difficulty as every near-miss sent up steam and caused her flight to weaken a bit. 'She's got good power, it's her speed that's the problem,' not that she blamed the girl.
Most people weren't exactly speedsters, Moe hadn't been when she was a Freshman and she'd wanted to be a hero, she'd just never trained enough.
'So, that's why I'm gonna help give you guys a nudge!' She thought as a giant Yu formed in front of her. "First rule of team play!"
"Wait-!?" Fuyumi choked.
"Crap-?!" Yu paled.
Then the giantess was downed by her teammate's attack.
"Don't hit your team members!" Moe explained as she flew upside down by Yu's head. "You, on the other hand, need to manage your mental a bit better. You obviously knew she was attacking so why'd you jump in the way?!"
"Oooohhh," the giantess groaned. "... I…" She blushed as Moe chuckled.
"Don't worry, don't worry, better now than on the actual battlefield."
~NRK~
Kaoruko batted aside the jutte as best she could, the side of the weapon coming back into view before she kicked out at the hands wielding it.
Kido stepped in, grabbed her offending leg, and pulled before throwing her into the ground with one hand, the senior holding his weapon at Kaoruko's neck as she groaned.
Bocho sat off to the side, already a bit bruised, while Keigo and Umi sparred a bit away in the debilitated building zone.
Umi jumped on top of a bus stop booth as Keigo slashed at the center.
"Yikes!" She jumped behind it and he leaned to the side to dodge the trident that slammed through the glass in the back of it. "Dammit!"
It slipped out before her footsteps led away and around a corner as Keigo gave chase.
~NRK~
Yoha's snakes shoot out and Nemuri grinned as she wielded a fan like an absolute champion, deflecting her animal counterparts and puffing them in the fact with her 'weapons'.
They went limp and the second-year's mouth fell. "W-What?" She looked up at the 'scandalous' heroine who fanned herself with a flourish.
"My own cells help make-up my fans and whip, it helps a lot," the teacher grinned as Yoha awoke her snakes with an embarrassed mumble. "It's fine, it's fine, it's not like you're not still learning."
Yoha pouted. "I'm their senpai."
"Is that right?"
"Hmph."
~NRK~
Their exercises came to an end forty minutes later, the exercise at USJ being a two-class-long event that would be a constant for the week.
Obito rolled his shoulders, the former Uchiha's cheek, exposed right bicep, torn-leg-shown left thigh, and right shin all covered in bandages or small bruises.
Fuyumi whined on his shoulder, covered in similar bandages on her forearms, palms, stomach, and lower back.
"I-I didn't think her flames were so dense," the Todoroki said as Keigo chuckled nervously.
The boy had come out of the training the most unharmed, only having a bandage on his cheek from a sneaky shot that Umi had got in.
Said fin-eared girl was currently laying down above the floor of the bus on a white flame cloud, Kaoruko on another right in front of Keigo, the two covered in bruises and bandages as well.
"O-Ow."
"L-Life's never been so… painful," the Bubble quirk user said with a weak grin as Keigo smirked. "Hush, you."
"Hmm?" Yu laid across the chair onto a more-oval-blobbed Bocho, the Noh girl looking the second-most unharmed in her blobby form. "Someone call me?"
"Nope."
"Good," she covered her face with more Noh Material and was fast asleep.
"That's impressive like always," Onemu said, 'wearing' an average amount of 'hurt' and bandages. "Still feeling great," she chuckled as she leaned on the other side of Bocho, her form completely relaxed. "Thank God this was at the end of the day."
The rest of 1-B agreed, their three additionals from class 1-A long since welcomed.
Obito leaned back in his seat as Fuyumi's head rested more comfortably on his shoulder, hand coming around his bicep as she released soft snores.
Keigo chuckled tiredly, turning on the seat and leaning on the fire-breather's shoulder before crossing his arms and closing his eyes.
"Hmph," Obito didn't say a thing, simply closing his eyes.
They got a decent amount of rest when they got back.
~NRK~
Obito carried Fuyumi on his back, the girl in her gym uniform, as she slept on his back without much hesitation, nuzzling into his hair.
"Hmph," he'd simply chosen to run the entire way to her house which was maybe three or four miles away from UA. "... are you alright?" Obito asked softly as she tightened her hold a bit more.
"Mm-hmm," she nodded, the boy nodding back and focusing back on the road ahead.
Neither aware, once more, to a camera in a nearby park.
~NRK~
Entering Fuyumi's home, their bags in his right hand, Obito nodded to the smiling Rei as Shouto led him upstairs.
As he reached Fuyumi's room, Obito nodded to Shouto as he opened the door and he walked in.
The girl's room was rather well-kept, clean, and full to the brim with photos, he noticed.
White walls, a nice wooden floor like the rest of the house, a dark blue carpet, a bookshelf, and a desk were what Obito noticed next. Then he saw her bed and walked over before dropping their bags by her desk and then turning around.
"Fuyumi-kun," he whispered as she nuzzled him some more. "Fuyumi, we're in your room. You'll probably want to get some actual sleep in an actual bed."
"Mnnooo," she whined as he smirked.
"Yeessss," he shot back.
"M-Mmm?" Her eyes creaked open, the girl leaning back a bit and rubbing at them. "O-Obito-kun?" Fuyumi's eyes opened some more but not by much. "... o-oh, we're home," she said with a yawn that he found cute.
Hmph. "Yes, we're in your room," he said as she looked around and noted that, yes, they were in her room.
"W-When?"
"Around three or so minutes ago?"
"..." Fuyumi yawned once more and moaned. "My sleep schedule is going to be so ruined," she whined into his back as he chuckled.
"It's something we'll have to fix, I'm sure, now, come on. You want to sleep in a comfortable bed, not on my rigid back."
'But it's so firm and warm,' she thought with a smaller whine before reluctantly letting go and hissing at the coolness that hit her exposed clavicle. "Eee!"
"Hmph."
Embarrassingly, Obito helped settle herself into her bed, Fuyumi also getting rid of her sports top to reveal the white tank top beneath with some red on their faces.
"Hmm," Obito looked away at her desk before blinking at two photos on it. "Those…"
"?" She turned before smiling warmly at what he meant. "Those are my favorites," Fuyumi admitted.
He ran his hand through his hair, looking away with some red on his face. 'Why?' He dared not ask.
Lest he open some sort of 'gate' he wasn't sure he was prepared for.
The photos were different, one of them with their family, friends, and fellow students in a large group picture that Obito smiled softly at despite himself.
The whole of their inner circle was there, the sight of the grinning faces, the small pranks being revealed, and the happy expressions made his heart melt.
It overlaid with another image, one with far fewer people in it, only four, but they were family he'd never had before that time… one that'd shaped him more than he would ever understand as a boy.
He then turned to another one… this one was… it was clearly more personable.
Why? Well, within it was only two people.
Himself and Fuyumi when they'd learned about their acceptance, one where he looked more bashful than ever before while Fuyumi grinned, the two holding their phones towards the camera with their respective emails of acceptance on their screens.
'Her favorite?' His mind repeated despite him not asking it to. 'Her favorite? A picture with me?' Or was it just the acceptance?
Of course, Obito wasn't dumb enough that he couldn't counter with 'then why not every OTHER photo with this?' and that left him in an embarrassing situation.
"... I'm… I'm happy I was able to make this one of your favorites," Obito said softly as she blushed a bit but smiled that beautiful smile, her glasses on the desk, allowing him to see how her eyes shined once more. "..." He looked away, face glowing slightly. 'No… no, no, no, no!' He hadn't, had he?
"Obito-kun?" Fuyumi spoke up, getting a flinch out of the boy.
"Y-Yes?"
"I've always wondered," she said slowly as he nodded just as quickly. "I don't think you talk about other people besides us," Fuyumi noted as he blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… I'm surprised you didn't have more friends," she said a bit rudely but Obito knew that she knew that he'd not take offense to it. "It's just, I don't know, it feels like I don't know a lot about you… I kind of want to."
His heart thumped once and he groaned mentally as he palmed his blushing face. "There's… there's not a lot," Obito admitted as he took a seat at her desk without a thought, hand on the desk's edge towards her bed. "I wasn't really one for friendship, I never… I was focused on taking care of my little brother, training him and Katsuki, and being stronger in case anything happened. I didn't have friends… before you all," Obito admitted as she smiled again. "And, despite how I don't really get it… I'm glad I got to know you all," he blushed a bit, looking away.
And then Obito flinched as Fuyumi's cool soft hand rested over his own.
"We're all glad we got to know you, always," she said with a slow blink as his head mechanically turned to her, the ice girl giggling a bit.
'Oh no, it's cute,' God strike him now!
… he was waiting, you old religious bastard!
He shouted at the heavens and was answered… in a way that told him God could be very petty.
Fuyumi's grip seemed to mold into his own, their hands grasping one another's without a thought!?
'Oh no, I'm sorry! Dammit!'
"You've helped us more than I ever thought you would… in the past," Fuyumi chuckled a bit. "I'm honestly wondering what we'd have had, had we been friends earlier in middle school."
"... y-yes, well," a fucking stutter? "Ahem, that is… possibly a stronger friendship?" Obito tried and her amused look told him to stop trying before he said something he shouldn't. "... I don't know, I really don't, you know me well enough to know that."
"Yep, you're a bit emotionally dumb."
'Like you'd never believe, Fuyumi,' and the worrying part was that Obito felt like she was catching on to that facet of who he was. 'I'm as emotionally adjusted as a fish trying to walk,' logic helped him through many situations that he couldn't handle emotionally.
But being called out on it made his embarrassment rise.
'His hand is so big and warm,' it reminded her of her father's from when she was younger… She looked above her desk. "I miss him," Fuyumi blurted out without a thought as Obito blinked, looking at where her stare went.
There, right above her desk on the wall, was a photo of a boy… a boy with white hair, blue eyes, and a seemingly impeccable grin.
He'd added 'seemingly' because, even from here, he could see the cracks in that look.
That boy may have been smiling, he may have even been happy, but there was something wrong with him. Something that was building in his head.
Fuyumi's tighter grip had Obito focusing back on the grimacing girl who stuffed her face into her pillow. "..."
Obito hesitated before gripping her hand back tighter, Fuyumi's grasp tightening in response.
"... well, since we're talking about ourselves," Obito tried. "Can you tell me about him?" He asked her as she looked up at him, surprised a bit, and eyes looking a bit watery. "..."
He did it without a thought, a trend he was noticing worryingly, wiping away her tears with his thumb.
Obito sat back with a twitching brow as Fuyumi blushed.
'Goddammit,' he was becoming attached… no.
Obito wasn't a fool, as he'd said mere moments before.
He wasn't becoming 'attached'... he was falling for Fuyumi.
This amazing young woman who was emphatic, wiser in ways he wasn't, smart, amazingly kind, supportive… and cute, pretty, even. This girl who he wanted to help through her woes and pain, who he changed his entire life's direction for.
A decision that hadn't been emotionally fueled by her, not romantically, but now it changed. His reasonings had altered, his feelings had become intertwined with her existence.
Obito was 'falling' and he felt a horror the likes of which he didn't want to understand.
"Hm?" Fuyumi looked at his look of horror. 'I-Is something wrong?' Why did Obito look like he was horrified by something? 'He looks… scared?' Was Fuyumi seeing that right?
Was Obito scared of something in his head? What? What could make this pillar of power and stability she'd become friends with quiver.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-Yes, I…" he took his hand away and got up. "I'm sorry, that shouldn't have… bye," Obito grabbed his bag and hurried out of the room.
"... Obito?"
He froze, one foot out the door, as his eyes widened, head turning back to the seemingly hurt Fuyumi.
His heart controlled him and he was back by her bedside in seconds, looking to all the world like… like someone who was worried for more reasons than he should have.
Fucking hell.
"I'm sorry," he said immediately to the surprised Fuyumi, wiping away more tears. "I… I'm not a good choice," Obito rationalized for her, knowing that he and she weren't developing something that couldn't be healthy, it'd end in a horrid manner that'd cause a spiral that'd make the world a hell to live in. "I'm… Fuyumi, I-"
She pressed her finger to his lips, stopping the vulnerable-looking Obito in his verbal tracks. "... Obito?" Fuyumi asked him, leaning down a bit and running her fingers against his cheek.
The way the boy flinched but leaned into it the slightest bit made her realize there was something here that she'd never seen in Obito's eyes.
Fear. Fear of a horrible outcome? Fear of a mistake? Fear of… l-love? Was that it?
Did Obito fear coming to grow an affection for her? Or was it the other way around? Was he telling her he didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone?
The more she caressed his cheek, the more she observed the boy she'd come to like more day-by-day, the more she saw the slight shame on his face, Fuyumi felt her intuition ping.
"Were you hurt… Obito?" She asked him softly as Obito's eyes closed.
"... no, I… I hurt me," he said vaguely as she blinked in slight shock.
Then she broke it down without a thought. 'You'd take on the world to conserve a single life, I know,' he was more like Izuku than he knew. 'You did something that you don't want to happen again,' and that had something to do with affection? "... it's alright if you try again, you know that, right?"
"Not for me… I can't allow my emotions to rule me and destroy everything around me," Obito said with a sort of morbid finality that left Fuyumi stunned. "I… whatever this is, we have to change it before I…" He grimaced as she frowned.
She fully cupped his cheek and turned his head to her.
"Are you that afraid?"
"... yes."
"... alright," Fuyumi said with a sad smile that Obito looked both guilty and horrified at.
"I-I…" What could he say? Fuyumi was essentially being open to his issues and addressing them maturely and with care he felt more conflicted about. "... I'm sorry."
"I don't want to hear that coming out from your mouth, Obito-kun," he flinched at the refixing of his suffix. "You've given so much, I can't be selfish like that."
"You weren't, Fuyumi, there's nothing wrong with you feeling whatever you do, it's just me."
"I care about you a lot, I'm not sure I'd be able to say that."
What a mess.
"I'm… I am happy you do, I don't know, I've never dealt with this before I messed up," Obito admitted as she tilted her head.
"So, you just want us to keep our distance, right?" She asked.
"..." Obito grimaced as he sighed. "I… don't know."
Which was fair. Fuyumi didn't know how to approach this, herself.
She didn't want to just stop talking to the person she'd call her best friend… huh.
"You're my best friend, Obito-kun," she said after a moment, shocking both herself and the boy of her affections. "I-I guess, I don't want to just stop talking and being around you," Fuyumi was surprised.
To say all of that and not feel too embarrassed was rather weird to her.
"... I don't either," Obito answered as he ruffled his head of hair while she smiled. "... I don't know what to say here," for one of the few times in his life, Obito's intelligence failed him. "I…"
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Fuyumi said with an encouraging smile as he grinned nervously.
'This is literally part of the problem,' but his emotions had already been compromised and that terrified the former shinobi. "Once again, I apologize for being… difficult. I somehow doubt the youth of your life would be like this with someone like me."
"Hmm…" Fuyumi blushed a bit but grinned all the same. "Maybe but I don't think I could imagine a different outcome!"
Whelp, this young woman was really out to get him, wasn't she?
"I somehow wonder if it's impossible."
"W-Well," she blushed. "Is it so bad?"
"... you know I can't answer that, don't you?"
"Hmm," Fuyumi yawned before removing her hand on his, worryingly wanting, cheek. "I-I guess we'll deal with this another time?" She offered as she laid down and closed her eyes. "Good night."
"It's evening."
"... good night."
Obito rolled his eyes as he got up from his knees. "Why am I so bad at this?" He asked himself as he got up to leave.
"Because you're nice," Fuyumi threw in before he could, getting a groaning huff out of Obito. "Hm, hm."
Her giggles ran rampant in his mind as he left her room-
Obito's eyebrow ticked as he saw Shouto and Rei sitting outside the room, the two looking embarrassed.
"..."
"..." Rei grinned nervously as Obito facepalmed before heading out.
"Good night, Fuyumi."
"Night," Fuyumi's voice came from within the room as he grumbled before spitting out some silent flames.
Rei and Shouto were carried downstairs without their eavesdropping being revealed and Obito deposited them in the living and quickly left thereafter.
As he hurried out the back of the Todoroki home, his mind replayed every bit of their conversation.
'What will I do?' He… he didn't want a repeat of Rin again.
He didn't want romance to lead to him falling back into his old ways, to lose Fuyumi made him queasy and unsure of his own abilities.
'I'd be letting… love rule my life again,' he told himself despite how much his heart kept slamming into his head, the young man flying above on a flaming cloud and passing Fuyumi's window. "..." He'd looked, involuntarily, and his eyes widened.
A smiling Fuyumi waved him off and Obito blushed.
He blushed hard for no reason and yet somehow that made it worse.
Obito covered his face as he waved back to the amused but affectionate Fuyumi.
His best friend… who he liked more than he'd thought… again, like with Rin.
The two differences here being that he was a man in a young man's body, his own obviously, and this 'Rin' liked him instead of someone else.
He rode out of the area for a moment before landing in a nearby park, not seen as he groaned and slammed his head into a tree.
Obito burned like an idiot as he kept slamming his head into a tree before turning around and sliding down it, the large crack in the wood not addressed in the least.
"No, no, no, no," he held his head in horror and embarrassment. "... I'm in…" Obito shook his head.
He wasn't but that line wasn't thick, there was a high chance he was maybe two 'incidents' away from being a total idiot like he'd been when he was a kid.
As an 'adult', at that.
Obito sat there for a couple minutes before the sound of his phone ringing gained his attention.
Pulling it out, he sighed before answering.
"Kaa-chan?"
~NRK~
Arriving home, Obito brought in the groceries he'd been asked to buy, mind still plagued by the 'Fuyumi Situation' as he went inside to find just his family in there.
"I'm home," he said, finding that Izuku was currently in the living room doing some homework with their mom next to him, the sound of the kitchen being filled with clanging pans told him it was his father within it. "Got the things you asked for, tou-chan."
"Thanks, my boy!" Hisashi said as Obito walked into the kitchen, putting the things not currently needed away. "So, how was school?" He asked as Obito froze before the sound of his son grumbling got his attention away from the stove. '?'
When he saw the embarrassed look on Obito's face, his eyes widened in understanding.
'LOVE?!' He'd been prepared for this day!
He set everything on a low simmer before quickly urging Obito out the kitchen and into his and Inko's head bedroom.
Bringing him in here, Hisashi closed the door behind them before gesturing to the bed.
Obito felt his eyebrow twitch even as he listened without too much protest, groaning as he sat down.
"What's this about?" He asked his father who sat down and clapped his hands together before pointing at him. "... w-wait-"
"You're in love, aren't you?" Hisashi asked without filter, causing Obito to freeze even as his cheeks reddened, the man nodding with a look of pride on his face. "Yea, that's what I expected, you're like me when I was your age."
"I am?" Obito asked without thinking as the man nodded, one of his hands rubbing the back of his head. "H-How?" Obito was sure this man wouldn't understand in the least-
"You're afraid of losing her."
Scratch that! He'd hit him right where it hurt!
"H-How did…" Obito's eyes widened as Hisashi smiled sadly.
"You know how I started out, you know that I struggled a lot when I was growing up. Being an orphan and poor, I had to make smart decisions. I wanted to leave that life behind, I had to consider everything with a sense of what'd benefit me the most… and then I hit college on a scholarship and I met your mother," Hisashi explained as Obito looked away. "Or, really… she is the one who helped me get into it," his son's eyes snapped to him.
"Kaa-chan helped you into… college?"
"Yes. It's not a story I was proud of as a young man, I was… well, I was basically 'trash' in the eyes of a lot of the other students at my high school despite my high grades, my need to succeed, and I'm pretty sure that was all my fault. I never made friends, I didn't want to, I had to be aware of my future and how to get there. Inko was my underclassman at the time, she was known as the school 'flower," the man smirked as Obito rolled his eyes. "You know your mother, it's not hard to see why. She was the kindest, most helpful, supportive, girl in school. Time and time again, she'd gotten asked out and it was only thanks to Mitsuki that she was as picky as she should have been."
"And not with you?" Obito smirked as Hisashi's eyes gleamed.
"Your daddy's a catch. I won't say it was that easy, Mitsuki wasn't as calm as she is nowadays… I know you're going to say but, trust me, her meeting Masaru was probably one of the funniest and most humbling things I've ever seen her go through. Anyway, she never liked me but knew I was smart and so when Inko would help me, she'd 'supervise' but nothing more. I never got it, women to this day are still a mystery, but I just saw it as more opportunities. Inko was also smart but she was also well-connected. I could ride off her known volunteer experience and wanted her to lie on my end… and she did, she did and I don't know when it changed but that had me feeling some kinda way, let me tell you."
"I don't follow? You fell in love because of that?" Was love so weird and fickle?
"... nope," the man explained. "Inko had just been happy for me but I couldn't accept it for some reason that I know nowadays. I'd taken advantage of her kindness, I put her reputation on the line and I hated it. I was already fine with my own but, seeing her put herself up to bat for me, that made me want to be better. I worked harder, I volunteered, I helped at soup kitchens, all because I wanted to become… well, the type of man she was vouching for. It'd also look good on a resume."
"When does this become like… similar to my situation?"
"Around then. Inko… well, let's just say, I didn't just make an impression on her but also Mitsuki who'd been 'team mom' for our little four-person group. Out of nowhere, she kept trying to drop hints, make little things 'dates', and involve me in events that'd leave me and Inko feeling for one another but it was all kinda moot," Hisashi laughed proudly. "We were both already feeling something between us then, it'd be apt to say, I knew and Inko acted. I was surprised this 'flower' of ours was so willing and mature about a relationship… and I turned her down," Obito frowned as his father sighed. "I'd become the man I wanted her to trust in but I didn't trust myself. I knew that if I fell down, I'd regain that mindset again. I'd become cold, calculating, and, likely, the type of person who'd leave the friend group we'd made."
"..."
"I know what it's like, I wasn't the same person I am, Obi, I was someone different but I didn't see it myself, not without her to help me. I think this is the same situation you're in but you haven't reached the stage of turning her-"
"I kinda… did," Obito admitted and Hisashi's mouth dropped. "W-Well, that is, the words hadn't been said outright, we… danced a lot around it until the very end… I don't want to hurt her, dad, I really don't, but I know it's not safe around me as a person."
"... O-Oh no, boy, you're not still thinking about that girl from before middle school, are you?" Hisashi asked with concern as Obito's eyes widened, looking confused. "The one from that little cooking competition?"
"Girl… before middle school? I…?!" Then Obito remembered who he meant.
That event.
"This is fine, I'm fine, you're fine. We'll be fine together and we can love like it was nothing, Obito-kun," a girl, age 15, said with a grin as Obito looked at the blood on her cheeks and hands with horror, a kitchen knife in her grip held aloft with more blood on it.
"What the hell are you talking about?! This isn't some game! I couldn't love someone like you!" He shouted back at the clearly deranged girl, who grinned wildly at him, holding her hands to her cheeks as her eyes shined even with the bodies of girls crying around them. "Why?!"
"Because I love you so much," she whispered as the ash around them picked up.
Obito grit his teeth as his Sharingan blazed.
"She's… I'd forgotten about her, dad."
"R-Really?" Hisashi looked relieved before he frowned. "You know… I never did check in on her recently, the news about the area she was moved to is relatively quiet but I know the institute she went to wasn't exactly bad. It was meant for children who needed more mental help with their quirks but I worry about her... I think it was... K-Konako? Konako Haizono, that's right!"
"... her ash quirk needed to be released is what we were told," Obito said as his father smiled sadly. "But I know differently, she wanted me… she was in love with me, dad."
"Yeah."
"... she's not important, though, not in this situation. I'd not thought about her in years, I'd moved on, this with Fuyumi is… maybe it is a bit of a mental holdover but I don't want her away from me despite how counterproductive that way of thinking is."
"Well… do you really want to be with her?"
"... I-I don't know if I'd go around saying that… but her being happy makes me happy."
"It sounds like you're just hesitant and worried about who you'd become," Hisashi explained as they leaned on their knees. "My son, when the time comes, love isn't forever. Unfortunately, it's also unpredictable, I don't know if you'll find out it really wasn't meant to be but I know for a fact that you should do this if you feel so strongly about her."
"... Why?" Obito asked with some difficulty. "If it's better, in the long run, why take the chance?"
"Because nothing gets done without chances being taken," Hisashi answered easily as Obito groaned. "Also, you're thinking is a bit too pessimistic, who says it'll be better in the long run?"
"..." Obito didn't answer, huffing a bit.
"Love is one of the most powerful things in the world, my boy, it's not so easy to say it's easier with or without it. I guess, what I'm saying is, you also deserve some happiness, you know that, right?"
"... Fuyumi, unfortunately," his father grinned as he rolled his eyes. "Said that, today."
"Sounds like she's already in the family!"
"Don't run with that."
~NRK~
The following morning, on his walk to school, Obito was left pensive before he blinked at some huddled people gasping in a coffee shop.
The sounds of a large number of cameras going off had Obito confused as he looked at them but kept walking.
'Odd, are they late fans?' He guessed the news from last week got out.
As he walked more, though, more of such things kept happening, leaving him growing irritated.
By the time he got to UA's familiar walls, Obito was huffing as he looked up to see the usually-there Fuyumi.
Their eyes met and his irritation fell away, the young man's eyes widening before he remembered the day before.
'... whatever happens, happens, right?' He told his thrumming body as he came up to her.
Fuyumi smiled at him, conflicted. 'So, we just do our best to keep our… interactions-?'
"I should take back what I said the night before," Obito said, interrupting her thoughts, shocking the Todoroki to no end.
Blue eyes widened. "W-Wait, O-Obito-kun?!" Fuyumi squealed even as her heart thundered in her chest. 'I-Is he saying…?' Her cheeks reddened.
"I'm not saying much, I'm saying… whatever will happen, I won't try and run from it," he admitted with some red on his face, hand rubbing the back of his head. "Fuyumi."
"... H-Hm, hm!" She smiled brightly, somehow brighter than she'd ever smiled before. "Alright, Obito-kun."
"?!" He was stunned as she bumped shoulders with him, chuckling a bit. "I-I see… dammit, Fuyumi, you're going to make me work for that?"
"Hehe~ Maybe."
He rolled his eyes before they walked to the empty UA gates, ignoring the reporters without too much-
"So, it's true?!" One of the news reporters asked the two as they blinked, confused. "Todoroki-san! Are you dating this young man?!"
The two choked on their breath. "WHAT?!"
"Yes, yes! Is Fuyumi Todoroki dating the biggest topic of the UA Sports Festival?!"
"!" Fuyumi burned while cameras flashed. "U-Uh-"
"Is this a new development?!"
"Was it behind the scenes?!"
Obito's eyebrows lowered and he considered the idea of hitting the nosy reporters with some bloodlust… before he blinked and allowed his face to fade into apathy.
Fuyumi struggled to find the time to deflect another question before Obito simply urged her forward.
"Come on, we both don't have time for this," he said simply as she blinked while the reporters got more rowdy. "It's none of their business," Obito said in the end as more pictures were taken. "It's not what you want at the moment, don't bother with it."
Fuyumi blinked before nodding with an embarrassed smile as Obito walked at her side.
'So, anything that happens… happens?' Fuyumi wondered how far that could even be stretched before it was downright romantic…
The noise behind them grew in volume as she held onto his elbow as they walked in, Obito huffing a bit but not denying her the comfort… and whatever else this little move was supposed to be pulling.
It wasn't in him to tell her 'NO'.
~NRK~
"Huh?!" Her red eyes widened as she saw the news feed, Hanatarou Mark III standing vigilant behind her couch in her new space. "W-Wait…" Her pale hands ran down the screen as her long wavy white hair flared up, her mouth settling into a love-drunk grin as she dragged her face over the screen. "It's him~ I've found him," she whispered in a husky tone, her voluptuous figure pressed against her laptop.
Then she saw what, in particular, the newest news was about… and her blood boiled as she gripped the screen with narrowed eyes.
"WHO IS THIS BITCH?!" She shouted as Hanatarou III beeped.
[Fuyumi Todoroki, recent UA Freshman.] The robot spoke as her eyes narrowed, barely stopping herself from destroying the bit of equipment she'd been gifted.
She leaned back into her couch, black sports bra, black sweatpants, and white socks all trembling with rage.
"I'm gonna kill her, that bastard, Wolfgram, won't care if I do, will he?"
[Fuyumi Todoroki is necessary to the plans of Arc Wolf Operation.]
She kissed her teeth with a grimace. "Then I get the young man, right? He doesn't care about him, right?"
[Affirmative. Do as you please.]
She grinned perverted. "I will~"
~NRK~
Keigo and Onemu snickered on the bus to USJ, the sight of a drained Fuyumi and an utterly annoyed Obito more amusing than usual.
"They didn't let up, huh?" The bird boy asked as Fuyumi blushed.
"E-Everyone kept asking in the hallways," Fuyumi burned as she whined. "It was embarrassing!"
"The less said about what I was asked by, and did to, people, the better," Obito said flatly as Bocho giggled a bit. "If you know a boy from 1-A, Kokyu, I'm going after him."
"Damn, no remorse," Onemu said as their bus stopped, the group getting out. "Alright! It's time for-"
"Come on, you two, we're burning daylight!" Rumi said, already walking past Obito and Onemu while dragging them behind her by the scruff of their costumes. "I've got an idea for you, girlie, Kido told me yer strengths, we're gonna do some application sparring!"
"... sounds great!" Onemu cheered as Obito sweatdropped, Fuyumi chuckling nervously as she looked at Moe before nodding to her. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Damn right it is!"
"They're the same person," Kido said with a flat look as Nemuri chuckled, coming up to them with Yu, Kaoruko, and Umi. "Alright, who's coming over here to take a shot at me?"
"I'll keep taking shots at it," Keigo said as Moe grinned.
"You comin', Yu?" She asked the giantess who grinned nervously but nodded all the same.
"I-I hope?" She said unsurely.
"Alright then I'll take Bochi, too," Moe said.
"B-Bocho," Bocho corrected as the flaming one blinked.
"Wait, shit, seriously?"
"Yes a-and I want to train with Snipe-sensei," she said as the Gun-Toting Hero came forward while perking up.
"Ya sure?" He asked.
"Yes, sir!"
"Hmm," Yoha considered something. "Nemuri-sensei, I'd actually like to gain some more dodging knowledge from you."
"Of course!" Nemuri grinned. "Honestly… Kaoruko-chan!"
"Coming!" Bubble Girl grinned while patting Keigo's back as she passed him, Umi coming over to Kido's 'team' with a grin. "Teach me your ways, sensei!"
"Ah, I'm touched! Come, my young ducklings!"
Fuyumi chuckled at it all before nodding.
Time for some training.
~NRK~
Obito went through different kata, his legs glowing with those starburst points and flowing lines, Flame Burst active.
Each kick was accompanied by a burst of wind that caved in the water of the shore zone.
He kept going with vigor. 'She's gotten bolder today,' Obito considered as he trained, Onemu and Rumi's fight going on behind him.
More small touches, hugs around the arms, she was closer in proximity, too. Fuyumi had done damn near everything she could to skirt that 'line' he'd made and seemed perfectly willing to keep pushing it.
'One day and I'm worried she'll kiss me out of nowhere,' he sighed in embarrassment as he sent out three more powerful kicks, the waters caving in the wake of his newly gained power. 'I'm giving it too much thought.'
For now? Empty his mind and keep kicking. Keep getting stronger.
He had a brother's future to protect and insure.
He needed more power.
The waves caved once more.
~NRK~
Yu grinned after grabbing the large crude ice paddle made for her giantess size and swung.
Moe squealed a bit as she dodged around like a fly before laughing nasally like some kinda cartoon villain.
"Nyeheheh!"
"Come back here, fly villain!" Yu gave chase.
Fuyumi looked on with a soft smile, heart alight with fire, pun intended, in her chest.
'This is my chance to gain a different kind of happiness,' she blushed as looked at Yu's shifting size as she sliced up, about, and around. "..." Fuyumi looked down at her hands.
She didn't want to just have Obito's l-love, she wanted him to have her own, she wanted them to keep going together and… i-if it came down to it? To really make a connection between their families and maybe a life together…?!
"W-Whoa?! Whoa, calm down!" She told herself before she allowed her ice pillar to shoot high into the sky, jumping off it with a red face as the ice below her sucked into bars around her legs. "S-Stop thinking so far ahead!" Fuyumi squealed to herself as she jutted out her legs and an ice spire formed that allowed her to jump off and do it again. "... wait?" She landed on a roof and looked down at her legs.
W-When had she… Did she just make that up?!
While she was acting like the lovestruck schoolgirl she was?!
"Mmmm!" She whined at herself, slumping with a blush. "I do have it bad."
Still… as she looked down at her ice-covered legs… Fuyumi got ideas.
Well, love was good for the heart and brain!
~NRK~
Obito blinked at her as she told him her newest idea, the two of them sitting in the mall with their Freshmen friends, even Keigo had come, the whole group in their school uniforms without their blazers.
"Huh, didn't you say that you had that idea already?" He asked and she nodded but grinned. 'Dammit,' was it this hard not to fall in love with her? REALLY?
"I did but I never did it like this before," Fuyumi said as she drank some of her smoothie. "It was so seamless and I never did it without too much thought before. Then, I got the idea of a fighting style, maybe," she said as Umi perked up.
"Really?" She said, surprised. "What's the idea?" Umi asked as she ate a bit of a chocolate bar with a look of peace on her face.
"W-Well, if I can condense it into, say, small ankle bracelets, I could bring out small bursts of ices at rapid moments."
"So, it'd be your Mirror Ice Redux, in a way?" Yu suggested. "Hmm, it'd certainly be scary," she said as she ate some pasta without remorse.
"Basically," Fuyumi said as Obito nodded while Keigo leaned back in his seat, a chicken tender in his hands. "What I'm working with is how to apply it. I-I need more strength training to even handle Mirror Ice as is."
"Ankle weights," the boys said in unison without so much as a look thrown one another's ways. "Wrists, ankles, stomach, thighs, copy Kaoruko-kun/chan," Obito and Keigo didn't even look surprised, they just rolled with it.
The 'example' snickered at them while Yoha smiled.
"Well, if you want, I can let you borrow a set," Kaoruko said with a bit of red on her face but a grin overtaking it, a set of onion rings sitting half-empty in front of her. "They're only thirty-pounders, though. You can buy heavier ones at sporting stores or order some from your agency."
"Hmm, I-I'll try yours first, do you have some for my wrists and stomach?" Fuyumi asked as Kaoruko slipped out her phone with minimal movement. "Oh, you've been taking sleight-of-hand lessons from Keigo-kun, right?"
Keigo shrugged. "She wanted to be able to pull up weapons and stuff faster, I figured 'why not?'."
"I'm working on a Support Item," the girl said with a nod. "Right now… I need more," she explained. "The thing is, I already have ideas I ran by Keigo-kun, Nemuri-senpai, and Nighteye-san. I can make odd-smelling bubbles but when me and Keigo-kun fought, he literally caused a chemical reaction with heat. My bubbles aren't made up of whatever I'm making him smell so it makes no sense unless they do have a bit of those smells in them."
"Wait, hold on, so you're like a smell-chemical factory?" Onemu asked with a turkey wrap in her hands, Bocho chomping away at a ham sandwich beside her. "If that's the case, why not, like, make bubble bombs and stuff?"
"I-It's an idea!" Kaoruko said as Obito cupped his chin.
"Or… perhaps, I don't know if this is stretching your quirk's usage or not," he said slowly as she nodded. "Could you not 'smell' CO2?"
"Smell carbon dioxide?" Fuyumi tilted her head. 'I guess he's thinking about last week,' still, it was an interesting idea.
"Right now, you've got your other abilities to a good level but you need stopping power," Obito said as she nodded while Yoha hummed.
"But would it have a smell? Like, we breathe out and have smelly breath all the time, that doesn't mean it'll take, right?" She asked. "Besides, what about that? Do her senses just take whatever's the 'main' smell? Or will it take the base? This is a new discovery, right?"
"Yea, Yoha-senpai's right," Kaoruko leaned back as Obito nodded. "Sorry, Obito-senpai."
"It's for future consideration, don't worry."
"Hmm, we kinda got off track," Bocho said around her food. "Hmmm."
"Hehe, enjoy your food," Fuyumi said as she drank some more. "Honestly, I want to relax right now."
"Then let's go and see a movie," Yu said as she pointed to something behind them.
Turning around, the groups saw the small billboard with 'Centurassic World' on the front.
"Anyone up for dinos?"
~NRK~
Obito raised a brow at the ten-minute mark. "Are these kids dumb?" He asked Fuyumi as she sweatdropped.
"W-Well, I know that movies sometimes… are they stupid?" She tried to rationalize it before they watched the next set of stupidity brought about by the pair of brothers in a giant ball car driving away from the other tourists into the wilderness?! "A-Are they insane? G-Go back to the group!" She squeaked in horror, the idea of the possibility of Shouto and Natsuo doing that making her feel faint.
Onemu snickered as Bocho trembled in her seat. "Come on! It's hilarious, they're gonna get the wake-up call of the century!" She kept laughing as Umi sweatdropped.
"These types of movies never did it for me," she said as Yoha tilted her head next to Yu, the group thankful that the theater was rather empty around them specifically.
"Oh yeah?" She asked.
"Yea, the idea of being on the sea is WAY worse."
"This is crazy as is!" Yu said as she paled in her seat at the sounds coming from the screen while Keigo snickered next to her and Kaoruko.
"It was your idea, remember?" He smirked as the Bubble quirk user next to him tilted her head.
"Huh, they're stuck in the mud," she said as he turned back around to see that, yes, that was indeed happening.
The group felt the tension rise as the boys began to sink into deep-as-hell mud.
Then they were saved, the group sighing in relief at that as the two were wrenched up.
THEN the theater damn near erupted into elements, hisses, bubbles, feathers, laughter, and squeaks as their group jumped at a surprise dinosaur attack.
Obito's eyebrow twitched as he huffed out some flames, melting the ice on his right side while Fuyumi burned like a candle.
"I'm sorry," she squeaked as he rolled his eyes.
Then he felt their hands, finding hers intertwined with his and his eyes went from their grip to the still blushing but grinning Fuyumi.
"Not sorry."
~NRK~
Obito brought Fuyumi home, like always, walking up to her door as the sun already dipped past even the short buildings on the horizon.
"Alright," he nodded to the white-haired teen as they reached her door. "I'll see you in the morning like always."
Fuyumi grinned. "Like always."
He blushed a bit, rubbing the back of his head. "Right," he turned.
And another kiss to his cheek in the past month left him gawking at the grinning Fuyumi going inside of her home. Obito sputtered in shock.
"E-Excuse me-?!"
"B-Bye!" She closed the door on him, leaving him forever on the back foot.
'Love's going to be the death of me one day,' he knew that much, for sure.
'Love', he'd said the word… oh no, he'd thought the word!
Obito blushed as he hurried out of the Todorokis' front yard, jumping over the fence and rushing down the street.
"Damn my life!" He shouted as he left, leaving the window-peeking-out Enji confused.
"I don't understand the youth of today," was all the No.2 Hero said with a shake of the head.
Meanwhile, standing back to her door, Fuyumi blushed but grinned victoriously even as her mother peeked into the hallway.
"Hi, hon…" Rei took a mere moment to understand. "I see…"
Fuyumi burned some more but smiled all the same.
Now, Rei was outright ecstatic.
"Come on, help me with dinner and tell me everything."
~NRK~
Obito had made it home with time to spare, thankful about the fact that the buses were running fast right now.
So, when he made it through his front door, he looked across the street and noted the lack of Masaru's car.
'Alright, so there's a high chance Mitsuki-obaa-' He began to think, opening his home's door-
"There he is!"
Fuck.
"Good evening, Mitsuki-oba-chan," Obito said to the grinning visage of the familiar blonde woman. "Where are Katsuki and Izuku?"
"In Izu's room, doing homework, Summer's coming up, you know?"
That's right, it was about to be April, they'd be finishing their first semester soon.
Where had the time gone?
As he entered the home, putting his bag down by the door, his eyebrow twitched at Mitsuki's smug grin.
"So, how was the date?"
He choked as Inko gasped in the kitchen.
"D-Date?! Mitsu-chan?! You were supposed to tell me what he sent over the phone!" The woman skidded out of the kitchen before scrambling up to her eyebrow-twitching son. "B-Baby?! What happened?! Tell me everything!"
Dammit.
~NRK~
The week of Senior-Junior-Freshman joint training went by pretty fast, leaving the group with more things to learn and test out.
Following that, though, was another month full of off-and-on internship weeks that they made the most of.
During that time, Obito had more than just a few 'occasions' with Fuyumi and her unrelenting affection, the fact that he'd reciprocated in small ways never seemed to keep a smile off her face and it warmed his heart more than he was sure he understood.
Yet, they also trained and had things to focus on, likely, things would come to a head after the end of their semester.
After their First Semester Exams.
~NRK~
Obito walked to school that day without his book bag, the item unnecessary.
'It's time,' he thought as he reached those familiar walls where a similarly familiar, much more to his sensibilities, young woman awaited him. 'And there she is,' Obito thought warmly without meaning to.
Fuyumi smiled at him as she saw him and the slight changes in her had seemingly never been more apparent until then.
Her hair's red tips, formerly just a random number, now seemed to sit a bit more uniformly down the back of her upper-back-length white hair.
Glasses were now an afterthought as new contact lenses took their place. Finally, heterochromatic blue and gray eyes shined when they saw him, their owner grinning in excitement.
"Obito."
"Fuyumi."
He rubbed the back of his head as she giggled a bit.
"Good morning," they said in unison before he huffed and offered the way ahead.
She took it like always, the two of them walking towards the now less crowded gates of UA.
"I'm glad they seemed to have calmed down," she said as he nodded, their walk unimpeded as they walked inside, the shuttering of a camera getting a blink out of them as they turned around.
"Gotcha!" Umi grinned from behind an actual camera, the two blinking in surprise before Obito nodded to her while Fuyumi smiled. "I'm prepared for whatever comes at the end of the day, ya know? Pictures and all!"
"We hope so," Obito said as she joined them before they continued walking in.
"So, Yoha-senpai wasn't forthcoming about it but do you guys know what'll be on our exams?" Umi asked as they both hummed.
"Dad said it'd be a surprise," Fuyumi said as they made it inside of UA proper.
"Welcome, meat!" Onemu declared in front of them, Bocho at her side with dual-fistpumps. "It's time for some carnage!"
"W-We're gonna win!" The Noh Girl declared as they grouped up, walking to their classes. "Still, I haven't seen the others yet."
"I'm sure we'll find them," Obito said as they kept going, making their way past a familiar pair of teachers. "Majestic-sensei? Snipe-sensei?"
"Hmm? Well, howdy, half-empty stars," Snipe greeted as Majestic chuckled beside him.
"Are you all ready for the day?" He asked.
"Mostly," Fuyumi said. "We're not sure if the practicals will be something we planned for."
"Hmph, well, you'll know. Just saying, it's gonna be… unorthodox and not," Snipe said vaguely before waving as he left. "Good luck with that."
"That wasn't ominous or anything," Umi said as Bocho nodded. "Still, it's bound to be possible, it's a test, that's the whole point of them."
"That's right!" Bocho agreed. "When you think of it like that, anything is possible!"
Majestic grinned. 'You guys don't want to hear about it,' this would be a whole new kind of test they'd never done before. 'Nezu, I hope you're prepared,' this would be an experimental phase.
If it worked out? Then they'd be more flexible.
Leaving the Magic Hero to his devices, the group hurried down a hall towards their classes and they blinked as Keigo, Nagant, Yu, Kaoruko, and Yoha stood by their room door, the bird boy waving at them.
"Welcome," their stealth teacher said to them with a smile as she stood there in her hero costume, surprisingly. "I hope you all are prepared for the upcoming tests," Nagant grinned.
"... you didn't have a hand in it, did you?" Obito asked with a raised brow as Keigo snorted.
"I'm betting on it, her and other teachers but it doesn't seem like they're the ones who're fighting us," he said as he came forward and knocked forearms with Obito. "So, on the upside, we're not out of our depths. I'm assuming it's some kinda special hero robot or something."
Nagant grinned nervously, Fuyumi sweatdropping as her stealth teacher scratched her cheek while looking away.
"Nope, it's not that nice," she said as he raised a brow.
"I'm sensing big things in our future," Yu said with faux focus. "Call it a woman's intuition."
"Uh-huh. So, we've still got ten mins," Yoha said. "Us, juniors, are doing our own exams in twenty minutes before you ask," she added as Bocho nodded. "So, you guys fully ready?"
"Yep!" Onemu tapped her fists against one another with a grin. "I'm gonna own this course!"
"I-I'm gonna do my best!" Bocho said. "Though, t-the written test is going to be… different," she blushed as the bull girl choked.
Keigo snorted. "Come on now, it's a literal test, you've studied!"
"That won't mean anything if they throw curveballs at us!" Yu declared as familiar chuckling reached the group. "N-Nemuri-sensei!"
"Welcome, kiddies," Midnight said as she came up to them with Vlad and principal Nezu? "Guess what?" She grinned as they blinked.
"Is that a trick question?" Kaoruko asked curiously.
"You all wanted to have a hero team, right? Well, we made something interesting. The Freshmen classes will be doing their written tests tomorrow. Right now, you're gonna do your physical exams."
Yoha choked while Bocho blinked and Onemu grinned.
"And you'll be doing a specialized one that'll exploit one of your less demonstrated skills," Nezu said as he sat on Vlad's shoulder. "A RESCUE Exam!"
"Rescue…" Kaoruko considered it. "If that's the way it is, it's not gonna be easy… is that why Ectoplasm-sensei is here?" She asked with a sweatdrop as the man in question chuckled.
"... yes," he admitted.
"Gotcha."
"So, how is this going to be different?" Yu asked. "There's no way this is gonna be normal, we're too good," she said without hesitation, the gathered teachers laughing at her self-contained ego. "So, come on, hit us with it, I'm waiting."
"Well, it'd be interesting to have you all transport the 'quirkless' Obito-kun to the other end of Battleground Beta."
"Can we go back to being normal, please?"
"This is going to be interesting," Obito said as Keigo snickered while Fuyumi tilted her head.
"I'm guessing he won't be allowed to use his quirk?" She asked before their classroom door opened to allow a familiar grouchy-looking man to come in with a familiar loud one.
"Eraserhead?" Obito blinked as his 'Internship Pro' huffed. "I see, so this is the-"
"Nope," Hizashi grinned wickedly as the group blinked… before paling as someone entered the hall.
A big, hulking, 'Fuck no' sign of a man who crossed his arms with a huff.
Enji Todoroki, Number 2 Hero, Endeavor had arrived on the scene.
"You'll be running from me," he grinned as Fuyumi's face broke out into a harsh sweat. "Prepare well."
~NRK~
That's as good a place to end things on as anything else.
I was originally going to use a specialized robot that would introduce David Shield from America but I scrapped it and went with this.
For now, let's get onto the new humorous Omake I came up with.
~NRK~
~CANON Omake: That's a NICE Chest Part I~
"Hmm?" Fuyumi blushed a bit as she and the other girls of her inner circle sat down in the shore zone, Yu's words causing a reaction. "W-What do you mean?"
"Come on, look at him," Yu said as she gestured to Obito, the young man currently speaking in-depth with Keigo and Kido on workout regimens. "Like, remember what Keigo said about him during Sports Week?"
Kaoruko laughed. "A 90 cm chest size," she snorted as Umi blushed a bit. "He's literally bigger than a good amount of the girls in our class and he's not even that jacked."
They all tilted as Obito stretched a bit, arms high in the sky and allowing them all to really get a good look.
"Duh, imagine all the different kinds of breathing he does," Onemu said with a small huff, a bit of red on her face as she drank some flavored water. "... dammit, now I'm focusing on it. Yu, you bitch."
"Hey now, it's not like it wouldn't have come up," Yu snickered as they all looked again.
It seemed like the three had begun to do some dancing, Obito's flexibility on display while Keigo laughed at something Kido shook his head at.
"Eh," Rumi shrugged with a smirk. "You haven't seen it up close, that boy's built like a barrel when you're really looking."
"You're saying you did?" Moe asked with a snort.
"I'm saying it's hard to not notice when he doesn't have his cloak on."
"... Hmm," Yoha observed. "... I'm 90 cm," she whined softly as Bocho trembled in embarrassment. "We're bust buddies."
"... I wonder if you could motorboat a boy's chest," Yu considered as Umi burned along with Fuyumi. "I mean, damn, I'd like to suffocate in there."
"God, girls these days are thirstier than I remember," Moe huffed as she drank some water. "Like, geez, I don't think we started doing stuff like that until… this year," she considered without a hint of embarrassment.
"How are you going to rag on us?" Yu balked.
"Because we can appreciate the male chest more efficiently than you can."
"The heck's that mean?" Onemu raised a brow. "Girl, it's a nice chest, yeah, but I'm not out here trying to figure out fucking Van Gogh on it."
"But I bet most of ya had fantasies about those boys of yours already."
Indeed, most of the girls blushed and choked on their water, none more so than Fuyumi, Yu, and, surprisingly, Onemu.
"T-The hell's that supposed to mean?!" The bull wheezed in embarrassed horror as, in the distance, Keigo and Kido deposited their own extra tops onto the ground before the guys tried the dancing thing. "E-Excuse me?!"
"U-Um!" Yoha blushed. "T-That is, it's not like attraction is not normal?" She tried while Kaoruko snickered even through her embarrassment.
"I mean, duh, it's life," she said as Umi nodded even as she burned. "Then again… Be real, who's the 'power' in that situation."
"Obito," the group agreed without hesitation.
"HAH!" Kaoruko started cackling at that. "N-No remorse! That stuff's funny!"
"I mean… a-ahem," Yoha blushed some more. "When you consider his… disposition, I don't see Obito as a weak-in-the-moment g-guy."
"D-Duh!" Yu said. "Anything he does has 'power' in front of it."
The assembled 'blushers' burned some more.
"U-U-Um!" Bocho squeaked, red from her neck up to her forehead. "T-That is, um, well… yes?"
"Tsk… m-maybe," Onemu admitted as she drank some more. "Okay? Do you remember what he did to me in our first fight? You think that doesn't leave a girl with ideas about those legs of his?"
Yu, Yoha, Rumi even if she was grinning, and Fuyumi cleared their throats at the idea.
Fuyumi was left dazed at the idea. 'I have seen how he uses those legs of his,' she remembered before then remembering that Obito with exposed shoulders was delicious. "... bare shoulders are kinda delicious," she said without a thought.
"Yep," Kaoruko snickered.
"T-Then again, Keigo-kun's easily breakable confidence is kinda attractive," Umi admitted as Bubble spat out her water, face as red as possible while Onemu snickered.
"He looks like he'd lose all momentum if you turned it around on him," the bull laughed as the two blushed.
"I-It's not hard to see," Kaoruko whistled innocently as Moe let out a bark of laughter. "Oh please, as if Kido's something you haven't thought of," she pouted.
"Duh."
"Ack!?" No hesitation?! "Y-You're strong in ways I never knew."
"Heh, we're literally a bunch of teens around other hot teens, are you serious?" Moe snorted. "Though, as a friend, Kido does get close attention."
"Y-Yeah… I guess."
That had been an interesting conversation that'd never leave the group.
~NRK Out~