"Not quite as fast paced as your fight with Yang, I'd imagine."

"Well it's not really supposed to be Weiss. I am just trying to teach you the very basics of brawling and right now if I really went all in on this... well, you wouldn't learn much except for maybe how to take a punch."

"Thankfully it seems that I'm... mostly avoiding that this time."

Once again Izuku and Weiss had settled in for a quick spar between the two of them as the week drew to a close. Weiss in some more appropriate workout gear and Izuku in his fresher workout clothes himself, it was mostly a matter of the two of them dueling back and forth with each other, throwing out a punch here and there and then trying to dodge or block the other's moves. Straight up brawling was a pretty simple style and it seemed like Weiss was picking it up quite quickly, unsurprisingly, and her natural grace and dexterity made it pretty easy for her to be at least passable at it even with how little experience she'd had so far. Still, that hadn't meant she'd been quite able to land a solid hit on Izuku, nor did it keep her from getting struck by Izuku every now and then. It was certainly less than their first spar, to be sure, but the fact was that Weiss' strength didn't, necessarily, lay in a straight up fist fight; she wasn't quite physically strong for that. She was graceful, precise and athletic; her rapier was the perfect conduit for that and her Dust made her twelve different kinds of deadly.

Still, it was good to know for those 'just in case' moments. And hey, Izuku got to practice his footwork at the same time, so it wasn't as if he was slacking off either.

"Still, your bout with Yang was quite fearsome. I'll be glad to neither face you or her without Myrtenaster or my Dust should we spar in the future, thank you very much." Izuku smiled and nodded at her sentiment; it probably would be pretty bad if Weiss ever tried to meet either Izuku or Yang... but Yang 'especially' in a spar without her own weapons of choice. That probably wouldn't go so well for the Heiress, if his own reckoning was right.

"Thanks but... well, I had a leg up thanks to my Semblance." Weiss rolled her eyes as he stated that, as if he'd said just about the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well of course Izuku. If I tried to fight Yang with just my own natural grit and ability than even with my weapon in hand I'd have considerable trouble, perhaps even bordering on a sure defeat. However, my Semblance evens that playing field and does so greatly. It matters not whether or not it would sully a... 'duel' if you want to call it that. We're Hunters and Semblances are tools in our arsenal. To deny them because of what others might deem to be more 'honorable' grounds would be foolhardy... and you knock yourself down for leaning on yours when it is a part of you is equally foolish." Izuku nodded his head, having heard that quite a few times before.

"That being said I will have the spray bottle on hand next time you feel like breaking so many fingers at once. That won't do either."

Izuku'd also heard a fair amount of that too. He chuckled nervously as he nodded in agreement with Weiss who just smiled. "Now then, let's get to the rest of this spar. I'm here to learn after all, not just for idle chatter."

Izuku cocked Emerald Gust, and for an instant, remembered just how much easier it had been to reload the thing after the...trip the team had taken a few days earlier.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"M-Miss Schnee, please, you have to understand, this is rather... irregular for a lady such as yourself to be handling. A person of such importance in the Schnee Dust Company, surely you'd rather have a representative handle such base negotiations rather than lower yourself to them? After all, you must be so busy with your schooling over in Beacon Academy, and-"

"-And I'm perfectly capable of handling these negotiations myself... more so in fact because I'm probably more informed about the current swing of the Dust markets than a simple representative might be concerned."

Weiss' flair for stabbing right at the core of her verbal opponents without actually giving the game away or directly insulting them was, as ever, a sight to behold as Izuku, Pyrrha and Nora each sat off to the side and watched as Weiss verbally sparred with the shop owner of From Dust Till Dawn. At first when they all had gotten together to discuss just how to manage getting a slightly cheaper supply of Dust for the Team, the idea of going to one of the Schnee Company Associated shops that had already been robbed seemed absolutely ludicrous. After all, it seemed like if there was any store that wouldn't have excess Dust that could be easily bargained for by Weiss, then it would've been From Dust Till Dawn.

Yet here they were, watching as Weiss kept her chin lifted ever so slightly in order to keep a regal air about herself as she looked down at the man running the store.

"B-Be that as it may Miss Schnee, as informed as you might be of the Dust markets generally your knowledge of which shops have been robbed locally must be... er, I mean, you must not have been properly informed!" The shop owner quickly changed his tone as Weiss' icy blue eyes immediately narrowed, the man just chuckling nervously as he held up his hands defensively. "From Dust Till Dawn was robbed not even five weeks ago as part of this sudden crime spree that's been happenin' all across Vale. You see, we just-"

"Will have received a rather nice lump sum of money from the Schnee Dust Company as part of the insurance agreement between the SDC and your store's branch as part of partnering up with the SDC." The old man blanched a little as Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "As part of the exclusive dealing rights you've taken with the SDC, considering recent trouble with the White Fang, the insurance policy was put into place such that if you encounter and crime or terrorist activities that might be linked to the SDC and its reputation that your store would receive a large lump sum to make up for not only the damages but also the lost Dust..."

"R-Right Madame, but as you know, the reports haven't... officially..." The look in Weiss' eyes immediately got the shop owner to close his mouth as he scratched the back of his head. "Aye, I suppose it'd only make sense that the Heiress would know how the company's coming down on this before the actual official investigation."

"Of course it'd be natural. Most stores in Vale are looking at a connection to the SDC as a potential weight around their ankles with this targeted crime spree. If my father's company wasn't willing to move in quickly to reassure you that we're as good as our word, well, we'd lose a lot of business in Vale. Now, thanks to that insurance's reimbursement you have the stores and money to drop your prices... you're just not doing so because you want to use the front of the 'official' investigation to keep the broader public from realizing that lower prices are coming... ESPECIALLY with the Vale Rail getting ready to directly connect to Patch, allowing for transport of local Dust sources form the island directly into Vale's markets rather than needing to be transported across the sea and overland. You're using the recent crime spree as a smokescreen to keep your Dust prices up"

"C-Come on miss, you gotta appreciate a good sense for business, right?" And at that Izuku finally saw that Weiss allowed for a small smile to cross her lips... though if it was meant to put the man at ease, it 'didn't'. In fact, it was positively predatory.

"Oh I do. It's quite smart, in a decidedly... illegal way, yes?" The man's face paled as Weiss tapped her chin. "Playing against what the public officially knows while using what inside information you have thanks to your direct connection to the SDC... I do believe that there 'might' be a law somewhere being violated."

"... You wouldn't?" The way it was phrased was far more of a question than a bold statement as Weiss once again placed her hands on her hips. "... Right... I give your team a discount on their Dust, you don't tell anyone that prices at my shops should be dropping rather than going up. Deal?"

"You're a cold businessman sir... but deal." With that the pair shakes hands, the man immediately heading into the back of his shop, muttering something about 'damn kids' while Weiss walked back up to the rest of the team.

"Wow Weiss, that was amazing! It was like you said you were going to break his legs without 'even telling him you were going to break his legs'." Weiss sighed slightly as she shook her head.

"It's not something to be overly impressed with Nora. The man's a scoundrel and I was only able to secure this deal for our team thanks to my own connections and insider information. In all honesty, the man should have his shop taken and his license revoked." Izuku and Pyrrha nodded in agreement as Pyrrha crossed her arms.

"Then why aren't we telling someone?" With that, Weiss snorted as she shook her head.

"Trust me, the Vale Police will sooner have Adam Taurus wrapped up in chains than they'd get this man's license with the SDC's lawyers at his back. Whatever else you can say about my father, he has a sense for keeping his client's loyal by making sure he 'takes care' of them. They wouldn't stay with him through all this nonsense with the White Fang if he didn't ensure that they had Remnant's most influential company at their back... if we're being honest, most of that there was more me threatening to go over his own head... a bluff, more or less." Weiss whispered that last part as they all exited the shop, each nodding in understanding as they started to walk back to Beacon. Izuku couldn't help but frown and Weiss, taking this in, offered him a sympathetic look. "Look at it this way; at least this way we'll be able to do some good with the Dust we'll be able to acquire."

"Yeah... still, it doesn't seem right that this kind of stuff can still go on..." Weiss nodded in agreement but shrugged.

"There's some things even Toshinori Yagi isn't able to change here and now Izuku. We just have to do our best with what we've got." Izuku supposed that was true enough... still, that didn't mean that they all couldn't make these changes in the future. When they'd be able to.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Izuku's smile widened, "Okay, Let's GO!"

And the two teammates threw themselves forward, ready to keep improving.

Mmmm... a walk. That was something Izuku needed. After spending so much of the week breaking bones and pushing his limits and, after having gone through with exercising your Aura with Pyrrha earlier that day, he really felt like you needed some time to stretch his legs and to just get some sun on his face. Beacon was a beautiful campus, after all, a fact he'd noticed after having walked around with Toshinori earlier that week. It wouldn't hurt to take some time to just go out and enjoy the weather before late Fall and Winter really started to seep in and bring a cold chill to the air. No, there was still enough of that early autumn warmth left in the air that he could feel it all seep into his muscles, the chilly breeze here and there more a comfort than a teeth chattering, ice cold blast to his face. As he walked around campus and eventually came upon the statue of Toshinori and Enji that he had passed by on his first day here at Beacon, he had to admit to some small amount of surprise when he saw Shoto, of all people, here.

It wasn't just that Shoto was there though; it was that Team RSBR 'wasn't' anywhere to be seen. While it was hard to say with how silent the pair were, it had seemed to Izuku that Shoto and Ren had really hit it off quite well and, despite her definitively younger age, it really didn't seem like Shoto and Ruby were at odds at all either.

Bakugo... well, Izuku really couldn't expect anyone to get along amazingly well with Bakugo, though Shoto seemed utterly nonplussed by his old friend's/bully's attitude, which definitely spoke to his patience. It was rare for Izuku to see Shoto away from Team RSBR at all, having mostly taking the time to idly chat with him at lunch while they were all around.

'Hmmm... I've never really spoken to him by himself at this point, even after I introduced myself and gotten to know him a little bit during Initiation. Maybe now is a good time to fix that'

"Hey, Shoto!" The young man's attention is momentarily turned away from the statue of his father and Toshinori as his gaze turned to face Izuku, grey and turquoise eyes taking in his presence before his fellow student nodded his head.

"Ah, Izuku Midoriya. Hello." Izuku chuckled somewhat nervously as Shoto spoke to him, his tone and tenor as even as his expression as he just 'looked' at our hero. Something Izuku'd taken away from him was that the guy always had a bit of a tendency to come off as... intense, even when he wasn't trying to be. Not Bakugo intense either where his energy was just up to ten all the time. No, it was the more understated, cool intense, the kind that made Izuku wonder just what was going through his mind.

It was probably why he and Ren got along so well, if Izuku had to make his best guess... if they got along? Confusing.

"Yeah, that's me. Surprised to see you out and about without the others around." Izuku offered a little lamely as he walked up to the taller boy, the half and half young man just nodding in agreement as he watched Izuku approach.

"What brings you out here Izuku?" He asked calmly while Izuku just shrugged his shoulders.

"Just felt like I could use a walk for some fresh air and sunshine. It isn't going to stay this warm for long so I'd like to get in as much as I can before we end up having to huddle inside for warmth, you know?" It was a rather simple conversation started. 'How about that weather' was pretty much the most basic go to Izuku could think of.

"Not really. I'm not all that discomforted by the weather one way or another. The advantage of my Semblance is that it leaves me largely comfortable no matter what environment I may find myself in or what time of the year it might be."

"... Really?"

"Really."

'... That is actually really useful.' Izuku knew his mom would've loved to have a Semblance like that during the winter.

"That's actually really cool. Perks from having your father's-"

"Not from my father's Semblance." Izuku flinched slightly as... it's almost imperceptible, but there was a definitive 'change' in Shoto's tone as he spoke up, a slight narrowing of his eyes followed that statement and that gave Izuku and honest to goodness 'chill' running down his spine as he immediately nodded his head in understanding. Eventually Shoto sighed as he shook his head. "Apologies. But no, my ease at handing the cold and the heat comes from my mother's Semblance. I can keep myself cold in the Summer and... well, when you're as used to ice and the freezing cold as I am having managed her Semblance for so long... you get the picture." Shoto didn't seem to do the whole 'talking at length' thing too much. Again, another thing he had in common with Ren if Nora's stories were any indication.

"Right, yeah, I understand!" Izuku commented quickly as Shoto nodded, turning his gaze back to the statues.

"... But I also understand your reasoning behind your walk... broadly speaking. As well as my team gets on these days... for the most part, they can still be a bit exhausting to be around. Especially Bakugo and Ruby." Izuku could only imagine that, for someone like Shoto, that both would be a little exhausting. "As much as Ren and I are able to get along as partners as well, as he says it, he does enjoy spending time with Nora here and there... and I enjoy some time to myself to gather my thoughts." Izuku perked up at that, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh? What thoughts are you trying to gather, Shoto?" Izuku flinched again as Shoto's eyes turned to focus in on the shorter student. It took a moment for the blatant mental activity behind them to cease, before Shoto eventually turned to look at the statues.

"... Tell me Izuku. What is it that makes men like Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki so different?" Izuku had to admit, he was a little thrown by the way Shoto referred to his father so distantly, but before he could really think on it the half-and-half boy continued. "They both went the same Academy. They had the same teachers. They grew up in the same generation of Hunters... Hell, they had the same teammates and were part of the same team as each other. Both are powerful, so strong that they're recognized as the two greatest Hunters, not just of their generation but of all time. They'd have grown up together in that world that say Huntsman as merely those who quietly go from place to place, killing Grimm and little else.. and yet they couldn't be more different as men. Toshinori Yagi became a Symbol of Peace and Hope... and Enji Todoroki stuck to the old ways as stubbornly as any of the governing Councils…"

"Why do you think that is, Izuku? What can make men who have so much in common as far as their growth turn out to be so different..." The way that Shoto's eyes narrowed as his gaze moved from Toshinori's statue over to Enji's definitely did not go unnoticed by Izuku.

Izuku taped his chin as he looked up at the statues himself. There were a lot of answers that ran through his mind, of course. The first was that... well, some people were just born different. Look no further than he or Bakugo as an example. It was an unfortunate truth that not everyone was born equal and the moment he realized he was Broken, that was abundantly clear to him... but... that answer rang hollow. After all, his birth didn't end up defining the way his life went. If it did then he wouldn't have bothered to join a Combat School at all; he was born Broken and, if that's all there was to it, he would've languished in some job he didn't care for... who knows, maybe he'd be some kind of salary man.

That... was weird to think about for some reason. Best leave that possibility alone.

So if it wasn't birth or the circumstances he was brought up in that made a person, after all if it was the latter then, as Shoto thought, Toshinori and Enji should've ended up similar men, then what was it? What was it that made people like him different from his birth or Toshinori different from Enji.

...

"I suppose... it comes down to their choices, when you really think about it." Shoto turned his two colored eyes Izuku's way as he continued to tap his chin. "People aren't defined by their births, but the fact remains that no two people are alike. Even if they're raised side by side, people will naturally develop different perspectives or ideals and will end up seeing the world in different ways. It's their choices formed out of that fact that makes people different. Toshinori didn't just become the Symbol of Peace and Hope because he was born for it or because there were some kind of circumstances surrounding him that guided him that way... there were choices that he made, and that were made around him that he reacted to, that 'made' him the Symbol of Peace. That guided him to that place... and, in much the same way, that's true for Enji as well, I suppose. However much of the world Enji and Toshinori saw through similar perspectives... the way they viewed that world, the way their lenses effected what they thought, ended up guiding their choices based on their own wills."

Shoto just took a moment to look at him with that even expression of his as Izuku's words sunk in, causing him to cough into his fist as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

"Or at least, that's what I think anyway." Izuku saw Shoto nod as he looked back up to the statues.

"I see. So you think it's our choices that guide that make us different from one and other." It was more a statement than a question though Izuku nodded his ascent anyway. Before he could worry too much about whether Shoto agreed or disagreed with him the half-and-half teen just raised his hand and shook his head. "Relax, I happen to agree with you. I've had those sorts of thoughts for a while... that our choices can define what makes us different from one and other..." Izuku saw Shoto stare long and hard at Enji's statue for a moment before turning his head down to Izuku. "It's simply good to know that I'm not the only one who has that perspective. I was curious to know your stance was all, Izuku Midoriya."

"Ah, yeah, totally! Glad to hear it."

Izuku had hoped that Shoto might've followed up on that, that he might've helped to carry the conversation after Izuku's own awkwardness floundered it a bit... well, turned out his understanding of him as a mostly quiet person was still pretty much right, despite the question he offered Izuku. Instead of picking up with another topic or curiosity, Shoto simply went back to relaxing by the statues, his eyes somewhat distant as he seemed to delve back into his thoughts.

"Well... I mean, I can leave now if that's what you'd like?" A brief look of... surprise..Crossed Shoto's face as he turned to look at Izuku.

"I'm quite fine with you remaining if that's your own desire Izuku Midoriya. Your own company is not quite so... loud or abrasive as most of my Team." Izuku nodded as he chuckled nervously.

"Oh, okay! Well you know it's just, well, I thought that with you going back to the whole staring thing and all that you were kind of... not wanting me to stick around?"

"... What would give you that impression?"

...

'How do Ren and Shoto carry out conversations when they're both like this?' Not that Izuku was much better with his own lack of social grace, but still! So Shoto shrugged as he returns his gaze forward. Izuku suppose that was the only thing he was interested in asking Izuku at the moment...

"Hey Shoto... do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Shoto turned his gaze back over to Izuku, his expression even as his eyes lock in on Izuku.

"I don't see why not. I've asked you a question so it should only be fair that I return the favor. What are you interested in knowing?" Having been given the green light by Shoto to speak his mind he found that his curiosity or, as Toshinori might refer to it, Izuku abundantly nerdy side ended up taking over as he leaned forward.

Well I'm going to be honest, I'm actually really curious about your Semblance and your general fighting style Shoto." The scarred young man arched his brow as he put that out there, Izuku himself bringing a hand up to his lips. "I mean, I know your inherited Semblance is pretty strong from what you described but, on Initiation day, you really didn't go into too much detail about how much of it made up your entire style. So I was wondering if you only used your Semblance or if you had other weapons on hand that you were proficient with." Izuku watched as Shoto took it all in and, after a moment, the half-and-half young man nodded.

"I see. A fair question." Shoto looked out across the horizon before he continued. "Stories go that we're all made of Dust, right? Well to a certain degree my Semblance plays into that; I guess you could say I can transmute my Aura into effects similar to Ice Dust through concentration and sheer force of will. Almost like I'm pulling the stuff right out of my body. Still, you can imagine that it isn't efficient in the least... no, what makes my Semblance shine is when larger quantities of the stuff is introduced." With that, Shoto slipped his right hand into his pants pocket and, to Izuku's surprise, he pulled out a very, very, 'very' small chunk of crystalline Dust.

"Holy woah, that's... that's unprocessed crystal Dust." Shoto nodded his head as Izuku waited to see what he did with it. After a moment the small crystal began to glow with a certain amount of energy, presumably Shoto's Semblance, before it... disappeared. Shoto let out a small breath, a haze of frost and chilled water vapor following that breath, as Shoto tapped his foot on the ground. In an instant, a layer of sheet ice begins to creep forward so fast that Izuku barely had time to move out of the way.

"My Aura is very reactive to Dust, much like my mother's. I'm not sure how much you know about Dust but most people use its ground down form for charges in ammunition or, in the Schnee's case, for their own Semblance. They need it because, in its crystal form, Dust can be too stable for Aura to interact with... it still makes for the best explosive material available, far more so than ground down Dust put into grenades, but the average person's Aura can't manipulate it while it's crystallized." Izuku watched as Shoto raised his hand, a shimmer coming across his right eye as he looked out at the sheet ice.

"I have no such problems."

With a motion of his hand a spike of ice formed from out of the ground, causing Izuku to yelp in surprise at its sudden appearance. "Because of that fact, I can generally get a much stronger kick than what most people are capable of getting by directly interacting with it. More... bang for my buck, I think the saying goes. So yes, the primary focus of my fighting style is my Semblance, simply because it offers me to widest range of options for offense, defense and support." Shoto released another breath and, before long, the ice began to melt in the early Autumn heat.

"That's not to say that I've only put work into that aspect of my fighting. I'm no fool; if my Aura draws too low or I run out of Dust, I'd be in trouble if I only relied on that... I had some... martial arts lessons when I was young that I kept up with. I'm fairly good at it though I suspect Yang Xiao Long would be able to quite easily beat me in a straight fist fight. In addition, I do keep a pistol on my person. I'm no marksman but if a fight ever does break out that lasts too long for either my Aura or my Dust to last throughout, it's there as an option." Izuku nodded in understanding, his eyes slightly wide.

"That all sounds really cool Shoto! Is there any kind of drawback to all this?" Izuku saw Shoto pause for a moment as he thought.

"... My Aura is highly specialized compared to other peoples when it comes to Dust. I can only really manipulate two kinds... no matter how good I'll get, my Aura won't seem to be able to tap into other kinds of Dust." Izuku watched as Shoto brought his left hand over to his right arm, rubbing it slightly. "Other than that... no, no weaknesses..." Izuku was slightly confused by Shoto's posture. Ordinarily he'd take such a gesture as being a sheepish or shy one but... looking at Shoto's expression and the way he'd moved, it was more like he was trying to warm up his right arm.

Weird.

As Izuku kind of took a moment to marvel at the melting ice that Shoto made appear from, pretty much, nowhere Izuku took his time to consider another question. After a moment he smiled a bit as he turned toward the ice wielding young man.

"So, Shoto. I've talked about it with some of the others and... well, I think I've said enough about my reasons. What about you; why do you want to be a Hunter?" Izuku watched as Shoto paused for a moment before he turned to our hero...

'Holy woah, that's one heck of a chill going up my spine.'

Izuku could practically feel the shiver running through his bones as Shoto Todoroki looked him dead in the eyes, his gaze slightly narrow as he sighed.

"Do you have a different question?"

While not a direct shot at Izuku's question... it was pretty clear that this wasn't exactly something he'd like to talk about. Izuku swallowed a small lump in his throat as he considered his options.

Izuku immediately raised his hands in a defensive manner, a deeply nervous and sheepish expression on his face as he immediately began rattling off an apology to Shoto. "O-Oh! I'm sorry Shoto, I didn't realize I was crossing any personal lines or something like that! I didn't mean anything by it!" Izuku's response was genuine enough, he did technically mean to ask him about his reasons for being a Hunter, but he didn't mean to force this kind of response out of him. After a moment of continuing to look at Izuku with that same hard state Shoto Todoroki just sighed at the shorter boy as he glanced back off to the statues the two of them had taken up your conversation in front of.

"... It's fine. You couldn't have known and it was an innocent enough question on its own..." Shoto responded somewhat quietly before waving Izuku on to continue. Feeling immensely better as it seemed, for now, that he'd managed to avoid drawing Shoto's ire he instead decide to went for a different question.

"Well... how's life with your team been? Having fun here at Beacon?" Shoto was quiet as he took some time to think Izuku's question over but, eventually, the half-and-half young man just nodded.

"It's been... better than I expected, to be honest." Shoto crossed his arms slightly as he spoke. "I had been expecting that my father's fame would have preceded him when I attended Beacon and that I'd, therefore, be stuck with a team that'd seek to take advantage of that fame or otherwise use it. In that regard... I've actually been quite fortunate to have been placed with a team that really couldn't care less about him." Izuku saw there's a faint ghost of a smile that quirked at the corners of Shoto's lips, a deeply self-satisfied smile, but then it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Out of all of them, only Ruby Rose really seems to register him as something 'cool' or 'amazing'... but even then she places him even lower on her list of the most amazing Hunters than most people. It's not something he'd particularly take kindly." Izuku nodded, remembering that Ruby had even referred to Toshinori at one point as the 'second' greatest Hunter ever.

"As far as her being a leader goes, she's been very active in trying us all to get along and try new things... it's been... fun. I haven't done much stuff like... hanging out before coming to Beacon. She's also been improving by leaps and bounds as it concerns getting us organized and trying to get us to work more fluidly as a team. I had my own misgivings at first but now I can say I'm rather glad I decided to wait to see how things would pan out; Ruby's been doing quite well."

"Bakugo... hmmm..." Shoto furrowed his brow. "It's difficult to say with him. To the degree that I do understand him, I can say that he's a strong Huntsman that doesn't care one way or the other who my father is, so long as I myself am strong."

"Yeah, he can be like that..." Izuku said, almost apologetically, as Shoto shook his head.

"I wasn't necessarily referring to such a fact as a bad thing." Izuku blinked somewhat before Shoto continued. "On the other hand... if there's one bad thing I had to say about both Ruby and Bakugo, it's that they're both entirely too loud too often for my tastes." Shoto gave a small sigh. "Ruby's constantly full of energy and doesn't seem like she's much for being quiet once she's comfortable around people and... well, you probably know Bakugo even better than I do." Izuku nodded sympathetically as Shoto looked at their surroundings. "It's why I'm out here right now; to get some peace and quiet away from those two. I suspect Ren goes off and meditates on his own for much the same reason... though I don't understand how he can manage to do so when your teammate, Nora, ends up coming around."

"As far as Ren goes... it has been quite satisfactory to have met him and I'm glad that he became my partner."

...

"That's it?"

"That's it."

...

'Why do I get the feeling that if Ren was here he would've taken that as far more significant than I can? Those two, I swear…'

"What about you?" Izuku blinked slightly as he turned to face Shoto, not having quite absorbed what he had asked. "If it isn't a personal question, what about your team? I mean, I'm just kind of wondering how it's turned out considering that Weiss was on it along with Pyrrha. Plus... I figure turnabout is fair play, or however that phrase is supposed to go." What?...

Oh, right! The first day when Weiss was talking to Tenya, Pyrrha and Shoto about joining some kind of super team together... huh, maybe it was for the best that Weiss and Shoto didn't end up on the same team, now that Izuku thought about it...

It barely took any thought at all as he considered Shoto's point. Really, he couldn't have felt more lucky to be on the team he was. They all had varied personalities, sure, and Nora and Weiss especially could be overwhelming, in their own ways, at times. However, that didn't change the fact that Izuku felt so glad to have them all be members of his team, to be his friends.

"Honestly? I don't think I could ask for a better team." Izuku put his hands in his pockets as he took a seat on the fountain portion of the statues, Shoto watching him with keen interest as he went on. "Pyrrha has been nothing but supportive for me as a partner. She can be worried about hurting people's feelings and that causes her to apologize a lot, but to me it just shows she has a great big heart and she's always striving to improve. She's strong, smart, and I don't think I'd be as far along as I am in my training without her taking time to help. Besides, I'm probably not the person to be talking about excessively apologizing to people or worrying about their feelings..." Izuku admitted rather sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head and, though Shoto nodded, it wasn't in an accusatory manner.

"Weiss...I don't think she liked the fact I was in charge at first. Maybe it's because I was kind of an unknown to her, but I like to think our relationship has thawed out since then. In a way it was kind of like with you and Ruby; she just ended up giving me a chance and... well, I've been doing my best to prove that I'm worthy of that chance. I think it's been working out." Izuku said with a smile as he leaned forward. "She's really insightful to and really proper with people... to the point where I don't think she's really used to being casual around people. It doesn't stop her from caring and trying to help when she thinks she can. She cares about people but, well, she just has her own way of showing it.

"And Nora? Hmm... she's like lightning. Big, flashy, and full of energy. She's got a problem with personal space, and pancakes, and really likes physical violence... though I can't imagine her any other way, it'd be really weird at this point if she just suddenly mellowed out. She's loud, but she's also really insightful when she wants to be. It really is just one surprise after another when it comes to her, I know."

"It seems rather odd that she gets along so well with Ren... though if what you say is true, perhaps there's something more to it that I've failed to notice." Shoto remarked calmly, the young man looking up.

"Well... you probably haven't seen as much of her as Ren or I have. Trust me, she's a lot different when you're exposed to more than just a few minutes of her at a time." The half and half young man just nodded at that.

"I suppose that's reasonable enough." With that Shoto sighed as he kicked off against the fountain, standing up on his own two feet. "Well thank you Izuku Midoriya. This was... pleasant. I wouldn't be against speaking with you like this again in the future." Izuku chuckled a bit nervously at Shoto's phrasing. It honestly didn't sound like he was that impressed... but Izuku got the feeling that he was actually being pretty sincere.

"O-Oh, well, no problem Shoto, I enjoyed this too! I'll... talk to you later then?" Shoto just nodded as he places his hands in his pockets.

"I think you shall. Have a good day Izuku... it's around time I returned to my own team." With that the young Todoroki walked off back towards Beacon Academy, leaving Izuku to his own devices as he smiled gently and looked back out to his surroundings.