The second half of the week had been predictably boring.
She'd handed Aizawa her first, second, third, fourth and so on choices for internship.
Bakugo was refusing to talk to her.
All Might had absolutely nothing on Couturier, not that she expected anything from the guy.
And she'd managed to get about fifty pages into the pervert's book, which wasn't half-bad, only a little dry and the humor hit-or-miss.
Now it was Saturday.
A very rainy, cold and dreary Saturday afternoon.
All in all, she was really looking forward to spending Sunday doing the one thing she couldn't at UA – sleeping.
"Alright, I give up, who'd you pick?"
"Well, there were a couple of heroes, but after thinking about it, I went with the pro hero Selkie as my first choice," wrapped in waterproof jacket underneath an umbrella embroidered with frogs and toads, Tsuyu tipped a finger against her chin, "Since he works with the coast guard, I'm bound to get a lot of first-hand experience with aquatic missions. Plus, it would be nice meeting someone with a similar Quirk to my own. What about you, Ryu?"
"As if you even need to ask."
Water trickled down the contours of her umbrella, dripping onto her sleeves as she stepped over a particularly nasty puddle in the middle of the sidewalk, "That rabbit hero in Tokyo."
"I've heard of her," an inch of slimy tongue poked between Tsuyu's lips, "But doesn't she work alone?"
"Yup," Ryuko agreed as thunder smashed through the dreary clouds hanging over the city, "But she's strong as hell," that wasn't an understatement. Mirko was strong. A lot stronger than her, at least. It wasn't something she liked admitted. Or even remembering. But getting face-slammed into the ground without even realizing somebody had yanked her off that cocky bitch with the magical hammers, flipped her counterclockwise, pinched both of her arms against her back and used her ass as a footrest wasn't something she could just easily forget.
"Nice moves, kid, I'm almost impressed!"
"The way I figure," with that cocky voice stuck inside her head, Ryuko snorted, "If I have to do this, might as well work for someone who could teach me a thing or two."
To the average idiot, Tsu's vacant expression looked off.
But she knew her friend better than some asshole off the street.
"You know, Ryu, I'm surprised you're taking this so well," which meant whenever Tsuyu finally spoke her mind, it was usually direct and to the point, "I guess missing out on the sports festival helped put things in perspective. That, or you're looking for a free one-week vacation from class. Knowing you, it's probably both."
"Yeah, well," she ignored that not because it was wrong, but because it made a lot more sense than it should have. Instead, with a reasonably obnoxious grumble anyone other than Tsu wouldn't catch as trying to deflect the conversation elsewhere, Ryuko clicked her tongue against her teeth and loudly scoffed, "Gotta make the best of what you got, right?"
"MATOI! ASUI!"
They heard Ida's awkward running long before he'd sprinted into view.
"Oh, hey, Ida," turning around, which coincided with a blast of cold air to her face, Tsuyu blinked, "What's the hurry?"
"Geez, calm down," her free hand tucked into her jacket, Ryuko was mildly disappointed when Ida didn't slip and fall on a patch of water, "It's the weekend."
"Nonsense!" running in place, which just so happened to be in a puddle, Ida chopped the air with his hand, "As class representative, it's my duty to ensure everybody gets home safe and sound!"
"Safe and sound, huh?" she blew a strand of wet hair off her nose, "You also planning on walking me home? Or maybe you want to tuck me into bed while you're at it?"
"Please keep your humor to an appropriate level of maturity," covered head to foot in rain gear, it was hard to tell if their class rep was annoyed, but from Ida's insistence on moving onto whatever made him sprint down the hill, it seemed she'd hit the nail on the head, "In any case, I'm glad to have found you, Matoi," glasses streaked with water, Ida cleared his throat, which was the first sign in hindsight that something was bothering him, "If it's not too much trouble, can I speak with you in private?"
"In private?"
A large dollop of water dripped onto her jacket as she stared at Ida like he'd learned to breath fire, "This ain't some weird plan to ask me out, is it?"
"Nothing of the sort!" he sounded annoyed by her comeback, but it was almost forced, "I simply wish to talk with you in private. Nothing more!"
She should have said no.
She normally would have said no.
She should have told Ida to shove it.
Yeah, yeah," as the rain lightened to a drizzle, she shrugged to Tsu, "I'll catch up."
"See you around, Ryu," waving goodbye as only she could, Tsuyu walked away, "You too, Ida."
"Farewell, Asui!"
While Ida said his farewells, Ryuko waited until Tsu was out of earshot, which, thanks to her Quirk, was a lot farther than most people believed. Interesting fact – frogs have amazingly good hearing. Not a lot of people knew that. And that little piece of information was why whispering around Tsu was pointless.
"Alright," she gave her friend another thirty seconds before propping the rain-soaked umbrella against her shoulder, "What's up?"
His hesitation should have been her first clue something was wrong.
"I know this might sound somewhat out of place, so forgive me if I accidentally touch a raw nerve," that was the second warning sign. A really big red flag. People didn't say that and give good news, "But the villain who killed your father," the rain fell a little harder as Ida chose his words very carefully, "You despise them with every fiber of your being, correct?"
Ryuko seriously didn't like where he was going.
"Uh, yeah?" she scoffed under her breath, hoping beyond a reasonable doubt he'd drop the subject and move on.
"And you would do anything to make them pay for their crimes?"
But he wasn't finished.
And her interest in the conversation immediately nosedived, "Are you going somewhere with this?"
Ida's silence spoke volumes.
And then he actually opened his mouth.
"During the sports festival, my brother – Ingenium – was injured by a villain," Ryuko felt her annoyance not so much wash away as suffocate underneath a deluge of emotions as Ida talked, "The hero killer Stain."
"Oh, him," unable to fold her arms in protest, she instead shifted her weight onto one foot, her entire posture straightening. She knew who Stain was. Not personally. Just enough to know he was dangerous, "Dad worked his case a while back. The police force couldn't figure out how the hell his Quirk worked."
"Yes…him," Ida chewed his lip, indecisive about whether her knowledge was harmful or helpful, "My brother attempted to apprehend him. But even knowing how the villain's Quirk worked wasn't enough. The doctors…" despite the rain pouring around them, trickling down her back and leaving her shivering, Ryuko heard Ida's voice crack, "Because of Stain, my brother won't ever be able to walk again. His career as a hero is over."
She hadn't noticed at the time, but Ida's hands were trembling.
"I suppose that's the reason I wanted to speak with you," there was a certain sharpness to Ida's voice. Something she honestly never expected from the guy who went out of his way ensuring nobody cut in line during lunch on pizza day, "Midoriya or Uraraka would probably apologize or pretend to understand. Or, more likely, say I wasn't thinking straight. You're the only person in our class…in the hero program…who remotely understands what I'm feeling right now."
Her already plummeting interest in the conversation punched through the ground and straight to the earth's core.
"Don't give me that garbage," her cheap umbrella from the convenience store down the street from her apartment – aluminum and plastic – groaned between her fingers, "You just want me to tell you that hunting Stain is 'heroic' and 'justice.'"
To his credit, Ida didn't attempt to deny it.
"Tch, I thought so," she refrained from explaining herself any further, "You're already itching to go after Stain. Nothing I say will change your mind."
Ida glanced aside in shame, "If I didn't think your opinion wasn't important, Matoi, I wouldn't have asked for it."
Her eyebrow twitched at his bullshit.
"What the hell do you want me to say?"
Now she was annoyed. Genuinely annoyed. And it must have shown on her face because suddenly she was frowning, "That, yeah, I think you should become a vigilante, drop out of UA and hunt down Stain?" it would be one thing if Ida said he wanted to avenge his brother. But beating around the bush, saying everything except the only thing that was important, got on her nerves, "You've already made up your mind. You just want an excuse so you don't have to feel bad about breaking every rule of heroics! And what better excuse than the girl who lost her father to a villain saying you're doing the right thing!?"
"I don't want an excuse."
Ida angrily emphasized his disdain – at himself, at Stain and at being unable to stand at his brother's side, "I just…you've confronted the villain who took your father. You've had the chance to make them pay. I want to know…did doing so make you feel better?"
The rain fell a little harder around them.
They were the only ones on the path leading away from UA.
Everybody else was either home, studying in the library or training.
"You want to know how I feel?"
She didn't bother letting him answer the question, "Not a day goes by where I don't want to smash her face into a bloody smear. Beating her didn't make me feel any better. It made me feel worse," a trickle of blood oozed through her skin. Not a lot, but enough to caress her fingers before vanishing, "And for the record, because you just had to say it – we're NOT the same. I lost my dad. He's never coming back. But you still have your brother. You can call him and tell him about your day. Or complain about how life's not fair. No matter what happens to that blonde psycho, I'll never be able to talk to my dad again."
By the time she finished, Ida looked like she'd punched him in the stomach.
Which sucked, because actually punching him in the stomach would have made her feel better.
"So, you know what? Do whatever. See if I give a crap. But at least be honest with yourself," her mood completely ruined and wanting nothing more than to go home, take a shower and veg for a couple of hours, she turned around and walked away, "Don't spout some bullshit excuse about bringing Stain to justice. Just say you want to kick his psycho ass because he hurt your brother."
In the days that followed, after the dust settled in Hosu and Tokyo, she'd look back on that moment and realize just how badly she'd screwed up.
But at the time, all she'd cared about was getting out of the pouring rain.