Ch. 16

.o0o.

I eyed my father suspiciously. His body language and lack of interest in the subject not only intrigued me but also made me think he was hiding something from me.

It wouldn't be the first time it's happened, but something told me it also wouldn't be the last.

I desperately wanted to know. To know and to see who it was. I didn't know why at the time why I was so curious, but I was.

"Okay," I said.

He put his phone away with a sigh. He just got back from working with a bo-staff, so his hair was up and away from his face.

He tugged at his ponytail and turned to me. "Did you get anything to eat?"

"Not yet. I just woke up."

"'Kay. Make sure you get something. Did you finish your homework?"

"N...No."

"Okay. get that done as soon as you can. Tomorrow, you're going to help out in class."

"Aren't the kids choosing their hero names, Sho?" 'Zashi asked.

"Yeah. She gets to give them advice."

I groaned and trudged over to the kitchen, grabbing a 'burger.'

I wish I had never gotten into that fight…

.o0o.

Aizawa P.O.V.

I knew Samiko wanted to know who I was on the phone with. But I also knew that she wouldn't read my mind to find out. She was already six feet in the ground after the fight she started, and I knew she didn't want to go six feet further.

But she seriously considered it.

To be honest, I was surprised that the person who called even called me at all.

I didn't tell Samiko because it's not something she needs to focus on right now. She doesn't need another reason to resent her grandmother. She would find out what was going on soon enough anyway.

I waited for Samiko to finish pouting and head to the dinner table before I went and got my food.

Hizashi was still cooking. He looked over at me. "What's up, Sho?" he asked quietly.

I sat down at the counter, shaking my head and gesturing to Samiko behind me. "Not while ears are listening."

He nodded knowingly. I could basically hear Samiko roll her eyes behind me.

"If you need me to leave," she said defensively, "I can leave."

"You eat your dinner." I turned to face her, "And you get to eat it here. You don't leave that table until you finish everything. Understood?"

She slumped her shoulders and glared at me. I glared right back before she continued to eat her dinner. I swiveled back in my seat.

"And eat your carrots."

She groaned.

Hizashi chuckled and shook his head. "Stubborn little thing. I wonder where she gets it."

"I have no idea," I said honestly.

"Pfft--" he laughed, "Oh yeah! The Shota Aizawa doesn't know where his daughter got her stubbornness from. Get a load of this one!"

I rolled my eyes again, hunching over. I couldn't let him see the small smile on my face.

"It's definitely from her mother," I concluded, taking a sip of my milk.

He laughed loudly.

.o0o.

Samiko P.O.V.

Today, the kids were choosing hero names.

Yay.

And I was the one that got to help midnight judge how 'hero worthy' they were.

This was not going to be fun. Kids were super uncreative nowadays.

Not that I could say anything. My dad's hero name is Eraserhead.

Did you catch that?

Eraser.

Head.

That's almost worse than anything I can think of. Turns out, he didn't even pick it. Which makes sense.

Either way, he's still my dad, and I still love him...even if he's lazy. He has the right to be.

Anyway, I was sitting on my phone, reading the latest chapter of a murder mystery while Dad was explaining how things were going to go as far as 'Hero Names."

I was not excited. I think I already said that, though.

Either way, I was still helping pick out hero names and recording them.

Dad handed me whiteboards and markers, and I passed them out one by one, starting with Hagakure-San's row first.

I noticed that Bakugo didn't even let me give him his whiteboard or marker. He snatched it from me angrily and then turned back away from me, not saying a word.

Okay, then…

Midorya looked at me nervously after seeing that exchange, and thanked me as I handed him his materials.

The purple one frightened me the most. Since the beginning of the lineup, he kept his eyes on me. The whole time. I didn't sense them leave me once, even though I knew he wasn't even looking at me.

He was looking at my body.

And that scared me more than anything. It was disgusting. It made me feel disgusting. Doesn't he know I'm underage? Does he even care?

It's things like that that piss me off. I normally don't care what people do in their freetime, whether it's watching porn or reading books, but don't drag me into it. I don't want to know.

And don't make me the center of your hentai fantasies. It's demeaning, degrading, embarrassing and disgusting.

And...for me, it's scary.

I'd already been through enough--things like that--and I didn't need any more. I didn't need another guy looking at my ass.

And yet, here he was. If he attempted anything anytime soon, I promised myself I'd report it. That way, I wouldn't procrastinate on it. If I did, that would be lying, and not only that, but also lying to myself.

Both are terrible habits that people have.

Anyway, I finished passing out the whiteboards, and Midnight walked in, being...well, Midnight.

I took a seat and she winked at me.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a notebook. I would be taking notes. I guess.

Overall, the names weren't all that bad. Cellophane was probably by far my favorite, just because I got the joke, but the others were really clever. There was Chargebolt (not bad), Froppy (different but good), Uravity (amazing play on words), Creati (Momo-San is just brilliant), and...Pinkie.

Alien Queen was better, Midnight.

Red Riot was a good one too. I didn't include it in the original lineup though because it needed its own recognition. I remember a time when Crimson Riot was a favorite hero of mine too.

There were also...mediocre names…

Ones like Invisible Girl (which is fine, I guess, but come on), Grape Juice (more like 'rape' juice), King Explosion Murder, before he changed it to Lord Explosion Murder from you know who (I mean...way to go man).

I was also surprised when Iida-San wanted his hero name to be...simply his name. I knew that his brother had been severely injured, and that it probably affected Iida-San badly, so I couldn't blame him.

I wanted to check up on him and make sure he was okay, but it would probably be out of place for me to intrude on his personal business and family life. To his credit, if someone I knew, albeit not very well, came up to me and was like 'Hey, sorry your grandma is abusive,' I'd probably go off.

When Todoroki-San did it the same thing, though, I wasn't as surprised. I would probably help them come up with something. I didn't want to, but...Dad wanted me to suffer, apparently, so that's what he probably was going to make me do.

If I didn't say anything, though, I might be able to get away with it for a while.

.o0o.

Either way, things were pretty mellow after the hero naming thing. They had a math lesson with Ectoplasm while my dad went to a meeting with the Principal about...something. I have half a mind to say that it was about that phone call.

I was half-listening to the lesson when Ectoplasm looked at me.

"Are you participating?" he asked me.

I looked up at him, an incredulous expression on my face. "Do you want me to?"

"That wasn't the question."

"No?"

"Well that's going to change. What's the greatest common factor here?"

I looked up at the board.

64x2 38.4.x 249.6

Well crap.

I sat there for a good second. Working through mental math.

Greatest common factor…

Everyone started whispering. I was still thinking.

Ectoplasm spoke up. "Didn't Eraser teach you better than this?"

"32."

The class fell silent.

Ectoplasm looked up at the chalkboard then back at me.

"The greatest common factor is 32, leaving 2x2 1.2x 7.8."

Ectoplasm nodded. "Very good. It seems I underestimated you. Now, how would we simplify this further?" he asked the class, seemingly ignoring me.

The majority of the class though, were still dumbstruck.

"Wait, how did she even know that?!"

"She had to have seen the answer!!"

"I never saw the answer sheet, I can assure you," I commented, going back to my book."

The kids were in shock, so they went quiet.

Ectoplasm returned to his teaching (excluding me) and I returned to my mystery novel.

.o0o.

It was some time later when I got a text from my dad.

Dad: Will you come and see me and Nezu in his office?

Me: Right now?

Dad: yes, now.

Me: On my way

I packed my bag, put in my books and thermos (A/N: almost wrote thanos for a second there), and walked out, while the class studied. I heard one student look up and whisper: "Hey, where's she going?"

"The office," I responded, "See you all later."

I walked out.

.o0o.