"Not participating in the festival at all, Senji?"
"[Nah.] Gotta save energy for the later rounds," the teen replied with a pretty sensible answer to her mentor, Recovery Girl. A sensible answer, but that tone was maybe a little too informal.
"Anticipating that much trouble, hm?," Recovery Girl sighed. She was fully aware of at least one student who would be in her office today. Maybe she should prepare herself, too. "Why not go watch, for now?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm listening," Senji pointed to her ear, and held up her phone. It's true the whole thing was being broadcast on national television, but the older lady was still surprised.
"Still, bit of a shame. Heard your combat ability was pretty good, and it's a wasted opportunity for getting yourself out there."
"Guess you're right on that," Senji agreed with her senior with a shrug. She plopped into a spare chair and watched the stream on her phone for now. She did want to show off, a little bit, with all her flashy classmates. Part of her real goal was to get closer to them, as well. But even if she wasn't training much at school for combat, she still got plenty of experience elsewhere. Not that she could directly say that here.
"Oh, his arms huh?," she noticed Bakugo straining his arms, and kept a close eye on the condition of other participants. It was all vital information, for work as well as her assignment here in the nurse's station. She also was working on an idea to compare notes with Deku for information on her classmates.
"I can fix some physical stuff, but the mental game is out of my league. [Man..]"
Recovery Girl left her protege alone after watching her for a few moments. Her worries were quickly dismissed by the girl's actions. Recovery Girl had worried that being relegated to behind the scenes work would make Senji harbor some jealousy, but it seemed that was nowhere close to the case. If anything, the girl looked like she was more concerned with their physical condition and doing her part to support that side of things. She was fired up in her own way.
Soon enough, it was time for the lunch break. Senji headed to meet up with the others, and check on their condition. There weren't any serious injuries from the first two rounds, but she could tell that some of them were starting to feel the effects of their extended activity. That was the plan anyway, but she quickly found herself in an awkward spot near one of the stadium exits. Why. She was staring down Bakugo, who was lingering against a corner. He stared at her with the same mix of irritation and discomfort. Around the corner, two others were talking about something. Who was it? Todoroki and Izuku? The discussion between those two moved outside, and Senji finally let out the laugh she just barely contained earlier.
"All Might's love child? Pfffft hahaha!"
"Shut up, idiot!," Bakugo admonished her harshly, but in an uncharacteristically quiet way.
"Oh! How's the recoil?," Senji ignored his comment and asked about his arms. He could create powerful explosions, but there was still some recoil on his body from the blasts.
"Huh? It's fine. Should worry about your own ass," Bakugo retorted angrily, pointing behind her. He walked off while she checked to see what he was pointing at.
"Ah, shit."
The situation just now, and possibly some excitement over the festival's events so far, had caused her quirk to slip out and reveal her tail. Shrugging that off, she ran outside to check on Izuku and the others. She missed her first target, but easily found the girls and a few others gathered up. Mina noticed her first, and waved her down.
"Oh! What's this?," she was quick to notice Senji's tail, and grabbed hold of it carelessly.
"Hya-!"
"Huh?"
Senji covered her mouth with her hands, but too late. She had let out an unbearably embarrassing sound due to the sudden contact with her tail. Mina let go instinctively at the sound, and Senji wrapped her tail more closely around herself. Mineta, the shortest of the class, and Kaminari had some rather indecent expressions.
"Sorry. Um, this is part of my quirk, it comes out sometimes," Senji quickly explained, hoping to distract from her earlier blunder.
"Oh, come to think of it, we don't actually know your quirk yet," Uraraka, the girl usually following Izuku around, chimed in.
"Is it ice, like Todoroki?," this time the frog girl spoke up.
"Ah, not…quite? Anyway, it's really sensitive so don't touch it please."
"Right, sorry," Mina apologized. The group mingled for a little longer, talking over lunch. The boys had hatched some scheme to get the girls into cheerleader outfits, but Senji flat out refused. The other girls quickly figured out the ploy after lunch, when the recreational activity section started for those disqualified from the finals. Senji agreed to watch the matches for that with the others, at least until she had some work to do. Izuku was up first, but Senji was told to only intervene with him if absolutely necessary. Recovery Girl would handle his first round of injuries.
"Oh, you have a tail too?," Ojiro, the classmate with a tail noticed it as well. He seemed just as surprised, but also a little excited.
"Ah, yeah. Mine's a little different though," Senji answered back. She wasn't the best with small talk. After the first match, she sat with Uraraka, Iida, and Izuku.
"Watch the blowouts," Senji scolded Izuku as he sat down in front of her. Round two was over in an instant, with Todoroki's ice blasting up to the stands. While the rest of the crowd began a sort of cheer for Sero, who lost, Senji let loose a tirade at Todoroki for going overboard. The sudden outburst shocked her other classmates more than the overwhelming victory in front of them. Bakugo smirked, but held back a comment for now.
"Wow, that might be worse than Bakugo's cussin'," Kirishima did not hold back with his comments. Senji blushed and returned to her seat. At least for now, she still didn't need to rush to the nurse's station.