Senji walked quietly beside Izuku, who tried and failed to start a conversation several times. Today was the day of the training camp, and while Izuku was ready way early, Senji had overslept and looked almost dead. She had hurriedly thrown her uniform shirt over her clothes, buttoned partially and the tie hanging loosely. Her hair wasn't even brushed at all, and under her eyes were heavy bags. The boy knew by now that she was terrible with early mornings, but this was a whole new level. They walked up to the bus in front of their school's campus, greeted by the other students who had already arrived.
"Woah, you look terrible!," Sero exclaimed toward the ragged-looking girl.
"Weren't we supposed to show up in our uniforms?," Kaminari joined in, and soon Mina and Kirishima had gathered around her too.
"Woke up late," Senji offered a short explanation.
"Hey, Senji. What's up with you and Midoriya, hm? Showing up at the same time, and you two being on a first-name basis," Mina poked at Senji. Her habit of prying for drama was obnoxious, but Senji found it somewhat endearing. Uraraka gave some intense side-eye toward the conversation, before Izuku rushed over.
"Live together," Senji was tired, and hot already. She barely had energy to stand up.
"Huh?!," the small squad around her erupted at that response. They all began talking at once, and Senji visibly wilted under the questions. Izuku came to her rescue, loudly explaining that they lived at the same apartment complex. Once the others, Uraraka included, calmed down they noticed the full extent of Senji's deteriorated condition. Bakugo watched from a short distance away, but kept quiet.
"Here, lemme get your bag," Kaminari offered.
"Ah, wait! Kaminari," Izuku tried to stop him, but was too late. Senji handed off her bag, and Kaminari was pulled down onto the pavement by the weight of it. Izuku had tried the same thing earlier, but the bag was just too heavy.
"Hey, we don't have time to mess around. Everyone get loaded onto the bus," Eraser finally spoke up. He started to lecture Senji about their sloppy state of dress, but seeing her withering in the heat he decided to drop it. For now. Once on the bus, everyone started chatting again. Mina combed through Senji's hair and started braiding it.
"Hey, I've been wondering," the pink girl asked as she worked out a particularly tough knot. "Do you dye your hair?"
"Hm? Yeah. Haven't kept up with it for a while though," Senji answered her, gaining more strength with the bus's ac blowing. Mina finished braiding and tied the ends.
"Oh, do you have any tips for it?," Kirishima joined the conversation, and Senji raised a brow. Kirishima realized she was confused, and pointed at his hair.
"You dye yours?"
"Yeah. But it's starting to get kinda rough."
"Hmmm. I just bleach mine," Senji spent a minute thinking on it.
"Really? Your hair's so soft though," Mina added.
"You gotta take breaks in between, and after care is really important. How often do you do yours, Kirishiima? I don't think I've ever seen your roots grown out," Senji was more interested in this conversation than the other two thought she'd be, but she ignored their brief exchange of glances.
"Kinda a lot, I guess?," Kirishima answered vaguely, trying to remember the last time he'd done his hair.
"Well, it's kinda hard to tell the damage when it's all spiked up. Do you do that with gel?"
"Oh, yeah. Can you really not tell?"
"Um, no. I could check your hair later to see what's up and go from there."
The three were interrupted by Kaminari, who brought up the ad at the mall again and an article on some sketch news site. The group talked for a while, with Senji trying and failing to explain it away. A while later, just when everyone calmed down, the bus pulled to a stop at a rest area in the mountains. Eraser ordered them to get off the bus, and they all gathered around near the edge. A pair of women dressed in cat-like outfits introduced themselves as pro heroes, and Izuku started nerding out about their agency. Soon enough, the students found out why they were ordered off the bus here.
"You'll be staying over there, by that mountain!," the blonde hero pointed to a spot way off in the distance, and grinned. Before anyone could ask more questions, she used her quirk to drop them all off the side of the cliff into the forest. Soon, Mineta found the first of what would be many clay beasts.
"Really," Senji whined. The group decided the best course was to charge through, defeating as many as they could along the way.
"Woah!"
Senji slammed a large axe, made of her scales, into the head of one of the beasts. She quickly reformed her wings, which stuck out under her now unbuttoned shirt, and flew ahead with the rest of the more combat-skilled students. She used a range of attacks, flying up and dropping huge weapons made from scales into the beasts' heads. Or disabling their legs with giant spikes that she slammed into them. Partway through the day, Senji had Todoroki apply ice around her wrists so she wouldn't overheat. The students charged on, until late evening when they finally reached their destination. They collapsed just in front of the triumphant Pussycats, one of which fawned over the four powerhouses of class 1A.
There was some explanation, and Izuku got taken out by a kid, but Senji didn't hear most of it. She stayed in a partially fazed out state through dinner, after which she had finally cooled off and asked Todoroki to remove his ice. She split off with the girls, dropping their bags in the large room they'd be staying in. Then she followed behind them and braced for the biggest challenge of the training camp.
The bath.