After a few more days of rest Senji was good to return to class. She visited Power Loader to receive some more equipment for her hero costume. One of the pieces was a prosthetic designed by Mei, specifically with combat in mind. Eraser, after realizing how hard she was pushing her limits to keep her arm's shape, had requested one for everyday use as well. That one would take a couple more weeks to make. She now sat in the dorm common room, reluctantly poring over notes from her missed days of class.

That was her intent, but the words had started to swim around the page. Certain phrases stuck out more than others. All negative. Her head was spinning, thoughts spiraling. There were rumors spreading around the school now, and one particularly persistent reporter at the gates who kept trying to provoke a response from her. There were the rumors, and her own anxious overthinking about her situation. No one in the class was remotely suspicious or bothered. If anything, they had grown closer to her. More attached. That should have been a good thing, but it was frustrating. She sat like that for a while longer, making no progress in her studies.

"Bite marks?," Kaminari interrupted her deep contemplation. It was just then that she noticed he had grabbed hold of her tail again, and was examining various scars that it retained for some reason. That scar in particular that he called out, she didn't want to talk about.

"What's your deal with tails," she barked at him, pulling her tail quickly back.

"You just gonna stare at the same page all night?," Bakugo, sitting to her right, countered with his own question. Senji had been so entrenched in her own head that she forgot he was even there for a while.

"Snack break," she declared and wandered toward the dining area. There was a small kitchen segment with a fridge that the students could use along with some cabinets. She found a bag of chips, with some odd flavor she didn't recognize, and made her way back to the group.

"Even if you say that, it's still pretty lame," Kirishima was talking quietly. The subject looked somewhat heavy for him, as well. Senji finally noticed that his hair wasn't all spiked up and seized a rare opportunity. She tucked the chips under her arm and snuck up behind him. The other two were arguing a little with him so didn't see her either. She grabbed his head and ran her fingers through his hair while eyeing the tv screen.

"Ueh?!," the red-haired boy let out a hilarious half-shriek in surprise. Senji grinned triumphantly for a moment, while the other two looked at her with equally hilarious expressions.

"Ah, it's not like I mind at all. But what're you doin' outta the blue?," Kirishima sounded somewhat flustered despite his declaration of not minding.

"A while ago you were talking about damage from dying. So I thought I'd check it while your hair was down," the girl answered so nonchalantly that Kirishima felt even more flustered. Kaminari laughed at his flushed face while Bakugo's own face was twisted into a weird look. Senji thought for a moment and gave her honest opinion.

"It's not as bad as you made it sound. Should be fine with a good trim. Shame you have it spiked up all the time, it looks good like this…too," she trailed off as the tv programming switched to a news report. The words didn't reach her ears, but the accompanying images were enough. There were more blurry pictures of some weird blue-ish figure. Reports of them fighting villains or getting into other scraps, using primarily big claw-like arms and hands. Then it flashed to the form she took in Kamino. It was a far-off shot, and out of focus, but the basic shape was still easy enough to read. They even included the frame from the sports festival of her jumping the wall.

"Ow, hey," Kirishima whined a little, and she realized she'd gripped his hair a little too hard. The bag of chips also had fallen to the ground, and she was even paler than before.

"Hey, turn that shit off," Bakugo yelled out. His sudden volume increase spurred the other two into a frenzied fight over the remote. Bakugo won the scramble, and clicked the television off. He glanced at where Senji was before and noticed that she had vanished. He hated it, her pale face and paralyzed reaction. It was weird. Not like her at all. And all over the same weird rumors that had been floating around from before.

…

Back in the safety of her own room, Senji slumped against the door and clutched her chest tightly. It ached, though which specific emotion was causing it she couldn't identify. It was hard to breathe. Hard to think. She wasn't used to this type of feeling, and she hated it. Scales slowly started to creep over her body. Another uncomfortable reaction to her wavering mental state. Normally she was too busy to dwell on mistakes for too long. Too tired from working all the time to have time for nervous breakdowns. And there was no reason for her to fear her classmates or teachers. That made it worse in a way. The lack of suspicion or direction to point her dark feelings. Just as her mind started to blank out from the overload, there was a light knock on her door.

"Kiri…shima?"

"Sorry. I mean," he fidgeted around for a minute. He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it over. Her phone.

"Oh. Uh, thanks. And…sorry?," she took the phone, feeling somewhat bad for tugging his hair earlier.

"Huh? Oh, don't worry about it," he laughed it off, lightening the tension just a little bit. His cheeks were still somewhat pink from the unprompted compliment he'd received. Senji started to say good night, and shut the door, but he suddenly interjected.

"I've been meanin' to-sorry. Been wanting to ask. You don't gotta answer if you don't want to, it's not my business. But…are you and Bakugo…?"

"Me and Bakugo…?," Senji repeated his last few words, pushing him to say what he meant. She stared coldly at him through the cracked door, making him sweat.

"Are you two, y'know. LIke, dating or whatever?," he glanced away and lost confidence with his words toward the end. Senji's initial reaction was to deny it loudly and threaten him, but for some reason she hesitated.

"What? No way, why?," she answered truthfully, and returned a question. She knew the answer well enough, but was enjoying making Kirishima say it out loud a little bit. He shriveled under the pressure, which was just amusing enough for her to hold herself together.

"Well, I mean. Uh, like..you were at his house. And you two argue a lot but don't feel like you actually hate each other? What I mean, you sneak around a lot and look pretty close," he stumbled around like Izuku a little bit. Senji sighed and released him from her temporary game.

"Don't read into it, or believe what others say too much. It ain't like that..probably," her own voice faded off on the last word. A word she hadn't intended on including at all, but it slipped out. Kirishima, either satisfied with that or eager to get away, said good night and left her alone. Her phone buzzed in her hand, so she checked it while walking to her bed.

"We're starting back up on the next day off, nerd."