"Idiot. Don't call it unbreakable if it still breaks," Senji yelled at Kirishima, and punched his arm.
"Senji, don't be so rough!," Iida scolded her while shaking Izuku. Some of the others laughed at how his words and actions didn't line up.
The work study students, minus Tokoyami, had just gotten back after being checked at the hospital. The other students from their class were gathered around, too. Taking turns talking to their classmates. Senji had seen the news report, and had to be physically held back by Kaminari and Sero. Thankfully those two were busy taunting Bakugo in this particular moment. Senji also spoke to Izuku a little, saying he looked cool.
"This is stupid, goin' to bed," Bakugo complained and stalked off from the group. Todoroki apologized and left as well. The class was confused for a moment, but remembered the provisional exam classes.
"Don't you need to go, too Senji?," Izuku, free from Iida now, asked her.
"Huh? Oh, you didn't take the test. Are you going with them?," Tsuyu chimed in as well.
"Well, I'm just supposed to be observing tomorrow, and helping with stuff after. So I can stay up," she shrugged and gave a somewhat honest answer.
"When do you sleep," Kaminari joined in. His question appeared to be one of genuine interest. Senji just laughed it off and tried to avoid any other questions about it. She hung out with the others for the evening, taking turns holding Koda's pet rabbit with the girls. Her phone buzzed loudly on the table, startling her. She checked the message, swore under her breath, and handed the rabbit off to Mina.
"Sorry, gotta head out," she stuffed her phone into her pocket and shuffled out of the room. "Oh, Uraraka, Asui. You have a minute?"
The two girls that she called out glanced at each other, but followed Senji to the door of the dorm building. Senji fidgeted for a bit, before taking a deep breath and looking Uraraka directly in the eye.
"Man, this is awkward," she complained to herself. "Um, you two were pretty cool. I saw the news report, and um, heard from Eraser too. Especially you, Uraraka. Um…"
"Huh? I wasn't…," Uraraka trailed off and stared at the ground. There were obviously some heavy thoughts she was struggling with, things that Senji was uncomfortably familiar with. The other girl struggled to put words together, though.
"I heard. About…Nighteye. And I'm sure lots of people have a lot to say about it. But I think," Senji forced the words out, breaking her stare. She walked up to the brunette and cupped her hands around Uraraka's, continuing softly, "you were cool. Really. In that situation, without any training for that sort of thing or anything. You kept it together. Even I struggle with that, and I'm supposed to be a healer type. Don't beat yourself up about it."
Before either girl could process the wildly different side they'd just seen of their classmate, Senji had spun around and disappeared. Uraraka found herself blushing hard, and held on tight while Tsuyu embraced her. She let some of the tears she had held back loose in that moment, prompting Mina and some of the others to rush over.
…
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Eraser isn't here, anyway," a purple-haired boy spoke with Senji. They were supposed to meet up over an hour ago, but Senji had lost track of the time. The two were dressed in the sports uniform of UA, and stood in a sectioned off area of one of the combat training zones.
"Right. He's not gonna make it today," Senji explained. She noticed that the boy had some wraps like Eraser's on his shoulders.
"So…what are we working on today," she asked him. He shrugged and glanced around. Senji sighed and tucked her phone away again, trying to think of something on the spot.
"Could've stayed if this was the situation.. Can you use those yet?," she pointed at the wraps after muttering something under her breath. Shinso tugged at the binding cloths, and shook his head no. Senji wanted to help with that, but she never figured them out either.
"Can I ask some questions?," Shinso plopped down on the ground, his face never showing any particular interest in anything. Senji sighed and sat down next to him, fidgeting with her phone again.
"Sure, I guess. We're gonna do some basic exercise stuff later though."
"Alright. First, what's up with your arm?," he started with a tough one, pointing to her wrapped up scale-arm.
"Uh, let's come back to that," she deflected lazily.
"Okay. What's your deal with Mr. Aizawa?," he jumped right into another tough one, but didn't let Senji worm her way out of this one. She glared his direction for a moment, making him grin a little to himself.
"Be more specific? He's the homeroom teacher for class 1A," she gave a basic answer. Shinso thought for a moment before diving back in.
"I mean, yeah. But isn't Senji your first name? Don't think he calls anyone else on a first-name basis. Why's that?"
"Uh…well, our names are um."
"Same last name, right. That's weird, too. Get into that special program of yours with family pull?," Shinso touched a nerve with that one.
"Huh? No. You think that guy knows how to play favorites?"
"Well, you wear the wrong uniform all the time. And look kinda…like him? In a way. No one else can walk around like that without getting shit for it."
"I don't think he'd enjoy hearing that," Senji stifled a chuckle at the comparison.
"You've got some stuff to do tomorrow, pretty early, right?"
"Yeah. Well, I'm not actively participating tomorrow. Still annoying to get up so early, though."
"Why are you going if you're not participating? Isn't the point to get a provisional license?," Shinso looked over at her quizzically. Senji thought over things for a few minutes, and he was about to drop that line of questioning entirely.
"I kinda..already have one. There were just some issues that came up, involving this," the girl held up her bandaged arm. The fingers, kept free, glistened in the setting sun's light. She looked away, her eyes distant and clouded for just a moment. Then she smiled back at him, an awkward and strained sort of smile.
"Sorry, but I can't really say anything more about it right now."
"It's okay," Shinso pulled his eyes away from her awkward face, back to the fabricated city skyline in front of them. He had seen some videos online, and rumors surrounding his training partner. It was always best to take the media mills' information with a grain of salt, but Senji's tense response confirmed that there was something there. A little crumb of truth maybe.
"Sunset sure is nice," the boy said quietly. Senji uttered an even quieter acknowledgement of agreement, and the two sat in silence until the last light faded from the horizon.