Tohru was a gentle being- about eight years older than the boys, putting her at about 24, and very kind towards Todoroki, Midoriya noted. She asked him for his levels.
"Nine for safety and an eight for mood." Izuku said, polietly. "And my goal is to call my mom and let her know that I am okay." He said. "She worries too much."
In front of the couch, where the three U.A. Teens sat, existed an ottoman, where no one had put their feet. She took a seat, smoothing the front of her scrubs hem, and looked at Bakugo.
"And do you prefer Katsuki or Bakugo?" She asked.
"Call me anything, lady." He grumbled.
Tohru giggled. "Okay, Katsuki. What are your levels? How safe do you feel and how happy or light does your soul feel?"
Bakugo wanted to hate her, but he was struggling. He answered her question because he had to. "Like a seven and..." he trailed off. She reminded him the second meaning of the level and gently tapped on the paper where he wrote what he was supposed to so easily remember. "Yeah, yeah- 'happy or light.' Um, like a rock."
Shoto looked confused. "You're as happy as a rock?"
Katsuki frowned and dropped his head, slightly in confusion. "What? No. My soul feels about as light as a fucking rock."
Todoroki blinked before nodding and Midoriya snickered.
"I'll fight you!" Katsuki said, making a fist at Izuku.
"Sorry, sorry, Kacchan." Midoriya snorted.
Shoto sighed. "Some radar you're flying under."
Tohru placed a hand atop Bakugo's fist and lowered it. She looked serious. "You can not make threats here, Katsuki."
"Yeah, but-" Bakugo began.
"Uh- it was a joke!" Izuku came to defend. "We make a lot of those... don't mind us. Um, Kacchan, what's your goal?" Midoriya tried to save his childhood rival and classmate.
"To decimate you." Bakugo said, tucking his fist into crossed-arms and sitting back, frowning.
Tohru stood and asked for Midoriya and Bakugo to follow her, leaving poor Todoroki alone again. Shoto acted like he didn't mind, but he didn't like sitting alone with his thoughts.
In the end, Midoriya and Bakugo would miss Morning Meeting, as they had to "take a 'walk-and-talk' with that Nozomu Tanaka guy that worked in their lodge and woke them up that morning."
He came when Tohru called over the a communication device, clipped on her pant leg.
"What's the issue?" He asked Izuku.
"I'm not sure." Midoriya answered, honestly. "Kacchan was just being Kacchan?"
Tohru nodded, slightly. "Katsuki has a bit of a fighting tendency with Izuku. I may have mentioned- we don't make threats."
"I usually don't either- I usually just go for the kill." Bakugo grumbled.
Tanaka frowned and agreed to take the boys for a walk on campus instead of Morning Meeting, where Tohru had to get back to.
"Where are we going?" Midoriya asked.
"To the labyrinth." Nozomu responded. "Katsuki, are you coming?"
"If I knew what the fuck 'the labyrinth' was, maybe."
Tanaka laughed. "It's like a maze but really complicated. We have a brick one laid into the concrete of the gardens. It's flat so sometimes patients just walk directly atop it, but the goal is to solve it."
But as he explained, they grew nearer. The air smelled sweet, like roses, and the wind rustled bushes of prickled holly leaves. The boys started on opposite ends of the maze.
"Katsuki, everytime you get a dead end or wrong turn, Izuku gets to ask you a question and vice-versa. So anytime you make what could be viewed as a mistake, its an OPPORTUNITY for clarification. Got it? First one to finish it: wins."
Midoriya watched his feet. He stepped in between the red bricks and heard Bakugo curse.
"Fuck!" Bakugo cussed, spinning in a circle, knowing he had to retrace his steps.
"What's your favorite color?" Izuku asked.
"Orange." Katsuki sighed. He gestured to the dead end Midoriya had run into. "Why did you apply to U.A.?"
Midoriya blinked. "To become a hero as soon as possible."
"Well you're not doing very well, considering you're here." Katsuki grumbled.
Izuku didn't stoop so low as to inform Katsuki that the only reason he believed he was there was BECAUSE of Bakugo, but Katsuki being his bully-friend-and-classmmate-all-in-one was quite confusing.
The vague questions continued as they walked through the labyrinth, pausing for a question and an answer. The two teens talked, and while it still wasn't very natural, it was slightly more voluntary than before.
An hour was reached and they were called away from the maze. Bakugo stepped away from a particular rosebush he didn't like, as it repeatedly grabbed his sweater with it's thorns. Izuku followed, too.
"You didn't answer my final question." Midoriya stated.
"Didn't hear it." Katsuki stated, walking faster. Izuku knew that Bakugo heard. Midoroya ALSO knew that perhaps his bully-friend-and-classmmate-all-in-one probably didn't know how to answer, and so the question hung somewhere in the gentle winds of the rosebushes:
"In middle school- you said awful things...
Did you really want me to die?"