"Hyechoo!"
Senji sneezed, the cold air stung her nose. She was gathered outside, on ground Gamma, with her fellow classmates. They had switched to the winter versions of their hero outfits, and they were all excitedly discussing the different fits. Senji's had drawn more attention than she wanted it to, as well. Switching from her skin-tight suit with a hood and shorts, to a short dress with a similar open-back design and a hood. It was lined with fleece on the inside, to keep her warm, and was a lighter yellow color with a gradient into deep purple toward the bottom. There were tights underneath, and the rest of her look remained largely the same.
"Oh, Shinso!," Izuku's excited voice, and the arrival of the special guest for the exercise, pulled everyone's attention away from her. Or she thought it did. While the exercise and some other details were discussed and decided, Mina jumped at a surprise opportunity.
"Hey, hey. Isn't that the guy you were on a date with for the culture festival? Yeah?," the pink girl wrapped her arm around Senji's shoulders, trapping her there. Shinso glanced in their direction, making Senji's cheeks turn pink despite the wild inaccuracy of Mina's statement.
"Take this seriously," Eraser addressed Mina coldly. She released her prey and laughed nervously for a moment.
Shinso ended up in the first match, on class A's team. Senji sat on the ground with Uraraka and Izuku, hoping to keep Mina at bay if she could keep another conversation going. Izuku had whipped out a notebook from who knows where. He spoke excitedly about Shinso's Quirk, and studied the abilities of the class B students while the match progressed.
"Oh, you're not fighting this time?," Uraraka started up a conversation amid Izuku's ramblings.
"[Nah.] I'm on med duty for this one, unless there's something bad enough for Recovery Girl's Quirk," Senji explained her situation for the day while watching the big screen intently. She was given an earpiece like what the teachers wore as well, letting her listen in. There wasn't a lot of action at first, with Shinso explaining his abilities to the others and them formulating some sort of plan.
"Don't you need to be closer then?," Uraraka continued on.
"Ah, you know about my scales, right?"
"Yeah!," Izuku chimed in excitedly. He ran through an astoundingly quick summary of how it worked, with Uraraka nodding her understanding.
"Right, so," Senji picked up where she was interrupted. "I've sent some scales out with each person. That way I can keep track of their condition from here, and minimize any severe damage. I won't be able to fly if I use too many, though."
"Ah! Like Hawks's feathers," Tokoyami unexpectedly joined in, making another comparison between Senji and the number two pro hero.
"Ah, they could go a little easier," Senji was distracted by the screen, watching as the B students secured two prisoners in one sweep. "Shiozaki's kinda scary."
"Hooooh?," class B's main antagonizer, Monoma, caught that comment and started to make a racket on his own. Senji used some spare scales to cover his mouth and nose, until he passed out. Eraser admonished her quietly at that.
"He wasn't able to use the binding cloth. He reacted after seeing them," Izuku's muttering continued. Senji agreed with his statement, though.
"He's got a lot to pay attention to," she interjected. "He can't just say stuff with their voice, he's gotta pay attention to speech patterns and stuff, too. Or it won't be as effective."
"You sure know a lot about his quirk and capabilities," Uraraka commented. She didn't have any deep insights into the fight on screen like the other two, so she could only offer her own opinions from time to time.
"You and that guy have similar quirks. How come you're in class A and he's in B?," Uraraka piped up again.
"They're similar, but I have a little more control over mine?," Senji answered her, but wasn't sure if that was right either.
"You have a lot more versatility than that. He can use them as armor or shoot them. But you can't make more of yours like he does," Izuku chimed in, offering more information on her own quirk.
"Dude," Senji gave some intense side-eye at that, before pulling herself up to examine the injuries while the first match's groups made their way back to the waiting area. Only one of them was sent off to Recovery Girl for further assessment, with a head injury. There was a brief review, and the next match started up.
Senji moved toward Shinso, but Monoma beat her to it and was rambling loudly at the boy. She decided to match Shinso's indifference toward the other boy and bumped his back with her tail. That pulled him out of his self-reflection, and fidgeting with the binding wraps.
"Now's a good chance," she whispered, motioning with her head toward the other groups discussing plans and chatting.
"Hm?," Shinso wasn't completely following, or wasn't able to process her words over the other obnoxious voice beside him.
"In the last match. You got them at first, but at the last second Beast noticed something about the voice calling out to him," Senji explained, while swatting at Monoma with her tail like a fly. "They have a nickname for him. You didn't use it, or maybe didn't catch it during the match. But now you have time while you wait to observe the others."
"Oh, right," Shinso agreed. He turned his attention forward, glancing at the screen while listening in where he could. Monoma realized he was being ignored, and that his conversation buddy was concentrating deeply. So he switched targets, eager to get something out of Senji for her earlier silencing.