Shinso was on B's team for the final round, against Izuku on the opposing team. Senji was well aware of the silent rivalry between the two, and could tell from a single glance how nervous Shinso was at the rematch. While they shuffled off to the field, Senji tapped his shoulder.
"Good luck," she offered some encouragement, though it was hard to tell if it landed well.
"Why're you here now," Bakugo growled at Senji from behind, startling her.
"Huh?"
"I think he means, why aren't you on the field like the last two matches," Kirishima translated for the angry boy, who went silent and pouted behind his high-collared shirt.
"Well, for this one. The biggest proble-I mean. There's only one I really need to worry about, with self-inflicted damage," she answered carefully, but honestly.
"[I'm sorry]," Pony, the foreign student, had overheard and apologized.
"[It's fine, really. You did some damage, but nowhere near as much as the rest in your match. Or what he could have done]," Senji reassured her, in English, and jabbed her thumb in Bakugo's direction toward the end.
"[Your English is very good]," the girl commented.
"[It's my first language, actually. If you wanna practice more japanese I can stick to that, though.]"
"Hah? What're you two yappin' about," Bakugo, unable to completely follow the conversation along with the others, expressed his frustration.
"I know you aren't like that all the time, so can you just leave it for now," Senji turned her attention to him again, silencing him with her implied meaning.
Everyone was watching the match, with most making comparisons between Izuku's group and Bakugo's. Bakugo grumbled from the back and focused his attention on the screen, as well. This round was taking a lot longer to get going, with a lot of monologuing or over explaining types talking away. Both teams were chipping away at each other, but Senji prepped her wings just in case. She could hear Monoma's provocations, and when everyone froze, she leapt into action.
"What was that?!," she cried out while flying toward the field. Black stuff shot out of Izuku's hand, and was rampaging around. He was knocked back into a building, where Shinso was. Senji flew behind the purple-haired boy, shielding him from damage as the Black tendrils whipped about wildly again. Izuku managed to somewhat direct it so he was pulled out of the building, and Senji flew up high to try and find a way to send her scales in. She wasn't meant to interfere, but this was one of the "just in case" scenarios.
"Senji! Be careful, and hold out as long as you can," Eraser barked over the ear piece she wore. He was likely on his way over, along with reinforcements. Uraraka jumped in, and Senji covered her torso with scales to protect anything vital as she grabbed hold of Izuku.
"Shinso! Brainwash him!," Uraraka shouted toward the boy standing down below, who was frozen in place. He jumped to action at her order, and used his quirk to stop Izuku completely. Once the brainwashing took effect, the tendrils stiffened before retreating away. Senji was about to dive in, but Eraser stopped her over the comms.
"Wait? Really?," she yelled back through the speaker, making him flinch in his perch. Vlad, the class B teacher, could hear her shouting into Eraser's ear from beside the man.
"Wait," Eraser spoke again, during a tiny gap in her argument. He spoke softly, but with strong authority.
Back on the field, Shinso looked up toward the yelling girl. She was clearly upset, but the situation had calmed down for now. He started to call out to her, but the others were rallying again and moving in for an all-out brawl.
"Monoma," Senji gritted her teeth and spat out the name. He had rushed in and brought the fight to them, desperate for a win despite the circumstances. Shinso made his move, too. Senji sighed heavily, and perched atop the busted building the purple-haired boy was in. She sent out more scales than before, but kept them more scattered above the fighting. The scales weren't breakable, but Senji wasn't sure if they could be melted with MIna's acid. Nor did she particularly want to test it.
…
"Feathers," Tokoyami noted the shape of her scales hovering in the air. She would be able to move them faster that way, and she was well out of the way of the contestants.
"It's kinda pretty," one of the class B girls chimed in.
"So sparkling~!," Aoyama shared his own opinion, and quite loudly. The glittering blue feathers matched his naval laser, in a weird way.
Kirishima and Denki glanced at Bakugo, with different things on their minds. The explosive boy was dead silent, and his expression was hard to read. They looked back at the fight, which was getting wilder and wilder.
"My tape must've made it hard to keep her scales ready," Sero commented about his own match. He hadn't noticed the scales before, but his classmate was definitely making use of them to try and keep her classmates' injuries down.
…
On the field, or above it, Senji watched the scuffle carefully. Mineta was too fast bouncing around, but she'd managed to attach some scales to his scarf before that assault. As Izuku moved further into the building with Shinso, she took flight again and hovered above the field. She saw the black tendrils again, but this time it was different. She used free scales to assess his condition, and maintained her position.
Shinso and Izuku zoomed off, away from the main scuffle. Uraraka successfully captured Monoma, as well. Senji left most of her scale feathers behind, but chased after the other two from the sky. The other three in class A quickly secured those left behind, with Uraraka's sneaky return to the fight. Izuku caught up to Shinso and used the binding cloth to his advantage, swinging in close and pinning Shinso.
Senji assessed them all, and after noting the minimal injuries dismissed them. Shinso talked with Eraser briefly before heading back with the others. Izuku faced some heavy questioning on his return, about that raging new power. Midnight and Mina teamed up to tease Uraraka as well, who deflected with a strong analysis of her own actions.
Shinso dove deep into his own self-analysis, being maybe a little too hard on himself. Eraser thwacked him on the head, offering his own sort of encouragement. Praise? Senji couldn't really tell, if she was honest. She was bouncing on her heels behind Eraser, waiting for his lecture to be over to unload a wave of emotions at Shinso. Once dismissed, the students all chatted excitedly with one another. Senji approached Shinso, to give him her two cents.
"Oh. Thanks, for earlier," he mumbled out when she was close. Her hair covered her eyes, so he was struggling to gauge her expression. She shook her head, and beamed at him so brightly that he flinched.
"You were pretty cool! Almost like Eraser when he's working. Stopping Izuku's rampage, and facing him head on! The way you swung around, too, like a real [Spiderman]! ," Senji babbled a ton of praise, and her eyes were bright with a sudden rush of excitement. Shinso found himself blushing a little bit, unable to respond properly to anything that was being thrown at him. He had spent a pretty decent amount of time with her, but he'd never seen Senji quite this animated before. She at some point switched back to English, and her hands shot around wildly with her words.
"Wow, flirting here in front of everyone?," Monoma butt in, seizing his chance at petty revenge for her stunt at the start of the day. Senji flinched, then spun around ready to slam her armored fist straight into his jaw. Sero restrained her just in time with some tape, while also keeping Mina at bay.
"I don't think that's the case," Kirishima came to the rescue again, but wasn't able to really give a counter argument.
"Did you two know each other before highschool, or something?," Sero asked from his strained spot. Mina recalled something when Kirishima interjected, and with some help from Jiro, and calmed down for now.
"Quit starting weird rumors, Shithead," Senji cursed at the class B blonde, who recoiled a bit at her colder tone. She turned back to Shinso, while the others left to change.
"So, I know there's still finals and stuff, but. Since you passed Eraser's test, let's do one last karaoke session to celebrate!," she leaned toward Shinso, who recoiled from her beaming grin. He fidgeted nervously with the wraps, pulling a hand over his mouth.
"S-sure..but can we actually do that?," he half-answered, half-asked. Senji thought for a moment, as though she hadn't actually considered that they were basically grounded to campus right now.
"I'll ask Eraser, and let you know later?," she responded. Shinso agreed, and could only watch as she bounced over to their shared mentor and pressed him. The conversation was hard to hear from his spot, but Shinso could see Eraser's expression grow hard. Then soften a little as he glanced toward the boy. Senji leaned into the man's view, blocking his face from further study, before Eraser's shoulders slumped and the girl's tail swished excitedly.
"Hey, let's have a chat," Monoma wrapped his arm around Shinso's shoulders and pulled him away.