Bets and Debts 2

"Couldn't we have gone somewhere else?" Oboro complains, leaning back. He falls and his back hits the ground. "What's the point of eating out, if I'm it's at my parents' place?" He also would have preferred fish. At least there' are a few fish options he can order.

Hizashi doesn't bother to wait. He takes a piece of sizzling meat off the grill and pops it into his mouth. "Ow! Hot."

Shouta has lost count of how many times Hizashi has burned his tongue. He doesn't start eating yet. Unlike the others, he isn't about to start digging in until the person paying for it shows up.

"What's the reunion for anyway?" asks Hizashi. He takes a moment to think and shivers. "You don't think she's trying to butter us up to ship us off on a horrible mission, do you?"

Oboro snorts. "Yeah right. She would do that without the food. Besides, aren't you only on-call?"

"Yeah, cause I'm clearly better at time management than you. Both of you."

Shouta doesn't have anything to say about that. He's technically still casually working, but that could mean anything from a few hours of patrol some weeks to part-time, even full-time hours other weeks – depending on the cause and need.

"Do you think Nezu convinced her to join the staff?" asks Oboto.

"Absolutely not," Shouta immediately denies. It's no secret that Nezu has offered Tsunade a job since he took over as U.A.'s principal nearly three years ago, but it doesn't matter how smart Nezu is or what he has on her. She's beyond stubborn when she draws a hard line. "I'm sure we would be having a staff party if that were the case."

"Party? He would probably crackle in the corner ominously, if true." Hizashi has never been more horrified when Nezu became principal and offered him a job. To him, it was like a nasty divorce, but instead of choosing which parent you want to live with, it was choosing whose wrath to bear. All he could do was choose what he wanted to do.

The door to their private room opens to reveal Tsunade, and the three of them straighten themselves up. They had grown more relaxed over the years, but all they can do is fall in line when she has a certain demeanor.

Shouta is the brave one. He asks, "Has something happened?"

"You tell me." She sits down. Her eyes are sharp like a knife. If her eyes had been lasers, they surely would have been dead already. She picks up a pair of chopsticks and purposely takes the piece of chicken Hizashi wanted. "Exactly why is a student of yours destroying themselves using their quirk?"

Hizashi is the one sitting furthest away from her, but he still scoots a little further. He's an English teacher. He might get out of it. Or at least receive a milder punishment. Her eyes catch him, and he immediately knows he's in deep trouble too.

"Annoying isn't it?" Oboro and Hizashi think Shouta is brave. "I've got my eyes on him. Rest assured, I'm constantly reminding him."

"And you've done nothing?"

"What do you want me to do? He very much wants his quirk. He needs to learn control. I wouldn't be surprised if it's barely touched it since before his enrollment. Not everyone starts learning in their infancy."

Shouta's words ease Oboro's tensions. "Yeah. It's not like telling him to stop actually stops him. What do you want me to do? I can't force him to go to a doctor. He's a smart kid. He knows the options are available. Well, only time and training will tell if he can learn to control it or whether it's an inherent attribute of his quirk. If so, he'll be reaching out to someone sooner than later. Breaking bones. Destroying muscle tissue. Only a masochist would keep that up." Oboro processes his own words and looks to Hizashi. "He's not a masochist, is he?"

"Why are you asking me?!" Hizashi squeaks.

Tsunade presses three fingers into the side of her head as the conversation quickly devolves. "Tell me if there's no improvement by the end of next term." Knowing Toshinori, it's someone as stubborn as himself. She opens the bottle of sake and pours herself a drink. "Now onto business."

The three men look at each other in confusion.

"You didn't come to talk about Midoriya?"

"There are more pressing matters." Each second of silence felt like an eternity. "I need the details of your students."

"Huh?" Their voices overlap.

"I've got a bet to win. Tell me about your students."

Shouta is unimpressed.

Oboro knows from Tenko that Tsunade and Keigo have been gambling again, but it's still ongoing? "You were at the Sports Festival. Figure it out yourself." He doesn't want to be dragged into it. It's never good.

Tsunade and Oboro enter a ferocious staring battle until, miraculously, it's Tsunade who backs off. "I wonder how your students will look at you after they see all your embarrassing photos from childhood." Oboro gapes. "There's even that one that you're so proud of."

He stretches across the table to cover her mouth with his hand. His eyes dart over to his friends. "Okay, I get it! I'll help you."

She doesn't need to say it. There's plenty of embarrassing photos, but there's one utterly humiliating one that Oboro is truly uncomfortable with. The only reason it isn't destroyed is because his parents have plenty of copies as it's one of their personal favourites. One of the many photos his parents were all too happy to share with him.

Hizashi elbows Oboro. "What's that about? A picture? You can share with us."

"Never!"

Nemuri is helping the other teachers sort through all the pros extending offers for work studies. It's chaotic as hundreds of offers come in. Then they need to be refiled as individual lists. It's private information between the hero, the school, and the student. Students gossip and share, but that's a separate matter.

First years have a special place. The upper years get to show how their talent develops, but first years give their first impressions through the Sports Festival. It's an important year for them. Connections also matter. He won the tournament, so maybe it's not the biggest surprise, but his number of offers has already surpassed the record and they're still ongoing.

Oboro frantically tries to organize everything as she lists off names for students.

"What's wrong?" Nemuri asks.

Oboro sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "Nothing. I'm sure it's just a coincidence." They still have plenty more to go through. "People teamed up with those they knew in the second round, so a lot of the finalists are from my class."

"That's usually what happens."

"Yeah." Oboro tapped the keys on the keyboard without pressing hard enough to input anything. "Two of them still don't have offers." He frowns. "Well, them and a lot of the class. These seem more divided than last year."

Nemuri turns to rest her arms on the back of her chair, while getting a better look at Oboro. "Don't worry about it. We have a pretty good list of volunteers this year. They'll all get their chance."

"I guess you're right."

"I always am!"

Oboro chuckles a little. Some days it feels like nothing has changed from high school, while also being quite different.

"Has Tsunade's offer come in yet?" He spilled all he could to her. He probably broke some kind of employee policy about disclosing things about his student. He'll apologize later if it causes problems.

"That witch put out an offer?"

"Witch? Do you have to call her that?"

"It's her own fault. How did you last so long? Besides the money and lack of options."

Nemuri is never going to let him live that down. He recognizes it as jealousy, but it's a lot. Then he blinks. At some point, he accepted it as their thing and let it be, but Nemuri takes it quite seriously. "You know she doesn't actually hate you. She doesn't condone certain behaviour," his eyes shift to the side, "but she doesn't attribute it as your only characteristic." He can practically feel the pain from his punishments for displaying similar characteristics. ""You only need to roll with the punches."

"Are you for real?!"

"Uh, yeah." Was the pit of her emotions really that deep?

Her forehead smacks against the back of the chair.

Class 1-A is divided between enthusiasm, disappointment, and shock at the results of the work study offers. It's only for a week, but being recognized by pros, to be invited by them, had been a long-time dream for many of them.

Tears prick in Izuku's eyes as he quivers in delight. He sniffs back liquid running down his nostrils. After screwing up and injuring himself so much in the third round, he had been extremely worried about how others see him.

All Might wants him to expand his horizons, and he isn't known for taking interns, so he thinks it's best to not take him in as it would draw a lot of attention. Izuku wonders how many would have chased All Might around more than they already do if they knew he could pass on his quirk to anyone?

Izuku clings to the single sheet given to him. Yes, it feels bad against the pile Kacchan and Todoroki are given, but he has an offer!

He can't wait to tell All Might!

Tsunade answers the phone because it's Nezu. She still hates the contraption, but she can admit it's useful at time. A menace to society for being accessible and trackable at all times, but occasionally beneficial.

"Don't tell me you found out already," she says.

"Oh my, no." Moments like this make Nezu feel a little more human. He's fast, sometimes faster than her, but he can often surpass even her own expectations. "There's one piece missing. I should have that ready by tomorrow. Tuesday the latest." Tsunade takes it back. "I was surprised to see you offered to take on a student this year." His tone suggests it's not a surprise at all. Him finding out doesn't surprise her.

"And?"

"I thought it very brave of you to only extend one offer. What would you have done if they didn't accept?"

Tsunade blanches. She's so used to people wanting things from her that she didn't even consider that someone may not accept the offer. She can suffer through some teasing of his. If Nezu really wanted, he would have told her this before in attempt her to take more students on. It's suspicious he didn't, so there has to be something he wants. "I would have figured something out."

"I'm sure."

He draws out the suspense.

"I've called to let you know, your offer has been accepted."

Tsunade's brash tone contrasts against Nezu calm, pleasant tone. "You could have started with that!¨

"Please bring them back in one piece. It will look bad if the students are beaten up too much."

"Young Midoriya! What's wrong?" Toshinori knows U.A. is giving the offers to the students today. He had been nervous alongside him, even if he put up a reassuring front. He can contact Gran Torino if needed. Pass it off as a late entry. He's still around kicking.

"I got one. I got an offer."

Toshinori feels a wave of relief. He's been pushing the boy a lot since he started so late, but it's joyous that his hard work has paid off. "That's fantastic!"

Midoriya goes on one of his mumbling info dumps. He spills the name of the agency in his spiel. "Something wrong, All Might?"

Toshinori tries not to break his composure. "No it's just…" Toshinori can envision it too well. Much like Gran Torino, All Might has full confidence that Tsunade can help Midoriya improve, but in the same vein, he's worries on what will happen. He feels beads of sweat form on his face and down his neck. "Forgive me. Tsunade will be a great mentor." She's never taken on a student before. Does she know? She always has had a way of knowing.

Midoriya's eyes widen. He sputters for a moment. "Actually…my offer is from Tenko." Midoriya looks uncertain as Toshinori's demeanor changed.

That's worse. Infinitely worse. If Toshinori's sweat were beads before, it's now a stream. "I have someone you can shadow. They have a lot more experience than he'll have." He hopes he's convincing. He's great with strangers, but awkward when it comes to his own matters. He likes to think he's improved, but the current situation is no minor issue. He can practically see the Tsunami coming to swallow them whole.

He knows he made a mistake the moment Midoriya makes that expression. A confused sadness. "But Tenko is the one that wanted me." Oh no. He made Midoriya feel like he did something wrong. That's the last thing he wants. He's about to sprout reassurances when Midoriya says, "and I've already handed in my form."

Toshinori is doomed. Completely and utterly doomed.

Fumikage hands his teacher, Loud Cloud, his form with his choice on it.

"Thanks Tokoyami." He taps his shoulder, a habit of the man's, but his hand never lifts off his shoulder. It's stiff in position and tightens by the second. "Are you sure Tokoyami?" Loud Cloud is usually a cheerful person. It's rare to see him look so serious. Or incessant. "You can do so much better than him." His voice is so desperate it's almost a whine.

Do better than one of the highest rank heroes? Fumikage wants it to be a poor joke of his, but he doesn't relent.

"You got plenty of offers. I can tell you which ones are better. Really, anyone is better."

"I'm sure, sensei." His teacher's panic confuses him though, as if he's missing something, but by all accounts it's a great choice.

Loud Cloud's other hand comes to rest on his other shoulder. The paper in his hand crinkles in the process. "What if he eats you!"

Fumikage sputters. What?

"Okay, maybe not literally, but the way that demon is I can't put it past him." Fumikage is sure of it. Loud Cloud must be on drugs or poisoned. Everything he says is preposterous. "If you go to him, you'll never have a peaceful life again!"

Fumikage brings up a hand to push his teacher's hands off him. "I'm certain." He quickly walks to his seat to create distance. Loud Cloud looks like he's planning a funeral in the front.

"Everything okay, Tokoyami?" Midoriya looks diagonally back, having witnessing their teacher's breakdown.

"I'm fine, but Loud Cloud-sensei is speaking like my choice in placement is a void of darkness."

Midoriya peeks back up to the front of the class. Loud Cloud is sulking. "Who did you decide on?" Unlike himself, Tokoyami had gotten plenty of offers.

Tokoyami feels self-conscious as he discloses, "Hawks."

"Eh?" Midoriya sqeaks. They also gained the attention of some of the other students who had already arrived. "THAT Hawks?" He's only been a hero for four years, but he climbed the ranks so fast. He went up in the ranks even faster than Mt. Lady and she had an extra year of experience. He gained traction before she did. As if he had been a hero much longer than he had been. "You'll be in Minato, then?" Wait no. "But he's been in Kyushu, but there hasn't been any official news of him changing agencies. He was spotted at the Sports Festival, though so maybe he's come back. But no, he was in the news this morning. Why is Loud Cloud-sensei like that, though? He used to work at the same agency, but Hawks would have been new. Maybe he's jealous of his popularity? Oh, but if it's for placements is he coming back to Minato? It might be nice to have a familiar face around. Tenko is one of the few people Hawks has worked extensively with."

Fumikage can't keep up.

"Not fair."

Fumikage and Midoriya look back at Todoroki in surprise. Is he pouting? He looks like a sad puppy.

"They gave you an offer and not me."

Todoroki is jealous?! He got the most offers though. Everyone is jealous of him! It should be the other way around. Especially Midoriya. Midoriya only got one offer.

"Tokoyami, you can ignore sensei. Keigo's a good choice." Todoroki is on first name basis with Hawks? Midoriya almost has a heart attack.

Fumikage is surprised, but Todoroki's dad is Endeavor. It doesn't take much to imagine how hero families know each other. Todoroki is a level headed person. His words offer assurance against Loud Cloud's panic.

Todoroki's eyes find Midoriya's. "You too. Don't be mean to Tenko. He's nice."

Fumikage takes it back. Midoriya? Pick on someone? Maybe Todoroki is sick too. That has to be the explanation.

Mina ignores Kaminari and Kirishima's chatter to listen in on the discussion at the back of the class. She's going to the same agency, so she's interested in what they have to say. Tokoyami and Midoriya are startled by Todoroki, but it fits in her characterization of him. He's weird. How can he not be? She still remembers the first day of class. The first words out of his mouth had been 'It's pink, but not as bright". He even had the audacity to touch her hair. What's up with that?