Bakugou blinks.
And then a scowl appears on his face. Though curiously, it looks more annoyed than anything—which, on the Bakugou scale, is almost friendly. "Long time no see?" he repeats, his voice roughly cynical. "You just had dinner in my house last week, idiot Deku."
Midoriya doesn't seem bothered by the hostility. "A week could be a very long time," he says simply, his smile unwavering.
Hitoshi blinks.
Dinner? Deku?
Kacchan?
What the. These two know each other?
The rest of the class seems to share the same impression, but before any of them could act on it—or on the god accursed revelation just dumped at them by the literal Principal—Midoriya Izuku puts his hands together airily. "Well, Principal-san has instructed me not to intervene with your study—and I shan't, so long as you aren't going to Cease. I hope you'll cooperate with me and let me do my job. Please do not worry," he smiles. He always does smile. "It's all completely safe, you see."
Hitoshi is pretty sure the entire class does not see.
"Midoriya-kun will have today to evaluate the situation for the maximum and desired result; please cooperate with him for your own safety. Now then, I shall take my leave and Aizawa-sensei will proceed with homeroom. Thank you very much, Midoriya-kun."
"Midoriya," says Aizawa-sensei, "you can sit in front of Shinsou."
Of course, Hitoshi thinks a little despairingly, as Midoriya beams at him.
Hitoshi really feels like the class ought to be more, like, worried about the whole curse thing in general. Or at the very least, harbour some suspicion towards the proclaimed exorcist-of-some-kind gallivanting among their midst.
In retrospect, perhaps Hitoshi should've seen this coming. Hitoshi notwithstanding, 1-A is a weird ass bunch.
"—in accordance with the principle of sufficient reason. As Parmenides put it, 'nothing comes from nothing.'"
Though, he finds it astounding that of all people, it's Iida Tenya who got on board that quickly.
Midoriya nods serenely, having the air of a wise-old mage listening to its youngling student. "I see, Iida-san. But perhaps you should shift your thinking a little. Rather than the cosmos has no beginning nor end, why not the cosmos ended before it could begin?" Midoriya suggests. "Taking it as a cyclic phenomenon suggests that one would eventually return to the first point, but you see, there was no point in the first place."
Iida nods. And then he says, sincerely, "I do not understand."
"You can't win them all," Midoriya replies kindly.
"If I have to listen to another bout of theology discussion, I'm going to commit classticide," says Jirou, who has the unfortunate luck to be seated next to Bakugou, who is directly seated in front of Midoriya. "Please, I'm begging you, keep your mindfuckery session away from me. As far away as possible. Please."
Jirou, it seems, is smart enough to have decided to keep away from any of Midoriya's so-called mindfuckery sessions. Hitoshi can relate.
Not that it matters, because it's all already too late.
"It pleases me however, Iida-kun, to see you take this on so easily," says Tokoyami (he sits next to Hitoshi, which Midoriya has mentioned is 'sort of a cosmic joke,' whatever that means). "As your friend, I am happy to see that you keep an open mind and an open heart."
"Of course," Iida nods, straighter than a ruler. "As your class representative, it is pertinent of my duty to seek information on what danger might impose on class 1-A. Furthermore, I do believe that there are things in this world that one simply does not understand."
"Well put, my friend," Tokoyami says, standing up. "Well then, shall we feast together to celebrate this newfound bond between us two? I might not be as well-versed to the intricacies of the Fabric as Midoriya-san, but I believe I will be able to provide some enlightenment, dark as I am."
"I will be happy to, Tokoyami-kun!"
"Feast, we shall. The cafeteria serves curry today."
Hitoshi watches the unlikely duo strut out of the class. He wonders if there are more of his classmates who are actually not as right in the head as he initially thought.
"Midoriya-kun," says Ashido, who has Hagakure in tow. She looks ungodly excited. "So you're like, a shaman or something, right?"
"In a manner of speaking," Midoriya chirps.
Ashido and Hagakure look at each other (it's amazing, considering Hagakure's whole invisibility thing) and Ashido has this huge, manic green on her face. "Okay, cool. So do you do, like, fortune telling and stuff?" she drags Tokoyami's empty chair to Midoriya's desk and sits on it. "Can you, like, do me?"
"Ooh, me too! Do me too!"
"I'm a Leo sun, Aries moon and Sagittarius rising!"
They are all crazy, Hitoshi decides.
Present Mic tells them to be in a group of three. "Oh yeah, Midoriya-kun," he adds after a second. "Nezu told us to treat you like an exchange student, so feel free to join the discussion!"
Midoriya swivels his chair to the back and beams at Hitoshi.
"I don't understand how you barged into my life like this," Hitoshi tells him.
"Life has no ownership," Midoriya smiles. "Think of it like a communal bathroom. All for one, one for all."
Hitoshi stares, long and mournful. "That is the most uninspiring thing about life I've ever heard anyone say," he says. "In my entire fucking life."
"Midoriya Izuku."
Hitoshi turns to look at the quietest kid in class after Koda, who is also the third member of their English group discussion. Todoroki Shouto is staring intently at Midoriya with the flattest look a person could muster.
"That's me!" Midoriya chirps.
Todoroki stares at him with his standard cardboard doleful expression. Midoriya stares at him back with his standard paper-mache cheery expression. None of them proceed with the conversation.
Realizing Hitoshi has to play classmate, he sighs long and suffering and says, "Midoriya, this is Todoroki. Todoroki, this is the bane of my existence."
"Hello, Todoroki-san," says Midoriya. Todoroki is still staring at him. Sometimes Shinsou wonders if Todoroki's facial muscles are broken.
And then Todoroki says, with the graveness of a funeral eulogy, "the rest of the class seems to trust you. But you must know that I am no such fool."
Midoriya blinks. Hitoshi thinks, almost hysterically joyful, finally, someone with common sense!
"I know what you are, Midoriya," Todoroki says. "You are a fake. An imposter. Do not think you can get away with this."
Okay, maybe that's a little too far. Hitoshi is thankful that at least someone here has a functioning brain cell, but he'd rather not Todoroki to go through the whole Jirou-Kaminari-Kirishima incident, or anything worse. Not to mention dude is one of the strongest kid in class and shit. "Uh, Todoroki," Hitoshi starts, "I know how you feel, but actually—"
Todoroki turns to look at him. There is no malice in his face, only cold hard sincerity. "I won't let this imposter get to you too, Shinsou," he says, and turns back to Midoriya before Shinsou could muster up a reply. "I know what you are, Midoriya. And I'll have you know, I won't let you mess with my classmates even if you are indeed an extraterrestrial intelligence."
Hitoshi can feel his brain physically short-circuits.
Hitoshi stares. "Extra—what—"
"You can't fool me!" Todoroki glares at Midoriya accusingly. "You are an alien, aren't you? Who sent you?"
Hitoshi has arrived at the terrifying conclusion that none of his classmates are right in the head.
The next day, Hitoshi is quite disappointed to find Midoriya is still in the class. He'd had a faint hope that he dreamt the whole thing.
"Hey everyone! Welcome to Curses 101!" Midoriya claps his hands together. "I will be your teacher for the hour. Thank you Aizawa-sensei for letting me use the homeroom for a bit!"
"Just get it over with," says the sleeping bag on the floor.
"Isn't this exciting?" Midoriya says. "I've always wanted to be an educator. Now, can any of you tell me what curses are?"
Iida puts up his hand immediately, the teacher's pet. The class stares back at Midoriya with blank eyes. Hitoshi puts a face in his hands.
"Curses are an expression, or a wish, for a form of harm and/or misfortune to befall someone. It is more commonly associated with supernatural forces and the occult."
"Very well, Iida-san," Midoriya looks gleeful. "Yes, in a manner of speaking, that is what curses are. Someone intends to hurt you. And as you know, every intention has the intent to come true. Easy, right?" Midoriya steps down from the class' podium. "Okay, lessons over."
"Wait just a freaking second," Kaminari says, looking like he is about to choke someone. Preferably Midoriya. "Easy my ass—explain! Explain more!"
Midoriya looks at him with owlish eyes. "But I've already explained."
"Explain everything, " Kirishima says, desperately.
Midoriya blinks. "'Everything'?" he echoes, and Hitoshi thinks, oh no, and Midoriya says, "well, why didn't you say so! First, there was Light, which scientists call the Big Bang, and the conceiving of the Universe is akin to a string orchestra with woven silk as its Strings, and then Fate becomes," Midoriya has this ineffable cheerfulness throughout his information dump. "And you see, Fate is Time and Time is Fate, for Time is merely a metric propelled by happenings, and—"
"What Midoriya meant to say," Hitoshi stands up, pulling the class' attention to him. He half-glares to Midoriya, exasperated and two-hundred percent done. "Is that. Curses are like … uh." Okay, how does he proceed to explain the supernatural and the relationship between the human consciousness and the nature of the universe to a bunch of insane and borderline suicidal Hero students?
Hitoshi pinches the bridge of his nose. "Look, think of it like a Quirk," he says. "Like imagine there is this Quirk that everyone has innately. And this Quirk functions like … like you know how when you use your Quirk, it's sort of—like, it works like a command, right?" From the corner of the class, Yaoyorozu nods at him, which Hitoshi suspects is out of pity more than genuine understanding. Hitoshi takes it anyway. "Right. But a curse is—this metaphorical Quirk is command itself. You know? It sort of works like … a wish. A want. And some people's Quirk is stronger, you know? Like they intend so much that things actually come to be. It works like this humongous, deep, unethical wishing well, I think … and um, some people have more coins than others..? It's like, you know … like Santa Claus.."
This metaphor is escaping him. Hitoshi pauses and looks at the rest of the class. The rest of the class looks back at him with a blank face. Hitoshi looks at Midoriya for confirmation. Midoriya smiles brightly and gives him two thumbs up. Hitoshi wants to kill Midoriya.
"So like," Asui says in a drawl, breaking the silence, "It's like someone wrote to Santa that they want a Nintendo Switch and they actually got it?"
"Yes," Hitoshi says, a little relieved. "Like that!"
"So in this case," Asui continues flatly, "someone wrote to Santa that they want us dead?"
"Yes," Hitoshi says, no longer relieved. "Like that."
Midoriya claps his hands enthusiastically. "Excellent. Everyone! I present to you my trusty assistant, Hitoshi," says Midoriya proudly. "I'm sure he will be glad to answer any questions you might have."
"I hate you," says Hitoshi in earnest, sitting back down.
"So you're saying that Santa is an alien?"
"What," Hitoshi says in shock. "No? How did you even—what the hell, Todoroki?"
"I knew it," Todoroki says with a face so full of conviction that Hitoshi wants to cry a little.
"So what do we do now?" Kirishima says. "Do we write to Santa too? 'Santa, please, sir don't kill us sir?'"
"But I've been a good boy all year," Kaminari laments.
"Maybe we should kill Santa," Jirou suggests.
"I'm not sure I like this metaphor anymore," says Hitoshi. "And why the hell are you asking me?"
Ojiro raises his hand. "Uh, if that's the case, then don't we need to do cleansing?" Ojiro shifts a little under the sudden attention. "My grandpa lives near a shrine."
"Don't worry, cleansing is in my contract," Midoriya says cheerfully. "I'm being paid, remember? I'll do it maybe once a week. Think of me as, like, a cleaning service!" Hitoshi would rather not think of Midoriya at all.
"Hang on, hang on," Sero says, looking at his class like they are all crazy, which, well. "I've been playing along because I thought this was a practical prank ... is this not a practical prank?"
"Life doth maketh a fool out of us all," replies Tokoyami wisely.
"This curse fiasco is quite romantique, d'accord? "
"Do you think curses can be, like, monetized?"
"I don't think so, Ochako-chan."
"I disagree, I think this can make a good I almost died Youtube video."
"We should start a channel," Uraraka enthusiastically says. "'Class 1-A, unsolved!" You think I can get rich being a Youtuber?"
"Does the curse affect animals? My pets deserve to live a good life. "
"My aunt's boyfriend's aunt's cousin's classmate's step-brother was cursed by his ex and now he can't get it up," says Ashido seriously.
Kaminari visibly pales. "What? But I want to get it up!"
The class explodes into chaos. Some are asking for explanations, some are asking do curses really make you impotent, because that's just unfair I'm only sixteen and I don't want to die a virgin?
"Please, everyone!" says Iida with all the dignity that the class rep has to offer. "Let us all question Midoriya-san in an orderly fashion! Show some—"
"EVERYONE SHUT UP," says Jirou, with the help of her Quirk. Everyone does shut up. "Okay but, aren't we ignoring the real question here?" Jirou says to the silence. "Who cursed us?"
"Mm. Well," Midoriya says, tapping a finger to his lips. "Did you, as an entire class, massively piss off someone or a group of people in the past six months? Perhaps, hm, more than once?"
The class looks at each other. Hitoshi knows exactly which group of people they are thinking.
"Fuck," says Kaminari, with feelings.
Yaoyorozu Momo is listening to La Campanella op. 7 rendition by Kyoko Yonemoto when she walks down the hall from her deputy rep errand when she nearly bumps into Midoriya Izuku.
"Oh—! I'm sorry," Momo says, a little taken aback. She takes out her earphone—and frowns a little, because the song has changed into … Hell's Bells by AC/DC, which she has never heard before in her entire life. Momo tries to press pause on her phone but it won't do for some reason—is her phone bugging?
"Oh no, I'm sorry," says Midoriya Izuku smoothly, blinking huge eyes back at her.
Momo gives up on trying to get her music app to close and shoves it into her pocket instead along with her earphones—though the song is loud enough to be heard, hard guitar riffs echoing in the hall. Maybe she's accidentally pressed on Kyouka's playlist. My lightning's flashing across the sky! The singer screams. You're only young but you're gonna die!
"I should've paid more attention," Momo says, apologetically. "Did I hurt you?"
"Not at all," he says, and then they stare at each other for a while. The song continues: I got my bell, I'm gonna take you to hell! I'm gonna get you, Satan get you!
Momo smiles a little unsurely. She isn't sure how to feel about their new temporary classmate. She isn't sure how to feel about … the whole thing, to put it mildly. Her family is quite conservative with this sort of thing, and she does visit the shrine regularly, but personally she isn't really the superstitious kind. But she trusts her teachers, she supposes, so.
Hell's bells, the song sings. Yeah, hell's bells!
"Um," she says, because Midoriya is still staring at her with that odd, dreamy look on his face. "Is there anything you need—?"
"Interesting," Midoriya says to Momo suddenly, coming close to her face without preamble that Momo could do nothing but stare in shock. He is inspecting her, it looks like, uncomfortably up and personal in her space.
She steps back reflexively, a little scandalized. "I'm sorry?"
"Well, it's a choice," he says, apropos to absolutely nothing. And then, "you have an Affinity," and then, "are you interested in the occult?"
Momo repeats, a little shrill, "I'm sorry?" and the song sings even more shrilly, if you're into evil you're a friend of mine, see the white light flashing as I split the Night!
"You can flourish in that field," Midoriya advises. He sounds like he means every word. "Also, you don't have to pay taxes as an Occultist. Heroes have to, right?" 'Cause if good's on the left, then I'm stickin' to the right!
"What?"
"Pay taxes," Midoriya explains.
"No, I meant—what —"
"It's thin around you," Midoriya continues, scanning her—not her, but the space around her. "Very thin. Malleable, even. You have an Authority."
What did Kyouka say about Midoriya again? That the boy is a legit honest to fuck some kind of reality bender mindfuckery meta horror or some shit, man? "Um. I'm sorry, Midoriya-kun, but the period is starting soon, and.."
You got me ringing hell's bells! My temperature's high, hell's bells! Momo tries to press pause again, which still doesn't work, so she attempts to turn down the volume and it doesn't work either—what is wrong with her phone?
"Or rather, you could have an Authority," he amends, sounding like he is in deep thought. He doesn't seem to notice Momo's unwillingness in this encounter. "Did you know, you don't have to take things from yourself when you can take from others."
By all means, Momo should just excuse herself politely and make her leave right there. Instead, she ignores her malfunctioning phone to look at him. She says, "what do you mean by that?"
Hell's bells, Satan's comin' to you!
"Blood magic is so last century, after all," continues Midoriya, almost in good humor. "Such a waste to sacrifice bits of yourself for little trinkets, don't you think?"
Hell's bells, he's ringing them now!
"Blood—" she cuts herself off. Momo isn't the most intelligent kid in all of UA, if not Japan, for nothing. What a devious, ominous way to describe her Quirk; it doesn't sit right in her stomach. "How did you figure out my Quirk?" perhaps Aizawa-sensei or Nezu provided him with a list. "What's ... thin around me?"
"Mm," Midoriya looks at her, an assessing cursory of childish green eyes. "No harm in it, I suppose. Do you want to Know, Yaoyorozu-san?"
Hell's bells, warns her phone one last time.
She really should've said no.
"Ah, aren't they the folks who kidnapped Kacchan?" says Midoriya mildly, looking over the documents Aizawa-sensei has given him, apparently. "Interesting."
Jirou snorts. "That's one way to put it. The League of Villains almost killed us all."
"I shit my pants in the summer camp incident."
"I did not need to know that, bro."
"Why are you guys in my room?" demands Hitoshi, who is both pissed and resigned.
Jirou, Kaminari and Kirishima look at each other. "Well," Kaminari says, swallowing his chip, which is actually Hitoshi's chip. "Midoriya did say it's safer to hang around you."
"Are you fucking kidding me," says Hitoshi.
"Your room has nice air con, too. Mine's broken because of Bakugou."
"I think it's good for you to be social for once, Shinsou.."
"Shut up."
Someone knocks on the door. Hitoshi sighs and opens it. "What."
"Good evening," says Iida.
"No," says Hitoshi, to no avail.
"As the class rep," says Iida diplomatically once he is seated on the floor along with the other intruders, "it is my duty to oversee Midoriya-san's stay in our dormitory. Please do request me anything I could possibly be of help with."
"I request you to get out of my room," says Hitoshi, which is ignored by every single one of these fuckers.
Iida pulls out a notebook. For fucks' sake. "So how long will you be staying in our dormitory, Midoriya-san."
Before Midoriya can reply, someone knocks on the door. Hitoshi can't fucking believe it. "What," he seethes, opening the door for—
"Greetings," says Tokoyami.
"Greetings," chirps Midoriya.
"Why," says Hitoshi.
Tokoyami sits next to Iida, taking the offered chip—which, again, is actually Hitoshi's chip—from Kaminari.
"Oh, I will not be staying in the dormitory, of course," Midoriya answers Iida's question. He even laughs a little, as if the idea is ridiculous. "They can't afford to pay that."
They look at each other. Kirishima frowns questioningly. "What, I thought you were … but are you still gonna come to class?"
"Of course not," says Midoriya, surprised.
"So these two days have been, what, a trial?"
"A check up," Midoriya corrects. "I'll come in once in a while for those, too. But, you know, I need to go to school and stuff."
"Education is important," Tokoyami agrees.
Kaminari stares. "You go to school?" he repeats, which is actually pretty rude.
"I thought you just fuck around in another dimension or something," says Jirou. She says it off-handedly, but Hitoshi cringes reflexively, because that's … uh. Well. Hitoshi watches Midoriya smiles at Jirou's words. They don't need to know the details, do they? "I do have other priorities, you know," says Midoriya mildly.
"Good to know our lives aren't your top priority, bro," Kaminari half-jokes.
"Of course not," Midoriya replies cheerfully. "You're still breathing, aren't you?"
Hitoshi never saw someone's face pales so fast. "Right," says Kaminari in a small voice.
"What, so your exorcism thing is like, a part-time job?" Jirou says, drily.
"In a manner of speaking," Midoriya agrees, flipping a page of the file. He looks up to smile at her. "Don't worry, I take my jobs very seriously—part-time or otherwise."
"Great," says Jirou flatly. "I feel very safe."
Someone knocks harshly on the door. Hitoshi is very, very pissed at this point. "Fucking hell! What?"
Bakugou Katsuki is standing in front of his room.
"Is he here," he says, and it's not pleasant, but it's not really a snap.
Hitoshi raises a brow.
Obviously, talented motherfuckers like Bakugou are the type that Hitoshi hates the most, therefore. "Didn't know you could knock," Hitoshi drawls.
"Watch it, Okinawa," and that's a snap. "Oi, Deku!"
Midoriya's face pops up under Hitoshi's armpit. "Yes, Kacchan?"
"She's on the line for you," Bakugou grumbles, shoving a phone to Midoriya's face. "Hurry the fuck up."
Midoriya squeezes himself out from Hitoshi's door, taking the offered phone in stride. There is a casualness in the action that makes Hitoshi think this is far from the first time. "Oh, is it aunty? Ah, hello! Yes, yes, all is good. Next Sunday? Hmm, I'd have to check my schedule."
Midoriya chatters on, walking away to the hall with Bakugou's phone. Bakugou sort of glances at the dude with this silent, scowly look on his face, arms folded. "I said hurry the fuck up!" he barks out the moment Midoriya—who is apparently the kind of person who roams around when he's on call—disappears into the kitchen, still chattering at high speed. Bakugou tsks.
It's sort of interesting to watch. Hitoshi knows Bakugou as well as he knows the other members of the class—which isn't very much at all. He's only been integrated into 1-A for what, half a month, a bit more? But he's never seen Bakugou act so..
"The fuck you looking at?"
Hitoshi is a shithead, so he says, "your breathtaking blue eyes?"
To Hitoshi's disappointment, Bakugou doesn't so much as sputter; dude just bares his teeth in this sort of feral, horrifying-ass smile. He ignores the jibe with a sneer, turning on his heels and prowls to the direction Midoriya's left to.
What, did he think Hitoshi was gonna use his Quirk on him? Hitoshi scowls, going back into his room with the door slammed.
"Was that Bakugou?"
Hitoshi scoffs as an answer. Before Kirishima can ask further questions, the door opens and Midoriya strolls inside.
"You sure get along with Bakugou," Jirou comments as Midoriya closes the door behind him. Everyone in the room can hear Bakugou stomping up the stairs in his unnecessarily explosive manner.
"Kacchan and I are not on good terms," says Midoriya simply, sitting back down. He tidies up the documents scattered on the floor into the file.
"He said you had dinner at his house," Kirishima points out.
Midoriya zips open his bag. "He makes great katsudon," says Midoriya as if it's a sufficient explanation and does not just raise more questions.
Kirishima's face lights up like christmas at this revelation. "He what—ouch, Jirou!"
"Focus," hisses Jirou. She turns back to Midoriya, determined to keep the conversation on track. "So what's your plan? I mean, after Kamino, the rest of the League is in hiding, right? How are you going to set about finding them?"
True. Hitoshi doesn't really know the exact details about the whole fiasco other than what the news and Aizawa-sensei told him; plus, he wasn't part of the class at the time, and he isn't really one to pry. But he knows the League of Villains is bad news, considering the damage they did—and what happened with All Might.
After All for One went down, the rest of the league scattered and no one has seen their ass since. Aizawa-sensei would never admit it, but Hitoshi knows it's driving the man nuts.
"Find them?" Midoriya repeats, turning from the documents to look at her owlishly. "Why should I?"
They stare at him. Jirou looks like she wants to die. "Because," she says, sounding more pained with each syllable. "The. Fucking. Curse?"
Midoriya blinks. "What do they have to do with the curse?" He puts the files into his huge-ass bag and zips it up.
What.
"I see," says Tokoyami understandingly. The rest of them, per usual, does not see.
"Are you saying it's not the League?"
"But I thought it was the League? Wasn't that the whole issue?"
If not the League, then who … Hitoshi frowns. "How do you know it's not the League?"
Midoriya looks at them for a while, silent. Nothing is really readable from his blank, neutral expression. "Well," he says, and then someone bangs on the door.
"Fuck!" Hitoshi opens the door.
"Where is he," demands Todoroki Shouto at his fucking door.
"For fucks' sake," says Hitoshi as Todoroki just barges in like he owns the place. "This is my room!"
"Dear god," says Todoroki flatly the moment he sees his classmates sitting in a circle with Midoriya. "He has brainwashed you all."
"That's quite rude to Shinsou-kun, Todoroki-kun," Iida chastises.
"He's not talking about me," says Hitoshi.
"Wake up, everyone!" Todoroki points at Midoriya. "He is absolutely not normal."
"Um," says Kirishima in the ensuing silence. "I mean.."
"I agree," says Jirou.
"I feel like we've sort of gone past that," says Kaminari.
"Normal is but a frail, ever-changing mortal self-assurement in face of our fast-paced and capitalistic society," says Tokoyami.
"None of you would know normal if it's five foot five and staring at you," seethes Hitoshi, and then someone bangs on the door again. Hitoshi lets out a bunch of frustration noises. "Does anybody here possess even a shred of decency —"
"Is Midoriya here," says Yaoyorozu Momo at his door, looking way more disheveled than Hitoshi has ever seen her. Her hair, usually immaculate in her tie, is now jutting out in several places. Her eyes look like they've personally seen the rise and fall of the human race.
"Um," is all Hitoshi could manage as Yaoyorozu pushes past him.
Jirou looks surprised. "Momo? Is everything, uh … okay?"
"Yes," she says to Jirou with a twitching smile. And then, to Midoriya, somewhat hysterically, "we need to talk."
"Sure thing," chirps Midoriya, who then stands up promptly and slings his giant bag across his shoulders. "Well, thanks for having me, guys! See you sometime later, yeah."
"Oh no," says Todoroki in horror, which is to say, with the same flat voice he's always had. "He's got Yaoyorozu too."
"You're going? Man, but you haven't explained—"
"You know what," says Kaminari, who has given up. "Whatever. Just fuckin' ... just go."
"Oh, no, no," Jirou stands up. "What the hell did you do to Momo?"
"Be well, Midoriya-san!"
"Farewell, Cursed One."
"See ya," Midoriya tells them cheerfully.
Hopefully not.
"Momo! What did he do to you! What did he—"
Hitoshi turns to the remaining occupants of his room.
"Get the fuck out," he tells them.
Kaminari reluctantly stands up. "Can I bring the chips?"
"Get out."