Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Shinsou Hitoshi, 16 years old, has finally gotten himself into UA’s Hero Course.

All those years of dreaming, scheming, imagining what it will be like to fight villains and save people; all the humbling moments in the past few months training and fighting and losing, has culminated so far to this moment: staring at a giant door labeled “2-B”. Beyond the door, a seat at the back of the room waits for him, as well as an attendance list with ‘Shinsou Hitoshi’ written in between Rin Hiryuu and Shishida Jurota’s names.

He’s overwhelmed and surprised how that feels. Has he really wanted this, this badly?

“So, new kid. Ready to go in?” someone asks beside him, kind and amused, “or are you gonna stay here ‘til Vlad-sensei bites your head off for being late? Wouldn’t advise that, personally...”

He tries to keep it cool when he faces Kendo Itsuka, 2-B’s class rep, who is staring at him in interest. (His class rep now, too .) “Yeah. Sorry. It’s weird that the door doesn’t say C this time.”

Bright-eyed and as kind as always, she asks, “Nervous?” 

“Maybe? I mean... New faces and all. Plus I’m not sure if I made a good impression last December.”

“You mean when you said you weren’t there to make friends?”

Oh, cringe . Why the hell did he have to be so emo? He wishes he could go back in time to slap his own face with the back of his hand. “Yeah. Ain’t exactly expecting a warm welcome ‘cause of that.”

Kendo chuckles and pats him hard on the back. The redhead doesn’t know her own strength, even with normal-sized hands. “Don’t be silly, Shinsou-kun. We were all rooting for you too back then, you know? All of us are stoked that they put you in with us.” She peeks through the door and gives him a sly smile. “... some of us more than the others, if you can believe it.”

Shinsou’s just about to ask what, or who she means when an obnoxious voice booms out through the hallway. “Here he is! The man of the hour!”

Monoma Neito turns around from what seems like a gloating session with some of his classmates, blonde hair and grey eyes sparkling with excitement. Seeing Shinsou standing awkwardly near the front door, the blonde practically leaps with open arms and lands gracefully in front of him. “Shinsou-kun! Long time no see! It’s so good to see you in the better class, and not with those tacky peasants next door!”

“Uh. Yeah. Thanks for having me.”

“The UA faculty certainly knows what they’re doing this year--Vlad-sensei is the best mentor and the talented lot in this here classroom will surely outshine those 2-A miscreants this year, so who better, really, to make you shine as you deserve in the hero course--”

The guy just goes on an on, doesn’t he? But Shinsou doesn’t feel as exhausted from it as he should have. Call it his steely will to endure what the rest of his new class endures everyday. Also helps that Monoma’s nice to look at… um, theatrically speaking. Good voice modulation, facial expressions, eye contact and all that. Maybe this is how he ropes people in on his schemes.

A few more moments of this and he finally feels the necessity to mumble, “Uh, it really doesn’t matter to me where. Plus, those guys aren’t that bad, so...”

He wonders if that will get the blonde off of him, because as not-unpleasant the feeling is it’s almost homeroom already. For the moment it takes for Monoma to gasp overdramatically he starts to breathe easy.

“Blasphemy! It’s clear that you need my guidance more than ever!!” Okay, nope, the blonde is clinging to him harder than before, and doesn’t seem to have any intentions of letting go. “I have hope that I can influence you to think otherwise!”

“Monoma, Shinsou hasn’t been here five minutes and you’re already throwing yourself at him. Have some shame.”

Shinsou turns to see a few familiar faces--Shoda, anxious as ever, but smiling amicably up at him; Kodai, who regards him with equal parts pity and a neutral something-or-other that’s really impossible to read; and the source of the voice, Yanagi, with a gaze that’s already obviously done with Monoma’s shit.

“Well, I never!” Monoma huffs with a pout. “I’m not throwing myself at him--” the blonde clings a little harder to his arm, and Shinsou wonders if he’s just imagining how hot it is in the classroom--”I’m just welcoming him to our class, that’s all! I don’t see any of you making an effort!”

“Sorry ‘bout this, Shinsou-kun. You know how he is,” Shoda says in mild embarrassment. The grimace on the shorter guy’s face tells a long and tiring story filled with a year’s worth of hardships dealing with this guy. “He’ll calm down once Vlad-sensei gets here, though. You just have to deal with him for like, three more minutes.”

“And if he doesn’t calm down, just let any of us know,” Yanagi says, with a brusque raise of a pale eyebrow. “Itsuka’s always ready to shut him down. I also offer yeeting services if you need it.”

“Mm,” Kodai agrees.

“Thanks,” Shinsou replies, already deciding to make friends with them. “I can handle this guy just fine for now. Might take you up on your yeeting service tho, Yanagi.”

The way Monoma’s jaw drops is comical. So is the cute little offended sound that comes out of it. His hands go this way and that, gesticulating in that wild way he does usually, and--

Wait, rewind. Cute? Since when?

“You are all rude! Rude, rude, rude!” the blonde complains, pointing to each of their bored faces in succession. “Why are you making me look bad in front of Shinsou-kun?! You should be supporting me! Especially you, Yanagi, you’re extra bitchy this morning, aren’t you?”

The white-haired girl shrugs. “Nah, I can be bitchier. Bitch.”

He makes that cute little sound again-- stop, Shinsou pleads with his stupid brain--and wriggles closer to him. “Shinsou, look at how mean Yanagi is!” Monoma whines with a little pout of his lips. “Make her stop!”

It really is hot in this stupid classroom, huh? Did Todoroki from next door set the building on fire? “Uh. I’m not about to brainwash someone outside of a fight,” he mumbles lamely, scratching his burning neck purposelessly.

“Weak. But I get the primal fear, Shinsou-kun. I know I’m powerful,” Yanagi says smugly. “Guess you gotta do it yourself, bitch.”

“Call me bitch one more time!” Monoma taunts, hand subtly sliding down his sleeve. Shinsou doesn’t miss the little brush of his hand against his own. He knows just Monoma copying his quirk and being petty, but it doesn’t make his stupid ears heat up any less.

It’s so frickin’ obvious what he’s planning to do though, and he wonders if Yanagi or Kodai or Shoda are going to fall for it. But before any of them can respond to Monoma, someone stomps their way in the middle of the conversation with all the finesse of someone breaking shit in the middle of a mosh pit. “Outta the way, bitches!”

Shinsou doesn’t think twice, because the person’s sharp mandibles were this close to slicing off his hair, scalp, and the top ⅓ of his skull, and maybe both his eyeballs too if the guy turned his head, like, 5 degrees to his left. Stumbling to the side, he has to catch himself and Monoma, who clings to him for dear life, onto the desk behind him.

“Jesus, Kamakiri, watch it!” Yanagi snaps at the towering figure, not caring a bit that the person she’s yelling at has actual fucking blades growing out of his face.

“Yeah, Kamakiri-kun, what the hell!” Monoma says as he straightens up, not stepping even a little bit away from Shinsou. “We were talking here!”

This guy--Kamakiri, apparently--has a scowl on his face like he’s perpetually having a bad day. He glares at everyone--eye twitching in an extra sour way as he looks at Shinsou, so what the fuck --and clicks his tongue. “You watch it! God, all this yakkin’ and yakkin’ and icky flirting, get a fucking room won’t ya?! It’s too early for this shit! Jesus fuckin’—“

Before anyone could retort, a flash of green zips through their vision. In the instance that Shinsou blinks, Kamakiri’s mouth is already wrapped with vine.

Shiozaki stands coolly from the desk behind Shinsou, a piercing glare as sharp as thorns silencing the argument and the rest of the classroom. “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain. I thought I’ve made this abundantly clear during our first year.”

Something unsettling fills the room as everyone in the classroom except the bound Kamakiri suddenly feel compelled to mumble an apology to her. With a suddenly merciful smile, she sits down and looks up at Shinsou. “Welcome to our class, my brother. May the Lord bless and keep you.”

Shinsou nods and automatically mutters “Thanks for having me,” suddenly filled with fear of the Lord.

“A-anyways,” Shoda says, looking like he’s on the edge of a nervous breakdown, “I think it’s time you got to your seat, Shinsou-kun. You get the seat at the very back, right behind Kendo-san. Monoma, you should really let go of him now, please stop embarrassing yourself in front of him I’m begging you--”

“Who’s embarrassed?” Monoma says, doing the exact opposite of Shoda’s plea. “He’s right though, Shinsou-kun, let me show you to your seat!”

“No, that’s--” Shinsou mumbles lamely as the lithe blonde drags him to the back of the room. It isn’t a long walk by any means, but having the entire room of kids staring at you with incredulous looks on their faces sure makes it feel that way. Maybe he’s just imagining the glares from some of them, but then again just his very presence was enough to cause a scene so early in the morning, so…

“Shinsou-kun, I’m so sorry I let him loose on you without supervision,” Kendo says as soon as they arrive. “I was about to switch him off, but I was worried it’ll be too much on your first day…”

“As gentle as always, Kendo,” Monoma says sarcastically. Finally, though, he lets go of Shinsou’s arm, looking only a little reluctant. “Anyways, Shinsou-kun, I’m over there! Come to me anytime you need help, okay?”

He mumbles his thanks, and before he knows it Monoma’s twirling and ambling his way to his seat. On the way there most of the people he passes by have something to say to him. Shinsou guessed from the joint training exercise last year that the guy was popular in his class, but he didn’t expect just how much attention he gives to all of his classmates.

“Yeah, even though we have a lot to say about Monoma, he does a lot for the class. I don’t think we’ll be the same without him,” Kendo tells him with a knowing smile, as if guessing what he’s thinking.

“That so.”

“Yup. Even though he’s you know… like that, everyone loves him.”

Yeah, maybe a little too much love? There’s still that feeling at the back of his neck like someone’s glaring at him, hard. Shinsou rubs his neck reflexively to make it go away, but there it remains.

When he looks up at the rest of the class though, everyone’s attention is to Vlad Sensei, who immediately starts roll call. The feeling eventually goes away and by the time the classes start, Shinsou is already wondering if just imagined it. 

*

When he transferred to the hero course, Shinsou’s old classmates from 1-C were pretty happy for him, that goes without saying. However, lots of them were worried about him. “Are they gonna be okay with you?”

They are, of course, talking about his quirk. When he (reluctantly) shared what he went through in middle school, his 1-C friends were all up in arms defending him from all the haters lurking in school. Shinsou appreciates the effort, but sometimes they can be overprotective.

“He’ll be okay,” another of his friends pipes up before Shinsou can answer the question. “I mean, on the off chance that he’s haters from the other class, I’m sure the goths will adopt him into their coven and protect him like a little goth hatchling. A goth-ling, if you will.”

They had a good laugh over that, and then they made Shinsou promise to visit them every now and then and to introduce him to his new goth friends when it comes down to it. He somehow gets goaded into making that promise.

Weird, but at the very first day of class he does get adopted by a group, but there’s only one and a half goths in it (Yanagi and probably Kodai), and the rest is a mixture of people he never thought he’d get along with: Shoda, who he actually saw relax once after drinking a slushie; Tsunotori, the American girl who thought kuso yarou meant ‘hey Shinsou your quirk is awesome’; and Komori, who hung out with them “because shitake’s about to happen and I musht see it happen from the front shrooms, shroom!”

His new 1-B friends are pretty cool. Although he isn’t sure why Komori’s being awfully ominous so early in the school year. He guesses that it has something to do with the second half-truth of his 1-C friend’s prediction: at day 5 of hero classes, Shinsou’s about 75% sure he’s got haters in class already.

Call him paranoid if you want to, but Shinsou can’t shake off the feeling of someone being annoyed by him. He felt it when he moved in the dorm and Monoma volunteered to help him. He felt it a couple days ago when Monoma let him try his raspberry yoghurt granola parfait for breakfast. He felt it a few times in the locker room when Monoma critiqued him on his fighting technique after hero training. There were lots of other moments too. It can’t all be coincidence.

Anyway, it’s day 7 of being a hero course student and apart from that, Shinsou thinks he’s doing pretty well. Whether someone hates him or not, he’s gonna be a hero in a few more years so he’ll endure this for as long as he needed to.

Lunch break. The six of them are sitting at a table together in Lunch Rush. Shinsou thinks he’s doing a good job of paying attention to the conversation, but then again maybe not, because he sees Monoma from the corner of his eye, flitting from table to table and drawing attention to himself in the most Monoma way possible--with a lot of trash talk and inappropriate aplomb. As always Kendo looks at her wit’s end trying to keep him under control, and Tetsutetsu’s trailing along, screaming behind them.

Shinsou’s embarrassed to admit that he’s entranced .

“It’ll be a matter of time before the mushroom cloud of drama happens,” Komori says idly, as if reading Shinsou’s mind.

Idly digging his spoon through his omurice, Shinsou quietly replies, “Maybe you’re right, Komori.”

“Kinoko, don’t tell the new fella strange things like that!” Tsunotori exclaims through a crunch of a Washington Red. “I ain’t even know what you’re talkin’ about!”

Komori grins up at the girl, looking very much like a gremlin. “Hm? You haven’t noticed anything… shrooming in the background, Pony-chan? I thought it’s obvious that things are gonna be pretty different in our class-shroom soon.”

Shoda sighs anxiously. “Komori, that’s not funny. I mean, we don’t know if Shinsou-kun’s… uh, gonna be affected in any way or anything.”

“Uh. Affected?”

Shoda’s eyes dart around nervously--this time, it’s painfully obvious that he’s also looking at where Monoma is currently flitting about, which happens to be where Awase, Rin, Kaibara and Tsuburaba are seated. The blonde is rambling something vaguely about something, likely about 2-A again, while the Common Sense Kings take turns in making fun of him.

Affected? By Monoma? Shinsou swallows nervously as he watches the blonde boy with all his grandiose words and hand gestures and boisterous laughter, and finds his heart throbbing a little faster. Shit, he’s been trying to ignore this feeling for the past week, but it hasn’t gone away with his best efforts. Why does Monoma sparkle more and more, the more he looks at that stupid obnoxious face of his?

More importantly, have his classmates noticed? Is anyone gonna kink-shame him for thinking of these sorts of things about Monoma? Well, the perpetually snarky Yanagi’s gonna do it, that’s a given, but still--

Cool it, Shinsou. Maybe he’s just deluding himself about his own feelings. Maybe the sparkles are all from Kaibara Sen, one of the prettiest persons in UA, period--the guy’s glaring up at Monoma exposing that pretty mug for all the cafeteria to see. In truth, it’s a little hard looking at Monoma and Kaibara together all at once, because Monoma’s always sparkling in Shinsou’s vision, while Kaibara sparkles 24/7 regardless of whose vision it is. Shinsou feels like he’s going blind, and the only way to make it worse is if--

Okay, Kaibara’s looking at his direction now, making all the sparkles from the depths of his mysterious, dark eyes go straight for his eyeballs, like a gamma knife coming for a tumor.

Needless to say, Shinsou’s on the verge of tears after that beautiful, beautiful assault. He looks away before it gets worse.

“You exaggerate,” Yanagi quips with a huff. “Kaibara ain’t that hot. Get yourself together, man.”

As Shinsou rubs his eyes, Shoda rolls his. “He is that hot, okay? Did you know that after the Sports Festival, his middle school fanclub--which is already sizable, by the way--earned like three thousand new members overnight? The only other guy in school who has more than him is Todoroki Shouto!”

“That ain’t nothin’!” Tsunotori neighs excitedly. “I heard Sen was s’posed to be in class A, ‘cept Nezu thought that if they put him an’ Todoroki in one place, someone’s gonna die from how hot it is? Ain’t sure if it’s just baloney, but I mean, Sen’s a real heartthrob, ain’t he?”

“I heard he was so hot, the support guys had a hard time with his costume,” Komori pipes up conspiratorially with a wicked grin on her face. “Like, they thought he looked way sexier than the school allowed, no matter what design they came up with. Hatsume came up with that hoodie thing his hero costume has now ‘to minimize casualties’. Shroom!”

Yanagi gives all of them a dead look. “Sure he’s a pretty boy, and sure some people are hopelessly smitten with him--”

Some people? Shinsou thinks, daring to glance at where Monoma is touching Kaibara quite liberally on his shoulder.

A lump instantly forms in his throat and makes it hard for him to hear the rest of Yanagi’s sentence.

“--but he isn’t all that. I mean, unlike the rest of you schmucks, I didn’t cry when I first saw his face,” the ghost girl declares proudly. “And neither did Yui-chan over here.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re the lesbian supremo of this territory,” Shoda tells her flatly, “And Kodai-san’s immune, ‘cause she’s on equal footing with him, hotness-wise.”

“Mhm,” Kodai replies, in a neither here-nor-there sort of way.

She isn’t even denying it, Shinsou thinks as a similar sparkle surrounds her. It isn’t as blinding or as… purposefully malicious as Kaibara’s though. Strange how sparkles can be weaponized. Can they be weaponized?

However, before any of them can argue Yanagi’s brag, the booming laugh that is simultaneously the joy and the bane of Shinsou’s existence comes closer to them. “Well, well, well! And here’s my combat team having a lively conversation with Shinsou-kun without me! Aren’t you all sneaky little bastards~ Hi, Shinsou-kun!!! Are they giving you a hard time?”

Before Shinsou can properly swallow his tea, Monoma Neito has already traipsed twenty meters across the cafeteria to drop his bottom next to him, dangerously close to his lap. Instantly, the scent of fancy imported cologne and braggadocio fills Shinsou’s nostrils and makes his heart skip a beat.

Shit, isn’t it corny and utterly creepy to admit that someone’s scent makes you want to die? Shinsou coughs and manages to mumble, “Hey Monoma” without sounding like he’s on the verge of cardiac arrest.

“And it’s our turn,” Komori says playfully. “Monoma-kun, shouldn’t you move away from Shinsou’s lap before the disciplinary committee ashrooms that you’re harassing him?”

“Humph! Not even a hi-hello!” Monoma grumbles, not moving an inch away from Shinsou. “I just want to make sure my classmates are eating their lunches properly and here I am being treated so unkindly!”

The rest of the table greets Monoma in varying levels of politeness and weariness, the most weary one being Shoda. “Monoma, one day we’re gonna need to do the Heimlich on Shinsou-kun if you keep throwing yourself at him while he’s swallowing.”

“That so?” Monoma says, blinking innocently. “Well, if I’m bothering Shinsou-kun so much, I’m sure he’ll tell me to my face, right? Shinsou-kun, am I bothering you at all?”

He flutters those pretty long lashes at him, storm-grey eyes gleaming, porcelain skin on a perfectly symmetrical face pushing closer and closer to his personal space. Shinsou feels the tips of his ears threatening to set his entire head on fire.

Bothering isn’t the correct term. Actively driving to the depths of anguish, maybe. “Nah, you’re good,” he mumbles in utter embarrassment, trying to look in any other direction except Monoma’s.

Monoma flashes him a look--something worrisome that makes him stop in his tracks--but it’s so brief that it might have been Shinsou’s imagination. “See? He’s okay with me.” The blonde beams smugly at the rest of the table. 

Yanagi scoffs. “Shinsou, come on, I gave you clearance on the very first day to trash-talk him as much as you want.”

Monoma gives another super cute affronted noise amidst the laughter at the table. Shinsou chuckles quietly and rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “Nah, uh. I really don’t mind hanging out with Monoma. He can sit next to me all he likes, it’s whatever.”

He isn’t sure if it’s the correct thing to say, because there’s another confusing look in the blonde’s eyes that isn’t assuring at all. Shit, maybe he’s creeping Monoma out. Maybe he’s already forming excuses to stay away from him. Maybe Shinsou has already messed things up forever and ever and he’ll die miserable and alone with nothing but 100 cats to inherit his meager earnings from underground hero work.

Tsunotori doesn’t notice Shinsou’s painful internal turmoil and neighs suggestively. “Ain’t that sweet of you, Hitoshi? Neito, aren’t you lucky that he’s such a darlin’ to you?”

Shinsou can’t look at whatever look of disgust may or may not be on Monoma’s face, but he does hear the guy laughing almost politely next to him. “Everyone’s a darling to me, I’m just that lovable I guess~ anyway, fact is, Shinsou actually thinks I’m a decent human being, so--”

“Are you sure about that?” someone asks, “You know there’s such a thing as just being polite.”

Shinsou almost chokes again as a blinding light obstructs his field of vision again. The assault on his senses is brief, and a few blinks later he finds Kaibara casually passing by their table, deep dark eyes trained on him. There’s a lopsided grin on his mouth and a friendly raise of the eyebrows that makes Shinsou assured of his own existence. What the fuck is this level of attractiveness? It’s unfair.

Monoma frowns up at him. “You know, Kaibara-kun, just because you can’t stand me doesn’t mean everyone else feels the same way.”

Strangely though, Shinsou feels a sinister aura behind the glare that he can’t explain. It makes him shiver and hardly aware of Monoma’s grip tightening on his arm...

“Now that’s unfair, Neito,” Kaibara says, still with that dark smile, ( First name basis?! Shinsou thinks in panic.) “I’m just saying that Shinsou’s a nice guy to everyone . Ain’t that right, buddy?”

… as well as the tension suddenly spreading across the table. Shinsou notices eyes going to the surface of the table, up the ceiling, away from the uncomfortable staring match that he finds himself in. “Uh. Sure. But I got along with Monoma since our joint training, so…”

What the hell is happening? The two of them seemed okay when they were talking in the other table moments ago, but suddenly they’re weird. Shit, did Shinsou cause them to fight? Maybe he did something wrong, and Shinsou’s too dense to notice.

“Dude, don’t pick a fight with Monoma. We had our turn already!” Tsuburaba Kosei’s bright voice and wide eyes cuts through the tension and shatters it into tiny little bits.

“Yeah, man,” Rin says with a bright, calming smile, like the Buddha. “We’ll have our turn during combat training later. It’s you and me versus him and Kodai, right?”

Shinsou hasn’t spoken much to those two guys before. He has to marvel at the effect they have on the group though--their aura feels like the first cool blast of the AC on a sweltering summer day. “Oh yeah, we’re fighting in pairs later, ain’t we?” Tsunotori says, making the rest of them murmur in agreement and talk about fighting excitedly amongst themselves.

Shinsou’s been looking forward to that afternoon. He’s been itching for combat, and it’ll be the first day this semester to have this class with Vlad-sensei. He’d be fighting alongside Komori, versus Fukidashi and Tokage. He’s gonna fight a rec student off the bat. He’s pretty stoked.

“That’s right. This’ll be your first fight in our class, right, Shinsou?” Kaibara says with a smile. “We’re looking forward to it.”

He isn’t so sure now with that amused glint in Kaibara’s eyes. It probably means something different, but it makes him feel like he’s looking forward to watching Shinsou’s ass getting kicked.

Monoma’s grip tightens more on his arm, and Shinsou begins to wonder why. Unexpectedly, it’s Kodai who breaks the second wave of tension, before anyone else could. “Kaibara. All of us should be getting back to the classroom now.”

Was that… a whole ass sentence from Kodai? That wasn’t just a series of mhms and yups ? And what’s with the flash of danger in her eyes? Shinsou had to clench his jaw to keep it from gaping like a fish.

Awase Yosetsu, who has been oddly quiet until now, nudges Kaibara. “She’s right. The bell’s about to ring any second.”

As if on cue, the first bell does ring, and the rest of the cafeteria begins to move en masse. Tsuburaba yelps and begins to push the boys in his group out of the cafeteria as he whines about homework.

Once they’re out of sight, Shinsou feels Monoma release a deep breath as he stands up.

“Hey, Neito. You okay?” Tsunotori asks with concern.

All eyes seem to be on the blonde as he shrugs and does that little overconfident hairflip that’s designed to keep them at ease. “I’m good! Why wouldn’t I be?”

As they stand from their seats, Shinsou doesn’t miss the way the classmates give each other meaningful looks. “Want us to get Itsuka?” Yanagi asks him bluntly, after a beat of silence.

Monoma scoffs. “Why is that your knee-jerk reflex to anything I do? Besides, I just told you I’m okay. I mean, all of us here are friends--”

Grey eyes are locking onto Kaibara’s back just as he disappears beyond the door of the cafeteria. Something in Shinsou’s chest begins to sting.

“Getting Itsuka-chan then. Shroom! Shroom! Excuse me, Shinsou-kun!” Komori chirps happily, taking Monoma’s hand and dragging the blonde away from Shinsou. “I’ll see you later! We can’t lose later, okay?”

The protesting Monoma is dragged out of the cafeteria by the deceptively strong Komori. Shinsou is left stunned at the development. Walking awkwardly behind the rest of the group who tries to shift back to their usual selves, he asks, “Did something happen just now?”

Shoda gives him a quiet, pleading smile. “Nothing at all, Shinsou-kun. Come on, we’ll be late.”

It was apparent afterwards that no-one will clarify that weird-ass showdown to him. Well, it’s just a week in 1-B. He’ll figure out the dynamics of this class sooner or later.

For now, he needs to concentrate on kicking ass.

*

He gets his ass kicked later that day.

Well, not that he expected to win. Even though Komori told him that they can’t lose, she also told him to concentrate on not getting his ass kicked instead of winning by combat. The best strategy in winning against their opponents here was to prolong the battle until time up, which Komori tried to do by targeting spores against Fukidashi’s throat and targeting all sorts of mushrooms over all surfaces of Tokage that she can manage.

She encouraged him to try his hand at brainwashing, which he did, but it obviously didn’t go well against Fukidashi’s onomatopoeia quirk. He can hardly hear himself talk when the guy starts screaming. There was no way for him to get a response like that.

Plus, it’s much much harder to talk when Tokage won’t stop chasing him with most of her decapitated body parts.

Jesus fuck. (Sorry Shiozaki). Shinsou has already seen what she can do during the Joint Training Exercise, but seeing a floating mouth going “Shinsou-kun~ ready to die? ” is just as scary as it sounds.

She doesn’t stop at just body horror, too. Shinsou learns that fighting using a capture weapon is really difficult when his targets are small, moving in opposite directions, capable of breaking up into smaller pieces, and hitting him in the face every chance they get. He thinks he fought her as valiantly as he could for all of ten minutes before she punches him in the face with a floating arm for the tenth time. That’s all it takes for him to drop on the ground. Tokage rearranges herself on top of him so she’s straddling him on his back to give his head an additional hard push to the ground.

“Damn,” Shinsou mumbles, thoroughly winded. “Tokage, that was…”

“Brutal?” she sneers. “Don’t expect us to go easy on you just ‘cause you’re new, Shin-kun~ You got a long way to go.”

“I know. Thanks for not taking it easy on me.”

“That’s the match!” Vlad-sensei calls out from the crowd. “Good fight, everyone!”

“Hmph.” Shinsou can’t see her very well, but he feels some pent-up energy lingering in the hand she keeps at his hair. Like she’s still itching for a fight. Don’t get him wrong, he knows about the allure of the adrenaline rush that comes with fighting, but he wonders if she ever plans on letting him go even if the match is over.

Suddenly, he feels the rustle of her long hair against the side of his head and the threatening hotness of her breath against his ear. “You know… if you keep playing with him like that, Shin-kun, things aren’t ever going to be easy on you.”

Shinsou blinks. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb,” she whispers so harshly it comes out as a hiss. “The other six aren’t as nice as I am. Remember that.”

Before he can ask what the hell she’s going on about, Vlad-sensei starts yelling from the top, “Oi, Tokage! Didn’t you hear me?! The match is over! Get your asses up here now!”

Tokage narrows her eyes as she reluctantly gets off of his back. Shinsou doesn’t have enough time to even mutter what the actual fuck under his breath because Fukidashi is already there with a concerning cough and a bottle of antifungal spray in one hand. “Tokage, that was so great! You were so fired up you made my heart go doki-doki! o(≧∇≦o)” he says with a blush.

Tokage grins proudly. “‘Course I was. It’s impossible for me to not be awesome, y’know?”

“You were so intense though! I’ve never seen you fight like that before! You were like this the entire time! (☄ฺ◣д◢)☄ฺ Why is that? Did I annoy you in any way?”

Tokage makes a face. “Nah. You were good, Manga-kun. Shin-kun, get your ass up off the floor, Vlad-sensei’s gonna kill you if keep on lying down there like a doodoo head.”

Tokage leaves him in the dust at that, Fukidashi hot on her heels. He wills his aching body up as much as he can by himself, until he feels a small, strong hand on his arm.

Komori grins and dusts him off with a tiny hand. “Tough fight, huh, Shinsou-kun? Don’t worry, I think you did great!”

“Uh… yeah,” he says, eyes following Tokage. She’s back to her cheery self, sending her hand flying to her classmates for a continuous high five. “Um… did I do anything to her?”

Because he’s pretty sure he hasn’t interacted with Tokage much before this fight. What the fuck was that other six shit? Who was she talking about?

The mushroom girl looks up at him with a mysterious glint in her eye. “... so she told you about them, huh. Shinsou-kun, you are in for a whole lot of shiitake.”

Shinsou stares at her incredulously.

Komori cackles. “We’ll tell you about ‘em later. For now, we musht debrief with Vlad-sensei~ come on, they’re waiting!”

Trying to keep his head from spinning, Shinsou follows Komori to where the rest of the class is regrouping. Apart from Vlad-sensei, who tells him he did a good job, Monoma is the first to greet him to ask him how he’s doing.

“I think Shinsou-kun did an amazing job, right?” the blonde insists, and it gets Shinsou feeling some type of way. Suddenly he doesn’t feel so winded anymore, and maybe he can get himself to fight again.

The ominous feeling, however, does not go away.