Chapter Text
Midoriya was in a state of shock. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and his emotions were bubbling to the surface. He looked towards Tsuyu, his friend, and saw her crying but it felt like more than that, it felt like she was in a state of despair. ‘This happened because of choices I made’, he thought. He needed to sort through his thoughts and feelings. He did not regret his decision to go with the others to try and save Bakugo. He knew the risks and he was willing to accept the consequences for his actions, whatever they might have been. ‘A hero is someone who helps, even when they are not asked’, he thought. Looking over at Tsuyu, he realized that he now began to have some misgivings. He had not noticed her pain before now. He had heard her thoughts when they were talking about taking action, but he had to admit to himself that he really did not consider her words enough before attempting the rescue. He knew he should approach her, but he did not know what to say. He felt that a simple apology was not sufficient enough given her reaction. ‘Everyone else stepped up and gave her their support, why I am not doing so’, he thought.
After a few silent moments, a horrific image replayed in his head. An image he thought had been locked away, deep in his mind. He saw the image from the USJ incident. He saw the hand reaching for Tsuyu and then saw her dissolve to dust. This time though he saw something extra. He saw himself holding the dust in his hands that had been Tsuyu just a moment before, tears streaming down his face, and he screamed so loud that it could be heard by everyone at the USJ. Lastly, he heard a voice, Tsu’s voice, “How could you let this happen? How could you let me die?” The guilt began to dig deep into his psyche. For a brief moment, he thought his mind would snap but then he pictured another image, her face with a gentle warm smile. He knew he needed to protect that smile and the girl who made it. To do this, he would need to address her sincerely.
He finally moved slowly towards her. A look of guilt still etched on his face. He looked her in the eyes. For a moment, he thought ‘Someone could get lost in those eyes’. The thought vanished as soon as it had appeared, though he now felt more confident about talking to her and what he would say. He was now standing right in front of her, “Asui, I know that simply saying I am sorry for hurting you isn’t enough, but I honestly am at a loss for how to express just how deeply I regret causing you any pain.”
He saw a slight smile appear on the frog girl’s lips and she then responded as she would normally in such a situation. “You keep forgetting, call me Tsu.” Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief and let out a little chuckle. “I will keep trying to remember, Asu- I mean Tsu”.
Then Tsuyu did something unexpected that surprised everyone. She reached out with both hands and embraced Midoriya in a big hug. It was a sudden action, taken without any thought. Uraraka, who was still standing next to her, was stunned. She was glad to see her friends make up but seeing this made her hurt just a little, though she was not quite sure why. She was still unsure what she felt towards the green haired boy and she also thought, ‘Tsuyu had never seemed to be that close to him, right?’. The others in the group were equally shocked, as no one had ever seen Tsu act in such an openly emotional manner before.
For Tsuyu though, this moment felt right. She was free of the doubt that had filled her mind just moments ago. Her heart was filled with warmth and joy. She buried her head in Midoriya’s chest, nuzzling her face up against him in a gentle manner. She did not look up at his face, but if she had she would have seen a deer in the headlights type of expression. She tuned out the sounds of the world around her and lingered a little longer than she might have ought to.
She finally released the poor shaken boy from her arms, and everyone saw a most amazing sight. This girl, who rarely showed emotional expressions on her face, was wearing the most wonderful smile of pure contentment. The weight she had been feeling all day, pressing down on her very soul, was lifted. In her mind, her happiness, expressed by the hug of Midoriya, was because she had resolved the issue with her friends, and she could now move forward with them. The others, however, saw things from a slightly different point of view.
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Tsuyu woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed and invigorated, ready to take on the new day. The events of the previous day felt as if they occurred weeks or months ago, instead of hours. While Uraraka had helped her unpack all the boxes yesterday, there was still some organizing to do. She needed to put up the curtains, set up her lamps, go through her clothes and other room related activities. First though, she wanted to address the grumbling coming from her stomach. Due to the emotional issues of the past evening, she did not eat properly, and her body was not going to let her get away with it any longer. She quickly got dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, and went down to the kitchen area on the first floor. By the time she got to the common area there were already several of her classmates there. Kirishima was talking to Bakugo, though from Tsu’s perspective it looked like a one-sided conversation as there were only grunts coming from the explosion quirk user.
As she was getting some cereal from one of the cabinets, she heard someone approach her from behind. She turned and saw Ashido, “Good morning, Tsu’, Mina said in a happy voice. She had been worried about Asui as she did not participate in the King of Rooms challenge and was glad to see her up and moving about so early this morning. “I was worried about you. When we were looking at all the rooms Uraraka said you were not feeling well. I hope everything is ok.”
Tsu gave her friend a small smile, “I am feeling much better this morning, ribbit. A good night’s sleep always makes a difference.” Tsu grabbed her cereal and went to sit down at one of the tables. After a few moments, Mina sat down next to her with some breakfast as well.
Mina gave Tsuyu a stern look, “I am pretty good at reading people and I can tell when something is bothering someone.” Tsu kept eating and in between bites said in her usual blunt manner, “That is a very useful skill, as long as it is not followed by sticking your nose in places it is not wanted, ribbit.”
Mina kept giving her friend the same look and thought, ‘I know something is up and I am going to find out what it is.’ She decided to start eating, hoping it might lower Tsuyu’s guard. Mina had overheard Kirishima and Iida talking last night about Tsu and Midoriya. Kirishima mentioned how he thought the green haired boy needed to act more manly when interacting like that with a girl and Iida was flabbergasted, still not quite sure whether Asui’s action was acceptable. Mina definitely wanted to figure out if there was anything more going on.
After a few bites Mina asked, rather bluntly herself, “Did Midoriya have a firm grip?” Tsuyu, who was not paying much attention to Mina anymore simply replied, “I wouldn’t know. He didn’t really hug me back, ribbit.” Tsuyu spoke without giving her words any thought, and Mina could not believe her answer.
Tsuyu could not ignore Ashido now, as a rather loud, high pitched squeal emanated from the pink skinned girl. “So, what they said last night was true, you hugged Midoriya. Any reason for doing that? Were you upset that he did not return the favor?” Tsu had heard Mina this time, due to her asking these questions in a rather loud manner.
While Tsuyu thought Ashido was overreacting, she was now getting a little nervous with the additional eyes staring at them from the nearby couches. Jiro, Hagakure, Kaminari and Tokoyami were now looking over towards the two girls eating breakfast, wondering what was going on. Hagakure got up and approached the two asking Tsu, “What is this about you hugging Midoriya? I wish I could have seen it. I bet the two of you looked so cute together.” Now the frog girl was definitely blushing, as Ashido and Hagakure could clearly see her red cheeks.
“Your blushing”, Mina said and followed that with a wide grin. Tsuyu was not sure why she was blushing, but this conversation was starting to upset her a little bit. She placed her finger on her chin while trying to think of the proper words to say that would fix their misconceptions. She sighed, “The reason I gave Midoriya a hug was because yesterday was a very emotional day for me, ribbit. There really is not anything more to it than that.”
‘I am not going to be stopped that easily’, Mina thought. “Your right, Asui. A hug is not a big deal. I am curious though, what was it like hugging Kirishima or Todoroki?” Mina asked the question with a mischievous glint in her eye, not calling her Tsu in attempt to disrupt her normally calm demeanor. She was sure that the only one who got that special treatment was the All Might fanboy. Tsuyu was not used to this kind of interaction and she was not sure how to respond. This bothered her enough that she did not even attempt to correct her friend’s use of her family name. If she responded directly, Ashido would take it to mean more than it did but any other explanation would only bring more questions.
Since she had just finished her breakfast, she got up to go wash her bowl. Mina was still looking at her, waiting for her answer. As Tsuyu started walking out the front door she replied, “I did not give a hug to anyone else, ribbit.” Before she could hear anything from Mina, she was already outside. The topic had irritated her a little, though of course no one could really tell from her lack of expression. ‘Midoriya is a good friend, why does everyone have to try to make it more than it is.’ As Tsuyu was enjoying her walk and the peace that went with it, she thought, ‘and it’s not as if he thinks of me like that anyway’.
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Tsuyu enjoyed her morning walk as it helped clear her head and she was able to focus on getting her room setup the way she wanted it. In the early afternoon, Uraraka had stopped by Tsu’s room to let her know that everyone was going to be getting together for dinner. The school was providing a catered meal as a way to say thanks to all the students for putting up with the dorm situation. Tsu had not eaten a lot these past two days and she was really looking forward to enjoying a nice meal with friends. She also decided to dress a little nicer, picking out the dress that Uraraka had called cute the day before. She was in a much better mood and wanted to, no needed to, express her happiness so no one would worry about her. ‘This is also a good way for me to feel more relaxed and at home’, she thought as got the dress out of the small closet in her room. She took off her casual clothes and slipped on the green and white sun dress. It was not fancy, but she did not want to overdo it. It still had a casual feel, and she did not think that people would look twice at her.
When she got out of the elevator, the first person to look her way was Midoriya. She noticed him as well and she was quite concerned, as he dropped the cup he was carrying and was staring at her with wide eyes. She started to speak to him when she was interrupted by a loud gasp coming from the invisible girl. “Wow, you look so cute in that dress Tsu.” Tsuyu blushed a little at the compliment. When the others started speaking up about her choice of attire though she started to get nervous. She really did not think her clothes were a big deal, unlike everyone else it seemed. Mina gave her a sly smile, “Trying to make a good impression on anyone in particular?”, she asked with a wink.
Tsuyu frowned slightly and asked Mina, “Why does my choice of clothes have to be for someone else, ribbit? Can’t I just dress up a little for myself?”
Mina patted the frog girl on her shoulder, “I am just joking with you. You look very nice. It’s a little surprising to see you dress up though I admit I have not actually seen you outside of school so maybe you dress like this normally.”
Everyone was still looking at Tsu, but she was saved from more inquires into her choice of clothes when All Might came through the door. It was still strange seeming him like this. He was thin, gaunt really, with eyes that seemed hollowed out and reflected something else, ‘exhaustion maybe?’, Tsuyu thought. He very suddenly changed to his hero form, “I AM HERE…. with the food.” As soon as he said that last word, he suddenly changed back to his regular form and blood shot out of his mouth. No one seemed bothered in the least by this as everyone now looked towards the retired Symbol of Peace and cheered loudly. It didn’t matter what All Might was now, everyone in Class 1-A admired and loved him. While they had no way to know about all that the Number One hero had sacrificed over his career, their time at UA had given them a glimpse of the price that had to be paid to be a hero and thus their admiration for him had only grown.
Entering the dorm building behind All Might was Present Mic, Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Midnight and Aizawa-sensei. They were each carrying large containers, presumably containing the catered food. The smell started wafting into the common area and everyone started feeling hungrier than they were just a moment earlier. Kirishima stepped forward asking if the teachers needed any help with the food. He was then joined by Iida, Todoroki, Midoriya and Sato as they all headed out following Aizawa to get the remaining food from the van outside. Tsu, joined by Yaoyorozu, Uraraka and Ashido gathered up all the utensils, plates and cups and started setting the large tables that had been setup for the feast. Hagakure, Jiro, Kaminari and Tokoyami helped the other teachers in getting the food containers opened and setup for everyone. Once the food was finally all setup, the students started getting in line ready to be served. Cementoss, Ectoplasm and Present Mic stood behind the table ready to serve the food.
Everyone started to line up to get the food while it was hot and while there was plenty to choose. Tsuyu was really amazed by the quantity and types of food available. There was grilled fish, a personal favorite, fried chicken, pork cutlets, boiled shrimp, as well as other types of meat and there were several types of vegetables and many tasty looking desserts. There were also a number of rice and noodle dishes that caught her eye as well. ‘So much to choose from but I should not get too much as I can always come back for more’, she thought. Some of her fellow classmates had a different idea, as Kirishima seemed to pile so much food on his plate that it was hard for him to hold it with both hands. Uraraka seemed to want to grab some of everything, “I can’t believe all this food. It looks so tasty”. Tsu could swear it looked like tears were forming in her eyes.
The various teachers served the food and made sure there were enough napkins as well. Aizawa-sensei noticed certain careless behavior from Kaminari and decided to lay down the rules. “If any of you make a mess you will be expected to clean it yourselves. Anyone who does not will suffer the consequences.” Class 1-A all looked over at their homeroom teacher and understood all to well that he was serious.
With food in hand, Tsuyu sat at one of the tables, Ashido joined her and sat on her right. Hagakure came over and sat on her left. Tsu felt for a moment like she was trapped as she knew that Ashido seemed to enjoy teasing the frog girl lately, especially if the conversation had anything to do with boys. As if on cue, someone sat across from her that would make the teasing more likely. Midoriya, with a very full plate, was now seated across from her, flanked by Iida on his right and Uraraka on his left. At first there was not much conversation as all the classmates were focused on the delicious food, wanting to eat it while it was still hot. Tsu took a bite of the fish and it melted in her mouth.
After several minutes of silence, Ashido was the first to speak up. “I think it would be really neat if we talked about why we wanted to become heroes. Uraraka, what made you decide to try and become a hero?” Uraraka shifted a little in her seat. She herself felt no shame in the reason she wanted to be hero. She wanted to help her parents, so becoming a pro hero and making money to help them was reasonable in her mind. She also knew that not everyone would feel that way. Iida and Midoriya knew her reason and understood that it was not something selfish or short sighted. It was a reason driven by self-sacrifice and a desire to help others, which would serve her well as she continued to grow.
Midoriya saw that Uraraka looked uncomfortable and decide to speak up to draw attention away from her. Before he could begin talking though, Iida beat him to the punch. “I concur with your suggestion Ashido. Speaking about our motivations and goals will help us understand each other and become closer as classmates.”
Iida cleared his throat, “I suppose if I were going to explain why I wanted to become a hero I would have to start by expressing my deep admiration for my brother. As some of you may know, my brother was the hero Ingenium. From a very early age I looked up to my brother. He wanted to be a hero because he wanted to help people and make a difference, to make the world a better place.” Iida had a gleam in his eyes that always appeared when he spoke of his family. “His example and dedication have always been my primary motivation to become the best hero I can be.”
Uraraka breathed a little sigh of relief as the attention was off of her. Ashido now turned to her left and directed her question to Tsuyu. “What made you want to be a hero, Tsu?” Tsuyu finished chewing the food in her mouth and then placed her finger on her chin, the sign that she was deep in thought. Midoriya was looking at her, almost staring. He was very curious as to what motivated Tsuyu to be a hero. Also, a strange thought popped up in his head, ‘It’s really cute how she puts her finger on her chin.’ He wondered why he was having such a thought and shook his head a little to clear it from his mind.
Tsuyu finally spoke, “There were two reasons now that I think about it. The first one was All Might. He was so amazing, how he would take any risk to save lives and how he smiled no matter the danger. When I was little, I thought he was fearless but now that I have experienced real fear, I think I understand better. He was not fearless, rather I think he was as afraid as any of us. He smiled to make sure that no one, neither the citizens he was trying to save nor the villains he was fighting, would know the truth. I think he knew that if he did not show fear, people would keep their hope.”
Tsu looked up and for a moment her eyes locked with Midoriya’s. A little red splashed across her cheeks and she quickly turned away. ‘Why am I acting like this around him?’, she thought. While she quickly gathered herself, she did not realize that Ashido noticed. A slight smile crossed her face as she was now sure that some feelings for the green haired boy existed inside Tsuyu’s heart.
Another person noticed the odd reaction too, Uraraka saw Tsu blush and turn away. ‘She was looking at Deku just now. Why did she react like that?’ Ocacho looked carefully to her right and saw that Izuku was blushing slightly as well. ‘Maybe it’s just because he gets nervous around girls’, she thought.
Tsuyu continued with her answer, ‘The other reason was when I was little, and it happened when I went to a summer camp. There was a boy who fell into the lake. I found out later he was pushed, a few of the other boys were bullying him and that’s how he fell in. It looked like he was drowning so I acted, without thinking. I jumped into the lake and swam over to him, then using my tongue to grab him, I was able to pull him to the safety of the shore.” She was visibly shaking now. Uraraka thought she saw a look of anger on Tsu’s face. The green haired girl breathed a sigh after she finished, which seemed to calm her down slightly. “After that experience, I realized I could help people and knew I wanted to be someone reliable that people could count on.” She really found it difficult speaking when so many eyes were on her, though she had noticed long ago that when she really concentrated on what to say that she did not usually croak. While she would normally dwell on that kind of thought a little longer, she felt the need to express one more thing related to her story.
“That event also shaped another facet of my personality.” She looked over in the direction of Bakugo who was sitting at the other end of the long table. “I hate bullies” and then she looked at Midoriya, “and it’s hard for me to understand why people put up with them, ribbit.” She saw Midoriya fidget and squirm after she said that. ‘Maybe I was a little too harsh just now. I really need to work on being a little softer with my words’, she thought.
The conversations and eating continued well into the evening. Many of the students went back for seconds and some for thirds. Tsuyu noticed that the teachers were sitting at a smaller table near the serving table. Occasionally, she could hear snippets of conversation because of the volume. All Might and Present Mic were usually the guilty parties. She also noticed that at one point, Mina was talking with Midnight. Tsu was a bit curious and so she used that as an excuse to get some dessert. The number of dessert items were smaller than the main course but no less extravagant. She carefully looked over the choices while keeping her ears attuned to the conversation between Pinky and the R Rated Hero. “That sounds like a wonderful idea Ashido. I will have to speak with the other teachers and then it must be approved by Principal Nezu. I am sure I can convince them to go along with it, especially if a few heroes tag along as chaperones.” Midnight seemed to be agreeable with something Mina suggested.
‘Knowing Mina, it’s something big and she won’t be able to resist sharing it with everyone as quickly as possible’, Tsuyu thought. She did not hold onto that thought long however as she was distracted by something colorful, bouncy, and somewhat reflective. If anyone had been looking at her, they would have seen her eyes glaze over and a little drool appear at the corner of her mouth. The corners of her mouth then proceed to curve upward, and her tongue poked out in an impatient manner as she stood before her favorite food of all, jelly. Tsuyu proceed to get a rather large helping and skipped beck to the table to consume the most tasty of all treats.
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Tsu volunteered to help clean up after the dinner was finished. Joined with the other girls, Iida, Midoriya and Kirishima, they were able to quickly take care of the trash, clean the dishes and fold up the large tables. Some of the teachers took the long tables out of the dorm and put the normal tables back in their place. With everyone working together it took only about 30 minutes and once finished there was no sign that any such gathering had even occurred in the dorm. Mina then motioned to all the girls to meet up around the couches. With the teachers having left and the boys headed back to their rooms, the common area had become rather quiet. Mina was looking quite pleased, like the cat who ate the canary. “Tsuyu, I know this is sudden, but I was wondering if we could all go and see your room? Since we did not get a chance last night, I thought it would be a great way for us to continue bonding.”
Tsu did not have an objection to this thinking it would be a good way to end the day. “Sure, ribbit.” The frog girl led the way to the elevator with everyone following. No one noticed that Mina disappeared for a moment. The other girls boarded the elevator and started up to the fifth floor when Yaoyorozu noticed that Ashido was not with them.
“Maybe she forgot something”, Jiro added. “I am sure she will be up shortly since it was here idea.” When they reached the fifth floor, they walked down the hallway towards Asui’s room. They arrived at her room and Tsuyu opened the door then turning on the light so everyone could see. Tsuyu had decorated her room to fit her personality. There were curtains that were a bluish green color and a large round rug that looked a little like a lily pad. On her bed were sheets that looked like a picture from a pond along with two pillows with cute, round frog faces on them. On her desk there was a cute green colored lamp, and few knick-knacks that were on display.
There was a knock on the door and they heard Ashido’s voice, “I am coming in.” Mina opened the door, and everyone noticed she was carrying a box. Mina looked around the room, “You have decorated this very well Tsu.” Mina’s attention was now on the bed where she noticed two plushies. “Oh, how cute.” She picked them up to look at them. One was a cute frog and the other looked like a bunny. “This bunny looks familiar, especially the color scheme. I don’t recall ever seeing any green bunnies.” Mina stopped talking. ‘I know why this looks familiar. It looks like Midoriya’s hero costume.’, she thought.
Mina giggled and put the dolls back down. All the girls were now looking in her direction now. As much as Mina wanted to tease Tsuyu about the plushies, now was not the time. It was now game time. Mina showed the box to the girls while speaking, “This is a game my family plays quite often and it’s really fun to play with a lot of people”.
Tsu was looking at the box, she had never heard of this game before. “Dogs Playing Poker? What kind of game is this, ribbit?”
Mina made sure all her friends were paying attention. “I will quickly describe the game and it’s rules. It’s a drawing game where there are three types of cards. The first set are the question cards, those have sentence with blanks to be filled in by the second set of cards, called answer cards. We pass out answer cards to each person and place the question cards face down in the middle. The person whose turn it is draws a question card and then the everyone shows one answer card. The group votes on which answer card will be used.” Ashido took a deep breath asking, “Any questions so far?”
She was met with silence and a few nods that let her know she could continue. “There is a third type of card called the color cards. There are 8 different colors, and there are also 4 wild cards. The person who draws the question card will also draw a color card after the answer card is chosen. The person who matches the color will then have to draw a picture that matches the question-and-answer cards. We will then vote on the drawing. If the wild card is drawn, then the card person gets to choose whoever they want to draw.”
“You said there are 8 colors but there are only 6 of us”, Hagakure points out.
Mina responds, “We decide which of the colors we want to use and remove the other color cards. Also, we keep a total of the votes to determine the winner.” All the girls seemed interested in playing so Mina decided to mention one other idea she had. “I think it would be really neat to have a prize for the winner.”
Tsu with her finger on her chin replied, “That sounds ok. What kind of prize are you thinking about, ribbit?” Now Mina had a big smile show up on your face.
“I am glad you asked Tsu. The prize is that the one with the fewest total votes for the game has to do one thing that the winner chooses.” Yaoyorozu and Jiro both had looks of uncertainty as neither was particularly good at drawing.
Tsuyu looked toward them and said, “I am not really good at drawing myself, but I am willing to play even though there is a bit of risk.”
Mina was trying her best to encourage everyone to play. Her plan required all the girls to participate even though not everyone was in on her scheme. First, everyone chose their color, Mina chose purple, Momo went with red, Jiro picked black, Toru decided on orange, Ochacho selected white and Tsuyu took green. The remaining color cards were placed aside, and Mina dealt the answer cards out to everyone. Finally, she placed the white board and erasable marker in the center, and they were ready to start.
Once they started playing the game it became painfully obvious who was most likely going to win as Ashido was surprisingly artistic. No matter what odd combinations were thrown her way, she was able to draw something that got laughs out of all the girls. None of the others were particular talented when it came to drawing, but two girls stood out from the rest due to a lack of talent, Jiro and Asui. As the game went on, the conversation started rolling along as well. Topics from food to clothes to hobbies were discussed and they all learned a lot more about each other as a result.
They already knew that Jiro’s favorite music was hard rock, but they were surprised to find that she had a bit of love for opera, “I don’t usually listen to it, but I really do admire the talent it takes to sing like that.”
Ashido told them that before she got into dancing she was all about gymnastics. “The reason I stopped was because I got bigger than most of the girls, so it was a lot harder for me and that’s why I gave it up.”
The group was surprised by Momo’s revealing her love to paint, since her drawing was so-so at best. “My parents made me give it up because when I was younger, I ended up making huge messes every time I painted.”
Hagakure was having trouble thinking of something and all she could say was, “When I was little, I wanted to go into acting.” Ashido wondered, “Was this before or after you became invisible?” Hagakure thought for a moment, “After, I think.”
Yaoyorozu then asked a question that had popped to the front of everyone’s minds, “Were you always invisible or did you become invisible after your quirk appeared?” Hagakure indicated she could not really remember, as neither her parents ever talked about it nor did she have any pictures from when she was little, so she was not actually sure if she was born invisible or not.
Now everyone was looking at Tsu and this made her a little nervous. Mina led this line of questioning, “Soooo… Tsu, tell us something about yourself that nobody here knows”. As the girls were now used to seeing, the frog girl placed a finger on her chin and was lost in thought for a few moments.
“Well,” she paused and tilted her head, trying to gather her words. She was not sure what to say and the only thing that came to mind was kind of embarrassing, ‘these are my friends though, and I am sure it will not leave this room’. “When I get really excited, I tend to croak loudly and somewhat uncontrollably, ribbit.” Most of the girls did not quite know how to take that as it seemed odd but otherwise nothing too weird, they guessed.
Ashido though had a different thought, “Wow, Tsu. I didn’t expect to hear something so…. personal.”
Tsu’s head snapped over so that her eyes were fixed on the pink skinned girl’s face, first with a puzzled look and then with a bright red blush. Tsuyu stammered a little as she did not know how Mina could have misunderstood what she said so badly. Momo hesitantly replied, “Tsuyu, that might be too much information to provide if I am correctly understanding Ashido’s statement”.
Tsuyu finally blurted out, “I-I-I don’t know what Ashido is referring to but that is not what I meant, ribbit.”
Now Mina had a gleam in her eye and winked at Tsu, “if you don’t know what I meant how can you deny it.” Suddenly Tsu wished she could turn invisible like Hagakure but thankfully she was saved by Uraraka drawing everyone’s attention to herself.
“I have something interesting to tell, well at least I hope you find it interesting. When I was about 12, my parents were able to take me to an amusement park during summer break. We really couldn’t afford any trips when I was a kid so something like that was a really special event for us. I especially enjoyed riding roller coasters. I guess because it made me feel a little like I was floating without using my quirk, which I was not really good with at that time.” She took a breath and calmed herself a little while glancing over at Tsu, whose face reflected the relief of finally having the recent embarrassment end. “I did want to work on using my quirk so I decided that I would try in while on a roller coaster.”
This got a few shocked looks from the girls. Hagakure spoke the question they were all thinking, “Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”.
Uraraka smiled back, “Not at all. I was buckled into the seat the whole time, but the harness was a tiny bit loose. I decided to turn on my quirk right before we went into the first of a double loop to loop. Unfortunately, when I reached the top of the second loop I…. well, you remember what happens when I overuse my quirk, right?” Tsu racked her brain and found the answer, “You told us that you throw up if you use it too much, ribbit.”
Uraraka rubbed the back of her head with her hand and produced a rather sad chuckle, “Yeah. So you all can guess what happened.” She lowered her head and in a sad voice said, “It wasn’t pretty.” Mina, now even more curious pressed the gravity quirk user for more information. Uraraka replied, “Well, I was in the back of the coaster and by the time the vomit reached the bottom of the loop it landed on someone. I was in shock, so I forgot to turn off my quirk and when they released the safety harness, I floated up. Thankfully, the disembarking area was inside a building, so I just went up to the ceiling. Needless to say, we had to leave for the day and I never, ever did anything like that again.”
Mina could not help but laugh at the story Ochaco had just told. After a moment, the giggles finally stopped and they kept going with the game. She decided not to dredge up Tsuyu’s comments, but she had not forgotten them. More importantly, her plan was working to perfection. Unbeknownst to Tsuyu, she was being setup. Mina had convinced Jiro and Hagakure to go along with it, while Yaoyorozu simply agreed to keep silent. Ashido knew Asui was not great at drawing so she could use this to help jump start her cunning plan. She had to stop herself from grinning like an idiot, lest she give herself away. Hagakure made a yawning sound, while it looked like she was stretching her arms. “We should probably start wrapping this up, as it is getting late.”
Mina nodded towards Toru and verbally announced her agreement. “Let’s look at the point totals.” Tsuyu groaned. She was pretty sure she was in last place and that Ashido was in first. She agreed to the contest, but she honestly did not put enough thought into it. Mina announced, “It looks like I came in first place. Yaoyorozu was in second, Hagakure in third, Jiro and Uraraka tied for fourth and poor Tsu is in dead last.”
Tsuyu saw another grin on Ashido’s, ‘almost looks evil’, Tsu thought. “Now Tsu, per the rules you will need to do something that I tell you to and you cannot refuse.”
Jiro looked over towards the acid quirk user, “Don’t be too hard on her.”
Mina continued smiling, “It’s all in good fun. I promise. Tsu, I actually need your help with something. I am wanting to start going for an early morning jog every day, but I need someone to go with, so it keeps me motivated.”
Tsu was a little surprised, she expected something really personal from Mina. ‘I thought she would try to bring up Midoriya or something like that.’ Tsuyu did not hesitate to offer her assistance. “One question, what time are you wanting to go jogging each morning, ribbit.”
Mina thought for a moment, trying to recall this important piece of information. “I think about 6am”. While the other girls did not personally like the sound of a time that early, Tsuyu was ok with it as she was used to getting up that early for school. She also thought the daily exercise would be a great way to relieve stress and help keep her focused.
“Sure, I would be happy to go jogging with you as often as you want. When do you want to start doing it, ribbit?” Mina decided that there was no time like the present, “We can start tomorrow morning, if that is ok with you?”
Tsu nodded her approval and Mina was now ready to bring up the last topic of the night. “I spoke with Midnight earlier and asked if we could get approval for something and she seemed quite interested. She said she would work to get approval for it and let me know as soon as possible.” The girls were looking at her nervously, not sure what kind of suggestion Midnight would get excited about. “If we get approval, we will all be going to the nearby shopping mall this weekend. Midnight told me that it should not be a problem, so I left that part in her hands.” The girls were relieved and then suddenly very excited at the possibility of the outing as they left Tsuyu’s door room. The frog girl decided she had better get ready for bed if she was going to be able to get up early enough for her jog. What she could not anticipate was that Mina had had something else planned for her.