Chapter Text
Shinso lay on his bed, hidden away from the rest of Class 1-C. He was still aching from his strenuous afternoon, his breathing slow and purposeful. He wasn’t as uncomfortable as earlier, not that it really mattered to him in the moment.
Some of his classmates had noticed his conspicuous absence from afternoon classes. If he were down in the common room, he was sure he’d be bombarded with questions, but that was exactly why he wasn’t. Instead, he favoured the solitary nature of his room.
His body may have mostly recovered from the joint training exercise, but his mind was still mulling over all that had happened. If he wasn’t in awe of the hero course before, then he sure was now. Aizawa had said he’d passed, but he wanted more than that. He was so far behind the rest of those students that a passing grade felt inadequate. There were so many little mistakes that plagued his memories as he played them back. He had so much to learn.
But that wasn’t the only thing occupying his mind.
Inky black tendrils writhing through the air. The pain on Midoriya’s face. The desperation in his voice. The desperation in Uraraka’s voice as she called to him.
When he’d last come eye to eye with Midoriya, at the sports festival, he could sense something was off about him. When the greenette had somehow broken out of his quirk’s grasp it felt both shocking – terrifying even – and strangely inevitable. Be it the universe’s twisted way of handling Shinso’s life or just something about Midoriya, he dared not think about too deeply back then. But now?
That was not ‘Super Strength’. He wasn’t sure why or how, but Shinso knew in his gut that that power was dangerous. No. It was more than just dangerous. It would change the world.
And yet, for how terrifying that idea was, he was determined to know more. Determined to understand how this one individual could surprise and frustrate him so much. Even if it was playing with fire.
Contemplatively, he glanced towards the picture frame on his desk. In it sat the best picture he had of his cat, Seki, sitting upright with her fluffy grey fur poofing out evenly around her face. She looked regal, as if she commanded everything she gazed upon. He really wished he could’ve brought her to the dorm with him, residual fur be damned.
But in his swirling thoughts, an old saying was lodging itself in the back of his mind. Curiosity killed the cat.
-----
Morning classes were as dull as ever. The novelty of being taught by actual heroes had fully worn off around the start of the autumn term. Now, having Ectoplasm teaching Maths felt no less normal than Mr Takahashi back in Nabu Middle School. The lessons themselves were easy enough to follow, mindlessly slotting numbers into some formula or another and following the calculation through.
Hitoshi’s pen glided over the paper as he wrote. He was only half focused on his actual schoolwork, while his mind tried to order his thoughts and construct a plan around one thing. Understanding Midoriya.
How was he going to approach this? He knew who his target was, where they were likely to be at certain points in the day, and the simple fact that his analytical skills were a formidable tool. But beyond that, he didn’t really know much about him. And if he was going to unwrap the mystery of this kid, he would need to really understand the boy himself. That was the biggest stumbling block he was facing.
Mr Aizawa had told him that information gathering was a vital part of hero work, regardless of how prevalent or otherwise a hero was in the public eye, but he had never given much advice about actually doing it. Perhaps that would be a good start, or at the very least give him an idea of what he should do.
Soon enough, Ectoplasm called for the class to finish their work, before setting some homework and dismissing them for lunch. Shinso silently put his stationary away, stuffed his books in his bags and strode off towards the door.
“Hey Shinso, where are you off to in a hurry?” called Kojima. She was resting her chin on her hands. Her long, light brown hair had fallen over one shoulder, probably during her conversation with Risuno – Class C’s literal bright-eyed and bushy-tailed student – to her left.
“I just want to catch up with a teacher” he replied simply, before leaving the classroom.
Hurriedly, he marched through the halls towards the teachers’ lounge. He didn’t know how many teachers knew about Mr Aizawa’s plan for him, but even if the whole staff knew about it, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. He aimed to catch Mr Aizawa before he got to the staffroom.
Soon, the staffroom door came into view. As Shinso approached, he spotted Present Mic approaching from the opposite direction, clearly reading through something on a piece of paper in his hand. Shinso slowed his pace so he wouldn’t be so obvious, but at that moment, the pro hero looked up.
“Oh, Shinso. What are you doing here?” the teacher asked with a grin. Even though he was indoors, his voice was still obnoxiously loud.
“I wanted to talk to Mr Aizawa” he said impassively, trying not to give any hint as to what was going through his mind.
“Sorry listener, but Eraserhead’s not gonna be here for a while at least. It’s probably best that you get some lunch before it all goes.”
“He’s not here?” Shinso asked. Any attempt at seeming impassive went out the window. The surprise was obvious in his voice.
“If you must know, he’s doing something with Eri” Mic said offhandedly.
“Right” he said quietly. He remembered Mr Aizawa asking Monoma to visit Eri but had thought it would be outside of school hours. “Thank you, sir.”
“No problem!” Mic replied musically as he ducked inside the staffroom.
Shinso stood there for a long moment entirely at a loose end. Any hint of surprise on his face quickly disappeared into a frown.
-----
Uraraka mindlessly washed her hands, her eyes vaguely fixed on the tap.
She had struggled to get much sleep last night. With everything that happened during their heroics lesson, she had a lot on her mind. Having Class 1-B round had been a welcome distraction while it lasted, but when Deku returned from whatever he had been doing, she’d looked up almost instinctively when Todoroki called his name. Whatever their conversation was about, Deku didn’t seem entirely comfortable with it. However, she couldn’t hear what they were saying from that distance, and before she could gather much from reading Todoroki’s lips, Toru had latched onto her eyeline and immediately started getting excited over nothing.
‘It’s definitely nothing.’ Uraraka stubbornly reminded herself. ‘It’ll pass.’
But even now, it all played out in her mind’s eye. The mass of black tendrils exploding into the sky. The way they writhed towards her team. The way Deku flailed behind them as they dragged him through the air.
A shiver ran up her spine at the memory. At first, she had no idea who was responsible. All she could tell was that Deku was in danger. That was enough to make her act, just like he had all those months ago. It was only when she was approaching him that she realised he was the source of them. And it was hurting him.
Suddenly, the bathroom door squeaked open, dragging her out of her thoughts. Uraraka turned towards the door with a start. Warm, brown eyes met vibrant blue. A dark bob cut of hair flanked her face. For a moment, Uraraka thought she was looking in a fairground mirror.
Yui Kodai stood awkwardly in front of the door as it lazily swung closed. Uraraka’s startled reaction to her entrance must have caught her off guard too.
“Hi Kodai” Uraraka greeted casually once she got her bearings back.
“Good afternoon, Uraraka” Kodai replied flatly.
Uraraka turned the tap off and grabbed a couple of paper towels as the other girl calmly walked round the corner towards the stalls. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. She’d been distracted by thoughts of Deku again. This was really becoming a problem. Normally she would strike up a conversation with any friendly face who looked willing, and she got a similar sense around Kodai as she did with Todoroki. It should be easy.
Just as Uraraka was about to say something, Kodai spoke again.
“You were impressive yesterday.”
“Thanks” Uraraka uttered, surprised by the complement. Quickly, her mind re-engaged her chipper self. “Your team did well too. That first strike caught us off guard, and it felt like we were on the back foot for the rest of the match.”
“It didn’t feel like we were in control of the situation either” Kodai stated softly. “Midoriya’s quirk threw us into disarray.”
“Yeah,” Uraraka sighed, “it did.”
Kodai slipped into one of the stalls. Uraraka turned to look at her reflection in the wall-width mirror. The chaos of the days training ran through her head again. She’d seen Deku in dire straits before. She’d seen glimpses of him at his most powerful on the day she vowed to remember but wished she could forget. She’d never seen anything like this. What was going on with that boy?
-----
Shinso wandered through the corridors, at a mental roadblock. He’d been pretty set on the idea of speaking to Mr Aizawa. Tips on information gathering would be extremely useful, and maybe, if he played his cards right, he could’ve got some possible leads off the teacher. But of course, Eri came first. In a rare moment for the reserved hero, Aizawa had told him about his thoughts of adopting the girl. She had no family to speak of and Aizawa was critical in her care anyway.
Hitoshi couldn’t help but feel a horrible mix of empathy and jealousy tug at his chest. His own home life was difficult, though not as awful as hers had been, but it was also clear that Eri had people who cared about her. People who undeniably loved her. He didn’t have such luxury. The dorms had been a godsend.
As he wandered towards the lunch hall, lost in his thoughts, he spotted a familiar brunette leaving the girls’ toilets. She glanced around as she left the doorway, her eyes briefly resting on him. She sent him a quick smile before turning and making her way towards the lunch hall.
The gears in his head began to turn. She was Izuku’s friend, that much was clear. He’d seen her hanging around with Izuku at the sports festival, and a few other times since. If anyone would be a good lead, it might well be her.
“Uraraka?” he called.
She stopped, spinning on her heels to face him. “Everything alright Shinso?”
“You’re Midoriya’s friend, aren’t you?” he asked. For a moment Uraraka seemed startled by the question, before recomposing herself and nodding. “Was what happened yesterday normal?”
“Not really” she said casually. Shinso watched as her eyes grew more distant and contemplative. “Well, I guess that depends on what counts as normal. Deku’s quirk has always been powerful, almost too powerful for him to handle. He’s got better control of it since the start of the year. The first time I saw him use it, he broke three of his limbs. But the black stuff was new.” As if her mind came back to the present, she glanced back towards him. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m just curious” he responded dismissively. Uraraka’s gaze firmed as if in challenge. It was unfamiliar to him. Shinso had seen expressions of challenge from plenty of people before, but there had always been hostility there. This was not hostile.
He shrugged. “I guess I’m still hung up on losing to him again. I mean, if it wasn’t for your classmates then I probably wouldn’t have done so well in the first match, but Class B weren’t pushovers. I really wanted to do better, but I couldn’t.”
“Has anyone ever broken out of your brainwashing before?” This time it was her catching him off guard.
“Not on their own” he stated, trying to give a challenging gaze of his own. She didn’t back down. “You’ve probably figured out my quirk’s weaknesses by now, but someone has to be shocked out of my control. When you slapped Midoriya, I lost my grip on him, just like when Tsuburaba hit Shishida in the first match. Midoriya is the only person who’s ever freed themselves.”
“Do you care about him?” she questioned.
He stared at her.
The tone of her voice wasn’t accusing. It didn’t feel surface level, like asking if he was a friend. It felt deeper. It felt vulnerable. It felt nervous. It was not at all what Shinso was expecting. He was pretty good at reading people, but Uraraka was giving him a very confusing feeling that he couldn’t place.
And the question itself was stumping him just as much as the asker. He wasn’t Izuku’s friend. He hardly knew the guy. That was exactly why he was talking to Uraraka. And yet, for some unknown reason, he couldn’t bring himself to refute her.
Silently, he strode past her, his eyes set firmly on the end of the corridor. Her gaze stayed locked on his head, her face clouded with worry.