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The first one to notice it was Shoji.
It’s not like he meant to, really, but rather he was used to recon, and his instincts after his training so far in UA led to his constant surveillance of his immediate area. He didn’t mind it really, as it kept his skills sharp, but sometimes, like in this instance, it could be annoying and lead to an odd discovery.
A simple fruit fly was incessantly buzzing around in the room during a quiet assignment hour. Shoji zeroed in on the location fairly quickly, but the tiny yet dull droning of the wings was a nuisance at best for someone who was used to searching. He had half a mind to plug his ears. Without thinking about it he started to track its movements, willing the little beast away with brooding silence. It flew behind his head, the whirring grating on his ears.
Before he could register it, a gust of wind whipped behind him and he heard no more buzzing of the little wings. He had to pause for a moment to register exactly what happened, but as he listened he heard the silent crunch and had to stare at his pencil while his brain played the error code over and over. “Did that really just, happen?”
~~~
The next to notice was of course Jiro, another expert in recon for her advanced hearing capabilities. She was more keen than Shoji when listening, but since she had no other heightened senses it was easier to learn to tune things out. However, during a down period she noticed a particularly rude little mosquito that refused to leave her alone and no amount of ignorance was going to whisk the little bastard away.
She tried swatting it with her earlobes when it got close enough, but it just happened to be fast enough to evade her when she tried, and she eventually thought she’d just give up and wait to be bit so she could smack it, dealing with the itch later on.
Just as it was aiming towards her arm, slowing its wing beats to land, she prepared her other hand to swat it the moment it let it’s guard down. However, a flash of pink swiftly stole the pest away. Jiro had to take a moment to think about what just happened before she too, like Shoji, had come to an unexpected conclusion. Despite her confusion, she was at least grateful she no longer had to suffer, so she elected to facedesk and mull things over.
~~~
Most of the students learned through similar stories of how bugs would go missing in class 1-A within a flash. Uraraka witnessed a particularly large moth getting swept away without a trace and froze in place, not knowing what to think. It seemed like once everyone finally realized what was behind this, they had no idea what to think about it or what to do about it, if anything at all.
The first time someone finally asked about it, it was Kota of all people. He privately pulled Tsuyu aside and asked her if she was behind the bugs.
And of course, she was. Who else would it have been? But then most of the students probably assumed that despite being like a frog, it didn’t mean she would [i]act[/i] like one, right? Kota didn’t mind though, he loved animals so he understood that it was a natural thing for her, and simply offered some unique recipes for her to try.
~~~
It wasn’t until Tsuyu was snacking in the dorms right after class that anyone else brought it up. She was eating a bag of homemade popcorn while working on some English homework when Sero flopped into the chair across from her with his toothy grin. He asked if he could try Tsuyu’s popcorn since it had a unique coating on it and he couldn’t quite place why.
With a little croak, she smiled. “Of course, go right ahead! Kota gave me the recipe, it’s really good.”
Sero’s smile grew as he held his hand out for Tsuyu to shake food into. When he got a few pieces he went to inspect them. “This looks like furikake to me, does it have sesame see-”
He stared hard at the kernel he held. It looked too shiny and hard, like a chunk of something. Something he didn’t think he could stand.
“Actually, I feel kinda sick, maybe popcorn isn’t a good idea right now, but thanks anyway!”
“No problem Sero, maybe next time!”
Sero carefully placed the kernels in her outstretched hand and took careful steps towards his room as he heard her munching the pieces with a delighted little croak. He didn’t think he’d see proof this way and decided to check all the snacks before eating them from now on.
The final straw for everyone was when Mina was practicing her dancing to get some fun exercise in. She had to workout anyway today, so why not enjoy it a little? When she finished in the showers and had changed out into fresh clothing, she felt famished and was searching for a good way to top off her workout with some protein.
“Hey, you guys got any ideas? I wanna try something different than my usual shakes!”
Tsuyu happily offered a couple cookies to Mina with yet another joyful croak. “These are high in protein, maybe they’ll work?”
“Cookies? Wow, that’s so cool! I’d love some!~”
Mina graciously accepted the cookies and took a bite out of one immediately. There was chocolate chips, and plenty of sweetness, and something else she couldn’t quite place. Despite the odd new flavor, she enjoyed it quite a bit!
“Hey Tsu, what’s in these? They taste a bit different, I’d love the recipe!”
“Kota gave it to me, and I’ve been addicted since!”
Mina began her second cookie, a few crumbs stuck to the corner of her mouth. “Ooh he did? I didn’t know he had such good taste, care to share?”
“Of course! The main ingredient is cricket flour which is a bit hard to buy at some markets, but it’s pretty healthy for a cookie.”
“Cricket what?!”
Tsuyu tilted her head a fraction, her large pointer finger pad pressed on her chin. “Cricket flour. You said it was good, right? Or are you worried about how to get it? I have plenty if you need any, just ask!”
Mina felt like the Windows error sound was playing on a repeated song loop in the few seconds before she stared at the cookie. “Y-yeah, actually I do wonder how I’d get ahold of this. I’d appreciate that, thank you.”
The other students in the room watched as she careful looked at her remaining cookie before shrugging and crunching down on it, smiling once more. “I didn’t eshpect cricketsh to tashte sho good.”
Tsuyu merely croaked softly and offered some more while talking about the nutritional benefits of them, gently swaying in place.
~~~
After getting used to Tsuyu’s different taste in snacks, the rest of 1-A accepted it as natural and grew to see it as just another part of who she was. It became normal for bugs that annoyed the other students to be whisked away by a snare of pink before the grateful student would thank Tsuyu for the help, while Tsuyu happily munched her new treat with a little ribbit. It might have been odd, but then again quirks aren’t always what you expect, so why should the people be?
Sometimes, someone would get a bug based snack without meaning to and would politely decline, or they’d watch other students during lunchtime trying to find the source of the strange tongue-colored blob that tore through the air in an instant to claim another buzzing soul, silently giggling to themselves at the confused faces.
Tsuyu ate bugs, of course. Kribbit~