Class, the next morning.
"Did you see the news report last night?" Hagakure asked Ojiro and Shoji. "Everyone was onscreen for a second! But I didn't stand out at all…"
"Unfortunate," said Shoji.
"Kinda hard to stand out when you look like that, huh?" Ojiro pointed out sheepishly.
"Rude, Oji-kun." Hagakure seemed to cross her arms and turn away in a huff.
"The media was making a hell of a big deal about it though, huh?" Kaminari commented, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head.
"Is it surprising?" Jiro deadpanned at him. "If the number one hero course in the country gets attacked, that's a big deal."
Kirishima shrugged. "Makes sense."
Next to him, Sero laid his head down on his desk wearily. "Man, I'm still trying to calm down from all that. If the teachers hadn't shown up at that moment…"
"Aoyama, are you alright? You're trembling," Yaoyorozu commented, putting a hand on the French boy's shoulder from behind.
He jerked in surprise, that pointed smile remaining despite his face going nearly blue. "Of c-course, mademoiselle! What Sero is s-saying has no effect on me whatsoever!"
"I don't see how you guys could be afraid with All Might there," Sato chimed in. "He made quick work of those villains." He punched the air a couple of times.
"His strength and willpower is a marvel indeed," Tokoyami commented stoically, a rare occurrence.
Iida rocketed into the room, his arms chopping in a robotic manner. "To your seats, everyone! Homeroom is nearly upon us!"
"We're already in our seats," said Kaminari.
"You're the only one who's not," said Sero.
Iida slammed himself into his desk, fuming. "Blast it!"
Uraraka nervously patted his shoulder. "It'll be okay…"
Mina tapped Len on the shoulder from the desk behind. "Do you know who's gonna be our sub?" she asked him.
"If you don't know, I don't know."
Mina gave the boy a curious look. He was slumped forward, twiddling his thumbs. She couldn't really see his face; he hadn't turned to look at her.
Is he alright? Did he not enjoy himself yesterday? she wondered. No Mina, you're being silly. No one could fake having fun that well. He was having fun, because we're all fun and super awesome. No, something else must have happened. In the back of her mind, she knew why she was so worried, but she didn't want to acknowledge it.
Instead, she turned to Tsu, leaning her chair all the way back and nearly falling over. The frog girl caught the chair with a large hand. "Who do you think we'll have as a sub, Tsu-chan?"
She did her trademark finger-to-chin. "Dunno. Aizawa-sensei is still in recovery, so…"
The door slammed open abruptly. "Morning, everyone."
Everyone gasped. It was Aizawa, and his face and arm were completely wrapped in bandages.
"AIZAWA-SENSEI, YOU'RE HERE TO SOON!" most of the class exclaimed at once.
"You guys really have to stop with the synchronised shouting. I don't know how you do it, and that makes me uncomfortable." He moved to the front of the room, behind his desk. "My well-being is insignificant compared to the progression of your education. Especially since there is another challenge coming."
The class began to murmur at this. Mina already knew, of course, as did most of them.
"The Sports Festival is approaching," Aizawa said, confirming all their suspicions.
What followed was an explanation of how important the festival was and what it would mean for their futures if they did well. Mina was fired up, of course. How could she NOT be? A chance to get noticed by the pros, as well as show some of her classmates who was boss? Well, who's QUEEN is more like it! She could hardly wait.
Later after Cementoss's class, the whole class was chatting in groups.
"Oh dear, what will I do, hmm? I shine so brightly just by standing still… the scouts won't be able to tear their eyes away!" Aoyama spun, almost running into a terrified Koda. "Riiiiight?" he asked the silent boy, getting up into his face. Koda nodded frantically.
"You're lucky, Shoji…" Kaminari praised. "You'll get by on just your brawny appearance!"
"It only matters if I make myself useful."
"Hey, Kaminari, don't discount yourself," Jiro told him solemnly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "If you overcook your brain again and go Full Idiot, all the pros will be watching."
"I… that's not… geh!"
"Man, everyone's pretty pumped, huh?" It was Midoriya. Mina looked back beyond Tsuyu to the back of her row. Midoriya has gravitated over here because Iida and Uraraka sat back there. They sort of formed a little trio, didn't they?
"Are you not pumped?" Iida asked him, doing a strange dance.
"Well, I am, but…"
"You have a strange way of getting pumped, Iida-chan," commented Tsuyu, watching him dance.
Midoriya pushed his fingers together shyly. "It's just…"
"Deku… Iida…" Dark energy radiated from the back of the room. Their eyes fell upon Uraraka, who was glaring and smiling sadistically, a shadow across her face. "… Let's kick some ass."
"What the hell happened to you?" Mina asked plainly. "Your personality is all over the place."
Uraraka turned to Kirishima and the other boys. "Let's kick some ass," she repeated.
"Ha… yeah…" they all seemed confused.
Mina giggled and then turned back to Len. He'd been watching the antics, but when he saw her turn to him, he blushed and whipped around, looking back forward.
"Leeeennnn…" Mina tapped him on the shoulder. "Whyyyy are you avoiding me? Is it because you liiiiike me?" Oh god, what if he says yes! What will I do then! She had to fight to keep from blushing herself.
Len's heart dropped. That hadn't been it at all, actually… he hadn't been giving much thought to Mina since last night. But he was thinking about her now. She'd only say that as a tease if she was absolutely positive that those aren't my feelings. Which means… she suspects nothing. "Well… remember how you told me yesterday that if I didn't tell my parents about USJ, I'd be in deep shit?" He gave her a sheepish smile.
Mina's face fell. "Oh god. You got grounded as fuck, didn't you? What did I say? WHAT did I say? Len, you idiot!" She chided, rubbing his bright yellow hair with her fist. I like his hair. It's really soft…
Dammit Mina, snap out of it!
"Yeah…" Len shrank away from her touch, like always. "I got pretty grounded. So no more fun outings like that for a while. Probably until after the sports festival."
"Well, that's only two weeks," she seemed thoughtful. "Not too bad."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Still, if you're disappointed, that means you enjoyed yesterday." She leaned in closer, smiling, her eyes glowing. "It must be fun, being surrounded by girls."
"I still think we should have invited Sero and Shoji."
"It's fine, we told them about it in the group chat and they didn't seem too fussed." Mina played with a stray curl on her messy head. "Sero and Shoji are like the two chillest guys in class. Besides maybe Todoroki."
"Hey, I'm chill. I can be chill."
"Haha, sure. If we'd invited Sero and Shoji to something and left you out, you'd be in tears."
"Well… yeah! Leaving people out isn't a very nice thing to do!"
Mina laughed. "You're funny, Len. Honestly, I just wanted to rib on you a bit after nearly beating me in DDR."
"Yeah…" his blond eyes seemed to take on a distant quality. "Don't expect that competitive spirit to carry over."
𖦹𖦹𖦹
Later, Len was walking with Sero and Shoji out of the school. Hagakure had gone on ahead.
He made a point to personally apologise to them.
"Really, Kagamine, it's fine," Sero said. "I mean… my parents weren't gonna let my leave the house yesterday anyway."
Shoji nodded. "I am similarly unfazed. I can't help but find it interesting how easily you hang out with girls though, Kagamine."
"Gah!" To hear it from Shoji, of all people!
Sero winced. "Yeah, that's kind of what I didn't want to bring up. I mentioned it to him before our battle trial, and he kinda freaked out for most of the match."
"I deeply apologize, I was unaware."
"No problem, man. I think it's just because of my sister." Both boys looked at him funny. I guess I'm telling them this. "My sister's been my best friend for years. Because of her I guess I understand girls better? That's my best theory, at least."
"Hmm." Shoji nodded. "It seems sound enough. I'm glad to hear you have a good relationship with your sibling, Kagamine. Sometimes I wish I had one, I confess it."
"Not a sister you don't," Sero said, stretching as they went down the steps. "My older sister abused me relentlessly for years. I guess in some cases it can turn out alright, but… Kagamine, is your sister older or younger?"
"She's younger." Len had forgotten that Sero wasn't there when they had initially discussed siblings.
"Right. I don't really know anything about that. Just be glad you didn't have an older sister." He shuddered.
Len remembered when he was younger, how he often wished that Rin HAD been older, that their places had been switched. Maybe then she would have received the genes, and I would have ended up the Quirkless one.
He'd lied to Mina about being grounded. He'd received no punishment. None at all. This morning, his parents had acted like nothing had happened.
They realised that the status quo we'd been maintaining before had been healthy for everyone, and that pushing out of it was a bad idea. But they're too dense to have settled to that on their own. Rin must have convinced them. There's no other explanation.
How curious it was, that in a world of flashy and mighty heroes, his hero was a young girl with no powers at all.