Weird, Midoriya thinks, his dark green eyes flicking to his wall clock again for the nth time. A trip to the convenience store in his residential area and back shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes. By now, almost twice the duration has passed, but Uraraka and Arata still aren't back in his room.
"They're taking quite a long time," Todoroki remarks, after finishing a chapter of his book to pass the time since the girls left. He slides it back into his bag, pausing as the blazing flame on the black cover slowly glows with a soft red light in the dim compartment.
I didn't realize the logo glows in the dark, he thinks as he zips his bag close.
"Maybe I should've come with them." Midoriya furrows his eyebrows, then types a message to Uraraka's messenger account. "You know, so they wouldn't get lost..."
"Should we go after them?"
"Wait, I'll send this to Uraraka-san first."
It turns out, Midoriya doesn't need to hit the send button, because said girl and Arata pop in from his bedroom's door the next moment.
"Sorry for the delay!" Uraraka throws a grin to both boys as she and Arata plop down their respective spots. "Here are your snacks."
"Took you quite a while." Steering his chair to face Uraraka on the bed, Midoriya glances at her in worry. "Did something happen?"
"We ran into Bakugou-kun in the convenience store," Ochaco grimaces, purposefully leaving out the part where her period came out of the blue. "Well, more precisely, Arata-chan did. When I went out from the store, he was screaming at her and all. I'm not sure how I successfully peeled him off Arata-chan, but somehow I managed to. I wonder what Bakugou-kun is doing in this area."
"Kacchan lives only a block behind this apartment. It's close by, that's why we used to play together all the time. Maybe he's out to get some things for his mom."
"Oh... I didn't know."
"Are you okay, though, Arata-san? Kacchan sometimes can be a bit aggressive."
"Why do you smell of smoke, Ara?" Todoroki inquires. The scent that lingers on her hair is subtle and barely comprehensible, but due to them sitting side by side, his catching a whiff of it is inevitable.
"I accidentally made him mad, so he tried to… scare me with his explosion." Arata looks away in shame, rubbing the back of her neck. Well, actually, it doesn't seem to be the only cause, but she doesn't want to complicate things.
"She called him 'Bakagou'," Ochaco informs the puzzled Midoriya and Todoroki, failing to contain her snicker in the process. "Kaminari-kun purposefully gave the wrong name to Arata-chan during the introduction. Who knew she would really say it to his face!"
No wonder Kacchan got so angry, Midoriya shakes his head. "Kacchan can be very harsh at times, so don't take his insults to heart, Arata-san."
"It's fine, Midoriya-kun. I was the one who messed up first, anyway."
"Oh... I suppose it's insulting because it is essentially 'Baka Bakugou'?" Shoto confirms his understanding, which is answered with a thumbs-up from the laughing Ochaco.
"Finally, you get this kind of thing, Todoroki-kun!"
"Well, this one is rather obvious." he quietly glances at Arata's face, searching for any signs of wound. "I take it that Bakugou didn't get through with his explosion, Ara?"
Technically speaking, her head is still intact, so... "Yeah."
"Students are prohibited from using quirk with the intention of injuring people outside training," he tells her about one of their ground rules. "What Bakugou did was uncalled for. You can take this incident up with Aizawa-sensei if you want."
"It's okay," Arata mutters, one hand rummaging the paper bag. "I don't think that he really intended to, anyway."
If he did, he would have set it off a little closer to my face.
"Your call." Shoto shrugs. "It doesn't make it appropriate, though."
"Mm-hm." Arata nods, then offers her bag of chips to him. She was lucky that Bakugou returned it back to her, though it was by flinging it to her face. "Want some, Shoto-san?"
"Sure. After that, we should hurry and finish our homework."
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Arata's heroics homework begins with several pages full of rescue strategies and standard operating procedures. In contrast to how her mathematics homework ended up, textbooks are proven to be her greatest friend for these sections.
Midoriya, with how much he has been taking notes during his spring lessons, easily places in second place, right after her textbooks. He automatically rattles off explanation after explanation if she so much as glances in confusion at him.
It seems Midoriya-kun has Shoto-san beaten in the department that requires memorization, Arata observes as he goes off on a tangent about another one of "All Might's unbelievable feats." Well, perhaps, it's just how passionate he is about heroics. Not to say that Shoto-san isn't, though.
I wonder if I would too, had I lived in a normal family. We had been living in two different worlds, and I think mine didn't have real heroes in it. They only existed as moving pictures and sounds in a box... until Aizawa-san and Shoto-san came along.
"If All Might was a subject, I bet Deku-kun would ace every test and place first every semester," Ochaco whispers to her conspiratorially. "Even Yao-momo would have no hope of dethroning him. You'd better start putting those answers in right now, because he won't stop rambling for at least the next five minutes."
Arata looks up to her friend on the bed, then to Midoriya who is yet recounting another heroic story of the number 1 pro hero. Following Ochaco's advice, she begins writing on her book. "He idolizes All Might so much, doesn't he?"
"It's sort of adorable, honestly," Ochaco sighs with a dreamy tone, only to blush when her brain registers that she actually mumbles it out loud enough for her friend to hear. She groans in a low voice, then buries her head in a blue pillow. "Ugh, please tell me you didn't hear it, Arata-chan."
"Um… I did, but what about it?" Arata's green eyes are still trained on the book, her pen dances swiftly on the pages.
"Nothing important," Ochaco replies quickly, then dives into her homework again. "Todoroki-kun, do you have the solution to number 7 in the fifth section? I can't seem to understand the instructions right."
Arata tries to focus on the questions in front of her as Shoto sticks his neck out from his book and answers Ochaco. Her back begins to feel the strain of the long study session. She stretches her arms above her head, then returns her gaze to the book.
Just one more section, she tells herself, her eyes landing on the title of the final part, feeling relieved that her endless pile of homework will be over soon. But, wait... What is this instruction?
"The following portion is not graded, hence it is encouraged for the homework taker to answer solely based on their respective opinion."
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It's been half an hour since she started doing that, Shoto glances at Arata, who is spinning her pen around her fingers again for the umpteenth time. During the recent half an hour, her green eyes have never strayed from the heroics homework in front of her.
He has to admit, it's starting to make him feel curious. Curious enough to postpone cross-examining his physics homework with Midoriya's. Is the question really difficult that it gives her such a hard time?
"If you really have no idea, it's better to skip it and move on to the next tasks first," Shoto suggests to the dark-haired girl next to him. "You can always revisit that one later."
"Um, actually... this is the last one..."
"Oh? Then, what are you waiting for?"
"I just don't know what to answer."
"Why don't you ask Midoriya like before? I'm not one to believe there's a topic about heroics that Midoriya's knowledge doesn't cover. At the very least, he will be able to give you some clues that you can use to look up the answer."
"Not this one. It's an opinion question." Arata runs her hands through her jet black bangs, letting them fall back down to her forehead like a waterfall afterwards. Sighing deeply, she looks up to meet his grey-cyan eyes. "Shoto-san, can I... ask you something?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Do you think..."
To say that Bakugou's words didn't leave a mark on her conscience is to lie. They have been buzzing over and over in her head like a broken tape since the convenience store disappeared behind her back.
Arata knows by heart how useless and helpless she has been. She doesn't need a reminder to understand that she is lacking in most things. Not only in abilities, but also drive.
While her friends genuinely strive to be a hero for whatever reason, she walks this path just because she has no choice. It is only natural for those who bend over backwards to be one, like Bakugou, to feel disgusted at her. In fact, what prevents the others from sharing his sentiment?
Sensing her hesitation, Shoto prompts, "Do I think what?"
"Um..." Arata bows her head as her voice is reduced to a low mutter. It is almost incomprehensible among Midoriya and Uraraka's chuckles from the other side of the room. "Do you think... I can't be a hero?"
Instead of an answer, what she gets is a piercing glare from him. She knows it isn't actually directed at her, but it doesn't stop her from feeling a little cold all of a sudden.
"Is that what Bakugou said to you?"
"Well..." Arata trails off, not wanting to either confirm or deny. "I mean, I can't control my quirk properly and I'm pretty much a semester behind the other students. This morning, during the routine Good Will exam... I— I couldn't even hold my mantis foreleg transformation steadily... It lasted for a fairly long time during a couple of attempts, but most of the time it didn't even pass ten seconds."
"Then, it's too early to say anything, isn't it?" Shoto surmises, his tone serious. "Too early for people to judge whether you can or cannot be a hero."
"But, compared to what you guys can do..."
"Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle. Just do what you can for now."
"Is it really okay, though?"
"As long as you continue moving forward, it shouldn't matter."
Arata stares at him long and hard before the frown on her face blossoms into a dimpled smile. "You're wise beyond your years, aren't you, Shoto-san?"
"Is that your way of saying that I look young?"
"You wish." Arata raises an eyebrow, then giggles. "It's quite the opposite, actually. Who knows if there is a gray strand among your white hair."
"I suppose it will make aging easier on me. Imagine when it happens to you and your black hair, Ara. The gray hair will stick out like a sore thumb."
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, let me struggle with this last question."
"Finally got an idea?" Shoto rubs his thumb over his own book's cover.
"Not exactly an idea," Arata replies, already concentrating on her work again. Just the courage to be on the same playing ground with you all, even if I'm not exactly on your level.
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An hour later, both Todoroki and Ochaco are already standing near Midoriya's opened door, their books packed inside their bag. Midoriya himself is stacking his homework on his wooden desk.
"Wow, I didn't realize at first because it's so bright, but it's already near dinner time." Ochaco glances at the wall clock. "Summer magic, huh? Guess we're too focused on doing homework. Let's get back, Arata-chan!"
"It looks like she didn't hear you," Todoroki comments. "She's still taking a last look at her answer."
As the nearest person to Arata's spot, Midoriya walks over to the corner and calls her, "Hey, Arata-san. Uraraka-san was inviting you to walk back together with Todoroki-kun and her."
"Sorry, I was over in my mind." Arata quickly closes her book and stuffs it back to her backpack. "I'm ready now!"
It was only for a brief moment, but Midoriya caught a glimpse of the writing in her book. Arata's answer is short and simple, definitely not the kind of answer their heroics teacher—All Might—was aiming for when he gave her that question. But, it is an honest-to-god answer, one that Midoriya isn't even sure he'd have the courage to write down himself.
> Q: What can you do (e.g., abilities and quirk applications) as a hero?
> A: As of now, almost nothing. I can't promise anything, but I will do my best to change that.