Chapter 89: Girls' Night
After the Sports Festival ended, the school gave the Hero Course students a two-day break. During this time, the school would be tallying the internship invitations received from hero agencies to prepare the students for their upcoming work-studies.
"Shoto, are you going to see Mom?" Todoroki's sister stood at the entrance of their home, looking at him with some concern. "You know, what Mom did back then... she didn't mean it..."
"Yeah. It's about time I went."
Shoto Todoroki changed into a set of casual clothes and walked toward the hospital. He touched the burn scar on his face, his mind drifting back to the past.
When he was a child, his mother had been forced into a Quirk marriage with his father, Endeavor. She had always been terrified of him. After Shoto had awakened his fire Quirk, his mother had grown even colder toward him, even looking at him with fear, because she felt he was becoming more and more like Endeavor. One time, Shoto had accidentally overheard his mother on the phone with her family, learning that she was afraid of him. While he was reeling from the shock, his already neurotic mother had found him and had poured a kettle of boiling water on the left side of his face.
After that, Endeavor had intervened and sent his mother to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. Shoto had never seen her again. He had come to hate Endeavor for his cruelty toward his mother, believing he was the one who had broken her.
This was why he had so strongly rejected his fire Quirk. But during this Sports Festival, after being pushed by Midoriya and Kira, he had used it. This had shaken his resolve, and he no longer knew what to do. And so, he had decided to seek an answer from the mother he hadn't seen in years.
The moment Iida had received his mother's call during the Sports Festival, he had rushed to the train station and headed for Hosu City, the area where his older brother worked as a Pro Hero. When he arrived at the hospital, he received some reassuring news from the doctor: his brother was not in any mortal danger, but he would never be able to fight as a Pro Hero again.
But one person's tragedy is another's holiday. While Iida and Todoroki were dealing with their heavy news, the others were enjoying a cheerful break.
A glass full of juice floated in the air. A cheerful voice belonging to an invisible girl in a white dress called out, "Let's celebrate the official first meeting of the Class 1-A Girls' Club! Cheers!"
Six glasses filled with golden juice clinked together. "Cheers!" the girls shouted in unison.
The scene was a Japanese restaurant. All the girls of Class 1-A had gathered to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Sports Festival.
The main topic of conversation was, naturally, their performance at the festival.
"By the way, Tsuyu-chan, how did your team with Mineta get eliminated?" Mina Ashido asked curiously, taking a big gulp of orange juice.
During the Sports Festival, she had seen Mezo Shoji's shell-like defense completely conceal Asui and Mineta. With Mineta's powerful control Quirk and Tsuyu's freely extendable tongue, they should have been a strong contender to win the cavalry battle.
"I'm not sure, ribbit," Tsuyu said in her unique voice, looking just as puzzled. "Before I knew it, the headband on Mineta-kun's head was just... gone."
Hearing this, Toru Hagakure suddenly began to cough violently. A few drops of juice appeared in the air, as if they had hit a transparent wall, and slid down in a curve.
"Hagakure-chan, are you okay?" Tsuyu asked with concern.
"Hehe, I'm fine," Hagakure replied, wiping herself with a napkin, her voice a little guilty. Could she really say that she had been the one to direct her teammate, Ibara, to extend her vines into the gap in Shoji's defense and sneakily snatch their headband in the darkness? And because Ibara was so fast and precise, the cameras hadn't even caught it, and no one else on the field had noticed. If anyone could have exposed her, it would have been her own teammates, Kyoka Jiro and Yoshikage Kira. But this was a girls-only party. There was only one person here who could reveal the truth...
Hagakure looked at Kyoka Jiro, who was nonchalantly swishing some meat in the hot pot while scrolling through her phone, seemingly not paying any attention to their conversation.
Seeing that Jiro wasn't interested in the topic, Hagakure secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She then became curious about what Jiro was looking at.
"Jiro-chan, what are you looking at? Is it interesting?"
"It's just information about a band's performance. You probably wouldn't like it," Jiro said, looking up coolly. "Besides, Tsuyu-chan, we were the ones who took your team's headband."
Whoa, I can't believe Jiro was actually listening! Seeing Tsuyu and Mina both looking at her strangely, Hagakure quickly waved her invisible hands and defended herself. "I may have been the rider, but Kira-kun was the one who told me to do everything! And I wasn't the one who actually did it! It was that girl from Class 1-B!"
"That part is true," Jiro admitted.
Tsuyu wasn't actually that bothered by who had eliminated her; the competition was over, after all. She asked the two who had teamed up with Kira curiously, "By the way, do you two know why Kira teamed up with that girl from Class 1-B?"
Jiro shook her head frankly. Hagakure said hesitantly, "Well, I know a little bit..."
"Tell us, tell us! I'm sure Kira won't mind!" Mina urged.
Momo, who had been maintaining the dignified posture of a young lady, couldn't help but straighten up, ready to listen intently.
"It was at lunchtime on the first day after the USJ incident. You all remember, right? Kira ran out right after class."
Uraraka nodded. "I remember that. And then I think you had to go somewhere too, Hagakure-chan?"
"Actually, I was stalking him!" Hagakure suddenly dropped a bombshell on the group.
Having spent a lot of time with Midoriya, Uraraka had also learned to analyze things. She rested her chin on her hand. "Stalking? Normally, you're pretty conspicuous, Hagakure. I mean, anyone would do a double-take if they saw a floating set of clothes. So if you wanted to follow someone..." Then, just like in a battle, she would have had to take off her clothes.
"Ahem!" Hagakure waved her hands frantically. "That's not important! What's important is, do you know what happened next? Kira went to the Class 1-B classroom and gave that green-haired beauty a wad of cash!"
Cash!? Meaning, a transaction!?
The breathing of the other girls grew heavy. They couldn't process Hagakure's shocking statement. Even though they were only in their teens, in a society where adult magazines were openly displayed in convenience stores, it was impossible for them not to understand the implications.
Mina Ashido coughed and said mysteriously, "Don't tell me... it was for compensated—"
"Don't say such things!" Momo interrupted her with a blush before she could finish the word, educating her with a serious expression. "Ashido-san, it's not right to spread rumors about our classmates behind their backs! We can't let such a bad habit become prevalent in our class!"
"Yaomomo-chan, weren't you on Kira-kun's back during the second round of the obstacle course?" Tsuyu pointed out calmly.
"Whoa, that's right! I just remembered that!" Mina shouted. "While the rest of us were painstakingly climbing the ropes, you two used a pulley system to get across! That's so unfair!"
"Eh!? T-There was a reason for that!" Momo was instantly flustered and began to explain frantically.
"No excuses! Take this!" Mina accurately fished a round meatball from the pot and, with her chopsticks, stuffed it into Momo's mouth. "You need lipids to use your Quirk, don't you!? So eat up!" she said, huffing.
"Hagakure! You too! Aren't you ashamed of being completely naked at school!? You should change your name to 'Exhibitionist Eve'!" Mina tried to stuff a meatball into Hagakure's mouth as well, but since she couldn't see her face, she had no idea where to aim.
"You're the one who should be called Miss Eba!" Hagakure, not to be outdone, saw her chance and slapped her nearly melted ice cream onto Mina's mouth. White liquid dripped down her chin. "Don't you know how lewd that hero costume of yours is!?"
"Damn you... I challenge you to a duel!"
"Me too!"
Watching the scene descend into chaos, Uraraka gave a wry smile. She looked at the quietly sitting Kyoka Jiro and said, "Jiro-chan, you're going to see the 'soul' concert tomorrow night, right? Can I come with you?"
Ever since she had seen Jiro looking at the concert poster, Uraraka had looked up the information and found out that the concert was the next night. She had summoned her courage and decided to ask.
"With me?" Jiro, who had been planning to go alone, was a little surprised. "I don't have a problem with it."
"Actually, I wanted to ask everyone to go," Uraraka said with a wry smile. "But, you know, with this situation, how can I even ask?"
Tsuyu turned her head. "I'd be happy if you invited me, Ochaco-chan."
"Then it's decided! The three of us will go together!"
"Setting aside those two, what about me? Are you just going to abandon me?" Momo asked pitifully, pounding her chest to swallow the meatball.
"I thought a young lady like you wouldn't be interested in going to something like that," Uraraka said with an apologetic smile. "Then let's all go together."
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