Dirty Little Secrets: Chapter Four [A MHA Fic]
Experimenting with uploading earlier.
Hey, I got all the previous chapters all together on this nifty little post here if you need to catch up/go back.
[Ao3 version Here]
Chapter Four: The (New) Daily Life Of The Transfer Student
*Beep* *Beep*
Shinso groaned at the alarm. It had been rhythmically raining since last night, so for once he’d had gotten a good night’s sleep.
*Beep* *Beep*
He chucked it toward the wall, only to have the plug hold fast and stop its flight. The beeps persisted from the floor. With another groan, Shinso got up and stepped on the snooze button.
He threw on his uniform and went to the bathroom. He squeezed some gel on his hands and went to work wrangling his bedhead back into a more organized chaos.
After a quick breakfast and probably more coffee than any boy of fifteen should ingest, he was ready to go. It was still raining outside, but he was sure he could handle biking to the train station in this weather.
“This is karma for the Mineta thing, isn’t it?” He whispered to himself as the downpour worsened from the station to school. He’d forgotten his umbrella on the train, which only made everything worse. By the time he got to school, he was soaking wet. Ectoplasm had passed him in the halls and sent him to the locker rooms to change into his PE uniform. In his hurry to get to class, he’d forgotten to use a towel to dry his hair, so it was plastered to his head. By the time he finally made it to the classroom, he probably looked like a wet cat.
“Dude, ViceGrip’s Hair Gel,” Kirishima said to him as Shinso walked to his seat, pointing at his hair. “It’ll keep your hair from falling down AND it’ll be water resistant for 10,000 meters. Just a tip.”
Shinso took one look at the stabbing hazard that was Kirishima’s hair as he sat down. “No.” Behind him, Yaoyorozu created a towel from her thigh and handed it to him. He whispered a quick thanks to her before he started to dry off his hair.
“I can make you a fresh uniform, too, if you want,” she offered.
“No, I’m good,” Shinso said, putting the now-wet towel aside.
Midnight slowly sashayed into the classroom. “Mr. Aizawa got a little tied up on his way to school today,” she said in a low tone, befitting her title of ‘The R-Rated Hero’ (no matter how inappropriate it was for a classroom). “There’s some minor flooding in his neighborhood AND he got caught up trying to stop a robbery in progress on the way here. So now you’re in my hands until he gets-” her eyes locked onto Shinso and she turned into a squeeing mess. “WHEN YOUR HAIR’S DOWN, YOU EVEN KIND OF LOOK LIKE AIZAWA WHEN HE WAS YOUR AGE!” She cracked her flogger in the air and pointed at Shinso as he slunk into his seat. “I LIKE IT!”
I gladly welcome death, he thought.
“I have to show him and Yamada!” She said, digging her phone out of who-knows-where, given her costume. “Shinso, may I?”
Shinso sat up and allowed the teacher to snap a photo of him and send it to her two colleagues. Once she was done and busy typing out a message, Shinso slumped back down and fiddled with his hair.
Hm, maybe I should keep it down like Eraserhead d-NO! You are NOT that obsessive of a fanboy! Bad Hitoshi!
Midnight smirked as she put her phone away. “Keep this up and you’ll be my new favorite, Mr. Shinso.”
Why are you like this, woman? Both Shinso and the author thought in unison, the author regretting her decisions up to this point.
“Sucks that the rain cancelled whatever exercise we were going to do,” Sero said.
“Yeah, but we get to play Quirk Dodgeball, so it’s not too bad,” Kirishima said, “even if my Quirk isn’t much help…”
“Your damn Quirk is fine, Hair-For-Brains. It’s your stupid hair that’s the problem. It’ll pop the balls if they hit it,” Bakugo said, mouth half full, as he avoided eye contact.
“Aw, thanks.”
“Shut up.”
Truly, theirs is the romance of the century… Shinso thought to himself.
Kaminari elbowed Shinso, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows. “And hey, how’s it feel to be Midnight’s new favorite, Minizawa?”
“Uncomfortable.” Shinso said. I mean, the flirty thing’s just a persona thing, right? PLEASE let that just be a persona thing, he thought.
“Mineta’s going to be so mad when he finds out she’s giving you attention,” Kaminari said with a chuckle as he texted someone. His phone buzzed and Kaminari sighed.
“You and The Mineta Investigation Squad’s texting plan still not working?” Ashido asked.
“It still keeps saying his number is out of the range of cell service.”
Shinso’s ears perked up. Cell phones! Of course! Why didn’t he think to track Mineta’s phone and find out-wait, he didn’t know how to track phones. Or get someone to track phones without seeming shady. And Mineta’s parents probably already tried that. Crap.
Shinso went back to finishing his lunch just as Todoroki passed behind him. Shinso noticed and turned around.
“Hey, Todoroki. Want to meet up at the window like yesterday?”
Todoroki paused. He seemed to be contemplating something. “Sure, I just finished lunch.”
Shinso nodded. “See you in a minute.” He returned to his meal before he noticed Ashido grinning.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She said.
“Oh, hey. That reminds me,” Kirishima said. “Bakugo, can we meet up after school? The new math unit is killing me, and I…”
“Can’t,” Bakugo quickly barked, avoiding eye contact. “Got better things to do.”
Kirishima slumped in his seat. Shinso almost felt a bit bad for him. But Bakugo’s crappy Feeling Handling skills were not his problem…
…Still, the guy did kind of look like a kicked puppy. Maybe he could say something to Bakugo next After School Training.
And with that thought, Shinso finished his meal and went to meet Todoroki.
“I mean, there’s not much to tell about me and my life,” Shinso said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, aside from my dad’s Quirk not allowing him to leave the house without proper preparation, we’re pretty normal. Dad works in pharmaceuticals, making things to help with people’s Quirks. Mom works overseas…”
“What’s your dad’s Quirk?” Todoroki asked.
“I think its official name is ‘Drone’. Basically, he gives off this scent that makes people crazy enough for him to do whatever he wants if they get too close and smell it. But if too many people smell it at a time they kinda…fight over him,” Shinso cringed, remembering the horrors of The Grocery Store Incident eight years ago.
“He said in school people joked about it and called him ‘Harem Protagonist.’ In hindsight, I’m lucky his Quirk and my mom’s Polyglot Quirk kinda mixed to make mine.”
“So, does it work on you? Your dad’s Quirk, I mean…” Todoroki asked. Shinso noticed a look of genuine concern in Todoroki’s mismatched eyes. And that they were very nice eyes, actually: a warm gray and a beautiful blue. Shinso shook his head, both in response to his question and to wave the unnecessary thought away.
“No. Anyone related by blood to my dad is immune. And my mom has absolutely no sense of smell, so it doesn’t work on her, either.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah… So, tell me about your family. I mean, what you can. Having the Number Two Hero as your dad must be…”
“Awful.” Todoroki said bluntly.
“…I was going to say ‘interesting’, but…”
“My mother is fine. I mean, she’s better than she was a long time ago,” he said, touching the scar on his face. “I visit her on my days off. And I have siblings. A sister, two brothers…”
Shinso nodded. There was a brief and awkward silence.
“So, your costume is an Eraserhead cosplay?” Todoroki asked, changing the subject.
Shinso covered his face in embarrassment. “That design was a mistake…” He groaned.
“Don’t worry about it, Midoriya’s is obviously an homage to his f— to All Might…”
“I know…” Shinso groaned.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why? Why do you admire our teacher?”
Shinso removed his hands from his face.
“I mean, he’s a great hero, I’ve seen him in action. Admirable. I just want to know why you personally like him…” Todoroki explained.
Shinso perked up. “It’s simple: he’s my hero.”
Shinso sat up as he elaborated, “You see, back when I was in preschool, my Quirk manifested, like pretty much everyone else’s in my class. I first used it to stop a kid from picking on another kid. Unfortunately, everyone was freaked out. They told me my Quirk was ‘scary.’ The teacher was unnerved by me, too. Even the kid’s mother complained to the school and my parents about what I did to her son. I came home in tears.
“Dad tried to cheer me up. Even showed me one of those old All Might PSAs about how no Quirk is ‘evil’. But I was still a mess the next day. I wanted to be a hero like the other kids did. But how was I supposed to do that with my Quirk? That’s when mom pulled up a web video with grainy footage of Eraserhead in action.
“I was amazed. I mean, here was someone with a Quirk that prevented people from using theirs. In the wrong hands, you could do bad things with it. But he wasn’t. He was a hero!” Shinso smiled. “It really cheered me up.
“I mean, sure, almost everyone who wants to be a hero looks up to All Might in some way. And I do, too. But for someone like me…” Shinso said, standing up, “Someone who wasn’t blessed with a combative Quirk like you… The Erasure Hero is a sign someone with a Quirk like mine can be a hero, too! And that’s part of why I’ve refused to give up on that dream ever since!”
Todoroki smiled a bit, before tightening his brow. “You seem really passionate about it.”
Shinso nodded.
“Ahem.”
Shinso began to sweat and turned to look behind him. There was Mr. Aizawa.
He’s back!? How much of that did he hear!? Shinso thought.
“Get to class, you two.”
Todoroki got up and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Shinso started to turn back around before Aizawa stopped him.
“How’s your scarf-wielding? You showed some progress in the footage from yesterday’s exercise…”
“Uh…better, sir,” Shinso replied. “Sero helped me a lot with my aim…”
“Good. Still, I think I can at least give you a few pointers after school today. There’s only so much Sero can teach you…” Aizawa said matter-of-factly before walking away.
“Th-thank you, sir!” Shinso said, trying to keep his cool.
Private lessons from my hero? My luck’s turning around today!
That’s when Bakugo smacked him on the back of his head, and shoved his middle finger in his face.
“Keep on your toes, General Studies!”
Shinso flipped him off in response as Ashido grabbed him by the arm and dragged Shinso along.
“Your teams for each round have already been assigned.” Aizawa said.
The class groaned in response.
“You all know in hero work, you don’t always get to work with your friends or the strongest among you. You need to be able to work with whoever you’re thrown with. Now,” Aizawa pulled out a paper. “Midoriya, Koda, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Jirou, Aoyama, Asui, Shoji, and Shinso. You’re teamed up for round one. The rest of you are team two.
“The rules are simple: get your opponent out with the ball. It can’t bounce off the floor, and you can catch or stop a ball to get the thrower out. Blocking is allowed. Quirks are allowed, so long as you don’t seriously hurt, maim, or even kill any of your opponents.”
Everyone pointedly looked at Bakugo.
“Understood?”
The class nodded.
“Good. Now begin!”
Their teacher jumped out of the way and threw an entire trash bag’s worth of balls at them.
Bakugo, of course, grabbed two right away and and propelled both in different directions: one at Kirishima and one at Koda. Kirishima barely dodged, but poor Koda was hit square in the chest, making him yelp.
“WHAT THE HELL, BAKUGO!?” Jirou and Ashido said in unison.
Bakugo opened his mouth, only to catch a ball aimed at his head.
Aoyama collapsed on the floor, his brilliant strategy thwarted. He and Koda left the field.
From there, chaos ensued.
The teams could each pretty much be divided into two factions: The People Who Wanted Bakugo Out and Those Who Were Just In It For Genuine Fun vs Bakugo and His Team Who Just Wanted To Have A Good Time And Win.
Shinso glanced over and saw Yaoyorozu creating an air cannon from her belly, loaded with balls. She aimed it at Bakugo and took a shot, only to have it blocked by Todoroki’s ice.
“Sorry, Yaoyorozu. I need him to get out the bigger threats, first…” Todoroki said as he glanced over at Bakugo dramatically. He seemed to be targeting Tsuyu and Tokoyami, who were working together to outmaneuver him. “Then he’s all yours…” Todoroki said darkly.
It was truly serious business.
Shinso navigated his way to Midoriya, who looked like he was trying to figure out a course of action.
“We need to take out Todoroki,” Shinso said simply.
“Yeah. He gives them a defensive edge…”
“Any plans, Midoriya?” Shinso asked as a ball soared at his head. He barely managed to catch it.
“AW, COME ON!” Sero yelled in frustration as he left the field.
“Get good, Sero,” Shinso called back as he handed Midoriya the ball. “You have the better arm and don’t break your bones anymore, right? You handle it…”
Midoriya fumbled with the ball and went back to his thoughts. Yaoyorozu made her way over to the two, air cannon still in her hands. “I think I can break through the ice, but we’ll only have one shot after that. We need to get our timing right…”
“DIE!”
A ball shot towards them, only for Tokoyami to intercept it with his body and take a hit for the team.
“TOKOYAMI!” Midoriya and Tsuyu shouted in unison.
Tokoyami groaned, his Dark Shadow pulling him along the floor. “Go on… Without us…”
“…And we need to do it fast. Cover me!”
Midoriya and Shinso covered her. Bakugo continued to struggle to hit Tsuyu, who wouldn’t “quit hopping around like a frogging rabbit!” Shoji took out most of the other team before being taken out by Todoroki. Kirishima was trying to distract Bakugo with chatter.
“Have I mentioned lately what great arms you have?”
Bakugo paused. “What?”
“I—I said you have a great arm!” Kirishima said, waving his arms in front of him.
“Flattery won’t spare you, Shifty Hair!”
“What? Can’t a guy compliment another guy on his manli—OW!” Kirishima was hit in the leg by Todoroki, who was sliding along a sheet of ice.
“I don’t need you to distract him with your flirting.” Todoroki said.
Kirishima laughed as he left the field. “Flirting? Yeah, right. Read the room, Todoroki, Bakugo doesn’t like me like that…”
Bakugo’s eye and hand twitched. Shinso started to chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Midoriya asked.
“Nothing. Now hurry up before he goes supernova…”
Yaoyorozu fired off as many balls as she could at the ice, creating a small lattice of cracks. Bakugo’s eyes honed in on her. She noticed.
“NOW, MIDORIYA!” She yelled, just as Bakugo lobbed a ball at her. It hit its mark and sent her skidding across the floor. Jirou went over to check on the poor girl.
“5% FULL COWL!” Midoriya shouted as he threw the ball at the cracks in the ice, his body glowing. The ball shot through the ice like a bullet through glass and nailed Todoroki in the stomach, sending him into the wall, nearly making a dent in it.
“YOU OKAY, TODOROKI!?” Midoriya shouted.
Todoroki stumbled towards the sidelines, holding his stomach. He gave him a thumbs up. Midoriya smiled with relief before Bakugo nailed him in the head with a ball.
“MIDORIYA!” Shinso yelled.
“It’s up to you now, Shinso…” Midoriya said, handing him a ball as he started to leave the field. His eyes were watering from the pain.
“What about Jirou?” Shinso asked just as she got nailed in the head.
Tsuyu wrapped her tongue around his waist as she continued hopping, carrying him along without missing a beat. “Shinso, you can do it!” She said, despite her tongue hanging out.
Shinso nodded and threw the ball at Bakugo, hitting him in the face. Shinso and his sole surviving teammate landed on the ground.
“I think we got everyone…” Tsuyu said.
Shinso looked around. “Yeah, I think…”
That’s when he noticed the uniform in a heap on the ground.
“Snikt.” Shinso said as two floating balls and a pair of shoes appeared above the rubble of Todoroki’s ice. The balls flew at both of them, knocking them out of the game.
“JUST AS PLANNED!” Hagakure said, giggling maniacally.
“Way to go, Tooru!” Ojiro said.
“Hagakure’s team wins. Once Todoroki removes the ice, you’ll change teams and we’ll do another round…”
“Again.”
“Yes, sir!”
It was after school. The rain had let up earlier and the ground was mostly dry now. Shinso was out in the campus’s fake city with Aizawa, doing multiple exercises to at least get the basics of using the scarf down. Currently, he was working on grabbing things.
Shinso used the scarf to grab some plastic bottles Aizawa was throwing in the air and pull them towards himself. He got up to six before one slipped past him, throwing him off. From there, he started to fail.
I can’t fail this! I can do it. I need to be good enough that Aizawa wouldn’t dream of expelling me. I need to be good enough to keep, even if the truth comes out. Even if that creep’s actually okay and can take his spot back. Even if…
“Enough.” Aizawa said.
“No I can— son of a— I can do this! Just let me—”
“ENOUGH!”
Shinso paused in tracks, the last of the bottles collapsing to the ground. He started to shake, tears forming in his eyes.
“…I can do this…” Shinso said, voice shaking as he clenched his fists.
“I’m sure you can. You’ve already shown adequate progress since your first day in my class.”
“Adequate isn’t good enough. I need to be better…”
“Shinso, look at me…”
Shinso turned around and looked at his teacher.
“It’s irrational to think you can improve overnight, you know,” Aizawa said firmly.
“I know that, sir. I just…”
Aizawa held up his hand, signaling Shinso to be quiet. Then he put it on Shinso’s shoulder.
“You just want to be on the same level as everyone else. I understand that. However, hyperfocusing on that is going to get you nowhere,” Aizawa sighed. “You have a lot on your mind, don’t you?”
Shinso nodded.
“Anything you need to talk about?”
Shinso shook his head furiously.
Aizawa shrugged. “Fair enough. Just let me tell you this: when you’re out there, being a hero, you can’t let yourself get distracted by what’s in your head. You need to be able to focus on what you need to do. Understand?”
Shinso nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now go home. We’re done for the day. We’ll do this again next week.”
Shinso’s jaw dropped. “Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!”
“No problem,” Aizawa said, already walking away. “By the way, a kid from the Support Course— one of the two who volunteered to make your suit on short notice?— wants to see you tomorrow before school about your costume.”
Shinso nodded. I can get the dumb thing fixed!
Aizawa walked back and handed him a slip of paper. “She had this note for you,” he said, then left him.
Shinso read the note:
Dear Hitoshi Shinso,
Good news! I’ve made some alterations to your suit I hope you’ll like! ^_^ My underclassman/collaborator on this project, Mei Hatsume, has also improved your voice amplifier! Please come see me about it early tomorrow morning! ♡
-Takara Katsurou, 2nd Year Support Course.
P.S. If you see my cousin, don’t talk to him.
Shinso tilted his head, confused.
For some reason, he felt like he was going to regret this meeting tomorrow…
[To Be Continued]
18 notes
·
View notes