"I made the right choice!" Sero hoisted Mineta up as they walked in. "Thanks to this guy I didn't fail!"
"Are you actually certain about that?" Tsu asked the boy, feeling like that would be too easy. "You didn't do much during the exam itself, and it was Mineta who trapped Midnight and got you both through the gate.
"Come on now, it's a team effort. I pushed him out of the way. Besides, all pairs are combined pass or fail, right?" The tape user asked Recovery Girl.
"Yes, team cooperation is indeed a factor, but so is test participation, which admittedly you did very little of." The elderly pro answered. "You'll just have to wait to see how your teachers weigh the results."
"…" The boy went over to join Kirishima and Sato in the corner.
"Oh, Mineta, we got money!" Iruma shouted. "Everyone placed bets on how you would do!" Why would you tell him this? "Me and Kaminari said you would win, and you did!"
"You're the only ones who bet on me to win, right?" Mineta received a nod in confirmation. "Well, nice to see SOME people show a little faith for the little guy here."
"It wasn't faith in the little guy, it was just faith in you specifically." Tsuyu deadpanned. Somehow, Mineta's personality didn't turn away the nicest kid in class. "Just like how they're probably going to screw up this next challenge." She looked at Ochako and Toru, both arguing on screen.
"Why are they yelling at each other? They have so much in common." Iruma pondered.
"Yes they do, and that's exactly why they're fighting." Tsu sighed. Two of the most bubbly and energetic girls in class liked the same guy. The only difference was that one was overly open while the other barely realized she had feelings at all.
"I don't get it." Iruma asked.
"It's like how dogs are territoritorial. Sometimes similar people just clash." Kaminari explained.
"Oh … so that's why Bunny-sensei and Aizawa-sensei get along. Because they're so different." Recovery girl started laughing.
"Iruma, when it comes to making us laugh, you are a genius." Mina chuckled. That was true, as unintentional as it was.
==
"Can't we just sit down for three minutes and make a plan?" She asked. "We're fighting Thirteen!" She has black holes!! And it was super cool!!!
"There's no point in making a plan! We need to be as direct as possible and get this over quickly!" Toru argued with her. She seemed just fine a while ago, but something just seemed to snap when the two of them were alone together.
"Oh and you're just gonna walk up and handcuff her completely visible? That sounds like a great plan Toru, great plan."
"Oh, and what's yours? Run behind her and make her float? Because you have such a great history of making that work for you." She could feel the eyeroll the girl was giving her. "Oh, or is it to just ask Thirteen to handcuff herself along with an autograph?"
"Alright, what is your problem!" She shouted. "Every single time I hang around you I get yelled at or glared or otherwise ignored. Is there something wrong with me, does my presence offend you?"
"Your presence is the problem! I see how you look at him, how you always keep on trying to get closer and closer, and I. Won't. Let. It. Happen."
"Who is him!?" She shouted. "And why is it a problem if I get close to someone?"
"You know who I'm talking about! I'm not going to let you, or that vine hussy, or anyone else take him away from me!"
"If I knew who you were talking about we would be having this conversation!" Toru could be so hard to work with!
"Your time begins now."
"Great, now we have to improv..hey! Get back here!" Ochako saw the gloves drop to the floor, leaving Toru completely invisible. "Just because I can't see you doesn't mean I won't stop talking! I know you can hear me!"
"Yeah, yeah, you can't see me, just like everyone else in the world! No one ever sees the invisible girl, no one ever takes notice of when she's sad, or angry, or annoyed, or when she's crossing the street because some jerk thinks it's okay to drive on a red light!" Okay, that was more heavy then she was expecting. "There's literally only one, ONE person I've met in the world that always manages to see and notice me, and I'm not going to let anyone steal his attention…!"
"Speaking of which, you should really work on not calling attention to yourselves. All the yelling can lead villains to your location." Thirteen popped up from seemingly out of nowhere. "And it makes it pretty easy for anyone of any size to sneak up on you." The hero raised her fingers as the lids popped off … and began sucking them in.
==
She understood she was getting them both because of interpersonal problems, but this was ridiculous. These girls needed to work out their issues here and now, or it was just going to lead to absolutely dangerous problems down the road. "I'm disappointed. I really expected more out of you two." Especially Uraraka, she usually had such a cool head under pressure if the Sports festival was anything to go by.
"Toru, Toru, whatever issues we have with each other, forget about them and hold on!" Uraraka held out her hand as she grabbed a hold of a metal railing. "We need to come up with a plan!"
"Within hearing distance of the villain, great idea!" Hagakure shouted back. "Just let me handle this!" The handcuffs suggested the girl was slowly moving across the railing. Not taking advantage of the situation and refusing cooperation, it was just peachy that these would likely be the only trouble duo, she couldn't imagine another teacher having to deal with this kind of trouble … except All Might, let that guy take Bakugo. Thirteen raised her second arm, trailing Hagakure as she moved across the rails. "I'm not going to get sucked in!" She upped the suction power of her blackhole. For someone without a strength quirk, she had quite the strong grip.
"Sure you're not, but you're gonna be stuck there until time runs out, so it's my win." She called out. "Then again I barely have to raise a finger against you two, so I suppose it would have been my win either way." Be blunt, see if that sparks something.
"Come on, come on, Iruma's been in worse situations before and survived!" Uraraka said mostly to herself. "There's nothing he can't survive…"
"STOP THINKING ABOUT IRUMA-KUN!" Hagakure yelled, and it looked like the arguing was just getting worse. "And don't play dumb about it either! You don't have his innocence to excuse yourself!"
"Stop thinking about … wait, you have a crush on him!?" Uraraka asked with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Did she not see the signs that literally every staff member of UA saw?
"Cru..cru…I don't have a crush on him, I love him!" Hagakure shouted. "He's my soulmate! He's the only one who's capable of actually loving me!" There was SOOO much to unpack with that. "And I'm not going to risk anyone that feels the same way!"
"And that means hurting and arguing with people?! Would Iruma be happy with that?!"
==
"Of … course … not …" Toru trailed off, taking her words in. Iruma-kun liked everyone, he paid attention to everything. He was this neutral force of innocent kindness. He didn't even hate villains, other than calling Stain a moron. "He…I..he…"
"We both know he's not the brightest guy in the world, but that doesn't mean we have a free pass to do whatever we want when he's not looking!" Ochako kept yelling at her. "Do you want him to think it's okay to hurt people just because they might, MIGHT get in the way of something you want?! Do you want him to be okay with that level of selfishness!?"
She didn't, he was pure. He didn't comprehend what selfishness was to begin with, he needed someone to counter it but she didn't want him tainted either. She and Vine Bitch could agree on that. She couldn't hurt him, she was hurting her soulmate's friend.
"Ochako, I.." Suddenly her grip felt weak, and she started to slip. "Ochako!" She let go, head face first into Thirteen's fingers. If she didn't have the handcuffs on her, she probably would be sucked in without anyone noticing.
"Toru!" Her partner pushed herself off the railing, past herself fairly quickly until she was right in the line of the pro's sight. Thirteen seemed confused by the sudden change in tactics because her quirk deactivated just for a split second.
That was enough. Ochako managed to grab the hero's arm, tossing Thirteen onto her back. Toru followed it with a clothesline, her elbow driving straight into the downed astronaut's neck. From there they held her down, fumbling with cuffs to trap the pro. "We got you! We got you!" Ochako cheered, resting all her body weight on the pro just to be safe.
"Yeah, we do." Toru slowly said, turning to her partner. "Ochako, I'm..sorry." That was painful to say. "That was really petty of me, like, super..SUPER petty of me."
"Eh, it could be worse. You could've been Bakugo and just told me to die." Well she thought it, but it felt like the wrong time to say it. "So … you love Iruma …"
"Did you seriously not know?"
"No, I'm new to having…feelings for people. Guess I can't see it when it's in front of me." Ochako sighed with a small laugh.
"That's something you have in common with Iruma-kun." She laughed, before stopping. "So..you do like him too, right?"
"I think so..I really think so." Ochako admitted. "At the entrance exam, when he risked everything to save me from the zero pointer, my heart just went, BADUMP, and it's felt like that almost every time I've talked to him."
"Same. Do you know how hard it is for me to talk to someone who is instantly able to look me in the eye everytime we talk?"
"This is sweet." The teacher said under them. "You both know points are gonna be taken away for jumping into a black hole, right?"
"Crap." They both said in unison. Hopefully they both did enough work for both of them to pass as a team, they really didn't want to be at anything below Mineta.
==
"I'm glad they got along." Iruma smiled. "You think they're finally going to stop arguing?" He asked his classmates.
"No." Shoto, Tsu, and Bakugo said at the same time. Weird, he didn't think Tsu and Bakugo would be so agreeable with each other. Apparently neither did she, turning to look at him with confusion.
"Iruma." Momo started. "Do you remember that one chapter in First Love Memory where Makoto and Hatsumo had to fight for the affections of the Demon King?"
"Seriously what IS that story!?" Ejiro screamed from the corner.
"Oh yeah, they both got stronger in different ways in order to catch his attention. Makoto created new fun games for them to play and Hatsumo studied a lot, but they just kept arguing with each other." It was a weird section of the story. Why did love triangles always form in these kinds of situations?
"Yes, and now two girls, two of which you're close friends with, who should have the most in common with each other and get along are now fighting each other. Doesn't that sound familiar?" Momo kept asking.
"Now that you mention it … you're right!" The class gasped, they must have realized it too. "They must be trying to improve themselves." The answer was so clear. "For our teachers!" How did he not realize this before?
"You, I..ah…how are you this dense!" Jiro cried out.
"So close and yet so far." Kaminari slapped his forehead.
"This is why I'm not jealous of him." Minoru just shrugged his shoulders. "You can't get mad at the blissfully unaware."
"There's blissfully unaware and there's being dumb." Shoto said in a dry tone.
"What am I not getting?" Iruma asked, confused.
"They have a crush on someone." Sato answered bluntly. Crush on someone … Ochako walked into the door with Toru, Bakugo turned his gaze to them as the connection became clear.
"They have a crush on Bakugo?"
"Fuck this shit, I'm outta here." Bakugo left the room. "Call me back when Dodger's funeral starts." Oh right, he had to survive Rat-principal. He could do that, right?