Traditional classes weren't on the menu for Yuuei students. Just training activities that were assigned to Gym room Gamma, half a day for each class. 1A normally had the mornings, while 1B would take the afternoons. The goal - To create super moves for each student. Something that would give them the edge in a fight, a way to use their Quirk in a creative manner that would give them an advantage.
Though today, those classes were being swapped around. 1B was taking the morning session, and 1A the afternoon. The reasons were basic to anyone who heard about the kidnapping of both 1A students, and the return of one, plus another absent member of the class.
Arriving one day, and then waking up the next day only to be hounded straight into a practical exercise was, to put it bluntly, unlikely to do the pair of them any favors. They still needed time to get used to going back to regular life.
Even if they both insisted that they were fine.
One in the afternoon was when their session would begin. Which worked out well enough, Izuku supposed. It gave both him and Mina the opportunity to start work on renovating her empty room, adding that Ashido flare to the bare, empty room.
Pink. Pink everywhere, with black being the second most common colour used. Somehow it made Izuku laugh just how much of his girlfriends room had two primary colours as she did. It was like when she saw herself in the mirror for the first time, she just decided to roll with it from then on. It was remarkably similar to her room at her house by the time that the pair of them were finished with everything. Were it not for the wooden plank flooring, he could have been fooled into thinking that they were right back at the Ashido household.
Easily though, his favourite part of the new room was the pinboard that she kept above her desk.
Accented with a pink frame, as nearly everything else in this room was, Mina kept a pinboard, crammed full of pictures that she had taken of her friends, printed out, and stuck to the board. She had ones with Uraraka, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu, and a couple of herself, for what he could only assume were vanity reasons - Something he rolled his eyes at. Affectionately, of course, as he said to Mina. Really though, he didn't mind that. It was her board, and she could pin to it whatever she liked.
But the ones that were of her and him - And there were plenty of those on there, pinned onto nearly every single spare inch of surface that it had to offer, were easily his favourites. Silly things, including pictures of him that he hadn't been aware she had taken, selfies that she had jumped him with, even some of the pictures that she had had Hagakure take that day at the Kiyashi ward, before he'd been taken hostage by Shigaraki. It was almost like a timeline of their relationship, in format of physical photograph.
All on display for anyone to see. Memories, and examples of their time together, there for her to see every single day. It would be what she saw when she fell asleep, and, provided she woke up facing the same direction she had fallen asleep in, which was rare, it would be the first thing that she saw when she woke up too.
Something that just made him smile. It was just a tiny little addition to Mina's room, but the fact that she wanted these pictures up like this... It was nice.
It made it easily his favourite aspect of her new room.
"Aaaaand that looks like the last of it." Mina declared, tossing one of the many empty boxes to the side of the room, and placing her hands on her hips, and putting her hands on her hips. A proud smirk on her face, showing off her sense of accomplishment at the completion of the task.
To be fair to her, they had accomplished a lot in the last hour. They had gotten through just about everything in just a single hour. Easily far faster than they had managed to sort out Izuku's room, which might have been attributed to them not having had a full rest, and still having their minds filled up on the day to come.
Now, they were rested, and had been motivated to get Mina's room sorted out.
Primarily, because they needed to sort out the pink girls accomodation, since despite their affection for one another, they did need their own space, and Mina had needed to put her stuff somewhere.
Secondarily, because Izuku had something that he needed to confess to the rest of his classmates. Or, more accurately, less something to confess, and more something that he needed to explain.
"That didn't take long." Izuku absently commented. Were he totally honest, his thoughts were lingering on what he had planned for later in the day. He wasn't one hundred percent there, in that moment.
The pin up board was his favourite part of Mina's room. That went without saying at all. But equally, it reminded him of what today had in store for him.
And further added to his apprehension.
"We just gotta find a place to put the boxes and we're totally finished!"
"Yeah..."
"I guess we can put them in the place they stored them before we got here."
"Sounds good..."
"...That place being, this very room."
"Mm..."
"...And then I thought we could go and throw buckets of paint at Kaminari's room."
"Right."
"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you."
Izuku blinked and managed to look away from the pin-board and towards his girlfriend, whom greeted him with a slight smirk towards the right side of her lips. He's been responding automatically, his mind filled up with things that just felt more prominent on the list of priorities. Things that were bothering him. That he was trying to figure out.
Mina grinned. "Dude, I know we're adorable, but I didn't think you were that into pictures of us." She wiggled her eyebrows up and down, as if she were insinuating something.
At this point, Izuku was comfortable enough with her that he let himself chuckle gently. "S... Sorry. I've just got... A lot on my mind."
"About the dorms?" His girlfriend guessed, incorrectly.
"No." Izuku then paused. "Well... Half no."
A slight tilt of her head was all she offered in direct questioning. Mina immediately sat herself down on her bedside, and patted the spot next to her with her hand, inviting Izuku to sit by her. She didn't even need to pry and submit question after question. There wasn't even a trace of the distrust that seemed to always hang over them before the , the trust was absolute. She had made the offer, and if Izuku wanted to discuss what was on his mind, he would accept. And if he didn't, she would be there, waiting for when he did want to talk.
In this case though, she didn't need to wait. He was by her side in seconds, sitting by her, and letting out a small sigh. He didn't know how to even begin the conversation. It was something that had to be brought up eventually, but that didn't make bringing up the topic easier.
"...I could use your advice if I'm honest, Mina." He admitted, letting out another sigh as he felt his shoulders slump.
"Go for it, Izu. Whatever you need."
"...It's about One For All."
Mina's own composure broke, just for a single second, and she experienced the same anxiety as Izuku clearly was suffering from. She immediately understood his distraction, and why the images of their classmates on her board had brought this thought around. She let out a small sigh.
One For All. What was supposed to be Izuku's biggest secret was now public knowledge, thanks to Toga, and her own inability to deny the truth when it came hurtling towards her, even if her own life depended on it. Because she'd allowed emotion to get the best of her.
"Everyone knows my Quirk... Isn't, well, my Quirk." Izuku spoke softly and carefully, like he chose his words as selectively as possible.
"To be honest, I'm not sure what any of us expected from someone who registered their Quirk as 'Super Power'." Mina joked lightly in an effort to lighten the mood. That was a small fact that she still found endless amusement out of.
Indeed, even Izuku let himself laugh at her small joke gently, the irony and absurdity of it now clear as crystal now that the secret was out. Hindsight was amusing, at least slightly.
His laughter was brief though. "...Everyone wants to know what the story is."
The pink girl blinked. "What're you talking about? No one asked about One For All at all yesterday."
"Because we just got back. People are curious, but they're waiting until I say something."
"...And you want to say something."
"At this point, I don't see the point in hiding it." He confessed bluntly. "Everyone knows about it... But they're not mentioning it to be kind. But I... I lied to them, for months. And they're bound to want to know what's going on with my powers... And they deserve an answer now that there's no reason to hide anything."
In most cases, his logic was sound, and Mina wouldn't argue - If they were talking about a secret that had little impact on their lives. This wasn't a matter of accidentally stealing a pair of Iida's glasses and being too awkward to return them, or people being curious as to something new that had arrived at the main reception for him. This was a major secret, and would reveal a past that Izuku had wanted to keep to himself since he stepped foot on Yuuei grounds for fear of judgement and prejudice. This didn't have anything to do with logic.
It had everything to do with how Izuku felt.
"You don't owe them anything, you know." She said, frankly and firmly."Toga revealed your secret... And I just didn't stop myself from reacting. Like an idiot. That's on me, but... That doesn't mean you have to confirm any of it."
"There's no point if they already know."
"There's every point if it makes you feel uncomfortable or anxious like this."
"It's not just that." Izuku said, his voice becoming a lot heavier. His eyes closed for the moment as he spoke, and he sighed. "I... I'm tired of lying to everyone."
When it came right down to it, that was easily the worst part about having been given One For All. the lies, to secrecy, the need to keep everyone around him in the dark about the origins on his powers. Whenever someone inquired about his power, pointed out something that he was forced to deny, or even just complimented his Quirk, he couldn't help but feel like he was lying, every single time he accepted the compliments or answered the questions. Even though he wasn't even telling any particular lies at all. He just wasn't telling the truth either.
That was just as bad though, at least to his mind. And it had begun to weigh down on him. Especially after being kidnapped.
Ever since he'd gotten to Yuuei, and made friends with Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, Kirishima, Mineta, Tsuyu, Kaminari, Sero, and everyone else, he'd had to bend the truth whenever they talked to him, to hide the origins of his power. He could rationalize it by reminding himself that it was All Might's request. And sometimes it helped. It made it feel like it was something that he had little to no choice in, and sometimes it made the lines come out easier. Knowing people would never know... That made it easier too.
With the secret out though... He was faced with a choice. Mina was right - He didn't owe them anything. He didn't have to say anything about his Quirk, and what it was... But everyone would know that he'd be lying if he denied anything.
Or he could just come clean. Admit to his power not being his own, and explaining how it worked. Just admit it and face the consequences there and then.
If he were honest, he knew exactly which one he'd rather do. He was damned if he didn't, and damned if he did. If that were the case, he might as well do, and deal with whatever came after that. It was easier.
And realistically, he didn't feel he had much choice anyway. Not if he wanted to retain his classmates trust.
And there wasn't much that Mina could say to change that.
"...What're you gonna say to them?"
"I... I'm not even sure. I'd have to ask All Might if I even can say anything..."
"I mean... It's not like it can get much worse, right? I can't see him saying no."
"He might ask me to not mention that I got my Quirk from him... But, you're right. Hiding that I got my Quirk from someone else... I don't see how letting them know that is going to hurt anyone anymore."
Mina sighed again, rested her head on his shoulder, and snuck an arm underneath his, wrapping both her arms around his right. It was all the comfort that she could think to offer him. She didn't really know what advice he could give to him. His situation was so bizarre, so unique, so... Specific to him, she didn't know if anything she could suggest was worth anything. Did she even really have a place to say anything? Was her advice worth considering?
She knew all about his situation, but she didn't have the first clue about how that had to be for him. She couldn't even guess.
As much as she wanted to help him...
"...You should just do what feels best for you." That was really the only advice she could give to him.
He was in an unparalleled position, and really, the key word was he. Him. His situation.
And how he wanted to go about it was the most important part now.
He didn't have to abide by the secret he'd been sworn to. At least not to the rest of 1A. He could lessen his guilt and his burden, and the results of that would ease him going forward. One less thing to worry about.
Just... Less. Less he had to deal with. And more chances that he could just feel better about himself.
She didn't blame him for lying to her at all. Given the volatile nature of the Quirk, she understood it oh so well. All Might had his reasons, and she understood. But they didn't apply anymore.
He shouldn't be forced to carry on with the lie. Not when he could let just a few people know.
Her mind went in circles as she considered everything. That was all she could think about. This being his situation. His problem. His power. And whatever he wanted to do, she would support him. No matter what. But she knew exactly what option she wanted him to choose.
And so did he.
"...Mina?"
"Yeah?"
"I need to borrow your phone."