Freeze Frame

Chapter 39

Third person pov

Monoma was going to scream, but not in a necessarily bad way. He just felt... giddy. Not that he'd ever show it, of course. Not at all. He had to stay cool. He couldn't have his two new friends thinking he was a loser or anything of that sort. That simply wouldn't do. Even if Class 1-A was made up of mostly ruffians, at least Lillian was reserved. Less of a braggart and more of a... well, a panicker, he supposed.

Hitoshi, on the other hand, was quite laid back. Monoma felt a little bad that he didn't get into the hero course. His quirk was one that would be extremely useful in most situations involving a villain. It's not his fault it didn't work on robots and such. Monoma found himself sincerely hoping the other teen could make the transfer, and moreover, that he and Lillian could help.

"The tournament is a-always divided into three events." Lillian recalled. "Th-The first in the preliminary. They try to whittle the mass down." 

"Usually only thirty or forty make it through to the second part, if I'm remembering correctly. We should probably prepare, just in case they decide to flip things on us and do it differently this time around." Shinso acknowledged, his chin propped up on his hand. He looked on the verge of falling asleep.

"The last round is always one-on-one battles. We have no reason to assume that should change." Monoma nodded more to himself than to his two new friends. However, he did find himself asking a daring question. "What happens if we find ourselves up against one another?"

Lillian and Hitoshi shared a look before looking back at him. "Rock, paper, scissors. One go. Fair and square." Hitoshi responded with a small shrug. Lillian nodded in what seemed like agreement, offering a small, nervous smile. Monoma thought about it. Yeah, that seemed valid to him.

"Sure." He agreed. Lillian lit up, and Hitoshi seemed relieved.

"I-I'm going to ask M-Mr. Aizawa about a wo-work out plan." Lillian said before she frowned. "W-Well, I don't really w-want to stress h-him out. He's still recovering f-from... th-the..." Lillian got progressively paler and quieter, and Hitoshi frowned, visibly straightening his posture. Monoma felt himself frown as well. He could still recall his mother's shriek as Lillian was broadcasted across national news, hacking up blood. They hadn't known her, but still, they had been nothing short of absolutely mortified.

He was curious. Everyone was. The news didn't cover much of what had actually gone on inside. The information given didn't give much of a peek into what happened. A villain with a warp-gate quirk had transported several villains into the USJ, Shota Aizawa of Class 1-A had gotten gravely injured, Lillian had saved him, and All Might had kicked ass. It was the League of Villain's debut, but people were talking more about the world's Number One pro rather than the actual attackers.

"It's alright, Lillian." Hitoshi assured her. "He's safe, remember? He even came to school today."

"Y-Yeah, looking like a m-mummy." Lillian groaned, dropping her head onto the table. "But hey, thanks for checking in. I'm still a piece of garbage." 

"Lillian." Monoma said before he could stop himself. She glanced at him, a deep frown on her face. He hesitantly put a hand onto her shoulder. He could feel Hitoshi staring at him piercingly. He continued nonetheless. "Just tell Janet to fuck off. That you aren't going to her fucking baby shower." He gave her shoulder a quick pat before withdrawing himself, holding his breath.

Lillian sighed heavily, slowly sitting up as though it hurt. "You're right." She mumbled, a small smile forming on her face. "Th-Thanks, Monoma. I'm glad you're the one I asked about Timmy." 

Hitoshi crossed his arms over his chest heatedly, but didn't say anything as he watched Lillian and Monoma smile at each other. Who was he to get in the way of their budding friendship, anyway? What was even worse is that Hitoshi actually liked Monoma. He was willing to help in their plot to absolutely crush the exams, and he was a total meme god, just like themselves.

He supposed him being defensive was normal, right? Lillian was his first real friend. He was afraid pretty-boy mcgee over here was going to sweep her off her feet and run off before he could stop him. It was petty, he knew, but he couldn't help it! He instead told himself that he was the one who was best friends with Lillian, and he was the one who lived by her house, and so on and so forth.

"H-Hitoshi!" Lillian exclaimed, eyes bright. "Group chat."

"Why does UA need The Big Three when they have The Meme Three?" Monoma grinned in a manner that looked almost cocky as he handed over his phone to Hitoshi. The purple-haired boy really couldn't stop himself from grinning back. Neito would take some getting used to, but it would be fine. Having more than one best friend wasn't illegal. 

Besides, they were going to kick ass at the festival, so what more did Hitoshi really need?

~~~~~~~~~~

Mic's class just so happened to be Lillian's absolute favorite. She sat somewhat near the front by Kaminari, happily doing her work all the while. School hadn't been in too long, but she was easily top of the class already. She knew that wasn't fair. She could already speak English. That didn't change the fact that her favorite hero was the one teaching it. So despite her fluency, she made sure to listen with rapt attention anytime Mic said anything.

Now, Mic wasn't picking favorites but... Lillian was his favorite student. She was quiet, attentive, and now, she'd saved his best friend from dying. It was official. She was the best thing on the planet. Hence why he decided smiling and staring at her was a good idea. It's not that he wanted to be creepy. He just... for once, had no idea what to say.

"Hey, Lillian." Kaminari said not so quietly. He thrust his text book towards her. "Can you read this?"

"Y-Yes, why?" Lillian asked, blinking curiously at him. Mic paused. He knew Lillian was good at English, but this was beginner English. One word at a time. Lillian was great at it! She translated words and minor sentences to perfection, which was great and all, but was there a chance she...

"You can read English, Kiddo?" Mic checked. Lillian looked startled by the question, seeming confused.

"Y-You didn't know?" Lillian squeaked out, fiddling her thumbs and sinking further into herself. Mic stared at her for a moment. If she could already speak and read English, she needed to be in his third year class, not his first year class. She could already have the credits and have room for other courses. Extra courses that would look great were she to become a hero.

Mic felt a grin split across his face. "You're full of surprises, aren't you, little listener?!" He cackled to himself. Aizawa was covered in bandages. This was his chance to steal Lillian from his protective talons. "See me after class and we can see what you know, alright?" 

Lillian's face was apple red, her eyes darting left and right as everyone gazed at her curiously. Still, she found herself nodding a little, ducking her head to try and shake off her embarrassment. Hizashi grinned, his glasses glinting. Aizawa could fight him for dear little Lillian if that's what he wanted. The man had briefly mentioned her potential during lunch. It wasn't much, but it was a lot more than he usually said about people. But Mic had liked Lillian first. 

~

And so the war between Dadmic and Dadzawa commences. Welcome to bible study, everyone. We're all children of Jesus here.

Sorry the English class thing was,,,, awkward and forced. I had to fill the space and didn't know where else to put that part to begin with so BOOM there you go