IT WASN'T HARD TO NOTICE YAOYOROZU'S DISCOMFORT. The pretty girl had her arms crossed, eyes trained on the doorway of the room that they were guarding. Yaoyorozu had given her a seemingly foolproof plan, but that was all the girl would say to her.
She simply shrugged it off. Whatever the girl's problem was, it was none of her concern. Though it was obvious that her very presence seemed to have something to do with it.
They were the Villains in this exercise, paired against Kaminari and Jiro. Her classmates were somewhere in the building, trying to find the fake weapon that sat just behind her. She didn't have to put much effort into protecting it -- she just covered it with a shield. She could withstand strong attacks -- the exams proved that -- and her shields were unbreakable. At least, that's what she thought. Nothing had ever broken the strange material, so she just assumed it was indestructible.
She was supposed to guard the weapon, while Yaoyorozu monitored the hallways. The girl's Quirk let her create just about anything, meaning their team now had a little surveillance system. They were just waiting for the planted sensors to go off, indicating that the Hero team was close.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Yaoyorozu held up her little device. "They're coming." Kendria stood up from the pillar she was leaning on. "You stay here, and I'll go capture them." The tall girl sent her one last glance, before disappearing down the hall.
She waited. Her partner already devised a strategy to win. To counteract Kaminari's electricity, Yaoyorozu created a thick insulated net. As for Jiro, well, they weren't quite sure what she could do with her earphone jacks, so the black-haired girl just pulled a staff out of her arm and said she'd go on the offensive.
Kendria didn't argue, mostly because her Quirk was much better suited for defense than offense. That, and she really just didn't care.
However, after a while she began to wonder what was taking so long. Surely her partner could take care of Kaminari and Jiro, what with being the number-one Recommended student. That's what Aizawa had said, anyway; Yaoyorozu was the first, the second being Todoroki, the red-and-white haired boy that froze the building only a little while ago. He was interesting to look at. She didn't know many people with dual-colored hair split so perfectly. Was it dyed? Or was it natural, like the brown in her otherwise completely blonde hair?
Her thoughts were interrupted as the floor beneath her rumbled. Eyes snapping to the doorway, she reached up and pressed the little micro transceiver that All Might gave to her.
"Yaoyorozu, what's going on?" The concrete below her continued to shake. As far as she knew, electricity couldn't do that, so what ...? The only thing that came back from her communicator was static. That wasn't a good sign, not at all. "Yaoyorozu."
The static continued to flow into her ears, reminding her of when the television signal would go out and the screen would be reduced to black and white pixels, and her father would throw a drunken hissy fit because he couldn't watch the game, and he would get so worked up that if she moved or made a single noise he would turn on her and suddenly there was a large glass shard lodged in her scalp and it really, really hurt, but she didn't cry because only weaklings cry --
She snapped out of it when a "Help" made its way through the static. Something was wrong, and Yaoyorozu needed help. Needed her help. Yet, if she left the weapon, there was a chance that the strain of keeping a shield where she shouldn't see it would cause her to slip up and the other team would win. That's what it all came down to: winning.
And she felt a tug. She heard a whisper, telling her to go assist her partner.This is the best way, it seemed to say, and she was so relieved to have that whisper, that tug, that she smiled a little as she sprinted out of the room.
The flow was back.
"I would like to apologize."
They lost their battle. Jiro had plugged her earphone jacks into the stereos installed in her boots and blasted her amplified heartbeat at Yaoyorozu until the ponytail girl's defenses failed. Yaoyorozu ran away, bumping into Kendria as she did so.
With her shields protecting them, the two charged at Jiro. She felt pressure in her ear and chest as the vibrations slammed into the blue extension of herself. Yaoyorozu held up her staff, and Kendria created another shield around her partner, willing the material to fit around the girl like a second skin. Jiro was swept off her feet in a flash, and was captured soon after.
She thought it was over. Then she remembered Kaminari.
While the Villain team was fighting, the electric blonde found the fake weapon and tried to electrocute her still-standing shield.
The shield didn't break -- nothing could break it. No, the electricity was just transferred back to her.
Her body spasmed as pain raced through her. Her Quirk deactivated, and Kaminari captured the weapon as she fell face-first to the ground. It was a peculiar feeling, all of her muscles contracting at once and everything vibrating with this fiery sort of burn.
Then everything turned fuzzy and black.
She was now in the infirmary, sitting on one of the hospital beds. It seemed she had a weakness: electricity. The shock shouldn't have affected her as much as it did. She decided it must have something to do with her Quirk's direct connections with her body. Recovery Girl healed her, but she still twitched every minute or two.
Kaminari stopped by, screaming apologies as soon as he saw that she was okay. She told him it was fine, yes she was okay, and even allowed him to hug her because the poor guy looked like he was about to cry.
The boy had gone back to class, and now it was Yaoyorozu who stood before her. The pretty girl had her hands clasped in front of her, head lowered in shame.
"I didn't want you to help me at first, because I didn't trust you." Yaoyorozu frowned. "If I had actually worked with you from the start, we might have won ..." The girl sighed, eyes drooping with regret.
Kendria blinked. "It was because of what I told you all yesterday, wasn't it?" The pretty girl nodded, avoiding her eyes. "It's fine. I probably wouldn't have believed it, either." She paused, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. There was a peanut butter stain on the white tiles above. "I mean, if someone told me they were arrested, but oh no I didn't actually do anything, I probably wouldn't trust them." She shrugged. "But I told the truth. I don't care whether anyone believes me or not. That's just how it is."
Yaoyorozu nodded, then held out her hand. "I would like to be friends, if that's alright with you."
She stared at the girl, then slowly reached up for a handshake.
