Mind Boggled

Chapter 28

"Strawberry Shortcake?" Shoto muttered to himself, reaching up to finger a few strands of his hair. "What issues could I possibly have that she'd decided to address? All I did was show up when asked. Midoriya and Iida both needed me."

"What? Do you like Candy Cane better?" Harper asked, brows rising sarcastically. "Doesn't matter. I had the absolute displeasure of meeting your asshat of a father at the Sports Festival. We had a little chat, and you see, I got some pretty weird vibes off the guy. You want to tell me what that was about?"

Shoto and Izuku both tensed, the half-and-half boy's face hardening. Harper still felt the emotions he was trying to hide nonetheless. He was nervous, and incredibly unsure. He trusted her, but not with that. Sucked to be him. She knew before he even told Izuku. "She's onto me, then. Harper... is more perceptive than she appears."

"You know what? I'll have my dad handle you instead. In the meantime, tone down the self-hatred. Your face isn't ugly. Yes, I can tell you hate it, you're not subtle. You look hot and your scar is badass. Just ask any of our female classmates. Even the lesbians will agree." Harper waved a hand at him. The trio of boys looked stunned, and Shoto's face flushed. He opened his mouth to ask questions: probably dumb shit like 'what do you mean?' or 'why do you think so?'. She cut him off before he could get a single word in, "Uh huh. Keep the questions to yourself. I'm doing to asking here. You're giving answers. Did you forget that I was into redheads, or were you not there for that? I think you're 50% hot according to my physical preferences in a partner." 

"Oh." Shoto choked out, otherwise too shocked and confused to do anything. Harper sighed and moved to Tenya. Time to wrap this shit up so she could go home. She was also hungry. At one point Tsukauchi had risked cracking open the door to toss some vending machine food at her like they were trying to feed a feral dog, and she'd shoved the wrapped goods down her throat without pause. She'd almost choked in the process, but it wasn't a big deal. It was the least of her problems. Harper could drop dead and it wouldn't be the most troublesome thing that had happened to her today.

"Now, you." Harper's tone was scathing. Tenya tensed up, gulping. "You're a total dumbass. Stop beating yourself up over what happened your brother and have some fucking dignity, man. Revenge? Cute. Shove it up your ass. Tensei fought valiantly and almost died in the field, but he's still here, and he's still your brother. He still cares. It isn't the end of the damn world. You acting recklessly could have gotten you killed. What would your family have done? They adore you, and so do all your classmates. Even Aizawa-sensei things you're a gift from heaven above."

"What? How do you know that?" Midoriya yelped, eyes wide. "Aizawa-sensei is so private! He's always so cold towards the class!"

"The same way I know Ectoplasm loves karaoke. Keep up!" Harper barked, standing. They all shrunk back, but asked no further questions, which was good seeing as their safety overall was completely at stake Harper took a deep breath. Calm. She could go home after this, and shit would be fine. "Alright, look. I'm tired. The point is: internships aren't over. Do not get yourselves killed in that time, you hear me, you little shits? You're stuck with your father. Don't let him get to you. You're with some violent old man. Try not to shatter your fucking bones. Iida, you're worth more than you think and you're cared about, so hold the hell out for a bit. Do you understand me?"

They all stared unmovingly, eyes wide and terrified. Harper glared harder. Iida could feel himself withering under her gaze. When Harper dove into things, she dove deep. He'd never realized just how much she stayed out of his business until now. Even now she wasn't even butting that deep in. She asked base-level questions without diving further in unless they first prompted it, and worked expertly with the information she had. Her ability to break them apart and tell them what they needed to hear in blunt terms was astonishing, but also a bit awing in some ways.