The large development studio doors slid open, capturing the attention of Izuku and Mei. Izuku slightly winced upon seeing that the person who entered was a familiar purplet, and he immediately averted gazes.
"Ooh! Welcome, another guy whose name I forgot but I recognize! So what do you need today?" Mei greeted and asked the purplet that entered.
Hitoshi was slightly stunned to see the greenet there, but he decided to act like it was nothing at all, and instead continued to walk towards where the greenet and Mei were, "I'm just here to request some support items." He answered the support girl's question.
Izuku decided to not pay much attention to Hitoshi and he just requested Mei, "Hatsume-san, please just put these in my hero costume case so I can try them out in our next training."
"Aye aye! Can do." Mei answered, then she asked, "Anything else you want made? Please, fascinate me more." She told the greenet.
Izuku just chuckled, then he responded, "I'll try to next time I need something again."
"Thank you again for your help, Hatsume-san. I'll be off now." Izuku told her as he bowed his head and began to walk away.
Izuku walked past Hitoshi, but he didn't dare or cared to look at his former friend. He just continued walking.
Hitoshi's eyes, however, followed his former friend as the latter left the studio. Once Izuku was out of sight, he then turned his head to look back at the huge doors.
Hitoshi furrowed his brows.
"So, what type of support items do you need?" Mei spoke, capturing Hitoshi's attention and prompting him to look over to her.
"Do you need some new feature added onto your voice mask?" Mei asked to which Hitoshi refuted her presumption.
"No, I just need some smoke bombs. Just small, compact ones that can produce smokescreens that can last for about six to ten minutes, if possible." Hitoshi explained to her.
"Okie-dokie. Those should be pretty easy. Do you need them by a specific date and time? Also, do you want the smoke to be in a specific color?" Mei asked some follow-up questions.
Hitoshi didn't answer immediately as his mind was focused on someone else, but once he managed to register the questions he was asked, he promptly answered.
-
Izuku walked through the quiet and sunset-dyed hallway, his hands tucked inside his pants' pockets. Most of the students were already dismissed for the day so the building was relatively quiet, you can even hear the sound of footsteps from meters away from you echoing loudly.
Izuku had made sure to keep his footsteps light, his feet were practically not making any sounds, so he was sure that the footsteps he was hearing at that moment wasn't his, nevermind that the footsteps weren't on sync with his feet at all.
Izuku stopped on his tracks. He raised his hand and formed a finger gun before turning around and pointing it on the person who was following him.
Izuku smiled sweetly as he greeted the person, "Hello, Hitoshi-kun."
Hitoshi furrowed his brows as he looked straight at his former friend.
Izuku tucked his hand back in his pocket, then he asked Hitoshi, still with a smile, "Is there something you need from me?"
Hitoshi furrowed his brows a bit more as he gulped to strengthen his resolve. This was the first time since their friendship ended that he had dared approach Izuku.
He didn't want to approach Izuku at all, if anything, he would prefer keeping his distance from the greenet, but with how his situation is at the moment, and with how Izuku had been acting, he doesn't really have a choice.
He needs to do the job Tomura gave him.
"What's going on with you, Izuku?" Hitoshi asked Izuku.
The smile on Izuku's face turned to a more neutral and slightly confused look, "What do you mean?"
"Is there something in your mind? Is something bothering you? Did something happen to you?" Hitoshi began interrogating the greenet.
"Izuku, it may have gotten past the rest of our classmates, but I noticed the slight change in you, and I'm worried. Did something happen? If yes, please tell me." Hitoshi told the greenet, his voice forcing itself to sound a little bit sincere.
Izuku didn't answer, however. Instead, he just deadpan stared at Hitoshi.
Izuku just looked straight at Hitoshi's eyes, not even taking half a second to blink once and break eye contact. He stared at his former friend's eyes with that deadpan expression.
Hitoshi felt sweat start to bead on his forehead. He felt so nervous all of sudden just by standing there.
Hitoshi could tell his instincts were trying to tell him to get away from the greenet, but his body couldn't find the strength to run away or even take a step backward.
Hitoshi had no idea what was happening, but he was starting to get scared.
"And just why do you think I'd tell you anything, Hitoshi-kun?" Izuku asked his former friend, still with that deadpan look.
Hitoshi winced when his former friend asked that-- one, because he hadn't expected the greenet to deflect, and two, because he had no good answer to give. This whole interaction was a spur of the moment decision for Hitoshi, but now he sees it might have been a bad judgment of his.
Hitoshi opened his mouth to try and give out an answer, but his throat felt dry and he couldn't think of what he could tell.
"Weren't you the one who wanted nothing to do with me?" Izuku asked in a monotonous voice, "So why do you care now?"
"I- I..." Hitoshi really couldn't think of a good answer. His forehead was dripping with cold sweat and his hands were trembling.
Hitoshi tried his best to keep eye contact with the greenet, but Izuku's cold emotionless eyes were getting too unnerving to look at that he just averted gazes.
"I-I'm sorry." Hitoshi apologized as he bit the inside of his lips in silent frustration.
Izuku furrowed his brows in slight annoyance, the first time his emotion had shone through his expressionless look.
"Tch." Izuku exhaled in annoyance, making Hitoshi flinch in fear.
Izuku closed his eyes then breathed out to calm himself down.
"Well, not that it matters anyway." Izuku remarked as he turned around and began to leave, "I'll see you again in class tomorrow, Hitoshi-kun."
Hitoshi immediately looked up at his former friend only to see Izuku walking away with his left hand raised up and waving bye without looking back at him.
Hitoshi wanted to say something, tell Izuku something-- just something to turn this whole failing conversation around on itself, but he knew inside of him that there was nothing else he could do.
Izuku then suddenly stopped, which made Hitoshi slightly nervous.
Izuku looked back over his shoulder, then he told his former friend, "Don't worry, Hitoshi-kun. Your questions should be answered soon enough."
Izuku then looked forward and left, leaving Hitoshi dumbfounded and sweating in fear.
-
Hitoshi just stared blankly at the inside of his locker as his mind went through what had happened the day before. His breathing was slow but shallow to keep his heart from racing and keep his mind clear-- or at least as clear as it could.
His mind just couldn't stop thinking about what his former friend had told him before they parted ways.
Not to mention, the eerily similar aura he felt from Izuku that felt the same as Tomura's.
Hitoshi's hands were so cold from stressing about the implications of that aura he felt. He really thought that Izuku was nothing like his father and brother. Izuku felt warm and bright, unlike his family who felt cold and unforgiving. But lately, Hitoshi had been feeling the same frigidness around Izuku, and it frightens him.
It's making his blood run cold.
"Shinso-kun." A person called his name, snapping Hitoshi back to reality and look over at whoever that was.
"Shoji-san, do you need something from me?" Hitoshi asked the Dupli-Arms user.
Mezo shook his head no, then he told the purplet, "No, I noticed that you were spacing out a lot and I wanted to check on you. Are you alright?"
The purplet tensed up a little as he realized that he might've been a little too obvious to his classmates, but he immediately calmed himself down to not add anymore suspicion towards him.
"Uh, no. There's nothing wrong. I'm just... haven't had enough sleep, that's all." Hitoshi told his classmate.
Mezo tilted his head slightly and Hitoshi could tell that he wasn't buying his answer, but fortunately for him, Mezo didn't push further.
"I see." Mezo just responded.
There was an awkward silence for a second before the two of them resumed whatever they were doing prior. Hitoshi neatly hung his uniform inside his locker and then locked it.
"Hey, where are the others?" Someone suddenly asked, catching the attention of Hitoshi.
"They're not here. What are they doing?" Denki asked while looking around, prompting Hitoshi to do the same, He's right. Almost half of us aren't here. He thought.
"Even Midoriya-kun isn't here." Shouto pointed out.
"That's enough chit-chat." Aizawa said in a grumbling voice as he entered the locker room, and his class immediately went tense and greeted him.
"Good morning, Aizawa-sensei." Everyone there collectively greeted.
"Good morning, Aizawa-sensei." Tenya stepped up to greet their teacher once more, then he asked, "Where are our missing classmates?"
"They're already at Ground Gamma. They went ahead of all of you, so I suggest hurrying it up and heading over there now." Aizawa sternly told his students.
"Yes, sir."
Hitoshi rolled his eyes in his mind, and after letting out a short breath, he took his mask that was just hanging around his neck and wore it, securing it on his face.
His classmates also finished off their own hero costumes, most of which had a few new modifications for the cold weather.
After they were all done, they followed their teacher on the walk to Ground Gamma. They were also joined by the girls, who were waiting for them outside, and who were similarly missing members like they were.
Some of the girls also pointed this out, but Aizawa didn't give them the time to talk about the fact, and instead just had them continue their way to Ground Gamma.
Rather than heading straight to the actual grounds, however, 1-A was brought by their class adviser to an observation room where over half of 1-B, 1-B's adviser--Vlad, All Might, and Principle Nezu were waiting for them.
"Even 1-A is missing some of their class too?" Juzo Honenuki, one of 1-B's recommended students, pointed out in a bit of shock.
"Vlad-sensei, what is the meaning of this?" Jurota Shishida, the Beast Quirk user, asked their adviser but Vlad didn't mind his student's question and instead, turned his attention towards Aizawa who was walking his way towards him, All Might, and Nezu.
"You and your class are late, Aizawa." Vlad said in a slightly sour tone.
"They're here, so I don't see any problem." Shota retorted as he took his position right beside his fellow teachers. Vlad quietly grumbled.
1-A and 1-B looked within their groups in confusion, giving each other looks that asked if any of them had any idea what in the world was happening, but all they really knew was that that day was the day of their joint training exercise.
"Eh-ahem." Nezu cleared his throat to capture the attention of his students.
"I know that all of you must be confused as to your numbers and the whereabouts of your classmates, I know that all of you have been looking forward to this joint exercise between your classes, but before we begin and before we inform all of you of the mechanics and rules for today, I would like all of you to watch this video." Nezu told them. He then looked over to All Might, who on the principal's nod, played a video on the largest monitor in the room.
"Greetings, foolish heroes!"
The students of 1-A and 1-B were taken slightly aback to see Neito's face suddenly so close in the video, and with that smug grin on his face.
He then took a few steps back to reveal himself in his hero costume, and the rest of 1-A and 1-B standing and sitting just behind him, similarly in their own hero costumes, Izuku included.
"We are the villain team! Your opponents for the day!" Neito continued, briefly introducing his team.
"We're looking forward to crushing all of you."
---
NOTES: They have absolutely no idea of what's to come. >¦]]]