Noriko wasn't released from the hospital for the next few days. Iida had been the first to leave, going back to be with his family. Then, the next day, Todoroki stopped by Noriko's room to tell her that he was returning to his internship and the day after that, Noriko and Midoriya were allowed to leave the hospital too. Although, with only one day left of her internship, Noriko wasn't able to do much. She mostly just followed Aries around for a day before having to leave.
After the week of internships was over, Noriko got home and had to retell her story of the Hosu incident without skipping over a single little detail. Although, she did skip over big details when talking about the Nomu, but Ryu and Shiro were too interested in her fight with the Hero Killer to notice. Soon, Noriko was back at school, speeding up to catch up to Todoroki, who she spotted as she was walking down the hall to her class.
"Hey, Todoroki," Noriko greeted, as she matched his pace to walk with him.
"Oh, hey Hiromi," Todoroki replied, looking at her. "How are you? Did all your injuries heal?"
Noriko nodded, "Yeah, I got to go back to my internship for the last day. Though, I hadn't really fully recovered so I didn't do much. But what about you?"
"I only had minor injuries," Todoroki said simply.
Noriko rolled her eyes, "Well, I know that. I mean your internship. How was that after you got back?"
Todoroki narrowed his eyes, "It was fine."
"That's good," Noriko replied. She opened her mouth to add more, but decided against it, getting the feeling Todoroki didn't really want to talk about his internship. So instead, they walked the rest of the short distance to their classroom in silence.
When they walked inside, not even half the class had arrived and it was slightly awkward as they sat at their desks in silence. But luckily, Midoriya and Iida walked in and Midoriya broke that silence, "Hey, Hiromi, Todoroki."
"Hey," Noriko replied with a smile as Midoriya and Iida stood by her and Todoroki's desks. "How are you guys?"
"We're doing well," Iida answered. "And you?"
Noriko shrugged, "I'm a bit tired, but I'm fine."
"That's good," Midoriya said.
"Yeah," Noriko muttered before letting out a sigh and leaning back in her chair. By now, almost everyone was in class. It seemed like everyone was following after Midoriya and Iida. Uraraka had an intense aura around her and Bakugo was having hair troubles. But after a few seconds, everyone's attention was suddenly on Noriko and the three boys next to her.
"I heard you guys had a run-in with the Hero Killer. I'm glad you're ok." Kirishima said as everyone drifted to the back of the room where Noriko, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida were.
"I was worried about you too," Yaoyorozu added, a few others agreeing with her.
"Endeavor saved you guys, right?" Higakure asked. "That's just what I'd expect from the number 2 hero."
Noriko looked over at Todoroki as his gaze fell to his desk. She knew Todoroki had issues with his dad and part of her worried he'd be annoyed that Endeavor was taking all the credit for something Todoroki did. But if he was irritated, he didn't show anything as he said, "Yeah, he saved us."
"Did you guys hear the news about how the Hero Killer was connected to the League of Villains?" Ojiro questioned, earning everyone's attention. "Imagine if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ. It would've been even scarier."
Noriko bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at the ground, a rush of fear surging through her. Imagining if someone like that had attacked my studio is even scarier.
"He's scary, yeah," Kaminari started, halting Noriko's thoughts before they went spiraling down a terrifying path. "But did you see him in that weird video? It's all over the internet."
"Oh, I know what you're talking about. My brother showed it to me." Noriko said, thinking back to when Shiro had come into her room to show her the video of the Hero Killer. It had caused her more fear than it had caused Shiro or any of his friends, who had apparently been the ones to show it to him.
"Yeah. Stain's a pretty evil villain, but like, super tenacious." Kaminari explained. "He's almost kinda cool."
"Kaminari!" Midoriya exclaimed.
Kaminari tensed and put a hand over his mouth, "Oh crap! Sorry."
"No. It's ok. You're fine. It is true that he was quite a tenacious villain. I understand why people might think he was cool. But instead of helping the world, his beliefs led him to cold-blooded murder. No matter his motives, killing cannot be condoned." Iida explained just before his tone began to shift and he was back to normal. "To keep anyone from suffering like me, I promise will strive to be the perfect hero!"
Noriko let out a sigh as Iida was completely back to normal, yelling at everyone to get in their seats and be good students. As much as Iida's returning enthusiasm was a bit annoying, Noriko couldn't help but smile. It was good to see him being himself again.
* * *
"I am here! Hope you're ready to return to our lessons. Today it's hero basic training." All Might announced from where he stood in front of the class 1-A students. Noriko and her classmates had changed into their hero costumes and were now gathered outside as All Might continued to explain what they'd be doing. "Now then, listen carefully for what's in store. We're going to be conducting a little race. Take everything you've learned from your internships and apply it to this rescue training."
Iida's hand shot up into the air, "If it's rescue training, then shouldn't we be at the USJ instead?"
"That facility specializes in disasters. As I said before, this is a race. So prepare to step into Field Gamma. Inside is an area full of factories that form an intricate labyrinth, so good luck finding your way around. You'll be competing in groups of five. Each person will start from a different location on the outskirts of the model city. I'll send a distress signal and you do what you must to rescue me. Whoever finds me first wins!" All Might explained before he slowly started pointing at Bakugo. "But do try to keep the property damage to a minimum."
"Why are you pointing at me?" Bakugo growled.
All Might ignored him and separated the class into groups of five before saying, "All right, first group, get to your places."
The first group, which consisted of Midoriya, Iida, Ojiro, Sera, and Mina made their way to their spots inside Field Gamma while the rest of the class went to a viewing area to watch. Noriko stood next to Todoroki as the screen showed everyone in their spots preparing for the race.
"Iida hasn't completely recovered yet, right?" Kaminari questioned. "Shouldn't he sit this one out?"
"Yeah and everyone in this group has really good mobility," Kirishima added.
"I'd say Midoriya is at a heavy disadvantage," Yaoyorozu said.
"Yeah," Jiro agreed, "Moving around quickly isn't really one of his strong suits."
"And whenever he uses his powers he gets badly injured," Yaoyorozu replied, causing Noriko and Todoroki to share a look. The two of them were the only ones outside of Iida who knew about Midoriya's new improvements and Noriko felt a bit excited at the idea of seeing everyone's shock when he was able to use his quirk without breaking his bones.
"Who's your pick? I'm betting on Sero." Kirishima said, earning Noriko's attention.
"Oh yeah? I've got odds on Ojiro." Kaminari replied.
"I have to agree with Kirishima, Sero will probably win this. His quirk is perfect for this kinda thing," Noriko said, as she watched the screen. Then she looked at Todoroki, "What do you think?"
Todoroki glanced at Noriko, then went back to staring at the screen. "I'd like to see Midoriya win, but I agree with what you say about Sero's quirk being the best for this situation."
"I know Deku'll be last," Bakugo stated, earning an eye roll from Noriko.
"Even if he's still recovering, I think Iida's got this one," Uraraka said, Tsuyu agreeing with her.
All Might's voice came over the speakers and said, "Is everyone ready? Begin!"
Noriko watched as everyone took off in search of All Might. They all acted how Noriko had expected them to. Sero swung around on the pipes with his tape. Mina slid across the pipes with her acid. Ojiro jumped around with his tail. And Iida used his engines to boost his speed. Then everyone saw Midoriya jumping around with his quirk, earning a collective gasp and a few 'woah's as he managed to pull ahead of Sero using jumps that reminded Noriko of a certain explosive blond. But despite that, Midoriya slipped at the last minute and Sero won the race.
Noriko then left the class with her group. She was in the second group with Uraraka, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Tsuyu.
Noriko took a deep breath as she stood on a small platform inside the factory maze. Her quirk gave her decent mobility depending on how she used it. But the idea of just skating across ice didn't sit right with her after spending her internship working on creating ice animals. That and she worried she'd fall if she tried to skate across the pipes.
"Alright. Ready? Start!" All Might's voice called from over the speakers. Noriko immediately jumped into action, creating a cheetah out of ice. She took a deep breath before hopping on it and willing it to start speeding through the maze at full speed. It took a ton of effort for Noriko to keep the cheetah running and not have it shatter or melt.
As the cheetah carried Noriko through the maze, it froze the spots where its paws landed as it ran across pipes and jumped through the maze. Noriko had to freeze herself to the cheetah, ice covering her hands and parts of her legs to keep herself from falling off. It was cold, almost too cold, but Noriko would rather be freezing than falling off where she was.
Noriko held her breath as she caught sight of All Might. Her heart pounded loudly as she realized no one else was there yet. The cheetah jumped onto the platform and Noriko was somehow able to hop off the cheetah before it shattered and melted into a puddle at her feet.
"Thank you, hero! And congratulations!" All Might said, holding out a sash that read 'Thanks for Saving me' on it. Noriko took it and managed to stay standing despite her legs feeling numb.
Seconds later, Tsuyu showed up on the platform, closely followed by Uraraka. It took Kaminari and Kirishima a bit longer to make it there, but once they did All Might said, "Young Hiromi may have come in first, but compared to the start of the year, you have all improved. Keep working hard and preparing for your upcoming final exams! Now, group two, leave the field. The next group up is group three."