"Shouto, where are we going again?" I asked, yawning as I leaned on him. We were on the school bus, the same bus we rode when we last went to USJ.
"I'm not sure," sighed Shouto, leaning against the window of the bus. Before we left school, we were told to get changed into our hero costumes again. Probably for another exercise but I couldn't recall where we were going. Me and Shouto sat in the same places, while Bakugou sat in front of us. Ever since the gym, I couldn't help but be nervous or shy around him, even though I could easily hide it. Our interactions with each other at school were low as we simply had been doing school work and not much training. All I could feel when I looked at him was my heart beating fast and the sensations of his lips against mine. I didn't dare tell anyone, not even Shouto, of what happened, and I didn't plan on telling anyone anytime soon.
The bus came to a stop. A familiar one. When we got out, we stood in front of the building that had basically trapped us. USJ. A little nervous, the class walked inside.
"Well, that happened, but class is class," spoke a radio-like voice. Thirteen stood in the spot where we first met him. He seemed like his old self. "So, let's begin the rescue training." He spoke like nothing had ever happened.
"Can you really move, Thirteen Sensei?" asked a worried Uraraka.
"My back hurts a bit, but it's nothing compared to Senpai," he said, twirling around and facing the bandaged-up Aizawa.
"We are ready to begin class, let's start already. We are wasting time," he mumbled.
"Aizawa Sensei?" asked Midoriya, "All Might is supposed to meet us as well. Where is he?" I felt a small hint of dejavú.
"I don't know, forget about him," mumbled Aizawa, and turned away from Midoriya. We all walked down with Aizawa, who took us to the mountain zone.
"Let's start with the training rescues," beamed an excited Thirteen, "There'll be three students at the bottom of the chasm. One of them will be unconscious, the other will have an injured leg and the last will be very worried." Kirishima and Kaminari looked down over the edge, almost terrified.
"What height!" screamed one of them. "How are we supported to get there?!"
"What are you saying?!" yelled Iida, running over to them. "Are you ok?! Do not worry, we will save you!" I sighed and Shouto glanced at me. I gave him a look that said I found their attitude funny but a little over the top. He nodded in agreement, understanding what I meant.
"Well, the injured will be, you three," said Thirteen, pointing to Midoriya, Uraraka and Iida. So much for the enthusiasm. While the three were at the bottom of the chasm, Aizawa pointed to Shouto, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu and Bakugou.
"Alright, you four are the ones who will rescue them," he said. I glanced at Shouto, but caught Bakugou shaking. I'm couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed. He was probably angry, knowing him. "You may use these objects," continued Aizawa.
"Wait! Why do I have to save Deku?" yelled Bakugou. Yep, he's angry, as usual. I lightly slapped his shoulder.
"Stop being a baby," I muttered, shaking my head. Bakugou looked at me in anger, but I took no notice of it. Even though things had happened between us, I had to pretend nothing happened around everyone else, and he knew this, too.
"Todoroki, just leave him like that," whimpered a worried Kirishima, coming up behind me. I glanced at Shouto who walked over to the edge of the cliff to look down at the three.
"Let's begin," he said. I backed away as I wasn't on their team and I didn't want to get in the way. I stood with the remaining girls. We watched as Bakugou yelled at Shouto, with Yaoyorozu trying to calm him down.
"He doesn't think. He acts by instinct," said Tsu, which I nodded to.
"Midoriya and the rest are in trouble," mumbled Kaminari, scratching his nose. I glanced at Shouto ignoring Bakugou's idea and told the others what to do. Bakugou got even angrier and grabbed Shouto's shirt by the neck.
"Isn't Bakugou being too rough on Todoroki?" asked Kirishima, slightly worried. This time, I shook my head.
"Shouto wouldn't be fazed by his insults, and besides, Bakugou is only saying what he feels is right, even though him and Shouto have different opinions," I said, gaining some people's attention. This is when Yaoyorozu spoke loudly, making everyone's heads turn to her.
"It's pathetic!" she yelled, "besides, there is something we must do before anything else." With that, she crawled to the side of the cliff, speaking loudly so the three could hear her. "Please keep calm! We will go to you right away!" I smiled at her, happy that she was able to break up the fighting. She turned to the others. "The first thing to do is to reassure the victims. There are occasions where you can not save people who are desperate and panicking. Reassuring them is related to saving them. If you will not do it properly, what kind of training class is this?!"
"Impressive, she's very good," mumbled Kirishima, and I nodded at his opinion. We watched in silence as they lowered Tokoyami into the chasm. Bakugou seemed tense, like he was doing this against his will but couldn't do anything to oppose. Yaoyorozu yelled details to others in the chasm. Uraraka came up first, laughing, claiming that Iida was taking this too seriously.
"Rescuing people without using your Quirk is quite a taxing job," said Thriteen, "that's how modern heroes must shine!" He spread his arms up but got interrupted by Sero.
"He's the only one pulling," he said, pointing at Bakugou.
"Shut up bastards!" he yelled in response, making me smile a bit.
"He judged he could not use his Quirk, that's the right thing," said Thirteen, "acting in a normal way. There's a lot of professionals who are incapable of doing it. They always think of themselves and when they encounter a challenging situation, they put it aside. When you manage to understand and remember, you pass. I'm sure he will become a beautiful hero." Thirteen admired Bakugou who kept his back turned.
When it was my turn to save someone, I flew down with the rescue tools beside me. I loaded the victims on one by one, and to keep them steady, I'd hold them up as they got closer to the top, keeping an eye on the victims still below me. When the exercise was done, Thirteen gathered all of us together.
"It was a great job for your first time," he said, clapping, "we still have more battle scenarios prepared. In a nutshell, there's still lots to do." We were taken to the collapse zone.
"Now we continue in this setting," explained Thirteen, "unlike the first training, there's different situations. The purpose of this scenario is to give a more genuine experience. The injured can be anywhere and we don't know in what state they may be. You'll have 8 minutes go spread out and 4 of you will be the rescuers. The other 16 must hide in whichever place they wish. 8 of the hidden may not speak. I will select them."
"We are playing hide and seek!" yelled an excited Ashido. I smiled at her, remembering how me and Shouto played that game for hours when we were little.
"To be precise, almost," said Thirteen, "ok, the 4 that will search, are them." He pointed at Midoriya, Uraraka, Mineta and Bakugou, who was shaking again.
"Why do I have to do it with Deku?!" he yelled. Again, I lightly smacked his shoulder.
"Stop it," I sighed, stilling keeping up the act but wanting to annoy him.
"You're pissing me off!" he yelled at me.
"Calm down, calm down," reassured Kirishima again.
Thirteen told all of us to hide. I lit up my hands and feet, taking off over the city. Since we had to be separated, I didn't go with Shouto. I scanned the area, looking for a good place to hide. I had to be somewhere high if I wanted to avoid that creepy Mineta. I landed in a tall building that was tilted to the side. I was on the top floor. I turned around and saw I was quite far from the centre where the rescuers were meant to start. I strolled slowly to a far corner away from any windows, and sat down with my back against the wall and hidden slightly by a large chunk of the roof that had fallen. I figured no one would reach me hear, unless Uraraka floated up here or Bakugou using his explosions to get up high. I remembered again of when me and Shouto would play hide and seek together.
"You're counting!" I yelled, pointing at Shouto.
"But I always count!" he whimpered back, pouting and crossing his arms.
"No, I did it last time!" I said, stamping my little foot.
"No, you cheated and you found me in one minute before Mum called us for dinner!" he said, almost in tears. I rolled my eyes.
"Urgh, fine, I'll count," I groaned, and put my hands over my eyes.
"No, turn around and face the wall!" Shouto ordered. I groaned again and walked towards the wall, and began to count out loud.
"1, 2, 3..." I sighed. I heard excited footsteps leave the room as Shouto went to find a place to hide. I spoke a little louder so he could hear me count. "98, 99, 100! Ready or not, here I come!" I yelled. I looked around the room, just in case he had tricked me like last time. He pretended to run away but ended up hiding behind the couch. When I saw he wasn't here, I left the room. I placed my finger on my chin, trying to think of places of where he could be. "Maybe our bedroom," I said to myself. I ran upstairs, and banged the door open. "Aha!" I yelled, trying to block the door in case he tried to run. But I didn't see him. The room was exactly the same from when we left it this morning. I looked around just in case, but nothing was out of place. "What about the bathroom?" I mumbled, and shut the door and repeated the same action on the bathroom door. Again, nothing was out of place. Room after room, I couldn't find him. I even looked in the garden, looking everywhere for him. At first I thought he was moving around to try and trick me, but when I hide myself in a room to try and catch him, it was like I was home alone. There was hardly any noise in the house. Everyone was out, except us and Mum, maybe our sister I think. I sighed, and cupped my hands to my mouth. "Alright, I give up! Where are you Shouto?" I waited a couple seconds. Still nothing. "I'm serious Shouto! I don't know where you are!" There was still silence. I began to get a bit worried. Does he find this too funny or did he actually pass out or something? I began to hear someone murmuring. Mum. Maybe she can help me find him. I began to follow the voice, trying to find Mum. Suddenly, I heard a scream, and my little legs began to run. What's happening? I ran faster and faster, coming to a stop at an open doorway. My heart came to a stop. Mum was hovering Shouto, holding a kettle in her hand, staring down at Shouto who was on the floor, curled up in pain. He was still screaming, his little hands clutching his left eye in pain. My eyes widened in horror, and got the guts to glance up at my mum. "M-mum?" I whimpered, my voice sounding all dry and rusty. He stared at me with wide eyes. I could see the black lines under them. She looked insane.
"Homura! Get away from me!" She yelled, throwing the same hot kettle at me. It hit me in the side, some of the hot metal cutting open my skin. My eyes widened in pain, doubling over, clutching my side in pain as the red liquid poured out of me. It was my turn to let out a scream as our mother stood there, half in shock and half insane.
My fingers wrapped around my left side, feeling the deep scar that was painted on my skin. That day was engraved in my memory, as well as Shouto's. Neither one of us talked about that day, but every time we looked at each other's scars, we just saw our mum's wide eyes staring at us with insanity. I pressed my nails into my side. Ever since that day, we never played hide and seek. It's like we hated the game. It brought back too many memories. It was then, since that day, that Shouto rejected Father's power completely. I never really saw his flames anymore. Sometimes I even forgot what they looked like. I clenched my fingers tighter. It was since that day that I vowed to myself that I wouldn't let Shouto get hurt again. Because of that stupid game, he ended up getting hurt by the woman who gave birth to us. I didn't hate her, as I knew it wasn't her fault really. I blamed my Father for screwing this family up, but I mostly blamed myself. All because of that game, he slipped away for one moment, and he returned with a bandage over his left eye and tears in his right. I glanced down at the place where my scar was. In a way, I felt like I deserved that scar for not being a good sister. A good twin sister. I wasn't there to save him. I wasn't there to help him. I wasn't there for my mum when she had so much weight on her shoulders and dropped the load onto him without warning. I would become a hero to help others like Shouto when he needed help. I'll help others from situations they couldn't handle like my mother. I would become a hero to make her and Shouto proud. I—
I was interrupted by a huge shake. I clenched the rock next to me, afraid the building was collapsing but I couldn't feel any movement. I peered up, thinking it was Bakugou landing harshly on the building. But no one stood there. I stood up, and saw a cloud of smoke rising from one of the streets where the rescuers had started. That's odd. Did someone use their Quirk? Forgetting about the game, I became curious and flew up from the building and towards the smoke. Without warning, another cloud of smoke, much stronger than the first one, rose fiercely from the ground, making me back away a small bit in the air, covering my mouth and squinting. This can't be someone's Quirk, can it? As the smoke began to clear, I saw a large circle, with one person standing in it. Who is that? I flew closer, trying to see without getting in their vision. Wait, I don't know this guy. Was it... a villain?! I tensed up, feeling the same sensation I had when I first laid eyes on that mist appearing from the USJ attack. However, my eyes widened even more when I saw what the guy was carrying. There, swaying unconscious in that guy's hand, was Shouto. I froze, my arms shaking in fear. However, this time, my fists began to tighten. Smoke began to rise from small gaps in my fingers. My arms started to heat up, my hair rose slightly and I stared at the guy with sparks forming in my eyes. In the blink of an eye, I shot forward at my max speed towards the villain.
"Let him go!" I yelled, my voice echoing across the city. The villain looked up. I raised my hand, forming my hand like I was holding a sword. As I did, the fire extended to my hand, forming into a large, wide sword, twice the size of me. As I came close to the villain, I grabbed the handle of the sword with both hands and swung it towards the guy, successfully hitting him in a fiery explosion that spread a few meters around us. However, I saw that the guy had blocked the attack with his free arm, struggling to keep the sword from touching his body. I clenched my teeth in anger, and entended some fire to my other hand to create another sword, and swung it at his chest. Before my sword touched him, he put Shouto in front of my sword, making me freeze completely. The villain chuckled.
"Don't act so recklessly over something personal," he sneered, and pushed the sword back so hard that it sent me back, slightly tumbling before regaining control and skidding to a stop. I glared at him, clenched my teeth, and shot forward again.
"I said let him go!" I yelled, engulfing myself in fire, and raising a fist, but creating several fire lines. I pushed my fist forward, sending the fiery lines towards him, coming from all directions but avoiding Shouto. The villain dodged most of them, occasionally getting hit, but seemed like it didn't make that much of a difference. As he dodged the last one, he glanced at me.
"Clever, but it's not enough," he growled, and seemed to disappear. In shock, I froze while still shooting forward, until I heard a chuckle behind me. I tried to turn and attack, but received a sudden pain in my side, sending me flying faster, away from the guy. I closed my eyes, waiting for a rough impact, but felt a pair of strong arms catch me. I opened my eyes, surprised, and saw Bakugou staring down at me. I could tell from looking into his eyes that he was in battle mode.
"Don't get in the way," he yelled, but almost gently put me down, before shooting himself forward at the guy. I clenched my side, feeling the same pain shoot up my side as I did when that hot metal slashed my skin. Luckily, this time, there wasn't any blood.
"Todoroki! Are you okay?" said Yaoyorozu, coming over to me. I half nodded, rubbing the material of my costume to cool my skin down a bit, but kept my eyes and ears focused on the villain carrying Shouto. Bakugou started to yell as she flew towards the guy, but like me, the villain used his arm to block the attack, and Bakugou jumped away.
"You run, I will defeat him!" he yelled at us. I clenched my teeth in anger.
"You have guts to decide something like that in such a moment!" growled the villain. I gripped the ground in anger, and again, I shot my fire through my feet, speeding towards the guy.
"I need to get my brother, you idiot!" I yelled to Bakugou. I sprayed the guy with fire, morphing some of it to try and remove Shouto from his hand. The villain dodged the attack, and I quickly got out of the way before he attacked me back.
"Oi, move!" screamed Bakugou, shooting past me to try and attack the villain, getting blocked again. I clenched my teeth again.
"You move!" I yelled, staying where I was to launch attack from there. The two of us repeatedly attack the guy, not paying attention to the others around us. I noticed how the guy kept blocking our attacks, no matter where they came from.
"It's over!" yelled the villain, and I saw his arm try and reach Bakugou. Without thinking, I wrapped my fiery line around him, lifting him up and throwing him behind the villain. Instantly, he touched the guy's back, sending out a large explosion. To avoid it, I shot myself up over it, and skidding to a stop near Bakugou.
"Oi, don't worry about the others," growled Bakugou with a grin on his face to Iida, "Don't just stand there! Make those weaklings run away!" Iida tensed.
"Why do you have to insult others?!" shouted Iida.
"Oi, Bakugou," yelled Kirishima, coming to the edge of the mess the villain caused, "who do you mean by 'those weaklings'? Todoroki, don't think you'll do this on your own, too." I half glanced behind me, still keeping the villain in the corner of my eye.
"We are the 20 students of class A," said Yaoyorozu.
"We will all be heroes," said Uraraka. The villain chuckled.
"How brave," he gloated, "however..." The villain sent a wave of rocks towards us.
"I'll take care of it," said Aoyama, shooting his lazar towards them, breaking most of them. Kirishima hit the rest that fell to the ground, with Sato helping him. Jirou plugged her earphones into her speakers, sending her heartbeat towards the villain, and he managed to stay put. Sero shot his tape around him as Yaoyorozu created a cannon that shot a net over the villain.
"Now!" she screamed.
"Let's go, Class A!" yelled Iida, leaving the rest of us to the villain, including me and Bakugou. However, the trap didn't work. The villain broke free, sending strong wind towards us. I was quick to react, shooting myself upwards before the wind could hit me. However, Bakugou had the same idea, as I came face to face with him. We stared confused and shyly at each other, but in an instant, we both knew what we had to do. Using the smoke as cover, we hovered slowly to where the villain stood, where Bakugou aimed for his head, while I aimed for Shouto. The villain moved his head and arm away in time, but it didn't stop us. We both attacked at different angles, either getting blocked or being dodged. The guy seemed to push Bakugou away, but I wrapped the whip around him, making him swing back faster towards the villain, and trying to strike him again. This happened again, and before I could do something, I felt a sudden pain in my side and in my hands. I let Bakugou skid to the side and I rubbed the material, cooling my skin, and clutching the side where the man had struck me.
"It's seems you are both tired," growled the villain, "Time to end this." Bakugou chuckled and stood up.
"Don't make me laugh," he yelled, then glanced at me for a moment, making me set my arms on fire again. "We're barely getting started!" With that, we ran towards the villain. From the corner of my eye, I saw Midoriya fly towards us, carrying one of Mineta's balls. I moved slightly to get out of his way, and instead, wrapped my fire around him, realising what he was aiming for. He glanced at me as he flew forward faster, grinning thankfully. I smirked, making him go straight for Shouto's clothing, and watched as he took Shouto away from the villain. I grinned with joy, partly because Shouto was safe, and that meant I could use my Quirk without hurting Shouto. However, before I could do anything, another burst of wind flew towards the villain, this time from Midoriya. That didn't stop me though.
"Weaklings should step aside!" yelled Bakugou. I glared at him, but dashed forward to join his side.
"That won't affect me," I growled. His eyes narrowed, but he let out a small grin as we both warmed up our palms.
"I will kill him!" he growled softly, as smoke rose from his hands.
"Don't take all that glory for yourself," I growled, as smoke rose from my palms. As the wind broke from the villains arms, we came to a stop in front of the villain.
"Die!" yelled Bakugou setting off his huge explosion. At the same time, I set off a fiery explosion, yelling at the villain. The two Quirks mixed together, making one. All we could see was yellow and orange. As the fiery explosion cleared, we saw the villain fly backwards into a rubble of Mineta's balls, sticking him down. We glared at the villain, still in our fighting stance as the wind blew into our hair. Our eyebrows still narrowed, we both walked towards the villain, who was trying his best to escape.
"I-I can't move," he said.
"Now it's time for the final touch!" yelled Bakugou, as he both raised our hands in anger, warming up our hands.
"W-Wait, I-I, I am here!" said... All Might?!
"All Might?!" screamed me and Bakugou. All Might laughed.
"I wanted to make a surprise in which a villain appeared in the end," he explained as everyone started to gather around him. "Well, the other day that happened, but you did a great job, I wouldn't expect any less from the Hero course..." I wasn't even listening to him anymore. I don't think anyone was. I stared down at him in anger and disappointment, as well as everyone else. "That... I'm sorry." All Might added, but immediately got interrupted.
"You went overboard, moron!" yelled Bakugou, Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero. I wanted to yell at him, but I had too many things I wanted to yell at him. Instead, I clenched my teeth in anger, letting my hair rise up with fire and my eyes shine brighter. I watched as Bakugou shook in anger while the other three boys started to abuse All Might.
"Todoroki!" said Midoriya. I glanced behind me as I thought he called me, but my eyes widened as I saw Shouto standing like nothing had happened.
"You were in on the surprise?!" yelled Bakugou. Shouto hung his head a little, pausing for a moment.
"Sorry," he simply said. My eyes twitched in anger as a vein popped out from my forehead. I stomped towards him. He glanced at me, but before he could speak, I punched him hard on the side of the head.
"Don't just say sorry, you moron!" I yelled, as he held his head, "Do you know how worried I was?! I could have killed All Might because you wanted to fool around. Don't you dare do you that again, you hear me?!" I felt tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision. Shouto still had his head down, but gave me a small smile.
"I'm glad you did that for me, Homura," he said softly. My clenched my jaw, slowly raising me hands. He closed his eyes and tensed, thinking I was going to hit him again, but instead, I brought my fingers to his face, and gently ran my fingers over his scar. His eyes widened as my skin touched his.
"I can never forgive myself for what happened, alright?" I whispered so only he could hear me, "I told myself it wouldn't happen again. I don't want to see you hurt again just because I wasn't there to help you." A tear rolled down my cheek, but it was brushed away by Shouto's fingers. He pulled my chin up and touched his forehead against mine.
"It's not your fault, you know this," he whispered, "I love that you care, but what matters is that you want to help others, just like how you want to help me, and I'm grateful for it." With that, I threw my arms around him, feeling more tears run down my cheek and into his costume. His arms wrapped around me, patting me gently. After a few seconds, I wiped away my tears, as he let go, making sure no one saw me crying. Shouto smiled as he stared at Midoriya who was on the floor, glad that this was just a surprise. I glanced over and saw a trembling Bakugou. I let out a small smile, and shyly walked over to him.
"That was impressive," I said softly, a light blush coming onto my cheeks.
"Huh?!" He yelled, turning around, but softened his face as he saw me.
"You're a good fighter," I admitted, trying my best to maintain eye contact and composure.
"Hmf, of course I am," he grunted, sticking his nose up in the air. I rolled my eyes.
"Tch, full of yourself as usual," I grunted, turning my head to the side.
"Eh?! What do you mean as usual?!" he yelled, as I let out a grin.
"Nothing," I half sang, still smirking. He growled before speaking.
"You... um," he mumbled, making me look at him, "we make a great team," he said, blushing slightly. My eyes widened as I looked at my palm and then at his. I smiled to myself then looked into his eyes, blushing harder.
"Couldn't think of a better duo."