"I feel like between the two of us," you said. "We don't really have any good reasons to be heroes, do we?"
Shoto's eyebrows furrowed together as he tried to parse your words properly. He understood the implications.
"I don't want to see what happened to our family anywhere else," you continued. "So I'm going to be a hero."
"You could be a lawyer."
"No," you said. "Because even if we had gone to police back then, nobody would have believed us over that bastard. Heroes act, lawyers react."
Shoto picked up his now empty plate, standing up with a small grunt. "You're selling yourself short."
"Hm?" you grunted back at him, grabbing your own, half-finished plate. You didn't really have any appetite anymore.
"As far as reasons go, even if you're out to become one in spite of him not choosing you as his successor," Shoto said. "You have a much better reason than me. Because you act, and I don't."
"No," you said. "Because in the end, you still have to make that decision yourself. He can push you to it, but he can't force you to be a hero."
"Maybe not," Shoto said. "Which is why I made my own decision. I'll become a hero, without his power."
You blinked, putting your plate on the kitchen counter next to his. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to use fire," Shoto clarified. "I'm going to become a hero using Mom's power only."
"Shoto," you said. You could feel your nails digging into the palm of your hand. "If you're going to half-ass this, you should quit now."
How the fuck were you going to show him up if he worked with a hand tied behind his back?
"Are you stupid?" you asked, standing in front of the door, not letting him pass. "You're going to put yourself in danger you moron, last time I checked you aren't immune to the cold!"
You glared at him. His expression didn't shift—if anything, your words made him seem eager. As if working with a handicap would give him that moral high ground over your father. He pushed past you, and you reached out, your quirk dancing at your fingertips.
You stopped, of course.
He had made his choice, there wasn't anything to do here. You could hope his teachers would beat it out of him; Sunbreaker would've done that for sure, and U.A. is supposed to be the better school, right?
"Don't worry," Shoto said as he moved towards his room. "He knows."
"Not everything is about him!" you shouted when he vanished around the corner. That dense piece of—you were going to—
It's too bad you weren't in the same school, because otherwise you'd punch his damn face in next chance you got.
####
Day two of school was… school.
No heroics, no special lessons, no punching it out with Sunbreaker above a field of blades. They were normal lessons, mostly spent sitting in your classroom all day being told that no, just because you were out of middle school didn't mean you were done with math.
Not that you minded too much. You weren't bad at normal lessons. Your grades were always good, but at this school, 'good' became 'average' very quickly. Even Inasa, despite his loud personality, could answer any questions the teacher had without a second thought.
Hiro, who had been called up twice as much as everyone else, couldn't. At least he tried.
The more interesting part came after the lessons, though. Camie had invited you to do… mentor stuff. Which apparently was 'a small tour around the campus'. Not everyone had plans like that, which made you feel a bit bad after telling Yuri and Mika to go home without you.
Camie was waiting in front of the building, checking her nails. If there was something like 'too much of a stereotype', she would be it. She waved at you when she saw you approach. Or maybe she was waving her hand to try and dry the nail polish faster.
"So my cute lil' underclassgirl, how was your day?"
"Okay," you said. "Not as exciting as the day yesterday."
"Don't think I heard of anyone breaking someone's arm in three places on their first day before, that's pretty lit," Camie said. You sighed. The rumors kept growing.
"Dislocated," you replied. "And a minor fissure in the rib."
"Riiight," Camie said, shrugging. You had the feeling she didn't believe you. "Anyhoo, you already know where the nurse's office and your classroom is. So lemme show you the rest. 'Sides Sunbreaker's battleground slash the big speech hall, we got a two-floor gym for the sports clubs and an outdoor playing field. You like baseball?"
"Not really?" you said.
"Me neither," Camie said. "But I like the dudes who like baseball. If you ever got some love troubles, big sis Camie would love to hear about it."
From Senpai to Big Sis, huh?
The idea of Fuyumi dishing our love advice made you smile. Camie dragged you towards the tall building behind the school. The outdoor field was visible—some people had gathered there already, preparing for practice.
"Is the team here any good?"
"Never made it to the regionals," she said. "It's more a for-fun thing, nobody who's attending here thinks they'll make it as pro-players. We're here to be heroes, right?"
Yeah, but considering some people at this school, your mentor included, it was hard to think that everyone here really gave that their all either.
"Camie-senpai," you said. She stopped the walk towards the gym building and turned towards you.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you want to be a hero?" you asked. She put a finger to her lips, looking up.
"Hmmm," she said. "It's kind of stylish, don't you think?"
"Stylish?"
"Yeah, like, you know all those really cool heroes, dressing up in those awesome costumes, kicking lots of ass? Isn't there something romantic about it?"
"... romantic?"
"I got a huuuge crush on some of them," she said dreamily. "Maybe not those bara characters like All Might and Endeavor, but have you even seen Hawks and Best Jeanist?"
You ignored the casual mention of your father and the description as… well, whatever it meant that she said. You wouldn't know, no way. "I don't think anyone has seen much of Best Jeanist, he kind of wears his pants over his face."
"Ugh, that's so much of the appeal tho, the fact that he's hiding his face makes it so much more attractive, doesn't it? Kind of like underwear versus being naked?"
You pressed your lips together into a thin line. You might need to ask if you could request a new mentor. "Sorry, I think we should finish the tour before it gets too late."
Camie nodded. Her smile and slightly flushed cheeks while she showed you through the gym, and in particular the basketball club's practice, made the entire thing a drag.
That didn't mean you didn't learn anything, of course. There were three nurse offices, though only one of the doctors had a rapid-healing quirk, meaning she was often running around the offices. When you met the woman yesterday, she looked half-dead.
And it was just the first day of school to boot. Maybe that was just her style. There were more club rooms on the uppermost floor of the building.
But still, despite Camie's way of speaking and the fact that she was easily distracted, you ended up with a rather good grasp on the layout of the school. And spending some time with your mentor was never wrong, considering you'd be stuck to each other for six more months.
#####
You learned a lot about the school. Camie isn't too bad once you get to know her.
That thing with Shoto wasn't over yet.
[ ] Ask your sister for help—maybe she could contact one of his teachers so they could talk some sense into him.
[ ] Ask your other brother for help: he isn't that much older than you, maybe he has some advice.
[ ] Ask [write-in] for advice on how to confront Shoto yourself.
Dealing with Shoto has been added as a Minor Goal.
The design you sent to the support department ended up exceeding the budget slightly. They asked you to pick which to keep:
[ ] A small tank of water for emergencies, kept on your hip and capable of sending moisture in the air with a small button press.
[ ] A temperature regulation module. The cloak as is was very warm, but that didn't mean it'd weather the cold forever.
