The Party

Hitoshi Shinso had been in Mashirao's room when the two excited women had thrown open the door with wide grins.

He had tensed up at the sound, only relaxing when Mashirao put a calming hand on his shoulder. They had announced that Class 1-A would be throwing a Sports Festival afterparty to celebrate the competition and take advantage of the two days off they had to recover.

Mashirao had rubbed the back of his neck and politely agreed, telling them that they would be attending. Hitoshi hadn't had a chance to respond before the women squealed and ran to the next room to inform Midoriya.

Now, staring down at Mashirao, he simply raised his eyebrow. "You know that I don't drink, All-Star." Hitoshi reminded him.

Unlike Olivia, he had gone the opposite direction after the incident. She had never drank before, while Hitoshi was familiar with alcohol. After the incident though, it had been harder.

He shuddered when he thought about the first time he drank afterwards. Like Olivia, they had also suggested using alcohol as a temporary quirk suppressant when he was released. His quirk required activation whereas Olivia's became constant, making the alcohol less effective for him.

In fact, it had been a double edged sword. It had helped decrease his control over people, yes. To his horror though, it also made it easier to activate on accident. It was the worst night of his life when he accidentally put Mashirao under. Drunk and not knowing what to do, he had called for help. That was when he officially met Eraser Head, and had been told about UA, in fact.

Mashirao may have forgiven him for that night, but Hitoshi would never forgive himself for it, staying clear of alcohol ever since.

"It's important that you meet the people you want to share a class with, Hitoshi." Mashirao gently reminded him.

The way Mashirao was looking at him told Hitoshi he knew what he was thinking of. Sometimes it felt like Mashirao had Olivia's quirk with how well he read him.

"Plus, you have to keep an eye out for Olivia and I while we drink, remember?" Mashirao joked, lightening the mood.

Hitoshi immediately brought the mood back down though with his next question. "Is she still at the station?"

Mashirao sighed, seeing that Hitoshi wasn't buying into his attempt. "Yes. From what I remember of my time spent there, they usually hold people for a few hours. Even witnesses that aren't suspects. I don't think she'll be back soon."

Mashirao had spent almost all his freetime at the station when they were taken. Due to Olivia living off the records because of her parents, they had let him. He answered their questions when databases wouldn't turn up answers, and in return, they kept him in the loop about his friend's disappearance. Mashirao doesn't talk much about those days, and Hitoshi doesn't say much about the days he had been missing.

"Maybe we can use this night to our advantage, then?" Hitoshi mused, sitting back down on the bed. "Remember how I've been looking into my class for the past few weeks, to see if I could find the person that sent that message?"

Mashirao nodded, frowning. "The one that called Star trash, and started the bullying against her?"

"Mmm yeah. It's been bugging me that they took a picture of only her."

Mashirao shrugged, leaning back onto the bed. "She is in the hero class, that's probably why."

Hitoshi leaned back as well, staring up at the blank ceiling. "See, that's just the thing, All-Star… I made it clear the first day that I was going to transfer to that class as well. That I wanted to be a hero, unlike them. They don't like me either. Yet, whoever took the picture left me out of it. If they hadn't, Hot-Shot with his rash conclusions probably would've come after me, thinking I took advantage of her. The whole class might've. It would've started an actual war between the two classes, and put someone they didn't like in the middle of it. Instead, they only focused on her though."

Mashirao had turned his head to look at Hitoshi while he was talking, and furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "And you didn't find anything the past two weeks?"

Hitoshi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Nothing. All I know is that they seem to know a lot about you guys, but I don't know how. No one has stood out. I can't ask Olivia either, she'd kill me if she knew I was looking into it."

"Yeah, she tends to run away from or ignore problems like that. The only time she's faced the press head on was when they were threatening to leak you guy's information in connection with the kidnapping." Mashirao grimaced, remembering the state she was in after not sleeping for two days.

"Everyone thought she left after her name was shown though. No one saw her leave with the officers." Hitoshi started explaining, turning to Mashirao. "So if I happened to leak the party information to my class…"

"The person might show up, thinking she'll be there." Mashirao concluded, catching on. "I can grab Aoyama and talk to Shoda from Class 1-B as well. It would make more sense if other classes were there."

Hitoshi nodded. This was their best chance to find a lead.

As long as they focused on the people who came to the party, they would be fine.