Back to School
Arriving in Musutafu City, instead of going to Rumi's new apartment first, she said to him that she wanted to meet his parents.
To this, Hiroto had no reason to decline, and so after a walk from the station, they arrived outside of Hiroto's home.
Turning to Rumi, Hiroto said, "Just so you know, my parents can be quick…. eccentric. So try not to do anything that would set them off, alright?"
"They can't be that bad, right?" Rumi said. Hiroto merely avoided his gaze and looked down the side of the street. He then saw that two houses down from his right were a group of people moving furniture out of their house.
"What's wrong?" Rumi asked him.
"It's nothing, it seems like those people are moving out. I wonder who the new neighbor would be, hopefully, they aren't the loud type." Hiroto said. Rumi merely stayed silent and turned her gaze to where the movers were, deep in thought.
"Ah, Hiroto!" A woman's voice came from the side once more. Turning towards it's direction, he saw Katsuki's mom waving towards him while carrying a bag of groceries. "You came back early?"
Hiroto waved back and said, "Yeah, there was no point in staying there even longer."
Mitsuki nodded and crossed her arm saying, "Katsuki should be coming back soon, so we should have dinner together with your parents! Oh, and who's that next to you? Wait, isn't that…"
Rumi then turned towards Mitsuki and waved at her, saying, "Nice to meet you, I was Hiroto's mentor for the past week-"
"Ah, you're the Rabbit Hero Mirko! I'm a fan!" Mitsuki said, coming closer to the two.
"What's with all that shouting outside?" Hiroto's mother complained, opening the front door and seeing Hiroto next to Rumi in front of her. "Ah, Hiroto! You're back!" She then lunged at him and brought him into a tight hug.
"Alright, you can let go now. If it was anyone else, you would've crushed them to death." Hiroto said, patting his mother's back.
Hiroto's mother then separated from him and eyed Rumi, asking, "Ara~ And who's this beautiful young woman next to you? Is she your friend? Or…"
Rumi smiled and placed a hand on her hip, saying, "I'm Hiroto's mentor, Rumi Usagiyama, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Moriyama." She then slightly bowed to her.
"Ah, yes, it's nice to meet you too." Hiroto's mother replied quickly, also bowing.
Mitsuki then approached Hiroto's front door and joined in on the conversation, saying to Hiroto's mother, "You have no idea how lucky you are that Hiroto's being trained by the Rabbit Hero Mirko. Oh, our two families should have dinner together tonight at my place!" She then turned to Rumi and said, "You're also welcome to join."
Rumi's phone then beeped as a message came in, and after a short read of it she politely declined, saying, "I'm sorry, but I have some business to take care of before I can settle into this town properly."
Hiroto asked her, "Hero stuff?"
"Sort of." Rumi said, then hugging Hiroto quickly before turning to leave, saying, "It's been nice meeting everyone, but I'll head off first!"
Watching her leave, Mitsuki and Hiroto's mom stood close to each other, a finger on their cheek as they appraised her and gossiped, "She really does have a good figure, doesn't she?" Mitsuki whispered.
"She definitely does. She's really cute too, especially those ears of hers." Hiroto's mother whispered back.
Hiroto rolled his eyes and thought to himself, 'Housewives…' He then headed on into his house and plopped down on the sofa, tossing aside his luggage and briefcase that contained his Hero suit.
"Well, it's back to school tomorrow. Wasn't there something that was supposed to happen when we first got back? Ah, who cares." Hiroto said, shoving his hand into the side of the sofa and pulling out a manga that he stashed in there.
The rest of the night was uneventful, with the only notable moment being when he had dinner with the Bakugo family. Katsuki, after coming back from his internship with Best Jeanist had his hair completely waxed and smoothed out.
Needless to say, Hiroto took some photos of this, totally not intent on using them as blackmail. During the night before he went to bed, he got a message from Rumi.
Opening the text, it said that she was now living in her new place. She then sent a picture which was a selfie of her in her new living room, giving a peace sign to the camera.
He also texted with his other friends after they had got back from their internships, not being able to wait for school the next day.
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The next day, after arriving in school and sitting in class, Hiroto's ears were bombarded by a series of laughter.
"Bwa ha ha ha! Really?!" Eijiro shouted while laughing, pointing towards Katsuki's hair.
"Look at that hair!! It's a perfect 2:8 hair ratio! Bwa ha ha ha!!" Sero laughed, clutching his stomach.
Katsuki standing by his desk while clutching the metal case containing his Hero suit was trembling with anger, gnashing his teeth. "Stop laughing! It's just stuck like this, even after a good washing. Keep it up and I'll murder the both of you."
By Hiroto's desk, Mina was sitting on her and said, "I'm so jealous of you! You got to fight and take out some villains!"
"Yeah, compared to what I did it seems that Moriyama has had more action than all of us combined," Jiro said, approaching the two.
"What did you guys do?" Hiroto asked the two.
"It was just training on evacuation procedures and logistical support. No real fighting." Jiro said.
"Yeah, I never did get to do anything like fighting, just learning more the more technical side of being a Hero," Mina said, swinging her legs back and forth.
Momo approached the group and said with a sigh, "At least you guys seemed to have done something productive. It was just tv commercials and modeling for me…"
"Well, there's something more important that we have to talk about anyway," Kaminari said, approaching the group. He then pointed towards where Todoroki, Iida, and Izuku sat, also pointing to Hiroto with his other hand. "These guys definitely had the most transformative and traumatic experience out of all of us!"
"Yeah, yeah, the Hero Killer!!" Sero shouted out, being pulled into a headlock by Katsuki who had his hair returned to normal through the power of his rage.
"I'm just glad you're all still alive," Eijiro added, having the back of his head pushed down by Katsuki as well.
Momo put a hand on her chest and said, "I was really worried. Especially learning afterward about the group of Nomu that was rampaging across the city…"
"But they were saved by Mirko and Endeavor in the end, right? That's Pro Heroes for you!" Kaminari said.
Todoroki merely frowned, but then said, "Right… we were saved."
As the group continued talking about the events from that night, Mina turned to Hiroto and saw him not paying attention to the rest of the group. She then whispered towards him, "Psst, hey. Did you encounter any more of those penguin things?"
Hiroto turned to her and when he saw no one paying attention to them, he whispered back, "Keep it a secret, but yeah."
Mina smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, whispering, "Awesome!"
"Class is about to start! Get to your seats!!" Iida shouted to everyone, just as Aizawa walked in.
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Later in the afternoon, the whole of class 1-a was gathered in their Hero costumes at Ground Gamma. This was an industrial site compiled by many factories that form a labyrinth. It contained tons of heavy machinery including cranes and pipelines, forming a metal jungle.
"I am here!!" All Might shouted as he walked in front of the group outside of the doors heading into Ground Gamma. "The reason for that is… Your basic Hero training! It's been a while, boys and girls! How is everyone?!"
"Not much of an entrance," Kaminari whispered.
"I'd expect more after a break," Eijiro whispered back.
"Maybe he ran out of shticks?" Sero said."
As the kids were whispering to each other, All Might kept his usual smiling face, thinking to himself, 'Run out? Never. My supply of shticks is inexhaustible.'
"This is an immediate follow-up to your internships, today's activity is a playful one." All Might said, raising a finger. "A rescue training race!!"
Hiroto's eyes lit up, thinking to himself, 'Ah, that's what I forgot about today! Well, not like knowing beforehand would matter anyway.'
All Might continue to address the excited class, "This is Ground Gamma! It's a dense spread of factories all wound together to make an intricate network of maze-like alleys! You'll be split into four teams of five, with each team going one at a time!
I'll send a distress signal from somewhere inside, and you will all start at the border! It's a race to see who can reach and rescue me first!!" All Might said, he then pointed towards Hiroto and Katsuki, raising his hand up and down between the doors furiously, saying, "Naturally, keep the destruction of property to a minimum!!"
"Stop pointing at me," Katsuki muttered, looking away.
"Why are you pointing at me?" Hiroto asked innocently. The class, including All Might, all collectively turned their heads to Hiroto. The events of the League of Villains attack flashed through their mind, including the sorry mess that was left of the U.S.J dome. (Unforeseen Simulation Joint, the place where the first Nomu appeared.)
Feeling Everyone's gaze on him, Hiroto sweated a bit, and muttered, "...not that much..."