Chapter 35: POWEEEEEER!!!

The next day early in the morning as students start to arrive at school a huge crowd of reporters are blocking the entrance and harassing students... Trying to get any scoop of All Might they can

Arriving with Ochaco after coincidentally meeting her on the way Hitomi sees the crowd of reporters and instantly retreats behind the nearest corner

Ochaco frowns and follows "Hitomi? What's wrong?"

She pulls her oversized incognito hoodie out of her schoolbag "I hate hate HATE reporters... I can't deal with them..." A few snakes peek around the corner for her to keep an eye on the reporters

"Should I go find a teacher to help get rid of them...?" She glances back "Or I could float you over the wall?"

"Teacher would be best... You don't mind going through that swarm...?" She sighs...

"Not at all!" She smiles and pumps her fists "I'll be right back!" She runs off towards the infested gate

Hitomi sighs as she pulls on her hoodie over her uniform... And then... 'Huh?'

She senses someone quickly approaching her from across street "Excuse me Miss!"

Looking over at the approaching boy holding notepad and with a camera around his neck she notices he seems to be of similar age to her if not a little older, of average physique, is wearing square rimmed glasses and has ash blonde hair, his most noticeable feature however are the two large bull like horns protruding from his head

Focusing on the tools of a journalist being weilded by the boy Hitomi instantly holds up her hand "No comment"

"Ah C'mon please? I'll be quick I promise" he raises his notepad

"I said no comment. I've got nothing to say about All Might"

"Oh good, I don't wanna talk about All Might" he smiles

"Huh?" She frowns "What do you wanna talk about then?"

"You. Miss Hitomi Sekizō, I wanna talk about you" his smile turns into a grin

"Look man I don't know you. I only talk about myself to my friends so back off" her snakes all hiss at him

He starts writing in his notebook "Well my name's Meiwaku Miyagi! And I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the recent rumors surrounding the Shidō case"

"Rumors? What rumors?" She can't help but ask...

"Oh oh you don't know?" He writes faster "Well it's true that the only thing "proving" your innocence is the word of the lie detecting Detective Tsukauchi, Aka True Man, Correct?"

"Well ye-" she starts

"As the only one's able to testify about what happened on that rooftop is yourself and an undisclosed second witness that is most likely to be Hitoshi Shinso, can you confirm that the second witness is indeed Hitoshi Shinso?"

"N-"

"Nevermind. As the only one's able to testify and with no evidence of ANY illegal actions being commited by one Kōichi Shidō your innocence hinges on the trustworthyness of Detective Tsukauchi is that correct?"

"Look I don't want to ta-"

"How do you feel about the rumors that Detective Tsukauchi is in fact not trustworthy and your innocence may soon be called into question?" His glasses glint in the sunlight

That sends a chill down Hitomi's spine "W-what...? That guy's a trusted officer with a long and clean career! And he has no connection to me or my family! Why wouldn't he be trustworthy? He has no reason to help me!"

"Indeed that seems to be the case... Or at least it did" he smirks "As it so happens a recent investigation turned out an interesting connection between him and your family"

"What do you me-"

"It turns out! That only a few short years ago your Mother performed a risky life saving surgery on Detective Tsukauchi's sister after her unfortunate involvement in a near fatal car accident! A surgery that medical professionals claimed was what saved her from the clutches of not just death and left her in position to make a full recovery!" He leans closer "Quite the connection don't you think? How far would a man that loves his beloved sister go to repay her saviour?"

'Wait... That... Is a connection... Oh god are people gonna believe that...!?' "You're basing this entire thing off of one coincidence that happened years ago! It's fragile. Besides I didn't even know about tha-"

"Oh of course of course you didn't! Now tell me what you think about these rumors" his grin is turning more predatory by the second

'Why...? Why is this coming back now of all times...!? I'm so sick of this! Shidō is the bad guy!!' she clenches her fists

Miyagi leans closer still, his horns coming close to Hitomi's face for a second "Can I take your silence for a refusal to answer? Are you determined to keep your secrets and hide the truth!? You're the real villain aren't you and you sneakily got into UA to try and make yourself seem innocent!?"

Hitomi grits her teeth, clenches her fist and her snakes all rear back ready to strike at any moment. Miyagi gains a look of fear as multiple very angry serpens bare their fangs at him but before things can escalate for the worse...

"Herooooo landiiiiing!!" A person wearing a UA uniform falls from above and Miyagi scrambles backwards so he doesn't get squished

Upon a perfectly executed Hero landing the boy stands and rests his hands on his hips with his back to Hitomi "That... Hurt a lot!" He smiles wide "I do not recommend it"

Miyagi picks himself up "Who are you!? You're interrupting an interview!"

"I am Falls From The Sky Man! Here to take my friend to class" the boy grabs Hitomi's hand and runs with the confused girl automatically following behind "Bye horn guy!"

They keep running away from the angry boy and towards the crowded gate, Hitomi finally snaps out of her shock, she keeps running though "H-hey wait a second! Who are you? The gates blocked we gotta stop!"

"Ye have little faith!" He laughs as he takes out a whistle from his pocket and sticks it in his mouth "'Ere 'e go!" He starts blasting the whistle and the reporters all turn to look at the noise like startled meerkats "Beep beeeeep!"

As the boy speeds up the reporters part like the Red Sea and before Hitomi can even register the sight they're through the gate and running towards the School building

"Wait wait wait we're through!" She smacks his broad back

"Huh? Oh yeah!" he comes to a very sudden stop and Hitomi runs straight into the back she was just smacking

"Oof!" She stumbles on her feet and the boy quickly turns and steadies her by her shoulders

"Hi there, I'm Mirio Togata, you ok?" He smiles

"You're very energetic aren't you...?" She shakes her head to clear it "I'm good... Thank you for getting me away from him..." She bows

"My pleasure! As a future Hero it's my duty to help those in need" he returns his hands to his hips and poses Heroically

"O-oh right, I'm Hitomi Sekizō... Class 1-A" she stands straight

He points his thumb at himself "I'm class 3-B, looks like we're rivals"

"Huh? Rivals? What do you mean?" She frowns

"Every year no matter who's around or what happens classes A and B somehow always find a way to form a rivalry with each other" he chuckles "You just wait, they'll challenge you or you'll challenge them eventually"

"Sounds fun..." She half smiles

"Hey... You ok...?" He rests a hand on her shoulder

"Just stuff that horned guy said was upsetting... It's not your concern... I'll deal with it..." She holds his hand and removes it from her shoulder "I should get to class now... Thank you again for helping me... If you ever need a favour you can ask..."

"Ok... Ah! You hungry?" He smiles

"Uhh... I guess a little...? I had to skip breakfast" She raises an eyebrow "Why...?"

He takes out two somehow un-squished muffins from his blazer pockets and holds one out to her "Here"

She slowly takes it "Um... Thanks...?"

"You're welcome" he smiles "Once there were two muffins sitting in an oven"

"Huh?" She looks up from her muffin

"One turned to the other and said, "Wow, it's pretty hot in here." " he wipes his brow

She frowns "I don't-"

"And the other one shouted, "Ahh! A talking muffin!" " he spreads his arms and smiles proudly

"Pfff!" It's SO bad... She can't help but start laughing

His smile turns genuinely proud "That's better... Smiles are better than frowns"

"Ok ok" she chuckles "You got me, it wasn't a good one but, good one" she takes a bite of her muffin "Mmm! Is this cheese?"

"Sure is!" He folds his arms "Incidentally... Did you hear about the cheese factory that exploded in France?"

She swallows "Is this another jo-"

"There was nothing left but DE BRIE!" he grins

"Stoooop!" She laughs

"Only if you can honestly tell me Hitomi Sekizō" he points at her "Are you still upset?"

She siiiiighs exaggeratedly "I suppose not, good job Mirio Togata, you have managed to cheer me up with your terrible jokes, be proud"

"I always am! Bringing smiles to all is one of my dreams- no... One of my goals in life"

"A very noble goal" she takes another bite of the cheese muffin "I truly hope you can do it"

"Thank you! It means a lot when my dream is encouraged" he smiles

"And I encourage you both to go to class..." Behind Togata

They both look over and there's Aizawa walking towards them from the School building with an unimpressed look on his already unimpressed face

"M-Mr Aizawa! I was just gonna go I promise!" She shakes her hands in panic 'Don't strangle meeeee!!'

"Mhm... I'm sure you were..." He continues walking, going past them and towards the gate "Get going before I expell you..."

"Seems like Aizawa got picked to deal with the reporters" Togata chuckles "Buuuut if we're still here when he comes back we probably will be expelled!"

"Well in that case we better go" she smiles "It was nice meeting you Togata"

"Nuh uh, call me Mirio! We're friends now" he holds out a fist bump

'This guys has more energy than Mina!' She laughs "Fine ok, we're friends" she bumps his fist with her's "Call me Hitomi"

"I'd be glad to Hitomi!" He out of nowhere starts running away "Until we meet agaiiiiiiin! Poweeeeer!!"

"Straaaange boy" she chuckles and noms her muffin as she makes her way to class, meeting back up with Ochaco on the way