A Siren Song - My Hero Academia

Chapter 28

It was a very intense week. Not only was Utatori doing her hero internship with Uraraka, worried over her classmates that ran into the hero killer, Stain, worried over her fathers that were doing double patrols because of the Nomu attacks in Hosu, but she was also helping Shinso with his quirk training.

"Why do I have to do this again?"

She glanced away from her book, looking down at the purple hair, slowly moving up and down.

"Push-ups? They make your body stronger. You gain muscles, you need those."

He huffed, pausing with slightly shaking arms.

"Why do I need to get stronger, I thought quirk training was about your quirk, not exercise."

"I'm in charge, so it's whatever I want it to be."

Shinso sat up, frowning at her as he tried to catch his breath.

"Why do you hate me?"

Utatori smiled, lightly placing her bookmark in place before turning to him and raising her hands, signing something slow so he could understand.

"Nice try, not gonna work."

He stared at her hands, expressionless, before locking eyes.

"I have no idea what you just said."

She laughed, rolling her eyes before he continued.

"No seriously, I don't understand sign language. And you don't need to, I can't use my quirk on you."

She paused at that.

"Wait, what?"

The boy shrugged, walking off to grab his water bottle, calling over his shoulder to her.

"Yeah I tried earlier, it doesn't work."

When he returned he found Tori scribbling in a notebook. They met eyes for a second, his purple eyebrow raising. She went on as if he wasn't there, writing for a few seconds before closing it.

"20 more push-ups."

"I would rather die."

"That can be arranged."

He huffed, turning towards the spare room Aizawa turned into a mini dojo. Utatori followed him, amused at his antics. Once inside, Shinso turned, his arms out.

"Okay, show me why I need training. Theres no point sparring with Aizawa, he's a pro, he's just going easy on us."

She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Us?"

She stalked forward, watching his body tense as he stepped back.

"You think I can't keep up with Aizawa? Sparring isn't about going all out you know."

She stopped when she was in the middle of the mat, watching the boy before her look her up and down.

"Come on then, show me what he's taught you so far. If you can land a hit on me, you don't have to do any push-ups for the next week."

She could see the excitement in his eyes, even if he didn't show it anywhere else. He took two small steps forward, before dashing towards her.

Tori didn't move to block as Shinso got closer, the boy raising his arm for a straight on punch. She pivoted on her left foot, allowing her right shoulder to swing back, avoiding his easy jab. She ducked down and under his arm as it swung out to grab her, stepping back to give him some distance.

If someone were to watch and analyse Tori's fighting, or really, avoidance style, they would almost think she were dancing. She was light on her feet, constantly moving and weaving to slip past her opponents attacks.

The teenager paused, huffing slightly as he pushed his purple hair back.

"Can you stop moving so much?"

She shrugged in response, re-positioning her body to be more defensive, her arms raised and her knees bent slightly.

This time when he tried to rush her, she didn't spin away. She easily blocked all his slow hits with her forearms, never once firing back.

Once he tired himself out the two stopped, grabbing water and resting.

"I still don't understand how doing push-ups will do anything. It's not my physical strength that needs work, it's my fighting skills."

Tori stood, walking to the front of the room where her long staff sat leaning against the wall. She grabbed it, spinning it around in her hands as she regarded him.

"It's not about physical strength, and it's not about skill. Sure, it's helpful if you know all the tricks, and you might be able to punch a guy out, but when you run into someone who can take a hit, or someone of greater skill level, it comes down to one thing."

She paused, throwing the staff out in an offensive position, pointing towards him.

"Stamina and endurance."

At that, she handed Shinso her support item, moving around the mat as if she was evading an invisible opponent.

"If you think about it, I was moving far more than you were in that battle. You need your body to be strong so you can last longer than your opponent. Otherwise, no matter your skill level, you aren't going to make it very far."

She turned to him suddenly, sizing him up.

"What's the biggest issue you face with your quirk?"

He blinked, not prepared for her question. It took him a second to find his words, eyebrows furrowing together in thought.

"I guess people knowing about it. Once they figure out how to get around it, I'm useless."

She nodded along, walking up to the boy.

"What if you disguised your voice? So people don't know it's you."

"How?"

She shrugged, grabbing her staff back from him.

"I don't know, I can't do all the work for you."