Preydator || Todoroki x OC

•28: Mysterious Invitation•

I can't help smile as Aizawa and I walk out of the stadium in comfortable silence. Sounds echo from the festival raging on behind us as we make out way back to the main campus. I kick a stone along the path and it skids off into the grass. I notice Aizawa glance at me.

"Hm?" I look up at him curiously.

"It's rare to see you this carefree." He replies.

I shrug. "I can't help it. I'm just..." I trail off, trying to find the correct word. "Happy. Genuinely happy."

His lip twitches up into a small smile, too. "I'm really proud of you."

I blink, slightly taken aback from hearing those words I haven't heard since I ran away.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting much when the police and principal Nezu came up to me asking to take you in. Obviously, you were a troublesome runaway, but you needed food and shelter- that much I knew I could provide. Other than that, all the growth was you." Aizawa states. "I'm proud of you, I really am."

I feel myself start to choke up with emotion. Never have I ever heard those words be said so genuinely- especially not to me. "Well, without you, I might be behind bars right now, so give yourself a little more credit." I chuckle.

He smirks as we reach the main school building. "That officer sure did mess up." He says as he opens the front door and we walk in, the cool air conditioning hitting my face with a refreshing breeze.

We make our way down the hall and reach the office. We enter and meet principal Nezu and the unhappy faces of officer Osaro and his red-haired assistant.

"If it isn't the lady of the hour." Prinicipal Nezu cheerfully greets. I bow slightly in return.

"The forms are all signed and the officers are on their way out." Nezu states.

Officer Osaro sighs and glares at me. "I better not have to arrest you again." He says sourly before walking out of the office, his assistant flashing me an apologetic look as they both exit.

"Come sit." The principal beckons us to sit down at his desk. Aizawa and I plop down in the comfy office chairs. "So, how are you Miss Utano? I hope you're adjusting to UA well." I nod in reponse before he continues. "As you may know, we have fully taken your case concerning your mother out of the police's hands. This is partially due to the fact that we have abundant information on your mother's whereabouts. Thanks to you and Mr. Aizawa, we have just enough information to plan a mission for tomorrow to gather more intel." He slides a red envelope towards me. "Open it up."

I grab the envelope and open it to find a red paper equally as red inside. I unfold it and read the fancy writing. "The Scarlet Banquet." I read out loud. "You have been formally invited to the Scarlet Banquet organized by yours truly. The event takes place on 15th of the 5th at percisely seven o'clock in the evening in an empty warehouse on 5th street. Do not tell anyone about this invitation or else you will be silenced immediately. All those in your organization may arrive with this single letter. Anyone outside of your organization will be denied entry. Red formal attire is recommended, however, you may wear anything that will not restrict your capabilities. Be prepared for the test."

"We picked this up from a villain we caught a few days ago who happened to escape USJ." The principal explains. "If the host is inviting multiple organizations, there may be hundreds of them as there will be more than the ones from USJ. This will make it easy for us to infiltrate. This also means that the League of Villains are likely to be there, and Mirroress is supposedly with the League." He explains. "Now, the 15th is tomorrow, so if you're willing to participate in this mission, we need an answer immediately."

"Do you trust me that much?" I ask him. "Aren't you worried I would run away in such a large, unsupervised environment?"

Nezu chuckles. "Well, that I do not know, but Aizawa is putting his trust in you. Plus, we're doing this for your sake. There would be no benefit for you to run away."

I nod. "Alright. I'm in."

The principal smiles at me. "I'm sure your classmates would agree."

"My classmates?" I question.

"Aizawa, I'll let you brief her on the mission details." The principal states.

I turn to my side to look at the black-haired man. "So, tomorrow I will be filling in the rest of the class in on this information. I will not go into details about your mother than you have not already shared. You may do so yourself once you're comfortable. Anyway, there's no doubt that your classmates will agree, but they may back out if they wish. However, there will be absolutely no combat unless necessary. We will safely enter and exit as if we were regular guests at the banquet. Our primary goal is simply information gathering. I will also not allow this to become USJ part two. This time, we won't be taken by surprise, and we have myself, Present Mic, Snipe, and Midnight on standby." He explains. "There is also a high chance that Dabi will be there and he may recognize you. If your cover gets blown, we will be aborting immediately.

I bite my lip as I think about Dabi. 'I can't even imagine how he would feel if he found out I'm hanging with heroes. Not to mention, the very heroes the League is against.'

"Based on the information you gave us on Dabi, it's likely that the League of Villains either has an organization so large that its members are unaware of other members, which could be why Dabi was unaware that Mirroress was with the League, or the League is keeping Mirroress' information very controlled- or both. Of course, Dabi might have been aware this entire time, but I doubt human beings could keep up a huge lie like that for this long, especially since the two of you seem close." Aizawa states. "That being said, we will refrain from hurting Dabi unless necessary. Although he seems harmless, we have little information on his capabilities and there will be hundreds of villains to back him up." He says. "But we need to be careful. We don't know who the hosts are and what this 'test' is."

I nod as I let the information sink into my brain. "Alright, sounds good."

"On a much happier note," The principal pipes up and slides a plastic card towards me. "Your student ID, Miss Utano."

I pick up the card from the desk and my eyes widen. "UA student ID: Rini Utano." My eyes scan over my basic information on the card and land on my picture. My middle school yearbook photo smiles back at me. 'I look so different.' I note as I stare at my cheerful face free of dark circles and- well, trauma.

"We couldn't book a photographer to take your picture at the moment, so we used your middle school photo." Aizawa explains.

"Wait, how did you get this done so quickly?" I wonder as I run my fingers across the smooth surface of the thick plastic. "How did you know I would become a student of UA?"

"Well, we were betting on either you requesting it or officer Osaro signing you off after you finish reformation this year. You'll need somewhere to stay and continue your education after reformation anyways." Aizawa replies. "Him not allowing you to participate in the festival for foolish reasons only sped up the process."

"Thank you." I say to them both as I pocket the student ID.

"Alright, run along both of you now." Nezu states. "You have a festival you need to get back to."

Aizawa and I both stand up from our seats as we leave. 'Perhaps things are starting to look up for the Little Bunny.' I think with a smile.