Coming of age: The beginning

Taking a chance

As promised, Mirio safely brought Shika to UA in one piece and on time to meet her new teacher. Aizawa had been asleep in a sleeping bag on the floor in class 1-A when she found him.

She thought maybe something was wrong with him, but Mirio assured her that this was perfectly normal behavior for the teacher. It took a while, but Aizawa finally woke from his nap and acknowledged her presence.

The meeting itself didn't take too long. Mirio stood outside the classroom while Shika and Aizawa got acquainted. After brief introductions, Aizawa gave her the rundown of hero school; expectations he had for her and general school rules to abide by.

He also told her about the lunch voucher program for transfer students and gave her a form to fill out for her hero costume. After that, the meeting was pretty much over. All she had to do now was receive her new school uniform set.

Mirio walked with Shika to the student services office, located inside the south wing of the school, to pick up her uniform set. It consisted of her summer uniform, winter uniform and athletic/sports attire.

She nearly shit her pants when she saw the price of the set on the receipt. How had her mom paid so much?! Why the hell was it so expensive? In Konoha the entire set was like $100. UA's uniform set was nearly $1000.

Shika made a mental note to call her mom later and beg for forgiveness for being such a selfish daughter. Though, she already knew her mom would just brush it off as nothing.

Mirio helped carry some of her stuff on the way back home. She'd told him that it was okay, but he insisted. The two made idle chat on the way to the train station, but nearly the entire train ride was silent between them.

It wasn't until they were near the Todoroki property that Mirio finally spoke again.

"Hey, I'm really sorry that you saw my willie."

Shika's face was instantly red as she gave him an incredulous look. How could he just say something like that without feeling embarrassed? She couldn't even respond.

"I try not to show my willie too much if I can help it, but my quirk kinda makes that impossible. Every time I use permeation my clothes just slip off and boom, my willie is out. In fact, I don't think there's a single person in Musutafu who hasn't seen my-"

Mirio stopped talking suddenly when he felt Shika's small hand grip the sleeve of his shirt.

She silently stood next to him, gripping his arm and clutching her chest, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. Mirio couldn't see it because of her hair, but her face had turned a deep shade of red.

Finally she spoke, "Can you PLEASE stop saying that word?"

Shika didn't know if her innocent mind could take much more. Every time he said it, an image of his... 'thing' would pop into her mind's eye, getting closer and closer.

"Word?" he asked, "Which word?" He was genuinely confused. He'd said so many words.

"...W-...wi...wi-wi-"

"Ah! Willie! Oh, um, sorry about that. That's just what I've always called my p-"

"I swear to the Gods, Togata Mirio, even though we just met today, if you finish that sentence, I will set you on fire!"

"Sorry, sorry. I can be a little, uh, too outspoken at times. It's one of my many shortcomings, so I'm told. I promise I'll try not to bring up my wil- uh, my private parts so much next time."

There it was again. Him insinuating that there would be a next time. Though, he could just be talking about school. He was pretty innocent looking so she didn't want to assume anything.