Mystery from Another World

Part 45: A Family Dinner

[OP: "Things We Lost in the Fire"-- Bastille. AMV by veyks.]

In the days following the Joint Training, things were quieter. Momo, Todoroki, and Bakugo began to learn some more things from the DJs.

Shine's method of teaching was mostly to give you material and then ask what you thought about it, until she could guide you to the answer she was looking for. However, what surprised them were her flexibility within that. She didn't insist that they get the exact answer she had in mind. If they came up with something different, but she saw merit in it, she'd say so, quite freely.

Wally's method was less teaching and more demonstrating. He didn't do lessons, he just took them around campus and pointed out stuff to them they wouldn't normally notice, like a student who might be having a bad day. A student who needed help. A teacher who was looking extra tired. And he'd fix the problem, or help out with something else.

They had only spent about two weeks doing these things with them, but already Momo could tell Todoroki was enjoying it. She couldn't say why, but the method seemed to suit him. He talked more than usual.

She couldn't tell what Bakugo thought. He showed up-- that must mean he got something out of it.

As for herself, she wasn't sure. Since Shine liked to show them less than pleasant things about the world, she couldn't say she felt uplifted after a discussion. But Shine was not all gloom and doom-- she liked to dwell on the beauty of things other people didn't think about. If they watched a movie, her favorite part was more likely to be small heartfelt moment between characters than a big action sequence. If they talked about history, she was apt to criticize things in mass but praise individuals.

And one thing that was quite apparent after just a couple weeks was that Shine spent almost every waking moment thinking about other people, the ones in the class, mostly. This was how Momo learned that her observational skills came mainly from being interested in other people. Shine knew the class pretty well by now, not based on powers, but interests. You couldn't bring up something that happened with a student to her without her having some idea of it.

She said she just listened when they talked.

At some point, Momo stopped being freaked out by this, and began instead to respect it. She herself knew more about the class than almost anyone, but there was plenty she missed too. Shine could look at you and know what you were thinking. That had been unnerving to Todoroki at first, but slowly he seemed to be accepting it.

The other thing that made the sessions unusual was how open both Shine and Wally were about their own issues, problems, or questions. It was normal for Shine to use the words "I'm not sure" or "I have problems with..." not in a defeated way, but quite calmly. Wally never insisted they imitate him or think highly of him in any way. They didn't ask the students for sympathy, they just didn't seem to feel a need to keep up a front of being... well... put together all the time.

And with each other, they never seemed to be guarded or reserved at all. Momo, always growing up in a traditional household, surrounded by people who spoke politely, even with their family, had never heard people talk to each other they way these two did. Never harsh, but certainly more direct than the class would be. It was stranger with adults than with the rest of 1-A.

All this combined made it really feel like almost a different world when they were alone with them, and that raised its own questions in Momo's mind.

As for the aspect of actually being from another world, it really didn't come up often unless one of the three of them asked about it. Todoroki was the most willing to show curiosity in it, but Shine would sometimes say, "You don't need to know that." And that would be the end of it.