My Hero Automata

Chapter 13: Back to School

Summary: Classes start up again! Lunch, with Momo and Izumi throwing each other under proverbial buses! Replacement Training for the USJ!

Chapter 13: Back to School

The return to classes was, it had to be said, actually pretty boring. Since the entire University had shut down for the security overhaul, classes picked up where they left off. Meaning, unfortunately, that it wasn't a Core Heroics day when they returned. Trying to get back into the groove of mundane classes, the most exciting of which was a Heroics History class, was honestly causing Izumi some mental dissonance. She could tell others from Group A that she ran into were suffering similarly, which likely explained almost half of their Group gravitating together during their lunch period. It was there, with two tables pulled together, that the topic of the USJ was awkwardly breeched, with a few people telling bits about their own experiences.

The relief of not simply ignoring what had happened was almost enough to overcome the horrible embarrassment Izumi felt at the way a few of her classmates gushed over how 'badass' she'd been. Though that embarrassment was tempted with just a bit of chagrin as well, as a few students were eyeing her like she was dangerous. Which, to be fair, she was. Just not to them. Thankfully, the building tension from that wariness, as well as the heavy atmosphere in general, was popped rather thoroughly by a suggestion from Mina.

"Okay! Serious stuff is serious! We all probably do need to talk about this. But I'd bet one of my horns Midnight-sensi will bring it up tomorrow. Which means we totally need to do something else super serious!"

Every single person at the table could already tell from her tone that whatever came out of Mina's mouth next was not going to be serious. Which, really, said a lot about Mina's...everything. Most of them had only known her for, like, a week.

"Group chat! We totally need one! Seriously, even if we didn't need one to talk about all the things...it's probably a good idea to be able to check on each other! Even with the professors saying everyone was okay, I really wanted to check on all of you over the weekend, you know? Just to make sure no one was super freaking out or something. But, I only had like seven of you on my contact list! That needs to be fixed, pronto!"

That...actually wasn't a bad idea. Izumi could see from the resigned expressions on several faces that they all knew they were about to be emoji and meme spammed by a few of their classmates. But those same resigned expressions also informed her that they'd quickly realized the same thing that she just had. That, in fact, being able to connect with each other after events like this really was probably important. Sighing, Izumi nudged Momo. Her girlfriend looked over at her curiously. Just in time for Izumi to unceremoniously throw her under the bus.

"All in favor of Momo being the moderator instead of Mina, say 'aye.'"

The chorus of near immediate 'ayes' that rippled along the table was satisfying. As was both the surprised expression on Momo's face and the pout on Mina's. Hesitating a few heartbeats to process what had just happened, Momo narrowed her eyes at Izumi for just a moment, before sighing and reaching for her phone.

"Fine. I guess I can do that. Actually, it's probably better either I or Izumi did it anyway. We can set it up as a side-channel on the HSN. That way it will be encrypted, if the ringleaders from the USJ get the bright idea to try tapping into our communications. I'm going to insist every one of you set up a biometric lock on your devices before I invite you, if you don't already have one, though."

Momo's casual delivery seemed to set several of their fellow students aback. Izumi frowned, then realized why that was. Groaning, she snagged her girlfriend's phone and hooked into it with her cyberpathy.