apathy

universal studios japan

For whatever reason, no other classes except A-1 has to go to school on the day of the USJ trip, so Todoroki isn't expecting to see anyone but his 17 classmates waiting at the bus. He absolutely is not expecting to be standing with those classmates watching his teacher drag someone wrapped in his scarf up to said bus.

Bakugo, who is standing near Todoroki for reasons he isn't sure of, tenses visibly when he sees the green hair of the person wrapped from knees to shoulders, clenching his fists. Little explosions sound from them, but it's so commonplace even after a week that no one bothers to look his way.

"Teach, what the hell is he doing here?!" Bakugo barks, voicing the thought they're all having, if not in the way most of them would phrase it. Todoroki figures he's imagining the slight tremble in Bakugo's voice. Aizawa takes a moment to answer, preoccupied with tightening his scarf. The boy with a bush for hair trapped inside it hisses softly and kicks out, just hitting Aizawa's ankle. The teacher tugs again and finally the boy seems to give up, flopping backwards and scowling at the sky.

"Stay." Aizawa orders him, ignoring the mutter he's answered with to turn to Todoroki and the rest. "This is Izuku Midoriya. I'm watching him as a favor to a friend, so he's coming with us."

"I am not here of my own violation." Midoriya informs the sky, voice flat. Todoroki is the only one who sees the twitch that might count as Bakugo flinching. Aizawa sighs at his temporary ward, and motions for the class to start loading the bus. Iida immediately tries to herd them into order, but it turns out to be unnecessary in the end. Todoroki hangs to the back of the line and ends up at the front of the bus, next to Midoriya and almost across from Aizawa.

Midoriya, at this point, is scarf-free and adjusting his street clothes as the bus rumbles to life. When he's apparently satisfied he stretches out, slumping in his chair. Todoroki eyes him and moves away a little bit so he isn't hit with a stray elbow, and Midoriya pretends he doesn't exist to take up a portion of space-time.

"I was going to stay in today." Midoriya tells Aizawa, who has bundled himself in his bright yellow sleeping bag, and grunts in response. "Was gonna play Minecraft all day. I had plans, Eraserhead."

"You were going to go get in a fight and probably be arrested again." Aizawa corrects without opening his eyes. He doesn't seem bothered with being addressed by what Todoroki assumes to be his hero name, but it strikes the student as curious. Then Todoroki blinks as the statement registers and reanalyzes Midoriya.

His first look had just given him the impression of a tired, grumpy teen who really could do no harm. Emo but not a threat. Now, Todoroki can see that way he holds himself—fluid and casually strong—denotes training of some type. A history of arrests makes him sound like some type of delinquent, so maybe that's how Bakugo knows him.

Todoroki realizes he's been staring a bit when his eyes trail back up and meet Midoriya's dark gaze. He keeps the eye contact for a moment, then blinks slowly and turns away to look at the rest of the class and their shenanigans. Bakugo is staring at them, focusing mainly on Midoriya. Whether he notices or not is something Todoroki doesn't know, but Midoriya huffs quietly and the rest of the ride passes with silence between them.

Pro hero No. 13 is waiting in the front plaza of the USJ when they all file in, forming a loose crowd. Aizawa pulls Midoriya with him to stand nearby but not next to the other pro. After a moment of hushed conversation, No. 13 faces them, dome sparkling in the filtered sunlight.

"Welcome to the USJ—the Unforseen Simulation Joint!" They greet cheerfully. "I'm sure you already know this, but my quirk is called 'Black Hole'! No matter what material I'm faced with, it will turn to dust in my vortexes!"

The classmates around Todoroki mutter excitedly to each other, a few exclamations of awe rising from the crowd. Midoriya, Todoroki sees, has pulled out his cellphone and is not paying attention in the slightest.

"However, this power can also be used to kill." No. 13 says, cutting off any lingering talking, voice turning firm. Todoroki straightens up at the abrupt change of tone. "In that way, it is no different than any of your quirks. In the Quirk Assessment, you learned your power thresholds, and in All Might's battle royale you were able to use your powers without thinking of the damage they could cause—this lesson will focus on using your quirks to help and save human life! Let's do our best!"

Because of Endeavor's intense 'training,' Todoroki has learned to pay attention to everything in his surroundings, even if the details seem like something unimportant. As such, he catches Midoriya using his phone to take a picture with a blank face, then sees his eyebrows scrunch in confusion at the photo as Aizawa turns to look towards the fountain behind No. 13. It doesn't take Todoroki any time to catch on and peer over his classmates to what has caught Aizawa's attention.

A dark spot of swirling matter is opening down the plaza, a hand extending from it and seemingly pulling it open more to reveal a creepy face with a hand attached to it. Aizawa reacts instantly, whipping his head back around to shout.

"Huddle together and don't move. Midoriya, get out of here!" He demands. Midoriya stays firmly in place and grits his teeth visibly. "13, protect the students, I'll take them on."

"Is this part of the training? Has it already started?" Someone asks, and when Todoroki meets his eyes, Midoriya seems to be taking a second to despair the idiocy of the question. He agrees.

"Don't move. These are villains!" Aizawa corrects, slipping on his goggles. More and more villains spill from the grown portal, a majority of them crowding the area around the fountain, while the villain with the hands stays positioned right at the swirling dark matter. A suit and metal collar step out next to him, and it takes Todoroki a moment to realize that this villain's head is just made of the same void as the portals.

"The syllabus said that All Might would be here, but all I see is Eraserhead and No. 13..." He says, loud enough to carry over to them. Aizawa curses something quietly, unraveling his scarf. The hand villain tilts his head, peering at the class through the fingers of the hand on his face.

"I see... We went through all this trouble of gathering up the riff-raff, and he isn't even here?" He rasps, once again loud enough for them all to hear. "I wonder. Would he show up if we killed some of these brats?"