Controlee

42. Round Two

Rule 39: Work hard and earn what you get.

The weather was, quite frankly, crap. It had been so beautiful for weeks now, they supposed it was about time for some bad weather and this wasn't just any bad weather, oh no. The air was heavy, a grey wall of clouds up above pressing down on the world, ready to level the scales after all the fun in the sun. It was an ominous thing, hovering over them, constantly threatening. Smart people who didn't want to catch a cold brought umbrellas into school that day, ready and waiting for the sky to open up and cast its judgement on the all those below.

Otsuka didn't want to catch a cold. Unfortunately, she apparently wasn't that smart. Admittedly, it had been a long while since she'd experienced real storm weather, sure, it had rained while she'd been at UA, but nothing like what was coming today. The feeling of static in the air, raising goosebumps across her skin, there was something exhilarating about it. She would've been curious, excited even by the sensation, if it weren't for the fact her quirk was writhing a hair's width below her skin. She'd felt this before, with her quirk, it always came on random days, not often but often enough for her to have told Mags about it. She'd never known what caused it. Looking up at the sky and feeling the electricity in the open air, she was starting to get an idea.

Her foot caught on a rock and she knew exactly what was coming. The world slowed, instinct brought her arms to her chest, beginning to roll her onto her side before the coming impact. Instead, she was holding back a wince as an arm landed on her right shoulder while the other wrapped around her forearm, steadying her. TT wasn't one to hold back, and while his training was amazing, it could also be fairly brutal— such was the fighting style he was teaching her— which meant, more often than not, she was hiding bruises from their nighttime training sessions. If anyone saw the bruises, she supposed they'd probably assume they were from training at UA, so it wasn't a massive thing if someone noticed, but she'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Thanks," she told Yamada, grateful not to have face planted this early in the morning.

He grinned back, releasing his gentle grip on her— the gentle grip that had pressed right on her bruises. "No problem, Ginger Ninja."

Otsuka was the second person in class, as was the usual. She talked with Iida for a little while, asking him about the previous evening since she'd heard that the Dekusquad (Midoriya had had no part in naming their friendship group but his embarrassment and pleas to change the name had been met with coos and stubborn refusals) had gone to a cafe together. From what Iida said, it had been a lot of fun for all of them, even if there had been a small disaster when Todoroki got a little embarrassed and activated his quirk in an attempt to cool his face only to freeze his milkshake into a solid block.

Mina— surprising even herself at how early she was— appeared soon after and Otsuka instinctively dropped below the surprise hug attack that came at her from behind. By the time Otsuka was upright again, Mina was practically draped over Iida just in time for Momo to come in.

"This is not a safe way to greet your classmates," Iida chastised, holding back his robotic arm movements lest he hurt a fellow student. Mina didn't seem particularly apologetic for her actions.

Poor Momo, her dark ponytail looking unusually frazzled this morning, had to do a double take as Mina slowly slid off Iida's lap and onto the floor like an ice lolly melting into a sticky puddle. "Did I miss something?" she asked as Mina lay still on the cold floor.

Otsuka shook her head, an amused smile stretching her lips into a grin. "Just Mina being Mina." It was the most apt description anyone could really give in the circumstances.

***

Having All Might as a teacher was interesting. Naturally, it was an honour, he was the number one hero, anyone would be starstruck having him as a teacher. The thing was, the longer he taught them, the more the bluster and awe wore off, the more Otsuka realised he actually wasn't so good at teaching. All the staff at UA had been incredible so far, all of their teaching seemed to be working for the majority of the students in her class, and for those that still struggled, there were additional lunchtime clinics available where teachers could help specifically target where a student was having difficulties.