Bonfire

The next two weeks of class was when Isla really got to know her classmates. Mr. Aizawa sat down with her, her mom and dad to discuss the responsibility she had to helping everyone with their training. "They're not going to be able to have me watch them all day, so that's where Isla comes in," he told them. "I've given her specific instructions when it comes to everyone's training; how it needs to be measured and how to compare it from the physical fitness exam results from everyone on the first day of school. She'll need to report back to me. In detail. With what everyone's quirk is and how they use it."

She couldn't help but relate this assignment to playing with the other kids at her elementary school back home. Only now, she had an actual purpose. Isla wasn't the most physically fit. Sure, she could walk for hours, but she wasn't a marathon runner. Hopefully she wouldn't make a fool out of herself.

She had to meet Midoriya after school to help with his training. Apparently he had meetings with one of the teachers, though he wasn't exactly clear on why he had to meet with this teacher ... let alone who it was he had to meet with. He asked her to find him at Takoba Municipal Beach, which wasn't too far from the school. The sun was just starting to set on the horizon when she found him in a teal jumpsuit; stretching to prepare himself for whatever training she was going to help him with.

"I'm afraid you're only going to be timing my runs," he said, a little anxiety to his tone. "I only. I only work on my Quirk training when we're at school."

Isla blinked. It made sense, but she couldn't understand why he seemed so nervous about telling her. She smiled, showing him the watch on her wrist. "Guess it's good I have this with me, isn't it?"

Midoriya chuckled and nodded, before explaining what she needed to record for him. "Since we're not exactly sure what kind of events we'll be participating in, we need to be prepared for any kind of endurance trials the Sports Festival might have. Isla, can you time my mile runs? I want to try and get them to 8 minutes."

"Woah, that's incredible!" she exclaimed. "You're last mile run at the Fitness Test was 9 minutes, so I'll bet you'll have no trouble getting it down!"

His cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "You're already learning so much about us, Isla --"

"That's because she has nothing better to do," a gruff voice interrupted them.

Isla turned to see Bakugou walking towards them; black track pants and a blue UA track jacket. The jacket was unzipped to reveal a pure white tank top underneath. The glare in his eyes caught her own and with a mocking grin, it sent shivers up her spine.

He said nothing more to either of them, and broke off into a jog. Isla hadn't realized until he was almost out of sight that she'd been holding her breath. "Is he ever nice to anyone?" she sighed.

"Not really, no," Midoriya responded, an apologetic look in his eyes.

Well, at least he was fair in his unfriendliness.

The next day in the gym, Isla became more acquainted with Toru Hagakure and Shoji. Obviously, she's invisible. But Shoji's Quirk was more intimidating than the boy with the two-toned hair and eyes (No, she still didn't know his name). With his six arms, (but only two hands) he could bench press without the need of a spotter. You could easily make out the muscles of his core beneath his white tank top. Isla had to keep up with the increasing weight he kept adding. The other four of his arms were more or less nondescript until he's using his Quirk. "Basically," he grunted while he benched (yet more) weight, "I have the ability to endure longer than most of the class. When it comes to physical ability. When using my Quirk, I can hear and see things that are further away."

There was no denying his strength. He was also soft spoken and kind. She remembered how he explained the Sports Festival to her on her first day of class. He put the weights back before sitting up on the bench. "You really are helping us with training, by the way," he added. "I would never be able to keep track of how much I've lifted. With you here, I get to focus. You have my thanks, Isla."

His eyes smiled at her and she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Will you. Quit flirting, Shoji!" Hagakure spluttered as she attempted to do some pull-ups. "I could. Really. Really use her help, now!"

Isla almost forgot the invisible girl was there.

Down the hall from the weight room was the pool area. It's where Isla met Tsuyu Asui ("But please, call me Tsu."). Her Quirk was adorable, because of the memories with Laura and Amy whenever they would go in the swamp area behind their houses. To put it simply, Tsu could do a lot of things frogs can do; complete with a long, sticky tongue.

"I want to work on my agility today, ribbit," she explained, handing Isla a remote control.

She raised an eyebrow. "Am I driving a remote controlled car?"

"Not quite," Tsu winked before digging out a plastic fish with a little propeller. She tossed it into the pool and then explained how to operate the controls. "Better not go easy on me either!" she ribbited before jumping into the water, purposely close enough to Isla to splash her just a little bit.

Later on in the week, she spent some time at a place on campus called Ground Beta. It's essentially a training area for students made to look like a real city. When they're doing combat training, they get scored on how little (or how much) damage they do to the nearby structures. Obviously the goal is to not completely destroy a city while you're trying to save people. It was there Isla was working with Iida, Hanta Sero and Mashirao Ojiro.

Iida wanted to work on his turns when the engines in his legs were at full power; attempting to limit the slow down and take the corners as quickly and smoothly as possible. He was already really accomplished at it; as long as the turns weren't 90 degrees. It was definitely easier for him to maneuver curves, than sharp directional turns. It didn't take him long to nearly master it, though. Isla found out that Iida's drive to succeed comes from his Pro Hero older brother. "As the next eldest Iida son, I strive to be just as good as my older brother, to hold up our family name and the standards of being a Pro. My brother is one of the best."

She kept tally of how much debris Mina Ashido and Yuga Aoyama destroyed from Ochaco using her Quirk to float all the pieces in different directions; working on their speed and accuracy.

"So how's training going with everyone else," she asked as she released more pieces of concrete for their target practice.

"Everyone is really nice," Isla said smiling. "Koda's really quiet, but he attracts all kinds of animals. I got some great pictures to text to my friends! Although, Sato did scare them away after only a few minutes when was getting hyped up for his training."

"Kaminari is sweet. But Jiro is right ... he's not the brightest bulb, given his Quirk. He really needs to learn how to control the voltage he outputs, otherwise he gets rather useless very quick," she giggled.

"Look at you go!" Ochaco explaimed. "I'm so proud of you for training with all of us! You've been so helpful!"

Isla's smile faded. "I haven't worked with everyone yet. I'm supposed to meet with Bakugou tomorrow. And the boy who sits next to Yaoyorozu. I still have to meet up with him, but every time I try to schedule something with him, he's been conveniently unavailable ..."

"Todoroki," Ochaco commented. "We don't know a lot about him either. He keeps to himself."

"At least we know he doesn't yell at people," Isla commented, chuckling lightly.

The next day after Mr. Aizawa dismissed homeroom, Isla went through her schedule for the rest of the day. Todoroki was already out the door before she could attempt to stop him. Looking at the spot next to her, she noticed Bakugou seemed to be lingering. Her heart started to race as she packed up her messenger bag and put it over her shoulder.

"Oi. Quirkless," he uttered, voice uncharacteristically soft.

Isla turned around to find him directly behind her rather than still at his desk. She gasped surprised by his close proximity. His hands were in his pockets and he gave her a questioning look. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't realize you were. There."

"If you're gonna be in a school full of people with Quirks, you better learn to keep track of your surroundings. That's how you get hurt."

She locked eyes with his; still glaring but not as hard like they usually are. "Noted," she said.

The silence that followed was unbearable. Isla wanted to say something, but she had no idea what. She fumbled with the strap of her messenger bag as it hung across her chest. Bakugou looked like he wanted to say something as well, though he broke their eye contact; so maybe that meant he was done with this conversation.

He cleared his throat. "I'll get changed and meet you at the field behind the school."

Before she could even process what he said, Bakugou was out of the classroom heading towards the locker rooms. She watched him until he disappeared in the stairwell, only then realizing she'd been holding her breath again.

Behind the school was an open field; something similar to the football field and track at her school in New York. There was a huge open space of grass surrounded by an oval of black turf. On one of the far corners there was a sand-pit area that reminded her of the standing long jump event for the track and field athletes. Isla was first to arrive, noting where the door to the boy's locker room was. There were some benches placed for either spectators or other students awaiting training time. She set her bag on one of the benches, opening it up to the binder she had been keeping notes and results from everyone else's training. Bakugou's Quirk makes him sweat a nitro-glycerin substance; very flammable and explosive. Mr. Aizawa tasked her with attempting to correlate his body temperature with how powerful his explosions are and the temperature of them as well. Digging into a side pocket of her bag, she pulled out a belt meant to fit around his chest, just under his arms; where there were two sensors enabled to record his body temperature.

"You're still not paying attention to your surroundings," he accused, startling her once again.

She spun around on her toes, face to face with the blonde, red-eyed boy. "R – Right. S. Sorry," she stuttered. "Um. D'you. Do you want to warm up, first?"

"Don't need it," he replied. "Went for a run before homeroom this morning."

"Okay," she nodded before holding up the belt. "Mr. Aizawa wants to record your body temperature and attempt to help you relate it to how powerful your explosions are when you're not in your Hero costume. There are two sensors here. You need to make sure those are situated right under your arms."

Bakugou took the belt from her and began attempting to attach it the way he was instructed. Isla paged through her binder to his section of training she would be taking notes on.

"The Hell is with this thing?" he grumbled.

She turned to find him struggling to keep the sensors in place. "They must have come loose," she said, taking the belt from him; tightening and repositioning as necessary. Without even thinking, she wrapped her arms around his chest, fastened the buckle securely and made sure the sensors were now in the right place. It was then she realized how close she was to him. The fact that she was practically touching him. He smelled smoky. Not like cigarette smoke, but the smoke from a wood-burning fireplace. Or when she would roast marshmallows by a bonfire with Laura and Amy.

She didn't have the guts to look him in the eyes, but instead quickly turned away from him to grab her binder of notes.

Bakugou was oddly quiet during the rest of his training with her.