Hero Informatics

The ride to school after their two day break seemed to take forever. The main question in the forefront of Isla's mind was; how was Todoroki going to act around her after what happened? Would he go back to his cold intimidation? Would he talk to her more?

"You're overthinking it again," she heard her mother from the front seat. "Just go about your day like you have been. It'll be fine."

The thing is, Isla was looking forward to seeing him. Hearing his voice. She didn't want anything about this day to be normal. But she had to remind herself that she just only starting to gain his trust. If she burst through the doors and hugged him, he'd probably think she'd gone insane and would never talk to her again. Not to mention what the rest of the class would think.

In that moment, for whatever reason; Bakugou invaded her mind's eye, and she wondered what he would think if he found out she spent time with Todoroki. Then she wondered why she cared about the explosive boy's opinion.

It started to pour as soon as they pulled into the staff parking lot. Isla got her green umbrella ready, wishing she would've brought a pair of rain boots. No doubt her school loafers weren't water proof and her feet would be squishy and squashy all day. After wishing her parents a good day with their classes, she rushed out of the car, immediately popping her umbrella open. She always loved the smell of rain, and Japan was no different. The aroma was fresh and new.

She was so focused on avoiding any large puddles that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. So it was no surprise when she bumped into another body. "Dang it, I'm sorry ---"and a familiar pair of two-toned eyes stared back at her. "Todo. "Todoroki. Hi. So. Sorry –"

"You really don't pay attention to what's around you, do you?"

She felt heat rush to her face. "Not really, no."

"We should keep going," he said after a moment of silence. "You're feet are going to get cold and wet."

He wanted to walk with her. That had to be an indication things weren't going to back to what they were, right? The made their way up the stairs to the main entrance of the school. Other students were rushing in; some with umbrellas, some with rain boots. Some with water-proof ponchos covering their whole body. On the bottom level of the building were sections of lockers for each class. On days like these it was nice to have them available to store whatever extra gear was necessary for the weather. Who would want to wear a neon-green poncho all day?

"Isla!" A voice called with a familiar poof of green hair coming into view. "This rain is crazy, isn't it ---? Oh. Todoroki is with you. Did you walk together this morning?"

The warmth returned to her face, but the half ice- half fire boy spoke first. "We ran into each other in the courtyard."

She looked up at him and saw the slightest hint of a smile. Was he trying to be funny? They literally did run into each other in the courtyard. Isla grinned up at him and giggled. "Yeah. Thanks to my lack of observation skills." His smile grew as he shook his head and chuckled. Midoriya tilted his head.

"Damn extras," grumbled a familiar voice.

Isla's heart began to race as Bakugou stormed up to his locker. He at least … looked … calmer than the Awards Ceremony. Still same permanent scowl etched into his features, though. He paused gathering his belongings and glanced in her direction. Her eyes went wide at the eye contact, but he seemed to get angry with himself that she caught him wanting to look at her. He put his book bag over his shoulder and slammed his locker shut, the sound echoing through the chatter of students.

A part of her, once again, wanted to go after him.

Todoroki exhaled next to her. "I'll see you in class."

She started to reach out for his hand, but stopped herself as he disappeared down the hallway. That would be one of those things that he would most likely be uncomfortable with. Her quickened pulse from Bakugou was now replaced with a pit in her stomach; as she wanted to know what Todoroki was thinking. If she kept this up she was going to drive herself crazy.

Midoriya broke the silence. "Hey Isla. Iida's back from visiting his brother. Do you want to go say hi to him?"

He was attempting to distract her, even though he had no idea what was going on. She appreciated that. Iida was her friend and she'd been worried about him.

Ochako met up with the three of them at Iida's locker. Apparently Ingenium had been badly injured, but the doctors at the hospital were going to expect him to recover just fine. Nothing was life threatening and it was just a matter of waiting until he was released. "I'm sorry if I made you all worry," Iida said. Something about him, though. He wasn't himself. He seemed distant. Preoccupied. He didn't even barge into homeroom with his usual "Attention Class 1A" announcement.

"It's so weird that people recognize us from T.V. now!" Ashido was saying as everyone waited for class to start. "Everyone wanted to talk to me on the train this morning!"

"At least they wanted to talk to you," Hagakure sighed. "People just stared at me. It was so uncomfortable."

"I didn't think something like that would bother you that much," Ojiro commented.

Sero was leaning back in his chair. "You wouldn't believe what a bunch of kindergarten brats said to me."

Isla giggled. "Nice try?"

"Aw come on! Why would you think they'd say that?"

Kaminari sat on his desk, dusting off his uniform blazer"All it took was the Sports Festival and now we're all famous!"

"Tch," Bakugou snarled. "Don't include her in on this," he turned and glared at Isla. "She didn't do a damn thing."

Isla's eyes locked on his and everyone else in the class seemed to fade away. She remembered something Midoriya said to her. Normally he had an explosive temper when it came to anyone. But for some reason with her, he was unnaturally quiet. Didn't take away from the fact that he was still intimidating and sometimes a plain old jerk. The adrenaline returned and her heart raced as his eyes stayed on hers.

Kirishima's voice brought her back. "Hey, if it wasn't for her, you probably wouldn't have learned how to turn yourself into a missile during your match with Todoroki –"

"Shut the Hell up!" the blonde barked.

Mr. Aizawa slid the door open. "Alright, that's enough." Everyone was relieved to see that all of his bandages had been removed. Isla recalled her parents talking about a group calling themselves The League of Villains attacking class 1A during one of their very first rescue training exercises at a facility called the USJ. Mr. Aizawa had been badly injured and nearly suffered brain damage from protecting everyone.

"Ribbit," Tsu smiled. "Mr. Aizawa. You're bandages are all gone. That's a good sign."

"The old lady went a bit overboard for my sake and my recovery time. But enough talk about that. We have a very important class today. On Hero Informatics."

Around her, Isla saw the nervous looks on everyone's faces. Heard the muttering chatter of what this lesson could possibly mean. If it was Hero specific, she wondered what her role would be in this lesson; if she'd even have one.

"Code names," Mr. Aizawa continued. "Time to pick your Hero identities.

Her classmates erupted with excited cheers and choruses of "This is gonna be so cool!"

There were a lot of Pro Heroes in attendance at the Sports Festival. Many of them were choosing students from the Hero courses to intern with them next week. Mr. Aizawa flashed a ranking board at the front of the class indicating which students got the most offers for internships. He explained that these offers are normally spread out, but with Class 1A in particular, there was a huge gap.

Todoroki was at the top of that list with the most offers.

Bakugou was after him. Even though he placed first overall.

"Pros probably weren't too excited about having the guy chained to his first place pedestal," Sero said under his breath.

Isla noticed Bakugou tensing up at his seat in front of her. "If I scare a Pro, they don't deserve to have me!"

"Midoriya, you didn't get any offers," Mineta pointed out. "I bet everyone was too grossed out with how you looked after your fight with Todoroki."

She glanced over her shoulder and his two-toned eyes were fixated on the list that Mr. Aizawa passed out to those students who got offers. Isla recalled him confiding in her that he had already planned on doing his internship with his father. She wondered if he was second guessing. She wanted to talk to him about it. Help him find the right direction. But that was going to have to wait.

"Regardless of how many offers you got, or if you didn't get any; you're all required to intern with Pros. You're class is specifically unique because of your combat experience with the Villain attack at the USJ. It will still be beneficial to learn all you can."

Sato pumped his fist into the air. "And for that, we need Hero names!"

Ochako squealed. "Things are starting to feel so real!"

Isla smiled when the excited chatter returned to her classmates. Mr. Aizawa instructed them to work in groups. She was tasked with visiting each group to listen to their ideas and what their names were going to stand for and their Hero work. "These names might be temporary, but you should still take them seriously," their homeroom teacher advised.

"Or else there'll be Hell to pay later!" A voice called from the door as it slid open to reveal Miss Midnight.

Isla cowered in her seat. Seeing the R Rated Hero made her uncomfortably aware of her body and how it didn't look like that.

"Midnight will be rating your names and providing feedback. It's not exactly my forte." Mr. Aizawa stood in a corner of the classroom and started zipping himself up in, what looked like a sleeping bag. While doing her research on the teachers, she learned that his Quirk can cause severe eye strain and fatigue. Which explains his sudden need for a … nap?

Isla began visiting her classmates and talking with them about their ideas for their Hero names. It didn't surprise her that Todoroki and Bakugou chose to work on their own. But even Iida wasn't keen on joining a group; not even with Midoriya and Ochako. He was probably thinking of his brother, but didn't he say Ingenium was going to make a full recovery? Why did he look so … angry? His whole aura felt off; not that she was an expert on such things. But the class rep wasn't acting like himself at all.

"Isla, whaddya think of this?!" Kirishima called, bringing her back to her task. "I'm thinking of calling myself Red Riot!"

"It sounds very chaotic," she smiled at his excitement. "What's the significance? Is it your red hair?"

"Back in the day there was this hero called The Crimson Riot. He was known for his manliness and chivalry with his work! It's pretty retro; but I like what he stood for, and I want to be just like him!"

She recalled the many times Kirishima stood up for her and came to her aid when Bakugou and Todoroki were giving her a hard time. She couldn't help but imagine how good he would treat any future girlfriend. Isla nodded her head in agreement. "I think that fits you perfectly!"

"Tch."

Isla's heart began to race again and she rolled her eyes, frustrated with herself.

"What do you think of my idea, ribbit?" Tsu asked, offering a distraction. "I'm going to call myself the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy!"

Her eyes lit up. "I love it!! It's so cute, kind and relatable! It reminds me of one of my best friends back home. She isn't going to go Pro or anything, but she still wanted to come up with a fun code name for teaching kids one day."

Tsu was sitting with Midoriya and Ochako; Ochako's idea a combination of her name and her Quirk; Uravity.

"Deku?" Isla questioned. "Are you sure that's what you want to go with? I always thought you hated the nickname because of Bakugou."

His face turned a light shade of pink. "I used to think that way, yes. But. It was Uraraka who made me realize that it can be the name of a Hero as well. So that's what I want to go with."

She tried to hide the giddiness in her expression as she gently nudged her brunette friend.

Everyone was still chatting with each other, bouncing ideas and meanings of names. Mr. Aizawa was fast asleep in his sleeping bag. Miss Midnight was sitting on his desk filing her nails. Isla's attention was drawn to the back of the classroom where Todoroki sat. She made her way up the isle of desks passing by Bakugou who leaned his body out of his chair in her direction, bumping her slightly. "Watch it, Quirkless," he snarled.

Isla found crimson eyes on her. She inhaled sharply. "You were. You. But you bumped into me," she stuttered.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping with this activity?"

She blinked. "I am. I was. I was going to. Talk with –"

"With Icy Hot?" The way he said it, Isla almost thought he sounded hurt. Or disappointed. "You're already here, so might as well read mine."

In order to read his ideas, Isla had to either lean over his shoulder from behind. His writing was so messy, she attempted to grab the paper from his desk. Instead, the blonde snatched it out of reach. "Just look at it from where you are, no need to be so grabby."

She wallowed the lump in her throat as she moved closer to look over his shoulder. Once again, just like at the Sports Festival, all her senses seemed to alight with heightened sensitivity. She could hear his raspy breathing. He smelled like smoky wood burning in a fire place. Even though his hair was gelled, it still looked really soft. If she turned her head towards him she'd be close enough to …

"Evans," a deep voice called from behind her. "Do you have a minute?"

"Wait your turn, bastard!" Bakugou clenched his jaw.

Isla straightened up, feeling warmth rush to her face; not sure if it was due to being so close to the blonde, or the fact that Todoroki called her over to him. "Looks. Yeah. Looks good. Go with that one," she stuttered before turning on her heel to head towards the back rows of desks.

She half expected him to call her back, but he remained silent.

Did she want him to call her back?