Recap:
But the boy became the bane of her existence yet again.
He fixed himself, returning to that aloofness and stiffness that made it hard to read Suijin again.
He cleared his voice and stood up, now looking down at her.
"I just need some time; give me until the sports festival ends, alright."
Not waiting to hear her answer, he walked to the door with his lunchbag, which she knew for a fact held his smoothie of "death".
Courtesy of Kirishima, wanting a taste of the ultimate protein drink he had after one of their training sessions with All Might in his bag.
The boy opened the door and walked out into the empty hallway, leaving her to her thoughts.
'Coward.'
'You didn't even tell her the main reason for the long waiting time.'
'Because she'd disagree.'
'Yeah, there's no way she'd agree if she knew that we want to replace our image of that event, which should have left a huge impact, with another one.'
'But what if–'
'Not if—and WHEN we win that sports festival, we'll perform or do something crazy, something that will blow every bad image she had of us in her mind out of the water.'
A ruthless glint spread in the boy's eye, one not commonly seen on heroes.
'Sorry Classmates.'
He would win that sports festival.
____________________________________________________________________________
"WOOAH!"
"WHAT THE HECK!"
Suijin, Tenya, and Momo turned their heads from their table to the door, they were discussing how much money to get from Aizawa to purchase things like water, protein bars, etc.
'We'll, more like debating.'
The previous two wanted to pay out of pocket since it'd be less of a hassle, but Suijin wasn't willing to let their teacher off so easily.
'I'm not sure if they notice, but he's dumped even more work on us since the incident!'
Now, in addition to their usual work, he didn't even keep up appearances of 'monitoring' them; he just left, claiming he was 'injured' despite perfectly beating up Bakugo during a training session a few hours ago.
So Suijin's revenge was to force him to do the work. Thus he kindly persuaded the two to buy the items and then bill the receipt to their teacher, of course after the festival so he couldn't claim injury.
As Suijin was cooking up his masterful plan, his classmates clambered into the crowd, blocking their way out.
"They are crossing the exit—what are they here for?" Mineta, whose limited sightline was blocked by the behemoths, became frightened.
"Their scouting out competition, They want to see the gang who came through the Villanin ambush. These losers are checking us out before the big battle."
'Scouting out the competition?'
"IT'S POINTLESS TO TRY, SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST F*CK OFF, YA GODAMN MOBS!"
"DON'T GO AROUND CALLING PEOPLE MOBS BAKUGO, AND WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE. THATS NOT BEFITTING OF STU-"
Ida jumped out of his seat, walking over like a helicopter to patrol Bakugo, but a voice from the crowd overpowered his.
"I came to see what you kids are made of, but I didn't think you'd be this arrogant."
"THE F*CK YOU CALLING KIDS!"
"I'm a bit disillusioned, so that's it?"
Suijin looked at the lethegeric purple-haired spokesperson.
If he didn't have a different hair color and a more outgoing personality despite his appearance, he'd have suspected their teacher had a secret love child.
Still, his name rang in his mind, not just because of his hair but because of his quirks, which he'd previously read up on.
'Hypnosis: If you respond to his words, he can put your mind under his control.'
He was among many children whose names had been marked with a Red Flag within their Musutafu School district files.
"Did you know, based on the results of the sports festival, people can come under review and be transferred to the athletics department?"
Some of his more perceptive classmates eyes went wide as his meaning registered in their minds.
But even for the slow-witted, his next words sealed the nail in the coffin of his intentions.
"-The reverse is also true, scoping out the competition. If nothing else, a Gen Ed student like me is thinking, "Hey, why don't I try pulling the rug out from under those heroics kids while they're still on their high horses?" So consider this a declaration of war."
After that, all kinds of people rang in front of the crowd, including a silver-haired boy who was as serious as Kirshima and the orange, big-handed girl Suijin saw from the entrance exam.
At this point, he and Momo had postponed the meeting for a few days and were standing around the door with their classmates.
*Crackle*
Smoke rose, making up most of the backup, and the shaprest student in their class was the culprit.
"HEY!"
"Why'd you do that?"
Bakugo didn't turn around; instead, he spoke while still shoving students out of his way.
Looking back on his classmates, he said, "It doesn't matter."
This time, even those outside got offended at him for implying that they didn't matter.
"WHAAAT!" X30.
Still, his face was rarely devoid of emotions, and as if this were a common topic, he spoke, "None of that matters once you're at the top."
'The top.'
Perhaps it was his charisma or powerful quirk, but after that sentence, a path was made for him and subsequently his classmates, and they exited the room easily.
Suijin stayed watching the back and goal he was temporarily chasing move away unperturbed by anything.
He repeated that sentence, 'The top.'
Clenching his hands Suijin's determination rose.
He had to succeed in this festival.
…
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Suijin turned back around and faced a certain locker belonging to Tamaki Amajiki.
'Jeez, I ended up having to take on even more work, thanks to someone over here.'
The duo was waiting for their senior, as they had a request for him. Shoji approached Suijin a few days after their classroom bombardment, asking him to set up a meeting between him and Amajiki.
Suijin didn't know the guy much, but since he was part of the Big 3, he figured their teacher would.
So a conversation about asking where his locker was so they could catch him ended up with Suijin 'Freely' assisting with paperwork.
'I could've asked one of our other teachers, but they'd probably have other conditions, besides–'
He looked at his friend, his eyes showing a faint trace of worry, apprehension, and determination.
'Shoji doesn't ask me much, so this should be the least I can do for him.'
So the two stood like mob bosses, just waiting for him.
Other seniors who were also leaving late walked to grab their shoes, but some were intimidated and either sped up to quickly get out of there or decided to just forget swapping their shoes entirely.
A huge buff student who honestly towered over most in the school with a mask making his face unreadable, along with his "Lackey," not that Suijin knew; if he did, he'd surely have something to say about that.
But alas, he didn't, so everyone's thoughts of how those two were going to "Bully" Amajiki Senpai went through their minds.
*Shuffe*
They looked up and saw the smaller purple-haired boy with pointy ears walk over to them, he then awkwardly stooped in front of them as they were leaning on his locker.
"Hey Amajiki–Senpai!" Suijin decided to be the one to dispel the awkward atmosphere between them.
"H-Hey."
Suijin, thanks for bringing me here, I'll see you later."
He gave Shoji a look out of the corner of his eye, questioning his decision, but the boy remained firm, assuring Suijin of his words.
'I'm a little worried about how those two stone walls will converse, but oh well.'
"See you later, then." Suijin waved a hand while walking away.
Shoji looked around, noting that it was just them on the first floor of the building.
Bowing at a 90° angle, Shoji said firmly, "Please help me train for the upcoming sports festival."
Silence came, not that any of the two there minded it; they were used to it, and Shoji was honestly prepared to copy some of Suijin's tactics and bother this person for days on end.
Amajiki spoke barely at an audible level, but the tentacle boys hearing managed to easily pick it up.'
"w-why?"
Why did he want to be trained? It was a good question.
He had a dad at home who, although he wasn't there much of the day could give pointers occasionally. The same could be said for his teachers, so why?
Images of the news flashed through Shoji's mind: him watching a pro-hero, Death Arms, be powerless to save his classmate from a villain.
The fact that Suijin had to put himself on the line to save Midoriya because no one else could or would,
Everybody was waiting on a "Suitable" Hero to deal with the situation. Waiting for All Might to come.
But Shoji was watching; he knew that All Might wouldn't come until later. What if Suijin wasn't there? What if Suijin didn't stall for time?
Images flashed until this recent event, when Bakugo and Kirishima tried to attack the Mist villain but failed and ended up getting transported away.
'Could I have done better?'
The answer was a resounding No.
He looked up with determination, something Amajiki didn't expect from someone he pegged as reserved like him.
"I don't want to have to wait for a suitable hero. I don't want to be a one-trick pony or someone who can only watch as a crime is being committed."
'Dad's quick is just having extra hands, much different than my own. From what I learned, Amajiki can change his body with animal parts, allowing him to gain a plethora of experience and help me with certain aspects of my own quirk.'
"PLEASE! Help me, Amajiki."
He bowed again, more sincere than before, though there was an aspect he didn't mention. A secret piece of motivation only he knew.
'I don't want to lose.'
Suijin's always been his friend, a boy who was inferior to him in many aspects but still fun to be around. He was determined and hardworking, features Shoji tried but failed to emulate in him.
Shoji used to have the idea that he'd always be one of the strongest, no matter where he went. A fact he took solace in was that it was something nobody, no matter how much they disliked or hated him, could take away.
He felt guilty about being happy that he was stronger than Suijin, but that feeling that he had something nobody would steal from him made him feel satisfied. So no matter how many times he encouraged the small boy, he would always feel a twinge of guilt and pleasure.
But recently, things changed; Suijin's abilities have skyrocketed. His mind changed, and if before he looked at Shoji as an unattainable goal, he now saw the bigger boy as a rival.
Shoji tried to distance himself from Suijin; he didn't want a rival. He just wanted to be better, no matter how selfish that may sound.
'But no more running away.'
That incident with the monster opened his eyes. Suijin wasn't fighting to be better than him; he was fighting to protect all around him.
'But I'm not going to let you have the title of strongest friend so easily.'
So Shoji wanted to train; a fire of passion he'd never felt before was lit by Suijin and burned brightly as the competition became his sole focus.
'I will win!'
Amajiki observed the boy in front of him: 'His eyes. It's like Miro's whenever we train together. Not an unhealthy competition but one that brings mutual benefit. A pure feeling.'
Frankly, if you asked him who was more similar to the freshman duo that was originally standing in front of him, he'd say the other boy.
His eyes reflected the past Tamaki: underestimating, self-doubting,...self-loathing.
'But it's understandable why he came to me; his quirk is quite similar to my own if I ate seafood.'
He decided he'd train this boy.
Although different in personality, his determination should allow him to persevere.
'Besides, that other boy had a passion in his eyes, which should allow him to persevere for at least a little longer before things imploded.'
"Lift your head; you can call me Tamaki."
Thus, a short but meaningful partnership between two UA students was ensured, one that would become one of Shoji's most memorable moments in his life.