The next day, already in the afternoon, right after lunch, we wait for the teacher responsible for today's exercise.
I still feel somewhat thirsty, even though I just ate and drank water. Noticing a particular gaze, I turn to the side and see Himiko looking at me, more specifically, at my neck.
She glances from the corner of her eye, her cheeks slightly flushed, and quickly looks away when she realizes I caught her staring.
'Looks like it's not just me…'
I take out my phone and send Himiko a message:
"Let's drink tonight when we get home."
She quickly replies with a "<3."
From where I sit, I can see her small smile as she reads the message.
We've been training our resistance to blood thirst for a few weeks now, going without drinking each other's blood.
For Himiko, it's more about dealing with the craving and discomfort.
For me, it's the same as hers, but it can also make me weaker.
However, as long as I don't need to regenerate much or overuse my Kagune, it's fine to go without it, and since we're at U.A., where training is safe, we can afford to do this.
Aizawa enters the room, immediately silencing the students. He positions himself in front of the teacher's desk and gets our attention with an announcement.
"For hero foundation skills, it has been decided that you will be supervised by a team of three people, consisting of myself, All Might, and one other person."
Sero raises his hand and asks: "Sensei, what are we going to do?"
"It's rescue training!"
"To become the heroes everyone will need, whether it's a flood or any other kind of disaster," the teacher says while holding a card that reads 'RESCUE.'
I'm not exactly sure when he raised that card.
"Rescue training… this sounds kind of tough this time…" Kaminari says, looking anxious.
"For sure!" Mina replies, sounding more excited than anything else.
"Let's go, this is every hero's job!! I'm really pumped!!" Kirishima shouts, clenching his fists in excitement.
"If it's a flood, then it'll be my ideal scenario, kero," Tsuyu adds amid the students' excited murmurs.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves," Aizawa speaks again, walking toward the wall that holds our hero costumes.
"As I was saying, this time it's entirely up to you whether you want to wear your uniforms. Some of them probably won't be suitable for the task at hand."
With a click of a remote, he unlocks the drawers.
"The training area is quite far, so we'll be taking a bus to get there. That's all, go get ready."
─── ◆ ───
It doesn't take long before we're standing in front of the buses.
Iida tries to organize the students by registration number, but it ends up being pointless because of how the seats are arranged.
I sit next to Himiko, along with the others on the larger bus seat. Iida seems a bit depressed over the time wasted on his failed attempt to organize seating.
When the bus starts moving, Tsuyu turns to Midoriya and says, "Hey Midoriya, I always say what I think, no matter what's on my mind."
"Ah!? Y-Yes? Asui?" Midoriya is startled out of his thoughts.
"Call me Tsuyu," she says quickly, then continues.
"Your Quirk reminds me of All Might's." She speaks thoughtfully, pressing her index finger against her cheek and tilting her head slightly.
"H-H-How so!? Haha, but mine isn't like—" Midoriya seems strangely nervous.
I don't really see why he'd feel uncomfortable about that, his hero costume already shows he's a huge All Might fanboy.
Kirishima interrupts, pointing out that All Might doesn't get injured when using his Quirk, and that's where the similarity between them ends.
He keeps talking, mentioning he wishes he had a flashier Quirk.
Midoriya praises his popularity, saying it's very useful for professionals.
Then Tsuyu turns to me and Himiko.
"Another thing, Toga-chan, Kaneki-kun, I think your relationship is really cute. You two are adorable together, kero," she says with the same thoughtful expression, though I catch a teasing glint in her eyes.
Kaminari and Mina's eyes light up at the opportunity to tease us. Kaminari starts:
"Riiight? You're always stuck together!"
"Are you two dating? Hehe," Mina says, giggling behind her hand.
"Yes." Himiko and I answer immediately, at the same time.
The bus goes silent for a few seconds, then everyone shouts.
"WHAAAAAT?????"
Himiko and I glance at each other, then look back at them and nod in confirmation, perfectly synchronized.
"It was obvious they were a couple, guys…" Momo says, though internally it's as if the pieces of a puzzle have just fallen into place in her mind.
Some time passes as we answer a few questions they have about our relationship, things like how many years we've been together, how old we were when we started dating, and other questions like that.
Then I remember something that's been on my mind for the past few days.
I call out to Midoriya, who already seems to have recovered from Tsuyu's earlier question.
"Midoriya, do you happen to have a brother named Saito?"
"Eh?... Saito? No, I don't even have a brother… Why?" He looks startled at being called out of nowhere, then confused after understanding the question.
"It's a guy who studied with me during middle school. He looks a lot like you, at least in appearance." My answer only makes him more confused.
"You're identical, right, Himi?" I turn to Himiko. She looks thoughtful, narrowing her eyes as she tries to recall, and I make a strong effort not to pinch her cheeks while she does that.
"Hmm… Saito? Did we have someone with that name in class?" She doesn't seem to remember. I can't blame her, we barely talked to others in middle school.
I take out my phone and look for a group photo from our class, taken by the teacher on the first day of the final year of middle school.
After showing it to Himiko and her finally recognizing him, I show it to Midoriya and the others.
"…He really does look a lot like me…" Midoriya says, both intrigued and unsettled.
"I don't see many differences…"
"Yeah…"
"It's kind of creepy, to be honest…"
"Looks like Midoriya has a doppelgänger walking around out there."
"We're almost there, calm down," Aizawa interrupts the commotion.
"Yes, sir!!" the students reply.
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]: UA is the most prestigious hero school in Japan, so it's okay to train a little, safety is guaranteed!!!!
... what could possibly go wrong?
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