DAYBREAK ᵇⁿʰᵃ

²⁵ BRAINWASH

───CHAPTER 25───

Shinso didn't trust Rai in the slightest, her presence unnerving and her gaze even more so. He couldn't understand why she was here, why she was put into his class of all places. He would ask too many questions whenever Aizawa would check in on him with training. But he would always receive the same vague answers.

"It's none of your concern," he would say. Followed by, "Your stance is weak."

It was frustrating. Most of Shinso's classmates overlooked that Rai was an outsider, ignoring most rumours about her. She was dangerous, a spy for the Americans, a secret member of the commission—most of them were unaccounted for, but Rai being a threat to their safety was warranted.

Shinso watched from afar how her quirk betrayed her, hurt her and made her wary. It showed that her skills were average from those of his class, but his friends like Midoriya and Uraraka didn't see Rai in that light. Bakugo was the only one on the same page as him, but even then, the blonde wasn't as involved in knowing anything about her past.

But Shinso couldn't let it go.

He refused to let Rai have the upper hand, to remain this mysterious person as she stayed under the same roof as them. Spencer had told him she knew most of them, mentioning Rai's knowledge of them already.

So he did his research. To finally convince his friends that not everything is as it seems with Rai.

"How's your project going with Dupont?" He looked to Midoriya, adjusting his gauntlets.

They were working on expanding their move-set, sparring across the bounds of formed cement. Gym Gamma was now harbouring a mountain filled with students, slopes and cliffs with varied hiding places.

Midoriya smiled at the question. "Very well, actually! Rai knows a lot about history, especially when it comes to heroes. I'm kind of lucky to have her as a partner."

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's her quirk that makes her smart—" Midoriya raised his brow at him, his mouth pursing to his tone—"What if she knows more than what she tells us?"

"It's possible, however. . . I don't see why it should matter, Shinso."

His mauve gaze hardens, and the student pulls his mask over his mouth and gets into position. "You seem to forget that we don't know much about her," Shinso reiterates. "Why she even came to this school."

Midoriya shrugs. "To be the best?"

He tightens the reigns of his capture weapon. "But what if Rai's already the best?"

His friend shakes his head with a scoff, Shinso frowning.

Midoriya knew Shinso was skeptical, but seeing how calm he was, it was worrying.