𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 | 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗶 𝘅 𝗼𝗰

²⁵a heart of gold

"My name is not five weenies–"

Rin witnessed from the audience stands of the stadium as Shoto valiantly attempted to talk with the misbehaving primary school students who wreaked havoc for the four high school students.

She found his attempts adorable, the boy simply blinking in confusion down at the children who hadn't listened to his one thousand word introduction about himself.

They hadn't quite talked about their intense kiss from the previous night. After Aizawa had barged into them and saw the soot covered walls, he had sent them straight to bed and had put Rin on cleaning duty while Shoto had to use Enji's black card to cover the cost of the repairs.

Needless to say, Rin had no idea where she and Shoto stood. But with Rin working under Enji and Shoto trying to get his licence, they both seemed to silently agree to talk about it when they could.

Speaking of Enji, behind her sat the former Number One Hero and the unofficial Number One Hero who were having a serious discussion that Rin tried not to eavesdrop on. But, from the snippets she accidentally overheard, the topic of the conversation was similar to her and Enji's discussion a few weeks back in his training room.

As much as Rin disliked Enji as a person, she could tell he was making a profound effort to get to know Shoto, Fuyumi and Natsuo, as well as trying to figure out how he was going to fit into the burdensome role as the Number One Hero in preparation for the Hero Billboards Chart event.

But, likewise to Shoto's genuine and hardworking attempts to win the hearts of the primary school students below, Enji's efforts were not quite paying off.

Being a work-study sidekick for Endeavour involved a lot of observation, and she unintentionally noticed how society views Endeavour; rather than feeling immense excitement in his presence, civilians were thoroughly intimidated by him.

His reputation amongst civilians was probably the reason why Enji was asking All Might what the 'Symbol of Peace' was.

"In other news, Best Jeanist and Icarus have been missing for months now." At the mention of her father, Rin zoned back into their conversation. "Do you think their rankings will go up?"

Enji was silent for a few minutes, Rin feeling his eyes burning into the back of her neck. Sensing his unease at her presence, she stood up, sending the two heroes a polite smile before she made her way towards the staircase leading down.

Instead of descending the staircase, she slipped behind the audience stands, waiting for their conversation to continue.

"I struggle to admit this, so I'm only saying this once; I believe that Icarus could've surpassed me in the Hero Billboard Charts." Rin's eyes widened. "Before he disappeared, a few of my heroes working undercover in Ryu's agency had discovered he had some deals with the Hero Commission to boost his rankings. And, with his popularity naturally rising, becoming Number One would've made sense."

Rin snorted, shaking her head. All this time, some of Ryu's most trusted coworkers had been Enji's undercover workers acquiring intel. Enji had to have some sort of clue as to how untrustworthy Ryu; a secret investigation on the Number Eight Hero already underway.

All Might sighed, "it's a shame what happened with Icarus – we still haven't been able to find him."

Enji clicked his tongue.

"All Might, I don't think you understand the severity of the situation." All Might raised a brow at Enji's tense state. "Something is not right about Ryu, for many reasons. Not only because of what happened to Nova, but because his daughter chose to work for me."