• Benevolence •

Chapter 56

He gives me another quick hug, before I step back and make my way over to my team. Midoriya turns to me with a grin once I join them.

"You guys are really close, huh?"

I smile softly, glancing away nervously. "I g-guess... He's r-really great."

Uraraka chimes in, turning to the green haired boy. "It'll be a rematch for you, huh Deku?"

"Yeah."

I catch his eyes, before glancing over to my friend. Monoma appears to be talking his ear off while he tries to ignore him.

"Just... don't underestimate him. He's been w-working really hard for this."

Their team moves closer for the instructions and I watch Midoriya pull his notebook out from nowhere, turning to Hitoshi.

"You've gotten stronger? I'm excited to see how you'll come after us!"

He doesn't respond, opting to snap on his mask instead. I'm not entirely sure what it does but... he looks really good with it. I glance around, trying to will away a blush. Mina catches my eye and a look crosses her face before she grins.

"You'll start in your own areas. The time limit is twenty minutes. If you're unable to finish the match in that amount of time, the team with the most remaining members wins."

Mina scoots closer to me, a strangely determined look to her eyes.

"Without further ado, let the first match... START!"

And with that, the first match begins. Hitoshi with Kaminari, Asui, Kirishima, and Kouda verse some class B kids. I find my attention solely on my lilac haired friend until Mina pokes my arm. I glance over to her and she grins slyly before whispering to me.

"Do you like Shinso?"

My face flushes and I stutter nonsense before getting out a viable response.

"Of c-course. H-he's my f-friend!"

The pink girl shakes her head with a knowing smile.

"No! Do you like-like him?"

I start to speak but it dissolves into useless stuttering, burying my face in my cloak. She laughs brightly.

"You do! It's okay- I won't tell!"

I glance up as she continues.

"I just think he likes you, too."

At her words, I shake my head quickly. "N-no way."

"Yes way! He literally glared at everyone, said he didn't want to make friends, and then hugged you. Twice! You're obviously pretty close and you managed to get past all his obvious walls. He's got to be into you!"

I shake my head again and turn my attention to the screen broadcasting the match.

I gasp when Hitoshi's team is ambushed. They look overwhelmed until my friend fiddles with his mask. Someone on the other team speaks before freezing and I grin excitedly.

To my left, Midoriya whispers quietly. "That mask...!"

He goes to use the capture weapon but is just a little too slow. I wince as he's caught in his opponent's air prison. In seconds, Kaminari shocks the beast guy but is swept into a building regardless.

In the midst of it all, Asui snatches the small air manipulation guy and takes off for their prison. The beast guy goes after her only for Kouda and Kirishima to leap in his way.

My heart drops for just a moment as Kirishima is smacked into the air, heading directly towards the girl with vine hair. He's quickly captured along with Kouda. I'm startled as Class B's teacher speaks up loudly.

"At long last, will Class A be crushed by my students attacks?!"

On the screen, one of Class B's students mentions there being three Asui's but before I can comment on it, there's a closeup of Hitoshi and all my thoughts disappear. He's got a determined look to his eyes and I find myself smiling softly. Mina catches my gaze and gives me another knowing look.

I will away my blush and turn my attention back to the screen. The following fight is intense. I'm almost sure I'm grinning like an idiot but watching Hitoshi show off all he's learned is amazing.

The match ends in Class A's favor. Aizawa sensei has them go over the match and what they learned. My heart drops slightly at the frustrated look in Hitoshi's eyes. After they've finished talking, I wander over to the lilac eyed teen as he fidgets with his capture weapon.

"You did really well, 'toshi!"

He glances down to me with an unreadable look before his eyes soften.

"Thanks [Y/n]..."

We're interrupted as Monoma appears, speaking loudly. "Hey Shinso! Let's start developing our plan to leave Class A sobbing in despair!"

I frown at his words but Hitoshi completely ignores him, keeping his eyes on me.

"Shinso! We're going against him! Don't fraternize with the enemy!"

My friend sighs quietly before patting my head gently. He gives the hint of a smile before stepping back.

"We can talk later."

I head back to my team and we begin brainstorming a plan for our match. Mina brings up the idea of using my friendship with Hitoshi against them but I shoot it down quickly.

"There's no w-way it'd work. He's not gonna go easier on me j-just cause we're close."

I don't pay much attention to the following match. Now that I'm not focused on anything, the cold is catching up to me and I suppress a shiver.

Afterwards, we take a short break due to damage on the field. I make my way over to Hitoshi and sit down beside him. We're quiet for a moment before I speak up.

"Were you serious about not making friends?"

He glances down to me before looking around to the others.

"Kind of. I want to focus on doing my best. They seem... distracting."

Humming softly, I lean against him and faintly note that he's very warm despite the cold weather.

"They're really nice. I'm sure they'd love you cause you're amazing. And they'd be lucky to be your friends."

"I don't need any other friends. You're enough of a handful as it is." He teases lightly, unconsciously playing with his binding cloth.

"I'm not a handful!"

"Oh, Mr. 'I keep winding up in hospital beds because of my instinct to save everyone but myself' isn't a handful? That's such a surprise- thanks for clearing it up."

I blush lightly, shoving him playfully.

"Sh-shut up!"

---
I really love Shinso so much!!
He deserves to be a hero!!!

I hope you guys are
enjoying the story so far!!
Thank you for reading!