Secrets [Todoroki]

*Chapter Ten*

Miri sat next to Iida during lunch that day, her usual tray packed a little extra full of food.

"Today's training was... different." Miri sighed as she chewed a banana.

"I agree." Uraraka groaned. "I feel so nauseous, I can barely eat." She nibbled on a cracker.

Midoriya wasn't shy. He polished off his burger rather quickly. "I battled Kaminari today, so it was over pretty quickly. I didn't really get to land a hit on him... not that I really would have." He sighed, looking at his fingers.

Miri waved a hand at Midoriya, sliding over an apple to him in case he was still hungry. "I was in your shoes when I was younger. I could barely use my power as a child, it was... too much for me. Even at just double my normal strength, I was breaking bones left and right." She held a hand out that was radiating green. "It takes a lot of time and practice to handle supposed greatness. But even as we speak, I'm not as strong as... I should be." She retracted the hand and curled it into a fist. "But one day, I will be. I'll be the hero who saves people!"

Iida then looked over at her with a smile. "So, you finally figured out an answer to my question?"

Miri nodded. "Before I didn't really know why, but all it took was a memory from when I was a child. I just really want to help people."

"Yours sounds so noble, Mir." Uraraka laughed. "I'm kind of in it for the money. I want to help pay my parents back for everything they've done for me."

"Yours is noble too, though." Midoriya quickly defended her.

Miri sat back and smiled at them. Her mind then flooded over to the white-haired boy she ran into.

"Have you... have you guys seen this guy with white hair and yellow eyes around?" She asked.

They all turned to look at her, then cast their eyes around the room.

"I don't see anyone like that here," Iida spoke up.

"Todoroki and I ran into him in the hallway, well I literally did anyway." She took a deep breath. "This guy... I didn't realize it until Todoroki said something, but he was stupidly powerful. Like... I could feel it coming off of him. It was practically suffocating."

Midoriya rubbed his chin and pulled out his journal. "Did he have any other defining characteristics about him?"

Miri strained to remember something. Anything. "His teeth." She said. "They were pointy, sharp as knives. Kind of like Kirishima's... only sharper. And his eyes were like a cat's. Narrow slits." She closed her eyes, picturing him in her mind. "And his nails were longer, sharp, and thick."

They cast uneasy glances among each other.

"This guy sounds scary," Uraraka complained. "I hope I never meet him."

"I hope you never run into him again." Iida looked at her, a little concerned. "Knowing you, you wouldn't have brought it up unless it bothered you."

"Yeah..." She rested her chin on her hand. "It's just weird thinking someone could be as strong as All Might or Endeavor in school."

Her eyes focused outside to a tree. A shadow was cast on the ground. Her gut told her something she hoped that wasn't true. She stood up abruptly. "I have to go, I'll be right back." She then slipped out of the cafeteria.

Nightmare stood in the overhang of another tree, far away from the windows. Miri didn't want to meet her mother, but she didn't want to face the consequences if she didn't.

"I see your mission is becoming a success. You are getting closer to Endeavor's son." Her mother's sharp voice seemed to quiet the birds.

"How did you get into the school? The security systems should have caught you by now." Miri chose to not acknowledge the statement from before. She rubbed at her eyes, pollen levels were off the chart.

"The systems aren't looking for shadows. They're looking for people." Her purple eyes narrowed in on Miri's. "Don't avoid the previous subject, however. I thought by staying away for a bit, you'd do exactly what I hoped you would. Much to my satisfaction, you are."

Miri clenched her fist. "He is my friend. I'm not doing any of this for you."

"Whether you want to or not, you're doing it." Nightmare snapped.

"If you can get into the school on your own, then why don't you do it?" Miri would most definitely prefer if her mother didn't do it at all, but at least if Miri wasn't the one doing it, she could work on sabotaging her mother.

"I have more important things to be doing." Nightmare then crossed her arms, daring Miri to say more on the matter.

"And what could be more important than getting the revenge you've worked towards for years?" Miri hissed. "I'm not your puppet. I don't know how many times I have to tell you I want nothing to do with this plan."

Nightmare opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes suddenly narrowed. "Someone is coming." With that, she slunk down into the shadow of the tree, disappearing into the darkness.

Miri turned to see Bakugo walking towards her.

"I'm not a fricken' idiot." He started. "I know you're hiding something."

Miri's heart pounded in her chest. "I'm not... I'm not sure what you're meaning."

"You're too quiet. You carry yourself around like you're some elite, like you're better than everyone here." He stood in front of her, his usually angry face replaced with something much milder than what she was used to from him. "The only people who do that are irritating snobs or people with something to hide." He then looked her over. "And you're no snob."

"Thanks for the compliment." Miri found herself saying, which only lit a fuse behind Bakugo's eyes. "But I'm not hiding anything."

"You're allergic to pollen." He held his arms up around him. "Nobody in their right mind would be out here with that allergy. So why are you here?"

He had her there. The boy was a lot smarter than he looked, and Miri will give him that. But that's all she'll give him. As she looked down at his feet, she saw the shadows were concentrated there.

Her mother was still here, and she was listening to the conversation.

Miri didn't hesitate to shove him back into the sunlight, where the shadows couldn't reach. She sneezed.

"What the hell!?" Bakugo exclaimed from the ground. He glared up at her.

"I didn't want to sneeze on you." She blurted, watching her mother's shadow fading away, zipping through the tree lines to leave the campus. She let out a shaky breath. "Look, I'm not admitting anything to you, but understand there is more going on than you will ever comprehend or realize. You shouldn't go prying into the things you don't understand or you may find yourself in a bigger issue than what you faced with the sludge monster from weeks ago."

"I can handle myself." He growled, standing up. "I don't need you telling me what I'm supposed to do."

"I'm not telling you what to do!" Miri snapped. "I'm telling you how to stay safe. You vex my very soul and I'd love nothing more than to kick your egotistical ass off your pedestal, but ultimately you are one of my classmates and I want nothing bad to happen to you."

"Quit it with the bullshit, Frost Bitch." A new name? Did "Gorilla Girl" not feel right? Where did this one come from? "I don't want to hear it from you any more than I do Deku or my old hag. Just stay the hell out of my way." He turned to walk away from her but cast a glance over his shoulder. "But you understand this much. I'll always be watching for that little secretive shell of yours to crack. Once it does, I'll kick your ass so far into the ground, they won't have to worry about making a coffin for you." With that, he walked off.

Miri sat back against the tree, feeling heavily exhausted. She rubbed her face with her hands, trying to psych herself back up again to go inside.

Today just hasn't really been her day.