Chương 2045: 64
Denki felt kinda helpless and wasn't quite sure what to do about it. He glanced over at Todoroki and quickly looked away before he could get caught. He hadn't meant to find out that his classmate was homeless and making enough money to eat by streaming with who Denki strongly suspected was that crusty villain from the USJ, but he sometimes just liked to have gaming streams on in the background and he'd seen that these two new guys were trending and it was pretty hilarious to watch Icy Cat just fail over and over again as Dusty roasted him and he'd kinda thought that their voices sounded a little familiar, but he watched a bunch of these streams so while it was kinda weird, he didn't really obsess over it until he was trying to get some of the stupid glitter off his backpack and Icy Cat described exactly what had happened in class that day, right down to Aizawa making it a class exercise and everything fell into place. Of course, after he realized that Todoroki was Icy Cat, that meant that Dusty was Shigaraki and all those jokes about Dusty trying to kill Icy Cat weren't jokes at all, they were actually true and why was Todoroki voluntarily hanging out with an actual villain who had actually, really, 100% tried to kill him?!
Was it just that he was homeless and had nowhere else to turn to? Why was he homeless in the first place? He'd mentioned something about his dad kicking him out and then him being too stubborn to apologize and move back in, but wasn't his dad Endeavor? Why would Endeavor kick out his own son? Was it safe for him back at home or was he safer...well, considering he was hanging with Shigaraki, he probably wasn't safe anywhere.
Denki knew that he should probably tell the police, but, like, snitching on his classmate, not to mention one of his favorite streamers, just kinda felt...icky? Like, Shouto obviously didn't want to go back home, but if the police found out, then they'd probably send him right back and that would kinda suck. But it wasn't like Shouto was telling Shigaraki anything, right? Beyond vague hints, they never really talked about their lives on stream, otherwise Denki would have figured it out a while ago, so it wasn't like the league was gathering info on them or anything, right? Still, he should do something, shouldn't he?
He bit his lip as their friends finished packing up their stuff for lunch, "Hey guys, uh...why don't we invite Todoroki to eat with us?"
Sero's eyes widened, "Are we sure we want to keep adopting the scary ones? I mean, the only one who's scarier than Todoroki is Bakugo and we've already got him in the bag."
"What did you say, Soy Sauce Face?!" Bakugo's hands popped threateningly, but Mina just patted him on the shoulder.
"Just because he doesn't emote much doesn't mean he's scary." She argued. "I say we do it! Gotta catch 'em all!"
Bakugo looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel, "We're not fucking pokemon!"
"Nah, but if you were, you'd both be fire types!" Kirishima grinned. "That means you'll be great friends. Hey Todoroki! Wanna eat lunch with us?"
Todoroki looked a bit surprised, obviously, but after a long moment of staring at them blankly, he just shrugged, "Ok."
Sero blinked in surprise, "Whoa, that was easy."
Bakugo quietly simmered while they waited in line for their food, but even though he was obviously not happy, he didn't explode, so Denki counted that as a win. As for Todoroki, the rest of the group wasn't really sure what to do with him, but Mina was just rambling as usual as Kirishima encouraged her, so it was almost normal until Todoroki actually joined in on the conversation.
Mina had been talking about punting Mineta into the sun, which was a pretty usual topic for her, when Todoroki, completely deadpan said, "I don't think that's wise. We don't want the sun getting indigestion."
Almost immediately, everyone stopped walking. Todoroki just blinked and looked at them, "What?"
"Nothing dude." Sero grinned. "We just didn't know you actually had a sense of humor!"
Kirishima nodded, "Yeah, dude. Totally manly!"
Denki wasn't quite sure why he was surprised. Obviously, he was familiar with Todoroki's weird sense of humor. It was like, half the reason he was such a popular streamer, but for some reason Denki had just kinda assumed it was just for the stream. Like Icy Cat was a character Todoroki played and not actually who he was, but like, no. Todoroki was acting the exact same right now as he would during a stream and it was kinda trippy.
Eventually, they all got their food and sat down and Sero turned to Todoroki, "So dude, you've actually been using your fire and stuff in class. It kinda sucks, you know? We couldn't beat you before, but now it's just ridiculous."
Todoroki slurped at his noodles, "I'm still trying to get the hang of my flames. I was trying to spite my father by not using my fire at all, but now I'm going to spite him by stealing it back. Pretty simple if you ask me."
"Whoa." Bakugo scoffed. "You really hate your old man, don't you?"
"Yes." Todoroki nodded simply. "He's a bastard."
Kirishima snorted so hard that the soda he was drinking shot out of his nose and everyone started laughing. Todoroki looked mildly concerned, but Kirishima just waved him away, "Nah, man, I'm good. If you're looking to improve your fire, though, I'm sure you're super stoked about those packets Cheat Code gave us."
Todoroki frowned, "A conversation would be more helpful. The packets can be annoyingly vague."
"Just ask Ochako to introduce you." Mina piped up. "You know how she had that weird blank packet? Well, she's totally been improving anyway. Everytime we try to ask her about it, she either laughs us off or teleports away, but, like, I'm 90% sure at this point that she actually knows the guy. Shinso probably does too, because he's acting just as suspicious."
Todorki hummed thoughtfully, "That...I might have to ask them then."
Denki frowned. Sure, he was 90% sure that Todoroki wasn't actually giving any information to the league, but like, that wasn't 100% and if he found out who Cheat Code was…
He really should probably tell someone.
Tenya stood and watched Tensei as they waited for Artiste. They had figured out that she actually taught part time at UA, so it wasn't a big deal for her to come teach them, but Tenya felt an obligation to apologize for making her take time out of her day. He should probably also apologize to Cementoss, who had taken the cement training room and turned it into a beginner skate park. Tensei had wasted no time in exploring, almost giving Tenya a heart attack as he immediately tried to take his wheelchair over a jump. Seriously? Didn't he know he could get hurt again if he did that?
Thankfully, Tensei had started just rolling down some of the hills, which didn't seem quite as dangerous, so Tenya just quietly watched, ready to run forward and help at a moment's notice. He was just about to try to stop Tensei from going toward the jumps again when the door to the training room opened and Artiste glided in.
"Hello boys!" She sang out. "I hear I'm here to teach you how to use those wheels!"
"Hey Artiste!" Tensei grinned and waved, trying to use one hand to wheel himself closer. "Long time no see!"
"Tensei!" Tenya hissed. "Don't be rude!"
"I'm not being rude!" Tensei defended. "Just because I'm a little more casual than your preference doesn't mean I'm being rude!"
Tenya scowled, "You can't just…"
"Ahem!" Artiste interrupted them with a glare.
Immediately, Tenya dropped into a low bow, "My apologies for my brother's presumptuousness, ma'am. We know you're talking time out of your already busy schedule for us and we are eternally grateful…"
"Now let's get one thing straight." Artiste interrupted firmly. "I like all of my classes to be a safe space, so that means we have to be comfortable with one another and that means stop bowing and apologizing for things that don't need apologies. Got it?"
Tenya straightened immediately, "Uh…"
"In addition," Artiste cut him off before he could argue, "None of that ma'am stuff. You will not call me miss, you will not call me professor, you will not even call me Artiste. When we're here learning, I'm Hina and nothing else, ok?"
Tenya opened and shut his mouth a few times, not able to think of anything to say until Tensei laughed and gave their teacher finger guns. Finger guns. "You got it, Hina!"
"What?! No!" Tenya sputtered. "You're our teacher! Referring to you by your first name is entirely inappropriate and…"
"And I'm the teacher, so that means I'm in control here!" Artiste laughed. "Aizawa warned me you were a bit stiff, but my goal here is to foster creativity, not manners. " She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "If you're too worried about the rules, you'll never break them!"
"That's…"Tenya felt like he was having an aneurysm. "Isn't that the point?"
"Of course not, now let me finish!" Artiste had a twinkle in her eye. "If you never break the rules, then you can never create something new and wonderful ! Now, wouldn't that be just tragic?"
"I…" Tenya bowed again, "I apologize, I hadn't thought…"
Tensei cuffed him over the head, "Kiddo, didn't she just tell you not to bow anymore?"
"Oh, right." Tenya straightened. "I am so sorry."
Artiste rolled her eyes, "Eh, we'll get there eventually. That's what it means to just keep rolling along, right?"
She shifted her feet and spun in a circle, then proceeded to skate circles around them, navigating the hills, jumps and ramps like they were nothing. She bent down and tenya saw her grab a piece of chalk from the bag on her hip. Soon enough, she was drawing long, flowing lines all around them. Tenya followed her movements as best she could but it all just seemed so...impossible. Maybe Ashindo could learn to move like that, but he was a runner, not a dancer. After a minute, Artiste spun to a stop and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, leaving a smear of multi-colored chalk dust across her face. Then she gave them a wink and knelt down to touch the ground. All of a sudden, vines started growing from her drawings, completely blocking the walls and boxing them in with thick thorns and flowers.
"As you can see," Artiste grinned, "it pays to keep an open mind. My quirk is limited by the size and quantity of my drawings, but have you ever tried to draw while running?! It's a nightmare! Even if fighting in roller skates is a bit nontraditional, some might even say it's breaking the rules, it helps me make smoother lines and gives me the freedom I need to make larger drawings. There are challenges, of course, but with a little creative rule breaking, you'll be able to figure out how to roll around all those little bumps in the road. You boys ready to get started?"
Tenya nodded politely, but tensei had a different idea, cheering and whooping as he clapped, completely undeterred by the fact that he was the only one making any noise. It was all Tenya could do not to die from embarrassment.
To his surprise, though, rather than being mortified, Artiste smiled, "That's the spirit! Now let's get started, shall we?" She clapped her hands and the vines disappeared into a shower of chalk dust. "Cementoss has been kind enough to set this place up into an amazing skate park, but you guys already know the basics, so let's get a little creative!"
She grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket and tapped it, making a tennis ball drop onto the floor. She caught it on the first bounce and threw it as hard as she could against the wall, "Your job is to bring me that ball, but let's break the rules a little bit while we're at it." She smiled mischievously, "You can't move in a straight line."
Mineta finished setting his trap and moved to his perch on top of the building while he dialled Kurogiri. From what he'd seen on the maps, this would be the perfect spot to catch that Midoriya kid on his way home from school. There were a few different routes that he could take, but they all converged ehre at one point or another, so even if he switched his routine, he'd almost definitely have to pass by Mineta to get home. A quick call to Powerloader about his costume had been enough to confirm that both Midoriya and Hatsume ahd already left the school, so it was only a matter of time until he could spring his trap.
Mineta still wasn't quite sure if Midoriya really was Cheat Code, since Hatsume could have easily accomplished any of the tricks that Cheat Code pulled at the USJ, but the fact that Midoriya was Nedzu's personal student swayed the suspicions in his favor. Mineta was obviously still skeptical, since the guy didn't even have a quirk to back him up, but if Nedzu thought he was the real deal, then...well, Mineta could at least give him the benefit of the doubt and he'd act as good bait if Hatsume was Cheat Code instead.
Kurogiri picked up on the fourth ring and Mineta didn't even bother saying hello, "Be waiting for my call. As soon as I nab my target, I'll be needing a pickup. I'm sure Sensei will want to meet him as soon as possible.
"Hmm, so you're capturing Cheat Code today, I gather." Kurogiri said boredly. "I suppose I should wish you luck then."
Mineta scowled and hung up, "I don't need his stupid luck. Who does that oversized cloud think he is, underestimating me?"
He shoved the phone in his pocket and popped one of the balls off his head in anticipation. He'd show them that he wasn't just some child that they could ignore and push aside. He'd make them take him seriously. He'd catch Cheat Code and present the guy to Sensei as proof that he wasn't somebody they wanted to mess with.
Mineta took a deep breath. All that was left to do now was wait for his prey.
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