Koto's POV

"Work harder, Yamada," the metallic voice of Ectoplasm calls out as I release my barrage of sound on him. Today, I've finally joined my class for our ultimate moves training. 

The gym we're in is enclosed, but I don't trust myself to use Echolocation. Instead, I throw countless attacks at my teacher, slowly getting more and more frustrated. 

•°•°•°•

After training, I take a long shower and plop myself down on my bed. I had to put a load of laundry in because my costume jacket was covered in snot. As gross as it is, they wouldn't let me bring a box of tissues along and I’m still not feeling good. Maybe I'll watch something, I absentmindedly think, looking over at my bookshelves. 

It's too faaaaaar.

I roll out of bed, narrowly avoiding hitting my head on my bedside table. As I peruse my movies, I come across one that’s been on my mind for a couple days. Maybe Bakugo would want to watch it too...nah, he’s probably had enough of me for now. I continue flicking through the movies, putting Les Mis aside for another day. 

My hand stills over a movie I used to be obsessed with. Hello, old friend, I think, turning the green disc case over in my hands. Maybe we could have a movie night with some of the girls!

I immediately take out my phone and start texting. After not too long, Mina and Toru are spread out across my bed while Ochaco and Tsu help me set up the screen, Momo making sure it’s level. We’ve gathered together a pile of snacks from our rooms (whiskey bottle hidden away to avoid suspicion). 

Together, all squished onto my bed, we have a fun night of Tinkerbell, food, music, and stories. It feels good to have this sort of kinship with my classmates. 

Toru suggests having regular movie nights in the common room. “I just think it would be so much fun to watch movies with everyone!”

“I agree, ribbit,” Tsu adds. “And you have so many, everyone would find something they could enjoy.”

We look to our class vice representative. She looks around with a smile. “Well, I’m sure it’ll be okay with the boys. You do have quite a selection!”

“Yeah, w-we can do th-that,” I say, playing with a ringlet of my hair. “M-m-maybe this weekend?”

The girls all cheer and talk a little more before deciding it’s probably best to go to sleep. As usual this week and next, we have a lot of work to get done.

•°•°•°•

“You must lean into your strengths, Young Yamada,” a deep voice says from behind me. I look around from my place on the ground of Gym Gamma only to see a scraggly figure walking towards me.

“A-a-all Might?” I stutter out, still not quite used to him when he looks so small and scrawny.

“What are your strengths?”

“Uhh...um...b-being loud?” I state it as more of a question. I’m not really sure what he’s expecting.

“So be loud!” The man exclaims, throwing his unbandaged arm wide, his blue eyes alight with the same spark that made him a great hero. “I know you like to focus on pinpoint attacks, but you must take into account the possibility that you are surrounded. What do you do then?”

I ponder for a moment. “Nyikang helped m-me a little b-b-bit with spatial awareness, so I sh-should be able t-t-to attack multiple people at once.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, kid,” the retired pro says, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You have a unique quirk. You don’t have to move or anything to use it. Even if you’re restrained and not able to throw a punch, you’re still able to attack. This is an ultimate move we’re talking about here. Go big!”

I sigh as he walks away. “I h-have an idea!” I call after him, suddenly very self conscious. He turns and smiles at me. “B-but everyone should p-plug their ears…”

“Leave that to me,” Ectoplasm says, suddenly stopping his training with all my other classmates.

I see confusion on all their faces, but sure enough, everyone covers their ears. I take a deep breath and put my hands together, signing, “Sonic Boom!” I let forth the biggest burst of sound I can muster, letting it expand around me like the shock after an explosion. I watch as it knocks many of my fellow students off their feet. The pillars that Cementoss had created quake in the sound, showering everyone with pebbles. A couple windows shatter and I look on in horror as a chunk of cement falls from the top of a high pillar, heading towards the former number one pro himself.

“Hey! Watch out!” Bakugo calls in panic. He’s the one working on that pillar, so I’m sure it was weakened from his quirk anyway.

I see multiple people move at once, a couple going for All Might, to push him out of the way, and a couple for the boulder, but Midoriya gets there first. Time seems to stand still as he rotates in midair, his body covered in green sparks of power, and kicks the rock so hard it shatters into a million pieces.

Since when does he kick stuff? I think to myself. Only now do I notice the changes he made to his costume. The girls had been talking last night about how we’re allowed to change our costumes around to fit our quirks and it seems as though Midoriya has already started on that.

Not only does he have braces on his arms, but he also has them on his legs, connecting to shoes that seem new. I figure that they’re probably very sturdy, just like my own boots, yet they allow him full freedom.

I run over to them as he lands, skidding to a stop. The boy and All Might share a smile, but I’m still horrified by what I did.

“You okay, All Might?” Midoriya asks. “That was close!”

“Yeah,” he responds casually.

“All Might! I-I’m so sorry!” I exclaim, looking up at him. 

“It’s no matter, Young Yamada,” he smiles brightly. “In this class, everyone’s on high alert! I trust everyone to keep me safe. That was a perfect example of how we should work in situations with citizens, right?”

“Exactly!” Midoriya chirps.

“Dude, Midoriya, what was that?” Kaminari exclaims, walking up to our assembled group, Eijiro by his side. “You swooped in and wasted that rock!”

“I always thought you were more of a puncher,” my redhead friend says. Although I don’t know if I can exactly call him my friend right about now. Bakugo had said that he was mad at me. I know he was upset I didn’t tell him about my scar, but my discussion with Shoji and Tokoyami helped to settle my mind. I wasn’t ready to tell him, so he shouldn’t have expected me to. 

Looking at the boy, I notice his hero costume has changed to add sleeves.
Not a shirt...just...sleeves, I realize. Ei, why are you like this?

“I am,” Midoriya says, then amends, “or I was…” He begins explaining the modifications he’s been doing to his costume and how he’s been training. 
I look over at All Might once more to make sure he’s okay. Though, after all that’s happened, I’m sure that little incident didn’t scare him too much. Nothing was more frightening than watching the recordings of the fight between him and All For One. I’m not sure how he still finds the morale to be here.

I return to my place with the Ectoplasm clone. “Well?” I ask.

“That was very impressive and can be useful when surrounded by villains. Of course you should be careful to control it when you’re surrounded by your own team.” I nod humbly at his response. “I’m curious, you’ve been speaking recently, but you signed the name of your attack. Why?”

I give him a small smile and tug on a curl as I explain, “I’ve thought a lot a-about how I want t-t-to present myself as a hero. I think it’s odd th-that heroes say th-th-their attacks out loud, y-you know? You s-said to play to my strengths? Well, I th-think if I have t-to name m-my attacks, I d-d-don’t want my enemy to know w-what’s coming! I have s-s-surprise and uncertainty on m-my side, so I’d like t-to sign my attacks.”

"But a hero’s special moves are what gets them noticed. Think of it as a symbol of your power to define you."

I nod, playing with the sleeves of my jacket. "I know, b-but being mute was such a b-big part of who I am. I think of it m-more a a way t-to set me apart from the crowd."

He nods, seeming to think deeply on what I have said. “I think that fits you rather nicely, Yamada. Now, back to work. Do you think you would be able to direct the attack you just did?” My teacher asks. “Perhaps if you wanted to save teammates from the blow?”

I ponder for a moment. “I g-guess I can t-t-try.”

He directs me towards a wall of cement and backs away. I take a deep breath and sign, “Sonic Boom!” A shockwave emanates from only in front of me, pulsing outwards. I’m sure I would’ve seen the cement wall crumble, but the force knocked me back so far, I was thrown straight into the wall. I feel a sharp pain in my head as everything goes dark.

•°•°•°•

When consciousness comes back to me, I no longer feel pain in my head, just groggy. I open my eyes to be met with blinding LEDs. 

Why do all doctors have the brightest lights? What’s the purpose? Can’t their patients wake up in a nice dimly lit room? I guess not.

I open my eyes slowly so they can adjust. I see concerned brown eyes peering over me. I jump out of my skin before remembering that anyone can just walk into Recovery Girl’s office to check up on their friends.

“Hey, Ochaco.”

“I’m so glad you’re awake!” She exclaims loudly, causing me to wince. “Sorry, I’ll keep it down,” the girl says, placing her hand on my head. As if that’s going to make it better, I think to myself.

“You hit that wall pretty hard, Yamada,” the old hero’s voice says with a twinge of pity as she walks over to stand by my side. “Of course nothing I couldn’t fix. But you should be careful of all your head injuries. Your quirk puts enough pressure on your brain, you don’t need to be throwing yourself into walls.”

“It’s n-not like I t-t-tried to,” I protest.

“Oh, I know,” she says, motioning for my friend to help me up. “It’s rather common around the time of Provisional License Exams that the teachers push students to think about their quirks in new ways. I’m sure you didn’t know what the backlash would be if you tried something new.”

I shake my head, standing from the bed with help from Ochaco. “No, but I’ll b-be more careful next t-time.”

“You better be!” Recovery Girl exclaims, turning to her desk to sort through paperwork.

My friend and I make our way back to the dorms after we both change out of our hero costumes. I think it’s rather odd that for this week and next, we have to walk to school in our uniforms, change into our costumes as soon as we get there, then change back into our uniforms to walk back to the dorms where we’re probably going to put on comfy clothes anyway! Why not just let us come to school in our casual clothes? I guess they just want us to look professional, but I don’t have to be happy about it.

“I’m sorry I kept you f-from the rest of t-training,” I mumble as we approach the 1-A Alliance.

“No, no!” Ochaco says quickly, waving her hands for emphasis. “You didn’t keep me from anything! Almost immediately after you got knocked out, Class 1-B came in to train. Aizawa made them wait the extra 10 minutes until exactly noon. I’m just sad he made me wait too. What’s an extra 10 minutes gonna do for me?”

She crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. I ruffle her hair and put my arm around her shoulders as we walk into the building. “He’s our t-teacher; he p-probably knows best.” 

“I know, but I just wish I could’ve taken you to Recovery Girl by myself.”

I just hug my friend closer. I know she’s been anxious about my safety lately and I wouldn’t want to do anything to worry her more. We make our way to our rooms to change into comfy clothes for the rest of the afternoon.

•°•°•°•

The sun has long since been below the horizon and us girls once again have gathered. I rather enjoy our nightly chats. It lets me get to know my peers even better and hear some very interesting stories. Tonight, though, the topic of conversation seems to always circle back to our training. I don’t mind; I know we’ve all been stressing over the exam, so it’s good to vent and get our frustrations out. 

Mina whines in exhaustion, exclaiming, “does it have to be this hard?!”

“Well, it’s not called intensive training for nothing,” Toru sighs as I sip my hibiscus tea.

“That’s true,” Momo says, brushing a hand through her straight hair. Living in the dorms has shown all of us a different side of each other. For some, like Bakugo, it’s his strange habit of violently cleaning, but for others it’s just something small like Momo with her hair down. “But it’s strange to think there’s only a week left before the exam.”

The invisible girl turns to her, asking, “Yao-momo, how’s your ultimate move coming?”

She looks off pensively for a bit before answering. “There’s something I really wanna do, but my body just isn’t ready yet. I need time to develop my quirk and improve my general endurance.”

“How ‘bout you, Tsu?” Toru asks, turning to the girl on the other side of her. 

She lowers her carton of strawberry milk. “I’ve perfected a move that makes me even more froglike than before. I’m sure even you’d look surprised, Toru."

“What’s your story, Ochaco?” 

All our eyes turn to my friend as she sips absentmindedly on her drink.

“Hey, Ochaco!” Tsu says, reaching over to poke the girl. She immediately yelps in fear, being shocked out of her thoughts. “You seem a little tense,” the frog girl continues calmly.

“No, it’s nothing!” Ochaco protests a little too loud, putting a forced smile on. “Everything’s going awesome! I’m just getting started.”

We all exchange looks, not necessarily believing her. She blinks for a moment and lets her shoulders droop. She continues in a quiet voice, “at least, that’s how I’d usually be. The thing is, recently my heart’s been all stirred up about something.”

“It’s love!” Mina exclaims, causing Ochaco to frantically begin denying it. While my friend squirms, the pink girl sends me a wink over her shoulder. We both know Ochaco has feelings for Midoriya, we’re just not about to out her like that. There’s no harm in teasing her a bit. She covers her face with her hands, floating into the air as she activates her quirk on herself.

“It’s not good to force an investigation,” Tsu says, ever the voice of reason.

“She’s right,” Momo affirms, standing. “More importantly, it’s late. We should call it a night.”

Mina and Toru protest, but not for too long. After all, we’ve had a long day and we have a full week left to go in our training. We have to be in top shape for our exam. 

I manage to help Ochaco get down from the ceiling as the rest of the girls go to bed. 

“Hey, d-don’t worry about stuff t-t-to much, okay?” I say as we walk into the elevator.

“How can I not be?” She asks, holding her head in her hands. 

“Hey, everything will b-be okay. It’s fine to let your m-m-mind wander, but remember t-to not lose focus on t-t-training.”

She nods as I exit onto my floor. “I’ll try! Goodnight, Koto!”

“Goodnight, Ochaco.”

I'm about to go to my room, but I notice a blur of red escaping into one of the rooms. I sigh, guilt eating me up inside. I near Eijiro's room with trepidation, but ultimately decide to knock. 

After not hearing a response after a couple of seconds, I knock again. "Ei, c-can we please t-t-talk?"

I once again don't get a response. In all fairness, I probably stand outside his door longer than I should, but that's what friends are for. I'm not going to run away from the tough things. Not again. 

When he eventually opens the door, I don't pretend to be happy. I know that there's a rift between us that needs to be patched and I'm willing to make the first step. I remain serious as I stand my ground. 

"I know you p-probably don't want to hear it," I say, chin up. "But my d-decisions are my own. I know I shouldn't have g-gone away without a word. I'm sorry if I worried you, b-but it was what I n-n-needed to do, so for that, I will not apologize."

I see tears pricking at the edges of my vision, but I try my best to hold them back as I continue. "I also want y-you to know th-th-that I will tell you about my p-past when I'm ready." I take a couple deep breaths, trying to keep myself composed as I look up at him. "Which I'm not. Ochaco knows b-because I've known her for a while a-and it was too hard to b-b-be strong. Bakugo and Todoroki only know th-that I have a scar b-because I had forgotten t-t-to put my choker back on a c-couple times when I thought I'd b-be alone. Not th-that I should need to explain. It's a d-dark part of my p-p-past I don't like to th-think about, so I keep it hidden. And I d-don't care if anyone th-th-thinks it's cowardly. It's what I know is r-right for me. And I will n-n-not be ashamed of that."

I take a long breath when I'm done, looking directly into Eijiro's ruby eyes through my tears. He drops his hand from the door and rushes towards me, throwing his arms around my shoulders. 

"I'm sorry," he breathes out as he clutches me tight. The tears finally fall from my eyes. "I was so stupid. And I was being a bad friend. All I want is for you to be safe."

He pulls away and looks me in the eyes, seemingly contemplating deeply. "I didn't realize there was more to what happened. I'm sorry for not trusting you."

I just nod, not sure if we're ready to forgive and forget yet. We both know there's a lot more to think about and consider. 

"I want t-to be friends again," I say, wiping a tear off my cheek. "But you have t-to trust me."

He nods, bowing his head. "I trust you. I'm sorry that I didn't before."

I take his hand and give it a small squeeze, letting that be response enough. "Goodnight, Ei."

"Goodnight," he mumbles, walking back into his room and closing the door. 

------Author's Note------

Hey guys!

There's more fan art this time around!

Here we have another awesome picture from angela_medenilla!! So much emotion in one drawing! It definitely captures Koto's pain that she hides away. So cool!!!!

If you haven't noticed yet, Muted Voices has a new cover!

This was made by the wonderful and talented Juni_Penguin_!!! Definitely go check her out, she's amazing! And I cannot describe how much I love this cover, what with the movie reel and the perfect shade of blue for her eyes. It's just *chefs kiss!*

Stay safe out there, friends! Until next time...toodles!!