After a few days passed, Rumi got out of the hospital and back to her usual activities...despite being advised to take it easy. She felt fine, though she was covered with scratches.

Hawks suggested she just go to UA and pay a visit to Recovery Girl if she wanted to get back on the job. So she did. But pointedly, she did not go looking for Shine.

There was some to-do around Campus though, that Recovery Girl mentioned. They had finally got a counselor for the hero course. "Apparently she's made quite a stir with Aizawa and Nezu already," the old lady said, with concern.

Rumi left, looking much better, with only faint lines from the cuts and much less pain, and ran into Shine in the hallway.

"Oh...hi..." Shine said, "Why are you...? Oh, Recovery Girl. Well, you look much better. I was thinking of visiting again, but I heard you checked out early."

"Yeah, duh," Mirko muttered, "Well, great seeing you and all. Bye." She walked away.

"Wow...what a brush off," Shine called after her, "Did I offend you in some way?"

Mirko looked back. "Stop acting like we're friends. That's all."

"We aren't friends?" Shine said.

"No, I don't really have time for friends,"  Mirko tossed her head, "Not ones like you, anyway. And I don't need your help. I don't need someone to bail me out who's not even a Pro. You're slowing me down, making me weaker. Nothing's been normal since I met you and Joke that one day, and I hate that. So frick off."

That all came out a little harsher than she planned it to. Even Rumi wasn't so thoughtless as to intentionally be that much of a...b-word. But it just seemed to pour out of her. She'd been boiling for days without even realizing it until she started talking and it boiled over.

Shine stared at her.

"Do you...have any idea how hurtful what you just said was?" she said bluntly, but also a little upset. "I know we don't see eye to eye, but I've done nothing to hurt you. I didn't deserve that. You know that, don't you? Why are you so mean to me?"

"Don't start with that. Grow a spine," Mirko said defensively.

Shine crossed her arms. "Why don't you screw off?"

"All right, I will." Mirko turned and stalked away.

"You're a brat!" Shine called after her again, "You can't even handle a simple confrontation like this. No wonder you don't have any friends. I imagine you don't care about anyone's feelings enough to want to be around them."

Mirko froze. "Shut. Up."

No one ever got to her. No one. Likstar was just annoying.

"Make me," Shine said.

Mirko turned and walked back towards her, but Shine bolted. 

"Oh, now you want to run." Mirko easily caught up.

Shine started laughing even as she grabbed her arm to smack her. "That was just too easy."

"Why, you little--" Mirko was mad.

"You're so easy to provoke." Shine was still laughing. "Just stop it already. You're embarrassing yourself." 

Mirko shoved her into the wall. "Stop trying to get a reaction out of me."

"Stop reacting, then."

"I'll stop once you've learned some respect."

"Then act respectable."

Before Mirko could say anything else, a door opened down the hall and someone came out.

"Uh, what's going on out here? I heard slamming. If you're going to fight, go do it somewhere else. It's my break," the woman of average height, wearing normal clothes, and not with the bearing of a Pro said to them bluntly. Then, "What? You're adults? Wow, that's even sadder."

"Who the frick are you?" Mirko frowned.

"Oh...uh, the new counselor," the woman said.

Shine held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Shine Likstar... I heard about you from the class.... Uh...a few people cried."

"Midoriya?" the counselor said.

"Midoriya," Shine said, "And Todoroki told me you played this song called Daddy Issues to him...and you called Bakugo a...thing."

"Wow, they really just b-----ed about everything," the woman said frankly, then, "Oops...uh I  mean, they had some feelings about our sessions."

"I must say playing a song to a student is a nice touch, but insulting Bakugo seems a bit unkind," Shine said, protectively.

"Oh, come on, kid had it coming," the counselor said, "Anyways...name's Cece, but most people just call me Miss Counselor."

"I'll call you Cece. I can't take that name seriously," Shine said, "And people who are nice to me call me Shine."

"No...hero name?" Cece said.

"I'm not a hero," Shine said, "I'm a supervisor... You probably recognized Mirko, right?"

She didn't want to be rude.

Mirko just barely nodded at the counselor. This conversation was boring her.

"Oh, the Rabbit Hero. Yeah, I know who she is." Cece eyed her. "You are shorter in person." 

Mirko was 5'2". Cece was at least 5 inches taller, and Shine was taller than them both, though the Pro's ears made her look taller.

She also was sore about the height thing and glared at Cece. "Piss off."

"Sorry," Cece said, "My quirk's Brutal Honesty. I have to tell the truth all the time."

"Nice. I don't have a quirk," Shine said, "So you have to be 100% honest?"

"Well, I also get a psychological read on people by using it," Cece said.

"Ah, a tradeoff-- you have to be transparent in order to make other people that way. How true to life," Shine said, "And you are easily the most terrifying person I've met since coming here."

Mirko didn't see why it was so scary. So she was basically Pinocchio, so what?

But Cece regarded Shine with some interest. "You're not lying," she noted.

"Nope," Shine said, "I am also very honest...maybe too much so sometimes, so I know it's scary. Sorry if that was too personal a statement."

"No, no, I took it as compliment actually." Cece seemed smug. "A lot of people don't realize how threatening I am. I mean, if I was a villain, seriously, it'd be terrifying."

"Oh, don't say that to these students. They will throw a fit," Shine said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I just bet they would, especially Iida," Cece said, "Hmm, by the way, does his brother ever visit...? Oops." She covered her mouth.

Shine pretended not to notice. "He did once. Nice guy."

"He's hot, right?" Cece said.

"I can't really say. I have a boyfriend, but he seemed pretty cute," Shine said.

"I'm done with this." Mirko turned and walked away.

"Rumi, wait," Shine called, then, "I'd love to talk more sometime, Cece. If you want insider insight on these kids, I've been observing them for months now. I could tell you some stuff. I get to see a lot the teachers don't."

"I would take advantage of that 100%, shamelessly," Cece said. "Anything to make this stupid job easier."

"Isn't it your first day?"

"I can already tell what kind of work environment this is going to be. This fricking school is insane." Cece rolled her eyes.

"Girl, we will talk," Shine promised, "Later." She ran after Mirko.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I shouldn't have said it."

"I don't care. It doesn't matter," Rumi said, "I think you should stop following me around, though. This was a fun, little experiment, but I prefer to hunt down the League on my own from now on."

"Are you...serious?" Shine stopped.

Mirko looked at her. "Yeah, I'm serious. Your involvement is dangerous, and it's messing it up."

"You went off alone. I wasn't going to scold you, because I thought you'd have learned your lesson, but are you actually saying the problem is me?" Shine was incredulous.

"Yeah, it is. I never had a problem before. Your little deal making is making stuff weird," Mirko said.

Shine glared at her. Then she stepped closer, looking down at her pointedly. "You're delusional."

"See? That's why I don't need this," Mirko said, "We don't agree on anything, and you think I'm a b---- anway, and I think you're a fool. You can't even call that friendship, and I never asked for it. Don't act so entitled."

Shine laughed oddly. "Oh, you're calling me entitled?"

"Yeah, like I owe you or something, but I don't," Mirko said tightly, "So leave me alone. And stop getting in the way."

"And you'll what? Go hunting them on your own again?" Shine said, "They let you live once, Princess, you think they'll be as nice a second time? My influence can't protect you if you go looking for trouble."

That was the wrong thing to say. Mirko didn't care that Cece had followed to see how this played out.

She smacked Shine hard enough to send her to the ground despite her height advantage.

Shine looked up at her, and her eyes flashed fire with a look that a wild cat might get, then she jumped up much faster than expected and shoved Mirko back with surprising force. Mirko braced herself and didn't fall. "Are you serious?"

Then Shine slapped her.

Her eyes widened and she rubbed her face.

"That was for all the times before," Shine said angrily, "and what you just did. Stop being such a bully. What is your problem?"

"What is yours?" Mirko shot back, "And I could level you in seconds."

"Oh, I dare you try to try, sis." Shine's eyes snapped fire.

"Ooh," Cece muttered.

"You think I need you?" Mirko spat.

"I think you're crazy!" Shine shot back, "But so help me, I'll come bail your rear end out of you insist on going off and doing stuff like that. So just know, I'll be following you if you try something stupid again. And you'll just have to live with that, because I'm not going to back off just because you smacked me. And I won't take that kind of treatment anymore. I let you off a few times because you were upset, but that's it. Take out your anger a different way. Next time you hit me, I'll toss you into the pool to cool you off. I don't give a crap! Got it? Dignity be danged."

"Go to h---!" Mirko yelled at her angrily.

"Don't tell me to do that," Shine said, "I've been too close to it before, and it was horrible. Are you allergic to people being concerned about you or something?"

"Don't act like you know me," Mirko said, "A few weeks is nothing. I've never liked you anyway."

That was not fully true, Cece could tell, but she was too angry to think straight.

Shine didn't seem to care. "Well, I liked you, but I don't know anymore. You're acting so...harsh. Like a spoiled child. I don't know. Maybe the fame's gone to your head. It's so hard to feel comfortable around you top Pros."

Cece nodded vehemently.

"Then stop hanging around us!" Mirko said, "Like we need you to tell us how to live anyway? Who died and made you judge?"

"God," Shine said.

Silence.

"What...?" Mirko blanked.

"The Word says one day we will judge the world, even angels," Shine said casually, "You asked who died to make me a judge-- it was the Son of God...but that's a long way away. I'm not that holy yet. Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

Mirko really...had no way to respond to that. It was too weird.

But it had killed the tension pretty effectively.

Shine sighed. "I can't reason with you. I have ways to work around it if you don't listen to me. I will if I have to... Don't make me do that, please."

"Are you threatening me?!"

"Does it occur to you you might endanger more people than just yourself if you ignore? You idiot," Shine snapped, losing her cool again, "I'm not just thinking of you. Try it sometime. Good bye." She stalked away.

"Oh s---," Cece muttered, before dashing away so she couldn't be chewed out.

Mirko stomped off the other way.

[Yeah, I included a counselor tik tok OC in this story, why the heck not? I love that series and I wish it was canon. Character is not mine. Original creator is Morallygreyismyfavoritecolor on tik tok.]

* * *

Mirko stewed for days after that. [Yeah, like a rabbit.] But felt no better about it. She vowed never to talk to Likstar again. This was too much of a distraction. But she did want to know how Hawks was mixed up in this.

But he wouldn't tell her when she asked. He just said it was classified.

That made her more suspicious than ever. But there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it.

* * *

After all that drama, Shine needed a break.

The kids were busy with school and their new therapy sessions. Some of them were upset about it, and some thought it was fun.

Bakugo told Shine he'd be the best at therapy.

"So you like Cece, then?" Shine said.

"No," Bakugo said. But he did. "I'm just gonna surpass her to be the mentally strongest."

"I hope you remember that mental strength is a fickle thing," Shine said, "and hard to measure. It's good to deal with the past, but therapy only got me so far. You have to have something to build off of too. Therapy works best for people with a philosophy or theology of life, I think."

"And you have that?" Bakugo said.

"Yeah, I do," Shine said.

"Then you can teach me that, and I'll surpass everyone else," Bakugo said.

"I can't teach you to believe something. You have to believe it for yourself," Shine waved him off, "That whole 'parents teach their kids to believe stuff' isn't wholly true. Kids believe what their parents believe while they trust their parents, but if that trust is shattered later in life, the kid has to choose whether they really believe what they were told. I didn't lose my faith when I ceased to trust my parents, because it was bigger than them...but many people I knew did. We don't even realize how much we believe in out of trust. That's kind of dangerous. And lazy. I'm not here to do your thinking for you, Katsuki."

"I freaking know that, moron!" Bakugo snapped, "I can think for myself. And I want you to teach me the d--- philosopy."

"Why?" Shine pressed him.

Bakugo scowled at the floor. "Because...nothing ever breaks you. I want to be like that."

"Oh, Katsuki, you don't understand at all," Shine said sadly, "I've been broken many times... What I have puts me back together and heals me. Makes me stronger than ever. But not unbreakable. I can be shaken, but God cannot. If your goal is to go through life as invincible, I have nothing to offer you. Neither does God, for that matter. I can't teach you that."

"Whatever then," Bakugo said, "It's all the same thing."

"No, it's not. I won't help you become the strongest. I'm afraid that would destroy you," Shine said, "You remember? Strength is weakness. I'd have you become a little weaker first...and until you're willing to do that, I'd say neither therapy nor philosophy will do much for you. Humility is where it all starts. You think about that before you ask me again." She walked away from him.

Bakugo shook his head, puzzled.

[Often I am not sure whether people will find Shine's constant mentions of her faith annoying or intriguing, as I've met both in real life, but it is my best effort to portray it as I've seen it myself. I think characters of faith are written really badly for the most part in shows and movies, and not treated as capable of thought, rationality, or human feelings. I've known very intelligent people of faith, and I wanted to be true to that when I wrote Shine's character. I can only hope it comes off the right way, as it will depend on someone's experience, I think, how it reads to them. I can't do much about that.]

* * *

About a week and a half after Cece's arrival, the students had a holiday for part of the day and got to skip hero training so they could attend a festival. Shine and Wally were going to get the day off too, and Shine was all set to finally attend a festival in Japan.

All the girls in class were happy to grill her in the etiquette and customs around it. And Ochaco and Tohru especially told her to eat the food.

[If you've seen the Ennichi festival CD Drama, you get it.]

It also seemed some of the students were finally taking the opportunity to pair up, unofficially. Mina asked all the guys she was sure the girls had a crush on to join their party.

Kendo told Momo over lunch that she and Tetsutetsu were going together. Just for fun. Not like a date.

Momo wasn't so sure Kendo really believed that.

"Most of our class paired up though," Kendo told Momo, "but Ibara and Monama didn't... Monoma says he's going with his family-- probably can't get anyone else to go with him...but I feel bad that Ibara'll be by herself. Is there anyone in your class she can go with? Preferably someone who will be okay with it if she doesn't want to do all the traditional shrine stuff. You know she's got a diffrerent religion than us, so I think she's just doing the neutral stuff. Or she might not go at all because of that."

"Does she want to?" Momo said.

"Well, it beats being alone at the dorms. I think she won't want to miss out," Kendo said.

"You know, I think some of the boys are going as a group. I'll ask them," Momo said.

Those boys would be Iida, Shoji, and Sato. They agreed to let Ibara come with them. Iida insisted it was only chivalrous.

After getting ready, everyone went out together. The city's downtown area was decked out with lights and decor.

People were all wearing Yukatas or other traditional clothes. Some wore masks. [Don't ask me what specific festival it was. There's so many.]

There'd be fireworks later too.

Momo was excited. Finally, a normal holiday break from school. 

The group Mina had gathered split different ways to do different activities, agreeing to meet back up for the fireworks later.

Momo and Todoroki were left alone, as the only ones without much idea what they wanted to do.

"Should we try food? Games?" Momo still felt kind of guilty about this. What would her mom think? Her parents were off on a business trip again, but she felt somehow they'd catch her anyway.

Todoroki was secretly just hoping he didn't run into his dad while they were out. Endeavor had mentioned he might patrol around the festival area. But his two siblings were going to be out, probably not in this city, though.

"I don't really care. You pick," he said aloud.

"Well...I guess the games could be fun... I'm sure they're harmless, right?"

"I...suppose..."

After they'd walked for awhile, Todoroki said, "Uh...Yaoyurozu, this might be a bit of an impertinent question--"

If he thought so, it must be really personal, Momo thought nervously.

"--but you don't seem as happy to do this as I would expect. Do you not like festivals after all?"

"Huh? Oh no, I had had a lot of fun last time." Momo reddened. "It's...uh...just that I'm not sure my mother would approve. She thinks the festival is a waste of time."

"Oh." Todoroki wondered if his mom thought so... He didn't think she'd feel that way. But His father never let him go anyway.

"What about you? You weren't sure before whether you liked or disliked it," Momo said.

"I liked going to it with you," Todoroki stated, completely straight faced, "I guess I don't really care much what I'm doing. It's just nice to have friends."

Momo flushed more. "Oh...I feel kind of bad you got stuck with me, then, and not Iida and Midoriya."

"Why?"

"Um...because then you'd be around more friends," Momo said nervously. 

"I don't know if that matters," Todoroki shrugged, "Anyway, Iida wasn't in our group. I don't know why Ashido insisted we come with her if everyone was going to split up anyway."

Momo couldn't exactly tell him it was because Mina was a shipper.

"And Uraraka and Midoriya seemed to want to go get food, and I didn't really know if I wanted to yet," Todoroki shrugged again, "So I don't mind."

Momo suspected it was really Ochaco who wanted to go get food, and Midoriya just went along with it.

"Well, okay then. I guess games it is," she brightened, "I think there's something where you can capture a  fish. I've always wanted to try that."

"All right."

So they did.

[I feel like this is their ship song ever since I saw an AMV to it, just fits somehow]

* * * 

Mina's plan was working perfectly, and the best part was she got to hang with Kirishima...and Kaminari and Jiro, because Jiro wouldn't have gone off alone with a boy for money or free band tickets.

Kirishima and Kaminari mostly wanted to talk about their favorite Pro heroes and games and stuff. Mina and Jiro didn't have a whole lot in common outside of school, so they weren't sure what to talk about.

Finally, they wandered into a carnival section of the city. It was decked out all nice too. "Let's go on rides," Mina said.

"Oh, yeah that's a good idea. Maybe they have a rock wall," Kirishima said.

"Only you would want to do that when we're trying to have fun," Mina said.

"Yeah, I get enough of that in training, man," Kaminari agreed, "Where'd Bakugo go? Wasn't he following us?"

"Eh, shoot, maybe he got lost in the crowd," Kirishima said, "He probably didn't want to hang out with us anyway, knowing him."

"Yeah, well, he never does, right?" Jiro said, "Sometimes I think he hates all of us."

"Only sometimes? Wow, Jiro, he must have lightened up since last year," Kaminari joked.

"Yeah," Jiro snorted.

"Well...I want to do the Ferris Wheel," Mina said, "Who wants to join me?"

"Sure," Kirishima said.

"Eh, no, those things make me kind of dizzy." Jiro tugged her earjack. 

"Yeah, I'll stay down here with Jiro. I don't know if I want to go up that high," Kaminari agreed.

"Where's your guys's sense of adventure?" Kirishima said.

"Yeah, it'll be fun-- a real rush," Mina said.

"You guys go on," Jiro said.

Hmm, so Jiro could do her a girl solid, Mina thought. She nodded and they went off.

"I wish Bakugo had come though. He shouldn't be off alone," Kirishima said. 

"But I'm sure he's fine," Mina said, "Just text him."

"He didn't answer."

"Oh...maybe we'll see him from up there, then."

"Maybe," Kirishima brightened. He was so cute.

They got on the Wheel, and soared up. Mina gripped the rail. "I guess it is a bit of a rush after all."

"This is awesome!" Kirishima said, "I actually never went on one of these before."

"What, really? Even on that class trip we went on in Middle School?"

"I was always too nervous. I was so chicken back then," Kirishima said.

"You always say that," Mina snorted, "I don't think you were any more chicken than anyone else."

"No, I was. I was a coward," Kirishima said, "You were so much better than me... I was kind of jealous... Hero stuff just comes so easy to you...but then I thought maybe I should just use it for inspiration, you know? Since we both got into UA...but I have been meaning to apologize. I feel like I was a little weird that first day."

Mina laughed. "Eh, I already forgot about it. You were though."

Kirishima reddened. "Oh..."

"Eh, it's all in the past. No worries." Mina lightly punched his arm. "Anyway, it's cute, trying so hard...kind of clueless. I mean, I just think it's a no brainer. You do what you gotta do."

"I wish it was that easy..."

"But it is that easy. I think you just think about wanting to be a hero so much, you don't even realize that you're the most heroic when you're not thinking about yourself and just doing something," Mina said, hitting upon some wisdom even her teachers wouldn't have been able to say, "Like, you just stop thinking about what you'd do if you were a hero and just do what you do... That's how I think of it, only I don't think of it."

"So that's what you meant by get over myself, huh?" Kirishima frowned.

"Oh gosh, you remembered that. That was so...cheesy," Mina said.

"No it wasn't. I think it was good advice. I just didn't get it," Kirishima said.

"Yeah, you're kind of slow on the uptake," Mina teased.

"Hey!"

"That's fine. You still have better grades than me, so I'm not one to talk," Mina waved him off.

"Barely..." Kirishima muttered.

"So did you get over yourself?" Mina asked, meaning it as a joke.

"I think I'm getting closer," Kirishima said, taking it seriously, "Maybe I do think too much... Never thought I'd say that. Bakugo said something about it too--not putting myself down so much."

"Well, he never does put himself down, and he's the head of the class...so maybe there's something in that, and look at me, I never trash talk myself," Mina said.

"True...I just feel like I have to. I don't know why," Kirishima said.

"I have the perfect solution for you, then," Mina said.

"What?"

"Just don't do it."

"Huh?"

"Just don't when you want to. Just mentally punch yourself. That should do the trick, easy peasy," Mina pronounced.

"You think that would work?"

"Couldn't hurt to try," Mina said.

"Oh...okay," Kirishima smiled goofily.

They shot down from the top of the wheel right then, and Mina felt like the bottom fell out of her stomach. She grabbed Kirishima's arm on impulse. "Oh, sorry."

"It's fine. That's what heroes do, right?" Kirishima played it cool.

"Yeah, right," Mina smiled brightly. Phew, he didn't take it the wrong way. That was close.

[Obligatory two idiots comment.]

[seems to fit them]