Being back at school was much nicer than Naoko anticipated, she had been in the hospital for around three days; honestly, it wasn't that much, but it was enough to almost make her go insane with being inside most of the time. Unfortunately, the doctors couldn't completely heal the damage her quirk did to her body, something about it being healthier for her to heal naturally.

The fact that she was back already was something to be shocked about in and of itself when the extent of her injuries was taken into consideration. Apparently, Naoko had done damage to all her major organs, reopened scar tissue, and even fractured a few bones because of the strain her body was under. If the doctors knew she was up, they would probably send her back to bed immediately, though Hasame knew better than to try and force the issue at this point.

Yes, things were going great... Well, mostly, "No means no, Miss Fujimura." A frustrated groan followed that pronouncement, Both Recovery Girl and Naoko stood in the infirmary, facing off with arms folded, irritation evident, "Do you even understand the amount of strain your body was put through at the UFC? It's a miracle you're alive, let alone out of bed and at school. If you use your quirk there could be permanent damage right now, so no quirk usage, period the end."

Naoko groaned again, her shoulders were drooped in defeat though her eyes were still pleading, "But, what am I supposed to do in class if I can't use my quirk, I'll be the only one sitting off to the side. Can't you just use your quirk and heal me the rest of the way? My stamina's fine, it wouldn't hurt me, I promise." At this point, Naoko was willing to get down on all fours to beg if it meant Recovery Girl would help her.

Recovery Girl stared at Naoko for a long moment before chuckling and shaking her head looking fondly at the girl, "So stubborn, you remind me of another pig-headed hero who was determined to get what he wanted." Naoko read that and smiled widely, this was it, she would be fixed and this whole incident would be put behind her, "However," Wait... No... Naoko's hopes were crushed as Recovery Girl continued talking, "You can't sway me on this; if you use your quirk at all I will call the hospital and tell them that you got out of bed a full week sooner than was discussed. That is my final decision."

The color drained from Naoko, and she slowly dropped to the ground, whining softly as Recovery Girl turned and walked away... Banned from using her quirk... this was only a small step above torture.

***

As Naoko walked into the room, the whole class turned towards her and gaped, perhaps it shouldn't have surprised them that Naoko was already back, seeing as how Aizawa had shown up covered in bandages the day before, but still. For some people, like Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugou, all of whom had seen the severity of her injuries, seeing her was difficult, and even a little intimidating... Though they would never admit it.

She ignored everyone, choosing instead to readjust her earbuds, despite the fact that her ears were both completely swathed in bandages. The wince that followed wasn't missed by the more perceptive of the class, it was obvious she was still in pain, she was just far too stubborn to back down no matter what.

No matter what, she had to be strong, for Hasame, for Rei, and even for the rest of her classmates. She was strong, so this little speed bump wouldn't take her down for long.

Despite her efforts to avoid it, Naoko could feel the eyes that were converging on her, no doubt there were several people attempting to get her attention, but she had the advantage over them. One may say that her advantage was that she couldn't hear them trying to get her attention, which was partially true, that helped a lot. However, the real reason Naoko had an advantage over everyone else was that she simply didn't care.

Feeling the pulsing beat against her new eardrums was on the border between painful and calming, so Naoko chose to completely zone out as she had learned to do over the years until Aizawa came in, but even then, she still was only slightly there mentally.

As she looked up blearily to see Aizawa, an irritated, and much louder than intended groan burst out of her before she dropped her head back to the desk with an audible thunk. Of course, she had forgotten that Aizawa was now more of a mummy than he normally would be... This would be a major pain and if she could, Naoko would go talk to the principal to ask for a temporary transfer, but now that she was sitting down, the idea of getting back up seemed to be impossibly difficult.

Instead, Naoko did the next best thing... She pulled out her phone, clicked on the notepad function, and activated text-to-speech. Paying attention was nearly impossible at this point, so she'd just have to let technology pay attention to her.

Honestly though, her other option was to go home and lose to Hasame, who would be unbearably smug if she knew Naoko had come home because school was a bit much for right now. Naoko certainly wasn't always competitive, but when she was, she would do whatever it took to win, no matter the cost.

By the time lunch came around, most people gave up trying to wake the girl, who seemed to be dead to the world, and therefore had missed the announcement of the sports festival. Not that she cared. Sleep was far more important than trying to muster up the energy to care about class. In fact, it seemed that both she and Aizawa had similar ideas when it came to that, as Aizawa slept through most of homeroom, giving the conscious students time to 'finish up on homework', meaning that he didn't give a crap about what they did.

The only thing that roused Naoko from her sleep was the smell of food. Delicious smelling onigiri were placed in front of the girl, causing her nose to twitch and a small amount of drool to begin making its way down her cheek.

No one was around when this happened and the red and white haired boy who had bought the food watched Naoko softly at the change in her demeanor. She appeared to be so harsh normally, so seeing a different side to her was fascinating.

He sat in the desk in front of her as he waited for the smell of food to rouse her from her sleep, he couldn't forget that he needed to talk to her about how she had been looking at him and about what really happened during the USJ incident. Todoroki was nothing if not patient, so he was determined to get the information he wanted out of her, no matter how long it took.

Slowly, Naoko opened her eyes, only to wince harshly at the pain that was her body... Now that she had been sitting for a while, her muscles had time to tense back up, and the position she had been sleeping in wasn't doing her any favors. Thankfully, some god from heaven above had benevolently decided to bless her by placing food before her, which was enough for Naoko's eyes to light up.

She carefully reached forward to grip the blessed food before she noticed the boy sitting in front of her, amusement dancing in his eyes as he watched the way she reacted to food, "Todoroki," She said, forcing herself to sit upright, wincing as she felt her entire back crack when she did, "What time is it?"

"Lunch," His answer was short and sweet, but that was okay because lunch meant food, and food was referring to the delicious offering in front of her.

"Oh," She raised the onigiri in her hand slightly, drawing attention to it, "Would it be okay for me to assume that these are for me then?"

Todoroki nodded, "Yes, however they come with a catch," He said seriously, which intrigued Naoko, who was thanking her lucky stars that she hadn't just chowed into the delicious bits of rice and plum, "You can eat them as long as you answer my questions."

Slowly, Naoko put the onigiri down as she thought about that... It wasn't like she had a ton to hide (haha, wait, did she really just think that? She could hide the Titanic in all the things she was trying to hide), but there were things that she just didn't feel comfortable telling someone she had barely known for a few weeks, especially since several of the things he was likely to ask her about weren't hers to tell without permission.

Naoko sighed slightly, rubbing her temple as she stared at him. Todoroki, meanwhile, was rather disconcerted by this and began to shift awkwardly in his seat.

"Feel free to ask," Naoko said, the monotone quality of her voice seeming even more prominent at that moment, "But I can't guarantee that I'll answer, you know."

Her answer caught Todoroki off guard, but eventually, he nodded and gestured back to the Onigiri, "Very well then, I won't push you too much for now, but please at least try to give me some form of an answer."

They stared at each other for a moment before nodding simultaneously, coming to an agreement, "First things first," Todoroki descended into business mode as he linked his fingers together atop the desk professionally, "This one is one that I'm sure that I know the answer to, but I would like to ask anyways; are you deaf?"

Naoko took her time to answer him, she hated that he seemed so matter of fact about it; possibly Bakahoe and now Todoroki? How many people would find out about her infirmity, she thought she had disguised it pretty well! "Yes," She grumbled out, "And just to stop the question I can see in your eyes, I can read lips just fine, so it isn't really that much of an impediment, it just means that I have to work a bit harder than others do."

Quickly, before he could ask her another personal question, Naoko shoved half of the first onigiri into her mouth, making sure that there was no possible way she would be able to talk for several seconds, at least. Todoroki, ever the gentleman, sat quietly as she chewed, thinking over that little bit of information.

"I suppose it makes sense that you stopped paying attention as soon as you saw Aizawa's full body covering then," He mused, watching her thoughtfully before he asked his next question, "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you lose your hearing? You are able to enunciate well, so I can only assume that you haven't been deaf your whole life."

She scowled slightly at his question, it was natural for him to be curious, but this is where she drew a line, "It was a villain attack, I was crushed." She said this simply but raised her hand before he could continue talking, "That's all I'm going to say about that, please go to a different line of questioning."

Todoroki stared at her slightly before nodding, he understood having things in life that he refused to be aired for the world to see. This was something that was obviously tragic to Naoko, so he could understand where she was coming from, "I see, in that case, would you please tell me why you always seem to watch me as though you know more about me than you're letting on?"

That caught Naoko off guard. Had she really been doing that? Yeah, she watched him on their first day, but she really didn't think that she had been that obvious... Oops, "Oh, well," She stammered slightly. If she could, she would use this moment to tell him all about his mother, but before she could, Rei's face appeared in her mind. Todoroki could hate her for all she cared, her allegiance lied with Rei-sama, and Rei-sama had already asked Naoko not to say anything to her son...

"Sorry, Todoroki, I can't," She said finally, sighing slightly, she had faith that eventually those two would be reunited, but she just couldn't go against her friend's wishes, "It's not my place to say, though I'm sure that eventually, you'll understand."

Honestly? Todoroki had been expecting that; they almost never spoke in class, or ever, so he could hardly expect her to tell him something so personal. The fact that she was telling him anything was a bit incredible when he thought about it, "Very well," He said, disappointment lacing his tone that he now realized Naoko had no clue of, which was odd to think about, "I only have one more question, what exactly happened at the US-"

Before he could finish his statement, Naoko had practically lunged across the desk to cover his mouth with her hands. They were slightly sticky from holding the onigiri, but Todoroki would have to have been a fool to not notice the way she was trembling. It wasn't extreme, but it was there, which gave him even more cause to worry.

"Don't..." Naoko said, her usually loud voice hushed as she looked him in the eyes, "Please don't pry into that, its... It's not something anyone needs to know."

Without another word, Naoko stood and walked from the room, leaving her bags, and even the onigiri that she had seemed so excited about behind, leaving Todoroki to stare after her with even more concern than was there originally.

***

Naoko walked to the roof after a brief stop at the restroom. She was shaking like a leaf, but her nerves felt far calmer than they had after speaking with Todoroki. Yeah, she should probably feel ashamed for being so weak, but right now Naoko couldn't bring herself to care.

Immediately, Naoko headed to her favorite part of the roof, a secluded area that was hidden by the large AC system. Not only did it offer protection from social interaction, but there was always a calming vibration here that could lull Naoko to sleep any day. The only plans Naoko had at this point was to stay up here until her alarm went off to signify the final bell, and avoid socializing with anyone else. That was it, and if she hadn't been met by a pair of forever angry red eye, she probably would have succeeded.

"Seriously?" She droned as Bakahoe watched her with hawk-like eyes, "What do you want Bakahoe?"

His eyes twitched slightly in irritation at his nickname, but she didn't give a crap. She had dealt with one questioning session, the last thing she wanted was to deal with another only twenty minutes after the first.

"Fight me," Two words, that was all Bakahoe said, with was all it took to completely confuse Naoko.

Mostly, she was questioning whether or not she read his lips right, perhaps she just hadn't been looking closely enough, that could be it... The two stared at each other, allowing an awkward silence to fill the space, "Um," Naoko started hesitantly, "What?"

Bakahoe pushed off the wall, his stance screaming aggression, which made Naoko's body tense, preparing to run, "You know what I said," His voice was waspish, "Fight me, now. And no holding back either, I need to prove to all the extra's that I'm stronger than you."

Extras? Who were they in this situation? For that matter, why was he so intent on fighting her?

Well, that one was a bit more obvious, Bakahoe was a pretty prideful seeming guy, and Naoko beat him in the entrance exams, plus she purposely slaughtered his name... Yeah, she supposed it made sense that he was targeting her, but still, "No, please go," Naoko moved to the side slightly, gesturing for him to leave.

This didn't seem to be the reaction he was expecting. Bakahoe remained where he was, frozen, staring at her as though she had just spoken a foreign language (Which she totally could have done, just to bug him, but she really wasn't that petty... All the time.).

"What?" She asked, a bit waspishly, "Do you seriously think that I'm in any shape to fight you right now? I thought it would be obvious, seeing as how I'm covered in bandages, or are you too blind to see that?"

Bakugou seemed to have overcome his shock as she spoke, which meant the fire restarted in his eyes, "You've been pushing me all year and you think you can just say no to fighting me right now?"

"All year? Naoko scoffed slightly, as she shook her head in dismay, "You mean the full two weeks? Listen, I couldn't fight you right now, even if I wanted too. I'm banned from using my quirk until I heal more, so fighting me wouldn't prove anything."

Sadly, it didn't seem like that was enough for Bakahoe to leave her alone as he took a rather threatening step forward, "If you can't back up your words, then you really should stop talking shit, you're just making me want to punch you."

Instead of backing down, like every instinct in Naoko was screaming for her to do, she took a step forward, bringing her into spitting range of Bakahoe, "I'm not the one who started this, I was fine to just leave you alone. You're the one who seems to take every little action as a challenge."

Small explosions were beginning to come from Bakahoe's hands as they stared each other down, which should have given Naoko ample reason to just leave, but this was her spot! She just wanted to relax here, so if anyone was going to leave, it would be the explosive hedgehog.

"You really should just go home if you aren't willing to try," Bakahoe growled, his words were being forced out so harshly that Naoko was having a difficult time reading them, "No one wants a weak hero like you. I'm aiming to be number one, if I have to destroy you to prove that I can, then I'll do that happily."

Nope, you know, what, Naoko was done, she didn't want to fight with this idiot, nor did she want to be the number one hero like everyone else was aiming for, "Talk but don't overtalk, Bakahoe," Naoko said quickly, making herself seem as tall as possible so she could look him in the eyes, "You are fighting a battle only you care about, so please leave. I'm not a threat to your precious position, so go away."

As she spoke, she saw a small dash of confusion in Bakahoe's eyes, "Talk.. but don't overtalk?" He said hesitantly, a complete 180 from the anger that he was displaying only a second before, "You really must be an idiot if you aren't even able to talk properly."

Naoko looked at him curiously, what was he talking about? Talk but don't overtalk; that made perfect sense... In Russian... Shoot.

A small blush stole across Naoko's cheeks as she realized that she really had misspoken, but Bakahow continued, "Beating you in this condition would mean nothing I guess, just stay out of my way." He brushed past her, causing her to stumble as he left the roof abruptly, leaving Naoko to stare at where he had been with both confusion and embarrassment.

"What an odd boy," She mused, allowing her fingers to move to her wrist and gently rub the sensitive skin that was newly hidden by her sweatbands. He was someone that she couldn't get a read on. One minute, he was actually being a bit considerate, and the next he was threatening her... How odd.

Carefully, she moved to lie on the ground by the large AC unit that was rumbling away, as always, allowing the vibrations to lull her into a light doze until school ended.