“I heard some kids from his school talking about how they saw Y/n and that guy somewhere, so I snuck along, and he had her pinned down on her back sitting on top of her!!! He was totally hitting on her!!” Sero tells your classmates. “He was straddling her and leaning in all close!!”

“Shhh!!!!!” You hush him in embarrassment.

Bakugou glares. “What the fuck?!”

“Honestly!! We were fighting!!” You try to defend yourself.

“I wouldn't call it much of a fight.” Shindo's voice comes from behind you, and he rests his elbow on your shoulder. “Now why are you wearing a helmet in here...? I thought I told you it was a pity to hide that pretty face.”

Your face explodes with steam, and you struggle not to cough and expose yourself as you jump in surprise. Waving your hands in front of you, you step back and try to respond. Due to your embarrassment, all that comes out is a string of stammering. Shindo laughs, enjoying seeing you so obviously flustered. The boys in your class however... Not so much.

“I thought I told you to quit hitting on her!!” Sero glares at Shindo and yanks you back. He wraps his arm around your shoulders. “Go hit on girls from your own school.”

“Nah.” Shindo laughs. “She's way cuter.”

Your helmet is beginning to become too hot to keep on, and it's impossible to see clearly with all of the steam filling it.

Before a brawl can commence, the other students from Ketsubutsu Academy come to pull Shindo away. Your helmet clears just enough for you to catch him winking at you as he's dragged away, and it immediately steams up again.

“Just what the hell is wrong with that guy?!” Sero glares at him. “Ouch!! Why is your helmet so hot?!”

“Y/n.” Kaminari steps towards you. “Take your helmet off.” You shake your head violently from side to side.

“For once I agree with Dunce Face.” Bakugou frowns, remembering how your face steamed up in embarrassment with him, and is jealous over the fact that you most likely just did the same for Shindo. “Take it off.”

“Yeah, take your helmet off.” Sero frowns. “Why are you hiding your face?!”

“N-No reason!! I'm not hiding!! I just... I’m embarrassed by my hair! It's all messy!!!” You hold on to your helmet, preventing the boys from removing it. Bakugou and Todoroki glare into the back of Shindo's skull, and he turns around to watch the commotion, snickering.

“Don't tell me you seriously fell for his flirting?!!” Kaminari yells, and you want to fall into another hole, this time to die.

“Shh... You're embarrassing Y/n!” Momo says, shooing the boys away from you.

Jiro laughs beside her. “Looks like that Shinso guy in 1C has competition now!”

“What's that supposed to mean?!” Kaminari asks.

“I keep telling you guys, there's nothing going on between us!!” You say. Bakugou's eyes narrow as he remembers Shinso coming by to help you with your unpacking. Hearing that the girls think there's something going on between you and your friend doesn't improve his mood in the slightest. The same goes for Todoroki and the other boys.

“Y/n just has a thing for guys with fluffy hair, huh?” Jiro laughs. Shindo hears from across the room, and chuckles as he runs a hand through his hair. Everyone in your class turns to Midoriya as Jiro mentions fluffy hair, and looks between him and you. “That or guys whose names go Shin-something-o.” She laughs. “Why are they so similar??”

“I don't!!!”

“Now, now. It's normal to get crushes. There's no need to be embarrassed, Y/n.” Momo pats your shoulder, trying to help you feel better and failing miserably.

“Not again, Yaomomo!!” You put your hands over your cheeks on your helmet, even though your classmates can't see your face through the cover. “Honestly, I don't have a crush on Hitoshi! He's my best friend!!”

The boys seem to be satisfied with your answer, until Jiro laughs. “You didn't deny crushing on the Shindo guy from Ketsubutsu!”

“Shhh!!!!” You jump at Jiro, trying to cover her mouth, which makes her laugh harder. You can see Shindo staring at you with a giant smirk on his face with his classmates, which makes you even more embarrassed as you shush her.

“Alright, alright! Get off of me!” Jiro laughs and gives in.

Trying to distract everyone from your embarrassment, you turn to Midoriya and point a finger at him. “Everyone's all over me, but what about you?!” Midoriya jumps in surprise.

“Me?!” He points at himself.

“Yeah! That girl from Shiketsu was totally naked with you!!” Everyone falls for your distraction, and you breathe a heavy sigh of relief as they target Midoriya instead.

“What?!!”

The chaos continues for another minute when Mera interrupts. “Two more! Eight left now! Seven! Five! One after another!! UA is completely dominating in these final moments! They're securing their wins with vicious combo moves! It's finally over!! I can take a break! One hundred of you have successfully passed, including everyone from UA this year! We're done!! Finished!!! Hahh!!!” Mera lets out a long, happy sigh of relief. “On a less uplifting note, could those of you who failed please proceed to the exit?”

“This is so great!!! Our entire class passed the first round!!” Everyone cheers. The remainder of your class makes their way into the building, and you give them a thumbs up.

“I'm going to go run to the bathroom.” You tell Uraraka. She nods and waves you off. When you step inside, you make sure no one follows you in, and slowly remove your helmet. It was a little difficult seeing your way there with all of the steam in it, but you managed to do it. It floods out of your helmet in a cloud, and your face is sticky with sweat and condensation, not to mention all red. Your hair looks atrocious. “Jeez...” You sigh and turn the tap on to wash the tear on your hand as well as your face. The bleeding has stopped, but you still give it a good scrub and wrap it in fresh gauze. Once you've somewhat fixed your hair and returned your face to its normal shade, you step out into the main room again. “Oh, I forgot about the targets...” Walking over to the corner Momo had pointed to earlier, you place your ball bag on the shelf and look for the key to remove the targets.

“Looking for this?” You turn around to see Shindo holding up the key you need and leaning against a shelf.

“Ah! Yes... Please...” You fiddle with your helmet in your hands.

Shindo notices you cleaned and wrapped your hand, and reaches for your wrist, gently pulling your hand towards him. “How's your hand doing? Did your quirk really tear it apart like that...?” He turns it over to examine it, even though it's covered in gauze. “I thought it was only that other kid from your class. Don't tell me it's a UA thing.”

“N-no... It was because of my quirk, but it doesn't normally do it...” Embarrassed by his casual touch, you struggle to keep your face from heating up again. “I don't know if you heard, but our summer camp was attacked... One of the villains there burned my hands during our fight...” Shindo's eyes widen as you set your helmet down and show him your other palm. He gently traces the scars on it as you continue. “I managed to get away, but I'm still going through physio to use my quirk. I wasn't supposed to be generating any water from my hands today, but I wasn't thinking...”

“So... You're doing the exam with a handicap?” He asks you.

“Yeah... I may not ever be able to generate water like I did before, like what you saw in the sports festival...”

Shindo frowns. “That's tough... I'm sorry you had to use your quirk like that to help me.”

Surprised by his sudden attitude change, you try to reassure him that it's fine. “No, it was my fault! I could have just used the water in the air or on the ground, but I wasn't thinking and acted rashly! Really, I'm fine!” You smile.

Shindo looks down at you, staring for a moment before he grins. “You know, you really are sweet. No wonder all the guys in your class like you.”

“Huh?!” A puff of steam comes from your face, and Shindo laughs.

“Seriously, talk about cute! It's one thing seeing you blush, but totally different when you do that steam thing.” He leans in closer to you to whisper in your ear. “I bet that's why you ran off to the bathroom, huh? Your helmet had to be full of steam. You were bumping into things the entire way there.”

You blush even more and cover your cheeks with your hands, cooling them. “I don't know what you're talking about! Besides, the battle is over! You don't have to keep teasing me...!”

“Who said I was teasing?” He raises an eyebrow at you. “I mean it. You're really cute. A girl as beautiful as you should be used to compliments.”

“I...!” Embarrassed, you don't know what to say.

“Don't tell me... None of those guys ever compliment you?” He looks down at you, surprised. “What a shame... And they're the ones who get to spend every day with you...”

“I-I... I should get back to my classmates...!” You stammer.

“Don't you still need this?” Shindo holds up the target key.

“Ah, I almost forgot!” You try to take it from him, but he holds it up above your head.

“I'll give it to you... If you admit you’re attracted to me.”

Another cloud of steam puffs from your face, and Shindo laughs. “Man, I could watch that all day. Here.” He gently places the key in your good hand and turns to step away. “I don't need to hear it. It's plain as day, written all over that cute face of yours.” He winks at you and walks through the crowd of students to his classmates without another word. 

Flustered with your heart threatening to pound out of your chest, you freeze your cheeks again and quickly remove your targets.

“Jeez... What a flirt...” You softly smile.