The fresh water from the natural hot spring was soothing to the skin and the temperature was perfect. It was a stark contrast to the baths at Shonien's, where the pressure was weak and the water either ice cold or boiling hot with no in between. The rest of the class had abandoned the baths some thirty minutes ago, leaving him with his preferred privacy. He was using what had been the girls' side as the boys had been emptied to be cleaned, given the sheer number of bodies that had used it earlier that evening. Inhaling deeply, the steam helped to dredge up some phlegm that had been stuck in the back of his throat. A small sphere of light encased the mucous and flung it into the woods at the flick of his wrist.

Clearing his throat, (L/N) sank further into the water so it came up to his chin and leaned his head against the edge of the pool. Water trickled down his arm as he brought two fingers up to lightly graze his cheek. He could still feel the warmth of her lips on his skin. Very suddenly, he began to angrily scrub at the spot, dropping his hand back into the water over and over again as if trying to wash away a particularly stubborn stain. Despite his best efforts, the feeling wouldn't go away. The memory of her lips had burned their way into his skin, like she had marked him somehow. Realizing he couldn't wash the feeling of her lips away he instead resorted to angrily slapping the water.

He had hoped he could have made it work. Not friends, but friendly. Don't let her closer but no need to push her away. Why did she have to go and ruin it all by kissing him like that. Making him realize that arm's length would never be an option. There would be no more compromising now. It had been a very pleasant dream, at least. It always was. But he knew that dream well enough to know it wouldn't stay pleasant. Dreams always ended in a painful return to reality, better to wake up now.

Reaching up, he grabbed the front of his blindfold and gently pulled on it. The fabric loosened its grip around his eyes and slowly unraveled in his hand. Carefully setting it aside, he pooled a small amount of water in his hands and slowly dripped it over the scars. He repeated the action several times, loose flakes of dead skin dripping down his face and floating away in the water. With pruned fingers he lightly swiped at the corner of his eyes and brushed outwards, bringing with it more dead skin. After a few minutes all that was left was the glossy shine of red, wrinkled scar tissue. The sound of a slight gasp had him quicky replacing the fabric over his eyes.

The sound of Yaoyorozu's voice followed soon after in the form of a stuttered apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in here, I swear." She panicked.

Of course, it was her. "What do you want?" He asked coldly.

"I, uh... I think I left my scrunchie by the bath." She said, and from the sound of her voice he could tell she had her back to him. "But I'll just come back later."

"It's fine." He said. "I was just leaving."

Quickly wrapping a towel around his waist, (L/N) made quick to leave before she got it in her mind to strike up another conversation, but alas.

"A-About earlier." She started. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I shouldn't have..."

"It's fine. You should just forget it." He said firmly.

She shook her head, intent on apologizing. "You shouldn't excuse my behavior. It was inappropriate and..."

"Drop it." He said loudly.

She took a nervous step back, startled by the harshness in his voice. "Right." She said quietly. "Um, good night." Forgetting what she'd come for, she hugged her shoulders and hurriedly made her way back inside.

[My Hero Academia]

The entire building was roused at 4:30 the next morning. Apparently Kaminari and Kirishima had filled Bakugou's hand with shaving cream while he slept and tickled his nose until he smacked himself in the face. Squeezing his eyes at the sound of Bakugou's angry yells, (L/N) tore the cap off the bottle of pills and downed three of them, grimacing until the drugs mercifully muffled his senses.

Ignoring the 'good morning' he'd received from Yaoyorozu during breakfast, (L/N) and the rest of Class 1A reported to the clearing behind the building for Aizawa to introduce them to their training. He stalked off to the opposite side of the group as Yaoyorozu drew nearer and pretended to be heavily invested in their teacher's speech so she wouldn't approach. Aizawa then handed each of them a folder with an assessment on their performances last semester and areas they needed to improve upon. After that, they were turned over to The Wild, Wild Pussycats.

"Those of you with operative type quirks will be working with Pixie Bob," Eraser Head informed, "while Tiger takes charge of your strength and conditioning training. (L/N), you'll be working directly under my supervision. Now stop wasting time and get to work."

The class snapped to attention. "Yes, sir!"

As the rest of his peers broke off to begin their training, (L/N) followed Mr. Aizawa down a path that led into the woods.

"I'm sure you're wondering what it is I have in store for you." His teacher said as they trekked deeper into the forest. "Unlike the rest of your classmates, there's no real way for us to increase the fundamental strength of your quirk. Speaking honestly, we wouldn't even know how. But you know as well as I do that in terms of power, you're leagues ahead of your classmates. Instead, your focus this week will be on continuing to improve your level of control."

"Right." (L/N) nodded.

"So far, you've managed to demonstrate a better command over the basics of your quirk, like how much raw power you decide to release, but you're still lacking in areas that require a finer instinct for detail." The path opened into another clearing that had formed near the rocky foot of a tall mountain. "We'll be starting there."

"What do you want me to do here?" (L/N) asked as they came to a stop next to the rock wall of the mountain base.

"Today, you'll be extracting mineral ore from this cliff." Aizawa said, tapping the rock behind him. "Ragdoll informed me that there's a vein of copper that miners have been harvesting for a few months. They've all been sent away for the duration of the camp, but I figured they might like to see some progress has been made while they were away. You're going to use your quirk to delicately chip away the surrounding rock without cutting the ore itself." He explained. "I've also had a geological survey of the area taken to make sure you won't unexpectedly run into any crystalline structures that might reflect your quirk. Dig site is just down this tunnel here." He pointed to a manmade hole in the cliff face that led downwards into the earth. "I'll come check up on you in a few hours. I trust you won't be needing a light."

(L/N) didn't feel the sun again until late that evening. Aizawa had kept him mining for copper all day without rest, save a thirty-minute break when Mandalay dropped off a tray of food at lunchtime. By the time he finally stepped out into the sun again he could actively feel how drained he was. He'd never experienced this kind of exhaustion before. The lack of sleep he got the night prior would have usually been made up for by absorbing energy from the sun but being trapped in a cave all day while using his quirk nonstop had completely drained his battery. He had a feeling that his limited exposure to sunlight during his training hadn't just been a happy coincidence either. Mr. Aizawa knew exactly what he was doing.

"So, Yaomomo." Ashido asked slyly, leaning against the girl during dinner. "You been puttin' the moves on (L/N)?"

"W-What?" The Vice President stuttered, nearly dropping her bowl of curry. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please, girl. I saw you plant one on him yesterday."

"Wait, so like, you and (L/N) are dating now?" Sero asked with his spoon hanging out of his mouth.

Oijiro poked his head up from the other side of the table. "Hey, congratulations."

"Yeah, hope you can make things work with mister antisocial, over there." Kaminari snickered, pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards (L/N) who was sitting on a hill a few hundred yards/meters away.

"No, no, you guys have it all wrong." Yaoyorozu laughed nervously, waving them off. "He and I are just friends, that's all."

"Not what it sounded like to me." Mineta said smugly. "I heard some raised voices coming from the baths last night."

"Mineta, you perv!" Ashido shouted angrily.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I wasn't up to anything this time!"

Jiro rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I believe that for like, zero seconds."

"Whatever. All I'm sayin' is it seems to me like he doesn't like Yaoyorozu any more than he likes the rest of us. Or haven't the rest of you noticed how he's been avoiding her all day?" He smirked triumphantly. "So, you know, if you like, need a rebound guy..."

"Alright, that's enough out of you." Shoji said, dragging Mineta away. "I'll take care of him."

"Thanks, Shoji babe!" Ashido cheered. "Hey, are you alright, Yaomomo?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I'm fine."

"Don't let Mineta get to you, ribbit." Tsu said comfortingly. "I'm sure (L/N) isn't avoiding you."

"Right." Yaoyorozu said. "It's not like we've had any time to talk, anyways. We've been so busy training all day."

The others nodded and voiced their agreement. At least she had managed to convince them. After dinner, she decided, she would do some digging.

She kept her eye on (L/N) all evening to make sure he wouldn't run off before she had a chance to talk to him, but he seemed content to sit on the hill all night. After the dishes had been washed in the large tub outside, the students retreated indoors to escape the mosquitoes while Aizawa dragged away those unfortunate few who had failed their final exams. Waiting till the door swung shut behind Todoroki, Yaoyorozu decidedly approached the lone boy sitting on the hill.

"Can you feel them?" Yaoyorozu asked as she drew nearer. "The stars?"

He didn't answer. He didn't even register he'd heard her. Nervously rubbing her hands together, she apprehensively lowered herself, so she was sitting next to him. He moved to stand in response.

"Wait!" She cried out, jumping to her feet.

"Leave me alone." He said darkly as he stalked off towards the camp.

"At least tell me what I did." She pled as she chased after him. "Was it the kiss? Or did I say something that upset you?"

"Fine, yes." He rounded on her. "It was the kiss, okay? It was the kiss, and it's your voice, and it's the smell of your perfume, and it's everything about you!"

"E-Everything about me?" Yaoyorozu whispered in a hurt tone.

"I don't like you." He said firmly, making sure to accent every word. "I'm never going to. I'm never going to call you 'Yaomomo' because I'm never going to be your friend. Got it?"

Without waiting for a response, he stormed off, ignoring the sound of tears behind him.

"That was a little harsh, don't you think?" Someone asked as he slammed the door behind him.

"What do you want?"

"Look, I get that people have hurt you, but she was never one of them." Kendo said. "If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me. Don't go hurting other people just because you're upset."

Scowling, (L/N) walked up to her until he was mere inches from her face. "All I have ever done is try to avoid hurting people." He growled. "But I guess... you wouldn't know that." He finished with a sad sigh. "Look, I'm just trying to stop anyone from getting hurt. Or would you rather I break her ribs too?"