#(UGH THERES MORE HEADCANONS FROM THAT LONG ASK RESPONSE I WANT TO INCLUDE TOO BUT THEYRE IN 'CHAPTER 2' TERRITORY FCKN LET ME LOOSE!!!!!!)

[hypocritehero]

This is my Spooky Santa gift for @heartfulmind! I got a little ahead of myself with this project and wasn’t able to completely finish the fic in time for the deadline;;; But I have scattered scenes written out for later in the timeline!!! I just have to actually string them together into another chapter… @_@;;

(Thanks again @icypyre for putting this event together!)

Title: Transceiver

Ship: Shinsou/Female Background Character

Word Count: 3,351

Chapters: 1/?

The air in the classroom feels heavy. One wouldn’t think these twenty students had just made it into the most prestigious school in the nation with the amount of gloomy faces filling the seats, but the fact of the matter is that a good portion of them had applied for another course entirely.

Is that really all General Education was created for? To hold the overflow of rejected Hero hopefuls?

Tsunagi hopes not. She’s one of the few who didn’t even bother with the Hero Entrance Exam. With a Quirk like hers, she knew she didn’t stand a chance against whatever crazy test UA was sure to cook up- but she didn’t apply for Support or Business either. There’s more ways to help people, to help heroes, than just giving them things to punch harder or promoting their brand.

Like now. The amount of disappointment in the room is enough to suffocate the few sparks of excitement and hope flickering in the dark atmosphere. That just won’t do. There’s no teacher yet, so Tsunagi feels free to go all out.

“HEY!” She slams the oversized door shut behind her and lets out a boisterous greeting. “Why’s it look like a funeral in here?! Did someone die? Am I dead?” She waves her hands in front of her face to check for transparency, then points at the closest occupied desk. “Do I look dead to you?”

The boy looks absolutely baffled by her sudden question. His voice comes out uncertain and high, “Uh- No?”

“There you have it!” Tsunagi places her hands on her hips and surveys the classroom like a Queen looking upon her kingdom. “I’m alive, and I’m pretty sure so are all of you. This isn’t the end of the line, not by far. It’s only the first stop!”

Her sheer volume is starting to gather attention. She waits patiently for the mood to turn over slowly like a wave, muddy thoughts becoming alert in confusion and apprehension. There’s some annoyed looks as well for disturbing the peace, but some sacrifices must be made.

“If you’d given up already, you wouldn’t even be sitting here, right? There’s nothing more stupid than turning around to go home when you’ve already left the house, so you might as well give it your all!” She punctuates her impromptu peptalk with two thumbs up- the ultimate finisher move!

But the disappointment lingers. Tough crowd…

“Couldn’t’ve put it better myself,” a deep, muffled voice remarks from behind. She jolts and spins around with a short yelp. The man standing at the door is tall and intimidating in his deep red cloak and gas mask, but the class breaks out into awed murmurs at the sight of him.

“It’s Snipe!”

“I heard all the teachers here were Pro Heroes but-”

“-our Homeroom teacher is Snipe?!”

“Awesome!”

Just like that, the tide shifts all at once, dismay and irritation erupting into excitement. That more than anything is what impresses Tsunagi the most. So this is the aura of a Pro… She can’t sense anything from him but calm determination- oh, and is that an inkling of amusement?

“That’s right, I’m Snipe. I’ll be your Homeroom teacher from now on.” Snipe takes his place at the front of the class, spurs jingling with every heavy footstep. “General Education might not sound like much, but that doesn’t mean you can slack off. Everyone at this school follows the same motto. I’m sure you all know what that is?”

Tsunagi recognizes a hype call for what it is. She punches her fist into the air, “Plus Ultra! Go beyond!” A few other students even chime in at the end as well, much to her delight.

Snipe tips his cowboy hat towards her, “That’s right, miss. You ought to take your seat now, by the way. Class is in session.”

Oops. What was her assigned seating again? The number totally flew her mind! Everyone else is already sitting though, so it must be the last empty desk there. She jogs over and swiftly slides into her seat, casting a glance to either side of her to check out her neighbors. Two boys; one with an extremely strong jawline, the other with eyebags that could probably hold all his school books.

Jawline’s nerves pop when she makes eye contact and waves, and he jerkily turns to face the front of the class. Cute. Eyebags doesn’t even acknowledge her at all. He’s one of the stubborn few still mired in his own murky emotions. She could tell that from a mile away even without her Quirk. What a sour face!

Snipe is just going over the entrance ceremony lineup and orientation handouts, nothing too important, so she focuses all her attention on Eyebags. Her Quirk is technically a one way street- she can only sense other people’s emotions, not make them feel hers- but she’s sending out pay attention to me vibes as hard as she can think them.

Impressively, he doesn’t even glance at her once, even when they all get up to form a line for the opening ceremony. This one is going to be a tough nut to crack…

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“You kind of remind me of a nutcracker!” Tsunagi places her lunch tray down on the table with a decisive clack. This is a good table; there’s a nice view out the window and everything. She decides to claim it as hers- for now, until she finds a better spot.

“…Excuse me?” Jawline, who was already occupying said table, responds to her comment belatedly. His aura is a little confused, a mixture between shock and affront, like he’s not quite sure how to take her words. That’s normal.

“You know, because of all this.” She gestures to her own decidedly smaller and narrow jaw in explanation. “Is that your Quirk? Do you, like, have a super bite strength? Like an alligator?”

“No…” Jawline answers slowly. “I can make ‘all this’ turn to metal though, so maybe I could crack a nut. Never tried before.”

“Ooh, even better.” Tsunagi snaps her disposable chopsticks and they split down the seams perfectly even. Nice. That’s a good omen, right? “You probably tried out for Hero Course with a Quirk like that, huh? I heard there was robots though. That must have been super tough.”

“Yeah… It was…” Jawline looks down at his tray, his wide mouth downturned into a frown. Woops. Must have still been a sore spot. It is only the second day, after all.

“I’m Kantoshi Tsunagi, by the way!” Tsunagi sticks out her hand across the table like a Western businessman. “I’ve got an empathy quirk, just in case you were wondering.”

“Ah… I’m Agito Koutsuchi.” Agito stares at her hand before taking it hesitantly. They shake and she makes sure to grip firmly to give off a good impression. First impressions are important- at least, that’s what her dad always said. “I’m guessing you didn’t take the practical then?”

“Oh, no way!” She forms an X with her arms and shakes her head. “I don’t even want to be a Hero. At least not like that.”

“Not like that?” 

“Yeah. I want to be a therapist for Heroes! So I figured I should go to a Hero school, right? Get lots of practice ahead of time.” She taps a finger to her temple with a self-satisfied smile. Yeah, she’s pretty much a genius.

“Right.” Agito looks more amused than bemused now, which is always a good thing in her books. His aura is looking a lot warmer. “Are you studying psychology then? I didn’t know we had any classes for that kind of thing.”

“Oh, we don’t.” She shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m just, like, kind of winging it?”

“…You’re ‘just kind of winging it���…”

Tsunagi is getting some major ‘judgey’ vibes off this guy. She pouts. “Hey, not everyone has their entire life mapped out as a first year! Sheesh. You’d grind your teeth a lot less if you learned to relax a little. Did you know I can hear you doing it from where I sit?”

“Hey-!”

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“Why are you staring at me?” It takes three days for Shinsou (she learned Eyebags’ name by sneaking a peak at his handout) to finally crack. During the layover between Math and English he stares back at Tsunagi with dead eyes, no less intense despite the listless boredom permeating his aura. She can’t really sense anything else off him.

Maybe he really is just looking for something to do? She holds his gaze for a long, extended moment of silence. He blinks.

“Aha!” She slaps one hand against the desktop and points at him with the other. “You blinked first!”

“I didn’t think it was a contest,” he says dryly. “Does it really count if I wasn’t looking back until now?”

“It totally does, don’t be a sore loser,” she replies with a dismissive wave of her hand. A small jolt of surprise goes through him. Interesting. She leans in closer. “So you noticed? And you didn’t even think to say ‘Hi’ to your Class Prez?”

The title is new, but she’s taking every opportunity possible to flaunt it. Honestly, no one else was really vying for the position… Still, a win is a win!

“…You’re still talking to me,” Shinsou says instead of answering the question. It kind of sounds like he’s talking more to himself than her. “Why?”

Tsunagi raises an eyebrow. “Should I not be?” 

Shinsou rubs at the back of his neck and glances away, his aura fluctuating agitatedly despite the strained smirk on his face. “Heh. If you have to ask that, that probably explains it.”

Okay, the mysterious cool guy bit is already getting on her nerves a little bit. She squints at him with an extended, suspicious hmmmm.

“Do you have like, a contagious disease or something?” He stares at her flatly and she taps her nose before trying again. “Is it your Quirk?” The second guess earns her another emotional jolt, even as his expression persists. Bingo. “It can’t be that bad. What is it?”

Ectoplasm glides into the room just then. Shinsou swiftly turns to face the front again, lips pressed into a thin line.

Wait. Is he really not going to answer?!

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Tsunagi ends up making a game of it. It’s a good way to kill time between classes- and an excuse to talk to/at her aloof neighbor. Sometimes she even ropes Agito into it for some fresh ideas. He seemed reluctant at first, but as Shinsou seemed to bear their increasingly wild guesses with surprising patience, he’s been really getting into the spirit of the game.

“Do you curse people to die in seven days if you speak more than two sentences at a time?” Agito suggests from across Tsunagi’s desk, leaning on his forearm to see around her.

“Ooh, good one!” Tsunagi snaps her fingers. “But what about when he read that passage out loud for English? It’s been a week since then, and nobody’s died yet.”

“They wouldn’t allow me on campus if I had a Quirk as dangerous as that…” Shinsou mutters without looking up from his notes.

“True… What if it’s a love curse though?” Tsunagi waggles her eyebrows with a lecherous grin. “I could believe that. Are you all cool and jaded from breaking so many hearts because of your Quirk?”

“…Cool?” Shinsou focuses on that out of all the other things that came out of her mouth. He seems surprised. “Me?”

“Uh, yeah? You’re like, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Broody over here. Back me up, Agito!”

“You are kind of broody,” Agito admits in an apologetic tone.

“Huh…”

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UA ends up on the news. Despite having the best security out of every high school in the country, there was a bonafide Villain attack at USJ. Even without having been there, the fact that it happened at all is enough to fill the campus with waves of unease. Trickles of frightened conversation drift by Tsunagi’s desk the next morning as the classroom fills up.

“Damn, and I thought that false alarm at lunch was scary…”

“-was technically off campus, right? They couldn’t get in here… right?”

“They should beef up security or something! That just ain’t right-”

Tsunagi drums her pencil against the desk. Tk-tk-tk. As Class President, there should be something she can do to put everyone at ease, but the situation feels so much bigger than she can handle. It doesn’t help that her own stomach is turning and flipping just remembering those mugshots.

If you see these men, contact your local Heroes as soon as possible… Yeah, no, she’d rather never see another Villain in person in her lifetime, thanks.

“…We should do the buddy system.” She’s just thinking out loud, but her VP glances over at her with interest.

“Buddy system? Isn’t that a little kiddish?” Agito inquires. He doesn’t sound entirely dismissive about it though. Tsunagi points her eraserhead at him.

“They teach it to us as kids because it’s important! If something happens to one of you, there’s still someone else to go get help. It just makes sense.”

“When you put it like that, I guess you’re right…”

Tsunagi nods with satisfaction. “That settles it then. I’ll make an announcement during homeroom. Everyone needs to find a buddy to walk home with from now on. That includes you, too, Mr. Lone Wolf!”

“Pass.”

“You don’t get to pass! This is a Presidential decree!”

“You’re only Class President,” Shinsou points out coolly. “Off campus, you can’t really control what anyone does.”

Well, of course she can’t, but he didn’t have to be so obstinate about it. She puts on her most serious face. “This isn’t a drill, you know. A real Villain attack happened, not a practice exercise. Even Pro Heroes can’t be everywhere at once. If you ever wanted to be a Hero, you should recognize that we all have to do our part to keep each other safe.”

Shinsou goes quiet after that. Tsunagi leaves him to his thoughts and works on hashing out a quick speech with Agito before homeroom starts. She can only lead a horse to water, not make him drink it. Whatever decision he comes to, he’ll have to get there on his own.

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The UA Sports Festival is absolutely legendary. It’s hard to believe this is only the turnout for the first years- the stadium is enormous and yet every seat is filled. Tsunagi’s only ever watched it on TV. She never expected to be on the other side of the screen.

Present Mic’s voice was loud enough to rattle her teeth even inside the entry tunnel, but when the Gen Ed students start filing out his enthusiasm dies down considerably. It’s still boisterous, sure, but there’s no pizzaz in the way he lists off rotely, “And following Class B, here come Classes C, D, and E from the department of General Education!”

“Man, they’re treating us like we’re just their foils or something,” Agito complains, not bothering to quiet his displeasure whatsoever. Tsunagi is inclined to agree.

“What a load of…” She swears under her breath. Just because their class wasn’t attacked by Villains doesn’t mean they’re not trying their hardest like everyone else in the Hero Course. She’s seen her peers practicing together in their free time, working out the kinks in their Quirks in the gym, discussing Hero names over lunch-

It just doesn’t feel right to let their efforts get lowkey dismissed like this!

Tsunagi turns to walk backwards, facing the rest of Class C head-on. She claps her hands over her head. “Alright, alright! Everyone, do your best out there! Fight on!” When she turns back around, she catches Shinsou’s eye and winks at him carelessly. “That’s also a Presidential Decree.”

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So, Tsunagi didn’t place in the obstacle race, but come on! An empathy Quirk doesn’t really come in handy against ice and robots and tightrope walking. Honestly, it would have taken a miracle to even make it to the finish line.

And yet Shinsou did- within the cutoff even. She’s not quite sure how he did it. It kind of looked like he got some randos to help him?

…That kind of smarts. If he had a team plan to pass, why not get his own class to help?

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“Midoriya! The match just started… and he’s completely frozen?! He’s got a blank look on his face and isn’t moving a muscle!”

Midoriya isn’t only one. The entirety of Class C is stock still in their seats, eyes wide and mouths gaping in shock.

“…Is that…?” Agito turns towards Tsunagi slowly. She looks back at him with a blooming grin, “His Quirk!“ 

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Tsunagi really isn’t sure what’s happening. One minute Shinsou’s opponent was walking out of bounds, a sure win- then there was suddenly an explosion? And now Shinsou is grappling with a member of the Hero Course. It’s all happening so quickly, she’s on the edge of her seat, heart leaping up into her throat as her classmate is suddenly bodily heaved into the air.

"No!” She can’t help but cry out, even though it’s already too late. He hits the ground before she can even take her next breath and she flinches. “No…” It doesn’t feel fair. He came so far!

“Damn, he got got.” Agito sighs from beside her, slumping back into his seat heavily. It’s right then that she realizes her tunnel vision, her awareness of her surroundings slowly returning to her. It’s strange… She’s grown so used to other people’s ambient emotions vying for her attention constantly, it’s not often that she finds herself so completely caught up in a moment that all she can do herself is feel.

Despite Shinsou’s loss, their entire seating section is lit up with pinpricks of bright, sparkling emotions, a bittersweet ocean of disappointment mingled with awe, of so close yet so far! It’s like being surrounded by a sky of stars, shimmering on the edges of her vision, but she still can’t tear her eyes away from Shinsou.

Shinsou, who refused to tell anyone his Quirk. Shinsou, who was surprised that anyone would even talk to him at all. Shinsou, who fought tooth and nail to make it to the final tournament. His wile and determination is absolutely insane, but his heart is so fragile. He’s just a speck of doom and gloom down on the field and she can’t help but remember the first day they met, how deeply his dejection rooted itself in his soul.

Well, that just won’t do.

Tsunagi rushes out of her seat to lean up against the railing. A stampede of footsteps follow in her wake.

“You were so cool, Shinsou!!” She waves her arm to catch his attention, smile broadening when their eyes meet across the distance. He looks surprised to see them all lined up above the exit gate for some reason. She doesn’t let that deter her and gives him her super special double thumbs up. “Nice job!”

Almost as if her words were the opening to a dam, more praise comes rushing in from their gathered classmates. Everyone is calling out as loud as they can so that Shinsou can hear them over the clamoring audience.

“We were on the edges of our seats, dude! For real!”

“You’re like the star of hope for all us Gen Ed kids!”

“You gave the kid who placed in the top 3 from the obstacle race a real run for his money!”

Tsunagi can’t quite pin down the aura Shinsou is giving off right now. Something bright and delicate… a wavering light that shimmers over the vulnerable look on his face like he’s underwater. For such an aloof boy, he looks overwhelmed now, but in a good way.

“Can you hear them, Shinsou-kun?” Her heart feels heavy and full in her chest. She’s just so damn proud of him. She wants him to be proud of himself, too. “You’re amazing!”

She’ll grind that into his fluffy head until it finally sticks, as many times as it takes.