When Aizawa decided to allow Todoroki to be involved in this investigation, he didn't mean for his student to sacrifice a lot of his free time for this case. But, day after day has passed, and more often than not, the white-crimson haired boy appeared in front of the entrance of this wing, notifying him that he came for a visit. Such is the case as today.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Aizawa raises an eyebrow as the boy walks up to him. "I heard the other 1-A students are having a shopping trip to the local mall."
"I don't need to buy anything." Todoroki shrugs his shoulders, glancing at the one-way glass in front of them. It shows a glimpse of a black-haired girl sitting on the bed, seriously reading a comic book he lent her.
The way he sees it, his friends won't lack any social interactions without him, because the whole class is going, save for him and Bakugou. His grey-cyan eyes dart to his black-haired teacher, observing his expression. "What about you? You are here at every chance you can get."
"Duty calls," Aizawa replies flatly, revealing nothing. From his peripheral vision, he can see Todoroki frowning at his cryptic response.
Aizawa knows his answer isn't good enough to alleviate Todoroki's suspicion. However, he doesn't want to disclose that Arata is being put on sedatives and chained to her bed every time he isn't here to monitor her. It has been that way following that little scuffle of theirs—the one that ended with the entire south wing's fire alarms going off.
Both teenagers don't have a clue about this, and he wants to keep it that way. At least, to minimize their skepticism towards the government bodies. Let him take care of this one as the only grown-up among them for the time being.
"Anyway, does that mean you're available for another round of Monopoly?" Todoroki inquires, breaking his line of thought.
"No," Aizawa quickly answers, then shoots a dark glare at his student.
There is no way he will play that damned board game again after they mopped the floor with him last time. As much as he liked to see them bond, he didn't enjoy landing on their properties thrice in a row and declaring bankruptcy.
Curse Midoriya who recommended that game to Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu who taught him the strategies to win it. Curse Todoroki for relaying those tips to Arata too.
He has to admit, introducing Arata to some kinds of entertainment is a good idea to break the ice between them. Todoroki said that both Asui and Iida were the ones who mentioned them to him as a way to have fun together with their family.
Little by little, Arata has started to lower her guard around his student and let a few pieces of information slip. Now, they know that she has a sort of an understanding of what a phone looks like and its functionalities. Yet, when it came to actually using it...
"Sorry," Arata gave him a sheepish grin and handed the phone back to him. "I don't understand how."
"You've never seen a phone?" Todoroki wrinkled his forehead in bafflement.
"I've only ever seen the cable telephone with the round dial pad. It's not flat and… touchscreen like this."
However, there were also moments when Todoroki didn't manage to get anything out of her, like when they played The Game of Life yesterday.
Todoroki held up a series of cards with various houses painted on them. "Which one do you want to buy?" he noticed that her bright green eyes lingered a moment too long on one of them. "Is the country cottage similar to your house?"
Arata gazed at him long and hard, avoiding to look at his white hair, then picked the beach house card from him. "Next," she said, pointedly ignoring him. "It's your turn to spin the wheel, Shoto-san."
Or the time when they were reading a comic book about demon slayers together.
"First volume in, and all of his family members already died?" Arata covered her mouth with one hand, her expression a bit horrified. "Isn't that too cruel? His siblings were so young..."
"Speaking of siblings, do you have them, Ara?"
Aizawa almost facepalmed at Todoroki's question. This boy didn't understand tact, did he? His subtlety in speaking needed a lot of work.
Arata shifted uncomfortably on the bed, fidgeting with the seam of her patient gown. "I... don't want to talk about it."
The point is, despite all their attempts in drawing her out from her shell, she still insists on holding the big secret by herself. Aizawa can try to guilt trip her again and see if it works to make her spill the beans. However, he has a feeling that this time, they will need a non-manipulative approach to make her talk.
"Aizawa-sensei," Todoroki calls in a low voice, looking at him with a pensive expression. "Do you have any suggestions on making her open up?"
A tired sigh escapes Aizawa's mouth. They are rapidly running out of ways to prompt her, and Aizawa knows that even though Todoroki does not mind spending his time with Arata, the boy also understands that they won't be able to help her if she doesn't give them the missing pieces of her background.
Arata is quite perceptive in detecting people's intentions around her, and Aizawa believes she keeps her secret as a means to protect herself. As her last layer of defense in this investigation. As her last attempt at not being totally bare and vulnerable under everyone's scrutiny.
Looking from her perspective, she probably feels that everyone knows about her, but she doesn't know anything about anyone. It creates an invisible, impenetrable wall between her and them, with her on one side as an experiment subject and them on the other side as its researchers.
As long as the wall is there, Todoroki's attempts at bonding with her will stop short at a friend-to-pass-the-time stage. Arata isn't going to let him in further than this. She is way too cautious to offer her trust for free.
In order for them to proceed, they have to break down this wall first. They have to convince her that they are on equal grounds. And, Aizawa only knows one way to do it.
Todoroki perks up when his teacher slowly moves his head to nod. "You know?" he asks, a hint of hope tinting his tone.
"Possibly," Aizawa answers, hesitant.
"How?"
"... You might not like it, Todoroki."
Which is why currently Aizawa is sitting together with two expectant teenagers in front of him, struggling to spit out one of a pile of lesser-known facts about himself. The three of them have agreed to go in turns and reveal something about themselves that the others don't know. It doesn't have to be a big secret or of a pre-defined topic. Hopefully, this can be a sort of investment to sow her trust in them.
As the initiator, it is a given that he goes first. He ponders whether he should open their sharing session with a bang or not. He doesn't have plenty of deep, dark secrets to offer—at least not to a couple of kids half his age. But, the tone and the depth of their session will be determined by this single decision he has to make.
Well, one has to do what needs to be done, right? Aizawa merely wishes that everything he is going to say here will never leave this room. It will be troublesome if his other students get their hands on this trivia about him.
"Technically, the one who gave me the motivation to become a hero was a stray cat," Aizawa says, trying to ignore the perplexed expression on Todoroki and Arata's face. "What? Not everyone idolizes All Might. He wasn't as popular as he is now."
Todoroki shrugs his shoulders, resuming where Aizawa left off. "As for me, I strive to be a hero like All Might. Do you have any hero you look up to, Ara?"
"No..." Arata shakes her head shortly. Her ponytail jiggles when she looks downward. "I— I saw the pro heroes on the television news, but I had never actually crossed paths with any of them..."
So, at least, she's not living off the grid, the black-haired teacher concludes. She had access to electronics even if it was limited.
"That's fine," Aizawa reassures and baits her at the same time. "I also don't really have a favorite. It is a bit difficult to admire someone that feels so far away from us, especially when their influence doesn't directly extend to our life."
Todoroki narrows his grey-cyan eyes at the two of them. As Arata gives his teacher a tentative nod, he sees a look of understanding cross Aizawa's gaze. Is Aizawa-sensei trying to determine her stance on this hero-villain side? Or is he gauging if there was a hero that has tried to help her before?
Aizawa then resumes to recount his next fact, "I sleep late, so before noon, I'm basically living off coffee."
"Isn't it a bit obvious? You always look so tired," Todoroki comments offhandedly, earning a glare from Aizawa and a small giggle from Arata. "I'm more of an early riser. My favorite food is cold soba. I like milk-based drinks."
What a hypocrite, Aizawa grouches in his own head. His own fact isn't surprising either. Who wouldn't know about it if he kept ordering cold soba in the school's cafeteria?
"What about you, Arata?"
"Um..." Her knuckles on the bed sheets turn white as she forces out an answer. "I... I'm also an early riser."
"Are you sure that's the case?" Aizawa gruffly calls her out on her bluff. "Because I know about your strange sleeping patterns during your stay here."
Todoroki sees her flinch from his peripheral vision, and curiously asks his teacher in turn. "What is it?"
The bleary-eyed man gives a nod to encourage her. "Tell him the truth, Arata. We've agreed that we will be completely honest with each other during this game."
"I'm, um, still trying to adjust my biological rhythm," Arata mutters, her tone timid. "I used to sleep about... a dozen hours, followed by staying awake for more than thirty hours."
"48-hour sleep cycle?" Shoto concludes in astonishment. "But, why?"
"It was a bit hard to... get sunlight from where I used to live. But, it's okay now, though. This room is always so bright in the morning."
Before he or Shoto can raise another question about her sleeping pattern, she quickly adds. "Oh, and my favorite food is all kinds of hot pot, like nabe, sukiyaki, and shabu-shabu. Um, your turn, Aizawa-san."
"I got my current job because a former upperclasswoman of mine applied for me." Aizawa shrugs, keeping the details vague. Although Arata knows that he is a pro hero, she has yet to grasp that he is also Todoroki's teacher at U.A. "Glad to say it's been interesting, unlike my initial presumption."
"My turn." Shoto folds his hands together and places them on his lap. "I don't like my father."
"I know that one," Aizawa reminds him and crosses his own arms.
"Fine, I'll change it," he grumbles, gesturing to the burn scar on his left side. "My father made my mother live in this hospital's nursing home for years, because she accidentally poured boiling water on my face. She's still stuck there until now."
From the corner of his eyes, Shoto sees that a flash of surprise and sadness tinges Arata's face, but she says nothing. It seems that even if she sympathizes with his mother's condition, she doesn't know how to put it into words appropriately. Not that there is actually a suitable consolation that can improve his family situation.
"Your turn, Arata." Aizawa's monotone voice breaks the silence between them, his dark eyes glancing at the wall clock. He recalls Shoto mentioned about visiting his mother in the evening. "This is our last round. Afterwards, we have somewhere else to be."
Arata's green eyes flicker nervously between Aizawa and Shoto as she stammers, "Um, I don't know if I should say this… but my father was the heir to the Shirayuki clan."
"Really?" Aizawa leans back, his chair creaking slightly as Shoto's gaze darkens with intrigue, the implication of her words hanging in the air.
Then, this girl is of the Shirayuki main family's bloodline—the purest of them all. It is a bit surprising that her quirk takes after her mother's side, Hanakiri, an outsider with no connection to the snow-related abilities that the Shirayuki are known for.
Is it possible that their generations-long inbreeding culture messed something up, which in turn makes the option of their innate snow quirk genetically unfavorable?
"After he's… gone, I— I was supposed to succeed him and take care of the family," Arata hangs her head down. "But, you see, my quirk was a… disappointment, so…"
Shoto, his brow furrowed, echoes her earlier words, "'Take care of the family'? What does it mean?"
Arata mirrors his confused look, her shoulders hunching slightly as she shrugs. "I'm not sure either."
"I see," Shoto replies curtly, his eyes flicking toward Aizawa. The unspoken question lingers between them—should they press further?
Aizawa, ever perceptive, wordlessly signals him a negative. Even if Arata knows, it doesn't look like she is going to answer about it right now. The realization that now she also knows several things about them has to sit in her mind for a while. Then, they will try to bring it up again, when she feels a bit safer around them.
"Then, it's time for us to go." Aizawa stands up from his seat, followed by Shoto. "Don't forget to take your evening medicine, Arata. I hope this game is refreshing for you."
"Thank you for taking your time to accompany me." A polite, yet genuine smile is plastered on her face, her green eyes a fraction brighter than before. "I'm happy to get to know about you, Aizawa-san and Shoto-san."
Shoto sends a nod her way, intending to walk up to the door, when Arata tugs his shirt with one hand. Confused, he turns his head to look at her.
She shyly puts a small strawberry milk box on his palm, her voice wavering a bit. "It's, um, for your mother. I don't know anything, but... I hope she will feel better soon."
The innocent gesture involuntarily warms up his heart. He senses the corners of his lips twitch up, forming a small smile. "Thank you."
As Aizawa walks Todoroki back to the entrance of the wing, he notices the boy has been staring at the pink-colored carton box in his hand.
"You know." Aizawa opens his mouth, ruffling the black locks messily sprawled on his own shoulders. "That milk is actually a kind of luxury food for Arata. The meal given for her usually consists of only the necessary nutrients. She has been saving it for a pretty long time. I didn't expect her to give it to your mother without a second thought."
Todoroki meets his teacher's gaze, then asks in a serious tone, "In that case, should I return it to her?"
Aizawa shakes his head, his expression softening. "No need, she chose to give it away."
Such a good kid, Aizawa thinks to himself, his heart heavy with the knowledge of Arata's difficult hand in life. A shame she drew the short straw when it comes to parents.
Before Todoroki leaves that hospital wing, his grey-cyan eyes flit to Aizawa. "Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with later."
"Of course, Todoroki."