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Chapter 15: Class Representatives
🕑 Added 2024-02-20 15:03:24 +0000 UTCAnd we are back with another chapter. Those who read this earlier might be wondering why I didn't post my new story here, and the reasoning is simple: I didn't feel comfortable doing that since I don't have a fixed schedule for it. As for this, it's back to regularly scheduled uploads unless someone comes up. If it does, I'll be sure to tell you all. Writing this was pretty fun as Izuku is just a treat, going from shy or excited one minute to burning something down and playing with his snake BBF the next. He's just chaotic in the best possible ways. Also, this chapter was long again…which I really shouldn’t make a habit out of.
Chapter 15: Class Representatives.
Once the class had calmed down from learning how Izuku’s quirk works, a situation he was still a little confused about, they managed to get on with the battle trial, with the second match-up being nothing like the first as it was over pretty quirk as the team of Shishida and Honenuki came out on top without much competition as once Shishida sniffed them out, Honenuki went to the floor beneath them and soften the floor, before trapping them in their shock. He might have only got Kaibara in his move. Still, Shishida burst into the bomb room right as the ground hardened and quickly subdued Yanagi, taking the win for the heroes.
The next fight was more even, pitting Team E as the heroes against Team I as the villains. Still, in the end, despite Monoma copying Tsubaraba's quirk to create barriers and weapons to fight, Fukidashi's versatility and Kendo's strength proved the superior combo as Fukidashi created the sound effect for an explosion to knock Monoma back. Kendo broke through Tsubaraba's air wall to capture him and touch the bomb. Monoma was a little upset about his loss. Still, Koharu moved to his shoulders to quickly comfort him back in his smirking mood.
Sidenote: Monoma looked like a villain with his resting smirking face and Koharu around his shoulders. Who knew?
The 4th match pit Team B against Team G, with the latter being the heroes for it while Team B put up a solid defence; Kamakiri’s speed and agility and Shiozaki's overwhelming power snatched the win pretty handily, but they were humble about it as the competitive and seemingly gruff Kamikiri was a great sport about it, grabbing both villains a with laugh and talking about how fun it was and how they can totally train together afterwards so they can all improve. Which just made Izuku feel worse as he somehow managed to make a wrong impression on someone like that.
The 5th and final match of the class pit Team A against H with A as the heroes, which resulted in a victory for the hero team thanks to Tokage. It was one of the faster matches as Tokage was able to scout a more extensive area faster by sending off her eyes to look while her body and Awase made a racket of entering the place, distracting the two villains long enough for her to find the bomb and tap it with said eye.
When all was said and done, the class stood at the entrance to the area with Midnight smiling towards them, pleased that they had managed to go through their first class without issue.
“Wonder work, everyone. I would say that was a productive first hero class, wouldn’t you say? And without a single injury to boot.” Midnight congratulated the other students; Monoma raised a hand at her observation.
“Did class A perhaps have an injury?” He asked as Midnight confirmed this, seeing no reason to hide it.
"Why yes, they did; good work on restraining yourselves and being careful." Monoma got a little extra smug at that fact, as they were proving themselves to be the superior class. It was a shame that Asui was in class A; she would have been a better fit with them.
Yanagi was the next person to raise a hand, though not as high as Monoma. “Will you be handling all our hero classes, Midnight-sensei?” Midnight smiled at the question with a little less sexy and more genuine, as it was nice to see them so eager to have her come back after the disappointment that was the All Might no show.
"As much as I would love that, All Might was hired for that, and I can assure you, he'll be here next time." She promised them that, figuratively and literally, even if she had to whip the man into shape, he would do what Nezu wanted. She didn't know why he gave the man special treatment and hired him without completing even a teaching curse, but she wasn't about to let him half-ass this.
Seeing them all eager for that class, she nodded and shifted her heels to leave the area. "Well then, I have to go and review the matches to properly grade you all, so if that is all, class is dismissed!" She walked off, with the students remaining behind to talk with one another as she left.
With said students, Awase scratched the back of his head. "We were expecting All Might, but that was still fun." His sentiment was shared among the rest of the students, even those who had lost, as while embarrassed, it was a learning experience, and they were prepared to do better as time went on.
"I got to be a hilarious villain." Midoriya sighed, thinking back to his match. At the same time, Tsunotori giggled at his side as if they had really gone ham there while Tokage rolled her eyes at their antics.
“Hold your horses, Doctor Evil.” She told them that as the group started to move out, they wanted to have enough time to shower and change before they had to get to their final classes.
Line Break
When the final bell rang, Izuku gathered his stuff and left the class, walking with his new friend group, which still made him warm inside, even if Tokage hadn't dropped that nickname yet. "Man, it sucks that we were the only ones that lost our match-ups." Tetsutetsu groaned as the group exited the main building and approached the entrance.
“It’s only been 2 days; I wouldn't worry too much about it," Kendo told him as he and Monoma only grunted, still a little peeved but not willing to make something out of it.
“Hmm! Steely boy will surely win next time!” Tsunotori cheered them on, getting the taller boy to sigh but smile as he pumped his fist into the air.
"You know what? You're right! Haha, I'm going to train so hard next time we have to fight, Midoriya, I'll be taking home the gold." He turned to Midoriya, who was feeding Koharu a piece of meat but turned to face him with an eager smile.
“I won’t make it easy for you,” Izuku replied as Koharu raised her head towards Tetsutetsu, her eyes narrowed. "And neither will Koharu," Izuku added.
"Still weird she can transform," Asui noted as she had joined the group as they left, having broken from her class to meet up with them and had got the summary of events from class B's battle trial on the way out.
Tetsutetsu nodded his head, his gaze locked on the snake in question. "Hell, it was, I totally didn't see it coming. One minute, she's wrapped around him like normal; the next, she's wrapped around me. It was like I was a deer on one of those nature documentaries." Koharu wobbled her head, and despite lacking the necessary bone structure and muscles, he could tell she was being haughty.
“See, she’s acting smug right now.” He pointed it out as Midoriya pat the snake’s head.
"She is," Izuku stated as he fed her. Tetsutetsu pulled his hair, shocked at the audacity of the snake.
“He’s not even denying it!” Tokage, wishing to change the subject before they could go any deeper, redirected the conversation towards Asui.
"Hey, Tsu, how was All Might as a teacher? He got pulled for something, so we didn't get the chance to learn anything from him." She asked the frog girl, who brought a finger to her lip in thought.
“Then who handled your hero class? Was it your homeroom teacher?” Asui answered with a question of her own, as she had heard them talk about Vlad and how of a difference he was to Aizawa, as they had been shocked when she told him of the expulsion threat from the first day, even if he later said it was a ruse to get them to work harder.
"No, it was Midnight. She wasn't bad, quite the opposite, but they're here and there is All Might." Kendo replied that as much as it was a fun class, she would be lying if she said All Might felt like the better option.
"It was favouritism, I tell you what," Monoma muttered, which Izuku started to sweat at since he had a pretty good idea why he was absent, but he couldn’t very well say it, now could he? Lucky for him, no one picked up on his nervous state as Asui answered the question.
"Well, to answer your question, you didn't miss out on much. Besides the hype and experience of All Might teaching you, he wasn't the best teacher. Acted more like the underprepared substitute trope.” She explained, catching the class B students off guard about everything she could have said. They didn't expect that.
“You’re serious?” Tsunotori asked her.
"(Kero) He had to read the exercise from a little booklet. I would say he wasn't as prepared as you would think." Asui remarked that while pretty amusing at the moment, thinking back on it, it didn't bode well for All Might's skills as a teacher. It couldn't have been nerves either; for most, taking on a class of kids might be daunting. Still, All Might had faced off against natural disasters and collapsed buildings. And all kinds of villains over the years and did what could be hundreds of fans met and greets, so you would assume he had the confidence to keep cool in front of some students.
Regardless of the reason, it was quite a shock to the students of class B; perhaps they had lucked out with Midnight after all. “Did you learn why he was pulled away?” Asui asked them, with the group all shaking their heads.
"No, it couldn't be a villain attack. I checked the news, and there's nothing about All Might, and you know how fast they are at publicising anything to do with All Might.” Tokage replied, holding up her phone to show that the newsfeed had nothing with All Might in it, the only news being some incident Mirko handled and Hawks in a new ad campaign for a line of watches. She'll have to save that last image later.
"Strange, must have been an internal thing. Maybe Principal Nezu wanted to talk to him about his performance with us." Asui noted as Izuku took a subtle sigh of relief as the conversation drifted away from what could be a compromising topic for All Might.
"Maybe, I'll guess we'll see when we have our next hero class," Monoma added before he snapped his fingers, recalling something he heard from Midnight earlier. “Tsu, who was it that got injured in your class?”
“Where’d you hear that?” Asui asked.
“Midnight.” They replied as a group, getting a croak-like chuckle from the frog girl before she answered.
"Hmm, well, it was two students. One made themselves sick from using their quirk too much, and the other got blasted through the building by Bakugo." She replied. Izuku started to sweat a little at the mention of his name, as he had known he had to be here. He couldn't deny that he had all the skill and power to make it past the exam, but that didn't mean he liked the idea that he was possible around every corner, waiting to yell and act violently and make him feel…
Koharu tightened her hold on him, grounding him and keeping the memories from getting too intense as he gave the snake a grateful smile. Tokage added to this by ruffling his hair, having picked up on how the conversation made him uncomfortable. “Damn, he must have been a pretty dangerous villain.” Kendo assumed.
Asui had also seen how Izuku reacted to hearing Bakugo's name, so she kept things light on the details. "(Kero) He was on the hero team. He just wanted to win via combat and then capture the bomb. Would have cost them the match if not for his partner."
“Geez, this guy doesn’t sound like he’s nice," Tsunotori stated, as this ass sounded like a nightmare to have to work with, even if she did want to run the hands for him bullying her friend.
“He’s not.”
Line Break
“So you make your appearance again, All Might?” Midnight looked up from her desk to see the weakened form of All Might slid into the teacher’s lounge, the man coughing into his hand as he closed the door behind him.
“Sorry about that. How was class 1-B’s performance?” All Might at least had the decency to look embarrassed by his blunder earlier, so Midnight just answered the question as he walked over to her desk.
"They handled themselves pretty well, made some rookie mistakes, and their plans and actions need revision, but for a bunch of first years, they could have done much worse." She handed him the notes she had taken from the fights for him to look through, with the man being impressed with what he saw as Midnight was right, but it was clear these kids had some potential as he handed her the notes back
Getting back to grading, she added a little jab at him. “You would know all that if you had been there.”
All Might sighed, as he knew that he wasn't the most popular with the staff thanks to how unconventional his hiring had been, nor had he won himself much favour when he had been unable to stop Bakugo from taking things too far and missing his time with class B. But at least he could slap the explosive boy with a week's detention for disobeying a direct order not to use his gauntlets.
Honestly, perhaps they would need to add a psychological screening to students as well, as the boy was far too aggressive for him to trust that he wouldn't abuse those gauntlets. The best he could do was write up a suggestion that they be removed from his kit until he proved he could be trusted with them.
"You know that I would have loved to, but.” Midnight raised a perfectly manicured finger to stop him, her frown clear to see.
"Yes, your time limit. I understand we can't have the students see you walking around like a corpse, but that makes your time in your hero form much more precious.” She told him, feeling like she was lecturing a child despite All Might being over 20 years her senior.
Shaking her head. "Honestly, you're a teacher now, All Might. Same as everyone else here. If even that buzzkill Eraser can find a balance, you can. You missed class B out of nowhere. The reason didn't go down well with them, as they considered you favouring class A." She pointed towards the underground hero's desk, which was empty as he had to step out to speak with Nezu about something.
To his credit, All Might took her criticism in stride as he wasn't egotistical enough to believe himself infallible. Now, was he a teacher by any means, so he would trust her assessment of the students more than his own as he moved to his seat, his desk next to hers.
"I see, I wish that it would have been received better, but that was wishful thinking. I'm still working out the kinks to my schedule, so I'm not sure if I can handle two classes in a day with my time, but," He stopped her before she spoke, the younger pro narrowing her eyes.
"What if I split my focus between the two classes to make it up to them for not showing up today? Perhaps we can swap around the schedules and have it be that class B that goes first for the next one.” He suggested as the woman paused to consider the idea. It was a shame that All Might was still struggling to find a teaching/hero work balance, but in his defence, he was used to working whenever he could, and he only had the 3 hours now.
"They're meant to go to the USJ for rescue training next, right?" She directed the question to Cementoss, who happened to be in the room along with Ectoplasm and Snipe, all three handling their own affairs.
The block-headed pro nodded. "That is correct, I would say Thirteen is excited about it, but I don't think she'll mind a little swap." He replied as Midnight hummed, as it was a change, but U.A. was famous for that, so what damage could be done by swapping class order for a little bit?
“We’ll run this by Vlad and Eraser since they’re the homeroom teachers, but I don’t think they’ll be against it.” She replied as All Might nodded, promising that he'd be ready for it when the time came before they both got back to work. All Might helping to grade class B to make up for his absence. However, he'll have to take home the recordings to properly judge them, if only to better understand what they can do when he handles their next class.
Line Break
In all the excitement from starting life fresh with a new school, said school being U.A. of all places and having more friends than he knew what to do with, Izuku hadn't thought about the implications of one key thing: All Might.
With him being a teacher at U.A. while the school had kept it under wraps before the year began, once students realised this, they started talking, both on and off campus, so it was really only a matter of time before the media heard the rumours and descended on the school like ants on a dropped ice cream, a fact he and every other student was made well aware of when they walked up the hill and saw the main entrance was surrounded by what looked to be dozens of reporters and cameras.
“Hey, you!” In a business casual suit, if there was such a thing, one of the reporters shoved her microphone in Midoriya's face when he tried to sneak on through. “How are All Might’s classes?”
With so much attention on him and the knowledge that he was being recorded, his face turned red. “Oh, I-I wouldn’t really know since he was called for something before; he could teach us yesterday," He tried to explain but decided that retreat was the better option when he turned on his heel and marched right onto campus. “I gotta run, can’t be late!”
“Wait, can you tell us about-holy crap!” The reporter tried to continue, but Koharu lunged at her, ger fangs barred, which scared the woman and the rest of them back as they wondered where the boy got a snake and why he was even allowed to have it on campus.
“Thanks, Koharu.” Izuku scratched her head for that; he could always trust her to have his back.
"Hey, I recognise that kid." Unfortunately for him, someone in the crowd of reporters spoke up, making him lose that earlier relief as he wished that he would go unrecognised. However, that wasn't a wish that would be answered as someone else could put a face to his infamous name.
"Oh yeah, he's the pyromaniac, isn't he? I'm surprised he managed to get in with his villainous tendencies." He took a shaky, deep breath even as his inner fire raged at that comment, spoken so casually when it couldn't be further from the truth. No longer scratching but petting Koharu's head to calm down, he also started to recite something his therapist suggested he do whenever he was in such a situation.
"My quirk is my own; it's neither good nor bad, and I chose to make it good. My quirk is my own…" He went on as he entered the building. But he wasn't the only student accosted as they tried to enter as Tsunotori was next.
“What can you tell us about All Might as a teacher?” That same reporter asked her, with the foreign girl waving her hands at them as she backed away towards the gate.
“Sorry, me Japanese is bad, need go class!” She made sure to mix in English words to sell the act before she rushed in, breathing a sigh of relief when she put some distance between them and herself. "That was too close. Media is pressuring."
With that setback, the reporter didn't give in and kept at it as they found another student to question, not noticing that they seemed to be pulling from the same class. “How would you describe the symbol of peace as a teacher?”
Kendo paused in her march onto campus to address them as quickly and politely as possible. "I can't say because I don't know now. Please let me through before I'm late for homeroom." She didn't stick around to hear any response after that, and the reporter started to get desperate as she had to walk after Kamakiri as he approached, the boy on his phone with earbuds on.
"Hold on, can you tell us about it?" He didn't let her finish as he flipped the bird at her.
"Fuck off, I got to get to class," Kamakiri told her as he entered campus.
“Rude.”
“Please, if we could only have a couple minutes.” They had been reduced to begging for anything to write about, as this was big news. All Might becoming a teacher will make front page news for anyone who got something juicy. Still, only some students have offered anything they could use so far!
"Sorry, but I refuse to be late in the first week. That's bad luck!" Tetsutetsu nearly bulldozed his way through, the press giving the boy a wide berth to let him through as he continued to chomp on his breakfast burrito.
They thought they found some luck when Kodai was the next to walk up, but the girl’s blank face was a little unnerving as she didn’t seem to react to anything they said. “Um…about All Might…” The reporter tried to ask, hoping they could outlast the girl.
.
.
.
“I’ll be leaving.” Only for Kodai to be the one to win that contest of wills, her face leaving her emotions and thoughts a mystery as she continued to walk into U.A.
“Yeah…you do that.” The reporter weakly waved her off before they were told to leave by a sleep-deprived-looking hobo. When she tried to press the situation and ask for an interview with All Might himself since the students were a bust, the school's security kicked in and nearly killed her with how that steel door shot into place.
“What the hell!” She yelled in fright as her cameraman sighed, having tried to stop her.
"I told you that's the U.A.'s security system; they call it the U.A. Barrier. It surrounds the entire school. Good luck getting in if you're not a student, employee or guest." He explained to her as she mopped on her knees. At the same time, the rest of the gaggle of press talked about what they were meant to do now as they came for info and got next to nothing, not even from that one spectacled boy who seemed more interested in praising All Might than actually saying anything descriptive about him.
None picked up on the figure watching them from a distance, their features hidden by a blue and white hoodie as they watched them before their gaze moved to the gate itself.
Line Break
"Dang, it was hard to get in today," Kinoko said, as she had a hard time getting in today, with Yanagi agreeing with her.
“The press was relentless, even when I said I didn't know anything," Yanagi added, as it was like an unending horde till she just floated over them and the walls.
"You could have told them to fuck off, you know," Kamakiri suggested before he got smacked over the head by Shiozaki, who frowned at him.
“Language.” The vine-haired girl scolded him.
“What, it’s true!” As he defended himself, with Awase agreeing with him, Shishida spoke up.
"To be frank, we should have expected something like this would happen. All Might is the top hero; his actions always attract attention like bees to flowers." The news broke the previous night and was one of the most talked about since, even when he checked the news every morning, he saw at least 3 separate headlines about it.
"But we're students; we should have some privacy. The last thing I need is someone getting a picture of me picking my nose." Tokage retorted, as she'd seen enough gossip to know that the press could be brutal with what they presented.
"Maybe we could have told them something to get off our backs if we were actually taught by him," Monoma added his two cents as Tsunotori shook her head with a frown.
"I don't think so. I talked with Tsu, and she also gave them the cold shoulder." She had met the frog girl on the way in, and they had talked as they walked up to their classes, with Asui breaking off first as her class was closer to the entrance.
"Let's just hope they clear up before we go home because I don't want to miss my train because of them." Kendo messaged her neck as she knew she couldn't snap at them and that the media didn't play fair, but she knew her limits.
Midoriya sat at his desk, still pouting from how rude the press was. "You're just lucky they didn't call you names; they treated me like a villain who snuck into U.A. just because of a few accidents."
Tokage wrapped a dismembered arm around his shoulders. “Oh, don’t worry, Hebimi. Soon, you'll be known far as wide." He groaned into his desk, but she caught the giggle he barely hid.
“I hope so…” If he had to pick between being associated with villains and a nickname given to him by a friend, he knew what he would choose. "I'll prove them wrong and be the best hero, like All Might."
Tetsutetsu turned his way after he heard that and asked a question. "Hey, I've meant to ask, but wouldn't you like Endeavour more since his whole thing is fire?" It seemed like a good question, but the door opened, and Vlad entered before Izuku could answer.
“Settle down, students.” At his command, the students on their feet quickly took their seats and faced him as the many started to speak. “Before anything else, I want to say you all performed well during yesterday’s combat training.”
“Of course, as first years I also saw a lot of wasted energy and unrefined techniques. To improve on this, I’ve already written down those points for each of you to read through, which I expect you’ll do.” Vlad held up some papers to emphasise his point as he passed them to the first person in each row to send down the aisles; as he did so, he brought up some highlights.
“Chief among them were those like Midoriya. You were far too blasé about using your flames in a building. Always remember that even villains need to ensure their base is structurally intact. At the same time, heroes ensure the least damage to property as possible." Midoriya nodded, feeling embarrassed that he had forgotten that near the end.
"Kuroiro, Tetsutetsu. You needed to keep an open mind and not just trust what the villains said and did. If you continued searching, you might have discovered where the bomb was while they set up their trap." Vlad turned to the losers of their match, a point Tetsutetsu knew as Tsunotori and Midoriya had already explained where they had hidden the bomb.
“Yes, Vlad-sensei.” The two nodded as Vlad went on, as he had some biting but needed criticism for everyone. Still, once they had their forms, he stopped as he trusted they'd read over his observations and suggestions and put them into practice.
"Now, with that done, we have another issue to address. That being who will serve as our class representative and vice representative." Just as Vlad expected, his announcement of such a mundane school activity caused chaos as the students started yelling, waving their hands to try and gain his attention. Kamakiri seemed to be the loudest, followed by Tetsutetsu, with even the passive Shiozaki throwing her hat into the race along with Komori, all having different ideas and yelling them like politicians.
All this just made the man sigh as Izuku was with him on that point. It was somewhat disorderly. That being said, his hand was raised, and being a class rep wasn't just extra work; for her students like them, it was a great way to learn how to manage others, both out in the field and during quiet moments.
An essential skill for anyone who wished to go pro and open their own agency one day which could employ sidekicks, especially since of all active pros in Japan, over 70% of them were still sidekicks themselves, most being doomed to remain as such for practically their entire careers for one reason or another. Of that 30% that didn’t, only around 60% kept more than 2 sidekicks for more than 2 years, with the curve being a weird one as most kept less so little; then you have the massive leap to pros that had at least a dozen sidekicks.
All that meant was that only 18% of pros had their own agencies with long-term sidekicks or, like Mirko's most well-known example, were solo and freelance.
Eventually, Vlad got sick of the noise and called his hands together to silence them, which did the trick before he started. "I should have seen that coming a mile away, screaming like idiots will get you nowhere fast, nor does it make me any confident in your abilities to make smart decisions for yourself and your classmates. Besides, I'm not the one who picks."
At that, Shishida raised his hand and waited for Vlad to address him. “Yes, Shishida?”
“Sir, if I may ask, but if not you, then who will decide?” The pro shook his head as he held up a box from beneath his stand at the front.
"It will be a vote between you all. You write your choice on paper and put it into this box. Whoever gets the most will be named class rep, with the runner-up being their vice." He explained as Kaibara raised his hand next.
“But, won’t we just pick ourselves?” The boy asked, which made Vlad raise an eyebrow as such questions didn’t bode well for others in the past.
“That’s the one rule, no writing your own name.” Still, Vlad replied, which cleared up most confusion even as Kendo eyed the clock hanging on the wall and saw the time.
“Will there be enough time in homeroom for that?” She asked as they had 5 minutes left in the homeroom and little time to handle this after they reviewed their first hero class results.
"It's an extended one, as all the classes will be picking today, even the second and third years, as it's not a permanent position. Not only can you step down or be stripped of it by us teachers, but classes host an election at the beginning of each year." Vlad started, happy he didn’t have to deal with the older students who had achievements and steady support, as their class elections really felt like the real thing.
The students pulled pages from their notebooks and wrote their picks on them before folding them and putting them in the box as Vlad walked in by; once the last slip was placed in, he returned to the front of the class, where he counted them at his desk for a couple minutes. After double-checking to ensure he didn't have a Steve Harvey moment, Vlad nodded and inputted the results into the green board.
As they had expected, most got no votes, with the Shiozaki and Komori tied for the last of those that did gain votes, each with a single vote, which made them slightly sad, but they didn't let it get to them. Ahead of them, with more than double their scores, was Tokage, who got 3 votes, which she was happy with, even if she didn't win, as she could just prove herself through the year and win next time if 3 others already saw her as leadership material. Ahead of her by a single vote was her fellow recommendation student, Honenuki.
All that meant that there were only two names left. Vlad nodded gruffly, “And with 6 votes, your class representative will be Kendo Itsuka, with her vice with 5 votes to be Midoriya Izuku." He called both to the front. Midoriya was surprised that he got 2nd place with 5 votes. Who voted for him? Looking around, he couldn't see any obvious sign, namely because most were good sports about their losses and cheered him and Kendo on as they stood up front for them to see, Kendo being a little more confident with her win.
"Dang, I missed out on that V.R. position, but it was a fair election.” Honenuki leaned into his chair.
“Trust the elections," Tsunotori stated in English, her tone as severe as the grave, which did not fit with her face.
"I didn't expect this, but that doesn't mean I'll refuse it. I'll honour your wishes and be the best class rep you've ever had." Kendo bowed them all, with Midoriya being quick to follow her head.
“Same for me. I look forward to making sure we’re the best hero class in U.A.’s history.” Awase laughed at the odds sight, as Koharu seemed to be the one egging Izuku to speak up.
“I think we elected Koharu more than Izuku.” The bandana-wearing student stated, which got Tsunotori to giggle before she got an idea.
“Oh, I know, she can be the class mascot!” She had class pets back in the States but never a class mascot; this could be fun. To Midoriya and Kendo's surprise, the idea seemed to catch fire as Tokage raised her hand.
“That’s not a bad idea, all in favour?” He asked, with most of the class going along with the weirdness.
“Aye!”
“All oppose?” Some looked like they were against it, but weirdly enough, Shiozaki wasn't in that group; regardless, none spoke up against it, which meant 9 votes Yes, and 9 abstained.
"Well, you heard it. We got ourselves class reps and a class mascot." Koharu seemed pleased with that statement, as Izuku guessed she probably thought it meant more food to stuff down her throat.
Once they finalised that, the day went as usual, with the two newly elected class reps being told to remain behind as Vlad gave them additional information, such as how they were now in charge of the class's well-being, that they had to attend weekly meetings with the other class reps and had some authority to lead and punish their classmates but they weren't to abuse it.
All that led to them at lunch, with the cafeteria being a buzz of activity. “There are more people here than yesterday," Tsunotori noted as she ate her lunch.
"Probably because all the courses have their lunch here, though they must have been held up with their own business and had lunch when we weren't here," Kendo suggested as she finished chewing. The table they sat at consisted of its soon-to-be regular group, including Yanagi, who needed a place to sit, and they welcomed her. With Izuku, he pocked at his meal, even though it was his favourite, which didn't go unnoticed.
“Something wrong, Hebimi? You’ve barely touched your pork.” Tokage asked as Koharu didn't seem to share his lack of appetite, enjoying her meal without pause.
“It just,” He put his chopsticks down. "I don't know if I can handle being V.R., you know? I've never had a role in student government before; I barely had friends, so I'm just winging it most of the time and implying what I read in this." He confessed, missing the angered look on their faces and confusion on Yanagi, Tetsutetsu and Kendo's faces as they weren't in the know about his situation.
Still, Kendo stepped in to ensure he didn’t start doubting himself. "I wouldn't worry about it, Midoriya. Most social people are just like that; there's no way to master conversations or people skills; you just get better at expressing yourself and reading the room; at least, that's what my father says."
Tsunotori was the same. “I believe in you; it’s why I exercisedmy right as an American and voted.”
"But…we're in Japan," Midoriya replied, a little confused by that statement, which Tsunotori was utterly unapologetic about.
“No matter what I go, I was born free and shall vote!” She cheered, getting attention from other tables, but they returned to their conversations without issue.
“Speaking of where you were born,” Monona started, but Pony knew what he would ask before he asked it.
"You want to know where I was born? And why do I have a Japanese name?" The table nodded, as her Japanese could have been better, and her features were clearly Western, so they had questions but didn't want to just ask.
“Yeah, that.” Monoma nodded, looking slightly foolish for what seemed like a blunt question, but Pony didn't mind. Kicking her feet under the desk, she explained her backstory.
"It's my father's name. He is a 2ndgeneration Japanese-American, but my mother is American. I was born in Nebraska, where I lived with my family till we moved to Okinawa because of my dad’s work in middle school.” Her father was an engineer and went where the contracts led him, and his firm landed him a pretty sweet deal in Japan, earning much more than before.
“What year?” Yanagi asked, as that would explain a lot, but now it was Pony's turn to look a bit embarrassed, as no doubt they thought she transferred last year.
"First year, but most other students and teachers spoke English, so I didn't practice much." A consequence of the heavy American presence on the island that pre-dated quirks, so much so that it was nicknamed Little Honolulu.
The table digested that, as none had been there. Still, they heard that the place was pretty American and that English and Japanese might as well be interchangeable, with a healthy dose of Spanish speakers. "Must have been a big change when you applied to U.A.", Yanagi guessed; since U.A. didn't have an English language course, they learned it, but only in one class. The language used to teach and interact with people was still Japanese 90% of the time.
“Yeah, but I want to be a hero, like Star and Stripes!” Pony was awed, thinking of the top hero of her homeland, the world's strongest woman and her inspiration.
“Isn’t she the American All Might?” Tetsutetsu asked, only to be met with a furious-looking Tsunotori who jumped to her feet, slamming her hands on the desk as she glared at him with a fork held like a deadly blade.
"You take that back! Star is the best! Not some All Might copycat!" She growled at him as the white-haired boy raised his hands in surrender, wanting to back away before she tried to stab him. The rest were just as caught off guard by how…passionate Tsunotori was about this, but not commenting on it lest she turn on them.
“Ok, ok! Just put down the fork, Tsunotori.” He tried to appease the angry horse girl, who remained standing, her glare on him till, at last, she sat down again, stabbing at her food as she muttered to herself in English.
“American All Might, my ass, he's the one that copied us; if anything, he's the copy…” They didn't catch most of that, partly because it was in English, partly because it was being mumbled. Still, they decided to let those sleeping dogs lay as Tsunotori calmed down and continued to explain her reasoning for voting for Izuku.
"Anyway, that's why I vote for Midoriya. He saved people during the exam, and I like that!" She seemed so cheerful that you could almost forget what just happened. Almost.
“This was when he transformed?” Monoma asked as she had mentioned it more than once by now.
“Yup, it was badass as shit!” Tsunotori replied, not that Izuku could deny it, as while he didn't like the attention so much, he wanted to recall that experience as he started to relax in his seat.
“It was pretty cool. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to do it more often.” He giggled in the beginning as he finally started to eat, humming in delight when the perfectly cooked pork met his tastebuds.
“Why don’t you do it now? I mean, besides the burning stuff part.” Tetsutetsu asked, which gave him an unimpressed look as a response from Izuku as he pouted at that rather dumb question.
"I can choose what I want to burn, you know. Otherwise, I couldn't pick stuff up without burning it. But it wasn't always the case." He replied as if that was the case; he wouldn't make a good hero, would he? Even Endeavour can control what his flames burn to some extent; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to get close to anyone when he coats his upper torso, arms, and even face in flames.
Tetsutetsu could see where he was coming from and realised he had asked a dumb question. Tokage, on the other hand, decided to add a little joke. “What? Did you transform and change back naked?” Only for Midoriya to remain suspiciously silent as she started to smile, picking up on the why. “Oh my God, you did!” She laughed, as she could only imagine that experience.
Oh wait, she didn't have to, as she thought back to her own days with her quirk. When she would split herself, her clothes wouldn't split with her, so she would end up falling out of them, which led to more than a few trips to the principal’s office when she forgot that and ended up flashing people. As for how she could 'learn' to split her clothes? No idea. The quirk doctors didn't bother trying to explain it.
“I got past it!” Midoriya yelled back, his face getting a little red at the memories of the many…many times he finished training in the nude. He still had to think about it as it wasn't a muscle memory yet, which was part of why he didn't just transform whenever.
"Good thing, too, Hebimi. You wouldn’t want to flash any reporters after a major take-down.” He groaned as his head slammed into the desk. At the same time, Tokage continued to laugh, joined by some snickers from Tetsutetsu and Tsunotori. Monoma only smiled while Kendo rolled her eyes at Setsuna's immature humour.
"Please, stop," Midoriya asked, which she mercifully did as the conversation moved onto other topics, namely the exam and how they all performed during it, learning how they handled the event before Monoma asked Tokage, the only person who didn’t take the general exam, how the recommendation’s exam went.
"Like the tin name, you're recommended by a hero who fills out a special form stating that they believe your skills are above the curve and should be judged as such. In my case, Majestic sponsored me after we saw my performance at my middle school's culture festival." She explained as Tsunotori leaned her head to the side in confusion.
“Why would seeing you dance make him think you hero?” The American asked, which Tetsutetsu snorted before he answered for Tokage.
“She’s leaving out the part where she saved someone after one of the overhead lights came loose.” He stated that the two had gone to the same middle school. However, they were in different classes, so he had been present for that little incident. The investigation found that the group in charge of the lights needed to have been more thorough, which led to the light missing most of the fastens it was meant to have.
“Interesting, so who filled out Honenuki’s?” Monoma asked her, to which she shrugged.
“No clue, but I think he said something about it being Midnight.” She replied, though she couldn't be sure about that as she never directly asked, and he never explicitly said it. Still, she went on to explain that because they were 'the crème of the crop,' they had been given a challenging written exam with a timer, and how most didn't even finish it as she was lucky that she managed to fill in the last answer right as the time ended.
After that, it was a 3km obstacle race, which was weird as the general students had to fight robots, but she mentioned that it wasn't like the obstacles were easy. Monoma did bring up another good point, as if she was recommended by Majestic, and Honenuki could be Midnight, who recommended the two in class A. His theory that Endeavour used his influence to get his son in was insane, as they all doubted that U.A. was that kind of place. Still, at the same time, without someone like Tsu to ask, they couldn't disprove it.
Tokage couldn't even say how he did as the students had been split into groups, and hers didn't have Honenuki or Todoroki. Midoriya was on the side that Todoroki must have earned his place as Endeavour was many things, unfriendly, abrasive, demanding, and terrible with kids. Still, he couldn't say he ever saw him as a cheater as he's solved more incidents than All Might and is known for the demanding work ethic he imposes on himself and his sidekicks, as many that worked for him, even former office staff all tell tales of how uncompromising he, he just couldn't see him bending his principles, even for his son.
Monoma backed down at that, as it was sound logic, but he did say they should look into class A anyway, if for no other reason than ensuring they can stay ahead of them. As Kendo asked when they got ahead, it had only been a few days. Yanagi asked how they'd even learn more about class A when the alarm went, alerting the students to a level 3 breach, which led to all hell breaking loose.
And that is that. An extended chapter, which I know isn't meant to be a thing, but there's a lot that I planned to happen. I have to cut things out, as there was more meant to happen here by the end, but for time reasons, it was removed. Also, in hindsight, it works better that Izuku and the rest don't have a more prominent role in the scene, as that was meant to be Iida's moment, so I'm letting him have that.
I spoke with some others about where Pony is from, and they all agreed that I must hate her because I chose Nebraska, which….I'm not American, so I have no clue why that's such a wrong choice for a state, as I merely picked it out of states with the highest horse population to try and fit her design. However, the bit about her favourite hero being Star and Stripes was not in the script; it just came to be as I wrote it out. It would make sense for her to like an American hero over All Might.
It also served as a chance to have Star be mentioned early as she’s supposed to be a well-known figure AND give Pony a chance to show off more of her personality, namely the part of how she's a fighter that won’t just sit back when you insult her hero, after all. At the same time, Star was inspired by All Might, but All Might was inspired by American aesthetics, so an American would take offence to you saying they copied him.
