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Chapter 21: Semester continues
🕑 Added 2024-09-30 15:34:20 +0000 UTC“Text” – Normal speech
‘Text’ – Thought
“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world
“Text” - Attacks
“Text” – Radio/Communication lines
“Text” – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 21: Semester continues
With their practical over, the students returned to the locker rooms, where they showed up and changed back into their uniforms. They made it to their next class with Snipe, who went through the basis of human autonomy, how quirks commonly altered things like body temperature, blood flow, and heart rate, and how one needed to consider those when conducting first aid in the field.
Most of it was things Midoriya already knew. Still, the cowboy-themed hero had eyes like a hawk, so not paying attention would get him the same thing as it did others like Kaminari, that being a bullet fired near his head that both made it clear that Snipe wasn't called the best marksmen in Japan for nothing, and a reminder that lecturers could get away with a lot, even if he was firing paintballs.
After he put some fear into them, the class was much more engaged with his lesson before the bell rang, and it was time for lunch. As he was packing his things away, Aoyama and Hagakure approached.
“You want to head into town for lunch? Hagakure says she saw a good Mexican food place.” Aoyama suggested, Tetsutetsu and Kamakiri close behind them.
Taking a moment to think about it, Midoriya debated whether it was worth not using the main cafeteria. But then again, they weren't in high school anymore. Why not live a little? “You know what? I could go for something exotic right now. Lead the way.”
“You guys say something about Mexican food?” Jiro popped in.
Hagakure nodded, though they thought she did, and she answered, "Yeah when I was moving in, I saw this little shop a couple blocks from our apartment. It looked like it would be a fun time."
As she explained things, Iida and Uraraka had also walked over to them as the growing group left their class behind. “Yeah…let’s go.” Uraraka looked worried, which didn’t escape their notice.
"You good, Uraraka? Do you need to see the nurse?" Jiro asked as Uraraka had been held up in the nurse's office longer than they expected. Aoyama returned 20 minutes into class, but Uraraka had wobbled in in the last 10 minutes. Snipe was as concerned as they were, but she assured him she was ready to continue with the day.
“What? No, nono. I just remembered something unpleasant, is all; it's nothing." Uraraka denied, but she still looked exhausted from her treatment, which made Midoriya feel worse, as she wouldn't have been hurt if he hadn't messed around.
“If you say so.” Jiro started. “Is it just us?”
“Actually…” The group turned to see a nervous Komori, the girl looking at their feet rather than their faces. Could I join you guys?" she asked, a far cry from her performance, where she had been a beacon of sunshine and energy, and that was before she was supercharged by Aoyama.
"The more, the merrier, welcome abroad!" Tetsutetsu quickly accepted her, wrapping a hand around her shoulders, which made the girl blush. She'd be as red as Kirishima's hair if Aoyama had his way. He grasped her hand and kissed her knuckles as he bowed to her.
“I wasn’t able to say it before, but your performance during our match was extraordinary, Komori. You were our best.” Aoyama complimented, which made the girl even redder as she tried to collect herself. A smile grew on her face, even if her eyes remained hidden by her hair.
"Oh, stop it. You're making me blush." She took her hand back, her cheeks flushed, but Midoriya leaned into her.
"I would watch him closely; he's a real smooth talker." He whispered though it was still loud enough for the group to hear, which made Hagakure and Tetsutetsu laugh at Aoyama's expense.
“Must you tell every girl I encounter such, Izuku?” Aoyama sighed, a hand to his forehead.
“Yes.”
“Bold of you to act like you’re an untouched flower.” Aoyama rebutted as they reached the stairs, Midoriya giving him a look that said not to speak. “Certainly one that can keep someone up all night.” But he did so anyway, the implication causing their group to look at Midoriya with shock, surprise, or embarrassment, Jiro being the worst of all as her eyes went down to his crotch but pulled themselves back to his face before they could go all the way. Still, he had caught her wondering gaze, and she knew it was. She let out a high-pitched peep and turned to not look at him.
"Aoyama, it's obscene to speak such lies about someone, especially when they're so unclothed!" Iida chopped his hands towards Aoyama, the boy frowning at such a perverse topic being so openly discussed.
"Iida, I assure you, he might seem small, but-!" Midoriya stopped Aoyama before he could say more, grabbing him into a sleeper hold. What he and his girlfriend did behind closed doors was their business and certainly wouldn't be other people's entertainment.
“They don’t need to know about that!” Midoriya yelled as Aoyama flayed about, trying to free himself. But then Kamakiri stepped up to help him, grabbing Midoriya, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, and leaning into the shorter boy, careful not to hurt him with his tusks.
"Now I kinda do; it seems like you're hiding some hidden talents for more…passionate activities," Kamakiri smirked at him as Midoriya groaned.
“When did the conversation turn towards Midoriya and Aoyama’s love lives…or Midoriya’s skills at fucking and Aoyama’s apparent playboy status?” Jiro asked, still pointedly not looking towards Midoriya.
“Dammit, don’t say it like that!” Midoriya yelled.
“I hear talk about romance!” His pleas would go unanswered as another classmate popped up behind them, scaring them, especially Jiro, who hadn't even heard them coming.
“Where did you come from?” Jiro asked Ashido, the girl closely followed by an apologetic-looking Kirishima.
“Unimportant! What is important is that two of my classmates have already found love? You gotta spill the tea!” She brushed aside such things as she got up in their business, leaving Midoriya stuck between her and Kamakiri, and he had a feeling that neither would let him off the hook unless he offered up something.
“Dammit, they’re already gotten laid?” Mineta cried as he and Kaminari had been walking close by when the conversation had changed gears.
Line Break
Lucky for Midoriya, Ashido was willing to drop the matter as they left campus and took a bus to the restaurant. Stepping off their ride, they saw that it wasn't some chain store, more ma and pop kind of place, styled in a way that reminded them of Mexican culture, with the front looking like a sombrero. Jiro thought it was a little on the nose, but if they wanted tacky, all the power to them. It wasn't like people seemed to care as they had a healthy lunchtime customer base, with only a few tables large enough for their party being open, though they were outside spaces.
Walking to the entrance, they were greeted by a waiter dressed in a cowboy-like get-up with a poncho styled in traditional Mexican patterns. Once they informed them that they were eating, they were told that there were only outside tables for a party as large as theirs, which they accepted and were led to one of them. Those tables were half circles, part of which was cut off so that the table could press against the fence that separated them from the sidewalk.
Jiro took that fence seat, and much to her chagrin, the person she wasn't totally thinking about in that way, Midoriya, took the seat next to her. Instead, she focused on how everyone else sat, with no surprise going to the fact that Kirishima was to Ashido’s left, though she felt like it was asking for trouble that Aoyama was to her right.
They were handed their menus, which had everything from appetizers to main course meals, most of which she hadn't heard of, and desserts with a section for drinks-alcoholic and none. Everything she saw even had two little descriptions of the meal, its main ingredients, and the expected flavor profile written in Japanese and Spanish. They hadn't even had anything yet, but Jiro thought that Hagakure was right on the money with this as some of their party started discussing what to get and if they should order something that people could share to maximize the experience.
"You ready to order, guys?" Ojiro asked, with Uraraka still looking tense. In fact, they noted that she looked worse than when they left campus.
“Well, I’ll have the number 3.” Uraraka frowned but smiled as she placed her menu down, which confused them. Tetsutetsu looked through his own to confirm something, and low and behold, he saw which part of the menu the number 3 was in.
"That's it? Uraraka, that's just an appetizer. We don't have time to get a full-course meal." He told her, as that was a pretty small plate, to begin with, the kind of stuff you gave a kid that didn't have a big appetite.
"I know, but the thing is that most other stuff is expensive, and I'm trying to save my money," Uraraka answered a bit too quickly, which only worried them more. Sure, none were swimming in money—well, most weren’t—but that was beside the point.
“Well, why don’t I pay for it.” Midoriya offered, which got her to look at him in surprise and slight awkwardness at his suggestion.
“Wait, I couldn’t ask you to do that.” She tried to wave him off, but he shook his head and smiled.
“You’re not. Consider it an apology for what happened earlier. Please, I insist." His mother wasn't wealthy, but her work meant they were well off, so he could afford to help a friend eat a larger, more filling meal. Besides, he would have done so even if he wasn't.
Uraraka looked like she would argue, but Hagakure held her shoulder while Tetsutetsu offered a smile and a thumbs up. “Well…okay, then I’ll have the number 7 with extra chamoy.” She relented, feeling like she was mooching off him, so she went with a compromise of ordering something larger, but nothing too fancy or expensive either.
"Such a gentleman. Do you treat your girl like that as well?" Ashido teased Midoriya, taking attention off Uraraka’s odd refusal to spend a little.
“Will you let me have my food before you grill me for detail?” Midoriya asked her, but the smile she gave him said enough as Kirishima laughed at her side.
“Not happening, man. She can be relentless about this kind of stuff; I should know since we’ve been together since middle school.” The redhead told them, which got Komori to look to her right.
“Like an item?” She asked, but Ashido scoffed at the notion and brushed it aside.
“What? No, like friends. Kiri and me aren’t like that.” She didn't hesitate to shoot that down, which might have been insulting, but Kirishima didn't seem too bothered, so maybe they just felt more comfortable as friends.
Still, that meant that her attention was solely on him, and with the waiter still busy with another table, he couldn't wait for her return to bail him out. So Midoriya had to accept that this was the topic then.
Placing his menu down, having already picked what he wanted, he was serious when he pointed towards Youa. "For the record, I'm not like Yuga; I've been with just one girl since my first year of high school." They looked at the Frenchman, who shrugged with an amused smile.
“I won’t deny it. I’ve not had as great luck finding someone I can connect with on such a deep level. It's quite beautiful, to be honest." Aoyama had no shame over the fact he had taken many lovers; both parties agreed, had a good time, and decided that was the end of the story. Ashido swooned at the knowledge that Midoriya was in a committed relationship.
"It totally is, high school sweethearts. Oh, please tell me you're still a thing. Wait, does she attend U.A.? Is she older or younger?" Oh, she needed all the details. She needed to meet this girl and get her side of things.
"Yes, we're still dating. No, she doesn't attend U.A. She's a year older than us but started schooling late, so she's a college freshman like us.” Midoriya kept up with her questions, as did Ashido's, and now even Komori and Kirishima are getting interested in things. However, it felt like they only got said interest when he admitted Saiko was a year older than them.
“You have pictures?” Hagakure asked as this was the first time she had heard about this, despite Midoriya basically spelling out that his best friend was a player to her.
“That I do.” And think of the devil, and he shall appear as it wasn't Midoriya who replayed but Aoyama who whipped out his phone, Midoriya getting whiplash as his head turned on a dime to his friend who shamelessly opened up his gallery.
“Yuga!” Midoriya's face got a little red as Yuga smiled and handed the phone to Ashido, who cheered so loud other tables looked their way. How could she not when she was looking at a picture whose date was a couple years ago when they would have been 2nd years in high school. Said image showed a gorgeous white-haired girl sitting next to Midoriya under a tree, both peacefully asleep with some books around them, the caption reading Egg-heads decide to take a nap during study date.
“What’s the issue, Izuku? Are you ashamed of your love with such a lovely maiden?” Yuga asked him as Ashido went through other pictures Midoriya regretted letting him keep, from those of them just enjoying a meal or walking to the worst of them, one where the two had kissed at her door after a date. How and when Yuga got that one is a mystery.
"That's not the point, and you know it!" Midoriya yelled at him, and Yuga only laughed. Ashido spread his misery by letting Kirishima take a gander at the pictures. The guy whistled when he saw Saiko, and he offered him a sharp-toothed grin and a thumbs-up.
“She’s a total knockout man. You lucked out!” Midoriya didn't appreciate the compliment as he slammed his head into the table with a thud, wishing he had decided to skip lunch or for the ground to swallow him.
“Oh, let me see!” Komori only added to his pain as she was the floodgate till everyone had time to look through the pictures and offer some compliment, or in the case of Kamakiri, ask how much he paid her for the dates, which got some laughs from the group at his expense. Laughs that didn't dissipate immediately when he shot down the idea that Saiko was that far out of his league.
"Let's just order…please," Midoriya begged, which Ashido and Aoyama took as their time to stop ribbing on him as Jiro pat his back.
"Yeah, as cool as it is to talk, I'm hungry as hell," Kamakiri said. Only then did the waiter return after he had been cooked. With a smile, she wrote down their orders and was gone, experience meaning that he could make out his order even with his face still kissing the table.
“You know, Ashido. For someone so invested in other people’s love lives, what’s yours like?” Jiro came up to bat for him, trying to throw the pink-skinned woman for a loop and possibly get some embarrassing moments from her.
Ashido was surprised by the line of questioning but far from embarrassed as she tapped her chin in thought. Her nails had been painted with an eccentric mix of greens, blues, and red, with rhinestones added to the mix. "Well, I haven't found Mr….or Mrs Right yet, but I've been around and had some fun times." She gave a look that made the girl shiver, as those were some bedrooms' eyes.
Seeing her react like that only made Ashido laugh and Jiro angry that her ploy had been turned against her, though Aoyoma mused the fact that he wasn't the only one who was quite…active on the dating scene.
“Perhaps we can hit one of the clubs together and see if we can’t break that streak.” He offered her his hand to shake, as he could already see it, and she would be much more entertaining to club with that Midoriya, who could be needlessly stiff.
“Or just have a fun time on the town.” Ashido shook his head, the two deciding without words that they'll discuss this in detail later, and preferably after they've adapted to the workload of having to be in class till past 5PM, not a lot of time to shower, change, and then find a good club.
“I can’t believe this is the topic of discussion.” Iida sighed as his brother had warned him about this, but he had planned to find a group of like-minded people, though it did mean he understood why Tensei laughed when he told him of that plan; his brother knew that he was an outlier.
"Well, we're college students, so it was bound to come up eventually." Ojiro smiled before rolling his eyes and looking towards the expectant Ashido. The girl seemed to run off romance drama. “And before you ask, Ashido, yes, I've dated. No, I'm not a virgin. It was my second year, and we broke up without a fuss." Too bad for her, he didn't have any.
"Same," Kirishima and Tetsutetsu said simultaneously, only to recoil when they realized that and tried to speak again, with the situation only worsening. "What the hell? When did you get laid? In my third year. Stop doing that!”
"It's eerie how much they match, " Kamakiri said, and both turned to glare at him.
“We don’t match!”
Kamakiri laughed at their similar misfortune as he relaxed in his seat. “Well, seems like I got lucky first as I lost that card when I was still in 1st year while on a summer camp. Fuck was that an experience.” He smiled, recalling it and all the fun that entailed. He wondered what happened to her since she transferred in their 2nd year.
“Oh, looks like besides Ashido, the ladies were more cautious with selecting your first times, right Uraraka?” Hagakure nudged Uraraka, who buried her head into the menu. “Uraraka…”
Peaking over the menu, her face was red as it wasn't something she thought she could come up with, but since everyone was sharing…“Well…there was this senior when I just started my 2nd year and well….one thing led to another…” They met outside school as she went against her parent's wishes and got a part-time job to help pay for things, which happened to be at a maid café, and he walked in one day on a date… he never showed up. She felt terrible for the guy as he seemed so excited about it, and then they got to talking, and things went from there.
“You still dating?” Midoriya asked, finally getting back into things, but Uraraka shook her head.
“His family moved to Hokkaido. We tried long distances but agreed it was better to break things off. We're still friends, though." She admitted it was sad for her at the time, especially as they had such a good thing between them. He was everything a girl wanted in an older boyfriend without any of the baggage, but she grew to accept it and move on with her life. If he had found someone else, she was happy for him.
"I can't believe it; how am I in the minority?" Hagakure bemoaned her luck, as only Komori and Jiro seemed to be in the same V-card boat as her.
"Well, you're a great person, Hagakure, so I'm sure it was less because of options and more a choice on your end," Ojiro told her, which made her happy, though she hated the fact that she couldn't display that as easily as others did.
"That's sweet, Ojiro, but it was a little of both. After all, kinda hard to get people's interest when they can't see you without a criminally offensive amount of make-up." Her uniform shivered as she had a few encounters with guys with some weird fetishes that she fit into. She broke off those dates as fast as she could.
"Well, I, for one, chose not to engage in such activities in high school. I had to think about my future as a hero." Iida crossed his arms.
"Well, we kind of figured you seem like the type who waits for marriage, am I right?" Ashido lay her head on her folded arms, looking towards the speedster, who surprised them when he shook his head.
"That is…incorrect. I do put merit into waiting for the one, but my choice was more because, as students, we need to put more time into our training. But once we graduate, join agencies, and adapt to the workload, I see no issue in pursuing a romance and all that entails." He wasn’t that uptight; he just had his priorities straight, and hero training took up much time.
Aizawa even made it clear that they'd have limited free time as they studied in the U.A., and if he was going to enter a relationship, he wanted to be able to treat it with the care and seriousness it deserved. He'd rather swallow acid than be the type of boyfriend who was regularly late if he bothered to show up at all.
“Hmm, I stand corrected.” Ashido didn’t sweat her error as she turned her attention to the one who redirected the topic off Midori’s love life. “What about you, Jiro.”
“No.” Jiro didn’t offer up any more details, and she glared at Ashido, daring her to try to push things with her.
"Here's your food. I hope you enjoy it!" Their waiter returned, balancing all their plates and glasses with practiced ease as she placed them on the table.
Line Break
Once they had their lunch, which everyone approved of, they got up and left to return to campus before their lunch break was over. As their afternoon classes were all electives, their group had to break up as they went their separate ways. One group, made up of Kamakiri, Ojiro, Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, and surprisingly, Komori and Jiro, was heading towards the gym for PE with Vlad King.
"I wasn't sure about this before, but that quirk assessment made it clear as hell that I really need to work on getting in better shape," Jiro told them, already dreading whatever training she was about to endure.
“Same here.” Komori nodded as she was even more determined yet fearful of whatever their exercises entailed. As if Vlad was like their other teachers, he wouldn't do easy on them.
“Well, we’ll be there to guide you through it.” Kirishima grabbed Komori, who let out a yelp.
“Yeah, we’ll be your gym bros!” Tetsutetsu did the same with Jiro, who let out a curse as she fought against the whited-haired teen who only laughed along with Kirishima as they jogged off with the two girls in hand, or in Jiro's case, thrown over his shoulder like a bag of rice.
"Tetsutetsu, I swear to God, you'll regret this!" She yelled as the four turned the corner, leaving just Kamakiri, who muttered something about them being idiots before he left.
The next to break from the group were Hagakure, Ashido, Iida, and Uraraka, who had to make it to their public relations class. While they figured that their teacher, Supercharge, was a pretty relaxed guy, they didn't want to make a wrong impression.
"See you guys later!" Ashido waved over her shoulder as she walked off, Hagakure following her as they talked about something Midoriya couldn't hear.
“We’ll probably see one another in 5th period, so good luck!" Uraraka bowed to the remaining people before she turned and jogged to catch up with the group. The girl looked a lot better after getting some food in her.
“Indeed, till we meet again.” Iida followed her example as he turned and power marched to class, though Midoriya was sure it was because he didn’t want to run in the halls.
"That just leaves the two of us, then?" Yuga started but moved away from Midoriya as he gestured towards an elevator at the end of the hall, which already had people trying to use it. "But sadly, I must bid you adieu. I have sociology and citizenship to get to.”
“Then I’ll see you later.” Midoriya nodded as he turned and walked towards another elevator, which would take him to a different level. As he walked, he saw other hero course students, those in the 2nd and 3rd year, walking by; no rush to get to class as they still had plenty of time. Some seemed to wish to get there early, but he wasn't one of them.
Walking into the class, he wasn't surprised to find that he wasn't the first one, but he was more surprised by who it was: the room's other occupant, looking up from the book she had been reading.
“Oh, Midoriya. It seems that we’ll be attending during the same period.” Yaoyorozu greeted him with a cordial smile as he approached.
“So it seems, Yaoyorozu. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting you to be in this class.” Midoriya stated, which caused an eyebrow to rise from her.
"Bold thing to say when we hardly know one another or does one of your quirk's abilities give you superhuman insight into others?" She joked, with Midoriya awkwardly laughing along with her, but not for the reasons she was.
"I wish. It's more the first part. I just didn't think about how little I know our classmates." Midoriya admitted that he hardly knew them, even among his newly formed friend group, for which they even created a group chat at Ashido's insistence. However, it was only the second day of the semester.
"Well, we can work to remedy that as the year progresses." Yaoyorozu smiled at him as she offered a handshake, one which he accepted.
“I would like that.” He replied, noting that the rather posh-sounding woman had a firm grip on her.
“I wouldn’t mind that as well.” They turned when they heard another voice by the door, one of two classmates entering. "After all, we're training to be heroes, right? Might as well make connections now," Honenuki added.
"Having more friends than just a couple of people would be nice." The shorter Shoda added with a bow.
“That is an excellent point,” both jumped when they looked behind them, seeing an unknown figure standing there with a serene aristocracy. They weren't dressed like students, which could only mean that they were teachers. But I would prefer it if you all used your time outside class to form such bonds." They continued, their words measured, near indifferent but dissimilar to Eraser's.
“Right, sorry, sir!” The two students hurried to find a free spot. The lecture hall was built for 40 people, but as they'd come to learn, elective classes rarely had even half that, so they could sit far apart.
"As long as you don't repeat this behavior, it's an easily forgivable mistake." Their lecturer stated as they walked towards the front of the class. Giving them a chance to observe him. He was tall, though not as tall as the Amazon, which was Yaoyorozu or Honenuki, but how he carried himself certainly made him feel larger than both. He processed a pair of severe and observant grey eyes and long black hair that was nearly shining with how clean it was, though he also had 3 intricate white headpieces he wore atop his head and another two to the right side.
His hero costume was a long, light purple kimono with white stripes running down its center and sleeves, which was tied at his waist with a long piece of white fabric that hung down in two long loops in the front. His shoulders were covered by red and golden pauldrons, connected by a golden band with strips of red fabric hanging from it and two interweaved stripes of red fabric above it. An odd piece he wore was a white scarf, which seemed to be made from silk, but even then, it seemed too high a quality.
“Now, as you missed orientation due to how Eraser handles things," the man pursed his lips, no doubt feeling feelings about their rather unconventional teacher. I'll introduce myself. My name is Senbonzakura Hikaru, hero name: Serenity. When you see me on campus, you may address me as sir, Serentiy, or Senbonzakura-sensei. Is that understood?"
“Yes, sir.”
“Good, then we’ll get started with the first lessons, which would be handling the basis of ethics when it comes to police relations, starting with transparency." He pulled out a remote and pressed a button, starting up the whiteboard, which switched to the start of a slide.
"Open your textbooks to page 5, and we'll start." With his instructions and the four doing just that, the class started.
Line Break
“Dammit, that was too long! Why couldn’t classes end at 3 like in high school?” Ashido complained as the group watched out of the hero course building. It was past 5, and the sun was well on its way down toward the horizon, leaving the city bathed in orange. Around them were other students, mainly 2nd and 3rd years, who chatted about whatever they had just learned or some other stuff. There were their classmates as well, but they had formed into groups of their own, with the exceptions being Todoroki, who hadn't mingled with anyone, and Bakugo, who nobody wanted to mingle with.
Paying the ice user and the explosively problematic students no mind, Iida turned his attention towards his; he wanted to say friend, but they hadn't known one another long. "What is the issue? We were all given such informative lessons that I filled pages with notes."
“You mind if I look at some of them? I was lost for like half of 4th period.” Uraraka asked. As their teacher, Supercharge was a far cry from the taskmaster that was Aizawa, but that didn't mean he couldn't get…passionate about his craft. With his quirk, it felt like he was on a sugar high the entire time, zipping from spot to spot and topic to topic.
"Well, I have no qualms with aiding you, but please raise a hand and ask our professors to slow down or explain something again next time. I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Iida advised her, but he still reached into his bookbag to grab his notebook, flipping it over to the section he had reserved for notes on public relations 101.
“I wish that we had notes, P.E. was just brutal. Vlad doesn’t hold back at all.” Jiro grumbled as the blood-based hero had been something of a drill sergeant; even though he had her and Komori on a less intense regiment than the others, he still didn't give them rest till the time was out.
"And he just told us near the end to finish up, hit the showers, and be on time for 6th period like my limbs weren't mushroom sauce," Komori added to that, as he had them on exercise bikes set to high incline, adding another setting where it took more force to move the pedals. He left them there till they managed to cycle 15km or their time ran out. She hadn't worked the distance, but at least he praised her for not quitting despite how slow she was.
"You'll get used to it," Kamakiri said as he looked at news stories on his phone.
“You mean it gets easier?” Jiro asked, only for the boy to let out a laugh.
"Oh, fuck no. Exercise is all about that burn; if you don't feel it, you'll either doing it wrong or not hard enough. You just don't feel like murdering past a point.” Kamakiri told her, and when she looked towards the rest that she knew regularly exercised, none contradicted him, not even the sweet Uraraka or the rule-abiding Iida.
"Gee, thanks to know," Jiro muttered, reminding herself that she was getting a good deal from this, and next time they'd have a quirk assessment, she wouldn't place so low on the list.
"I think I'll stick to my classes, as I wasn't prepared for how much stuff we need to learn when it comes to citizenship and sociology," Uraraka added, as Cementoss was like his quirk when it came to teaching, and the textbook they were using was nearly twice as thick as the other ones she had, which the man informed them they'll work through the entire thing by the end of the year.
“I heard some 2nd years talking about that; they said that a lot of stuff we're doing is new to the curriculum, especially around societal issues and how to handle them," Aoyama noted.
"So, we've got to handle even more stuff? How's that fair?" Kirishima asked. As they already had other stuff to worry about, how were they supposed to find a balance?
“If the staff believe we can handle it, then I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.” Aoyama shrugged, knowing he wasn't an exceptional student, but liked to think he was diligent. Besides, if he needed help, he could rope him Midoriya.
When they stepped off campus, they faced the road, with some buses parked being filled with students, and the subway stairs to the side used by people. "Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow. I need to catch the train home if I want to still have time to just crash on my couch and watch my shows," Ashido told them.
“Same, but leave out the crashing part.” Jiro nodded as she and the pink-haired girl waved goodbye and went towards the stairs, descending out of sight as they talked about something that made Jiro blush and Ashido laugh.
“We’re in the same building, so we’ll also be splitting from here.” Kirishima pointed towards Iida, who lived on the same floor as they were set up in the single-occupant apartments.
"We'll text when we get back to the apartment. I'm famished and need to start preparing dinner," Aoyama said as he and Hagakure walked towards one bus. Kirishima and Iida went for another, with the rest following after the invisible girl and light user.
Watching all this from his office, principal Nezu smiled at the sight of his students, though if asked, he liked to imply it was more because from where he stood, they all looked like mice in a labyrinth. This wasn't untrue, but it wasn't the whole story either.
He had plenty of work to get to, paperwork to sort through, reports to read, and requests to file, but he liked to spend the first week of the semester watching. Both because some faces weren't there anymore, having completed their educations and moved on to bigger things, but also because there were new faces, freshmen who were eager to learn after proving themselves some of the best golden eggs in the country, eggs that he was sure would hatch into the best eagles, peacocks, owls and ravens out there.
But this year, there was a change, one he knew was coming as U.A. was a top school, rated not just as the best in Japan, with only Shiketsu competing with them for that title, but one of the best universities in the world.
Such fame meant media attention, but it was often minimal unless they had an exceptionally popular new student. Maybe some reporters and some paparazzi snapping shots of students would need to be reviewed to ensure it wasn't an invasion of privacy or indecent. Otherwise, they'll need to file a cease and desist, which was manageable; they had a department handling that.
But this was the year that All Might had taken on a teaching post with them, and with such tasty bait, it was a matter of when, not if, the shoal of piranhas came.
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The next day, his predictions proved true even if the school hadn't officially announced it once the student body had been made aware of this during their orientation. Hero students had the chance to be taught by him; they told friends and family about it and posted about it online, and that opened the floodgates as students arrived for class bright and early to find the entrance to the campus blocked off by dozens of media people, cameras, notepads and microphones everywhere.
"You there! What are All Might's classes like?! " One reporter put her mic right into Aoyama's face, which the French boy took in stride as he looked at her and her camera before returning to her again.
“The FitnessGram Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20-meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds.” Bowing, he walked into the gates, leaving the reporters stumped on what the hell he just said.
“What was that?”
“I think he was speaking French?”
“What does that sound like a question?”
“Because I don’t know!”
After they got over that little hiccup, they found another student walking toward the gate, and the same reporter zoomed toward her before anyone could beat her to it. “What can you tell us about what the Symbol of Peace is like as a teacher?!”
Tsunotori looked around, trying to see if anyone was nearby, which excited the reporter as it could mean the college student had some especially juicy details. “Be very, very quiet. I'm hunting for a rabbit.” Smiling, she turned and walked into the school grounds, but unlike Aoyama, who spoke French, she spoke in her native English, which most reporters understood.
“Hey, that’s not an answer!” The lady yelled at Tsunotori as she journeyed deeper into campus, undisturbed by the woman's angry yelling. It took her time to cool off after being screwed with, but they managed to spot another student, one that didn't look to be foreign, which she hoped meant they would answer in Japanese.
“In your words, how would you describe the lessons that All Might handles?!” Rin raised an eyebrow at the question before he frowned.
“That seems unfair to ask, as we've only had one class with him, and it would be harsh to judge his performance as an educator based on that alone. Please let me through; I don't want to be late.” He brushed past her, leaving the reporter and the rest stumped again. That sure as hell wasn't Japanese. What were the odds of running into a Chinese speaker?
“Oh, come on, are we only going to get the foreign students?!” She grabbed her hair, wanting so badly to pull it out as this was proving impossible!
“Excuse me…but what can you tell us about All Might as a teacher?” When she approached another student, she felt nearly defeated. While she expected him to start speaking Korean, Iida adjusted his glasses as he turned to her.
“Well,” Her spirits rose when he started, seemingly taking this seriously and speaking in Japanese too! "He's made me realize things about hero work that I never thought of, proving that the U.A. as an educational institution is truly one of the best in the world. Many of the other staff are of a similar or greater level, which is to be expected as this is All Might's first year. Of course, his dignity and character are as exceptional as one could expect from the number one."
That spirit fell even further as Iida kept going, but she wasn't getting any details from him. There was nothing worth writing about, and never mind using it as a headliner. 'Dammit…the one kid that speaks Japanese, and he doesn't know when to stop.'
'The worse part is that none of this is useless; it's all just surface-level nonsense anyone could have told us.' She wanted to just slap herself silly to ensure she wasn't back at home sleeping, and this was just an annoying dream, as it was far too tedious to be a nightmare. She and the rest didn’t even fight when Iida finished at last and stated he had to make it to class before the bell. If anything, she wished he blew them off like the rest.
Getting desperate, she still stuck to her guns and tried again with another student, one with white and red hair split down the middle. “Excuse me, but could I have a moment of your time to ask about All Mig-”
"You may not. Now move. I need to get to class." When he glared at them for trying to stop him, for a moment, she felt like she had seen turquoise eyes just like his glare at her in the past, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Before she could even apologize, the man was gone, ignoring the rest of them who had given him a clear path.
“Sorry to bother you…but could you…tell us…”This time around, it wasn't a student but a staff member who had come to see them, which normally was a good thing…if the man didn't look like he had been through it and lived under the bridge. She couldn't even name the hero if he was one. For all they knew, U.A. had started a program to help people down on their luck. "Why do you look homeless?"
Aizawa didn't react; he had been asked it so many times that it hardly affected him. Instead, he focused on getting them out of the way so they could return to classes and lectures. “If you want to interview All Might, contact U.A. through the proper means or All Might’s agency. Till then, please stop harassing our students.” With that said, with the enemy of a robot call, Aizawa turned and walked away.
“Please, just a statement from All Might would be enough!” The reporter yelled after him but didn't follow him as he continued to walk towards the hero course building, and the reporter and others continued to call after him.
'How does he get anything done with these people biting at his cape?' Aizawa thought to himself. It seemed more trouble than it was worth. At least with underground work, by the time reporters showed up, it was after the incident was resolved, and he was long gone.
His choice not to engage further with the woman finally pushed her over the edge as she had been punked, tricked, and disrespected all morning, and she had it. "Dammit…! I'm not leaving here till I've got something, you hear me?!" She started marching towards the entrance, which her cameraman noticed and paled at.
“Wait!” He called out to her, but she didn’t listen.
“So, you better give-what the hell!!” She planned to force her way onto the college grounds and find either their officers or someone who could get her there and get something to write about. But what she wanted didn't matter as the door released a loud siren. Before, as if someone snapped their fingers, massive steep walls shot out from the ground, including in the entrance, which nearly took a limb off her as the gigantic metal walls came to rest when they were 5m high.
Having fallen backward onto her ass, she looked like she had seen a ghost as her cameraman sighed. "That's what I was warning you about. It's the U.A. barrier. It's a crazy high-tech security system that surrounds the entire campus. It triggers whenever someone without the proper authorization tries to enter the school grounds, and the wall isn't even the worst of it." There was a reason that none of them tried to get in earlier.
“Oh, come on! They can't be that stuck up! They could have given us a statement as they didn't even announce All Might was teaching this here, never mind here.” She got back to her feet. Stomping one as she had been told to get a scoop which would really bring in some eyeballs, but the most she got was something in French, an American punking them, A Chinese student seemingly lambasting them since his tone reminded her too much of her mother, and then that one boy who was willing to talk. Still, despite the massive word dump, like a candy bar, it was empty calories!
"Hey, I get it. We've been here for hours, and the most we've gotten is that he's working here. The students seem to enjoy messing with us." Her cameraman agreed with her, but as they had been waiting here for a while without seeing another student, a glance at his watch told him that classes were due to start any minute now, so anyone else would be rushing to get inside and be as willing to talk as the rest.
As she and the rest grumbled about their lack of details about the month's biggest news, someone watched this from across the street. Their dark clothing was tight and loose simultaneously as they seemed to stare at U.A. ‘Who would have thought?’ The person thought to themselves. 'Along with the cape, he's wearing a scholar's cap too.'
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Oh man, was this a long time coming. Yeah, for those who are supporters of mine, you've probably already seen it, but the first chapter of the commission is up and available to read. But if there is one silver lining with that, since this was partially done, I didn't need to start from scratch, but more pick up where I left off. And much like I promised, this chapter will be supersized to make up for the last of an upload last week.
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And that's that! Once again, sorry for the delay. My situation changed so that I couldn't in good conscience try to get this out earlier, as it would have been just terrible, like garbage. But an extra 2K words is a good way to compensate for that.
