Fitting In
Even after his morning study session, Jack felt as if he barely understood anything in class. Not only were they speaking in a different language, he was uncomfortable with his stiff school uniform. By the time lunch rolled around, he felt mentally exhausted and in desperate need of food. It had only taken him hours to capture the essence of how inadequate a student an average American teenager was in the far more competitive Japanese system.
Class 2-A went to lunch together. Though Jack had thought Tenya would be out of factoids about the school, he prattled on about details he'd missed the night before. "The cafeteria is run by Lunch Rush, who keeps the kitchen running with perfect efficiency." The grand and spacious dining hall had numerous pale yellow chairs facing perfect rows of white tables.
Eijiro Kirishima walked beside Katsuki just in front of Jack and Tenya. "More importantly, the food's good," he reassured Jack. "Cooking fast doesn't mean a thing if it comes out raw. Or worse, burnt," he laughed.
The line moved quickly, as Lunch Rush lived up to his name. Within minutes, the better part of 2-A found a pair of tables beside one another. In the brief commute, Jack became separated from his morning crowd of Mina, Tsu, Ochacho, and Izuku. Tenya took a seat with them and Jack had been ready to join them, only to notice a floating uniform already in the seat he'd nearly taken. Careful not to sit on Toru, he quickly turned to settle elsewhere.
By some stroke of luck, he managed to find a group of quiet kids. Koji Kota, Rikido Sato, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Shoto Todoroki were a welcome respite from the incessant chatter buzzing about them. "May I sit here?" He asked, loath to ruin the serenity, but not wanting to be so brazen as to join them without an invitation.
"Sure," Rikido said, his thick lips answering at once.
Jack settled, glad for the quick acceptance. For a few minutes, none of the teens bothered him. Even though fish was far from his favorite food, his gut ached from the skipped breakfast. He found he barely minded the salty, flaky feel in his mouth. Thanks to Lunch Rush's careful preparation, Jack almost enjoyed the food.
Just when he was convinced that he'd escaped notice, Kirishima spoke up, his voice undeniably aimed to Jack. "Hey, man. Are you alright?" As if on cue, most of his peers fell quiet to listen. He couldn't tell whether they cared about his wellbeing or wanted to pick up on any gossip on the American.
Jack was surprised by the question. Was there a reason for the sudden inquiry? "Yeah, I'm fine," he answered in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.
"You're so quiet." Kirishima almost sounded as if he were pouting.
Jack shrugged. "I'm not a very talkative guy," he reasoned.
Toru giggled from her spot. "Not another one! Why are all the handsome guys quiet?"
It took all of his self-control not to turn beet red. Regardless, a light flush grazed the top of Jack's cheeks. "I don't have anything interesting to say." He sincerely hoped the explanation would be enough for his classmates to leave him in peace. His first priority was not to drown in his academics and live up to lofty expectations, not make friends.
"You lived in the United States, didn't you? Why'd you come to Japan?" Toru pushed, trying to make him get acquainted with the class.
Jack's eyes slipped to Tenya, who must have given some of his backstory away. He decided on the shortest possible version of the story. "My mom got married and switched jobs." Personally, he didn't think the tale was very interesting.
Tenya, being a bit of a know-it-all, couldn't resist the urge to fill in the blanks. "A member of my brother's support team went to train at the same American company as Jack's mother. Come the end of his internship, the two had fallen deeply in love and gotten married. Jack was in a successful hero course, but chose to transfer to UA to stay with his mother."
For a moment, Jack was stunned to have a portion of his past brought up so casually. Once Tenya finished, Jack felt every eye settle back on him. "See, man? You do have cool stories," Kirishima said with a laugh. "You just need a hype man."
Kyoka Jiro nearly sputtered out her drink as she tried not to laugh.
"You really would be a good hype man, Tenya," Ochaco giggled. "Your voice carries so naturally."
Tenya cupped his right hand into a fist and placed his thumb in front of his mouth. He tilted his chin down, as if to hide the blush over his cheeks. "My apologies, Jack. I won't be your hype man again."
Jack felt bad for Tenya. He mentally scrambled for a way to salvage his one sort-of-friend's reputation. "I really don't mind. I'm used to hearing fairly outrageous things, so I never know what life events are story-worthy. Besides, you put it far more eloquently than I could have, Tenya. Thanks."
Mina's eyes sparkled, her gossip instincts kicking in. "Outrageous, you say? Like what, exactly?" She was one of the furthest from him, so she set her elbows on the adjacent table and leaned closer, as if to better hear him.
For a moment, Jack wondered if she had ears, or if her small antlers served as a sort of noise receptacle. "American heroes focus more on combat and strategy than math, science, or history. If a kid has a promising quirk, we're put in specialized lessons immediately. We don't just have hero high schools, but also hero preschools, for kids of proven pros."
He wondered if he'd spilled some sort of national secret. Judging by the looks of astonishment and even horror, the preschools seemed to be news to nearly everyone. Once he let the cat out of the bag, he was instantly peppered with a couple of questions.
"UA should do something like that. Honestly, when are we going to have to use trigonometry to stop a villain?" Denki sounded exasperated.
"What if you didn't want to go to preschool?" The last question came from Shoto, who sat to Jack's immediate right.
Jack was flustered. Suddenly, he felt as if he were an oddity, all thanks to an upbringing that thousands of other kids had gone through. "I liked preschool. The schools knew what they were doing – they made everything seem like a game. We played tag and capture the flag like the other kids, but with obstacles with a point system that only teachers could see. By the end of the year, the top ten scoring kids were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. If they said heroes, then they were given different options to help them."
The silence that came in the wake of his answer made him feel contaminated, as if somehow his upbringing had been wrong.
Katsuki broke the quiet. "It sounds like Americans are raising a bunch of mindless meatheads. The best heroes aren't idiots, like what you're describing."
Though his home country was insulted, Jack couldn't help but subtly smile at the honesty. "You're right," he agreed without any hesitation. "When Mom asked if I wanted to move to Japan with her, I agreed because my friends and I were slacking off. We all had scholarships and sponsors lined up and didn't care about any of the academic parts like history or English. I'm here because I want to try to do better."
Tenya grinned at Jack. "If you need any help studying, it would be my honor to help a fellow hero."
"Same here, man, but save me as a last resort. I'm at the bottom of the class," Ejiro laughed. "Momo would be the most help. She's top of the class and really saved my butt last year."
"What about me, you ingrate? Are you saying I wasn't any help?" Katsuki growled.
Eijiro hastily chuckled. "Sure you were, but you're not exactly the most patient tutor. You're definitely motivational, with all the death threats."
Lunch drew to a close and the students filed out. Jack walked near the back of the group, working to reassess his assumptions. There don't see to really be cliques in the school. Everyone gets along remarkably well. Though there are weird conversations, nobody's really a stereotypical nerd.
Jack noticed how the topics had changed to revolve around America's different training regime.
"Preschool? That's so little!"
"My mom didn't even let me pick out my own clothes at that age."
He listened without taking part, glad for a break from the spotlight. I'll be old news soon enough. Though he'd always wanted to be a pro-hero, it wasn't for a lack or want of attention. He was glad that they were headed to a class where they'd move; practical hero training, or else he would have missed out on valuable study time during lunch. While he didn't mean to be antisocial, he found his gaze searching for the most inconspicuous corners of the hall. Unfortunately for him, everything was in clear sight.
Several twists, turns, and an outfit change later, class 2-A was out in a practice field in their gym uniforms. Aizawa waited for them, a small black bag of equipment resting by his feet. "We're going to start out the year the same as we did before, by measuring your quirks. Like before, we'll have the 50-meter dash, grip strength, standing long jump, sustained sideways jump, sit ups, and then the pitch."
Every student was excited to participate. With no hesitation, each turned to chatter with a neighbor. "Allen, you're up first," Aizawa said, his tired, red eyes barely so much as glancing at his newest student. Jack couldn't help but feel as if he'd been written off already.
It's probably nothing personal. I'm just a barbarian American until I prove otherwise.
The 50-meter dash needed no explanation. There was a scant moment of insecurity before he ran, followed swiftly by an innate urge to do his best. The straight course gave him more than enough room to quickly find his stride and take off at a dead run. He'd always been within the top three for everything physical at his old school, but didn't have such lofty expectations for UA, as he knew he was facing down against the best heroes-in-training of his age.
He waited at the finish line, where he was swiftly joined by Yuga and his navel laser, Mina on an acidic slide, then Tsu, Tenya, and everyone else arriving after their finishes. Each assessment went by quickly. Jack expected to score in the middle of the pack, but was pleasantly surprised when he managed to score within the top five for every category. "Dang, Allen-kun!" Hanata said with a wide grin as he rewound his tape. "What's your secret?"
"You can call me Jack," he told Hanata, as he'd told anyone else who made the assumption to call him by his last name. "I guess my secret is my barbarian American education," he joked, which won a round of laughter from a fair amount of his peers.
Katsuki looked murderous as he stared at the final scores for the pitch. "I lost to that nerd?" At once, his palms sparked with miniature explosions. "I'll murder you, Deku!"
"There he goes again," Mina muttered with a dramatic roll of her eyes.
"Again?" Jack inquired.
"Every time Izuku beats Katsuki at something, Katsuki takes it personally and starts yelling about killing."
Izuku had been the only student to beat Jack in more than three different assessments. Since Izuku didn't look worried, or even like he heard Katsuki's remarks, Jack left the matter alone.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Katsuki insisted, though nearly everyone did.
The first day of their second year ended with the students changing back in their school uniforms before heading back to the dorms. Jack was on his way to his room when Mina stopped him.
"Hey, Jack?" She began, looking excited. "Do you want to study together sometime? I'm not the smartest girl in class, but the extra practice could help us both, right?"
The young hero was surprised at the offer. "Sure. I'll study with anyone."
His comment came off as a bit insensitive, but Mina grinned it off. "So you're a study slut, huh?" She teased.
Jack's cheeks flushed pink. He couldn't help but feel like he'd fallen into some sort of trap. "I guess that's the goal," he agreed, however uncertainty.
"If you're looking for volume, I'll bring some friends!"
Jack hoped they could stay on task, but knew it would be rude and idiotic to refuse a helping hand. "Sounds great."
