Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia, or any of its characters.
A.N: I'm back with a short bit! Honestly, this is just a buffer update that clarifies where we are in the story and adds familiarity to Ember's character. I'm going to skip writing out the Exam arc, like I did with the Sports Fest. Just this time I don't have an excuse, hence this author's note. Anyway, hope you enjoy! :)
Midoriya as he walked out of Present Mic's english class. He was half-convinced that Mic had made up half the grammar rules and exceptions he'd talked about in class. The exam was in a couple days, and it looked like everyone else in class 1A was a bit lost too. Well, except maybe Ember. Since she grew up in Ireland, she was fluent in english. The class dispersed, heading home. Iida and Uraraka both hastened off to the school library, leaving Midoriya to walk home alone.
"Hey Midoriya, can I ask you something?" Ember ran up to the green-haired teen.
"Yeah, sure." Midoriya responded, a bit miffed.
"Is it okay if I study with you on Saturday? I'm a bit lost in Modern Literature." Ember smiled, bouncing along the sidewalk.
"S-sure! I'm really confused in english, so we could help each other. Would your place work, or should we study at mine?" Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't used to anyone asking him to study at his house.
"Definitely yours. How about 3:30, does that work for you?"
"Yeah."
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then, bye Midoriya!" Ember sprinted down the sidewalk, waving Midoriya goodbye just as she disappeared around a corner.
-the next day, 3:30 PM, Midoriya's PoV-
Midoriya hastened to the entrance of his home as the doorbell rang. He heard the door open.
"Oh, you must be Izuku's friend. He said you two were going to study together." Midoriya heard his mother say.
"Yes, Ember Kyoso. Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Midoriya." Ember's cheery voice said from the doorframe. She poked her head around Midoriya's mother, smiling brightly. "Hey, Midoriya!"
"Hey, Ember. Come on in." Izuku led his friend into the kitchen, where the 2 of them set up their books. Within a couple minutes, studying was under way. Midoriya was starting to get some of the grammar rules when Mrs. Midoriya came in with some snacks.
"Thanks for the food, Mrs. Midoriya." Ember said. She took a bite out of a sweet potato Taiyaki. "It tastes great."
"You can call me Inko." Inko replied. Ember nodded. "I'll leave you two to it."
Izuku smiled at his mother. "Yeah. Thanks, mom." Inko left the room. Even with food, Midoriya was more distracted than he would like.
"Ember?" Izuku found himself saying.
"Yeah?" She looked up. Looking right at her, Midoriya noticed things he hadn't before. Her green eyes were ringed on the bottom with purple bags. Ember's complexion was a bit paler than usual, the rosy sheen on her cheeks gone. Speaking of her cheeks, they were a bit more gaunt than usual too. She looked heavily sleep-deprived and exhausted, despite the energetic look in her eyes and bright smile.
"Are you okay? You look tired." Midoriya studied the irish student's face.
"Haven't been getting enough sleep lately. I've been studying late for the exams, and the pressure hasn't exactly helped either." Ember admitted sheepishly.
"But you have really good grades, I doubt you'll fail." Midoriya noted.
"Yeah, but you never know. My parents put a lot of pressure on me to succeed, so I have to make them proud." Ember said lively. Her smile crumbled once she realized what she said. "I'll be fine once the exams are over. Training camp should hopefully help a bit too. Let's just get back to studying." her voice was quieter, and more reserved.
Midoriya turned back to his page of grammar rules. "Yeah…"
-that night-
It was already getting dark when Ember and Midoriya finally finished up with their studying. Izuku finally felt he had a close to solid understanding of the english grammar rules Present Mic was teaching class 1A about. On the flip side, Ember seemed to understand early modernist literature completely by the time she left. To be fair, she's started off in a fairly good spot, but had been confused by a couple points on the theory of epistemology. Considering she was ranked 5th in grades for the midterm (behind Izuku and in front of Todoroki), this made sense. And considering that the english rules were so confusing that even a native english speaker like Ember got turned with all the rules, it was justified that Midoriya was lost. He just hoped that the rest of the class had figured it out too.
"Well, at least I know that the grammar is confusing even for someone who speaks it as their first language like you." Midoriya said as he waited for Ember to lace up her boots.
"Oh, english isn't my first language." Ember said casually.
"Wait, what?"
Ember blushed slightly. "I don't like to volunteer the information, but irish gaelic is actually my first language. My father thought it would be better for me to learn it because we lived in Ireland, before english. He was traditional that way."
"So you're trilingual?"
"Yeah." Ember stood up, shouldering her backpack. "I'll see you on Monday for the exams."
"See you Monday. Get home safely!" Midoriya called after her. The irish student nodded and waved as she walked off. Izuku closed the door after Ember rounded a corner. 'Now that I'm ready for the written, it's time to train for the practical.' he thought sullenly. This was not going to be fun.