Italics denotes an individual's thoughts
Bold denotes large time shifts/ or introductions of new settings; also may be used for emphasis
Line dividers denote a smaller scene or time shift
Ch. 8: The Best Way to Someone's Heart, is Through Their Stomach
"Hi." Izuku managed to breathe out as he saw the woman that saved him during the Entrance Exam. "Really, that's the best you can manage you dumbass? No words of thanks or congratulations to her?" He mentally berated himself as the two stared awkwardly at one another. After a few moments, the woman's face broke into a wide smile.
"Wow! I can't believe we're both here!" She excitedly jogged towards Izuku as she pulled a large and well-worn suitcase behind her. In a matter of seconds, she was inches away from Izuku and animatedly talking to him, "I never did get to say thanks for saving me from that huge robot! I really owe you one." Izuku was incredibly thrown off by her rapidly approaching him, and could only manage a sheepish grin and head scratch as he replied.
"If anything, I should be thanking you. I would've died from that fall if you didn't stop me…" Izuku tried to bow towards the girl in gratitude, only to hit his head into hers with a soft *BONK*. At this he quickly jumped back and tried to spew off a number of apologies, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were that close. Please forgive me!" as he took a step back and bowed profusely. He held the pose and continued to stare at the ground with his face growing scarlet and hot. He began to raise his head back up as he heard a laugh from the girl in front of him.
When he looked back up, he saw that she was laughing heartily while rubbing the spot their heads connected. After a few moments, she held out a hand to him while saying, "Let's try this from the beginning maybe?" He took her hand, which she then eagerly shook while smiling, "My name is Ochaco Uraraka, you can just call me Ochaco though! Nice to meet you." After a few moments Izuku felt her infectious smile get to him and he was beaming as well.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Izuku Midoriya!" As she let go of his hand, Izuku noticed that she oddly had her pinky stretched out while they were shaking hands. Deciding to make a mental note to ask her about it later, he went over to the table where the keys were and waved her over. Once she was beside him he looked over the table, which only seemed to contain about another 3 or 4 keys, all for the fourth floor. He double checked a nearby floor chart to ensure he knew what rooms were the girl's side of the dorm, then grabbed a key and handed it over to Ochaco.
"Need help getting your stuff up to your room?" Izuku asked Ochaco, as he looked past her towards the door to see if there were any other items she had left there. She sheepishly shook her head as she looked down towards the ground, muttering a soft, "It's okay, I don't have much." Ochaco then quickly shook off her melancholic expression and returned to smiling before giving a short word of thanks and headed off towards the elevators.
With that Izuku was once again left by himself. He sat back down at the table, sighed and dropped his head to it's surface as he closed his eyes. Around the corner he could hear the soft *DING* of one of elevators opening at the floor, and in response Izuku pulled himself back up and plastered a smile back onto his face. Around the corner came Tenya, looking slightly less agitated or as antsy as he was before. Upon seeing Izuku, he gave a wave and headed over to the table.
"My thanks for helping me Midoriy- excuse me, Izuku. I can relieve you from this if you'd like? Though judging by the keys left here and time of day, I'd say everyone may already be here?" As Tenya finished his hypothetical question, Izuku turned and noticed that the day had in fact slowly transitioned to early evening. The green haired young man took a moment to stretch in his seat, then pulled out his phone which showed that the time was around five in the evening.
"No problem Tenya! It was only two people that came in since you were here." After a brief pause between the men, Izuku stood up and Tenya moved to sit down at the table. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Izuku by the shoulder.
"I forgot to mention earlier when you moved in, the staff who handed off the keys to me mentioned that the dining hall would be closed until classes start tomorrow. They did tell me that our kitchen is restocked every morning though," he said as gestured with his free hand towards the nearby room. Izuku offered his thanks to Tenya for the heads up, then continued back towards the elevator as the other man sat down.
Izuku rolled the stiff knots out of his shoulders and knees as he continued to walk to the elevator. "I'm feeling pretty tired… seeing Katsumi again was pretty draining... maybe I should just turn in for the day?" His thoughts were then interrupted by the rumbling of his stomach. "I guess I should take the time to make at least something to eat before then. Who knows, maybe I'll meet some of the other people in my class." He took another few steps and was in the elevator. As it ascended to the fourth floor he scratched his head as he tried to recall something else he wanted to do.
"I swear there's something else I need to do," Izuku muttered in the empty metal box. He closed his eyes and concentrated, then as the doors opened to his floor with a *DING* and *SWISH* his eyes snapped open and he yelled out, "OH SHIT! I was gonna ask if Setsuna wanted to come have dinner with me." Snapped out of his own world, he quickly covered his mouth and walked over to his room.
Izuku pulled out his phone and quickly whipped up a text to Setsuna, asking if she wanted to come by now for dinner. A moment later and she replied with a "sure", followed by "whatcha gonna make me?". Izuku's brain rushed, as he should try to do something a bit nicer than freezer microwaved food or some of the simpler recipes that he knew. As he pushed open the door to his room, he caught sight of the recipe book his mother had thrown together. Grabbing it, he flipped through a few pages, until he found something he thought would be within his skill level. He pulled out his phone and quickly texted Setsuna, asking her to wait a while before coming over.
An Hour Later
Izuku had been walking back and forth between the kitchen and the entryway for the better part of the last hour. The time had been split between Izuku preparing the batter for his dish, interrupted by breaks of him talking with Tenya while the batter rested in the fridge. He learned quickly that the younger Iida son had found his elder brother to be his inspiration, and was pushing himself to go through UA in order to follow in his footsteps. After some more discussion, the two agreed to workout together: Izuku sharing what he had learned the past summer about his upper body regimes, while Tenya would offer advice on how to strengthen his lower body and improve his running form.
As the hour came to an end, Izuku excused himself to continue cooking. He began by consulting the recipe book before rooting through the fridge until he came out with several armfulls of ingredients: ketchup, worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, a cabbage, a package of pork belly, a carton of eggs, and red ginger. He then searched nearby cabinets until he withdrew a bag of sugar and placed it alongside the counter next to the other ingredients. Finally, he grabbed a skillet and a bottle of vegetable oil from another set of cabinets.
Izuku began by taking a small bowl to which he added sugar, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and oyster sauce. He mixed them together, until it became a smooth brown sauce. Satisfied with how it turned out, he covered the bowl and placed it into the refrigerator, switching it out for the larger bowl that contained the batter.
After placing the bowl on the counter, he unwrapped it and picked up an egg which he began to crack on the edge. He dropped the yolk into the batter, just as an uproar could be heard coming from the common space. He could vaguely make out Tenya chastising someone, who seemed to be ignoring him.
"Excuse me! Miss! You can't just walk in here and have free reign over the place, are you a student?" Izuku put down the second egg he had grabbed with a sigh, then peeked his head out the doorway to see what the commotion was. In the common area, he could see Tenya talking to a woman, who had her back turned to him. She had short jet black jean shorts that were torn on the fringes, and an almost equally dark green tank top. Above that Izuku could make out wavy hair that was near the same shade as his. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then pulled out his phone to check the time. Realizing that an hour had already passed, he swore under his breath then approached the woman.
"Alright, that's enough messing with him Suna." Izuku said to the figure as he approached her. Setsuna spun on her heel to face Izuku, a cheshire grin spread across her face.
"Well, you weren't answering your phone, so I thought I'd have my own fun." She closed the gap and gave Izuku a quick hug before continuing, "And how are you doing, Izzy?" Before Izuku could answer, the third party in the room spoke up.
"I take it you two know each other?" Tenya questioned of both Izuku and Setsuna. They gave him a nod of affirmation as he continued into a rant, "I couldn't believe the ghastly things she was saying to me. I had followed her and was trying to stop her from going further into the building because every time I asked her what she was doing, she changed her answer: electrical work, controlled demolition, kidnapping, thievery… my word, I thought she was a criminal…" Tenya continued to sputter as he got lost in his thoughts, at which point Izuku took Setsuna's hand and inclined towards the kitchen with his head. Once they were out of earshot, Izuku spoke up again.
"Great, I hope I don't have to deal with him fuming about that for a while… Anyways, I was a bit slower than I thought I would be, so it'll just be a bit longer till I'm done cooking." He turned and picked up an egg again. As he cracked it and dropped it into the bowl, Setsuna jumped up and sat on the counter next to him.
"So what's the mystery dish you're cooking me?" She asked of him. No response as he cracked another egg and dropped it into the bowl. Another moment passed in silence as he grabbed another and repeated the action. At this point he turned and consulted the notebook on the counter, the action catching Setsuna's eye. A mischievous smile spread across her face as she used her quirk to detach a hand and sneak it around Izuku's back towards the book. With a flick of her wrist, the book was closed and pulled quickly past Izuku towards Setsuna. He turned quickly at the action attempting to snatch it back as she firmly held it in both hands slightly out of his reach.
"Ooooo, what's this? A homemade recipe book?" She flipped through some of the pages, gazing at the handwritten words as Izuku jumped frantically trying to grab the gift back.
"That… was a gift. Come on, give it back. I thought you wanted it to be a surprise?" He whined slightly in an attempt to reason with her. In response, she only grinned more as she held the book slightly behind her head and goaded him into trying to reach up and grab it once again. This time, he pushed up on the counter and jumped, catching Setsuna by surprise and grabbing the book back. In the same moment, he came falling back down and his free hand tried to grab onto something for balance. Setsuna gave a small gasp as his hand landed on her thigh and gave a small squeeze. In a moment, Izuku had flung the book aside and was slightly backed off from Setsuna, now a stuttering mess. She was the first to speak up.
"I- I uh, didn't know you were so bold." She looked up to see that his face was down towards the floor, occasionally tilting up to look at her. She huffed at this and spoke up, "Though I guess I'm not good enough for you to look at or listen to?" She then crossed her arms under her chest and leaned back against the counter as Izuku responded.
"That's not it at all…" He paused and took a breath as Setsuna turned and narrowed her eyes, "Normally you're so beautiful... but right now you look downright sexy. I just don't know where to look! Or if it's okay for me to even look…" He spat out in response before collapsing back into a nervous mess and returning his gaze back down to the floor. His face was flushed a deep scarlet, and it was almost as if steam was rushing out his ears. Setsuna herself was knocked off balance by the comment, uncrossing her arms and fidgeting nervously on the counter. She jumped down and walked by Izuku on her way out of the room.
"It's not fair when you get all mushy on me Izzy," she whispered with a pout across her blushing face, she continued, "I'll wait outside for your surprise if that's what you really want." Izuku recomposed himself as she left the room, picking the book off the floor and trying to once again focus on the recipe.
Another egg was thrown into the batter, a dollop of pickled ginger, and the cabbage once it was finely chopped. Once that was done, he oiled up the skillet and set it to simmer on a medium heat. He then returned to the batter and picked up a fistful. He dropped it to a clean part of the counter and set to work flattening it and into a disk, which was then dropped into the pan. As the disk sizzled on the pan, he returned to the ingredients and opened the package of pork belly. He cut a few pieces apart, then took 3 of these half pieces and gingerly laid then on top of the disk. After a moment, he took a spatula, flipped it and put a lid on the skillet. Another few minutes passed as he retrieved the sauce from the fridge, grabbed a plate for Setsuna, then removed the now lightly fried disk from the skillet. He deftly flipped it over onto the plate to expose the darkened pork belly, before drizzling the sauce on top of it. He took a deep inhale of the dish, then with a satisfied sigh, he picked up the plate and walked out into the common area only to bump into something solid.
"Wow, that smells amazing," came a deep voice from in front of Izuku. After ensuring the plate was okay, he looked up from it to be greeted by another man. The figure had spiky red hair, and exercise clothes on. They spoke up again, as they continued to stare at the plate while drooling, "Man, I'm famished. I've been working out most of today… so you wouldn't mind if I had a bite of that would you?" Izuku mentally swore, as he wanted to have a moment alone with Setsuna, then took a second to rethink his position. "It wouldn't hurt to make someone else something to eat, would be a good opportunity to get to know the people I'm living and studying with." After a moment, he nodded at the plan, before realizing the man was still in front of him.
"Sorry… famished was it?" Izuku paused to give a grin to the man for the bad joke, "This one is taken by that lovely lady over there," he gestured towards Setsuna, "but I'd be more than happy to make one for you too if you'd like?" The other man broke out into a smile and eagerly nodded.
"Thanks man, I'll take you up on that! And the name is Eijiro Kirishima, though most folks just call me Kirishima." He held a hand out towards Izuku, who shifted the plate to one arm before grabbing it.
"Izuku Midoriya, just Izuku is fine though." Kirishima squeezed his hand tightly and shook hard, before giving Izuku a slap on the back and walking over to one of the other empty tables. Izuku shook his head at the strange interaction, then continued walking towards Setsuna. She perked up as she saw him approach. With a small flourish and a "Tadah!" he placed the dish and a set of chopsticks in front of her. Setsuna gave it a whiff, then turned to look at Izuku.
"Wow, you made Okonomiyaki? I hope it tastes as good as it smells." As soon as she finished talking, she picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of the dish before her. Izuku waited anxiously as she took a bite, slowly savoring the mixture of flavors. She put the chopsticks back down for a moment to look over her shoulder towards Izuku, "It's okay I guess.. A little burnt," she said as she smiled and winked at him. Izuku gave her a playful punch to the arm and smiled back.
"Glad to hear you like it." He paused to look over towards Kirishima who had been looking in their direction. The other man gave a small wave then quickly diverted his eyes. Izuku continued, "And sorry, but I won't be eating with you yet. That guy over there wanted to get a piece of this too, so I figured it'd be a good opportunity to get on his good side." Setsuna wrinkled her nose at this and pouted slightly, earning her another reply from Izuku, "Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." He gave a light kiss to her cheek, then went back into the kitchen.
Izuku poured some more oil into the skillet, formed a smaller disk of batter, and went to grab another plate as the meal simmered. Once again, he flipped the dish onto the plate, added a swirl of the sauce, then left the kitchen. As he entered the common space, he went over towards the table Kirishima was at, only to realize something: several other people had entered the room and sat around the area. Izuku lifted an eyebrow at the situation as he cautiously approached Kirishima, and the three other people sitting near him.
"Hey, Izuku! Thanks for making that man. I hope you don't mind, but I invited some other people from our dorm down for dinner! I thought it'd be a great chance for us all to bond." Kirishima said in response to the slightly confused look on Izuku's face. The green-haired man felt his eye twitch slightly at the fact that Kirishima did this without asking him, but the moment quickly passed and Izuku threw a smile on his face.
"Yeah! I don't mind." Izuku cheerfully replied. "The only problem is we might not have enough ingredients…" he mentally noted. He placed the plate on the table, then started to head back to the kitchen, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He turned back to find Kirishima had stood up and followed him.
"Hey, you need any help in there? I realize I might have put some pressure on you by asking you to do this for everyone, and it wouldn't be manly to leave a bro hanging." Izuku wasn't quite sure about Kirishima's logic, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone else prep more batter while he cooked, "What the hell," he thought as he nodded.
"Sure. I could use some help prepping some ingredients and bringing the dishes out." Kirishima gave him a grin, exposing jagged teeth. He gave Izuku another slap on the back, then followed him into the kitchen.
The two men had been working in the kitchen on dinner for quite some time now, with Izuku learning more about Kirishima as their time together passed. The red-haired man was very outgoing, with a very simple way of viewing the world: everything was either manly or unmanly. With the help provided by Kirishima, the two were able to quickly fry up several more portions of Okonomiyaki, which they then plated and took out to the common area.
Compared to when Izuku had left the kitchen earlier, the area had become much more animated. Several clusters of other men and women had gathered in the area. At the table Kirishima had come from sat a woman with pink hair with... "Are those horns?" Izuku quickly questioned before taking notice of the fact that the woman's skin was also the same shade of pink as her hair. Besides her bright colored hair and skin, she had black eyes with bright yellow irises. She was chatting animatedly with a giant of a man across from her, with short brown hair and large, full lips. He was huge, appearing both very wide and incredibly muscular. At the same table was another man, or what appeared to be part of one as his head was that of some black bird like a raven or crow. Besides his unusual head and neck, the rest of his body seemed to be completely human. Next to the bird-headed man was another man, this one seemingly having a rock-like head with an incredibly square jaw. Although he too seemed to be a larger man, his body language seemed to indicate he was much more reserved than some of the other people at the table.
Kirishima pulled Izuku towards the group as they brought the first set of dishes out, and once they were placed on the table introduced him to the group: the pink woman was named Mina Ashido, the large brown haired man was Rikido Sato, the bird-headed man was Fumiage Tokoyami, and the rock-headed man was Koji Koda. The first two had been more forthcoming in introducing themselves and thanking Izuku for the food, while Tokoyami could only mutter a small "thanks" and Koda offered only a smile and small head nod.
Izuku and Kirishima then repeated the process, retreating into the kitchen and approaching another group with more food. The next group seemed slightly more average looking then the previous group: first was a well dressed blonde haired man with a very feminine face. His posture seemed to scream "I think I'm the most important person in the room" and after a few moments of "letting Izuku bask in his glory" he introduced himself as Yuga Aoyama. Next to him was a man with spiky orange hair, that obscured part of his left eye, who was chatting up a woman with short purple hair and what appeared to be long headphone jacks dangling from her ears. The woman seemed very eager to talk to someone besides the orange-haired man, and quickly introduced herself as Kyoka Jiro. Once her introduction was done, the man she was talking to eagerly jumped in and introduced himself as Denki Kaminari. Across from the two of them were another two men talking to one another: both looked extremely plain, the first having jet black hair and wide, alert-looking eyes. The other one was a very plain looking blonde; but, upon a second look, he stood out more due to the fact he had a long tail with a tuft of blonde hair on the end of it. They both dropped their conversation for a moment, with the former introducing himself as Hanta Sero, while the latter was Mashirao Ojiro.
The two men retreated to the kitchen once again to retrieve more dishes, but were interrupted by a series of shouts from the common areas. They rushed out quickly to be met with an odd site. The next table they were going to visit stood out for a far different reason compared to the prior ones: one of the chairs had someone frozen solid to it. Most of the people in the common area looked over towards the table in various states of shock, anger, and fear. After a few moments, the commotion seemed to die down and everyone returned to their soft chatter that was occurring prior. Izuku and Kirishima shared a confused look, shrugged, then returned to grab more plates for the next table.
When they emerged once again, they made their way back to the table that had the frozen person. By the looks of it, it was a short man with a mohawk of purple hair that upon a closer look was actually four large balls. His arms had been frozen to his side, while his torso and legs had been encased in ice trapping him on the chair. Next to him was a young woman with long hair split into half white and half red. Her bangs were parted twice, exposing her heterochromatic eyes: one an icy blue and the other a brownish grey. A scar could be seen partially around the icy blue eye on the left half of her face, underneath her bright crimson hair. She seemed to be staring off into space ignoring most of the other people at the table. Across from her was seated a man with pale grey hair that seemed to jut straight forward before turning 90 degrees and going down from his forehead and across his eyes; but, even stranger than that was his six arms which were attached to one another by a webbing of skin. He offered a gruff "thanks" before introducing himself as Mezo Shoji. Izuku and Kirishima were about to walk off for the final dishes, before a voice called out from the table.
"Um, hi! There's one more person here!" The men turned to the feminine sounding voice, only to find that a pair of floating clothes was seated next to Shoji. Both apologized profusely for missing her before she spoke up. "It's not that big a problem, it happens from time to time. Anyways, I'm Toru Hagakure! You already met Shoji," judging by the movement of her shirt sleeve, the men guessed she was pointing at him, it then shifted towards the iced-over man, "That little creep is Minoru Mineta, he was crawling on the floor trying to look up some of the girls shorts and skirts before she," this time Toru seemed to gesture towards the other woman at the table, "froze him in place." Toru fell silent for a moment, at which point Izuku felt an invisible hand grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled him closer as she whispered, "She hasn't said anything since she got here… so no one is quite sure on her name yet…" She then let go of Izuku, at which point Shoji and Toru thanked the men for the meal, before they left once again.
Izuku and Kirishima came out with the final set of dishes, then headed over towards the final table that Setsuna had been sitting at. She had been conversing with some faces familiar to Izuku: Momo, Ochaco, and Tenya. Among them was another girl who had long green hair that dropped down onto her back where it was tied into a bow. She had a wide mouth and oval shaped eyes that darted around the table looking at her new classmates. This new woman introduced herself as Tsuyu Asui, with what sounded like a ribbit following her introduction. Once they dropped the final plates of food off, Kirishima held a bent arm up. Izuku mimicked the action completing Kirishima's "manly" handshake, then thanked him for his help before the other man returned to sitting next to Tokayami. With a contented sigh, Izuku took his own plate, pulled up a chair next to Setsuna, and plopped down.
He took a bite out of his Okonomiyaki before speaking up, "I don't know if it's just from being so hungry, or if I actually cooked this right, but this is soooo good." Some of the others at the table chimed in, voicing their approval for the dish. Tenya spoke up afterwards adding his own opinion.
"It was superb, Midori- forgive me, Izuku. Where did you learn to cook like this? With something like this, we should have you cook for us often!" This earned a round of cheers from the table as the others took a break from eating. Midoriya scratched his head shyly at the praise.
"That makes me really happy to hear that. It was actually just a recipe my mom would make at home, though I don't really have any special experience when it comes to cooking." Izuku paused briefly and looked around the rowdy room, before returning his gaze to his own table, "It would be nice for us all to eat together like this again, I'd just want some more help next time…" This again earned another chorus of replies: Momo offered to help make some beverages or brew tea, Ochaco saying she could offer budget friendly meal ideas, Tenya stating he would be willing to help prep the ingredients, and Tsuyu volunteering to taste test it. This earned a laugh from around the table. Izuku went to pick up his chopsticks and take another bite when an explosion fired off from near the elevator.
"What the fuck is this?! You think you can relax now that you've faked your way into UA?" Katsumi screamed from the hallway. She marched straight up to the table Izuku was sitting at and slammed her hand down on the table. "You had the nerve to not tell me this was going on and invite me down to your little party, Deku?" Some people squirmed awkwardly in their seats as the fiery blonde continued her verbal rampage. "You think you can just cosy up to and lie to th-"
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise I had to report everything happening to you," Izuku coolly interrupted with as he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. Katsumi was taken aback by his calm reply, and before she could collect herself and continue her assault he spoke again, "We already cleaned up the kitchen, so the only thing I can do is offer you a share of my portion, if you'll calm down." Katsumi stared at Izuku as her mouth fell open in stunned silence. After a few moments she shook her head, grumbled, then pulled up a chair at the end of Izuku's table. Most of the rest of the room went back to soft chatter, while Izuku's table bristled at the new hot headed woman who had joined them.
Izuku took Setsuna's empty plate, cut half of his remaining portion and placed it on the plate, then slid it to Katsumi. She eyed it suspiciously, then took a cautious bite. After a moment, she gave a small "Hmphf" and continued to eat while staring down the other members of the table. The awkward hush continued to hang in the air as Katsumi devoured the food until Setsuna spoke up.
"Hey Izzy, you got a little something on your cheek." The green haired man reached up and touched his face with a finger, withdrawing it to find some sauce and batter. He reached over to grab his napkin, only to be interrupted by Setsuna's hand. She leaned over and gave the spot a quick lick, then a kiss. Izuku's face turned beet-red while Setsuna gave a small laugh. Simultaneously, the table exploded into an uproar of various stunned shouts. Tenya was spouting off various things about "public decency" and "morality", while Ochaco and Momo's face were dusted with light blushes as they muttered things such as "how bold". Loudest of all however, was Katsumi's explosive response.
"Wh-what was THAT?!" She rocketed out of her chair, both hands clenched in fists before one shakily rose and pointed at the couple. Setsuna turned to Izuku with a quizzical look on her, before facing Katsumi
"What, I'm his girlfriend. I can't do that?" At the word "girlfriend" Katsumi's skin drained of color and she looked as though she were hit by a bus. Setsuna spoke up again before Katsumi could respond, "Though I suppose couples usually do something more like this," at which point she grabbed Izuku's face and pulled him into a deep kiss. After a few seconds she let the dazed man go, and looked at the rest of the table with a grin.
"I-I'm not feeling too well… so, none of you..." Katsumi stuttered out as she stepped away from the table. After a moment, she took a deep breath then narrowed her eyes, "I don't want any of you second rate nobodies bothering me, got that?" With that, the blonde woman stomped out of the room, as everyone's eyes trailed her until she retreated into the hallway. Everyone seemed bewildered by the exchange and were whispering in hushed tones. Conversely, Izuku calmly resumed eating his Okonomiyaki, with only his crimson face betraying his embarrassment. A few more minutes of awkward silence set in of Izuku eating, while Setsuna embraced his arm before Tenya finally spoke up.
"Izuku… how are you so calm about all of this? I noticed you were just as calm before when that girl… Katsumi Bakugou?... came in earlier." Izuku mentally sighed as he took another bite then put down his chopsticks. Deciding there was no reason to lie about it, he swallowed and replied to Tenya.
"Well, Kacchan, ah I mean Katsumi… she was my childhood friend. She's been very… volatile from when we were growing up, so I guess I just got used to it. She sees people that don't have quirks as lesser. So when she developed a powerful quirk and I didn't get mine, she started putting me down." Izuku paused slightly as his voice hitched. A reaffirming squeeze from Setsuna, who had already heard about his past, and he continued for the others at the table, "I tried to keep believing for the longest time she would still be my friend, but her actions made it apparent that wouldn't be the case. Long story short, I developed my quirk not too long ago, so now she's angry because she thinks I've been hiding it from her or cheated somehow to get to UA." The table sat in awkward silence as Izuku merely sat with a furrowed brow and arm wrapped around Setsuna's side.
"Sorry, that might've been a bit heavy, with us just getting to know each other and all." He spoke up as he tried to put on a cheerful grin. As he tried to lighten the mood, Mina suddenly shot up from her chair on the other side of the room.
"I'm not sure what happened with that super angry girl before, but we should keep this party going! We should have a contest for best room in our dorm." Slowly but surely, a chorus of agreement rang out from most of the room; and, all the students, but the still frozen Mineta, filed towards the elevators.
The groups agreed to get off on the second floor and start with the boys side, before working their way to the girls and up to the next floor. Kaminari eagerly ushered the group towards the end of the hall, where he threw open the door to reveal his room. "Spunky," was the word that crossed Izuku's mind as he examined the interior. Kaminari had thrown down a black rug in the center of the room, while on a shelf and parts of the wall he had hung various objects ranging from hats to headphones. On the wall above his tiger stripe bed, he had hung a dart board and autographed jersey. Several students offered a few hollow "pretty interesting"s or "it's cool" as they shuffled back into the hallway.
Sero's room was next, as it was next door. He less eagerly opened the door to reveal a distinctly "Asian" style room. Patterned tapestries hung from the left and right walls as everyone filled into the room. Meanwhile, the window had been covered with long wooden blinds and a folding screen. Between the bed and desk was a small hammock that snugly filled the space. After a few more students gave some more glances around, they filled back into the hallway complementing Sero for his room's theme.
The final room for the male's side of the second floor was Tenya's room. Izuku noted that Tenya seemed slightly more eager than he thought he would be as the other man opened the door to his room. Inside, the room seemed rather plain. The most significant parts that stood out were bookshelf upon bookshelf of various books that lined one side of his room, along with the shelves of glasses positioned above his desk and dresser. As the group left the room, Tenya was questioned about the rows of extra glasses, to which he replied, "It's hard to keep my glasses together when I'm using my quirk, so I found it best to just invest in bulk extra pairs to keep up."
The group then transitioned to the girl's side of the second floor, and towards the end of the hall. At this point, Tsuyu broke off from the group saying she wasn't feeling well and went into her room. After wishing her well and to feel better, the group shifted to the next room which turned out to be Jiro's room. Her door was pushed open, exposing a very music centric room: the left wall was lined with a bookshelf full of records and CDs, while next to that was a cluster of instruments ranging from guitars to keyboards and a full drum set. The floor, ceiling, and bed all shared a checker pattern, with the bed and ceiling being black and red while the floor was white and black. Several students tried to get Jiro to play them a song, which flustered her and caused her to rush them back out of the room.
Once they were back in the second floor hall again, Tenya let the group know that the only other rooms on the floor were vacant, causing them to move to the next floor. On the third floor, the group shifted to the girl's side to start, with Toru excitedly directing the group to her room. She ushered them into the room, which was plastered with both bright pink furniture and decorations. She had forgone the bed provided by UA and replaced it with one of a similar size that had iron shaped into hearts at the head and foot. The bed itself was occupied by a large blue teddy bear, while smaller stuffed animals sat on a shelf above the desk. The group offered many kind compliments for the "cute" feel of the room on their way out.
Next door, Mina excitedly bounced on the balls of her feet as she unlocked and flung the door aside. Inside her room, everything seemed a very high contrast of pink and black. Each thing seemed to jump out at the students as they looked at it, with the curtains having tiger stripes of pink, while the bed was a mixture of pink polka dots on black sheets. After a few more minutes of admiring Mina's lively room, the group left and made their remarks complimenting her for really making her room unique.
The final room for the third floor girl's side was that of the red and white haired woman. She didn't say a word when opening the door, but took a few steps into the room, before holding an arm out to block everyone from walking into the room. The group cycled out, taking turns looking into the room from the entrance. The inside had been completely redone to match the style of a Japanese home: the hardwood floor had been taken out and replaced with tatami, while the glass doors to the porch had been replaced with wooden screens. Most of the group asked her in shock how the room ended up so different, to which she meekly and curtly replied, "It didn't feel like home to me, so I did some small renovations." They tried to get more out of the mysterious woman, but she would say no more. Tenya once again let the group know there were only room's left on the men's side at which point they trekked over to see the remaining rooms on the floor.
On the far end of the wing, Shoji stepped forward to show off his room: inside was a low desk under which sat a single cushion. On the opposite side of the room from it was a stack of bedding on which sat a solitary pillow. Mina took the opportunity to speak as the group left, "I guess that's minimalistic living in action, huh?" to which Shoji offered a simple grunt.
Next to Shoji's room was Kirishima's. He excitedly unlocked the door as he talked to the group about showing them how a "true man" lives. In the case of his room, this meant a variety of motivational posters dominating the wall space, alongside a clock that had arms popping out to flex. He had a large curtain drawn across the window that had a flame pattern across it. In front of the curtain sat a large punching bag which had some degree of wear on it. Kirishima eagerly asked the group if his room exuded all the manliness he said it would as they left, to which some hesitantly replied with a "sure".
The room following Kirishima's was that of Aoyama. As soon as he opened the door, the group's sight was assaulted by the sparkle and shine of various objects in the room. From the ceiling of the room, a disco ball hung down, while the walls were plastered with mirrors. In the back corner, a full suit of knight's armor stood at attention, watching over the bed. As if that wasn't over the top enough, the entire room seemed coated with sparkles or sequins, giving it a blinding shine no matter where you looked. The group filtered back out and attempted to salvage what little sight they could retain after staring at the blinding display that was Aoyama's room.
Once they had recovered, Ojiro revealed his room to the group. It was simple, akin to Shoji's, but had slightly more than the basic amenities. Much like the room's owner, the room itself seemed to be rather plain. A few people made comments about Ojiro's cleanliness, and after a few more awkward moments of silence they shuffled back into the hall.
With the third floor completed, they moved onto the final floor. As they got off the elevator, they once again headed back to the men's side where Tokoyami opened his room up first. The room would have been pitch black, if not for the soft purple light that was being illuminated by a few electric candelabras and novelty skull lights. Beyond the pitch black curtains and sheets, the only other thing of note in Tokoyami's room was a real sword and shield that were propped up against the desk. Kirishima offered his praise calling the items, "the essence of manliness", but not much else was said about the room.
Next, Sato opened up his room and at once the class was assaulted by the smell of sweets and a small degree of something being burnt. "Oh shit," Sato yelled in surprise. He quickly ran into the room and threw on an oven mitt. The group cautiously peeked into the room, seeing that besides the normal amenities of the room, Sato had both a mini and full refrigerator along with a stove top and oven. Next to them, he had shoved his arm into the small oven and withdrawn a partially burnt cake. "Damn, I wanted to bake this as a congrats for us all getting into UA, but forgot I had put it into here… I guess you're all still welcome to a slice if you'd like?" Judging by the drooling faces of most of the group, they had been enticed by the sweet smell and took Sato up on his offer. Plates and slices of chocolate cake were passed around between the group as they prepared to head out to the next room. A few bites into the cake, and soon the question was raised of how Sato was such a good baker. He replied almost dismissively, "Sugar intake is part of my quirk, so I think it's best for me to make high sugar foods to keep on me."
Satisfied with the dessert Sato had provided, the group moved onto Koda's room. He quietly shuffled past the group and opened the door, holding it for them as the group walked past. Inside was a matching small green rug and curtain. On his bed were a small stuffed giraffe and bear. But the thing that earned many coos of "adorable" and "so cute" from the girls was a small white pet rabbit curled up in a box at the foot of Koda's bed. He gently picked it up and whispered to it, before holding it out for the group to take turns petting. Once everyone had their turn, he stroked it a few times, then gingerly placed it back on its bed before leading the group back out.
After that, Izuku finally was found face to face with his door. He fumbled with the key, dropping it once or twice before getting it into the lock. He opened the door to his room and let the group in, at which point he was met with a chorus of gasps. "Wow, you really are an All Might superfan, aren't ya?" Mina teasingly said to him. Izuku stood by his desk and covered his scarlet face with his hands as he tried to hide his embarrassment. Setsuna walked over to him, briefly looking down at the desk's surface and noticing the picture of the two of them, them whispered in his ear, "Well I think it's cute," before planting a kiss on his cheek. Steam gushed out of his ears as he turned into an even more incoherent mumbling mess. After getting a good look around at all his memorabilia, the group returned back to the hall and went over to the girl's side.
The first door they came across had a series of loud thumps and explosions coming from the other side. Assuming it was Katsumi's, they quickly hurried past to the next door. Ochaco fished her key out of a pocket and walked forward to expose her room to the group. Inside was a modest room, similar to the plainness of Ojiro's with the major difference being a small fan and tea pot on the table in the center of the room.
After exiting Ochaco's modest but homey room, they came to the final room of their tour. Momo prepped the group by saying, "My apologies, but my room may be rather modest. I was only able to fit the necessities from home inside." Though as she opened the door, most of the group was a mixture of appreciative whistles and jaws hitting the floor. The majority of the room was dominated by a regal white four poster bed that had a frilly curtain drawn around it. Near the entrance of the room was a massive bookshelf and a vanity that was almost equally as ornate as the bed. Most of the group look incredulously at Momo to see if she had been joking, but her face seemed unchanged from when they first entered.
Following their tour of the rooms, the group returned to the first floor to deliberate on who the winner would be.
"Sato's cake was obviously a plus, especially if that was what he would consider a bad sweet. I would love to try something that wasn't burnt," spoke up Toru. Most of the other women nodded along in agreement as they recalled the fluffy cake. Tenya then countered with his own insight.
"I would have to say, if we are strictly basing our judgement on how the rooms look, by far and away either Yaoyorozu or the red and white haired woman's room would be the winner." He paused as he looked around at the lounging group, "Speaking of her… where did she go?" The group turned and looked at one another, revealing that the mystery woman had in fact disappeared. Izuku then took a moment to speak up and question Tenya.
"It's been bugging me a bit Tenya. No one else knows her name, which I get since she seemed a bit distant and cold… but you didn't get her name when she checked in?" The other man shook his head "no" in response before replying.
"It seems she had arrived before I did, I didn't even learn of her presence until we were all together earlier this evening." He held a hand up to his chin in thought, "In light of her absence, I propose we vote between Yaoyorozu and Sato for the champion of this best room contest." The group then dissolved into chattering whether Sato's baking skills or Momo's regal furniture would be more important to determine the winner. Before a vote could be taken though, Momo spoke up and conceded that she believed Sato's sweets far outweighed her room decor, granting him the title of Most Impressive Room for the time being.
Realizing that the sun had set long ago, and that their tour had lasted late into the night, the group slowly offered their congratulations to Sato, then said their goodbyes and began heading back to their rooms. Soon, the flow of people out of the room stopped, then Izuku and Setsuna were left by themselves.
"That's too bad you didn't win that contest. Guess we'll have to break up so I'm not dating a loser," Setsuna joked with Izuku. He feigned mock offense as he held a hand over his heart and rolled his eyes. They shared a short laugh, then Setsuna pulled out her phone to check the time. "Guess I should be heading out, orientation is supposed to be tomorrow and all," she stood up from the loveseat the two of them had been sharing and took a moment to stretch. She slowly started walking towards the door and izuku quickly leapt to his feet before following her there. She paused for a moment as the entrance doors slid open.
"Wait Suna, looks like you have some cake or something on your face." Izuku called, causing her to turn around and face him. He put a hand on the small of her back and pulled her in for a kiss, savoring the sweet taste of chocolate still dusting her lips. After a few seconds, he broke the contact and the two panted for air.
"Nevermind, I guess it was just nothing," he said to her as a grin broke out across his cherry red face. She returned the smile, surprised at his boldness. The two stood there, just enjoying each other's company and the cool night breeze. Then with a murmur of "good night" shared with each other, Setsuna drifted back towards the Class 1-B Alliance Heights dorms and Izuku sauntered back to his room.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
If you'd like to come discuss the work, things pertaining to other works I've done, or become a beta for this work - join my discord at /xFuDyVM
As always, I do not own 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, this is a fan-work:
It is the work of Kōhei Horikoshi, serialized by Weekly Shōnen Jump, and animated by Bones.
The English release is provided by Viz Media and Funimation.
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