It was another boring Friday and nearly a month since the semester had started for Reia. It wasn't nearly as exciting as Momo's, however, as she recently went through a villain attack on the USJ. Reia remembered walking between classes when the lockdown commenced—unaware that her sister was trapped in a life-threatening situation. The whole ordeal had Reia acting as a mother towards her for the past three weeks, something that Momo wasn't that fond of at home. She insisted she was alright, and that it worked out in the end since the teachers and All Might had saved them.
Reia made sure to make her tea every day, walk her to and from any place she wanted to go on the weekends or after school, and watched her dubiously across the lunchroom. Reia could tell that Momo was being nice at her overbearing nature, but a part of her just couldn't help the maternal instincts that spurred from her only and younger sibling's life being put in danger like that. Reia would gladly risk her own safety to ensure Momo's wellbeing. The older teen just hoped it wasn't being too selfish and tried her hardest to be more aware if she was overstepping any potential boundaries. Reia were a worried sister, but she didn't want to be smothering.
Considering that both of their parents were on a business trip until June, Reia felt the need to have Momo's back and look out for her.
Currently, she was sitting in class 3-A and listening to Present Mic's lecture. She was less of a student who participated and asked questions and more of one who tried to take perfect, detailed notes. Learning by teaching herself seemed to be the best method and paid off—as Reia scored at the top class when it came to academics, exams, and midterms. Requests would flood when exam times neared and her fellow classmates would flock to the raven-haired teen; begging, pleading, asking, and sometimes bribing, to help tutor them. It wasn't something that Reia minded. Seeing other people succeed, even if she didn't fully believe in herself and abilities at times, made her a bit happy.
Droning on with the lecture, she listened intently as her hand scribbled away furiously against her notebook. Without copying word for word that the sensei was saying, main points were jotted down to make sense of later. If there were terms or concepts she didn't fully understand right away, Reia would look it up at home.
Her friend suddenly nudged her next in their seat, distracting Reia's writing with a sharp snap of her pencil.
"Hey, Reia," she whispered cheerfully. "Sorry to bother you but…can we sit closer to where the food is served today at lunch? Ueshiba needs me to leave early to go to the training room and catch up what she missed from being sick."
Reia blinked, glancing over at Mic's near-frantic and energetic lecture. He appeared to be consumed in his own words and hearing himself talk, so the whispering between the two went unnoticed—or he chose to ignore it at the very least. "Sure. No problem."
Her friend, Fumiko, gave an apologetic grin; flashing a "thumbs-up" gesture before leaning back over into her seat.
Oblivious, the dark-haired girl remained unaware that Mirio Togata was smiling nonchalantly at Present Mic's presentation but had one ear listening in intently to the brief interaction that had just occurred between Reia and Fumiko. He already had the perfect idea but needed to text Hadou to see if it could be executed.
Once lunch time rolled around, Reia was surprised to see that Yuyu Haya was approaching her. At first, she wasn't sure if she was going to greet someone who was behind instead. But with the way that Haya-san was coming closer and maintaining fierce eye contact directly at Reia, it was clear that wasn't the case.
Haya stopped in front of the taller teen, but Reia decided to speak up first. The tall teen tilted her head to look at Haya.
"Oh. Hey, Haya-san. What can I do for you?"
"Yaoyorozu-san, right?" she asked. It appeared she was a bit hesitant for reasons Reia wasn't entirely sure of. She was observant, at least Reia thought that she was, but she was a bit stumped as to what this girl wanted to ask considering she rarely spoke or paid Reia any mind.
When the taller teen nodded, Haya continued, scratching the back of her neck with eyes shifted to the side. "Well, I'd like to just carry on the message that your friend, Fumiko Ahane, can't sit with you at lunch. Something to do with her helping another friend for training…or something. I don't know. I was just stopped to pass along the message to you."
"It's alright," Reia smiled kindly. "I appreciate you telling me. Thank you, Haya-san!" With that, Haya nervously walked away. It was strange—Reia never really took her for the awkward or nervous type. Besides, her message was appreciated but she wondered why Fumiko didn't text her ahead of time…perhaps she was too busy to do so? Regardless, Reia grabbed her tray of lunch and made her way over to the table she sat at each day.
A part of Reia was disappointed and her shoulders visibly slumped once she realized that none of her friends were sitting there. The table was completely empty; not even other students or years filled the table. Reia just stood there stupidly for a moment before sighing and making her way to sit alone for lunch. It really wasn't a big deal and she tried not to mind the fact that things come up and—
"Hey! Yaoyorozu!" A cheerful voice greeted her ears and she spun her head to see that Mirio Togata from the class was waving with a bright grin. The raven-haired girl blinked, mouth open, as he began to approach. "I see you're all alone today. Why not sit with me and my friends today?" he asked radiantly.
The blond could see Reia's eyes light up at his words before uncertainty replaced her features.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Togata! I-I couldn't bother you my sitting at your table…I do appreciate the sentiment, but I wouldn't want to impose anything by sitting with you or your friends—"
Togata laughed at the politeness she used when speaking to others, especially other classmates. "I'm the one that asked, silly! Besides, my friends don't mind. I noticed your empty table and talked it over with them ahead of time." He grabbed her wrist, her hands gripping a little tighter to the tray of food she carried once he did so and strutted over to his table in the back corner of the room.
Reia silently trudged with him over to his table. It made her a bit flustered—the idea of sitting with The Big Three. Her class 3-A wasn't the most tightly knit group of classmates, but a few friend groups formed halfway through her first year at UA.
"Hi, hi!" Nejire Hadou greeted excitedly, waving and practically hopping in her seat as Reia appeared with Mirio.
A wave of insecurity passed by briefly when Reia considered who exactly she would be sitting and eating lunch with…
Mirio Togata with his quirk of permeation. A powerful and unpredictable quirk that he seemed to master over the years. Being matched with him during sparring was a guaranteed lose for her…and for anyone else.
Nejire Hadou who could harness her own energy and use it against opponents. Not to mention she could literally float on command. It didn't take long for her to reach the top of the class and entire school once she paced her abilities well enough.
And…Tamaki Amajiki could manifest anything he consumed. It was quite an unusual quirk but one that he seemed to have a good handle on.
Reia just had a regeneration quirk that could regrow or repair any living or nonliving thing. Physically, she wasn't very strong, or the weakest either, so she did her best during training sessions to compensate for the lack of combative quirk. Luckily, the support items on her hero costume gloves were fitted to act as a sort of magnet to attract certain items when using against villains or apprehending them. If the item, or weapon, in her hand broke then she could quickly repair it with her quirk.
She wasn't a fighter by nature and that would translate to everyday life as well—she'd prefer talking things through and being diplomatic in your interactions with others. That was simply how she and Momo was raised. If there was a peaceful solution, they'd choose it. However, Reia knew that being a hero also meant being able to get physical and fight—something she needed support items and physical strength to do; even if she became a rescue hero. Anything could happen on the job.
Still, Reia's quirk and skills were nothing compared to The Big Three and as far as she was aware…they had no support items with their hero gear. At least, not to the extent that she did because of how useless her regen quirk was in combat.
"Come here, sit down next to me," Hadou patted the seat next to her excitedly. Reia gingerly did as told and set the tray of food down to eat. Mirio took a seat across from her, smiling politely.
A few lingering eyes of students stared at Reia, some whispering and some silently peering, as she sat at the famous "Big Three Table."
"See? Now you won't be alone today! It's always good to eat with company," he stated. He was going to say something else but widened his eyes slightly before Reia noticed his eyes peer down to her tray of food in awe. He smiled and pointed at it. "Woah! You've sure got quite a lot of food there, Yaoyorozu!" He waved his hands quickly and apologetically. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course! Just an observation, heh."
Reia looked down at the tray, picking up her chopsticks. "Mm-hm. I need to eat quite a lot of calories to not only stay in shape, but to help my quirk. The more I eat the more nutrients I have to use to repair things. My sister's quirk is the same way, though she creates items instead of repairs them."
"So lucky!" Hadou stated. "You're so thin, Yaoyorozu-san! You must be able to burn it off, like, super quick and easy."
Out of her peripheral, Reia saw a mass of indigo-colored hair belonging to the other quiet guest at the table, sitting next to Mirio and diagonally situated in comparison to her. The shy teen lifted his head up slightly to peer over. His ears twitched and perked up slightly at the mention of the conversation at hand. He looked at the amount of food on Reia's tray and appeared more interested in usual at the explanation of how her quirk works.
Luckily, both Hadou and Togata caught on; giving each other a knowing smile.
"That reminds me," Togata said. He placed his hand slowly on his friend's back so the shy teen wouldn't startle. However, Amajiki still flinched at the contact. "My buddy Tamaki here also has a food-related quirk, as you know. Obviously, it isn't a regeneration quirk like yours, but he still needs lots of calories to be able to use his quirk to its best potential. Isn't that right, Tamaki?"
Amajiki averted his eyes down to the table, fully aware that all eyes were now on him. He blanched, then his face became as red as his tie. He opened his mouth to answer as quickly as he could, but no sound came out. He swallowed dryly and tried again. "Y-yes," he replied quietly before hanging his head even lower.
Reia's stomach dropped at the sight. She didn't want to intrude; Amajiki-kun was their friend after all and it really wasn't her place to intrude in the way she wanted to. So, she had to think fast in order to get the point across as respectfully as possible.
"Hey, Amajiki?" Reia began. The dark-haired boy slowly lifted his head to look up at her. Somehow, he felt his heart lurch in his chest, and he inwardly felt even more nervous now that he was making direct eye contact with her for what he perceived to be the first time ever.
"I hope I'm not being too much by sitting here," Reia began carefully. "I just wanted to say that I thought how you handled that training match yesterday was very creative."
Ugh, really Reia? "Creative"? You couldn't think of something better…?
Amajiki, however, only seemed to flush more and nod slowly at the words before averting his attention back to the ever-interesting lunch table surface. Amajiki felt bad that he couldn't at least say thank you but his overwhelming urge to run away held him back.
Togata laughed, breaking the uncomfortable silence even if it only lasted a couple of seconds. "Anyway, let's eat while everything is fresh."
"Hey, Yaoyorozu-san," Hadou turned her bright-eyed attention to the taller girl. "Feel free to sit with us anytime you want, okay?"
Reia smiled and nodded politely. The kind gesture of being asked to sit with the three didn't make her think anything of it. She figured that it was just a kind, simple gesture of some classmates offering a bit of kindness. It wasn't until the rest of the week followed before Reia began to think Hadou and Togata's courtesy was just a little strange…
Lunch time came and went and so did the rest of the day. Another excuse from her friend and Ueshiba left Reia sitting alongside Hadou, Togata, and Amajiki more often than she would have liked. More often meaning: every day so far. She didn't really want to, but it had been six days of the same thing. So, Reia made a mental note to finally confront Fumiko and ask if something was going on that she wasn't saying.
On the other hand, Amajiki was able to utter a solid word or two here or there when Reia spoke to him, so that was a plus. She knew how debilitating anxiety and social situations could be for him; it was written plain as day all over the teen. She couldn't personally relate to it, but she did have insecurities that could boil over into mild anxiety. Still, regardless, she did her best to help the boy feel as comfortable as possible. Reia just hoped that her presence sitting near him wasn't a bad thing…
After finishing the last helping of miso soup, Reia wiped her mouth gracefully. "Hey, do any of you know where my friend say she was training?"
"She said she was in the main training room on the ground floor," Hadou smiled.
Reia smiled back, getting up from her seat to gather her food tray. "Well, I'm going to talk to her about something. I'll see you all later, alright?"
Togata and Hadou wished Reia farewell simultaneously.
"I'll be right back!" Hadou chirped in a sing-song voice before skipping out of her seat and making her way to her close friend, Yuyu Haya.
"How's everything working out? I've been keeping her friends busy by telling them Yaoyorozu needs to tutor people at lunch."
Hadou beamed. "It's a slow process and honestly, I don't know how much longer I can wait before I just make those two kiss already. It's so obvious with how they interact and look at each other! It's driving Togata-kun and I crazy!"
Haya smiled softly. "So, I take it you have another plan?" she asked.
"I do!" Hadou giggled. "I'm going to need your help again, though!"
"Yeah? What did you have in mind?"
"We're having the sleepover at my house Saturday and I invited Tamaki and Togata over, remember? They're the only two boys allowed over! Anyway…I really want to get those two together already so I need you to help make Tamaki jealous!"
Haya's eyes widened. "Wait…what?"
Hadou giggled. She paced on the balls of her feet. "Please, Yuyu? I need them to get together already!" Hadou drawled, whining and clutching onto Haya's jacket.
Haya sighed as her best friend pleaded and drawled out her sentence with a childish puppy-dog like expression. She glanced over briefly at The Big Three table where Togata was talking energetically with Amajiki about something.
"Fine," the short-haired teen caved, smiling softly. Hadou's eyes lit up in triumph. "What do I have to do?"
A/N: so...any ideas for Reia's hero name? I have ideas as to why I want to add that in (no spoilers)...but can't seem to come up with something fitting to her regeneration quirk.
hope you enjoyed this short chapter...on our elf sasuke's birthday nonetheless! Before you ask, yes posting it today was indeed intentional lol.
note: as I've said before, this is originally a reader-insert on my AO3 account so some pronouns may be off. I tried to proofread as best as possible, but I'm not perfect and there's bound to be errors.
Feedback and comments are always appreciated but never required.