Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
A couple that will go down in legend
Chapter forty-four: Eri's crush
It had been at least a few days since the massive villain attack on the city that resulted in massive damage. If it had not been for so many allies of hero society being there to help the heroes of Japan fight off the forces of the villains, then surly things would have been even worse. There were even a few students from U.A. High School, the top hero academy in Japan, who had been killed by villains during the massive siege on the city. However, a group representing a normal public high school over in the United States was visiting at the time of the attack. Four of the American high school students, all four of them being Sacred Heritage quirk users, were able to do what's nothing short of a total miracle; return the fallen U.A. students back to life.
Over in the main area of the dorm building for class 1-A, the various students of classes 1-A and 1-B, along with the Big Three, were all gathered as the hosting class was throwing a party to celebrate the downfall of the villains, as well as the resurrection of those who fell during all of the fighting. Off to the one side in the common area, Shinso was showing some pictures that he had on his phone to Izuku, Juzo and Tamaki, the last of those three looking a bit pale-skinned due to being one of those who fell in battle but was returned to life.
"Oh, in this one Eri's pretending that she's Sakaki," Shinso said with a hint of amusement as she showed the boys a picture of Eri wearing a cat-eared headband while she had a pillow shoved up her shirt to make it look like she was chubby. Sliding over to the next photo, which showed Eri crouching down like a frog while a long strip of gum tape was hanging out of her mouth, Shinso said, "And here Eri's pretending that she's Tsuyu."
"Heh, that's adorable," Tamaki remarked, amused by how the seven-year-old girl was pretending to be various girls in U.A.'s hero course. Shinso showed a few more photos of Eri pretending to be hero course girls at U.A., and as he was doing so Bakugo came walking over.
Curious about what the boys were doing, the explosive teen asked, "The hell's going on here?"
"Oh, Kacchan, you won't believe this," Izuku said, "But Shinso has a bunch of pictures of Eri dressed up as some of the girls here at U.A. I think Shinso even got a picture of Eri dressed up as Pony." Nodding in confirmation, Shinso scrolled through his photos and found a picture of Eri wearing a headband that had two big horns, clearly made from the cardboard tubes that paper towels come on, attached. Bakugo couldn't help but let out a snort, finding amusement in the little girl pretending to be his girlfriend.
Looking over to Shinso, Bakugo asked him while pointing to his phone, "Why is she dressed up in so many little outfits to pretend to be various girls here at school?"
Giving a shrug, Shinso replied as he gently shook his head, "No clue, Bakugo. I just figure it's some little girl thing. Although she did tell me one thing." The boys gathered around Shinso all leaned a bit closer as the brainwasher explained, "Eri told me that she's only dressing up as girls who are 'pretty' in her definition."
Tamaki let out a chuckle that showed he found Eri's reasoning to be adorable. Juzo, with a curious look on his face, turned to face Shinso and asked, "And what, pray tell, is Eri's way of defining what makes a girl 'pretty'?"
"If a girl has a boyfriend or not," Shinso replied, "If yes, then Eri says the girl in question counts as pretty. If no, then the girl in question does not count."
Bakugo snorted back a good bit of laughter. "Holy crap, imagine if she tells a girl to her face that the girl ain't pretty due to lacking a boyfriend! That would be ep-"
"Eri actually did do that to Yaoyorozu earlier today," Shinso replied, "While Eri herself was going about while eating from a dish of mushrooms in order to pretend to be Juzo's classmate Kinoko for some odd reason."
The ashy-haired boy, after laughing a bit at Yaoyorozu's expense, nodded a few times in understanding. "Ah yes. Pony's classmate Shrooms is now an item with Kirishima." Bakugo gave an amused smirk. "About damn time he got a girl to see that he's one hell of a dude, too."
As the boys were talking over the cute photos that Shinso had taken of Eri dressed up as various U.A. girls, Aizawa came walking over, with Eri following along behind him. Having heard the boys' chuckling, the underground hero figured that they were laughing over what seemed to be whatever it was that his foster son was showing to the rest of the group. He got the boys' attention before saying, "Shinso, what are you showing the others here?"
"The various pictures I took of Eri dressed up so she could pretend to be various girls here at U.A.," the brainwasher replied while pointing to Eri, "I figured that they would find it to be as adorable as the two of us did."
"I have a very important reason why I'm trying to be like the pretty girls!" Eri insisted, a bit of an annoyed pout on her face.
The older boys, as well as Aizawa, all turned to look at the young girl. "…Oh?" Shinso said, an amused look on his face, "And what might that reason be, Little Horn?" Eri, embarrassed that she was being put on the spot, took a step back, hanging her head a bit as she poked the ends of her index fingers together.
Shinso, Aizawa and the others were all waiting for Eri to give a response before she finally, and in a clearly timid manner, gave her answer. "Well, the pretty girls all have boyfriends, right? I thought that if I was like the pretty girls, then the boy I like would want to be my boyfriend."
"WHAT?!" Aizawa exclaimed instantly, surprise clear on his face as the boys turned to look at him. Some of them chuckled, saying that Aizawa was freaking out just like an overprotective dad who just found out his daughter is now interested in boys. That…basically describes what's going on here to a T, you know; Aizawa did take Eri in as a foster daughter, and he's just now hearing that Eri's interested in boys now.
Gently shaking his head, Aizawa looked down to Eri and said, "I…need to talk to you alone later, Eri. There are a few things you're needing to know." Looking up to the boys, Aizawa said, "Anyway, Shinso, I just wanted to find you and let you, as well as Midoriya and Bakugo since they're here as well, know that the class will be visiting some places tomorrow to learn first-hand about the kinds of things pro heroes do to better society that does not involve punching a villain right in the face."
Shinso nodded in understanding, although both Izuku and Bakugo looked curious. "What kind of places, Aizawa-sensei?" Izuku asked.
"Well first off, we're going to visit a food donation center," Aizawa explained, "Where pro heroes occasionally volunteer to help sort out donated food that's then distributed to families that are struggling to otherwise put food on the table. After that, we'll be visiting the local autistic children's school, where pro heroes donate time to help with the kids there." The underground hero crossed his arms over his chest before adding, "As a side note, we'll be seeing Fat Gum at the food donation center, and Ryukyu at the autistic children's school."
"Oh yeah," Izuku remarked, "Fat Gum is a leading figure in the cause of trying to eliminate hunger in Japan by assisting low-income families. And Ryukyu is the only pro hero known to regularly assist with helping families that have autistic children."
Aizawa nodded in confirmation. "…You know, if Endeavor decided to champion a cause rather than focus solely on resolving cases, he might have been able to dethrone All Might as number one before the big oaf had to step down and retire. Todoroki's father should have taken a cue out of Fat Gum and Ryukyu's respective books." The underground hero turned around and left, although Eri stayed around just long enough to wave good-bye to the boys before she turned back around and dashed to catch up with Aizawa.
After the pair were gone, Shinso turned to look at all of the boys. "…Heh. I wonder which girl Eri will decide to dress up as next."
The following morning, Aizawa, plus Eri who Aizawa had to bring along due to not being able to find a sitter, had all twenty-five of his students at a local food donation center. "…This brings back memories," Uraraka remarked as she looked around, "Before my parents' construction company finally got its life back thanks to that commercial we made in conjunction with some pro heroes, my parents would have to occasionally come here."
"Oh yeah, your family used to struggle financially," Mina remarked to the gravity girl, getting an affirmative nod out of her. Mina turned to look to Yaoyorozu, who still had a little bit of paleness to her but it was wearing off. "I don't suppose you ever had to struggle with finances, did you?"
Yaoyorozu wore a curious look on her face as Mina addressed her. "…Umm, I'm sorry but I don't see how it's possible for one to struggle with money."
"Well maybe you ought to try and pull out that silver spoon that's shoved firmly up your ass," Mina said dryly, "That may help you see things from the point of view of others." Yaoyorozu was about to snap at Mina but was cut off before getting even one word out when Aizawa got everyone's attention. Standing next to Aizawa was Fat Gum, and somewhat hiding behind Aizawa's legs was Eri.
With all of his students' eyes on him, Aizawa said while gesturing to the BMI Hero, "Now listen up, brats. Fat Gum here will explain what all goes on when working a shift at the food donation center here." Aizawa noticed that all of his students were looking at Fat Gum kind of weird. Turning to see what was up, Aizawa saw that there was a curious look on Fat Gum's face. "Is something the matter, Fat Gum?"
"Why do some of your students look a bit pale, Shouta?" the BMI Hero asked, a hint of concern clear in his words.
"I'll explain it to you later," Aizawa replied, "But rest assured it's nothing to worry about."
Accepting Aizawa's answer for what it was, Fat Gum turned to look at class 1-A and began to go over what all goes down when working at the food donation center. As Aizawa and Eri watched all this unfold, Aizawa heard Eri giggle cutely. The underground hero, with an amused look on his face, looked down at his foster daughter, gave her nudge on her shoulder to get her to look up at him. "Something amusing to you, Eri?"
The little horned girl pointed to Fat Gum, who was in the middle of lecturing to class 1-A. "He's like a big, friendly teddy bear." The small smirk on Aizawa's face grew a little; part of the theme Fat Gum was going for was to be as kid-friendly as possible. If Eri's comment were anything to go by, then the BMI hero was succeeding in that regard.
After the food donation center trip, Aizawa took his students over to the autistic children's school so that his brats could donate some time at to play with the kids there. Upon walking in, Aizawa was greeted to the sight of some young kids playing around. He had also gotten the attention of two women who worked at the center, as well as Ryukyu who was talking to the two women at the time. The Dragoon Hero was dressed casually, as she did not expect to have to do hero work until later in the day.
"Oh, you must be the U.A. teacher who's bringing a class of hero-course students to see the kids here," the first center teacher said, "I bet that the children here would love to see future heroes like that."
"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you had everything ready," Aizawa replied, "I also had my students dress up in their hero outfits like you asked."
The center teachers and Ryukyu nodded in the affirmative before Aizawa went to the front door and opened it. He stuck his head out and called for his class to come in. Slowly, all twenty-five students in class 1-A filed into the building, with Eri following along behind Shinso. Once all of the heroes-in-training, all dressed in their respective hero costumes, were inside, the center teachers and Ryukyu got the children at the center to all come out. The kids ranged in age from four to ten, and there were roughly an equal amount of boys and girls, although an exact count would reveal that there were slightly more girls.
The kids were clearly excited to see so many costumed heroes, running up to them and crowding the students of class 1-A. Aizawa pulled Eri back before the high schoolers were swarmed, as he did not want his foster daughter getting caught up in that. As the center teachers tried to help the hero-course students control the kids, Ryukyu walked over to Aizawa and Eri, who stood off to the side of everything.
"I see you brought a kid yourself," the Dragoon Hero remarked.
"Well I couldn't find a sitter for her," Aizawa replied, "Also, I think that Eri may be able to improve her socialization skills if she were to play with some of the kids here."
Ryukyu nodded in understanding and agreement with the pro hero. "Yes, and many of the kids here still have trouble socializing sometimes." A sympathetic smile appeared on Ryukyu's face. "Although there is one boy here who has made considerable progress. Tsuyu may have told you, given that she's your student."
The underground hero recognized right away what Ryukyu was getting at. "Yeah, I actually heard about it while Toshinori and I were visiting families to tell them about the dorm system at U.A. While at the Asui residence, I met Tsuyu's younger siblings, and Beru Asui told me that her son Samidare is autistic." Leaning to his side, Aizawa actually saw Samidare, standing next to Tsuyu, as he blew raspberries at Mineta whenever the lewd teen tried to say even a single word. "…He's not very sociable towards Mineta, though."
Looking over to see what Aizawa was talking about, Ryukyu, with a bit of a suspicious look on her face as she regarded the short-statured teen, turned back to face Aizawa and said, "Yeah, Tsuyu told me how she trained both of her younger siblings to be hostile towards some boy in her class named Mineta." Crossing her arms over her chest, the Dragoon Hero said, "So that boy with the purple balls for hair is the little pervert, huh?"
"Y…yes," Aizawa replied, both shocked and totally unsurprised by how Tsuyu had apparently trained her younger siblings to be hostile towards Mineta. Looking back over, Aizawa saw that Mineta was still having trouble getting even one word out without Samidare blowing raspberries at him. Some of the other 1-A students, such as Bakugo and most of the girls especially Mina, were laughing their asses off as Mineta was very clearly on the losing end of a battle against an autistic child.
Ryukyu gave a 'what can you do' kind of shrug while she wore a gently amused smile. "Aside from what Tsuyu has trained him to do, Samidare's really improved on his socialization skills. From what Tsuyu has told me, he gets along quite well with your student Tokoyami, as well as this one boy in class 1-B named Artemis." Aizawa nodded in agreement; it would make sense that Tokoyami, who was dating Tsuyu, would be good with Samidare. And Aizawa did hear of how Sekijiro's student Norio was a sort of mentor figure to the boy.
Suddenly, Ryukyu's face lit up, showing that she just had an idea. "Hey, you said that you were hoping to get Eri here to develop socialization skills by playing with the children here, right? Well why don't we try that?"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Aizawa replied. Looking down at his foster daughter, Aizawa said, "Hey Eri, would you-" Aizawa stopped short when he saw the nervous, blushing look on Eri's face as she was looking over in the direction that Samidare was in. "…Eri?" Aizawa said, getting the girl to look up at him.
Pointing at Samidare, Eri said, "Th-That's him, dad! That's the cute boy! The one I want to have be my boyfriend!" Both Aizawa and Ryukyu, going wide-eyed with surprise, turned to look in the direction in which Samidare was still blowing raspberries at Mineta.
Looking back and forth between the two kids, Ryukyu said after settling to look at Aizawa, "Is she being serious, Aizawa? She has a crush on Samidare?"
Looking down at Eri as she furiously nodded her head in the affirmative, Aizawa turned to look at Ryukyu and said, "It…would appear to be the case."
"Oh my goodness, this is just precious!" Ryukyu gushed, "Oh, I wonder if Tsuyu knows that her little brother has a secret ad-"
"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"
Aizawa, Ryukyu and Eri all looked in the direction of the 1-A students right around the time Samidare, who now had a freaked-out look on his face, cried out as he hid behind his older sister's legs while covering his ears with his hands. The adults came over, with Eri following behind them, as some of the students began to berate Mineta. "What happened here?" Aizawa demanded, clearly unamused.
Jerking a thumb at Mineta, Bakugo said, "Grape Head here decided to yell at Frog Face's little brother, which as you can see resulted in making him freak out."
"Young man, what is wrong with you?" Ryukyu scolded at Mineta, very clearly looking disappointed, "You are never suppose to yell at any of the kids here! You need to apologize to him when he calms back down!"
Mineta, as he pointed an accusing finger at Samidare, defended, "He wouldn't stop blowing raspberries at me, and nobody else was exactly quick to come to my-" Mineta was cut off when Eri, wearing an unhappy pouting expression, ran up to Mineta and kicked him surprisingly hard in his holy land, scoring a critical hit that floored the short-statured teen. As Mineta laid prone, Tsuyu kicked him in the butt (fairly hard) once for good measure. Tsuyu then spat on Mineta.
After class 1-A got back to U.A., Aizawa called Tsuyu to the homeroom class. When she got there, Tsuyu saw that Eri was standing behind Aizawa, and a curious and amused-looking Hizashi was also present. "Asui, I need to discuss something with out about what went on at the center we were at earlier today," Aizawa began as he gestured for the frog-like girl to walk over a bit closer to him and the others.
"Is this about how I kicked Mineta in his butt before I spat on him kero?" Tsuyu asked.
"Oh no, not at all," Aizawa remarked casually, "It's about Eri's behavior concerning how she's dressed up like you and some of the other girls so that she could pretend to be whoever she dressed up as. Shinso told me that he had told you about it after he showed you the picture of Eri pretending to be you."
Tsuyu nodded a few times to show that she was following along. "Yes, I think that it's kind of cute, not to mention flattering when I was told Eri was pretending to be me because she says that I'm pretty."
"But you are pretty!" Eri said, getting Tsuyu to look at her, "That big black bird says so!"
"Yeah, she's basing her assessment off the fact that you're dating Tokoyami," Aizawa said, "I normally don't reference the personal lives of my students, but in this case it's actually relevant because the reason Eri has dressed up as you and a few other girls is because all of the girls she has dressed up as have boyfriends, and Eri figures that it may help her get a boy that she has a crush on to want to be her boyfriend."
The frog-like girl giggled a bit in an amused manner. "That's pretty adorable, Aizawa-sensei."
Letting out a resigned sigh, Aizawa said, "Yes, well here's the thing, Asui. As it turns out, the boy that Eri has a crush on is your little brother."
That made Tsuyu take pause, a surprised look of mild shock on her face. "…Yeah, I was hoping that you might be able to convince Eri to hold off on trying to pursue romance in general for the time being, as I really don't want her trying to do that sort of stuff right now given how old she is," Aizawa said, "Given that it's your little brother that Eri seem so keen on." Tsuyu seemed to get what her teacher was talking about, and as such she turned to address Eri.
Clearing her throat a bit before she began, Tsuyu said, "Listen, Eri. I think it's really cute that you like my little brother Samidare. I'm certain that he'd be flattered by the notion as well kero. But I have to agree with Aizawa-sensei that you trying to make Samidare your boyfriend right now may not be the best thing in the world."
"Aww!" Eri said in a tone of complaint, "Why not? He's super nice and smart and stuff, and he looks nice, and he's not a doofus or anything!"
Tsuyu nodded along as Eri explained her reasoning. "Yes, Samidare is a nice kid, and I'm glad to have him as my little brother. But not only does Aizawa-sensei have a point on how you're not ready to find romance like I have, but I'm certain Samidare is nowhere near ready for trying to find romance himself. He's still got some issues when it comes to struggling with social cues, and he freaks out easily if loud noises sound off near him. Samidare still needs a lot of time until he's ready for the part of socializing that involves dating."
Eri looked a bit dejected as she looked to the floor in the classroom. After looking at the floor for a bit, the horned girl looked back up at Tsuyu and asked, "Well, when he is ready, can you let me know so I can then hide a love letter in his locker?"
Tsuyu let out an amused chuckle before replying, "Sure thing, Eri. I'm sure that, when Samidare is ready to date, you'll be a great girlfriend for him kero. But it's not just him who needs more time to be ready. You yourself should also wait a bit on it." Eri nodded a few times in agreement to show that she would listen to the frog-like girl.
Aizawa smiled in an appreciative kind of amusement; Tsuyu convinced Eri to drop the subject of romance for the time being, but at the same time gave her hope that she can pick the subject back up again in the future, preferably when Eri's old enough for dating to be a subject to consider seriously for her. …Preferably when Eri reaches high school age. Turning to look at Tsuyu, the class 1-A homeroom teacher said, "Thank you, Asui. That will be all."
"So wait," Hizashi said, getting Aizawa to turn to look at him, "You aren't going to discipline her for kicking Mineta in his butt and then spitting on him?"
"I see no reason to," Aizawa replied casually, shrugging as he did so.
Shrugging indifferently, Hizashi said, "…Yeah, I'm guessing that chances are the little dude did something to deserve it. I mean, this is Mineta that we're talking about here." Aizawa, as well as Tsuyu, all nodded in agreement. Seeing everyone being unified in that respect made Eri smile, as she liked seeing it when everyone was getting along.
The next morning in the kitchen area of the 1-A dorm building, Tsuyu was sitting at the island counter, eating a bowl of cereal, as she talked with the other 1-A girls. By this point, those who were resurrected had lost all of the paleness they had as a side effect of being returned to life. Tsuyu was one such person, as was both Yaoyorozu and Hatsume. As the 1-A girls all ate, the frog-like girl was telling them about her discussion with their homeroom teacher yesterday.
"Oh my goodness, that sounds adorable!" Mina squealed in an excited tone, "Eri has a crush on your little brother!"
"Yeah, but I agree with Aizawa-sensei on how Eri needs to wait a while before trying to pursue anything with Samidare," Tsuyu remarked, "Not to mention how Samidare himself still has a bit of work to do on his social skills." After chewing and swallowing a spoonful of her cereal, Tsuyu added, "Although I bet he'd be flattered to know that a girl likes him kero."
"Well now," Yaoyorozu remarked, "Now I feel even more inadequate." Hanging her head in shame, the ponytailed girl remarked, "Even a girl about a decade younger than me has greater luck in the boys department. I haven't even been able to get one boy to notice me."
"Oh, about that Momo," Sakaki said, "Shinso asked me to have you look outside. He said he's helping a friend of his in class 1-B with something." Curious, Yaoyorozu got up from the island counter table and walked over to where Sakaki specified. Walking out the door to a fenced-in yard area, Yaoyorozu was shocked to see Yosetsu Awase of class 1-B, dressed in a full mariachi outfit and holding an acoustic guitar, standing right there. Shinso, with Izuku and Juzo, stood behind the welding quirk user, all of them also dressed as mariachi and holding mini trumpets.
When the ponytailed girl saw the boys, Yosetsu started playing mariachi music on his guitar, with the three boys playing their instruments behind him to play along with the theme. Yosetsu then began to sing a mariachi song that clearly had a romantic slant to it, and at one point he spun the guitar he was holding around, given that it was attached to the guitar strap that he was wearing. By the time that he was done singing, Yosetsu did one last spin of his guitar, breathing a bit hard more out of nervousness than anything.
The 1-A girls aside from Yaoyorozu all cheered, some of them extremely amused by what was clearly a grand romantic gesture on Yosetsu's part in an attempt to appeal to their ponytailed classmate. "So, what do you think, Momo?" Yosetsu asked, clearly blushing with embarrassment as he was nervous of how the wealthy girl would react, "I'm in love with you. Will you go out with me?"
END, CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Author's notes;
Well, this has been the first chapter of the 'Romance Dawn arc'. I wanted to do a chapter with Eri having a crush on a boy, but I wanted to go in the direction of Samidare as opposed to Kota, who many apparently see as Eri's go-to boyfriend. I also wanted to work with how Yosetsu has a crush on Yaoyorozu, as I have a way to make that relevant later on down the line in this story. I also wanted to go for that cliffhanger, where Yosetsu asks Yaoyorozu to go out with him. You all will see Yaoyorozu's answer in the next chapter.
Speaking of the next chapter, it will focus on some of the boys in 1-A getting cozy with their respective girlfriends, as well as see more couples solidified. It will also see Kirishima ask the other boys for advice/help. You'll see what I mean in the next chapter.