Chapter 4: i don't know how this river runs (but i'd like the company)
Izuku was walking back to his class after lunch with Marinette, trailing behind some other students.
Marinette's friends were… strange. Alya had this cool camera quirk and she wanted to become a journalist, Nino was in the hero course and had a quirk that was basically perfect for rescue work, and it turned out that Adrien was the son of some crazy-big fashion designer and was recommended for the management department (Izuku didn't even know you could be recommended for the management department) and it was entertaining to watch all of them interact with each other.
It was the first time he'd really relaxed around people who weren't his mom since Kacchan turned the school against him. He's not sure he could call them friends, not after only one lunch spent together, but they were nice to him. They even managed to distract him so that he wasn't on the lookout for Kacchan instead of eating.
They were more like… acquaintances? That sounded correct. Or perhaps they were colleagues. Whatever they were to him, he was grateful that they didn't treat him like his classmates at Aldera used to.
"Helloooo, Earth to Midoriya-san?"
He jerked his head upwards, not realizing that Marinette had been talking. "Ah, I-I'm sorry. I was just thinking."
Marinette covered her mouth, possibly trying to stifle a laugh. "It's okay, Midoriya-san! I was just asking you about what you think Maijima-sensei is going to go over during the rest of class."
Izuku thought for a moment. "I-I'm not too sure. Probably some safety g-guidelines for work in the lab? I can't imagine that he'd let us do work without going over those. It's always possible that he'd assign homework, but Maijima-sensei seems like the type who wouldn't do that on the first day."
"That makes sense," Marinette agreed. "I'm super excited to start building things, and I'm especially excited to start our electives. Say, which one are you signed up for?"
"Oh, I'm in the computer science track, so I'll be taking electives in some sort of computer programming. They weren't exactly clear on what's going to be covered, but it sounded like an interesting enough class. At least, I prefer it over costume design."
Marinette hummed. "Funny, because that's actually the track I'm doing. Before I started studying for U.A., I actually wanted to become a fashion designer." Her expression turned wistful. "Still do, really, but doing support gear and design allows me to do more good in the world." She turned back to him and smiled.
Izuku smiled back. "Yeah!"
They ended their short conversation as they approached the doors to class 1-H, eager to hear what Maijima-sensei had to say before they could start lab work.
Their teacher gave them a moment to settle in and finish up any conversations with their new friends, and once they were all quiet and waiting patiently he stood up from his desk and addressed the class.
"I suppose you should all know this already, but it bears repeating. Welcome to the support course. Since we are the support course, we shall be making support gear, and we will be utilizing this lab space to make the gear— including most of the materials and tools you see along the walls. Most of these tools, in fact, can be very dangerous. I can assure you that some of them are far more advanced than most of you have ever encountered. Since all of you seem rather attached to your limbs, we are going to spend the rest of today and most of tomorrow reviewing my safety guidelines."
Most of the students were trying to process this sudden seriousness that seemed to have come out of nowhere, while others were trying to reconcile the tone of the statement with the fact that he had made a pun in the middle of it.
Truly, this man had no shame.
"Excellent," Maijima-sensei clapped his hands together. "Let me check the seating chart. Let's see… Arasawa? Please pass out these packets, one for each student."
The boy sitting behind Marinette stood up and made his way to the front, where he took the sheets from Maijima-sensei and quickly began to divide them among his peers. Meanwhile, Maijima-sensei continued his lecture.
"It may surprise some of you that my biggest priority for you isn't the making of support gear. No, my biggest concern is making sure that you are able to keep yourselves safe while using the equipment. My rules will be very strict regarding this, but I haven't had a major injury in the ten years I've been working as a teacher, and I do not intend to break that streak.
"Rule number one: if you intend to use any tool that cannot be found in your desk drawers, you must inform me and get my explicit permission to do so. This is my most important rule. If any of you break this rule— and this room does have cameras, so I will know— there will be heavy penalties for out-of-class work, and your in-class work will also be greatly limited until such a time as you can prove yourself to be trustworthy."
After that heavy pronouncement, an awkward air hung over the class, and Maijima-sensei continued to expound upon the virtues of workplace safety.
After what proved to be (in Izuku's opinion) a fairly interesting lesson on the code of safety enforced in U.A.'s support labs, school was officially done for the day. Their first day of real classes would begin tomorrow, with their general education classes in the morning and their support-specific classes taking place after lunch.
Izuku lost Marinette at some point after they were dismissed. She probably went to find her friends, which was fine with him.
On second thought, it was a bit strange that four international students from the same friend group managed to get into U.A.. Not impossible, of course, but it was heavily unlikely.
He put his thoughts on hold just long enough to navigate the train station and grab a seat on the train. His mom would probably be home by now, and she'd be glad to hear about how his first day went. Neither of them were particularly optimistic about him having friends, so the fact that he found at least one person who was willing to talk to him was reassuring.
He spent the rest of the ride home reviewing the packet that Maijima-sensei had given them (he wasn't about to let his grades slip on the first day of school) and spent the short walk from the station to his apartment wondering if it would be a good idea to spend some time at the beach today. He could always use some more materials, though he supposed that it wasn't necessary anymore, seeing as he had access to U.A.'s materials and tools. On one hand, that was far better than his previous setup.
On the other, he was going to miss his homemade blowtorch.
Then again, it would probably be one of those things that Maijima-sensei calls "incredibly unsafe"; which is false, seeing as he hasn't been injured yet (well, majorly injured).
He probably will stop by Kinoshita's convenience store, however. He did want Izuku to let him know how his first day went, seeing as Kinoshita was the only one other than his mother who really supported him. It's thanks to him that he was even able to afford the equipment to build his telescopic staff.
(He's pretty sure that his wages were higher than the average convenience-store worker, but any time he tried to bring it up Kinoshita would walk away and pretend not to hear him. Eventually, he got the hint.)
First, though, he had to greet his mom and drop off all of his things.
He rushed up the stairs as quickly as he could, slowing down and greeting their elderly downstairs neighbor when he ran past her, and unlocked his apartment door. He could already smell the food cooking from the hallway, so he already knew that his mom was home.
He took off his shoes and went over to his bedroom to leave his backpack there, then made his way to the kitchen. His mom was at the stove, so he came up and hugged her from behind to surprise her. Too bad that he'd done this enough times for her to be expecting it.
"Welcome back, honey," She smiled, putting down what she was holding so that she could turn around and hug him back. "How was U.A.?"
With an energy Inko hasn't seen from Izuku since he was a toddler, he detached himself from her and was so clearly excited he nearly began to vibrate.
"It was so cool! My homeroom teacher is Power Loader, and he also teaches the engineering classes! We didn't really do anything aside from introductions and going over safety rules, but it was still really interesting. Orientation was also really interesting, but I think Principal Nedzu was trying to make it really boring on purpose. He spent most of the orientation talking about the history and founding of U.A., and while it was interesting I'm pretty sure that he used this really monotone voice on purpose, but I'm not sure why he would do that— it's the only explanation though, seeing as he was using his regular voice for the beginning of orientation and…"
Inko laughed to herself as Izuku rambled without even realizing that she had mostly tuned out by now. Still, it was nice to see him so excited by something. He hadn't been like this in a while.
Her smile faded a bit, thinking about her son's childhood. She wished she could have been there for him more when he was younger, because she was positive that this was the first time he'd let himself be so excited— even when getting his U.A. acceptance letter, he was less excited and more… crying out of a mixture of happiness and relief.
She started to listen again when Izuku said, "Oh, and I'm going to head over to see Kinoshita-san, if that's alright."
"That's fine with me sweetie, just be sure you're back in time for dinner! I'm making katsudon, so you want to get back here when it's fresh," Inko replied. She could almost see his mouth watering at the mention of his favorite dish.
"Thanks mom!" He went to his bedroom to change into something more comfortable and less recognizable than his U.A. uniform.
Well, she's just proud of her son for finding good people at U.A..
Luckily, Dagobah Beach wasn't too far from Izuku's apartment, and Kinoshita's convenience store was a two-minute walk away from there.
It was still open, but he would probably be closing shop soon seeing how it was Sunday. Izuku pulled open the glass door, but didn't see the old man behind the counter.
He strolled over to the backroom, having done this enough times to know where to go, and peeked into the combination break room and storage room. Three of the walls were lined with shelves that carried unstocked food and other items, and the last wall contained an electric kettle for tea and a small two-person table.
Kinoshita was standing at the opposite wall, rummaging through the boxes. He perked up when he heard the door open, and shouted at Izuku, "Hey, kid! Good timing, I need you to take one of these boxes for me."
Izuku laughed, walking over and taking a box while the old man took the other. They brought them to the counter, ready to be stocked later.
"So, I heard you kids started high school today," Kinoshita started after a comfortable silence. "How did that go for you?"
Izuku grinned. "It was great. I actually talked to a classmate and her friends, too!"
"Well that's good to hear," Kinoshita said as he flipped the sign on the window from open to closed and went back to the back room. "Didn't you say you got into U.A.?"
"Kinoshita-san, I know you're just messing with me," Izuku pouted in response.
Kinoshita smirked. "So what if I am?"
Izuku paused for a moment before electing to ignore the old man's antics. It was easier to remain sane that way. "Umm, yeah. Anyways, where was I?" He took a moment to think before continuing. "Yeah, I actually talked to people! And the girl who sits next to me in homeroom, her name is Marinette and she's from France, and she's quirkless too!"
"Oh?" Kinoshita perked up. This was interesting. U.A. admitting two quirkless students in one year, when they haven't done so since quirks became the majority? Something was changing. The rat must have been playing his games again. "Well it's certainly nice you've made some friends so soon."
Izuku was turning on the kettle and getting some glasses out for their tea. "I mean, I'm not sure that I would call them friends yet. It's only been a day, and we only really spoke at lunch."
"Just give it time, I'm sure you'll become inseparable."
Izuku was quiet for a moment. "Maybe." He didn't say anything more and returned to the tea.
An hour later, Kinoshita Tatsuya watched as young Izuku left the store, eager to return to his mother's cooking.
Sometimes, when he got the better of his social anxiety and general nervousness, he could see bits of Hisashi in him. He had the same hairstyle, the same tendency to go on a tangent and forget about the world, and the same bright smile.
He wondered if this was a mistake. Sometimes, he half-regretted meeting Hisashi. Once in a blue moon, he thought about what it would be like if he never made him that offer. Would Hisashi still be alive? Would he have been there for his son?
Would Tatsuya have even met Izuku? Probably not, he reasoned.
He retreats into the store and turns off the lights before climbing the stairs to the small apartment above. He hasn't left in years, an unfortunate consequence of being in hiding.
It would have been easier had he known who the Guardian was, but he only knew that there was one in Musutafu. If he tried to leave, he would surely be noticed; if not by the Guardian, then by another one of the great powers at play.
Having a longevity quirk of his caliber was enough to put him on their radar.
He knew that the only reason he hadn't been tracked to this location by the Guardian, some villain, or Nedzu was the careful maneuvering that allowed him to get to Musutafu in the first place, nearly a century ago. He'd seen U.A. rise to prominence along with Nedzu's rise to infamy.
Unfortunately, Nedzu's intelligence put Tatsuya in danger. Surely the only person who could have figured out the existence of the Miraculous— and their presence in Japan— was Nedzu. The Guardian was shortsighted to have given the fox miraculous to a pro hero. If he could figure it out just by watching Ko Ashi take down a single villain, then Nedzu certainly could have figured it out.
Of course, he's not one to judge, considering he made the same mistake with Hisashi. He hadn't lasted very long, though silently Tatsuya hoped that he would. It seemed that destiny wouldn't bend to anyone, not even him.
The phoenix was fated to burn out quickly.
Yet he still planned to give it to Izuku.
He sat down on his tattered armchair. The decision was already made, and he wouldn't back down from this one. He only wondered if it was the right thing to do. The boy was braver and more driven than most heroes, willing to do anything to save a life, and it was inspiring to see. Japan certainly needed more of that.
His affairs were in order. Once the new phoenix showed himself in public, Tatsuya would be free to leave unnoticed and live out the year or two that he has in peace, his enemies too preoccupied with his successor. It was far from ideal to leave him, but he'd been living this life for far too long.
One way or another, the phoenix would shine brightly. It would be up to Izuku as to whether he would let himself be consumed by the flames.
He took a sip of the wine he couldn't remember pouring, and stared longingly at the safe in the corner of the room.
I'm sorry, my old friend. Forgive me.
Izuku opened the door to his apartment, hoping that he wasn't too late for dinner. Lunch Rush's cooking was superb, but nothing tasted quite as delicious as his mother's. In another life, she could have easily become a professional chef.
He rounded the corner into the kitchen to see his mom washing her hands, cooking just finished.
"Welcome back, honey!" She turned her head and smiled. "Would you mind setting the table? I just need to finish up over here."
"Okay!" He nodded and grabbed two plates and some utensils.
He sat down just as his mom brought the plates of food over. She'd made katsudon, which was a type of breaded pork dish and was absolutely delicious. He waited a bit impatiently for her to serve the food.
His mom giggled at his expression. "This is to celebrate your first day at U.A.! I made quite a lot, so feel free to have seconds." She smiled lovingly at her son.
Izuku looked up from where he was loading his plate with rice and smiled back. "Thanks, mom!"
After a few minutes spent eating, his mom swallowed her mouthful of food and asked her son, "So, tell me about U.A.! And don't forget to breathe this time."
Izuku nodded eagerly and took a sip of water to clear his throat. "It was actually really good! Maijima-sensei was fairly nice, and he had us introduce ourselves to the rest of the class. I was getting kind of nervous, because everyone was saying their quirks, but then the girl who sits next to me said that she's quirkless before I could, which was nice."
"That's awfully convenient," his mom smiled at the thought of him getting to know another quirkless teen. "Did you have a chance to talk to her?"
Izuku nodded as he cut a piece of pork. "Yeah! She's an international recommendation student, which I didn't even know existed until today. Her name is Dupain Marinette, or I guess it would technically be Marinette Dupain. She's from France, and she somehow got in with three of her friends from the same school, which sounds really unlikely. And uhh, they were really nice too! All of them were."
When he finished his little spiel, he realized his mom was making this weird expression. "Are you okay, mom? What's with that face?"
"Oh, it's nothing," his mom sniffed. "I'm just so happy that you're finally making friends." Her eyes started to water.
"Mom, please don't cry, there's nothing to cry abou—" was all he could get out before his mom started bawling out of happiness and relief. If he was being honest with himself, he should have expected this inevitability.
He got out of his chair and walked over to his mom and hugged her. She hugged him back and he could just make out her saying, "I'm so proud of you, Izuku, and I'm so glad that you have friends you can— sniff— talk to."
He melted into her warm embrace, feeling the tears welling up and threatening to spill over. Not trusting himself to speak properly, he just weakly nodded into her shoulder.
"I'm so glad that you got into U.A., I'm so proud of you for being so strong and dedicated. You're going to be so happy there, I just know it."
This time he couldn't contain his tears, fueled from his relief at finally being given a chance in this stupid world that didn't give him time to breathe.
Izuku walked through the front gates of U.A. the next morning, yawning as he did so but otherwise looking well-rested. After the previous day's emotional conversations, he was feeling a bit better about himself, and he was looking forward to his first day of classes. According to the schedules they received yesterday, their general classes took place in the morning; while their engineering class— along with their chosen elective— would be after lunch.
He heard once that all the teachers were pro heroes, and although he's not sure as to the validity of that statement, his homeroom teacher being Power Loader (and Alya's being Midnight) did seem to point towards that rumor being true. He can't wait to find out which hero teaches classes like math, literature, and English. Then again, it probably won't make much difference, since they all have to be certified to be teachers anyway. They'll probably be really good at it, though.
He made his way to class 1-H, though he wasn't as early as he was the day before. The doors were already open, revealing about half the class already in their seats. Hatsume-san, the girl with the rocket shoe from yesterday, was tinkering with another invention, which thankfully hadn't made any explosions (yet). She was still being plenty loud, and her seatmate, Masaki, looked absolutely done with her.
Izuku could relate.
They were typing something on their laptop (which looked super high-tech and made Izuku slightly jealous) so Izuku wasn't inclined to bother them anyway.
Marinette wasn't there yet, and he wondered if this would become a habit for her.
Maijima-sensei wasn't there yet, but he would most likely arrive any minute now. He eyed the door to the back room, wondering if the teacher was in there, but he had no way to know until he showed up.
He took out his notebook, content with just sitting there. It's barely even been a day, but so far it's been pretty nice. No one had said anything rude to him yet, and though he's seen some people staring it's never for long and no one's approached him yet. Which was fine with him, because if Marinette and her friends didn't get tired of him, then that's all he really needed.
He flipped open the notebook to the notes he made on yesterday's workshop safety lecture, and started to sketch some small drawings of the mentioned tools and equipment. It helped him with remembering their general uses and functions, and eventually he would make a dedicated page for each.
It's as he added detail to his sketch of a table saw someone suddenly said in his ear, "Hi! What are you writing?"
He flinched at Marinette's sudden entrance and almost ruined the rest of the page with a badly timed pencil stroke. "G-good morning, Marinette-san."
"Midoriya-kun, you can drop the honorific!" She pouted. "I told you yesterday, you can just call me Marinette."
"Sorry! I'm just not used to it," Izuku blushed and refused to look into her eyes. He turned back to his notebook as she put her backpack down and sat next to him.
Leaning over, she took a look at his sketches and gasped. "Ooh, these are really good! You have a really good grasp of shading, and these have a lot of detail for something so small! How long have you been drawing?"
He'd hid himself behind his backpack during the verbal onslaught. "I don't know," he said, his voice muffled from being stuffed into his bag. "Since I was a kid?"
Thankfully, she moved away from him and he was able to show his face once more. "That's super cool! I've been doing sketches and stuff since I was a kid, because I needed to be able to sketch my designs for any clothes I make."
"You make clothes?" He asked, slightly confused.
"Yeah! I told you yesterday how I wanted to be a fashion designer, right?" She grinned and started to rummage in her backpack. "I've been making my own shirts and dresses and stuff for years! I don't have any of it with me, but…" she grunted and pulled out a notebook of her own, "I did bring my sketchbook!"
She handed it to him and continued to speak. "I've had this one for… a couple months? There's some gear and costume designs in there as well, but most of those are in a different notebook."
Izuku flipped through the sketchbook, and while he can't claim to know anything about fashion (his choice in wardrobe was proof of that), what he did understand looked very high quality, like something he'd see in a luxury clothing shop. He closed the notebook and returned it. "I d-don't really know much about fashion, b-but it looks really well done."
Before she could reply, someone walked through the door who very clearly wasn't Maijima-sensei. It took him a moment to place them, but when he did recognize them he whispered in reverence, "Present Mic?"
His question was answered a second later, when the enthusiastic hero yelled out, "HEY HEY, little listeners!" Izuku had to cover his ears at his teacher's volume, but thankfully he began to use a more normal voice after that— still loud, but no longer boosted by his quirk.
"I'm sure everyone had a fantastic time yesterday, but today is your first day of official classes! I'm Present Mic, but you guys can call me Mic-sensei or Yamada-sensei! I'll be teaching you guys English for the next three years, so let's get this party started! First off, we're going to do a little placement test, so that I know where to start with teaching you!"
Izuku was practically vibrating in his seat as the violently yellow-haired man passed out a sheet of paper with English questions to each student. After he passed their table (perks of being at the front of the room) Marinette leaned over to her seatmate and whispered a question to him.
"So who is this guy? You seem pretty excited to meet him?"
Izuku couldn't contain himself. "That's the Voice Hero: Present Mic! He runs one of the biggest radio shows in Japan, and he does a lot of community outreach programs. He also used to do work in America, and as far as I know he was pretty popular there? I'm not sure if he still does anything there, but he has a segment on the show that teaches some basic English, so I really should have expected him to be a teacher at U.A., he's just so cool!" By the end of his rant he had veritable stars in his eyes, and Marinette just looked amused.
"So all I need to do to get you out of your shell is to ask you a question about heroes? Seems easy enough," she teased.
He just realized how much more he'd said than he meant to, and he looked away, flustered at being caught ranting. "S-sorry, he's just super interesting and a cool hero."
"I get it, Midoriya-kun!" She smiled at him. "Sometimes I get excited like that when I talk about my hobbies as well. There's nothing to worry about! Though maybe you should think about using that confidence when talking about other things," she couldn't resist the friendly jab at the end.
Izuku couldn't meet her eyes, too embarrassed at letting himself slip into his habits, so he just nodded and turned his focus to Yamada-sensei's test. After years of listening to Put Your Hands Up Radio and browsing foreign quirk forums, he'd gained a passable understanding of English. He wouldn't call himself fluent, but he was confident that he would do well on this diagnostic.
A few hours later, Izuku left the classroom alongside Marinette, his mind racing at all that he learned. All of his teachers were pro heroes (he got autographs from them after every class) and they were all so cool. Cementoss (or Ishiyama-sensei, as he would have to call him that from now on) was a bit dry, but the rest were very good at teaching, or at least much better than the teachers from Aldera Junior High. He wondered if they taught classes for everyone, or if there were multiple teachers for each subject to cover the entire school. It made sense for there to be— there were hundreds of students at U.A., and that couldn't be covered by four to five teachers— but he hadn't seen any other teachers in the hallways.
Marinette was walking next to him, humming a song he didn't recognize under her breath. When he asked her what it was, she said it was by some French artist named "Jagged Stone," which sounded more like a hero name than a musician's name.
They grabbed their trays and walked over to the table that Alya had commandeered. The heroics students were probably late (Kacchan was nowhere to be heard) and Adrien was behind them in line.
They sat down and chatted amiably about their classes (Alya was apparently taking a journalism elective taught by Midnight, which sounded interesting to him) while they waited for Adrien and Nino to join them— well, the two girls did most of the talking, while he only responded to questions directed at him. He preferred just sitting and listening, though. It was nice to feel included and not pushed away, but participating in active conversation drained his social battery.
Adrien joined them just a minute later, and about five minutes after that Nino entered the cafeteria engrossed in a conversation with bright yellow hair that had a black lightning bolt on the side. They were so engaged in their conversation that Nino didn't even think to look for the group until he grabbed his tray, and when he did find them the blond boy beside him followed along.
"Hey there, dudes, dudettes!" He waved and sat down. He looked back up, only then realizing that the classmate he'd been talking to while walking had in fact walked with him. "This is Kaminari-kun! You're welcome to sit with us!" He thought for a moment and asked the group, "Is he welcome to sit with us?"
Adrien just shrugged and replied, "I'm fine with Kaminari-san joining us if everyone else is." There was a general murmur of agreement around the table, and Kaminari-kun waved, taking a seat next to Nino.
"'Sup, guys! I'm with Nino in the same heroics class! He didn't tell me any of your names though, so…" he grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck. Nino had the decency to look embarrassed.
Alya took the chance to introduce herself and her friends. "It's nice to meet you, Kaminari-kun! I'm Alya Césaire, and these are Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste! We prefer to be called by our first names though!" Marinette was a little miffed at not being allowed to speak for herself, but rolled her eyes and didn't comment.
Izuku realized that he had to introduce himself. "H-hello, Kaminari-kun. I am Midoriya Izuku, and I'm in the support course with M-Marinette, b-but I'm not a foreign student like t-them."
The two heroes-in-training couldn't tell the rest of them about their heroics lessons, considering they had them after lunch on Mondays, but they both promised to return with stories for the next day's lunch.
Kaminari was… an interesting person. He was energetic, bordering on hyper, and he had comedic timing good enough to make even Izuku let out a few chuckles. However, a lot of his jokes were at the expense of himself, which made Izuku feel a little guilty for laughing at those. He hoped that Kaminari would one day recognize the fact that he passed U.A.'s written exam means he's easily smarter than a large portion of Japan's teenagers, and that low grades in class doesn't translate to low intelligence. He would tell him himself, but Izuku didn't know how he would bring it up or go about telling him that, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
"So, Kaminari-kun, what's your quirk, if you don't mind me asking?" Alya leaned over and asked. "I'm sure it must be pretty powerful, considering you're in the hero course."
The teen puffed his chest out in pride, nodding as he did so. "Yep! I've got a super-powerful electricity quirk, which lets me discharge really high amounts of electricity! It was really useful for the entrance exam, since I just short-circuited a bunch of robots!" His face turned pensive here. "Though, if I use too much my brain kinda stops working for a bit. It's kinda like I'm overloading my brain? Not really sure why it happens, the doctors couldn't explain it." He scratched his head in confusion.
Izuku frowned. That sounded… wrong. Electricity wasn't supposed to do that, and he didn't think that a quirk like that would affect the brain all too much. Of course, he hadn't seen the quirk in action, and maybe that's just how the quirk was supposed to work. He chose to stay silent, rather than voice his concerns, and the rest of them kept talking.