Chapter Four:
七七
Sitting on the steps leading towards U.A's large doors, Yumeko ignored the inquisitive glances of upperclassmen and new students alike. Covering her face with the left parting of her hair, Yumeko remained stoically quiet and sheltered from their curiosity as she ran a thumb over one of her fingers and waited. While Katsuki and her had inevitably departed their houses at the same time, the hothead was thankfully too sombered by sleep to react to her to presence and the two shouldered through the waves of morning commuters together in comfortable silence. However, their steps were only synchronous with one another until the main doors, at which point Yumeko halted and Katsuki unhesitantly went on to enter the building without her. The two of them had been early, but as she glanced at her phone - Izuku really was cutting it close to being late.
Her small worries though, were erased as soon as her eyes caught sight of his telltale red sneakers.
"Congrats."
Yumeko's eyes tinkled in mirth as Izuku's feet stumbled up the remaining steps at her greetings. Fortunately, he was saved from his downfall with a touch of his companion's fingers. Looking at the other girl, Yumeko found clipped brown hair and large dark eyes curiously looking back at her.
"A-ah! Yume-chan what are you doing here?!" Izuku exclaimed as he ignored the red splashing his ears and cheeks. A girl had just touched him! Again! For his sake, Yumeko pretended to be oblivious to his turmoil and smiled at his companion.
"I'm Tanaka Yumeko, a friend of Izuku's," Yumeko said before returning her attention to Izuku. " I was going to tell you," she began explaining as Izuku continued to bumble in confusion and surprise. "But then you told me you were going to apply to U.A. too…" and I didn't want to hurt you, she mentally finished, opting to let her trailing voice open to assumptions about her secret. Still surprised at her appearance, Izuku could only nod his head as he beamed at the sudden realization that he would have a friend in school now.
Unbeknownst to him, Yumeko shared the same sentiment. Despite her secret and apprehensions, they had all made it to U.A. together. What should have been shame haunting her for doubting the boy's chances, came pride instead. She would deal with the former some other time, and focused on his success. After all, she owed him at least that much due to her previous flagging confidence in him.
"I feel like I haven't seen you in awhile, Izukun," Yumeko murmured one afternoon. Ever since Katsuki's incident with the mud villain, it had been hard to track down the wide-eyed boy. His mother had always welcomed her to wait for his return at his house, but Yumeko had never taken up the offer, reasoning that if her friend wanted unspoken time to himself, she would respect it. Although, after many unreturned visits, he had finally shown up at her door with an invitation to return to his house and pour over his newest collection of news articles and second-hand shot videos of their favorite heroes.
Yumeko didn't hesitate to take his offer, and after meticulously going through Izuku's carefully crafted compilations of newspaper clippings and videos, Inko had eventually been able to interrupt their impenetrable fanatic concentration and coerce them to step out of the house and enjoy the sun. For the most part, Yumeko was at least enjoying her ice-cream but her friend obviously wasn't. His head was somewhere far away with his gaze always rushing to avoid hers. However, Yumeko didn't dare prod him with her concerns and returned her focus to her melting dessert.
"Ah," he mumbled, glancing back at her every few seconds. "I-I'm applying to U.A like Kacchan, Yume-chan," he finally spoke up. He stopped walking, and as if magnetized to him, so did Yumeko. "My Q-quirk," he gulped, continuing but still refusing to meet her golden gaze. "Finally developed. I've been training for the past few weeks and will continue until the entrance exam so…"
Yumeko nodded. "You will be busy," she concluded, silently wondering if now would be the time to tell him of her own application to the prestigious academy. However, her eyes briefly narrowed at the cement pavement. Even with a Quirk of his own, Izuku had miles to go to be on par with her or Katsuki - and doubtlessly, all the other aspiring U.A. students. And to even develop a Quirk at such a late stage? She had never heard of such a thing. Having invested her previous time researching the emergence of Quirks, Yumeko had not yet once come across a similar phenomena until now. She gave her drooping dessert a tentative lick.
"-Y-Yume-chan?" Izuku stuttered, voice startling her from her thoughts.
The girl shook her head and started walking again - Izuku taking the hint to follow her. "Good luck then, Izukun. Does Katsuki know of your decision yet?" she pondered aloudly. The boy had made it well known that he hoped to be the only accepted applicant to U.A. from his 'desolate' school during their previous family dinner together. Fortunately, Yumeko was saved from his wrath upon her declaration to try and apply there as well via her status as a homeschooled student.
Izuku vehemently shook his head and waved his arms. "Y-yes! But please don't remind him! Kacchan is -"
"-a bully." Yumeko finished, her thoughts returning back to Izuku's sudden announcement of developing a Quirk. She frowned and wondered if he was hiding anything else regarding this sudden change, but decided that he would tell her whenever he was ready - if there was anything to tell. She supposed that she could just be paranoid. After all, they had spent many afternoons together avoiding Katsuki's warpath surrounded by books and videos concerning heroes and Quirks. While Izuku had favored the more fanatical approach to learning about different Quirks, Yumeko, on occasion, took the analytical one. In her previous life, Quirks had never existed. But this sudden biological change had spontaneously occurred and now at least 80% of the world's population had the mutation that provided them with extraordinary abilities, and for some, drastic changes in appearances as well. It was interesting.
Izuku's case was very interesting.
The inner researcher inside of her begged to be released - pleaded for allowance on interrogating her friend, but Yumeko buried the desire. Buried Ichika's mind.
Meanwhile, Izuku hummed in hesitant agreement to her title for their childhood friend. Katsuki had always painted a target on his back, no matter his efforts to avoid him.
"Well, if you ever want to train with us -" she frowned. "Or, well me - you know my number." She provided. She could always use the chance to fight against someone else other than her father, the occasional officer, and hotheaded Katsuki.
Izuku beamed at her. "I-I'll keep that in mind, Yume-chan. So have you thought about where you are going to high school?" he asked.
Yumeko shoulders hunched closer together. "Not exactly..."
Ignoring her cowardice at never telling him of her decision to attend the same school, she was happy that it all worked out in the end. Standing in U.A.'s uniform, Izuku Midoriya was one step closer to his dream. She smiled once again.
"I'm Uraraka Ochako, but you can call me Ochako," the girl introduced herself, then placed a finger to her chin. "Ne, sorry for asking, but were you at the exam, Yumeko-chan?"
The taller girl shook her head. "I was invited and took separate tests," she clarified.
"Waa! Invited!" they both screamed, flailing their arms backed. Ochako, fell forward first, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "That's awesome, Yumeko-chan! Are you going to be in our class then?" she asked.
Yumeko let out a soft laugh. "Yes," she confirmed. "I will be. Let's go before we're late, Ochako-san, Izukun."
"Y-yes!" Izuku stammered, climbing up the remaining steps to match his childhood friend's steps. He glanced behind him to make sure Ochako was following closely, and upon being satisfied with her pace, he started explaining how he first met the navy-colored hair girl ahead of them.
"Cute." Ochako's cheeks dimpled at her new friend's story. "A-ah!" Her eyes snapped up and covered her face as it flushed with an uncanny warmth. Staring at the foreign, offending finger, she pouted at the taller girl's owlish eyes as Izuku waved his arms in the air.
"Oh, ignore that Uraraka-san! Yume-chan always does that.." Izuku sheepishly explained.
Yumeko nodded her head in somber agreement as she pushed the door open, unknowingly reminding Izuku of this morning's apprehension. As the great door swung open and they stepped in, a cacophony of new voices bombarded the air, but none were as loud as the two directly in their path.
From the side, Yumeko noticed Izuku gulp as she walked past the commotion that was Bakugou antagonizing a fellow classmate futilely lecturing him on proper classroom etiquette. If living next to him had not been enough to satisfy the gods above, Yumeko could only hope that she had at least some luck and seats between them to protect her ears from the wild-haired boy's tantrums. "Oi, bastard, leave me alone!" Bakugou growled as Yumeko's hand absentmindedly resolved their dilemma by pushing his feet off the desk. Her attention was undivided, her only purpose in life now being to locate her seat and pray that someone would be willing to move it to save her from Katsuki.
"Kaachan!" Izuku screamed, as the other dark-haired student turned to face him after bowing in gratitude at Yumeko.
"I'm from Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Ida!" he declared to both of them. Yumeko couldn't help but feel as if each word of his sentence was punctuated with exclamation marks, and allowed Izuku to take over the greeting. Thankfully, Katsuki's belligerence was redirected back to silently seething at his desk and Yumeko was able to locate her seat located all the way in the corner of the room.
Examining her new placement, she looked to her sides and found herself seated not only by the window, but also by the lockers and next to one another student with split-colored hair. He noticed her curious gaze but didn't rise up to introduce himself.
No matter.
The girl in front of her successfully turned, beamed, and filled the silence of their little corner. "I'm Yaoyorozu Momo," she said.
"Tanaka Yumeko," Yumeko reflexively provided, noting that beyond their row of desks, a triage of seats was arranged at the front to accommodate their uneven numbers. Following her gaze, Momo hummed.
"Yes, I noticed that too. I think we are the first year to have more than the traditional 40 students," she said.
Yumeko shrugged and avoided catching the eye of the student that sat in the middle. Somehow, his combined short stature and weird hairstyle gave her warning signals to avoid.
"Did you take the entrance exam, Yaoyorozu-san?" Yumeko inquired, agreeing that her initial observation was correct as she noticed the tiny student trying to look down at one of the female's student's shirt. A pervert. Thankfully, the student seated next to him had many arms and effectively blocked his view of the rest of the classroom.
"N-no," the stutter caught Yumeko's attention. "I got in as a recommendation. Much like Todoroki-san." She answered, gesturing towards the half-and-half boy next to Yumeko.
Yumeko's eyebrows rose up as she found herself staring back at the boy. "Todoroki Shōto," he finally added.
"Pleased to meet you," Yumeko cordially replied.
"Did you go through the entrance exam, Yumeko-san?" Momo echoed her question.
She shook her head. "Ah, but I didn't see you with us for the written test." The other girl tilted her head.
Yumeko shrugged. Tucking away the information that Yaoyorozu and Todoroki only had to take knowledge exams, she told them she took a separate one intended for invited students.
Yaoyorozu's eyes gleamed, but before she could launch her own net of questions, the door shuffled open and a tired-eyed man sauntered through the door, shedding what appeared to be a sleeping bag, off along the way.
"My name is Aizawa Shota Aizawa, Your homeroom teacher," he declared, then reached into his sleeping bag. "Time is precious so don't waste mine," he said monotonously. Brandishing a wrinkled uniform from the depths of his sleeping bag, his dead gaze rapidly assessed everyone's reactions. "Quickly now. Change into these and meet me at the grounds. We will do a test of your quirks there."
A momentary hush fell among them at the announcement but was easily overtaken by a new wave of excitement as all the students eagerly scrambled to their lockers and got their uniforms. Yumeko favored the calmer approach and waited for everyone else to get theirs before retrieving her own.
Aside from her, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Katsuki, and two other classmates shared the same idea. "I wonder what they will have us do," Yaoyorozu addressed the shorter girl.
Yumeko shrugged. "Quirk assessments. They would have to be tests suited to all of us. So nothing too extreme." She guessed.
And she was correct. Save for the fact that the person who ranked last in the assessment would be expelled. Even from a distance, she could feel the nausea and apprehension rolling off of Izuku in waves at the announcement as other students exhibited similar, but less extreme reactions like his. She crossed her arms and noted that the two recommended students didn't look too alarmed, but she supposed that recommendations were different from invitations and that they were too confident and adept enough with their Quirks to be bothered by the threat.
If it even was a real one. Her eyes blatantly looked over at their homeroom teacher. Barely awake, or even alive, he returned her staring with a half-hearted glare as he announced that the first assessment would have them break-off in pairs.
"Good luck," Yaoyorozu quietly cheered from beside her. Slightly startled by her abrupt appearance, Yumeko turned to her other side and noted that not too far from them, was also Todoroki nodding in reply to her wishes.
Noting that their class was uneven, Yumeko found one of the other student's name being called out by their teacher. The hyperactive boy that responded, Kaminari Denki, visibly trembled forward as he found himself being paired up with Aizawa. Yumeko felt bad for him, but not enough to volunteer herself in his place and turned back to Yaoyorozu. They quickly settled who would do the abdominal excercise first and once everyone had their chance to perform and report their scores to their teacher, they set off towards the bars for the next task.
The assessments were exactly like the physical tests performed in school, Yumeko noted, and only differed due to their allowed usage of Quirks. Having been homeschooled, Yumeko only dropped by Izuku's and Katsuki's school to participate in these national physical and knowledge assessments; she had always easily aced the latter, much to Katsuki's chagrin, but what he couldn't rival in her intelligence, he made up for with his brute strength. Every year, he placed first in all their physical tests while she sat somewhere in the general top five.
"Last one," Aizawa announced as the last group finished the speed test. "Soft-ball throwing," he threw the ball at one specific ash blond Katsuki who caught it in reply.
Stepping up to the plate, he stretched his arms before he pulled one tightly back. Without ceremony, he launched the softball into the air with a trademark explosion and vulgarity. The whole entire class waited with bated breath for their teacher to announce his score.
Yumeko's own eyes tried following the ball, but it had reached beyond what her vision could see. "705.2 meters." Aizawa declared.
Katsuki huffed as their other classmates began admiring his ability. Yumeko, herself, ignored his spotlight and began walking over to the diamond box. However, a particular redhead with the same explosive hairstyle as Katsuki had beaten her to the plate. Eagerly picking up a new ball, he tossed it high above his head. Quickly, he extended his right arm which shifted and seemed to harden in time to smack the falling ball into the horizon.
"507 meters." Aizawa noted.
"Agh, so close - but that was so cool, Bakugou-san!" the redhead groveled. He spun back towards her light-haired neighbor, only to be deterred with a warning fist. Aizawa sighed and beckoned for someone else to step up.
Not to be beaten again, Yumeko took her turn and got a new ball to throw. She hesitated for a second and shifted her stance to fall into a pitcher's form. Like the tests before, she weighed the benefits of using her Quirk. Already suspecting that the expulsion threat was a lie, she had opted to operate through most of the assessments without the use of her Quirk. Indeed, as most relied on strength or speed - Yumeko could only facilitate through some of the tasks with the careful use of her Quirk. For example, the bar pull was notorious for favoring upper body strength. One that most, if not all the girls paled at when compared to the boys. She easily ranked high in that area by pushing herself up with bursts of exhaled air. However, that had been the only instance where she could effectively use her Quirk. Until now. She concluded that this would be the only other assessment where her Quirk could make a bigger impact on her performance and took a big breath in. She closed her eyes, took a big breath in, and tucked the ball close to her chest.
"Ha!" she exhaled not-so quietly, and let the force of her own air carry the ball out of the field.
""698.5 meters," Aizawa droned.
"Woah!" Ochako cheered from the sidelines as Yumeko nodded and returned to the group. "Nice job, Yumeko-san!" she repeated. The girl held out a high-five that only hung in the air for a second too long, before Yumeko returned to action. The brown-haired girl grinned and bounced to the plate next.
Yumeko turned and watched her classmate furrow her eyebrows in concentration. Not that she was worried about the girl, her Quirk was obvious - Gravity. She could make that ball as light as an atom and it would go to infinity.
Which it did. She smiled in congratulations when Ochako pranced back to their ranks and soon after, everyone continued the process of throwing the ball until it was only Izuku left to make the pitch.
Shaking, he marched forward just as Katsuki proceeded to step up to the space next to Yumeko. "Midoriya isn't doing well…" Tenya murmured from behind them.
Katsuki grinned menacingly in reply. "Well duh. He's a quirkless runt!" he huffed.
Yumeko rolled her eyes as Tenya argued back, citing the shorter boy's accomplishments during the entrance exam. No matter what Katsuki believed, Yumeko hoped that Izuku could pull through this last test with a good score. While she had tried to avoid hovering over him - it was an inevitable goal. She worried from a distance and felt a second-hand dread settle in her stomach every time he scored in the bottom ranks.
"46 meters," Aizawa declared to everyone as Izuku wilted at his pitch. Yumeko bopped Katsuki's head as he snickered and could only shove her hand over his mouth and wrangle him into a chokehold as their teacher began talking,
"-erased?!" Both she and the angered Katsuki caught Izuku exclaiming.
"Fuck off!" Katsuki finally pushed the shorter girl's arms off of him and Yumeko gracelessly tumbled backwards. Spreading her arms to the side, she belatedly realized that nothing would stop her fall until one gentle hand pushed against her back.
Surprised, she allowed herself to be returned to her feet and turned around to quickly thank her savior. Two mismatched eyes blinked owlishly back. "No problem," the even-tempered boy shrugged off her gratitude.
Yumeko flushed and broke her calm character to wreak havoc on Katsuki. Said boy glared back and kept her away with his longer arms.
"A-ah, he's letting him go again," Ochako broke in, causing the two neighbors to finally break apart. The two traded warning looks before turning to watch Izuku.
"705.3 meters."
There was a pause before Ochako raised her arms out and cheered. Behind them, Ida loudly observed the same thing Yumeko noticed upon Izuku's surprising record: a broken finger.
However, she couldn't stew in this new revelation too long as eclectic bursts of heat sounded from beside her. Eyes widening too late, she could only grasp at thin air as Katsuki made a frenzied beeline towards Izuku.
"Oh my.." she overheard Yaoyorozu murmur as their teacher acted faster and latched his wraps around the angry boy's limbs.
"-It's a capture weapon made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire," he explained to the baffled Katsuki. "Stop using your Quirk already.." he sighed. "I'm getting dry eye over here." Katsuki scowled but deflated enough for Aizawa to trust him and release his hold on the boy.
With the final assessment finished, Aizawa redirected everyone's gaze to the nearby scoreboard that flashed and broadcasted the class rankings. Unsurprisingly, Yumeko noted that both Yaoyorozu and Todoroki placed the highest, claiming the first and second spot respectively. Below them trailed Katsuki, Ida, the names Tokoyami andcShoji, and then...her.
Seventh place.
While she had admittedly made bare use of her Quirk, unleashing it only for two of the assessments, it still disappointed her to see her name so far below from her new acquaintances and neighbor. She looked over the name placed last: Midoriya Izuku. She didn't want to look over at her friend, knowing his heart weighed more heavily than hers.
"Moving along," Aizawa droned, impervious to the green-haired boy's turmoil. "I was lying about expelling someone." He revealed to the relief of many.
"It was a rational deception meant to bring out the best in all of you," he elaborated, shoving his hands into his pockets, and lips breaking out into a small, malicious grin. "However, it has been made clear to me that some of you are ill-suited to be in Hero Course 1-A," he continued, raising everyone's heart rates again.
"Wh-what.." a girl with pink hair stumbled beside them.
Aizawa nodded his head. "Some of you scored as predicted according to your entrance exam grades which is great if you were in the Top Ten of your group, but for those of you who had scored in the bottom 25th percentile of both the exam and this assessment -" Aizawa looked over their worried group.
"Will find a letter on your desk declaring your removal from Class 1-A. You will be transferred to Class 1-B and must continue your studies there until you can be reaccepted into 1-A," he bouldered through their exclamations. "Be mindful of both the fact that this transfer can be temporary or permanent and, that while there is a slight preference to hold your spot open for you - others from Class 1-B and other courses are able to fill its vacancy instead if they prove worthier." Aizawa explained.
Yaoyorozu stood beside her once again and shot a trepidatious look at their other classmates' sagging shoulders. "I knew he wouldn't kick anyone out, but to transfer them..?""
Yumeko could only nod as Aizawa dismissed them. She had shared the same insights as Yaoyorozu. She too had not expected losing some of her classmates so early on in the semester. Selfishly, she wasn't too bothered by the proclamation. She knew Izuku had ranked seventh in his entrance exam despite having no villain points (Inko had been the figurehead of a loud and proud parent when she found out). Although currently, she spotted said boy receiving a nurse pass from their teacher on his way out and wondered if she should accompany the boy. However, his hunched shoulders told her that solitude was preferred at this instant and she returned her attention to her classmate.
"You did wonderful today, Yaoyorozu-san," Yumeko settled as they began walking back to the changing rooms together.
The girl blushed. "Thank you, Tanaka-san - and so did you," she said.
Yumeko grimaced. "Not really," her eyes scanned over their classmates who were marching ahead and landed on a familiar mop of white and red hair. "Not compared to you guys."
Yaoyorozu caught her line of sight and patted the girl's back. "I'm sure you will make a great hero, Tanaka-san, if.." Yumeko looked up and caught the girl chewing her bottom lip.
The taller girl smiled apprehensively. "Well, I'm sorry if I speak out of line, but I couldn't help but observe that you didn't really use your Quirk at all today.."
Caught red-handed, Yumeko looked away. "It wouldn't have really helped me in most of the assessments anyway."
"But yours is an elemental Quirk, too?" Yaoyorozu pressed on, having doubtlessly noticed her performance during the pull-ups.
Yumeko nodded. "Of a sorts," she confirmed. "But unlike Todoroki-san's elemental Quirk, it's more of the fact that I can control the air I breathe out."
"In other words, deoxygenated air." Yaoyorozu concluded.
"Yes," Yumeko confirmed. "And as you know, there's not much I can do with a Quirk like that, right? We live in oxygen. No matter the amount of carbon emission polluting the atmosphere, the truth is there isn't enough concentrated amounts of it in everyday life for me to take advantage of. At least thats in my reach. So," she waved vaguely at her body. "I have to make use of what I have."
Initially, she had actually thought that her Quirk only worked on the air she breathed out, but upon one mishap in the kitchen, she realized that that was not the case. When smoke arose from the stove top, she had not only been able to blow it away from her face, but was also able to trap the growing dark smoke into a corner of the room until her mother was able to open a shut off the stove and open a window for it to exit through.
Yumeko had not only saved the fire department from making a trip to their house that day, but also discovered the true function of her work.
"It's hard to experiment with," she dully concluded. Having grown up with a father who theoretically only manipulated air, he was not much of a help in aiding her to hone her Quirk. He likened his awareness to air via meditation, but Yumeko had no patience for that and needless to say, found herself trapped in a never-ending cycle of learning to trap and produce her own reserves of carbon dioxide. She had occasionally toyed with the idea of extending her control - but had neither the confidence of research nor patience to currently pursue it. Although, with her current ranking - Yumeko chewed her bottom lip. She might just have to push through and pursue her idea sooner than later.
"I'm sure you will find a way," Yaoyorozu said optimistically. Yumeko only replied with a noncommittal hum, and together the two successfully changed into their normal uniforms in record time and returned to the classroom.
Parting ways at their desks, Yumeko analyzed the curriculum and schedule neatly placed on the hard surface. It seemed that even with hero studies, the normal courses such as English and calculus were inevitable.
"Calculus, huh?" Yaoyoruzu peered over at her schedule. The girl looked back up to see the taller student smiling. "It looks like you did well during your test, Yumeko-san."
Yumeko's unaired question was answered next by Todoroki's small frown. He pushed his own paper towards the edge of his desk for the two girls to look over. "Pre-calculus."
"And some get algebra," Yaoyorozu added as Yumeko wondered if his low voice was the equivalent of a call to be comforted. She wouldn't pat his shoulder though to give him awkward comfort. Todoroki was probably too reclusive and their acquaintanceship too new for such an act.
"Do the other classes get separated based on their entrance test scores?" Yumeko asked the girl.
Yaoyorozu shook her head. "We all get started with different mathematics courses, but everyone else stays in the same class since they are easier to bring everyone onto the same level within the first few days."
"Mm," Yumeko nodded her head.
"Anyway, we have lunch next," the other girl declared, leaving an open note in her tone that Yumeko recognizes as a hopeful invitation.
"Ee," she nodded as she let the girl lead her away with the rest of the crowd. Entering the cafeteria, Yumeko was a little overtaken about how large it was. With high ceilings and an assortment of different years and cliques, the high walls easily resonated with everyone's chatter and carried the scent of the infamous Lunch Rush's food.
Tearing her eyes away from all the delectable plates passing by them, Yumeko briefly looked back to see if their other, solemn classmate was going to join their lunch. The absence of heterochromatic eyes answered her curiosity and she quickly returned her attention to the approaching line of delicious food.
"Mmmm," Yaoyorozu smiled as she consumed her portion of steamed dumplings.
Yumeko warily eyed the stack of food piled on the girl's tray. While she had restricted herself to a safe choice of katsudon for the first day of school, Yaoyorozu went ahead and seemed to have ordered a little bit of each dish.
"It's my Quirk," the girl explained between each dumpling and serving of curry. "It's called Creation. I can make materials out of the lipids in my body - oh, hi, Todoroki-san."
The half-and-half boy joined them and slid into the seat next to Yumeko. Briefly, she felt a wave of heat brush against her shoulder. One blue eye momentarily met her golden gaze as he gave a noncommittal hum. Glancing down at his plate, she noticed he had chosen his own single dish of cold soba.
"Cool," Yumeko eventually replied as her attention wandered over the heads of the students adjacent to them. While their class had broken off into unsteady groups for lunch, they did remain within close proximity to each other. To her relief, her red-eyed neighbor's reign of terror on their green-haired acquaintance didn't seem to be recurring at the moment as he was swarmed with his own ragtag crew. As for Izuku himself, he too was surrounded by his own assortment of excited gossip and waving arms.
Although she caught the hotheaded boy's gaze, Yumeko translated his glare as a temporary truce of peace and calmness from him and sighed. Since being restrained by Aizawa, Katsuki had decidedly tempered down enough to be wrangled and deemed approachable by their other classmates. Doubtlessly, they were feeding his ego with compliments about his performance during the assessment and Yumeko, while not a fan of his inflated arrogance, was able to appreciate the effects of the action: a calm train ride back home.
"Oi." Dropping her arm, Yumeko turned away from bidding Yaoyorozu farewell and turned to her newest company. Katsuki.
"Seventh place, huh," he spoke as they naturally fell in-step with one another on their way towards the train station. With the weight of the setting sun's heat and the weariness of today's activities finally settling into her bones, Yumeko sighed and shrugged at her neighbor's attempt to start his version of a pleasant conversation. While the rank would bother her for awhile, she was too tired from the today's interactions to fully acknowledge the discrepancies between her and the current Top Three of their class. Anyway, she couldn't find it in herself to be too brought down because of her rank. After all, they had lost one classmate already - Hagakure Toru.
Yumeko had never spoken to the girl yet, but it had become evident that the invisible student was a buoyant character who had already forged some strong bonds with some of the class. It had been a hard dismissal to witness, but Hagakure told them to wait for her return in the future. Yumeko could only commend the girl for departing on a hopeful note.
"Third place, huh," she mocked, finally caving into Katsuki's conversation. Fortunately, Katsuki shared the same end-of-the day fatigue as her and merely attempted to trip her. Knowing better, Yumeko easily avoided the trap. "I wonder how Izukun is doing.." she recalled that the other boy also took the same train as them. No matter that his stop was two stops after theirs, Yumeko was still bewildered that they had yet to come across him during either of their commutes.
"Eh, who cares about that fake," her neighbor scoffed.
Yumeko refrained from rolling her eyes and tugged on the straps of her backpack. "So what do you think of our class, Katsuki-kun?" she asked, genuinely wondering if anyone stood out from his initial declaration of all of them being 'extras.' Sans losing one classmate already, she thought they had a decent bunch of classmates.
The boy beside her stomped down the steps towards their ride. "They're all weak."
"But Todoroki-sa -" Yumeko bit her lip as she noticed the confusion hazing through her companion's generally red-clouded eyes. "Half-and-half b-"
"-bastard-"
"-boy, seems to be really good. His Quirk is powerful," Yumeko surmised, unfazed by Katsuki's crude language and now obvious ignorance of their classmates' names. Despite his unwarranted anger at her seat mate, Yumeko thought highly of his Quirk. Being able to freeze opponents, nevertheless just keep them at a distance long enough to be able to formulate a retaliation - it was amazing. "And Yaoyorozu-san is good too. Smart - and both of them placed higher than you."
Silence fell between them as Yumeko allowed the boy to shoulder his way through the crowd exiting their train and create a pathway for her to follow; thankfully, it wasn't too packed and they found two seats at the end for themselves. Although, the silence stretched and Yumeko wondered if she broached too far in making those blatant observations about Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. After all, Katsuki had never been challenged or bested by anyone other than her - and if their current ratio of wins and losses was to be considered - then Katsuki really had grown up unparalleled by anyone else, nevertheless, beaten by anyone else.
"I'll show them," he muttered, quiet enough so that only Yumeko could hear. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "I'll pulverize those extras and show them who really is number one."
Yumeko relinquished one hand that had cradled the backpack in front of her to pat the blond's shoulder. She quickly jerked it back at his snapping bark, but the sentiment was already carried through. She believed in him, and now all that was left was that she had to also believe in herself. Hell, she reasoned, if Katsuki could still tolerate her then that meant she had just a smidgeon of hope left to redeem herself. She just had to act on it - no more second-guessing. No hesitating.
"A-ano," she began, earning her neighbor's attention quickly. After all, she had never been one to stutter. "Katsuki-kun, could you train with me this coming weekend?" She almost thought of asking Izuku first. The other boy was milder, although by how much she no longer knew as he had kept to himself ever since he discovered his harmful Quirk, and was just as much - if not more, perceptive than the blond next to her. With him, she could be assured that she wouldn't be beaten into a pulp and be able to get notes on what to improve on. Although, with his recent trip to the nurse's office, Yumeko hesitated in reaching out to him.
"Hah," Katsuki huffed, then grinned. Instantly, Yumeko regretted her decision, but was not about to retract it as she took his telltale sign that he would very willingly join her this weekend and teach her the consequences of not being the best.
Author's note:
Here's the next one, hope you guys liked it and thank you for the feedback so far! In response to a few of them, I understand where some of you are coming from. I do see how it can be confusing and will work on improving the transitions in the future. I will unveil more as the story goes on. Thanks for reading again!
On a note for updates: If i go MIA at all, feel free to drop by my author profile. I keep a generally updated list of update schedules and breaks there.