I'm not used to this. Too many people. Too much light. Bowing her head, she closed her eyes and tried to drown out the sounds around her in the teachers' room. The clicking of the pen at the desk beside hers, the tapping of a keyboard, the voices of other teachers talking. It was enough to make her want to curl up in a ball and hold her head.

The soft tap of an aluminum can against the surface of her own desk made her peek out from her dark crimson hair and she frowned. A can of chilled, dark roast coffee sat there, condensation already forming on the smooth metal. She lifted her head a little more and looked over her shoulder to see him walking away to his own desk. "Thanks."

Settling in his seat, the man's tired gaze slid to hers for a moment. He looked irritated and spared her no words. Instead, he set to work on his own task of finishing up a lesson plan.

"You're not used to being up this early, are you, Akari? How are you holding up?" The blond man beside her lowered his sunglasses to give her a curious look, but she was still fixated on the can of coffee. "Heeeey!"

"Ngh. Sorry." She winced at the volume of his voice. He's not even using his quirk. Is this just how people talk during the day? Akari opened the can of coffee and took a cautious sip. So bitter.

"Are you going to be okay, babe? You look pretty out of it." He leaned back in his chair, continuing to click his pen without seeming to notice how it wore on her nerves. "It's just the first day! Today should be pretty easy!"

"Your voice…so loud," she muttered, tangling her fingers into her hair.

"What?! I'm being super careful!"

"Ngh!"

"Quiet." This command came from the desk on the other side of Yamada's and the two other teachers looked over to find Aizawa glaring at them.

"What? You too?! Am I the only pumped for the first day of the school year?" Yamada started to spin in his chair now with no regard to how it inched closer to Akari's.

What time do the students get here? The redhead lowered her gaze to the schedule that had been printed out for her. It was her first year as a backup teacher. Basically, she was expected to help the other teachers if needed and she was supposed to step in for a particular blond teacher if he overexerted himself.

Her gaze gradually slid from the printout to the empty desk. He had yet to arrive. "Is he coming today?" she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

Yamada's chair stopped spinning, facing Akari. "Yeah! He's just running late!"

"It's too early in the morning for that volume," their dark-haired colleague growled. "Keep it down."

"You're both so touchy in the morning!" Yamada grinned and stood, stretching his arms a little over his head. "I know! I'll find a way to help you both wake up a little!" Before he could move, he felt something tightly coil around his right wrist. He looked down to the bright crimson ribbon and followed it to Akari's small, pale hands. "Awww! Akari, you're going to spoil my fun!"

"Sit." She tugged at the ribbon with both hands, her lips set in a firm frown as she directed the man back to his seat. Seeing the ribbon wrapped around his wrist brought a faint hint of warmth to her cheeks that she was now desperate to hide behind the curtain of her red hair. Every time. What's wrong with me? I'll have to keep that under control. She settled her capture weapon on her belt again, trying to ignore his grin.

When students began to enter the school, Akari was on her second can of coffee. She walked down the hallway alongside Kayama, listening to the other woman talk about possibly getting drinks after work to celebrate the first day of school. Nodding, she found her thoughts drifting to Yamada. She felt a little guilty about using her weapon on him, but he had been irritating her and he knew it.

I owe him though, she reminded herself. Sighing, she approached her first classroom of the day and frowned. If he hadn't suggested it, I'd still be in the dark. Okay. Big smile now.

She saw two students near the doorway and raised an eyebrow. It was a boy with fluffy dark green hair and a girl with shorter brown hair. Why aren't they in their seats? As she got closer, she tilted her head. Wait. My homeroom. Okay. Who was I assisting with homeroom again? She lifted her printout and frowned.

"Pardon." Akari slid past the two students to enter the classroom and her frown deepened. Where is he? She looked at the other students and raked her fingers through her thick, red locks. Where is he? I didn't see him in the teachers' room before I left.

"Excuse me! Are you our homeroom teacher?" A boy with glasses approached the desk she was standing behind and gave her a curious look.

"Ah. I'm the backup homeroom teacher. Did any other adults come by here?"

"No, ma'am! You're the first and class is supposed to start soon!"

"Right…right." She looked to the time and then turned her gaze to the students again. He's never late. Where is he? Bathroom? Should I look for him or do I just start the class without him? Seeing the students starting to get seated, she knew what she had to do. An introduction. Okay.

Taking a deep breath, she offered the group a half-smile. "I'm the backup homeroom teacher for class 1-A. I'm used to working at night and I'm still adjusting to daylight hours so sorry if I seem kind of out of it. My name's Akahana Akari, but my hero name is Heartstrings. Let's try to have a great year, everyone."

"You want to be the homeroom teacher and I'll be your backup? You started the class without me just fine."

Akari winced and turned to look at the doorway. Her colleague was currently removing himself from a yellow sleeping bag, just beyond the doorway, and the sight made her fight back a laugh. I did not get enough sleep last night to deal with this. She shook her head and stepped back so he could speak to the students.

As he conducted the class, the female hero had to admire him. Despite being so tired, he was speaking coherently and seemed to be rather awake now. As he spoke to the students, she found herself thinking about the quiet, kind of withdrawn boy she had gone to high school with. The boy that was adamant about not drawing attention to himself. And now he's a teacher, she thought. Showing up to the first day in a sleeping bag that's the most attention-grabbing color possible.

The woman felt a smirk tugging at her lips as she thought this and bowed her head to try to hide it. Working primarily at night, Akari was not used to others seeing her facial expressions. Yamada had told her recently that when she smirked, it was a little scary. She did not want to frighten any of the students.

"Thanks for starting the class."

The two teachers were walking back to the teachers' room when Aizawa muttered these words. It left Akari taken aback. She had been sure that he was mad at her for starting without him.

"I didn't know what to do," she confessed. "I didn't get enough sleep for this." Tilting her head back, she ran both hands through her hair and ruffled it. "How did you do it? You were a nighttime hero, too, right?"

"I never recovered."

Her gaze slid to his face and she saw those dark, bloodshot eyes fixed on her expression. Akari's eyes widened and she nearly tripped. "Ah. Huh."

"Are you going drinking with the others tonight?"

"Kayama invited me. I think I agreed, but I was half-asleep so I don't know." Recovering from her embarrassment, she shook her head. "Maybe if I'm awake enough. I tried to adjust my sleeping schedule, but I'm barely hanging on right now. The coffee that you gave me is the only thing keeping me standing."

Shift P.O.V

She was yawning now, covering it with a hand. A faint hint of pink rose to her cheeks when she yawned and it made him subtly raise an eyebrow. She was different from how he remembered her. Given, it had been years since he last really spoke with her. He saw her around and she sometimes met up with Yamada, but they never really closely interacted.

Of course, working exclusively at night took its toll on a hero. It made a person different. It was clear just from her awkward introduction to the students that she was still getting used to interacting with other people.

They reached the teachers' room and the redhead went to her own desk to slump forward over it. He watched this with a flicker of amusement and sat at his desk, observing her from the corner of his eye. He managed to make a few notes to himself before realizing that she had actually dozed off.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow and moved his chair a little closer. "Akahana." There was no response. She had two cans of coffee and she still fell asleep. He looked at her schedule and saw that her next class was assisting All Might that afternoon. Letting her sleep until then would be the kind thing to do, but he was not feeling generous. "Akahana!"

"Ngh." She pushed herself up, crimson hair falling around her face. The woman's sharp blue eyes darted in his direction and narrowed. "Fuck off."

He simply stared back at her, unfazed. "You have to stay awake."

"Fuck off," she repeated in a rough growl. "The train isn't until six." With that, she promptly slumped forward again.

What was that? Realizing that she had not been awake, even slightly, he almost wanted to smirk. Returning to his notes, he wondered if she was always so vicious when she sleep-talked.

"Akaaaarrrriiii, baby! Hey, why're you sleeping?! Come on! Let's go grab some coffee!" Yamada greeted her, returning from his class.

Aizawa watched her push herself up again, but her eyes were half-closed. She yawned and pushed her hair back from her face as she looked around, still groggy. "Sleep well?" he asked.

"Nn? What…?"

"You have class this afternoon. Try to stay awake." When she nodded, he noticed Yamada putting a hand on her lower back to help guide her out of the room.