April 4th, 2011 (Ayano is 8)

Ayano Akira walked through the halls of her new school, nearly half an hour early. Her mom had asked her why she wanted to be so early, and little Aya-chan said she didn't want to get lost and be late. Then the little shit quoted her mother's words at her:

"Better to be super early than a little late!"

So there she was, wandering around her new school, following a teach-...sensei to her new class. New class, new school, new country, new language.

Ayano sighed softly, grateful that her father had been teaching her Japanese while she was learning English at school in America. At least she doesn't have to start from nothing.

As they walked through the school, the tea-sensei was talking about all the things the school offered. Ayano was actually interested in what he was saying, but he was talking too fast for her to translate everything in her brain. The bits she got didn't seem to come together right, so she gave up on listening. She was too shy and embarrassed to ask him to slow down.

She missed America. She missed her friends, her teachers, her language.

At least at home she could speak in English. Her parents said they wanted her to practice, but for a while they knew she'd want a place with a familiar sound to come home to. She was grateful for that, too.

She tried to remind herself of all the things she's grateful for while the pair stopped in front of a door.

He spoke slower this time, maybe he noticed she wasn't listening, oops, "This will be your classroom. Do you have any questions?" He smiled.

Ayano smiled back, "No, thank you for everything." After a bit of hesitation, she remembered to bow.

The man chuckled, kneeling down so he could look at her eye to eye. Ayano thought this was odd because her parents told her too much eye contact is considered rude in Japan. But she was more surprised when perfect English fell from his mouth, "I know that this is going to be really hard for you, if you ever need anyone to vent to, or practice your Japanese on, I showed you where my office is, right?" She nodded, and watched him walk away, waving shyly.

What a weird guy…

The brunette 8-year-old turned back to the door, slowly sliding the door open to reveal the classroom.

It was mostly empty, only two students sitting at their desks. A pastel blue-haired girl at the front and a boy with messy black hair in the second to back row.

Ayano walked in, looking at the desks and seeing that they had characters on them. She sighed, realizing that they were names, but her dad had shown her three different ways to write her name, and of course she couldn't remember any of them.

She was going to ask the girl in front to help, since she was closest, but she seemed busy with the water bottle she was tossing into the air and catching with her mind.

Ayano then decided to try to find it herself, but after searching the first two rows she realized that she was looking for the wrong order of her name. Since, because everything isn't backwards enough in this country, her last name is supposed to be written first.

She sighed, quietly saying, "So it should be Akira Ayano…" She continued searching, figuring if she missed it then she could go back.

"Um, excuse me?" A small voice came from her right, she turned to see the messy haired boy glancing at her from his seat. "You… You said Akira Ayano, right? Like, that's… that's your name?"

Ayano gave him a small smile, "Yeah, I'm new, and I don't, uh, know the right…" she struggled with her Japanese, "the right…" she gave up and used her hand to mime writing, "spelling?"

His brows furrowed as she was talking, then realization crossed his face, "Oh! You're the new student from America that everyone's talking about!" Ayano blushed, wishing that word didn't travel quite so fast. "Anyway, your seat is right here," he pointed to the seat to his left.

She sat down and looked at the symbols on her desk carefully, separating them in her mind and assigning their sounds.

あきら あやの
A-ki-ra A-ya-no

She smiled in pride when she could read her name. She turned back to the boy next to her, "thank you so much, I don't know how… how long it would've, would have taken me to find it." The boy waited for her to finish, ignoring her stuttering.

He seemed a bit flustered himself, but for different reasons, "It's no problem, um, I'm Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you," he bowed his head forward.

She copied his gesture a bit awkwardly, "Aya-wait sorry, Akira Ayano, but you already know that." She smiled. They chatted while the rest of the class filed in.

"Oh," After almost fifteen minutes, Midoriya interrupted himself, "I think I should warn you about the boy that sits on the other side of you." Ayano's head tilted, offering her undivided attention, "Uh, um, he uh… he's pretty… um hostile? Or violent..."

Ayano's eyes widened, curious about this new personality.

She had a sudden feeling that her life wasn't done changing.

As if on queue, the door to the classroom opened quickly and a blonde boy walked in. Soon his eyes landed on his nametag on the desk next to Ayano's. He seemed to dismiss Ayano as he glared at Midoriya.

He sat down, "Can't wait to leave this place and all the weaklings in it."

Ayano looked at him, figured that there was no response he was looking for, and turned back to Midoriya.

"Ah, Midoriya-"

Said boy interrupted her with a wave of his arms, "Hey uh, no need for that, call me Izuku!" He gave a shaky smile.

The brunette smiled back, "On one condition: you call me Ayano, I'm so not used to the, uh, last name, last name… family name thing anyway," She laughed as the sensei walked in, settling the now full classroom with barely a word.

"Alright, now, as most of you have probably heard, we have a new student. Let's see…" The sensei read a piece of paper, seeming to search for something, "Akira Ayano?" Said girl raised her hand slowly, feeling as all the eyes in the room turned to her. "Hello, please come to the front and give a small introduction." She smiled at the girl to encourage her.

Oh boy… Ayano nodded and made her way up, trying to rehearse what she'd say on her short walk.

As she faced her peers, she took a shaky breath. She caught Izuku giving her a thumbs-up, and she smiled back. She was reassured that even if she messed up, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

The blonde boy that sat in the desk to her left seemed uninterested, instead twirling a pencil.

She cleared her throat and gave a slight bow, "Hello, I am Aya- ah oops, I did it again," She took another deep breath and started over, "Hello, I am Akira Ayano." She paused, trying to figure out what else to say. She blanked. She looked to the sensei for help, and she laughed.

"It's okay, hmm, how about your favorite and least favorite things about your quirk? Or your favorite food if that's too much."

She thought about it then said, "Umm, I really like… Italian food? Especially lasagna," she almost started drooling, but kept going, "I really like my ah, quirk's… uhm, pretty colors?" She could almost feel the boys' eyes roll, but it wasn't her fault she didn't know the Japanese word for durability. "My least favorite part? Hmm, maybe that I can't make it… last that long? Yet." The class seemed bored, which Ayano connected with, how interesting could listening about someone else's quirk be?

Though that thought had to be recycled as Ayano saw Izuku excitedly writing in a little journal, listening intently.

The brown-eyed girl looked to the sensei again, waiting for her to nod before bowing to both her and the class before going back to her seat. She let out another deep breath when she sat down. Izuku poked her shoulder and she looked over to see him giving her another thumbs-up. She grinned and returned the gesture, then focused back on the lecture, thankful that the sensei spoke slower than her guide had.

あきら End Chapter 1 あやの