"Dispute not with her. She is lunatic." – William Shakespeare
I could say the first gift I remember receiving was my freedom, but that takes the meaning to a more metaphorical level. My first real gift was a toothbrush, and I keep it vacuum sealed. It sits on my dresser.
It happened the morning after he saved me. I fell asleep on Nezu's couch. He had comfy couches in his office. I'm not sure if Father slept that night. A curvaceous woman woke me up when she entered the room. Something about her presence just draws all eyes to her. I wondered if it's due to her Quirk, but she just had that kinda presence, you know? During the early hours of the morning, Miss Nemuri took a few things from Father's apartment. She fed his cats when his missions took him to another city, so she owned a spare key.
He took the bag from her as I cowered, not that Miss Nemuri was to blame. To be perfectly clear, she acted… motherly. Most people's first impressions of the hero Midnight lie a little below her neck, but I had a distinctly different impression. Maybe it was because I didn't remember my mother at that time. When Miss Nemuri doted on me, Father handed me a toothbrush. I asked him why, and he answered with giving me a roll of toothpaste.
To this day, I take dental hygiene very seriously.
BREAK LOGIC
On Monday, Eri sat in her seat before anyone else arrived. The other students filed in, and she already saw the beginnings of a social group. It made sense for Iida, Uraraka, and Midoria to be friends. From what she could tell, they met during the physical test and all had a genuine desire to make the world a better place… even if they all liked All Might a lot.
Mina arrived with three minutes to spare yet greeted each girl before their teacher arrived. The males outnumbered them, so perhaps she wanted unity to trump quantity? She also squealed when Eri showed her the cellphone.
Eri felt the device buzz in her skirt's pocket. For the twelfth time. During the first class.
She sighed and focused on the teacher. U.A. teaches a full curriculum like any other school, yet they also have a full heroics regimen. Present Mic taught English, Eri's best subject. This translated to her and Yaoyorozu answering all the questions. The hero also shouted half the time, though he suffered from hearing loss due to his Quirk. None of the other students knew that.
Even so, Present Mic spent most of the time going over the curriculum and his expectations for his students. U.A. did not offer any form of advanced or honor classes for students in the hero course. The necessity of comradery eclipsed individuality; however, the class challenged students akin to a college course. Even the worst performing students, Mina being one of them if her grumbling was true, held almost straight A's in middle school. She asked Father about that weeks ago.
The other classes proved challenging to Eri, and she deduced that she needed to improve. Math befuddled her as always, an ironic twist considering her love of logic. It didn't help that Ectoplasm taught the class. His ability to clone himself made him the perfect living test subject for her to use her Quirk on… She lost count after she accidentally killed a few thousand of his clones…
Cementos taught modern literature which never interested Eri. She preferred English classics like Shakespeare, especially Shakespeare. Fine. Just Shakespeare. Her ability to self-motivate will face a daunting trial for this course.
Miss Nemuri's class received a spectrum of different reactions, mostly not because it was named Modern Hero Art History. Though it was an art class, the content covered costume design, a very important class for future heroes. Two decades ago, several heroes advocated for this course to be included for all prospective heroes, since many rookies had costumes that debilitated their performances.
So, Miss Nemuri caused the controversy as always. She flirted with her students. The fact that everyone seemed to think her costume looked like a dominatrix's outfit didn't help, though Eri never saw it that way. She thought it looked cute; however, she was willing to admit a bias since she grew up seeing that costume and associated it with safety.
The girls responded between Uraraka's fretted embarrassment to Jiro's controlled indifference. The boys also had embarrassed and apathetic responses, but a few enjoyed the attention. Mineta should just crawl in some hole and die. Most of the boys shifted in their chairs, as if their pants became too tight. Eri fought back a blush and cursed reproduction.
She also approved of Miss Nemuri's actions.
"Miss Nemuri, why did our waiter make his face red? Isn't it illegal to do Quirk things in public?" Eri took another sip of her coco. The café had few patrons in the early afternoon. Eri didn't like crowds, and Miss Nemuri knew that. She even took the girl to a back corner of the establishment. The girl felt like she could hide better.
Miss Nemuri took a gulp of her tea and chuckled. "I did that to the boy, and it wasn't any Quirk." The woman gave her a warm smile. "You're really innocent for ten."
Eri looked down at the table and mumbled, "I'm going to be eleven tomorrow."
"I know! Isn't that fun?" She took off her glasses. Eri payed close attention. That meant the hero was about to get serious. "I'll tell you something important, Eri. I like flirting. It gets boys flustered." As if on cue, the waiter tripped when walking to another customer. "If you remind a boy that girls exist, they get really stupid for a while."
"Even Father?"
Miss Nemuri almost spit out her tea. She swallowed and laughed. "Gods no! That man must've spent weeks jabbing himself with a taser if he even thought about appreciating us fairer folk." Eri titled her head in confusion. The woman waived her hand. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I flirt with villains, and it helps me beat them. The dudes get distracted. I win. The girls become uncomfortable or excited. It depends, but I still win."
Eri nodded. "That's good."
She propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her folded hands. "What happens when a villains flirts with a hero?"
"Um… the villain win? Unless it's Father."
"Exactly, unless they're used to it. You see, I flirt with heroes and U.A. students because it might just save their loves one day." She downed the rest of her tea.
"Then, what about civilians?"
Miss Nemuri grinned, a dark grin that substantiated her more domineering side. "Because flirting is fun." Eri never once felt worried around the woman. She feared herself and others but never Miss Nemuri.
Eri looked down at herself and cursed her genetics and captivity. They took away two powerful assets for being a hero like Midnight. She crossed her arms over her chest and payed attention to the lesson once again.
BREAK LOGIC
Class 1-A took their lunch at noon. During the mornings, they have classes which followed the standard pattern, except for Miss Nemuri's. Though, it may count as an art elective in other courses. 1-B, the other hero class, takes a hero class in the morning and the normal ones afterwards. Eri knew some discrepancy hid in Father's story because the hero class lasted for three hours and the students started at eight in the morning. 1-B had some normal class during that timeframe; however, that was an answer not pertinent to her situation.
Eri ate at the lunch hall during her time living at U.A. but never as a student. Loud. So loud. Hundreds of students ate and talked at once which created an indistinguishable wall of sound that assaulted the girl's hearing. She gripped her lunch try until her knuckles turned white and scanned the tables for some vestige of silence. She found her salvation in a back corner where a lone student sat. His scowl made it clear why he sat alone.
Eri sat her tray and ate while Bakugo glared from the other side of the table.
"Oi." He sat his chopsticks besides his lunch and crossed his arms. "What the hell are you doing?"
While he could threaten her to no end, they both knew U.A. punished students for excessive bullying or assault. He could hurt her, but he wouldn't. She'd just heal it anyway. "Eating." To prove her point, she took a bite.
"Red Eyes, you damn well know you're screwing with me, so fuck off!" He shoveled about five bite's worth into his mouth and chewed loudly.
Eri felt anger and crushed the feeling. She took a bite instead and took her time. Being passive aggressive was logical… somehow. She glanced at the students around them and tried to block out the noise. So much noise.
One statement, however, stood out from the rest. "You're an asshole," Bakugo said.
"Pardon?"
"White knuckles, wary eyes, continued grimacing, crossed legs, and slouched shoulders. It's damned clear you hate the crowd, so you used me for some quiet without even thinking to tell me." With each declaration, he raised a finger until his clench fist became an open palm. "Therefore, asshole."
Eri tilted her head. "Your logic is solid. I am an asshole." She picked up her chopsticks and chewed on more rice.
"So, leave."
"I'm an asshole, thus I will act in that manner." Eri filed Bakugo away in the same category as Mineta. Neither will build friendships and neither give her a reason to act courteous around them. She saw no detriment in showing hostility or disrespect; furthermore, she followed the logic Bukogo just supplied to her.
Her explosive classmate, on the other hand, concluded that Red Eyes was a grudge-holding bitch. He didn't care. She showed nothing else to make her anything except another extra in his rise to the Number One Hero position.
Neither could've expected the disaster the Foundational Hero Studies turned out to be.
BREAK LOGIC
Aizawa passed the steaming cup of tea to Eri. She gave no indication of noticing until she jerked her head back. The tea trembled from her shaking hands, the only easily observable sign of her distress. Aizawa spotted the others. She took great care to keep a meter between herself and any other living thing, in this case himself. Her eyes were out of focus. Her lips curved into a slight frown.
She took a sip. He heard every detail. They sat alone in the dorm. Even his ten cats sensed something was off and avoided the living area. She insisted on sitting in a wood chair from the kitchen. He elected to take one of the couches in a vein effort to make the situation less worrisome for his daughter.
"Report," he said.
Eri took a deep breath. "We finished lunch and headed to our classroom. All Might entered and announced that we were too have a Battle Trial. He gave us our uniforms. I went to get changed with the other females of the class. I hid again to keep them from seeing…" She glanced down at her arms which were covered by a light jacket. "I noted to them how their costumes focused a great deal on the aesthetic aspects of hero work and not realistic ones. I also noted that Yaoyorozu and Jiro had more realistic costumes, the former due to Quirk-related matters. They thought mine was, quote, scary. End quote."
Aizawa nodded, annoyed with how Eri talked but understanding due to her past. Her Quirk flared from emotion, so she tried to act emotionless during times like this. Nemuri said she'll grow out of it after puberty, also the onset point; however, it concerned him anyway. Eri thought she was protecting other, but she'll only hurt herself later.
"They also showed surprise my brass knuckles were allowed. I elected to not show the taser and tear gas grenades."
Her Quirk allowed her to heal others, and its combat potential was death or nothing. He helped her jump through a few legal loopholes and secure nonlethal but dangerous tools. No knives though. He forced himself to stay neutral instead of grimacing. NO KNIVES.
"We exited the locker rooms. I had no time to criticize the males' costumes, though only Iida had a worthwhile suit. He used his older brother's, so it already proved itself in the field. All Might showed he was a rookie teacher, for he became overwhelmed by the barrage of student questions."
With her tea cooled, she gulped most of the cup at once. "He assigned us at random to teams of twos. The first team to battle for a McGuffin in a building were as follows. Midoria and Uraraka. The other, Bakugo and Iida." Aizawa raised his left eyebrow. Her disdain towards Bakugo bleed through the word. "Midoria and Ba… Bakugo have a negative history of some kind which was apparent to most of the students. They fought. Despite his personality, Bakugo had violent but nonlethal forms of attack. Midoria shattered his own arm. I healed Midoria first. I healed Bakugo with quick, physical contact with my hand to his cheek."
"You slapped him in the face," he deadpanned. News traveled fast, but gossip traveled faster.
"Yes, sir." She nodded robotically. "My team performed efficiently. Koda performed reconnaissance by mind controlling birds, though I wish he had access to humans. I used that information to ambush our opponents from above. I used three tear gas grenades and stunned both with my taser. My mask worked as intended for filtration purposes. Though, perhaps adding pepper spray to my arsenal would also benefit me."
Aizewa pieced together Eri's costume. "You used the villain-infiltration design?" She never told him which design she requested as her first.
She nodded. "It contained the highest combat penitential. I will contact a willing freshman in the support department for creating the necessary parts for my daytime design."
He nodded and recalled Power Loader already complaining about a maniac who'd be more than willing to help Eri. "Logical, though don't frighten your classmates." He leaned forward and stared Eri in the eyes, a common way to show seriousness. "Now, tell me what happened that I DON'T know, young lady."
"The g-girls saw…" She looked down and close her eyes. "Some saw m-me when I was changing. Mina came to talk or s-something, but she saw me and I… I think I gasped? Maybe screamed? The others came. Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Jiro. I threw on my shirt and skirt and ran."
He rubbed his eyes in exasperation. "So, the news of my daughter running through the school barefoot and wearing a half-buttoned shirt are true."
"Y-Yes!" Her emotionless façade crumbled. He doesn't like seeing her scared, but at least she was being open.
"And has Mina texted you yet?" He already knew the answer.
"I put my phone on mute after the third text. I never read them. It's illogical. I'm sorry."
Aizawa stood. A few of their cats crept into the living room, and one hoped into Eri's lap. "I'll make ramen. As punishment, you'll talk with Mina tomorrow. Beating around the bush helps no one."
She didn't respond, but the purring cat in Eri's lap did in its own way.
BREAK LOGIC
Katsuki Bakugo crossed his arms and huffed. Today pissed him off. First, a bunch of amateur reporters assaulted him because they wanted to know about All Might teaching. Why not ask the hero himself instead of bothering them? He noticed most worked for tabloids anyway. The average villain told the truth more than them. Though, watching them leave Glasses in the middle of his boring as hell and robotic explanation entertained him for a total of two seconds. When not even the tabloids could spin an explanation into something interesting, the explanation sucked.
Red Eyes gave him the cold shoulder. She arrived at class before him on the previous two days, but today she slunk through the door with seconds to spare. Her eyes not once looked up from the floor, and she didn't talk to Raccoon Eyes. Even that pink freak noticed something was off. Stupid grudge-holding bitch. She even slapped him, not that it physically hurt, but she thought she could get away with that. Retarded bitch.
The last piece of the shit storm occurred when Tired Teacher walked into the classroom. The first thing he did was call out the explosive boy. "Bakugo, you're talented, so don't act like a kid."
Fucking Deku hid his Quirk from him for years, so of course he'd be pissed. They knew each other since they were toddlers, but no. Deku confronted him about it after school ended and gave a bull shitted excuse about getting it from someone else. Whatever. Deku has a Quirk that breaks his arms. That just means another extra to beat on his way to number one hero.
"I know." And that was why he crossed his arms and huffed. Tired Teacher told the truth, and the man could beat Bakugo… for now.
But, when Tired Teacher told the class they had to choose their class representatives, his pissed off mood disappeared in a moment. Most of the class raised their hands and screamed they wanted the spots. Class rep positions often looked great on resumes and would look amazing for his rise to number one. Bakugo raised his hand and screamed his intentions as well, louder than anyone else much to his pride.
"Silence please!" Glasses got the rest of the class to quiet down. "This is a job with serious responsibility of leading others. It is not a job for just anyone who wants to do it. It is a calling that requires the trust of those around you. If we want to use democracy to decide on a true leader, then we should hold an election to chose one." Of course, his hand was high in the air like a saluting NAZI during his entire speech, but the class went along with his idea. Idiots. All of them. Governments have a higher voting age than fifteen for a reason. They'll probably vote one of the two worst choices for class rep, Deku or Pervert Balls, and Rich Girl for vp since she had the biggest breasts.
Everybody wrote their votes on a piece of paper. Bakugo wrote his name and passed it to Glasses who collected the votes. He wrote their names on the chalkboard and tallied the votes as they came in. For the first dozen or so, everyone received one vote. Then, Rich Girl received a second vote.
"Great job, Yaoyorozu!" Raccoon Eyes congratulated. "I, uh, didn't vote for you, but GIRL POWER!" Bakugo wondered if she never realized the suffrage movement ended generations ago.
Two more votes went to blank names, but his predictions came true again. Some dipshit voted for Deku. DEKU! It must've been Round Face. He saved her life or something during their entrance exam.
With three votes to go, with Bakugo's being one of them, Deku got another. The explosive teen slammed his face on his desk in exasperation. The damn nerd never led anything in his life and had the backbone of an invertebrate. Hopefully, Rich Girl had brains, since she entered U.A. off a recommendation. Stupid rich people.
Bakugo saw his vote get tallied meaning only one remained. No matter what, Deku will be a class representative. He'll REPRESENT Bakugo. PATHETIC!
Then, the entire class gasped when Glasses put a second tally by his name. "Who voted for him?!" chorused about ten different students.
He wanted the answer to that question too. He knew nobody liked him, but he put no effort into that either. He wanted to defeat villains, not join a friendship club. The fact that someone voted for him meant either Deku did out of fear though not likely since Deku received three votes, someone was fucking retarded beyond belief and misspelled their name as Katsuki Bakugo, or someone liked him for some unfathomable reason. He glanced at a few of the girls and hoped it was none of them. He had no time for childish crushes.
His eyes narrowed on one student in particular. He never claimed to be good at names or even knew anyone's actual name besides Deku, but he could read body language. He all but knew who voted for him. "What the hell…" he mumbled.
Glasses decided to do a revote for VP, but only having Bakugo and Rich Girl as options. For the second ballot, he received two votes again.
Bakugo got pissed off again, this time at democracy in general.
BREAK LOGIC
Eri sat her tray in yesterday's location. Like last time, Bakugo sat alone and glared at her. This time, he didn't bother yelling at her and ate food at a rate where it caused indigestion. He finished after she took her fifth bite, but she surmised he had no intention of letting her finish. The foremost indicator was how he grabbed her wrist in a very tight grip and dragged her into an empty hall. Not wanting to escalate a volatile situation, she elected to not break from his handhold. It was one of Father's first lessons in self-defense.
"What the hell are you playing at, Red Eyes?" He managed the impressive ability to scream a whisper. He let go of her wrist but stood in between herself and the path back to her lunch.
What was he even doing? She had enough to worry about. "I wasn't playing. I was eating lunch," she monotoned.
"Bullshit! You know what I'm talking about. You slapped my face yesterday, gave me the cold shoulder this morning, then voted for me." He took a step forwards, but he gave no indication of hurting her despite his raging anger. "If you got a problem to me, tell it to my face. Don't do this deceptive shit. I've got enough people doing that to me already." She filed away that last bit for future reference.
Regardless of his emotions, Bakugo made an honest attempt at clearing whatever perceived problem he had with her. Therefore, she saw fit to respond honestly. "You caused unnecessary danger during training, so I reprimanded you in a law-abiding albeit blunt manner. I…" She looked away and forced herself not to grimace. "My actions this morning regarding my… emotional state. They were unrelated to you." She bowed. "I apologize for causing the misunderstanding, but the matter was… is deeply personal. I ask that you refrain from prying."
"I don't care about your personal shit." He crossed his arms. "Why the fuck did you of all people vote for me?"
"Ah." Her eyes lit in understanding. "You don't know why the student who displayed the most hostility to you became the only one who supported you, even when you and Yaoyorozu were the only options." He nodded. "Promote the rebel."
"Eh?"
"My father…" She rubbed the back of her head. "He works in education. I know some educational theory as a result. You have a wide variety of skills, but the correct attitude is not one of them. I hoped a leadership role would help." She looked him in the eyes. "I have never met many heroes, but I know more about them than most. You will become a powerful combat hero; however, I'd rather have you be All Might instead of Endeavor."
He grinned, like a boxer about to start his match. "You got that right." He pointed his thumb at his chest. "I'll be the number one hero!"
Eri nodded, not wanting to correct his thoughts. Her father will help the boy, she's sure; however, ensuring fewer Endeavors prowl the streets will be a boon to everyone. She opened her mouth to say some meaningless blurb of encouragement that he didn't need, but a world-changing sound rammed itself into her head.
While Eri had a very different outlook on life, since being tortured as a little kid would do that to anyone, she still thought in the same patterns as many other people. She feared social humiliation like any other person. She worried a lot. She also held onto the belief that her home was safe. Most did until something shattered that gilded illusion. Many times, a break-in at your home or an abusive parent ended that farce, and it was the same for Eri.
"Red Eyes, the fuck is this?" Regardless of how they didn't get along, Bakugo moved closer to her. To protect her or simply following the concept of safety in numbers, she didn't know, but she welcomed the one piece of safety.
The alarms blared. Red lights flashed. Maybe the speakers said something; maybe they didn't. Eri's thoughts moved at light speed, but not one resembled anything coherent. Only two ideas stood at the forefront of the unintelligible disaster. A break-in at U.A. HE will take her back.
Too concerned with her Quirk running wild, she grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket instead. "Enemies on campus," was all she could say. Her eyes said the rest. Her face kept its ever-practiced blankness, but her eyes betrayed the primordial fear of prey.
Author's Notes: I'll try to keep these to a minimum. Chapter 3 ended up getting too big, so I ended it here. Chapter 4 is mostly finished, so that'll be out soonish too.
I won't skip over combat too often like this chapter or finish the fighting quickly like Eraser Head dominating Overhaul. USJ will be there in all its glory. There's a reason why All Might had to pass One for All onto Midoriya instead of having Eri heal him (rewind him a few years to be precise). Feel free to ask questions.
Eri took Sato's (the buff sugar-eating guy) place in class 1-A. He's in 1-B.
