A big thank you once again to M, who has reveiwed every chapter. Your continuing support inspires me to keep writing. To Greenz, who pulled a line straight from my story to tell me you laughed at it: I was so happy to read your review, and I'm really glad that my depiction of Aizawa as a distaster-dad is coming through.

Thank you as well to everyone who have followed, favourited, or read this story at all. I hope that you'll enjoy chapter five.

Chapter Five: Presidents and Traditions

When the school day ended, Koharu was truly just ready to go home and hang out with her cat. It turns out that school was still school, even if it was Hero-oriented, and therefore it was really boring. It was made even worse by the fact that it was the first day, so other than the mind-fucking phsycial tests they did with Shotua, Class 1-A practically did nothing.

Koharu's bag was half-slung over one of her shoulders and she walked with a slight trudge to her step as she headed through the halls. The bounce of someone falling into step with her was instantly noticed.

"Hey!" It was Uraraka, a beaming smile on her face and her hands loosely gripping onto the straps of her backpack. "Koharu, let's walk out together!"

"Sure," said Koharu. She straightened herself up to look like less of a slob next to the bubbly girl. "Do you walk home?"

Uraraka walked with a bounce in her step. "I'm going to the station."

"Oh." She tried not to sound disappointed, but she still felt it. "Do you live very far away?"

Uraraka's hair moved quite a bit as she shook her head, Koharu thought. She wondered if gravity affected her differently because of her Quirk.

"No, it's not so far! And I don't mind the trip," Uraraka said. Her smile twinged conspiratorial. "I like to people-watch."

"Me too," agreed Koharu easily, and smiled at Uraraka in return. "I like to make up stories for them."

"Me too!" Uraraka's smile was eager, and one of her hands loosely shook Koharu's arm, as if she didn't already have Koharu's full attention. "Just today, I saw a man on his way to a job interview to be the next President of Canada."

Koharu's laugh was startled but genuine. "I don't think that Canada has a president," she said. "But how did you know?"

"He had a maple-leaf pin on his lapel, and he was carrying a briefcase."

"Oh, so it was obvious," Koharu agreed seriously.

The girls were giggling together as they exited the school, but someone quickly caught Uraraka's attention. She pointed far ahead of them. "Hey, isn't that Deku and Iida?"

"Uh," Koharu squinted ahead, and could make out the bulk of Iida's tall figure and the green mop that was Midoriya's hair. "Yes, I think so. Should we catch up with them?"

Uraraka responded by pulling Koharu along as she started to jog. "Hey!" She shouted, waving her free hair in the air. "You two!"

Descriptive, thought Koharu. It was enough, though. The two boys stopped and turned around, looking shocked to see them. "Yo!" She called with a big wave of her own, now that they had their attention. She slowed down behind Uraraka.

"Koharu," Iida acknowledged the girl with a nod of his head. "You're the infinity girl," Iida then observed as a greeting to Uraraka. She didn't mind, smiling brightly as she stopped in front of their classmates.

"I'm Ochaco Uraraka!" She introduced herself. Koharu caught up behind her, and stood beside the taller girl. "Um, you're Tenya Iida, and you're Deku Midoriya, right?"

"Deku?!" Midoriya repeated, startled by the name. Koharu had been as well— she had thought his name was Izuku.

"But during the fitness test, the boy named Bakugou said— 'Deku, you bastard!'" Uraraka innocently inquired, the curse sounding wrong on her lips. "Right?"

Midoriya pushed his fingers together, fidgeting with the attention. "Uh," he began to stammer. Suddenly his hands were moving back and forth in a nervous twitch as he explained, "My real name is Izuku, but D-Deku is what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me…"

"It's an insult?" Iida asked, regarding Midoriya seriously.

"Oh, is that so?" Uraraka said, looking guilty. "I'm sorry!"

Koharu hiked up her backpack a bit, starting to regret carrying it over one-shoulder no matter how cool she thought she looked. "Y'know, 'Deku' sounds a lot like the word for 'you can do it'," she added in, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Beside her, Uraraka began to nod along vigorously, making Koharu smile. "It's actually kind of cool!"

Midoriya turned a bright red and shouted, "I'm Deku!"

Iida turned to Midoriya in shock and began to question why he would accept the insult so easily, but Koharu couldn't hear him over the sound of her own nervous, flattered laughter. Midoriya turned to hide his face, mumbling through his hands about a Copernican Revolution.

"Co-pe?" Uraraka repeated, unfamiliar with the term.

Still grinning, Koharu patted Uraraka's arm. "Don't worry about it," Koharu quickly assured her, hoping to get the spotlight off of Midoriya before his head literally burst. "Are you guys headed to the station?"

With the attention directed away from his nickname, Midoriya was able to turn around and nod with Iida. "Y-yes. What about you two?"

"I am!" Uraraka responded as she wound her arm around Koharu's, and began guiding the group to walk away. Her cheerful energy made her easy to follow. "But Koharu is walking, so we have to make our time count!"

Koharu smiled, and bent her elbow slightly to better accommodate Uraraka's arm. Uraraka was right— and Koharu would use her time to gossip. "What did you guys think about Aizawa-sensei?"

Iida was the first to respond, placing a hand against his chin as he said, "I had been really taken in by Aizawa-sensei. He seemed like the best of the best." He paused to cross his arms, and looked severely disappointed. "I didn't think that a teacher would use a lie to encourage us."

"Yeah! Deku, I bet that you're feeling really relieved right now!" Uraraka called out his last-place position bluntly, a smile still on her face. "I had no idea that it was a trick!"

"I don't think that it was a trick, y'know," said Koharu, pressing a finger against her chin in thought. "I've heard of Eraserhead, and he's not really one for playing around. I think that he was telling the truth, but that Midoriya changed his mind." All three of her classmates turned their attention to her, Midoriya with a red tinge to his face that the others didn't have. Koharu didn't really want to embarrass him again— she laughed it off. "But what do I know, right?"

She could see a gear turning in Iida's head, and then the lightbulb going off. "What did you say that your last name was again, Koharu?"

"I think you remember," she said with a twinkle in her eye instead of answering directly. Koharu broke away from the group without hesitation when they hit the sidewalk. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow, right? Get home safely!"

Uraraka waved in a giant arc, saying, "You too, Koharu! Walk home safely!"

"See you tomorrow!" Midoriya's voice was quiet but his smile was no less genuine as he waved Koharu off.

It was Iida who called after her next, his voice just a bit smug, "We will see you tomorrow, Aizawa-san!"

"A-Aizawa?!"

Koharu left them with the sound of Midoriya shrieking, a laugh in her throat and a bounce in her step. It was good to have friends, she thought.

~ o ~

"I'm home," Shouta called from the front door, coming in just after six o'clock. He was greeted by the sight of Koharu hunched in the cupboard. "Stop snacking," he scolded.

"Sorry," she meekly replied with a guilty smile, stepping out from behind the cupboard door and closing it softly. "I didn't know when you would be home."

Shouta shucked off his shoes and tossed his bag onto the floor. "Whatever," he grunted. "You did a good job today."

The compliment came so suddenly that Koharu almost missed it. She caught it just before it flew over her head, and it turned her smile bashful. "You really think so?"

"You did come in thirteenth without using your Quirk once," Shouta unnecessarily reminded her as he stepped through the threshold, standing across the small kitchen from Koharu.

Koharu pouted at the reminder. "About that," she started, trying not to mumble. "You made that big deal about using our Quirks since we couldn't before, but then I couldn't use mine at all. I feel like I missed the point of the test."

Shouta scoffed, and began to shuffle out of the room. "Yeah, you obviously did. But don't go asking for extra credit lessons from me, damn brat." He ignored Koharu's offended squawk and pointedly closed his bedroom door behind him.

"What's even the point of being related to you then?!" Koharu aggressively inquired to the door, who didn't grace her with a response. "Pah," she said.

She'd make instant ramen for dinner, she thought. Shouta didn't look like he would be putting effort in any time soon. Koharu had been caught in the cupboard because she was hungry, damn it, and the young hero-in-training deserved sustenance. She reached to open the door—

"I fucking told you to stop snacking!"

Koharu hurled it open anyway and pulled out a granola bar. Turning her head to the wall that seperated Shouta and herself, she shouted, "You can't stop me! I'm not using a Quirk!" Koharu slammed the cupboard door closed, and for added measure, she tacked on a loud, "Shithead!"

"I will end you."

Koharu's stomach dropped. She screamed as she whirled around to find Shouta standing in the kitchen door frame with crossed arms. He had changed from his work clothes into his pajamas and was doing a poor job of hiding his amusement at Koharu's reaction. "Put a damn bell on! Jeez!"

Shouta's face wobbled something fierce as he tried to scold her through his mirth. "Don't slam doors, brat."

"I didn't know that cupboard doors counted."

"They do now," Shouta decreed. He uncrossed his arms and crossed the room instead, heading towards the fridge. "For your disobedience, I'm eating one of your slices of pizza."

Koharu perked up, and repeated, "Pizza?"

The older Aizawa cast her a look over his shoulder, his expression insulted. "It's tradition. I'm surprised that you weren't up my ass about this, honestly."

Koharu was all but vibrating with excitement, and shot across the room to get a look over Shouta's shoulder into the freezer. "You got the kind with cheese in the crust?!" She gasped. "How extravagant!"

Shouta shot an elbow back to shove Koharu away, grumbling as he pulled the frozen pizza out. Like Koharu claimed, it was cheese-stuffed and covered in toppings that Shouta didn't particularly enjoy. "What would be extravagant would be to order a real pizza," he corrected as he allowed Koharu to yank the box from his hands.

"This is real pizza!" Koharu instantly defended as she held the box close to her chest. "How is it not real pizza? We can eat it, can't we?"

"Hardly," Shouta grumbled.

"You love it and you know it." Koharu was already reading the box, looking for the temperature they would need to set the oven to. "That's the real reason that you got the pizza without me saying anything."

Rolling his eyes, Shouta placed his hand on top of Koharu's head— she dipped down a moment from the unexpected and sudden weight. He ruffled her hair mercilessly before shoving her head away. "No, I love you."

Koharu looked at him through her new tousled hairstyle, and grinned brightly. "And the pizza." Shouta aimed to shove Koharu's head again, but she ducked out of his reach.

"Just don't burn it," said Shouta as he took his leave once more, this time entering their living room and plopping himself down onto the couch. He had to fight through a mountain of blankets to find a spot, of course, but that just made cocooning himself afterwards easier.

Koharu joined him a couple minutes later, wrapping herself up in the blankets next to Shouta without an invitation. He grunted when an elbow struck his ribs, but otherwise gave no argument. "Do you wanna watch something together?"

"Only if it's not stupid."

"I only like stupid stuff, though."

"Don't remind me," Shouta was with a small groan, thinking of all the dumb shit he had overheard or been forced to watch over the years. There was a pause before he grumbled, "We can watch that dumb Hero Wars, or whatever."

Koharu was already reaching for the remote. "I know just the episode!"

As Koharu continued to completely spoil the plot of the episode they were seconds away from watching anyway, Shouta leaned back and thought, This is going to be a long night. He tossed an arm over the back of the couch behind the rambling Koharu, grabbed another blanket, and got comfortable.