Chapter Six: School Days
The first time you did things were always the most nerve-wrecking.
Morie didn't dispute that, especially as she set foot in her new class on the first day, even with the knowledge that her classroom was more likely than not going to be empty. More often than not, she ended up leaving her house too early out of paranoia that somehow she would miss the train and this habit had been stuck with her for ages. Who else showed up almost thirty minutes early?
When she opened the door, to say she was surprised was an understatement. There were already two people in class, which she was not used to because people had certainly not been so enthusiastic towards school back at Sakurazawa. She made out a girl with jet black hair sat at the very last row of the classroom, looking extremely prim and proper, for the lack of a better description. On the other hand, the other figure sat a few seats in front, but it was unmistakably Bakugou Katsuki, sitting in all his irritable glory.
"Good morning," she greeted softly, if only for the sake of being polite- she was more inwardly surprised to spot her neighbour in school so early in the morning.
"Good morning," The black-haired girl responded good-naturedly, sending her a small smile that she returned. Predictably, Bakugou showed no sign that he had heard her greeting- though to be honest, she had not expected much from him.
Feeling too awkward to make further conversation, she settled for sitting down at the side of the classroom nearer to the door, before she pulled out her notebook and was soon immersed in sketching out her idea for the newest commission she had just received. Before she knew it, twenty minutes had passed by and majority of the class were now making their way inside the classroom.
Bowing her head, she avoided eye contact as much as possible, instead focusing on adding finer details to her sketch.
"Woah, you draw, Minamoto?" A voice suddenly rang out directly in front of her. Eyes widening in surprise, she glanced up only to see familiar boy with spiky crimson hair and bright eyes.
Well, this was a pleasant surprise.
"Yeah," she replied, setting down her pencil. "Nice seeing you again, Kirishima."
Kirishima looked absolutely pumped up even though school had yet to begin. "I'm glad we're in the same class," he stated, "All of this is pretty nerve-wrecking, isn't it?"
"Yeah, you're right about that." She admitted. "I feel like today will be pretty interesting, but I don't know what to feel about all this."
"Seems unreal, right?" He said, pulling out the chair to the desk next to hers and sitting down in it. "I can't wait..."
Admittedly, his limitless enthusiasm was adorable. An exaggerated groaning noise escaped his throat and Morie patted him on the back, smiling bemusedly.
"It's ten minutes more, you can do it."
The door slid open at that point, and she recognised the bespectacled boy from the entrance exam briefing. Instinctively, she glanced down at her table to avoid meeting his eyes as they swept over the entirety of the class. However, they stopped on her, widening in recognition and she inwardly cursed her bad luck. Normally, people failed to recognise her due to her lack of a presence. Why was today an exception?
"Good morning! You were the one who spoke up during the briefing, were you not?" He walked up to her, eyes seeming to bore into her, and she resisted the urge to shrink back. His voice was unnecessarily loud, and she did not appreciate the stares that he was garnering.
She didn't reply but instead nodded slowly, meaningfully catching his eye as she hoped to get him to tone down. He didn't seem to understand, however, as he simply spoke once more, his voice equally or if not more booming.
"I apologise for my actions! You see, I realised that I have gravely misjudged that boy. Please forgive me for being an inconvenience!"
She blinked at that. Well, that escalated quickly.
Nodding in acceptance of his (much unneeded) apology, she raised an eyebrow as he bowed stifflu, and she could've sworn that he bent a perfect ninety degrees.
At least he didn't stick his head in the floor.
"My name is Iida Tenya! May I make your acquaintance?"
It was the first time people walked up to her and asked to be friends, or in this case acquaintances, as he so formally put it. Morie decided to just go along with it.
"I'm Minamoto Morie, and I don't mind," she said, sending him a smile. Iida straightened up and smiled- that is, until he caught sight of Bakugou in his chosen seat, lounging in his chair with his legs propped up on the table.
"You over there!" He cried out, before proceeding to march over. "Don't put your feet on the desk! Don't you think that is disrespectful to your upperclassman and the people who made this table?!"
He's fond of his hand gestures, she noted randomly, allowing her eyes to flit over in mild interest. I do see where he's coming from, though I've never seen someone so passionate and sentimental about tables.
Red eyes snapped open slowly as the spiky-haired boy leered at Iida, baring his teeth as his lips curled up into look of condescension. Bakugou drawled, his eyes studying the bespectacled boy before him and remaining visibly unimpressed.
"No. Which junior high did you go to, you side character?" He was practically sneering at the taller boy now, and Morie ducked away to reimmerse herself in her sketchbook.
Side character? It's like he thinks this is a bloody anime! She thought in amusement, almost incredulous at the realisation that she had underestimated the extent of his generally unpleasant personality.
"Somei?" She could hear the boy with ash blonde-hair roar. "So you're a damn elite, huh? Looks like I'll have fun crushing you."
Violent tendencies, check.
Morie deadpanned, taking great care not to mutter anything out loud which may accidentally incur Bakugou's wrath. She was lucky enough that he never hounded her about their first encounter in the classroom- it was best if she just stayed out of his way. Mr Spiky Hair was fucking terrifying, and if horror movies were any indication, people did the most stupid things were afraid- she was as guilty as charged.
In her desire for class to just start already so that there could be an end to all this drama (it was way too early for this shit), she found herself staring at the door, a smile flashing across her face as she recognised the curly-haired boy who stood there, looking like his soul had just escaped at the sight of the two bickering boys.
(Yes, how she related to that, because school and intimidating classmates did not mesh well together at all.)
"Good morning, Midoriya," Morie called out, raising a hand to wave at him, if only to get him to come inside. She froze as she realised that she unwittingly just directed the whole class' attention at him, and the two that in conflict at the back of class were no exception.
It took her all her willpower to not slam her head down on the table in her embarrassment as she profusely apologised mentally to Midoriya for putting him in this so-very-awkward situation.
Iida gasped in recognition.
"You are..."
Promptly, he marched over stiffly, arms swinging about robotically. "Good morning! I am from Somei Academy, my name is- "
"I heard!" Midoriya cut him off. It was probably not on purpose though, as he quickly realised his mistake and sheepishly glanced at Iida. "Ah, um, I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Iida-kun."
"Ah, that curly hair! You're the plain-looking one!" A third person showed up to join the ongoing exchange at the doorstep. Morie took in the sight of her bright smile and pink cheeks and her heart melted on the spot.
I swear, half of the people here are too good for this world. She sighed, burying herself in her sketches to hide her further embarrassment of getting (accidentally) ignored by Midoriya.
"Hey, look at that!" Kirishima whispered excitedly, nudging her to get her attention. She glanced at where he was staring, only to see a man with shaggy hair and loose cloth bandages hanging around his neck wriggle out of a dusty-looking sleeping bag. It almost made him look like a yellow caterpillar, but even so there was a nagging feeling that she should know who this guy was- probably just her nerdy Hero instincts screaming at her.
Their new (or would worn-out be a better word?) homeroom teacher reached inside his yellow sleeping bag and tugged out an equally worn-out set of sports attire, and all she could think of upon hearing his bored, monotonous voice was 'this guy needs a dose of strong coffee as soon as possible'. He honestly looked like he could fall asleep while standing up, and as somebody who was occasionally guilty of finding the act of mere standing to be a chore, she related with him greatly.
"Put this on and meet me outside. Be quick with it."
He disappeared out of the class before an enthusiastic reply could be garnered, leaving most of the students of Class 1-A standing with their mouths agape.
Physical assessment? They were seriously having a test on the first day of school? Of course they did, this was bloody Yuuei Academy- they prided themselves in their freedom, after all, and apparently that meant tests on the first day.
Morie sighed, and leaned over towards Kirishima, exchanging knowing glances with him.
"Called it," she whispered resignedly. He grinned appreciatively upon hearing that, and was already shuffling around in his bag for their required uniform. Moved by his optimism, she stepped out of class and followed them out onto the field, taking in deep breaths to remain calm.
After all, what's the worst that could happen?
.
She fucking jinxed it.
Has she ever mentioned how much she utterly loathed physical activity? The day after the entrance exam, her muscles burned so badly she could barely drag herself up from her wonderful bed.
(It also brought back rather traumatising memories of being trained by her father in what she dubbed his sadistic mode, but she preferred not to bring that up- much less remember it.)
Not only that, this particular physical test came with the threat of expulsion. Certainly, it was cruel to do that students who have probably spent the past year or so trying to work their way into Yuuei, but at last, the school will do what it has to do. It was with a heavy heart did she force herself to get into the exercise, not ceasing her internal screaming at the brunt her muscles received.
(Somehow, Morie managed to scrape by with a position of fifteenth place out of twenty, a 'feat' that raised eyebrows as she was supposedly the one who got fourth place in the entrance exam. Gosh, expectations could do wonders for you, but yet it was infuriating to be the target of them.)
Alas, in the end it turned out that the whole lot of them were tricked by Aizawa-sensei, who stated with a shit-faced grin that it was all a 'logical ruse'.
Logical ruse my ass, Morie thought, scowling. It was fairly obvious when someone meant what they say and when they did not. Aizawa had certainly been planning to expel a student- or maybe even more than a student. Something just changed his mind, and now he was saying that he did it to push them in a corner, bring out their best, yada yada.
(Or so he claimed- with that said, she wasn't sure how the outcome would be if the person in last place hadn't been Midoriya. There was no way the curly-haired boy would have been expelled, not when his pitch had been so amazing. Not when their unimpressive looking teacher, Eraserhead, had been utterly impressed.)
Afterwards, normal lessons were almost welcome after the nightmare that was the physical activity tests. She was pleasantly surprised (more like it took all of her self-control not to cry and ask for an autograph) to see pro-heroes teaching normal subjects- hey, at least now she had a good reason to not piss them off!
A familiar sense of relief washed through her as the end of school arrived. Quickly, she bowed her head and proceeded to stuff her belongings into her bag, her mind swimming with plans for the day. This was in itself a miracle for her, considering that motivation to her was like some next-door neighbour- disappearing and popping by in your life at random. In her hands were her phone and her earphones, just waiting to be untangled as she fiddled around with them a bit- the devices one simply cannot do without if they were the unsociable type of commuters on public transportation.
If I make it home earlier, I can start studying AND make some time for that new commission, though I'm not sure how much I'll be able to work on it-
"Hey, Minamoto! Want to come to the station with us?"
Kirishima called out from the middle of the classroom, sending her a grin as he excitably waved her over. Her dark eyes widened in surprise as she took in the sight of him standing in front of a group of classmates, all of whom looked at her curiously. Immediately, she felt somewhat intimidated at the feeling of being scrutinised by near-strangers.
(Somehow, the thought of Kirishima being able to make friends easily made sense. He was warm, enthusiastic, and easy to get along with- certainly the kind of person people tended to gravitate towards.)
"Ah, I don't mind." She called back, stowing her earphones in her pocket hastily as she approached the group, albeit somewhat hesitantly. "Y'know, you can call me Rie if you want to. It's sorta weird being called by my last name."
"Rie-san, then," he amended, beaming.
Morie was quickly introduced to his new friends: Kaminari Denki, who had an interesting lightning-shaped mark in his yellow-blonde hair, and Hanta Sero, who had black hair and looked extremely familiar, though she had no idea why. Maybe it was his plain features, or his chipped smile- she just couldn't place why he seemed so familiar.
"Green Day?" Kaminari commented, peering over to scroll through her playlist. "Geez, you're like Jirou then."
Sero peered over to her phone, where she had drew up her own phone cover. It was simply her experimental watercolour galaxy painting from the other day that she ended up really liking, so she cut it into the shape of a phone cover and plastered it in between a transparent sheet and her phone. Not only did it look nice, it saved a lot of money.
(Heh.)
"My cousin draws too," Sero stated, tapping his arm thoughtfully. Morie perked up at the statement, immediately questioning him about the illustrations his cousin did. Kirishima spent most of the time fawning over her phone cover, which honestly embarrassed her a little, which led her to promise to do a similar painting for him- honestly, she hardly gave away things for free, but as she watched the red-haired boy's eyes light up at the promise, she thought that maybe she didn't mind Kirishima being an exception.
Going home with other people and socialising rather than listening to music by herself was a surprisingly welcome change. Morie got along well with Kaminari and Sero, and she assumed that this was due to their friendly and more laid-back personalities. Talking to new people was less tiring and stressful than she had expected, and even as they got off at stations before her, she felt oddly relaxed as she stepped off the train.
She immediately made to walk out of the station- that is, until she caught sight of ash-blonde hair a little ways before her.
The resident class delinquent was walking on his own, with his earphones donned and his hands stuck in the pockets of his pants. He trudged along at a steady, nonchalant pace, eyes staring forward as he made his way back home. One thing she noticed, however, after trying to figure out what was wrong with his uniform, was that the way he wore his pants were extremely weird. Softly giggling at the sight of his creased and saggy pants that were hanging way below his waistline, Morie turned away, her hand slapping over her mouth.
There is a very thin line between being a delinquent and not knowing how to buckle up your pants, she smiled dryly.
Loitering behind a little, she deliberately stalled as she dug out her earphones and untangled them, only walking off towards her house when they were securely plugged into her ears. With any luck, he would already be inside his house when she got to the street, and an awkward (cough terrifying) crisis could be avoided.
Blond hair disappeared into his house just as she turned the street corner, and unashamedly, Morie pumped a fist at this small success. She barely stepped into the compound and closed the gate when her phone vibrated, and her mouth fell open as she read through her messages.
"What the hell, Ren?!" Morie gaped to herself as she stared at her recent messages from Ren, feeling absolutely aghast at the new development before her.
.
BAEREN: omgomg
BAEREN: rie
BAEREN: your cousin is really cute
BAEREN: i'm serious don't kill me please ;;
.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she immediately typed out her reply, resisting the urge to gag as she did so.
.
rie: They all seem cute at first.
rie: I thought he was precious too.
rie: I warned you.
.
Unbeknownst to her, Bakugou Katsuki stood outside his door, hands stretched out towards his doorknob with his housekeys in hand. Scowling at the noise emanating from the house next-door, he vaguely wondered what was going on, before recalling that he had an irritating and nameless person as his neighbour.
Anyway, who the hell was this 'Ren'?!
.
A/N:
Don't mind me just dying from guilt of removing Hagakure from Class A for the even numbers-
(What do you think of this chapter? Any predictions?)
