The blaring of her alarm roused Kaira from her slumber. Groggily, she turned it off and crawled out of bed. Her eyes had trouble staying open and her hair looked more like Denkyuu's than her normal haircut.
Kaira was not a morning person, never had been, to the annoyance of her family. Thankfully she had quickly discovered the wonder that was caffeine. She stumbled to the communal kitchen, where the brown liquid was waiting for her.
Kaira had spent a lot of the previous evening thinking about what had happened that day. Looking back and after calming down, she realized she'd overreacted. She still felt like she was justified in being angry at Saotama for him keeping up a lie for two weeks and only telling the truth when she had irrefutable proof he was lying. But she probably shouldn't have yelled at him like that.
She understood where he came from. She understood not wanting people to feel like they owed her, but why not tell her it was fine and she didn't owe him anything?
Why did he lie instead of just telling her that? He did say it was a spur of the moment decision. Did he just feel like he was caught up in his own lie and had to keep going?
There were still so many questions when she thought about it and they had kept her mind running for most of the evening, exhaustion eventually pulling her into sleep.
Now, as Kaira came down the stairs, she heard and smelled someone cooking in the kitchen. The smell woke her up slightly. It smelled surprisingly good. Around the corner she saw a familiar, messy boy standing at the stove with his back to her.
"Morning." Kaira mumbled sleepily
"Good morni- Oh… Hey…" Saotama's smile quickly faltered when he saw who had entered the kitchen. He turned his face to the floor and focused back on his cooking.
Kaira ignored his mood change and walked towards the coffee machine, poured herself a cup of coffee and downed the beverage in one go. The coffee was still scalding, but she barely noticed. Her Quirk gave her a higher body temperature than most people and made her more resistant to heat in general.
Tora looked at her with a mix of confusion and fear. He wasn't sure if she was trying to intimidate him with that stunt, but it sure was working. The coffee machine in their dorm was old-fashioned, pouring near-boiling water through ground coffee and a filter. Seeing someone down such a boiling cup of coffee and not even flinch was making him feel slightly uneasy.
Kaira felt the veil of drowsiness lift as the caffeine started circulating in her bloodstream. She made herself another cup, waiting for the water to run through the filter. Now that she was more awake, she noticed Tora was stealing glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She tried to ignore it. If he had something to say, he was going to have to initiate it himself this time.
"Hey… Umm… Netsuka…?" Tora stammered, trying to look at Netsuka, while keeping his breakfast from burning.
Kaira gave a soft hum, letting him know she was listening.
Tora had spent the entirety of last evening trying to find the right words to say. The floor of his room was still littered with crumpled up pieces of paper filled with crossed out lines and monologues of what he was going to say. He had fallen asleep at his desk, still with no idea what to say.
This morning he figured, he'd grab some breakfast and then continue working on what to say, but that idea got thrown out the window when the blue girl entered the kitchen while he was cooking.
"I… I'm sorry," Tora sighed, "about yesterday and the last two weeks. You were right. I should've just been honest with you from the start. I don't know why I did what I did, but it was stupid and I want to make it up to you somehow."
"It's fine." Kaira said curtly. She didn't like admitting it, but she was at fault as well. "I should apologize as well. I overreacted yesterday. In the end, you meant well. Just… Just don't lie to me again, okay?"
Tora's face cleared up substantially. He hadn't expected things to clear up this quickly and he knew he wasn't in the clear yet, but at least she had forgiven him.
He took his pan off the stove with a smile on his face. "I promise."
While her coffee was slowly filling her mug, Kaira looked on as Tora poured his egg over his plate of rice. It was a simple breakfast, but it looked so good, especially to Kaira's empty and growling stomach.
"You want some?"
Kaira hadn't noticed she'd been drooling over Tora's breakfast for a bit longer than was considered polite. After getting pulled out of her thoughts, she also noticed that she was literally drooling and quickly wiped the saliva from her mouth, hoping he hadn't noticed that detail.
She would like a share of his breakfast, but her pride stopped her from accepting. She had forgiven him, but she wasn't going to be bribed into liking him with food.
"I've got my own breakfast, thanks."
She self-assuredly walked to the cupboards, rummaged through the one with her name on it and pulled out her breakfast: a cup of instant noodles. It wasn't a great breakfast, but it got the job done. She'd eat a proper meal at lunch in the school's dining hall.
"You're kidding, right?"
"I'm not!" Kaira raised her voice slightly.
"No! nonononono! You're not eating that." Tora threw the pan he still held in his hand back on the stove and grabbed some more eggs out of the fridge.
"I said I don't want you to make me breakfast!" Kaira was getting annoyed now. Why did he insist on butting into her business? She was perfectly fine with eating her cup of noodles. "You're not going to earn my trust by forcing me to eat your food."
"This isn't about earning your trust." He didn't turn around, focused on cracking the eggs open in the pan.
"Huh?"
"I can't just stand by when someone is forced to eat such garbage food. Throw that crap out, sit down and relax. I'll have your breakfast ready in no time."
The tone in his voice made it sound more like a request than a command, but Kaira felt like she shouldn't decline him anyway. He was, for some reason, very determined to make her breakfast and no amount of protesting from her side was going to stop him, that much was clear.
And now that she thought about it, she could use a healthy breakfast for a change. She'd been eating instant and microwave food for the last two weeks and she had to admit she didn't enjoy it. She never had to cook at home and that had come to bite her ever since she moved into the dorms. She was planning on getting a cookbook and learn how to cook, but apparently, this morning she had her own cook.
A few minutes later, Kaira was greedily digging into her breakfast. It was nothing fancy, but after eating instant food for so long, it tasted like gourmet.
Tora looked on, his meal almost forgotten in front of him. She hadn't said a word since he insisted on making a proper breakfast for her, but judging from her wagging tail and perked up ears, she liked it, which brought him some sense of joy.
He had been honest when he said this wasn't about earning her trust. He'd had a drive to take care of people for as long as he could remember. Running around kindergarten giving the other kids band-aids when they fell down was something that he used to do regularly. He always felt good helping people. Adults were often amused at this little kid trying to help them, but being a kid, certain social faux-pas were lost on him. Trying to 'heal' a scar or a physical deformity would not always sit well with the person, even if the gesture meant no harm.
Thankfully, he was a little more tactful now. Not much, he still had a tendency to butt into people's business if he felt he could help, like now. He knew Kaira, initially at least, didn't want his help because of some sense of pride or not trusting him yet, but it felt wrong to him to let someone eat eat low-quality instant food, while he could whip up an extra serving of breakfast in a few minutes.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Kaira tried to get his attention and asked a question
"Where did you learn to cook like this?" She asked with a mouth full of rice, little grains jumping across the table.
Tora shrugged, grabbing a bite of his own breakfast. "I helped my parents out a lot in the kitchen, so I picked a lot of stuff up. I wanna get better at it though."
"You're kidding, right? This stuff is great! Could use some more spices, though." Kaira didn't stop eating, cramming words between each piece of food she put in her mouth.
Tora felt his cheeks heating up. He wasn't used to getting compliments about his cooking. His siblings liked his cooking, but they took it for granted.
Kaira's demeanour had completely changed. She was still blunt and to-the-point, but any of the grumpiness she had yesterday or a few minutes earlier was completely gone. She was enthusiastic about the food and wasn't shy about letting him know.
It got Tora thinking. Had she been in a bad mood because of eating instant food or was she just quick to change her mood? She was quick to forgive him as well, so maybe it was the latter.
"Netsuka, what were you planning to eat tonight?"
Kaira stopped for a moment, swallowed the food that she was chewing. With a slight tinge on her face she admitted that she was going to eat that same kind of noodles as she would've eaten this morning had Tora not intervened.
Tora let out a small, amused sigh. He should've expected as much. "I can make dinner for both of us, if you want. I'll just have to grab some more ingredients from the store and I can easily make food for two."
"I'll… think about it. You're a good cook, but don't start thinking this makes up for the last two weeks."
Kaira accusingly pointed her chopsticks at Tora to which he waved his hands in front of his face. "N-no, I'm not expecting that at all! I just… I don't like standing by, doing nothing while I can help you with something I like doing anyway."
Kaira quirked an eyebrow. She felt like Tora was taking this hero business a bit too seriously. Sure, it was going to be their job to help people, but he was taking it a step too far. They were supposed to save civilians from disasters and the like, not make dinner for them.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you so driven on helping me? First, you don't want me to feel in debt to you, which you completely fumbled by the way, and now you're proposing to make dinner for me. Why are you going out of your way to help me? You don't know me at all. You've got friends in our class. Why not help them?"
"I…" Tora stared at his plate, still half-filled with food. He didn't really know. Why was he helping her? He did feel guilty about lying to her, but she'd made abundantly clear that cooking food for her wasn't going to make her like him. It did feel like he was bribing her in to liking him, even if that wasn't his intention.
"I don't actually know… I've spent most of my time outside of school helping my parents and my brothers and sisters with whatever they needed help with. I guess old habits die hard." He chuckled to himself.
An alarm sounded from Tora's direction. He suddenly shot out of his chair. "Oh crap! My morning run!" Before Kaira could say anything, Tora was running up the stairs.
And with that Tora was gone from Kaira's line of sight. A few minutes later he came down again, wearing a jogging pants and a plain shirt, both not quite his size, as was customary for him.
"I'll see you in class. You can have the rest of my breakfast if you're still hungry." He called out to Kaira while leaving the dorms.
Kaira stared at the door for a bit longer, lost in thought. She still wasn't sure what to think of Saotama. He was energetic and didn't really think about the things he did, but at the same time, when confronted with the why, he became pensive and more trapped in his own head. If they were going to be in the same class and dorm, she would need to get to know him more. Maybe it would explain the last two weeks as well.
She noticed her mug when she took Tora's leftovers. She'd completely forgotten about it, her hunger had taken precedence. She took it, together with Tora's breakfast, back to her seat and took a quick sip.
"Blergh, it's cold already!"
The rest of the week went by in a flash. Tora had taken it upon himself to cook for Kaira as well as for himself. She hadn't explicitly stated she accepted his offer, but they just rolled with it. Tora had started making food for two as a precaution for when she grabbed any microwavable or instant food. Kaira protested initially, but it didn't take long before she relented and just let him cook for her.
If Tora didn't lose track of time and was late for his morning exercise, he and Kaira walked to school together and, naturally, they got to talking. Tora mostly talked about his family, which apparently was big. He told about a new sibling nearly everyday. From the way he talked about them it was clear they were close-knit, despite how big their family was.
Kaira liked to talk about her many 'adventures' she had been on in middle school. She turned out to be a bit of a delinquent, staying out way later than was considered acceptable for kids their age and getting into fights were usually the centre of her stories. She had vowed to become a better student, now that she was enrolled in U.A. Being able to chase your dream was a good motivation for more exemplary behaviour.
School hours were filled with more assessment tests of all kind. Physical tests, Quirk tests, academic tests… Their homeroom teacher had explained that the entrance tests were the lowest bar they needed to pass to get into the hero course. These tests were to see where everyone's level was at, so they could adjust the curriculum if need be.
Tora, it turned out, wasn't the greatest academic. After all of the academic tests he stood at number fourteen in class. On the other hand, he did great on the physical tests, taking the second spot. His Quirk required him to stay in shape, else the physical amplification it gave would be diminished.
Kaira was in about the same boat. She did slightly better in academics, standing tenth in class, but also scored slightly less in physical overall. Her strength was unparalleled, but she was lacking in athleticism, which put her in fifth place.
"Yow, Tora! Over here!"
Tora was pulled out of his look back at most of the first week by Teiden's yelling, beckoning him to come and sit with him.
Today was the last day of their first week and Sero had promised them an interesting afternoon. Right now, everyone was enjoying lunch, speculating what the afternoon would hold.
Getting closer, Tora saw that most other male students of their class were sitting at the table, an odd occurrence. The students didn't dislike each other, but sitting, jammed together with twelve people at a table made for difficult conversation. Everyone had already formed their smaller groups that they were closest with anyway.
Tora put his tray down at the table and took a seat anyway, not wanting to be rude and ignore his friend.
"Why are all the guys sitting together here?"
Opposite him, Cheikatsu shrugged. "Denkyuu asked everyone to sit together today. Didn't tell us why." His usual, neutral expression wasn't showing whether the blood controller was annoyed, curious or was thinking anything about being packed together with everyone else.
Teiden leaned forward so he could see everyone and get everyone's attention.
"I got you all here together, because we have some important business to discuss." He spoke with an official tone. "We've been together in this class for a week now, we've gotten a general idea about each other, so now we have to talk about a very important subject: the girls!"
The entire table fell quiet for a moment. A strand of noodle was hanging out of Kirishima's mouth, frozen in place when the last two words dropped. Kemono's mouth hung open, the piece of meat he was putting in his mouth had fallen off his chopsticks, back on his plate. Whatever they had been doing, everyone was now staring at Denkyuu.
The silence was broken when Kumodoku picked up his foodtray, his voice muffled by his gas mask "Yeah, I'm out."
Taking his example, Yamabushi followed. "This subject is most dishonourable. I will take no part."
A few more classmates took their tray and left, some stayed and just tried to ignore Denkyuu and the last few looked at him with a spark of interest in their eyes.
Tora simply sighed. "Teiden… Just… Why?…"
"What?! Like you're one to talk. You already have two of them at your feet!"
"W-W-What are you talking about?" Tora's body stiffened and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Don't play coy." A mischievous smirk spread across Teiden's lips. It wasn't the conversation he had been hoping for, but at least he got the subject going. "You've been talking with Tobuga more than with anyone else and everyone has seen you entering class with Netsuka everyday. I even have it on good authority that you make breakfast and dinner for her."
Everyone that had remained at the table was now looking at Tora, looks on their faces that went from curiosity to amusement to… not disgust, but something close to that.
While it was true he'd spent a lot of time talking with Yui. He never intended to spend that much time with her. Their talks had started with him reporting his successes with Netsuka to her and thanking her again for her help. Later on, they got to talking about anything. She just made easy conversation.
"It's nothing like that!" His face becoming a deeper and deeper shade of red. "Yui helped me with some stuff and-"
"You're already on a first name basis with Tobuga?!" This time it was Gekitai who spoke up. The attracting/repelling Quirk user had a look on his face that complemented the surprise and hint of admiration in his voice. "You attract things faster than my Quirk does!" He joked.
"It's nothing like that!" His face was by now buried in his hands, slightly muffling his yelling. "We're just friends! I hardly know her!"
"You don't have to know someone to have an eye on them, you know." Teiden scooted closer to Tora and gave him a pat on the back. "We're just messing with you, man. How about Netsuka then? You seem a lot closer with her."
"No!" The frustration and exasperation was more than clear in Tora's voice. "We're the only two of our class that live in the dorms. We walk to class together because we come from the same frickin' building! I cook for her, because she was living on microwave food and instant noodles! That's all there is to it. I'm here to become a hero, not to find a girlfriend!"
"Weeeell, you can do both, y'know."
"I'm guessing you've already found someone then?" Itsuki intervened, hoping to get some heat off of Tora.
Teiden cheeks began to glow slightly, but he remained confident. "I-I may have my eye on someone, yes. I… just gotta get a bit closer to her."
"You haven't talked to her yet, have you?" Cheikatsu spoke matter-of-factly.
Now it was Teiden's face's turn to drop, tapping the tips of his index fingers against each other while he looked at the table. "She's just difficult to approach. That's all."
"Suuuuure," Itsuki laughed, "It's totally not because you're a scaredy-cat beneath all that bravado."
"No! She actually is. She's a bit shy, so…"
A look of realization shot across Gekitai's face before his loud, boisterous laughter filled the cafeteria, causing some of the surrounding tables to look at them. His own table looked at him until he caught his breath and spoke up, his voice still loud after laughing.
"Oooh… hooh… Oh my god. Are you- Are you really eyeing for Kikai?! The loudest guy in class goes for the quietest girl!"
Teiden shushed Gekitai. "Not the entire school has to know."
"Sorry, sorry… But you gotta admit. That's so cliché it's hilarious. Like straight from a manga."
"I'm telling you, there's more to her than meets the eye. We were comparing test results this week with a bunch of us. Do you know how high Kikai scored on the preliminary tests? She aced everything! That means she's already mastered all subject matter of the first semester."
The rest of the group fell quiet. That was an extraordinary result. Everyone had expected Kikai to be smart. If asked something, she could, albeit stutteringly, answer and explain it to you to the most minute details. She wasn't social, so she wasn't asked a lot, but those who did had come away knowing much more than they had expected.
But nobody knew she was this smart. The entire class had complained that the tests were impossible to pass and most of the questions were things they hadn't even seen yet. Sero had explained that this was to see where everyone stood. If the entire class showed they already understood a subject, they could skip those lessons in class. He had also assured them that the results of this week's tests would not be used for their final grade this semester, so there was less pressure. To hear that Kikai had aced every single of these tests came as a shock to everyone. They knew she was smart, but not this smart.
"So, what?" Itsuki finally spoke, "You're hoping she can tutor you?"
Teiden moved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Nah, I can hold my own in class. Call it curiosity. There's more to her. I just know it."
"Boys, if you're gonna gossip about the class, at least invite me."
The five boys turned around to see Tsuchioru leaning against the backrest of Teiden and Tora's seat, a wide grin on her face.
"H-How much did you hear, Tsuchioru?" Teiden got very scared all of a sudden. Clearly not wanting redhead to know he had a crush on Kikai.
"Not much. I came over when I heard Gekitai laughing. Who's got more to her? I won't tell. Promise."
"We both know that you will. It's only been a week and the other girls already call you Miss Gossip." Cheikatsu spoke in his usual, neutral tone.
Tora knew he was right. Netsuka had told him about Tsuchioru. She didn't have bad intentions, but she loved hearing all the little stories that happened in class and would pester people about things she'd heard. In only one week, she'd already theorized that Kikai and Kagaku were keeping some secret, based only on the fact that they talked a lot.
Tsuchioru fluttered her eyes in fake ignorance, but quickly dropped the act. "Whatever do you mean~? But for real though. I won't tell if it's actually something personal."
Teiden visibly relaxed when she assured him of her secrecy, but he still refused to reveal who he was talking about. After some more futile questioning, Tsuchioru decided she wouldn't get anything out of the boys and went back to her table.
After she left, everyone turned back to their food, the mood much calmer now.
"If you're not prepared to talk about your love life maybe you shouldn't try to get other people to talk about theirs." Gekitai said to Denkyuu with a satisfied smile on his face.
Teiden answered curtly, his enthusiasm much diminished after Tsuchioru showed up. "…Shut up…"
That's all the chapters I've written out so far. Things are probably gonna slow down now.
I'm already partway in the next chapter, so it won't take too long.
I hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. Feel free to give any criticism you feel is needed.
