Their Hero Academia – Chapter One: Toshi Midoriya and the Day of Many Crises
It was hardly Toshinori Midoriya (Toshi, to most of his friends)'s first time in the halls of U.A. High. He had been here many times before, both when his parents had been asked to guest lecture for the hero course and when visiting Grandpa Might at work. But this was his first time here as a student, assigned to Class 1-A, the very same class his parents had been in.
In fact, it seemed most of the students in Class 1-A this year had at least one parent who had been in that class. The only exception was Isamu Haimawari, the nervous young man he had met the previous night when moving into the dorms. Some of them, of course, he knew better than others, like Katsumi or Izumi or Sora and Tensei, but in one way or another, they were all family. His parents' class had been through hell together and had stuck by each other long after and that had extended to their children.
It was better that way. He couldn't imagine sharing the dorms with a whole bunch of strangers. Granted, Katsumi was occasionally scary beyond all reason and the Iida twins were absolutely exhausting at times and honestly Mineta was… Mineta, but they were who they were.
"I AM HERE! IN THE HALLWAY!"
Toshi nearly jumped out of his skin, narrowly avoiding running into another student in the hallway. He skidded to a stop and turned to see that his grandfather was behind him, looming large over everyone else. He still wore that absolutely awful mustard yellow suit that Grandma Inko had never been able to get him to throw out.
"Grandpa Might," he said, a little annoyed, "I thought we talked about this! I don't need you following me around!" He'd had to have a talk with both Grandpa Might and Dad, who had been sobbing so much Toshi would have said he'd developed a water quirk, if that hadn't been a fairly regular occurrence. Fortunately, both Mom and Grandma Inko had backed him up on this. Not that his grandfather seemed intent on holding up his end of the deal.
Grandpa Might shook his head, grinning. "What? Oh, no, Young Grandson! I am not following you. I am just, ah, on my way to the Teacher's Longue for coffee! Yes, that's it… coffee!"
"You mean the Teacher's Longue that's on the other side of the building?" Toshi asked. His grandfather meant well, but he could sometimes be a bit much.
"Is that where that is? Curse this memory of mine…" Grandpa Might at least had the courtesy to look slightly chastised. Not that either one of them was buying his excuse.
Toshi just shook his head and smiled. "I love you too, Grandpa Might. But this is something I've got to do on my own."
Grandpa Might clapped a hand on Toshi's shoulder and he winced at the impact. His grandfather might not have had One for All anymore, but he was still an impossibly large man (hard to believe he was the same skeleton in some of the pictures around the house) with an imposing physique. Sometimes he tended to forget his own strength. "I know, Young Grandson. But do watch yourself. You've got Aizawa for a homeroom teacher, and he's just as wily as ever. He's long overdue for expelling another class."
"I'll be careful, Grandpa Might. Don't worry. I'll wait until at least the second week of classes before I break any bones."
His grandfather's shocked face was reward enough as he turned and headed to class. Crisis number one, averted.
If you had asked Toshi, he would have said that the first day was probably going to start off pretty well. Even with the incident with his grandfather, he was still holding out hope that further crises could be averted. As he walked into the classroom, he was immediately proven wrong about that.
Haimawari had taken the seat in the back right corner. Unfortunately for him, this had set him on a collision course with Katsumi. She stood before him, cracking her knuckles and looking like she was about to get physical. "Out of that seat, Newb. I'm sitting there."
Haimawari, for his part, let out of a terrified squeak. Toshi sympathized. Katsumi wasn't especially tall, but she was brawny, with thick, muscular arms and legs, and her hair done up into wild spikes that probably took half a bottle of styling jell. Add in red eyes and a truly explosive Quirk, he understood the desire to run from her like a frightened squirrel.
Granted, that wouldn't actually work, as he'd long ago learned when they were kids.
Now, though, Crisis Number Two was beginning to draw a crowd. He was pretty sure he was Mineta and Chihiro pulling out money to make some kind of wager, while Sero was pulling out his phone to record whatever might happen.
And then the Iida twins got involved.
"Katsumi, leave Haimawari alone!" Tensei shouted. "Seats on the first day are first come, first serve."
"There are plenty of other seats!" Sora, his sister, joined in.
"Shut up, Jetset! This is a private conversation!"
"Look, I can get up, I don't mind, really…" Haimawari started, having found his voice, but holding his hands in front of him like a shield.
Toshi sighed. Katsumi was… not a bad person. She just thought in very straight lines. Haimawari was in the seat she wanted, so she needed to remove him from it. He understood it, even if he didn't approve.
"Stay seated, Haimawari. She cannot make you move if you do not wish to," Tensei said, sternly.
"And I said shut up, Jetset!"
"I have a name!"
"Yeah, and when I can tell you and the other Jetset apart, I'll start using it!"
"We are not identical twins, Kirishima-Bakugo," Sora reminded her. "That should not be difficult."
As smart as they were, the twins had never figured out that Katsumi simply liked getting them wound up.
Toshi felt his legs moving, even as his heart was pounding in his chest. He could try and talk Katsumi down from this. He'd probably get slugged for his trouble, but Heroes made sacrifices. Though from his dad's tales of her dad, he had it easy compared to his father dealing with the elder Bakugo.
Fortunately, someone else gto there before he did. A frail but firm hand came down on Katsumi's shoulder. Izumi Todoroki. Very much Katsumi's opposite, she was thin and petite, looking like she might blow away in a stiff breeze, her white and red hair tied up in an elaborate ponytail. But her grey eyes held equal amounts softness and steel.
"Katsumi," she said, quietly. "Please, let it go."
Katsumi jerked away and reared back a first, stopping only when she realized who it was. It was a lot like watching a light switch being flipped, how quickly Katsumi went from ready to fight to ready to walk away.
"Yeah, all right. Since you asked so nice." As long as he had known the two of them, he couldn't recall Katsumi ever actually saying no to anything Izumi asked.
She jabbed a finger in Haimawari's chest, who was shaking so badly he looked like he was going to vibrate out of his seat.
"You got off easy this time, Newb." With that, she took the empty seat at the other end of the same row, shooting an "I'm watching you" glare in Haimawari's direction.
Toshi let out a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. Crisis Number Two was averted. Maybe he'd try and take some time to talk to Haimwarai later, explain that Katsuki was more bark than bite. Or maybe just pass on some other survival strategies.
"Ooooh, she gets me all hot and bothered when she's angry like that!"
And another one begun. He looked to his left to find Mika Mineta fanning herself exaggeratedly, sitting on a desk with her hooves tapping on the floor. Her best friend and frequent conspirator Chihiro Kaminari was perched on the desk next to her.
"Everything gets you hot and bothered, Mineta," he groaned. The best strategy with Mineta was not to encourage her, but that only got you so far.
"Can't blame a girl for not having discriminating tastes, Modoriya. I'm an equal opportunity luster." Her eyes fell on him. "You still working out?"
Crisis escalating! Would anyone notice if he bolted out the door?
"Leave Toshi alone, Mika," Chihiro said. She gave the other girl a playful slap upside the head with one of her Extension Cords. "Can't you see you're making him nervous?"
"Ugh. Such a turn-off. You've gotta grow more of a spine, Midoriya."
Fortunately, that seemed to be enough to get her attention away from him. "C'mon, Chihiro. We need to plan out how we're going to seduce the twins."
Crisis number three was averted. The seduction game was concerning, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. And maybe that different levels of crazy would cancel each other out. The two took up the seats between Katsumi and Haimwarai.
That, at least, seemed to be the end of the various crises, which meant he needed to find somewhere to sit. The next row was already occupied, with Ojiro swapping gossip with Aoyama and Koda in quiet conversation with Shoji, both of whom were rather animatedly using their hands. In the second row, the Iida twins were lost in their own world, sketching something on a piece of paper between them (probably some invention that was equal parts brilliant and dangerous). Next to them, Sero was showing Sato something on his phone (probably something he wanted Sato to try and eat). In the front row, Izumi was seated in the far right desk, organizing her materials. That left him the empty seat between Asuka and Shota.
He took the seat next to the bird-headed girl and his best friend, giving Asuka a polite nod. "Class hasn't even started," Toshi said, "and it's already getting pretty crazy."
"Pretty normal for us, really. *Chirp*" Asuka's features were incredibly hard to read, but he had plenty of practice doing it, and she seemed already exhausted by the whole thing. "I thought Mineta was going to eat you alive."
"I'm… I'm pretty sure she wouldn't actually…!"
"Pretty crazy all right," Shota piped in. "But I bet it's going to be awesome! I can't believe we've all in Class 1-A, how great is that! I can't wait to get started! I'm gonna work so hard to make my Quirk the best I can! What do you think we'll do…"
Same old Shota. Getting a word in edgewise was always a challenge. His purple-haired best friend threw himself into everything he did. He too, was excited to prove himself. But he was worried he was up against an impossible standard. His grandfather had been the Number One Hero for practically forever, his father was one of the greatest Heroes of the current age, and his mother a respectable Hero in her own right. It was a tremendous legacy to live up to and he was deeply aware of all the eyes that would be on him.
"Well, I…" he began.
"All right, let's get this over with."
Thirty-two eyes snapped toward the front of the room, where their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, stood. Toshi hadn't even heard him come in! The man may have been getting on in years—as evidenced by the grey streaked through his hair—but he was apparently just as skilled as he ever was. His eyes narrowed as he cast his gaze over the class and it seemed as if he'd rather be anywhere else in the world right now than in front of their class.
"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher. I taught most of your parents in what were the three most stressful years of my life. So let me warn you now. If any of you look like you're even coming close to repeating any of their mistakes, I will not hesitate to expel you and save us all a lot of trouble."
Toshi was pretty certain that Aizawa was paying particular attention to Katsumi, Izumi, and himself when he said that. Their parents hadn't been that much trouble, had they? And they couldn't possibly have as dangerous as first year as their parents had had. …Could they?
Aizawa was about to continue when the door to the classroom was suddenly flung open with great force.
"I AM HERE! …FOR A PERFECTLY EXPLICABLE REASON!"
Four crises and it wasn't even nine o'lock!