The week leading up to the first official day of school went by fast for Aina. She spent the first day setting up all her plants and hanging up fairy lights till her room was the cozy space she wanted. The rest of the week she spent studying some material Shuzenji sensei had given her or going running laps around the gym. She wasn't sure how to correctly use most of the equipment, so she avoided it for the most part.
When her alarm went off for her first day of school, she ungracefully slapped at it till the sound of chirping birds turned off. Groaning she hit the little switch to turn off the fairy lights she had accidentally left on overnight. She crawled out of bed to open the window and shed some lights in on her plants. Aina squinted down into the courtyard as her eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight. From her window she could see the crowd of new and returning students below, all ready for a new school year.
'There are a lot of them, but I almost expected more,' Aina wondered. True the courtyard was full, but considering the notoriety of UA, and the sheer size of the campus, she had expected there to be almost double the number of students she saw below.
With a deep breath she grabbed her new school uniform and quickly changed. Soon she found herself in front of the full-size mirror she had attached to the back of her door. She supposed the uniform was not too bad, it was at least flattering.
Aina had never taken her appearance into much consideration, and she had never fully appreciated her athletic figure. The fitted jacket was doing her average waist and chest size a lot of favors. She settled on thigh high black socks to go with the skirt, which complimented her long legs. The policy wasn't strict on shoes, so she was able to wear her worn in lace up boots.
Now standing close to the mirror she secured a leaf shaped clip in her hair and straightened her bangs. They were slightly too long and overlapped her eyes. 'I probably should have gotten a haircut before the first day,' she thought in mild panic, 'whatever, I highly doubt anyone is going to care that much.'
Aina sighed, this was as good as it was going to get, she finally decided before grabbing her backpack and heading towards class 1-A remembering what Shuzenji sensei had told her. "Technically I'm your home room teacher but getting to know some of the kids enrolled in the hero program will be good for you. Besides their teacher is bound to have a more interesting first day orientation than anything I could have ever concoct for you."
Aina rushed through the halls, she didn't want to be late for her first day. There weren't many students when she arrived, as many of them were still figuring out their lockers, and she was able to grab a seat towards the back of the class. She had been able to sneak in without too much attention, and she thought it would be a nice quiet morning.
At least she thought it would be until two other students started arguing. "So you must think you're better than me," Aina was shocked by the sheer level of aggressive confidence that just oozed from the blonde guy sitting on the other side of the classroom, "I'm gonna have fun tearin' you a new one."
'Note to self,' she thought as she watched the other student try to diffuse the situation, 'stay away from the blonde dude, he sounds like a jerk.' Despite the other student's best efforts, the conversation to deteriorate till a new student entered the room and stole the attention of the one who had introduced himself as Tenya Iida. It wasn't long after they began catching up that their teacher showed up.
"If you're just here to make friends you can pack up your stuff now," Shouta Aizawa continued to introduce himself to his students before his eyes stopped on her, "and who are you?"
All the other students turned to look at her, "oh um, Aina Suzuki, Aizawa sensei. I'm-"she began to apologize for before he cut him off.
"Recovery Girl's student, I didn't realize you would be joining us today."
"Sorry sir, she told me to report to class 1-A this morning for first day orientation. I can go back to her if- "
"That won't be necessary, do you have a gym uniform," he said it was fine, but from his heavy sigh he let out Aina could tell he was not extremely happy about her addition to his class today.
"Yes sir Aizawa sensei, Shuzenji sensei told me bring it with me."
"Good," Aizawa turned back to the rest of his students, "as for the rest of you put these on and meet me outside."
Aina sighed before rushing to the locker rooms as the rest of 1-A collected their uniform from the front of the class. 'I can't believe Shuzenji sensei didn't tell him I was coming. How embarrassing.' Soon the other girls began filing into the locker room.
She had hoped to escape before anyone said anything to her, but when a pink girl with fluffy pink hair and yellow horns grabbed a locker next to her, she knew that wasn't to be. "Hi there, Aina Suzuku right? That's a cute name. I'm Mina Ashido, you're the mixed curriculum student everyone had been talking about, aren't you? That's so cool, I bet you have a super awesome quirk!"
"Not really," Aina blushed, "I mostly just make plats grow and heal things." Mina laughed and Aina mentally kicked herself 'wow Aina, make plants grow and heal things, why are you so lame?'
"That's super cool though, it'll be nice to have more girls around. Never have enough girl power in the hero game you know?" Mina began changing while having a casual conversation. Aina internally cursed her parents for not letting her meet more people her age. How was she supposed to talk to this person? What did other girls her age even talk about?
"Um yeah, it's nice. I'll see you outside okay," and just like that Aina closed her locked and rushed away while wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole. 'um yeah, it's nice? God I'm such a loser.' Aina continued to mentally panic as the rest of class 1-A began to join her outside.
After a few minutes Mina exited the school and walked over to her, "Hey Suzuki, I wanted to say sorry about before. I didn't mean to make you nervous or overstep any boundaries or anything. You just seemed too cute not to talk to."
Aina gulped a little, Mina's heart was in the right place, and Aina knew she needed to relax a little bit. She couldn't be a basket case forever just because there were people around, "Suzuchan," she mumbled, "you can call me Suzuchan if you want. Everyone at home did."
Mina's face instantly lit up, "all right, a cute nickname for a cute face. You've got it Suzuchan! You can call me Mina," Mina gave her a thumbs up before starting another conversation. They briefly talked about Aina's hometown, and how absolutely empty it was, "wow it must be pretty big culture shock just moving somewhere like this huh, and you went to school online and everything too," Mina whistled, "I couldn't imagine."
"Yeah, it's been a little hard, but I also haven't really done much besides leave my room. So, I wouldn't exactly say I've been experiencing too much "culture shock"."
"Well, if you're down we should totally hang out after school sometime!"
"That sounds really cool Mina, I've actually been meaning to find a bookstore."
"I know of one that's across from an arcade, we could totally go sometime," with that the two girls exchanged phone numbers, and Aina thanked her lucky stars that she was able to make a friend so fast.
It wasn't long till Aizawa gathered the group of student's attentions, "now that everyone's here, we're going to begin out Quirk Assessment Test." It didn't take long for the students to protest about missing the normal orientation that all the other classes were surely attending.
'This must be what Shuzenji sensei meant about a more interesting first day,' Aina sighed, 'how troublesome, I don't even have any seeds on me to use my quirk like I'm used to.'
"If you really want to make the big leagues you can't waste your time on pointless ceremonies," Aizawa explained, "here at UA we're not tethered to traditional teaching methods. That means I get to run my class as I see fit. That includes you Miss Suzuki, while I may not be your home room teacher. When you're with class 1-A you are my student."
Aina shivered a little at being called out as Aizawa began to carry on about how standardized testing didn't allow for those with exceptional quirks to truly be exceptional. 'Is that what normal school is like?' Her mother had allowed her to use her quirk freely during lessons. Granted it wasn't much use outside of science classes. Aina had never been involved in any sports, so she couldn't relate to being held back during any physical activities.
Eventually Aizawa called forth a student by the name of Katsuki Bakugou. Aina immediately recognized him as the explosive blonde from earlier. He stepped forward to throw the ball with his quirk. With a loud, "DIE,' and an impressive explosion Aina felt her jaw drop as the ball flew away with amazing force.
'Explosive indeed,' she thought, 'how in the world am I supposed to come up with a result like that? Think Aina, think.'
"All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero," Aizawa flashed the device he was using to measure the distance of Bakugou's pitch.
'705 meter!? That's incredible!'
"I wanna go, that looks like fun," Mina cheered next to her.
'Fun,' Aina thought, 'yeah right, I'm gonna be sore for days after this.'
"So, this looks fun, huh," Aizawa quickly stomped out the class's excitement, "you have three years to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and play time? Idiots. Today you'll complete in 8 physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately."
'I guess that is why he made the point earlier about how I was still his student. He can decide to expel me if he feels it's necessary. This blows if I get expelled what will I do then?'
"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs," Aizawa lifted the hair from in front of his eyes so he could stare everyone down, "understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now."
'No,' Aina calmed herself, 'I won't go back, I can't.' One of the students started to complain about how it wasn't fair to send someone home on the first day. Aina had not been paying much attention till she heard something that caught her attention.
"Oh, and you think natural disasters are? Or power-hungry villains? Hm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No, the world is full of unfairness. It's a hero's job to try to combat that unfairness. If you wanna be a pro you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next 3 years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus Ultra-Style. Show me it's no mistake that you're here."
Aizawa was starting them was a 50m run. Aina watched closely as she tried to think of a good plan of attack for the day. As each person ran, she felt a nervousness grip her heart tightly, 'how am I supposed to measure up to these quirks?'
Aizawa eventually called her to go last. Unfortunately, she would have to run by herself as there was 21 of them, and only 2 stands to kick off from. 'Okay' she thought, 'think phosphate, think ATP, but move it down.' She did her best to focus through the nerves, and as the little stand made the gun shot sound she willed her muscles to contract at rapid speeds. Moving the ATP from her arms to her legs she was able to get a time of 5.13 seconds.
Aina felt good about her score, but she had miscalculated what it would do to her body. When she stopped sending ATP down her legs immediately buckled. She collapsed past the finish line; her arms were too fatigued to catch herself after receiving the burnt-up leftovers from legs. Because of that she couldn't immediately pull herself up.
"Suzuchan," she heard Mina's concerned cry. Aizawa simply raised a brow, not exactly sure what Aina had done. He hadn't seen any plants, and she clearly didn't heal anything. This hadn't been something that he had expected. He would have to take a closer look at her files later.
Aina took a deep breath inhaling for over 2 seconds and rapidly moving the oxygen to her arms and legs. Once able to pull herself up she stumbled back to the crowd of students. "I'm okay," she awkwardly said to assure those around her.
She was fine, she just needed a second. She hadn't accounted for using so much ATP while not sending any of the waste out of her body. It wasn't something she had attempted before, and her inexperience had caused her to make a mistake. She would have to be more careful in the future.
Aizawa hmphed before continuing the tests, "are you sure you're okay Suzuchan," Mina asked as the two girls did the grip test.
"I'm okay Mina, I just didn't think using my quirk all the way through that time. It won't happen again," Aina made sure not to go over the top for the rest of the exercises. She just needed to not be the bottom; she didn't want to waste all her energy and leave herself with no energy left. Plus having another test leave her gasping like a fish out of water in front of class 1-A was not how she wanted to make her first impression.
She kept her score slightly above average for the rest of the tests, and it passed by uneventfully besides a strange exchange between the kid whose name she now knew as Midoriya and Bakugou. At the end of test, she placed 16th, and Aizawa surprised all of them by saying he had been bluffing about expelling one of them. He dismissed them for that day, but not before asking Aina to take Midoriya with her to the nurse's office.
"Wait Suzuchan," Mina called before, "want to get lunch with me when you're done with that?'
"Sure Mina, I'll meet you in the cafeteria as soon as I'm done."
"Cafeteria," she laughed, "girl I'm taking you out on the town. It's time for you to see some of what the city had to offer."
"Okay Mina, I'll meet you soon," with that she turned to Midoriya, "the nurse's office is right this way."
They hadn't been walking long when Midoriya spoke up, "I'm sorry I don't know your name."
"Aina Suzuki, but you can call me Suzuchan. It's what everyone at home called me."
"Nice to meet you Suzuchan, I'm Izuku Midoriya. You're studying under Recovery Girl right? That must be really cool- "Midoriya started to ramble about Shuzenji sensei's history as a pro hero. Things Aina didn't know, but probably should have.
It wasn't long till they reached the nurse's office. Shuzenji healed Midoriya's finger and sent him on his way with a warning not to make a habit out of visiting her. "See you later Suzuchan, it was nice meeting you." Aina nodded back with a smile as Midoriya rushed away.
"He's a bright boy with so much potential," Shuzenji sighed, but didn't elaborate on her statement, "how was your time with 1-A?"
"Intense."
Shuzenji shook with laughter, "that sounds like Aizawa, he always knows how to make an impression on new students. Keep in mind his students will be your future comrades. Take care to commit to memory not just their names and personalities, but their quirks as well. As a combat medic you will potentially see them in their worst moments. You don't necessarily have to be their friends with all of them, but building a good rapport is highly recommended. Now then, what are your plans for the rest of the day?"
"Oh um, Mi-uh one of the students from 1-A invited me to lunch with her."
"Good, good it's nice to see you're already making friends. Well, I had planned on keeping you for the day, but I suppose that can wait till tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning."
"Thank you Shuzenji sensei," and with that Aina departed to meet with Mina.
"There you are," Mina said as Aina joined her on the stairs, to Aina's surprise there were more people waiting there with here, "Suzuchan this is Eijiro Kirishima and Denki Kaminari, I hope you don't mind, I thought it would be cool if a bunch of us could get together. Sorry I probably should have asked first." Mina smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of her head.
"No it's fine, nice to meet you, I'm Aina Suzuki, or Suzuchan I guess."
"Nice to meet you Suzuchan, hope we're not intruding," Kirishima smiled at her. Aina wasn't really sure how to talk to guys, but these two seemed pretty relaxed. The trio also seemed incredibly cool, far too cool to hang out with her.
"Not at all, where did you guys wanna go?" The group eventually decided on a small but trendy café not too far from campus. Aina had been worried she wouldn't have been able to get along with so many people at once, but it wasn't long before she felt relaxed with the group.
"So Suzuchan, are you going to be with us tomorrow too," Kirishima asked as they were wrapping up their meal.
"Oh um, I don't really know to be honest. Shuzenji sensei said I would be spending a little time with a lot of classes. I report to her in the morning, hopefully I know a more regular schedule then."
"That sucks, we should hang out still," Mina said, "Oh I know! We should train together. Wanna go to the gym with me tomorrow after school?"
"Sure, I don't think I'll be a very good gym partner. I'm not really sure how to use a lot of the equipment."
"What!?" Kirishima shouted, "I can totally help you with that! Proper form is super important when it comes to physical training!"
"This sounds awesome, I'm in," Kaminari said.
"Sounds good to me, I'll see you guys tomorrow then," Aina smiled as she parted from her newfound friends. The walk back to campus was fast, and it wasn't long till Aina found herself back in the comfort of her dorm.
She went about her normal nightly routine, spraying her plants, shutting her window's blinds, and turning on her fairy lights before collapsing on her bed. Quickly she pulled out her phone and was surprised to see she had a message. She opened it hoping it was the message she had been waiting for since her first day at UA.
MINA: Hey girl, sorry if bringing the guys along surprised you. If you don't want to want to meet with all of us at the gym tomorrow, I totally get it.
AINA: No it's fine, I was just surprised is all. I'll see you guys tomorrow after school if I don't see you before then.
Aina sighed before switching over to a different messenger history. She knew it was starting to get pathetic, but she couldn't stop herself. She typed out a message to her mother and sent it out into the void knowing she would never respond. Aina stared at the screen for a few minutes after hitting send the message flipped to read, just like the others.
With a sign Aina sat her phone on her nightstand, making sure to set her alarm for the morning. 'It'll be okay,' she reminded herself as she bathed in the warm glow of her fairy lights, 'tomorrow's another day.'