After leaving the principal's office, Izuku returned to 1-H just as homeroom ended. The other Support students gave him fleeting questioning looks but he ignored them as he went to his seat. He let out a sigh as he sat down and put his head on his desk with a 'thunk'. His friend noticed his mood and got up from her own desk to comfort him.
"What did the principal want, Izuku?" Mei asked, rubbing circles on his back with her hands. "Nothing bad, I hope."
Head still on his desk, the greenette let out a flustered sigh before moving slightly to look at his friend.
"Mei-chan, UA is so confusing," Izuku said, lifting his head and rubbing his temples. "It's nothing like any of the other schools I've been to."
"You haven't answered my question, Izuku," Mei stated, sitting back in her own seat.
"Apparently, Maijima-sensei showed my notebook to Eraserhead," he explained. "Who, it turns out, is Aizawa-sensei, Class 1-A's homeroom teacher. He then in turn showed a copy of the section on himself to Principal Nezu. Who then was impressed enough that now Nezu-sensei offered to take me as his personal student to help with my analysis."
"The principal wants to teach you analysis?!" the pinkette exclaimed. "Hero-kun, that's great! If he helps you then your notes will be better. Which means we can make even better babies!"
"Context," Izuku muttered, letting out a sigh. "It is great. I know that. But it's all a bit…overwhelming. I'm not used to teachers actually wanting to help me. And now, Nezu-sensei wants to teach me and yesterday Aizawa-sensei offered to help Hitoshi-kun and I train for the Sports Festival. It's just SO MUCH."
With another sigh, he faceplanted on his desk again and Mei smiled warmly at him with solemn understanding. She knew about how his life at his last school was. As their friendship had grown, he had told her that she was the first real friend he had had since his diagnosis at the age of four. Once it had come out that he was Quirkless, the other kids had begun to distance themselves from him. Not even his childhood friend stayed by his side.
Ignoring and avoiding had slowly turned to bullying. Thankfully, anything physical ended after he started training in self-defense, but that did nothing to stop the verbal abuse from his peers. Comments that he was weak, useless, good for nothing, and other attempts to tear his dream apart. The cusp being Katsuki's suicide baiting less than a year ago. The teachers weren't much help either, turning a blind eye to the bullying or down playing anything he tried to come to them with. Sometimes going so far as 'mishearing' or 'misplacing' any evidence.
He had never let how others treated him change who he was though. He had his mom after all and she supported him to the best of her ability. His dad was on his side too, even if he was on the other side of the world to provide for them. And now he has Mei, Hitoshi, Kirishima, and Uraraka. Along with Maijima, Aizawa, and Nezu. Even All Might…in his own way. Not to mention Stain…or should I start calling the man Akaguro? The way his support system had grown recently sort of felt like the universe was making up for so many years with such a sparse one.
Alright, that's enough of a walk down memory lane and self-reflection.
The next few classes went as normal. Since Nezu had yet to talk to Yamada, during English class he helped out the teacher with passing out papers and helping any students having trouble. Though since it was the beginning of the year, most of the work was reviewing what they had learned in middle school. Izuku was really looking forward to using the time to practice his analysis instead.
Soon lunch time came and Izuku and Mei met up with Hitoshi at their now usual table. They were joined by Uraraka again but there was someone else with her too. He was tall and had short dark blue hair and blues eyes behind square glasses. He gave off a somewhat stiff and serious appearance.
"Hey Mido and Co.!" Uraraka greeted. "Kirishima had other plans, but is it ok if Iida joins us today?"
"Sure, Uraraka-san, Iida-kun, please join us," Izuku answered, gesturing toward the seats which the newcomers took. "What's Kirishima-kun doing?"
"He's trying to tame the class's angry Pomeranian," she answered as she sat, making Hitoshi snort.
"Uraraka-san! That is no way to talk about a classmate!" Iida reprimanded with weird arm chopping motions, though no one paid him much attention.
The group glanced across the cafeteria to see the redhead sitting next to Katsuki along with Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido. The blonde looked pissed but Izuku knew that if he didn't actually want to be there, he would have left the group already.
"Well, good for him," Izuku said, making eye contact with his red-haired friend and gave a smile and a quick nod before turning away. "Sure, Katsuki is a jerk to me, but if Kirishima-kun wants to be his friend then I'm fine with that."
"That's really nice of you, Mido," Uraraka said with a warm smile. "Oh! Let me introduce you. Mido, this is Iida Tenya from Class 1-A. Iida, this is Midoriya Izuku from Class 1-H."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Midoriya-kun," Iida greeted with a stiff bow and a firm smile.
"It's nice to meet you too, Iida-kun!" Izuku chirped with his own bow and smile. "These are my friends. Hatsume Mei in 1-H with me and Shinsou Hitoshi from 1-C."
"Nice ta meetcha," Mei said, offering her customary handshake.
"Sup," Hitoshi greeted with a casual bow.
Iida quirked a brow at their unique versions of greetings, but said nothing more than greeting in return. With introductions finished, everyone started eating and chatting casually.
"Oh, Iida-kun, I've been meaning to ask," Izuku said suddenly between bites. "Are you related to Ingenium?"
The bluenette abruptly stopped eating, almost dropping his spoonful of curry rice.
"…yes, he's my older brother," Iida answered, slightly flushed. "How did you…?"
"Your Quirk. I noticed you have an Engine-based Speed-type Quirk like him," the greenette explained. "Though yours are in your legs while Ingenium's are in his arms."
"Engine Quirks run in my family," the taller boy confirmed, slightly stunned. "But how did you know about my Quirk? I don't believe I've met you before today."
Izuku froze. Crap. That's right. He doesn't know I'm the one who observed them yesterday. He looked pleadingly at Uraraka for help.
"Actually, Iida…you have met him before," the brunette said. "You know the student who was watching our class during training yesterday? That was Mido."
Iida turned his attention to Izuku who took out the beanie and goggles to show he was telling the truth.
"I see…but why the disguise?" Iida asked, fixing his glasses.
"It's because of Katsuki," Izuku explained, causing Iida to glance over at the blonde across the lunch room. "We've known each other since we were kids, but he doesn't like me very much. I didn't want our 'issues' to disrupt your class's training. So, I…'hid'."
"I appreciate your consideration for our education, Midoriya-kun," Iida commended.
"Oh ah, y-you're welcome, Iida-kun," the greenette answered bashfully while he rubbed the back of his head. "Um, I do have a request though?"
"What is it?" Iida asked.
"If you're around Katsuki, please call me Hiro instead of my name," Izuku said. "To help with the disguise, you know?"
"Yeah, like a code name!" Uraraka chimed in.
"Of course, Midoriya-kun," Iida agreed with a nod. "If I may ask, why go so far as a disguise and codename? What would Bakugou-kun do if he knew it was you?"
Taking a breath, Izuku replied, "Because he would tell everyone that I'm Quirkless."
Iida's eyes widened in surprise at his answer, but simply said, "I see. And I'm guessing you want to be the one to tell people?"
"Yes."
The blunette gave a nod in understanding and said, "Very well. I will help you keep your secret. So, did you have any other questions about my brother?"
Mei and Hitoshi shared a look as Izuku broke down into a fanboy onslaught of questions for the engine teen, notebook already out and pencil in hand. The two friends knew that Iida had no idea what he had just unleashed. The pinkette turned back to her chocolate brownie while the purple-haired teen rolled his eyes and smirked at the scene in front of him.
Uraraka was so stunned at the rapidly shot questions that she was still holding her bite of rice in front of her mouth, eyes wide mid bite. Iida was doing his best to keep up with the greenette, answering which ever questions he could understand from the onslaught of words. All while Izuku was talking non-stop with his pencil racing across the paper. It was a sight to behold.
Finally, Hitoshi took pity on the Hero students. "Izuku."
"Yes, Hitoshi-ku…" The questions finally stopped as a blank look spread over Izuku's face. His eyes vacant, mouth slightly open, hand lax as his pencil fell to the table. The brainwasher gently released his Quirk and life returned to the other's eyes.
"Number one, breathe," Hitoshi teased, making his friend blush. "Two, you need to give time for people to actually answer between your questions. Three, eat your food before lunch is over."
"R-right," Izuku said, blushing as he picked up his chopsticks to continue eating his katsudon. Or at least he had tried to when the alarms suddenly started going off and he dropped his chopsticks.
"SECURITY LEVEL 3 HAS BEEN BROKEN. ALL STUDENTS, PLEASE EVACUATE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION."
There was a sudden panic, students running around and trying to get out.
"What's security level 3?!" Iida yelled at a passing upperclassman.
"It means that someone's managed to infiltrate the campus and got past the barrier!" the other student shouted back. "This hasn't happened before in the three years I've been here. We gotta get out of here!"
In the hysteria, the scrambling students became a mob, pushing against each other in an effort to escape. Izuku found himself squished against a window with Iida and Uraraka close by. Mei and Hitoshi were lost somewhere in the crowd. Looking out the window, he could see reporters harassing some of the teachers, well past the UA Barrier.
"Iida, Uraraka!" Izuku shouted, getting their attention. "It's just the media from this morning! The teachers are handling it! We need to get everyone to calm down!"
"What do we do?!" Uraraka asked, trying to stay near them as the mass of students shifted.
"Uraraka, make Iida float!" he ordered. "Iida! You need to get somewhere that will get everyone's attention! Use your Quirk if you have to!"
"Right!" the Hero students said. Iida reached out his hand to Uraraka who, after a few attempts, managed to graze him with her fingers. Gravity released its hold on him and he floated above the crowd. Igniting the engines in his legs, Iida began flying forward, spinning out of control until he crashed into the wall above the door.
Despite the situation, Izuku couldn't help but snicker at his strange looking posture. Iida's arms and legs were positioned in a way that looked like the stick figure on exit signs.
"EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!" Iida shouted, catching the mass of students' attention. "It's only the media! There is nothing to panic about. Everything is fine!"
The students couldn't look away as Iida took control of the situation.
"We are students of UA. We need to remain calm and behave in a way that befits this great institution!"
With his speech, the crowd finally calmed down and slowly dispersed. Izuku was glad to have his personal space back, signing in relief. Everyone returned to their seats in the cafeteria, finishing up their lunches in the little time remaining.
...
Blog name: ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic
Notes extension: post/626548104315977728/chapter-21-ua-is-different