"I don't see why we have to attend this stupid opening ceremony" groaned Kaminari as the students of class 2A headed up the walkway from their dorm to the main building of U.A, "I mean we live here already" he finished with a sigh. Kirishima walking beside him smirked to his friend as Bakugo called back, "Just coz stupid", tired of Kaminari's complaints.
It was the students first day as second year students and the school was holding it's standard opening ceremony for the new first years who had moved into the campus dorms only a few days ago, their classes and classmates having already been decided before their arrival. All other students were expected to attend as this day was a large milestone for all of them. Reaching their destination class 2A lined up in seating order under the strict instructions of their class president, Iida, alongside class 2B. Many of the students smiled and waved to each other, exchanging comments and holiday stories while they waited for the remaining classes to line up in the large open space around them. Many of the school's teachers were already there, lined up along the side of the sports field, waiting for the students to settle, while some of the more senior staff waited patiently on a portable stage at the front of the arrangement along with their principle.
Bakugo shifted in place, scoffing at himself, impatient for having to attend while Midoriya, who stood behind him, smiled to himself. Today was an exciting day for them all and the spring weather was perfect, a gentle breeze being just enough to keep them cool from the warm sun. The ground around his feet was scattered with the gentle pink petals of the spring blossoms. Bakugo glanced back and Midoriya looked away, knowing that his smile was enough to worsen Bakugo's mood. Their friendship had come a long way over the past year, but Bakugo was still prone to his bad tendencies when he was already in a foul mood and Midoriya knew better than to push his buttons if he could help it. Bakugo merely scoffed again and turned back to face the front, meeting with the back of Todoroki's half and half hair through Hagakure's invisible head. The sight seemed to displease him more so he turned his face to look off to the side of the field, his eyes narrowing as he saw something of interest. Midoriya followed his gaze through the other students to glimpse the new first year students filing onto the field.
"Oh it's the new students!" called an excited Ashido from the line, getting up on her toes and pointing wildly in across the field. Many eyes turned to follow, but the new students seemed unaware of all the staring and continued to line up behind their homeroom teachers. As Iida called for silence, Midoriya couldn't help but to notice something different.
"There seems to be more first year classes this year" he spoke mostly to himself as he watched them finish filing in.
"Just means more competition" grumbled back Bakugo, leaning back a bit to he could glare through the gap Midoriya had been looking through, Midoriya instinctively leaned back to give Bakugo space. A single shoulder bump could set him off like a bomb.
"Good morning all!" called Principle Nezu who had stepped up onto a podium and spoke into a microphone so he could be heard over the still quieting students. The students fell silent as the principle when on, congratulating all the students and explaining some brief rules to the new students. Further up the line, Kaminari yawned to which Iida's head swung back around and glared at him, Kaminari shrinking back.
"Now as some of you may have noticed, we have an extra hero course class joining us this year, many of which have joined us from a fellow northern hero school," as Principle Nezu went on a new teacher stepped onto the stage and came to stand beside the principle. Her appearance reminded Midoriya like their own homeroom teacher, Mr Aizawa. She was a rather tall woman, wearing darkened clothes and sported long dark hair tied back into a low ponytail, revealing her undercut sides. The most remarkable part of her appearance was her abundance of tattoos. Almost every part of her revealed skin showed signs of tattoos underneath, including up her neck. Her face seemed to only part of her not tattooed.
Principle Nezu stepped down from the podium to allow the new teacher to step up.
"Thank you Principle Nezu for allowing myself and my student's to join you here at U.A this year" she bowed her head to the principle before turning to address the students.
"I am Miss Umi and I will be the homeroom teacher for class 1C. I thank you all for having us and hope we can work well together" having said her part she turned and left the stage, returning to her class on the far side of the field as Principle Nezu ended the ceremony.
"A third hero class, can you believe it?" spoke Uraraka excitedly as the class settled into their new classroom seats as the class returned from the opening ceremony.
"I know right!" called back Ashido, her excitement written all over her face and wide smile.
"I don't get what you're so excited about," interjected Kaminari with a shrug as he leaned back in his seat, "They're in the year level below us anyway"
"Regardless," spoke up Todoroki from the rear of the class in a flat tone, "I don't think U.A has ever had more than two hero classes in the same year level before"
A few of the other students looked thoughtful over Todoroki's comment, realising that something was indeed different for the school this year. Midoriya went to speak up, when Mr. Aizawa thrust open the door to the classroom and entered the room. All of the student's knew better than to continue speaking once he entered. As Mr. Aizawa came to a stop in front of the class Ashido's hand shot up. Mr. Aizawa let our a long tired sigh before addressing her.
"Yes, Ashido?" he asked flatly.
"Why is there a third hero class this year?" she blurted out loudly.
"Yes, sensei," added Iida whose hand also shot up into the air as he spoke, "I believe this is the first time in U.A's history of having more than two hero classes per year level, we would all like to know more about this matter"
Mr. Aizawa internally groaned, knowing he would have to tell all before his class could go on with their day.
"We have accepted a number of transfer students this year from another hero course school up north, who for several reason, have had to close down and many of their hero course students have been accepted into different hero schools to continue their training" Aizawa paused for a breath when one of his students, Kirishima, jumped in before he could continue.
"But the school year has just started, if they are all first year's how did they transfer in?" A few other students nodded their agreement in their confusion. Transferring a student was a term usually used when a student changed schools once the school year had already begun.
"Oh I know!" called out Midoriya, rising in his seat with excitement. The rest of the students looked to him, "They came from Hokkaido Academy" Midoriya beamed at Mr. Aizawa and the rest of the student's turned to look up to him also, waiting for confirmation.
"Yes that is correct" sighed Aizawa and the student's broke out into frantic whispers.
"Hokkaido, that's all the way up on the northern island isn't it?"
"Oh it must get cold up there"
"Of course Midoriya would know that"
"Why would the school have to close down though?"
"Hey, didn't a school around there get attacked by villains?"
"No way! Do you think it was that school then"
With a single glare from Mr. Aizawa the students flinched and silenced themselves.
"Many of you are correct," he went on more calmly, "Over the holiday's Hokkaido Academy was attacked by villains. The buildings were severely damaged, students and staff were injured and as a result the school was forced to shut down. We here at U.A have taken on a large majority of the first year students who decided to transfer here. It was obviously a big decision for those who did as it is so far from their home. The students who have joined us have been split up between the three classes AND I expect all of you to not give them any trouble" his gaze drifted over Bakugo.
"To answer you're question Kirishima, Hokkaido Academy is also a dorm school and their hero course begins earlier than most, so when the attack on the school happened the hero courses were already several weeks into their training"
"Gah, imagine doing hero training during the holidays" groaned Ashido. Mr. Aizawa thought of a harsh rebuttal, but kept it to himself. The student's remained quiet for several moments more and believing that their curiosity had been filled Mr. Aizawa went to press on until he spotted Midoriya raise his hand, his expression far less excitable than it was moment's ago. God help me he groaned internally before gesturing for Midoriya to speak.
"I heard that some students went missing during the attack on Hokkaido Academy, is that why the school really shut down?" concern was written all over Midoriya's face as he waited for Mr. Aizawa's answer and many of the other students looked shocked.
"Yes that is true" responded Aizawa flatly, "It was an unfortunate event, but it seemed that during the attack the villain's true goal was to snatch some of the students"
"And they shut down because of that?" called out Kirishima, shocked, "We had the same thing happen to us last year and U.A didn't have to close down because of it" He was of course referring to when the League of Villains had kidnapped Bakugo during the school training camp in the woods the previous year. Several of the students eyes drifted to Bakugo who ignored them and continued to sit in silence, glaring past Aizawa to the black board on the wall.
"You're right," replied Midoriya, looking over to Kirishima with concern, "but for us it was only one student, and we got him back pretty soon after. Even then, it was still a big deal for the school. If I remember correctly, it was seven students that were taken from Hokkaido and none of them have been found yet"
Mr. Aizawa was partly impressed with Midoriya's answer. Northern news wasn't big further south so that explained why most of the student's hadn't heard much about the attack at all, but Midoriya showed full understanding of the school's situation, and more than that, he saved Mr. Aizawa having to explain things further to the students. He quieted the student's whispers with a tap of some papers he was holding and started the school day properly.
The school day was over as the class collected together their things to leave, their English teacher, Present Mic, shouting them some helpful tips on their way out. Midoriya was joined by Iida, Todoroki and Uraraka as they turned down the hallway, taking a leisurely pace back to their dorms. They already had some math homework for later that night. They spoke among themselves about their last lesson and notes they had taken when an announcement came across the school's speakers. A flat monotone voice of an staff member addressing the students.
"Can Midoriya please come to the faculty room" the announcement repeated itself.
"In trouble already Midoriya?" asked Todoroki from beside him as the group of them halted in the hallway, Midoriya looking just as confused by the announcement as the others. Then it occurred to him that it was most likely All Might calling him in. All Might had been busy readying for the new school year with the other teachers so it had been over a week since Midoriya last spoke to him.
"Ah, no. I'm sure it's nothing like that" he retorted with a crooked smile.
"Midoriya you better not have caused any trouble, again," began Iida, waving a robotic arm at him, "as a member of class 2A it would look poorly on the rest of your class if-"
"You better get going Deku" jumped in Uraraka with a smile, "I'm sure whatever it is it's important" She waved him off with a shooing motion and Midoriya returned the smile shyly and headed off ahead of them.
Having reached the school faculty office Midoriya knocked on the door, before sliding it open. All Might's head popped up over the rows of desks and to see Midoriya waiting in the doorway. He got to his feet and motioned for Midoriya to come to him. Midoriya slid the door shut behind him before moving around the first row of desks to pull a neighbouring empty chair up to sit beside All Might.
"Long time no see" All Might beamed down to his student, "what brings you here?"
"Oh, you didn't call for me?" asked Midoriya confused.
"No, I didn't. Why?" asked All Might, his smile lessening a small amount. Midoriya explained how there had been an announcement for him to come and All Might shook his head.
"Wasn't me" said All Might once Midoriya was done. Midoriya looked thoughtful for a moment. Who ever had called him in would have been here waiting for him and none of the other teachers scattered in the room paid him any attention. Midoriya got to his feet, coming to the conclusion that the announcement must have been a mistake. All Might got up to walk Midoriya to the door. He apologized for his busyness as they went and promised he would be free for training soon, which of course made Midoriya smile at him.
"It's all right, honestly" replied Midoriya, batting away All Might's apology. They reached the door, but as Midoriya reached for the handle, it was pulled open from the other side with and the person behind it rushed through, crashing into Midoriya.
"Whoa there" called All Might, "No need to rush"
The person who had crashed into Midoriya was smaller than he was and as the bounced off of him he reached forward and grabbed them by their shoulders lightly to steady them, before releasing them.
"I'm so sorry" spoke a girl's voice. She was looking down at the ground and gave her head a shake from the impact, her short black hair swaying as she did. She went to apologize again, lifting her head to look to Midoriya when she suddenly froze mid word, her expression shifting from embarrassment to shear excitement as she recognised Midoriya.
"Oh my god, oh my god. It's you!" she cried out with joy and hopped up and down lightly on her toes. Midoriya opened his mouth to speak but she bounced forward and wrapped her arms around him, Midoriya freezing in shock. He still blushed when Uraraka stood to close to him sometimes and didn't know how to react to a total stranger hugging him so tightly. Almost on instinct his arms lifted up to shoulder height from the shock of her sudden movement and stayed there as he looked down at her. He hadn't seen her before so she must have been a first year. Perhaps she recognised him from last years sports festival, but even then, this was strange. Midoriya's eyes looked to All Might for help, but he looked just as surprised as he did and offered no help.
"Ah," Midoriya finally spoke up, his arms still lifted up to avoid touching her, "I'm sorry, but do we know each other?" she girl seemed to flinch at his words and slowly unwrapped her arms from him till she stood before him, looking up to him with her light brown eyes.
"You don't know who I am?" she asked, almost hurt. Midoriya's heart squeezed and he felt like his breath caught in his throat. She looked so sad from his words he felt bad. No words came to him and he shook his head gently.
"I'm Izumi" she pushed, but still Midoriya was clueless. She stared into Midoriya's eyes a moment longer as though waiting fro something to click, but when he didn't say anything she let out a long sigh. She looked down at the ground and shook her head to herself before taking a big breath and lifted her head again to meet Midoriya sill confused gaze, a smile on her face, the hurt in her eyes gone. She held out a hand in greeting.
"I'm Izumi, Izumi Midoriya"