Chapter 7: Enter the Dorms
AN: Prepare your hearts for this chapter!
"And so, that is the situation we currently find ourselves in" Titan-sensei said, as he was explaining some of the changes that would be happening to his students. Most were minor security changes, some boosts to it, but there was one detail that was glaring them right in the face. And that was the transition to the dorms.
No, technically there was one other. Rather, in the back, one of the attention draws was a new student in the class that everyone, from Samui to Kaori, had noticed to be an oddity. It was one of the two people sitting at a pair of desks that had been shoved together in the back, surrounded by Samuel, Toshi, and Yaro. It was Karu, who had joined their class.
There were some mixed feelings about Karu, given the fact he had been manipulated by villains. Though the fact he had a bomb attached to him that they tried to blow up clearly did help diffuse some of the negative feelings, a few people still had reservations. Especially Wakumo and Franc, who had not been there to see anything. After all, they, the two unreasonably large students of Class 1-A who were way too big really, had been teleported into the crampt, small tunnel rescue zone. Because they had been underground the whole time, they had missed everything, including his and Deru's desperate attempt to save everyone that succeeded.
Karu however, who noticed this, just sighed.
"You know I am Deru right?" Deru said, his voice and appearance identical to Karu. It seemed like no one could really tell the difference.
"No you are not" Utako said, gaining the attention of everyone in class who were in shock, even Deru and Karu.
"What? What does that mean?"
"Its true, eerilie true, that your tone, pitch, basically your voices are exactly identical. But, there are minor differences in the way you speak. Your S is about a milisecond longer then Deru's, and Deru is a tiny bit sharper on his Ts then you. Also, you drag on the M sound a bit more, maybe an eighth of a second, while Deru tends to shorten his Ks by that same amount".
Everyone in the class, including Titan-sensei, stared at Utako for that moment in shock and awe.
"I didn't know you had super hearing also Utako-chan".
"Oh, I didn't" she said. "Its just a part of the training I did. Nothing super about it, any of you could do it".
"Also, anyone with an Information Type Quirk can tell them apart too" Kaori mentioned from his desk near the front.
"Right, anyways. So everyone will have to move into dorms immediately. We were going to slowly move into it, but for safety reasons, its better this way".
Everyone seemed to get a bit chattery at that point, discussing and talking about everything. Some of the girls seemed wary about sharing dorms with boys, but it was quickly clarified that it would be impossible for anything to happen thanks to their new security measures.
And then, a hand was raised, the question that everyone was waiting for. However, the one who it came from was...unexpected.
It was Deru who raised his hand.
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Yes? What is it, Deru-kun?"
"Umm...do we have to move into the dorms?"
"Yes, of course. Now if you need help moving, I am sure we can assist..."
"That...tahts not it. I was just wondering if we really had to".
"Yes. Listen, if you are just nervous or shy, I promise it will be just fine".
Deru didn't respond or object further, but there was clearly something on his mind. At first, not everyone was quite sure what it was about. However, there were a few people who realized what the issue might be immediately.
Once class ended, Titan-sensei went and met with Kotari-sensei in the hall to talk about the dorm arrangements.
"Umm, excuse me. Titan-sensei, Kotari-sensei?" Jiro asked as he, Samuel, Yaro, and Toshi walked up to them.
"Yes, what is it?"
"I think...I think we may know why Deru-kun was so resistant to going into the dorms. And, we were wondering if you might help us find a solution".
"What is it exactly?"
"It...it might be better to see for yourself".
The Destroyed Zone. The Impact Area. The Slums. There were various names to the area that had been hit by the event called the Tokyo Decimation. Although plenty had been rebuilt, or made functional at least, there were also plenty of signs that it was still heavily damaged and could be much, much better.
This was the area that Jiro, Yaro, and Samuel had decided to take Kotari-sensei to. Titan-sensei stood out too much, and Toshi had to take care of his own matters, so it was just the four of them. And at the current moment...they were all in a bathhouse together, naked, using one of Kotari-sensei's Quirks that let them appear as different people. It was really only the faces, since doing four whole people would use a lot of energy to maintain, and only those under the effects of the Quirk would be able to see their true appearances.
There was certainly some minor embarrassment to bathing with their principle, but this was important. And indeed, what they were seeing was both important, and meaningful.
"Come on, Yuma-kun" Deru said to a young eight year old boy as he held him naked on his lap, sitting down. "One, you should not run and move around so much in the baths. Two, you have to at least sit still long enough for me to finish washing all the dirt and dust off you".
"I dont see why though. There is dirt and dust everywhere here!" Yuma argued as he fidgeted.
"Yuma...just...sit...still!" Deru said as he took the soap and started washing the young boy. There was not much of a size difference between them, but there was something.
Eventually, the boy finally stopped resisting though, and submitted to being washed.
"Deru-niichan...do you think we will ever grow big and tall?"
Deru held his tongue for a bit, and then proceeded to start washing his hair.
"...I am sure everything will be fine..."
Meanwhile, Yaro was a bit confused.
"Sensei...what is he talking about?"
"...maybe, its regarding the rumor that was spreading recently. Some people believe there was something spread around the area during the Tokyo Decimation. Something that has been stunting growth in children. There is not enough conclusive data though, and aside from stunted growth, no other commonalities can be found. But, if you think about it...it does seem strange both Deru and Karu would have their growth affected in the same way. It has not affected everyone the same way though, so they wont confirm it, but...".
"...so then, the real reason..."
"Yeah. Yaro, didn't you live right on the edge of the blast?"
"...yeah" he replied. And aside from Deru and Haruto, he was the shortest boy. And with this thought in their mind, they watched as Karu walked over to Deru with a young girl. It seemed she was too young to feel that embarrassed on being in the boy's side, and also
"This one seems attached to you. She apparently wants you to help her next, and only you".
"No way!" another small boy shouted. "You got to cling to him during baseball practice today! I want Deru-niichan next!"
"Wait, what about my turn!" another boy spoke up.
"Don't forget about me!" said another.
"No way! He spent extra time with you last time Yuu-kun!" another girl said. She seemed older then the others, maybe eleven, but was bold enough to stand there without a towel and act like some sort of sub-leader. "And you cant all hog Deru-niichan!"
"But...but...I heard someone was trying to take Deru-kun away from us! We cant let him go!" the one apparently named Yuu said.
With this, Kotari-sensei was beginning to understand the situation, and why Deru was so resistant to entering the dorms.
"I see...let me guess, most of those kids are orphans right?"
"Yeah. Parents either left or died. The one you see standing there, Hanaka-chan? She has been helping, but...she isn't quite there left. And Deru-kun helps them all. He helps teach them how to read, how to write, how to count. He teaches them baseball and bathes them when he can. He does keep some time for himself, but...he wont leave this place anytime soon. Not until some of those kids are old enough to handle the others themselves".
"So, he cant leave this place because other people still need him huh?" Kotari-sensei restated, understanding the issue. It had nothing to do with the class, or the dorms, or being with people. Deru just couldn't abandon the children.
"I think I understand enough now. I can try and work something out, somehow" he said, as the group started to get up. "Ummm, where are you going?"
"Isnt that it?"
"No way. We are already here. You should finish your baths. Proper etiquette and all".
"...ah, right".
And so, the day came that it was time to enter the dorms.
Yaro was at home...
"Come on! Let me go!" Yaro said, tied up naked in his living room.
"No way! We have decided you cant go to the dorms!" one of his older brothers said.
"Yeah! We wont let you leave us!" another one said.
"You are way too soft and weak! We cant let you be bossed around by other people!"
"So you will stay right there!" the fourth one said, as their father came in.
"Alright you guys, stop messing around and let Yaro go. I am sure he will be just fine without you".
"Awwww, come on!"
"No! Just let me out already!" Yaro pleaded. "I dont want to be late!"
Toshi meanwhile was moving towards his school, being driven by his father.
"So, I can do this myself..."
"No way. If my son is going to live in a dorm, I will make it the best damn dormroom ever".
"...thanks dad".
Karu was especially energetic and jumpy that day as he pulled Deru along.
"Oh come on now. I am sure we can easily convince the school to find some sort of solution".
"Yeah...probably. I am just worried, I guess. It would be the best possible solution to just stay there, you know?"
"But, you know, living with everyone else could be really great!" Karu told him, as they headed along towards the rest of their class, which had gathered in front of the dorms building.
Meanwhile, off in the distance, Titan-sensei looked at Kotari-sensei with worry.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? It could be a major issue..."
"Its the right thing to do" Kotari-sensei replied. "If no one will look after them...well, someone has to".
"Someone? Or..."
"Its the best solution".
And then, back in front of the dorms, everyone was looking shocked as they had gathered around the front. Most students were there, but it looked like a few were running late, mainly Samuel and Wakumo from what Deru noticed.
"What is this?"
"I didn't know they would do something like this..."
As Deru approached, he saw the building. Perhaps as a bit of a joke towards the school being called UA, the building was shaped like a U. Probably to seperate boys dorms and girls dorms. Either way, it looked like it would be where they would be living from now on, at least the others would. Either way, Deru took notice of the crowd and made his way around.
"What is everyone gawking at. It's just a build..."
"Deru-niichan! Welcome!"
"Hello Deru-niichan!"
"Hey, everyone! Deru-niichan is here!"
Suddenly, several small children came into view and noticed him. It was Yuu, Hanaka, and Toshi from yesterday. They were three of the older ones, but they were still young, young enough to be even shorter then Deru. However, for some reason they were all wearing maid uniforms...
"What the...Yuu, Hanaka, Toshi? What are you all doing here?!"
"I hired them" Kotari-sensei said as he walked over, though to many it seemed like he just appeared out of nowhere. And with Warp Speed, he probably could. "You see, you students will be responsible for cleaning up your dorms and handling all the chores for the most part, but this place is really big, with the gym and everything. So I thought about having at least some help, but dont expect them to do everything for you. In addition, I had been thinking of exploring the possibility of helping even younger children train and utilize their Quirks and ability to become heroes, as well as just promoting welfare and supporting the community. And, since there were so many orphans around, I thought it would be best to maybe help give those children stability, and help teach them responsibility while also helping make sure they would be able to earn enough money to keep living down the road".
As he explained that, Kotari-sensei smiled further while Deru could not help but drop to one knee as he hugged the three of them, and more as they came out.
"They will be staying in a spare dorm building we created, just in case. Some will have to share rooms though...after all, we wanted to help a large number of them".
And we wanted to make sure we did not miss a single one you had been taking responsibility for... Kotari-sensei thought in his head as he watched Deru and Karu spark with joy, especially Deru.
"Ah, that said, if you all could help watch them and take care of them, that would be great too. Think about it as training, training in how to talk to and deal with young children while acting as heroes, and how to manage things like that" he said as he started walking into the dorms to show them around. "Oh, and also? We do need to decide which of you will become Class President and Vice President. So make sure you vote, okay?"
"Right!" Deru responded, overcome with joy.
However, that was when Kotari-sensei stopped and turned around. "Oh, I almost forgot. A new student will be joining your class today. Her name is Fetch, so treat her nicely".
And then, the very girl mentioned seemed to pop out of the doors.
"Heyo everyone! My name is Fetch, and I will be joining you today!"
She then seemed to scan the crowd, and looked confused.
"This is everyone?"
"Oh no, we had to cut some people out to be those anime characters who get shocked when they meet someone for the first time, and also because we could not fit everyone on the screen".
At that joke, some people chuckled, but others did not.
"...everyone who laughed gets bonus points" Kotari-sensei said in a petty way, causing the whole class to scramble behind him and convince they were the ones who laughed.
"So then" Toshi said, as everyone came back down from remodeling their rooms. Everyone had taken their shoes off and changed now, and were now in relaxing wear or whatever pyjammas they had. Yaro was wearing some starcraft themed pajamas, while Deru and Karu were just wearing some T shirts and shorts. A few people were wearing slippers, but otherwise were barefoot or wearing socks. "Its time to vote on who will be class President. The only rule is that no one can vote for themselves, so Kotari-sensei will be checked out everyone's votes".
"Hold on, Samuel is still not here".
"Its okay" Kotari-sensei. "He called and said he had to do some last minute errands, but he told me his vote so I can do it for him".
"Well okay then. Here is what is going to happen. Everyone will write up their choice on a piece of paper, and submit it. From that, we will then count the names given and will decide who is the Class President and Class Vice President".
"Alright then" Yaro mentioned. He wondered who it would be himself. He though Deru had a good chance, but...there was someone else...
Either way, everyone started to vote. One by one, votes began to be submitted, with Toshi going first, and Yaro going last. That said, a lot of people seemed to have the same ideas it seemed.
And then, after it was all done, Kotari-sensei went to the box, opened it up, and began to tally the votes to confirm.
"Well now, this is interesting...it appears the winner is Samuel-kun. I guess he made an impression, successfully getting help and returning to the USJ to assist" Kotari-sensei said. However, as he looked at the votes, he was a bit shocked. "As for the second person...it appears to be Yukari Yaro-kun".
At those words, Yaro was absolutely shocked.
"What? Hold on, what?"
He could barely believe it when he heard it.
"Are you...sure that is right?"
"Yes. Samuel-kun won with nine votes, but you won second place with six".
"Ehh?" Yaro questioned. After all, Yaro was usually the quiet one. He sat in the back, didn't often make much noise. He was short, easy to overlook, and from what he knew, had not done anything worth noting. In fact, he had voted for Samuel, and not himself.
"If you are curious as to who, Samuel-kun said it was safe for me to say he voted for you".
"Samuel-kun did?"
"He said that even though you dont stand out much, you are always looking out for others, just like him. During the USJ attack, even when you were surrounded and outnumbered, you still did your best to help Deru-kun with his fight. Repeatedly, you had taken notice of other student's issues. You understood the best method to handle Kaori and Utako. You not only notice when other people have problems, but you feel compelled to act".
It was certainly true. Whether people noticed or not, Yaro was always there to help. In the USJ, he was willing to do everything, no matter how embarrassing or weird it might have been, in order to help his classmates. He made a serious impact on Noboru, Haruto, Samuel, Deru, Karu, and Toshi. Jiro too, but he had also voted for Samuel. Maybe he went unnoticed by the rest of his class, but enough people had noticed him to realize he was worth voting for.
"Now then, lets have some snacks while we wait" Toshi said, as some food stuff was brought into the common room. There were even cupcakes, including one extra tasty one in the center. Two people even grabbed for it at the same time...and accidentally tore it in two as they did.
The two turned towards each other, and stared each other in the eyes.
"Deru..."
"Karu..."
"That was my cupcake, you jerk".
"No way! It was mine!"
The two quickly stuffed each half of the cupcake down their throat, and swallowed.
"...you ate my other half" they both said at the same time...and then they both punched each other in the face and started to fight once more.
"By the way, what is this Samuel like?" Fetch asked, curiously intrigued and acting as if nothing was going on in the background.
After refilling up on smoke, Samuel made his way to the dorms. 'Good thing there was a bbq nearby for me to fill up on smoke, thankfully the teachers allowed me to refill before heading to the dorms' He entered the dorms and went straight to the lobby where he was met by the sight of someone he really did not want to see, his twin sister.
"Congratulations Samuel! You were voted to be the Class President!" Kotori-Sensei announced, "Also we have a new student here, her name is E-" but he was cut off by Samuel "The fuck are you doing here Fetch?" Samuel said coldly. Fetch jumped back "SAM? Where have you been? You left home and disappeared 6 years ago! I have been worried sick thinking I'd never see you again!"
As they heard shouting, Deru and Karu stopped throwing fists at each other, although as they grabbed onto each other they sort of fell down comedically, but no one really noticed as all attention was on Sam and Fetch.
Samuel chuckled coldly "That's bullshit, last thing I remember is you yelling at me saying 'you are not my brother!'", he continued "I had finally had enough of everyone's bullshit towards me so I called up Uncle Cole and asked if I could live with him, after explaining what was happening and what happened to Mom and Dad, Uncle Cole was able to take custody of me. Did dear aunt and uncle never tell you?"
Fetch was confused and angry at this information "What bullshit!? What did we do!?"
Samuel laughed "For being able to control Neon, you sure aren't that bright. You all treated me like a monster and avoided me whenever you could, or does that not ring a bell princess?"
Fetch shot back "Well, auntie and uncle were just sad about mom and dad dying and were a bit mean because of it!" Smoke started to come off of Sam, "A bit? You are just saying that because they spoiled you! I was thrown the side by everyone"
Fetch lost it and yelled something she would immediately regret saying, "WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE KILLED OUR PARENTS!" The entire room went silent and the class was in shock 'He did WHAT?' The smoke coming off of Sam's body turned red and for the first time ever, Class 1-A saw Samuel "lose his shit'
Samuel shot back "YOU THINK I WANTED TOO!? YOU THINK THAT I DIDN'T LOVE THEM!? DID THEY EVEN TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY!?"
Toshi tried to step in, but Sam's shouting caused him to back off a little as he was not sure how to get involved or what to say in terms of this development. Yaro was also confused, unable to be sure what to do or say in this situation other then to watch. Samui meanwhile, who was closest to Samuel in that moment, could see the tears roll down his face and wanted to help.
Fetch looked confused "They said you killed them in cold blood."
That seemed to piss him off even more "THAT'S BULLSHIT! I FOUND OUT ABOUT MY QUIRK THAT DAY! I ACCIDENTALLY ABSORBED AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF SMOKE AND IT EXPLODED FROM MY BODY! YES I KILLED OUR PARENTS, BUT I DIDN'T MEAN TOO!"
Fetch went wide eyed and stayed silent. "I HAVE HAD TO LIVE WITH THE GUILT EVERY DAY! I THOUGHT THAT YOU, MY TWIN SISTER, WOULD UNDERSTAND AND BE THERE FOR ME! BUT GUESS WHAT, YOU WERE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"
Fetch started to cry. Samuel continued, "NO ONE BELIEVED ME WHEN I SAID IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, INCLUDING THE POLICE, AND IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF ONE BYSTANDER WHO CLAIMED HE SAW THE WHOLE THING!" (that red smoke guy)
Again, more silence as Sam seemed to tearing up, "THE ONLY PERSON THAT BELIEVED ME WAS UNCLE COLE, HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO DIDN'T GIVE UP ON ME! HE BELIEVED THAT I COULD BE A HERO!"
There didn't seem to be anyone who was quite sure how to act in this instance. Even Deru and Karu had stopped fighting each other and were just on the ground, holding onto each other, as they watched this unfold. After all, in their minds, this was fairly shocking to see.
He ended sarcastically "So forgive me for not wanting to see you again" Samuel smoke dashed out of the dorms, leaving a crying Fetch and a very shocked Class 1-A.
And thus silence befell the dorms, as no one was sure what to say first.
AN: OH DEAR! THE DRAMA! THE ANGST! THE GLORY! ITS SO...SO...BEAUTIFUL! Also, Yaro the unsung hero, finally gaining some recognition. And what a sweet resolution to Deru's conflict. If you are wondering why Deru did not get voted, its because after learning about all he had done, no one wanted to burden him with additional responsibilities. Oh, and some credit goes to DadJokesandPuns for writing the scene between Samuel and Fetch!