'Class 1-A Dormitory, late evening'
It had taken an entire hour, but as of now every student from Class 1-A were in the lobby, wondering why they had been called down here. Most of them had just been in their rooms or arriving back from school. Once they were gathered the students decided to chat with each other in wait for the ring-leader of all of this, Mina 'Alien Queen' Ashido to arrive; ready to present her self proclaimed brilliant idea to the anxious teens.
"What do you think all of us were called here for?" Asked Ojiro, who was speaking to his unforgettable yet unseeable friend, Toru Hagakure. "Do you have any idea, Toru?"
"I have no idea! I heard a knock on my door and I saw Uraraka ask for me to come down here!" The transparent girl didn't seem to have an answer. " She didn't really specify any details, but when I saw you and everyone else down here I assumed it was important!" Toru lifted her arm and pointed around at all of the students currently in the lobby; luckily she had been wearing a long sleeve so Ojiro could tell where exactly she was pointing to.
"I'm guessing no one else really has a clue to what's going on down here either." He took a glance around the room, everyone seemed to be curious about what was going on. "Though I suppose we'll just have to wait." The tailed man said calmly, as he wasn't a man of impatience or lividness.
"I just hope we don't have to stand around for long." Toru sighed, "I'm a little tired."
"Would you like to sit down with me then?" He asked. "If you're exhausted we could just sit down over on the couch."
"R-really?" Toru replied with a stutter. "Are you really asking 'me' to sit down with you?" Although you couldn't see it, Toru was blushing quite heavily. Sitting next to Ojiro would be to her something that she would wish for Christmas.
"As long as I get the edge of the couch; my tail becomes uncomfortable sometimes when I sit down." The tail swayed back and forth as a show for emphasis.
"O-of course!" Hagakure said, overjoyed. The two of them took a seat on the couch; Ojiro let his tail rest over the armrest of the sofa. Someone still hadn't given a reason for being summoned here. He still had been quite curious - as the other students were as well. Over by the wall Fumikage & Koda had been discussing similarly; or more so Tokoyami was the one speaking.
"You don't know anything about this either?" Fumikage asked Koda with a similar curiosity to Ojiro. The silent boy shook his head in response. "Well," the bird man continued. "Midoriya is over there with Iida and Shouto." Koda pivoted and stared over at the three of them seated on the couch. The three boys seemed to be discussing something; perhaps it was the answer to what had been perplexing the well reserved man.
"However," he seemed to have an alternative. "Tsuyu is over there with Mina, perhaps she may know something." He stared across the room where the two of them were also speaking to one another. "She was here when I arrived from school and I think it would be safe to assume that she hadn't gone up to her room. I might find out a thing or two-"
Suddenly, the two of them stood at the front of the room.
"Everyone..!" Mina shouted at the top of her lungs; not trying to do so in a rude manner. The room became quiet. The chatter had ceased and everyone turned, gazing over at Mina. To them it seemed as if there would finally be an answer as to why they had bizarrely been requested to come down to the lounge with no explanation. "So," she spoke with her usual peppy tone. "you're probably all wondering why I called you down here!"
"Did we end up doin' something wrong?" Sero called out.
"No!" Mina replied, reassuring Sero with a smile. "Of course not!"
"Are you here to announce you'll be dressing up in a sexy santa outfit?!" Mineta asked without hesitation. His eyes widened, jaw sank with drool, and he had made a 'grabbing' expression with his hands; this was his way of expressing his perverted fantasies. "Is Tsuyu joining in?!"
"Mineta!" The grape boy felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck; Momo Yaoyarozu had struck him in the back of the neck. "Behaviour like that around us is not only highly inappropriate, but defiles us as women." She turned away from him with a frown of frustration.
"You earned that one." Shouto looked back, behind the sofa to see the injured peer; he was staring at the floor, rubbing his neck in pain.
"Anyway!" Mina continued on with what she was going to say. "Now that we're on break we're free to do a lot with our time!" She glanced around at the smiling faces at the desire of sweet relaxation. "So.. With it being around the time of Christmas I had an idea that I thought all of us as a class could do together!"
Fumikage raised his hand, "What would that be?" asking for a specification.
"Are all of you guys ready for this..?" She looked around the room once more with a giant grin; to her it felt as if it was the climax, the highest point of suspense. "Wait for it.." Mina announced. Everyone had grown ever so jittery, with the exception of Bakugo; he didn't seem very interested. The perky girl took a deep breath; finally announcing her marvelous idea.
"Class 1-A should set out tomorrow to find a Christmas tree!" Mina squealed with excitement as she saw faces in the crowd light up.
"A Christmas tree?!" Everyone yelled in unison; shocked.
"We were called down for a Christmas tree..?" Shouto asked groggily, seeming quite tired.
"Is that really all we were called down for?" Jirou replied.
"Well," Kaminari said. "I don't think it's a bad idea. After-all, I guess it'd be pretty cool to make this place look a little more.. 'christmas-y.'" He used air-quotes to signify his made up word.
"I like Mina's idea." Satou chimed in, standing over the two. "It's things like this that'll make it feel more like Christmas."
"Ojiro!" Toru called. "What do you think of this?! I'd love to have a Christmas tree; it'd remind me of home!" She swayed back and forth, excited.
"I kind of like the idea myself." He replied, scratching the side of his head with a smile in response to his friend's jolly attitude.
"A tree.. Koda, what do you think of this?" Fumikage asked. Koda nodded with a smile; he too seemed to like the thought of getting a Christmas tree. "If everyone is heading out I suppose I won't mind tagging along."
Everyone was chatting, nearly everyone had been thrilled about Mina's idea. All of the students had been discussing various sub-topics such as the size of the tree, if they were to decorate it, where would they find one, and would they get an authentic or fake tree? It seemed as if all of the students had been so engaged towards these discussions that nothing else came across their mind; no one had been left out of the conversation.
Well, all except one student.
Yuga Aoyama was standing there by the wall, all alone and no one to speak to. It wasn't that he was purposely left out or anything; he just didn't have many people to talk to. Despite his need to shine in the spotlight there had been very few times where he truly stood out against his peers. It was first after the USJ attack that took place many months ago that Yuga had realized just what role he had been cast as in the play called, "Life." He had been out-shined by heroes & villains alike, this hurt him on a personal level.
It wasn't as if he had an inferiority complex towards everyone. Yuga hadn't had the privilege of growing up like everyone else; often he wondered why he in fact wasn't like everyone else. This made him feel isolated to the majority of people. The boy shared very little about his personal life, so little to the point where no one knew anything about him. This made people believe that he wasn't much of a people person and wouldn't be willing to share anything; which in turn drove others away from becoming closer with him. Although he never expressed it, Yuga Aoyama was very lonely.
Perhaps this was why he felt as if he needed to stand out. If he was in the spotlight then he felt as if people would look at him, maybe even speak to him. It was why he tried effortlessly to appear flashy or have such a unique character; most people would be interested in what they normally don't see. If he could have become interesting enough for heads to turn then there was a chance he could have his wish of being befriended by many.
He wished for Christmas that he could be let in without having to force himself.
"Yuga." A male with a deep voice said. The french boy had awoken from his inner monologue and turned to see who had for once interrupted him. Yuga turned his head and saw a tall student with white hair that covered one of his eyes; sporting a mask around his mouth as well. His most noticeable feature was that he had not two, but six arms. This was Mezo Shoji. "You're standing here alone."
".. But of course!" Yuga replied with his normal tone, doing a flamboyant pose. "I had been merely thinking to myself about a Christmas tree."
"Right.." Shoji said, nodding slowly. "Are you heading out tomorrow?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"..." Yuga was silent, thinking to himself. Was he being invited to an event? It seemed that this time he didn't have to intrude. But, then again, Mina had invited the entirity of Class 1-A; though he wasn't sure who he would spend time and chat with tomorrow. If Shoji was asking him then he supposed he could end up spending some time with him and anyone else who followed. Besides, he had nothing else to do tomorrow so even if he didn't hang out with anyone it was still something to pass the time.
"Yuga?" Shoji called out his name; he waved one of his arms in front of his face.
"Ah, indeed I will come with, mon ami!" Yuga smiled with excitement. "After all, a Christmas tree for a class with as prestige as this must be a near perfect tree." He continued with his flamboyant poses. "I could not bear to see a shabby tree; I will make sure that their standards are at the up-most highest!"
Shoji nodded slowly once more. "Alright.. Well, I suggest you let Mina know before we all head out tomorrow." He took a look over at Yuga, he seemed happy. Before Shoji had walked over he had noticed that the blonde boy was looking down at the floor; not having such a smile as he usually had. The thing about Mezo Shoji was despite his seemingly scary appearance he was quite the friendly person. He never seemed to hesitate to talk to anyone or hold grudges towards those that had wronged him. To him he felt that the quote 'appearances can be deceiving' was very well true.
"Indeed I will." Yuga said. "It'd be absurd not to do so in the first place. I doubt that they would be able to ascertain such a tree without help from, moi!" With that, Yuga Aoyama was sure of his duty for the following day. He hadn't been left out and had personally entrusted himself to find a marvelous tree that was capable of withstanding his high standards. There was little doubt in his mind that he would fail his mission.
All of the students had still been chatting when one of them tried to make their way out from the crowd.
"Hey, Kacchan!" Izuku called out. "Where are you going? You are coming tomorrow, right?" Bakugo was headed for the stairs that lead up to the boy's dorms when he stopped to turn around.
"Why the hell would I?" He replied with a frustrated tone, giving Izuku a dirty glare. "I don't need to spend my day tomorrow searching for a damn tree with all of you." Saying something such as this wasn't out of character for Bakugo; he was usually a lone wolf who didn't enjoy team playing. He also didn't enjoy spending time with Izuku, he felt that his tendency to care for him was annoying. They had known each other since they were in preschool; Bakugo would always shame and insult the kind boy because of his lacking to having a quirk. It hadn't been Izuku's fault though, he was born without the needs to have one. When Izuku had secretly been bestowed by All Might's power and got into a prestigious school for heroes this angered Bakugo much more than anything he had ever done. Their rocky relationship nearly always lead to arguments and rivalry among one another.
"Don't you ever get bored with playing the loner role?" Shouto asked, seeing Bakugo heading out as well.
"Shut it, ice-cube. I don't need to waste my day tomorrow trying to get a stupid tree!" He replied, his anger was evident.
"And what will you do tomorrow?" Shouto said, putting him in a corner. "Everyone's going to be gone for the majority of the day." Shouto gave Bakugo a dead glare as he found that the explosive boy was being unreasonable and holding out because of his own pride. "You'll be all alone with nothing to do; isn't that more of a waste than at least trying to enjoy your break?"
"I don't need anyone." Bakugo coldly replied. With that he headed up the stairs, not looking back for a second. He had surely been confident with his answer, however the group was uncertain of sincerity and truth in that statement. When it came to being a student he usually excelled without the need of any help. His arrogance didn't lead him anywhere in social situations though, often acting rude and getting furious at little comments made towards him. Nearly anyone who met him would use the words 'jerk' or 'asshole' to describe him. In the end, Katsuki Bakugo was not a people person.
Ochako walked over, noticing that Bakugo had left shortly after speaking to the two. "What was that about?" She asked.
"Kacchan doesn't want to come with us tomorrow." Izuku sighed.
"He believes that it's a waste of time to come with, that he'd be fine by himself for an entire day doing nothing." Shouto joined in; he was glaring at the set of stairs Bakugo had taken, possibly waiting for him to come to his senses and realize he's making it worse for himself. This wasn't likely though as Bakugo more often than not stood by his word. If he was going to do something he very well would try his absolute hardest to back up his claims.
"I don't know why he pushes himself aside all the time." Ochako asked herself. "It's not like we're rude to him or anything; in fact he's the only one rude to us." She put her hands on her hips and also stared at the set of stairs he took. "I don't know why he gets so angry all the time, especially at Deku."
"W-well, Kacchan wants to be number one." Izuku answered. "He probably sees me as a roadblock and is angry because my quirk awakened late." He looked down at the floor; it was true that Bakugo had indeed held a grudge over Izuku. Often he would discourage or flat out bully Izuku, however these last few months he's seemed to soften a bit. With him finding out about Izuku and All Might he came to realize exactly why the formerly quirk less boy had surpassed him so easily. This made him go a bit easier as just like Izuku, Bakugo highly respected and admired All Might.
"It's still mean of him to do to you." Ochako changed her view to the now frowning boy. "You're so sweet and kind." Izuku looked up at Ochako with now red cheeks.
"Y-you think I'm s-sweet..?" He pointed at himself, stuttering on his words. 'Did she really mean that?' He thought to himself, embarrassed and flushed over her charitable compliment. It was seeing the shy boy's reaction that made Ochako realize what she had said. It sounded like quite a romantic thing to say to him; which in turn made her blush and look away.
"Y-yes!" She answered quickly, her face was as red as a tomato and felt warm. She ran off in fear of what would come next. The brunette had a fear of being rejected as she felt that it would cause a drift between their friendship. She felt that she wouldn't be able to talk to the boy she had feelings for in the same way, this in turn could also mess up how they worked cooperatively during lessons.
Shoto looked back at how Ochako ran. "Is she alright?" He then turned to look at his friend who was completely red and mumbling to himself. "Better question. Are you alright?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Did I say something wrong..? No, I don't think so.. She's been running from me lately when stuff like this happens.. Could she..? No." Izuku mumbled to himself; usually he did that when he was analyzing someone. However, he had different means for analyzing someone, usually to gain an advantage over them in battle without having to solely rely on his quirk and natural battle instincts. "Shouto, did I say something wrong?!" He looked up at his friend who stared back with a bland expression.
"No. I don't believe so." He shook his head with disbelief. "But, it is quite odd for her to run off like that."
"I have no idea why.." He sighed, believing he had offended her. Shoto saw the disappointment on his friend's face. Although he didn't truly understand why Ochako had run off he had an idea. If he was right about his hunch what he could tell the sulking boy could very well cheer him up and out from his small episode of sadness.
"Izuku," He said. "Cheer up." He placed a hand on his friend's back and lightly smiled. "I believe I know why she ran away so suddenly." And with that, Izuku stopped frowning and stared with curiosity. He didn't know what Shoto was going to say; he wasn't even sure if what he would say could be a plausible reasoning for his close friend's sudden exit from the conversation. "Come with me, it's a little private." The two stood and walked away from the crowd; where they could be alone to speak.
Meanwhile, Ochako had run off to where Mina and Tsuyu were; who were still in fact standing at the front, talking about the Christmas tree.
"Where would we even get a Christmas tree?" Tsuyu asked.
"Well, I do know this one place that's se-" She halted when she spotted Ochako who looked visibly stressed running up towards them. "Ochako!" She called out, trying to make her stop before she accidentally bumped into either of them. Luckily, Ochako wasn't one to be so clumsy and stopped in her tracks before hurting anyone.
"Sorry!" She quickly apologized, bowing to her friends. "I didn't mean to frighten either of you. I just had to get away from something that was bothering me." The nervous girl looked back; not seeing Shouto or Izuku sitting where they had been a moment ago.
"What was bothering you, Ochako?" Tsuyu asked; she made a 'ribbit' sound after speaking.
"Well.." She replied, trying not to become red. "I.. I may have said something a bit embarrassing."
"Ooh!" Mina squealed. "Something embarassing?! Was it something romantic?! Who'd you say it to?! How'd they react?!" She started pestering Ochako with a bunch of questions. Mina even went as far to shake Ochako out of excitement.
"..." Ochako had no reply, as she was quite embarrassed. She looked around the room, now everyone was staring at her and Mina. She didn't want to draw attention to herself or have people putting two and two together. "C-can we go somewhere private?" She asked.
"Oh!" Mina said, noticing Ochako was glancing around the room. Everyone was now staring at them with confused faces. If it hadn't been for her interest in romance getting the best of her they wouldn't have needed to go somewhere private. "Sorry about that!" Mina said, apologizing to not only Ochako but everyone else.
As they walked off Denki spoke up. "Does anyone know what that was about?" Those around him shook their heads.
"I heard something about romance." Momo replied, who had came over and joined in on their conversation a while back. "Or, at least that is what I apparently heard."
".. Romance?" Mineta, who just made himself apparent asked. Everyone who had been sitting near Kaminari froze up for a second; having not noticed Mineta's presence.
"Gah!" Denki said, looking back behind the couch. "Where the hell did you come from?!"
"Duh, I was behind the couch, following Momo." He pointed up at the tall and over-achieving girl; she didn't look very impressed that he had been following her. Momo had never been one to appreciate Mineta's perverted nature. She considered what he did to be a form of sexual harassment and therefore wasn't fond of him being in her presence, but when he wasn't acting so perverted she could at least tolerate him being there. "Dude.." Mineta said. "Mina was shaking Ochako over 'romance' ?"
"Seems so.." Denki looked over at the edge of the couch. "Hey, Jirou!"
"Hmm?" She replied, turning to look at Denki's smiling face.
"Yeah, what do you think about this?" He said, putting his hands behind his head and casually looking over at the punk-rock girl; trying to be charming.
"Whatever it was, Ochako seemed a bit on edge.." She said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah, I know, but do you believe it was about romance?" He said with a smile, hoping Jirou would agree as well.
"It doesn't really matter." She said back, twirling with her ear-jacks with a finger. "But, if Momo's right then I guess so." The group of them pondered about what had been going on between the three girls. It was a mystery to them about what exactly Mina seemed so excited about; or vice versa, what Ochako seemed so nervous about. Either way, to them it seemed personal if they had to move somewhere private.
A few moments later Iida arrived, clearing his throat to get the group's attention. "Ahem, excuse me!"
"Yeah, Iida?" Satou, who had just been listening asked Iida; scratching the back of his head.
"Has anyone seen Shouto or Izuku?" Iida questioned, glancing around at the group of students who in turn shook their heads. "I was taking a roll-call for who would be attending this expedition tomorrow. I was over by Kirishima and Sero when I had noticed they were gone." He pointed back at the two who were laying their feet on the coffee table. "Are you sure you haven't seen them?"
"They could have went back up to their rooms for the night," Momo suggested. "It is getting a bit late."
"Thank you, Momo!" Iida bowed in respect and turned; walking off towards the men's staircase. He saw Momo's suggestion as the most plausible, not imagining Shouto or Izuku to be walking around campus during night time. After all, they had a strict curfew that stated not to be wandering the school grounds after night-time under no circumstance. There were obvious exceptions to these rules however: 'Emergencies of any kind are to be reported to any staff on duty.' He highly doubted that there would've been an emergency that followed up in these last few minutes; if anything he may have connected their disappearance to the outburst of Mina that occurred earlier.
Meanwhile, Shouto had indeed taken Izuku up to the second floor.
"She w-what?!" Izuku let out with shock; his cheeks became redder than before. He was in disbelief at what Shouto had pitched at him.
"Girls don't just run away from someone like that." Shouto informed him, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. "While I myself don't know much about love I can say that it's quite a possibility that she became embarrassed by what she said because she has a thing for you." As Shouto explained it his friend became quite flushed, this was something he definitely wanted to hear. He could tell from his clear expression that Izuku had feelings for Ochako as well. If that wasn't the case then to Shouto there wouldn't be any reason for making such a big deal and reacting like that.
"I.. uh, a-are you sure?" Izuku replied, having trouble finding his words.
"I am almost certain." He assured him. "There's no need to worry; she most likely likes you back." After saying that he watched as his friend's jaw dropped with an alarmed face. Izuku hadn't previously mentioned that he felt that certain way towards his peppy friend. Having this brought up put the love struck boy in an awkward position; this was the first time he had ever thought of a girl that way. There was so much fear clouding the boy's head, Izuku had no idea what to do in a position like this.
Luckily for him he didn't have to further discuss this. The sounds of footsteps followed up a trail of stairs, Iida had arrived.
"Shouto, Izuku!" He called out their names, walking up to them. "I'll need the both of you to tell me if you're planning on hea-" Pausing from his request he noticed that the two had appeared to have been discussing something before he arrived. "Oh!" The tall man took an apologetic bow. "I am so sorry if I intruded on anything! I humbly beg you to forgive me."
Shouto stared down at Iida's unneeded courtesy. "..." A stare was given back at a nervous Izuku, checking how afraid he was at the possibility of his secret getting out. He knew what he had to do and looked back at Iida who was still taking a bow. "Nothing important." He told him, "Though you can mark us down for heading out tomorrow for the tree, right Izuku?"
"Y-yeah." He nervously agreed. It was at this point that Iida stood from his bowing position and nodded.
"We should probably head to bed a bit earlier than normally." The responsible class rep suggested. "We might be trekking around all day which could make us exhausted; so it's best to get as much rest as possible." The two had no reason to disagree and split, all of them heading to their rooms for an early rest. Indeed it would have been quite the busy day tomorrow.
Over at the girl's side of the building a similar conversation had happened between the trio.
"So you won't tell anyone?" Ochako said, sighing with relief.
"Nope. It's a secret between us." Tsuyu claimed, reassuring her.
"Yeah!" Mina joined in. "I'd hate it if my secrets were revealed to everyone, so don't worry!" She held gave Ochako a thumbs up.
"Thank you!" Her smiled had finally returned. "We should really get some sleep for tomorrow though.."
"I'm pretty tired as well." Tsuyu acknowledged her passion for a long night of sleep. It'd been a long day; with class ending for the holidays and learning something so personal about their classmate. All of them, if not the three of them at least were getting ready to call it in for the day. A long day was ahead of them tomorrow.
With that the last day of class had ended; kicking off the first day of Christmas break tomorrow. It was the start of an unforgettable journey that the students of Class 1-A would be pulled into. There were of many more events that would lead up to the climax of Christmas day, one thing was for certain about these days to follow. This one week would truly capture the magical essence of winter.
'Class 1-A Dormitory: Men's Washroom'
"Gr.." Bakugo grumbled as he flossed his teeth. "I don't have to go spend tomorrow looking for a stupid tree.. " Koda, who was right beside the angry Bakugo took a quick look at how aggressively he was flossing his teeth; hoping not to be caught staring. Unfortunately, Bakugo saw him in the mirror. "I saw that!" He turned and grabbed Koda by the collar. "You got something to say, Rock-Head?!" The silent boy held his hands up and shook his head in fear.
"Good.." He let go, allowing Koda to return to brushing his teeth. However, it wasn't a moment later that Bakugo remembered something important about Koda: he didn't speak. In an instant he threw his hand once more against Koda's plaid pajamas; having a tight grip around his collar. "You don't even speak!" The explosive boy shouted. "I bet you're thinkin' of something funny about me right now, aren't you?!" The gentle boy realized that actions weren't going to convince Bakugo.
"N-no!" Koda cried. "Please don't hurt me!" He closed his eyes and braced himself for an attack. It was a surprise to him when Bakugo let go and went back to flossing his teeth.
"Hmph," He groaned. "I'm sorry.." For once in his life, Katsuki Bakugo had apologized to someone. No one, not even his closest friends had ever heard him mutter those two words. It must've been some kind of Christmas miracle to have those words coming from someone as bitter as him. "If you tell anyone I said that I'll kill you, understand?!"
Koda nodded, being calmed down from Bakugo's apology. He swore not to tell anyone as he knew an apology from Bakugo was like wishing on a shooting star. After their little incident the two finished up and headed to bed, finishing the day.
Author's note: Sorry for a re-upload, I found some critical mistakes as I didn't re-read thoroughly, sorry! I appreciate every single review or view that I get. Chapter 3 will be coming soon so no need to worry!