The gate to U.A. High is a big as she could remember from the entrance exam. Chaos ensued that day. First time Hana thought she saw light behind the tunnel. Every one of the students in her area had the same psychotic look in their eyes as they practically stampeded over each other, competing to tear the machines apart. She didn't want to think about the savagery of mankind but Hana couldn't look away from the U.A. Black Friday unfolding before her.
Days after the ordeal, when she got the mail from U.A. her mother was practically dancing around the house in happiness. For mom it was a big thing that she got into U.A. Despite being bum about Hana not getting into the Heroics, she was more than happy to see her daughter in the General Department.
It would be a lie if she said she didn't muffle her scream of joy with the pillows. Not only will she be studying in the same school as Midoriya, she also made quite the impression on the local residents. She was the gossip of the neighborhood and every now and then when she and mom went out to get groceries, they start getting all these random snacks from the mouth-covering giggling ladies in the 'mom federation'. She was basically a celebrity; and for two whole weeks of summer vacation, it felt like heaven.
Hana makes a gulp as she crosses over the invisible line between the school and the outside world. U.A. High School – home to the many famous heroes – it still feels like a dream for her to study here and while she feels blissful, she wasn't free of worries. General Department is usually for students who couldn't make it into the hero course. No one there really choose to be there in the first place. She can't really tell if they would be happy to have someone who purposefully chose to be some generals as their classmate.
She suspected that there would be tension between General Department and the Heroic Course. She concluded that much from the clear-cut labels. General Department – the less special little snowflakes. Suddenly, Hana regrets not looking into bullying and mistreatment rumors around U.A. She thought Orudera would be a nice and lovely junior high where she could spend her time there preparing for her future but turn out they had more to offer than just locally acceptable academic levels. With a highly competitive high school like U.A., there bound to be friction and if she's unlucky, even conflicts. She'd like to know how bad it can get.
There's nothing bad about managing expectations.
'Morioka-san!'
Hana turns around, almost jumps at the sight of Midoriya waving at her as he runs up to the gate.
'Mi-Midoriya-san,' she gives him a baby wave, pushing stray hairs out of her face, 'Good morning'
'I didn't think I'd meet you on the first day!' Midoriya stops next to her, catching his breath, 'I thought I was gonna be late'
'..no.. You're fine. We still have time'
Midoriya looks absolutely adorable in his uniform. His tie seems a little bit shorter than it was intended to be, and a bit bigger too but it only adds to his dorky appearance. He still has the same unruly hair, and the same shining eyes. Must be wonderful for him to finally be here.
Hana smiles at the thought.
He looks genuinely happy and somehow that makes her chest all warm and fuzzy. She can hardly tell if he is as nervous as she is.
'Camellia,' Hana whispers.
Hesitantly, she plucks the flower off her head and hands it to him. 'Here,' she mumbles, 'For good luck'
'T-Thanks!' he cracks a surprised smile. She can see his hidden dimple whenever he smiles like that. It makes his cheeks look like flowers. Her heart flutters as she takes a step back.
'You grow flower out of your head, huh?' Midoriya says, opening his unexplainably singed notebook, 'I wonder if it's your hair or if it's your cell. That's actually quite interesting. Biologically speaking if it's your hair then how much can you grow before you run out of hair. Can you use it for-'
As fast as she could, Hana grabs his hands and closes the book. 'M-Midoriya-san!' she begs, 'Don't write it down… please'
'Oh…Er-Erm-Okay… Er…Your hands'
'Oh!'
Hana lets go, faster than when she touches a burning stove. Hiding her flushed pink fingers behind her back, she inches away from him. She can feel her face burning.
Why did I do that?!, thoughts run amok inside her head, the sensation of Midoriya's hands still lingering on her skin.
His hands were so warm, and despite his soft look, he does have the typical rough and firm guy's hands. It's a bit surprising, but at the same time, it is really not either. She knows there was a reason that she feels this way about him, that even though she did nothing but stand and watch him get bullied, she knows deep down how strong he is. It was his hidden strength that makes her fall for him. When she held his hands, Hana felt it. Every callus on his palm, and the slightly protruding vein under his skin. It wasn't a hand of a weakling like people seem to think he is. It was a hand of someone who has been silently working towards their goal.
'S-sorry' he apologies, 'I get excited about Quirk sometimes. Sorry about that. It's kind creepy, isn't it?'
'No! Not at all!' she denies, 'I think it's a smart thing to do. It's just… I'm not worth a write do..w..n'
Her sentence trails off as she cautiously sneaks a few looks at his notes, studying the blackened rims of the paper. It's his number 13th note already. She presses her lips together in marvel of his diligence.
'Crap! We're gonna be late!'
Midoriya squeaks and Hana look to find that 8 A.M. is closing in on them.
'B-Bye, Midoriya-san!' she hastily waves at him before running off.
She didn't get to see to hear him say goodbye. She didn't dare to wish for that little piece of sunshine. Hana had to get away before he can see how red she was getting, and before flowers start popping out of her head like spring on steroid.
She rushes through the big hall way, half scared of being late, and half curious to see who her classmates might be. If she is lucky, she might be able to even make a friend. The thought grows increasingly attractive as seconds pass. She didn't get to have a chance to introduce herself properly in middle school before and her Quirk pretty much branded her the entire three years, but this is U.A., it's a new beginning. This time, she'll make sure her classmates know who she really is so they can come to her.
Yeah!
Like a help-wanted poster, minus the desperation.
Hana stares at the enormous door that leads to her classroom with the word 1-C practically taking up half the surface. She tilts her head, chin resting on her hand.
'Why would they need such a big door?'
She wonders out loud, touching its refreshingly cold handle. The door suddenly opens, revealing a purple hair student standing right in front of her.
'Ah… Excuse me,' he says.
Hana nods, wide-eye as she makes way for him to go out. He walks tiredly down the hallway, hands in his jacket. There's something about that exhausted eyes of his and the laid-back manner. If she doesn't know any better, she'll say that her first classmate doesn't appear to be quite hyped about the new school year.
Hana steps inside, humming as she goes. The classroom's size seems small now in comparison to the huge door they installed. She picks a seat in the back, quickly move to settle herself down and pulls out her favorite botanical book. Some of the kids looked at her and she returns the gesture with a small nod to replace her bow.
Eventually, her eyes leave them. Still humming to her song, she studies the flowers. Mom always say that she had a feeling Hana would grow to love nature so she named her Hanako. For the most part, she likes the name very much. It's only troublesome when people start asking her why her last name is the same as that of her mom. Their neighbors like to speculate about her life. They took pity on her for not having a dad even though she doesn't really feel anything about it. Her parents got a divorce when she was so young that she can barely remember what her dad looks like. They even move to Musutafu right after the break up. Her mother doesn't like to talk about it so Hana never ask. She's not really that interested in such matter anyway.
What happened, happened.
'Alright, pretties. Let's see who we have here!'
An unfamiliar voice perks her interest. Hana looks up from her book and cringes.
Despite the murmurs rising in the class, their teacher confidently announces.
'Boys and girls, let's hear some introductions!'
Hana looks around the cafeteria.
She kind of like it here. Big, spacious, and lots of good food. She can't really say the same for her classmates though, or their homeroom teacher.
She knew who Midnight was, and frankly she finds her to be an amazing hero, it's just… Hana kinds of expect a teacher to dress a little bit more like… well, a teacher. And her classmates were absolutely cranky. They didn't look like they want to respond to Midnight's questions or suggestions for ice breaking activities one bit. At least not until she pulled out her whip, on which Hana is not going to even comment.
She did expect everyone to be in a bad mood since their class is reasonably adjacent to that of the hero course but she didn't expect them to be right out depressing. Not a lot of the students seem like they want to be there and some of them flatly announced they will not settle for being in General Department.
One of whom she noticed was a boy - two tables before hers.
That boy with the purple hair, she ponders, scooping up another spoon of soup, I think his name was Hitoshi Shinso. What a strange name. Who would name their child like that?
He was very polite though. A bit quiet and reserved, but he doesn't seem like a bad guy. Probably just the type that is difficult to approach.
Hana checks her watch, flabbergasted as she recognizes it's almost time for afternoon classes. She stands up in a hurry, gathering her tray and her belongings. Her steps don't slow down even when she gets nearer to the return counter. A familiar hair passes by and she looks his way, forgetting to pay attention to her own moving direction. Not until her entire left side bumped into someone did Hana notice her own carelessness.
'I'm sorry!' she gasps, bowing constantly to her victim.
'It's alright' a male voice comes through and she looks up, instantly intimidated by the look in this student's eyes. They were of two different colors. One of them mesmerizingly in the shade of turquoise. She could stare at that eye for days for how much it reminds her of Dad's forgotten necklace. Despite their beauty, his eyes are filled with menace, much like that coming from Bakugo, only minus the 'I'm gonna kill you then dance around your grave' factor.
'I'm so sorry' she takes a few steps back, hands still clutching on her tray.
The strange student turns away from her, puts in his tray on the counter and leaves.
He seems like a force to be reckoned with, but she can't quite give a reason why. Hana trusts her senses though. Most of the time she gets bad vibes from people, she is right. She got nothing but deep trust and respect for her intuition.
In any case, she needs to leave soon as well. Hana can't afford to waste time. She needs to become a great student so that one day she and mom can live without having to lower their heads. She should call soon to let her know that she has finally settled into the apartment. Might be time to check on her and granpa's health. With her own move, she couldn't lend mom much of a hand. Deciding that a call will be nice, Hana leaves her tray on the counter and thanks the lunch staff. She heads to class, hopeful that she'd make a good impression on the afternoon teachers. It's going to be interesting to see pro heroes teach them mundane subjects.
Hana spends her day watching or being forced to watch pro heroes' news with her mom that she can't really fathom the idea of those jumping, punching, smashing people putting on a suit and trying to discipline the kids. She looks forward to the experience, but she can't really imagine how it might turn out. To be honest, having Midnight as their home room teacher was pretty much a shut down on her fantasy of an ordinary high school life (as ordinary as U.A. allows). But she knows mom would love to hear about this. Despite Midnight not being on her favorite-heroes-of-all-time list, she is still an icon for confidence and female empowerment. Hana can respect that. Just… maybe try not to wear revealing close around high school boys. They can't really do anything at this stage, but it is painfully awkward to hear them discuss about their teacher's… body parts during breaks.
