AN: hey hey hey im back yo- yeet congrats on having 1k reads wow-
Kindergarten was… nice.
Like, the teachers are nice (condescending) and her classmates are friendly (nosy piece of-).
But anyway. Kindergarten.
Sai hates it. Not because the people there are annoying, no.
It's because her classmates (ew) mistake her as a 'girly' kid who just likes 'girly' things.
'Oh my god, this is like elementary days again.' Sai thought with disdain, as some girls (eww) grabbed her hand (euGH) and tried to pull her towards their group to join their tea parties or whatever. 'Hhhhn why must kids be this annoying-'
She attempted to politely decline the (forced) invitation, so a bit of- ah, violence had to be done to prove her point. Nothing big, really. After all, she can't just hurt little girls. So she just... gave some minor threats.
The group didn't invite (read: force) her to another 'tea party' after that.
But the boys. Don't even get her started on the boys.
Oh god, they're just so… gross. Like, what sane person would willingly eat grass and some probably poisonous bugs?! Not only that, but they kept pushing the everyone- including her -into the muddy parts of the field (why it exists is beyond her comprehension) whenever they get the chance, which not only is troublesome, but also gets her clothes all dirty!
She shuddered, suddenly remembering the first day. She literally had to expose (actually she just introduced herself but it's basically the same thing) herself to everyone. To strangers.
'I want to die.' Sai though blankly, as children, some crying, screaming and/or laughing at something stupid, surrounded her while she curled up in the corner.
Those kind of places became one of her favorite spots, to be honest.
"Are you okay?" Someone asked her, as she looked up and saw the only kid- aside from her -with higher intellect (but still stupid) looking down at her, his hand for her to take. "You look... lonely."
She twitched. 'Oh hell naw. I ain't a loner, kid.'
She scoffed, swatting his hand away as she stood up and dusted herself off, attempting to look extremely annoyed.
But, no. Kids, specifically kindergartners, are apparently ignorant to people's moods. So if the kid was oblivious to her irritation; it's okay, she's cool with it.
BUT THEN HE MISTAKED IT AS SOMETHING AKIN TO SADNESS.
What the fuck.
"O-oh!" He stuttered, "I'm really sorry! Do you want to play with me?" He asked, as Sai stood there looking puzzled for a second.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know what? Sure, whatever." She said, shrugging. She's tired, lonely (there! Sai admits it) and she wants to throw away all of her conflicting thoughts already.
The boy grinned, doing weird hand gestures while at it. "G-great! Let's play tag then!" He exclaimed, as Sai nodded in agreement.
Eh, it's not that bad of a game.
Tenya Iida is having so much fun while playing with the spiky haired girl named Sai.
She is so smart, kind of like one of those grown ups! She's really mature and calm too, as he first noticed her on the first day of kindergarten, observing that she didn't cry, unlike the other children.
She looks neat too, so that's a plus.
Tenya wants to be her friend.
And so here they are, chasing each other on the field just beside their classroom.
He laughed heartily, as Sai attempted to tag him, but failing to, as he was using his quirk- albeit clumsily as he was still too inexperienced to use it -to run faster than her.
She flopped down on the grass, exhausted as Tenya slowed down. He was suddenly surrounded by his other classmates and teachers, cheering and clapping for him.
"Wow, that was so cool!"
"Do it again! Do it again!"
"He was like 'Zoom!' like really fast!"
It was nice being praised by other people, especially if the praise was about how great his quirk is.
"Wow, that's a really good quirk you have there, Tenya-kun!" His teacher praised him, as he looked up at her, red-faced but happy. "You'll make a great hero someday, that's for sure!" That statement struck a chord to him.
'Be a hero...? Like, what nii-san is going to be?'
Tenya grinned from ear to ear, ecstatic about the thought of him becoming like his role model. It sounds too good to be true for him!
"Thank you, sensei!" He said to his teacher, bowing. "I'll work hard to be a hero!" He exclaimed, doing hand gestures as his teachers encouraged him to do his best.
It was too bad that he didn't notice that Sai was looking at him in confusion and incredulity.
What the hell? Why are the teachers encouraging him to accomplish an impossible dream?!
Like, she gets that it's good to encourage a kid to do whatever they want in life, but this?! They're just giving the poor soul some false hope!
And here she thought that adults were supposed to be more insightful than children.
Nonetheless, she didn't stop them, as she saw that the brat was too hung up about 'wanting to be a hero' and would probably not listen to her even if she did explain it rationally.
She flinched, looking away as the teacher noticed her staring at them. "Oh, Sai-chan! Do you want to join us?" Oh great, now she's calling her.
Sai jogged up to them, her spiky hair looking even more dishelved than before as Tenya stared at her in happiness. "Did you hear that, Sai? They said I can be a hero!" He said in excitement, as she just nodded silently.
Eh, he'll probably grow out if his 'impossible dream' phase, like most kids will.
"...about you, Sai? What do you want to be when you grow up?" She blinked, staring at her teacher as she asked Sai the question.
Eh?
"Uh..." Sai uttered dumbly, as her teacher and classmates expectantly waited for her answer.
...To be honest? She really just wants to have job that pays just enough for her to buy food for herself.
(Part of her whispered that she actually wanted to be a famous artist like Da Vinci and Gogh. She immediately squashed that silly little idea as soon as it surfaced.)
But then she just couldn't voice out her (realistic) dreams like that because honestly, what kind of child thinks like that? Only a middle aged man having an existential crisis (which is what her previous life's brother was, by the way) would have that kind of dream.
Actually, it's not even a dream. It's more of a survival plan if she's being honest with herself.
But still, she couldn't say all of that in front of her peers who looked so excited about hearing some random brat's dreams. So what she did was simple.
She threw away whatever dignity she has left- if there even was any -and yelled out quite obnoxiously, "I wanna be a hero too!" with a matching fist pump.
Sai heard the sound of something breaking, and thought that, 'Yeah, that was probably my brain after losing a bunch of cells.'
Sai's teacher is worried for her, and she doesn't know why. Or, perhaps 'worried' is the wrong term. It's more of a suspicion, really.
So yeah. Sai's teacher is suspicious of her.
Maybe it's because of the strange glint that reflects the child's eyes whenever she thinks nobody's looking.
Or maybe it was because she doesn't act like any other child. Because honestly, what kind of child refuses to play during break time? What kind of child prefers a book over a toy?
Sure, there were other kids who acted mature, but it was mostly because they were influenced by someone, like, say, their family.
...Toshinori-san doesn't look too mature, in her opinion. He looks like a tall child, really. A tall skinny child.
But back to the topic in question.
Sai's teacher thinks it's either of the two that worries her, but right now, she's pretty sure it's both.
She looked at the child, who at the moment was playing with Tenya-kun in the field. Sai seemed to be enjoying herself, like any other normal child.
Huh, maybe she was just hallucinating, and the child wasn't actually abnormal.
Still, she couldn't shake the thought off about the kid being unnatural. There was just something... off about her.
She expectantly looked at Sai, as the spiky haired kid obnoxiously declared that she wanted to be a hero when she grew up.
Sai's teacher internally heaved out a sigh of relief, as she thought that she really was just imagining the child as a genius.
After all, child prodigy is a curse, as there are a lot of terrible possibilities for them.
AN: mhm yes i love being smothered in positive reviews- also sorry no appearance of dad might today, he's pretty busy doing work- if you know what i mean ;)