Hitoshi began actively avoiding other students at UA.

He didn't want to look at any of them. Couldn't, not after he tried joining 1-A for hero training. Aizawa, Yamada, Nedzu, and hell, even his therapist encouraged him to give it another shot. "You don't have to use your quirk again, if you're not ready," Aizawa had told him. "I can make sure you're only paired with people who have non-combat oriented quirks. I think you'd do well with someone like Uraraka or Yaoyorozu."

Hitoshi couldn't deny that he appreciated the concern, but it wasn't enough to sway him. Not when the entire class saw him for what he really was. He didn't think Aizawa's idea would work, either. Why would anyone want to train with Hitoshi after everything, especially if their quirk wasn't meant for combat? It was a ridiculous notion.

He stuck to his lessons with Nedzu and those lessons only. He waited until after the bell rang and everyone had gone to class to go into his office, and waited until long after it had rang at the end of the day before leaving. He was content to keep this up for as long as he could, even if he knew it couldn't last forever. It was working for now, and at the moment, that was all Hitoshi cared about. He was decidedly ignoring the anxiety looming in the back of his mind at the back of his mind about having to face everyone again.

Unfortunately, Nedzu had other plans.

The principal made tea for the two of them, as he always did. Hitoshi didn't understand why he liked it so much when coffee existed - Aizawa had offered him some despite Yamada's complaints and he hadn't been the same since - but he always kept that thought to himself. He had no reason to think anything was amiss as Nedzu made tea.

That was when Nedzu "accidentally" spilled tea all over Hitoshi's lunch. The excuse was complete bullshit - Nedzu was not that clumsy, and his lunch had been nowhere near the tea when he'd set it down - but the principal didn't care. He gave Hitoshi the fakest apologetic smile he'd ever seen, one that aggravated him to no end - not that he could do anything about it. "Ah, my apologies, Shinsou! How clumsy of me! I suppose you'll just have to get lunch from Lunch Rush today!" He didn't even bother to try to sound genuinely apologetic, the bastard.

Hitoshi just wished he could figure out why Nedzu was doing this in the first place. He clearly had something planned, but what? Everything kept going as normal, minus one little detail. The principal had stepped out for a moment, apologizing and saying he had to do something important before coming back as if nothing happened. He did not elaborate on what the important thing was, and Hitoshi knew he wouldn't get an answer if he asked.

Only a couple minutes passed before the lunch bell rang. "Hm, looks like it's time for us to stop for a while. Better get to the cafeteria!" Nedzu said, voice full of false cheer. Hitoshi did not want to go to the cafeteria - he was perfectly content skipping lunch, he'd been hungry for much longer in the past - but the principal was already ushering him out the door.

He was already trying to figure out which vent would be best to hide in for the duration of lunch - Nedzu made the mistake of teaching Hitoshi all about the school's ventilation system and he was going to utilize that information, damn it - before promptly running directly into someone. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. At least he didn't fall on his ass this time.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but fell short when he saw who he'd run into. It was Kaminari. Because of course it was. So this had been what Nedzu was planning.

"Oh, sorry, man! Didn't see you there!" Kaminari exclaimed, looking sheepish. That confused Hitoshi far more than any of Nedzu's scheming had. He should hate Hitoshi. He shouldn't want to even look at him ever again. And yet, he looked guilty for running into him? He apologized?

Oblivious to Hitoshi's internal crisis, Kaminari looked over his shoulder at the principal. "Hey, Nedzu-sensei! Aizawa-sensei said you needed me for something?" He frowned, a thought seeming to cross his mind. "Am I in trouble for something?"

Nedzu waved a paw dismissively. "No, no, nothing like that. I needed you for something, but the issue's already been resolved. Go on to lunch!"

Kaminari seemed to brighten up at that. "Oh. Okay, then!" He turned to Hitoshi. "Do you wanna eat lunch with me?"

What. Hitoshi was caught too off guard to answer right away. Why the hell would Kaminari want to eat lunch with him? In the time it took to process the question, though, Kaminari had already taken him by the arm and began dragging him to the cafeteria.

His brain caught up to the present and Hitoshi planted his feet, stopping Kaminari from pulling him any further. He turned to look at Hitoshi, the same sheepish look from before on his face once again. "Oh, sorry, are you already eating with someone else?" he questioned, completely misinterpreting Hitoshi's reaction. "I haven't seen you in the cafeteria before, so I just assumed you didn't."

Hitoshi blinked in confusion. "What? No, I'm not."

Kaminari cocked his head to the side, looking an awful lot like a confused puppy. "Oh. Is something else wrong, then? Do you just not want to eat with me? It's okay if you don't, man, I just-"

"No! It's not that, it's just…"

"Just…?" he prompted.

"I just don't get why you want to eat with me!" Hitoshi finally exploded, years of self-deprecation lacing every word. "I don't get why you want to be near me at all! I mean, you saw what happened when we sparred! You shouldn't want anything to do with me!"

The other boy frowned at him. "Why would I hate you for that?" He seemed genuinely confused, as if anyone else would've done it. Hitoshi felt himself nearing hysterics, emotions bubbling up in his chest until he was sure he'd explode.

"Because I…I tried to…I-!" He couldn't quite get the words out, couldn't bear to think about what he'd almost done.

"But you didn't mean to, right?" Hitoshi shook his head. "I mean, something definitely seemed wrong. After I shocked you, you seemed really out of it. Kind of like you didn't know where you were anymore. I don't think you really knew what you were doing, y'know?" He shook his head once again. "So if anything, you should be mad at me! I mean, you were fine until I shocked you!"

Hitoshi frowned, brow furrowing. "That's different. You couldn't have known that would happen!"

"Well, you didn't know what was happening, either, so you can't blame yourself!" Kaminari exclaimed. "I sure don't blame you! Hell, no one in our class does! It was obvious something was really wrong! Everyone's just worried!" He took a deep breath, having worked himself up. "If you're really feeling guilty, though, you can make it up to me by eating lunch with me, okay?" Hitoshi nodded slowly, allowing Kaminari to grab his arm once again and continue walking to the cafeteria.

After a moment of silence between them, Kaminari spoke up again. "Hey, is it okay if we eat with some other people, too? Like I said, everyone was super worried! They wanna make sure you're okay!" Hitoshi couldn't fathom any of them being worried about him. Was Kaminari misunderstanding how everyone else felt, or was that entire class just insane? "It's cool if not, though! They'll understand!"

He had to see how they really felt for himself, though. He knew he probably wouldn't like the answer, but it'd drive him crazy if he didn't know for sure. "That's fine," he managed, trying to ignore how weak and shaky his voice sounded.

"Nice!" Kaminari exclaimed. A short pause, then, "I was thinking of sitting with people other than my friend group. They're great, but they might be a little much! Especially Bakugou!" He mock shuddered at that. "Plus, I'm pretty sure Midoriya would track you down and drag you to his table if you didn't sit there in the first place! He's, like, weirdly insistent on making friends with people!"

Hitoshi didn't know who any of those people were. He'd honestly forgot the names of most of the people in 1-A. He'd had other things on his mind. He wasn't sure if Kaminari knew that or not, but he doubted he cared. The blonde seemed to really like the sound of his own voice.

"Besides," he continued. "I already talked with my friends and we all decided if I could find you, it'd be better if you got to know Midoriya's group first! Though Ashido and Kirishima seemed pretty disappointed about it."

Kaminari had been planning to track him down? Was everyone plotting against him? From the way he'd talked to Nedzu, Hitoshi doubted he knew about the principal's plan. Was being a scheming bastard a requirement for the school Hitoshi hadn't known about? He resisted the urge to sigh.

He seemed to be in way over his head with Class 1-A.

They got lunch together before Kaminari led him to where they were going to sit. Hitoshi was grateful the boy's hands were full. It prevented him from being dragged around again.

"Hey! Look who I found!" Kaminari called excitedly as they reached the table. He set his food down before grabbing Hitoshi, pulling him into the seat next to him.

No one at the table seemed to be judging him, but Hitoshi found himself shifting uncomfortably beneath their gazes anyway. This was a bad idea. Hitoshi didn't know how to interact with people. Even if they didn't hate him now, he knew he'd end up fucking everything up.

A green haired boy smiled brightly at him. "It's nice to actually meet you, Shinsou! I'm Midoriya Izuku!"

That seemed to be the cue for everyone else to introduce themselves. "I'm Uraraka Ochako!"

"Tenya Iida! Nice to meet you!"

"Asui Tsuyu. Call me Tsu, kero."

"Todoroki Shouto."

Most of them already seemed far too enthusiastic for Hitoshi's liking, minus Todoroki, who seemed much more closed off than the others. If this was Kaminari's idea of people who were "not too much," he really didn't want to meet his usual friend group. Still, he nodded and gave a small grunt of acknowledgement to be polite; he wasn't really sure what to say since they all already knew who he was.

Hitoshi managed to get a single bite of food in before they began asking him questions. "How come you're training with us but not in our class, kero?"

"Yeah, I was wondering that, too," Uraraka said. "What class are you in, anyway? I don't think I've seen you before you joined us."

Well, it was better than them asking him why he'd freaked out and tried to kill Kaminari - it was a subject everyone seemed to want to avoid, to his relief - but he wasn't sure how to answer that question, either. How well could he explain it without getting too personal?

"Uh, I kinda missed a lot of school in the past, so Nedzu-sensei's been helping me catch up." A lot of school was an understatement. "It's just private lessons with him right now, but I'm looking at transferring into the hero course next year."

"Nedzu-sensei's giving you private lessons?" Midoriya gaped. Hitoshi blinked, nodding slowly. Was it really that odd? Well, UA was a super difficult school to get into. He supposed remedial lessons must be a strange occurrence. He just happened to have the advantage of having Aizawa and Yamada on his side.

"How'd you even get in, then?" Todoroki questioned. The flat look on his face and his monotone voice didn't change a bit.

Midoriya elbowed him. "Todoroki!" he hissed. "Don't be rude!" Todoroki, for his part, just blinked in confusion, not seeming to understand how his blunt question could have possibly been perceived as rude.

"No, it's okay. It's a valid question," Hitoshi reassured. He shifted in place in discomfort once more. Everyone's eyes seemed to be pinning him in place, boring holes into him, even if he knew they weren't hostile. "I've had some, uh…extenuating circumstances Nedzu-sensei was sympathetic to, so he decided to help me out."

They all shared a look, something in each of their minds seeming to click into place. Had Hitoshi said too much? He hoped not. Or maybe his words helped them understand a little bit better why he reacted the way he did with Kaminari. Extenuating circumstances could mean a lot of things, right? Maybe that was enough for them to understand something bad had happened without giving too much away.

They continued chatting amiably, questioning Hitoshi much less now. But despite how out of place he knew he was, they made sure to include him in their conversations and even managed to make him laugh at one point. It was…nice. He expected to hate every minute of his time here, but he was actually enjoying it.

Towards the end of lunch, Kaminari spoke up with an idea. "Hey, you know that new place that opened up, right? We should all go this Saturday for lunch! It'd be fun!" A chorus of agreements followed.

Kaminari turned to Hitoshi, seeming to have noticed something. "Hey, I just realized something! None of us have your number! You can't tell us if you get permission to go or not if we don't have it!" He held a hand out expectantly. "Here, give me your phone real quick! I'll put my number in and then put yours in mine!"

Hitoshi had definitely not agreed to anything, but he couldn't say no now. Not with the expectant, eager looks on everyone else's faces. He sighed internally, unlocking his phone and handing it to Kaminari.

He watched as his phone was passed around the table, everyone putting their numbers in his phone and his number in theirs. He looked at his contacts once it was handed back to him. It looked strange now. He'd never thought he'd have anyone but Aizawa, Yamada, and Eri in there. It seemed weirdly full now. It made him strangely happy. He quickly put his phone in his pocket, trying to fight down the smile making its way onto his face.

Suddenly, the bell rang, causing Kaminari to groan loudly. "Aw, man! Lunch is over already?" he complained, sighing dramatically. "Well, if I don't see you at lunch again, I'll see you Saturday, Shinsou!"

Everyone else said their goodbyes to him, waving cheerfully as they walked. A piece of Hitoshi he hadn't even known was missing suddenly felt a little more whole again. He gave a small smile to the group. "See you Saturday, then." He hadn't known being with people could feel this nice. He found he couldn't wait to see them again.

Maybe this hadn't been such a bad idea, after all.