No matter the amount of pressure that she applies, the handkerchief soaks itself red, an all too familiar incarnadine and rank liquid gushing through the fabric to get between her fingers so that it may ooze under her hand. Inko hacks into the cloth that she's using to cover her mouth, fighting back a gag reflex as the white material shades red. The violent cough momentarily puts her mind in a fog that she nearly forgets she's driving. She eases on the brake so that the car will come to a slow and steady stop. Another slew of blood spills out of her mouth and onto the mouchoir.
The woman feels light headed as she rests the top of her skull against the steering wheel. Inko almost closes her eyes to rest but her lids snap open and she jumps to sit up straight when she hears her son ask from the passenger seat, "Allergies again, mom?" The boy's mother hurriedly bunches up the napkin to hide her illness before flashing him a fake smile, remembering that she's not alone in the vehicle. She sees the grounds of U.A behind him through the window, also recalling that she's dropping him off for his first day of hero school.
She feigns wiping her nose, sniffling for added effect. "It must be all those cherry blossoms", the same lie has somehow kept her disease hidden from her son all this time and she has yet to reveal the truth to him. To maintain the illusion, Inko changes the subject with a dismissive wave of herself, "But don't you worry about me, you need to focus on your big day!"
Izuku cocks his head to the side, staring at her closely, almost with a hint of confusion. Inko shudders when his hand places itself over hers. For a moment, she thinks that he's finally figured her out and seen through the healthy facade. But the tender touch and moving expression is just that of an ordinary concern as he says, "I'll always worry about you, mom."
Inko stares at her son, stupefied. She nearly chokes on a wet sob as she tries not to become emotional. "Silly boy", her head shakes to detour the tears that threaten to spill over but she ultimately has to wipe them away with her hand, "You're the one throwing themself in danger to be a hero" Before she can reach over and give her boy a hug, the school bell rings to indicate classes are beginning. "Oh, you should get going, you don't want to be late", Inko realizes she has to cut their farewell short and urges him to go with a gesture.
"Right! Bye, mom!", Izuku pushes open the passenger door and climbs out. He carries his bento box in one hand and hoists his backpack over a shoulder with the other before looking back, "See you later!"
Inko waves and smiles one last time. Then, the door gets shut. It closes the space between her and her son. "Bye, Izuku..", the ill mother no longer suppresses her coughs as she watches her grown child head into the school building.
Once inside, Izuku quickens his pace as he searches the long corridors. "1-A, 1-A..", his class room and number had been included on the acceptance letter he was sent in the mail but he can't find it. He passes a door labeled 1-B right before turning a corner and bumping into someone, "Oop! Sorry!"
When Izuku takes a staggering step backwards, he sees an emaciated man in oversized clothes. Despite the skeletal figure's sickly appearance, the stranger chuckles heartedly and assures the boy, "It's quite alright, young man" Two wilted tufts of blonde hair hang over the guy's gaunt face as he tries waving away Izuku's concerns, "It's my fault for not watching where I was going."
But Izuku waves his hands faster while frantically bowing apologetically anyways, "No, no! I insist! It's my fault!" Concern is written all over the boy's face as he stares up at the haggard looking man. "A- Are you okay?", he worriedly looks behind him and leans to check beyond the hall.
"Perfectly fine", the gangly blonde continues gesturing with his hands to assure Izuku before returning the boy's concerned expression, "Are YOU okay? You look lost."
Izuku bristles a bit at the reminder of his tardiness. He bashfully scratches the top of his head while glancing over his shoulder once more, "O- Oh, yeah .. you wouldn't happen to know where Class 1-A is?"
The blonde's smile looks oddly familiar to Izuku. "You're on the right path", but he's much too locked into the details of finding his class to think deep about it, "Just keep heading the way that you're going and you'll find it at the center of the hall."
"Thank you! Thank you so much, sir!", Izuku returns the man's smile and bows a few more times to express his gratitude before jogging down the corridor. The blonde watches the boy go before continuing on his own way in the opposite direction.
Izuku not too long afterwards finds the entrance to his classroom just as the man had said he would. The door is slightly slid open, left ajar so that the boy can hear the grumbled complaints from someone inside. "-you're a rowdy bunch, aren't you? It took you all eight minutes to quiet down–", Izuku pushes the door the rest of the way so that he can enter.
And he finds himself accidentally interrupting what must be his teacher. An unkempt man with a slender stature and stubble unshaven across his frowning face stands behind the front desk, turning his gaze to the room's newcomer. "Um.. Sorry that I'm late", Izuku nervously waves when he sees his classmates have also all collectively taken to staring at him.
The teacher closes his half lidded eyes the rest of the way as he sighs, "You'll fit right into this class, I can tell" The man halfheartedly gestures with one of his lanky arms towards the desks, "Grab a seat", motivating Izuku to hurriedly go for the remaining one at the back of the room. Izuku has to force back a gasp when he sees Kyoka across from him. "I shouldn't be expecting any other last minute students, should I?", and the teacher takes that as a sign of some sort to not let him off the hook just yet.
"N- No, sir..", Izuku shrinks in on himself as he tries to hide his embarrassment. A few snickers break out from some of the other students.
"Good", the pedagogue shifts his focus off of Izuku to address everyone all at once, "Because I'm only going to say this once" Everyone quiets down and listens intently to the man as he says, "This is the hero course. Not a playground. You should act like adults and not children while in this class", the teacher pauses to let the strict doctrine settle in. He then turns to face the chalkboard behind him and writes his name in big kanji, "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. I'd say pleasure to meet you, but you have yet to prove yourselves hero material to me" The class is taken aback by the statement but further surprised when Aizawa pulls out a set of U.A's exercise uniforms, "Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds if you want to change that.. And do so quickly.. time is a valuable resource."
"Eh?! What about the Entrance Ceremony or Guidance Lessons?!", another girl that Izuku recognizes in his class raises her hand to object. She's the girl with a brunette bob that he saved from being crushed by the Zero Pointer.
"There's no use wasting time on that stuff if I deem you can't cut it in the hero course", Aizawa carelessly dismisses her before pointing an authoritative finger towards the door. "Now, hurry along and get changed before I don't even bother giving you the chance to prove yourselves for making me impatient", his tone tightens just enough that the class gets going almost immediately after he gives the order.
"No running in the halls!", a tall boy with blue hair and rectangular bifocals chops his arms as he tries to stop them all from trampling over one another.
While a blonde boy with a tail anxiously tries to weave his way through the crowded doorway, "Who knew this place was so competitive?"
Izuku lingers back with the few students that silently agreed it'd be smarter to wait for the traffic to mellow out first. One of which is the purple haired girl he became friends with beforehand. Kyoka casually waves as she joins him at his side, "Yo, Midoriya."
"J- Jirou! Hey!", Izuku exclaims with a mixture of relief and nerves. He's happy to see a familiar friendly face, but her close proximity makes him fidget more than usual.
Kyoka smirks, happy to tease the boy that she's befriended. "First day tardiness, huh? Not exactly the best impression to make", she feigns some sass with one hand rested on her hip.
"I didn't exactly plan on it..", Izuku wrings his hands together while looking down at the floor in shame. Even now, he can still feel some stares lingering on him. When he looks up, he sees his teacher's hard glare and half expects the man's eyes to glow red.
Seeing that he's taking her jesting to heart, Kyoka eases up on him. "Nobody tries to be late, you just are", she gives him a light punch on the arm to let him know it's just a joke, "But forget that.." And then raises her ear jacks as a threatening display to shift his worries to her, "I wanna know why you didn't tell me that you made it in or that we'd be in the same class."
Izuku's eyes expand as wide as his mouth opens when he realizes that he's in danger. The boy may not have much experience with girls, but he knows enough from his mother to understand he made a mistake. "I- I'm sorry!", he tries to calm her down with a panicked apology. But Kyoka shows zero mercy, jacks jabbing him in the side of his neck to deliver a small shock.
Not too far from the two, a boy with a lightning bolt in his blonde hair watches in envy. A shorter boy with purple balls atop his head shares the same sentiment. "Ah man, first day and that guy's already got a girlfriend", the small member of the duo slouches in dismay.
"Dang.. and I had my eyes set on her", the blonde looks away before he gets any more jealous and continues to follow the flow of the class to the locker rooms.
"I- I didn't know we'd share the same class", Izuku slowly stands back up as he rubs the throbbing spot on his neck. Once he recovers, he looks up with a tentative gaze, "B- But.." Kyoka is caught off guard by how vibrant his eyes are compared to his smile as he says, "I'm glad we are."
"Sh- Shut it!", and she impulsively zaps him with her ear jacks again. Izuku goes down a second time, shouting before his body thuds against the floor.
A tall girl with her hair tied into a pointed ponytail casts them a troubled look. "We should probably hasten ourselves so we don't upset our teacher", her gaze goes from Izuku's corpse to the culprit. The bespeckled blue haired boy nods behind her as he too takes in the scene.
A girl whose skin is as pink as her hair shoves her way through them to get a look at the scene for herself. A massive grin stretches across her face, "Or maybe you two love birds could get changed togetheerr~", she sing songs teasingly while tapping the tips of the horns atop her head.
"Aww, they're so cute together!", another voice comes seemingly out of nowhere. It takes everyone a moment to realize the empty space that spoke wasn't a ghost, but an invisible girl only visible by her floating school uniform.
"SH- SHUT IT!", Kyoka's face burns bright red until she explodes with embarrassment and lashes out with her ear jacks a third time. The coils snake through the air and stab themselves into Izuku's neck on either side.
The boy spasms from the shock as he screams, "I didn't even say or do anything this time!"
The bespeckled boy reaches down and grabs Izuku by the back of his school blazer's collar. "We shouldn't be idling in the halls!", he reprimands his classmate and begins dragging Izuku like luggage.
"I didn't do anythiinnngg", Izuku continues to moan in agony as he's pulled into the boys locker room. Once inside, his carrier hoists him up to stand upright on his own.
"By the way, I am Tenya Iida from Somei Private Academy", the boy adjusts his glasses as he takes a step back to introduce himself. And then bows at the waist, "I look forward to being your classmate as prospective heroes."
"O- Oh! Me too!", Izuku jumps in surprise. He hadn't been expecting the boy to be so polite. Izuku hastily returns the bow with several, "I- I mean, I'm Izuku Midoriya and I'm happy to meet you too!" When he realizes the others are also in the locker room changing, he turns to face them too and bow, "All of you!"
"Nice to meetcha, Midoriya", a boy with his hair spiked downwards throws Izuku a broad smile to show his appreciation before introducing himself, "I'm Hanta Sero"
"I'm Eijiro Kirishima! It wasn't very manly to show up late, but you seem like a cool guy", and the boy beside him with red hair pointed upwards also returns the greeting.
Izuku blinks once he's finished pulling his shirt over his head, "O- Oh! Th- Thanks?", confused by that last part from Eijiro about being manly.
But the macho boy moves on from introductions to invading Izuku's personal space before Izuku can have the time to dwell on it. "Whoa, what's with that little thing? Is that your quirk?", Eijiro is roped in by the small cord dangling from Izuku's sternum.
"Tch", Izuku's childhood friend scoffs from a nearby bench to make matters worse. The blonde finishes zipping up his P.E jacket before shoving his hands in his pants pockets and storming off.
Izuku opens his mouth to call after the boy, but swallows whatever words he could have said instead. He hadn't noticed Katsuki Bakugo in his class roster until now somehow, but he figures he shouldn't be surprised. Izuku's gaze returns to Eijiro when he turns his head back to attention and he places a hand over the wire exposed upon his bare chest. "Oh, um, y- yeah..", it's suddenly hard to speak to anyone at all.
"Neat! What's it do?", but Eijiro's energetic attitude doesn't seem to notice Izuku's reluctance. The redhead flashes an encouraging shark toothed grin.
"Can we pull it?", the blonde with a lightning streak perks up at the mention of Izuku's quirk and shares some of his own curiosity with a leering lean forwards.
"Is it a kinky thing?", the short ballheaded boy that hangs out with the blonde chimes in from beside him.
And Izuku soon finds himself backing away from nearly all the boys in his class as they all yearn to know about his quirk. He holds up his hands in an attempt to passively ward them off, "G- Guys.. I'm not very comfortable–"
"Please provide Midoriya with space", but Tenya comes to his rescue by stepping in between him and the other boys so that he doesn't have to do anything else. "If he doesn't wish to disclose his quirk's details, then it is not our place to push him", the bespeckled boy adjusts his glasses before glaring at everyone through them that dared to upset Izuku.
Eijiro leans back before realizing his mistake and slumping his shoulders despondently, "Oh.. Right.. Sorry, Midoribro" His apology is sincere as he looks into Izuku's eyes.
"Yeah.. I know what it's like to get teased for having a mutation type quirk, so I'm sorry if I pressured you or anything", Hanta raises his elbows to show his quirk morphed them into the shape of cylindrical tape dispensers as an attempt to empathize with Izuku.
"Nobody should feel embarrassed for something they can't control", a boy with a raven's head chimes in to show his support as well. It helps when more mutation types nod along in agreement like a boy with six arms or another boy with an unevenly shaped head.
"I- I appreciate it, guys, but it's nothing like that", Izuku lowers his defensive hand stance to assure them before reaching around the back of his head with one to prod at his hair, "I just.. I'll show you when the time is right.."
Hanta gives Izuku a thumbs up and another one of what must be his own trademarked grins. "Good enough for me", the boy finishes pulling on his gym jacket before standing up to leave.
Behind him, the blonde boy with a tail awkwardly scratches his head. "I mean, we did just meet, so that makes sense", he shrugs before following Hanta out.
"We must not dally anymore anyways", Tenya chops at the air like it had also offended Izuku somehow before gesturing for everyone to hurry, "Aizawa-Sensei is waiting!"
"Oh, crud! You're right!", Izuku bristles when he remembers the stern teacher and rushes to finish getting dressed. He nearly trips as he slides a leg into his sweatpants.
The blonde with the lighting bolt laughs as he passes by, "Looks like your tardiness is rubbing off on us, Midoriya!"
"Oh no, I'm so sorry!", which only causes Izuku to panic even more. He tries bowing apologetically while still sliding his foot through the other leg hole of his pants.
Eijiro laughs along as he claps Izuku on the shoulder. The boy stumbles but catches himself as the redhead exits, "See ya out there, man."
The slow steps from the only other remaining boy in the locker room barely make an audible tap on the floor's tile as he approaches Izuku. Heterochromic eyes peer out through multi-colored hair that's split down the middle as he says, "Your quirk.. If you.." Izuku waits patiently after the boy's voice trails off. "Nevermind", the tone turns cold before the boy pushes past.
Izuku is left standing alone in the changing room completely dumbfounded by the interaction. He exhales heavily before throwing on the last of his gym uniform and jogging after everyone. By the time that he catches up to his class, they're all already heading outside.
"Hey", Kyoka sidles up next to Izuku before matching his pace, "What took you so long?"
"N- Nothing, just took my time getting changed is all", Izuku tries not to glance in the direction of the bi-colored boy as the class congregates. Unbeknownst to him, the boy doesn't share that same sentiment and shamelessly stares at Izuku.
"You sure it has nothing to do with why that guy over there has been giving you the evil eye ever since you got here?", but Kyoka notices another boy's staring instead. Izuku follows her gaze to a familiar blonde.
Crimson eyes meet emerald green. Izuku looks away, "O- Oh, that's just Ka–", and falters when he thinks about the falling out that he had with his childhood friend. "..Bakugo.. He and I grew up together, so we have a bit of a history..", Izuku tries focusing on Kyoka rather than the blonde as he explains the delicate relationship as briefly as possible.
"Drama? Do tell", but Kyoka's curiosity urges Izuku to continue explaining.
Before he can, the two get split apart by the girl with a brunette bob as she tries to get in between them. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but I've been meaning to say ever since I saw you..", she turns away from Kyoka to face Izuku in order to give him a bright and bubbly smile, "You're that boy that saved me from the Zero Pointer, right?"
"Whoa! You took down the Zero Pointer?! Maybe you ARE manly!", Eijiro perks up when he overhears what she said and speaks loud enough for everyone else to know the same thing he heard.
"And you did it saving a girl?!", the shortest of the class whines just as audibly while clutching the balls atop his head like stress relievers.
"That's hot", the girl with horns and a pink pigmentation bites the bottom of her lip while sizing Izuku up and down. She sneaks a glance towards Kyoka to make sure the girl doesn't notice her evaluation of the boy before returning to her ogling.
"Remarkable", Tenya admires Izuku along with everyone else. The sun gleams off his glasses as he pushes them up from the brim of his nose.
"Impressive", a girl with green hair presses a finger to her mouth as she studies Izuku with her own stare. She also adds a small, "Ribbit", that somehow sounds just as respectful.
"Perhaps I misjudged you", the girl with the pointy ponytail tilts her head to the side as she tries to see whatever everyone else is seeing in Izuku. Beside her, Katsuki grumbles while rolling his eyes.
Overwhelmed by all their praise, Izuku fumbles with his hands as he tries figuring out how to respond. Unable to meet their gazes, he looks upwards at the sky, "Ah! Ah! Everyone just–"
"I see you're all still stuck on socializing and causing a ruckus", but his sight gets drawn back down to the ground when he hears the arrival of his teacher. Aizawa's eyelids still sag so that they're half shut. His voice sounds just as exhausted as he looks as he says, "You're not a very rational bunch, are you?"
The class collectively bows and apologizes, "Sorry, Sensei."
"That was a rhetorical question..", Aizawa pinches the skin between his eyes as he closes them. After sighing and shaking his head, "Whatever.. Just be quiet and listen", he gestures to the marked training grounds and begins explaining their presence there. "Softball throwing, the fifty meter dash, the standing long jump.. Any of those exercises ring some bells? They are your standard no quirk allowed gym tests in middle school. Well, you'll now do them again WITH your quirks as an apprehension test", the site's markers and equipment suddenly looks familiar to the class.
Someone is so thrilled about getting to use their quirk that they exclaim, "Whoa, awesome!"
"Awesome?", which results in a harsh glare from their teacher. "Did you not hear me say this is a test? Whoever lands last on the placement chart will be deemed not worthy of hero material and will face expulsion", Aizawa suddenly looks like a villain when his face stretches into a malicious grin, "How's THAT for awesome?"
"What?! No way!", the pink girl balks and becomes so pale that she loses her unique pigmentation.
"C- Can he really do that?", Hanta nervously scratches at the curved edge of an elbow while glancing around at the others.
And the brunette girl tries raising her hand to object like she had in the classroom, "But it's only the first day! Even if it weren't, that's totally unfair!"
"Natural disasters, highway pileups, rampaging villains.. I'd say the types of challenges you'll be facing should you follow the career path of a hero is also unfair", Aizawa shuts her up with a logical response before flicking his focus to the rest of the class, "Consider this crash course your first taste of what that'll be like."
Starting with Tenya, they start to murmur in solemn agreement. "So this is what it's like to strive for the top.. As expected of U.A..", he flexes his fingers to make his hand into a fist as he gets himself into the right mental state for the challenge.
"If we have no other choice but to overcome our obstacles..", the girl with her hair tied back nods so that her ponytail bobs up and down with the motion.
Izuku watches as everyone but himself comes to accept the teacher's terms. "Hey, Midoriya.. You gonna be okay? I mean.. Your quirk anxiety and all?", only when Kyoka places a hand on his shoulder does he get drawn out of his internal panic. He's relieved to see her consoling expression when he turns to look at her.
"Quirk anxiety?", the brunette girl pipes in as she flicks her focus from Kyoka to Izuku for an answer.
Kyoka shifts her hand to grab the brunette's shoulder next, a bit more roughly than she had with Izuku. "Yeah, so keep your trap shut about what you saw when he saved you, alright?", her voice takes a sharp tone that surprises both the girl and Izuku before it levels out, "For his sake, you'll do it if you're truly grateful."
"O- Okay", the brunette responds with a shaky nod. Then she stiffens straighter and nods with more resolve. "I won't say anything! I promise!", there's a commitment that time for her affirmation.
"Th- Thanks..", Izuku looks between both girls before turning his gaze downwards. He finds himself staring at his chest, placing a hand over his heart. "But I'll have to use it eventually.. And then there'll be no hiding..", Izuku's voice catches in his throat before he can finish what he's saying.
"Bakugo!", Aizawa singles out the blonde boy but his shout gains everybody's attention. Izuku is especially drawn to the mention of his former friend. "How far could you throw in middle school?", Aizawa waves Katsuki over from the rest of the class.
"Sixty seven meters", Katsuki mumbles his answer while kicking a pebble that's in his path to the teacher.
"Try now with your quirk", Aizawa holds out a softball for the boy to take. After Katsuki grabs it, the teacher produces a handheld device that will track the distance the ball gets thrown. "Give it all that you've got", he nods for the blonde to go ahead and perform to the best of his abilities.
Katsuki looks between the ball in his hand and the teacher as he registers the permission to use his quirk. "Heh.. You want me to add some boom to my pitch, eh.. ?", he tosses the ball up and down to catch a few times as a wicked grin spreads across his face. Then, Katsuki winds up for the pitch. And he lets loose. "DIE!", a massive explosion erupts from his palm that launches the softball into the stratosphere.
"Die.. ?", Izuku questions the brash boy's war cry under the cheering chorus of ooo's and awes.
"Manly!", Eijiro shouts through his sharked toothed smile. Izuku swears that he sees stars in the redhead's eyes.
The applause diminishes when Aizawa starts speaking again, "It's important for us to know our limits" The teacher's voice demands everyone's undivided attention as he explains the purpose of the physical exercises, "That's the first rational step to figuring out what must be done to surpass those limits" He then shows them all the reading on the handheld device.
"Seven hundred and five meters?! Seriously?!", the invisible girl expresses her astonishment with a full body recoil and bounce. At least the boy with balls on his head takes notice of the emotive school uniform, her skirt flicking each way with her overly exaggerated motions.
"Whoa!", a muscular boy with short spiked brown hair stares with wide eyes as he reads the number on the device alongside everyone else.
"Midoriya!", Aizawa's shout startles Izuku so bad that the broccoli headed boy almost falls from how hard he flinches. When Izuku looks around at his classmates and points towards himself for confirmation, his teacher nods. "You're next", Aizawa raises his index finger to be aimed at the boy.
"Good luck", Kyoka winces sympathetically but tries to be as encouraging as possible for him. Izuku smiles to show his appreciation.
"Get up here and show me what you've got", Aizawa ushers the boy forward with his finger. Izuku takes a hesitant step towards his teacher. His shaky hand places itself over the cord beneath his gym jacket as he's asked, "Or is being a hero not your dream?"
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I didn't plan on this chapter winding up as long as it is, but I digress. Time to read reviews.
To guillermocejas767:
Pochita nibbling and sawing people's ankles does sound like an appealing story, but you'll be finding out what happened to our canine friend next chapter instead.
I'll leave on that ominous note.
