The second day of school he manages to get to the classroom on time.
…that is a fat, fat lie. He runs from the station to UA as fast as he can, wanting to have some time for himself and for socialising before the class starts, but what he finds at the gates is a crowd of people, and in the centre of them… Midoriya.
They're asking him questions, pushing microphones in his face, a camera is pointing at him. He looks… flustered, scared, embarrassed, completely out of place, and most of all trapped.
Ah. Media. The scourge of Earth.
"Excuse me," he says, pushing through the people. "Really sorry, but could you let me through? There we go," he continues talking, making his way towards Midoriya, then loops an arm around his shoulder, and repeats himself as he half-pushes the guy to keep walking with him. "Excuse me, excuse me," he continues talking as he goes through the crowd, until they're safely behind the gate. "You gotta learn how to deal with those vultures, man." He hears an indignant 'hey!' behind, and turns around to stick out his tongue at the reporter.
Midoriya looks at him like he's grown a second head.
"Look, if you wanna be a hero you gotta know when to say no, set boundaries, all that jazz," he stops holding Midoriya in favour of waving his hands at him. "And your first rule should always be 'never talk to media without first talking to your PR team'."
"Shinsou-kun, we don't have a PR team."
"Then don't talk to them, end of story," he says cheerfully and pulls Midoriya closer by his shoulder. He can feel the boy tense, but hears no complaints, so he keeps touching him.
"I have to, uhm, go to infirmary…"
"Mind if I accompany you?" he asks, as a way of testing the waters. The boy relaxes a bit and smiles, nodding.
Recovery Girl fixes him right up, nagging him to not make trips to her too often, and he apologises a good five times before promising to try to not see her anytime soon.
When they're out of the infirmary, Hitoshi loops his arm around Midoriya's shoulders again, and finds him way less tense than before. He even walks a little closer to him. Hitoshi takes it as a success.
Soon they arrive to class, and he hears a sneer coming from Bakugou.
"You found yourself a boyfriend Deku? Got him to pity you? Freak."
Hitoshi sighs, and pulls spluttering Midoriya flush against himself, then whispers "Play along." to him, then speaks up. "What if he did? What are you gonna do about it?" he taunts, "You are still stuck in twenty-first century mindset, you should be ashamed of yourself you pathetic little bigot." He juts out his chin a little and asks, a little louder than is necessary, while still sounding like a whisper: "What do you have against his happiness anyway?"
"You fucker—"
"Not cool, Bakugou, not cool," Kirishima says condescendingly.
"Yeah, what do you have against Deku-kun?" Uraraka asks loudly.
"Yeah man, leave him alone, he doesn't deserve this treatment!" Kaminari pipes up.
The entire class is glaring at Bakugou, and Hitoshi grins. Exactly what he wanted.
Time to deliver the final nail in the coffin.
"Oh, by the way Bakugou?" he intones casually, "We're not together, I just wanted to fuck with you."
Bakugou looks around startled. He looks… lost. Like he expected everyone around him to have the same opinions like him. It's hilarious.
Hitoshi hears very faint footsteps behind himself, so he pushes Midoriya inside and goes to take his seat. Not a minute later Eraserhead enters the classroom.
Bullying the bully will never not be fun for him.
Shouta stares down the downright rabid adults in front of him, already feeling a headache starting.
"Um, about All Might…" The reporter in front of him trails off then proceeds to insult him. "Wow, you're scruffy… What's your deal!?"
"He's not on duty today," Shouta says stiffly. "You are disturbing the classes, please leave." He waves them off, then turns around and leaves.
"O-Oh…! I would like to speak directly with All Might—" he ignores her.
"I feel like I've seen him before…" someone in his hearing range mutters.
"Don't you think you're too scruffy?" the woman from before demands, and he sighs inwardly. He can't believe All Might was able to work as a hero with all this. Vultures. All of them. "Hey! Let me see All Might just for a little—" Her voice is cut off by the loud sound of metallic clinks signifying the raise of UA Barrier. He smirks. Good. Maybe that will teach her to keep her distance.
Probably not. Eh, whatever.
He directs his steps straight to his class, and is pleased to find them all seated. Bakugou is fuming for some reason, and Shouta frowns. Hopefully he hasn't done anything else while he didn't have his eye on him…
"Good morning, class." His greeting is echoed. "Good work on yesterday's combat training." That should have never happened. He would never admit it to them though, they need to have faith in UA. "I saw the videos and results." And the glaring faults of All Might. "Bakugou, you're talented so don't act like a kid," he directs in the blond's way.
"I know," the boy mutters, not meeting his eyes, and he damn near sighs.
"And Midoriya," the boy freezes when he says his name, Shouta gets a bad vibe from it all. "You settled it by breaking your arm again, huh?" Midoriya looks into his lap, damn near shaking. Shouta decides to deliver his criticism anyway… but with a hint of praise too, to lessen the blow. "You can't keep saying you can't help it because you can't control your quirk. I don't like saying the same thing over and over. As long as you fix the control issue, there's a lot you'll be able to do."
Midoriya raises his head and smiles at him, surprised. As if hearing genuine praise for the first time ever. A bad feeling coils in Shouta's gut. He needs to get to the unrestricted file. Fast. "Feel a sense of urgency, Midoriya." The boy straightens, entirely focused on him.
"Yes, sensei!"
"Now, let's get to homeroom business. Sorry for the late notice, but today I'll have you…" he slowed deliberately to see his class tense. Hah. Fools. "…decide on a class representative."
There was a beat of blissed out silence, probably that they were doing something normal, but then, just a moment later, the class erupted into yells and shouts, nearly everyone raising their hands, signalling that they want to be the class president.
"Silence, please!" Iida screams louder than others, and Shouta finds himself half annoyed at the loud noise and half pleased, because the class listens and becomes quiet. "It is a job with the serious responsibility of leading others! It is not a job for just anyone who wants to do it! It is a calling that requires the trust of those around you! If we want to use democracy to decide on a true leader, then we should hold an election to choose one!" Shouta almost snorts. Iida's hand is raised the highest of them all.
The class begins to question his methods, but Shouta pays them no mind. Eventually when attention is put on him he waves them off, zips himself into his sleeping bag, and tells them to do whatever as long as they do it within the time confines of the homeroom.
He falls asleep quickly, to the murmur of their voices.
Hitoshi stares dumbly at the results of the vote, written on the blackboard.
Midoriya got three votes, Yaoyorozu got two votes and he… also got two votes. Despite placing his vote on Iida. What the hell?
"What!? Who voted for Deku!?" Bakugou was quick to stand up and demand an answer.
"It's better than voting for you," Sero points out to his chagrin. Hitoshi snorts a silent laugh he disguises as a cough.
"It appears we'll need to do another quick vote on who's going to be vice representative…" Yaoyorozu says, very seriously.
"No, I don't think it's going to be needed. The spot is yours," Hitoshi replies, giving her a weak smile, his head still spinning because holy shit two whole people voted for him!
"Are you absolutely sure, Shinsou-san?" she asks, yet he can clearly see that she wants this position for herself.
He waves her off, "Positive, I didn't even vote for myself but for someone else!" he says, hoping to crush any doubts in her with it.
"Well then," nearly everyone jumps as Eraserhead peaks out of his sleeping bag, "Midoriya is going to be the representative and Yaoyorozu his vice." Midoriya makes a constipated face, his eyes bulging out and teeth showing not in a smile but a grimace.
"S-S-Seriously?" he moans out.
Yaoyorozu sighs, and murmurs "How vexing…"
Homeroom ends with murmurs and whispers all around the class. Everyone has something to say about the results of the election. Iida looks close to punching a hole in the wall from how he longs to be in Midoriya's place. From the looks of it Midoriya would gladly give it to him.
Izuku bemoans what happened.
He should be happy, he raised his hand like everyone else when Eraserhead announced they need a representative, but now he feels the oppressing weight of it on his shoulder. He's scared of messing up, scared of doing something wrong, scared of failing.
His stress makes the lesson of the day go by in a haze. First Literature, then English, then Maths… He doesn't quite know what he's doing. History comes and goes as the previous subjects and he finds himself lucky that none of the teachers has called him on yet. And then it's time for lunch.
"Wooooah! There are a lot of people today too!" Uraraka-san exclaims loudly, sliding into the seat.
"That's because everyone in the hero course, support course, and management course meets in the same place!" During Iida-kun's explanation, Izuku spots Shinsou-kun and waves towards him, he looks surprised then changes his course to come sit with them.
"Excuse me." He slides into the seat next to him, smiling all the while.
"Oh, Shinsou-kun! Nice of you to join us!" Uraraka-san exclaims loudly, then takes a bite of her rice and makes a blissed-out expression. "The rice is so delicious!"
Izuku picks up his bowl but feels disinterested in eating. He still feels weirdly guilty from being picked… He sighs. "Even thought I've been chosen as class rep, I don't know if I'm qualified for it."
"You are," Uraraka-san tells him unceremoniously through a mouthful of rice.
"It'll be fine," Iida-kun reassures him, as Shinsou-kun gives him a thumbs-up. "Your courage and judgement at critical moments make you worth following." Iida-kun looks down on his food. "This is why I voted for you." He takes a bite of his food.
"It was you!?" Izuku can't help but ask loudly.
"But didn't you want to be a class rep too, Iida-kun?" Uraraka-san asks, once again through a mouthful of food, that she thankfully swallows before her next statement. "With glasses and everything." …woah Uraraka-san really doesn't think before she speaks.
Iida-kun puts down the glass with orange juice he was drinking from, and replies sternly: "Wanting to do it and being suitable for it are different issues. I merely did what I judged to be correct." Everything in this would be normal if not for the fact that Iida-kun used a less pretentious 'boku' instead of his usual 'ore'.
Uraraka-san and Shinsou-kun point it out at the same time as him, and Iida-kun looks between the three of them, startled.
"I've been thinking," Uraraka-san begins, and Izuku has a feeling she's gonna somehow insult Iida-kun. "Are you a rich-boy, Iida-kun?"
Shinsou-kun snorts so hard he has to blow his nose right after, Izuku splutters, Iida startles, mouthing to himself "Rich-boy…?" and then sighs. "I tried to change the way I speak to not be called that." Despite Iida-kun's adamant words, Izuku, Shinsou-kun and Uraraka-san lean into his space, staring, until he sighs again and explains himself. "Yes, my family has been heroes for generations. I'm the second son."
"Woah!" all three of them exclaim at the same time.
"Do you know the Turbo Hero: Ingenium?"
"Of course! He's a really popular hero with 65 sidekicks at his Tokyo agency!" Izuku wants to say more, ramble about his speed and success, but he realises something. "Don't tell me…"
"That's right, he's my older brother!" Pride comes off in waves from Iida-kun, and Izuku smiles brightly. He's classmates with a brother of a pro-hero! So exciting! Well, there's also Todoroki, but, he's friends with a brother of a pro-hero! Are they friends? He thinks so.
"That's amazing!"
"He is a likeable hero who honours the rules and leads people. I set my sights on being a hero because I want to be like him." Iida-kun lowers his head a little with a smile. Clearly Ingenium is to Iida what All Might is to Izuku. "However, I think it's still too soon for me to lead others. Unlike me, Midoriya-kun realised the point of the practical portion of the entrance exam, so he is more suitable for the job." Oh. Is that why he thinks that?
"What point?" Shinsou-kun asks with a frown. "You're talking about rescue points?"
"Exactly," Iida nods.
Shinsou-kun opens his mouth to say something, still frowning, when a shrill sound of an alarm cuts through the air.
"There has been a level three security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly," an artificially sounding voice is broadcast into the lunch hall.
Shinsou-kun calmly stands up, and that prompts the rest of them to do the same, much less nonchalantly.
"What is level three security breach?" he asks the upperclassman next to him.
"It means someone's trespassing on school grounds! I've never seen anything like this in three years I've been here!" He then rapidly runs away. "You should hurry too!"
Panicked, Izuku runs towards the exit too… or tries, because he takes only a few steps when familiar strong hands wrap around his bicep and pull him back. It's the second time in the same day when he's pulled flush against Shinsou-kun and he can't say he minds it.
"Hey, hey, look at this mess, you're not getting anywhere in this state anyway," he answers his unasked question of 'Why?'. "Everyone's so panicked they're gonna trample each other." He scoffs. "Honestly, this is UA, I expected better of them."
"What can we do?" Uraraka-san asks, bringing her balled fists to her mouth. "It's a mess, someone can get hurt!"
"Who would even trespass UA—" Iida-kun starts talking then stops, and makes a dash towards the window, that's blissfully unoccupied by the panicked crowd. "It's the press!"
"The press?"
"Ugh, not them again…" Shinsou-kun rolls his eyes, then releases Izuku and points at the increasingly panicking crowd with his shoulder. "Can someone stop this madness? This is a Pro Hero school, the school where Pro Heroes teach, can none of them stop this?"
Behind them Iida-kun gasps. "I know what to do. Shinsou-kun, your voice is the loudest, Uraraka-kun you have to make him float so he's visible, and he can tell everyone it's just the press!"
"No offence Iida-kun, but my voice can break buildings," Shinsou-kun says morosely. "It's gotta be you. You can get into air, activate your quirk and plant yourself on the exit wall. If you shout from there everyone's guaranteed to hear and see you."
Iida looks like he wants to argue for a second, but then he looks at the crowd and nods resolutely.
Izuku smiles, an idea forming in his head. Yeah, it's gonna be alright. For him too.
The gate to the school is destroyed. Completely. It's been made into ash. (What quirk could cause that? He needs to access the quirk registry. He can't, he has a promise to all his students to never judge them by their quirk, but he has to, has to make sure the attack wasn't internal but external, that there aren't villains masquerading as students—) ((No, it couldn't be a student, the internal system would have caught anyone with a permit nearing the gate, as well as a presence of anyone without one. Otherwise the student would have to be both invisible and have such a destructive quirk, and he could count on his one paw the students that had either of those quirks, not to mention both at the same time.)) (The attack, it was external then.)
"How were the ordinary members of the press able to cause such destruction?" Nedzu asks himself, but also the three faculty members standing behind him. (The decision to split the search efforts for the cause comes to bite him in the ass at that moment. He'd do anything to get Hound Dog's opinion on it right this moment but the man is chasing after the faint scent trail that the attacker left behind.) ((It is entirely possible that one of the media folks had such a destructive quirk, on the other hand bias against such quirks makes it less likely, but the media tries to paint itself as progressive, they'd accept such a person, but if their position was on the line they wouldn't use such a destructive force, yet—))
"Someone instigated this," he continues, trying to not let his mind wander too much as it analyses the situation over and over. (What he's saying is obvious but he has to keep himself on track somehow.) ((Who could have instigated this? Which villain groups were the most prominent in the area? There have been weird movements from the local crime groups in the area recently. Is it connected? Of course it's connected. How is it connected? How have they gotten so arrogant? Who enabled them? Where did they find the right quirk for the job and how has no one noticed anything? How did they get away? Was Hound Dog's search in vain? Teleportation quirks are rare, was one at play there? Maybe a concealment quirk. That's more likely yes, but no one can dismiss any option.))
"Did someone evil slip in, or was it intended to be a declaration of war?" It could be either. It could be neither. But probably one of those. (No students were harmed but the panic could have caused injuries.) ((He'd have to do fire drills more regularly it seems.)) (Which group could have declared war on them? If it was an infiltration what would they want to achieve? What are the countermeasures he can take?)
He's going to have to move up the first year's USJ trips, so that the villains don't have time to prepare. He's going to have to change second and third years' outdoor training schedules.
He's going to have to do a lot of things.
Damn the board of directors for not allowing him to hire more staff than necessary. He could really use additional security.
(He wonders, what exactly has to happen before they change their minds.)