At the intermission of the introductory lecture, several hundred mutants rose from their seats. The sudden movement startled a dozing Toru Hagakure.
"Mmmmwwwwhuts goin on?" she mumbled out, still slumped in her auditorium-style seat.
"They just finished. I think they're serving lunch now in the cafeteria," said a familiar voice—Ojiro, she realized—to her left.
Another voice came, this time from her right. It was far more clipped and monotone, "Honestly, Hagakure, it's unbecoming of a UA student to sleep through instruction!"
Yeah… that's Iida all right.
"Relax, Iida. Hagakure's not even here for the mutant research thing, remember?" Ojiro said. "Besides, she's invisible. How do you know she was sleeping?"
"Because she has a faint snore when she does," Iida countered.
That fully woke Hagakure up. She bolted upright and turned on Iida, "I do not!"
"You do," Iida restated. "These seats are fairly close together, and I noticed when your breathing changed. It's certainly nothing to be ashamed of."
Hagakure slumped back in her seat, arms crossed, and pouted, "What's for lunch?" she grumbled.
"Not sure," Ojiro answered. He stood up and stretched a bit, "but if we sit here any longer, we might not get any."
"Sound logic, Ojiro," Iida stood as well, "let us proceed to the cafeteria!"
Hagakure was in the act of pushing herself up when she heard Iida make what could only be described as a choking noise followed a shocked statement of, "my goodness, it can't be."
The first thing that crossed Hagakure's mind is that the cafeteria really had run out of food, but after turning to look at Iida, she traced his eyes to a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair approaching them. She had an expensive looking jacket over her navy button-up, and gray slacks completed the ensemble. Tailing the blonde was a much younger, raven-haired woman who was carrying a blue file clamped to a clipboard.
Iida, now somewhat composed, held his glasses in shock, "Ms. Director!" His legs snapped together as he bowed to her, "I did not think I would receive such an honor. My name is—"
"Tenya Iida," she finished, nodding to an even more dumbstruck-looking Iida. Then, she looked over her shoulder to address the other woman, "I'll just be five minutes here, Umi, you go on ahead."
The woman named Umi nodded and flashed Iida, Ojiro, and Hagakure a thin smile. Her eyes lingered on Hagakure for a moment before she left. Ms. Director turned back to Iida and extended a hand, "A pleasure to meet you. I know your family well."
He shook her hand firmly, "I assure you, the pleasure is mine." He used his other hand to gesture to Ojiro and Hagakure. "These are my fellow classmates from the UA Hero Academy in Japan."
"Mashirao Ojiro," he greeted, shaking the blonde woman's hand.
"Toru Hagakure," she mimicked Ojiro.
"How fortunate of me to meet such capable young students," she replied. "I am Josephine Kassle, Head of Quirk Research: Heteromorphic Branch. I am normally in my office on the central island, but couldn't help but be here in person. This program is, in a way, the culmination of my career."
As Iida shook in his shoes, Ojiro and Hagakure were still confused about who this was and what she did. Ms. Kassle seemed to read their expressions and smiled, "There will be a short information session after lunch where I will explain everything. Speaking of lunch," she turned to the invisible girl. "Toru. Would you like to join Umi and me?"
Hagakure was stunned, but it was short lived, as Iida practically shouted at her, "SUCH A PRIVILEGE!"
She tapped her fingers together, "Well, if Iida thinks so highly of you, Ms. Kassle, I don't think I should pass this up. Would you two mind?" she was mainly asking Ojiro, since Iida had already made his opinion very clear.
He rubbed the back of his head and smiled, "Yeah, no problem. We'll see you after, okay?"
"Right."
As the two boys left, Hagakure could make out some of what Iida was saying to Ojiro about Ms. Kassle and her many accomplishments. What Hagakure didn't know is why such an important person wanted one-on-one time with her. Does she know who I am? Am I supposed to know who she is? Is she going to ask me to speak during her information session? Oh god, let's hope it's not that...
"So you're Toru Hagakure," Ms. Kassle began. "Given your Quirk, I take it you're not here for the heteromorphic research program?"
"No, I'm not," Hagakure confirmed. "I'm actually here to get my hero suit designed. They need my DNA for the fibers so the suit can be invisible, too."
Ms. Kassle wore a thoughtful expression, "Ah, I see. I was wondering why Umi was down here today. Mutants aren't her area of expertise."
Hagakure realized this Umi person was that young woman from before. "Oh, is that who'll be making my suit? I thought she was a secretary of yours or something."
"Oh, no," Ms. Kassle chuckled, looking down to adjust her watch. "Umi is far too brilliant for that. She's the island's Head Quirk Geneticist. She was likely informed that you'd be down here and came to meet you. In fact, it was her suggestion that I ask if you wanted to eat lunch with us. Now we know why."
"Oh. Yeah, that works perfect."
The blonde woman smiled, "Good. Follow me."
xxx
Mr. Aizawa opened the door to Heights Alliance and stepped through with four unfamiliar students and their luggage in tow. The remnant of Class 1A turned to face their homeroom teacher, giving him and, by extension, the new arrivals a short bow. Yaoyorozu approached Mr. Aizawa and handed him the weekly lecture and training schedule they had drawn up.
He gave it a brief once-over. "This looks good. Interesting pairing system; you must've really pulled some strings for some of these." He handed the schedule back to Yaoyorozu. "My only suggestion is that instead of having them explain their Quirks to everyone, they should show you them through combat. Move your Ground Beta combat day from Wednesday to tomorrow. After all, I never had any of you explain your Quirks."
Yaoyorozu bowed again. "It will be done. Thank you." She rejoined the group.
Mr. Aizawa turned to the new arrivals. "This will be your new home for the next two weeks, so get comfortable. But not too comfortable." If they were expecting anything else from him, they didn't get it—he walked right past them and out the door.
Izuku took the moments of silence after Mr. Aizawa's departure to study the students in front of him—he needed to commit their looks to memory if he was ever going to have a chance at remembering their names (hero names were his forte, not family names).
The rightmost student was a fairly tall girl with light maya blue hair tied in a high ponytail which she was currently pulling her fingers through. She had the air of a girl that could show up to class in her PJs and not be self-conscious. Her piercing ice blue eyes offset her cheery expression.
The next one over was also tall; taller that Todoroki by Izuku's estimate. The boy's midnight blue spiky hair and ever-present smirk reminded Izuku of Bakugo. In fact, the two didn't look all that different, except for Bakugo being a little bit shorter, a little more buff, and a lot less friendly looking.
Izuku noticed a decent amount of space between the girl, boy, and two remaining students, as if they didn't know each other at all. He guessed that was a fair assumption: Mr. Aizawa had said nothing about which Academy these students were from. It did seem like the final two students knew each other, as Izuku had seen them talking before Mr. Aizawa had left.
The male student looked average, the only thing standing out his straight black hair streaked with patches of white and his inquisitive, violet eyes that scanned the room. The girl looked rather unique in contrast. She had shoulder-length brilliant red hair that put Kirishima's color to shame. Much of it was combed to the left side of her face, so it partially obscured her left eye. Her visible eye, behind her thin round-rimmed glasses, was a buttermilk yellow color that made for an odd combination with her hair. She must've noticed him staring because she looked down sharply, lightly scuffing her shoe on the floor.
Izuku was broken from his thoughts when the tall boy spoke up. "I believe some introductions are in order, but not from you guys," he said, addressing Class 1A. "I'm pretty sure we know who you all are. Sports Festival," he clarified before anyone could ask. "Sokojiri, you want to start us off? We'll go from left to right."
"Why not?" the tall girl named Sokojiri folded her arms and smiled. "Hello everyone. My name is Hayami Sokojiri and I'm a second year at I-Island's Composite Quirk Academy. I like playing sports and hanging out with my friends. I was at the I-Expo this year, so I recognize some of you," she nodded in Izuku, Todoroki, and Kirishima's direction. "Your teacher told us not to tell you our Quirks so that's about it from me. Can't wait to see what you can teach me!"
"Alright, they're here!" a voice from behind exclaimed. It turned out to be Kaminari, with Jiro not too far behind him. Yaoyorozu noticed that they had both come from the girls' side hallway, meaning Kaminari had likely been in Jiro's room with her. She didn't comment on the oddity, instead being grateful that they were at least trying to work together.
There were others, however, that were more than ready to comment on it, "about time you two showed up," Mina smirked, "glad to see Jiro's clothes aren't too tousled after what must've been a passionate—"
"Don't even think about finishing that sentence, Ashido," Jiro scowled. "We have guests and you're interrupting their introductions."
"Yes, please continue," Yaoyorozu said quickly, preventing Mina from getting a foothold with whatever risqué thing she was about to say.
"Alright then, I guess I'm next," the taller boy said. "My name is Chikao Tsuji. I'm on my last year at the Operative Quirk Academy and work in a lab that studies Heterogenous Quirk Function." He was met with confused looks from Class 1A, and he responded with a shrug, "Todoroki would be an interesting case study."
"Huh?" Todoroki grunted, confused.
Tsuji didn't seem to have heard him. "Enough about me, though. Let's hear from you two," he said, looking to his right.
The plain looking boy nodded, "My name is Ren Shinsato. A pleasure."
By Izuku's estimate, Shinsato could only be about fifteen or sixteen, but he sounded like he was twenty-five. He had a very calming demeanor about him, too. Just as well, because the short, red-haired girl to his right looked pretty nervous.
"I-I'm Nori Nonoru," she waved softly before nudging her glasses up, "it's very nice to meet you all. Ren and I are first years at the Quirk Support Academy of Technology. Well, we just call it the I-Island Academy."
Izuku perked up at that—Melissa attended the Academy as well. Though he guessed it was unlikely that they knew her given their age difference, he was curious notwithstanding. He made a mental note to ask them about it later.
Nonoru wrapped her introduction up with a timid expression of her excitement to be a part of the exchange program. With that out of the way, Yaoyorozu walked over to Sokojiri. "We have a schedule here outlining some of the day-to-day details," she stuck her arm out and it began to glow pink. Seconds later, four sheets of paper materialized out of her skin. She took them and began handing them out to the exchange students. "It's not a complete schedule, nor is it exhaustive, and it may be subject to change. At the very least, the ink is dry."
"Yaoyoprinting," Tsuji nodded approvingly at his paper.
Yaoyorozu giggled softly before continuing, "Each of these schedules is different in that they're specific to each of you in certain ways. You'll find that, under your names, the rooms you'll be staying in are listed. Also, there are two short columns of blank lines. After combat tomorrow, you may feel like you want help from specific people in our class, due to either similarity of Quirks or because you can just make friends that fast. Whichever the case, you may populate the left column with the names of those you'd like to help you and the right column will be populated with their phone numbers should you wish to reach them outside of class. Any questions?"
Everyone shook their head. "Alright then," Yaoyorozu said, bowing, "you're free to unpack and get settled. Boys' rooms are on the left, and girls' on the right. We are all excited to have you with us for the next couple weeks."
As the students grabbed their luggage and started toward their respective hallways, Mina announced, "Just so you all know, I believe Kirishima here said earlier that he'd be taking us all out for lunch, his treat." She nudged him playfully in the ribs.
Kirishima, or more accurately, Kirishima's wallet, wasn't having it. "That was yesterday, Ashido, and you got your food. Besides, I don't have much money left after that."
"C'mooooooonnn," Mina whined, poking at his arm, "we've got to treat our guests! I know you've got some loot left somewhere." Quick as a cat, she jammed her hand into Kirishima's right pocket, trying to find the wallet she knew was in there.
Once she realized it wasn't there, she squinted at Kirishima and pursed her lips. "Cheater. You always keep your wallet in your right pocket."
"Do I?" Kirishima chuckled, pulling her now slack hand out of his pocket. "Better luck next time, Pinky."
The exchange students watched Mina and Kirishima's antics play out in amusement. Shinsato decided to speak up before the pink girl got any more desperate for Kirishima's money. "Thank you for thinking of us, but I don't think you should go to this much trouble. You'll already be doing more for us than we could repay you for."
"Yeah, for real, guys!" Sokojiri agreed, "we're getting hero lessons from Class 1A! If anything, we should be taking you out to eat!"
Mina grinned, "Mmmm… I like where this is going."
"Orrrrr…" Shinsato began, "Nori here is rather proficient with a pot and pan." He glanced to his right where Nonoru stood. "Wouldn't you agree?"
The red-haired girl blushed furiously and glared at Shinsato, struggling between smacking him for calling her out or declining his implied invitation. Apparently, her mouth decided that her brain was taking too long. "Well… I'm not that great…" she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, appalled that she was even considering it. "I-I mean… I don't know if I'm comfortable—"
"A homemade meal?" Kaminari interrupted, "I'd take that over eating out any day."
"That's so cool that you can cook!" Ochaco cheered her. "I'll help you out if you want to teach me."
"If you need anything chopped or diced, you can count me in," Tsuji said, giving her a thumbs-up, "just don't let me near the stove."
"I can help, too," Izuku offered.
Nonoru was overwhelmed by the positivity and encouragement she received, but she was still unsure of herself. She needed to make a good first impression, but she thought she could do it with her Quirk, not her limited culinary knowledge.
She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turned to her left to see Shinsato giving her a warm smile. "You can do this, Nori. I'll assist in any way I can."
Nonoru drew courage from his hand. "Yes. I-I think it's only proper to serve our hosts." She pushed her glasses up before turning to Yaoyorozu, "that is, if you're ok with that."
Yaoyorozu smiled warmly at Nonoru, "It would be our privilege."
xxx
All twelve students were gathered around one big table, each one eyeing his or her bowl that represented the collective culinary effort of Nonoru, Shinsato, Izuku, Ochaco, and Tsuji. Well, mostly Nonoru.
Hums of satisfaction were heard as each student dug into their food. As was common for Class 1A, barely two minutes passed before the shenanigans started.
"Wow Nonoru, this is really good! How did you learn to cook like this?" Kaminari asked, only to be elbowed in his arm by Jiro.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, five-watt. No one wants to see that."
"Ok, Mom." Kaminari grumbled before swallowing extra audibly to spite Jiro.
Jiro retaliated by punching him in the gut, causing him to wheeze. "That was disgusting, Kaminari, you did that on purpose." Jiro could hear far better than anyone else at the table; what must've sounded like a mildly childish gulp to everyone else sounded like a noisy drainage pipe to her.
As the two young heroes bickered, Shinsato leaned over to Izuku to ask what the other exchange students were undoubtedly thinking: "are those two always like that?"
Izuku sighed and nodded, "pretty much. We're hoping to see some improvement these next few weeks."
Mina, who had been listening in, whispered to Nonoru (who had also been listening in), "don't let them fool you. Jiro's secretly—"
"Don't forget that I can hear you, Ashido." Jiro broke away from her berating Kaminari to glare at the acid-user. "Not very heroic to tell lies now, is it?"
Mina stuck her tongue out at Jiro and turned back to her bowl. She decided to tease them later.
As soon as it was fairly silent around the table again, Ochaco spoke up, "I'm curious too, Nonoru. Did your mom teach you to cook?"
Nonoru shook her head, "my dad, actually. He owns a restaurant in the commercial district on the northwestern island. I'd help him out sometimes and that's how I learned."
Tsuji's interest was piqued, "that restaurant wouldn't happen to be called 'Nikumiku', would it?"
Nonoru's surprise was evident on her face. "Tsuji? You've been?"
"I don't live very far from the commercial district, so I've been quite often," he paused, wiping the sides of his mouth with a napkin. "I knew I had seen your red hair color on someone else before. Your dad's pretty cool."
Nonoru blushed, "yeah… I think so, too."
Tsuji nudged Sokojiri, who was sitting to his left, a couple times, "Looks like you're the odd one out, Soko."
She mock-pouted, pushing some loose strands of her light blue hair behind an ear, "I can't believe you all know each other. The island isn't that small…"
Tsuji chuckled, "to be fair, this is my first time meeting Shinsato. Besides, you got to see all of them," he gestured to Class 1A, "at the Expo, so I'd say we're even."
The rest of the meal carried on in silence, and after that, everyone helped in the cleanup. Yaoyorozu suggested that the students take the rest of the day to relax, as they had had a long flight today and because what she had planned for them tomorrow would pull no punches.