Kuri looked out the car window as the driver took her up the hill to UA. She had been picked up straight from the airport, but lucky for her, she'd slept on the plane.
Though she did manage to sleep, she also managed to throw up, which hadn't been very fun. There had been turbulence when the plane had been taking off, which hadn't made her tummy feel too good. She was fine now, though. Hopefully.
Her nerves were starting to get to her. She was going to a new school after all. New classmates, new teachers, new environment, and she had to speak Japanese 24/7. Though she'd grown up learning to speak, read, and write it, she didn't feel prepared in the slightest. Just trying to pass the entrance exam had been nearly impossible, so how would it be to just go to the school?
She looked down to her lap, where her hands were gripping the fabric of her uniform skirt. She had always thought it'd be cool to wear a school uniform, but now that she was actually wearing it, she was reminded of why she didn't like wearing skirts. Not to mention that this one was super short. At least Kuri was wearing tights underneath.
The other thing she didn't like about the uniform was the shirt and tie. They felt restricting. Or maybe Kuri just didn't like button-up shirts.
Speaking of hoodies, she was currently wearing her favorite one (even though she was pretty sure it was against the dress code, but who cares). It was gray with a bright blue stripe around the middle. She liked it because it was big and soft, and it made her feel safe. Not to mention that it covered up the embarrassing scar she had on her arm. She was glad that the villain who'd given it to her was in jail. She was also glad that she'd beaten him to a pulp for it.
The car pulled up to the school, and Kuri grabbed her backpack and stepped out. The driver rolled down his window.
"Your luggage will be delivered to your dorm. You'll be able to unpack at the end of the school day," the driver said.
"So where do I go now?" Kuri asked him.
"Go to the faculty office. Your homeroom teacher will be there and he'll take you to your new class. I can no longer assist you, so I'll take my leave now." Then, the man drove away. Kuri frowned and looked back at the entrance. For such a famous school they sure did have a pathetic welcoming committee. She shook the hood of her jacket off. She didn't want to make a bad impression on her classmates as the hoodlum foreigner. It was already odd of her to be wearing a hoodie when it wasn't in the uniform, plus it was bordering on eighty degrees, even though it was the beginning of October, and she didn't need people thinking of her as even weirder than she already was.
She walked down the brick path, staring up at the huge building, all glass and metal and concrete. How many floors does this building have? I wonder how many classes there are… After all, the acceptance rate is supposed to be super low, so why would they need this many classrooms?
She looked ahead, where there were three sets of doors to get into the building, each labeled with a number: 1, 2, and 3. I guess I should go through the "1" door since I'm a first year. I don't really know. They should've told me a bit more before they just let me loose in here.
She walked into the building and navigated the halls, hoping she would find the faculty office. If only she had remembered the school's layout. Or to bring a map. She did have a picture on her phone, but she couldn't remember the policy on using phones during school, and she didn't need to be getting in trouble on her first day.
Once she realized she'd gone in a circle, she stopped in the middle of the hall. What is with this school? Why is it so hard to find the faculty office? Maybe I should just use my phone…
Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to look at who it was and saw a tall guy with glasses looking down at her. She also noticed another guy and two girls standing nearby behind him.
"Excuse me, miss, but you appear to be lost. Do you need any assistance?" the guy said. Kuri smiled with relief.
"Oh, um, yes! Do you know how to get to the faculty office from here?" she asked.
"Just take a right down that hallway and it will be the 1st door on the right," he said.
"Thank you so much," Kuri said, then walked in the direction the guy had told her to go in. She found the office and stopped in front of the door.
Oh gosh, I'm so nervous. What's the most polite way to enter the room? Why do I have to be so impolite all the time? I really wish I'd bothered to learn more Japanese customs. Should I knock? Probably. Maybe I'll throw a "pardon me" in for good measure. Kuri let out a slow breath and shook out her hands. She knocked on the door in a way that was strangely loud and croaked out a small "pardon me" before opening the door.
There were only a couple of people in the room, but one of them immediately stood up as soon as she entered. He had long, messy, black hair and was wearing some sort of long, thin scarf. Kuri also thought that he kind of looked like a homeless man.
"Are you Kuri Nakano?" the man asked. Before Kuri could answer, the man began speaking again. "Of course you are, now follow me." She did as she was told and followed him out of the room, down a couple of halls, up a flight of stairs, and down one more hall to a classroom: Class 1-A.
"Wait right out here until I open the door for you," the man said. He then went inside, leaving Kuri to stand out in the hallway on her own.
Bakugo sat at his desk, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, as usual, waiting for the rest of the losers in his class to arrive.
Deku and his dumb nerd friends walked into class together, talking about some dumb shit as usual. On his way to his desk, Deku greeted Bakugo.
"Good morning, Kacchan!" he said cheerily. Bakugo made a low growling sound that came from the back of his throat. Deku's smile didn't fade as he sat down.
"Wow, Bakubro, you must be in a good mood today if you're not yelling at Midoriya!" Kirishima exclaimed. Bakugo grunted in response.
"Um, am I the only one questioning what this extra desk is here for?" Ashido asked. Bakugo glanced over for a second. There was a desk in its own row next to Ashido's. Just then, Mr. Aizawa walked in.
"Sit down, students. I have news: your class is going to be getting another student," Mr. Aizawa said. The extras in his class started questioning why someone would be transferring in at this point in the school year. "Quiet down. She's a transfer student from the U.S. and-"
"Wow, a girl from America? Wait, is that what this desk is for? Is she gonna sit next to me?" Ashido asked, clearly excited.
"I bet she'll be able to help us with our English," Asui said. Iida started doing the weird chopping thing with his arm, as usual, and decided to pitch into the completely useless conversation.
"Indeed, she will be a valuable asset in helping us with our studies, but we need to make sure we don't pressure her to help us, as to make her transition to this school as smooth as possible."
Kaminari leaned back to the other two idiots, most likely to pitch in his perverted two cents. He really shouldn't be saying that kind of shit when he sits next to a girl with a crush on him.
"A new chick huh? I wonder if she'll have big boo-" His statement was cut off as Jirou shocked him with her ear cords.
"Ow~! What was that for?" Kaminari exclaimed. Jirou just groaned and turned away, blushing. Bakugo wasn't sure what Kaminari expected, saying things like that in front of her.
"A girl from the U.S.?" Yaoyorozu asked. "I wonder if she might struggle in class. I've heard that the American education system is severely lacking…"
"Not to mention that they probably learn totally different things than us," Bakugo heard Todoroki say. "But you're really smart so maybe you can tutor her." Bakugo could practically hear Yaoyorozu blush. He knew that wasn't possible, and he wasn't even facing them to see if she had blushed, BUT HE COULD TELL. Those two were so into each other that it was painful. He knew he'd never be like any of those losers. He chuckled lightly.
"A new girl, huh… I can't wait…" Mineta said, drooling. Disgusting. Deku laughed awkwardly and turned to Bakugo and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey, Kacchan, what do you think the new girl will be like?" he asked. Bakugo turned and scowled at him.
"Hell if I care. She's just gonna be another extra like the rest of the dweebs in this class," he said. He turned back around. No need to waste his time talking to stupid Deku.
"Um, Kacchan, you might not want to say those kinds of things around the new girl. We need to be kind and welcoming-"
"I don't need to hear that crap from you, stupid Deku!" Bakugo yelled back. Was he not kind enough for them already? Was he not welcoming enough? Would he… scare her away? Bakugo's fingers twitched. No way! I can be welcoming. I'm good at everything!
"So, when is she joining our class?" Hagakure asked. Mr. Aizawa sighed and walked over to the door. Was he about to leave? Because if so Bakugo didn't plan to be far behind him. There was only so much he could put up with before he wanted to just go back to his dorm.
"To answer your question, Hagakure..." Mr. Aizawa said, sliding the door open, revealing a girl standing on the other side. She quickly looked up and scanned the classroom. The first thing Bakugo noticed about her was her ridiculously bushy, brown hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail. But to be fair, her hair wasn't even half as crazy as some other people's in this school. She also had on a hoodie, which struck him as odd, considering that it wasn't part of the uniform and that it was kind of a hot day. "She'll be joining you today."
The girl walked warily up to the front of the class, and the idiots all stared at her expectantly. It wasn't like she was some sort of spectacle. So what if she's American? She's still just some girl. She turned to Mr. Aizawa awkwardly for guidance. Final verdict: She's pathetic.
"Go ahead and introduce yourself," Mr. Aizawa said. She turned back to face the extras and smiled.
"Um, hi. I'm Kuri Nakano. I'm fine if you just call me Kuri. I'm really excited to get to know all of you. I know that I transferred in kind of late, and it might be hard for me to fit in, so I hope you guys will help me out." Bakugo smirked. Kuri? What kind of dumbass name is that? He snickered. Kuri turned to look at him and frowned slightly. He scowled back. Bitch.
Mr. Aizawa cleared his throat. "Nakano, since you transferred at such an odd time, we don't have the accommodations to seat you in a row, so instead you will be in the empty seat that I've set up next to Ashido right over there. I apologize that you have to sit in such an isolated spot."
"Oh, no it's fine, I really don't mind," the new girl said. She walked over to her seat, where Ashido was already wiggling with the anticipation to greet her.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you, Kuri. I'm Mina!" she exclaimed. Mr. Aizawa sighed.
"Ashido, save the introductions for after class is over." Ashido blushed and laughed sheepishly.
"Ah, yeah, sorry, Mr. Aizawa," she said. Bakugo took one last look at the new girl, who was taking off her backpack to rummage out a pencil case. She huffed and her breath made her bangs fly up. She noticed and smiled and did it again. Hehe, that's kinda cute. Bakugo turned back to face the front. Wait, cute? Am I getting soft over… over some girl? No way! Screw her. But I guess one last look wouldn't hurt… He peeked back over at her, and she was already looking at him. She jumped and looked away. He frowned. Coward.
During the break, all the extras descended on the new girl, as if she were the most amazing thing in the world. What were they even getting so excited for?
"So, Kuri," Ashido said. "I might be wrong, but are you half Japanese?" Bakugo looked over. Just because he didn't care about this new girl didn't mean he couldn't listen to them talk. Deku would probably try to quiz him later to see if he'd actually tried to be "kind and welcoming", and there was no way he wasn't gonna know all of the answers.
"Yup," the new girl replied. "My dad is Japanese and my mom is white." I'm gonna need something else to call her. Can't just call her "new girl" forever, after all.
"So were you born in America then?" Asui asked her. The new girl didn't really have any features that stood out. It'd be hard to come up with a nickname. What was her surname? He'd already forgotten.
"Yes, but I visit Japan every year to see my family. They live in Hokkaido, though, so I don't come around here that often," the new girl said. Halfie? Nah, that's too similar to Half and Half.
"Wow, Hokkaido, huh. That's cool," Kirishima said. Maybe I'll just call her New Girl. But, I guess at some point she won't be new anymore.
"This may be a weird question to ask, but when is your birthday? I want to make sure I can make a cake when it happens," Sato asked. Bakugo realized how much of a waste of time it'd be to just sit there and listen to them talk. He decided that he might as well get some work done while he listened. He pulled out his homework.
"Oh, my birthday is October the 14th, so I guess you won't have to wait too long to make that cake, considering that it's only ten days away," the new girl said with a small laugh at the end.
"Hey, your birthday is two days before mine, I guess that means that you're two days older than me," Kirishima said. Bakugo heard the new girl hum in thought.
"I'm pretty sure that isn't true. After all, I'm only 14," the new girl said. Bakugo paused. 14? Damn, her nickname should be Young as Fuck.
"Wait, what? You're so young! Probably the youngest in the school! How are you even in this grade?" Ashido exclaimed. I'm the oldest in class, and she's the youngest, ain't that funny. Bakugo chuckled. Maybe she should call me senpai.
"Well," the new girl said. "I think a part of it is that the American school year and Japanese school years don't match, and also I started kindergarten when I was four. That's kind of a boring topic though, so do you want to talk about something else?" I'm pretty sure that any topic related to her would be boring.
"Oh, um, what's your family like?" Ojiro asked. Hopefully, she doesn't have some sort of sob story like Half and Half. That would be awkward.
"Well, both of my parents are pro heroes, and I have a little brother named Mayu," the new girl said. Bakugo looked over to gauge Deku's reaction to the "parents are pro heroes". As expected, he'd already whipped out his obnoxious notebook, and his eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"Can you tell me all of their quirks, please?" Deku asked excitedly. The new girl laughed lightly.
"Maybe later, since I expect you want me to go pretty in-depth, judging by the notebook, and it might take a bit more time than we can spare right now," she said.
"Wait, both of your parents are pro heroes?" Kaminari asked. "You must be loaded!" As he said that, Jirou gave him a shock and he screeched in pain.
"Don't say things like that, it's not polite," she said with a sigh. Bakugo didn't really understand why she liked him. Even she could probably do better. The new girl blushed a bit.
"Ah, well, we have money…" she said. Why is she so embarrassed about being rich? My family is rich, too, she's not special. Jirou cleared her throat.
"Since things are starting to get a bit awkward, I guess I'll ask why you've come to UA," Jirou said, then blushed. "Er, I don't mean that in a bad way though. I'm just interested in why you would come all the way from America just to go to school here. I mean, don't they have good hero schools where you live?" Yeah, what even was the point of her coming here? The new girl sighed.
"Honestly, I don't know why I'm here. I thought I was doing okay at my last school, considering that I was top of the class," the new girl said. Top of her class? Does this make her my competition? Because there is no way that anyone but me is going to be number one here. Bakugo looked back up from his work and scowled at her, but she wasn't paying attention to him and continued on her explanation. "But they were like 'Oh, your quirk is too powerful for our facilities, you deserve to go to a better school' and I ended up being sent here."
Iida adjusted his glasses and leaned towards the new girl. "Your quirk must be pretty remarkable then, Nakano. Would you mind telling us what it is?" he asked. Nakano! That's what her name was!
"Hmmm, I'll show you guys later. I think it'd be cooler to see it rather than just hear me tell you what it is," Nakano said.
Bakugo looked back over to her, wondering what her quirk could be, as well as thinking of a nickname to call her by. While he stared discreetly, now tuning out the extras' conversation, he noticed a small figure lurking around in the corner of his eye. His gaze darted to the right, where he noticed Mineta creeping up behind Nakano, his hands outstretched and his breathing obviously heavy.
Ugh, that disgusting fucker is gonna try to grope her or something. Seriously, why did Deku think that I'd need to know to be "kind and welcoming" when there were other people who clearly needed to hear that more than me.
He quickly stood up and jumped over the desks, drawing some attention from the group, as he lunged toward Mineta, who's hand was reaching up to Kuri's skirt. He grabbed the pervert by the neck and held him aloft for everyone to see. Kuri turned around confusedly and took a step back when she saw him and the creature he held in his hand.
"Ack, let me go!" Mineta exclaimed. Bakugo scowled at him.
"Don't go harassing the new girl on her first day here, dumbass," Bakugo said. He dropped Mineta, who landed on his face, then scurried away. Bakugo turned to go back to his desk.
"That was surprisingly nice of you, Bakugo," Asui said. Because it's amazing that someone like me could ever be nice. Bakugo stuffed his hands into his pockets forcefully.
"Whatever," he said, and walked back to his seat.
"Is he always like that?" Nakano asked Ashido.
"Yeah, but you get used to it. Don't take it too seriously if he's mean to you," Ashido said. Bakugo almost laughed. The way he treated everyone was so normalized to the point that they didn't care. What a joke.
"My dad loves watching the UA sports festival every year, and I remember seeing him and some of you guys on TV," Nakano said. Bakugo's attention was drawn back to their conversation. Was she going to talk about how impressive he was? "You were all super cool," she said. Hell yeah! He grabbed his pencil to keep working so that it wouldn't be so obvious that he was listening to them. "Bakugo has that explosion quirk, right? But the thing I remembered about him was that I thought he was annoying."
Bakugo's pencil snapped in half. He heard Uraraka try to stifle her giggles, but Ashido did nothing to hide her laughter. Kaminari and the other two idiots were laughing hysterically. They're… all laughing… at ME!
Bakugo slammed his hands down on the table and stood up. The laughter stopped immediately. He turned his head to the group, where people were already backing away. He stormed over, heading straight for Nakano. Her face showed instant regret and fear, but for some reason, she was still smiling. She backed up against the wall as he came up to her, and slammed his hand against the wall, right by her head. His other hand was sending sparks into the air.
"Listen up, BAKAno," Bakugo said. "You-"
His words were cut off as she pushed him forcefully with both hands and jumped up above his head. She flew over him, and Bakugo turned just in time to see her land gracefully on Jirou's desk. She adjusted her skirt, and stepped down to the ground, turning to face him.
"Sorry, BAKAgo, but I'm afraid that I was in the middle of a conversation," Nakano said. She blushed, and Bakugo fumed. The stupid extras of his class swarmed her again, praising her, or congratulating her, or whatever. He didn't give a shit about that anyway, he just needed revenge.
"I'm gonna blow you to smithereens," Bakugo said, his hands sparking. As he stormed back to Nakano, an attack plan already forming in his head, an arm reached out to stop him.
"Woah, bro, are you seriously planning on fighting her on her first day here?" Kirishima asked. Bakugo growled.
"She gave me enough reason to, so I sure as hell am gonna fight her. Now get off of me, Shitty Hair," Bakugo said, as he pushed Kirishima's arm away. He inserted himself in front of him again anyway.
"Dude, chill out," Kirishima said. "Give her a break, she just got here. If you have a problem with how she's treating you, maybe you should get to know her first so you can clear any misunderstandings and become friends," he said with a smile. Bakugo scoffed.
"Friends?" Bakugo looked over at Nakano. She was just some girl; probably very intelligent, and "amazing" enough that her previous school could no longer handle her. On top of that, she had a stupid ponytail. Ah, that's what her nickname will be: Ponytail. Bakugo frowned. Wait, that's Yaoyorozu's nickname… Whatever, damn it, I'll give her a nickname later. "Yeah, right. There's no way we're going to be anything but rivals."
Kirishima sighed. "Whatever, man, just try your best to be nice to her. You never know what could happen."
