I'm exasperated when I arrive at school.

During the two hours of my new training, all I did was summon Wall of Fire after Wall of Fire, with no noticeable improvement. It came to a point where my shirt was burnt to a shred and my pants were covered in ash. I had to use my ice quirk just to prevent myself from overheating. I was convinced that had we not had our two-hour constraint, Endeavor would work me past the point of exhaustion.

And now, I have to use my quirk again at school. How fun.

I enter the classroom and I notice two things. One, Hanada-chan is already there. Not surprising at all. Two, she's sleeping. That is definitely surprising. Both arms under her head and above her novel, eyes closed, and quiet, steady breathing. She's definitely asleep. I wonder what she was up to so late last night that she fell asleep in class.

I take my seat and watch her resting figure. She looks so peaceful when she's sleeping. She shifts a bit and one of her curls falls onto her face. Her eyes and nose wrinkle in response. I find it so cute that I don't even realize when I reach over my seat and push the curl behind her ear. Once I do, I blush and move back. I look away from her. Thankfully, it's just me and her in the classroom, and she's asleep.

I overcome my embarrassment and look back at her. This time, her hair is adorned with white lilies. I consider looking up the meaning right now, but I think it can wait.

Five minutes before the bell rings, I nudge Hanada-chan. "Hanada-chan, wake up. Class is about to start soon." No response. I nudge her again. "Hanada-chan, wake up. Aizawa-sensei only allows one person to sleep during class, and that person is himself. If he catches you like this, he won't appreciate it." She moans and opens her eyes a little. When those silver eyes rest on me, they blow wide open, and she stumbles back in her seat.

"WHO DIED! Ah! Todoroki-kun! Good morning! You're not dead! Wait, that sounds so rude! I'm sorry! I mean- What do I mean? Where am I?"

She looks around frantically, and I laugh. "Hey, hey! Calm down! It's okay! You're in class. And good morning to you too. Glad to see you're not dead, either."

A blush spreads across her cheeks and her expression looks sheepish. She averts her eyes from me. "That was embarrassing. I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for? It's not like you did anything wrong. You were just sleeping, and I startled you." Her sheepish expression doesn't fade. "Can I ask what you were doing so late last night that you fell asleep just before class started?"

Her posture subtly stiffens. She turns back toward me. "I had more arthritic flares when I came home. I think I must have overused my quirk so much yesterday, that I suffered multiple flares."

My mood changes from amusement to guilt. "I'm so sorry. I thought that the medicines Recovery Girl had given you would ease the pain, but it came back shortly after. I feel guilty as a friend. I should have done more when I was with you in the infirmary."

"No, no Todoroki-kun. You couldn't have known that there would be more repercussions to my actions yesterday. I don't blame you. My actions, my recklessness, my punishment. None of this was your fault. You were a good friend to me yesterday."

I scoff. "You? Reckless? You're bold and daring, I'll gladly admit that. But reckless, no. Your courage is a tactic you take full advantage of. It's a weapon in your arsenal that you use to the fullest. It may look like recklessness, but it's not recklessness at all."

She smiles softly. "Thank you, Todoroki-kun. And I meant what I said. Don't feel guilty about something that was caused by my own doing."

We gaze into each other's eyes. Those moonlike silver eyes have seen so much pain. They look a little dim from that pain today. How did she endure so much? My pain is emotional. A tattered family and a dead brother. But I've survived, thus far. I experience happiness from time to time. Her pain is physical. Cuts and bandages. Arthritis and medicines. She's got to be in a lot more pain than I am. So much more that she doesn't even get to experience those moments of happiness.

When the bell rings, we snap out and look away. We did this yesterday, too. Why? Why do I feel like I don't want anyone but her to know that I was looking at her? That I was craving for her gaze? That I was falling into the depths of those silver eyes?

The other kids from class entered.

"Hey! Were you asked for an interview by the horde of news reporters outside?" one of them said.

"Yeah! They were asking me about my opinions on All Might as a teacher," another replied.

"Me too!"

"I got out saying that I had to use the bathroom because I was about to vomit. They gave me a wide berth immediately."

"Really? That's such a lame excuse."

Hanada-chan looks as confused as I am. Media? News reporters? All Might? She whispers to me, "Did you encounter any of this when you got here?"

"No. I came approximately 20 minutes before the bell rang. There were no reporters in sight then."

"Strange."

"Yeah."

As everyone is taking their seats, Aizawa-sensei comes in. He looks and sounds sleep-deprived as usual. He's carrying a stack of papers. "Hope you're rested from yesterday's battle trial. I took the liberty of looking at your marks and evaluation.

"Bakugou. Stop acting like a 7-year-old child. You're wasting your own talent." Bakugou has the decency to look ashamed.

"... I know."

"And you." He looks at Midoriya who freezes in his seat in terror. "Are you always planning on destroying our arm, Midoriya? If you keep going 'I can't adjust my quirk so I have no choice,' you'll never get terribly far. I've said it before. Don't make me say it a third time. Once you've cleared that hurdle, you'll be much more flexible, so I need to see some sweat out of you, Midoriya."

With more enthusiasm than necessary, Midoriya exclaims, "YES SIR!"

It seems that's all that Sensei has to say regarding yesterday's battles because he changes the topic. "Now let's get on with the homeroom notices. I'm sorry to have to spring this on you all, but ... we need to pick a class president."

As if the class was waiting for this moment, they erupt into shouts. Each one raises his or her hand higher than the other saying that he or she wants to be the class president. It's noisy. I don't like it. Iida shouts the loudest.

"BE QUIET! This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else's weight! Just because you'd like to do it doesn't mean you can! It is a holy office that requires the great esteem and trust of those around you. The only truly worthy leader will emerge from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people!"

He extends his hand fully toward the ceiling. "Which is why this must be settled by a vote!"

Easier said than done, Iida. It's only the third day of school. None of us hardly know anything about each other. I don't remember half the names of the kids in class.

Some of the other kids point this flaw out, too. But I suppose nothing more can be done. I consider who I should give my vote to because I don't care about being class president. If I did, Endeavor would just try to manipulate that to make a connection between being class president and future Number One hero. Midoriya? He's too timid for the role. Bakugou? He's too angry. Uraraka? Too lenient. Kaminari? Kirishima? Too reckless. Ashido? Too eager. Hanada-chan? I glance at her. Her posture is similar to mine: leaned back, crossed ankles, and cracking her neck from side to side. She's not really interested in the position either. Yaoyorozou? From what I've seen in these three days, she's neither timid nor angry, nor lenient, nor reckless, nor overly eager. She ranked first on the Quirk Apprehension Test and passed the Trial of Battle with flying colors. Her evaluations of Bakugou were spot-on, too. She's smart and has well-developed leadership skills. She'll be a better candidate for the role than the rest of the class.

Iida writes all of our names are written on the chalkboard with vote tallies. It's a tie between Midoriya and Yaoyorozou; they each have three votes. One of Yaoyorozou's votes is mine, another must be hers, so who's the third one? Iida says, "I'm sorry! I miscounted! Please forgive me!" He adds another line to Midoriya's tally chart.

Midoriya's stunned expression is amusing. "I GOT FOUR VOTES!" But I'm just as stunned as him. Of all people, I wasn't expecting him to receive the most votes.

Midoriya and Yaoyorozou get up and stand in front of the class. Their expressions are polar opposites: Yaoyorozou's is calm and collected, hands clasped properly; Midoriya's is sweating and shaking, eyes popping, hands trembling, teeth chattering. Iida looks utterly destroyed.

With that over with, classes proceed normally. The typical required subjects from any high school: math, English, science. When it's Lunch time, I wait for Hanada-chan to leave first. I stall for time, straightening my blazer and smoothing my hair. But it's no use. Aizawa-sensei holds her back. "Wait, Hanada. I need to speak with you."

I leave the classroom, but I don't go to Lunch.

I can't hear what Sensei and Hanada-chan are talking about, but once she exits the classroom, I follow her, keeping a distance of a few meters between us.

The hallways and stairs leading toward the cafeteria are crowded. I maneuver past students walking in the same and opposite directions, keeping an eye out for that familiar raven hair. I almost catch up to her when she's at the food counter in the cafeteria hall, but a mass of upperclassmen block my vision and I lose sight of her. I look around, but nowhere do I see her. Once again, she's vanished. Once again, I realize I should have asked for her number. Disappointed in myself, I grab my lunch tray and head back to class.

Unlike last time, Hanada-chan is the first to come back to class after Lunch ends. She's panting and stumbles toward her seat. She takes out a bottle of water from her bag and gulps it down.

"Why do you look like you ran a marathon?" I ask.

She chokes on her water and turns to look at me. She didn't know I was here, I realize. "Oh! Hello, Todoroki-kun. The maintenance was doing some repair on the elevators, so I had to use the stairs. You probably have an idea of how taxing that is for me." She lifts her cane for effect. She looks at my empty tray. "But enough about me? Were you eating alone in the classroom? I thought you were going to eat in the cafeteria like the others?"

"I was. But I don't know most of the students here. I don't really know our classmates either. I didn't want to impose myself, so I chose to eat here."

She clenches the fabric of her pants in her hands and is quiet for a few seconds. "If you would like to, you could join me during Lunch. I don't sit in the cafeteria, either. It's much too crowded. Next week, I can take you to my secret lunch hideout."

I lift the corner of my mouth. "Secret hideout, huh? Mysterious much? What other things are you hiding, Hanada-chan?" Apparently, I shouldn't have teased her like that. She bites the inside of her lower lip and turns away, misunderstanding my jest. "Wait. I'm sorry. I was just trying to joke with you. Clearly, it backfired. I'd really like to sit with you during Lunch. I want to see your secret hideout." She weakly smiles, obviously still a little hurt.

Everyone else comes back soon after. Midoriya and Yaoryozou stand at the front, waiting to have everyone's attention so that they could give their speech.

"All right, President, start us off," Yayorozou said confidently.

Midoriya stammered. "Uh, let us initiate the ceremony for the new class president! ... But before that, I need to say something." With each word, his voice decreases in volume. But his next words suddenly rise. "Iida would be the better man for the job after all!"

Iida looks shocked.

Midoriya continues, "You proved yourself able to unify people so coolly! And it's my judgment that Iida's becoming class president is the right choice." Very easily, the rest of the class hopped on the Iida-as-class-president train. I don't mind. Good for him.

I glance at Hanada-chan.

She looks worried.

Worried about something else.