Izuku stared at the mob of people gathered around U.A.'s entrance nervously, wondering just how he was supposed to make it through the mass of news reporters.

He didn't really want to interact with any of them, so waiting until they left seemed like a smart move - but he had been doing that for the past thirty minutes to no avail. A few students had gathered their courage and simply tried to walk through the conglomerate to mixed results, but Izuku was sure that wouldn't go too well for him.

"Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku was proud of the fact that he only jumped a little bit at the surprise at being called out, quickly turning around to see…

"K-kendou-san?"

Kendou offered him a bright smile and wave as she walked up to him. "Hi! Good morning, Midoriya-kun!"

Izuku's attempt at a smile was much worse than hers was, shaky and forced as he realized he was alone with a girl from his class. A very pretty girl, at that.

"L-likewise!" He tried.

Kendou hummed, running a hand through her orange ponytail as she looked over at the crowd of people still pushing to get into U.A. "What's up with that?"

Izuku shrugged lamely. "I'm not sure, t-to be honest. I tried getting past them, but they just started asking about A-all Might and what it's like having him as a teacher."

Kendou made a face, wrinkling her nose at the reporters. "Well that's just peachy, isn't it? They really aren't gonna budge then, huh?"

Izuku shook his head.

Kendou stared at the mass for a few more seconds until she snapped her fingers, a lightbulb seemingly going off in her mind.

"I've got a plan, Midoriya-kun!" She said, a devious smile on her face, "Are you ready?"

"R-ready for what- whoa!"

Kendou lightly grabbed him by the wrist, making his face explode in pink. She began to drag him towards the crowd, growing her free hand to its larger size while doing so.

"Outta my way!" She shouted at the crowd, waving her hand around to shoo any unsuspecting news crews out of the way, "He needs a doctor!"

What?

Izuku involuntarily made a strange choking sound that really hammered home Kendou's act, causing her shouts to quicken as she urged (ordered) and nudged (shoved) people out of their way as they approached U.A.'s entrance.

Once they reached the gate, an incredibly irate Cementoss quickly ushered them inside before any other reporters could try and sneak in. Mercifully, Kendou let go of his arm right away, a sheepish look on her face.

"Sorry about that," she apologized, "But I didn't want to be late, y'know! Besides, it worked really well!"

Izuku just focused on taking deep breaths, trying not to lose his mind at the embarrassment and surprise exercise he had just faced. "I-it's f-fine," he wheezed, "D-don't worry about i-it."

Kendou still looked a little guilty, but shook her head quickly to dispel any lingering embarrassment. "Alright, cool!" She exclaimed, quickly turning on a heel and walking towards the building. "C'mon, Midoriya-kun! We don't want to be late for homeroom!"

Izuku blinked, before dumbly realizing that Kendou was actually waiting for him. "R-right!"

He hurried to catch up to his classmate, who was waiting for him patiently. Once he reached her, they began to slowly make their way to 1-B.

Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief as the disaster that was this morning seemed to finally be ending.

Surely nothing else bad would happen today, right?

–

"Class representatives?"

Vlad King nodded. "Yes. By the end of homeroom I expect the names of a class representative and vice representative on my desk. I'll leave it up to all of you on how you want to pick - whether it be a vote, asking me to select them, drawing straws, whatever - just know that the representatives you select will be the leaders of Class 1-B for the next three years."

With his little spiel finished, Vlad King sat down behind his desk, content to observe as the class burst into chaos.

"Make me class representative!"

Izuku wasn't sure who said that line, but there were at least a half-dozen other screams along that line that drowned out any semblance of maturity.

Oh well. Izuku wasn't exactly raring to throw his name in the ring - he was more than happy to let someone else take a spot at the top of the class. It wasn't as if people would want him as a representative anyways.

A resounding clap echoed through the room like thunder, immediately putting a stop to all the chatter. Kendou stood at the front of the room, hand enlarged, glaring down at the class with a downright scary look in her eyes.

"Enough!" She shouted, despite the fact that the class had quieted immediately following her clap. "Look at you guys! Are you really gonna sit here and scream about wanting to be class representatives? We're all training to be heroes, act like it!"

A few of the particularly loud students mumbled out apologies to Kendou and Vlad King, but most of them were waved off.

"Now then," Kendou said with a smile, clapping her normally sized hands together (and wasn't that scary, how she shifted her tone so quickly!), "How do you guys want to pick class representatives?"

Most of the class seemed to have been muted following Kendou's reprimand, but Shishida tentatively raised his hand.

"How about a vote?" He offered, "Whoever gets the most votes will become class representative, and second place will be the vice representative. That way, we can choose from ourselves those who we feel are best representative of the class."

Kendou shrugged. "Sure! But how will we keep people from voting for themselves?"

"Just let them?" Tokage wondered aloud, "It's not like you can't vote for yourself in real life, after all!"

Kendou hummed. "Kan-sensei, can we have a few pieces of paper for everybody to write their vote out on?"

Vlad King nodded, tossing her a stack of blank pages, watching intently as she began to hand them out to the class.

Izuku accepted his gratefully, before turning his attention to the page, mind racing. Who did he want to vote for? Obviously not himself, that was for sure.

Fukidashi had clearly wanted the position if the way he had thrown his hands in the air and began shouting was any indicator, but was he really the best person for the job?

Probably not. He was his friend and a cool guy, but Izuku thought he might get bored of it too easily. Bondo didn't seem to show any interest in it either, so he could be crossed off the list.

Who else was there? Shiozaki seemed polite and well mannered, but he didn't know her very well beyond her introduction to him yesterday. Tetsutetsu, Tokage, and Kamakiri were out - Kamakiri sort of scared him, and Tetsutetsu and Tokage both seemed like the antithesis of what a class representative would stand for. Kendou was a possibility - she was nice to everyone from what Izuku had seen, and was pretty good at keeping everybody in line apparently, but…

Shishida had come up with the idea of voting to choose a representative, and seemed very much so interested in the job. Plus, during the battle trials yesterday, he had taken the time to check on him after he was slammed into the wall. That had to count for something, right?

His mind made up, Izuku quickly scribbled down Shishida's name before hurrying over to the small pile of papers that had begun to form on Vlad King's desk. Once he dropped his down, he simply waited for the rest of the class to finish up, which didn't take very long.

Vlad King eyed the list of papers in front of him, before sighing and beginning to tally the votes. Once he was done, he stood up with a huff - something that caused everyone to straighten up.

"Alright then, I suppose congratulations are in order," Vlad King announced, "Say hello to your representatives for the next three years - Kendo-san will be your class representative, while Midoriya-kun will be your vice rep. Come on up and say a few words, won't you?"

What.

Izuku's body was on autopilot as he walked to the front of the classroom, and even as he turned to face his fellow students he kept his eyes trained squarely on the back wall. His posture was a stark cry from Kendou's, who looked relatively fine with her appointment to class rep.

"Well, thanks everyone!" Kendo began, a sheepish smile on her face, "I'm kinda surprised you guys chose me, but I'll make sure that the trust you put in us isn't misplaced! We'll do our best to ensure that we have a great three years together!"

The class clapped politely, and thankfully Vlad King dismissed them back to their seats after Kendou's little spiel. Izuku was fine with not talking, still trying to figure out how he of all people had been chosen. Was today Opposite Day or something?

Vlad King coughed into his hand, once again redirecting the class's scuttled attention back to him.

"One last thing before I let you all go for the period," he finished, a more serious look appearing on his face, "I reviewed the footage from the battle trials you participated in yesterday with All Might. Overall, good job for your first time sparring. A few notes, however."

He began to turn towards a few of Izuku's classmates as he spoke, calling out brief praises or criticisms.

"Yui-san, try not to be so stiff next time, alright?"

Yui nodded impassionately.

"Fukidashi-kun, learn to control your nerves, or at least your screams so that they don't bring down another building, alright?"

Fukidashi gave him a salute, already having moved past the embarrassment that was accidentally screaming so loud with his Quirk a building fell down on him.

He was fine after they were able to dig him up from the rubble.

"Midoriya-kun."

Izuku tensed, already fearing for the worst. Was his plan that bad? Was he just too bad at the combat aspect? Was he -

"Good work dissecting your opponents," Vlad King stated simply, "Though perhaps you should make it more digestible to your partner next time. Speaking of which - Tetsutetsu! Don't try to get out of strategizing by claiming you're just 'too dumb'!"

Izuku let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. When was the last time any of his homeroom teachers spoke to him directly without reprimanding him? Not any time recently, at least.

Until now. Maybe U.A. was different.

Or more likely, it's because they don't know YOU. Once they know the truth, everything will go back to normal.

Izuku shuddered as the darker corners of his mind reared their ugly head. Those thoughts were better left untouched.

–

"Hey, congrats on getting the vice rep job!" Fukidashi praised, plopping his backpack down next to him as he took a seat at their lunch table, "Didn't know you wanted it!"

Izuku stared down at his bowl of katsudon blankly. "I didn't."

Bondo cocked his head to the side. "Really? You seem like a natural second in command, Midoriya-kun. Quite intelligent, yet somewhat lacking in social skills - standing in Kendou-san's shadow seems perfect for you."

Fukidashi burst into laughter as Midoriya dropped his head against the table with a resounding thud.

"I didn't even vote for myself," he groaned, "I don't know how I got the job."

Bondo shrugged. "For what it's worth, Midoriya-kun, I voted for you."

"What?!" Fukidashi shrieked, an exclamation point popping up in his speech bubble, "I told you I wanted the job, traitor!"

"I felt that Midoriya-kun would be more suited to the job," Bondo admitted sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

Fukidashi huffed, flopping back grumpily against his chair. "Whatever," he grumbled, before turning back towards Midoriya, "Any idea who else voted for you? No way a single vote was enough to get the position."

Izuku opened his mouth to respond, but was immediately cut off by the screech of an alarm. His hands shot to his ears as the blaring reached ungodly levels of noise, and he watched as just about everyone else in the cafeteria stood up and made a mad dash for the exit.

He remembered Principal Nezu saying something about the alarm system during orientation - based on what he could remember, this alarm signified a security breach at U.A., and every student should -

"Get up!" Fukidashi shouted, pulling Midoriya to his feet with one hand, "We gotta get outta here!"

"C-calm down!" Izuku squeaked back, his voice nearly drowned out by the droning of the alarm, "T-there's no point in p-panicking!"

"Easy for you to say!" Fukidashi yelled back, "It's every man for themselves out here! You're lucky I snagged you!"

Izuku briefly glanced around, trying to see if he could find Bondo in this mess. He was tall and particularly easy to pick out in a crowd, but for the life of him he couldn't find his friend.

His eyes darted over towards the windows - maybe Bondo had been pushed all the way over there? As his eyes scanned the area, Izuku frowned as he continued to be unable to locate him.

Also, he was getting shoved around pretty violently by some of the other students. That wasn't fun.

Wait a second - was that the press from earlier?

Izuku's mind ground to a halt. Sure enough, past the remains of what used to be U.A.'s front gate stood a few dozen reporters and cameramen, all rushing towards the entrance of the school. From this distance, Izuku thought he could make out a few of them from this morning.

"Fukidashi-san!" Izuku hissed, "It's not a b-break in! It's just the press!"

"Huh?" Fukidashi shouted, "I can't hear you!"

Izuku rolled his eyes, something he wouldn't dare to do in any other circumstances, especially not to someone who was trying to be his friend. He grabbed Fukidashi's shoulder and twisted him so that he could see out the window as well.

"Oh shit!" Fukidashi gasped, "It's just those news people again!"

Izuku bit back a groan. Fukidashi was something else sometimes.

"Fukidashi!" Izuku hissed, catching the boy's attention again, "Can you make an onomatopoeia that, I don't know, can drown out the sound of the alarms for a second?"

Fukidashi put a hand to his 'chin' thoughtfully. "Probably! Want me to do it right now?"

"Yes!" Izuku groaned. When else would he want him to do that?

Fukidashi inhaled deeply, before the sound of roaring wind immediately drowned out the alarms, the screams, and every other noise that was present in the cafeteria. The 'fwoosh' kanji that came along with Fukidashi's onomatopoeia flew off his face, growing large enough to completely cover the alarms in the ceiling.

Just like that, the cafeteria was quiet. Izuku breathed out a sigh of relief.

Until he realized that there were now several hundred pairs of eyes on him and Fukidashi.

Fuck.

"C'mon, dude!" Fukidashi whispered, nudging Izuku, "Say something!"

Izuku opened his mouth to retort, but any possible responses died on his tongue. The whole 'everybody in the massive room' staring you down thing was not helping much.

"I… uh…" Izuku tried to say something, anything, but to no avail. Instead, he settled for pointing out the window, where the students were treated to the same sight that he and Fukidashi had seen.

"Um, as you can see, it's just the press," Izuku muttered, tapping his fingers together awkwardly, "According to protocol you all need to calm down and return to your homerooms in a calm and orderly manner. P-please."

A few groans rose up, but they weren't directed at Izuku. Slowly, everyone began to shuffle out of the cafeteria, no longer panicking like they were minutes before. Izuku breathed out, slouching as everyone's focus shifted away from him.

"Holy shit!" Fukidashi exclaimed, another exclamation point appearing in his speech bubble, "I can't believe that worked!"

Izuku sighed. "M-me neither."

"Are we really supposed to go to homeroom now?" Fukidashi questioned, "You'd think they'd let us go after all this."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Did you not pay attention during orientation? They went over this exact situation."

"Nope!"

Izuku bit back a groan. Of course he didn't.

–

The moment Izuku and Fukidashi returned to their classroom, eighteen pairs of eyes snapped to them.

Or more accurately, eighteen pairs of eyes snapped to Izuku.

"Dude!" Tetsutetsu shouted, "That was awesome!"

Huh?

Tsubaraba nodded fervently. "Yeah! The way you just took control over the situation so easily was nuts!"

"As expected of our vice rep." Shishida added with a firm nod.

Izuku's face turned scarlet as more and more of his fellow classmates joined in on the praise heaping, completely embarrassed and out of his league.

Something Fukidashi picked up on.

"Hey!" He groused, pointing an accusatory finger at the rest of the class, "What about me! I was the one who made it all quiet and stuff!"

"Yeah, but did you come up with the idea?" Tokage teased, waggling her finger at him as he balked, "Didn't think so!"

"Pfft, I still did it!"

Laughter ensued, and even Izuku had to hide his smile as Fukidashi took the attention off of him.

After a few more moments Vlad King walked in, eyes narrowed and face grim. The cheery mood slowly died as everyone recognized the harsh look on their teacher's face, with only a few seconds needed for the class to quiet down.

Vlad King rubbed his eyes tersely. "Good job getting here, everyone. Class is dismissed."

"What?" Kendou prodded, "Like we're going back to lunch?"

Their teacher shook his head. "No, class is dismissed. You can all go home for the day, classes were canceled thanks to the press break-in."

That got a reaction out of some people, a slew of shocked gasps and hushed cheers (mainly from Awase and Tsubaraba) rising up from the crowd of students.

"But Kan-sensei!" Shishida protested, "Why is the Principal closing the school early on account of a press break-in? Surely this has happened before, no?"

"No, it hasn't." Vlad King responded gruffly, "There's a big metal gate out front for a reason. Security will be getting an upgrade tonight, and Principal Nezu saw fit to dismiss all of you after what happened. You can still stay on campus, but please try not to disturb anyone."

With that, Vlad King turned and marched right back out of the room, leaving the rest of the class to their own devices.

Izuku craned his head to look at Tsunotori, who sat a few seats ahead of him. Sure enough, she was looking back towards him, a somewhat worried look on her face. He offered her a thumbs up to let her know that he was still on for their tutoring session, and she brightened immediately.

It didn't take long for groups of his classmates to begin to head out themselves. Awase, Kaibara, Rin, and Tsubaraba shot out the door the moment Vlad King disappeared, with Kamakiri and Tetsutetsu not too far behind.

"Midoriya-kun!" Fukidashi shouted, already heading for the door with Bondo, "We're outta here! You coming with?"

Izuku shook his head. "I would like to, but I can't," he explained apologetically, shifting a bit so Kuroiro could pass him, "I'm helping to tutor Tsunotori in English today."

Fukidashi bobbed his head, waggling his now existing eyebrows. "Fair play, Midoriya-kun, fair play," he lauded, clapping slowly, "Don't have too much fun now, ya hear?"

Before Fukidashi could tease him any more, Bondo grabbed him by the back of his collar. Fukidashi immediately began to protest, but it had no effect on Bondo who simply dragged him out of the classroom.

"Have a nice day, Midoriya-kun," Bondo called over Fukidashi's shrieks, "See you tomorrow."

"...See you."

Man, he had some weird friends, huh?

Not that he was one to talk.

Tsunotori trotted over to him, a gleaming grin on her face. Izuku idly realized that they were the last ones in the room, a thought that nearly made him break out into nervous sweats.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked, tail swishing behind her.

"Yep!" Izuku replied, "Um, fair warning though, I've never tried tutoring anybody, much less in Japanese, so…"

Tsunotori giggled. "I'm sure it'll be fine! You sure seem to have English down pat, how hard could this be? Besides, I voted you for class rep for a reason, you got this!"

Izuku shrugged. "Guess we'll find out?"

"That's the spirit!"

With that, Tsunotori began to hustle down to the library, Izuku in tow. Despite the odd circumstances that had occurred around him today, Izuku smiled as he looked back on it - and looked forward to what the future held for him at U.A.

Too bad things were about to get really bad.

Not that Izuku knew.

"Hey wait, did you say you voted for me?!"