That evening, we prepared a New Year's hot pot. Deku and Bakugou were late again, coming in together as we were preparing the meal.
"Seriously? The house arrest boys are late again?" said SEro.
"No meat for you if you don't help us cook!" Kaminari told them.
"I'm on it!" said Deku, running off to prep dinner.
"Go ahead! Try keeping the meat from me! See how that turns out for you!" Bakugou shouted, walking by me and Yaomomo.
"Ugh, I forgot who we're talking with!" said Kaminari.
"IF you don't like it, don't pitch in!" said Kirishima.
Next to me, Yaomomo was holding up a packet of tea. "A dish with a hodgepodge of ingredients? How lovely."
"Tea leaves won't help it taste lovely!" I pointed out, holding her sleeve back with a pinky out to stop from floating here.
"Who the heck chopped these chives!?" Bakugou was shouting at Todoroki.
"Me!"
"Your big sis'd cry if she saw this! Dammit!"
"Who wants orange juice? How about Oolong tea?"
"Lemme light the fire."
"Class B's coming by later too."
"Kodak said she'd bring an extra sofa."
With observtions like that, the meal was finally done.
"A work study brainstorm, and a hot pot party to fire us all up for the new term! Let us begin!" Iida announced.
"Woo!" cried Sato.
"Yeah!" shouted Mina, almost tipping over on her stool, and saved by Tsu. "Careful, Mina."
I toasted, while HAgakure jumped up next to me. "Let's chow down!"
"Stop bouncing, you're kicking up dust," Oijiro told her.
"Cheers, dudes!" said Kirishima.
"Yay!" called Kaminari.
"Au!" toasted Aoyama, who was sitting next to Deku.
"This all smells wonderful," said Yaomomo.
"Cheers," said Jiro.
"Gimme some sesame meat, Todoroki," said Mineta, while Todoroki murmured, "I'm starved."
" That one still hasn't got any heat!" said Hagakure .
"It's supposed to be like that," said Ojiro.
"Nothing beats a hot pot on a chilly day!" Kirishima praised.
"Once it's warm again, we'll be second years," said Jiro.
"Before we know it, yeah, " said Tsu.
"What a rush this whole year's been," I told her as I put my hand to my head. So good! NATO hot pot is great!
"WE get to greet new first-years."
"But since the hero course doesn't have clubs, we won't interact with them much."
"A whole new group of hero hopefuls? Love it!"
"WE still have three months remaining!" said Iida. "Don't forget about final exams standing in our way!"
"Cut it out, Iida! Your nagging is gonna ruin the food!" snapped Mineta.
"It doesn't taste any different to me," said Todoroki.
"Listen, you! Enough of that overly literal airhead schtick!"
"Panicking about exams? Har-dee-har," said Jiro.
And we sat there, and enjoyed our dinner - hot put, all together, all at once. Class 1A, my new family away from home, and got ready to truly welcome in the new year…
I had no idea back then what was in store for us, or how much that year was going to change everything for the rest of my life.