Chapter Text
"Ouch, Midoriya— don’t pull me too hard!”
“Sorry! It’s just… we really should hurry up, classes are starting soon…” Izuku trailed off as he slowed his steps, loosening his tight grip on Seki’s wrist into merely a gentle hold. The fact that the exchange did not even fluster him made him a little bit happy— after merely a few weeks of knowing and chatting with each other, he was already comfortable enough with Seki for that not to bother him. Unlike with his middle school classmates who can turn him into a stuttering mess the moment they scold him— a fact that the bullies exploited to mess with him, he’s sure— here at UA, he was already feeling confident enough to be a bit more pushy. And he had to be pushy, apparently, because for some reason Seki didn’t seem to really want to go to the nurse’s office. Izuku couldn’t imagine why, but if Recovery Girl really was a part of the staff here in UA, why wouldn’t anyone ask for her help? Burns can sting a lot no matter how light they are. Seki couldn’t be feeling very comfortable.
"Don't yell at Mido-chan when he's just being worried about you!" Hatsume scolded as they continued pulling at their friend towards the nurse's office. It was a good thing that they explored the school back on the day of the exams because it made it easier for Izuku to find his way to their destination. Seki grumbled under his breath as Izuku slowly opened the door, peeking inside. There she was sitting by the desk on the other side of the room, talking to another student.
“... no need to worry about it,” Recovery Girl was saying, as she rifled through her student files. “The principal has already been informed, of course, as well as your teachers. You are not the first student to have such an issue… can I help you?” The last sentence was directed at Izuku as she noticed him coming in. The student she was talking to tensed at the shoulders, glancing behind at them like a deer caught in headlights.
Izuku’s eyes widened when he recognized him. He was the student who looked ready to throw up back in the entrance exams. So he got in, too… that’s nice. Izuku didn’t know if he’d recognize him, but he lifted his hand to give a small wave nonetheless. The boy’s eyes widened, his posture slowly relaxing. After a moment, he offered a small smile back.
“Ah, it’s Mr. Feeling-sick-guy," Seki offhandedly remarked, only to follow with an 'ow!' as Hatsume elbowed him in the gut.
"We have no idea why he's so offensive today, but this is our patient!" Hatsume announced with a huge smile. It was only then that Seki seemed to remember where they were, giving Recovery Girl a doubtful look as Izuku started pushing him in the direction of the hero. Strangely, the boy did not look offended by Seki's nickname. In fact, he looked a little happy about it, his smile widening as he bowed formally. First to them, and then to Recovery Girl.
"Ah, I will take my leave now, as the class is starting soon. I still have to look for my classroom... Thank you very much for your time, Recovery Girl-san."
"There is no problem at all," the kindly old lady replied. "I am glad that you came to talk to me. As for looking for your classroom, why don't you stay here for a while and wait for me to finish up with this young man, instead? You four are from the same class, after all."
The boy blinked. "We are?"
"Class 1-H, am I right? Yes, yes..." The nurse trailed off as she checked her records, before glancing over at her new patient. "Yes, you are Seki Yoichi, correct? Definitely 1-H. This shouldn't take long. Have a seat for a while." She nodded as the three other students followed her suggestion, giving her full attention to Seki afterward. "Now what's the matter with you, young man?"
Reluctantly, Seki started to explain the incident. Izuku tuned their conversation out as he shyly sidled close to their new classmate. "Hello. I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you!" he whispered.
The boy blinked as if he did not expect him to start introductions, as if he expected they would just ignore him. But Izuku had experienced being ignored throughout his middle school days and it wasn't fun at all. This friendship with Seki and Hastume was perhaps one of the best things that happened to his life, and he was determined to make their little trio a quintet by the end of the day. It's just not right for such a small class to be divided further, is all.
The boy's back straightened as he replied, "My name is Atsuko. Shibata Atsuko. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Midoriya-san. And you are...?" The last sentence was directed at Hatsume.
"Hatsume Mei!" she said brightly, not even bothering to whisper as she placed a fist on top of her chest proudly. "I'm going to be this our batch's rising star, and I'm going to sell lots of my babies!"
"Babies?" Shibata looked confused. Izuku had to stifle a soft giggle.
"Don't mind her. That's just what she calls her inventions. Hatsume-san is very passionate about her work," Izuku replied.
"Ah." Some emotion Izuku could not name passed on Shibata's face. "That must be... nice."
Izuku didn't know why, but things quickly became awkward after that. Shibata didn't seem to really want to talk anymore, and Hatsume was already pre-occupied with scribbling ideas furiously at her notebook. Izuku distracted himself with watching Recovery Girl at work— all she did was kiss Seki's forehead and a soft glow shimmered around his injuries, healing them completely. Seki murmured a small thanks as he started taking off his bandages, grimacing at them for a moment.
"... make sure to meet me again after your classes," Recovery Girl was saying. "I still need to get to your other injuries. If I heal them all now, you'll pass out."
"No, it’s all right," Seki stiffly replied. His voice was uncharacteristically serious. "I'm all right. Thank you for your help."
"I insist. I'll see you later, even if I have to make Power Loader haul you all the way back to my office," Recovery Girl stated firmly.
Seki winced, but he was already turning away. Just as he did so, he met Izuku's curious eyes. A grin split his face as he showed off his unbandaged hands, cocking an eyebrow as if to say: Are you happy now?
Izuku smiled with relief. He was a little bothered about why Recovery Girl wanted to see Seki again later because all the injuries he had noted earlier were already healed and accounted for. Was Seki hiding more? Still, Seki looked uneasy enough being here as it is. Seki's serious voice just now felt... wrong.
"Are we leaving?" Hatsume asked, looking up from her notebook.
"Let's leave, let's leave! I hate nurses—oh, but not you old lady! You're cool. Absolutely," Seki said with one of his charming smiles, but not even the compliment was enough to keep him from pushing his classmates out of the door. "Let go, let's go—Power Loader is waiting! Oh crap, look at the time! Three minutes until class! Hurry up! Chop chop!"
"T-Thank you for your time, Recovery Girl!" Izuku managed to call out, even as he was shoved out of the nurse's office unceremoniously. He was just able to see her waving goodbye before the door slammed shut. This time, it was Seki pulling Izuku around, with Hatsume and Shibata following suit.
Their classroom actually wasn't all that far at all from the nurse’s office, which was a relief. When they finally opened the huge doors marked 1-H, Power Loader was still nowhere to be seen. Izuku peeked in curiously, remembering that they hadn’t had the chance to check the inside of the classroom out because it was locked when they last checked it. The interior of the room made him gasp.
The inside did not look like a proper classroom at all. It looked… more like a workshop. Instead of the usual chair-and-desk combination lining the room in neat columns and rows, what they got instead were five large workbenches placed on the edges of the room to surround a fairly large open area in the middle. The teacher’s desk was still in front though, right where it was supposed to be. Izuku realized that the open area gave the teacher a clear view of each student and what they were doing, likely to prevent accidents, as Power Loader has stated was common back in their entrance exams.
Seki whistled as he walked over to one of the workbenches, admiring it. Izuku had to admit that even he thought they were pretty sweet. The working area on top of the table was plenty spacious, big enough for more ambitious projects the students might want to work on. The surface was smooth, and even though it was littered with stains and burns from what Izuku supposed was its previous users, he certainly didn’t mind— there was an appeal to the idea that these workbenches had history. That several brilliant inventors before them have worked on the very same surface, brainstormed on the very same table. It was nice.
Izuku felt a certain pride rise inside himself. He really was here now, at UA. Not the hero course he had always wanted, sure, but he couldn’t even feel disappointed about it. He ran his fingers against the stained workbench, unable to keep a wobbly smile from getting onto his lips.
“Holy shit!” Seki yelled as he was rifling through the drawers one of the work stations. Shibata, who had yet to pick a table, visibly stiffened. “Please don’t use such crude language, it’s unbecoming of a UA student,” he softly scolded, but Seki and Hatsume weren’t listening. Izuku gave him an apologetic smile. Seki was not as enthusiastic as Kacchan when it comes to cursing, but it does come out when he’s excited. After a while, Shibata finally chose a table and sat down on the workstation beside Izuku’s, looking overwhelmed.
The door of the classroom slid open.
“You’re all here. Good. Settle down, settle down,” Power Loader said as he walked inside the room. Seki immediately straightened up, giving the hero his full attention. Hatsume had to be called twice to stop salivating over her new UA-given tools. “You already picked your space. Good. Miss Yamada, if you will.” He gestured to the door. A familiar girl peeked in cautiously at the room before quickly running to the remaining table that was unoccupied. She looked familiar… ah, Izuku had seen her at the exams, too! The girl with the drawing tablet! She’s still wearing a face mask, though this time it was a different design. Still with a cartoony mouth, though.
Power Loader cleared his throat. “Good morning, everyone. I know you all know me, my hero name is Power Loader. Real name: Maijima Higari. For the purposes of this class, you may call me Maijima-sensei. I’m the homeroom teacher for the support classes. And before you ask: yes, homeroom for each class is set on a different time so I could handle you all. You just so happen to be my early morning class. I’m passing out your class schedules now.” As he said that, a robot drone similar to the ones in the entrance exam jerked to life to take the papers on Maijima-sensei’s hands, passing it around to the students. Izuku thanked the drone.
The schedule looked… complicated. There were two hours of homeroom to start the day every day of the week, which was odd in and of itself. Izuku had never had a homeroom period that lasted that long. But what was truly strange was the additional information printed under the other time periods. There was always a different class stated, along with a different room number. What in the world?
“Maijima-sensei?” Shibata called out as he raised his hand. “Why are there other classes and other rooms stated in our schedule?”
Maijima-sensei looked unsurprised with the question. “That’s because while you’re having homeroom with each other, you’re all having your general education classes with the Gen Ed students. Don’t worry, you’d still all be together, but it’s not wise to have a five-student class and have your education in UA be so insular. Use it as a chance to socialize with the other students. Our classroom is not conducive to learning those subjects anyway. You’ll all just be distracted by the tools like Miss Hatsume over there. Any other question?”
Seki raised his hand. “Sensei, the extended homeroom period…?”
“Well, homeroom for the other courses is just the teacher checking in as usual, but for us it’s a little different. Homeroom is alloted time for you to work on your inventions, and to have me on standby for consultations. Questions?” he paused, scanning the room. “None? Good. For the first day here in UA, we homeroom teachers are allowed to do however we please. For today, I’m going to assign you all a very important task.”
Every student in the room stiffened in anticipation.
“That is, getting to know each other.”
Every student in the room deflated. Maijima-sensei actually seemed faintly amused. “Now, don’t be like that. There’s a reason it’s important. And it’s because of this.” He lifted a hand, and right there around his finger was a key on a keychain. “By the end of the day, I want you all to pick your classroom representative. You must all reach a unanimous decision as to who would be the class’s de facto leader. The class representative will be in charge with a copy of the key to this classroom, which means if you’re wanting to work on your work stations outside class hours, they’re the one to approach—”
“Me! Pick me! I want to be the leader!” Hatsume greedily exclaimed, eyes on her prize. Seki looked like he wanted to argue, but he managed to hold his words.
Maijima-sensei didn’t even pause. “—and if there are any class announcements or any matter of concern, they are the first point of contact and are responsible with relaying it to the lot of you. It’s also a golden opportunity to prove to future employers that you have leadership skills and are able to handle a team.”
Izuku perked up, more interested in that than the key. Shibata’s shoulders slumped, and he looked uneasy. Izuku glanced at the girl he hadn’t introduced himself to yet, the one Maijima-sensei called “Miss Yamada”. She didn’t seem interested in all of this at all, just passively scribbling something on her tablet.
“The class rep should meet me in the faculty room after class.” Maijima-sensei finished, closing the key inside his fist. “Pick wisely.”