Era

24

Gym Upsilon was, unsurprisingly, huge. Not quite as big as some of the others on UA grounds but still larger than any ramshackle gym she frequented. It was tucked away in a little corner of campus that would have been difficult to find had she not caved and asked Midoriya for directions, and even so she'd gotten turned around when it seemed that the gyms were arranged in a nonsensical order as opposed to by their place in the alphabet.

Era sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she stared up at the shining UA logo above the door. Am I really doing this?

If she didn't, then Eraserhead would become suspicious. But if she did, then she was just giving him more opportunities to scrutinize her. Lose-lose. Era was becoming sick of that, of situations where she couldn't fucking win.

A glance at her phone revealed that it was nearly three. She briefly considered being late, weighed against her own observations how normal such an action would be, then quickly dismissed it; even if a normal student might be late, Era couldn't abide by it. Not to something like this, with one-on-one instruction that leaned dangerously close to her old training. The failure would burrow beneath her skin and eat at her until she became distracted, and that was something she simply couldn't afford when dealing with a pro.

Era pushed open the door and allowed herself a moment of awe at the spacious interior, the mats at one corner of the room, the modern and no doubt quite expensive exercise equipment neatly organized in the other. There was an entire climbing wall for fuck's sake, complete with a simple ropes course that looped around the ceiling.

"You're late."

Era's attention snapped towards the center of the room, where Eraserhead awaited her with arms crossed.

"It's 2:55," she said, closing the door behind her. "I thought we were starting at 3."

"Yes, we're starting at 3. Which means you should be changed and warmed up before then."

Era resisted the urge to scowl, instead swallowing what little pride she had left and dipping into a bow. "I apologize. I didn't realize."

Because you didn't fucking tell me was left unsaid, but she hoped that he could see it in her eyes as she straightened up once more.

"It's fine, just don't do it again," he said with a huff, jerking his head in the direction of the changing rooms.

The message was clear enough, so Era hurried into the empty room and hastily changed into her uniform. Ridiculous. Five minutes was plenty of time to change, luxurious, even. And what the fuck did he mean by "warm-up"? Stretching? Were they really doing something so intensive that it required a fifteen minute stretch beforehand?

Era nearly tripped over Shinsou on her way out of the changing room.

"Hey, watch where you're- wait, Era?"

Blinking away her shock and twisting slightly to regain her balance, Era allowed herself a wrinkle in her nose as she stared back at him. "Are you here to train?"

"Um... yes? Are you? You need supervision to be here if you aren't in the Hero Course."

It clicked. What Midoriya had been trying to say the other day, before Shinsou had cut him off. "Eraserhead is training you. For the Sports Festival."

Shinsou shifted back a step, and Era noted with a faint amusement how his weight sank to one leg, arms a little too loose at his sides and just barely beginning to twitch into fists. Too obvious, in her opinion, but far better in terms of preparedness than when she'd been sparring with him.

"Maybe he is," admitted Shinsou. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"Now who's the dumb jock. Why didn't you tell me?"