Timeloop Trouble

Chapter 20 - A New Start

"This is it, Kacchan," Izuku breathed. "UA... We really made it."

"Tch. Of fucking course we made it, Deku," he scoffed, putting his hands in his pockets.

"See you at lunch, then?" Izuku asked, tugging onto the straps of his back bag, as if to make sure it wouldn't slip off his shoulders. The first day of the support course required people to bring in all of their best designs, so his bag was absolutely packed.

"Sure," Katsuki shrugged, subconsciously fiddling with the strap of his bag as well. This would be the first time in their lives they'd be in separate classes, even over the course of all their lifetimes. Izuku never expected it to feel so... What? Uneasy? Was that the term he was looking for? It's just... Kacchan had become a constant in his life, had been for as long as he could remember, and now... Now they'd be in separate classes, taking different courses... It just didn't feel right, in a way.

Not that his new class was bad. No, the support course was great! And Izuku was kinda glad he was already used to Hatsume's antics cause that girl sure had chaotic energy. Still, it was fun. It was different, something new. And that meant being surrounded by new faces as Izuku walked with his class to the morning assembly UA had organized for the new students. He'd never actually been to one of those before, not in any of his lifetimes. Afterwards when they got back to their classroom, Powerloader made them present their designs to the class so they could give criticism and compliments.

"I, uh, I designed some support items for a friend of mine," Izuku started, rolling out the sketches. "He sweats nitroglycerin like sweat that he can ignite on demand so I focussed on heat preservation and liquid storage for-"

He continued to ramble for a while, listening in on the thoughts of his classmates and teacher when he was done. They were actually quite impressed with his work! Izuku felt like he cheated, though. He knew Kacchan's generate gauntlets like the back of his hand, having helped the ash blonde on the maintenance of those things more times than he cared to remember. He'd seen the schematics a thousand times, back in his first life and in the lives that followed. Hatsume, on the other hand, was the real deal. Izuku recognized some designs from the first year sportsfestival. So she was already working on those, huh..?

"Looks like I've got the pleasure of teaching a bunch of talented young people again this year," Powerloader told them at the end of class, satisfied with what he'd seen so far. "The bell is gonna ring in about five, so you're all dismissed."

Getting out early, huh? This day was full of firsts, wasn't it? Well, not like it was a bad thing. That way he could make it over to class 1-A and surprise Kacchan! Sure, they weren't as close as they were before, when Kacchan had his memories, but they were still friends. Izuku was sure he wouldn't get blasted in the face for waiting by the door to walk to the cafeteria with him. They should be back from the quirk apprehension test by now, right? Huh, would Aizawa sensei expel someone now that Izuku wasn't there? The second to last place in the exercise was Mineta, but Izuku had no idea who filled his missing spot as the twentieth student so-

"Oh! Sorry, almost bumped into you there!"

Izuku blinked, looking up at Ochako as she smiled at him.

"It's okay! Guess I'm kinda standing in a bad spot," Izuku chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Uhm, Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."

"Ochako Uraraka," she said, looking over her shoulder as more people exited the classroom, smiling when she saw some of the girls band together. Ah, they must've planned on eating lunch together. "It was nice meeting you. See you around, Midoriya-kun!"

Midoriya-kun!

Yikes. Izuku was so used to her calling him Deku that hearing her say his last name like that felt unsettling, in a way. So...distant. Then again, this Ochako didn't know him. She never met him. That's what Izuku had wanted, wasn't it? To let them have a clean slate, to remove himself from the picture in order to appease Jikan and make this loop stop once and for all. It didn't mean he had to like it...