Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

66: Cakes and Reunions and Things that Lie Ahead

Aizawa was kind enough not to make any comments as Elise slowly dried her tears, waiting until she recovered.

"I asked Yaoyorozu and Iida to gather the class up already," he said. "They should be in the general area now."

She tilted her head but nodded. The girl didn't think that her return would warrant the entire class being gathered but didn't want to seem ungrateful. However something struck her and she stopped him, hastily pulling out a folded note from her bag's side pocket and passing it over to him. Aizawa took it with his free hand and regarded the writing within it asking for permission to sit down for a talk with the addition of Nezu if possible. He took a few moments to mull it over before nodding, tucking the note carefully into his pocket.

"I'll try to arrange a meeting as soon as possible. It's not an immediate emergency, correct?"

She shook her head.

"Alright then. We'll set it up for you, don't stress about it. Let's go." He quietly tilted his head in the direction deeper into the hall and set off, Elise following after him

Nerves began to churn in her stomach closer to the end of the short path. Their footsteps were silent so she could hear the echoes of her classmates bouncing back at her. Elise wondered how they would react, seeing her back again.

It feels like I've been gone for so long... I hope it's not awkward.

Elise stopped just shy of the hallway threshold, one hand slowly strangling the backpack strap in her grip as she got consumed by her thoughts. The voices of her friends were clear now, Iida's reprimands and the cajoling of Kaminari and Sero. Just another step and she would see them all. However, her internal emotions kept her feet rooted to the spot. Her experiences had left her so fundamentally different from the girl that the class had last seen her as, and Elise was worried that there wouldn't be a place for her to fit in anymore.

"You know they've been looking forward to you coming back, right?" Aizawa said quietly next to her as she jolted, forgetting the man was there. She looked at him with large, unsure eyes as the man simply tilted his head forward, urging her on. "You mean a lot to everyone in Class A. We're glad to see you return."

His words gave her the courage to move, slowly stepping out of the hallway into the expansive space of the living area on the ground floor. It opened up left to her where everyone sat, their backs to her, with the exception of Iida who was reprimanding them, Shoji, and Jiro, the two looking back at her with wide eyes.

Iida turned to her, not yet realizing who exactly entered. "Ah, Aizawa-sen—" He froze, expression left in an open-mouthed state of shock.

The class president's silence made those on the couch murmur, confusion as they began to shuffle and turn around to see what he was looking at. Elise tilted her head in confusion. Did her teacher never tell them she was coming? As each student laid their eyes on her, they all fell into silent shock. She rubbed her arm, ducking her head and finally releasing her grip on her bag to shyly wave at them. She was glad that she chose to wear a coat today, conscious of her battered appearance.

That shattered the freeze over the class, Kirishima hopping off the couch. "Wi—"

"ELISE!!!!"

Mina's shrill shriek and the sight of her and Kirishima barreling at her were all she saw before the blur of pink crashed into her. Elise grunted, nearly falling but just barely managing to catch the girl and keep her balance. Kirishima impacted her too, but he let out a wet laugh as he tried his best to crush the two of them. The two's actions unlocked the rest, as the girl heard a stampeding of footsteps coming her way.