Cubicity

Chapter 9: Hitting the Books

As the boy slogged through the sea of people, a voice caught his attention, "Midoriya-kun, over here!"

Izuku looked around until he saw Tenya sitting on a nearby bench alone. In one hand he had his phone, and in the other, he was waving to grab his friend's attention. His tall friend had been adding the 'kun' to Midoriya's name like this ever since Tuesday, and the shorter teen had done the same. Midoriya made his way through a group of businessmen and women to approach Ida. As he arrived, Izuku said, "Morning Ida-kun. Why are you sitting here?"

Full of vigor, Tenya proclaimed, "Salutations my trusted companion. As you can see it's pretty much a traffic jam of people today."

Midoriya asked, "Yeah, what gives?"

Looking at his phone and adjusting his glasses, Ida answered with, "Seems like a new villain is causing mayhem further down the rail line."

The shorter teen asked with intrigue, "A new villain?"

"Yeah, early reports are saying the perpetrator has no record. Today must be their debut into villainy," Tenya said while still glancing at his phone.

Trying to connect the dots, Izuku inquired, "So how is that causing such a huge crowd here?"

After putting his phone away the tall teen explained, "Well, I'm going off limited information here, but apparently, his quirk is lightning based. And in his current scuffle with Kamui Woods, he damaged the railway and another station. So trains that were supposed to head that way are instead rerouting here to drop off their passengers. Then you probably have folks trying to head in that direction arriving here not knowing the situation, further adding to the crowd. Plus this is the closest station to our school so most students are coming directly here. It's all just a chaotic mess."

Still confused, Midoriya asked another question, "But still, shouldn't we both be heading to class?"

Letting out a long sigh, Tenya then explained, "Oh, as much as I would love to, classes are canceled for this morning for now. I called the school's office about ten minutes ago and learned of the news."

Pulling out his phone, Izuku noticed an email from U.A. stating exactly what Ida described that was just sent a minute ago. The email entailed a decent number of students and faculty unable to reach the school and for parents to stay alert for updates to the situation.

Midoriya put his phone in his pocket before saying, "Jeez, this is serious."

"Sure is. I hope we can still attend our afternoon classes though," Tenya said with a slightly raised fist.

Izuku held in a chuckle. Only Tenya would still want to go to school on a Friday, despite the possibility of an early weekend, he thought. Sitting down next to his friend, Midoriya then said, "Well, until it clears out here or we get more info from school, I might as well hang out with you Ida-kun."

"Certainly better than trying to get through all of this," Ida said while using his arms and hands to express the vastness of the crowd. He then continued in a slight sorrowful tone, "Especially if they just end up canceling school today."

Izuku then asked, "So you ready for tomorrow?"

With confidence, Tenya stated, "Of course. But are you sure you are? You look exhausted Midoriya-kun."

Perplexed, Midoriya said, "I do?"

Pointing his finger at the shorter teen's face, Ida explained, "You have some serious bags under your eyes."

"I didn't even notice when I was brushing my teeth in the mirror this morning. But yeah, I had trouble sleeping last night," Izuku said with a groan.

Intrigued, the glasses wearing teen inquired, "From what exactly?"