Mind Boggled

Chapter 7

"Iida." Harper sighed heavily, massaging her temples. She felt like an overworked parent as he turned towards her with a questioning look. "You're a complete genius. Can I borrow your notes?"

Iida lit up, and she could tell it was real. She withheld another sigh and instead forced a smile as he happily handed over his notebook to her. What did come as a slight shock was when, for the first time since she'd gotten here, his thoughts took a somewhat positive turn. Not a huge leap or anything, and it didn't last long before he went back to feeling like a soggy piece of lettuce on the inside, but it was better than nothing at all, "I'm glad I can be of help!" 

That's all it was, but it was enough for Harper. She wasn't really that useful, and she wasn't good at a lot of things. Trying to stay positive towards Iida was hard. Watching his thoughts was tiring, but somehow, hearing that single phrase made it entirely worth it. Like maybe he'd actually get somewhere if she kept it up. In reality, it wasn't so bad. Busying, but she was adjusting fast.

"I wish Ojiro would fuck me."

Ah. And then there was Mineta, here to ruin literally everything just by existing. Harper was still trying to figure out whether she should kill him now or wait until after the Sports Festival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dismissed. If I hear any of you started a food fight in the cafeteria again, I'm expelling you." Aizawa grunted, throwing his sleeping bag over one arm. "I hope my kiddos eat well! Hero training is going to be pretty intensive today, and I wouldn't want them hungry. Hopefully none of them need anything! Nezu called for a staff meeting today. I wonder what it's about. Probably the Sports Festival! We haven't heard much of anything about the security, after all."

Harper sighed and rolled her shoulders, eyes shifting to Izuku. His thoughts were on the fritz. "How am I going to show the world I'm here if I can't even use my quirk without shattering my bones?! All Might is going to be so disappointed! Am I even worthy of being his successor?"

That was another thing she hadn't brought up. A lot of times, Izuku referenced All Might in his thoughts and referred to him as though he were more than just a UA teacher. Like he knew him outside, or before UA. The word 'successor' came up often. It was pretty clearly a secret if how nervous he got anytime someone asked about his quirk was anything to go off of. She would mention it to Nezu, but she wasn't sure if he knew either, and it wasn't exactly suspicious. Extremely odd, maybe. 

"Man, to think the Sports Festival is almost here. I'm so nervous." Ochako slapped her cheeks. "What about you guys?"

"I believe we'll all do just fine. We're members of UA's hero course, after all!" Iida proclaimed. "I'm going to fail. I'm bringing shame to the Iida name as is, but what will happen when I ruin this? My brother... he'll be so disappointed. So will my parents. I just... how can I ever compare to my classmates?" 

"I-I'm pretty nervous, but I-I think we'll do alright. Plus ultra, right?" Izuku gave an uneasy grin. "Alright is a massive overstatement! I'm totally done for if I can't refrain from using my quirk in the beginning!"

"Harper, what are your thoughts on it?" Iida checked. "She always makes an effort to talk to me. Perhaps it's because... maybe... she does actually want to. I've never seen her engage anyone else so much. Could it be that she somehow finds me... pleasant to talk to? Not pleasant, per say, but tolerable? If even that?"