Training Shinso

Chapter 15: Inside Your Mind

Shinso leaned forward in his seat to tap Midoriya's shoulder. "Midoriya."

"Hm?" Izuku turned around in his seat.

"Be a dear and pronounce everyone's names wrong when you talk to them."

"Hah?" Izuku's eyes widened, "Ahh, no~! They're gonna figure me out straight away! You're too good at this, Shizno."

Hitoshi sniggered, "We're gonna have some fun with this." The classroom door opened and he glanced up, "Hey, look. Your friends are here for a nice, friendly greeting."

Izuku replied with an unenthusiastic, "Oh, goodie."

Iida was the first to enter the clasroom. Upon spotting the two boys, he approached their tables. "Midoriya! Shinso! Good morning! I hope you slept well?"

"Morning," Shinso greeted politely.

Izuku averted his eyes down slightly so his friends wouldn't see the change in colour. "Good morning, Ooda! I did, thank you! How about you?" He replied warmly, ignoring Shinso stifling an amused snort with his hand.

Not seeming to have noticed, Iida continued, "I slept very well, thank you."

Uraraka poked her head over his shoulder and smiled cheerily, "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Urackraka!" Midoriya said.

The girl frowned, "What did you just call me?"

Izuku's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed. "Uh—Unagaka. Urnakara," he stuttered, trying to say her name.

Ochako blinked at him. She burst out laughing, "Haha, very funny, Deku."

Midoriya chuckled, embarrassed. He shot a sideways glare at Hitoshi, who had his head turned away, his shoulders bouncing with silent laughter.

The bell rang the second Ectoplasm stepped into the room and everyone quickly went to sit down. As the lesson commenced, Midoriya found he was still able to focus as normal. He turned to give Shinso a thumbs up when he felt him gently prodding his back.

——

"Our focus of today's lesson will be pronunciation!" Present Mic stated, holding up a finger. The class was now attending their second lesson, which was English Language. "Shoji has kindly handed out an English book for each of you. I'll be choosing some of you to read a few sentences and I'll be listening out for your pronunciation. Got it? Fab! Hagakure, you can go first. Start from line five."

The girl groaned internally but opened the book and began reading in English, "Birubo was vely lich—"

"Ah, now," Present Mic readily interjected, as if he'd predicted what would happen. "That was very good, but you fell for a common mistake. Japanese people often pronounce 'R' and 'L' the same, but we need to remember that they actually have different sounds in English. So the words would be pronounced, 'very' and 'rich'. Do you hear the difference?"

"Isn't that what I said?" Hagakure asked.

Mic grinned, "Nope. You'll get there, don't worry! It just takes some practice. Any volunteers to try it again or will I have to pick someone, myself?"

Hitoshi whispered to Izuku, "Raise your hand." The boy complied without a thought. Upon realising what had happened, he sighed.

"Ah! Midoriya! Glad to see you so eager!" Present Mic cheered. "Go ahead then."

Midoriya lowered his hand and stared down at the book before him. He didn't consider himself to be awful at English, but pronunciation was definitely one of his weakest points. He wouldn't have minded reading in front of the class if Shinso hadn't given him an extra command just now in his mind; Get the languages mixed up.