Tiny Heroes (On Hiatus)

Chapter 32

Deku POV:

Mr. Aizawa started the first few minutes of class, and I did everything that I could to pay attention. If I just focused on his teaching, then my mind didn't worry about anything that happened.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

"It's about time," Aizawa mumbled as he went over to answer it.

"Sorry I'm late," I heard the person say. "It took me a bit to find this room again."

I felt like I recognized the voice, but I couldn't pin a face to it. I tried to peek and see who it was, but Aizawa was blocking my view. He went back to his podium while the other person followed him.

The person's blank and tired eyes had sparks of determination and pride as they faced the front of the room. I could already tell what was going on.

"Everyone," Aizawa started, "this is Hitoshi Shinso from General Studies, class 1-C. You may remember him from the Sports Festival." He took a deep breath to prepare what he was going to say next, but I gulped before he said another word. I knew what he was going to say.

"He's filling in one of the missing spots for Todoroki and Bakugo."

The tension in the room grew, yet no one said a word. Shinso bowed and spoke up.

"I have been made aware of your problem, so let me apologize. I wish that I could have made it in here on better terms."

"I know this is sudden," Aizawa said, "but the faculty and I saw great potential in him. With two new open spots, we decided to move him up to the hero course last minute. The League of Villains is still out there, so we need as many promising young heroes as we can."

"I know I'll be behind for a little bit," Shinso added, "but I promise that I'll catch up. I'm going to become a hero."

"Now please take your seat, Shinso. I need to continue on with class." Aizawa said.

Shinso started to walk in my direction, then stopped by Kacchan's old seat in front of me. He looked me directly in my eyes and nodded his head in greeting.

"Midoriya," he said.

I didn't know what to say, and I didn't know how to react. I just smiled and waved at him. My mouth was too dry to form words.

He sat down at the once empty seat, and Mr. Aizawa started back up with the lesson. I found it even more difficult to pay attention than before. Every time I looked at Mr. Aizawa, I could see Shinso's indigo hair from the corner of my vision.

After being so used to seeing the ash blonde in front of me for so long, this didn't feel right.

I know that Shinso is a nice guy, and he really does deserve to be in this class. I should be feeling happy for him, but I didn't like the idea that he was sitting here as Kacchan's replacement.

I've known Kacchan my entire life, and he's always worked hard to get to the top. He's going to know about Shinso eventually, but how will he feel about Shinso sitting in the seat that he worked his entire life to get?

"Midoriya," Mr. Aizawa said in a monotone yet loud voice.

"Y-yes, sir?" I answered, unexpectedly being pulled from my thoughts.

"Quit muttering and pay attention," he said sternly.

"Okay. Sorry about that, sir!" I apologized. Mr. Aizawa went back on with the lesson.

I need to stop feeling bad about all of this. It's all over with, and I can't change the past. What I can do is learn from it and make sure that nothing like it happens again, and from now on, I'll save everyone. Kacchan and Todoroki are far from being saved now, but I can still protect them. I just need to get strong enough.