The tour of HANY's campus ended soon after 1-A's encounter with Dante, and as snow began to fall outside, Glacier led 1-A through the main school building.
The inside was just as rustic as it was on the outside, and the students that followed along after Glacier gazed upon the shined floors and intricate burgundy wallpaper as they traveled up a massive staircase. Several paintings lined the walls in the common area of the building, and large windows lit the dim corridor with natural light as they traveled toward the freshman classroom.
Once arriving, the kids were brought into a massive room. Those who made up the freshman class were already seated in auditorium-styled desks. Chatter broke out among the 1-A students as they filed into the room, and Glacier stood patiently beside the door until everyone was accounted for.
Courtney, who sat nearest the window on the furthest side of the room, sat back in her chair with her legs kicked up onto her desk. She stared silently among the heads of the Japanese students, and felt her brow twitch the longer they whispered among themselves.
"Quit it with that look," Dani Baker kicked Courtney's chair to get her attention. She had a thick Boston accent. "What's got you so sour?"
"She's been like that since we met the 1-A class in the theatre." Dante spoke without looking up from his phone.
Courtney shot a quiet scowl at the both of them. "This is just my face."
"Yeah, cuz it's normal for people to look like they're ready to commit a mass genocide," Dani frowned at her. "Lighten up for once in your life. Having the Japanese Hero Course here could be a lot of fun."
"Alright," the freshman home room teacher's voice, who had yet to be introduced herself, arose from her seat at her desk. "Settle down. Headmaster Glacier would like to commence the lesson."
"Good afternoon, everyone." Glacier greeted once she broke away from the doorway.
"Good afternoon, Headmaster." The freshman class replied in unison. 1-A remained silently in awe.
"The day we have long since been preparing for is finally upon us," the headmaster continued as she looked among her students. "I would like to formally introduce you all to Japan's Hero Course 1-A."
As Glacier spoke, HANY's freshman class stood from their seats with their hands behind their backs.
"Welcome to the US, class 1-A." They greeted in unison with a brief bow.
"So formal." Mina mused in a whisper as she leaned toward Kirishima, whom nodded silently in agreement.
"Take your seats," Glacier said as the home room teacher handed her a metal clipboard. "For the next month, the Japanese class will be learning among us to broaden their horizons of the Hero world, and vise versa. A buddy system will be implemented as a tactic for you all to learn from each other."
An eruption of excited chatter thus filled the room, and both ethnic groups proceeded to talk among themselves all while eyeing their opposing classes.
"Oh boy," Dani practically buzzed in her seat. "I wonder whose gonna be stuck with Courtney."
"Stuck with me?" Courtney shot her a warning scowl, to which she and Dante laughed at.
"Cut Court some slack," Dante grabbed Courtney's shoulders and gave her a shake. "She's really a teddy bear."
"Ah yes," Dani agreed. "A teddy bear with murder behind its eyes."
Finally having enough of Dani's teasing, Courtney swiftly sucker punched her in the bicep, to which elicited a surprised yelp to push its way out of Dani's mouth.
"Settle down," Glacier eyed Courtney from the head of the room. "The pairs are as follows... once you hear your names, please step forward to meet your partners."
"Dani Baker and Mina Ashido..."
"Dante Gibbs and Izuku Midoriya..."
"Courtney O'Connor and Katsuki Bakugou..."
Courtney's amber eyes instantly fell into another glare as they darted toward the blond in question, to see that he had already been staring at her with a similar look on his face. She took in a hard breath as she lifted herself from her desk, and met Bakugou halfway with an uninterested side glance as they waited for the remaining students to be paired together.
Dani waved her hand from her place beside Mina to get Courtney's attention, and mouthed the words 'hot head' in gesture of the boy standing beside her. Courtney couldn't help but roll her eyes in response, and suppressed an agitated sigh as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her skirt.
"Alright," Glacier continued after reading off her list. The home room teacher took a small remote and lit the electronic board anchored to the wall that showed a short list of that months goals. "The first half of this month will consist of basic training as well as in-class lessons on the history of American Heroics, of which will be taught by Miss Archangel behind me. The second half will be spent on introductory lessons in tactical battle plans, and lastly, the freshman and 1-A classes will be cleared to participate in a week-long patrol of New York City where crime rates are at an all time high to give you all some on-field experience. To conclude this trip, the 1-A class will be invited to attend the Winter Ball before heading back to Japan. Are there any questions?"
"Where will the 1-A class be staying while they're here?" Dani rose her hand.
"The extra dormitory on campus, which will be toured after class." Archangel, the presumed home room freshman teacher, answered.
"What will physical training consist of? And will we be fighting each other?" Izuku Midoriya asked.
"Quirk exercises and other activities of the like are planned," Glacier said. "And yes, sparring with the partners chosen for you are included in these exercises."
"Are we allowed to leave campus to see more of the city?" Kaminari asked hopefully.
"Yes, after school hours you will be permitted to do whatever you like so long as you are back before the eight p.m. curfew," Glacier nodded in confirmation. "Are there any further questions?"
Once a silence settled among the students, Glacier motioned for the board to be shut off and moved toward the door of the classroom.
"Then without any further ado, you are all excused to better aquatint yourselves with your partners. I look forward to seeing what you all accomplish together."
With one final smile over her shoulder, Glacier disappeared into the hall with Aizawa and Archangel close behind. The students were then left to their own devices, and a tense — awkward — silence settled between Courtney and Bakugou. An aura of irritation was poignant around him, and as Courtney looked at him from the corner of her eye, she could see that he was scowling off into space with his bottom lip pouted outward.
"Sooo," Dani's voice shook Courtney from her concentrated stare at Bakugou, and as she turned, Dani tossed her arms around Courtney's shoulders with Mina close behind her. "From what Mina and I have decided, I think you and mister Explosion Murder here are a match made in Heaven."
"Me and mister who?" Courtney's scowl hardened with confusion, directed toward Dani as she hung from her shoulders.
A soft growl could be heard from Bakugou as his shoulders tensed, but that didn't stop Dani and Mina from letting off quiet, teasing giggles.
"Apparently, at the beginning of the school year, your partner came up with 'King Explosion Murder' as a Hero name," Dani explained briefly, laughing. "Could you be —"
"Shut up, Shark Teeth!" Bakugou's bark of aggression made Dani jump and snap her jaw shut, and the mean gesture made Courtney's blood boil.
"What are you, five?" Courtney snapped back whilst shrugging Dani off to stand in front of her. "Anyone would make fun of you for a stupid ass Hero name like that, so why don't you just lay off, tough guy!"
Courtney stomped two steps forward to come nose-to-nose with Bakugou, and challenged him with her eyes as she glared at him.
"Back off, Pipsqueak!" He spat. "And tell your lap dog to piss off if she knows what's good for her!"
"Lap dog?!" Courtney hissed, and the faint smell of smoke hit the air as the ends of her hair lit ablaze with her temper. "Why I oughta —"
"Hey, hey!" Dante, catching wind of the escalating argument (as had most of the two classes), came running from across the room to step between the two. Midoriya followed behind him. "Let's not start a fight. We're all only just getting to know each other."
"Yeah, Kacchan," Midoriya agreed as he stood beside the blond. There was a worried look on his face. "I'm sure they didn't mean any harm."
Dante held a firm hand against Bakugou's chest, and had a warning look in his eye as he held Courtney back with the other. Dani stood behind her with her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders, and Mina looked on in shock as Dante worked to deescalate the situation.
Another tense silence filled the room, and as everyone looked on to see what would happen next, Bakugou rolled his eyes, scoffed, and pushed Dante's arm off as he proceeded to walk away.
"Whatever." He muttered grumpily, and Courtney huffed irritably as she watched him go.
"What the hell was that?" Dante whipped around to question her with a scornful look on his face.
"His bitch ass started it." Courtney crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
"It was actually me..." Dani disagreed. "I was making fun of the temporary Hero name he chose to try and break the ice... guess I could have approached that better."
"That's okay, Dani," Mina tried to smile. "He's like this with everyone, so try not to take it personally."
"Regardless, Dani didn't do anything wrong," Courtney justified stubbornly. "He should remove that stick up his ass and take a joke."
"You could take some of your own advice, Courtney," Dante scolded. "You should go find him before he gets lost."
"What? Me?" Courtney looked bewildered. "Why should I have to go chase him down? I didn't do anything!"
"He's your partner," Dante reminded. "So you two are both each other's responsibilities until this month-long lesson is over."
"That doesn't make any damn sense." She deadpanned.
"He's not so bad once you get to know him." Midoriya tried, although he didn't sound too sure of that himself. Courtney sighed.
"Fine," she said. "But if that dickhead tries to start another fight, then that's your fault."
"Not if Headmaster has anything to say about it," Dante challenged. Courtney shot him a warning look as she began to leave. "Think before you lash out, Court."
Courtney said nothing to that and merely rolled her eyes on her way out of the classroom. An angry weight settled in her gut as she stomped through the halls, and quite aimlessly looked around for the blond hothead who had stormed off.
She had never wanted to punch someone square in the face upon first meeting them more than Bakugou, and the idea of her going out of her way to seek him out aggravated her, but she knew better than to go against what Dante told her; no matter what, she'd never admit that he was usually always right, and genuinely had her best interest at heart.
She sighed for the umpteenth time that day, and begrudgingly continued her search for her new partner.