"You've got this kiddo." Keigo said, giving the boy a thumbs up. Sanyu's face morphed into the ghost of a smile at the sight. "Just have fun. I didn't really go to high school, so I can't give you much advice but I can say that helping them study will definitely help you make friends." He assured him.
Sanyu nodded and gripped his backpack. The train arrived on the dot and Sanyu waved to Keigo before stepping onto it.
He could do this. He could do this. He had carried out countless covert operations in foreign countries, he could help his classmates study. He had taken on a militia armed with alien technology, he could do this.
The boy sat on the train, watching the little map light up displaying where they were and where they were headed. He repeated the stop near Yaoyorozu's house over and over again. Anxiety was something Hound Dog had told him about too because at this point he was wracking up a laundry list of conditions.
He had coping strategies but he found the most useful one was the one he couldn't tell anyone about. They all thought the nightmares had completely cleared up and he was taking naps more often because of that when in reality he was spending more time with Haemon.
The bright apartment was like a sanctuary. Neither this new world or his old one. Middle ground that he so desperately needed.
But he couldn't tell people he was spending time with a retired hero who spends all of his time in the dream dimension because, if his google searches were to be believed, the dream dimension wasn't something they new about. To be fair, his world hadn't known about it until Dreamweaver came onto the scene anyways. Maybe the dimension wasn't supposed to be reached here at all and Sanyu was the first to ever enter it from this world.
All that boiled down to was that he couldn't tell anyone about the real reason his nightmares stopped or Haemon.
Fun. Real fun.
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"Oyama! Thank you for coming." Yaoyorozu said, standing in the doorway with a smile. Sanyu nodded.
"I'm happy to help." He knew he didn't sound very happy, but it appeared she was used to that. The girl stepped aside and let him come inside.
He took his heavy black boots off and placed them on a shoe rack. Yaoyorozu gave him a curious look. "Forgive me if this is impolite, but do you have to wear socks on your prosthetic?" She asked.
Sanyu was a little embarrassed when he noticed he had indeed put a sock on the prosthetic. It wasn't necessary, it could calibrate to balance him out on its own. In fact he was told not to put socks on it because if there was a sudden battle it wouldn't be able to 'switch modes' so to speak.
But it was a habit.
"I don't have to, I just do sometimes." He said, trying to sound casual. Yaoyorozu just nodded and smiled.
"Everyone's in the dining room." She said, "Follow me.". Sanyu did so, his now slipper clad feet padding through the house, nearly silent on the hardwood floors.
Two grand doors opened to reveal about half the class. The whole 'Bakusquad' was there, Bakugou himself excluded. Midoriya and Uraraka were there too, although they had said before it was more for fun than actually studying. Their marks were already good.
"Oyama!" Ashido called out, "Come over here, we need some help translating this sentence.". Sanyu obliged, taking the chair next to her, across from Midoriya.
"I-" He hesitated for a second as he opened his backpack. "I brought snacks.". That was a normal thing, right? People normally brought snacks, didn't they?
But Yaoyorozu's house was really nice. Like weirdly 18th century European nice. She probably already had everything.
But the group perked up anyways. A few 'yay's were tossed around as he took the containers out.
"Are those homemade?" Kaminari asked, staring at the clear plastic with interest. Sanyu nodded.
"My uncle makes good cookies and breadsticks so he gave me some." He explained. Sanyu left out the part about those being just about the only things Keigo could make.
"Ooh homemade bread." Uraraka said, "I haven't had any since I last saw my parents.".
"Oh that's right, you live on your own." Kirishima said. Uraraka nodded. "Its hard sometimes, but U.A's my dream school. Its worth it." She said with a smile.
"Oyama, you live with your uncle right?" Midoriya said, always one to include Sanyu in conversations. The boy nodded.
"My parents still live in the U.S." He explained.
"Do you ever miss them?" Uraraka asked, her expression full of kindness and understanding. Sanyu hesitated.
Did he miss them?
They had never been great parents, sure, but they did all the normal stuff. Parent-teacher interviews, taking care of him when he was sick, all that jazz.
But they were distant, never told him they loved him and were altogether preoccupied. And they always liked that intern at their lab more than him. She was always the center of dinner conversations. She practically lived in their house.
And it was all her fault that...
"I don't miss them." He said, blankly. Several of his classmates let out startled laughs.
"Oof." Kirishima said, "That's rough buddy.". "Can we get an F in the chat for that family connection?" Mina said with a laugh.
Sanyu tilted his head to the side, confused when everyone laughed and said 'F'.
Kaminari smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get it someday." He said.
"Back to the topic at hand, we have quite a lot of studying to do." Yaoyorozu said, taking her seat at the head of the massive table. The rest of the group groaned but got back to it.
"What does this word sound like, Oyama?" Mina asked, her voice barely above a whisper, like she was going behind Yaoyorozu's back.
" It's 'dis-a-point-ed'." He sounded out. Ashido nodded to herself and stared at the page.
"Is it something you hear often in English conversations?" She asked, obviously not thrilled about having to learn a new word.
Sanyu made a strange noise. He had made it once before, with Keigo. It was the sound of him stifling a laugh.
"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that word..." He joked to himself in English. The others must not have heard it, or if they did they didn't comment.
"Yes. You hear it often." He told Mina with his usual serious face. Sanyu heard Midoriya laugh a little at that under his breath. The pair made eye contact. The green haired boy smiled and brought a finger to his lips.
Friends, huh?
Sounded pretty good to him.
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"Detective Tsukauchi. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Keigo said, getting out of his office chair to shake the man's hand. They hadn't spoken or seen each other since Sanyu left the hospital, so his visit came as a bit of a surprise.
"You owe that to the ever efficient foster system in this city." The detective said. Keigo raised an eyebrow but Tsukauchi didn't respond.
"Take a seat then. I don't have to head out on a shift today, I'm just doing paperwork for the agency." The hero said, gesturing for the detective to sit in the chair across from him.
"So, what's going on?" Keigo asked, an easy smile on his face.
"We've been looking into potential foster homes for Oyama and I think we've finally found a few good options. I wanted to go through them today so you can give me your say. I'm doing the same with Hound Dog tomorrow." The detective explained.
Keigo's smile disappeared. "Foster families?" He repeated. Tsukauchi nodded, not noticing the change in tone. He still looked pretty happy.
"Yes. I called Hound Dog for a consensus on Oyama's mental health. It seems like treatment is going well and he's fitting in well. I think its time he gets a permanent place in this world." Tsukacuhi explained. "I've got five files to look through today. First there's the Chiba's. Lovely couple, two younger daughters-"
"He's moving homes?" Keigo asked, not quite following. Tsukauchi looked at him with a confused expression.
"Yes. Like I told you at the hospital when you volunteered, you're there to be a familiar face. Now that he's got lots of familiar faces at school we can move him to a more permanent placement." The detective said. His brow furrowed, "Do you not remember?".
"No, no I remember." Keigo assured him. He did now. He had completely forgotten about it up until that very moment though.
"Well I'm excited for him." Tsukauchi said, eyeing Keigo cautiously, like he was trying to figure him out.
"Yeah. Uh, me too." The hero said.
"I can tell when you're lying Keigo." The detective said, "What's wrong?".
"Nothing." The man responded, forcing a smile. "I'm just worried. It's only been a month and a half, is that really enough time? He's barely started with Hound Dog. It seems very sudden.".
"It is." The detective said, his expression softening, "But it's necessary. He needs a normal life, a family. And these people can give him that.".
'And I can't?' Keigo thought to himself. He gritted his teeth and nodded.
"I just want what's best for him." Tsukauchi assured the hero. "He won't be moving until after the upcoming U.A field trip anyways. It'll have been 2 months with you by that point. He should be well and settled.".
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So Tsukauchi is going ahead with his plan from chapter 3 to get Sanyu into a traditional family and Sanyu is experiencing more sock related issues.
IDK when socks became my way of displaying that Sanyu never fully processed the loss of his leg but a symbols a symbol at the end of the day 😅
I love that I get to put more pop culture references and memes in this story! Its more fun!
Also I like to think that all of the memes and jokes I use in this don't exist in Sanyu's world so he has no idea what his classmates are saying half the time!
But I've got an important question!
Which pro hero should Sanyu fight for his final exam in the next chapter?
a) Cementos
or
b) Nezu
If you're wondering why more high profile or relevant teachers like Aizawa, All Might and Ectoplasm aren't on the list its because some things need to wait until a later date to be explored 👀👀