"Good morning Ayanokouji." A small smile graced the face of Momo as she greeted me after I separated from Midoriya giving a customary wave.
"Good morning as well Momo." saying so I sat down on my seat trying to avoid further conversations. Momo naturally understood my aloof nature quite well, which must be given. High-class children often attend parties to maintain a brand image of sorts. Hence having a thorough understanding of a person's psyche is a must for such people.
Of course, in this situation it made me realise why she was still in conversation with me. She had lost to me and I was quirkless. After such instances, it would be unlikely for her to even talk to me. Yet she did. While I might be overthinking this, either it can be her inherent mannerisms or maybe she finds the fact of me being unreadable fascinating enough to dampen her negative emotions.
I wouldn't know about the truth, yet pondering about it gave me a sense of satisfaction which was mild yet present. I turned to face her but she diligently took out a notebook referring to what seems her daily schedule. I turned to watch the scenario in front of me, a bustling class filled with noisy kids.
It seems Bakugou wasn't done giving Midoriya side eyes and grunts while Midoriya himself seemed involved in being flustered by Uraraka's smile. Iida took over the role of leadership quite well. Doing such strenuous stuff without any recognition always was above me. But I simply admired his diligence.
Gazing at the strange group that Mineta, my ex-partner, formed with that boy with a bold and eccentric lightning-esque hairstyle called Kaminari and the red-haired boy, Kirishima; I realised that this group was silent yet quite observant. Their eyes mostly Mineta and Kaminari seemed to notice every single movement made by the girls in the class.
While I was impartial about staring at everyone, it seems they fancied the opposite gender more.
Then there was the majority of the noise, like a steady sound of bees, coming from a small crowd of girls in which even Jiro was involved, albeit she looked a bit uncomfortable. The centre though, was the bubbly pink-hued girl, Ashido. She radiated a certain charm which attracted everyone, which made me quite envious I suppose or maybe it was admiration, I couldn't tell.
I definitely noticed certain odd stares and caution around me when I had entered the class. It was reasonable as most weren't particularly used to having a quirkless person near them. It wasn't out of bad intentions per se but more out of awkwardness and lack of ability to talk to someone different from them.
But the reason was either, they wanted to simply avoid me in fear of being ostracised or didn't want to say something insensitive out of negligence. They were going to be heroes, and ruining their image by being tactless in front of their future colleagues would be a bad tradeoff from a social standpoint.
I pondered such things as my train of thought was broken by a tired huff from Aizawa sensei as he entered the class, "Silence everyone, I have taken a look over all of your performances and have a few comments to make. Midoriya first, the reason you won was a reckless one without any backup or thought put into your surroundings...and on that note, everyone take out your notebooks and write down what I am about to say..."
He hummed as the steady silence was broken by the sounds of pages flipping and incessant tappings on the desk with their pens. I took out a piece of paper I had in my packet and a pencil half broke that I took from the register yesterday at my job.
Aizawa sensei's eyes shot over the area and halted at my desk and sighed but didn't comment as he continued, "The first and most important point is your life matters. If you think that carrying out a mission will risk your life in the future, make sure to prioritize your life. If you throw it away, to save one person who will save the potential hundreds that you could have saved if you hadn't died."
He had to add this point probably in reference to the rising death rates of hero pass-outs these days. Perhaps if those heroes that day, had been in Aizawa-sensei's class, they wouldn't have had to suffer such gruesome deaths. Sadly, not even a single column of the news covered their deaths as the government these days tried to keep things hidden for the sake of preventing public distrust and unrest.
He halted as he watched us write it down and continued with his next point, "This is in reference to Bakugou's quirk and such kinds of high-impact quirks, be careful of your surroundings. Missions get messy and sometimes cause quite a bit of collateral damage. Something that isn't always compensated by the government. As future heroes, always be careful of causing the least amount of damage if possible.
One wrong shot and the next thing you know, someone's house is destroyed that they will have to often pay out of their own pockets to repair. And don't even get me started with the reckless acts some quite famous heroes put up with their enormous feats of strength."
It felt as if he was targeting specific heroes as he said that statement as most of us came up with the point that All Might was one of them.
"Sensei, I had a question to ask! It's-" IIda stood up and tried to speak up but was shut down immediately.
"Sit down, raise your hand and ask again," Aizawa-sensei ordered as IIda looked slightly ashamed but immediately obliged.
"I apologise and may I ask a question."
"Shoot"
"Sensei, are there any situations where these rules have exceptions?"
"Of course there are always exceptions, these are the general guidelines for heroes to follow and...."
"And?"
"Orders for Hero students. Do you understand? These are absolute orders, if ever disobeyed under any circumstance, expulsion is on the table."
"Y-yes sensei, thank you."
IIda seemed shocked as I could see beads of sweat form over some foreheads. I silently looked forward and waited for him to continue.
"That suffices, everyone close your notebooks. Now Ayanokouji, I have to say, your method was smart and certain. It was quite flawless if I had to be logical. However, being a hero means acting with both logic and emotions. In that regard, you failed.
You didn't have a single doubt before snapping Todoroki's shoulder dislocating it in the process and similar to Yayorozu, complete incapacitation had injured her nerves. Next time, tone it down. Your teamwork and using your partner's quirk well...was done decently enough. While your acting, let's just say it was realistic enough to make some of your teachers question your moral standing."
He coughed as I saw shivers down Momo's spine. It seems unwanted she was wary of me. I nodded acknowledging Sensei's comments.
"Alright everyone enough hero talk. Your next task will weigh in on your hero careers."
'Another test?' was what most thought as horror-struck quite a few faces.
"Choose your class representatives."As those words escaped his lips hands shot up screaming and jumping trying to be noticed as a capable candidate for it.
I tried to drown it out as I stared out of the scenery. I heard IIda's suggestion of a democratic method of choosing a leader which most agreed to while Aizawa-sensei napped in this chaotic mess. I wish I could relax like him anywhere and everywhere.
A small smile grazed Momo's lips as she looked at me. Todoroki seemed to be looking in my direction too as I saw a small glint in his eyes. In fact quite a few glances were pointed at me giving me an eerie feeling.
I jotted down Momo's name as she was the one I was closest to at this moment and dropped it in the voting booth.
The results were strange, to say the least. I had 5 votes followed by Momo receiving 3 votes and Midoriya receiving 2 votes. I had somehow come out on top as I stared at the board in dismay. Sensei seemed to be grinning under his scarf as he called me and Momo on the podium. I struggled to walk behind her trying to avoid everyone's eyes.
It seems Momo and Todoroki had voted for me, as they probably realised that this would be an uncomfortable situation for me and took their petty revenge. Quite childish yet effective.
"The Class rep will be Ayanokouji and Deputy will be Yayorozu."
This was bothersome.
The cafeteria was like any other, filled with a crowd of students all congested and the queues were long enough. After my turn finally came, I was finally served food which was free, to my relief. If it was paid, another loaf of bread would be filling enough.
The person serving was interesting enough as he joyfully said, "Hey hey Kiddo! What do you prefer today? Perhaps something delectably sweet? Like this mango custard? Or does something spicy make your tastebuds water? If so, do try today's speciality these Mexican tortilla wraps! And if something to soothe your stomach! Then kiddo, how about our rice options? Eat your fill!"
I couldn't see what kind of expression he was making under his octopus-like mask but he seemed jovial enough as he served us. I chose my serving of salad and bread with a side of dessert and coffee walking out and getting an odd glace from Lunchrush which was apparently his name.
It seems my choice stood out for him but it wasn't my fault as I currently had no idea about the caloric values and ingredients used in the items served there. Whiteroom provided no teachings about diets and such. Mostly multivitamin tablets and capsules were enough.
I sat down in a vacant seat on a table for two away from the crowd as I noticed Midoriya and his group sitting together. I sighed as I took a bite of the bread. It was softer than the usual kind and tried to dip the bread in the coffee and then the desert and tried to bite on it.
"Weird choice dude." A voice familiar to me broke my experimental thoughts. It was Jiro who sat in front of me with her tray, carrying quite a variety of different salads and fruits.
"Says someone with a garden rather than a plate of lunch."
"That joke sucked. By the way, on a serious note, congrats on being the class rep and everything." She gave a slight smile as she took a bite of an apple slice.
"Hmm, it was unexpected to be honest.May I know why you are sitting with me?"
"Yo, gotta watch your tone there. If I didn't know you, then I could have thought you were being rude or just disliked me."
"I apologise, that wasn't my intention."
"Chill, I know man, just warning you for the future and all. I sat here cause it's a bit better than being in a gossip group. Gosh, it was kinda annoying today with all the girl talk in the morning."
"I see-"
The alarms blared as our eyes shot for the exit. Given this was a hero school, the reflexes of the students were quite good as they rushed towards the exit. It wasn't much of an issue for me, as I simply jumped over our table and tip-toed around the scattered food and jumped forward. It looked strange but it was faster to gain more information regarding the current situation. If I had to guess, it had something to do with the morning media.
My assumption stood correct as I stood above a chair with Iida getting squeezed mercilessly on the glass door.
"Whyyy...ayy....isn't....annyy.....nny...one....realizing...mhfff....." was all he could get out of his mouth.
I sighed as this crowd was getting brutal by the second.I pulled Iida on the chair on the side and instructed,
"I will throw you at Uraraka, make sure to get slapped by her in the process then use your propulsion to shoot yourself at the pipes above us and use the exit sign as a platform."
He nodded as I grabbed him by the collar and threw him over my shoulder. If he missed, he would get a concussion, to put it mildly. I stayed standing and watched through the glass door as he managed the situation quite cinematically as he informed the crowd of the false alarm.
It seems the media situation, was quite strange. They were able to bypass the security as I could see debris and on the gate's hinges from this far. If I had to hypothesise, someone from the media used their quirk and crumbled the door. But such a powerful quirk would make me question, why choose journalism and not heroism if that's the case.
Right after the break, a meeting was called by me and Momo as we had to delegate positions to everyone. While she took care of most of the positions I made a single choosing, "Iida shall be the class organiser" A fancy way of saying, he will do all the mundane tasks.
"Wait what?"
"As most of you saw, how he arranged a solution today out of chaos. It shows his capability in handling crowds and such. Hence, he will be the one taking care of class ambience and discipline." Most of it sounded sophisticated enough as the students cheered on Iida who graciously accepted it.
"I shall do my best"
I felt a small nudge on my hip as Momo looked at me stifling a smile, "You just threw your responsibilities on him. How sly Ayanokouji."
"I don't know what you are talking about" I shrugged feigning ignorance.
Later that day, Aizawa sensei announced an upcoming event,"Everyone pay attention, Today's training will be a bit different. Me, All Might and another instructor with certain security personnel will accompany us to the Rescue training ground."
"Sensei what kind of training?" Someone asked from the background.
Sensei smirked back and said, "Didn't I say, pay attention? A special rule of my class, I won't repeat twice...."
It seems some missed 'Rescue' training from the last words that Aizawa-sensei spoke.
"...Another point of being a hero, Stay observant. Almost every situation can give you hints and everyone's words often contain more than what meets the eye. Stay focused, on what your teachers say and in the future, on what the criminal says. Criminals are often high on emotions and blurt out more than necessary and keep an eye on their actions as well, sometimes quite a few battles are fought outside the battlefield."
After imparting his nuggets of wisdom he added
"Ayanokouji, your support gear is ready as you had requested earlier."
I nodded and took the briefcase assigned with my name encrusted on it.
Well, things might get easier with this around.
Author's Note:
I made certain changes to Aizawa's personality and the reason is because of the current situation of this universe. It's a grim one compared to the original in general. You have seen my villain versions are quite gruesome and often have a high mortality rate. In this regard, Aizawa is trying to take extra care in teaching them from an early point. And if you read between the lines, after the heroes died the last day, the news didn't show it but the underground heroes do know about it as they were the ones who usually patrol at night.
Since Aizawa is one of them too, he saw his fellow comrades die just the previous day, so his emotions also played a role on him acting differently from cannon and being more strict and giving more advice than usual.
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