Eri fussed about with the hem of her yellow shirt as Mirio led her to the black car parked on the curb of the hero school's entrance. Backpack heavy with her new supplies, she stuck close to Mirio's side as always. Pink blossoms flooded the trees in every street, the full force of spring unable to ignore; along with the start of the new school year. Second grade, the anxiety this term brought on hit Eri in waves.
She remained silent as the car ride droned on, Mirio idly spoke on about different topics as the many shops and other building fronts passed by. What the topics were, Eri didn't know- she wasn't paying attention. After a while, even the passing scene from the window couldn't distract her from her own thoughts.
Betraying herself, she took a long look at her arms, exposed by the short sleeves. She studied each jagged mark and pink line in full, her vision tunneling in, mind drifting to darker memories.
"Hello? Earth-to-Eri!" Mirio frantically waved his hand in front of her face. When the girl turned her head upward to greet the blonde, he was smiling, "What's up, you looked like you were thinking real hard."
Eri hesitated. She often found it hard to put some of her doubt and fear into words, but her anxiety spilled out, "...What if the others don't like me? What if my scars scare them? What if I scare them? What if they hate me?!"
Mirio suddenly grabbed her tiny hands and held them in his.
"Eri, listen to me," Mirio paused, "No one is going to be scared of you and no one is going to hate you. Do you want to know how I know that?"
Eri shrugged.
"Because I know that you're a great person. You're cheerful, sweet, and super friendly, and are always up to trying something new. Your scars won't scare them away, if anything they'll just show how brave you are."
Eri felt hot tears roll down her cheeks. Mirio did nothing but boost her spirits and happiness since he rescued her. She didn't feel worthy of any of it, but kept that to herself as she rubbed at her face and tried to stop the tears.
"Hey, hey, there's no need for that!" Mirio removed her hands from her face and grinned at her. He gripped his chin and looked to be deep in thought, "But if you're really that worried about the other students..." he snapped his fingers and smirked, "Maybe you can practice introducing yourself!"
Eri raised her head in interest, "Introduce myself?"
"Yeah! You basically say your name in front of the class."
"Oh."
"It's okay! That's why we can practice here! Like this: I'm Mirio Togata and I like heroes and ramen!" Mirio then settled back into a relaxed position. "Just go for it!"
"Okay," she steeled herself, "I'm Eri."
Mirio laughed, "That's great, but maybe add some other things. A last name and some interests for starters."
Eri nodded in understanding, "I got it," Mirio leaned in, ready to listen to her, "I'm Eri and I like apples."
"Great! But what about a last name?"
"The last name is the name that comes after the first name, right?" Eri recalled one of her previous lessons.
Mirio nodded.
Eri looked down, spirits falling once again, "Overhaul took care of me when my mother gave me to him," Mirio scowled, as what Chisaki did to Eri couldn't possibly qualify as 'care', "I'll have his name, everyone would know that he was a villain. I don't want anyone to know about that. The others would think that I'm a villain, too." The last sentence was barely a whisper.
Mirio patted her head, sympathy etched into his face, "I'm sorry, Eri, but there's really nothing I can do about that," Eri thought she heard a hint of anger in his voice, but brushed it off, "Maybe I can leave a note to your teacher..." He flipped through the beige folder in his hands, and Eri was caught off guard when his eyes widened in surprise.
"Great news, Eri! Looks like you won't have to worry about Chisaki's namesake!"
This revelation shocked Eri.
"Can I see?"
"Of course!"
When Eri actually saw the name on the form her shock grew to outright astonishment.
"Looks like you'll just have to add that to your introduction and you're all set!" Mirio grinned heartily.
Eri bounced about in her seat with glee, and happily hummed a favorite tune of hers through the rest of the car ride. When the car pulled to a stop next to a building with a lot of windows, a playground outside, and a plaque with a name engraved on it. Eri couldn't hold in her excitement anymore and unbuckled her seat belt, snatched up her bag, and made a mad dash toward the towering gates. Now closer, Eri noticed that the plaque on the pillar read 'Masegaki Elementary School'.
"Slow down! We have to walk in together, remember?" Mirio said from behind her, and Eri felt her face flush in embarrassment.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Mirio smiled, "Now, are you ready for your first day of school?"
"Mm-hmp!" Eri nodded.
"Then let's go!"
Mirio led Eri through the pristine and bland hallways and stairwells of the school. They finally stopped at an equally plain door with the label '2-C' read overhead. Mirio rapped his knuckles on the door, and a rather relieved-looking woman opened it.
"Oh, I was wondering when you'd arrive. I'll take that thank you." Mirio handed her the beige folder.
"Eri, this is your new teacher, Ms. Ikoma," Eri bowed her head as Mirio stood to the side to present her new teacher. She knew this was what you were supposed to do when you met new people. When she looked up, she saw that her teacher had a kind face with blue eyes and straight, neck-length black hair.
Ms. Ikoma spoke, "Well, Eri, come right in. I'll write your name on the board and you can introduce yourself to the class." The teacher walked back into her classroom, and Eri looked to Mirio, "Umm..."
"Sorry Eri, but this is where I have to leave," he patted her head, "I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends and learn tons. And I'll be-"
Mirio was abruptly cut off when Eri attack-hugged his leg, as she was too short to hug him properly. She squeezed as hard as she could, then let go.
"Bye." the white-haired girl said as she entered the classroom.
Eri took in her surroundings and noticed that the classroom was not as bland as the hallways. Children's artwork and assignments were plastered on the walls, and a chalkboard in the back of the room had different goals and facts written on it in a fine print. All the desks were aligned in neat rows, the students in them chattering amongst themselves, leaning over their chairs to join in on the various conversations.
Eri turned back to Ms. Ikoma, who had just finished writing her name on a large blackboard in chalk. "Alright everyone, please settle down and be quiet. We have a new friend who'd like to introduce herself."
The class paid her no mind.
The teacher scowled, then clapped her hands twice, and, to Eri's surprise, the class clapped a different rhythm in return, and like magic, the class went silent.
"There we go! Now that I have your attention, we have a new student that'll be joining us for the rest of the year, so please be nice and let her speak." Ms. Ikoma looked down at Eri, "Come on now, don't be shy."
Eri looked out at the twenty or so other children in the class all staring right back at her. She tried to gauge their reactions but was met with either boredom or mild interest. Her mouth felt dry and she found herself forgetting how to speak.
My name! My name! How could I forget my own name? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! They're all gonna hate me! I can't find my voice. I probably look like a fish on land. Think! Your name i- Wait... Didn't the teacher write it down somewhere?
She whipped her head back around at the blackboard and there it was, her name printed boldly for all to see. She faced her class with new vigor.
"My name is Eri Aizawa, and I like apples," she paused before adding last minute, "and heroes!"
Ms. Ikoma nodded happily before she addressed her class, "Say hello to Aizawa, everyone!"
"Hello Aizawa," the class said in unison. Eri didn't know how to feel about being called 'Aizawa'. It was definitely weird, but not a bad weird.
"Alright sweetie, you'll be sitting in that desk right over there," the teacher pointed to the first seat in the row right next to the classroom door. Eri quickly moved into her assigned seat and put her backpack under her desk, but not before pulling out a notebook and her pencil case, both hero-themed, and focused intensely on her teacher, ready to learn.
Turns out the subject for today was math. Ms. Ikoma would write out problems on the board and then ask the class what the answer was. Different students raised their hands to give out answers, which were met with praise if the answer was right, or guidance if the answer was wrong. After the lesson finally clicked, Eri raised her hand and was elated when the teacher confirmed she answered correctly.
Soon enough, Ms. Ikoma dismissed her class for lunch, and Eri quickly grabbed her lunchbox and joined her class outside, not wanting to be left behind. However, once outside, she felt lost and ended up eating her little octopus sausages, rice, and veggies in peace.
"Hey, new kid."
Eri spun her head around to see who had addressed her, "You're Aizawa, right?" She nodded.
Three girls stood before her, giants while Eri sat on the steps outside the school. The girl in the middle, the leader, Eri presumed, had her auburn-ish hair put up into a poofy ponytail with bangs covering her forehead, and large, round hazel eyes, with her hands on her hips. To the left was a taller girl with relaxed, green eyes, shoulder-length straw-blonde hair, and two little pink flowers atop her head. To the right was a shorter girl with short-cropped, purple hair, tan skin, and completely black eyes.
The girl in the middle spoke, "I'm Chiaki, that's Hanada, and that's Miwa." Pointing to the left, then the right, respectively.
"Nice to meet you," Eri said meekly.
"But you can totally call me Yuzuki if you want! It's way cuter than Miwa!" the black-eyed girl squealed. The girl in the middle, Chiaki, had her furrowed brows turn into an outright scowl.
"Oh," Eri didn't realize she could have people other than Mirio, Mr. Aizawa, or Izuku call her by her first name, "Then... Please call me Eri."
But it seemed Chiaki had had enough of the niceties, though, "Yuzuki!" she scolded, "Stop talking! We're supposed to be intimidating her!"
"Why?" the blonde, Hanada, spoke up.
"Because this is an initiation! We need to show the new girl who's boss!" Chiaki ranted.
"Yeah, okay," Hanada turned her head to face Eri, "Hey, y' know-"
"Don't ignore me!"
Hanada ignored her, "We thought you looked cute. Wanna eat with us?"
Eri didn't know what to say. Mirio was right all along, people weren't scared of her scars, and they weren't scared of her. She felt her mouth wriggle into a smile. "Yeah! Just gimme a second." she quickly packed up her lunch box and followed her newfound companions to a spot of shade underneath a large tree, where they ate their meals together.
"Oh, what's your quirk?" Yuzuki asked, leaning in very close, "Mine's Hula Hoop!" She produced three different rings out from her wrist, one cyan, one magenta, and one yellow. The rings spun around above their heads before vanishing right back into Yuzuki's arm.
"My quirk?" Eri didn't know whether to tell them the truth or not. She had just begun her quirk training a few weeks ago, and even then, barely had any control over it. She was tossing a possible response back and forth in her mind, but she was apparently taking too long for Chiaki's liking.
"Well, what is it?" she questioned, "Is it something really disgusting?"
"Um, no, but-"
"Then just tell us! Look, we'll tell you ours and then you can tell us yours." Eri was still confused as on how to answer and simply watched the girl with wide eyes. "My quirk is Queen Beam, and I can shoot a beam out of my head at anyone I like!"
"Which is why it's actually called 'Brain Laser'." Hanada chirped in, and Chiaki squawked in offense. "Anyways, my quirk is called 'Blossom Blizzard'."
"Um," Eri didn't know how to approach this. It felt nice knowing that these three trusted her enough to tell her their quirks, but she didn't know if she was allowed to tell them. Would Mr. Aizawa allow that? She settled on a compromise, "I can't really control it. I'm still training."
"Just tell us!" We don't mind!" Yuzuki jumped in.
"Okay, um... " Eri still felt unsure. She didn't want Mr. Aizawa to be mad at her later, but she also didn't want to lose the three new friends she made. She opted to just not tell Mr. Aizawa, for now anyway. "Well, my quirk is Rewind. I can rewind any living thing. That's what Mr. Aizawa said anyway."
Eri was caught off guard when her friends focused not on her quirk, but the term she used to address her caretaker.
"'Mr. Aizawa?'? So like, your dad?" Yuzuki blurted out.
Eri stammered at her new friend's query. How does one even respond to that? "Um, well, that's not really, um, you see, he's not actually-"
"Yuzuki, that's a private question! Don't be a snoop!" Chiaki scolded the purple-haired girl.
"Hey! No fair! You got to pry about her quirk!"
"Did not!"
"You're both overstepping. Just leave her alone, we have all year to talk to her. Right?" Hanada sent a sly look over at Eri, holding back a giggle.
Eri, however, couldn't hold hers in. The warm and bubbly feeling inside of her spilled to the surface, and her chortles filled the air surrounding the group of girls. "Yeah!" She replied after her laughter subsided, beaming. She gets to talk to them all year! Were these her friends? She really hoped so, as it would mean she could feel this bubbly feeling for a while longer.
The girls chatted and joked amongst themselves for a brief bit until the bell rang across the courtyard, alerting them that their lunch period had ended. They scrambled their empty lunch boxes back in order and scurried back to class, not wanting to be marked late for their afternoon lessons.
Those lessons happened to be on writing. The students in Ms. Ikoma's class had to practice the different kanji spellings and used them in various sentences, and Eri even got a gold star sticker placed on her notebook page when she showed her teacher her finished work. She knew everyone in the class got gold stars, but it still felt nice. Eri wondered if Mirio and Mr. Aizawa would be proud of her minor accomplishment of the day. She really hoped they would.
At the end of the day, Ms, Ikoma sent every student out with a smile, making sure they had all packed their homework for the next day in their bags. As Eri left the school building, she spotted both Mirio and Mr. Aizawa just inside the school gates. Everything left her mind as she bee-lined straight for her caretakers, enthusiastically eager to tell them everything she had done. When she made it to them, she hugged Mirio's leg, then proceeded to hug Mr. Aizawa's leg as well. If Aizawa was shocked by that at all, Eri didn't notice.
"Hey kiddo, how was school?" Mirio asked with an ear-to-ear grin.
"It was so cool! It was just like you said! I made three new friends, and Ms. Ikoma gave me a gold star on my writing!" Eri almost giggled as she held up a 'three' with her fingers.
"That's great, Eri," Mirio's eyes were shining.
"Eri! Wait!" the horned girl heard Chiaki from behind her, and she turned around to look at her friend, "Don't just run off without saying bye. It's rude!" Chiaki crossed her arms.
"Sorry," Eri didn't mean to be rude, she just got so excited that she ran off without thinking.
"Hey, it's fine," Hanada wasn't far behind Chiaki, "Who're these people anyway?"
"Oh!" Eri jumped at the chance to introduce the two people who have arguably, cared for her more than anyone else in her life up to that point, "This is Miro," she pointed at the blond, "and this is Mr. Aizawa." she pointed at the gruff looking man getting some cautious glances from the other parents at the school.
"So your dad?" Chiaki had piped up again.
Aizawa shuddered.
"Um..." Eri didn't know how to handle such a weird subject cropping up again.
Yuzuki, however, laughed, "Eri, your dad's super ugly!"
Aizawa flinched.
Eri, offended by such an insinuation, jumped immediately to the gruff hero's defense, "No! He's not super ugly! He's just-" she turned around to check, "He's just a little ugly!"
After a second's pause, all three girls burst out laughing. Eri turned around to find Mirio on the ground, wheezing. Mr. Aizawa just had a blank look on his face.
"What?" Eri was confused, "What did I say?"
"Nothing," Mr. Aizawa quickly comforted her, "You didn't say anything wrong."
The girls' howling laughter died down to a few stifled giggles and Mirio eventually managed to stand on his own legs without assistance. Eri said goodbye to her friends, with promises of meeting tomorrow, and ran off to return home with their respective families. Eri did the same, following Mr. Aizawa to another black car to drive them back to U.A., Mirio giggling all the while.
Eri happily recounted her day to her mentors, spent the rest of the day without a care in the world, and went to sleep with her homework done and a smile on her face.
Meanwhile, Aizawa rationalized that he would probably have to accept putting up with 'just a little ugly' jokes for the rest of his life.
And rumor has it that Mirio Togata was banned from a wayside hospital for making the noble Sir Nighteye laugh so hard he nearly flatlined.
(Author's Note- Aaaaand that's chapter 4! I really hoped ya'll liked this more fluffy chapter, it was so fun to write!
If you enjoyed this work even a little, please leave a favorite or a comment, or both! on which part you liked the best.
See ya'll next time and I hope you enjoyed!)