It was Monday morning, nearly everyone sat in their seats, ready to start their second trimester of their third year. Jirou was sitting on her desk, her legs swinging back and forth as she chatted with Yaoyorozu about hero agencies. Kaminari yawned, stretching his arms over his head as he plopped into his seat.
"Hey dude, you look beat, did you not sleep at all or what?" Jirou looked over at him as he turned his head.
"Uh- yeah, I have to get used to my school sleep schedule again," he replied meekly. Truth was, he was only up later than usual because he was listing off scenarios in his mind.
He buried his face back down in his arms. It had to happen. It had to be this year. Otherwise, he might never get the chance to see her again after high school. Kaminari had a few fears, bugs, being isolated, silence; but what probably worried him most was losing her.
He couldn't imagine Jirou never sitting next to him again. Or never hearing her voice, never seeing her smile, her hair and gorgeous eyes. He couldn't imagine what'd it be like if she forgot about him. If she forgot their friendship.
The bell rang, prompting everyone to sit back down as Mr. Aizawa stepped into the room two minutes later, dead tired and drained of life.
"Good morning 3A," he mumbled as he slowly brought himself to the podium at the front of the class, yawning.
The following was a mixed response of students greeting him with good morning's; either enthusiastic, bored, or just as tired as he was himself. At this point in time, Sensei Aizawa had memorized his students' names and seating arrangements, so he rarely called attendance anymore. Saved time and the students wouldn't sit bored waiting for everyone's names to be called.
"As you all know, your 3rd year in U.A. is coming to a close as we enter our 2nd trimester," he muttered, taking a sip from a coffee cup he held in his hand and placed back on the podium. "You understand we've been building your teamwork and communication skills throughout your second year and 1st trimester of this year. Now we'll be putting that development to good use."
"Starting today, training sessions will be reduced and only held on Thursdays. Similar to your internships, you'll be doing more live work, patrolling streets. The class will be split in thirds, depending on which instructor you have, you'll be patrolling either the North, East, or West half of the city. Within the thirds, you'll be further divided into either pairs or trios, and each take on a section of your division. From this point on, we're focusing more on your role in society, compared to what you've learned as in individual hero your first years. Now that you have an impression on the public, it's time to build onto it."
"During this trimester we'll be developing your connectivity with civilians, society and other heroes, as well as discuss the business aspect of agencies and companies. Your last trimester, you'll be evaluated with the physical, written, combat and final exams. Although 3rd trimester is the shortest and most enjoyable, this does not condone any slacking. You are the students of Class 3A, the top of U.A. in its entirety, and we expect most, if not, all of you to graduate."
"But most importantly, once you leave U.A., you'll be one step closer to being the heroes people depend on, and the heroes to take on our jobs once we can't fulfill that role. Show me that you can do that," Mr. Aizawa ended with an additional sip of his coffee.
The class gave a collective "Hai Sensei!".
"Now do whatever," Mr. Aizawa crawled into a permanent sleeping corner he designated for himself, which now had a tiny shelf filled with instant coffee flavors, eye drops, and extra pillows. Next to the shelf was his famous yellow sleeping bag he had had since their first year. "Just don't be noisy," he buried his face into his sleeping bag, zipping it up and closing his eyes.
"That's probably the most inspirational thing I've ever heard Sensei say to us," Jirou spoke.
"It makes me feel obliged to graduate now," Shouji turned around in his seat to talk with Jirou. "Not that I don't want to graduate, though."
"Ugh, all the tests," Sero complained behind the two, rubbing his head.
"I hear the written test isn't bad! And the physical doesn't really count as an exam, it's just like a normal sports physical right?" Hagakure leaned back on her chair, turning around to face the other students.
"After all we've been through, I feel like they should give us a break," Sero sighed tiredly.
"Who said heroes got breaks?" Jirou stated matter-of-factly, only making Sero whine louder because she was 100% right. As the rest of time dwindled, Kaminari's mind droned on a multitude of thoughts.
Maybe one day after school I could just– Nah, I want it to be more interesting than asking her on school grounds. Maybe a place. What place? What would she like? Where would she go? What wouldn't be suspicious?
The bell rang, snapping him out of his thoughts as people got up from their seats to leave. Jirou was already on her way out the door as Kaminari looked over.
Not today. Maybe tomorrow.
But those thoughts were the same thoughts he had told himself every day for two years.
Hero Lessons
"Your team assignments are as follows," Sensei Aizawa looked up at his collogues with their own lists.
"Midoriya, Shouji, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, and Kirishima," Sensei Midnight read off her list. "You're all with me," she folded her paper away as the students called gathered near her.
"Alright alright lovely kids, on my list I got Shoto Todoroki, Minoru Mineta, Kouji Koda, Tenya Iida, Hanta Sero, Tsuyu Asui, and Mashirao Oijiro!" Present Mic hollered, sounding like an over-enthusiastic television host.
"And I'll be taking Hagakure, Sato, Kaminari, Bakugo, Aoyama, Uraraka, and Jirou," Mr. Aizawa stated plainly. "Midnight's group will handle the West, Present Mic will be handling the North, you kids with me are heading East."
"And don't forget, you'll be using typical hero equipment utilized for city patrols, each of your groups or trios should have location pings in case someone needs backup, remember, teamwork is key," Sensei Midnight reminded.
"In case of a deadly emergency, we have the mass ping, which should alert the rest of the class as well as any nearby Pro Heroes. And again, this is not the time to think slacking is alright, you are in the eyes of the public, so show them that you are the 3rd years of Yuuei," Sensei Aizawa finished sternly.
Their third year schedule was a lot different from their first year one. Instead of hero lessons being held during the middle of the day, they were held after lunch and took up 3 class periods to give them the largest amount of time for live training.
"Hai, Sensei!" Each of them bowed and nodded in obedience, separating from the U.A. training gymnasium to spread out around the city.
"It's the first day of the trimester, so we'll get you used to the nearby districts before leading you more downtown. Each district is about one mile apart, you'll all be relatively close to one another. Sato and Bakugo will be in Brion, Jirou and Kaminari, Lisle, the rest of you, Priceton," he handed one person from each of their groups small devices that looked like car door fobs.
"Sensei Aizawa?" Hagakure raised a hand. "Where are you going to be?"
"Evaluating how each of you handle your situations," he replied.
"But how will you know what each of us are doing? There's so many of us" Kaminari asked.
"We have our ways," Aizawa said with a tone none of the students could read. "Your location devices start beeping 30 minutes before class ends, that means I've pressed the homing ping, you'll need to return here within that time limit. Stay within Musutafu, any farther and the devices go out of range."
"Hai Sensei," they replied as Jirou stared at the device she was given.
"Lisle's the suburb community right? With all the elementary schools?" Kaminari asked as everyone parted ways, not catching Aoyama give a small side glance as he and his group members split from them.
"Yeah, brace yourself," Jirou replied with a sigh.
During their high school years, most of the students in the Hero Course of Yuuei grew to be popular as they appeared more and more in public. Greedy companies took this as an opportunity to begin selling products and merchandise, while others wrote articles and published magazines.
Which meant; this would not be a pleasant day for the two of them.