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Kumo races to class, expecting to see Hizashi and Shouta already waiting for him. Instead he sees Shouta’s empty seat and Hizashi pouting.
“What’s going on?” he asks, sitting down.
“Shhh,” the teacher replies, since class was about to start.
Kumo impatiently waits through all of class, tapping his foot and not listening to a word the teacher was saying.
As soon as the bell rings, he blurts out his question again,” What’s going on, Hizashi? Where’s Shouta?”
“You’re dismissed,” the teacher says, sighing heavily.
Hizashi stands up. “I burst Shota’s eardrums again this morning.”
“Oh, well, it’ll be alright.”
“This is the third time this week. I just get excited talking to him. It’s never been an issue before. He’s never had a problem controlling me.”
“I know, I’m kinda more worried about why he hasn’t been using his quirk on you recently.”
Hizashi shrugs dejectedly.
“How about we go see him? Did Recovery Girl send him home again?”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s go see him. We’ll check out how he’s doing. See how his hearing is holding up. Then we can chew him out for not just using his quirk on you when he knows he needs to.”
“I guess.”
Kumo drags Hizashi out of the classroom.
“What about the rest of school?”
“I’ll say you got sick and I had to take you home.”
Hizashi brightens up slightly, jogging along with Kumo. They get a cab to Shouta’s house, since it’s pretty far away in a nice neighborhood. They walk up the atrociously long driveway, and Kumo knocks sharply on the door. The maid opens the door.
“Hey, you guys here for Shouta?”
Kumo nods enthusiastically.
“Alright, come on in. Do you need me to walk you to his room again?”
“No thanks, I don’t think we’ll get lost again,” Hizashi says.
Kumo nods, looking embarrassed. They walk up the stairs as Kumo starts chatting again. “I keep forgetting how rich Shouta’s family is. How come he dresses like a homeless person?”
“I think he said that he buys all of his own clothes, and the stuff for his support item projects,” Hizashi replies.
“Huh, I wonder why.”
“I don’t know, never asked.”
It takes them ten minutes and a wrong turn to find Shouta’s room. Kumo doesn’t bother with knocking, just opens the door and walks in.
“Shouta, we’re here,” he calls.
Shouta turns to them. “Hey, guys,” he says quietly.
“Alright, I have a bone to pick with you now that I know you can hear me.”
“What’s up?”
“What is wrong with you? You have the ability to stop Hizashi and you just keep letting him bust up your hearing and everyone within a ten foot radius. Why don’t you just stop him? He’ll learn to control it well on his own as time goes on.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’m not allowed to purposely use my quirk on another student anymore. They said that if they caught me using my quirk on Hizashi again, they would suspend me. Then if it happened again, they would expel me. Apparently his parents heard about me doing that, and they fussed at the principal.”
“What?” Hizashi demands, his eyes flashing.
“You heard me, Hizashi. They yelled at the principal and then he yelled at me. They told me not to tell you, but I don’t really care what they want me to do. Either way, you guys don’t need to yell at me. Also, do you mind? I’m trying to do homework.”
“Yes, we do mind. We came all this way, you need to pay attention to us,” Kumo says, flopping down on Shouta’s bed, flinging his legs over Shouta’s legs.
“Come join our cuddle pile, Hizashi… That sounded odd, but it’s not. We’re just chilling.”
Hizashi laughs, climbing over the other two to settle on the far corner of Shouta’s bed. “Ok, this is fun. We should play a game or something,” Hizashi suggests, leaning towards the duo in front of him.
“Alright, we can do that. What kind of game?” Kumo asks.
“How well can you hear, Shouta?”
“Fairly.”
“Alright, I would suggest Telephone, but I don’t think Shouta would find that funny. Hmm, we should play truth or dare, or two truths and a lie.”
“I vote for option two, because option one means that we’d have to get up, and we just sat down,” Kumo says.
“Alright, well, I’ll start,” Hizashi says, tapping his chin. “I hate most pros, I have a happy family, and I love classical music.”
“Um… Hizashi, are you ok? I know for a fact that you hate classical music, and the other one is slightly concerning.”
“Yeah, he actually does hate most pros that are working these days,” Shouta says, shrugging.
“Yeah, they’re so lame. There aren’t many people with any drive anymore.”
“Oh… ok, anyway, Shouta, you go next.”
“Nah, I’m going to go get snacks. You guys can stay here for a while, but you have to leave before lunch. That’s when my parents are coming home. They’re taking me to have a talk with the principal about how often I get sent home for injuries.”
“Oof.”
Shouta nods and climbs out of bed to head down the stairs. Once he’s gone, Kumo turns to Hizashi. “Well, that was interesting. I wonder why he isn’t upset about the principal chewing him out.”
“I don’t know, but I also don’t care. I’m upset, and I can be upset enough for both of us. I’m going to have to have a word with my parents later.”
The maid walks up the stairs. “Sir?” she says, poking her head into Shouta’s room. “Where’s Shouta?”
“He went downstairs to get food.”
“Well, you guys should come down too. His parents are here, and I’m sure that they’ll want you to leave once Shouta does.”
“Boo, they came early.”
Hizashi drags Kumo down the stairs behind the maid. Shouta’s parents are standing in the entryway. Shouta walks out of the kitchen holding plain popcorn and health bars. Those are the only snacks that his mom will buy. His mom’s eyes flick in between Kumo, Hizashi, and Shouta.
“What are they doing here and why are you dressed like that?” she demands, gesturing towards Shouta’s ripped black jeans and gray sweater.
“I dunno, I just want to be. Also, they came by to check on me after the incident this morning.”
“About that-” his father starts, but Shouta’s mother cuts him off,” I thought I told you that I didn’t want you to be friends with these two anymore. That one’s poor,” she says, glancing at Hizashi, despite the fact that his family is pretty well off. “And that one is a foster child. He doesn’t even have a family. Why would you want to be friends with that type of person?”
“Mother! I can not believe that you just said that in front of him. That is terrible of you! He does have a family.”
“It’s alright, Shouta. She’s not wrong, even though that was a little rude.”
“A little?!” Shouta demands, his eyes turning red and his hair floating around his shoulders.
“Shouta Aizawa, calm down right now,” his father demands.
“Kumo, Hizashi, you guys should probably go home. I’m sorry about all of this,” Shouta says, his hair dropping again.
Hizashi nods. “Yeah, we’ll get going. I’m sorry that we intruded.”
He pulls Kumo out by his collar. Kumo doesn’t say anything as they walk back down the driveway.
“It’s alright,” Hizashi says, patting Kumo on the back.
“I just can’t believe that he has to put up with them all the time. Anyway, I’m going to go home. I’ll see you later.”
Hizashi nods, turning to head back towards the school. Kumo doesn’t go home, just walks for a while until he feels exhausted. Then he floats around on a cloud for a while. By then, school’s almost over, and he has to head home or his mother will wonder where he is.
“I guess I wasted the whole day,” Kumo says with a laugh. He wanders home. “I’m back,” he calls as he enters the house.
No one greets him, so he figures that his mom and little sister are at dance class. So, he heads to his room, shutting the door behind him. He doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but he’s exhausted. No one wakes him up, so he sleeps until his alarms start going off the next morning.
“Ugh, what is that?” he mumbles, reaching for his phone.
He clicks the alarm off, rubbing his eyes. He glances around, and his eyes widen in realization.
“It’s five thirty a.m.?”
He shoots up, stumbling to his closet. He grabs clothes before going into the bathroom for his shower. The house is quiet, everyone else is still sleeping. He’s heading to Hizashi’s house by six, so they can walk to school together. Hizashi is sitting on the steps when he gets there, as always. Hizashi’s mom loves to talk Kumo’s ear off any time she sees him. So, Hizashi usually waits outside for him.
“Hey,” he greets as Kumo hops up the steps.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Nothing much. I chewed my parents out. They apologized, because they thought it was making me uncomfortable and I just refused to say anything. I explained the whole situation and they felt really bad about it. I mean, they like Shouta, and they didn’t realize that he was getting hurt as a result of what they did. They even said that they would talk to the school today.”
“That may not even be necessary after Shouta’s parents got ahold of them. They’re awful.”
Hizashi laughs. “Yeah, one time they told me that I look like I’m homeless, because I wasn’t wearing designer jeans. Do they even see what their son wears on a daily basis? I’m one hundred percent certain that he shops at thrift stores, and keeps the clothes for years.”
Kumo snickers. “Yeah, that would track with his personality. I don’t know how he ended up with the most rich white people ever.”
“Yeah, and he hasn’t had a proper hair cut in years. He told me he just trims the edges himself every once in a while.”
“Wow, I didn’t know that. I like Shouta just the way he is, but I have no idea how he fits into that family. Have you ever met his sister?”
“His older sister?”
Kumo nods.
“No.”
“Yeah, I did once. She was just like her mother. She told me that I looked like I climbed out of a dumpster, because I left my tie at home.”
“Ew, that’s a gross attitude.”
“I know, right? Anyway, do you think he’ll be in school today?”
“Shouta? Probably, but he’ll be really sleepy. You know how he likes to stay up and work on a project till really early when he’s upset.”
Kumo swipes his student ID card to open the school gates, slipping through as soon as the gate is open enough.
“You’re so impatient,” Hizashi comments.
“Yeah, that’s something that we have in common. Another thing is that we get distracted extremely easily. Speaking of which, we didn’t get distracted by anything on the way here. That means we’re not late.”
Hizashi grins. “Come on, let’s get to class.”
Shouta is sitting behind his desk, like normal. They both wave at him, grinning. He rolls his eyes, but waves back. As soon as classes are over for the day, they both race over to him.
“How did it go yesterday?”
“Well, my parents were very angry. They said that I could use my quirk after my parents threatened to sue the school and your parents, Hizashi.”
Kumo laughs. “Wow, that sounds about right. They would actually deserve it though.”
Hizashi nods.
“Yeah, so, it’s alright now. Neither of you have to worry about me. Also,” he says, bumping his shoulder into Kumo’s. “I won’t let Hizashi blow your eardrums out either.”
“Thanks,” he says, smiling while Hizashi starts pouting.
“Well, that’s not fair.”
“Boo freaking hoo,” Shouta replies, leaning against the wall surrounding UA’s perimeter.
Hizashi throws himself against Shouta, knocking them both to the grass.
“Get off of me!” he demands, pushing Hizashi’s face away from him.
Hizashi refuses to budge though. “Not until you apologize.”
“No,” Shouta says with a final air around his words.
“Oof, you’re not winning this one. You should just get up before you make him mad.”
“Well, I don’t want to.”
“Yeah, well, we have to get to extra lessons, or the new teacher is going to kick our butts,” Shouta replies.
“Aw, I forgot that we had that.”
“I can’t believe that they’re making us put on a play,” Kumo complains. “Or that we have to take drama classes, or that they hired a whole new teacher for it.”
“I know, but what can we do? It’s mandatory, and it’s not all bad.”
“No one in our class likes us,” Hizashi points out.
“And we get made fun of every single day and the teacher doesn’t do a thing about it, but she won’t let us do a thing about it either,” Kumo adds.
“Yeah, well, whatever. I don’t even listen to them, so I don’t have the same issues as you guys.”
“Bullcrap,” Kumo accuses.
“Nah, my sister is a bigger bully than any of those kids. If I can put up with her, why would they bother me?”
Kumo and Hizashi exchange looks. “I guess. Also, I’ve been wondering, why do you buy all of your own clothes and supplies and stuff?”
“My parents think my projects are trash, so they won’t buy it. Also, have you seen what they wear? I would be dressed like a mini Mr. Aizawa,” Shouta says, sticking his tongue out. “Heck, they complained about how the uniform looks.”
“I get it,” Hizashi says. “My parents won’t buy me any leather jackets, or anything cool. So, I have to buy it myself.”
“That is not the same thing,” Kumo says, pulling Hizashi off of the ground.
Shouta gets up by himself. “Alright, let’s go.”
They walk back towards the school, heading towards the gymnasium this time. Everyone else is already there by the time they get there, sitting in a circle and reading over their lines.
“Glad you three could make it. I cannot believe that the principal picked you three to even be in the play,” she grumbles, motioning towards the cast list that’s hanging on the wall.
Hizashi and Kumo walk over while Shouta stays near the door.
“Aren’t you coming?” Kumo asks.
“Nah, just let me know what I’m doing. I don’t need to crowd in between you two.”
“Fine… Alright, Hizashi is an extra. That makes sense.”
Kumo glances at Hizashi, who isn’t responding to his jab. Hizashi is staring at the cast list with his mouth hanging completely open. Kumo turns back to it.
“Alright, I’m playing the mentor who dies in the first six scenes, that also makes sense. Where is Shouta on here?”
He continues skimming the list until his eyes land on the main characters, which are at the bottom of the list for some reason. His eyes widen as he realizes that Shouta is going to be playing the male main character. The love interest for Keiko, who is the hottest and most popular girl in their class. She’s also had a weird, major crush on Shouta since she first laid eyes on him at the sports festival. Shouta, on the other hand, could not be bothered to look in her direction.
“I can see why you short circuited, buddy,” he says, patting Hizashi on the back.
“He’s going to murder someone,” Hizashi mutters, turning to glance at Shouta.
Shouta is leaning against the doorframe, texting.
“Shouta, can you come over here, please?” Kumo calls.
“I’m busy, my mom is demanding to know where I am. She’s such a control freak, what’s up?” he replies without even looking up to see their distressed faces.
“Shouta, just come over here,” Hizashi replies.
“Fine,” Shouta says, dropping his phone back into his bag before walking over. “What’s up?”
Hizashi points out himself, then Kumo, and then Shouta. Shouta reads each one before his face turns bright red.
“No, I am not doing that.” He folds his arms.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice, and neither do I,” the drama teacher says, adding the last part under her breath.
“What’s the point of having to put up with her if it doesn’t mean that we’re going to get bad roles?” Shouta asks.
Her mouth drops open.
“What? The principal decided who would play what part.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Nobody cares.”
“Please calm down, Shouta, Ms. Kai,” Kumo says before Keiko waves at Shouta, smiling so widely that her face might fall off.
Shouta gags. “Ew, no, no, no. I’m not touching her.”
“You’re going to have to. This is a mandatory part of your grade now,” Ms. Kai says, sounding happier now that at least she’s not the only one that’s unhappy.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Keiko says, patting the open space on the floor next to her.
Shouta gags again. “Nope.”
“You don’t have to be so mean, Shouta,” Hizashi says, nudging Shouta’s arm.
“Do you remember the last time that I politely declined? She took that as a sign that I wanted to sleep with her!”
“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that one. That was a bit overkill,” Hizashi mutters with a snicker.
“What if she does something weird again if I sit next to her? Last time that we were paired for a project together, she kept running her hand down my spine and asking if I wanted to ‘continue this at your house’.”
Hizashi snorts, and Shouta glares daggers into his head. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t appropriate.”
“No, it was not.”
“Come sit down, Aizawa,” Ms. Kai says.
“Everyone who has lines is sitting next to the person that they have the most lines with. Other than the main characters, they’re just sitting next to each other. Although, if it makes you feel any better, Shirakumo is going to be sitting on the other side of Aizawa. Yamada, you can go join the kids in the corner who don’t have lines, and aren’t allowed to talk.”
“That sucks,” Hizashi says, sulking over to the group of kids in the corner.
Shouta walks over to his spot on the floor, and Keiko taps his shoe when he doesn’t sit down fast enough. Kumo pushes him to the floor, so they can get this whole thing over with, then joins him. Keiko scoots closer to Shouta as Shouta gives her a weirded out look.
“Anyway, here are both of your lines. You are to start memorizing them. Once you have a few down, you can start working with the person next to you.”
“I’m ready whenever you’re ready,” Keiko says to Shouta, leaning closer to whisper that.
“Thanks,” he mutters, leaning away.
She grins, blinking owlishly at Shouta. Kumo turns to his lines. He reads for a minute, but he only has a few lines.
Right as he’s finishing reading his last scene for the third time, Keiko speaks again,” You know, you look really cute when you read. Your brow creases ever so slightly, and your eyes follow the words so intensely. Your eyes are so nice.”
“Ms. Kai, Keiko is being weird,” Kumo announces, causing Keiko to stop leaning forward, although Kumo would swear that she’s closer to Shouta then she was before.
“I think that it’s great that she’s already in character. That’s really impressive, Keiko. Thank you for pointing it out to me, Shirakumo.”
“No problem,” Kumo says, passive aggressively waving his hands at her once her back is turned.
Shouta turns to him.
“Are you ready to practice our lines?” Kumo asks, since Shouta is the only person that he has lines with.
“Yeah, I’m ready.” Keiko pouts, but doesn’t say anything.
They’re about halfway through the second scene when Shouta yelps, leaping to his feet. He spins around to face Keiko, who sheepishly smiles at him.
“What?” she asks.
“Did you just put your hand in my belt and the other one on the small of my back?”
“No, I don’t know what you mean.”
“So you mean that an invisible person came up and did that?”
Keiko shrugs. “I don’t know, but I didn’t. Maybe you’re just being paranoid, like last time.”
Shouta huffs, cautiously sitting back down. He turns back to Kumo, but not completely away from Keiko. She’s just barely in his peripheral vision.
“Anyway, what were we talking about?” Shouta asks, brushing his hair behind his ear.
“I was just telling you that I love you like a son, because I die in the next scene while you fight an evil monster,” Kumo replies, glancing down at his script.
“Alright, well, let’s get this over with.”
“Alright, your fight will be a long one, Honey.”
Shouta raises one eyebrow. “That is not in your script.”
“You’re right, I just thought that it would be funny if I called you that. Anyway, say your line.”
“Fine, don’t die. I don’t want to fight that fight without you. You can’t leave me now.” Shouta says his lines with the straightest face, and no emotion.
Kumo snickers despite his best efforts not to.
“What?” Shouta asks.
“You were not meant to be an actor, Shouta. Ms. Kai, your star is terrible at acting. Can Hizashi please come over and help me?”
“Whatever, but you’re going to have to sit in that corner alone.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Shouta exclaims, getting to his feet immediately.
Keiko sticks her bottom lip out. Shouta ignores her, dragging Kumo over to the nearest corner. Hizashi jumps up, pumping his fist. He runs over.
“Alright, what seems to be the issue?”
“Let’s run the lines again the same way, Shouta,” Kumo suggests.
“Sure.”
They run the lines nearly identically as before.
“This is what Shouta thinks he’s supposed to be doing,” Kumo explains.
“Why does he sound so sad while he’s saying his lines?” Shouta asks Hizashi, who covers his mouth with his fist.
After a moment of silently laughing at Shouta, he replies,” That’s what he’s supposed to do. Acting is basically assuming someone else’s life. Instead of Kumo, he is his character. That’s his life now. His backstory, and he’s dying in front of his only family.”
“Wow, that sounds too deep for me.”
Hizashi shakes his head, rubbing in between his eyebrows. “Alright, we know, but you have to try. Pretend that you are your character. Your mentor is dying. Kumo is dying.”
“Oh, um… ok.”
Before he could continue, Ms. Kai says,” Everyone pack up and go home. You need to practice your lines at home. You can even get together and have a study group. We’ll start legitimate practice tomorrow. Make sure that you’re all on time,” she says pointedly towards Shouta, Kumo, and Hizashi.
Kumo rolls his eyes. Everyone gets up to leave. Keiko saunters over to Shouta as they’re standing up and getting ready to go.
“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says, looking him up and down.
“Alright.” He brushes past her to grab his backpack. Kumo and Hizashi follow him out of the gym.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Walking you home,” Hizashi replies.
“It takes a while for me to get home, and it’s in the opposite direction from you guys' houses. Why don’t you just walk home together?”
“Just let us walk you to the gate.”
“Fine.”
They walk Shouta to the gate, where they split up. Kumo walks Hizashi home, and then keeps going to his own home. The next morning there’s a knock on Kumo’s front door as he’s pulling his shoes on. He rushes to the door before they can knock again and wake his parents up. Shouta is standing in front of his door with a black eye.
“What happened?” he asks, stepping outside.
“I got in a fight with my sister and she hit me with a book. Then my parents got mad at me, and kicked me out of the house. So, I thought I would come see you.”
“How long would it have taken you to get here?”
Shouta shrugs. “I don’t know. I thought about stopping by Hizashi’s house, but I decided to come here since his parents and I have been having some issues.”
“Ok, well, we’ll have to stay on the porch so we don’t wake up my parents. I’ll grab my bag in ten minutes, and we’ll head to Hizashi’s house and then school.”
Shouta nods, sitting down on the edge of Kumo’s porch.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just needed something to do before school started, if not I would have just sat outside, and waited until I needed to leave.”
“Ok, as long as you’re alright.”
“What’ve you been up to?”
“I ran my lines last night. I honestly don’t have a lot of work, but I’m also probably going to be doing work backstage too. So, I’ll help you, and then help Hizashi with whatever he’s doing since I don’t have much work myself. What about you?”
“Eh, I ran my lines a little bit, but I was cleaning most of yesterday.”
“Yeah, that sucks, but we can work on that later. We can all go to Hizashi’s house.”
“How come you never invite us into your house?”
“Eh, I just don’t want to. I don’t like bringing my temporary families into my non-temporary aspects of life.” Shouta hums, but doesn’t seem convinced, so Kumo continues,” Anyway, I prefer being at Hizashi’s house. Hizashi’s parents like me more than mine do, and I don’t know if they’d like you guys anyway. They’re really strictly religious, and I think they’d think you were possessed,” he says, nudging Shouta’s arm.
“Yeah, ok. Do you wanna get your bag now, and we’ll go to Hizashi’s?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. Hang on, I’ll be right back.”
He runs inside, grabs his backpack and water bottle, and jogs back out. “We’ll have to move a little quicker than I normally would, but I wanted to give you a break after how far you walked to get here.”
“I would have been alright,” Shouta assures him.
Kumo laughs. “Of course you would. That wasn’t what I was saying.”
Shouta nods seriously. They walk to Hizashi’s, but he isn’t sitting on the steps.
“Do you think he left already? Are we late?” Shouta asks.
“I don’t know, but I’ll knock. If he’s already left, we can just head straight to school.”
Kumo hops up the steps, and knocks on the door. Hizashi’s mom opens the door, brushing her yellowish-blonde hair out of her face.
“Hi, sweetheart. Do you wanna come in? Hizashi’s almost ready, he overslept again.”
“Yeah, thanks. I brought Shouta with me this time.”
“Oh.”
Shouta waves from the sidewalk. She motions for both of them to come in, and they both comply.
“Shouta, I’m really sorry about that misunderstanding from before. Are you alright?” she asks, wringing her hands.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Thank you though, I understand why that could be concerning, and Hizashi isn’t the best at expressing himself.”
“Yeah,” she says with a little laugh, the tension evaporating. “He got that from his father. Can I get you guys anything for breakfast?” she asks, wandering into the kitchen.
“I’m alright, thanks,” Shouta replies, leaning against the wall.
“Yeah, I’m good too. Thanks, Mrs. Yamada.”
“No problem. Tell me if you change your mind.”
They wait for Hizashi, but it only takes him a few minutes to come down.
“Sorry, Kumo. Shouta, hey, what’re you doing here?”
“His parents kicked him out, so he came to my house earlier. Then we walked here together.”
“Cool, you get to walk to school with us. We can talk about how today is going to go.”
Hizashi grabs Shouta’s arm as he drags him towards the door. Kumo follows behind sedately.
“Bye, MOM!” Hizashi yells.
“Bye, honey.”
Kumo listens as Hizashi chatters the whole way to school. Shouta doesn’t say much, only speaking when the lulls in conversation require him to. This goes on the whole way to school, Hizashi barely slowing down the whole time. They’re early to class, which is unusual, especially since they were late setting off. Shouta seemed pleased though.
After most of their classes was their heroics class, which is at the end of the school day. Their teacher informs them that they’re going to be running rescue drills. No one complains, even though most of them don’t like those drills.
Kumo is paired with Hizashi and another person that he doesn’t know very well while Shouta is with two people that Kumo has only spoken to a few times despite being in class with them for over a year now. Mainly he doesn’t talk to them, because they’re bullies, but he also just doesn’t like their personalities or the way that they treat the people around them. Shouta looks slightly uncomfortable, so Kumo sends a thumbs up his way. Shouta nods, then turns back towards his teammates.
“So,” Kumo says, turning back to the other two. “What’s our strategy? We have a few minutes to plan, but then we’re supposed to head to the part of town with the most structural damage.”
“Well, I think that you should get the tops of the buildings, and the rest of us can work on the ground floor,” Hizashi says.
“Yeah, that could work. I can float and all.”
Hizashi nods as a buzzer rings. “Alright, let's go.”
They head to their area and split up pretty quickly. About half of an hour later, he’s finally lowering the last person to the ground. She isn’t actually injured, so he lets her down as soon as they hit ground level.
“Are you alright?” he asks.
She nods, giving him a wobbly smile. “Thank you, Mr. Hero.”
“My hero name is Loud Cloud. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Cool.”
He sees a flash of white in his peripheral, causing him to turn immediately. Shouta lands next to him, tucking into a roll.
“Hey,” he says, pushing his goggles up.
“Hey, what’re you doing here?” Kumo asks.
“I came to help once I was done with my area. My teammates insisted on going straight back to the teachers since they were done, but this is the second group that I’ve helped. Everyone else wanted to go to the finish line first. They kept talking about getting a better grade if they finished faster. I figured you and Hizashi would want to help the last couple of groups.”
“Yeah, let’s go find him, I’m not sure where he is, but he has to be close.”
Hizashi runs up. “Alright, you guys are here! I didn’t see you Shouta.”
Shouta nods, pulling his goggles back over his eyes.
“There are two more groups that haven’t finished. I’ll head to one, and you guys just head that way,” Shouta says, pointing towards the east.
Kumo nods, pulling Hizashi along. “I wonder how Shouta finished so quickly. He said that he’s helped a bunch of other people.”
Hizashi shrugs. Kumo and Hizashi come across the last group quickly. They’re struggling slightly, hopping around, trying to save their civilians. Kumo floats up on a cloud to grab the one leaning out of a window. He pulls him onto his cloud with him. He’s a little boy, around ten or twelve.
“Are you alright?” Kumo asks.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Thank you, Mr.,” he says.
“No problem.”
Together they make quick work of the rest of the area, and immediately head back towards the front where the teachers are waiting. Aizawa trudges up with the last group barely a minute after Hizashi and Kumo walk up. Shouta has a little bit of blood coming from his hairline, but otherwise, everyone including the civilians look alright.
“Shouta, what happened to your head?” Hizashi asks.
“My increasingly bad luck. A rock hit me, but it’s not bad.”
Hizashi jogs over, and pulls Shouta’s hair out of his face.
“Eh, you’re right. It probably only bled enough to be noticeable because it’s a head wound.”
Shouta nods, pushing Hizashi over.
“HEY!” he yells, starting to activate his quirk before Shouta just activates his own.
“Not now,” he reprimands.
Hizashi pouts, sticking his bottom lip out, but he doesn’t make any attempt to remove himself from the floor.
“Shirakumo, Yamada, Aizawa,” their heroics teacher says.
All three of them look up.
“Top marks. Everyone else failed. You’ll get your scores and detailed breakdowns tomorrow. You’re all dismissed.”
Shouta turns to them.
“Well, there’s that. Looks like it was a team exercise after all,” Kumo says, bumping shoulders with Shouta. “Get up, Hizashi. You look ridiculous.”
Hizashi huffs, folding his arms.
“Not until he apologizes for putting me here,” he says, glaring pointedly at Shouta.
“Nah, I’m going to the gym for drama class. If we’re late again, Ms. Kai will have an aneurysm.”
Shouta starts walking towards the door as Kumo pulls Hizashi off of the ground to his feet. He’s completely dead weight. “Don’t make me carry you fireman style all the way to our next class.”
Hizashi huffs again, but takes his own weight again. They run to catch up with Shouta. Everyone else is still protesting and complaining about failing the test.
“Better luck next time, runts,” was the casual reply.
Ms. Kai is the only one in the gym, even though there’s only a minute until drama class starts. Somehow, overnight, a temporary and not very stable looking stage was put in.
“What is that?” Hizasi asks.
“This is for our play. We’re going to be practicing and working on this.”
“Is that safe?” Kumo asks.
“Detention,” she replies.
“What?”
“I just gave you detention for questioning me.”
“I was just… nevermind.”
“Where is everyone else?” Hizashi asks, looking around as if someone was going to be hiding in the corners.
“What does that matter?” Ms. Kai demands. “I told them that they didn’t have to come in right away.”
“Huh, did you? So, you just want to justify yelling at us, but not when anyone else is late,” Hizashi replies, leaning against the wall.
“Detention for talking back, and no. You three are ruffians. The others are just doing what I said that they could.”
“For talking back? You do know that’s how a conversation works, right?” Kumo asks, and Hizashi starts laughing.
She opens her mouth to say something else, but the door opens and most of the class floods in.
“Alright, we’re going to get started. Aizawa, get on stage. Yamada and Shirakumo, you’re going to be working on learning the lighting today with the rest of the people without lines. Those of you who are only minor characters can just sit today out. Watch your classmates, and try to learn something from the advice I’m giving them.”
Everyone scatters to find a seat.
“Keiko, come up here. You guys are going to practice the scene where you confess your love to each other right after Shirakumo dies.”
Shouta sticks his tongue out.
“Are you three still wearing your hero costumes?” she asks.
“Yeah, we had to come here right after heroics class.”
“I cleaned the blood off of my face while I was walking,” Shouta replies.
Kumo glances around and everyone else is in casual clothes.
“You two go change while we rehearse this scene. Oh my word, you have no common sense. I don’t want you here wearing those,” she mutters.
Keiko hops up on stage as Kumo and Hizashi head back towards the locker room.
“I have a spare set of clothes in my locker that aren’t the uniform,” Hizashi says as they walk.
“Yeah, me too.”
They change quickly before heading back. They obviously haven’t started, because Shouta is crouched down. It takes Kumo a moment to realize what he’s doing. He’s relacing up his boots.
“What is taking so long, Mr. Aizawa?” Ms. Kai demands.
“You try completely relacing combat boots.”
“The other one didn’t even look like it was broken,” Keiko replies, scrunching up her face at him.
“Well, it was.”
He stands up, his expression blank, but his posture is still defensive. Keiko moves to the other side of the stage while Shouta stays stiff as a board and completely still in the middle of the stage. Keiko starts to move slowly towards him, twirling her hair around her finger.
“Oh, Daichi, I’m so sorry about everything.”
“It’s alright,” Shouta says through gritted teeth.
She approaches him, keeping a few inches in between them.
“Well, I wish there was something I could do.”
“There is, I need you to be here for me. You can’t leave like everyone else,” Shouta mutters.
“Speak up, Aizawa. Keiko, you’re doing great. Keep it up,” Ms. Kai shouts.
Keiko smiles brightly at Shouta. “I can do that, Daichi. I can do that. After all, I love you and I’ll always be here for you.”
She leans forward as Kumo scans the lines.
“They’re supposed to kiss now, but I don’t think Shouta will let that happen even though it’s fake,” Hizashi informs Kumo.
“It looks real,” Kumo replies as Keiko puts her lips on Shouta’s.
In the next second there’s a smack that echoes across the quiet room. Keiko is holding her face, her mouth completely open.
“You hit me!” she exclaims.
“You sexually assaulted me,” he replies, placing a hand to his mouth.
“I didn’t mean to. I was trying to do a fake kiss while my hands were supposed to be on your hips.”
“You shouldn’t have touched me there either,” Shouta replies. “This is so inappropriate.”
“Mr. Aizawa!” Ms. Kai exclaims.
Shouta turns to her with a blank expression.
“Detention. You cannot hit your classmates over an accident like that.”
Shouta just sighs. “I’m not practicing this scene anymore.”
He jumps off of the stage to sit next to Kumo and Hizashi.
“Hey, you wanna know how this works?” Kumo asks.
“Sure. I probably won’t have time to use it during the play, but yeah.”
“Fine,” Ms. Kai mutters.
“When are you going to talk to the principal about the way she treats you? There’s a difference between giving us unnecessary detention and letting your classmate sexually harass you,” Kumo says.
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t think it’ll do any good, and I am not involving my parents. They would destroy her career, that girl’s life, and then sue the school. I would have to hate all of them to do that.”
“Maybe, but it can’t hurt to try talking to Nezu,” Hizashi says, pressing a blue button on the console. Strobe lights start flashing.
Kumo reaches over to turn them off as Shouta asks,” Do you guys know how to work this thing?”
“Nah, and we weren’t even given the instructions.”
“Oh my word. Ok, you guys suck at this kind of thing.”
“Hey, then you figure it out,” Hizashi says, sticking his tongue out.
“Alright, move.”
Hizashi moves, but hovers behind Shouta as he spends the rest of the class figuring out what every button and lever does. Once class is over, he explains everything to the other two. Ms. Kai doesn’t leave, she just watches them. As soon as he’s done, he turns to her.
“Everything ok?”
“Yeah, I was just going to tell you that you’ll be doing detention with me, and we’re going to be building props.”
“Wonderful,” all three of them say in unison. Hizashi starts laughing.
“Another detention for all three of you.”
“Whatever,” Shouta says.
She gives them directions and some materials. “I’m leaving now, but remember that there are security cameras, and I will know if you leave. I’ll be back to send you home.”
“Ok,” Hizashi says.
“Bye,” Kumo and Shouta call.
Once she’s gone, they start building the props and painting them. Shouta has to help Hizashi with his, because his instructions are in another language.
“I don’t understand any of this. It’s in German or something. I’m not a visual learner. I need for this to explain it to me, not show me how to put the pieces together,” he complains.
“Hang on, just let me put this down and then I’ll help you.”
Shouta climbs over the materials littering the floor.
“Can you read German?” Kumo asks.
“No, but I can read a few other languages.”
“How is that helpful?” Kumo asks.
“It’s not, but I can also figure out what the instructions are talking about as long as there are pictures. Then I explain it to Hizashi, and he does it.”
“Cool, teamwork,” Kumo replies.
They work for almost three hours before Hizashi asks what they’re all thinking,” Where did Ms. Kai go? Did she forget about us? I’m late for dinner.”
“My parents don’t care where I am,” Kumo replies.
“Mine either aren’t home, or think that I’m in my room pouting,” Shouta says with a small laugh.
“Didn’t you have a project that you wanted to work on?” Kumo asks.
“Yeah, one of the kids from 1-B paid me to try to make a solution for a support problem they were having. I agreed of course, especially since it’s a simple problem. The school probably just didn’t want to pay for the upgrade.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Hizashi says with a small laugh. “I’m sorry that you didn’t have time for that.”
“There’s always tomorrow,” Shouta says, absentmindedly tugging on his shoelaces.
“Yeah, I guess there is,” Kumo says, focusing back on the project in front of him.
There’s a bang as the gym’s door bangs open. All three of their heads snap up. A cop is standing in the doorway. They all glance at each other before looking back at him.
“Are any of you Shouta Aizawa?”
Shouta raises his hand. “That would be me.”
“Good.” He grabs his radio and mutters something into it. “Alright, sir, I need you to come with me. Your parents are looking for you.”
“They called the police? I am so sorry that they wasted your time. I had detention, and they’re insane.”
“They said that they haven’t seen you since last night.”
“Yeah, but I just went to a friend’s house. They said I could. It doesn’t really matter. This is something for me to work out with my parents.”
Hizashi and Kumo glance at each other.
After they’re gone, Kumo speaks up. “They called the police? He said that he left this morning.”
Hizashi shrugs, standing up.
“Well, on that note, we should go home. I don’t care what Ms. Kai says. At this point, the police came looking for one of us. So, we can’t be blamed for going home.”
“Yeah, it just sucks that this is going to be our lives until this stupid play is over.”
“I know, right. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, bye, Hizashi.”