Chapter Text
Ochako slid into a seat across from her two first high school friends, carefully setting her overburdened lunch tray on the table. Maybe she’d gone a little overboard, but the prices in the cafeteria were incredible. Even with two daifuku, she was still under budget.
“Midoriya-kun, you were quite involved in Present Mic-sensei’s English class,” Iida mentioned as everyone got settled.
“Oh yeah,” Ochako realized. “You got every question right. Why’s that?”
To Ochako’s surprise, Deku flushed. He looked at his meal and avoided eye contact as he mumbled, “Most international Hero news is in English.”
“You’re something of a fanboy, aren’t you, Deku-kun?” she giggled. Deku just flushed and hunched in on himself.
Iida chopped the air in front of him, almost hitting the table. “I think that studying one’s forebears is an admirable hobby for a prospective Hero. You might be the most familiar with how Heroes operate out of our entire class, if your fluency in English comes from studying Heroes.” Ochako narrowed her eyes at Iida. There was something about how he was talking…
“Thanks Iida-kun,” Deku managed, straightening up. To Ochako’s somewhat practiced eye, he still seemed skittish, but at least he was eating again. His words from yesterday afternoon came back to her. “Deku is something Kacchan calls me to make fun of me.” She’d just have to keep an eye on him.
“I wonder if your knowledge will help you out during our Heroics class this afternoon,” Iida wondered idly.
“Ah! Iida-kun, why’d you have to mention that?” Ochako jabbed an accusing finger at him. “I was trying not to think about it.”
“Not think about it? Uraraka-kun, are you nervous?”
Ochako sighed. “Maybe a little,” she confessed. “We’ve got no idea who’s teaching us, or what we’re doing. And I’ve started to worry about how my costume is going to come out. I didn’t specify much of the design. My parents teased me a bit with bizarre ideas, but now I’m actually worried about it.”
“The design companies tend to play it safe with your first costumes,” a cheerful voice reassured Ochako from right next to her. “You’ll have some chances to change it later, too.” She might have shrieked, and Deku and Iida both jumped a little. Ochako glanced over, taking in the smiling blonde girl next to her. “You guys are in class 1-A, right?”
“We are indeed members of U.A.’s Hero class 1-A.” Ochako smiled a little as Iida regained his composure by jumping into formalities. “I am Iida Tenya. Are you also in the Hero course, senpai?”
“Yup!” Ochako’s senior agreed brightly. “I’m in class 2-A. I’m Toga. Toga Himiko.” Toga looked at Ochako next to her. “You’re Uraraka, right?”
“Uraraka Ochako. It’s nice to meet you, Toga-senpai.”
“Call me Himiko,” Toga pouted, and Ochako had no resistance.
“Okay, Himiko-senpai,” Ochako agreed. Toga Himiko nodded, satisfied, and turned her attention to Deku.
“And you’re Midoriya Deku?” Iida coughed, covering up Ochako’s somewhat undignified snort.
Izuku deflated. “No, it’s Midoriya Izuku. Deku is… well, it’s complicated.” Ochako couldn’t help it. Deku just looked so shell-shocked that she started giggling.
“Did I miss something?” Himiko wondered, looking between the three of them.
Ochako waved her hands in front of herself. “I made the same mistake yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, you’re Izuku-kun, then. I’ll get the story from you later.” Himiko conceded. “Right now, I have some questions for Eraser-sensei’s new students.”
“You had Aizawa-sensei last year?” Deku asked immediately.
Iida spoke up a moment later. “What would you like to know?”
Himiko leaned forward a little. “I wanna know who got expelled this year. Nobody’s been talking about it, so I haven’t been able to figure it out.”
Iida’s jaw dropped, and directly across from Ochako, Deku looked horrified. He’d come in last place, so… Ochako frowned. Deku’s mouth was moving, but he wasn’t forming any coherent words. Once again, Iida stepped up. “Nobody was expelled, Toga-senpai.”
“Eh?” Himiko was clearly taken off guard. “Nobody?”
Iida carried on, shifting into a lecturing tone. “If that was a joke, it was not funny,” he scowled. “Midoriya-kun here came in last place during the assessment. He was the one who worried that he was about to be expelled because of Aizawa-sensei’s ‘logical ruse.’”
Unexpectedly, Himiko started giggling. Ochako stared at her suspiciously. “Are you gonna explain?” she pressed.
“Ah, I was just struck by how well that setup works out for Eraser-sensei. No matter what the outcome is, he can just declare it a ‘logical ruse.’” Himiko exhaled, still grinning widely. Ochako noticed that her canines were all pretty long, like fangs. “What place you came in never mattered, you were being judged individually on effort and creativity,” she explained. “So Eraser-sensei wasn’t lying, it really was a logical ruse.”
“Just not in the way we thought,” Iida nodded. “I see.”
Deku leaned forward, the scare forgotten in favor of something new and interesting to him. “Then, people got expelled last year?”
“Yeah,” Himiko agreed. “Nineteen people were expelled.”
“““Nineteen?!””” All three first years exclaimed. A handful of students nearby looked over at the group, and Ochako motioned for the group to keep their voices down.
Himiko looked between the three of them quizzically for a few seconds, and then something “Oh right! I guess if nobody in your class was expelled, you wouldn’t know this. Eraser-sensei re-admits everyone he expels a week later.” She paused. “There’s still a black mark on their records, though.”
Iida frowned. “What purpose would he have for tainting the academic records of so many students? To motivate them to work harder? How cruel.”
“Cruel?” Himiko protested. “Well, maybe he is,” she shrugged. “But he does it because he’s thinking of the students. Last year, he told us ‘If you’re not going to take being a Hero seriously and give it your all, it’s better your dreams die here than you die out there,’ when he expelled everyone.”
Deku exhaled, looking frustrated. “I wish he’d explained it to me like that, instead of telling me I’d be useless after saving a single person and couldn’t become a Hero with my power.”
“Wait a second!” Ochako stood up, slapping her hands on the table. “Is that what he said to you when he grabbed you yesterday?!”
Deku nodded silently, still frowning.
Himiko slumped, facepalming. “I swear Eraser-sensei skipped being a teenager and went right from being a middle school student to being a short adult.”
“That sort of treatment is unbecoming of a teacher of an establishment such as U.A.,” Iida commented.
“Um…” Izuku interjected carefully, “Aizawa-sensei was right, though. I can’t be a Hero if I break my limbs every time I use my Quirk.”
“And clearly he didn’t know what he was talking about.” Ochako wasn’t having any of it. “He didn’t expel you, after all.” Iida frowned when Ochako criticized their teacher, but didn’t say anything.
“So it worked?” Deku tried again, less certain this time.
“Look, Izuku-kun.” Himiko leaned over the table, pointing an accusing finger at Deku centimeters from his nose. Deku went cross-eyed looking at it, and Ochako struggled to keep a straight face. “Even though he was right, he was aggressive and confrontational when he could have been… uh…” she trailed off awkwardly. “Help me out here?”
“Supportive?” Ochako suggested.
Iida nodded to that. “Encouraging.”
“No way, that would’ve ruined his expulsion threat,” Himiko smiled. “Well, anyway, Eraser-sensei could’ve said the same thing in a way that says ‘try harder,’ instead of ‘just give up now’.”
“I get it,” Deku nodded. Himiko pulled her finger back before his head touched it, blushing a little. “But, he was trying to intimidate us?”
The older student rubbed at her face. “Ayako would be so much better at this. It’s… Oh!” Himiko brightened, her whole face lighting up as she smiled. “It’s about building trust. Eraser-sensei is your homeroom teacher. He’s the person you’re supposed to go to with problems, right?”
“I suppose,” Deku agreed half-heartedly. Ochako and Iida made affirmative noises.
“And,” Himiko continued, “did you go home yesterday feeling like he’d help with anything? Or did he leave you with the impression that it’d be a waste of time, and that’s just how things are at U.A.?”
Ochako considered how the class had been silent but restless during homeroom that morning. “We’re nervous around Aizawa-sensei.”
“After he layered deception atop deception,” Iida mused, “our own trust in our teacher has certainly been eroded.”
“But-”
“Izuku-kun,” Himiko interrupted. Her voice was somber, and Ochako thought she could hear a hint of bitterness. “Teachers, even when they’re Heroes, they’re still just humans. They have flaws and make mistakes like everyone else.”
“Oh,” Deku mumbled. “I knew that. I knew that already, so why didn’t I think of it.”
“It’s your first day of classes,” Himiko laughed, waving it off. “I’m sure all the teachers being Pros is still new and exciting to you guys. Anyway, Eraser-sensei has his blind spots, but he does try. Don’t write him off yet.”
“Still,” Iida mused, “he expelled nineteen of you. Even if he re-enrolled everyone, that was still a dramatic step to take.”
“Yeah,” Himiko sighed. “He’s super strict. Your class must be amazing.”
“Or you could just accept that we sucked,” a new voice added from behind Ochako and Himiko.
“Mawata-chan!” Himiko twisted around to address the new arrival. Belatedly, Ochako also turned to look. Himiko’s classmate (probably) was a girl with soft features, friendly eyes, and… cotton ball earrings?
“I’m Fuwa Mawata, 2-A’s class rep. Don’t listen to what Toga-chan is telling you,” she assured them, voice light. “Era-sen is strict, sure-”
“‘Era-sen?’” Ochako heard Iida echo incredulously.
“-but honestly, we deserved it. Even after he threatened to expel someone, we were too full of ourselves. With permission to use our Quirks freely, everyone wanted to show off all of their favorite tricks. Toga-chan was the only one who seriously tried her best. If your class gave it your all, you’re already way ahead of most other Hero classes.”
“Fuwa-senpai, do you have any advice for us?” Iida pushed his glasses up. “we have our first practical Heroics lesson after lunch today.”
“I may be class rep, but that’s really only because nobody was going to vote for Toga-chan. If you want advice on Heroics, she’s way more knowledgeable than me.” With a small squeak, Himiko’s face took on a pink hue.
With absolutely no hesitation, Iida turned to Himiko. “Toga-senpai, do you have any advice for us?” Ochako had to hold in a giggle at the look on her face.
“Um, don’t worry about it too much.” Himiko recovered quickly from being put on the spot. “The first lesson is always a disaster. Last year, half of class B spent the entire afternoon in the infirmary, and I heard from Kana that the year before that neither class finished the lesson because of damage to the area they were in.”
“I see, I see,” Deku muttered, scribbling away in a notebook. He looked up at Himiko with an awkward smile. “Please teach us everything you know, Toga-senpai.”