chapter 10

2 ½ WEEKS LATER

3 DAYS AFTER THE TRANSFER PROGRAM'S END

MONDAY, 7:33 AM

Shimamura stood tense in the expansive room. Her hands were hanging in front of her, her fingers intertwining and picking at the calluses on the pads of her palm. Her blue eyes were dim. Everything in her mind was as turbulent as the sea, trying to convince herself to stay calm but also naming every reason why she shouldn't be. She'd have a headache by the end of the day if this kept up.

"I'll introduce you when they all arrive."

She stared intently at the looming figure. He was hovering over a desk in the teacher's lounge, picking up numerous papers and setting them aside. There was a file with Shimamura's name on it but she decided not to question it. Knowing what today meant, she knew what it was for. She knew its contents.

"Right..." She murmured quietly.

"You'll stand at the front of the room."

"Yes..."

Mr. Aizawa paused, glancing at her. He raised a tired eyebrow at her tense figure. His eyes drifted down to her hands, seeing her picking at them. Then his eyes reconnected with hers.

"You don't have to say anything to them, you know. You're just here to test the waters."

Test. An odd choice of words given what the last few weeks have entailed for Shimamura. So... so many tests.

She blinked. "I know."

"You'll be fine. Don't get so worked up about this."

Shimamura rubbed her elbow, shrugging. She expected she'd be more excited about today and what it might prevail. But her mind wouldn't let her be happy. Nervousness took over. Fears and darkness lurked behind her clouded eyes. She wasn't crying or sad. She was just fearful.

"Maybe we should wait—"

"No," Aizawa asserted. "You are the top finisher of the Transfer Program. You beat Shinsou in the final test, remember?" She nodded slowly. "If the other teachers didn't think you were ready, you wouldn't be here now. But here you are."

There was an ounce of bitterness in his voice. Aizawa had been rooting for Shinsou since the beginning of the Transfer Program. The only problem was he was also trying to support Tikki Shimamura simultaneously. How was he supposed to react when his two top picks were first and second in the Program? Who was he meant to support when only one could reign as victor?

"Do you think I'm ready?" Shimamura mumbled.

"That depends."

Shimamura pursed her lips. She could be volatile at times... temperamental. Now was not the time to be.

She took a deep breath and held her head up. She stared at his dark appearance with a newly motivated look. Her clouded irises now glowed brightly in their brilliant blue hue. Her hands took her two long white strands and wrapped them around her bun to hide them. They wouldn't stay there for long, but it kept them out of the way for a bit.

"I'm ready," Shimamura nodded with a soft smile.

Aizawa chuckled and shook his head at her. "Alright, mini-Ori. Let's go."

He picked up his stack of papers from his desk and headed to the exit of the Teacher's Lounge. Shimamura picked up her backpack from the ground and quickly followed behind him. She tripped a bit but quickly caught her balance, sucking in a breath as she did so. She hoped no one noticed.

"Today's all about sparring in partners. We'll draw straws in Gym Gamma and go from there. Nothing abnormal today." Aizawa yawned from the teacher's podium.

All of Class 1-A sat attentively in their desks in the small classroom. Their ears were peeled but a few seemed to be nodding off in this early hour of the day. Kaminari in particular was fading quickly. His head went SLAM against his desk. Then he popped back up again not a second later, startled. Jirou snickered from next to him.

Midoriya's gaze kept shifting back and forth from their teacher to the random person in the corner of the room, standing next to the closed door. He tried to stay focused on listening to what Mr. Aizawa was saying, but that girl was bugging him. Something about her seemed so familiar...

"Any questions?" Aizawa leaned down and picked up his yellow sleeping bag from the ground. He looked away, not expecting anyone to actually have any questions.

Midoriya raised his hand. He waited for Mr. Aizawa to call on him. But his limited waiting was in vain... Sero took the words right out of his mouth.

"Uh, yeah," Sero said. "Who's that?"

Sero pointed to the white haired girl in the corner of the room. The girl sucked her lips in, crossing her hands to her back. She fumbled with her hands, suddenly aware of the spotlight on her. Every student in the class looked in her direction, including a half-asleep Kaminari. Aizawa half-glanced at her, almost forgetting she was there.

"This is Tikki Shimamura. She's joining Class 1-A."

Silence. Then three... two... one...

"WHAT?!" The class exclaimed in complete unison.

Well, not everyone in the class was confused. Four in particular didn't say a word. The first, a blond haired boy sitting in the first few rows, crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair... brooding. The second, a purple headed girl in the back of a class who sat up and waved excitedly at Shimamura. The third, a quieter girl with onyx eyes who had the purple one tapping on her shoulder fiercely to get her to wave as well. The fourth was Izuku Midoriya who finally remembered where he'd seen her before.

Oh! Tikki Shimamura is the girl from the Sports Festival. She made it to the final round but lost. I didn't see her match... but Uraraka and Iida said it was pretty gruesome.

"Shima-chan! Hollo~! Do you remember me?!" The purple headed student grinned madly with a bright white smile.

Tako Miyata. The girl with the head of purple-painted tendrils that had been juggling the tennis balls at the Sports Festival. Shimamura was shocked to recall that their encounter happened almost a month and a half ago. So much had happened in between, but it felt like only yesterday that she met the bright and bubbly Tako.

Shimamura laughed a bit, awkwardly. She raised her hand and gave her a small wave.

"Uhm, hi." Shimamura greeted the Hero Class.

Tako and Uchiha waved—Tako obviously more obnoxiously than Uchiha—while the rest of the class stared with gaping mouths. Iida raised a very straight hand from the back of the classroom. Aizawa finally called on him after not calling on Midoriya before.

"Sir, if you wouldn't mind elaborating? How can she be joining the class? Tikki Shimamura is a Support Course student, is she not?" Iida shouted from the back.

Kaminari put his hand up too. After the last few minutes, he finally got a wake up call. "Yeah, what's up with that?"

Asui scratched the underside of her chin. "I would say that maybe she took an internship with a hero to prove herself as a Hero Course student, but that's impossible. Ribbit. Only Hero Course students receive internships after the Sports Festival."

"Well hold on a minute, guys," Uraraka cut in. "Maybe she's not actually joining the class. Maybe she's just joining for the day! Like watching how we do! She's Support Course, isn't she? She could be shadowing us to make improvements to our gear!"

"Ohhh! Good point, Uraraka! Maybe she's like Hatsume!" Midoriya agreed. There had to be a simple explanation to this. Shimamura 'joining for the day' seemed like a better explanation than Shimamura joining permanently.

Right?

The class looked expectantly towards Aizawa for answers after their little debate. Aizawa, yawning, shoved his yellow sleeping bag underneath his armpit and stared lazily at his class. He sighed and turned towards the door.

"Go suit up and meet at Gym Gamma. We'll draw straws when we get over there. Hurry up."

Nearly half the class stood up from their seats.

"That's not an explanation?!" They shouted at him.

He paid them no mind. Aizawa walked out the door and the class groaned in frustration. Shimamura, on the other hand, frantically followed him out. As soon as she left, her face crossed a look of pure dismay.

So much for a good introduction.

Midoriya put his pen and binder away into his bag. Opening up the bag, he saw his familiar Hero's Notebook laying dormant within. He stared at it for a moment. In that notebook he had documented all of his classmates—all of their strengths and weaknesses, their quirks and personalities. He took great care of that notebook.

If what Aizawa said was true and blunt... that Shimamura really was joining their class as a Hero Course student... it appeared he would have another classmate to jot down.

His hand hovered over the binding. A thought crossed his mind about writing her name on her page before Aizawa even confirmed it.

But he leaned away. Midoriya didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet. It was clear the class was divided on whether or not they wanted to believe that Shimamura was joining their class.

The blond that hadn't said a word through the entire interaction certainly was on the fence about how he felt about it. He grumbled and stood up, walking out of the room ahead of everyone else.

The girl he called useless suddenly appeared in his class not two months later? This had to be karma. But good or bad... ?

Bakugou growled at himself. This girl needed to stop showing up in his life. Like a peasant, she's treading around with dirty feet where she shouldn't be. Damn extra.

He'd show this newcomer who's king.