Later that afternoon, gentle sun rays shone between the blinds, warming the spacious living room as Shoto's sister and you sat on the floor. With various textbooks sprawled on the table, you gave one another read. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, Fuyumi."

"Not at all, (y/n). I wish I could be of more help. It's been a while since I did this kind of thing." She ran a hand through her white hair. She then heard some footsteps approaching the both of you. "I bet Natsuo could help. He was pretty good at maths in high school. Natsuo?"

"Yeah?" He said, walking into the room as he put on a denim jacket. "I'm heading out now. Do you need anything?"

Fuyumi tilted her head before crossing her arms. "Eh? Didn't dad say you're not allowed out with your college friends today?"

"He's a--" Natsuo stopped right on his tracks and adjusted his cuffs, preventing himself from slagging off Endeavor in front of you. "I don't care about what he thinks. You know that, Fuyumi."

As Natsuo headed out of the living room, so did the last hope of finishing the maths homework in time. Or at least, that's what you thought. Fuyumi's eyes brightened. "How about you ask Shoto? He is in the same class as you, after all."

"Um, I'm not so sure about that, Fuyumi. I'm not sure if Shoto would like to help..."

"Help what?" His soft, masculine voice sent shivers down your spine.

Before you could dismiss what you had just said, Fuyumi explained your predicament. Shoto stood by the table for a few moments, with a rather blank expression. When he reluctantly agreed to help you, you cleared some sheets of paper off the table and dug out the maths handout.

"I've still got some marking left to do. Is it okay if I leave you both to it?" Fuyumi said.

Shoto shrugged his shoulders as he took a seat next to you. "I guess it is."

He sat close to you, both your legs almost coming into contact under the table. You redid the exercise in front of him, hoping that as this was the tenth time you tried, it would work out. Needless to say, it didn't. Even worse, your pen ran out as you doodled on the page, deep in thought.

"You know, you're not doing it right, (y/n)."

"Yeah, I got that much by now. Are you okay with teaching me?"

"You need a new pen first." He grabbed Fuyumi's pencil case, as she'd left it on the table, his arm brushing against yours. Shoto then fished out a pen, which had a cute panda on its end, and handed it to you.

Unsure of how to act as you suspected that he didn't like you in the least, you settled for just being yourself. You took a deep breath in before saying, "Thanks, Shoto."

"How about you thank me once I teach you something? It's not as if I've done anything yet." Shoto gave you a once-over.

You flinched at his tactless remark, but soon brushed it off and blamed his usual brutal honesty. "I can do that, too. Thank you."

Shaking his head sideways, Shoto pressed his lips into a grim line to hold back that strange urge to smile. He reached out for a fresh sheet of paper. "So you make a habit out of thanking me, is that it?"

You looked down at the table, feeling a little self-conscious. "Maybe. I'll try not to if it bothers you."

"I don't mind it too much. It can be annoying, sometimes. Now, let's go back to the basics." He drew a circle and a right-angled triangle on the sheet.

You nodded, making your best effort to keep up with his explanations.

After an hour of hard-work with Shoto as your tutor, you worked out the last exercise on the handout. You realised that Shoto had been quiet for a while. Looking to your side, you saw his serene face resting on his arms, while his dual-coloured fringe covered his eyes.

He had fallen asleep.

Awh, Shoto got bored of me. How cute. You wanted to run your fingers through his luscious hair to confirm how smooth it must feel to the touch. Tenderly appreciating his handsome face, you focused on the scar on his left side. You wondered how he got it before tracing your view down to his soft lips.

You reached out for a moment before swiftly retracting your hand. You shook your head, snapping yourself back to reality.

As if he'd ever see me in that way.

Your heart sank. Nothing hurt more than acknowledging that while he had grown to mean something to you, you meant so little to him. You stood up as quietly as you could, being careful not to wake him up.

Shoto opened his eyes, observing your figure moving away from him. He pictured you throwing a blanket over him, the same way he had done when he found you asleep at the indoor training grounds. A smile broke on his lips, as he noted that you would have already thanked him if you knew he had done it.

---

"Come on everyone, get in a line." Iida ordered all of you awaiting the bus for USJ, acting as the novel class president. Most 1-A students sweatdropped when they realised that that wasn't even necessary. As you boarded the bus, you noticed the empty seat next to Todoroki. Yet you went on to sit on another empty row, soon followed by Bakugo. Though Kirishima beat him to it, so at least there was some distance between you and the explosive boy. He would go off any minute now.

"Hey, (l/n), I've heard a lot about you, but I don't think we've met yet." The red-haired boy offered to shake your hand. His sweet smile turned into a teasing grin. "It seems like Bakugo wants to sit next to you."

Bakugo almost shoved his friend out of the way. "What the fuck are you talking about, Kirishima? As if I'd ever want to spend more time with extras like her. I've got enough with sitting next to that dumbass in class."

"Likewise," you said, giving Bakugo a closed-eyed smile.

Kirishima took a step back as he noticed Bakugo pulling a nasty scowl with veins popping on his face. Stealing a glance from you, Kirishima let out an awkward laugh which he hoped would cut through the tension.

"Hah?" Bakugo seethed. "I don't give a flying fuck about what you think, so shut that goddamn gob of yours or I'll have to beat the shit out of you. Both of you."

With small explosions popping in his hands, Bakugo shoved past Kirishima and took a seat on the first place he saw: besides Jiro. She didn't pay him much attention but for a curious glance, and adjusted her earphones before turning her music up.

You noted that if he hadn't stormed off, you would have probably ended up blurting out something you would regret later on.

Kirishima gave you a boyish smile, revealing his unusually shark-like sharp teeth. "So, can I sit there, please?"

You scanned the packed bus and noted Midoriya and Uraraka had already decided on their places. It wouldn't hurt to get to know more of your new classmates, right? "Yeah, go for it, Kirishima."

"Sweet!" He sat down on the empty seat next to you, fastened his seatbelt and stretched his arms out in front of him.

Letting out a drawn-out breath, your shoulders sagged as you didn't have to put on a brave front to confront Bakugo anymore.

"Don't mind Bakugo, by the way," Kirishima tried to excuse his friend's actions. "He's just jealous that you beat him on this morning's maths exam. Not that he would ever admit it. I haven't known him for too long, but he doesn't seem like that kinda dude."

"Sure," you said, still wondering why you always appeared to rub Bakugo the wrong way. As if your mere presence was enough to make him want to rip someone's head off. "Also, I don't think I actually beat him, you know. Like he's brighter than I gave him credit for, but all I did was get a better grade than what I was expecting."

Kirishima nodded before he put a hand to his forehead. The surprise exam had indeed taken him by surprise, in a bad way.

But for you, it had been a more positive experience. The exam had been based on yesterday's handout, which Todoroki had thoroughly explained to you.

Heeding Todoroki's advice, you had drawn a triangle on the top of the page, helping you work out the majority of the problems. Only getting stuck on a couple was understandable, especially as you were one of the few students who had missed out on that section of middle school content.

Though beyond making Bakugo's jaw drop, seeing your results made him suspicious as to how you could improve so much overnight. It also angered him as though you had been mocking him all along.

Snapping himself out of the gloomy mood that would settle if he continued thinking about the exam's results, Kirishima cleared his throat. "Right, fair enough. I didn't do too well myself, so I might have to ask you for help sometime."

You scratched your cheek. "I guess I'll have to see if I can help myself first."

Kirishima chuckled at the irony of the situation, and both of you carried on with your lively chat.

Bakugo crossed his arms in the seat near you two. "You dumbasses," he spat out.

You surrepticiously looked over your shoulder to Todoroki, who sat on his own at the back of the bus, resting his head against the window. Though you had managed to sort of stand up to Bakugo, asking Todoroki to sit next to him was on a different level.

It's not like Shoto talks to me at school anyway. You sank in further into the bus seat. Or like he talks to me at all unless he has to.

Aizawa called your attention as he gave out some further instructions about the upcoming training at USJ. No one expected what you were all about to face, neither the change it would bring into your precious society. A wake up call for most, and the time for you to begin writing your own history.