It was Day 2 at UA, or rather, their first "official" day. They'd already attended some normal classes that morning, taught by such heroes as… what were their names? Present Mic, Midnight, and Cement-something. Len felt bad. All the heroes he'd known before coming here were like, the top five, and a few others. That was it. But it became very apparent that there were a LOT more heroes out there, all having done their part. And he could admire any hero that took the time to exit the public spotlight and teach the next generation.
Besides, this afternoon was hero class with All Might. It was hard to be in a bad mood.
Len finished up with the lunch line and scanned the crowded, rowdy cafeteria. Most of the closest tables seemed to be occupied by third and second-years, or students in the non-hero courses. He thought he saw some people that might have been in 1-B, but his knowledge of them was extremely limited.
Then he saw a table of Bakugo, Sato, Kaminari, and Jiro. The latter three were talking fairly casually, with Sato trying to get the Angry Explosion Man involved. But Bakugo was seething, looking across the cafeteria to another table. Len followed his gaze, and saw a table with Uraraka, Iida, Yaoyorozu… oh, and Midoriya. That was why he was so mad.
Then Len accidentally made eye contact with Bakugo, and the blonde seemed to start, as if surprised. Len quickly put his head down and moved on. Don't want to get involved in all that. It might cause more trouble for Midoriya if I do.
Then, he came upon a nearly empty table, where Shoji Mezo was sitting alone. His mask remained on his face, but he was eating by creating a mouth on one of his arms and feeding it with another.
"Mind if I sit here?" Len asked.
Shoji's arm-mouth was chewing, so he only shook his head. Len took that as I don't mind and sat down.
Shoji swallowed. "Kagamine, right?"
"That's me. In the flesh. And you're Shoji. You put on quite a showing in that grip strength test yesterday."
"And you, in the running events. I also took note of your natural strength, despite your Quirk not enhancing that. Unless I'm mistaken…?"
Len laughed. "Kind of. My Quirk allows me to warp small objects from one place to another, which I do by sending this… energy through my arms and out my palms. It actually requires me to flex my arms, and bear the weight of whatever I'm warping, somewhat. So that kind of naturally strengthened me up over the years." He neglected to mention that most of that had been in his early years, and at the recent underground Quirk training. There had been a middle period in which he'd completely avoided using his powers at all.
Shoji nodded in understanding. "Very interesting. It appears there are a lot of complicated circumstances with such a strange Quirk."
"I could say the same about you, meaning no offense. Do you have a true mouth under there?"
Another nod. This guy didn't waste words, did he? "I would rather not show it in a place like this, if you take my meaning."
Len shrugged. "That's fair enough."
"There you are, Lenny!" Mina exclaimed in a pointlessly loud voice, drawing the attention of nearby students. Flanking her were Tsuyu and Toru. "We've been looking everywhere, didn't expect to see you here near the back with…" she looked toward Shoji. "I'm so sorry! I don't remember your name!"
"It's fine. I'm Shoji Mezo. Please sit, if you like."
Mina did so, in the open seat next to Len. Toru took the seat on the other side, while Tsuyu sat in the booth side of the table with Shoji. "This food looks interesting, ribbit. I'd heard that Lunch Rush made all the food at UA, but to see it with my own eyes…"
"Indeed," said Shoji appreciatively. "It is surreal to see all these heroes we've known since we were kids use their powers in person. And for something so casual, as well…"
Len voiced his thought from earlier. "I like the whole heroes-as-teachers thing. It's cool that they're willing to take a break to teach the future generation, you know?"
"It's nice that someone as dense to hero culture as you can recognise that," Toru teased. She was the only one who knew about how ignorant he was, but the others would find out through conjecture anyway. Len stuck his tongue out at her.
"All Might isn't taking breaks!" declared Mina. "He's teaching classes AND doing hero work in the mornings and evenings! That's number one for ya."
"Busy guy. I wonder if it's just to keep up his public image?" Len wondered aloud, chewing.
"It is as you say, Kagamine, although the tone you put into it is not fair to All Might," said Shoji stoically. "I doubt he cares much about the fame and fortune, but he DOES know that he needs to be seen as active in the community so that the people feel safe. That's what it means to be the Symbol of Peace."
"Well put, ribbit."
"And we're gonna be taught by the guy," mused Toru dreamily. "Just a few more minutes! I wonder what we'll do?"
"Probably more introductory stuff," Mina said with a shrug. "It is funny to imagine All Might going over a syllabus behind a desk."
"Hmm…" Len thought about the day before, how their homeroom teacher Aizawa had just thrown them right into it. "I think he may surprise us with this first day," he said aloud. "This is UA, after all."
"Perhaps, but it's best not to get too excited, ribbit. There's a lot of mundane stuff to be done in between all the excitement. Hero school is still school, after all."
"Ugh, don't I know it," Mina groaned. "I thought Cementoss's class this morning would NEVER end."
"And Present Mic, teaching English?" Toru shuddered. "I am going to understand that language even less now."
Len winced. He'd never been great at English either. In middle school, his teacher had called his speech "rodent's chatter," whatever that meant. The yellow energy that often made him start speaking in a scatterbrained manner in Japanese seemed to go even more haywire in other languages.
"So, what do you guys like to do in your free time?" asked Toru. "It gets kinda boooring just talking about hero stuff after a while."
Mina squeaked, as if she'd been jumping at the chance to talk about herself. "I'm big into breakdancing, or dancing at parties, or any dancing, really! I'm a great dancer!"
Len forcefully exhaled through his nose. "Go on then. Show us your moves. Get up on the table right now. Do it! You won't. Scared." There I go again.
She grinned at him. "Shut it, you. I bet you can't dance."
"I choose not to."
Tsuyu was tilting her head in thought. "I suppose I don't have a lot of free time, ribbit. Most of the time I'm watching my two younger siblings, although I do like to go out on rainy days if I can."
"You have siblings? Must be nice. I'm an only child," said Toru.
"Nice to have younger siblings," Mina corrected. "I bet Tsu-chan is super reliable. I'm a middle child, myself. Nothing worse." She looked to the two boys. "What about you guys?"
"Only child," Shoji confirmed.
"I have a younger sister," said Len shortly.
"Hmm? And I suppose all your free time is taken up by her, like Tsu-chan?" Mina's black-and-gold eyes were twinkling.
Chores, thought Len. Aloud, he said, "I like reading, I guess. Nonfiction reading specifically. Space, travel, science, psychology, that sort of thing."
"Nerd alert," Mina snorted, although she seemed to be smiling at him.
"Sorry. We can't all be pro dancers. I just don't get on the Internet or watch TV much." Not allowed to.
A sound came from near Toru that seemed to indicate that she'd snapped her fingers. "That's why you're so dumb when it comes to hero stuff."
"Heyyy…"
"I think your pursuits are admirable, Kagamine," said Shoji. "I myself have limited material possessions. I'm more of a spare kind of guy, you could say. I do enjoy this takoyaki place on a nearby street corner to my house on occasion, though."
"What does Toru-chan mean when she says Lenny is dumb, ribbit?" Tsuyu looked between the others with her vacant stare. "You seem plenty smart to me, Lenny. A bit… spontaneous, maybe, but…"
"I'm gonna stop you right there and thank you for the compliment before you realise you want to take it back. See, because I don't watch much TV, and my parents aren't into the whole hero scene, I have very limited knowledge of how all this works. I obviously knew about All Might and most of the major incidents, because who doesn't, but until recently I didn't even know I wanted to be a hero, so it was never that relevant to me."
"Interesting," said Shoji. "I have wanted to be a hero for as long as I can remember. It always seems like more of a child's dream, so to hear that you developed your goal later on…"
"What changed?" Mina asked with food in her mouth. "I mean, why did you suddenly decide you wanted to be a hero?"
"Fame. Women. Enough money to make incredibly specific expensive purchases that will make the news on slow days. Getting cozy enough with the government to avoid paying my taxes." Tsuyu and Shoji had begun to laugh.
"That's the second tax evasion joke he's made in two days," Toru muttered.
Mina rolled her eyes. "I was asking seriously, dork."
"Ah… um…" the blonde seemed to stop his voice in his throat. Do I really want to talk about this right now? "Well, it's just, like, erm, think of it this way, Mina. Are you really okay with going into the deep reasons why you want to be a hero right now? Like, to the people at this table?"
The pink-skinned girl blinked. "Um, when you put it like that…"
"Okay. When you're ready to tell me your reasons, I'll be ready to tell you mine." There was a poignant silence at the table that lasted a few moments. Len looked around at the other four. They all appeared solemn. "Oh no. I didn't mean to make the mood heavy like that. What's with the long faces? Do I need to do a flip or something? Quick, Mina, bust a move!"
"Sorry, ribbit," Tsuyu sighed. "It's just… never mind. You're right." Shoji nodded and hummed in agreement. It was hard to tell what Toru was thinking or looking like.
Mina grinned sheepishly. "You're a good guy, Lenny. Sorry for asking."
"It's no problem."
Suddenly, the bell rang, and the other students were heading out. Len stood with his tray, but Shoji stood. "I am the tallest one here and have enough arms. I will take everyone's trays back to the disposal. I can break through the crowd."
"Oh! Thanks a lot, man."
"Thank you, ribbit."
"A true gentleman," Toru sang.
As he took everyone's trays, a voice sounded off behind them. "Yo, Pinky!"
Len recognised that voice. It was Kirishima, from their class. He turned to look. The boy had been following the flood of people out of the cafeteria, but he'd stopped in front of Mina, smiling.
Mina sighed. "Hey, Kiri."
"I was wondering where you'd sat down. You could have sat with us, you know?"
"Why? Who were you sitting with?"
Kirishima pointed. "Sato and Kaminari and some others." The group in question was leaving from their table. Bakugo was among them.
Mina snorted. "Bakugo? That chihuahua? Come on Kiri, where's your judge of character? You need it to be a good hero."
"Hey, Bakugo is manly as hell, and he seems alright once you get to know him," Kirishima said defensively.
"There is all that business with Midoriya though, ribbit."
"Yeah, that whole situation is a bit sketchy, huh?" Toru added.
"Pardon me for asking," Len said, leaning forward, "but how do you two know each other? Old school buddies?"
Kirishima and Mina both nodded. "I was hoping we could be new school buddies too, but I guess you'd rather not talk to Bakugo." Kirishima smiled apologetically at the other people at the table.
"Listen, Kiri. It's important that I get to know the other girls in the class. With so few of us we gotta stick together. You'll understand when you're older."
"Well, one of the girls in question was sitting with us. And what about him?" Kirishima nodded to Len. "Is he a girl?"
"Surprisingly, you aren't the first person this week to ask that question," said Len. "But anyway, the bell rang and we gotta go. All Might's class, remember? Look, here comes Shoji."
The multiple-armed boy was fighting his way back to them through the crowd. His imposing presence caused many of the shorter students to part on their own.
"Right," Kirishima mumbled. "Well, don't be a stranger, Pinky. See you all in class." He waved and ran to catch up to Bakugo and them.
Toru scoffed. "Geez, what's his problem?"
"It seemed like he felt threatened by Lenny's presence, ribbit."
Len sweatdropped. "We gotta work on that bluntness of yours. Also, I think you're reading too much into the situation."
Shoji had just returned, and blinked, confused. "What happened?"
All eyes turned to Mina, who sighed. "Kiri means well. I apologise on his behalf if anything he said came off as pushy or confrontational. He's a genuinely nice guy, just a little dense to the atmosphere sometimes."
Len nodded sagely. "An affliction which affects many a young Japanese male. Fortunately, I am immune."
"Yeah, right," Mina scoffed, as they all headed out of the cafeteria and toward class. "As if you could tell when a girl is dropping hints."
"Oh, Len would definitely be able to tell," sang Toru. "And he'd intentionally play dumb and keep saying ridiculous stuff just to torture the poor gal. He's evil like that. I pity her, this hypothetical human."
"Hypothetical is where it stops, lest we forget," said the warping boy, joining the joke. "No real girl would be idiotic enough to catch feelings for me when there's hunks like Shoji-kun walking around." He gave the taller boy a gentle slap on the back.
"You flatter me, but my appearance repels more girls than it attracts."
"Hmm…" Mina scanned him up and down. "The right ingredients are there. Height, muscles, the mystery factor with the bangs and the mask… you're working with somethin' for sure. You just need to meet the right girl."
"And I suppose that's you?"
All of them laughed at that, Mina loudest of all. They weren't expecting Shoji to say something so bold, and it even seemed as if his eye was sparkling with mischief.
"Dream on, pal," said Mina. "I don't know how you came to that conclusion."
"You did just spend about fifteen seconds ogling me."
"Everyone shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut u—"
"We get it, Kagamine-kun. What is it?"
"We're here."
Class 1A waited patiently in their afternoon hero classroom for All Might to appear, but they didn't have to wait long. Out in the hall, the words "I AM…" could be heard.
The whole class gasped and tensed up. Then, the door opened, and the man himself slid in. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" he declared.
"Wow!"
"…*snicker*… was that his idea of a normal entrance?"
"That's his Silver Age costume!"
"So manly!"
"Welcome to Battle Hero Training!" All Might announced. "This is the class you've all been waiting for! And now…" he procured a clipboard that had a bunch of notes on it. "We shall waste no time! Today's activity will be practical battles!"
I knew it! Len thought, as the class got hyped up. Well, I didn't know it, but I suspected it. I kept an open mind for just this sort of situation.
"Oh, by the way, you might be needing these." All Might gestured to the back of the room, where boxes were sliding out of the wall. "Your hero costumes are ready for use!"
If the class had been hyped before, they were even MORE hyped now. Several immediately stood up to walk over and get their costume. Mina was beating some kind of rhythm on her desk while cheering "Woo-hoo!" repetitively.
All Might's smile seemed to take on an exasperated look. "Change into those costumes and head on down to Ground Beta! I'll see you all down there!"