Chapter Text
"Haru-chan, come on! You've been busy all week I wanna hang out!"
You sigh at Mei's loud voice crackling through the phone.
"You've been busy too! How do you even have the energy to go to a festival?"
Mei ignores you. "C'mon, please? I don't want you to forget about me just because we're in different classes now," You frown. She's manipulating you, isn't she.
"Fine. But you're paying."
You pull on your favorite pair of comfortable pants and a t-shirt. Fix your bangs in the mirror before kissing Echo on the nose and hurtling out of your room and down the stairs.
"Dad! Papa! I'm going out with Mei!" Daiki's head pops around the corner of the kitchen.
"Going out where?"
"Some festival," You shrug. "For spring? I'll be with Mei-chan, I'll be fine! And I'll text you if I need anything, promise," Daiki nods, satisfied, and disappears back around the corner.
"Be back by ten!" He calls as you slip on your shoes. "And bring a jacket!"
You roll your eyes fondly and snag your worn jacket from the peg by the door, throwing it over your shoulders.
"'Kay bye! Love you!"
"Love you too!"
You take the train to the festival grounds and soon you're standing next to the entrance arch. The festival seems to consist of a few winding paths lined with stalls, their owners shouting out their wares, mostly consisting of food and rigged games.
Someone grabs your arm and you spin around defensively, but it's just Mei in overall shorts, her pink dreadlocks bouncing around her shoulders. She looks cleaner than usual, though there's a patch of grease on her cheek. You wipe it off with your thumb.
"Hi! You ready?" She stares at you for a moment, eyes wide and cheeks slightly pink. Then she shakes her head as if to clear it and grabs your hand.
"Yeah, let's go! I wanna win a fish!"
You snort. "Those things are so rigged."
Together, you wander into the festival. Everything is bright and loud and you're thankful for Mei's hand in your own to ground you. She drags you from stall to stall, buying food and playing games. You let yourself be dragged about happily.
A few hours later, you're leaning against one of the stalls, waiting for Mei as she stands in line for the restroom. Your fingernails dig into your arms as you try to keep yourself grounded, but the buzzing of too many voices is becoming louder and louder in your ears.
BOOM!
You flinch, head snapping up. Above you, the sky is exploding in bursts of red and green. Fireworks.
There's another loud bang and gold sparks paint across the sky. Your breathing shallows. Your hands come up to cover your ears, but it does nothing to block out the noise. Your vision dances with spots. So you do the only thing you can think of.
You turn and run.
You duck through clumps of festival-goers; someone shouts an insult as you knock into them, but you only mutter a short apology and continue on. You stumble and fall, a sharp pain shooting through your knee. You ignore it, scrambling back up.
Finally, you collapse between two stalls on the outermost part of the festival. You clamp your hands over your ears and try to control your breathing. After a few moments, you've become aware enough of your surroundings to realize you're not alone. There's a person curled up in the same position a few feet from you.
Slowly, you drop your hands from your ears.
"Um, are you okay?" Your voice shakes, and it's so quiet that you're sure they didn't hear you over the fireworks. Then they look up, and you bite back a yelp of surprise.
"S-sorry, did I bother you?" Tamaki Amajiki asks.
You shake your head frantically. "No! Definitely not! I actually, um, was kinda running from the fireworks and all the people..."
Amajiki's eyes widen. "Oh...me too,"
You offer a shaky smile. "It's overwhelming, isn't it?"
The boy nods jerkily. "Too many people..."
"I know..."
There's silence for a moment. Another firework explodes a ways away and you flinch, curling in on yourself.
"S-so what's your name?" You look up, finding Amajiki looking away from you with an expression like he regrets opening his mouth. "W-wait, never mind, you probably don't want to talk, I shouldn't have asked, I wanna go ho—"
"Okimoto Haru." You interrupt his spiral. "What's yours?"
"...Amajiki Tamaki."
"Nice to meet you, Amajiki-san,"
You stay there, curled up with Amajiki for what feels like hours, but in reality is probably only a few minutes. Finally, the fireworks stop, but you can't find it in you to move.
"There you are!" You glance up, finding Mei looking more frantic than you've ever seen her. "I was looking everywhere for you and you weren't answering any of my calls!"
You blink slowly in surprise, then pull out your phone. The screen is black.
"Oh, it must have died...sorry,"
Mei shakes her head, extending a hand to pull you up. "Don't apologize, just tell me when you get overwhelmed, okay?" You nod, offering a shaky smile. She doesn't let go of your hand.
You turn back to Amajiki. "So, um, I gotta go. Were you here with anyone?"
Amajiki's eyes widen, as if he didn't expect you to acknowledge him. "Y-yeah, my friend."
"Well, maybe call him?"
He nods, not meeting your eyes as his cheeks flush. "I will."
"Okay," You smile gently. "Maybe I'll see you around?"
His lips quirk up at the corners. "Yeah, maybe."
As Mei leads you towards the exit, she asks, "Who was that guy?"
You smile to yourself. "Just someone I met. Kindred spirits or something,"
.
.
"Hey, kid! What's it like having All Might as a teacher?" You duck under the arm of the reporter with a glare.
"He's just like any other teacher; can you let me go? I need to get to class!"
Another woman with swirling horns atop her head sticks a microphone in your face. "What's your opinion on his sudden switch to teaching?" She shouts.
You flinch back. "Hey—"
"I believe you're making her uncomfortable," Says a low voice above you. A hand lands firmly on your shoulder and you tilt your head up to be met with a masked face, eyes firmly fixed on the reporter. "Now, if you don't mind," Shoji continues. "We have to be in homeroom."
Without another word, he places a gentle hand on your back and steers you through the school gates, shielding you from being pushed by any of the reporters. However, the moment you turn the corner, Shoji hastily retracts his hand, a flush visible above his mask.
"Sorry if that was rude of me! You just looked like you needed some help," He says.
You wave away his apology hurriedly. "No, no! Thanks for saving me, I thought I'd never escape!" Belatedly, you realize how informal you're being and quickly drop into a bow. "That was very heroic of you, I definitely owe you one!"
Shoji fidgets, looking away from you. You have the distinct feeling he's smiling. "Oh, it was nothing, don't worry about it." He glances at one of his wrists. "Oh, but I wasn't lying about having to be in class; we should get going."
Your eyes widen, "Oh, right!" Together, the two of you begin to make your way up the pathway. "Those reporters sure are nosy, huh?" You hum.
Shoji nods. "I wonder why they couldn't just set up an interview or something, instead of resorting to harassing students."
"I know, right? Like, I just wanna get to class..."
Just like you expected, Aizawa announces that you'll be choosing a class president and almost every hand in the class goes up. The classroom is in turmoil.
You sigh. Stand up and slam your hands down on your desk.
"Okay, everyone shut up!" Surprisingly, they comply, turning their heads in your direction. You ignore the jittery little part of you that curls in at being the center of attention and continue. "We should do this with a vote. Everyone write the person you want on a piece of paper and we'll tally the votes. No voting for yourself, sound good?"
There are murmurs of agreement throughout the classroom. Then all heads turn to Aizawa.
"I don't care as long as you decide before homeroom is over." You pump your fist.
"Thanks, sensei! Okay, let's go!"
Originally, Iida came up with a system where everyone could vote for themselves if they wanted. It wasn't a bad way to do things, but he made one assumption: these kids are mature enough to actually pick another person.
After some debate, you end up using your top hat to drop in votes. Almost everyone has finished, and you're still hesitating. Finally, you write down Momo's name in neat scrawl.
You recruit Iida to help you write out everyone's names and tally the number of votes for each person. You finish with Izuku in third, Momo in second, and...
You in first. With a grand total of eight votes.
You blink up at the tallies. "Uh, we sure we counted right?"
Momo comes up to stand beside you and nudges you in the side gently. "Positive. Is it really that surprising? It was you who organized this entire thing after all,"
"I mean, I guess..."
Aizawa groans, stepping out of his sleeping bag to stand beside you.
"Then it's decided. The class rep is Okimoto and he deputy class rep will be Yaoyorozu."
"That was so weird..." You groan, lunch tray in hand as you lean against Katsuki in the lunch line.
"I know, right?" He smirks down at you. "Who the hell'd make you class rep?" You roll your eyes at him.
"I didn't ask for your opinion, asshole." He flips you off and you return the gesture.
The two of you plop down at an empty table and are almost immediately joined by Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero. You side-eye Katsuki for his reaction, but he only lets out a scoff and turns to his food. You smile into your bowl.
"Congrats on class rep!" Kirishima exclaims.
"Thanks, I was kinda surprised to be honest..." You sigh and lean back in your chair. "'Sides, isn't it just more work? Not what I need..."
"But you were so good taking charge today!" Mina says, plopping down next to Kaminari and dragging with her a nervous-looking Jiro.
You feel your cheeks flush. "Thanks—" You flash her a smile, then spot Momo and Hitoshi seemingly in conversation over her shoulder. You wave at them. "Hey! Yaoyorozu-chan! Hitoshi-kun! Over here!"
"You really do know everyone, don't you?" Sero comments. "That guy's not even from our class."
"This is Shinso Hitoshi," You introduce as the purple-haired boy tentatively takes a seat next to Katsuki. They share a nod.
"Eyebags."
"Sparky."
There's a chorus of greetings around the table. Then Mina claps her hands together.
"Congratulations on being deputy rep Yaoyorozu-chan!" She says excitedly.
"Thank you, it's an honor."
"I can't believe I beat you," You muse. "I was so sure you'd win..."
Momo shrugs delicately. "I think you're perfectly suited, and you get along with everyone in the class nicely."
"Wait," Hitoshi jumps in. "They made you class rep?"
Katsuki snorts into his spicy ramen. "That's what I said," as you lean around the blond to glare at the other boy.
"Excuse me?"
Hitoshi looks like he's holding back a laugh. "I dunno, you just don't seem like the type to take on responsibilities like that,"
Well, if you had the fate of the world on your shoulders, you wouldn't either!
You open your mouth to respond, but before you can, there's a deafening ringing noise.
The alarms. Shigaraki is here.
Students run for the exits in a stampede, and before you know it you're being swept along with them. You lose sight of your friends in an instant. Bodies press against you on every side, and your breathing shallows.
Oh, that's not good.
You look around, trying to find some sort of escape, and spot a classroom across the hall. You take a breath and plunge forward into the sea of students.
Your vision is blurry by the time you stumble into the classroom, and you fall to your knees the moment you slam the door shut. Gasping for air, you collapse back against the wall.
And then you spot him.
Standing, staring at you with wide, wide red eyes that peer through the horrifying gray hand covering his face.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Haru." You blurt out. "I, um, I was just trying to get away from the people," You suppose the best plan is to pretend nothing's wrong. If he doesn't think you suspect him of anything, maybe he'll just leave.
Because the universe hates you, Shigaraki advances instead.
"Why do I recognize you?" He asks, tilting his head. Up close, he's even more creepy, hands clinging to every space possible, hair long and matted, and voice like sandpaper.
Instinctively, you try to scoop backward, but your back just presses harder into the wall.
"Um, I dunno, maybe you've seen me in the hallway or something?"
"No," Shigaraki just gets closer, leaning down into your space. "That's not it..." Then, quick as lightning, a hand curls around your throat and you're being lifted, still slammed against the wall. "I'm gonna ask you again. Who are you?"
For a moment, you think you're about to decay right there, but then you see it. His pinky finger hovering away from the others.
He could kill you in an instant.
The realization splashes over you like a bucket of icy water.
You can't breathe, much less answer his question, so instead you're just left hanging there, struggling to get air into your lungs.
"I'm...nobody," You gasp, though the words come out garbled and choked. "Please—"
"Pathetic." Shigaraki spits. His finger closes in on your neck.
"Shigaraki Tomura! It is time to go!" A voice. One you recognize, though your brain is moving too sluggishly from lack of oxygen to put your finger on it. Shigiraki hesitates, then drops you, and you crash to the floor in a shivering pile.
"This isn't over." Shigaraki hisses. He gives you one last glare before turning on your heel and disappearing into a shadowy portal that definitely wasn't there before. Then it vanishes into thin air.
You don't know how long you sit there, shivering and gulping in lungfuls of air on the classroom floor. But eventually, the door slams open to reveal Aizawa, looking far more panicked than you've ever seen him.
He falls to his knees in front of you, taking hold of your shoulders as his wide grey eyes stare into your own.
"Okimoto, what happened? Okimoto?" His voice shakes ever so slightly, and his grip tightens on your shoulders. "Hey, can you answer me? What's going on? Did someone attack you? Okimoto?"
Seeming to realize his words aren't working, Aizawa's expression becomes even more worried and his voice softens. "Haru? Haru, are you alright? What happened?"
You meet his gaze and his eyes widen at what he finds in your own.
Terror.
Then you collapse into his arms and break into great, shuddering sobs.
Daiki and Ryo are called. Nezu gets the entire story out of you once you've calmed down. They promise to conduct a full search of the campus, and you bite your tongue to keep from saying they're wasting their time.
You don't say more than you have to, and thank the anime gods that your crossing paths with Tomura was an actual accident. Something in Nezu's much-too-intelligent gaze makes you shrink in your seat. It feels as if he can see right through to your bones.
Finally, you're released alongside your parents. Ryo wraps an arm around your shoulders while Daiki carries your school supplies.
"You're going to let me go back, right?" You speak up hesitantly.
Ryo and Daiki share a look. Then Daiki's shoulders sag with a sigh.
"Of course we are," Daiki says. "We know it's your dream."
"But I'm going to have a talk with your teachers," Ryo mutters. You smother a laugh at the thought of All Might sweating under your dad's terrifying glare.
"Thank you,"
Daiki kisses your forehead. "Of course, honey, now get in the car and let's get you home."
As you pull up to your house, there's a very conspicuous figure passing up and down the walkway, huge red wings fluffed out to almost full length behind him.
"Keigo-san! What're you doing here?" You call, tumbling out of the car. Before you can take another step, he rushes towards you and pulls you into his arms.
"I called him," Ryo murmurs, helping Daiki out of the car. "We'll take your things in."
You watch over Keigo's shoulder as they disappear into the house. Then the hero finally pulls back, though his hands stay gripping your shoulders tightly.
"What happened? Aren't you in a school for heroes? What the hell?" He shakes you slightly, golden eyes wide and frantic.
"Hey, chill out—" You start, but he cuts you off.
"Chill out? Chill out? You were just almost killed by a villain, and you're asking me to chill out?" His wings have almost fully expanded, fluffed up with agitation. "They're supposed to keep you safe there, that's the whole point. You're supposed to be trained in a safe environment but you've only been there for a day—"
You grab hold of his shoulders, cutting off his stream of words. "Keigo-san. I'm alright."
He deflates in one breath, ducking his head in embarrassment. "...Sorry,"
You shake your head, sighing as the exhaustion hits you again. "It's fine." You smile weakly up at him. "But I just spent over an hour in the principal's office explaining everything, so I don't really feel like talking about it right now."
Keigo nods, mirroring your smile. "Right," He seems to remember something. "Oh yeah! I was gonna give you something." He pulls something out of his pocket. A feather, unmistakably his own. "I know you're strong and capable of protecting yourself and everything, but I'd still really appreciate it if you took it. It'd make me feel better. So, um, yeah."
He holds out the feather and you take it as if it's made of glass.
"Thank you." To your embarrassment, the words come out a little choked. "Really, Keigo-san, this means...so much,"
"Yeah, yeah," He laughs self-consciously, then his voice softens into something more genuine. "But really, I just want you to be safe, little raven."
There's a silence, one that seems to stretch on forever until Keigo claps his hands to break it.
"Well! Now that that's out of the way, why don't we go in and watch a movie?" He puts an arm around your shoulders and begins to steer you toward the house. "It can even be one of those old-ass ones you like."
"They're not old! They're classics!"
"Not any classic I've ever heard of,"
.
.
"And so, based on his bravery and quick thinking, I think that Iida should take over the role of class rep," You conclude.
Iida's eyes widen as they meet yours.
"That makes sense," Kaminari speaks up. "Iida was a real help in the cafeteria yesterday." There are hums of agreement, before they're interrupted by Aizawa.
"Okay, get on with it," You cover a laugh with your hand. Iida stands stiffly from his seat.
"If the class rep has nominated me, then it cannot be helped. From this day forth, I, Iida Tenya, promise to do my best to carry out the duties of class representative."
"We're counting on you, Emergency Exit!" Kirishima says, giving a thumbs up.
"Emergency Exit Iida!"
"Do your best!"
You smile and sag in relief.
Well, I was always good at escaping responsibilities.