Yumi

"Simmer down everyone! We want to act accordingly when Mr. Kaeshio arrives," Teijo boomed, voice loud and authoritative. Everyone ignored him.

Saika chortled, slapping Teijo hard on the back, clearly not taking into consideration how demeaning this whole ordeal was for our always proper and well-mannered friend.

Teijo let out a defeated sigh, and I swear he looked teary-eyed before the mist fogged up his glasses, and his leather-soled feet shambled over to his desk.

"Wow, nice going Saika," I grumbled. It was upsetting to see Teijo have such a forlorn expression, but perhaps it was more surprising than anything. Saika was constantly bantering with Teijo, and yet he never seemed to be bothered by it. So maybe, the reason for his melancholy was a different reason entirely.

Saika bit her lip, but rolled her eyes straight after. "Your expression tells me you're thinking wayyyy too into this," she playfully punched my arm, grinning. "Don't be dramatic Yumi. He just sighed and awkwardly walked away, it's not like the end of the world is coming," she chuckled.

"...You never know-"

"No, shush," Saika, placed a finger over my lips, rolling her eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time today.

"But anyways," I said, moving Saika's hand away, "this is Teijo we're talking about. He doesn't just shamble away and sigh so...dejectedly."

Saika shrugged, leaning against my desk. "He's fine. Why are you so worried anyway?"

"Because I'm a really good friend," I smiled innocently, speaking in a sugary voice. "Much better than you anyway," I mumbled the last part under my breath, but Saika still heard it.

"Excuse me? I am the BESTEST friend," she clicked her tongue in annoyance before stomping over to Teijo's desk, slamming her fist onto the table so aggressively I was scared it might break.

"ARE YOU O-"

"G-Good m-morning..." a meek voice said, barely audible. Mr. Kaeshio would've gone unnoticed if it wasn't for the pair of eyes that caught sight of our teacher's hunched figure waddling inside and shutting the classroom door.

The class immediately fell into an undisrupted silence as Mr. Kaeshio shuffled into the room, the only noise being the squeaking of his shoes against the clean floor.

"Now...um...I'm aware that Lemillion gave you feedback yesterday...but I would like to clarify some things...so we'll be going over yesterday's training results," he said quietly, looking around the room nervously, as if he expected a sudden outburst to occur.

A murmur disrupted the silence, with students conversing with one another in low voices. I looked back, expecting to see Teijo shoot up from his desk and tell everyone to listen. He did no such thing.

"Oi! Guys, listen!" Saika barked, the room falling into silence once more (much to our teacher's great gratitude).

"T-Thank you. Now...we will go over Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugo and Fujikawa first." I fidgeted excitedly, noticing Saika's eyes widening in slight trepidation. Mr. Kaeshio lightly tapped his fingers against the lectern, eyes scanning the four of us, his lower lip quivering as he prepared to speak. "Midoriya and Todoroki," he began quietly. Saika and I sat up straight, eagerly scooting to the edge of our seats.

"You both performed outstandingly," a smirk began to grow on Saika's face. "But–" and in the blink of an eye, her smirk vanished, "–you relied too heavily on your opponents' uncooperation. If it wasn't for their inability to get along, simply placing the bomb out of reach wouldn't have been enough to avoid defeat," our teacher claimed, a newfound confidence seemingly taking over.

"But I still have to congratulate you on your victory, nonetheless." I turned to look at Saika, the ghost of a smile present on her lips as she slunk back into her chair, proud of her victory yet slightly shameful that our win was the work of luck. "Now, Bakugo and Fujikawa..."

Satoshi seemed to tense at the mention of his name, fingers rapping against the desk in anticipation. Despite trying to act apathetic, it was clear as day that Kousuke was also growing anxious. "I'll commend you for your effort...but there was a reason Lemillion paired you two together." Satoshi raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Even if they don't get along, heroes know how to push aside their personal grudges in order to work together to catch and detain villains. If this scenario was real, you'd both be putting yourselves in terrible danger."

Satoshi scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's just an exercise–"

"That mind set won't get you very far," Mr. Kaeshio interrupted, much to my surprise. He straightened his posture, gaze stern and lips pressed into a firm line. "If you're constantly assuring yourself that your mistakes don't matter because it was all an exercise, then when it's time for you to actually fight a villain, you will find yourself struggling and the chances of you coming out victorious will be slim to none."

Satoshi immediately recoiled, tutting his tongue in a vain attempt to act as though he couldn't care less. Mr. Kaeshio directed his burning gaze towards Kousuke. "And you, Fujikawa; I hope you learn from Bakugo's attitude and try to improve yourself in the future."

Kousuke nodded, blinking dumbly as he tried to wrap his head around our teacher's sudden change in attitude. It was only when Mr. Kaeshio shook his head and slumped his shoulders and let out a long breath that I realised he had switched his personality with someone. Glancing around the room, I noticed Saika press a hand to her chest, exhaling loudly and muttering something about "it's great to be back". That solved the mystery of his confident persona.

"Next...uh...Hokori, Kirishima, Iida and Nikko.

"Hokori, one of the main weaknesses that stood out during this exercise was your lack of cooperat-"

"EXCUSE ME?" Kimika yelled, micking Saika's movements earlier as she too slammed her hands fiercely on the table.

Mr. Kaeshio jolted back in fear, his hands shaking. "U-Uh..." our teacher was speechless, his mouth moving despite no words forming.

"Shut up and let him speak, it's disrespectful otherwise." Saika groaned, flopping onto her table. Kimika sneered, cocking an eyebrow upwards.

"Well," Kimika hissed, seething, "with all due respect, it's none of your business-"

"Just shut up already," Satoshi spat, leaning back against his chair, arm loosely hanging over the edge, with his hand gripping the other end. Kimika's face burned a bright red, her teeth grazing her lower lip as though she was preparing to unleash her wrath upon the spiky-haired teen. Before she could begin screaming her heart out, Kimika immediately shrunk back into her seat, shaking slightly under the deadly gaze our teacher had adopted.

"Hokori! Sit down and listen before you earn yourself a detention!"

"Y-yes, sir!" She sputtered meekly.

"Good," he breathed, irritation evident in his features as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He blinked a few times before he finally gathered himself, awkwardly clearing his throat and returning to his usual nervous stance. Kimika remained silent, but she furrowed her brows and pulled her lips into a pout, proving that the Kimika we all knew was back. Whether that was a good thing or not would be if she decided to have another outburst or if she could will herself to patiently listen to Mr. Kaeshio's criticism.

"A-anyway..." Mr. Kaeshio continued, eyes darting away from Kimika (who seemed to take 'if looks could kill' to a whole new level). "Hokori, as I said earlier, you've proven yourself to be a strong fighter, but your main weakness is your inability to cooperate. Much like Bakugo and Fujikawa, you didn't get along with your partner which greatly impacted your ability to fight effectively."

Kimika murmured under her breath, lips pulled into a scowl. I glanced across the room to see Eitaro hanging his head guiltily as though he blamed himself for their loss. "Kirishima, while you proved to be somewhat cooperative, you still failed to make a strong effort to get Hokori to work with you."

"Yes sir..." he muttered, lowering his gaze, brows furrowed. Our teacher gave him a brief nod, flashing him a brief look of sympathy before turning his attention to Teijo, who was looking rather dispirited. Very unlike him.

Satoshi meanwhile, leaned forward in his seat, extending a finger as he tapped Eitaro's blazer-clad back.

"Listen, I'm not gonna get sappy or anything, but you did good. It wasn't your fault. It was hers," he told him, the slightest trace of a friendly smile overtaking his features. Eitaro looked moved, a hand grasping at his shirt, eyes shining as his face broke into a tensionless smile.

"That's so manly of you to sa-"

Kimika grunted loudly. She had been sitting there with a dramatically offended face, piercing eyes staring right at the back of Eitaro's head. Yet her presence went completely unnoticed - perhaps ignored, since I was certain Satoshi must've seen her from where he was sitting.

"What?" Satoshi raised an eyebrow, speaking through gritted teeth.

"You shouldn't talk about people behind their backs, you know."

"And you shouldn't eavesdrop, you know," Satoshi mimicked, changing the pitch of his voice to match Kimika's as much as he could. Shoot. He was right. I shouldn't be listening either.

Eitaro gave a slight chuckle. "Nah, she's right. Sorry, Kimika."

Satoshi rolled his eyes, glaring so hard at her that Kimika shrunk back into her seat, turning away from the two of them.

Out of nowhere, Kousuke's voice broke out from the silence that had overtaken the room for a few moments.

"You did okay Kimika, don't worry about it," he said nonchalantly.

Kimika's face burned red once more, and she whipped her head around so fast her ringlets were just a blur.

"Excuse me?! I did better than okay!" she shrieked, hands curled up into fists as she banged them on the table. "If you-"

"Can't you just take a compliment without insulting anyone?" Saika groaned, narrowing her eyes at the miffed Kimika.

"Can't we just have a conversation without you butting in?" Kimika retorted, brushing back her hair with an arrogant flick of her wrist.

"Hey, please don't fight! Let's just move on, okay?" Eitaro nervously added, holding up his hands as though to silence the two bickering girls.

"We could move on if you just shut up," Kimika spat.

"Same goes for you," Satoshi retorted.

Thanks to Satoshi's final statement, the room exploded into utter chaos. Everyone struggled to be heard over the exclamations of others, spitting insults left and right with the occasional empty threat. Mr. Kaeshio watched in complete horror. I found myself unable to hear my own thoughts, glancing around nervously at the frenzy of screaming students. I finally focused my gaze on Teijo who was slumped over miserably in his chair.

"Teijo!" I hissed from across the room, trying and failing to be heard over the ruckus our class was causing. "Teijo!" I cried once more, but to no avail. I hoped that he would be the one to break up the chaos, but in his weird miserable state, he was currently useless.

"E-everyone, p-please settle down..." Mr. Kaeshio squeaked meekly, peering at everyone with a frightened gaze. It became apparent that it was difficult for him to swap his personality with someone as the room had become a mess. Students had leapt up from their seats, rushing across the room to confront someone who opposed their opinion.

Without a second thought I hopped up from my seat, dodging the many pencils being thrown across the classroom, gently pushing past Saika who stood in my path and made my way towards Teijo.

"Stop right this instant!" Fuyune ordered, hesitantly standing on her desk in order to gain everyone's undivided attention. "Don't you realise how dangerous throwing pencils can be? What if it hits somebody in the eye? I urge you to have some common sense–" The periwinkle-haired girl's sentence was cut short when a pencil collided with her forehead, the sheer force of the throw sending the teen barrelling straight into the wall behind her. We lost a brave soldier in battle, but I knew I had to move on.

Diving forward, I commando-rolled across the floor, ducking behind a chair and using it as my shield when a black backpack was thrown across the room, hitting the chair I held up, the contents to spill everywhere. I heard students cry out in shock, holding their arms up to deflect the oncoming stationery and food.

"My lunch!" The blue-skinned boy cried out, rushing forward to pick up the remains of his sandwich, silently crying as he mourned the death of his food.

"Sorry, my good friend, but it was a necessary sacrifice. Plus, just go to the cafeteria," I muttered, watching as Anzu — the girl who was paired with Teijo for the previous exercise — consoled the boy by gently patting his back.

I clambered up onto a nearby desk, hopping over a purple-haired boy (who appeared to have strange ball-like objects sticking out between some strands) who was cowering on the floor. "Watch out!" Someone screamed as I leapt from desk to desk. I managed to narrowly dodge an oncoming girl who seemed to manoeuvre around students with the help of what appeared to be an invisible tail. Kousuke was trailing after her, using a small wave to boost him forward, small puddles of water forming on the floor in his trail.

Yelps could be heard as students slipped over the puddles, colliding with the hard floor and groaning in pain as they sourly rubbed their bruised heads. A boy with tape shooting out from his elbows swung past, knocking me off balance and sending me tumbling into a frog-like girl. I stuttered a brief apology before running off, finally reaching Teijo's desk where he remained unaffected by the current war taking place within our classroom.

Deciding to take a page from Saika's book, I slammed my fists onto his desk, evoking nothing more than a slightly startled jump. Teijo peered up at me, slowly pushing up his glasses that had begun to slide down the bridge of his nose.

"Teijo, what's up with you? You haven't been yourself lately and I want to know why! If there's something bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm your friend. I'm here to help you. And even though it might not seem like it, Saika's got your back as well." Swivelling around, I motioned towards Saika to emphasise my point, choking back a nervous laugh upon seeing her pelting balls of paper at Kimika. "She may be aggressive, but she's still concerned about you. As am I. So, tell me, what's wrong?"

Teijo coughed into his fist, averting his gaze to the floor littered with discarded papers and pencils. He blinked with uncertainty, unsure if he should voice his concerns. His golden eyes darted around the room, flickering between our friends before finally landing back on me. With a dejected sigh, he finally spoke.

"I appreciate you looking out for me, Yumi. So, if you really want to know...it's because...because..." Teijo's voice hitched, as if the words were too painful to utter. I placed her hand on his quivering shoulder.

"Teijo...it's alright, you know you can tell me anything," I told him soothingly. Teijo inhaled, nodding.

"My father presented me with a flower seed. I was given the task of making sure it bloomed. Then, we left for the dorms, and I made the grave mistake of leaving it at home, alone. Father called this morning. He informed me of the tragic news. My flower has withered and died."

I blinked. "Sorry...what?"

I barely listened as Teijo relayed the 'depressing' story of his flower, the disappointment in his father's voice, and his own grief.

I nodded slowly. "Um...it's alright Teijo. Things like this happen. There's many more flowers in the garden."

After I spoke these words, Teijo's eyes widened, his face glowing with happiness as this... apparently unheard of revelation dawned on him. Moved by my words, he smiled. In the very next moment, Teijo hopped up from his seat, struggling to stand on his desk before he cleared his throat, requesting the attention of our classmates. "Everyone, may I have your attention please!" Teijo bellowed, his voice resonating off the walls until everyone fell completely silent. "Thank you! Now, is this really how we should be behaving? As students of U.A., we should be acting as role models. Not only for the other students, but for the people who look up to us future heroes. Villains should fear us, as heroes-in-training, coming out victorious in every battle! They shouldn't feel relaxed knowing that at any given moment we could turn against each other. As friends, peers, and soon-to-be heroes we should be striving our best to set an example for people all across Japan! So, please, return to your seats and refrain from turning our classroom into a battlefield."

Silently, everyone filed back into their seats, picking up their supplies that had been discarded on the wet floor. The blue-skinned boy clapped lightly, praising Teijo for being the hero he didn't know they needed. Teijo practically glowed at the compliment, raising a hand to his heart as he bowed with appreciation. Saika rolled her eyes, although she couldn't hide the small smile forming as she strolled back over to her seat, slightly relieved that Teijo had returned to normal.

I walked back to my desk, taking note of Kimika's bitter expression as she did so as well. She grumbled in her seat, resting her cheek against her palm, huffing in obvious annoyance. Satoshi seemed to bite back a snide comment, knowing that if he were to say anything to the silver-haired girl, she would explode with anger and the fight from earlier would start all over again.

"T-thank you, Iida." Mr. Kaeshio muttered gratefully. "As for the rest of you..." His gaze hardened ever so slightly, but not enough to confirm that he'd once again switched personalities. "The appropriate course of action to take would be to give all those involved detention, and that's exactly what I'll do."

Saika shuddered in her seat, gulping down her fear as her posture slumped. Mr. Kaeshio's hard gaze turned towards her, and she flinched, sweat drops forming on fair-skin.

"Todoroki, Hokori, Bakugo," he began listing the perpetrators, eyes lingering on each person for a brief moment as he addressed them. "The three of you have lunch and after school detention with me." I could hear Satoshi and Kimika mutter curses under their breaths. Saika groaned dejectedly and rested her head in her arms, admitting defeat. "As for the rest of you...everyone except for Midoriya, Iida, Eitaro Kirishima, Nikko, Enzaki, Mineta, Shinso, Osharena Tokoyami and Shoji have lunchtime detention as well."

"Damn," Saika murmured, turning to me with furrowed brows. "See you this evening, I guess."

"Now." We all turned back to see Mr. Kaeshio clear his throat, surprised that there was still more for him to say. "Because of the ruckus you have caused, we've lost valuable time. But because of our tight schedule this process will just have to be rushed. What I'm referring to is picking our class representative. All that's required is for each student to submit their vote on a slip of paper with a student of their choice's name on it. First place will be Class 1A's class representative, and second place will take on the role of vice representative. Is that clear?"

"But sir?" a girl's voice rang out from somewhere at the back of the classroom, meek and squeaky. "What about the rest of the feedback?"

Mr. Kaeshio sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. "Sorry, we'll have to finish it off tomorrow. We were supposed to finish the feedback and class representative election today, but we've run out of time. You can come after class if you want your feedback though. Now, we're going to start the election. Do you all understand?"

The class nodded unanimously, the occasional glance passing between the students. In the next few moments, a screen popped up in front of my face, a list of my classmates' names displayed.

"If you're unsure of who to vote for, think about when you watched the battle trials, as well as your own knowledge of your classmates."

I scrolled through the list, searching for Teijo's name. He'd be the best fit for class representative.

"Sir?" Saika put her hand up. Mr. Kaeshio heaved out a quiet sigh, still apparently miffed about the whole class war she contributed to greatly.

"Yes Todoroki?"

"How can I give someone a negative vote?" her eyes glanced over to Teijo, who didn't notice, much to her dismay. Grumpily, Saika's eyes darted over to Kimika next, who was glaring back.

"That's not a thing Todoroki," Mr. Kaeshio breathed out, irritation creeping into his voice. Saika shrugged.

After a few minutes, once all the votes had been collected, Mr. Kaeshio tallied the votes and displayed them on the projector.

"Alright so...Teijo Iida has the most votes - he'll be our class representative. And Fuyune Shinso has the second largest amount of votes - she's our vice representative. Fuyune looked up lazily from her desk, raising her eyebrows as if she were weirded out by this outcome. Not elated or shocked - just weirded out. Teijo, on the other hand...

"Dear classmates," he stood up, his face beaming brightly at the students watching with dull expressions, "it is an honour to have been chosen for such a paramount position. I, Teijo Iida, promise to-"

"Yeah yeah, we get it," Satoshi groaned as the bell rang. He slumped onto his desk, burying his face into his arms. Teijo wagged his finger at those remaining in detention, tutting in disappointment.

Saika gave me one more melancholic look - her eyes pleading for me to save her from her fate. I could only offer her a salute. Good luck, soldier.

***

I shuffled down the hallway besides Teijo who had completely reverted back to his normal self. Students from other classes walked past us, murmuring about the ruckus our class had caused earlier.

"Did you hear that earlier? It sounded like there was World War III just down the hall," a boy murmured, glancing back over his shoulder in the general direction of our classroom. His friend hummed in agreement and shook his head in disapproval.

Teijo mimicked the boy's disapproval, nodding his head in agreement. "Such barbarians. Do our classmates not understand where we are? U.A. is the most prestigious hero academy, and we must do everything in our power to not tarnish its good reputation! They should...."

I eventually zoned out of Teijo's ramble, holding back my laughter at his teacher-like behaviour. Yup, that's good ol' Teijo for you.

***

We arrived at the cafeteria to see a noticeable area where not many students resided. It became apparent that the empty space was always filled by the students of Class 1-A, but with the majority of them stuck in detention with Mr. Kaeshio, the area they usually resided in suddenly seemed peaceful.

I stood in line beside Teijo, taking a tray and holding it close to my chest, the enticing aroma of the hot food served to us making my stomach rumble. But the quiet moment was soon brought to an end when a familiar blob of pink approached us. Her bright smile and joyful deep blue eyes sparkled with joy as she skipped up to us, phone in hand.

"Teijo! Teijo! Look!" Hatsuka cried, shoving the rectangular device in her younger brother's face. It had been a while since I'd met Teijo's older sister, but her jubilant personality hadn't changed in the least.

Teijo's eyes drifted over to the object in the centre of the screen, golden eyes slowly losing any signs of life. "My flower grew! Isn't it beautiful?" Hatsuka cheered, hopping from foot to foot, her smile growing wider by the second.

Teijo swallowed his sadness as he nodded, mustering up the courage to smile in support of his sister. "Yes," he struggled to say, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to maintain his smile from contorting into a subtle frown.

Hatsuka beamed at her brother, failing to notice his hunched figure and golden eyes, devoid of any signs of life, averting their gaze so as to not gaze upon the blooming flower - a sight they had yet to witness because of Teijo's failure.

From behind Hatsuka emerged Goru and Makoto, the former adorning a bright smile and the other seemingly unimpressed by Hatsuka's overly bright personality.

"Where's Saika?" Makoto asked, eyes scanning the room in search of his sister. Teijo shook his head and I let out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed that Makoto had successfully distracted Teijo from the deep depression that Hatsuka had briefly dragged him back into.

"In detention."

"What?" Goru stopped poking my cheek (wait, when had he started doing that?), head turning to face Teijo, wearing a shocked expression. "What for?"

Teijo elaborated. "She was acting most unladylike. Starting arguments, throwing things across the room, provoking people. Acting in the most undignified manner, if I do say so myself," he shook his head for the umpteenth time today, sighing.

"Saika? No way, she's...actually nevermind, I can see that," Goru muttered, shrugging as he plopped himself down next to me.

"That little twit!" Makoto slammed his fist onto the table, fuming. "At least she's not suspended, or worse, expelled. I can't even begin to imagine the torturous lecture our parents would give her if that were to happen. They might even call our grandfather," he added with an almost unnoticeable shudder. "But, I can't say she doesn't deserve what's coming to her."

I visibly shuddered at Makoto's dark tone and even Goru took a step back. Poor Saika. I would hate to be in her shoes right now.

***

Saika slammed open the front door to our dorms, stomping over to Teijo and I.

"Alright, which one of you ratted me out to Makoto?" Her voice was dark as she narrowed her eyes, directing her pointed gaze at my quaking figure. I immediately pointed towards Teijo, fearing that I wouldn't live to see another day if I didn't reveal the culprit.

"It was Teijo!" I blurted out, turning to my indigo-haired friend to see him unaffected by my betrayal.

Teijo held a hand to his chest, raising his other arm while pinching his eyes shut, fighting back the dramatic tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. "It was a noble sacrifice that had to be made."

Recoiling under Saika's hard stare, I was prepared to dive behind the couch and seek cover from her oncoming wrath, but it never came. I cautiously peered up at the fuming girl only to watch her storm off in the general direction of her dorm.

I turned to Teijo, raising a brow at the unperturbed teen. "You're...still alive?"

With a satisfied nod, Teijo chuckled heartily. "Of course! Saika would never murder anyone, let alone her best friend!"

If Saika was here she would have berated him for making such an absurd statement. I just summed it up to Teijo going through the five stages of grief and was currently stuck in the first stage — denial. I couldn't exactly blame him. I, too, would hate to believe that my best friend may be secretly planning my downfall.

"Your silence scares me." I jumped at Teijo's sudden statement and caught the fearful look in his eyes.

I offered him a comforting pat on the back. "Anyway, get some rest. We're going somewhere tomorrow aren't we? That should be fun," I offered, hoping that the prospect of going on a class field trip would elevate his mood.

"You're right," Teijo nodded, getting up from the chair. I watched him walk away, a nervous feeling churning in my gut.

"By the way-!"

Teijo looked back at me, eyebrows raised inquisitively. I shook my head.

"Sorry, Teijo, I was just thinking." There was a brief pause. "But you should probably lock your door tonight."

-

Welp, this chapter was kinda just chaos. But don't worry, the next chapter starts off the new arc, so look forward to that! :D

Also as a quick side note, just a thank you to all the people reading, voting and commenting. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far!