Re-written on December 8th 2021

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"UA l-looks like-like the hospita-tal." Iruka looked out the car window as it drove into the school gates.

"Well, you're definitely not wrong."

Even with their changed schedules, they weren't sure if Iruka would be ready for pre-school or daycare so this was their compromise. She could learn here if she wanted to and even socialise if she was up to it. Iruka had only known them for almost 3 weeks but Shouta thanked all the gods up there that not only was Iruka making great progress recovering whatever hell she came from but that he too managed to settle into his new job of teaching in such a short amount of time (not that he necessarily had a hard time changing up his routine but unless it was patrol route changes they were a pain in his ass).

But just because they were settling into their new routines well enough didn't mean there wasn't still so much to look forward to and plan for. Getting a proper teaching license (not that UA required it but Shouta would be damned if he wasn't a competent teacher) was one of his top priorities. Hizashi, being the literal blessing of a man that he is, was more than ready to support Shouta if he wanted to go for classes for his license.

Hizashi... He was something else Shouta needed to think about. Being engaged was one thing and being married was another. They had to back their wedding date due to the new edition of their family. Sure it wasn't going to be grand and fancy in the first place but maybe they'd just tie the knot and Nemuri would throw some kind of party for them (because of course, she would, even if the wedding happened months ago)

Those were all things he could think about after because right now he needed to protect Iruka from rowdy co-workers. Now that he thought about it, they'd also have to think about Iruka's education. He no doubts she'd be placed in pre-school. They never figured out her true age (not that Shouta cared too much for such things when it wasn't necessary) and he wasn't going to just thrust her into elementary (because she could definitely be a malnourished 7 or 8-year-old). Does she even know how to read? Shouta looked down at the girl who walked by his side, her tiny hand holding his own.

"Ready to meet our co-workers' kiddo?"

"Y-Ya,"

"Alright then in we go!" Hizashi busted open the teachers' lounge door, Shouta suppressed a groan merely upon hearing the chatter from the inside.

Both adults greeted everyone with their usual good mornings though it didn't take long before their attention turned towards the small figure that hid behind Shouta.

"Aww, you actually brought her." Nemuri cooed.

"Too short of a notice to find anyone who we'd be comfortable looking after her. Shouta said she could work on social skills too,"

"No, you said 'Let's bring her with us so she doesn't end up grumpy and crabby like you Shou'" Nemuri and Hizashi suppressed their laughter

"Aww don't be grumpy Shouta, you came to us like that,"

"I like-like crabs!" Nemuri and Hizashi lost it.

==========

"Alright sweetie, I have class to get to but Hizashi should be here soon, Think you'd be ok staying with Ryo in the meantime?"

Iruka had been introduced to the staff when she'd first arrived but so far she had only stuck by Hizashi, Shouta and Nemuri.

"He's actually way nicer than he looks,"

"O-Ok,"

"That's the brave girl I know," Nemuri gave her a thumbs up before leading her towards Hound Dog who was looking over some files on the couch. "Hey Ryo, mind keeping Iruka company for an hour? I've got a class to get to."

"Of course," Nemuri winked at the two of them before heading out.

Iruka looked at the only adult left in the room.

"Are-are you a-a pup-puppy?"

"Something like that pup," the nickname earned a couple of giggles, "Would you like to sit here with me, pup?" She happily nodded before clambering onto the couch next to the school counsellor.

"What are-are you do-doing puppy?"

"Reading some files,"

"Reading?"

"Well pup, do you see these," he pointed towards the symbols on the page. "When you read you'll be able to understand these."

"Woah,"

"Would you like to learn how to read pup?"

"I can learn?"

"Of course. We have some books here at UA that we use for people who hard time reading. I could go get a few and teach you."

"Y-yes pl-please,"

"Alright, just wait here for a bit."

Iruka nodded and watched as Ryo left the room. She sat quietly waiting for someone to walk in. Occasionally she'd hear footsteps outside but none of them opened the door so she continued to wait. Eventually, though she needed to go to the bathroom. Mr and Mrs hate when I don't go immediately. It didn't take long for her to decide that it wasn't worth waiting, she could get in trouble, after all, so she hopped off the couch and walked out.

She wandered through the halls. Everything looked the same and she didn't know where she was going. There was some kind of chime, something Iruka has heard from Mr Zashi's phone. Is Mr Zashi somewhere? Before she could go find him though the halls started to fill with more people than Iruka had ever seen. There were too many. They were too loud. Everything started to feel too much and all her things had been left in that other room but she didn't even know where that room was anymore.

She hadn't noticed she bumped into someone.  All she knew was she was on the floor and a hand reached out towards her. No no no. I didn't mean. I don't do anything bad. The wall felt cold under her touch and Iruka crept closer to it. Mr Zawa will save me. He will help me.

"Don't crowd around them. Scram all of you, you're scaring her!" Nanami wasn't expecting to see a child at the very centre of the crowd but they'll be damned if she allowed it to continue.

Nanami tapped on the little girl's shoulder but she flinched away.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. My- My name is Ito Nanami, can I know yours?" The little girl did look up but her hands still covered her ears and her eyes were squinted as though she was looking at the sun.

"I-I'm Iru-Iruka. Mr Zawa ga-gave me my-my name."

"That's a really nice name Iru-Chan. Mr Zawa? Are you talking about Aizawa Sensei? The one with black hair and a scarf like yours?" Iruka nodded. "Were you lost?"

"Need-need bathroom. Mr and Mrs do-don't like wh-when I-I make the fl-floor wet."

"I can lead you to the bathroom and bring you back to Aizawa Sensei,"

"O-Ok." Nanami nodded and held out her hand to help Iruka up.

The bathroom wasn't too far away from where they were, the teachers' lounge on the other hand was a different story. Nanami didn't mind too much though, they had asked Iruka all sorts of questions. She seemed to have brightened up with each one.

Iruka loved learning, that much was obvious. She loved learning about Nanami's quirk. It was a type of water manipulation. The amount of water she could control although wasn't much she has learned to control in a way to make into something akin to bullets.

"When people think water manipulation they probably think something huge like tsunami waves, especially for a hero. So I'm going to be an underground hero with my 'weak' quirk."

"Hero like Mr Zawa and Mr Zashi?"

"Yup! Though something closer to Aizawa Sensei."

"I w-want to be hero like-like you and Mr Zawa and-and Mr Zashi."

"Heck ya! You can totally do it!" Nanami smiled at the giggles she earned.

=========

"How did you manage to lose her?"

"I told the pup to stay here while I got some books."

"You left a 5 year old unsupervised in a huge high school! Oh my god, Shouta is going to kill us all." Nemuri whined.

The knock on the door made everyone hold their breath, praying to Kami it wasn't Shouta.

"I uh, found Iruka-Chan lost and she needed to go to the bathroom."

"Thank you, Ito, there should still be enough time to go get something to eat before the end of lunch." Nanami sent Iruka a smile before following her teacher's advice.

"Mr-Mr Zashi,"

"Ya Listener?"

"Are-Are you m-mad?"

"At you? No not at all. Why didn't you tell anyone you needed to go to the bathroom?"

"Cau-cause puppy w-was not here-here. Mr and Mrs no l-like when-when I wet th-he fl-floor,"

"That's understandable Listener. We won't get mad for something like that just so you know. Maybe Shouta can bring you on a tour of the school so you don't get lost again. Till he comes back, join me for lunch?"

"O-Ok."

==========

"The cafeteria is at the end of this hall, want to see?" When Shouta heard about Iruka's disappearance he really did try not to absolutely freak out and create an outburst. She was there right in front of him, looking at a book Ryo had gotten, he couldn't freak out about something that turned out fine. It might not have turned out fine. Shouta argued.

Once he did calm down though he approach Iruka who somehow seemed to be glowing more than usual.

"Mr Zawa, I'm-I'm gonna be a he-hero l-like you and Mr Zashi and Nami-chan." She had smiled up at him. How was he supposed to be mad when he saw a smile like that. He was free from any more teaching for the day so like Hizashi has promised, he took Iruka on a tour around the school.

"Majima and some of the others teach here. They build stuff here,"

"Can we-we see inside?"

"There might be a class inside. We can check it out once school is over." Iruka nodded and they continued on.

Their tour ended with them looking over 1-B's hero class. Iruka was bouncing and giggling when she saw Nanami sparring down below. It was honestly infectious. Not that Shouta smiled. He absolutely did not hide his smile in his scarf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What did you think of Nanami? Nanami is inspired from a friend I made while I myself was in Japan though apparently there's also an (a few?) anime character(s) that are also called Nanami.

Thank you for reading this week's re-write. If you enjoyed please leave a vote and/or comment.

I tend to talk about PHA on my Twitter ( @/ryan_reeta) so check me out there!

Have a lovely day, night, weekend, wherever, whenever you are.

Stay safe,
Bye Lovies~