12Izuku Midoriya was tired.
It was his first day at his new high school, U.A. academy and to say the day had been intensive was an understatement. New days at most schools could be hectic, running around trying to learn the layout of the building (U.A.'s was especially confusing, which hardly helped), meeting new teachers and learning what would and wouldn't fly with them and trying to get used to the brand new people, which was only that much harder when you almost never interacted positively with other people socially.
And that was just for a normal student at a normal school. Izuku was at U.A., with Eraserhead AKA Shota Aizawa as his homeroom teacher. A man who had turned out to be… intense, for lack of a better term.
Threats of immediate expulsion for placing last in a physical test ('That was clearly still biased.' He thought with a tiny amount of irritation, his tiredness increasing it), combined with the fact he was essentially handicapped at the moment did not gel well.
Add on his broken bones and the school nurse's stamina draining healing quirk and yeah, it was fair to say he was ready to crawl into bed pretty damn soon. He preserved for now however, more than used to powering through his exhaustion.
First though he had to wait through the ride on the train he was currently boarding, surprised to see just how cramped it was, especially as it wasn't even cramped with U.A. students necessarily, plenty of business men and women and pedestrians also on their way.
He'd been walking with two of his classmates to the station, Tenya Iida and Ochaco Uraraka and had been looking forward to talking with them to pre-occupy himself with but that hope had been dashed when the discovered they needed to board different trains due to where each of them were going.
With a soft sigh, he took a seat in the smaller booth section with a table that was pressed against the wall, meaning there were only two seats, as he thought he might as well get some notes taken down now that he'd met some of the pro's at U.A. High.
As he'd been searching through the contents of his bag however, a small cough drew his attention and he turned confused to see a girl around his height, maybe a centimetre taller than himself, her hands clasped together and a small nervous frown upon her face. She wore the standard U.A. girls uniform (that fitted to her body far too well, showing off her figure a little), letting the boy know it was someone from one of the classes other than his own.
Her hair seemed to literally be made out of vines, with multiple small thorns running through it. It fell down to her back with its length and it split at the middle of her forehead in a parting. Around the very top of her head she had something resembling a cross made out of two vines wrapping around her head. It was almost mystical to look at.
Finally, she had tired looking eyes, that seemed to naturally be like that but enhanced in the moment by the exhaustion of her first day (At least, that's what Izuku assumed her tiredness was a result of), their colour was a green so dark you could be forgiven for mistaking them for black without closer inspection. They were piercing in a way, stunning Izuku.
All this combined with the rays of light beating through one of the train windows illuminating her body made her look holy, his brain almost crashing from the sight as he barely registered his thoughts. 'So pretty…'
"Excuse me? Sir, did you hear me?" The girl asked, tilting her head slightly and Izuku snapped back to reality, before shaking his head and straightening up with a nervous apologetic smile. 'Another pretty girl talking to me?! What is U.A.?!'
"O-Oh, s-sorry! Just t-tired." He quickly explained, hoping to good his face wasn't blushing to bad even though he was ninety percent sure it was, which probably just lookedweirdcausewhywouldhejustblushatastrangerandhe'sprobablyscrewingupnowandohgodsaysomethingyouidiot- "W-What did you s-say?"
"Ah, I was asking if it would be alright for me to sit beside you, Sir." She explained, gesturing to the empty seat beside him before vaguely gesturing to the people behind her as she seemed to shrink into herself slightly for a moment. "I truly hate to impose but there are no other seats left and my final class was physical education today, so my legs are rather tired."
"O-Oh, uh, o-of course! Please f-feel free." He said, scooting further back and letting her take a seat, vaguely aware his face was definitely heating up more as he felt her leg brush beside his for a brief moment due to the small space. He looked anywhere but at those striking big eyes- Oh god they were so pretty andrightbesidehimhelp- "I-Izuku M-Midoriya, by the w-way."
"Oh, Ibara Shiozaki." The girl introduced, turning her head to him with a small but frankly adorable smile, which quickly morphed into a worried frown a moment later. "I should have introduced myself first. I apologize for my rudeness."
"O-Oh, i-it's okay, I d-didn't n-notice." ...God he was bad at this. The girl raised a brow slightly, turning to him.
"Are you okay, Sir?" She inquired, tilting her head. "I am not making you uncomfortable somehow, am I?"
"N-No!" He quickly assured, letting out a small sigh. "I-I'm… just not really good a-at talking to p-people. Please, d-don't take it personally. I.. um… I-if you d-don't mind me asking, what c-class are you in?"
"1-B, from the hero course." She revealed, straightening up slightly in her seat. As she did, Izuku noticed she had a small necklace hanging around her neck, a silver cross. 'Huh? Is she religious?' "What about you, Sir?"
"O-Oh, please, c-call me M-Midoriya. 'Sir' is a l-little weird to me." He asked first, getting an understanding nod from the girl before he continued, his eyes lighting up slightly as a small amount of his nervousness slipped away. "And I'm in 1-A, also a part of the h-hero course! It's a-always been my dream to b-be a hero."
"Oh, then I suppose we might be working together in classes some day in the future." Ibara hummed, smiling gently and yet again Izuku had to avert his gaze cause how could just a smile look so pure?! "I hope we can work well during it in such an event. Have you enjoyed your first day, Midoriya?"
"Oh y-yeah! Well, actually to be h-honest it was really stressful." He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he let out a dry chuckle. "Our homeroom teacher t-threatened us all with e-expulsion if we came last in a t-test he made u-us do in place of orientation."
"I… That is quite an… unorthodox approach to teaching." The vine haired girl frowned. "I don't wish to speak ill of others, though I'm not sure I can agree with those kinds of methods."
"Well, we w-were lucky he turned out to b-be fibbing to make us g-give our all." He explained, though he quietly agreed with Ibara, whose frown deepened. "Especially as I was the one who e-ended up last…"
"I most certainly cannot condone a sin such as blatant lying for such a minor reason, though I am happy you have not had your chances prematurely robbed of you." She said, toying with the necklace she had idly. "That sounds like it must have been a tiring ordeal, especially if you then had classes still after."
"Yeah, but I s-survived." Izuku said with a weak chuckle, and only barely noticing how the small joke causes his new Acquaintance's mouth to quirk up slightly. "W-What about you? How w-was your day?"
"Certainly not as tiring as yours sounded, though it was still rather taxing if I am being honest." She said, looking away with a small red hue on her cheeks. "I feel bad for thinking negatively of my new classmates though a few seem… less than pure. It left me somewhat stressed, I will admit and with our teacher being a rather imposing man, and many of my subjects I find I am less stellar at then coming up at the end of the day, I was mentally rather tired going into our physical education class, which then quickly had my body feeling the same-"
Her eyes widened, before she turned to him with her blush worsening as she frowned.
"Ah, I shouldn't be complaining like this or imposing my problems onto you, especially after what you have told me. I apologize." 'W-wow… she's kind of like mom…'
"O-oh, it's okay! We all n-need to say something s-sometimes right?" At least, that's what Izuku had heard. He didn't do a great job of actually putting that into practice. "N-No need to apologize."
"Are you certain?" she asked, seemingly unconvinced and he gave her a small nod with a less nervous smile than normal, slowly but surely starting to feel a little more comfortable with the situation. She blushed a little brighter for some reason unknown to the boy as she turned her attention away, gripping her necklace. "Thank you for the offer."
After that, neither immediately moved to continue the conversation, as they didn't know what to say. Izuku worried quietly he'd somehow upset the girl just as he was finally getting more comfortable talking to her, when she turned her attention back to him and he noticed her eyes seemed a little droopy.
"If you don't mind my asking, what stop are you going to Midoriya?" She inquired, taking up a new topic of conversation. Izuku smiled, quietly glad she didn't seem to want to just end their conversation.
"Musutafu." He revealed, leaning back in his seat and taking a quick glance out the window to note it would still be a while before he arrived. "I'll be getting off on the f-first stop there."
"Ah, I see." The greenette girl hummed. "I live in the Kanagawa prefecture so I will be on this ride for quite a while longer."
"Oh… wow that's a long train ride." Izuku blinked, realizing with a sudden jolt how close he personally was to U.A. high compared to some other people who would be attending. "I hope it won't c-cause you too much trouble in future."
"I should be fine, as I am used to rising early." The vine haired girl smiled, Izuku Idly noting her posture was beginning to slouch and her eyes were drooping. 'Wow, she really is tired…' "Your concern is touching though."
He considered doing something like poking her to keep her awake but ultimately decided against it, thinking the girl would be fine on her own as they lapsed back into silence once more.
After a few moments, Izuku heard a quiet yawn and he briefly glanced to see his new… friend? Struggling to keep awake. Before he could say anything however, the realm of sleep finally claimed Ibara as she jolted with the train, head falling onto the teen's shoulder and causing his face to explode into a deep crimson blush. "Uh, Shiozaki?"
No response. "Shiozaki, are you awake?"
She just nuzzled into his shoulder a little in response to the noise. Izuku had to resist the urge to coo and fight not to pass out from the sudden contact.
He took a glance out a window, only to realize his stop was coming up. He looked back to Shiozaki, frowning slightly as he realized he'd need to wake her up if he was going to depart.
However as he looked at her peaceful face, almost angelic looking as she began snoring quietly in her spot he quickly found he couldn't bring himself to disturb her peace.
'I shouldn't. B-Besides, she w-was tired r-right? She s-should get rest. A-and if l-leave she m-might miss her stop if she f-falls asleep a-again after. Y-Yeah, i-I'll just do a round t-trip!'
He ignored the fact it was also just a nice feeling for some reason as he didn't think it was a justifiable reason. It definitely was A reason though.
So quietly, he took his phone out his pocket and sent a text to his mother informing him he'd be late, before he prepared to sit through the rest of the train journey, trying to not to pass out before they arrived at their destination.
The sun was slowly but surely beginning to set as the train finally rolled into Kanagawa prefecture, Izuku having managed to calm down enough since Ibara had fallen asleep to at least be functional.
He spotted the first station approaching and sighed, beginning to shake the girl on his shoulders gently. "Shiozaki? Come o-on, time to w-wake up! I think your stop is c-coming up."
"Mmm… Wha…" The vine haired girl muttered out blearily, eyes gently opening as she took in her surroundings. Her tired eyes darted down to see the shoulder she had fallen asleep on and her eyes widened as she quickly retreated back, before looking up to see Izuku, looking slightly concerned. "M-Midoriya? Did I fall asleep on you? I apologize whole-heartedly!"
'And that makes three.'
"I-It's o-okay! Y-You clearly needed the r-rest!" He said, before pointing outside the window and frowning for a moment. "I uh… I wasn't sure what stop was yours s-so I had to wake you up now to b-be safe."
Ibara blinked, before taking a look out the window and gasping before she turned to the teen. "We're at my stop?!"
"Y-Yes?"
"Why didn't you wake me?" The greenette girl asked dumbfounded, and Izuku flinched as he worried he'd screwed up.
"S-Sorry? I thought you n-needed the rest a-and I didn't want you to f-fall back asleep again and m-miss your stop. Did I d-do something wrong? I'm s-sorry!" He said, only for the girl to look at him confused before turning her head and realizing she really needed to get off pretty soon. Still, before she did she turned her attention back to Izuku for now.
"No, you didn't but… you said you lived in Musutafu!" She exclaimed, getting a nod from the boy who was confused. "That is a long time from here, did you really waste this much of your own time just to get me home safely?"
"I uh… yeah, I guess? It just seemed like the right thing to do…" He muttered, and Shiozaki was just quiet, dumbfounded for a moment. She was brought back to reality however by the sudden jolt of the train stopping.
She really had to get off pretty soon now. Her attention turned to the boy's notebook he had out and she quickly grabbed it, flipping it to the back and grabbing his pen. "I apologize for using your property but I really must hurry. Here."
She gave him the notebook back and his eyes widened as soon as he realized it was a phone number. She stood, grabbing her bag and beginning to walk to the door.
"I promise I will find a way to make up this lost time for you! Please just text me soon, and please get home safely!"
With that, Izuku sat with a crashing mind as he stared at the number, the train beginning to move again. He barely had the presence of mind to look out the window, where he saw Ibara looking back, giving him a quick and somewhat flustered wave before she set off.
And then, the train was on the move and she was gone. Izuku looked at the number with wide eyes, before slowly but surely a nervous smile came onto his face and he inputted it into his phone.
He really didn't think she had anything to make up for, but… getting to talk again would be nice. With that thought, he turned his attention to the train as he began working out the best route back home.
