The next day, we are surprised by a crowd of reporters gathered in front of U.A.'s gate.
When they see us in our U.A. uniforms, they quickly swarm around the two of us.
Several microphones are pointed in our direction.
I do my best not to activate my Kakugan out of nervousness, but my appearance alone seems to make the reporters step back a little.
"Um… excuse me, what do you think about All Might as a teacher?" one reporter asks.
The microphone trembles slightly in her hand, but she remains steady.
"He's a good teacher. Could you clear the way? We need to get to our classroom."
My answer doesn't seem to fully satisfy the crowd, but they make way anyway.
In the distance, I can see other students arriving at the gate, probably about to go through the same experience.
"Sigh, the others won't get rid of them that easily," Himiko grumbles beside me as we pass by other students already inside the school complaining about the press.
"You should have used your Kakugan, Kaneki-kun. It would've scared them off real quick, hehe," Himiko says with a mischievous smile.
"Then I'd be causing trouble for Nezu-sensei and U.A., like a student threatening the press." I lightly flick her forehead as I say that.
She rubs the spot I hit, pouting, but still with a playful glint in her eyes.
We enter the classroom, with nearly half the class already present.
Everyone is talking about the reporters and speculating about what we'll be doing today.
We exchange greetings with them as we walk in.
It doesn't take long for the others to arrive, including Aizawa, who goes straight to the teacher's desk and starts speaking, noticing that we've gone silent the moment he entered.
"I hope you've recovered from yesterday's battle. I took the liberty of reviewing your grades and evaluations," he begins, in his usual lazy tone.
Then he scolds Bakugo regarding his maturity.
Surprisingly, Bakugo accepts the reprimand without any drama.
'Nice, we're getting character development right in front of us,' I think.
The teacher also scolds Midoriya for constantly breaking his arm and other things.
In the middle of the scolding, Himiko nudges me and leans in to whisper.
"Good thing you don't keep breaking your bones like Midoriya, Kaneki-kun," she says.
I roll my eyes (or at least I think I did).
I had already mentioned the idea that crossed my mind about breaking my bones to get a better result in the first day's exercise, of course she wouldn't let that slide.
"Now, moving on to classroom announcements… I'm sorry to inform you all, but…" Aizawa resumes speaking to the whole class after finishing the scolding.
The entire class seems worried about the possibility of a surprise test or something like that.
"We need to choose a class representative," Aizawa finishes, making everyone sigh in relief, finally, something from a normal school.
The class bursts into excitement, most of them wanting to be representatives.
Several hands shoot up, and speeches and promises begin to be thrown around.
I look to my side and see Himiko with the same lack of interest as me in becoming a representative.
Then, amid the chaos the classroom has become, a voice stands out.
"Silence!! This is a position full of responsibility, where you must carry the weight of everyone! Just because you like doing it doesn't mean you can!" Iida begins, passionately talking about responsibility.
"It is a great office that requires great esteem and—"
I mentally tune out the rest.
Honestly, I think Iida would be a good representative, but he really needs to learn to relax sometimes, or he'll go bald by eighteen at this rate.
"And that is why the class president should be decided by vote!!" he finishes, almost in tears from his own speech.
"It's still too early to build any trust in each other," Tsuyu says.
"So everyone will just vote for themselves!" Kirishima adds.
"And that is precisely why the person who manages to gain several votes will be the one truly suited for the job, won't they!?" Iida counters, making exaggerated hand and arm movements.
"Is that alright, sensei!?" Iida asks Aizawa, who is already curling up in his sleeping bag for a nap.
"As long as you decide within the time limit, I don't care," the man says while lying down behind the teacher's desk…
The voting takes place.
I decide to write Himiko's name, both because of her earlier teasing and because I think she'd do well as either class representative or vice representative.
The results are written on the board, most have one vote, but Midoriya wins with three votes, and Momo as vice, with two.
"Why do I have one vote?"
I look to the side and see the culprit sticking her tongue out at me, giggling mischievously.
We ended up voting for each other, pretty dumb on our part. I thought she would vote for Momo.
"I was going to vote for YaoMomo, but I received telepathic information that you were going to vote for me, hehe."
She makes exaggerated wave-like motions with her hands.
"You just saw me writing your name on the paper, didn't you?" I narrow my eyes.
"..." She looks away, pretending to whistle.
─── ◆ ───
Time passes, and now in the cafeteria, I eat my lunch beside Himiko. We're sitting at a table with Toru, Tokoyami, and Mina, along with other students we don't know.
Then suddenly, the alarm sounds with the following emergency message:
"Students, please evacuate immediately! Security level 3 has been breached!"
Panic spreads throughout the entire cafeteria.
More experienced students say that security level three means the school has been infiltrated, and the crowd begins to squeeze into the previously spacious corridors.
I hurry to protect Himiko from the crowd, people bumping and stumbling into me, but I remain firm, trying to guide us somewhere safer.
The others are swept away by the crowd as well before I can help them.
"It's just reporters…" I say after spotting the press through the cafeteria windows.
"Seriously? All this chaos just because of reporters?" Himiko complains against my chest, more relaxed now that she knows there's no real danger.
Then I look up and see Iida floating above the crowd, stopping in a strange pose on top of the cafeteria sign.
"Ehh?" Himiko and I mutter at the same time upon seeing the strange scene.
"Everyone! Calm down! It's okay!! It's only the press, there's no reason to panic!" Iida shouts, making the crowd stop.
"You are at U.A.! Let's behave like students of the greatest academy!!" he continues, and finally people begin to settle down.
Back in the classroom, when Midoriya and Momo are about to give their speeches as class president and vice president, Midoriya says he's passing the position to Iida, praising him for his actions during the earlier chaos.
'Nice, Midoriya is pretty mature to make a decision like that.'
I give a mental thumbs-up, while remaining as neutral as ever on the outside.
Aizawa doesn't seem to care, still in his sleeping bag, drinking some strange liquid from a pouch.
Then Iida is selected as class president, delivering a passionate speech far longer than necessary…
Yeah, at this rate, he's definitely going bald.
─── ◆ ───
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