It's Sunday, the day before UA's written exams.
I'm sitting on the couch, knitting a chubby little doll, without any details or anything, just a base for a future plushie.
It would save me time whenever I made a new plushie, and it would create a standard shape for them.
"Why are there four different 'Porquês' in Portuguese???"
[ "whys" ]
Himiko was lying beside me with her head on my lap while doing some Portuguese exercises on a phone app.
"Each one has a different function in the sentence, Himi."
"That's so confusing…" She scratched her head.
"Yep."
Himiko has been trying to learn Portuguese for some time now, and she's been making good progress.
It's adorable watching her try to speak it, her Japanese accent makes everything sound incredibly cute.
The first sentence she learned was from a translator a good few years ago, but she started trying to learn again and—
"Te amoo~"
[ "I love you" in Portuguese ]
Himiko sang softly, watching my reaction from my lap.
"..."
I felt my face heat up. That had always been a critical hit against me, and Himiko knew that very well.
I avoided looking into her eyes. Doing that would make me break even more.
Especially because she was wearing my clothes, which hung loosely on her, making her unbelievably adorable.
"Hihihi~"
"Look at me~, Kane—"
"Eu tambem te amo" I also replied in Portuguese, throwing the effect right back at her.
[ "I love you too" ]
She blushed and turned her gaze back to her phone.
That was the first sentence Himiko learned. She still had quite a strong accent, but like I said, that only made her cuter.
Himiko likes it when I speak in Portuguese, even if she doesn't understand much.
According to her, it sounds like I'm… singing?
I have no idea how different it sounds. I mean… I've spoken and heard people talk like this since "forever."
The second thing she learned…
Naturally, it was a swear word… I won't go into details.
─── ◆ ───
Third Person POV.
UA - Teachers' Meeting.
"Well then, now that everyone is here, we can begin."
"First of all, I'd like to apologize for calling this meeting so suddenly."
Nezu said that while looking directly at Vlad King, who was clearly in a bad mood.
"Hmph… Let's just get this over with!"
Vlad King's tone could sound rough and rude, but knowing he had worked overtime for three weeks straight made his behavior completely understandable.
"..."
The man then lowered his tone, looking embarrassed by the sudden outburst.
"My wife wanted to watch some movies today…"
"She was really excited and… Sigh, sorry for the tone."
All Might gave him a few pats on the shoulder.
"It's alright." Nezu dismissed it with a paw, showing that everything was fine.
"Don't worry, this will be a short meeting."
'Looks like that was too much for him, I'll use Aizawa next time…'
Vlad suddenly felt energized, both because of Nezu's promise about the meeting being short and for some unknown reason.
Aizawa felt a shiver run down his spine, but he didn't have much time to reflect on it before Nezu continued:
"I believe we should change the plans for our first-year practical exams."
"Class 1-A already had an unfortunate experience with villains, and I feel that we'll be entering a complicated phase considering the recent activity from the League of Villains…"
"How about we make it a students versus teachers exercise?"
The idea was a bit more elaborate: the teachers would use weights to balance things out for the students, in addition to it being a 2v1.
"Well then, now we just need to decide the student pairs and who each pair should face."
"Take a look at these reports about our dear students, starting with Class 1-A."
Nezu picked up a stack of documents and handed them to All Might, who was beside him.
"Please pass them to the others, there's a copy for everyone."
And so he did.
All the teachers stayed silent while reading their copies.
A few minutes of reading passed until Present Mic lowered his papers and broke the silence:
"These are great reports… Except—"
Aizawa sighed loudly and rubbed his temple.
"Except Mirko's," he completed for his friend.
"Yeah…"
"Hehe." Nezu let out a small chuckle.
"Hm?"
All Might, who was still reading Midoriya's report more carefully, decided to flip through the pages until he found Kaneki's out of curiosity.
"..."
"Err…"
"The brat's good." He read it out loud.
"..."
He turned the page to see if there was anything written on the back…
Nothing, completely blank.
"Fufu, she even drew a thumbs up too." Midnight covered her mouth with a hand, holding back a laugh.
"..."
"I mean… compared to Bakugo's…"
That report had six full pages, with most of it related to Bakugo's behavior and recommendations on how to deal with him.
"Anyway… Does anyone have a student they'd prefer to beat—"
"Cough cough"
"Educate! In this perfectly legal school exercise!"
"..."
"Ahh, I'd like to face my little sister-in-law and little brother~" Midnight said before hugging herself strangely.
"???"
"You have a brother!?!?" Present Mic exclaimed.
He had studied through all of high school alongside her and had no idea.
"... She's talking about Ken Kaneki and Himiko Toga…" Vlad spoke up, since Midnight was too lost in her fantasies to answer at the moment.
"Ahh"
"..."
"Well… I want to go against young Midoriya and young Bakugo," All Might declared.
"..."
"Anyone else?"
The teachers shook their heads negatively.
"Actually, I have a better idea for Kaneki-kun."
Midnight snapped out of her daydreams and straightened up to listen to the principal.
"As you know, the young man has a habit of stepping in front of dangerous attacks to protect his companions."
"It's a beautiful act of heroism, and considering Kaneki has a resilient body and impressive regeneration, it could even be considered a virtue…"
"However, I worry about him injuring himself so many times. His mind is strong, but everything has limits."
All Might felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead. The image of his student ripping off his own arm to avoid slowing him down was still burned into his mind.
The worst part for him was how the young man had seemed so… used to it, and knowing what Kaneki had gone through only made his chest tighten.
"Unfortunately, I doubt that habit will disappear quickly, so I at least want to show him that you can't always just throw yourself in front of attacks and endure everything head-on…"
Nezu's gaze landed on Present Mic.
"For that… I believe I have an idea."
─── ◆ ───
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