Sorry I'm late
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[U.A. HIGH SCHOOL – CAFETERIA – 12:40 PM]
The cafeteria was a sea of noise unlike any other. Students from different courses across all three years discussed animatedly about the current trending topics all over the country.
"Yep. That's him alright ..." A guy from general studies 1C grinned at his friend. "Come on. Pay up."
The boy snorted before taking out his Limited Edition #1 Tales Of All Might Comic book and handing it over with a pained expression.
'Don't go anywhere baby. Daddy's gonna win you back. I swear it.'
"Hehe." The friend smiled, turning his head. "Hey Shinso, you gonna keep looking? You've watched that so many times already."
The boy with purple wild hair had his eyes narrow.
"Tch."
Every television monitor mounted on the walls was muted, but the scrolling ticker-tape at the bottom was universal. "U.A. Student Neutralizes Multiple Villains." "The Black Phantom: Hero or Vigilante?" "General Studies Transfer Shakes Hero Society."
Meanwhile, at their usual table in the far corner of the General Studies section, the atmosphere was significantly less "heroic."
"Fifteen million mentions," Kimura said with a piece of potato on his spoon. "I don't know if I should be jealous or mad."
Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean, Jealous or Happy?"
"You heard me just fine the first time. Fifteen million. Do you know how many followers I'd have if I got fifteen million mentions? I could retire before graduation, start a brand, become a celebrity, maybe have six girlfriends"
"Well, let's be happy it's not you." Tanaka chuckled at Kimura's sour face while scrolling through his phone. "Though, to be fair, this video of him slammed that winged thing into the pavement has like ten million views on its own. They're calling it the 'Phantom Smash'. What do you think Hana?"
He looked up only to see Hana wasn't looking at a screen. Rather the girl was aggressively stirring her miso soup before proceeding to stab a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks.
".. um .. Hana? Why are you stabbing that innocent broccoli?"
Hana's white hair flowers wilted and drooping toward her forehead. Her pout was so pronounced at this point that anyone could guess what she was thinking.
"Huh?." She looked up. "Sorry , what did you say?"
"Um ... I was asking what you thought of Yuta's video .."
Her face turned sour in an instant.
'What the ..'
"Hmph." She snorted, taking another stab at the broccoli, her expression one of theatrical annoyance. "Yeah yeah ... What's there to talk about? He seems just fine."
"Oh, sour are we?"
"Hmph. Why shouldn't I be? It's been, what, less than a week? Barely six days since he officially jumped ship to the Hero Course," she grumbled, resting her chin on her hand. "And already he's fighting monsters, getting cool nicknames, and probably hanging out in top-secret lounges with All Might. He's probably forgotten we even exist."
"I don't know about 'top-secret lounges,'" Kimura muttered, watching his skin shift to a slightly envious shade of lime green. "But he's definitely busy. I mean, did you see the size of that crater he made in the street? You don't make craters like that and then have time to grab crepes after school."
"Agreed." Tanaka adjusted his glasses. "He's been in the Hero Course for Five days of actual school. And he spent two of those in Hosu. Give the guy some credit. He's probably just trying to figure out how to put on that weird mask without catching his hair in the zipper or something."
"Easy for you to say. He didn't even reply to my last text," Hana said, her voice dropping into a dramatic whisper of betrayal. "I sent him a picture of that weird mushroom I grew in biology class. I got nothing but crickets. He's gone full 'celebrity' on us. Hell, he'll probably have a personal assistant and a pair of sunglasses indoors the next time we see him."
Kimura snorted. "The mushroom?"
"It was a very impressive mushroom!"
As she prepared to launch into a full-scale defense of her botanical skills, a shadow fell over the table.
Kimura's eyes flickered upward, his teal skin suddenly flashing back to a neutral peach. Tanaka's hands stilled on his phone, a small, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Hana, however, was too deep in her performance to notice the sudden silence of her companions.
"I'm just saying," she continued, waving a chopstick for emphasis, "it's classic. He gets a little bit of fame, a cool black costume, and suddenly the 'General Studies peasants' are just a distant memory."
She sighed even more dramatically. "I know I know. I'm being dramatic again. He's probably—"
"You know, it's really not nice to talk behind someone's back," a familiar voice interrupted from directly behind her.
Hana froze. The daisies near her temple did a sharp, vertical boing of surprise.
"Especially," the voice continued with a hint of a laughter, "when that someone just got back from Hosu and was looking forward to a quiet lunch."
Hana spun around so fast she nearly knocked over her miso soup.
"Hi." Draped in his uniform, Yuta looked remarkably human for a guy who had spent the weekend as a national headline. A bit frayed at the edges, but the smirk he gave them was exactly the same one he'd worn back when they were all just "the gray-badge crew."
"Yuta!" Hana squawked, her hair flowers instantly snapping back to full, vibrant bloom. "You—you're not in a top-secret lounge!"
"Last I checked, this is the cafeteria," Yuta said, pulling a chair out and collapsing into it. "And unless All Might is hiding under the table, it's just us."
"The Black Phantom himself," Kimura joked, though he reached out and gave Yuta's shoulder a solid, grounding thud. "You look like crap, man."
"Noted. And that's not my Hero name."
"Well you better make sure it is. It sounds sick as hell."
"Yeah. Everyone's talking about it. Your stunt at Hosu's everywhere. How does it feel to be famous?"
"You asked me the same question during the sports festival," Yuta replied.
"And you gave us the same boring answer," Kimura shot back. "Come on, man. At least pretend to enjoy being a celebrity."
"Pass."
Tanaka pushed his glasses up. "So what happened? You just vanished after the Sports Festival. We barely saw you all last week."
"Hero Course schedule is brutal," Yuta admitted. "Between catching up on what I missed, the internship prep, and then... well, everything that happened in Hosu."
His eyes shifted to Hana, who was still staring at him with that mix of embarrassment and stubborn pride.
"And before you complain about me ignoring your texts," Yuta said, pulling out a basic flip phone from his pocket, "this is my third phone in a month. The first one died during my... accident before the Sports Festival. The second one got destroyed yesterday during the train incident."
Hana blinked. "Wait, the train incident?"
"Long story. Yakuza remnants tried to kidnap me on a Shinkansen. It didn't go well for them or my phone."
"WHAT."
"The point is," Yuta continued, holding up the cheap replacement phone, "I literally just got this thing. I haven't even finished setting it up. So that mushroom picture you're so proud of? I never saw it."
Hana's face went through several shades of red.
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh."
"I... I mean, I wasn't actually mad about the mushroom—"
"You just said I was ignoring you and going 'full celebrity,'" Yuta quoted with a slight smile.
"I was being dramatic!" Hana protested, her flowers blooming even brighter in embarrassment. "It's what I do!"
"I'm aware."
Kimura laughed. "Man, you walked right into that one, Hana."
"Shut up," she muttered.
Tanaka leaned forward, his curiosity overriding his amusement. "But seriously, though. Yakuza remnants? On a train?"
"Yep."
".."
".."
Kimura's eyes twitched. "Care to add anything else?"
"It's classified." Everyone's eyes twitched.
The table fell into a brief silence.
Then Kimura cleared his throat. "So. New phone. Does that mean you need all our numbers again?"
Yuta pulled out the flip phone. "Yeah, actually. This thing is so basic it doesn't even have a decent camera. I'm pretty sure it's from 2005."
"Perfect for you, then," Hana said, her teasing tone returning. "Mr. 'I Don't Want Fame.'"
"Exactly."
As they started rattling off their numbers, Yuta became acutely aware of something.
Eyes.
Lots of eyes.
He glanced around the cafeteria and realized that at least a dozen students were staring at their table. Some were being subtle about it, pretending to look at their phones while clearly watching him. Others weren't even trying to hide it.
"Uh," Yuta said. "Is it just me, or is everyone staring?"
Kimura snorted. "Oh, you just noticed? Dude, you walked in and half the cafeteria did a double-take. You're basically a celebrity now."
"Get used to it," Tanaka said. "You're the first General Studies student to transfer to the Hero Course in over a decade, and then you immediately went viral fighting monsters. People are curious."
"Curious is an understatement," Hana muttered, glancing around. "I think that girl from Support Course has taken like six pictures already."
Yuta followed her gaze and, sure enough, spotted a girl with pink dreadlocks quickly lowering her phone.
"Great," he muttered.
"Could be worse," Kimura offered. "At least they're not asking for autographs."
As if on cue, a nervous-looking first-year started walking toward their table, clutching a notebook.
Yuta gave Kimura a flat look. "You just had to say something."
"My bad."
The first-year stopped a few feet away, shuffling awkwardly. "Um... excuse me? Are you... Akutami-senpai?"
'Senpai? I'm a first-year.'
Yuta sighed internally. "Yeah?"
"C-Could you sign this?" The kid thrust the notebook forward. "My little brother saw you on TV and he thinks you're really cool and I told him I go to U.A. and—"
"Sure," Yuta said, taking the notebook before he could spiral further into nervous rambling.
He scribbled his name quickly and handed it back.
"Thank you!" The first-year bowed deeply and scurried away.
Hana watched the exchange with barely contained amusement. "Senpai, huh?"
"Don't."
"Akutami-senpai," she repeated, her grin widening. "It has a nice ring to it."
"Keep going and I'll just leave this table for you guys."
They laughed, and for a moment, it felt like old times, which was odd considering they didn't know each other two months ago.
Then Tanaka's eyes flickered to something over Yuta's shoulder, and his expression shifted to one of surprise.
"Uh, Yuta?"
"What?"
"Don't look now, but I think you've got more visitors."
Yuta turned around.
Two figures were approaching their table, both wearing the distinctive U.A. uniform but with an air of confidence that marked them as upperclassmen.
The first was a tall, muscular boy with blonde hair and a smile so bright it could probably power a small city. The second was a girl with long, periwinkle hair and wide, curious eyes that seemed to take in everything at once.
'Are those ..?'
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