Phenomenon

Chapter 43: New Resident and Band Practice

We all stepped out of the taxi outside of UA, Eri clinging to my top with wide eyes as she stared up at the towering building. Eri wiggled in my arms, clear nervousness and fear beginning to dawn on her face. She tore her eyes away from the school to look at Dad, Mirio and me nervously.

"Why is it so big? Is this where I'm going to live?" Eri whispered fearfully.

"That's the school. Remember how I told you Izuku and I go to a hero school called UA, this is that school." Mirio said gently. Eri silently nodded, prompting Mirio to continue, "You're gonna be living around five minutes away from this school. I'm not sure why it's so big, maybe Nezu is trying to compensate for something." Mirio snickered slightly at the innuendo he made, paying no heed to the glare Dad gave him.

"How about we head over to where you'll be staying, huh?" I asked kindly, " We can see the flower garden and I can show you your new room. Does that sound exciting?", Eri nodded slightly, her eyes seem to gain a slight glow at the mention of flowers. We had seen some on the way out of the hospital and Eri had been immediately entranced, so I had, of course, promised to show her some more as soon as possible. Seeing Eri seem to lighten ever so slightly made me feel better.

I carried Eri on my back past UA and down the tree-lined path towards the dormitories. Her head swivelled every few seconds, her wide eyes taking in everything we passed. All three of us watched her with smiling faces and warm hearts. Just seeing Eri express genuine curiosity without an underlying sense of fear or apprehension, was enough to make the rest of my day light up with joy. I think I might have accidentally passed on some of my habits to Eri in the short time we had known each other because the snowy-haired girl started mumbling at breakneck speeds about everything she saw. Expressing her awe and concealed excitement. I smiled gently at this. Having Eri as a sister was going to be an experience which I would treasure deeply.

We arrived outside of Height's Alliance fairly quickly. Eri looked up at the tall building (though nowhere near as tall as UA) with sparkling vermillion eyes and clenched fists. I wasn't sure if she was upset, but I decided to just go on with what I planned to do. Just as I opened my mouth to talk, Mirio's phone chimed from his pocket, he gave all three of us an apologetic smile before he checked his phone, smile falling as he read.

"I'm sorry guys, but there's an emergency I need to attend to. Sorry, Eri. I'll be back later, ok? And then we can hang out, how would you like that?" Mirio smiled sincerely at Eri, his voice was full of reluctance to go, but whatever he had read was clearly of the utmost importance. Eri nodded silently, patting Mirio's blond hair silently. We had long since learned that it was her form of affection since she didn't hug people often. Mirio beamed at Eri one last time before he bid Dad and I farewell and bounced away at top speed.

"Let's go in, ok. Stay close to my side though, other people live here as well, ok? They're my classmates so they won't hurt you, but they might be a little scary at first. If you get sacred, you can just tug on my top and I'll whisk you away, yeah?" I spoke in a gentle voice. I knelt beside Eri so that I was at eye level and Eri could see me better.

"O-ok," Eri muttered quietly.

"Good girl," I smiled, gently placing a hand on the top of her head and watching carefully for her reaction. She didn't flinch away or react negatively, she pushed her head into my hand like a cat seeking attention. It was adorable. I pulled my hand away and got us, glancing at Dad as I did so. He was looking at the two of us with a small fond smile. It was barely noticeable, I only saw it because I had been living with him for nine years. With that, I took Eri's tiny hand in mine and walked us towards Height's Alliance.