Solstice and Eclipse: Part II

Chapter XVI: As One Would Breathe Air

"All right, that's it for class today." Aizawa said as the final bell chimed throughout the school. "There's only one week left before your final exams begin. I'm sure you're all studying constantly, right?" A handful of students shrank in their seats under Aizawa's scrutinizing gaze. "Don't forget to keep training." He reminded them, starting towards the door. "The written exam is only one element. There's also the practical portion to worry about. Good luck."

With a final glare at the class over his shoulder, Mr. Aizawa took his leave, sliding the door closed behind him. Kaminari and Ashido were the first to panic, as was to be expected from the two students with the worst grades in the class. They weren't the only one's whom the exams had on edge, however. Whether it was over the written or the practical, everyone was nervous to some degree.

The written exam though, seemed to be the more dreaded of the two, and it wasn't long before those most in need of help latched onto the classes number one student. Now (L/N) didn't much care about receiving attention. It was something he himself never wanted. Even still, he thought it was nice to see her receiving praise from her classmates. Her hard work deserved to be recognized, and he hoped it would give a boost to her self confidence. She had seemed so down on herself ever since the Sports Festival. It was such a stark contrast to the person he remembered introducing herself at the beginning of the year. The driven, self-possessed individual whose quick thinking outmatched his seemingly invincible quirk during their combat training. He thought it a shame that something as trivial as a single sparring match had extinguished that fire. Though, he wasn't quite sure why he cared.

Hiding from the discussion at his desk in the back, he reached for the bottle of pills stored in the inner pocket of his jacket. Swallowing three of the blue and white capsules, the world quieted beneath a relaxing muffle, allowing him to breathe easy. Their idle chatter seemed so distant, that was until someone shouted his name in surprise.

His ears pricked irritably in the direction of the noise. Just a few feet away, Sero, Ashido, Jiro, Kaminari, and Oijiro were all crowded around Yaoyorozu's desk, all in the middle of asking her to tutor them. But their attentions were now entirely transfixed on him.

"Oh yeah," Kaminari said thoughtfully, "that's right. I forgot about it until now, but the dude's a total brainiac. He totally crushed our first group assignment at the beginning of the year."

"Okay," Jiro twirled her headphone jack around her finger, "so you two got the same score on the midterm. I doubt he'd be too eager to tutor any of us."

Great. Just what he needed. Something else to draw more unwanted attention. Attention like a certain Acid Hero who had been crushing on him since the start of term. Who now thought that she would much rather have him as a tutor as opposed to the girl the class affectionately called Yaomomo. Already able to tell where this was headed, (L/N) decided to put an end to it before it started. Grabbing his things, he quickly made for the door.

The other students in the corridors moved to let the blind man through. He would have rolled his eyes if he could. It's not like everyone's class rankings on the midterms had been some sort of secret. He remembered Iida commending him and Bakugou cussing him out the day the rankings were posted. Why were they making such a big deal out of it now? And besides, he would be an awful teacher. The material wasn't something he'd studied inside and out as no doubt Yaoyorozu did. It's not like he studied every hour of the day with the intention of getting good grades. It was just all he had.

The other children at Shonien's were frightened of him, so it wasn't like he had any friends. He kept to himself and any time he wasn't in class was usually spent hidden away in the boiler room. There wasn't much else for him to do but read. So that's what he did. They became a distraction, an escape. Any and every book he could get his hands on. The orphanage only had a small collection of children's books, but they weren't the only things available. There were textbooks from their classrooms and the kitchen had a good amount of cookbooks. There was reference material in the nurse's office and the music room had a decent collection from which he learned music theory. Of course, only a small handful were made in brail. They were the ones he'd read the most. The others required the use of his quirk to differentiate the black of the ink from the white of the pages. Still, there wasn't a book in the entirety of Shonien's he hadn't read at least a dozen times. And by reading those books so many times, he'd learned.