Red in Different Shades

24. Height's Alliance

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Edited 17.MARCH.2022

Edited 23.OCT.2024

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Putting on her school uniform and taking the train to U.A. had never felt better. It felt like months had passed since the start of summer break. Time had dragged on, with its highs and some serious lows along the way, but she was finally back.

Niwa stared up at the tall building that had been constructed in less than a week. Three days, to be exact. Considering there were multiple of these buildings, even in a superhuman society, it was beyond impressive.

Height's Alliance. That's what they called the dorms.

Her eyes eagerly absorbed every detail, but she kept coming back to the massive logo in front of the dorm.

1-A Alliance.

Her heart swelled with pride.

While the rest of her class stood in awe—herself included—Aizawa-sensei stepped forward.

"We'll get into the rules and procedures later. For now, I'm just glad we were able to bring Class 1-A back together again," he began.

"Everyone was allowed into the dorms, huh?" Sero grinned, glancing hesitantly between Niwa and Kyoka.

Niwa figured he was being cautious with his words, given what had happened last week. Had it already been a week? Only a week?

Between the days that seemed to pass in a blur, the eventful sleepover with Bakugou's mom, and her brothers helping her pack for the move into the dorms, Niwa hadn't even noticed the time slipping by.

She shot Sero a cocky grin. "I had no problems. I've got full independence."

"Eh?" Sero's face went blank.

"After all that, it's normal to have a hard time." Kyoka nudged Niwa with her elbow, casually addressing the topic everyone else was avoiding like the plague.

Niwa grinned at her. "What about you?"

"Na, my parents were pretty willing. Though my dad put up this tough guy act in front of the teachers." Kyoka scratched at her cheek.

"Pfft, sounds like you're not so normal either." Niwa joked, feeling the tension in the air ease as the class let out a collective sigh of relief.

"We're all back together because of the teachers." Tsuyu's voice was soft, filled with gratitude. "When I watched the press conference, I thought we'd lose them, and it made me really sad."

"Yeah," Uraraka chimed in.

"I was surprised too," Aizawa-sensei added in his perpetually exhausted tone. "Well, I'm sure everyone has different circumstances."

Niwa smiled at her teacher and bowed, "Thanks for everything, Sensei!"

Her classmates immediately echoed her sentiment, their voices loud and full of gratitude, until their usually unshakable teacher looked mildly startled. Niwa straightened, watching his wide eyes slowly return to their usual deadpan.

"Alright, alright. Settle down," he sighed, waving a hand. "Now, I'll briefly explain the dorms, but first..."

Aizawa-sensei clapped his hands loudly to quiet the remaining chatter. "For now, our focus will be on getting the provisional licenses we were planning to have you get during the training camp."

Oh yeah, that was still a thing.

"Oh yeah, they did mention that..." Sato murmured in realization.

"So much happened, I completely forgot!" Mina added, her tone as lively as ever.