The Emperor's Dragon

First Day

Izuku waited about 20 meters down from UA's entry gate for his friends. It was busy here but not so busy that he couldn't see people coming to school. It was the first day and he was early. Not because he was overly excited, though many of the first years were, but because he wanted to see his friends before class began. They were all in different classes.

Ochaco had passed and was in the Heroics Course Class 1B, while Hitoshi was in General Studies in Class 1C. Mei was in the Support Course in Class 1H and he was in the Management stream in Class 1I. So if they were going to talk to each other, it would have to be before school, at lunch or after school and he wasn't sure they'd be able to do that. Lunch yes, he was reasonably sure they'd be able to catch up then but the chances were they would have different homework.

"Mei!" He cried when he saw his friend approach. He was actually slightly surprised. He thought he might have missed her because he knew Mei was very eager to start. She was looking forward to getting into UA's labs and making more babies!

"First!" She rushed over to him.

"I thought you'd already be in the lab!" He joked.

Mei actually looked annoyed at something. "They wouldn't let us in early," she grumbled.

Izuku chuckled at that. It explained so much. "Have you got the company papers?" He asked.

"Right here," she replied, patting her bag.

He would have said more but spotted Hitoshi from the corner of his eye. "Hito-" hie call died out as he turned to face the new student. "Sorry!" Izuku corrected. "I thought you were someone else."

The student in question was Hitoshi's height but their hair was darker and... they wore a third year uniform. "Ah... I'm sorry," the other student said.

"No, I'm sorry," Izuku corrected with a smile. He felt a bit embarrassed. He'd known Hitoshi for how long and now mistook someone else for him. "Don't let me make you late to meet your own friends," he added.

The dismissal seemed to calm the young man and he nodded and continued towards the gate but he seemed to think of something and turned back. "Good luck with your course," he said before resuming walking to the gate.

"Opps," Izuku said to Mei while she gave him an odd look.

"Opps, indeed." That was Hitoshi's voice.

"Gah!" Izuku jumped. He was usually better at knowing when people were around except with so many people heading to school it was hard to pick out individuals. "I'm sorry Hitoshi!" Izuku immediately apologised, turning to face his friend. Ochaco was with him and she looked amused too.

"We're all here!" Mei announced. Over summer they had spoken to Mei via chat, talking about how they were adjusting and looking forward to going to UA. They all had to move, which was a big change!

Shinsou had it the easiest! Because he originally hailed from Saitama, which was the next prefecture over from Tokyo, where UA was, his parents had just moved back. They said they'd been missing city life and had picked out a nice Tokyo suburb to move to. For Izuku it had been almost as simple. Kurogiri had told him that his Dad had arranged an apartment near UA. It was a small apartment, like a lot of apartments you saw in anime. Basically one room, with a partitioned area for a kitchen and small room for a toilet. The building had a communal bathing area. There was a balcony, so that was a nice way of getting in fresh air and it was east facing, which meant he'd get morning sun but not the worst of the hot westerly sun.

Mei was staying at a student boarding house. Her argument had been that she didn't need anything else. Izuku laughed when he heard that. He knew what she meant. She was going to spend as much time as she possibly could at UA. Ochaco was living in a small apartment like he was. She'd happily reported that they'd picked up a big job from one of the Panels they were on which would comfortably cover the costs! When he'd heard that Izuku had wondered for a moment if that was something his Dad arranged. He could remember, many years ago asking his Dad to help out Ochaco's parents, but he couldn't remember what had happened.