Crybaby

I Hate Rats

If there's one thing I hate, it's rats. Those tiny little critters with their sharper than necessary teeth, just thinking about them makes me shiver. And not only are they ugly, they're annoying. They'll crawl all over you while you sleep, they'll compete with you for food from the trash bins, they'll bite you if you somehow stumble too near their den. If you're squatting in an abandoned building, you'll be sure to here them in the walls, screeching and crawling around, the little pit pat of their feet sometimes so numerous you could confuse the sounds for rain.

I'd thought that I had abandoned that rat filled life of mine behind, so why was there a fugly rat standing right in front of me, right now.

"So what do you think Ms..."

"Cora. And no." I looked down at the abnormally large rat person tiredly. Very short, and very stout, and yet huge for any type of regular rat - I thought I had seen a lot of things in my life but apparently I hadn't. He had suddenly barged into the room during my break, pestering me. "I'm not interested in becoming a hero."

"Our course could really use somebody like you Ms. Cora, as well as hero society."

I rolled my eyes. Hero society? What a joke. Heroes were already seriously corrupt and they were of no help in any of my formative years. And what good would I do as a hero? I already help out the common good by my unpaid work at the hospital. Why the hell would I want to join them?

"I'm seriously not interested."

"I would offer free housing and food, as well as a weekly allowance."

I frowned. Of course that all sounded great, that actually sounded amazing. My housing consisted of couch hopping between the different nurses and my food came from the leftovers of the fridge or whatever crappy hospital food they had extra for me. And I'm sure as a rescue hero, which I assume is what I would be, I would have to go absorb even more pain than I do now... Well, actually, would I be able to get rid of some pain if I fought against villains? But that might be ethically wrong, since I wouldn't be doing it for the greater good but rather for selfish reasons. And again, that would be assuming that I would successfully graduate, and that I would be willing to join stupid hero society. I shook my head. Who was I kidding, I was happy with my job here at the hospital, helping these suffering people was more self-fulfilling than any life spent under the scrutiny of the press. The only benefit I could see would be my education, since that's something I've been sorely lacking, but for that I would just go to a regular school instead of UA-

"I've also alerted local authorities that a minor is doing free labor at the hospital."

I froze and gawked at the rat, and before I knew it I was swinging my fist straight at his stupid pointy rodent teeth.

Of course, the fucker, being a sneaky bastard, jumped around avoiding my fists. And so, as somebody of sound mind, I gave up on trying to deck his face, and started throwing random things at him.

"WHAT. THE. HELL."

"Now Ms. Cora, " a vase crashed near his head and a bead of sweat dropped from his stupid bald-looking forehead. "Now Ms. Cora," he started again, " I was promised that no consequences would be pushed onto the hospital staff, that is as-"

"WELL I HOPE THE FUCK NOT, OTHERWISE YOU'D HAVE TO PUNISH ALL THE HOSPITALS WITHING A 75 MILE RADIUS." (These are made up statistics, but I have been to a fair share of hospitals).

The puny gray blob paused in slight surprise and awe, and I took it as an opportunity to hit him square in the face with my boot.  It left a slight imprint of dirt which made me hold back a laugh as I hobbled around on one foot, trying to get my only pair of shoes back, when the mouse's cold voice broke through.

"Ms. Cora. I will excuse this insolence one time." 

Oopsies. I got the rat mad.

"But be aware, I will punish all the hospitals within a 75 mile radius if you do not comply. What you have been doing is illegal, since you are an unlicensed quirk user. I am giving you an opportunity to a higher quality life." His beady eyes looked at me dangerously before continuing, "You will join the hero course, whether or not you actually wish on becoming a hero."

I bit the inside of my cheek in frustration. Why the hell was I being put into this situation?

"Can you give me some time to think about -"

"No." He smiled, a shit-eating smile that I was getting far too familiar with.

I was too tired for this shit. "Fine. You win this time."

...And then I threw my second boot at him, which he did not appreciate either.

"So I'm just supposed to go to Class 1-A?"

"Yes, but don't worry Ms. Cora, I will walk you there and introduce you."

I cringed, that was definitely not a good plan, especially if I wanted to blend in. "No thank you, I'll be fine-"

"Well your teacher Aizawa doesn't know you're his student yet so I think an introduction might be necessary."

Once again, I was left gawking at the rat principal. I swear, top 10 most evil people in my life. After a quick internet search at the library the day he had found and blackmailed me into becoming a student, I had discovered virtually nothing on the dude. But what I did know was that he was extremely intelligent, and a well respected if not kind of hidden member of hero society. What a weirdo.

I had arrived two days before the start of the school year, and Nezu had given me one of the janitor closets to stay in, a couple doors down from his office. Of course it wasn't an actual janitor's closet, it had a full bathroom, a desk, a bed, and a mini kitchen - fridge and all. It was my first actual home, and the closet was locked with some sort of super advanced key in case somebody tried to pick their way in or something.

It was well thought out. A bit too well well thought out if you ask me. I'm jostled out of my thoughts as we finally arrive between two ridiculously large doors labeled 1-A.

Principal Nezu opens the door and ushers me in, as an interrupted class stares at us incredulously, confusion written in their eyes. Well, most of them looked confused, there was a blond kid with explosive hair, he just looked pissed.

"Oh Mr. Aizawa, I see you've already introduced yourself to the class! This is Ms. Cora, she'll be joining your class."

The class stared a bit harder, and Mr. Aizawa let out an impatient huff, "And why is that?"

Oh this guy does not like me at all.

"She's joining the class on my letter of recommendation."

At this the class gasped (simultaneously - pretty impressive if you ask me) and I turned around with a what the fuck look in my eyes. Of course the rat had forgotten to mention my cover story as well. But I guess it wouldn't have been a good look if I told everybody that I had been blackmailed into attending a top hero school in the country. Nor would it have been believable.  

I sighed before turning back to the class and smiling awkwardly, internally crying over how much of a mess I look. My hair was still slightly wet from my quick shower this morning, my eyebags were pronounced, and my eyes themselves were red and puffy. I was tugging on my skirt, which had come in a bit too short, and my legs were littered with scars, bruises, and open wounds. Mental note: buy some tights with Nezu's allowance. I looked akin to one of those old depressed white dogs that always had a huge buildup of crust around the eyes.

"Okay Mr. Aizawa, I'll leave you to it! Have a great day Ms. Cora!"

Ahh. Fuck.