Sound of Silence (Aizawa X OC)

Ch. 12: The First Assignment

-----Shinobu's POV----

It had been nearly two weeks since mine and Shouta's first date at the cat cafe, and thankfully, things hadn't changed too much. He was a bit more touchy when we were alone on patrol, walking closer to me and occasionally letting his hand brush up against mine, but after dealing with that girl in the cat cafe, I was worried if I could actually even handle any kind of romantic relationship. I mean I had gotten so jealous over a waitress that was flirting with Shouta that he showed no interest in. What am I, a high school girl? No, I'm an adult dammit. A pro hero and a teacher's assistant for the top hero school in Japan!

Not that I had done much as a TA so far besides reviewing previous course material with Shouta and going over the different softwares and such that teachers use for putting in attendance and grades and such. But hopefully, today that would all change. Nezu had sent for me, saying he had an assignment for me to do regarding a specific second year student: Amajiki Tamaki.

Looking at the file in my hands, I saw that this particular student had great promise, but lacked confidence and buckled under any kind of attention, causing him to perform poorly on tests and exercises that involved others looking at him. His quirk was called Manifest and allowed him to procure the properties of any food he has eaten, and apparently his mastery of his quirk was quite good. Nezu had asked me to mentor the young student, knowing that I had struggled similarly while at UA, and because of my ability to overcome my anxiety in a fight. While skeptical about him picking me for the job, it involved a child, which always made my anxiety and self-doubt take a back seat.

Soon enough, I was in front of the door that led to Nezu's office and knocked softly on it before entering when hearing the principal's high pitched voice telling me to enter. As I opened the door, I surveyed the room, my eyes resting on a young boy with indigo hair and elf ears who immediately pressed his head to a wall after meeting my eyes. This must be Tamaki. There was a blonde boy with a big smile on his face who immediately approached me.

"Ah, Muffle, I'm glad you were able to join us. These are two students from Class 2-A, Togata Mirio and your new mentee, Amajiki Tamaki," Nezu introduced before taking a sip of his tea. The blonde boy now right in front of me with a grin as he bowed quickly in greeting.

"Hello, Muffle-sensei! I'm Togata Mirio! I'm Tama's best friend, so I came to provide him moral support and I wanted to meet his new mentor!" Mirio introduced as I gave him a soft bow in greeting.

"Hello, Mirio-kun. My name is Yamada Shinobu. You may call me Shinobu or Muffle... But I'm not really a teacher, so you don't have to call me sensei," I greeted, my voice quiet as usual causing Tamaki to turn slightly to see me in surprise. He probably expected Nezu to assign him a super loud and bubbly mentor.

"Yamada??? Wait! Are you related to Present Mic-sensei?!" the blonde asked excitedly before leaning closer to look at me, "Oh wow! You are huh!? You even have the same cool eye color as him!" I backed up slightly at his unwelcomed closeness causing him to notice and back up with an apologetic laugh. I nodded as my way of saying it was fine before making my way silently over to my new mentee.

"Excuse me. You must be Tamaki-kun, right?" I greeted quietly, trying not to intimidate the poor shaking student. The indigo haired boy turned nervously to meet my gaze which he had to look down slightly to do and nodded.

"Amajiki Tamaki. N-nice to meet you, M-Muffle-sensei," he greeted nervously with a low bow to avoid meeting my eyes. I placed a hand gently on his shoulder and pushed upward to indicate him to straighten up. He did so, and I looked to Nezu and signed asking if he was okay with me taking Tamaki with me, to which he nodded and smiled.

"Tamaki-kun, go with Muffle. You will spend this afternoon with her for your training instead of in your hero class today," Nezu informed him, causing the shy boy to get nervous and he bowed deeply before I did the same as before to get him to straighten up once again.