Balance In All [boku no hero academia]

[OVA 1]: To Study or Not to Study

Sun shone through the sturdy windows of the 1-A classroom, illuminating the large, piling sheets of paper and pencils strewn across the desks. To the students, this was just an absurd amount of homework, but to Kaminari, it was a failing battle he wanted to run from and a responsibility he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Carelessly slumping on his desk and his arms lazily swinging on their respective sides, he groaned similar to a humming motorcycle left alone on a highway as its driver stopped by at the nearest food stand. “I think I’m gonna die.”

Mina, who sat a few seats afar, groaned even louder, slumping against her desk like a corpse slowly turning into a slime combined with the heat the ceiling fans cannot fight off as for some reason, the air conditioner in the classroom was not at its best state. “Sameeee... I would write a will, but I’m literally dead. I can’t do this any longer. How long have we been doing this again...?”

“Thirty minutes,” came Todoroki’s monotonous reply, chewing on what seemed to be a banana Laffy taffy. He didn’t even need to look at the two for them to know he was answering the question as silent chewing sounds followed his reply.

In a frustrated chorus, Mina and Kaminari whined out loud, sounding more like a cat’s dying wail.

[y/n] chuckled, leaning back comfortably against her chair as she pulled out her phone, much to Izuku’s dismay. Izuku knew how passionate she could become when it comes to her ‘husbandos and waifus’ on Heroic Legends. “My brain got fried wayy back. I don’t think it’s even functioning anymore.”

Hagakure chimed in. Thanks to her invisibility, it wasn’t obvious she raised an eyebrow as her uniform creased while she seemed to lean on her desk, looking like she was seconds away from taking a nap. “Wait, didn’t you, like, nearly aced almost all the tests throughout the first half of the first semester?”

“That was the first half, as you said,” a small smile poked [y/n]’s lips at the familiar title screen that popped up, her thumbs eagerly tapping and sliding across the screen as soon as the main menu of the game opened up, clicking a few icons here and there with ease as her phone was carefully on Silent Mode. “Now, my brain is the equivalent to a fried fish—deliciously cooked.”

“...What?”

Todoroki wondered if this was yet another pop-culture reference he wasn’t aware of. Fishing out his phone, he searched up the phrase in a vain attempt to decipher the bizarre words that left [y/n]’s lips. He sure had the weirdest search history because of her.

“I think if you all studied a bit more often, you’d be used to this workload,” Yaoyorozu smartly and softly pointed out, her posture impeccable as usual as she neatly started to load the papers into her leather binder. 

“Momo, I say this with love and care, but I’d rather die than study more.” [y/n] bat her eyelashes, her tone saccharine. “I honestly don’t know how you live like that—here, let me show you the world of digital husbands and wives—”

Izuku gripped her forearm. She could practically feel the atmosphere become cold as he spoke in that dangerous, icy tone he probably inherited from Inko. She then recalls the incident her brother told her a few months back, reminding her that Izuku shares the same temper with their mother, and that it is best and wise that no one should get on to their bad side. 

“On second thought, I think you can just have fun with studying!” 

“May I try out the world of digital husbands and wives, [y/n]?” the way [y/n] described the unfamiliar piqued Yaoyorozu’s interest, to her surprise. She never knew she’d be anticipating what's to see on [y/n]’s mobile phone as the green-haired girl scooted closer, dragging her chair beside her in the process.

The game ‘Heroic Legends’, if Yaoyorozu’s memories served her right, was a popular mobile multiplayer online battle arena that she heard mostly from [y/n] and from her old schoolmates before she entered U.A. High. It seemed like the game was around for quite a while as she noticed that [y/n]’s rank was a Diamond. The rank sounded elite to her ears, imagining that the lowest rank would be similar to some soil or dirt.

Hundreds of introductions to [y/n]’s ‘husbandos and waifus’ later, she inquires, moving closer to [y/n] with her eyes glued to the screen like a curious child, “Say, how does this game work…?”

“Oh, it’s actually simple…!” [y/n] responds immediately as she continued to explain without stopping the match currently playing, “Basically, the player is randomly grouped with others to fight off the other team whose members were also randomly picked. You also need to choose the best and most compatible characters under your wing to increase your chances of victory. You can collect the characters by paying directly or by collecting a set amount of artifacts called Signatures, which are obtained as rewards. But the rewards are higher when you win than you lose, it also increases your win rate every round you try to compete! Every character has a Story Challenge, where the character has a backstory that you can unlock after completing a set amount of matches. ”

[y/n] noticed Yaoyorozu’s unresponsiveness matched her intrigued expression, so she continues, “But truth be told, Momo. There are no characters that suck, it’s the players that suck at using the characters they have.”

“Well,” Kaminari spoke to himself as he sat on his seat like a slug, “at least we’ll go shopping the day after tomorrow…” He sighs as he straightens his posture, only for him to fall back down to his desk in a napping position, accompanied by a heavy sigh as if the entire world is pressing on his shoulders and back.

With an audible mutter, he continued with his head resting on his arms as he looked to the side seeing the two girls, “It would have been fun if we play a game as a class, though…”

“Woah,” Ashido gasps as she dramatically placed her hand on her mouth, “That’s actually not a bad idea, coming from someone who doesn’t have ideas.”

“What are you implying?!”

The pink-haired girl shrugged as she retreated to her seat. “Anyway,” She retorts, imitating Asui’s signature pose, “What kind of game would we even play…?”

“Wait, I HEARD GAME.” Uraraka exclaimed as she approached Ashido to her seat, “I hear we are playing games, what is it?”

“Oh, we aren’t playing games.”

“Huh?”

“Although, Denki said about playing games as a class… not a bad idea, eh?”

Uraraka then looked at Kaminari, who seemed to be… wearing a confident smile as if he didn’t just hear Ashido gave him a remark a moment ago. She spoke, her eyes emitting rays of doubt, “Kaminari, you’re actually a genius!”

“What’s with the backhanded replies?!” Kaminari whines once more. "And I thought we're all in this together..."

"This isn't Highschool Musical," remarked [y/n] as she frowned in focus, pressing the sides of her phone as she continued playing the game on her phone, with Momo letting out a soft chuckle as she puts a hand over her mouth, politely laughing in response. "That's a joke I can get behind...!"

"What was the joke?" Todoroki asked as he looked at the two girls, trying his best to mask the confusion on his face, with his fingers typing the words out on his phone.

"Oh, it's a lyric to a song from that movie." Momo explained with a nod and a grin, suggesting she recalls a nostalgic scene from the film. "I dreamt of having a personalized school locker like Sharpay's, and I still do until now..."

Ashido scooted closer to the two girls as she exclaimed, pointing with her finger, "Ah, the pink sparkly locker! I remember that movie. She even has an assistant to bring her coffee!"

Before Ida, the class president of Class 1-A, could shush the crescendo of chatters, the school bell interrupted the first syllable that came out of his mouth the moment he stood in front of the class, adjusting his glasses with an awkward cough as he ham-handedly went back to his seat.

The free period that was alotted for studying became a time for idle chatter. Unbeknownst to them, their teacher was eavesdropping behind the wall halfway through.