Eri's Hero Academia

In the Alleyways

In the alleyways, a young girl walked along on her way to school.

She wore a long-sleeved shirt and a long skirt that went down to her ankles, despite it being mid-April. Her legs ached, but she was happy, because her caretakers finally allowed her to attend school. They were supposed to be walking with her right now, but they were too busy to take her, so she had to walk on her own.

They were always busy.

The streets were littered with all kinds of junk, cigarette butts and smashed bottles being the most common items along the sidewalk. Despite the unsavory atmosphere, after two rights, a left, and another right she saw a line of other children her age by a large gate. She joined the line, head lowered as to make herself as small and unnoticeable as humanly possible.

The gate opened and a disheveled woman led them all inside of a decrepit building, through the hallways with creaky floors and peeling walls, straight into a classroom that matched the rest of the building precisely. The floor was ratty, most of the windows were shattered- repaired with duct tape or replaced with a few sheets of saran wrap -and the desks and chairs were completely run down and drawn over, carved into, and had every piece of gum imaginable stuck to them. To top it all off, the smell of smoke hung thick in the air.

The other kids found their seats easily and chattered with each other, meanwhile, the girl who hadn't said a word stood by the doorway, unsure of where to go or what to do. Their teacher, or, she assumed their teacher, made her way to the front of the classroom. She was a drab-looking woman with stringy gray hair, ashy skin, and grungy clothing that looked like it should've been thrown out long ago. The teacher then took a packet out of her pocket, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag of it before addressing her students.

"Alright, class is in session, settle down," The majority of the class settled down as told, but some of the chattering remained, although only as a whisper. One student, however, stood up and yelled, "Ms. Watanabe! Who's that!" and pointed right at the girl in the doorway.

"Sit down!" Ms. Watanabe took a drag of her cigarette, "She's a new student. Now everyone, quiet!" The teacher looked at the shivering figure, apathetic, "C'mon over and introduce yourself."

The newest girl walked up to the front of the class and looked across the room at all the faces of her fellow students. They mostly wore bored expressions, but some eyes in the back held an evil glint.

"Um..." she started, anxious, her eyes trained on the floor, and strands of hair that weren't caught up in tangled knots fell into her face. She eventually stated her name and plopped herself down into the seat Ms. Watanabe assigned her. She kept her head down as the class started, and did so well into the first lesson. She heard everything the teacher said well enough, but couldn't understand a thing Ms. Watanabe wrote on the board. She knew how to not draw attention to herself, and hoped to go unnoticed for the rest of the class.

That hope was dashed away when Ms. Watanabe announced that the class would be reading aloud. The entire class got up and grabbed their books out of the cabinet that the teacher unlocked with a key from the many jingling around her lanyard, and quickly returned to their seats. The new girl in the class found a very major problem with this assignment.

She couldn't read.

The callous teacher marched around the classroom and through the desks, ensuring her students were kept in line as well as calling on the next victim to read the text. The young girl hoped that maybe the teacher would go easy on her since she was new. She was wrong.

"Alright, new fish, your turn," The teacher barely glanced at her student, who curled in on herself so much she began to look like a turtle with long, tangled hair.