Engine Boy, I Love You!

EBILY | Ch. 2: Adrenaline

Iida was strangely restless for the entirety of 7th period. Rather than focus on the Japanese on the board, he found himself tapping his pen or bobbing his knee impatiently. Even the teacher was a bit unsettled, when Iida didn't seem to reach his quota of ten hand raises per class. By the time bell rang, everyone bowed respectfully, and Iida hurriedly flung his books into his bag so he could catch Aizawa.

He's probably in the faculty office grading quizzes, he reasoned, I don't believe he'll leave particularly soon, but it's better not to wait.

The second he reached the door, he threw it heartily open—enough so that he accidentally rattled it on its hinges. It startled Aizawa enough to snap his attention to the door with wide eyes, only to immediately relax at the sight of his student. Yamada happened to be there too, Iida noticed, and at the moment appeared to have been in the middle of botheringAizawa by sitting obnoxiously on the top of the adjacent desk.

"Iida," Aizawa eventually grunted, simultaneously taking the opportunity to nudge away Yamada with his elbow, "what brings you to the faculty office? Do you have a question?"

"Just a small request, sir," Iida nodded, "It's in regards to the custom item I commissioned from the support department yesterday."

Aizawa glanced to the side, and then nodded slightly when he remembered, "Ah, that. Has it been completed?"

"Yes," Iida confirmed hastily, remembering the text Hatsume had sent him earlier, "And since it's complete, I'd like to conduct a couple of tests with it. However, there's somewhere specific I'd like to use it, so I thought I would ask for your approval first."

"That's reasonable. As long as it isn't somewhere obviously off-limits, I'll listen to what you have to say."

At about that moment though, Yamada raised a finger of recognition, "Riiight, the support department! Maijima says you visit quite regularly there!" he then leaned forward wryly with his forearm propped against the top edge of his monitor, "By the sound of it, you're quite partial to one of the students thou—"

"Yamada." Aizawa cut him off, sending him a dangerous look before turning back to Iida, "Let's finish this conversation elsewhere."

Yamada gave Aizawa a disappointed pout as he pulled out of his seat, and muttered something along the lines of: "fun-sucker", before Aizawa shut the door, and guided Iida slightly down the hall out of Yamada's earshot.

"So. Continue?"

"Yes sir..."

As directed, Iida cleared his throat and finished the rest of his question.

"As I was saying, I would like to test the durability of Hatsume's invention by running through a variety of terrains. So of course, I pre-planned a route, but the slight problem is that it utilizes the jogging trails that wind outside of UA's immediate campus..."

Aizawa quirked an eyebrow thoughtfully before detecting what the issue was. "I see. You're requesting for permission to use your quirk in an area that technically lies outside of the school boundaries."

Iida swallowed nervously, but continued, "Yes, though the running trails have been widely debated as being a part of UA's boundaries despite existing outside of the school; since they're quite close by, and occupy the mountain on which UA resides."

"I am aware of that argument—it's been in the air since the school was built, yet the principal has no intention of addressing it. That land is a gray area, so to allow both students and civilians continuedaccess, neither the community nor UA has been willing to claim it."

Iida waited quietly for a minute or so as Aizawa mulled over his request, but eventually his teacher sighed, and gave him a nod.

"Since the exams are coming up, I will allow it. Any and all costume adjustments need to be turned in quickly, so I would rather not get in the way of your testing."