Why Us?

UA

Izumi and Midoriya head into UA High, finally accepted into the school of their dreams. The duo with new quirks and excitement for learning- unfortunately, only Midoriya made it into the hero course. The greenette begged Izumi to participate in the physical exams, but she refused, remembering that her soulmate was planning on being in the hero course as well. So she aced the written exam and put minimal effort into the physical to make it into general studies- class 1C.

"Zuzu, I'm not going to go see your class with you!" Izumi groans, purposely looking at the massive school in front of them instead of her friend with his begging eyes.

"But 'Zumi, he could be in the other hero class! Or he could have changed his mind! Or flunked!" Midoriya tries to reason, waving his hands around frantically.

"You know just as well as I do that those possibilities didn't happen. There's no way that prick settled for less than perfect," Izumi scoffs, glancing at the students around them to make sure there's no sign of the spiky-haired boy in question.

She rubs the green lightning-patterned bracelet that she hasn't removed since getting it. A lump settles in her throat, can I really face him if he's here? Without even realizing it, Izumi followed the greenette to his classroom by accident.

"I uhh, gotta go. See you after school, Zuzu," Izumi mutters, dread filling her entire being at the hauntingly familiar rough voice coming from inside her friend's classroom.

Before anything else can be said, Izumi is running down the hall, her side aching and wrist burning. She makes it to her class and finds her seat, trying to hide the panic she feels inside. There's only one other student already inside so early in the morning- a purple-haired boy with his head down on the desk. Unfortunately, Izumi's assigned seat is right behind his.

She tries to act cool, setting up her notes and pencil for the class, but her hands are shaking so much she drops her pencil. The purple-haired boy groans and lifts his head, making Izumi freeze. She watches with embarrassment as he picks up her pencil and turns around to look at her.

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to wake you! I just-" Izumi scrambles, tears welling in her eyes from being overwhelmed.

The boy blinks and grabs one of her shaking hands, softly putting the pencil in her palm and holding her hand closed with his own.

"Take a deep breath, you're okay." the boy's brows are furrowed, concerned about Izumi's panic, "I could hear you hyperventilating since you entered the classroom. Just breathe for a sec."

Izumi follows his directions, mirroring his breathing while he rubs soothing circles on her wrist. Luckily, no one else enters the classroom, and Izumi is able to collect herself.

"Thank you." Izumi smiles softly, pushing away her embarrassment at having a stranger calm her, "I'm Izumi Hirai, by the way."

"Hitoshi Shinsou." the boy responds, still rubbing circles on Izumi's skin.

He smiles hesitantly, looking down at his hands and realizing he's holding Izumi's. Her bracelet has slipped out of place from him checking her pulse and calming her, and he gets a glimpse of the words etched on her skin.

"Why were you having a panic attack just now?" Shinsou asks, almost glaring at Izumi's wrist.

He slides the bracelet back over her soulmate's words before she can see, figuring it's a source of bad memories, and she wants it kept covered. Izumi doesn't notice, too busy trying to talk through the lump forming in her throat again. Her mouth opens and closes a couple of times, and she reaches for her scarred side absently, squeezing her uniform jacket and looking down.

Shinsou doesn't press the topic.

"I guess you know my quirk, then. Won't answer any questions right?" Shinsou chuckles, disappointed as yet another person judges his quirk as villainous.

Izumi's head whips up, and she frowns.

"I don't know anything about your quirk, Shinsou. I just... ran into a person I used to know earlier. They weren't the nicest, so I don't like to talk about it," Izumi chokes out, voice thick as tears form in her eyes again, "I'm sorry for bothering you."

It's Shinsou's turn to frown as he realizes he misunderstood her body language. She's not scared of him- she's scared of whoever she saw today, and just the memory of them is enough to make her shut down.

"It's not your fault," he blurts out, desperate to fix things with the girl he just met, "People just tend to label my quirk as villainous because it's called Brainwash, and yeah..."

Shinsou lets go of Izumi's hand to scratch the back of his neck nervously.

"Mine can't be much better," Izumi chuckles darkly, "It's some water quirk, but I only got it when I jumped off a bridge and drowned a little under a year ago. Ironic, right?"

Izumi is trying to make the boy in front of her feel better, but his frown just deepens, and she smacks her head on her desk, already done with the day. Her forehead stays pressed to the cool desk surface, and soon after, she hears another thunk and looks up to see Shinsou with his head down on her desk.

"You're not scared of my quirk?" he asks softly.

"No, I think you choose how you use your quirk. Just because what your quirk does may be labeled as villainous to some doesn't mean you have to become a villain. I mean, you helped me just now when I was having a panic attack. Me, a total stranger," Izumi laughs, putting her head back down on the desk.

"Thanks," Shinsou mutters.

The two students remain with their heads on Izumi's desk until other students start filtering in and school starts.