Blood-Letting - mha

37

DOUBLE UPDATE BTW

School was getting difficult. Throughout middle school, Mizuki barely had to try to be top of the class, everything came naturally to her and she was grateful for it. However, her earlier system was failing. No matter how hard she studied, how much time she devoted to memorising the materials, nothing seemed to stick.

Her eyes were half-lidded, hiding obvious disappointment as she glanced down at the mock exam paper in her hands. 70%. Only 70%. It wasn't good enough, it wasn't the same as her usual 90%. The vampire was well-aware of all the new pressures she was facing, in all honesty, she blamed Chizome for cheating her out of her dreams. It didn't help that she could see Todoroki's 93% written in red ink over the front of his paper, persuading her to discreetly move her hand to obstruct the view of her own.

How could she let this happen? It was obvious that her hero basics training had taken a hit due to her missed classes, but written exams too? The failure felt too real to her, sending a wave of dread through her. What place did she come? Maybe if she was still top ten, then her failure could be overlooked.

Her ears twitched as she used her super-hearing to pick up on the minute conversations around her. Momo came first, Iida second, Todoroki third... wait, what? So that meant that she was... 11th. Subconsciously, her hand ran through her hair out of stress. This was bad. Disappointing on so many levels.

Everyone around her began leaving the class, each of them either happy or nonchalant about their results. Meanwhile, Mizuki stayed seated, waiting until she was the final student in the room before walking over to Aizawa's desk, placing her paper down in front of him with narrowed eyes.

"What happened?" Frustration was evident in her tone, never before had her marks been so low. Granted, they may have been above average, but compared to her usual, the downgrade was clear. Luckily, she had plenty of time to complain, considering she had to spend her lunch times in the teachers lounge - she wasn't certain if it was to protect the others or to protect her.

The teacher sighed, annoyed she was treading into his scheduled nap. Carelessly, he glanced down at the paper, meeting her disappointed gaze with one of disinterest. "What happened was you passed." He brushed off.

"Barely." She argued, a slight scoff escaping.

"No, by a landslide." He corrected her, rummaging through his desk to find the grade boundaries before sliding her the sheet. "The pass mark is 35, you scored 70. Congratulations." His dry tone confused the vampire, she couldn't understand how he was being so carefree about her mark.

"I dropped 30 marks, last I checked, thats a lot."

"Kaminari dropped 83, you can't complain."

She looked at him in disbelief - she supposed she couldn't really expect any different from Kaminari - but that wasn't her main issue with Aizawa's advice. A good complain was well deserved. She went from averaging 95% to a dismal 70%. Perfectly reasonable for her complaints.

"Look, just tell me where I went wrong? Why'd I drop so many marks? I just don't get it." Uninvited, she sat down opposite Aizawa at his desk, taking out her packed lunch in preparation for a lecture on her mistakes. Mizuki suspected there'd be a lot for her to improve on, she was willing to take a mental note on the topics Aizawa suggested.

However, the lecture never came.

"You know all the content, that much is clear. You're in here all the time with Shinsou answering all the questions." He explained, his answer only making her more confused. "The issue is your writing, it's incoherent. Lazy. Disorganised." He listed off, fishing out one of her exam papers from a folder. "Read this."

Reluctantly, she took the paper, her eyes latching onto the awful writing. Despite her handwriting being neat and tidy, it didn't make up for the words jumbled on the page.

"Question number 1 : you witness a crime while you're off duty, what is your response?" Aizawa recited the question, awaiting Mizuki to read her response.

"Crimes cannot be excused, this is called being lazy. Heroes need to stop crimes, that is their job that they have being paid to commit to. If crimes is witnessed outside of work hours then it is very bad. Must be stopped. If crimes are small, I will stop because I am a capable and strong hero, it is my job that I'm paid to do. If bigger crime then I will deescalate the bad thing and call for backup. I will not expect compensation, even though I am a hero and it is my job that I am paid to do." She read from the paper, her face contorting into a look of disgust as she silently read on.

"In your defence, this was a few days after Stain, so I can excuse some of it." The man took the paper back from her, not wanting to read the rest of her awful answers.

"...and somehow, I got 70 marks with this gibberish?" She was seriously beginning to wonder how Kaminari managed to score so lowly if this was what he was up against.

"That segment you just read, is probably 5 marks." He guessed, picking out the points that stood out in her response. "Crimes can't be excused - 1 mark - paid to commit - another mark - stop the incident if capable, if incapable then call for backup, and don't expect compensation. 5 marks." He explained.

"I don't normally write like that." She tried to defend, though it was weak considering all her exams had a similar writing style - gibberish.

Aizawa nodded, he knew that much. He'd seen the countless essays he assigned the class, read hers and begrudgingly gave her high marks - regardless of how much he hated giving positive feedback. "I'm guessing that it's the stress." He assumed.

Lifting her prune juice to her lips, she took a sip from the carton, awaiting the advice that wasn't being given. "Well?" She questioned expectantly. "How do I combat it?"

The teacher shrugged. "That's your fight."

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Authors note :

This is for the annoying person in the comments - you know who you are 😑

Jk tho, ur probs cool

Anywho, this isn't all too much. It'll get more interesting later... probably.