Gone With the Tide ((MIDORIYA IZUKU X OC))

3

The next day, Aizawa got himself and Rin up early in order to meet Nezu back in the main school building.

The small girl to his right clung to his arm with the side of her head resting on his bicep, eyes lulling shut drowsily as he escorted her to the principal's office. In the aspect of Rin's tiredness, she reminded Aizawa of himself. He too was having a hard time staying awake, yet he didn't have a choice if they wanted to find out more about the mystery that was Rin.

Aizawa didn't bother to knock as he waltzed right into Nezu's office, where he already sat at his desk with his coal eyes locked on his computer screen. The principal looked up momentarily at the sound of his door opening, and displayed his classic distant grin on his face as Aizawa and Rin walked further into the room.

"How did everything go?" Nezu asked whilst Aizawa sat Rin down in the chair in front of Nezu's desk. She curled her legs up to her chest and turned on her side, eyes closed.

"Better than we expected," Aizawa confessed. "I got her into the dorms without anyone seeing her and kept her in the faculty rooms with me and All Might."

"Very good," Nezu nodded. "And did you manage to find anything else out?"

"She called the ocean 'her water,'" he replied, setting a hand on her head as he looked down at her. "But that's all I got out of her."

"I see," Nezu hummed, tapping his claws together as he thought. "Well, I think the best course of action to take is to enroll her into your class."

"What?"

"Since we know very little about her Quirk," the principal continued, holding a paw up. "It only makes sense to enroll her into the Hero Course to flesh out the information we're looking for."

"But what about her behavior with the other students?" Aizawa expressed his doubt openly, throwing a hand up for emphasis. "You said it yourself yesterday; she's too standoffish for them this soon."

"I understand your concern, Eraserhead," Nezu said, tone as calm as it had been since the beginning of their conversation. "But if she can't outright tell us what she is capable of or where exactly she came from, then this is the best we can do to thread it out and discover what we need in order to help her."

At that, Aizawa was struck silent. The plan in which Nezu was proposing could very well be full of flaws, or it could give them exactly what they were looking for. Either way, Aizawa knew that he didn't really have a choice.

After all, he wanted to help Rin just as much as Nezu.

"Fine," he finally muttered, looking back down to Rin as she shifted in her seat, arms hugged tightly around herself. "But if it stresses her out too much —"

"Then I'll dis-enroll her immediately and we'll figure something else out," Nezu agreed, shifting back to his computer. "I already have her logged into the system, and your students should be arriving right about now. So you and Rin should make way to class 1-A."

Aizawa sighed at that, not pleased by the idea of another rough day as he shook Rin by the shoulder, stirring her awake and pulling her to her feet by the hand.

"Right."

__________

"Alright," Aizawa said as they neared the ceiling-high door of 1-A's classroom, detaching her from his arm to look down at her. "When we get in there, you can't be holding onto me like that."

He gestured to his arm, to which Rin blankly followed with her eyes before redirecting her gaze to his face.

"Understand? No touching." He clarified, taking a step back from her.

"No touching." She repeated, mimicking his movements.

"Good," Aizawa nodded, and with a deep breath, he reached a hand out and slid the door open. "Stay out in the hall until I call your name, okay? Stay."

"Stay." Rin nodded in understanding, bobbing up and down on the soles of her feet as Aizawa begrudgingly trekked into the classroom.

The previous chatter that once fluttered around the room halted immediately at Aizawa's presence, and every student's attention was directed toward him as he made his way to the podium.

"We have some unexpected news this morning," Aizawa began, closing his eyes tightly before opening them again. "A foreign student has been transferred into 1-A."

At his announcement, an eruption of excited whispering filled the classroom. Aizawa's eyes narrowed impatiently as he waited for his students to settle down, and cleared his throat to gain back their attention.

"She has a hard time speaking," he carried on, glancing toward the open doorway to see Rin peeking in at him. "And is sensitive to over excitement, so keep the social niceties to a minimum."

Again, Aizawa watched as his students exchanged looks with each other. Most looked intrigued, others looked confused. Both expressions were understandable, and ones Aizawa had worn multiple times within the last twelve hours.

"Alright," Aizawa cleared his throat, turning toward the door and waving at Rin to come inside. "Rin."

At her cue, Rin strode into the room, and situated herself right next to Aizawa's podium. He took her by the shoulder and turned her to face class A, his finger pointing toward them in gesture that she look at them.

"Introduce yourself," he instructed quietly, nodding toward the students. "Tell them your name."

Looking on at Aizawa for a moment longer, Rin finally shifted her gaze toward her new classmates. A particular red headed boy looked on at her with a similar toothy grin that she shone Aizawa the night before, and a girl with brown hair clasped her hands onto her rosey cheeks. A pink girl leaned forward on her forearms with a wide smile, and a boy with green hair and freckles looked on at her with wide eyes.

Rin held his gaze as she examined his unkempt hair, and after remembering what Aizawa told her to do, she rose a hand in greeting.

"Rin."

An influx of 'hellos' and waves were offered in return, and as another silence befell the classroom, Rin upturned her gaze to Aizawa once again.

"Very good, Rin," he encouraged, pointing toward an empty desk that was situated in the front row by the door. "Go sit down."

Rin pursed her lips, but complied without a word. The eyes of her classmates followed her as she locked her gaze on the desk, and she slowly sat down without granting any of them a second glance.

Aizawa watched her as she situated herself, and finally he cleared his throat.

"Let's begin."