Akiara-- 2nd Gen BNHA

SIGN LANGUAGE

The greying blond from the entry exam was our English teacher. He stood at the podium as we shuffled in the room, taking our seats as before. The air vibrated around me, my classmates covering their ears. I chuckled to myself. Sensei had a quirk that didn't work against me the same way it did for my classmates. The hair stood up all over my body though as he said something else that vibrated the air. I felt very cold as I remembered a woman laughing. The day my biological mother discovered her quirk still worked on her deaf kid. Without discovering my quirk she learned how to insert her booming voice directly into my head, and laughed, thinking I couldn't hear the sound that was so obvious by just looking at her. I bit the inside of my cheek as I look back up at the board. I was going to have to teach myself the courses again. I couldn't just listen to the teacher's thoughts every class. I would give myself a permanent migraine 

"Komako, what's our teacher's name?" I reached out, keeping my eyes down as I wrote what I had seen on the board. 

"Present Mic. He's an older pro hero. He taught our dads!" she beamed, trying not to look at me. I wrote down his name, trying to keep up who was who by sketching them to the best of my ability. It wasn't the most productive way to spend class, but I couldn't really listen nor did I care about school. I wanted to learn the hero stuff to prove to Bakugo I could and would become a pro hero. 

"ARE WE PAYING ATTENTION YOUNG KIRISHIMA" Mic's thinking voice was too loud. I felt my cheeks burn as I raised my eyes to meet his yellow green ones. 

"I can't hear, Sir. And my lip-reading skills are non-existent." I scratched my neck, laying my pencil down. I needed to figure out how people were entering my mind without my quirk being active. Maybe if it's directed at me, I pick it up anyway. I didn't know that the staring contest I was holding with Mike was making my hands sweat until I wiped them on my pants.

O-K he signed, jumping back into teaching at his podium. I wrote down anything he put on the board, picking up occasional things he was saying. The stares from my classmates were boring holes in the back of my head and I wanted to hide from everyone but I knew I had to stay in class. Their stares would get worse if I walked out.  

Komoko tapped on my shoulder, signalling it was time for lunch. I wasn't hungry but I packed my bag and followed behind her and the bird boy as they talked on the way to the cafeteria. I found a seat as they grabbed their food, taking out my journal to sketch some new things. 

"Whatcha working on?" I heard Komako think as she set beside me. Bird boy sat across from us. His red eyes looking between Komako and myself.  

"Trying to redesign pieces of my hero costume already. I've been taking notes on my quirk and others like mine to improve it." she glanced at my notes, pointing to the goggles I'd been sketching.

"They look like Mr. Aizawa's pair, but black."

"Yeah, I figured hiding eye colours was a good idea," I shrugged, shading in the extra flare I'd been trying to add. Bird boy leaned toward Komako, saying something to her. She promptly tapped my shoulder to point to the boy across from us. He frowned as he lifted his hands, looking at Komoko who nodded, I sighed, watching him as he began to spell. 

T-A-K-A-T-A T-O-K-O-Y-A-M-I nice to meet you A-K-I-A-R-A I smiled at him, clapping a little before speaking to him. 

"Nice to meet you too, Takata. Good signing!" I signed as I thought, his eyes watching my movements. They narrowed at my T and sign for bird as his name. I signed it again, reaching over to touch his feathers.

"Bird," he mouthed, smiling. Komako signed her K; green hair for the boy and Takata chuckled, signing it back, saying something I couldn't read. I guessed I had friends now. I would have been fine just sketching in my journal the whole lunch. Instead we sat there, them pointing to random food items and me signing for them. 

Our next class was sign language and I smiled as we entered the room, a class I could finally understand. Komako and Takata joined me in the front left corner again, both chatting while they signed random words back and forth. 

A green hair hero entered the room, shouting something to quiet everyone down. Deku. This hero, teacher, was the only one to give me a chance. Who actually signed for me. Made me feel like I truly belonged.

Welcome class 1-A to the new sign language class, donated funds by the pro hero Red Riot. he signed smiling in my direction. I didn't know Kiri actually paid for the added class. Deku spoke as he signed, Komako and Takata seemingly the only interested students.

We start by signing, -hi my name is- he repeated himself, urging the class to sign it back. He passed out booklets that had the alphabet in them. I joined the class in signing, glancing around to see who I would be able to talk to. I started by watching the red haired girl that lived beside me and the white haired boy that looked like her sign like they didn't care or already knew the language. The girl with purple hair, Mineta, from this morning, wasn't signing at all but was staring at the white haired boy. I found myself chuckling as she was practically drooling over him.

Akiara, stay after class with Komako please. It's nothing bad, I just want to speak with you Deku signed, catching my eyes. OK I signed back. I turned back to Komako who was trying to sign to Takata. I laughed as she signed for him to kiss a chicken. 

"What are you trying to tell him Komako?" I signed while I thought to the green haired girl. She blushed, her thoughts swirling in her usual chaotic way.

"I was trying to see if he had a crush on anyone" her face got redder as I took the time to teach her the proper signs, including Takata in the thought process. His mouth moved quickly once he realized what I was showing them to sign. His face flushed and I followed his subtle glance across the room at a small girl with red hair, purple specks throughout the gentle spikes. She stayed to herself, constantly flicking her eyes around the room. 

The class started collecting their books, swirling around the room as they walked towards the door. Komako,stay I signed to her as she waved Takata off, who was still blushing, getting out the door before the small girl he'd been glancing at. I felt a sharp pain behind my eyes as she locked eyes with me. It felt like a push away. She dropped the stare and the pain went away. She hurried out the door leaving me and Komako with Deku. I felt the need to find out her quirk, especially if it was mental like mine. Deku interrupted my thoughts as he began to sign and think.

"Thank you for staying Akiara. I wanted to invite you and your parents to dinner at my house tonight. Me and my wife want to thank you for saving our Komako. It brought back memories of our own entry exam" he beamed. Although his signing wasn't the best, he was learning, and that was enough for me. I wondered if Bakugo would even come though. Kiri said the two of them had a checkered past and I knew Deku was higher than him on the hero chart.

"I can't promise that they'll both be there, but I will talk to them. Thank you for the invitation. I couldn't just let Komako be crushed by the robot, could I?"  I chuckled, waving as Deku let us go. Class was done for today. I would have to call Kiri once I got back to the dorms. I hoped Bakugo was in a good mood today.