No Rose is Without its Thorns

An Old Friend

Another week passed, and soon it was time for the public exams. Izuku once again dressed in formal attire and packed his yellow backpack with his items, this time situating Fluff right at the top. Once again, he would study the examinees and give his input on which class they should be in.

The tests took place later than the recommendations exam did, and so Izuku had a lot more free time to wander about the halls of the school. He was feeling restless, claustrophobic. He blamed the increased amount of people in the school, but he pushed away the anxiety that came with them. He knew he had to get used to it, now that he was going to start schooling with other people. He hadn't really spoken to anyone close to age in years before the examinees last week, and so he was a little rusty on his people skills. Scratch that, he could speak to the teachers and Nezu with ease. In fact, he had even become well acquainted with a few of the teachers.

Adults were easy to talk to, as where his peers were a whole other story. Adults were straightforward and honest, while teens were... well, not. At least, that's what Izuku had learned from the television shows he had seen and from what he saw from his limited interactions. Of course, he knew not all teenagers would be as deceptive as the ones he saw on TV, but he was still a bit apprehensive at the thought of being around hundreds of people twice his size.

Despite his agitation, he was ecstatic to watch the exams if it was anything like the recommendations. Watching the examinees strive to defeat any obstacle in their wake, giving it their all and then, even more, was exciting. Once again, Nezu had left him in the dark about all the students. Izuku wasn't too upset about it, however. It added to the anticipation. Nezu had explained a few things, however. He knew what the exam's task would be and how they were awarding points He knew that he would be up in the observation room with the other teacher and that he would be providing his opinions on who would get into the school. After that, he would help decide who would attend which class. This time, he wouldn't receive any information on the examinees due to 1, the sheer amount and 2, to keep the identities of all future students private due to legal reasons. Nezu explained that it had something to do with him being a student himself, but the explanation had too many legal terms for even a pre-law student to understand in full.

He walked down the hall, head down as a pair of upperclassman passed. He felt their eyes trailing on him curiously, sending a chill down his spine. He hated being watched, being assessed by others. He sped up slightly, the sound of his rubber soles thumped softly. He took a wide turn towards the first door on his right into the break room, wanting to get out of sight for a while. He entered the lounge with a sigh, eyes shut. He the door softly behind him, already feeling less stressed.

"You wanna slam the door any harder?" a familiar muffled voice asked. Izuku opened his eyes, easily spotting the large yellow sleeping bag laying in between a cheap faux leather sofa and the light brown coffee table.

"S-Sorry Aizawa, sir!" Izuku squeaked, blinking in surprise. "I d-didn't mean t-to wake you! T...there were some students in the hall and I...uh.." he trailed off, not knowing where he was going with this. Aizawa mumbled something incoherent before snuggling farther into his cocoon. Izuku stared for a moment longer before moving forward and sitting down on the couch by Aizawa, minding his steps. He checked his watch. He had an hour until he had to make his way to the observation room. He gently pushed Fluff to the edge of his bag and pulled out his notebook and flipped through the pages, making sure there were enough for at least some of the students. It was brand new, bought to be used explicitly for new students. It only had about 75 pages, not nearly enough in his opinion. It would have to do for now, but he would have to get a recording of the exam afterward for anyone who he didn't get notes on. Satisfied with this, he returned it back to its rightful place in his pack and traded it for his sketchbook and his pencil bag. He flipped to his latest drawing, a little sketch depicting a dog. He smiled and began his work, lightly darkening the outline and the dog's features, from the glint in its eye to the ruffled fur on its chest. It looked more and more complete, making him smile even more. He added more detail to the iris', making them look semi-realistic. More detail to the paws, drawing individual tufts of hair and shading underneath lightly to create an accurate shadow. He continued to shade and erase in the places he saw fit until he was finally content. He looked at his goofy little dog, feeling proud of himself. As per usual, he squashed it, feeling guilty about it immediately.