The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 2: Anticipation

As the following day rolled around everyone in class 3A was just about at bursting point from the anticipation of the previous day. Everyone sat in their seats at stared at the door waiting for someone unfamiliar to walk into the room. But as more and more seats filled up and more time passed the students were beginning to wonder if anyone was going to show up.

The final bell rang a few minutes later and everyone began to grumble with disappointment. Mr. Aizawa walked into the room quietly and stood at the front.

"Good morning class, our new student is going to walk in soon and I expect you all to treat him with respect, just as you treat the rest of your classmates." he looked directly at Bakugo for most of the last sentence. Katsuki huffed at the gesture.

"Whatever," he said looking to one side.

Mr. Aizawa then turned his attention to the doorway. "You can come in now," he said. Everyone was holding their breath as the door opened and a boy stepped into the room. His most notable feature at first glance was the pile of messy green hair on his head, no one could get a very good look at his face since he was keeping his face pointed towards the ground as he walked in. As he walked to the front of the room Ochaco noticed Bakugo have a weirdly angry expression on his face.

"Deku!" he hissed. The boy upfront winced slightly at the name before resuming his stiff composure.

"Everyone, I would like you to welcome Midoriya to your class." Everyone greeted him except for Katsuki before he was told to go to his seat. Midoriya lifted his head slightly as to not bump into anything as he made his way towards the only available desk. Doing so allowed Ochaco to see his face better. The boy had rather plain features but also had some freckles on his cheeks. He took his seat in the far right corner which happened to be the desk next to Ochaco before he silently took out a notebook and some pencils for the lesson.

Once Mr. Aizawa saw that Midoriya was seated and ready he began the lesson. Although someone new was in the class the lesson went by the same as always. Throughout the lesson Midoriya never spoke up to comment or ask a question, he just sat quietly and took notes. It was almost as if he wasn't even there.

The boy had piqued Ochaco's curiosity though. She kept sneaking glances at him trying to tell what kind of person he might be. He was shy no doubt but there had to be more to him than that, she was sure of it.

Eventually came the time that everyone had been waiting for; Hero Training! Everyone was excitedly putting on the hero gear in the locker room when Midoriya walked in. He kept his head down as he moved through the crowded changing are before picking a secluded corner of the room to don his own costume. Some of the other guys curiously looked over at his gear to see if it might hint as to what his quirk might be. His gear was composed of a dark green suit with a red belt. White gauntlets were secured onto his hands and a silver face mask was attached to his suit around the base of his neck. From the costume, no one could even begin to decipher what he could do.

As everyone finished changing and headed out they all went towards gym gamma. They all stepped into the gym to find the setup that had been made. In the tall warehouse, a rectangular section of cement had been raised a couple of feet above the rest of the ground. The rectangle encompassed most of the space inside the gym with some room for bleachers to take up the rest. "Your training today will be one on one fights with your classmates," explained Mr. Aizawa. "Anything goes as long as you're not aiming to kill. If you yield, are restrained or get knocked out of the arena you lose. When you're not currently having a fight you are to be seated at the bleachers. That is all, the first fight will be Sero versus Tokoyami."

The rest of the students piled into the bleachers while Sero and Tokoyami got ready for their fight. As she was picking her seat Ochaco noticed Midoriya again. He had picked the seat furthest from everyone else but he seemed more energetic than he had before. Interested in the change of behavior Ochaco observed him as he once again took out a notebook. 'Why is he taking out a notebook?' she thought to herself as he opened it to a blank page.

"Begin," said Mr. Aizawa. As the fight launched into action, so did Midoriya. As soon as the two contestants began brawling the freckled boy began writing down as much as he could gather from their combat with each other. Ochaco noticed him begin to take notes at a furious speed. Curiosity got the better of her and she soon found herself trying to scoot to a place where she could glance at what he was writing. When she eventually could make out what was on his notebook she was taken aback. On the left side, the page was a drawing that looked exactly like Tokoyami. As she observed him she saw him frantically scribbling down bullet points on the right page while silently mumbling to himself. As more and more matches progressed she saw him do the same thing for each one of her classmates. Just as Ochaco was about to work up the courage to ask the green-haired boy about it though she was called up for her fight.

"Uraraka and Ojiro, you're up," said Mr. Aizawa. Ochaco took one last glance at the strange boy before stepping off the bleachers and taking her position on the left side of the arena. "Ready... Go,"

Ochaco launched into action running full speed at Ojiro. Her tailed classmate, on the other hand, stiffened his composure in preparation for her attack. As she picked up speed she began to position her arms to ram him. Ojiro shifted his position to counter when he realized what was about to happen. As she finally got in close Ojiro spun around and swiped his tail at the girl. Ochaco was ready however and instead of being run through with the swipe she dropped to the ground and used her momentum to roll under his tail. She was in battle mode now and wasn't going to be wasting any time.

Once clear of the tail she shifted her weight to her hands and did a sweeping kick with her left leg knocking Ojiro clear of his feet. He landed on his back on the pavement and got dazed for a second from the shock. Ochaco had enough time to jump to her feet before Ojiro reoriented himself and jumped up as well. Ojiro tried to get the jump on her and threw a punch just as she was turning to face him. She barely evaded the punch by sidestepping but was too late to see the follow-up tail strike and had the wind knocked out of her as she was thrown several feet across the arena.

She got up shakily trying to get air back in her lungs. She turned around to see Ojiro come in for a right hook. Despite being in pain from being hit by his tail Ochaco bent backward and watched his fist sail over barely missing. Ojiro tried to pull the same move as before and begun to swing his tail but Ochaco was ready this time and jumped over the attack. Ojiro's eyes widened as he realized that he was screwed. Ochaco landed on her feet and grabbed the back of his shirt. She activated her quirk on the back of his neck before hurling him with all her strength at the nearest wall. He sailed at full momentum without dropping thanks to her quirk before hitting the wall. "Ojiro is out of bounds. Uraraka wins."

Ochaco smiled and began inhaling deeply to catch her breath. As she took a moment to recover she glanced over at the bleachers to see Midoriya staring at her wide-eyed. She made eye contact with him briefly before he quickly looked away.

"Alright next fight is Bakugo versus Midoriya," said Mr. Aizawa. Midoriya quickly put away his notebook and pencil before stepping off the bleachers and taking his turn in the arena. "Ready... Go."