In all honesty, Aizawa is surprised when Arata asks for his permission to have a study group with a few other students. Both of them are sitting on the sofa in the living room of his apartment—him showing her how to operate a laptop and her trying to figure it out—when she pops out the question.
"Tomorrow? To do your homework?" he repeats, asking for her confirmation, as he sips his late night coffee.
"Yeah." Arata nods with a little more enthusiasm than usual, the black ponytail behind her head jiggling lightly. "At Midoriya-kun's house."
"Sure, why not?"
"Thanks, Aizawa-san."
As he sips his late-night coffee, Aizawa ponders in silence. He is pleased she can get along with her new classmates, but surprised nonetheless. While it has taken the adults a lot more convincing to accept Arata's presence—albeit still with a couple of written complaints, half a day is all the kids needed to welcome her with open arms. Prejudice, contempt, and personal gain are putty in the face of their innocence.
Perhaps, sometimes we—as adults—really should learn from children, Aizawa thinks, his dark eyes following Arata's fumbling fingers on the keyboard. To see things for what they are. To see people as who they are. All without entailment to external factors.
Innocence is what makes children precious, and even though his students are growing to be mature, reliable hero candidates, he hopes it won't be robbed from them in the near future. It is inevitable, he knows, for someday, they will find themselves in the unforgiving grip of reality. Anyhow, he wants to preserve their innocence for as long as he can.
All the while making sure they won't get themselves killed, of course. There is a stark difference between innocence and negligence.
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Midoriya's house is within a walking distance from their school, so when Shoto passes a familiar royal blue entrance with "U.A." engraved on it, he knows within a few minutes he will reach his destination. What he didn't expect, is Arata's presence near the entrance. She is walking in the same direction as him, her hand holding up a piece of paper that looks like a hand-drawn map.
"Ara." His pace falls into slower and shorter strides next to her, walking together shoulder-to-shoulder. "What are you doing by yourself at U.A.?"
"Afternoon, Shoto-san." she smiles warmly at him, her other hand clutching the strap of her backpack. "I was with Aizawa-san, he said he had to run some 'teacher errands' today. Maybe it's about grading? Recovery Girl mentioned it during my first medical examination this morning."
"Medical examination? What for? Are you sick?"
"No, no. It's just a part of the Good Will program."
"I see." His focus then changes back to the hand-drawn map in her grip. "You still don't have a phone?"
"Aizawa-san hasn't said anything on that matter, and I don't want to be the one to bring it up. Maybe he thinks I don't need one yet, since I can send messages using the laptop just fine."
"I didn't know you have a messenger account."
"I just registered. My friend list currently only has Aizawa-san and Mina-chan in it. She wrote her ID on a post-it for me yesterday."
Shoto pulls out his phone and scrolls his screen with his thumb. "It looks like Ashido hasn't added you to 1-A group chat."
"Oh wow, I didn't know we can message more than one person at a time."
"Here, put in your ID to add your contact to mine. I can invite you to our group."
"Okay, thank you, Shoto-san."
"Don't forget to accept the invitation later."
"I won't miss it!" Arata mimics Uraraka's thumbs-up pose as they turn left at an intersection. "Do you think we will be able to finish all of our homework today?"
Upon hearing her question, Shoto thinks back on an invitation his father had handed over to him just before he left their house. While he dislikes the prospect of representing his father in a formal—or any—setting, a rare opportunity to visit I-Expo isn't something he can turn down easily.
He supposes it will be worthwhile for him to come, and obviously he can do without the looming threat of homework over his time there. "We'd better do."
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To see Inko Midoriya is to believe that some people indeed have dominant genes. She looks like a mature, female version of Midoriya-kun, Arata quietly observes as the woman welcomes them inside. Albeit being more chubby, she shares the same round cheeks, hair, and eyes as their freckled friend.
Although Inko has generously given them her permission to study in their residence, Arata feels that she is still a bit conflicted about having a villain's daughter over. She is trying to cover it up by smiling, but Arata is well aware of her consistent preference to be closer to Shoto rather than her when they are ushered to Midoriya's room.
It's okay, Arata tells herself quietly as Shoto knocks the wooden door in front of them with his knuckles. As long as I keep doing the right thing and refrain from making any problems, someday it will pass. I should focus on what I can first.
"Hi, Todoroki-kun, Arata-chan!"
Ochaco greets them with a wide grin, her hands pulling out several books from her bag to the blue-carpeted floor. Midoriya is sitting on his bed, which is a shade darker from the flooring, with a stack of blank papers.
Arata turns her head to the more vacant side of the room—save for some All Might posters on the wall, fully expecting to see their class representative. However, there is no Iida in sight. "Is Iida-kun not here yet?"
Shaking his head, Midoriya answers, "He's not coming. It turns out that his brother's condition is progressing very well, so they're discharging him from the hospital today. Iida-kun was very excited to hear that his brother will continue his treatment at home."
"That's great," Todoroki says as he puts down his bag next to Arata's at the corner of the room.
Recognizing Arata's lost expression, Ochaco offers her some context. "Iida-kun's brother is the pro hero Ingenium. He got severely injured by Stain, the hero killer. Maybe you've seen the news, Arata-chan. It was on TV for several days."
"Oh, right... I hope it won't be long before he's back in full health again."
"Yup!"
"Now that we're all here, shall we start doing our homework?" Todoroki asks, his back leaning to the wall, a book and a pen ready on his crossed legs.
"How are we going to do this?" Ochaco scrunches up her eyebrows. "Do it all together or what?"
"How about we do it ourselves first?" Midoriya suggests and moves to his desk and chair, giving the space on his bed to Ochaco instead. Arata sees both of their cheeks suspiciously glow red, but she doesn't say anything. "If someone gets stuck, they can ask the others."
His friends hum a collective agreement, then start working on their assignments separately.
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A couple of hours in, the four of them have already started discussing the homework questions with each other. Ochaco has shifted nearer to the bed's headrest so Midoriya can explain the concepts of mechanics for her physics homework from his desk. Occasionally, he also compares his answers for English and Japanese with hers.
The exchange is a little more frequent on Shoto and Arata's end on the floor. A lot of going back and forth is involved, especially after Shoto discovers that Arata has a vast knowledge of history.
"Qing Qing City, China. Because of an outbreak of mice-carried virus, I think?" She taps her forefinger to a question on his book. "This one should be the United States, they were the first one to raise the hero notion."
"You're surprisingly good at this," he comments as his hand jots down the additional details in his answer. "Geography and well-known landmarks as well."
"It was the only way I could see the world, so I was definitely invested in it. There are stories, events, and real people in it, even if they all are not among the living anymore."
"If only you were that interested in math."
"Well... Math didn't prove to be useful in isolation, so..."
"So are history and geography."
"In my defense, it's really hard to study all these numbers and notations without proper guidance." Arata shrugs her shoulders and looks back at her scribbles on a paper. "For number 13, is this how it should be done?"
"Let me see." A slight crease appears between Shoto's mismatched eyebrows, his gaze skimming across her solutions. "You're on the right track, but you miscalculated this part. See this part, the one before your answer? This isn't the only way. You should have subtracted it too, so you can get another value of x."
Groaning lowly, Arata combs her bangs in frustration. "Why can't I get a perfect score until the end? It's like my brain deliberately glitches at least once in every section."
"You're getting there. At least you're not having problems with the basics anymore now. Is that the last of your math exercises?"
"Yeah. I will be moving on to the heroics essays and standard operating procedures soon." After Arata corrects her answer, she lifts her head up and notices Ochaco grinning at her. "Hi Ochaco-chan, how's your progress with your assignments?"
"I haven't even scratched the surface of my history and health homework, but I see that Todoroki-kun has them done. Wanna compare the answers later? I've finished physics, English, and Japanese."
"Sure," Todoroki replies shortly. "What about science? Has any of you completed it yet?"
"I have." Midoriya spins his chair to face him. "But, I'm not sure about the last section. Studies about phase transition aren't my strong suit. I think you're better than me at phase transition, Todoroki-kun, since you have your Half-Hot, Half-Cold quirk."
"Isn't that mostly about gas, liquid, and solid?"
"Yes, but some of the concepts are very confusing." Midoriya bows a little so Todoroki can have a look at his science book. "See? I don't understand how glass can be neither liquid nor solid."
"Interesting. I thought it was definitely a solid. I'll do the science homework after this."
"Thanks. Besides science, can I cross-check my math homework with yours, Todoroki-kun? I saw Arata-san and you have worked on it."
"No problem, here."
"It looks like we're going to be stuck here for another couple of hours," Ochaco sighs and slumps to the blue bed. "I would kill for snacks right now."
"Don't, Uraraka," Todoroki warns in a serious voice. "It would be counterproductive for an aspiring hero like you."
Ochaco's jaw drops at his comment. "I didn't mean it literally, Todoroki-kun! I was just saying that I want a quick refill of food."
"Oh."
Midoriya exchanges a look with Arata, both stifling a laugh with one hand. "Uraraka-san got a point, though. Snacks will be nice."
"Then, it's settled!" Ochaco jumps out from the bed. "Let's take a breather and buy some! Arata-chan, do you want to come with me to the minimart?"