"Good morning everyone!"
Yamada looks up from his papers and smiles at Nedzu as he enters the room. A few other teachers around him do the same while Shouta, as always, keeps his head resting on the desk until the last minute. Early morning staff meetings always end up like this, everyone else is awake and ready to go while the resident underground Pro is still half asleep.
While Nedzu gets himself settled into his chair Yamada prods at Shouta until he groans and lifts his head up. He somehow looks even more tired than usual, likely due to the two newest members of 1A.
"So everyone, I read all the lesson reports about those two," Nedzu does not need to elaborate on who he is talking about, "And it seems they are settling in well!"
Multiple teachers share looks of disbelief at that, which Yamada can completely understand. So far he's only had the chance to teach them once yesterday morning, while the two hadn't done anything disruptive it was obvious neither of them were listening. At one point Yamada had tried to involve them a bit and had asked Dazai a simple question in English, he didn't want to do anything too complex as he had assumed they wouldn't know very much English. Whatever Yamada was expecting was completely thrown out the window when Dazai responded in French, whatever he said had gone over Yamada's head but had caused Aoyama to look confused and for Nakahara to laugh. And then, of course, all that happened in the heroics lesson. Personally, he wouldn't call that settling in well.
Ectoplasm leans back in his seat, "Settling in well?"
Nedzu nods, "Of course! Neither of them has attempted to hurt any students or sneak away, so I would say that is rather well-behaved." When Nedzu puts it like that then yes, he supposes that they have settled in well. Nedzu continues, "There was a slight mishap with yesterday's practical heroics lesson but we now have some useful information on the pair!"
"Mishap?" Snipe asks. For a second Yamada couldn't believe he hadn't heard about it, while Shouta was reluctant to speak about it the kids of 1A didn't have the same reservations. They might not have intended for the information to spread across UA so quickly but gossip is always like that, one person tells their friend who tells their friend. It continues on like that until third-year support course students know about it, that's significant because those lot always ignore anything that isn't related to their work and upcoming exams. Although, now thinking about it Yamada doesn't recall seeing Snipe at all yesterday, he must have been called to a mission outside of UA.
It's Nerumi that answers Snipe's question, "Well for starters most of the class was wiped out by little Nakahara." She leans in like she's telling some secret, "Of course, the real mishap was with Dazai's fight with Bakugou… The kids say he asked for Bakugou to kill him."
Snipe seems taken aback, "Really?" He looks over at Shouta for confirmation.
Said man just sighs, "Yes he did."
"How is Bakugou after all that anyway?" Yamada asks.
Aizawa sighs, "He seemed out of it yesterday right after but I haven't had the chance to speak to him just yet, I plan to check in during homeroom."
A silence settles for just a moment before Nedzu breaks it, "For the foreseeable future I request you all keep an eye on Dazai, after a brief talk yesterday I believe his suicidal tendencies are real." That doesn't lighten the mood at all, instead, it brings the atmosphere down.
Yesterday while Nedzu spoke to Dazai, Yamada had been instructed to speak with Nakahara about the subject. At that point he didn't have much to go off, no one had given him more than a brief explanation before shoving Nakahara into his office. Regardless, he had tried to speak to the boy about it. Nakahara didn't answer any of his questions seriously but with what he did say it was obvious that Dazai hadn't just decided to say something like that to freak 1A out but instead always spoke like that. If he was actually suicidal or just liked to say stuff like that, Yamada wasn't sure. If Nedzu thinks that he's not faking it then Yamada will make sure to take it seriously from now on.
Once again, Nedzu is the one to break the silence. "Erasurehead, you were monitoring the fights yesterday. What is your evaluation of their fighting skills?"
Shouta doesn't respond for a moment, either thinking of what to say or fighting back to urge to yawn, "Nakahara has excellent control of his Ability, he was able to apply it in different ways and use 1A's Quirks to his advantage. He also took out Hagakure first, clearly, he has been paying attention to everyone's Quirks and knew which would cause him the most trouble."
Yamada turns to him, "Used their Quirks to his advantage?"
Shouta nods, "He tricked Jirou and Tokoyami into attacking each other, he also used Sero to knock down a few kids."
"For a kid of his age... I can't help but say that's impressive," Nerumi says as she leans back into her chair. Yamada agrees with her, back when he was that age he had a tendency to just yell at things and hope he won. Carefully planning things out and using tricks was always more Shouta's style.
Shouta hums in agreement, "As for Dazai, he was more on the defense and kept his distance. He seems to prefer psychological attacks and his aim with a gun is just as good as we expected. Despite being at a disadvantage he was relaxed the entire time and won all three matches."
Nedzu nods, "An interesting duo indeed! Now, for the next tim-"
Typically, everyone tries to avoid interrupting Nedzu out of respect and slight fear. It happens sometimes when he proposes something a little too outrageous and out of all the teachers Shouta is the one who interrupts the most.
"There's going to be a next time?" Shouta asks, his face giving away nothing about how he's feeling, "I thought this would be enough for you to analyse them. Making 1A fight them again just to lose would be unfair and possibly disastrous."
"Don't have such little faith in you students, Erasurehead!" Nedzu happily responds. He picks up some papers and begins passing them along to the teachers, "As you can see I have already begun analysing the two of them, however, this is based on them fighting alone. If they were working together the dynamics might change."
That does make sense Yamada must admit, working alone allows you to do more dangerous moves and go all out without worrying for your allies. Nakahara has great offensive skills but maybe when he's working with someone else he tones things down or takes a different approach, same goes for Dazai. If the two of them often work together, which Yamada thinks is the case, then they likely have certain moves/plans they developed together. Getting a look into that would be helpful if the two of them try to attack any of the students, it could also maybe give some hints as to how the Port Mafia operates. Any large organisation like that would personally train up recruits in whatever fight style they prefer, figuring out what fight style that is would help for any future conflicts with the Port Mafia.
Actually, that reminds him of something he wanted to ask the Principal. After checking to make sure Shouta doesn't have anything more to say Yamada speaks, "I was wondering, has the Port Mafia made any attempts to get those two back?"
That sparks a few murmurs from the others who are likely thinking the same, Nedzu shushes them before responding, "According to the Pros stationed near the Yokohama barrier there hasn't been any noticeable increase in crime, which may be a good or bad sign."
"Good or bad?" Powerloader asks.
"Well, it either means those two aren't important and the Port Mafia won't give us any trouble," Nedzu pauses before continuing, "Or that they are important and retaliation will be more planned out and impactful."
"From what I've heard those two are certainly talented, the Port Mafia must value their skills, right?" Nerumi muses while looking through the papers. Yamada is inclined to agree, they're both formidable fighters and clearly smarter than the average fifteen-year-old.
Nedzu hums, "Right now we have no idea how strong the rest of the Port Mafia is, it could well be the case that those two are considered weak in comparison." And isn't that a nerve-wracking thought?
"And you have a plan for if they attack?" Snipe says.
Nedzu nods, "Why of course! I'll be filling you all in at a later date so don't worry for now." No one responds to that verbally, this gives Nedzu the chance to continue talking, "Now, onto the next point for discussion."
Using the remote sat beside him, Nedzu clicks on the screen behind him to reveal a collection of pictures. Most of them are random things like buildings or items in stores, some seem more personal like a motorbike or even a selfie… Wait a minute, that ginger kid in the picture wouldn't happen to be Nakahara, would it? It only takes a second longer for Yamada to realise where Nedzu would have gotten these photos. "You searched their phones?" He asks.
"Yep!" Nedzu clicks the remote and the slide changes to screenshots of contacts. "We aren't able to track the numbers as Yokohama uses a different network system, but I was able to look into the messages exchanged and put a few things together!"
Shouta seems interested in that as he leans forward a tad, "Like what?"
Nedzu once again changes the slide, this time to a more zoomed-in version of one contact list. "Nakahara only has a few contacts saved and even fewer chats, he likely deletes them often as a safety measure," he gestures to the screen, "The contacts he has chatted with are 'Ane-san' and 'Fish bastard', the rest have been deleted already."
"I'm guessing 'Fish bastard' is Dazai?" Shouta asks.
Nedzu laughs a little, "It would seem so! 'Ane-san' seems like a mentor of sorts, there aren't any direct mission orders in the chat so I doubt she is the boss of the Port Mafia." He changes the slide again, "Dazai's contacts are quite different…"
Yamada takes a closer look and finds himself smiling a little, "Emojis?" Had Dazai really forgone any real names and just assigned everyone an emoji? Yamada is almost tempted to do that too now, although, given how extensive his contact list is he may forget who a few people are…
"Dazai has a lot of contacts but they are all emojis, for example, '🐶', '🥃', and, '👨🏼'. The chats he does have don't give any information away about the Port Mafia or who the identity of the emoji is." Nedzu explains. Now thinking about it that is a rather smart way of storing contact names, no one can decode the names if you assign them to random traits.
Snipe is the next one to speak, "Ya find anything else useful?"
"There are pictures of Yokohama city and a few unidentifiable people but other than that, no. It seems like they are very careful with what stays on their phones," Nedzu clicks off the screen and pulls out the two phones from under the desk. He then slides them across to Aizawa, "I made a few modifications so they can't contact anyone outside of UA so feel free to give them back."
Aizawa nods and pockets the phones, after a moment he speaks, "Is that all, Principal?"
"One last thing," Nedzu starts, "The HSPC is very keen on interviewing Nakahara and Dazai." At that the room becomes a little tense, within the Pro Hero community, it's an open secret that the HSPC has more... sadistic tendencies. While there isn't a lot of actual evidence there are a lot of rumours going around, most of which are difficult to write off as just a rumour. A lot of Pros, Yamada included, have lamented their dislike for the organisation and their wish to cease working with them. Unfortunately, the HSPC is too large and ingrained to be cut out like that.
"Are you going to let them?" Yamada asks with a slight tone of worry. If the HSPC gets their hands on those two kids, kids from Yokohama of all places with talent far beyond their years there is no telling what may happen to them. Even if Yamada still has a dislike for them due to the livestream it would be cruel to let that happen.
Nedzu smiles in his slightly off-putting way, "If they can withstand my efforts to stall, then perhaps."
-
Chuuya is tired.
Tired of Dazai's shit? Always, but no, he's actually physically tired. Now, as a Port Mafia executive, he is no stranger to long work hours and little sleep. Ane-san often insists he gets at least six hours every night (or day, given the Port Mafia's working hours), but that rarely happens given the workload he has. It, of course, doesn't help that Dazai likes to shove half of his work onto Chuuya's desk.
Now, the difference between the few hours he usually gets and the two or so hours he's been sleeping these last few days is that normally he sleeps deeply. Back home he would fall asleep the second his head hit the pillow and get some good, restful sleep. Here at UA however, he keeps jolting awake at any and all noise during the night. Being in enemy territory naturally puts him on edge, you can never know when the next attack will come and who will do it. Meeting the 1A kids did settle some of those nerves though, Chuuya is a good judge of character, and those kids? Not a single one has the capability to be 'evil'. He had decided then that they wouldn't be too much of a risk, if the pros had said not to fight him and Dazai then the kids would listen.
But then of course Dazai just had to go and pull that stunt yesterday. God, what an annoying bastard he is. Who decides it's a good idea to piss off two of the stronger members of the class? Who the hell decides it's a good idea to fuck with not only one of the strongest but also the one with the least self-control? That Bakugou kid seems half a second from blowing people up constantly, add in Dazai's little 'kill me then' thing and now there's an actual threat to the bastard's life! Well, not fully. Bakugou might act all tough with his yelling and threats but he doesn't seem like the type that's capable of murder, that much is clear given how he froze up yesterday. He could still beat Dazai up though, maybe accidentally kill him. Which yea, it would be nice to be rid of that fish but that's Chuuya's kill dammit! If anyone gets to kill Dazai it has to be the one that has put up with him the most. That would be Chuuya.
Anyway, due to all that now instead of getting some restful sleep Chuuya had been sitting awake for most of the night. If he and Dazai shared a room it wouldn't be as bad, at least then he could be certain that the noises weren't a threat as long as the door (or window) didn't open. Unfortunately, since they're in different rooms he can't rule out any noise, even ones that seem like nothing to worry about. Until he's certain the noise is harmless he can't trust it.
It doesn't help that Present Mic had asked him to 'be more social' whatever the hell that means. Yesterday, after the little stunt of Dazai's, Yamada had tried to get information out of him. It was a little funny, clearly no one fully filled him in on what happened so he spent half the time trying to find out from Chuuya. When he got that information he then tried to probe for information about Dazai, which naturally Chuuya kept his mouth shut. No, that's a lie actually. He said a lot, but it was all complaining about how fucking troublesome Dazai is. By the end of it, Yamada just said that he and Dazai need to 'try more' and interact with 1A in a non-threatening manner. So now he's not allowed to hide away in his room during his free time, which also means he can't catch up on sleep during the afternoon when he knows Dazai is in the room and safe (well, more safe than being elsewhere).
At least his talk with Yamada had been alright, judging by the sour look on his face Dazai didn't enjoy his chat with Nedzu. While the fish hadn't gone into detail he did say, "He tried to comfort me…. Chuuuuuuuya he made me promise not to kill myself before I could leave!"
Personally, Chuuya has no doubts that Dazai was crossing his fingers while making that promise.
So now he's stood in another one of the training gyms wearing that stupid sports uniform- which really, why the hell does it look so bad? School colours are red and blue, sure, but why couldn't they have picked a better shade? Something that actually matches and looks good? And don't even get him started on the green in the other uniform- half asleep on his feet. If Aizawa wants him to fight 1A kids again they might actually have a chance at winning, right now he's so tired he can't even be bothered pushing Dazai away from where he lounges against Chuuya's back.
(He may also be allowing Dazai to lounge over him like this to silence the buzz of Arahabaki in his mind, something that's always worse to deal with sleep deprived.)
Actually, saying the 1A kids could win might be having too much confidence in them. Chuuya could still easily take them down, especially if he wasn't holding back but he would probably be on the verge of passing out afterwards.
It's easy to tell when the 1A kids arrive at the training gym because for some reason they travel as a group and do not know how to shut up. Even now, before the door has been opened, Chuuya can hear them.
When the door opens and the noise echoes across the hall Chuuya realises why the class was speaking so loud. Leading the pack is none other than Bakugou, a pissed-off look on his face and determination in his steps. A few other kids gravitate around him with nervous expressions, ah, so that's what's happening.
Bakugou wastes no time in storming over to where he and Dazai are standing. Subconsciously, Chuuya finds himself leaning forward in anticipation.
Midoriya steps just slightly in front of the rest of 1A in some last-ditch attempt to prevent the inevitable, "Kacchan, I don't thin-"
"Shut the fuck up Deku," Bakugou responds without turning back to acknowledge the boy. Without wasting any time Bakugou arrives at his destination and stares Dazai down before demanding, "Oi Bandaged bastard, re-match now."
Dazai sighs and seems to lean into Chuuya more, he's disinterested in a re-match then. Fortunately, before the idiot can open his mouth and make Bakugou more pissed off Aizawa speaks.
"Not happening," he pauses and immediately speaks again to interrupt Bakugou's complaints, "Today's lesson is partner work, you'll have to wait for a re-match. Oh also, watch your language."
Bakugou turns to him with a scrunched face, "But-"
And then Dazai has to open his mouth.
"You should listen to Sensei, Kacchan~" Dazai's tone is light and teasing and Chuuya is quite certain he's smirking. It isn't a surprise that he picked up on the nickname Midoriya used, and even less surprising that he used it to further annoy Bakugou. Mentally, Chuuya prepares himself to get even less sleep in the upcoming days.
Bakugou whips his head around, "The hell did you call me?"
Aizawa clearly wants to intervene but Dazai responds quicker, "Kacchan~"
Bakugou looks about ready to explode, which might actually be something to worry about. Can he explode or is it just his hands? Hmm, something to think about.
Aizawa steps in front of Bakugou in an attempt to placate him, "Calm down kid, go join the rest of the class."
Bakugou huffs and for a moment it seems like he is actually going to drop the topic. Then a certain chill comes over Chuuya, the chill that always happens before Dazai causes chaos. It pains him to say but he does have a Dazai Sense and it is really fucking accurate, so even without looking he knows that bastard is doing something to provoke Bakugou.
His theory is proven right when Bakugou's face turns angry and he swiftly moves around Aizawa. "Fuck did you just say you freak of nature?" He growls while keeping direct eye contact with Dazai.
Maybe it's because he's tired and can't be bothered dealing with this any longer or maybe it's because his head would be on the block if Bakugou killed Dazai. It could be because Chuuya hates hearing people alienate Dazai, he hates people that try and say he is any different than anyone else. Maybe the insult 'freak of nature' just rubs him the wrong way.
Whatever the reason, Chuuya suddenly finds himself really pissed off and defensive. Shoving Dazai away from his back he steps up and closes the distance between himself and Bakugou. Now, since he has yet to hit his growth spurt Chuuya has learned a few different ways to look intimidating and like he's looking down on someone while physically looking up at them. It's all about facial expression, body language, keeping eye contact, and keeping still.
Angling himself to look the most intimidating while squaring up to Bakugou is like second nature to him at this point. Chuuya doesn't need to say anything, no threats or warnings, he just needs to make his presence known. Make it clear that if Bakugou wants to try anything then he has to get through Chuuya first and that is a near-impossible task, even when he is sleep-deprived.
Bakugou moves his eyes to Chuuya and his gaze sharpens, it seems this might just end in a fight after all. He growls, "You got something to say carrot top?"
Chuuya doesn't rise to the bait, instead, he just keeps a level gaze at Bakugou. He does this for two reasons, the first being that this is the best way to deal with people like him. The second is because Aizawa is most certainly about to intervene again and Chuuya doesn't want to deal with getting chewed out due to Dazai's need to stir the pot.
As predicted, Aizawa's capture tape snakes around Bakugou and drags him back. "That's enough, say anything else and you'll get detention for a week,"
He speaks in a flat tone that leaves no room for argument.
When Bakugou does try to fight back against the capture tape Aizawa just pulls him along until they both arrive at the group of 1A kids.
Aizawa then turns to the class and begins explaining something but Chuuya finds himself tuning him out. Instead, he shuffles backward, closer to Dazai, and leans against the idiot's chest. The familiar feeling of No Longer Human greets him like an old friend. He keeps both eyes on 1A despite otherwise having his attention elsewhere.
"What the hell did you say to him?" Chuuya asks.
Dazai hums and leans into Chuuya's back slightly, "I'm offended you think I did anything."
Chuuya involuntarily huffs a laugh, "Yeah sure, what didn't you do then?"
"Well, I know I didn't mouth loser at him," Dazai says.
Chuuya sighs at that, such a damn troublemaker. For a moment they sit in silence and watch as the 1A kids begin splitting into pairs.
"Tch… I can't tell if you have a grudge against that kid or you're just being a pest," Chuuya states. It really could be either option, if Dazai has noticed something about Bakugou then he might be messing with him on purpose. Maybe he wants to embarrass the kid in front of his classmates and show that 'villains' are better than even the strongest of them…. Or maybe he just likes fucking with someone with a temper. Wouldn't be the first or last time that's happened.
"Don't put too much thought into it Chibi," the Dazai Sense tingle returns, "I don't think your brain could handle thinking that much."
One well-placed elbow later and Dazai is groaning in pain and hopefully regretting his words. Chuuya watches as Aizawa finishes up with 1A and turns to make his way back over to them, well it seems like he'll have to get answers from Dazai later or figure it out himself.
-
Despite knowing better, Midoriya can't help but look at Dazai and Nakahara from the corner of his eye. He's glad Aizawa-sensei paired him up with Uraraka because otherwise, he would feel worse for splitting his attention like this, as it is Uraraka is also making not-so-discreet glances at the duo.
Maybe it's different for the other kids, but for Midoriya he can't help but look in hopes of seeing more of their Abilities. Ever since hearing about the existence of Abilities Midoriya's mind had been set alight with possibilities. While yesterday was... eventful, it was also so very informative. Directly after the fights, he was still reeling from it all, seeing his classmates get beaten so easily was slightly distressing. At first, he was a little depressed about the whole thing, but then after the talk with his classmates last night he realised there was a better way to look at this situation. It's like Uraraka said, this is a golden learning opportunity that may never come by again. Instead of being upset over the overwhelming loss they suffered yesterday Midoriya needs to use his brain to do what it does best; analysis. If he can figure out the exact workings of their Abilities then that could possibly extend to other Abilities too, which may be useful if Ability users ever leave Yokohama. It would also be useful to learn how Nakahara and Dazai think, if he can get inside their minds then he can make effective counterplans.
There are a lot of things that can be deduced from the fights, some more obvious than others. Nakahara clearly has experience fighting large groups on his own, if it wasn't clear enough with how he asked for a 1 vs 18 then the results of the match speak volumes. He has an offensive Ability sure, but taking down that many people takes a sharp mind. He moved so quickly and still seemed to know exactly who to take down first, clearly he had been paying attention to the class and their Quirks.
And then, of course, his Ability. Midoriya had been expecting it to be more like Uraraka's Quirk but in reality, it's completely different. Uraraka can only remove the gravity of an object in two degrees, completely gone or just slightly removed. Nakahara on the other hand doesn't seem to have any such limitations, during the match he both decreased and increased the gravity on objects. Not to mention how he changed the gravitational pull on one of the concrete chunks. Admittedly, Midoriya has been thinking about that fact a lot. If he was able to do that then what else could he do? Can he affect anything he touches or is there a weight limit? Is it possible he could manipulate a whole building? Aizawa-sensei did say that Abilities have limitations but so far there is no way of knowing what Nakahara's limitation may be, anything could be possible.
His Ability extends to himself but not to anyone else, which is interesting because Midoriya would have assumed it would affect other people too. Or maybe he isn't changing the gravity on himself but rather his clothes? He could easily make them light enough or heavy enough to bring his body where he wants it, plus it would mean he can only affect non-living things. That would neatly explain why he couldn't change the gravity of other people. Then again, from what he could see it didn't look like his clothes were straining or moving weirdly...
Moving on, Dazai too was interesting to watch and fight against. Begrudgingly, he has to admit his tactic against Todoroki was smart even if he hated it. Usually, in a fight Todoroki's ice can carry him through with no problems but in that situation, his fire would have been far more effective. Even if Dazai nullified it he would still get burned and be at a disadvantage. Any normal person would realise that and stay quiet in hopes that no one else would notice, especially not Todoroki. Dazai however wasn't afraid to bring it up. Since the sports festival, Todoroki has been trying to use his fire more often but has yet to really use it in lessons, but Dazai didn't know that. It could have been the case that Todoroki was using his fire daily and bringing it up would cause him to use it. So why did he bring it up? Was he that confident his taunting would mess Todoroki up? Did he have a contingency plan if he was wrong?
His words weren't as sharp when fighting against Midoriya, something that he can't help but be relieved about. If Dazai had somehow known about his past and brought it up to taunt him then he wouldn't have faired any better than Todoroki. Even the small things he did say struck Midoriya with worry and a warning to stay away.
One of the big mistakes Midoriya made during his fight was focusing too much on one aspect of Dazai's defense. Something that feels like an intentional move on Dazai's part, by keeping his attention on what he might say Dazai was then able to do more underhanded moves like using his Ability and sneaking the gun up close. In a real fight that sort of tactic would be incredibly useful for him.
He can't stop thinking about all those things, can't stop analysing and asking questions he likely won't ever get answers to. But, more importantly, he can't stop noticing new things. Right now, despite not being under a direct threat, Nakahara still stands in the same defensive stance as he did during the fight. Earlier, when Aizawa-sensei was explaining the task for today's lesson Nakahara's eyes never left the class and always seemed to stay close to Bakugou. He's constantly on guard and ready to jump into a fight, something that makes the fact he always stands on Dazai's bandaged side seem less like a coincidence.
Dazai doesn't have any noticeable signs of being on guard but Midoriya is sure he is, someone smart like him must be taking note of everything just in case it turns into a fight. Bakugou isn't like that, not even during middle school when he was at his most violent. So now he wants to know why they're like that, why they seem ready for a surprise attack at any and all moments. UA is one of the safest places, so even if they don't trust Pro Heroes they should at least be a bit more relaxed right?
His musing is interrupted by a hand tapping his shoulder, "Earth to Deku?"
Jolting, he turns to find Uraraka next to him with a concerned look on her face. Slightly embarrassed he waves off her concern, "Ah sorry, I was just thinking about a few things."
"Analysing Nakahara and Dazai, right?"
Sheepishly he nods, "Haha… yea you got me. I've tried to shut my brain off but it just doesn't work."
Uraraka hums, "I totally get what you mean. Even before the fight, it was hard to get them out of your mind."
Of course, back then it was because of the horrors of that livestream and not about their skills. Often, Midoriya has had to remind himself of that livestream to stop himself from fanboying over the two of them. Usually, all his analysing comes with a healthy amount of fanboying, but this time he must be completely clinical.
Midoriya risks a glance over at the two and notices they have started lazily warming up, seems like they'll be participating in today's lesson after all. Probably just fighting each other though, that's the smart move anyway. Everyone is still a bit high-strung from yesterday, fighting them again today would cause people to be rash and possibly injure themselves.
"Do you think they'll go easy on each other?" Uraraka asks. Midoriya sends her a curious look which prompts further explanation, "They seem really close, right? So they'll probably go easy on each other."
That does have some merit, especially given how lacklustre their warm-ups are. Just from that alone he could tell neither of them want to be here, then again he doubts they want to be in UA at all let alone in a practical heroics class.
Looking back over Midoriya finds the two boys have moved so that there is a decent amount of space between them. "Well maybe," he says, "they'll probably do enough to b-"
His voice cuts out as Nakahara jumps forward with a punch directly aimed at Dazai's face. He isn't using his Ability, which is due to the cuffs, but it's clear he isn't holding back.
Dazai takes a step back and swings his arms up to block his face and when Nakahara gets close enough he ducks down and attempts to tackle the boy.
Before he goes down Nakahara brings his foot up and slams it into Dazai's stomach to launch him away. The moment he hits the floor he jumps right back up and dives onto Dazai, one hand going straight for the throat while the other going for Dazai's hands. He isn't quite fast enough as one of Dazai's hands sneaks up and grabs onto Nakahara's hair and pulls hard.
Morbidly, Midoriya really wants to see the end of the fight. That isn't possible however as Aizawa-sensei quickly dives in and separates the boys.
"What is going on?" He asks in a stern tone.
Dazai shrugs, "Training?"
Aizawa-sensei shakes his head slightly, "No, you two were just beating each other up. That's not training."
Nakahara scoffs, "What is training then? Soft punches and constructive criticism?"
"Yes."
Nakahara looks genuinely shocked by that for just a second. Aizawa-sensei must see this as after pulling both boys to their feet he turns to Midoriya and Uraraka, "You two, demonstrate for them."
Jumping to attention, Midoriya gets into position and does exactly what he was asked to do. While they do have lessons when they can be a bit rougher (usually when All Might is solo teaching) it is generally a rule not to do any serious moves. While Recovery Girl can heal pretty much everything, well, everything that a bunch of teenagers could inflict, there are still rules about being too violent and going straight for the kill. Something that Nakahara obviously just did.
At the end of the demonstration fight Midoriya takes a glance over at Dazai and Nakahara and finds the look on their faces a mix of both disbelief and amusement. Somehow, even with no words leaving their mouths Midoriya can't help but feel like he's being made fun of. Surely not going all out in training isn't that embarrassing, right?
-
The rest of the training session was boring as hell. Aizawa refused to let him and Dazai do anything 'too violent' so they were stuck throwing punches like toddlers, something that was just as annoying as it was boring. Neither of them gained anything from fighting weak like that and the constructive criticism that Aizawa made them do quickly turned into an excuse to insult each other. Not that they need an excuse to do that.
Now heading to the changing rooms Chuuya comes to a realisation that this is the first time they will be changing clothes in 1A's presence. Aizawa always brings them to the training hall early before 1A is done with their lunch and yesterday they got to leave early due to Dazai's shenanigans. With this being the first time he can only imagine how awkward it's going to be, there's also a chance Bakugou will try something when Dazai's back is turned.
When they arrive at the changing rooms Chuuya shoves Dazai into the corner where their clothes are and promptly turns to stand guard. It's really obvious what he's doing but he really couldn't care, being sleep-deprived does that to you.
Fortunately, Dazai has decided to be cooperative and swiftly changes without issue. Before he knows it it's Chuuya's turn to be shoved into the corner with Dazai standing at his back. He's grateful the fish is returning the favour, with how many scars he has (and the code) he can only imagine what type of questions 1A would ask. You would assume they would keep their mouths shut about it but Chuuya doesn't have that much faith in them, a few 1A kids seem rather impulsive like that.
Case in point is the fact that Dazai loudly coughs before shifting to cover a different side of him, obviously, some kid couldn't keep his eyes away. Maybe Chuuya should take that as a compliment.
By the time he's finished changing half of the class is already waiting outside, although something seems to be off. Most of the kids look annoyed, almost like they're dealing with something they can't be bothered with. Chuuya knows this look as he often uses it when Dazai causes chaos, which he would assume to be the cause of those looks. The problem is that Dazai has actually been behaving since he annoyed Bakugou earlier, so for once it must be something else.
He gets his answers when electricity kid speaks, "Mineta, dude, you should totally drop it."
Looking over Chuuya finds electricity boy, the small one who he now knows is called Mineta and a handful of girls stand next to each other. Creation girl has her hair down and looks quite uncomfortable, the other girls around her have matching expressions or ones of annoyance.
It quickly becomes clear just what is going on when Mineta speaks, "But I need to let Yaomomo know how beautiful I think she is!" He turns to face Yaomomo and Chuuya swears his eyes turn into hearts, "You are by far the hottest girl in this class!"
Yaomomo nods slightly but looks so damn uncomfortable, clearly, this is unwanted attention. Chuuya looks around and notices that literally no one is trying to stop Mineta, which makes him feel like this isn't the first time this has happened. As he makes his way over to the group he can almost feel the spirit of Ane-san descend and possess him, if no one else is going to deal with the fucker then he will.
"Stop harassing her," He states in a serious tone. The group turns to look at him in shock and slight fear.
Yaomomo, for some reason, jumps to his defense, "Ah, well, I wouldn't say it's harassing-"
Mineta interrupts, "Yea! I'm just trying to show my appreciation for such a hottie!" As if to prove Chuuya's point Yaomomo cringes back at that, can no one else see how uncomfortable she is?
"Anyone with eyes can see how uncomfortable she is, so do her a favour and quit it," He glares a little and takes joy in how Mineta jumps in fear.
Somehow the kid is braver than expected and actually tries to fight back, "Y-you don't know anything! I've been here longer an-"
Chuuya cuts him off by looking over to the girls, "Tell me honestly, is he bothering you?" The girls seem caught off guard for a second and Chuuya thinks they might not answer. It would be slightly embarrassing if they blanked him like that, or worse if they said it was fine when they're clearly put off by the kid. Not like that would stop him from threatening the little fucker.
Then earphone jacks speaks, "He's a total creep."
Acid girl nods in agreement, "He always manages to get away with it too!"
Nodding, Chuuya turns back to Mineta. The kid's face is unreadable, not because he's got a good poker face or anything but rather because there are about ten different emotions flickering across his face at one moment. Staring the kid down Chuuya makes sure to adopt a threatening look, "If you continue to bother them then I'll give you some first-hand experience with how the Port Mafia deals with creeps like you." He bends forward just a little so he can loom over Mineta, "Now fuck off and leave Yaomomo and the rest alone, yea?"
Mineta looks like he's about to wet himself which is funny, why is this kid even here when he gets scared so easily? In some attempt to save face, he spits out some insults but his voice is so warped by fear it's impossible to tell what he said, after that he wastes no more time and speed walks his way down the hall.
When he moves back up and looks around the hall everyone is staring at him in shock, seriously, has no one put that kid in his place before? The girls look grateful though, so that's good. Although Yaomomo has a certain look on her face, he can't quite tell what it is. Confused, he tilts his head, "What?"
Yaomomo looks caught off guard by that but doesn't get the chance to answer as Dazai steps up next to Chuuya. With a teasing grin, he says, "I'm pretty sure her real name is Yaoyorozu Momo, you just used her 'friends only' nickname."
For some reason that feels a lot more embarrassing than it should be, his cheeks start to flush which only causes Dazai to laugh, "Ha! Don't tell me you want to be her best friend~"
"Shut up," He huffs while hitting Dazai. With a slight nod of apology in Yaoyorozu's direction Chuuya promptly turns and begins marching back to the dorms. Dazai trails behind him laughing and teasing him, god, he's too tired for this.
-
The rest of the afternoon passes quickly, which is probably due to Chuuya's lack of sleep. When they got outside of the changing rooms Aizawa escorted them back to the dorms like usual, except this time he handed their phones over. Dazai was ecstatic to finally have something to do in his spare time, Chuuya would have been happy about it if he could actually look at the screen for longer than a few minutes. For some reason, he felt even more tired than before, which may have been because of the training session or threatening Mineta. Whatever the reason, looking at his phone screen for too long just makes his eyes sting.
Since they are no longer allowed to hide away in their rooms during free time Chuuya just found a seat in the main room and proceeded to zoom out. With Dazai sitting beside him he felt confident enough to do that but sleeping was out of the question, even with the fish next to him it was too dangerous. Being this tired he could easily fall asleep deeply and just not wake up when he's needed.
At some point, Dazai disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a fully cooked meal, which is so suspicious on so many levels. How did he cook all that in just a few minutes? How does it actually taste good? Why isn't there any crab when that's all Dazai wants to eat? Unfortunately, Chuuya has too many questions and not enough effort to ask.
When it's finally, blessedly, acceptable for him to go to bed he wastes no time getting there. With lightning speed he gets ready and changes before collapsing into bed with the hope he will be able to get some sleep. Unfortunately, his body or brain, whichever is at fault, is still on guard and stubbornly refusing to sleep.
He sits like that for a few minutes hating everything before his door slowly opens. Suddenly alert, Chuuya sits up to face the intruder and-
And it's just Dazai.
Sighing he flops back down, "What do you want?"
Chuuya can hear as Dazai shut the door and makes his way over to the bed, when he gets close enough he sits down on the edge. "I'm here to save my dog."
Ignoring the nickname he huffs a little, "Save me from what?"
Dazai stays silent for a second, it's just as Chuuya begins to get impatient he finally shifts and lays himself down next to Chuuya. Ah, so that's what he means. Nothing gets by the observant bastard, really he shouldn't be surprised the fucker picked up on his lack of sleep. So now here he is, trying to 'save' Chuuya by sleeping in the same bed and thus reducing how on guard he needs to be.
Well, Chuuya isn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Turning, Chuuya throws an arm over Dazai and gets comfortable. This isn't the first time they've slept in the same bed so he already knows the best way to go about it, keeping an arm around Dazai is just an extra reassurance the bastard is still alive and well. They usually share a bed on missions that take longer than a day, sure sometimes they could get away with having two beds or even being in separate rooms but it's easier this way. Easier to know that his partner is somewhere safe while Chuuya isn't awake to keep an eye on him.
Of course, there's also that other reason. The reason that they never talk about or acknowledge but are always aware of, maybe too aware at times. It's the reason why Chuuya's chest tightens when Dazai snuggles close like this, the reason why his face flushes when the idiot looks at him in adoration. It's the reason why they know each other so well, the reason that they can place their lives in each other's hands without a second of hesitation or regret. The reason that, despite all the insults and teasing, they hate working with anyone but each other.
They don't talk about that reason, perhaps for fear that if they do things will change. Having someone dear to you in the Mafia is always a bad idea, even more so for two people who always seem to lose what they want to hold close.
But for now, it's alright. For now, they can hold each other in the dark of Chuuya's room acknowledging that reason, for now, Chuuya can lightly press his lips to Dazai's forehead in thanks without anyone to question why.
Even before he drifts off, Chuuya just knows he's going to sleep well.