Sam was not looking forward to living in such a confined area with the brats.
He liked having his own space and his own bathroom.
Now he had to share with these kids.
But that was the least of his concerns at the moment.
He was positive that they would ask about Ra.
If they asked, he was certain he would have to explain his past in order for them to get the situation.
He didn't want to do that.
While he did grow to like these kids, Sam wasn't aware of something that some of the faculty likely forgot about.
'One of them is a mole…'
Sam didn't know who it was. But he was positive they would be in his class.
He had a few guesses, but he wasn't sure.
This meant that one of them was an expert in hiding their real emotions.
Nevertheless, Sam would uncover them. He didn't know when, but he would. And may God have mercy on that person. He wouldn't.
He opened the door to the dormitory and immediately saw that the commons were empty.
"Where are they?"
Almost as if to answer his question, he heard stomping and the cries of the excited kids upstairs.
"Aizawa said I am on the top floor. My stuff is already there. Assholes. Even when I told them to not go through my shit, they do it anyway."
Sam felt annoyed, but he was done being angry. It served no purpose.
He saw the elevator and got in it after pressing the button to call it.
He saw the button for the top floor and pushed it.
After that, he just waited as it lifted him up.
After a few seconds, the door opened and he exited the elevator. However, to his shock, he found no signs of anyone on this floor.
He could still hear the loud students below him now.
"Did they give me this whole floor?"
He went to the solitary door.
He saw a note on it.
He ripped it off the door and brought it to his face.
"Hello Suzuki-kun. I'm sorry we moved your belongings without your consent, but I hope granting you this floor for yourself would be a good apology for that."
Sam's eyes widened. He kept reading.
"The bathroom is also yours, since no other student resides on that floor. I hope you enjoy your stay. Nezu."
He looked at the letter he just read.
He felt his rage about them going through his shit again fade.
"I guess I can let it go this time, rat."
Sam opened the door to his room and saw the boxes they brought from his old room.
"I guess I better get to work."
Sam decided it was time to unload the boxes and get this room comfortable.
———
"Ashido-san, are you sure this is a good idea? Aizawa-sensei said that the top floor is for Sam! We should ask for permission before-"
"It'll be fine! Sensei only said that he has a room on that floor. That means the floor itself is not his property! So we will just go and check it out!"
Currently, the students were just wrapping up their room decoration contest.
They saw each other's rooms (besides Mineta's) and chose which one was the best. After they finished looking at the girls rooms, Ashido suddenly vocalized that they missed Sam's room.
The others were not positive if they should bother Sam, since they knew how introverted he was.
But they never got the chance to visit him in the hospital.
Only heroes and police had access to meet with him.
They were confused as to why, but they were certain it had something to do with Ra.
Still, they feel sad that they weren't able to see him, so they wanted to welcome him back and hang out with him.
This was why the other students joined Mina on the elevator to the top floor.
The moment it opened, they saw that the floor was identical to all of theirs, but they were clearly empty. Only one room had a nameplate.
Ashido walked up to the door and knocked a few times.
"Sam! Open up!"
She yelled with excitement.
The other students winced, worried that Sam wouldn't appreciate the interruption.
"Just a sec."
Luckily, he didn't sound annoyed or angry. At least, they hoped he wasn't mad. They didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.
They were aware how Sam liked his privacy and were more than fine with keeping out of his business. But, they wanted to be his friend still.
Suddenly, the door opened and the students saw him wearing a T-shirt and some basketball shorts. He also had a long pair of socks that hid his ankles.
"What's up?"
He greeted them, completely chill.
Ashido gave him a big smile.
"Sam! I was so worried about you!"
She immediately rushed into his arms and gave him a big hug.
Sam stood there and let her hug him until she let him go.
The other students couldn't help but stare in shock at the shameless pink girl.
"So brave…"
Iida said seeing that.
"You said it. That's like lying down next to a sleeping bear."
Sero added.
Sam heard that and felt his eye twitch.
'These fucking brats…'
He took a deep breath and decided to just be chill.
"How can I help you guys?"
"We missed you and wanted to check up on you!"
Ashido said, still as cheerful as always.
"Yeah! Plus, we were doing a room decoration contest! We want to see what your room looks like!"
Kirishima added, making Ashido nod her head dramatically.
Sam didn't know why, but he just sighed and moved aside.
"Come in. Just don't touch anything."
The students looked shocked, but then excited.
One at a time they entered, but they immediately ran into the backs of Ashido and Kirishima—who were the first to enter.
"Jeez, why don't you move?"
Kaminari complained after bumping into Kirishima.
But both him and Mina were frozen—looking at the wall in astonishment.
When he looked up, he saw what they saw and gawked at it too.
"What's wrong with you guys?"
Yaoyorozu enters and looked around.
She saw that it was bland.
Just some exercise equipment, white sheets and pillows. A rug. A desk with some pens and papers on it.
The walls were also bland, save for the Leopard skin hanging from the wall. Other than that, the room was…
Momo's thoughts shut off for a second.
'Wait… a leopard skin?'
She looked back at the wall to confirm what she saw and sure enough, it was a giant leopard skin.
The other students finally entered and saw for themselves the giant leopard skin.
They gawked at it for a solid minute.
"What's wrong with you guys?"
Sam asked, oblivious to why they are acting weird.
The silence is interrupted by Koda, who screamed and ran out of the room in tears all of a sudden.
They watched with some worry at their animal loving friend running in tears.
"What's his problem."
Sam interjected.
"Well… Koda-Chan is a big animal lover. Kero."
Tsuyu answered Sam's question.
Sam nodded in understanding.
He was certain that if he was caught with that Leopard skin by PETA, he would be harassed until he was arrested for killing an endangered species.
But Sam didn't care. It was either him or the Leopard. and Sam was the most stubborn guy in Africa.
"Dude! Is this THE Leopard?"
Sero suddenly turned to Sam and stared in admiration.
He remembered when Sam told them about being attacked by a leopard at the hot spring.
"I totally thought you were telling some cool action story! You really were attacked by a leopard?!?"
Kaminari added, absolutely stunned at the giant leopard skin before his eyes.
"That's a leopard skin? B-But aren't leopards smaller than lions? That's way too big!"
Mineta was shaking in fear, staring into the empty eye holes of the leopard skin while hiding behind Shoji.
Sam rolled his eyes at the little perverts antics.
"Yeah. This motherfucker was a big guy. He practically owned the Nyungwe Forest. Fucker tormented some villages outside the forest for years."
They couldn't help but look at Sam in a different light now that they know he was telling the truth about the leopard.
They didn't think Sam was a liar, but they thought he exaggerated the size. They thought he might have been attacked by a small one.
But the skin proved otherwise.
"So. Damn. MANLY!"
Kirishima dramatically screamed with tears running down his eyes.
The girls were the most shocked.
They didn't hear about Sam's meeting with a leopard at the hot spring, since they were separated.
"So, what's up? You guys doing alright?"
He asked, snapping them out of their reverie.
"O-Oh! Yeah! We just wanted to check if you were okay!"
Ashido snapped out of her daze and got back to her positive self.
"We were sorry we couldn't visit you at the hospital. They wouldn't let us visit."
Midoriya added—looking down in shame.
Sam hummed in understanding.
"I see. I figured that was the case."
Sam could tell they felt really bad about not visiting him.
"It's okay. Really. I'm not mad."
The students felt a bit less weight off their shoulders hearing Sam try to ease their hearts.
Sam coughed—trying to change the topic.
"Anyways. Todoroki, Midoriya, Kirishima, Iida and most likely Momo. You guys did something fun in Kamino, didn't you?"
Sam crossed his arms and leaned against his bed frame.
The addressed students flinched.
"U-Uh I-"
"You see, as the class rep I had to make sure-"
"We didn't hurt anyone or even interfere I swear! That's totally unmanly!"
"Like Iida said! As the vice-rep, I had to make sure they were safe!"
"…sorry."
They tried to justify themselves to Sam, failing miserably.
Except for Todoroki who straight up apologized to him.
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I don't get why you are apologizing to me Todoroki. And the 4 of you should chill. I couldn't care less about your rescue Bakugo."
The 5 students stopped their talking and looked at Sam in surprise.
He gave them a confused look.
"You thought I was angry at you guys? Me? The guy who tore up the whole damn city?"
The Bakugo rescue team looked at Sam—finally with a look of understanding.
"S-Sorry Sam. It's hard to forget you're our age sometimes."
Midoriya sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
The others nodded their heads.
Sam rubbed his temples.
He understood why they would think that way.
He was the unofficial big brother of the class. He had the experience they lacked so they always tried to seek his advice. This was seen when he offered advice during the summer camp.
He didn't hate it though.
"But, I feel I must ask you something. For the sake of our safety. Who was that Ra individual?"
Iida all of a sudden got serious and brought up the topic that everyone wanted to ask him about but didn't have the courage to bring up.
Sam looked at Iida with a blank face. He then turned his attention to the others—narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
He still didn't trust all of them.
'It was only a matter of time. But do I need to share my past? Surely not… right?'
"I'll just say this much. Ra is bad news. The ones backing him up are worse. They only want me. Not you. You don't need to worry."
Sam admitted.
That did nothing to ease the worry.
"But what about you?!?"
Toru asked with worry.
The others also looked at Sam with concern.
"Yeah! So what if they don't attack us! They attack you, that's no different from them attacking us!"
Kirishima pitched in.
""Yeah!""
The other students simultaneously agreed.
Sam watched this with wide eyes.
Then, he smiled lightly.
'These idiots…'
They were willing to deal with trained killers if they could help him.
He couldn't help but feel touched.
Still, he needed to warn them.
"I understand and appreciate your concern. You are correct to be concerned. These guys… they are…"
Sam gulped.
Images entered his mind of his past in Africa.
He remembered the Pale Hand and the many war crimes they committed.
He remembered how much they enjoyed committing those war crimes.
Now, these kids might be exposed to such depravity.
Thoughts like those began to flood Sam's mind.
He kept debating whether he should tell them about his life in Africa or stay silent.
He started to feel his heartbeat race.
"You don't need to say anything about them."
Iida said. His voice deadly serious.
Sam gasped.
He looked up at Iida—the one who asked him that question—in confusion.
As if to ease his concerns he fixed his glasses on his head a bit.
"I trust you, Sam. You are a friend of ours. If you don't want to tell us something, that's fine. We understand."
The others nodded with warm smiles.
They felt bad for probing him and eased off.
Sam was even more confused.
"Then why ask?"
"I just wanted to know what we were dealing with. Not your past. That's yours to share on your own will. However, I would ask to tell the minimum about this Ra and the people he works for."
Iida clarified.
Sam looked around the room and saw the others nod in agreement.
Sam took a deep breath, relieved he didn't need to relive the past.
He might come clean, like he did for Rumi and Doctor Hasegawa. But for now, he would rather keep his personal life to himself. That may change in the future.
He smiled at them.
"Thank you. Really."
Sam nodded at them all.
They smiled back at him.
He felt comforted that they weren't pushy like the adults were. Sometimes, he wondered if these brats were the real heroes compared to the frauds out there today.
'These kids are too kind for this world. Let's let them live in ignorance for a bit longer.'
He would only tell them of the power of the Pale Hand. Everything else about them, he'd keep mum about.
For now, he would let these kids be kids.