After Numuri, or as she said "Teacher Midnight" during school, said goodbye to him, Sonic was left alone with the huge UA center. He paused for a second to digest the information and breathe in a full breath of the smell of new ones.
"Master Midnight..." - He whispered to himself, trying out the new word. It sounded mature. With a smile spreading across his face with excitement, he began his journey deep into the school.
Along the way, he met all sorts of people. Some had mutations - one had extra legs like a spider, another literally levitated above the ground, and a third had tree-like horns growing out of his head. Sonic couldn't take his eyes off such variety.
"Wow!" - he thought, twisting his head around. He was so engrossed in looking at them that he almost crashed into a tall guy with wings behind him.
Of course, Sonic wasn't the only one ogling the others. Some people couldn't take their eyes off of this half-knee-sized blue hedgehog who for some reason was sporting red sneakers and white gloves on his hands either. He noticed some people whispering and pointing fingers at him, but Sonic ignored them.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he reached the right door. It was labeled "1-A". Sonic took a breath, took a deep breath, and clenched his fists in anticipation. This was it, the beginning of his school life.
Before Sonic could even think about how he should enter the classroom, strange sounds came from behind the door. At first, they were light, almost toy-like... explosions? They were followed by a loud argument where someone's voices were breaking into shouting.
Sonic's curiosity instantly took over. He, full of enthusiasm, pushed open the door.
The first thing that caught his eye was... a mummy? Yes, yes, right next to the blackboard, where the teacher usually stood, stood a figure completely wrapped in bandages. Only the tips of his dark hair and a pair of tired eyes were visible from beneath the layers of cloth. Maybe his quirk had something to do with toilet paper? - A funny thought flashed through Sonic's mind. And if he's a teacher, he must be very powerful.
The second thing he noticed was the students themselves. The whole room was buzzing like a beehive. In one part of the room, a blond boy with a rather explosive temper was shouting and waving his arms around, and across from him, a guy was standing and arguing with him in a high-pitched tone.
A girl with disheveled pink hair was watching them, and a scowling guy was sitting next to her. In another corner, a red-haired boy was sleeping on a desk, and at the next desk a girl who looked like a frog was trying to wake him up by poking him with her finger.
In the very center of the room stood a group of students, clearly discussing something very important, and in the foreground stood a guy with a serious face and fancy motor hands.
Finally, as if on cue, all the students in the classroom fell silent at once and turned their gazes to Sonic standing in the doorway.
The mummy man, who appeared to be the teacher, slowly turned his head toward Sonic. Through the gaps in his bandages, his tired but seemingly attentive gaze could be seen.
"You," he spoke in a steady and quiet voice, "come here."
Sonic, obeying, stepped confidently into the classroom and headed for the blackboard. As he walked, he had time to take another look around at all the students. They were all looking at him with obvious interest, which Sonic certainly liked. Finally reaching the teacher, he stopped, waiting for further instructions.
The mummy man coughed and muttered:
"I am Aizawa Shota, your class teacher." After that, he turned to the blackboard and started writing something on it.
"Aizawa... Shota..." - Sonic muttered to himself, a little embarrassed.
"Well," he thought to himself. - He should have a little fun."
Aizawa, ignoring Sonic's words turned to face the class, his tired eyes circling all the students as if trying to gauge their reaction to this news. Not a single muscle on his face trembled, but a well-hidden surprise still slipped into his voice, which he tried hard to keep even and unemotional.
"This is Sonic," he pronounced, "an exchange student. He'll be taking Minoru Mineta's place." He paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts, and then added:
"He's recommended by Principal Nezu and Midnight himself."
A recommendation from the headmaster himself was clearly something out of the ordinary. He had not expected such a turn of events.
"So," Aizawa continued, trying to keep his usual monotone tone, "try to get along with him. And he'll get along with you accordingly." There was hope in his voice that this little urchin wouldn't cause more trouble than Mineta.
There was complete silence in the classroom, with only occasional whispers. All the students looked at Sonic with interest and curiosity, trying to figure out who this new student was and why he had been given such a high recommendation.
"So that's why Mineta hasn't been seen in so long," the pink haired girl whispered, covering her mouth with her hand. Her eyes widened as if she had just realized something important.
"He must be cool if the headmaster himself recommended him," the red haired boy muttered, scrutinizing Sonic. There was respect and maybe a little envy in his voice.
"I wonder what his quirk is," the frog-faced girl muttered, tilting her head to the side. Her eyes looked at Sonic curiously, trying to discern something special about him.
All this whispering and discussion created an invisible aura around Sonic. He stood in the center of attention, feeling the stares of all these unusual students, and a mischievous smile played on his face.
Aizawa, after tolerating the whispers and discussions for a while, gave a command in an even voice:
"Sonic, take your seat." He didn't even bother to point out a specific spot.
Obediently, Sonic headed towards the vacant desks.
Walking down the aisle, he involuntarily noticed some details. The blond guy with spiky hair, whom he had noticed even as he entered, was smiling at him with an eerily wide smile.
And the dark-haired guy with the greenish tint to his hair was mumbling something indistinctly to himself, constantly glancing at Sonic. Sonic couldn't make out his words, but he could tell from the intonation that the muttering was referring to him. He must be thinking something about him. Or just a peculiar behavior.
He quickly found an empty seat and took a seat at the desk.
Sonic, as he settled in at his desk, quickly realized that the beginning of class promised to not be the most interesting.
Mr. A, as he mentally nicknamed Aizawa, was rolling out ultra tedious information with a monotone voice that was so boring it made his eyes water.
Sonic, though he tried to listen attentively, soon noticed that his thoughts were drifting off somewhere to distant galaxies and his whole body just craved movement.
Unable to bear the boredom, Sonic quietly opened his backpack and pulled out a padball. He began tapping it lightly and discreetly against the desk, keeping himself occupied with this harmless endeavor. The sound from the tapping was barely audible, but enough to get the attention of some of the students. Of course, not everyone was as engrossed in the lesson as Mr. A would have liked, and some of them began to watch what the new student was doing.
Among the stares directed at Sonic, there was one that particularly stood out. It was that of a boy with glasses, sitting somewhere in the middle of the class.
He was looking at Sonic with a disappointed look on his face, and there was a clear condemnation in his eyes. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his lips were tightly pressed together, as if he was extremely displeased with the new student's behavior.
He seemed to think Sonic was being frivolous and inappropriate in class. His disappointed look seemed to say:
"Is this really the one the principal recommended?"
It was a look of indignation and disappointment he couldn't hide.
Finally, to everyone's relief, the lesson came to an end. Mr. A, or Aizawa as he was called, finished his tedious lecture monotonously, and then, as if by accident, announced that the school was releasing the students for the next week so that they could train for the sports festival on their own.
With those words, he turned around and left the classroom, leaving the students alone with their thoughts and plans.
As soon as the door closed behind Aizawa, Sonic was immediately pounced upon by the students like a pack of hungry wolves on prey.
"What's your quirk?"
"Why are you so small?"
"Is it true that you were recommended by the headmaster himself?" - whispered the pink-haired girl, looking Sonic straight in the eyes.
Sonic, gathering his thoughts and preparing to answer the questions that interested everyone, was suddenly interrupted by the loud voice of a blond man with an explosive temper.
He stood in front of Sonic, glaring with his eyes and impatiently banging his fist on the desk.
"What are you all ranting about!" - he shouted, interrupting the general buzz.
"We've just been slipped another loser to take the place of the last one! His quirk is probably as shitty as his height." He spat out those words with undisguised contempt, and his face creased in a grimace of displeasure.
After those words, the classroom fell silent again, the tension literally hanging in the air.
Sonic frowned, an angry expression appearing on his face. He didn't like being underestimated.
It seemed this blond guy had just asked for trouble.
Sonic, not the least bit frightened by the blond's aggressive outburst, looked him straight in the eye without a shadow of fear. A mischievous smirk appeared on his face, which clearly didn't please the arrogant guy.
"Calm down, Vulcan," Sonic said calmly, as if he were talking about the weather. - Did you step on a cat today or something?"
He raised one eyebrow as if he didn't understand what the problem was and added a note of irony to his voice.
Without noticing some of the students took a few steps back, watching the situation unfold in horror.
They began to quietly pray for Sonic's well-being, realizing that he had just signed his own death warrant. It was very dangerous to make this blond man angry. They had already seen him tear things up when he was pissed off, and the little hedgehog who had just shown his disrespect was now in great danger.
The blond man, on the other hand, seemed to boil over with anger. Small explosions began to erupt from his hands, and his face twisted in a horrible grimace.
"What did you call me, shorty?" - he hissed, his voice shaking with rage. He took a step forward, preparing to lunge at Sonic and prove him right.
It was like he was playing with fire, realizing that it made him even angrier. But he was clearly enjoying it. At the moment when it seemed that the fight could not be avoided and the blond was about to lunge at him, the boy in glasses stood between them.
He, like a wall, separated the enraged blond and the grinning hedgehog. His face was stern and his voice sounded firm and confident.
"This is not the time or place to start a fight," he mouthed, looking at the blond with undisguised disapproval.
He then turned to the blond man he called Bakugo and continued:
"There's a sports festival for fighting. And if you start a fight here, we can all get a reprimand from the teachers, including you."
There was a sense of logic as well as severity in his words, which apparently caused Bakugo to temper his fervor a bit. He snorted unhappily, but stepped back, removing the blasts from his hands. However, his gaze was still filled with rage.
Before turning around and walking away from Sonic, Bakugo, still blazing with anger, threw one last, sizzling glare at him. His eyes glittered with rage, and his lips curved in a contemptuous grin.
"Stay out of the way, statistician," he spat out the words like poison.
"After all, I am future hero number one!" There was not an ounce of doubt in his voice, only an unshakable confidence in his own strength and superiority. He said these words so loudly that everyone in the class could hear his declaration. Then, turning on his heels, he left the center of the room with a quick and angry stride without waiting for a response, leaving Sonic surrounded by silence and a tense atmosphere. There was an ominous silence, broken only by quiet whispers, and all eyes turned to Sonic again, waiting for his reaction.
Sonic, as if completely oblivious to Bakugo's contemptuous words, turned to the boy in glasses who had apparently saved him from an imminent fight. He had a calm and even slightly amused smile on his face, and there wasn't an ounce of resentment or anger in his voice.
"Is Vulcan really like this all the time?" - He asked curiously, tilting his head to the side.
"Or is he just unlucky today?" There was genuine bewilderment in his words, and perhaps a slight disdain for Bakugo's furious outbursts. It was as if he didn't take his words seriously, and that probably irritated the proud blond even more.
The boy, hearing Sonic's question, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, as if it helped him gather his thoughts. He straightened his back, giving himself an even more stern and collected look, and answered Sonic in an even, calm voice.
"Bakugo is quite explosive, yes," he said, not hiding his disapproval.
"He often lets his emotions take over, which is not at all befitting a future hero." He was silent for a moment, and then, as if remembering the rules of etiquette, added:
"My name is Tenya Iida. Nice to meet you." He bowed slightly, holding his hand to his chest.
Sonic, as if nothing had happened, nonchalantly took note of Iida's words about Bakugo's explosive temper. It didn't seem to hurt or impress him at all. His attention quickly turned to other things, as if the scene that had just occurred was already in the past for him.
Suddenly, several students jumped up to him, their faces shining with admiration and delight. They began to talk excitedly, interrupting each other, expressing their surprise and approval of Sonic's act.
"That was so cool!" - exclaimed the pink-skinned girl, her eyes glistening with admiration.
"You stood up to Bakugo so bravely!" - the guy with red hair added, clapping Sonic on the shoulder.
"I thought he was going to kill you now!"
It seemed that Sonic had instantly become the hero of the day.
Iida, watching the students pounce on Sonic with admiring comments, saw this as a display of bad behavior and decided to intervene. He quickly stepped between Sonic and the crowd of students, straightened up and spoke clearly:
"Wait! How can we pounce on him with questions when we haven't even introduced ourselves? It's extremely impolite!" There was disapproval in his voice, and he clearly wanted to rectify the situation by giving her the right course of action from his point of view.
Confused under Iida's stern gaze, the students immediately fell silent and realized their blunder. They lowered their eyes, as if they felt guilty for their rude behavior.
"I'm Uraraka Ochako," the girl with pink hair said embarrassedly, rubbing the back of her head.
"My name is Asui Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsuyu," the frog-faced girl said, looking at Sonic calmly.
"I'm Kirishima Eijiro!" - cheerfully exclaimed the guy with red spiky hair, smiling full-mouth.
"I'm Midoriya Izuku," the green-haired guy muttered, nervously rubbing his notebook.
"Kaminari Denki," the yellow-haired guy said cheerfully, winking at Sonic.
And so one by one, each student introduced themselves.
After hearing all the students and their names, Kaminari, with his characteristic enthusiasm, turned his attention back to Sonic.
"Well, since you're so calm, you must have a very strong quirk, right?" - he merrily muttered, waiting for an answer with burning eyes. But then, it was as if something clicked in his head and he abruptly shrank back, his eyes rounded with bewilderment.
"Stop," he muttered, slowing his speech.
"How can you be so calm when your quirk is a hedgehog?" He looked questioningly at Sonic, waiting for an explanation. His question clearly reflected the general bewilderment that was in the air. The boys seemed to have even more questions than they had before.
Sonic felt a shadow of disappointment flicker across the students' faces as they realized that his quirk was probably "only" that he was a hedgehog.
He didn't like that. He didn't want them to underestimate him. He decided to quickly remedy the situation by adding mystery and intrigue.
"My quirk isn't just that I'm a hedgehog," he said, his voice sounding more confident and even a little mysterious now. The words worked like magic. The boys' eyes lit up with interest again, and their disappointment vanished. They had obviously expected more than just a hedgehog.
But Sonic decided not to reveal all the cards at once.
"But I won't show her now," he continued, raising one eyebrow and smiling mischievously.
"Let it be a surprise to you ... before the sports festival begins." He added a note of mystery to his voice and winked at the students, causing them to speculate on his quirk.
Midoriya, as if snapping out of his thoughts, was once again immersed in a stream of mumbling, his eyes dashing around frantically. As usual, he started going over every possible scenario in his head, trying to solve the mystery of Sonic's hidden quirk.
"Hidden quirk... That's so interesting..." - he muttered, his voice was quiet, but he could hear the genuine excitement in it.
"The possibilities... ..." He began to quickly jot something down in his notebook, adding more and more theories. His fingers flickered across the pages as if he was trying to keep up with his thoughts. Midoriya was in his element, immersed in thoughts of power.
Iida, noticing that his classmate was once again engrossed in his mutterings and seemed to have forgotten the rules of etiquette, adjusted his glasses again as if to call for order. He straightened up, giving his voice a great sternness.
"It will be fair," he declared, "since Sonic doesn't know about our quirks. Thus, it will create a level playing field for all participants at the sports festival." His words sounded like a call for fairness and open competition, and he hoped that such a state of affairs would suit everyone.
After Iida's words about fairness and a level playing field, the students seemed to finally calm down and began to go about their business.
Some of them took out their textbooks and started repeating the material, some of them started discussing the upcoming sports festival, and some of them were just idly waiting for the next lesson.
Midoriya kept muttering to himself as he wrote down his thoughts in his notebook, while Kaminari amused himself by throwing paper balls at his classmates.
Sonic, taking advantage of the lull, quietly sat down at his desk and began to study his new classmates.
The classroom door creaked open, and Mr. A appeared on the doorstep, with his usual tired and nonchalant look.
The class instantly fell silent, and each student, as if on command, took their seat. The class continued, and Sonic felt dejection take over him.
His first day at UA was proving to be frankly frustrating. The lessons dragged on endlessly, and the material Aizawa was presenting was so tedious and monotonous that Sonic fought sleep with all his might.
Sleep came upon him with such force that he had already fallen asleep four times, and each time he was awakened, as if on cue, by Mr. Aizawa. His voice, quiet and monotonous, had no invigorating effect at all; on the contrary, it only made him sleepier.
Sonic, though he tried to focus and not succumb to sleepiness, still felt his eyes closing in on themselves. He realized that these classes were absolutely not for him and that he needed to find a way to deal with them. Otherwise, he risked sleeping through all of his study days at UA.