Edit 5/2024: Changed title name from "Unmerited Apprehension" to "Change Each Other". (I thought it fit better.)
- - -
For the next couple of days, Iida was completely swamped with responsibilities and assignments. Thursday morning, the day prior to their license exams, was introduced by their teacher Aizawa as a day of straight quizzes and Hero Lessons. They started the day with three core classes, speed-reviewing English vocab, parabolas, and Kanji, before being sent off to an early lunch. What followed afterwards was a slew of intense training sessions—Ultimate Move Training, Hero Training, and a period of Cardio. As such, there wasn't a single class that day that didn't leave Iida exhausted afterwards.
Kick training came first. He started with one hundred engine-boosted kicks, each aimed at a target in the hands of one of Ectoplasm-sensei's clones. Following that, he conducted several endurance tests out on the track, where he practiced using his Recipro Burst. There was something familiar about that—hitting top speed while Ectoplasm supervised from the sidelines. He didn't realize it until after he slowed down from one of his sprints—panting, and staring down at his metal boots.
I practiced here with Hatsume once, he blinked, feeling a droplet of sweat drip off of his forehead, and found himself unexpectedly smiling. We crashed into a wall that day. To think that was the way we became friends...
Through the nostalgia though, Iida stood up straight and resumed the rest of his hard work. After fifth period, the class took one last first-aid review in Hero Lessons followed by a mock rescue exercise, and then for the last period of the day, Aizawa ordered everyone to gather one last time in the gym.
Completely wiped and now smelling pungently of old sweat, every member of the class lumbered to Gym Beta for the final period of the day. Given this was a different gym than where they'd started, the concrete platforms and walkways constructed in Gym Gamma were absent here. Instead, an empty, wood-floor court replaced it, with Aizawa standing next to All Might in its very center—arms crossed. It was rare for them to use this place these days—it'd become more of a recreational gym because of how heavily Gamma was used over it in class; but Class 1-B needed it right now, so they didn't have any other options.
"Welcome to your final period of the day," Aizawa greeted as everyone filed into the room, breathing heavily in their hot hero costumes, "After this class, you all will be officially on-track to becoming heroes. I've already given enough speeches for the day, so I see no reason to say more—other than do your best, and go to bed early tonight. This is going to be a self-directed cardio class, meaning you all will be free to choose whatever exercises you deem relevant for your final hour of training."
He nodded there, sending All Might a glance, and All Might straightened up and continued where Aizawa had left off.
"That means you'll all need to change into your gym uniforms," he said, "When you're all done, meet back in this main room for cool-down stretches, and then you'll be on your own for the rest of the hour. There's a track, weight rooms, and obviously a court here at your disposal, too. Work hard, and remember to give it your all until the very last minute is up." All Might gripped his fist triumphantly, making all of the students stiffen in surprise when he took on his muscle form for the first time in weeks.
"Come back from tomorrow as heroes, everyone! We're all rooting for you!" he cheered, his voice suddenly booming with boldness despite the smoke that curled off of his strained form, "DO YOUR BEST, PLUS ULTRA!"
Suddenly invigorated, everyone in the class pumped their fists into the air as All Might did, returning back an energetic: "PLUS ULTRA!" before he shrank back down to his previous size—hacking up a lung now from the effort of maintaining muscle form. Aizawa hid a smile after he did that, shaking his head and thinking: That scoundrel won't cease to be All Might until the day he dies. before dismissing the class with a flick of his hand.
In response, 1-A scattered, and the day ended in a lackluster but calm manner an hour later.
By that point in the day, the sky was starting to turn to a late indigo blue. Iida, after finishing up his final reps in the weight room, headed to the lockers like everyone else to take a hot shower. He was greeted by the sight of a semi-occupied locker room, and noticed some of the boys already tearing off their costumes to leave. He realized Kaminari and Mineta were particularly eager in their efforts, and assumed they likely had their sights set on a cozy bath in the bathhouse instead.
I suppose that makes sense. Everyone would do well to relax until tomorrow to prevent any muscle cramps, Iida mused thoughtfully, though as he opened his locker and pulled off his gym shirt, he sighed realizing he wouldn't be joining them today.
As for me though, I have things I need to do still. he thought to himself, pausing with his gaze fixated on his folded school uniform, Before I do anything else, I need to see her.
For that reason, Iida didn't hesitate again on the way to the showers. He cleaned himself up within five minutes, and slipped on his uniform the moment he'd toweled off. With one last glance in the mirror to check his hair, he rushed out the door at a moderate pace—ignoring his classmates as they left for home. Any other day, Iida would've joined them, but now that everything school-related had finished for the day, he only had his sights set on one place:
The development studio.
Luckily, the Beta lockers weren't very far from the development studio, so Iida was able to arrive there within a very short amount of time. He walked briskly—without running—until the familiar hallways came into his view, along with the studio's sign. A few meters away, he could already hear a plethora of distant sounds—echoes of machinery in use. It already made his insides squirm as he imagined himself finding her with her welding mask on, hard at work on her final project. Would she be happy to see him again after days of radio silence? What expression would she make?
That's why I have to enter to find out, he told himself, sucking in and letting out a deep breath as he stopped in front of the door, No more beating around the bush. When I see her, I'll make things right. It's what I have to do.
Then at long last, Iida opened the door.
...And was hit hard with a blast of loud noises.
He blinked in shock, putting his hands over his ears as the sounds of table saws, welders, and laser cutters filled his ears. With a mere glance, Iida realized that the room was not as unoccupied at this hour as he had hoped. Hatsume always stayed late after school of her own accord, but since today was the day before finals, a fistful of support students were still here even after the bell had rung.
A few of them glanced up at him when he entered, but the majority didn't even seem to notice him enter the room—implying they were hard at work still. It forced him to have to actually look for Hatsume amongst the mass of students, but even when he squinted and peered around all sides, he couldn't locate her.
"Where—?" he started to say to himself, but was cut off by a student walking behind him and accidentally bumping him in the back. He thought he heard a rushed apology as they slipped outside the front door.
When the person was gone, Iida grimaced to himself awkwardly, I really don't fit in here. I should make this somewhat quick, if that's possible...
Iida was about to venture deeper into the room, when off to the side, he heard a hastened: "Ah, ah, aah!" cutting off his footsteps. He turned in surprise, and found that a gloved hand was reaching out to stop him in his tracks.
"Not another step, hero student! I'm afraid I have to ask you to stay behind that tape line on the floor. It's too dangerous in here."
Iida blinked in the view of Hatsume's teacher, Maijima Higari, and after stumbling awkwardly back behind the tape line, he bowed to apologize for his intrusion.
"M-my apologies, Maijima-sensei! I didn't mean to come at such a bad time."
The teacher shook his head though, insisting there was no harm done, "Oh, don't worry about it. This is just for today. Did you come by to request for something? My students are all preoccupied, but I can squeeze in a costume repair, if it isn't too big of a fix."
"A-ah, no, that's not why I'm here," he explained awkwardly, chopping his hand about as he spoke. The prospect of bringing up Hatsume was starting to make him feel strangely nervous. "I'm actually here to find a friend. Do you have a minute to talk?"
Unexpectedly, a flash of understanding crept into the teacher's posture, followed by a frown of dread. Maijima paused silently, thinking for a moment, and then turned to exit out into the hall.
"Step outside for a minute."
The sheer seriousness that'd entered his tone made the hairs on Iida's neck stand up. He blinked in confusion a few times, before nodding, and ducking back out into the mute hallway. When the door shut behind them, the sounds of saws and hammers quieted to a muffled hum like before.
"This is about Hatsume," Maijima guessed, and Iida immediately jumped at the sound of her name—stomach fluttering.
"Y-yes," he admitted, scratching his neck. He hadn't expected the teacher to figure it out so quickly, "Do you know where she is? I'd like to talk to her if I can..."
"You don't know where she is either, then..."
Iida's gut suddenly plummeted at that statement, his eyes widening.
Wait... what?
"What do you mean?" he asked, eyebrows sharpening to form a concerned expression, "Is she not here?"
Maijima sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall, "That's the thing. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. I haven't seen her at all, yet some of her classmates say they've been seeing her on and off all day. For the past several days, her presence here has just about turned to rumor. It's seriously the strangest thing I've heard about her all month." he shook his head, grunting in frustration.
"I would pry about it, but I've been too busy setting things up for tomorrow. The invention showcase is happening here on campus while the lot of you are taking your exam, so I've been making phone calls about appointments, and filling out paperwork to prove my identity, etcetera, since eight o'clock this morning. Let me tell ya... teaching can be a real hellscape when it comes to legal nonsense..."
He paused when he noticed Iida's attention waning, and quickly changed the subject.
"...but you don't care about any of that," Maijima shrugged, moving on, "The point is, I haven't got the slightest clue where Hatsume is right now. You'll have to probably come back tomorrow when tests are over—maybe sometime around six. At the very least, I'll be here to tell you if she stopped by."
A knot of disappointment formed in Iida's heart, but he gave a reluctant nod. He should've probably figured sooner, but up until now he hadn't accounted for the possibility that Hatsume might be too busy to meet with him. An invention showcase was different from a hero exam, after all—she could get away with working all night on her project and suffer little to no consequences, but if Iida trained all night instead of slept, he'd be in devastatingly bad shape for tomorrow. The other support students currently hard at work in the studio probably had that same thought process.
"I see... yes, I'll come back tomorrow then," Iida relented at last, realizing there wasn't anything else he could do. "Thank you, Maijima-sensei."
"Of course," the teacher said gruffly as Iida started to turn away, though before he was gone, Maijima asked one last question. "Would you like me to tell her you came by? If I see her, that is."
Iida was quick to shake his head though, "No, don't worry about it. I intend to meet with her in-person the first chance that I get."
With that, Iida finally left—a seed of growing unease planting in his heart. He'd spent the entire day working up the nerve to see her, only to be turned down by an unforeseen circumstance. What a bother...
I'll just try again tomorrow, he decided reluctantly, By then, my exam will be done with anyway, and I'll be able to put all of my focus into righting things with her.
As his form disappeared down the hall however, Maijima clicked his tongue in irritation. He turned back to the studio door, considering his students with a worried expression on his face.
"Hatsume..." he mulled, grimacing to himself, "How long are you going to stay cooped up in that warehouse? It's been almost two days..."
* * *
The following day felt like an entire week had passed in only ten hours.
Breakfast was a blur. Costume cases were piled in the lobby, the chairs in the dining area were almost all filled, and even the hot-water heaters ran dry for the first time as everyone rushed to get ready by seven o'clock sharp.
"Has anyone seen my water bottle!?" someone shouted.
"Do you think there's still time to curl my hair?" someone else said.
"I had a dream last night that we all failed...!"
Iida almost fell over backwards when Kaminari sprinted past him with a basket full of clothes, and realized with a raise of an eyebrow that he was carrying them from the dryer, to his suitcase on the floor. Someone forgot to do their laundry last night, apparently.
Amongst all the chaos, Iida sat himself down on the couch and waited for a good while—eying those that ran past. There were still fifteen minutes before the bus was supposed to arrive, so Iida had a little bit of time on his hands until then. He was already ready, so there was no hurry on his end. He'd eaten a solid breakfast and put on his uniform somewhere around 6:25.
"Everyone start gathering your things, the bus is ten minutes out," their teacher Aizawa said, garnering a plethora of distressed glances from some of the others who weren't ready yet, "We've got a long drive ahead of us, so don't drag your feet."
After that statement, the common area slowly filled up with students—one by one, each of them picking up their costume cases, and standing idly around until they were directed otherwise. Aizawa flopped onto the couch to nap for a while, and then at exactly seven, he was up on his feet again, ready to direct traffic.
"Line up in your attendance order, and follow me in a single file to the parking lot..."
From there, what awaited them was a very long bus ride to the Takoba Stadium. For the first half hour or so, everyone rode in silence—many choosing to sleep just a little bit longer while they waited. But as the sun gradually rose higher in the sky, people started waking back up, and eventually a game of shiritori was started in the back of the bus. That persuaded the others to perk up, and by around eight o'clock, everyone for the most part was awake.
The bus didn't roll to a stop for about another hour, but when it eventually did, everyone pointed and gaped in awe at the menacing size of the stadium before them.
"Th-there it is! The place of our exam!" Mineta pointed, voice trembling anxiously.
"Mon dieu, it's... enormous...!" Aoyama added.
On cue, Aizawa stood up at that point to gesture for everyone to exit the bus, and one by one, they all eventually did. The second they stepped outside, everything seemed to instantly feel more real. Right before them, towering over their heads, was the stadium where (hopefully) all of them would walk out with hero licenses. It brought on a chill that wracked even the likes of Iida as they all collectively realized that.
"I'm getting nervousss!" someone said.
"I didn't know it would be at Tokoba..." Midoriya added.
Mineta, whom had already voiced his apprehension a moment ago, piped back up with even more concern now that he actually stood in front of the building. "What do you think we're going to have to do for the exam?" he grimaced, "Ha... I wonder if I can really get a license."
As Aizawa finally exited from the bus though, he slunk behind Mineta and gave him a single slap on the shoulder—startling him enough that he turned back around.
"It's not 'I wonder'," Aizawa corrected, "Go and get one."
Mineta jolted, but then upon recognizing his teacher, straightened his posture and mustered a semi-confident: "Ah de—definitely!"
Then, satisfied, Aizawa let out a sigh, and stood in front of everyone with a serious but determined expression on his face—one of a proud teacher ready to cheer on his students.
"If you guys are able to pass this exam and get your provisional licenses, then you will no longer be eggs..." he gripped his fist, and then spread his fingers open in a symbolic gesture, "You will become chicklings. Incubated to become semi-professional heroes."
The class collectively stiffened at that, basking in a moment of silence until Aizawa dropped his hand, and left them with a nod, and the words:
"Do your best."
From there, within half an hour of Aizawa's final speech, the entirety of class 1-A filed into Tokoba stadium, and took on the exam that would go on to decide the fate of their future at UA academy.
* * *
Stepping out of the bus at 5pm, Iida Tenya felt like a different person.
His classmates bounded out of the bus ahead of him, laughing and skipping their way back to the dorms once they'd retrieved their costume cases from the bus storage.
"Remember to wash them again before Monday!" Aizawa called after Sato and Sero, who'd practically begun sprinting away the moment they had their things gathered. It was honestly a marvel that they could still have energy after such an exhausting day, but Iida supposed that the excitement of receiving their licenses was still a fresh feeling.
Well... for almost everyone. he grimaced, taking particular notice of Todoroki and Bakugo, who both still had heavy expressions after hearing news of their failures. It's really such a shame for them, but it's reassuring to know that they can still earn their licenses this year. Hopefully they don't fall too far behind.
Once out of the bus however, Iida had all but moved on already. It was admittedly hard to stifle the glow he felt within himself—that immense pride, knowing that he at long last had taken his first true step to becoming a fully-fledged hero.
Iida withdrew his wallet from his pocket, and grinned.
Today, he'd gotten his license.
"Awwe, I see that look, Iida! That adorable smirk just now!"
Shocked, he spun around, and almost had a mini-heart attack when the color pink greeted him. It was Ashido though, with Hagakure standing cheerily next to her.
He scoffed embarrassedly as they stared at him, and tugged his case out of the storage compartment with an unintentional amount of roughness. "I smile! This isn't some new information, surely!" he then grunted as his heavy case swung down to his side, and looked back at the two girls with a bashful but dismissive expression, "It's only reasonable I would be happy about this. We've been training for this for months, after all. Now excuse me..."
They both giggled as he stalked stiffly past them, but found himself smiling in secret as he went his way back in the direction of campus.
The hardest part was over now. He'd gotten his hero's license without a hitch—scoring 80 points in all. It was a respectable score, too—though he'd honestly hoped for slightly better, but he supposed in a year from now, he probably wouldn't even care. He'd just have to do better for his license renewal in the future, whenever he upgraded to a national hero license.
All that was left for him now, after passing his exam, was his postponed meeting with Hatsume; and in some ways, he was more nervous about that than he'd been about his exam.
Taking a test is one thing, he thought, swinging his case anxiously as he walked, I've always been apt at proving myself to others. I was wary of the other schools during the tests, yes, but I know where my skills lie, and thus was able to act calmly whenever the situation called for it. This, though... he grimaced, pushing his glasses higher on his face, Hatsume...
Iida was... admittedly not confident in his knowledge of women. Was Hatsume fairly low-maintenance and somewhat of a tomboy? Yes, but she was still a girl, and that automatically meant that there would be the occasional emotional disconnect between them. He'd seen it happen before—their first meeting in the sports festival, he'd grossly misunderstood her motivations and gotten himself into trouble. Not to mention, there was the time he'd made her cry after yelling at her for tinkering with his boots, and the various other times she'd confided in him and surprised him at just how human she could be—with her anxieties over not having friends, and emotional scars from getting locked in the school warehouse...
And oh yeah. The fact that her feelings for him had completely flown over his head until three days ago.
I can really be a fool sometimes when it comes to her. he scowled silently to himself, But this is something that I can't screw up. It is imperative that our conversation today goes well. If I don't talk to her soon, if I don't say what needs to be said...
His grip tightened, but when he thought about it a little more, Iida realized that he actually had no idea what was or wasn't going to come out of this. Heck, he didn't even know what he was going to say to her. He wasn't planning on confessing, of course—Iida still wasn't sure if a relationship was something he wanted yet. He was more open to the idea after talking things out with Midoriya, but he still had some concerns lingering in the back of his mind that were holding him back. The only frustrating problem about that, was he didn't even know what those concerns were.
Regardless though, Iida pressed on until he arrived at Height's Alliance with his items securely in-tow. He then hurried to the laundry room to find an open washing machine, and stuffed his jumpsuit inside on the appropriate spin setting. He would've drycleaned them, but there wasn't time. He needed to hurry if he was going to make it to the development studio before it closed.
Speaking of which, am I even presentable? he cringed, trying to see his face in the reflection of the glass, Is my hair tidy? How about the rest of me? he sniffed the underside of his arm, and winced. The lockers at the stadium hadn't had any showers available, Will she notice if I'm still sweaty?
He happened to glance at the wall clock at that moment though, and realized that there just wasn't time. He wasn't sure how long Hatsume and Maijima would wait around—he needed to catch them as soon as possible. For that reason, Iida swung up his suitcase and plopped it on top of the washing machine to retrieve for later. He'd deal with his clothes again when he returned.
Without looking back, Iida hurried out of the laundry room, and threw on his shoes again to burst out the front door. He heard a friend or two from behind calling out to him in curiosity, but he didn't stay to explain himself. Iida had a door key—if he happened to get locked out later, he'd be fine. The others didn't need to worry.
The second Iida stepped foot again on UA campus, he slowed down—gradually starting to feel his nerves creeping back in. By the time he passed Gym Beta, his heart was already pounding; but eventually, he at long last reached the building that housed the development studio.
Iida approached the front door hesitantly, pausing for a minute at the handle, and then let out a sigh in an attempt to calm his racing pulse. Unexpectedly, it didn't slow. It pounded and pounded instead—for whatever reason drumming even harder behind his ribs now than before. It took him a minute of pondering to figure out why that was, but when he ultimately did, he felt like a fool for not realizing it straight-away.
I can't believe this, but... Iida swallowed, doing his best to ignore the new sweat that'd formed on his neck, I'm terrified right now.
It took several more deep breaths to steady himself after that, but eventually, Iida mustered the courage to open the door. From there, he took a few turns past empty classrooms and labs, until he at long last caught sight of that familiar door sign.
Iida was here at last: the development studio.
The hallways were eerily quiet as Iida crept towards the door. The drilling and pounding noises from yesterday were gone now, not even a peep escaping beyond the metal frame. That struck Iida as strange—though he supposed it kind of made sense, given that the tests were over now. He'd just sort of assumed that if Hatsume was there, she'd be making a racket working on something like she always did. Was it possible that she and Maijima had left after all?
Don't back out now—! he insisted however, shaking his head to restore some courage, It's just quiet because their evaluations are done. Maijima will probably be there at his desk for another hour, anyway.
Thus, with trembling hands, Iida pushed open the door to the studio, and held his breath.
The door opened with some difficulty as it always did, but the room itself was far from its typical state. Rather than being in chaos and disarray, the tables were vacant and clean, the bins were sorted, and the storage cabinets had nothing loose hanging out of them. It looked almost entirely unused for once.
Iida felt his heart sink. There was nothing here after all...
"Ah, you came back."
Iida jumped like he'd done in his previous visit here, and huffed annoyedly at himself when he realized the culprit was once again Maijima-sensei. He felt dumb for jumping twice at this man, but he admittedly didn't have a large presence at times. Especially today, Iida realized, because when he truly looked at the teacher, Iida noticed that he was wearing business-casual attire rather than his usual hero costume.
"Maijima-sensei." he greeted quickly, nodding his head in a quick bow, "Yes, I came back at six, as requested. Though, I um... wasn't expecting the room to be so empty."
"Ah, well," Maijima shrugged nonchalantly, though there was an odd amount of slowness to his gesture, "The evaluations weren't done here. They were held in the cafeteria. All of the inventions will be relocated by the students tomorrow, so until then, I decided to tidy this place up a bit in my spare time." he shook his head after saying that however, "That's not particularly important though—you came here to see Hatsume, right?"
Iida stiffened, but nodded—secretly wondering why this conversation was still dragging on. Why wasn't she here?
"May I ask why, Iida Tenya?"
There was a sudden coldness in Maijima's voice that struck Iida like lightning. His gut leapt, and suddenly the air seemed to turn incredibly frigid. Maijima's tone had been very authoritative just now—one that felt uncanny coming from a casual man like him. It was akin to Aizawa's quiet scolding voice that he only ever used when extremely disappointed.
"J... just to talk to her," Iida said, picking his words very cautiously now—though he wished he knew why he had to, "I accidentally offended her last Tuesday. We... had a disagreement. I wanted to come and apologize..."
His voice trailed off there, and Maijima leaned forward slowly to rest his chin on his interlaced hands. "So it wasn't to discuss anything else, then? It wasn't about some sort of... secret project?"
Iida blinked, all of a sudden completely lost.
"A... what?"
When Maijima didn't immediately respond, Iida started to grow paranoid. Was this about the support item she'd made for him? That didn't seem right, it was just a simple harness—nothing dubious about that. Were there some kind of rules then about making irrelevant inventions during exam week? He didn't think so, but just to be safe, Iida kept his mouth shut.
"So she really didn't tell anyone, then. Not even you..." Maijima sighed, and then out of nowhere, the hostility in his posture melted away—replaced with something far more placid. "I suppose that simplifies things then, though it unfortunately doesn't make the situation much better..."
The teacher's body language was sad, Iida realized. He seemed tired now—all of his animosity giving way to the exhaustion of trying to run today's exams. But even more than that, Maijima seemed to be regretting something. There was a missing piece here—something that Iida felt inclined to worry immensely about. If Hatsume had gone missing working on a "secret project", what exactly did that mean? And why was Maijima so clearly conflicted about it?
Without warning, the teacher suddenly stood up—placing a set of keys into the pocket of his jeans without giving an explanation.
"Come with me, I have something I need to show you."
The demand made Iida's blood run cold, but he nodded anyway. Alarm bells were ringing in his head now, and he was not going to go home until he was informed about the entire scope of the situation.
The support teacher ended up leading Iida outside to the familiar warehouse behind them. Each silent step seemed to make the building increasingly more intimidating as they drew close. This place, though housing some quirky memories, was also dangerous with how easily someone could get locked inside. He remembered the visual image of Hatsume curled up on the floor after her classmates had locker her in, and felt the hairs on his arms stand on-end. He silently prayed that that hadn't somehow happened again.
Contrary to Iida's expectations however, Maijima unlocked the warehouse door, and then ushered Iida to the lift; where the teacher plugged in his keys, and sent the two of them upstairs rather than down into the loading bay.
"S-sir, I don't mean to suddenly pry, but where exactly are we headed?" Iida asked, after the eerie creaking of the elevator became too much to stomach without conversation overlapping it.
"You'll understand in a minute. It's not something I can easily explain."
Unfortunately, Iida had to accept that answer for now, and waited out the rest of the lift ride in silence. When they both reached the top, Iida was surprised as the doors opened up to reveal the building's roof. Maijima stepped out though, indicating this was the correct place, so Iida hurried along behind him like a nervous dog. They didn't have to go far though, which was lucky, and so Iida stopped when Maijima suddenly held up his arm and pointed to a nearby obscured object.
"This here, is why I brought you to this place," Maijima said, pointing, "Iida, I want you to pull off that sheet and tell me exactly what it is that you see."
Iida blinked incredulously at Maijima in response.
"You want me to what, sir?"
"Take the sheet off," he repeated, "and tell me what you see."
"You... don't know what's under it, then?"
"Oh, I do." Maijima replied back, crossing his arms in a firm way that seemed to shut down all of the remaining complaints Iida had ready, "But I just want to know what you think of it."
Iida nearly gawked at him, but sighed instead—turning reluctantly back to the amorphous object. It seemed like such a bizarre request...
"A-alright," he sighed in the end, giving in to the student side of him that often had trouble going against the orders of authority, "I suppose I can do that..."
Iida approached then, and looked the cloaked object up and down with mild concern in his eyes. It was a tall something, whatever it was. Almost as tall as he was. It was hard to tell exactly what the thing could be though with a sheet covering it, but whatever it was, it had an almost human figure to it.
Only one way to find out, he decided eventually, and after one last dreadful moment of suspense, Iida ripped the sheet off—finally revealing what was underneath.
It took him a solid minute of staring before Iida seemed to recognize what exactly he was looking at, but when he finally did, his stomach dropped.
"Wh-what...?" he stammered, taking a step back, "What is this...?"
Maijima was thankfully quiet as he continued to stare in disbelief at what appeared to be a mock alternate design of his hero costume. Iida had no idea what to think—the plating was of the same metal, the jumpsuit was the identical fabric—everything from the solid blue colors to the yellow accents were exactly the same style. He almost believed this was his costume, in fact, were he not already one hundred percent sure that it was spinning around in a washing machine back at Height's Alliance.
"What the he...? What the...?" he gasped, the curse choking in his throat as he found himself suddenly struggling for air, "What is the meaning of this, sensei!? Wh-why is there a copy of my hero suit here!?"
"That's why I asked you about it first," Maijima responded, shaking his head sufferingly, "But judging by your confusion, this means she really did do this of her own accord..."
Iida's shoulders sagged, his eyes wide with shock, "Hatsume... built this?"
Maijima nodded.
"Wh... why?" Iida pressed again, turning back to delicately touch the armor of the suit. He still couldn't believe how perfectly it mimicked his style, "Hatsume doesn't need something like this. She wouldn't make this for her project, surely—" he thought back to a prior conversation, and then turned to Maijima with an even more confused expression in his eyes, "This infringes the copyright laws she told me about! Mimicking the style of another costume artist like this is against policy, isn't it!?"
"You hit the nail on the head," Maijima replied soberly, staring past Iida's shoulder to glare disdainfully at the costume behind him, "Like I said, that's why I asked you about it first. You see..."
Maijima came over to the suit and reached down into a box beside it. What he retrieved turned out to be a helmet similar to Iida's—though when observed up-close, the embellishments appeared to be different.
"I have a sneaking suspicion about something. Bringing you here did a lot to confirm some of my fears, but the last thing I need you to do is put this on. Do you mind, Iida?"
He hesitated first, but nodded, and Maijima set the helmet into his hands. He took a moment to stare at it, admiring Hatsume's handiwork, before sighing and slipping the thing onto his head. Or, he tried to, anyway. Strangely enough, the helmet that initially seemed made for him, wouldn't fit around his large head. The sides squeezed in awkward places, and the chin guard didn't even make it below his jaw. It was far too small of a fit—an oversight that Hatsume surely wouldn't have made if she was being thorough.
"It's too small," he decided, taking the helmet off after enough trying, which resulted in Maijima letting out a dreadful huff.
"That confirms it, then." he grunted, putting a hand over his weary face, "Just as I thought, this suit wasn't made for you."
Iida stiffened, fingers clutching over the helmet as he started to realize what Maijima's words meant.
"But if it's not for me, then who...?" the question died in his throat though as he figured it out on his own.
"Hatsume made it for herself."
The air was deathly silent after that. The helmet in Iida's hands slipped, falling onto the concrete with a deafening thud, before rolling off to the side—creaking back and forth as the wind brushed past it. Neither of them knew what to say at first. Iida just couldn't believe why this had happened—what had possessed Hatsume to construct something like this so out of nowhere. Today was supposed to be exam day, so if she'd wasted all of her time on this, didn't that mean that she had nothing to turn in?
Had she seriously failed her exam for the sake of designing cosplay?
"You know how bad this is, clearly," Maijima sighed gruffly, putting his hands in his pockets as a chilly wind blew past them, "I'm afraid to tell you though that it gets worse."
"How...?" Iida whispered back, voice barely audible as he stared inconsolably down at his feet.
"I finally found her up here after two days of searching," he explained, his hair-obscured gaze seeming to darken as he stared off into the distance, "There were reports of resources going dry in the warehouse. No one could figure out who was using them up—though it was pretty obvious from the start that Hatsume was the culprit." he shook his head.
"I blame myself for not being more urgent. She hadn't been in a great state of mind for the past while, but I'd chosen not to acknowledge it. All through Wednesday, she kept disappearing without explanation, and every time I had managed to track her down, she always seemed so incredibly tired and covered in grease. I thought maybe she was trying to cram her project, so I didn't bother her about it. It was weird that she wasn't reporting what items she was using in the warehouse log, but I kept letting it slide for the same reasons.
"It wasn't until Thursday evening came around when I'd started to genuinely get concerned, you see."
Maijima gestured a hand to Iida, continuing on with a grave tone, "You stopped by. Hatsume would never pass up an opportunity to see you, from what I understand, and yet even when her classmates mentioned it to her the next time she showed up, she didn't even flinch. In fact, she completely brushed it off, saying she was too busy to worry about you."
That sentence stung, and it stung hard. Iida was slowly starting to gather what had happened, and the more he learned, the worse he felt.
"Again, I did the stupid thing and ignored it." Maijima grunted, clearly frustrated at himself as he said it, "I was worried by that point, but not enough to investigate. I had too much work to do at the time, so I figured if she was still at school at around six, then I'd go and check on her.
"Long story short, I got caught up in a phone call, and didn't get to the warehouse until seven that night. Figuring she'd gone home, I went to lock the place up, but just before leaving, I happened to check my desk to see if she'd ever returned the elevator key, and lo and behold, it was still missing."
Iida's eyes widened at that, and suddenly he felt very, very sick.
Does that mean Hatsume was still...
"I finally realized at that point that something was very wrong, so I hurried over to the building, and heard the faint sounds of welding tools from up above." Maijima went on, posture stooping with every word he added—clearly overwhelmed with regret by now, "They sounded like they were coming from the roof, so I used my spare key to access it, and sure enough, Hatsume was plowing away up there—working on what appeared to be your costume.
"At first I was furious. I thought you'd been stupid enough to commission her right before exams or something, forcing her to work day and night to finish it on top of her project. But I realized quickly that that wasn't the case. Put simply, there was no other project. She had made this solely on her own."
"You're... kidding..." Iida breathed, completely in disbelief. He still had one thing on his mind though, and until Maijima explained it to him, he wasn't going anywhere. "But sensei—Hatsume... you're implying she spent several nights and days on this. Y-you're implying she didn't sleep." he looked up with fear in his eyes.
"Is that true?"
Maijima was quiet for a disturbingly long time, before he looked away from Iida, and nodded his head.
What he then retold, shook Iida to his very core.
It had taken all of Maijima's mental endurance to not attempt to pry the elevator doors open with his bare hands. When they finally did part though, he rushed out with a ferocity that surprised even himself as he searched for Hatsume. He found her a meter away, kneeling on the ground as she welded something together.
"Hatsume Mei!" he scolded instantly, tone dripping with reprimand, "It is WELL past hours! You need to be getting your rest in for tomorrow's exams! Whatever you're doing here MUST wait until tomorrow to finish!"
Eerily though, she didn't seem to hear him. She kept welding away instead, laser-focused on whatever it was that was in front of her.
Aggravated, he came closer, making his footsteps intentionally loud. That often worked to stop disobedient students—there was something ominous about a teacher marching up from behind that always seemed to scare them stiff; but no matter what he seemed to do, she just wouldn't budge.
"Hatsume, will you—!" he started to say, but then when Maijima at long last looked at what she was working on, his heart almost stopped.
Is that—Iida Tenya's hero costume!?
The sheer fury he felt at that point was absolutely outrageous.
How DARE he commission her at a time like this!? he roared to himself, immediately closing the rest of the gap between himself and Hatsume, who was kneeling on the ground still working, She's been up here for DAYS doing this! Has he not considered how this would affect her health!? Has she even been able to finish her final project!? Because this SURELY isn't it!
"HATSUME!" he yelled again, this time taking her shoulder. The gesture was enough to get her to stop welding, so he decided to try saying what he'd said before. "You need to go home and get REST! Put that thing down, and come with me this instant! You are in SERIOUS TROUBLE!"
But she wouldn't let go of the tool.
She just seemed to sit there instead, as if she was waking up for the first time in days. Goodness, how long had she been up here?
"Hatsume Mei!" he insisted again, and this time moved to pull her tool out of her hands. Luckily, she let it go without much complaint, and he proceeded to set it off to the side so he could grab her shoulders and force her to look at him.
Something is wrong, he sensed again, a stinging sensation pulsing from deep within. Hatsume's face was obscured by her welding mask, but he didn't need to look at her to know that she somehow just wasn't right.
"Talk to me," he started to coax, lowering his tone worriedly as he reached for her mask, "What on earth has gotten into you—?"
He wasn't sure what he'd expected to find, but the look that he'd found was something he couldn't have anticipated in even his worst nightmares.
Bloodshot, swollen eyes were the first thing he noticed. Accompanying them however, were bags darker than the black grease stains on her cheeks, and there was a layer of sweat and dirt coating every inch of her face. She was also rosy all over—not in a good way, mind you, but in a way that made the red veins in her eyes stand out, and gave her the overall skin tone of someone who had just finished running a marathon.
"(#@*%...)" he found himself whispering, and immediately reached up to feel her forehead. It felt like a literal stovetop.
"(Sen...sei...?)"
Maijima blinked awake at the sound of her voice, and put his hand back down to his side.
"Hatsume, we need to get you home right away. You have a fever."
She blinked blearily when he said that, as if she couldn't understand Japanese for a second, before she finally whispered an: "(Ah...)" and made a staggering effort to stand up.
Maijima got to his feet and stepped backwards to make way for her to try, but watching her was absolutely painful. She could barely get to her feet without her knees knocking together like a newborn attempting to walk for the first time. When she did eventually stand up, Maijima felt even more disturbed to find that she was somehow smiling after all of this.
"I finished it in time," she grinned hoarsely. How long had it been since she'd eaten or drank, come to think of it? "It's... all done."
"That's great," Maijima sighed, though he didn't particularly mean it. He just needed to get Hatsume out of this place, and fast. He was starting to consider calling Recovery Girl at this point—though he felt bad at the thought of interrupting her in her off-hours, "Let's go, okay? Can you walk?"
"I... finished it," she repeated instead, turning to look at her work instead of at Maijima. That concerned him greatly—especially when he started to notice her swaying back and forth. "I can finally... reach him."
"Reach him?" Maijima blinked, but then before he could ask what she meant, Hatsume's legs suddenly gave out from beneath her, and she collapsed to the cement floor in a crumpled heap.
Maijima cried out her name as she fell, and collected her in his arms. She didn't so much as twitch in response.
As a result, in a frenzied panic, Maijima dialed Recovery Girl's emergency number, and began the tricky process of carrying her back to the bottom floor so she could be taken to the infirmary.
Back in the present, Maijima's voice finally went silent again—marking the end of the full story. Iida's shoulders sank, and he turned away from Maijima to pace distraughtly off to the side—eyes focused on the ground.
"So that's what happened, then..." Iida whispered quietly.
Maijima simply nodded.
"H... how is she doing now?" he went on, still not taking his gaze off of the floor, "Is she... recovering?"
"Right, you'd want to know that." Maijima huffed, clearing his throat, "Recovery Girl took in Hatsume about fifteen minutes after I found her, and started treatment. She and the few on-hand staff members available at that hour were able to get Hatsume cleaned up, and then kept her overnight to watch for any changes in her blood pressure. Luckily, they informed me today that she just had a common flu—though it'd been paired with dehydration and sleep deprivation. Those factors added together were what caused her to pass out."
"So she just has a virus?" Iida reiterated, finally looking up at Maijima again, "Her health isn't in any major danger?"
"From what I was told, no." Maijima confirmed, nodding his head, "Though unfortunately, Recovery Girl informed me that her quirk isn't as effective with illnesses as it is for physical wounds. All she was able to really do was prescribe some over-the-counter cold medicine and decongestants. She's also on bed rest for the next several days, but from what I've heard, her classmates are taking good care of her in the dorms."
Iida perked up slightly at that, "Ah, so she was able to return home?"
"Yes. I reckon she's been there asleep for nearly all of today."
He let out a long sigh at that—one that he'd been holding in for far too long. He could feel goosebumps forming on his arms as he shuddered, but when the ripple of fear passed, his body started to relax again. She was okay—sick, yes, but okay. And even better, Iida finally knew where she was, so he could potentially visit her between now and tomorrow.
"I'm glad she's okay, all things considered," Iida finally said after a while of not speaking, "I'm still a bit rattled, though. This costume replica... I don't know what to think of it. This isn't the sort of thing she would do—especially considering how she was on a time crunch."
Maijima just shrugged at that, bending down to pick up the cloth that Iida had tossed away earlier, "Who knows? You'll have to ask her if you want the answer to that. My only concern is," he let out a grunt, tossing the sheet back over the top of the suit, "that she willingly disregarded her exam for this thing. Her motivation must've been pretty insane if she was willing to risk not getting her creator's license over it."
As Iida came up beside Maijima to resecure the sheet with bungee cords, Maijima stopped to stare at him for a good long moment. It made Iida pause, swallowing uncomfortably.
"You said that the two of you had an argument lately. Does that perhaps..." Maijima began, but the dark, guilt-ridden look that crept into Iida's eyes made him trail off. He ended up shaking his head and putting up a hand of dismissal, "Nevermind, it's not my business. I know you're not a bad kid, anyway. If you'd somehow managed to hurt her, I'm sure it hadn't been intentional."
Unfortunately, those words pained Iida more than they should've. In a way, this had been Iida's fault. Well... maybe. He still didn't know Hatsume's reasoning for making this suit in the first place, but he could at least be certain that his choice to avoid her Wednesday and Thursday had influenced the state of her mental health. That made him chew on the inside of his cheek—nauseous and upset at how childishly he'd acted.
What's done is done, Tenya. he tried to tell himself, sucking in a breath to ease his heart. Now was not a good time to start worrying to death, I can't go feeling sorry for myself right now—Hatsume needs me. I've already committed to seeing her—I'm not going to back down out of guilt.
"The um... exam," Iida redirected instead, starting to follow Maijima as he approached the lift to go downstairs, "Does this mean Hatsume is going to fall behind? Can she not get her license because of what she did?"
"Aaaaah, yes... I figured you'd ask that." Maijima nodded slowly, and as he pressed the down button with his left hand, he stroked his hair anxiously with his right. "I managed to pull some strings," he said, "though it wasn't easy. Essentially, I told the judges that Hatsume was unable to be tested on account of her bedrest, so I was able push back her due date to next week."
Iida almost let out a sigh of relief, had Maijima not lifted a finger to stop him.
"However," he added, tone changing to concerned irritation, "that implies Hatsume needs to recover fairly quickly if she wants to finish her project before next Friday. I haven't guaranteed anything, and I don't intend to. It's not fair to play favorites—I already give her enough leeway as it is, with all the 'warnings' I let her off with for breaking lab rules..."
He shook his head though, getting back on topic, "The point is, she needs to find a way to solve this on her own still. All I've done is request her extension—which is policy. Though, I did choose to omit the fact that she made an illegal hero suit, but there's no reason they need to know about that, since she didn't actually submit it for her project."
Maijima eyed Iida after saying that, "Which, by the way, I'd prefer if you kept this ordeal a secret. Hatsume hasn't done anything wrong by just making the suit, mind you, but it could still be used as evidence for a lawsuit if the original artist happened to be a particularly petty person. It's legal stuff—just don't worry about it. The suit will be disposed of soon anyway..."
Iida was somewhat shocked to hear that, but the feeling was short-lived. It made sense—Hatsume's hero costume wasn't something they could let sit around, no matter how well-crafted it was. That didn't stop him from feeling sorry for her though, given she'd spent two restless nights trying to finish it.
By the time the elevator reached the bottom again, Iida's head hurt from overthinking. He followed Maijima outside, waited for him to lock the door, and then slowly started back in the direction of the development studio. His footsteps felt oddly sluggish the further they walked—each step representing a step closer to his confrontation with Hatsume. On top of their "romance" conversation, Iida now had to deal with this whole illegal costume mess. The stress of it all was finally starting to sink in as they neared the school, and eventually, Iida couldn't help but look back at the warehouse one last time.
The costume wasn't visible from the ground, but he could see the edge of the roof. He imagined the distant sound of her welding torch—imagined her stooped figure slaving over a piece of metal, trying to assemble it in the right way. He could practically see her going up and down the elevator with buckets of supplies, rubbing her forehead with the back of her glove every few minutes to replace the sweat there with metal dust and grease. He could hear her shallow breaths from here, huffing and puffing as the burden of walking became increasingly more difficult—as her arms started to turn red from the strain of hefting things.
And then at the end, he imagined how horrifying it must've been for Maijima to watch her collapse.
Iida had held her unconscious once too. He knew that sinking feeling too well—that vivid moment of panic in the burning building where he hadn't yet known whether Hatsume was alive or dead. That terror in searching for a pulse—in strapping her to his back, and running as if his life counted on it.
As if her life counted on it.
A sudden hand touched Iida's shoulder, startling him out of his daze, and he looked to see Maijima staring back at him.
Strangely, the teacher didn't say anything to him in that moment. Maijima just stared, his hair-obscured gaze impossible to interpret, until he gently let go, and stepped inside of the building without a word.
Iida frowned at first, but then a message seemed to come through to him at the last minute. A simple: It's alright. Don't regret. was all that gesture had meant.
A puff of air left Iida's nose, undecided if he was amused or depressed by those words, and then he stepped inside of the building too.
Maijima was sitting back down at his desk at that point, slowly packing up his things for the day. That implied that he'd intentionally only waited around for Iida to come, he noticed, but Iida chose not to verbally acknowledge that. Instead, he made his way to the studio's exit, and faced the teacher one last time to give a bow of thanks.
"I'll be leaving now, Mr. Maijima, but thank you for entrusting me with all of this valuable information." he paused, then added: "You truly have no idea how important this is me."
Maijima acknowledged his bow quietly at first, seeming to accept it, but then before Iida could open the door, Maijima stopped him with a sudden: "Wait."
He turned, and for the first time, found the support teacher in a state that almost seemed bashful. Maijima floundered for words, scratching perplexedly at his chin, and then let out a gravelly sigh.
"You know what? Screw it. This is gonna seem like it's coming out of nowhere, but..."
Maijima looked up, and Iida was stunned to realize that he could see the man's eyes peeking through the strands of his orange hair. They were older and sharper than expected, yet also... kind.
"I just want to say thank you, Iida, for everything you've done with Hatsume lately." he began sentimentally, a genuine smile entering his weary face, "I've been noticing the changes for a while, but haven't said anything. Hatsume, she's... she's opening up to people. She's finally been making friends here—some of which are probably taking care of her health as we speak. She may always be an uncontainable little rascal, but I've noticed how your bond with her has been influencing her to act with more thought behind her actions. She's finally started cleaning up her stuff when she leaves, and she even compliments other student's projects from time to time.
"You've changed her, somehow; in a good way. And I speak for the class when I say it's appreciated." Maijima bowed his head gratefully, voice soft as he continued, "Thank you for being her friend. I don't know how you did it, but just... thank you. She really needed it—not just for the sake of smoothening her rough edges, but because she was genuinely lonely, too. I can't express how much of a relief it has been for me to finally see her grow."
As Maijima paused there, Iida stood stunned. Barely a minute ago, he'd been ragging on himself for bringing Hatsume so much pain—for driving her to near insanity these past two days. But what Maijima said now, put a different perspective on all of that. Yes, he'd been wrong to ghost her, but everything else—chatting with her, aiding her, befriending her—had been so right.
Iida had helped her change. But there was even more to it that he'd only just barely realized.
"Thank you, sensei. But to be completely honest, I didn't do anything at all." he sighed softly, and oddly enough, found the energy in himself to smile.
"If anything, she changed me."
Maijima's face lightened with surprise, and then the teacher let out a soft chuckle, mumbling: "Fair enough." He then waved Iida goodbye, to which Iida gave one final bow, and closed the door behind him.
Now, Iida said to himself, turning to face the hallway with the most direct route to Height's Alliance, I have to face my fears. I have to go to her tonight, before it gets too late.
Iida whipped his phone out from the pocket of his slacks, dialed in a familiar number, and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. When a familiar voice greeted him back, he sucked in a bold breath, and replied:
"Hey, Mom. Could you send me that soup recipe you always make for us when we're sick?"
- - -
Author's Note: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I'm so tired lol 🫠
This chapter was supposed to be posted earlier, but like always, it kept getting longer and longer. I'm happy with it though, and even better, the next EBILY chapter is one I have been anticipating for quite some time :>
Ya'll are not ready for the wholesomeness. 👀