Year One Grades!

Class 1-D, soon to be 2-D, were relaxing in their homeroom. Exams were over, classes were finished until the start of the next term, and for now peace was present. At least, until the deafening shriek of a whistle being blasted at full effort pierced their ears. A moment later, the Class Representative, Nyoro Hoge, and her “best friend” Inigo Myoga burst through the door, almost tearing it from its reinforced hinges.

“ATTENTION EVERYONE! The results of our exams have been released! Now, we can finally see-”
Inigo’s burgeoning speech was cut off by Hoge’s voice, blaring at an incredible volume for such a small girl who’s quirk actively worked against such things.

“Class 1-D! Please follow my ‘assistant’ to the official results table!”

As she spoke, she darted around the classroom, haranguing and agitating everyone, until all were on their feet and moving out the door. Inigo, wielding Gigan as two flags, continued his theatrics down the corridors. Finally, after aching minutes, the board was in sight, its fruits yet hidden by simple angles. Seeing an opportunity, Inigo sprung into action.

“GO GO GIGAN GUARD!” yelled Inigo. Gigan spiraled out in front of him, straight towards the scoreboard before anyone could see it.

There were nine core subjects that the students of 1-D had to work and study for. Japanese, Math, Science, Foreign Language(s), Art, Modern History, Heroics, Quirk Ethics, and Combat. Gigan covered all but the top spot with a barrier. For the illustrious First Places, he fashioned himself into nine curtains, one for each top spot.

“Are you ready, Class 1-D? To see how we measure ourselves for the last time AS 1-D? To see which of us stands at the top of our studies?”

Inigo posed, hip cocked out, hand around his ear, clearly wanting a response from the crowd. Everyone was used to his antics by now, and either out of principle or desire to annoy the arch-annoyer, no-one responded.

“I won’t show the results until you answer!” teased Inigo, only to immediately have to duck, as Ki, electricity, threads, and other debris were all simultaneously launched at his head. Never one to lose his smile, Inigo popped back up.

“Now that your blood is pumping, let’s see the truth! Gigan, let’s see the first result!”

With a squeak that those fluent in Giganese knew to be exasperation at his foolish master, Gigan raised his curtain from the top of the first column, revealing the results for Japanese, the kanji for “CAIN CHRISTOPHER”.

“Who is our first first place? Why, it’s none other than MR CAIN CHHHRRRIIISSSSS! WOOOO!” cheered Inigo, as 1-D joined in, celebrating Christopher’s triumph.

“Knew ya had it in ya, ya great big Brainiac!” yelled Kaylee as she picked up and threw Chris several feet into the air. The only one who wasn’t joining in was Hoge. The class rep was fixated on the board. Inigo was being the ultimate tease; he was only showing the top place, making the ranking of everyone else a mystery.

“NEXT!” yelled Inigo, part out of itching desire to lift the fervor of the class even higher, but also out of concern for Hoge. He couldn’t bear to see that beautiful face so tense!

“Time fooooor MATH! Let’s see who was the best!”

Gigan squeaked again as he lifted the next curtain. This time the kanji for “NYORO HOGE”

“What a surprise, and by that I of course mean, NOT A SURPRISE AT ALL! The top of our class for mathematics is the most beautiful girl in our midst, Nyoro Hoge!”

The class representative for 1-D relaxed, if only a bit, as the cheers diverted from Chris and onto her.

“Congratulations, Hoge.” Chihiro’s voice was monotone, but encouraging, nonetheless.

“There can be greater combination of brains and beauty under the heavens! But we’ve got much more to go!” cried Inigo. “Gigan! Let’s see Class Number Three! SCIENCE!”

Gigan drew back, revealing the top student. The name revealed: “KYODA HIRO”

“Why, who is this? It’s no-one other than our resident mad scientist in all the best ways! Kyoda Hiro!”

“WOOOO! Way to go, Hiro!”
“Yeah, buddy! Show off that next-year intelligence!”
“You’ll be a Nobel Prize winner within a year, no doubt!”

The spirits of the class flowed from Hoge to Hiro. Neither student was particularly extroverted, but being surrounded by such positivity, well it wasn’t bad.

“You’d best make good on all of that, Hiro, I wanna go to Sweden!” Inigo said as he gave Hiro a thumbs up. “But we’re not done yet! We’ve seen the results for the domestic, but now let’s see the international! Who was the best in Foreign Languages!”

Gigan pulled back the fourth curtain, revealing a most unexpected name: “SAMSON BOBBY”

“Huh? Me?” Bobby looked every inch a confused American for all of the two seconds before Hifumi jumped onto his back. “YEAH BUDDY! SHOW THOSE BRAINY BOZOS THAT THEY DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING!”

Kaylee punched her gym bro on the arm. “Should I be pissed that a yank beat me in English? Nah! Good work, ya buff nerd!” Meanwhile, Sally saluted Bobby. “Congratulations, Bobby! Only an American should triumph in English!”

“Of course my bro triumphed!” cheered Inigo. “Now for the halfway mark! We’ve seen some brains, now for creativity! ART!”

Gigan revealed the fifth name. It was a repeat: “NYORO HOGE”

“Obviously the work of art would triumph in art!” Inigo flirted with Hoge, winking with his hand outstretched toward her. Normally she’d roll her eyes or blush, but right now, all her attention was on the board.

Yui rolled her eyes, her razor-sharp teeth visible. “I thought I’d be top of Art this year as well, but you earned it, class rep.” Hoge had no reaction. She was like a robot, utterly focused on the results.
Even Inigo was slightly perturbed with how focused Hoge was. “Y-yeah! Next, into the depths of history! Who will be the best on the days of yesterday?”

Gigan pulled back, showing the top place for Modern History: “TAKARA TAME”

“The living database! Congratulations!” cheered Inigo. Takara simply smiled, bowing slightly as the class cheered for her. “Thank you all.” She said in a pleasant, yet robotic, voice, as Chihiro and Sally patted her on the shoulders.

Inigo was a bit concerned about how Hoge would take another not-top position, yet when he looked over to her, he was relieved to see that there was the slightest hint of a smile on her lips.

“Congratulations, Tame! But now we’ve completed the academics! It’s time for the works of Heroics, and that starts with, er, Heroics! Let’s see the top spot, Gigan!”

Gigan chirped and lifted the curtains, showing another repeat of a name: “CAIN CHRISTOPHER”

“HELL YEAH!” Kaylee cheered for her best friend, grabbing the shorter lad, and pulling him into a noogie.
“Hey, no fair!” smirked Hifumi, finally sliding off of Bobby. “You two’s brains and brawn shouldn’t have beaten our brawn and brawn!”
“Nyee~eh!” taunted Kaylee, momentarily stopping the noogie to stick her tongue out and pull down on her lower eyelid. “Should’ve worked harder on Ippon-Sensei’s homework like Brainiac here!” she teased as the noogie resumed.

Inigo laughed at the display, continuing his display of theatrics, this time missing Hoge’s minute display of emotion as her brow barely furrowed in concern.

“It seems the mirror reflects the best of us! But what is a Hero without ethics? Who’s the Ethics-est!”

The penultimate Gigan-green curtain was lifted, showing the top spot for Quirk Ethics: “ATSUSHI OROCHI”

The rich girl flicked her white hair over her shoulder, obviously pleased with the result, as well as the applause from her classmates. “I guess the personal touch helped!” she said, allowing herself a brag. Truthfully, she doubted that she would be able to beat the brainy trio in essay writing, but she had heavily referenced her personal experiences with her own quirk. She knew what it was like, living with constant vigilance, not to touch anyone lest they die. At least all that effort served her for this silver lining.

Hoge – unseen by all but Inigo – seemed to deflate as she began to blur, her quirk activating in response to her mental state. These results had not been what she had been hoping for, not at all.

Inigo wanted to go and comfort her, but he had to finish off the chart.

“Now the finale! Everything we have seen so far covers matters of the mind, but we are to be heroes! All heroes need to be able to fight on their own two feet, and that means Combat! Who stands at the top of the 1-D mountain!”

Gigan removed his last obfuscating curtain, revealing the last student to have a top spot: “SUZUKI KAYLEE”.

“YES! HELL YEAH!” The green giantess was jolly indeed to see her name atop the only column that she truly cared about. She jumped a dozen feet in the air, before slamming back down, taking advantage of the shockwave to Chris and Bobby and pull them close.

“We have seen who stands at the top of each field, but where do the rest of us stand? Who’s the second and third, who must now go on their journeys to grow stronger? Let’s Fi~nd out!” Inigo cried, and with a flourish, he had Gigan explode into confetti to reveal the full board.

Class 1-D crowded around the now-visible scoreboard, everyone wanting to find out the full standings. Teases and taunts swiftly took over from rampant curiosity, as the natural instinct of teenagers to posture and brag exerted itself. Any hostilities soon dissipated though, replaced through relieved sighs and celebration.

Bobby and Hifumi were celebrating their respective triumphs over their dreaded subjects. Each had an arm slung over the other’s shoulders, as they rejoiced over conquering their demons.

“WE PA~SSED! WE PA~SSED! WE DIDN’T FAIL MA~ATH!”
“WE PA~SSED! WE PA~SSED! WE DIDN’T FAIL SCI~IENCE!”

Up and down the corridor in front of the massive notice board they danced. High knee followed by a high kick, then on the next leg, back and forth. Elsewhere, Sally bowed before Noah, thanking him for all the help, to which the angel bashfully insisted such praise was unneeded. Kaylee had returned to giving Chris a noogie as fireworks of Ki fired from her on instinct.

Hoge was not looking happy. Not at all. Her head was tilted downward, obscuring her eyes beneath the rim of her uniform’s cap. She walked away from Chihiro and Inigo, leaving the pair confused, as she approached Chris.

Chris was still struggling against a Kaylee’s noogie attack; both against her strength and trying to stop laughing. He never saw this coming when he first started at Shiketsu. He knew he’d do well in the classes, but here he was, surrounded by people he could call friends, who wouldn’t judge or scoff at him. As Kaylee kept rubbing his head, while Bobby and Hifumi did the can-can in front of him, the group heard a clear and distinctive “Ah-hem.” from behind.

Chris tried to turn around, Kaylee releasing him as the humor of the moment passed, letting him face the only classmate who had that sound on demand.

Hoge was still looking down as she made the noise. She saw the feet shuffle around, and only when she was certain that Chris was facing her, did she close her eyes, take a deep breath, and raise her head.

Chris’ brow furrowed as Hoge stared at him with her eyes closed. He was about to ask her if she was OK when her eyes snapped open. Her stare contained no warmth, no friendliness, just pure student professionalism. Their eyes were locked for a moment, before Hoge bowed down to Chris.

“Congratulations on your victory, Christopher-san.”

With that, she turned and walked away, away from the board, away from their classmates.

“What was that about?” asked Hifumi.
“Did you make a bet with her or something?” Kaylee said as she leaned on Chris’ shoulder, almost folding the poor smaller student.

“Not that I know of! I know that she considers us rivals, but I didn’t think it was an actual competition or anything!” He replied.

“Oh, geez, I was worried about this.” Inigo mumbled to himself. “You guys continue the celebrations, I’ll go see how our beloved Class Rep is!” he said, as he turned to run after Hoge.

“Hoge! Honeybun! What’s wrong?” Inigo panted. Hoge may not look it, but she was quick on her feet, and when she wanted to vanish, she was VERY good at it.

His girlfriend, currently a barely visible blur that he could only make out thanks to experience, stopped running. As she turned to face him, she began to come back to reality, features forming from the haze.

“What’s wrong? I…I failed. That’s what wrong.” Was all she said, her voice barely audible.

“Hey, hey! You didn’t fail! You didn’t fail a dang thing! In pretty much every subject, you came in the top three, or even two! No-one would possibly consider that a fai-”

“I FAILED, INI!” Hoge’s emotion managed to cut through the miasma of her quirk, lashing out at both boy and dragon. “My scores in both Heroics and Combat were atrocious, but even putting those aside, I lost! I lost to…”

She abruptly cut herself off. Ever curious and inquisitive, Inigo pressed the topic.

“…to? To who? Hoge, you-”
“TO CHRIS, HAPPY! I LOST TO YOUR NEW BUDDY! HE – he did better than me.” She screamed at first, before her voice petered out, and she looked down at her feet in anguish.

“Hey, hey, hey! Hoge? This is about grades and first places, yeah?” She felt a gentle pressure on her chin, bringing her back to eye contact. Inigo was in front of her, his blue eyes staring into her soul. She blushed, her cheeks color change hidden by her quirk, before Inigo spoke, his fingers drifting off from her chin to his sides.

“I may not have your grades in math, but I do know this. 2 equals 2, right?”

Inigo held two fingers up on one hand, then the other, forming the iconic peace signs. As he asked the question, he pulled his elbows in and winked in the manner of an idol, before bringing his fingers together to form a heart! Behind him, a swell of Gigan-colored petal blossoms bloomed behind him, making the blond boy look like a panel from his visual novels.

Hoge was not convinced. Pouting, she flailed away the green petals, causing Gigan to squeak and reform on Inigo’s shoulder.

“BAKA INI! No, they don’t equal each other! Everyone knows that Art doesn’t count when it comes to academics! Not only that, but he came first in Japanese! He’s only just arrived here, while I’ve lived here my whole life, and he still beats me?! And to top it all off, he came first in Heroics! Heroics! We’re in a HERO school, Ini! You think that compares? He won, I lost, why did I even bother, I should have-”

Hoge did not get the change to finish that self-loathing sentence. Inigo had grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace. The sudden change and pressure made her breath catch in her throat. Over the pair, Gigan fashioned himself into a large blanket, wrapping the two teenagers embrace in an embrace.

“I won’t let you hurt yourself like this. You did great, Hoge. Better than I ever could. Don’t you ever speak so badly about yourself again.”

He let the slightest gap form between them, enough for her to look up into his face.

“After all, that’s the woman I love you’re speaking of, and what kind of soul-mate would I be if I allowed anyone to speak that way about the one I love?”

Hoge’s face turned crimson at Inigo’s words, in full view of him this time. She buried her burning face in his chest, a faint “baka” being all that could be heard. After giving Hoge a few moments, Inigo slid one hand down and grabbed one of Hoge’s, their fingers interlocking.

“Come on, let’s go back to the others, I’m sure they’re worried. And in 1-D, it’s all for one and one for all, right?”

With that, Hoge wiped away any tears, and allowed Inigo to guide her back to the class she represented.

Elsewhere:

“Hey, that’s pretty good!”

Rob looked over 1-F’s results, checking for his name, and found himself pleasantly surprised. Lots of A’s, a few B’s, and only a single C and D. He wasn’t an Asian; as far as he was concerned, these grades were great! The burgeoning Velvet-Worm Hero celebrated with his fellow 1-F students, unconcerned about the fallout of a “D” on his report.

Meanwhile, over at the Supporter Course, a certain CYOA addict read over his grades. “Not bad, I guess. Not like I was really trying or anything.” He said to himself, defending his ego from any form of introspection. His A’s were only to be expected, any B’s were a result of him not caring about those subjects, and the C’s were because those subjects were for retards. There was definitely no ulterior reason for any of his objective analysis, not at all!