A Powerful Silence

Chapter 3

Jiro wasn't having the best time in class; for many reasons. 

Having had returned from escorting Midoriya to the van, the class was in uproar, and yet was simultaneously oddly silent. The mood in the class was so... wrong. So deeply wrong and unsettling.

Aizawa-sensei declared the period a free study session before immediately leaving to go deal with some paperwork, leaving the class with a sharp glare that almost everyone shivered under. Todoroki still seemed really detached from the class and Bakugo was still really off, but Jiro felt oddly comforted by it. 

It was purely a glare of threat but a glare of disappointment, one that he had used to defend someone she considered a friend. Even if it was a bit late for that.

She sighed and slumped into her seat, Yaoyorozu giving her a sympathetic look that she may once have appreciated but now refused to even acknowledge the presence of. She pulled out one of her class books and tried to keep working or studying, but she kept inadvertently glancing at the empty desk.

And every time she did, she forced herself to try to keep studying during the 'free' period. But just couldn't.

Sometimes seconds, sometimes minutes, but no matter how long it was she'd end up finding herself staring at the chair once occupied by the class cinnamon roll, the bundle of hope, joy and sheer enthusiasm that could go on and on-

No. She had to stay focused. She wouldn't get anything done like that, and it wouldn't even help Midoriya's situation. She kept her gaze fixed to the book open in front of her, some of the limited notes she took during Heroics 101.

Mm. She did not like that.

She quickly slammed it shut, scaring a few of her classmates nearby, as she pulled out a book that was empty up until now, and began scribbling various notes in it.

At first, there wasn't any sense to it. Just words, words on a page that all had no correlation as she tried to just get on top of her thoughts. She could hear Bakugo doing a similar thing; as far as Jiro could tell, the two of them were the only ones to be doing this. 

The rest of the class was in tense discussion and gossip, and she could hear dozens of different phone pings as the story spread across the school, and from what she could tell it was already in the media.

It didn't take long before someone approached her; Kaminari doing what no-one else dared. "Hey Jiro! What was it like walking him away?" Kaminari asked, with a smile that really didn't match the tone of the question.

"Hey, I bet it was really difficult! Surely he was hurling insults or something the whole time," Sero chimed in. Kaminari turned his attention to the other boy and responded.

"Yeah, probably. Hey we understand if you don't wanna talk about it," Kaminari said to Jiro, reaching out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder but she jerked away violently, refusing to look at them so they wouldn't see the killer glare on her face.

"Hey, whoa, you okay?" Kaminari asked, genuine concern on his face as he retracted his hand.

"Just peachy," Jiro replied through gritted teeth, her pencil creaking as her knuckles began turning white with grip.

"You sure? You seem... angry," Kaminari said, the whole class becoming a little quieter as they watched the interaction play out.

"She's probably upset he betrayed us," Sato responded for her, which she hated to bits but she didn't trust herself to answer properly right now, biting her tongue slightly.

"Yeah, you're probably right, you can talk to us y'know? We're all going through this together," Kaminari smiled to Jiro, a gesture that felt incredibly out of place at the moment.