Stray

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙚𝙣 - 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨

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    Eventually Stray was seated at a student desk that landed almost directly in the middle of the classroom, no doubt this had been done on purpose.
    Present Mic was very enthusiastic about English grammatical rules at a much too early time in the day... he taught the same way he spoke on radio shows, with drawn out words and emphasis being added by an even higher level of volume. But Stray could see that as they slumped in the chair, headphones pressed angled awkwardly to rest against their ears, that every so often Present Mic would glance down at them, and his voice would lower for a while until his volume worked its way back up and the process repeated itself. 
   They weren't quite paying attention to what he was saying until he grabbed a stack of papers and a blue haired boy stood up to begin passing them out. The wolf looked over this student's appearance and quickly recognized him as the younger brother of Ingenium.
    Tenya Ida, Quirk: Engine. He seemed to be acting as the class representative.
Ida set a paper down in front of Stray with a stiff hand, immediately moving to the next desk adjacent to them where a pink skinned girl sat tapping her pencil on the wooden desktop.
   She picked up the paper with a smile, but her expression sank dramatically just as quickly as she scanned the paper's contents.
    No one else took much notice to this as they focused upon their own papers, Present Mic announced that there was thirty minutes left in the period to complete the paper.

   Stray found themself once again paranoid about the eyes that seemed to burn into the back of their head, whispers between students that weren't really there at all. After a while of this, they simply stood up, grabbed the bag that had been strung over the back of the chair, and walked to the back of the classroom to sit on the floor. People watched them walk, but as they sat it seemed no one was willing to hold themselves turned around in the chair to continue watching as Stray fidgeted and focused again on the paper in their hands.
   Present Mic glanced over at the, now seated, teen who couldn't keep themself still. Their leg bounced up and down repeatedly in an unrhythmic, painstaking pace and the paper shook slightly in their hands. Despite his distrust for them, he decided this wasn't a battle worth fighting and they were left alone.
    The paper's instructions were thankfully in Japanese and Stray lazily read through them, hesitating a bit before reading the English sentences printed out with blank lines interrupting the paragraph every so often. The English words seemed a bit jumbled and stiff compared to Japanese characters, but the teenager homed in on the paper and spun their pencil for a while as they continuously reread the page. 
    Never before had the wolf attended any sort of formal lessons other than what they attempted to teach themself from discarded English media, and it proved difficult to decipher the strings of letters. But it turned out manageable and was completed within the following fifteen minutes or so.
   The pink student who now sat beside an empty seat, however, was not finding the paper as manageable. Every so often, quiet dramatic huffs were heard from her, and Stray would glance up at the source of the noise. 
      Mina Ashido. Quirk: Acid.
The annoying huffs and pencil tapping went mostly unnoticed by her peers who were too focused on their own papers to care. But the wolf's ears twitched back and forth and shifted positions at every slight noise, growing more and more aggravating to them with each passing moment.
   Just as quietly as before, Stray stood and approached the girl's desk with their hands shoved into their pockets as they crouched down beside her. "You're not getting this are you..." The masked teen grumbled hardly above a whisper. For a moment Ashido didn't answer, her eyes resting carefully on Stray. They wondered if the words even left their mouth before the student shook her head.
    They gently eased the paper from her hands and looked over the blank answer slots. Some had visibly been written and erased repeatedly, leaving the paper raw and worn in those areas.
    Present Mic was on the edge of his seat, watching over the two extremely carefully.
The sentence was a bit more complicated than the others, longer words that were easier to jumble together or misinterpret. Ashido waited quietly as the villain looked over the paper, tapping her pencil anxiously.
    "Here," Stray began again and took their own pencil to the paper, scribbling out the character '釈' --which vaguely translated to the English word 'elucidate'-- as they drew a line between the two words. "this is- that. That's all..." 
    Ashido's smile returned as she grabbed her paper back and quickly filled in the blank, as if the answer would leave her mind at any time. She gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up and whisper-yelled a thanks.
   Stray nodded a bit and returned to their spot on the floor to sit down.

Soon enough, Present Mic shouted that time was up and Ida once again walked around the classroom to collect the papers, handing them off to the noisy hero.
    He flicked through the pages, glancing down at one in particular with an odd expression.
The students conversated with one another, volume building as the hero nodded subtly to no one but himself and exited the classroom in a manner that was uncharacteristically quiet for himself.
   Both Eraserhead and Present Mic crossed paths just outside and the classroom door was quickly pulled shut. Stray's ears perked up and they listened closely to the dialogue that was beginning to take place.
    "Lower your voice."
Eraserhead had hushed in response to whatever Present Mic had just said, only to be brushed aside as the louder hero continued in an unconcerned tone, "Anywaysss- Do we have Stray's educational background?"
    "They aren't documented to have attended any schools previously. Why?"
"Well, they're where they should be with English- not much struggle whatsoever." 
   There was the sound of ruffling paper followed by a soft: "Hm.." From Eraserhead.
  They were both quiet for a few moments before Eraserhead seemingly dismissed Present Mic for the time being and Eraserhead entered the classroom.
  It didn't take a word before the students went quiet and straightened out in their seats. The hero glanced back at Stray sitting on the ground rather than at a desk.
  But it hardly went acknowledged before Eraserhead's attention turned back to the whole class and addressed them. "Today you're all going to be put through a test," he began, footsteps echoing swiftly down the hall.
   All might's muscular figure came through the doorway, his large hands gripped the walls. "I am here!!"
  His voice boomed through the classroom and a bit of excited chatter started up among the students. "Grab your uniforms and head out to the fields!" Stray on the other hand, was unamused and stood to walk into the furthest corner of the room. 
    Again, they watched as shelves protruded from the walls of the classroom and the students rushed to grab the folded uniforms.
   The masked teenager shot All might a stone-cold glare that seemed to bring a level of discomfort to his bright smile despite the fact everyone else didn't seem to notice. But Eraserhead did, and walking between the two for a moment, he glared at both of them like two problematic children before Stray broke eye contact with a low growl and followed the other students out of the room.