Miss Melatonin || H.Shinso

5 |Second Chances

Shinso wasn't bothered by the fact that he ate alone every day. 

He didn't really have friends and no one in his class pitied him enough to take on the job. So, Shinso took his box of mashed, mixed leftovers to the same table he did every day. He sat next to a group of classmates just enough of a distance to not appear alone but far enough to not be a part of the group. 

But today was different. The usual group he'd sat near contained Masaki and her uncharacteristic death glare. 

Nope. He'd sit somewhere else. 

There was another table but as he moved in its direction, it was taken over by Kenji and his friends, all of which glanced back at him challengingly.

Nope. 

His last resort was a table in the far corner. It was empty and secluded. 

Perfect. 

Shinso took his seat, sighing. He'd probably have to sit here for a while until things cooled down. Masaki and Kenji were pretty popular in his class, so he bet they already bad-mouthed him to all his classmates. All except L/N probably. 

He glanced around, wondering who L/N sat with, but he was surprised to find she was nowhere at all. Like before, he saw her walk in a different direction than everyone else when dismissed for lunch. It was only now that he noticed that she'd never come to the cafeteria at all. 

Where could she have gone?

"Hey, Shinso."

That voice. 

With tight fists around his chopsticks, he glanced up to find Izuku Midoriya and his friends passing by. How pitiful he must have looked sitting alone in the corner. He hated that the boy that bested him had seen him like this, all defeated even weeks after their fight. 

He nodded, hoping the boy would just walk away and leave him alone. 

"It's been a while," the greenette said nervously. Despite his tone, there was still a warm, inviting smile on his face."How've you been?"

"Fine." 

"Cool."

Silence followed, the kind of silence that invited an awkward atmosphere with it.  Midoriya seemed to catch onto this from the way he cleared his throat and looked away. 

"Well, then, I'll see you later!" 

Shinso felt air reenter his lungs as he left. Midoriya was the main reason for his sudden loss of confidence. Seeing him thrive afterward was a sour pill to take. He had friends, was in the hero course, and even had improved his abilities since their fight. 

Shinso wasn't any closer to his goals than he was the day Midoriya Izuku put him on his ass in front of the entire world. 

Shinso would train harder. He'd ask Aizawa to step up their lessons. 

He didn't have a choice. If he were to ever reach his dreams of being a hero, he'd have to. 

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔ

Of course, if Shinso had any chance of getting into the hero course, he needed to first stay awake long enough to pass his classes. Ectoplasm, his teacher for math, was certainly going to be an obstacle. His long lectures coupled with his monotone voice made it especially hard for him to stay present. Today, however, was different. After a brief description of their lesson, the hero passed out packets of much harder problems that the examples couldn't even live up to. 

"You're free to pair up and work together, but I want to see progress. Be led astray and we'll finish in silence."

It was perfect. Shinso was good at math. In fact, it was his best subject. He'd get the work done, then take a nap till the next class. As long as he finished everything there wouldn't be a problem, right?