The Story Of Forever (Todobaku)

The New Kid

At the six week mark, monotony struck UA again. Kids adjusted to their new schedules. The cafeteria cycled through every option from their extensive lunch menu. Freshmen stopped believing rumors like the one about a secret arcade in the basement. And with desperation for excitement (or just something to complain about), teenage brains found problems in the mildest inconveniences.

"This is all Tenya's fault."

"That's a bit dramatic."

Shouto turned to Izuku with furrowed brows. "If he had been there, we would've won."

"Correction," Izuku said, "you would've tied."

Shouto blew a patch of white hair away from his eye. "And everyone who voted for Demon Slayer would've had to change their votes. And I had a very compelling argument prepared."

The swear word he emitted was censored by the class bell that indicated the start of first period. The boys proceeded down the clustered hallway, away from the music room that hosted their anime club meetings in the morning. If being on the losing side of the vote for what anime the club would watch next was bad, it got worse as a mixture of AXE spray and body odor invaded his nostrils. Just because it rained yesterday, that wasn't an appropriate substitute for a shower. Why the boys at this school struggled to comprehend this was a mystery to Shouto, and an even greater annoyance.

"Maybe people wanted to switch things up," Izuku said. "We just watched a sci-fi anime."

"But Parasyte is so good! Easily in my top five."

"We can watch it after Prison School. At least it's only twelve episodes."

Clenching his teeth, Shouto pulled out his phone. "Fine. But I'm still mad at Tenya for ditching." With the only new notifications being three texts from Enji (HELLO SHOUTO. WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME TO MY HOUSE🏡 FOR DINNER TOMORROW? LOVE❤️ DAD), he added, "He's not answering my messages either."

Izuku shrugged. "He probably got carried away studying again."

"Overachiever," he muttered.

Shouto's behavior was irrational, but he also didn't care. Anime club served a pop of color in the otherwise beige regime that was his life. While his days weren't terrible, he had little to look forward to. He woke up, went to school, went home, did homework, worked on a manga project if he had time, then went to sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat a couple dozen times and the least the universe could offer him was something to spark happiness in him again. The closest he had to that these days were his evening conversations with Katsuki on his roof. Though with baseball, Camie, and school taking up most of Katsuki's schedule, they weren't as frequent as Shouto would've liked.

It sucked that gym was his first class, but Keigo was away on an anniversary trip with Fuyumi in Kyushu. So, this week they had a substitute teacher, a pint-sized old man named Mr. Torino. He sat at a plastic folding table in the middle of the basketball court and napped the entire time, so students treated it as a free period.

Katsuki, Eijiro, and Mina were already on the bleachers when Shouto and Izuku arrived. Mina sat in Eijiro's lap as the two snuck some kisses. Katsuki, the third wheel, rested his cheek in his hand and glared at them. The blonde made no attempt to conceal his sigh of relief when he spotted Shouto and Izuku.

"Saved by the nerds," he said. He directed his thumb in Eijiro's and Mina's direction. "I thought I was about to die from this annoying ass love fest."

"Oh, like you and Camie aren't equally nauseating," Mina countered.

"We're not."

"You kind of are," Shouto said.

Katsuki pursed his lips. "Shut up." Once Shouto and Izuku were seated on the bleachers, his face twisted in confusion. "Where's nerd number three?"