Canary

Chapter 11 - Don't Be Afraid to Sing Along to the Rhythm of Your Heart

Midoriya was acting a little... off recently. At least, that's what Shinso was thinking at lunch time that Wednesday.

For one – he had been listening to a lot of music.

Midoriya had never really struck Shinso as much of a music lover. Although the fact was true that they hadn't known each other for very long, Shinso couldn't help but feel that it was odd that Midoriya was so entranced by whatever he was listening to. In gaps between lessons, he would listen to music, staring at the wall blankly, and then suddenly pull out a notebook titled Quirk Analysis, before turning to a new page and frantically writing in it, all the while his headphones were still firmly glued to his ears.

Secondly, he started talking a lot more. Sure, this was a good thing, but Shinso wasn't too sure how he felt about it. It wasn't that he didn't want Midoriya to talk – quite the opposite actually. It was just that Shinso hadn't expected him to open up so quickly over the span of only a few days. He still refused to utter a word to anyone who wasn't named Shinso, Uraraka, Iida, or, weirdly enough, Present Mic. But the stutter was starting to fade from his voice – he no longer felt the need to hesitate before speaking and was gradually increasing in volume. But no – Shinso shouldn't have been including this factor in his mental list. This was probably the best thing that had happened to Midoriya in a while – and Shinso wasn't about to question it.

The third weird thing happened that lunch time.

Uraraka and Iida didn't always sit with Midoriya and Shinso, so it wasn't that strange that the two of them were sitting by themselves. It was near to the end of lunch – which was the best time to go there, because there were normally more spaces free and less social interaction was therefore required. However, this was not the case today. For some reason, a lot of the hall was still full when Midoriya and Shinso arrived. Consequently, they had to sit closer to the middle of the hall.

Time went on and the awkward second years they had been forced to sit next to left, leaving Midoriya to sigh audibly in relief as he gave up tucking his elbows in. That didn't last long, however, because the queue for food was still long and there were few other spaces that sat a relatively large group. That meant that the rest of their table was the perfect place for someone else to claim.

"I found a table!" yelled an overly enthusiastic blond, who didn't even bother checking if it would be ok with the general study students as he plonked his tray down – not on the other side, like a normal person would, but instead right next to Shinso.

"Hey, sorry for barging in," apologised a redhead as he slid his tray next to the blond's.

"Doesn't matter," grumbled Shinso. "We're almost finished anyway.

That was when things started to become well... suspicious.

Moments after Shinso's mood got even worse, due to the fact that he had just recognised this group of friends as students from class 1-A, i.e. the hero course he was supposed to be in, a girl with bright pink skin skipped over to the table, put her food down beside Midoriya, and sat down.

She waved at Shinso's shy friend – and then did a double take.

"Hey!" she grinned, giving Midoriya finger guns, "Well if it isn't –"

He gave her a wide-eyed look, his noodles suspended halfway to his mouth.

The pink girl hesitated, as if she had just remembered something. She clapped her hands, and continued, "– Uraraka's friend! Hi!"

Midoriya, who looked like he was about to spontaneously combust, gave her a feeble wave in return and turned back to his food.

"The... mute friend?" frowned another guy with rather large elbows as he sat down beside Pink.