This Color Ain't It

Chapter 4: An Ordinary Day

Notes:

I absolutely suck at chapter titles if you couldn't tell already.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text
"People kept telling me 'Don't worry about it' when they'd see me on the street," Sero whined before class started.

"Don't worry about it." The laughter escaping Kenji couldn't be helped. Sero's annoyed horror and Green's stoic face went perfectly together.

Today is day one when Kenji is going to investigate Asui, and he is yet to think of a strategy to talk to the girl. From what he's seen so far, she is very blunt and doesn't hide any of her thoughts. If Kenji carelessly approached her for a friendly conversation, she no doubt would call him out on it and probably bring attention to the two. Kenji also can't have her further down the list because by then she would be even more suspicious of him. She wasn't an honor student in junior high for nothing.

"You put in a valiant effort, dude! You were manly out there!"

"Top sixteen should be impressive all on its own! I'm sure you've got some offers lined up already!"

"Oh, please," Sero scoffed at the mention of offers. "If anyone is going to get offers, it would be people with strong Quirks like Todoroki, Kaminari, and Bakugou."

"Miyazawa and Midoriya-chan have strong Quirks as well," Asui pointed out.

"Even though I made it into the top sixteen, my parents couldn't stop making fun of how I lost in the end." Now that Mina had brought up parents, others were talking about how their families had reacted to their results in the Sports Festival.

"What about your family, Miyazawa-kun?" all eyes turned to the blonde ray of sunshine. He was the only one who had kept unfamiliarly quiet which peaked the rest of his classmates' curiosity. A smile never wavering and head tilted in a way the girls found adorable, Kenji carefully answered.

"I know my family watched the Sports Festival and were happy to see me make it to the top sixteen. They kept saying that they wished they could've come out to support me in person though."

The ADA had watched the Sports Festival and had called to tell him he did a good job, but Kenji still got an earful from Kunikida for making it as far as he did. So much for not staying long enough to leave an impression.

"Which reminds me," Mina began, a finger resting on her chin as if she wasn't sure how to word what she wanted to say. "You said you're a foster care kid, right?"

"You're in foster care?" Uraraka gasped in surprise. The few students who had gathered around Kenji's desk looked at the boy expectantly. Kenji chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, a move that made the girls gush.

"Well, not anymore. My current foster family has already completed the adoption process, so I'm a full Fukuzawa now."

"What happened to your real family?" Mineta asked with genuine curiosity. Kaminari smacked the side of his head.

"Don't ask insensitive stuff, dude," he scolded the shorter boy. The rest of the gathered students glared as well, but Kenji shook his head and said it was okay.

"The village I was from is filled with lovely people," Kenji began. He knew there was certain stuff he had to omit because that places' justice system was, if he had to admit, a bit flawed. "After my parents died tending the cows, they all took me in until I was accused of stealing another man's produce."

"What?"

"They didn't know who did it at first, but if I had to guess, the actual thief pinned the blame on me as the village orphan and because everyone is so honest, they believed him. I was thrown out of the village and picked up by Fukuzawa-san who is now my adoptive father!"