First Day Blues | Chise

Hearing his name snapped Haruto back to his senses. He had thought all of his classmates had left! Did one come back? Or had he just overlooked them? Either way, it was horribly embarrassing being caught eating cookies all by himself!

"... was it? Would you mind if I sat here?"

Haruto looked up at the speaker, who was pointing at the desk in front of him. He had some impression of this girl, a classmate of his, who seemed to have bitten her tongue during her self-introduction. Not that his own went much better, he recalled, having been distracted by the gazes of his classmates and forgetting everything he prepared to say.

He took a small pause as he dredged up the memories of this particular classmate, as it would be terribly embarrassing for her to remember his name while he forgot hers. Unfortunately, he remained unaware of his own appearance- His sharp eyes and delinquent-esque appearance lent that small pause an ominous air.

Of course, that air was shattered the second he opened his mouth.

”Oh, err… Go ahead, Chi… Chitose-san. Err, would you, like a cookie?”

Mentally congratulating himself for managing to say it, the poor boy had no clue he had gotten her name wrong after all.

“Gck”

Haruto choked slightly on hearing that he’d gotten the other party’s name wrong after all. Well, didn’t he just feel like a piece of crap now.

“I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

Make you feel bad, he didn’t finish. After all, his conversational partner had already honed in on the other thing he had said. Looking into those gleaming eyes, only a monster would rescind the invitation!

“Go ahead. In fact, take as many as you want! It’s the least I can do…”

To make up for forgetting your name.

He watched with trepidation as the cookie passed the girl’s cherry-red lips. Was it good? It was good, right? Even having just tried one, and despite knowing from experience that he didn’t have some strangely unusual sense of taste… Haruto could never help but worry about the what-ifs whenever someone tried his food.

A silence fell over the room, marred only by the sounds of chewing, and of happy hums. That was a good sign, right? That meant she was enjoying it, right?

This was by far one of the most awkward situations Haruto had ever been in. Where was he even supposed to look? It would be weird to stare at a girl eating, after all, but it would also be rude to look away from a person who was talking to him! In the end, he compromised, and busied himself in counting how many cookies he had left.

Finally, the silence came to an end. The verdict was in- The cookie was good! But Haruto had no time to be relieved over that, because it seemed the awkward silence had gotten to her as well- She was acting depressed again, like after he had forgotten her name. These mood swings are just too hard to follow, thought Haruto, doling it away under things he would never understand about girls.

“No, no, really, I’m just happy you enjoyed it! Err, I’m not really sure how to say this, but, umm, rather than thinking you look stupid, well… I’m just happy you thought it was worth savoring? Plus, umm… Even if you are weird, is that… Really a problem? I mean, after all, couldn’t you say everyone at this school, is weird, in a way? So, umm, don’t worry about it? Maybe?”

Okay, he botched that horribly. What kind of motivational speech is stuttering and uncertainty? He wasn’t even sure it had convinced himself. And so, he did the only thing he could think of. He changed the subject.

“Umm, anyways, I’m Shimizu Haruto. Erm, feel free to take another cookie. I’m sure they’re not very filling, but, they should be better than nothing, and I made plenty…”

"What the hell do you mean, 'someone like you!?'"

Haruto could not resist the outburst at hearing the girl's words. He didn't care that he was interrupting, and didn't know that his mode of dress made him appear rather more fierce than intended. He simply could not accept the phrasing which she had used. Self-deprecation was among the things Shimizu Haruto hated the most!

"Err, sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice," Haruto added after a second. He had done it again, butting into other people's business. Certainly, she had some circumstances that led to her attitude, and usually these circumstances were of the type that people preferred not to tell those they had only just met. Clamming up, Haruto sat around awkwardly as Chise rummaged through her bag.

"Oh, I see," was all he could say to the girl's explanation. Narcolepsy certainly wasn't one of the diseases his quirk could cure, or he would have instantly offered. "If you're tired, go back and take your medicine, or rest! Don't let me keep you here!" These were Haruto's true feelings- He would hate for Chise to be forcing herself to talk to him when she was tired, even if she didn't want to be.

It's no problem, Ishihara-san. After all, I did the same to you, and, well, at least you got the name right!" Haruto couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes as he finished the sentence. Even if he was forgiven for it, he had a feeling he would never let himself live it down. Hopefully it wouldn't happen again.

"You really don't have to go so far- They're only cookies! You praise them like they're manna, or lembas bread! I may be half decent at following a recipe, but if my cookies were half as good as you make them sound, I'd quit school and open a bakery!"

Haruto spoke as such, but in his heart, he was really happy to hear his cookies praised so much... Even if he was uncertain how much of that praise he could really trust.

"There, there's really no need to go that far, Ishihara-san..." Haruto attempted to refuse her offer, but soon gave in. It was pointless to refuse the goodwill of others. "Well, umm... Just make whatever you like best? And, well, coffee is too strong for my tastes, so I would prefer tea."

Haruto left off at that, waiting for Chise to take another cookie. He had already had plenty when they were baked, so he wanted to leave the rest for others. "It's a shame the dorms don't have kitchens. Once these are gone, I'll have to borrow the home-ec room to make more... Assuming they'll let me," Haruto mused aloud about his current dilemma. He had completely not expected the dorms to have no kitchens, so he would have to find an alternative if he wanted to keep cooking.

As feared, his outburst had upset Chise. Haruto nearly burst out again, telling her not to apologize, but... He somehow managed to hold it in. No, that's not what I meant... It's just, umm, you should have more confidence! Saying something like, 'someone like me,' it's, you know? I know I'm being a bit of a busybody... I just, I don't like it when people treat themselves poorly, like that."

He hoped that the point had gotten across. Looking at her eyes that seemed to think she had done something wrong was simply bad for Haruto's heart- "I'm sorry, please, just forget I said anything." He would rather drop the subject than deal with those eyes.

It made Haruto feel better to know that Chise wasn't in desperate need of her medication. He would hate to not only make her feel bad, but also to keep her from the things she needed! "Ah, okay. Umm, speaking of which- Was there anything you needed from me?" Haruto enquired- After all, he hadn't seen a reason for her to approach him. Of course, there was always the chance that she had just wanted to speak with one of her new classmates- But on the chance that that wasn't it, he felt the need to ask.

"I never said they weren't good! I just said that they aren't as good as you make them sound! They're just normal, homemade cookies! You're talking about them like the foodstuff of legends, which they are far from!" This was a blatant misunderstanding, which Haruto resolved to resolve before it grew out of hand! "If I thought they weren't good, I wouldn't have brought them at all!"

After a moment, Chise started to laugh. Haruto couldn't help but laugh along, though he wasn't sure what was so funny. He liked it more when Chise was laughing, than when she was upset, or angry over a misunderstanding. In hindsight, she probably felt the same way- Making Haruto feel worse all over again about having yelled at her. He almost apologized, but caught himself in time- It would be awkward to apologize at this timing!

"Home Ec, huh? Yeah, that sounds like fun! I suppose even heroes have to eat, eh?" Haruto agreed to join with Chise. Home Economics was a subject that was typically more attractive to girls, so it would be awkward if he was the only guy in the club... But more important than his awkwardness, was having a kitchen to cook in! We should go to the club later, to ask for application forms."

Thankfully, his stuttered, staggered speech had successfully removed the pleading eyes! Score one for the confidence booster, Shumizu Haruto! Or something like that.

"Oh, is that what happened? That must have been rough, getting all of those rejections... But, for what it's worth, I'm glad you're here too! My story isn't nearly as exciting- I just want to use my quirk to help people, so I applied! But, well, my quirk wouldn't be worth much against a villain, so I couldn't possibly aim for the Hero course. Now here I am!"

Haruto neatly neglected to mention his experiences with discrimination against quirks, or how his goal was intimately intertwined with how he overcame that. As far as he was concerned, that was all a part of his dark history- Even if he had never been a chuuni. What would he even say, 'Yeah, I spent a few years pretending I didn't have a quirk because the villagers would ostracize me?' Wouldn't that just be awkward to talk about? Yeah.

"So, what's your quirk? Mine's Purification. My body acts as a filter, drawing toxins and bacteria and junk from the environment into my body to be cleansed! I can even use it to cure sick people! Though, well, I'm not really all that immune to the stuff I filter out, which is why I'm always a bit ill, you see. Especially with all this air pollution in the city. I never realized how clean it was back home until I left!"

Haruto took the opportunity to segue the conversation from depressing things like failing entrance exams and self-doubt to a much lighter topic, quirks! Hopefully he wasn't stepping on another landmine, considering how she had just said she thought her quirk was useless.

"Oh, that's fine. I just thought I'd ask, in case there was anything. Err, thanks."

Haruto left off with the casual expression of gratitude, having a hard time putting into any more detail than that what he meant. She had come just when he was feeling at his lowest, for failing to do exactly what she had done, and salvaged at least a little of his day. Plus, she liked his cookies! All in all, he was grateful.

Don't worry, I'll definitely make more! Though, I think I'll try something else next time. Maybe oatmeal cookies. We'll see!"

Haruto was happy to have made a friend, and was highly hopeful of making more in the club! Actually, come to think of it, "Now that I think about it, this is the first year the school's been open. Have clubs even formed, yet? We may have to start from creating the club, rather than joining it! Oh dear..."

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. "We should probably find that out, huh? If the club even exists, and what it would take to start one... Usually in manga, you need what, five people? Including us, we'd need three more..."

Oh dear, she was frowning again. "That wasn't what I meant!" Haruto hurriedly clarified. "Even if your quirk isn't useful in combat, that isn't a bad thing! I mean, isn't quirks being used for combat, well, a bad thing? It makes the people without quirks scared of the people who have them... I think, if there was more focus on quirks like ours, people wouldn't be so afraid of quirks!"

This was Haruto's personal philosophy, the guide of his life. "That's why, my dream is to use my quirk to become a doctor!"

"I mean, my body naturally clears itself out much faster than other people, so it's not all that bad. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Unfortunately, because of how my quirk converts everything it takes in, by some sort of sciencey mumbo-jumbo that I don't really understand, medicine doesn't do anything... But please, don't worry, I'm fine!"

He'd made the wrong impression, he shouldn't have mentioned his drawback. All of the positive things he can do with his power, what was a little nausea? "Oh, another cool thing my power can do- See my hair? Not dyed, I just simply filter out the pigmentation! Cool, huh?"

Again, Haruto was unaware that his hair color was not at all considered cool.

"L-lip to... Wow, that, that is awkward." Haruto now felt bad for asking, he could see it had embarassed Chise to talk about it. Like, how do you even, discover... Erk! I mean, sorry, I'm just thinking aloud. Ignore me, please!" Haruto rapidly backpedalled, realizing he had just implicitly asked about her first kiss... Not really a story to share with someone you've only just met!. He found his face was almost as pink as hers. All in all, an embarassing moment all around. Perhaps a change of topic was in order?

Fortunately, talk of cookies was well suited for that! "Sounds good to me! Once we have permission to use the home ec room, I'll get to making those! I'll be sure to offer some, once they're cooked."

It was good to have plans, and good to make friends. All in all, this had gone amazingly well, despite some misunderstandings and some embarrassment. "Yeah! I mean, this is the first year that U.A. has been open, so it would be weird if there were clubs already. We should find sensei later and ask her about the details, I'm sure she'll be happy to help! I'm really glad we had this talk, I don't think I would have ever come up with this idea on my own!"