Chapter 8: Mandatory dorm meeting
...
After saying goodbye to the cute invisible girl, I ran into Kirishima again. Mina wasn't with him anymore since she'd met some other girls and was off talking with them about girl stuff or whatever.
Naturally, I invited Kirishima over to check out my room, where we spent some time chatting and playing video games. I even played a few songs on my guitar at Kirishima's request, since he was fascinated by the fact that I'd been in a band and played guitar.
We were both just killing time until the mandatory dorm meeting tonight.
Finally, my alarm went off on my wrist, reminding me that the meeting would start in ten minutes. I turned on the little holographic screen, showed Kirishima the time, and we headed down to the common area to join everyone for the meeting.
...
When we arrived, most of the first-year students staying in the dorms were already gathered on the couches in the common area, waiting for the professor to show up and start the meeting. There were little discussion groups scattered around as people got to know each other and talked about their hopes for the year.
I easily spotted Iida, who was gesturing wildly and robotically at the explosive blond from before, Bakugo (if I remembered right), ordering him to take his shoes off the arm of the couch he'd taken over.
'Those two look like they're going to have plenty of arguments from now on,' I thought. I'd already seen them arguing yesterday, and here they were again… wouldn't be surprised if this became a daily routine for them.
I also noticed a yellow blob of fabric on the floor near the door, but I didn't pay it much attention, figuring someone was still in the process of moving in.
Kirishima and I found a couple of free seats on one of the couches and continued our conversation about video games, movies, and music for a few moments. That's when I noticed Ojiro standing by himself. I decided to rope the quiet guy with the tail into joining us, motioning him over. He came over after a moment.
When Ojiro joined us, I introduced him to Kirishima, and Ojiro just nodded politely, giving that trademark smile of his that I still found pretty amusing.
I opened my mouth to say something to them again, only to freeze up as the yellow blob by the door started inching its way slowly toward the center of the group of gathered students, like a caterpillar.
I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen this caterpillar somewhere before, but I couldn't quite place it.
Confusion spread, and all conversation died down, replaced by murmurs as people stared at the bundle that had joined us.
Then it straightened up and unzipped itself. That's when I realized where I'd seen it before. It was my homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. I went quiet right away, and it took several seconds for everyone else to catch on and do the same.
Just then, two more people suddenly entered the room… Vlad King, homeroom teacher of Class 1-B, and Present Mic.
Once it was completely quiet, Present Mic was the first to speak.
"HEY HEY! CONGRATS! YOU GUYS ARE NOW STUDENTS OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS HERO COURSE IN THE COUNTRY!" Present Mic shouted in his usual radio-announcer voice, striking a pose and looking around at all of us gathered students.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, HOPE YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH TIME YESTERDAY AND TODAY TO GET A LITTLE FAMILIAR WITH THE CAMPUS AND WITH EACH OTHER BEFORE CLASSES START TOMORROW, MONDAY!"
Now it seemed Aizawa was stepping in to continue the talk.
"There are twenty-two of you staying in the first-year dorms. Let me lay out some basic ground rules for dorm and campus life. Unlike other universities in Japan, we're not bound by tradition. Each professor has full authority to act and teach as they see fit. That means, if I or any other professor thinks you don't belong here, you're out. That's it. You're done"
When Aizawa finished saying that, there was a collective gasp from the students, all of us looking nervously around as if expecting someone to argue with that. We even looked to Present Mic and Vlad King, hoping one of them would say something different, but nop and no one stepped forward.
To make things worse, Aizawa just went silent after saying that and burrowed back into his sleeping bag, zipping it up so only his face was visible. It seemed like he'd said all he had to say and didn't care to stick around any longer for the talk.
Vlad King decided to speak next, but on a completely different topic from what was worrying most of us.
"This residence building is your home. Treat it as such. That means if you break it, you fix it. If you make a mess, you clean it up. Don't bring us your little squabbles; settle those yourselves. You're adults. There are to be no fights inside the dorm. No destructive quirks allowed. And no guys sneaking into the girls' bathrooms or vice versa"
That last part made my cheeks flush a bit… heh I'm not gonna lie, I had thought about it... but to be fair, I'm sure I'm not the only one. I mean, I could swear that little purple-haired dude, Mineta, from before looked more disappointed than embarrassed. Not that I wasn't a little disappointed too.
"As for the campus, train however you want. Use the university's resources however you can to become the hero you came here to be. You're free to use your quirk as long as it's for training purposes. All sparring must be approved by a teacher in advance and must take place on school grounds, preferably in one of the gyms," Vlad King continued.
"At the end of the day, you'll all be responsible for your own meals. We're not your parents; we're not cooking for you. There's a kitchen equipped with high-end appliances here, and the university cafeteria is open from five in the morning until ten at night. Outside of those hours, you're on your own"
"The school uniform policy is more relaxed than it should be, but it's still in place. You must wear the full uniform or the vest variant at all times while attending classes. What you do in your free time is up to you"
"That's it. If you have questions, take them to any professor. And to Class 1-B, I'll see you in class on Monday" With that, the three professors left the building… even Aizawa, who slid himself along the ground and out the door at a turtle's pace, following the other two.
After they left, everyone started talking about it for a while until we eventually broke off, each heading back to our own rooms.