Hina clasped her hands together happily, smiling eagerly at the students. "Welcome, class. I hope you had a good lunch, because we are getting straight into the lesson. Our first assignment for today is actually a test."
All of them despaired at once, and Hina was just barely able to suppress the laugh that threatened to burst from her lips. Ah, yes. Another of those hilarious groans that echoed throughout the room. She so loved hearing them.
"Test? But we haven't learned anything yet!" Kaminari exclaimed in agony, slumping in his seat.
Ashido sighed, her head held in her hand. "I'm definitely gonna fail for sure..."
Their sentiment echoed around to the other students, but some still remained composed. Asui, one of the more composed students of the class, tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Actually, most of our classes seem to begin first with an exam of some sort, like the quirk apprehension test with Aizawa Sensei. It seems almost like a tradition with UA." She mused aloud in her croak-like voice, and Hina pointed at her excitedly.
"Exactly!" The rest of the class brought their attention back up to the teacher. "I won't be applying this test towards your grade, of course, as I in no way expect any of you to pass it with a reasonably high score. It will simply tell me where you all currently stand and what areas of the curriculum we need to focus on more heavily."
Momo smiled, latching on to the idea now. "It will also show us how much we've improved since the beginning of the school year. It'll be interesting to see how much we all advance in our studies!"
"Correct. So," she grabbed a stack of papers from her desk and handed them to Aoyama who was seated in the front corner desk closest to her, "please pass these along to your neighbor until you all have one. You may begin the test when you receive it. Please turn your paper over when you are finished and wait quietly at your desk."
The redhead sat down behind her desk and started writing in her curriculum journal, updating some things that she wanted to add into the work load further down the line. The class did have potential, both in their quirks and as good people overall. Still, some definitely needed some help to get to the image of a model citizen that most heroes needed to be in order to be accepted by the public, but they had all semester to get there.
They all began silently looking over the questions, some with expressions of utter confusion, and some with intense concentration. She tried to keep her amused smile to a bare minimum. It wouldn't do to show them that she was entertained by their panic.
Ten minutes went by before she decided that it was time to see how the students were doing so far. Glancing up from her paper, Hina began flitting from mind to mind, allowing herself to linger in their heads for a moment before going on to the next one.
Most were pondering questions to themselves as one would normally do, and she didn't spend much time lingering there. They were working and she didn't want to accidentally disrupt them from doing so. Aoyama and Shoji both seemed unconcerned with the questions, taking what she'd said at face value and trusting that they wouldn't be penalized for getting things incorrect. Good, she was glad to see not everyone was stressing out about something that held very little meaning in the long run.
Iida was furiously writing away at one answer, determined to at least reach a 50% score to prove that he was a good choice to be class representative after all. Behind him, Uraraka seemed to be having some trouble with the financial questions in particular.
"What's the difference between gross income and net income? Are there two different kinds? I haven't heard of either one before! Damn, I should know this if I have any hope of helping mom and dad..."
Hina smiled to herself, moving on to the next person. Koda in particular looked very nervous, taking his test very carefully and slowly. From what she'd been witnessing so far, he was taking the longest to get through his questions. She delved into his mind a moment...
"-don't want them to think I'm stupid, but I don't know any of these answers. I'll never make friends if they think I can't do basic stuff like this. I bet most of them know all these answers already...if they see my score is zero or something really low, what will they think of me? I already feel like I don't belong in this class..."
Hina, feeling a spark of sympathy, reached out to reassure him.
"Koda, I will be keeping the test scores until the end of the semester to compare to your final test. None of the other students will see what you get on it, so don't worry about what they might think. Just try your hardest, but remember, this doesn't serve to prove how little you know, but to show you that there is a whole lot to being an adult and just how important it is to know the material by the end of the semester. Besides, I will not think anything less of you even if you score zero correctly."
Koda looked up at her with a wide-eyed expression from his test, and she gave him a caring smile, which he sheepishly returned, before swallowing and going back to his test with a much less self-depricating mindset. Satisfied that he wasn't stressing so much over something this small, she moved on.
She suddenly had the thought that her teaching style was probably very different to those of the other teachers in UA. Aizawa was a tough instructor, and Midnight had a sadistic side that she liked to show every once in awhile in her assignments. In comparison to them, she was probably much more laid back. Perhaps she should be a bit more unforgiving, but it was their first week of the class, and they already had a lot on their plates. She could torment them at a later date but for now she'd allow them to take it relatively easy.
Ignoring the endlessly droning monologue in Bakugo's head about how he didn't care about anything on this test and that he'd rather be training his quirk to be stronger, she settled on Mineta's inner thoughts, which were really very simplistic...
"-could be a D or bigger cup. No, no, perhaps even a DD by the looks of it. What sort of material is her costume? Does it allow them to bounce when she runs? Do they jiggle when she laughs? Hmm... how squishy do they feel in comparison to Midnight or Mt. Lady? Does she match her bra to her-?"
"Please stay on task, Mineta."
The short young man nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard her words through his head, and his gaze looked up at her fearfully. She regarded him with a raised brow and a pointed look at his unfinished test on his desk.
"H-hai! Gomen-ne!"
She sighed to herself, deciding that that was enough perusing for now, and went back to her own book to wait for everyone to finish their tests.
Hina gathered the papers together and set the completed stack on her desk, then turned back to the students. They all looked a little worn out from having to answer so many questions. Well, too bad she wasn't quite done with them yet. "Now, we have one final assignment for the day. I'd like you all to submit a goals sheet."
Surprisingly, she didn't hear a discontented groan this time around."What sort of goals?" Sato asked with a frown.
Her hands spread apart. "There are several different types it will ask you about. One for your own individual growth, one for your desired end-result as a pro hero, and so on. It will ask you where you see yourself in five years, or ten years, and what active steps you plan to take to get you there."
She turned and grabbed the second stack of papers from her desk, once more passing them to Aoyama to hand out. "This one will probably take you a bit more time to think about and fill in, so please feel free to take them home and turn them in to me tomorrow in class."
"If we know what are goals are, can we just turn them in now?" Jiro asked with a raised hand, and Hina nodded.
"Mhmm, if you've given your goals a lot of thought and know what it is you want from your future, then go ahead and turn them in. Otherwise, please take your time to think about the answers. I look forward to seeing what you all desire to be!" She exclaimed with a smile, clasping her hands behind her back.
Maybe I shouldn't have made these tests so long...
Hina's eyes scanned one of Class 1-B's tests, idly marking answers wrong as she went along. So far, most of the students had done as she'd expected. The highest score she'd come across, which was Momo's from Class 1-A, had scored a whopping 61% correct. She smiled, wondering how they would take it to hear that the highest score given could barely count as a passing grade. It would certainly give them a shock.
Realizing that she was trailing off in thought, she shook her head and went back to her grading. Each test had 100 questions, and she hadn't even thought about the amount of time grading them would take, especially considering she had 6 full classes of students to get through.
She idly glanced at the clock, shocked that it was already 8 pm. One glance out the door made her realize that the hallway outside was dark. The school was quiet, save for the steady tick of the clock on the wall. All of the other staff must have gone home long ago, and she hadn't even noticed until now. Huh.
Hina looked at the pile she had left, counting at least 20 tests that still needed grading, and she sighed, resigning herself to another hour or so of grinding through the paperwork before she'd allow herself to go home. It would be better to get it all out of the way now, rather than put it off for tomorrow.
But damn, was she tired...
Footsteps from the out in the hallway didn't even register in her mind as she flipped the page of the test to continue checking to see if the student's answers were correct. They slowed to a stop outside her door, and she nearly jumped in place when the door slid open with a hiss.
"You're still here?" Aizawa asked evenly, curiosity showing in his eyes. "You realize it's nearly 10, don't you?"
"A-ah..." She picked up the paper she was grading and smiled timidly. "I've still got some grading to do. I should finish soon, though."
He nodded and crossed his arms, leaning against her door frame. "Why not put them off until tomorrow? You look like you need a rest."
She grinned, leaning her head on her hand. "You're one to talk about needing some sleep." His curiosity turned into his signature, stale stare, and she laughed to herself at his reaction. He seemed so easy to tease, but he rarely ever took the bait. One day, she'd get him to respond somehow.
"Are you leaving for your patrol?" She switched subjects, realizing that he was here this late as well. He must have been finishing up on his teacher duties too. And if he stuck around this late, that normally meant he would patrol afterwards rather than head home.
He nodded. "I was just leaving when I saw your classroom light on."
She gave him a tired smile. "I see. I'll head home myself soon once I've finished grading. Good luck on your patrol. Stay safe, please."
Aizawa hummed away her concern, standing there another moment as if he had something more to say, then straightened from the wall and headed off down the hallway, closing her door behind him as he went. His footsteps grew quiet until she could no longer hear them at all.
Such a stale conversation... Hina deflated a little, disappointed that their talks with him always remained so superficial, nearly bordering on awkward at times. Would it kill the man to allow more people to be his friend? Honestly, she had no idea how Present Mic had managed it to begin with. Those two were closer than most teachers were, having attended UA together years ago. Seeing them in the same room together was almost surreal, due to the contrasting nature of their personalities.
Maybe she could ask Hizashi how best to approach Aizawa so as to further their friendship. He would surely have some pointers. Or maybe he'd just use the opportunity to further tease her with Midnight. They were the gossip kings of the school staff. Perhaps it would be better to figure it out for herself, not that she thought about it. No need to throw water onto that grease fire and start some unpleasant rumors about them.
There she went, getting distracted again. At this rate, she'd never get these papers done. After several more pages, she finished up Tetsutetsu's paper and stuck it on top of the large pile of graded tests. She automatically reached over to grab another ungraded paper and started on it next.
This time when footsteps began approaching from the hallway again, Hina heard them, and looked up as her door opened once more. Aizawa approached her desk and sat a cup of coffee on the corner, before turning to leave.
"Figured you'd need it." He said quickly.
"Ah, thank you, Aiza-"
The door closed before she could finish the sentiment, and she smiled softly to herself. She reached for the cup, blew on the top to cool it down a bit, before taking a timid sip.
Plenty of milk and sugar, making it less coffee and more like a dessert. Just how she liked it. She idly wondered how he knew exactly how she liked her coffee. Hmm.
Taking another sip to try jumpstarting her energy, she set the cup down again and focused on the papers, a newfound determination to get everything done washing over her.
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