The classroom was exactly as I had expected it. Rows of desks, large windows, a blackboard at the front. Sunlight streamed in through the glass, catching the dust motes that floated in the air. The students were already seated. They turned to look as Iida and I entered.
Aizawa stood at the front of the room, his capture scarf loose around his neck, his tired eyes half-closed. He looked like he had not slept in days. He probably had not.
"Oh yeah," he said, his voice flat. "There will be a new student."
He pointed at me.
"Kobe Arakawa. Treat him well."
I gave a light bow. The minimal acceptable amount. Then I walked in.
Aizawa gestured to the back of the room. "You will be in the second to last row. Taking over the vacant seat."
Vacant. The word hung in the air. Someone had left. Someone was not coming back.
I walked toward the back. The students watched me pass. Some expressions were curious. Some were wary. One was burning.
Uraraka Ochaco spoke before I reached my desk.
"Why is a new student joining? Especially after everything that has happened." Her voice was tight. Controlled. "Can he be trusted? With all the villainy being spread?"
She emphasised the word. Villainy. Directed at me.
I did not stop walking.
Kyouka Jiro spoke next. Her earphone jacks twitched.
"I agree. I expected we might lose some classmates. Through more death." Her voice was quieter than Uraraka's, but no less sharp. "This could be inviting their killer into our home."
I reached my desk. Set my bag down. Sat.
Sero Hanta turned in his seat. His eyes were wide.
"He is Soryu."
The name rippled through the room. Whispers. Shifting bodies. Someone inhaled sharply.
Aizawa's voice cut through it like a blade.
"Enough."
The room went silent.
"No more of that talk." He crossed his arms. "Kobe Arakawa was working with the Hero Commission. Without him, there would be a lot more loss. He handled his part of the mission. That is what you need to know."
It was not a lie. Not completely. But it was not the whole truth either. The Commission had used me. I had used them. We had both walked away with something we wanted. That was not the same as trust.
Aizawa looked at me. Then at the student near the window.
"Kaminari. Raise your hand so he knows who he is sitting by."
Kaminari Denki lifted his hand. His expression was nervous. But he was trying to smile.
"Hey," he said. "Welcome to the madhouse."
I looked at him. Then at the rest of the class. Midoriya was watching me with an expression I could not read. Bakugou had not turned around at all.
___
The morning stretched on. No lessons. Just the strange limbo of the first day back, everyone still settling in, still adjusting to being in the same room after everything that had happened.
Groups formed. Clusters of desks pulled together. Voices low, then louder, then low again.
Kobe sat at his desk, the second to last row, and listened.
They spoke about the long break. About Hero's Eve. About how terrible it all had been. Some of them mentioned parents who had begged them not to come back. Others admitted, quietly, that they had been scared too. That they had woken up in the middle of the night, certain that they heard explosions, that the League had found them, that it was happening again.
A few spoke differently. Their voices were harder. Their jaws were set. They were more motivated now. Angrier. Ready.
Kobe said nothing. He watched.
Near the front, Uraraka had turned in her seat. She was speaking to Midoriya. Her voice was low, but not low enough.
"Did he go to the same school as you?"
Midoriya blinked. Surprise flickered across his face. He had not expected the question so soon.
He nodded.
Others leaned in. Kirishima. Kaminari. Jiro. They wanted to know.
"What was he like?" Kaminari asked.
Midoriya did not answer.
Uraraka did.
"I heard from an old classmate of his," she said. "He was just another bully."
Kobe's hands stilled on the desk.
That is not true.
He had never stuck to groups. Never made a habit of ruining someone's day for fun. He had kept to himself, mostly. The only altercation he had ever had at that school, the only one worth remembering, had been with him beating up Bakugou, that got him kicked out.
Uraraka was still speaking.
"He was kicked out. Because of what he did to Bakugou. The harm he caused."
A surprised gasp rippled through the cluster. A few students turned to look at him. Others looked at Bakugou, who had not turned around at all.
Midoriya's voice was sharp. "Do not say that."
"Why?" Uraraka's voice rose. "Our classmates should know who they will be learning with every day. Everything he is doing could just be a facade."
All eyes turned to Kobe.
The teacher was gone. The class reps, Iida and Yaoyorozu, were watching. Interested. No one was stepping in.
Bakugou had still not turned around.
Kobe was on his own.
He turned to face them.
"What do you want to know?"
Tokoyami spoke first. His voice was low, odd, the way it always was.
"How do you keep your dark night at bay?"
Kobe blinked. He did not understand.
Someone else translated. "Are you really just a bully? Are you even here to actually be a hero?"
Kobe shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"
Uraraka's face flushed.
"Our school life has been riddled with hurt and sorrow. Enough of it. I am not going to tolerate it from someone pretending to be a hero when they do not fit the mould."
Kobe tilted his head. "Why do you believe that? What do you actually know about me?"
She did not hesitate.
"I know you are a cold-hearted bully who left his own sister and only showed up recently when it pleased you. I know Aizawa lied about you working on our side. You are only sixteen. Like many others our age, you probably fell in line with some small-time villain group, and this is part of some service act you had to fall under."
Midoriya stood. "Stop. You are going too far."
Kirishima spoke. His voice was quiet. Heavy.
"Maybe not far enough."
Bakugou turned around.
Kirishima continued. He mentioned Koda. How the villains had gotten in during their first month. How they had killed him. Then the Hosu Game. The intrusions. The attacks. Their student life, torn apart again and again.
"Somewhere," Kirishima said, "there must be a kind of traitor."
He hit the back of his head, as if trying to knock the thought loose.
"I just want to believe that. Because I hate that nothing is piecing together right now."
He pointed at Kobe.
"If you are not here to bond with us, to become a true hero, you should just leave."
He pointed at the door.
Kobe looked at him. Then at the door. Then back at Kirishima.
"What authority do you have?"
Kirishima's eyes widened.
Kobe stood.
"I am sorry for your loss. For all of your losses." His voice was flat. "But in the end, if I were here with bad intentions that you cannot prove, hearing all the bad things that have happened to you would not sway me. They do not matter."
He looked around the room.
"What authority do any of you have to name me a villain and demand I turn and run with my tail between my legs?"
His gaze settled on Sero.
"You called me Soryu. Aloud. To the class."
Sero shifted in his seat.
Kobe's voice did not rise. It did not need to.
"Do you think any of you could take me?"
The pressure in the room spiked. A few students shifted into defensive stances. Hands curled into fists. Quirks stirred beneath skin.
Kobe did not move.
"You have all seen bits and pieces of what I can do. If you had seen less, you would have laid it on even thicker than you are now."
He stepped out from behind his desk.
Some of them flinched.
He did not smile.
"I am here to become a hero. Nothing more."
Kaminari stood. His hands were raised, placating.
"The pressure in the room is a bit much. Maybe we should just lay off him."
Yaoyorozu nodded. "I agree. We should..."
The door was already closing.
Kobe was already in the corridor.
The bell rang for break.
___
The roof was quiet.
Kobe sat with his back against the railing, his lunch balanced on his knee. The bento was plain. Rice, fish, pickled vegetables. His mother had made it. He had not asked her to. She had just done it.
He ate mechanically. Chewed. Swallowed. Did not taste.
The classroom had been hostile. That was expected. He was not angry about it. He understood. To them, he was a villain. Someone who could have wronged them in great capacity. Someone who had, in some ways, even if they did not know the full story.
But he had not wronged them. Not really. Not directly. And eventually, they would get over it. Or they would not. Either way, he would still be here.
The door to the roof creaked open.
Midoriya stepped out, his green hair ruffled by the wind. He looked around, spotted Kobe, and exhaled.
"I finally found you."
Kobe did not respond. He kept eating.
Midoriya walked over. He did not sit. He stood a few feet away, hands at his sides, posture stiff.
"I want to apologise. For what Uraraka started."
Kobe chewed. Swallowed. "It is fine."
"It is not. She should not have..."
"I said it is fine." Kobe set down his chopsticks. "I did feel a weird vibe from her, though."
Midoriya flinched. Just slightly. The words had stung. But he did not press it. He just nodded, jaw tight.
Kobe watched him for a moment.
"Did you think I was ever part of your bullying?"
Midoriya blinked. "What?"
"In school. Before middle school. Did you think I was part of it?"
Midoriya was quiet for a moment. Then he shook his head.
"No."
He paused.
"But... maybe you could have stood up for me. Sometimes."
Kobe tilted his head. "Why?"
Midoriya opened his mouth. Closed it.
"We were just classmates," Kobe continued. "Not friends. Honestly, I did not know how far it could go."
Midoriya's voice was quiet. "How about death?"
Kobe looked at him.
"If I had died," Midoriya said, "would that have been far enough?"
The wind picked up. The roof felt colder.
Kobe did not answer. He just looked at Midoriya, really looked at him, and saw something he had not noticed before. Something heavy. Something that had been there for a long time.
Midoriya looked away.
"I just came up here to apologise. On behalf of the class." He stepped back. "I will see you later."
Kobe raised a hand. A small wave.
The door closed.
Kobe stared at it for a long moment.
That interaction did not go well.
He picked up his chopsticks. Ate another piece of fish. Chewed. Swallowed.
He had joined this school for stability. A way out of the world he had been trapped in. Being a hero did not sound like the worst thing in the world. It was not what he wanted, exactly. But it was something. A direction. A path that did not involve blood and secrets and running.
But there was another reason too.
Kirishima had pointed it out. Too many attacks. Too much inside knowledge. For a school that had gained All Might as a teacher, having a traitor seemed almost inevitable. Someone feeding information to the villains. Someone on the inside.
If there was a traitor, Kobe wanted to find them.
It would keep him entertained. For the foreseeable future, at least.
He finished his lunch. Folded the bento box. Stared out at the sky.
The roof was still quiet. But the silence felt different now. Heavier.
He did not mind.