MHA: Dragon's Pride

Three students stare at their substitute teacher with the most unimpressed looks anyone in the school has ever seen. Which is saying a lot, considering these three are very rarely ever impressed. The substitute, meanwhile, is feeling distinctly uncomfortable and tries to bring her interaction with them to a quick close.

"Look, just return his things and we can write the whole thing off as a joke that went too far." Next to the overweight middle-aged woman is a recent transfer student, a boy with a strong strength quirk, smirking smugly at them.

Hearing the woman's demand, the three can't help but roll their eyes. Their fourth friend has already gone to get a competent adult, so they aren't worried about what's happening, but that doesn't mean that they can't escalate the situation.

"Like we already told you," a girl with violet hair and earphone jacks hanging from her ears starts, "these are ours. You think this could fit around that fat neck of his?" She jerks her thumb leather choker, the gold embedded in it glinting as it catches the light.

"Shonimuka is simply a greedy idiot who identified you as one of his people," an expressionless girl says in a monotone. "You could ask quite literally anyone else in this school and they could corroborate that these do not belong to him." Her wrist twitches, drawing the eye to her own solid gold bracelet.

Shonimuka's face turns red and he opens his mouth to give the girl a piece of his mind before the third of the accused steps forward, making sure to meet the woman's eyes with his own. "The fact that you just assumed this mook was telling the truth and we decided to steal from him is not only concerning, but also unsettling, Mrs What's-your-face."

The substitute grinds her teeth together at the blatant show of disrespect. "Ms Chikle."

The boy stares at her silently for a moment, the deep bags under his eyes somehow making the action more intimidating. "Wow. No wonder you're not married, with a name like that."

The woman's eyes flash as she raises her hand, only to freeze when a deep voice makes itself known behind her. "Ms Chikle. You wouldn't happen to be raising your hand against a student, would you?"

Ms Chickle slowly turns her head like a rusty robot, only to see the principal of the school standing behind her with a frown of disapproval on his bulldog-like face. "M-Mr Burrydo. How unexpected to see you here."

"So I've gathered," he says drily. He lets out a deep sigh before glancing at the three students behind her with tired eyes. "I'll allow you a single chance to explain yourself."

The woman immediately launches into her justifications for her actions. "These three troublemakers had their friend use his quirk to steal from this young man. He alerted me to this so I calmly approached them to ask that they be returned. Not only did they refuse, but they also started insulting me!"

Mr Burrydo stares at her silently for a minute while a bead of sweat slowly trails down her face. Then he looks upwards as if asking for help. Getting nothing for his pleas yet again, he turns his attention to the three 'troublemakers'. "So?"

"She's quirkist."

"She failed to investigate anything."

"She deserves to be single."

"HEY!" The woman in question shouts at hearing what the three have to say about her before turning back to the principal with a frustrated 'what did I tell you?' look. The man sighs again before looking at the woman with an expression that absolutely screams that he doesn't get paid enough to deal with the situation.

"Did you make any attempt whatsoever to determine whether or not these three had in fact stolen from Baka Shonimuka?"

She crosses her arms under her chest while giving the dog man a confused look with furrowed brows. "Why would he lie? Plus the other boy has a brainwashing quirk! How do we even know whether or not those two girls are standing by him willingly or not!?"

Mr Burrydo lets out a deeper, long suffering sigh. "Ms Chikle. I understand that this is the first day of the week you are meant to be substituting homeroom 2-A. You wouldn't happen to know the names of the top five students for this grade, do you?"

She's taken aback by the seemingly random change of topic but tries to answer him all the same. "Uh, that would be Kyoka Jiro, Hitoshi Shinso, Yui Kodai, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Romero Fujimi?"

The principal nods slowly. "That's correct. Now, do you know what those students look like?"

The woman hesitates, sensing that she's somehow screwed up. "No, I don't. Classes haven't started yet so I don't really know the students. But why does that matter?"

Mr. Burrydo raises his hand and points to the three students behind her. "Kyoka Jiro. Yui Kodai. Hitoshi Shinso. The top three students not only of their grade, but the school." He moves to the side and reveals a boy with a bird head standing behind him, glaring at the substitute teacher. "And Fumikage Tokoyami, who came to inform me that you were conducting quirk discrimination."

Ms Chikla flushes. "I-no-I wasn't-!"

Mr Burrydo sighs again. Something that happens a lot when it involves the school's top students. "Yes, you were. You heard that the number two student has a brainwashing quirk and automatically decided that he was in the wrong. You didn't bother looking into the problem with even the most basic level of effort, or else you would know that the students have worn the items in question every single day ever since they started attending school here. Not only that, but they've taken it upon themselves to fight against discrimination of any kind. Regardless of whether it comes from the students or the teachers."

He gives the woman who's now hunching in on herself a withering look. "Now, as we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding discrimination, I will have to ask you to take your leave. Do not worry about the students' lesson plan, as this is not the first time this has happened and I am fully capable of stepping into the role of teaching their classes until their teacher returns. Good day."

Ms Chikla's mouth opens and closes silently a few times, as if trying to figure out what just happened. When her mind finally manages to process everything, her face flushes a deep red before she turns and storms off of the campus. Mr Burrydo switches his glare to the instigator of the incident. "Mr Tsuyoi. This is the third time since your transfer that you've attempted to steal from these three. This does not even take into account the other students you have attempted to accost. My office. Now."

The boy cowers in the face of the man's authority, slinking away to wait for his punishment. But not before shooting the other four kids a spiteful look promising vengeance. Looks that they, again, are unimpressed by, shooting back their own glares at the boy. He flinches at the amount of disdain those glares hold and quickens his pace to get away from them. He'd swear that they seemed to flash with something powerful for a moment, but would later brush it off as his imagination.

The principal observes the interaction with a tired air about him, having long gotten used to the sight of such things ever since these three came to the school. While he would never object to the fact that they help keep everyone -students and teachers alike- from discriminating for any reason, he can't help but wish that they weren't so… confrontational about it.

He looks at them, trying to think of whether or not they did something that he should talk to them about, but the three shake their heads.

"We're good."

"No rules were broken."

"I still prefer cats."

He barks out a short laugh at Shinso's blunt assertion, giving him a nod. "Of course you do. Well, if there's nothing else, head to class and inform the students that first period shall be self-study while I have yet another talk with Mr Shonimuka. Hopefully it actually sticks this time…"

The bulldog headed man leaves the four middle schoolers in the hallway, trusting them to behave themselves and head to class. Well, he doesn't trust them, but he believes they won't do anything that would get them in trouble. They haven't so far, after all. Despite what anyone with common sense would think with everything they get involved in…

The top three students smile at each other after yet another successful defense of basic human decency. They flash their golden ornaments at each other, no longer being able to tap them together after Kyoka turned hers into a choker. Not that Hitoshi is complaining, as pulling the hair clip out of his 'mad scientist' hair is always a pain. Then they look to their fourth friend, the only one without a golden sign of friendship.

Fumikage rolls his eyes. "The invading darkness has once again been repelled, leaving our territory untainted by that which would corrupt it."

Suddenly a being made of shadow taking the shape of a bird pops out of his stomach. "We're awesome! We still want some gold so we can do that flashing thing you guys do though."

The three give the sentient female quirk sad smiles. Kyoka shakes her head. "Sorry Dark Shadow, but even if you two did get some it wouldn't be the same."

Yui nods. "They were gifts from someone important to us a long time ago."

Hitoshi leans against the wall and crosses his arms. "Doesn't mean we can't figure something out for ourselves, though. What about doing something with your feathers?"

Fumikage shakes his head. "Perhaps at a later date. For now, our benevolent overlord has entrusted us with a sacred duty. One that we should complete posthaste."

Dark Shadow twists around to look at him while they all start walking. "That came off more as a medieval knight than a cringy edgelord."

The bird boy twists his head away in embarrassment and grumbles about a mad banquet, causing everyone to chuckle. They walk in a comfortable silence until they reach their classroom. Opening the door, they're unsurprised to see everyone already in their seats, even while they talk with their friends. Without exception though, they all turn to look at the door opening. Seeing who it is, the assembled students return to their discussions. At least until Yui claps her hands.

"The principal is punishing Shonimuka again, so we have a self study period to start the day." There's a round of cheers as the students get up from their desks and start moving into their friend groups. Whether or not they're actually going to study is another matter entirely. But it's not like the group of friends can do anything about that, nor would they want to. It's not like they're the class representatives or anything. Something about them being 'intimidating'. Which they can admit to being. And that's not even bringing their skills with their quirks into account. Or their reputation…

On quirk use days, the three of them dominate, with Fumikage coming in close to taking third place every time. Rarely, he even manages to claim it. Though more due to Dark Shadow's power than the skill of either one, and certainly not for their teamwork. The three have been working with them to work out their problems with each other, but it's slow going.

But those are thoughts for training days. For now, they gather their desks together and study for their upcoming midterms. Not that any of them are particularly worried, they know they'll do well. They all plan to go to UA after all, the school for the 'best of the best' so they do all they can to prepare for the day when they can eventually apply.

They have a goal, a goal of making sure no one suffers like Izumi suffered. They will do all they can to convince people that discrimination for any reason is a completely idiotic thing. They'll show people that those they tried to push down have risen to be above the station they'd always been told they could never achieve.

Izumi's Hoard will rise to its rightful place at the top.