Chapter 42

There's something about lying on your bed after working non-stop. It just feels that much better than simply lying in your bed, feels relieving on an entirely different scale. Even better when the bed is as soft as a cloud and the room is cool with the work of a good functioning Ac, truly a pleasant feeling. One I bask in as I admire my peach ceiling, silently counting the little cameras I could find on it. I just got here and already this room feels like my own, a good thing since I spent so long trying to make it my own. I changed the wallpaper from the bland colors to a light blue wall with little musical notes and paintbrushes littering it. I've learned that light blue and peach work nicely together as colors and have become my theme for my dorm at the moment.

"Alright then" I sit up, happy with my room for the moment and fully enjoying the feel of the soft carpet under my feet, its color quite pleasant to my eyes. How come I never noticed how nice a color peach is? And it really goes incredibly well with light blue. Even the wardrobe is themed after the room

I have suitcases scattered throughout the room and an empty wardrobe that's waiting to be filled. There's also a box of books and comics, all of which I'll carefully store away in my bed. Quite convenient to have an ottoman bed. I can store a lot of things under there, books, clothes, snacks, covers, and everything else, so storage is not much of an issue. Plus, my wardrobe has a nice capacity, so I see things working out quite well. Actually, there's a mini bookshelf in the wardrobe so the books won't need to be stored in my bed.

I should get a mini fridge to make things that much better here.

I've got a desk, my laptop, my instruments, my camera, art supplies - not all of them - school supplies and so on and so forth. Basically, I have everything I need in this dorm of mine and I'll put everything in their place before I leave this room. I will not stand for unfinished business, so clothes need to be folded, supplies need to be properly stored, book bag needs to be packed, school supplies need to be kept somewhere safe.

And so begins another hour or so of work.

When I got here the school's uniforms and needed supplies were already on the bed, and I had ignored most of them in favor of fixing my room. Now, however, since I've done most of my work I'll see what they've given me, starting with the uniform.

I like that I'm given a set of different options with the uniforms, as I have the skirt as well as the pants. There's also a vest, and I've only noticed Jiro wearing it. I'm glad I have it as well, as I have a thing for vests and will wear one whenever I can. Of course, there's also the P.E uniform consisting of dark blue pants and top. There's also that outfit Israel wears when he isn't in his hero costume. I guess it's an alternative? I'm not sure as I never asked why he often wears the thing. What I do know is that each of them is specially made to suit its wearer, which seems like a lot of hard work.

There are some very loud thoughts getting closer and closer

"Zena!" Mina almost falls through the door in her excitement, only catching herself last minute and stumbling into my room instead. The door closes behind her with the smallest shift of wind and she's panting as she stands in front of me, but she's smiling nonetheless. "Ha, I'm three rooms down"

Well yes, I had been well aware as your thoughts had been quite close this entire time. I've learned that she has snagged another jacket of mine and now I'm just waiting to go through them all to see which one has gone missing this time.

"I can come see you anytime I want now" she throws herself onto my bed - that I had just made. There's this almost intense anxiety for the smallest of moments as I worry the damn thing will just come off as it's that one with the elastic that's supposed to stay in place but is so damn hard to get on the bed because one corner never stays on and you have to fight to get it on properly and then you think you finally did it only for the entire thing to spring loose and you just want to cry as you sit on your unmade bed and realize you've wasted twenty minutes of your life and will likely do the very same again because you need to make the bed.

Yeah, that definitely didn't happen to me, I'm just saying.

"Your bed is so soft" Mina sighs in content. "I'm sleeping here tonight"

"Is that allowed?" Not like it would matter

"Don't know and I do not care"

Exactly the answer I had expected from Mina as she has been known to go above and beyond to get what she wants. At least when it has to do with sleepovers and stealing my clothes.

It doesn't take her long to find something to entertain herself with while I put my clothes away. Entertainment on my part is simply watching Mina amuse herself with whatever she can find because it never lasts too long. She had been reading a comic before her eyes landed on my phone so she played a video game. Ten minutes or so later she started organizing my books on the shelves on the wall. Then she set up the nightlight I had found abandoned in my room before coming here. After that she did something on my laptop - reading my short stories most likely - and soon she found the snacks I had hidden under my bed.

When I have all my clothes neatly put away and set out to organize my books, she has found my camera and is now going through my photos and videos.

"Oh, that's me" She comments absently. "Huh, when did you take this?"

Loaded question because I have taken tons of pictures of Mina and can't quite remember what the latest would be. I take one whenever I get the chance, when she's not paying attention to me. Catching her in such moments is far different than having her pose for a picture. There has always been a beauty in that and I can't help myself. Though it could be considered creepy the way I sneakily take pictures.

Mina shows me the picture, which is of her attempting to use Alissa's skateboard. Ah, yeah, I remember that. I took it just when she managed not to fall on her face and she looked as if she had experienced the greatest joy of life.

"Mina, come on, you did this like two days ago, how can you ask me that?"

"I know that" She rolls her eyes. "What I'm asking is; when did you take this?"

No, because that isn't the exact same question you had just asked me.

"When you didn't fall on your face" As any other picture would have been quite embarrassing.

Perhaps not the answer she was looking for but she does not attempt to question me further. She instead returns to going through my photos and videos with interest.

"I'm in here a lot," She says after a moment. "You sneak pictures of me a lot"

Well, I suppose that's the whole point of it, isn't it Mina?

The need for some chips has resulted in me joining Mina on the bed and gathering my entire stash that we will likely finish before nightfall. We should probably leave the room and explore. I for one would like to see who I would run into and if there are certain people I will not be seeing. Because I seriously wonder if Shinso could have made it into 1A or if Mineta still made the cut. I don't like Mineta very much, but it is a fact that the guy's pretty smart so I wouldn't put it past him to finesse the exam. At the same time, it is Mineta, so there's a good 50/50 chance with him. If he is in this class and still such a pervert then we'll be having some serious problems.

Ah, I would really like to meet Bakugo now, since Izuku is so much more different than I had expected. He has the green hair as usual, but it's far messier than I remember it and almost styled in the way of his original design, so that's cool. But since he looks a bit like Og Deku I wonder if Katsuki ended up a bit like his prototype as well. I could only imagine a nice Bakugo and it's an odd existence.

The snap of my camera has me looking up just in time to see Mina grin in success, apparently happy at having snuck a picture as I do so many times.

"Nice" she nods to herself in pride. "I'm printing this and framing it, you're cute"

I'm stuffing my face with chips, my hair's a mess, my shirt is halfway on and my pants are hanging on for dear life because I misplaced my belt. I wouldn't consider myself cute at this moment, but who am I to dictate what Mina likes and doesn't. If she thinks I'm cute right now then I'm cute, end of story.

She takes another just as I stuff my face once more and I'm not amused by the way she decides to laugh at me.

"Hey, hey" She nudges and pushes at me until she's practically in my lap and takes a handful of my chips. "So you take pictures of me often"

"I do"

"Any particular reason why?"

"Eh," There are many reasons, most of them being the fact that she's quite adorable when she does certain things, and often times those moments deserve to be captured. "You're pretty"

"Awe, I'm flattered" she giggles and insists on nuzzling closer despite there being practically no space between us. "You're pretty too"

A reply is just on the tip of my tongue, but then I hear an obvious rustle coming from the one suitcase I did not unpack. It's almost too loud in the otherwise quiet room and not something that could be ignored.

"Your suitcase moved"

Yes, I realize that, Mina.

Mina is not happy when I push her off me to investigate the sound and I'll make it up to her afterwards. Now then, the chances of me having brought some random animal with me are very high so I'm not at all surprised when I open the thing and Kurama calmly crawls out of it. He yawns and stretches before hopping onto my bed and curling up on one of my pillows as if he had not just come out of my suitcase. How did he even survive in there? How did he get in there without me noticing? And why did he even do such a thing?

And he's not the only one

The damn snake that has been living in my room comes out as well, and I'm surprised because I haven't been seeing the thing for a couple of weeks and really thought he left my room at some point in time. Good to know he's alive and well and had not been eaten by Kurama.

"Are we allowed pets?" I wonder as the snake slithers up my arm and settles under my shirt. "They were trapped in there for a while, would be a bit mean to just send them back"

"How did the fox survive?" Mina asks the very question on my mind. "And how did you not know he was in there?"

"He has a habit of sleeping under my clothes" A habit that has been an issue as there is always hair in my clean clothes. "But I'm still surprised he did this"

Kurama ignores the both of us as he sleeps on my pillow, acting all high and mighty as if he didn't have to stow away in my suitcase. I bet he didn't want to be without me, the damn tsundere fox. I poke him when I get back on the bed and he bites me as a warning. It's nothing intense, just a little sting on the tip of my finger. It never stops me from bothering him and I usually don't stop until he's willing to fight me or screams at the top of his lungs. I swear foxes make the weirdest sounds.

As for the snake, well it peeps out of my shirt every now and then, flicks its tongue, and goes about its snake ways. I'm not sure what type of snake it is, but I do know that it is active during the day, is very curious, and doesn't mind interaction. In fact, the snake always initiates our interactions by climbing onto me and resting wherever it can.

Mina is not much of a fan

"So you just have a snake in your shirt" She's wary as she watches the little thing go over my shoulder. "And you're okay with it"

"It doesn't bite" I shrug. "At least it never bit me. The most it will do is bop me with its nose, no biggie"

"It's a snake" She sees the need to remind me

"A harmless snake" I point out. "And fun to watch, it's very curious"

It's practically mine now so I should figure out what type it is as well as its gender. Getting it a proper home will be a hassle as I'm not sure what it needs. I do know that it can go a few days after eating and the last I offered it some food was like a day or two ago, so it should be good for the moment. I'll get it a bowl of water, whether it drinks it or plays in it, it's sure to enjoy the water.

And I need to go get Kurama's stuff if he really plans on staying with me and if we are allowed pets.

I think we are since Koda had a bunny. Oh, I should get him a bunny if I get the chance to befriend him. And I'll get Aizawa a cat. I have the perfect one for him.

Actually, I can open a whole pet store with all the animals Morgan keeps.

Yup, I'll ask her about the snake, maybe she has a good little house for it.

The snake, I'll refer to it as Orochi for the time being, makes its way out of my shirt to slither on the bed and for a moment I was sure Mina would fly off the bed to avoid the thing. Instead, she lets it approach her, all the while looking as if she'll flee at any given opportunity.

"It's kinda cute" She admits with a nervous laugh when it ends up in her lap.

While it has no special color and is simply a dark brown, it is adorable with its tiny head and beady eyes, and pink tongue.

Mina relaxes fully when Orochi continues on its way and disappears in my pant leg. It must really like me to always end up in my clothes.

"Yeah, cute, but not enough for me to let it go in my clothes" Mina shivers with the words. "That would feel all kinds of creepy"

It's not bad really, just cool in the literal sense and it's interesting to feel the way it climbs up.

How do I figure out if the snake is female or male?

"The snake likes me" And I like that it likes me

"I notice that most animals do," Says Mina, her words muffled into my pillow. "You get along with all kinds of creatures"

I live in a house full of animals, it only makes sense.

"Do you think I can get a puppy or hamster?" Her words are still muffled but clear enough to understand and she seems very hopeful with her question.

"You sure you want a hamster?" I ask. "They die, like, for no reason"

"Yes I know, the other day one of your hamsters died because the other one scared it" Mina points out with a snicker. "I shouldn't find it as funny as I do, but seriously. He was literally scared to death"

Well, yes it is funny

"And then you held a mini memorial" Mina recalls with giggles. "Where did you get tiny suits and dresses and a tiny coffin? And how did you get them into the things? And why did you make a whole movie about it?"

"Hamilton was a well-respected gentleman of the hamster community, he deserved a grand funeral"

That and I had nothing better to do and decided to pull something so ridiculously elaborate for a dead hamster.

"Alissa gave a wonderful speech"

It is then that Mina bursts into a fit of laughter and almost rolls off the bed.

"You know, Alissa's hamster got scared when she laughed, " I tell her and just watch the fit get worse. "Died of fright, may he rest in peace"

There are moments when things are too funny, far more humorous than they should be and at those times you can have the laugh of your life. To the point your stomach may hurt or tears leave your eyes and Mina is having one of these moments. Her humor varies, but it's really something when you consider she's dying of laughter over dead hamsters.

Well, it's more the ways they had died, but still.

But hamsters really die over the dumbest things, man. And oftentimes it is their stupidity that ends in their demise. With all the animals we have we have also had plenty of Hamsters and I love them. They're adorable but so damn stupid sometimes. One liked to run off high surfaces no matter how many times I try to teach it not to. Does it not understand that it could die? Does it want to die? Do I have a suicidal hamster? Another one runs in her wheel so hard that she goes flying into the glass or just gives up and spins until the thing stops and she just falls. Another one walked right into a cat's cage and the cat was right there.

Israel almost killed one because it decided to sleep in the vacuum tube.

I don't get these creatures.