#rosuru

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3rd division gets in a fight with an especially nasty Hollow. Everyone is still adjusting to Rose, both because they're fucked up from Gin and because Rose is a Visored and they've been warned either by the Central 46 or the rumor mill (or both) that he is Strange And Dangerous And Unpredictable.

Anyway, this nasty Hollow manages to grab Izuru and tries to twist his head off, but it's not accounting for Possessive Hollow Instincts. All captains are protective of their lieutenants, certainly, but Rose, Shinji, and Kensei are... a little more feral about it. (Kensei feels Some Kinda Way about the fact that Shuhei got a copy of his tattoo on his fucking FACE, but that's a post for another time). Anyway, Rose loses his whole entire shit and fucking annihilates this Hollow.

And as much as the rest of the gang appreciates that this very nasty Hollow (that was THOROUGHLY underestimated in the mission brief) is dead now, they're also real skeeved out by seeing their new captain in full spooky bird man mode. Everybody is now avoiding Rose even more than they already were. Except Izuru, who (isintoit) says some poetic shit about how a monster is not necessarily monstrous, and doesn't battle make everyone a monster, and maybe people fear battle not just because they fear being hurt but because they fear who they become when they are hurt and blah blah blah. And THAT’S how Izuru and Rose decide they adore each other.

[rosuru-blog]

Baby.

[thunder-the-ranger-wolf]

A World of Difference RD2

Class Dismissed

Something gave him a bad feeling about this year’s class. He didn’t know what, exactly, but he knew to trust his instincts. None of these kids would last a day in the hero world, and not just because they were crowded around two kids chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” like a bunch of elementary school kids.

No, that was indeed confirmation. But there was more to this.

“Fall in!” He barked out. Some of them glanced up, saw his glare, and scampered to their seats. The rest of the class was too focused on one of their own getting pummeled.

“He said to fall in!”

He forgot that Mic had been right behind him when he walked into his room, had been so thoroughly unimpressed by the state of his students. But Mic’s Quirk was good for more than a few things. Right now it was getting people’s attention. He nodded his thanks and Mic went to sit behind the teacher’s desk, a spot he wouldn’t inhabit until he was done talking.

The students all shuffled nervously to their seats. It turns out that the pair who’d been fighting had the same seat but shouldn’t be near each other due to an old rivalry. Something he would have to rectify with assigned seating.

“Dude, what’s up with the caterpillar act?” Someone called out.

“It’s a sleeping bag. I sleep.” He offered dryly. “But you kids can’t be left alone for five minutes, now can you? I was going to give you all a chance to show off your Quirks but now you’ll do an essay.”

“Is it gonna be on why fighting is wrong?” Someone simpered.

These little shits would absolutely be testing his patience.

“Togamiru, welcome to the class. Congrats on your relationship. But if you could pull up your pants and tell your partner to use mouthwash before they speak, your classmates would appreciate it.”

“This class is definitely one for the books, eh?” Mic snickered as the pair made for the front of the room.

“If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back.” Shouta informed them.

The partner scoffed and spat at him. Mic narrowly avoided the kid’s terrible aim and rummaged through the desk for a pack of wipes and some hand sanitizer.

“The essay is not going to be on why fighting is wrong, Kumitoru. The essay will be five-thousand words on your favorite hero and how they contribute to the community around them. This will likely take the rest of the class, so you best get started.”

Most of the class had some objection to that and some of them were more verbal than others.

“There’s no way I’m doing some dumb fucking essay on the first day!” A boy in the front row snapped.

“Well, Rosuru, as your previous two classmates have shown, you are very much free to leave.”

The boy deliberated for a few minutes before shaking his head.

“This isn’t worth it.” He scoffed. “They’re not like this at Shiketsu, I promise you that!”

“I know what they’re like at Shiketsu, Rosuru, and I doubt you would like it there either.”

“We’re supposed to be heroes! How is an essay supposed to help us save people?!”

“Well, if you think about the subject for more than a second you might see why I assigned it.”

“Fuck you, old man!”

“If you say that to someone and they take you up on it, run. As far and fast as you can, because those words get you nothing good.”

“Cryptic bastard. I don’t need this!”

“As I said, you are free to go.”

There was his second (or was it third? That kid sucking off Togamiru probably wasn’t in his class… he’d have to look into that.) student for the day.

“Start writing, children. I want as much as you can get me by the end of the session.”

Some breathed exaggerated sighs of relief while others glared venomously at him.

Ten students are left by the end of the day. The rest hadn’t taken their assignments seriously.

Some of them had written about how amazing their Quirks were, some had written about how awesome their personal heroes were.

Some had written about whatever the fuck they wanted, and that wouldn’t stand.

A student who couldn’t follow directions turned into a hero who got people killed.

Second Day Surprise

Walking into his second day, Shouta found that only one student had come in and found his seat. He doesn’t remember seeing the kid yesterday and the name he gets when asked is unfamiliar.

“Midoriya Izuku, Sensei. I was told to come here by my General Studies teacher.”

“Should I expect anyone else?”

“Not that I know of, Sensei. I think Polar-sensei overheard my conversation with another student about something from yesterday. They said something about teaching some kids a lesson?”

“What were you talking about?”

The assignment… well, I overheard some of the Hero kids talking about community service yesterday. So I did some research and, uh, went pretty deep into it. I guess I was pretty excited about what I found because Polar-sensei sent me here. Would… would you like to hear some of it?”

“Definitely. What Heroes did you look up?”

“All Might, of course, because his Agency’s programs are the most advertised, but from there I did them by prefecture, starting with Shizuoka and moving outward.”

“Interesting… which part of this do you think got your teacher’s attention? The paper you didn’t have to write or gathering information from something you shouldn’t have overheard?”

“Well…” Midoriya choked out. “The thing is that my friend managed to make it into the same class as me, thank goodness, and asked what I did yesterday. They’re pretty interested when I start talking about Hero stuff so they wanted to hear about the research. As a test, they picked a Hero from the prefectures I listed and I had a minute to list as many programs as I could and another two to describe what they did. I’m known for being pretty quiet when I mutter, so I’m surprised Polar-sensei heard me at all.”

“Could you do that for any Hero?”

“If I know them well enough. But this was pretty specific. I usually know more about the battle strategies or-.”

The boy cut himself off when he noticed Shouta moving away, but the homeroom teacher waved his hand.

“Keep talking, but come on. We’re going to test your skills today.”

“I know more about the Quirk a Hero has and how it could be used. This was just a fun test of my skills.”

“And? What exactly did you find, Midoriya?”

“I went home and did some research on the programs set in place because of things like destruction of property. There are a bunch of initiatives that die almost on-the-spot because no one Agency can keep them up.”

“How so?” Shouta wondered.

“Ryukyu, the Dragon Hero, has fought for her interns with less powerful Quirks to be recognized as heroes in their own right. The Iida family sets up their employees who don’t have proper homes with everything they’d need to get one more immediately. It’s not as easy as giving them more money because if they could just buy everyone houses then someone probably would have tried by now, but like my mom can tell you, even just paying for rent can wipe out savings and there’s not much that your job can do about it but maybe give you a higher raise. I got off track, though, we were talking about hero initiatives.”

“I think we should pick this conversation up tomorrow after I do some research myself. This sounds good enough to have come from a second-year. For now, I’m going to run you through the evaluation tests I do for every student. Let’s start with how far you can throw this ball?”

LINE BREAK

The kid was smart and he knew it. Able to spout off facts about any given hero the moment a name was dropped. Able to break down and rearrange any Quirk he was informed of. The green-haired boy was a bag of tricks physically as well as mentally. He wasn’t able to go toe-to-toe with Shouta or Vlad King, though he tried just for the hell of it.

But he knew that. His emphasis was on dodging and letting his opponent’s actions turn back on them. It’s how he’s gotten rid of many a childhood bully, he informed his teacher cheerfully. This, after literally tripping Shouta over his unraveled capture weapon before Shouta sent him sprawling with one yank.

“Very good.” Shouta groaned as they both lumbered to their feet. “Can you pick out weak spots like that on the fly?”

“Yes, but it took some major training and a lot of hero fights,” Midoriya admitted.

“What would you suggest for Midnight-san?” Shouta prompted suddenly, having recognized his friend’s footsteps as she approached him.

“Nothing.” Midoriya offered flatly. “There is absolutely nothing she can’t do with that Quirk, and since she hangs with you and Present Mic, I’d assume she knows how to fight of her own merits. There is no way I am touching her outfit with a ten-foot pole even if she wasn’t literally right behind you.”

Shouta dipped his head in acquiescence and turned to face his friend.

“That you thought I wouldn’t call you out is amazingly naive. That Midoriya did was rather impressive.” He told her. The Rated R Hero snorted, which turned into an all-out giggle.

“You’re a gem, Aizawa,” She crowed, leaning her full weight into the hug she was giving him. “A diamond in the rough. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

“Vlad generally acknowledges that I’m hard to ruffle, but thank you anyway. What exactly do you need from me right now?”

“Oh, right. Yagi-san wanted to see if you were busy. I think he’s nervous about actually teaching this year instead of just being part of the staff. Poor guy was muttering over his notes all morning.”

“Well, I just so happen to be finishing up this session. Midoriya, tell Polar-sensei that I’ll be looking for them at the end of the school day.” Shouta informed the boy. His student nodded, waved to both of them, and sped towards the main building.

“I still can’t believe you kept none of your students.” Nemuri scowled, standing on her own feet so she and Shouta could follow Midoriya. “Out of twenty-three.”

“I never said they were expelled. They could come back if they wanted to. Technically they’re skipping class on their own accord.”

“They dropped out and you know it, Sho-chan. I’m shocked this kid lasted as long as he did. Did you really make them write five-thousand words on the first day?”

“This isn’t one of mine, he’s from General Studies.” Shouta corrected. “Besides, I wanted the assignment to take up the first few classes. They were literally watching two kids fight to what would have been the death. Mic was there, he could tell you.”

“And your first expulsion, they were…”

“Maybe don’t ask Mic about that one. He might still be traumatized.”

“Fair enough. But what’s so special about this kid in particular? Aside from being General Studies?”

So Shouta replayed the conversation he had with Midoriya.

“It sounds like the kid’s too smart for Gen Ed, but not good enough for the robots. What made you keep him around?”

“I’ve scared all the others off or bored them off or reprimanded them somehow. I knew something was up with this set of kids but I honestly didn’t think it’d be this easy to get them all out of my hair.”

“Re-evaluating your teaching methods?” Nemuri teased, knowing the exact opposite to be true.

“More like wondering if this next crop of heroes will be ready for the world,” Shouta admitted. “I might have driven them away, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have other options. If they’re smart, they’ll re-evaluate themselves before taking such chances again.”

“And if they’re not?” Nemuri prompted warily.

“Well, that’d be to everyone’s detriment.”

Nerves and a Bitter Truth

“Yagi-san, you asked to see me?”

The man in question jolted upright from pouring over his notes. His eyes were bright

blue and extremely dilated against black sclera and his hair was all over the place.

“Have you slept at all recently?” Shouta wondered.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Yagi grumbled. “Anyway, I don’t know whether to thank you for halving my workload or strangle you for increasing my anxiety tenfold.”

“I can’t say I follow your logic,” Shouta admitted.

“You got rid of your entire class-.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Out of twenty-three.”

“And technically I drove them off, I never properly expelled them.”

“More power to you, I suppose.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I need to make sure I know what I’m doing or these kids will eat me alive.” Yagi quoted flatly.

“Whoever said that hasn’t met the man behind All Might’s paperwork.”

“Well, practice and theory are two very different things. All Might’s mentor wasn’t exactly wrong to laugh me off the phone, but I still don’t appreciate it.”

“Gran Torino sounds like an ass.”

“I can tell you with all confidence that he would love to hear that from you.”

“Maybe one day I’ll say it to him.”

“Don’t.”

“Yagi-san, you’ve been slinking around the campus doing something or another for the past five years. You have all the experience you could possibly get before we shove you in front of those students.”

“And they’ll still eat me alive.”

“Right, because it’s so hard to talk about your favorite subject ever.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me they wouldn’t laugh me off the obstacle course the second they realize I’m their teacher.”

“You’ve done literally all of the obstacle courses. If anything, they’ll be impressed by your speed.”

“Perhaps I’ll have to take your word for it.” Yagi exhaled, resigned.

“Perhaps you will.” Shouta snorted.

“Wish me luck, Aizawa-kun. I’ll need it.”

LINE BREAK

Half an hour later, Midoriya was back in the classroom Shouta had left behind, scribbling something or another in his notebook.

“Polar sent you back?”

“My second period is math. Polar-sensei gave me the worksheets and told me to go mutter somewhere else.”

“That doesn’t really sound like them.” Shouta insisted flatly. “At all.”

The Frozen Hero: Polar went exclusively by their Hero name. They were not the first Hero to do so, or even the most unique. Born with the ability to freeze things with their breath, Polar was a good example of being content with one’s lot in life.

They were a Hero, yes, but their day job before UA involved construction work and stopping the occasional crime on their patrol route. Not one for traveling, they were first to approve the plans for room and boarding provided by UA. And not just because they were qualified to do so.

Shouta liked Polar about as well as he liked anyone else at UA, which is to say that he knew their strengths and weaknesses and interacted with them enough to get a sense of their personality. Polar trying to push a kid out of their class just didn’t happen unless it was for a good reason.

“What brought you to UA?” Shouta quizzed.

“Same thing as everyone else, I guess. High school isn’t required but you have to do something if you want to go anywhere in life. It just so happens that this is the closest one.”

Shouta tasted the lie on his tongue but didn’t say anything. The kid went back to scribbling after a while.

“So you don’t want to be a Hero?”

“It… it would be nice,” Midoriya admitted. “When I was younger, I kept watching that one video of All Might’s debut. You know the one.”

“Yeah,” Shouta said. Because he did. Everyone did. Nevermind the fact that the man, the myth, the legend himself worked here as a retired Hero in disguise. “What’s stopping you? You’re here, aren’t you?”

“I got here by the skin of my teeth.” Midoriya scoffed. “I know stuff about Heroes, sure, but anyone can be observant. Anyone can know the answer to something if they study it forever.”

Shouta wanted to stop the kid right there because that wasn’t quite true. It honestly sounded like Midoriya was trying to talk himself out of being here.

“How long was forever?” Shouta wondered instead.

“Ten years,” Midoriya said in a clipped no-nonsense voice. “Ten ridiculous years that I would prefer not to talk about. And what did it get me?”

“Into a top Hero school.” Shouta snorted. “And into the path of several Heroes who see you as a very smart and driven young man.”

This was honestly painful to hear, and looking at what was practically a mirror image of what he’d been like at this age was definitely going to merit a drink or two when he got home. Who knows, maybe Hizashi would drink with him.

LINE BREAK

Shouta escorted Midoriya back to General Studies himself but took the kid with him when he found Midnight there teaching Art History. Polar must be in the teacher’s lounge.

Sure enough, when he and Midoriya showed up, the Frozen Hero was talking to Yagi about the various lessons they had planned for the students.

“Alright, whose idea was it to dump this kid in my lap?” He called out playfully.

“Well met, Aizawa-san.” Polar chuckled. “And I see you have Midoriya-kun with you. Did he treat you well, young one?”

“Yes.” Midoriya offered in a short mumble. “We did the Hero evaluations.”

“Did you?” Yagi prompted with an eager smile. “What did you think of your results?” The taller blond man gestured for Midoriya to sit on the couch by the door before joining him. Shouta stepped forward until he faced the Frozen Hero.

“He seems to think he’s been pawned off.” He informed Polar in a low urgent voice. “And apparently has the usual trouble given to those with unclear Quirks.”

“With me, then, Aizawa-san. I sense this might take a while.”

Shouta had no trouble keeping up as Polar wandered off at a brisk pace.

“I’d hoped that wasn’t the case,” Polar said after they made a few turns and ended up at the cafeteria.

Polar disappeared into the growing crowd while Shouta found a quiet spot. The Frozen Hero returned with two steaming bowls of miso soup, one of which they set before Shouta.

“I sent him your way because of the initiative he showed. He’s far too smart to languish with the first-years and I was hoping you would have some advice. Or at least be willing to make sure he doesn’t do anything rash once his work is done.”

“His work is done, alright. I assume he gave it to you?”

“He did. Along with detailed analysis on every Hero we talked about in class. Although that was something I saw in his notebook rather than an assignment given out. He’s one of the good ones, Aizawa-san.”

“What do you think I can do about it?”

“He’s one of the good ones… but I’m not sure that will be enough for him. It seems like he’s been through a lot.”

“Most like him have, though not many go for Heroics anyway. I’m glad he’s here.”

“As am I. He just seems so…”

“Aimless, hopeless, focused on his failures?”

“You know the type.”

“Indeed I do… but I get the feeling there’s more to it than the obvious. Do you know what his Quirk is?”

“His file says he doesn’t have one. It’s almost hard to believe, with how easily he’s able to break down and rearrange anything you give him. I thought it was an Analysis Quirk until I was told otherwise.”

“That explains it.” Shouta exhaled roughly.

“Why? I have a weak Quirk that doesn’t do much beyond what I’ve trained it for. What’s the difference between you, me, and Midoriya?”

“There are levels to the mockery, Polar. You have experience with people calling you out for not being strong, saying you’ll never go anywhere in life. You got through it because there was still a place in the world that you could carve out.

“That’s good. It was a bit more difficult for me because my Quirk levels the playing field. Stifling another’s Quirk means that a part of them that they rely on is gone, but if they know how to fight without it, I’m toast. So I trained to compensate. But I was seen as bottom-rung for a long time.”

“Midoriya has nothing to back him up.” Polar realized. “No training, no inborn power to help him navigate this world."

"Not only is that extremely rare, since it’s mostly found among older people, but it’s also like climbing out of a deep pit with a smooth surface. There’s nothing to do but slide back down even if you make it a few feet up. Because even if Midoriya outclasses every single one of those kids, his lack means others see him as weaker and less-than."

"That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It is.”

“So how did you do it?”

“Do what, make it through UA? Or become a Hero?”

“Either? Both.”

“Desperation,” Shouta admitted. “Same as most young people with the wrong Quirk. Sometimes that’s all you have.”

“I don’t want that for Midoriya. He deserves better.”

“Hopefully he can get better.” Shouta snorted. “That doesn’t explain why you sent him to me.”

“Oh, because you’re ever so busy with your non-existent class.” Polar snickered.

“Don’t you start. Nemuri already got on me about it and no doubt Mic will when he sees me next.”

“I suppose I can hold off if Yamada-san will be doing so. He’s always done better with that. Besides, you said it yourself. The boy is a lot like you.”

“I said the boy is aimless and I know what that’s like. Doesn’t mean I know how to help him.”

“But you can try.”

“Keyword being try. I make no guarantees that this kid will be anything more than what he’s capable of, but at the very least I’ll get Hizashi to help with his confidence.”

“It’s abysmal, is it not?”

“Fuck yes. The damn kid is in one of the best high schools that churn out, if not always good people then great Heroes, and he thinks it’s a mistake.”

“Do you think he knows that full-grown adults don’t know all the answers to some of those exam questions?”

“Likely not.”

Polar exhaled into his untouched soup before draining it in one large stream.

“That can’t be healthy.” Shouta deadpanned.

“I think I’ve seen you with those jelly packs that are given to hungry children on long trips. I don’t suppose you keep a supply of those on your person?”

“You underestimate Hizashi’s cooking, Polar-san. The jelly packs add to a rushed lunch, but I do know something of how to cook. Hizashi is better at it, but we don’t exactly go hungry when school is over.”

“The way you drag yourself around begs to differ.” Polar deadpanned.

“You get that one,” Shouta warned playfully. “because I like you well enough. Try it again and I’ll tell you exactly why I expelled the first set of students. In detail.”

“Have mercy, Aizawa-san, I’ve heard the rumors and I’m not sure I could stand the details. Poor Yamada-san must be scarred for life.”

“It was… disturbing to see.” Shouta snorted. “But it did pave the way for Midoriya, regardless of what I can or can’t do for him. Don’t let it be said that I won’t try.”

“Thank you, Aizawa-san."

“It’s no problem for me,” Shouta smirked. “After all, I have no class this year.”

LINE BREAK

The rest of Shouta’s day was spent with a 5’5” shadow, and a fidgety one at that. It was safe to say that Midoriya analyzed everything and everyone he came across. When asked how he thought the capture weapon worked, he came up with five moves, one of which Shouta hadn’t previously considered for fear of choking an opponent. But the kid had an answer for that, too. And the obstacle courses he saw.

He wasn’t the fastest kid Shouta had ever seen or the strongest, but his ability to think as he ran and adjust for new situations practically on the spot just might make up for that.

“Do you want to be a Hero?” Shouta asked at the end of the day as he watched the exhausted boy limp over to him, panting heavily.

“You asked me that earlier, Sensei.” Midoriya scowled. “Why would my answer change?”

“Perhaps because you’ve seen more of the school you go to. It’s not impossible to be a Hero from Gen-Ed and you’re literally halfway there.”

“You mean they don’t just let anyone in based on a written test?”

“If they did, the school wouldn’t be nearly as exemplary as it is. You got here, Izuku. On your own merits. With your own talents. You can get a Hero license. You can be a Hero.”

“Right.” Midoriya snorted. “You’re just saying that so you won’t be bored for the rest of the year. If you had a class, even if it weren’t completely full, would you honestly count me among them? The ones who took the test and passed?”

“You put a lot of stock in that test.”

“You don’t?”

“Didn’t when I first took it, still don’t now.” Shouta offered dryly. “What good do you think my Quirk would do on the robots you faced in that test?”

Midoriya narrowed his eyes as he thought. He shook his head after a few minutes.

“Robots don’t have Quirks. You would have to know how they work and adjust your strategy.”

“I wasn’t so good at that in high school.”

“But you’re a Hero now.”

“Yes,” Shouta snorted, amused at the kid pointing out the obvious. “What does that tell you?”

“That you did it… somehow.”

“Even without my Quirk?”

“You still have the advantage of enforcing neutrality.” Midoriya insisted. “I don’t have that. I don’t have anything.”

“Is having a Quirk important because of social stigma or do you genuinely think there is nothing worthwhile without one?”

“Both. There are places I’m not allowed to be because I don’t have a Quirk. Things I’m not allowed to do. People turn cold or pity me when they figure out I don’t have a Quirk.

“Outside of school, my activities are restricted to what’s essentially a daycare for Quirkless kids. School is a horror show and that won’t change even if I graduate because Japan is full of people who secretly think that the Quirkless are either a plague on society or the remnants of a dying breed that will get stamped out eventually.

“And most of them like to do that stamping themselves. So excuse me if I’m thanking my lucky stars that I got here and not asking for much more than maybe a job when I get out. There is no point in being a Hero without a Quirk.”

“Fair enough,” Shouta mused, hating the familiarity of the words as they settled into his mind. “You’re not wrong at all. The stigma warps things to the point that there might as well be nothing worthwhile.”

He wasn’t going to wax poetic about rising above having a shitty Quirk. He’d said he wasn’t going to do that from the beginning. The Heroics system was extremely biased, thanks in no small part to the image that All Might painted and held up for so long.

(Yagi Toshinori being All Might’s personal assistant, and later on one of his secretaries, gave Shouta insight into the man behind the message but it didn’t erase the damage his persona had done to public opinion.)

Granted, it was damage that would have happened even if he was as small as Yagi himself. It would just be attributed to a powerful Quirk. You couldn’t do much if you had no Quirk at all.

Midoriya was absolutely right to say that society restricted his movement, through action and inaction alike, and there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. Fighting the system on your own burned you out and rare was the person truly influential enough to make a difference willing to do so. And even they were blocked by the rest of their peers.

There was no real way around Midoriya’s problem, but UA being one of the few places to absolutely not tolerate the discrimination of anyone was a huge part of the reason it was so selective. UA turned away everyone who couldn't pass their entrance exams regardless of the Quirk the student had.

While that got the school its share of angry phone calls from people in the positions of power, that made it an equal cutoff as well as a fair starting point for everyone the school opened its doors to. Midoriya had gotten in on his own merits and that meant something.

Shouta would just have to make sure the kid didn’t waste that chance like he’d been ready to do at this age.

Polar was probably betting on this.

Shouta might have to strangle his coworker.

“But here’s the thing, kid. You’re in UA. I’m not going to say this place doesn’t have its problems, but you’re here to learn. And you got here on your own merits. Millions of kids apply to this very school and take the test that you took. Over half of them wash out. The rest are sorted based on their choice of study. Some wash out there.

You did neither. So you have the chance to do something that no one else will. By virtue of how smart you are and, unfortunately, by your lack of Quirk, people will be paying attention to you. You could make sure the Quirk-... lessness is all they see, or you could drag them for filth for ever doubting you in the first place by succeeding.”

Shouta finished his speech with a desperate prayer that Midoriya didn’t notice his slip-up.

Channeling his inner Hizashi and remembering the words his partner had spoken to him not long after they reached the Hero Course was hard.  He knew when he left this room he would go back to the teacher’s lounge and collapse, free to stew as decades of misery and insecurity came crashing down on him.

He could shove it away for the few minutes Midoriya would be in his presence before the school day officially ended. He could and he would.

“I… I’ll think about what you said,” Midoriya offered after a few moments of silence.

And vise versa, but the kid didn’t need to know that.

LINE BREAK

Shouta was little more than drained when he plopped down on the softest couch in the teacher’s lounge, which was thankfully only occupied by Yagi when he got there. The man likely hadn’t moved since he’d encountered and distracted Midoriya so Shouta could talk to Polar. For that, among other things, Shouta would have to thank him.

“What do you do when there’s no solution to a problem you didn’t create?” were the words that came tumbling out instead.

Yagi’s dark eyes glowed faintly, as if his very being were affected by the question.

“You’re thinking of what Young Midoriya has in store for him,” The older man said after a few minutes.

“Among other things,” Shouta confirmed.

The noise that erupted from Yagi’s throat very much resembled the low growl a lion would make before pouncing.

“It wasn’t the death sentence it is now,” He said after a few tense heartbeats. “I suspect if I were any younger, or any less fortunate, that I would have been in much the same position he is.”

It wasn’t uncommon in older people, so while Shouta had every reason to suspect a minor physical mutation or perhaps a reflex sharpener, he wasn’t quite surprised that his coworker was Quirkless. The conversation from earlier came to mind, where Shouta had dismissed the man’s fear of student judgment as something that would stem from ageism on the part of the incoming students.

“You made it this far,” Shouta offered. “Do you think Midoriya could be like you?”

“Like-. No, I don’t. And he shouldn’t be. My goal of being a Hero has gotten me to the position I am in, yes, but as much as I love the path it led me down, it came at great personal cost. If there is one thing that I can never forgive All Might for, it is not being able, or willing, to steer society away from social ills as well as the visible ones.”

“He’s only one person,” Shouta offered. “He took the world on his shoulders, but pieces of the Earth had to have fallen when Atlas assumed his burden.”

“Funny, that you’re defending him from my criticisms when usually it’s the other way around.”

“People fall through the cracks. It’s not right, and it’s not fair, but there’s a whole system designed to make sure that as few people are overlooked as possible. It’s a flawed, skewed system that he’s influenced in what ways he could.

But if All Might started preaching about treating everyone equally he would sound like every single cookie-cutter anti-bullying video and seminar that I’ve been forced to sit through. Some of those even used his face, though I doubt he knows that.

Kids would hate him for that because there’s no way to know that his words would be followed with action. No one else’s are. It doesn’t change the fact that he is one person, running himself into the pedestal we’ve placed him on and still willing to save the day.”

“As any Hero would.”

“Not Endeavor,” Shouta snorted. “And I doubt that applies to as many people as you’re thinking of. At the end of the day, Heroes are people who want to make it through a day and go home at the end of the night.

We often have to override those instincts to do our jobs, as I’m sure you’ve seen, but to place any given Hero into a group of selfish or selfless ignores that humans are a sliding scale.

We want to believe in the best or the worst of ourselves but humans don’t do extremes. We aren’t pushed often enough and with luck, most people never will be.”

“Is it not up to Heroes to create that luck?”

“It’s up to Heroes to create and maintain the illusion of safety. That didn’t start with All Might and it won’t end with him, regardless of the huge impact he’s had.”

“Words to reflect on, surely,” Yagi offered soberly. “And to elaborate on my earlier answer, I think Midoriya-kun has great potential and can be whatever he puts his mind to. I just don’t think he should follow in my footsteps, or that I should be used as an example.”

“I call bullshit.”

Yagi coughed, surprised, but thankfully there was no blood on his teeth.

“To what part of my statement?”

“The last part. Midoriya’s got potential, alright, and I’m going to make sure he doesn’t waste it. But you’ve got more insight than I do. And you made it this far. Why wouldn’t you be a good example of the idea that Quirkless people should be treated equally and have the same opportunities as everyone else?”

“It’s a bit like asking a newly blinded person to compare experiences with someone who’s been blind from birth. There would be extremely different circumstances shaping each experience. Not in the least because bullying was less prejudiced towards being Quirkless in my day than it is now.”

Neither man spoke for a few minutes after that, both reflecting on the conversation that was had and its potential outcomes.

“If his parents allow it, I’m going to train the boy.” Shouta found himself saying at last. “You should do the obstacle course when he’s around. He knows Quirkless doesn’t mean helpless, but he should see it in action.”

“I’m no one’s lab rat,” Yagi grumbled under his breath.

“Rather a poor choice of words, considering our boss, but also not what I meant.”

“You… want me to help you train Midoriya?”

“I think he would learn a lot from a perspective that I can’t give,” Shouta offered, the closest he would ever admit to asking for help from anyone who wasn’t Hizashi.

“Alright,” Yagi offered warily. “I can… I can do the obstacle course. To start with.”

Shouta is Drained

Shouta was absolutely done for by the time he and Hizashi got home. The first week of school was always draining, so their Hero Work schedules reflected that. He was never more thankful for that fact than he was today. Hizashi had no trouble basically carrying him up the stairs and into their apartment, since the blonde’s had years of practice, but it was concerning and he wasn’t afraid to say so.

“Looks like you’ve had a pretty rough day, for a homeroom teacher with no class to look after.”

“Polar’s got a Problem Child that they passed onto me, that fucking fox,” Shouta grumbled half-heartedly.

“I know you take your job seriously, but it’s just one kid. What the hell happened, Sho?”

“How bad was I when we were in school?” Shouta asked suddenly. Hizashi tensed.

“What are you asking?”

“If someone had a time-traveling Quirk that pulled me at fifteen to the future, would I recognize who I was?”

“Depends on how you perceive yourself as you were,” Hizashi offered cryptically. “What are you asking, Shouta?”

“I… have a Quirk.”

“Yes,” His partner agreed patiently.

“The kid doesn’t. By some weird mess of genetics, one of the brightest kids I’ve ever met has every door slammed in his face except this one and now that he’s here, he thinks it’s fake. Like it’s a dream he’s expecting to wake up from. Like it’ll be snatched away at any minute.”

“He… what, doesn’t think he earned his place? He took the Placement Test just like everyone else. Gen Ed doesn’t go easy on those kids, no matter what they’re told.”

“We know that… and I think he does. He analyses Hero fights. I fought him for maybe a few minutes to get a feel for his style and he actually thought of how to use the capture tape against me. And it worked for a few seconds.”

Hizashi sucked in a breath.

“No wonder you’re attached, kids like that are one in a million.” He offered. “And it sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you. When’s the first training session?”

Shouta blinked up at him, mildly stunned.

“What?” Hizashi snorted. “You get attached, you help kids out. There’s a reason you’re a homeroom teacher and that doesn’t change just because this batch of kids didn’t work out.”

“It took me until the end of the school day to truly commit to the idea,” Shouta admitted. “I talked with Yagi about it.”

“Did you? How did that go?”

“It was… interesting. He’s a good judge of character.”

“I’d say he has to be, since he basically ran All Might’s life for however long he held the job.”

“He’s agreed to help.”

“You mean you actually asked and he said he would? Good on you, Shouta, way to work with a colleague.”

“I work with my colleagues,” Shouta grumbled.

“I guess I did say that. I mean, you work with our colleagues just fine but you don’t really care to know any of them. Or at least, not the ones you don’t already know. You'll benefit from this training about as much as the kid will, I guarantee it.”

"Guess I'll have to take your word on that. I'm exhausted just from talking to the kid. It… puts a few things in perspective."

"Like?"

"How much of an ass I must have been. All through high school, not just… After."

"Sho-."

"I watched this kid go through a whole speech about there being no point in trying for the Hero Course because you can't be one without a Quirk. He's half-right. There's not much of a chance once he graduates and that's if he can get his licenses in the first place. But it was… infuriating to hear because this kid is right in all the ways that matter but if I ever come across the assholes who crushed him like that they'll wish they were a smear on the ground by the time I'm through with them."

Hizashi snickered at the vehemence in his partner's voice and buried his face into the other man's shoulder.

"And I was thinking all that before I really knew you. This kid has got you pretty good."

"Hopefully things will make more sense when I talk to his parents."

Hizashi heard the unspoken they better and hoped, for Shouta's sake and the kid's, that the former was right. This would be interesting no matter how it played out but Hizashi knows the kid will turn out for the better even if he doesn't become a Hero. Shouta would be in his corner no matter what.

LINE BREAK

The weeks passed in a similar manner to that second day.

Izuku was required to attend all of his classes and none of the teachers gave him grief for actively participating. In fact, they encouraged it. He tried not to take up too much time and to engage his classmates if he noticed that he was the only one speaking, and they went with it.

There was no jeering here. No one said he was useless, even if they thought it.

He trained with the Heroics homeroom teacher during his free periods, of which he had three. The first one had him run an obstacle course with the new Heroics Studies teacher.

The man was fast. Viciously so. And stronger than he looked. Prone to coughing up blood when he thought Izuku wasn't looking and got embarrassed when anyone else saw. His name was Yagi Toshinori and he was a badass. A very successful extremely ill badass who was used to pushing himself past what was necessary.

The amount of times Izuku saw Aizawa's eyes glow to no avail was hilarious, and even more was watching the older man be restrained by the capture weapon after running the obstacle course on his own because he saw Izuku come in and wanted to do it again.

It happened once and there was a lot of apologizing on both parts because apparently Aizawa hadn't actually meant to do that. It was a panic response. Something the English teacher ribbed him over for a few training sessions afterward.

But that's getting ahead of himself. Before any of that could happen, the Homeroom teacher asked to talk to his parents.

"It's just me and kaa-san at home." Izuku confessed. "Why ask me, though? Do you need my address?"

"Yes, but also I wanted you to know. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. But mostly it's so your mother doesn't kick me out the second I knock on her door because she doesn't know who I am."

"And… why do you want to talk to my mother?"

"Our training sessions will have an impact on your life outside of school and she deserves to know what you could be getting into. It's not wise to keep secrets from those that care about you."

"Which is literally just my mom. And maybe one of her old friends who lives nearby. I love the Bakugos as much as my mom does, but their son is a terror."

"Younger cousins generally are." Aizawa snickered. "Hizashi has several and whenever he goes to visit he always comes back with some story."

"Who's-?"

"Yamada Hizashi is your English teacher."

"Huh. Okay, yeah. That one's on me. I knew his last name but he's just been Yamada-san, y'know? I could tell you a lot about how his Quirk works or how much he knows about English, which is a lot, but I have a hard time with names. I recall faces more easily."

"Fair enough. But Hizashi definitely has experience dealing with bratty younger cousins, so if you ever feel like commiserating about Bakugo-kun, he's your guy."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you could be a brooding middle child." Izuku admitted. "Not too eager to be in an older sibling's shadow but too determined to be babied like a youngest."

Aizawa's lips twitched and he snorted.

"Hizashi's the middle child of the two of us. I never had to share."

"Fun times. Me neither. It's not all it's cracked up to be."

"No, it's not." Aizawa agreed. "Let me know when your mother is free to meet. It can be a phone call if necessary but I imagine she'll want to meet anyone you spend time around aside from your regular teachers."

"Yeah, because she's met them all already. Aside from Polar-san, she was… unimpressed. By many attitudes. Never seen her rant that much before in my life.”

[kaykay1229]

For You @kaykenz

AAAAAAA MY BABY CHICA!! SHE SO ADORABLE THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE IT! art by @rosuru

[rosuru-blog]

~Ouch

[rosuru-blog]

Hellu

I'm afk Because.... I'm sick

[thunder-the-ranger-wolf]

A World of Difference (BNHA story)

Summary: That premise where Izuku is a year older and ends up in the class that gets expelled before the canon class 1A. 

Something gave him a bad feeling about this year’s class. He didn’t know what, exactly, but he knew to trust his instincts. None of these kids would last a day in the hero world, and not just because they were crowded around two kids chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” like a bunch of elementary school kids.

No, that was indeed confirmation. But there was more to this. 

“Fall in!” He barked out. Some of them glanced up, saw his glare, and scampered to their seats. The rest of the class was too focused on one of their own getting pummeled. 

“He said to fall in!” 

He forgot that Mic had been right behind him when he walked into his room, had been so thoroughly unimpressed by the state of his students. But Mic’s Quirk was good for more than a few things. Right now it was getting people’s attention. He nodded his thanks and Mic went to sit behind the teacher’s desk, a spot he wouldn’t inhabit until he was done talking. 

The students all shuffled nervously to their seats. It turns out that the pair who’d been fighting had the same seat but shouldn’t be near each other due to an old rivalry. Something he would have to rectify with assigned seating.

“Dude, what’s up with the caterpillar act?” Someone called out. 

“It’s a sleeping bag. I sleep.” He offered dryly. “But you kids can’t be left alone for five minutes, now can you? I was going to give you all a chance to show off your Quirks but now you’ll do an essay.” 

“Is it gonna be on why fighting is wrong?” Someone simpered. 

These little shits would absolutely be testing his patience. 

“Togamiru, welcome to the class. Congrats on your relationship. But if you could pull up your pants and tell your partner to use mouthwash before he speaks, your classmates would appreciate it.”

“This class is definitely one for the books, eh?” Mic snickered as the pair made for the front of the room. 

“If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back.” Aizawa informed them. 

The partner scoffed and spat at him. Mic narrowly avoided the kid’s terrible aim and rummaged through the desk for a pack of wipes and some hand sanitizer. 

“The essay is not going to be on why fighting is wrong, Kumitoru. The essay will be five-thousand words on your favorite hero and how they contribute to the community around them. This will likely take the rest of the class, so you best get started.” 

Most of the class had some objection to that and some of them were more verbal than others. 

“There’s no way I’m doing some dumb fucking essay on the first day!” A boy in the front row snapped. 

“Well, Rosuru, as your previous two classmates have shown, you are very much free to leave, so long as you don’t come back.” 

The boy deliberated for a few minutes before shaking his head. 

“This isn’t worth it.” He scoffed. “They’re not like this at Shiketsu, I promise you that!” 

“I know what they’re like at Shiketsu, Rosuru, and I doubt you would like it there either.” 

“We’re supposed to be heroes! How is an essay supposed to help us save people?!” 

“Well, if you think about the subject for more than a second you might see why I assigned it.” 

“Fuck you, old man!” 

“I don’t do kids.” Aizawa deadpanned. “For that matter, if you say that to someone and they take you up on it, run. As far and fast away as you can, because those words get you nothing good.” 

“Cryptic bastard. I don’t need this!” 

“As I said, you are free to go.” 

 There was his second (or was it third? That kid sucking off Togamiru probably wasn’t in his class… he’d have to look into that.) student for the day. 

“Start writing, children. I want as much as you can get me by the end of the session.” 

Some breathed exaggerated sighs of relief while others glared venomously at him. 

Ten students are left by the end of the day. The rest hadn’t taken their assignments seriously. Some of them had written about how amazing their Quirks were, some had written about how awesome their personal heroes were. Some had written about whatever the fuck they wanted, and that wouldn’t stand. A student who couldn’t follow directions turned into a hero who got people killed. 

Aizawa found that walking into his second day that only one student had come in and found his seat. He handed the student his paper and waited for another half-hour before taking it back. 

“I wasn’t done-!” 

“Did you honestly think you could get five-thousand words done in not even two days?” 

“I figured it was a drawn-out assignment when you took the papers back at the end of the day, Sensei. Still, I went home and did some research on the programs set in place because of-.”  

The boy cut himself off when he noticed Aizawa moving away, but the homeroom teacher waved his hand. 

“Keep talking, but come on. We’re going to test your skills today.” 

“I went home and did some research on the programs set in place because of things like destruction of property. There are a bunch of initiatives that die almost on-the-spot because no one Agency can keep them up.” 

“How so?” Aizawa wondered.  

“Ryukyu, the Dragon Hero, has fought for her interns with less powerful Quirks to be recognized as heroes in their own right. The Iida family sets up their employees who don’t have proper homes with everything they’d need to get one more immediately. It’s not as easy as giving them more money because if they could just buy everyone houses then someone probably would have tried by now, but like my mom can tell you, even just paying for rent some places can wipe out savings and there’s not much that your job can do about it but maybe give you a higher raise. I got off track, though, we were talking about hero initiatives.” 

“I think we should pick this conversation up tomorrow after I do some research myself. This is some interesting work you’ve done. Now how far can you throw this ball?” 

The kid’s name was Midoriya, and he passed the Hero Course Entrance exam by his own genius and pure luck. He also managed to persuade Nedzu to allow him the use of some homemade gadgets, after impressing him with knowledge of the millions of ways the principal’s Quirk, High-Spec, could be used in a number of fields. 

Everyone else has a natural advantage, Midoriya had informed the principal. Why not allow me to level the playing field? 

That’s how the kid seemed to do everything, Aizawa noticed. The kid was smart and he knew it. Able to spout off facts about any given hero the second a name was dropped. Able to break down and rearrange any Quirk he was informed of.

The green-haired boy was a bag of tricks physically as well as mentally. He wasn’t able to go toe-to-toe with Aizawa or Vlad King, though he tried just for the hell of it. But he knew that. His emphasis was on dodging and letting his opponent’s actions turn back on them. 

It’s how he’s gotten rid of many a childhood bully, he informed his teacher cheerfully. This, after literally tripping Aizawa over his unraveled capture weapon and sending him sprawling with one yank. 

“Very good.” Aizawa groaned as he lumbered to his feet. “Can you pick out weak spots like that on the fly?”

“Yes, but it took some major training and a lot of hero fights.” Midoriya admitted. 

“What would you suggest for Midnight-san?”

“Nothing.” Midoriya offered flatly. “There is absolutely nothing she can’t do with that Quirk, and since she hangs with you and Present Mic, I’d assume she knows how to fight of her own merits. There is no way I am touching her outfit with a ten-foot pole even if she wasn’t literally right behind you.” 

Aizawa dipped his head in acquiescence and turned to face his friend. 

“That you thought I wouldn’t call you out is amazingly stupid. That Midoriya did was rather impressive.” He told her. The Rated R Hero snorted, which turned into an all-out giggle. 

“You’re a gem, Aizawa,” She crowed, leaning her full weight into the hug she was giving him. “A diamond in the rough. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” 

“Vlad generally acknowledges that I’m hard to ruffle, but thank you anyway. What exactly do you need from me right now?”

“Oh, right. Yagi wanted to see if you were busy. I think he’s nervous about actually teaching this year instead of just being part of the staff. Poor guy was muttering over his notes all morning.” 

“Well, I just so happen to be finishing up this session. It’s onto Vlad for you, Midoriya.” Aizawa informed the boy. His student nodded, waved to both of them, and sped towards the main building.

“I still can’t believe you only kept one student.” Nemuri scowled, standing on her own feet so she and Aizawa could follow Midoriya. “Out of twenty-three.” 

“I never said they were expelled. They could come back if they wanted to. Technically they’re skipping class of their own accord.” 

“They dropped out and you know it, Sho-chan. I’m shocked this kid lasted as long as he did. Did you really make them write five-thousand words on the first day?” 

“I wanted the assignment to take up the first few classes. They were literally watching two kids fight to what would have been the death. Mic was there, he could tell you.” 

“And your first expulsion, they were…” 

“Maybe don’t ask Mic about that one. He might genuinely be traumatized.”

“Fair enough. But what’s so special about this kid in particular?”

He comes back.” Aizawa snorted. “I’ve scared all the others off or bored them off or reprimanded them somehow. I knew something was up with this set of kids but I honestly didn’t think it’d be this easy to get them all out of my hair.” 

“Re-evaluating your teaching methods?” Nemuri teased, knowing the exact opposite to be true. 

“More like wondering if this next crop of heroes will be ready for the world.” Aizawa admitted. “I might have driven them away, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have other options. If they’re smart, they’ll re-evaluate themselves before taking such chances again.”

“And if they’re not?” Nemuri promoted warily. 

“Well, that’d be to everyone’s detriment.” 

[thunder-the-ranger-wolf]

A World of Difference RD1

Content Warning: Implied sexual act performed between two minors, active crowd encouraging a fight, bullying, lewd comments.behavior.

Class Dismissed

Something gave him a bad feeling about this year’s class. He didn’t know what, exactly, but he knew to trust his instincts. None of these kids would last a day in the hero world, and not just because they were crowded around two kids chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” like a bunch of elementary school kids.

No, that was indeed confirmation. But there was more to this.

“Fall in!” He barked out. Some of them glanced up, saw his glare, and scampered to their seats. The rest of the class was too focused on one of their own getting pummeled.

“He said to fall in!”

He forgot that Mic had been right behind him when he walked into his room, had been so thoroughly unimpressed by the state of his students. But Mic’s Quirk was good for more than a few things. Right now it was getting people’s attention. He nodded his thanks and Mic went to sit behind the teacher’s desk, a spot he wouldn’t inhabit until he was done talking.

The students all shuffled nervously to their seats. It turns out that the pair who’d been fighting had the same seat but shouldn’t be near each other due to an old rivalry. Something he would have to rectify with assigned seating.

“Dude, what’s up with the caterpillar act?” Someone called out.

“It’s a sleeping bag. I sleep.” He offered dryly. “But you kids can’t be left alone for five minutes, now can you? I was going to give you all a chance to show off your Quirks but now you’ll do an essay.”

“Is it gonna be on why fighting is wrong?” Someone simpered.

These little shits would absolutely be testing his patience.

“Togamiru, welcome to the class. Congrats on your relationship. But if you could pull up your pants and tell your partner to use mouthwash before he speaks, your classmates would appreciate it.”

“This class is definitely one for the books, eh?” Mic snickered as the pair made for the front of the room.

“If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming back.” Aizawa informed them.

The partner scoffed and spat at him. Mic narrowly avoided the kid’s terrible aim and rummaged through the desk for a pack of wipes and some hand sanitizer.

“The essay is not going to be on why fighting is wrong, Kumitoru. The essay will be five-thousand words on your favorite hero and how they contribute to the community around them. This will likely take the rest of the class, so you best get started.”

Most of the class had some objection to that and some of them were more verbal than others.

“There’s no way I’m doing some dumb fucking essay on the first day!” A boy in the front row snapped.

“Well, Rosuru, as your previous two classmates have shown, you are very much free to leave, so long as you don’t come back.”

The boy deliberated for a few minutes before shaking his head.

“This isn’t worth it.” He scoffed. “They’re not like this at Shiketsu, I promise you that!”

“I know what they’re like at Shiketsu, Rosuru, and I doubt you would like it there either.”

“We’re supposed to be heroes! How is an essay supposed to help us save people?!”

“Well, if you think about the subject for more than a second you might see why I assigned it.”

“Fuck you, old man!”

“If you say that to someone and they take you up on it, run. As far and fast away as you can, because those words get you nothing good.”

“Cryptic bastard. I don’t need this!”

“As I said, you are free to go.”

There was his second (or was it third? That kid sucking off Togamiru probably wasn’t in his class… he’d have to look into that.) student for the day.

“Start writing, children. I want as much as you can get me by the end of the session.”

Some breathed exaggerated sighs of relief while others glared venomously at him.

Ten students are left by the end of the day. The rest hadn’t taken their assignments seriously. Some of them had written about how amazing their Quirks were, some had written about how awesome their personal heroes were. Some had written about whatever the fuck they wanted, and that wouldn’t stand. A student who couldn’t follow directions turned into a hero who got people killed.

Second Day Surprise

Walking into his second day, Aizawa found that only one student had come in and found his seat. He handed the student his paper and waited for another half-hour before taking it back.

“I wasn’t done-!”

“Did you honestly think you could get five-thousand words done in not even two days?”

“I figured it was a drawn-out assignment when you took the papers back at the end of the day, Sensei. Still, I went home and did some research on the programs set in place because of-.”

The boy cut himself off when he noticed Aizawa moving away, but the homeroom teacher waved his hand.

“Keep talking, but come on. We’re going to test your skills today.”

“I went home and did some research on the programs set in place because of things like destruction of property. There are a bunch of initiatives that die almost on-the-spot because no one Agency can keep them up.”

“How so?” Aizawa wondered.

“Ryukyu, the Dragon Hero, has fought for her interns with less powerful Quirks to be recognized as heroes in their own right. The Iida family sets up their employees who don’t have proper homes with everything they’d need to get one more immediately. It’s not as easy as giving them more money because if they could just buy everyone houses then someone probably would have tried by now, but like my mom can tell you, even just paying for rent can wipe out savings and there’s not much that your job can do about it but maybe give you a higher raise. I got off track, though, we were talking about hero initiatives.”

“I think we should pick this conversation up tomorrow after I do some research myself. This is some interesting work you’ve done. Now how far can you throw this ball?”

The kid’s name was Midoriya, and he passed the Hero Course Entrance exam by his own genius and pure luck. He also managed to persuade Nedzu to allow him the use of some homemade gadgets, after impressing him with knowledge of the millions of ways the principal’s Quirk, High-Spec, could be used in a number of fields.

Everyone else has a natural advantage, Midoriya had informed the principal. Why not allow me to level the playing field?

That’s how the kid seemed to do everything, Aizawa noticed. The kid was smart and he knew it. Able to spout off facts about any given hero the moment a name was dropped. Able to break down and rearrange any Quirk he was informed of. The green-haired boy was a bag of tricks physically as well as mentally. He wasn’t able to go toe-to-toe with Aizawa or Vlad King, though he tried just for the hell of it. But he knew that. His emphasis was on dodging and letting his opponent’s actions turn back on them. It’s how he’s gotten rid of many a childhood bully, he informed his teacher cheerfully. This, after literally tripping Aizawa over his unraveled capture weapon and sending him sprawling with one yank.

“Very good.” Aizawa groaned as he lumbered to his feet. “Can you pick out weak spots like that on the fly?”

“Yes, but it took some major training and a lot of hero fights.” Midoriya admitted.

“What would you suggest for Midnight-san?”

“Nothing.” Midoriya offered flatly. “There is absolutely nothing she can’t do with that Quirk, and since she hangs with you and Present Mic, I’d assume she knows how to fight of her own merits. There is no way I am touching her outfit with a ten-foot pole even if she wasn’t literally right behind you.”

Aizawa dipped his head in acquiescence and turned to face his friend.

“That you thought I wouldn’t call you out is amazingly stupid. That Midoriya did was rather impressive.” He told her. The Rated R Hero snorted, which turned into an all-out giggle.

“You’re a gem, Aizawa,” She crowed, leaning her full weight into the hug she was giving him. “A diamond in the rough. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

“Vlad generally acknowledges that I’m hard to ruffle, but thank you anyway. What exactly do you need from me right now?”

“Oh, right. Yagi wanted to see if you were busy. I think he’s nervous about actually teaching this year instead of just being part of the staff. Poor guy was muttering over his notes all morning.”

“Well, I just so happen to be finishing up this session. It’s onto Vlad for you, Midoriya.” Aizawa informed the boy. His student nodded, waved to both of them, and sped towards the main building.

“I still can’t believe you only kept one student.” Nemuri scowled, standing on her own feet so she and Aizawa could follow Midoriya. “Out of twenty-three.”

“I never said they were expelled. They could come back if they wanted to. Technically they’re skipping class on their own accord.”

“They dropped out and you know it, Sho-chan. I’m shocked this kid lasted as long as he did. Did you really make them write five-thousand words on the first day?”

“I wanted the assignment to take up the first few classes. They were literally watching two kids fight to what would have been the death. Mic was there, he could tell you.”

“And your first expulsion, they were…”

“Maybe don’t ask Mic about that one. He might genuinely be traumatized.”

“Fair enough. But what’s so special about this kid in particular?”

He comes back.” Aizawa snorted. “I’ve scared all the others off or bored them off or reprimanded them somehow. I knew something was up with this set of kids but I honestly didn’t think it’d be this easy to get them all out of my hair.”

“Re-evaluating your teaching methods?” Nemuri teased, knowing the exact opposite to be true.

“More like wondering if this next crop of heroes will be ready for the world.” Aizawa admitted. “I might have driven them away, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have other options. If they’re smart, they’ll re-evaluate themselves before taking such chances again.”

“And if they’re not?” Nemuri promoted warily.

“Well, that’d be to everyone’s detriment.”

Nerves

“Yagi-san, you asked to see me?”

The man in question jolted upright from pouring over his notes. His eyes were bright blue and extremely dilated and his hair was all over the place.

“Have you slept at all recently?” Aizawa wondered.

“That’s rich, coming from you.” Yagi grumbled. “Anyway, I don’t know whether to thank you for halving my anxiety or strangle you for increasing it tenfold.”

“I can’t say I follow your logic.” Aizawa admitted.

“You got rid of your entire class-.”

“One of them had potential.”

“Out of twenty-three.”

“And technically I drove them off, I never properly expelled them.”

“More power to you, I suppose.”

“What’s your problem, though?”

“I need to make sure I know what I’m doing or these kids will eat me alive.” He quoted flatly.

“Whoever said that hasn’t met the man behind All Might’s paperwork.”

“Well, practice and theory are two very different things. All Might’s mentor wasn’t exactly wrong to laugh me off the phone, but I still don’t appreciate it.”

“Gran Torino sounds like an ass.”

“I can tell you with all given confidence that he would love to hear that from you.”

“Maybe one day I’ll say it to him.”

“Don’t.”

“Yagi-san, you’ve been slinking around the campus doing something or another for the past five years. You have all the experience you could possibly get before we shove you in front of those students.”

“And they’ll still eat me alive.”

“Right, because it’s so hard to talk about your favorite subject ever.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me they wouldn’t laugh me off the obstacle course the second they realize I’m their teacher.”

“You’ve done literally all of the obstacle courses. If anything, they’ll be impressed by your speed.”

“Perhaps I’ll have to take your word for it.” Yagi exhaled, resigned.

“Perhaps you will.” Aizawa snorted.

“Wish me luck, Aizawa-kun. I’ll need it.”