#why else would a teacher be running the exam and not nedzu himself?

[s0fter-sin]

nedzu gets mic to run the entrance exam both as a disarming presence to try and relax the thousands of nervous kids but also because if the zero-pointer ever went haywire and stopped responding, mic is the only one that could take it down

[gentrychild]

I wish you would write a fic where Izuku is in Gen Ed and wrecks havoc.

(Sorry, you just get tired Gen Ed teacher.)

Kazuko’s phone was out of battery or it would at least be the excuse she would use to explain why she wasn’t answering the dozens of calls that were probably saturating her voicemail this very moment.

She didn’t want to know. She longed for the bliss of ignorance. And even if, rationally speaking, she knew that there was no proof that one of her students was connected to whatever had sent a dozen of heroes running/flying/driving at full speed to Tattooine, she simply knew that he had done something.

But it didn’t concern her before her first coffee. Every morning, she had fifteen blessed minutes where she could just relax at her desk, without anyone interrupting her, right before her students arrived.

She just had to walk through the hallways without being noticed… get in the teacher room… grab one of the coffees that Yagi-san, the new teacher, brought every morning… and then… just…

Something appeared as she was making a quick get-away and she screamed, her high-pitched-shriek echoing on every wall. Heroic heads popped up from every room in that specific hallway, only to disappear when they saw what had surprised her.

“Hello to you too, Kurosawa-san,” the principal cheerfully greeted her. “Would you mind accompanying me to my office?”

Kazuko was a nice person who didn’t deserve this but she still complied, pushing back her hair with one head and straightening her bag so it would stop hitting her hip every time she took a step.

They took the elevator reserved for Nedzu’s exclusive usage (which meant that she had to crouch a little) and discovered Aizawa-san already here, though his sleeping bag was crumpled on the ground. He had just gotten out of it.

“What did he do this time?” she sighed, because of course, this was about Midoriya Izuku.

Most of Gen Ed was made of students who had tried the entrance exam of the hero course and accepted that maybe becoming a hero simply wasn’t the right path for them. However, since Aizawa-san had arrived, she had met another kind of hero course rejects: those who had passed the exam only to be expelled on their very first day.

Midoriya had clearly ignored that this was an option and had been in the middle of a mental breakdown when she had met him, only to bounce in the most chaotic way possible.

Every year, Kazuko organized a visit to the USJ.

This year, a new group called the League of Villains had attacked the site, expecting to kill All Might while he was teaching a hero class.

Instead, they had met a class full of high schoolers literally ready to kill to get a place in the hero course. Somehow, this had ended with what was left of the League running for their lives and Midoriya keeping one of their most dangerous member as a class pet.

“Earlier this day, Midoriya encountered the villain Muscular during his morning run,” Aizawa-kun announced.

A violent headache started to throb inside Kazuko’s skull.

“Muscular was trying to kill Pro Hero Death Arms at the time. So Midoriya recruited about ten random civilians and quirk-engineered an explosion that embed Muscular into the side of a building.”

Kazuko drank her coffee. It was rude and inappropriate to drink it righ now but she needed it.

“No need to worry,” Nedzu gently patted her hand. “Midoriya’s bio enhanced weapon apparently sat on Muscular when he woke up so the police was able to apprehend him quickly.”

“We prefer to call him Ren,” Kazuko couldn’t help to say.

Her students were very attached to him. He kept following Midoriya around like a lost puppy so Nedzu had given the permission for him to live in UA. One of Aizawa’s students, Yaoyorozu, had even made him a uniform his size.

“Of course,” Nedzu nodded. “Ren it is. But what Aizawa-kun and I would like to talk to you about is that… we think that there is no need to wait how Midoriya will do at the Sport Festival to bring him to the hero course.”

Technically, it would be to bring him back. But Kazuko knew better than to say it out loud.

Just like she knew better than to clearly tell Nedzu and Aizawa that there was no way she was going to announce Midoriya that there was a chance he could go back to a situation where he could be expelled once again from the hero course.

She emptied her coffee cup in three gulps, letting the caffeine clear all her stress and replacing it by a lack of patience for nonsense.

“Apart from the USJ accident, Midoriya had met three villains since the beginning of the year but he has also been working closely with a student from the support course to equip Gen Ed students and he is trying to adopt the weapon made to kill the number 1 hero. Only the hero course can deal with such a student,” Aizawa declared.

Well, now that he was mentioning it.

“Oh, I agree,” Kazuko smiled. Well, showed her teeth but really, who could see the difference? “Midoriya shouldn’t be in gen ed. Instead, he should be in the hero course. Where he had applied. And where he was received, until he was expelled on his first day.”

“He couldn’t control his quirk. He was a danger to himself and to everyone else. I am far from opposed to him getting back in the hero course after the Sport Festival…”

“Sorry to interrupt you but Midoriya and his uncontrollable quirk were accepted in the hero course,” Kazuko reminded him. “I don’t think you’re realizing the effect it had on him. I mean, there is a reason why he doesn’t bother calling adults for help anymore. Which is why I am grateful that his second shadow/bodyguard is supposedly on All Might’s level.”

Midoriya wasn’t able to stop saving people. But now, he was convinced that he had to do this on his own.

So now, it was Kazuko’s job to do something about his self-esteem. Fortunately for her, All Might and Gran Torino (who she suspected to be his father and his grandfather but that was a story that could only be shared in front of the coffee machine in the teacher room) were already his quirk training.

“It was really nice to have this conversation with the both of you,” she smiled. “Unfortunately, I can’t advise one of my students to go back to 1-A. It seems premature. Especially when I am trying to build trust. I am actually hopefully optimistic that he would consider going to therapy.”

And as soon as she was done here, she would find out more about Aldera middle school.

[thelazyhermits]

The Perfect Challenge

This is dedicated to the super sweet @mandsand who so kindly sent some Ko-Fi my way earlier this week. I remembered your ask about Nedzu and came up with an idea that I wanted to write out which goes along with one of the ideas you mentioned in your ask. 

I hope you enjoy it! Also, thank you so much for the Ko-Fi! ^-^ I really appreciate it!! <3 <3 <3 <3

Around the middle of February, you find yourself in the principal’s office, sipping tea, while the other teachers keep Eri entertained in the teachers’ lounge. While having teatime with Nedzu isn’t exactly unusual since he often likes to visit the dorm and join Eri’s tea parties, it’s been a while since you last visited his office.

Thankfully, you’re told upfront that you’re not here because you’re in trouble. However, that’s all you’ve been told, so you have absolutely no clue what he wants to talk with you about today. 

After you both spend a few minutes calmly enjoying your tea, Nedzu sets his cup down and focuses his attention on you. “I’m sure you are wondering why I called you here today.”

You nod your head. “I know it’s not ‘cause you have bad news for me, but besides that, I have absolutely no idea.”

He chuckles, “The same could be said for the other teachers. Their reactions to finding out that I wanted a private meeting with you today were all very amusing, especially Aizawa-kun’s.”

Blinking, you tilt your head curiously. “So, even they don’t know? Now, I’m even more curious.”

His smile grows. “It’s very simple, really. I wanted to discuss Class 1-A’s final exam with you.”

Your eyebrows furrow. “Their final exam? In that case, shouldn’t Shouta-san be a part of this discussion too? Why call just me here?”

Nedzu takes another sip of his tea. “Because I have an idea that I want to run past you first before suggesting it to the other teachers. I will only go through with it if you show your support.”

An idea that he’ll only use if you support it. What in the world could that be?

As if reading your mind, the principal answers your unspoken question. “I would like to do a repeat of what we did in the summer but with one exception.”

A wide grin appears on his face. “Instead of All Might, I want you to be one of the exam proctors.”

Your eyes grow large as your jaw drops. “You want me to what?!”

His eyes glow with obvious amusement and just a hint of mischief. “I want to see how much our students have grown since the summer by using the same exam structure. However, since All Might is now retired, he obviously cannot fight against the students like he did before. So, I am in need of a replacement.”

Once you finally get over your shock, you give him an incredulous look. “But, why me?! Why not another pro hero like Hound Dog?! I don’t understand!”

He rubs his chin thoughtfully. “I have considered that possibility and will likely have him be an opponent in Class 1-B’s final exam since I do agree he would pose an excellent challenge for the students.”

Confusion dawns your features. “Then, why not have him be an exam proctor for Class 1-A too? How could I possibly provide more of a challenge than an actual pro hero?”

Nedzu presses his paws together. “While it’s true that he overall would be a more challenging opponent for the majority of the students, there is one pair of students I can think of who would benefit more from having you as an opponent instead of him.”

All you can do is stare at him with obvious surprise. “Really? What pair of students would that be?”

With a wide smile, the hybrid outstretches his arms with a flourish. “Why, the two students you know best, of course! Midoriya-kun and Bakugou-kun!”

Once again, you find yourself gaping in disbelief. “You want to put Midoriya and Bakugou in a team against me?!”

The obviously amused principal nods his head. “That’s right! I want to see how much those two have grown by placing them on a team together. Obviously, they have worked together since then, so we know their relationship has improved. However, I have unfortunately not had the opportunity to witness this development with my own eyes, so I want to take the chance to do just that with this exam.”

Well, it is true that the two times you’ve seen Midoriya and Bakugou team up to fight are both times that Nedzu nor any of the other teachers could see them work together. Considering how the events of your vision about the Midoriya/Bakugou vs All Might match went, you can understand why the hybrid would want to see for himself how much they’ve actually grown since then.

While that does make sense to you, there’s one thing you still can’t wrap your mind around. “How would I be the perfect opponent for them? Those two could easily take me down if they worked together. Sure, I can predict their movements with my Quirk, but I can only dodge for so long, especially against two opponents coming at me at the same time.”

Nedzu wags a finger at you. “Now, now, I think you should give yourself more credit. While it’s true they have you beat when it comes to a contest of power, when it comes to a contest of will and intelligence, I think you could be quite the challenging opponent for them.”

Before you can tell him that you’re not so sure about that, he continues, “It seems you haven’t realized it yet, but you have a special advantage over those two, Y/N-san. One that’s great enough that I would choose you over every other teacher to be those boys’ opponent.”

At the sight of your shocked expression, the principal smiles, “You know those boys better than anyone else at this school does, excluding the boys themselves, of course. You’ve been watching those two in your visions for quite some time. So, you are likely very familiar with their strengths and weaknesses along with any habits they may have.”

His smile grows. “I also don’t think it’d be a stretch to say that you’d have an easier time predicting their movements as compared to anyone’s else, and that’s without even using your Quirk. Or, am I wrong?”

For several seconds, all you can do is stare at the hybrid, too stunned to speak. Once you eventually find your voice, you slowly shake your head. “No, you’re right. I didn’t notice it until after I started training with Nighteye, but after he showed me how to better analyze my opponent’s movements, I realized that I do have an easier time doing that when I spar with Midoriya and Bakugou as compared to everyone else.”

You didn’t notice that fact until the day Nighteye had you spar with Midoriya and told you to predict his movements without using your Quirk. You expected to have a hard time with such a feat, but soon enough, you realized that you were wrong. 

Because you’ve spent so much time watching the green haired boy, you are very familiar with how his mind works. Obviously, you’re no mind reader, so you can’t predict his every move like you can with your Quirk. However, you have noticed that he has little tells that indicate what direction he’ll be moving in or what kind of attack he’s likely to use.

In the case of Bakugou, you have a slightly more difficult time. However, like Midoriya, you are good at reading the blond’s movements when it comes to hand-to-hand combat since you’ve spent so many years watching him fight and listening to his former childhood friend analyze his movements. Of course, you learning how to fight by watching Bakugou also played a big role in you gaining such a good understanding of his fighting style.

The fact that Nedzu noticed this all on his own proves just how observant he is. You wonder how many of the spars you’ve had with the two boys he has watched for him to notice this fact or if he found out through some other means.

Eventually, you’re brought out of your thoughts by his voice. “You have a very high opinion of both boys which is perfectly understandable, but you shouldn’t throw in the towel so quickly, Y/N-san. Those boys are strong, but so are you. You all have your own special strengths. It’s just up to you to figure out how you can use your strengths to your advantage.”

A contemplative expression dawns your features as your gaze falls to your hands which are still holding your teacup. After several seconds pass in silence, you reply, “Growing up, I would often compare myself to those two. I always thought they were so strong while I.…wasn't, which always made me feel pathetic since they were years younger than me.”

Your grip on your cup tightens. “I always wanted to be strong like them, but it just seemed like an impossible dream.”

“But, it’s not, is it?”

When you lift your eyes, you meet Nedzu’s kind gaze. The tension in your frame eases at the reassuring sight. “No, it’s not. No dream is impossible if you work hard enough.”

The corners of your lips curve upwards. “Never give up on your dreams. That’s something Midoriya taught me.”

Wearing a matching smile, the hybrid nods his head. “I agree completely. Anything becomes impossible if you give up from the start, but if you persevere, anything is possible. That’s what I believe.”

At that moment, your Quirk activates. Your surroundings change, replaced with the scenery of a cityscape much like what you saw in your vision of the Midoriya/Bakugou vs All Might fight.

All you can do is watch amazed as you run all throughout the cityscape, leaving traps and causing destruction wherever you go. Meanwhile, Midoriya and Bakugou are hot on your trail, trying to stop you from causing further damage while also having to avoid all your traps. 

Much to your amazement, the boys are having a harder time than you expected. While they come close to capturing you several times, you always somehow manage to escape before they can put the handcuffs on you. 

Unfortunately for you, your vision ends before you can see the results of the exam. As your sight returns to normal, you find yourself staring at an obviously intrigued Nedzu with wonder. “I...I really can do it. There is a way to provide a challenge for them while playing to my strengths.”

A grin appears on his face. “I had no doubt about that, but please do tell. What requirements were established for their final exam?”

You set your teacup down on the coffee table before clasping your hands together. “It was obvious that they were trying to capture me, so either they didn’t want to try running to the exit even though that would be the easiest way to win or that just wasn’t an option for them.”

Nedzu thoughtfully rubs his chin. “Most likely, it was the latter. If you were to agree to be an exam proctor, I planned to do away with the option of escaping through the exit for those two since that would’ve, as you said, been far too easy for them.”

Remembering your actions from the vision, you decide to share another observation you made. “One other thing I noticed was that I was doing a lot of intentional property damage, and I think there was a reason I was doing it besides just to be true to my villain role. Also, every time I was successful at destroying a part of the city, the more panicked the guys became.”

With a chuckle, the principal finishes off the rest of his tea. “I see. Obviously, a requirement was created in which the students must capture you before you destroy too much of the town you are attacking. What a wonderful idea. Perhaps, I should include that as a requirement for the other team exams as well.”

So, that’s how it is. Now, it all makes sense. That’s why you were causing so much property damage--because you could win the match if you destroyed enough of it before Midoriya and Bakugou caught you.

Thanks to that requirement, there really is a way for you to come out on top if the students don’t bring their A game. With enough careful planning and lots of Hatsume’s beloved inventions at your disposal, you really could give Midoriya and Bakugou a run for their money.

Before you even realize it, you find yourself grinning broadly. “Looks like Class 1-A is in for a very exciting final exam.”

Nedzu dons a matching grin. “Indeed. I am very much looking forward to the results.”

So are you. 

[mx-bright-sky]

(I mention one of my fics here, but reading the fic is not necessary to understand the meta)

In my fic Green Lightning, Nedzu is a larger and more present character than he is in canon. It is well known to those that read the fic that, even though he has justifications for his actions, he is more of an antagonist than a reliable mentor figure. This has lead to some people coming to the conclusion that Nedzu seems to be out of character. However, this is because of the people we see interacting with Nedzu in canon contrasting with those we see interacting with Nedzu in Green Lightning. Nedzu puts on an act in most of his canon interactions. If you look at things in canon with a critical eye, it is clear that Nedzu is canonically less "nice" than he lets on.

(Or, Nedzu is canonically a stinky rat bastard, the meta)

I will note that most of these are criticisms of UA overall, but as the principle he holds the most power and we’re given no reason to believe that he is not in charge of these decisions. Even if he didn’t make these decisions himself, he ultimately could have stopped them from going through, and that’s just as bad.

First of all, he almost completely disregards the safety of the Hero Course students. Many of them have quirks that can hurt them if they ““go beyond; Plus Ultra”” and yet the school doesn’t discourage that. In fact, it praises them for doing so, and if they don’t do the absolute best they can do despite risk of physical harm, it’s seen as disgraceful. This is clearly shown with Kaminari constantly going over his watt limit. When Kaminari uses too much of his quirk he short circuits himself and goes brain dead for a while. This is treated sometimes as a minor nuisance but mostly as a joke. However, it is entirely possible that the way he is constantly short circuiting himself does have a permanent and negative effect on him, and it could even be said that it contributes to how he is portrayed as having lower intelligence. Another big indicator of this lack of care for safety is admitting Izuku into the Hero Course. I love Izuku and I want him to be a hero, but putting him in the Hero Course after how the entrance exam was irresponsible and extremely negligent. From the entrance exam it is clear that, while powerful, Izuku’s quirk badly damages him when he uses it. The better route would have been to put him in the General Education department and keep an eye on him and see if they could help him learn to control his quirk in a less destructive way, but they don’t do that. They put him into the Hero Course because he has amazing destructive power. And you can say “But Mel! He only had rescue points! They didn’t let him in for having power!” Consider this; they gave him seventy rescue points. That’s quite a lot. Yes, he saved Uraraka and it was very heroic, but I do not think that he would have scored as many points if he had a different quirk. They put him in the Hero Course because of his power, despite how it hurts him. It is clear that on multiple levels, Nedzu does not care about the safety of the students. Why? He just wants strong heroes, and he doesn’t care about the means acquiring them. UA probably only produces the top heroes because the top heroes are the only ones who make it through UA. 

There is another concern that, while seemingly being an isolated incident, also shows disregard for the students. At the end of Sports Festival, Bakugou is chained up and forced to go to the award ceremony despite not wanting to go. This, while treated as a joke, is not okay for several reasons. First of all, this is on live television and in front of a stadium of people. It is humiliating to chain Bakugou up like that and force him to go, no matter what the context. On the same point, this is part of the reason why the villains targeted him. While his anger issues definitely contributed to it, the villains probably theorized that, due to this mistreatment at the Sports Festival, they could manipulate Bakugou to go against the heroes. And at the end of the day, there’s the fact that Bakugou shouldn’t have to accept the win if he doesn’t want it. They could have given it to Shouto even though he was technically only second place. The whole Sports Festival situation was handled very poorly, and it just shows further negligence on Nedzu’s part. Why? It’s possible he wants to try and “tame” Bakugou and make him behave instead of caring about his actual learning and growth.

Yet another show of negligence in teaching is the hiring of All Might as a teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I love All Might, but it is blatantly obvious that he is not suited to being a teacher. He’s an excellent hero, but he is just bad at being a mentor. This is presented as a joke by the source, but yet again, it’s a serious issue. He should have started by training the Hero Course students basic hand to hand combat, but instead, he launched them right into battle training on the first day. The worst is the final exams, though. All Might uses incredible brute force and could have seriously damaged Bakugou and Izuku because he didn’t hold back on them. But Nedzu hired him anyway- and by certain dialogue scenes it seems like this is something he has been asking All Might about for a long time. Being a good hero doesn’t make you a good teacher, but Nedzu ignores this. He should have at least made All Might learn how to be a teacher before hiring him, but he didn’t. And, why? The only reason he would have is because he wanted the number one hero to teach at UA. Not because he wanted a good teacher, but because UA is famed for having pros as teachers. He did it for the popularity, for being able to claim that they have the number one hero working there, as a way to “prove” that UA really is “better” than every other hero school. 

Even in the show itself, it’s addressed (if only for a single episode) that the way the entrance exam is structured is flawed. It prioritizes people with physically strong quirks, and anyone who has a quirk that is any other kind of strong is just thrown under the bus. In addition, it excludes people with support type quirks. Recovery Girl, who is an incredibly helpful retired hero, could not have passed the entrance exam. There is no way that Nedzu doesn’t know this. There is no way that this is a new problem. There’s more problems with the entrance exams than just quirk discrimination, too. What about how these people taking the entrance exam could very easily be injured in this scenarios? Recovery Girl comments to herself after the entrance exam that Izuku was the only one with serious injuries, but what about Uraraka? If Izuku hadn’t been there to help her, no one would have; everyone else was running away. She was trapped in rubble, and the zero point robot was going to run right over her. Would they have stopped it from doing so? I doubt it. There are plenty of other potential injuries from the entrance exam as well- all the rubble, robots, and even other students being reckless with quirks they don’t have full control over could easily lead to serious injuries. Nedzu could change the entrance exam, UA certainly has the money to, but he doesn’t. Why? Again, it’s weeding out the weak, it’s survival of the fittest. He wants top pro heroes, and support types of heroes don’t become top pro heroes.

This is definitely more of a societal thing than, but Nedzu definitely is one of the contributors to the problem; discrimination against quirkless people. In the first episode when the class is laughing at him and asking how he expects to get in to UA despite being quirkless, Izuku meekly protests, “They got rid of that rule.” Which means that, previously, quirkless people were outright not allowed to attend UA. Not even just systematically where it’s incredibly hard to get in if you’re quirkless; quirkless people were banned by the school’s rules themselves, plain and simple. This is blatant discrimination against quirkless people. And even though they apparently “got rid of that rule” it is still very evident that quirkless people cannot pass the Hero Course entrance exam. If Izuku never got One For All, it is doubtful he would have passed. Once again, the evidence shows that Nedzu does not look like a good guy here. But why be prejudiced against quirkless people? The best answer is that he just wants to follow the crowd so that he doesn’t stir controversy, but the worse and more likely answer is that Nedzu thinks quirkless people are useless just like the rest of society. 

So, if I have all this backing my characterization of him, the disregard of student safety, the treatment of Bakugou in the Sports Festival, hiring All Might, the entrance exam, and discrimination against the quirkless, then why do so many people seem to believe that I’m making Nedzu be out of character? I think the answer is right in the essay itself. It’s that most of these are treated as a joke. They’re not treated seriously by the narrative, so no one thinks “Hey this is actually really wrong, who’s allowing this?” Another thing is that people don’t really consider that Nedzu is behind all of this, as the principle of UA. If they look at one of these things individually and decide it’s wrong, they usually don’t look into it and decide that it’s Nedzu’s fault. They call it out as wrong, rightfully so, but they don’t get to the root of the problem. (I suppose the root could also be the society itself, but Nedzu conforms to that society.) In canon, Nedzu is only shown being the “silly animal principle uwu” who says things like “Am I a mouse? Am I a bear? Who knows!” And then the Kamino arc where UA needs to get the press of their back’s while they rescue Bakugou, Nedzu is there once again, and I’m willing to bet he only does the things he does and says the things he says to save face. 

The only other conclusion besides “Nedzu is a sneaky rat bastard” is that Nedzu just doesn’t notice these problems or realize that they’re problems. But ignorance goes against Nedzu’s entire character, so this isn’t really a conclusion at all. 

(everything else applies to my fic Green Lightning, so if you haven’t read it, this might not be something you’ll understand)

In canon, Nedzu interacts with people who he wants to put on an act for. He needs these people to believe that he cares about them as individuals and not just strong heroes (you could push it and say that strong heroes are to stop villains and “for the greater good” but tbh if Nedzu’s job is being the principal of a school that makes heroes, I think that running out of villain’s would be bad for his business, hmmmmmm I just thought of that oh no)

In Green Lightning, Nedzu has been shown only interacting with Sora and Izuku; both people that he has leverage over. Though it hasn’t been mentioned in the fic, Sora is only at UA because Nedzu let him in to help with the traitor problem. He doesn’t care about acting in front of Sora, because if Sora says anything he can kick him on the spot. Nedzu also knows that Izuku is a vigilante, and is only keeping him around because that could prove useful to weeding out the traitor. If Izuku didn’t do what Nedzu asked, Nedzu could expel Izuku and quite honestly it’s possible that he could get Izuku arrested for being a vigilante. Even if they did speak out, Nedzu could very easily discredit them because they’re children and Nedzu is the principle of UA. 

So no, Nedzu isn’t out of character at all, thank you, bye