Chapter Text
The sudden blaring of his alarm woke Shota Instantly. Noticing the empty spot beside him, he doesn't bother waiting around -Hizashi probably got called out early- he thinks. Standing quickly to get changed, Shota speedwalks to the kitchen of his cozy apartment. With a shake of the cat's food, Bastard and Trashcan both sprint into the room. He reheats some food he'd prepared the day before, and eats it quickly while checking his emails. Evening cooking is a sacred time for him and his husband -a habit formed soon after Oboro had passed, when Aizawa would struggle with selfcare and relied on force fed nutrition packets- Aizawa is a grown man, he understands the importance of real food and recommend sleep times despite constantly appearing tired.
He lets out a loud sigh when reading his latest unopened email, a new 'task' assigned by Nezu, a mission to investigate a middle school for reports of misused funding. The principal usually doesn't concern himself with such matters, so Aizawa assumes the schools history expands beyond mistreated pupils.
Despite expelling his entire first year class, Aizawa would argue he gets more work than any other teachers combined. Although Nezu does not have a problem with students Aizawa 'deems unfit' being expelled, his workload is still doubled - possibly by tasks such as this one or the marking of essays of classes that belong to other teachers. Shota finishes his food and leaves on time, taking care as to not let his cats escape. First he drives to UA to deposit some graded papers, then tried to squeeze more information from Nezu - who still refuses to budge - while the rat themself opts to stay mysterious.
Shota makes his way to the middle school, where he introduces himself as a UA teacher "looking for potential withing the next generation of heros" to a bored-looking receptionist, who's eyes widen momentarily before calling in a man who appears to be the principal. The man himself is.. underwhelming, for a man who runs an entire school he appears quite unkempt or carefree. His shirt is stained with grease and his hair isn't combed.
Aizawa got a tour round with the principal walking besides him. Despite only seeing parts of the school (due to the man - called Fukōhei Zankokuna- evidently steering Shota away from parts of the school, he can still see the bad condition that this education center is kept in. But still Zankokuna droned on and Shota was struggling to keep his eyes open when listening to the boring voice keep talking when he picked up on a dull thud coming from a janitors closet. He may well have ignored it, or excused it as some machinery malfunctioning but he noted it anyways. As soon as there was a lull in the conversation (bear in mind this took quite a while, as the man must have felt superior to speak for as long as he has been), Aizawa took the opportunity to step away. He stopped by some classrooms he had been clearly steered away from, to see children being rowdy. Teachers here clearly didn't care for their jobs and allowed the kids to carry on. Aizawa stepped in to observe one of these rooms clearly, but the children (some of which he realized were using their quirks actively) did not hesitate to carry on.
It was clear these young people have not experienced any authority. So much so that even the teacher who had now noticed Aizawa was unable to control the classroom when trying to get their attention. Aizawa quickly grew irritated at this and activated his quirk, effectively silencing the class. Shota then motioned the teacher outside and reprimanded him, even threatening to suspend his license due to the neglect reflected by the children's actions.
Stepping away, He made sure to check out the noise again. By now it had stopped but Aizawa still tested the door. He was not surprised to find it locked, but, using his capture weapon and a tug of the wrist the handle gave way and fell to the floor with a loud clang in the otherwise empty hallway. He opened the door quickly - expecting nothing unusual inside - but after looking down he notices a child, appearing no older than 10, looking up at him while wedged in the tight area.His mouth is restricted with a sort of muzzle that is clearly ill-fitting. At once Shots is full of rage but it's careful not to let it show on his face.
Well this was... surprising, is one word for it. Clearly this innocent child (still looking so young) is being mistreated at this "fine establishment" which angered Aizawa but alas, there are protocols to follow despite his want to whisk this child away, hug and console him but more importantly to *protect* him. Still Aizawa followed his past training, he looked around to see if any staff had passed him but helping the boy up while showing his hero badge to which the kid offered no reaction. Shota glanced at him and noticed the kid in a state of dissociation. A person this young should never be force to use such a powerful coping mechanism, where he detaches himself emotionally for safety. Not to mention those close to Aizawa know how strongly he feels for young children who experience suffering.
Despite his 'scary' appearance often upsetting children or even frightening then, Aizawa enjoys interacting with the younger generations. He often considers adopting our fostering with 'Zashi but their schedules and respective roles are too demanding too include an child that requires a lot of time and attention, not that they are too blame, it is simply a fact.
But, he promises himself to sort this situation appropriately and without involving our inserting himself in the kids home life. This this done after he notices a bright, although scuffed and dirty shoes, that serve as an identifier for quirkless people. Aizawa knows he should not do anything personal because of his bias, and possible projecting from his experiences and interactions with quirkless people over the years due to his underground status.