Chapter Text
It was finally the end of the school day. Not only was if the end of the day but, it was a Friday. A Friday that was close to break time for the group of teenagers. Meaning that the students had Saturday off; something that Shōta couldn't have been anymore relieved. He would be lying if he said he wasn't as happy as his students was when the bell rung.
He pulled his chair out and seated himself; he started to sort through his papers. "Hey, listen up. I'm only saying this once," His eyes narrowed, "No fights over this weekend. I hear about it or see, you'll have one miserable time on that mandatory trip." He eyed his most hotheaded student. "Keep up with your physical activity. At least run a few laps before enjoying your break. Now as for Monday..." He sighed, hating that he had to repeat himself. "I don't want any stragglers. If you forgot something then oh well, better luck next time. DO NOT pack anything useless. Be ready at four thirty sharp in the morning. No later than that or else, you will find yourself having one hell of a miserable trip. Iida and Yaoyorozu, I leave your classmates in your capable hands. I'm sure you both have the extra braincells to share."
"Understood, Aizawa-sensei!! I will do my very best to keep everyone and everything in order!!" Tenya bowed a few times before straightening himself out. Both his arms stiff against his sides and his left hand tightly gripping the handle of his school bag.
Momo nodded as she slipped her own bag on her shoulder, "Understood, Aizawa-sensei. We'll see through that everything is done."
"Good. I'm glad there's someone I can count on," Shōta replied dryly before raising a single hand up. "Now, go. Shoo. No trouble. Or else, you'll catch hell."
"Sensei!! Sensei!!! I have a question!!"
Shōta held himself back from smacking his face against his desk. Instead he opted to pinch the bridge of his nose. "...Yes, Kaminari. What is your question?" While he was absolutely positive that there was no such thing as a stupid question — this years class made him wonder. They made him wonder about many things that he wouldn't normally worry himself over.
"So...like this place we're going too..."
"Yes..." Shōta urged as he raised a single eyebrow at the electric quirk user. He took note that the other students hadn't left yet. It gave himself some small hope that maybe the question wasn't useless or stupid at all. After all, quite a handful of the smartest students in the class was still standing behind their seats. He found himself more interested as he leaned forward; pushing his papers to the side.
Denki chewed on the bottom of his lip as he looked down at his shoes. His hands picked at the hem of his dress shirt before shooting up to grab Mashirao's tail. He felt the muscles in the extra limb stiff before they relaxed. "Um...so we're bringing our gear. U.A. gym uniform. Our hero costumes and our support gear." He glanced up to see his teacher nodding, "Okay, so...it'll be three weeks. Are we going to have like...any lounge time? Like can we bring our game or whatever?"
Shōta felt the bottom of his eye twitch as he looked at Denki. The entirety of his class was expressing just how he felt as they sighed and groaned; all complaining equally amongst themselves. He couldn't help but, consider a vacation. Something that he had never ever thought about since beginning his career as a Pro-Hero and something he barely considered when he took up the mantle as a teacher.
For the moment, he stared at Denki. He hoped his vibes of disappointment was reaching the blonde. He was certain that his mouth would betray him if he tried to say anything to the teenager. Propping one of his elbows up, he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. Not once did he break eye contact with the blonde. '...I wonder if he stuck his finger in the socket again. That has to be the reason.' Slowly, his blank and empty stare turned into an annoyed glare.
"FUCKIN' DUNCE FACE!!! YOU IDIOT," Katsuki fumed as he whipped his head towards his friend. "HERE YOU HAD ALL OF US THINKING YOU HAD AN INTELLIGENT FUCKIN' QUESTION!! Of course, I should've fuckin' known better..." He grumbled to himself and gripped the handle of his bag. His red eyes narrowed at Denki
Kyōka rolled her eyes, "Typical, Kaminari..." She muttered as he twisted her long earlobes around her pointer finger.
"C'mon guys...give him a break." Eijirō laughed offhandedly and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm sure there's SOMETHING to his question. Don't just shoot him down..."
Shōta sighed in disappointment and closed his eyes for a moment. He wanted to smack his head so hard against his desk. Hard enough to give himself amnesia. He wondered if that was even possible.
"Sure he does..." Hanta laughed as he whistled. A broad smile stretched from ear to ear upon his face.
Shōta opened up his tired eyes and they shifted towards Hanta. He glared the teenager into submission and a silent apology was given. "...Midoriya. Go."
"Uh, thank you, Aizawa-sensei."
"Skip the pleasantries and ask the question." Shōta exclaimed sternly. He lifted his chin away from his hand and dropped his arm. He leaned back into his chair; relaxing his arms into his lap. Both his hands were locked together.
Izuku nervously nodded his head. "Ah...um, it's pertaining to the trip." He only continued once his teacher acknowledged him, "I was wondering what will we be learning there? Is it multiple things? Like rescuing, fighting, and skill enhancement? Will the rescuing be centered around natural disasters or man made disasters? I know we'll probably be sparring with one another but, will there be other heroes there that we can train with? That will help improve our fighting skills? And as for skill enhancement, I really mean our techniques. How well known is this place? Have you ever visited there before? Does All Might or Endeavor know anything about it? Is this place approved by—"
"Wait." Shōta raised his hand up to stop his student from his inane mumbling. That was the last thing he wanted to hear on top of Denki's illogical question. He rubbed his temples and placed both his elbows on his desk, "...You kids are going to be the death of me one day..." He mumbled to himself, "Okay...so to answer your first question, yes. The brochure compares it to that of the Unforeseen Stimulation Joint. A more...complicated and realistic version of it. You will also be dealing with the most important and common thing, hostage situations. This is something that we haven't entirely approached yet. So it will be addressed and tested on The Peerless." He paused for a moment; collecting his thoughts. "As far as I'm aware, there will be no other heroes. I'll have to ask the principal on that note. You will be improving on your super moves...and I expect to see an actual improvement. No one result should be the same. You will be improving your fighting skills. It will be against one another, first a one versus one matchup and then a team matchup. As for the rest of the information look to the brochure. I'm sure there are a few copies in front of your dormitory."
"...Okay, thank you Aizawa-sensei." Izuku bowed slightly, "But you haven't answered—"
"No, I didn't answer that. What impression does that give to you right off the bat?" Shōta countered quickly and stood up from his desk. He felt extremely drained and a little more grumpier after talking with his students. "Iida Tenya and Yaoyorozu Momo," He gathered his papers and placed them in there appropriate folders, "SHARE your braincells with your classmates. Please. Now leave. NOT A SINGLE QUESTION. Go." He demanded as a hand began to raise.
He was somewhat happy that most of his students didn't need to be told twice. His most troublesome — Katsuki and Izuku quickly headed straight to the door, followed by Shōto. The rest of the class began to file out; with Momo and Tenya being the last two to leave.
Some of the tension and stress left out the door with his students. He felt somewhat relieved and rubbed the back of his neck. Grabbing the stack of folders — he headed straight for his door and left the classroom to go to his office space. 'Not like that would be any better...shit I need a vacation.' His shoulders slumped as he walked slowly down the semi-crowded corridors of the school.
Arriving at the teachers faculty office — he was surprised to find the space occupied to the minimum. With only Higari and Nemuri moving about. He barely even noticed that Toshinori was there at his own desk.
A peaceful and quiet office space wasn't what he was expecting. However, he was about to complain. A quick shrug of his shoulders, he quietly made his way to his desk and dropped his stack of filed papers off.
"Trying to be a ninja again, Shōta?"
A bored expression on his face, he rolled his eyes. "Whatever floats your boat, Kayama..." He mumbled.
"Ah! Eraserhead, good to see you." Toshinori called out, pulling the phone away from his ear.
Shōta only gave him a short wave before sitting down. 'No Mic around...that's good. I can actually get work down.' He smiled too himself as he pulled his chair out. Quietly, he began to sort through the papers and placed them in their correct spots.
Just as he believed he was going to get his work done in peace — he felt a hand on his shoulder. "...What is it, Kayama?" He asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice. No words were shared and before he could look up at his coworker, he found a phone thrusted into his face.
Any built up annoyance dissipated and the smile returned to his face.
"Cute isn't she? She's been missing you, you know?" Nemuri exclaimed as she leaned on the back of Shōta's chair. "Can you believe she's already fifteen years old?"
"Heh...yeah," Shōta exclaimed as he stared at the cat on the phone. It was a cat that brought not just himself and Nemuri together but, Hizashi as well. All of it was thanks to a very close friend of theirs; one that they missed dearly. "She's extremely cute. That is pretty crazy...fifteen years. I can't believe it's been that long..." He felt a hand ruffle his hair and the phone was pulled away. He raised his own hand to swipe at Nemuri.
"Let's get sentimental later, 'kay?" Nemuri winked at him before squeezing his shoulders, "I'll send you some more pictures later. I promise."
Shōta clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. He raised a hand, waving Nemuri away. "Whatever." He refocused himself on his papers. 'Gotta finish sorting this so I can put them in the system. Then...patrol. But not before addressing that class of mines.' A disappointed sigh escaped him.
All the papers had been graded. The only thing that was left was to place the grades into the system. It was something that he normally made sure he did before anything else got in the way. But with his students — he hadn't been able to do much and thus put him behind with keeping their grades updated electronically.
Sorting through all the papers had taken much longer than expected and he found himself even more tired.
Tiredly he eyed the papers, running both his hands through his hair. And suddenly, the stress came back; in a tenfold. '...I wonder if Mic is busy...' He sighed as he pulled his keyboard closer.
With a frown on his face he began to type in his username and password into the system. Much to his luck when he was in the system — the program for the grade entering was up and raring to go.
He locked his fingers between one another and cracked them. 'Might not need Mic's help after all.' His frown now replaced with a weary grin.
Arriving at the dormitory of his students was like hell on earth.
Shōta stood there in the doorway with bloodshot eyes. His hands deep in his pockets and his shoulder's hunched over. He watched as his students ran around the entire room with pillows. '...A pillow fight?' He raised his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly.
He couldn't understand why things hadn't been going his way lately.
And then he remember, it could just be the fault of his students. They were well known for getting into some form of trouble or causing trouble for those around them. And then he reminded himself, it was his class. That meant they were his responsibility and while he truthfully didn't mind that — there had been so many times he wanted to string them up.
He wasn't sure if this was one of those times. He honestly felt like turning around and forgetting the fact that he had to debrief the rowdy teenagers.
"Ah!! Aizawa-sensei, I do apologize!! I am aware that this behavior is unbecoming of a hero in training and have been trying for hours to get them to stop!!"
Shōta hummed as he continued to watch everyone hit each other with pillow. Unsurprisingly, Katsuki wasn't amongst the crowd. He figured the ash blonde was either cooking or in his room. "...Is this everyone?" He looked down at his glasses wearing student. "Relax...please. You aren't in an interrogation room."
"Ah, yes!! I do apologize once again Aizawa-sensei," Tenya bowed profusely before glancing back at his classmates. "This is every single one of them. Shinsō-san is here as well, he's in the kitchen with Bakugō-san and Yaoyorozu-san."
'Bingo. I was right...whoopee...' Shōta only nodded and sighed, he ran a single hand through his hair. 'Better activate my quirk for precautionary measures.' He stared intently at his students and felt his hair lift from his shoulders. His quirk was now activated.
None of them seemed to notice.
"...For all the times I've walked in on you all doing something completely stupid...this is...eh," He shrugged and grinned when he startled all of his students. It was amusing to see most of them flip over the couches.
"S-sensei!! Uh....it isn't what it looks like?" Eijirō gave an off handed laugh before throwing the pillow at Denki. It earned him a mirroring response and he ducked the pillow. "Ha!! Try next time!!"
"Shh!! Dude we're already in enough trouble man." Hanta elbowed his redhead friend and dropped the pillow. "Eh, sorry sensei. We kinda got outta hand..."
Izuku gave a nod of agreement, a deep blush appearing on his face. His placed the pillow behind his back and gripped it with both of his hands.
Shōta had to wonder if this was one of Izuku's shameful moments. He almost wanted to laugh. If he didn't have so much built up frustration and annoyance from his earlier escapades when dealing with the slow computer system and Hizashi talking his ears off until the sun went down — he would've laughed. He blinked and grumbled underneath his breath. His right hand raised to rub at his eyes. "Alright...listen up you troublemakers. Didn't I give you all fair warning, earlier?" He opened his eyes and there in the mix was Hitoshi, Katsuki and Momo. The three teenagers stood at the entrance of the kitchen.
"I-it wasn't going to get out of hand sensei!! I promise it wasn't..." Ochako pleaded quickly as she hugged the pillow against her chest. "It wasn't getting crazy..."
Denki grinned at her and placed the pillow underneath his upper body as he leaned on the back of the couch. He ran a single finger underneath his nose, "But we were planning on bring Kacchan into the mix!!"
"Didn't I fuckin' tell your dunce face lookin' ass not to call me that?!" Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the blonde. His right hand gripping tightly at the spatula. "And even if you tried, I wouldn't have joined you damn extras playing childish games." He crossed his arms against his chest; his eyes never leaving the electric quirk using blonde.
Denki narrowed his own eyes and his grin widened. "Kacchan..." He started off sarcastically, "Kacchan. Kacchan. Kacchan. Kacchan. Kacchan. Kacchan." By now Izuku was staring at him in horror as he repeated the ash blonde's nickname over and over. "Kacchan. Kacchan. KACCHAN!!"
"FUCK THIS SHIT!!! YOUR ASS IS MINES!!"
"No!! Kacchan, wait please don't—"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP DEKU!! IF YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME TOO THEN YOU'LL HAVE IT COMING AFTER I SHUT THIS MOTHERFUCKER DOWN!!"
"...Why me...seriously, why me?" Shōta asked himself quietly as he watched Eijirō hold Katsuki back from injuring Denki. Still the blonde continued to poke fun and mockingly call the older teenagers by his childhood nickname.
"I take it, Aizawa-sensei is here?"
Shōta turned his head to see not just one student but, two. It wasn't too surprising to that Fumikage and Shōto had emerged from being upstairs. He shook his head in disappointment before looking towards the rest of his students.
"Holy shit man, when did you leave?!" Hanta exclaimed, a weary eye as he stared at Fumikage. He was away that Shōto had been the first one to slip up the stairs once the pillow fight was mentioned but, he didn't remember seeing Fumikage slip away as well.
Denki's attention found itself upon his short classmate, Fumikage. He was just as curious as his friend Hanta. After all, he could've sworn he saw Dark Shadow playing in the mix with them. "Dude...that's way to freaky man!!"
Shōta found it funny how Fumikage chose to blatantly ignore them. Instead, he crossed his arms and stared expectingly at him. "Have a seat. All of you. And NO fighting. If any of you get into a fight after I leave, you'll have detention leading into the next semester. Not only that but, you will clean this dormitory from top to bottom until the beginning of the next year. Am I understood?" He gave a stern look at each of his students. None of them catching a break. He even glared at Hitoshi, Tenya and Momo as well. He wasn't going to let any of them thing they can slip by on a whim. "Have a seat. I don't have time to waste."
"Are you going on patrol tonight, sensei?"
"Yes, Ashido...I am going on patrol tonight." Shōta confirmed unenthusiastically before rolling his eyes. "It's a shame it took you all long enough to have a seat than being quiet on your first day of class. I hope we aren't taking a step backwards?" He raised his brow as he eyed all of them.
He took note that most of them shrugged, while others either nodded or shook their head. He really wasn't sure what he did to deserve a class like them. "First off, Shinsō," He noticed that the teenager stiffened and sat upright. "I know I'm causing you to taking time out of your night just to be here but, thank you for coming."
"Eh...it's not that big of deal." Hitoshi turned his head away, a hand on the back of his neck. He felt a light blush rise to his cheeks.
"Oh but it is," He countered quickly as he stared sternly at the embarrassed teenager. "Believe it or not, Nezu is now keeping a close eye on you. You may have been granted entry into the Heroics Course but you still have to get through this year. This is somewhat of a test. So far you're doing good. You've accepted the excursion with open arms. This was the second part, actually attending the briefing. I would say that you're doing a damn good job so far but, remember you still have the rest of the year to go."
Hitoshi frowned, he hadn't realized his position was still teetering that much. That he was being watched so closely. 'If I make one false move...it's over for me. I can't mess up. Not when I've got this far.' He nodded his head as he looked back at his mentor, "Understood, Aizawa-san."
"Now...on with the briefing." Shōta reached into his back pocket and pulled out several papers. All twenty one of them listed items of suggestion to bring along on the trip. He hoped the teenagers would be gratefully that he was feeling nice enough to write it down since the faculty printer was down. He didn't have to say much before he found Tenya walking up towards him. "Reading me like a book? I don't like that." His eyes narrowed and he handed over the papers. "Be gratefully you all received this. The faculty printer was broken and I had to write this all by hand."
He stayed quiet as Tenya passed the papers out with speed and precision. The teenagers began to talk amongst themselves. Some of them pointing to certain areas on the paper.
"Everything that is written on that paper, are suggested items that you bring with you. After all, you will be away from the dorms for three weeks. Take that into consideration." He took note of the frown on Denki's face. "I take it you saw what was at the bottom of your paper? Each and every single one of you have small notes from me at the very bottom. You can either like it or hate. I don't care. You bring anything useless it will be trashed."
A sigh escaped him and he brought a hand up to rub his eyes. 'Damn dry eye.' He began to search through his pockets for his eyedrops, "Every night until we leave, I will give you a reminder of what time we will all be awake. Set it in your phones or write it down, I don't care. The time everyone will wake up is at four thirty in the morning. No stragglers. Understood?" They all nodded as he took his right hand from his pocket. The smallest of smiles appeared on his face and he tilted his head back; dropping at least one drop in each eye. He blinked his eyes a few times as the eyedrops settled in, "Are there any questions before I leave? I'm already late enough for patrol."
Much to his surprise none of his students raised their hands. Not even Hitoshi raised his hand. Most of them began to talk amongst one another — sharing their papers with each other. It was like he was watching over preschoolers instead of training teenagers to become heroes.
Finding his patience wearing thin, he slipped out of the dormitory before any of his students asked him anything crazy. He could only hope that none of them provoke Katsuki. A sighed escaped him as he thought about the extra work that he would come back to. It was stressful but, he had worse days.
He had seen worse days.
"Ah, Aizawa-san?"
'Hmm? Oh it's Shinsō.' Shōta stopped at the crossroad of the sidewalk. One leading outside the gates of U.A. and the other way leading to the other dormitories; including the teachers quarters. He tiredly glanced over his shoulder and wasn't surprised when he was met with equally tired eyes. "Yes..."
"Um...I uh, don't know if I'm in the correct position to be asking this but," Hitoshi trailed off as he looked down at the sidewalk. "I was um, curious about how things were when you attended U.A.?"
Shōta turned his head to face forward. "Same."
"I'm sorry? Come again?" Hitoshi raised a brow, his eyes traveled back towards Shōta. He stared questioningly at the back of the man. His eyebrows knitted together tightly; he could see the tension and stress in the shoulders of his mentor. '...I wonder what's wrong?'
Shōta huffed, his annoyance coming back slightly. He looked over his shoulder once again and narrowed his eyes at the teenager. Had this been another day and time that the teenager was asking him — he would gladly agree to tell him most of his story. Right now, with his mind jumbled and full of other issues, he wasn't sure if he had the capacity to tell him.
"Ah...I apologize, Aizawa-san. That was totally out of line for me—"
He raised his hand up before the purple haired teenager could say more and waved him away. "Later. I'll tell you later. And don't apologize, I'm stressed. It happens." He shrugged and started for the campus exit.
Hitoshi was left there, his head filling with more questions. He watched the older man leave and he couldn't help but ponder on his last words.