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Aizawa Shouta didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the meeting room. He was informed that he’d be meeting Kaminari’s —Class E’s— teachers. He just didn’t realize that there were only two.
The blond smiled bitterly, “Nice you meet you, Aizawa Shouta.” She held out her hand, “You probably don’t know me. I’m Jelavić Irina.”
The other man was a bit rigid in his movement, always expecting something or someone to attack, “Karasuma Tadaomi.”
Aizawa nodded in greeting, “Well I suppose we should get to the chase. You both came in place of Kaminari’s guardians?”
Jelavić’s lips thinned into a line, “Kaminari’s guardians are the Hero Commission. We came in place of them, yes.”
That... That was new information. Aizawa gestured them to take a seat, “Well, I’ll quickly discuss everything with you guys.”
A look at them confirmed a few things for Aizawa, “You’re in the same profession as Kaminari.”
Jelavić smiled sweetly, an amused glint in her eyes, “Well of course, the Hero Commission wouldn’t trust anyone else with the last defense.”
That made Aizawa tense slightly. The knowledge that these two seemingly harmless teachers could kill him and no one would find out was terrifying. He had to wonder if this was what 1A felt around Kaminari, if he’s completely honest, he felt it too.
Nonetheless, Aizawa got to discussing his grades and how Kaminari’s flunking every subject until something was brought to his attention.
“Kaminari probably thinks he’s risking his mission by not flunking,” Jelavić sighed with an exasperation that one could only get from years of knowing Kaminari.
Meanwhile Karasuma said, “Have you tried giving him something harder? He’s usually bored in regular academics.”
Jelavić hummed, “That’d make sense considering that Korosensei would give him advanced material because of his homeschooling. Kaminari was always stimulated.”
Aizawa hadn’t thought that the work was too easy for Kaminari, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it makes. Kaminari would get the answers wrong because he’s frustrated, that would then make him confuse topics. It was a common things in students.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Aizawa answered.
Karasuma sighed in relief, “Thank you.”
Aizawa said, “It’s my job as a teacher to ensure the wellbeing of my students. No need to thank me when I’m doing my job.”
Jelavić smiled, genuine this time, “You’re an amazing teacher.”
Aizawa would lie if he said he wasn’t grateful for that.
“Kaminari,” A voice said from behind him. That voice had Denki freeze and look behind him.
“Bitch-sensei? Karasuma-sensei?” Denki asked, “What are you guys doing here?”
Denki wasn’t looking at Iida, but he could already imagine the hemorrhage he had at Denki calling Irina ‘Bitch-sensei’.
“We were in a meeting with your teacher, Kaminari,” Karasuma said.
“With Aizawa-sensei? Why?”
“We had to go over a few things.”
From that Denki could either infer that 1, they had to go over his grades, or 2 his mission. Either way, they were both bad. “Oh, okay.”
“We’ll see you at training this afternoon.”
“Bye,” Denki said, watching them leave. His electricity buzzed uncomfortably under his skin, making him fidget. It didn’t help at all with the weight of his classmates’ gazes. “If you have questions, you can ask them, y’know.”
It was like a dam had been broken. Denki didn’t like how the class walked as if he was on glass, as if he’d just snap and kill them. That wouldn’t happen, even if someone said Denki’s trigger word. It’d never happen. He just hated how the Class acted nowadays.
“So who were they?”
Denki was torn between answering family or trainers, really Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei were both, they were a part of the Class E family, but he already got the hint that 1A doesn’t like 3E. “Uh, they were my teachers,” He answered, “Now they’re my trainers, along with my friends—”
“Oh!” Kirishima brightened up, “You and your other friends still train? That’s manly. I want to meet your other friends one day.”
No, no you don’t, Denki wanted to say. Because if you treat them the same way you treat me, they’ll snap easily. Denki didn’t like this. He was an assassin, not glass.
He hoped the others realized that.
It was easy for 1A to forget the assassin side of Kaminari consciously, but their unconscious seemed to insist Kaminari was dangerous, and honestly, it unnerved them.
Ashido voiced her frustration when Kaminari left the room, “He’s just the same old Denks! Why are we treating him like this?”
“He can kill us and get away with it,” Jirou deadpanned, “He isn’t the ‘same old Denks.’”
“If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done so already,” Denki said, walking back into the room, “It wouldn’t exactly be difficult.”
Class A tensed when they listened to Denki’s words. It wouldn’t be difficult...?
Denki’s gaze sharpened ever so slightly, “But I don’t want to. And I don’t need to either. You’re going to be heroes, and I’m not a villain. You guys seem to think that an assassin equals a killer.”
Denki sighed, “The difference between an assassin and a killer is the humanity left in them. If you enjoy killing, you’re a killer, if you don’t, but you have to, you’re an assassin.”
“You don’t enjoy killing?” Midoriya’s voice was small, the confidence in it drained.
“I’m an assassin, not a killer, there’s a difference,” Denki replied. “Although I know that the blood I stained my hands with isn’t mine and isn’t forgiveable, at least it’s not forgotten.”
“You— you never forget your victims?”
Denki smiled bitterly, “I remember each and every one. They’ve done horrible things, yes, but they still deserve to be remembered.”
Class A seemed to mull over that. Everyone was silent, hell, even Bakugo.
“You said that you had to... Is that true?” Ashido asked.
“I was born in my family, and raised to be an assassin,” Denki said, sitting down on the couch, “The Kaminari’s weren’t exactly nice.” He then smiled wistfully, “But they would’ve loved you. They always loved heroes, even if we’ve been wronged by them.”
“What about you? Do you still love heroes?” Yaoyorozu asked.
“I haven’t... Lost hope in them,” Denki replied. He then smiled, “Let’s just say I’m picky.”
Picky?
“Denks!”
Denki was sleeping and he merely opened an eye to look at Ashido, “Yes?”
“You know those shows that have assassins?” Ashido asked, “I compiled a list of stereotypes! Can you tell me if they’re true or not?”
Denki sat up and shrugged, “I don’t see why not.”
Ashido grinned. She had dragged the Bakusquad with her and Yaoyorozu because they were curious. “So first stereotype, assassins know many different languages. So like, 20 or so.”
“That’s an exaggeration,” Denki yawned, “I don’t know that many.”
“How many do you know?”
“Punjabi, russian, mandarin, spanish, french, english, japanese and creol,” Denki replied, “Also latin.” He paused, thinking, “Bits and pieces of other languages but that’s about it.”
“That—” Yaoyorozu just stared at him, “That was about ten!”
Denki shrugged, “Ashido said 20 or so, I only know half the amount.”
“But that’s still so much!” Ashido exclaimed.
“Then why do you fail at English, dunce face?” Bakugo scowled.
Denki smiled, “Mission.”
“Oh, another thing!! Assassins have trigger words!” Ashido looked at Denki, her eyes basically blaring into his skull, “is it true?”
Denki gulped, “Trigger words...” Class E as a whole had the trigger word ‘kill’ although for most of the members, it wasn’t a trigger word. “I have a few...”
Kirishima looked somewhat concerned, “Trigger words? What are that?”
“They’re words to fucking make them attack or some shit, ShittyHair,” Bakugo said.
“Attack?” Kirishima frowned, “Isn’t that like brainwashing?”
Denki nodded, “Sort of... But since I did it at a young age, it’s not brainwashing for me.”
Yaoyorozu said, “If it’s okay, can you write down your trigger words so we don’t accidentally say them?”
“You can’t accidentally say them,” Denki replied, “It’s either an order or it’s not.”
The Bakusquad stared at him, expecting to continue. There was a question in their gaze.
Denki gulped uncomfortably, “You, you really want to know, don’t you?” He hesitated before listing them, “Uh, there’s Paralyze, Restrain, Protect, Hunt, Hide and Korosenai—”
“Korosenai?”
“That one’s new,” Denki explained, “They used it for a mission to replace kill and it just... Stuck.”
“That’s a lot—” Kirishima said, “How do you know if it’s an order or not?”
“Amber,” Denki said, “It’s my codename and activation, that’s how.”
“Activation?? Woah, like a robot!” Ashido said. “Now, more stereotypes!! You guys have a ridiculously high pain tolerance?”
Denki shook his head, “I wasn’t trained that way ever since I figured out how to use my quirk correctly. I just shut off my pain receptors and disassociate.”
“Shut off your pain receptors?” Yapyorozu was intrigued, “You can do that?”
“My quirk is flexible, I can do a lot of things,” was his vague reply.
“But do others have a weird pain tolerance?”
Denki paused, “I mean, it depends how they were trained. Those with a weirdly high pain tolerance were tortured and abused, it really depends.” Speaking of ridiculously high pain tolerance, how could Midoriya break a bone and continue as if it was nothing? Quite frankly, it was hella concerning. “It really depends their past too.”
“Do assassins torture?” Ashido asked the next one on the list.
Denki’s lips thinned into a line, “Only if ordered or needed. But we—my family— tend to avoid that. We don’t like causing unnecessary pain.” The Kaminaris were known for their swift and effective kills. They didn’t let their victim suffer as much unless they truly deserve it.
“Are you for hire?” Ashido asked, “Or like, what are your missions?”
“Well, first, they’re confidential,” Denki answered, “And I’m too young to be for hire. The senors are for hire. But right now, I only respond to the Hero Commission or Japan’s Government.”
“You work for the Hero Commission???” Hagakure asked, “They have assassins?”
Denki was confused, and it showed easily, “You guys didn’t know? Who do you think eliminates the villains? The villains too bad to live? It’s so you guys, the good heroes, don’t have to get blood on your hands.”
They seemed to be taking in this information strangely well. “And the fucking bad heroes? What about them?” Bakugo asked.
Denki frowned, “They don’t care about the blood they spill carelessly. Endeavor’s never left a villain alive and well. His villains are either dead, horribly burned, or paralyzed.”
“There’s a fine line between good and bad in the hero profession, and no grey,” Denki said, “Be careful.”
Denki was still curious. How did Midoriya have a horribly high pain tolerance? “Midoriya, can I ask you a question?” This was one of the rare chances Midoriya was alone. Denki obviously took it.
Midoriya looked quite confused, and very nervous to be alone with Denki. Denki doesn’t know whether to be happy that he was recognized as a threat, or offended. “Sure, what is it?”
Denki didn’t plan this far, clearly. He stumbled over his words as he tried to form a cohesive thought, but ended up blurting whatever came to mind, “You and Bakugo weren’t exactly friends in middle school, right?”
Midoriya stiffened, “How did you know that?”
“Week 1, it was clear.”
“Bakugo bullied me. But he’s getting better, so it doesn’t matter.”
Doesn’t matter? “Doesn’t matter?” Denki voiced his thoughts, “You were bullied, for god knows how long and it doesn’t matter?”
“Kaminari,” Midoriya said, “Please don’t tell anyone—”
He sighed, “I’ll respect your wishes, but Midoriya, it does matter. Bullying someone isn’t what a hero does.”
“He’s going to be a great hero!”
“When he changes,” Denki said. “I won’t put it above him to be a good hero, but—”
“Your current actions towards someone won’t excuse past ones,” Amber eyes clashed with green, “He needs to have consequences, Midoriya. But whenever you want to, I guess.”
Denki then smiled, “You can always come to me if you need to talk or to vent, or anything really, okay, Midoriya?”
Midoriya sighed, but a small smile tugged his lips, “Okay, thanks, Kaminari.”
He shrugged, “You can just call me Denki.”
“Thank you, Denki.”
Yaoyorozu came to talk to Denki later. “Hi, Kaminari.”
Denki looked up from his phone and smiled, “Hi, Yaomomo.” He put his phone screen down on the sofa, giving Yaoyorozu his attention, “Anything you need specifically? It’s pretty late.”
It was about 11PM, actually. Denki just liked chilling downstairs. There was something about the air that dragged him here. It’s not like he’d be able to sleep anyway.
Yaoyorozu looked conflicted, “You don’t talk as much as you used to.”
Denki wondered how to reply to that, “Well... I don’t know how to reply to that. Do you want the truth or, a lie?”
She seemed surprised that he was asking. “I want the honest truth, Kaminari.”
“I feel displaced,” Denki said. “You guys seem so bright, and I feel faded, far away.”
Yaoyorozu frowned, “That’s sad... Is there anything we can do to make it better?”
Denki shrugged, “I don’t know. You guys don’t trust me, and that’s okay, since it’s mutual. But I don’t know, I don’t really care either. I’m trying to balance things out right now.”
“Balance things? You don’t trust us?”
“I need to balance my training and my hero training, they’re different,” Denki replied, “And it’s not like you guys trust me. You don’t even know me.”
“Why don’t you tell me a bit about you then?” Yaoyorozu suggested.
Denki flushed, not used to talking about himself, “Well... Okay. Question for a question?”
“That could work. Who’s going first?”
“You.”
“How would you describe yourself?” Yaoyorozu asked.
“I describe myself in shades of yellow, more like a mood, honestly. I don’t like using words. Words get me lost.”
“Colors?”
“Yeah. The other day I was feeling Butterscotch, before that I was feeling Medallion, and before that, Amber.”
He watched as Yaoyorozu pulled up a chart of shades of yellow then asked, “What are you feeling now?”
“Faded, honestly. I’m feeling Ecru.”
Let’s just say, Denki got a hug that day.