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The first time Shouta loses his head he's only four years old.
Considering most quirks manifest at that age it really shouldn't be so surprising, but since Erasure had already made itself known a second quirk was very much unexpected.
Having his damn head fall off without warning was considerably more unexpected.
Now, Shouta had always been a rather calm, quiet child. Sure he fussed and cried just like any other tiny human still developing their emotional control, but he really wasn't one to randomly scream his head off like some children were prone to do.
And case in point, he did not scream his head off—literally or otherwise.
He screamed after his head came off.
Which was actually rather impressive considering his mouth was no longer physically connected to his lungs. The noise draws attention, and soon there were a lot more children screaming than just him.
Because of course this second quirk had to manifest while he was at daycare, just like his ability to 'steal' quirks did previously. Or as the other children called it, his 'scary eyes'.
Several parents had to be called in to pick up their inconsolable children, including his own mother and father.
Personally, Shouta doesn't remember much of the incident itself or the rest of the day once his parents arrived, he was only four years old after all and memories from that age were typically forgotten as one aged. He does not however forget the difference his new quirk makes on his everyday life.
He'd already been in quirk counselling for Erasure, so this new quirk—which is registered under the name 'Nukekubi' for lack of anything better, and while it's not inaccurate it is rather morbid in his opinion—is just one more thing they have to work on.
Unlike the Nukekubi of folklore, while Shouta can make his hair float with Erasure he cannot make the rest of his head do the same.
Also unlike Nukekubi, he isn't bloodthirsty or overly aggressive.
His classmates remain unconvinced. And if they hadn't already been avoiding him due to his ability to turn their quirks off, they most certainly were avoiding him now, even if they never saw his his quirk in action after that first time.
As it turns out, Shouta could partially control when his head came off. Just like with Erasure all he has to do is focus. Certain factors did make accidents a possibility; like when he was asleep or distracted. There are more than a few times where his parents find his head detached from his body when they go to wake him up in the morning.
In the beginning even a particularly hard shove was enough to have him losing control.
His counselor suggests wearing a ribbon or other such material to his parents, just something to hide the near-invisible seam that he'd had since birth and to give him a bit of support. After some thought, he chooses to go with a simple white bandage. He didn't want anything overly flashy or visible, especially since none of his shirts could hide his neck.
In the end none of it matters, the damage has already been done.
Children can be awful cruel.
Neither of his quirks had earned him any favors, and while he thinks he could have dealt with just being ignored like before, now his classmates would run from him screaming if he got too close, or even if he looked in their general direction.
Because now he was a yokai.
A monster.
Shouta may not have been a very extroverted child, but it was still lonely.
The next year his parents make the decision to move to a new apartment in a different city, and enroll him in school there.
None of his new classmates know about either of his quirks.
And so Shouta keeps his second quirk a secret. He would have kept Erasure a secret too, but on day one of class the teacher has each child say their name and what their quirk is as an icebreaker.
He would rather be known as the quiet kid who can steal quirks instead of the boy whose head falls off.
Any questions relating to the bandages around his neck are met with a shrug, and by that point he had enough control over his quirk to keep his head on his shoulders where it belonged, so everyone remains none-the-wiser. He's still mostly ignored due to Erasure, but it's better than being feared and pointed at.
Life goes on, and Shouta slowly grows up.
He never does make any friends at school, nor does he let his guard down. It's fine. He doesn't need any of them anyways.
Nukekubi remains a secret... Until he starts attending UA.
He'd managed to 'keep his head' so to speak in the entrance exam, though neither of his quirks were any match for fighting giant robots.
Seriously, robots, what a farce.
Predictably, he doesn't get into the Hero Course, but he does make it into General Studies.
By then he's swapped out the white bandages for a black leather choker, easily hidden in the mess of his shoulder-length hair. Maybe he should continue growing it out?
The tall collar of his UA uniform is also helpful in keeping the choker out of sight, and it's inconspicuous enough that no one pays it any mind. They all had more important things to focus on than the quiet boy's choice in accessories.
Everyone including him had their sights set on the upcoming sports festival.
It was his one chance to prove himself.
Over the years Shouta's more-or-less mastered his control of Nukekubi. This was important, not only just for his own safety, but if he wanted to be a hero he couldn't risk losing his head in the middle of a fight.
The thought of that happening mid-entrance exam was dangerous enough, but during the sports festival where countless people were watching? On live TV?
Unacceptable.
While everyone else prepares for the festival by focusing on physical strength alone, Shouta does that and more. Strength training, speed, endurance... his quirks. He will not be outed as a monster for the entire world to see.
He fights tooth and nail through the sports festival, just as vicious as the yokai his second quirk is named after, and he wins.
The next year he's got a place in the Hero Course—class 2-A.
And suddenly he has friends.
Shirakumo Oboro; an overly friendly boy who'd declared himself Shouta's new best friend, Yamada Hizashi; the obnoxiously loud blond he'd beaten in the sports festival who didn't know the meaning of 'quiet', and Kayama Nemuri; an upperclassman with a tendency to mother the three of them.
They're everything Shouta isn't; friendly, bright, powerful.
Yet they'd still chosen to be his friends.
Even when he barely talked back, or at the beginning when his responses were short and curt. They just kept seeking him out, muttered sarcasm met with teasing and witty remarks.
He's not quite sure what to do about that, to be honest. Yamada seemed oddly delighted when he discovered Shouta's choker, apparently having a thing for leather and undeterred by his dismissive responses. Kayama kept snacks in her bag, and had some sort of sixth-sense for when Shouta was ignoring his body's demands for food. Shirakumo was always able to find where Shouta had hidden himself away, filling the silence with chatter and warmth. He finds himself looking forward to seeing them at school everyday.
It's... nice.
So nice that for the first time in his life, he lets his guard down around someone that isn't his parents.
As has become their routine, the four of them are lounging in the sun on the roof of the school, eating their lunches and chatting mindlessly. Or rather, Shouta was dozing off while the other three talked among themselves.
The brick wall is warm against his back, and he's slumped the slightest bit sideways into Shirakumo's side, eyes falling shut as Yamada idly plays with his hair.
Yamada had a bad habit of messing with Shouta's choker when he thought he could get away with it. The first time it happened Shouta had bit out a harsh 'don't touch that!', startling everyone nearby as his heart raced, but now... Usually Shouta would just bat his hand away, aiming a glare that was always met with that damn sheepish grin, and they would move on. But he can't do that when he's asleep. So when Yamada's fingers brush past his hair to fiddle with the soft leather, Shouta does nothing.
He's not sure if Yamada really meant to take the choker off or not, but regardless the clasp comes undone and the choker loosens.
And then Shouta's head falls off.
In hindsight, maybe he should have told his new friends about his traumatizing-for-others-to-see quirk, but he had been... worried. Afraid that they wouldn't want to be his friends anymore if they knew about it.
Afraid they would think he was a monster like his old classmates did.
But he didn't, so when his head lands in his own lap all three of his friends are completely, utterly unprepared.
"Holy shit!!"
Shouta's not sure who exactly said it, but the words wakes him up much faster than the short tumble had. He blinks into the fabric of his pants, momentarily disoriented.
"Fuck! Oh fuuuck—what the fuck?!" Okay, this time it was definitely Yamada who spoke, though in a much higher pitch than usual. Why was he—
...Oh.
Oh no.
Any and all lingering sleepiness is immediately wiped away as Shouta realizes exactly what's happened. Shirakumo, Kayama, and Yamada have just witnessed their classmate's head fall off without warning.
Before he can even think of a way to explain, Yamada's picking up his head and fumbling with it, apparently trying to shove it back onto his shoulders.
The urge to pretend he was still asleep and not confront what was going on flits through Shouta's mind, but... Shirakumo sounded like he was on the verge of hyperventilating, Yamada's grip on his head was so tight it was actually painful, and he swears he can hear Kayama crying.
Well, it was now or never.
Shouta opens his eyes, vision consumed by the sight of a frantic Yamada who looked near tears.
Yamada, who lets out a choked scream that is thankfully quirk-free, immediately dropping him. Shouta isn't quite able to catch himself as his head falls and this time tumbles to land on the roof instead of his lap. "Ow," he says without thinking.
The silence as he picks his head up and places it back on his neck is deafening.
"Um..." Shouta doesn't know what to say. He keeps his eyes downturned, not wanting to see the looks of disgust and horror that were sure to be on his former friend's faces.
"I... What the hell was—Aizawa!! Are-are you okay?!" Kayama seems to snap out of her shock first, a manicured hand reaching for him which he deftly shies away from.
"It's—I'm fine," he says, his response more curt than intended. He should have known this would happen eventually, should have known friendship was too good to be true. Stupid, stupid Shouta. "It's just my other quirk; Nukekubi. My—it means my head can do... that."
That terrible silence falls over them again. Shouta's chest tightens, a grimace pulling at his lips as he tries not to curl into himself. Pathetic.
Internally bracing himself for what he's about to say—it's easier to just get it out of the way now instead of letting them reject him first—he mutters, "I, um... Look, if you don't want to be my friends anymore because of this, I get it—"
"You... what?" he hears Shirakumo say, unable to dodge the hand that lands on his shoulder since the other boy was still sitting at his side. "Why would you think that, Aizawa?"
Are they really going to make him say it out loud?
As if them finding out he's a monster wasn't bad enough, they want him to admit it, too?
Fine.
Shouta doesn't dare look any of them in the eye, gaze stubbornly locked on where his hands clench against his pants in a white-knuckled grip. It's easier to let himself feign frustration than to focus on the way his heart twists. "Seriously? You can't honestly tell me you still want to be friends after seeing that." The words are more than a little biting, and Shirakumo's hand tenses.
He's expecting the disgust to finally surface now past their shock that the seemingly normal boy they had befriended was practically a yokai in disguise, scornful remarks that'll have him clenching his jaw so hard it aches and ring in his mind for months. Horror, fear maybe.
What he's not expecting is for Shirakumo to pull him into a bone-crushing hug, Yamada and Kayama quickly joining in and squishing him between them.
He—what??
Any words Shouta tries to formulate fizzle out on the tip of his tongue, heart constricting for an entirely different reason now. Something like hope. He can't focus, unable to get his own arms to cooperate and hug back from where they're hanging limp in his lap. The clouds and blue sky in front of him seem blurrier than usual.
Then just as suddenly as the hug had begun, it's over. The three of them lean back into his vision, Shirakumo still holding onto his shoulders so he can't look away.
They look... concerned. For him?
"I don't understand," the words fall from his lips before he can stop them.
Shirakumo squeezes his shoulders, something in his expression looking almost sad. The look doesn't suit him at all. "Guess I haven't been doing a very good job of being your self-proclaimed best friend, have I? If you'd thought we'd reject you just like that..."
"...What?"
Okay, seriously, what the fuck is going on?
"God, Aizawa! How can you be so smart yet so dumb," Kayama suddenly exclaims, sounding exasperated in that way that usually only came out when one of them was being particularly idiotic. Her eyes are red-rimmed—had she really been crying?—as she pulls him away from Shirakumo to hug, though the other boy just follows along so Shouta's squished between them. "You're stuck with us, sweetie!"
Shouta's heart does that funny sort-of twist again, having honestly never expected this sort of thing to happen in any of his wildest dreams. His nightmares, maybe. But those always ended... much different.
The only one who doesn't quite join the hug is Yamada, though he does lean into Shirakumo's other side with a shaky smile. "Yeah, man. Just cause you got a secret quirk doesn't mean we're gonna drop ya' just like that!" Shouta levels him with a flat look.
"You dropped my head not five minutes ago." Not appreciated, but understandable all the same.
"Because I thought I'd killed you!" Yamada retorts, voice a bit too loud for being so close. "And then you opened your eyes—that's, like, zombie movie shit!"
"And trying to stick my head back on? How would that have helped if I was actually dead, huh?"
"I panicked—You've gotta warn a dude, man!"
Shirakumo snorts, wrapping his free arm around Yamada's shoulders to get him into the hug. "It was pretty shocking," he admits, "think I might've peed a little..." Yamada's nose wrinkles.
"Ugh, 'kumo that's nasty."
Shouta side glances Yamada, muttering "well, it wouldn't have happened in the first place if someone didn't mess with my choker. Yamada," as he picks it up from where it had fallen and clips it back into place.
"I didn't think your fucking head would fall off!!" Yamada sputters, eyes wide as he gestures wildly with both hands before suddenly going still. "W-wait—is that why you seemed so amused when I suggested the name 'Eraserhead'?!"
Yes, obviously, he thinks. "No way," he says out loud.
It gets a laugh out of his... his friends. They're still his friends. His friends who squish him in another hug before Shirakumo realizes his bento box had gotten knocked over in the chaos.
Shouta feels warmed by more than just the sun, unintentional laughter bubbling up his throat as Shirakumo mourns his spilled lunch.
Surprisingly—for him, at the very least—nothing seems to change in their friendship. He's not sure what he expected would change, come to think of it, but he could almost be convinced the whole incident on the roof was just a fever dream.
Other than Yamada and Shirakumo coming up with increasingly bizarre questions about how his quirk works, which they had already been doing with Erasure.
They understand his desire to keep Nukekubi a secret and keep the questions and jokes to text messages or private conversation, and for the first time in his life Shouta actually feels... normal. Like his quirk is normal.
And then Shirakumo dies, and everything changes.
Yet life goes on.
He graduates from UA, gets kicked out of the house by his parents, becomes a pro-hero just like he wanted...
Shouta honestly doesn't intend to let anyone else know about Nukekubi, especially not his new coworkers or students when at age twenty five he starts working at UA.
Unfortunately for him, the decision is taken from his hands.
It's his first year teaching at UA. Not only that, it's his first day teaching at UA. He'd chosen to skip the opening ceremony since. In his opinion, it was a major waste of time. What was the point celebrating them getting in to the school?
They still have three grueling years to survive before they can even dream of being recognized as a hero.
A test to gauge where they're at before classes really began was much more logical. This way he could figure out who needed more help with their quirks and physical training right from the get-go, and eliminate any future problems. Less headaches and work that way. Though only ten minutes in and the 'less headaches' part seems to have backfired on him.
None of these students seem keen on respecting his authority as their teacher.
They're loud, immature, distracted. Complaining about any little thing like missing the ceremony, or annoyed at the extra work before school's even begun, or even just straight up having pointless conversations and ignoring the test entirely.
It's infuriating, but Shouta tries his best to keep his temper.
Key word; tries.
He's just had his explanation of the ball throw test interrupted for the fourth time in a row when he whirls to scold the student messing with their quirk in the crowd. Admittedly, he's distracted, so he doesn't notice the other students looking behind him instead of at him.
There's a whoosh of air, several gasps, and then that damn ball slams into the back of his head with a sharp crack!
The explosion of pain is abrupt and unexpected enough to have him falling to his knees, white spots flashing in his vision. He hisses a curse. Fuck, that hurt, little goddamn shit—
And suddenly he's got twenty screaming teenagers on his hands.
Ah.
With the way his skull is still throbbing, it takes a moment longer to realize the blow had been hard enough to knock his head clean off. It was now laying on the dirt in front of his kneeling body.
Well... shit.
That's not good.
Gritting his teeth in a mixture of pain and outright rage, Shouta picks his head up and points it in the direction of the screaming, Erasure activated and dying his gaze blood-red.
He's met with the sight of twenty mortified idiots. They're pale as ghosts, and the one who'd thrown the ball actually gags.
They look absolutely terrified of him, dead silent.
Good.
"Expelled," he growls, and places his head back on his shoulders. One of the former students faints.
Ignoring them, he stalks off to find something that'll relieve this pounding headache he's found himself with. Maybe he should start keeping aspirin in his desk? No, better yet, he should keep a bottle in his toolbelt. Or he could do both... yes, that sounded much better.
A nap in a nice, dark, quiet room was sounding really good right about now, too.
He can deal with the fallout of Nukekubi being discovered when his head no longer feels like an icepick is being jammed into it.
Later when Shouta finds himself sitting in Nedzu's office still nursing his headache, he offers exactly zero repentance for expelling all twenty students before classes had even officially began.
Oddly, Nedzu seems more amused by the whole thing rather than upset, if his cackling is any indication.
How lucky for him.
Doubly lucky, Nedzu seems to have predicted something like this happening, though in his words he 'didn't expect it to occur quite so soon!'
Apparently he'd gone and drafted up a whole bunch of NDA's that—among the usual paperwork—the students had been made to sign before the entrance exam. To put it shortly it meant they weren't allowed to disclose information about the staff's quirks without risking being, well, expelled. No one wanted to piss off the principal of UA.
Which meant hopefully no one outside of UA should learn about either of his quirks. Well, other than 'Erasure' which was kind of in his hero name, and was used by him to take down villains.
Nukekubi was not used to take down villains—it was more of a liability in a fight than anything—so it was much easier to keep a secret. And it was best to keep it that way, he doesn't even want to think about what a villain might do to him if they knew his head wasn't properly attached to his shoulders.
What if they stole just his head and left his body behind? He would be completely defenseless...
He digresses.
To put it basically, even if a student of UA were to see him use his quirks, they would be very unlikely to talk about it. His secret is (mostly) safe.
Sadly he still had to deal with the twenty students he'd expelled.
His second attempt at the quirk assessment test goes much smoother, the students watching him with wary looks. He's not sure if it was the shock of seeing their teacher's head come off or the shock of being expelled that caused the dramatic change in behavior, but he thinks it may be a healthy mix of both.
Maybe... Maybe he could use Nukekubi as a teaching tool?
The thought sticks in the back of his mind no matter how much he tries to shake it.
Using his quirk so brazenly, allowing twenty teenagers a year to see what he had spent his entire life trying to hide... it was daunting.
On the other hand it would be really funny.
He's always been a sadistic asshole and his friends were no help, actually encouraging him to do it. Nemuri was just as—if not more so—sadistic, and Hizashi simply lived to cause chaos wherever he went.
They have a whole year of slowly bringing him around to the idea, and by the time his second year teaching at UA rolls around, he has a plan set in place.
Looks like Nedzu's NDA's would be getting a lot more use.
And over the years, they most certainly do.
Considering he only plans to terrify each class once at the beginning of the semester, there's no shortage of increasingly dramatic ideas between him, Hizashi, and Nemuri. Especially when they get to drinking. The important thing was getting his quirk apprehension test out of the way without disruption, since that was important for their actual education. The next day—the first actual day of class—was fair game.
Year two begins with Shouta shuffling into the classroom early, placing his head on the floor, and laying the rest of him down nearby. Then he waits.
It isn't long after that voices start to filter in from the hallway, the classroom door slides open.
A moment of silence... and then the screaming starts.
Like last time there's no shortage of shocked outcries, some crying, cursing. He can hear the tell-tale thud of a student fainting, but there's no gagging this time.
A small part of him feels incredulous at the reactions.
Seriously, he hadn't even used fake blood or anything. Not only would it have been a pain in the ass to clean up, but he didn't actually want to traumatize teenagers for no reason.
Walk in on their teacher without his head?
Sure.
Walk in on their teacher without his head and surrounded by realistic fake blood?
Definitely a no.
The absence of the fake blood didn't seem to matter to them, though.
Not a single student stepped forward to check for themselves whether he was dead or not, simply assuming he was without concrete evidence. As heroes in the making, they would need to be better prepared.
A villain feigning unconsciousness could very easily lead to a hero's death if they let their guard down.
His body sits up as he sighs, casually picking his head back up and replacing it as a fresh round of shrieks ripple through the crowd. "Lesson number two," he says in the new deathly silence, "never jump to conclusions."
"Wh-what's lesson number one, Aizawa-sensei...?" one brave student manages to ask. Shouta's answering grin sends a chill through the room.
"Always expect the unexpected."
No one contradicts him.
They're nice and quiet that first day as he starts class, and he can tell by their tense postures the next day that they're expecting him to pull something again. Not that he would.
Scaring them again would be illogical. Not only were they now expecting it of him, but doing so wouldn't serve any real purpose now that he's gotten the initial lesson across. With how rambunctious teenagers often are though, Shouta had almost expected it to take longer for them to learn he expected them to quiet down when he entered the classroom to begin class, so this was nice.
Without meaning to, Shouta earns a bit of a reputation.
Every year starts the same; his class can be heard screaming bloody murder sometime in the morning, they'll look vaguely traumatized when they're next seen, and yet the reason is never admitted to anyone outside 1-A.
Nedzu even set up extra cameras to 'keep an eye on things', AKA, keep recordings of the chaos to cackle over and show the staff.
It's a surprisingly good teaching tool for Shouta too, as he's able to go over the footage himself and see how each student reacted to the event individually. And also to laugh at, yes, but it really does a good job of showing him how his twenty yearly idiots react to unexpected stress. With that he can address potential problems; like knowing which students were most likely to faint at the sight of something 'horrifying', or which ones turned and ran before assessing the situation.
Most important in his mind was which ones turned to their quirks first, using them without thought. The student he remembers most in this case was one whose quirk allowed them to shoot spines from their body. Upon being startled by their classmates screaming, said student had instinctively launched several spines in all directions, hitting the floor, walls, and the people closest to them.
Shouta hadn't expelled the prickly student—not right away, at least—but he did send them straight to Hound Dog's office for more quirk counselling... after he sent the injured students to the nurse's office.
Shortly before another new semester was due to start, all the UA teachers were making final preparations in the staff lounge room.
Or rather, they had been preparing, but it was lunchtime now so while everyone else ate Shouta decides to catch a quick nap on the couch. He doesn't bother grabbing his sleeping bag, but regardless he's asleep as soon as his eyes have fallen shut.
He needed all the rest he could get before the new batch of reckless teenagers arrive in the coming week.
It's a normal enough occurrence by now, and no one pays him any mind.
No one... other than Yagi fucking Toshinori.
UA's newest teacher.
"Young Aizawa, our lunch break is now over. It is time to wake up..." the man murmurs, having apparently decided to take it upon himself to get Shouta back to work, gently shaking his shoulder with one hand. Considering Shouta's been ignoring him so far, it was actually rather thoughtful.
Too bad Yagi doesn't know about Shouta's secret quirk.
Yet.
His head pops off with the light movement, falling off the couch and rolling across the floor. This of course instantly wakes him up.
Just in time to hear Yagi scream.
Along with the choked scream comes a spew of blood, the man sputtering in panic as all the other teachers in the room turn to watch the commotion.
"Y-YOUNG AIZAWA, I AM SO SORRY!"
...Was he apologizing to what he thought was Shouta's dead body?
From his spot on the floor, Shouta grumbles, "you'd better be, now I have a headache." And his nap was interrupted.
Another spew of blood which thankfully doesn't land anywhere near Shouta, poor Yagi frantically looking back and forth between the headless body on the couch and the bodiless head glaring at him from the floor.
"...Well? You're not even gonna help me up?"
"YOU'RE ALIVE?!"
"Yes, obviously," Shouta rolls his eyes, begrudgingly getting up to pick up his own head and put it back where it belongs. "I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking, Mic, Midnight."
He glares at his two so called 'friends'.
Nemuri just croons an unapologetic 'you're welcome~', while Hizashi laughs, loudly. "C'mon, Sho! The shock kinda wears off after the first dozen times of seeing your best bro's head pop off, y'know?" he says, flapping a hand as though he's waving the problem away.
Well, both Hizashi and Nemuri are familiar enough with him to know when he's actually injured, but still— "Feeling very cared for, really."
All he gets from Hizashi is a thumbs up.
What follows is the slightly embarrassing task of explaining to Yagi that yes, he's perfectly fine, and yes, his head is supposed to do that. No one else seems fit to help him out, the bastards. It's odd having Yagi of all people acting so damn apologetic though, hard to reconcile the man is secretly All Might.
Whatever.
He's got more important things to worry about than Yagi and his inconsistent behavior.
Like the upcoming schoolyear, of course.
This year, Shouta had decided on a slightly different idea to spook his new class.
It would be a little difficult, but Nemuri and Hizashi had helped him practice—and laughed while they recorded his headless body bumping into walls, the bastards—but he's got it down now.
Step one; place his head along with a few pillows in his sleeping bag, positioned to look like he was sleeping before class started.
He might take a quick nap while he's here, actually. His sleeping bag was really comfortable, even if it was just his head inside and not his body. After yesterday's quirk assessment he knows he'll need all the sleep he can get in order to deal with this class. They were already proving to be a handful, Midoriya and Bakugou especially.
Step two; walk his body to a nearby storage closet without being seen.
This step was the one he had the most difficulty with, along with the walk back. Luckily he's got the exact amount of footsteps memorized, so he could walk it his eyes closed... which is exactly what he was doing.
He'd placed a chair in the closet for his body to sit on, since as fun as pranking his classes were he didn't really feel like standing around for who knows how long when chairs were readily accessible and easy to use. He makes sure the chair is actually there before sitting though, since at one point Nemuri had moved it and recorded him attempting to sit on air. At least there hadn't been the possibility of him hitting his head when he fell backwards, but it was still a dick move.
Step three; wait until all twenty students have entered the classroom, and the door has closed.
The sound of voices approaching pulls him from his nap, but he shows no outward indication that he's awake or listening. Soon.
Yesterday it took them all eight seconds to shut up once he'd appeared, though today is different in that he's already in view when the first of them start filtering in. Still, it's rather disappointing to hear them start whispering about him. On one hand they were at least being mindful of their volume, but on the other hand he can hear said whispers from across the room.
They'll have to work on that if any of them are planning of being underground heroes. Actually, they should work on it regardless, stealth and communicating quietly were effective tools a hero needs to succeed.
Oh well, he's getting off topic.
Step four...
Well, he'd considered just slamming the door open to startle them, but he thinks that would inspire more confusion than anything.
Once all the students are sat at their desks—still whispering, some better than others—Shouta allows his head to gently fall out of his sleeping bag, rolling just enough forward to make it abundantly clear it was not attached to anything.
A beat of silence.
Then, twenty voices cry out in sync—
"HIS HEAD FELL OFF?!"
After that the reactions become more varied, and Shouta thinks he can hear some pops and crackles of quirks being activated. It'll be interesting to see exactly where those are coming from once he has a chance to check the footage, but he has a feeling two of them are Bakugou and Kaminari.
"Please do not panic, everyone!" he hears Iida shout, followed by approaching footsteps and the unmistakable sound of hands chopping through the air. Just like his brother.
It was a promising reaction. Though Iida was also a legacy student so it made sense for him to take charge.
"Just because our sensei's h-h-head has... does not mean we should abandon our dignity and decorum as students of the esteemed UA-"
Shouta only wishes the kid would stop talking like... that.
"How can you be saying all that, dude?! Aizawa-sensei's head fell off!!" Ah, and that sounded like Kirishima. "That's so not manly..." Yup, definitely Kirishima, followed by Kaminari then Bakugou.
"WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO CPR?!"
"CPR isn't gonna do shit when his head ain't even fucking attached!"
Then Ashido's voice; "Should we call Recovery Girl?"
"Do you seriously think Recovery Girl can heal... that?" Shinsou, now. His voice was scathingly sarcastic, but Shouta can hear the underlying tremor.
Oh, it is very difficult for Shouta to keep his expression totally lax now. There was the expected panic and confusion, yes, but they were doing better than any of his previous classes so far. They were actually discussing what to do! Sure, none of them had checked his head or body yet, but that could be addressed later.
"You don't think we'll be accused of... of killing him, do you?" Uraraka, sounding nervous.
"Is that an expellable offense?" Kirishima again.
Someone bangs a hand on their desk.
"It's an arrestable offense!!" Sero cries, somewhere between incredulous and hysterical. Was he the one who'd banged the desk? "Seriously, what're we gonna do?"
Before they have the chance to start debating what to do with his body—or in this case, just his head—Shouta slams the classroom door open.
Dead silence.
As calm as can be, he strides over and scoops his head up off the floor, putting it back in place as he faces the room. Luckily Iida had gotten out of his way, now standing off to the side with comically wide eyes and mouth agape, just like the rest of the class.
Shouta flashes his signature ear-to-ear grin.
"Welcome to the hero course."
The reaction is just as dramatic as the last, with an explosion of noise and motion. But none of them appear terrified, or disgusted, or anything like that.
His grin widens.
Yes, he can already tell this is going to be a very interesting year.