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It started out as an ordinary day. Well, as ordinary as it could be considering what happened over the weekend. Everyone walked into homeroom and sat down in their regular seats. It was when class started that everyone realized something was off. Their teacher was nowhere in sight.
The students began whispering among themselves, theorizing what might have happened to their teacher. After all, Mr. Aizawa had never missed a day of school.
Whispers came to a halt as footsteps echoed down the hallway. Maybe he was just late? The footsteps stopped outside the classroom and the door handle turned. The door opened to reveal their principal.
Principal Nedzu was an odd man. He was eccentric. Mysterious. Not a lot was known about him, but he was very strange. Always cheerful, to the point where it was somewhat creepy. Despite his cheerfulness, he was very strict and had a knack for giving students detention for ridiculous things. If he had shown up to Aizawa’s homeroom class without Aizawa’s presence, then something must have been wrong.
“Good morning, students! Until further notice, I will be substituting for Mr. Aizawa.” The white haired man said in his robotic voice. The students shared wary glances with each other. Yaoyorozu raised her hand, and Nedzu called on her.
“Principal Nedzu. If I may ask, why exactly are you here? Is Mr. Aizawa alright?” The girl voiced the question on everyone’s mind.
“Oh, no. Mr. Aizawa has been arrested,” the man said cheerfully. He picked up a chalk stick and began writing in the chalkboard, “now onto today’s lesson-“
“What do you mean Mr. Aizawa’s been arrested?” Kaminari blurted out.
“Yeah! You can’t just drop a bomb like that and expect us to move on!” Kirishima added.
“Why was he arrested? What happened?” Midoriya asked.
“Your teacher has been under investigation due to… recent events.” Vague. But all the students knew what he was talking about. Over the weekend, a UA student was found dead near the school. The idea that Mr. Aizawa was somehow involved somehow didn’t seem right. Even though he had a tough exterior, he was a very kind and caring man.
“But that doesn’t seem like Mr. Aizawa at all! He would never be involved in something like that.” Uraraka voiced.
“There’s evidence to suggest otherwise.” Nedzu stated matter-of-factly. His typical cheerfulness had a bit of an edge to it. The chalk screeched against the board. He was starting to get irritated.
“What kind of evidence?” Bakugou demanded.
The chalk snapped in Nedzu’s palm. He slowly turned to face the students. A smile permanently plastered onto his face, but his eyes were cold and dangerous.
“Not only am I your substance teacher, but I am also your principal. I’ve given you multiple opportunities to cease discussion and pay attention to the lesson. The six of you have chosen to be distractions, therefore the six of you will stay after school for detention for the rest of the week. Now may I continue teaching?”
All of the students were too stunned to speak. Nedzu took their silence as a yes, grabbed a new stick of chalk, and began writing out the lesson.
Something wasn’t right…
Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Kirishima, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Bakugou all stayed behind after school for detention. Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, and Uraraka all sat anxiously, as it was their first time in detention. Bakugou, Kaminari, and Midoriya—frequent visitors of detention—sat in a corner, discussing the situation at hand.
“So we can all agree that Mr. Aizawa isn’t at fault?” Kaminari asked. The other two boys nodded in agreement. “And we can all agree that Nedzu was acting weird. I mean, weirder than normal?” Once again, the boys nodded. “So we have to do something, but what?”
“Well, Mr. Aizawa has only been arrested. He hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Right now, we should focus on proving him innocent before we prove anyone guilty.” Midoriya explained.
“And how do you expect us to do that, Deku? We can’t prove he’s innocent and leave it at that. Nobody’s gonna believe he’s innocent until someone else is proven guilty.” Bakugou retorted.
“We could-“
“Hey kiddos. I’m here to monitor detention this afternoon. Just keep the volume down and ask before you leave the room, and we should be good.” Mr. Yamada said as he entered the room.
He lacked his usual spark. The whole ordeal must have been taking a toll on him. It was no secret that he had a thing for their homeroom teacher. Maybe he’d be willing to help them… Kaminari got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the desk Mr. Yamada had taken a seat at.
“Mr. Yamada, what really happened to Mr. Aizawa?” Kaminari asked.
“It’s just like Nedzu said. He was arrested.” He replied robotically.
“But you don’t believe he’s guilty, do you?” Kirishima piped up.
Mr. Yamada looked outside the window on the door, as if afraid he was being watched. When he made sure nobody was around, he gestured the six kids around his desk and talked in a hushed voice.
“I don’t believe Shouta is guilty. But I have an idea of who is.”
“Who?” Uraraka asked.
“Before I tell you, I need you all to promise me something. Whatever conversations happen between us stay between us. We can’t risk anyone else finding out.” When all six nodded in agreement, Mr. Yamada continued. “Nedzu. He’s incredibly secretive. I think that Shouta discovered something Nedzu didn’t want him to, and to keep his reputation safe, he killed a student and framed Shouta.”
“Do you really think he’d do something like that?” Yaoyorozu questioned.
“I do. He was still the principal back when I was a student here. Even then, he was odd. He tried to blame others for his actions back then, of course not on this scale, but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he was the guilty party. I have no physical evidence to prove it though.”
“What if we helped with that.” Midoriya suggested.
“What?” Yamada asked, confused.
“What if we help you collect evidence to prove that Aizawa is innocent, and Nedzu is guilty.” Kaminari clarified.
“Kids, I appreciate that you want to help your teacher, but this isn’t something you should be meddling with. And besides, I don’t know for certain that Nedzu is guilty. It’s simply speculation.”
“But if he is…” Yaoyorozu started.
“…If he is guilty… then having help collecting evidence wouldn’t be the worst thing…” Yamada caved. The students quietly cheered, still wary of watchers. “But none of you do anything stupid or risky. If Nedzu really is some psycho murderer, I don’t want you to put your lives on the line. Promise?”
Kaminari and Midoriya shared a glance with each other. They were the kings of stupid and risky. With the slightest of nods—only noticeable between the two—they each slid a hand behind their backs and crossed their fingers.
“We promise.” Midoriya voiced for the whole group.
“Good. Now all of you act like you’re doing something productive. That’s what detentions for anyways.” Yamada concluded with a chuckle. All the students walked back to their seats and began discussing ways they could find evidence.
Midoriya and Kaminari glanced at each other once again, this time having a silent conversation. No matter what they had to do, or whatever they had to risk, they were going to prove Aizawa’s innocence.