The schedule was insane. Yeah, Karasuma-sensei had extra lessons after school let out, but they were optional, and filled the same time slot as most club activities they weren't allowed to participate in. Takaoka-san wanted mandatory training until well past sundown. Izuku needed to go home. Izuku needed to go to the dojo and to the beach. He had other training to attend.

Sure, this guy seemed pretty nice. He was relaxed, cracked jokes, and got the class laughing. The sweets were nice too, even if Izuku couldn't really eat any with All Might's diet still in effect.

"What the hell!?" Maehara-kun was on his feet and protesting just a hair faster than Izuku. "This is impossible! We need time to study or our grades will drop!"

Izuku nodded, moving to stand beside Maehara-kun. "And some of us have responsibilities outside of class, too, you know. I have things I need to do after school."

"Yeah!" some of their classmates joined in. Muttering broke out behind them.

"The chairman knew that when he approved the schedule!" Maehara-kun continued. "There's no time for anything! No fun, no studying, nothing! Just training all day, every day! We can't do this!"

"You'll over-"

Takaoka-san reached out and, in a moment, had his knee buried in Maehara-kun's stomach, cutting off both boys and drawing distressed cries from the class. "It's 'we will,' not 'we can't,'" he said, serene smile never wavering. "I told you right?" he asked. "That in our 'family' I am the 'father.' Is there a single family in the world where the father's orders aren't absolute?"

Never once did he stop smiling. Maehara-kun was doubled over on the ground, coughing and retching. The rest of the class was frozen, Izuku just off to the side, and the others, half crouched where they had been sitting.

Izuku stepped forward and placed himself between Takaoka-san and his classmates. "My family," he spoke up. "My dad left us years ago. If he came back now all he would get is a slap in the face and a kick to the curb."

There was shuffling behind him as someone checked on Maehara-kun.

"Well, that's no father then, is it?" Takaoka-san replied, his smile wavering slightly. "I'll have to show you how a real father does things. Okay!" he said, clapping his hand together and reverting to his overly cheery self. "First up is three sets of one hundred squats each. And feel free to quit and leave at any time, if you want. I can always just replace you with some soldiers I raised up myself. Won't be too hard. Even if I replace a few of you, that octopus won't run away."

Oh, this was bad. They couldn't afford to leave now. They really just… couldn't.

"But I don't want to do that," Takaoka-san continued, his expression seeming to soften. "You're all my precious family, after all." He began walking around the group, moving behind them as the students refused to move, for fear of drawing attention to themselves. "As the father, I don't want to lose a single one of you!" He slung his arms around Kanzaki-san and Mimura-kun's shoulders, pulling them into a hug, grinning happily. "Let's save the earth together, as a family!"

Takaoka-san released his "hug" and stepped in front of Kanzaki-san, his hand resting gently on her head. "Alright? You'll follow your father, won't you?"

"Um, w-well…" Kanzaki-san said. She was shaking. Izuku felt his muscles tense up. Takaoka-san was testing them. And they were assassins. More importantly, they were middle schoolers. They were class 3-E. There was no way it would end well. "I…" The shaking stopped, and Kanzaki-san lifted her head and smiled at Takaoka-san. "I don't want to. I'd rather have class with Karasuma-sensei."

Didn't they all? Unfortunately, that wasn't the answer Takaoka-san wanted. He licked his smirking lips, wound back his arm, and smacked her. The crack resounded across their sport's field, and Izuku saw Kanzaki-san's feet leave the ground as she fell.

"Kanzaki-san!" Sugino-kun yelled. He ran to his friend, Izuku breaking out of his stupor and following. Already, Kayano-san and Nagisa-kun were already there. Kayano-san was kneeling on the ground behind Kanzaki-san, steadying her and checking on her, while Nagisa-kun moved protectively in front of her.

"You guys just don't seem to get it at all," Takaoka-san laughed. "'Yes,' is the only thing I should hear out of you. And if you have a problem with that," he raised his fists in a fighting stance, "then how about we let our fists do the talking? That's your father's forte!"

"Stop, Takaoka!"

The class turned. Karasuma-sensei was sprinting towards them from the building behind Takaoka-san. Takaoka-san's smile didn't fade one bit. Karasuma-sensei continued past him and went straight to Kanzaki-san, checking her over. Once assured that she was alright, he called after Maehara-kun. Satisfied in his students' condition, he turned his attention to Takaoka-san.

"I'm making sure to hold back, you know, Karasuma," Takaoka-san spoke before Karasuma-sensei could say anything. "They're my precious family, after all."

"No," a yellow tentacle came to rest on Takaoka-san's shoulder as Korosensei came up behind him, "they are not your family. They are my students."

A breath of relief could be heard from the class, along with a few cries of "Korosensei!"

"Heh," Takaoka-san chuckled, "is that a complaint I hear, monster?"

Izuku felt himself clench his teeth as he bit back the urge to jump to his teacher's defense.

"I'm fairly certain I was the one put in charge of P.E.," Takaoka-san continued. "Additionally, the punishment just now was perfectly within the bounds of a training session. This is all to train them in a short span of time to be the assassins that will kill you. It's only a given things will be rough. We don't have much of a choice on that." His grin turned predatory. "Or what, would you attack someone who hasn't done anything to you just because their teaching methods are a little different?"

Izuku could see that Takaoka-san had Korosensei backed into a corner, and he knew Korosensei could see it too. Everything Takaoka-san had said was technically correct. Maybe he was toeing the line of what he could use as punishment, but he was still on the "right" side of that line, at least as far as policy went.

On the other hand, if they could push him to the other side of that line…

Not that Izuku would ever suggest that his classmates put themselves in that position, but if he was going after Izuku, he wouldn't be watching the rest of them. Izuku would just have to take a page from Karma-kun and figure out how best to piss him off. Then Karasuma-sensei and Korosensei could come in and take care of Takaoka-san without anyone "quitting."

"Come, Karasuma-sensei," Korosensei finally spoke, his eyes never leaving Takaoka-san. "We need to talk."

With that "settled" (the class knew, hoped, that their teachers would be back soon), Takaoka-san turned his attention back to the class. "Well, you kids heard me the first time!" he said, sliding back into his jovial persona. "Three sets of one hundred squats! Line up!"

The class hesitated but began falling into line. They just had to hold out long enough for the teachers to do something. At least, that's what most of them were thinking. Izuku waited a moment longer, watching his teacher's talk. He then turned back to Takaoka-san, who was watching him with a smile that had gone slightly cold. Should he do something now? Or should he wait a moment longer and give the teachers some time to plan?

"Midoriya-kun?" Takaoka-san called out, drawing the attention of the class. "That is you, right?"

"Uh, yes, Takaoka-san," Izuku answered, before falling into line. Just a moment longer.

Takaoka-san nodded, his smile growing firmer. "Alright, kids, hop to!"

He waited for them to raise their arms above their heads and begin the first set before turning away to watch the other teachers.

Izuku joined his classmates at first, but quickly came to a stop when he noticed Takaoka-san wasn't paying attention. Izuku could feel the eyes of his classmates on him, watching and waiting to see what would happen as they forced themselves to continue, not ready to take the risk themselves, but Izuku ignored them. Instead he kept his attention solely on Takaoka-san. He didn't like the way the man was watching Karasuma-sensei, not that there was anything he could do about it.

"Hey, com'on, man," Kimura-kun whispered from next to Izuku, "it's not worth it."

Izuku just waved him off. A small ripple went through the class, but Izuku continued to ignore it.

"Goddamnit, Deku," Terasaka-kun whispered behind him, "what are you trying to do?"

Izuku barely flinched at the old insult. He hadn't realized how much he had gotten used to not hearing it once he moved to 3-E. But that wasn't important. Izuku ignored the comment entirely. It wasn't like he could answer.

"Midoriya-kun, just drop it," Kataoka-san added from somewhere behind Izuku to his left.

Izuku just quietly shook his head. Takaoka-san was finally taking notice. He had heard that last whisper.

"If you can still talk, then you aren't-" he froze when he finished turning around and saw Izuku standing there, not a single drop of sweat on him. "I think I'm starting to see why your father left you, Midoriya-kun," he said, keeping up his smile. "You need a firmer hand. It must have been too much of a challenge for him."

Izuku glanced at Karasuma-sensei one last time before devoting his attention to Takaoka-san. He swallowed once and steeled himself. "You make a horrible father, Takaoka-san," he said. "Makes me wonder who you looked up to as a child."

Gasps filled the air, and Izuku could see some of his classmates slow or stop their squats.

"Keep going, kids," Takaoka-san said, forcing his persona to hold in place. "You don't want to throw your lot in with a troublemaker like Midoriya-kun! This is your last warning, boy."

Izuku crossed his arms and glared. He wasn't usually obstinate, but he'd seen Kacchan kick up a fuss enough times growing up to know the script.

The mask fell. His kind grin slid out of the way for an angry scowl and gritted teeth for just a second before he fixed it back in place once more.

"Then I suppose your father needs to punish you," he said, grinning as he pulled a fist back. The fist fell, and Izuku let it. He may have only had a few sessions at the new dojo, but that along with a childhood of running from bullies meant he could easily have dodged or blocked a right hook that obvious or wide.

The next thing Izuku knew he was on the ground. His head ached, and his ears were ringing, but he could just make out people yelling in the distance. The sun was too bright, but it was rapidly getting more manageable.

Why was Izuku on the ground again? Something about bullies?

No, he hadn't been cornered by any bullies since Korosensei joined the staff. Hadn't even seen Kacchan around. And wasn't he at school?

The voices stopped.

Maybe a training exercise had gone wrong? That sounded about right, but something was missing…

A new voice broke through the silence. That was Karasuma-sensei. He was saying something to… Nagisa-kun? Why was he talking to Nagisa-kun? Maybe Izuku could figure that out if he could focus enough to hear what they were saying. They weren't that far away from him.

Small and thin appendages wrapped around his shoulders and head, lifting him slightly and turning him to face something large, yellow, and round which was now blocking out some of the light.

"Midoriya-kun, can you hear me?" Korosensei said quietly.

"YesSen'ei," Izuku answered quickly, his tongue heavy in his mouth.

"That's good." Korosensei's voice was calm and soothing against the noise of whatever the rest of the class was doing in the background. "Does anything hurt?"

Izuku scrunched up his nose at the reminder, his eyes closing. "Head," he mumbled.

"Keep your eyes open, Midoriya-kun," Korosensei said, his voice becoming stern. "Do you remember what happened?"

Did he? A new voice broke through the haze. It reminded him of…

"New person. Bastar'. He… he hit me."

"That's right, you provoked him."

"I'wa' gonna be some'ne," Izuku retorted.

Korosensei hesitated for a moment. "You still shouldn't have provoked him, Midoriya-kun. It is wonderful that you wanted to protect your fellow classmates, but you need to consider your own safety as well. You can't help anyone if you can't move."

Izuku turned his gaze away. Korosensei had a peculiar way of expressing pride while also pointing out your mistakes. It felt to Izuku a bit like he was a disappointed parent.

"Midoriya-kun, your mind is your greatest asset," Korosensei said, resting the tip of one tentacle on Izuku's forehead. "You need to protect it and use it, find a better way, and have a little faith in your teachers and partners to look after you the same way you want to look after them. We all care for you and don't want to see you hurt."

A loud cry erupted from Izuku's classmates, and Izuku tried to twist to look and see what had happened, but Korosensei's tentacles held him in place. "It seems Nagisa-kun was able to finish the fight for you, Midoriya-kun. Karasuma-sensei will be here in a moment."

Izuku nodded slightly. "Korosen'ei?"

"Yes, Midoriya-kun?"

"Thank you."

"It's the least I could do for one of my students."

Footsteps approached rapidly. "How is he?" Karasuma-sensei asked, falling to his knees on Izuku's other side. The class fell silent, remembering what had started the fight in the first place.

"He seems to have a concussion at the very least," Korosensei answered promptly.

Karasuma-sensei nodded and reached forwards and slid his arms under Izuku, lifting up gently. Korosensei's tentacles released Izuku into the care of his P.E. teacher.

"Get your rest Midoriya-kun," Korosensei said softly, "and don't forget what I told you. I'll call the chairman, have him inform Midoriya-kun's mother while you take him to a hospital," he told Karasuma-sensei.

"That won't be necessary." Asano-san stepped through the last of the foliage the separated the forest from the satellite campus. He nodded carefully to Karasuma-sensei. "Take care of the boy, I'll handle taking out the trash and calling Midoriya-san."

Karasuma-sensei nodded in return and began his trek through the woods. Izuku relaxed in his teacher's arms. He and his classmates were safe. Takaoka-san would be leaving, and everything would be alright. As soon as his head stopped hurting, that is.

Just a quick note for anyone new to my work or not quite sure what's going on yet. This is an on going series and will have new posts every other week on Thursdays. We are not anywhere near done with this just yet.

I've been thinking about doing something different here on FFN to make this a little more contained and easier to navigate, but haven't made any decisions just yet. Specifically, I'm looking at either setting up a community for this or just combining the one shots into one larger fic. If you have ideas or a preference, feel free to let me know. In the mean time, if you have an account, it might be best to follow me to make sure you don't miss anything.

Or you could go to AO3 where I have it set up as a series proper.

Let me know what you guys think, and I'll see you next time,

NoS