Touya rarely bothered with his hair outside of dyeing it and making sure it looked like he'd rolled out of bed five minutes before, which didn't take much effort. The fact that he was picking at it now irritated him. Every time he realized what he was doing, he dropped his hand and scowled at it like it had betrayed him somehow. Yamada peered at him sideways, so many words on the tip of his tongue, but thankfully said nothing. There was nothing to say.

Yamada, Aizawa, and Kayama had all seen the name "Todoroki Shouto" listed amongst the recommended students.

Technically speaking, Touya didn't need to attend the Recommendation Exam. Any student on that list already knew how to control their quirk with utmost precision or they wouldn't have been suggested in the first place. The only reason he'd attended the last two years was because their quirks tended to also be on the more dangerous, flashy side, and he had a sick curiosity for how kids differently handled quirks like that. Most of them had already gone through lessons and been taught how to control their quirks, some even professionally if they had connections.

Shouto had definitely been trained to the best of his ability.

No matter how sick it made him, Touya couldn't deny his curiosity. He hadn't seen his father's piece de resistance since he was child. The scar on the left side of his face had still been fresh and almost as ugly as the ones Touya bore now. A boiling water burn was different from fire burns. Judging by the picture, Shouto had still grown into a handsome brat and powerful too if the statements in his file were correct. Everyone talked about how incredible the ice half of his quirk was - how overwhelmingly strong it could be.

There wasn't a single mention of his fire quirk, which was very intriguing indeed considering who their father was. The whole point of his birth - of all the Todoroki children's births - was the dual ice and fire quirk their father wanted.

As a quirk counselor of sorts, Touya had a right to the files of every potential UA student, but he knew Aizawa had been hesitant to hand over the stack for the recommended students. Just because he wasn't in his family's lives anymore didn't mean he forgot them entirely. He was ten years older than his baby brother. At fifteen, Shouto would be entering high school and, as the chosen child, he had no other option but to attend UA. Endeavor would make certain of it. No one was going to pass up on the Number Two Hero's child.

They would've passed up on him.

I'm here now, aren't I? Touya thought irritably as he flicked through the files. He didn't want to settle on Shouto's and be obvious with Yamada right there, but then there wasn't much of a point to keep up pretenses either.

"It's okay to be nervous," Yamada told him.

"I'm not. That's stupid."

"You haven't seen any of them in what? Nine years?"

About eight years and ten months, but who was counting? Not him.

Touya straightened in his seat and handed the files back to Yamada. He would need them more than him since he was the one conducting the practical exam. It was just a three-kilometer race using their quirks. There was no need for Touya to be here. He didn't need to watch them. He didn't need to see Shouto. He hadn't needed anything to do with his family in years. Not that all of them were bad, but it was easier to cut himself off the family tree entirely than hang on by a few painful splinters.

"Are you going to be here for the interviews?" Yamada asked.

"They're recorded, right?" Touya asked. Yamada nodded. "Then no. I've got better things to do - like that video on aliens and black holes I found on YouTube last night."

Yamada gave him a knowing look. "Why come at all?"

Touya didn't have a snappy response for that, and Yamada knew it. Damnit. He sometimes forgot Aizawa wasn't the only one that knew him well. Yamada honestly might be even worse because he was able to get into the heart of things that Aizawa danced around. He and Kayama openly showed their concern.

"It's also okay to want to see him."

"I don't." He didn't. Touya swore he didn't. "I don't even know him. I wasn't allowed to be around my siblings much when I-" He cleared his throat. "The moment his quirk manifested when he was five, Shouto was isolated from us so he could focus on his training." They were distractions. That was what Endeavor had called Fuyumi and Natsuo when Touya would cry about wanting to go to the park with them instead of training. No doubt he said the same thing to Shouto. It was strange - sharing so much with a kid he barely remembered. "I left home a year later. He probably can't even recall me."

Yamada shrugged. "Then what's the harm in sticking around?"

Because what if Shouto did somehow recognize him? Objectively speaking, Touya knew he wouldn't be able to avoid his brother for long. It would only be a matter of time before he figured out the truth. He knew their mother's maiden name and his first name. Maybe he should've changed that too, but honestly he hadn't thought that far ahead. It never occurred to him that he would one day be in the position to work at the same school his brother attended. He hadn't thought about crossing paths with his family again. Two years ago, he caught a glimpse of Endeavor on patrol, and the next thing he knew he was halfway across town in a train he didn't remember taking. Simply seeing his family never crossed his mind.

So why the hell was he here now? Was it really to torture himself? Sate his morbid curiosity? See what was so great about the kid that replaced him in their father's eyes as a success?

You're sounding awfully close to being jealous of a teenager. Wow, that's a new low.

Fuck. His conscience would choose today to be mean. Why did he have to be so spiteful even towards himself? Couldn't he have a healthy self-esteem like normal people who came out of their traumatized childhood with a degree and excellent job?

A group of students stepped out of the building and walked to stand in a line. Touya hadn't seen Shouto in so fucking long, but he would've been able to pick him out of a mob had it been fifty years. His red and white hair made him stand out like a candy cane, but it was the cold look in his fifteen-year-old brother's eyes that caught Touya's attention. Ah, he knew that look. It was the same one their father wore. (It was the same one he wore when he was pissed.) That didn't belong on a teenager at all. It made him realize how awful he must've looked back when he first met Aizawa and the others. No wonder they had called him out on his shit right off the bat. He'd worn his anger on his face like a jackass for everyone to see.

"Oh," Yamada said, "he kind of looks like you."

Touya shot him a glare. "No, he doesn't."

"You're literally making the same look right now," Yamada pointed out. He was not. He was simply giving him a look that suggested Yamada shut the hell up. Too bad for Touya - shutting up was not one of Yamada's qualities. "I remember when your hair was that red. The dye you stole bled out within like two weeks. You were always so distraught when that happened."

Gritting his teeth, Touya ground out, "Can we not talk about that?"

"Right, sorry." Yamada flashed him an apologetic smile. "Well, I've got to greet our potential students and start this exam. Stay here."

Touya folded his arms across his chest. "And if I don't?"

Yamada tilted his glasses down and winked, undeterred by his difficult nature. "Then you'll miss one hell of a show, won't you?"

The recommended students had already taken the written portion of their exam. After the race would be the interview, which he definitely had no intentions of partaking in. He hadn't before and wouldn't make an exception now. Maybe he would watch Shouto's interview later, if only to glean a bit more information on the brother he'd pretended didn't exist for years. He needed to know what he was like if he was going to have to deal with him. Plus, he wanted to know: besides that look in Shouto's eyes, was he anything else like their old man?

Despite a voice yelling at him to turn his back, leave, and put this behind him, Touya stayed off to the side with a few other teachers as Yamada explained the practical exam. It was nothing compared to the hero entrance exam. These students had already proven themselves to be strong and capable enough to pass that. Honestly, the recommendation exam was a formality, but only four students were let in like this, sometimes five if one proved particularly adept at creating support gear, which was a lot more important than people gave it credit for.

During Yamada's usual over-the-top explanation, Shouto didn't blink once, totally unphased, while the other kids looked on in excitement. He wasn't even looking at Yamada, already zeroed in on the finish line of the race course. The look on his face was easy to read even from a distance: This is nothing to me, just another step. If his records were anything to indicate, he wasn't wrong. Touya could vaguely recall his ice ability. After eight more years of developing it, he could probably use it to glide forward at an incredibly fast speed. Their father could use his flames to hover. Touya could, in theory, do even more if he wanted to fry his arms up.

What had he been saying about support gear earlier?

Just as Touya suspected, when the race started, Shouto shot into the front running almost immediately. That ice didn't just help him glide into first. It was no contest. It propelled him forward like some sort of rocket. Touya was certain he'd slide right into first place - until the insanely boisterous kid with a wind quirk surpassed him at the last second and won. A bark of laughter almost escaped Touya, but he clenched his jaw and kept it in, wearing his most bored expression. For a moment, Shouto looked stunned at having lost, the first real emotion he showed, but then it was gone in a flash, that cold, unapproachable look back on his face.

Touya would tell him to lighten up, but he'd likely been punished for doing that. Sad times.

"The recommended students are particularly good this year."

"Well, it makes sense since Endeavor's son is on the list."

"We have some unique quirks this year too! I never would've thought that a Softening quirk would be so useful in a hero capacity."

"I particularly like Yaoyorozu's Creation. It's very interesting."

"Yeah, but Half Hot/Half Cold - that's like the perfect combination."

Touya did his best not to grit his teeth or react, but he could feel his quirk boiling underneath his skin, threatening to seep out. Trying to be as discreet as possible, he took a small breath and let it out, relaxing his arms so he wasn't holding himself together tightly. The perfect combination. They had no idea. Aizawa and the others had more than an inkling, but most of the other teachers didn't really know him outside of what he told them. No one but those three and Nezu knew about his dual quirk - the not-so-perfect combination, the dud, the failure.

Now he was going to have to deal with his perfect mirror image glancing his way at school with those cold eyes like their father's. His school. His home. This was his place. He'd made it into something. No, the other teachers didn't know him well, but they liked him despite his crass personality, bad spending habits, and refusal to dress himself properly unless he had to look official for some reason. He had… Well, okay, they weren't a family, but they were something that he'd not had with his blood relatives.

Someone laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Snipe peering at him behind his goggles. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Touya replied dryly. He waved a hand at them. "You kids have fun with the rest of this dog and pony show. I've got prep work for the actual exams tomorrow."

He ignored Aizawa's eyes on his back and the frown on Yamada's face as he walked away. They wouldn't stop him. Luckily, Kayama wasn't here to do it, although there was always the awful possibility she would show up at his place later or call him asking if he wanted to talk. No, he didn't want to talk. If he did, he certainly wouldn't tell them. He'd just suffer in silence like every other emotionally stunted twenty-five-year-old asshole.

The last thing he wanted to talk about was how his fifteen-year-old brother was clearly stronger than him only using half of his quirk.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder as he made his way back to his apartment. Why only half? Nothing on those records mentioned his fire half and, while the other teachers had been in awe about his quirk, they hadn't actually seen him use full use of it. Touya wasn't even sure of the range and capabilities of Shouto's fire. What was he capable of now?

One of the few, clear memories Touya had of Shouto was when he was five. He only knew Shouto was five because of the bandages over his left eye. He'd come out of training with their father, tears welled up in his good eye, holding his left hand like it was cursed. Touya had been passing by when he noticed the smoke coming from his hand and recognized what happened immediately: Endeavor had forced him to use his fire quirk until he no longer could - until he essentially burned out. That was hard as fuck on a five-year-old. Touya would know.

Not knowing what else to do and realizing their father wasn't around at the moment, Touya bent down to examine his little brother's hand. "It's okay. You're fine. Just don't use it for a while."

"I don't want to use it ever again," his little brother had cried.

Touya knew that feeling too, but it wasn't like Shouto had a choice. Their father would force it out of him one way or another. He could resist all he wanted, but eventually he would cave like everyone else. They all either bent to his whims or they broke.

Instead of agreeing or arguing with him, Touya had held open his palm and let a tiny flame flicker to life, going from orange to white until it finally settled on blue. Shouto had stared at it, the fire glimmering in his grey eye. "See? It's not so bad, is it?"

"Then how come you don't use your fire?" Shouto had asked flatly. The flame snuffed out, and Touya closed his hand. Because it was bad. Because it hurt like hell if he let it go past his hands. Because no matter how strong and hot his flames were, they would never be good enough, and he couldn't stand them. Having that thrown in his face by a five-year-old who didn't know shit (who had been through so much shit) made his stomach roll.

Just thinking about it now made Touya uncomfortable. He didn't have many memories of Shouto. He remembered him being close to their mother before his quirk manifested, like all of them were since their father only cared about that. He remembered the boiling water incident. He remembered Shouto crying and wondering if Fuyumi and Natsuo used to wish he'd shut up when it had been Touya in the training room. He remembered the relief, jealousy, and absolute fear when Shouto's perfect quirk manifested.

It was funny. Shouto's eyes had glanced over him once after the race, but Shouto had turned away like he hadn't even seen him. There was a chance he didn't remember Touya at all. Touya might have been the one to burn the bridge, but he'd learned it from their father, who knew how to burn every trace of a person of his life once he deemed them unnecessary.

This sure was gonna be a fun ass year.

There was an entire list of things Touya did not like to do - a list of things he, as a fully functional adult, refused to force upon himself. One of those things happened to be eating fresh octopus. It moved around too much and made his stomach queasy with the thought that it might stick to his throat and suffocate him. Death by dead octopus legs did not sound like a fun way to go. His sensitive stomach prevented him from eating a lot of things, but that was strictly a choice for him. No one in this entire godforsaken world would ever be able to convince him to put octopus in his mouth.

Another item on this list of things he refused to do to himself was waking up at the ass crack of dawn just to go to school. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the ass crack of dawn, but it was pretty damn early by his standards. Anything before noon stood on the early side for him. Nonetheless, he had to drag himself out of bed, mainly because he knew the incessant knocking on his front door would not stop.

Clad in his pajama pants, he trudged to the door and opened it to find Aizawa standing outside. Not that the man ever looked happy, but his narrowed eyes made him look more annoyed than usual. Touya left him standing in the doorway without a word in favor of walking to the bathroom. He took his time showering and dressing, although his outfit wasn't that much better than his pajamas. It was a long sleeve shirt and some dark jeans, but it was better than wearing the sweatpants that Aizawa called a hero uniform to work.

"Do you need coffee?" Aizawa called from the kitchen.

Touya couldn't bring himself to answer, shuffling tiredly into his kitchen only to have a travel mug shoved into his chest, coffee sloshing over the rim. Good thing he hadn't worn a white shirt or it would've been stained. The look he gave his coworker screamed that if he were more awake, he wouldn't hesitate.

The pro hero simply lead him out of the apartment, waiting patiently for the younger man to put his shoes on and lock up behind them. Touya sipped from his mug and let out a hum of appreciation. Aizawa always made the best coffee. Well, actually, he made the strongest coffee Touya had ever had, but it was better that way. He needed it since he slept like the dead once he was out.

He slid into the front passenger seat of Aizawa's car, holding onto his mug like it held the secrets of life itself. It took him a full ten minutes before he realized Aizawa was talking. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed someone in the back and turned fully to stare at the deflated form of the Number One Hero. They blinked at each other. Did All Might actually have eyes? They were so sunken; Touya couldn't see any eyelids or lashes. It was like staring at two glowing orbs in the dark.

"Good morning, Mr. Korihada."

Touya turned to Aizawa and narrowed his eyes at the man's utter betrayal.

"Say good morning, Touya. You're being rude."

Touya sank down into his seat and sipped his coffee some more to get out a greeting, but he could feel Aizawa's disapproval weighing down on him. "Morning."

He desperately hoped the ride to work didn't involve anymore talking. Not only was he too tired for it, but he didn't have the desire to fake it with All Might. He never really understood how Aizawa was capable of coherent thinking so early in the morning considering how often the guy stayed out late doing hero work. Guess some mysteries would remain unsolved.

"Buzzfeed Unsolved…" he muttered under his breath.

"What?" All Might prompted in confusion.

Nope, not dealing with that. Touya didn't respond or speak for the rest of the ride, but he definitely felt more awake than he had earlier, so that was a plus at least. The three of them walked into UA together with Touya kind of lagging behind. He didn't feel like walking fast. It took up the energy he had just gained from his coffee.

Aizawa looked back at him, annoyed. "There's more coffee inside. Hurry up before you get lost." Just to be an ass, Touya purposely slowed his pace, dragging his feet enough to make his shuffling even louder. "Are you serious, Touya? Get your ass inside before I drag you inside."

He glanced at All Might, who looked very confused, as he passed through the doorway that led to the viewing room. Soon they were seated, Aizawa sitting between him and the Numero Uno Hero. Kayama sat on his other side followed by Kan, who had bear hugged him the moment he entered the damn building.

"We need to get you used to waking up early, Touya," Kayama said, her hero mask sliding down her nose like her glasses normally would. "You're much too young to be this tired at nine."

Touya simply grunted in response, chugging more from his newly refilled mug. In his lap sat a notebook and a list of names of all the applicants along with their pictures and quirks. When the practical exam began, he would be able to see them on the screen, but it was good to have a name to the face. It simply made his job easier when he could pinpoint a quirk based on a kid's face without having to guess. It would still be a few minutes before the exams actually started, so Touya stood to pour himself more coffee.

"By this rate, we're going to run out of coffee before the exams start," Nezu joked blandly. The teachers around him laughed.

Touya scoffed softly. "I can't afford my own right now."

"He speaks!" Kan gasped dramatically. Touya flipped him the bird and sat back down.

Aizawa gently nudged him. "You can't afford your own?"

"I broke my last one. Do you have any idea how much a coffee machine costs?" He chugged his drink. It burned his tongue, but whatever. He'd suffered worse pain than a burnt mouth.

The underground hero rolled his eyes at him. "Just buy a cheap one."

"Help me, I'm poor," Touya whined, sagging into his seat.

Aizawa shook his head, pointedly turning around and ignoring his cry for help. Some hero he was. "You're fine."

"No, I'm dying."

"Then I guess you'll just die."

Touya sat up immediately and stared at Aizawa in shock for almost solid minute. "That was almost a meme. I've never been prouder. If only Yamada was here to see it too."

Aizawa didn't respond, watching the screens in front of them as they came to life to show Yamada quite literally shouting at the students. At this point, Touya didn't need to pay attention to the rules. Three years was enough time to memorize exactly what these kids had to do in order to get into the hero course. The students who didn't pass either went into the general studies or didn't get into the school at all. When he was younger, he thought the entrance exam might be a bit harsh, but after taking entrance exams for five different colleges, Touya realized they all made this exam look a hundred times easier. He'd rather face a robot that might maim but wouldn't kill him. He never realized how hard it would be to become a teacher, yet somehow he made it.

Once the exams commenced, Touya kept his eyes glued to the screens. Some kids had naturally amazing quirks. He could've sworn one was shooting a laser from anywhere other than his stomach, but his quirk literally said Naval Laser on the sheet, so he rolled with it. Most kids who applied to the hero course were kids who had some semblance of control over their quirk, but a lot of them didn't have exceedingly dangerous ones. That was what UA was for: turning a seemingly innocent quirk into one that could be used to take down villains. And then there was the kid whose hands shot out explosions. That quirk was dangerous for a whole list of reasons he didn't feel like going through. Touya had no want to ever see that smug little shit in his class. The murderous smile irked him to no end.

Destroyed robot parts and debris scattered each battlefield. It never ceased to amaze him what quirks could do, but he wasn't watching for that. His eyes scanned the screens for any injuries caused by quirks and he wrote down every single name he thought could benefit from his class. As the timer started to run out, Touya had a well-formed list of students, their quirks, and how their quirks affected them. Not all of them would cross his path, but it was better to be prepared and keep an eye on them just in case.

His eyes wandered the screen before dropping down to his notebook. With the zero point robot attacking, most students would run away, unused to facing something so massive. However, a sudden blur on one screen pulled his attention away from his notes. His jaw nearly dropped when a kid he glanced over previously for acting like a big baby punched the shit out of the bot, absolutely wrecking it.

"He's embodying what it means to be a true hero," All Might said in awe, as if narrating to himself. "There's nothing nobler than self-sacrifice."

Touya stiffened in his seat and turned to give him an incredulous look. "You know what's nobler than self-sacrifice? Living so you can keep on saving people."

Even if a hero didn't die in the line of fire, they could injure themselves to the point of taking themselves out of commission. How many times had Aizawa stumbled back with broken ribs, black eyes, and knife wounds? He was a damn good hero, but even damn good ones got hurt. Even his father had been hurt a few times, although you would've been hard-pressed to get him to admit it. Touya only knew because training was always worse when he was.

All Might gawked at him in surprise, like no one had ever dared to speak with him like that. Aizawa probably would later on, if only because he didn't drink that idealistic, honorable heroes kool-aid, but even Touya was startled by his spiteful reaction. He had planned on ignoring All Might for as long as possible, but the moment his stupid ass had to glorify self-sacrifice, Touya was smacked in the face with all the times he'd burned himself like a human barbeque in order to prove his worth. Giving it his plus ultra. Doing whatever he could to succeed, even at the cost of himself.

Fuck that ideology and fuck All Might, one of the largest influences in society, for spouting it.

When Touya turned back to the screen, determined to not say another word to his new colleague, he was caught off guard upon finding the kid falling from the sky, his legs and right arm flapping in the wind. Leaning forward, Touya's body tensed up as he watched the kid got closer and closer to the ground without slowing.

He jumped to his feet, eyes wide as the kid fell. "Is no one gonna catch him?"

Not a word was spoken. He wasn't even sure anyone was breathing. The room was filled with pro heroes, but none of them could do a damn thing here. What about Yamada? Where the hell was he? Was he watching over a different exam right now?

No one actually heard the slap that caught the poor kid across the face and floated him in the air, but every single teacher in the room winced, including Touya. He almost raised a hand to his own cheek. There was no mercy in that slap. As soon as the boy was safely on the ground, the girl who delivered it promptly bowed her head and vomited on the ground in front of her.

Touya stepped closer to the screen. "Holy shit, he broke three of his limbs." Turning to look at the teachers around him, he pointed to the kid. "Let's hope he broke them from the robot. If he's that bad at controlling his quirk..."

It went without saying. One broken limb wasn't uncommon in the hero entrance exam where kids were put in the position of fighting with their quirks for the first time, but three was insane.

Sitting back down, he watched as the teachers judged the two students' actions for rescue points. In his opinion, those were the most important part of the exam. Anyone could fight if pushed into a corner, but not everyone had the gall or self-awareness to save. He did have to hand it to the kid: when his fellow test takers ran away or ignored it altogether in favor of the robots that would give them points, he jumped to the rescue of a girl he didn't even know, costing him precious time to gain a single point.

However, he also couldn't ignore the fact that he'd rendered himself useless with one hit. As incredible as it had been, a child could've taken him out with the state he was in now.

Kayama balked when he held up his points panel. "Four? Touya, you can't be serious. Did you see the same thing we did?"

"You know, I was wondering the same thing," Touya replied, "considering I saw a kid demolish his body in one go."

"Even you said it could've been the bot," Kan pointed out.

"Then he should've considered that. He wouldn't be able to save a fly with both his legs and his arm shattered."

"But four?" Kayama exclaimed. "He can improve once he's here so he doesn't do that! With a quirk like that, we could help shape him to become an incredible hero here."

"This is what being a hero is about," All Might added. The guy just had to keep on with his rhetoric.

Touya hardened his expression. "You know what?" Without breaking eye contact with Kayama, he set the four point panel aside and lifted the three point panel. "I changed my mind." She pressed her lips together in a thin line, glaring at him behind her mask, but he didn't give in. He knew he was being difficult on purpose, but he didn't care. Aizawa hadn't given a high score either, but his six points was still better than Touya's three. "He's going to get in anyways with this many rescue points."

"Then we better do our jobs," Kayama said coolly as she slowly set her panel down.

Yamada's announce that time was up echoed throughout the room. With the exams done and Recovery Girl heading out to heal the dumbass kid's arm and legs, the young teacher looked over his notes. He could honestly say there were more students in the general classes he wanted to work with this year. They had less opportunity to use their quirks safely and that was something he could relate to. How many times had he injured himself because of improper supervision or shitty training?

While Touya wasn't the one to assign the students to classes, he did have a small say in what students went to which homeroom teacher. Some of the more problematic ones could benefit better with guidance from certain heroes and teachers. Nezu always seriously considered his opinion. They had a certain understanding when it came to the safety of the students. Touya hated the fact that he felt any sort of pride over his opinion being considered, but he did. It felt nice to be trusted.

The little creature (Rat? Bear? A mix of the two? Touya had no fucking clue) wandered over to him and sat beside him. "What do you think?"

"I think the kids with the more difficult quirks should be split," Touya said, his eyes never leaving his notes. "Aizawa will pull his hair out if he gets the explosion kid, the kid who can faze in and out of shadows, the copycat, and All Might Jr." All Might choked and coughed into his napkin, but Touya ignored him. "I think you should seriously consider that all these kids are under the delusion that being a hero means having a strong quirk. We saw a lot, but we have no idea what kind of practice they have using them in hero scenarios other than today."

Nezu nodded, looking at the screen in front of them. UA was known for its hero program. Touya also knew it was by far the most difficult and that kind of pressure could take a toll on its students. It was the reason Aizawa was so hard on his students. It was why Touya had to be the voice of reason. Not everyone could mentally handle what pros did on a daily basis.

"We must consider the classes extra carefully this year then," Nezu commented offhandedly.

Touya nodded. "There's no other way around it. As far as I can tell, at first glance, there are over thirty students who could end up in my class."

"That number seems to keep growing every year," Nezu stated, a polite smile on his weird rat/bear/cat face.

"It's only been two years."

"And somehow, you've managed to double the amount of students you think need more direction," the Principal quipped back.

Touya rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair comfortably. "Would you prefer it if I weren't honest with you from the get-go?"

"Of course not. Your perspective and input have always benefited me in helping the next generation of heros."

"Great, let me just say something the. This particular generation grew up with All Might being the Symbol of Peace. They also grew up in a time where anyone could become a hero. No, don't give me that look, Nezu. There is literally a hero whose entire costume is a washing machine. Anyone with a useful enough quirk has a legitimate chance at becoming a pro. There's a kid who thinks that just because his hair can come off his head and stick to things, he has a real chance at being a pro-hero. The problem is that people are becoming heros because it's the best way to get paid well, to get famous, to get away with things that normal people can't.

"So, tell me: how is it not an obvious issue when a student, who has an actual chance at being a real hero, probably won't last long because they think their lives don't matter as much as the people's they're saving? These kids thrived off watching their heroes do more than they ever should and think they should do the same. That doesn't sit well with me - a civilian - and it shouldn't sit well with the pros currently working."

Touya stretched his legs out in front of him, shoving his hands as far into his pockets he could while he watched Nezu absorb his words. He'd spoken much more than he'd intended to, but every damn year so far he'd been forced to watch kids break themselves in order to live up to the abilities and expectations of the heroes they saw on television. Every year, he watched a few of those kids drop off the map. Two didn't seem like much, but it was more than enough when he knew some of the students he'd seen graduate wouldn't break the top one hundred or survive the next ten years. It sucked.

The rat simply offered him another polite smile after a moment. "You do have a point, Mr. Korihada. We'll take your suggestions into consideration as always."

The dark-haired man nodded absently and stood to get himself some more coffee. The day wasn't done yet. He would most likely spend the next few hours with Nezu, placing students with the most compatible teachers for all the courses. Touya scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to fight off the idea of napping for twenty minutes while he waited. He wanted to just go home like the rest of the teachers - like Aizawa who he knew was going to take a nap - but he knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He had a job to do, after all.

By the time he'd refilled his coffee, the room was mostly empty aside from the principal. He moved towards Nezu before plopping himself down in the chair beside him.

"Let's get started!" Nezu said excitedly.

"I want to go home," Touya muttered quietly.

Nezu simply laughed. "Soon, Mr. Korihada."

Touya desperately hoped he was right. Paperwork was draining.