Chapter 9: "Alright, alright, settle down. You all did well-

What is this!? Another surprise issue of

I AM HERE!

Chapter 8.5: "Get dressed in your gym uniforms. We'll be conducting a physical exam today to set a baseline-"

*CRASH!*

Chapter 8.5 Addendum: "I have arrived! To help supervise-"

"To clean the broken glass you muscle headed fool."

"A.. ah… Aizawa-kun, please stop glaring at me… I just wanted to make a cool entrance too..."

Commissioned by shaderic
Word Count: 2118

Toshinori

Kaaaaaaa! Midoriya shooooouuuuuneeeeen! Kakuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

To think you have come so far as to equal, no, surpass! Yes, surpass the my own technique of cooly making an entrance!

Not even I, All Might, was so skilled in the usage of One for All so early on in my own youth and tutelage under my Shishou!

Not only that, but to make such an entrance whilst carrying your beloved, why, it was the very image of a true hero of justice!

I cannot be outdone!

I had been crouching outside of the classroom entrance, trembling in worry that my charge and his intended were going to be late on their first day! I had prepared to enter the room to reassure Aizawa-kun they had most assuredly been delayed due to their unfamiliarity with their new commuting route and schedule!

But I had not needed to!

Naze?

Because Midoriya Izuku had so stylishly entered the room just as my fellow teacher had hopped his sleeping bag into the hallway!

He had paused to stare at me strangely before shrugging and heading inside the classroom. I had nodded in return, slowly walking outside towards the courtyard with my mind full of heavy thoughts once more.

My protege was so cool!

But that was not all! Indeed to my experienced and well trained eye, it appeared that my students have already sought to make connections amongst their peers!

The youngest son of my good friend, Enji-kun, had shown his cold exterior to merely be one of brimming self confidence rather than any sort of egoist self aggrandizing of self image. It was shameful of me to have believed the small, shy boy, had allowed his obvious strength, polished good looks, and father's position to have grown into anything but the well meaning young man I had known during his youth!

Shame on you Toshinori. To have even doubted for a moment, no, to have been fooled by the cool detachment of the young man's mask…

I must rectify this immediately. I will clear my schedule so that I may visit Enji-kun beyond mere business-

Ah.

Of course. My lack of contact over the years is the reason why Enji-kun had received me so coldly when I had appeared at his home to personally hand his son's acceptance into UA. We who had been comrades in arms during our youth had drifted apart as our responsibilities grew and our paths diverged.

Him as a father and myself as the foolish idealist who had given his youth to chase a dream.

It is true that I could have tried harder, found more time to reconnect with the friends I'd made as a student. But perhaps a part of me had grown bitter.

That my friends had moved on beyond simply living their dreams and had settled down roots to do their part in raising the next generation. That one by one, the comrades who had fought at my side had spent less and less time to protect society from the ravages of villainy in the only way we had known.

Only, I was too foolish to see that perhaps, I had stayed upon my path for too long. Instead of throwing myself back into the fire after my wounds had barely healed, I should have spent more time looking to and mentoring the next generation as so many of my own class had done.

Fufu. A fool you are indeed, Toshinori. This was a path you have begun to walk without even having realized it for what it really meant.

I had missed my chance to raise a family of my own, but it was not too late for a faded old man to guide the way forward for the wide-eyed boys and girls my own generation had brought up.

No more running away Toshinori.

I will make the time. My responsibilities do not solely remain among the people, but for the friends and connections I have made in my life.

I will call Enji tonight to make plans. But first…

I must make a lasting, positive impression as my own protege, his girlfriend, and my friend's son have!

"TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

Having walked myself outside where I could still see the size ten crater in the dirt, I placed my own, larger footprint upon it and leapt mightily into the air!

Knowing that my heroic yell of exertion had drawn the attention of the students within this entire side of the building, I powered through the air, aiming for the exact same window that my students had entered their classroom with a victorious exclamation!

"HAHAHAHAHA! Here I am, making a suitably heroic entrance through a closed window-"

Hah?

"Would one of you students be so kind toopenthatwindowbackup-" I managed to quickly belt out before crashing through the shatterproof glass rated for high caliber rifle rounds, and land in a crunching crouch next to the desk of a surprised child who squeaks at sitting so close to Japan's #1 Hero!

"-please? Erhm, I mean, HAHAHAHAHA!" I manage to cover up the last part of my no longer relevant request before standing with my nervously clenched fists pressing into my hips!

"Hello Class 1-A! It is I, All Might! Doubtless your homeroom teacher has things well in hand, but I, as a new teacher, would like to watch the orientation proceedings to better learn-"

"All Might. What are you doing?" Aizawa-kun politely questions my intrusion- "Are you an idiot? What the hell kind of numbskull decides to destroy school property, frighten his students, and possibly injure them with flying debris," He takes a breath-

"Instead of using the door like a normal, intelligent three year old?" A-Aizawka-kun's voice rumbles hotly, his hair and bandages beginning to rise threateningly in the suddenly existent breeze.

I find my formerly well hidden nerves flowing into my laughter. And then my laughter falls into chuckling as his bloodshot eyes continue to gaze my way until I find my voice trailing off into a silent death.

"W-well… I… uh… you see!" I attempt to find an explanation that'll stop that terrifying glare!

Aizawa-kun! Your eyes are still as scary as ever!

"Oh my God." Katsuki-kun shivers, placing her dismayed face into her hands. "He's like a five, no, a two year old."

"I-" I attempt to put an affronted word in

"It's like he sees something he thinks is cool, and decides to follow through without thinking about his actions." She continues to mumble softly into her hands, never once making eye contact with my slowly hunching shoulders.

"Uh-" I try to find words even as the rest of the class begins to mutter.

"That was really scary All Might-sensei. Koji-chan? Are you alright?" A girl with a blank expression asks, softly petting the large boy I'd covered in bits of bulletproof glass.

"Oh goodness! Come on Koda-kun, I'll take you to the nurse, is that okay sensei?" Yaoyorozu Momo, one of the students who had been recommended into UA, gently coos and brushes off the glass over the trembling boy's shoulders before sending a glance towards my fellow teacher.

"Sure. Get dressed in your gym uniforms and meet us out in the training field." Aizawa-kun responds, waving them off from underneath his sleeping bag.

"Hey, I thought that was pretty cool!" A red-haired teenager with sharp, shark-like teeth attempts to comfort me with a fading smile. "But that was kinda not manly? We're not in a shounen manga or nothin. You could really hurt someone without a defensive quirk like that!"

And I feel my slightly rising shoulders fall further, a wave of depression beginning to weigh heavily upon my sweating back.

"I-it's alright All Might-sensei!"

Midoriya shounen!

I raise my eyes, only to see the nervously smiling boy refusing to look at me as his trembling expression is instead focused on comforting his lover.

"You, uh, well. Um… yeah?" He tries, desperately trying to come up with an ever slowing jumble of words as young Bakugou scrapes her fingers down low enough so that her incredulous and dead eyes can make contact with the now silent boy.

"... sorry sensei." Izuku-kun hangs his head with a wince, rubbing soothing circles around the pale haired girl's back.

"That was a little dumb." He speaks what's on his mind, agreeing with the girl who has returned to her soft, disappointed mutterings, even as he props her up against himself and begins leading her towards the changing rooms followed by the rest of the class.

But not before Katsuki-kun pauses in her steps, looks at me, and leaves the room, her expression one full of shattered dreams and crushed expectations.

Again.

No!

I have to do something!-

"Clean this up and meet us down in the field. Like a normal person. By taking the door and not causing more property damage by jumping down to the ground." Aizawa-kun enunciates clearly and slowly, one hand poking out of his sleeping bag and pointing towards a small dustpan and broom.

…

"H-hai, sensei…" I reply quietly with a small, shameful nod.

What else could I be expected to say? He was a teacher and he's right about my ineptitude as a-

…

Uuuuu...

"It's okay Katuski-kun. At the very least I finished the work you gave me and memorized the entire semester's curriculum!" I spoke aloud, clenching my fist and straightened my back-

"Clean! The. Mess!" My fellow instructor pokes his head back into the classroom momentarily.

A second later of looking over my once more hunched over form, he nods to himself and the telltale sound of a sleeping bag hopping down the hall fills my ears as do the continued mutters of the students who haven't left earshot.

"Man, that really was kinda dangerous wasn't it?" Hrk!

"I knooooowwww~ You think he's, you know, got 8th grader syndrome?" Gaaaaaah!?

"We shouldn't be so hard on him, guys." H-hoh?

"Indeed, Uraraka-san is correct." Iida shounen-! "It is not easy being a hero."

Uooooooh!

"Yeah, he's right. Multiple head injuries over like what, twenty years? That's no joke man" Hraaaaaargh!

"Mm… I still think Ashido-san might be onto something. Did you see he tried to play it off until he was confronted by multiple people? Maybe he's just used to being in character too long." Gyah!

"Nah, could be a generational thing? Like, he thinks he has to be 'hip' and 'cool' for us students and all that." Kah!

"Dunno. Maybe he's just an idiot?" ...urgh.

"That. Exactly that. The Number One Hero of Japan… is an overgrown muscle brain."

…

M-maybe I could use another perspective.

*Bring!*

"Yeah? The hell do you want Toshinori?" Enji-kun grumbled over the phone.

"W-what do you think of me, Enji-kun?" I ask, voice laced with hopeful desperation-

"The hell kind of question is that? You're a goddamn moron is what I think." He snorts. "Don't call me during work hours unless it's an emergency. Isn't that one of the first things they taught us in hero school? Call me later."

The phone remains pressed into my ear despite my hand having gone slack and the dial tone having begun to buzz.

…

"Ha...ha...ha…"

"Ha."

"Looks like you're still a hothead, Toshi. Don't worry about other people's expectations so much." I could imagine my master's voice giggling in the background as I sighed and began to sweep the debris into the comically undersized dustpan.

Yes.

I guess I'm still a fool.

I finish my task with a small, tired small pressed against my lips.

Even though she's been gone for years, the lessons she taught me many years ago are still relevant to someone as lacking as myself.

"I'll try harder, Shishou." I promise to her, my students, my old comrades, and myself.

I'm a slow learner, this is true.

But it's also true that I've gotten to where I have by being the most dogged, determined, and enduring Hero that I could be.

Now, I just have to focus that tenacity on being an educator.

"Heh, hahaha." I can't help the small, low chuckle full of nostalgic cheer as I finish cleaning and slowly make my way out of the classroom.

Starting from the bottom, one more time, huh Toshi?

With a Smile.