After a Comment from PsionicCausality on AO3, I want to bring up that although I try to be accurate in my writing, I am writing with western views. This is important to this chapter and the next specifincally because there is such a major difference in views for both teaching and Mental Illness.
I was not aware of the view for teachers at all and the distance they usually hold from their students.
As for the mental health issues, I was aware of a stigma but had a head canon that I am going to share now, rather than later: With the dawn of quirks, people developed a wide range of behavioral issues due to the way the quirks rewire them, often leading to unignorable issues. Then, when the heroics profession came about, heroes probably had to deal with horrific stuff on the job that would have deep psychological impacts. So, while the view on mental illness may not be the same as in western culture, it was forced to be acknowledged on a larger scale than in prequirk Japan. There is still a stigma but it is not as great.
Growing Concerns
Having finished his discussion with Shuzenji, Shota went to the set of computers provided for the teaching staff. He had a lot of work that extended far beyond his usual heroics lessons. When Hound Dog reached out to him, he wanted to have his proposal ready for the best times to set his students assessments up for in relation to class time. Then, there was setting up Midoriya's new schedule and working through the paperwork for becoming his Quirk Counselor.
And at some point, he definitely wanted to get those mock forms ready to go. Although he wasn't looking forward to the work involved with setting them up, he could honestly admit that he was almost excited for the results. He could say goodbye to a large portion of his usual punishments, instead of giving his students a learning experience that would probably encourage them to behave far more than any regular detention ever could, with the added benefit of extra encouragement for them to be careful once they entered the field. No one went into heroics for the paperwork related to incident reports, damages, legal issues and the myriad of other problems that they had to deal with. But it was a necessary skill, especially for the members of the class who had destructive Quirks.
Shota sighed and got started on the tasks at hand. As he did so, he found his mind wandering to a topic he'd banished, earlier. On how his relationship with his current students varied so greatly from previous years.
He understood what the difference was, of course. It was actually two-fold, playing into both his roles as a teacher and as a hero.
His previous classes had just been some kids he was shaping up for the heroics field. Nothing more, nothing less. He pushed them hard and gave no quarter to those who couldn't keep up his pace. He usually offered one fake expulsion to each student with an iota of potential so that they might experience a 'death', but then started handing out real ones after. If anyone did the math, they'd realize that he hadn't been here for the eight years it would take to teach over 150 students, let alone expel that many. A lot of those numbers were only there because of the first expulsion he gave to every student, plus the second that the true failures received afterward. Although, never more than two.
He didn't truly throw students out of the course unless he was sure they lacked the potential to make it in the hero world.
Otherwise, he didn't really interact with them much at all. Some of the students from his earlier years had already had their careers and in one case, their life, cut short from injuries sustained in the field. And that was in 'peaceful' times.
Despite the distance he'd kept from them, the news was still hard to hear. He always wondered if there was something he could've done. Some lessons he could've gotten across better, that would've saved the young men and women.
Shota had refused to let himself become more attached. This position required him to choose between each student's education as a hero and their safety as a teenager. He'd soon find himself fired if he expelled them all and told them to look for a safer career because he didn't want to see them get hurt. So, he held them all at as far a distance as he could, while ensuring himself that they'd learned as much as possible to help them stay alive on the job.
Meanwhile, he continued with his heroics as usual, able to keep his work in the field completely separate from his teaching duties at U.A. He would take down a different set of villains and save different civilians each time, none of which he would likely see again after he resolved the situation.
Occasionally, he'd work with other heroes, the police or even some local vigilantes. And depending on each other for survival, often multiple times over, was one of the few ways he'd found he could build trust with others anymore.
This year had started off like any other. He had figured his largest challenge would be dealing with a few teens from exceptionally high-profile families. Other than that, ihe'd expected it to be pretty standard. A bunch of overconfident kids. A few bad attitudes.
Even Midoriya's expectation defying stunt on day one had marked him as possibly being one of "those ones;" the kids each teacher would get at least once or twice in their career that defied expectation and explanation, Ending up being their personal references for what 'plus ultra' represented among their students. Rare, yes, but certainly not one of a kind.
But there was nothing about the students that had seemed outright life changing to Shota.
Then the USJ happened.
Shota's stance as a teacher shaping up the new recruits and his position the hero working to protect civilians from dangerous villains, which he had worked so hard to keep on separate tracks, had collided spectacularly the moment that the warper had manifested within the building.
Then, he had to protect his students. Not only that but he was also probably still alive only because of some of these kids, who were barely trained at all at the time. They'd all depended on each other in order to survive the first coordinated large scale villain attack since the early days of All Might's tenure as the number one hero.
Of course, then there was the fact that, unlike regular civilians, who he almost never saw again after saving them or even the people he occasionally worked with in the field, he had to deal with this group almost every day after the fact.
That had been an interesting realization to come to when Shota dragged himself into the classroom, covered in bandages. He'd been so relieved to be out from under Hizashi's concerned watch, until he'd realized he had traded out for a room full of worried gazes. That's when it all sank in. After everything that had just happened at the USJ, he was going to be seeing these kids several hours a week for a year and continue to see them around the school for the following two.
Shota told himself it wouldn't change anything. He tried to convince himself that he could still maintain that same emotional distance that he had for his previous classes.
...Yeah. Right.
Looking back, if Shota were to pinpoint where the cracks to that plan first started to show, he would say it was during the tournament match between Bakugou and Uraraka. Usually, he would've just held his tongue, knowing that handling public backlash was part of being a hero and letting the students learn to deal with it. Instead, he'd been too pissed off to stay quiet.
These kids had just fought for their lives not even a month prior and now Bakugou had to deal with the public's scorn for going all out in a competition, while Uraraka was being stereotyped as a poor, helpless, defenseless little damsel?
Still, at the time, he was able to chalk that up to not wanting to deal with people's idiotically illogical, sexist views.
Then there was Stain's arrest. Was he ignoring the reports of evidence of Quirk damage and ice chunks that would match offensive damage from his 'cornered students' Quirks in the alleyway, where 'Endeavor defeated Stain' while his students supposedly just watched? Well, he wasn't officially told anything. And what of the footage of Stain's rant, as he stood on that Nomu with a familiar green-haired figure clearly making it into the recording that was clearly not taken in said alley? Well, it was taken down so quickly, he couldn't look over it again to verify what he saw and he didn't feel like racing censors to find the clip again. The whole thing was just a ridiculous amount of work to go through.
Besides, Shota had been far too busy looking over the Public Safety Commission's site to double-check the lower age limit for provisional licenses as well as finding the next testing dates. He had already been considering enrolling Class 1-A into the Licensing Exam, anyway. He figured he might as well get a head start.
If Shota wanted to get some sleep, he certainly couldn't be chasing said footage. Especially when he still had to plan the next day's activities for the new gen ed student he was focusing on while his class was away at their internships, as well. This first week, testing limits and setting up a training routine to suit them, was critical to Shinsou's chances of success.
Shota couldn't deny it anymore after he allowed Yaoyorozu's plan to work during the practical, though. That was definitely to help her recover her confidence. And, judging from her reaction, he might have been a touch too obvious about it.
And from there, it had spiraled. Midoriya had already participated in the optional summer training activity and was already off to I-Island when Naosama finally leaked out a particularly important piece of information about a villain encounter resulting in the evacuation of a newly opened Wookies Mall a few days prior. That being how it had been Tomura Shigaraki grabbing Midoriya by the neck to 'chat' with him. Which, honestly, he should've heard about from Shuzenji, since she was called in to heal the marks left by the strangulation Uraraka had interrupted.
He wished he had thought of talking about better communication with the woman earlier. He supposed he'd just have to bring it up the next time he saw her.
Then, before Shota could even do anything with the information about Midoriya's latest traumatic experience, I-Island went silent for the first time ever… With half his students present. He hadn't been able to get his answers yet, but Midoriya would probably help fill in the gaps soon enough with his reports.
At the very least, he figured that with all the precautions they'd taken, the summer training session with the Pussy Cats would be villain free.
But, no! Instead, they had U.A. Life or Death Experience Number Two: Full First-Year Hero Course Edition. Complete with several wounded students and one actually getting abducted and the opening to the Kamino Ward incident.
Oh, Kamino Ward.
In previous years, he wouldn't have hesitated with the mass expulsion. And, considering how quickly the commission tried to cover up the fact that it wasn't trained heroes but a bunch of kids who rescued Bakugou, they might've gotten away with it, with Shota being none the wiser… If Endeavor hadn't called Nezu to ask, if this was a school for heroes and not vigilantes, why was he melting a very recognizable ice ramp?
Shota hadn't wanted to question the students, to make someone give up their secret and put a black mark on the trust between them that had helped save their lives but knew he would if he had to. Luckily, some security footage from the hospital had found its way to his desk. None of his coworkers admitted to being the one to retrieve it without a permit and he didn't ask. He was thankful, though.
Looking over footage, it was obvious when the meeting to discuss this had happened and all who were present. And then the footage of the smaller group meeting up in front of the building the night of the raid, showed him who went.
And yet, would Bakugou have been saved if they hadn't acted? Would All Might have won the fight with a hostage on site?
There was no evidence that the students had actually engaged the villains.
In the past, Shota would've never made such excuses, but there he was.
And now… Now, he was demanding his students get therapy with Hound Dog and requesting updates from Recovery Girl, like he was a concerned parent rather than a teacher. He was even stepping in as a Quirk counselor for one of them?!
Shota couldn't even hold his usual distance with students who had nothing to do with the 1-A, anymore. His relationship with Hitoshi Shinsou was proof of that. What was he supposed to do, after this year? Because he knew that he'd never be able to go back to how he was, beforehand.
At one point, Shota glanced up at the clock and realized that it was almost lunch time. He felt like he'd barely made a dent in his workload, but he wasn't going to miss this opportunity to take a nap. His eyes were burning, and he knew it wasn't just the usual side effect of his Quirk. So, he began to wrap up his work for the morning, knowing he could continue on his laptop when he got back to the dorm that evening, after his after-school session with Shinsou and going back to Nezu's office to introduce Midoriya to the Mouse-Bear-Dog—who knew what else—Chimera.
Ugh, just thinking about it made Shota more tired. Well, it could all wait. For now, he was going to suck down a few nutrient pouches and crash under his desk.
And that was exactly what he proceeded to do. Although, he could never slip into a deep sleep at the school. He was able to doze, stirring at each noise just enough to confirm there was no need to react, before slipping back into his sleep.
Then, he heard a certain set of footsteps.
Something interesting that many people might not notice, is that each person moves slightly differently. Their gait. The weight in their steps. How they walk or run.
Aizawa had learned to recognize the sound of a few people, just by ear. Therefore, he recognized the footsteps, even before they entered the classroom and approached his desk.
Shota sighed, before sitting up and pushing the chair from his desk for his oldest friend to sit in. "What is it, Hizashi?"
So, I had been struggling to find scenes for these chapters that could make time flow smoothly but would be more than just filler scenes. Several people have pointed out that I haven't really focused on many of Aizawa's flaws all that much the way I have on other characters so far in this story…the conversations of the previous night didn't give me a chance but I have honestly been thinking long and hard on some of them. I had to put aside some rose tinted glasses.
It was from these thoughts that I came to a decisions for how to treat these chapters. Here, he is focused on why things are different with this year's students and in that focus highlights but fails to really see his fault as a teacher who cares only about the students' performance, also highlighting why he is not exactly 'on the ball' with this year's students as well, despite caring more deeply than ever before. He's not really used to looking for their problems after spending years trying to avoid any deep connections to his students.
And let me stress this: reasons are not excuses. The fact that he missed the signs because he is just breaking from his usual behavior of purposeful negligence and isn't used to looking for them is not an excuse. It's actually pretty terrifying to think that he's been neglecting the psychological wellbeing of his students for his own health. It also brings up the fact that these are kids who are being trained to/placed out in the field to place themselves in direct danger at the ages of 15 and 16.
So, yeah. During the Kamino incident, Shoto made a big ol ice ramp and it didn't look like he stuck around to melt it after Izuku, Iida and Kirishima launched off it. I would like to think that Endeavor would be able to recognize his son's handywork. And lets face it, if he didn't confront his kid about taking on Stain, he's most certainly not going to bring up being bested a second time so shortly after, since he was part of the team meant to rescue Bakugou. On the other hand, this is two vigilante incidents that Endeavour knows about (possibly three, depending on if he has any connections on I-Island) since entering UA. He also wouldn't think that expulsion was a possibility because Shoto Todoroki is the extremely powerful son of the number 2…oh wait…number 1 hero.
Warning: hinted manga spoilers in the paragraph below. Proceed at your own risk.
By sheer number of kids Aizawa has expelled (with 18-20 kids a year, I don't know how he could even be in charge of over a hundred and fifty kids, let alone expel that many between the time he joins UA in the Vigilantes Manga to the beginning of the series). Also, since he is not in charge of his previous year's students even though they are in their second year, I hate to say it but, if there is a second year at UA, I don't think he will be the home room teacher for our current 1-A Students under normal circumstances (Manga readers understand why I say if; for future context, when I post this, the Manga is at chapter 275 as I post this and I am nervous for what the next few chapters might bring).