Chapter Twelve: Emi (aka Ms. Joke)
Involving the events from Chapter 93-95. :)
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Emi grins as the small, spit-fire of a child throws her one last time.
Amused, the heroine throws a saucy wink and laughs at the outright glare.
It's like a little mini-Eraserhead.
She doesn't say that though, instead turning to raise an eyebrow at the very unamused man.
"Got a fan, huh?" she asks, unable to help herself.
Aizawa scowls, stuffing his hands in his pocket, and starts up the stairs.
"No."
Emi waits, hoping for more, but like usual, it doesn't come. Instead, he forces the stoic demeanor fully back in place she wonders only half-heartedly how long it will last.
Usually until the end.
Either when all of his students (all six of them one year) fail, or they pass with impressive results.
She wonders, silent as she follows behind him, whether this impressively full batch will fall.
She wonders where this spitfire of a girl will fall in all of this.
"Hey! Aizawa-sensei already has a family!"
"So what's this about a family?" Emi asks, sliding beside him in the hall and barely paying attention as they make their way to the stadium's stands. Despite it being in a different facility each time, it's hard to miss the brightly colored signs pointing observers towards their seats. She grins. "What'd you do, go and adopt one of your students or something?"
She laughs, expecting the humor to roll off him as always, but he raises an eyebrow and throws her an almost…
Is he amused? Why is he amused? What is this about? This isn't how this usually goes!
"Yes," he says.
She falters and stumbles, jaw-dropping to the floor.
"Wha-"
WHAT!?
By the time she's found her voice, he's turning a corner and she's scrambling behind him, wondering when the no-nonsense Aizawa found his sense of humor.
"Hah!" Emi laughs, "that's actually kinda hilarious-"
"And not a joke," he deadpans, and she could swear she sees a sparkle in the usually dead black eyes that NEVER joke, especially not in the field or when his students are about to take the field. Who replaced Eraser and where's the emergency? Is the sky falling? Have we hit the apocalypse? Is this Armageddon? Ragnarök?
"I can hear you," he huffs, pushing open a door and waiting for her to follow through.
That's new, she admits, staring wide-eyed as she passes out to the stadium designed for thousands. She doubts she counts more than a hundred spread amongst it.
"Oh!" she laughs, rubbing the back of her head with a grin. "So, uh, a kid huh? That's new!"
Eraserhead sighs and shoots her a rather unimpressed stare. Then, stepping forward, she follows as he picks a chair at random and settles into it. She tries sitting directly beside him, but ends up laughing when he immediately relocating nearly six seats over.
As if arm distance wasn't enough.
"Afraid of the cooties?" she teases mercilessly, wrinkling her nose.
She's almost certain he says yes under his breath. She can't help but cackle in delight.
I think I like this kid even more!
"You must really like this group this year," Emi laughs, grinning as she leans forward to press her elbows against her knees and hold her face. "I don't think I've ever seen them last this long."
"They all didn't," he says, and at the cooler tone, she knows instantly the words were a mistake.
She backpedals immediately, searching his face for answers she knows he probably won't give.
A newsreel plays in her head, the dark-haired man scowling at the media with a fresh-shaven look and hair swept in a tidy bun that looks absolutely nothing like the Eraser she's always adored. Fresh, clean-cut, and suave.
"Miser Eraserhead, why did you give students permission to participate in the villain attack?" the reporter called, his face obscured as the camera lingered on the staff lined at the table.
"There was no other choice."
"A follow up, sir! What about the students injured?"
"All students are being treated to our utmost ability and mental health services are being added to help them overcome this trauma," said the little mouse-like figure of the Principal. He smiles sadly and pointedly at the camera. "We are of course devastated by the loss-"
Emi grimaces.
"I'm sorry," she admits, all signs of humor disappearing as she sighs and stares at the arena below. Mountains, a lake, a city, and a road. A perfect assortment if her class can only get the advantage. Run fast, hit hard, and no matter what, don't give up until you're the last one laughing! "I lost one last year. Epsilon. That's rough."
She can still recall the boy's bright smile, his blonde hair and excitable personality so at odds with the dangerous thorns that pierced all over his skin. She'd teased him back in his first year that he should have named himself the Rose and let her color his hair.
"Bright pink to go with that lime green costume of yours! Whadya say?"
"Uh, how about no?"
He'd died as a sidekick rescuing an elderly couple from falling debris.
Even a year later, it ached something fierce.
"He's not dead," Eraserhead says, all of the emotions gone from his voice. But she doesn't miss the way he folds his arms, almost defensively across his chest, or the way his fingers dig in with knuckles pale. "He was told to stay behind, he didn't, and now he will spend the rest of his life dealing with those consequences."
She snorts, but unlike usual, it lacks most of her normal rowdiness.
"As if that makes you feel less guilty," Emi says, eyes sweeping past the arena to glance towards the other coaches and teachers speckled throughout. Too many. She glances, moments later, to connect to his dark ones.
Beautiful…
She could honestly stare into them forever.
Wow that was sappy!
"You don't fool me Eraser," she continues, wiggling her eyebrows and sparing an obnoxious smirk, anything really to lessen the sudden oppressive emotions between them. "Though if you want a shoulder to cry on, I've got two and a dinner reservation?"
He glowers.
Emi really can't help but grin at the familiar-ness of it.
"Date me?"
"No," he growls, turning his head and completely avoiding her. He glares forward and she almost feels bad about it.
Almost.
"So, you adopted a kid huh? The little spitfire I'm guessing?"
"Rin," he corrects, almost as if habit. His mouth immediately snaps closed, expression twisting into regret, and she laughs gaily.
She definitely liked this kid.
"Rin," Emi repeats, rolling the name against her tongue. She tries to imagine him participating in fatherly activities, trying to imagine him as anything like her own amazing Papa.
She can't help but erupt into loud, boisterous sniggers.
The idea of Eraserhead dressed in lime green shirts, covered in sawdust, and telling ridiculous, unbearable jokes at the dinner table seems antithetical.
"Heh, what happened to that no big happy family?"
"Why are you so obsessed with my family?" he cuts back, annoyed.
"Curiosity, but you're certainly welcome to make me a part of it!" she cuts in, unable to resist such an obvious opening.
He glowers, turns down to the field, and ignores her completely.
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Hoki Rin.
Emi watched the Sports Festival just like most of Japan. She had attended, in all honesty, hidden in the crowd with a signature mask and phone to take detailed notes on each of the hopefuls. She remembered exactly which one Hoki had been.
Dark-haired, fierce-faced, and obviously powerful.
She'd watched as the girl threw herself through the obstacle course with what could only amount to sheer, raw talent.
And she'd watched her stop at the mines and just… quit.
She'd focused more on the green-haired boy in the second round, curious to analyze his tactics as he avoided his foes with a tactical genius that reminded her immediately of Shindo. However, she'd also been impressed with the purple-haired boy, his obvious ease at command and the way he'd kept the Hoki girl focused and driven the entire time.
Mind Control.
The rage she'd shown on the field after that had been less surprising, the explosiveness, the power both terrifying and admirable.
"She relies heavily on her quirk. Get in close, destroy her momentum, and take her out first," were her words to her students. Her and the loud hooligan tied to the stump and Endeavour's son. "And watch out for the planner, you'll want to target him early too."
Emi grimaces as her student's plan fails.
"Well that sucked," she groans, wincing as the dark-haired girl decimates her students. She can see the moment Shindo realizes the same thing and abandons the plan, instead shattering the ground and scattering the others. It was a plan they had discussed, a contingency three or four down in case of an extremely overpowered opponent or opponents.
Did the girl even realize how much of a concession she'd delivered?
Eraserhead breaths deeply, clearly just as unhappy by the new situation.
"That was impressive," she offers, fingers itching to do more than watch. "Your girl's powerful."
"She's barely trying," he grunts, eyes narrowed towards the area she had rolled to with who Emi thought might be the invisible girl, but really, at such a distance, it was hard to tell.
"Oh? How's that?"
Eraser spares her a sharp, almost knowing look.
Yeah, she was trying to get the dirt on the competition. So what? If the girl didn't pass, they'd be opponents again in only a few short months. Of course she was digging!
"Her quirk is emotional manifestation," he says wryly, and Emi realizes uncomfortably that if he's telling her he's fully anticipating her success.
"Eh? Didn't ya'll call it shadow manipulation in the Sports Festival?"
The hero smirks, eyes not leaving the sight as the two girls just seem to take a moment to talk. Of course, they're interrupted by the wind boy further over in the city tearing through a good tenth of the applicants, but she can almost understand his belief. Especially when the girl doesn't even bother with a real plan, just stepping out into the opening and exploding into motion.
She's nothing like the girl from the Sports Festival though.
Every dodge minimal, her shadows snaking forward like a whip—like a…
Like a scarf.
She raises an eyebrow as she suddenly recognizes the familiarity of those attacks.
"You taught her your attack style?" Emi laughs, unable to stop herself as she watches her take down the figure and score a spot extremely high in the ranks. "That's amazing! You two are hilarious! You really are great at this Daddy thing, aren't you? She's like a little mini-Eraser for real now!"
"Be quiet."
Her laughter only increases as his expression tightens.
"That's so adorable!"
"Ugh."
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Emi is honestly unsure who is more surprised by the conclusion of the first round. Of course, UA and Shiketsu would have the greater number of students pass, they traditionally excelled at rounds related to fighting due to their own biases towards flashy, obnoxious quirks.
Her own students would have to work twice as hard to overcome not only the lack of prestige between schools but to also learn the tactics necessary to compete against such a flashy quirk. It was one of the reasons she'd adored Eraser.
Tall, dark, and quiet. He lacked all of the showmanship needed in their line of work. He didn't have a flashy quirk, but he had a powerful one. A man that by all definitions probably should have been delegated a purely support position had somehow managed to define himself as a force of his own.
And a nearly unheard of one.
The only real con, she'd found, was his general interest in being a teacher at UA of all places.
And his complete disregard for relationships of any kind with anyone other than the two besties he'd met in school.
But other than that…
Emi shakes her head, unable to stop the small giggle, as she excitedly sees a good third of her class make it through.
"That was pretty close," she laughs, rubbing her head as she watches him reign in his own anxiety at the large assortment of his own students so nearly getting cut off. "Nervous? Need me to hold your hand?"
He scowls back.
She grins completely unrepentant.
It only widens when the stadium structures explode and civilian actors swarm onto the field that she can't help but break into loud guffaws.
"Oh, rescue! My favorite!"
Eraser doesn't have to respond for her to know it's not his.
Typical UA, focusing more on the ability to fight than their rescue efforts.
Though, in his particular defense, she supposed he had reason to. How many times had they been attacked? Twice? Three times?
"Hey Eraser, you know your fly's down?"
His nostrils flare.
She almost wishes the girl was here with them too. She has no doubt her reactions would be just as entertaining, if not more so.
"Oh?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. "Well aren't you a cutie-pattootie!"
"No."
Ah… dreams.
"Date me!"
"No," he snaps. "Focus."
She does, but only because the building is falling away and her students are finally getting their chance to shine! Nakagame and Toteki going to assist with healing. Makabe and Shindo leaving to assist with rescue. And she glimpses a few more spread throughout, immediately falling into the familiar practice she had drilled them on for months.
"When it comes to rescue, experience really is key."
Of course it is, that's why they don't bring their students until at least their second year.
If he'd have waited, given his students just a few more months, she has no doubt they'd be unstoppable. She supposes there's no reason to be upset with UA's foolishness when it actively benefits them. But then she watches Hoki sprout brilliant, glowing wings, and she can't help but stare in disbelief.
"Didn't you saw emotional manifestation?" she manages.
"Yes," the man grinds out, outwardly glaring.
"Uh, I'm pretty sure she is glowing. How in the world did she get listed under shadow manipulation," Emi huffs. "Last time I checked, shadows do not glow. Dude, she just sprouted wings!"
He glowers.
Emi chokes when she tackles the nearly shirtless boy off the side of the building, gliding down with the redhead wiggling and screaming below.
"They're so cute!" she squeaks. "Maybe they'll start dating and have little babies-"
She sniggers when Aizawa almost seems to turn green.
"HAHAHA!"
"Can you not be quiet?"
"We could date and have little babies-"
"No."
"Oh Eraser! I love your quick retorts," she tells him, winking overtly.
He almost looks pleased when the side of the wall blows away, though she isn't sure if that's to distract him from her or the rather pitiful performance his rather inexperienced first years are putting on. Emi honestly doesn't blame him for the later. His girl is running around hugging half-naked men. The loud, blonde one is obviously failing when he explodes at a civillian couple not once, or even twice, but three times in quick succession. And then, when the enemies start streaming out, the Todoroki boy and the Shiketsu wind-kid decide to have an argument in the middle of a freakin' villain attack.
First years…
"I guess fame really isn't everything," she drawls, unable to help the dig.
He pinches his nose.
A moment later a giant, hodgepodge of a monster stampedes through. It looks like some kind of children's drawing, with strange dog-like legs, a misshapen head, and the trunk of an elephant. The entire thing made of nothing but black shadows, a desolate galaxy seemingly trapped within.
It plows through the enemy soldiers without pause, exploding into the wall and stopping any further invasion.
She gapes, caught completely unaware by the sheer size of it.
"What the hell is that-"
"That would be Rin," the hero responds, sounding somehow equal parts proud and exasperated.
Emi nearly expects a second monster. Instead, she stares as a shield envelops her, giving the Shiketsu Rock boy just long enough to knock away several attackers with his hammer, and then watching her laser bean a stream of dark, licking flames.
What is this kid?
She tries to focus on her own students, but Eraser's and Shiketsu's are hard to ignore as they join the fray in fantastical feats that seem more akin to a fantasy novel than a battlefield. Hair curling around enemies, a frog girl snatching guns with her tongue, Shindo tearing apart the land and slowing the incoming attack, and the fire tornado dispersing at last.
When the buzzer finally ends, she can barely contain the energy at that finale. They were epic! That was the kind of battle that made her blood thunder in her veins, that made her want to get out there and do something. She jumps to her feet with a laugh, stretching and popping and excitedly considering and discarding at least a hundred different jokes.
They passed!
She doesn't need to see the scores to know it.
She grins at the dark-haired man and offers him a saucy wink.
"Well that was fun Eraser, but duty calls! How about a kiss goodbye?"
She adores the sheer handsomeness of his annoyance. A man should not look that good glowering. And if there was time, she'd stick around to poke and prod at him just a little longer. But her students had passed, and as much as she enjoyed spending time with the hero, they really did need her more.
"Ja!" she laughs, throwing him a quick, half salute. "Call me!"
"No."
She cackles and races from the room, down the hall, and around the corner.
And if she just happens to pass a certain dark-haired firecracker in the hall?
Well, a joke or two wouldn't hurt, right?