"So we pull in the third highest viewing figures in the country for our show which I'm very proud of, it's been a long journey since those podcasts back at UA."
Hizashi had been telling him about his radio show since they'd got in the car to head over to the studio and despite Hitoshi not knowing much about anything his Papa was describing, the sheer enthusiasm and love he spoke of it with brought a smile to his face.
That had been a few hours ago and since then Papa had provided him his own VIP tour of the studio building with the last stop being the main attraction and the part that Hitoshi was personally the most excited about.
"Come on in." Zashi invited, holding open the door to the studio booth.
Inside were two desks pushed against each other acting as an island in the centre of the room where mics were mounted to the ceiling above hanging down over monitors, a board thing of knobs and dials, and numerous sets of headphones.
"Hey Mic, I just got off the phone and the scheduling changes have been approved, we put it out on social media earlier and I'm happy to report that the fans are just glad that they have you back. And I mean there were a bunch of people not happy about the shows being reduced so drastically but who gives a shi-."
The woman, who had her arms full of binders and cardboard folders stilled, clearly having not noticed him before she'd burst into conversation with the voice hero. Seconds later however she dumped the contents down on the desk and let out a squeal.
"You must be Shinsou, it's so nice to meet you! I've heard soooooo much about you from Present Mic!"
Despite feeling a little overwhelmed Hitoshi tried to offer her a smile that showed his growing anxiety the least. His throat felt tight as he knew the words he needed wouldn't come. He could only nod and hope that he didn't look stupid for the total lack of response.
Papa placed a hand reassuringly on his shoulder.
"Melody."
"Yeah?"
"Take a breath."
"Okay." She giggled. "Sorry I just got a little excited."
"We can see that." Hizashi smiled. "And what have I told you about introductions just in case?"
"Oh, sorry!" She apologised before her hands began to move. 'NAME ME M-E-L-O-D-Y. NAME HERO M-E-L-O-D-Y P-O-P. NAME YOU WHAT?'
'NAME ME H-I-T-O-S-H-I A-I-Z-A-W-A. NAME HERO M-I-N-D-J-A-C-K.'
"Aizawa?!" Melody turned to Hizashi in an instant. "Awwwwwww you adopted him!" She beamed with another accompanying squeal.
Papa smiled.
"We should probably get on with the show."
"Right." She nodded as she began getting set up.
'SCHEDULE CHANGE WHAT?' He signed.
"I've been doing some thinking and I've decided to only host the show on Friday's."
Hitoshi's eyes widened.
'WHAT WHY?!'
"Because I want to spend more time with my family, and I'm getting old too you know? Doing a show every night until the early hours was sustainable when I was in my late teens and twenties but being a teacher and a hero on top of that isn't really working for me anymore. I need time to relax and get to see you guys more so that's why we've changed the schedule."
'WANT THIS YOU?'
"Of course I do."
'THIS NOT BECAUSE ME?'
Hizashi sighed, reaching out an arm to pull him closer into a side hug with a soft squish.
"It was my decision to make and I made it, none of this falls on you, okay Tosh?"
He nodded in response but clearly didn't fully agree.
"Oh hey, Mic?"
"Yes, Melody?"
"How's Aizawa doing? It must still be weird knowing that they just killed your Dad despite the fact that after everything that bastard did he deserved everything that came to him."
Silence followed for a few seconds before Hizashi rushed to the computer on the desk. Looking over his shoulder at his Papa's search it read 'Shūgo Inagaki'.
The three news headlines at the top of the page confirmed what Melody Pop had stated, Shouta's Dad was dead.
"Shit..." Hizashi muttered under his breath as he scrubbed a hand down his face. "Oh Shouta… why didn't you mention it?" There was no bite to his tone just clear sadness and guilt. "Is that why you went to visit your Mom?"
It all started to make a little more sense, even though it was a flair up of his chronic pain he knew Shouta seemed a little off but couldn't put his finger on why.
"You know, if you want to be with Aizawa, everyone will understand."
"Papa." Hitoshi spoke up softly. "I think we should go home too."
"But this was your surprise?"
"I know, and it's an amazing surprise. Getting to have a tour of the studio and seeing your set up for the show was so cool, and I still can't believe I was able to do all this, but honestly, the part that makes me the most happy is the fact that you went to all this trouble for me. You and Dad prove time and time again how much you care about me by going above and beyond to make sure I'm safe and loved, and that I'm doing okay at school, and eating properly, and not falling behind on homework, and that's the stuff that makes me smile the most. So yeah, I'm an even bigger fan of your show now, and your producer is really cool, but we should go and look after Dad because he needs us right now and I want us to be there for him 'cause he would be for us."
Hizashi was speechless before a gentle smile came to his face.
"Okay."
Melody, who had been pretending to not listen to their entire conversation, was quickly wiping away tears from her eyes as she went about fussing with audio equipment.
"I'll get everything sorted, boss, leave it to me, Melody Pop is on the case." She grinned, popping on her headphones and beginning to type furiously on the computer.
"I'll see you next week then, take care of yourself."
"You too!" She called after them as they exited the studio.
Hitoshi pulled on his Hawks hoodie as they headed down the corridor towards the reception.
"I wish Dad would tell us when he's upset."
A sigh followed from Papa.
"Me too."
Zashi grabbed his keys and opened the car.
"So how did you two actually meet?" Hitoshi asked as he climbed in.
Papa closed the door behind him before starting the engine.
"God it feels so long ago now; well it was at UA."
"Obviously." He teased.
Hizashi smirked.
"I saw him for the first time at the entrance meeting before the practical exam; he and Oboro were a few seats down from me. We always split kids up from the same schools so that they can't help their friends out during the test to make it fair for everyone. I overheard them arguing about the battle centres they'd been assigned, Oboro was trying to get someone around them to swap with him so that he could have the same letter at Shouta, and Shouta being Shouta, he took it as Oboro thinking he wasn't capable of looking after himself and kicked up a fuss about it."
"Oboro!" Shouta growled under his breath.
"What?!"
"Do you want to get us both disqualified?!" He half-shouted in anger, pulling his friend by the shirt to sit back down. "Stop being stupid."
"I'm not being stupid I'm trying to help!"
"I don't need your help."
"Fine then good luck fighting giant monsters on your own."
Oboro picked up his card before storming off down the row.
Shouta threw his head back in annoyance, letting out a groan before reluctantly getting to his feet, flipping down his cane before running his hand along the tops of the seats to guide himself out the seating area.
"Hey."
He turned in the direction of the voice recognising that it would have to be someone in the row in front of them.
"Hi."
"Do you need any help?"
"I can manage…" Shouta cursed himself for being so blunt, letting out a sigh before adjusting his tone. "Sorry, I didn't… thanks for the offer but I'm okay, I'll be fine if I take it slow."
"The steps are in threes before there's a small landing on each flight, there's four sets in total back to the doors at the top of the auditorium."
Slightly taken aback by the genuinely helpful description he offered a nod of gratitude.
"Thanks, that's uh, I appreciate that."
"Hey we're in the same battle centre!" The voice exclaimed. "We could walk together if you want?"
"Uhh yeah, sure, why not?"
Shouta continued down the row before finally reaching the steps, as he did, even after receiving the information from the other kid about their design he still found them annoying with his cane. Finally conquering them gave him a stupid sense of pride considering the lack of achievement they actually would look from the outside, but regardless he continued on towards the doors and out to the buses put on by UA to transport them to the battle centres.
"This one's ours."
He felt the kid's hand come to grab his arm pulling him sharply in the opposite direction making him stumble. Shouta ripped his arm away with a scowl.
"Let go of me!"
"Sorry, I…"
"I'm not useless; I can manage to walk to a damn bus on my own alright?"
"Of course, sorry."
He couldn't see the reactions of those around them or exactly how many people had turned to stare at the scene but he could only imagine, not that he really gave a shit the stupid idiot shouldn't have grabbed him in the first place.
Reaching the bus he climbed on and found a seat, the loud kid sitting down next to him despite the display outside.
"You look really familiar, have we met before?"
"I don't remember your voice so I'd say no."
"Sorry."
Shouta shook his head.
"So uhhh, my quirk is Voice."
"Oh reallyyyyy… I never would have guessed." He hoped his remark didn't sound too sarcastic but he couldn't stop the quick response.
"What's yours?"
"It's uhh…"
'The fuck you do to me you little shit?! Try that shit again and I'll beat the crap out of you!'
His breath caught in his throat.
He hadn't heard that voice in a while.
Would telling the guy his quirk scare him off? Probably.
"I'd rather not say."
"Oooh keeping your cards close to your chest, nice, I like that." The kid chuckled.
Shouta smiled nervously.
Later That Day
Walking downstairs into the living room, Fumiko and Hana were sat on the couch together watching what looked like the news. Three presenters sat around a table in the newsroom talking with the headline 'Kid of serial killer Shūgo Inagaki reported as being in attendance at UA High School Entrance Exam' on the scroller at the bottom of the screen.
It was the picture however that caught his eye.
"You look really familiar, have we met before?"
It was the blind kid he'd met.
"That poor boy's the same one from the newspaper article earlier in the year. I really hope that someone out there adopts him because he really looks like he could use a hug; he can't be that much older than Hizashi." Hana spoke up.
"He's younger than him actually, they mentioned his age before and he's shy by a few months."
Hana shook her head, truly appalled.
"I know the police tried to bury the report for the kid's sake back when it was published but I don't understand why this fucking channel are bringing it back up again, how cold-hearted do you have to be to have that little care for him? I mean, his Dad's a fucking serial killer who used to beat him and his Mom up constantly, the Dad then killed the Mom, which he saw, and then the bastard caused him to lose his fucking sight too. No one should have to go through any of that shit, nevermind a nine-year-old. He was probably under police protection after everything that's happened but every time he probably gets his life sorted out these assholes start talking about him again, just leave the poor kid alone, I think he deserves to not have to go through this every six months."
"All of this because he wanted to get into UA."
"Is that why they're so angry? Good for him, I hope he did well enough in the exam to get in, the school better fucking look after him."
Fumiko looked over the back of the couch and noticed him in the doorway. "Speaking of, hey sweetie." She offered him a smile.
"Hizashi!" Hana exclaimed.
He smiled too coming to join them in the living room and taking a seat on the opposite couch.
"So this is the statement that was put out by the Principal of UA High. 'At 1PM today we hosted our annual entrance exam which was open to middle school students across the country; before the exam began as the students were finding their way to the correct bus for their battle centre one of the candidates of the exam broke the rules of the UA entrance exam and photographed another candidate. They shared the photo on social media which was then quickly picked up by news outlets. UA condemns the action taken by this individual and action has been taken to disqualify them from the exam. We hope that those who have encountered the photo or any stories being broadcast by news publications will respect the privacy of the candidate featured in the photo. All further developments of this incident will be handled by the police. Thank you all for your cooperation.'"
The news reporter turned to his fellow presenters.
"Well first of all I just think this is a load of bullshit; some kid rightfully was unhappy and concerned by the fact that he was taking an exam at an institute like UA with the son of a murderer. My own son is a third year at the school and I am very close to writing to them to voice my own thoughts about this kid."
"Definitely, and I mean, this is exactly the problem, the system is so lax that the kid of this maniac, this villain, and downright monster of a human being with powers like his is somehow allowed to still go to school with other kids? I don't blame you for being worried about your son, if my kid was attending UA I would seriously think about transferring them to another school because god knows what's going to happen. I mean the kid's grown up around this man, he won't know anything different than these horrible acts, what if he tries to convert the other kids in his class, what will UA do then? They pride themselves for being the top hero course in the country but they might just end up being a school for villains if they admit this kid."
"And they have the same quirk too so even though Shūgo Inagaki has been caught and is being tried for his crimes, his son is still out there. Can someone please tell me why we're locking up one of them and not the other?"
"It's because the commission are cowards, they just want us to believe that this… I don't want to even call him a kid, this demon spawn isn't going to go dark side like his dear old Daddy and we're expected to go along with it. But that's not even the worst thing the commission and the police have done."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah, there's more. According to these documents that someone has managed to snatch from the government's files, that demon spawn was just put into the system with all the other kids."
"You're kidding?!"
"Nope it's all here. He got adopted by a few families without them having any knowledge what so ever of his identity, not one of them got told anything."
"I would be so angry!"
"Absolutely. And all of these families had kids of their own in the house too, it's despicable. They deserved to know that they were harvesting this spawn of Satan if you will."
The presenters all seemed to turn to someone off camera.
"You're kidding right?"
The old man laughed.
"That was our producer telling us the police were just on the phone telling us we have to shut this story down. So there you have it folks we are being silenced by the police. Censorship is alive and well apparently in this superhuman society they so proudly speak of."
Hana turned the TV off.
"I'm not listening to any more of that crap."
She turned to him.
"You okay, sweetie?"
He nodded.
"I'm uhh, I'm gonna' go to my room."
"Take a snack with you, you didn't each much at dinner." Fumiko fussed.
He nodded with a smile.
"Okay."
Hitoshi couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"That's awful, what was wrong with those people?!"
"People have always been critical towards quirks, especially back then when far less people had them, nowadays it's definitely better than it was but as always there's still a vocal group who don't agree and are more than happy to take a stronger approach in their disagreement."
"Dad was in General Studies, right, like me?"
Hizashi nodded.
"Yeah."
They pulled up on the driveway of the house.
Hitoshi climbed out the car and over to the door waiting for Hizashi. A few seconds later it opened itself.
"How are you two back already?"
"What can I say; I'm a pro at tours." Hizashi commented as he locked the car and headed over.
"But you have a show tonight?"
"Shou, why didn't you remind me about your Dad?"
Dad's eyes widened a little before he sighed.
"Sorry."
"Come here you fool." Hizashi pulled his husband into a hug.
Shouta smiled, accepting the soft embrace.
"Papa was telling me about how you two met."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, didn't get anywhere near to finishing though."
They walked inside the house.
"Where did you get up to?"
"We haven't even got our exam results in my story." Hizashi smirked.
"How long was your story?!" Shouta teased before turning to Hitoshi. "Okay, he's sacked from story time, my turn."
"Where are you gonna' start from?"
"I might as well include the lovely phone call from the dear old ex-Principal." He scoffed.
Following his foster parent they entered a room where the faculty members of UA were waiting. It was Mitsuki who had received the phone call a few hours after he'd taken the exam, being at work she'd been unable to talk and so had forwarded them to Masaru.
Turns out it was the Principal and he wasn't too pleased to find out that he was the son of a serial killer which is why he'd been summoned to a meeting with the entire teaching staff.
Oboro had called him in a thunderously bad mood that night, apparently that right wing joke of a news channel had done a story on him again and the stuff they'd said was downright cruel, as usual, with two of the presenters even going as far to refer to him as 'demon spawn' which seemed a little ridiculous.
Shouta didn't care about those fuckers, or the kid who Oboro stated had taken a picture of him and posted in online; he did however care about getting into UA and was personally going to tear the head off anyone who even attempted to say that he no longer deserved the chance to attend purely because of the random act of chance of him being born to his fuckwit of a father.
"Ahh Mr. Bakugou, and Master Aizawa, thank you for joining us on such short notice." The man he presumed to be the Principal spoke up.
"What is this about?" Masaru asked, sparing no time.
"Well first of all we need to ask if your foster child has been permitted by the government and the commission to actually attend UA in the first place everything considered."
Shouta scowled.
"Shouta doesn't have any restrictions at all, I mean, why would he, he's just a kid?"
"I think we all know what we're referring to, Mr. Bakugou."
"I fail to see what that has to do with anything?"
"He means we're worried about what people might think if we admit the son of someone like that to the school, I mean, we have a reputation and all."
"As the top hero school in the country, yes, I know, that's exactly why Shouta wants to attend. So you're saying that purely on your own biases you won't allow him to go here?"
"Well no decision has been made yet, we wanted to get all the details before we made our position on the whole situation known."
"I'm not my Dad you know…" Shouta stated. "Amazingly we're different people."
"Well even forgetting everything that's happened, kid, you failed the exam regardless."
"Because you put nothing in place to make the physical exam accessible, and that device you gave me to read aloud the questions from the written exam was half broken, I could only hear the woman talking out of one of the headphones, I tried asking for another set and the invigilator basically told me to shut up and stop distracting everyone."
"Villains aren't gonna' care about whether the fight is accessible or not, kid, so maybe you should pick another career, being a hero isn't for you."
"And why is that, because I'm blind?! Please, I could kick your ass with just my cane."
"Shouta…" Masaru scorned.
"What?!"
"You're not helping! Just…" He guided him towards a seat and made him sit down on it. His foster parent took a breath before his tone softened and his voice became a whisper just for me. "I need you to trust me, kiddo."
"Fine…"
Masaru gave him a pat to the shoulder.
"Look, I understand that the situation is not ideal right now, especially with how much pressure is being put on your school by the public and news outlets, but surely you're better than that. He's just a kid and he deserves the chance to attend the same as any other candidate from the exam. He completed the tasks and the tests you set out for him and you have a set of results from it, all I ask is that you make your decision without any biases or influences from the media."
"Master Aizawa, is it?" Came a new, much softer voice.
Shouta turned in the direction of it and offered a nod.
"Why do you wish to become a hero?"
"Because that's all I've ever wanted to be, ever since I was a kid, and I know that a line like that is hardly anything new, and you've probably heard it ninety-thousand-times before, but it's the truth. I'm not here to drown you in pity because I doubt any of you haven't read my file and looked me up online to see what happened to me and my Mom, but I just want to help people. My life hasn't really had much meaning so far, I was kinda' just a punching bag for most of my childhood but even in the half a year I was adopted by the Bakugou's I've already started to understand what having a purpose and people who actually give a shit about you is like. There are a lot of people out there who will be going through the same crap as I did and I want to be able to stand up against that. For once in my life I want to be useful, I want to have some purpose of having survived through everything my Dad put me through, so yeah, I wanna' be a hero."
The room was silent.
"Well then, I would be delighted to have you in my General Studies homeroom."
"Nezu!" One of the tutors scorned.
"We'll get all the necessary information sent out to your foster parents' address."
Shouta was speechless.
"T-thank you, Sir."
"You're most welcome, Master Aizawa. Welcome to UA."
As they arrived home both Mitsuki and Inko were anxiously waiting for them in the flat, the sisters both rushing to pull him into big squishy hugs the second he came through the door.
"Ohhh Shouta…" Inko's worried tone fussed. "Don't listen to anything those horrible people on the news say they're stupid and they don't know you at all."
Shouta smiled.
"Thanks, Inko."
"Actually Shouta here has some news." Masaru stated.
"I got accepted." He stated quietly, still trying to process that sentence himself.
The sisters squealed in delight.
"Oh my dear boy!"
"That's it, we need to celebrate!"
"No, no, it's fine, we don't need to celebrate." He attempted.
"Hell no, you've gotten into the top hero school in the country, we're celebrating, sweetie. So what flavour of cake do you want, I'll run down to the bakery?"
Shouta smiled.
"Vanilla."
"Vanilla it is!" Mitsuki purposely messed up his hair.
He smirked, swatting her hand causing his foster Mother to giggle.
The first day of UA came and went faster than Shouta could keep up with. The sheer amounts of information thrown at him from various faculty members and the Principal left his head spinning and with even less of a clue what he was doing than when he'd first entered the campus that morning. Lunch arrived swiftly and he met up with Oboro in the canteen.
He could tell something was off with his friend already though, or rather a hesitance.
Despite being unable to see the direction Oboro kept turning to look towards he knew from the slight squeaks of the chair that he did in fact keep looking over at something or someone.
"Dude what are you staring at?" Shouta came right out with it.
"Nothing, it's fine."
"Are there people from your class over there or something?"
"Yeah, I was just waving."
"Then just go and sit with them…" Shouta couldn't disguise the bite in his tone.
"What?" Clearly he'd caught Oboro off-guard.
"If you want to sit with them then just go already."
Shouta could hear the annoyed grunt that followed.
"You're such an ass sometimes; I was trying to be nice."
"Sorry that you feel put out having to be stuck with the blind guy." He spat. "Must be so hard for you. Why don't you piss off over there and get your good guy brownie points?"
"Fuck you Shouta!"
So there he was, day one, and already alone. Although the argument was obviously intentional to allow Oboro to spend time with the people from his class, it was also half true. He couldn't stand people thinking they had to stay with him as if he needed a chaperone twenty-four-seven just because he was blind. I mean, he hadn't gotten to fifteen just from sheer luck, and yeah, while he hadn't been blind his entire life he still had some practice down since the whole incident and was more independent now than he ever had been, especially those two weeks trying not to get murdered when he was homeless.
He could look after himself.
And although he knew that he was being harsh on Oboro's character by thinking that he was just hanging out with him out pity just to seem like a saint to the others for being the only one who actually wanted to hang out with the blind kid, it still hurt that he was in a situation where thoughts like that could actually be a possibility.
The following days proved to be a nightmare for numerous reasons with the first and main problem being that after having argued with Oboro on the first day he'd lost his guide meaning that he had no way of knowing where he was going on campus. The tutors at UA were already starting to get annoyed at him for his continuous lateness to classes and Shouta knew that those first impressions of him were gonna' stick. This was supposed to be a fresh start and he was already fucking it up.
As the fourth week of term arrived it quickly provided the finral nail in the coffin as when he was making his way downstairs for his second class of the day he tripped.
Shouta came back to lying in a heap that he didn't remember being in with far more voices around him then he would like. Clearly there was a crowd of students just staring.
"Everyone here has somewhere they're supposed to be so I suggest you move along." Came the voice of his homeroom teacher, Nezu.
Shouta attempted to push himself up just to let out a sharp cry the second he attempted to make his arm take the weight, coming crashing back to the floor seconds later.
With the corridor now quiet he heard the footsteps approach, they seemed very light.
"Master Aizawa, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." He rubbed his head, the area smarting from where it must have hit off a step on the way down.
"Well I must admit I am sadly not the most equipped of tutors to support you to the medical wing so if you believe you will be unable to make it there unaided then I shall go and find another member of the teaching staff to assist."
"I'm fine, I've had worse."
He heard the soft sigh.
"I don't want your pity either, I heard that."
Determined to not look weak Shouta felt for the railing and death gripped it as he forced himself to his feet.
"Do you need a minute or two?"
"Nah I'll be fine, which way is the medical wing?"
"Did you not receive your- oh..."
"Yeah..." Eyebrows raised in a 'I tried to tell you fuckers' kind of way he scoffed. "Your school's not fucking accessible and it doesn't even make an effort to try and be. I got that welcome pack you were about to mention, a map and over hundred pages I can't freakin' read, perfect."
He took a breath to calm himself down.
"Sorry, I know it's not your fault, I shouldn't be taking it out on you, that's unfair."
"Master Aizawa I can only begin to imagine how equally angry I would be if I was in your shoes. If you'd like I would personally walk you around the campus so you could get your bearings, I can't imagine how frustrating this whole situation must be for you but I would happily assist in rectifying these issues."
Shouta seemed caught off guard by the offer.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because you're right, it's not fair that the UA faculty is failing you as a student by not accommodating your disability, and you were right that the entrance exam was equally unfair to you as a candidate due to the visual nature of the task set out for you; we need to take steps to make your day-to-day at this school easier for you and I think a good place to start is a proper wayfinding exercise around the campus, I might even throw in a little quiz too."
If Shouta looked baffled before he was practically speechless now as he took in the genuine words of his homeroom teacher.
"Thank you."
"There's really no need to thank me, not when I'm simply offering such a basic human right to you as knowing your way around your own school."
"Still, I appreciate it."
"I'm just glad I can be of assistance, Master Aizawa."
The second he entered what had been described to him as Recovery Girl's medical clinic he was met with fussing hands guiding him to sit down on the doctor's table.
"Oh dearie me."
Shouta felt her roll up his sleeve to look at bruises that must have been on his arms from the fall.
"Now honey, the other kids, if they're doing anything or saying anything to you I need you to tell me, okay, because we don't take any bullying here at UA and we can put a stop to it for you."
He shook his head.
"They're from falling down the stairs."
"Now sweetie, these are not just from falling down some stairs."
He heard Nezu walk over.
"Master Aizawa, we need you to tell us the truth."
Shouta exhaled, knowing he was about to get in trouble.
"They're from training."
"Training, which of the tutors is allowing this to happen?!" Recovery Girl asked furiously.
"He doesn't have any training session, he's in my General Studies class; who are you fighting?" Nezu enquired.
"2-B."
"You're fighting 2-B?! How do you even get into their sessions?"
"I hated the fact that General Studies didn't have any allocated training time so I asked the other classes, the 1-A and 1-B tutors said no but the 2-B one seemed to find the idea amusing and said I could stay as long as I could take it; I think he kinda' just wanted a target for them to aim at, but that's fine, I need the practice." Shouta stated determinedly.
"You know I can't allow this to continue, Master Aizawa, not only are General Studies student not permitted to train but they especially can't join hero course classes."
"So what, we're just supposed to do nothing? Sit in class and read about fucking hero laws that we can't even use because we'll never be allowed to get hero licenses? I'm not spending three-years of my life wasting time with this crap."
"Master Aizawa..."
"If I place well in the Sports Festival is there a chance I'll get moved up?"
"That's not..."
"Is there a chance?"
"...Yes."
"So then I need to train as much as I can, as hard as I can, I'm not giving up."
"Master Aizawa the sports festival is still months away."
"So? I need all the time I can get to be ready."
Nezu sighed.
"Has anyone ever told you you're incredibly stubborn?"
"Yes." Shouta smirked.
Training in Gym Gamma became a regular occurrence after Nezu had filed all the necessary paperwork and cleared him to participate with his upperclassmen during free periods.
Shouta landed flat on his ass once again after a strike from the student he was sparring with. Picking himself up he readied himself to go again.
The 2-B kid groaned.
"Look, Aizawa, this got old months ago, why can't you just stop?"
"Because I need to get stronger if I want to win the Sports Festival.
The 2-B kids smirked.
"You, you're gonna' win the Sports Festival, dude you're in General Studies and you can't stay on your feet for more than like two minutes during a fight, you've got no chance again the 1-A brats, hell you'll probably struggle against 1-B."
"I just need to-."
"Just stop! You're in General Studies for a reason and I'm not trying to be mean when I say that. Clearly you're not used to training and you don't have a physical quirk, if you keep doing this you're gonna' end up real hurt."
"Fine, I'll train on my own then." He stormed off.
"Good, that's what we've wanted to hear this entire time. See ya!"
"Hey, wait!" Shouta attempted to call after them but the 2-B kids were undeterred as they left the gym. "Dammit!" He bellowed punching the wall which caused his hand to erupt in pain.
Despite the throbbing he grabbed his gym bag and stormed out towards the locker room. Shoving the entire contents of the locker into the duffel he took his cane and flipped it down before heading out onto the main campus.
"Hey!" Called a voice a few minutes later.
Shouta continued walking hoping that whoever it was would just go away of their own accord if he ignored them.
But they didn't.
Footsteps approached as the person caught up to him.
"Your Oboro's friend, right?"
He knew that voice, but from where?
"Uh yeah, why?"
"Could we talk, like somewhere more private?"
"Sure."
"So uhhh, my quirk is Voice."
Oh, that's who it was.
"You're the guy from the entrance exam, right?"
"Yeah." He happily replied.
The two of them found a bench off the beaten track from the rest of the students.
"So what's this about?" Shouta asked.
"Oboro's in my class and he's been really down lately, none of us have been able to really get him to talk about what's upsetting him but he let slip to me yesterday that you guys haven't talked since the first day."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"No offence, but you don't exactly look like you have anyone to hang out with either. Would it not be best for both of you if you made up?"
"Why do you care?" There was no bite to his words he was just generally curious as to why this guy would go out of his way to try and repair someone else's friendship.
"Well, you know, he's my friend and I don't like seeing people unhappy."
"That's very noble of you."
The guy smirked.
"My name is Yamada by the way."
"Aizawa." He paused before asking the question that had been on his mind since the guy has made his intentions known. "So why now? Why after a month?"
"To be honest I've been seeing you around campus the last few weeks and you seem lonely, I remembered you from the entrance exam and that you were there with Oboro so I asked him about you and that's when he finally told me everything that had happened. I feel like I was the one who caused all this, I invited Oboro to sit with us at lunch but he said he was going to sit with you, I sat with some other people from our class and I chose the table next to yours which is why he kept looking over in the first place and-."
"Oh don't be stupid." Shouta interrupted. "You didn't do anything; I was the one who picked a fight with Oboro not you, that's why we stopped talking."
Yamada was quiet for a few seconds before he heard a soft gasp and the guy touched his hand.
Shouta tried to snatch it away but the cat was already out of the bag.
"What happened to your hand?!" Yamada exclaimed. "It looks real broken."
"It's fine."
"It's not fine! This looks swollen; you should go and see Recovery Girl."
"I'll survive."
"Why? And don't say you've had worse-."
Yamada silenced.
Shouta froze before he furrowed an eyebrow turning to the guy with an angered expression.
"Let me guess, has someone been doing some searching online?"
"No, I swear I haven't! My Moms were just watching the news and they were talking about you and your Dad, I never did anything purposely, I promise."
He scrubbed his non-injured hand down his face as he cursed quietly under his breath.
"Dammit!"
"I know it's like an invasion of privacy and that I know WAY more than I should but it doesn't change anything."
"How the hell wouldn't it, you know what he did?!"
"Yeah but that was him, not you."
Shouta took a breath.
"You really believe that?"
"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"
"Everyone else wouldn't agree with you."
"Everyone else is stupid then."
He smirked before a genuine smile came to his face.
"Thanks."
"You really don't need to thank me for anything, I know I shouldn't have watched that story and I feel really bad about it."
"When was it?"
"The same night as the practical exam."
"And it didn't scare you? I don't scare you?" His tone reflected the concern he held for whatever Yamada's answer might be.
"No, is that something you worry about with people?"
Shouta nodded.
"Trust me when I say that you're in a real small club of people who don't see me as the same monster as my Dad."
"You're not a monster."
"You don't even know me, I just told you I punched a wall in anger, and I didn't tell you my quirk when you asked back on the bus at the entrance exam, you should be seeing red flags everywhere right now."
Yamada smirked.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I think part of your problem is that you're scared to let people close so instead you try and act all tough to make them leave you. I'm not gonna' fall for it though because you seem like an awesome person that I want to get to know." He paused before seeming to remember their entire reason for talking in the first place. "Oh, and about Oboro, will you try and work things out with him?"
Shouta smiled.
"I'll talk to him."
"Good, that's what I wanted to hear! Now, will you let me take you to Recovery Girl?"
"You're utterly relentless."
"I know." A smirk followed before his gym bag was plucked from the ground beside him. "Come on, Aizawa!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming…"
Hitoshi was practically beaming as the two pros came to the end of their account.
"You can't stop there, there must be more!"
"You'll have to wait for part two." Shouta teased.
"Ohhhhhhh." He groaned.
"And potentially part three, four, and five." Zashi added. "There's three years' worth of this stuff, it's a lot."
"Well I look forward to it."
"Why are you, Zuku, and Kacchan so obsessed with hearing about the two of us?" Shouta smirked.
"Because you guys are really cute, and I just like to hear about your time at UA, it's really cool."
"We're really not that interesting, Toshi."
"You are!"
"Okay I'll take your word for it then."
"Good." He grinned.
