Classes after that week were not fun. For anybody. Math was starting the topic of calculus and immediately jumped into the complicated stuff. English decided now was the time to roll out old classics from times native speakers struggled to understand it and the rest of the subjects were not pulling their punches either.
In such times it was almost a blessing when they would get one of the teachers to come in and hold a more discussion based class. It was noticeable in the mood of the different students. While most of the day everybody was tight lipped and quiet, now one could feel the electricity in the air from finally being able to relax a little bit.
Izuku himself had a few mixed feelings about it. For him, he did not quite mind just focusing on school. For one, because it was a little bit easier for him than some of his classmates, but mostly because it was something to occupy his mind.
It had been just stray thoughts in that moment, wandering off towards the blonde girl that he had now twice had a little heart to heart with. Twice now, that a window into the world of a girl was opened, he previously thought weird at best and crazy at worst. Some of that still held true, of course, but it was... an understandable craze. Or rather, he understood somehow that there was the potential for a decent person in there. It was not letting him sleep well at night or darkened his mood every so often.
With a little sigh he leaned back into his chair, letting his eyes and mind wander from his classmate to the window, staring at a clear sky that seemed so strangely dissonant with his mood. Admittedly, it was still better having bleak sunshine rather than cloudy weathers and storms, which would probably feel more appropriate with how tumultuous everything inside him felt.
"Quiet everybody." Were the first tired, exasperated and possibly bored words that broke through Izuku's train of thought. The classroom door had opened, causing everybody to shut up, at least momentarily as Aizawa dragged himself to the teacher's table, as he always did. Even then, no amount of lethargy could combat the energy vibrating through most of the class. Things were going to get heated. One way or another...
"As you all know..." A small pause as Aizawa went to the blackboard, scribbling the words 'Villain Interactions!' onto it. "... in your career as a hero, you will, and you have, face a varied amount of people that terrorize society. From the manic to the mundane, it's important for you to learn how to take care of yourself mentally. Constant interaction with the worst, society has to offer can take its toll on the psyche.
In today's class, we are making sure that when the time comes and you are put into conflict with them, you do know how to react and not struggle with guilt too much when you are out on duty someday. It might sound harsh, but at the end of the day... villains disturb the peace and endanger the people around them. Whatever good reason they have, it's not your job to save the world. It's your job, as a professional hero, to keep the people around you safe."
Once again, it felt as if the mood in the room had completely flipped. The energy was still there, the stirring and the unrestful looks that had come up when they were told that this lesson would be about discussion rather than material... now though, the comfort that this thought had held was gone. As hamfisted as this introduction might have been to this topic, it had set the tone... today it was going to be heavy and the dissatisfaction about that fact was written on more than one face in those rows.
For Izuku himself it was more like... a sudden stone somebody had bound to his heart that was constantly and consistently pulling it deeper down into his guts, uncomfortably ripping on everything else as it was going down. Somewhere in the back of his mind there was an annoyed voice, knowing that this was not what he needed in his life right now. But what he felt was a certain numbness, a feeling of trying to ignore an issue so hard, that it just shouted over everything else with silence.
"So, I am sure you all got your opinions on the matter of how to best make sure that nobody around you gets hurt. As already announced, this lesson should serve as a discussion and to answer your questions. Anybody wants to begin?"
Various hands shot into the air. Some were clearly more okay with the opening statement than others, but Deku was not quite sure in which camp he fell in that moment. On the one hand, Aizawa was definitely correct. Nobody can just save the world and make everything paradise for everyone. On the other hand... well...
"So what if we have to fight a villain, who basically is doing it because he got a bad past?" Ochaco was the first to ask, her eyes stern. There was a hint of a frown on her face, showing how she thought about this question. If somebody needed saving why not save them, right?
"So if they are a villain... they are actively hurting the people around them. Be it directly by threatening them or indirectly by committing a crime. No matter what their justification might be, in that moment, when it's your responsibility, they are endangering society and their surroundings. Some of you or some of the people you know might have had terrible pasts themselves..."
Aizawa's eyes went through the room, hovering on certain students a bit longer than others before he continued.
"... but that didn't make you villains either, right? In the end, you made a choice and so did they."
Ochaco's hand fell slowly, silence fell with it. It was, by all accounts, not a bad argument. Good people were good because they were good people. And to be good was to try and do good. So of course, the opposite site... well it seemed quite simple laid out like that.
"But is it really?" Izuku muttered to himself, hand before his mouth to make sure nobody else could hear it, even in this very quiet classroom
"So what do we do? We make sure that nobody gets hurt, put them down... now what? Are we just gonna stand there an act like there isn't a huge problem there that needs fixing?" Sato threw in.
"Then we make sure they get brought to the police, who will bring them before court, where a jury will decide what's the best path to take for them according to the law." It was quite clear from the way Aizawa phrased this that he already knew that this kind of answer was not really what the students wanted to hear.
"And we are going to do what exactly then?"
"You are going to give your witness account when you are asked to do so. With that you can assure that this judgement of the villain you captured is as fair as possible."
Something about that wording just... didn't quite sit right with Izuku. He was pretty sure that it was 'as possible' that threw him off. As the teacher looked through the class he made eye contact with him... that basically told him what he was somewhat afraid of. Even if everybody tried, things were not always fair.
"And that's supposed to be the end of our involvement?"
"Yep."
There was a strange feeling about this. After all, everybody grew up with heroes. Everybody saw them as beacons of justice. That is why they pursued this career to some extent. Sure, the end goal was different for everybody, but the idea of being out there and helping people was certainly appealing to all of them, or at least tolerable.
"But aren't they... still people? I mean... this sounds rather... cold. Some sure deserve that... but all? Right?" Denki stuttered out. At this point nobody bothered anymore with hand signs. Nobody was able to say more than one sentence either way. The atmosphere in the room was at this point kinda stifling.
"Of course. And in most cases, those petty crimes and little thieveries... those are not the issues we talk about. Villains that threaten lives, villains that seek to destroy lives... Those are the parts where we are called in. We have seen in the last couple of weeks what kind of people these are."
Aizawa sighed a little bit as he looked over his students for a good moment. It was not even a full month since Sir Nighteye's funeral, so he was sure the point would come across well enough. With a heavy voice, he continued:
"What are we going to tell the people affected by this? The friends and families that lost somebody precious in these situations. 'We are not going to press any charges, because the young Yakuza had some issues in his past that needed fixing?'. I don't think any of us would see this as fair, or feel like justice had been served in this case."
Izuku sank his head a little bit further down. It was kind of true. In what world could somebody forgive someone like Overhaul. What he had done to his own family, what he had done to Eri... Didn't it really matter what motivated him? In the end he did take it too far. Far too far. So what now...
"...but...!" He had not even thought about speaking up, it was just his mouth moving before he could really stop himself.
"Shouldn't we try and see to it, that nobody would ever get into a position where there would be a need for such choices to be made?"
There was a considerable pause there, Aizawa making eye contact with him. Somehow, Izuku felt he said something incredibly stupid, but he couldn't just... take it. And so he held the gaze of his teacher, letting him look as much as he wanted before said man just sighed in defeat.
"And how are we supposed to do that? You can try and be there for people when tragedy strikes, but that doesn't change the fact that not everything can be solved by a hero just bursting in and making it all better. Sometimes it makes it worse. In the end, you will find people who will walk the path of villainy regardless. And then, action will have consequences. As they are supposed to."
There was a lesson from All Might he remembered. Even for somebody as great as him, he couldn't be everywhere all the time. That is why there were other heroes after all. And this was the case here... somehow. No matter how hard he tried, he could not always be there and even then he might not always make everything better.
There was a gut feeling that something was... off about this discussion. Something he hardly could place, much less vocalize. So with a weight in his stomach he let his head drop a little bit, staring at the surface of his table and just... ignored the rest of the discussion. He understood the general gist of it.
Later there were some discussions about proper management of apprehension and how to properly communicate with the police. Interesting in its own right, but in that moment he couldn't help but feel like it was a little distraction from something that was working inside his mind right now.
As was the rest of the day, really. The school day passed by and the courses started to wrap up, yet the gut feeling still remained. Sometimes more and sometimes less. For some reason, Izuku had the feeling that something was coming his way. As if he was standing before a door and was looking for the key to understand what was hidden behind it...
At least, it seemed like he was not the only one in class, who was feeling down. Although 20 students were making their way over the graveled road, barely any sound came from their mouths. Some of them pensively staring out into the distance, others observing the stones beneath their boots.
Luckily, the mood lightened up as soon as they entered the dorm. A collective sigh escaped everybody's mouth. As they went about their business to get their mind off school.
"I am taking a shower." "I think I need something to eat." "Anybody wanna watch a movie?" And so chatter finally came back to the class.
Izuku let himself drop onto the couch, closing his eyes with his neck all the way in the back. He had no idea what he would do for the rest of the evening really. Homework felt too bothersome and his head was too worked up to really turn it off and relax.
"Hey Midoriya, do you have a second? Ribbit." Opening his eyes, he looked right at Tsuyu, holding her phone in front of her.
"Sure, what do you need, Tsuyu?" he asked gently, looking up to his friend who started explaining with a light wave of her hand, showing off the phone she was holding. It looked pretty new!
"When we were securing the Yakuza mansion, one of the villains managed to hit one of my bags... And it broke my phone. So I got a new one. I need all my old numbers and I got a new number too." she explained, waving said phone around a little bit to cement the point.
"Sure, let me just..." with a little bit of shuffling around he pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts. A... B... C... and so on and then he finally went to T and there it was Tsuyu, ready to tap on it when...
Right underneath there was a heart emoticon right next to a name. "Toga"...
Oh right... the key to that thing... there it was...
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