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Okay...Today was the day.
That's all Izuku thought as he walked from the station to UA.
UA.
He couldn't believe still...he'd made it into the school of his dreams with a QUIRK passed down from ALL MIGHT himself!
Sometimes he couldn't believe it still…
As he stoned to think about the things that led him up to this point he barely noticed the sound of footsteps approaching. He turned the corner before slamming into someone, he gasped falling back as the other gave a choked sound but no other thump was heard.
"I'm so sorry! I'm a freshman and was trying to find my way...to...class," He trailed off as he looked into the man he bumped into.
So the rumors were true!
The Vice Director of Chaldea, Fujimaru Ritsuka was a teacher at UA.
"No problem," he softly spoke for someone who was pretty much the head to the public at least, of a violent agency. "It's easy to get lost here," he chuckled as he got up himself. "Count, mind pointing him the right way as I drop this off to the teachers?"
Count?
"Sure," he nodded, Izuku looking at the most violent, so far, of all of Chaldea's agency.
His dark overcoat, burning amber eyes, unruly dark silver hair and an intimidating height with an equally intimidating presence.
"Come along," he said as Fujimaru waved at them. "You're on the wrong floor."
'Eh," Izuku gasped, looking at his schedule. He was right.
"They really should start you all off with a school wide assembly," Count grunted as they passed by the out of order elevators.
"We do though," Izuku stated in more than a question.
"I mean you all assemble in the gym for the assembly then get the teachers to gather their students in a school as large as this," Count huffed as they emerged onto one of the many floors UA had. "That way everything gets done and people aren't penalized for being late, even if it is their first day."
Ah, right. UA's strict no tardy policy that was in effect the moment school started.
Shaking his head Izuku silently followed the man as they continued up the stairs. He was brimming with questions of the Count's quirk, because from what he's seen it's not as simple as flames with special properties. Half of the situations the man was in should not have been possible to escape from unless one had a warp quirk, but he always did. Did his flames have some sort of property to it? Did it allow him his freakish, well by Chaldean Standards, speed and strength?
Where did he hide all those cigars, from what he'd seen that coat had no pockets or anything.
"This is a mix of General Ed and Heroic classrooms. Where are you," Count asked, turning to the boy who jumped at his tone. He sighed before softening his tone. "Forgive me, it's been a rough week."
Izuku nodded as he thought about what he said.
There had been a national uproar when it was revealed that Count was originally supposed to be in JAPAN and not FRANCE. People protested and said that he would bring destruction, but like always they were swiftly silenced as it was revealed that he was the Vice Directors Personal Bodyguard who was being punished for some internal mischief he caused.
That was another can of worms that the HC and Public could not open in the slightest. And to be honest, I doubt they actually wanted any details of what that entailed.
"I'm in the Heroics Course," he said, and then something happened.
"Oh," the man sighed, his aura darkened as he glared at the two doors that held A and B on them. "I see. I will see you later today then. Those two doors are the heroics classrooms."
"R...right," Izuku said, watching as the man twisted on his heel and moved to leave. "Thank you!"
All he got was the man hesitating for a moment before nodding and disappearing behind the door that led to the stairs.
He...was nicer than Izuku thought someone with a reputation like his would be.
"Already? He's more like Chiron and Scathach then I originally pegged him to be,' Ritsuka hummed as he and Edmond walked down to the field. He spied the children being spoken to by Aizawa, Ritsuka grinning as he thought about the scruffy man.
He didn't trust Chaldea to be sure, but he actively wasn't trying to get away from them. He was taking a longer method of getting close to them, Ritsuka could appreciate that.
"Well, he's more like us than I anticipated. Not one to sit about I see," Edmond shot back, smirking as his Master smiled. "Voyager also wished for me to tell you he does not like being confined to his room for the duration of his grounding."
"He sent a hero into space in a tantrum," Ritsuka sighed. "He can deal with it until he's brought back by Space Ishtar."
'Oh he knows, he just wanted to bug you,'' Edmond smiled as Ritsuka groaned. He shook his head before turning his attention to Aizawa who looked peeved they were there. That students gaped in awe as the infamous Count and Vice Director were right there.
"What are you doing here," Aizawa demanded, and Ritsuka merely smiled.
"What are you doing here," Aizawa asked as he looked at the two of them.
"I want to gauge the students' quirks myself. The museum is delicate and while files are good, looking at it is best," Ritsuka seemed sincere, but Aizawa was not letting his guard down.
"Right," he nodded, it was logical in the end and he had no reason to deny a fellow teacher that.
"WAIT," a boy with blonde hair with a black stripe yelped as he pointed to Fujimaru. "A..aren't you the Vice Director of Chaldea!? What are you doing here?"
"He's a teacher dumbass," Bakugou, the boy with explosions and a bad attitude sneered. "It's been all over the news for the last week."
"Yes, I am a teacher but I am also a head of a Museum. Pardon if I merely want those items protected," he smiled as his guard, Count, shifted beside him.
"That's gotta be really warm," the pink one murmured to the redhead who nodded.
"Continue please," Ritsuka smiled as he moved to the side before his eyes turned to Midoriya. "Ah! Count you never told me he was in the hero course! I would have liked to know," he turned to the man who huffed.
'We were going to see him later, so it didn't matter," he huffed, he moved to light a cigar that appeared in his hand.
"This is a non-smoking campus," Tensei's brother just had to speak up.
"Have two while you're at it Count. You'll need it," Ritsuka said as the man groaned.
"I can't leave you alone that long," he snarled, eyes lighting up and Aizawa grabbed his capture weapon.
"I am capable of handling myself, go," Ritsuka waved off. The man scoffed before vanishing into thin air.
"WOAH," redhead gasped.
"I've kept you all long enough! Now, please the quirk tests," he smiled, moving to the side to let Aizawa deal with the students.
It was going smooth until one girl said it was going to be a fun year.
"Heh," Ritsuka giggled as he stood up and walked to the girl, Mina. "Indeed it will be fun," he nodded, leaning down to be eye to eye with her. "But if all you do is have fun then all those lessons go out the window and you're left at square one," he smiled cruelly.
"H..huh," the girl stepped back as the man straightened up.
"If all you do is have fun then most of what your learning is not considered valuable. You'll be left to the wolves to fend for yourself in a cold and cruel world. Childhood is meant to be full of light and you're willing to put yourself in the darkness by choosing this profession. You best understand that having fun is not meant to take priority, surviving is," he spoke such dark things with such a light smile Aizawa could only sigh as the girl stumbled for words.
"Mr. Fujimaru is correct. You're here to learn how to save people and lives. If you're having too much fun then you'll be kicked out not long after," Aizawa stated. "Which is why your quirk tests will determine who stays, as the one who falls into last place will be expelled."
"WHAT!"
"UA has an open policy for how teachers deal with their main classes," Ritsuka hummed. "UA has a high hero rate, but...it doesn't mean that some haven't been dropped before that journey ends."
"He's right, so...be prepared," Aizawa warned.
They could only sweat with the added pressure on them, the fear of being expelled before any of it really begins..sent determination roaring through their veins like no other.
"How interesting," Ritsuka murmured as they all went to the ball toss. It was right after the 50 meter dash that he watched as they used their powers in...interesting fashions. 'That kid with the naval laser is...well he's unique to say the least.'
He watched Midoriya in particular, something was off about the boy as he tried to use his quirk to throw the ball.
"I erased your quirk," Aizawa said.
Ho?
Ritsuka listened as he detailed Midoriya's rather explosive quirk that was no doubt destroying his body. How interesting...a very late bloomer perhaps? Or was it simply something more.
"Try again."
Ritsuka could barely contain his glee as the boy found a wrap around of breaking his entire arm, only damaging his finger, albeit damaging it very badly, but he would still be able to fight.
Now that is some spirit.
"OI! SHITTY DEKU," Bakugou, as Ritsuka learned due to his rather...explosive behavior, screamed as he shot forward.
"Count," Ritsuka said, darkness zipping fast toward the zooming boy who punched a solid wall of muscle.
Bakugou growled in pain as his arm began spiking with tiny compressions as he was met with what felt like a brick wall. He felt fear, fear like when he was caught in the sludge monster, when he looked up and saw the infamous Chaldean hero had used his own body, not arm, body to block his attack.
"For someone not of Chaldea...your strength is impressive...but it's enhanced by your quirk," his breath was filled with rich cigar smoke that made Bakugou want to vomit at its strength. "Your temper is rather short," he continued. "Not that we...don't have our fair share of short tempered, explosive people," he smirked.
Ritsuka coughed into his hand before letting out a small giggle.
"Count, no need to rile him up further! He might aim for your face with his explosions next time," Ritsuka winked and Bakugou could only pale at the thought of attacking Count.
The entire class shivered when he let out a laugh, it was cold, cruel...dark.
"Now that would be fun. See how well he fares," Count smiled before his face went back to neutral. "Fighting with one another is all fine and well when done for fun or training. Infighting between people is common, but if it goes on too long it becomes a cancer. Best stomp it out before it becomes such."
"Indeed," Ritsuka nodded. "Like Count said, fighting for training and fun is good, best even. Infighting is bound to happen, but deal with it fast before someone unsavory takes advantage of it," he warned, eyes cold as he looked to Bakugou and Midoriya. "Well! I'll be heading off to make the proper preparations for our museum visit later this week."
With a wave he left, Count nodding to them as he too followed. And the class could only release a shaky sigh while Aizawa filed away that information.
Did Chaldea have staff that did not want to be there? Where they are making people stay there against their will?
Were they forcing their methods of Heroism on people who did not want it?
A FEW DAYS LATER
"It's our first class with Fujimaru Sensei," Mina murmured to Denki who nodded. "I'm actually kinda scared."
"I heard that he's going to be teaching a combo of History and Ethics," Tokoyami began. "The History being our time within the museum, which 1-B will be present," he finished off.
'Yeah, he's teaching all classes," Sero hummed, leaning back. "Gen Ed and Business already had their lessons and they were gloomy right after."
"Support has to be done later in the day right," Jirou asked.
"Yes, same with the trips to the Museum," Momo assured her. "I am worried, that's so much money going to buses twice a week too!"
"They seemed determined," Jirou shrugged.
"Do you have any idea as to what was taught in the first lesson," Ochako asked, looking around.
"They swore to secrecy, but apparently he's starting off easy...I guess," Mezo shrugged.
"Much excitement I see," Ritsuka's voice rang through the air and they all straightened themselves out as he entered. "So well behaved! My! This is my first ever time teaching and I've been blessed with such great students," he smiled as Count closed the door. "Count as my bodyguard will always be here, but during museum tours he will be my extra guide."
The man merely nodded before sitting down in the chair in the corner, that must have been for him then.
"Ummm...where we supposed to have anything in particular," Denki asked with a raised hand. "I heard your employment was recent...so…"
"Just an extra notebook for notes and a journal for a project later on," he assured them all. "Now! I know those two classes were buzzing after my first lesson," he giggled as they felt dread go through them. "It's a simple thing really," he assured them all with a smile. "The duality of good and evil."
That...was really simple actually.
"Now," he turned serious as did Count who shifted in his seat. "Long ago, during the first ages of civilized man, a religion was formed with that as the basis," he explained, moving to the board to spell out the name.
Zoroastrianism.
"Is this like one of the three main religions," Momo asked with a raised hand.
"Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions with two central deities," Ritsuka began. "There was the God of Creation, Ahura Mazda who goes by many other names. But for this class we will go by Ahura Mazda. And then his brother, the God of Destruction, Angra Mainyu. He is known by many names and titles, one of the most famous being All the World's Evil," he pointed to that name. "Legend had it that these two were God and the Anti-God respectively, but research conducted by Chaldea has disproven that Angra Mainyu was some sort of god, he was in fact a human."
"HUH," the class gasped, some writing down notes furiously.
"Yes," Ritsuka nodded, serious as he looked over them. "In a village with no name, they practiced Zoroastrianism. And they began to be faced with many problems due to bad karma. And so an ordinary villager, no older than your age, was chosen to become All the World's Evil."
Asui raised her hand to which she was called on.
"What do you mean by that, kero?"
"Well, he was chosen to bear all the evil and bad karma that the village had to make them pure. He was "freed' from the confines of Order by having his name expelled from the Avesta, The Universal Revelation of Inscribed Creation," he continued as they stewed over that fact. "So they continuously tortured him until he went insane. They captured him, beat him, carved every word that cursed mankind onto his body, forced every sin imaginable upon him, took out bits and pieces of him slowly, defiled his mind with absolute evil, and held him responsible for all of it in the world. They would not allow him to die until he succumbed to old age."
"That's so cruel," Momo gasped as the others clenched their pens and notebooks in their hands. "W...why do that with no real reason," she demanded before stopping at her teacher's bland...almost bored look.
"But they wished to be pure, so every negativity was forced on Angra," Ritsuka shrugged. "He eventually began to truly hate the world and humanity," he enforced. "So much so that it became a part of him, and soon he began to forgive them."
"Why would he do that! He shouldn't even be thinking about forgiveness at all. After what those people did," Kirishima yelled. "It's not manly at all!"
Count merely huffed at the phrase.
"Because he eased their confused minds, he allowed their souls to find a bit of peace because he would shoulder the burden of their sins much like the Holy Son of Christianity, though Jesus would forever love the people, Angra would forever hate them. Yes," Ritsuka spoke to Izuku who unconsciously raised his hand.
"What...what does this have to do with good and evil precisely?"
Others looked to the boy before looking at their teacher who regarded them all with a blank look, before he took a deep breath and placed the marker down.
"Look at my organization in terms of what the villagers did to Angra. How we get things dones and what we do, while unconventional gets the job done and saves people," he began. "But because of that we are being blamed for events that are not our own. The murder of some heroes, a Hero going rouge and killing the villain in custody, the collapse of another building that was affected in a battle killing the people who thought they where safe inside."
"None of that's your fault though," Mina questioned. "Besides all those incidents have been investigated and were apparently a long time coming."
"But because we have a history of being violent, it must make sense that we caused it and we were the reason for it no," he shot back with a smile. "And we've caused a great explosion on the scene of heroism, it just makes sense."
"I...I see," Tenya murmured. "So even now, thought practiced religion is rare, your saying that Zoroastrianism is still practiced, but only in certain fashions?"
"Something along those lines," Ritsuka nodded. "Some could argue that it was Angra that was the good one, being that he forgave the people who tortured him and that the villagers were the true evil. Others could argue that Angra soon became filled with his rage that the only thing he could do was forgive and that the villagers were unsafe...what I mean to say is that there is always going to be a side that is portrayed as a scapegoat for the side that wishes to remain pure."
"And why bother telling us this," Bakugou demanded.
"Because people will try to screw you over if you are not careful," Ritsuka sniffed as he erased the board, not bothering to look at the boy as he began to pull something up on the board.
"Now..I am showing you the cursed scars that we observed on the body of Angra Mainyu," he explained, the others jolting when he spoke.
"W...wait really! You found his body," Denki gasped as Mina and Jirou resisted the urge to gag.
"Yes," he nodded. "But like the Hope Diamond, it causes a bit of trouble to those who go anywhere near it so it's not on display," he explained to them all, just as a mess of images appeared.
It was...intense.
"Like I said, these were either burned or scarred onto him. To force the evil to stay within his body," he explained. "Every curse you could imagine was forced upon him, so this is something that represents whatever evil they could think of at that point in history."
"Imagine what it would look like now," Jirou murmured, the others dreading the thought.
"Well that would be scary no," Ritsuka winked before sighing. "I start with this because I want you to have a basis of what morality is," he explained. "It's not gray as an area you would like. I want you to understand that no matter how good you are, no matter how much you have the people's love...it's fleeting. This boy," he pointed to the scars. "He was a normal villager. He did nothing too good or evil and still he was chosen for whatever reason because they could," he pressed. "You are all going into a position that is easier to drag a person down than ever," he enforced.
"The heroes commission," Tenya began.
"Often they have too much pressure on them to drop a hero then they will," Todoroki sniffed, not looking to Tenya at all. "It's simple politics."
"Correct," Ritsuka nodded. "I want to start you all off with this because hero or no, someone will always try and screw you over in life. Be it yourself or someone else...it happens," he cautions. "It will happen."
It was silent as Count groaned and got up.
"You're too serious. Just because you had a death warrant for you doesn't mean you should scare them," he huffed, hands on his hips as he looked to his master.
"DEATH WARRANT?!" They all yelled out, shocked, confused and worried.
"Oh..yes...I forget that. Well it wasn't my fault that they assumed that I killed the UK Prime Minister, they came to that conclusion on shoddy evidence."
"WAIT, WAIT WAIT," Denki cried but he wasn't heard.
"What about you decking the French Prime Minister's wife who you said looked like a toad," Edmond asked.
"She deserved it for calling you all unruly heathens," Ritsuka pouted.
"You literally just drive her theory in with how you acted, now we have the most restrictions in France because of that," Count growled.
"Why are you upset? You don't even bother with following those in the first place," Ritsuka grumbled. "You barely follow Chaldea's rules after all...if barely," Ritsuka then pouted as the class began to sweat.
He...he was a loose cannon even in Chaldea?!
"I only tolerate that place because of our master," he crossed his arms.
"Excuse me," Izuku spoke, the two turning to him as he continued. "I have a question about Chaldea!"
"Oh ho," Ritsuka's face turned bright and cheery as Count rolled his eyes. "A brave one I see! Not in any of the other classes has someone had the gall to ask...well proceed," he winked.
"W...why do you call the head of Chaldea Master? Shouldn't it be Director or their hero name," he asked.
"Ah," Rituska hummed. "Well that's easy," he shrugged. "Me and the Master are not actually heroes at all," he explained, going over to his desk to shut off the monitor. "We're quirkless after all," he winked.
Silence.
"WHATTTTTT!"
Ritsuka was sure the school shook with how loud they yelled.
OKAY! COMMENT! Tell me what you liked, what you suspect will happen next and anything else within the realm of kindness and constructive criticism! Enjoy!
