A week after the enlightening conversation Izuku felt the South Side Inferno was weighing a bit too heavily on the children it affected, Izuku took some time to think about what he could do that he wasn't already doing when he got a brilliant idea.
Izuku did some research then he took some money and approached the families with his idea for their permission, he also carefully asked around to his older students if they wanted to help, so once he got everything set up and arrangements made he surprised the children that Saturday.
He was giddy as he went about his work that day but the younger children had picked up on his excitement and they were already curious about him showing up early, just as he finished up the lesson on the fascinating way food webs worked and he was grinning as he said: " And I know that this can be difficult to understand, so to help you grasp the subject properly we'll be taking a field trip to the Niigata city aquarium."
As expected the kids collectively lost it asking their parents or siblings if they were really going or for permission, others attached themselves to Izuku asking him if he was actually going to be taking them or thanking him, Izuku would have answered their questions but Kiku-Kun was one of the latter and he had his mother's quirk.
When he could move again Izuku helped the five older students get the fifteen kids ready to go, it wasn't as hard as Izuku expected it to be when he had the families help to get them all dressed for the snow, given the size of their group Izuku decided it would be easier to just rent three large SUVs to take them and made sure the students driving had legal licenses to drive.
The excited chatting from the kids made it hard not to smile the entire drive not that it was very long, once they were standing outside the building Izuku got the kids' attention and reminded them of the rules.
" Okay, remember we are guests here and that means we have to follow their rules. So even though the animals are really exciting you shouldn't disturb them by knocking on the glass or yelling at them to get their attention." He instructed getting excited nods back with a few "Okay!"s and yes "Deku-Sensei!"s
" And when we have questions you are to ask a worker as polity as possible. Now we're about to go in does everyone have their buddies? And know who their group leaders are?" He asked, the kids happily divided themselves into groups of five and with two supervisors.
Izuku clapped " Very good, now if everyone stays on their best behavior we'll get souvenirs for everyone back home okay?" He told them getting a row of cheers making him chuckle, Izuku turned to Masao-San (his group partner) and nodded then led them all to the entrance.
Getting their tickets was a bit of a challenge, he counted their group again he had to get six adult tickets (12 years old and up) and kid tickets for everyone else, thank God the cashier took cards cause no one would have had the cash needed on hand and got tour wrist bands for the group.
He and Masao's group led the way to where they were supposed to meet up with their tour guide, Izuku was a bit anxious about this part as he had no idea how the kids would react to his second surprise, Kaori was happily pointing out the fish on the hallway walls only to stop and gasp loudly once she saw Gang Orca.
The rest of the kids had heard her and stopped what they were doing only to also freeze upon seeing the hero, the hero had flinched at the gasp and seemed to be waiting for some kind of reaction and Izuku wasn't sure he didn't look much better.
Gang Orca was a fifty-fifty bet on whether the kids would be thrilled by him or afraid, not because of the man's appearance (most of them had neighbors that would be right at home in R-rated horror films) but Izuku knew that the South Siders hadn't had the best experience with professional heroes in general and the SSI was still rather recent.
As he waited for the fallout of seeing the hero he was a bit surprised when Kaori tugged on his pant leg and tried to whisper
" Pss, Midoriya-Chan. Midoriya-Chan look! It's a hero." Izuku blinked and nearly laughed as she tried to alert him of the nearby hero " I know Kaori-Chan. That's Gang Orca, he's going to give us a tour of the aquarium." He gently explained to the group causing a few shocked gasps.
Then Kaori and the rest of the children proceeded to mob the semi-aquatic man happily lobbing all sorts of questions at him, the shocked look on the hero was quite comical, and two of his older students were all too happy to laugh at the man's distress.
Izuku though happy they weren't scared, he became rather flustered when he realized the questions they were asking were related to his theories on his quirk and that was just embarrassing, he quickly went over to the children to calm them down and subsequently rescue the hero.
Today wasn't quite going as Kugo expected it to, he has given quite a few aquarium tours since he rose to the top one-hundred pro heroes in Japan, and despite the years it usually went the same with the majority of kids being afraid of him for the entire tour. The kids who weren't were far and few in between even if they also had mutation quirks
He expected this group to be about the same when all of the kids stopped and stared at him as if he grew another head, the girl recognizing him was a surprise but judging from her words the boy had likely spoken of Kugo to some of them, that being said he didn't expect all fifteen of the children to effectively mob him to ask him questions about his quirk.
The greenette had quickly taken to calming them and softly scolded them for asking personal questions unprompted, being courteous he answered some of the milder ones, like if he had whiskers like a cat when he was younger. ( short answer, yes, he did)
The tour itself went mostly alright and the kids all seemed to really enjoy what he was telling them, their chaperones weren't the normally expected teachers either but it was hard to judge what "normal" looked like in the world of quirks.
The greenette (Midoriya if he heard the little girl correctly) would make various comments in addition to what he said or point something out occasionally and the rest of the group (adults too) would stop to listen and always took the boy very seriously, it was an odd dynamic but he didn't see the need to speak of it at the moment given the boy was accurate in what he did speak of.
Nearing the end of the three-hour tour he had taken a moment to rest as the group sat marveling at the large coral reef tank in the next room with only one of the twenty-one staying behind with him, Kugo took that moment to take a drink from his bottle.
The one who stayed behind had turned to him (he could look Kugo in the eye given his height and had an obvious reptile mutation) " I apologize if Kaori insulted you by calling you a "sea panda" earlier, my sister can be a bit over-enthusiastic." He said with a heavy lisp.
Glancing at the girl in question Kugo didn't see many features the two shared but that might change as the other grew, he simply waved the boy's comment off " It's fine, I certainly wasn't expecting it though." He responded with a soft chuckle
" Midoriya-San said Orcas are like pandas, said he got that idea from his aunt." His reptilian companion supplied.
Kugo hummed back, which certainly explained why the boy became flustered every time one of the kids called him that, he was also certain that Tsunagu would get a kick out of the comparison, and he was giving some serious consideration to changing his name to it on the hero network for the novelty of it.
" Is it nice?" The other asked him suddenly, Kugo turned to the man, his face twisted in confusion " Giving tours for children." He clarified after a second " Ah, yes I do enjoy helping kids learn more about the world, but I'm afraid most find my appearance to be... Unnerving." Kugo confessed and the man nodded, eyeing the small family of three swiftly moving through the room while giving the two a wide berth.
" Though getting more well known as a hero has helped, your group has definitely been the most receptive to my presence I must admit." He mused and the man gave him a look " They don't like you because you're a hero." The man told him flatly and Kugo was admittedly confused once he heard that.
" They like you because Midoriya-San talks about you." The man corrected and Kugo found himself more baffled by that, did the little greenette's opinion mean that much to them? Kugo's eyes trailed over to the group finding most of them still listening to Midoriya as he explained something.
" Midoriya-San is very important to us and they know Midoriya-San knows a lot about heroes, so if Midoriya-San says you're a good hero they'll trust him, even if they don't like heroes." The man said, his slit-shaped pupils also on the group.
" Not like heroes?" Kugo questioned, the very idea of it was foreign to him, the thought of any child in this day and age disliking heroes was utterly odd to him, the man returned his gaze to Kugo " We've... not had much positive interaction with heroes, before today the closest they've been to a hero is when Endeavor burned down their homes." The man explained, contempt flashing briefly across his features once he mentioned the number two hero.
No more needed to be said for Kugo to understand and he scowled " Ah, right." He muttered finishing his drink, it was hard to forget the number two hero but Kugo had perhaps had the "luck" of never meeting the victims of Endeavor's aftermath.
He wasn't so ignorant to believe Endeavor has never harmed civilians with his quirk, or that other, lesser-known heroes with a similar mindset and actions didn't exist, but he couldn't remember the last time he had distinctly met anyone he had harmed outside of the few times they crossed paths on the battlefield.
" That's why Midoriya-San wanted them to meet you, so they wouldn't be afraid of heroes." The man commented, " Said you'd be best because you like kids and don't look like the typical hero, looking more like a villain probably makes them like you more honestly." He told Kugo before the man joined the group in the other room.
Kugo found himself stunned as he watched the man walk away, he had been purposely chosen to help children not be afraid of heroes? And he had been picked because he looked more like a villain? This was truly far from what he was expecting to happen today when he woke up this morning and he wondered what Tsunagu would think of the experience.