Sitting in the class again was really weird for Izuku. Sure, it had only been a week, but so much had happened that it felt like it had been so much longer. He revealed his fake quirk to the world when fighting a serial killer, Iida killed someone and then was killed, Shouto escaped his dad with a fake kidnapping, he found out he was born from a cult based quirk marriage, and he now had a boyfriend.
As everyone filed into their seats the class was notably less full than it had been the week before. They'd started off the year with a full class of twenty people but they were currently down to thirteen. Bakugou, Shouto, and Iida were obvious, but that didn't explain the other four empty seats. He was trying to rake through his brain to who sat in those seats when Aizawa walked in the room with six students behind him.
His panic was greatly relieved when he saw Koda, Sato, Uraraka, and Aoyama were ok. He had been a bit worried that the missing students weren't there because they were killed or something. Which felt like an overreaction but their class had a pretty bad track record. The other two were the gen ed students he'd seen briefly at the Sports Festival.
Any remaining conversation was cut short by a classic glare from Aizawa. "First off, these two are your new classmates. Introduce yourself."
The purple haired boy stepped up first. "Name's Shinsou Hitoshi, I'm not here to make friends."
Next was a very short black haired girl with black lines across her skin, almost like the cracks in broken glass. "I'm Suzuki Yua. My quirk is called 'Muscle Cramp'. I can cause a cramp in whatever muscle group I touch. I'm here to be a hero, but I'm not anti-friendship like this purple gremlin." Said purple gremlin glared at her in response.
Holy shit, Izuku had totally forgotten that her last name was Suzuki. He wondered if she was related at all to the Suzuki they knew. It wouldn't be out of the question for this to be her granddaughter or something like that.
Aizawa nodded. "Go take your seats." They quickly shuffled into Bakugou and Iida's old seats.
"Now, these four are leaving the hero course for various reasons and decided they wanted to say a goodbye before going on their ways."
Uraraka was the first to speak up. "Um. I'm leaving for the business course and I'll be studying for a permit to use my quirk for business. Yaoyorozu actually helped me set up a contract with her parents so I can help with their satellites and getting stuff into space. I really did want to be a hero, but my main priority is taking care of my family. And well… Iida was my closest friend here and after he passed I realized I might be in the wrong place to do that."
In the end the other three had similar things to say. They wanted to be heroes, but not enough to die for it. Well, Sato wanted to stay but his parents had pulled him from the school entirely.
Once they finished up, Aizawa rose up from where he'd been resting behind his desk. "Before you four leave there's a few announcements that you should hear as well."
He sighed. "This is always the hardest thing to do as a heroics teacher. Nearly every hero class has at least one fatality before they graduate, but no matter how many times it happens it will always break my heart." He paused as he closed his eyes for a few moments and composed himself.
"As you're all aware, Iida Tenya passed away a few days ago. Hounddog is always available if you want to talk to him, but if you're more comfortable with someone else the rest of the faculty is also here for you. Losing a classmate, no matter how close you are, is a devastating experience."
"Whether or not you choose to go is entirely your choice, but the Iida family wanted me to tell you that everyone from 1-A is invited to the funeral. It will be held tomorrow, come talk to me after class if you want more information."
"I'm sure all of this information will be on the news eventually, but I'd also like to give you an update on the rescue of Todoroki Shouto. I won't sugarcoat it for you because you deserve the truth. There has been little progress in finding where the League of Villains are and since there have been no demands or any sign of life, we likely need to prepare for the worst."
Momo had started openly weeping and Izuku wasn't far behind her, although for very different reasons. Momo was crying because a lifelong friend was probably dead. They had known each other since they were little and now he was gone. Right as he was starting to find himself and figure out who he wanted to be he was taken away.
Izuku however was crying because he felt guilty. He knew where Shouto was but couldn't tell her, couldn't relieve her grief. He didn't know how trustworthy she was and at the very least he'd have to check in with Shouto first. Even though it was the right call since it got him away from his abusive father, it still made him feel awful to see the class mourn their friend. Shouto's freedom was worth it, even if it meant all these people had to cry, but that didn't take away the guilt at seeing their pain.
"One change coming to UA is we're planning on offering dorms for students to live in. Because both incidents were related to the League of Villains we're going forward with the assumption that they are going after young heroes, especially legacy hero students."
Izuku raised his hand slowly.
"Yes, Midoriya?"
"Um, what makes them think that Iida's death had anything to do with the League of Villains? Everything I saw says he was killed by a fellow inmate who was a follower of Stain, not Shigaraki."
"I suppose you haven't seen the most recent update. As of last night, evidence was found to show that the two were working together to tear down hero society."
Izuku raised his hand again, much faster this time.
Aizawa did his best not to sigh. "Yes Midoriya?"
"Are they absolutely certain of that? Like, super, super sure? Because when I was asking him about his ideals to stall for time he talked about how he despised the League. And Stain's ideals were never about tearing down hero society, even if he was doing it in the worst way possible, his goal was to make heroes better."
The entire class was staring at him after that revelation, causing him to shrink in on himself. Kirishima was the first to speak up. "Uh, bro? Did you tell the cops that? Because they seem very sure that those two were working together."
"Yeah, I'm sure I did- Oh wait… Um…"
Tanaka then took over. "The cops were being insensitive pricks and kept sending him into panic attacks so our mom refused to let them talk to us."
This time Aizawa did sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please come talk to me after classes today so we can get your statement filed."
After giving the class a minute or two to process all of the new information that had been dumped on them he spoke up again. "Okay, you four should head off now. 1-A, get suited up and head to gym gamma. It's not fair to make you train this soon after losing friends but this is what it means to be a hero. It's not fun or easy, it's fighting everyday to save people even at the cost of the lives of your friends and quite possibly yourself."
As they got dressed for class the locker room was dead silent. There were more than a few tears from the students, but they got ready and went out to the mock city for class.
All Might was waiting for them with a much softer smile than the wide and preformative one he usually wore. It was a smile that spoke to him knowing the sorrow they were experiencing.
"Aizawa likely told you all already, but if you ever need someone to talk to, any and all of the staff at UA are here for you."
He took a deep breath and put on a forced smile. "Today's exercise is a simple one, but don't be tricked by that, it's still a difficult task. The scenario is this: there is a wounded and unconscious civilian in the city but a villain has severely damaged the roads, preventing ambulances from passing through. You will be given the general location of the wounded civilian, you must get to their location and bring that civilian back to where emergency services are waiting." He gestured to a red X painted on the ground.
"What makes this more difficult is that I will be the civilian in this scenario. There are many people out there with mutations that will allow them to be as large or heavy as I am, and you must be prepared for that. Now remember, this is an exercise in speed, you'll want to find me and rescue me as quickly as possible."
They were separated into five groups of three. As All Might jumped off into the distance, those not up first went over to the observation room, and Izuku walked over to his teammates. Like usual, the groups were randomized, leaving him to work alongside Sero and Shinsou. He hadn't really worked with Sero before and obviously Shinsou was new so he was looking forward to the exercise even if the mood of the day was very subdued.
"Hey Shinsou. I'm glad to see you got into the hero course."
"Hmph. A lot of the internet is acting like you're some kind of god with what your quirk is. Honestly, I'm not impressed."
Sero looked equally as thrown off by the introduction. "Um, maybe we should focus on the exercise. It's about to start and we're being graded on speed so the best move is to start moving across the rooftops.."
"Do whatever you want. Not like I can help much here anyways."
Tanaka snapped at him. "What the actual fuck is your problem?! Everything you say is so dumb. You won't make friends and you're already giving up just because a task isn't specifically suited to you?! Either get your shit together and put in an actual effort or you'll end up dead, just like the guy who's place you're taking."
Tanaka's voice had started to break up towards the end, showing that he wasn't handling the death of their classmate as well as he'd been pretending. They weren't close in the slightest, hell, he didn't even like Iida, but he'd gone so long where death wasn't a part of his daily life anymore. He didn't know if he'd gone soft or maybe he just feared going back to being a person who wasn't affected by death.
Sero stepped in. "I think all he's trying to say is that teamwork and agility are very important aspects to the job. And if you can't do it now then you'll have to work at it, but don't just give up on it all together."
The signal for them to start sounded and they all took off in the direction that All Might had jumped. Izuku was quickly shrouded in lightning as he leapt from one building to the next. It was a thrill to move at their top speed like a green comet streaking through the sky. Each and every step was enough to launch them into the air as both slime and the power of One for All flowed through his veins.
Sero had gone out at a slightly different angle, allowing them to cover more ground and hopefully find him faster. The city was the perfect setting for him, and even with the power of One for All Izuku and Tanaka couldn't keep up with him as he swung through the training ground. Shinso tried to keep up, spurred on by Tanaka's words, but couldn't go faster than a slightly below average running speed as he made his way through the city.
It didn't take Izuku and Sero long to find their teacher, the man laying down on a roof while pretending to be unconscious.
"Um Sero, how about I carry him and make my way back at street level while you navigate and make sure we're heading the right way from above."
He nodded before taking off down the street. "Sounds good."
Izuku held his mentor in the silliest looking bridal carry as he ran back with him being dwarfed by the giant in his arms. It didn't take long, plus with Sero's directions they avoided any obstacles and got back to the starting place in barely a few minutes.
The moment they landed at the red X, All Might stood up and walked them over to the nearby viewing room.
"That was good work from all of you. Shinsou, you'll want to talk to Aizawa about learning how to move through a city setting quickly without a physical quirk. Midoriya, you need to remember that even though you can handle high speeds that doesn't mean the people you're saving can. If I hadn't been me you would have given me whiplash numerous times."
Izuku looked at the ground in embarrassment.
"Do not worry though! This is why we practice, so that we may learn and become better!"
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, which was nice. After their final class ended Izuku made his way to the teacher's lounge to talk with Aizawa. As he stepped inside the man in question looked up at him.
"Good, you're here. Come with me."
He followed him into a meeting room of some sorts and took a seat at the large table.
"This is the room that we use for any important confidential conversations. There are no cameras here and the walls are heavily soundproofed. First off, I want the full story of exactly what happened that night in Hosu so I can start to set the record straight."
He nodded, and with Tanaka's help they recounted the night, though he had to stop just before the end. It was too hard to think about being trapped with Stain's body.
"Thank you. I'll make sure to get that submitted to the official report. Now I do have one other thing I wanted to discuss with you." He was pretty sure he heard a barely audible whisper of, 'I hope I'm right about this.'
Well that certainly made him nervous. "Um, what is it?"
"About an hour ago Shouto Todoroki was located."
"What?!" Izuku stood up with enough force that his chair went flying backwards, a look of pure terror on his face. All that work and Shouto only got a few days off from that nightmare?! What about Suzuki and the Clinic?! Was everyone there ok?!
"My apologies. That was a blatant lie, but I didn't have another way to get an honest reaction out of you. The idea of him being found made you look angry and scared instead of relieved, confirming my theory that this is an abuse victim escaping not a kidnapping case."
Aizawa raised his hand to halt any response Izuku was about to say.
"I'd prefer for you not to tell me where he is or go into any further detail. A detective I work with frequently, and is on the case, has the ability to detect lies, so me knowing more than absolutely necessary is not a good idea. However, if you or anyone else involved is in trouble please contact me."
"Oh, and don't worry too much about others figuring it out. I only put the pieces together because I knew there was something wrong with his home situation but had been unable to do anything about it. That and a certain handful of students looked guilty instead of sad when Yaoyorozu started crying. If you still intend on being an underground hero you'll really need to work on your poker face."
And with that he simply walked out of the room and left Izuku to process all of that.