Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter four: Mourning Plans
Izuku Midoriya was walking through the halls of UA the morning following the attack on the USJ. All that Izuku knew about it was that a lot of villains had appeared through a giant portal of sorts, made by a mist looking villain. They had attacked the USJ while Class 1-A, headed by Shouta Aizawa aka the underground pro hero Eraserhead, was there learning some tips and tricks from Thirteen, a pro hero who Izuku got down is skilled in rescue during disaster.
Izuku also learned that Tenya Iida, the stern boy he met during the UA entrance exams, is a student in Class 1-A when he came bolting into the 1-B homeroom looking for All Might. After All Might had left with Sekijiro, Iida took the chance to apologize to Izuku, and that had allowed for the first instance of cross-class friendship to blossom. Izuku also got it from Iida that Fumikage Tokoyami, who Izuku met at his stop to school that morning, is also a Class 1-A student.
The green haired boy has no idea if Tokoyami is alright. He has no idea if Eraserhead or Thirteen are alright. He has no idea if Tokoyami's and Iida's classmates are all alright. He couldn't help but worry for Class 1-A, upset that they were forced to go through such trouble. Sure, as heroes in training, the lot of them, as well as Izuku and all of his classmates, ought to be ready to take on such challenges in the future after they all graduate from UA.
...In the future after they all graduate from UA. Yesterday was the first day of the second week of their FIRST year as UA students; Izuku got it from Iida that the only thing that Class 1-A did prior to the USJ that got anywhere close to hero training was their class's own Battle Trial exercise. Aside from that, Class 1-A had virtually zero hero training; they might as well be quirked students over at a non-hero academy normal public high school.
And they were expected to face a horde of villains, real villains mind you, that according to what Iida estimated from what he saw prior to running for help outnumbered Class 1-A and the two present pro heroes a little over three to one. Izuku was able to get it that one of the villains in the attack, the one who led the attack no less, was actually killed; a large monstrous brute was apprehended, along with the entirety of the fodder force. One villain, the one who made the portals, was able to escape.
Although the mist portal villain escaping was still cause for worry, the rest of the attacking villains all being accounted for was still good. From what Izuku was figuring right now, all that the heroes had to do was track down and apprehend the mist portal villain, and then the entirety of the attack on the USJ will be avenged, at least as much as it can be. Izuku had faith in All Might, in Kan-sensei, in all of the awesome pro heroes who worked at UA, that they will resolve this problem in no time.
As such, it was with that hope that Izuku came through the hallway where the Class 1-B homeroom was located. Walking on down through, the green haired boy came to a stop outside of the door. He went on in, and was surprised to see his classmate Itsuka standing looking right at the door, as if she were waiting for people to enter. Seeing Izuku walk right on in, Itsuka straightened herself out as she walked up to Izuku.
"Good, you being here means all twenty of us are present," Itsuka said to Izuku, "We've been given some manner of extended free period while Kan-sensei and the rest of the UA staff hold a meeting to discuss damage control in regards to the attack on the USJ yesterday."
Instantly, Izuku became alarmed. "Damage control? What happened exactly?"
Itsuka gestured to herself. "I talked it over with the class rep and class vice rep of 1-A. It turns out that the Iida guy is vice rep for 1-A while a girl named Yaoyorozu is 1-A's rep. We're going to be heading on over to see 1-A to offer them our sympathies."
"Yeah dude," Juzo spoke up, making Izuku and Itsuka turn to see Juzo, Yosetsu, and Nirengeki come walking on over. The skull faced boy let out a troubled sigh as he gently shook his head. "...Things had gone to hell for 1-A after Iida was allowed to escape to run for help. Not only was the pro hero Thirteen killed by those attacking villains, but so were a total of five of the students in 1-A."
Izuku went wide eyed with shock upon being told that a pro hero and five students were killed at the USJ. Izuku immediately was sad over Thirteen's death, she was a leading name in pro heroism when it came to disaster relief. But the deaths of five students in 1-A, that's twenty-five percent of the class, was bound to be a crippling blow in more ways than one. Worse yet is how Izuku didn't even know most of the 1-A students; only Tokoyami and Iida, with only the latter being confirmed alive as far as Izuku knew.
There's a chance that Tokoyami, who Izuku had come to know as a good fellow who was worried about appealing to a nice girl he became smitten with, could have lost his life. Aside from that, the green haired boy was upset that he'd never get to know the five students in 1-A who were killed in the villain attack on the USJ, hero academy students same as him who had aspirations of getting to one day become pro heroes, same as him.
Izuku looked to his classmates. "When do we leave to go see Class 1-A to offer our sympathies?"
"We were going to leave once all twenty of us were here," Itsuka said, "You getting here made twenty. Anyway, let's bounce." Given that Izuku and Itsuka were respectively the rep and vice rep for Class 1-B, the two of them led all of their classmates over to the 1-A homeroom to check up on their rival class. Though rival class they may be to 1-B, 1-A was in their time of need right now. And 1-B was planning to help them through their time of need.
After all, who saves a hero when they're the one who needs saving?
Meanwhile over in the meeting office room, Nezu had gathered all of the staff. A framed eight by eleven photo of Thirteen, adorned with simple funerary portrait ribbons, sat at the place at the table that Thirteen herself would have occupied. Nezu, from where he sat at the head of the meeting table, let out a somber, resigned sigh. He wished to of never had to have a meeting like this, but it was happening right now.
"...Yesterday was the worst day UA has ever had in the entirety of its history," Nezu said, "At least as far as I can remember. The attack on the USJ will go down infamously in the history books, given that we not only lost our colleague Thirteen, but also five of the first year students in Aizawa's homeroom."
"Silver lining," Hizashi spoke up, "The lead villain from the attack was killed, and all of his fodder and his monster were all captured."
"That silver lining has a mar on it, Hizashi," Aizawa spoke up, "Keep in mind that the mist portal villain, who was the one that had brought all of the villains into the USJ in the first place, was able to get away."
Sekijiro turned to look at Aizawa. "You were there, Shouta. Do you have any details that might be of any value that could help with tracking down the mist portal villain?"
The underground hero looked down at his hands, where they rested at his place at the meeting table. "...The villain leading the attack called his group the League of Villains," Aizawa began, "He came there claiming that he and his League were there to kill All Might. That tells me that the lead villain somehow knew a head of time that All Might was also supposed to be at the USJ, given that he was supposed to help Thirteen with some demonstrations for my class."
Nemuri turned to look at All Might. "Why weren't you at the USJ from the get go, by the way?"
"I..." All Might began, "...I lost track of time when I visited Sekijiro's students to give them a quick lecture on pro heroics."
Aizawa immediately scowled bitterly. "So you prioritized students who never left the safety of UA grounds yesterday."
"Hey cut it out with that funny business, Shouta!" Sekijiro snapped, "We had no way to predict that the attack on the USJ would happen!" Gesturing to the underground hero, Sekijiro went on, "Besides, All Might isn't responsible for teaching just the students in your homeroom. Keep in mind that the students in MY homeroom are also first years in the hero course."
As Aizawa backed off while giving off a sigh, Ryo said, "So let's tackle the leading problem from the villains who attacked the USJ yesterday. The mist portal villain escaping."
Nemuri nodded in agreement. "Given that he's the only villain from the attack yesterday who got away, not to mention how the leader of the villains yesterday was killed, it's safe to say that this so-called 'League of Villains' was taken down for good before it could even get up off of the ground. We just need to do a tiny bit of clean up is all."
Higari Maijima, the pro hero Power Loader who is also a UA teacher, spoke up while raising a hand, "Uhh, a TINY bit of clean up? Then what do you call the media shitstorm that is bound to be coming our way as a result of one colleague and five first year hero course students all being killed?"
"We'll deal with that when the time comes, Maijima," Nezu said, "Now, in light of the security breech we've suffered, especially considering how said breech had led to the deaths of one staff member and five students, I'm afraid that we are going to have to cancel the UA Sports Festival this year."
Aizawa nodded grimly in agreement and understanding. "I agree. There's just no way that we can have the Sports Festival this year in light of what happened."
Hizashi let out a breath. "Hoo boy, that's going to upset a lot of people. The Sports Festival is a really big televised event. Not only is it part of how UA generates income, but it's also where pro heroes scout out potential interns for the internships. The kids won't be able to get their names out there for prospective pro hero mentors to see."
"Given that we need to figure out how the villains knew where the USJ was located," Sekijiro began to point out, "Combined with how they were able to get past the security, we can't afford to do the Sports Festival. The USJ was a closed up secure location whose location is supposed to be secret. The Sports Festival is an open air arena who is far more publicly open. You don't need Ectoplasm to do the math for you to know that the Sports Festival would be infinitely riskier, especially since it can involve civilian casualties if villains struck there!"
Ectoplasm, who was sitting at the meeting, nodded in agreement. "We're going to have to cancel the Sports Festival, yeah. There's just no way that we can afford to take the risk, not with five dead in the morgue and a sixth death that can't even be properly buried or cremated."
Nezu sighed. "...This... may not be the best time, but I do need to point out how there are five vacancies in Class 1-A. Class structure guidelines for the hero course classes here at UA requires that said hero course classes have to be at max capacity." Turning to Aizawa, Nezu went on, "That being said Shouta, you'll be given profiles on all first year students here at UA who aren't already in the hero course, then pick five who you feel would best fit the hero course. Those five will then be offered transfers into the hero course into your homeroom."
Aizawa nodded once in understanding. "I'll probably have to pick a few extras from that list to choose from in case any of the main five I pick decline the offer. You said that they'd be offered the transfers, and you didn't provide any hints that accepting said offers would be mandatory."
Nezu saw what Aizawa meant, nodded in agreement with him. "...Given that the UA student body at large is bound to learn why said transfers were possible in the first place, I can see why any of the prospective transfers into your class might want to decline. Very well." Looking to the staff at the meeting as a whole, Nezu went on, "Anyway, the notifying of next of kin has already been handled. As such, at the end of this week, we'll hold a special memorial assembly to honor those who died in the attack at the USJ."
The rest of the staff all nodded in agreement. Given what happened, a memorial assembly more or less has to happen. There's a few more details to handle, like how to break it to UA as a whole that the Sports Festival this year has to be cancelled, and the matter of Aizawa picking his choice of non-hero course first year students to transfer into 1-A, but those will be handled as they all popped up. Oh, there's also the need to hire someone to fill the staff position left behind by Thirteen.
It was very much clear that the staff of UA were going to be having their hands full for quite some time to come. But they'll get through it. They'll track down the one villain who got away. They'll avenge the deaths of the five students and Thirteen at the USJ. And they'll bounce back from all of this tragedy stronger than ever.
Because they're heroes.
...
After the meeting let out, Sekijiro and Ryo were talking to All Might when Aizawa called out, "Regardless of the fact that you're here to help guide all of the first year hero course students, you still were supposed to be at the USJ." The three men turned to see Aizawa come walking up to them, with Hizashi and Nemuri following along behind.
Coming to about two feet away from All Might, Sekijiro, and Ryo, Aizawa went on as he gestured to the Symbol of Peace, "And yet you not only decided to waste time with students you technically weren't scheduled to speak with today, you allowed yourself to lose track of time."
"Shouta, what part of 'there was no way to predict that villains would attack the USJ' do you not understand?" Sekijiro half asked half snarled, clearly unamused with the underground hero.
"The fact we had no way to predict that villains would attack the USJ is irrelevant here, Sekijiro," Aizawa countered, "What is relevant here is the fact All Might shirked duties that he was supposed to do." Turning to look right All Might, Aizawa asked, "So tell me, All Might. Why was it that you weren't where you were supposed to be yesterday?"
All Might was about to speak up, but he got cut off before he could get a word out when Nezu called out, "Oh, there you are, Shouta!" Everyone turned to see Nezu coming over, carrying a stack of papers. "Here's profiles on every UA first year not already in the hero course," Nezu said, "You're probably going to wanna take the rest of the day off to go over all of this."
Aizawa nodded in understanding, recieved the papers from Nezu. The underground hero shot one last look at All Might, a look that told the Symbol of Peace 'We aren't done here', then took off without another word, prompting Hizashi and Nemuri to go after him. When Aizawa and the others were gone, Nezu turned to look up at All Might, Sekijiro, and Ryo.
"I'm guessing that my arrival here with something to distract Shouta saved you all from potentially getting into a heated argument?" Nezu asked.
"Sir, you don't know the half of it," Ryo replied, "I feared that things might have come to blows, even more so if someone said the wrong thing at the wrong time."
Nezu nodded in understanding. "The loss of Thirteen is tragic sure, but what's worse is how Shouta had lost five of his students in his homeroom. It probably reminded him of how he and Hizashi had lost their friend Oboro. I'm..." Nezu sighed, gently shook his head. "...I'm not sure if Shouta ever got therapy for how the loss of Oboro affected him."
"I just hope Shouta does right by his surviving students and arranges therapy for them," Ryo remarked, gently shaking his head, "Mark my words, gentlemen. Those kids are going to need all of the therapy that they can get their hands on."
Meanwhile outside of the door that led into the Class 1-A homeroom, Izuku and Itsuka brought the rest of Class 1-B to a stop. "I've already checked and confirmed that the surviving 1-A students are all inside waiting for us," Itsuka said, "Everyone else wait outside here, Izuku and I will head on in and let 1-A know we're here to see them and offer them our sympathies."
The rest of 1-B all nodded in agreement, then Izuku and Itsuka turned to look at one another. "I hope you're ready for this, Izuku," Itsuka said, "Our fellow schoolmates here at UA need us." Izuku nodded in agreement, right before he and Itsuka entered the Class 1-A homeroom class. "Hey, 1-A!" Itsuka called out as she and Izuku walked in, "We're here to-"
"DEKU! THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Itsuka was cut off when one of the male students loudly barked in her and Izuku's direction, prompting both to see who Izuku recognized as his childhood friend turned childhood bully Katsuki Bakugo, practically snarling as he pointed an accusatory finger at the green haired boy. Similarly, Izuku was surprised that he met Bakugo here; he wasn't surprised that Bakugo was able to get into UA, but he never expected to meet him under such circumstances.
Seeing Bakugo clearly pointing at her classmate, Itsuka said, "You... know Midoriya?"
"Of course I know him!" Bakugo barked, "He's a damn useless Deku who has no place in UA, especially considering the fact that he's quirkless!"
"I... have a hard time believing that, Bakugo," Iida said, stepping forward, "After all, there's no way that UA would accept a quirkless student into the hero course, and yet Midoriya there is a member of Class 1-B."
"Also Bakugo, he does have quirk," a female voice spoke up, one who was familiar to Izuku. Turning to look, Izuku as well as Itsuka saw the brown haired girl Izuku met at the entrance exams come walking up. The same girl who Izuku thought to be cute, who had helped to save Izuku's life when he was falling after punching out the Zero Pointer. "I saw him use it," the brown haired girl went on, "When he used it to save my life by punching out a giant robot that would have crushed me while I was trapped under rubble."
Bakugo clearly looked like he snapped a bit. Sensing that things might escalate, Itsuka immediately tried to diffuse the situation. "Let's... move on to why my class and I all came here to see you guys," Itsuka said, "Shall we?"
...
Within due time, all of 1-B came in to see 1-A. During that time, Izuku got to talking more with Iida and the brown haired girl. "Oh, I haven't given you my name yet," the brown haired girl said to Izuku, "I'm Ochako Uraraka."
"Izuku Midoriya," the green haired boy replied.
Gesturing over to where Bakugo looked to be talking to Togaru, Iida asked, "Do you and Bakugo have a history of sorts together, Midoriya?"
Izuku nodded once in confirmation. "...Yeah. Kacchan and I-"
"Kacchan?" Uraraka repeated in a curious tone.
"That's my nickname for Bakugo," Izuku explained, "Anyway, Kacchan and I used to be friends, but then his quirk came in and I was... mistakenly diagnosed as quirkless, he proceeded to lead most of the other students in the classes we had into using me as a target for quirk practice."
"...I hate Bakugo," Uraraka muttered under her breath.
Looking at Izuku, Iida said, "You were mistakenly diagnosed as quirkless, huh? That would explain how Bakugo thought you weren't fit to be in the hero course here at UA."
"Oh Iida, quick question," Izuku said, "Your classmate Fumikage Tokoyami. Is he alright?"
Both Iida and Uraraka looked surprised by Izuku asking for Tokoyami. Iida looked somber while Uraraka began to tear up a little bit. "Tokoyami is alive, yes," Iida said to Izuku, "He had survived the attack on the USJ yesterday physically unscathed, if that's what you're asking about." Iida then gently shook his head. "...But he's far from being emotionally alright."
Izuku was immediately alarmed. "What happened to Tokoyami?"
"I... I think it's best if he told you, Midoriya," Uraraka said, tears running down the sides of his face. After a moment, Uraraka left and came back with a somber looking Tokoyami, who had Dark Shadow hanging out while perched on his right shoulder.
"You... wanted to see me, Midoriya?" Tokoyami asked.
Izuku nodded in the affirmative. "I got it from Iida here that, although you survived and are physically unscathed, that you're still very upset." Izuku gave the bird headed boy a sympathetic look. "You're that torn up over the deaths of five of your classmates, huh? I'm very sorry about that."
"It's more than that, Green Top," Dark Shadow said, looking and sounding sympathetic, "One of Fumi's five classmates who was killed was the Asui girl that Fumi was sweet on."
Izuku looked shocked, even began to tear up a bit, as Tokoyami nodded somberly in grim confirmation. "...I was even part of the party to went to inform Asui's family that she had been killed. I handed Asui's school bag and other belongings she left at UA over to her mother Beru while both of Asui's younger siblings cried their eyes out."
"It broke my heart to see Frog Girl's little siblings cry like that," Dark Shadow said, "Even though as a sentient quirk I technically don't have a literal heart. I don't know how police and pro heroes are able to be bearers of bad news like that to families who have lost loved ones to vill-"
"DAMN IT, GRAPE HEAD! LEAVE THE GIRLS ALONE!"
Dark Shadow was interrupted when he and most everyone in the classroom heard Bakugo shout out randomly like that. Looking over, Izuku and his group he was talking to saw Bakugo, a boy with straight black hair, a boy with blonde hair with a black bolt pattern on the side, and a boy with tall spiky red hair talking to Togaru who was joined by Itsuka, Pony, Yui, and Setsuna.
The red spiky haired boy turned to look at Bakugo, a concerned look on his face. "...Umm, Baku-bro, Mineta was killed yesterday. He can't be bothering the girls here from Kamakiri's class."
Bakugo had a bit of a surprised look on his face. "...Oh. It's just that Grape Head had such an annoying disgusting habit of bothering girls that I was expecting the girls here to complain about him by now." Bakugo looked a bit embarrassed, cast his gaze down a bit. "...I forgot that he was killed."
While the guys with Bakugo were trying to reassure him, Izuku and the group that he was talking to turned to look back to one another. "...I never really liked my late classmate Mineta," Uraraka said to Izuku, "He was an unrepentant pervert who was always trying to bother the other girls and I. But even I wouldn't have wished for Mineta to meet the fate that he got."
"I'm sorry again that you lost five of your classmates, Uraraka," Izuku said, his tone sympathetic, "Regardless of what less than ideal characteristics that any of them had." Izuku gently shook his head in disappointment. "...It's a shame I'll never get to meet any of the ones who died."
"I'm willing to bet that there will be some manner of memorial assembly here at UA," Iida said, "And that there will be large portraits of those who died, with each portrait adorned with funerary portrait ribbons. You'll at least be able to see what our late peers looked like then."
Izuku nodded in acknowledgment right as the door leading into the 1-A homeroom opened, revealing Aizawa followed by Hizashi and Nemuri. Izuku was surprised to see such pro heroes for the first time, but he had to keep his cool given the circumstances. Aizawa looked around, saw all of the students from Sekijiro's class.
"...Thanks for showing my students sympathies, Kan's students," Aizawa remarked, able to guess why the 1-B students were there, "But now I'm going to have to ask that you all head on back to your own classroom. Likewise, my students ought to just go on a head to their next class. I have some files here that I need to go over."
Getting the cue, the 1-B students proceeded to file out of the 1-A homeroom. As the 1-B students left, Aizawa gave some particular notice to Izuku who, even though he didn't see Aizawa look at him, he could still feel his gaze. The underground hero had reason to believe that Izuku on his own was at least part of why All Might decided to speak with Sekijiro's students and lost track of time, even though he was needed over at the USJ to work with the 1-A students.
...But handing out blame like that to Sekijiro's students not only was irrational because they (even Izuku) had no say in what All Might chose to do, but if he did hand out blame like that then Aizawa would only be causing strife and headaches in the future. Besides, he had some files to go over on the non-hero course first year UA students, to pick which ones he felt were best fits to be given the chance to transfer into the hero course.
Some skimming through the files he did on the way to the 1-A homeroom already gave Aizawa a few options that piqued his interest.
END, CHAPTER FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the UA staff meet to discuss what to do in the wake of the disaster at the USJ. There's talk of really canceling the Sports Festival, as well as putting in effort to track down Kurogiri after he (and he alone) escaped from the USJ, a memorial assembly to honor those who died at the USJ, and Nezu gave Aizawa info on various first year UA students not in the hero course to see which ones can transfer in due to the need to keep the hero course filled.
Class 1-B also finally properly meets Class 1-A, which is where Izuku and Bakugo finally learn that both of them were able to get into UA. Izuku also meets Uraraka finally, and Izuku is hurt to hear that the girl Tokoyami was crushing on is among those who were lost. The next chapter will see UA handle reshaping things so that they can try to move on. I may also be able to fit in the beginning of Izuku's special training under Gran Torino (but don't quote me on that).