AnarionRising27 - Nice to hear it :D
Detrametal - Todoroki was supposed to be a comic relief for a very dark story, then he singlehandedly lifted into a black comedy. Absolute legend.
OldHerobine - Ha :V
Shahryar - Oh, she'll succeed. She'll succeed VERY much.
Yomunot - Todoroki is a legend, all that I can say.
(***)
Toga decides against indulging in further teasing. Instead, she simply lets him leave school in peace. Although not before telling him that if he gets lonely, he should give her a call and she'll come running.
Midoriya is at this point almost 75% certain that she isn't playing with her food (namely, him), but this is still 25% too little for him to risk actually inviting her anywhere unless it's an emergency with his life being on the line either way.
He had less than thirty minutes to start preparing his dinner (and make ANOTHER unsuccessful call to his father, honestly, if he didn't vanish off the grid for a few days in the past - several times - he would call the police) when he heard knocking on his door.
Izuku decided to look through the visor. Two unfamiliar men. That was, honestly, rather suspicious.
"Who's it?" He asks through the door while looking through the visor. If they make any suspicious movements, he is ready to dash to the side at a moment's notice. "Are you the handymen that I called for?"
If they say yes, he's checking if they know what he called them to repair before opening up. He is now a part of a very dangerous world, and he's planning to live for as long as possible so caution is…
… now he feels like a hypocrite considering him hanging out with Toga. And, at least theoretically, not under duress (although he kind of fears the outcome of trying to avoid her at this point).
"Black Course faculty members." He instead hears, the voice perfectly dry but accompanied by what sounds like a chuckle from the other person. "Open up."
Damn it all.
He opens the door.
"... opening up merely on the basis of what we said?" One of the newcomers says, staring at Midoriya through the now open door. He is a slender and tall, pale-skinned man with messy, shoulder-length black hair. Thirty-something, probably, hard to guess because he certainly isn't taking care of himself. He is wearing a black jumpsuit, with several belts and strategically placed pouches.
There is also a knife AND a pistol at his belt. Everything but the jumpsuit have concealment glyphs on them, of course.
"I have no one that I can contact to verify your story." Midoriya replies. "The only acquaintance I have… well. I'm fairly certain that if you're Initiates, the wards I placed around my house won't even slow you down. So my chances of escaping if you're hostile are pretty close to null. And I'm also rather certain that if you were hostile, you wouldn't give me the time to make the call to begin with. As a result, since I can't exactly do anything about it, I can as well bank on you being who you claim to be." He sighs. "So, how can I help you?"
"... logical reasoning." The man replies. "Thankfully for you, we truly are members of the Black Course faculty. I'm Aizawa Shouta, a combat teacher. And this…" He glances at his companion. Tall and quite muscular looking blond man (around his early forties, maybe?) with two long tufts hanging on both sides of his face. "... is Yagi Toshinori, a magic teacher."
He is also carrying around a black-and-silver suitcase. It's mostly black, the majority of silver is around the edges. No weapons, at least none that Izuku can see.
"Nice to meet you, Young Midoriya." Yagi bows his head a little. He feels uncharacteristically… nice? Non-threatening? Midoriya expected most Initiates to be more like Aizawa. Or, perhaps, Toga.
Also didn't they pick wrong character classes for themselves? Yagi is built like a successful body-builder but is teaching magic, while Aizawa is a scrawny man with a gun and is teaching combat. Where's the logic in that?!
"U-uhm, likewise?" Midoriya replies. Aizawa groans.
"Can we come in?" He then asks. "We have a lot to talk about."
Well if that ain't ominous.
(***)
Five minutes later Midoriya is sitting on the opposite side of the dinner table to his two unexpected guests. His offer of tea (or coffee) was rejected, although it was clear that Yagi considered saying yes.
Is this some sort of a bad cop/good cop routine or what?
"I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I'll come straight to the point." Aizawa then announces. "The Principal, it seems, has learned of your existence and Initiation, and has decided to offer you a place among the Black Course Candidates. You're free to…"
"...I'm in." Midoriya doesn't let him finish. The stares he gets from the man in front of him grows more intensive for a second or two.
"I strongly suggest listening to the terms before agreeing to deals." Aizawa replies. "It'll save you a lot of trouble further down the line."
Oh, well, Midoriya totally didn't see that coming. It's not like it's common sense when you're in a horror movie.
"I know, I watched enough horror movies to know that." Midoriya decides to respond with honesty. "But, as stated, I know nothing about the whole big spooky world that I was just invited into, and… I heard that the Black Course has a 40% survival rate, but I kind of imagine that whoever graduates is actually decently prepared for, well, everything. And I'm pretty sure that 40% is much more than my chances of long-term survival if I keep fumbling in the dark, so…" He shrugs. The teachers get the message.
"You have it all thought through, hmm?" Aizawa asks, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Errr, Toga mentioned that it's pretty rare for UA students to be Initiated." Midoriya replies. "I kind of… uhm… considered the option that I'd be approached about transfer?" He adds a bit awkwardly. "I thought about pros and cons and decided to go for it if it happened."
"Logical." Aizawa admits after a few seconds. "Not bad, kid. Keep using your brain and I might see you graduate. We're going to do a little bit of an… orientation. Yagi?"
The other teacher nods before putting the suitcase on the table and opening it. The first thing he pulls out is, of course, the slightly familiar Black Course student uniform. Times two, because of course a spare is needed.
"Your new uniform." Aizawa announces. "You can throw out your old one. Wearing it on school grounds is grounds for penalty and, if you do it again, expulsion." Does he even want to know what sort of penalty it is?
"Uhm, why so serious about it?" Midoriya decides to ask. There was a significant pause following Aizawa's announcement, and he just… felt like merely saying 'yes' wouldn't give him the context needed.
"To avoid Black Course students trying to hide among the non-initiated students during their… scuffles." Aizawa replies. Midoriya has no idea if the question he asked was deemed a good one or not. "Which brings to the first major rule of the Black Course. You use magic against any non-initiated student, you're out."
"A question, uhm, sir?" Midoriya decides to be nicer about it. That's quite an… intimidating face. "I assume that glyphs are a part of 'magic', right?" It kind of worked differently and… I mean, the possibilities of abuse were endless. You just had to carry around a sticker in the shape of a concealment glyph, then slap it at stuff in a shop and you then take everything you wanted with you.
"Yes." Aizawa replies. "Any supernatural means are out of the question. As for non-supernatural means - we aren't bailing you out of a prison." Right, if civilians noticed the event in question, they'd just call the police.
"What about using all of that on non-initiated non-students?" Midoriya decides to clear another thing that… well, it seems rather obvious to him, but there is also a part of Izuku Midoriya that suspects that it might be his pre-Initiation common sense speaking.
"If you aren't caught, we don't care." Aizawa decides to promptly (and negatively) surprise Midoriya. "However, be aware that we'll know about your every misconduct. Whatever you'll do, it'll be on your file. Which might limit your… post-graduate employment opportunities, so to speak. Also, if you go too far, you might draw the attention of the Supernatural Public Safety Commission. If so, you'll be expelled."
"Super… wait, so, uhm, the government knows about… you know, the whole thing?" Midoriya asks back.
"A certain agenda of it does know about 'the whole thing'." Aizawa replies, with a maybe hint of sarcasm at the last two words. "It's mostly doing perpetual damage control about supernatural threats, while making sure that the Initiates don't ruin the lives of the people still under Censor's Veil… too much. They don't care about small things, they have much more important matters to worry about. But if you go too far, expect to be visited by very serious people in suits that have never heard the words 'due process'. Got it?"
"Errr, y-yes?" Midoriya replies quickly. "I'm going to behave."
"Good." Aizawa comments briefly. Yagi gives him a strange look, but decides not to say anything. "Now, back to the main subject. Each Black Course student has a personal mentor and customized curriculum. This doesn't extend to people like you, who are merely Candidates for it."
Because of course it doesn't, it sounds like it would make Midoriya's life way too easy. Having someone to ask questions WITHOUT the risk of becoming their dinner? Perish the thought!
"Candidates do receive a certain degree of… guidance, so to speak." Aizawa continues, actually surprising Midoriya positively for once. "However, other than that, they are left to their own devices. While, naturally, being monitored. Once enough time passes and we amass enough data about personality, talents and behavior, you're officially invited to become a part of the Black Course proper. Questions?"
About a million. But Aizawa Shouta doesn't feel super welcoming about those, so Midoriya will stick to the basics.
"And what am I…" He says, ignoring the stare. "... supposed to do in the meantime?"
"That, among other things, is what will influence your personalized curriculum once you join the Black Course." Aizawa replies. Midoriya thinks briefly that it's nice of him to not say 'if' instead of 'when'. "Keep your head down and survive. Go out and try to obtain useful equipment, new spells and so on. Try to kill other Candidates to steal what they got for themselves. Play the cabal politics. Your call."
"C-cabal?" Midoriya grabs onto that one word.
"Unofficial term for temporary alliances between Candidates." Yagi cuts in. Aizawa doesn't react to that in any way. "It's a bit of a Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine, just in a microscale. Even if you manage to eliminate one member of a cabal without injuries or spending too much of valuable supplies, you'll have several of their compatriots on your tail, looking for vengeance. Being a part of a strong cabal makes you sleep easier at night, although those tend to only invite strong Candidates to begin with."
Okay. Midoriya doesn't feel like he has a lot to offer to any Candidates with more experience than he has. That's… gonna suck, isn't it? He isn't exactly super social, he doesn't feel like he is bloodthirsty enough to go murder someone (even in a retaliation), and…
"... thankfully for you, you seem to have that covered already. Even if unintentionally." Yagi adds. When Midoriya gives him a surprised look, the magic teacher sighs. "Young Todoroki is a bit of a blabbermouth unless told explicitly to keep something to himself. A solid chunk of Candidates, and even some Black Course students, have already heard about 'that new guy that somehow managed to tame Toga'. For as you're regularly seen around her, most of the cabals will not risk attacking you. She has a… reputation."
"Enough to scare off entire groups of armed people?" Midoriya asks. He had no idea how to properly gauge her strength, and that… honestly, he has no idea yet how to gauge anything's strength. Except for a general 'probably much deadlier than I am'.
"Toga is mostly left to her own devices by the cabals because she only targets the loners." Aizawa takes the wheel of the conversation back. "And because the last time a cabal tried to take her out, she single-handedly wiped it out. Out of five members, only one survived, and that's only because a stronger cabal decided to recruit him. Under conditions that weren't particularly favorable to him."
"She was also rather brutal about it, trying to send people a message." Yagi adds while Midoriya is busy trying to digest the news. "She sneaked upon Chikuchi Togeike in the middle of a lesson and broke her neck, then impersonated her to catch Tsutsutaka Agoyamoto off-guard, kill him and… well, do standard ghoul things to his corpse."
Midoriya opens his mouth to say something, but Yagi clearly isn't done with his quick summary of the events.
"Mashirao Ojiro simply vanished, but everyone knows that Toga got him, they just didn't find the corpse." The magic teacher continues. "Bibimi Kenranzaki, the cabal's artificer, hid in her workshop while Shinsou was negotiating accession to another cabal. It didn't work, as Toga simply walked into the workshop, mauled her to death with her own wrench and then dragged the body away, right in the open of a big group of students too terrified of her to intervene."
… oh gods, Toga was insane. He knew that earlier, yes, but now he knew that at least thrice as much. Sure, they planned to kill her, but…
"... you remember their names?" Aizawa asks Yagi while Midoriya is STILL busy trying to digest the news.
"At least pretend that you care for the Candidates, please." Yagi responds, giving his companion a rather hostile look. "It was, what? Six months ago? And you already forgot them?"
"They come and go too quickly for me to bother." Aizawa replies. Yagi groans, while his companion turns his head towards Izuku. "The point is, people generally don't want to get on her bad side. Of course, how long she'll remain interested in you remains to be seen."
Midoriya is, honestly, curious about that as well. The only person that might carry the answer to this question is Toga herself, and Izuku is certain that she'll say nothing conclusive, even if asked.
"Alright, so… uhm, one or two more questions?" Midoriya decides to risk it. Aizawa gives him a dead stare but Yagi motions him to say them. "Well, I kind of wondered about stuff like, err, equipment?" The term feels kind of cringe to him, he isn't sure why. Is it because it sounds like he was in a videogame, in a way? "I mean, Toga is carrying a knife around, but I'm not exactly sure where to get stuff like that and…"
"We have a handful of aspiring artificers in the Black Course." Aizawa replies. "If you need something, ask them. With enough contribution points you can get everything you need from them."
This one time, he clearly reads the question from Izuku's face. So he groans slightly before continuing his brief lecture.
"Contribution points are something of a school-provided allowance." He says. "You kill something supernatural, points up. You learn a new spell, points up. You venture into some regional danger zone and return, we judge your performance… and award you points. You can exchange them for yens, or buy a variety of things through the special phone app provided to you by the school."
"... you have a phone app for buying… uhm… supernatural things?" Midoriya says after he manages to recover his ability to speak. And after he blinks at Aizawa a few times in shock.
"It's the 21st Century, kid." Aizawa replies before sighing painfully. "Of course there is a phone app. There is a notable part of the internet that you can only access when you are an Initiate. Naturally… it's not without its own dangers."
Because of course it wouldn't be without its own dangers.
"Why do I have a feeling that it's something worse than spam mails?" Midoriya says. Mostly to himself. Of course, the duo in front of him picks it up. Aizawa glares at him. Yagi actually chuckles.
"Really, Yagi?" Aizawa redirects his gaze at his companion.
"Hey, that was quite funny!" Yagi replies defensively. Aizawa groans, before turning his attention back to Midoriya.
"Yes, kid, it's something much worse than spam mails." He says. "But I'm not going to elaborate about it right now. You'll learn about those things in time. For now, Yagi, give it to him."
"Sure, sure." The other teacher replies, pulling out a… smartphone? from the suitcase. "Courtesy of the school. Has the app installed. It's also quite resistant and includes a tracking device that allows the faculty to retrieve your body if things go bad."
Oh. Yeah. That sounds about right. An offer of body retrieval - in a high school. Midoriya continues to realize just how incredibly deep in shit he is. It was getting worse by the minute.
"Body retrieval, really?" He ends up asking.
"That plus euthanasia if you mess up really bad." Aizawa decides to somehow make it worse. "On the positive side, for as long as you manage to return to the school in time, we're capable of healing most conventional and some non-conventional injuries, even if there'll always be a price for that. The 'euthanasia' bit is mostly for cases of you somehow managing to score a 'fate worse than death' scenario while our student."
"Which, for the record, doesn't really happen." Yagi decides to reassure Midoriya, probably due to the latter visibly deflating in front of him. "We, as in the Black Course faculty, are making sure that nothing particularly dangerous or terrifying appears anywhere near Musutafu."
"But if it does, we have you covered." Aizawa adds.
Midoriya, for some reason, isn't reassured.
"If you decide that you can't deal with all of that…" the combat teacher says, while Yagi suddenly develops a look of disbelief on his face. "...please consult the UA internet page for instructions on how to safely commit suic…"
"I REALLY don't think this is a good moment for that, Aizawa." Yagi decides to interject. "Cut the kid some slack. Most of our students are from old families of Initiates, while Young Midoriya literally found out about the true state of the world a few days ago. Could you please, be at least a BIT more sensitive?"
"Being sensitive with things like this…" Aizawa announces. "... is going to get you killed."
"Yeah, I'm more worried about you getting someone else killed by pushing them too far before they settle in properly." Yagi replies, while staring Aizawa down. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he turns his head towards Izuku. "Young Midoriya, let me be honest with you. Yes, the world you've become a part of kind of sucks…"
"... to put it mildly." Izuku mumbles to himself.
"...but if you're cautious enough, you can live a long and prosperous life." Yagi continues. "Of course being cautious AND carrying a big gun… metaphorical or not… is even better. Also, not everyone among the Candidates and the regular students are evil backstabbers. The rest realized at some point that having someone you trust to guard your back might be the difference between life and death."
"... but I'm still supposed to be very wary of people, right?" Izuku asks, trying not to look dejected.
"Well, when it comes to backstabbing, all you need is one member of the group doing it for everyone to be harmed, so… yeah." Yagi decided to admit. Yeah, Midoriya is kind of getting good vibes from that guy, but seeing as everyone is telling him to be cautious at all times, he's going to keep his distance. Unless he gets more evidence. "Just be aware that unless you're someone like Toga, you simply need someone to trust."
"Wait, speaking of." Midoriya wakes up. "What's the Black Course policy on initiation of its 'normal' students? I mean, I have this close friend of mine that I trust, and I'm not sure if…"
It would certainly be helpful when having someone to watch his back was involved, besides it'd be reassuring to have someone to potentially try to save his ass if Toga went… Toga, so…
"Normally, it's a big 'no'." Aizawa says. "In general, initiating people is considered to be something big. A significant part of Candidates comes from families of Initiates, some of which have a long history of working in the business. Many generations long. Those that are thrown into this world without such a background tend to…"
"... well, it's quite a bumpy life for them." Yagi decides to intervene before Aizawa says something painfully blunt.
"Right." Aizawa acknowledges the attempt. "And while we normally consider things like that to be a matter of personal decision, the non-Initiated students of the UA are a notable source of revenue for the school. So there is a general rule against randomly initiating them, which brings with it the risk of dea..."
Yagi groans. He clearly has enough of it.
"Principal told us to relay to you that you're allowed to attempt the initiation of Bakugou Katsuki." He then says, cutting the lecture short. "Whether he agrees to it or not, depends on him. If he does, he'll be allowed to join the Black Course as a Candidate."
Aizawa looks vaguely irritated by the intrusion but decides to not start a fight over it.
"That's… kind of strange?" Izuku says, clearly unsure of why he would receive a special treatment. Yagi simply shrugs.
"You get used to it. The UA Principal is a bit of an… interesting person." Aizawa pauses his standard 'stare at Midoriya' pastime to give Yagi an incredulous look. "In a manner of speaking, Aizawa."
"Right." The combat teacher replies. Midoriya can't help but suspect that he missed an inside joke. Oh, well.
(***)
They talk for a while more, mostly about what can be considered 'basics' of studying on the UA Black Course. It's not much, and Izuku will receive an update through his new phone once another step of 'orientation' will be ready.
Yagi clearly suggests that it might wait until Bakugou makes a decision. Izuku would like to have a companion on that. A companion that isn't Toga.
"By the way, is it true that you don't know who initiated you?" Yagi suddenly asks. Midoriya misses Aizawa's eyes narrow for a second.
"Well, yeah?" Midoriya replies. "Todoroki seems to think that someone erased my memories of that. Wait, with all the surveillance around, do you…"
"No, we don't." Aizawa cuts in. "We keep the Candidates under surveillance, you weren't one when it happened."
"Principal probably knows the truth." Yagi adds. "But he isn't one to share it. Might explain why he immediately decided to let you become a Candidate AND agree to include Young Bakugou."
"I assume that I can't just… you know… ask him?" Midoriya asks. Deep inside, he hopes. Alas, Aizawa shakes his head. Yagi, in the meantime, lets out a chuckle.
"That would be… unwise." Yagi adds. "Trust me, you don't want to meet the Principal." Great. "On a sidenote, anything weird going on with your family?"
"Why do you ask?" Midoriya asks, looking at Yagi with maybe a hint of suspicion on his face.
"Looking for clues to the mystery myself, here." The teacher replies. "Rather strange case, especially with the Principal's reaction to it. Any relatives or family members having mental issues or acting weirdly in general? You might have noticed something even while still under the Censor."
"Uhm, my dad thought that Morbius wasn't THAT bad of a film." Izuku, being himself, ends up blabbering out something stupid. Yagi looks like he tried to laugh too much and ended up almost choking up on air. "OhmygodI'msorrydidI…"
"He'll be fine." Aizawa says dryly as Yagi recovers his ability to speak in the background. "Yagi, grow up."
"T-that WAS funny, Aizawa." Yagi manages to speak.
"The two of you are probably the only Initiates I know to have a sense of humor." Aizawa replies. "I hate it. Any corrections to your answer, kid?"
"Uhm, nothing I know about?" Midoriya replies. That ends the subject.
(***)
"You know something." Aizawa said a few minutes later, when they left the apartment.
"I do." Yagi replies calmly. "Or, to be exact, I have something more akin to a suspicion .A faint one. But it's quite enough for me to keep an eye on that kid."
"Not sure if it's important, Toga will probably kill him in a week or two, once she grows bored of him." Aizawa replies as they exit the building. "I'm surprised she didn't do that already."
"Yes, her reaction is surprising." Yagi admits. "And a major counterargument to my theory, but… well, let's just say that I have a good feeling about this. I think I'm down for him graduating, Aizawa."
"Seriously?" The combat teacher groans. "Well, you better be wrong about it because I bet that he won't survive the next month."