Paths Of A Hero
Summary: Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. So why is it blurring now, as Eraserhead tries to keep his head low while unwittingly gaining 20+ kids, at least three Pro Hero friends and seems to have caught the eye of All Might himself, all the while his past is persistently trying to catch up to him?
A week passed before anyone could quite notice and it wasn't a peaceful or slow week, either.
Nezu did, indeed, find Aizawa Shouta's response to him the morning after the man left in the dead of the night. It was hidden in his personal email account, which he usually did not look at almost at all because people tended to always send him things over his work account. The white-furred Principal of UA thought it very devious - and very delightful, for that very reason - that Eraserhead would hack both of his - tightly secured, might he add - accounts and determine how he'd delay Nezu's response in stopping him from leaving and disappearing until he was good and ready to come back. He'd carefully read the message, some parts of it leaving him solemn, other's relieved or excited.
Overall, Eraserhead's message brought great satisfaction to UA's mammal overlord, even if it meant a lot of paperwork he needed to do for one man.
At least the traitor has finally been found. The real Lunch Rush's current status and location remain unknown, but between Nezu and Kronos, no one doubts that the cook will be found soon enough. No one's quite sure when the switch could have been made, which brings out a few more problems regarding security and student files confidentiality and privacy, which has UA upping their security on all levels to an extent no one has ever seen before. The public has mixed opinions but UA just steamrolls right over it.
The second thing UA does in that week is start building the student dorms and the teacher dorms meant to accompany them. Though homeroom teachers will stay in the same dorms as their classes, the rest of the staff will live on campus, too, for security reasons. If Lunch Rush had been replaced by an evil mastermind, any of the other teachers could also, just as easily, be replaced by some less intelligent villains and no matter how short the deception would last, every second would count and UA will take the heat for every second. After USJ, the Training Camp and Bakugo getting kidnapped, UA could not afford another bout of doubt from the public.
So each class got a dorm of its own and each dorm will have at least one designated teacher as a minder and another one as a substitute. Most Heroes that taught at UA were still active Heroes and couldn't be expected to never again go out and do field work, after all.
Cementoss had been quick to build the dorms with the help of Power Loader and Ectoplasm, who helped mostly in moving furniture with his many clones. The dorms were done within two days and furnished fully by the end of the third. The rooms were ready to accept their new lodgers.
Which meant the homeroom teachers had to set out and do their own bout of work: convincing the parents that UA can, indeed, still protect their children and keep them safe, no matter what. This was extra important for the first year Hero courses because 1-B and especially 1-A had been attacked by villains and many of them had gotten hurt.
The whole staff was pensive about 1-A's chances of filling up again, given Sensoji wasn't exactly the most welcoming, heartwarming, trust-inspiring or reassuring character around, but hopefully All Might's usual charm could counter that. The blond had left UA grounds the morning of the fourth day very nervous in the company of Mister Blaster and the rest of the teachers had all looked after the retreating car in worry. Nezu had been the only one relaxed and he'd cackled at their uncertainty.
All Might had returned slightly bewildered, saying all twenty students had been allowed to continue studying at UA. "They'd thanked me," the Number One Hero had said, leaving the other teachers just as bewildered. And while, yes, it wasn't rare for the Symbol of Peace to be thanked, none of them had actually been expecting such a smooth transition or such gratitude. They had, after all, let those children down on multiple occasions. A Vigilante had done more for those kids in certain situations than all of them combined.
It had felt almost like cheating to reap the profits of Eraserhead's hard work and sacrifices.
Regardless, the students' things were moved in on day five and the students themselves got to move in on day six, which was conveniently a saturday. They arranged their rooms how they liked, explored the dorms and found themselves puzzled over the locked room that was meant to house their homeroom teacher.
"Sensoji-kun quit this morning," All Might told them when he came to check up on them later that afternoon. "He and Nezu got into an argument about his position here at UA and Sensoji-kun quit. I have no idea who your new homeroom teacher will be but it will be announced on Monday. All I know is that it's not me."
Because, for all the All Might had ended up deciding that 1-A deserved to meet Yagi Toshinori after all they'd been through in this half a year, the rest of the students were still very much not in the know about his condition and the little time he has left in his Hero form. He couldn't risk someone walking in on their class while he was Yagi Toshinori when it was All Might that was supposed to be teaching the class. And, this way, he got to spend some more time out and about as All Might, slowly insinuating that he's retiring from Hero work and focusing on his job as a teacher so that the world will be ready to, one day, no longer have the All Might safety net to fall back on.
The last day of that very busy week was spent, by the students at least, relaxing while the teachers prepared for the intense training the kids will have to go through if they hoped to send them off to get their provisional licenses this early. The teachers also spent a lot of time speculating if the new homeroom teacher of 1-A will be someone new or someone from their current staff. No one had any idea as to what was going on but people suspected it might be Midnight who gets chosen to look after the most troublesome, danger-magnetic class UA has seen in quite a while, maybe ever. The students also speculated about their new homeroom teacher while spending their days pouting about Aizawa-sensei's disappearance again.
To them, he had barely left a note at all!
Just a short, curt message on the black board in their classroom for them to find in the morning.
Just a simple 'Work hard, Plus Ultra'. No real personal message, no promise of coming back. The man had just picked Eri up and left. Shirakumo-san had assured them that he'd stayed the night but he'd also fallen asleep, they knew, and slept until late morning right alongside them. Kronos-sensei was actually one to tell them that he'd left at sunrise, but that didn't exactly make them feel any better. Jirou and Shouji actually were berating themselves for not having heard Eraserhead leave while the other adults were berating themselves for never having heard him come in. Had he been anyone else with ill intentions ... It was not something any of them wanted to think about. It would have been their biggest mistake yet, one that no one would have ever been able to forgive them for, let alone they themselves.
Then again, on the other hand, it's also very telling just how skilled Aizawa Shouta was and just how much they'd missed out by never having Eraserhead be an Underground Hero. And it was also telling them just how lucky they'd been all these years that Eraserhead had been on their side from the beginning and firmly stayed on it. Anything else would have been a disaster.
Another thing that should be mentioned about the week and the students was that, honestly, none of them had expected to see Todoroki Shoto in their class again, given that, within days of Eraserhead's 'official public debut' and release from police custody, Endeavor, Todoroki Enji, got called into court. The details were not public knowledge, but everyone knew Endeavor was officially divorced. No one knew who got custody of their children - or, well, their one child that was not yet a legal adult, though things with Todoroki Natsuo were also a bit iffy - but it became clear Sensei had kept his word, once again, as they'd known he would, when Todoroki turned up in front of 1-a's shiny new dorms.
Another thing that was viral and unavoidable, both on TV and social media, was the official transfer of Toga Himiko, Todoroki Touya, Shimura Tenko and Bubaigawara Jin from Tartarus to special mental institutions meant to help them deal with their Quirks, their traumas and reconnect with society in a healthy environment. Todoroki told them Aizawa-sensei was going to be visiting them twice a week to make sure they were being treated properly and to ensure no one was experimenting on them. (Not that anyone was sure they wanted to mess with Eraserhead these days. It was, by then, common knowledge that it had been Eraserhead that had taken down All For One's vast empire with a single click of a button and no one wanted to tempt that sort of vengeance being rained down on them should they piss the man off. The thing about Underground Heroes was that they actually had way more leeway than the ones competing for a spot in the ranking lists. An independent Underground Hero, as Eraserhead was listed these days thanks to Nezu, especially one with the highest clearance - also provided by Nezu - does not need to inform anyone about anything before taking action as long as they later remain accountable for the police investigation. The government knew this, knew there was nothing they could do to save themselves, so they stayed quiet while the sword of Damocles hung over their heads, just waiting for the day Eraserhead will finally make them pay their due. They didn't have to wait long: day five after Aizawa's visit to All For One in Tartarus saw many, many incriminating evidence delivered to the police, to the media and to a good number of Heroes so that certain politicians and almost half of the HPSC could be arrested and replaced. Not even teams of the best lawyers in the world could save them from the damning evidence Eraserhead had provided, just like in the Todoroki case, or so Shoto told them. Eraserhead was scary when he focused on efficiency before everything else.)
Igushi Shuichi, Sako Atsuhiro and Hikiishi Kenji stayed in Tartarus, though the first two had way lighter sentences than Magne due to the fact neither of them had killed anyone, or at least not on record. Spinner was surprisingly okay with being in Tartarus, probably because he got to meet Stain.
As for Mr Compress, well, let's just say that a certain Aizawa felt like he was being harassed and kept trying to break into All For One's cell so the younger man would stop trying to flirt with him, not that that ever deterred the thief. His type was, apparently, the colorful kind and Ashou was not amused. The staff at Tartarus and All For One were, though, which was why they kept letting the two infamous men play their game. Off the record, there were even bets if and when Hal will give in and if Mr Compress had sexuality-turning powers. (Aizawa Shouta was in for one hell of a visit the next time he comes to speak to his surname-father.)
Giran was also arrested and the police were trying to prepare for the second type of vacuum in the criminal underworld with him in prison. Okuta Kagero had been one of the best brokers and black market dealers in the country. They were lucky he'd been in association with the League of Villains and on site when they'd been arrested, or else who knows when they'd be given such a perfect chance to take him off the streets. The same goes for Doctor Garaki Kyudai, though his arrest lies solely at Eraserhead's booted feet.
Speaking of the League of Villains, Shirakumo had offered to go and speak with Shigaraki Tomura, which was met with a lot of protests and just as many refutations.
"Kurogiri has been his caretaker for years, a pillar of support when he'd had none other, as close to family as that guy could have gotten in such circumstances," the therapist assigned to the villain had said as she turned his offer down. "To see that family taken away in such a way and then see someone else who was supposed to be Kurogiri but definitely wasn't ... He's not stable enough for that meeting. Give him a couple of weeks, at least. Not to mention you yourself will probably need therapy before you can face him. You may think you're ready, but you're not. We don't want you freaking out on him and making him freak out in turn. Heavens know we don't need that on either end, for either of your recovery. We will stay in touch and we will inform you when we think he might be ready. Also, you try to sneak in? We have Eraserhead-san on speed dial. He'll be here before you can blink." And, really, nothing less to be expected from a scary woman from Tasomiya.
Similarly, All Might was also not allowed to speak with Shimura, not until they determine just why he hates the man so much, much to the blond's displeasure.
"I have to agree with Eraserhead on this one, my friend," Naomasa had said after delivering the news to the Number One Hero. "You might actually get through to him if we give him time to heal. Besides, you have to focus on your students now! Especially now that Eraserhead seems to be so busy there are no appearances of him anywhere."
And, really, no one heard from the newly minted Underground Hero since the day he'd left UA. Not the police, not his friends, not All Might, not the students. Hell, not even Nezu or Kronos! It was as though the man had disappeared right off the face of the earth! It worried some and baffled others. Why the need to disappear when you're an official Pro now? Those who knew what Eraserhead could get up to worried that he'd gone underground again and that, this time, they might not be getting him back. Thankfully, only certain Pros, the police and, of course, criminals and villains knew of the underground, so at least the students didn't have to worry about the disappearance of their Sensei beyond the thought of if he'd finally left them for good.
It's this somber and pouty atmosphere that finally greeted Monday, with Class 1-A sitting in their seats in boredom and waiting to see why they'd been pulled from what was left of their summer vacation, some sleeping, some playing games on their phones, some chatting and some outright complaining while Iida tried, unsuccessfully, to scold them all at the same time.
"Man, this sucks," Kaminari was saying as he sprawled over the top of his desk. "We're stuck doing some probably hard training again, Aizawa-sensei seems to have disappeared and I bet All Might will be late again."
"Probably got stopped by Shirakumo-san or Midnight or Present Mic, asking about Sensei, you know," Kirishima offered, though even he wasn't as sunny as usual. Hell, no one really was. No one could be after what'd happened to them just a little under two weeks ago or, well, throughout their first semester of their first year of high school.
"Deku-kun, did Aizawa-sensei really not make any appearances at all since that day?" Uraraka asked the resident Hero fanboy, who had about as many answers as everyone else.
"Eraserhead hasn't been spotted by anyone, if that's what you mean, but an A. Shouta has published a scientific research paper on Quirk Theory, though I can't be sure it's Aizawa-sensei since Shouta is a pretty common name. I would have downloaded the paper to read it because it seems like an interesting topic that it's discussing, but since it's new, unless you have a premium profile on the academic site it's been posted on, it costs a whole fortune and I can't really ask my mom to give me that kind of money when we have bills and food to pay and-"
"Oi, shut up, Deku. We didn't need all of that mumbling shit for a simple yes or no question!"
"Sorry, Kacchan!"
"Could it really be Aizawa-sensei?" Hagakure offered the question that's on everyone's mind. "Is Sensei even going to college or something?"
"Sensei does seem like he's well versed in how Quirks generally work, but that could be a side-effect of what his own Quirk allows him to see," Yaoyorozu commented and Todoroki nodded beside her.
"He had a few recommendations on how Touya-nii could use his flames to their maximum power but without damaging his skin further and some of the suggestions I've overheard for the rest of the League suggests he knows this matter more intimately than what I single read would afford."
"But would Aizawa-sensei even have the time to write a paper?" Tokoyami asked, crossing his arms and looking out of the window in thought. "Even if we exclude this week, which saw Eraserhead extremely busy, especially if he was the one to finally get Hawks free of those black suits and paper pushers, Sensei has spent the past fifteen years constantly out on the streets at night and most probably sleeping a portion of the day. When would he have had the time to attend the necessary classes that would even allow him to, eventually, write a scientific paper of his own?"
"If you think that man sleeps, you clearly need to get your eyes checked," Ashido pipped in.
"And Sensei seems to prefer those jelly pouches instead of actual food, so he probably saves a lot of time by eating those instead of preparing food, kero," Asui guessed, a finger to her chin, head tilted slightly in contemplation.
"Are we seriously talking about the same man that scolded me for eating only sweet things even if my Quirk depends on it?" Sato asked, incredulous. "Aizawa-sensei said he consumes those jelly pouches only when he's out working because he can't afford to be slowed down by a full stomach. He may be practical and efficient to a scary fault, but he also knows what a poor diet will do to his body given the activities he indulges in."
"Sensei also exercises like crazy! Mt Lady and I couldn't keep up with the training regimen he left us back during my internship," Mineta revealed, shuddering at the memory. "My everything hurt for days afterwards! I think I would have preferred doing house chores instead."
"Tch. Of course you would. How did you even end up in the Hero Course?" Jirou asked and Mineta sulked.
"Sensei has to stay in shape if he wants to keep his speed and muscle mass," Shouji hummed. "I once got the pleasure of seeing him climb a six story building in five seconds." The class all oooh-ed at that, totally believing it because they knew Eraserhead well enough by now that he could do anything he set his mind to.
"You guys don't think he went to that underground place again, do you?" Iida asked quietly of the other five that had been present the night when Aizawa had helped finally take in All For One and the League of Villains.
"I thought the underground was only a myth?" Ojiro asked, sounding a bit disturbed.
"No, it's very much real, mon ami," Aoyama, of all people, replied. "It's not a place one should casually talk about. True horrors hide there."
"But surely Aizawa-sensei will be alright, right? I mean, that guy's so badass, he practically invented it!" Sero tried to say cheerily, but everyone could hear his worry loud and clear and they shared might not actually know what goes on in the underground, but if even Pros are somewhat scared of it ...
"Can't we just call him?" Kouda asked in a whisper and they all turned to look at him, making him shrink in on himself a little, before seriously thinking the idea over. They'd wanted to, but they had always been stayed by one simple question: What if he was doing something dangerous and they distracted him?
Or, worse yet: What if he didn't want to talk to them anymore, now that they were no longer in danger from the League of Villains?
"ONE MINUTE UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF CLASS, EVERYONE! GET IN YOUR SEATS AND QUIET DOWN! WE MUST MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION ON OUR NEW TEACHER!" Iida yelled, making everyone sweatdrop because he was, without a doubt, the loudest one in the room and the only one not even remotely close to his desk. But they knew his antics by now and just followed the chopping hand motions by arranging themselves a bit more properly in their seats.
Really, they didn't actually care about their teacher's first opinion of them, not when they knew who they wanted for a teacher. But it seems that, even with a Hero License, it was simply not meant to be. So who cares-
The door opened and they all just stopped and stared, frozen, jaws on the tops of their tables, shocked beyond words or any real reaction. Their new homeroom teacher lazily strolled in until reaching the teacher podium and tsked at them when they still did nothing to greet the teacher or react in any way at all, for that matter.
Then Midoriya all but jumped out of his seat, finally brought back to life as his brain processed what his eyes were seeing.
"S-sensei!?"
"Tch," Aizawa Shouta, AKA Eraserhead, clucked his tongue, gazing at them with half disapproval, half amusement. "It took you eight seconds to react. I expect, by the end of this summer, for you to halve that time at the very least. As it is, it is unacceptable and dangerous. You could get killed out on the field with this delayed of a reaction."
"AIZAWA-SENSEI!" The class as a whole cheered as it finally registered in all of their brains just who was standing in front of them, with a folder in his hands and their class registry placed already on the desk in front of the black-clad man and just what all of it meant. It was like a dream come true and, at this point, none of them cared that they seemed to be sharing the same dream, which could only be the result of a Quirk, because it felt all too real so they knew they couldn't be dreaming. And, honestly, if they were? At this point, they weren't even sure if they wanted to wake up!
"What are you doing here?" Kaminari was the first to blurt out and Aizawa-sensei smirked at them.
"Let's just say that Nezu offered me a job and seemed pretty willing to meet my conditions in order to get me on his staff roster, so here I stand. Now, as rudimentary as it may seem, let me introduce myself. My name is Aizawa Shouta, the Underground Pro Hero Eraserhead, and for the rest of your stay here at UA, I will be your homeroom teacher and Heroics instructor. I will also be holding a few extra credit classes on several different subjects, from practicals to theory, which I will further inform you about tomorrow. For now, all I want to tell you is get ready to train so hard you will think you're dying, but please don't actually die." A scary, almost manic grin spread over the man's face. "As soon as we finish homeroom, we'll be having a Quirk assessment test and anyone who places last will have to clean the dorms for a month, with a toothpick and a toothbrush."
The class didn't even have it in them to groan in dismay. Instead, they all but launched at their, now official, Sensei and hugged the life out of him.
Their earlier yell had, unfortunately, caught the attention of several other teachers, one of whom just so happened to be Present Mic, the first one to bust their doors down. The blond froze, then his eyes got all teary when he, too, realized what the former Vigilante's presence there meant and he let out an ear-splitting, near deafening "ERASER! WELCOME BACK TO UA! PLUS ULTRA!" This, of course, almost immediately had Shirakumo and Kayama piling into the already far too big group hug and the rest of the teachers and students all poking their heads into the already crowded classroom.
"Enough," Aizawa said and the class, somehow, immediately all but teleported themselves back into their seats, rigid and at attention, all but trampling the man's three best friends in the process. Yagi Toshinori paused in his 'stealthy' approach towards Aizawa, getting a warning look that had him going as rigid as the student. "As you can see, there will be some considerable changes going on around here. For starters, as of today," he said and motioned towards the staring and gossiping student body outside of his - new - classroom, which caused a familiar indigo-haired boy to step forward almost on instinct. "Shinso Hitoshi will be joining the Hero Course." A good number of the students outside that belonged in Gen Eds immediately protested the unfairness of this decision, despite only Shinso having made it to the final round of the Sports Festival. "Anyone who has a problem with it can take it up with me or Nezu."
The rest of Gen Eds, though? They cheered Shinso on, as did Class 1-A, especially Midoriya and, for some reason, Kaminari. Shinso, for his part, looked ready to collapse right then and there if not for his mentor's hand steadying him by the shoulder, a grounding presence as always.
"Second thing all of you gremlins might have to get used to: I have a daughter and she's staying with me in 1-A's dorms if any of you make her cry, you'll rue the day you were born." This was said, of course, with that same menacing grin and Erasure activated, making everyone gulp and pale like a sheet. "The third thing you should know regards my teaching style: Nezu has given me the privilege to expel and re-enroll students as I see fit. This means that, should any of you ever get into my class, your position is not concrete. It is glass. This includes the current structure of 1-A." If possible, the students went even more rigid. "I will not allow anyone to graduate under my watch when they are not willing to put in the work to always surpass themselves, Plus Ultra. I will also always award those with potential and those without it will be sent on their merry way, but I will not tolerate slackers or people with halfhearted goals or no will to reach for them relentlessly."
"What gives you the right or qualification to do that, huh?!" Monoma challenged, sounding indignant, and Aizawa just looked at him.
"The fact that I am the first and only Gen Eds kid that won the Sports Festival and my fifteen years of experience out in the world, seeing the worst of humanity's depravities and having survived to tell the tale. I was literally fighting villains on my own when I was your age. I actually assisted in fighting a villain you all may know under the name All For One when I was around six years old. I have more arrests than some of the top fifty ranked Heroes. Believe me," the former Vigilante said. "I know who can and who can't survive out in the field. And you, if you don't get your act straight, will definitely not be one of the ones who makes it to retirement. Now, onto less morbid topics," the Erasure Hero says, turning back towards his - now official - class and ignoring the gawking Monomo and the cackling Bakugo who was clearly taking great joy in the copycat getting roasted like that.
Shinso was standing kind of frozen on the spot, staring up at his mentor in awe, mind having been blown during the first half of his first sentence. His - nor former - fellow Gen Eds students were gawping just as much at the man who had done what looked like it was impossible, mute in shock. Aizawa-s trio of childhood friends were cackling at the reactions this simple fact about Eraserhead was getting from the students. Yagi was just kind of surprised that Aizawa had enough of a flair for the dramatics to deliver that roasting in such a way.
"Starting tomorrow, you will be training and inventing special moves. The provisional license exams are being held at the end of summer-" Aizawa stopped himself when he noticed the extra people in or just outside of his classroom weren't leaving. "what are you doing? Get out, you all have classes to teach and Oboro has a meeting with Nezu in five minutes." They all stared at him for a long moment and his hair started levitating again. "Out. Now." That had the desired effect of everyone scrambling off to their classrooms or other engagements. "Not you, Shinso. This is your classroom now, , if you'd please make a desk for Shinso?"
"Right away, Aizawa-sensei!"
"We'll change the seating arrangements another day," Aizawa said as he watched Yaoyorozu turn around and get to work, the other girls immediately moving to shield her so she wasn't indecent. "For today's homeroom, I only have one more thing to say before I get into the provisional license exams and the training you will be getting for the rest of the summer."
"What is it, Sensei?" Ashido, who feared no god, asked excitedly and the rest of the class found themselves sitting on the edges of their chairs in anticipation.
"As you all know by now, my 'career' as an 'Underground Hero' is now mute due to my face having been plastered all over every news channel and social media network since my arrest or maybe even since my little Sports Festival appearance." The kids all nodded, frowning a little. Did this mean there will be no more Eraserhead for the people that really needed him? "And as sad as that is, this also presents me with an opportunity that will probably cause me more of a headache in the next few months but will be beneficial to us all, long term." That definitely got their attention. Aizawa smiled and it was a nice, fond smile, not the creepy one from before! "In short, Problem Children, I am opening my own agency and I would like to, one day after our three years here have passed, to offer you all employment, for however long you may like before going your own way."
Now, Aizawa had expected some tears and maybe a cheer or two. Because clearly these kids had gotten attached to him about as much as he'd grown attached to them. What he hadn't expected was the cheer waterworks he got as a reaction, nor the second group hug and the 'thank you's and the promises that they will definitely do their best to live up to his expectations for them.
Really, they didn't even need to work all that hard for that. Aizawa could tell that they will all be great Heroes some day, good Heroes, Heroes that their country can be proud of.
This group hug he did not disperse until they'd all calmed down and they still had ten minutes of class time to spare!
It was going to be a pain to be a teacher and to open an agency of his own, but he wanted to help these kids in whatever capacity he could.
Besides, they were all such Problem Children. It was only logical to gather them somewhere he could keep an eye on them.
00000
"Is this why you disappeared off the radar so completely for a week, Aizawa-kun?" Shouta stopped walking upon hearing that familiar voice and looked up at the tall, thin blond man that was actually their Number One Hero. Yagi was smiling at him so fondly that Shouta felt a need to hide. He was not used to people being fond of him, even after years of being Kronos-sensei's pseudo son and having three very close friends, despite their different sides until recently.
(Though, Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. Why has that changed now? Why had it blurred so much just when Eraserhead was doing his best to keep his head low as his past tried to come and haunt him? Things would have been so much easier if that boundary had never existed or if Hero Course entrance exams were fair for all types of Quirks. Shouta will try his best to change that. It had actually been one of his conditions for working at UA as a teacher, but Nezu had said he can't just change something like that overnight, unlike the other things Shouta had requested. Instead, the mystery mammal had offered Shouta a chance to help him convince the school board in making some radical changes that were long overdue and Shouta was more than up for the challenge. He took down All For One, made Endeavor lose custody over his kids and made him divorce his wife so the woman could finally have peace, took down the corrupt HPSC and a good portion of the corrupt government officials. Those pansies sitting at the board would be nothing, especially not for the combined efforts of Nezu and Aizawa, especially with his new highest level of clearance.)
(Aizawa was not stuipd. He had a good idea now why Nezu had given him that clearance level. Clearly, the mouse-bear-dog man wanted someone with an in everywhere and not even All Might had that because the highest clearance for Underground Heroes was not the same as the highest clearance for ranked ones, even if it's All Might. Nezu has made himself an invaluable ally, especially as said ally was the 'successor' of the great and infamous Hal. The things Eraserhead could get his hands on were practically limitless and it would all be legal. Trust Nezu to know every loophole in the law and the procedures.)
"I'm afraid you'll have to clarify," he informed his companion dryly, arching an eyebrow. "I've had quite the busy week."
"Yes, I've heard about the arrests of government officials, the scramble to reassemble a less corrupt Hero Commission, the Todoroki trial and the prisoner transfer," Yagi nodded as he listed each great big scoop of the week, all caused by Eraserhead, of course, ticking them off on his fingers. "How did you manage to hide the fact that you're opening an agency of your own, though? I'm surprised that the media weren't on you like a pack of hungry jackals."
"I'm supposed to be an Underground Hero, Yagi-san," Shouta said with a smirk. "My agency will be official but won't be public knowledge. I don't need all sorts of people snooping around, given the fact that my first two employees are also former Vigilantes." When the older man's jaw all but dropped to the floor, Shouta couldn't help but chuckle. "You know them already, Yagi-san. The Crawler is a rather big fan of yours, though, and I'm sure he'd be over the moon if you'd let me introduce you to him. PopStep, too, is a wonderful potential Hero. Those kids only wanted to help people. Do you know that the Crawler would have probably applied to a Hero Academy had he not been late because he was saving a girl who nearly drowned? And do you know that girl was PopStep, who was then inspired by his brave deeds to help people, too? I made them getting provisional licenses a condition for working at UA and Nezu was only happy to oblige."
"That's very kind of you, Aizawa-kun," All Might said gently, smiling at him again in a way that really made him want to hide because it radiated the kind of energy that suggested he was something great. He wasn't, not really. It would be illogical to keep two Heroes with such potential from helping people. Besides, they were his first Problem Children, those two. His Prototype Problem Children, one could even say.
It was just too sad that Knuckleduster wanted to continue doing his own thing his own way until he can find his daughter. At least the man can now rest easy in knowing that All For One could no longer misuse his former Quirk, Overclock.
"So, you're a teacher now. Officially, at that," the older Pro said with a small laugh, sounding both amused and pleased. "These kids will have much to learn from you. We are very lucky to have you. Oh! You and Eri-chan should come over to my dorm room later! Kuro has missed you."
Shouta felt a curl of pleasure settle in his stomach at the offer. "Are you sure you're not trying to flirt with me again, All Might-san?" He teased, because why not? Yagi had gotten flustered the last time around and it had been amusing. Though, the man had returned it tenfold on their very next 'civilian personas' meeting.
"Trust me, Aizawa-kun," the taller man said as he leaned down so he was all but looming over him but also invading his personal space, like he would kiss him at any moment. That, for some reason he would not examine too closely - because he would instantly know the answer, has known the answer since their first meeting; he's never told anyone that he might have a very small, very slight crush on the Number One Hero and that it has been going on since he was about six but got into the full swing when the man officially debuted in Japan - made his breath hitch and his heart flutter in his chest. "When I flirt with you, you'll know it." He tried not to gulp. Yeah, he could definitely tell the difference between a friendly offer and flirtation. Like, right now. He could feel his face starting to warm.
But then Yagi moved back out of his personal space - and no, that wasn't disappointing, not at all - and continued cheerily on as though he hadn't just tried to fry Shouta's brain and overwhelm his heart with just that simple sentence.
"This time, it's just a friendly invitation! I don't get the chance to cook for many friends and anything more complicated would be hard on my stomach, or what's left of it anyway, so you and Eri-chan would be doing me a favor! Besides, the first date I will take you on will be to a cat cafe, where you'll be relaxed and actually willing to talk to me without spiraling into plans on how to take down the dismal Hero system and build it back up better and more rational!"
Aizawa did blush at that, because he did tend to segue into that direction and he was aware of it. But now that he was already actually on the way to dealing with that, maybe it won't happen and he and Yagi-san can discuss lighter matters on their eventual first date. They can discuss philosophy, morality, teaching methods and other such topics from the second date onwards. And wasn't he irrationally hopeful that there will be a second date, let alone more than that? Yet he had a feeling those future dates might just happen.
After all, he was here, wasn't he? In the halls of UA, in the Hero Course, even though it was because he was a teacher now. He had a Hero License, he would open his own agency and hire all twenty one (or twenty three or maybe even twenty six, depending on whether the Big Three would want to join them) of his Problem Children until they are ready to fly on their own or for however long they wish to stay with him. He had friends. He had found a family for himself, perhaps three times over. Hal, Kronos-sensei and Loud Cloud, Ingenium (Sr), Midnight and Present Mic definitely considered him some sort of family and he was definitely family to Eri-chan, who called him Papa.
Really, would it be so improbable that he and Yagi-san could work out after all that he'd been through and still somehow ended up where he is now? No, he didn't think so.
'After all,' he mused as Yagi-san led him to the teacher's lounge where Nemuri and Hizashi were probably already waiting for him along with the other teachers, Nezu and Oboro to give him an official warm welcome as a new staff member. 'Every Hero has walked down a different path, even if the goal is relatively the same.'
And as far as paths of a Hero went?
His just fit and was well worth it.
And that's all that mattered.
Plus Ultra.
OWARI