Chapter 6
Nedzu

DING! DONG!

"Attention UA teachers and students, may Shouta Aizawa come to the principal's office at the current moment? I repeat, may Shouta Aizawa come to the principal's office at the current moment? Thank you."

DONG! DING!

Ojirou hears the class erupts in murmur noises. He stares at homeroom teacher who is standing in front of the class behind his table. When the announcement finished, Mr. Aizawa drops his hands – that are holding a stack of papers – onto the table and releases a deep sigh.

He wonders what does Principal Nedzu wants from Mr. Aizawa. He snickers to himself at the thought that Mr. Aizawa is in trouble in a manner that is the same to when a student.

"What do you want?" Mr. Aizawa suddenly asks to… someone? He notices his classmates are also looking confused. Then, his scarf starts to shift on his own. By the looks of it, it's not Mr. Aizawa's doing.

"Is it wrong if I just want to talk to you?" a familiar voice is heard coming from Mr. Aizawa. It sounds like…

A white furry head pops out from the scarf, revealing none other than Principal Nedzu himself. He finds himself straightening in his seat at the presence of probably the most powerful person in UA and one of the most powerful figures in Japan.

Judging by how the class quickly quiets down, he knows that everyone is thinking the same.

"Principal Nedzu," Mr. Aizawa starts with another sigh. "I am in the middle of the class."

"Now, now, Shouta."

Shouta?

"Principal Nedzu, please, not on school ground," he hears Mr. Aizawa says quietly to the principal.

"Well, the school ground belongs to me, so I can do whatever I want," Principal Nedzu cheerfully replies. He looks around the class to his classmates. All of them are looking surprised, just like him. He turns back forward; Principal Nedzu is still in Mr. Aizawa's scarf, looking as if he belongs there naturally.

Are Mr. Aizawa and Nedzu particularly close?

"Nedzu, you're interrupting class time, and why did you have an automated announcement when you could just say it right here and then?" he hears Mr. Aizawa asks quietly, but his seating position allows him to eavesdrop on the conversation, not to mention that the class is also very quiet so the voice can be heard clearly.

"It's less fun calling you from the office, and I greatly prefer speaking with you in person," Principal Nedzu replies in a tone he had never heard coming out from the principal ever before.

"Can't we have this other time?"

"You hurt me, Shouta." He watches Principal Nedzu deflates and… is that a saddened look on the principal's face? "You let Rumi showed her care for you yet I am not allowed?"

"That's because Rumi and I are married."

"And I am not as important?"

Mr. Aizawa hesitates.

"…Well…"

"Then would you kindly join me on our tea?" Principal Nedzu cuts in before Mr. Aizawa could say any further.

"…Fine," Mr. Aizawa finally relents with a deep sigh. Principal Nedzu immediately straightens up in Mr. Aizawa's scarf and his furry lips curl upwards.

"Perfect! Let us go then!"

Mr. Aizawa releases an exasperated sigh, going as far as slapping a hand on his face. Principal Nedzu looks bright and happy as he continues to sit inside Mr. Aizawa's scarf, with only his head, arms and torso visible.

"Self-study until the next period," Mr. Aizawa says out loud to the class. "I have some… business to attend to."

"Yes sir, Mr. Aizawa, sir!" he and his classmates say at the same time. Mr. Aizawa doesn't acknowledge them, merely packing his stuff together before walking to the door.

"You're insufferable at times."

"Don't be like that, Shouta! You're the company I enjoy the most!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Their conversation gets cut when Mr. Aizawa closes the door behind him. Almost immediately, the class is erupts with multitude of noises.

"Dude, the principal was with us the whole time?!"

"How long had Principal Nedzu in Mr. Aizawa's scarf?"

"I don't know but it's kinda cute!"

"Hadn't they done the same thing a while ago?"

"Yeah! During the entrance for the final exam!"

That is curious to think. Principal Nedzu had been inside Mr. Aizawa's scarf one time before and his homeroom teacher didn't look bothered a single bit. They had done the same thing today. He wonders how many times they had done it to the point it is just normal to them.

DING! DONG!

"Get to work."

DING! DONG!

He jolts at the familiar gruff voice coming from the com. He quickly opens any book his hand snatches from his bag and quickly flips it open. He notices everyone else is doing the same.

.

It's the end of school day and he is the first one to arrive at the dorm. His classmates are either mostly goofing around in the class or getting dragged in to the goofing around. He managed to escape before any of them could snatch him.

He's feeling a little thirsty after dashing away from them and ran all the way to the dorm here. He wants to go to the fridge to grab a drink. So he drops by the common area and heads over to the kitchen.

He stops in his track when he hears familiar voices coming from the kitchen.

"I have heard your wife had dropped by."

"Yeah."

"If I remember correctly, you two hadn't seen each other for about three weeks before that."

"Hm."

"And you seem to be in a better mood, I see."

"…Yeah."

It's Mr. Aizawa and Principal Nedzu. They're here, in the kitchen? Has they been here the whole time?

He sneaks his way closer to kitchen without making his presence known. He peeks around the corridor and looks into the kitchen. Mr. Aizawa and Principal Nedzu are sitting at the dining table side by side. Principal Nedzu is nursing a steaming mug in his paws, while Mr. Aizawa has his on the table with his hands around it.

They seem to have a heart-to-heart conversation. He better leave them be, not wanting to disturb them. But before he could move away, his eyes catch something. Mr. Aizawa is not wearing his usual black jumpsuit. Instead, he's wearing a tank top and black long pants but those are not what made him quietly gasps.

His clothing is tattered, and he doesn't need to see through the tear to see Mr. Aizawa's body completely covered in bandages. It even goes up to his neck, down his wrists and he could see them by the hem of his pants. There are patches of red on the bandages and his clothes.

Was Mr. Aizawa injured this whole time?

"You need to start thinking about yourself more, Shouta."

"…The kids are more important."

"You are also important as well. What would Rumi think when her husband is no more?"

"She agreed with my decision. The kids come first. I am nothing in compared to them."

"Come now, child. There's no need to think like that."

"I'm not a child anymore."

"You are always my child regardless of age."

That sentence made his thought grinds to a stuttering stop. How close are Mr. Aizawa and Principal Nedzu for the principal to regard his teacher like that?

"There is no need for you to neglect your injuries just to be in class for them."

"I had worse."

"Not my point, Shouta. Think about yourself more. Your kids are may be important but so are you. You may be blind to it but they care about you, just as Rumi cares about you, just as I care about you, just like how you care about them. You are important to them, like how you are important to Rumi and I. Losing you will not help in any way or form. It will only create the opposite."

If what he had heard is correct, Mr. Aizawa had gone to attend their class instead of tending his injuries.

"Are we done? I have important stuff to do."

"…Alright."

He immediately turns away and presses his back against the wall as Mr. Aizawa stands up from his chair. He then remembers how futile his attempt is as he is directly in the way to the elevator.

"Ojirou," Mr. Aizawa greets him without looking at him as he walks on his way to said elevator. He deflates, knowing he got caught eavesdropping but thankfully he is not punished by it, or at least, not by Mr. Aizawa. He doesn't know how Principal Nedzu would react to this.

"No need to hide anymore, Ojirou."

He gulps.

He slowly steps away from the wall and walks into the kitchen with hesitant steps. Principal Nedzu is giving him his usual smile, to which he returns with a shaky one as politely as he could under the pressure.

"No need to be so nervous, Ojirou! You are not in trouble," Principal Nedzu tells him before taking a sip from his mug that is half empty. He relaxes a bit before walking over to the fridge, still wanting to grab a drink despite the current circumstance. He grabs a cold bottle and uncaps it before putting it to his mouth. He relieves the feeling of his parch satisfied.

He swallows his drink a little too forcefully because he feels a little too awkward with the air in the kitchen right now.

Just then, he hears the elevator jingle, signaling someone has arrived. He guesses his classmates are finally here.

"You fatasses are unbearable!"

Yep, they're here.

"You were the one that kept tripping us, Kaminari!" he hears Sero shouts back. He looks at the common area and see quite a number of his classmates are coming down here instead of going to their rooms first.

"Welcome back, dear students," Principal Nedzu says to them as they enter the kitchen. He watches them stiffen in horror when they hear the principal's voice. He snickers quietly at their horrified looks though he knows he would also look the same.

"P-Principal Nedzu!"

"What are you doing here?" Ashido asks a little too excitedly. He sees the beads of nervous sweat dripping down her forehead.

"Well, this was where Shouta and I had our little conversation," Principal Nedzu answers before taking a small sip from his mug.

"At the dorm?" Uraraka asks, intrigued. "Had something happened to your office?"

"Oh no, my office is in a perfect condition," the principal clarifies with a light wave of a paw. "I would rather have our conversation in a place that is more, as kids nowadays would say, chill." He hears a few snickers from himself. "So the dorm is a good place for a less than professional atmosphere."

"Where's Mr. Aizawa?" Hagakure asks. Judging from the way her clothes move, he thinks she is looking around for their teacher.

"Ah, you had just missed him," Principal Nedzu answers.

"Can we… ask something, Mr. Principal, sir?" Ashido hesitantly asks. He could see she and a few others are tensing up. He can't blame them for being scared. Even he feels like he could breathe wrong within the principal's presence, so just asking is even worse.

"Do ask away, I love answering questions!" Principal Nedzu says gleefully with a smile. He sees them discreetly releasing a sigh of relief.

"Why do you hang out in Mr. Aizawa's scarf?" Ashido asks, her nervousness completely gone and replaced by giant curiosity. A few of his classmates, mainly the female ones, are leaning in closer.

Is it him or is Principal Nedzu looks excited?

"It's simple. It's warm and comfortable there," Principal Nedzu answers simply. "Despite how gaudy it can look sometimes and how it gives a stifling impression, it keeps the cold out incredibly well."

He hears a murmur of agreement from his classmates. It would make sense that Principal Nedzu likes it in Mr. Aizawa's scarf. He's a mammal after all. Though, he does see one or two of his classmates deflate, as if expecting something out of ordinary explanation.

"At the beginning, Shouta didn't have the amount of scarf length like he does right now," Principal Nedzu continues. Immediately, everyone focuses back on him. "Back then, he only had, what he had said, "just logically enough", though he quickly found out that "just enough" is not enough. Day by day, his scarf grew longer and longer until even I myself do not know how long it can get."

"Yeah, sometimes I think it could go on infinitely," Kaminari comments and a few others agree.

"Not only that, it seems to have a mind of its own!"

"Yeah, I don't know how Mr. Aizawa controls it."

"Most definitely magic."

"Magic doesn't exist, bro!"

"You might never know, my dude."

He can tell everyone is starting to relax around Principal Nedzu now. Their tensions are slowly oozing away from their bodies and they are comfortable enough to joke around the principal.

"You seem to know Mr. Aizawa pretty well," he hears Asui asks. She's the bravest one out of all of the ones here, so she can state things pretty easily whereas the rest would keep their mouths shut. He silently thanks her for saying it.

"Well, I would not be a good employer if I do not know my employees very well." Principal Nedzu takes another sip from his cooling mug. "But… You are right, young Asui. I applaud you for your skilled observation," the principal compliments with a kind smile. He could see the slight blush on her cheeks and the slightly more upturn of her lips.

"How long did you know Mr. Aizawa?" Kirishima bravely asks. Principal Nedzu doesn't answer immediately, instead he looks down at his mug and his lips curl into a smile of something that he couldn't place a finger on.

"Oh, quite a long time, I might say," Principal Nedzu answers with significantly less energetic as before. Everyone could feel the solemnness in his time and their energetic mood quickly tones down, but he can tell they are a lot more intrigued. He himself is very curious as well. "Do you know who the very first student to ever move into the Heroics course was?"

Everyone is a little taken aback at the sudden question. They look at one to another, searching for answers from each other. All are confused so no one knows the answer.

"It's not Shinsou?" he asks. He knew just how of a big deal the transfer was because it was all over the news. He didn't like Shinsou initially but that did not mean he had no amount of respect for his purple haired classmate to be able to do what many found impossible.

"Oh no, young Shinsou is one of the few who had made it. He just happens to be the most recent one to occur in quite a long while," Principal Nedzu corrects him, looking up from the mug to give him his usual smile before looking back down at it. "You do not need to look very far to know who it is."

He frowns, so does everyone else, a little confused at the principal's words. Someone who is not very far? Is it someone that he knows?

Wait…

"Mr. Aizawa?" Uraraka says.

"That is correct, young Uraraka." Principal Nedzu looks away from his mug once more and towards everyone. Now, his posture is straighter and there is a smile of pride on his furry lips. "Your teacher was the first ever student to transfer into the Heroics course."

"What?!"

"Hold on a minute!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! Mr. Aizawa was not a Heroic student in the first place?!" Ashido asks the principal in a shocked tone. He is just as shocked as everyone else because that's just not compute. Mr. Aizawa is probably one of the most heroic Heroes there is! Not only that, he is among the powerful and rare.

For UA to put him not in Heroics… that just didn't make sense!

"Yes," Principal confirms with a nod. Then, he turns back to his mug. He takes a sip from it before looking down at it once more. "He was a student of mine in General Education."

"You a Gen Ed homeroom teacher?!"

"Wait, hold on a minute!"

"I need a breath of fresh air."

He is currently being barraged by heavy loaded information right now he is getting a little lightheaded. None of his classmates are faring any better either. Even the ever so expressionless Asui looks quite shocked when she heard that Mr. Aizawa wasn't a Heroics student.

"It should not be surprising. Shouta didn't have any physical enhancing Quirk, so he didn't meet the standards in the entrance exam."

Much like Shinsou then.

"On the very first day of class, he declared to me that he will move up to Heroics by any means necessary. I was by his side from the very beginning, overseeing his progress and witness his growth. It was the first time where I believed a student will achieve the impossible, and I was proven correct when he won first place in the Sports Festival."

Principal Nedzu looks up at the ceiling. His lips curl up into a small smile.

"I had never felt any more pride than the day seeing him standing on the podium with the gold medal hanging from his neck. I still remember it today, the discrimination for having a Villainous Quirk, the jeers over his continuous victories against other Hero students, and the utter silence when he took the first place."

His heart skips a beat, not from Mr. Aizawa's achievement but from…

"…Mr. Aizawa was discriminated?"

"For having a Villainous Quirk?"

"Mr. Aizawa was called a Villain?"

Principal Nedzu closes his eyes and… is that sadness in his smile?

"Your teacher's Quirk is the first of its kind, enough to earn an entire class of its own: an Anti-Quirk. Not many like his Quirk, an ability to take away what is precious to them. Shouta had faced many hardships before his time in UA."

He sees the principal trying to take another sip before realizing his drink is already empty. He opts to put it on the table and intertwines his fingers together.

"Even then, the struggles only continued. He found his Hero only to lose him soon after. The boy I had cheered on was no more, replaced by a man that we know today. A man suffered pain and used it to teach the future generation."

The atmosphere feels heavy and tense and very thick. He feels a chill crawling up his spine. The way the principal phased his words… What had happened to Mr. Aizawa in UA?

"Do forgive his harsh nature." Principal Nedzu gives everyone a kind smile. "He is hard on you children for a reason, a reason he hopefully wishes none of you will suffer the same fate as his Hero."

Suddenly, he feels bad for condemning Mr. Aizawa at the early years of UA. He had thought that man enjoyed seeing them suffer, especially when he continuously tells them he's going to expel them at any given moment. It turns out he does it for a good reason. The kindness in harshness, he guesses.

Wait…

"Principal Nedzu," he starts but dreads to continue. The principal and his classmates look up to him, waiting. He swallows before opening his mouth. "You had said he lost his Hero, and it happened when he was transferred into Heroics."

"That is correct, young Ojirou."

"You said that he didn't want us to… share the same fate as his Hero."

He sees the dawned look on his classmates' faces when they finally realize what he is implying.

"Principal Nedzu, did Mr. Aizawa lose his friend?"

A few of his classmates gasp, but all has a horrified look.

"Oh gosh."

"Fuck…"

Principal Nedzu doesn't answer, but the sad smile (yes, that's a sad smile very sure) is enough to answer his question.

"We didn't know that…" he hears Ashido tries to start but keeps halting. Emotions are getting the best of her.

"I would be surprised if you do," Principal Nedzu says, looking to her. "Shouta is a private person, rather to keep everything close. Only a selective few know. It's the same reason why his monumental achieve is not talked. The world had very much forgotten his transfer."

"Holy shit…"

"I need to sit down."

He actually grabs a chair and sits down in it. He is getting a headache because the absolute barrage of information… both good and bad… and it's about Mr. Aizawa who is an enigma himself…

This whole time, his harshness is from grief?

"So yes, Shouta and I are intimately close. There was a period of time where I had lost contact with your teacher soon after his graduation, but I am glad that nothing had lost between us when he resurfaced years later. We share a relationship deeper than that of an employer and an employee."

If he wasn't sure before, now he knows. Principal Nedzu confirms it himself.

"We need to do something for Mr. Aizawa," Uraraka states with determination in her eyes. He sees a few of his classmates begin to straighten up as the somber mood slowly slides off.

"As a thank you for his care!" Ashido adds.

"Yeah!"

"Principal Nedzu sir! Is there something Mr. Aizawa likes?!" Kaminari asks the principal, all fear is gone.

"He has no preference in food but he has no taste for sweets. Although, he has a massive affinity to cats," Principal Nedzu answers.

"Cat themed Coffee!"

"Cat café!"

"Yeah!"

As his classmates begin huddling with each other, he sees the relieved but happy smile on Principal Nedzu's lips as he watches his classmates brainstorming about how to show their appreciation for their teacher. The principal is a lot more expressive right now.

It's probably because it's about Mr. Aizawa.

"You are my child regardless of age."

It's definitely because it's about Mr. Aizawa.

I didn't meant for this to turn a little angst but I can't help it when it comes to Dadzu and Aizawa.