Chapter 12: Shota Aizawa

Principal Nezu and Shota Aizawa were having a long meeting before the faculty returned to UA the following day. Aizawa had taken on additional administrative duties the previous year which meant his work load had increased. He handled these additional responsibilities fine, but it left him very little free time. He was fine with that seeing as he would have probably just spent his free time sleeping anyhow. He still felt his work in academia was a lot less stressful and also less time consuming than when he was an underground pro-hero. If he was patrolling and uncovered something big, it could be days of constant work until he could even rest. Also he never knew when the police would have him come in and work on a case.

"So Aizawa, I wanted to go over the recent hiring of Ren Kimura." Over the summer Nezu had been looking over applicants and recommendations for a year long teaching position at UA. One of their mathematics teachers, Ectoplasm, was taking a year-long sabbatical. Normally a year-long position would be hard to fill, especially with someone they felt was competent enough for the high standards expected at UA. But they had received many applicants, a few being up to par with the standards they were hoping for. Having a teaching degree, a master's degree preferred, and also being a pro-hero at some point were the minimum. Kimura had been recommended by All Might three weeks ago. She had been privately tutoring math for 5 years, mainly college and high school students in the small coastal town of Kushimoto on the other side of Japan. She previously taught at UA as well so she was hands down the most impressive applicant. All the UA students that had work study and internships at Golden Time in the past always gave them top scores when writing their evaluations, and Ren Kimura was usually singled out as being a great mentor. Nezu and Aizawa had discussed the applicants in detail weeks before and Aizawa agreed with him.

"What would you like to discuss?" Aizawa asked.

"I'm moving her into her old classroom that she taught in previously. It wasn't being used by anyone so won't cause any issues. You can let the janitorial staff know so they can prepare the room. She will be returning with the rest of the staff tomorrow. She chose to move into one of UA's faculty housing properties nearby for convenience. She arrived last week so please check on her to see if she needs any help with settling in. Maybe you could actually make a house call, make sure the house is sound and nothing is in disrepair. The company we use for upkeep has always done an excellent job, but you never know. Maybe later in the week if that works for your schedule?" Aizawa typed the notes down on his phone.

"Yes, sir. I can do that."

"Also I spoke with All Might and he mentioned a possible study that we can conduct having to do with Kimura's quirks. I assume you are aware of her quirk since you worked at Golden Time after graduation?" Nezu asked.

"I actually didn't work for them, I did some freelance work when they needed me and I had the time. But yes, I am aware of both her quirks. What was All Might thinking of?" Aizawa asked. He was curious since it seemed Kimura's quirks were quite straight-forward and he couldn't imagine what All Might was suggesting. All Might had never struck him as the thoughtful or science-minded type.

"Well there was an incident involving Kimura and a man in Kushimoto a couple of months ago. This man was a small time villain trying to rob a bank. Kimura was nearby, heard what was going on, discovered he had a hostage, and decided to get involved. She was able to subdue the man after he tried to keep her from taking his gun. He apparently had a quirk that made him enter a manic phase that made him stronger and less receptive to Pain. He made contact with Kimura's bare hands and arms and was able to hold on to her exposed skin and stay conscious for several seconds. Unfortunately for him, he ended up in a coma due to the prolonged exposure to Kimura's quirk. The interesting thing, however, is that the gun shot wounds he had received from police minutes before were completely healed when the medics arrived to treat him. All Might, who as you know since you worked for Golden Time Agency…."

"Freelanced…." Aizawa muttered under his breath.

"…was very good friends with the Kimuras. Apparently Ren Kimura reached out to him about what had happened. Before this it was believed her Restoration quirk was a trait only she could benefit from. But now it seems this quirk can be applied to another person." Nezu concluded his story, which he seemed to quite enjoy telling. Academia could definitely become monotonous so this was probably a pretty exciting situation for Nezu to embellish.

"So you want to see if we can somehow separate her Pain quirk from her Restoration quirk so that we can benefit from her healing abilities at the school. Do you think that is something she can learn? She has had her Pain quirk for most of her life. Seeing that it's a very inconvenient quirk to not be able to control, don't you think if she was capable of shutting Pain off she would have figured it out by now? Kimura is a smart woman and a creative problem solver. So not sure what difference UA can make." Aizawa paused a moment. "Oh wait. You want me to use Erasure. To see if that could somehow help her learn to control her two quirks."

"And this is why I chose you to be my right hand man, Aizawa. You're sharp. I want you both to first work towards seeing if you can cancel out her Pain quirk and leave her Restoration one. If that can be accomplished, you two would be able to heal as a team. That would be invaluable to the school and the citizens of this city. If that's accomplished, then we can set out to see if we can help her train to actually control her Pain quirk. If she can learn to control her Pain quirk, she would not need your help to heal others. We will do this training by using your Erasure. Perhaps by canceling out her pain quirk she can better understand how it works within herself if that makes sense." Nezu seemed pleased.

"The last couple of years I've been able to hone Erasure to pinpoint one quirk in subjects with multiple quirks and shut just that one down. Hopefully that will apply to Ren Kimura."

"Were you able to erase her Pain quirk with Erasure when you worked together?" Nezu asked.

"Yes, on one occasion I was able to cancel out her quirk." Aizawa thought about that battle at Cliffside Overlook in Omaezaki almost a decade ago. He had not thought about that specific incident in years. Or the Kimuras for that matter. That year after graduation seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Well, Watabe will be the lead on this study. His expertise in quirks will be very valuable, it is his specialization. If you are on board than he will get started with the proposal. He will write up the safety protocols and the parameters we will be studying with Erasure/Pain/Restoration. I am sure he will have additional insight with his knowledge. So, are you on board with this experiment? I know you have a lot on your plate." Nezu's voice strangely lilted when he said the word "experiment."

"Yes, count me in. I can fit it into my schedule." Aizawa answered with no hesitation. Anything that could be helpful to the school, especially concerning the safety of its students was a priority. If need be he could put other things on the back burner. This was the most logical choice for all involved.

"Wonderful. Thank you, Aizawa. Your devotion to the school means a lot! So that is all for today. See you tomorrow!" Nezu hopped down from his chair.

Aizawa's school year was already filling up with a lot of responsibilities. He would have to lessen his case load with the local police. At least if he wanted to actually get any naps in.