In the morning Momo passed her father's office and tripped over her own feet when she saw Aizawa standing across from her father's desk.
Momo backpedaled and saw the scene all at once. Aizawa had dressed for this meeting, wearing a dark gray suit with narrow pinstripe, tailored to his lean, sinewy figure. His hair was pulled back from his face. Her father was wearing his dress slacks and a button up shirt, sleeves rolled up the way he usually had them when he worked from home, the sparse tattoos that winded up his forearms visible. Then Momo saw her mother sitting quietly in an armchair, wearing her tennis clothes — she must have been on her way out to her tennis lesson when Aizawa had arrived. On the televisions was the video from the club, paused at the moment where he was leaning over her. All three of the adults noticed her frozen outside the doorway at the same moment.
"Good morning, Ms. Yaoyorozu," Aizawa said, inclining his head.
"Come sit," her father instructed. Momo entered the office and her mother rose from the armchair, gesturing for Momo to take her place there. She did as she was bid, holding her breath in her chest as she took a seat.
"It seems I owe you an apology, Momo," her father said. She wanted to exhale a sigh of relief, but gut instinct told her she shouldn't do that yet. Not until she knew what Aizawa had told them, and what he had done. "I am sorry, but you did the right thing."
"Thank you for trusting me to tell me about the threats against your family, despite the risk," Aizawa added in his detached, professional teacher tone. "I do not want to lose you as a student, so I've come forward to entrust your family with the details of the undercover mission I was on in the nightclub."
It was her mother's turn to chime in. "You shouldn't have snuck into a club, Momo, but you showed great resolve in keeping the secret of Mr. Aizawa's mission to yourself. You did what you needed to in order to protect his mission. You will be a great hero."
She hadn't been given enough to piece together exactly what he had told them, but she had enough to speculate. Momo gave the adults a polite, demure bow and kept her eyes down. Her mind was racing, wondering what Aizawa had done to the person responsible for this mess he was cleaning up.
"Thank you," she said. "I never meant to place our family in the position of being dishonored, but I understood the importance of keeping Mr. Aizawa's confidence for his mission."
Her vague answer seemed to suffice, and her father nodded.
"You deserve to know the source of the conflict. The person responsible for the blackmail was a former pupil who I expelled from UA; he recognized me, of course, and he knew you from the Sports Festival. They saw an opportunity to get revenge at your expense — they had wanted to ruin my reputation, but had not expected that your father would actually pay to keep it quiet. The money has been recovered, however, and returned, and they will be facing lawful justice."
"Thank you, Sensei."
"There is no need for you to transfer from UA," her father told her, and it was like a nail in the coffin. "You may return to class on Monday."
"Do you have any more questions for me?" Aizawa asked her parents, and they shook their heads. Momo's father shook her teacher's hand, and Aizawa turned to go.
"Will you show me out, Ms. Yaoyorozu?" he asked, and she nodded.
He didn't speak until they were outside, waiting until their valet had left to retrieve his car.
"I told your parents that I was in the nightclub on an undercover mission, and that you had snuck in. I approached you the way I did to disperse any suspicion about our connection and told you that you needed to leave — which you did, but our interaction did not go unnoticed. Enter the 'expelled student.'"
"Who was it really?" she asked. "And what did you really do?"
"It was one of the men who kidnapped you and the other girls that night," Aizawa answered.
"What did you do to them?" Momo asked again, her fingers curling into small fists.
"Do you really want to know?" The valet was driving his car in their direction now. Time was running out for this conversation. She had no time to think the decision through. It had to be now.
"Yes."
"You're lying. You aren't ready to hear it. Just know that it's been dealt with."
Momo blanched at his rebuke, and the valet was getting out of the vehicle. The valet gave Aizawa a bow, and her teacher was getting into his car.
"I will see you in class on Monday, Ms. Yaoyorozu," he said over his shoulder. "Be ready. Final exams are coming up, and I expect you to be prepared."