The mild-mannered man who came into her hospital room looked like he belonged in a small bank or an office, in a drab black suit and blue tie. His long, black hair was slicked straight back, and his face was clean shaven. It wasn't until she noticed the scar near his eye that Momo realized who it was.
"Mr. Aizawa?"
She sat up fast, too fast, and her vision spun. She made a small noise and grabbed onto the arm of the bed, tipping to one side.
"Relax," he said coolly. "You can lie down."
It didn't feel appropriate to in front of her teacher though. Once she had her bearings, Momo adjust the hospital bed so she was sitting upright. Aizawa kept a respectful distance from the foot of her bed, waiting patiently. His face was a mask.
"Why are you dressed like that?" she asked.
"The doctors said they couldn't tell me about your condition," he asked instead of answering. His hands were folded together in front of him, matching his professional demeanor. "How are you?"
She let it go.
"I have a concussion, they said it will take a couple weeks to heal completely. Minor burns." She paused. Her tongue was thick with all the questions she wanted to ask him. She had to wrap her mind around the words she wanted to say. "I heard you rescued me."
His lips parted in a sigh and he rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed with what she'd opted to open the floor with.
"I should be offended if that surprises you," he said. "I'm a Hero and your teacher. It would be a dishonor for me to have done anything else."
Yosetsu had come to visit her with Vlad earlier in the morning, and between the two of them she'd been painted a clear picture of what the circumstances had been when Aizawa had made the decision to go back into the forest one last time.
The forest had been a raging inferno when he, Aizawa, had taken inventory of the students who were present and he'd been the one to notice her absence — but he hadn't hesitated to go back into the woods one more time after her. Yosetsu had told her about being cornered in the woods; he'd carried her for as long as he'd had the strength, and the fire had overcome their path while he'd tried to catch his breath. Aizawa had arrived in the nick of time, taking on the burden of carrying her out and leading Yosetsu back to the buildings.
Yosetsu had told her about the Nomu, too.
The memories she had of it were fleeting — just glimpses. Her clearest memory was when she'd pressed a tracking device into Yosetsu's hand and implored him to attach it to the retreating Nomu with his quirk. Vlad had immediately called the police, and a detective had come with All Might within the hour so that she could give them the information. All Might's words were still loud in her ear — even louder now that Aizawa was in front of her.
"Previously Aizawa said you lacked the self-confidence and judgement needed to make quick decisions."
It was a harsh truth. His words didn't surprise her, but they stung anyway, even though she knew he'd been referencing her decline in field practices leading up to the final exam. She could have felt vindicated that she'd been able to make the decision she did in that moment, even with her head reeling.
More than anything, however, she felt ashamed. She had been nothing but a hinderance to Yosetsu, who had almost given his life to protect her while she'd been unconscious.
Momo lowered her eyes. Aizawa gave another great sigh and sat down on the foot of her bed.
"What's wrong."
He had such a way with the tone of his questions, they were more like statements that demanded a response rather than him merely asking something. She ducked her head, and raised a hand to shield her eyes from him. She was on the verge of tears, and her face grew hot with embarrassment. The feeling only worsened with him here.
"I was a burden," she breathed. "I should have stepped up as a leader, but instead I was injured. I endangered my classmate and my teacher as a result. I don't deserve to be at UA."
"Yaoyorozu."
His hand touched her ankle over the blanket. She didn't look up at him, afraid of what she might see in his eyes.
"I've never had the displeasure of teaching a student with so much potential, and so little confidence," he said. "Even now you fail to recognize the significance of your successes.
"You potentially singlehandedly saved dozens of students," he continued, the weight of his hand remaining on her ankle. "The gas in the forest was putting students to sleep — if the villains' goal had been to abduct students, you foiled their easiest route to do it by passing out masks. You didn't make just enough for yourself and the people with you, either. You made masks to give to others so that they could continue to pass them out."
She heard, rather than saw, him turn to look out the door to her room. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"All Might told me about the tracking device. You had taken a serious blow to the head, and you pulled it together enough to create a tracking device and a plan to plant it on a Nomu. Does the enormity of that escape you, too?"
He let go of her and she felt the bed shift as he leaned away. Aizawa chuckled softly.
"I suppose it's good that you practiced those devices on me first. I have no doubts about the quality of the one you made the other night." He slid further up the bed, closer to where she sat. Momo's breath froze as he put a hand under her chin and tilted her face to look at him. "I have never been more proud of a student."
The moment lingered. She was powerless to look away from him, and all she could see were his eyes. His eyes were soft, full of pride, and in them she could see the glisten of the smile he wasn't wearing on his lips.
"We need to talk about the Nomu," he finally said, drawing away.
"I don't remember much of it," she interjected before he could question her about it. "The glimpses I remember are terrifying. Chainsaws. I already told the detective everything I can recall."
"I think you were one of their targets to kidnap, Yaoyorozu. If not the primary target."
"I—What?"
"I haven't discussed this with the other Heroes yet, it's just a theory of my own right now. The villains took Bakugo; I don't think it's farfetched for them to have other students in mind, too. I think they sicced the Nomu on you while they focused their manpower on capturing Bakugo."
Momo gaped at him openly, not certain she was understanding his meaning. He tapped a finger on the bed then leaned away.
"You still don't see it, do you?"
"No," she admitted. "I don't."
"You continue to undervalue yourself even now. You are the topped rank student in the class. Your quirk would be wildly beneficial to any organization, but especially to theirs. And your family background…" His words trailed off. "Don't be willfully dull and make me spell it out for you."
She didn't want to believe him. And she knew a big part of why is because she didn't believe herself worthy of that sort of attention. She hadn't made any sort of showing at the Sports Festival, she didn't have flashy powers or combat skills. But when he said it like that…about her quirk…she realized he might be getting at something. Wretched thoughts came on its heels. If the villains captured her, how much could she endure before she cracked? How much torture and violence could she push through before she would start doing what they wanted in order to make the pain stop?
"What do I need to do?" she asked.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I can't know for sure that is what happened, but I know if I were in their shoes, you're the one I'd be gunning for."
She would dwell on the implications of that later.
"Then why didn't they see it through?" Momo asked. "Yosetsu said it was so close, it almost killed him."
"They may not have known how close they were," Aizawa provided. "And they faced significant resistance in taking Bakugo — probably more than they expected or had been ready for. By the time they captured Bakugo, they may not have had time to wait any longer to capture you."
This was new, crucial information that hadn't occurred to her, and it weighed heavily on her mind. What she hadn't told Aizawa was that her classmates had come to her already, an hour before he arrived, and asked her to make them a duplicate tracker to what she'd already provided All Might and the police.
And she'd already made up her mind that she would, on the condition that she would go with them. She firmly believed that once her classmates saw there was no stealthy way to rescue Bakugo, they would back down. This new insight from Aizawa, however, raised the risks.
If the League of Villains had their eyes on her, she'd be putting herself in their way.
"You've thought of something," he said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "What's on your mind?"
What he'd once said came to mind now: that she was capable of living with the guilt of duplicity. He'd meant that with regard to his secrets. There was no reason it shouldn't mean for her own. She made a decision in that moment.
"Nothing," she said. "I'm just…overwhelmed. It's a lot to take in."
Aizawa stared at her for a long moment, and she could feel the weight of his consideration.
"Do you still have the burner I gave you?" he asked, and she nodded. "Keep it on you. And I don't know what's going on, but be careful — and learn to lie better. Call me if you need me."