'From: Born-of-Azarath

Subject: Midoriya Izuku

Dear Mr Aizawa

I regret to disturb you at this urgent time with the media frenzy and the thousands of other messages you have surely received. But now that the captives are safe and the League of Villains' leader is in custody, I hope you will forgive me.

To begin, I will emphasise that this is not a critique of your response during the training camp incident. Your words at the press conference reaffirmed what I already knew. Out of fear for our lives, you told us to fight. (I can't fault you for that, as I myself was overcome with terror.)

Thanks to you and the other heroes, all of us are alive. No amount of preparation would have completely spared us from such a large scale attack.

You took full responsibility for Bakugo's mistreatment, but I don't blame you for his kidnapping. You are partly to blame, however, for the futility and the guilt Izuku Midoriya feels.

During our Quirk Apprehension Test, you looked Midoriya in the eye and told him: "You're worthless if you can only throw a single punch before breaking down."

I understand that your intention was to draw out Midoriya's potential as a hero. Either he would fail the test and avoid trouble down the line, or he would rise to the occasion. I've watched him rise time and time again, despite your initial scorn and his ongoing injuries. That is the mark of a true hero— someone who perseveres even in the face of doubt. But Midoriya doesn't take pride from his many victories.

He managed to save several students at the camp, breaking his arms, but all that matters to him was that he couldn't save Bakugo. The boy who spent years calling Midoriya worthless, and will likely continue to do so. Midoriya believes his efforts, his beaten body and his Quirk are all for nothing.

As our teacher, I expect you to assure him this is not the case. There is no need to coddle him— Midoriya wouldn't appreciate that— but you could acknowledge how far he has come.

Thank you for reading and please do not respond to this email.

Yours sincerely,

A concerned U.A. student'

Aizawa found this solicitation while scrolling through the vat of vitriolic messages on his phone. The majority were from the press (whoever had leaked his private number should consider migrating to the moon), conspiracy theorists, scaremongers, U.A.'s benefactors, frantic parents, the police and his fellow Pro Heroes.

One appeal from a 'villain recruitment force' almost made him throw his phone across the room:

'If you support Katsuki Bakugo so much, why not join him on the dark side? We'll iradicate those pesky reporters for you. With a quirk like your's, we can strike from the shadows and ERASE heroes from existence—'

He gripped the phone tightly. Here he was at two thirty AM, sitting in the dark, losing it over illegible junk mail. He swiftly deleted it and blocked the sender's address.

He needed a cool head to combat the wildfire that was Katskui Bakugo. He still stood by what he had said about Bakugo's convictions, but he would have to work harder to keep him in check, particularly around Midoriya.

Detention wasn't enough— Bakugo would usually just sit there making cigarettes out of pencils. If Aizawa so much as breathed the word 'expulsion', the press would be on his back again. How could U.A. expel the student they had risked life and limb to rescue? Toshinori had sacrificed his title, his Quirk, and his identity for Bakugo.

Aizawa thought back. During his final exam, Bakugo had been teamed up with Midoriya and, after many miscommunications, they had managed to beat All Might. The friction between them hadn't exactly eased since then, as far as Aizawa could tell.

He could make them talk it out, minus their Quirks, but Bakugo would still tear Midoriya apart. Maybe All Might could hold Bakugo down— no, wait...

Aizawa sighed. Scratch that then. He'd shove Bakugo and Midoriya into separate rooms and their hypothetical heart-to-heart could take place over a radio. Hizashi would help set it up and tease him over his 'bickering boys' but anything was better than publicly humiliating them.

How could Nezu— their principle— authorise Bakugou's punishment at the awards ceremony? Consequently, the villains had witnessed Bakugo's violent nature, and chose to take him under their wing.

Nezu must have assessed the outcomes of such a decision. Had he hoped it would encourage his U.A. dorms idea?

Flicking through his phone, Aizawa re-read Nezu's email about the introduction of the new system. By 'officially' moving every student into the dorms, they would strengthen the bonds between a new generation of heroes, protect them behind school doors... and smoke out any potential traitors.

Hizashi had warned Aizawa there might be a traitor at U.A. who had given away the camp's location. Aizawa was most likely exempt from the guilty party due to his near-fatal wounds at USJ and his care for his class. The same went for Toshinori, especially now that he was retired.

Aizawa didn't suspect any one his students. Every member of Class 1-A who was conscious had provided him with a description of the attack— how they had defended themselves, how they had escaped, how scared they felt...

'I myself was overcome with terror.'

He returned to the concerned student's email about Izuku. Born-of-Azarath. Now, who could that be? He could eliminate those knocked out by the villains— Hagakure, Jiro and Yaoyorozu. As class president, Iida would have reproached Aizawa directly if he felt Midoriya was upset. The same went for Uraraka, another of Midoriya's closest friends. Tsuyu would have told him point-blank, "Douche move, Mr Aizawa."

The vocabulary in the email far exceeded any essay he had received from Kaminari or Ashido. Aoyama wouldn't be able resist using a word of French. Mineta wouldn't dare...

That left him with eight suspects, barring Bakugo and Midoriya himself.

Were there any clues in the email address? He searched the web for 'Azarath'. The top results were for a death metal band or a realm in a classic comic book series.

Alright, so the perpetrator was possibly a comic book fan, like most people these days. Not much to go on there.

Aizawa delved deeper. Azarath was once a paradise that got destroyed... yada yada yada... and the birthplace of a character called Raven. As he read about the teen hero, he cracked a smile. Her powers were driven by emotion. (How original.) He'd give the girl some credit: She could manipulate shadows, conjure a dark spirit from her body and she was half-demon.

Well, that hit the nail on the head. He couldn't base his suspicions on Quirk similarities alone, though. There were other factors to take into account, like Midoriya's teammates during the Cavalry Battle and those he had saved at the training camp.

Just to be sure, Aizawa felt he should also research the death metal band.

Hizashi answered on the fifth ring. "Shoutaaaaa..." he groaned. (He wasn't wearing his speaker, lucky for Aizawa.) "It's like... three in the morning—"

"I need your help. Nothing urgent."

Aizawa heard shuffling— Hizashi was groping around for his glasses. He sounded more lucid when he returned to the phone.

"Didn't we agree you were having an early night? You know, after the conference and everything?"

Aizawa suppressed a yawn. "Yeah, but then I got a concerned email from one of my students—"

"That's adorable."

"—Under the alias Born-of-Azarath. I looked it up and one option is a death metal band. Ever heard of it?"

"Azarath... Az-a-rath..." Hizashi hummed. "Polish band from the early 2000s?" (Aizawa would find out later if he'd ever had a death metal phase.)

"Right. And have any of the kids showed an interest in their kind of music?"

"Um... Only Jiro, I think? She mentioned going to see a Desecravity concert in class. They're a band from Tokyo—"

"Jiro was taken to hospital, so I doubt it's her," Aizawa muttered. He'd barely seen his students since he'd been holed up at the police station and the conference.

"She might have woken up and emailed you from her phone," Hizashi said, annoyingly optimistic.

Aizawa growled, "She was poisoned before Midoriya..." He huffed and stewed in silence for a minute.

Hizashi let out a tentative, "Shou?"

"The email was about Midoriya," he admitted. "About how I misjudged him during his Apprehension Test."

"Oh..." He heard Hizashi drumming his fingers on the phone. "Kind of like how I judged you when we first met?"

"What?" he asked exasperatedly. This wasn't the time for awkward high school memories...

"You acted so indifferent— like you didn't care about becoming a hero. You'd fall asleep in class, ignore teachers and friends, rarely smile—"

"If I wanted a lecture, I would have called Toshinori."

"—But, the more time we spent together, I saw you really did care... in own crabby way." There was a smile in Hizashi's voice. "Your students can see that too."

Aizawa remembered Midoriya's relief when they ran into each other in the forest. He had a black eye, a mangled arm, Kota clinging to his bare back... but he was beaming at Aizawa.

I still have to scold him... and make sure he spoke to Kota. A soft chuckle escaped Aizawa's lips.

"I heard that!"

"I know... Thanks, 'Zashi."

"No problem. Now, go to bed. And switch off your phone before you go blind!"...Said the man who stayed up three days straight playing Flappy Bat.

Aizawa muttered, "Love you too."

He hung up, cutting short Hizashi's scream of "YOU SAID IT FIRST—"

He took one last glance at Azarath's email before turning off his phone and tossing it on the floor.

Unbelievably, he slept like a log and was nearly late for their briefing from Nezu. He and Toshinori were instructed to visit the students' families to discuss the new dorm system.

"I thought we already had dorms available to students," Toshinori said during their drive. "Don't members of Class 1-A stay on campus from time to time?"

Aizawa nodded, hoping his hair wouldn't slip out of his bun. (Vlad was in stitches when he saw it.) "There were some old dorms offered to students who travel long distances or those with difficult circumstances at home." An unspoken name seared the air between them.

Aizawa went on, "Nezu wants to enforce an all-dorm system in a brand new, fully fortified building."

"'Enforce'?" Toshinori chuckled. "We still need permission from their families."

That was easier said than done in some cases.

Tsuyu's younger siblings begged her not to go. Kirishima's father started 'sweating through his eyes' at the thought of losing his son. Upon entering Koda's house, the teachers were crushed by a stampede of pets.

Toshinori plucked feathers out of his hair as they headed to the Shizuoka Prefecture. "Let's hope Tokoyami's family doesn't keep birds too."

Aizawa hummed. "Do you want me to handle this one?"

"No, it's alright." Toshinori gave him a thumbs-up with his non-bandaged hand. "I like working as a team."

Tokoyami lived in a small apartment with a spacious balcony and a breath-taking view. Aizawa imagined it looked even more impressive at night, seeing the city twinkling in the dark, but he could understand why Tokoyami was so eager move out.

Inside, the apartment was packed with silver sculptures twisted into various shapes. Mrs Tokoyami's Quirk allowed her to liquefy and reform silver. Her proudest creations were the family figurines crowding the mantelpiece.

Then there was Mr Tokoyami...

"Father, please," Tokoyami hissed as they were herded out onto the balcony.

Mr Tokoyami had the blue head and long neck of a peacock. He gestured to the cityscape with a swish of his green poncho. "Isn't it marvellous?"

Toshinori agreed, "Indeed—"

"I watched your epic battle on the screen down there." Mr Tokoyami pointed at the large television on the side of a lower building. "It's like being at the cinema, but I never have to step foot off this balcony. Now the honest-to-goodness All Might is standing right here with me!"

"Settle dear now, dear." Mrs Tokoyami stepped out onto the balcony. It was easy to see where Tokoyami had gotten his glossy black hair. (Hair? Feathers?) She placed a silver platter of almond cookies and some plates on the coffee table. "We need to talk about Fumikage's Future."

The four of them sat around the table on green pillows.

"Every bird has to leave the nest sooner or later," Mrs Tokoyami sighed wistfully.

"We know you'll protect our chick," Mr Tokoyami cooed.

Tokoyami looked like he wanted to bang his head against the table. He kept his gaze down when Aizawa said knowingly, "Curfew will be at nine for everyone."

Mr Tokoyami sent his son an amused look. "That might be a problem. Fukimage is a real night bird; he's always up playing his guitar at some late hour."

"I didn't know you were a musician," Toshinori exclaimed. "What kind of music do you play?" Aizawa leaned forward slightly. Tokoyami shrugged.

"Rock and roll," his father filled in, flapping his hand.

"It's death metal," Mrs Tokoyami corrected. Young Tokoyami closed his eyes.

Toshinori laughed, "Well, either way, it would be wonderful to hear some music in the dorms!"

So, it was the death metal band, Aizawa mused as Mr Tokoyami cleared away the plates and Tokoyami went to 'brood' in his room.

Mrs Tokoyami escorted the teachers to the front door, where she intoned, "I'm sorry. Fumikage has been... stressed since he lost control at the training camp."

"It was a very intense time for everyone," Toshinori consoled. "Nobody holds him at fault. As of matter of fact, his Dark Shadow managed to defeat one of the villains."

Mrs Tokoyami smiled, but her red eyes were sad. Her eyes widened as Aizawa said, "I can help him learn to control it. We'll try different techniques, like mediation... But first, I need to deal with his classmates Midoriya and Bakugo. Can you tell him that for me?"

At last, her eyes lit up. "He'll be glad to hear it."