Ch 3: Those who leave you behind.

Chapter Summary: Aizawa introduces the class to an old friend.

When Aizawa had said convoluted, he'd forgotten to mention massive as well. They moved passed the large rock garden behind the temple, instead following the winding paths that lead further into the greenery.

They passed small bamboo fountains and stone lanterns standing on moss covered ground. Conifer trees of varying sizes, shaded parts of the path. At one point they even crossed over a stream on a low stone bridge.

The memorials were spread out. Often placed in pairs at the edges of small clearings. The further in they went, the newer the years became. Pretty soon the entire class, not just Midoriya, started recognizing the names of active or recently active heroes.

As they continued on, most of the class got a sinking suspicion they knew exactly which memorial they'd be stopping in front of.

Those near the front saw their teacher hesitate slightly before marching on into the next clearing. It was similar to all the others. Two neatly kept memorials stood to their left. A couple of benches were placed around the clearings edge, under large stoic trees. The gravel path continued on the other side of the clearing, veering slightly to the right.

However, this time they didn't continue through. Aizawa turned and made his way over to stand beside the memorials. Present Mic following closely behind.

The class gathered around tentatively. Hyper aware of how the gravel crunched under each footstep. They gave their teachers and the memorials a wide arc. No one wanting to be the first to step into their space.

After a minute or two of them all standing in suspension, Aizawa sighed and raised an eyebrow at them. "You can come take a look," he stated. "It's not going to bite." The memorials weren't the one the students were concerned about, but Aizawa's invitation did get people moving.

This being a newer memorial, many thou not all of the names were colored in red. It was easy to see who had passed based on which frames contained pictures. Out of a graduating class of 18, there were six sets of frames were filled in.

Except, "Sensei," Ashido piped up. "Why do you have your pictures in here?" She pointed, drawing everyone's attention to the two pictures of their teacher. The first showed him in his hero gear, capture weapon flying around him, hair up and eyes glowing read, perched atop a streetlight at dusk. The second was something they hadn't seen before.

It was fairly recently, the scar he got from USJ clearly showing. The trees in the background had just started to change color indicating it was early fall. Aizawa sat on a park bench in nice but casual clothes, his hair pulled back in a simple bun. It didn't seem like he had noticed the camera, too entranced by the ball of fuzz in front of him. He was leaning over and dangling a bit of string in front of a tiny kitten, frozen mid jump in the picture. A ghost of a smile played on his lips.

Aizawa shrugged, "Statistically, underground heroes die much younger than other pros and only around 40% reach retirement, 20% of that being because of permanent injury. I put it off after USJ, but doing so a second time would have been illogical. Heroes depend on luck just as much as skill and I'm not willing to bet my own luck against whatever terrible pictures Hizashi would have chosen."

While mention of USJ made most of the class shift, his statement hit the internship group particularly hard. They'd heard in debriefing how their teacher had been saved seconds before death by Suneater. Two close calls in one year were two too many.

Next to him, Present Mic was grimacing slightly at his direct response. It had been a hard conversation when Aizawa had brought it up. It wasn't uncommon for pros to have their pictures selected, but to go the extra mile and have them installed had left him with a heavy heart. He knew that to Shouta it was just being realistic, perhaps even a way for him to claim control over his own death, but to Hizashi it almost felt like giving up.

"Awww, you know I would have picked something adorable, Shoutaaa," Hizashi teased and fake pouted, in an attempt to force the mood up. They would needed it for the conversation coming next. "Maybe one of you in your sleeping bag. Or that time our cat stowed away in your capture weapon and you brought him to school. Or maybe something from highschool, like when you drew eyes on sticky notes and put them on your face, so you could sleep during class."

At the back of the group Nemuri covered her mouth to stop a slight chuckle, remembering well how an exasperated Hizashi had described that last fiasco to her over the lunch table. It was one of many times she had lamented being a grade above them and thus missing class shenanigans.

Aizawa none to subtlety elbowed him, getting a slight squawk out of the Voice Hero. "High school photos are rarely used given that the class photo functions as a 'before' picture for everyone."

This brought everyone's attention up to the class photo. It was easy to pick out their teacher. Present Mic still had his signature hairstyle, though it only reached up about a foot. He had a shining grin on his face with one arm slung over the shoulder of a disgruntled Aizawa. Half of Aizawa's face was covered by his capture weapon and another quarter hidden by his hair. Still, tired but distinctly amused eyes peeked out and squinted at the camera.

Behind them stood Iida Tensei holding up a peace sign over Aizawa and the girl to his left's head. The girl was about a head shorter than all of them. She had silver shoulder length hair, glasses and smile that suggested barely repressed laughter. Most notably, her pictures were filled in and her names weren't.

"There are a lot of heroes you have never heard of," Aizawa started. "Sometimes that's by choice, but a lot of the times it's because they never get a chance. We lost our first classmate about six months after graduation."

He leaned over to point at the names Ito Ritsuko, Likely: The Opportunity Hero. Her hero picture seemed out of a photo shoot, just her posing in costume. The costume, itself, was a simple dark blue with silver accents, built for speed with a few hard plates for added defense. The second was at UA. It showed her, Hizashi, Tensei and Nemuri all crowded around Aizawa, who was currently sleeping on his desk. She was the one holding the camera, her face in the foreground taking up half the picture with a blinding smile.

"Ritsuko was our classes Vice-President. Her Quirk was Probability, which allowed her to see the likelihood of another's actions and to a lesser extent the reasons behind those actions based on observing them. The longer she had to observe, the more accurate and insightful her predictions became. It was extremely useful for keeping a bunch of teenagers and a hyperactive class president in line." Beside him Present Mic pouted.

"Given that it was an analytical quirk that did not help with combat power, she spent most of her time at school training in hand to hand combat."

"You mean most of her time at school kicking your ass in hand to hand combat," Midnight called out, earning her a glare.

"I looked up to her," Aizawa admitted, "She helped me, not just in combat training, but in life. It's not an exaggeration to say that I wouldn't be half the hero I am now without her help. She was my hero." He gave the class a second to let this sink in. He knew they held him in high regard, so for him to call someone his hero, meant a lot.

"She graduated at the top of our class and received offers from many of the top agencies, but decided to got with a relatively unknown one just outside of Tokyo. She said it was where she had the highest likelihood of doing the most good."

Aizawa closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steadying himself, before continuing. "There was a hostage situation. A young girl being held in a department store by two villains. Pro's from half a dozen different agencies had been called in, but it hadn't made a difference. It was a worse case scenario, one of the villains having an extremely sensitive bomb type quirk and the villains quirk unknown. One wrong step and they would have lost not only the hostage, but a couple of city blocks as well. They'd been in stand off for five hours and the probability of the hostage surviving was falling."

"Ritsuko proposed a switch. Herself for the girl. Unlike the other heroes on the scene she was young, the villains didn't see her as a threat. She told her agency that she had a higher chance of making it out the the current victim. They made the switch. Twenty minutes later, both villains were found at the scene unconscious. The bomb villain had a slight concussion and a cracked rib. The other one had been pepper sprayed before falling to sleeping gas. They," he stopped when his breath hitched, and took a few deep breaths before continuing. "They found her collapsed at the edge of the room."

"The other villain had a poison quirk. A fast acting neurotoxin passed on through touch. It took less than a minute to stop her heart."

Present Mic had taken Aizawa's hand now, rubbing small circles on it and was leaning against him. The fact that he wasn't getting glared at or thrown on the ground was a testament to Aizawa's current state. The class was quite, the more emotional among them sniffling and graciously accepting tissues when Midnight offered them. They hadn't known this person, but seeing their teacher shaken up and emotional, even if the Aizawa equivalent of emotions was standing still with his eyes closed, was a lot.

He gave them a while to collect themselves, definitely not needing it as well. "She had told them the probability was higher, though she tactfully neglected to mention the exact odds. Ritsuko knew exactly what she was walking into when she traded her life for the girls. I'm sure she hoped to make it out but she wasn't counting on it and I'm sure to her in the moment, it didn't matter. She was a hero and she wanted to save as many people as possible. The Pro she was under said she proposed the plan after catching a glimpse of the girl through the store window. I don't know how much she could have seen, but it was enough."

"The child was only six at the time, but I'm sure Ritsuko saw her potential even then. She has one of the strongest healing quirks I've ever seen. She's graduating with her doctorate this year and has already saved over 200 people in her internships alone."

"Logically speaking, she made the right choice. She did what a hero is supposed to do, what she was trained to do. As a hero, I can't hold it against her. I would have made the same choice, I have made the same choice." Aizawa emphasized, lips pressed in a thin line.

"But as her friend," he said, looking stoically over his watery eyed class, "I wish it had been someone else."

Notes:

Hey! So yeah, lots of Aizawa monologuing, but I hope that wasn't a bad thing. I really tried to capture his voice. I mean, this is hard for him to talk about, but he also wants to do his friend justice and it is Aizawa, who does as good a job of repressing his feelings as Bakugou does exploding his. Which is pretty good, to someone who doesn't know them.

As for why Ritsuko's death hit Aizawa so hard and why he called her "his hero," I subscribe to the head cannon that Aizawa grew up in an abusive household and was even further outcast because of his "villainous" quirk. Because Ritsuko's quirk is better suited for predicting outcomes then finding the reasons behind them and Aizawa is very good at faking being ok, it took her awhile to put the pieces together. However, once she did at the start of their second year, she was on a warpath until Nezu helped move Aizawa into the schools boarding program. So yeah, she saved him. Just thought I'd throw some more feels into the notes, since it isn't something he'd come out and tell the class.

Hope you enjoyed and leave a review to help feed my soul!