"...and I will be temporarily taking on the duties of your homeroom teacher."

Staring at Present Mic, the homeroom teacher of a class that was definitely not theirs, none of the students of class 1-A could entirely comprehend what was happening. They still couldn't grasp what had happened the previous day, when their pretend hero training had been interrupted by very real villains.

"B-but, Aizawa-sensei and Todoroki," Tsuyu said, voice quivering, "they're going to okay, right?"

"Like I said," Present Mic said roughly, "Todoroki is recovering from frostbite and will be fine. He should be back in a couple days. We won't know about S-Shouta until he wakes up from his c-coma."

"H-he will wake up, r-right? T-this isn't- isn't just what we hope w-will happen, r-right? A-a-and we can visit A-Aizawa-sensei and s-see that he's going to be all right, r-right?" Though her speech degrading more and more as she spoke, Tsuyu remained the only one capable of asking any questions, all the others looking at her silently hoping that she would ask what they were thinking themselves.

"Yes," Present Mic said shortly. "Both Shou- Aizawa and Todoroki are with Recovery Girl right now and you can visit them after class. No more questions on this topic now. We have to start class."

Nobody could focus that day, nobody could hear their teachers talking about grammar or theoretical fighting or properly discuss the ethics of killing an enemy. It was decided without the need for any speaking that they were all visiting Aizawa and Todoroki after class, all nineteen of them shuffling, eyes drooped in a zombie-like mass towards Recovery Girl's room.

They found Todoroki awake and well. More than anything, he was bored and worried. He was fine. No permanent damage. Just some bed rest to get him back to a hundred percent before he went back to class.

Aizawa was still out. They visited him, too, but nobody lingered long before drifting back to Todoroki for some half-hearted conversation, a few of them saying a few soft words to their teacher before leaving.

None of them say anything about the condition Aizawa was in, wrapped in bandages that were slowly turning red even now and with his arms in casts and several monitors and IVs attached to him. It was an unspoken rule they all realised together. They all knew they were all thinking the same things, anyways. There was no way they couldn't be.

After a while, a couple of them had left, but most were still sitting around, with no words to say but no desire to leave, either. Recovery Girl didn't shoo them out. Yaoyorozu went to a nearby fast-food restaurant to get them all something to eat. Most of the ones with parents who cared phoned home to tell their family that they would be staying out late.

Slowly, they chewed on their burgers despite not feeling any hunger and left, one by one, by order of curfew, then discomfort, then weariness. Iida stayed, feeling the responsibility as class president. Yaoyorozu stayed. Tsuyu, despite having younger siblings to look after, chose to stay and called a close friend to help her take care of them for the time being. Todoroki, of course, remained. Recovery Girl, seeing them and feeling only sympathy, set up cots for them to sleep in. None of them slept until it was late.

Iida refused to sleep before the others did. Yaoyorozu kept eyeing Todoroki with concern. Todoroki had already slept through most of the day.

Eventually, Iida succumbed to tiredness, and Todoroki attempted to close his eyes and sleep some more. Yaoyorozu followed him, and Tsuyu slunk away to visit Aizawa again, sitting on the chair next to the bed, legs that didn't quite reach the ground swinging as she clenched her hands together on her lap and fixed her face into an odd, neutral smile as she stared at him.

Somewhere along the line, Todoroki slipped out of bed as well and joined her.

"Hey," he said, sullenly rather than with his usual indifference.

"Hello," Tsuyu said back, perfectly stiff eyes wobbling.

Todoroki paused. "Hey," he said again, but couldn't continue."

"D'you think it's our fault?" Tsuyu asked. She rubbed at her eyes, the tears present definitely there from being tired and absolutely not because of any crying. "D'you think that this wouldn't have happened if we helped better?"

Todoroki looked at the floor, shifting his balance back and forth, before following Tsuyu's gaze to his incapacitated teacher. "I don't know."

"No. It wasn't you. It was me. I thought I could be a hero too and Aizawa-sensei got hurt because I wasn't good enough."

"It was me," Todoroki interjected, shoving his hands into his pockets. "You were the one trying to save him. I just froze the villain a few times before freezing up myself and becoming useless. He was the best teacher I'd ever had and I still didn't even try to help him."

"He's still alive," Tsuyu said blandly. "He's still going to be our teacher because he's going to wake up. He's going to be okay. He's going to be okay because you tried and you beat the villain, like nobody else."

Todoroki froze suddenly, thoughts retracing back a mile a minute to when he had thought of all his classmates as cowards for refusing to help and choosing their own safety instead. "Would this have gone differently if we had more people helping?"

Tsuyu's eyes locked onto his for a moment, perfectly fixated and serious. Despite the dim lighting they glittering darkly. "I don't know either."

The next day, Iida woke up when it was well-past the time school began and shook awake Yaoyorozu and Todoroki in a frantic hurry. "We're late! Where's Tsuyu?"

"I'm going to skip today. I'm still not feeling well," Todoroki answered coldly. "Tsuyu's in Aizawa-sensei's room."

Iida hurried across, found the frog girl in the chair next to Aizawa's bed, and woke her up promptly as well, loudly proclaiming their lateness and explaining the many consequences of such poor behaviour.

Tsuyu only looked at him, oddly dully, and said, "Does that really matter so much?"

Confused, Iida gave up and made his way to class, already thinking over his many profuse apologies with Yaoyorozu tailing him and dragging just barely behind.

Todoroki stared at Iida's back until he turned a corner and was out of view, nodding when Tsuyu scratched the side of her head and said, "That was insensitive of him."

"You're skipping as well?" he asked.

Tsuyu nodded. "I'm not feeling well."

Todoroki nodded again.

"Considering the recent events, Toshinori, I do believe that we should initiate my plan as quickly as possible," Nedzu said, gazing out the window intently despite his cheerful tone and disposition.

"Mm." Sitting on the couch again in his true form, hands clasped together between his legs and staring at his lap, All Might let out a breath and said, with the barest hint of hesitation, "If I had been there, this wouldn't have happened."

"That's not important right now, Toshinori. What matters is that we don't allow anything like this to happen again. Besides, you've learned a good lesson about placing your priorities correctly, haven't you?"

His explosion was calm and more dejected than angry. Scowling, he said, "Thirteen is dead. Aizawa is in a coma. Do you have no sorrow?"

"Ah, if you insist, I don't suppose I mind talking on this particular topic for a bit. As a principal, of course I feel overwhelming remorse for the loss of two dear colleagues, but it is important now that we look towards the future rather than dwell on the past. We've reached a critical time now, and unless we manage this properly, things could get worse. For now, the most important part of this regrettable incident is that we handle the inevitable confrontation with the media properly. One slip-up could spell the end for U.A. Academy."

"You don't feel anything for them," All Might muttered. "But you do agree that it was my fault and you do agree that Aizawa isn't going to wake up."

"Unfortunately, this does rest on your shoulders for having misused your quirk and being unable to be present during the attack, and I do believe that it is unlikely that Aizawa will wake up considering the extensive damage to his head."

"Is that it, then? No emotions? Just the hard facts?" All Might grunted. "If that's all, then I'm just going to go prepare for my next class rather than waste my time here."

"No, of course not!" Nedzu exclaimed, spinning back around in a pirouette. "I called you here because we have many important matters to discuss. Have you decided on who you want to be part of our special project yet? I'd recommend three to five people, popular groups have a tendency to be within that range. Six at the very most, if you must."

All Might began shaking his head, but froze. "Todoroki Shouto. I already wanted him but his behaviour during the USJ attack confirmed him for me. And Iida Tenya. Maybe Asui Tsuyu, Kirishima Ejirou, or Hagakure Tooru."

"Ah, they all seem like fine choices, but you have to keep in mind what our ultimate goal is here. If we are to form a well-rounded group of heroes that can be popularised through commercial marketing, they cannot all be cheerful, positive heroes. You also need some darker characters to keep the spectrum wider and appealing to a larger audience. Are there any students who come to mind?"

"Todoroki again. And Tokoyami," All Might said gruffly after a moment's worth of thinking.

"All right, then. Just keep thinking about this. We should meet again before soon, how about here again at the same time two days later? Make sure you have your final picks ready by then, and we can get this started then. Remember to choose carefully and keep the commercial aspect in mind."

"Hm." All Might got up to leave, still disgruntled at Nedzu's callous behaviour, but was stopped once again when he was halfway to the door.

"Oh, and if the media asks you anything about what happened yesterday, tell them that they'll have to wait until the official interviewing date. I'll make sure to take care of everything then; a few video clips and lines they want to hear should satisfy them enough to keep them off of our backs."

All Might grunted something unintelligible and left.

Nobody visited the hospital wing that day. Though Tsuyu and Todoroki had spent the majority of their day there, neither was still hurt or actually sick, so after checking on Aizawa one last time, they thanked Recovery Girl and slipped away with the rest of the leaving students. She invited him to go get some food together, and he agreed, both of them very silent and not really eating their food.

Eventually, Tsuyu said, "I'm going to stay at the school again."

Todoroki noded.

"It feels wrong to be anywhere else."

Todoroki nodded again.

"I have brothers and sisters at home."

Finally, after a long silence, Todoroki said, "Me too," but looked away afterwards and didn't offer any more information.

"Mine are really young and I'm supposed to take care of them, but I'm too afraid to go home."

Todoroki stared at her, surprised. "You don't feel safe in your own house? Do you not get along with your parents?"

"No," Tsuyu replied. "My parents work abroad. It's not really scary… I just feel wrong not staying with Aizawa-sensei."

Looking up, he said, "It's not your fault, you know," quietly.

"No," she agreed, "It's all of our faults. That's why I want to make sure there's someone there when he wakes up."

Todoroki averted his gaze again. "Tsuyu," he said, "don't you remember what Present Mic was saying?"

"I think he's wrong," Tsuyu chirped, but not cheerfully. "Recovery Girl says that she's already fixed up all his injuries, so he'll definitely be okay again soon."

"Hm. Were you planning on staying at the school again tonight?"

Tsuyu nodded. "My friend is taking care of my siblings again."

Todoroki nodded, and they finished as much of their food as they could stomach before throwing the rest of it out and allowing themselves to mindlessly wander back to the school.

When they arrived again, Recovery Girl looked at the two of them, full of somber understanding, and again set up the cots that she had just taken down. They thanked her and put their things down, eyes meeting for a split second before they simultaneously decided that neither of them could take seeing Aizawa again.

Tsuyu sat down on her makeshift bed and brought out her homework. She froze at the first question, without the heart to work through the equation and threw her pen aside. "Todoroki, I'm confused," she mumbled quietly.

He walked over to her, and knowing full well that she wasn't talking about schoolwork, asked, "I'm good at chemistry, maybe I can help."

"Not about that. About Aizawa-sensei."

He withdrew a bit, not stepping backwards or visibly shrinking away, but the air he held himself with was noticeably different.

"It's not fair." She rubbed at her eyes, only encouraging the flow of tears.

"He was a hero. Heroes fight villains. It's supposed to be dangerous and heroes are supposed to die."

Tsuyu looked up at him indignantly. "Heroes don't fight villains. Heroes protect people."

"Heroes do fight," Todoroki interjected harshly. "Real heroes have to face what we saw just once every day. The others couldn't. They all assumed that they were just kids and had the right to be protected without ever having to protect. It's their fault this happened. Everyone talking about how they met with danger too early is lying to themselves. This is reality."

Aghast, Tsuyu looked up, trapped between the truth she saw in Todoroki's words and her own unwillingness to speak so poorly of her friends. In her life of always speaking her mind and being honest, she had never considered saying something so brutal. "B-but, they're not-"

"It's true."

"So, All Might, they're all coming now? You're sure about your final decisions?"

"Yes. They'll be here soon."

"Who did you choose, I wonder?"

All Might shrugged.