Todoroki walked into the classroom, and before reaching his desk, he spared a cursory glance at the teacher writing on the board.

Still Present Mic. No Aizawa-sensei.

Face impassive, he sat down at his desk and began to unpack his things, eyeing the door every now and then in case Tsuyu came in. When she did, he called out softly, but just loud enough for her to hear, "Tsuyu, could I ask you something?"

"Sure. I'd prefer if you'd just call be Tsu, though. It's faster."

Todoroki nodded, and when she made it to his desk, he began talking in a hushed tone, gaze downcast. "Hey, Tsuyu. I was wondering if I could stay at your home for a while. There's some stuff going on with my family right now, and it's really hard to stay with them. My… dad isn't the greatest."

Tsuyu was listening attentively, head tilted slightly sideways and her finger on her lip. "I don't have a lot of extra space at my house. And shouldn't you ask a friend who knows you a bit better? I don't think this is a good idea."

"Hey!" Kirishima called from a couple desks away. "If you need a place to crash, I'm sure my parents won't mind. We have a spare guest room and all, too, it's already all set up."

Todoroki glowered subtly at Kirishima, not just upset because his private dealings had been broadcast through the room. "No thanks. On second thought, I should be fine."

"Okay then, dude! Just tell me if you change your mind!" He returned to his conversation with Kaminari.

"Why did it have to be me?" Tsuyu asked. "If you want to talk privately, we can go to a cafe after school."

Todoroki gritted his teeth, and snarled at Tsuyu, albeit in a whisper, "How can you trust them, and still think of them as your friends? They were the ones who allowed Aizawa-sensei to- to-"

"It's also my fault and your fault."

"At least we tried!" Todoroki spat.

"Later. Class is starting.

"Don't you care at all?" Todoroki asked, icily, and left to spend the rest of his day staring straight down and paying attention to nothing.

After several hours' worth of lessons, the lunch bell rang and Tsuyu wandered hesitantly towards Todoroki. "I think we should talk again," she said, smiling uneasily and with her hands held behind her back.

"Somewhere with fewer people," Todoroki muttered. He seized Tsuyu by the hand and hauled her into the tip of a dead-end hallway, and stared at her expectantly.

"You should stop hating everybody else."

"They were the ones who let Aizawa-sensei die."

"He's not dead."

"As good as."

"He's not!"

"Fine. He's not. But it's still their fault."

"But-"

"We already went over this," he growled. "And we couldn't do anything else. If just one of them hadn't decided to protect themselves only, then we would all be in class with the right teacher."

"It's everybody's fault," Tsuyu repeated. "We could have done things differently, and they could have come with us, or the villains could have left us alone, or maybe a hero somewhere from the west could have been here for some reason and saved us. Everybody could have done something even if they didn't know. It was just an accident. Don't blame them."

"This wasn't just some random turn of events! They made their own decisions and now this happened!" He hissed a curse and looked away, teeth gritted. "You're not yourself, Tsuyu. Even if I had never talked to you before, I know that you were supposed to be honest to others above all, even if it meant being rude or blunt."

"But you're different, too," Tsuyu countered softly. "You're supposed to be silent. I always thought that you were the only one really ready to be a hero."

"I am!" Todoroki shouted, loudly enough for people still in classrooms to hear. "You and I were the only ones who could!"

"I don't think so. I wasn't ready and I don't think you were either."

"I've always been ready." Todoroki was shaking, face white and hands clenched.

"Todoroki, are you… Are you scared?"

"I'm gonna be Red Riot!"

"No," Nedzu said, shaking his head. He was sitting at his desk this time, and the four students were in a U-shape rather than in a circle. Mysteriously, All Might was unavailable and apparently would be for the next couple of weeks, and the training sessions were to be lead by him alone instead. "That won't do, Kirishima. We can't have any homages to other heroes; I want you all to have distinct, unique names. We can work on another one for you later. You next, Iida."

"Er-" Iida's face was flustered. "I did have one in mind, but since you didn't want any allusions to other famous names, I don't think it will- that is, I'll come up with a new one as quickly as I can. Profound apologies for misunderstanding your purpose."

"That's all right, you can share it with us anyways," Nedzu replied good-naturedly.

"I was thinking of 'Engenious', but that may be a bit too similar to 'Ingenium', my brother's hero name…"

"A tweak is all it needs," Nedzu reassured, but without any happy cheer. "Make sure you never associate yourself with Ingenium, though. You must only be part of this team, and not also part of a duo even if he is your family. Todoroki, what do you have for us?"

"Ah, yes, I see!" Iida said before Todoroki could share. "Thank you very much, sir."

"Todoroki Shouto."

"Did you not come up with a name, Todoroki?"

"I did. Todoroki Shouto."

"Ah, you were wanting to keep your regular name as your hero name, I see. Unfortunately, that just won't do." Nedzu sipped from a small cup, the liquid looking a bit too dark to be tea. Coffee, perhaps, although the different choice in drinks was unusual for the principal. Nobody considered it for long enough to try and guess why. "While it fits your persona more than it fits any other, part of the cohesion of the team requires that you have distinguishing handle names."

"Shouto Todoroki, then," he deadpanned.

"We'll talk about this later," Nedzu said, paying him no mind. "Asui?"

"Froppy." Tsuyu beamed sweetly. "The rainy season hero."

"Ah, quite a fine choice. Of all of you, I'd consider that the only usable name. It gives off a caring, happy tone, quite befitting of your character. Now, for the rest of you, I have already come up with names should you have failed to do so yourself, but now that I've heard your own suggestions, I've tweaked them to suit your tastes more. Iida, you can be Engineous rather than Engenious, to pull away from Ingenium and to capitalise on your quirk. Kirishima, you can keep 'red', but associations with Crimson Riot will have to be removed; as such, I've decided on Redrock, as a play-on-words with bedrock and your quirk allowing you to harden. Todoroki, I'd like you to know that I am very disappointed in you, and would like if you were to come up with a name by tomorrow. You will not receive an easy pass for laziness." He paused, but nobody had anything to say. Iida was sitting attentively, Kirishima was trying to act focussed while completely distracted and staring out the window, Tsuyu was staring at him blankly, and Todoroki was scowling at everybody. "Alright then, shall we proceed to some in-character conversation practice? The situation is that you have all just fought off a dangerous enemy. Anybody can start."

Simultaneously, Iida and Kirishima began to speak, but Iida stopped to be polite while Kirishima ploughed on. "HEY, GREAT FIGHT, EVERYONE!" he shouted, far too loudly to be realistic but with convincing enthusiasm. "WE BEAT THE VILLAINS, HIP HIP, HOORAY!"

Iida frowned at Kirishima, looking deeply concerned, but added, "Uh, yes. It was a job very well done."

"Ribbit. Everybody's safe now." Tsuyu, while having somewhat believable word choice, delivered her line completely flatly.

And, Todoroki refused to say anything at all.

Their tentative rhythm broken, all four of them stared at each other silently for a few seconds before Iida coughed and repeated, "Ah yes. Again, a job well done. Very well done."

More silence.

"Uh, yeah, then, that was great, guys! You wanna go for some food? There's this pretty nice noodle place and I haven't had any udon in a while, so…"

"Froppy likes udon as well!"

"Of course! But first, we must report our fight to the officials and explain the events to the press, and-"

"Dude, I meant it literally."

"What."

"Kirishima, I don't think that we're supposed to break character like that," Tsuyu said.

"Oh, whoops. Sorry. I thought we were all just giving one line. Keep going."

"Ah, hold on a moment," Nedzu said, waving his arms. "Since you've come to a resting point on your own, albeit a bit too soon, I'd like to give you all some feedback. Tsuyu, you were good, but if you choose to be blunt and deadpan, you must always remain so. Iida, you should remain stuffy, but don't be so stiff. Kirishima, I'd rather you-" He was interrupted by a knock on his door, and hurried to answer it.

A girl with long vines for hair hopped back, surprised, and said, "Um, Recovery Girl said she wanted you. She said that it's Aizawa-sensei, he's-"

"I know, I know. Of course. Thank you, you may go now." He ushered the girl away and stepping outside, said to the students, "I have to go now, I'd like you to continue what you've been doing. If I'm not back by four, you can leave."

"Can we go too, Principal Nedzu? I need to apologise to Aizawa-sensei," Tsuyu said, strong in tone and not the least bit unsure. "Todoroki, too."

Nedzu sighed. "Well, there's nothing preventing you from coming, and professional business will have to wait anyways. You can come, but be quiet."

"Principal Nedzu!" Iida announced, standing up. "Allow me to go as well."

"...Guess I'll go too, then," Kirishima said uncertainly. "Man, I've missed Aizawa, he was a pretty great teacher."

Todoroki scowled again and got up, walking ahead and ignoring the others.

The five of them went to U.A.'s large infirmary together, and though Tsuyu and Todoroki drifted ahead of the others, they all arrived at the door within a few seconds of each other and froze there.

Nedzu, approaching more calmly from behind, knocked on the door, confident unlike the students and stepped back to avoid being hit by it when it was opened.

It took a few minutes before Recovery Girl greeted them, smiling widely but also somewhat sadly, and exited the room and closed the door behind her rather than allowing them inside.

"Now, I want you all to remember not to be too loud," she instructed sternly. "I know you must be very excited to have your teacher back with you, but I have other patients and the rooms aren't soundproof. Also…" She paused, looking each one of them in the eye. "I've managed to fix most of his injuries, but I couldn't heal his eyes. He's blind now. He says he's okay, but I don't want you to aggravate him too much. Be careful and act natural."

"Wait," Tsuyu said, eyes wide, "you mean you can't do anything?"

"That's what she just said," Todoroki said, answering before Recovery Girl could. "Just go in." Roughly, he pushed Tsuyu aside and barged past Recovery Girl. Opening the door, he walked in with a perfectly measured pace until he saw the room with the half-open door and suddenly wavered in the middle of his step, peering in with morbid curiosity.

Kirishima followed him, and after listening to Nedzu and Recovery Girl briefly discuss how Present Mic wasn't there and that Aizawa didn't want to tell him yet, for some reason that Tusyu didn't know because she had already followed Todoroki in as well, allowing herself to give in to comforting instinct and hop rather than walk to the room. Todoroki nodded to her when she reached them, mouth slightly open and expression hollow.

A short while later, they were joined by the two teachers as well as Iida, and Recovery Girl motioned at them to go in.

Tsuyu was the first to do so, treading extremely softly. She turned back to Recovery Girl, who nodded at her. She looked at Aizawa for a moment, noticing that he was in a plain gray shirt rather than his usual black shirt and track pants, and his scarf, still torn and bloody, was beside him on the bedside table. His eyes were closed, and though he was sitting against the backboard of the bed, he looked like he was either sleeping or about to fall asleep. "Aizawa-sensei?" she said, experimentally.

"'M awake," he mumbled back, voice hoarse. "Just tired." Very briefly, he paused. "Asui, right?"

"Yes. I'm glad you're back, Sensei," Tsuyu said awkwardly. "Todoroki and Kirishima and Iida are also here. They're coming right now."

Aizawa nodded, opening and closing his eyes again briefly. "Is everyone safe?" he asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Kirishima said, coming up from behind Tsuyu. "Thanks to you, Sensei," he said, uncharacteristically kindly. "But Thirteen, he…"

Aizawa nodded again, signalling that he understood. "Kirishima. Was anyone injured?"

"Nah. Todoroki wasn't feeling so great after he overused his quirk so much, but he's fine now."

"Sorry," Aizawa said wearily, "my fault."

"No," Todoroki said, finally walking in, "Kirishima's exaggerating, I was fine." A few moments after he finished, Iida chose to follow him rather than to stay outside and carefully not listen to Nedzu and Recovery Girls' heavy discussion.

"That's good," Aizawa muttered.

"Aizawa-sensei," Tsuyu mumbled, "I'm sorry. I should have fought harder."

"No," Aizawa reprimanded, "you should have ran, with everyone else."

"But Sensei-"

"If you continue, Asui, I'll judge that you've become arrogant and give you detention," Aizawa said, smiling ever so slightly. "And I'll lecture you throughout, too."

"Sorry, Aizawa-sensei!" Tsuyu said quickly. "But… I'm sorry."

Todoroki added, "I'm sorry, too," right after his friend did, the hurry he said it in and the non-existent gap between the quick succession of their two apologies awkward despite their sincerity.

"It's okay," Aizawa reassured. Apprehensively, he reached down to grope for the edge of his blankets and tugged them up slightly.

"Aizawa-sensei," Iida asked slowly, "will you be returning to class?"

"Yes," he replied. "Soon." He paused in a way that clearly indicated he was trying to remember something he had been wanting to say, and a few seconds later, asked, "Why are you all here so late?"

Alarmed, all four of them made desperate eye-contact, before Iida quickly mustered up a technically true lie and said, "Er, we were just studying together was all. The school is a convenient place to meet, and we overheard when the message was delivered to Principal Nedzu…"

Aizawa nodded. "I see. Why don't you go continue rather than waste your time here? I'm fine."

Laggardly, Iida and Kirishima did, still wordless faced with their teacher. Todoroki did as well, but lingered by the doorway and stared at Tsuyu, silently begging her to ask what he couldn't.

"...Sensei, you really are okay, aren't you?"

"I'm fine."