I not like Sports Festival.
Worst sport ever.
Not like on TV, not fun at all! Babies run in course like animals, fall in pit on nets, walk on mines, fight big robots. Not good! Babies cry and break bones. Why?
Mouse-king say all okay, nurse kiss all better.
Not make everything okay.
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Mouse-king make help give out 3rd year awards.
Pat Blonde-sunshine-baby. Purple-spiral-sunshine-baby squeal and get hug. Shy-baby try hide in uniform—pat him too. Gonna be okay, need remember to give more pats. Maybe help less shy? Show shy okay?
Second year festival same as 3rd (and 1st).
Tell Mouse-king want help.
Mouse-king smile.
Learn new thing, Mouse-king smile not good. Mouse-king too smart, plans inside plans. Make brain hurt. Still, Mouse-king let help. Get babies out of hole, pick up out net. Try make better, put on back and crawl on belly, sometimes make silly jumps. Work very good! Make babies giggle.
Blue-hair-big-smile girl hugs neck.
"Thank you Miss Nomu!"
Still not like Sports Festival.
Why not play game? Baseball good too!
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1st year festival last.
Hero nervous, hide in booth with Loud-Blonde. Old me think they married, new me not sure. Story strange when in it.
Find teachers making bets on round one. One say Bakugou, other say Todoroki. Math-teacher-big-teeth-peg-legs say maybe Tokage. Not sure, but think Tokage girl in Blood-hero class. Shake head. All wrong.
"Oh? Miss Nomu, you think it'll be someone else?"
Space-suit very nice, wave to table.
I nod.
Walk close. Cowboy beside nervous. Okay, I not hurt!
Reach in pocket (New dress have many pockets!), find little cards. Hero's class make name cards! Favorite gift, find green-bean baby. Push name forward.
"Midoriya?"
"The kid always breaking bones?"
"You've gotta be kiddin'!"
Shrug. They see, Broccoli-hair main character.
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Yamada Hizashi grimaces as his best friend leans against the dash of important, expensive equipment, and sighs. He'd been nothing but high-strung nerves and fidgeting fingers for the last hour. And, considering he was never this nervous about his actual students, who'd come in ahead of all of the others, the only other option was that he was worried about that… thing.
Miss Nomu.
Ugh.
"Is this, like, some sort of reverse Stockholm syndrome?"
He nearly snorts when the dark-haired man glares.
"Stockholm?" Aizawa scowls. "Nobody's being held victim here."
"Ehh…" That's somewhat debatable. But he knows better than to air that sentiment out loud. While Aizawa might not particularly like the job of constantly supervising his charge, he wasn't the kind of person to let unearned criticism slide. He'd chewed into the business course teacher only days ago for calling their guest a monster, and Principal Nezu had made several jovial threats as well that more 'discourteous remarks' would lead to extra professional learning opportunities.
PL opportunities with Nezu...
No thank you!
Waving his hands, as if to wave away those thoughts, Hizashi focuses instead on the students grinning and milling down below.
"Well, either way, looks like things are looking up! Oh, hey! Did you see Nemuri's message? Apparently, Miss Nomu called it with Midoriya winning the first part! Crazy, huh?"
"Hn."
"Aww man, don't be a buzz kill! Oh! Hey, what'd yah want for lunch? We're about to start the games, and since you're not busy…"
Yamada grins at his friend's dark look.
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Find babies after second round. Tail-boy sad. Pat gently, give card—good job! Tail smile not quite right, but better. Visit other babies, hug frog-girl, very gentle, careful with big muscles. Sit beside mask-many-arms, give shy-animal-boy nuzzle, and pat sweet-sugar-cake baby. They all so little. Want to visit 1B, but run out of time.
Mouse-king want watch beside.
Make statement, be helpful.
Watching third round worst of all. Sweet Purple-sleepy-boy so sad when baby-green-bean beat him. Angry explosion-baby do too much, little-gravity-girl look so sad. Candy-cane upset, Tape-boy upset, all babies so sad!
Mouse-king say I stay beside him, not visit.
Not like.
When festival finally end, glad.
When angry explosion-baby tied to log, mad.
Not okay! Give mouse-king card, no. Point. Tell Mouse-king again, no and if Mouse-king no fix, I fix.
Thankfully, Hero fix.
Hero walk onto field, break chains, and speak to boy.
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Something wrong with baby.
Glasses-exhaust-smelling-blue-hair upset.
Iida, I repeat, pushing the card into Hero's hands insistent. Iida. Hurt.
Hero knows.
Why hero not fix?
"Give him space," Hero scowls, shoving back the cards. "His brother got hurt, he doesn't need you patting him, let him work through it on his own."
Like you? I want to say.
I not have nearly enough cards to tell him what I want say.
"He'll have a week of internships to work through it."
Internships?
Know that… why I know that?
Something important…
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Remember.
Remember after babies leave. UGH!
Try tell Mouse-king, not understand. Try tell hero, he not understand either. Stupid brain! Why so slow? This why brain need cover! Stupid Nomu-brain. Stupid story world!
Find sleepy-boy.
Show Midoriya word. Sleepy-boy very concerned. Call Green-bean baby. Make Sleepy-boy save Green-bean baby's number.
New plan!
Need map first…
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Aizawa frowns as his house guest harasses Shinsou Hitoshi, showing him pictures of Midoriya of all people and demanding video calls with the student. And honestly, if not for the fact that he knew she meant well, he'd be concerned.
Still, he'd need to speak with Nezu about limiting her time with his class.
He wasn't sure if it had something to do with the experiments that had clearly been conducted on her or if it was just a part of her base personality, but the Nomu was uncomfortably obsessive. Focusing on the kids like they were her part of her brood.
He'd been worried there'd be an incident when Todoroki and Midoriya had nearly blown themselves apart, and the Nomu had actually made a scene when it came to Bakugou (who some moron had thought to tie to a block).
And maybe something from all that stress had broken something, because that evening he'd been faced with an irate monstrosity in a dress. Pacing, growling, even pausing randomly to squawk at his walls. For the first time since their forced co-habitation, he'd realized just how good she'd been.
Still didn't stop him from glaring as she kept insistently passing him Iida's name card.
First Shinsou, then Iida, and now Midoriya.
Aizawa frowns and interrupts, giving the Nomu a look and Shinsou a scowl.
"If you've got time to chat, you've got time to train. Look alive kid."
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Trouble start in evening, maybe.
Hard remember. Remember train, old hero, attack.
Nomus there. Doctor-bald make more, worried. What if think other Nomu good? What if think other Nomu like me?
I very good, other Nomu take advantage!
Make plan. Make hero play news, listen and listen and listen all day. Not miss! News annoying though. News tell stupid things, rank order, sports festival, bad guy, bad guy, bad guy! So boring!
Hero think I lost mind.
Try to turn off TV, think I sleep. Make him turn back on!
Hero glare. I glare back.
If listen, I not need make plans!
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Phone ding!
I look over, very still. Is it?
Sleepy-boy, face red, open text.
"Uh…"
Late day, check. Text message, check. Heart fast, need wait! Confirm first! Hero frown, too smart. His eyes narrow, hand reaching for scarf-cloth.
"Is something wrong?"
"Oh, uh, I don't know," Sleepy-boy says. He hesitate, clearly read air. "It's just, uh, Midoriya. He sent-"
Not need more.
Stand-fully, teeth out. Sleepy-boy back away, scared. Feel bad, no time. Need save-
Hero have scarf around neck in seconds.
Pull.
Hero stronger than look, nearly pull over.
"What do you think you're doing?"
No time for word cards! Save babies!
Run. Get three steps, nearly at wood when feel! Normal not feel ever! No hot, no cold, no touch. Make trip, so weird! Like tickle in neck, but not. Face plant.
Give Hero sour look.
Rude!
"What the hell are you-"
Hero stop when I stand. Tickle-collar tickle again. Not like. Break.
Hero stare.
"You've gotta be- damn it-"
No time. Scoop Hero, go to run, only remember Sleepy Boy.
Not safe. Even at school, not safe leave baby alone!
Get sleepy-boy too. Maybe all help! Ignore Hero shout, put both on back and run.
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He's going to kill Nezu.
Aizawa swears, the moment he gets off this damn rollercoaster, he's going to kill the Nomu, and then the idiot principal that thought he could control it. Shock-collar his ass. That thing hadn't done shit. And now it'd dragged a kid into all of this and-
"SENSEI!"
Aizawa grits his teeth and adjusts himself in the makeshift harness to press closer. Based on the speed of the cars they were passing below; he didn't doubt they were moving somewhere near 180 - 200 km per hour. And ironically, the only thing protecting them from the wind was the massive creature carrying them.
"WHAT?"
"I… I THINK WE'RE HEADING TOWARDS HOSU!"
Hosu.
He nearly groans. Of course it was Hosu, the city the Nomu had been watching the weather and news for almost religiously for all week. Was this pre-meditated? Had it been planning this since… wasn't that the city Iida was in?
If anything, he can feel his dark mood sour further.
So when the creature stops, nearly twenty minutes later and not even slightly out of breath, he untangles both him and the kid immediately. He'd already released the emergency alert, protocol demanded he-
He freezes as the Nomu in front of him growls. Not the annoyed or frustrated ones she'd done in his apartment after the Sports Festival, but instead a deep, vicious noise that makes his insides tightens. Unlike normal, it doesn't reach for its communication cards. It doesn't even turn, its head tracking something he can't make out.
"S-Sensei!" Shinsou whispers, tugging at his shoulder and pointing at the location still visible on his phone. "Midoriya, you don't think he's-"
The Nomu lurches unexpectedly, flinging itself into the air and Aizawa has only a second to process it before there's—there's a second one slamming into her. And he can feel all wind snap from his lungs as she flies sideways-
"Oh shit!"
Why the fuck did she bring a student into this battlefield?
"Listen kid, I don't know what the hell is going on, but we need to get out of the open and I need to get you somewhere safe as well as check on the students. We'll let her deal with that… thing. Stick by my side, and if I say run, you run like hell, got me?"
He manages a quick look at the kid.
Pale, shaking, and determined.
Him and Nezu were going to be having words when this was all over.