Based on a post by gentrychild on tumblr.
.
When you're a teacher for long enough, you start to see the same students over and over again. Now, Shouta doesn't think he's been a teacher for all that long, but he can feel that mindset creeping in, layering a film over his view of his newest students. The class clown who's smarter than they act. The loud, confident kid with a strong, violent quirk. The bubbly, but slightly insensitive, flirt. The asocial loner with something to prove. The shy kid with a difficult to control quirk. The legacy kids. The overly earnest and rigid rule-follower.
He can see relationships, too, either already there or rapidly forming, mirroring those from past classes. Crushes, rivalries, friendships... Ashido and Kirishima were the most obvious ones. He could see Iida, Uraraka, and Midoriya as a very stable friendship, maybe even a hero team, if they all graduated. Midoriya and Bakugo... Well, their records just screamed childhood rivalry when coupled with the glares and glances they were sending each other's way.
Really, he could see Ashido as a flirtier Hadou and Midoriya as a less obviously depressive Amajiki so easily. Drawing a line between Bakugo and Sensoji was a little more difficult, but their arrogance made the comparison obvious. Kaminari and O- Well, that didn't matter.
It was illogical, and Shouta knew it. Despite patterns in human behavior, each student was an individual and should be judged as such. Still, as illogical as it was, he knew it was human nature, and in many cases being able to make comparisons and draw conclusions from them was helpful.
He just had to remember that. Be aware of his biases. Refrain from expelling the bone-breaking kid just because his quirk control was on-par with a four year old. After all, many - most - people didn't have the wherewithal to practice such a destructive quirk, even in their own homes.
He threw a new ball at Midoriya. "You've got your quirk back," he said, brushing his fingers against his jumpsuit to get rid of the grip powder they put on the balls. "Give it another go."
Midoriya's hands seized around the ball, his shoulders trembling slightly, and he nodded, returning to the center of the pitching circle.
Shouta braced himself for the unpleasant sound of a child's arm shattering. This was going to be painful in more ways than one. Based on Midoriya's obvious efforts in the other tests, his performance on the ethics portion of the entrance exam, and how he'd refrained from using his ridiculous quirk up until now, he probably wasn't going to keep him expelled for more than an hour or two.
Still. This was a quirk apprehension test, as he'd told the students. The actual numeric scores didn't matter all that much. Midoriya's understanding of his quirk was rock bottom.
Unless he made a shocking improvement in the next minute, he'd have no chance-
Midoriya's arm snapped forward, and a shockwave swept over the field, ruffling the grass and Shouta's clothes. The sound of breaking bones had been present, but not to the degree Shouta had expected.
The kid turned to face Shouta with a broken finger and the least convincing approximation of a smile he'd ever seen. And he'd seen himself smile in a mirror before. Once.
But Shouta had to give him points for trying. And some insane pain tolerance, because even if Midoriya was crying, he wasn't bawling.
"I," Midoriya said, "can still move!"
This kid was crazy.
Shouta could respect that.
"What the hell!" shouted Bakugo. "Explain yourself, Deku!"
Then Mr. Explosive Rival launched himself across the field at the kid, who shrieked and cringed. Shouta wasted no time wrapping him up. These kids needed to calm down and learn to leave... the rivalry... at... home...
Huh. At this stage, rivalry wasn't a very logical conclusion, was it? Bakugo had attacked Midoriya in the middle of class - was still trying to attack him, honestly - whereas Midoriya had mostly avoided him, and Midoriya looked legitimately scared. Although that could be from pain, instead.
If Midoriya didn't have such a strong quirk... But he didn't have a strong quirk, did he? He had a quirk that did the equivalent of working him over with a crowbar whenever he used it. Not something you could really use for self-defense.
Crap.
"Bakugo," he said. "Stop trying to attack your classmate. You're giving me dry eye."
"Wow," he heard Midoriya mumble, "Eraserhead..."
Ugh. The bone-breaking problem child would know who he was.
Bakugo continued to strain against Shouta's capture weapon. What a pain. They could be done with the tests and Shouta could be asleep right now.
He sighed. "Bakugo, congratulations on getting the first detention of the year."
"What! But-!"
"Don't care. Get back to the line and get ready for the next test. Midoriya..."
"I-" said Midoriya, his shaking and sweating more pronounced now. "Um. I can still move, sensei. I can finish the tests!"
Oh, Recovery Girl was going to beat him until everything below his knees was black and blue, but this would be a good gauge of Midoriya's conviction. It wasn't like the few extra minutes would make much of a difference, anyway.
"Yeah, yeah, get back to the line and stop wasting time."
.
It was an immutable fact. The sun was bright, water was wet, and Bakugo Katsuki, straight-A student, future number one, and all around badass, did not get detention.
Except he had. Gotten detention, that is.
He watched the other students leave the school with undisguised poor grace as the hobo masquerading as a teacher kept a firm hand on his shoulder. Deku, the lying freak, had the gall to actually look over his shoulder at him. Concerned. Ha! As if Katsuki needed any of that.
Every time he'd gotten detention before, talking his way out had ended with the principal patting him on the shoulder and assuring his parents it had all been a misunderstanding. One that would be erased from his record.
This might be the first time he'd had such a weirdo for a teacher (seriously, who threatens to expel someone on the first day and then doesn't even get rid of Deku? What a joke), but UA was still a school. One he was going to rule.
"Alright," said the 'teacher,' removing his hand from Katsuki's shoulder. "Come on."
Katsuki tsked and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, but followed Eraserman or whatever his name was back into the building. They walked through the school, occasionally passing some stupidly tall second and third years. Before too long, they came to a stop in front of one of UA's signature giant doors.
There was a plaque on it, with three lines of text. The first, in the largest font, read COUNSELOR. The second was the name INUI RYO. Right below that, in the smallest font, was the line reading 'The Hunting Dog Hero: Hound Dog.'
Weirdo backwards plaque. The hero name should be the most important. Who cared if he was a counselor?
Teacherhead knocked on the door, and upon receiving a muffled "Come in!" opened the door.
Inside was a weird dog guy holding a stack of papers. He registered first Pencil Eraser, then Katsuki, and his face fell.
"Geez, Aizawa, you expelled him the first day?"
"If I'd expelled him, I wouldn't be bringing him here," said Number Two Pencil.
"You might, if he started crying. Or if-"
Katsuki'd had enough. "I'M NO CRYBABY, YOU-"
"Oi! We weren't saying that, kid. Then why did you bring him?"
The failed caterpillar just sighed and leaned against the door frame. "OOCA-1. Best to nip that in the bud. Bakugo."
"What?"
"You don't get multiple warnings for this kind of thing, kid. Don't let it happen again." Then the hobo caterpillar just walked away.
"So," said dog dude, "Bakugo, was it?"
"Yeah, and you'd better remember it."
The mutt chuckled. "I'll do my best. Why don't you take a seat?"
Katsuki's lip twitched up. Finally, some respect. He dropped onto the couch. "You're supposed to do this detention thing, huh?"
Wolfman nodded. "Do you know what OOCA-1 stands for?"
"No."
"It stands for 'Out Of Combat Assault.' It's one of the codes we use here to help organize the discipline process. I understand you attacked a classmate?"
Katsuki scoffed.
"It's something that happens more often than you'd think. Heroics is often a violent field, and you're being trained to fight. Sometimes, especially when emotions run high, it's easy to react without thinking."
Great, they were already giving him an excuse. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be more careful next time."
"The thing is, you haven't been in any combat classes yet, have you? This is the first day."
That... was not how this was supposed to go. Katsuki turned his glare on the Hound Boy.
"And that kind of reaction is one we want to train out of heroes. Your classmates today will be your allies against villainy in the future. When was the last time you heard about heroes attacking one another?"
Katsuki didn't answer the question, because the whole idea of Deku being any kind of ally to him was absolutely ridiculous. Crybaby Deku, who'd even been sobbing back at the tests. What a weakling. Katsuki would be surprised if Deku didn't drop out before the first term ended.
"What I'm trying to say is that there are some allowances for this kind of thing, but not for repeats. This isn't behavior UA wants to see in its students. It's not the sort of behavior a hero can afford to have. Do you understand? The only time you should be fighting with your classmates is in approved combat exercises, and then only as instructed."
"Yeah." He got it. UA didn't want him roughing up Deku where it'd make them look bad. Fine. Battle exercises, on the other hand... Well, Puppy Dog here had basically given him the go ahead to kick the crap out of Deku.
"Alright," said Underdog, twisting to grab something from his desk. "Good. Because, rational deceptions aside, nothing Aizawa says is ever just talk. But we have detention, don't we?" He tossed a book at Katsuki, who caught it easily. "That's the UA student handbook. I want you to read the section on student conduct before you leave."
Yeah. Reading. So horrible. Just another slap on the wrist.
.
Izuku could admit he was a bundle of nerves. True, he was always a bundle of nerves, and he'd existed in a state of perpetual, sweaty anxiety since before the entrance exam, but this was different!
(Like training with All Might, receiving One for All, taking the entrance exam, attending the first day, completing the quirk apprehension test...)
This was his first heroics class! Taught by All Might himself! He'd pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming so many times that he was developing a bruise.
So what if All Might had sort of been teaching him already? This was different! Really! This was learning to be a hero! This was living out his dream! This was learning how to rescue, fight, investigate, and work with others!
And what if he made a bad second impression on his classmates? He'd already come in dead last on the quirk test.
At least Uraraka and Iida seemed to be giving him some grace over his performance at the entrance exam... They were like angels... or bodhisattvas...
He made the mistake of imagining Iida as a Buddha and almost choked.
No. Bad. Bad brain. Think calming thoughts. Think of All Might.
All Might, who was explaining the exercise and passing around a box of lots.
Right.
Izuku drew a slip of paper with the letter A on it, and turned on the spot, searching for his partner.
"Ah!" said Uraraka, "are you A, too?"
Izuku nodded, blushing.
"Nice! Must be fate!"
It really was! On the other hand, Izuku could barely say two words to Uraraka.
Which was something he had to work on as a hero student!
Yeah...
Now, question was, who would they be going against? And would they be heroes or villains? And-
"Heroes are Team A! Villains are Team D!"
Izuku looked across the field at Kacchan, who... had been glaring at him all day. Not constantly. That would have been hard, considering the classroom layout. But. Periodically. Regularly, even.
Oh, boy.
He was going to die.
No. No, he was a hero student, now. He was All Might's chosen successor. That had to count for something, right?
"-You look really worried!"
"Well... I mean... we're up against Kacchan. Iida, too. We'd just better be on guard," explained Izuku.
Uraraka's face remained drawn in worry. "Bakugo's the one who bullies you, right?"
It was still kind of amazing to hear someone say that. It was true. Kacchan did bully him. Had bullied him since they were four, since Izuku had been diagnosed quirkless... and to be honest, he hadn't always been very nice before then, either. But no one ever actually said it. After all, Kacchan was going to be a hero. He was going to be the best.
Well. Best or not, Izuku was going to be a hero, too.
They didn't have much time to plan after that. Then again, there wasn't much to plan. Any plan they came up with would have to take into account Kacchan having both a sixth sense when it came to finding Izuku and a strong desire to beat him half to death.
Oh, and that there was no way Izuku could use One for All under these circumstances. The unregulated force of a single blow had demolished the zero pointer. He didn't want to see what it'd do to the building. Or a person.
So.
They entered the 'villain hideout' through a window on the second floor, Uraraka having floated them as high as she could without worrying about her own version of the chunky salsa problem. Kacchan, predictably, found them seconds later, fully prepared to blow them both up.
Izuku leapt back, pushing Uraraka away from the blast with him. Hopefully, he hadn't hurt her. He knew that any save was better than no save, but as anyone who knew about the case of Anastasia Gwen could tell you, quality of save was also important.
Hot ash speckled one side of his face, and the way his head felt told him that he'd just lost half his hood and his mouth guard had come loose. Not to mention the ringing in his ears... No real injuries, though, and Uraraka said she was fine.
Bakugo was talking, but he was also moving, and out of the two of those-
Izuku had been waiting for this. It felt like he'd always been waiting for this, but he'd been too much of- of a Deku to stand up for himself and actually do it.
He sidestepped Kacchan's right hook, grabbed his arm and flipped him. Almost a textbook throw, despite Kacchan's gauntlets getting in the way. Kacchan hit the ground hard, and for a moment struggled to get up.
Izuku could hit him while he was down. Kick him, even, and he should, because he wasn't sure how else he was going to beat him without One for All, and they needed to, to win, and he should do it, he had to do it, he-
Kacchan stood up.
Oh, no. Oh no oh no oh no he was mad he was really mad.
And Izuku did the only thing he'd ever been able to do when he was facing an angry Kacchan and scared out of his mind. He talked. He didn't even know most of what he was saying.
Except...
"I'm not going to be your worthless punching bag Deku forever! Kacchan, I'm..." He took a wobbly breath and blinked tears out of his eyes. "I'm the Deku who always does his best!"
And then, of course, Kacchan charged him again, and Izuku shouted something at Uraraka, he didn't know what, but it got her to move, so it was all fine and Izuku took a steel-toed boot to the shoulder but his mom hadn't skimped on protective padding and Izuku got a piece of capture tape around Kacchan's knee and threw him again, really he should stol leading with his right, Izuku had already told him about that, didn't he and-
And it was time to run. Down the hall, around the corner, keep going, up the stairs, still no sign of Iida, Uraraka, or the bomb, turn, hide, wait.
Beating Kacchan and winning weren't synonymous here. Not if Uraraka could find the 'bomb' and get by Iida. Speaking of which, it would have been better for Iida to be here, strategically speaking. There really wasn't any teamwork going on at all, was there?
"Deku! Iida found me! Sorry!"
Ah! Uraraka! "Where are you?"
"Fifth floor, right in the center!"
So... right above Izuku, albeit with a whole floor in the way. Could he work with that? He could work with that. Maybe. Or maybe not. He had no idea what parts of the building were load bearing. The ceiling probably wasn't load bearing, though, so if he was really careful and punched straight up-
"Why not use it? You mocking me, Deku?"
Crap. Kacchan had found him.
"I'm... not afraid of you anymore!" Except he totally was, especially with that crazed look in his eyes. He had definitely seen that look before and it was bad.
Kacchan, smiling, raised his hand. "Guessing you know this from all your stalking, but the glands on my palms secrete something like nitroglycerin. That's how I make my explosions," he explained, as if he hadn't told anyone who would listen all about his quirk all the way back in daycare. "Assuming they honored my designs, these gauntlets have been storing that fluid."
Oh. Oh no. Izuku remembered that design. He remembered coming up with that idea. He tuned out the rest of Kacchan's speech, all the sounds around him turning into white noise in favor of trying to figure out how to get away. He was vaguely aware of saying something to Kacchan, but then–
And then there was light.
.
The lesson plans had been approved. Toshinori kept telling himself that. They had been approved, Nedzu had told him to expect some injuries during a class like this, and Young Bakugo was probably just getting into character. Toshinori could sympathize! Despite his goals, he'd always loved playing villains in games.
But still.
Still.
Young Bakugo's behavior was... disturbing. Perhaps in the future, instead of encouraging the students to go all out - he'd been expecting them to be hesitant to hurt each other, after all! - he should instead preface exercises with a reminder to always behave heroically themselves. Actually, he might have read something like that in one of his classroom management seminars... something about not letting students model the bad behavior when you were setting up classroom rules...
Regardless!
Aside from that, the exercise seemed to be going well. Iz- Young Midoriya had been holding his own with his natural strength, good instincts, and the bare-bones combat maneuvers Toshinori had taught him at the beginning of the year. Uraraka and Iida were getting plenty of chances to learn, too! Bakugo... Hm. Well. The point of school was to educate!
And then Bakugo started explaining the purpose of his gauntlets. Judging from how fast Young Midoriya's blood drained from his face, he caught on a split second before Toshinori.
But- No. Who'd give something like that to a new student? But what if they did? Toshinori hadn't had time to read all of the costume specs. There were a hundred hero students at UA!
But if it did work the way Bakugo described, and those gauntlets were anywhere near capacity... Well. Toshinori had brought down many buildings in his time. He'd also played support pillar to a few. So he knew that there were two- no three- possible scenarios here. One was that Midoriya was hit and died, because even a medium sized explosion could kill from concussion alone. The second was that Midoriya dodged or redirected the explosion and either the explosion or force from One for All took out the load bearing pillar he was standing right next to, destabilizing the building and endangering everyone in it. Third and worst was that the explosion was big enough for both one and two to happen.
"Bakugo, stop it now, kid," he said, using the comm override. "Are you trying to kill him?"
Better safe than sorry. Time to stop this and hope it wouldn't do a number on Young Midoriya's already shaky self esteem, because the situation as a whole was definitely doing a number on Toshinori's nerves.
"He won't die if it's not a direct hit!"
The next thing he heard was a child's labored breathing. "They gave you that?"
Toshinori started running.
.
Shouta wasn't napping during his lunch break. This wasn't for lack of trying, but because of a pair of loud idiots. And paperwork. One of the designers they contracted with for the first years' initial costumes had only just sent the final support equipment specifications.
It was a formality, really. They rarely deviated from the 'polished concepts' generated from student submissions and approved by UA, except for minor practical and aesthetic considerations. Like replacing one kid's metal spikes with rubber ones, for example, or using blue instead of green to help manage costs. They weren't supposed to make any changes to function.
Still, it was necessary, because there was always some kind of stupid nonsense.
"So, Sho!" said Hizashi, knocking what little information Shouta had been able to absorb about Hagakure's costume out of his head. "Got any favorites yet?"
"No." Shouta was also, illogically, outside, since his so-called friends thought he needed things like 'fresh air' and 'vitamin D.'
Nemuri snorted, a sound far removed from her public persona. "Come on, you didn't even expel any of them yet. You have to like them at least a little bit."
"I think they have potential. That's not the same as l–"
The ground trembled. Then the sound of a bomb going off hit Shouta's ears. UA had more than its fair share of explosions, but– Too loud. Wrong time, wrong place.
He was clawing his way up a tree and scanning the horizon almost before he put those thoughts together consciously.
There.
A plume of smoke.
"Ground Beta," Eraserhead informed Present Mic and Midnight.
They didn't waste time after that.
The first building in Ground Beta, and one of the only ones expected to go long periods of time without being wrecked, was the observation building. From this building, students and teachers not directly involved in an exercise could watch, analyze, and practice the other more subtle skills every good hero had.
There were sixteen students on the observation deck. Sixteen members of class 1-A. No teacher - no All Might - in sight.
Why were they even here? Where were the other four? Who was missing? Iida, Midoriya, Bakugo, and… Uraraka?
But then there were the screens Eraserhead and the others had come to use. The ones that showed a building with an entire side blown out.
.
Halfway to the building, Toshinori heard the explosion and saw most of the nearest wall of the building simply cease to be. He vaulted up the rubble pile, into the building, his smile feeling more like a mask than ever as the ringing in his ears began to quiet.
Thank whatever gods there were, Midoriya wasn't dead.
Bakugo, meanwhile, cackled. "I wanna crush you at your strongest!"
What the hell.
At least they were both alive, but what the hell.
The upper floor of the building started to crumble and All Might put aside his questions in favor of making sure four children weren't crushed to death on his first day as a teacher.
The words, at least, let him know where Bakugo was. He jumped again and landed lightly next to Bakugo.
First order of business was making sure he wouldn't set off another explosion like that.
"Wha– Hey! I'm not done yet!"
All Might tucked Bakugo, sans gauntlets, under one arm. "You are. The training exercise ended the moment you disobeyed my instructions. Young Midoriya!"
There was the sound of shifting debris. "H-here."
All Might wasted no time slinging Midoriya over his shoulder as well - on the opposite side of Bakugo. He wasn't stupid.
Now, then, for Iida and Uraraka. They were easier, because he knew where they were, but harder, because he had to go through the building to get to them, and his speed was limited because he couldn't put too much force against a floor that had been so damaged.
But he wasn't the Number One Hero for nothing, now, was he?
His feet touched solid ground two seconds before the building completely collapsed.
.
For ten heart-stopping seconds - seconds he, as a pro hero, knew better than to waste - Shouta was convinced he'd just watched four students die. Four first year students. Four students who were his direct responsibility. Four students he should have saved.
The quirk apprehension test was supposed to help him stop things like this.
Shoji gasped audibly and pointed to one of the more distant screens, growing extra eyes even as he did so. "There!"
Swirling dust had parted to reveal All Might carrying four students, an uncharacteristically grim expression on his face.
Eraserhead exhaled sharply. Holding his breath was irrational.
"What happened?" demanded Midnight.
"He just- He didn't-" started Yaoyorozu, hands over her mouth.
"Bakugo used his quirk to attack Midoriya," said Todoroki, calmly.
"And?" asked Eraserhead, because there had to be more to it than that.
"Midoriya dodged." Todoroki tilted his head. "Is this not… typical for training?"
Wow. Shouta would have to unpack the implications of that later.
"No!" said Present Mic, tone deeply offended.
"All Might told him to stop," said Yaoyorozu, faintly, having lowered her hands. She was tracking All Might's progress across the screens. He seemed to be going more slowly than usual for the teens' sake. "Before he even launched the first one. I think he realized how much explosive material was stored in Bakugo's gauntlets…"
Bakugo's gauntlets. From his costume. That Shouta hadn't reviewed yet.
However. He wasn't the only one at fault here. A missed support equipment approval alone wouldn't have caused this, and Shouta intended for everyone involved, including himself, to be appropriately disciplined.
"He told Bakugo to stop?" asked Shouta.
"Yes, sensei," said Yaoyorozu. "He told Bakugo to stop. Maybe– Maybe there was a failure in the comms? And Bakugo didn't hear him?"
"He said: 'Stop it now, kid. Are you trying to kill him?'" recited Jiro. "And then he just did it." She swallowed, clearly shaken. "I didn't say anything, but I could hear what they were saying over All Might's earpiece. He– Bakugo didn't care. He just said that as long as it wasn't a direct hit Midoriya wouldn't die!"
So. There were four people who's days he was going to ruin in short order. All Might, Bakugo, himself, and whoever altered Bakugo's gauntlet design.
All Might slid into the room. "-very dangerous! I understand that you are unfamiliar with your support gear, but that's all the more reason to listen to your instructors!" The hero was several shades paler than Shouta was accustomed to seeing on him.
"Arghrghhhhhhhh!" said Bakugo.
"Um, All Might?" said Midoriya, more loudly than Shouta had thus far known him to speak. "I'm not sure he can hear you, he was right next to the explosion. And he was kind of hard of h–"
"Don't you dare call me deaf, you deku! I was winning–"
Well, there went that theory, and the remainder of Shouta's sympathy for Bakugo. He stepped forward.
"Bakugo," he said. "Did you know how much force would be behind your attack? That it would do that?" He gestured towards the screens that showed the… actually only half-collapsed building. The dust had done a good job obscuring what was actually going on in more ways than one.
Bakugo wriggled out of All Might's grip and glared at the screens appraisingly. "Yeah," he said, proudly, "about that."
"I see," said Shouta. "Bakugo, you're expelled."
"What!" exploded Bakugo. Figuratively. Because Shouta had seen the 'literally' part a mile away. He wrapped Bakugo with his capture scarf.
"Wait," said All Might, setting down the rest of the students (Midoriya looked remarkably reluctant). "Young Aizawa, don't you think that's a little harsh? It's only the second day, and any mishaps here can be blamed on my inexperience as a teacher."
Mishaps was a remarkably light way to describe how at least two and possibly four students had almost died. But, sure. Mishap.
"There definitely needs to be discipline - I remember that suspension and quirkless endurance training were popular punishments when I was a student - but I will take full responsibility for this incident."
"Don't say that," snapped Shouta. As angry as he was with All Might, he knew it wasn't all his fault. "Mid– Kayama." They wanted the students to call them by their last names while at school. Code switching and all. "Can you escort Bakugo to Principal Nedzu's office?"
"Yeah, sure," said Nemuri. "Mic, come with us, yeah?"
"Yeah," said Hizashi.
"So, uh," said Kirishima. "Are we going to keep going or…?"
"No," said Shouta, shortly. "Head to the lockers. Get dressed down."
All Might cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. In light of our, er, battlefield being destroyed we should take some time to regroup."
The students filed out in pairs and clumps. Only once they were gone did Shouta take the opportunity to turn on All Might.
"What were you even doing?" he hissed. "First years aren't supposed to start out with direct combat."
All Might, for his part, paled further under his not-quite-a-smile. "I don't understand," he said, pulling a sheaf of papers from somewhere in his maybe-not-actually skintight suit, "the lesson plans were approved… I did modify them a little bit, but.."
Shouta snatched the papers away and scanned them. He immediately saw the problem.
A damn typo.
Last year, Ectoplasm had been the first year heroics teacher. This year, he had the second years. What was written on the top of the paper was first year heroics, but it was very definitely the second year "warm up" lesson. If All Might had asked him for lesson plan help and Ectoplasm had handed him this…
All Might deflated explosively. Shouta waved the steam away. It appeared that Shouta wouldn't be ruining All Might's day. At least, not any more than it already had been.
"Young Aizawa?"
Shouta sighed. "Ectoplasm gave you the second year plans," he said, shoving the papers back at All Might. "First year heroics lessons usually start out with costume safety checks, rules of engagement, quirkless sparring, and how not to kill each other or civilians by mistake."
All Might visibly winced.
"I also screwed up," admitted Shouta, taking mercy on him. "The kids said he used some kind of support gear? I hadn't done the second check of Bakugo's revised support gear specs. I was in the middle of the last batch when this happened."
Shockingly, All Might didn't look all that comforted. Go figure. Not that it would have made Shouta feel better, either.
"Look, are you okay to supervise the kids when they get out of the lockers?"
"I–" All Might coughed slightly. "Yes, I should be fine."
"Great, I'm going to go talk to Nedzu."
"Ah, Young Aizawa! Shouldn't– In light of the mistakes we've made, shouldn't we be more accommodating of Young Bakugo's mistakes? He is still learning."
"A mistake is one thing," said Shouta. "Attacking a classmate with lethal force is another. As a hero, shouldn't you be aware of the difference?" He shook his head. "There's such a thing as being too forgiving, you know?"
.
Nedzu flicked to the next video, shot at a different angle, and hit play. The audio recording had already been pasted to it, so he didn't even have to glance once at the quick transcript he'd made after listening to it the first time. Instead, he simply clasped his paws under his snout and watched.
"This is disturbing. Very disturbing."
In his peripheral vision, he saw Aizawa's face twitch. He let his eyes dart to the one live feed still showing on his desk. That of the reinforced waiting room Bakugo was in.
"How did this happen?" asked Nedzu.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Aizawa, who only reverted to calling Nedzu 'sir' under extreme stress. "I will accept discipline for my failure to–"
"You misunderstand," said Nedzu. "How did we miss that we were allowing someone like this into the hero course?" He shifted, drumming the tips of his claws on his desk. It was a human mannerism he had picked up on purpose in an attempt to make his fellows more at ease. It hadn't worked, but he was loath to drop it. "There should have been other indicators… in his school records, if nothing else."
"You think there's been a coverup?" asked Aizawa.
"Yes. Although, of what sort exactly and for what ends escapes me. I will be starting an investigation into Aldera Middle School immediately." He paused the latest video and looked up. "If you insist on self-flagellation, you will assist me with that." Nedzu knew, of course, that Aizawa would have insisted on being part of the investigation anyway, but this way he'd stop feeling quite so guilty.
Presumably. Human psychology was complex.
Aizawa nodded. "Of course."
"Although," said Nedzu, picking up the offending piece of paperwork, "I don't believe that you would have noticed the problem regardless. The gauntlets were altered to be larger than you had initially approved for 'aesthetic balance and to bring them back in line with student design,' but the design specifications feature an internal barrier that would have made their actual capacity much smaller." He handed the relevant paper to Aizawa. "They were also designed to be easily removed and not labeled properly in the user manual. It is unclear from my review if Bakugo was aware of their purpose in the design or thought that they unnecessary packing. However, he was, at least, very aware of the damage that much of his sweat could cause, and he seems… supremely unconcerned about possible injuries to his classmates. Particularly Midoriya."
"He seems unconcerned about whether or not Midoriya could survive an attack from one of those."
"Quite," agreed Nedzu. His computer chirped. "Ah, it appears that Yagi has sent me an email!"
Despite everything, Yagi sending him emails always came with a sense of novelty. The man gave off the distinct impression of being from an era unconcerned with such things. Perhaps the twentieth century or so. Ah, well. Nedzu was a biological being, too. He was allowed his irrationalities!
"He seems to think we should go easy on Bakugo, since other errors are what led to the… incident being so destructive."
"I am inclined to agree that full expulsion is a hair too far," said Nedzu. Even without Yagi's influence, he tended to favor rehabilitation in these circumstances. "Of course, you still have full discretion regarding expulsion to the general course and re-enrollment to your class, but given the circumstances and that it is a first offense–"
"It isn't a first offense."
"Oh?"
Aizawa reached for Nedzu's overfull inbox (the beginning of a new educational year always brought such delightful paperwork) and began flipping through it. He seized a rather rumpled sheet about a quarter of the way from the bottom and pulled it out.
"He attacked Midoriya during the quirk apprehension test. I gave him detention. He got a warning."
Nedzu scanned the document quickly. "You entered this in the system as well?" he asked. He loved having a clear pattern of behavior and a paper trail to prove it.
"It would have been illogical not to do so. The detention with Hound Dog itself should also have been logged."
"Well, then," said Nedzu. His nose twitched. The obvious targeting of Midoriya who had been quirkless itched at his brain almost like a bad odor. "This changes things. As of today, Bakugo Katsuki is no longer a student at UA High School."