Morning found Shouta and Oboro following Present Mic down the sidewalk once more, but this time, both opted to float above him instead of walking. The streets were much busier during the day as opposed to night, and Shouta really didn't feel like having to dodge people every other second.
Though, it was still pretty early, all things considered.
Hizashi wasn't faring well, Shouta could tell, even from a distance.
It was in the way he shuffled unsteadily forward, hands buried deep in his pockets. The way his usually well-kept hair was knotted and frizzy, the dark circles visible behind sunglasses.
His entire posture just screamed Wrong.
Shouta really didn't like it when his husband was upset, he wished he could reach out and soothe those worried wrinkles, a hand already brought up as if to reach out and-
At least he managed to remember where he was before making a fool of himself.
Quickly retracting his hand, Shouta looks askance at Shirakumo, who thankfully seems more interesting in avoiding flying into anything to have noticed Shouta's near mistake.
There is, luckily, enough room to sneak into the train so they don't lose their blonde friend. Shouta finds himself laying on his stomach on the plush cloud, allowing himself a moment to rest his eyes.
The journey is short, and before long the trio are just outside of UA.
Shouta stares up at the gates of UA with a bored expression, stubbornly ignoring the bundle of nerves that fluttered in his chest.
He had no reason to be nervous, honestly.
It didn't matter that he looked barely older than his own students at the moment, it wasn't like anyone could actually see him. Other than Oboro, of course, but he didn't count.
So why was the thought of being in school right now so nerve wracking?
Shoving the feeling to the back of his mind, Shouta nudges Oboro with his elbow. "Don't teenagers usually break out of school?"
Shirakumo laughed brightly, "Yep!"
"So, why are we-"
The moment they cross the threshold in UA, Shouta felt his comfortable jumpsuit shift into something decidedly less comfortable.
"Oh, absolutely not." He hisses, clambering to get off this hell ride right the fuck now.
"C'mon Shooo~" Oboro whined, leaning heavily against Shouta's shoulder, effectively pinning the shorter boy on the cloud, "it'll be just like old times!"
Shouta just let out a dramatic groan, burying his face in the cloud as he felt it drift closer to the hell building full of tiny demons.
A glance shows that Shirakumo is now also wearing his UA uniform, Shouta's eyes narrow. "So, why exactly are we being cursed into these infernal uniforms?"
The cloud pauses in midair for a moment, before continuing forward. "Not sure, I stopped questioning that kinda thing years ago." Oboro shrugs vaguely, "best guess is it's related to why you look like a teenager, so like, a subconscious thing?"
Shouta hums in response.
Lucky for them, the ceilings in UA were stupid tall, leaving plenty of room to float idly above the students heads.
He noticed a few students, mostly the ones with animal mutations, seem to sense their presence. Though considering the lack of pointing and screaming currently happening, it was probable that they didn't see much, if anything at all.
He files the observation away for the moment.
Soon enough, they were right in front of the similarly tall classroom door, the giant 1-A decal in full display.
Shouta hated it.
Once a student slides the door open wide enough, Shirakumo glides them both in and situates the cloud in the corner at the front of the room.
The position gives Shouta a perfect view of the classroom, and by extension, his students.
Most of the class was already present, except for Midoriya.
Shouta watched his students chatting with a mounting sense of unease. Sure, none of them were visibly injured by the attack, but...
If... no, when he was back in his body he would make sure they all saw Hound Dog. It didn't matter if they were trying to be heroes, kids their age shouldn't have to deal with life or death situations like that.
Hell, plenty of adults wouldn't be able to deal with it either, even he was avoiding thinking too much about the attack itself.
Shouta paid attention to their individual body languages as Iida puttered about the classroom. His students looked tense, for lack of a better word.
He noticed the way their eyes occasionally darted around, ready to lunge into action at the slightest sign of danger. Those in the front of the class kept looking back, making sure there were no threats hiding out of sight.
The classroom door slid open with a bang.
The entire class, Shouta and Oboro included, snapped to look towards the perceived threat with bated breath.
A small chuckle escaped the new arrival at the scene, gazing back with amusement.
It was principal Nedzu.
In silence, they watched as Nedzu took stock of the room, eyes lingering for a moment too long at the corner the two extra 'students' were floating.
Nedzu's eyes narrowed slightly.
Shouta felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle, and he wished he had his capture weapon to retreat behind. Chin now tucked snugly against his chest with only his eyes peering out behind black bangs, he lets the familiar action calm at least some of his nerves.
It seemed Shirakumo was in the same boat, er... cloud, as he tried to inconspicuously puff the clouds up around himself as a kind of shield, hair flickering apprehensively.
Nedzu clears his throat.
"As I'm sure you're all aware, Aizawa-kun is still recovering from yesterday's attack, and is unable to teach today." The small mammal states, his ever present smile becoming slightly strained at the announcement. "So until he's better, I will be filling in as your homeroom teacher!"
With those words, everyone watched in shock as Nedzu skipped forward and climbed atop the teacher's podium.
No one says anything for an agonizing minute.
Then, Uraraka raises her hand, "Principal Nedzu, sir, is Aizawa-sensei really going to be okay?"
Shinsho nodded with furrowed eyebrows, looking distinctly uncomfortable. "He looked pretty hurt yesterday..."
Before Nedzu can respond, the door slides open once more to reveal an out of breath Midoriya.
Shouta does a double take.
There were at least 7 blurry figures clinging to the green haired boy's back.
Their forms were ever changing, almost seeming to be made of smoke and static. It was difficult to tell them apart from one another other than differences in color. Wide, glowing eyes stared sightlessly forward. A chill goes up Shouta's spine at the sight, and he instinctively shies away.
What the fuck was going on with his Problem Child?
Shouta narrows in on the way Midoriya is favoring his arms, had he broken his bones again? He would have to ask Shirakumo later which students had been injured.
"Well, now that we're all here~" Nedzu chirps once Midoriya has shuffled to his desk and sat down. "I have something very important that Aizawa-kun wanted you all to know!"
Nedzu bares his teeth in a mockery of a smile, causing all students present to immediately be on edge. A few of them lean forward in their seats with wide eyes.
"The UA Sports Festival is only two weeks away!"
Silence.
Then, "finally! A normal school activity!" Kirishima cries, slamming his hands on the desk excitedly.
Just like that, the oppressive air in the classroom is gone, replaced by lively chatter. Shouta tunes out of the conversation. Right, the Sports Festival, he'd meant to announce that this morning. In the chaos of the past 24 hours, he'd forgotten all about it... Well, that was one less thing to do when he was back in his body.
He hears a few of them voices concerns over safety, things he'll have to address when he can. It was good that they were aware of the dangers, perhaps he wouldn't have to expel so many of them this year after all.
Nedzu chuckles at the student's excitement, letting them continue to chat for a few minutes before clapping his paws together.
"Right! I expect you all to do your best~" Nedzu smiles, held tilted slightly to the side in what a civilian might call 'cute', but anyone who'd personally met Nedzu knew meant danger. "Homeroom is now over, goodbye!"
And with that, the principal hops back off the podium and walks out the door, humming a soft tune the whole way.
Everyone waits a minute after the door slides closed to see if Nedzu would return, or their next teacher would arrive. When the door stays shut, the conversations pick back up.
One of Bakugou's hands slams down on the desk behind him, startling a yelp from Midoriya as the resulting explosion nearly blows his school supplies sky high.
Without thinking, Shouta activates Erasure, causing the explosions in Bakugou's hand to fizzle out. All that's left are a few tiny pops.
Everyone in the room freezes at the sight, including Bakugou, mouths agape. All except Tokoyami, who glances towards Shouta and Oboro with barely concealed confusion.
Shouta blinks, causing Midoriya to yelp again as the explosions suddenly pick back up where they left off.
Whoops.
"What the FUCK?!" Bakugou snarls, looking around wildly for the culprit. "Who in the fuck did that, I'll kill you!"
Smartly, no one answers.
Only now does the classroom door slide open, revealing a slightly more awake looking Present Mic. "Hey hey hey, little listeners! Who's ready to learn English?! Yeah!"
A chorus of a half-hearted 'yeah's respond.
Hizashi quickly moves behind the podium, shuffling some papers around as he prepared for class. At the silent urging of her classmates, Yaoyorozu stands up and walks to the front of class.
"Um... Yamada-sensei?" she mumbles, holding something close to her chest. Hizashi looks up from what he was doing.
"What's up, little listener?" he asks with a small tilt of his head.
Revealing the item to be a hand-made card, Yaoyorozu holds her arms out to pass it over to Hizashi. "We, that is... the students of 1-A, all got together to sign this card for Aizawa-sensei. We were hoping you could bring it to him?"
Taking a moment to reign in his emotions, Hizashi smiles widely and takes the card. "O-of course! I'm sure he'll love it, thank you, little listener."
Mission now complete, Yaoyorozu bows and walks back to her desk.
From his vantage point, Shouta can see that his husband is secretly wiping away tears as he places the card on the podium. He's careful not to grip the paper too hard, handling it with such care... Shouta knows that the Voice Hero is deeply moved by the gesture.
Throughout the lesson, both Shouta and Oboro keep an eye on the unsuspecting English teacher. The students may not be able to tell, but having known Hizashi for as long as he has, it's painfully obvious to Shouta; Hizashi isn't happy.
Sure, he still moves around with his usual peppiness, all smiles and praises.
But Shouta can see the tension in the man's shoulders, the way he keeps glancing at the time, the impatient tapping of his foot.
The day couldn't be over soon enough.
Teachers come and go, once Hizashi left to go teach his next class Shouta stopped really paying attention, instead letting his mind wander since a nap wasn't possible.
Lunch rolls around, and most of the students file out of the class room to head for the cafeteria.
One in particular however, lags behind.
Tokoyami.
The bird like boy stays seated until the room is empty, then stands and moves to lean against the wall. Right underneath where Shouta and Oboro are floating.
Without a word, Dark Shadow leaps up to rest on the cloud, plopping their head in Oboro's lap.
Shouta shoots the boy an incredulous look as Oboro laughs, and starts patting Dark Shadow's head, eliciting a staticky purr. Shouta eyes the two silently, watching as Oboro runs his hands over and over across the shadow's head. Distantly, he wonders if it's similar to petting a cat.
"You seem familiar..." the shadow rasps after a long moment, moving to stare up at Shouta with questioning eyes.
Shouta looks between the three in mounting confusion, letting out a little huff at their comment. "Oh yeah, wonder why that is."
"...I do wonder, yes," Dark Shadow responds, seemingly not getting the sarcasm.
With a sigh, Shouta reaches out a gives them a little pat on the head. "Don't worry about it." It's a strange feeling, touching a solid, living shadow. Shouta half expects his hand to just sink through, and is only mildly startled at how... soft, Dark Shadow is. He can feel what should be feathers, leaving behind a warm static tingling that's oddly comforting.
Shouta quickly retracts his hand and glances away, hoping he hadn't broken some social boundary with the bold move.
Dark Shadow lets out a quiet chortling noise, before moving forward and brushing past Shouta to return to their partner Tokoyami, who had remained silent up until now.
"Same time tomorrow?" Dark Shadow asks, peering up at Oboro from the safety of Tokoyami's shadow. Shirakumo nods with a goofy grin, giving a thumbs ups.
"Good morrow to you, friendly specters," the boy says, and finally leaves the room for lunch.
Neither boy says anything.
"When were you going to tell me." Shouta deadpans after what feels like an eternity of silence, elbowing the other boy in the side.
"Tell you what?" Oboro replies, a look of genuine confusion plastered on his face.
"That you're friends with my student's shadow?"
Oboro blinks, then starts laughing so hard he nearly falls off their shared cloud. Shouta briefly considers pushing him off, but controls the urge... for now.
He does, however, elbow the boy a little more forcefully when he won't stop laughing. "S-sorry, sorry, it's just..." Oboro lets out a few more chuckles, wiping tears from his eyes, "when you say it like that, it does sound pretty funny."
Taking in a deep breath, Shirakumo manages to compose himself.
"So yeah, I've only know those two for a little while, met them during the entrance exam actually," he shrugs. "You may have noticed, but even the students that can 'sense' us still can't 'see' us, so finding someone that can is usually pretty exciting."
Shouta nods at the logic in that, he could understand the want of being seen, and can only imagine how it must feel to be completely unseen and ignored over years instead of just a few days.
Actually, scratch that, he didn't want to imagine it.
He huffs, crossing his arms and looking away from the still mirthful Shirakumo. "Just don't go being a bad influence on them, they're some of the only sane students I have at the moment and I'd like it to stay that way."
Oboro gives a cheeky salute, "no promises~!"
This time, Shouta does push him off the cloud, smirking at the high pitched scream of betrayal. Shirakumo clambers back up onto the cloud after a second, whining and griping about 'how mean' Shouta was, and how he would 'never recover from such a personal attack.'
Shouta can't help it, he laughs.
This only spurs on the other boy, whose eyes sparkle with barely contained laughter as his complaints grow more and more dramatic.
By the time the bell rings to signal lunch is over, both Shouta and Oboro are practically rolling in laughter. Shouta buries his face in the safety of fluffy clouds, face flushed and eyes shut tight as he tries to contain his giggles.
Maybe visiting UA wasn't such a horrible idea after all.