Kokyu was looking forward to being the doting parent and to embarrass her son as much as she could.
"Does any of this look familiar to you?" Her son asks while trying to figure out a map in his hands. Looking around the woman had to admit that clearly the touch of time had made a difference on the campus.
Besides the main buildings for the school everything else seemed newer and updated. Even with everything that she knew she could still feel the familiar excitement that came with being a U.A Alumni.. kinda.
"Not really. But the dorms seem to be in this direction." She started to lead the way.
There were kids and some adults littered along the path. She could imagine herself enjoying this type of environment in her youth.
Maybe if she had dorms to stay in she'd never have ended up with that man. Kokyu wraps her arm around her son and brings him into a side hug. But the best thing in her life came from that.
Jeremy looked down at his mother as she hugged him on the walk. He could see the far away look on her face. It happened every now and then.
"Bet you'd have gotten in trouble if you had dorms when you were here." He started, "You know. Trying to sneak into that Aizawa Senpai's dorm room." He nudged her and laughed to lighten the room.
His mother laughed and tightened her grip on the suitcase she was pulling beside her.
"Pft. Your mother may be more outspoken now but I was way too shy when I was your age. The third years probably didn't even know that I existed and I would have been too embarrassed to make it any different."
"I can't imagine you being soft spoken Mom."
"Yeah. Well, I'll had dozens of hero children learning quirk development and puberty for the past 10 years. You learn to let loose a bit. Which is why I was a bit hesitant on having Jewels having her first day alone."
"Yeah. But you have done well with training her." He gives his mom a soft smile.
"How come I have such an amazing son." She gushed and pulled him into a hug.
"I guess its hereditary."
Once they were at the building Kokyu was in awe.
"At NO expense." She states as her and her son looked around the common areas in amazement.
"Have you not been in the dorms before?" A young girl with glasses approached them.
"I'm just a first year. This is the 1-A Hero Course dorms right?" Jeremy looked down at the map in his hand.
"Oh, Yes. My name is Ami Tsumi. I will be your guide." The girl pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Most of the students seem to know their way around from when they were here during the evacuations. Are you not from the area?"
"We didn't evacuate." Jeremy kept his words short. He and his mother had to keep the fact that their home was a safe haven for heroes childrens on the down low. The home was a daycare and that was the only thing people needed to know.
Kokyu noted that the young female became uncomfortable. During the dark time most people evacuated and those who didn't were Anti-Hero rioters or themselves villains.
"What Jeremy means is that we didn't evacuate here. There were a few underground areas that were closer to our home." Kokyu was good at playing the damsel, "I'm such a helicopter mom and I was so scared that me and my baby boy wouldn't make it here."
To emphasize her point she started to ruffle her son's hair. "I came here today to make sure he would be in safe hands."
Ami watched the interaction between the mother and her son. She knew that there were underground safety zones but she hadn't met anyone that had been to one. She had actually started to think that it was made up. But there was also so much that was confusing about the events from those two years ago.
Jeremy and his mother left the young girl behind after getting directions to where his room was. It was silent between the two of them as they thought of the trauma that plagued the world that they lived in.
"Is that the story if I'm asked about it?" Jeremy sat on the unmade bed that had a few boxes on it.
Kokyu leaned against the wall and watched her son. Her face was one of seriousness.
"It will have to be. Those children's lives could be in danger if it's ever found out who their parents are. I never want a repeat of that time."
Jeremy watched his mother lose herself in the memory again and to get her out of it he threw a pillow from the bed at her.
It never landed as she activated her quirk and air swirls were holding the pillow in place. He saw the smirk on her face as she got to use her quirk.
"Help me unpack. And then maybe you can helicopter me around to somewhere we can eat."
"Pft. I can't believe I called myself one." She laughed as she opened the box closest to her, "I'm not going to find porn in here am I?"
"Mom! Gosh. No."
They continued to unpack in silence.
"You're right." His mom spoke, "It's all on your phone isn't it?"
"Mom!" He threw the other pillow using his wind quirk and this time it landed right in his mothers laughing face.
"This year is the first year that we've accepted new students since the events with All For One. We have done extensive background checks on all of the new students and their families." Principal Nezu looks across the faces of the staff.
The facility had solemn faces. Faces that bore the evidence of the events that were not that long ago. Then there were the faces that were still missing.
There will never be a day that they're not missed.
The small mammal turned to Shota Aizawa and Sekijiro Kan.
"As you all know, the incoming hero course classes have been cut in half to only 10 students a class. This was a decision made across the country by the heroes commission." He paused and turned to look out the window at the campus below.
New and old students loitering. You could almost tell the difference between the new ones and the old. The ones that were thrown into the action just the short two years ago and the new ones that saw the carnage and now hold a new hope for the world ahead of them.
"It was also questioned if our staff would be able to efficiently teach the incoming heroes to the same standards as the last graduating class." Nezu turns back toward the facility and specifically turns his eyes toward the hero course instructors, "Eraserhead. Vlad King. You'll officially be routing into the new students. I trust that you'll be able to leave your bias behind you."
The room was silent.
Shota Aizawa thought of his last students. How he had managed to not expel not one of them throughout his time teaching them.
He also thought of all the trials that had been thrown their way.
He thought of Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou and looked over at where the Symbol of Peace used to sit with them.
His mind thought of Mina Ashido, Eijiro Kirishima, and Momo Yaoyorozu as they worked together with his good friend in her last moments.
The seat that once occupied Midnight now empty.
He shifted his mechanical leg as he thought of Shoto Todoroki and Tenya Ida.
The tired teacher let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.
"They all made it to graduation alive. They're part of the dark history. These new students," He paused to find the right words, "They'll be the ones that work alongside them to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself. And I will make sure that they're ready for that."
Principal Nezu watched as the hero spoke. We watched as his eye would linger on his fallen comrades' seats. He watched as the man had to fully move his head to compensate for his lost eye when he looked at him.
Satisfied with the response Nezu nodded his head.
"We will have a few changes this year that will be announced as they come. Pro Hero Rock Lock will be starting tomorrow. And the first interest I want to address is more parent teacher interaction. With the past of abuse, a traitor, teen pregnancy, and poverty I'd like for the staff to be more vigilant with spotting these characteristics in students and their guardians. So that we can be able to help with the adequate resources or even prevention."
"Teen pregnancy? I wasn't made aware." Hound Dog speaks and turns to Recovery Girl, "We usually provide health and education regarding these types of topics."
Recovery Girl nods in agreement.
Principal Nezu folds his hands in front of him, "With the Anti-Hero riots and media digging they uncovered it about a past student. We mitigated the situation for the safety of herself and others." The facility watch as the principal's face drops, "I am not proud with how I had handled the situation at the time. She has since created her own resources and provided them for myself and the staff of U.A for teen pregnancy prevention and to help aid young or single parents who still wish to pursue the path of heroism along with parenthood."
"Hound Dog and I will be sure to reach out to the woman for the resources." Recovery Girl states.
Nezu nods, "I will be sure to connect you with Ms. Thorn." He addressed the whole room, "That will be all for today."
Kokyu knew it would feel different but she didn't realize just how empty the home would feel. When all of the children left, that's when Jeremy would venture out of his room. They'd eat some type of instant or quick food while sitting on the couch and finally turning off the kiddy shows opting for an action movie.
Sometimes he would ask her to help him train his quirk in the basement's training room. While it was nice to do the training with her son there was always a limit to how much she could show him indoors.
The basics that she knew and control over the wind so that he didn't start a tornado that would take the whole house down. Giving him exercises of making a hand held tornado and reversing to wind rotation and speeds.
It was a really good control exercise that she used to do regularly while at her time in U.A.
Kokyu doesn't bother with picking up the toddler toys and sticks to only putting the dishes in the sink.
Jewels did a really good job on her own and had Kokyu feel a pride in the young girl for how far she had come since they first met two years ago.
Walking up the stairs she can't help but check all of the rooms on the way. Even stopping in front of Jeremy's room for a moment.
She almost opens the door out of habit but stops herself as she feels her heart drop. Instead she turns to her bedroom to use her personal shower.
The short walk felt like a misstep. Checking on her son was always part of her evening routine.
Undressing she looks at herself in the mirror. The scar from her cesarean brought a smile to her face. He always came first.
And then there was the burn on her shoulder that crossed her back.
She remembers how embarrassed Jeremy was the first time she needed him to help her redress the wound.
Her shirt folded at chest as she hunched over in the bathroom while he helped with the ointments and bandages.
Both of them ignoring her hissing at the pain of the process. Both of them not talking about the man who gave her the wound.
Kokyu overcame the shame of needing her son's help and support during her recovery with the fact that she was able to protect him and the other children during the invasion.
Kokyu shakes the memories away to take the much needed shower. Afterwards she lounges in her bed and gets to work on her phone checking emails and various text messages from parents.
It was Tuesday tomorrow and the rest of the week she'd only have Gabe during the day and then Matt and Yuki in the evening when she got them from school.
Her childcare business had taken a turn over the past few years. She geared her services to only children that had heroes for parents but more specifically single parents or young parents.
After the anti-hero riots many heroes turned in their cape. She lost some of her business due to that but couldn't blame them for leaving their work and some of them pursuing parenthood at a different angle.
The chaos around Japan really made some of the parents lean into their children more.
Kokyu had a message from Meiko in her inbox regarding if I knew tutors for quirk training.
The situation was bittersweet. She had been watching Meiko's daughter, Yuki, since she was a toddler.
She has pictures of Yuki and Jeremy playing heroes and villains together.
Yuki was staying with them during the evacuations. Her father Majestic was fighting and her mother working in the hospitals.
Kokyu remembers getting the call regarding Majestic and Yuki's broken down body as she wailed in her arms.
Jeremy had to take over so that she could tend to the other people in the home.
Kokyu releases her breath and sent a return message with different tutoring options that she felt would be best for Yuki.
Yuki wass 12 now and normally she didn't watch children once they hit middle school age. But Meiko explained to her that with her night shift Yuki begged to continue to stay at the Thorn Residence those evenings.
The adults let it continue. After all the trauma, Kokyu wouldn't deny the girl that was like a niece.
The next email was from Principal Nezu.
She scoffs just looking at the email address but puts her personal feelings aside. He may not have helped her but he was moving forward to help future students.
The email was asking for her to possibly come to the school tomorrow for a meeting with school counselor Hound Dog and nurse Recovery Girl.
She'd have Gabe tomorrow and although she had permission from all parents to take the children out on field trips or the store she still felt the need to check with this one.
Rock Lock had just started his own work at U.A while his wife worked a regular office job. A choice that she made to help combat some of the postpartum that she was having.
Kokyu - I have been requested for a meeting tomorrow with Hound Dog and Recovery Girl. I will respectfully decline if you don't want Gabe in your area of work.
Mr. Takagi - You won't be a disruption.
Kokyu emailed Principal Nezu back with agreement and to have further details. She then settled under the blanket to get to sleep.
But sleep wasn't finding her. Her phone chimes and she checks it to see that it was details from Nezu. She really only just glances at the notification on the screen before dropping the phone back down and closing her eyes again.
Another chime.
Jeremy - Night.
She half smiles and closes her eyes for the night.