Aizawa adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, fingers tightening around the faux leather, and made himself zen. Peace inside him. Peace around him. Except that spot where fucking All Might was sitting next to him in the car.
Number One Hero had his head up his ass again, Aizawa could tell the moment they'd met up this morning. If it had been another Hero then he might've had more sympathy; word was spreading, quietly, through the Class 1-A teachers of Shigaraki's identity as the grandson of All Might's mentor. None of his fellow teachers were interested in broaching the issue: it was an All Might problem for All Might to chew. Aizawa just wished he'd do it on his own time and not during work hours.
They were dealing with the pressing issue of parents losing faith in UA. Bakugo had been kidnapped, dozens of other students were injured at the training camp, and now a group had snuck out of the hospital and interfered in the operation to recover Bakugo. Parents were pulling their children out of UA faster than the administrative offices could unenroll them — and, to bog the process down further, even the students from the Management course who normally assisted in the offices were being yanked.
It was a clusterfuck of epic proportions, and listening to All Might try to appease parents all morning, and make jokes between visits about going out for drinks sometime, made Aizawa wonder if this might be a good time to quit the Hero business altogether. The timing was good.
Fuck his sense of obligation. He probably would've if it wasn't for Momo, and he resented that fact. Over the past few days he'd begun finding a lot of things to resent about her, none of it her fault and all of it because he had discovered new lines he couldn't bring himself to cross even for his own advantage. If there was a place for her among Yakuza, it was not going to be in his syndicate. But that meant if she chose to continue on the path of being a Hero, he had to stick around to make sure it came to fruition.
The final stops of the day were Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, and Aizawa was dreading how this was going to go. Midoriya was going to cry, All Might would turn into a martyr, and it was relief when All Might suggested they divide and conquer. All Might would go to his protege, and Aizawa would go to his…student. Student, he repeated to himself.
The drive to the area of the city where the Yaoyorozu estate was gave him time to smooth his nerves. This would be straightforward; he would ask if her family would consider allowing her to move on-campus. He could reassure that the rest of Class 1-A would be doing so. They'd agree, or they'd refuse. If they refused then his hands would be clean of Momo, that would be the end of his obligation to her. And then he could quit UA. No more All Might.
That idea brought him a shallow smile.
The sun sat fat on the horizon, glaring in Aizawa's eyes as he leaned out his car window to offer the gate guard his credentials. There was a prolonged pause as he waited while they called up to the house before he was waved through. A valet met him when he put his car in park, and a butler asked if he needed anything carried. After he was seated in Yaoyorozu Asao's office there was a maid to offer tea or food. He accepted a coffee. It was cool enough to drink by the time Yaoyorozu Asao entered.
"Aizawa-san," Momo's father said once he was seated on the other side of the desk.
"Yaoyorozu-san," he returned cordially. "Will your wife be joining us?"
"No. She and Momo are at dinner." Aizawa nodded and set his coffee aside. "I'm assuming you're here about the dorms."
"I am. Principal Nezu wants to convey—"
"Fuck Nezu," Yaoyorozu grunted, opening a drawer to pull out a decanter and two glasses.
Could take the man out of Yakuza, but not the Yakuza out of the man.
"Nezu and his apologies," her father continued. He poured a thumb in each glass and nudged one in Aizawa's direction. "I imagine you need that more than I do, doing his dirty work all day."
"Yeah. Thanks."
Aizawa accepted the glass and took a sip. "How has your daughter been?"
"She doesn't sleep well. What does Nezu want to convey now."
"Apologies for Yaoyorozu being injured at the training camp. Apologies that she was able to leave the hospital to accompany the other students to the site of the Hero offensive. Reassurances about the safety of the students going forward. They've established dormitories to further look out for everyone at UA."
"Oh, fuck Nezu."
Aizawa took another sip, his smirk tucked neatly behind the rim of the glass.
"Not many parents are more entitled to have reservations about their child returning to UA than you. I understand if Yaoyorozu will not be returning to finish the semester."
"Nezu paid out the ass for us not to report what happened to Momo to the press. I don't suppose he sent you here with another bribe for her to go to the dormitories?"
Anytime he let himself get comfortable, he was inevitably caught off-guard once again. He hadn't known that Nezu would stoop to buying people's silence, but then again Nezu wouldn't have offered unless he'd been almost certain the terms would be accepted. UA's reputation was turning to shit, rapidly, and if it got out that another student had been targeted by Nomus…That another student had been on-site during the attack, trapped…And if any parent had the means to make it into an even bigger national scandal, it was Yaoyorozu Asao.
Tread carefully, Danchou, he told himself. He didn't know how candid he could safely be with Momo's father still.
"I don't have an offer," he admitted, "only reassurances. There are new security measures, and the UA staff will likewise be on campus."
"In the same building as the students, or separate?"
This question could go belly-up whichever way he answered.
"The same building," Aizawa said.
Yaoyorozu's face remained unchanged, but he took another drink before saying, "Momo has submitted an application to Shiketsu."
It was new information. Momo had said her parents were going to make her transfer back when they believed they were fucking, but he'd been under the impression that threat had been put down. As it deserved to be back then.
"I would be sorry to see her go."
And it was the truth. He supposed a transfer would still fulfill the end of his obligations to her the same as if she left Hero studies.
"The standards to enter as a transfer student are stricter than for a first year," her father continued. "It is contingent on her passing the provisional licensing exam."
Ah.
"So you are not opposed to your daughter moving on-campus?"
"I can be convinced," Yaoyorozu said, leaning back in his chair.
Aizawa's eyes focused on his glass, mulling his situation with resentment. Damn Yaoyorozu. Damn Nezu. Nothing like the smell of dirt on fresh cut roses. Yaoyorozu leaned forward, taking the cap from the decanter to top off both glasses.
"Momo requires updated recommendations from her teachers to finalize her transfer application ahead of the provisional licensing exam."
"Is transferring what Yaoyorozu wants?" Aizawa asked.
"She is saddened, but understands."
There it was. He'd told her that this mess was her opportunity out, and she was taking it. They could both wash their hands of one another and pretend all this had never happened. That she'd never connected the dots. That he'd never made a misstep. She could pursue her Hero dreams with a clean slate elsewhere, and there wasn't a better time for her to do it than now.
It came again, that word. It was a shadow at the edge of his peripheral, and he distinguished it only by the familiarity that accompanied it now. No. Yaoyorozu Momo had chosen her hand. She would not walk the Yakuza path of him. Of her father.
She would be a formidable Hero.
Fucking shame.
"I will provide Yaoyorozu the necessary recommendation for Shiketsu," he allowed, leaving his glass down.
"And I know you will keep dutiful watch over her in the dormitories while we wait for her transfer to finalize."
"I will," Aizawa said, and now when Yaoyorozu raised his glass in his direction, he return the gesture. The glass rung with the contact and the liquor swayed. Because, after all, Yaoyorozu Asao knew better than anyone that offers were only made if they would be accepted.