Tomo found the door to Mr. Aizawa's room unlocked when he knocked. His teacher was awake, hunched over a table with a cup of coffee and what Tomo assumed were student papers.
"Uh, is this a bad time?"
"No, take a seat," Aizawa replied while still focused on the papers. Then, he added, "Coffee?"
Tomo graciously poured some for himself and then awkwardly stared at his teacher and his work. "Wait, aren't those my papers?"
Aizawa looked up at him knowingly. "Maybe."
"Did I do well?"
"You wrote them; what do you think?"
Tomo chuckled at that.
"So what is it that you want to talk about?" Aizawa asked as he put his pen down and looked up to Tomo.
"Well…" Tomo started shyly. He felt his mood suddenly drop as he looked away. "Mr. Aizawa. Do you still think I can be a hero?"
"I don't see why not," Aizawa stated plainly.
"It's just… You heard about my last mission, right?"
"I am aware."
"Toru was there… And she got away… again…"
"And you think because of that, you can't be a hero anymore?"
The tone in which the question was asked made Tomo look up at his teacher. It was as if his logic was obviously flawed and Aizawa's impassive face made Tomo second guess himself.
"...Yes?"
"Kid, you're not the first person to fail a mission. You certainly won't be the last one either. "
"But I don't think anyone has a blight on their record as large as the one I have," Tomo interrupted. "How can I call myself a hero when I can't even bring my sister back?"
"Let me finish. Like I said last time we spoke about this, this "failure" isn't yours alone to bear the burden of. All of us at UA, and at Class 1-A, are here as well."
"I know, but she's my responsibility first," Tomo interrupted again.
Aizawa pursed his lips, as if thinking about something unpleasant. Then, with a small sigh, he spoke again, "Alright, kid, I'll make a deal with you. The term is nearly over, and after that, all the students will be expected to do another round of hero work-studies. I know you have Crust to go back to, but his current condition aside, how about you stick with me instead? Not that there's anything wrong with Crust, but I think I'm uniquely equipped not only as your teacher, but also as someone who can Erase your Quirk, to know exactly what you need to get out of your rut. I'll train you up so that you won't ever feel this way again. Then, we'll produce some results."
"Really?"
"Really."
"I humbly accept. Thank you," Tomo replied after a small pause.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you. If you thought the summer training camp was bad, wait until you see what I do with my students."
"Students? You have other students? I thought you didn't have an agency?"
"I don't, but I take kids under my wings occasionally. I have one right now, actually."
"Really? Who? Do I know them?"
"You'll have to find out when you meet them. Now get out of here so I can finish this extra work you've given me by skipping school."
"But, I didn't skip…" He paused at the playful smirk Aizawa was giving him. It felt warm and comfortable and gave Tomo a fuzzy feeling in his stomach.
It turned out that Aizawa was being very serious when he said his training was meant to be serious and not easy. That very night after Tomo had visited him, his teacher came into his room with a task.
"Tomo, it's well past the time we figure out this ridiculous sleeping problem that you have. Your first assignment is to be able to sleep at night. Your current schedule is a ridiculous workload that will lead to heavy burnout if we don't address it."
Tomo, who was planning on doing more school work throughout the entire night, shifted uncomfortably in place after hearing the assignment. "Is this really the best use of our time? I'm fine with how things are currently." It wasn't that he didn't like the idea of being able to sleep at night, in fact, he loved the idea, but past experiences with attempting it only brought about more troubles.
Aizawa seemed to pick up on this reluctance quickly. "Yes, it is. How many hours do you sleep a day currently?"
"Like four…" Tomo admitted quietly. His main window to sleep before Darkness became too much to handle was right after school would end for the day. He would take a quick nap and then wake up to do homework or relax until the next day. The only reason he could really sustain this lifestyle was purely through habit and the fact that his body never really demanded that much rest. He figured it was an adjustment it made in response to his Quirk at an early age.
"Four," Aizawa repeated. "Unbelievable. Why did no one else try to remedy this issue before?"
"They tried. I just… didn't want to… Okay, I know that sounds REALLY bad, but…"
The deadpan stare Aizawa gave him made Tomo flush.
"Fine, I'll admit. I was lazy back then. I got into a rhythm with my schedule and didn't want to spend the time to adjust it to normal hours because I never felt overloaded in coursework. It didn't help that I was pretty good at school and didn't need to study a lot so I slept a lot more during the day where most people would probably study."
Aizawa rolled his eyes.
Before he could speak, Tomo also added, "That was the main reason, but I also have a real reason as well. I tried medication. Many different kinds. Ones that knocked me straight out for the night made me only feel more tired in the morning, ones that suppressed my Quirk just felt wrong. It was like… like… like I was being suffocated while I slept. I would wake up in cold sweats at night while under those. One even gave me worse nightmares that I couldn't even wake up from. So… yeah, I have a pretty bad history with medicine."
"We're not using medicine to resolve this issue; we're going to tackle the root of this problem until it's not a problem anymore."
"You mean my Quirk?"
Aizawa nodded. "You said you cannot sleep because Darkness gets too powerful while left unchecked at night, correct?"
"Yep."
"Last time you called me into your room, you said you wanted to "speak" with your Quirk? Can you still do that?"
"I think so," Tomo said with a shaky nod.
"Good. I'm gonna assume talking to it isn't a simple solution so we'll try conquering it instead. We're gonna make you master your Quirk so that it won't bother you when you try to sleep at night. It's your Quirk so you should have full control over it."
"How do I do that?"
Aizawa smirked. "With practice, of course."
Tomo gulped.
Thus began a new nightly ritual for Tomo. Under Aizawa's watchful eye, Tomo would try to sleep at night and control Darkness in his dreams. He couldn't really fight his Quirk in his dreams, but he used the time to slowly build up his courage and control. At first, it began with just being able to face Darkness. Tomo couldn't help his quickening heartbeat from just seeing the entity at first, so he worked on that. Darkness always had an evil smirk for him and a few choice words that conveyed his thoughts on Tomo's assignment, but Tomo did his best to shrug them off. It took a few nights for Tomo to realize Darkness never did anything besides scare Tomo with words when they met face-to-face, so he became more bold in his actions in his dreamworld.
Another big help was the beginning of his lucid dream practice. After Aizawa explained the idea to him, Tomo realized he had already been lucid dreaming whenever he visited Darkness. All he had to do was learn how to gain more control over his dreams so that Darkness would be less of a threat.
At the same time that Tomo practiced sleeping properly at night, he also practiced combat with Aizawa at the crack of dawn. He had been told to report to a secluded part of the UA grounds where they would be able to practice relatively undisturbed.
On the first day, Tomo arrived rather early. To his surprise, another person was already waiting there before him.
"Hey," Tomo greeted.
The purple-haired boy turned to him, paused, then widened his eyes in recognition. "You!"
Tomo frowned, not recognizing the boy. "Me…?"
His response made the boy frown as well. He scoffed. "Of course the high-and-mighty hero-course student wouldn't recognize a Gen-Ed student like me. I was probably just another insect you squashed on your way to the top."
"Uh… sorry? I'm not good with names and faces, but I assume we met before?" Tomo said with a nervous chuckle.
The boy sighed.
"Shinso, lighten up. Tomo, make an effort to remember your peers," Aizawa's voice droned as he approached them. Both boys straightened up.
"Shinso, Tomo Hagakure. Tomo, Hitoshi Shinso," Aizawa introduced. He then turned to Tomo. "I've been training Shinso for a while now since he aims to take the open spot in 1-A's class."
Tomo eyed Shinso, hostile feelings suddenly filling him at the thought of this guy taking Toru's spot. Shinso in response gave Tomo an equally hostile gaze.
It was Aizawa's turn to sigh. "Regardless of the open spot or not, he is still within his right to challenge the seat in the hero course based on his performance in the Sports Festival. Don't hold it against him for trying."
"Wait a second. Hagakure? You're that guy whose sister betrayed the school, right? How are you still allowed here?"
"What did you say?" Tomo retorted angrily.
Before they could get close to each other, Binding Cloth wrapped around the both of them and another sigh from Aizawa could be heard as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "No unsanctioned fighting. Save your feelings for the spars, which there will be plenty of while you're both with me. Since you both have so much energy, we'll start with that first. No limitations." He then released both boys.
Tomo walked back to give himself some space before turning to eye his opponent. He really couldn't remember ever meeting him, let alone know what his Quirk did. However, if the boy couldn't make it into the hero course, he probably wasn't that powerful.
Shinso, meanwhile, exchanged a nervous glance with Aizawa. Aizawa replied with a stern nod.
"Begin."
Shinso gulped before charging Tomo.
Tomo responded by summoning a hand of Darkness and launching it at Shinso. He hoped to see what the boy's Quirk was and how he responded to Darkness's power. However, all that ended up happening was the Dark Hand wrapping around Shinso and pinning him to the floor.
"Stop," Aizawa called out. Tomo released his Quirk as Shinso picked himself up.
"Shinso, that's what you're up against in the hero course. You've been working hard these past few months, so don't throw all that out the window when you face your first opponent. Remember and use what I taught you. And don't let your emotions take over."
"Yes, sir," Shinso said loudly. It was clear to Tomo just how much respect the boy had for his teacher.
"And Tomo, good job. At least you have the fundamentals of your Quirk still with you, but we both know that won't be enough for what you want to accomplish, so don't get complacent."
Tomo nodded, hiding his frown. "Right." He looked at Shinso. The boy didn't even attempt to use his Quirk. Was it a bad matchup? Or was he too overwhelmed to use it? Either way, Tomo had trouble seeing any use he would get out of training with him.
"Don't worry, there's plenty you can learn from each other," Aizawa called out as if reading Tomo's mind. "Alright, we're gonna begin with basic warmups now. Shinso, teach Tomo the drills and practice them for thirty minutes." Aizawa then reached into his bag and took out a few stacks of papers, eyeing Tomo for a brief second, before turning back to them and sitting down by a tree with a pen in hand.
"Just follow what I'm doing," Shinso said from a noticeably far distance as he began stretching. Tomo copied the boy as they began warming up in silence. While Tomo himself didn't mind the silence, Shinso seemed fidgety the entire time.
"So, uh, when did we meet exactly…?"
Shinso paused his jumping jacks to look at Tomo, as if deciding whether the question was a joke or not. Tomo replied with his best attempt at an honest look.
"You seriously don't remember?"
"No…"
"I guess that makes sense. It was only for a minute that we spoke. It was back during the cavalry battle. I approached you and used my Quirk… but you shrugged it off like it was nothing."
"Ohhhh," Tomo replied as he remembered the strange encounter. Shinso had said something to him, Tomo felt a bit weird in the head, then Shinso screamed in terror and looked at Tomo like he was a monster. It was a very confusing encounter that Tomo had shrugged off at the time as Shinso being weird. "Uh, sorry for scaring you, I guess?"
Shinso grunted. "It's whatever."
They finished the rest of the warmup in silence.
"Alright," Aizawa started when they had finished. "For the rest of our time today, we're gonna be practicing hand-to-hand combat. No Quirks allowed, but besides that, no rules. First to fall loses. Begin."
Tomo jumped at the sudden start, but Shinso seemed prepared as he charged Tomo again like last time. As Tomo readied to strike, Shinso suddenly reached up to his neck and threw out his own Binding Cloth. Tomo did his best to swat it away, but it only served to make it worse as the cloth wrapped around him. With a hard pull, Shinso sent Tomo to the ground harshly.
"Stop."
The cloth's grip loosened and Shinso pulled it back.
"Tomo, pay attention to your opponent. Just because I said no Quirks allowed doesn't mean they don't have other tools at their disposal."
"Right."
"Shinso, good job at using your Binding Cloth on a stationary target. Don't think it'll be that easy every time; you just had the element of surprise on your side."
Shinso nodded.
"Now that you both got your ego wins, the real training will begin." The evil look on Aizawa's face made both boys gulp in fear.
Miyu Hagakure had two secrets.
The first one was that she had learned her brother had started training outside early in the morning.
A few days after she had moved into the UA dorms with her mother, her brother had suddenly stopped visiting them in their new homes. He still texted and called her whenever she wanted to, but he never came to their home anymore. She was old enough to realize that they were arguing about Toru, her older sister. Miyu still didn't know when Toru was supposed to come back, but she heard what people whispered about her at her new school. The Hagakure name seemed to make people do a double-take ever since Toru had left their family. Miyu missed her a lot.
This led back to her first secret. She always liked waking up early in the morning, and one of the mornings when she was outside playing by herself before school, she came upon her brother and a purple-haired boy fighting. At first, she wanted to step in and protect him, but she quickly realized that they were not fighting, but practicing. The older man nearby who was probably a teacher confirmed that for her. Something told her that she shouldn't bother them, so she only watched with curious eyes.
After seeing them train a couple of times, Miyu started following along with them. She never really wanted to be a hero like her older siblings, but the idea was becoming more and more interesting to her as she learned about the world. If she could be a hero, maybe that would finally get rid of the rumors about Toru being a villain. After all, what kind of hero would have a villain sister?
Miyu would try her best to mimic the warmups the older boys did, but at her young age, she quickly ran out of energy to do even half of them. What interested her more, however, was Quirk training. Miyu's Quirk allowed her to absorb darkness in her right hand and use the energy to produce light in her right hand. It was a sort of mix of her two sibling's Quirks and they often complimented her on how good she was with it. In the past, she never really practiced with her Quirk, but as the idea of being a hero became more and more appealing to her, she tried to experiment what she could do with her powers. Watching her brother tinker with Darkness intrigued her enough to see what she could do as well. She made a conscious effort to remember to try and surprise him the next time they met with her power.
However, that was only one half of her Quirk. Her mother, who had a light-based Quirk, vehemently refused to do anything with her Quirk, so Miyu didn't really have many other options with training her light half.
This led to her other big secret. In her free time, away from the prying eyes UA often had on her family, Miyu met up with her older sister, Toru.
A/N: Thanks for reading.