Chapter 1
Questions and Answers
This elevator could not have been moving any slower. Izuku didn't know if it was the nerves or if the job interview had already begun the moment he entered campus.
It would be an intelligent way to see how individuals reacted to delays and mishaps while already under pressure. He thought, absentmindedly fidgeting all the while. It had takens years, but he had been able to successfully work away his awful muttering problem.
After some of the longest moments he could recall in recent days, the doors creaked open.
With a jolt, he forced himself to take a step forward. Then another. Then another. Step by step, he willed his body to move, as his mind was laden down with doubt and fear. Come on, Izuku, you're better than this. You're Yokai, damnit.
As he approached the door at the far end of the hall, the door swung open on its own. Behind it a small white rat-bear-thing in a tiny vest holding a tea cup stood.
"Ah! You're early, Lieutenant Midoriya." The small rodent said, a smirk upon his face. "Please, inside."
"Principal Nezu, a pleasure." Izuku responded. He hadn't seen Nezu since he was fourteen, nearly a dozen years ago. He had taken the entrance exams for UA High School, trying to get into the last class before it transitioned to the University Model. He had achieved a perfect score on the written portion, and on the practical exam, he achieved forty-seven Villain Points and one-hundred and nine Hero Points, one of the highest recorded scores.
Unfortunately, the HPSC officially ruled that as a Hero License allowed an individual to use their quirks in the defense of others and in public without repurcussion, being quirkless, violated the text of the law, if not the intent. As such, no quirkless person could hold a Hero License in Japan. Because the Hero Course was intended for training heroes, someone who could not legally hold a hero license could not be admitted to the course. So Izuku was denied admittance to the Hero Course. It was the last straw for Izuku, dealing with Quirkists for years. He took a different path forward on his journey to be a hero.
Izuku wasn't the short, wiry boy with messy green hair anymore. He stood at 6'2, weighing just shy of 220 pounds. His once messy green curls were now cut to a manageable length, with the sides shaved in an undercut. He stood tall in his white dress shirt, black vest, green tie, black shoes and slacks. He had made it back to these halls once more, HPSC be damned.
"Lieutenant Midoriya?" Nezu asked, forcing Izuku to snap out of his thoughts.
"Apologies, Principal. It's been a while since I've been here and seen you." He smiled weakly. "Lots of memories."
"I understand that. Once more, I am sorry that we were unable to accept you when you applied.." Nezu replied, his tone even and sincere.
"Thank you for saying so, Principal, and please, just Midoriya or Izuku is fine. Lieutenant feels strange."
Nezu grinned mischieviously. "Very well, Izuku. Please call me Nezu as well then. I'm actually a Dean, not Principal."
Izuku smiled and nodded, slowly entering the room. It was well appointed and spacious. By the large bay window, sat the Dean's desk, as well as a pair of chairs. In the center of the room sat a couch and two chairs, around a central coffee table.
"It must've been strange transitioning from a High School system to a University system." Izuku says, almost wistfully.
"Not at all, Izuku. In fact, it was exceptionally easy." Nezu grinned, his sharp teeth prominent. "All we did was change the cirriculum, age of acceptance, and began requiring a High School Diploma. We actually run the classes exactly as it was during the High School years."
"I assume the Commission helped iron out issues with the Ministry of Education over the discrepancies with credits and the like for issuing degrees."
"Most certainly!" Nezu cheerfully responded.
Izuku smiled and took a seat. "So I assume you have questions for me?" He asked bluntly.
"That would be the point of an interview, Izuku." Nezu grinned. "Though I must say, you seem to lost that shyness and the stutter."
Izuku laughs. "Oh no, I absolutely still have it. I'm just mentally at a point between absolutely terrified and having zero fucks to give, that my brain doesn't know how to even TRY to be nervous." It takes a moment, but he realizes what he said. "Apologies, sir."
"No apologies needed, Izuku. Truthfully with your record, you could work anywhere. It is an amazing opportunity to have you here to speak with me." Nezu beamed, taking delight in the other man's screw-up.
"Now, Izuku, in your own words, can you describe your academic and professional history."
Izuku sighed, seeing his resume and transcripts obviously on the coffee table, he decided to bite the bullet and comply, rather than giving snark.
"Not a problem, sir." He took a breath, calming himself. "After being rejected from the UA Hero Course, I decided to move to the United States as my father is an American. I attended San Jacinto High School in the city of Estacado in north-west Texas, where I graduated top of my class in three years."
"At the age of sixteen, I took my Civil Defense Officer license exam, which is the US equivalent to the Hero License exams here in Japan. I passed with flying colors, earning a Junior Officer Endorsement, as I was under the age of eighteen."
"When I hit Eighteen, it got bumped to a full Officer Endorsement and I had a full CDO License. I attended Chesapeake Central University in Maryland, as my dad had been transferred up to Norfolk, Virginia. I obtained my bachelor's in three-hundred and ninety-four days, setting a university and state record."
Nezu looked enraptured by the tale, sipping his tea, a gleam in his eye.
"Afterwards, at age 19, I began my master's coursework, and got deployed to the Caribbean."
Nezu looked quizically. Izuku responded before he could even ask.
"In the US, Heroes are legally knows as Civil Defense Officers. We're a kind of reserve paramilitary force that acts as auxiliaries for the police and the military. In a time of crisis or war, we can be deployed to an active area and called to serve, just like military. That's where I got my Lieutenant rank. "
Nezu nodded, sipping slowly. Izuku's face dropping slightly, his tension and anxiety building up. All of this information was readily available to Nezu, so having him repeat it, felt just like an exercise to force Izuku to talk at length about himself.
"My official desgination was CDO-715-09A, with the callsign of Yokai."
At the final word, Nezu's attention grew, as did his eyes.
"Don't act surprise, Dean. I'm still Japanese, even if I spent a few years in America."
"Oh, Izuku. I am not surprised by the name being Japanese. I am surprised by the choice."
"Eh, I'm quirkless. I've been called an abomination, a monster, a freak, an aberration, a fossil, and so much more. I dealt with red spider lillies and suicide baiting from the age of nine onwards. I figured that being the ghost that the world wanted me to be, being the demon they already saw me as, was a way to take their insults and make it into armor."
Nezu frowned deeply at that.
"Japan was never kind to the quirkless. I am so sorry for your experiences, Midoriya."
Izuku looked a little startled at the formality and the use of his last name.
"I must ask, Midoriya, why come back to Japan if it was so cruel to you?" Nezu asked calmly, his voice even and still.
Izuku took a moment, before sighing deeply, and ruffling the back of his head.
"Two main reasons. The first is that my mom was in a car accident and she needs me here while she recovers. We have a nurse to help and a family friend is moving next door. I just thought it would be time to move back and spend time with her. I've already missed half my life with her, by being in the US."
Izuku's face betrayed a sense of nervousness, his cheeks growing slightly red. "And for the other reason, my ex-girlfriend moved back to Japan after leaving I-Island and she's currently pregnant with out child."
Nezu's eyes grew massive, with him setting the teacup down. "I've heard many things about you, Midoriya. But I cannot say that what I knew about you would've had me guess that sentence."
Izuku had an awkward laugh. "I understand that fully. I'm not exactly charming, but she loved me anyway."
Nezu smiled softly. "Do you intend to rekindle your romance with her, or at the very least want to be an active part of the child's life?"
Izuku thought about it seriously for a moment. "For the second part of that question, yes, I want to be, and will be, an active part in my child's life. I won't have any child of mine be raised in a single parent household. I saw too much growing up how hard it was."
Izuku grew a new shade of red. "And as for the first part of the question, I don't know if she and I will rekindle, but we will at least have to civil." Izuku laughs lightly. "Especially seeing as we'll work together."
Nezu almost dropped the tea cup. "Just who is your former partner, Midoriya."
"Well you see, she recently decided to pull back from front line missions and decided to teach hand-to-hand combat and urban combat, at least while she goes through the pregnancy."
Nezu laughed, unable to resist. He knew exactly of who Midoriya spoke. He had recently hired a Pro Heroine, Fire Iron, to be the new homeroom teacher for Class 2-C and to be a hand-to-hand combat instructor as well as urban combat instructor. Fire-Iron, formerly a sidekick of Endeavor, a brash and tough woman named Tomoko Tetsutetsu.
"So you're the reason that Tetsutetsu-sensei returned to Japan?" Nezu asked quizically.
"That would be correct, Dean."
Nezu loved the chaos. Tomoko Tetsutetsu, called T3, by her friends, was a hard, brash, and strong woman. She had a heart of gold and a right hook from hell. Between her as an instructor, Izuku as an instructor, and Tomoko's younger brother entering the university, it made for the potential to be a very interesting year.
"Very well, I just have two questions and then we can begin your paperwork."
"Ask away, rat-god." Izuku said, releasing his shoulders and sighing. Nezu beamed at the term.
"Why are you a Hero? Why are you a Teacher?" He asked, his eyes locked to Izuku's own.
Izuku straightened up, confidence appearing. Nervousness, anxiety, and more all fading away. Izuku may have been asked, but Yokai is answering.
"The world is a cruel place. Life can and will end in a moment, with no warning, no mercy, and often with no recourse. Be it natural disasters or acts of villainy, the world is a hard and dark place. Hope provides the light we need to live in that darkness. Without hope, we don't live. We may survive, but we don't live. I was fortunate to be born to a loving mother and a hardworking father. Even though I was quirkless, I had my privileges. I had my strengths. I have the responsibility to make the world a better place because I have the capability to make the world a better place. I can be the light in the darkness for those who need hope, or I can be the predator in the darkness to hunt those who would prey upon others. I will be the line between the shadows and the light, because I can."
Nezu took stock of his answer, it was both hopeful and resigned. It was tempered by the cruelty of Izuku's youth, but still forgiving and willing to protect those who would've scorned him.
"As for being a teacher, it is simple. I am not immortal. I will one day die. All of my knowledge, all of my experience, everything I have endured, will disappear with me. It will ultimately be for nothing, and someone, someday, will repeat a mistake I made because I didn't take the time to share my experiences. I have lived my life and the things I've learned can save lives. I can possible prevent a future hero from being killed, or perhaps make a hero better so more lives are saved. If I didn't share that, if I didn't invest in those who will come after me, then I am doing the same as condemning all those who would've been saved if I had."
Izuku takes a deep breath and sighs.
"And honestly, if I had a teacher believe in me, I probably would've stayed in Japan. I would've stayed with my mom, my friends, and I would've built a life here. I wouldn't have had to abandon my home."
"I want to be what I needed when I was that age. Because I don't want anyone to suffer."
Nezu looked at him, assessing the man before him. He was a paradox. He had kind eyes, but they were pained. He was naive, but also brutally aware of the world. He was scarred and broken, yet loving and patient, from what Nezu had been told from interviews with his peers. Nezu had spoken to over forty invididuals and had spent nearly one hundred hours in those interviews building a file on the man before him.
Izuku had lived his life, but at his core, he was the same boy who sat across from Nezu all those years ago. Back then, Nezu didn't fight hard enough. He wasn't going to repeat that mistake.
"Thank you, Midoriya. I must say, you've got the job.
Izuku stood up and bowed, thanking the man across from him.
"Let's get you a proper tour and have you meet your co-workers. I'll get you the class assignments next week."
"You know, Nezu, I never finished answering your first question. Telling you about my academic history and professional history in my own words." Izuku said, just now realizing that they had gotten on an emotional tangent.
"Oh, most certainly, Izuku. I can always just read it in the file here." Nezu's eyes grinned. "Afterall, welcome to your Hero Academia."