Chapter 5

Chapter Text

"Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo, thank you for coming so quickly."

"Of course," Masaru said, squeezing his wife's hand just a little harder in an attempt to curb her louder tendencies. "How is Katsuki?"

"He is resting comfortably in the infirmary under Recovery Girl's supervision. He is uninjured."

"What happened?" Mitsuki asked, her words clipped but not quite angry, yet.

"A number of unfortunate events, I'm afraid," Principal Nedzu said, leading them into a small meeting room and indicating for them to take a seat on the other side of a fairly large coffee table. A pot of tea and four cups were already waiting; so was a scruffy, unshaven homeless man wearing the most hideous scarf Masaru had ever seen. It took more than a few minutes of the man talking for Masaru to realize he was Katsuki's homeroom teacher.

"…so it's important to understand that none of this was your son's fault. Bakugo is extremely distressed by what happened and it will take time for him to work through it. The school counselor and I will both be available to help him process this tragic situation, and we'll be available to you both as well in any way we can."

"With proper resources and co-operation," the principal added, "I'm sure we can set up a support network for Katsuki that will see him through his years at UA and into his pro-hero career."

"Assuming," Mitsuki said, grinding her teeth audibly, "that he still wants to be a hero."

Both teachers seemed surprised by Mitsuki's words but adapted quickly.

"Of course, we will help Bakugo in any way we can," Aizawa-sensei said in his calm, deep voice, "even if that means transferring him into the general education or business courses. All of the teachers here are pro-heroes and are experienced with dealing with victims of traumatic events. Whatever Katsuki needs we'll be here to provide it."

Victims of traumatic events? Were they saying Katsuki was a victim here? The principal had glossed over "a number of unfortunate events" but hadn't really explained that in any detail. Masaru filed that information away to consider after he'd spoken to his son and gotten his version of events.

"Who was the kid who died?" Mitsuki demanded bluntly. "Was it one of Katsuki's friends?"

Masaru was pretty sure Katsuki hadn't bothered to make any friends, too focused on his dream of being the number one hero to bother with "extras" (as he called them.)

"I'm afraid we can't divulge that information at this time as we are still trying to contact the child's next of kin."

"But Katsuki knew him?" Mitsuki persisted.

"They were in the same class," Principal Nedzu said reluctantly, "but I would ask that you concentrate of your son's recovery right now. He really is going to need all the support you can give."

"We agree." Masaru was glad the discussion was coming to an end. "Can we see our son now, please?"

"Of course," the principal said, indicating the man beside him. "Aizawa will escort you to the infirmary."

Aizawa stood up gracefully, nodded once, and then tilted his head toward the door in an indication for them to follow him.

They made it nearly to the door—the signs and arrows to the infirmary were quite clear, thankfully—before Mitsuki's anger boiled over.

"And where the hell were you when my son was accidentally killing someone?"

Aizawa stopped walking and turned to face them. His expression was less emotionless than he'd shown in the meeting, but Masaru was still finding it hard to get a read on the teacher.

"I am aware this is a very traumatic event for everyone, even for those of us who weren't directly involved." He sighed softly. "Situations like this are thankfully rare, but hero work is dangerous and tragedies like this one do happen, even in the best schools and training programs." He gave them a sad smile. "I'm sorry that Bakugo is learning this lesson so early in his career, but I can't stress enough how much support he will have. Even if he decides he no longer wants to be a hero, at UA he is surrounded by people who understand what he is going through because we have all, at some stage in our careers, experienced the same. Being a hero is about helping people, doing our best to save them, but that doesn't mean people don't get hurt."

"Thank you, Aizawa," Masaru said, squeezing his wife's hand once again. "Can we see our son now, please?"

Aizawa dipped his head in a small bow and then turned and knocked on the door labeled INFIRMARY.

~*~

"Take a seat, Yagi," Nedzu said as the skinny form of his friend stood warily in the doorway the Bakugos and Aizawa had just exited. "We have a few things to discuss."

"Yeah, we do," Yagi agreed as he wiped blood off his chin. It was obvious that this situation was aggravating his injury.

"I'm assuming that ingesting Midoriya's DNA was an attempt to reclaim One for All."

"It didn't work," Yagi admitted quietly. "Nothing has changed."

"That is unfortunate," Nedzu said. "At least knowing that some good came from it may have made explaining your actions to the students a little easier. I admit that denying that one of my teachers is a cannibal is unlikely to be believed when the footage—that was being watched by the rest of 1A—shows your actions very clearly."

"I panicked," Yagi explained in a soft, broken tone. "And all I could think about was 'what if All for One is still alive?' We never found his body. Even with half his head caved in it's possible he managed to survive."

"I suppose anything is possible," Nedzu admitted. He'd considered the likelihood himself. "But this situation does create yet another problem we need to deal with." Nedzu steepled his fingers together and tapped his chin gently as he thought it through. "You've been quite secretive over the years about the full extent of your quirk. It is possible that we could pass this off as a super-secret part of it. Perhaps as a way for you to 'relive' the last few moments of someone's life."

"I guess it could work," Yagi said dejectedly.

"Students don't sign non-disclosure agreements until they start their internships in a few weeks—and even then they only really cover what happens while on the internship—so we'll need to be careful here. Technically they are free to tell their parents everything about what happened today." He pondered the situation a moment longer, silently wishing that Yagi had better acting skills than just the smiling hero persona he gave to the public. "I suggest explaining your behavior as utilizing a skill you don't want the public knowing about. It will give the children a sense of being an important part of your trusted inner circle and make them less likely to spill details."

"It's worth a try," Yagi agreed.

~*~

"But Mic-sensei, we all saw All Might put a piece of Midoriya in his mouth and chew like he was at a barbeque festival."

"That's not entirely accurate, listener," Mic said, not even able to remember the students' names yet. He'd taught this class a total of once! He was even having a hard time agreeing with his own arguments at this point. He'd seen All Might do exactly what the kid just described. He'd gobbled down a piece of Midoriya like it was his last meal.

Who the fuck let that guy be Japan's Number One hero?

Fifteen minutes later…

The explanation All Might and Nedzu offered was total bullshit! Thank fuck the kids lapped it up with a spoon.

And, oh, yuck, Mic was never using a food metaphor ever again.