Drumming his claws was a habit Nezu had picked up from his time with humans, and it was an effective one compared to something the likes of smoking.
It helped him for instance, to curb his current desire to claw out Ueno's eyes which is a good thing considering he'd likely not survive such an endeavor, their strength quirks or not, he was much smaller and would be easily harmed by any human.
Drumming his claws also was a low-effort intimidation tactic, the continuously tapping of his claws was unsettling to most humans and even to animal-quirked humans.
And drumming his claws was the only form of control he could currently use to contain himself as he watched the protestors block and harass his students at the gate.
Thankfully his older students were helping the younger students get inside without getting to much attention from the protestors but he very much disliked how the reporters that had arrived a few minutes ago began to film the whole thing without even asking for permission.
He flagged the footage so he could ensure those stations would know better than to release what they recorded, including ensuring that those who were so foolish to be broadcasting live were going to be issuing the appropriate apologies for filming minors without consent.
This being said Nezu couldn't distract himself from the reason these protesters were here.
To force him to fire Midoriya and the three boys that were expelled re-enrolled back in their 'rightful' place in the hero course.
Two things that would very much not be happening.
That did not mean there weren't people who wouldn't take advantage of this and try to force Midoriya out regardless of his protests through the board, and the board of directors would likely be on the protestors side as hiring Midoriya was something the board hadn't wanted to do.
Nezu had been able to find a loop-hole so he could go around the board and hire the boy, something that had been seen as quite a slight against them and they made sure to very clearly inform him that they'd be keeping a very close eye on the boy.
Something he hadn't had a problem with at the time even though they hadn't even come at Aizawa with the same level of animosity with the man being much less qualified than Midoriya was walking into it... but this might come back to bite him.
The board would be sure to use this against the boy, one member in particular would lord it over him but he was more worried about how he'd explain to Midoriya about this whole mess, Midoriya had been very defensive over his abilities and clearly didn't take lightly to those insulting him so Nezu feared a confrontation was almost certain to break out.
Something he'd have to inform Midoriya of if he was not already aware of it, not a conversation he was looking forward to either way.
The boy was not someone Nezu wanted to cross even if unintentionally, Midoriya was someone that respected him as a person and he very much didn't want to risk the boy to stop seeing him that way.
He severely doubted someone as loyal as Midoriya would be so easily swayed... but he also wasn't familiar enough with Midoriya to say for certain how the boy would react to a perceived slight against him.
So far he had only had one conversation with the boy one-on-one, and what a lovely talk with him it was, mostly about quirk theory but it was still a far more stimulating conversation than he had had in years.
And having Midoriya shut down on him was not something he wanted to risk.
As outrageous and ludicrous as it might sound, Midoriya Izuku for all intents and purposes could be someone he just might be able to befriend.
The sheer idea of it was something that actively made his brain that usually ran non-stop freeze up, because up until that talk Nezu couldn't even pretend to entrain the idea he could, but as Midoriya seemed to love to do he took Nezu's theories (backed by all of his years knowledge) and happily disproved it through his existence.
And Nezu could not be happier that he was wrong about something.
Ever since he had become something considered 'truly' sentient, he had pondered why he was so different and what did count for true consciousness.
Nezu eventually decided that the traits of sentience were awareness, empathy, and compassion.
He was sure that others would argue with him on those points but as he was once little more than a slightly smarter than average animal Nezu felt he had a bit more understanding of the subject than most.
And one of the reasons he believed this was his compassion for human children, something that his logical mind shouldn't do since the statistics from his quirk stated that it would be much safer for him to retreat from the human world altogether instead of participating in it, but there was this underline need for some form of connection with he knew wouldn't be satisfied by his fellow stoats.
And now that he finally found someone that he just might be able to make a connection with... he wasn't just going to let them take this connection from him, because while he was sure Midoriya would more or less overlook the protest, he certainly wouldn't overlook being fired and Nezu not keeping up his part of the protection.
Of course he couldn't mention that little fact, no that wouldn't help Midoriya's case and he was quite sure Midoriya would not appreciate him blabbing about his problems, especially about such a dangerous one that was likely a very tightly kept secret.
Nezu was still trying to reformulate how to argue for Midoriya to continue on as a staff member when he heard and smelt the boy approaching his office, and unlike with some Nezu allowed Midoriya to knock at his door before calling out to the boy.
"Please come on in Midoriya." Nezu called out choosing to jump down from his chair at his desk and over to the couch, Midoriya peeking his head in eyes aimed at the desk before searching the room, after spotting him Midoriya's shoulder hunched and he fully entered the room not meeting his eyes.
Nezu's ears quickly drooped at this more skittish boy in front of him instead of the boy all to happy to fumbled through other things with him before, he already seemed to have lost some of his ground with Midoriya.
"Sorry for showing up unannounced Nezu-San, but I felt I should at least apologize about what going on outside... " Midoriya told him awkwardly rubbing one of his arms.
Nezu gave a confused chirp, something he normally wouldn't do in front of someone but it would be an excellent way to for him to see how 'human' he was to Midoriya.
Midoriya's cheeks turned red "I know you've seen the protestors outside Nezu-San, and they've been giving the students a hard time, especially once those reporters showed up." Midoriya commented ducking his head.
"Ah, I appreciate what you're trying to do Midoriya but I can assure you there is no need to apologize for this." he replied.
"Yeah, well I was expecting something like this to happen, especially once it got out I was quirkless." Midoriya confessed as he sat next to Nezu rubbing the back of his neck.
Nezu chuffed irately at that, Midoriya shouldn't expect to have to apologize for the reaction of other people to him.
"Now now, Midoriya, I too thought you would get some form of reaction once your employment became public even if I hadn't expected it to happen quite so soon the fault of this wouldn't fall squarely on your shoulders, and given what happened on the first day I should've prepared for the backlash long before now." Nezu insisted giving the boy's knee a pat.
Midoriya smiled at him "Maybe, but considering they're here because of me," Midoriya trailed off somewhat muttering about it.
Nezu smiled "Well I am afraid that I could tell you that they're not but I won't insult your intelligence like that." he conceded folding his paws together.
"Thanks, most people don't... I'm assuming that the Uenos' have already asked you for a meeting about Ueno's expulsion correct?" Midoriya inquired brushing it off.
"Indeed." Nezu commented with a nod.
"Would it be presumptuous of me to ask to be involved in such a meeting? I'm certain Bullet-San would be most understanding if you explained why I'd be absent for a couple of hours." Midoriya requested.
Nezu blinked tilting his head and gave another confused chirp.
Midoriya nervous smile "As I mentioned I somewhat expected it, and after the first day I may have taken the liberty to do some, research on Ueno and his family." Midoriya confessed avoiding looking at Nezu.
"Oh, what kind of research Midoriya?" Nezu asked greatly intrigued, his tail beginning to sway from the unexpected prospect but thoroughly happy to hear it.
Nezu couldn't hold back from contently churning as he waited for Ueno and his uncle to arrive, his tail idly swaying behind him and he had another cup of tea to tide himself over.
The Uenos would be here soon and he had already texted Midoriya and the boy now sat on his couch idly writing away in one of his notebooks, absent-mindedly working on a rabbit chew toy as they both waited for the two to arrive.
Figuring that they had to be on the grounds by now Nezu went to check his cameras and tilted his head when he saw a certain board member escorting the two up, it hardly took two seconds to understand what had happened and he shook his head.
"How predictable... " Nezu commented a touch disappointed in the two.
"They got someone from the board with them?" Midoriya guessed upon hearing him.
Nezu chirped in confirmation.
"Sad, but convenient for us." Midoriya commented and Nezu chuffed at it.
"True." Nezu agreed, his tail picking up in its pace.
It was such an oddly satisfying feeling to have someone on the same wavelength as himself for once, and he certainly looked forward to more conversations and perhaps banter later on.
However the three people were approaching too fast for them to have a proper conversation and Nezu happily called "Welcome! I've been expecting you, please come on in Uenos and Yukuruki-San what a surprise to have you drop by."
Ueno Tanchi, a student from before his tenure and a hero he had the pleasure of not working with so far, and it seemed that was unfortunately going to end today, the man had even made sure to show up in his costume.
Ueno Goro, a rather smug looking boy as he followed his uncle, and lastly Yukuruki walking in alongside Tanchi, the man being one of the more outspoken members of the board against Midoriya.
And the man's smile transformed into a scowl upon seeing Midoriya already there and waiting for them "Surely you wouldn't object to having the accused member of staff here to defend themself, would you Yukuruki-San?" Nezu questioned before he could say anything.
"Naturally." Yukuruki coldly replied as he and the others settled into the three chairs he had prepared for them, Midoriya also moved to one of the chairs.
"I understand you wish to overturn your nephew's expulsion and have the responsible staff member, Midoriya-San here, to be fired for reaching beyond his station as a teaching assistant." Nezu said folding his paws.
"Because he has, as an assistant teacher he doesn't have the right to expel any student, much less a second year and for such a trumpeted up reason." Yukuruki told him.
Nezu began drumming his claws "That is incorrect Yukuruki-San, as I'm sure you know from reading the contract Midoriya-San signed he was explicitly given such permission to expel students from any year given they are proven unfit to remain in the course." Nezu corrected pulling out the copy of the contract he had Midoriya sign.
Yukuruki clearly hadn't given it much attention as Nezu thought he had from how wide his eyes got and how he took the contract to look through it while Tanchi scoffed "You gave a quirkless brat the ability to get rid of students as he pleases? It's bad enough that you hired the damn thing, why would you ever give it even more privileges than it deserves?" the man spat.
Nezu forcefully kept his ears from pressing down or hissing at Tanchi for dehumanizing Midoriya, an issue he was incredibly disgusted with given he himself was not human and had faced quite a lot of it, and he certainly didn't like that this man thought he could do so to Midoriya.
Midoriya to his credit didn't react and simply didn't acknowledge that he had been called an "it" by Tanchi.
"Well Ueno-San, as I'm sure you remember from your time in U.A. we do not tolerate quirkism in any form here, and that includes against staff Ueno-San." Nezu commented managing not to snarl it "And we don't discriminate against any potential new hires, especially not for their quirk or lack there of in this case. I hardly see how Midoriya-San's quirk status plays any part in why your nephew was expelled." Nezu added.
Tanchi face scrunched up with his disgust "Obviously that thing expelled my squirt here because he was jealous over his quirk knowing it'll never be even a fifth of the person he is." Tanchi replied jutting his chin up in his arrogance.
"Well that is factually not the case Ueno-San, while Midoriya-San indeed was the one who filed the expulsion of the three boys, it was backed both by the teacher he was shadowing Bullet Jacker, a woman I believe you remember from your time as well. But the other first year hero course homeroom teacher, both of whom witnessed the 'prank' Ueno-Kun pulled on Togata-Kun." Nezu pointed out.
Yukuruki was about to open his mouth to argue something but Nezu continued before a single word could come out "The expulsion also had the agreement of the other heads about Midoriya-San's decision when it was explained to them, it could've been quite a bit worse than just an expulsion for Ueno-Kun and his friends given their actions." Nezu said.
Tanchi scoffed "It was just a bucket of water, that's hardly anything to get detention over, much less expelled." the man replied rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
At that though caused Midoriya's eyes to snap over to the man, the look in them made his skin prickle and his fur stood up a bit more despite that being the gaze's target.
"Actually Ueno-San, legally speaking if Togata-Kun wasn't so kind, he could have Ueno-Kun and his friends charged with assault at the minimum, manslaughter could also be on the table given the bucket fell from over ten feet and with the weight of it... well if Togata-Kun's quirk wasn't what it was, I think we'd be discussing the length of Ueno-Kun's prison sentence right now." Nezu explained.
He reveled in the abashed looks from both of the Uenos and Yukuruki paled "That's bullshit!" Tanchi snapped back.
"Oh not at all Ueno-San, it is simple physics Ueno-San, your best subject if your grades are anything to go by, Ueno-Kun's as well. A thick metal bucket coming straight down from over ten feet in the air? Not to mention the additional weight of the water? Ueno-Kun was very lucky to not have caved Togata-San's head in. There are people who've died on construction sites from such things after all." Nezu elaborated all but purring as he did.
Nezu was almost disappointed when Yukuruki finally seemed to be clueing in on to just what kind of situation he'd walked himself into, the fact he was completely unable to get himself out of this however was a delicious enough compromise and he let his tail sway behind him.
"Naturally, given the grave nature of Ueno-Kun's offense, we'd have to react in equal kind. I for one thought that simply expelling the three boys with a mark on their record for bullying was being more than fair to them." Nezu commented letting his head fall into one of his paws.
"However, as you've made it abundantly clear Ueno-San this will not do, so I will be more than happy to cooperate with a third party investigation and provide all the records of Ueno-Kun's schooling to give them a proper show of the boy's character." Nezu told them all too gleefully.
"N-now Nezu-San I don't think that would- " Yukuruki tried to say.
"Nonsense Yukuruki-San! The Uenos have made their disagreement with our decision quite publicly clear so our hands are tied, a third party investigation will be looking into the matter and it would reflect very badly on us if we refuse to cooperate to the best of our abilities in such a grave matter." Nezu pointed out and the man got paler.
Tanchi seemed to be donning onto how bad this could be for them but was being purposely stubborn due to his inflated ego "Fine, I'm sure the courts will see that you've unfairly punished Goro." Tanchi said jutting his head up.
"Naturally." Nezu replied chuffing at the man on the inside, knowing that the courts would agree that Ueno-Kun was under-punished if anything.
"But that doesn't change the fact that the quirkless isn't fit for teaching preschoolers, much less the hero course of such a high profile school." Tanchi demanded.
Nezu's tail flicked annoyed which is much better than hissing at them for such an insult against Midoriya, Midoriya was as he countlessly told people over and over again, overqualified for his station of a teaching assistant.
As someone who's had his intelligence questioned repeatedly over the years he could understand Midoriya's offense very intimately, especially since it was the one thing that stood between them and being treated as less than animals.
"As I've explained to Yukuruki-San before, Midoriya-San is anything but unqualified. He holds degrees in Quirk Theory, Teaching, Science, Biology, Structural Engineering. Is a certified translator in JSA, holds a business license and is running many small but profitable shops, E.M.T certified and has passed the bar exam to officially called a lawyer after earning his degree in law, one who specializes in quirk laws in particular." Nezu happily listed off for the three of them.
"As if a husk to really do all that." Ueno loudly scoffed very arrogantly.
Nezu allowed his ears to lower and let his smile curl into something just on the edge of threatening "I have the official government made documents from the various institutions of which he graduated from, Midoriya-San has earned each of these and was tested by the government for his final graduation." Nezu corrected maintaining a polite tone.
"Probably cheated, I doubt it could've actually passed any of that." Tanchi commented rolling his eyes.
Nezu mentally shook his head, and looked over to Midoriya knowing the boy wouldn't remain silent for much longer.
"Funny you should mention cheating Ueno-San," Midoriya said standing up and moving to lean on his desk, taking a folder out of his bag and pulled out a photo "Akira Lolli, Ito Fumi, Yaeko-Ren Gwen, Madame Reiki-" Midoriya began listing off as he placed the multiple photos inside the folder on the desk.
Tanchi jumped to his feet "Stop!" he hissed clearly looking very disturbed while Midoriya merely raised an eye to the man, well Nezu presumed he was since he didn't have the ability to see the boy's face with his back turned to him.
"Where did you-" He hissed at the boy but Midoriya interrupted him by once again revealing a photo to him all but shoving said photo in the man's face.
"Did you know that heterochromia of the eyes is hereditary Ueno-San? To have two cases in the family by random chance is... rather unlikely." Midoriya commented tilting his head and Nezu's grin turned a bit sharper.
Nezu hadn't thought much of the fact Goro and Tanchi have the same green right eye and brown left eye, but then Midoriya showed him a picture of Goro's parents who both have blue eyes, of course after looking at the photo of the supposed 'father' it was only all the more clear that Goro had very little in common with the man compared to his 'uncle'.
"Apologies for not introducing myself proper, My name is Midoriya Izuku, you'll know me better as Deku-Sensei given the heroes were under the mistaken impression that I was an info-broker which I'm not... But I do have some good connections, Geneless husk or not they don't take threats to me very lightly." Midoriya admitted, waving the folder that the Vespas had given the boy.
Tanchi became tense as he regarded Midoriya with a more cautious eye "U.A wouldn't hire someone that is... " the man began to say but Midoriya's expression must have changed.
"Oh Nezu-San is fully aware of all my connections Ueno-San, and he ensured that I could not be fired over them, he made sure it was in my contract after all." Midoriya gleefully told him letting his head hang to the side.
"And if you really think that you could still back down and get off Scott free, let me assure you that those connections of mine aren't the type to forget well, anything." Midoriya added before turning his head to Nezu.
"I believe that covers everything yes Nezu-San? I would hate to waste anymore of your time and keep Bullet-San waiting for much longer with this farce." Midoriya asked.
"Quite right Midoriya-San, unless there is some other issue you have Yukuruki-San? Ueno-San?" he inquired ever so innocently.
Tanchi sputtered clearly flustered by this meeting not going how he expected it to but before he could string together two words Yukuruki jumped from his seat and bowed to Nezu even if it was far too shallow to be anything that would be called other than mocking.
"No Nezu, that is all." Yukuruki tersely said before he quickly got the other two to leave his office.
Nezu waited for a moment before he started barking and chirping.
"Well that was quite entertaining, don't you agree?" he asked the boy.
Midoriya shrugged his shoulders "Maybe, threatening others isn't quite my cup of tea Nezu-San." he answered turning around to face him fully.
Nezu chirped with a nod "Yes, yes. Apologizes Midoriya, but chasing away threats to my kits is a guilty pleasure of mine." Nezu told him.
Midoriya nodded completely understanding "Instincts are instincts Nezu-San, I've told my students as such many times when they do something 'embarrassing'." Midoriya commented unbothered.
Nezu's tail began wagging a touch faster at the boy's words, being placed ever so clearly as an equal to human in the boy's eyes.