Sometimes, you see things that are both funny and sad. MHA's manga ended recently, and I did read it and while I had my issues with how things got to that point, I did like the ending. But for some reason, people are either purposely misreading it, or are just upset it didn't go how they wanted and are making the dumbest claims. I won't say what, as that would spoil it, but I will say one should have seen the Reddit last week, oh boy was it salty.
"Text" – Normal speech
'Text' – Thought
" Text" – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world
" Text " - Attacks
" Text " – Radio/Communication lines
" Text" – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 16: The Theory of Heroes
"Evening, guys. Sorry that it took so long." Aoyama greeted them as he unlocked the door to their apartment, having noted the rest were still present after hearing them chat.
"Aoyama, you nearly missed dinner!" Uraraka waved at him from the couch, the rest greeting him with a wave or words as he closed the door behind him and went to replace his shoes with some slippers.
"We saved you a plate." Tetsutetsu pointed towards a covered bowl and glass of water, Iida and Midoriya were busy in the kitchen cleaning the rest of the dishes.
"Thank you." Aoyama smiled as he walked in and took a free spot. Hagakure handed him the food, but as she did so, she noticed something.
"Hey, where's the stuff you had to get your mom?" She asked him, with Jiro and Kamakiri also paying him attention, but the French man merely shrugged.
Whipping out a handkerchief, he explained himself while he tucked it into his collar to keep his shirt clean. "They'll be delivering it. I just needed to make sure that the details were all in order and confirm it was the right thing." With a quick prayer, he started to eat his meal, which was lukewarm, but he could accept that.
"Couldn't they have done that over the phone?" Jiro asked, but this time it was Ojiro who tapped his chin in thought.
"I don't know, I've ordered stuff before and been surprised when I saw it with my own eyes." He had enough bad experiences with ordering workout equipment to know that it wasn't always as advertised.
"The magic of filters and lighting," Midoriya said from the kitchen, with Aoyama only speaking again when the news switched back to a familiar story, though now it seemed like they had more details.
"What's this?" He asked, playing the fool.
"There was some incident at the train station, they think it was a bombing," Iida explained to him, that the TV had been put on mute a while ago thanks to the group falling into a deep discussion about their prospective electives.
"I thought I heard a blast, but I didn't give it much thought." Aoyama mused, which was technically true as he hadn't been present for the blast, and only went to investigate when he noticed the heroes heading that way. "I thought it was some rowdy students."
Iida looked appalled by the very idea. "Of course, it couldn't have been! U.A. students would never be so reckless!" Hagakure and Tetsutetsu chuckled to themselves at that, as like Aoyama and Midoriya, they knew that U.A.'s party scene could be insane.
"You wanna bet?" Kamakiri asked him, which led to Iida and Kamakiri getting into an argument would one could boil down to what the other saw as a fun way to spend a week-end. As the argument turned into a debate that dragged in others, Midoriya dried his hands and returned to the living room, taking a seat close to Aoyama who watched the situation with a smile.
" About the mission, any difficulty?" Izuku asked those that heard that merely assuming they were having a regular conversation, one that they decided to have in French for their reasons.
" None, though there is more that we need to discuss, not now, however," Yuga replied, Iida was too absorbed in his debate to even notice them speaking, so he missed the exchange.
When the next day rolled around, the school year had officially begun. Unlike high school, there was no homeroom as students were merely expected to show up for first period, despite this relatively lax approach to things, Midoriya was up bright and early at 6 am, same with Aoyama and even Tetsutetsu and Kamakiri who waved at from their balcony.
How could they not be so excited that they were up 2 hours before they had to be in class? They knew that the four classes before lunch were compulsory, but not only had nearly all the lecturers they made left an impact on them, but one of them was All Might himself, whose class happened to be first period. After they both showered and had a hearty breakfast, the two were off, beaten to the bus stop by Tetsutetsu and Kamakiri who looked just as excited as them.
"Iida sent me a message a while ago, he said he's already on his way to class and should be there in 10 minutes." Midoriya started the conversation as they waited for the early morning bus.
"And the others?" Tetsutetsu asked, to which Kamakiri scoffed, grabbing his earphone case.
"Pretty sure Ojiro and Hagakure are still asleep, and Jiro and Uraraka's status hasn't changed since last night," Kamakiri explained as he opened them up and placed them on, before reaching for his phone to listen to something.
"They better be there on time," Tetsutetsu replied as it wouldn't be a good look if they were late on the first day.
"We're early risers, Tetsutetsu. They still have plenty of time to wake up and get ready." Aoyama reminded them as a glance at his watch, a rather expensive piece his family got while in Switzerland, showed that it was a quarter to 7. The place was a college town through and through, so one could be living in the furthest dorms and still make it to the main campus in less than 15 minutes if they caught the bus or train.
"Never thought I'll be this pumped for a law lecture, but if All Might's giving it, it's gonna be so frickin manly!" Tetsutetsu's concern washed away as he thought about their coming class, only for their phones to all let out a ping as they got a notification in their group chat. Tetsutetsu was the first to look it over.
The Boulder: Never thought I'll be excited for a law lecture, but All Might's gonna make it so frickin mainly! – 07:46 am
"What the heck?" Tetsutetsu looked, dumbfounded at his phone.
"Do you two happen to share the same brain?" Kamakiri asked.
"What? No! I said it first!" Tetsutetsu yelled back before furiously typing away at his screen, Midoriya looking at his phone and following the conversation that followed.
Steel Shark: Yeah man! But I said that first! You can ask the others! – 07:48 am
Riot Blade: Is this really something worth fighting about? You two are the same, we get it. – 07:48 am
The Boulder: We're not! – 07:49 am
Steel Shark: We're not! – 07:49 am
Shining Ray: Do you realize he's messing with you, don't you gentlemen? – 07:50 am
Deep Vicious: Do you morons have any idea how early it is? – 07:50 am
Deep Vicious: Some of us wanted to catch a little more sleep – 07:50 am
Iida: Jiro, it's a school day, you should already be up and getting ready for class! – 07: 51 am
Midoriya smiled at the screen, both at how Jiro was woken up by her phone beeping with each message sent, and the fact that Iida didn't choose any nickname for himself and put in his real name. It fits with the type of person he was. "I have a feeling that she and Iida are going to argue about that all the way to class." He stated as he placed his phone away, and sure enough, he felt it vibrate in his pocket while Tetsutetsu continued to text.
"Just do what I did, and mute the chat. And right on time, our bus is here." Aoyama shrugged as the bus turned the corner, coming to a stop before them with a loud hiss of its air brakes. As the doors smoothly opened up, Midoriya looked back towards their apartment complex, yet saw no one.
"Guess Ojiro and Hagakure would need to wait for the next one." He thought aloud as he followed the rest and got on, the doors closing behind him. The driver gave them all a nod before he put the vehicle into gear and started to pull away from the curve.
"Waaaiiit!" Midoriya and the rest heard someone yelling, looking out the window, they saw Ojiro and Hagakure scrambling down the stairs of the apartment towards the bus stop, Ojiro chugging at a thermos all the while as Hagakure continued to yell. "Stop the bus, we're here, we're here!" Kamakiri raised an eyebrow at this but alerted the driver anyway, the man being bemused by this as he slowed the bus to a stop in the middle of the road, something that would be a traffic violation but with the street empty, it was a harmless offense.
With the bus waiting for them, the two managed to get to it, huffing from their frantic rush as the doors opened for them to crawl aboard. "Thank God…we…we nearly missed it." Hagakure breathed out, slumped on the side while Ojiro finished his drink, the smell of caffeine thick in the air thanks to it.
"Sorry we…late…alarm…didn't…go….off," He nodded at the driver in apology, the man laughing and telling him he shouldn't start a habit as the man closed the doors and started on their way again. "Hagakure woke me up by chance." Ojiro gestured to his roommate who had snagged the vacant seat next to Tetsutetsu.
"I was already near done and noticed he hadn't gotten out of his room." She explained that she had found it odd that someone who seemed as disciplined, at least compared to her, would not be up bright and early on their first day. He had even gone to bed a solid hour before she did. Imagine her surprise to knock on his door and find him still asleep.
"Maybe you should invest in a couple of extra clocks then. Hagakure might not always be around to cover for just the one." Midoriya advised as he and Aoyama had 3 clocks each, and a spare in the hallway between their rooms. Did it make it a pain in the morning when all 7 went off simultaneously? Yes, was it effective? Also yes.
"Noted."
"Morning everyone, it's good that you all have arrived as early as I have!" Iida marched up to them as they entered their lecture hall, most of the seats being empty thanks to how early it was. The group had already met up with Kirishima outside as his train had arrived moments before they did, after which he and Tetsutetsu proceeded to argue about who said the All Might first almost the entire way here.
"Morning, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Monoma, Yanagi, Tsuburaba." Midoriya greeted him along with the other two present, one was in her seat reading a book on…chemistry? Weird but he's seen weirder, the other was gazing out the window, pausing to look their way and return the greeting before he went back to bird-watching.
Yanagi was writing something in her book while Tsuburaba had his head on his folded arms, only Yanagi acknowledged their greeting with words as Tsuburaba only grunted with a half-hearted hand-wave.
Yaoyorozu placed a marker in her book and closed it before addressing them with a polite, refined smile. "Morning to you all, I hope that you all have a good night's rest, no late-night shenanigans?"
"Shenanigans?" Hagakure wondered about that word choice.
Aoyama had similar curiosities but didn't make that known as he bowed towards Yaoyorozu. "None to report, my lady. We merely met for dinner and some conversation after classes yesterday, but things ended around 8." The girl let out a soft, brief laugh at his mannerism, one which made Midoriya wonder if she was from the same circles that the Aoyamas frequented.
Iida nodded at Aoyama's assurances. "That is correct, I was back in my dorm room by 8:24 on the dot, and in bed by 9." He started, with Monoma turning to them at that, a haughty smile on his face.
"Come now, wasn't a curfew of 9 a tad bit extreme? I'm sure you went to bed late quite a bit during your high school years, no?" He asked, to which most of the group nodded, even Midoriya and Aoyama though while they did have late-night study sessions from time to time, or just stayed up late goofing off on the weekends, there were times when they were busy well into the early morning on the hunt.
"Of course not! Students such as us require a full 8 hours of sleep to rest our minds as much as our bodies!" Iida chopped his hand towards Monoma so fast one could be forgiven if they thought his quirk wasn't just in his legs.
Monoma laughed at Iida's assertion, all while Todoroki walked in, took in the scene, and didn't say a word as he went towards his desk. "Not even when exams came around? I remember I was going to bed like midnight most days last year to make sure my grades were up to snuff."
"He's right, it can be daunting facing exams when they can lead to great success or a terrifying abyss. In my final year, I spent many nights burning the midnight oil to ensure my academics wouldn't hamper my dreams." Yanagi agreed with him, which only left Iida flabbergasted at such.
"Especially during exams, else you run the risk of being drowsy during them or heaven forbid, falling asleep!" Iida scolded them, with Ojiro letting out a quiet laugh.
"I have a feeling that if he heard most of us crammed our asses off in high school, he would have a stroke." He noted, but softly enough that Iida didn't hear it as the man marched over to Monoma and Yanagi to continue the conversation, the white-haired girl needing to cease her drawings to better engage him.
"I do have to agree with him," Yaoyorozu looked at both sides of the room, only now noticing Todoroki but not addressing that. "One shouldn't make a habit of cramming, as you're less likely to retain the knowledge after the fact and could find yourself in a pickle should you need that knowledge later on."
"That's what the internet is for." Hagakure chuckled, looping an arm around Kirishima's shoulders, with the boy giving a thumbs-up which had Yaoyorozu sighing at the response. Still, things continued like that, with conversations becoming less charged and switching to other topics, like holidays they took, things they wanted to do, and hypotheticals. All while others walked in.
They were right in the middle of one when Jiro and Uraraka dragged themselves in, 10 minutes before the bell was set to ring.
"Morning, Jiro!" Midoriya waved at her, with Jiro's tired glare sharpening when she caught sight of them, locking into Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, both of whom felt like she had less than heroic thoughts relating to them at the moment.
"Screw you guys, I wanted to sleep." She muttered as he walked in, dumping her bag by her desk, while Uraraka followed, the girl looking like she needed a nap, but in a much better mood than her fellow latest arrival.
"So did I." She yawned as she gave Hagakure a good morning hug and a good morning fist pump to both Ojiro and Kamakiri.
"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to it, ladies. I can't speak for all of us, my it would appear that Midoriya, Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, and myself are early risers." Aoyama told them both, gesturing to the mentioned names.
"Got it, I'll mute my group chat before I go to bed," Jiro replied, which got some laughs from them, even the sleepy Uraraka.
'They tricked us.' Midoriya thought to himself, the class having started half an hour ago, the mood being high in the lecture hall as even Kaminari and Kaibara, who rushed in right before the bell rang couldn't hide how excited they were for All Might to teach them, the man himself arriving in style.
Before he spent the next 30 minutes going through the law like any other class they've been in. Midoriya saw that some were struggling to stay away because of how dry the lesson was. 'He doesn't look right when he's just standing there.' He thought to himself as All Might's face was professional, that was a way to call it, his smile gone and the energy he normally carried having gone with it.
"Sorry about that!" The class jolted to full attention as All Might tossed the textbooks he was reading to the side. "But we need to take the good with the bad when it comes to life, especially life lessons." He let out that familiar booming laugh, energizing them once more.
"But let's move onto something else, we've gone over the basis of what a hero does and what powers they have, so let's try and use that in a scenario." He suggested, leaning against the podium as he looked over the hall of students. "Tell me, does anyone know the definition of corruption?" Several people raised their hands.
"Yes, Honenuki." All Might picked out one of them, the rest lowering as Honenuki stood up to speak.
"Do you mean in the sense of heroes?" He asked, to which All Might clarified.
"Mainly yes, but also in terms of law enforcement and government in general, young Honenuki." Honenuki nodded before he gave his answer.
"Well, it would be when dishonest behavior or insincere actions are committed in violation of one's actual duties, often for personal gain." He stated, with All Might giving him a big smile and confirming he was right, once he sat down, Hagakure was the next person to raise her hand, who All Might picked out to speak.
"So, it's the result of greed?" She asked, with All Might shaking his head.
"That is a common reason, but there could be others like pride or fear." He explained, which confused some people.
"Fear? Why would someone break the law and their oaths for that?" Kirishima asked, forgetting to raise his hand but All Might didn't mind he was happy that the class seemed much more engaged than they had been moments prior.
"Well, what if someone approached you as a hero and told you they had information about an incident you wouldn't want to get out, and threatened to release it if you say, patrol around the docks later that night like you normally would?" All Might gave a hypothetical, with the students filling in the blanks for themselves over what that information could be.
"Isn't that blackmail?" Kinoko asked, as he was pretty sure she had heard of the concept before, it happened a lot in dramas and shows they watched though it was commonly some secret lover the character in question had or an affair they had.
"Correct, young Kinoko!" All Might praised her, getting her to blush a little before he moved on. "The other point would be ego, as some might be blinded by ambition and end up committing actions that they should never have even entertained as a possibility."
"Wait, wait-why would a hero break the law to uphold it?" Ashido asked.
"It seems contradictory." Shishida agreed with her.
"It's not impossible." Todoroki drew the attention of the class, the boy's frown a little more prominent than normal. "It can happen."
All Might suspected that he might need to speak with the boy after this, as that wasn't an expression he liked. "Young Todoroki is right. Sometimes people can lose sight of why we call ourselves heroes. They might not even see their actions as evil, but corruption is corruption and must be identified and uprooted before whenever possible."
All Might had plenty of experience with this part, especially from his early days when a certain devil was still active. Too many pros lost themselves either to trying to capture him or the glory of taking him down and ended up little better than villains themselves. It pained him that 2 of his old classmates were no exception to it.
Yaoyorozu raised her hand, pulling him from that memory. "Pardon me, All Might, but what does this have to do with being a hero?" She asked once he pointed her out.
All Might smiled all the while. "Remember what I told you yesterday? A hero's job is to protect the people."
"Of course, if that means fighting villains, then we do so, but being a hero also means confronting corruption wherever we see it. In the examples given, a pro could be blackmailed, well keep an eye on the behavior of your fellow pros, make sure they're not compromised." He explained to them, that even if pros were caught up in such messy affairs, they weren't the only ones operating in an area.
"If you find evidence, or have reason to suspect. You need to report it to the commission. The same with law enforcement." All Might added, with many nodding their heads, Iida, in particular, sitting straight as a rod in his seat, his eye looking over the room almost like he was already tracking any odd behavior. A bit early, but All Might liked the enthusiasm.
"Then there is the other kind of corruption, one I believe to be one of the if not the worst kind. Can any of you guess what it is?" All Might asked them all, the class looking at one another, none knowing the answer or thinking that All Might had spoken about corruption as a whole, so wouldn't he hate all parts of it?
"Government corruption?" Tokage raised her hand.
"That's incorrect?"
"Large-scale bribery?" Midoriya was the next one, to which All Might shot that down as well.
"Wrong as well." The symbol of peace told them, looking over the room to see if they had other takers, but they had none so he decided to tell them. "It's the corruption of purpose."
"Of purpose? Can you explain?" Tokoyami asked him.
When All Might turned to address him, Tokoyami felt something in his shift, as while one could hardly make out All Might's eyes these days, he could see those piercing blue orbs staring into his very soul. "Young Tokoyami, would you say following the law is just?"
"Well," Tokoyami started, looking at others who shrugged, or waved for him to continue, they wouldn't step into this. "I believe so, that is what we're taught." He answered, trying to give himself an out as he did so.
"So you would say that a way to be an effective hero would be to follow and uphold the law?" All Might asked him, emphasizing the you part, making it clear that he wanted what Tokoyami believed, not what he was told to believe.
Gulping, the raven-haired boy replied as honestly as he could. "Not necessarily, but I can understand why someone would do such a thing."
"And why is that?" All Might pressed.
"Because the law, like heroes, exists to protect the people and give us guidelines on society to function." He replied, using what All Might had told them the previous day as a basis for it.
"But what if those laws prevent you from acting in a crisis? Even if not a crisis, what if the law called for you to do nothing?" All Might asked him, which killed his response in his throat.
"Well, I would act, screw the law!" Kamakiri replied for him, passionately standing to his feet as Iida did the same if only to scold him.
"Kamakiri!"
All Might raised a hand and silenced the argument before it could begin, nodding towards Kamakiri once both boys sat once more. "He's right. Make no mistake, I'm not telling you to go be vigilantes, in fact, I would argue that such a path would only hamper you, but if you see someone in need, you move to help them." It sounded simple, he had been told time and time again that the real world didn't work like that.
But his mentor, she told him that sometimes all a hero could do was be simple and force the world to act accordingly. As a world where doing the right thing could be called the wrong move, that was a world in danger of being lost, at least that was how she put it. He had followed that idea his entire career, he had gotten as far as he did because of it, and he was proud of it.
"There was a case, early in my career that had me do just that." All Might mused, thinking back to earlier days, to a younger him, one that still had a weight on his shoulders but it was much lesser than it was now. A time before he was the Symbol of Peace, the world's strongest hero, and was just Yagi Toshinori, a young but promising hero who decided to take on the burden that was the name All Might.
"What was that?" Tetsutetsu asked.
All Might chuckled, as the incident seemed so funny with hindsight, though a younger him would beg to differ. "Back when I was in the States, I had only been there maybe…a couple of months, and I saw a couple walking. But one of them had a look to them like they were scared when they looked at me, their eyes said help me, so I did." He explained.
"I didn't have any evidence, yet I pulled them away. Turns out the person I left was the child of the state governor and they threatened to deport me, even file charges to see my Japanese hero license revoked." David had been quite furious with him at the time, mainly due to how many angry phone calls they were getting and how even the university threatened to cancel his student visa.
"Oh, I know this one! Her dad was this super popular politician and business guy, but thanks to you, they managed to discover that she was involved in the drug trade!" Tsunotori jumped to her feet, as this was a real popular story back in the States and something her favorite hero, Star and Stripes, loved to talk about when it came to how she handled herself.
All Might crossed his arms, a frown marking his face. "And that took days, all the while, her boyfriend clamped up, even said during questioning that he wasn't scared. But the rule of law, we should have let the issue drop there, but we didn't. We fought against their accusations, and worked hard to find the evidence we needed, but that all started because a younger me saw someone in need, and helped them." He made a lot of enemies then, but he also made a lot of friends.
He saw a few take his words to heart, though others still looked hesitant about the idea that one would need to bend the rules to such an extent, or instead they deliberated the situation he was in and how they could use it to further their judgment. Of course, it was all mere theory at this point, and he could go on and on about it, but this was something that only practical experience could get them to understand his point.
"You're all young, so I don't expect you to be capable of this, but through your time here at U.A. and in the experience you'll gain as pros, I hope that you'll learn to trust your gut, and always remember what I'm teaching you here." All Might told them, finishing with a laugh that had them cheering along with him,
"Now, can anyone tell me about the Wayne convention?" All Might asked, and this time, there was more of a response from the students as several hands shot up, the mood so high that they were able to get through the rest of the class without issue.
When the bell had gone off, there were groans from the students who wished to continue. "Dammit, can't we finish the debate first?" Kaminari whined as All Might laughed as he pressed a button on his podium, clearing the board of the points they had written down about the legal pros and cons of having the police be the ones to handle arrests, though not before saving it for later.
"We'll continue this tomorrow but don't forget that I want you to study everything from pages 3 through 18, it will be essential for later!" All Might told them all as they started packing their stuff.
"Yes, sir!" The class replied before they got up and left for their next class. It wouldn't be a long trip as while U.A. had some insanely massive grounds, the type that could fit entire scale model cities and test sites for its students, they did their best to bunch stuff related to the same course together, or just put them into the same building as they'll just need to either take one of the 8 elevators, or the stairs up a couple floors to their next class.
"Whose next?" Uraraka asked as their group left All Might's class, the man pulling out his phone to answer a text or something.
"It's drama with Midnight," Ojiro replied, thinking back to how Midnight had…left an impression on them, which made a few of them blush as they could only imagine how she'd conduct her class.
"Come on then, there's no time to lose!" Mineta raced ahead of them, joined by Kaminari and Awase which had Kamakiri rolling his eyes.
"Someone's eager." The heteromorph noted.
"Pretty sure it's just a certain part of him that's eager. I'm more looking forward to Snipe's stuff before lunch." Jiro replied as they walked down the passage, the early morning sun bathing the path with warm light, which along with the cherry blossoms still in bloom, and the birds chirping as they flew around outside the window created a rather peaceful atmosphere.
"Not Eraserhead?" Aoyama asked her, to which she playfully elbowed him in the side.
As he pretended like she had dealt him a mortal wound, and fell on Ojiro to support him, she snarked back. "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to being run into the ground by him."
"But that just means we'll come out even stronger!" Kirishima didn't agree with her, as he was rather pumped by the idea. Scared, but also pumped.
"Yeah man, and that'll make us even better heroes!" Tetsutetsu agreed with him, the two clasping hands together with eager smiles on their faces, their sharklike teeth on full display.
"Aside from field training, I'm also excited about what Midnight can teach us. After all, we do need to work on our image if we want to be top heroes." Midoriya added to the conversation, as All Might was the king of PR, a great way he helped bring peace was through his very presence being associated with things just turning out okay, even in the worst of situations.
"Sure, but wouldn't too much be a bad thing. Wash is only a top hero cause he's real popular with kids." Ojiro countered.
"He's a solid pro, you know." Hagakure defended the Laundry hero, to which Ojiro didn't argue.
"Not saying he isn't, but if he acted more like Endeavour, or Yoroi Musha, he'll probably be locked in the 30s range at best." He could recall that most of the Wash-related stuff he had seen was related to kids, from how-to's to good hygiene to programs on TV. Once he turned 10, there wasn't much Wash stuff he could still engage with and not feel like he was in the 2nd grade.
And we're done! I know, I know, not the kind of action you were expecting but they are attending school and while boring, they must have these kinds of moments. They won't be back-to-back or anything like that, but they'll be sprinkled through the story both to slow things down and set the mood, and just explain stuff to the cast in a way that works as teachers tend to be great sources of exposition, so why not use them? Also, there is the fact I can help explore characterization based on HOW someone handles their class, as you must have an idea of the type of person All Might is based on how he conducted his class.
Next chapter should be out on August 26th.
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