"You want me to be a teacher at U.A?" Izuku asked unsure if he had heard Nezu right, because there was no way that Nezu just said what Izuku thought he said and Tsukauchi was equally shocked by the declaration.
"Indeed!" Nezu proclaimed pulling out a large pile of papers from somewhere unknown and lightly pressed them across the table to him "Our hero course Quirk theory and practice teacher is planning to retire this year. I've been looking for someone qualified to replace her and I'd be absolutely delighted to have you take over her position." Nezu elaborated.
Izuku stared at Nezu for a minute then glanced at the papers and saw it was an employment contract and couldn't have been from a snap decision because people don't walk around with employment contracts... Normal people don't, Izuku didn't count.
But Nezu couldn't have had that long to think about it, less than twenty-four hours even if Nezu had started looking into himself right after the broadcast and was happening to watch it, which was a lot of time for someone with Nezu's quirk admittedly but Izuku was sure that Nezu fully thought out the implications of what he was asking of Izuku.
It was bad enough Nezu was asking him to be a teacher at U.A. but to teach the hero course of all things?
"I-I'm hardly qualified." Izuku sputtered and instantly there was a soft almost non-existent change in Tsukauchi's eyes and the detective turned towards him, Izuku noted it for later and forced his attention back to Nezu.
"On the contrary, I believe you are overqualified for this position Midoriya-San." Nezu commented folding his paws on the table.
"You have already have a teaching degree and license so you pass the bare minimum requirements for being a teacher, then there's your years of work in the red-light districts proving that you can not only control an atypical classroom setting but work well under pressure, two things that I consider great boons when selecting new staff members." Nezu pointed out.
"That is true but that doesn't make me qualified for teaching the hero course." Izuku argued.
Nezu gave a soft hum "In most cases no, however, the degrees you've earned and experiences in the districts make you more than capable of taking over as a homeroom teacher for any year of the hero course, which you will double as if you agree." Nezu conceded and Izuku glanced at Tsukauchi's eyes, there was no flash.
"I'm not a hero." Izuku countered crossing his arms.
"U.A. has a reputation for employing both active and retired pro-heroes but having past employment in the field of professional heroics has never been a mandatory requirement for hero course staff." Nezu replied rather casually with a hand wave.
Izuku frowned "I'd either be the same age or younger than my students at U.A." Izuku told him, pulling at threads at this point.
Nezu made a soft chuffing sound "After talking down and facing some of the biggest names in the criminal underworld dealing with unruly teenagers would be almost child's play for you Midoriya-San." Nezu responded and Izuku hated how right he was.
Having dealt with both Izuku would rather deal with moody teens than trying to break up another turf war.
"I'm quirkless. Regardless if you are the principal or not you have a board of directors to answer to and I severely doubt anyone would willingly approve a quirkless teen teaching the hero course about quirks." Izuku hissed knowing it would be his trump card.
Nezu indeed paused, grin dimming a touch and his ear flicked in time with his tail's irate sway "It will take some convincing I confess, however you don't need a quirk to understand the basics of being a hero, and I have no doubt you'd be able to get others to respect you regardless of you're quirk status." Nezu answered and again there was no color flash from Tsukauchi's eyes.
Izuku sighed leaning forward with his elbows on the table as he rubbed circles on his forehead.
Teaching at U.A. despite his arguments... didn't sound bad, sure going to U.A. as a student was his old dream and he'd be lying if he said that working there wouldn't be a spin off of his original dream he hadn't considered before.
He didn't even have the argument that he wouldn't have time for it because Kurogiri's quirk let him get to and from wherever he was working and back in seconds so he could keep up his work in the districts without it cutting into his new hours at U.A, really the biggest thing would be that he'd have to limit his college hours to the time between semesters, something that would keep him from collecting them like candy probably.
Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose as he realized he was talking himself into it rather than out of it "Okay, okay. Let's say for the sake of argument I was interested in taking that job, what does that have to do with protecting me from All For One?" Izuku asked slightly annoyed at how this conversation got away from him.
Nezu grinned "Given from what I've been told of All For One's tactics he prefers to keep hands off unless absolutely necessary and hardly leaves his place in the shadows, correct?" Nezu surmised.
Izuku nodded, Izuku personally believed there were a few reasons for it though the biggest one was that he treated Japan like a mix of doll house/test grounding and would only get the best results if he wasn't a direct factor, but honestly it'd take a mind reader see inside All For One's head and understand his plans at this point.
"Well then until we can guarantee your full safety by getting rid of All For One for good the most logical course of action would be to put you in a position that wouldn't be easy for him to get to you. And as U.A. teacher your coworkers would mostly be pro-heroes and you'd be quite a well known one in your own right given you'd be the first recorded quirkless teacher of U.A. in the quirk era." Nezu proposed.
Izuku inhaled sharply as he realized Nezu was right, the publicly known teachers were often very well known with the public, and having a young quirkless teacher would be a major stir in and out of the hero community, and being under the purview of Nezu specifically would make All For One's attempts to be rid of him much harder without bring attention to himself.
Nezu had somehow come to the same conclusion for the problem Izuku had been facing since his warning from Raven, and Nezu had found a way to nicely wrap it up without Izuku even asking him to.
That being said Izuku wouldn't rush into this, no he'd talk and confide with his confidants before considering the role and certainly not until after got the Vespas lawyers to look at the contract before him.
"I'll think about it Nezu." Izuku told him taking the papers.
Nezu chirped and passed over a business card "Please do Midoriya-San, regardless of your decision I'd like to hear back from you." Nezu replied happily.
Izuku took the card as well "Right, do you two need anything else from me or do we have anything else to discuss?" Izuku questioned, having his social battery quite drained from being around people outside of the districts.
"No I believe that shall be all for now, unless you have some questions Tsukauchi-San?" Nezu asked.
Tsukauchi, who had been mostly out of it since All For One wasn't as dead as previously believed merely shook his head "No. If we have any follow up questions we'll contact you then for another interview." Tsukauchi said.
"Good, there are things I have to do today. If you'll both excuse me." Izuku told them, standing up and swiftly leaving the station for somewhere private so he could get Kurogiri to send him back to Riya and Mido to talk this out.
Naomasa had found himself rather shaken after Midoriya's interview, it was a tough pill to swallow that the boy hadn't done any crimes but he supposed Midoriya's rule of no crime where he could see would be enough if the more hardcore criminals had gotten help under false pretenses, the boy was smart not infallible.
But it was Midoriya's information of All For One still being alive that left him trembling, Midoriya had only lied about being incapable of teaching heroics so All For One had to be alive, which was quite possibly the worst news he could have gotten.
Thankfully he was able to limit the exposure of Midoriya's interview and he got in contact with Torino-San and Sasaki after he finished work for the day, neither of them objected when he requested to make up with them, they both knew he was going to talk with Midoriya today.
He had met the two of them at Sasaki's agency since it was the safest meeting place in range without fear of being overheard by All For One's minions, he never thought he'd be so thankful for Sasaki and Torino's paranoia but seeing as the bastard was apparently still alive they couldn't take chances.
He didn't need any help from Sasaki's staff to find his way to Sasaki's office and wasn't surprised to find the two men inside and scowling as they avoided each other's eyes "Tsukauchi-San." Sasaki tersely greeted, still sore about him forcing Sasaki completely out of the interview with Midoriya, however he doubted Sasaki would be as collected as Nezu was.
Torino rolled his eyes at Sasaki and Naomasa strongly suspected he would have given him a whack with his walking stick if he was close enough to the man to do it "Well don't just stand there, out with it kid." Torino demanded.
Naomasa hesitated, took a deep breath then said "All For One is still alive."
The room went cold "How?" Sasaki asked for the both of them.
"I... I don't know how he did it specifically but Midoriya-San informed me he was still very much alive and active, and my quirk didn't register a lie." Naomasa replied as he dropped into a chair.
Both men were silent for a second, absorbing that information before Torino tsked "Should've known better, it was too easy to kill the bastard. Probably used some kind of double quirk and an illusion quirk to fake it." True Torino guessed under his breath.
Sasaki frowned staring down at his folded hands "Yes... that is most likely what happened, and I suppose Deku would be in the know about All For One's status given their family." True Sasaki conceded, and not for the first time Naomasa wished his quirk worked to reveal objective truths without prior knowledge.
"I don't think they are Sasaki, when we spoke with Midoriya-San he informed us that he was making strong efforts to avoid All For One and he wasn't lying about it either." Naomasa brought up.
Sasaki's nose scrunched up for a second only to relax a minute later "I suppose I was wrong about Deku being less rebellious than All For One's brother, however just because the two don't see eye to eye doesn't mean they aren't related, did you ask him whether or not he was connected to All For One?" True Sasaki questioned.
Naomasa ducked his head "No, but Midoriya-San has made it clear that he is avoiding All For One because he is quirkless, apparently All For One is responsible for the disappearances and deaths of a large number of quirkless people." Naomasa countered.
Torino's eyes widened at that, his mouth opening then closing "The quirkless? You're certain?" Torino asked.
"Yes, my quirk didn't find any lies and I had a fresh patch on seconds before the interview. Midoriya-San is quirkless and All For One apparently hunts them." Naomasa confirmed with a nod.
Torino looked down at the floor thinking deeply about something while Sasaki was only silent for a moment.
"Hm, I suppose that isn't too surprising, All For One was born during the time of mutant mills and it would only be natural that he'd unfairly hold resentment to the quirkless for what happened to him all those years ago, and likely being first or second generation would make Deku being biologically quirkless far more likely than the with the current population." True Sasaki mused resting his chin on his fingers.
"Oh give it a rest Greenie. The boy ain't All For One's brat, just some lucky schmuck who struck it big in the criminal underworld, another two-bit info-broker." False Torino snapped at Sasaki, Naomasa raised an eye at that but sort of understood, Midoriya was far from a "normal" criminal even if he was one.
Sasaki frowned was about to say something in reply but Naomasa spoke up first before the two ended up fighting "Midoriya-San isn't a criminal, he hasn't committed any crimes and has earned his earned his place through mass charity to the people in the red-light districts." Naomasa corrected.
Both men blinked staring at him "Are you sure?" Sasaki questioned and Naomasa frowned back at him, Sasaki looked away from him realizing who he'd ask "Right, you're quirk yes, yes." True Sasaki muttered.
"As much as I'd love to argue about who or what the boy is or isn't we have much more important matters to deal with, like the son of a bitch still being alive." True Torino stated.
Sasaki cleared his throat "Right... we'll have to tell To- Yagi-San." True Sasaki tensely said.
Naomasa felt his stomach drop at that, Toshinori was running himself ragged as it was and telling him that All For One was alive would only make that worse.
"I know Kid, I don't like it either but we can't leave the zygote out of this, who knows what plans the bastard to do with him." True Torino commiserated with him, a soft tap on his shoulder from his walking stick.
Hey guys, things will slow down with the storyline for a bit.
Mainly as I take time to build relationships between Izuku and the various teachers, I'll still try to add other povs and things outside of UA but it will mainly be about Izuku and the staff for a bit.