Isamu walked through the halls with his head lowered, seeing the edges of the students as he passed them.
He continued to his destination and climbing the next flight of stairs until he came to the door to the roof and pulled out his staff key, he opened the door and let out a breath as he moved over to the small sitting area he and Hara had been using for years.
Isamu took his out his bento and started to pick apart the fried shrimp and fish inside, taking a bite of one or two as he pondered over the events of the past days.
Little more than a week ago the hunt for Deku-Sensei had finally been concluded and he was absolutely nothing like any of them expected him to be.
A quirkless middle schooler was incredibly different from the middle-aged man with any number of quirks attached that could 'help' one be successful.
Though he finally got an explanation for how such an extensive network was built right under their noses.
Good will was hardly a tracked behavior when researching a criminal without prior history already established, something that was not in Deku-Sensei's case file since there had been no mention of genuine charity work by the people they arrested in connection to Deku-Sensei.
A second look by Nezu however had found that the companies related to food and other human necessities had received a major boom in business following the timeline Midoriya had given Nezu.
This charity of Midoriya had led to the major drop in crime, certainly six percent was not an enormous number over all but that was taking all number of crimes as a whole, theft and pick pocketing been reduced to almost nothing at an all-time low of roughly fifteen percent of what it was.
Even the rise of competent villains using Midoriya's teaching was not enough to offset all the good Midoriya was objectively doing, sure there was the few that robbed banks or attacked buildings, but there were also the ones that were more like activists doing petty but attention drawing crimes to bring to light to problems.
Overall, it was a change for the better in his opinion, sure it would be more difficult to catch some villains, but it was a small price for a move towards the better.
Still the idea of Midoriya's work in the districts was interesting, just what was it like to teach groups of various criminals? Naturally Midoriya's students were not all part of a gang or had committed some form of crime, but it would be extremely hard for most people to separate the ones who were from what they had done.
And what about his connections to the Vespas and the Russian Vipers? The Vespas were an easy connection made from his mind's easy ability to break things, mostly quirks and people down but where did the old and powerful Russian Vipers factor in?
Perhaps, he helped some higher members but to what extent? And who for that matter? Because Midoriya was clearly held in exceedingly high regard and the Vipers were willing to kill their own for outing him.
Unfortunately there probably wouldn't be an answer for that one without asking Midoriya himself since the inner working of the Vipers social hierarchy was a very confusing enigma to those outside of the deeper circles in the underground, it was supposedly lead by the Morozov family but it was hard to find good info since the group was mainly ran out of Russia with 'small' branches in other countries.
Isamu was brought out of his musings by the jiggle of the roof's door, and he tilted his head up to 'see' who was coming up, Hara slipped past the door seconds later and walked over to where he was sitting then sat beside him.
"Otouto." she quietly greeted.
"Ane." Isamu replied in return with a slight nod.
She nodded back at him, one of the few ways she could physically express herself if she remembered to, then took out her bento and held her hands over it in prayer with her eyes closed.
Isamu did not have to wait for long for her to finish and he offered her a pair of chopsticks "Have the first years been more troublesome than usual this year?" Isamu inquired.
"No. Brooklyn was an outlier, the rest of the classes are being calmer than usual." Hara answered.
Isamu hummed "Bad news for Shouta then, was hoping that next year's class wouldn't be full of problem children." he commented.
"I thought I was one superstitious one between the two of us, Otouto?" Hara asked and he rolled his eyes.
"You are, but the universe's oddly vindictive focus on Shouta is hard to ignore." he told her, and Hara nodded back agreeing.
"Yes, your... Kouchi does often find himself on the wrong side of luck." Hara conceded.
Isamu did not say anything about how Hara hesitated to call Shouta his Kouchi, there were more important things to discuss than his feelings for and relationship with the man.
"What are your thoughts on Midoriya-San?" Isamu questioned.
Hara did not say anything right away, choosing to finish chewing some rice before answering "He is, holding up more than I expected." Hara answered.
He tilted his head "Oh, how so?" Isamu inquired.
"Midoriya is stressed, but not about work, not quite sure where it's from but it certainly isn't from work. Or the protestors since there weren't any spikes when they were brought up." Hara explained in between bites.
Isamu pursed his lips "Well, working in the districts would bring stress to most." he conceded but Hara shook her head.
"It's not from his work, he's excited or content when it's brought up." she corrected.
"Hm, I suppose. Have you felt anything related to what the data said?" Isamu asked, he was not the most informed on the topic, but he did know that the recent generations of quirkless kids did not have it easy.
Hara took another bite before speaking "His mind is much healthier speaking in that matter, I haven't felt any suicidal impulses or self-harm so far, no shame about being quirkless either." Hara commented.
"That's rare." Isamu responded letting his head tilt back to stare at a bird circling above them.
"Yes, it is, especially at his age." Hara added before moving on to the noodles inside and a soft slurp as she ate them.
Isamu also took a moment to eat a bit more before asking "What about our co-workers?"
Hara's eyes became half lidded "Ryo-Kun, Kan, Kayama and Yamada are, concerned about him. Kan because of his pain tolerance and the other three because of what Izuku has said to them." Hara told him.
Isamu raised an eye at that "Midoriya might not have those kind of impulses or active thoughts, but he used too from what I overheard from Yamada and Kayama whispering about in a corner, and Ryo-Kun simply told me about his concerns with Midoriya's... 'familiarity' of losing his students to tragedies." Hara continued to say.
Isamu let his head hang at that as he pondered the thought.
"He's probably lost more than we'll ever know." Isamu stated.
"Indeed, Otouto." Hara agreed.
"So, you approve of him Ane?" Isamu guessed and she turned to him "As a teacher." he clarified.
Hara turned back to her lunch "He's been a, positive influence so far, Miyake and his friends are the most taken with him so far." she answered, and Isamu nodded with a hum.
"That would make the most sense, Miyake used to be tutored by Midoriya in middle school and would therefore be far accepting of the boy as someone well informed." Isamu mused letting his head fall slightly to the side.
"And if Miyake does something the rest of his class will follow if they haven't already." Hara commented and Isamu nodded.
Class 2-A was trying to be more discrete about it but it was clear to everyone that Miyake was unquestionably the 'leader' of the class, sure he wasn't the president of even the vice but all of his classmates could see he had the best instincts for heroics, however the kids were hardly stealthy about it even if it didn't happen as much with them becoming more confident.
"Shame 2-B doesn't have someone like that, can you still pop in on them?" he inquired, and Hara let her head fall back as she looked up to the sky thinking.
"Yes, you're still worried about them?" she answered, and Isamu hummed lowly.
"Considering we still don't know the depths of the bullying Togata-Kun faced I'd like to know whether there are any other outliers we should be worried about." Isamu responded.
"Fair enough." she conceded and the two of them fell into a lull of silence as they finished their respective meals.
"Speaking of concerns," Hara said and he hummed back in acknowledgement "How is Oswald holding up?" she asked.
"Ah," Isamu commented "The boy is still troubled, Ryo hasn't been able to dig up what yet though Ryo is fairly certain that it isn't related to his family issues." he explained with a bit of a wave of his hand.
"Are you still planning to use your license to foster the boy?" Hara questioned.
Isamu leaned away from her with a tense hum, he had been considering it and though Ryo could not say anything detailed about Oswald's home situation he knew it was not good since Ryo informed them that the boy would prefer to go by his first name.
Plus, the student files were easy enough to look through.
As for choosing to foster him well he was as good as any other option on the staff, and it wasn't the first time the staff had to foster/adopt a student do to an uneasy home life, but Nezu had allowed it to happen far more often than previous principals according to Haruki-San.
Well Ryo could not unless he wanted to stop being Oswald's counselor and start a hunt for a new one.
"I plan to approach him later today about it, I don't know if he'll accept but I believe he'd benefit from knowing he has another way out." Isamu finally answered.
Hara stared at him before facing forward again "I see, well you do have the space for him at least, would you be switching over to desk work if he accepts?" Hara inquired as she tidied up.
"For the first month I think I will, to evaluate so to speak. Oswald is almost an adult and wouldn't need as much attention as a toddler would so I might be able to go back to light duty earlier than that." Isamu mused.
"Well, I hope all goes well if you Otouto." Hara stated before standing and moving to leave him up on the roof by himself.
Isamu exhaled and leaned backend risked a glance at the sky, flinching as the light burned his sensitive eyes but managed to see some blue before ducking his head and covering his eyes with both hands.
Shortly after school ended for the day Isamu walked across the grounds towards the P.E grounds knowing he would find Oswald and his friends.
Indeed, there were the six who were working on their quirks on the field aside from Togata who was doing laps like he had for every other after school.
He waited on the side for a few seconds for one to notice him, surprisingly it was not Miyake that saw him first but Hado as she worked on her double jumping, she had turned in his direction and squeaked "Ah! Master-Sensei what are you doing here?" Hado exclaimed as she made a wobbly landing, arms swinging to keep her balance.
Amajiki, Miyake, Oswald, and Haya stopped to look at him clearly confused about why he was "Apologizes for interrupting, but I can borrow Oswald for a few moments?" Isamu asked sliding his hands into his pockets.
Miyake and Hado both tilted their heads while Amajiki and Haya glanced back at the pinkette, Oswald huffed and tsked grabbing a water bottle and sulked over to him "Yeah, yeah whatever, let's just get this over with so I can get back to training." Oswald gruffly said clearly annoyed at being interrupted.
"It will be quick." Isamu assured following Oswald over to the nearby equipment shed and the boy sat down on a bench before tilting his head back to chug about half the bottle.
Isamu waited for the boy to finish before he spoke, he would rather not risk the boy choking on the water no matter how small a chance it was.
"So," Oswald started wiping at his mouth after he pulled the bottle away from his mouth "What's this about Sensei?" the boy questioned.
"Oswald, you're aware that most of the staff are trained heroes, myself included, correct?" Isamu asked back and the pinkette scowled back at him.
"Yah." Oswald replied irate.
"So, you understand the reason for why I want to know if you feel safe at home Oswald." Isamu commented.
Oswald's scowl got bigger and he tsked jutting his head up "It ain't paradise but it ain't a complete doghouse either Sensei." Oswald told him, leaning back and away from him, his voice a touch more clipped as he said it.
Isamu blinked, Oswald's defensive deflection almost exactly parroting Shouta's back in the day, not word for word mind you but certainly close enough to see why Nemuri called him the pastel punk Shouta always wanted to be deep down.
"I see, so you wouldn't be interested in becoming a ward of U.A?" Isamu drawled letting his head fall to the side.
Oswald's head snapped up to him "Wha- The fuck are you talking about?" Oswald questioned.
Isamu hummed back "As I'm sure you know, when your parents signed the paperwork for your enrollment into U.A. they gave us, the staff as a whole partial custody of you." Isamu mentioned "And if we were to determine that one of our students wasn't safe at home, we could legally remove said student from the home and they'd be fostered by one of the staff, barring the counselors." he explained further.
Oswald's eyes bore holes in him "Are- are you serious?" the boy asked, and Isamu nodded.
"Very, of course your parents would have the right to take us to court for guardianship, though they rarely win giving students are legally old enough to voice which 'parent' they wish to stay with." Isamu admitted.
Oswald was still staring at him.
"And that extends to students who voice they don't feel safe at home either, do keep that in mind Oswald." Isamu added before turning on his heel and left the boy to think about it without him looming over him.