Many times, Izuku had to wonder what the Hero course teachers did during the week of the internships.
And now he had his answer.
He stood with Ito-San and Kan-San watching the students running drills on the obstacle course that he helped her and Kan-San put together.
Apparently, they had a general training course for the students that stayed behind and covered the four main branches of hero work.
Lime-light, Underground, Rescue, and Support.
Today was focusing on undergrounders, so he had helped them make a parkour course that would help the students learn the basics of getting around in an urban environment.
So far, the kids were doing decently well, climbing fire escapes, making the jumps between 'rooftops' and going down the rock climb that was supposed to be like a brick wall.
They were about to get the rope swings now and the kids were going to start feeling the burn, and the balance beam they'd run across was definitely going to give them a lot of trouble.
Most of them having trouble as they started the course over again.
Izuku had hoped that the kids would do better, but he guessed that parkour wasn't exactly an average skill.
Still though he thought that most of the kids would be able to at least get through the course about three or four times.
The kids really would need to work on their stamina, even if they weren't going for the underground sector, they would need to work long hours and patrol miles somedays, they couldn't afford to be so easily-winded like this.
The course was only eight-hundred meters after all, that was hardly that long of a run.
And from the looks of it Ito-San agreed with him judging from the way her scowl deepened, she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Enough, enough. All of you brats off of the course!" Ito-San ordered, the five students gladly left where they were at the course and re-grouped in front of her, with some strain to keep themselves upright with how exhausted they were.
Ito-San tsked at them then turned to him, pointing to the course "Deku, show these brats what someone competent looks like on a track like this." she ordered.
Izuku nodded walking over to the beginning of the course and readied himself to run it a few times.
He wouldn't need to warm up for short run, the courses he ran on the Vespa compounds were much more complex and longer.
"You see that pose Deku has? You're almost never going to have the time to take it, more often than not you'll have to turn on your heel." Ito-San told the students, then pulled out one of her guns and shot off a blank round.
Izuku raced forward easily scrambling up the fire escape with ease, clearing the fake roof tops before using the attached gutter to help him slide down the 'building' until he got close enough to the ground to jump off the building.
Unfortunately, Izuku didn't have the legs of the Vespas, so he didn't get the same distance they would've, but he was close enough to the rope swing for him to just need to sprint a few seconds before grabbing it.
And he had enough coordination to fling himself from the rope and land on the balance beam without needing to stop, so he continued to run on forward towards the next obstacle, crawling under the lines of wires he spent an hour setting up.
Ending up at the beginning of the course and started it over again, easily running through it a second, third and fourth time without fail.
For the fifth run though he made sure to 'accidentally' fall when he was supposed to climb down, hearing a few gasps before he caught himself on a windowsill.
Only letting him stop somewhat, a full break would hurt him, but he could make some more resistance, so he fell with less of an impact.
Making sure to push off the building tucking his limbs in and that he had a bit of roll going on when he landed on his side, which was still a bit painful but not that much and jumped back to his feet and dashed for the ropes.
"You see how he fell? That's the best way to fall if you can manage it. If you can, the most important part of it was keeping your head protected and rolling. If you can't then you need to pick which of your limbs is the least important to you in that moment." Ito-San commented as Izuku continued running.
"If you somehow fall from somewhere on high, say thrown out of a skyscraper then for a good part of the fall you should take the skydiver position to make as much drag as you can before tucking and rolling, and don't tense up if you want to keep breaks to a minimum." Ito-San added a moment later.
Ready for his sixth lap of the course he stopped when Ito-San whistled motioning for him to come back "Alright Deku that's enough, get back over here, the kids have seen enough." Ito-San told him.
"Understood Bullet-San." Izuku replied rolling his shoulders then walked on back to stand beside Ito-San, Kan-San offering him a bottle of water.
Izuku nodded his head towards the man in thanks and took a few small sips. He wasn't that thirsty, but the students needed a good example and keeping hydrated was very important.
"Alright you lot, you just watched him run the course five times in half an hour without breaking that much of a sweat, what do you lot have to say for yourselves?" Ito-San questioned, jabbing a thumb at him with her other hand on her hip.
Most of the five ducking their heads, shuffling from embarrassment which kind of made Izuku feel bad.
Izuku wasn't trying to humiliate them, but he would be lying if he hadn't been disappointed that they got tired so easily.
Kage raised their paw hand "Yes brat, you got something to say?" Ito-San asked with a raised brow.
"That we also shouldn't compare ourselves to others." Kage answered.
The other four looking him but Ito-San nodded.
"Good, at least one of you was paying attention for the last twenty five minutes." Ito-San said surprising the students.
"It's hard for most of you younger generations to get it into your thick skulls that you shouldn't be trying to typecast yourself into some random idiot's shoes." Ito-San grumbled crossing her arms.
"Most of you kids know this as the golden era of heroics but us vets rightfully call it the 'ego' era, which was caused by the big buffoon himself." Ito-San told them.
No one needed any extra context to know she was referring to All Might, a month of her classes got most people used to her nick-name for the number one hero.
"There's always been a bit of a 'gimmick' in heroics to market them, how else was the government in the beginning supposed to get the 'first' heroes sanctioned? But it's in the last three decades the marketing of heroes that people have gotten obsessed with it." Ito-San spat, clearly showing her disdain for modern heroics.
"Nowadays heroes are more like walking billboards, acting more like walking advertisements and your 'image' is everything. I'm sure most of you know you can't find a single hero nowadays that ain't got some kind of 'image', brand or personality." Ito-San pointed waving a hand.
Izuku knew she really disliked that part, she complained about it under her breath enough, not that Izuku ever mentioned it.
Mostly because he agreed with her about this being the 'ego' era and not the golden era.
Izuku almost wanted to scoff at the idea, mainly since he doubted a 'true' golden age of heroics would be possible with humans currently.
"One of the biggest problems with this era though is that dumb brats like you are stupid enough to think they need to live up to a bar that doesn't even exist. There's no goddamn 'standard' for how you need to act to be a hero." Ito-San insisted.
"Except for not being a homicidal maniac... or a few very specific types of immoral, most people agree that heroes shouldn't be those things." Izuku softly corrected giving Ito-San a moment to catch her breath.
Ito-San gave him a smack on the back of the head, a love tap really.
He'd been hit harder by children he taught on purpose, it was her way of saying good job without breaking the 'scary' teacher air she liked to keep up.
"Yes, bar the unreasonable you can act however in costume, however some idiots in the lime-light take that to the extreme. The worst of the lot of them being the buffoon that we have as our number one." Ito-San told the class, most of the students not even blinking an eye, Ito-San used him as an example before.
There was a reason he liked working with Ito-San after all.
"All Might ain't the first shiny blonde people have gotten attached to, but he has taken things the farthest when it comes to any hero, and I say that knowing the absolutely rotten hero propaganda that was being produced back when I was your age." Ito-San grumbling said.
"Cause that man promotes running yourself into the fucking ground for your career and neglecting anything else in your life the way he acts." Ito-San explained, and more than one student looked at her, not disbelieving but not taking her word for it either.
Ito-San rolled her eyes.
"I understand none of you civies would realize what I'm trying to tell you, which is why I'm going to explain it to you." Ito-San scoldingly informed them.
"All Might, in his prime according to the daily public records, spent eight hours on patrol every day for ten damn years, four more doing paperwork for the things he got involved with per day, and that's not counting the two hour blocks where he was interviewed with regularly." Ito-San recounted and Izuku nodded his head, which was roughly the right numbers.
"Which meant on average for most of his career, except for the last five years, All Might has been managing his personal life and sleep in roughly ten hours, if that considering he was constantly called in for disasters and traveling the world at the same time." Ito-San detailed for them.
Kan-San chose that moment to speak up, maybe to defend Yagi, maybe because didn't want to just stand there like a log.
"Now, do keep in mind that All Might could be perfectly happy on his own and content with spending his life working to make the world better through his work." Kan-San told them.
"However, that doesn't mean you should try to live like him, you each have your own needs and should make sure to take those into account before anything else." Kan-San added a moment later.
"And why is that brats?" Ito-San questioned with her hands back on her hips.
One of the girls raised her hand, Ito-San nodding her head, giving her leave to answer.
"For the same reason airlines tell you to put your mask on first, if you can't save yourself, you can't save anyone else." the girl cheerfully answered.
"Exactly, it's tough shit to hear but if you don't have yourself together mentally then you can't be effective in the field. U.A. has scholarship programs for kids looking to get into head-shrinkology for a reason." Ito-San stated, a bitter pill for most to swallow.
"Some of you might have thought I was pulling your leg but when I told your lot to start looking for a shrink, I fucking meant it. You don't have names that big yet and in the hero business you're going to want to start building a rapport early on, regardless of how screwed up your head is." Ito-San said sternly.
"As heroes it isn't a question but a certainty that you'll see something beyond messed up in the course of duty, only a matter of when. And when that point in your life comes it will be much easier if there is someone you trust to talk you through it." Kan-San confirmed with a stiff nod, talking from experience no doubt.
"Especially for when you finally screw up in the field, for real." Ito-San told them matter-of-factly.
The group of five each nervously shuffling, rubbing their arms, biting lips and fiddling with their clothes or hair.
Izuku sympathized with them, this wasn't the feel good pep-talk most would expect them to be giving the students, but it was still important for the kids to understand these things.
"Am I understood brats?" Ito-San questioned.
"Yes Sensei." the five students replied automatically.
"Good, cause once you graduate, you'll be on your way towards being a licensed professional hero and a civil servant with duties to the people and your country." Ito-San told them being more serious than 'aggressive' serious.
"Because as distant as the quirk wars feel, the chance of war between countries is always a single breath away, and if we get to that point, we as heroes will be our country's first and last line of defense." Ito-San explained to them.
"And, God forbid, should there be a Ragnarök event then you will most likely be drafted to aid the fight in whatever way you can, even if that means dying for everyone else." Ito-San morosely informed the students.
Izuku couldn't help the lump that formed in his throat and looked away from the five students, Kan-San being rather silent this class and Izuku guessed he already knew about this lecture of Ito-San's, and more importantly not to interrupt.
"Do you understand?" Ito-San questioned them again.
"Hai Sensei." they answered.
"Good, Heroics class is done, now go get changed. If you're not back to your classroom in five minutes you will have points docked from today's grade." Ito-San spat the instruction, the five students quickly running back to the school.
With the students gone the three of them stood in silence, a heaviness to the air holding a delicate weight to it.
Only once the students were out of earshot did Kan-San dare break it.
"Ito-San, do you really think that the kids need to be worrying about things like that? Their only first-years." Kan-San questioned his concern clear as day.
Ito-San crossed her arms and held them behind herself, a huff of displeasure on her lips.
"You can be blind to the dangers you face in the real world, or you can survive. I tell that to every class I've ever taught, I told you that on your first day you bloody tyrant." Ito-San spat back.
"And?" Kan-San replied evenly "Do you have to be so... intense about it so early on?" Kan-San pressed, the 'times are different now' silently implied but still heard.
Ito-San leveled Kan-San with a look.
"You're still here aren't you?" she asked in return.
The three of them once again stood in silence.
Another headcanon I have about pro-heroes is that they are treated like reservists of their respective countries.
Hence why hero schools exist and training for their ranks can start as soon as 15-16 years old, the same as bootcamps for the various branches of the military and only 'officially' enlisted once their eighteen.
And if two countries were to go to war the heroes would be immediately drafted, lime-light heroes like All might stationed to protect the boards, underground heroes sent for espionage and recovery missions in enemy territory, rescue heroes joining the field medics with the support heroes being shuffled around to where they're most needed.
Heroes can also be sent like troops for military aid to other countries, I think that why most people don't blink about All Might being out of the country so often, when realistically he'd have a lot of restrictions on him with his powerful quirk.
And I haven't seen the world heroes movie but from what I understand of the premise it supports the idea that the heroes of various countries could be drafted to fight world threatening events, or as I'm calling them, Ragnarök events.