The atmosphere of Professor Akaguro's classroom remained tense as the assembled students looked over the presented drawing. Most seemed to recognize it, while a few of the attendees were confused by the sudden shift in tone in the slides. The little cartoon man stood with one hand on a lever, standing before a set of tracks with the eponymous trolley moving along next to him. Where the tracks split somewhere ahead, a frowning person was tied down to one side, while five others were tied down on the opposite track. Even those who hadn't seen the thought experiment before quickly caught on to the general idea, most even before Professor Akaguro began to speak.

"Someone who is familiar, give us a summary, if you would?"

Daisuke shifted in his seat, looking a little uncomfortable as he raised his hand and managed to get the professor's attention.

"Well… traditionally, The Trolley Problem is presented as a moral question where you… I guess somehow stumble upon a situation where a trolley with no brakes is speeding down a track, and about to run over five people that can't escape. You have the option of pulling a lever to divert the trolley and kill one person instead of five, and the general question most people ask is just… would you pull it, or not? There are a whole bunch of variations and entire websites dedicated to increasingly ridiculous versions of it, either upping the stakes, or adding a personal twist, or sometimes just doing stupid things to it. What's on the projector right now looks like the original, though."

"It is," Professor Akaguro confirmed with a nod. "Well done, Mr. Aki- a concise and accurate summary. Unfortunately for all of you, 'would you pull the lever?' is far too basic for this course, and a question I will not ask you directly. Instead, I am interested in having a discussion about something related- according to modern Hero Law, what must you do?"

"Oh, fuck this…" Amaya hissed under her breath as she put a hand up to her forehead.

The majority, including Professor Akaguro, heard it. Oddly enough, he seemed amused by the reaction.

"From this point forward, treat discussions such as this one as exactly that- an open discussion. I do not need to see hands, nor do you need permission to speak. I will merely moderate and play devil's advocate as appropriate. Is there something you would like to say, Miss Kan?"

"Yeah, there is," Amaya replied angrily. "But I… I need a minute to figure out how to present it without just turning unreasonable and aggressive to anyone who disagrees. I'll jump in once I've got a handle on things."

"Very well," Professor Akaguro relented as he folded his hands behind his back. "Could anyone answer the question, to start us off?"

Tenya's face had gone pale as he watched Amaya sit and seethe. He turned his attention to fixate firmly upon Professor Akaguro as he answered, doing his best to sound neutral and logical to avoid any sort of escalation.

"…well, unless I am mistaken, modern Hero Law, at least in Japan, would require us to… do nothing. Not touch the lever. Doing so would violate the oath we take upon becoming registered, licensed heroes. There is a clause that echoes the Hippocratic Oath that healthcare professionals take, promising that they do not knowingly do any harm to a patient unless it is a temporary measure to save their lives or treat a more threatening ailment. We are not supposed to knowingly do any harm to a civilian, even in an effort to save another. Doing so would lead to our licenses being revoked, and potentially, imprisonment in the name of public safety…"

"A good comparison," Professor Akaguro agreed.

"And that's where I have problems," Amaya chimed in, the barely restrained anger clear in her tone.

"By all means," Professor Akaguro encouraged. "Share your perspective, and let us see who agrees and why."

"I mean…" Amaya started, working actively to prevent herself from getting flustered and barely succeeding. "…do I even need to say anything? I know I do for the sake of the discussion, but anyone who has spent even an hour around me should be able to guess how I feel about something like this. That's just… it's bullshit. Think about this logically- if we ever end up in a situation like this, it's not going to be a trolley, and it's not going to be five people. It's going to be a villain holding an entire school hostage, or shopping mall, or church, or… something that will lead to mass casualties. If there's a way to circumvent that and it endangers, or even kills far less people? That's a trade I'm willing to make to save as many as we can."

"At what proportion do you hesitate?" Professor Akaguro probed. "Five against one, you would pull the lever. What if it was only three on the other track? Two?"

"The metaphorical lever's getting pulled," Amaya doubled down. "Kill one to save two. It's just logic."

"…you literally don't have the authority to make that call," Shoto countered, seeming unafraid of Amaya. "According to the law, the decision not to touch the lever has already been made to absolve you from putting yourself in that position, and it was established that way for a reason. If the law means nothing in a moment where we have the opportunity to save more people by acting than doing nothing, though… what makes you the one who makes that decision? If we're talking realistically, in a mass casualty event like that, you wouldn't be working alone, either."

"Because I would have the balls to act, so you wouldn't have to," Amaya replied immediately. "Yeah, we'd probably be teamed up with someone if shit was really going down, and I'll throw myself in front of it to protect all of you from having to make that decision. Let the fallout come down on me. I believe in saving people strongly enough that I'll take it."

"So you would rather become 'the law'," Shoto proposed. "Override the oath you took. How does that make you any different from the heroes that answered that survey with misplaced priorities? The job comes with a description. Not following it generally gets people fired."

Amaya blinked and took a steadying breath in through her nose, letting it out slowly and shakily.

"…you're comparing me, who would make a personal sacrifice to save as many as possible and keep the rest of you out of trouble, to these fucking people who just want their name in lights and to have a shot at drunken orgies with celebrities? Really?"

"I… it isn't the same," Shoto backed down, looking uncertain. "I just mean, you would still be breaking your oath. Putting your priorities over those of the job itself. These systems exist for a reason."

"An interesting point to be brought up by the son of Endeavor," Professor Akaguro pointed out. "Let's explore this- you and Miss Kan are in a situation where sacrificing a smaller number could save a bigger contingent of civilians. You protest. Miss Kan does it anyway, acting in what she believes to be in the best interests of society in the moment. She succeeds, and while some die… the majority are kept safe. If what happened was unclear to all but you and her… would you reveal her actions to the authorities in the aftermath?"

There was a brief silence as everyone considered the question.

"…can we stop?" Amaya asked, her confidence eroding as she looked over at Shoto. "I don't want to know the answer to that. I don't think this is a good idea, especially on day one. Todoroki, don't answer him. I like you, and I get where you're coming from, and I don't want to start some bullshit rivalry over something that will hopefully never happen for the sake of a hypothetical discussion. How can we trust each other on anything i-"

"No," Shoto said definitively, his face ghost white outside of the burned patch as he kept his eyes on Professor Akaguro. "No, I… I-I wouldn't…"

Amaya trailed off, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"…and why not?" Professor Akaguro asked. "You seemed so set in your convictions moments ago."

"And I still am, but… I'm not a hypocrite," Shoto reassured. "Bringing up him- Endeavor- I've seen and heard things that… I probably should report to someone, but I never have, to avoid complications for myself and my own family. That's my own moral failing, but I'm not about to ruin Kan's life if she acts with pure intentions when I've allowed him to act as he does with intentions that have nothing to do with the Hero Oath. I can't. Amaya is… she's…"

"…you don't have to say anything else," Amaya offered, her voice softening as she leaned sideways in her desk and offered Shoto a hand. "We still barely know each other, but I appreciate it. I get where you're coming from, too, but I just personally can't just sit around with my thumb up my ass and let something equivalent to this happen while doing nothing."

Shoto hesitated a moment, looking at Amaya's hand almost as though it was diseased. Slowly, he took it and gave her a squeeze before quickly breaking away.

"…right. I didn't want to come off like I'm better than you for thinking differently, I just… that's the law."

"But how is…" Tenya started, eyeing up both of them. "…how is this allowed? Kan, forgive me, but in saying outright that you would break the law and your oath, where else would you be willing to bend guidelines? How are we all supposed to simply sit here, observe, and not do something about you? Professor Akaguro, are you not obligated to at least make a record of her answers in case something like this occurs in the future?"

"And what are you gonna do about me?" Amaya asked, the dangerous edge back in her voice as she stared at Tenya. "I'm still gonna take the oath when the time comes."

"With the intention of breaking it?" Tenya asked. "But…"

"If I have to," Amaya agreed. "What makes whoever came up with that dumbass law the arbiter of morality? They're probably retired, dead, or close to it, by this point… and if someone in a position of authority asks me if I would break the oath, I'll just deny it. Stop being such a boy scout."

"He isn't being a boy scout," Minoru protested. "We can't just suddenly start picking and choosing which laws to follow and which ones go out the window because we feel like they don't apply. It's a slippery slope."

"I'm with Amaya," came Juzo's filtered voice from elsewhere in the room. "It's about… logic. It is case-by-case. Thinking any set of rules or guidelines or even laws apply in all situations is naïve at best. I guarantee you everyone in this room has broken laws they don't even know about, and others voluntarily. When it comes to a situation like this…"

"I think…" Izuku began, speaking loudly enough to take the floor. "I think we're maybe missing the overall point. We're heroes. We have Quirks that can help us, we'll probably be working in teams a lot… we should be focusing on preventing situations like this Trolley Problem and if one occurs, finding alternate solutions. I doubt there's anything that could be thrown at a group of us where we couldn't find a way to save everyone."

"Speaking of naïve," Katsuki spat. "Now you're just piling hypotheticals on top of other hypotheticals. Where does all of this break down and just become total bullshit? The situation that was presented was simple- save five, or save one. Acting like we could've prevented it or like we could save all six… what if trying to do things your way and getting creative kills everyone? It could even kill one or all of us. If we're presented with definite possible solutions, it's a better idea to take one of those than pretend you've got it under control and can handle something that could lead to a total disaster."

"Well… I can't just accept that," Izuku challenged. "I'm not going to just color inside the lines, and if I have to take matters into my own hands beyond what Amaya suggested to save everyone… then I will."

Author's Note:

Oh boy.

-RD