A lot had changed for Toshinori over the past few months. While, yes, he had known that he would be retired from heroics by now well over half a year ago, he had been expecting a formal passing of the torch to Endeavor as the Hero took up the mantle of number 1. An action that would have given the people the reassurance they needed leading into the change. But then everything had gone so very wrong on the Raid.
All for One was alive and thriving and had toyed with him for the better part of 30 minutes before wearing him down enough that his muscle form slipped before just leaving. The man had been in complete control of the fight from the start and all he had done was make things worse by fighting him as the HPSC representative that showed up while he was getting looked over in the hospital following the fight had told him. According to the man, well over 90 percent of the damage from the fight had been himself, not All for One and as everyone was more than happy to point out now, the Villain had been the one shielding the onlookers from the fight.
And then there was the fact that the monster that had killed his mentor and all that came before her had dropped everything during the fight to save his own former Sidekick's nephew. That was the one point that stuck with him and bothered him the most. Not the lies he told about his family because surely he had to be lying about having family in the Hero industry since there was no way that wouldn't have been noticed by someone by now, especially Nedzu given he had claimed that they had attended UA of all places. No, the fact that he had dropped everything multiple times to seemingly check on the supposedly Quirkless Vigilante.
A kid that seemingly had everyone he met wrapped around his finger, including his own successor. Even Endeavor who loathed Vigilantes had seemingly decided that the boy wasn't worth the trouble. The boy who had seemingly won over the entire League of Villains, including All for One without really even trying. Had won over most Heroes he had met too.
Not only was there that, there was his behavior during the raid. He had been the one guiding them, not Mirai when that would have made significantly more sense. Okay, sure, the boy had said his information of how to get into the base was given to him by the League and they had been at the end of the trail but how was the boy clear of any suspicion of leading them straight into All for One on purpose?
It was not like Tsukauchi saying that the boy wasn't lying about that could even be trusted given the Detective was living with the boy's family ever since he apparently suffered a mental health crisis (that Toshinori did have to admit to feeling a bit guilty that their friendship falling apart might have been one of the causes for that). If there was one thing Toshinori knew with certainty about the man was he would not hesitate to lie if he thought it was for a good reason.
So, because of his concerns about both All for One and whatever was going on with Young Midoriya, he had been extremely reluctant to pass on his Quirk to Young Kirishima with the knowledge that he had built a close friendship with the Vigilante. Still, by that point he couldn't exactly have backed out of the deal so he had stalled as long as he could as he desperately tried to think of a good reason to pass over the boy other than the boy's friend was putting his teeth on edge.
The worst part of it all was, even with all his suspicions, he couldn't help but feel guilty still for his previous treatment of his former Sidekick's family. Still, in basically no time at all, he would be getting a chance to redeem himself in all of their eyes as he took over teaching Practical Heroics at UA. Of course, he would not be doing it alone, Nedzu had made that abundantly clear when the HPSC had basically forced him to reinstate to offer to Toshinori but that was fine given that as Nedzu had very helpfully pointed out, Toshinori didn't have his teaching certifications yet and would not have time to get them before the year started. He didn't mind that he was being paired with a more experienced, apparently formally retired teacher who had been called in by Nedzu to specifically help him learn the ropes. That was honestly a bit of a relief if he was honest since it meant he could defer to the other's experience when he had issues.
And today was finally the day he would get a chance to meet his new partner for class as well as the rest of the relevant staff for the First Year Heroics course. So, wanting to make a decent first impression on his new colleagues, he dressed up in the one suit he owned that mostly fit his now more skeletal frame and headed to UA.
He found Eraserhead waiting at the front gates. Oh right, he was the Homeroom teacher for 1-A currently, wasn't he? Well this was going to be a bit awkward to get used to. "Good morning, young Aizawa. Are you ready for the staff meeting?"
Mirai's younger brother glanced up from his phone that he had been looking at. "It's morning at least." He pocketed his phone. "Come on, Nedzu wanted me to make sure you got to the meeting room on time."
"So, uh, do you know who all is in which class yet?"
Eraserhead snorted. "We have to decide who is in which class before the acceptance letters are sent out so obviously yes. Your Problem Child is in my homeroom with the rest of them."
"Rest of them?"
"The Problem Children. The other kids that were helping Kirishima clean up the beach alongside my son and nephew as well as all the other kids that could be called as such that passed. That is how Kan and I always divide the classes to help filter out the students who really should not be in the course from the rest. It's why I have such a high expulsion rate from the course."
Toshinori frowned. "Should your son and nephew really be in your class though? Surely there would be concern about favoritism and ensuring they are graded fairly?"
Eraserhead snorted. "Which is why Nedzu will be reviewing my grading where relevant. You don't have to worry about my favoritism for Izuku at least since Nedzu is taking him for private lessons for his core classes since he is largely on a higher level then his classmates. Since that leaves him only with Homeroom and your classes he is only really my problem for school events. Otherwise he is Nedzu and yours. Hitoshi is another issue completely since basically everyone on staff is biased when it comes to him after he spent so much time here on campus last year. I think Nedzu plans on randomly pulling grades on him to double check him against his classmates to ensure fairness." He shrugged.
Toshinori could hardly argue against that given that he largely knew nothing about the man's own son outside of the fact that he existed. "Your son is adopted right?"
"Obviously. Neither Hizashi or I are really old enough to be his biological parents given he was born when we would have been in our first year of UA."
Toshinori hummed noncommittally. "Of course. I was just curious about the circumstances of how it happened."
"Hitoshi ran into Izuku while hiding from some bullies during his lunch break and Izuku asked Naomasa to look into his old school too since he was still investigating his own former school at the time. After Naomasa heard how Hitoshi's old Fosters were treating him, he asked if Hizashi and I could take temporary custody of him and, well, we got attached. The final paperwork for his adoption cleared back in November."
Toshinori's brows shot up. "I see. You were already in the process of adoption back in July then? Mirai openly referred to him as his nephew during his panel at HeroCon."
He nodded. "We were about a month into the process at that point." He paused resting his hand on the door to the meeting room before backing up. "Actually, why don't you go in first."
Toshinori gave the Underground Hero a puzzled look. "Okay?" It wasn't until he had taken a few steps through the door and a familiar foot collide with the side of his head that he realized why the other man had wanted him to go in first.
"Toshi, you idiot! Why on Earth did you put off getting your teaching certifications when you already knew that you were retiring from Hero work? And why haven't you been picking up your phone since your fight with All for One? Have you been ignoring me?"
Toshinori looked up at his former teacher gobsmacked from his place now on the floor. "Gran Torino! I-? You-? What are you doing here?"
Nedzu laughed from his place at the meeting table. "Now Yagi, you only have yourself to blame for being surprised by this. I did offer you the chance to join all of us in watching both Hero Practicals. Had you come to both and not just the second one, you would have known who your assistant teacher would be by now. Or, of course, answer your phone from the sound of things. Now if we are done messing around, we have much to discuss about the upcoming year…"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko was amused to see Toshinori trying to slip out of the room without him seeing after the hour long meeting of basic administrational information was done. Normally it would have only taken 15 minutes to get through everything but with Toshinori being a new teacher, there had been a lot of explanations of how things would go in the next couple days when classes actually began.
Sorahiko was quick to use his Quirk to jump to land in front of him and cut off his escape. "I think now is as good a time as any to review your lesson plans for the first week."
"Oh! Uh, sure! Er… lead the way?"
Sorahiko rolled his eyes. As if there really was any question about who was the teaching assistant here, role titles or no. "We can use one of the smaller private staff lounges. So have you put much thought into it at all over the past few months or are we just going to use the one I drew up?"
At least the boy had the decency to look sheepish at being called out. "I was maybe thinking we could do a battle trial of some sort but other than that, I wasn't sure."
Sorahiko scratched his chin. "Not a terrible idea so long as the kids actually pay attention to the safety lecture on the first meeting for their practical lesson when we do their costume checks. It would give us a better idea of how all of them handle combat scenarios but we would have to decide the matches in advance since things could end up horribly mismatched otherwise. It wouldn't exactly be fair to put, let's say, Midoriya up against Monoma given the latter's combat skills are all based around using the Quirks of his opponents against them when the former is a skilled Quirkless fighter."
Toshinori was gaining at least a bit of confidence in himself now. "I was thinking they could be two on two fights in a sort of Hero vs Villain capture the objective sort of thing. The Villains would go into a building with their 'bomb' and five minutes later the Heroes would raid the base. The Heroes would win if their either capture both Villains or touch the 'bomb' and the Villains would win if they defeated the Heroes or the time limit ran out."
Sorahiko hummed in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a good first real exercise for the classes. Alright that is the Wednesday and Thursday classes figured out. With Monday and Tuesday dedicated to costume checks and the safety lecture, that would just leave Friday and the following Monday class to figure out. What do you think of the idea of a small trip to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint for Rescue training basics? It would get them a chance to really practice some teamwork and give us a chance to cover some basic first aid."
Toshinori frowned. "Does the costume check really require a full class day for both classes though? If it would take a whole class period, would it not make more sense to do both classes together?"
Sorahiko did consider that. "I suppose there is a point to that. Still, we will have to confirm with both the homeroom teachers about their plans if we were to combine them since that would be shifting everything by a day since they have their classes on the days we are with the other's."
Sorahiko pulled out his phone and typed out a quick message.
UA Heroes
The Real Heroics Teacher: @B is for Blood @Vigilante Wrangler Could we try combining both classes for the costume check and safety lecture and shift the classes A/B schedule by a day?
Vigilante Wrangler: Sounds fine to me
B is for Blood: That would mean my class will do our Quirk assessment test on Tuesday right?
Yeah that would be fine
The Real Heroics Teacher: Yeah that sounds right
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Welcome to Hell Class 1-A
Alien Queen: I am just saying we should all meet up before the first day of class and hang out!
Best Jeanist for #1: Hard pass.
I have shit to do planned up until then.
✨✨✨: I am afraid the same is true for myself.
Not because I am busy but because I am currently in France and will not be back until the Saturday before.
Tired Gay: wait isn't it like 4am there right now?
✨✨✨: Oui
I am so tired but cannot sleep because my head says it is still daytime 😭
Rocking Gay: Am I the only one impressed that he can do that timezone conversion without thinking that fast?
Agent of Chaos: I mean, my Dad works overseas a lot so it isn't like we haven't had practice?
Knock-off Spiderman: No it is still impressive
Source: Trust me
Alien Queen: Yeah there is no way I could have done that math like that
Loud Blonde: So are those of us that can make it meeting up or what?
Prince Zuko: The real question is where we would meet.
Agent of Chaos: My house would be big enough and since it is not far from UA, maybe we could meet here?
I would have to double check with my parents and sisters though since we would probably be taking over either the living room or garden
Princess Yaoyorozu: We could also use my house since that would not be an issue for me since I am an only child but my home is also outside of the main part of town so there is that.
Knock-off Spiderman: It sounds like a plan then.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hisashi watched Izuku running around straightening up the living room in excitement for his soon to be classmates coming over as he sat in one of the air chairs with Eri in his lap as he braided her hair. Normally Himiko was the one who did it when Eri wanted it done but she was at the Bar with the rest of the League planning a prank on All Might at UA and the unsuspecting Hero students of 1-A. A fact that, so long as no one got hurt, Nedzu was fairly amused by and thought would be a good test of UA security with little risk to the students.
"Izu-nii, do you think your new friends would want to paint their nails with me? I wanna practice more so I can make them as pretty as Himi-nē does."
Izuku scratched his chin as he stopped with a small stack of homeschooling books for Eri in hand that he had been moving over to the book shelf. "I don't know. Well even if they don't you can still paint mine and the rest of the family. I'm sure that Uncles Shouta and Hizashi would be more than happy to let you paint their nails when they come over tomorrow for dinner."
She brightened before tilting her head to look back at Hisashi as he tied off the end of the braid. "Dad, do you want me to make your nails pretty too?"
He offered her a smile and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "But of course my little Dragon Princess. Why don't you go get your bottles of nail polish so you can do mine while we wait for Izuku's class to get here?"
She gave a brilliant smile before darting off to her bedroom. She had just disappeared around the corner when a knock came from the door before it opened and Hitoshi came in and kicked off his shoes carrying his overnight bag and backpack. "Sup."
Hisashi offered his younger grandson a smile. "Good afternoon Hitoshi. You are here earlier than I was expecting."
He shrugged and started walking in the direction of his usual guest bedroom to drop off his bags. "Dad and Pops had to head up to UA to do some last minute final preparations for tomorrow so dropped me off on the drive up."
As he passed Eri's room Hisashi heard her give an excited cry. "Toshi! You're here! Do you want me to paint your nails too?" Hisashi activated the sensory Quirk he liked to use for eavesdropping.
"Think you can do yellow and black for me this time?"
"Like a bee?"
"Sure if you are up to the challenge."
Hisashi found himself smiling again at them as the front door opened for Neito with a girl he did not recognize with a clear frog mutation following behind him based on what he could see with his thermal vision through the wall between them. "Are you sure it is okay to just come in like this?"
"Of course." Nieto raised his voice. "I'm here and I brought Asui!"
Izuku jumped to his feet from where he had been distracting himself by looking through Hisashi's vintage Blu Ray collection to go greet them. "Hey Neito. Asui. Hitoshi is the only one to beat you guys here. He is just throwing his bags in his room."
"Hello Midoriya. What do you mean by bags?"
"Hitoshi is staying over tonight," Izuku explained to the girl as he led the two of them into the living room as Hisashi tried to act casually as he packed away Eri's and Himiko's hair ribbons and brush.
The girl paused as she spotted him in the living room. "Oh. Hello Mr. Midoriya." She bowed slightly. "Thank you for allowing us to use your house for our class meet up."
Hisashi waved her off as he stood to put away the box of hair things in the hall bathroom. "It is no trouble. It means that it is not just me and Eri this afternoon since Himiko is meeting up with her friends today too."
Before she could comment, both Eri and Hitoshi reappeared with the box of nail polishes. She froze slightly at the sight of the girl that she had not been expecting to see before lighting up. "Oh! Hi! I'm Eri. Do you want me to paint your nails too?"
Hisashi was happy to see her gaze softened at the sight of her. "Sure. You know, I have a sister around your age. She will probably be jealous that she missed out on the chance to paint her nails too."
Eri gave a wild smile. "What color do you want me to do? Toshi is doing yellow and black like a bee this time."
"I would like green if you have some."
Eri made a face of mock offense. "I'm a Midoriya! Of course we have green!"
Hisashi snickered to himself as he slipped into the bathroom.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Surely he had the wrong address. Minoru looked down at the GPS on his phone and double checked it against what Midoriya had entered into the chat. No. It looked like he had the right place. His classmate was apparently just filthy rich.
Well, it at least explained why he was so certain he had the space for all of the class.
Midoriya had mentioned having sisters, right? Minoru had to wonder if any of them were cute because damn, marrying one day into money like this would make him possibly reconsider his dreams of the bachelor life. It was not like his own family didn't have money but a mansion of this size, inside the city itself? The Midoriya's had to be absolutely loaded.
Reassuring himself that he was in the right place he strolled up and knocked on the door only for it to open a few moments later by an absolute giant of a man. "Come in. Izuku and the others are in the living room. Can I ask your name?"
"Mineta," Minoru squeaked. He frowned and shifted out of the door so Minoru could slip past him and inside to pull off his shoes. As he did so the man walked out of sight to be replaced with another boy with purple hair who was waving his hands slightly in a fashion that Minoru recognized from his mother as attempting to dry his nails faster.
"Yo. I hope you aren't opposed to the idea of getting your nails painted because between little Eri and the girls in the class, I don't think you will be able to get out of it short of running now."
Minoru frowned, while he most certainly couldn't careless outside of the fact that it would mean a girl probably holding his hands for an extended period of time, he knew his father on the other hand probably wouldn't be happy about it. "Uh, I don't mind but is there any nail polish remover? My father would flip if I came home with it on."
That seemed to cheer the boy up slightly. "Oh, good, I was worried that you could end up a dick like your old man. Yeah, we can help you take it off before you leave if need be but I am sure the girls will back off if you tell them that."
Okay Minoru was not expecting that reaction. "You know my father?"
He shrugged. "He is the reason I couldn't get in on recommendations. I mean it all worked out in the end but it still would have been nice to not have had to deal with his Quirkist bullshit. I'm Shinso by the way."
Oh, he really should have expected that after seeing the guy's name in the chat. "You're Aizawa's kid right?"
He nodded. "Yeah but don't tell the others. We wanna see how long it takes for those who don't already know to figure it out."
Minoru was quick to nod. "Yeah I can do that. Who all know already?"
"About half the class honestly but not all of them know who else knows so I am not going to ruin that fun. You are less likely to slip up like that anyways. Come on, they are probably wondering what is taking so long."
Minoru followed Shinso into the living room to the sight of the vast majority of the class scattered around the room on chairs and floor cursing as well as the massive man who was now sitting on the floor with the cutest little girl he had probably ever seen holding the man's hand as she painted his nails bright red to the man's seeming delight.
One of the boys near the doorway (a blonde with a streak of lightning in his hair who looked to be sporting lavender nails) looked up as they came into the room. "Yo, you two were chatting for a while. Should I be jealous?"
Shinso rolled his eyes and fell into the lap of his obvious boyfriend making him 'oof' in surprise. "Was just warning him about the nail painting. Speaking of, he is willing so long as he can remove it before he goes home. His old man is probably a sexist dick on top of a Quirkist one."
Minoru found himself wincing but… well after the long lecture Midoriya had given him in a private chat after temporarily kicking him for making a couple of the girls uncomfortable, he did find himself agreeing.
Across the room, one of the girls (the really pink one) gave a gasp of shock and put her hands over her ears. "Shinso, there is a child present!"
The little girl turned and gave her a level look. "I know how to fucking curse already."
The room was split between people looking at the girl completely scandalized and laughing at the other's reactions. The one adult in the room fell in the latter category. "Unfortunately there is a reason we are having to home school her as you can tell."
One of the other boys (a guy with bright red hair) sagged in relief in his chair. "Oh thank god. You have no idea how hard it has been to try and not curse this whole time and I don't even curse that much normally."
The boy with green hair looked around the room. "This is everyone that said they were coming, right?"
Minoru quickly did a head count. 18. "Yeah, only Bakugou and Aoyama said they weren't going to make it."
He nodded. "I was thinking that we could go around the room and introduce ourselves, that way we can match faces with names for those of you guys who got here later and make sure everyone is using the right pronouns and stuff. Oh, and we can mention what our plans as future heroes will be like Limelight or Underground; Combat, Rescue or Investigative. That sort of thing."
There were sounds of agreement around the room and shrugs before the other blonde who had been sprawled out on the floor gestured up at him. "Well since it is your idea, start us off."
The green boy nodded. "Alright! I'm of course Midoriya Izuku but I am also known as the Vigilante Loki. I use he/him and I am planning on going into Investigative Heroics. And yes, I am medically Quirkless so if you have a problem with that I am more than willing to give you a demonstration as to how I earned my spot as one of the four recommendation students this year." That last part had been said with a smile of his face but the underlying venom in his voice sent a shiver down Minoru's spine after having been on the wrong side of his anger before already. "Who's next?"
A tall boy jumped up to his feet with his hand raised. "Oh! Me next." He immediately bowed so sharply at all of them that he smashed his head into the floor before snapping it back up with a clear bruise forming on it. "I am Yoarashi Inasa and I am also a he/him! I plan on largely focusing in Combat Heroics but I am not opposed to the idea of working in Rescue as well."
The bicolored boy who had been sitting next to him pulled himself to his feet and gently pushed the other boy back into a seated position beside him. "I am Todoroki Shoto but please just call me Shoto and I have never really thought much about my pronouns before so he/him is fine. I plan on going into Rescue Heroics." He returned to his seated position.
Finally, one of the cute girls stood up, the ginger. "My name is Kendo Itsuka and I am fine with she/her. I would ideally be in Limelight Combat Heroics but like Yoarashi, if I found myself good at it, I would not mind switching tracks to Rescue."
And so they continued around the room.
"Iida Tenya, he/him and I intend on working alongside my older brother and rest of my family in the Idaten Hero agency."
"Shoji Mezo, he/him. I will probably go Underground or work as field Investigative Support to another type of hero because of the nature of my Quirk."
"Tokoyami Fumikage, he/him and this is my Quirk Dark Shadow, they/them. We also plan on working from the shadows that being Underground provides."
"Kirishima Eijiro, he/him and I am planning on a split Combat Rescue career if I can. I think helping out everyone as best I can is super manly, you know?"
"Ashido Mina! She/her for me! I am not sure which track of limelight I am heading for but I just want to do my best to help people."
"I'm Asui Tsuyu but my friends call me Tsu. I use she/her as well. I plan on going into Aquatic Rescue specifically since that is what I think I would be really good at."
"I'm Jiro Kyoka and also she/her. I've not put a lot of thoughts into the specifics just that I know for sure I want to help people."
"Monoma Nieto and I am a he/him. Given the flexibility of my Quirk, I can work in most fields so beyond working in the Limelight, likely with a team, it is up in the air."
Suddenly it was Minoru's turn. "Oh, uh, Mineta Minoru and he/him. I haven't really put much thought into specialization outside of not being Combat focused. I think I might be smart enough for Investigative though?"
Shinso raised a fist in solidarity. "More self confidence. Yo, as everyone probably knows by now, I am Shinso Hitoshi and I am a he/him. I plan on going Underground Investigative like my Dad but I might dabble in some Limelight shit like my Pops."
"And I am Kaminari Denki and his boyfriend so he/him for me too. I'm probably heading for Limelight but I think I would rather work in a team then fly solo. It sounds more fun to be honest. Plus I, uh, sort of need backup incase I give myself a seizure again."
"He is not joking about that by the way. Shinso had to save him from getting crushed by the 0-pointer during our exam since he accidentally gave himself one during the test." One of the remaining boys threw out. That earned the now blushing blonde some concerned looks. The boy continued. "Anyways, I am Tsuburaba Kosei. He/him. I wanna say I would make a good Recuse Hero but I am not bad in a fight either."
The last girl blushed as eyes fell on her. "Oh, I am Yaoyorozu Momo and a she/her. I personally think I would do well as an Investigative Hero myself but Combat is also a viable option. It is just that I know I have a mind for detail because of the background knowledge I need to possess in order to use my Quirk effectively."
That left one boy. "Saved the best for last huh? I'm Sero Hanta and I am a he/him. I am a mobility expert so likely will end up in a role not that different to Iida's family, just up high between buildings instead of running on the ground."
Midoriya, who Minoru had just now realized had been typing something up on his phone the whole time nodded. "Okay, I think that is everything added to a document for the two that missed this to look at later so we are all on the same page. Hopefully we can get their introductions before class starts tomorrow."