U.A. High School

It took Shota a bit to find his students, having already checked the dorms and the cafeteria. He started asking other students he came across, and finally tracked them down off to the side of the U.A. main building, sitting in the grass next to the forest. He approached them, but paused once he was in earshot, watching the scene before him in amazement.

Some scarred man with silver hair, a black leather outfit, and an eye patch, had apparently directed them to sit in groups of five. He had them share their experiences of what they did today, and how they felt during the attack with each other. And they were listening and participating in the exercise.

Sometimes, it takes over half my class to even get them to settle down. He even has Bakugo and Kirishima sitting quietly!

The man walked around to each group, listening to the speakers intently for a few moments, then moving off to the next group. Sometimes he would ask the speaker a question, like what they wished they had done differently, or he would interject if they began to fall into a negative spiral, telling them it was okay to be afraid. That it was normal. That there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

When Mineta started to explain how that he was so scared after he was teleported, Bakugo started to make fun of him, but the man shut him up with just a glare, then urged the short, diminutive student to continue. He laughed after the boy explained how his Quirk had stuck all the Villains together, forming a floating raft of bodies they couldn’t escape from.

“That is an amazing Quirk. Mainly, if you are trying to apprehend someone without injuring or killing them. Heck, just toss a villain a ball casually, and they would probably reflexively try to catch it, disabling their hands.” The man said, patting the boy on the shoulder. Mineta and a few of the others were looking up at him with awe, apparently not realising how some of their quirks could be used to become heroes.

Shota face-palmed himself. In the span of however long they had been out here, this man had already grasped several of the students’ insecurities and had shown them how their Quirks could be used effectively to fight an enemy. 

After some time had passed, and everyone seemed to have said their piece, he gathered them in a large group. “That was good, everyone. Thank you for both sharing your experiences and listening attentively to others without interrupting. Bottling up emotions from an experience like today won’t do you any good in the long run.”

His expression changed then, going from some jovial grandfather to something harder, something much more intense. “Now, I want to say something. Something you aspiring heroes need to hear.” He paused for a moment to make sure he had their undivided attention. Shota even found himself leaning forward, wanting to hear what he had to say. 

“Being a hero is not a game. These people, these villains, they are not playing by the same rules you are. From what you have all told me, they came here to the U.S.J. today to kill All Might. You all saw that, you all heard them when they came through that warp portal. The fact that they didn’t kill all of them, including him, Mr Aizawa, Thirteen, and possibly all of you, was sheer dumb luck.

Now, I won’t pretend I know what they have been teaching you here, but if your back is pushed to the wall like that, and you are in fear for your life and the lives of the others around you, fight back! Don’t pull your damn punches because you’re afraid you will kill someone. They won’t be holding back when they attack you. Ms Yaoyorozu! Ms Jiro! What happened when you thought all the villains had been incapacitated and you let your guard down while Mr Kaminari was disoriented from using too much power?”

“He wandered off and was held hostage by another electric villain.” Momo Yaoyorozu replied. The Vice class rep started to say something else, but the man cut her off.

“Yes, I know you got out of it, but you shouldn’t have been in that spot to begin with. It was plain, dumb luck that you weren’t all killed. When someone attacks you with the intent to kill or harm you, you fight back, and you don’t stop until you know they no longer have the will or the capacity to attack you any longer. If that means you need to put down the criminals permanently right there and then, that is what you do!” The man said, radiating righteous anger that was on par with All Might’s righteous intensity when speaking about the duties of being a hero.

The man sighed and bowed his head, his voice softening significantly. “That is unfair of me. You are all just children. You should never have been put in that situation to begin with.” He raised his head after a moment and scanned the crowd of students. “Still, this is the life you are choosing to live. Sooner or later, you WILL come into a situation where you will be faced with the choice of kill or be killed. When it happens, make sure you are the one standing after the dust settles.”

“Sir, that isn’t what All Might teaches us about being heroes,” Midoriya spoke up. “We are supposed to bring the criminals to justice, to let the police prosecute them and send them to jail.”

The man gave a sharp laugh. “Today’s incident notwithstanding, heroes like All Might are powerful enough that there are very few people who could hurt them. They have the luxury of preaching from atop a soapbox like that. The vast majority of heroes don’t come anywhere near the power of the top heroes in Japan, or the rest of the world, for that matter. So, unless your Quirk is something like One For All or New Order, don’t expect to come out of every fight unscathed.

We have a saying from where I’m from. It’s better to be tried by twelve than be carried by six. It means it’s better to be on trial and judged by a jury of your peers than to have six people carrying the casket you’re in. If they are coming at you with the intent to kill, you need to do everything in your power to stop that from happening. You’re no good to anyone if you die because you were stuck in some moral quandary about not killing the villain you are fighting. Do you have anything you want to add to that, Mr Aizawa?”

Shota blinked. He hadn’t realised it, but he had stepped up behind the students while listening to the man. He felt like he was a kid again, listening intently to his grandfather tell him a story or imparting some life advice. He cleared his throat. “No, but I will say, we don’t usually go over this topic with first years. Though after today’s events, it’s probably a good idea to cover it once classes are back in. Now, unless there are any more questions, I would like to borrow a few moments of your time, Mister?”

“Wayne, John Wayne.” The man said, holding out his hand. He gave it a shake. “I was supposed to meet with the principal earlier about a job interview and orientation, but today’s events have delayed that.”

“Job interview? Oh, it must be for Hound Dog’s old position.”

“I have no idea. I have been teaching state-side for the last twenty years or so, but decided it was time for a change of view.”

Teaching? Why would they hire a teacher to-

Shota didn’t finish the thought as several other students had more questions for John. He stepped back, letting the man work. At first, the questions were about the incident, but they quickly shifted to other topics. The man just smiled, his more friendly aura having returned. He listened to everyone’s questions intently, answering where he could or promising to get back to them if he didn’t.

“Mr Wayne, are you a hero too? Did you get that scar from fighting villains?” Toru Hagakure asked, the invisible girl wearing her school uniform instead of just the boots and gloves she normally did when training. 

“I might be a hero to some, but no, I don’t have a hero license. My Quirk isn’t suited for fighting.” John replied, then brushed back the hair covering his missing ear. “Let’s just say there were no heroes nearby when some villains were doing bad things, and someone needed to stop it. I lost part of my face, but those villains are no longer stealing more of our oxygen.”

The students were silent for a moment, then Bakugo and Kirishima both spoke at the same time. “That’s metal, man!”, “That is manly as hell!”

“Alright. I think that is enough questions for Mr Wayne for today. I’m glad you all seem to be doing okay. You are off for the rest of today and tomorrow. The Sports Festival is currently still on, so be ready for that in two weeks. Your internship offers with a Pro Hero Agency depend on how you perform there, so rest up for now and start focusing on that.” Shota said, cutting off any more questions for his new colleague. 

He didn’t disagree with the man’s opinions; in fact, they sounded similar to some of his own, but he didn’t want those two hot heads thinking it was okay to just blow up villains. Bakugo in particular, since his Quirk literally caused explosions from his hands.

The students departed, and Shota led John out to the main gate, the man pulling a suitcase behind him. “Listen, thank you for checking in with the students today, even though you don’t have the job yet.”

“Yeah, I overheard what happened when I was leaving. They were quite shaken from the attack, so I decided to help where I could.”

“Yeah. It was bad, probably even worse than what they told you. If it wasn’t for the fact that an unknown man had shown up at the U.S.J. and fought the villains, things might… no… they would have gone very differently.”

“They had mentioned that. Do you know how All Might and Thirteen are doing?”

“No. I’m going to head over there next. Did you want to come with me?” He offered. Both of them were experienced heroes, but Thirteen was not a combat hero, and All Might just had his declining power exposed to the world.  They both might need someone to talk to right now, and after listening to this man handle his class, he might be the right person to do it. 

The man paused, then sighed. “Yeah. Let’s check on them. They are going to my new colleagues after all. I’ll just check into the hotel later.”

“Hotel?”

“Hah, funny story. You see, I came here thinking it was just a job interview but…”

The pair of them continued to chat, Shota enjoying the direct manner in which John spoke, yet didn’t seem combative. He could see a few issues cropping up in the future, as the culture here at U.A. and Japan was different from what the man was used to, but it should all work out fine. 

I mean… he couldn’t do a worse job than Hound Dog. The man could barely put three words together before he began to bark or howl at something. Great hero, not so great at dealing with students.

League of Villains Bar

“Master. The raid was a complete failure. Shigaraki and Nomu are both dead, and all the underlings were either killed or taken into custody.” Kurogiri said to the computer.

“What? What happened?” The voice of his Master replied, sounding confused.

Kurogiri explained how they had nearly won, Nomu beating All Might after the Hero’s Quirk had failed him for some reason. Then about how he had cornered the Heroes attempting to escape, and had almost defeated them when he found himself being assaulted by a man wearing black and white armour and was using multiple Quirks.

“He blinded me for a moment, stunned me with electricity, and then cut my leg off with a sword, Master. I had no choice but to retreat. After I stopped the bleeding and went back, this man had already decapitated both Nomu and Shigaraki. I was about to attack him from behind, but then he healed Eraser Head. I have never seen anything like it outside of a Nomu’s super regeneration. The hero’s limbs were all broken in multiple spots one moment, then the next, he was standing up. I left before Eraser Head saw me and disabled my Quirk.”

“Hmm, a Quirk user who has multiple Quirks? I seem to have underestimated them.” 

“I agree. Thankfully, we failed under that cheap League of Villains’ name and not our own.” Another voice, the Doctor, said. “It is a shame that Nomu was defeated by this unknown hero, but we can replace him easily enough.”

“Yes. Kurogiri, did you get this new hero’s name?”

“Yes, Master. He called himself the Twilight Knight. I could not get a look at his face, however, as he was covered head to toe in armour.”

“Very well. Return to the lab, we will replace that leg of yours and talk about the next steps in our plans.” The Master said, then closed the communication.

Kurogiri looked around at the empty bar, then opened a warp gate to the labs under his body. He fell through the hole and into the void. 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep