Preydator || Todoroki x OC

•27: Familiar Warmth•

Dread washes over me like a tsunami as my eyes land on Aizawa and officer Osaro waiting in front of the announcer room with serious expressions. In all of my fun, I had forgotten all about the hard truth of everything- the fact that I'm only here for reformation and I'm disobeying rules by participating in the Sports Festival. The reality of it all hits me like a bus. 'Shit.'

-----

Aizawa and the officer's heads turns to me. I walk over, my fists balled up in nervousness and irritation. 'What I would give to punch this guy in the face.' I think as I stare dead into officer Osaro's brown eyes.

"What's going on?" I ask, though I presume it has something to do with me disobeying orders and participating in the Sports Festival.

"Miss Utano, you do understand that you are at UA for purely reformational purposes?" The officer says in a firm voice. He's clearly pissed.

"Yes." I respond.

"And were you aware that you were strictly forbidden from participating in the Sports Festival?" He asks.

I nod. "Yes. Aizawa had informed me." I reply, glancing towards said black-haired male whose face didn't look too happy either.

"You're telling the truth." The officer mutters, using his lie detecting quirk on me. A long moment of tense silence passes as the officer thinks, the sounds of the festival still raging on outside fills the hall. I fight the urge to fidget nervously and remain my calm composure in front of the officer. He lets out a sigh. "Rini Utano, as per what I discussed with some others about your case, you will be removed from UA and placed in a juvenile detention center." He states. "Your reformation here is not producing satisfactory results and you remain defiant to orders from the police."

I clench my jaw furiously. "I have followed every rule up until now. Maybe if you wondered why I'm not following your order, you'd realize that my participation in this festival has little to do with my reformation. " I snap at him.

"I disagree." The officer retorts. 

"I also disagree." Aizawa interjects.

My eyes widen in surprise as I turn to Aizawa. "What?"

"This Sports Festival is related to your reformation. In fact, your participation is only emersing yourself into the hero course further. As you requested officer, her full participation in the hero course is crucial for her reformation." Aizawa states while giving the officer a piercing glare.

"I thought I had given three important reasons why miss Utano wouldn't be allowed to participate." The officer replies. "You are not an official student of UA, people and companies you have slandered are in the audience, and we disapprove of a criminal taking part in the festival." 

I start to feel hopeless. 'He's technically correct.' I look towards Aizawa who had given me the okay to participate this morning.

"One of the three reasons you have provided is not your call to make and the other two are counter-productive to her reformation." Aizawa says in a matter-of-fact tone. "Although she is not an official student at UA, the faculty and principal are aware of this and have given consent for her to participate. As someone unrelated to this school, you have no right to make that decision. The next two reasons put the school's reputation above Rin's growth. I heavily disagree with that view as a pro hero and since you are an officer, we should both put people first. By preventing her participation, you are contradicting your own orders and clearly not thinking of her own wants and needs for growth. Moreover, UA's reputation does not need your protection. The faculty and principal do not have a problem with her participation, so perhaps you should rethink your position on what you can say."

My jaw drops. 'Was Aizawa thinking of this the entire time?! No wonder he seemed so sure of himself this morning.' I look to officer Osaro who's wearing a similar bewildered expression to mine.

He's left speechless and dumbfounded. "W-Well, Mr. Aizawa." He clears his throat, trying to regain his composer. "I'm sure you realize we still have the authority to remove her from this school. The police are the ones who have given her this opportunity in the first place."

"Although she is here because of you, you lost authority over Rin the moment you handed her over to me and the school. As of now, I am her guardian and she has had excellent growth during these past few months." Aizawa states. "You are in no position to decide what growth she has or has not had as you have not been monitoring her or doing things in her best interests. You have also made little to no progress on finding Mirroress. Rin has provided the police with evidence on her mother's whereabouts that the police could not find on their own. So far, you have only shown irresponsibility in handling her case and been uninvolved with her." He explains.

The officer's speechless expression shifts to one of anger, however he can't rebuttal Aizawa's facts.

"That is also why I will be requesting you to hand over her case to the school's team of pro heroes including myself. We will now be handling all cases related to her and Mirroress while monitoring and helping her reformation process." Aizawa states. "Do you have any complaints?"

"Of course I do! You can't just do that!" The officer sputters.

"But I can?" Aizawa retorts, raising an eyebrow. "If you're going to waste my time with childish wihining without reasoning, you should use that time to go to the main office and sign the contracts. Your red-haired assistant is waiting there with the principal."

The officer lets out an exasperrated sigh and turns to leave, glaring at me from the corner of his eye. He leaves without another word and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks." I say to Aizawa. 

He shrugs in response. "Sorry your festival day got cut short because of that." He says. "Also, you don't need to hide."

I quirk my eyebrow in confusion. "Hide?"

Mina, Ochako, Tsu and Shoto come out from behind the corner. "Sorry, aha." They rub their heads abashedly. "We didn't mean to eavesdrop! I just wanted to ask if Rin was okay and we ended up following her here." Ochako explains.

"But wow! It's kind of strange seeing Aizawa so...." Mina trails off.

"Dad-like?" Tsu finishes.

"Yeah, I was surprised!" Ochako says.

"What does dad-like mean..." I hear Shoto mutter under his breath.

Aizawa lets out a sigh. "Come on. We should head to the main office to look over the forms. There's some things we need to talk about, too." He turns to walk away.

"We'll met you back in the audience. Even if you can't fight anymore, you can still watch!" Tsu they walk off in the opposite direction of Aizawa and me.

I smile back at them as a warmth bubbles inside me as I realize the familar feeling of companionship and a fatherly figure was something I really missed ever since running away. 'I am not alone.'