●~Not All There Anymore |REWRITTEN|~●

|3| A Cacophony of Silent Noise

"HOW!?"

"SHUT UP AND STOP WHINING."

Aizawa took a long, drawn out sip of his coffee. When everyone quieted down, he continued. "Yes. The zero pointer. People like Todoroki and Bakugou will be taking that thing down, and most likely Midoriya, however much he may not have a problem with it." Aizawa scanned the class to glare at Izuku, but upon not seeing him in the group, stalled.

Aizawa scanned his eyes over the small field before finally seeing Izuku sitting in the shadows against a wall, staring at the ground pointedly. The man sighed. "This is to replicate a villain organization or coordinated attack. The dangerous villains are the ones in groups, and the ones that make actual coordinated and planned attacks, such as the league." Some shuddered at the memory. Aizawa nodded as of to prove his point. "So this will somewhat simulate that. Remember, strength is not always in numbers."

Ashido raised her hand. "Uh, how does that work?"

"Alright, situational example. You're robbing a bank. How many people do you want with you, five or ten?" Ashido looked around before shrugging.

"Well, ten I guess. You can overpower more people that way, right?" Aizawa nodded.

"That's true. However, that's also more suspects to lead back to your base, your organization. There's more people to capture. There's more people to screw something up." He looked over them all with a pointed stare. "And there's a lot more loose links. So no, if your group is not put together and well trained, then weakness lies in numbers."

They all nodded in affirmation. Aizawa gave a shorter nod and looked over his papers. "No teams. This is a free for all, but I want to see some semblance of organization. I'm leaving you all to decide roles and discuss moves. Midoriya," the green haired student looked up at his name. "Come here."

Izuku sighed and slowly stood up, following Aizawa around the corner. He looked at the ground the entire way, dragging his feet. Izuku once again slumped against the wall, refusing to make eye contact.

"Midoriya," Aizawa started. Receiving no reply, he said it again, a bit more forcefully. "Midoriya."

The freckled boy looked up glaringly, even as the sun made him squint. Aizawa sighed. "Look kid. I'm going to be straightforward with you. Are you safe?" Izuku startled, blinking a few times.

"Am I- am I safe?" He asked, not sure how he should answer. He had no idea why Aizawa would even ask this, and while Izuku could tell him - the hitting, the malnourishing food, Ryuko - he also didn't want to. Because he would still be stuck somewhere. And Ryuko would be in the same position. Izuku was hesitant, and his ears rang with Ryuko's words.

"Really? The police are going to arrest one of the few foster homes that take in 'troubled' kids?"

"Yes, safe." Aizawa said, oblivious to Izuku's thoughts. "I'm going to be honest with you. I know about the situation because I'm literally responsible for you. And foster homes? They're not always nice. So are you safe?" Izuku bit his lip for a moment, before making his mouth curl into a smile.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? They're nice people."

Aizawa eyed him skeptically. "Most kids are too scared or prideful to tell. Don't be those kids." Izuku shook his head, trying to keep up this tiring smile.