UA's Immortal Teacher

Part 23

He got up from the water and quickly wrapped a towel around himself, taking the kid from Shoji and exiting quickly. When he left, he thought he heard Bakugo tell Kaminari to 'shut his mouth before he killed them all with electricity, dumbass." Whatever that meant.

It was just a short jog over to get Mandalay and get the kid checked out. A kid whose name was apparently Kota. "Thank you so much for bringing him over here. We had him over there because we heard that there was a student in your class that was... a little too interested in girls." Yup, that was Mineta in the nicest terms you could use. "It looks like he was just shocked from the fall. He'll be fine." Mandalay sighed, looking down at Kota sadly. "He's actually my nephew, but ever since my sister and her husband died doing hero work I've looked after him. I don't think he really likes us all that much, but he acts that way around all heroes. He's just a kid, and when his parents died he saw hero work as the thing that took them away from him. You heard him call you guys 'wannabes' earlier. He just... hasn't been the same since."

Shinso didn't know what to say to that. How does one respond when someone tells you something like that? Sure, he lost his parents when he was younger too, but not as young as Kota had to have been. He had at least understood what was happening whan his parents died, and why it had happened, but Kota must have been too young to understand anything behind his parents death. The confusion of what had happened and why, mixed with the anger and loss... Shinso probably would've ended up hating heroes too.

He was saved from having to respond by Izuku-sensei, who appeared in the doorway in a flash. Sometimes it seemed their teacher was everywhere at once, even though Shinso knew logically that the theory couldn't be true. But when Mina and Kaminari suggest something enough, it gets in your head and makes you wonder too. No wonder Bakugo was always so mad. Though Shinso has heard that the anger issues are a recurring problem that started before UA. so they might just continue to trigger him.

"Shinso! The others told me that you were probably still over here. Thanks for taking Kota over here, it was truly kind of you to do so. Though I do recommend going to bed as soon as possible, tomorrow will be a grueling experience for all of you, and sleep is necessary to do these things well." Izuku-sensei smiled at him as he held open the door, indicating for Shinso to pass through. But Izuku-sensei didn't follow him, only waved before the door was shut once more.

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Izuku shut the door behind him and turned to Mandalay, his grin fading slightly. He had orginally come here to talk about his individual plans for each of the students, but he had heard his student and paused at the doorway. Yes, he eavesdropped a lot, but it was a tool that came through for him time and time again. Some might say it was wrong to spy on people so much, but information gathering was key to making any decision. He couldn't have done half the things he had if he hadn't gained the information he had today. And one of those information gathering tactics was listening at doorways.

"Kota's parents... they were the duo Waterhose, right? They went to school at around the same time as the four of you. They were killed by the villain Muscular, if I remember correctly. I saw the news report while I was on I-island." Mandalay didn't do much more than nod at him, her gaze still fixed on the sleeping boy on the couch. It was clear she herself hadn't quite worked through her sister's death either, too focused on helping Kota and her hero work. "From what I heard, they took out one of his eyes. They were always good students."

Maybe he didn't exactly know why he said that, but loss had always been hard to deal with. Even if he went through it hundreds, if not thousands of times through the years. Every connection he made he knew that the person would die long before he did. It didn't get easier over time, probably getting harder with every person that he lost. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had left UA for so long, at most it was planned to be a year or two of a trip. It turned into an escape from those he knew, a way to just... be at peace for a few years. The few years turned into a decade before he knew it, time slipping like sand in between his fingers. He didn't realize it for a while, but when he did he immediately booked a flight for Japan and called Nezu.