Me when I don't have a chapter ready bc I didn't write one: *surprised pikachu face*
"As you haven't been here for a large portion of the year, I'd like you to take this test to ensure that you're caught up with your classmates. You have the whole day to go through it, skip anything you don't know and there will be a break at lunch.
"Your guardians have set up an appointment with Hound Dog for you to discuss making up for the missed internship, if you so wish, and provisional licensing." Nezu continues when Sasuke nods. "Your time starts now. Please begin your assessment."
Sasuke flips through the packet. It's history first, then it moves to the other core subject each few pages. It looks like stuff Sasuke knows so it shouldn't be too difficult, though his grasp of the history in this world isn't what it probably should be.
He breezes through most of the packet and doesn't bother putting effort into making it look like he's struggling. A good amount of it is stuff he's learned in his spare time, though some of the math and science questions are things he's researched relatively recently while attempting to gauge this world's knowledge on dimensional travel.
There are a lot of pages, is what he's realizing as he finishes page 10 and notices he's not halfway finished yet.
It takes him the better part of 2 and a half hours to make it through 20 out of 28 pages. It makes sense that it's long, Sasuke missed several months of schooling and hasn't been to their definition of a school... ever, so it's understandably intensive.
He stretches his hands and spends the next hour finishing the last 8 pages.
Nezu left some time ago to do whatever, and he returns just as Sasuke is on the second last question.
"Would you like to break for lunch?"
"No." Sasuke pauses and quickly amends, "No, thank you."
"Oh?" Nezu walks over to the couch Sasuke's sitting on and observes his test. "You're almost done?"
Sasuke shrugs and moves on to the final question. The last section of the test was on hero ethics, which might be the only part other than history that Sasuke could do poorly on.
He checks the time and writes down how long it took him to do the test before handing it to Nezu.
"How fascinating!" Nezu grins. "I had estimated you to take 5 hours to do the test but it appears I understated your abilities!"
Sasuke asks, because he's curious, "Is that the average time?"
"Oh, heavens no! Most students would've taken the full day!" Nezu takes a sip of his tea that Sasuke doesn't remember him having. "If I hadn't known of your circumstances, I would assume your Quirk was intelligence based!"
The delight in Nezu's eyes is gone in a blink and Sasuke shifts slightly, expecting a question.
"Do you do a lot of reading in your spare time?" Nezu wonders.
"I do." Sasuke replies honestly. Noting any miniscule changes in Nezu's body language. "Does that surprise you?"
"Not in the slightest! You're well adjusted to this world, which, I assume, is partially thanks to what you read."
Sasuke nods in acknowledgement and stands. Sometimes, talking with Nezu reminds Sasuke of talking to a Kage. It makes sense, though. Yuuei does a lot more than just teach kids and Nezu runs it all.
"Is the level of power you display casually customary for those from your dimension?" Nezu asks after a prolonged silence.
Sasuke considers lying but knows Nezu would see through him. "I am somewhat of an oddity amongst my peers."
He's vastly downplaying it and Nezu can tell, that is, if the amusement palpable in his strange smile has anything to do with it.
"Well, I've kept you from lunch for long enough." Nezu hops off his chair and Sasuke follows him to the door of his office.
"I hope to see you at the next meeting to discuss possible ways to return you to your dimension."
Sasuke nods. As long as people use the last meeting as a reminder for what not to do, everything should go fine.
"Of course, should anyone attending one of these meetings make you uncomfortable, it will be dealt with accordingly." Nezu says cheerfully.
"Your concern is noted but wholly unnecessary, Principal." Sasuke replies easily.
"If you insist. I would hate for things to get messy."
"As would I."
Nezu opens the door to his office and Sasuke steps out. "September 3rd, 5pm."
"I'll see you then, Principal." Sasuke bows his head in polite recognition before he turns and leaves, his footsteps soundless against the tile.
~~~
"Ah, Uchiha, come in." Hound Dog opens the door when Sasuke knocks. "Mic and Eraser should be here shortly."
Sasuke steps into the room and sits down on one of the 3 available chairs.
"How are you doing today?" Hound Dog asks conversationally.
"Fine." A short silence. "And you?"
Hound Dog's lips twitch upwards. "I'm good. Lots of work to do to get ready for the new semester. How are you finding the dorms?"
Sasuke knows that Hound Dog's function in the school is similar to that of a therapist, so he carefully picks his words.
"Nice. Quite large, though given the rest of the buildings in this school that's hardly a surprise."
Hound Dog laughs. "Yes, 'plus ultra' and all that."
There's a knock on the door and Hound Dog opens it to let Yamada and Aizawa in.
"Inui! Good to see you again." Yamada beams and gives Hound Dog a firm handshake.
Aizawa doesn't say anything and instead sits down. Yamada follows suit with a fond sigh.
"So, let's get right to business, shall we?" Hound Dog pulls out a notebook. "Since you have, technically, taken the entrance exam before and passed, there isn't an issue with letting you rejoin the class. The only potential problem would be that you lack the experience that the rest of your classmates would've gotten through the internship that was completed earlier this year."
Sasuke almost laughs. Him? Lacking experience?
"Experience isn't a problem." He says vaguely.
Hound Dog raises an eyebrow. "Are you willing to elaborate?"
Sasuke is familiar enough with the concept of 'child soldiers' that he knows every adult in a nearby vicinity will see him as one as soon as he explains why they really ought not to be worried about whether or not he's behind his soon-to-be classmates experience-wise.
If he doesn't explain further, then there's a high chance he won't be able to get a provisional license. Not that he really cares. There's not really much they could do to stop him short of attempting to kill him and even then he doubts they'd manage.
Explaining might be a solution to getting them to treat him less like a kid but it could also have the opposite effect.
Either way, it doesn't really matter to him. He's not as upset about lost childhood memories as he probably should be. Not because of that anyway.
"The villages where I'm from are built for war." He begins. "As such, operations during peacetime are carried out under the assumption that there will be another war before the youngest generation become adults.
"Because of this, schooling is quite different. Where your 6 year olds might learn to read and write, for me, it's more natural that they should learn to throw knives." He notes their somewhat horrified expressions and continues, "That's not to say that there aren't schools focused around things other than that, but they're rare and often underfunded."
Aizawa looks like Sasuke is confirming what he already knew, which is better than this coming as a complete shock.
"I," Sasuke says slowly, "am a soldier. Shinobi, is what they're called." He stares directly into Hound Dog's eyes. "So no, I don't believe my lack of experience is anything to be concerned over."
"I see." Hound Dog says. Sasuke can't get a read on his facial expressions too well because of the muzzle. "Did you do work similar to what heroes do?"
Sasuke disguises the laugh that leaves his mouth against his will as a cough and regains his composure. "In what sense?"
"Rescue work, subduing and capturing villains, that sort of thing?"
"Shinobi weren't the... ah, subduing type unless given a reason. But yes, in some cases." Sasuke shrugs.
Hound Dog blinks owlishly at him before his features morph into grim understanding. A quick glance at Yamada and Aizawa tells him that neither of them are surprised at the knowledge that Sasuke has killed people.
"You are unbothered by this?" Hound Dog asks. It's genuine curiosity instead of an accusation.
Sasuke thinks about it. Most clan children held no illusions to the reality of Shinobi work. Unless there was a particular reason to shelter a child, clans usually took it upon themselves to educate their young about what they'd really be getting into if/when they decide to join the Academy.
Sasuke settles on saying, "I am... indifferent."
It's better than being wrecked with grief, but not much. Though, conversely, he could enjoy cutting lives short, but he doesn't so he counts that as a win.
Hound Dog is quiet for a moment. "I'm afraid we've gone off track. Apologies."
Sasuke easily waves off his concern and they continue the meeting.
~~~
The meeting comes to an end and Shouta watches Hizashi walk away with Sasuke.
He's not... surprised by what Sasuke revealed in the meeting. It's still an awful thing to hear about it either way, but Sasuke hadn't really gone into detail (Shouta doesn't know whether or not he should be thankful for that) so he doesn't know how bad it really was.
Hizashi has been putting way more effort into actively showing Sasuke that he's cared for since their talk a few days ago. The talk still weighs heavily on his mind, and he finds himself more distracted than usual in the wake of that conversation.
Shouta isn't mad at Sasuke, of course not. He's more upset with himself for not doing anything about the obvious red flags that some of Sasuke's behaviour showed.
He's doing something about it now, but he still wishes he'd done it sooner.
"Aizawa-san, did you have something you wanted to talk to me about?" Inui wonders.
"Yeah, I was just wondering if you could give me a list of resources so I can set up a therapy appointment for Sasuke."
"Ah, that's what I'd been hoping you'd ask." Inui types something on his computer and the printer in the back of the room turns on and starts printing something. "This is a physical copy of a list of people I trust personally. I can also email you the list, if you'd like."
"Yes, thank you."
Inui hums. "No problem."
There's silence while he drafts the email until Inui speaks again. "You know he's likely to object, right?"
Shouta hums in acknowledgement, though he actually doesn't agree. He knows Hizashi talked to the kid about it once, and then he did object, but Shouta suspects that Sasuke will be expecting this. Either way, they aren't going to force him.
He'll talk to Hizashi more about it before he talks to Sasuke. It's better if they're both on the same page. Hizashi will definitely agree, since he had been pushing for this way before Shouta had thought about it.
"I've sent the email." Inui looks away from his computer and levels Shouta with a stern look. "Please remember to send some of your students my way when the school year starts."
Shouta nods. "Sure. Most of them probably need it."
They exchange a few more pleasantries before Shouta leaves Inui's office and heads to the teacher's dormitories.
"Aizawa-san!" Eri runs up to him as soon as he enters their living space. "Is Sasuke-san with you?"
"He isn't. Did you want to speak to him?"
"Oh." She demurs. "No."
Shouta ignores the obvious lie and walks over to the couch where Nemuri is sitting. Things between them have been a bit tense since the whole All for One debacle. Mostly because Nemuri feels guilty over not keeping better track of Sasuke and Shouta doesn't know how to explain that whether or not she had been watching him like a hawk the whole time, he still would've been able to get to Kamino if he really wanted to.
"Thanks for watching her, Nemuri." He says.
"Oh, it's not a problem." Nemuri says quickly, standing up and collecting her things. "I didn't think...." She cuts herself off. "Well, anyway, I'd be happy to do it any time."
Shouta nods. He really needs to clear the air between the two of them. Let her know that he doesn't fault her for it.
"Nemuri. Sit down." He realizes how rude that sounds and adds on, "Please."
She visibly hesitates before setting her bag on the floor and sitting back down on the couch.
Shouta wishes Hizashi was here. They're much better at doing things like this than he is.
"I don't blame you for what happened with Kamino." He starts. She opens her mouth to say something but he speaks before she can. "Let me finish."
"Sorry." She mumbles.
It's been a while since he's seen her out of sorts like this. But extenuating circumstances, he supposes.
"What I'm about to tell you isn't common knowledge, nor should it be, so please keep this to yourself." He waits for her to nod before continuing. "Sasuke has prior dealings with All for One. Any and all connection the two of them had has been severed, now. But All for One had something Sasuke needed, so he agreed to work together. All for One... attempted to use it against him and needless to say, Sasuke didn't appreciate it. I can't imagine there was much you could've done to stop Sasuke from going to Kamino short of knocking him out."
"Shit." Nemuri says softly.
Aizawa's lips twitch upward. "He's an introvert by nature, so if you had tried to talk to him more I think he would've put more effort into staying away."
"Sounds like someone I know." Nemuri lets a small smile spread across her face.
"Haha, very funny. I'll have you know he was like that before we found him."
There's a brief silence before Nemuri says, "Thanks, Shouta."
Shouta sighs lightly. He knows he's not good at accepting gratitude, but he'll make an effort just this once. "Any time."
Feel free to point out any mistakes
Next Update: April 3rd