If Reia was being honest, she kind of felt useless when it came to the students' training. Because she didn't have a quirk, there was no way for her to help train them physically. Sure Aizawa was there for that sort of thing, and she was at least able to keep up with Ojiro for a little bit during their sparring match, but if they were to go all out, there was nothing she could do to actually go up against them.
Maybe it was good that she couldn't. There were a lot of factors that set her apart from the kids and their teacher, and one of those things was body reinforcement. She realized this when Midoriya had fallen from the tree 45 feet in the air. That in itself should have broken several bones, but the boy had gotten up like it was nothing. The same thing also applied when Bakugo hit his face with a grand explosion. Reia scolded him, considering that they were supposed to be keeping Midoriya's training a secret.
But all-in-all, the display showed her how weak she was compared to them. She shouldn't be comparing herself. She knew that. They were literally people from a different world, so of course they would be different from her. And plus, they've been training for basically a whole year, Aizawa even more. Their bodies were more resilient, more toned, and more athletic. They were training to be heroes. Reia wasn't. She shouldn't be bothered. Of course she knew that.
So why was she?
Sighing, Reia shook her head as she glanced down at the thick binder in her hand. Back when she was gathering information about Midoriya's quirk and writing it down, she also had been watching the students train with Aizawa from afar. They were all sparring against each other using their quirks. Aizawa was letting them use their quirks now, though he had told them to be careful not to injure anyone too badly since Recovery Girl wasn't there to help them. When she saw them fight against each other, she unconsciously began to pick up on some of the things that the kids should improve on.
Then she realized. Midoriya wasn't her only student. She had almost forgotten that a class of hero hopefuls were under her tutelage for their school subjects. She wanted to save them from their fates, or at least improve their circumstance when they got back, so instead of just Midoriya, she should be writing about improvements for the other students, shouldn't she?
Once she thought about it, she already knew what she had to do. Alongside Midoriya's individual improvements, she also began to study up on the other students' quirks and write down how or possible things they could try to help improve them. After two days of all-nighters, plenty of coffee sessions, she ended up with a binder for the students' training that was about five inches thick. And she hasn't finished it yet.
There were still some students' profiles that she hadn't completed, but she could probably do it during her off time.
Reia stared absentmindedly at the binder on her desk. She could feel the way her eye would twitch momentarily, the weight of her own eyelids working against her. Leaning lazily against her hand, she continued to stare at the binder, as if willing for it to move. She should probably get up now. The kids were almost finished with breakfast, and it was almost her time to teach. Come to think of it, she hasn't actually had breakfast, has she?
It's not like she was hungry anyway.
Sighing gently, Reia forced herself out of her chair and picked up the large binder before exiting the office. It's been a few weeks, and during that time, her and Aizawa began to slowly make improvements to the pool house they were using as a makeshift classroom. For one, both of them were now sharing an office.
In the pool house they were using, there were some additional rooms in it. Along with the small kitchen that was exposed to the outside area on the right side of the open room of the 'class', there was an extra room on the right further into the small building, which was attached to a bathroom that was open to both the classroom space and the room. The two adults ended up turning that extra room into an office.
Once they moved the bed out, they added two desks that sat on opposite ends of each other. That way they can both work without the students bothering them. Well, that's what Aizawa had said anyway.
They also added a projector with a white screen to the classroom too, much to the students' excitement as well as Reia's.
As Reia walked out of the office, she gasped as she nearly bumped into someone's chest. Backing up slightly, she looked up to see Aizawa staring down at her with a raised eyebrow. A small smile of embarrassment made its way onto her face, and she readjusted the binder in her hand as she felt it slip slightly.
"Sorry," she said.
"It's fine."
Just as he was about to go inside, a small 'oh!' came from Reia's mouth when she realized what she was doing, and she moved to the side, her and Aizawa unintentionally switching places as he looked back toward her.
"Here," she stated, handing the binder over to him, "I know you're handling the students' training well and you don't really need any help, but I just thought of some ways that the students could possibly improve on their quirks. They're mostly just theoretical, but I was hoping that maybe it could help the students with their training."
Taking the binder, Aizawa flipped through some pages and skimmed them over. Reia stood there slightly awkwardly as she waited for him to respond. Once he closed it, he looked at Reia and gave her a nod.
"I'll make sure to look it over, thank you."
It was a measly statement. Nothing so extravagant. But the woman couldn't help but smile anyway, and she reciprocated a nod as well before wandering to the front of the class. With the rest of the students finishing breakfast, they all met up, taking their designated seats before Reia started the class.
While she taught the students, Aizawa stayed in the office looking over what Reia had given to him earlier. Now that they've all gotten into a certain groove of doing things, Aizawa was able to leave her on her own to teach the students. Not that she did bad the first time. It was mostly just for him to watch the students and make sure they weren't doing anything bad or getting distracted. And after watching her teach for the past week and watching the students' actions, he decided he could now leave her to teach her subjects, whilst he himself prepared to teach and help the kids train.
Speaking of training, as Aizawa continued to read over the stacks of information laid in front of him, he was surprised to see how much detail the binder contained. Not only was it filled with information about the students' abilities and how they are used, but like she said, it was also filled with different ideas or techniques that could be used to help train the kids' quirks.
There was also a lot of information on something called a 'Quirk Awakening.' Aizawa has been in the hero world for at least 15 years, so he was bound to hear some things about it. Though, the information he learned wasn't as detailed as what he saw in front of him. As said in the binder, Quirk Awakenings were usually acquired through a great amount of stress on the person, or a near death experience. It was possible for all of them to get a whole upgrade on their quirks by this 'Quirk Awakening', but it wasn't something that Reia was willing to write down.
Instead, underneath the information was big bold letters that said 'LAST RESORT'.
Aizawa would never put his kids under life-threatening stress. Never. And Reia agreed.
There was still more information to go through, but by the time he was starting on a new page, Reia had entered the office. She set down the two binders dedicated to her own class, signaling to Aizawa that it was his turn to teach now. Shutting the binder on his desk, he got up and took the things he needed for his subject and entered the class.
The lessons he taught were taking a little longer than expected. Though, it was mostly because he started to notice a few of the students dozing off. Aizawa made sure to tell them that they would get extra training. After his Math subject was over, he took the students out for training.
For today, they would be using their quirks to try to incapacitate multiple groups of enemies. This meant that each student had to go up against four simultaneously. 1 student versus 4. Most of them were excited, a few more excited than others, and some were apparently wallowing in the pits of their own despair. Aizawa couldn't help but smile sadistically.
Four groups of five fought at the same time, and Aizawa analyzed and studied each and every one. As he continued to watch his students spar against each other, he began to recognize some of the faults in their steps as Reia had pointed out in a few of their profiles.
Because Kaminari had his hero costume on him (thanks to Yaoyarozu, who helped to provide the hero costumes for the students who didn't transport with them), he relied mostly on shooting his disks in the direction of the people he was sparring with. However, because of that exact reason, he couldn't focus on close quarters combat, and his attention was split between the two, which resulted in his instant loss.
Kouda knew his quirk well, and he used it to disorientate the enemy and use it as an opportunity to knock them out. However, he wasn't quite as adept in hand to hand combat itself, which also resulted in his loss.
The same thing went with Yaoyarozu. She could control her quirk well, and she had the ability to fight off her opponents. But with the consistent attacks of opponents, she couldn't focus on creating the things she needed, which caused her to loose.
Jiro seemed to be doing well against her four opponents. While keeping a few of them at bay with her quirk's sound shield, she would approach a singular opponent and try to take them down. She had the tactic. Although she won, Aizawa could see what Reia was talking about when she mentioned for a few of the students to focus on their muscle strength. Jiro beat her classmates, but only barely.
After the first round, the students chose who would be the lone fighter. As they trained, Aizawa watched over them, his eyes continuing to unconsciously nitpick their flaws and match them up to Reia's own comparisons.
–
When Reia didn't meet up with him a few days ago, James got worried. It had been about two months since he had given her the key to her parent's house, and it's nearly been two months since he last talked to her. A few days ago, they were planning to meet up. She wanted to tell him something apparently, but when he got to the meet up spot, he stared there for two hours before deciding to call her.
She didn't answer.
He let it go, of course. Reia might have been busy, so maybe they would just have to reschedule for another day. However, with no response after the many calls and texts he's sent, James was starting to get worried.
He visited Reia's apartment. She didn't answer. A few days in a row he tried to talk to her, but all he received was nothing. So he went even earlier, but it was almost like she was never there. Then he realized. The next day, James drove to her parent's house (which was hers now) for two hours before finally arriving.
When he saw Reia's car parked in front of the house, he almost breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he was watching too many FBI shows. At least she was here. Nothing happened.
Shaking his head, James stepped out of his car and locked it before slowly making his way up the steps. He was glad that Reia decided to take care of the house. It was such a beautiful mansion when he first saw it when he was younger. Because of her parents, it was filled with so much love and care, and that family bond was translated to the physical appearance of the house as well as the garden.
He had fond memories with the place, especially when he and Reia used to wander out into the fields towards the forest.
But there was a reason why Reia didn't want to come back. And James could relate. It was hard to stay when someone you had was gone.
Once he got up, James raised a fist to the door.
Then, he heard something.
James's hand froze mid air, and his black eyes shifted slowly around in confusion. Did he hear that right? What was that? It sounded almost like-
Another booming sound filled the air, and James's eyes widened in response. His head whipped toward the direction of the sound. He didn't think. His legs carried him before he could protest, and he found himself maneuvering across the white rocks that bordered the house sidewalk toward the side of the property.
The long trek only caused him to go faster when he heard another explosion vibrate in the air. Just as he rounded the corner, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
Multiple people were fighting in the open field. They all seemed to be split up in a group. Four groups it looked like. As some traded blows with each other, others were chasing each other around, following after a singular person that seemed to be fending off against all of them. Sure, it was a surprise to see random people at Reia's house, but that wasn't what shocked him.
As the teens, which he presumed they were, continued to fight, one of them began to emanate an energy. Then, yellow electricity crackled in the air. Fire exploded from another one, and they shot it in the direction of one of the other teens. Further to the right, one of them yelled and reeled their arm back before a big explosion thundered the air.
James's eyes widened.
"Holy fucking shit."
The taller teen's head whipped around.
James slapped a hand over his mouth.
Something incoherent was yelled to the surrounding group. James had no idea what they were saying, but he immediately could tell once everyone stopped fighting and had turned to him. He bolted. Dodging the plants that surrounded the front of the house, he quickly ran toward his car. He stumbled slightly as the floor level changed, but he quickly caught himself, running over to the driver side with his key out.
In the distance, he could hear explosions beginning to get closer, along with multiple sounds of rocks crushing underneath weight. James panicked when he dropped his key. His hand darted for it. Rushing crystals reverberated in the air before ice encased James's key, causing him to jerk his arm back.
Before James could react, the ice rushed up his leg, causing his eyes to widen. As he tried to pull his own legs out of this strange predicament, multiple steps shuffled in his direction, and James winced at how close they were.
When he looked up, he rose both of his hands in surrender.
"Please. I don't mean to hurt anybody. Let me go."
Despite his calm voice and still exterior, James was internally screaming. He had no idea what was happening or who these people were. Not only that, but these people had powers, or something of the sort at least. It was beyond crazy. There was no way this was real. None of this was real. Was it?
In the background, some of the teens looked at each other in confusion, while some of the other teens' gaze remained on the unknown man in front of them. They spoke to each other in a different language, one that sounded suspiciously close to Japanese, and after a few moments, one of the teens stepped slightly forward with their eyebrows scrunched together.
"Who are you?" A young girl with a high ponytail stated.
James frowned lightly. The girl was asking him who he was, but shouldn't it be him asking that? People who he didn't know were staying at a house that belonged to Reia. He didn't know what they were doing here. Where was Reia? Did they do something to her? What was going on? He needed to get some answers.
They might be people that Reia knew. He needed to make sure she was okay.
"Do you...know someone named Reia?"
At the sound of the name, the girl blinked in surprise. Slowly, she nodded.
The frown on James's face faded, and his expression was soon replaced with a look of worry.
"Where is she?"
At that exact moment, footsteps crunched against the rocks, causing everyone to turn and see Reia walking toward them. As her eyes scanned the group with question falling out of her mouth, her eyes landed onto James, and her green pools widened.
"James?"
The man only huffed, both in annoyance, and relief.
"You fucking idiot. Why don't you call me before you decide to disappear?"
It took a moment, but when Reia replied, a small sheepish smile made its way onto her face as she avoided James's eyes.
"I...might have misplaced my phone a few days ago?"
James could only shake his head at the statement.
"Of course you did," James sighed, "dumbass."
--
Fun fact: James was actually supposed to faint by the end of the chapter, but bro was level-headed lmao. I honestly forgot he was the same age as Reia and is a lawyer.