"A devastating loss to the American people to lose one of the most beloved heroes. People are still rioting outside of the court as you see Zion and other Pro-Heroes walk out."
Did I expect to have my license suspended after backing up victims of my colleague? Not exactly. Am I upset about it? Not entirely. My time in the U.S wasn't the best, I only stayed for my students, but now without my hero license, I can forget having my job at Cal Academy.
As I walked out of the courthouse, I gave my best smile for those looking and the press. Nerves continued to crawl up my spine as I tried my best to keep my cool. I can't make another scene as I did inside. Reporters flooded in, pestering me to get my opinion on one of my most significant failures.
"I can't describe how disappointing the outcome of the case was, but sometimes things happen. The cards just weren't in our favor. I just hope that people here and at home take this as a reminder of how heroes can fail sometimes, but it doesn't mean that hope is lost forever. I am sure that today is just a setback. Have a good day, and eventually, I will be back once my suspension ends." I smiled and nodded, making my way past the reporters.
"What will you be doing during your time in suspension?" A reporter reached out their microphone over my shoulder.
I thought for a moment. I was thinking back to a conversation I had with my old principal before this trial.
"If all goes wrong. Or something else occurs, and you want to come back. Along with most of the UA staff, I wanted to start a mental health program for the students. Specifically, a counselor or therapist per class. I think it will suit you well to be a counselor here." The calm and reassuring tone Nezu's voice always seemed to have calmed my nerves and made sure I always knew I had someone at my corner at all times.
I turned to the reporter and smirked, "I'll be in Japan."
Present Day
Okay, maybe I shouldn't have taken up Nezu's offer after all.
Class 1-A
Counselor: Mai Montoya
Homeroom Teacher: Shota Aizawa
The stupid mouse-dog-bear thing paired me up with Aizawa? AIZAWA! This is just like when he recommended me for the hero course the first time I ended up at UA.
"You okay? You look like you're about to vomit." Lily, a fellow friend from Cal Academy that Nezu hired, asked.
"I just might. Why must Nezu make things difficult for me?" I handed her my form and rubbed my temples.
She looked at the form and then put her hand on her hip, "I don't see anything wrong with this. There are only twenty students."
I stared up at her. I completely forgot that she's not only new to the school but new to Japan, so she doesn't know anyone but me. "It's not the number of students. I could care less about that. Nezu could give me two hundred kids, and I won't complain. It's the homeroom teacher I have a problem with."
She looks again, "Shota Aizawa. Now, why does that sound familiar?" She scratches her head. A few baby hairs start sticking out of her bun as I just continue to contemplate how my life led me here.
"Do you remember the group of friends I had before graduating UA and coming back to the US?" She nodded, "Do you remember the one specific friend that I stopped talking to?" She shook her head, "Sorry, the friend that stopped talking to me?"
"OH! Oh, wait... Oh no... he's the homeroom teacher?" Lily bit her lip and went to reach for the bottle of water while looking at her class information. "I thought you guys resolved things the last time you came to Japan to help Captain Celebrity five years ago." She took a huge swig of her bottle.
"Kind of, but not really. We talked because it had something to do with a case he was working on, but after that, it was mainly me talking to Kayama and Kayama bothering him. Or me talking to Mic, and he talks to him." I gave an embarrassed smile as Lily glared at me. "It's not my responsibility to patch things up with him; he cut me off."
She took another swig, "Maybe since you tell Principal Nezu everything, he thought you guys needed a push to get back together. Weren't you guys inseparable?"
"We were not inseparable. And Nezu should stop meddling; he's been like this since I was fifteen." I check the time on my laptop to see it was almost time for homeroom and start packing up to meet my new students. "It's almost time for the classes to start. Nezu wanted us to introduce ourselves to the students. Do you need me to show you where Class 1-B is located again? Do you need me to translate for you with the students?"
She shook her head and told me that she was fine and made her way out with me. She kept reassuring me that everything was going to be okay. But honestly, I wasn't listening. Being back at UA made me uneasy; it felt like my first day as a student here. Nervous and scared. Only this time, I had no reason to be. Maybe it was nostalgia. Or perhaps it was just a lot of, hmph. What the hell? I look down to see a familiar yellow sleeping bag at my feet. I turned to my left to see Lily was gone and that I already made it to classroom 1-A. Not only that, I met with the eyes of terrified students. I looked back down to see grey eyes popping out of the sleeping bag staring at me.
"I honestly thought the form was a joke." There it was. That stupid gruffly monotoned voice. It took all I had not to roll my eyes.
"Nice to see that in almost fifteen years, you kept that sleeping bag." I walked over the giant caterpillar of depression and into the classroom.
"It took you guys more than eight seconds to quiet down. That's not going to work." I heard the man say as he zipped out of his sleeping bag. "My name is Shota Aizawa. I'll be your homeroom teacher. And the woman over there, she is Mai Montoya, your counselor." I smiled and waved to students. It was met with mostly enthusiastic responses, aside from one kid grunting and another one practically drooling. Make a note not to wear a pencil skirt and a button-up as long as I'm that kid's counselor. Aizawa then proceeded to take a gym uniform out and told the students to get dressed and ready for training. He turned to look at me as the kids made their way out of the class, "You still do that face."
I blinked, "What face?"
"The face you do when you're concentrating on something too hard. What is it?"
"Oh." After fourteen years, he remembers that? "It's nothing; I just think that it's the first day, and maybe training should wait a little while." He turns and ignores me. "Hey, wait up!"
"I need to know how their quirks work, and the earlier they train, the earlier we can make then better heroes."
"It's only the first day, though. They could do introductions and talk about their quirks. Plus, I thought I saw you when the staff was watching the entrance exams; you should already have an idea." I pointed.
"It's not the same as in person." Was all he responded, "I'm their teacher so let me do what I normally do. You're only here to observe."
"I am here to introduce myself and get to know the students. And we are meant to collaborate, Sh... Aizawa." Eeeeeggggggg almost did a no-no right there. He didn't spare me a second glance, but I could tell that I annoyed him. He was already irritating me too. I just sighed and decided to sit on the bench and take my laptop out to start jotting down notes as I waited for the students to arrive.
Once the students arrived, Aizawa explained that he was making them do a Quirk Apprehension Test. They all seemed okay until he mentioned that whoever scored the lowest would be expelled. Kayama told me once about how Aizawa likes to expel students, but I didn't think it would be so early. I neglected the decision to interject; I didn't want to piss him off more so soon.
"Yes?" Aizawa spoke.
"My name is Tenya Iida. I have a question about the counselor?" I looked up to see a whole ocean of eyes looking at me.
I stood up and smooth out my skirt, "What is your question, Iida?"
"Why didn't we get a proper introduction yet?"
"Oh, uh, I was waiting until your teacher was done explaining the lesson so I can explain not only myself but the purpose of the new mental health program at UA." I smiled. "But since you asked, um, I guess it wouldn't hurt to give you the introduction now." I nodded over to Aizawa to get permission to speak more, knowing this was taking time away from his lesson. "Okay, well, as said before, I am Mai Montoya, your counselor. I am part of the new mental health program as a way for the school to become more engaged in students' mental health. I, along with many other Pro Heroes, felt that hero programs don't focus on the importance of mental health for both general students and hero students. Principal Nezu saw the importance and asked me to help be in charge of it. I am originally from the U.S, but I used to be a UA student, so that's how Nezu and I know each other."
Another student raised their hand to ask a question; she had pink skin and cute little horns popping out of her head, "Wait, 'I, along with other Pro Heroes.' You're a pro?"
I rubbed my neck, "Yes, I am a Pro Hero. I am currently not on active duty, though." Here we go. "Let me quickly explain myself, so you feel more inclined to trust me. I am the Pro Hero Zion..."
A green hair boy spoke up, "The U.S's Number 2 Hero that recently got their license suspended? Oh my god, why are you here in Japan? Our counselor is a top hero!"
I was speechless, this kid knew about... oh, who am I kidding the whole case was broadcasted all over the world. "As I was saying, yes, I have my Pro Hero license suspended in the U.S. currently. However, I still have my Japanese Hero License, so I am still a pro. I legally am not allowed to talk about any details about my suspension, though. Just know that the suspension isn't getting lifted anytime soon, so that's why I decided to move back to Japan." I waited for more interruptions.
"Are you allowed to train us too?" The boy asked.
"I wasn't hired for that. As a disclaimer, I only want to do my work at UA; I have to avoid any other scandals from hero work because of my suspension. So you won't be seeing me on the news anytime soon while I am here." They all awed and disappointedly huffed. Afterward, I gave out my email and other ways to contact me to make any appointments with me, and with that, their apprehension test started.
I stood to the side and analyzed the students in their testing environments for the most part. I found out the green-haired boy was named Izuku Midoriya, and the pink girl was Mina Ashido. Everyone seemed pretty determined to pass, mainly because of the threat of expulsion, which I guess is good, but I still don't think scaring the kids to do good was the best way to teach. "It's a logical deception; I have no plans to expel anyone." Aizawa came up to me with a stern face.
"That makes it worse. You scared them, and now they're not going to trust you." I made sure I wrote that piece of information in my notes about the class. The man just shrugged. "They have a lot of potentials. These quirks are fantastic." He just grunted. "I'm trying to have a conversation with you. Especially since you initiated it."
"I'm sorry to hear about your license suspension. You didn't deserve that." Aizawa just stared at the students and avoided looking at me.
"Things happen. I can't feel sorry for myself. I didn't even like working for that agency anyways." I brushed it off. "I just hate feeling that I failed to bring justice to those girls, especially since they reminded me of my students. Young, hopeful, ready to save the world. Now, they're scared and feel like there's no purpose in saving anyone if even heroes can be villains." I rested my chin on my fist as I watched the young heroes in front of me. Then I noticed one of the students going berserk with his explosion quirk on Midoriya. "You might want to keep an eye on Bakugou. His personality is almost as explosive as his quirk."
"I already have a feeling these kids are going to make me want to quit teaching," Aizawa grumbled. The next thing I saw was his capture weapon wrapped around the blond boy to stop him from blowing up Midoriya. I tried my best to contain my laughter at the kids' reaction to him, bringing it out again. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a blond crouching behind the corner of the building, analyzing the students as well-- All Might.
I rolled my eyes and got up. "I have to go back to my office. I'll see you, kids, later after you go through your general classes to see how you guys are adjusting." I went around the corner to meet with the seven-foot-two giant of a man. "What's up, Toshinori?"
The poor guy didn't see me and nearly almost transformed into his skinny form. "Young Montoya! It's wonderful to see you! Please don't tell Aizawa I'm here." He went to hug me (more like lifted me off the ground) and then hunch down.
I giggled, "Oh, I am pretty sure he noticed; he's just not saying anything about it."
"I'm just observing his teaching style since it's my first year as a teacher." He rubbed the back of his neck.
I hugged my laptop and levitated a little to get on his level, "I suggest telling him that you want to learn from him. I have to go, so have fun." I gave him a quick hug and left.
"I've missed you. Maybe you can finally take my offer of taking over my agency."
"Not this again," I grunted. "See you around, Toshinori. Let me know when you want teaching advice."
I love Toshinori, but after his injury ten years ago, he's been trying to convince nonstop to take care of his agency in case the worst would happen. I always just brushed it off. I didn't want that type of responsibility. My whole career in the U.S, people have compared me to him. And I never minded it, it was an honor to be compared to the symbol of peace. But the idea of actually taking the mantle never sat right with me. And I highly doubt it ever will after now being the only top hero to have a license suspension. After finding out Toshinori was going to be a teacher to find a new person to take his quirk, I got more nervous for him and the future of the new person to have One for All. With that in mind, it does give me a reason to try and take the mantle instead of putting it all on a student. It's irresponsible to give all that pressure onto a child. I guess that's mainly the reason why they added the mental health program. To make sure the kids aren't under a lot of pressure.