Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So okay, you sure you gonna buy all of these five?”

You smirked at the cashier with a nod, “Yeah, why would I bring them all to you if I wasn’t going to buy them?”

Honestly, you really needed to go home and rest today. But you just had to come here to buy the first five volumes of My Hero Academia manga. Oh, you were definitely not a new fan. You just thought that it was time to own some manga books after being a fan of the anime adaptation for so long.

Besides, would there be any differences between the manga and the anime? So far, four seasons of the show had been animated and you really could not wait for another season which was going to be aired in about one month.

If you hadn’t had some work to do as soon as you got home, you would have been immediately reading these five books.

But you would just have to be satisfied with reading a bit on the bus.

The middle-aged man, who had been working there for quite a while, expertly worked with the register but he opened his mouth to talk again, “You know, I have shared this with quite a lot of people, wanna hear? It’s a myth about manga books and those who read them for the first time and it isn’t for the digital copies though. I’m sure you've read a bit on the internet.”

“Well, yes, I have read some chapters, not from the beginning, of course. Just a chapter here and there. What can I say? Spoilers are interesting,” you shrugged. “And the myth also sounds interesting.”

The man hummed. “Okay then. This is just a myth but,” He paused, glancing left and right for a moment. For some dramatic effect, you reckoned. “Some say that if you die while reading a manga book for the first time, you will reawaken in the universe of whichever book you are reading. Imagine that happening while reading the first Attack on Titan volume.”

The man chuckled at his own joke. And you can see how that would be a bit bad. “Well, it suspiciously sounds like an Isekai.”

“I know, right?” The cashier put all the newly purchased books into a paper bag as you deposited the cash on the counter. “I would totally name it ‘No Spoilers: Reader’s Isekai’. Well, here you go. Enjoy your manga and take care on your way home. Thanks for shopping with us!”

You gave him a curt nod and a quiet ‘Thank you,’ before making your way to the bus stop, a certain pair of eyes following you all the way to the exit.

There wasn’t too much time until the bus came but while waiting at the bus stop, you took out the first one from the volumes you bought and started reading from the place you left off before purchasing at the store, which was almost two-thirds of the book.

Now, you could remember what happened in the first arc quite well both from reruns of the series themselves and from reading too many fanfics that had spoiled you a bit even. Some scenes about the League fighting an army or something that you could not really remember. But also, other...mhmm...major things.

However, it was not like you were not going to enjoy the book. When the bus arrived, you quickly got in and chose a seat.

You were just reading the twelfth chapter of the series before a large force collided with the bus.

Then, pain blossomed in your head and everything went dark after that.

Somehow, you knew you were slipping in and out of consciousness.

A blurry pale blue ceiling and cold tiles…

Cool liquid underneath your head...

The rise and fall of soft warm darkness that seemed to circle you…

A kiss and brightness…

And falling asleep…

When you woke up, you were lying in a comfortable bed in a room. You blinked slowly and breathed in deeply. The last time you were completely conscious was back when you were on the bus, reading the manga and then, your vision going dark. Therefore, it must mean that you were involved in some kind of accident.

You could not feel any pain though. Maybe the hospital staff gave you painkillers. Did that mean you were high?

Blinking again, you looked around with surprising ease. The room sure seems to be some sort of infirmary or hospital room. There were some windows on your left, the curtains half drawn to show that it was already dark outside.

Did you end up being unconscious for days though? Then, where were your family members? Did you even put them down for the emergency contacts? What if this was some kind of afterlife? A series of gibberish snatched your attention towards an elderly nurse or doctor who was too old to be working.

You tried to get up and could get up with surprising ease. Just how much time did you spend sleeping, or rather in a coma, that you could move and feel as if you were healed all over?

But if you spent a long time lying stiffly in a bed, would it not be uncomfortable to move?

“Umm, pardon? I didn’t quite catch that,” you squinted at the sight of the peculiar cane that the old lady was holding. It looked like a syringe for goodness’s sake. What an interesting choice. And her attire and her hairstyle -oh well, everything about her actually - sort of reminded you of someone.

Confusion flashed across her face for a moment before she said, “What did you say? I couldn’t hear it well.”

“Oh, just asking you what you said earlier,” you reluctantly replied. Did you slur or something?

“Oh, nothing. Just remarking on your consciousness.”

You blinked at her before nodding. Then, your eyes trailed down to your body. You were still wearing the clothes you wore to the manga store. Your hands made their way towards the back of the hoodie you were wearing only to find the texture a bit weird. “How are you feeling?”

“Umm, I am feeling fine. Am I on painkillers?” you questioned softly as you tried to see what happened to the hood.

Blood was the culprit, you found out.

And from what you could feel, it seemed like there was a lot of blood. Swallowing, you asked the old lady, who was trying to check the various machines surrounding you, “E-excuse me, ma’am. What happened to me? I can only think that the bus I was riding had an accident. Can you tell me where I am?”

“The bus you were riding, you say? Can you tell me its number?”

You complied, thinking that this might be a check-up of the patient’s awareness or something. But she gave you a weird look at your answer.

You were sure you got it right.

The nurse (or was she a doctor?) resumed her check-up before giving you any answer to your questions, which you thought was unfair because you answered hers. But of course, the sooner you could get on with this, the sooner you will get answers from her.

She hummed, “You are indeed in good shape. I’m glad. Now, to answer your questions, does UA ring any bells?”

You blinked and blinked again for good measure.

“Umm, UA? Did I hear it right?” Your hand came up to clinch your other wrist and your feet started to feel cold.

The lady nodded, “Yes, my dear. UA. Do you know what UA is?”

You swallowed, “You mean, you’re seriously asking that?” She gave you another nod. “What are you trying to say? The only UA I know is a hero school from “My Hero Academia” which is a manga that I read and I also watch its anime adaptation. Why would you ask that?”

“Excuse me. Did you say a manga? And anime?”

You frowned at her, “Yeah. What are you trying to say, ma'am? Where am I?’

Your eyes scanned her again and you were hit with familiarity but this time, recognition accompanied it. No wonder you felt you had seen her somewhere.

“Why are you all dressed up like Recovery Girl? Don’t play a prank on me! Tell me where I am! Or I’m suing you and whoever else behind this all,” you knew you were losing control of your emotions a bit. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

You rose to your feet, the cold creeping up your arms and legs. “Well, answer me. Please. Where am I? What happened?”

“My dear-”

“No offense but it is very unprofessional of you to use that term to refer to me,” you interrupted before you could stop those words before they spilled into your mouth from your mind. Where was that filter when you needed it?

She paused before resuming, “You are at UA right now and I don’t know why you are confused but I am Recovery Girl and I used my quirk on you to fasten up your healing process.”

Oh heck no. You were not dealing with this right now. Your impassive face stared down at the much older woman while your mind was on a marathon run with no destination but instead of running like it was supposed to for the marathon, it was sprinting at full speed. You started shaking your head, “Nope. Sorry. I will be leaving this room right now. Thank you.”

Your legs crossed the distance between the bed and the door quickly but your hand wasn’t as quick to reach the doorknob before the door opened by itself.

Oh silly, why would a door open by itself?

It was the black-haired man who looked like he seriously needed to sleep and also a glow-up. Around his neck was a bundle of greyish white scarf-like fabric.

You hated the information that the brain provided you, i.e, the fact that this homeless-looking man would be what Aizawa would have looked like if he had been a real person.

Well, Aizawa was not a real person now, was he?

A pair of dark eyes that really seemed like they were painfully dry narrowed at you. You narrowed your eyes back at the man. He dryly remarked, “I see you are trying to escape.”

“It is also possible that you are trying to go back to the place you came from,” a white thing which suddenly popped out of the grey scarf said with a smile, “I am afraid you would not be able to do that as of now.” You could already feel your face spasming as you tried to figure out how to react to the newest addition to the mix. You really hated that that ridiculous creature really talked and that you had an idea just what or rather who this creature was.

Oh, but what an idea you had.

“There is no need to worry. You are at UA and I am Principal Nedzu. This right here is Aizawa, one of the teachers at this school,” the creature introduced.

"He found you unconscious in a hallway, in a pool of your own blood no less, and brought you here actually."

Your eyes caught a glimpse of dark purple hair which belonged to a woman in a skintight suit hovering around the doorway. “Oh, goodness, no. How far are you willing to go to prank a poor person like me? I can’t- I should really sit down right now.”

And you did. Just where you were standing a moment ago. “Look, you are clearly cosplaying. Just tell me this is a joke and I’ll leave peacefully. I’m begging.”

The dark-haired man, whom you absolutely refused to acknowledge as Aizawa Shouta aka the Erasure hero, Eraserhead, said with an obviously deadpan voice, “This is a joke. And, what do you mean we are cosplaying? I assure you there is no one who would cosplay as me.”

You groaned into your hands before whipping your head to glare up at the man and the creature in his scarf with a deadpan of your own.

“What on earth happened to me? Why am I here?” you raised your voice, trying to stand up again. You were not looking up from such a low place. No, thank you. You did not need neck pain in addition to the headache that was already forming. Before you could bite out more questions, the white furry being who, if the pattern was right, should be called Nedzu cut in, “How are you here?”

“And who are you?” The woman who seemed to be cosplaying Midnight called out.

“Look, I’m not telling you anything before I know what the heck is happening to me!” You huffed, “There is no way it is true. It was just a frigging myth for goodness’s sake! I can not be at UA! UA isn’t even a real school!”

Silence followed your words and a part of you was grateful for that.

Trying to relax your tight-fisted hands, you looked around the infirmary room. You took a deep breath, staring down at the floor when a thought came to your mind, “I’m sorry for almost, well, not almost, yelling but umm, where are my belongings?”

“Your belongings are kept elsewhere in the meantime.” Your eyes flew to the Aizawa lookalike as he spoke, “We just want to know how you got into the school building and how you got hurt. If you’ve answered that, you will be free to go as long as you are found not guilty of any charges by the legal standards.”

You stared at him for a few seconds before you transferred your gaze to the other two in the room. There was one way you could deal with this and get the answers you wanted.

“How about I get one of my questions answered for every question I answer for you?”

There was no guarantee that the answers you received were the truth. However, if what you were thinking was true even though it would be one heck of truth, this was a great way to gather information. Exchanging info always worked.

The white creature smiled happily and took out a thermos flask. “Deal. Now let’s start this!” he cheerily agreed to your proposal with a raise of the teacup which he brought out of nowhere.

“Oh, I’m just in time then.” A new voice said from behind the Aizawa lookalike who stepped further into the room to make way for the newcomer. You blinked at the disheveled look the man was wearing, one hand taking off his tanned hat while the other held a coat of the same color. How you wished to think you did not have even an inkling as to just who this man was.

“Ah, Detective Tsukauchi. Come in, come in,” Nedzu lookalike said from where he was sitting. You spied the hobo man choosing a wall to lean on from the corner of your eyes. “It seems our newest friend is ready to answer some questions.”

Your eyes followed the newest addition to the room as he chose a chair to sit down before what the rat-bear-thing said caught up with you. Taking a deep breath, you sat down on the bed you were previously in.

So, were you really at UA? Were you really in the My Hero Academia universe?

You were sure as heck you heard that creature right when he said the name of the detective.

Hundreds of questions raced through your mind, some fully formed, some only half-built, some logical and some making no sense at all.

Wait, did that mean the characters you simped for were real here?

“Would you like some tea?” The question snapped you out of your own little world. But before you could reply, the dark-haired man sighed, “We should get on with this questioning, Nedzu. Some of us are busier than they would like.”

"Of course, of course. Detective, if you will," Nedzu nodded to the man and so you began to listen attentively to what he had to say.

However, the words that traveled out of his mouth were ones that you were familiar with, just as you were worried it would be.

But should one really be worried about something if one had known that there was a high chance of it being true?

"My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa and I am legally required to inform you that my quirk can detect lies and will be in use during this questioning."

You could barely keep your face neutral. Maybe, it was because you also felt numb by the sheer ridiculousness of this whole thing. This whole miracle of being involved with a myth which technically was not a myth anymore. Just your luck.

Oh, just your luck.

Your mind also presented other consequences of being transported into the My Hero Academia universe, ones that you could not bring yourself to hate or mind.

You nodded to the detective and the first question was asked, “Please state your name and birthday.”

You answered truthfully. If you were in fact in another dimension, in another world, it would be best to cooperate with the people who you knew to be heroes. You would just have to pray that the canon and even some fanon of these characters in your favorite series were true.

Letting your eyes wander around the room, you waited for their reaction. The furry creature- okay, you should just call them by their names- Nedzu appeared as if he was raising his brows and not succeeding because he did not have any, his teacup just starting to rise to his mouth after a moment. The principal began to slip his tea with a thoughtful expression.

“You,” the detective started, “you are actually speaking the truth.” He nodded and reconfirmed it by stating it for the second time for everyone in the room to hear.

Eraserhead blinked and the tired look on his face immediately disappeared. He was not even leaning on the wall anymore. Your throat suddenly went dry as you really needed them to believe your truth.

“So, the birthdate in your ID card is an official and real one,” Nedzu spoke up.

“My ID card?”

The creature set down his cup and fished out a card from the inner pocket of his vest, handing it to you. It certainly was your ID card with your name, birthday, and other information. Well, blowing up in the face of the principal of the school you were currently in who was also the most intelligent creature was not the smartest thing to do.

So you just remarked, “It is rude to go through other people’s possessions without their permission.”

You put it in your pocket.

“Well, we had to know your identity so that we could notify your emergency contacts. Also, it wasn’t as if you were there to express your permission and your belongings were all spread out on the floor around you,” the underground hero said from his place. Nedzu cheerily adds, “Also, if what you said is true, not only are you remarkably older than us but also you are certainly not from around here.”

Nodding your head, you drew in a breath. “Okay. Now, it’s my turn. If I am at UA, that means you guys have quirks. So, just demonstrate a quirk, preferably one with visible effects. So not Erasure, not Lie Detection, not High Specs. Just use a visible quirk.”

It was a bit nice to see the faint surprise in the eyes of everyone in the room, especially Aizawa, when you mentioned Erasure and other quirks.

The lady who had been standing outside the infirmary stepped into the room, “I can use Somnambulist. My sleeping gas can be seen.”

“Yeah but you can just fake some kind of purplish-pink gas and then your associate can pretend to fall asleep.” You shrugged, “And there’s no way I’m offering myself so that you can put me to sleep.”

You knew you were coming across as paranoid but you needed facts backed up with evidence, not assurances without proper proof.

Midnight tilted her head in an accepting way and said, “Okay then,” before exiting the room again. You noticed how she was positioned just outside the door. You were guarded which was understandable. It must be very confusing to see someone who was born centuries ago, more so if that someone was just lying unconscious and hurt in a hallway that no outsider could enter.

“Okay, I have an idea. If you are Recovery Girl, you’ll be able to heal injuries with your kiss which would be hard to pull off without the real quirk,” you looked at the old lady who seemed to know where you were going.

You narrowed your gaze, knowing full well that what you were going to propose was not the best idea you had come up with, “Do you have any knife or something like that?”

“I would not suggest-”

You interrupted whoever was speaking, “It’d be best for all of us if we just get this over with. Surely you must have a surgical knife in the infirmary. And also, don’t you carry a knife for emergencies, Eraserhead?”

The erasure hero blinked at the usage of his hero name before giving you the knife that he kept hidden in his hero uniform. Huh, you had not been sure that the hero had a knife. Lucky. At Recovery Girl’s look, he just said, “It’s not like you can’t heal the wound later, ma'am. Thanks for the concern but it is only rational to show a quirk in action if that’s what needed to be seen.”

You nodded in thanks before cutting your palm with it. Red beads appeared before blood was dripping down onto the white floor. Your half-lidded eyes stared at it.

“Sorry for the mess though.”

The sigh that the nurse let out was quite loud but in the end, she came over to give you a healing kiss. The cut closed, albeit slowly. The older woman remarked, “Your stamina is getting low. You should be resting or sleeping instead of wasting it.”

Licking your lips after seeing the quirk in action, you could barely say a soft, “Thank you," as some of the reality caught up with you. Not all, but some.

You accepted the towel that the heroine gave you and used it to wipe down excess blood in your hands and also that on the floor. It was a relief that none of it got onto the bed covers.

After you had finished, you sat back, caressing the now unblemished palm. You could not afford to freak out. A level head was the best in every situation. Blinking repeatedly, you slowed down your breathing.

“So, I am really at UA. I am really in a quirked society.”

Nedzu hummed, “Now, I think you have quite an idea as to what has happened to you. Would you mind sharing it? Actually, would you rather explain it to us all at once?”

You paused, considering it. Well, it would be best to just tell it all. So you did. You told them how UA was a school from a manga called My Hero Academia in your world, how that manga was about a student in class 1A (you did not see the need to mention Midoriya’s name), and what happened before you lost consciousness.

Every word from your mouth was shown as ‘Truth’ by Tsukauchi’s quirk.

However, for some reason, you were now having trouble with talking about the League of Villains.

“So the series is mainly about you guys fighting against the League of Villains led by Shigaraki Tomura who is the successor of All for One.” you stopped talking at the confused look of the heroes and the detective. “Oh, All for One is this century-old villain overlord with the ability to-”

Nedzu raised his paw, “I am sorry to interrupt you but do you know that parts of your sentences are being blocked out with the beep sound used for censoring?”

You blinked before tiredly rubbing your face. “Okay...so I can’t seem to mention the main plotline then.”

“Maybe, something is preventing you from telling us.” Tsukauchi leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, “Is it possible that what you wanted to say would have changed the outcome of our decisions or the plotline that you read?”

You blinked, “It’s possible. Umm, when was the last time class 1A was involved with a major incident?”

“Another round of beeps,” Aizawa sighed. You sighed back at him before blinking at him. Narrowing your eyes, you went a bit nearer towards the dark-haired pro hero who raised a brow at you.

“Oh.”

“What?” The man questioned.

You wetted your lips, a habit that surfaced whenever you were nervous. “Do you...Would you mind showing your elbows?”

Well, you weren’t exactly sure which elbow Shigaraki decayed. But that did not excuse the weirdness of this situation.

Aizawa gave you a long look before glancing at Nedzu who nodded. So he rolled up his sleeves to expose the scarless skin of his elbows. With the absence of a scar below his right eye taken into consideration, this could mean only one thing.

You nodded, “Thank you. This clarified a few things. So, this school year has just started, right? Maybe a week at most, I assume?”

The underground hero was staring thoughtfully at his elbows. He might even figure out what your question meant.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Nedzu continued, “So, are you implying that you can’t tell anything that we haven’t already discovered?” You nodded to the creature who added with a smile, “I see. It is almost as if you can’t spoil certain facts for us from what you have read and watched.”

“Hey, you know what? I think you’re kinda right.” You paused. What was the name that the cashier said again?

Oh.

‘No Spoilers: Reader’s Isekai’

Boy did that complicate things.

Chapter Text

“Well, then, the censoring sound is kinda fitting,” you mused. “I’m sure getting spoiled is a terrible experience.”

You briefly wondered if your presence would be included in the series back in your original world.

Aizawa huffed, “Well, it is actually not terrible if you consider the fact that the spoilers are about your future and the future of your students. Things are going to go downhill from here, aren’t they? That is why you made me show my elbows. Something must have happened to them.”

Yes, Eraserhead was an intelligent and rational man.

“Do you enjoy that beep sound? Is it music to your ears?” You clasped your hands, your mind immediately going over some of the concerning manga spoilers that you had seen, “Look, I would help if I could.”

“Well, actually, you can,” Nedzu started. “You just helped Aizawa figure out that this year’s batch of students are going to be facing some difficulties.”

You nodded, “Well, that is one way to help, I suppose. But I am not from here. I need to go back. I left people and duties back in my world. Even though it might be insignificant, I had a life there. Besides, I don’t have any places, possessions or money here. I don’t even have a quirk and it is not the best way to be born as in your world.”

Recovery Girl reminded you, “Oh, dear, do you even know how to go back? I don’t think you do.”

Everyone looked at you, waiting for your answers as if you might know how to go back.

“Yeah, I don’t know how.” You looked away.

Tsukauchi said, “It is understandable. From what I understand, it almost seems like you travelled to another dimension. Time travel is rare but dimension travel is rarer even with quirks taken into consideration. I almost can’t believe what my quirk is classifying as true.”

Your thoughts were slipping in and out of your focus. If what the man at the cashier said was right, you died in the accident. So, the question here would be whether or not it was possible for you to go back.

Alive.

You died in your original world.

Was your body even there?

You heard someone call your name. You turned to the direction of the voice and found that the white furry creature had been trying to get your attention, “Yes, Principal?”

Being polite was an automatic courtesy which was now even more important as you were currently stuck in their world. Also, getting on their bad side would mean that they might become a danger to you as everyone in this world, well, 80% of the population here had an advantage over you. Actually, it might be less because of some quirks.

However, your point was that you needed to play it safe even though you were interacting with heroes and the characters who you knew were on the good side of the story.

You did not really want to think of what would have happened if you were discovered by the League.

“Oh, you can just call me Nedzu. As I was saying, I have a proposal. We can figure out a way to send you back, provide you with all you need and protect you if that is what you want, and in return, it’d be a great help if you try giving us as much information as you can.”

Well, there was no reason for you to deny Nedzu’s proposal. You had nothing in this world. Help would be greatly appreciated as you were sure you could not do this alone.

You shrugged, “Sure. But we need to know more about my situation.”

The creature nodded, “Of course, we do. That’s why we are going to do some research about this tomorrow. Is there anything else you want to say or know?”

You looked down at your lap in thought. “Yeah, I do. What am I supposed to do after this? I literally just came into existence here.”

Recovery Girl said, “Well, you can sleep in the infirmary if you want but the teacher’s emergency dormitory would be more suitable. There, you will have a comfortable space to rest in.”

“I see.”

The detective’s phone rang and he excused himself to pick it up, exiting the room.

The nurse continued, “I think you should rest now. My quirk used up quite a lot of your stamina. Nedzu, you can discuss the details of your plan tomorrow morning. It is quite late and our reader here should be resting. So, I’m going to get back to my home.”

‘Reader’, huh? That nickname was perfect for you. But so was ‘Watcher’ which admittedly was not as cool as the first option. You grinned at the nurse for her nickname. Would this name stick?

“Of course, Shuzenji-san. Have a safe trip home,” replied the creature.

Recovery Girl stood up but turned back again to address you, “You should sleep early tonight and stick to warm meals, nothing too heavy. I also suggest a night free of watching TV, using other devices, reading or other activities that need concentration. You came in with a head wound. Besides, you look tired after all the talk about your situation. Rest well, my dear.”

You gave the other woman a smile, “Thank you, Recovery Girl. Umm, I’m sorry if I came off as rude to you.”

“It’s understandable,” the healing hero returned a smile. “Don’t worry. Take care.”

“Oh!” You slapped a fist hand onto your palm as if you had a very nice idea. “Do jelly packs count as something that I can eat? How about Katsudon?”

You had always wanted to try the food in the series.

“It’ll be okay as long as you don’t consume too much. See you tomorrow for another check-up,” the nurse said as she entered her separate office to gather her belongings. You grinned at her words before turning to Aizawa, “Heard what she said? Do you have any jelly packs stored in your office? Or anywhere in UA?”

The underground hero deadpanned, “Did you know that from the series?”

Ha, you scored a lucky guess.

“Oops, sorry if it bothers you. I am sort of a big fan of that series. Almost a nerd but well, I don’t know everything about the storyline though.” It must be weird to meet someone who had read a part of your life as a story. The man did not respond so you just continued, “So, jelly packs?”

He just kept staring at you. You wiggled your brows, “Sharing is caring.”

Aizawa, in response, just rolled his eyes directly to your face and walked out of the infirmary after giving a nod to Nedzu, so quick to excuse himself when there was no important information to discuss.

You tilted your head in thought. Did you go too far or was the underground hero just against teasing or jokes? One thing was for sure. There were his jelly packs somewhere in the school. Maybe, there would be a time when you found those and got into some mischief. It would be nice pranking people with the knowledge of being a reader.

You should be focusing and treating this Isekai situation seriously but meh, not today, or rather not tonight. It was getting late.

Not to mention, goofing off was one of your coping mechanisms.

You also did not have the energy to deal with this plot twist of your life currently. So you were going to ignore it just like you normally did with overwhelming or important problems, which you knew was not the best way to deal with this kind of thing but oh well, what could you say?

What could anyone say? You were your own person.

The detective came back, “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave. There is a case back in the station that requires my assistance.”

“That is fine, Detective Tsukauchi,” said Nedzu. “Also, I’m sure it would not be a problem if you leave this out of documents since no report has been submitted about a mysterious person who appeared at UA, just only before we’ve figured out how to proceed with this.”

The man certainly knew what Nedzu meant as he gave the principal a nod and another to you before he left.

“So, as Recovery Girl said, you should be resting. Come along,” the white furry creature made his way to the door. You dutifully followed him. Midnight was still there but now, nursing a canned soda.

“Oh, hey, I can show you to the rooms!”

"So," started the heroine who was escorting you to the place where you would be residing temporarily. Adjusting your grip on your bag which came together with you when you suddenly traveled to this dimension, you looked at her with a small lopsided smile to show that you were paying attention, "Yes, Midnight?"

You kept your eyes away from the skin tight latex she was wearing but apparently, you couldn't keep a faint blush down from your face. You needed to channel the cool side of you in front of her, not this dumb embarrassing hamster.

The woman smiled at the redness in your face.

"So, are you an otaku? A weeb? A massive fan of our manga?" She hummed, "The name is My Hero Academia, right?"

You looked away and cleared your throat, "I, well, you can say that I am a big fan. And yes, it’s called My Hero Academia."

"Oh...so do you have crushes on any of us, the characters? I can remember my husbandos and waifus back in my days of obsessing over my favorite manga. Not to mention...fanfics and all the other things."

More heat and probably blood rushed onto your face as you spluttered.

You almost dropped the bento box containing a serving of Katsudon that Lunch Rush gave you when the two of you went to the cafeteria to get you something to eat for the evening.

The heroine smirked and raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Yes," you dumbly repeated in an embarrassed high pitched voice, which was reasonable since who you were talking to was Midnight, the R-rated heroine. But just why did you answer her for goodness’s sake?

She waited for more words but when you did not talk more, a silence came between the two of you as you exited the main building of the school together.

"Midnight," you paused, not really knowing how to approach this, "I'm sorry if I came off as rude back in the infirmary. You know, when you offered to demonstrate your quirk? I know I can be quite an asshole sometimes, especially when I become hyper focused on an issue."

"Oh, that's fine. You weren’t even rude, sweetheart. It must have been a truly bizarre moment. Not to mention the confusion and all that."

“Yeah,” you trailed off as you followed the long-haired woman on a trail bracketed by street lights leading to a two-storeyed building.

Some people in this universe were characters. Characters who were real people and some of whose past and future experiences you had watched in an anime show or read from a manga. Well, just until the Shie Hassaikai raid and the UA’s cultural festival which was the end of the last season of anime plus a few other important major spoilers that you read from a few posts on tumblr and twitter.

You were almost like an omniscient reader or watcher.

Gosh, you would really be uncomfortable if you were in their position. Your mind flashed to how disgruntled Aizawa had been when you teased him.

He was a private man if you understood the portrayal of his character in the series well.

But you could see the appeal of having someone who knew all the jazz, the good and the bad, that were going to go down in your future.

Although that someone could not outright say what was going to happen.

Well, even so, you doubted that that censoring handicap would hold back Nedzu from getting as much information as possible out of you. Suddenly, you shivered as if you had just struck a deal with the devil. A very intelligent devil if facts about Nedzu you had read were to be believed.

But you would also be receiving help and protection from them.

“Here we are, come in.” She held the door open for you. You took off your shoes, following Midnight’s example, before entering the lounge which looked pretty cozy even though it did not feel as lived-in as regular lounges, lacking personal touches at first glance.

Hearing Midnight call out your name, your eyes snapped back to her.

“Do you want a cup of water? Or do you want to eat that Katsudon first?”

You replied, “Oh, that’s okay. I don’t want to hold you back longer. I’m sure you have places to go and rest. Just show me where I am supposed to be sleeping tonight and I’ll just figure the rest out on my own.”

Midnight nodded, “Okay then. We’ll go to the kitchen first to store your meal. Right this way, follow me.”

You eventually settled into a moderate-sized room with a nice bed and its own bathroom. However, you noticed that the teacher of Modern Hero Art History was still at the door of the room.

“Oh, I’ll show you around if you’re finished. Come, come,” she beckoned with her hand, showing freshly painted and perfectly manicured dark red nails. You nodded, wordlessly obeying her. If she wanted to hang around longer, you were in no position to refuse. Besides, being shown around this building was a bonus.

“Thanks, Midnight. I appreciate you showing me around. It’s quite nice to know how to operate these foreign cooking machines,” you said after swallowing a gulp of jelly from the packs that the other heroine stole from Aizawa’s stock in the kitchen’s refrigerator.

She said to just say that she gave them to you when Aizawa asked. You agreed even though you feel bad for stealing from the underground hero. He was upset when you were only teasing him.

Thinking back, you were sure you came off as quite demanding or disrespectful during the talk in the infirmary.

You internally sighed.

“Nah, don’t mention it, dear reader o’ mine,” she smiled at you. You smiled back, your fondness of the nickname growing since after the first time Recovery Girl used it and the times Midnight teasingly called you by that name during the tour around the building.

She was a nice and friendly person.

“I should get going. I have a patrol scheduled tonight,” the heroine stood up.

“Ah! See? You didn’t get to rest because of me. I told you I’d be okay though. Thank you though.”

She huffed out a playful laugh, “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. I’m a big girl. I can handle it.” She punctuated the sentence with a playful wink. “And, you’re quite welcome, sweetheart.”

You grinned and saw the woman to the door, waving back enthusiastically when she turned back to give you a wave.

Then, you closed the door and the building started to feel as foreign as it was since you no longer had someone to distract you from this feeling. Making your way back into your assigned room, you sank into the soft mattress of the bed. A sigh escaped your lips as you closed your eyes.

You honestly did not want to imagine what would have happened if you had not appeared out of nowhere in the compounds of UA.

Without a doubt, things would not have been as smooth as they were had you appeared anywhere else, the relatively nice option being a platform where there were a lot of people and the worst option being a filthy ditch or, goodness forbid, the base of the League or All for One.

From what Nedzu and Recovery Girl said, you were bleeding from your head and unconscious.

This disaster had some sense not to make things difficult for you, at least not more difficult than it already was.

You were not foolish enough to try sleeping after such a disaster. You had to be sensible enough to sort through what you knew and what you would like to know.

One, you had an accident where you might or might not have died.

Two, that weird myth about readers getting a chance to experience their own version of Isekai was true or at least, it was for you. And that one cashier was sus as heck.

Three, you somehow made Nedzu agree to figure this out together with you and said you would provide him with information in return. You hoped that it was a good decision that you would not come to regret. Besides, the plan sounded like a mutually beneficial one. You just hoped that you would not mess that up.

Four, you did not even know whether or not you could go back to your own world and to your normal life. Were you going to be included in the show back in your original dimension? What if things got out of control because of your presence and interference?

What were you even going to do here for goodness’s sake?

Your good-for-nothing mind had already started showing all sorts of emotions and flashes of memories of all that you left behind back in your real world.

Homesickness had never been a good feeling, let alone dimension-sickness.

You did not care even if the word ‘dimension-sickness’ was not a real word.

Apparently, sensibility could not be ordered like a dish and it certainly did not come with immunity to being emotional, you could not help but think as you bitterly deadpanned at the ceiling of this dark unfamiliar room. Taking a deep breath, you let your eyes fall shut again.

Somehow, you fell asleep without even getting up and eating your dinner. At first, you checked your phone on habit. There were no notifications of course. Why would there be any when there was not even a connection?

Honestly, you would be surprised if the phone and internet services worked even in foreign dimensions.

But other basic functions like alarms, your offline music app, that one simple offline game and the notebook app were still functioning. At least, you would not be bored out of your mind. You briefly wonder if UA would sponsor you because you were sure that you did not have any possession or finances here in this universe.

Well, you would leave that part for the future you to deal with.

Yawning, you put the phone into your pocket after relocating the ID card in it to the place where you normally keep it.

Sending a silent apology to your grumbling stomach and Lunch Rush who made a meal for you even though it was well after his job hour, you made your way to the kitchen, turning the flashlight of your phone midway because you did not really know just where the light switches were.

Although you were the only one in the building, you kept your footsteps light and quiet. Some habits were hard to get rid of. Plus, you never liked the sound of footsteps whether it was because of your footwear or whether it was because you were barefoot.

You did not care to turn on the kitchen lights. So, you just put your phone down on the dining table so that the flashlight was facing upwards.

Making your way to the refrigerator, you were just scanning the inside of the refrigerator to find your dinner when the lights suddenly turned on. You squinted your eyes due to the sudden brightness. You hated it when lights are suddenly turned on.

“Don’t move!” a loud voice from the general direction of the door bellowed, making you flinch in surprise, “Who the heck are you and why are you here?!”

Grimacing, you slowly put your hands up, blinking in confusion and to adjust your eyes to the current level of brightness, before saying, “Dude, chill. Can I, at least, turn around?”

You did not need more excitement after today’s disaster. What you needed was your dinner and your stomach agreed.

“Yes, turn around slowly and answer my question, too. Or, I’m gonna blast your eardrums.”

Ahh, you might have an idea as to who was your new companion. You slowly turned around, making sure not to appear threatening or suspicious which was not difficult as you certainly had bed hair. Other teachers must not know of your existence.

And yes, it was Present Mic, just like you suspected.

“I have Nedzu’s permission to be here. I am just a normal harmless citizen. So, please spare me.” You continued after telling him your name, “You can even phone the principal or contact him so that you can confirm my claim. Oh, and I didn’t know you were here. Did you just come in?”

The blond hero stared at you for a bit. You wondered if he was put out by the unfamiliarity of your name. “Okay then. I’ll call him. Don’t think about trying anything.”

“Nah, I won’t, my man. My hearing is already bad. I don’t need you mucking it up even more.” You made a face when your stomach chose to alert you of its emptiness again. “But will you hurry up? I still haven't had my dinner and I’m really hungry right now. Besides, I’m sure you also want to rest as soon as possible.”

The hero’s hair was down from his quite eccentric updo and it was already well past midnight. So he must have come here to rest.

After confirming that you were supposed to be in the building and being told that all would be explained next morning, the loud man ended the call. You raised your eyebrows. He sheepishly said, “Sorry for the inconvenience. I had to make sure you are not an intruder, ya know?”

You dropped your arms to your side and turned back around to get the Katsudon. “I understand. No worries, Mic.”

You opened the lid, not having the energy to care about how cold the meal was even though you very well remembered Recovery Girl’s instructions.

“I can heat it up if you’d like me to,” Present Mic hesitantly offered as if he was still guilty of falsely accusing you. You waved a hand in negative, “Nope, it’s cool. Or rather the meal is cool but it’s okay. I really need to eat right now. You can rest. Midnight showed me how to work with things here.”

You took a pair of chopsticks to eat your meal with.

“Oh man, it was really not cool, mistaking you like this,” the hero dragged his gloved hand down his face before grinning with the energy that came from a source you did not know.

“I have an idea! Let's try this again! Hello, I’m Present Mic. Nice to meet you.”

You returned the finger gun that the pro hero gave you albeit with only one hand.

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine.” You introduced yourself again, this time normally and not the rushed way you did a while ago, and cracked a smile at him, “It is understandable. After all, you did not know that I was supposed to be here. And I was like a creepy stranger going through the refrigerator. Besides, you heroes are trained to be vigilant and cautious, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. To some extent.”

You nodded, “It’s okay. I’m sure you are tired, Present Mic. I won’t hold you back from your rest or sleep.”

The blonde gave you a surprisingly energetic thumbs-up, “Okay, listener! So please excuse me, gotta go get some sleep before the sun comes out. Good night and see ya tomorrow!”

“Good night, Mic,” you waved.

You were just grateful that Lunch Rush’s Katsudon still tasted wonderful even when it was cold.

After finishing your late dinner, you briefly toyed with this idea of grabbing a can of cold coffee that you saw in the refrigerator but you immediately shot down that idea. Not only would you not be able to resume sleeping but also you did not have permission to touch those espresso cans.

So, you made your way back into your room, taking extra care not to be noisy since you now had a companion inside the building who was really tired and needed uninterrupted sleep even though he did not appear to be so.

Just how often did a hero have to put up a false energetic act?

This also reminded you of the fact that Present Mic aka Hizashi Yamada was juggling three jobs, teaching, heroics and hosting a radio show. And it might be more than three because not many things about the voice hero had been revealed in the series. It was actually the same with Midnight.

Which was probably why you enjoyed her company so much. It was something new.

That was not to say others’ company was not as intriguing.

Oh, you had met three of the rooftop gang. You read that particular arc of the Vigilantes spin off and were, to this day, still not sure whether to be grateful that you decided to read it.

You sighed. Kurogiri. Oh goodness.

You were going to have to deal with every major plot twist and secret identity reveal now, weren’t you? Oh no, it would be so awkward to communicate with people when you knew some of their trauma without them telling you personally.

You could do this. You had to be able to do this. Gosh, you hoped Nedzu would be able to deal with this if not you.

Maybe, you should get a therapist who would not be reluctant to sign an NDA. It seemed that UA was going to keep your dimension hopping all hushed up.

Opening the bathroom, you looked around. You explored the drawers beneath the sink and found a nice set of pajamas. Glad to find some new toiletries, you decided to wash up a bit. It was always nice to have a warm shower after a tiring day. You settled into your bed once more, clean, content and sleepy.

The realization that you could now practically observe and even ask the characters from your favorite shounen series some questions and get to know more about their characteristics, experiences and also their own lives laid heavily on your chest. You would be able to befriend them and maybe work with them even.

At that thought and the bit of giddiness that it conjured up in your chest, your lips twitched into a small smile aimed at the ceiling of the room you were going to be inhabiting for the near future.

This time, you tried to sleep on purpose and you succeeded.

Chapter Text

The next morning came and so did your usual alarm from your phone which did not fail to wake you up. It just showed that you could still trust that ringtone of All Might saying, “I AM HERE!” to do its own job.

One good ol’ normal thing amidst this mess.

However, you noticed that instead of the Japanese phrase from the anime that you had normally been hearing, the ringtone was in a language that you could understand. Your sleepy mind did not really have the energy to think about that oddity any further so you dropped it for the future you or maybe even Nedzu.

Being able to fall back to sleep again after stopping the alarm was just a bonus. What could you say? You had a tiring day and you could use some more sleep. Besides, you did not really have any duties or obligations to start your day to study or work.

However, the next time you woke up, the room was brightly lit by the light that was streaming through the windows.

You groggily rose from your slumber and slowly sat upright, your feet on the floor of the room.

Contrary to your thoughts before falling asleep, you did not feel strange or thrown off by the sight of the unfamiliar settings.

Inwardly praising yourself for your flexibility which might just be a delayed reaction in disguise, you smirked before making your way into the bathroom to freshen yourself up and try to do what you could for your normal morning routine with the limited supplies that were in the bathroom cabinets.

Looking at your reflection in the mirror as you brushed your teeth, you grimaced at the thought of not having fresh clothes to wear.

“Just great,” you grumbled out loud.

If push came to shove, you would have to make do with the ones that came along with you when you...hmm...hopped (yes, ‘hopped’ was better than the alternative which would be the word ‘died’). Even if it meant wearing that blood-stained hoodie without washing it.

But, thanks to Midnight, you knew where the laundry room was. The right question to ask here was whether you remembered how to operate the machines in it perfectly.

At the thought of blood, a part of you reminded the rest of you that you should really thank both Aizawa and Recovery Girl for saving your life. You could have bled to death.

Dying and hopping dimensions did not excuse the lack of thanks given to your life-savers.

After you had finished taming your bedhead, you found yourself standing cluelessly in the middle of your room, still in the pajamas you found last night.

Sighing, you checked the time on your phone to find out that it was almost noon.

The rumble that your stomach gave further emphasized that fact.

So, off you went to the kitchen. Hopefully, there would be some ingredients for you to make an easy lunch with. And, hopefully, the heroes would not mind you helping yourself to a meal. Also, hopefully, no one would be there to see you in these pajamas. You picked up the clothes you were wearing when you hopped and opened the door to the hallway of your current residence.

However, when you closed the door on your way out of the room, you noticed a bundle of clothes on the floor next to it with a handwritten note which indicated that these clothes were for you.

It was weird to be able to read the language you knew you could not read as if it was your native language.

Back to the situation at hand, you immediately returned to your room to change, a bit surprised to find out that the clothes were not too large nor too small but a tad larger than your usual ones. Looking at your reflection in the mirror after changing into them, you smirked and internally thanked whoever chose the clothes because they were in neutral colors.

Then, you made your way into the kitchen.

When you were almost at the door, you stopped abruptly, facepalming, “Dangit, I forgot the clothes.”

You turned around and walked back to your room without seeing the person at the kitchen table and also without giving them a chance to speak. Rolling your eyes at yourself, you internally berated yourself while starting the washing machine.

You swore one of these days, your sieve memory was going to come back to bite you in the rear.

Finally entering the kitchen, you stopped in your tracks at the sight of a certain tired underground hero sitting at the kitchen table with his yellow abomination of a sleeping bag on his arm.

“Finally here, I see. Rise and shine.”

You fought, in vain, to keep the blush off your face. Being able to sleep in was something you had the absolute right to do after this jaw-dropping plot twist of your life but when Aizawa put it like that, it sounded like you were a lazy person.

Maybe, his status as a high school teacher contributed to this feeling of being reprimanded. Teachers always had that effect. Also, he did not seem to be very thrilled to see you.

Was he waiting for you too long for his patience to still exist?

You internally grimaced. “I, well, I thought I deserved some extra sleep after yesterday.”

He hummed noncommittally.

Rubbing your nape, you made your way to the kitchen counter. “Is there something you need from me?”

“Nothing except for the fact that the rat sent me to fetch you only for me to wait for you for half of the lunch break,” the man deadpanned.

Wide-eyed, you started internally swearing. Of all days to be waited for by the hero who saved your life, it had to be the day you decided to sleep in. You bit your tongue, a habit that showed itself whenever you were nervous or embarrassed, “I’m sorry.”

The underground hero glanced at you sharply before sighing, “Have you eaten anything?”

“Not really, Eraserhead.” Not really but no.

“Just Aizawa is fine since I’m not on active hero duty,” he stood up and made his way to the refrigerator, “Do you even know how to cook?”

You blinked, “To some extent.”

The dark-haired man opened the refrigerator and gestured, “There are at least some eggs, tofu and miso paste. I’m not sure but there might be some rice too since Mic was here this morning. So, suit yourself. I’m not taking a human being to that rat with an empty stomach.”

It was oddly nice of him. You gave the man who was now sitting at the table again a smile and took out the ingredients that you could work with. “What about you? Have you had your lunch?”

He did not answer and instead took out a jelly pouch from somewhere. “I have this.”

You gave him an incredulous look, “Are you sure you want to drink that as lunch?”

“Don’t underestimate my jelly pack. You might even know this but it is not just juice and jelly. It’s got the same nutrient amount as an energy bar,” the hero punctuated his statement by twisting open the cap of the pack.

“Huh. I didn’t know that.”

You went back to preparing an easy meal to the best of your ability. You were not completely confident that you remembered everything Midnight showed you but it was just fried eggs, some pre-cooked rice that Present Mic might have made, and a bowl of miso you somehow managed to cook by reading the instructions on the miso paste packet.

While making fried eggs, an idea struck you. You were not sure if the said idea was a good one but you kind of wanted to invite Aizawa too.

It would totally be awkward for you to eat when he was not, especially when this was not your residence and rather his technically. Besides, what if today was the day of the attack? He would be fighting with only jelly in his stomach. However, there was this one problem.

You did not know how to invite him.

Stealing glances at the man who was using his phone with the jelly pack tangling from his mouth, you focused on frying the eggs right. “How do you like your eggs?”

A small eye twitch. You absolutely did not mean to ask him that.

“Why do you ask?” He responded.

“I mean, I’m making some lunch for you too.” You turned back and picked up an egg. “Now, tell me how you want your eggs.”

The underground hero narrowed his eyes at you, “I am fine. Just hurry up. My lunch break is not to be spent waiting for you for the whole time.”

You smiled down at the frying pan even though it was more of a grimace at the apparent almost-hostile reluctance of Aizawa. “Is it because you don’t trust my cooking skills? I’ll have you know, hero, my cooking is always edible,” you tried to joke.

Only for him to give you a grunt. Ah, no luck then.

Turning back to cooking, you worked as soon as you could through the awkwardness. You just hoped that your first try of making miso soup which also included some tofu cubes would be edible as you claimed.

However, edibility was not the focus here, speed was.

Picking up the chopsticks which you were grateful that you had learned how to use, you almost took a bite when you heard the other sigh, “I might as well tell you now.”

You paused, giving him your full attention.

“You should be aware of at least some customs of ours since you are going to be living here for the foreseeable future. Or else, you would remain as the ignorant fool that you are,” you bristled at the last comment but chose to keep your mouth shut.

Aizawa leaned forward with his default bored and tired expression, “Before eating, you are to say, “Itadakimasu,” while putting your hands together like this and then bow.”

You knew that Japanese people did this. You had seen it in anime but it was not really your fault that you forgot to do so since all your life, you had never done this.

“And after the meal, I need to say, “Gochisousama deshita,” right?” you said.

“You clearly know this particular custom then. If you have knowledge, do use it. Otherwise, it’s the same as not having any at all.”

The man kept his tone neutral but you got the feeling that somehow, he still did not approve of your actions. You tried not to worry about it and shoved it into the back corner of your mind.

Finishing your lunch quickly through the silence between the two of you, you put the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on before turning to the underground hero, “I’m ready.”

You were not really ready.

“Then, follow me.” Aizawa stood up.

On the way to the principal’s office that frankly made you feel like a misbehaving student, the fact that you had not decided which direction you wanted to go with this dimension-hopping isekai just made that feeling more prominent.

You found yourself hoping that Nedzu would not be as cruel as to take too much advantage of a poor homeless penniless human being with no knowledge of the new world they had been suddenly thrust into.

Well, not no knowledge, some knowledge but concerning only certain individuals.

If the principal proposed unreasonable deals, you had every right and ability to try to bargain more. You were the one who held the knowledge of the future that was critical for the heroes to win even though they were still unaware of it.

After all, if you played your cards right, the heroes might be able to prevent not only the uprising of the League of Villains but also the injuries and deaths of heroes and civilians alike.

You just hoped Nedzu would go easy on you. But the mammal did not seem to have a vicious personality in the series from what little screen time he had. However, you had read some fanfics depicting him as the cunning mastermind he might actually be. Hence, you would have to tread carefully.

A pair of sharp knocks snatched back your awareness.

“Come in.”

You took a subtle deep breath before following the underground hero into a neat and tidy office of a quite respectable size.

And there, behind the mahogany desk sat a certain white furry creature. The principal of UA, the only establishment in this universe willing to compromise with you and the first and only place in this dimension you had ever set foot in.

Moving to sit on the sofa, Nedzu called out your name, “Sit down, sit down. You may leave, Aizawa.”

Beside you, the dark-haired man huffed. “Why can’t I be here when you discuss your agreement over this future-knowing, dimension-hopping mess? Especially when it seems like it has to do much with me and my class? Is what’s going to be discussed not for my ears?”

The furry creature gave his employee a smile, “I merely wanted to discuss it with Reader here before informing you of the details.”

That nickname again. Reader.

“Fine. But I expect to get a full explanation after this,” he allowed.

“If not for the fact that the break is almost over because someone was late,” you gulped at the dark-haired man’s words, “and that I have a class outing to lead, you know I would just stay here and wait,” said the man as he made his way to the door and left the principal’s office.

Wait, a class outing. Shoot.

You knew that panic was evident on your face as you whipped around to stare at the closed door that the soon-to-be attacked and injured hero just slammed shut.

Then, you turned around again, this time to give a wide-eyed panic-laced look at Nedzu who was currently making tea for two. The creature stopped in his tracks, accessing your facial expression and body language. He calmly put down the tea kettle he was using and asked, “Is something wrong? Or is something going to be wrong?”

You nodded, “Yes.”

The other seemed to be intrigued by the fact that there was no censoring sound and became serious after a split second. “And it has to do with class 1A’s outing to the Unforeseen Simulations Joint, doesn’t it?”

“They are going to be attacked!” you blurted out, thrusting your hands into your hair.

“I know this situation is not the most ideal but please calm down. I did not hear what you said just now. However, I will try my best to comprehend the implications of your actions and words. Meanwhile, please calm down. We are now in need of your knowledge.”

Nodding both to him and to yourself mostly in order to let the nervous energy through the action, you took a deep breath and sat down.

You had considered the possibility of the USJ attack being the day immediately after the press break-in but the universe was too apathetic to let your guess be wrong. Continuing your deep breathing, you clasped your hands on your lap and leaned forward towards the coffee table in front of where you were sitting, elbows on each of your knees.

“I think you should contact All Might and make him mind his three-hour limit.”

The principal was visibly surprised at the mention of the Symbol of Peace and his descending time as a hero. “I suppose this is important, time-wise? Why contact All Might but not Aizawa?”

You gave it some thought, your heart strangely in your ears. Even though you wanted to spare the students and the heroes, USJ had been a fundamental plot point for the series. It brought the class together and granted them a rare and valuable experience, even if it was not something to be proud of, with villains.

The best course of action would be to prevent and reduce the injuries as much as possible.

“Please phone All Might first. He can’t spend all of his hero time,” you decided.

As the principal took out his phone, you considered the situation as a whole. In order to be the one side that came out with fewer casualties, they would have to send in reinforcements sooner. Also, you should advise Nedzu to randomly strike up a conversation with Thirteen about their quirk being used against themselves.

It would not be coming out of the left-field because it was Nedzu. You hoped it would not.

You briefly entertained the idea of completely detaining Shigaraki and Kurogiri. However, doing so might cause the plot to deviate too much from the original one and it might nullify the usefulness of being a reader of My Hero Academia.

There was also the possibility of All for One coming out of the shadows much earlier to take back his successor.

With Midoriya still breaking bones left and right, you could not risk a direct confrontation with the boogeyman of the underworld. However, All Might might have a bit of an upper hand since his power had not decreased much.

Nedzu was now on the phone with All Might. It was putting you out strangely, your ears picking up the almost nonexistent hum of the principal’s computer.

Bouncing your knee, you took some comfort in how the action was making your elbow and thus causing the whole half of your body to vibrate, letting out some of your nervous energy.

You lightly shook your head, willing your concentration to the problem at hand, the USJ attack.

Instead of sending reinforcements until after the attack had begun, it would also be a good idea to add one or two more teachers to supervise the class so that Thirteen and Eraserhead would not be the only line of defense between the villains and students.

Oh gosh, Eraserhead did not even have a proper lunch this afternoon. You should have tried to convince him more.

You should have tried to ask about the day of the USJ field trip sooner. You should not have slept in like a slouch and tried to at least be useful.

How could you be so careless like this?

You failed. You couldn’t help them so why would they help you?

You should have-

Nedzu finished his phone call, “Now that that’s out of the way, here is today's schedule of Aizawa’s class. Would you try telling the time of the event that is going to happen?”

The mammal’s eyes landed on the sorry state of yours, irregular breathing, pale complexion, sweaty hands twitching. You yourself became aware that you were on the verge of freaking out, well in the middle of freaking out, which was not the best thing to do currently in this situation and which was probably uncalled for.

After all, it would not be you that was going to be attacked.

Taking in another shaky breath, you started, “U- USJ. They should be careful when they arrive there. But I don’t know the exact time.”

“Hmm, no censoring sounds. I think it only applies to the spoiler implicitly stated,” Nedzu remarked. “So, I assume the attackers…villains…have the means to get into the facility undetected. It would be a great idea to upgrade the sensors and the digital security system as much as I can while planning to counteract.”

“Oh, perhaps, you should try the tea. It’s chamomile,” The principal suggested. ‘It should calm you down,’ remained unsaid yet understood.

You knew that he would have great observation skills.

Nedzu moved to his desk and began typing away on his computer before saying, “Should we be expecting large manpower or a handful of powerful quirks?”

The warmth of the teacup in your hands was comforting.

You marveled at the fact the creature was asking the right questions, “Both. There will be simple thugs and criminals but the main three villains heading the attack have quite useful quirks.”

“I only heard the first word.” Nedzu did not stop his typing as he said, “It can mean both many villains with powerful quirks and a few powerful villains with many henchmen under them. But this is still useful since I don’t think you’d be this calm if the former was the case.”

He paused before saying, “I only want to confirm that this attack, well this arc, is the first one of the manga you read.” You nodded in affirmation.

“Then, the latter is more possible. I shall plan around that.”

Giving him a nod, you also added, “I think it would also be a good idea to warn Thirteen of how their blackhole quirk can be used against them by redirecting it towards their own back.”

Nedzu tilted his head, “So, we should also beware of either a direction-changing quirk, a displacing quirk or even a copying quirk.”

Trying not to be surprised at the other’s close deduction, you gave him a tight smile to let him know that he was right to some extent. “Also, is anyone free for that class period? Mic? Midnight? Or even Snipe? Maybe Cementoss?”

“Yes, I agree with your train of thought. Sending one or two more teachers to USJ initially will tip the scales in our favor. I will inform Aizawa and Thirteen of the change too.”

“Will All Might be at the USJ?” you enquired. “When might he possibly be able to get there, Principal?”

“Just Nedzu is fine. From my estimation,” he paused, “he might miss the first 25 minutes of the class minimum since he’s on his way here. Probably in his civilian form as he himself said that he only had half an hour in hero form. So, we would have to be careful about that too.”

You had always wondered why the buffed form was referred to as the ‘hero form’ when the man was still a hero even when he was in his smaller form. But that was for another time.

Half an hour was still better than no time at all from the canon. So, there might also be a chance that the hero’s time limit might not be reduced.

You really could use a break without all this planning a counteraction against a future attack the following day after you died and jumped into another universe.

“It would also be a great idea for Thirteen to keep first aid near.” Your mind flashed to the space hero’s torn suit and the blood pooling around Aizawa’s head. “It wouldn’t be too suspicious to remind them to do so because training might cause injuries, even rescue training.”

Yaoroyozu might be able to provide it but you did not want the girl to waste any of her fat lipids creating the things that should and could have been brought.

“Noted. Snipe and Cementoss are the ones who will be able to tag along on the trip. I’ll make sure one of them takes a first aid kit,” the principal informed as he resumed typing away at his laptop, doing something with the security controls and possibly trying to improve the school’s firewall just as he said he would.

Your breathing had returned to normal by this point, the chamomile teacup cupped in your hands.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the lunch break. It was funny how it seemed like the principal and you were planning and discussing the upcoming attack on the school for more than an hour.

“Ah, the second lunch bell, meaning that class 1A would be starting their car ride to the USJ now,” the creature paused to bring the teacup you did not notice he brought to his desk to his mouth and take a sip, “Since an average car ride to the USJ would take around 14 minutes and 40 seconds, that means All Might will be arriving there ten minutes or so after the others.”

He paused and glanced at you, black attentive eyes meeting your own, “That is, unless you have something that you want to tell him face-to-face or require him to come here for a while.”

You pondered on whether All Might needed to know certain things. Considering that Shigaraki was bound to brag about Nomu’s power and the hero would definitely figure out the way to come out as the victor from his fight with the monstrosity, you would rather let it be.

“I just don’t want his 3 hours to decrease. So, unless we have something that might help him sustain his energy, I think he should head to USJ first. Please remind him to be careful, Nedzu.”

“From what I’ve observed, All Might does keep some energy bars with him so I shall send him straight to the facility. Is there anything you think we should know?” the other asked.

You narrowed your eyes in thought. What did they need to know? Was there anything you had not taken into account?

The students did relatively well during the attack. So, what else?

“I think you should make sure that Recovery Girl is on stand-by and ready to use her quirk.” You added, “I think that’s all but there is, of course, always a chance that I calculated wrong or something like that so, I can’t really guarantee. You know how these things don’t go as planned or as anticipated.”

You just hoped the class and the heroes would be fine after the attack.

“So, here’s to the students and heroes getting out of this in the best condition,” Nedzu who seemed to have finished tempering with his computer raised his teacup. You returned the gesture with your own before finishing your tea.

“Truth be told, I wondered if you were going to prevent the attack when I noticed that something was amiss.”

You blinked, not knowing how to explain your choice to put UA’s own students and teachers and its reputation in danger. You firmly kept your eyes on the teacup you were holding with both of your hands.

“Oh, don’t worry, Reader,” Nedzu let out a laugh. “I do understand your reasons. The future, or shall we say the plot, would be unpredictable if we changed such an important starting point, wouldn’t it? Even though it would certainly be more interesting if it came down to that.”

You nodded, not completely agreeing with the last part.

The creature continues, “And if it deviates too much from what you have read, we both know having you on our side would not be an advantage anymore.”

Blinking at the implication of his words, you schooled your face into a neutral expression.

“Yes." Your voice was a borderline whisper as you admitted.

"There would not be anything I can do if the plot changes.”

Chapter Text

“Shall we, then?”

You nodded at the creature’s question as both of you stood in front of the UA’s infirmary. Nedzu knocked on the door and someone inside expressed permission to enter.

Knowing who might be behind the door, you took a deep breath and followed the principal into the familiar room where you first woke up in this dimension. Just as you predicted, All Might and Recovery Girl were there, the latter fussing over the former who seemed to be stubbornly insisting on something.

They both looked up as Nedzu and you entered.

“I see Midoriya-kun has been allowed to go back home,” remarked Nedzu. Recovery Girl nodded, “Yes, I could use my quirk on him again and now he’s resting at home. Probably.”

The old lady turned to you and greeted, “Hello, dear. It was you who warned the principal of this disaster, wasn't it?”

“Yes, ma’am. It was a bit of a shock when I realized it’s today.”

“I can imagine,” she remarked, all the while when the Symbol of Peace in the hospital bed became more and more confused beside the healing heroine. You internally smacked yourself on the forehead. It was quite rude not to introduce yourself.

So, you made amends to that. “I apologize for not introducing myself, All Might! My name is-”

A loud and wet cough interrupted you before your name left your lips. In front of your very eyes, the most powerful hero clenched the no-longer-white handkerchief in his bony hands, pressing it to his mouth as he coughed out blood for a few moments.

Technically, you had known prior to this that All Might had a sickly shell of a human body and coughed out blood like one might breathe air out.

However, knowing it and experiencing it were two entirely different things.

You grimaced, already regretting giving what had to be quite a huge shock to All Might. Your actions with no thoughts behind them always seemed to come around to bite you in the rear.

“Ex-excuse me?” the gaunt man rasped out.

Biting your tongue and looking away, you offered, “I only know your identity because I’ve already read about it, sir. I’m so sorry.”

You bowed for good measure, a 90-degree bow you could only hope to be proper and to be used here in this universe.

“Read about it?”

The blond man gave Nedzu a look, probably trying to convey his request for the principal to provide more information about the little stranger who apparently knows a national-level secret.

“Let me introduce you to Reader,” Nedzu sat down in a chair beside the occupied bed, “who is the person who alerted me of the USJ attack before it even happened. Would you like to do the honors of elaborating how you got here?”

The last question was directed at you. Therefore, you snatched that opportunity to introduce yourself to All Might, this time in a proper way.

You started by saying your name. “You see, I’m not actually from here, sir, and I’m not talking about merely being from another city or country. The circumstances of my arrival to this universe are not really simple. However, to sum it all up, I died,” the hero’s eyebrows shot up, “back in my original universe and somehow I got transported into the dimension of the story I was reading when I died. It just happened to be about a hero student in a super-powered society.”

You totally rambled like a buffoon there. You punctuated your rushed explanation with a slightly nervous smile.

“So, basically, you got your own shot at Isekai,” remarked the No.1 hero, making you stare at him with wide eyes in surprise. Who knew All Might was aware of such anime tropes.

“You know what Isekai is?”

“Ah,” All Might smiled, a bit embarrassed, “I have to admit I used to keep in touch with manga and anime back in my youth.”

“I see,” you gave him another smile before continuing, “so, yeah, I got my own shot at Isekai and now I’m in a favorite anime of mine. The only thing is I cannot spoil the people from this universe. I cannot tell you what is going to happen directly.”

The hero furrowed his brows, “But why can’t you do so? If so, then why can you warn us about the USJ attack?”

“You are going to have to fight All for One at Kamino Ward after having one of your students kidnapped by the League of Villains and that is going to be your last arrest as All Might.”

“I only heard a series of censoring sounds after the first few words,” he said. “I see how this can be a problem. However, you must have overcome this barrier and informed Nedzu of the attack. Well done, young Reader.”

Young Reader.

You blinked at your newly acquired nickname. This must be what the students felt when the Symbol of Peace called their name in a very warm way.

It was still a bit weird though. ‘Young Reader’, you thought, lips twitching once with mirth.

And even though All Might is the epitome of a good hero, he was not the epitome of a good teacher. It had been highlighted in the anime since the beginning of Midoriya’s first year at UA. USJ proved that the man also needed better time management, especially since his powers were under a time limit.

“Nedzu did most of the understanding and deciphering, sir,” you chuckled.

The genius in question piped up, “Now, now, we can’t have you selling yourself short, can we? After all, you did make a few insightful plans.”

You gave him a smile, “I don’t think they were that good, Nedzu.”

The feeling you got at the end of your conversation with the mammal in his office still lingered. What was implied was not a good thing for your continued existence in this universe.

You just hoped you could stay useful to this world. Suddenly, a thought entered your mind. What would happen when you ran out of things to warn? What would happen when the times became beyond what you had watched or read?

Beyond that, you only have snippets here and there due to the accidental spoilers you saw on the internet.

“Oh, just one thing, Reader.” All Might called your attention to him, “If I’m in this form, please use my civilian name. You can call me Yagi.”

“Alright, Yagi-san.”

The faint need to accompany Yagi’s name with the honorific was the main but not the only reason you used it.

“So, I am going to be helping where I can and providing info in the foreseeable future,” you continued. “I cannot, however, guarantee the accuracy of my readings since the info I have may change the future of this universe as a result. To be honest, I’m still not sure what I am supposed to do aside from that.”

“Yes, of course. We were going to discuss it before the USJ happened,” remarked Nedzu.

You nodded, “It’s not like I’ve got anything in this universe except for the bloody clothes I had died in and the bag I was holding then. I don’t even know how I can speak your language.”

Recovery Girl chose to speak up then, “So, the first thing you said to me when you woke up might have been your own language.”

“And it’s also why I couldn’t understand you at first!” you finished her thought before giving her a smile. You sobered, “Thank you so much for treating me and saving my life, Recovery Girl. I think if it weren’t for you and Eraserhead, I would have died. Twice!”

“You don’t have to thank me for doing my job, dear,”

Then, the heroine turned towards the No.1 hero, “Speaking of doing my job, I am not letting you commute back to your apartment.”

“Shuzenji-san, I am fine. I assure you, I can take care of myself,” All Might insisted with an alarmed expression. At those words, the healer raised a brow which made the blonde wince. “It’s not that late. I can just take the train or a taxi.”

“Certainly. But are you going to take a break after this?” The older woman sighed, “No, I don’t think so. Also, don’t think I cannot hear you thinking about how to adjust your patrols and classes even right now. You lost an hour of your hero time, boy. At least, have the sense to take a rest before diving headfirst into work and plans.”

An hour. If what you vaguely remembered was correct, then it was over an hour less than in the canon!

At least, All Might got out of USJ in a less harsh way. That might make things easier during the Kamino arc.

Not only All Might but also Thirteen and Aizawa were relatively in a better condition, too.

From what you had been told by Nedzu, the rescue hero cut off their quirk immediately when Kurogiri made a portal behind them whereas Eraserhead had been spared that brutal maiming that the nomu gave him in canon because All Might was there earlier.

So, the injury on his elbow remained unchanged since he was not aware of Shigaraki's quirk.

Oh, and Midoriya still ended up getting broken bones. That poor protagonist.

You could have spared him from those. Instead, you failed.

With the ever-present smile on his face, Nedzu offered, “Don’t worry about adjusting your patrols and classes, All Might. I can take care of it. So, how about spending the night here?”

The piercing blue eyes darted between the creature and the lady. “I am almost completely healed so I don’t want to give Shuzenji-san more work when she also should be getting her own rest.”

The healer in question sighed, “Then, you can stay at the teacher’s dorm then. There are guest rooms for you to sleep in. I’m going to be in my own room connected to the infirmary. So, if I, the healer, am going to stay here, then you should very well do so.”

The Symbol of Peace tried to speak again but the old lady gave him a look, “Just in case, Toshinori.”

It did not escape your notice that some kind of emotion flashed on the gaunt face of All Might before he sighed, “Very well, Shuzenji-san. I will.”

If this was a fic you were reading, you would be contemplating the implication of that one flash of emotion since those always had a meaning behind them whenever the author used them. However, this was something very real you were experiencing in person so you should not be off to dreamland to pick it apart.

Schooling your features, you spared some time to internally chuckle. It seemed that Recovery Girl could be enough of a mother hen to make the workaholic hero take a rest at the UA’s teachers' dorm.

Wait, did that mean you were going to be sleeping under the same roof with a man who can level a city and change the weather with one punch?

Oh well, the latter one might be handy when it was too hot or too cold.

Maybe.

The principal helped All Might settle into the guestroom he would be staying in.

Then, he ended up explaining the gist of his, and therefore UA’s, offer to you in the dining room of the teachers’ dorm after you had shown the manga books you brought together with you, only to discover that the pages were blank to everyone but you.

“Therefore, what you are being offered is support in every living matter such as finances, shelter, food, clothes, healthcare and further education as well as a possible part-time job.”

You nodded along to the creature’s summarization.

He continued, “Those resources will be available to you since you hold valuable information on the future. As for the education part of this offer, it is just to help you make a living if you end up not being able to return to your original universe.”

“How about the position you offered me, sir? An assistant teacher for the first year’s hero course?”

“Ah,” Nedzu responded, “It is not mandatory, of course. However, I just thought it would be better if you were near Class 1A, who are going to be the epicenter of the trouble brewing from what you’ve told me, when something comes up.”

You added, “And you know I have some experience with teaching because I tutored some students in high school and university.”

The creature nodded, “It was also considered. And believe it or not, Aizawa actually cares for his students. He did not even expel any one of them this year! The man has a sharp mind and quite capable at decision making.”

Nedzu continued, “I’d know as I personally tutored the underground hero back in his high school days. It would be quite beneficial if you don’t have to go through me to warn them since it will cut off a lot of wasted time.”

You figured. Both Nedzu and Eraserhead seemed slightly unhinged in the anime and their brand of ‘unhinged’ gave you the same vibes.

You tilted your head, “But, I have no experience in combat or self-defense. What if I get into trouble along with them or something happens to me?”

“Well, I understand your concern. If you are willing to, we will provide you with the basic training and I will also see what Powerloader or Snipe can do.”

Powerloader and Snipe, so did that mean you were going to get some interesting devices, support gear or even learning to shoot?! You grinned, a bit more feral than you should be, and said, “Welp, I am going to be quite busy, aren’t I? With the online university, being an assistant teacher and everything.”

“Quite correct but it is for your own good and also that of our future.”

“Of course,” you said, “However, you are going to help me with the research on dimensional travel as you said before, aren’t you?”

The principal hummed, “Yes, I am. The topic in question is quite peculiar and you were not even under the effect of a quirk. Such a fascinating topic will not drive my effort or my curiosity away, rest assured.”

A part of you did not believe the creature. After all, it would not be impossible to want you to remain in this universe forever or delay your return to your own dimension because of the information you hold. You added, “I can imagine us discussing the future of this universe at length when I finally get to go back to my world. After all, if I could, I would help.”

Now, the rodent would not be under the false impression that you would take back all your knowledge with you when you went back.

If you went back.

“Of course, Reader.”

Nedzu glanced at his wristwatch, “Alas, look at the time. I should be off so I will leave you to your rest. Please try to decide on the subject you wish to learn for your degree.”

You debated on saying what you wanted to say. It was when he was nearly at the door that you chose to speak up, “I think you should keep an eye on the ninth. He is going places.”

The mammal looked back and smiled with his teeth, “I am already doing so but thanks for the reminder, Reader.”

And that was how you found yourself sitting at the dining table with a laptop showing a list of online university courses while the papers of your agreement plan with Nedzu were scattered on the whole tabletop.

Nothing was set in stone or nonnegotiable but you knew you were going to be accepting it and you did not really have much choice.

It was do or die. Well, it was do or die slowly, probably of hunger.

Maybe, it could also be do or join the League and All for One.

Imagine getting a quirk from that potato head. Would your body even be compatible with quirks?

A part of you also wondered whether you would guide the quirk-stealing, century-old crime overlord to where the quirk that could rewind things and the quirk that could destroy and construct with just a touch were if the last one was your current situation.

Morals, you did not want to think about that big of a topic. You had no mental space for that topic among the topics you were already handling (and procrastinating). Nedzu’s offer, your death, the loss of everything you left behind in your original world, to name a few.

You did not have the time nor the effort for the paths you would never come to take. Yours had already been defined when your bloody head made contact with the tiles of UA’s floor.

You should stop and concentrate on the problem at hand.

What you needed to do was pick an online university course that appealed to you so that you had some sort of a backup plan if you ended up being stuck in this universe. The principal told you not to worry about the tuition fees since they, along with other fees you might need, would be covered.

Covered by who or what, Nedzu did not elaborate.

You just hoped the mammal was not abusing UA’s funds for you. (It was very unlikely, you knew.)

But just in case he was, It was 100% certain that he could get out of any unpleasant situation that the problems with funds might result in. You would be the one who could not get out of them.

You had no influence, no connection except for the few people that you had met, and no valuable possession nor accomplishment to your name here. How could someone like you get out of such a situation? No way.

Your concentration was latching onto everything and nothing at once, wasn’t it? How abysmal.

Did you need some coffee? Was that what was needed for you to be able to concentrate on your problems like a normal person?

You did not think of the fact that if you ended up getting a cup of coffee, it would be your third one in the whole day.

Groaning, you rested your head on the table, the cold of the wood below seeping through your forehead as you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You took some moments to appreciate how silent your surroundings were.

“Are you okay?”

And you did not know what would catch you off guard more than that sudden question that came out of the left field.

Lifting your head as if you had not just been scared half to death, you found that the No. 1 hero was said left field. Yagi Toshinori was looking at you in concern with a glass of water in his bony hand. You noted that his hands were indeed quite large but considering his height and structure, you thought it suited.

The amount of warm concern radiating from the blond man was frankly surprising and almost reminded you of home and warm sunshine, something similar to a guardian looking after a child. If this was how the hero looked at every citizen, then he definitely deserved to be the top hero.

Maybe you should admit some fics got this golden retriever attitude (or mask) of his down to a tee.

Maybe, it was all the Dadmight fics you had read influencing your thoughts. However, you had read All Might bashing fics, too, and you had also read Nedzu bashing ones.

Wait, did that mean you were in a fic technically? A self-insert of sorts?

Or, were you, like, shifting but dead? To the My Hero Academia Universe?

Okay, time out. Nope, you were not doing that. No existential crisis needed, thank you very much. You had already experienced one after you died. You should and would rather focus on the present where All Might was looking at you with a strange face.

You had been staring at him for quite a long time, had you not? Staring at him like a mindless alien creature.

Besides, your forehead was probably red from holding the weight of your whole upper body and the table. You rubbed it as you looked away from the man, blinking fast.

“Oh, I’m alright, All Might, sir. I mean, Yagi-san.” You let out an embarrassed laugh at your own slip-up. “I was just a bit lost in my thoughts. Nedzu just explained to me a bit of what he has in mind for me and which ones of my requests would be doable from his position. It turns out I need to choose a university major to continue my education since I need a degree or some kind of skill to make a living if I am stuck here, which is- Oh, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

Giving him an embarrassed grin and rubbing your nape, you stopped running your mouth. Why were you like this?

At this rate, the skeleton man in front of you was going to think you had a few screws loose.

Which was not entirely untrue but still.

“Oh, so you are going to attend a university?” All Might asked as he opened the staff refrigerator and closed it without taking anything. You nodded at him, “Yes, an online one. The principal actually said someone like me should not be commuting back and forth between UA and a university. Besides, it would be easier with online learning if I ended up accepting the assistant teacher position he had offered.”

“Assistant teacher? For which classes, Young Reader?” The blonde man took the seat directly in front of you. It was almost dinner time but you thought neither of you had had any dinner.

“Heroics, Yagi-san.”

You decided to make some dinner for the two of you. You did not think All Might should be not eating after such a dangerous and tiring battle. But it would be wise to ask about his dietary restrictions, if any existed, first before cooking anything.

The hero raised his eyebrows, lessening the harshness of the shadows falling onto his eyes, “So, you know how to fight?”

“Oh, no,” You sheepishly grinned, “The principal said I could help out where I can. He just wanted me at ground zero when things explode, I guess. He said I would be able to warn the necessary people faster that way.”

You raided your head to think of a way to ask about the man’s diet plans without coming across as nosy or rude.

“I see. If I assume right, the ‘ground zero’ is going to be Class 1A, isn’t it?”

Taking a moment to think, you swallowed, “Yes, they are going to be in the center of everything. But I will be there to talk about all the things I know that are coming their way so I hope I can be of help.”

The No. 1 hero nodded wordlessly and you both fell into a silence that was not uncomfortable. That was until he decided to speak up.

“May I know the main character of the anime about our world?”

The sudden question caught you more off guard than it should have. You should have expected it though. It was a sensible question to ask when you met someone who said they had read a part of your life as a story or an animated series.

Taking a moment to ponder, you came to a decision. And you also made sure to locate when the tissue was just in case the other man coughed up blood after hearing your response.

“Okay, so it might come off as a bit of a surprise,” you looked directly at him, giving him a moment to prepare. Even though you suspected he had an inkling of who it was, it was better safe than sorry. You were not risking another incident like the one in the infirmary. “It’s your successor, Midoriya Izuku.”

Yagi grasped his hands to each other under his nose and leaned forward. Nodding, he said, “I just had to confirm it. So, you know about...my quirk.”

“Yes, Yagi-san. I do.”

Probably more than him and Midoriya in the aspect of what was going to happen with that stockpiling miracle of a quirk.

Yes, you had been spoiled about the stockpiled quirks. Even though you did not know every quirk that Midoriya would be springing out of his tiny muscled body, you knew it was something along the lines of spiderman-like black whips, Shimura Nana’s quirk and some kind of- excuse the Spiderman references but you just had to- Peter tingle.

“Then, I hope you also understand the gravity of this situation.”

You nodded seriously so the man continued, “You must not breathe a word to those who don’t know about One for All. I now have reasons to expect that the ultimate nemesis of One for All is not as dead as I thought. We cannot make it obvious just who my successor is.”

“You can count on me to not spread this information, All Might,” you assured him, “I understand its importance. I read about it.”

The blond man gave you a nod, “Then, I will trust that you will hold this information close to yourself.”

“I give you my word.”

Both of you fell silent after the serious conversation. At least, until the hero stood up to leave the room, “Then, I shall leave you to your own work. Have a good night, young Reader."

Oh no, you could not have that.

"Yagi-san! How about dinner? Have you had your dinner?"

The hero stopped in his track, his blue eyes as wide as those of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh, it's okay. I don't really have an appetite," he tried to give you a placating smile.

You narrowed your eyes for a moment before saying, "I don't think you should go to sleep without eating anything after such a tiring day."

The older man opened his mouth, probably starting to give more excuses.

Time to use the big guns.

"And I am sure that Recovery Girl would think so too."

He shut his mouth so quickly after hearing those words. He knew what you were trying to do.

Heh, gotcha, No. 1.

"Now, I'm going to make dinner for both of us. So, may I know if you have any dietary restrictions, Yagi-san?"

Operation "Get the Number 1 to Eat" was a success for this evening.

Chapter Text

“Oooooh, try this! Try this!”

You reluctantly scanned the neon pink tank top that Midnight was currently offering you. Neon pink was a nice color but it was not particularly what you thought you would wear a lot.

“I don’t think we have to try every piece of clothing that catches your eye, Kayama,” you protested. The heroine, then, made you hold the tank top close to your upper body to see if it was good looking on you. Before you could even tell her that you did not need this pink tank top, she exclaimed that it was perfect for you and put it in your rapidly enlarging pile in the shopping cart.

You internally sighed and facepalmed.

Thankfully, you managed to put it back after the dark-haired women rushed towards the end of the isles.

Oh, yes, Midnight gave you permission to call her by her civilian name and without any suffix. It was probably for the best since the popular R-rated heroine was currently incognito. Otherwise, you would have to deal with the raging crowd of her fans.

Now, back to the present which was admittedly a certain kind of endurance test that was this shopping trip. Testing which, your patience or your will to live, you were not sure.

This was not helping the evidence against your hypothesis that every hero had to be a bit unhinged to dabble in the heroics.

(And now, you were also associating with said heroes. So, what did it say about you?)

Back to the case on point, the first was All Might in his own self-sacrificing hell with a stomach and a lung down, followed by Nedzu who was a former experimentation victim with sadistic tendencies, the flaming trash can that was Endeavor, Eraserhead with his rational ruses and trauma back from Oboro’s death, and the mess that was Hawks’ entire life.

And that was just the top heroes plus a certain underground hero. There were also soon-to-be-traumatized class 1A of heroics.

Now that you listed things like that, you were confronted with the fact that you had quite a lot of work to do if you wanted to fix everything.

To be honest, it was more like being slapped in the face by that fact.

Nah, you would just let Nedzu decide if he wanted to fix everything and it was not like he would get all the information at once. Maybe, you should report one season at a time.

Then, you registered a door faintly closing behind you. Blinking, you looked down only to see a bundle of colorful clothes of all kinds in your arms.

For goodness’s sake, how on earth did you get thrown into a fitting room by Kayama?

All of a sudden, you felt all the energy you got from your cup of morning coffee left your body and soul.

Lord have mercy on you.

After dutifully trying on all of the clothes the woman picked out for you because you could not say no to her enthusiasm and subsequently convincing Kayama-san ”Yes, this is enough, Kayama, and no, I don’t need those and frankly can’t think of anywhere I would wear them, Kayama,” with a stiff smile, you escaped the shopping hell.

You were currently on your merry way.

To a hospital.

To meet a grumpy catlike man who still ended up getting injured enough to warrant a hospital stay, however much briefer than it had been in the canon. Even though his face was left untouched by the abomination that was the Nomu, you heard that Shigaraki managed to give him the elbow injury you clearly remember him getting in the canon and his arm was broken by the nomu.

You should have warned him earlier, aside from merely implying that he was going to get an elbow injury that would scar.

You should have warned him in the first place before he left Nedzu’s office.

But you did not. And you know why.

How selfish.

You blinked away those thoughts and glanced at Kayama who was carrying a bag of some snacks (those jelly packs that the underground hero was addicted to) and a get-well-soon gag gift.

Both of you came to the hospital directly after the nightmare that was shopping with Midnight.

Kayama stopped in front of a door and knocked. Soon after, instead of the permission to enter, you heard the sound of a window being yanked open.

You blinked at the strange sound while the heroine immediately switched to a hurried mode and slid open the door only to reveal Eraserhead in his black jumpsuit instead of a hospital gown who was just barely squatting on the window sill with his uninjured hand in his capture weapon.

"Shouta, no!"

You stared, fascinated that the hospital escape scene from some fics you had read was happening right before your very eyes, gobsmacked and faintly amused judging from the twitch of your lips that could not decide whether to smirk or gape at Aizawa.

Said man was facing towards both of you, one of his logical ruse grins peeking out from under his capture weapon.

Then, he jumped from the three-storeyed-high hospital room he was held captive in.

Kayama ran to the window and you followed. To your expiration, annoyance and also relief, you both leaned out of the window to watch the man land safely on the ground with a grace that someone with an arm in a cast and no permission to check themselves out of a hospital.

The underground hero even lazily saluted you with two fingers before turning his back to you and walking briskly away.

Kayama sighed. You turned, “Is he always like this?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I feel sorry for his nurses and doctors all the time.”

You were again heading towards a certain principal’s office, the feeling of being a misbehaving student soon to be punished still lingering regardless of how many times you had taken this path.

This time, it was because the time had come for you to be introduced to the rest of the UA hero teachers.

The school was opened again after USJ and you were to start working as an intern/ teacher’s assistant to Class 1A since the plot was centered around them and Nedzu deemed it informational and advantageous for someone who knew what kind of things were going to happen to those students to be along for the ride.

You had concerns, of course, mainly revolving around the fact that your presence might change the plot too much beyond the point of recognition

And the fact that you had no quirk and zero combat knowledge.

Which was why you were going to have to learn self-defense too. You just hoped that you would not give up on that particular endeavor.

When you had been summoned to Nedzu’s office the day before to have an in-depth discussion about your new identity in this universe, you expressed that it would be better if you could keep the whole isekai aspect under wrap even though UA teachers were heroes worthy of trust.

Were they really? After all, the traitor inside UA had not been discovered yet.

It also seemed that Nedzu had successfully acquired a new document for your…lost and damaged documents and cards such as official identification card, health history, birth certificate, high school diploma, insurance, your professional quirk usage license (for your cover story) and other important documents to show that your existence had not just been in this world for less than a week but rather your whole lifetime.

You had discussed the personal details that would be going into the records with Nedzu when he explained his offer to you for the first time.

It could be said that you did not miss the fact that many names in My Hero Academia were puns like Midoriya who had “green” in his name, Todoroki whose first name literally meant “burn and freeze”, Shimura Nana whose first name had the same pronunciation with “seven” that signified her position as the seventh user of One for All, Midnight with Nemuri as a first name which meant “sleep” and so on.

So, naturally, you and Nedzu had some fun with your name.

You entered the room after knocking. The creature smiled at you behind his teacup, his crinkled eyes the only indicator of his smile, “Reader! Right on time. Let’s go to the teacher’s lounge, shall we?”

Most of the teachers were already present when the two of you arrived with the exception of Thirteen and Snipe who were apparently on patrol.

“Good morning, my colleagues.”

You had to say you marveled at how easily Nedzu could command their attention.

Some of them greeted him back, all of them curiously observing you and probably wondering what a civilian-looking newbie was doing in a teachers’ lounge of UA School of heroics.

Nedzu continued, “As you can see, we have a newcomer here.” He paused for you to introduce yourself.

You had practiced saying your new name in front of the mirror mostly because of the unfamiliar disconnect between your real one and the one you made up just for existing in this world. So, it was with little difficulty that you introduced yourself to the UA heroics teachers.

“Pleased to meet all of you. I am to operate under the codename, Reader, “ you followed it immediately by stating your civilian name in this universe.

It was only fair that they knew your civilian name while you knew more than their civilian name.

“Reader here has a premonition quirk that cannot be turned off and only reveals certain events of the decade that are deemed important by the quirk itself,” Nedzu took the explaining part off your hands so you let him, aiming a small quirk of lips that, you were sure, must count as a smile towards the heroes.

“Oh! That’s why you were in the dorms that night! Sorry for that again, Listener!” Present Mic said before his smile morphed into a teasing one, “Or should I say Reader?”

Oh, you saw what he did there. Clever.

So, you gave him a grin, “It’s all in the past, Present Mic. You were just doing what heroes are supposed to do!”

Kayama looked between you two, “Wait, you two have already met? Oi, Zashi, you better tell me about that later. It sounds like a funny story. And Reader,” you were not surprised when Midnight used your codename which doubled as your first nickname in this universe, “look at you! I knew those colors would go with you well.”

Your smile turned a bit tighter at the mention of that disastrous shopping trip. In fact, you could say with 100% certainty that the colors you were currently wearing were not what she wanted to buy for you.

For now, you would go along, “And I thank you for that, Midnight.” You tipped your head for good measure.

Midnight knew not to mention the fact that you certainly did not have any quirk and were not even from their universe. At least, Nedzu mentioned that he made sure she knew better. For some reason, you had not been able to stop shivers at his words at that time.

“Wait, how come you both know Reader?” asked Vlad King before turning to you with a nod, “Nice to meet you. Welcome to UA.”

“I second that. Welcome to UA. I hope you are prepared for the plus ultra-ness of this hell- ahem- school,” added Power Loader. You hoped you were prepared for this plus ultra storm too. You were praying that you were, actually.

Well, fake it till you make it, they said.

And fake you would.

The rest of the pleasantries and welcomes followed, the room becoming more lively. To your surprise, you were actually starting to feel like this day was not going to go downhill from here. You wondered why Aizawa still had not flashed his quirk at all of you in irritation.

The man was obviously pretending to sleep just to have an excuse not to be a part of this social interaction.

You envied him a bit.

You wondered if getting to know these heroes better and even working with them would not disappoint you who were sure to have some expectations from all those episodes you watched and all those fics you had read.

But these were not fictional characters.

Well, they kind of were but not here. Not in this world that they called their own, a world with superpowers regarded as normal.

Back to your point, these were not fictional characters. These were real people with real emotions, back stories, experiences, and interactions. These were your soon-to-be co-workers.

Gosh, you were going to work at UA.

That fact was further made apparent and obvious when you trailed after Aizawa, trying to recall every detail of the notes that the underground hero had sent you via email the night before.

Apparently, he was going to announce the news of the Sports Festival.

But before that, your introduction was to be made which was a bit nerve-wracking. Sure you knew those kids would not be cruel to you. If they were, Aizawa would just give them his quirk-induced glare and if they were, you probably deserved that.

What was more likely to happen was the class descending into chaos after being told that they were going to get a new teacher, well, a new teaching assistant. Or just a teaching assistant since they did not have one before. You grimaced because you were aware that you were starting to spiral.

Aizawa stopped in front of a massive door, holy moly, this door was bigger than you thought, before glancing silently back at you.

You looked back at him, a bit confused as to why he was looking at you.

After a moment passed, he stepped closer to the door, the bell rang and he opened the door, but not before murmuring to you, “Come in when I signal.”

You realized that Aizawa not only was checking whether you were ready but also was waiting to time his entrance with the bell. You could not believe that man. He was efficient and considerate.

Well, you could because you of all people knew he would have protected his students to his death at USJ.

In any given situation.

You leaned on the wall beside the door and listened to the homeroom teacher, his faint words permeating through the wall, “Settle down. Yes, I am fine. I am one kiss from Recovery Girl away from full recovery. Alright, alright, I don’t need your worry. What I need is to introduce someone to all of you.”

The class was noisy alright, students shooting questions and exclamations left and right which you could not blame them because…USJ…yeah.

You just admired the way he could keep his voice monotone throughout his talk, just loud enough to be able to talk over his students.

His problem children, you thought with a smile.

Recognizing his signal, you entered the room. All eyes were on you as you calmly walked towards the podium to stand beside Aizawa, “Nice to meet you, everyone. I’m Reader. My civilian name is Oyomiya Kumi. You can call me either. I’ll be interning under Aizawa here for teaching.”

The class, as predicted, fell into chaos.

Denki exclaimed, “Are you a hero too?!”

“Wow, we are getting a teaching assistant this late into the year! Nice to meet you, Sensei!” added Mina.

Okay, being called sensei when you were not even a fully-fledged teacher was weird.

Iida stood up, “We are pleased and honored to meet you, Reader-san! As class president, let me express our warm welcome!”

“Oh, it’s okay, Iida. Just Reader is fine. No suffix is needed for me. And thank you too.” You smiled, briefly fighting yourself not to laugh at the boy’s uptight attitude and chopping arms. You scanned the room. Most of the students were saying their welcomes, varying in tone and volume, whereas only Bakugo and Todoroki were staying silent.

Even Midoriya was busy mumbling under his breath, you noticed fondly. Maybe it was because you liked to read fanfics centered around Midoriya and his journey as a shounen protagonist. But you truly thought the kid was a good egg.

Uraraka asked, “May I know what your quirk is, Oyomiya Sensei?”

You smiled at her, “Of course,” before turning to Aizawa, “May I?”

He nodded and you started writing your civilian name on the board, “Oyomiya Kumi. You see the “read” Yomi kanji here? My quirk allows me to read some events of the future but it cannot be deactivated and it chooses the events I get to see. But most of those events tend to be quite important.”

Midoriya’s mumble storm fastened and you spotted Yaoyorozu raising her hand, “Yes, Yaoyorozu?”

“I have a question, sensei, if the answer is not confidential,” you noticed that the girl’s uncertainty was bleeding through her words, especially in the later parts, “Are you the one who predicted the USJ attack, because Snipe Sensei implied that UA knew about the attack?”

Once again, the class exclaimed their surprise and, in some cases, outrage at her question. You glanced at Aizawa for guidance, silently asking him if you could reveal that particular bit of info.

You received a subtle nod back. Huh, it seemed the hero could read people’s minds.

Which was impossible, you know.

“Please cease your comments and let Sensei talk!” Finally, Iida, the ever-reliable class president (well, not really, because he did go on full vigilante mode during the Stain incident, which, yeah, you should have a meeting with Nedzu soon), made the class settle down.

You gauged the expectant faces of the kids. You knew the silence was bordering on impolite but you were a sucker for dramatic reveals.

“Yes. It is indeed correct,” you nodded, “I apologize for not preventing the USJ attack.” You bowed your head a bit with the apology because yes, you should have and could have prevented that disaster.

“But it’s your quirk’s mechanics, Sensei,” Midoriya piped up from his seat, “You would have warned us in advance if you could, I’m sure.”

You almost grimaced at his words and his wide green eyes. Your left side was particularly feeling very exposed due to a certain set of black eyes tracking your every minuscule shift in expression, which was probably not true, you knew. But you just had that kind of feeling.

You schooled your face into a sad smile, “Thank you, Midoriya.”

“No, thank you, Reader Sensei, for raising our chances against the villains!” Iida was sure a passionate kid. You could see how he would want to avenge someone he was very passionate about and admired.

“Things would have been much darker without the vital light you brought, Sensei,” Tokoyami added.

As students thanked you, a warm feeling bloomed over your chest.

But it was undeserved and unfounded.

So, you hurriedly put an end to it before it spread further, “Alright, alright, enough about me.” You flashed a sharp grin, “Aizawa has an announcement to make.”

The man nodded at you, “Your battle is far from over.”

“Not over?” Bakugo sharply said.

“What do you mean ‘far from over’?”

This was the third time the class plunged into chaos.

“Another attack?”

Oooh, you could do certain things with this so you answered with the most serious face ever, “Yes.”

All chaos stopped and all of the kids were staring at you intently, the fear and shock in their eyes almost making you a bit guilty. And yes, a certain hobo-looking man was glaring at you.

Finally, you cracked and grinned, “Just kidding!” You might have used “logical ruse” but there was nothing logical about it and you did not think Aizawa would appreciate you stealing the catchphrase of his teaching career.

The class gasp comically in unison except maybe Todoroki because his ice had not been thawed by the power of friendship.

“We have been betrayed!”

“Another ruse! There are two of them now!”

It was due to Aizawa’s expert class control skills that the Sports Festival was successfully announced before the period ended.

Chapter Text

“All censored, I’m afraid, Reader.”

You and Nedzu both knew it was a highly probable outcome. Your eyes fell on the manga books on the principal’s desk. Your mind flashed black to all the gestures you used to express the answers to Nedzu’s questions about the future. You thought back about all the nods and head shakes you gave him to make him understand.

Censored. Censored. Censored.

Just who invented censoring? You just wanted to have a talk.

Unfazed, you started the last of quite a few experiments, “Ingenium is going to come across with Stain while in Hosu during the Sports Festival. He would come out of their fight alive but he would be forever paralyzed from waist down. Stain’s civilian name is Akaguro Chizome. I know you have the means to get info about his quirk with this name.”

The creature seemed to be focusing with a faint burrow between his- well, what could have been his brows. He continued his actions for a moment and you kept speaking, repeating your words, before the principal closed his eyes with a barely noticeable wince.

“It seems even though the lip patterns are familiar to me, something is interfering with my interpretation of them into actual words.”

You fell silent as he sipped his tea. He continued, “However, I could understand approximately 30% of your words, but at the risk of quite an inconvenient headache. And there is no apparent pattern for the words comprehended.”

“But we’ll have to admit this is an improvement compared to all the other methods,” you piped up. “You can actually catch some words.”

The censoring sound had been grating on your nerves.

Nedzu downed his tea in one go and refilled it. The headache must be a serious one if he was downing the whole cup. You internally winced in sympathy but there was a part of you that was apathetically thinking the headmaster should have tried better to read your lips.

It would make this whole thing easier! Being understandable would really be appreciated, especially in your line of work, which was essentially being a seer just for UA if you discounted the importance of both your decisions and the info you had. It was quite a weight to be placed upon a normal human being’s shoulders.

You wondered how Sir Nighteye handled knowing the future.

Not well, considering his history with All Might. And there was also the fact that he could not see the whole picture. He could not see all the shit that was about to go down.

You could.

You had seen some spoilers. You had an inkling of what was going to happen in the infamous Paranormal Liberation Arc. So many casualties, so many lives lost, so much destruction, so much loss.

And the continuation of evil through its host. Yes, you knew what would happen to Shigaraki.

Damn you, All for One.

The heroes should have just given him a death penalty when that devil was in Tartarus. That would have prevented a lot of things.

“So, we’ve got the rest of the evening to ourselves. I have cleared my schedule for our talk,” Nedzu said. “Would you be open to telling me more about the future’s plot as I try to read you?”

“Yes, if that would be alright with you. Having a headache is a nuisance.”

Nedzu gave you a smile, “I’ll be alright, Reader. Now, about this killer you’re telling me…”

It seemed none of you were retiring tonight until you let Nedzu know about the Hero Killer, Midoriya’s fight with him, the Shie Hassaikai and of course, the flaming trash can. Oh yes, you were after Enji. Or rather, you would be setting Nedzu after Enji.

The latter was sure to result in less work and more thrills for you.

And Eri was going to be saved no matter what. You were not going to risk or compromise her wellbeing like that. Unlike what happened in USJ.

She was just a child…for goodness’ sake.

Just as 1A were just teenagers.

You sighed. This was going to be a long long evening.

But not long enough to excuse you from a long study session in UA’s own library the very next day. You were operating on your normal hours of sleep but a big yawn still slipped out as you typed away on your laptop for a quiz.

You chose Management Administration in Business and Heroics as your field of study in this universe. It would be useful, not to mention the availability of both heroes and business teachers at UA.

So far, you had not met or consulted any of the teachers outside the heroics course.

Even though you were focusing on your own work, you let your thoughts drift away to some other things while simultaneously going through the questions. Some other things like how you and Nedzu still had more experiments to conduct with the censoring feature such as including another person.

This corner of the library was quite peaceful. That was not to say the whole library was not peaceful. It was.

But the students and even a few of the faculty tended to rarely come to this corner so you had all of it to yourself. Some of them even seem to avoid this corner on purpose for some reason.

You stood up from your seat after finishing the quiz and stretched before walking around for a bit. But before you could leave your corner, a flash of yellow caught your eyes. You whipped back to the spot above the seat you were previously occupying just for your eyes to be attacked with the most outrageous tone of yellow that belonged to Aizawa’s sleeping bag.

You admitted just to yourself that you had been sort of avoiding Aizawa outside of class. You could not help but feel guilty about the man’s injuries.

He had not been spared from them even though you had foreseen the USJ attack.

And a part of you was afraid if he would hold a grudge against you for it, for endangering his students for the greater good of the plot: for your own advantage in this world in which you would normally be useless.

It was that part that urged you with an urgency, that only a dying man would possess while trying to reach sanctuary, to hurriedly gather your supplies and things and exit the library.

No, you were not worried about how the man thought of you.

You were… merely considerate of the man’s sleeping quality with you studying at his usual napping spot. Clenching your bag to your chest, you fled, er, gracefully speed-walked to your own room in the teacher’s dorm.

None the wiser of the black eyes tracking you until you were out of the library.

Plus Ultra.

“Plus Ultra!”

Plus Ultra.

“Plus Ultra, Reader!”

That was the last straw. You were done with this “Plus Ultra” bullshit. The only plus ultra you wanted right now was plus ultra sleep.

Heck, you might even be swayed to a plus ultra break!

Present Mic, currently the bane of your existence, grinned as he stopped along with you albeit more gracefully considering that you were completely lying down on the track.

Yes, track because apparently, you needed to raise your stamina by running.

You did not know if it would raise your stamina levels but it sure was raising your done-with-this-world levels. The more steps you took while running behind the voice hero, the more steps you wanted to take towards a nice cold shower and then, into your bed towards eternal slumber.

So, this was what they had in mind when they said you had to train for basic self defense.

Basic, your arse.

“Oh come on, Reader. Show me your Plus Ultra spirit. The end is getting closer!”

Yeah, his end at your hands was getting closer along with your own.

The blonde grinned wider as he spotted your expression, “Oooh, your glare is similar to Shouta’s. But it’s weaker than his. I’l have you know I’ve dealt with a lot of his glares and came out of them alive. Sometimes not entirely whole but still!”

You just tried to catch your breath, inhaling and exhaling without responding to Mic.

You briefly entertained the thought of shoving a bug down his grinning mouth but underneath all that scorn and tiredness, you knew this was essential and vital for your survival in this world of quirks.

If word got out that a person like you existed, All for One would not do nothing and let you be.

Especially as you claimed that your premonition powers came from a quirk and not from the manga you read and the anime you watched. He would be intrigued with the made-up quirk.

“Come on. Get up. You can rest for a while when you finish this lap,” Mic offered you a hand, his leather gloves absent as he was not in his hero costume at all. Instead he was in a simple tracksuit, if you could call the yellow eyesore of a color he was wearing. His hair was in a ponytail.

He was training you even though he did not have to, sacrificing his free time for you.

Now, that, you could not be mad at him for that. You gave him an exhausted smile as you grabbed the offered hand and resume running.

At the end of the lap, you both took a break when only one desperately needed it and the other did not need it at all. Mic did not even seem ruffled by all the running and stretching you did. And also, if he were, he would not be a hero and certainly not a teacher at UA.

Opening a water bottle, you slowly drank from it as he sat down beside you. He waited until you caught your breath.

“By the way, what are your plans for the sports festival?”

You glanced at him, “Oh I’m just staying in the stands, watching among the audience. Maybe I might hit up the game booths too. You’re the MC for it, right?”

You knew he was going to be the announcer but you asked for the sake of conversation and pretending to be just someone with a premonition quirk instead of someone from another dimension where this world was a mere story.

“Yep,” he popped out the ‘p’, “Wanna join the announcer booth? It has a nice view because of all the announcements that’s gonna happen there.”

“No, thanks for offering, Mic. I’d rather not miss all the drama that’s going to happen in the stadium. Besides, you just want to be alone with Aizawa.”

He gasped dramatically, “What? Oh no, we’re- we’re not like that. We’re just friends!”

You blushed. You forgot to forget all the things you had read from the fanfics you had consumed of your favorite entertainment. This was embarrassing. “Oh no. I’m sorry, Mic! I didn’t mean to.”

The hero just chuckled, “It’s alright. I get that a lot. I’m just too busy with my three jobs to date anyone, let alone my grumpy high school friend. And just call me Yamada. I’m not ion hero duty after all.”

You nodded to show your understanding of his request.

“High school friend?” you inquired even though you knew their backstory from the parts of the Vigilantes spin-off manga you read just to know more info about Kurogiri/ Shirakumo.

“Yeah, Shouta, Nemuri and I go way back. Shouta and I were in the same class during our UA years and Nemuri was just a year above us. She helped us out a lot and in turn, we brought her into our friendship circle!”

“I can certainly picture an energetic highschooler you, a grumpy teenage Aizawa and your smiling senpai Kayama together,” you said before smirking and teasing him, “Were you louder or quieter in high school?

“Oh you, stop. I’ll have you know I was as loud as I should be and I still am.”

“Alright, alright, Yamada,” you smiled at him. “It's great that you guys are still together after all these years. Some friends just drift apart after high school, you know.”

He nodded as he stared ahead, his eyes behind his prescription glasses losing its shine a bit.

You internally winced. You did not mean to bring up that a member of their friend group was dead now.

“Yeah. I agree with you. It’s great to have them as friends,” he admitted softly before brightening up again. “I bet it would be great to also be friends with you! Let’s be friends and training together like this will be more fun, Reader!”

Did he just say he wanted to be friends with you?

You huffed, “We’ll see about that.”

“So…friends?”

This man had a really youthful way of making friends. It was refreshing. His friendly cockatoo energy was kind of a vibe.

“Unfortunately.”

Yamada grinned, “Oh, I see you’re a bit of tsundere.”

“What?! No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you kinda are, my dear Reader.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

You sighed, “Are we really doing this?”

“Yes.”

You discreetly glanced at Midoriya as he opened his water bottle and drank quite a bit from it.

It was during a training session for class 1A, one designed for preparations before the Sports Festivals. You were not required there but your curiosity got the better of you. It helped that you had always wanted to see how they trained for the Sports Festival.

Each and every one of the herolings were training, either by themselves or in pairs and groups. Well, except Midoriya who was currently taking a break.

You had kept your eyes on him silently as he went through a series of boxing forms and maneuvers without using his quirk because at this point of the plot, he still could not use One for All without his bones breaking into pieces like ceramics.

“Anything you want to share with the class?”

You glanced at Aizawa, eyes lingering on the scar beneath his right eye, before looking back at Midoriya. You pondered what you should do. If you decided to go through with this idea, the plot might be tipped into the hero side’s favor and you were not sure if that was a completely good idea.

But would it matter much? You narrowed your eyes in thought.

Todoroki needed to realize that he only had to use one quirk and that one quirk was his own, instead of his mother’s or his sperm donor’s. Convincing him would require nothing short of broken bones and a destroyed arena.

Sure investigating into the reasons behind his rejection to the fire side might reveal the dirty laundry of the Todoroki family.

However, you did not think Aizawa, however great of a teacher he could be, would not be able to extract that particular piece of information from Todoroki during their first ever talk. Even if he did, Endeavor’s status of the No.2 hero would prevent him from being untimely arrested.

Hence, he would still be operating as a hero after All Might’s retirement.

You really should be getting Nedzu’s input with this but you figured if anything, that should not happen, happen, the principal could handle it.

Additionally, Shinsou needed to be trained sooner so that his potential could be fully utilized.

After all, a quirk was just a quirk, a tool used in heroics. There would be times when that tool failed. When that time came, no hero should be a one-trick pony. But dealing with Shinsou could wait until after the sports festival.

What could not wait was Midoriya and One for All.

After training would come the Sports Festival and the Internships where Midoriya would fight with the infamous hero killer. Before that, he would be trained by Gran Torino. And after the Hosu attack was the final exam.

There would be no direct contact between the protagonist and the League.

There was also the fact that being able to use Full Cowl would spare the green haired boy’s arms from surgery. Honestly, no one should have arms injured that repeatedly even for a friend they wanted to help.

Having made your decision, you replied, “Yes, actually. Have you wondered why Todoroki does not use his fire?”

“Yes,” Aizawa admitted. “Even in training, he was not showing that half of his quirk at all.”

“Yeah, about that,” you started, “you might want to speak with him and help him if he still doesn’t use it after the sports festival.”

The hero hummed, “Did he use it during the festival?”

You noted the usage of past tense in his question and smirked, “That’s for me to know and for you to find out, even if it would be the censored version.”

The heroics teacher only rolled his eyes at your answer. But your implication was already clear and received.

“Actually, there’s more. I want to speak a bit with Midoriya, Aizawa, if that’s okay. And also, you might want to check his quirk record. It might surprise you.”

The underground hero hummed before nodding at you and giving you the go ahead.

So, you called for Midoriya’s attention as you approached his training area, “Hey there, Midoriya. Sorry for interrupting you but I have some things to talk about with you. Especially how you are using your quirk.”

The student immediately focused on you, “Yes, Reader Sensei.”

You chose your words carefully, “I want you to think about how you’re using your quirk. It’s clear that using it all in one punch like All Might isn’t working out for you.”

The boy blinked before becoming cautious. You would also be if you were in his place and someone was comparing your quirk with your predecessor’s, especially if you actually got his quirk from said predecessor.

“Yes, sensei,” gosh, you gotta get used to being called sensei, “m-my quirk still breaks my bones and that’s why I am not training it like the others,” Midoriya sighed.

“Well, you’re using 100% of the quirk, right?” At his nod, you continued, “How about toning it down? Think about it. You’re using all 100%, concentrating it only in one place. That makes energy being contained in even one square inch of area quite high, yeah?”

“Oh, that makes sense. That’s why my arms keep exploding like eggs in the microwave! If I reduce the percentage, then it would become better. Oh! What would even be better is to reduce both the percentage and to increase the area so that the power is distributed evenly and not so concentrated that it breaks me when I use it,” he mumbled.

You strained your ears to listen to it and when he finished, he blushed, “I was mumbling, wasn’t I?”

You huffed out a laugh, “Yes, but it’s all okay. I see you’ve got what I meant.”

“Yes, Reader sensei. Thank you so much for this advice!”

“Well,” you glanced away, “you would have figured it out on your own. I’ve seen it. I was just fastening the process so that you won’t have to deal with bone-breaking quirks anymore. It’s important to take care of one’s body, especially if it is essential for one’s profession, you hear me?

“Yes, sensei,” Midoriya sheepishly said.

Good, that boy desperately needed some self-care, you thought.

“Oh, and one more thing. Don’t freak out but,” he immediately tensed up, “I’ve read about your quirk and its origin. I think All Might suspects it already but I haven’t confirmed it with him yet. So, he might call you to come and the three of us might have a talk.”

Wide green eyes blinked as he nodded. “Y-yes, sensei. Please don’t tell anyone who doesn’t know.”

“Of course,” you grinned and winked, “I do know how to keep a secret. Besides, even if I tell someone, they would not hear it until they are meant to hear it.”

Midoriya mumbled under his breath but you couldn’t catch it.

With a smile, you patted his shoulder and took your leave, leaving the boy to his own thoughts and some new ideas for training when he got out of his own mumbling spree.

You walked back to where you originally stood, beside Aizawa. The underground hero was watching you intently, “You’re not bad for a newbie.”

Ooooh, that was definitely a compliment if it was from Aizawa.

You raised one corner of your mouth, “Thank you, but I read it so the solution is not mine. I cannot take credit for it. It was a matter of time before he figured it out on his own.”

“Then, why not wait? I was giving him time to solve it himself. I wanted to see if he could.”

You grimaced. So that was why Aizawa never did anything about One for All and its initial reducing-bones-to-pieces phase. “Aizawa, his quirk would have broken him to the point of needing surgery. I cannot let it happen to Midoriya.”

You lowered your eyes, shame coloring them, “I’ve already let bad things happen.”

“So, it’s true that you knew the attack was that day,” Aizawa said in a non-committal tone. But you knew that there was an accusation in his words.

Aizawa was the type of person to be able to work it out from only a few words of yours. What An underground hero. It was only logical that he would say it directly to your face without any buffer or pretty words used to soften the blow.

You nodded wordlessly. You did not trust your voice.

“I see.” He looked away from you without any more words. His eyes were unreadable. You wished you could but if wishes were horses…

You leaned onto the wall behind you as you tried to deal with being confronted with the very feelings and thoughts you had been metaphorically running away from because of the very person you had been literally running away from.

Even right now, all you wanted was to run away from this as well.

You looked around the training room. Seeing as all the students were focusing on their own training, you allowed yourself to sink into a sitting position, your arms hugging your knees.

A pathetic sight compared to the tall, dark, mysterious and stony underground hero standing beside you. You knew how pathetic it would look from the outside. You certainly felt pathetic. It was all you could do to keep your face impassive.

“I really am not a good person,” you blurted out.

Damn, just why did you voice your thoughts out loud?

This was getting out of hand. You needed to put a stop to this. You were about to stand up, an excuse on your lips, when you heard Aizawa, “Maybe. Maybe not.”

You looked up at him quizzically from your place on the floor.

He glanced down at you, your eyes meeting briefly before he looked away again and half hid his lower face behind his scarf. “That depends on why you let it happen.”

Sensing a question woven in his words, you said, “I was afraid that preventing it would change the plot from how I know it. The USJ attack is when it all begins. I couldn’t afford any major changes. I…I’m not certain that such a change won’t affect the future of this universe. B-but of course, that is still no excuse for me to let the attack happen and cause you to be injured and your students to be traumatized. Of course, it isn’t.”

His dark eyes were boring into you. You inhaled, “Aizawa, I…”

You swallowed and whispered, “I am very sorry.”

This had gotten out of hand. This had pathetically gotten out of hand.

Why was this happening?

Your wide eyes fell on his crescent scar, the scar from being smashed into concrete by a massive abomination of a being. The scar from the attack you could have prevented but did not.

Every sound around you started to feel amplified including your heartbeat. And you just knew you were on the verge of panicking in front of the whole class of 1A and their homeroom teacher in the gym where they were supposed to train for the sports festival without any distractions.

Now, this was just downright unacceptable.

Your breathing sped up.

You could have this panic attack in the safety of privacy back in the teacher’s dorm combined with the one for being transported into a fictional dimension.

Just not now.

Not now.

Gosh, not now.

“Illogical,” a firm voice broke you out of whatever pit you were in. You blinked and blinked again at Aizawa, letting out a quiet questioning noise. He continued, “Your reasons behind your actions make it illogical for you to apologize to me.”

Oh.

He was saying you did not need to apologize in his own way. A feeling you did not care to put a name to blossomed in your chest, warming it up little by little.

“So do not say sorry for doing your job,” his eyes were staring at you the whole time.

Perhaps judging you for showing vulnerability in public but you could not help but ignore that possibility.

And then, voices were raised as someone ran into a wall.

Aizawa immediately made his way to where Midoriya, who apparently was the one who accidentally ran into the wall, was starting to sit up from his sprawled position with a sheepish expression on his face.

He really was a good person. And a good teacher.

Well, a good teacher taking care of his problem students.

“Thank you,” you whispered to his back, unheard by the proper receiver of those words, before quietly standing up and leaving the training room.

Now, you got some feelings to work through and a talk with the Symbol of Peace to arrange.

Maybe, you would work through feelings a bit later rather than sooner.

No one would complain if you do that. Certainly not yourself.