Chapter Text
When he woke up that morning, Aizawa Shouta didn’t think he’d be experiencing his most arduous assignment from the other perspective, especially two years early. He stood before this year’s class of Hell Spawns, taking in their varying expressions as he reviewed their next significant assignment.
“Today we’ll be going over the ‘Heroes vs Villains’ assignment.”
Chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos around the classroom.
His eyebrow rapidly twitched before he felt his hair float, indicating the activation of his quirk to quiet the rowdy students down.
Iida—and Shouta would have to bring this up to Tensei–raised his hand momentarily before speaking without being called on. ‘Why did he raise his hand then?’
“Sir! I thought we did this assignment on the second day with All Might?” The boy waved his arm frantically, eyes narrowed and eyebrows drawn in confusion.
“Enough.” Shouta growled, cutting off the student’s voices. He moved his gaze around the room, making eye contact with most kids. “This is a different exercise that’s actually authorized by the school,” the man felt a headache coming on, “this is one we’ve been doing for many years but has been on the backburner.”
The sigh he let out when he saw the kids whispering came straight from his soul.
“It’s a multi-day exam that’s supposed to last a week at least, though it has never gone on longer than two days before. It’s an immersive team battle between the hero and the villain.” Shouta hid his growing smirk in his scarf.
“There will be a hero and villain leader, who we’ve randomly assigned. They will get a knock on their door tonight, where I’ll place a letter in front of their dorms. The villain leader has the option to stay anonymous for realism, while the hero leader must announce it tomorrow morning. After that, I will call everyone out one by one to go over any questions you may have.”
He saw multiple kids plotting the essential points, though he exasperatedly noted how Midoriya wrote down everything he said. Always taking things to the extreme, that kid.
“You will have a week of prep time, during which you have to tell me your affiliation before the day of the exam.”
He ignored Yaoyorozu and Midoriya’s hands going up, continuing his speech.
“You’ll have the rest of homeroom to read these rule books and come up with any questions you have for me.”
Shouta took the stack of paper pamphlets and gave the first person in each row enough to pass back, taking the time to make eye contact with every student to watch them squirm.
But he felt a flash of anticipation as he climbed into his sleeping bag, wondering how this would go.
Damn, Nezu.
“We’re bringing back what?!”
Shouta slumped down in his seat as Nemuri raised her voice, slamming her palms on the long table and glaring daggers at the mammal at the head.
Nezu’s expression didn’t change from its usual cryptic smirk.
“We’re bringing back the Heroes vs Villains exam for class 1-A. After encountering the villains they’ve faced so far, I believe showing them a different type of battle is important. They’ve only experienced lineal altercations, but working on their intelligence is important for the future.”
Shouta had to admit, “This is a logical decision.”
Nemuri’s glare could cut him better than any knife.
“This is ridiculous! This exam hasn’t been done since that student had a mental breakdown and tried to kill themselves over it! And you want to put these students, these already traumatized students, into the situation that caused that?!”
Shouta sighed, rubbing his temple as Hizashi looked between a furious Nemuri and a still-grinning Nezu.
“Yes,” the principal said like it was discernible, “that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Nemuri growled, prompting Hizashi to put a hand on her back.
“Come on, Nemuri. I think that it’ll be a learning experience for them. And we have Inui in case anything like that happens again.”
Nemuri was about to speak up when Kan interrupted, voice gruff and grating on Shouta’s nerves like every time he spoke.
“Lighten up, Kayama. That only happened because that student didn’t see Hound Dog. As long as they see him, it should be fine. I mean, you did it your third year, and didn’t that turn out fine?” The man waved a hand dismissively, a single eyebrow raised in question.
Nemuri sighed, finally sitting down as she massaged her wrists. “Fine, as long as the students are made to go to Inui after it’s over.”
Nezu hummed, looking around the table before stopping on Yagi.
“Yagi, you look confused.”
Shouta raised an eyebrow at the blond man, his eyes trailing over the emaciated body and the bloodied handkerchief in his garish yellow suit pocket. Even Shouta had a better fashion sense than that man.
“Ah, excuse me,” Yagi coughed lightly, “I just don’t know the exam you’re talking about.”
“Ah, yes, we implemented it after you already graduated,” Nezu hummed, taking a sip of his tea, “can one of you explain?”
Shouta sighed as he listened to his coworkers, friends, and husband speak over each other to explain the exam to Yagi, telling by his wide eyes that the man didn’t catch half of it.
“And-uh,” the gaunt man looked around, “who are this year's leaders?”
They all looked toward Nezu, who smiled wickedly.
~~~
Momo sighed as she flipped from one page to the next, taking her pen and writing down a small note in the margins.
So far, she’s found at least five questions she needs to ask, yet she’s only on page four. Momo wondered what team she’ll join, and while she realized most, if not all of her classmates, wouldn’t be having the same dilemma–joining the hero team as soon as possible–she wanted to keep her options open.
She was tired of losing and relying on others to get her farther. She was tired of thinking herself not worthy of being here. She wanted to be proud, wanted to show that she was capable, show that she was going to be a fantastic hero.
“Woah, isn’t this so exciting, Deku?”
Momo looked up, watching Uraraka, Todoroki, Iida, and Tsu crowd around Midoriya’s desk. The boy looked sheepish, a faint flush staining his cheeks as he waved his hand around.
“I know! I can’t wait to pretend to be an actual hero,” the boy smiled brilliantly. His friends returned an endeared look, as if he were a little kid, when Todoroki said, “I’m joining whatever team Midoriya is on.”
Momo looked away from the familiar scene to the left of them, watching Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero wave their arms excitedly and speak loud enough for the whole room to hear.
“Bros, this is gonna be so manly!”
“Yeah,” Kaminari chuckled, and Momo instantly noticed a foreign glint in his eyes, “I wonder what’s gonna happen.”
Sero was facing away from her, so she couldn’t see his face when he said, “What do you think will happen if no one joins the villain’s team and it's just the leader?”
Momo almost shook her head in amusement, already knowing her affiliation. Looking before Sero, she saw Kyoka turning around in her seat and looking at her.
She felt her heart skip a beat when the other girl smiled, and Momo couldn’t do anything but smile back.
~~~
The clock read 2103 as Momo sat at her desk, finishing her homework for the night. Her hair was still wet from her shower, but she paid it no mind as the night was muggy, and she didn’t have a risk of developing a cold.
She had just finished her last math equation when she heard a knock on the door.
2104.