Chapter Text
“Aizawa-sensei,” Midoriya said.
“What, Problem Child.”
“I was wondering if it would be possible to get a quirk suppression bracelet for the exercise?” Midoriya asked.
“You’re not allowed to erase any of your opponents’ quirks, no.” Shouta had to give him points for originality. In all the years he’d been teaching this class, none of his students had thought to ask for quirk cancelling bracelets to make their jobs easier.
“No, for me,” Midoriya said.
“What.” Why would the Problem Child even consider having his own quirk erased when he would be facing his whole class?
“I wanted the quirk suppression bracelet for me,” Midoriya said. “Just for the duration of the exercise. I didn’t have any negative side effects during quirkless week, so there won’t be any negative side effects to worry about. Recovery Girl won’t have to get involved.”
“ Why would you want your quirk suppressed when you’ll be facing off against your entire class?” Shouta asked.
“Um. Well, yesterday you said that I was supposed to base my villain persona off of the moment that allowed me to become a hero but if it had gone the opposite of how it actually had,” Midoriya said. “Um. And for me that moment has to do with my quirk coming in? I was, um. I was a late bloomer, so I can remember when it happened, unlike most people, so I thought that the opposite would be if I didn’t have a quirk, and I thought it might be easier if I had one of those quirk suppression bracelets.”
Shouta sighed. “If you feel that you would have become a villain if your quirk hadn’t come in, I can get you one of the bracelets.”
“Thank you!” Midoriya said. “Um. But. I wouldn’t have become a villain if I had stayed quirkless. It. The moment was. Complicated? Some very specific things would have had to happen for me to. To. I’m not actually a villain type. I wouldn’t have. You don’t have to worry about—”
“No one is worried that you could actually become a villain,” Shouta said. “I’ll give you the bracelet right before the exercise begins.”
“Thank you!” Midoriya bowed, then hurried out of the classroom to the cafeteria.
Shouta was glad the Problem Child was still spending time with his friends. This exercise sometimes made relationships strained, so it was good to see that nothing of the sort had taken place yet. Of course, it was only Tuesday.
Only Tuesday, and Midoriya had already picked one of the most interesting villain personas Shouta had seen in all his years running the exercise and in his time as a student in the exercise. A quirkless villain?
Shouta wasn’t saying it was impossible, he was just saying he didn’t think it was likely the Problem Child’s would manage all of the idiosyncrasies unique to the quirkless population. Shouta had dealt with a lot more quirkless individuals than most heroes did. It was because of his capture weapon, how it allowed him rapid ascent and rooftop access. Most of the time, the quirkless people Shouta encountered were jumpers. Lots that he had talked down, some that he had caught, far too many that he had been too late to save. But he had learned about them, observant in the way only an underground hero was. Perhaps most heartbreaking was the fact that they all believed he wouldn’t care, that he would leave them to jump, once they told him they were quirkless.
It would be interesting to see how Midoriya would portray a quirkless villain. He was one of the best researchers in the class; he might even dig deep enough to find real information, first hand accounts from quirkless individuals hiding behind online anonymity. Shouta would have to ask him to share his research once the exercise was finished. It would do the class some good to see what Midoriya would find.
Shouta went to the teacher’s lounge. Hizashi would be waiting for him.