Mystery from Another World--MHA

Part 99: Recuperating

Once Shine was asleep, Miss Joke sat up rather awkwardly.

Aizawa wondered how long she'd been awake. "Did you hear all of that?"

"Who, me?" Emi said innocently. Then she chuckled softly. "Maybe some of it... She's right, you know. You are alike... You just can't see it that way."

"I see enough. But Likstar's method is not acceptable."

"I'm sure that will stop her..."

"On the other hand," Aizawa said, "we've had many discussions about this, and she's got a point. There's more to prepping young heroes than just the skills and training... Something was different about this."

"Yes, it was terrifying..." Miss Joke rubbed her arm where she'd been pricked.

"I meant with the kids..." Aizawa said, "I don't know what is was. But Yaoyurozu was acting with more confidence than I've seen from her in a long time. Bakugo didn't fight with anyone that I noticed, and Todoroki didn't rush in overconfidently-- he waited for orders. They also acted more mature than at least 3 of the Pro heroes there did."

"Oh." Miss Joke wondered what she did that was immature.

"I'm counting myself in that," Aizawa said.

"Oh." Miss Joke was stunned.

"Looking back on it, it's embarrassing how caught up I got in arguing over nothing," Aizawa admitted, "And Likstar had those villains cooperating... How do you make sense of that? Under her, the students acted like Pros."

"And the Pros acted like students," Miss Joke said smoothly, "I know. What do you think I've been telling you for months? She's got something special, Eraser. What she sees about people...or maybe what they see because of her influence, it's powerful."

"She's not that special, though. Her personality isn't," Aizawa said, "The only thing that's weird is how firmly she really believes what she's saying. No one has that much confidence."

"I think some people do," Emi said vaguely, "I agree it's not really her personality, though she's fun. It's her conviction... It's attractive, isn't it? Conviction usually is."

"And dangerous."

"Dangerous to whom? All I saw was it made people who otherwise hate each other cooperate because they agreed with it."

"We all agreed in principle about it," Aizawa said.

"But, Eraser, we don't agree to the point where we'll put aside our biases over it," Emi said, "And that's the true test, isn't it? We both know without those villains, we would have failed. It's undeniable. You can thank Likstar for their cooperation. Whatever they claimed their reason was, it was obvious to me they just wanted to help her. They're grateful for her protection. But she's protecting us from them too. And what it comes down to is, we all need to be saved from each other because we can't save ourselves-- we're too prejudiced. We lack the ability to talk things out and settle things any other way than by an all out war..." She sighed. "I'm not sure what's going to happen in the world at large within a few months. Maybe a little space isn't such a bad thing."

Aizawa couldn't argue with that.

"Will you be okay?" He changed the subject.

Emi sighed again. "I...don't know. Guess I'll know soon enough. I'm going to hold off freaking out until I'm certain...but, hey, I was pretty good even without it, wasn't I?"

"Well, it's not like years of training is for nothing-- when you don't have a power type quirk, anyway," Aizawa hedged.

"Was that close to a compliment, there, Eraser?"