Lightning Serenade

Chapter 28: To Leave Them All Speechless

Aizawa trudged into the classroom, glanced up to see every single one of his students with a black muzzle covering the lower half of their faces, and let out a long sigh, dragging a hand down his face.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but this isn't productive to learning," he attempted, putting his bag down and taking his place at the front of the room.

Aizawa's dark, steely gaze wandered over his class; no one made a move to remove the muzzles.

"If you don't remove the muzzles in the next five seconds, you're suspended," Aizawa threatened, narrowing his gaze and waiting for the compliance from his students, any student at all to start the domino effect of compliance.

Denki had shifted backwards in his seat, getting more comfortable, and meeting Aizawa's gaze with a hardened and determined one of his own.

"I get it," Aizawa leered at the class. "You have something to prove. But how are you going to amount to anything if you can't listen when I tell you to do something? Every student who doesn't remove their masks in the next thirty seconds is expelled and will not be allowed to attend UA again."

At that, some students shifted uneasily in their seats, eyes darting around at each other to determine if they were going to stick together on this or if it was every student on their own at that point.

Yaoyorozu was 100% in from the second she agreed to make a ridiculous number of muzzles. If she couldn't commit to what she believed in, what good was she as a hero?

Uraraka was wondering if she'd ever get another opportunity like UA. Would another high school accept her after she was expelled from UA? Would her scholarship transfer or be rescinded with an expulsion on her record? Then she thought of Bakugou and how hard he had worked and what a great show they had all put on for the potential sponsors for UA, only to be repaid by being strapped, restrained, and muzzled.

Midoriya was thinking about how it was so important to go to UA because that is where All Might was teaching, and how would he ever get a handle on his quirk without All Might's guidance? Then he thought of Kacchan, and how terrified he had looked as he ran toward him to try to get him away from the sludge villain. He thought about how he was put into the same situation again by heroes, or at least staff hired directly by heroes, and how Kacchan had suffered enough without another incident coming from the heroes as well as the villains.

Iida squirmed in his seat, struggling against different values that were at war at that very moment. Did he follow commands and show that he would be a good hero who could easily respond to the Commission's demands, even when not completely ethical, or did he stick to his values? He thought about what his older brother, Ingenium, would have done in his place, and that solidified his answer for him. He forced himself to relax back into his seat and focused on his breathing, deciding that he wasn't going to remove that mask for anything.

Bakugou was just pissed. He wanted to see Aizawa try to expel not only the number one winner of the sports festival, but also second and third place, and somehow try to justify that.

Kirishima thought it was super unmanly of his teacher to be taking that stance. Kirishima would proudly stand in defiance to be on the right side of history on this issue.

Bakugou's other close friends, Ashido, Sero, and Jirou, had wanted to remove their muzzles so badly, but only to yell and scream about how the whole thing was messed up. They all steamed in their seats, knowing that their silent refusal spoke volumes for them, even though it wasn't quite as satisfying as they wish it was.

Mineta thought that his brave act of defiance might help him win over the favor of the ladies of the class, if nothing else.

Hagakure, Sato, Ojirou, Tokoyami, Koda, Asui, Shogi, and Aoyama all figured that there was strength in numbers, and if everyone decided the same thing, they were safer from consequences. When no one made a move to comply with Aizawa's demands, they felt more cemented in their decision with every second that passed. Everyone was strong enough to withstand the pressure, so they would all make it out on top, together.