Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 64 - Back in Black

The auditorium at U.A. High had been repurposed into something colder than any classroom.

Rows of cameras. Bright studio lights. Microphones clustered like a thorny bouquet at the edge of a podium. Reporters packed shoulder to shoulder, eyes sharp, pens ready, phones held up like little glass guillotines.

At the front stood three figures who normally belonged to training fields and lesson plans, not public damage control.

Aizawa looked like he hadn't slept since the forest. His capture weapon rested coiled at his side out of habit more than threat.
Principal Nezu sat perched on a raised chair behind the podium, small and calm in a way that made the room feel smaller and louder at the same time.
Vlad King stood to the right, arms crossed, jaw clenched like he was trying not to bite through the entire press corps.

Aizawa spoke first.

His voice was steady, but it carried a weight that didn't belong to microphones.

"U.A. takes full responsibility for the harm that came to our students. We failed to anticipate the scale and precision of the attack. We are cooperating with law enforcement and the Hero Commission. We will strengthen our security and our procedures immediately."

A flashbulb popped. Then another. Then a dozen.

Nezu leaned forward, paws folded. "We understand the fear. We understand the anger. We are not here to dismiss either."

Hands shot up like knives.

A reporter near the center was given the nod. He stood, tie slightly crooked, eyes too confident.

"Eraser Head," he said, using the hero name on purpose. "During the attack, you authorized students to defend themselves. Why did you insist on allowing minors to fight villains?"

Aizawa didn't flinch.

"Because the alternative was worse."

The reporter's mouth twitched as if he'd been handed a gift. "Worse than children being forced into combat?"

Nezu's ears angled, attentive. Vlad's gaze sharpened.

Aizawa answered anyway. "Worse case would be students in body bags."

"And you're saying that's a positive for U.A. High?" the reporter pressed. "That your students fighting back is your defense?"

Nezu's voice slipped in smoothly. "It is not a 'positive.' It is reality. Many of those students are alive because they acted. Many were protected because they protected each other."

Vlad King nodded once, firm. "Their training isn't for show. That night proved it."

Another reporter stood before anyone could sit down again.

"What about the new student?" she asked, voice clipped. "Y/N Parker. He's been in your hero program for two months. Before that, he spent years as a vigilante operating outside the law. He didn't trust heroes. He didn't trust U.A. Then his identity was exposed, and he was forced into this system. Shortly after, he's targeted and captured."

The room changed.

Every camera lens seemed to subtly slide, hungry, toward Aizawa.

The reporter continued, "Did he fear this would happen? Did U.A. ignore the obvious risk by placing him in the highest-profile environment possible?"

Nezu's expression remained composed, but his eyes sharpened like polished glass.

"Y/N Parker chose a path as a vigilante," Nezu said. "U.A. does not condone vigilantism. The court's decision placed him into a supervised training environment so he could learn how to act responsibly, legally, and safely."