Full Circle

16) Full Circle

Class 1-A were sitting in their seats, waiting for their teacher to come in. The Hero Q&A was over, and the kids had learned a lot from the older generation. Each of the children were excited to apply their new knowledge and pointers. They had been given the weekend to think about their training, and now that they were back in school, they were itching to work. 

They were itching to be better. 

The class was excited to learn. After over half a school year, they found themselves looking forward to classes. 

Besides, today was the due date for their writing prompts. And then Bakugo had promised another discussion to clear up any final questions about the Journal. 

But they weren't prepared for the clock to tick five minutes past the start of homeroom. Or for the room to burst open, a tired man dressed in black entering. 

The echo of his shoes clicked against the flooring, the room deathly silent. Wide eyes followed his every move. 

"My name is Shota Aizawa, Retired Pro Hero and Previous Class 1-A teacher. Due to recent events, I will be teaching this class for the rest of the year–" 

"Sir," Glasses raised his hand and cut in, nerves finally getting to him. "Where is Mr. Bakugo? And what recent events are you speaking of?" Worry was evident in his voice, which was that the retired Pro didn't get onto the kid. 

Aizawa sighed, and that's when the kids noticed the slight shaking of the man's hands as he brought them up to rest on the podium, leaning on it for support. They were able to see his exhausted eyes and prominent eye bags as well. 

"Your teacher, Bakugo, was on a mission assigned to him by the Hero Commission. You were informed, right?" He looked warily over the nodding heads. "Bakugo was told to silently infiltrate a 'small' gang under the Commission's promised protection. But his cover was blown as soon as he got there, and they immediately attacked him, putting him off guard. By the time he took down the mass of villains around him, he had been severely injured. His body was found early this morning, near the statue of Pro-Hero Deku." A painted expression flashed across Aizawa's face in memory of both his students. 

The class had turned pale faced, some looked physically ill. And Aizawa spent the next couple of hours allowing them to mourn as well as ask questions. Once the kids calmed down, a couple of children informed him of what they had previously been assigned in class. 

"You knew Mr. Bakugo?" A kid, whose green hair was fading, asked. Aizawa glanced at the teen before picking up the stack of writing prompts on his desk. 

"He was one of my students." Aizawa mumbled. "Had impeccable talent, but his quirk took hold of his emotions and caused a lot of…issues that had to be handled. He was a formidable hero." He said, trying not to bring up how close the two were. How Aizawa had taken Bakugo under his wing and taught him how to cope, how to fight without quirk reliance, how to apologize, and how to heal. His heart hurt, knowing that the two years they spent as father-son figures was over. 

A couple conversations started up, discussing something that Aizawa couldn't find himself to eavesdrop on. Instead, he moved to the desk at the front of the room, forcing himself to sit down in Bakugo's old seat. 

As a teacher, sitting at another's desk felt oddly personal. It didn't help that he could see the three small photos taped to the bottom of his computer screen. 

One was of the whole of his whole first year group as UA's Class 1-A. Smiles and excitement filled everyone's eyes as they began their journey to fulfil their dreams. 

The second was of Aizawa and Bakugo. It was a more recent photo, and the photo was taken inside Aizawa's apartment. Bakugo and him had been bustling around the kitchen, making food for dinner. At the time, they were laughing over a lame joke, both having been high off of slap happiness. Present Mic had taken the photo. 

And finally, the last photo was an extremely old one. Two kids, with matching missing teeth, were holding up hero figurines, beaming at the camera. The blonde was on the right while the greenette was on the left. But the kids had faces filled with unfiltered joy that only their childhood selves could obtain. 

A bitterness lodged itself in Aizawa's heart as he thought about the way the two kids, the two young adults were murdered by the very same Commission that have them their licenses. 

And even knowing they were murdered, Aizawa knew that even Nezu couldn't do much about the corrupt group. 

He ripped his eyes away from the photo, and picked up the first creative writing prompt. Internally, he was grateful for the relatively small assignment. Aizawa was really not up to grading seventeen essays. 

His eyes glazed over the legible script, before his eyes got stuck on a name. His name. 

Izuku Midoriya. 

Frantically, he began looking at other works, noting all that he looked at, had Izuku's name. Looking up with slightly widened eyes, Aizawa faced the class. 

"You knew Izuku Midoriya?" He whispered, though a few classmates heard.

Midoriya had practically deleted his name from the Hero Forums and Databases, completely going by Deku. Heck, even the press couldn't find his real name after he decided to go by Deku fully. And he doubted the new Class 1-A would know the greenette. 

A kid with wings nodded. "He wrote the Journal we read in class. Mr. Bakugo seemed to know a lot about him too. Why?" He inquired, tilting his head to the side slightly. 

Aizawa gulped, trying to swallow the thick feeling of saliva. He opened his mouth to answer. By now most of the class had their attention on him. 

"Izuku Midoriya was in his class--in my class. In fact, Midoriya and Bakugo grew up together and were very close." Gazes snapped to the tired hero, ears perked as they listened with sorrowful hearts. "You all might have known Midoriya better as the Hero of Hope: Deku." 

And as the words spilled from Aizawa's lips, suddenly the crumbs of Bakugo's teaching made sense to the students. 

And Aizawa was forced to watch as recognition and sadness swerved over the room once more. But even worse was the way the Bleach kid and Faded-Green kid leaned on each other, supporting each other through their sadness. 

Aizawa felt a sense of Deja Vu, as the two teens had similar hair colors and were sitting in the same spots as Bakugo and Midoriya had just mere years ago. 

A small sniffle was heard, and the almost inaudible sound of tears falling on the desk was heard. Bakugo was the first to notice the silent cries of the person behind him. And he felt a pang in his chest. 

Losing a parent, especially a close one was extremely painful. And to have lost his mother just weeks before graduation…

Bakugo found himself standing up, and gently pulling the greenette out of his seat too. He pressed the greenette into a hug, before quietly guiding the two from the room so the class couldn't stare holes into the teen. Aizawa watched as the two teens leaned on one another, even though Bakugo would never have admitted it. But Aizawa knew that deep down, the two had a bond that no other friendship could fulfil. The bond of two kids who grew up, learned, and fought together their whole lives. 

Aizawa felt that he had made a full circle with his career. And he prayed that the incoming heroes would have a better outcome than Bakugo and Midoriya had.