A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 15: Welcome Committee

"Ah, we've arrived." Nezu chirped as the truck slowly ground to a halt. The handbrake clicked and All Might unstrapped his seatbelt. Nezu, being the tiny animal that he was, wasn't able to use the seatbelt. "Come along now, Midoriya, your new home awaits."

And wasn't that something that made Izuku cringe. A new home... He hadn't had a home ever since he was sent into the Lands Between. Opening the door of the truck, he stepped out with nary a pep in his step.

He still wasn't comfortable agreeing with Nezu, what with his duties in the Lands Between still a work in progress, but since there wasn't any kind of way for him to go back yet, he might as well take a load off. He deserved it after all he's been through.

That, and he still needed to mess with Katsuki some more. What else was he supposed to do here? Learning normal things here after what he'd seen in the Lands Between just seemed like a total bore. Hero Laws? What use is that in an anarchic region full of monsters that had it out for you?

Hm... Now that was a thought. Nezu wanted him to teach, right? How about a crash course in trying to survive the unexpected? Gods know that the heroes in Japan needs it, what with the villains still somehow running rampant around the country.

Maybe Nezu had a point. If Izuku could still see villains running amok - especially if what happened in the USJ was an indication - what would happen if All Might, the main reason why crime rate was at an all-time low, disappears?

Chaos. Absolute chaos. No wonder Nezu hated the HPSC. What they're doing is making heroes marketable, making them a commodity. They glamorized the hero life to get even more applicants, to inspire more to become heroes with the wrong ideals.

Now in a superpowered society, it had some merits, but in the long term, it would destabilize, or even cripple the entirety of society. And if the paper he had read before he got sent into the Lands Between was real, then quirks were just going to get stronger and stronger as the generations continue.

With those in mind, it was quite mind-boggling why this kind of practice was still ongoing. In the dark age of quirks, it was a nice band-aid solution to a fucked-up world, but in peaceful times with most of society stabilized? It needed to change.

Why, one of the effects of this society was present now. The bystander effect. It was already present in the past before the age of quirks, but now it is rampant everywhere. The mentality that "A hero will take care of it" is too problematic.

It just isn't sustainable if a much larger crisis that can affect cities prop up because villains are unpredictable.

Sighing, Izuku followed All Might and the rat into the school, the giant U.A. Logo hanging above the front doors leading to the inner hallways clearly seen from the front gates.

"Now, Midoriya, before we head in, I would like to remind you that since you are currently homeless-" Izuku winced again, still reeling from the revelation that his mother was dead. "I and the staff have prepared for you a temporary living space. At least until you can afford your own with the pay you will be receiving with your new job."

"Wait, I'm getting paid?" Izuku tilted his head.

"Why, of course, Midoriya." Nezu looked back at him as he hopped on All Might's shoulder. "A simple transaction of give and take. You give my students some needed lessons, I give you the funds to enjoy your life."

"... What about all the legal things?" Izuku questioned the rat, but only got twinkling beady eyes in response.

"Oh, no worries about that, my dear employee. Leave it to your intellectual superior." Izuku will not lie, that part about the intellectual superior grated on him, but then again, Nezu was an animal with a hyper-intelligence quirk. Of course he isn't going to compete with that...