A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 23: Everyday Life

Izuku opened the door to the classroom, dozens of eyes staring right back into him in either fear and apprehension. There was a bit of loathing there as well, but that doubled back into fear because of what he let them go through yesterday.

Taking a slow gait towards the teacher's desk, Izuku ignored the pelting gazes coming from the class, all the while humming a tune because he knew it would irritate them even further. It took a long, breathtaking few seconds before Izuku reached the desk. With a thud, the stack of papers he was holding slammed onto the desk via gravity, a slip of paper flying for a moment before being grabbed and neatly slotted back into place.

"So, how are you all feeling?" If the unamused glares were any indication, they were still feeling a bit peeved from yesterday. "Well, if you can glare like you wanted to murder me, then it means you're all fine to undertake this next lesson." A hand raised from the crowd. It came from a blue-haired teen wearing spectacles. Izuku acknowledged him with a nod and said bluenette put his arm down like a rigid statue.

"Sir, if I may speak for the entirety of our class." If he wasn't wrong, the bluenette's name was Iida Tenya. And from the mouth of Aizawa, a stickler for the rules. A.K.A., he has a massive stick up his ass. "Your instructions yesterday have left us... a bit peeved... And I mean this in the most respectful way possible. Please, would you reconsider putting us through your trials again? I don't think even Pro Heroes go through them on a daily basis."

"... Okay first off, are you idiots?" Izuku was supposed to go easy on them today. Nezu and the other teachers made sure to tell him that what he did yesterday was something not to be done again. Iida, however, was making him wish to damn the consequences and teach them the meaning of reality. "Pro Heroes don't go through them on a daily basis? Are you being serious or sarcastic?"

A scowl replaced Izuku's grin, his brows furrowed as he glared at Iida. The bluenette went stiff as rod, Izuku slowly approaching him menacingly. Some of the students stood up from their chairs to intervene, but a single glare was enough to make them have second thoughts.

"Secondly, do you think being heroes are all rainbows and sunshine? Beat a villain here and there, then pose for a camera? Is that all you think heroes are?" Some of the students wilted at the harsh tone, but it was better they hear this now rather than later. "Where do you get your information?"

"M-My brother... He's a pro hero with his own agency. He tells me all kinds of stories about the hero... business..." After each and every word, Izuku stepped closer and closer, until both of them were inches apart.

"Let me guess, it's mostly his achievements? What about the struggles? Did he ever show you the other side of the business? The part where heroes go home in body bags and caskets?" Leaning forward, Izuku came nose to nose to Iida, the bespectacled teen nervously sweating as he fidgeted in place. Leaning back, Izuku regarded the rest of the students. "How about all of you? Where do you get your information about heroes? Don't tell me they're just from the news?"

All of them had their mouths shut. Of course, they would. Most of the hero hopefuls in this day and age were busy glamouring at the front of hero culture. But they never did stop to think about what went on behind the scenes. Injuries, accidents, ambushes... Deaths...

There was no doubt the HPSC – from what Nezu had offhandedly commented – were scrubbing most of those accidents from ever entering the news at all. At most, only about two out of ten incidents were listed on the news about heroes being either beaten or being forced to unsubscribe from life. The other eight were just the usual hero glorifying bullshit that was spewed on mass to the public.

"And what if they are?" A ravenette – Yaoyorozu Momo if the class list was to be believed – piped up from her chair.

"Well, it's simple really. Don't believe anything the media says, not in this day and age." Izuku snorted as he remembered some of the news he had watched and re-watched. All Might was a glaring example of this. If a debilitating injury on Japan's number one hero was scrubbed off the face of the Earth, how hard would it be to sweep some minor deaths under the rug. Otherwise, why would the Hero profession be this dream job that every kid wanted when they were just a wee baby? "When was the last time you all heard of a hero passing away that wasn't part of a giant fucked up situation? Or how about comparing the amount of retired heroes compared to deceased ones?"