The Emerald Prince

Chapter 51: A familiar stranger

The class were bruised, battered, dust covered and emotionally traumatised by half the shit that they had hoped never to see, from Todoroki's attempt at twerking, Yaoyorozu farting loudly mid fight, Bakugou singing the my little pony theme tune, to Tokoyami quacking like a duck.

They were quite a daring bunch, and any sort of reputation or respect they had earned over the term was completely destroyed. But so was everyone else's.
It was rather freeing and Izuku felt like a proud teacher, sat back on a log with his arms crossed, eyes sharp as he analysed and a small satisfied smile on his lips.

He had enjoyed observing their unexpected creativity, and how well they paid attention to what he told them. The lesson had worked, and by the end very few tricks could throw them off in a fight, and they were all thinking more in their fights, actually using strategy instead of blind reliance on quirks.

They lay down in the grass, recovering their breath as Izuku prepared to give his post lesson talk, before they headed back.

"So," he began cheerfully, "I hope your perspectives have been turned pretty well upside down, and I'm so happy you guys all took this in your stride. I must now ask you all to basically never use these."

"HAH?" Yelled Bakugou, and suddenly twenty narrowed pairs of eyes were on Izuku and he shrunk slightly.

"We've been here three hours. It took three hours for you guys to get used to, and no longer be affected by these tricks. If you use them often, they will cease to be effective. Besides, many of you have views you want to change in society. Toshi," Izuku looked firmly at him, "never use these unless your life is at risk, since they would be considered villainous, and you'll already be fighting that battle with your quirk, this applies to a lesser extent to Tokoyami, Shouji and Kacchan."

The indigo haired male nodded. He'd seen that himself more or less, though the lesson certainly couldn't hurt. Shouji and Tokoyami also acknowledged his words, though Bakugou only grimaced a little, recalling the Sports festival.

Izuku then met the eyes of each of the girls. "Seduction is a good skill. But sexism is far from gone in this country, and Midnight and Mt Ladys' behaviour among others has set back that fight already. It is sad, but a reality, so I'd recommend that you guys don't use the more sexual side of these tricks where you can if you want to be taken seriously."
Jirou nodded firmly, and Uraraka and Yaoyorozu's mouths had formed thin lines, as that reality was brought back to them.

Izuku sighed, realising how much talking to Tomura was effecting him as he spoke. "Think of these techniques a bit like cheat codes. They take you off script and confuse your opponent, but if everyone uses them they cease to be an advantage. I taught you about these so when your life is at risk, you will have these tricks to fall back on...and so you can recognise them when a villain uses them. But... the less you do, the more powerful they will be."

He stood up and brushed the dust off his jogging pants, looking each and everyone in the eyes, "the most powerful thing you can do is create a strong image you can maintain, the stronger your stereotype, the more predictable you are, the more powerful suddenly going out of character will become. Be cute, be brooding, be violent and short fused... be honourable."
He smiled slightly, and pulled on his hoodie over his training tank top, "Please feel completely free to chase the dream or goal you came to UA to pursue. The point of this lesson was to teach you how to break out the plot."

There was a long silence while the class processed his words.
"Good?" He asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"Brilliant!" Exclaimed Uraraka, breaking the quiet atmosphere with enthusiastic clapping, joined by Hagakure, Ashido, Ojiro, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari and Kirishima.