The Succesor (My Hero Academia)

The Caterpillar Needs A New Cocoon (and Coffee)

I rubbed my neck, walking back to the teacher's lounge. Why did I think assigning an essay with a four page minimum was a good idea? Not only did it make for some illogical nonsense from Ashido and Kaminari, but of course the Problem Child has to have some sort of obsession with hero analysis. Speaking of which, Bakugou mentioned some sort of stalker notebooks Midoriya apparently has. Notebooks filled with potentially compromising information based on what I'd overheard.

Hero analysis, even when done poorly, could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Not as much against pros from large agencies who hired analysts for the specific purpose of finding and fixing weak points in tactics and applications of quirks, but for lesser known heroes and hero students? The results could be catastrophic. 

Needless to say, after reading through twelve pages that went into excruciating detail on Cementoss's combat, defensive, crowd control, and public service capabilities, not to mention a four page breakdown of potential weaknesses, a page and a half on the way the properties of his body could prove advantageous or disadvantageous, and an extra page analyzing possible support equipment. I needed coffee. Not just a cup. A whole pot and a nap.

I carried Midoriya's essay under my arm, not planning to leave it where Nezu could get it. The Problem Child had already been in a villain attack, adding to the trauma by letting Nezu get his paws on him would be one of the worst possible outcomes. And if I just so happened to let Ishiyama get a look at it, well that's a separate matter entirely.

"Hey, Shouta," Hizashi said, voice at a regular speaking tone instead of the usual ear-bleeding screech. I raised an eyebrow. "The little listener's asleep." He gestured to the corner. My gaze followed his hand, before my head snapped back to look at him. 

"Why the hell is the Problem Child in my sleeping bag?"

"Well, All Might said he'd take the kid home, but he had a meeting with Nezu."

"He'd waste his limit on something so trivial?"

"W-Well, it was Yagi who was going to take him home, not All Might himself, but Nezu called him in too. Whatcha got there?"

I dropped the carefully stapled papers on his lap. "It was supposed to be a four page essay. Key words: supposed to. As in, the kid goes overboard with hero analysis."

Hizashi chuckled, flipping through the eighteen and a half pages. He skimmed over them. "I saw the assignment. It was four page minimum. You can't dock him for going over it when you didn't give a maximum page number."

"it's not logical to spend this much time on a homework assignment."

"No offense, Sho, but I'm pretty sure this is what the kid considers fun. You should've seen him once I got him talking." He threw his hands in the air. "He seems shy, but once you get him started you can't stop him. Somehow I find the knowledge that I can vibrate someone to death awesome. Though once he said that, he started getting really apologetic. I don't know what for though. Little listener looked like he was about to start crying."

I pressed my lips together and looked back at the child currently asleep in my sleeping bag. His breathing was steady, but...

"I know you're awake."

Midoriya's muscles tensed and his eyes scrunched closed. Hizashi smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I kinda blackmailed him into using that."

"How?"

"Midnight."

Sadly, that was all the explanation I needed. Nemuri had a habit of terrorizing students, and to set her upon a kid who acted like he never had any interaction with girls outside of his mother was evil, even by Hizashi's standards. 

The zipper unzipped and Midoriya sat up. Apologies fell from his mouth. I sighed. This close to him, I could see the dark bags under his eyes. Nightmares probably kept him from sleeping at night, and if he was trying to catch a cat-nap, well I couldn't blame him. I walked to the closet and pulled out my spare sleeping bag. I tossed it at him.

"Here. You can use this on one condition," I said. "Let me see your notebooks."

If the Problem Child was nervous before, now it was full out anxiety. The sleeping bag fell to the ground and he stared at me with wide eyes. He covered his mouth with his hand, whether in an attempt to control his breathing or stop him from mumbling, I couldn't tell. His body trembled, something I hadn't even seen while facing down the villains at the USJ. He shook his head. His eyes flicked to his backpack. 

I walked over to it and unzipped it. Math, English, Hero Analysis for the Future No 14. I pulled it out. "These are dangerous to have, Problem Child. What if a villain gets their-" Words failed me as I opened it. Code. Every piece of writing aside from publicly known stuff was written in code. I flipped through it, noting he had stuff on his classmates and teachers. Looking at the crammed writing gave me a headache. "Who taught you to code?"

"M-M-My dad. He said- He said it would be bad if someone who wanted to hurt heroes got their hands on them. Only two people know how to read it."

"You and?"

"My brother." Midoriya seemed to calm down when I put the notebook back in his bag. "But don't worry. Tenko won't tell anyone how to decipher it. He's more paranoid than Mom is protective."

"Do you mind deciphering some of the stuff in this so I can read it?" Part of me wanted to try to break his code, but I doubted he'd be comfortable with me keeping the notebook. To my surprise, Midoriya looked sheepish.

"It' s not really that good, but I could just write something about you, Mr Aizawa? As long as you burn the page later or something, I don't want you getting hurt because of me."

"Knock yourself out, kid." I tossed him a notebook and a pen. I pulled a chair over to sit beside Hizashi. We both watched in silence as the pencil moved faster than should be possible. Fifteen minutes later and I had a page of analysis in my lap. Midoriya shuffled his feet, before slowly heading to the spare sleeping bag and laying in it. Honestly, he seemed like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Only once soft breathing filled the air, did I let my eyes scan the paper. I groaned. 

"Is it that bad?" Hizashi asked.

"Zashi." I looked at him. "We can't let Nezu get ahold of this kid. The world wouldn't survive."

Hey look. I put Izuku sleeping in Aizawa's sleeping bag and the notebook scene I wanted in the same chapter. Yay!

Is Izuku going to pick up on stealing naps at odd moments? Maybe.

See yah