Author's Note: To be honest, I hadn't been planning on continuing this story, but a guest going by the name "ZYLA" happened upon this mess and left a nice review that reminded me that I had part of the next chapter already written, so I went and completed it. I'm not sure if I have time to write more than this, but I'll do my best to keep going.

And thanks, ZYLA! Your review was really encouraging.

On Monday morning, it was not Present Mic who greeted the students and listlessly went through the class' morning procedures.

Aizawa did, instead, one hand trailing against the wall and each step uncertain and uneven, heel hovering above the ground for just a moment to test before putting his full weight on it. Slowly, he made his way around the outside of the classroom, following the wall's outline until he found his desk and sat down carefully.

He was met with silence, already subdued students all stopping their conversations at once and staring at him almost unbelievingly until Mina shouted, "Aizawa-sensei!" and everybody copied.

"Yes, I'm back," he agreed lamely, unsure of how to respond to his welcome. And then, deciding to try and push things back towards normalcy, he asked, "Has Mic talked to you about the Sports Festival?" He was met with murmurs of "sort of" and "just a bit", so he went ahead and continued, "In that case, I'll take your attendance, go over a few things, and then explain how the Sports Festival will be working this year. I'm going off of memory, so say something if I miss you or if I miss someone whom you know is away. Ashido, Mina?"

"Here!" she called back, and they got through the rest of the students without any issue.

"Alright, now that that's over with," Aizawa said, "I think you've all noticed that I'm blind and have realised by now, but my classes will be operated a bit differently from now on. I can't see you hands, so just shout out if you need anything or want to answer a question. I'll do my best with writing on the board, but ask if I mess anything up. I won't be marking any more of your written tests either. And, don't take advantage of the lack of visual supervision to do anything you wouldn't normally, I'll still notice."

He was responded to with overwhelming positivity again, the students agreeing with vigour.

He smiled slightly, and continued. "Now, for the Sports Festival. I'm not sure how much Mic has told you, but you'll be competing in fighting, obstacle courses, and games, in both teams and alone. You won't be getting the perks of your costumes, either, since you have to wear a uniform during the festival. It'll be broadcast live on television, and you'll be in a stadium full of spectators as well. Present Mic will be commentating and Midnight is the one in charge this year, so expect some spontaneous changes to the rules. More importantly, your performance here will be watched and judged by many pro heroes, and how-" He was interrupted by the bell ringing, signalling to him to go to his next class. Blankly, he turned his head towards the source of the sound, and began to talk more quickly. "Hold on, this is important. How well you do decides who will sponsor you during workplace training. Additionally, if you do exceptionally poorly, you could be dropped out of U.A. Academy's heroics program and into general education. Make sure you prepare and do everything in your power to go beyond and excel. I expect to have the top three competitors all from class A-1; don't disappoint me." Rising unsteadily, he felt his way out of the room, continuing equally slowly down the hall until he reached the first class to teach of the day. Several of his students, he recognised the voices of Ochaco and Tsuyu, offered to help him to his destination, but he refused them adamantly, saying that he would be fine, and set off alone.

"Welcome, come in. Feel free to let yourselves in from now on."

Kirishima, Tsuyu, Todoroki, and Iida walked into Nedzu's office again, their gradually increasing comfort in the room becoming apparent as they all sat down without being asked to.

Nedzu pushed the door shut behind them, and jumped up to stand on his desk. "I've made arrangements for a better meeting space, but it will be a while before it is usable. You'll have to cope with this room for another couple of weeks. And, Todoroki, I trust that you've come up with a good hero name for yourself, now? You've had the entire weekend to think about it."

"No," he retorted shortly. "I already chose one and you refused it."

"You can't keep your normal name for this, it can't be so difficult to understand this. If you insist on being difficult, though, this isn't a matter so important that I have to remain resolute on, however. Do any of you have any names for your friend?"

"HotIce?" Kirishima suggested. "Or Double-Temperature Man? Frostburn? Half'n'Half? Dairy Queen's got that weird slogan that fits you, too, what was it again? Hot eats, cool treats, I think? Um… I dunno, Endeavor 2.0?"

Todoroki let out a puff of breath and glared at Kirishima at the last suggestion, although the edges of his lips were tilted slightly up by the second-to-last name, albeit grudgingly and completely overshadowed by his frown and anger. "Todoroki Shouto. I'm going to be Todoroki Shouto."

"Come on, Todoroki," Iida berated, "don't be like that. Kirishima had some good ideas there. How about 'Endure', after your father's name?"

"I said no!" Todoroki snarled viciously.

"Calm down, Todoroki," Nedzu said. "Do you have any preference in name? If not, then I would personally recommend Frostburn, out of all those said already, or perhaps, 'Duosion', if you'd prefer something more abstract."

Dark smile suddenly gracing him, Todoroki said shrewdly, "'Second'. I'll take 'Second' as my hero name."

Nedzu looked up and rubbed at his chin, hemming and musing to himself before eventually saying, "That should work. Inferior, I but I suppose there are enough unique reasons behind it to justify it. It is interesting considering that you only use half you powers, or the second part of your quirk. The homage to your father is subtle enough to be allowed, as well."

Todoroki frowned immediately at the mention of it being a reference to Endeavor, and would spend the rest of the day looking displeased whenever the comment came to his mind. Naturally, he didn't respond, suppressing any urge to announce that the name was to honour Thirteen and spite Endeavor, nothing more.

"Now," Nedzu continued, sitting down on his desk and allowing his short legs to swing idly, "originally, I was planning to continue yesterday's character-familiarisation today, but a more important matter has come to my attention that I think we should cover first. So far, only All Might, you four, and I are involved in, or even aware of this project. While we'd prefer to keep it discreet, it would not be a fatal blow if word were to get out, so I've been thinking about recruiting more pro heroes to help you so that you can each be trained individually when the time comes, by professionals with similar quirks to yours. If I were to integrate more people into this, who would you like to be your personal tutors?"

Iida and Tsuyu both responded quickly, saying "my brother, Ingenium," and "Aizawa-sensei," respectively.

Nedzu met them both with frowns, and said, "I don't think so. I'd rather we keep it within the school anyways; it's easier for me to manage that way. I'm not familiar with Ingenium myself, either, so I'll have to meet him and make sure he's fit for the job first. I trust Aizawa and his skill as a teacher, and his own abilities and styles suit yours, but blinded as he is, I don't think he'll be able to train you in detail, Tsuyu. Actually, I was thinking of Cementoss for you, Todoroki, as his quirk is functionally similar to yours. I'll consider Ingenium and Aizawa, but I'll be hunting for others to train you and I'd like the rest of you to keep a lookout on the news as well. Now, let's continue with yesterday's task. Would you prefer to continue the previous situation, or begin a new one?"

Shinshou Hitoshi hovered outside the door to Nedzu's office, scowling and muttering several resentful remarks to himself under his breath as he listened to what was happening inside, the letter he was supposed to deliver to the principal long forgotten. He hadn't gotten there early enough to know exactly what was happening right away, but the conversation he had expected to be about some of his classmates getting scolded for doing something wrong had turned out to be a very stilted conversation about buying fish and fried ice cream at a restaurant after a fight, which had confused him enough to cause him to wait to open the door just so he could find out was was happening.

It had begun to make sense soon enough, when Nedzu interrupted them and gave them feedback on whatever they were doing, he had also happened to throw in information about how they were to become "a specially trained group of students to become the top heroes of the next generation" and that "they had been specifically selected for their quirks and personalities."

Of course. So that was why he thought he had heard the voice of Todoroki, Tsuyu and Iida, three classmates he didn't think would be in the principal's office for misbehaviour. It must have been their quirks or their families' fame; they just happened to be born lucky enough to be involved in something like this. Of course, someone weak, like Hagakure, or someone with an evil quirk, like him, would never be allowed to participate in that.

He had thought that U.A.'s administrators weren't a bunch of self-righteous egotists after he had found himself accepted into the heroics course, had thought that they weren't completely close-minded and blind even to what was right in front of them, but, seeing this, he knew he had been wrong. Somehow, he had brute-forced his way through the entrance exam without a usable quirk.

Trying to calm his breathing to quiet it so that he wouldn't be discovered, Shinsou leaned an ear towards the door again, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to catch up with the conversation again.

He stepped away from the door bristling with fury, jealousy welling up and pushing against his insides so intensely that he thought he felt the pain physically.

It didn't matter.

Even if everybody thought he was going to become a villain, even if nobody that he could become a real hero, he would. And he would become number one, special treatment to the ones who didn't deserve it be damned. He was the one who worked to strengthen his mind, body and quirk every day, he was the one who had worked at all. Not them. Him.

Letter to Nedzu stuffed into his pocket and long forgotten, Shinsou stormed to the school's gym and trained with a passion that surpassed everything he had ever had before.

Aizawa was waiting in the teacher's lounge for Present Mic to finish whatever work he had to complete during the after hours of school when someone came in and greeted him, Nedzu, judging by the mousey voice.

"Nedzu," he replied politely. "I was going to ask you later, but since we're alone right now anyways. Were my students really staying after class to study?"

"You think they were lying?" Nedzu questioned, although it was not at all challenging and more of a relaxed beginning to an amiable discussion.

"Yeah. Seems too lucky that they'd just happen to be in earshot, and the ones involved aren't the ones I'd peg to be studying late."

"While I do understand your skepticism," Nedzu said calmly, "there really is nothing going on right now."

"I could just ask them," Aizawa said drily. "They're not good liars. Even if they wouldn't say anything, I don't think it would be too hard for me to find out what was happening."

"Ah, all right," Nedzu said, finally. "I've been thinking of letting you in on it all anyways, and I'm sure Tsuyu would be pleased to have her request fulfilled. It's a project All Might and I have been working on; your friend should be here soon though, so drop by my office before class starts tomorrow morning and I'll fill you in then. Do try to keep this quiet."

"Right."

After going to the counter in the room and pouring himself a cup of tea, he left, leaving Aizawa alone again until Present Mic entered the room a few minutes later to guide him to the teachers' dorms a couple buildings away from the main school.

"Hey," Mic said conversationally, "I heard that Nedzu's planning to change all the empty space on the lower parts of the living areas into student dorms."

"...Interesting," Aizawa said eventually. "The logic is that the students can be better supervised and protected from villains here while also protecting their families by keeping them out of the picture, correct? So Blood King and Ectoplasm will have to move a floor up, I suppose."

"Yeah, I think so too! I've got empty rooms surrounding me, d'you think I'll get new neighbours?"

"I don't know," Aizawa said. "Whoever it is will probably end up sharing with someone anyways, considering how loud you are."

"Aw, c'mon, Shouta! That's not a nice thing to say to your friend!"

"Hm," he said good-humouredly, and then his voice suddenly dropped and darkened. "Mic," he muttered, "do you have the paperwork?"

"Hey!" Mic shouted, betrayed and quite a bit too loudly. "You said that you weren't going to talk about it and promised that you were going to wait and think it over first!"

"I've made up my mind," Aizawa said stoutly. "Do you have it or do I have to go get it myself tomorrow?"