Chapter 27: Preparing For the Worst

Izuku and the teachers walked into his workspace, as Izuku started explaining things.

"S-so this is my office," Izuku said. "S-sorry it's kind of a mess but I had a lot of paperwork. Kai's room wasn't easy to make after all."

On Izuku's desk and his filing cabinets, were papers. Tons and tons and papers. They were about as neat as they could be, but given the number of papers, that wasn't saying much.

Oh god and I thought I hated paperwork. At least I didn't have to do it when I was fifteen! Present Mic cringed.

Aizawa meanwhile, looked over some of the finished paperwork. Looks fine. At the very least he's capable of doing the basics. Still, putting aside his age and mental health, this is too much work for one person.

While they were doing that, Izuku was looking outside his office window. Transfixed on something.

"Daddy!" Kioku rushed in and ran towards Izuku, grabbing his leg.

"Kioku!" Izuku looked away from what he was staring at for a moment to pay attention to her. "Where's Nezu?"

"Right here." Nezu walked into the office, before calmly closing the door behind him.

Izuku looked at Kioku and noticed that she seemed to be a little distressed. "Kioku, is everything ok?"

"I'm fine." Kioku raised her arms, signaling she wanted Izuku to hold her.

Izuku promptly picked up the girl and held her in his arms, however, he quickly felt his fatigue catch up to him as Kioku felt much heavier than she actually was, and he realized he couldn't hold her forever, so he put her on his shoulders.

After that, he looked back outside.

"My my now what is so interesting outside?" Nezu asked, before walking up and looking out the window himself. "Oh."

"What?" Aizawa asked, before him and Present Mic looked out the window themselves. "Oh."

Outside was a rather...strange sight.

Kai was laying down in the emptied-out pool, how it got emptied out no one knows, with several other children showering him with water and soup.

Kota was using his quirk to douse him with water, while Sansan and Shiruku crawled around on his body scrubbing him, while Yami had some Griffon Grimm to help wash and dump water onto Kai, but now he was lounging on the side in a lawn chair.

"I have...many questions." Present Mic said with no small amount of disbelief.

"I believe that it'd be best to go outside now," Nezu said.

"Yeah," Izuku said.

Outside a few minutes later.

As Shiruku was washing her brother, she noticed Izuku, Kioku, and the U.A. staff walking up to them.

"Guys! Daddy and the U.A. people are here!" Shiruku called to her siblings and Kota.

Kota stopped spraying water and turned around.

Sansan stopped what she was doing and got off her brother, putting down her brushes and spitting out all the soapy water onto the side.

After getting all the liquid that wasn't naturally a part of her body off of her, Sansan moved a tendril over to Yami and started rapidly tapping him to wake him up.

"Rah? RAH!" Yami had a tendency to bite whoever woke him up due to his instincts, so kids like Sansan and Fu were typically given the duty when the need arose.

"Pah!" Yami spat out Sansan's goo, waking up fully from his short nap.

"Dad and the teachers are here," Shiruku told her brother as she crawled off of Kai. "It's ok Kai you can stand!"

Now that everyone was off of him, Kai used his head to pull himself up.

When Izuku, Kioku, and the U.A. staff arrived at the pool, the children were already lined up and waiting.

"Already lined up by the time we got here. If only my class were this well behaved." Aizawa said.

"Ah I believe I know the white one, his name is Yami correct," Nezu said, remembering the young boy from the incident that happened not too long ago. "And these creatures are of his creation."

"Nh," Yami said as confirmation.

"Didn't the reports say he was feral?" Present Mic asked.

"He was, but then I had Kioku use her quirk to teach him about...everything," Izuku explained. "There are still a few issues but he's adjusted very well for the most part."

"Very good! And clever application of her quirk. Good work on both your parts." Nezu praised, before looking at Sansan who had moved over to him, and started inspecting the teachers. "And who is this?"

"That is Sansan." Izuku introduced her. "Her body is made up of acid normally, but thanks to a chemical insertion given to her every 24 hours we've been able to neutralize the acidic properties."

"How interesting," Nezu said, reaching out and touching Sansan, inspecting the goo.

"Hero!" Sansan said.

"Sansan also wants to be a hero," Izuku said. "She trains practically every day. I think she'll be a very promising student when the time comes."

Her quirk reminds me of the sludge villain. But even more dangerous if you consider the acid. Aizawa thought. She's gonna be a problem child I'm sure of it.

"I also would like to become a hero!" Kai bellowed. "It is nice to meet you all! I am Kai Midoriya! I look forward to being your student one day!"

"And we look forward to having you," Nezu told him.

"He really is big." Present Mic whistled.

"And he's probably going to get bigger as he grows." Aizawa sighed.

Both teachers silently hoped that they would be retired by the time Kai came to U.A.

Meanwhile, Shiruku was looking at Aizawa like he was a rotten egg. Circling around the tired hero and inspecting him.

"Do you want to say something?" Aizawa asked her, not having that patience for her shenanigans.

"You're a hero?" Shiruku asked him skeptically.

Present Mic giggled and Aizawa sighed. "Yes. despite what my appearance may suggest, I am in fact a pro hero."

Shiruku grimace. "Are you perhaps the justice hobo?"

Present Mic couldn't hold back his laughter and started cackling hysterically. "The justice hobo! Hahaha!"

Aizawa's eyes twitched.

"Shiruku!" Izuku shouted, slightly horrified by the insult.

"I'm sorry father but look at him!" Shiruku pointed to Eraserhead. "It's just so...bare! He might as well be wearing a black onesie with a belt, scarf, and goggles!"

"I am so sorry about her!" Izuku apologized. "She's very into clothing and designs and takes them a bit too seriously."

"I do not!" Shiruku pouted.

"What about that time you wrestled your sister through several walls and destroyed multiple rooms just because she wouldn't try on your clothes?" Izuku reminded her.

Shiruku grimaced at the memory, not giving a response to that comment.

"What people choose to wear is their choice. Now please apologize to Eraserhead." Izuku told her.

Shiruku looked at Eraserhead, cringing for a moment before looking away and apologizing. "I'm sorry sir."

"Hmm," Eraserhead grunted. "Not the first time this has happened. Annoyingly, it won't be the last."

Wanting to divert attention away from this, Izuku looked over to Kota. "Uh, this is Kota Izumi! I haven't adopted him, he's just a friend of everyone here."

"Ah, I see. Good to see the children are not completely isolated from the outside world, I was concerned the only person outside this family and apart D.O.C. to come here was Ms. Uraraka." Nezu said.

"Are we going to ask what is going on out here or are we just gonna ignore it?" Mic asked. "Because I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm confused?"

"Simple, Kai didn't smell too good so we decided to give him a bath," Shiruku explained.

"Wash wash!" Sansan said.

Izuku's pupils shrunk as he came to a horrifying realization. "Oh my god, I forgot to give him a bathroom!"

Hmm...looks like that fatigue is making him sloppy. Nezu thought.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I need to go back and fix this immediately!" Izuku started running towards the house while pulling out his phone to make some calls.

"I will go assist him," Nezu said. "I have a feeling he'll need all the help he can get."

The two teachers nodded, and Nezu calmly walked towards the house.

Once the pair made it back to the house, Present Mic suddenly had a thought.

"Hey, if you didn't have a bathroom...where have you been going...you know." Present Mic asked.

The answer the two received would cause them to regret even thinking of asking that question.

Meanwhile, in the Greenhouse.

Eri was glad that it didn't seem like the teachers would be coming here.

She had prepared herself to meet new people today, but it's not like she really wanted to. Meeting people she didn't know was scary, especially adults.

And she didn't like the idea of being uncomfortable in the greenhouse. It was one of her favorite places to go. It was calm, quiet, and nice and warm. And as more plants were added, the nicer it was to look at too. And it would only get better when the apple tree grew in.

She liked it here. When it was just her and Otoko.

Oh, Otoko was here too.

The large boy was almost always here, attending to the plants.

When he first came here he was a bit scary, but Eri had quickly gotten over his appearance. After all, she had other strange and scary looking siblings. And she had quickly found she quite liked the boy.

He was quiet, unlike many of her siblings, and he didn't move around so quickly or overwhelm her by constantly moving from thing to thing. He had also started planting many new plants, some had looked quite pretty.

She hadn't voiced this appreciation, she still wasn't very good at approaching people, and she knew he appreciated his space, which she definitely understood.

Besides, she had a feeling that somehow, he understood.

About an hour later, at the gates.

Izuku, Kioku, and the U.A. staff stood outside the gates as the U.A. the staff were about to leave.

"Thank you for helping me with the bathroom situation!" Izuku bowed as thanks to Nezu.

"It was my pleasure. I've had experience dealing with large children so I was more than happy to lend my expertise." Nezu said. "What's more, it appears you needed some assistance, you do have a lot on your plate after all."

"I-I c-can handle it!" Izuku said quickly.

"I'm sure you can," Aizawa said dryly. "But don't forget we're all...ok most of us here are human. And we all require rest. If you don't start hiring help, you're going to start seeing major health problems."

Kioku looked concerningly at her father.

"I-I'll be fine," Izuku said. "I've been looking around for help for a while, I haven't found anyone but I will!"

Mic gave Izuku a concerned look, as he knew the kid wasn't being fully truthful. Not that he could really do anything about it. Calling him out would likely do nothing but cause more stress, which would not be healthy for him both mentally and physically. "Take care of yourself kid. For their sakes at least."

"I will," Izuku said a bit too quickly.

"Hmm. Well, we shouldn't keep you any longer, farewell Midoriya." Nezu as he and the teachers turned to leave.

After they were out of earshot, Nezu spoke. "We'll be having a meeting about this tomorrow morning."

"I figured as much," Aizawa said.

Meanwhile, Izuku was praising Kioku.

"You were very good today." He told her while patting her head. "Thank you for behaving."

Kioku grinned at receiving praise. "Can I have chocolate daddy?"

"Sure. But just one." Izuku told her as they walked back towards the house.

The next morning, U.A. meeting room.

"So I'm guessing this about the Midoriya visit?" All Might asked.

"Indeed," Nezu said. "Good news, the situation is much better than we thought."

"Oh good, but given what we thought I'm sure there are still plenty of things to worry about." Snipe said.

"Is at least more competent than the O.P.C.C.C. or rather, D.O.C.?" Thirteen asked.

"Quite," Nezu said. "Mr. Midoriya is very mature for his age and is smarter than most people his age as well. He's handling this the best he can and is doing everything in his power to help these children."

All Might smiled. He already knew these things, but it was nice to hear Nezu put everyone else at east about Izuku's intentions.

"However," Nezu added. "Putting aside his age, he was still mentally and physically abused, outcast by society, and it shows."

"Did he show any resentment or distrust you while you were there?" Cementoss asked.

"Not at all, Midoriya is clearly a hero fan and was quite excited to have us there." Nezu refuted.

"One of his daughters thought? She was NOT happy!" Mic added. "She was giving us the stink eye the whole time."

"Back to Midoriya, while he didn't seem to distrust us, it's possible that's only because we're heroes," Aizawa said. "He seems to have some level of distrust for others, and this is keeping him from hiring anyone to help him."

"While a fair level of skepticism is good considering the situation, for the number of children under his care he is going to need help." Midnight said.

"It was clear he was already exhausting himself," Aizawa said. "However he seems to have little to no care for his own health, prioritizing anything and everything involving the children first."

"Izuku Midoriya was called useless, and discriminated against for his entire life." Snipe reminded them. "As such his self-worth and confidence are almost non-existent as is his sense of self-preservation. Add to that his nature of wanting to help people and all the children he needs to help at once, he simply has little to no time to think of himself. Nor does he desire to."

"And then there is of course the matter of his dream. Or rather his former dream." Nezu sipped his tea. "Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a hero. However since he could not achieve that dream, he's attempting to fill that void, that feeling of aimlessness and uselessness. But a life long dream is not easily replaced. One of the reasons Midoriya does seek help or try to decrease his workload is simply because, without the work, Midoriya feels incomplete. Anytime his thoughts are not on his work he is berating himself for giving up on his dream. He works to feel useful, and if he asks for help or stops working at any given point, then that feeling of usefulness also stops. The point of the matter is, even if Midoriya's health falls to shambles, he will not stop working, nor can anyone make him."

"So how do we help him then?" All Might asked. "It's not like we can force him to take part in therapy, and we can't hire people for him."

"We ourselves don't have to do much," Nezu said. "But our first step is to wait for him to collapse."

"What?" There was a general feeling of shock among the teachers, at the suggestion of letting Izuku run himself into the ground.

"Think about it logically. We can't stop Midoriya from working nor can we convince him to slow down. Inevitably Midoriya will overwork himself too hard and fall ill. Leading to a physical and mental collapse. There is simply nothing we can do about this." Nezu explained. "What we can do is be there afterward to provide support for him and the children."

"But how exactly are we gonna do that?" Snipe asked. "We can't personally be there all the time, not with hero duties and our classes, and having non-heroes come in who Midoriya would distrust, would only add to his stress, not to mention the effect it would have on the children."

"And that is where Ms. Uraraka and the students come in," Nezu said. "Ms. Uraraka will be key in helping Midoriya, both with the children and with his mental and physical recovery."

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Aizawa had a feeling he wouldn't like this.

"Once Midoriya collapses, we will send class 1A, sans Bakugo, to the Midoriya household to look after the children and Midoriya. As you said, sending strangers there would simply stress everyone there, but people with Ms. Uraraka's recommendation would likely be a different matter. Ms. Uraraka will assist Midoriya during his time of need and take advantage of his weekend mental state to convince him to seek help both for his job and for his mind. This will hopefully put Midoriya on the path to fixing his damaged psyche, so that way he can truly help these children without putting himself at risk."

"I don't like having to use children to fix this, and it feels like we're abusing young Uraraka's friendship with him." All Might said. "Couldn't we simply approach his mother for help? Or maybe I could do something? Midoriya is a huge fan of mine."

"Unfortunately Midoriya's mother is not the best person for this, she shares several of the same mental issues that he does, albeit not as bad. While she will certainly be involved, we can't rely on her to fix this situation. " Nezu explained. "And to put it simply All Might, let us not forget who caused him to give up on that dream, and sent him into a spiral of depression."

All Might grimaced and looked away in shame.

"We can't forget that even after his collapse, Midoriya is still in charge, and he needs to let us in," Nezu explained. "We can't risk Midoriya refusing our aid and attempting to keep working in his weakened state. We need someone he trusts completely. Someone who hasn't hurt him. And that leaves only Ms. Uraraka. His only true friend."

"So in the end the only way to fix a problem caused by putting a child in charge of other children is more children," Aizawa said. "I'd be poetic if it wasn't so idiotic."

"Well to be fair, if Midoriya hadn't met Eri and gotten this job, he most likely would have ended his own life," Nezu said simply, causing several teachers to cringe and All Might to turn pale. "While this is going to be a difficult road ahead of us, I feel this could very well turn out to be a blessing for both Midoriya and the children."

Nezu took another sip of his tea. "The fate of many children lies in our hands and the hands of our students. Let us handle this with care."