Chapter Text
Nemuri turned the key to her apartment and took her shoes off, then set her things down as she went inside. She shut and locked the door behind her, and then she heard a meowing come down the hall soon after. She smiled wearily, trudging her way to her couch with heavy steps. She was so tired lately.
Since quitting U.A, she’d taken more patrols and hero work to make up for her lack of income and was more exhausted than she thought she’d be. She wanted to find another job teaching, but not a lot of hero schools were hiring. Especially not after U.A’s recent lawsuit and overhaul - nobody was particularly eager to hire any of the people who’d jumped ship.
Still, she’d keep trying. It was all she could do, anyways. She picked up her cat and pet him, staring into his eyes. She sighed, then set him back down and stretched out on the couch for a few minutes. Her mind was like TV static right now - thinking too hard was just asking for trouble.
As Midnight, she was confident, strong and she tried her best to never falter. But by herself, as Nemuri, she was emotional and often worried about the little things, second-guessing herself and overthinking.
She laid there for a little while longer before finally managing to get herself up; she needed to eat something before she showered and went to bed. There was no school work to grade or lessons to plan, after all. She was just grateful she’d decided to keep her apartment as a backup, considering some of the teachers had simply moved completely into the dorms.
She made instant ramen, she was too tired for anything else. She watched it circling in the microwave blankly, but a meow brought her out of her thoughts. She looked down to see Sushi nudging her leg, and she smiled and huffed a laugh.
“Hungry too, huh? Let’s fix that.” She said, pulling the bag of cat food off of the counter and scooping a good amount into his bowl. She pet his head as he ate, the microwave hum like white noise. She hummed a little bit, and finally she allowed herself to drift off into thought.
“Do you think I did the right thing?” She asked, though Sushi didn’t give her so much as a look in her direction as he ate. “No opinion, huh?”
The microwave beeped and she pulled out the steaming cup. She plucked a pair of chopsticks from the drawer and went back to the couch. She stared down at the cup in her hands, watching the steam rise from it.
“I hope I did the right thing.” She murmured, and then began to eat. She was halfway through when Sushi came padding back in, obviously done with eating his food for now. He meowed obnoxiously loud before simply flopping down and laying in the middle of the floor. Nemuri nodded understandingly. “Me too, buddy.”
She finished off the rest of the noodles and set the cup onto the coffee table. She was silent for a while longer, staring at Sushi with a melancholy look. “Where did he go wrong? Shouta would never have made that mistake before… I just don’t understand, you know? He cared for Midoriya in a way, I think. He cared for the whole class, really, or he would have expelled them.”
And as she thought about it, she grimaced.
“I let him expel entire classes without saying anything. Am I in the wrong too? I mean of course I always thought it was a bit much, doing it on the first day, but I never tried to stop him. I never advocated for those kids, either.” She muttered, running her hands through her hair.
Sushi offered no response still, breathing steadily as he slept on the floor. But Nemuri paid no mind, not really talking to Sushi any more, but somebody else entirely. She stared up at the ceiling with misty eyes.
“I understood where he was coming from. Maybe I was too close to Shouta to see it… I just understood. It was because you were gone, you know? He wanted to stop anybody from becoming another you. But… he went about it wrong, I think. I should’ve seen that.” She shook her head slowly.
The apartment was silent, aside from Sushi’s quiet breathing and her own heartbeat in her ears. She stared at an interesting piece of texture on the ceiling and wondered just when she’d gotten so mixed up.
“And Midoriya… god, that poor kid. He went through the wringer. He was accused of selling out his family. And I know they’re a family, Oboro, they are. He never acted like that around any of the teachers besides All Might. He acted scared, you know? I should’ve put the pieces together…”
Nemuri ran a hand over her face. This wasn’t getting her anywhere.
“Sorry. You probably don’t want to hear me lament about what I did wrong. I’ve just gotta keep going, right? Make up for it somehow. I will. I’m not sure how yet, but I will if it’s the last thing I do.” She said, her expression becoming firm.
Sushi let out a small meow, looking at her out of one lazily opened eye.
“I know, I need a plan.” She chuckled dryly. “I need an idea before I can do something… Hey, you think Ketsubutsu would have a use for me? Even if it was just as a Gen Ed teacher, I’d take it. I want to do right by some students.”
She sighed as Sushi closed his eye again and went back to sleep.
“I know, I know. They wouldn’t trust me. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t work to earn it. Or at the very least, atone for not doing enough.” She shook her head. “I’m probably thinking about this too hard… You’d know what to do, Oboro. You always seemed to have such good instincts. Always on some path or another…”
Sushi rolled over, and Nemuri shook her head. It wouldn’t do to talk like this. She needed a shower and a solid few hours of sleep. Maybe, she thought to herself, she’d visit Oboro’s grave later. It always seemed to clear her thoughts, at least a little bit.
“I think I did the right thing, at least.”
Nemuri straightened her blouse and made sure she looked presentable. She had a meeting with Ms. Joke, the kids’ new homeroom teacher. She’d asked to talk with her about what had happened with U.A and to check up on Midoriya and the others, but Ms. Joke said she wouldn’t breathe a word about them to her unless they gave her permission.
Nemuri understood, so she agreed to that condition. In the end, surprisingly, Midoriya himself had agreed - and he asked to join them, if they were willing and she really wanted to talk to him. Nemuri had quickly said yes, and so here she was.
She was a little nervous. She didn’t know what to expect from Midoriya, but she would ultimately accept however he chose to deal with her. After what had happened, she would even understand yelling and anger. She hoped it wouldn’t be that way, but she would understand and accept if it was.
So now, she was standing outside a small cafe they’d decided on over the weekend when their schedules lined up. She went inside with a shaky nod and prepared for the worst. But when she opened the door, she was greeted by an entirely different sight. It was quiet; Ms. Joke and Midoriya were the only ones there. But also with them was Eri, and she was laughing and smiling, seated between the two.
Midoriya smiled and laughed too, booping her nose with his finger. Eri giggled, and Nemuri found herself tearing up at the sight. Midoriya looked so happy. He wasn’t afraid, he wasn’t cowering in front of teachers like he used to, and he looked like the picture of a normal teenager for once. It was so different.
“Ms. Kayama?” Eri finally spoke, realizing she was there. “Are you okay?”
“Oh!” Nemuri laughed, dabbing at her eyes. “I’m just fine, I’m sorry. It’s just nice seeing you both again. You look very happy with Midoriya.”
“Yeah! Deku-nii is the best!” Eri smiled widely, latching onto the boy’s arm. Nemuri looked to Midoriya then, who had a distinctly different expression now. He was careful, wary, closed-off. Like he was assessing her and her intentions.
“Midoriya is pretty awesome, isn’t he?” She smiled and took a seat across the table.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Ms. Joke asked gently. “You said Midoriya and the U.A situation, but you weren’t very specific in your email.”
“No, I guess not, sorry.” Nemuri murmured. “I really just wanted to see how everyone was doing and ask if they were settling in alright. I know I don’t particularly have the right to ask after you all, but I just had to know.”
“You couldn’t guess how we’d do when Nedzu made the decision to expel me?” Midoriya asked, tilting his head. Nemuri pursed her lips.
“We didn’t know he was going to expel you, Midoriya. He didn’t tell anybody. The only person who knew anything about the situation was Shouta - sorry, Eraserhead. And even then, he didn’t know Nedzu planned to expel you, but I guess it didn’t matter much.” Nemuri explained, a melancholy look on her face. “If I had known, I’d have advocated against it. They held a teacher’s meeting right after you all walked out. I quit right then and there.”
That seemed to genuinely stun Midoriya, and he looked at her with wide eyes.
“You… you quit, Midnight-sensei?” He asked softly, almost awed.
“Of course I did, kiddo, I wasn’t going to work for Nedzu after that. All Might had the right idea. Honestly, I should’ve seen it sooner. The way both he and Eraserhead treated the students. I was too close to Shouta to really accept that he was doing the wrong thing.” She said, staring down at her hands. Midoriya seemed to frown at that.
“What do you mean, sensei? If you’re comfortable telling me, I mean.” He said. Nemuri sighed and leaned back in her chair.
“You don’t have to call me sensei, kiddo, I’m not a teacher any more. Just Kayama is fine. And really, he had a reason, one that I almost understood because I’ve known him since high school. But that reason blinded both me and him, and Nedzu facilitated it. The reason is personal, but the fact remains that it turned out this way because of it.”
“I… I see.” Midoriya mumbled. “And you said you would have told Nedzu otherwise if you had known about his plans to expel me?”
“I would’ve. I know you’re a good kid, Midoriya, and you’ll be an amazing hero one day. That portrait you asked me to sign… I still think about it, sometimes. I thought it was the nicest thing a student had done for me since I started teaching, you know? Most of the time, my hero persona creates a lot of… conflicts in the classroom. But never for you, you were always so excited to learn and study, and you spoke so often about my hero work… You were my favorite student, not that I’m supposed to have favorites.” She chuckled.
“You… think so?” Midoriya sounded choked up, and when she looked at him again, he was shaking and had tears in his eyes. “I… I’ve never… No teacher has ever… ever really said they liked me being in their classroom. Even Aizawa-sensei called me ‘problem child.’”
“Oh, Midoriya…” Ms. Joke said softly, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sorry. I agree with Midnight in saying that you’re a good kid. You’ve been nothing but a model student so far.”
“Th-Thank you, Fukukado-sensei.” Izuku wiped at his eyes.
“So, with that being said, are you guys all doing well at Ketsubutsu?” Midnight asked gently, and Izuku nodded. He managed a small smile, too.
“Yeah. Ketsubutsu’s really accommodating and they’re making the transition really easy. Fukukado-sensei fixed a lot of problems we had before, too. I think it’s really nice. Even Eri’s enjoying herself, huh?” Izuku said, ruffling her hair. Eri smiled and nodded quickly.
“Yeah! I really like the books sensei gives me!” She said excitedly, pulling out a small children’s book about different types of fruit. “She says I’m almost reading at my age!”
“That’s wonderful!” Nemuri smiled brightly. “I’m really glad you guys are doing well. Honestly, that’s the best I could’ve asked for. I feel like I did the right thing by quitting, knowing you all are happier there. Now I’ve just got to find another job to fill the other one.”
“Well…” Ms. Joke started, glancing over to Midoriya, “If the class says they’re alright with it, I can put a good word in for you at Ketsubutsu and let them know you’re not like Eraser was as a teacher. We’re looking for a new Gen Ed teacher, actually. Are you licensed to teach Gen Ed?”
“Yes! I’m qualified to teach all the core subjects, but Nedzu had me on hero art history. Honestly, I’d love the chance to teach a regular class.” Nemuri admitted.
“I’ll ask the others what they think when we get back and let Ms. Joke know. I’m alright with it myself, you always went out of your way to make sure we were comfortable. You weren’t like Aizawa-sensei. I really was just upset because I thought you agreed with Principal Nedzu…” Midoriya admitted, almost sheepishly.
That made Nemuri feel more relief than she thought was possible. Midoriya wasn’t mad at her. He was just upset, and that had been cleared up. He even said he’d be willing to have her around again. She felt so much better that she felt like she could cry.
“That means so much to me, Midoriya, thank you. And if there’s anything I can do for you, please, just let me know, okay?”
Life seemed to be getting a little more stable, despite everything that had gone on. She smiled and their conversation turned to easier things, and Nemuri had a relaxing break amidst all the hero work she’d been doing. The only thing she had left that she wanted to do was speak to Hizashi and Shouta about everything. She didn’t know how it would happen, but she wanted to speak with them very badly.
She hoped they returned her calls.