"Before we move on," he said, dropping a stack of papers onto the desk, "we need to review yesterday's Heroes vs. Villains exercise."
A low ripple of tension moved through the class. Mina straightened. Jiro tapped her foot. Toru fidgeted. Momo kept her hands neatly folded but her eyes drifted toward the floor. Todoroki sat rigid, his bandages newly replaced. Bakugo leaned back like he didn't care, though the twitch in his jaw betrayed irritation.
Aizawa's gaze swept the class, lingering a half-second longer on Takeru.
"We'll go team by team," he said. "Pay attention. Learn something."
He clicked a remote, and the screen lit up with the replay.
Aizawa didn't soften the critique.
"Uraraka: excellent adaptability. You used your quirk without hesitation, and more importantly, you avoided freezing in pressure situations. Good instincts."
Ochaco flushed, bowing her head gratefully.
"Midoriya," Aizawa continued, "reckless to the point of self-harm. If you break your arm every time you throw a punch, you won't last ten minutes as a hero. However…" He grudgingly added, "your ability to read opponents is exceptional. That throw was clever."
Takeru watched Midoriya stiffen in confusion and embarrassment. His quirk is too destructive for his body, Takeru thought, remembering what Shun had said and what he had observed. No wonder All Might is so invested.
Bakugo clicked his tongue, already annoyed.
"Bakugo," Aizawa said, "you showed good mobility and effective quirk control, but your fixation on Midoriya demonstrates poor emotional discipline. Learn to control your temper or you'll die early in the field."
Bakugo punched the desk. "Like hell—"
"Silence."
Bakugo froze.
Iida straightened when Aizawa addressed him. "You demonstrated strong tactical thinking but inflexible execution. Not every scenario needs a full minute of dramatic posing."
Iida bowed. "Understood, Aizawa-sensei!"
The room shifted immediately. Several students glanced at Takeru. Mina whispered, "This is gonna be spicy," while Toru shrank slightly behind her desk.
Aizawa played the footage—the exploding window, the shockwave clap, Momo going down in one hit, Todoroki being knocked into the wall.
"This was efficient," Aizawa said flatly, "almost too efficient."
A few chuckles, a few nervous faces.
"Yaoyorozu," he continued, "you hesitated. You doubted yourself. Your quirk is among the most versatile in this class, but your execution suffers when your confidence drops. If you hesitate again in real combat, someone will die. Improve."
Momo bowed deeply, cheeks pink with humiliation.
"Todoroki," Aizawa went on, "you relied too heavily on one side of your quirk. You also allowed Kurogane to isolate your teammate, which compromised the entire engagement. Precision matters more than raw power."
Todoroki accepted the critique with a silent nod, though his jaw remained clenched.
Aizawa turned toward Toru.
"Hagakure. Your stealth usage was excellent. You landed the deciding hit. Good aggression. Use that confidence in future drills."
Toru nearly melted into her seat from pride. "T-Thank you sensei…"
Finally, Aizawa's eyes settled on Takeru.
"Kurogane. Your strategy was… ruthless. Borderline excessive. But you demonstrated precise control and awareness of the objective. Good initiative. Keep in mind: injuring your classmates too severely will earn consequences."
Takeru nodded calmly. "Understood."
Aizawa cut through the murmurs.
"In real villain encounters, brutality is normal. Kurogane played the role correctly. The rest of you should focus on the weaknesses he exploited."
Aizawa continued cycling through teams:
Jiro & Kaminari:"Good communication. Kaminari, control your output before you fry your brain again."
"Yessir…" Kaminari sighed.
Sero & Mineta:"Sero, good support. Mineta—creative use of your quirk. Disturbing commentary aside."
Mineta wiped a tear. "He called me creative…"
Kirishima & Ojiro:"Solid teamwork. Kirishima—you are too straightforward. Predictable. Work on feints."
Kirishima nodded, pumped. "Got it, sensei!"
One by one, each student received their critique until Aizawa finally shut off the screen.
"That concludes the review," he said, tucking the remote away. "Now for the next matter—selecting your class representative."
Takeru didn't want the extra workload. His HSPC missions were bad enough, and now he had to keep up the façade of a normal student on top of it. But his pride would not allow him to take orders from some weakling . That was not something he would stand for under any circumstance and considering Neijre and Kendo were both Class presidents he did not want to seem unworthy Infront of his future waifus.
He exhaled slowly. The things I do for pride…
The room grew louder as everyone began shouting over each other about why they should be class president.
Iida stood, stiff as a steel beam. "This is disorderly! If we are to select a representative, we must do so properly—with a fair and democratic process!"
Takeru raised a hand casually. "Iida-kun has a point. An election is smart." The class murmured in agreement.
Then he added, "But to avoid voting for ourselves out of ego, we should only be allowed to vote for someone else."
A beat of silence passed—followed by nods and whispers of approval. Even Iida looked impressed.
"That is… actually very logical," he admitted with a bow. "Excellent suggestion, Kurogane-san!"
Takeru flashed an easy smile, hiding his internal sigh. I just made it easier to end up with this stupid job, didn't I?
They filled out slips of paper with surprising earnestness. Mina hummed as she wrote. Toru leaned over her desk, invisible but still full of enthusiasm and bubbly energy . Kaminari scratched his head with a grin, and Mineta was muttering "Harem potential, harem potential…" so loudly that half the room stared at him.
Takeru wrote Iida Tenya on his slip.If anyone was built for bureaucratic tedium and enforcing pointless rules, it was the class's resident traffic light.
Aizawa collected the slips, glanced through them with disinterest, and started reading the tally.
"Seven votes… Kurogane Takeru."
The class erupted.
Mina cheered, pumping both fists in the air. Toru bounced in her seat. Kaminari whistled like he'd just won money. Mineta gave him a knowing look .
Takeru blinked. "Seven? Seriously?"
He genuinely hadn't expected that number. He'd thought maybe three, tops. He knew he was strong. He knew he made an impression. But seven?Damn… turns out I'm more popular than I thought.
Aizawa continued reading. "Vice President: Iida Tenya."
Iida gasped, then bowed so fast and repeatedly he became a blur.
"How did I get seven votes?" Takeru asked under his breath.
The answers came to him in pieces.
Mina turned in her seat and winked. "Well, duh. You're strong, cool, and you look great in that suit. I trust you not to drop us into chaos."
Toru shyly tapped her fingertips together. "Um… I voted for you because… you saved me. And you're… um… really dependable. And… nice. And strong. And… nice." She quickly lost confidence when she realized he was staring at her.
Kaminari slapped Takeru's shoulder. "Dude! You're the strongest guy in the class. I know a future top hero when I see one."
Mineta nodded vigorously. "And you'll attract chicks! As class rep, the babes flock to you… and then you can introduce them to me!"
Takeru stared at him and shook his head in resignation .
Izuku raised a hesitant hand from across the room. "I—I voted for you too! You helped people during the exam without hesitation, and I think… um… a leader should do that."
Kirishima chimed in. "you are strong and have huge muscles . That's manly leadership! You've got my vote!"
And from the back, Momo lifted her hand politely. "I also voted for you, Kurogane-san. Your advice earlier was insightful… and I believe a leader should inspire others. You clearly do."
Takeru rubbed the back of his neck. Damn these people are killing me with their earnestness.
Aizawa clicked the pen in his hand. "Good. Kurogane is class president. Iida is vice president. Don't disappoint me."
With that, he burrowed back into his sleeping bag, leaving the class buzzing with excitement. He wasn't thrilled about the workload. But something about the respect and genuine trust in their eyes stirred something warm inside him.
Kendo had done this for her class why can't I he told himself to forify his resolve and he could always pawn things off to Iida saying only he could be trusted with such important work . Iida would do the rest .
Takeru delivered his excuse to Aizawa after lunch telling him he had a "dental procedure" scheduled. Aizawa was unconvinced, his sharp eyes lingering on Takeru as if trying to peel back every layer of the lie. But after a long, heavy pause, he let it go with a curt warning and a promise that any absence must be documented. "If you miss rescue training then you will have to do it with class 1B " Aizawa said dryly. That would be nice spending extra time with Kendo. Takeru bowed, thanked him, and walked away with the faint sting of guilt biting at the back of his mind. He hated lying to someone like Aizawa… yet he had no choice.
The HPSC orders were strict this mission was only known to a handful of people and was on a strictly need to know basis. Even though Eraser Head would have been perfect for this mission but there was a high possibility the radiation would have killed him before he could erase the Gamma's quirk.
By midnight he was already at the coastline safehouse, changing out of his school uniform and into the black combat suit he used for Commission work. His visor synced with the encrypted briefing file, streaming classified data directly into the display. Shun Sakamoto waited for him inside, posture rigid, expression darker than usual.
"Takeru," Shun began without preamble, "this one is delicate. your had been briefed weeks before but situation has changed the target has been kept mobile on a container ship to avoid detection"
Takeru straightened. "Where is the target"
"We will get too that. I want you to understand that if this threat comes to pass it would make Chernobyl look like the garden of Eden. The radio activity could render an entire city uninhabitable for generations " Shun tapped a panel, revealing satellite images and thermal scans. "Three months ago, the Russian Paranormal Oversight Division lost control of an asset. A quirk-user labeled ГАММА. Codename Gamma."
Takeru read the heat signatures and felt his blood run cold. The thermal readings were beyond anything human. "Radiation."
Shun nodded. "Gamma's quirk absorbs ambient nuclear radiation and then releases it unpredictably. Russia tried to contain him. They failed. At least one village in Kamchatka was evacuated after an accidental discharge. A third of them have cancer and most of those are fatal."
Takeru processed silently. "That's already dangerous. Why is he here?"
Shun changed the feed again, revealing intercepted footage of a cargo ship in the Sea of Japan. Armed men escorted a lead-sealed shipping container—one built thick enough to contain reactor output.
"The Paranormal Liberation Front intercepted the Russian transfer," Shun said. "They smuggled the asset into Japan. Their intention is to weaponize him—hold an entire city hostage. They don't need him stable. They just need him present."
A strange tension settled in Takeru's chest. "And you want me to terminate him before they use him."
"Yes." there was no hesitation in Shun voice. "Your durability makes you the only operative who can safely approach the container long enough to neutralize him. If he loses control inside a populated area, the death toll would reach the tens of thousands."
Takeru stared at the shifting radiation markers on the hologram. "What do we know about the asset? Age? Mental state? Control over the quirk?"
Russian are opaque on a good day all information we have is from our own sources places with in . " All we know is what we can confirm. based on satellite reading and the radioactive out put from samples take by out agents . Every single one of the points to a threat the likes of which Japan has not faced in centuries."
"The PLF doesn't care," Shun added, tone flat. "To them, Gamma is a weapon. And to us… he is a threat of the highest classification."
Takeru swallowed once, slowly. "Understood."
Shun placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "If the container opens, do not hesitate. If he destabilizes, do not hesitate. The asset cannot be allowed to reach a populated zone. Do you understand?"
Takeru nodded once. "I understand."