Early that morning, much earlier than Hina would have preferred to be conscious and moving around, Nezu called for UA's monthly meeting to discuss the upcoming lesson plans among all of the teachers. He was a principal who believed in transparency. He was open and honest with the direction he wanted the school to take, and expected the same courtesy in return from his staff. It was more of a housekeeping issue, and left little room for miscommunication or confusion down the line, but this way they would all know what the students should expect to learn and their anticipated work load.
Aizawa and Present Mic were already in their seats when she entered. Present Mic shot finger guns her direction, peppy and cheerful as usual, but thankfully didn't greet her with a boisterous shout. No doubt he understood no one was prepared for his loud volume so early in the morning. Or maybe Eraserhead had lectured him about it before she arrived. Hina thought that her borderline rolled-out-of-bed appearance might have accounted for it too.
She'd been running a bit late and hadn't had time to fully put on her makeup or brush her hair out nicely. Figuring she'd just do it after the meeting was over and before class began, she'd rushed out the door with her lesson plan folder and headed to the school.
Snipe and Midnight both arrived at the same time, and the sultry female hero zeroed in on Hina when she entered. "Scarlet!" She cried, referring to the redhead by her hero name when at school or in a professional environment. "My God, woman, you look half dead. What happened?"
"Gee. Thanks." Came the redhead's dull retort, head held up by one hand. "I was running late is all."
Snipe shook one finger at Midnight as they both took their seats. "Don't you think you could have phrased that in a more tactful way?"
She simply tossed her hair and grinned, taking her seat beside the other female. "Oh, lighten up! Scarlet knows I'm only joking around. Don't you, my dear?"
"Right..." She muttered, figuring it was too much effort to chastise her friend for being so blunt. She honestly felt like she'd died and come back to life as a zombie, but that didn't mean Midnight had to point it out or anything. Rude.
Cementoss and Power Loader both came in a moment later, with Vlad King and Toshinori right behind them, and the staff began talking amongst themselves quietly, waiting for the principal to arrive so they could begin. Hina opted to quietly lay her head on the desk and wait for the meeting to start, too tired to socialize and feeling a deeper sense of trepidation considering what she'd have to report to the other teachers during the meeting.
The small mouse-dog principal entered the conference room and hopped into his chair at the end of the U-shaped table. He placed a folder in front of him and clasped his paws together. "Everyone, please have a seat. Let us begin the meeting."
The room quieted down and seats were suddenly occupied, all eyes on the small creature they were employed to. He opened his folder and skimmed over one of the papers. "As everyone is aware, we have our Sports Festival up and coming this next month. It would be wishful thinking to assume that the student body hasn't heard the public's encertainty about us hosting the event, despite the attack on USJ, so please handle their questions or concerns as they arise."
"All of them appear to be excited for the opportunity to display their progress. I have yet to hear of any doubts." Aizawa reported of class 1-A in a muffled manner.
Vlad King nodded. "The same goes for class 1-B. They seem disinterested in what the public has to say about it."
Nezu smiled happily. "All the better for them to remain undistracted. It's an essential time for all of the students, of course, so I'd like for all of you to focus your lessons on preparing the students for the event as best you can with your course material.
"If possible," he continued, looking around at all of them, "please finish up your current lesson plans within the next few days and let us formulate our strategy for the next two weeks in particular to most benefit the students for the festival."
Cementoss spoke up then. "Would you like a report on this month's final subjects?"
The dog-bear nodded pleasantly. "If you would. I'd like to know where we currently stand with all of our classes and what the last few days of the month will look like."
Hina sighed internally, knowing it had been wishful thinking to hope that he'd instruct them all to toss aside their current curriculum to focus on more festival-oriented stuff immediately. Or even skip this part of their usual meetings. It wouldn't have been responsible and nonsensical. She really didn't want to have to read aloud what was in her folder, though...
The modern literature teacher explained how they were in the final stages of analyzing the book they'd been reading, and would move on to 'Theories For the Modern Hero.' Hina wasn't sure what sort of content it contained, as she'd never read it, but it sounded interesting. She quietly wrote the book title on the top of her folder, wanting to look at it for herself later.
All Might followed up by saying that the class had finished their team assessments, and would be moving forward with further competitive exercises to bolster the importance of speed in their rescues. It would focus on showing them just how little time they had when in an actual crisis situation, and to train them on how to prioritize needs in the heat of the moment. Nezu nodded, thanking them both before moving on.
Hina stewed in her seat, watching as he went one by one down the table, inquiring as to what the students will be working on. She wrote everything down to stay in the loop, dreading when all eyes would be on her.
You're an adult, act like it. It's not like the rest of them are going to just bust out laughing at you or anything. Right? Pull yourself together, Hina!
"Scarlet Seer." Nezu said, and she looked the principal's way. "What will be your course's focus for the last few days of the month?"
Steeling her nerves, because she was a god damn adult with a job to do, mind you, Hina opened her folder and stared at the words she'd had to write there with a heavy sigh.
"This year, the Department of Education decided to require the inclusion of an additional...topic...to the Life Skills program which had been excluded up to this point, in response to an unusual rise in...'heroes with perverse tendencies.'" She air quoted, reading directly from what the city had forwarded to her and all of the other Life Skills teachers in the district.
Swallowing past the discomfort and collecting herself as best she could, she looked back up to the principal. He already knew this information the moment they had changed the policy a few weeks before, and she had a feeling this was just his sadistic nature showing through. "I'll be covering sex ed with all of the classes the rest of the week, then begin lessons on-"
"Pff..." Present Mic wasn't very successful in holding back his sudden choke of laughter, which only set Midnight to unabashedly grinning like a hyena. Mic tried hiding his amused smirk behind his directional speaker, but it was all too obvious to everyone in the room. Hina's eye twitched, but she didn't look at the two of them, trying to maintain her dignity without turning just as red as her hair. No need to have more than one reason to be called 'Scarlet.'
She cleared her throat. "-on conducting themselves properly-"
Present Mic's and Midnight's continued amusement and snickering caused Ectoplasm to cough 'covertly,' trying his hardest not to join in at the expense of Hina's comfort. Toshinori simply looked at her sympathetically, no doubt relieved he wasn't the one conducting that particular lesson.
"-in front of the pro heroes and general public." The redhead finished through her teeth. The rest of the teachers were doing a remarkable job of not showing any sort of outward reaction, though a few were shifting uncomfortably in their seats at the very mention of the subject. Obviously no one envied her job right now.
There was a slight pause, before Nezu placed a paw on his chin thoughtfully. "I see. Since this is such a new addition and something the school hasn't handled before, could you please break down the curriculum for us all in more detail?"
His question had sounded so innocent. So genuine. He even had the audacity to accompany it with his cute little fucking smile that promised nothing untoward. Nezu had never targeted her like this, and she wondered what sort of bad karma had come her way to deserve this. Hina winced at him painfully as Present Mic, Midnight, and Ectoplasm simply couldn't hold their laughter in any longer, bursting from the sheer hilarity in their respective places.
Snipe and Vlad King tried to get everyone back on track but the damage was done. The three laughing teachers were too far gone to calm down now, and the meeting had degraded to be a circus show more than anything. Nezu must have realized this too, as he simply continued to sip tea and watch as the teachers tried to sort themselves out without intervening to get their discussion back on track.
Trying to avoid everyone else's attention, Hina sunk deeper in her seat, trying her best to hide behind her lesson plan folder and hoped the ground would just open up and swallow her whole.
On his way back to his own classroom, Aizawa passed by Hina's door and saw her pacing the inside of the room, nervously staring at the lesson plan for her day while chewing on the end of a pencil. He debated just leaving her to her own devices, but felt bad about the whole meeting fiasco from earlier that morning. She'd walked out early after Nezu finally granted her mercy, but the fitful laughter from their more childish coworkers provided the background noise for her retreat.
He ducked inside, leaning against the doorframe. "It's not a life or death situation, Scarlet." He muttered, bemused by the way she spun in place and ran her fingers through her hair. She let out a dejected sigh.
"Isn't it though?" She tossed her lesson plan on the desk and sat in her chair, facing him. "These are going to be the worst three days of my life."
"You're being dramatic." He shrugged, ignoring the way his elbow stung something particularly fierce at the movement. Thankfully the bandages his his wince of pain. "I don't envy you, honestly, but it's your job to prepare them for the future."
"I know that...I just...am not looking forward to telling these high schoolers the ins and outs of their bodies. Especially your class." She shivered uncomfortably. "Bakugo might just glare a hole through my head as a defense mechanism and Mineta will probably explode the minute I first utter the word 'sex.'"
Her statement caught him off surprise and he huffed out a laugh. She smiled as a result, chuckling under her breath too. Good. She was calming down.
"Treat them like adults and they should fall in line. It may be uncomfortable but, if they're smart, they'll still value the information you have to share." He figured with a shake of his head. "I'm sure you'll find a way to persevere."
Aizawa had faith. She was an excellent teacher that cared about her students' wellbeing and knew how to connect with them. She'd figure out how to get her lesson across without problem, but he sure was glad that he wasn't the one who had to talk about that stuff with his students.
"Thank, Mummy Man." She said, grinning at him. "You should probably get going if you don't want to be late for your own class. Unless you want to stay here and help me demonstrate the course material?"
He was already out the door before she could finish asking.
"Morning...class." Hina greeted the general course students awkwardly, standing in front of her desk to face them all. None of them were paying her any attention, though, staring at the chalk-written words of 'Sex Ed' on the board behind her. She scratched the back of her neck timidly. "I would ask you about your evening last night, but we unfortunately have a lot of material to cover today. As you can see, we have a different sort of lesson on the docket. It's uh..."
A student suddenly raised his hand high in the air, a petrified look on his face. "H-Hitagawa Sensei? May I be excused?"
She frowned. "What for?"
"I've suddenly become extremely sick and must go home." He explained, not looking sick at all but just fearful of the subject at hand. "For my health and safety, I think it would be best for me to leave."
Several other hands joined his, all looking just as eager to take the same suggestion. If they were trying to be subtle, they'd failed miserably. She knew they wouldn't exactly like the subject, but she really didn't expect them to try opting out of it entirely.
Treat them like adults, she reminded herself, hearing Aizawa's words in her head. The teacher sighed, wandering over to the classroom door and audibly locking it so they all could hear.
"This is a required lesson given to me by the Department of Education, and at the end of the three-day course, you are all required to pass off a comprehension test. Skipping any part of the lecture today, tomorrow, or the next day will force me to have to keep you back after school for a one-on-one tutoring session so you can pass it off. With that in mind, is there anyone who still wants to leave?"
All hands immediately shot down. As expected. Though the thought of having to listen to all of this as a class was uncomfortable, it would be even more so if her sole attention was on them in a tutoring lesson. They all seemed to come to that same conclusion and resigned themselves to the very awkward discussion they were about to have. Hina nodded, plastering on a smile to hopefully dispel some of the awkwardness.
So far, so good.
By third period, Hina had her lesson down to an exact science, and after all of the awkwardness had passed on her part, she actually started to enjoy watching the thunderstruck faces of the students as soon as they realized what they were in for that day. Maybe Nezu wasn't so wrong for having a sadistic side to him. She could sort of get on board with that line of thinking.
The students of class 1-A filtered into the Life Skills classroom with unease after their lunch time, noticing Hina sitting back in her desk chair at the front, an easy smirk in place with her feet up on the desk crossed at the ankles. For once, the projector screen was down, covering the chalkboard. They all took their seats, wondering why she was composed in such a strange way. They'd never seen her so...predatory. What had happened to the kind-hearted Hitagawa Sensei they'd all come to know? She laughed in her head at the thought.
The bell rang and everyone sat ready to learn for the day. She didn't move from her spot, which was strange. Normally she liked to address them while standing in front of her desk in a professional and calm manner. Another tick on the 'things that didn't seem like Hitagawa Sensei' list.
"Welcome class." She greeted cheerily, twirling a yardstick around with just her fingers. "I assume you all had a good lunch?"
They nodded, confused.
"Is...something wrong, Hitagawa Sensei?" Kaminari asked, voicing what they all were wondering. "You seem...different."
"Different how?" She inquired, focusing on him.
"Like..." He struggled to find the word for it. "Like you've got something planned that none of us are going to like. Midnight or Eraserhead give off that same feeling sometimes."
The rest of the class nodded their agreement, and she smiled wider. Using the yardstick to reach over to the rung at the bottom of the projector screen, she yanked it down, allowing the screen to roll back up and snap into it's holder with a loud clank.
"An excellent observation, Kaminari!" She cried with a wicked smile. Hina savored the moment the students comprehended the words 'Sex Ed' that she'd written on the chalkboard behind the projector. It was an interesting study in the many ways the facial expression could change, all within the blink of an eye. Her mind flitted across the 20 students, relishing their reactions with blatant joy.
Iida, Momo, and Todoroki were all forcing a neutral expression, but internally were sweating bullets. Bakugo just looked genuinely upset and angry. Uraraka and Ashido both were sporting very vibrant shades of red on their face from embarrassment, staring at the board in utter panic. For the gravity student, however, all Hina could hear in her head was girlish screaming.
Kaminari had opted to enter 'stupid-mode,' as his classmates had so dubbed it. Kirishima was realizing that his quirk had a very obvious innuendo, asking himself why he hadn't ever thought of it before, but with an outwardly blank expression and wide eyes.
Asui seemed generally unaffected due to the nature of her quirk, though her cheeks were colored a bright pink. Koda was hiding behind his hands and Shoji only stared at the board with wide eyes. Midoriya slowly sank into his seat, raising his notebook to cover his face. He was desperately trying to come up with a way to get away from this place.
But her favorite reaction of all had to be Mineta, who had immediately exploded into a nosebleed the moment he'd read the words. His eyes had taken on the appearance of stars and he had practically fallen unconscious in his seat a moment afterwards. Drool spilled from his mouth.
"Aoyama," she requested sweetly, turning to the one student who didn't appear affected in the slightest, "will you please bring Mineta to Recovery Girl to make sure he hasn't lost too much blood?"
"Of course, Hitagawa Sensei!" He cried, grabbing Mineta's arm and dragging him out the door of the classroom. It shut with a snap and she directed her anticipatory smile to the remaining students.
"Notebooks out, be prepared to take notes. There are some diagrams or charts I expect you to notate. We have a lot of information to cover and I expect you all to act like adults about this. I won't slow down or answer things I deem inappropriate. Do I make myself clear?"
The dramatic personality shift had taken them by such surprise they all responded in unison. "Hai!"
"Very good. Now, to begin..." She clicked on the first slide given to her by the Department of Education, using her yardstick to point to certain things she referred to. As she spoke about the information, she was glad to see the students had gotten over their initial fear of the awkward topic, and were studiously writing down everything she said.
Thanks to Aizawa, she hadn't died of sheer embarrassment after all. She'd have to buy him a drink later as thanks.
Hina opened her eyes, finding herself on the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park pier. A sapphire orb of light floated in front of her, glowing with vibrant light. The very center of her mind.
Each person had a different 'center;' in the way it looked, felt, and organized, but most she'd come across had the same structure. Perhaps it was simply her interpretation of it, but the psyche usually constructed itself as a floating orb of light, packed full of memories and emotions and everything that made a person who they were. She'd only seen a few, never having delved deep enough into a person's mind to see too many of them, but her in particular was one she been frequenting more often as of late.
She wasn't sure why her head chose to manifest into a scene by the beach, as it had never represented anything particularly important or impactful to her, but she had always enjoyed the sound of the ocean as it lapped against the shore. Feeling the mentally fabricated wind whip at her hair, she stood and walked over to the opposite end of the pier. Her bare feet pressed dully into the salty wood with each step, before coming to a stop in front of a large, stone wall that dissected the sand.
It was too tall to see the top, reaching the very edge of her mind, wherever it may lay, in all directions. Her protection against any sort of mental attack or intrusion from another mind-based quirk user.
She ran her hand along the stone, feeling bits of the mortar crumbled in her fingers. At the base of the wall, particles of stone dust and bits of stone that had fallen off over the years lay useless in the sand. The wall was still sturdy overall, but years without maintenance or attention had certainly taken it's toll. It was growing weaker.
Hina sighed, stepped away from it to return to the beach. It would take a lot of concentration and lots of energy to begin the repair process, neither of which she had at the moment. Her long day at work had taken a lot out of her, and she wanted to do nothing else but sleep.
Pulling back her quirk from her own consciousness, Hina blinked and saw the end of the bed she sat on. A glance at the clock confirmed it was well past time she go to sleep. Tomorrow would be just as taxing as today had been, and she needed all the rest she could get.
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