Hero Teams were on the decline in the world of Heroism, and as a direct result of this, Yuuei had very few of its members interested in joining one, making it a lower priority when it came to funding. In the past, that particular aspect of the high school for training teenagers into superheroes was far more popular, but these days, maybe three or four such teams existed in the entire school, at any one time, and those were formed of very close, tight- knit groups of friends.
Or in Mina and Izuku's circumstances, boyfriend and girlfriend.
When the young couple walked into the room to find out where they were supposed to go to sign up for the sessions, or who was leading said sessions, or really, any information whatsoever about the Hero Teams, they were greeted by a set of about seven different pairs of eyes, all fixed right on the first year couple.
Another thing if note that was abruptly dropped on the pair of them. Currently, they were the only first years who were interested in this sort of thing. The rest were second or third years, people who had arguably more experience than them - Arguably, because the first years had gone through a hell of a lot more than the second years would have traditionally gone through, due to constant Villain attacks against them.
The room was primarily second years, small groups that had just decided to give Hero Teams a shot. People who had grown to know each other over the course of over a year or so. Not all of them would stick with it, deciding that it wasn't the path for them, hence why there were only a couple of third year teams here.
The fact that there were no first year Hero Teams, or even showing an interest in the concept, wasn't exactly a reassuring thing for the always anxious Izuku. It made part of him feel like he and Mina were perhaps rushing into this without thoroughly thinking things through, like these other, senior members of the school. These people must have had a better idea as to what one could expect of this sort of extra-curricular class.
Plus, they must have known about this for a lot longer than they had. Having only heard it from Aizawa-sensei just a couple of days ago, they had decided to see what they could learn from it, under the guise of 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'. They didn't really know much else about the classes at all, other than Aizawa recommended it if they were dating.
Was this a good idea for them?
Was it their best choice, or were they overthinking things?
Would firming a Hero Team together be the best choice?
Before Izuku could begin his infamous muttering that could be used as a special move all of its own, he felt Mina's warm hand wrap itself around his own, and intertwining their fingers in that way that joined them close together. Reflexively, his head turned to look towards her, and he was greeted with the trademark Ashido smile, wide and pure.
"You're overthinking things. Don't worry 'bout anything, Izuku." She told him with a reassuring tone in her voice, squeezing his hand a bit tighter. "We don't have to commit to this if we don't wanna, remember? We're just here to check it out."
If there was something that Mina had improved on during their time dating, it was her ability to detect Izuku's discomfort and reassure him of the worries he had. She didn't even need to hear him use words to know what was going on sometimes. Like she'd learned just what made him tick in such a short space of time, and what things she had to do or say to get him to calm down… Or make him blush, depending on her mood. Either way, she brought him immense comfort just being around him these days… And it was just one of the reasons Izuku cared for her.
And one of the reasons why, pushing aside his awkward and overthinking traits, he was confident in the idea of making a Hero Team with her. They both balanced the other person out. Mina, by her own admission, wasn't the best when it came to strategy or planning, while Izuku excelled in these areas, and where Izuku tended to show his nervousness and shy ticks, Mina was energetic and social. As a pair, they pretty much covered all bases – Izuku was good at dealing with Villains, mostly due to his experience in doing so, and Mina was great at working with civilians due to her sociable personality. Of course, each of them had skills in the others specialty, but that was to be expected of every Hero on the planet.
As a two person team, they had the ideal set of skills. At least, that was the conclusion they themselves had come up with. They had no idea at all if that was how a Hero team was supposed to work, or if it mostly focused on Team attacks or prioritization or whatever the heck else could be a part of those sorts of things. As Hero Course students, they didn't really learn about Hero Teams because of their decline.
Essentially, they had both just imagined what sorts of things would be important regarding this sort of arrangement – They really had no true idea.
"Right." Izuku nodded, forcing a small smile at the edges of his lips. He didn't really have much reason to be nervous, and he knew this perfectly well. In truth, it was just a small aspect of his awkward personality shining through again, seeping through his newly built confidence and showing the softer side that he still maintained.
Scanning the room though, there didn't even seem to be a teacher in the room, or an advisor, or anyone who seemed to be in charge of the students here. After looking at the shiny new people who had walked in the door, the students inside had just gone back to their groups, already bored if Izuku and Mina, and looking bored overall for that matter.
"Hey, 'scuse me!" Mina called over to one of the students, shattering the relative silence that the room held. Once again, all the eyes in the room were focused on the pink girl and the green haired boy while Mina tried to grab the attention of a nearby second year student who looked like he was about ready to give Mina a right hook to the side of the head for interrupting his conversations.
"What." With feathers as opposed to skin, a bit like Tokoyami from their class, Izuku quickly got the feel that this particular person didn't even like either of them despite having seen them for about seven seconds overall. He seemed to be openly hostile, for whatever reason. Perhaps he simply didn't like people… Which made his choice to be forming a Hero Team certainly an odd one.
"Who's supposed to teach these classes?"
The second year looked at Mina like she was some sort of idiot, but answered flatly anyway. "Ectoplasm-sensei."
"And where is he?"
"Not here."
"You don't say." Mina muttered with sarcasm, looking towards the desk where Ectoplasm was supposed to be sat at, and tilted her head slightly. "So… We're wanting to get a bit of info about becoming a Hero Team, and we just got told to come here for that, and to sign up as well."
"You'll have to wait then."
"L-Let's leave him alone, Mina." Izuku suggested, tugging at his girlfriend's shoulder before she could respond again. "I don't think he wants to be bothered."
Taking the time out to actually look at the unamused glare that the second year was giving, Mina quickly backed away and conceded the point. Following Izuku's lead, the pair found a small table that no one else was at, and pulled up a couple of chairs to sit on.
"I know that Hero Teams aren't that popular anymore, but this room almost seems dead." The Acid Quirk user muttered to her boyfriend, looking around again to see the small number of students here, and the fact that they had a teacher who was apparently late, for whatever reason… It almost felt like it was a direct juxtaposition to what Yuuei was supposed to be – Full, punctual, and motivated regardless of the department that you were a part of.
Fully agreeing with her, Izuku noted the exact same things about the place. For very good reasons… It reminded him of the Hero Killer, and the words that he had used during his encounter with him. The philosophy and the ramblings of someone who saw society in an almost nihilistically cynical manner. A person who had nothing but distain for quite a lot of the Heroes in the world, and how society seemed to be heading in place of these 'Fake Heroes' who looked out only for themselves, money, and glory.
The same things that had caused Hero Teams to become less prominent in the current age. Greed, and desire for individual fortune and fame. It was a perfect reflection, right here.
Teams made up of multiple Heroes were common when Quirks first made their appearance on the world. During those early days, fame, money, pride and glory… They weren't even factors. The first Heroes in the world were in fact, Vigilantes, people who earned nothing for performing Heroic deeds, totally independently from the government. In fact, their actions were considered illegal by a great number of people at the time, and some historians even to this day claimed that they were illegal actions by criminals…
But the thing that those Heroes acted on were a genuine desire for peace, security, and to stop those who had Quirks from using them for selfish reasons. To stop the first criminals who had Quirks.
They were the foundation for true Heroes like All Might, Izuku thought. The original Heroes who acted as illegal Vigilantes until the term Hero became a recognised profession.
They acted so similarly to Stain and his ideals…
They helped prove his point.
So few people interested in anything other than the perks of Heroism…
"You alright?" Snapped out of his thoughts by his girlfriend's interruption, Izuku's eyes widened, and he noticed that he'd just been zoned out, thinking about things that had happened a long time ago.
"Y-Yeah, I'm okay." He said, shaking his head and blinking rapidly. "I-I was just…. Thinking about some things, that's all."
"What things?"
"Just…. Some things I saw while researching Hero Teams a while back." He made up, making his excuse sound as believable as he could. Lying to her was one thing, but there wasn't any need to remind her of the horrible time when Stain had been on the prowl, and he'd had his encounter with the Hero Killer. White lie or not, Izuku didn't like lying to her… But he hated seeing her reminded of those times and being sad a lot more. "I-I was just expecting… A lot more enthusiasm… And people."
"I was too." Mina agreed, not suspecting anything of what Izuku was saying. Reluctantly, Izuku had to admit, he was a good liar. "Seems more tame than I expected. Ectoplasm-sensei isn't usually late to his own lessons."
None of the Yuuei teachers were usually late to their lessons… Unless something was going on that required more immediate attention. Usually that meant that All Might had some sort of incident regarding keeping up his Hero form that was going to prevent him from attending lessons, meaning that lesson plans and appearances had to be shifted around so the students didn't figure out that something was wrong.
It did cause Izuku grief to think that that was what was going on. Guilt too. He couldn't be more grateful to All Might. Without him, he wouldn't even have a prayer at pursuing his dream of becoming a Hero… But at the same time, he sometimes felt that he had stolen All Might's ability to be a Hero…
No… He knew that he'd stolen All Might's Ability to be a Hero.
"…You're worried about All Might, aren't you?"
"H-What - ?"
"You're predictable, y'know? I know about all that All Might stuff, remember? I'm not gonna fall for that trick again." Mina cheerfully, but quietly so the other students surrounding them didn't hear, reminded her boyfriend. "You're thinking about how Ectoplasm-sensei must be late because of some interruption with All Might, yeah?"
Now Mina knew about the truth about All Might, something she had learned a while ago, tricks like this didn't work on her. Before, and to anyone else, Izuku could lie through his teeth, and claim that he was worried about something else, or that he wasn't even worried at all… But Mina… Mina knew the truth. About All Might. About his Quirk. About Izuku's Quirk. About his and All Might's relationship, and how the world's number one Hero had helped Izuku rise to be able to attend this famous Hero school.
She knew Izuku very well. Better than anyone. And she knew how he thought.
"Talk to me about it?" She asked, neither pushing him towards telling her, nor guilt-tripping him to do so either. She was simply inviting him to confide in her, so she could offer her support to him. "Please?"
"…One For All… It's not mine. Not originally, anyway…" Izuku sighed, admitting his guilt. "All Might gave it up so I could try and become a Hero… But he can't even do his own Hero work anymore. I… I know that he said his own Hero career was… Basically over, because of the injury that he sustained…. But…"
"But?..."
"… I can barely even use One For All, and I'm only learning how to use it slowly… I mean… I can't quit being a Hero even if I wanted to… But… Sometimes… I think that it would have been better to leave One For All with All Might…"
"Izuku, you – "
Before Mina could finish her sentence, the door to the room suddenly slung open, and in stepped their late teacher, Ectoplasm-sensei.
What Mina had to say would have to wait.