Midnight as Class B’s homeroom teacher

The moment Nemuri Kayama strode through the door of Class 1-B’s homeroom, twenty heads swung in her direction as every student realised that their year was going to be far different from what they’d expected. Many had wondered who among the heroes teaching at U.A. would be their instructor - Present Mic? Ectoplasm? Snipe? - but while she had been known as a U.A. alumni, very few, if any of them had expected the R-Rated Hero Midnight to walk through that door.

Seeming to not notice the stares of her students, Midnight set down a tablet and a stack of papers on a nearby desk, approached the board, and wrote a series of Japanese characters for everyone to read:

Nemuri Kayama

Then below underneath:

Midnight

Turning around and clasping her hands together, Kayama’s gaze settled over the group of teenagers still staring in partial disbelief. “Good morning, Class 1-B!”

A somewhat ragged chorus answered back, some voices clearly more enthusiastic or attentive than others. “Good morning…”

The noise made Kayama frown slightly. “Oh, come on. You’re Hero Course students. I’ve heard louder responses from funeral audiences. Where’s the enthusiasm?!”

The response was identical to the first in speech, yet the difference in tone was obvious. “Good morning, Kayama-Sensei!”

Monoma was already looking delighted. Tsuburaba’s brain had departed this plane of existence. Shiozaki was clearly regarding this situation with profound uncertainty. Kendo sat ramrod straight, her gaze never leaving her homeroom teacher’s form. Pony was glancing around, monitoring everyone else’s reactions to determine whether this woman should be familiar to her. Setsuna was visibly suppressing a grin.

Kayama let them stare for a couple of extra seconds, before clearing her throat. “Let’s get a few things out of the way. Yes, I’m Midnight. Yes, you’ve probably seen me on television. And no, having me as your homeroom teacher does not guarantee an easy year.”

Monoma’s hand shot up. Kayama turned to face him, barely seeming fazed by a student already having a question about five minutes after she’d walked through the door. “Yes… Monoma?”

“I wasn’t going to ask that,” Monoma immediately clarified. “What I was going to ask is whether your experience in cultivating one of Japan’s most recognisable Hero identities means we’ll receive particular instruction in developing our own public personae.”

Now it wasn’t just Kayama eyeing Monoma - several of his new classmates were watching him, too. Because the blonde’s question was a genuinely good one. “Excellent question,” Kayama answered. “In short… yes,” Monoma looked quite pleased with himself, until Kayama continued with a faintly amused look. “We’ll also be working on brevity.”

Monoma’s face fell. Setsuna let out a snort of laughter. And just like that, the tension shattered.

(This was inspired by Horikoshi’s plans to have Midnight be Class A’s homeroom teacher before she was ultimately replaced by Eraser Head. Since Shiozaki and Shoda were once conceptualised as Class A students before being moved to Class B, I figured it’d be interesting to imagine a scenario where Midnight is similarly moved to being Class B’s homeroom teacher, since as a Hero and a teacher, she’s almost Eraser Head’s opposite. If you’re wondering what happens to Vlad King… he’s still around, he’s just the Art History teacher in this version).