Chapter Text
Shouta leaned back against one of the shooting tables as Snipe talked to his class about gun safety. He silently eyed Midoriya, deciding that no, the glint in their eyes wasn’t worth commenting on, before glancing over at Yagi, who wasn’t standing on Snipe’s other side with a plastic smile on his face. He hadn’t been happy when Nezu informed him that his Foundational Heroics class was going to be taught by Snipe that day.
According to Nezu, it was so the first years “could learn about support items they might not normally think of.”
According to Yagi, it was “a worthless waste of time that undermined his authority as a teacher.”
Personally, Shouta thought Yagi’s authority as a teacher could be undermined more often.
Snipe continued on, holding up different guns and pointing out the differences between them to the students. He taught them how to differentiate paintball guns from regular guns. And regular guns from net guns. At one point, when he ran out of room on the fold up table in front of him, he handed Shouta a tranquilizer gun to keep on his table.
During this time, Yagi only looked more and more annoyed. His winning plastic smile slowly dwindling to something even most of the kids could tell was fake.
Snipe dutifully ignored him, eventually stopping to ask, “any questions, comments, or concerns?”
Midoriya’s hand shot into the air.
“Yes, Midoriya.”
They grinned at him before turning to Yaoyorozu. “You have to add a gun to your costume!”
Shouta hid a snort as Yagi and Snipe choked.
“I mean, you already tend to make guns, so why not just carry one in a holster and save your quirk for things that are harder to carry? An expandable bo staff would also be something you should add to your costume since you create them pretty often anyways. Anyway, a gun! That way you don’t have to keep making cannons all the time! And most quirks don’t come with automatic defenses for them!”
Yaoyorozu stared at them with a thoughtful expression.
“Young Midoriya!” Yagi exclaimed. “You can’t really be suggesting Young Yaoyorozu carries a gun on her! That would make her far too dependent on support items!”
Problem Child blinked at him. “What’s the difference between depending on your quirk and depending on support items? They can both fail. So why not have both?”
Shouta felt a small wave of pride, not that he would ever tell anyone. His Problem Child really was far smarter than most people gave them credit for.
Yagi shook his head in admonishment. “Young Midoriya, I assure you I know what I’m talking about. Heroes need to depend on their quirks, not on support tools.”
Shouta sighed and stood straight. The class immediately turned their attention to him. “Problem Child is right, Yaoyorozu. Carrying a gun and bo staff on you would be far more logical than making new ones every time you fight.”
He turned to look at Yagi. “And Problem Child was also right when they said heroes should use both their quirks and support items. Quirks cannot be used in every situation. Likewise, support items also have their limits.”
Yagi shook his head. “Young Aizawa—”
“Aizawa-san.”
“—support items, guns in particular, are not something a hero should be dependent upon. Not to mention guns are simply unheroic! How are civilians supposed to trust you if you simply shoot every villain you come across?”
“Because you’re not creating unnecessary property damage?” Problem child asked.
Shouta smiled into his capture weapon as Yagi spluttered.
“Young Midoriya!”
Shouta casually grabbed the tranquilizer gun off the table behind him and pointed it at Yagi.
Snipe glanced at him, subtly stepping forward a bit before saying, “like I said earlier, you shouldn’t point a gun at anything or anyone you are not prepared to shoot. For example, Aizawa,” he glanced at Shouta, “should be pointing the gun he’s holding at the targets, not All Might. He is demonstrating what you should not do.”
“Are these loaded?” Snipe froze.
“...yes.”
“Great.” A loud bang echoed through the room as Shouta pulled the trigger, hitting Yagi in the chest with a tranquilizer dart.
The class gaped at him as Yagi dropped to the ground. He turned to them, setting the gun back on the table.
“Like Snipe said, don’t aim at anyone you aren’t prepared to shoot.” He paused for a second. “And that is how a support item will help you in a fight. As you can see, most quirks don’t have natural defenses against guns, making them a logical means of defense.”
Midoriya was looking at Shouta in what appeared to be awe. And if, after class was over, he heard them ask Snipe for gun training, he couldn’t say he was displeased.