Chapter Text
Toshinori regrets not learning about the Phoenix Program sooner. What Nedzu built is genuinely awe-inspiring.
Toshinori always had his sights on protecting all he can. To be here for everyone and to be a pillar of hope. To be the Symbol of Peace. As such, he often went and had scraps with villains, trying to take them down as fast as possible to save others. Being the one who saves everyone in a blink of an eye before the villains could even cause trouble.
And by saving everyone in a blink of an eye, he forgot that villains were ultimately people who also could be saved.
He forgot that those people were not always villains. That they may have just been dealt a bad hand in life and needed a second chance. It was incredibly short sighted of him to think that these people were simply villains because they were villains. To throw them in jail with no resources to support them would not make things better, it would just encourage more criminal activity later down the line when they get out.
What Nedzu did was basically made a Program that gave those people resources. Gave them an opportunity to try and do better, to have them atone for their mistakes and given the chance to rebuild their life.
Eraserhead stops and turns to face him. "So, what do you think?"
Toshinori lets out a laugh. "I- This is amazing Eraserhead, I can't believe I haven't looked into this sooner! The whole Program is great and the building is-"
"Oh this isn't the main building," said Eraserhead. He rubs the back of his neck. "The main building is on the other side of Musutafu, a bit closer to UA. This is just the building where we do most of the paperwork and where we take in people who have no other place to go due to their circumstances. On top of that this is where we dispatch and handle the Phoenix Team."
"Still! It's amazing!" exclaimed Toshinori. "I just- I'm sorry I'm just blown away by all of this. About the Phoenix Program, the making of it, and just the Phoenix Team in general!"
The Phoenix Team is admittedly what Toshinori is the most interested in. Perhaps it's the hero instincts kicking in but the idea of several people working to become actual, genuine heroes despite the wrongs they did in the past is incredibly admirable. He can only imagine the amount of hurdles Nedzu to go through to merely establish this concept. Now it's a whole sub-program all together!
Eraserhead snorts. "Right, speaking of the Phoenix Team, ready to get to know them?"
At that, Toshinori startles. "You mean now? I'm meeting them now?" He is curious about who was in the Phoenix Team, but if he's right, it's about the time they are all said to be on the field doing patrols. He didn't want to disrupt their patrol for something as simple as meeting them.
"I mean, not in person," clarified Eraserhead. "We're doing a powerpoint slideshow version of meeting them. Eventually you'll meet them but this version is just for everyone's safety, especially since we got new people here."
"What do you mean for everyone's safety?" asked Toshinori.
Eraserhead gives him a bemused look. "I mean for everyone's safety Yagi. They may be going through the Phoenix Program but not all of them like meeting new people. There are too many instances of one of them getting startled by a new person and then immediately punching them. They're like a bunch of-" A small pause. Eraserhead opens and closes his mouth, trying to figure out a comparison to the mysterious Phoenix Team.
"They're like cats," he finally says. "A bunch of feral, stray cats. You have to introduce them to each other slowly or else they'll fight each other. In this particular instance though, we have to slowly introduce them to each other so that no one is set on fire, frozen, shot, or god forbid. A repeat of what happened to one of our previous dispatchers when they touched the person who explicitly hates being touched."
Ah. Well that makes sense. It's a bit concerning but Toshinori can't fault the members for being uneasy about new people. After all, old habits die hard, and who knows what habits they picked up on over the years.
Eraserhead leads them to a computer and quickly logs in. He gestures at the chair and it took an embarrassingly long time for Toshinori to realize that the chair was for him. "By the way, username is PTeamDispatch and the password at the moment is just your birthday. You can request to change the password at any time."
"Oh erm…thank you?" He isn't sure why he would need to know the username and password but it seems rude to ask at the moment.
A program called "Phoenix Team" is pulled up and in it, several files were shown. Eraserhead glances at Toshinori and sighs. "Okay listen, usually I don't go into this with people but just- Thank you. Thank you for giving this whole thing a chance and not immediately shut down the idea of villains and criminals being able to redeem themselves."
Toshinori gives Eraserhead a small smile. "Well, I like to think that everyone has the capacity of doing good if they were given a chance and if they put in the effort to try and do better. Why would I fault someone becoming worse when the world puts them down before they get up again? When I say 'I Am Here', it's often associated with a sense of safety for the people and a sense of dread for the villains, but I say that not only to signal that but also to tell everyone that I'm here for everyone. If a villain is in trouble then I will save them. They may be hurting others but what justice is there if we let them die?" He gives a small laugh. "Admittedly though, I may have been neglecting the last part in my recent years. Before today, I almost forgot the whole reason why I made that my catch phrase. I only focused on how they were meant to comfort civilians, that I forgot that those words are meant to be for everyone."
Eraserhead stares at him with wide eyes. He glances at him and then back at the computer before finally giving a nod. "I think you'll be the thing that we need then if that is what those words mean in its entirety." He pulls up a file. "Firstly though, let's have you actually know who's in the Phoenix Team so we can get some stuff out of the way. I'm going to show you who's in the team from oldest to newest. Fair warning though, lots of people tend to react badly when the first file pops up."
Toshinori nods and mentally prepares himself for whoever is pulled up in the file. Whoever they are, Toshinori has to remind himself that their past is behind them and what matters now now is that they're trying to do better. That the purpose of this whole program is to give them a second chance.
Despite all of that though, nothing could prepare Toshinori for file to pull up an image of Tsutsumi Kaina, aka Lady Nagant.
"…Oh."
"Yeah, most of them say when they see her file."
"I- Of course."
Lady Nagant, a popular hero at her time and one of the best marksman in Japan. She was on course to become one of the top 10 heroes at the time and the only reason why she didn't rise any faster was due to how she often took cases that were less flashy. That all changed when it was said that she killed Pro-Hero Azure in an argument. Overnight, the public turned against her, denouncing her to be a villain, and soon she was shipped off to Tartarus.
Toshinori isn't surprised that she signed herself up for the program but he is surprised that the HPSC and government didn't push back more on her being back doing hero work.
"So, Lady Nagant. Quirk is Rifle , she can turn her arm into a rifle, her hair can be used as bullets. Crimes are second-degree murder, resisting arrest, assault and battery- I'm just going to assume that you know most of this already," said Eraserhead. "What I want to get to however is that she is the first person we recruited for this Team and that she is the unofficial leader in making sure everyone stays on task. Out of everyone there, she's probably the most focused on being a hero again."
"Was that why she was the first one to be recruited then?" asked Toshinori.
To his surprise, Eraserhead shook his head. "She was actually the first one recruited because Nedzu suspected something involving her and thought it would be easier for her to simply be out of Tartarus to give out information rather than him going back and forth constantly. None of us know what it is and it isn't listed so. It's a mystery."
For Nedzu to get involved…whatever was discovered was likely serious. Likely not pertaining to All For One, or else Toshinori, Gran Torino, and Sir Nighteye would have been notified of it. It's entirely possible that it may be HPSC or government related, and if so then it makes sense on why it was kept secret. The less people who know, the less chances there are for there to be a leak.
"Let's move on though. We're on a tight schedule here."
"Oh. Of course. I wouldn't want to keep you occupied."
With that said, Toshinori opens up another file. Unlike Lady Nagant, he did not recognize the photo used, nor the Quirk that is listed. What was shown was a muscular looking person wearing sunglasses within the mugshot. Toshinori skims the file. Nine armed robberies, three murders, and 29 attempted murders. A great departure from Lady Nagant, both in terms of crimes and character.
"Magne. Her Quirk is Magnetism. Men become south poles, women become north poles, and anyone not fitting those categories just become universal magnets. I suspect she only signed up to get less jail time, but she is showing genuine interest in this Program as compared to before. Gets along with a lot of teenagers and kids."
"Why is she wearing sunglasses?"
Wordlessly, Eraserhead points at the list of medical conditions and medical treatments on the file. In almost glaring letters was the word: "photophobia".
Well, that explained the sunglasses indoors. What caught Toshinori's eye though was the how it was listed that she has been prescribed estrogen and is going through several hormone treatments.
As he reads this, he felt Eraserhead staring at him with more and more intensity. "There's not going to be a problem with that, will there?"
They both know they weren't talking about the photophobia.
Toshinori shook his head. "No, of course not. I have no idea why anyone would react so negatively to this. If anything, I'm simply glad that she is taking steps to make life easier for herself."
At that, Eraserhead relaxed a bit. "Good. Now let's get back to the others."
Toshinori clicked on the next file and before he could even process who was on the screen, he hears Eraserhead groan.
"Mr Compress. Quirk is Compress and that pretty much lets him shrink down anything into a small marble as long as he touches it with all five of his fingers. He can do it through his gloves and when I asked him about it he said that 'a magician never reveals his secrets.'"
Quickly, he scans the file for any mention of Eraserhead arresting him or of the crimes committed by the man. He founds nothing and sees that most of the crimes that were committed were related to theft. Breaking and entering, robbery, burglary, at least several instances of pick pocketing…
All of them were crimes but none of them really give much of an explanation on the animosity Eraserhead may have for Mr Compress.
Upon seeing Toshinori's reaction, Eraserhead sighs. "Okay listen- It's nothing he did before he signed up. He's just very annoying to me and likes to get on my nerves. Outside of that, he's actually surprisingly nice to people he likes." He motions for Toshinori to scroll down to the bottom of the file and immediately points to a note at the bottom. "Over here, it says that he turned himself in shortly after Magne signed herself up to be in the Phoenix Team. Said he didn't want her to be all alone and that he will stop with most of the thefts he does. The whole thing about me not liking him is solely because of personal tastes."
Toshinori raises an eyebrow. "Most of the thefts?"
"We're pretty sure he's taking several things in the office. We just can't prove it. Most of the things he takes are also noticeably from my desk," Eraserhead said with a glare.
Well that probably explains the animosity. Toshinori pulls up another file and the first thing he noticed was not the mugshot, but the words stating that the person was apparently a part of the Shie Hassaikai.
"That's Overhaul," explained Eraserhead. "Quirk is the same name as stated. He can disassemble and reassemble matter with his hands. I one time asked if there was any drawbacks and he said that he can't make matter appear out of thin air, destroy it completely, can't make one matter into another matter, and has to touch people."
"Is the last part so bad?"
Eraserhead visibly winces. "He's doesn't like being touched and tends to go overboard if someone annoys him enough."
…Oh. So he's the one who likely caused the incident with one of the previous dispatchers.
Toshinori coughs and goes back to the file. Desperately, he tries to find something else to talk about that doesn't involve the possible disaster that happened with the previous dispatcher. "So- Out of curiosity, is there anyone else from the Shie Hassaikai in this program? It's not every day that the Yakuza is busted and so-"
"He's the only one who got arrested actually so no. There isn't anyone else," interrupts Eraserhead.
Toshinori blinks. He knows that the Yakuza are recognized as villain organizations by the police but usually when they bust them, they take the entire organization down. For him to be the only one arrested seems…odd to say the least. Eraserhead seems to picked up on Toshinori's confusion.
"The Boss of the Shie Hassaikai himself went and gave information only on Overhaul so that he was arrested." The Underground Hero points to the list of charges. "Without him, the most we would have gotten would probably be stalking and aiding and abetting. Then when we got the information, we learned he was producing and distributing Trigger, as well as several other crimes such as murder and assault."
"He gave all of that information away!?" exclaims Toshinori. "Doesn't the Yakuza have a strong code of loyalty and chivalry?"
Eraserhead snorts. "Yeah, but apparently Overhaul almost did something that warranted him being cut off from the Yakuza entirely. Caused a whole internal affair according to my informants. It's actually still going today."
Toshinori scrolls down and sees something else catch his eye. "He signed up willingly for the Phoenix Program?"
"After a year in jail? Yes. Told me that it was the easiest way to try and talk to the Boss again which could mean anything. No idea why Nedzu thought it would be a good idea to put him on the Phoenix Team but he gets along with Lady Nagant enough and surprisingly doesn't cause as many problems as you would expect."
So what happened with one of the previous dispatchers was likely a one-time thing. That's a relief. Toshinori clicked on the next file, seeing the screen lit up with a picture of a man with white hair.
"Oh that's-" Eraserhead makes several expressions at the screen, all being varying degrees of unease. "That's Geten. He's-"
"…Unpleasant?" Offers Toshinori.
"Difficult," finishes Eraserhead. "I'm only saying he's difficult because you're likely going to have a difficult time with him."
Toshinori isn't really sure how he would have a difficult time with the man considering that he won't be visiting the building often, but then again it may be Eraserhead simply stating that for his own knowledge.
"Quirk is Ice Ply," continued Eraserhead. "Can manipulate all ice and the temperature of ice, but he can't make his own ice. He's good at getting around that weakness though mostly because of his supposed training from…well-" The man points at a part in the file. Toshinori slowly follows where he was pointing to and in almost blaring lights was the words "Meta Liberation Army".
Toshinori took a deep breath in. The Meta Liberation Army. A group that calls for the liberation of all Quirks, for Quirks to be used freely among society.
On surface it sounded nice but then the deeper one digs into their philosophies, the more they realize that at its core, the ideology is one of Quirk Supremacy with hints of Social Darwinism. The strong trumping over the weak. If the weak fails then by the MLA's logic, it is their fault and they do not deserve to live in their society.
The group was disbanded long ago but when Toshinori was younger, he had some…encounters with people who believed in the ideology.
They were not kind to those who were Quirkless.
Despite that though, he can't immediately shun a man who was a part of that organization. It would go against everything this program is trying to achieve. The point is to try and give everyone a chance. To give everyone a chance at becoming a better person. Yes, in the past the man may have done some unscrupulous things but why punish him now for trying to do good?
"Aizawa, it's very kind of you to be worried about my safety but I assure you, I can handle myself." He gestures to the screen before looking back at his coworker. "We're here to try and help these people. I understand what may happen and I intend to try and hopefully push this young man in the right direction, regardless of what he did in the past."
Aizawa stares at him for a long time. A small laugh then comes out of him. "Okay. Well now I'm starting to understand how you became the Number 1 Hero other than the resolutions of crime and the rescues." And as quickly as it started, the laughter stills, replaced instead with a tired sigh. "Anyways, most of the crimes listed on here are mostly what occurred when him and a small group were caught. Managed to kill two heroes before he was taken down. We tried to figure out whether or not this is just it or if the MLA is bigger but none of them were talking."
"Loyalty among its members then."
"You can say that again. He's actually the last person I thought would go and be in this Program but apparently a few of his cousins caught wind of who he was and visited him a couple of times. One thing lead to another and now those cousins are sponsoring him and Geten said he will play nice for the entirety of the program. We can only hope that Geten's want to redeem himself is as genuine as his cousins."
Toshinori scanned the file for any mention on who the cousins were only to find nothing. He raised an eyebrow and pointed at the screen.
"…It's classified. Only Nedzu knows. Something about keeping the family's safety."
Well, that makes sense. Toshinori opens the next file and-
"My god is the young man okay!?"
The mugshot shown the young man with horrific burns all over his face, even traveling down his neck. In a shoddy attempt to try and hold the skin together, it seems that the young man has opted to use staples.
Eraserhead sucked some air through his teeth. "Truthfully? No. We just managed to convince him to finally get some skin grafts instead of continuing as he is. And even then we're still having trouble trying to get him to stop using his Quirk on full blast."
At those words, Toshinori realized something. "His Quirk hurts him!? To that severity!? I- That level of damage must have been intense and yet-"
"He's alive. And he's keeping himself alive through spite," supplies Eraserhead. The man leans slightly on the desk as he looks at file. "That's Dabi. Quirk is Blueflame and as you gathered, it hurts him. His Quirk can let him summon blue flames that burn hotter than Endeavor's but his body is not suited for fire Quirks. Hence the burns."
Toshinori stares at the file, still in shock. "Should he even be on the field still?"
Eraserhead opens and closes his mouth a couple of times. "In my opinion? No. But he insisted and we are doing all we can to not have him combust into nothing. Geten is basically an emergency cooler and we have given him several support items to counteract this."
"But surely-"
"Listen, someone is sponsoring him and he said that he made a deal with Nedzu. He can't go all out and if he burns himself out during a shift, he's to immediately head back to be checked up on. If he burns himself out completely to severe damage, we move him out of the Phoenix Team and to the regular Program. He requested to be on here specifically so if he severely injures himself recklessly, we bring the hammer down."
Despite Eraserhead's words, Toshinori still frowns. It seems that the young man is either desperately trying to be a hero after a few cases of arson or may have a death wish. Either way it just seems bad. The only thing he could hope for is that someone is reminding him that he's only human and that there are people waiting for him.
He scrolls down and has something catch his eye. "Geten and him are cousins?"
At that, Eraserhead pales. "Don't let them be together for longer than necessary. They do not get along. They just don't."
Toshinori wasn't planning to, but even then he isn't quite sure how he would land in a situation where he has to place those two together.
He clicks on the next file and unlike the other files, this one was recognizable.
"Isn't this Bubaigawara Jin? He did several of the biggest bank robberies in Japan for years and was on the most wanted list for a while before he disappeared entirely."
"Yes, then someone found him with a paper bag over his head and a severe identity crisis. He apparently had an incident with his clones and now struggles to figure out if he's the 'true' Bubaigawara or not," explained Eraserhead, with a hint of sympathy. "He goes by Twice on the field and has a habit of contradicting himself in one sentence. He's surprisingly friendly though and gets along with most people."
There isn't much to say about his file. It's everything that Toshinori expected and heard about when Bubaigawara was still on the wanted list. People thought that he fled Japan with the amount of money he had to get away from the authorities but evidently, he did not.
Toshinori clicked on the next file and blinks. He blinks again, making sure what he is seeing wasn't just a trick of the light.
He turns to face his coworker. "Aizawa this is a sixteen year old."
The man takes a deep breath.
"Aizawa this is a sixteen year old."
It takes a moment for Aizawa to speak. When he does, all Toshinori can hear is the desperation the man has in his voice. "Listen, her name is Toga Himiko and we wouldn't have let her in here if it weren't for her convincing Nedzu, me, her legal guardian, and the entire team on. She's not a full-fledged member. She's just one who shadows them most of the time and she only is here occasionally. She has to work with someone at all times and if something happens to her, it's our fault entirely."
Toshinori looks at Aizawa, mouth slack. "I- Is she safe?"
"As much as she can be when working on the field. Everyone makes sure she's watched over and has a lot of patience." Aizawa sighs. "Listen, I don't feel great about this either. You can argue with me on this for as much as you want but again, we don't have all day. So can I at least get to who she is?"
Wordlessly, Toshinori nods.
Immediately, Aizawa relaxes. "Great. So, Toga Himiko. Hero name is just Himiko and her Quirk is Transformation. Lets her transform into another person entirely if she drinks their blood. That includes voice and blood type, can't copy the Quirks though. The clothes are also copied with her and destroys the ones she's wearing, which is a problem considering that just means she's naked. We went and requested for some support gear so that it wouldn't happen again. If she drinks multiple people's blood, she can switch between transformations. Consequently, she has to have blood as part of her main diet."
Toshinori stares at the file a little, then turns to the other man. "Aizawa, can I ask why she's in this program? She's just a child…"
Silence.
Aizawa sighs. "Listen Yagi, the short answer is she's here because, as stated in the file, she has attacked her classmate during her middle school graduation and several others before being caught. The longer answer is something I would love to tell you but at the same time, I think it's best for her to tell you yourself. She's been given a second chance now and she's a good kid." A fond smile comes across Aizawa's face. "She's actually really excited to be a hero. Keeps on researching everything about it and trying to figure out ways to help people like her. She's even the one who convinced Bubaigawara to give this program a chance."
"You must really be rooting for her."
"All of us are. The people on that team may be assholes at times, but they do genuinely want to see Toga get better."
Toshinori gives Aizawa a gentle smile, letting himself feel the fondness Aizawa feels for this girl. He may not understand nor know who she is fully, but it's good to know that she has so many people behind her.
He clicked on the next file, and almost instantly, the mood faded.
He stared at the name on the file, almost dumbfounded. It can't be possible it just can't. He would have known. Surely him and Torino would have known if something like this has happened to that family. Nedzu would have told him if something like this ever happened.
"That's Shimura Tenko. Goes by his real name on field. I was the one who found him actually. Quirk is called Decay. If he touches something with all five fingers, the object decays into dust. He's a bit prickly and probably will make fun of you for a while but I have high hopes for…him…" trails off Aizawa. He glances at Toshinori, concern written all over his face. "Do you know Shimura?
Toshinori continues to stare at the screen, even as he finally finds his words. "Not personally, but I knew his grandmother. Shimura Nana. She was my mentor and almost like a mother to me. Me and Gran Torino never had contact with her son but we thought-" He puts a hand on his head as he reads through the file. Vandalism, property destruction, shoplifting…
He looks up at Aizawa. "What happened?"
For a long time, nothing was said. "…I think it's best for you to talk to him yourself if you want to know."
Toshinori wants to argue. He wants to argue that he needs to know now. But, that would be an invasion of privacy for young Shimura, and ultimately Toshinori does need to talk to him.
Wordlessly, Toshinori nods and instead opens the last file.
The subject of the final file was a familiar face, one he saw barely a week ago.
"Isn't this the villain from the USJ?" He never gotten a good glimpse at the man but he's sure that he saw that man while he was fighting the Noumu. Last he saw him, he was being pinned down by Eraserhead and was being hauled away by the authorities.
Aizawa gives a loud sigh and rubs the bridge of his nose. "Before you say anything: Yes, I know he attacked Class 1-A and Thirteen. Yes, I know he was the one who warped the villains into the facility. Yes, I know he warped in Noumu and it almost defeated you. I know all of that but me and Thirteen have come across information that makes us think he'd be a good fit for here."
"What kind of information?" asked Toshinori.
"Well for one, after he dragged me away from the Noumu to fight me himself, he told me that he wanted out and that this is the only chance he has at getting freedom. Plus, the man can warp away at any time, why didn’t he when you defeated the Noumu?"
Trapped in villainy…it certainly wasn't unheard of. Toshinori ran into several people who were forced to do villainous acts by others and always, he would try to make sure that those people are given as much grace as possible in the eyes of the law.
That didn't explain why he was in the Phoenix Team instead of the regular Program though. Usually when people get out of forced villainy, they try to distance themselves from the action as much as possible. It seems this man is just thrown back into the action by being in this Program. At the same time though, he did meet people who quietly admit that they miss the thrill of using their Quirk and as such, tried to do more activities that involve their Quirk.
"This is Kurogiri. Newest one in the pool," introduced Aizawa. "We already know that his Quirk is a teleportation Quirk but the specifics are that he can warp anywhere he wants to as long as he knows the coordinates and he can warp himself to places. As such, it's fittingly named Warp Gate. His body partially turn to mist and he requested to be on this part of the Program in exchange for some information that apparently you and Nedzu would find interesting."
Him and Nedzu? Is he the source of information that Nedzu was talking about yesterday? He looked to see if there was any more files and finds that Kurogiri was the last one.
"So, that's all of them?" He stared at the screen and did a mental count of how many there were. One, two, three…ten in total. "That's a lot of people considering this is a rather select program."
Aizawa snorts. "Yeah well, the theory is that they'll all push each other to be better if they're around each other long enough, plus some of them can't exactly handle being idle for too long and this is really the best option for them." He leans over Toshinori's soldier and pulls up another program, this time one that is labeled west Musutafu.
"Anyways, uh. I think you'll be a good fit for the job. Despite me thinking you're a bad teacher, I think you'll be good for them," Aizawa quietly admits.
Toshinori practically hears something pop in his brain.
"…Excuse me?"
"Listen, you somehow impressed Nedzu with whatever you did, and despite me really wanting to just push you to somewhere else, you really did show that you care for these people getting better."
Wait a minute.
"These guys I will admit aren't the best people around and the HPSC has already been threatening to cut all funding for the entire Program if they don't see improvement in this area soon. I don't exactly believe in miracles but I think you're the one we need."
Wait. Wait wait wait wait.
"Uh- Aizawa? I don't-"
"Just put on the headset, click the second button that's on the right of the headset, and introduce yourself to the team. If they bully you that's normal, just bully them back or ignore them. I'll be on standby to back you up if they get distracted by you and if they need severe backup on the field. Nedzu told me already you aced the simulation test so that means you just might make this a somewhat successful shift for all of them."
"No Aizawa that's not what I-" Before Toshinori could even stand up, Aizawa is already out the room.
Oh god.
Oh god he's in the Dispatcher chair.
He's in the Dispatcher chair. The chair that Aizawa told him was used to direct the Phoenix Team and give them advice. The chair that Aizawa told him was passed on to so many people. The chair that he somehow is now in.
How did he even get into this situation!? He understands how Aizawa could think that he was someone who genuinely believed in these people, that's just Toshinori being himself! But how did Nedzu go and conclude that he was a good choice for this-
…The simulation.
The simulation that Nedzu said he given to all the other staff members.
That was the test.
That was the test to see if he would be a good Dispatcher.
Toshinori practically played into the principal's hands when he took and aced that simulation.
He put his head in his hands and groaned. He should have seen this coming. Why would Nedzu ask Toshinori to test a simulation for when Nedzu can just easily do it himself?
Toshinori glances at the computer. Slowly, he sees the bottom being filled up by the Phoenix Team. Several of the icons flashed for a moment before going dark, likely from them talking amongst themselves.
Shit. He can't just leave them like that can he? He's already here. At the same time though, he wasn't aware that he got the Dispatcher job. He thought that this was simply a visit that Nedzu recommended after their conversation yesterday!
The icons keep on flashing, and the map of western Musutafu seem to bore right into his soul.
…Just one day. He'll do this for one day, then he'll tell Aizawa about the incident and help him find another Dispatcher. He can be Dispatcher for one day. He aced the simulation already, so he can do this. He can be Dispatcher for this team.
He puts on the headset, clicks on the second button on his right, and takes a deep breath.
"Hello team, my name is Yagi Toshinori and-"
Immediately he stopped when the comms all of a sudden was filled with a cacophony of laughter.
"Holy fucking shit I can't believe Eraserhead got the fucking skeleton as our new Dispatcher!" said a man's voice. Toshinori looked down and registered the speech notification to be coming from Dabi.
A giggle pierces through the sounds and immediately, Toshinori notes that it was coming from young Shimura. "Wait wait wait. Aren't you the same blond guy that went and coughed up blood in the front office? Dude you almost got Overhaul to practically destroy and remake the whole front area because of that."
Immediately Toshinori went a bit red. He was hoping no one saw that. Then again, it's pretty easy to notice that the new person who came into the building is coughing up blood. Especially since Aizawa caught him at a very severe coughing fit.
"You're the one who got blood all over the floor?" said Overhaul, voice dripping with contempt. "Do you know how unsanitary that is? Why didn't you clean it up and-"
Toga's icon flashed and she let's out a loud shriek. "THERE WAS BLOOD IN THE FRONT OFFICE AND NO ONE TOLD ME!?"
Toshinori stares at the screen in complete shock before shaking himself out of it and speaking again. "There's a lot of overlap here. Can we please clear the channel so that we can-"
"Don't worry Toga, we can get plenty of that guy's blood later! Nope! I bet he won't even spill one drop!" interrupted Twice.
The feed crackled and all of a sudden, Toshinori sees a small picture of Aizawa on the left. "Everyone shut up," scolded the man, effectively silencing all the villains. "This is your new Dispatcher and one of the only people who actually signed up to be your Dispatcher. So clear the line, take your jobs seriously, and actually try to respect your Dispatcher."
The line then goes silent, leaving Toshinori with his thoughts.
He takes a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
This…may be significantly harder than the simulation.