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YOUR NAME: Celty
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CONTACT: PM to this journal
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RESERVATION LINK: Here
YOUR NAME: Celty
18+?: Y
CONTACT: PM to this journal
CHARACTERS IN GAME: N/A
RESERVATION LINK: Here
CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Shouta Aizawa
AGE: 30
CANON: My Hero Academia
NAME: Shouta Aizawa
AGE: 30
CANON: My Hero Academia
CANON HISTORY: Convenient wiki link!
CANON PERSONALITY:
"Who's this washed-up guy and what is he doing in a classroom?" This tends to be the very first thought that crops up in most people's heads when encountering Shouta Aizawa in his natural teaching habitat. There's a 50/50 chance you'll find him lying on the floor at the front of the classroom before the morning bell, completely encased in a yellow sleeping bag like an oversized caterpillar, sometimes idly sucking on a juice pouch. ...He usually emerges from that sleeping bag eventually. But even then, the air of utter tiredness is palpable, from the weary slouch of his frame to the red rimming his eyes...and his usual mode of dress, which looks like some unfortunate cross between a pajama hobo and an extremely half-hearted mummy costume. Just looking at him, you get the feeling he'd rather be passed out in a bed than anywhere near this room or these students.
U.A. High is one of the most prestigious Hero schools in Japan, though, and this man is teaching one of the only two Hero classes of students that have made it to acceptance this year. One couldn't possibly guess as much at a glance--but the more you interact with Aizawa, the more you begin to understand.
At sharp odds to his default washed-up appearance is a personality that's surprisingly practical and professional; this is something any stranger can discover quickly by just talking to Aizawa for any length of time. He addresses the world around him in a rational light, preferring to analyze things in a logical series of steps that ideally lead to a sensible conclusion, trying not to let emotions muck things up too much. His professionalism, meanwhile, isn't particularly polite or cultured necessarily--being a very busy man working two eight-hour jobs simultaneously whilst battling the resulting sleep debt, Aizawa's perpetual exhaustion is genuine, and tends to bleed into most everything he does, interactions included. But there's still a distinct impression that he knows exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it, and he usually tries to keep things businesslike and to-the-point. Aizawa commands a low-key sense of absolute self-confidence, the kind that doesn't need preening or overt emoting, and is completely unaffected by the opinions of others. He doesn't particularly care what most people think of him. He's simply an expert in the fields that he knows, and those fields are Heroics and Teaching About Heroics.
He takes his work very seriously, and he expects those around him to take it seriously too. When it comes to his Pro Hero job this translates as a reluctance to give away too many personal details, and an unusual aversion to appearing in the media, since public attention tends to complicate the underground nature of his work. Meanwhile, on the teaching front, the burden of this expectation usually falls on his co-workers and students, with the students generally having the worst time of it. Aizawa has gained infamy among staff and pupils in U.A. alike by being one of the most strict and unforgivingly selective teachers in the faculty, taking U.A.'s famous "freedom of teaching method" policy to heart and pruning the number of students assigned to his class as he sees fit. As of canon's current class year he has expelled 154 students in his time as a U.A. teacher; just last year he expelled an entire class. Aizawa bases these judgments on the potential he sees in his students--if their abilities and natures won't lead to dead ends in the growth of their Hero careers then he'll teach them, but otherwise he's not going to waste his time. Many call it harsh, but he calls it practical, because he believes it's necessary to set the bar just that high. In his own words: "There's nothing crueler than letting someone chase their half-baked dreams."
There's always a rhyme and reason behind his actions, after all--he's a rational man--and this applies even to his alarmingly high standards, because Aizawa knows better than most just how dangerous and intensive Hero work can be. The circumstances will often be frightening and unfair, the enemies can be cruel and unusual, and the pressure of having countless lives in your hands can be crushing to those who aren't sufficiently prepared. Heroes put their lives on the line every day, and there are few Heroes more vulnerable than those newly-taught ones just breaking into the scene. Aizawa pushes his students extremely hard to become the best they can possibly be, because the alternative is sending them out there with imperfect training, and experiencing the fallout if they end up dead or worse as a result. Aizawa doesn't want to see this happen--he never wants to see this happen, to any of his students--and if that means cutting them out of this career path early-on when they can't make the cut, then so be it. Better a future without heroism than a future permanently cut short.
Aizawa cares, essentially, even if that's an almost comically benevolent way to put it next to everything else that's so harsh and intense about him. No Hero worth their salt makes it for long in this business without caring about something strongly and fiercely, and Aizawa cares about the wellbeing of his students and associates first and foremost. He wants to see them grow and succeed at their full potential--he wants to help them, so that they can help others at their very best. This desire overrides all others, and this means that he's willing to go the extra mile or ease up just a sliver, once those around him have proven to be trying their best. When Shigaraki Tomura invades USJ with his army of villains to kill some students and draw out All Might, Aizawa wastes absolutely no time leaping straight into the fray to buy his class time to escape, even when the enemy setup is terrible for his skillset--and he'll cling on through excruciating pain to the very bitter end of consciousness if it means keeping just one more student safe. He pays attention to the psychological welfare of his students as well, fully willing to acknowledge when someone's mental health has been neglected too long and doing whatever he can to rectify it. Sometimes this means owning up to such a mistake to the mass media at large, in order to take the heat off a boy shaping up to be a promising Hero but being accused of acting villain-like. Sometimes this means letting a little mistake slide just once during a practical exam, if it means restoring some self-esteem to a bright girl that's been sorely lacking a reason to build any.
He may love his logic and rationality, but Aizawa is still a human being that's susceptible to irrational human things like Feelings and Fondness, even if he tries to keep a tamp down on it and will deny it at every turn. Whether he likes it or not, it still tends to seep through; he might be acerbic and prickly towards most everyone he associates with at first, but once you've earned his respect and investment, you've also earned someone willing to support you and fight for you until you've gotten good enough to fend for yourself. He's got it especially bad at this point in canon right now, as attached as he's gotten to the surprising talent of Class 1-A as a whole--and he's even started to get along better with All Might, a man he used to express nothing but blunt distaste for in the past. Character development? Perhaps!
Though the most notable character development he's had by far is not crawling to homeroom in his sleeping bag anymore, which is definitely progress.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:
Erasure: Around 80% of the human population in Aizawa's world currently has a "quirk"--a genetic mutation that enables some form of superhuman physical trait or power. In keeping with the theme of his Hero name "Eraserhead", Aizawa's quirk allows him to temporarily shut off/"erase" another person's quirk when he looks at them, and is accompanied by glowing red eyes when it activates. He's basically a ranged walking power-nerfer in canon, but this power has its caveats:
Combat/General Physical Prowess: Aizawa tends to tackle threats physically and quickly--he's just not built for power or endurance, so his general goal is to win and end a fight as fast as possible. His quirk only brings the enemy down to his level, at best--and might not work at all, at worst--so in order to compensate for this, he's become highly proficient in a form of hand-to-hand combat that emphasizes swiftly taking down enemies bigger and stronger than he is. Aizawa's physical prowess isn't superhuman but is certainly athlete-par, and he can pull off the parkour and gymnastics to match. In order to make the best use of his quirk when he can use it, though, Aizawa prefers to avoid fighting his enemies head-on, instead employing covert, short-length sneak attacksaka straight-up ninja strike tactics that bank heavily on the element of surprise for as long as he possibly can. The goggles he carries as part of his hero gear are designed specifically to make it impossible to tell whether he's activated his quirk or which way he's looking, ideally leaving his opponent guessing long enough for him to make his move and take them down in a single hit or two.
Ninja Equipment Proficiency: The long mummy scarf he wears with his Hero uniform 24-7 is actually a "capture weapon" made of steel wire alloy woven with carbon nano fibers. Its weighty flexibility allows for a lot of versatility, from nonlethally wrapping and incapacitating opponents to helping him scale/dangle off structures, or even just flaring up alongside his hair in the odd show of intimidation. (There might be nanomachines or something built in it too? Possibly??? He can sure direct it to move around like it does, but canonically literally nobody but Aizawa has any idea how it actually works, which is very helpful in rpland smh.) Aizawa has also been shown using caltrops, and has at least one knife sharp enough to cut through the metal fiber of his scarf.
General Hero Skills: As is expected of any Hero, Aizawa has learned knowledge of basic first aid, basic survival skills, efficient search and rescue, and overall disaster relief. Familiarity with law enforcement procedure also gets you a long way.
Underground Hero Specialization: Aizawa's chosen line of Hero work seems to involve a lot of stealth and scouting of hostile areas, likely either neutralizing threats as quickly and safely as possible or thoroughly assessing the enemy's capabilities and devising counters, all without drawing the public eye. He's pretty good at stealthy ninja bullshit, essentially
High School Superhero Teacher: As detailed in his personality he is actually very qualified for his daytime job. Aizawa has been teaching at one of the country's most prestigious Hero schools for a few years now, and this involves effectively training and coaching teenagers on a variety of skills--especially the honing and regulation of super powers.
Sleeping Bag Mobility: He's seemingly able to move a surprisingly long distance while completely encased in a sleeping bag the entire time, and can even stand upright while inside it. How does he get around like that? Rolling? Hopping? Caterpillar-crawling? We Just Don't Know
CANON PERSONALITY:
"Who's this washed-up guy and what is he doing in a classroom?" This tends to be the very first thought that crops up in most people's heads when encountering Shouta Aizawa in his natural teaching habitat. There's a 50/50 chance you'll find him lying on the floor at the front of the classroom before the morning bell, completely encased in a yellow sleeping bag like an oversized caterpillar, sometimes idly sucking on a juice pouch. ...He usually emerges from that sleeping bag eventually. But even then, the air of utter tiredness is palpable, from the weary slouch of his frame to the red rimming his eyes...and his usual mode of dress, which looks like some unfortunate cross between a pajama hobo and an extremely half-hearted mummy costume. Just looking at him, you get the feeling he'd rather be passed out in a bed than anywhere near this room or these students.
U.A. High is one of the most prestigious Hero schools in Japan, though, and this man is teaching one of the only two Hero classes of students that have made it to acceptance this year. One couldn't possibly guess as much at a glance--but the more you interact with Aizawa, the more you begin to understand.
At sharp odds to his default washed-up appearance is a personality that's surprisingly practical and professional; this is something any stranger can discover quickly by just talking to Aizawa for any length of time. He addresses the world around him in a rational light, preferring to analyze things in a logical series of steps that ideally lead to a sensible conclusion, trying not to let emotions muck things up too much. His professionalism, meanwhile, isn't particularly polite or cultured necessarily--being a very busy man working two eight-hour jobs simultaneously whilst battling the resulting sleep debt, Aizawa's perpetual exhaustion is genuine, and tends to bleed into most everything he does, interactions included. But there's still a distinct impression that he knows exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it, and he usually tries to keep things businesslike and to-the-point. Aizawa commands a low-key sense of absolute self-confidence, the kind that doesn't need preening or overt emoting, and is completely unaffected by the opinions of others. He doesn't particularly care what most people think of him. He's simply an expert in the fields that he knows, and those fields are Heroics and Teaching About Heroics.
He takes his work very seriously, and he expects those around him to take it seriously too. When it comes to his Pro Hero job this translates as a reluctance to give away too many personal details, and an unusual aversion to appearing in the media, since public attention tends to complicate the underground nature of his work. Meanwhile, on the teaching front, the burden of this expectation usually falls on his co-workers and students, with the students generally having the worst time of it. Aizawa has gained infamy among staff and pupils in U.A. alike by being one of the most strict and unforgivingly selective teachers in the faculty, taking U.A.'s famous "freedom of teaching method" policy to heart and pruning the number of students assigned to his class as he sees fit. As of canon's current class year he has expelled 154 students in his time as a U.A. teacher; just last year he expelled an entire class. Aizawa bases these judgments on the potential he sees in his students--if their abilities and natures won't lead to dead ends in the growth of their Hero careers then he'll teach them, but otherwise he's not going to waste his time. Many call it harsh, but he calls it practical, because he believes it's necessary to set the bar just that high. In his own words: "There's nothing crueler than letting someone chase their half-baked dreams."
There's always a rhyme and reason behind his actions, after all--he's a rational man--and this applies even to his alarmingly high standards, because Aizawa knows better than most just how dangerous and intensive Hero work can be. The circumstances will often be frightening and unfair, the enemies can be cruel and unusual, and the pressure of having countless lives in your hands can be crushing to those who aren't sufficiently prepared. Heroes put their lives on the line every day, and there are few Heroes more vulnerable than those newly-taught ones just breaking into the scene. Aizawa pushes his students extremely hard to become the best they can possibly be, because the alternative is sending them out there with imperfect training, and experiencing the fallout if they end up dead or worse as a result. Aizawa doesn't want to see this happen--he never wants to see this happen, to any of his students--and if that means cutting them out of this career path early-on when they can't make the cut, then so be it. Better a future without heroism than a future permanently cut short.
Aizawa cares, essentially, even if that's an almost comically benevolent way to put it next to everything else that's so harsh and intense about him. No Hero worth their salt makes it for long in this business without caring about something strongly and fiercely, and Aizawa cares about the wellbeing of his students and associates first and foremost. He wants to see them grow and succeed at their full potential--he wants to help them, so that they can help others at their very best. This desire overrides all others, and this means that he's willing to go the extra mile or ease up just a sliver, once those around him have proven to be trying their best. When Shigaraki Tomura invades USJ with his army of villains to kill some students and draw out All Might, Aizawa wastes absolutely no time leaping straight into the fray to buy his class time to escape, even when the enemy setup is terrible for his skillset--and he'll cling on through excruciating pain to the very bitter end of consciousness if it means keeping just one more student safe. He pays attention to the psychological welfare of his students as well, fully willing to acknowledge when someone's mental health has been neglected too long and doing whatever he can to rectify it. Sometimes this means owning up to such a mistake to the mass media at large, in order to take the heat off a boy shaping up to be a promising Hero but being accused of acting villain-like. Sometimes this means letting a little mistake slide just once during a practical exam, if it means restoring some self-esteem to a bright girl that's been sorely lacking a reason to build any.
He may love his logic and rationality, but Aizawa is still a human being that's susceptible to irrational human things like Feelings and Fondness, even if he tries to keep a tamp down on it and will deny it at every turn. Whether he likes it or not, it still tends to seep through; he might be acerbic and prickly towards most everyone he associates with at first, but once you've earned his respect and investment, you've also earned someone willing to support you and fight for you until you've gotten good enough to fend for yourself. He's got it especially bad at this point in canon right now, as attached as he's gotten to the surprising talent of Class 1-A as a whole--and he's even started to get along better with All Might, a man he used to express nothing but blunt distaste for in the past. Character development? Perhaps!
Though the most notable character development he's had by far is not crawling to homeroom in his sleeping bag anymore, which is definitely progress.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:
Erasure: Around 80% of the human population in Aizawa's world currently has a "quirk"--a genetic mutation that enables some form of superhuman physical trait or power. In keeping with the theme of his Hero name "Eraserhead", Aizawa's quirk allows him to temporarily shut off/"erase" another person's quirk when he looks at them, and is accompanied by glowing red eyes when it activates. He's basically a ranged walking power-nerfer in canon, but this power has its caveats:
- The effect of his quirk cuts off if his line of sight is obstructed from his target; he needs to be able to see the target's actual physical body.
- His quirk deactivates when he blinks. It's a shame he has chronically dry eyes...
- Used to be he could keep his quirk activated for over 20 seconds between blinks, with this length of time decreasing gradually only after many repeated activations. But the orbital floor of his eye sockets was kind of brutally shattered a few months ago, so! While most of the damage has been repaired by now, the residual eye strain lingers and has extended to his quirk; Aizawa's activation time has now dropped to around 15 seconds during initial uses, and deteriorates at a faster rate.
- More of a side-effect, but when activated his quirk seems to produce a localized field of anti-gravity over his head and shoulders? Maybe?? This is speculation since the actual cause of this floatiness remains a mystery in canon, though...either way, his hair always stands up when he's Erasing.
- It's effective only against "Emitter" (requiring effort to activate) or "Transformation" (alteration to the user) types of quirks. He cannot erase "Mutation"-class quirks (permanent irregular physical features). It only works on an 'organic' level, meaning that robots, cybernetic enhancements, and weapons are a no sell. General rule of thumb: if the ability needs to be actively switched "on", Aizawa's Erasure keeps that switch locked to "off" as long as he's staring at you. He wouldn't be able to erase Superman's bullet-proof durability, since that's a passive factor of Superman's physiology that is constantly and unconsciously at work, but he could keep Superman from firing eye lasers as long as he keeps him in the line of his Erasure sight, since Superman needs to consciously switch that on to use it.
Combat/General Physical Prowess: Aizawa tends to tackle threats physically and quickly--he's just not built for power or endurance, so his general goal is to win and end a fight as fast as possible. His quirk only brings the enemy down to his level, at best--and might not work at all, at worst--so in order to compensate for this, he's become highly proficient in a form of hand-to-hand combat that emphasizes swiftly taking down enemies bigger and stronger than he is. Aizawa's physical prowess isn't superhuman but is certainly athlete-par, and he can pull off the parkour and gymnastics to match. In order to make the best use of his quirk when he can use it, though, Aizawa prefers to avoid fighting his enemies head-on, instead employing covert, short-length sneak attacks
General Hero Skills: As is expected of any Hero, Aizawa has learned knowledge of basic first aid, basic survival skills, efficient search and rescue, and overall disaster relief. Familiarity with law enforcement procedure also gets you a long way.
Underground Hero Specialization: Aizawa's chosen line of Hero work seems to involve a lot of stealth and scouting of hostile areas, likely either neutralizing threats as quickly and safely as possible or thoroughly assessing the enemy's capabilities and devising counters, all without drawing the public eye. He's pretty good at stealthy ninja bullshit, essentially
High School Superhero Teacher: As detailed in his personality he is actually very qualified for his daytime job. Aizawa has been teaching at one of the country's most prestigious Hero schools for a few years now, and this involves effectively training and coaching teenagers on a variety of skills--especially the honing and regulation of super powers.
Sleeping Bag Mobility: He's seemingly able to move a surprisingly long distance while completely encased in a sleeping bag the entire time, and can even stand upright while inside it. How does he get around like that? Rolling? Hopping? Caterpillar-crawling? We Just Don't Know
CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Shouta Aizawa
AU AGE: 30
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: No longer has a scar under his right eye or over his right elbow thanks to never being Pretty Hecked by an enormous bipedal birdman & Hands McGee in this AU. That's nice. Less achy joints in general for the same reason; meanwhile, while still decently physically fit in this AU, he's no flippy parkour athlete like his canon self either. Also does not have chronic dry eye, what a blessing (though as soon as his quirk is restored his dry eyes will be too, rip)
AU NAME: Shouta Aizawa
AU AGE: 30
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: No longer has a scar under his right eye or over his right elbow thanks to never being Pretty Hecked by an enormous bipedal birdman & Hands McGee in this AU. That's nice. Less achy joints in general for the same reason; meanwhile, while still decently physically fit in this AU, he's no flippy parkour athlete like his canon self either. Also does not have chronic dry eye, what a blessing (though as soon as his quirk is restored his dry eyes will be too, rip)
AU HISTORY:
AU PERSONALITY:
There's still plenty of parallels to his canon personality. This Aizawa still carries a distinctly tired and disheveled air (though physical dishevelment is more minimal by necessity of a normal and decent teacher dress code), is still very rational and professional, continues to maintain high standards for his students, remains prickly and acerbic both in work and out, and still fundamentally Cares and Wants To Help somewhere deep down in his sleep-deprived heart. Many of these qualities are now just the result of a fairly normal upbringing, influenced more by hard-working and morally-outspoken parents as opposed to the inspiration of Heroes and their cultural prominence in his canon world.
But the biggest differences between Recolle!Aizawa and canon!Aizawa are going to stem from the fallout in the wake of the circumstances of his AU father's death, and the fact that he never became a Hero in this life.
Everyone around Aizawa called his father's actions heroic at the time of his death, but to a grieving young Shouta that had always preferred to analyze things with rationality but then had to grapple this with the intense emotion of the event, he ended up coming to the conclusion that his father's actions were ultimately foolish. In his heart he knows it was just the man's altruistic nature, the quality of person he was, always giving his all to help others--but was it worth it? Did the cost outweigh the gain? A single civilian life was saved, but another life was snuffed out all the same (a life he cared about, a life he misses). It didn't seem fair. It didn't seem right. And the last thing he wanted to hear was it being called heroic. This perception, alongside his emotional clamming in general following his father's passing, stays with him throughout the rest of middle school and has gone entirely unaddressed and unresolved since; Aizawa doesn't really want to open up about this to anyone, and has perfected the art of bottling up these issues for literal years by now.
It's resulted in a jading of the worldview canon Aizawa has. Recolle Aizawa does not believe in that kind of heroism--in letting your body move before you can think, in throwing yourself in front of somebody else without reservation as if that's going to change the casualties somehow. Life isn't glamorous and dramatic like that, the way it is in comic books. This doesn't change the fact that a desire to help and be some kind of force of change is still in him, of course, fundamentally rooted after an upbringing surrounded by justice and the idea of supporting others--but Aizawa has turned away from the idea of approaching this too actively, such as by joining the police force. Instead he's opted to settle for helping others in an entirely more subtle and low-key way...like, say, educating the future generation. There's little risk to one's livelihood in teaching, and the impact is very slow but has results down the road--he's content with that, he thinks, so long as it means there's no chance of him making the same mistake his father did.
Seeing as he's teaching his students how to do math in a competent fashion instead of fend for themselves in high-stakes superpowered heroism careers, Aizawa doesn't actually need to be nearly as strict and harsh with his teaching as he is in canon--and the school system isn't ridiculously open-armed about teaching freedom like U.A., either, so his class method is considerably saner and more forgiving here, even if he still has pretty high expectations for his students (especially AP class). In general things are less urgent; imminent life or death prospects aren't inherent in his line of work now, so he's never had to shore up the proper hard response to such possibilities either for himself or his students.
This all culminates in an Aizawa that's considerably less proactive than his canon counterpart--a bit less quick to jump to action, a bit less committed to a higher moral focus like actively saving lives with his own two hands. He's never had to actually feed the drive required to become a successful Hero, so he's never developed the intensity of his canon counterpart, even if he does still care a lot about his students in his own way in this AU. He's not as worldly or readily prepared for trouble here, either, lacking the training and study that's also inherent to being a proper Hero in canon. This Aizawa has never actually thrown a punch at anything, and would be more inclined to try getting himself and those around him away from approaching trouble instead of confronting it directly and buying time for others to evacuate. He has much less experience dealing with non-school-related conflict in general, and will be just as lowkey harried and uncertain in emergency situations as any other normal civilian.
Aizawa still addresses problems he faces through a rational and logical lens first and foremost, but because of this lens he'll have a lot of difficulty reconciling with the oddities of Retrospec's influence and the slow bleeding-in of canon Aizawa's memories and motivations. Finding out your past self was an actual superhero, after spending most of your life personally dismissing the genre as childish and unrealistic? That's going to be a very awkward and thorny issue to sort out.
- Born in Tokyo to Japanese parents; mother was a lawyer, father was a cop. Pretty stable and loving family/childhood--he gets the razor-sharp wit and rationality from his mother, but always admired his father's altruism and devotion to being a police officer. His father was also a pretty big superhero comics nerd, and they used to read them together when Shouta was a kid.
- Father dies in the line of duty while Shouta is midway through middle school, taking a bullet meant for a civilian; he's hailed by the media as a hero. Not taking this well, Shouta promptly clams up emotionally and never fully opens back up. His mother, noticing this on top of still reeling from the loss herself to the point of her work suffering, eventually retires early from being a lawyer in an attempt to be more present in Shouta's life--they're both very bad at dealing with emotions, but at least an attempt is made. As an unfortunate result, though, the household as a whole starts to fall on financial hard times.
- After Shouta graduates from middle school, his mother pools their remaining finances to move in with family in America, where there might be more support and opportunities for Shouta. He makes his way through American high school morosely and distantly, but does become adept at budgeting multiple factors of his life meticulously, and graduates with grades high enough to earn him scholarships for college.
- He works two or three different part-time jobs at once over the course of his studies, sending most of the funds to his mother and her family. Having free time becomes more commodity than necessity, and there's little room for socializing. Or sleeping. But it's fine, because he decides he doesn't need these things to get by in life anyway. (His sleep schedule would go on to be utterly destroyed for years to come, though. It still hasn't recovered.)
- Thanks to a natural preference for dealing with problems logically and concisely, Shouta always had an inclination towards mathematics; it started with helping to balance the household checkbooks in middle school, and only solidifies as he takes more advanced classes in college. There's a reliable rationality numbers can provide, and a stint as TA for a calculus professor reveals that helping people with math isn't a terrible time either. Shouta figures he might as well continue doing both of these things, since he hasn't had any other long-term career ideas except--police work maybe? Which is still a minefield of gross-and-not-at-all-rational Feelings, so that's right out.
- He graduates, and finds a teaching position at a high school in the nearby large city of Recolle, accordingly moving into an apartment in Birch Hills upon acceptance. Initially he looked at it as more of an interim job until he could get the time and funds to pursue graduate school/a Master's before taking up a higher-level teaching position in a college. But he ends up...surprisingly attached to both the working environment and student populace of Recolle High, and so he's been there ever since.
- Currently teaches several math classes: Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus--though he's perhaps most well-known for being one of the very small handful of teachers teaching AP Calculus. At this point he's probably gained notoriety among the student populace as a strict and nigh-unfairly difficult teacher to end up with, but it's generally agreed-upon that by the end of a year in one of his classes you either know how to do math or have gotten expelled.
- The student rumor mill has it that Mr. Aizawa has allegedly racked up a larger track record of students expelled than any other teacher in the school, anyway. In reality the number of actual students Aizawa has gotten expelled at his own behest number two or three at most, but numbers tend to multiply by word of dramatic student mouth, and Mr. Aizawa hasn't actually tried to debunk it yet. He might even be encouraging the rumor, actually...because hey, it's a pretty terrifying reputation to have....Mr. Aizawa why are you like this
- He has absolutely no patience for laziness or backtalk in his classes, and will not hesitate to write you up and/or bring you to the office himself. The classwork he gives out is also intensive, especially for AP students, where he's aiming to push them to the kind of study habits they'll need going into college. But he's still an actually decent teacher despite the initial harshness, fully willing to slow down and help students who are genuinely trying their best to learn. It's not unheard of for him to put aside time to tutor a pupil or two outside of class hours; all you have to do is actually get the courage to ask for math help.
AU PERSONALITY:
There's still plenty of parallels to his canon personality. This Aizawa still carries a distinctly tired and disheveled air (though physical dishevelment is more minimal by necessity of a normal and decent teacher dress code), is still very rational and professional, continues to maintain high standards for his students, remains prickly and acerbic both in work and out, and still fundamentally Cares and Wants To Help somewhere deep down in his sleep-deprived heart. Many of these qualities are now just the result of a fairly normal upbringing, influenced more by hard-working and morally-outspoken parents as opposed to the inspiration of Heroes and their cultural prominence in his canon world.
But the biggest differences between Recolle!Aizawa and canon!Aizawa are going to stem from the fallout in the wake of the circumstances of his AU father's death, and the fact that he never became a Hero in this life.
Everyone around Aizawa called his father's actions heroic at the time of his death, but to a grieving young Shouta that had always preferred to analyze things with rationality but then had to grapple this with the intense emotion of the event, he ended up coming to the conclusion that his father's actions were ultimately foolish. In his heart he knows it was just the man's altruistic nature, the quality of person he was, always giving his all to help others--but was it worth it? Did the cost outweigh the gain? A single civilian life was saved, but another life was snuffed out all the same (a life he cared about, a life he misses). It didn't seem fair. It didn't seem right. And the last thing he wanted to hear was it being called heroic. This perception, alongside his emotional clamming in general following his father's passing, stays with him throughout the rest of middle school and has gone entirely unaddressed and unresolved since; Aizawa doesn't really want to open up about this to anyone, and has perfected the art of bottling up these issues for literal years by now.
It's resulted in a jading of the worldview canon Aizawa has. Recolle Aizawa does not believe in that kind of heroism--in letting your body move before you can think, in throwing yourself in front of somebody else without reservation as if that's going to change the casualties somehow. Life isn't glamorous and dramatic like that, the way it is in comic books. This doesn't change the fact that a desire to help and be some kind of force of change is still in him, of course, fundamentally rooted after an upbringing surrounded by justice and the idea of supporting others--but Aizawa has turned away from the idea of approaching this too actively, such as by joining the police force. Instead he's opted to settle for helping others in an entirely more subtle and low-key way...like, say, educating the future generation. There's little risk to one's livelihood in teaching, and the impact is very slow but has results down the road--he's content with that, he thinks, so long as it means there's no chance of him making the same mistake his father did.
Seeing as he's teaching his students how to do math in a competent fashion instead of fend for themselves in high-stakes superpowered heroism careers, Aizawa doesn't actually need to be nearly as strict and harsh with his teaching as he is in canon--and the school system isn't ridiculously open-armed about teaching freedom like U.A., either, so his class method is considerably saner and more forgiving here, even if he still has pretty high expectations for his students (especially AP class). In general things are less urgent; imminent life or death prospects aren't inherent in his line of work now, so he's never had to shore up the proper hard response to such possibilities either for himself or his students.
This all culminates in an Aizawa that's considerably less proactive than his canon counterpart--a bit less quick to jump to action, a bit less committed to a higher moral focus like actively saving lives with his own two hands. He's never had to actually feed the drive required to become a successful Hero, so he's never developed the intensity of his canon counterpart, even if he does still care a lot about his students in his own way in this AU. He's not as worldly or readily prepared for trouble here, either, lacking the training and study that's also inherent to being a proper Hero in canon. This Aizawa has never actually thrown a punch at anything, and would be more inclined to try getting himself and those around him away from approaching trouble instead of confronting it directly and buying time for others to evacuate. He has much less experience dealing with non-school-related conflict in general, and will be just as lowkey harried and uncertain in emergency situations as any other normal civilian.
Aizawa still addresses problems he faces through a rational and logical lens first and foremost, but because of this lens he'll have a lot of difficulty reconciling with the oddities of Retrospec's influence and the slow bleeding-in of canon Aizawa's memories and motivations. Finding out your past self was an actual superhero, after spending most of your life personally dismissing the genre as childish and unrealistic? That's going to be a very awkward and thorny issue to sort out.