"You fail."
The words echoed in my ears, as I stared down at who had muttered them. For the first time since I met Nezu, I felt something different than wariness, happiness and curiosity.
I was angry.
Extremely so.
My hands clenched into fists at my sides, and I could feel the familiar weight of Excalibur at my waist, as if the blade itself was responding to my emotions. The room felt smaller now, though maybe the fact that I was focusing on the only other inhabitant in the room wasn't helping.
Yet as I stared at Nezu's casual demeanor it only made the fire in my chest burn hotter.
"You put them in danger."
"Did I?" Nezu asked as he swished the spoon in his freshly made tea, the scent filling my nostrils. The question was most certainly rhetorical, delivered with that same infuriating calm he always maintained.
However, I didn't care that it was rhetorical.
"You put people in danger, simply to win a bet," I almost spat out, my voice carrying a venom I rarely let slip.
The memory of what I'd just witnessed flashed through my mind, students trapped under rubble, the massive 0-pointer robots bearing down on helpless teenagers, the fear in their eyes as tons of metal threatened to crush them. The green haired kid from the sludge incident his right arm and legs broken, thankfully he got caught by another test taker, otherwise I would have caught him too.
"I mean I didn't do it," Nezu said, still stirring his tea with maddening patience. "One of the professors pressed the button to activate the 0 pointers, plus they would have been activated whether you accepted my bet or not."
His casual dismissal only fueled my rage further. How could he be so flippant about this?
"You," I stepped closer, my restraint on my strength waning for just a bit, making me crack one of the tiles.
"Put."
I stepped closer.
"People."
I stepped closer, until I was looming over his small form.
"In danger."
I now stood a foot in front of him, gazing down at his button-like eyes, he really was like a stuffed animal, he had no emotion behind those eyes. I thought that maybe..
"So?" he asked sipping from his tea.
The single word hit me like a slap.
"So!"
"Don't yell."
The command was delivered in the same tone he might use to ask for more tea, and somehow that made it worse. I tried to calm myself, releasing a shaky sigh that did little to quell the storm raging inside me.
Nezu wasn't a bad person, I told myself. He had helped me, given me a path forward, shown me kindness when no one else would.
He wouldn't have put people in danger without reason... and yet that justification still didn't help me much.
The images kept flashing through my mind, students who could have been crushed, lives that hung in the balance while I stood there like a statue, bound by a stupid bet.
"Why?" I asked.
"Why what?" His head tilted slightly, a gesture that might have been endearing if not for the context.
"Why did you put them in danger."
Nezu actually seemed to show one emotion at my question.
Befuddlement.
"I mean we already did that when we sent them into Mock City A. The 1 pointer, 2 pointers and 3 pointers all can cause considerable damage given the right circumstances." He paused, taking another sip. "Why didn't you act out before then if you were worried about their endangerment, or are you just a hypocrite?"
"Nezu, this isn't some game," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I want you to tell me right now."
"Hmm but it is a game," he said, sipping his tea once more with that same infuriating calm.
That's it!
The last thread of my self-control snapped. My hand moved to Excalibur's hilt, and the blade sang as it cleared its sheath in one fluid motion. The holy sword gleamed in the office light, its edge sharp enough to cut through basically anything like a paper. For a moment, the room was filled with Excalibur's sacred light, making Nezu squint.
"Huh cool sword," Nezu observed with genuine interest, leaning forward slightly to get a better look, his eyes squinting all the more. "I never actually saw it up close, but what exactly are you gonna do with it? I know your pathological aversion to violence. If you want to be threatening, you actually have to follow through."
He was right, and we both knew it. I had never seriously hurt anyone in all my years as a vigilante. I couldn't start now, especially not with someone who, despite everything, I still considered an ally.
I gnashed my teeth in frustration and sheathed Excalibur.
"Please just tell me why?"
My voice came out smaller than I intended, almost pleading.
Nezu's expression softened slightly, though that wasn't saying much. "Why? Well they are trying to earn their spot in U.A. Their spot as future heroes. Pillars of society and morality, but pillars crumble all the time."
He stood up from his chair, walking over to the window that overlooked the practice grounds where the exam had taken place.
"The lesson they had to learn about the 0 pointers was an important one for anyone who's learning to be a pro hero. You can't always win," he continued, glancing back at me with what might have been sympathy. His gaze lingered on Excalibur and Avalon at my side. "Eh maybe you can, but for everyone else, nope. Sooner or later everyone finds a bigger fish, so when you do find that bigger fish what you need to do, what you must do, is escape, run and protect those you can while in the process. In fact we even told them in the briefing, you see a 0 pointer, you avoid it."
I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders, but the knot in my stomach remained. "That's just a lesson, you haven't told me what would happen to the students who didn't run away."
"Well then in that case most likely they would have gotten hurt, yes," he admitted with the same casual tone he might use to discuss the day's lunch menu.
"And you don't see the problem with that."
It wasn't really a question anymore. I was beginning to understand something fundamental about the person I had agreed to trust with my future. Nezu operated on a different morality than mine.
He thought of people as numbers, the more people the more numbers, the more valued the person the more they counted, Nezu was a person who would sacrifice the few for the many. The greater good.
Nezu turned fully to face me, his dark eyes meeting mine with an intensity that made me want to look away. "No one would have died. I put severe limits on the 0 pointers, just for that purpose and anyone who did get hurt would be healed right up by our nurse, Recovery Girl. Her quirk, Heal, is quite potent."
"They would still have gotten injured," I protested, my voice rising again despite my efforts to stay calm. "In fact some did, don't you understand the pain.."
"Lad," Nezu interrupted, his voice taking on a different quality. "What just happened to you, to turn you like this?"
The question caught me off guard, so I snapped.
"ME! What about you! Fine you're right, they are training to be pro heroes, they should learn that they are risking their lives, that pain comes with the job, but why are you smiling about this topic? You hurt people today, good people, it doesn't matter what they signed up for! Just what happened to you, to make you not care!"
The words poured out of me like a dam bursting, carrying with them all the frustration and confusion and anger I had been holding back. Nezu's small smile never wavered, and somehow that made everything worse.
"I do care," he said simply, leaving it at that.
I stared at him for a long moment, searching his expression for some sign of the callousness I had been railing against. But instead I saw nothing.
I... I needed to clear my head. I turned around, ready to burst out of the open window and get ready to run, for as long as I could.
"Wait."
I didn't stop, I was ready to burst out when...
"You lost the bet."
I stopped, my body freezing mid-step.
The bet.
That stupid damn bet.
"I did, so?"
"You were going to get something if you won but you never asked me what I would get from you."
I felt a chill crawl up my spine.
"What do you want," I asked, wanting to be done as soon as possible
"I don't want anything, Arthur, I have pretty much everything a hyper intelligent mouse would ever need. I want you to mull it over, why the first lesson I tried to teach you was restraint."
"Restraint?" I muttered, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. "I know about restraint. I've been restraining myself for six years."
Then I burst through the window, out of the office and out of U.A.
A/N: Yeah Arthur did not like the practical exam for U.A. or the bet for that matter. Now his relationship with Nezu is a bit different, it isn't strained exactly but Arthur needs some time away from dear old principal.
Onto other things, the votes have been decided, but since I'm the author I have decided not to listen to the votes, yeah I know, I'm a bad guy, however I have listened to one comment and have decided to make Koji Koda a student of 1 B and to discard a 1 B student we knew nothing about, you may be wondering who but I won't tell you, let's see if you can figure out who lol.
Final paragraph of this author note. I loved writing this chapter, like loved it, writing dialogue, especially back and forth dialogue of somewhat opposing views like this, is so... engaging. Also I am fucking beat, driving seven hours does that to a person, so I apologize for the late chapter, the bonus chapter will come out tomorrow as I have the time. That is all for today. Thx for reading. Author out.