This was one of the only times you'd ever seen Shouta Aizawa look... uncomfortable.

Today, a woman had abruptly stormed into homeroom while Shouta was in the middle of a lesson, announcing that there had been a change to the students' training schedule. He'd visibly jumped at the interruption, but recovered almost immediately, straightening into the professionalism and familiar boredom he usually carried himself with. That was, at least, until his eyes landed on the woman standing at the front of the classroom.

His entire demeanor changed.

His shoulders stiffened, his expression went strangely blank, and something guarded settled over his face. He fell silent almost instantly, staring at her as though he'd just been presented with a problem he had absolutely no desire to deal with.

Before anyone could really take notice of the subtle change, the woman introduced herself.

Kijo Aizawa - His mother.

Any chance of the class questioning their teacher's sudden discomfort disappeared almost immediately, replaced by excitement. Shouta's mother was here - the parent of their teacher, the person they respected and had spent so much time learning from. Something personal about their usually private, perpetually exhausted Sensei? That was far more interesting than whatever lesson they'd been discussing five minutes ago.

Even so, Shouta did everything he could to put as much distance between himself and his mother as the classroom allowed. He pulled his scarf higher over his face, folded his arms tightly across his chest, and looked away, practically radiating the silent message that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with this.

His mother, however, acted as though she were the sweetest woman in the world.

She began recounting stories from Shouta's childhood, speaking about his school days with the fondness of a loving mother reminiscing about her son. She smiled, laughed, and embellished little details as though she'd always been there for him, as though she'd known him intimately and cared about every little thing he'd done growing up.

Shouta let her.

He knew better than to confront her in front of his students. Whatever this was - a performance, a power move, or simply another attempt to get under his skin - he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of seeing him react. Besides, he'd never really gotten used to discomfort, no matter how much experience he'd had with it over the years. Thirty years of life hadn't magically made situations like this easier.

He just had to keep it together. Especially in front of his young, impressionable students.

"Oh, Shouta was such a sweetheart," Kijo cooed, wearing the expression of a doting mother so perfectly that it was almost convincing. Almost.

Shouta narrowed his eyes slightly, already suspecting this was some sort of power move.

Unfortunately, his students were far more receptive to the performance.

He could see several of their eyes lighting up with curiosity. Even Toru, invisible as always, practically sat up in her seat and immediately raised her hand.

"Oh, oh! I wanna see photos! Do you have photos?!" she asked excitedly.

A few other students immediately voiced their agreement, the classroom filling with eager murmurs.

Tenya raised both hands in an attempt to restore order, chopping them through the air with his usual intensity. "Hagakure-kun! Let's not get too hasty!" he insisted. Then, after a moment of consideration, his expression softened with genuine interest. "But... I suppose knowing more about our Sensei will improve class morale!"