The alarms hit on Wednesday. Khan was pacing his room when it started. Doors started slamming down the hall. Staff voices rose. Someone shouted a name. Someone else swore. The building woke up fast.
Khan grabbed his jacket and stepped out with the rest of them. He slipped into the stream, another body moving toward the noise, because that's what people did when alarms screamed. Not because they were brave. Because standing still felt worse.
The bus was already loading by the time they reached the lot. Teachers piled in, half-dressed, half-awake, all tense. Aizawa wasn't there. Nemuri wasn't either. He climbed aboard without comment and took a seat near the middle. Someone offered him a bottle of water. He took it, nodded thanks, didn't open it.
USJ came into view in pieces. Concrete. Gates. Too many emergency lights for a training day. The bus screeched to a stop. Staff spilled out, shouting over each other. Orders flew. Names got called. Someone asked where All Might was. Nobody answered.
By the time they arrived, the screaming was over.
Students came out in groups. Some limping. Some carried. Some holding onto each other because letting go felt risky.
Khan stood off to the side with the rest of the staff, face set to professional concern. He counted heads without moving his lips. Counted again.
Everyone was alive. He sighed in relief. That wasn't fake. Aizawa came through next. Wrapped in bandages. Scarf torn to hell. Eyes half-lidded but still sharp. He leaned on Thirteen for balance and waved off a stretcher with a grunt.
"Sit your ass down," Nemuri snapped from somewhere behind.
"I am," Aizawa replied. "This counts."
Nemuri came out after him. Leather scuffed. Hair frizzed from sweat and smoke. She looked tired. There was blood on her sleeve that wasn't hers.
She spotted Khan and stopped short.
"You," she said. "You're here."
"Unfortunately," Khan replied. "I was enjoying my morning."
She huffed a laugh and rolled her shoulder. "You miss the fun part."
"I saw the buses. That was enough excitement."
Nemuri glanced back at the evac line. Students still filing out. Teachers barking instructions. Medics moving fast.
"I had a bad feeling," she said. "Didn't want to ignore it."
Khan nodded. "Good call."
Her Quirk may have been weaker than that of most other teachers, but in a situation where dozens of low-level villains were attacking students, she performed better than almost anyone else. Even Aizawa. That difference likely saved most of the students.
Aizawa heard that and snorted. "You did fine."
Nemuri smirked. "I know I did."
He shot her a look. "I'll remember this next time."
"You won't," she replied. "You'll be unconscious."
Khan cleared his throat. "Medical wants statements once everyone's stable."
Aizawa waved him off. "Later."
Across the yard, students sat on the ground in clusters. Blankets draped over shoulders. Water bottles passed hand to hand. Some stared into nothing. Some talked too fast. Some shook.
Khan scanned for familiar faces.
Uraraka sat with Tsuyu and a few others, wrapped in a thermal blanket that swallowed her frame. Her hands trembled when she drank.
He didn't go to her.
Momo stood a little apart, back straight, jaw tight. Blood on her sleeve. Someone else's. She kept rubbing at it with a cloth that was already soaked through.
Mina paced in a short loop, trying to crack jokes that landed flat. Nobody laughed. She kept trying anyway.
Khan stayed put while the last of the students were loaded onto buses. Names were called. Attendance checked. Parents notified. When the yard finally thinned out, Nezu arrived with police and oversight suits in tow. The rat looked calm. That meant he was pissed.
Someone approached when waved over.
"Report," Nezu said.
"Villains breached via warp," The teacher replied. "Students scattered. Staff engaged. Evac completed with zero fatalities."
"Zero," Nezu echoed.
"Yes."
Nezu's eyes flicked to Aizawa, to Nemuri being patched up, to the scuffed ground. "Acceptable outcome."
The man nodded. "Press wants a statement."
"They can wait."
"They won't."
Nezu smiled. "Then make them."
Khan stayed out of the way. That's the only thing he could do while Nezu was there. You made yourself background noise and waited for the mouse to decide you were furniture.
So Khan drifted to the edge of the chaos. He carried water when someone asked. He pointed a shaken student toward a medic. He held a clipboard, then handed it off when someone louder reached for it.
Police sealed the perimeter. Oversight reps argued with each other about wording. Medics kept moving. Eventually the noise thinned out into something manageable. When it was over enough to count, Khan left with the rest of the useless teachers.
Back on campus, staff peeled off in different directions. Khan headed straight for his office. He shut the door behind him, dropped his bag on the chair, and laughed.
"Good. Great," he said in his mind.
He rolled his shoulders and walked to the window. Nemuri really picked up the hint. If she hadn't, some student could've died. Maybe all of them. He'd still get rewards. Just not his girls.
This outcome worked.
He poured himself water instead of coffee. His hands shook a little when he twisted the cap. He sat and pulled up the incident logs. Names scrolled by. Injuries. Minor. Moderate. No fatalities. Aizawa listed as stable. Nemuri cleared for light duty. Thirteen bruised but breathing.
Khan leaned back and sighed.
Parents would scream for a week, then quiet down when the talking heads promised reforms and reviews. Donations would spike. The school always got richer after bleeding in public.
He closed the file and stared at the ceiling.
A knock hit the door.
"Khan-sensei?" A woman's voice.
"Yeah. Come in."
One of the oversight reps stepped inside. Clipboard. Neutral face. Tired eyes.
"Just confirming," she said. "You weren't present at the USJ site during the initial breach?"
"No," Khan replied. "I arrived with the second staff bus."
She nodded, satisfied enough, and turned to leave.
"Oh," she added, hand on the door. "If anything comes to mind later, let us know."
"Of course."
Midoriya Izuku.
Still not in 1-A. Still not on the bus. Still absent from the chaos that made heroes famous. That boy missed a defining moment. That hurt worse than broken bones.
System chimed.
[Timeline Divergence Detected.
Branch: "USJ - Midoriya Exclusion / Midnight Inclusion"
Result: No Fatalities. Partial Canon Integrity Preserved
Reward Unlocked: Lesser Trait - "Hamstring Snapper"
Description: You can focus on someone to increase the likelihood of pulled hamstrings. No guarantees.]
Khan squinted at the notification. The fuck was that supposed to mean?
He clicked to read details.
[Lesser Trait: Hamstring Snapper
Your attention now applies low-tier physical instability to nearby targets.
Effect: Targets within emotional focus radius have an increased chance of minor muscle strain, pulled tendons, and leg cramps during high-stress activity.
Duration: Passive.
Cooldown: None.
Side Effect: Potential to cause inconvenient stumbles, failed landings, and unplanned injury-induced bonding.
System Note: "It's not always about the grand gesture. Sometimes ruining a moment is enough."
You looked at her. She pulled a muscle. Coincidence? Probably not.]
Khan stared at it, making a sound between a laugh and a groan.
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
Just... snap some hamstrings by giving someone a meaningful stare.
It was petty.
It was so goddamn petty.
And he kinda loved it.
"Alright, sure," he said, tossing the tablet on the desk. "That's what we're doing now? Fine. Trip a girl during warmups and build a therapy session out of it. New meta unlocked."
Khan slid the tablet off to the side and opened his email. Junk. More junk. Nezu forwarding press reports with the kind of titles that made Khan want to fake a bomb threat just to get out of reading them.
"UA HEROES: UNBREAKABLE EVEN UNDER ATTACK!"
"SYMBOL OF PEACE REASSURES NATION AFTER USJ"
"STUDENT BRAVERY SHINES THROUGH THE CHAOS"
He clicked over to the student counseling queue.
Thirty-eight unread requests.
Half from parents.
Half from teachers pretending they were worried.
And at least four from the actual students.
Ochako's name sat near the top. So did Momo's. Even Toru popped up. Which was interesting, since most people forgot she had a face, let alone problems.
Khan cracked his neck, dragged a hand through his hair, and opened Ochako's form first. Nothing detailed. Just a vague request for "support" after the incident. No parent contact.