As soon as Hound Dog opened the door, Tenya dropped into a low bow, "I cannot apologize enough for my actions and I am prepared to make whatever resitutions you and Principal Nezu deem necessary! I am sorry!"

Kamakiri: Yeah no attempted murder needs a whole lot more than an apology.

There was a long moment of silence that made Tenya hesitantly glance up and he was met with Hound Dog looking at him skeptically, "An apology isn't nearly enough to make up for attempted murder, kid."

(everyone snorted)

Tenya cleared his throat and straightened up, tugging at the bottom of his jacket as Hound Dog turned away from him and walked back into his office. Tenya hesitated in the doorway until Hound Dog sat down at his desk, which he took as an invitation to close the door behind him and sit down on the couch that was pushed against the wall. Hound Dog didn't even look at him for a full minute, which Tenya thought was very impolite, but correcting people had gotten him into more trouble recently than seemed optimal, so he stayed silent. He was supposed to say something though, right?

Iida: I am going to put my foot in my mouth aren't I?

Todoroki(looking down): How would that even fit?

Tsu: Not literally, ribbit.

Todoroki(incredibly confused): Huh?

Tenya was just opening his mouth to apologize again when Hound Dog turned to him with a heavy sigh, "Of all the students that could have gone straight off the deep end and planned murder, I don't know whether to be suprised that it was you or not."

Everyone: Wait what?

Tenya leaned back slightly in his shock, "Um... what?"

Hound Dog sighed again, "I don't know whether or not to be surprised. On the one hand, from all accounts, you're a perfect student. Studious, rule abiding, quick to accept criticism. Basically a teacher's perfect dream."

Aizawa(dryly): And yet somehow snapped and tried to kill somebody.

"Thank you?" Tenya wasn't sure where this was going. Wasn't this mandatory visit with Hound Dog to make sure he knew that going after the hero killer was wrong and that he wasn't going to do it again? Shouldn't Hound Dog be scolding him instead of praising him?

Hound Dog: It's also supposed to help us understand why you did that.

Iida: Um... because I was irrationally angry?

Thirteen: I wouldn't say irrational... I don't know what I'd do if a close relative got crippled.

"I wasn't finished." Hound Dog said dryly. "Like I said, on the one hand you seem like the perfect student, but on the other... you're rigid."

Tenya sat up ramrod straight. He knew he could come across that way, of course. His brother had said it enough times to make him familiar with the term, not to mention his classmates.

Everyone: Mm-hm.

"With all due respect, Hound Dog," Tenya straightened his glasses. "I am struggling to understand how that is a bad thing... or even how it relates to the subject of this meeting."

Nezu: It actually relates quite a lot to this meeting.

Nejire: It does?

"And that, Iida, is at least partially why we're here." Hound Dog shook his head tiredly and grabbed a strand of liquorice from a candy bowl on his desk. "Tell me, what happens when you try to bend a piece of liquorice?"

Tamaki: It bends?

"It bends?" Tenya answered hesitantly. "Again, I mean no disrespect, but what does this have to do with..."

Komori: Maybe you should just let him finish.

Iida: Yes... that seems appropriate...

"And a candy cane?" Hound Dog didn't let him finish, instead fishing out a candy cane from the same bowl and holding it in front of him to illustrate whatever point he was trying to make. "If you try to bend that in half, does it bend or break?"

Setsuna: Uh breaks.

Kendo: Anyone else feeling weirdly tense from this? No? Just me?

Tenya was fairly certain this was a trick question somehow, like one of Aizawa sensei's logical ruses, but he wasn't quite sure what the correct response was supposed to be, so the only option left was to answer honestly, "It breaks, sir?"

"Exactly." Hound Dog grinned. "Because it's rigid. So, Iida, in this example, you're basically a candy cane."

Todoroki: But Iida is a human.

Dabi: Oh for goodness' sake Shoto...

Tenya was taken aback and spluttered, "E-excuse me?"

(everyone snorted)

Hound Dog laughed, "Don't worry! It's not supposed to make perfect sense. It's just a silly example that's meant to show how different people deal with stress. Some people, when they encounter something stressful, are able to bend with the stressor and bounce back, more or less no worse for wear, kind of like liquorice can. But some people, when they encounter a large stressor, say... their brother getting targeted by a serial killer, for example, don't have a flexible enough enough worldview to be able to bend with that stressor. So instead..."

Hound Dog snapped the candy cane in half and Tenya gulped, "That's... a bit of a violent example."

Joke: He doesn't mean it just literally.

Was he trying to drive home that Tenya had almost died? Because the bandages still on his arms were already doing a good job of that.

"Yeah, it kinda is." Hound Dog agreed. "But that's the point, isn't it? Tenya, as much as I hate to say it, I'm not really surprised that it was you that went from zero to a hundred like you did, and not just because you have an engine quirk. I wouldn't wish what happened to your brother on anyone, but the fact is that when your brother was attacked, you had a choice. You could have accepted it. You could have been angry. You could have thrown yourself into heroism. But at the end of the day, you hadn't developed the flexibility to do any of that. You were too rigid and so what Stain did... it shattered you. In order to get you to where you need to be to reenter the hero course, we're going to need to do some work to see why you never developed the emotional flexibility to deal with stressors like this and help you learn, for lack of a better way to put it, to bend like a piece of liquorice."

Iida: Huh...

"I..." Tenya was still a little lost, but that was his problem to deal with. "I'll do my best!"

Hound Dog shook his head fondly, "I'm sure you will. You always go things full throttle... which is also something that we need to address. Have you ever heard of black or white thinking?"

Mina: I think I've heard of that...

Hawks: Oh I think I see where this is going.

"Yes?" Again, Tenya wasn't quite sure if this was a trick question or not. Wasn't giving things his all a good thing? "I believe I've heard it mentioned in passing before."

"Well, black and white thinking is when you see something as all or nothing." Hound Dog explained. "Things are either all good or all bad. There is no in between. It's called a logical fallacy because when you think like this, your brain is lying to you. The real world works in shades of grey."

Midoriya: Like vigilantism...

"Do you mean to imply that I have this..." Tenya hesitated, "logical fallacy?"

Mt. Lady: Uh huh.

"Pretty much." Hound Dog shrugged. "Iida, what your little stint with vigilantism demonstrates is that you see the world in shades of black and white. It's part of why your worldview shattered when you were confronted with a substantial enough stressor. With this thought process, if a student has their feet on the desk, that's bad, disrespectful and a million other things, but basically, your brain flips that switch and sees it as evil. But if someone is following the rules, then they're good. Does that make sense?"

"Yes..." Tenya nodded slowly. "I suppose it does. But, sir, things are good or bad! Are you telling me that students putting their feet on the desk is a good thing?"

Mt. Lady: Not really, but it's not exactly evil either, you know.

"I'm saying it could go either way." Hound Dog shrugged. "That student could be being disrespectful, or they could simply find having their feet on the desk to be more comfortable than sitting normally. They could even have some injury that means that they need to elevate their feet. There's no way to know. It's a grey area."

"I..." Tenya nodded resolutely. "I see what you mean."

"But do you really?" Hound Dog asked. "Or are you just agreeing with me because I'm an authority figure and therefore good?"

(everyone snorted)

Kaminari: Called out!

Iida(sinking slowly in his seat): Well, that is the chapter title...

Tenya opened his mouth to answer, but stopped before the words could even leave his throat. He owed it to Hound Dog and everyone to at least think about his answer, right? His gut instinct was that he should agree with Hound Dog. He was a teacher and a counselor, so he obviously knew more than Tenya did, but... did he really agree that there were some things that existed in shades of grey?

"You don't have to answer right now." Hound Dog said kindly, pulling him from his thoughts. "But I want you to think about it okay?"

Tenya nodded. It was... it was a lot to think about.

Shoda: Well, at least he's learning.

"What if..." He started slowly. "What if I can, logically, admit that it makes sense for grey shades to exist naturally, but I'm not sure if they should? For example, I'm not sure I'm comfortable in allowing something to stay grey and having that be fine indefinitely, if that makes sense."

Hound Dog grinned, "Well then, I'd say we're starting to make progress."

Uraraka: Yeah, you definitely are, Iida.

"So..." Kirishima jogged to keep up with Katsuki, who did not slow down to let him catch up. "Kinda crazy to have finals so soon after, like, moving our entire lives, right? Are you sure you're alright to help me study?"

Kirishima: Oh look at that Bakugo! You really do care!

Bakugo: Shut up!

Katsuki scoffed, "As if I'd let you fail with the rest of those extras, @$#*( Hair."

"Hey! They're not going to fail!" Kirishima laughed. "You have to be at least a little smart to even get into UA you know? You gotta have both brains and brawn!"

"Yeah, well then how did you get in?" Katsuki smirked. "Because it obviously wasn't your intelligence, hair-for-for brains!"

(everyone snorted)

Kirishima gasped and held a hand dramatically to his chest, "Why Bakubro! Are you calling me hot? Cause it sounds like you think I'm pretty strong and manly!"

"What?" Katsuki spluttered and shoved Kirishima away. "No way! I'm calling you stupid, dumbass!"

(everyone burst out laughing)

Not that he was unattractive, obviously, but that wasn't anything subjective. Anyone with eyes could see that Kirishima was strong, and the way he fought was pretty impressive too. Not that it made him any less of an idiot.

Kaminari(gasping): Oh my goodness he thinks Kirishima's-

Bakugo(going red): Everyone quiet!

"Of course!" Kirisima winked. "But you're gonna help me with that one, right? On our study date?"

"It's not a date, you idiot!"

(everyone giggled but Mina was frowning)

Mina: Hm... what if...

Bakugo(realizing what she was thinking): Absolutely not raccoon eyes!