in many ways koichi was aizawa's first ever "student" and that makes me so emotional. aizawa, a beat down guy who isolates himself from everyone and fights crime in a rough neighborhood and is grieving is forced to interact with koichi, an upbeat guy who attracts friends in your typical shonen protagonist way who is running towards the one goal he wanted in life. aizawa is someone who koichi learns hero skills from yes, but aizawa learns so much from koichi in return. it's the connection to koichi that gives that final push for aizawa to stop self-isolating as much. it's likely that a large part of aizawa agreeing to the teaching job at UA is because of what he learned from working with koichi in naruhata. aizawa is harsh because he knows the worst than can happen to hero course students due to oboro's death, but he's also witnessed firsthand what kind of heroes average people can become when given the opportunity. he knows, because of koichi and pop step and naruhata, that the best heroes are made by experiences and an internal drive to help the world be a better place. it's part of why he's always the harshest teacher but always willing to reach a hand out and offer a chance or two to those who need it. also, part of how koichi became the version of himself we see at the end of vigilantes is because of aizawa and the things he learned just by working with him. even if it's not officially acknowledged, the two of them certainly respect each other and view each other as people to learn from and are likely friends. this friendship with koichi clearly informs aizawa's teaching in a way (aizawa's overly harsh nature isn't just informed by oboro's death, it's probably also related to watching koichi take hits without knowing when to stop because he doesn't have that formal hero education), and working with aizawa informs the kind of hero koichi is. and i love it.
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