"That's my daughter!" echoed a desperate voice from over the waiting police officers, stances firm and weapons held high. Two officers stepped aside for Naoko Hoshino to shove his way through, taking wide leaps through his narrow path.
"Dad?" Kairi gulped, voice catching in the quickness of her heart. Her body stiffened when he caught her in a restricting embrace. Worries shook from him as he locked his grip on her.
"Your friend Momo, she called the station and said she was worried that if your hunch was right, something bad might happened to you..." He explained between desperate breaths, a sign that he had become incredibly emotional. "Are you okay? My god, Riri, you look...!" He drew back and looked at her. Face and clothes covered in dirt, and hair rustled. His fingers fell to her face, assessing her features for any sign of damage. Two of the paramedics immediately ran over to them, first taking Bakugo from between them. They looped his arms around their own necks and walked him cautiously towards the ambulance. Kairi shook away the imprint of the weight he had left, secretly wishing he was still hanging onto her so she would have a reason to ignore her father's hug.
"I'm fine, really. Mostly small scrapes and bruises from running around."
"We... really should make sure that gas didn't do any damage to our systems though," Shoto stated plainly, nodding in the direction of the ambulance. Mr. Hoshino whipped around to give Shoto a horrified look.
"Gas?!" he asked. "What... did they do to you?" The ground shook. An effect from whatever was happening inside.
"Just sleeping gas..." Kairi dismissed, but the shaking in her spirit and the tidal wave of relief and terror gave away how she really felt about the situation. "We're... okay, I think."
"Maybe that's the case, but I want you to go to the hospital and be kept overnight for observation." Her stomach blipped, growing nauseous at the thought of a night in that place. The smell was already rising in her memory and making her want to puke.
"No..." she started softly, but her father didn't seem to hear her, and looked over at Shoto, dropping his hands from Kairi's face.
"You too, young man. I am going to strongly recommend to your father that you be held for observation!" he said. Shoto remained quietly and looked down at Kairi's hands at her sides. The broken chains swayed around her wrists.
"Kairi, I think you should at least visit the ambulance," he said lowly, making sure she noticed the drop of his eyes to her wrists. Kairi swallowed and tucked her hands behind her back quickly, but not before Hoshino had spotted the cuffs.
"What is...?" he began. He reached around Kairi and snatched a hold of her arm, seeing the reddened mark at her wrist, and the droplets of blood from the small cuts. "Kairi! My god... Are these handcuffs?"
"Of all people, I would think you would know handcuffs when you see them," Kairi said lowly. She tore her wrist away from his grasp, rubbing the soreness he disturbed.
"It was rhetorical," he snapped impatiently. "Obviously, you knew that. I'm just... I don't... they had you handcuffed?!"
"Clearly, you can see that," Kairi mumbled, eyes looking back at the ground. The sickly whine and clatter of the broken doors interrupted their conversation. Endeavor and Eraserhead emerged from the doors, holding the "doctors" and security guard by their sides in cuffs. Momo, Tsu, and Izuku followed close behind, the lights from inside the building creating a dramatic glow around them as they left the building. Kurisu shamefully watched his shuffling feet as two cops ran out to grab him the arms, carefully lowering him into one of the squad cars. Mr., Hoshino snarled at the sight of him.
"That's him?" he asked gruffly. Shoto nodded. Naoko Hoshino narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze.
"Stop!" Kairi barked, roughly shoving a hand against her father's shoulder. "You're reading his mind, aren't you? Dad, you're on duty! You're not supposed to do that unless you have a warrant to do so or are facing a matter of life or death!"
"How are they going to know if I did it right now?" he challenged with a dark smirk. "Kairi, they kidnapped you and your friend! You think I'm going to let that stop me when it comes to my daughter?!"
"What about personal ethics?" Kairi reminded adamantly, determination staring him down. "'Allowing your personal ethics and morals to bend for one moment in selfishness is enough to break the road of integrity'. Do you remember that?" Her accusing tone flared, as she eyed her father with accurate judgement. He dropped his eyes from Kurisu's squad car, breathing deeply.
"No shortcuts," he added with recollection. "Which... while we are talking about shortcuts... What the hell were you thinking, Kairi?" Fear for her safety having disappeared, the stern disappointment shone through him. Kairi dropped into herself, growing small under his voice. "I barely get back to the precinct, so proud of the work you and your class put into your project – something I was proud to be sharing with my colleagues! Next thing I know, I'm receiving a message from Momo and she informs you and Shoto are breaking into QuirKey?! Are you aware breaking and entering is against the law?! Goddamn it, Kairi, you knew that when you were six! Did you put her up to this?" His eyes darkened again and he shifted quickly to Shoto's direction.
"N-no! This wasn't him, I promise!" Kairi immediately screamed, waving her arms frantically to pull back her father's attention. "This was all me! Completely me!"
"Kairi, no, clearly if I was there it was me too-" Shoto interjected.
"Yeah, fuck that, it was me-"
"Mr. Hoshino, ignore her, I assure you-"
"No, shut up, Shoto, I'm-"
"ENOUGH!" Eraserhead growled, ceasing their arguing immediately. He raised his slotted goggles to his forehead while he approached. From behind him, their friends and classmates waited at a safe distance. Endeavor helped the man with the lion head, the last of the QuirKey staff members, into the police vehicle before slamming its door. The entire time, Endeavor's eyes were boring into Shoto, asking about a million heated questions. Shoto turned away, acting as if he hadn't even seen his father. "Mr. Hoshino, I would advise this discussion be saved for once they have received the proper treatment. Principal Nezu and I will figure out how to address this situation as it affects the school. First and foremost comes their health, and I would advise you get them to the hospital right away." He looked up to the ambulance, where Bakugo was lying on a stretcher, lines drawing out of his arm. They didn't seem to be in much of a hurry, however. An indication they had figured out he was just sleeping and in no immediate danger.
Mr. Hoshino nodded solemnly, agreeing. "Kairi, do you feel you are in need of immediate medical attention, or are you okay with me driving you to the hospital?"
"No, it's okay you can drive me..." she whispered.
"Shoto!" Endeavor called from where he stood beside the car. He threw his thumb to the area behind him. "Let's get you to the hospital right now!" In a strange twist of irony, Kairi could almost feel Shoto's own emotion. His shoulders tightened as he grew ridged, ignoring his father's remark.
"I apologize if I am imposing, Sir," he began, facing her father. "Would it be too much trouble for me to ride along with you? Since you're already heading there..."
"Your father is going to need to go to the hospital anyway to fill out the papers. I'm sure he wants to talk to you," Hoshino said.
"Dad?" Kairi said, and raised her hand to tap against the middle of her forehead – a sign they used in public when she wanted him to read her mind in order to avoid being overheard. Endeavor isn't the best example of a father, and Shoto does not want to be alone in the car with him. Especially when he knows his father is not happy. Mr. Hoshino's eyes bugged, but he sighed with exasperation – as if he already had some idea.
"All right... jump in the vehicle. Give me a minute then..." Kairi pulled against Shoto's shirt, leading him towards the particular vehicle she knew was her father's based on its unique identifying number. She opened the back door and slid on in, Shoto following after. The door shut, Kairi slumped in her seat, lowering her head.
"Drop your head," she said.
"Why?" Shoto asked. She nodded towards him.
"All of Japan knows who you are and can recognize you instantly. Do you really want to be seen riding in the back of a police vehicle?" Shoto paled and dropped himself just of view. Through the sheen of the red and blue lights, Hoshino approached Endeavor and spoke in front of him with his hands. Compared to Enji's muscular and intimidating form, pronounced by the flickers of flames across his face and body, Mr. Hoshino looked as if he were a small child. He was only about average height and police training had given him a rougher look, but he was no comparison to the number one hero. Endeavor nodded, but didn't appear too pleased. Crossed arms, and then a glare at the vehicle explained everything they needed to know, before Endeavor stalked off towards one of the civilians vehicles. Hoshino jogged back to his car and slid into the driver's seat.
"Where's Rena?" Kairi asked, looking at the empty passenger seat.
"Oh... I left a little too quickly," he chuckled nervously. "I was a bit upset."
"So much for never leave your partner behind," Kairi laughed. "She's not going to like that you drove."
"I scratched it one time..." he mumbled to himself, shaking his head.
"What did you tell my father?" Shoto asked.
"I told him that Kairi got a little more injured than you did, and you wanted to ride with her to keep an eye on her. He didn't look too happy, but also didn't say much."
"That's not really a lie..." Shoto said. Kairi's chest pattered. She coughed to cover up the sensation. He flipped his eyes back, bearing down on her.
"Are you okay?"
"Dad! I'm fine," she said. He stared for a long moment, before letting out his breath and pushing the shifter against the console. He looked past them, out the window before slowly backing up. As they sped away from the lab, Kairi covered her face with her hands, waiting for the sobbing to start.
"You did not break in. They let you in?" Mr. Hoshino clarified for a third time as he sat before both Kairi and Shoto lying in their hospital beds. Just as they had said, they weren't able to find anything wrong with them. But considering the sleeping gas they had inhaled was of yet unknown substance, they were strongly advised to be held for observation and testing, in case there happened to dangerous chemicals in whatever they were giving. The surroundings of the hospital already left her feeling restricted and sick, so Kairi was a strong advocate for allowing Shoto to share a room with her. Endeavor was against it, and said as much. There was no argument from Mr. Hoshino, and Shoto practically pleaded with his father to sign off on it. With an eyeroll, he agreed to it and they were led to their room.
It was still a daunting task, to be stuck in a hospital room knowing she was going to have to stare at the lights and smell that awful sterile stench. However, Shoto's being there was a comfort, even if she also felt guilty for being the reason for it. They mirrored IVs leading to monitor carts as Mr. Hoshino sat on a stool before them, listing off all the pieces of information they gave through their matching stories. Enji Todoroki overtook his own small stool, his towering presence distracting Kairi as she kept looking over to his vile glare. Shoto seemed to be the only one who had learned to completely ignore him. Even Mr. Hoshino looked over from time to time.
"Yes, I spoke with the guard through the intercom and they let me him. You can ask for the security footage," Shoto said again.
"We spoke to them and I got a little aggravated. Made them a little mad," said Kairi.
"And you went through the door without their permission?" Mr. Hoshino clarified.
"Again, yes. That is the only thing we did that was essentially wrong," Shoto said.
"I'm not sure you can really prosecute that as a crime, can you?" Kairi asked suspiciously.
"People have sued for ridiculous things, but I don't think it's worth it and a judge would probably throw it out in court. So you ran and that was when you got hit with the gas?"
"Yeah," Kairi said, pressing against the bandages around her wrists. "At the point, the door locked behind us and we just... I just started to panic. That was when I began to think they had meant to do us harm and I was just trying to find a way out and defend us."
"You fell asleep, woke up chained to tables, and after that you were just trying to get out," Mr. Hoshino clarified. Kairi nodded.
"Does you being my dad make this an unofficial statement?" Mr. Hoshino shook his phone before them.
"I'm recording it, both in writing and audio form. We can use that. Of course, we're going to check the CCTV but if what you say is true..." He sounded relieved in his words. "You two committed no crime. After you woke up from being restrained to the tables, everything you did after that was because you thought you were going to be harmed. All in self-defense. There are laws to protect you in that case."
"However, what you did was incredibly stupid hero-wise!" Enji finally voiced, looking on the pair of them with boiling rage. "You do not go in without discussing a plan! You do not charge into a facility without knowing the layout and what you will face! You do not 'wing' things, unless it can't be helped! You should have alerted the Pro Heroes, you should have found your teacher! You really think this is a great image of hero? For God's sake, Shoto, it's all over the damn news! Think about what kind of image this brings to your family? And for what?"
"Kairi had a hunch," Shoto said plainly.
"And you believed her?"
"I admitted it seemed odd and I was too curious to not look into it. More than that, I knew if I didn't go Kairi would go in all alone." Mr. Hoshino nodded. "Because I didn't know what would happen, I had to go with her. I would- couldn't let her go alone."
"Shoto, sometimes, being a hero means putting your duty before your friends." Mr. Hoshino grimaced, giving Enji a hesitant look. Shoto crossed his arms.
"You have coworkers, Dad. You don't have friends. How would you know?"
"Mr. Todoroki, I apologize, but I think that's situational," Hoshino said politely. "If the situation were to choose between Kairi and someone who was in immediate danger, your logic would be correct but considering there other option was to let her go off alone into danger, especially when they already found something questionable about the company... I would say your son made the right call." Kairi glowed.
"You should have let her go and told someone immediately, and then he could have gone with them to get her!"
"And if it had been something more dangerous than sleeping gas?" Naoko Hoshino was rising in his anger, setting his notes aside. "Are you serious right now? My daughter could be dead if that were the case!"
"Maybe your daughter isn't cut out to be a hero if she's going to act incompetent!"
"Excuse me, sir, but how dare you call my daughter incompetent!" Mr. Hoshino yelled just as Shoto said in a low voice "Don't you speak ill of Kairi." The tension in the room was caging Kairi, pushing her away from the scene and awkwardly dangling over.
"My son finds trouble wherever your daughter is," Enji said to Naoko. "Don't you find that curious? Before this, my son had no incidents."
"My daughter saved your son this summer!" Mr. Hoshino yelled. The growing sound was stretching within Kairi, causing her to grow restless and irritate her skin. She wriggled as much as she could to disappear under the covers. "Do you hear yourself? What kind of Pro Hero are you, even? Have you any gratitude for who your son is? For all that he's done and his achievements?! Do you intend to push Shoto until he can no longer go anymore and hurts himself because of your demands? How do you act around him at home?!"
"It's clear you haven't pushed your child enough! Look at how she weak she is, hiding under the blankets like that! You think a cop for a father would make her toughen up a little, but she's always been a terrified mouse, with no sense of direction or ability to make a heroic decision!"
"Again, she saved your son!"
Kairi began to shudder under the covers, covering her ears while waves pushed her down. She wished for the bed to swallow her whole. Breathing deepened while anxiety crushed her. Shoto looked over to the bed on his right, seeing as she tried to vanish. He felt around the bed barricades til his fingers touched the red button. Repeatedly he pressed it, desperate for some attention.
"Your daughter is a bad influence!" Enji continued, the anxiety in the room building aggression. "If she hadn't been in his group, he wouldn't have made such a mistake that required him to be saved! I have been working exceedingly hard to train my son to grow into the greatest hero he can be! Obviously, I failed to account for a teenage boy's weakness when it comes hormones and teenage girls!" Kairi twisted in her covers, curling into a mental hiding place. She shook roughly, hoping to fight off the words that dug and caused her soul to bleed. Those words echoed, reminding her of things her mother said long ago. Useless, weak, terrified, a bad influence. Her mother's voice warbled as if underwater, spiraling through her senses. Kairi held her head, waiting for the screaming to stop. Her face flooded with tears, unable to leave any other way. And then he had to go and make that ridiculous remark! The one thing he was wrong about. Maybe her emotions were a distraction. Maybe she was a bad influence and that jeopardized his future. She would believe it. But there was no way on this whole earth Shoto held any attraction for her. It was truth she was forcing herself to accept. All of Endeavor's other words though... they cut deep.
"You think that's all this is?" Mr. Hoshino scoffed. "You think the only reason he spends time with Kairi, runs to help her, goes out of his way to protect her, follows the code heroes are supposed to follow, is because he's a teenage boy who can't control his hormones? You think you failed so bad at parenting that one pretty face makes him lose all sense at being a hero?!"
"Is this the kind of training they teach at the precinct?!" Endeavor's rage was growing, filling the room on its own. Between Kairi's anxiety and his anger, the room was a poisonous place to be. "To twists words?! What kind of stuff are you teaching your daughter?!"
"It hasn't occurred to you that maybe you're so bad at influencing your child in any way possible that even your abusive tactics have completely gone past him and instead he's become a good hero and an even better person? A great friend to Kairi? Someone who is willing to take the fall for others? It hasn't occurred to you that maybe unlike you, he could actually care about someone enough to want to protect them at all costs?!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Enji growled at the moment two nurses ran in. One rushed over to Shoto's side, asking what it was he needed. He gestured to his father, while the other nurse grabbed Endeavor's arm and gently tried to encourage him out the door. "Are you saying I have no care for me family? That I don't protect them?!"
"I don't know, why don't you ask your children and your wife?!" Mr. Hoshino hissed threateningly.
"Do you know who you're talking to?!"
"Mr. Todoroki..." began the nurse who returned from Shoto's side. They touched their hand to Enji's arm, helping the other nurse in encouragement. "I apologize, but I am going to have to ask you to leave."
"I am having a conversation here!"
"Mr. Todoroki!" said the other nurse. "You need to leave right this minute, or we will be forced to get security!" Endeavor's nostrils flared, growling at Mr. Hoshino.
"I'm going to make a complaint to your precinct about you!" he said.
"What are you going to complain about? Defending your child and mine? For arguing? For calling you a bad parent? I'm sorry, Mr. Todoroki, but unfortunately while insulting someone may be rude, it's unfortunately not a crime." Scowling, the two nurses led him away. His anger was so vivid, a smoke trail could almost be seen as he left the room.
Upon Endeavor's disappearance, the energy in the room lifted. Kairi stopped her shaking, but she still remained tangled in the security of blankets.