Author's Note: I do not own BNHA or any other elements from other fandoms, just my character. Keiyu's fear and paranoia reaches an all-time high on public transportation. Hitoshi uses his Quirk and Izuku has to make sure Keiyu doesn't accidentally cause an incident in her panic.
Chapter 14: Bus from Hell, Let's take the Train! Oh Shi-!
Izuku stared at the lump on the bed, a deadpan expression on his face before kneeling down and peeking under it at the baleful blue eye glaring at him from a pouting face.
"You said you wanted to go today," he pointed out, only for her to hiss and withdraw further underneath the bed, if that was even possible. Scratching his head, the greenette tried to think of a way to lure his cousin out, but nothing came up.
"We have two weeks before the deadline and today and tomorrow are the only days they are letting us have access to court records," more like Takoaka-san got tired of Izuku using his hacking skills to peer at sealed documents and made them promise to behave.
"I'll have Jii-chan take me," "He's at a hero meeting," "Nii-san-" "Is taking exams for his online classes," a huff met his ears before the sound of shuffling and small grunts came as she crawled out from the bed.
"Can't you drive?" she pouted at him, he sighed in exasperation.
"No," and didn't they cover all of this at dinner the night before? "Come on, we have tickets and everything, we need to get to the train station by a certain time," he left before she tried to up the waterworks, did she think that would work on a crybaby like himself?
Besides, she was the one who told him to be pushy when it comes to getting her up and out the door, unfortunately it looks like her phobia was just as strong.
How was he going to convince her to get on the bus?
Hitoshi was waiting at the bus stop and the look on his face when he spotted Keiyu with a blindfold on, holding Izuku's hand made Izuku sheepish.
"Seriously?" he muttered to Izuku who shrugged.
"She asked," her hand squeezed and he winced at the tight grip feeling like his bones were about to be broken, "What do you have in your hand?!" he asked her incredulously in a low voice.
"Papa's gun," she muttered, he blanched, didn't she get that taken away from her? Hitoshi also heard the whisper and looked like he wanted to smack his forehead.
"Is there anything else your hiding?" she listed off a first aid kit, extra phone with a charged battery, water bottle, and a device that measures alcohol content.
"Where did you get that?" Izuku thought only police had that kind of equipment.
"Made it using materials I found," she shrugged, "It also measures exhaustion, drug content, and other undue influences," Izuku sweatdropped at that. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this.
It didn't help that he'd been forced to hold the device up to the bus driver, shrinking at the offended glare in return and squeaking out an apology before dragging his cousin to the back.
"Never doing that again," he gasped, the man looked like he wanted to kill him with one of his claws.
"Did you get it though?" Keiyu was frowning underneath her blindfold and Izuku winced before glancing at the device.
That he forgot to turn on.
"U-uh yeah! All clear," he stuttered as Hitoshi glanced at said device and gave him a look, Keiyu stiffened as the bus started and her breathing quickened.
"I-izu-uku," her entire body was shaking as the bus went this way and that, making sharp turns that made Izuku question the bus driver's license at one instant before feeling guilty about his thoughts in the next one.
Keiyu lasted ten minutes before she wanted to get off, not at all helped by the fact the bus driver was cursing at other drivers and mumbling about a broken GPS.
"I-izuku, I-i w-want t-t-o g-get o-off," tears from her eye were staining the blindfold and the two boys shared a look before Izuku pulled the cord and Hitoshi helped him get Keiyu off the bus at the next stop.
As soon as they were off the bus Keiyu tore the blindfold off and broke into a sprint towards the park, ignoring their calls as she disappeared behind a row of trees.
It took ten minutes to find her curled up in the bushes, the octopus plushie that Gran Torino had given her clenched tightly in her arms.
Hitoshi nudged him and pointed towards some vending machines before going off, leaving Izuku to sit next to the girl who hadn't moved since their arrival.
"P-pathetic huh?" the mutter met his ears but he shook his head.
"Phobias are serious, and after that bus driver I can understand why you don't like public transportation," seriously even he was afraid of crashing with that guy at the wheel.
"B-but we still need to get to the office, finish the research, and our train ride is in two hours, we're not close enough," Izuku hummed in thought.
"We could take a taxi?" she stiffened and he sighed, "There's got to be a way to stop you from panicking, a way to keep you calm," his eyes caught sight of Hitoshi, arms full with drinks and snacks, an idea popped into his head, "Hitoshi, how long does your Quirk last without interference?" The question stopped his friend in the tracks and caused Keiyu to raise her head, both of them staring at him.
He tried not to shrink back.
Thankfully the taxi driver took the fact that he was using his Quirk to keep Keiyu's anxiety down and the device in his face rather well. With Oodako-nii in her arms and mind settled somewhat, Keiyu remained still the whole time towards the train station where he let her go the moment the taxi stopped.
When Hitoshi first heard the plan he thought it was a bad idea, a really bad one. Ever since he used his Quirk on those cultists at his school, he found it hard to talk in public. Izuku and Keiyu's presence helped him, and his parent's indignation on his treatment helped as well. It didn't stop the nightmares of the heroes arresting him for his 'villainous Quirk', and the disillusionment he kept in the back of his mind since those terrible days months ago came back to him.
He tried bringing up Keiyu getting a flashback to being paralyzed by her mother but the greenette stated if it was with her permission it should be okay.
So here they were, sitting in one of the cabins, at least it wasn't the regular train, Keiyu's eye focused on him while she still held Oodako-Nii as he took a deep breath and focused his Quirk. She was more anxious now and he wondered if that was because they couldn't verify whether the engineer of the train was affected by drugs or alcohol.
"Favorite food?" the question made her lips twitch before she answered the question, again.
"Papa's omelette," her eye went blank and he shoved down the guilt, telling himself that this was the best plan.
"Sit there and don't move till our arrival," Izuku had his notebook out and cellphone out, a timer already on and counting as the train began moving.
"Is the timer necessary?" Hitoshi asked, a bit exasperated, causing Izuku to scratch his cheek sheepishly. The greenette had been wanting to time how long his Quirk could last and while he was feeling a bit hungry, the food from the vending machines helped.
"We haven't tried it like this before, so," the violette rolled his eyes before a thought came to him.
"Any notes from Keiyu's lecture?" Izuku avoided his knowing look.
"I reread the books, again," their friend had spent three hours telling them of all the different ways people love but thankfully left the birds and bees talk alone with the promise of showing them videos when they do hit puberty. Hitoshi had known some things, and knew there were people who would look at his parent and see one gender and refuse to acknowledge that they can be another.
Izuku on the other hand had been dazed and surprised at all the new information and had spent several nights the past week doing his own research. The fact Toru had a crush on a guy (despite his adamant denial about it being a one-time meeting and Hitoshi wondered about the 'abs' part but the teen refused to say anything) didn't really strike either of them as strange apart from his concern about telling his dad.
As he wondered whether or not the boy wrote to Kraken, Hitoshi suddenly winced, catching his friend's attention.
"Hitoshi?" the Brainwashing Quirk User shook his head and tried to focus.
How was she doing this? It felt like his hold was cracking, and his entire body felt cold. To both boys' alarm her eye and hair started turning purple as her hands twitched and the gun in her right hand started emerging and Hitoshi motioned to Izuku.
Looks like their back-up plan was needed after all.
Hitoshi released his Quirk as Izuku took out a perfume bottle and sprayed Keiyu whose mouth was open into a scream.
Thankfully that didn't happen and Hitoshi caught her before she fell to the floor, setting her against Izuku who was biting his lip as he nudged the gun till it disappeared back into her hand.
"I can't believe we had to resort to that," Izuku had been terrified that he would accidentally kill Keiyu even though Aunt Inko had checked his formulae and cleared him on knocking people out safely; he still panicked.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Hitoshi rubbed his temple to help with the headache, having never felt someone break out of his Quirk without hurting themselves before.
He wasn't sure what to feel about that.
Keiyu woke up just as the train stopped and a flash of shame went across her face before becoming blank.
"Here already?" she said lightly, hopping off the seat and the two didn't stop her as she exited the train ahead of them, heading straight towards the vending machine.
Izuku pulled out his phone to pull up the GPS for the building when a huge shadow appeared over him.
Hitoshi's intake of breath had him looking up at a large man with a scorpion tail and a mullet glaring down at them.
Tattoos decorated the right side of his face and both of his arms, and Izuku swallowed when he saw that the man's right hand was missing a finger.
"So you're the twerps making inquiries about Boss," Izuku felt his knees shaking together and in the corner of his eye Hitoshi didn't look all that well either.
Keiyu on the other hand?
"What type of Scorpion venom do you have? How long does the venom take to become effective, is your diet affected as well? My Quirk restricts me from eating junk food," there was a weirded out look on the man's face as Keiyu's focus was on him and normally Izuku would be excited as well.
But yakuza.
"Um, K-keiyu? Yakuza," he whispered urgently, she stopped and gave him a look like he was stupid.
"Mitsuki-sama's yakuza," she reminded him, "Half if not all of our dojo instructors are their country's equivalent of the yakuza," then she turned back to the man, "Guns or knives? I prefer the former," Izuku smacked his face and thanked the fact no one else was in hearing distance, the moment the man appeared any adults avoided their area.
"What the fuck," was the man's eventual response, Izuku didn't blame him.
Then the man's phone rang and he answered it, still staring at her weirdly,
"Yeah I'm with them, no we haven't even left yet, the girl just started asking me questions, hey! Don't touch the tail," he told a pouting Keiyu whose hands had been inches from the top of it."She's starting to freak me out, she's not scared at all," she tilted her head and smiled.
"Papa would tear your head off if you hurt me," she informed him in a bright tone, letting out a giggle as all the blood drained from his face.
"Right someone else deal with them, this kid is giving me living doll creeps," okay, Izuku knew that his cousin was releasing steam and all, but this?
"Keiyu, stop, please," he pleaded, she settled down, but was still smiling at the freaked out yakuza.
He eyed her wearily before looking at him and Hitoshi,
"Your three are going to come, quietly?" Izuku swallowed.
"We still need to do some research on the crimes he was accused of, look at the CCTV footage and all."
"Tch, we'll talk about that," the trio followed him into a sleek black car with tinted windows, a woman in a leather suit sitting at the front.
"Scared of kids now Taro?" the man glared at her as he got into the passenger seat, huffing as he locked the doors.
"You deal with a girl who giggles about how her Papa can rip your head off," the woman blinked and looked at Keiyu who was sitting between Izuku and Hitoshi.
The girl tilted her head and smiled, causing the woman to snort.
"Yeah, terrifying, Asami to you kids, this is Taro, you all buckled in?" they nodded and the car tore down the road.
Wait, Izuku looked at Keiyu who didn't seem panicked at all and sweatdropped, what exactly were her requirements for drivers.
Hitoshi had the same thought.
"For someone who panics about strangers driving, you seem calm," Keiyu looked at him before shrugging.
"Well I figure someone known for touge racing knows what they're doing," Taro coughed and Asami chuckled while Izuku just looked at her.
"Technically bus, taxi, and even those who drive the train know what they're doing," he pointed out, she averted her gaze.
"It's different," she insisted, Taro interrupted them.
"What are you scared of public transportation?" the disbelief in his tone had Keiyu pouting.
"Maybe," Asami-san slapped the man before he could open his mouth again.
"Don't start or they'll know your phobias," he shut up.
The rest of the ride passed, Keiyu asking the woman about the races she'd been in, Izuku didn't want to admit he'd been listening as well, while Hitoshi scrolled through his tablet on a list of suggestions that Keiyu sent him. The suggestion of voice therapy and him taking singing lesson had not been received well at first, but she reasoned that since it was a voice-type Quirk, he could learn new ways to use it that the Quirk therapist was too stupid to find out.
Well she had called him a NPC but Izuku and Hitoshi figured stupid was a nicer way to put it. Izuku on the other hand had been looking at chemistry websites and looking up new formulas to try. Okaa-san promised to convert the study into a target room for both of them to practice in (the fact that it used to be Dad's room had been ignored as she sold all of his belongings and cheerfully burned his pictures as well.) She also stated that she would try to get in contact with some scientists and engineers she met when she was younger and asked if there were any gadgets that he wanted for his hero career.
When he couldn't answer, Keiyu, who had been in the room, gave him links to manga and shows to watch.
Apparently her answer to everything was manga and anime, and he couldn't really find a way to refute that when most inventions now supported hero's Quirks and not anyone else, not even the police officers got new gadgets for their investigations.
Right now he was updating his Hero Goals every day with a new resolve not to become like the heroes who let them down, to be a hero like All Mi- then he paused and a forlorn expression appeared, right Keiyu hated him.
"Something wrong Izuku?" his cousin was giving him a concerned look and he panicked.
"Ah no, I was just," she was giving him a look and he slumped, "I need to find a new hero to look up to, don't I?" she blinked.
"Why?" he gaped at her.
"You hate All Might!" he reminded her, she shrugged.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to tell you to stop looking up to him, you already have the resolve, and you won't end up like him so its fine," something in the way she said that caught his attention.
"What do you mean, end up like him?" he asked, it sounded like she was talking about something else.
"For one thing you and Hitoshi are planning on becoming hero partners," the three kids ignored the scoff and the slap that sounded from the front, both boys staring at her till she huffed, "Fine, I'm going to use another example, okay?" Hitoshi looked weary.
"It's not an anime or manga one is it?" she tended to do that alot, Keiyu flicked his forehead in retaliation.
"No, it's a history one, have any of you heard of Alexander the Great?" Taro blinked from where he was sitting.
"Wasn't that a Roman King or something?" Keiyu grimaced but nodded
"Yes, but he was actually Greek, known as the King of Macedon, he was known for conquering countries and expanding his empire across the world. But when he died his entire Empire collapsed, he never appointed an heir or left any instructions on what to do. There are other examples I could use but I'll stick with him for now. Look, All Might is known as the number one Hero in Japan and responsible for bringing crime-rate down a bit right? But he's only had one sidekick in his years as a hero and from what I heard its because the guy was persistent. No one knows what the guy's Quirk is, and he's been a solo hero since day one, the singular symbol of peace." she sighed and leaned back in her chair, "When it comes to being an example, to upholding justice in the world, instead of one symbol that can fall at any moment, isn't it better for pillars to be in place instead?" the car stopped and Izuku started as he realized they had arrived. Both adults were staring at them for quite a while as they took that information in.
"Shit, I don't like the guy but if something did happen it would be chaos," he swallowed at Asami's words, both her and Taro looked grim.
"You don't like All Might?" he asked, voice a bit small, she gave him a grim smile.
"Hard to like the guy who arrested your Boss on false charges," that made him quiet as the two adults took them into the building, several police officers were around, some tensing in their presence but the yakuza ignored them in favor of going to the elevators.
"I'm surprised you guys are allowed in here, don't police try to bar you?" Keiyu's question broke the fallen silence and Asami sighed.
"Not really, our group hasn't done anything beyond keeping control of our businesses and making sure that our bosses' commands are followed to the letter, things have been getting tense in his absence and several members have been trying to get position of leader but so far we managed to hold them down. Hopefully this investigation of yours holds out because I don't think they will any longer," Izuku fidgeted and glanced at Taro who after a moment, huffed.
"What?" flinching at the harsh tone, he stuttered a bit.
"W-what kind of b-boss was he?" the stinger on the man's tail flicked in surprise as he considered the question.
"Philosophical," he stated bluntly, "Always trying to get us to think beyond being meatheads and always there to listen to issues and help out, even if it is just to call someone out on their revenge plans. He never held a grudge against his accusers either, he knew his Quirk was the reason and has spent years trying to find a way to control it. Come on, they won't let us stay here forever," Izuku caught Keiyu's eye as they hurried into the room, hoping to finally find someone to help them.
Not even the piles of folders and files deterred them.
They were going to find a way to prove his innocence, even if it meant hours of research.
Inko's fingers tapped against the table as she flicked through the story, well autobiography of their group.
It was kind of embarrassing but at the same time alarming that someone did this, and the kids had read it, Izuku had read it?
She could not pretend that their knowledge about her skills was unexpected, and when she had shown the tablet to Gran Torino the man had groaned about his ward knowing about some of his own embarrassing moments. Not that the girl seemed to hold it against him if her behavior was any indication, and the only heroes she expressed dislike for were the ones that traumitized Hitoshi along with Endeavor and All Might.
Her fingers stopped tapping and the tablet clunked against the table as she held her head in morification.
All Might, shit.
Her baby's wardrobe was filled with All Might themed baby clothes, she spent thousands upon thousands of yen getting him merchandise on the man before he could even talk.
Hikaru, hell Mitsuki was never going to let her live it down. Even after everything the man had done, said about their group, Inko could admit that she still admired him as a person.
Even if some of his heroic deeds left much to be desired.
But everyone knows the saying 'best of intentions'. He could not have known that in the efforts to rehabilitate them, a traitor would take advantage to tailor them according to society expectations.
Kami, she had married Nemeon of all people! Of their group Mitsuki was the only one to end up the one she wanted, even if she had not remembered at the time. Inko wasn't sure if Masaru was a genius or a masochist for acting like a gentle soul compared to his wife, but she hoped he had a good explanation for his parenting style.
Hikaru didn't have anyone, they paid and had Hitoshi by themself, and it caused Inko pain because it meant that even with their memory gone they did not want to be with anyone else.
A hiss interrupted her thoughts and blinking, she glanced at the timer and hummed before turning off the burner and taking the concoction off. What she wouldn't do for her own personal lab again, but for the moment she would have to settle for the kitchen in this abandoned apartment that everyone thinks is haunted.