Izuku was fortunate that his hands could be healed.

That didn't mean he didn't get a good chewing out from Yoroi Musha, who had expected 'hold him off' to mean 'hold him off' and not 'get into close quarter combat with an emitter that can melt concrete and set the air on fire'.

Of course he would still have to remain in the hospital overnight, which left him with a lot of time to think. Izuku didn't enjoy having time to think.

Once again, it was fortunate that he would not be left alone for too long. Though the hospital's visitation hours were over, rules didn't quite apply to heroes in the same vein, which is why he wasn't surprised to hear a knock on his door just a few minutes later. He didn't feel tired enough to pretend that he was asleep, so he just said 'enter' quietly.

His ears were ringing. So many things were happening at the hospital. So many people were being treated. Though the explosion of Dabi's quirk by Himiko Toga had not ended in any casualties, the stress of the sudden evacuation has caused some trampling from which some people had to be saved.

So when he focused on who was outside the door, he couldn't quite place it.

Fortunately, it wasn't Aizawa. Unfortunately, it was the other face that would likely chew him out worse than Yoroi Musha.

Momo stood there with soot and dirt over her face and hair. Izuku could see bandages around her arms, as well as one around her stomach. He didn't have any time to ask what had happened before she was already in his face, her hands around his hands and staring at him intensely.

"You're an idiot," she said. Izuku blinked, then nodded. There was no denying that. "I've heard you fought one of Himiko Toga's people."

"I think he was with her," Izuku said. Most signs pointed to him not being wrong, but a good guess wasn't the same as solid evidence. "He was strong. His quirk too."

"I won't call you reckless," she said. Instead, she planted a kiss on his lips. Izuku felt himself flush, trying to turn away, but his head was kept in place forcing him to avert his eyes instead. "Heroes get hurt doing what they do, after all. You could've called me. I'm… better with ranged opponents."

"If Mirko could have spared you, she would've just done that," Izuku said, shrugging. "You're hurt as well, right? What happened?"

He had gotten the summary of it from Yoroi Musha, but the actual play by play was still something he wasn't quite familiar with. There were normal hooligans ready to start things, but she looked like she had met villains instead.

"The villains expected an evacuation," Momo explained. "Some civilians were caught up in traps in some of the streets, it wasn't very serious, except for the one Sir Nighteye went to, together with Crust."

Izuku nodded. He had heard the explosion was contained by a shield quirk, but Crust's name hadn't fallen.

"Good," Izuku said, his voice low. "That-that's good, right?"

"Very good," Momo said, letting go of his head and walking around the bed. She looked out of the window. The skyline of Tokyo was as bright as ever, small lights looking like distant stars. "I wanted to talk to you about something. I… don't feel like it's proper for me to do it while you're hospitalized, but I feel like you would avoid it if you weren't."

Izuku didn't sigh, but his body went rigid. A motion she no doubt noticed. "If I promise that I won't, can we skip this today?"

"No," Momo said, the hint of a smile on her face. "We need to talk about this, because otherwise there's no point. Relationships are built on trust, Izuku."

"I trust you," Izuku said. Now that his mother was stricken off the list, and Nezuko-sensei was a tenuous presence in his positive thoughts, Momo was the last person left he could say that he trusted.

And because of that, he feared just what that might mean for him in the future. Aizawa-sensei and All Might were not quite the same as Momo. There were things that Momo and him shared which he could never share with his teachers, after all.

"It feels like you've been avoiding me," Momo said, frowning. "You haven't been at Nezuko-sensei's place, you haven't even come by to say hello today during the protest. There's something on your mind and it feels awful that you can't trust me with it."

"Because…"

"If you say it's because I shouldn't be burdened by it, I'll hit you," Momo warned. Izuku closed his mouth, clenching his eyes shut as a painful shudder ran over his spine. Momo relented, her body weight shifting from one foot to another.

"It's because I'm ashamed of it," Izuku admitted. "Because it's something I can't even face myself. I… Nezuko-sensei lied to me. Did she not tell you?"

Momo shook her head. Eri likely hadn't said anything either.

"My parents," Izuku said, the word tasting like poison on his tongue. "Both of them. My father is Hisashi Ubuyashiki."

Momo reacted as expected. Shocked. Almost ready to shout the word 'impossible' if it hadn't been for their environment.

"My mother, she works for him," Izuku said. "The RS-9, it's not just human experimentation for immortality, it's… they were the ones who made the Serpent Demon. The RS-9, they're making a demonization drug."

Momo's face went through various emotions. Disgust was the most prominent, confusion, awe, fear, anger, worry.

She stepped forward, but Izuku's gaze was still downcast. He couldn't stand it, and now his shame was public to the one person he didn't want to tell. Yet somehow, he felt like he had to.

And it was because of that trust that he felt so vulnerable in telling her. She sat down on the hospital bed and wrapped her arms around his back. He resisted the urge to hiss in pain as his hands flared up when returning the hug.

Izuku was still lost in his thoughts when he arrived home the next morning. Yoroi Musha gave him the day off to recover, despite his insistence that he was fine. 'You're no good to me like this, young Kagura'. Izuku scoffed, walking down the road towards his house. The confession about his worries to Momo had helped take some of the weight off his shoulders, but it was still a long way from where he used to be.

His eyes ended up clouding over once more when he passed Nezuko's house. He tried his best not to meet Eri's eyes when he found the little girl watching him from the window, saying something to the woman that was no doubt behind her.

He opened the door with his key, noting that it wasn't locked. He never forgot to lock it, so-

Why were the lights on? His ears twitched. He could hear it. The familiar breathing. The shaking hands.

Izuku slammed the door shut behind him and ran into the living room. His mother was sitting there, her face expressionless, her fingers intertwined like in prayer. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week, and yet more awake than she had ever been.

She noticed him standing there, as if she hadn't heard the loud bang of the door before. Her face was raised up, and her eyes met his. She was giving him a strained smile. It was so painful to look at, he had to avert his gaze.

"Welcome home, Izu-kun," Inko said. Izuku bit his lower lip, one bandaged hand gripping into his shirt.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing that came over his lips. She started, blinking, the strange empty facade cracking into something akin to confusion. It was his turn to ask the questions. He could feel them form on the tip of his tongue. The brightly lit living room felt like such a wrong place to ask them. In the end, he started with the most simple one he could muster without breaking down. "Why?"

It was the one question he held back ever since he was a young child.

He could never bring himself to ask why.

"I wish I could say it's a long and complicated story," Inko said, wrapping her arms around herself. Izuku grabbed the blanket that usually sat on the couch and wrapped it around her. Her fingers brushed against his, making him shudder. Fingers which had killed over five hundred men and women. "Your father, I met him at Todai. He was… friendly, amicable. Charming would be another word. I thought he was a good man, but one day he had filed for divorce and left us alone."

That explained the 'how the hell did you get hooked up with that kind of bastard' part of his questioning. He shook his head, taking a seat next to her and letting her continue.

"And then he came back, but not to ask for forgiveness, it was an offer I… I thought I couldn't refuse," she said. "He was committed to a new research facility he was funding with the help of the government. Curing incurable diseases and injuries. It sounded fine at first, but the more I found out the more I realized it was… disgusting. I told him no. He told me that he would take me to court for custody of you if I did not help. And as that became less likely, the threat shifted, he would make sure you would never become a hero."

Izuku's eyes shifted and sent a pained glare at one of the pictures of both of his parents in the corner, when he was too young to remember.

"I couldn't let him take you, so I accepted," she continued. A bitter laugh came from her lips. "Not that I could do anything to protect you. Yuragi broke out and you fought him. I made you kill."

Izuku glanced at his arm. The bandages and shirt were over the scar, but somehow it still felt like he was looking straight at it.

The Serpent Demon had a name.

"I would have never hated you," Izuku said. The past tense was not without notice. "If you had stopped and I never became a hero, it would be fine as long as you were safe and… and not doing those things he had you do."

"I wanted to quit," Inko said. "I was about to, but my coworker, she… she took the opportunity to do it herself. Akane was a better person than me."

"You prepared to die," Izuku said, his voice strained. "You were preparing to die and you didn't give me a single answer before today."

"I'm a coward."

"You're worse than a coward," Izuku said, his voice rising. "I trusted you to be there for me, but you never once thought that I could be there for you! I trusted you with my life!"

"I'm sorry," Inko said. She shook, not from the cold and tiredness, but from frustration and shame. "I'm so sorry."

"Being sorry won't fix your mistakes," Izuku said, whispering words he wished he hadn't had to. "But dwelling on the past won't make them right either."

"I know," Inko said. "Which is why I'm here now. I could have… I could have hidden away, I have friends who would shelter me-"

"Like Tenko Shimura," Izuku said. Inko stopped, her teeth clicking shut.

"I should have known you'd find out," she said, almost amused by it. "I fostered him for a while before we could arrange an orphanage for him, he was… not in a good spot. Tokyo was not the place to be for an orphan."

Izuku shook his head. Strange teenagers his mother knew aside, it wasn't what was important right now.

"You're here to answer," Izuku surmised. She nodded.

"Because what I've done to you, and the lies I've told you, they're my responsibility," Inko said. She was tearing up. Izuku's hands shook as he reached out. Her hands were so cold. Her face so pale.

And yet, for once she did not look tired.

"I want you to arrest me," Inko said. Izuku's heart stopped for a beat. "I've abused your trust in me, I've committed crimes against so many people that I can no longer remember all their names. I'm a terrible mother."

"No," Izuku said, his face twisting into something ugly. An expression someone his age should never have to show. "You're a wonderful mother. But… you're still a bad person."

It hurt to say.

It hurt much more to see her reaction. The tears flowed freezy, running down her too-thin cheeks and dropping off her chin as her shoulders shook with grief.

"I'm not going to arrest you," Izuku said. He walked over to his bag, which he had all but thrown against the wall as he walked in. Dragging it back to the living room, he caught her surprised stare and shook his head. He sat down next to her again, the bag in his lap as he dug through it.

Izuku grabbed his phone. He held down a number, waiting a few seconds for it to connect him to Aizawa. The man picked up swiftly. "What did you do?"

"Aizawa-sensei," Izuku said. The man shifted, he could hear it through the speaker, Izuku's voice setting him on edge. "Do you know of any way to contact Tenkai?"

"What did you do?" Aizawa asked again, his voice strained and on the edge of fury.

"I need to ask him for a favor," Izuku said, looking towards his mother, who stared at him with surprise and worry. "It's about my mother."

It all went to shit because of one unreliable bitch. The research progress might have been slow, but it was acceptable. Nobody expected the things to go smoothly, but for people to react so strongly to what? The lives of a few homeless and the terminally ill that would have died either way?

It's like these peasants didn't understand the meaning of progress. His ambition was one that would have saved billions of lives. All they had to do was getting rid of that pesky problem with sunlight destroying the cells faster than they could regenerate and it would have been perfect.

He resisted the urge to punch a wall. The safehouse he had ended up hiding in was one of many he had spread all over the country, but it wasn't a very pleasant one compared to his usual mansion. His family always told him his ambition would lead him onto a wrong path, but he disagreed.

What he did, he did for the good of mankind.

It was only seconds after turning the corner from the safehouse's 'kitchen' into the living room that he felt something was wrong. The guards that served his family, they were gone. Mercenaries were usually reliable enough as long as one had the right amount of money, but one couldn't trust them in case he was outbid.

Which is why at the safehouses, he had his private security detail. People who, in the long history of his family, pledged allegiance.

So where were they?

He reacted too slow, not that it would have mattered. A weight settled on his shoulders. An arm that snuck around his neck. A knife, sharp enough to draw blood at the slightest move. He swallowed, feeling the warm red liquid spill down his neck.

"If you want money, I'm afraid you'll have a better chance asking nicely," he said. Whatever false bravado he could put up, it wouldn't help him with this person. He knew her. He had seen her fanged smile on the news, the girl who had attacked his son at U.A.

Himiko Toga.

And from his own connections, he knew just how dangerous she was.

"I apologize," a voice said. He turned his gaze towards it. A man sat on the couch of his living space. He had various tubes sticking in a machine around his neck and arm. Life support. This was not tested and approved gear, this was custom made. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Shigaraki, I am something of a fan of your research."

'Shigaraki' had no face. Or rather, everything above his nose was scarred shut. Somehow, Hisashi saw him struggling to breathe. He was showing it off, the injuries. It was deliberate, there was a helmet with even more tubes to his right that he would usually wear.

"Fan?" Hisashi asked, his eyes moving back to the girl who was grinning at him and daring him to try something stupid. "I don't think fans usually greet people like this. But I imagine you'll tell me the reason why soon enough."

"I am in need of some assistance;" Shigaraki said. He grinned, his teeth glinting with something dangerous.

"I think your doctor has you covered," Hisashi said, frowning at the instruments keeping the man going.

"I'm afraid that my usual doctor has become… a victim of circumstance, you may know him, Daruma Ujiko."

Hisashi nodded. He had the displeasure of meeting the man once in the past.

"As he has failed to cure me, and now unfortunately vanished from my employ, I considered funding you instead. You see, a project involving cell research that could regenerate people from the brink of death, regardless of decapitation of loss of internal organs. You may see why that interests me so much."

"The Prime Minister has resigned, his entire cabinet is being uprooted, and elections are being set up faster than All Might can say 'I am here'. You expect me to see this as what exactly? A minor setback?

"I expect you to see this as a new opportunity," the man said, smiling at him. "While the government may no longer offer you the tools you need, I can promise you funds and equipment much more advanced than theirs."

"And I will never live a free man again, success or no, Shigaraki."

"What is a system of flawed laws to gods, Urayashiki. Who would we answer to? The National Diet, fed by the power of their constituents they abuse and undermine? The police, who had to cry for help at the slightest sign of trouble? The heroes, who perpetuate this system where the weak believe themselves to be in power?"

Hisashi's face twisted in disgust and fury.

And yet, despite his obvious disdain, he could not say no.

It was ironic in a way, to be strongarmed into an unbalanced relationship like this after what he had done to his ex-wife. He had the feeling that the knife at his throat would be more than happy to take 'no' for an answer.

"The MZ-cell samples have been taken by the police."

"That will be no issue," Shigaraki said, grabbing the helmet from his side and putting it on. "That's only a minor setback:"

Tenkai was, as always, a disgusting presence. Especially now that he was sitting at his table rather than Nezuko's. Izuku had nonetheless prepared tea for them all. Inko sat to Izuku's right, his mother diminutive and quiet, withdrawn into herself.

"Did you know?" Izuku asked. It was a simple question to break the ice. Tenkai didn't need to ask for any clarification. He knew exactly what Izuku was talking about.

"We did not know that the research was what had resulted in the Serpent Demon," Tenkai said. "The Health Minister was… more corrupt than the parliament dared to admit."

"Who did you think created them?" Izuku asked, blinking. "You'll have to forgive me, it's something of a sore point for me, it makes me feel like a puppet rather than a hero, you see, to clean up the mess that people three times my age have created."

Tenkai didn't seem insulted. Rather, the man nodded, accepting the reasoning without much of a bother. Izuku imagined Tenkai did not like politics all that much either. His sunken eyes spoke of his own sleepless nights since the revelation just what the RS-9 was.

Izuku wasn't sure if he believed him, but there was no harm in doing so.

"Our previous investigation was checking into a villain who had been defeated by All Might a… significant amount of time ago," Tenkai said. "From what we could gather, while he managed to flee had survived with wounds that he couldn't heal despite his… powerful quirk."

Izuku's ears twitched. There was something about that story. A villain so powerful even All Might couldn't catch him?

"Fair enough," Izuku said, his hand grabbing his mother's under the table. "I know you're not evil, but inaction can be seen as such, and the lack of checks and balances in the Health Minister's office prove that something has to change."

"If we could skip the preamble," Tenkai said, taking a sip of the tea. "Leave all formality aside, too, Demon Slayer. We're among friends."

Izuku resisted the scowl that was threatening to slip onto his face.

"You want me to help you, that's fine, if anything I'd have helped you even without the license," Izuku said. Tenkai's unpleasant smile was not on his face right now, instead replaced by an almost calculating frown. "You're in a bad spot right now, the entire administration is falling apart, any adjacent organizations like the hero public safety office are likely under scrutiny as well."

"Immunity," Tenkai said, sounding somewhere between pleased and perplexed at the audacity. "You want us to grant her immunity."

"Not any more than the immunity she had while you were still funding RS-9, right?" Izuku asked. The edge in his voice was not something he liked, yet it drove the point across. His mother flinched into her seat, looking away. "I'm sure the illustrious and benevolent interim administration will find it in them to have some sort of excuse ready for a single researcher to get off lighter."

"Not a full immunity," Tenkai said, shaking his head. "You're demanding a lot, Demon Slayer. You're not in a position to negotiate."

"I'm in a position where I know more than what the public knows about RS-9," Izuku said. "And I'm willing to risk my entire future for this. Even if you try to paint me as crazy, I have multiple people with power and influence who will stand with me."

Yoroi Musha would be in for it simply because he hated the government. The Yaoyorozu family would be with him to honor their ancestors who had perished in the fights against demons who tried to kill the blacksmiths off.

He was almost certain U.A.'s administration would help too.

"For a murderer?" Tenkai asked, not sounding judgemental at all.

"For my mother," Izuku said. "My mother whose chemicals and syringes were paid for by your money."

Tenkai sat and thought. Despite his insistence on not being the person who can make decisions to Nezuko, he looked very much ready to negotiate the deal right there. After a minute of silence, with Inko shaking and unable to say a word, he spoke up again.

"She will share with us all the names of the researchers," Tenkai said. Izuku frowned. Like they didn't already know. "She will become the key witness in the trial against Ubuyashiki. In exchange, we can arrange a probation. House arrest."

"We accept," Inko said before Izuku had the chance to add his two cents. "It is… more than generous."

Izuku strongly disagreed with calling anything generous considering their own fingers in that entire mess, but there were few things he could do with his current political capital. The entire weight he could throw around depended on the weight of his sword. There was a good chance that once they had his father in custody, and confirmed that the demonization drug was not going to become more of a problem, they would drop him like a hot potato.

He knew they would come after him once that was the case.

Nezuko could only keep them at bay for so long. He had to stand on his own two feet eventually, with the backwind of his allies and the people he could count among them.

"Very well," Tenkai said, standing up. The teacup was empty. Izuku stood as well, walking around the table to meet the man's eyes an arm's length away. Izuku raised his hand. Tenkai took it. "You have a good son, Ms. Midoriya."

"The best," Inko said. Izuku felt both pride and shame.

Chapter 25, upcoming:

The Anodyne for Heartache

"I'm going to war," Tenko said, clenching a fist in front of him. "You can either come join me to make sure nobody will ever come to hurt our mother, or you can bitch out and cry yourself to sleep in the kimono of that teacher of yours."

"I'm not going to kill anyone," Izuku said.

"That's fine, I can do that." Tenko laughed when Izuku glared at him. "But no, this is a problem that goes way, way fucking deeper than just your father being a piece of shit. I'm not telling you to come raise shit with me, just keep an ear out and give me a call, alright? We both know you'll be knee deep in this shit as a hero."

Izuku frowned, thinking.

After a moment, he gave a solid nod, raising his fist to meet Tenko's.