Izuku couldn't lie and say he wasn't distracted. The morning already started off quite well, with Aizawa angrily saying his name during the roll call and then demanding he came to the teacher's lounge at lunch.

The internships would continue a little more, but today they were being given a quick course in the midterm topics. Despite their heroics classes being a majority of their grade, the duty of a student was to study, and as such they would have to write their midterms just like any other class.

If anything, the pressure to do well academically as well as heroically at the same time was something that would always loom over Class A and B, due to their strict schedule and stricter teachers.

"We'll get another transfer student after the midterms," Aizawa said, loudly. "Someone will move here from Class B to take over the empty seat."

Izuku would've asked why Class B should have an open seat instead, but he imagined the reason was that said seat was being filled around the same time. Aizawa's eyes were sitting on him as the man left the room.

Izuku nodded at him. They would meet at lunch.

With some time left before their first lesson of the day, the class ended up practically gathered in one circle, talking about the internships. Some of them were in the same places, some of them had met during the time.

And yet the most interesting topic of conversation was him.

"I've heard you fought off a strong villain during the evacuation," Kirishima said, grinning at him. Izuku's arms were healed by now, and he didn't have to wear the bandages, but he had made it a habit to hide the rather visibly scarred hands in the pockets of his uniform, leaving him unable to stop the boy from jabbing his sharp elbow into his stomach. Izuku winced.

"He did," Momo said before he could try to downplay it. "Remember the big blue explosion?"

A solid three quarters of the class nodded. He imagined many had seen it considering just how tall the pillar ended up being.

"That was Himiko Toga copying the man's quirk," Momo said. The class immediately reacted, almost as predictable as it was comical.

"Himiko Toga?" Iida asked, frowning, "How do you know? Even my brother didn't tell me-"

"Your brother's kind of a stickler to the rules like you," Tsuyu said. The class nodded. Izuku shook his head, but ended up unnoticed in the jumbled mess that was the conversation. "Still, a fire quirk that powerful must have been scary."

"Terrifying," Izuku said. He took pride in his skill, but arrogance was a silent killer. Momo had once described him as too humble, but it was something he couldn't change about himself. He didn't enjoy the spotlight for what amounted to losses and close calls. "It was so strong he burned himself on it, had scars all over his arms and face-"

Todoroki reacted. The usually aloof boy who had just barely managed to come out of his shell lately, though he still wasn't quite willing to play ball with everyone, made an audible click with his teeth. Loud enough that the class turned to him.

Izuku supposed the boy was sore about people with fire quirks.

He couldn't blame him, with Endeavor and Dabi that was two out of two.

His list of people who made him angry enough was quite small.

Even Uncle Yu hadn't made it.

"You could get those scars treated," Momo said, frowning at his hands he was still hiding in his pockets.

"I thought girls liked scars," Uraraka said, grinning at Momo who had a small blush on her face. Izuku sighed.

"Scars are reminders of mistakes," Izuku said, forcing himself to smile. "I fought an emitter with a sword, look at where that got me. If Yoroi Musha hadn't saved me, I'd probably be dead."

"... you fought me with a sword," Todoroki said, frowning. "Actually, you fought me without a sword after a bit."

"Ice is physical," Izuku conceded.

"Shadows aren't," Tokoyami said. Izuku frowned.

"If this is your attempt at cheering me up, you're really bad at it." Izuku couldn't help it. A small laugh escaped his lips,, and everyone else followed suit. "I just don't deal well with ranges, Momo is better at that than me."

"I think she's better at that than half the class," Iida said, crossing his arms. "Your master must be quite capable at a lot of weapons to teach such techniques to people."

"She's… quite something," Izuku said. Momo nodded. "What about your teachers?"

Kirishima shrugged. "Fourth Kind is really stern. Outside of the evacuation help I didn't really get to do anything special. He's been running me ragged on my ultimate move though, he said I had to hold it for at least thirty seconds by next week."

"I had a hostage situation," Jirou said. "I know Tsu mentioned something about a drug dealer-"

"Just keeping an eye out on someone who's already beaten isn't really much of an accomplishment," Tsuyu said quickly. Izuku smiled at her. She stuck her tongue out slightly.

"Mirko is a slave driver," Momo admitted easily. "She has me using my quirk all the time because she said I'd get rusty with it, then she had me make a stupid amount of weights and lift them. My muscles are still sore."

Izuku would like to say that the defined arms and abs that became more and more visible due to her rather open costume were something he very much enjoyed, but he would never say that out loud.

Or at least in front of the class.

"How's your place?" Kirishima asked Todoroki. The boy frowned.

"Not the worst," he said eventually. Izuku frowned as well. Todoroki went to Endeavor, of course. Izuku wasn't sure why, but he wasn't going to question the decisions of his classmates too much. "Kind of cranky. I've been… practicing some fire. Making him less cranky, at least."

"Good," Izuku said. "That's… good, right?"

Todoroki shrugged. "I think if I don't have a rematch against you soon, he'll challenge you to one himself."

Izuku laughed at the joke. The class laughed with him.

Until they noticed Todoroki wasn't laughing.

"That was a joke, right?" Izuku asked. Todoroki said nothing. When Midnight walked in for the first lesson, Izuku could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile on the half-and-half boy's lips.

Aizawa did not look very amused. The man rarely did, but there were many kinds of 'I'm tired of your shit' expressions the man had. There was the simple one, which he put on every morning at homeroom when he called their names and they wouldn't shut up. It was the one he had dubbed the 'too tired to deal with this right now' face.

There was also the one that could shut them all up. It was when he had an important announcement or he was taking over the heroics class for All Might, which by extension was an important thing by itself. This one Izuku had dubbed the 'shut up or else' face.

This one was a much more simple to read one. It was the one Izuku had no real name for. The eyebrows furrowed, the eyes twitching as if his quirk might activate any second, his lips slowly opening and then drawn into a thin line as he reconsidered whether his words were appropriate for a child or not.

Izuku could still read from his lips just what he wanted to say, but there was something about him not saying it that made him feel even worse.

Instead, he waited for the man to find the right way to start, looking around. The teacher's lounge was… honestly quite plain. He's had seen many of those, often at school when being called up for various reasons. Aizawa's desk was decorated plainly. The only thing that really stood out was a single picture of the man himself, much younger, with Present Mic and a man he couldn't recognize, all wearing the U.A. uniform.

"Do you need help?"

Izuku blinked, his eyes moving from the picture back to his teacher's face. Aizawa's question was so unexpected, Izuku wasn't even sure how to respond. It wasn't out of character for him, of course. Aizawa-sensei was, in his essence, one of the best teachers in the faculty. He was outright paternal when it came to the class' issues, quick on the uptake when someone wasn't doing well and generally not pushing when there was no need to push.

But after all that happened, Izuku wasn't sure if his answer to such a question should be 'yes' or 'no'.

"You know about the deal," Izuku assumed. Aizawa nodded. Something like that would not go under the notice of U.A.'s principal, and he would not stay quiet in front of the one teacher who knows about the circumstances of his… slaying.

Aizawa-sensei still looked at him when he thought Izuku wasn't looking. He looked at him with eyes that spoke of a regret he could not move past from. Izuku did not fault Aizawa-sensei, just as he had stopped feeling angry at Nezuko-sensei's hand in that debacle.

In the end, people are their choices.

And his choice was to say yes.

On every prayer, Izuku remembered Yuragi.

"I was stupid," Izuku said. Aizawa's frown deepened. "I don't think I was wrong to be stupid, what kind of child wouldn't trust their parents, right? But… I should have known something was up. I'm good at telling if someone is lying to me. If I had asked her, I might've managed to avoid the worst of it."

"Children shouldn't take on the responsibility of adults," Aizawa said. Izuku opened his mouth, but the man's glare made him shut it again. "I know, you're not a normal child. I know, I've forced you to make a decision that gives me no right whatsoever to call you one. What I'm saying isn't 'let us handle it', I'm saying 'do you need help?'."

Izuku opened his mouth again, but no words spilled from his lips. His tongue was numb as he digested the words. Aizawa was offering not to take over, but to aid him. Izuku clenched his teeth.

"Do you… do you know my father?" Izuku asked. Aizawa didn't hesitate whatsoever, he gave a solid nod. Hiding the marriage and divorce would be impossible in the neatly ordered bureaucracy of this nation. "He might come after her. She's… she's next to Nezuko-sensei, under house arrest."

"Nezuko Kamado has lost a lot to demons," Aizawa said. Izuku nodded slowly. "You worry she might weigh out Eri and your mother and only protect the former."

"No," Izuku said, shaking his head. "Nezuko-sensei is… not that kind of person. She's powerful enough I imagine she can protect both with two arms behind her back. But with both of them under her protection, and my father still out and about, he might pick up his research again and… he might become foolish."

It felt strange, using Nezuko's words for it. Despite the lack of elaboration, Aizawa nodded. He was quick to understand, of course. "You think there might be more demons soon."

"I think it's inevitable," Izuku said, looking at the table. He looked around, grabbing one of the chairs and sitting down unprompted. Aizawa said nothing. "And Momo is being dragged into it as well."

"Considering that weapon she's been carrying around," Aizawa said, nodding. "Do you regret it? Saying yes that night?"

"Do you?" Izuku asked, raising his head, his fingers intertwined and clenched on his lap.

"No," Aizawa said. His voice spoke the truth, but his heart was beating with a noise that told Izuku there was more than just a yes or no that one could answer to this question. "You're essentially the key hero in this investigation, you're both tied to it through your family, as well as your master and unique role."

"Tradition is important," Izuku repeated Yoroi Musha's mantra. Aizawa nodded.

"Never underestimate people's needs for those:" Aizawa crossed his arms, leaning back and raising his face up, staring at the ceiling. "I believe that the government is walking on eggshells on this matter because demons are… different from villains. They're like playing rock paper scissors. They're the paper, even the strongest stone can't do much. I imagine All Might might be able to punch one apart with such power that it might not regenerate, but he's an outlier and can't be counted. Endeavor is much the same."

"And the Slayer is the scissors?" Izuku asked, his face scrunching up. He didn't like the metaphor. "I think I'd give a lot of heroes a run of their money."

"I suppose," Aizawa said. Izuku could've sworn he saw a grin forming on the corners of the man's haggard face. "If demons became a public issue, heroes would have to step up, but they're not equipped for it."

Izuku hadn't asked Mrs. Yaoyorozu just how much Nichirin steel she had available, but he imagined it being a matter of choosing the right heroes for it.

Japan was not a massive country, it still had a rather surprising amount of heroes per capita compared to some other, similar sized ones. If they had enough steel to make one hundred weapons, that would be one hundred heroes, or one Slayer with the expertise on how to fight demons.

It was strange to think of it that way. Izuku loathed it. But the truth was that Nezuko had purified him like someone had honed a moon to killing. Breaths were, in essence, a prayer made from the lungs of those who had lost their families to demons.

While he could use them to fight humans, the strikes were made to kill if he used a sharp blade.

"I don't regret it, not anymore," Izuku said eventually, nodding back at Aizawa. "It's just a lot at once. I've… always thought becoming a hero to be something more idyllic. A proper course, a lot of practice and work for three years."

"I think you've already done more for the people than most heroes do in a lifetime," Aizawa said. He lowered his gaze again. His eyes were smiling, even when his mouth wasn't. "A provisional license or not, in the end I keep remembering what All Might once told me after seeing your entrance exam footage. You have the heart of a hero, kid."

Aizawa reached out, thumping the knuckles of his fist onto Izuku's chest. It made a noise like fireworks crackling under a starlit night.

Izuku didn't tear up. That'd be inappropriate.

He simply had gotten dry eyes from staying near Aizawa too much.

Izuku was not ready to forgive Nezuko.

Not because he thought her a liar, or because he was still angry at her, but because he felt that forgiveness was something he could not give her if he couldn't forgive his own mother.

He would fight and bleed and die for them. He would gladly cut through a hundred demons, and sacrifice all possibility of becoming a hero for them, such was the depth of his love for the motherhood they both shared for him.

Which wasn't to say Izuku was unwilling to move past it.

But it started with a simple request.

"The truth," Izuku said. Not just to her, but to his mother who was sitting on that same table, staring at Eri who was looking back at her with a suspicious stare. "Nothing but the truth from now on. No hiding things and claiming you didn't lie, no 'you're not old enough to deal with this'. If you can trust me to slay, you can trust me to handle whatever you want to tell me."

Nezuko did not say anything.

"What is 'slay'?" Eri asked. Izuke blinked, turning to her.

"Defeating bad guys," he said, hypocrite that he was. Eri nodded, understanding.

"I want to slay," she decided. Somehow, Izuku didn't quite find it as funny as Inko, who was almost giggling at the precociousness of the child. It was then Nezuko spoke.

"There is only one last thing I have not told you," Nezuko said. Izuku frowned. She sounded lost. Like she was standing at the end of a long road and realized she had walked the wrong way for countless years. She grabbed Eri from the chair, lifting her up onto her own lap and pushed both hands over the young girl's ears before whispering something she knew Izuku could still hear. "The request I would ask of you one day in the future. It is to join my brother."

"But," Izuku began. 'Your brother is dead' was on the tip of his tongue. Things started to click in place, cogs that were previously rusted became polished and clean. He knew, he had always known, that Nezuko was a melancholic person.

He had not thought her to be a suicidal one as well.

But then again, how does one understand the heart of immortals? Those who had lived long enough to not just watch civilizations rise and fall, but also every friend and family member grow old and perish?

For a single moment between one breath and the next, Izuku wished she had continued lying.

Inko reacted before he did. Flinching into herself. Izuku could hear the name of her fellow researcher spilling from her lips. It had left an impression that would take a long time to heal, or perhaps it never would.

Izuku could not fault her.

The image of Nezuko dying was something he had never considered.

"Was that why you had her use her quirk?" Izuku asked. Nezuko nodded, then shook her head.

"Not entirely," Nezuko said. "I didn't think she would have enough energy to make me human, it would have been good if she had but-"

"I choose to believe you," Izuku said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He didn't doubt that someone like her might have tried to commit suicide through the powerful quirk of a young child, but considering Nezuko's rather fond treatment of her, he had the feeling she was truly confident about it.

Usually Izuku would not have questioned her confidence, but she has already proven that she was not perfect.

Perhaps she didn't even know herself what she had tried that day.

Nezuko's hands came down from Eri's ears. The girl didn't seem bothered by it at all. It had become something of a habit, he supposed. Nezuko would close her ears for various reasons, and Eri accepted it as she always did.

Fortunately not because she was afraid of pain, but because she was content with the feeling of Nezuko's hands on her head.

"I don't think I'll be able to fulfill your wish," Izuku said, slowly shaking his head. "If Nichirin blades don't do it, as sunlight doesn't, and there's not enough wisteria-"

"I believe you can do it," Nezuko said. "You can become stronger than anyone."

"I don't have the disposition of the Sun God," Izuku said. Inko looked up, confused. She felt left out of the conversation, she had already spilled every truth from her lips, but somehow Izuku felt like she wanted to say so much more just to speak to him. To make up for all the months there was nothing but silence between them.

"Then burn brighter," Nezuko challenged him. "Burn hotter than the sun."

Izuku frowned.

Eri had jumped down from Nezuko's lap and walked over to him. Her hands grabbed his. He hadn't even noticed how much they shook until her small fingers reminded him just how bad he was at hiding his emotions.

He turned his hands around, grasping Eri's. She smiled at him. A smile so radiant he couldn't help but smile back.

He had to smile back, because Nezuko's request was too cruel, and he would have to scream into the void where nobody could hear him.

Eri's horn was growing again.

It was on the train to Shibuya.

He didn't see him at first. The train was packed full, and Izuku was busy listening to anything that might be important for the work day.

But then he heard him. Humming something. HIs voice was unmistakable, as was the childhood lullaby that his mother had sung to him when he was so young that it was one of his first memories. Izuku turned around, squeezing himself through some of the people with a lot of apologies and some quick denials about the video of his fight being him-

He stood in front of Tenko, who was sitting in a seat to the far back of the train right next to the door.

"Sup, bro," Tenko said, smiling. Izuku's lips were drawn into a thin line. "You know by now, no need to hide it, right?"

"You knew longer than me," Izuku said, shrugging. "And I don't really like it when people keep things from me, I find it's the same as lying."

"Now to be fair," Tenko said, raising both index fingers before lowering them again. "Actually you know, I've got nothing. I thought she told you and when I found out she hadn't, I didn't really wanna take that from her."

"Well, she doesn't think you're an embarrassment if that's what you're worried about," Izuku murmured. Tenko chuckled, his shoulders shaking so much that the hood almost fell down from the motion. "Did you know about RS-9?"

"A bit," Tenko said. "I'm kind of a foster case, your mom's basically the only contact I had for a while. She let me live at her apartment in Tokyo and I'm kind of a shit, you know? Used my quirk to break into her file cabinets, read through some stuff, the usual."

"Not that usual," Izuku said. Tenko was his opposite in a lot of ways. More inquisitive, more than happy to ask uncomfortable questions, and entirely unwilling to take no for an answer. And against all odds, Izuku could still not bring it in him to dislike the boy.

Maybe it was because they were so close in age, somehow connected by the same mess of a parent.

"Is she doing fine?" Tenko asked. It was the genuine worry in his voice that made Izuku hesitate.

Izuku frowned. He wasn't sure how to answer, but he couldn't let silence be an answer unto itself.

"She's tired," Izuku said.

"When isn't she?" Tenko asked. Izuku coughed, trying not to find the question too funny. Tenko laughed enough for both of them.

"It'll take a bit, but she's protected, even under house arrest."

"Yeah, that's… okay, I guess, can't say she didn't get off lightly," Tenko said. "We chased down an acquaintance of your father when she went missing. Found out some stuff that might be interesting to the Slayer as the pigs call you now. We're chasing dear old dad."

"We?" Izuku asked. Tenko's smile gave away nothing. "Nevermind that, why are you telling me? I'm a hero, I could arrest you."

"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. He wasn't even sure why he was humoring the conversation so far. He could feel that Tenko's quirk was one inch away from causing havoc if he so wished. Tenko was an existence that walked a very thin line between well meaning and absolutely crazy. It was something in his eyes that made Izuku certain.

"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 with or without me."

Izuku frowned, thinking.

Tradition is important.

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

Wasn't it traditional to trust one's brother?

It was in his eyes, Izuku realized.

The same kind of love for the mother they both shared.

Tenko wasn't all that bad of a person, just as Izuku wasn't all that good.

Chapter 26, upcoming:

OATHBOUND.

Izuku did not breathe.

He could not even hear his own heartbeat anymore.