Nomu Time

All it did was sit there. It hadn't moved for hours. Aiko sat on the other side of the room frowning at it, Mr. Babbles beside her. The villains were busy that day, so she was left to entertain herself.

"It" was a huge, toothy monster. It had sick-looking blue skin and bulging eyes that stuck out the sides of it's head. It's most prominent feature was definitely the brain. It had no protection and made up the majority of it's head.

Aiko had heard Shigaraki refer to it as "Nomu", so Aiko had taken to calling it that, though she still hadn't built up enough courage to actually speak to it. Not that she believed it would actually say anything back, as it hadn't even noticed she was there.

She sucked in a deep breath and approached the monster, avoiding eye contact. It's massive body made Aiko feel small compared to Nomu.

"U-um, hello?" Aiko stood in front of it now, perplexed.

Without warning, it's eyes rolled in her direction and it's breathing shuddered.

"Eep!" Aiko backed up slightly. "U-uh, never mind! I didn't mean to bother you!"

Nomu didn't say anything, it only stood up, which startled Aiko even more. Nomu reached a giant hand out and Aiko trembled under it's gaze. She winced, preparing for the Nomu's impact, but it never came. Instead, she felt it's calloused hand on her head. It wasn't careful, that was for sure, but it heavily patted her feathery hair.

It gargled, as if saying something to her.

"Huh? Can you talk?" Aiko asked, looking up at the monster.

It shook it's head lightly, like it was only half-processing what she was saying.

"But you can understand me, right?" Aiko was beginning to catch on.

It half-nodded.

"Oh! Can you write? We can talk like that!" Aiko ran off, and the Nomu sat back down. She came back in carrying a big yellow notepad and a pencil.

When she handed the notepad and pencil to Nomu, Aiko realized how much she had underestimated the size of the Nomu's hands. The pencil was dwarfed in the creature's grip.

But instead of breaking the pencil in half, it lifted the pencil to the notepad and attempted to jot something down. When it handed it back to Aiko, she giggled.

"That's not how you write 'hello'! Here, I'll show you!" Aiko took the notebook and wrote out a clean 'hello' under the Nomu's messy 'helo'. It cocked its head, then took the notepad back, scribbling 'hello' onto the sheet.

"Good job! You got it right, Mr. Nomu!" Aiko smiled. "Oh, do you have a name? I heard Shiggy call you Nomu, but I'm not sure."

The Nomu made a slight twitch with it's face, before going back to the notepad. It took a while, but it finally scrawled something out and gave it to Aiko.

"Te-ru-o. Teruo! Is that your name? That's a nice name!" Aiko said. "My name is Aiko!"

"Ee-kou," The Nomu grumbled, doing its best to pronounce what she had said.

"That was close! It's pronounced Ai-ko. Try again." Aiko put a hand on the Nomu's arm.

"A-A-Ai-k-ko," The Nomu said.

"You got it! Good job, Teruo!" Aiko smiled and put a hand out to Nomu, attempting a high-five.

The Nomu touched her hand with one of it's massive fingers.

The two sat for a few more hours, communicating through notepad.

Aiko noticed Nomu's eyes flick towards Mr. Babbles occasionally, so she got an idea.

"Do you wanna meet him? He's really good at telling stories!" Aiko hopped up and ran over, pulling Mr. Babbles off the chair and bringing him over to Nomu. "Here you go, Teruo!"

Nomu stared at the giant bear for a few seconds before taking the him into its large hands.

"Oh! We should read a story! I'll go get a storybook! Oneechan bought me one a few weeks ago!" The small girl ran out of the room.

The Nomu watched Mr. Babbles silently. Images of a little blue-haired girl flicked through its memories. The blue-haired girl pulled the pink teddy around everywhere. Her smile was contagious, just like Aiko.

"I'm back!" Aiko said and burst through the door, carrying a small book.

She hopped up in the chair beside Nomu, opening it up.

"It's called Sleeping Beauty! It's from America. Himiko-Chan said it would help me learn English better," Aiko grinned. "Did you know I was learning English? I wanna know all sorts of languages!"

She opened the book and began for read. The Nomu half-listened. It was hard to understand, but Aiko would occasionally explain it in Japanese, which made it easier.

New memories flipped through the Nomu's mind. The blue-haired girl appeared often, as well as a gorgeous black-haired woman. Then it got images of a crying girl and woman, of a tall, deformed man. Pain shot through Nomu's brain. Nomu held it's head a groaned, which made Aiko pause.

"Are you ok? Is it hard to understand? I can read slower!" Aiko said.

"N-no..." The Nomu grumbled, shaking its head.

The Nomu pulled out the notepad and scribbled three words out.

"All for One...what's that? Or who? I've never heard of him." Aiko peeked over at the notepad. Nomu's wrote something else. "Pain...are you hurt?"

"All I'm saying is that we didn't need one. Not yet." Shigaraki's voice came from beyond the door.

He was on the phone. Aiko, panicked, grabbed Mr. Babbles and ran to her spot on the other side of the room. She put a finger to her lips and shushed the Nomu, hoping it would get the hint.

When Shigaraki walked in, Aiko was on the other side of the room, reading a book to her pink bear, and the Nomu was sitting silently on the chair it had been in when he left.

He narrowed his eyes. "I find it hard to believe you just sat there all day."

"What? Me? Of course! I wouldn't ever do anything suspicious!" Aiko batted her eyes.

Shigaraki's eyes narrowed even further.

"A-Aiko..."

Aiko took in a quick breath and glanced over at the Nomu. Then she and Shigaraki looked at each other. One with shame and the other with spite.

"Why's it talking? It's not supposed to be able to talk. The hell did you do, brat?" Shigaraki growled.

"I just talked to him! Nothing much! We read a story is all! Then he started talking about this 'All for One' guy and 'pain' and stuff! That's all! Then you showed up!" Aiko scrambled to explain herself.

"How does it know about all that?" Shigaraki immediately called on the Doctor, who popped up on the large screen.

"What is it Tomura? Are you satisfied with the Nomu I sent?" The Doctor asked.

"How come it can talk? I thought only your new, fancy Nomus could do that." Shigaraki crossed his arms.

"Now that's new. I had no idea. Send him back, perhaps it's underdeveloped." The Doctor said.

"Wait!" Aiko hopped off her chair. "Why do you gotta send him back? Teruo didn't do anything!"

"Teruo? Oh, you mean it's old name? Did it tell you that, child?" The Doctor rubbed his chin. "It shouldn't be able to remember its old life, either. Malfunctional, I'd say."

"Are you gonna erase his memories? Is that why it was scared of this guy named "All for One"? Is he the guy that erased his memories?" Aiko asked.

"My, you are rather observant, aren't you? No, All for One is Tomura's master. He is technically the one who erased the Nomu's memories and turned him into a Nomu in the first place." The Doctor explained.

"Y-you mean he used to-to be a person?!" Aiko felt sick. "And this All for One turned him into that? That's horrible."

"Master knew what he was doing," Shigaraki glared at Aiko. "It was all for a greater cause."

"But it hurt him, didn't it? Isn't that bad?" Aiko asked.

"It's none of your business, is it brat? Now take him back, Doctor." Shigaraki waved it off.

The Nomu was instantly teleported back to the Doctor's lab. Aiko felt split. The memories seemed to make Teruo pained, but she wasn't sure if it was right to take them away for good.

That night, Aiko cuddled next to Mr. Babbles.

"I feel bad for Teruo, Mr. Babbles. I wouldn't want all of my memories taken away either. I also wouldn't want to be turned into a monster." She scooted out of bed.

Aiko made her way to her window, pulling the sliding door open and stepping out onto her small porch. She sat down and looked out on Daika City.

"I hope he's alright," She said to herself. Unknowingly to Aiko, a massive pale-blue figure stood on the rooftop above her.

"A-Ai...ko..."

The next morning, the feathered girl stretched and sat up in bed.

Funny.

She rubbed her eyes. For a second there, she was sure she saw Teruo at the end of her bed.

"Aaah!" Aiko screamed, startled by the fact that the hulking Nomu was at the end of her bed. "T-Teruo?"

The Nomu nodded, its toothy mouth wide.

"I thought they took you away...wait. Did you run away?" Aiko whispered.

The Nomu nodded, then pointed at Aiko.

"Did you want to see me? But why? It's my fault you were taken!" Aiko bit her lip.

He shook his head, then stood up, almost hitting her ceiling. He stumbled over to her desk and rummaged through one of the drawers carefully. Teruo pulled out a paper and pencil, then sat down on the floor.

The Nomu scrawled something out of the flimsy sheet and showed it to Aiko.

"Memrays? Oh! Do you mean 'Memories'?" Aiko looked at her friend.

He nodded, then wrote down something else.

"'Girl', 'Lady', 'Criing'? Girl, Lady, Crying? Those are in your memories? So you used to be human, huh?" Aiko put a hand to her chin. "Maybe they were you're family? When you were still Teruo! The Lady must've been your wife and the girl must've been your daughter! And they must've been crying because...because...you were taken away..."

The Nomu grit it's teeth and nodded.

"Aiko? Are you in there?" Himiko's voice called from outside her door.

"Uh-um-yes! Just a minute!" Aiko hopped off her bed and went for the door. Teruo frantically grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Ack! Teruo? What is it?" She whispered.

The Nomu looked her straight in the eyes and shook his head.

"You don't want Oneechan to know you're here? Ok. I'll hide you." Aiko led him over to the corner that was out of sight of the door. She pulled a blanket off her bed and threw it over to him. "Stay quiet this time!"

Aiko opened the door for Himiko.

"Good Morning, Himiko-Chan!" Aiko plastered a huge smile on her face.

"Good Morning, Aiko! Dabi told me to come check on you since you were taking awhile. What's with the grin?" Himiko raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing! I was just so happy to see you!" Aiko lessened the grin a smidge. "I'll be upstairs in a few minutes, just gonna get dressed."

"Ok! See you later!" Himiko waved and skipped back down the hallway.

Aiko shut the door and went back over to the Nomu.

"How're you doing?"

Teruo was holding his head again, panting heavily.

"Are more memories coming back?" Aiko put a tiny hand on his giant arm.

Teruo reached for the paper and pencil and wrote something else down.

"Home..." Aiko read. "Home! Do you remember where it is?"

The Nomu nodded his head.

"Well, then we have to go! Your family is waiting!" Aiko put her fist in her hand.

Teruo stood up quickly and, without warning, picked Aiko up around the waist and threw her onto his back.

"Aah! What are you doing?" Aiko yelped and grabbed onto his head, avoiding the squishy brain part.

The Nomu slid the porch door open and jumped out, flinging himself off the edge.

"Eeek!" Aiko screamed.

The Nomu was about to hit the ground, before flying into the sky again with great force. This continued for a couple of miles. The early morning summer sun beat down on them from above.

"Are we almost there?" Aiko yelled over the wind, her nightgown billowing behind her.

The Nomu made a grunt that she assumed was a 'yes'.

They hopped through the sky and Aiko gazed out over the crowded city. People were like ants on the ground and thousands of them went about their day blissfully. Cars seemed like little toys as they made their way from work or school and back. The houses were lined perfectly in rows, each a little unique, each with a different story to tell.

So many stories...

Finally, they landed on the ground outside a small, purple-roofed suburban home in the outskirts of an unfamiliar town. Aiko slid off the Nomu's back and stood beside him as they gazed at the house.

"Is this it?" Aiko asked him, turning to look up at him.

Teruo nodded, but seemed hesitant.

"I can go and knock for you! That might make it easier." Aiko suggested.

He thought for a moment, then nodded again. Aiko stepped forward and Teruo followed close behind. She walked up to the perfect green door and put her small hand up to it.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

It was a beautiful woman who answered, her black hair long and mesmerizing. She looked down at Aiko for a moment, before her eyes trailed up to Teruo, her calm expression morphing into horror.

It was at that moment that Aiko realized the mistake she had made. The women's scream was louder that she had ever heard before. A little blue-haired girl came running and immediately joined in the ruckus. Neighbors emerged from their houses after hearing the two girl's screams. They shouted and yelled for help at the sight of Teruo.

"No! Wait!" Aiko tried to explain.

Teruo was still silent, but Aiko could sense a strange feeling coming off of him.

"Teruo?" Aiko looked up at her friend.

Teruo's face was stiff and his pupils were dilated. His breathing became more and more ragged.

The giant blue creature suddenly reached to grab at the woman and the girl, but they stepped away, trying to close the door, but Teruo was already forcing his way in.

"No! Wait! Teruo, stop!" Aiko pulled on the Nomu's arm, but it did little. He merely shook her off and she was thrown backwards. He growled viciously at the neighbors who had come to help the woman and the girl.

The sound of sirens came quickly. Police cars slowed to a stop outside the house. Teruo whirled around and roared. The bullets that were aimed at him bounced off uselessly.

"Stop! Don't hurt him! He doesn't mean it!" Aiko tried to wave down the police officers, but they were too focused on the monster. "Oof!"

Teruo had grasped Aiko around her small waist again and carried her as if she was a football. It his other arm, a terrified blue-haired girl shivered in fear, calling for her mother.

Her mother laid on the ground, motionless. Aiko's eyes widened in horror.

"Teruo! Please! You have to stop!" Aiko tried to reach out to him again, only to fail.

"D-did you say Teruo?" The shivering girl, opened an eye to look at Aiko. "That's my daddy's name..."

"That's cuz he is your daddy!" Aiko said frantically. "This bad guy named All for One turned him into this scary monster! He wanted to come and see you!"

"Re-Really?" The girl wasn't sure what to believe. "Is this really my papa?"

"Maybe you can talk to him! Tell him to calm down or something!" Aiko said. The sound of gunfire had disappeared, clearly since the officers didn't want to risk hitting the two girls.

"Pa-papa? Is that you?" The blue-haired girl said quietly. "It's me, Mae."

Teruo paused, his sharp eyes rolling to look at Mae.

"M-ae?" Teruo sputtered.

"Yes! Papa! It's me!" Mae trembled a little under his gaze, but took in a deep breath. "Do you remember when they took you? It was a year ago!"

Teruo let out a heavy sigh, then nodded.

"T-then you remember this?" Mae reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a locket. "You gave this to me on that night!"

Teruo dropped Aiko violently and snatched the locket.

"Y-yes...lock...et..." Teruo dropped Mae and groaned, grasping his head painfully, falling to his knees.

"Papa?" Mae scrambled up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Teruo! Are you ok?" Aiko also hopped up, standing at his other side.

"Stand Aside, Girls!" A generic muscular hero stepped in. "I will stop this villain!"

"No! Wait!" Aiko and Mae yelled in unison.

The generic muscular hero that I was too lazy to come up with a name for quickly landed a powerful whack to Teruo's head, knocking him out.

"We will take care of it from here! So sorry for the trouble! These monsters have been a nuisance for a while now!" The generic hero stated.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Mae asked weakly, tears forming in her eyes.

"He is beyond repair, so he will be taken in for questioning, then sent to a lab." A black haired man in a large brown trench coat approached the girls. "I know it sounds harsh, but it is the reality."

"Will the lab hurt him?" Aiko jumped in.

"I don't think so, they will only run simple tests in order to better understand these Nomu." The plain-looking man said.

"But he's not a Nomu! He has real-life emotions and a family!" Aiko yelled. "It's not fair!"

"I'm afraid that is the case for all of the Nomu we've secured. We've yet to uncover a cure so far." The man said solemnly.

Aiko froze. She wasn't sure what to think. Has this All for One guy been doing this to lots of people? Real people? With a life and family and emotions? It was sickening.

"If you wouldn't mind. A few of my colleagues would like the chance to ask you a few questions before you are let go." The man tipped his hat to Mae. "And for you, Aiko, I'd like to speak to you myself."

This caught her off guard. "How do you know my name?"

"Let's just say you've been a hot topic recently with a friend of mine." The man smiled.

After Mae and Aiko were separated, Aiko immediately asked the man a question.

"Teruo didn't...um...kill the lady? Did he?" She said.

"No, it seems as though he only knocked her out." The man smiled agains and brought her around a car.

"Now, I suppose I should introduce myself, Aiko. My name is Naomasa Tsukauchi. I'm a detective for the police force." He took off his hat.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Aiko didn't like where this was going. "But you still haven't explained how you know me?"

"Ah, of course. I have a good friend who introduced me to a young boy whom you might know. But the one who I first heard about you from was Eri." Tsukauchi said.

"Eri? How? Why?" Aiko was clearly confused.

"She and I meet up occasionally to discuss certain matters. But those are unimportant. What I meant to say was that she never passes up the chance to talk about her good friend, Aiko Aoki." The detective chuckled.

"She talks about me? That's so nice of her!" Aiko smiled at the thought of her friend.

"Since then, I've been told about a familiar feathered girl by the boy I mentioned earlier, Izuku Midoriya." Tsukauchi said.

"Deku? But why?"

"Well, that's not too important either. The thing I'm most interested in is how you got to be so far out here in the first place and why you seem to follow trouble wherever you go." The detective raised an eyebrow. "And why your family is so similar to that of some notorious villains."

Aiko held back a gasp. How much did he know? Was he gonna arrest her? She needed a really good lie right about now.

"Well, for the getting out here thing, I met Teruo...um...and he told me about his family so...I made a mistake and helped him find his way here. Then he attacked his family, out of love! For the 'my family' part, I just say the same thing I tell everyone," Aiko shrugged. "They really do look scary! I always tell my big brother that the mask doesn't help his image!"

"Interesting." Tsukauchi seemed suspicious. "I have just one question for you, Aiko. Is that your real name?" Tsukauchi stared at her.

Aiko didn't know why he would ask that, but answered truthfully. "Yup! My name is Aiko Aoki! Through and Through!"

Tsukauchi hesitated for a moment, then nodded, satisfied with her answer. "It seems I might've been wrong about you, Aiko. Until later,"

He tipped his hat to her and walked away.

Aiko let out the most relieved sigh she had ever let out.

That was a thousand times too close.

She wandered back around the car to find Mae, who was crying near one of the other police vehicles.

"Are you ok?" She asked lightly.

Mae sniffled and wiped her face. "Y-yeah. I just-I just miss him so much."

"I know how that feels." Aiko smiled. Mae was a few years older than her, but the pain was the same.

In Mae's hand, Aiko spotted a gold chain. "Is that the locket that your papa gave you?"

Mae opened her palm to reveal a small, heart-shaped locket. "Yeah, he gave it to me the night he disappeared."

"May I?" Aiko reached out for the locket and Mae passed it to her. She opened it with a soft click and gazed at the contents.

A small picture was tucked inside. A tall, handsome, blue-haired man smiled beside a gorgeous black-haired woman who was holding a small blue-haired baby in her arms.

"Is this Teruo? And your mama? And you?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah, we were-we were so happy." Mae hiccuped.

"And you'll be happy again. No doubt about it!" Aiko wrapped her arms around Mae. "You'll see. They'll find a cure for Teruo and save him and all those other Nomu!I promise!" Aiko grinned.

"T-thanks..." Mae smiled softly.

Aiko could tell she wasn't ready to believe it yet, but the blue-haired girl would in time. Aiko peeked over the side of the car and spotted Teruo being led into a vehicle. He looked groggy, probably from being knocked out.

She ran out from behind the car and got as close as she could without being stopped by the police.

"Goodbye Teruo! I'm sorry!" Aiko yelled and waved to the Nomu.

Teruo's eyes rolled in Aiko's direction, then in Mae's.

"B-ye...bye..." Teruo struggled to get the last few words out before being sent into the massive carrier truck.

"Bye, bye papa..." Mae looked like she might cry again, but Aiko needed to get home.

"Crud." She said, the stupidity washing over her as she realized that she had ridden a 200-ton Nomu to get here and now she didn't know where here was. "Too bad none of my friends have a location quirk."

I hope you enjoyed this humorous ending to a rather heartfelt chapter. Have a good day!