Disclaimer: I do not own Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
My Hero Academia: Entreri Gaiden
Chapter forty-four: Family, part three
All others who were present looked on in shock as Juri had stabbed Ochaco in the side with her pocket knife, even though the goblin-like girl was actually aiming for Ochaco's son Fuyuki as opposed to Ochaco herself. Ochaco, despite how she was in pain, grabbed ahold of Juri's hand that held the pocket knife, held onto it tightly to more ensure that Juri wouldn't be able to get out of there. The pro hero Uravity wanted to keep Juri bound.
"Ochaco!" the women cried out in worry for their colleague and friend, who was bleeding rather badly from her stab wound.
"Juri, for the love of frig, stand down!" Makoto snapped over from where he stood guarded by Kyoka, Mina, and Toru, "There's no need for you to attack anyone anymore! Least of all Deku's wife and son!"
The goblin-like girl had a confused look on her face. "...But...But what about getting the old boss out of jail so you can kill him? Don't you still want to avenge how he had been the one to make one of your younger sisters hang herself?"
Makoto sighed, let out a tired breath. "...To be honest, I still would love nothing more than to make Minoru Mineta's head roll. But that option's shot now. I'll just have to hope like hell that he will somehow get the death sentence, or at the very least is locked away until he croaks."
"Aha!" Toru exclaimed as she pointed her hunting knife at the cuffed Makoto, "You still want to kill Mineta! Although I've never been a big fan of him myself because of how much of a creepy pervert he was back in the day, there's no way the other heroes and I will let him get murdered by another villain!"
Makoto snarled in anger, turned to look at where the invisible hero stood, only having an idea due to how Toru was still holding the hunting knife. "What the hell would you know?! Mineta drove my younger sister into committing suicide! Do you have any idea what it's like to lose a loved one to the actions of a real villain?!"
"Entreri murdered my husband!" Toru snapped back, "Like I had told you previously! So yes! I do know what it's like to lose a loved one to a villain!"
"Technically, Entreri is classified as a criminal, not a villain," Kyoka pointed out, "We still have no clue if he's got a quirk or not since he was never seen using one." Arching an eyebrow, Kyoka went on as she turned slightly to face Makoto, "However, Toru still knows what it's like to lose a loved one to a villain's actions."
Before Makoto could ask what the pro hero Earphone Jack was talking about, Juri let go of her pocket knife that was still stabbed into Ochaco, leaving it there. Pulling her own hunting knife out, Juri said as she took aim at Mina, "I still won't let the heroes keep Makoto from avenging his little sister!" The goblin-like girl took a running dash right towards the pink-skinned pro hero, aiming to stab her right in the gut.
However, Juri was cut off when a breath weapon fired down onto the ground in Juri's path, making her skid to a stop. A loud, draconic roar cried out from above, making everyone turn to look up to see a greenish oriental dragon flying overhead, moving in something of a spiral before it began to descend to the ground nose first. Its form quickly shifted so that by the time it landed, the dragon had transformed back into his true form.
"Sorry if I was late," Ryumaru Okami said as he greeted everyone present, "I got held up helping Deku and the others round up some of the other guys that Makoto got as playmates."
Everyone was in shock at seeing the dragon quirk villain alive, as he was reported to have been killed by Deku during the siege on UA. But there he stood, alive and well. His long hair, his sleeveless dark green haori long coat, his baggy pants held up with a belt. He looked as if he had not died at all. The heroes, as well as Makoto and Juri, were all stunned to see Ryumaru just walk up to them so casually.
"...Yeah, it turns out that Deku only beat with within an inch of my life, not straight up to death," Ryumaru explained, "When the bodies from the siege on UA were being carried away, the people carrying the dead noticed that I was still showing signs of life, although my breathing was near undetectable and my pulse had slowed. That's when's Eraserhead got his adopted daughter to work her special kind of magic..."
(FLASHBACK)
Ryumaru, having been saved from the brink of death, was sitting in an interrogation room at the station, a pair of quirk suppressing cuffs on his wrists and a quirk suppressing collar around his neck for good measure. He felt like he had been waiting for ages when finally at long last, the door into the room opened and Commissioner Naomasa walked in with Izuku following along close behind him.
The two men regarded the dragon of Fine Wine's gang with look of cautious curiosity. "In case you were wondering how you survived, Okami," Naomasa began, "Deku didn't actually beat you to death. Just close to it. When we were gathering the dead from the siege on UA to transport to the morgue, you had shown signs of life."
"Luckily for us," Izuku cut in, "Aizawa-sensei's adopted daughter Eri was also on campus to help with transporting the dead. We told her you showed signs of life, so she used her quirk, Rewind, on you to return you to the state you were in before you and I fought. No injuries or exhaustion to speak of."
Ryumaru looked at his hands, slowly clenched them into fists. "We're still having all outgoing reports on the matter claim that you lost your life in the siege, however," Naomasa went on, "And all persons in the know have been made to swear themselves to secrecy."
"You want to keep my survival a secret," Ryumaru said, a hint of piqued curiosity in his tone, "I confess a curiosity as to why you want things to remain hush-hush, why you even bothered to save my life even though I'm technically a villain."
"Saving lives whenever we can, regardless who it is, that's just what heroes do," Izuku explained.
Naomasa nodded in age. "That, and there's also the fact that you being alive means we have a potential source of info on Fine Wine."
At that, Ryumaru scoffed in sarcastic amusement. "Ha! You think I'll betray the boss like that? Especially after he said he'd help me track down the bastard who drove Kolulu-chan into taking her own life?" The dragon of the Fine Wine gang gave Naomasa and Izuku a wry look. "Like hell you'll get anything out of me."
"I can just ask you questions about your boss while I have my quirk active," Naomasa said.
"I can just keep quiet," Ryumaru countered.
Naomasa and Izuku realized that they had reached one dead end. "...We'll try this again at a later time," Naomasa said, "Hopefully you'll be more agreeable then."
"I'll be more agreeable when I smash Minoru Mineta's head with Iwadono," Ryumaru replied dryly, "And that reminds me. Since I survived, I'm going to be needing Iwadono back as soon as I can get it from you, Deku."
Naomasa, with a curious look on his face, turned to look at Izuku. "Iwadono? What is Okami talking about, Deku? Do you know?"
"It's the name of his kanabo," Izuku explained. Naomasa nodded in understanding as Izuku turned to look at Ryumaru. "I'm not all that comfortable with handing a weapon over to a villain who had vocally declared his full intent to use it as a murder weapon. I hope you understand." The two men left the room before a pair of officers came in to move Ryumaru to another room to await transport to prison.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Cracking his neck a bit, Ryumaru said, "Yeah. I pretty much kept my thoughts to myself starting from there. Then, of course, came the time where Naomasa and Deku had me watch some news on the TV with them in a break room at the station."
The others looked curious at that notion. "...Why would Izuku and the Police Commissioner have you watch the news with them?" Kyoka asked, "And in the break room at the police station of all places?"
Turning to look at the pro hero Earphone Jack, Ryumaru said, "Well, let's just say I felt the same that Makoto probably felt upon seeing that news first hit the news channels all over Japan..."
(FLASHBACK)
Ryumaru, sitting between Naomasa and Izuku on the sofa in the break room at the police station, had a wide-eyed look of shock on his face as he watched the first of the breaking news reports going on about the multiple simultaneous raids on properties under the ownership of Fine Wine, including the many, many, many arrests that were made that evening, with the arrest of Fine Wine himself being the headline.
It was seeing the face of Minoru Mineta, confirmed as man who had been Fine Wine this entire time, that had made Ryumaru so shocked. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Ryumaru yelled at the top of his lungs, "Fine Wine, the man that I had been working for all of this time, is Minoru Mineta?! I was taking orders from the little shit who had driven Kolulu-chan to suicide?! I was taking orders from the little shit who I want to kill?!"
"Easy there, Ryumaru," Izuku said, keeping the long haired dragon guy from shooting up to his feet by placing a hand on his shoulder. After Ryumaru settled down enough, Izuku explained to him, "We were able to track down Fine Wine, or as you now know Mineta, at last because we got help from an unlikely source."
"Said source gave us a list of locations owned by Mineta in his role as a criminal gang lord," Naomasa explained, "Allowing the police and pro heroes to conduct the simultaneous raids that all took place yesterday evening."
"If we show you said list," Izuku began, "Would you be willing to tell us of any locations you know of that aren't on the list?"
Ryumaru looked shocked, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had unknowingly worked for the very man who had driven the girl he was in love with to commit suicide, the very man who he wanted to kill. He felt like he had betrayed the girl he loved by working for the man who pushed her to take her own life. That, in turn, made Ryumaru want to do anything that he'd be able to come up with to make Mineta's life a complete and utter living hell.
Slowly, the long haired dragon guy turned to face Izuku. "...If I see the list, sure. I'll also tell you about what all I had done while I had been manipulated into working for that sorry little turd if it would help out any at all."
Both Izuku and Naomasa smiled at this. "It would help us build the case against your former boss, yes," Naomasa remarked.
"There's...something else that I'd like to bring up," Izuku said, "An offer, if you will. Provided of course that you're interested."
Ryumaru arched a wry eyebrow as he regarded the top hero in Japan. "...What's the offer?"
(FLASHBACK OVER)
"Deku's offer would be to enroll me into this program thing that he's started up that helps to take willing villains and reform them," Ryumaru said, "Letting them become pro heroes. I'll be among the ranks of the ladies here once I graduate."
Makoto nodded in understanding. "...Yes. Deku's son told me about-"
Makoto stopped short when Ochaco fell to one knee, keeping her hands on the bleeding wound in her side. The pocket knife was still sticking out of said wound. "Deku's son!" Ryumaru said, getting Fuyuki's attention, "Go find Deku! The rewind girl is with him, and she can restore your mom here! Go quickly!"
Not even arguing, Fuyuki ran in the direction that Ryumaru pointed in. As he ran, Fuyuki thought about how it was ironic that he was now working again with one of his old allies from his days as Entreri. The son of Deku also worried that Ryumaru may recognize his voice, even though as Entreri he deliberately talked with a different tone. Still, Ryumaru had never showed any signs of even recognizing him, and it had been a while.
Regardless, Fuyuki had to find Eri Asui, so that she could undo the damage that Ochaco had suffered taking a hit for him.
It didn't take all that long to defeat what was left of Makoto's faction. Additionally, Eri was able to use her quirk to undo Ochaco's wound, saving the pro hero Uravity from bleeding out. Fuyuki not only breathed a sigh of relief, but found himself confused by his relief. Fuyuki recalled that he had felt like this when his Aunt Pony was saved under similar circumstances, confused as to why someone who he thought saw him as nothing but a lewd pervert, who had no trust in him to speak of, would risk themselves like that.
...Was Grandpa Masaru right? Did the women in the family actually trust and love Fuyuki? He had no idea what to think in that regard. However, there was one thing that Fuyuki knew how to think of. Looking around as the pro heroes were aided by police who had just shown up, Fuyuki saw his dad Izuku, accompanied by Commissioner Naomasa, a fully healed Ochaco, Ryumaru, and the usual greenhorn cop, load Makoto, as well as Jun, Juri, Kanehira and Junichi, into the back of a prisoner transport van. All of them wore quirk suppressing cuffs.
It was just Makoto and his family servants who were actually seated in the back of the prisoner transport van, as Jun and Juri still stood on the ground next to Izuku and the police when Fuyuki walked up to them, his eyes on Juri. The police and Izuku saw Fuyuki come over, but had no idea what was going on in his head up until he reached Juri. Then, before anyone could react, he struck Juri across the face with a punch he put as much devastation into as he could, breaking the goblin-like girl's nose in the process.
"THAT WAS FOR STABBING MY MOM, YOU BITCH!" Fuyuki yelled at the top of his lungs right into Juri's face.
The others who saw Fuyuki punch Juri to break her nose, heard him shout, were surprised by his action just now. However, after getting over the initial shock, some of them began to relax. "I'm going to have to side with Deku's boy on this one, Juri," Makoto called from where he sat in the back of the prisoner transport van, which was turned so that everyone in the back could see all that was going on, "I mean, you did stab his mom."
Pinching her nostrils closed to stem off some bleeding, Juri said, "It's part of why I never got the idea to hurt anyone in your family like that. I know how you function." As the greenhorn cop went to go find medical attention for Juri, Fuyuki turned to look at the others.
"...Sorry about losing my temper there," Fuyuki meekly apologized, "It's just...it's just that I didn't like what the green-skinned girl had done, stabbing my mom like that. It actually kind of scared me." Once again, Fuyuki felt weird not only having feelings of caring like that but also admitting to them, especially considering that in the prime of his Entreri days, he would have loved to have been the one to stab his mom himself.
While Fuyuki felt weird, Ochaco felt touched. Her son, who by her own actions she had driven away, had stood up for her, had admitted that he didn't want to see her hurt. The pro hero Uravity felt hopeful that this would at the very least be the beginning of redeeming herself in her son's eyes after she had blatantly wronged him. Smiling, with tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, Ochaco said, "It's alright, sweetie. You were just worried is all."
Fuyuki turned to look at his mom, a dry look of consideration on his face. "...You're still on some thin ice like Aunt Pony as far as I can see, mom," Fuyuki began, dashing a little bit of hope from Ochaco. However, that hope was restored when Fuyuki went on, "But similar to how I can trust Aunt Pony, I can now at least trust that you trust me."
That was more than good enough for Ochaco as she rushed her son and threw her arms around him, squeezing him in a tight, loving motherly embrace as she began softly crying. It was a cry of relief, Fuyuki could tell full well. He could also tell that it meant the world to Ochaco that she had regained at least some of his trust, and some of his love as well if him having punched Juri in the face to break her nose was any sign of that.
Fuyuki also...liked how it felt to have a mom who loved and trusted him so much hug him like that. It made him wonder if the way he felt while Ochaco hugged him is how Komaru feels when Mrs. Kirishima hugged him.
"So not only has Makoto accepted the offer to be enrolled into the reform program that you started up," Ryumaru said to Izuku after all of the captured thugs and a few villains were taken away, "But so did those Jun and Juri persons, as well as Kanehira and Junichi when the offer was extended to them."
Izuku nodded in confirmation. "The offer had also been given to Jun's sister Rumi, who had been in Takuya's faction."
"She's that humanoid lizard girl who acted as Takuya's right hand man, err woman," Ochaco said in a curious tone.
After nodding again, Izuku said, "Yeah, she accepted it after she saw Takuya accept the offer when it was given to him."
Everyone present looked surprised to hear that a quirkless man had been given the offer of being put into the reformation program. "You put Moononi into the program?" Ochaco asked, a surprised look on his face.
"His skills, if he truly changes his ways, would let him become an excellent underground hero just like Aizawa-sensei and Shinso," Izuku said, "Also, Moononi becoming a hero will prove that even those who are quirkless can be heroes. It's part of why I also extended the offer to Hochu, who accepted it as well."
Ochaco looked very surprised. "I can't believe that they would change their tunes so easily."
Looking a bit embarrassed, Naomasa said, "Actually, it turns out that Mineta had personally wronged Moononi and Sunoni as well. For Moononi, Mineta had some thugs working for him shoot and kill Moononi's mom who ran a family owned sweets shop because she refused to pay them protection money one too many times. Moononi didn't know it had been Mineta's doing until an investigation into all of Mineta's crimes revealed it shortly after Moononi was arrested."
"My bastard old boss actually kept a hand written record of everything he did as a criminal gang lord," Ryumaru said, "Accounting for every last crime either he did himself or someone working for him did. He kept all of that info like accounting records in a series of composition books. He did run things like a business, after all."
"We're still trying to get through everything in those quote unquote 'accounting records' by the way," Naomasa said, "We're just about finished with all the books that cover just Mineta's first year as Fine Wine. We still got the other fourteen someodd years after that. Not to mention the fact we're trying to process everything that we got in the raid, as well as the new bits as they all keep coming in."
Ochaco nodded in understanding. "Fair enough. But what about Hochu?"
At that prompting, Izuku looked a bit resigned. "...You remember the incident at that one coffee place years back where Aizawa-sensei's wife Ms. Joke was killed? As it turned out, not only was said incident Mineta's doing as he had his man Big Beef cause it, but Hochu's wife was one of the victims of the accident as well."
"Big Beef caused that incident?" Ochaco said, looking surprised.
Naomasa nodded in confirmation. "It was a bit before Big Beef had crippled Dynamight."
As the persons there talked, Eri came over with Mina, Kyoka and Toru, the last of those three now wearing a long sleeved shirt, a pair of pants, shoes and a pair of gloves. That way, people could actually see where Toru was. "Sorry if I took so long, Izuku," Eri said to her old friend while Toru turned to face someone else, "The ladies here and I just had to check in with the others who had taken part in the Makoto capture mission to make sure-"
*SLAP*
Everyone stopped short when Toru struck Ryumaru across the face with a powerful stinging slap. "YOU TOTAL FUCKING MONSTER!" Toru screamed at the top of her lungs right at the long haired dragon guy, "YOU MURDERED MY DAUGHTER! AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET A SHOT TO BE A HERO?! SOMETHING THAT MY DAUGHTER COULD HAVE BEEN BUT NOW CAN'T BECAUSE OF YOU?! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE A HERO! NO ONE IS REALLY GOING TO TRUST A HERO LIKE YOU!"
Ryumaru didn't turn his head back to look at Toru, but he did turn his glance at her. "...You are the mother of Rem Ojiro, yes? Yeah, I did bust her skull. If it's worth anything however, if I had known it ahead of time that Fine Wine was Mineta, then I'd have busted his skull instead of how I had busted your daughter's skull."
"You never should have done what you did, you heartless monster," Toru snarled, "My daughter was an innocent girl!"
At that prompting, Ryumaru's eyes narrowed a bit. "...With all due respect, I can't exactly see how your daughter was quote unquote innocent." Jerking a thumb at Fuyuki, Ryumaru went on, "After all Invisible Girl, was it not your daughter who, out of petty jealousy, framed Deku's son here as a lewd, panty-stealing pervert and got him kicked out of UA? That doesn't sound like a thing that an innocent person would do. At least if you ask me for my two yen on the matter."
"Yeah, and we still need to bring up how Toru had acted when we apprehended Makoto at the next meeting," Kyoka said. Although things seemed to be looking better, other things had gone and taken a bit of a dive. Fuyuki had an uneasy feeling that things would be souring a bit more bitter before they became sweet again. Even so, he now had hope that things would recover, and at a decent rate as well.
...So why did Fuyuki have this uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach?
END, CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Author's notes;
This chapter picks up where the last one left off, and shows that Ryumaru had actually survived and was saved by Eri's timely presence. It also included possible redemptions for some other characters, even Takuya and Hochu (them being quirkless yet able to compete with pro heroes who have quriks makes them valuable, also I have a role for them in the next arc). And Ochaco had at long last gotten some measure of trust slash love from Fuyuki back, which brings things one step closer to Fuyuki fully healing.
However, when it comes to Inko regaining her cousin's trust, it won't be anywhere near as easy as it had been for Pony and Ochaco. Especially considering what all will be going down during the next chapter. It'll spill over into the next part of the story actually, and it'll be arguably one of the most intense parts of the story to date, especially considering what all that the villain of said arc has at his disposal.
Later, skaters.