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-five: Family, part four

The pro heroes who made up what was left of the legendary year of UA's hero course were at a meeting with President Mera of the HPSC. They were there to discuss the recent successful capture of Makoto Veldora, the last of the three leaders who led factions composed of the remnants of the Fine Wine gang. With the capture of Makoto, his faction likewise went down; as such, the last of the influence that Fine Wine, otherwise known as Minoru Mineta the disgraced former classmate of the heroes at the meeting, had loose was now taken out.

The nightmare that was Fine Wine, which had plagued Japan for a little bit over a decade and a half, was now fully gone for good.

"So Makoto, along with Jun, Juri, Kanehira and Junichi, had been offered to be put into the reform program that Deku started up," Mera said, "And all of them accepted." Looking to the top hero, Mera remarked, "Well if your program can reform Ryumaru of all people, then I fail to see how it won't work on them."

"What surprises me is that Takuya and Hochu also were offered and had accepted getting into the program," Setsuna said, "I mean, aren't they both quirkless?"

"And yet they had both proven that they can keep up with pro heroes," Kaminari pointed out, "It'd be best to not underestimate either of them."

Izuku nodded in agreement with Kaminari. "Yes, I have high hopes for them. But we're getting a bit off subject." Izuku turned to face Toru. "Toru, I had been told by both Ochaco and Fuyuki that you snuck up behind Makoto while he was in the middle of being talked down and placed the edge of a knife against his throat to threaten him into submission."

Scoffing, Toru replied, "It got the job we wanted taken care of done, didn't it?"

"Invisible Girl," Mera said, a slight hint of exasperation in his tone, "You were out of line with that stunt. This is not something that I would have expected out of you."

The others at the meeting nodded in agreement with the president of the HPSC. "Yeah, Toru," Momo said in a concerned tone, "What happened to you? The you of six months ago wouldn't of even thought about pulling such a stunt."

Toru stood up forcefully from where she sat, her hands firmly on the table surface to help push herself up. "THE ME OF SIX MONTHS AGO STILL HAD HER HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER!" Toru exclaimed at the top of her lungs. Toru then fell back down into her seat, rested her arms on the surface of the meeting table, then laid her invisible head onto her arms and proceeded to cry at full volume, overcome by grief over how she had lost her family.

The others looked around with mildly uncomfortable expressions, with Mera giving a tired sigh. Turning to face the assistant that he had on his left, Mera asked, "Wasn't Invisible Girl supposed to be slated to go through mandatory therapy the moment I caught wind of how Tailman and the daughter he had with her were both killed in the siege on UA?"

"Yes, sir," the assistant replied, "But there's no precedent for having pro heroes go through therapy like that. In fact, before you became the HPSC president, even the very idea of having pro heroes go through therapy was dismissed as unnecessary."

Mera sighed in an exasperated tone once more. "...My predecessor really screwed the pooch on this one," Mera muttered to himself, "I wonder how many pooches she had screwed exactly." Looking up at the heroes, Mera said, "Alright, Invisible Girl will go through mandatory therapy, and I'll need someone to make sure she does it up until the therapist believes she's recovered enough. Until such time, I'm ordering that Invisible Girl be put on leave."

The others all agreed that making Toru go through mandatory therapy was a good idea. Izuku even brought it up that part of what the reform program does is have those enrolled into it go through therapy, to help figure out why they did what they had done, why they felt the way that they did. Understanding people, Izuku believes, is necessary to help them. There was also how it was decided that being able to recognize when people needed help would be a good idea.

"Wow," Juzo said, a look of mild surprise on his face, "I just realized what all could have been either significantly lessened or straight up avoided altogether if people noticed things in others before things got too bad, as well as have others go though therapy the instant it's considered." Many at the meeting, Todoroki especially so, nodded in agreement with Juzo.

"And to think recognizing signs of help being needed, as well as requiring therapy, weren't even considered as valid thoughts up until you all graduated from UA and became pro heroes," Mera remarked, "You all really helped revitalize pro hero society."

After a few other issues of business were discussed, the meeting was adjourned. The heroes all got up and filed out of the meeting room. Many of them felt as if a huge weight, a burden on all of their shoulders, had at last been lifted away. Then again, the last of Fine Wine's influence, the influence of their disgraced former classmate and schoolmate, had been taken out. It was safe to say that Japan was now one-hundred percent Fine Wine free.

It felt like the end of an era, but with that era ending, the heroes saw a brighter future ahead of them. All that remained now was to focus on what all was to come in the future. But with the fact that Mineta, as well as all of his influence, had been taken off of the streets, the heroes had all the time and effort needed to deal with whatever acts of criminal and villainous activity that may come their way.

They felt as if they would be ready for anything.

Later, Fuyuki was getting out of classes at Faerun High for the day, accompanied by his friends Tengoh, Toya, Samidare and Aizawa, when the last of those four brought up something that got the attention of the other boys. "Hey Fuyuki," the catboy began, "Hikari told me about how you lost your cool when some goblin girl stabbed your mom in the side during the mission that took out Hikari's older brother."

Fuyuki sighed, nodded a few times in the affirmative. "...Yes. It was kind of like how I was rather frightened when I saw my Aunt Pony take that wound across her back in my place."

"I also heard that you punched the goblin girl in the face to break her nose," Aizawa went on, "As a sort of retaliation against her for stabbing your mom."

"Thank goodness my Aunt Eri was there to rewind the damage," Samidare commented, "Both on Fuyuki's mom and on that goblin girl to a lesser extent."

Fuyuki inhaled and exhaled through his nose before he spoke up again. "...Yeah, thank goodness that my mom was taken care of."

"You seemed rather relieved to see that your mom is okay," Tengoh noted, "Might it be safe to say that you're forgiving her?"

The son of Deku gave a gentle shrug of his shoulders as he replied, "Not fully, and I haven't fully forgiven my Aunt Pony either. However, I have come to regain some degree of trust in the two of them that I used to have. At the very least, I can trust that they won't jump the gun and assume that I'm some lewd, panty-stealing pervert."

The boys nodded in understanding, with Toya saying, "That's fair. Given the extent of the damage that the ladies of your family had done to you, it'll take a lot more than wounds that got rewound out of existence anyway for them to fully regain your trust." Arching a wry eyebrow, the son of Shoto asked, "But what about your cousin, Fuyuki? What about Inko?"

Fuyuki sighed in a troubled tone. "...She hasn't done anything yet as far as I could tell. And given she was among the girls who had reviled me due to the frame job Rem had set up on me, I'm not exactly keen on Inko right now."

"Hikari was one of said girls, you know," Tengoh pointed out, "And yet you've eased up on her."

"Yeah, but she has shown immense remorse for how she had acted while she had been duped by Rem's actions," Fuyuki explained, "That and I can't help but go at least a little easy on her since I've always liked her due to a mix of liking how fantastic she is at academics and the fact that I've always thought that she was cute."

Samidare chuckled a bit in amusement. "...So you're a sucker for a pretty face. Or at least one that is pretty by your definition."

As Fuyuki couldn't help but shrug, he was cut off from speaking when he heard Inko's voice call out to him, "Oi, cous." Fuyuki and his friends turned to see Inko walk up to them, followed by her friends Marley, Ragna and Komaru. To Fuyuki's interest, there was a somewhat spacy look on his older cousin's face as she looked down, her look sad and resigned. When the four teens had reached Fuyuki and his group, Inko looked up more to her cousin.

"...We need to get going," Inko said, "There's something that our family needs to discuss."

"Let me guess," Aizawa said as his cat tail swished, "Someone in your family died again."

Gently shaking her head, Inko replied, "No one died, Aizawa. However, it's still something very serious. The whole family will be there."

Fuyuki could tell that something was up, and his instincts were screaming at him in his head at the top of their lungs that he was not going to like what he was going to be hearing at the family meeting. Regardless, Fuyuki agreed to follow Inko, telling his friends that he would be seeing the lot of them later. Similarly, Inko bid her crew farewell for the time being. Together, Fuyuki as well as Inko took off for the Midoriya residence, where the family meeting would be happening.

Over at the Midoriya residence, Izuku as well as Ochaco, Bakugo, Pony and Masaru had already gathered in the dining room. Pony and especially Ochaco looked nervous about the upcoming sit down that they would be having with Fuyuki. "I...I can't believe that we're going to be doing this," Ochaco said in a worried tone, "What if he freaks out?"

"That's why Kacchan and I are here," Izuku said as he turned to face his wife, "We're going to try to explain everything to Fuyuki in the hopes he'll be understanding."

"And remember," Bakugo said to the ladies, "This whole thing was actually Inko's idea. She felt that Fuyuki would learn the truth eventually, so she figured that it would be best if he was told in a calm environment as things were explained properly to him."

Pony looked worried. "...I heard from Ochaco that Fuyuki actually punched that goblin girl Juri in the face because of what she did. What if Fuyuki tries to similarly attack Inko?"

"Kacchan and I will stop him if he looks to be going too far," Izuku assured his sister-in-law. At around that time, everyone heard the front door open, with Inko calling out to everyone that she had brought Fuyuki like she said she would. "Okay, Inko!" Izuku called back, "Can you and Fuyuki both come in here?"

A few seconds later, Inko and Fuyuki entered the dining room. Gesturing for the teens to sit down at the table, Ochaco said, "Well Fuyuki, sweetie, I suppose that you're wondering why we had called for this family meeting."

Fuyuki nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I'm getting the strong vibe that I'm in some sort of trouble for some odd reason." He was worried that the adults somehow found out that he was Entreri, although they didn't seem too upset if that were the case; they'd look far more troubled than they all do at the moment because if they knew, then they'd be reeling from the idea that all of how they acted had led to the birth of the greatest assassin-style thug the Fine Wine gang ever had working for them.

The adults shook their heads, with Ochaco replying, "Oh no, sweetie. You aren't in any trouble with us. If anything, we might be in trouble with you."

"What do you mean by that?" Fuyuki asked, his arms folded across his chest as he spoke in a wry tone. He had a strong feeling that he was not going to like where this was going.

"You know how your late classmate Rem had been the one who framed you to get you kicked out of UA, son?" Izuku asked.

"...Yeah," Fuyuki replied, his suspicions growing stronger and stronger.

Letting out a troubled sigh, Izuku said, "Well Fuyuki, here's the thing. Rem...actually wasn't the one who had framed you. She's completely innocent."

Fuyuki closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled through his nose. It was clear that he was upset, but he wanted to at least hear his family out. "...Explain."

"You heard how it was a female member of the Fine Wine gang that had betrayed Fine Wine himself," Bakugo began, "With the bastard turning out to be the old schoolmate of me, your aunt, and both of your parents, right? Can we tell you a truth if you promise not to say word on it to anyone outside of the family?'

Fuyuki had a strong feeling he knew what the truth was going to be, but he played along. "Yes. Go on, Uncle Katsuki."

The pro hero Dynamight let out a troubled sigh. "...The truth of the matter was that it wasn't a random female thug working for Grape Head who had turned on him by ratting him out to the pro heroes and police. It was that bastard Entreri who had turned on Fine Wine. It was Entreri who had given us the info we used, we needed, to bring his old boss down at long last."

The son of Deku knew that part already, but no one else knew that he knew, much less why he knew. Still, Fuyuki continued to play along. "And what, pray tell, does Entreri have to do with Rem being given blame that she did not earn?"

"A short while before Entreri helped the police and pro heroes by turning on Mineta," Izuku began in a troubled tone, drawing his son's attention, "Mineta had your mother and aunt kidnapped in a bid to coerce the police and pro heroes into releasing more of his men from jail and or prison. One of the men that had been keeping an eye on your mom and aunt while they had been held hostage was Entreri."

"At one point, sweetie," Ochaco said, small tears of fear rolling down the sides of her face, "Out of a mix of feelings I would rather not get into, I more or less said that Entreri should just kill me right away. Your Aunt Pony more or less was the same." Pony nodded in agreement. Going on, Ochaco explained, "This actually piqued Entreri's interest, so he prompted us to talk. That's the point where we told him about what had happened to you, what you were made to go through."

It was something that Fuyuki could never forget, not as long as he lived. "...An assassin, working for your disgraced former classmate who turned into a criminal gang lord, took an interest in how I had been framed for something I didn't do and was expelled from UA because of if. I find that to be hard to believe." Fuyuki actually believed it full well, but it was best to not let his family know why he believed it.

The women nodded in confirmation. "It actually worked to keep his attention long enough for help to arrive," Pony said, "Although Entreri was trying to pressure me and your mom into telling us who it was that had framed you. We were able to hold out without telling him."

"Then a few nights later," Ochaco said, "Entreri had thrown a rock with a letter tied to it through the window, telling us that he was willing to give Fine Wine's identity to the pro heroes and police in return for two things, the first being to leave him totally anonymous, and the second to give him the answer to the question he asked but me and your Aunt Pony didn't answer."

Fuyuki had a serious, considering look on his face. "...He wanted to know who it was that had framed me to get me expelled from UA. Why exactly would Entreri of all people be interested in that business?" The son of Deku already knew the answers, both the one he gave as Entreri and the true reason, but continued playing along.

Shrugging, Bakugo said, "Believe it or not Fuyuki, that assassin bastard wanted to know simply because he wanted to satisfy his curiosity about the matter."

"And Rem was given as an answer to Entreri." The adults all nodded in confirmation to Fuyuki's statement.

"Given who Entreri was," Izuku began to explain in a somber tone, "Given what he had been known to have done beforehand, we had every reason to believe that he might kill the student who is really behind the scheme that framed you and got you expelled from UA. Therefore, with Toru Ojiro's blessing, we went with a plan that your Aunt Pony had come up with to use your late classmate Rem as a scapegoat."

"Since we assumed that Entreri would be interested in killing whoever it was that had framed you," Pony said, "I figured that by giving him the name of one of the students who had died in the siege on UA, then he wouldn't try anything. It worked, since he expressed regret over Rem being dead and him unable to ask her for details on why she did what we said she had done."

Fuyuki was burning with a swirling rage within, given that most of what he had experienced since he came back home was a lie. Hell, even before he had returned home he had been lied to. However, he could see things from the perspective of the adults; they feared for the safety and well-being of a student, and sought to save said student's life. Granted they saved the life of that student by sacrificing one who had already lost hers, but given what exactly they were all fearing, it could be excused.

Letting out a mildly exasperated sigh, Fuyuki said, "So you sacrificed Rem's good name in order to save the student who had actually framed me from being potentially targeted by an assassin who was really curious about certain answers. Given the rep that Entreri had, I can't exactly blame you." Fuyuki arched a wry eyebrow. "...Can I assume that my classmate who had actually framed me to get me expelled from UA is still alive?"

Izuku nodded in confirmation. "Yes. The classmate who really was the one who framed you is still alive. And before you ask, yes. We know who it is."

Fuyuki already felt that he was barely able to keep a lid on his anger, and was having a dreading feeling that upon being given the true answer to who it was that had decided that getting him kicked out of UA would be a fun idea, he would explode with rage in a manner that would make even his Uncle Katsuki blush with jealousy. Regardless, he wanted to know. Regardless, Fuyuki said only six words.

"Then tell me who it is."

"It was me, cous."

Fuyuki, upon hearing Inko speak up, turned to look at her. He had a stunned look of shock on his face as he regarded his older cousin. After all, he had just heard her confess to having been the one who had framed him as a lewd, panty-stealing pervert to get him expelled from UA. All of the adults who were present were tense with worry about how Fuyuki would react upon hearing that his cousin, his own family, had betrayed him in such a fashion.

Surprisingly, Fuyuki kept calm. He inhaled and exhaled through his nose, albeit more forcefully than before. His eyes narrowed as he regarded Inko. "...Explain."

Never before was the daughter of Dynamight so scared. And the source that was scaring her so was her own younger cousin. Still, Inko knew that she owed it to Fuyuki, so she proceeded to tell him everything behind her decision that damaged their family.

"...In truth, I wanted to get at Uncle Izuku," Inko began to confess, "You see, I never really liked how he was always the top hero because I felt that spot should be occupied by my dad instead. But then Uncle Izuku went and made my dad look like a complete and total joke by beating that Big Beef guy after Big Beef crippled dad in that fight years ago. And then dad was forced to step down from being a pro hero, even though Uncle Izuku went on as if nothing changed."

The adults were reminded by how Inko not only had suffered due to what happened to Bakugo, but they had no idea how she was suffering or for how long up until recently. Sighing, Inko went on, "I thought that Uncle Izuku was trying to ruin my dad's life for some reason, taking all that he had. That's why I-"

*WUHPAM*

Inko was cut off when Fuyuki suddenly turned to face her and struck her hard across the face with a devastating punch, breaking her nose and sending her sprawling onto the floor. The adults all got up right away, with Bakugo and Masaru moving to try to make Fuyuki back down while Izuku and Pony helped Inko back up. Fuyuki wasn't being physically restrained, although his parents were partly in the way in case he tried to go for his cousin again.

"So you thought that by ruining my life it would get things to even out?!" Fuyuki exclaimed, "Getting me expelled from UA?! Driving me into running away from home?! Making the rest of the family hate me?!"

"...Fuyuki, I-"

"OUR GRANDMOTHER!" Fuyuki yelled, cutting his cousin off, "THE VERY WOMAN THAT YOU WERE NAMED AFTER! THE LAST MEMORY THAT I HAVE OF HER IS HER REJECTING ME! THAT WAS THE LAST TIME THAT I EVER SAW HER WHILE SHE WAS STILL ALIVE!" Fuyuki began to breath shakily, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. "...And now I can never make peace with Granny Inko's memory. After all, she scorned me the last time that I would ever see her."

The adults could tell Fuyuki had settled a bit, but he was still brewing with anger towards his older cousin. The adults were heartbroken to hear that Fuyuki would never be able to forgive the memory of his grandmother, who learned the truth just moments before the weight of it all was too much for her to bear. His breathing shaky, Fuyuki looked over to his cousin with eyes that held nothing but hatred.

"...My dad had nothing to do with what happened to Uncle Katsuki," Fuyuki said, "I had nothing to do with it. Uncle Katsuki took that job of his own volition because he was banking on his taking down Big Beef would let him surpass my dad in the rankings. What happened as a result of all of that is all on him. The only person who had any role in ruining Uncle Katsuki's life is himself."

The adults were worried, they feared what Fuyuki might do. Instead, they relaxed as Fuyuki took a step back, getting further from where his cousin stood covering her broken and bleeding nose. "...Given that your parents and mine had every reason to assume you'd be killed by an assassin if they gave your name for real as was asked," Fuyuki said, "I can't exactly blame them for how they had lied. The situation being what it was, they acted as best as they could."

Fuyuki took a step back again, getting further from his cousin. Then, Fuyuki turned slightly to face Ochaco. The gravity woman was worried about what her son would do, especially since he started walking towards her. Ochaco was prepared for the worst, but instead she was surprised when Fuyuki instead gently threw his arms around her and hugged her. He rested his head on her left shoulder, the side opposite of where Inko stood.

"...I don't blame you, mom," Fuyuki said in a quiet tone barely above a whisper, one that sounded mildly broken, "And I don't hate you. I love you." Ochaco was touched by the gesture, then saw it as Fuyuki moved to the base of the stairs, as if he was going to head on up. "Similarly, the same extends to dad, as well as Grandpa Masaru, and Uncle Katsuki and Aunt Pony." Fuyuki then put his gaze firmly on his older cousin.

"...But not to you, Inko." Fuyuki gently shook his head. His tone held no emotion, was still barely above a whisper. "The same does not extend to you. You broke me, Inko. Broke the bridge that was between us. Broke my life. I hate you, and I never want to see you again unless its forced by circumstances." To the family as a whole, all of them too stunned to speak, Fuyuki said, "Now, if you all will excuse me, I'm turning in early. I'll see you in the morning, aside from the obvious."

Fuyuki went up the stairs, and a few seconds later the family could hear a door close gently. After that, Ochaco broke down into soft, gentle crying. Pony looked similarly upset, and Inko had a look on her face suggesting she took a strike more painful than the punch that Fuyuki dealt to break her nose. The whole family didn't know what to do now, but they knew that Fuyuki needed their help now more than ever to heal.

Inko was especially keen on wanting to help heal her cousin's heart. But she very much doubt that he'd be receptive to any tries from her.

END, CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Author's notes;

Mineta's influence is now fully off of the streets, although Toru needs therapy since it's clear she's still hurting from the loss of her husband and daughter. Fuyuki has confirmed that he's regained some of the trust he had in Ochaco and Pony, and all signs pointed to fully accepting his family again. But then he's brought to a family meeting and is there told everything. Now all appearances suggest that he will never forgive his cousin, that he'll hate her until his dying days.

Inko will be going through hell in the chapters to come; some that she will bring onto herself of her own volition, and some she'll be sharing with the other characters as the main antagonist of the next part of the story will be making moves. Things will get dark.

Take care, and see you all later.