...Horikoshi really had to drop the Todoroki lorebombs basically right after I start writing this, huh.
My timeline is all sorts of wrong, huh.
Honestly not sure if I should go "treat it as AU" route or edit the prologue to retcon the timeline.

I don't want to make promises as chapter notes tend to grow larger than I expect(this whole chapter was meant to be a short preface to what will be the next one), but next chapter should have more action and move the plot along further.

Chapter 5:
Calm before the storm

"I must confess, Master, that until recently, I couldn't see the resemblance between your young protegee and yourself at all."

A large man encased in an unusual combination of business suit and grotesque life support machinery had been toying with a curious-looking bracelet in his hand, in a way that at first glance seemed relaxed.

Given the headgear he wore, one might even have thought he was but a blind man familiarizing himself with the object through touch.

A more keen observant, however, would have spotted the nervous ticks running through the man, his large hands permanently a nervous signal away from crushing the little object with all of his force, as repressed anger and annoyance coursed through him.

When he heard through the intercom the words of his nebulous subordinate, he responded in a deceivingly calm tone, without interrupting his actions.

"And why bring that up right now, Kurogiri?"

"The main reason why I could not see it until now, was the boy's temper tantrums. I could not equate them with yourself at all, Master. But seeing your behaviour today, I can kind of see the resemblance, even if your handling of them is much more mature."

The large man sighed.

"I suppose it's true that one rarely gets to see me throwing a tantrum. I'm used to things going my way for a reason, after all. But, that is exactly why."

Anger slowly crept into his voice.

"When you have spent several lifetimes under absolute conviction that you hold tight reins over the entirety of the underworld, and believing nothing escapes your grasp, suddenly finding out that a powerful organization you knew nothing about exists... furthermore, that they can contact me so easily, and even untraceably... and even after several hours, I am unable to find out anything about them... not many things get under my skin anymore, but this, this certainly does."

"We do not know yet if they are a powerful organization, sir. They might be upstarts."

"They are not. Even if they were, the fact they could establish themselves undetected under my nose would be plenty angering, but they are not. Leaving aside the subtle yet absolute confidence their message belied, this... artefact... is proof enough."

He took another look at the infuriating accessory.

When he'd woken up on that day, a parcel had somehow made it's way into his room. That alone would have been more than infuriating, but the contents were more concerning.

Inside was this bracelet, alongside two more of it, and two messages; one described what it was, along with instructions on how to use it; a support device that could, somehow, drastically improve the output of one's Quirk for a whole five minutes.

It's effect seemed similar to a certain drug the circulation of which he'd been involved with, however, not only could they not figure out how it worked in the least, as upon inspection it seemed like nothing but a plain accessory with no technological function whatsoever, but it functioned without any consequence or side-effect at all.

One of the three devices had been used as a test, yielding superb results. The other two were intended to be used to complete a certain request.

A request that came alongside the other message, presenting the reward of five more of these bracelets, and a promise to maintain secrecy over his identity, plans and location. That is, an implicit threat of revealing all of those if the request were to not be completed.

"Whatever technology goes behind making these things, no mere upstart would have the resources to develop it. Rather, if they did, they could attain plenty of power by commercializing it; there's no consequences to it's use that would impede it's legal circulation. No, these are the actions of a well-established, powerful organization, for whom such dealings are nothing."

"Frankly, Master, I find it hard to believe for any powerful underworld organization to exist without leaving a trace at all, given how all-encompassing your overseeing of it is."

"Indeed. Even if they were an organization that deals primarily with high-level corporate crime rather than common villainy, there should still be some traces... At best, I could guess it's some sort of coalition of manipulators in the shadows, puppeteering financial leaders of the world. In which case, I'd venture to guess their primary concern is absolute secrecy of their very existence. That would explain plenty, but it would still be a bitter pill to swallow."

"Then, their request...?"

"Most likely related to that purpose, indeed."

He read again the message in question.

The U.A. Class 1-A student, Shirou Usagiyama, must be disposed of. You may use any means you deem fit for the task at your discretion, so long as the two conditions of his immediate death and concealing this request has been made are fulfilled.

Lack of any attempts on his life within two weeks after the delivery of this message will be perceived as refusal to take on this request.

"This Shirou must have been perceived as a threat to their secrecy somehow. I had guessed that he might have come across some sensitive information accidentally, but after looking up some information about him, I suspect it might be a bit more solid of a connection than that."

"A simple student, with a solid tie to an organization so obscure it even escaped your notice, Master?"

"There's nothing simple about him; at least, not about his past."

The man shifted his gaze towards the computer screen in front of him, with an open tab displaying what information he gathered on the boy thorough that morning, which was disappointingly little.

"The boy seemed to materialize out of nowhere five years ago, when he was suddenly adopted by Hero Mirko after his existence was discovered through a violent accident. There are no records whatsoever about his identity for his alleged 10 years of existence prior to that point.

Rumours make it out to be that he is actually his adoptive mother's secret son, hence all the secrecy around his birth, but that is clearly nothing but hogwash. If his mother truly had the means to keep him concealed from the world so effectively for so long, I'm most certain she could have managed to sweep that one incident under the rug as well, nevermind how strange is is that the boy would expose himself so easily."

As the man rambled on, possibly to distract himself from the anger eating away at him even at that very moment or perhaps to organize his thoughts rather than to explain to his subordinate, he switched tabs towards Mirko's profile.

"And in the first place, even if we assumed she has a dark side she keeps hidden, a simple-minded loner like Mirko is unlikely to have that kind of skills. The only secret she's sort of known to hide was concealed quite clumsily; whatever she was doing during those three years when her ranking suddenly began to shoot up, just about everyone noticed something was... off...?"

"Master?"

"...three years. Eight years ago, now. Could it be...?"

The man narrowed his eyes in thought, then quickly began a search in his database, particularly certain reports from between eight and nine years ago, before the decline of his power.

"...Huh. Turns out, this might surprisingly be a personal matter for us as well."

"Yes? I believe Hero Mirko had only barely begun her career at that point in time, though...?"

"Not Mirko, but the boy, quite possibly. Nine years ago, and thorough one year, we had an unresolved mystery on our hands. In a certain ward of Tokyo, the success rate of nocturnal operations decreased sharply. Not only those with a connection to me, either. There was an assumption in the underworld that some sort of particularly sneaky vigilante was operating in the area, but nobody managed to discover the source of the interferences.

Then, after a year, things suddenly went back to normal. That was at the same time as Mirko suddenly developed this secret of hers, where she'd disappear somewhere every afternoon, taking good care not to be followed.
And three years later, this kid's existence comes to light, she adopts him, and her escapades cease. Furthermore, during that time, her ability as a Hero saw as sharp a rise as her popularity."

"You think then that this kid and the mysterious vigilante might be one and the same?"

doubt seeped into the subordinate's voice.

"Following that timeline, wouldn't he have been six to seven years old at the time? No matter how talented..."

"It certainly isn't impossible. Perhaps the kid was actually the fruit of some sort of experiment from our mysterious organization, maybe some kind of super-soldier program. Maybe the boy cleverly escaped by feigning his death, or some such situation, and now this organization has caught wind of his survival thus wants him gone. Plenty of assumptions in that theory, of course, but considering so secretive of an organization suddenly has reached out to outside help to dispose of some mere student, and the coincidences in these circumstances, it is absolutely a possibility. And if so...

...request aside, I'd have an unresolved dispute to settle with that boy, for thwarting certain operations unpunished way back then."

The barely repressed anger that crept into the last sentence was plenty of an indicator of the man's true thoughts at that moment.

The boy was about to become the punching bag with which to vent his frustration at the situation.

"You really are taking hard that failure in the training exercise, huh?"

"I'm reflecting on it, but I wouldn't say it has me that worried."

"Bullshit. You've had this look like you're contemplating the end of the world since you came back yesterday, and it's still not gone at all."

Well you see, Mother, the truth is that I'm concerned about what the sudden interest from Magi, whom I know from my past to be so fundamentally inhuman as to be unable to think of them as humans at all, and who even then held complex, problematic skillsets that could put even me in a bind facing them unprepared, inhabiting a world where Magecraft should be far richer in sheer power and diversity, could mean for me and my classmates. That's why I'm having trouble relaxing.

But of course, Shirou couldn't just come out and say that. Even if there were no secrets between himself and his best friend, he doubted he could properly convey what a potentially scary prospect the interest of Magi in this world could be.

Heck, even he himself was having a hard time visualizing it.

While, as a counter-guardian, he'd most certainly not lose in a battle against a Magi of his world, he was well aware of how problematic certain reality-bending forms of Magecraft could be, and that was merely his experience from a time where Mystery held a mere fraction of the density it held in this world.

Not that he held any doubt he would ultimately come on top in a duel, but protecting those around him from particularly troublesome opponents may prove more than a fair challenge.

The one thing keeping him from spiralling down into panic was the certainty that, if anyone was a target, it was likely himself alone.

Until now, he had been assuming that there were no true Magi in this worldline. Partially because society seemed, all things considered, too peaceful and orderly to accommodate the equivalent of his world's Magi if they held the power that they ought to in such an environment, partially because with the open paranormality of this Quirk society, he'd have expected an organization dealing in Mystery to have eventually blended in with regular science and become more open.
Thus, after years of practising his own Magecraft in secret undisturbed, he'd deemed it safe to use it openly, so long as he pretended it to be a Quirk.

He'd been naïve.

It was a different world, after all; there were plenty of possibilities for an organization similar in nature to have taken root in a similar way.

And if this world's Mage's Association, or equivalent thereof, was anywhere near as dedicated to it's secretiveness as his world's was, an U.A. student openly using Magecraft was basically painting a ginormous target on themselves asking to get assassinated.

Of course, just as he had not known of the existence of Magi in this world, they would have no means to know he was essentially a demi-Servant, but if after failure, they decided to aim for him through his classmates...

Not that he knew yet for a fact whether or not his fears were on point, of course. He knew for a fact that a magus had him under surveillance after spotting several more Familiars on campus on this schoolday, keeping an eye specifically on him, but as far as he knew, it might have been a lone individual with no hostile intentions. Just because Magi existed in this world, it didn't necessarily mean that they shared a nature with those he knew of, or that there was a proper Association in place.

But, he had not survived the battlefield for as long as he had by hoping for best-case scenarios.

"...-ce, then. Can't do."

"Hmm? Excuse me, I didn't quite catch that."

"That lost in thought, are you? I said, no choice, then. I'll have to have you join a different agency for the workplace field training next month."

Shirou blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's probably partially my fault that you messed up the way you told me about, since I'm, well, not exactly a big believer in teamwork. Y'know, it's why I don't work with an agency. Of course during my own student days I got ingrained the very basics of trusting the competence of my peers, but I didn't teach you any of that, and you're so god damn capable, kinda figures that this'd happen..."

Uh, no, this was absolutely a Me problem. He could understand why she thought that way, but he wasn't happy about seeing her feeling this guilty about something that, for a change, she wasn't really at fault for. It was plenty rare to see her feeling guilty for just about anything, as it is.

"...so I figure you'd get more valuable workplace training from a proper agency where you'll have to cooperate with other Heroes properly. Sorry, but whenever the nominations come around after the sports festival, mine won't be there."

"I have a lot I want to retort on, but first off... Do you even qualify to take on students in the first place, since you don't have an agency to begin with?"

"...Ah."

"Careful mom, your brainlet side is showing."

"You uncute child, why do you only call me "mom" when you're making fun of me!? ...And for that matter, haven't you been more eager than usual about having a laugh at my expense since yesterday? Is this how you deal with frustration or something!?"

"That..."

He hadn't had much of a chance to be very talkative during most of his career, but thinking back on his days during the Holy Grail War...

"...might be true, actually. Huh. I hadn't noticed."

Come to think of it, if he thought of being annoyed or angry with someone as being frustrated with them, it was true that that's when his remarks tended to get biting.

Rumi sighed. "Seriously, some parts of you are still like a child's... Wait, no, you are a child. I keep forgetting that. Why do I keep forgetting that?"

"Because I act no less of an adult than you?"

"Yeah, that's probably why."

It took Rumi a few seconds of noticing Shirou's grin for the penny to drop on what she'd just indirectly admitted. Then she winced.

"...Fuck."

"You know, this is actually pretty relaxing, no wonder I took to it."

"If only you could trust that your classmates can take a hit as much as you trust me to take your jokes."

"I can try, but..."

His face took on a somewhat worried expression.

"I could manage during the exercise since it was just training, but, they are just kids. Consciously, I understand that they're Heroes in training and they wouldn't have passed their entrance exams if they couldn't manage themselves to some extent, but it's hard to forget how green they are. I want to trust them more, I understand what the problem is with being unable to do so, but they look so fragile to me. I can't imagine letting them fend off Villains with peace of mind, nevermind trusting them with my back."

She made an understanding face.

"Well yeah, figures. You're more than a bit special yourself after all, and let's be honest, most of them will never actually catch up to you, at least not in pure combat ability. Given that you are as green with dealing with students as they are with dealing with Villains, it honestly can't be helped that you feel that way. Heck, pretty sure that your teachers also know this and were just extra harsh to nail the point home.

But Y'see, combat ability's not all there's to it. Heroes, even students, are made of different stuff in spirit."

He had noticed that. He had noticed it well enough, even if it hadn't fully convinced his subconscious yet.

"They'll grow, and more importantly, they'll hang on until they do. And can't be helped that you feel as you do right now, but once you've seen them pull through though calls through sheer Plus Ultra, you'll naturally come to trust they can fend for themselves."

"Yes... I hope that will be the case."

"It will. If you can't trust them yet, trust me instead, they'll manage. You're good enough to differentiate when you know they can't deal with something and when you doubt they can. When it's the later, a Hero will pull through, and a future one will at least live through it."

True, given the surprises he had gotten from his classmates, he could imagine that happening.

"Really, if you gotta worry about anything, it'd be the ones that are too heroic."

"Hmmm? What do you mean?"

"Y'know, the type that'd rush headlong into danger in over their heads to protect someone else even if they don't quite need it. Had it happen to me once actually, some brat tried to shield me from this one huge guy coming at me before I could deck him in the face. Or that other time this civilian refused to run away and leave me behind, even though I could manage just fine against those punks. The intention's appreciated, but damn, the fools actually made my job harder.

Hell, now I'm remembering that one time in middle school when this one dude tried to get between me and this one bully. Pretty sure he was thinner than me, total lightweight, but he tried to stop the fight about to happen spewing crap about how women shouldn't fight or something, ugh, cringe. What century was he even living in? Bet you'd have had a grand laugh if you'd seen it yourself, Shir... Hey, what's wrong? You look like you just swallowed a spider or something."

"...Don't ask. Just remembered a bit of dark past, is all."

She blinked. Then she smiled teasingly. "At which part of what I was...?"

"Changing topics. What if I, say, were to have a fairly grounded suspicion that my classmates are in danger from something way above their competence? Like, say, that I got some big-shot Villain in jail, and suspected their high-level flunkies planned to take revenge on them since I'm above their level."

The mischievous smile had not left her yet. "Someday, boy, I'll get you to have a chat about your past, not out of worry, but just so I can tease you back.
But, well. Yeah. I guess that scenario is something that can happen, hmm? In that case... remember that you live in a Hero society, I guess. It ain't that easy to mess even with civilians, nevermind Hero students, and get away with it. If they get kidnapped or something, they will be rescued. I guess with civilians there's the danger that they may panic and make thins worse for themselves, but a Hero in the making should recognize when they're outgunned and keep themselves alive until either the cavalry comes or they see a solid chance for escape."

"...And if the Villains weren't trying to kidnap them, but hurt them, or...?"

"Like that Hero Killer asshole? Extremely rare occurrence. Murder means a life sentence on the slammer. Only the craziest Villains would do that."

"But they exist. What then?"

"...That zealot is never going to live in peace, you know. All it'll take is the slightest mistake we can trace back to his identity to have every Hero in the country hunt him down to the bitter end."

Her expression darkened. No doubt, this so-called Hero Killed being on the loose was a sore spot for her.

"It'd take someone who's both insane enough to think a life on the run or in the slammer is worth it, and skilled enough to actually make it through the watchful eyes of this Hero-filled society to kill someone. Chances are almost non-existent. That guy is an exception among exceptions."

"I understand that." She was right, of course. Even back during his year of absolute independence, it hadn't escaped his notice how rare it was to not have a single Hero nearby on patrol.
But the crime rate wasn't zero, and the Magi he knew of absolutely fit those conditions for an exception.
True, they'd hesitate to draw too much attention to themselves, but they'd also definitely be confident enough to believe they wouldn't get caught if they deemed something worthy of taking a small risk.
"But even then? If I suspect such an exception might be out for someone I know?"

"In that case..." Her expression slowly relaxed. "Nothing much, really."

"...What?"

"Unless you're somehow some god who can keep 24/7 surveillance on everyone you know, then as an individual, if it's someone who can get through all the Heroes out there, there's not much you can do at all, so, no point in worrying either."

He blinked. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Oh, I'm serious alright." The look she threw at him upon hearing the question affirmed so enough. "Do you think you can save everyone?"

"Of course, I don't, but..."

"Yeah, of course you can't. Even All Might can only save those within his reach, and that guy's about as close to more god than human as it gets. Worry all you want, it won't help one bit to protect those outside your grasp."

"That... may be correct, but..."

"And also right. All that worrying's going to do past a certain point is add stress on you and make it harder to save the people you actually can save. All you can do is become as good of a Hero as you can, so that your reach is larger and, when something does happen, you are more likely to be able to do something about it."

He understood that.

He agreed with that.

If one of his classmates had come to him with that exact same worry, he'd most likely have given them a similar answer.

In fact, part of him was berating himself for not reaching that same conclusion on his own.

Yet a part of him, deep down, was struggling to accept it. A part of him that he thought he had long since outgrown.
But perhaps he had simply killed that part of himself way back when, and now that he was giving this life another try, it was foolishly being brought back along the other parts of himself he actually needed to bring back.

"Is there really nothing else, though? Such as, trying to make myself the only target if something's about to happen?"

"Dangerous line of thought there, Shirou. It's one thing to make yourself the focus for something you know you can handle, but seeking out taking bullets for others is no good. A proper Hero doesn't only save others, but must be able to save himself too. No matter how good you are, if you forget to look out for yourself, you'll end up broken. And we don't want that, do we?"

"...No, we absolutely don't."

Once again, he had to wonder if his younger body was actually causing his mind to regress as well. He'd been thinking like Shirou Emiya, in a bad way.

Rumi sighed. "Fuck, I sounded like some teacher, there. You go to school precisely to learn that kind of stuff. I know you're no good with looking for help, but learn to ask your teachers for this kind of advice, won't ya?"

She lightly slapped her cheeks, as if to knock away the heavy mood.
"Nevermind any of that! If you really want to have a serious conversation at home like this, then at least let's talk about important things!"

She gestured at Shirou to sit down properly as she did the same, as if preparing to have an important talk, which he complied to amidst a surge of curiosity about what did she mean to talk about.

"Shirou."

"Yes?"
The atmosphere of the room changed. Were he a bit less mature, he may have gulped in anticipation.

"It's already been a good few days since classes started, yet you have not reported back to me about a very important element of your school life."

"And what would that be?" He couldn't think of anything of particular relevance he had not mentioned, specially after yesterday's discussion on the team battle exercise. The class president elections maybe? She certainly was talking as if it was a matter of grave importance, at least.

"Don't play dumb with your mother now, it should be plenty obvious. Have you found one among your classmates?"

His confusion only grew. "Found what?"

She stared straight at his eyes with a dead serious look, and asked in crystal clear tone.

"A girl you fancy."

"..."

For a moment, he returned the stare in silence. His gaze then drifted upwards, and he took a deep breath before slowly getting up and turning around.

"For as much as you complain that I don't act my age, you're lucky about it; times like this, if I allowed myself some immaturity, your diet for the next week would be primarily broccoli and tofu."

"Yuck. Using your mom authority as retaliation is not fair."

He turned around and was about to retort about how she was supposed to be the mother there before noticing her grin.

She certainly knows how to turn around the mood, huh. I actually should learn from that.

"Alright but seriously, you haven't answered."

"You expect me to?"

"Well of course! Material to tease you with is a rare, precious commodity hard to come by."

"Tough luck then, the best answer I have is "It's complicated". It's not just during training that my classmates feel like children to me."

"Aw shucks, what a waste of a good face. I bet the girls were all over you, too."

He shrugged. "Doubt it, but if they did, I didn't notice."

She looked at him funny. "Could it be that my son is a bit dense?"

"I'll admit I used to be, but I'd like to think I outgrew that phase."

"Hmmm. I'll be the judge of that whenever you invite any of them over."

"Huh? Why would I do that?"

"Uh, bonding? You know, that thing high schoolers normally do? The thing you clearly need more experience in? Hanging out with friends and all that? Maybe study sessions together? C'mon, even I had friends over at home on occasion, and I'm me."

That got a chuckle out of him. Self-depreciative humour was certainly a rarity with Rumi.

"Point taken; If any of my classmates want to come, I'll invite them.
Not that that's likely to happen anytime soon."

"Usagiyama, would you mind if I come visit at your house after class?"

"I wouldn't, but why do you want to, Todoroki?" Shirou answered making a mental note to self to stop making predictions while remembering yesterday's conversation.

"I'm curious about your training regime, mainly. And I think I'd like the opportunity to meet Mirko."

"...Right, makes sense. You're welcome to come, but I'm not sure if Mother will have the time to..."

"Oh, visiting Shirou's home? Can I tag along?"

"Tsuyu? I'm okay with it, but-"

"Hey hey, what's that? Group visit to Shirou's place? Count me in~!"

"That a thing? I'm coming too then! I want to see what you do to get that strong, man!"

"Ashido, Kirishima... I guess that's alright but really, what's this about all of a sudden...?"

Classes for the day had just ended, and Shirou's twin had wasted no time in making his request, which had been just about as unexpected as it suddenly becoming a group visit. At least for Shoto, he understood the source of his curiosity.

Tenya got up from his desk and seemed to be about to join up, but then Midoriya came up before he could, with that look about him when he's excited to expand his knowledge of Hero trivia. The possibility of meeting a Top Hero likely overcame his apparent shyness.

"Hahah... more than five classmates visiting at once would be a bit much, wouldn't it? Perhaps next time."
At Iida's words, other classmates that seemed to be doubting on whether or not to join in decided against it, some agreeing with him, a few feeling bad for him, as his friendship with Shirou was no secret.

"Wait, you lot. Usagiyama, think your mother can make some time this afternoon? I need to have a chat with her."

"Teacher? Yes, if it's important, she should be able to make some time."

"Good. I'll be dropping by later, then."

As he did everyday, Shirou quickly traced a copy of the house key, unlocked the door, then dismissed it after locking it again.

"How convenient! No risk of ever forgetting your keys that way, huh?"

"I suppose so, though convenience aside, little things like that make for good practice. I can't really use my Quirk outside of school and home, so I try to make plentiful use of it at home, such as making my own cutlery every time I need some."

"I see! The more one uses their Quirk, the stronger it becomes, so this kind of small thing can add up over time, doesn't it? If only my own Quirk had more domestic applications!"

"Ahah, I think all of us besides him are in the same boat regarding that!"

"Although, I do it more for practice than actual training, so don't mind it much... anyway, make yourselves at home. I'll prepare some tea right away."

The group didn't need to be told twice, and soon they were settled into his room, taking stock of the personality of it... or rather the lack there-of.

"This place is certainly... clean, isn't it?" Said Kirishima tentatively.

"Yeah, everything looks very, uh, functional!" continued Mina.

"It's barren." Commented Tsuyu, saying exactly what was on her mind.

"Hahah... True enough." Agreed Shirou who had just returned. "Mother is kind of married to her job, and neither of us is particularly attached to material things, so it kind of ended up that way."

"...No, no, there's a limit to that, isn't there? Even your room is basically empty! It's supposed to be a reflection of what kind of life we lead, you know!?" Replied Mina. "Can't even tell if you have any hobbies at all from just looking around here!"

"Even if you say that... I don't really do anything else than my homework and sleep in this room. It's not like I don't do anything with my free time, just not in here."

"Then what hobbies do you have, Shirou?" Asked Tsuyu.

"Well... I enjoy cooking. I'm not sure that smithing counts, since I began doing it as part of training my Quirk... I also sometimes play older videogames. Not sure that I can count fixing up electronics as a hobby, either... whenever I'm not training I'm usually just watching TV under the kotatsu along with mother, not much else."

"Monk. Our classmate is a monk. Or maybe an old man." Kirishima judged, amazed.

"Is it that strange? I also don't do much else with my free time, though..." added Todoroki, of similarly simple tastes.

"It is." Said Kirishima.

"You're both weird." Said Mina.

"You guys need to live a little." Said Tsuyu.

"Aren't you three being a bit too harsh?" Asked Midoriya. "There's nothing particularly wrong with not having flashy hobbies or spending free time training, is there? I myself don't have that much going on when I'm not researching Heroes..."

"No, no, Deku, even so, having a room as empty as this is weird! I don't even see..." Kirishima stopped in realization. "Shirou, where's your computer?"

"Don't have one."

"Are you the type that only uses a smartphone?" Asked Tsuyu.

"Don't have one of those either."

All five of them, even Todoroki, stared blankly at him.

"Dude, I was just joking before, but are you actually an old man in disguise?"

"It's not that I can't use computers, I just don't really see the need for one. If I need to look up something for homework, I can just go to the library. Though I suppose I'll eventually need a phone for work... a pager probably won't cut it, will it?"

"WHAT CENTURY ARE YOU FROM, GRANDPA!?"

…

…

All in all, his visiting friends had some fun at his expense, at least after they made him promise to get a smartphone and try to 'connect with modern life'. As Shirou feared, there was a significant gap between them caused by the difference in their life experience, but it did not longer feel completely impossible to mend, with enough time and effort.

Part of him felt that that time would be better invested into furthering his Hero training and that such bonds were ultimately not required, but another part of him knew that that line of thought was a significant part of why his first life ended the way it did, and determined as he was not to reach the same destination this time, he found himself plenty willing to try to treat these teenagers as friends as naturally as he could.

Which was quite awkward at times, but every such time, they turned it into a joke to bond over.

He did not realize it at that point, but that actually helped much more than he imagined, as until that point his image in his classmates' minds was a tad too intimidatingly flawless; this sort-of weakness made him more approachable.

Around 15 minutes before the appointed time, Aizawa showed up, unwittingly and unwillingly contributing to the ongoing joke as the students drew parallels among him and Shirou for their old man habits and minimalistic tendencies.

Then, around the time Shirou expected Rumi to come back-

"She should be back any minute now. If you don't mind waiting for a bit, I'll go get her; usually we go for a training round straight when she goes back, wouldn't want her getting ready before knowing Teacher Aizawa wants to have a talk with her."

"See, if you had a phone, you could have just told her beforehand!"

"Point taken."

As it turned out, however, they did not really need to wait.

Shirou had barely crossed half the courtyard towards the entrance, quite in plain sight from the windows of his room, when Mirko suddenly jumped straight into the propriety, still in her Hero uniform, disabled the security alarm in a flash and, upon noticing him in the courtyard, charged straight at him with a drop-kick as a manner of introduction.

Perhaps she meant to test his reaction to unexpected threats.

Perhaps she had similarly intended for a sneak attack for today's training, and settled for the next best thing upon being spotted.

Perhaps she just randomly thought it'd be a nostalgic greeting going back to their first meeting.

Perhaps she was simply frustrated at something and needed to vent, and knew he could take it.

Or perhaps she simply didn't put any thought to it, and it was a flash decision without rhyme or reason.

Whichever the motivation, as a reflex to her not-entirely-rare sudden offensive, Shirou quickly projected Bakuya, reinforced his body, and parried her kick, then tried to get a quick word in.

"Wait, Rumi, we have gue-"

A second, powerful kick came before he could finish, and he barely blocked it in time, the blade cracking all thorough from receiving the full force of her Quirk-powered kick.
A third followed almost instantly after, aiming for his face.

Mirko had always been a talented, powerful fighter, all the way back to her debut. When she first met and fought Shirou, she already was a fearsome foe.

But even though her physical strength hadn't grown quite as much as Shirou's did since then, thorough eight years of almost-daily sparring with the veteran counter-guardian, combined with her natural talent and reflexes, she had reached almost inhuman levels of reaction and decision-making speeds in a fight, which given her agility to match, Shirou had to put in his all to keep up with.

Thus while he had every intention to stop her and inform her of their visitors, he quite simply had no time to put in a single word while fending off the barrage of attacks of his adoptive mother.

Had they gone by their usual sparring rules, he'd stick to pure CQC and the sudden duel would have lasted a fair while, but given the circunstances, he did not restrict himself so, and projected a dozen or so blunted common blades to shoot at her as he took a leap backwards, intending to buy enough time to put in a few words.

The unexpected change did take Mirko by surprise, but she otherwise thought little of it, mayhaps assuming it to be a new level of training, and as her entire body knew by now that allowing him to take distance in a fight was a bad idea, bull-rushed after him, swatting away the projectiles with her bare arms.

Completely focused on her adoptive son, knowing him deserving of her full attention in a fight.

Failing to notice the five slack-jawed and one flabbergasted spectators looking on from his room.

Of course, usually, Aizawa would have used his own Quirk to stop the fight, but it did not work on neither of them, and from what he was observing, he immediately realized that they were above his level in CQC, and that trying to intervene would end up painfully for him.

Meanwhile, Shirou's classmates could only look on in fascination(And a fair bit of confusion) as the spectacle unfolded.

Mirko's strategy to deal with the many projectiles was simple but effective; stick to her son like glue.

Whenever he tried to make distance, she closed it in single-minded pursuit. Whatever projectiles he managed to throw, she dodged. Those she could not dodge, she swatted away. Those she could not parry, she tanked and endured, not losing any steam, already well accustomed to enduring that level of pain in spars.

Finally, after a minute of such an exchange, that felt much longer both to those having it and those observing it, she managed to get a hit in, as one of her kicks cracked once more one of his twin blades, and a near-instantaneous second kick collided with his forearm before he could fully trace a replacement to parry with.

Her hyper-powered leg strength proved a fair match for his reinforced limb, with a loud sound as if she'd just kicked a thick tree trunk, and his arm went numb for a precious moment.

Chance! She thought, as she made to assault his now-undefended side.

Enough! He thought, as his other arm let go of Kanshou to project a high-powered torchand flashed it full-power straight into her sharp, sensitive and very focused eyes.

The action resulted in a very non-hero-like scream, followed by a very unheroic utterance of insults minors should not hear as she rolled in the ground shielding her eyes with her hands, finally topped by complaints about the unfairness of the move.

"Will you settle down and listen already", Shirou answered with a sigh. "We have guests, you trigger-happy neanderthal!"

"And here I had been wondering just exactly how you raised the boy to grow up so capable at his age, just what kind of training you might have been putting him under... and turns out, all along, it was just serious spars with you? I don't know why I expected otherwise." Aizawa muttered in a mix of annoyance and shock before taking a sip of delicious tea that had most certainly not brewed by Rumi herself.

"What can I say?" She replied. "You know me, pal; practical training is the best training. I wouldn't even know how to go about training someone else normally, anyway."

Of course, casually commenting that her adopted son had already been bizarrely strong when she'd first found him would have been the easiest way to brush off the veiled accusation of going overboard.
But having one of her peers lower his opinion of herself to that degree was a cheap price to pay to spare that son a bombardment of awkward questions about his past that she knew well he had no desire to explain, and unlike the boy's teacher, she'd known him long and deep enough to trust that whatever that past was, it wasn't a danger to let it remain buried.

"Really now. I'm surprised you even bothered getting him into a school instead of tutoring him yourself."

"Oh c'mon now, I'm not that bad. You came today to talk about the issues with how he does things, didn't ya? I'm not blind, I can tell he needs proper teaching."

"And you didn't think those teachings and growing into the skill level of a Pro should go hand in hand?"

"Wait, why are you angry about that? Isn't it normal for the brats to enter the Hero course at different levels? Never heard of one of them being too good being a problem."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes and spoke annoyedly, as if explaining something very basic to someone that should know better.
"It is a problem for a teacher if a student is stronger than them."

She blinked.
"Is it really? But he's a good listener and normally quite obedient, it's not like he'd just disregard teachers because he could beat them in a fight. He was actually looking forward to school, you know? And I'm sure he was aware that he was stronger than most teachers already."

"Sure, he holds a certain respect for teacher figures, that I'm extremely doubtful you taught him. But that's only when he actually agrees with whatever we have to say. If he ever feels that he's right and we're wrong about something... say, if he thinks we are underestimating him... He's likely to ignore us."

He sighed.

"At least, unless some unexpected emergency takes place during his studies, such a situation isn't likely to happen, since he's open-minded and level-headed enough to put faith in us teachers, but if something does happen, it might become a real problem."

"Eh, you worry too much. What could possibly happen? Villains have been nice and quite these last few years."

"And you worry too little. Besides, even if nothing does happen, this is likely to skew his growth. Seriously, back there it looked like he just might be able to win against you if he got serious, and you're a top Hero!"

She wisely held back on mentioning that, actually, the win ratio of their spars was still overwhelmingly in his favour.

"Really, don't stress over it so much. I don't really know why, but for some reason, he's the one most aware of all that strength alone doesn't make him a good Hero. He'll properly listen to lessons."

"You don't know why? ...speaking of, knowing more about his past would be helpful for us teachers. I don't suppose you could tell me more about-"

"That's for him to talk about, isn't it?"

"Oh come on, Rumi. You know it's important."

"All the more reason why it's up to him."

"You are his mother."

"And I trust his judgement."
Besides, I'm his mother in name only, she thought.

Aizawa once more sighed. "Fine, be that way. But if he gets into a preventable accident someday, know it'll be on you. You know how to contact us if yo change your mind."

"Don't count on it." Not that I know that much more than you do anyway, really."And enough with the sour face. It's not like I don't trust you guys or anything, y'know? I'm leaving him in your care after all."

"...And good that you do. What kind of parent greets their kid like that?"

"It's called trust! Specifically trust that he could handle it."

"And I trust you know that if most people had seen that instead of us, they'd be calling child protection services."

"Pfft. Like he actually needs protection."

"...I think you might be trusting him a bit too much. He is still a brat, at the end of the day."

"As embarrassing as it is to admit, Aizawa, this "brat" you speak of is more of an adult than me in almost everything. I'm sure my trust isn't misplaced, and I hope you'll get to see why. And now, if we're done here and you don't mind, Imma go see how much he embarrasses himself trying to mingle among kids his age."

"I just still can't believe it, man! It was clear you were crazy strong, but strong enough to spar like that with a top Hero!? Crazy!"

"It's really not... No, I suppose it kind of is a big deal, isn't it? I'm just lucky for the opportunity, I suppose."

"Is that really lucky? If my own parents were Heroes and I randomly got attacked like that for a greeting, I think I'd be scared."

"I... pretty sure that's the normal reaction, Tsuyu. I guess I'm just used to it since our circunstances are a bit special, and we spar often anyways. Normally you could even say it's a fun time, better than regular training at least."

"Fun... Usagiyama, you don't see that kind of harsh training as something to endure?"

"I don't think I ever saw training that way to begin with, but, definitely less than ever since I began living here."

"...I see. Guess it really depends on who's training you, after all."

"As is the case for everything, Todoroki."

The boy held a subtly unpleased expression for a moment upon being called by his surname, perhaps because of thinking on the difference between their familial ties.
"It's fine to call me Shoto, Usa... Shirou."

"Will do, then."

"But no, really, that was amazing, Usagiyama! I could barely follow either of you with my eyes! You said you were lucky about having this chance, but other sons of Heroes don't normally get anywhere near their parents while they are still students, do they!? Just what's the secret behind your training!?"

"We really just spar, greenie!" Replied Rumi, who was just entering the room bringing snacks after their teacher left. "We both got that good at it because I'm just that awesome at it!"

"Translation: What she means by 'awesome' is 'unhinged'."

"Aww, lookit him getting embarrassed!"

"If anyone should be embarrassed here it's you! Couldn't you stop and listen for a moment when I was trying to say something!?"

Their little audience was enraptured at the display; seeing Shirou lash out like that was a rarity in itself, given his eternally cool demeanour at school, but being that openly confrontational with his mother was it's own kind of unexpected sight, even without minding who the mother was. Yet it was plainly clear there was warmth among the two.

"You know I'd never get embarrassed about getting too into it! Sparring with you is fun!"

"So it goes both ways..." commented Shoto at her words.

"Yup! You must be Endeavour's son, ain't cha? Yeeesh, I can picture that guy not knowing how to have fun. Can't imagine your own practice at home to be enjoyable."

"So it is." He answered weakly, downcast gaze.
Whatever he'd expected to realize by seeing Shirou's family environement hadn't happened; it was too different from his own to use as a reference.

"So, ." Suddenly began asking Tsuyu.

"Please call me Rumi or Mirko, geez, I'm nowhere near that old!"

"Alright then, Mirko. So since Shirou acts so different here at home, do you have any fun stories to tell about what he's like in private? I want to know."

"Oh, me too, me too! Sounds fun!"

"C'mon girls, asking that to his mom is not a Bro move! ...Though I admit I'm curious. Sorry, Shirou."

"Ooooh, embarrassing tidbits about him? Sure, I can share! Lemme think..."

Shirou calmly sipped some tea. "Right, think. If you can come up with any good ones, I'm curious to hear which too."

"Usagiyama? You sure look calm considering, uhm, the situation."

"Well, yes. After all, just about everything I can think of that she could reveal here would involve her embarrassing herself too."

Rumi's grinning face froze in realization about the implications of making fun of what a good mom her son was.

"Th-there's a few, you know! Like that thing with your entrance test."

Shirou sent a gaze of steel her way.

"Likewise, with things like your childhood ambition, or those magazines under your bed."

"...Urgh. And here I thought after moving out I would be free of the influence of a mom's authority. Alright! If it's come to this, eye for an eye, I'm embarrassing you regardless of the personal cost!"

And so for the next hour, Rumi distributed fuel for a new image of her son among his classmates that would quickly be spread through rumours, which would in the near future lead to playful nicknames such as 'Grandpa Shirou', 'Apex mom' or 'Best wife', in what the man himself perceived at the time as needlessly vindictive of her, but which, she knew, would work wonders to make him more approachable among his peers.

"Well, your school life won't be boring with classmates like that, for sure."

Shirou and Rumi were having a casual conversation while watching the news, having already sent home the visiting classmates.

"You think? I guess in general they are more... passionate... than what my image of classmates was."

"And where did you even form that image, hmm? I'm not even sure you went to elementary school! But yep, those kids have heart. Even that nervous wreck one was a ball of passion underneath."

"And thanks to you, all that heart will get to work into spreading weird rumours from tomorrow on."

"Tomorrow? Wow, they were right, you really need to get a phone. That's a hilarious level of disconnection with reality. Alright! We'll be getting one tomorrow."

"Oh, not you too. How big of a deal can it possibly be..."

"And besides, it was fun to confirm I was right, too!"

"About what?"

"You really didn't notice? The way that that Tsuyu girl kept looking at you?"

"Did she look at me weird? I can't really get a good read on her."

"Oh heavens, you are dense. Or maybe just inexperienced? Though no, maybe you just didn't notice because you had something else in mind."

"You think? I've been trying to keep yesterday's matter off my mind, though..."

"Not that. You didn't lie about your age, right?"

Why ask that question now?
"It's truly been 15 years since I was born, yes." For the last time, at least.

"I see, then you actually are twins, huh? You and Todoroki."

He froze. "Why even...?"

"The way you kept glancing at him, I actually wondered if maybe you batted for the other team, but, nah. You did it most whenever he got gloomy, and you looked empathetic when it was about family."

He sighed. "I didn't think it was that... no... you're just stupidly sharp sometimes, huh."

"Hey now, you know well enough I'm not exactly dumb, much as you like to joke like I am."

"...was it obvious enough for any of them to notice?"

"Nah. You actually hide it pretty well, I just caught on because it's rare for you to not be even subtler about your expressions. At most, maybe someone could make my first guess."

"good." Shirou took a contemplative stance, considering different ways to brush off such suspicion if it arose in anyone else.

In any case, he knew that Rumi would know better than to talk unnecessarily.

"Well, no wonder he did not recognize you, with how much you've changed. Your Quirk must be one hell of a mutation. But, you're worried about him, right? Shouldn't you tell him?"

"...No. I know you mean well, but it's better for everyone that I stay away from the family as I have until now."

"Hmmm. It ain't just that you ran away because you couldn't handle them, is it?"

"Yeah. It's complicated, and it's really not my place to bring that family's problems outside, but, it was better for everyone involved that I left. Besides, if he knew...

...I'm not sure what exactly do they think happened to me, but Shoto hates me. It's for the better that he never recognizes me."

"Hmmm. Shirou."

"Yes?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"...yes."

"Because you don't sound completely sure."

"...It's not like I'm entirely unwilling to talk about what happened, at least what relates to my running from home. But it'd require talking about some family problems that I have little right to reveal. Though, if I ever come under the impression that I should be truly worried about my brother, I will talk with you about it.

For now, though, he seemed to be hanging on well enough. I don't know what sort of conclusions he got out of watching us two, but he didn't seem particularly in pain... more disappointed, if anything."

"Urgh, I hate this kind of depressing talk... but point taken. Being a blabbermouth's no good.
But one thing's clear enough; you worry about him and you care. I'm guessing same goes for the rest of your blood family. I'm fine with keeping your secret, here, but promise me one thing, okay? If you feel they need help, and you don't know what to do, you'll talk with me about it and let me help. Promise?"

"It's rare that you'd push that strongly to get involved in my problems, what's going on?"

"Promise me."

"I... I don't like promises, but I will. But why the insistence?"

"Because for as capable as you are, you get awkward enough at emotional stuff like this that, if you try to do things on your own as you so love to try, you just might watch your other family crumble without knowing how to help. And as your mother, and much before that, as your friend, I'm not letting you go through an experience that'll break you like that. Not if there's anything I can do about it."

"Is that so." He gave it thought for a moment.
"Very well then, I promise." He smiled warmly at her. "You always know exactly when you actually need to get serious, don't you? That's one of the things I actually really respect about you, you know."

That took her by surprise. "Well ain't that rare, normally you wouldn't speak out such appreciations even under torture. What's up?"

"Shut it, it's not so strange. I just really respect good traits that I lack, at least when I can admit I wish I had them.

I never really knew when it was okay to wind down, you know? Part of me always keeps my guard up in any situation, never completely relaxing. Since way, way back. Never learned to."
He relaxed his posture, getitng more confortable under the kotatsu.
"At least in that regard, you're a good influence on me, I think."

"Ugh... now I kind of feel bad that I don't take a few more cues from you as well. I really should."

"Completely agreed."

"Damn, bonding moment over already."

He chuckled. "There'll be time for more. It's not like either of us is going to be risking their life anytime soon."

Shirou Usagiyama had already forgotten his decision to not make predictions about the future.