Creation began on 05-17-21

Creation ended on 06-19-21

Neon Genesis Evangelion

My Hero, Shinji Ikari: Shopping and Decorating

Shado wasn't used to large crowds of people just yet, so she stayed close to her father's side. This…and because she feared anyone that might've possessed a violent Quirk that required the use of their hands. One of the only benefits of being in a city where the UA school was located was that there were shops to get things from, depending upon people's wants or needs.

Shinji found the people there, including those with Quirks, to be not all that different from the people he used to live with in Tokyo-3; everyone had their problems, trying to live their lives, whatever their issues were. Even he found his own issues to be inescapable; he had to be on the lookout for the wrong elements that might make themselves known to the three people he promised to protect…and it was a fact he couldn't afford to forget about for even a minute.

"It almost feels like a regular city," he expressed as he, Shado, Rumiko and Toya entered a shopping center. "Does anyone else feel like we're in a regular environment?"

"No," Rumiko and her son responded.

"So…where to first?" He asked the three.

Shado looked around the place, but couldn't make a choice. There weren't that many people around, but she'd been confined to an underground research institute for much of her life and didn't have the same tastes as other children her age possessed. There was a small memory of having a stuffed animal…but then she didn't have it because it was taken from her.

"Maybe we should rebuild our wardrobe," Rumiko suggested; all they really had were four pairs of clothes between them, all of which were hand-me-downs. "I need to replenish Toya's supply of shirts and shorts."

"Uh, that's a good idea," Shinji accepted; he needed to build his own relationship with Shado, as well, unable to rely on every memory belonging to his deceased counterpart to make itself known to his conscious mind. "We should buy new clothes."

Not to mention that he himself also needed something different from what he used to wear back in his previous past.

-x-

It turned out that maybe Shinji wasn't the only person to have a recurring dream about a little girl that haunted him a little before he died, as Misato found out from Kensuke and Toji a few days after learning that their friend was no longer among the living due to the last Angel attack. When they showed up at her apartment three days later, Kensuke saw the drawing of the mysterious girl and just stated that she looked like she could pass for someone related to Shinji, based solely on his opinion that she looked a little like him.

"How often have you had dreams about this girl, Aida?" Misato asked him as they sat in the living room.

"For about two weeks," he explained to her, "but when I saw her, she was being tortured by a man that was very unfriendly. I saw the guy's face once, and he looked like Shinji's father, only colder and more like he was going to cross the line as many times as he chose to get his way. Every time I saw him use his hands, he…he…"

"What did he do?"

"I saw him rip the girl to pieces," went Toji, "and then he put her back together again…just so that he could rip her apart again. I think this man hated her."

"But then, there's someone that looks like Shinji, but he's got a star-shaped scar on his chest that reaches from his neck to his waist," Kensuke added. "I see him try to stand up to this man…and then he gets ripped to pieces. There's no blood, bones or organs left to make up a corpse. It's like, anyone or anything he touches…just gets broken to so many pieces, there's nothing left of them. But then… I don't know how…but the guy that looks like Shinji…came back, but he didn't have the star scar on his chest. And he's surrounded by purple fire, like something out of a comic book or something. He's standing up to this guy that looks like his father…and the little girl's on his back, out of his reach."

"That does sound like something out of a comic book," Misato told them, looking down at the sketch of the little girl. "Say, this girl…in what way would you relate her to Shinji?"

"Not like a sister or cousin," Kensuke explained. "She'd be more like…like she's his daughter. That'd be crazy, though, right? I mean, Shinji was…was… Of course, if something like that did happen, I know he'd do better than his own father, because he'd really want to be involved in his kid's life, hear about her day, know when she's hurt or someone is causing her problems."

"Yeah," Toji agreed with him. "That'd be Shinji as a parent."

"Yeah," Misato had to agree with him; if Shinji had survived the Twelfth Angel attack, she could imagine him having at least one child. I just can't see him with anyone romantically without making a joke about the relationship.

Meanwhile, in her room, Asuka laid in her futon, her eyes irritated from minor tears over Shinji's death. The last two nights, she had this crazy dream of the boy in a place with other people that strange abilities, like a…boy with a belly button that could shoot laser beams…or a monster girl that could produce acid from her body and some little boy with these balls on his head. But the strangest thing about Shinji being in such a place was that his priorities had been split between trying to get an education…and looking after a little girl that was exactly as the one he sketched.

Probably the results of wishful thinking, she thought; it had to be nothing more than her mind playing tricks on her, making her believe that Shinji was alive somewhere when he was as dead as her mother was.

-x-

"…Is everything okay in there, Shado?" Shinji asked his daughter as he waited outside the dressing room in the clothing shop; it was quite a surprise to hear his daughter wanting to try on a skort instead of a simple dress.

"Oh…is this okay?" He heard her say as she stepped out from behind the curtain so he could look at her.

Shado was dressed in a blue skort with green shorts underneath and a purple shirt, her expression full of woe.

"You look pretty, Shado," he told her.

"Really?"

"I mean it."

Shado then hugged her father's legs, appreciating his compliment.

"Personally, Shinji," Rumiko's opinion was being recalled in Shinji's mind after hearing about what Shado's mental state was likely to be when they were in the hospital, "out of anyone that could speak to Shado, I believe it's your opinions, your responses, that she'll require the most to help in her recovery from all of this."

"Why mine?" He had asked her.

"You're her father. In her mind, you have the first and last say on anything that concerns her. You're the one that wants her to be happy and safe, to live a full life, the most, something your father refused for her to have at every opportunity that was available. He was the one that gave her cruelty…and you're the one that gives her hope. That's what you need to be for her during her recovery, her pillar of hope."

"Thank you, Daddy," Shado had praised him.

"You're welcome," he responded. "Come on, let's find you some more outfits."

He could find his own clothes at a later time. His daughter needed at least five more outfits to wear every other day.

"How goes your shopping, sir?" He looked to his left and saw a female store aide.

"Uh, going well, ma'am," he responded, turning back to look at Shado reaching for a purple shirt from off a nearby rack.

"Finding everything in particular?"

"So far, so good."

Shinji wasn't sure if this woman even knew who any of them were, but he wasn't trying to make himself or any of them known. He just wanted to get through the remainder of the day without trouble and then return to the dorms and decorate where they'd be staying.

"Well, do let me know if there's something you need," the aide informed him and then left.

"You, too?" He heard Rumiko ask him as she came over, carrying a pair of shorts.

"I'm sorry?" He responded.

"Not used to accepting aide from others for…basic needs."

"Accepting aide for basic needs? It's…it's actually hard to do that when you…you…"

"Trust issues. It's not easy. You want to be able to open up to others, but it starts to sink in that you're somewhere else and you don't know who to trust."

"Yeah. Uh…for Toya (he points to the shorts)?"

"Yeah. The aide mistook him for my brother; it's not easy to accept when people know that he's mine. Even when I try not to think about it, it's…strange to think of Toya as a brother when I already have one that I've lost my affection for."

"Is your relationship with your parents and brother…that bad?"

Rumiko looked away from him for a moment and sighed, turning back to face him with a depressed look.

"Naïveté isn't really a sin, but when you live with two men that decided to take advantage of you because you don't know any better, it becomes the very reason you end up emotionally scarred," she tells him. "She…my mother, that is…doesn't believe that naïveté is a valid excuse for stupidity. When she found out I was pregnant, she called me every demeaning word you can call a girl that didn't understand that what her father and brother did to her was wrong. Words, in my most humble of opinions, are the most inexhaustible superpower that everyone has access to, able to either inflict pain…or mend it, depending on the people's intentions. I didn't understand it back then, but when you hear the hurtful things I heard from my mother…it sinks in after a while that she had expectations of me that I would never live up to…no matter what I did. So…I left home. It…wasn't so much my home, anymore."

"Where'd you go?" Shinji asked.

"Around your house," she answered. "Well, y'all house. Your mother was among the most welcoming of people after what I was going through. Even after I left, she still decided to say that my mother and I needed time and space away from each other. That ended up turning into…an extended stay that was almost five years."

With only his deceased doppelgänger's memories to rely upon, Shinji could only recall their mother, this world's version of Yui Ikari, as a warm, caring woman that most wouldn't consider a hero of any measure. But…in his mind, this woman had been a hero, to his deceased self and Rumiko when they ended up in the family way because of their abusers.

"You two trusted her above all others," he uttered.

"Yeah," she responded.

"Even with people that choose to be heroes, the world of adults is still a scary place for young people. But…we can't let trust issues regarding adults rule over us all the time. There are adults out there that aren't out to get us, and the ones that are, they're either too far away from where we are right now and won't be coming back any time now or later…or in a prison somewhere where they can't get out because the judges threw the book at them and said that they will waste away for their crimes against others."

"True."

"Uh, Mom?" They heard Toya say to them, getting their attention, dressed in a new shirt and pants that were two shades of blue. "Is this alright?"

Rumiko smiled and nodded in the positive.

"What about Shado? How is she with clothes?" She asked Shinji.

"I wouldn't mind it if she wore at least two pairs of shorts," he expressed.

"She's hardly a tomboy like I can be sometimes."

"A tomboy? You?"

"If the pants are comfy and allow for freedom of movement, I'll wear them better than I would some skirt from a school uniform."

-x-

Prison was dull and miserable for those not equipped for living in a cell with meager accommodations and where the order was not like what they were used to. But Gendo wasn't going to let three meals a day and no outside time hinder his newfound ambition. All he had to do was rework how his body behaved with his Wrath Quirk. First was his muscles and bones needing to be exercised, and nothing like push-ups and leg raises forced the legs to feel something new.

My mind will be elevated by reinvigoration of my Quirk's capabilities, he thought as he laid on the floor with his legs on his cot, doing sit-ups, and as my soul feels my conviction, my body will adapt to my Quirk. I may be down for now, but I am not out of the game that is revenge against that bastard child of yours, you brat. You may have destroyed my hands…but I will not be put in check. I will get out…and you'll both know how it feels to be rendered helpless all over again.

-x-

Since it was still a minor issue, Midoriya was studying more about NERV before it was left lingering in limbo between being completely shutdown because of Gendo's cruel actions…or just in suspension until someone else either bought what remained of the company…or until Shinji made a move to take control. As the boy's maternal relatives were the ones behind it, it fell mostly to Shinji, who was the only child of Yui Ikari and the only grandchild of the company's previous president, Kozo Fuyutsuki-Ikari, a rather impressive businessman that found the study of Quirks to be progressive because of a concept he had researched from Dr. Kyudai Garaki over twenty years ago.

"The Quirk Singularity?" He uttered as he read about it on his computer, discovering that, while it didn't get much attention because the science community didn't want to consider the very possibility that Quirks could one day become so powerful that they were deemed dangerous for whoever possessed them. "Unbelievable. He believed in it, too. But…whatever happened to him? Where is he?"

He searched for the man's whereabouts, but it seemed that nobody knew what happened to Kozo Ikari. It seemed the last time he was ever seen or heard from was…almost four-and-a-half years ago. If Midoriya was understanding this properly, the man may have disappeared sometime before or after his daughter was presumed dead because of Shado's unusual Quirk.

Knock-knock! Someone knocked at his door.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Bakugo, stupid!" He heard Bakugo yell, and he groaned. "I need to talk to you about something serious out here!"

Midoriya sighed and got up from his desk. He opened the door and saw Bakugo with his usual frown on his face.

"What's so serious that you need to ask me about it?" He asked him.

"That guy's kid," Bakugo stated. "Ikari and his little girl. She made Hagakure visible only because she touched her, right?"

"That's right. Where are you going with this?"

"You don't think that she could…be anything like that villain All Might defeated in Kamino, right? All For One?"

"What?! No! I mean, what would make you think that about a little girl that may be no different from Eri?"

"We're forced to put up with a person whose Quirk isn't well-understood…and could be just as dangerous like her grandfather's, who didn't treat her the way one's grandfather is expected to, and we don't know what else she can do, only that she made her grandmother disappear when she touched her as a baby. What I'm getting at is…since we don't know what it is she can do with her Quirk, what happens if the next person that touches her, or if she touches them out of some belief that they might try to hurt her, they end up disappearing? Or worse, she could take away their Quirk if they have one?"

"Except her grandmother had a Quirk; it just wasn't used because it wasn't a strong one. I've researched Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother and Shado's grandmother, and she possessed some kind of Quirk that enabled her to stockpile energy, but it took her forever to stockpile energy to do anything. Because it had no applications in anything it could be used for, it was next to useless."

"But if it was passed on to someone like the little girl…or her father, who would've also inherited some of his own father's Quirk, would it be applicable to whatever she could do?"

Midoriya got the suspicion that Bakugo, despite being the one asking about Shado, was taking the fact that their class had to serve as a host for these four people that had been imprisoned and tortured by a man that was just beyond any capacity for pity or compassion, and that at least one of them was likely more dangerous than the other three just because of a Quirk that wasn't well-understood by any of them due to its lack of information and insufficient control. The worst-case scenario was Shado being taken from Shinji and reduced to a laboratory specimen all over again, subjected to endless poking and prodding in order to understand her Quirk, not entirely different from… In actuality, it would've been exactly the same as how Eri had been treated by the Shie Hassaikai, but undoubtedly worse for Shado because she didn't understand how her Quirk worked and nobody put in the effort or had the self-control to teach her how to control it.

"Are you afraid of her, Bakugo?" He felt the need to ask his classmate.

"If you had to share space with a person whose Quirk made it nearly impossible to touch them without the fear of being affected by them, wouldn't you?" Bakugo countered, indicating that he was afraid of Shado, who was more frightened of people like him because of how his Quirk worked and how he chose to use it.

"That's not fair to Shado, though," Midoriya told him. "She's more afraid of all of us that require our hands to use our Quirks than any of us are afraid of what she could do because she has yet to receive any formal training. For now, she's just trying to move on with her father and their friends and be like regular girls her age. To be troubled by anyone that can't see that she's been injured by a man that blames her for something she had no control over…and very little memory of, that doesn't help anyone to see that she was…and still is…a victim in need of acceptance."

"She makes her grandmother disappear and Hagakure visible. I'd be less intimidated by her if she wasn't so afraid of her own shadow."

"I think it's more your attitude that frightens her and not just your Quirk, Bakugo."

Midoriya closed his door before Bakugo could say something else that might've raised more concerns that could've been unnecessary.

"You probably know as well as I do that she might be a walking hazard!" Bakugo yelled at him.

-x-

"Hmm?" Shinji went as he stopped walking down the mall after noticing that Shado had stopped walking with him, Rumiko and Toya, seeing her standing in front of a display of stuffed animals of a toyshop. "Shado?"

"Sorry," she apologized. "I was…just looking at the stuffed bears."

That was when Shinji realized that because of Gendo's actions and cruelty, long before they had been relocated to living underground in the NERV building, Shado didn't have any toys. No dolls, no stuffed animals, no videogames, no tablets, just…torment with varying periods of either his, Rumiko or Toya's kindness that kept the hatred of Gendo at bay. But they were free now, and on this path to rebuilding their lives out in the open and where they didn't have to be locked up again, Shinji knew his daughter deserved to be like other girls, which meant having toys.

"Do you want some toys, Shado?" He asked her.

"Am I allowed to have any?" She responded.

"Totally. Whoever said you couldn't have any was a terrible person to you."

"He's always a terrible person."

"Stuffed animals, huh?" Rumiko uttered as she and Toya came by and looked in the store. "Those were the days when we rarely thought about superheroes."

"Give me a stuffed dog or monkey that's dressed like All Might and a stuffed elephant or hippo dressed like Fat Gum," said Toya as he gave his opinion on stuffed animals. "Stuffed animals got a bigger admiration when people started dressing them up like the heroes that got noticed a lot."

"I like stuffed bears," Shado expressed; there was something about this particular animal that she found very comforting.

An inherited memory from her father made Shinji understand her fascination with the animal. He had told her once that there were two groups of stars named after the animal, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, which he had explained, in a parental form, were a parent bear and its child bear, one looking after the other and the smaller bear being watched after by the larger bear.

"What do you call a bear that watches after others bears?" Shado asked him.

"What do you call a bear that does that, Shado?" He responded, wanting to hear from her.

"A guard bear."

"Heh-heh-heh! That's funny. A bear guardian."

"Ursa Guardian," Rumiko added in.

"Ursa…Guardian?" Shado repeated.

"The bear that watches after other bears…is the bear that gets looked up to."

"The bear that is viewed as a hero," Shinji realized; while he could've used words like 'parent', 'mother' or 'father', it would've helped Shado to learn new words this way sometimes.

"Exactly," Rumiko revealed.

They walked into the store and Shinji found there was a raffle going on there. There were three random raffle tickets that would be called and whoever had the exact numbers on their ticket would win five stuffed animals they could customize to their liking.

"Shinji, you should probably try to win one of the slots in the raffle," Rumiko suggested.

"What are the chances of someone like me winning in a raffle?" He asked her.

"You never know unless you try. It's better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. Never trying means you can't fail, but it also means that you can't experience the possibility of success in any endeavor."

Shinji sighed and went over to the desk where the raffle tickets were being given. He signed his name and received a ticket; if he got his ticket called, then he could get five stuffed animals for Shado, but if he didn't, then he at least tried to win.

"The superhero industry has really blended into the toy industry," said Rumiko as she examined the outfits that could be applied to the stuffed animals. "I'm not so sure about this heroine that they call Mt. Lady, though."

Shado looked at a poster of said heroine…and her first impression of the woman was that she was too tall…and out there.

"Um, did anyone hear anything just now?" She asked.

"If you're referring to some men that were chanting 'money shot', then the answer is yes, Shado," went Toya to her. "Any heroes you fancy, though?"

She nodded her head in the negative; her lack of exposure to heroes was yet to be resolved and so far, the only positive heroic influence she had were her father and Rumiko.

"Any heroines you like, Shinji?" Rumiko asked as they looked at the posters of heroes that were around the shop.

"Not really," he answered her. "I mean, not at the moment. There's heroines like this Thirteen and Ms. Joke and Bubble Girl, and they seem like impressive women. But then, there's women like Mt. Lady. A heroine with a Quirk that just makes you building-sized isn't so much reliable in every sense."

"So, from your perspective, size is an issue when misused?"

"Only if you're trying to be seen a little too much. And this heroine just…looks like she's trying to be seen all the time. But…that's just my opinion. My belief."

"It's still nice to hear someone else's opinion about certain heroes. They come in all shapes, sizes and personalities. These days, heroes have to be more than just efficient in how they use their Quirks. They need to be aesthetically pleasing to the public; they have to look good, not just do good. A hero that can't show a positive image can't impress the people."

"How would you dress as a hero?"

"I'd probably wear something like a regular clothing, but with words or an animal symbol. What about you?"

"I don't know what kind of hero costume I'd wear. Some heroes of old wear tights, others wear armor, and a few probably dress casual because they have yet to find something that works for them in the long run."

"What was that old saying about clothes and image?"

"I honestly don't know who said it, but they said something that was…sexist back then. Something about clothes make the man."

"Oh, that's very sexist, Shinji. These days, the saying is that clothes make the pro."

"Nothing sexist in that saying."

"Ooh!" They heard Toya gasp and turned towards their kids, seeing the little boy point at a stuffed dog-like toy. "I heard about this hero! He's the Moonlight Hero. Lycan."

"Who's Lycan?" Shado asked him, thinking the stuffed animal was just a stuffed animal.

"He was an underdog hero from over forty years ago. He actually lived on Hokkaido. I can't believe they still make stuffed animal versions of him."

"He was a hero? But…he looks like a monster."

"That was because of his Quirk that he took his name from. He could turn into a werewolf at will, with enhanced strength, speed and senses. He always looked out for the people."

Toya then grabbed the stuffed animal and brought it over to his mother.

"Can I get this, please?" He asked Rumiko.

How could she say "no" to that face? And what he said was the truth; back in the older days, way before their time, Lycan was a hero that hailed from Hokkaido. He wasn't among the popular heroes, but he looked out for the people, especially at night.

"…The third raffle ticket for today is…" They heard a male voice on the loudspeaker. "Five-one-eight-two-nine."

Shinji sighed as he looked down at his ticket. It was five-one-eight-two-nine. He looked at it again, repeating the numbers in his head…and couldn't believe it. His ticket had been called.

"Shinji," went Rumiko, "you won a raffle."

"Yeah," he responded, looking back to where he got his ticket, "I did."

He was in disbelief. He just couldn't believe that he would win anything as trivial as this, even for Shado. But here he was, having won five stuffed animals for his daughter. It was like the kami were blessing them.

-x-

Hagakure sat in her room and looked at her left hand. Or rather…looking at the empty space where her left hand was supposed to be, not seeing it. It was just a thought, trying to make herself invisible like before, and she had managed to make one of her limbs do so through intense concentration. She focused again, trying to make her arm visible…and for at least four seconds, it existed between transparency and full visibility.

"I guess this means I have to practice with my Quirk all over again," she thought as she got up from her desk.

She hadn't tried to use her Quirk since she touched Shado, but she needed to keep the teachers in the loop on whether or not she was doing okay. This was something she would need to inform them about now.

-x-

"…I don't know, Shinji," went Rumiko to Shinji as they and their kids walked back to the dorms with their bags of goods, "I think this is the first time I've ever seen Shado happy about having toys of her own."

Shinji looked at Shado, holding one of her stuffed animals on her back. He had to admit, it was the first time either he or his deceased counterpart had seen the little girl with such a big smile. And most importantly, the girl was getting out of her shell, little by little.

She should be like other girls, he thought as their dorm house came into view, happy and full of hope for better days.

"Say, Shinji, what do you think school will be like when we have to return?" Rumiko questioned. "I mean, we haven't been to school in…a very long time. We're behind on many things."

"Even so, we're still obligated to get an education for the future," he explained to her. "We're probably not too far behind."

That's when Rumiko had to realize again that this Shinji was not entirely the same as the one she grew up with; unlike her Shinji, this one had spent some time in the pursuit of an education when he wasn't being made to operate a giant construct to face large creatures out to end the world he lived in, so anything they didn't know, he most likely did know to a small degree.

"My sorest point is math," she told him as they came to the front door. "I never got past addition and subtraction."

"I'm not a fan of history," he told her. "It's a dull topic when you listen to a man that doesn't tell you anything beyond the aftermath of some catastrophe that occurred before I was ever born and nothing about how life was like before it ever happened. So…if what I've learned recently is a sign that whatever history here is different from what I know…I hope it's better."

"Fortunately, the only catastrophes to occur here are just the hero and villain-related ones. This world is…very different from what you know."

"Maybe not all that different. There's still people in it."

They entered the dorm and dropped everything.

"We should've eaten while we were out there," Rumiko scolded them lightly. "Why did I say that fast food was not healthy?"

"Because we haven't had any in a long time," Shinji reminded her, and then his stomach growled. "I'll make something for us all to eat."

"We can decorate our rooms later," Toya expressed.

"Mm-hmm," agreed Shado, her mind preoccupied with one of her stuffed bears wearing a blue and pink tutu skirt and green shirt.

Shinji went into the kitchen and pulled things out of the refrigerator.

"Shado, are you sure you're okay with just those five stuffed animals?" Rumiko asked the little girl. "You could've gotten more, you know."

"These five will be enough," she expresses; she was just happy that she had something that was actually hers now.

It wasn't everyday that a kid that had been held in captivity for a long time had anything that was really hers and wasn't a hand-me-down or was given to her by someone that loved her.

-x-

"…So, Ms. Hagakure is learning to practice making herself invisible?" Nezu asked Recovery Girl in her office.

"It appears that she still has access to her Quirk, only it's been affected in an entirely-different fashion from what she was used to," she explained to the principal. "Her Quirk has been…rewritten from being a Mutant-Type to a…Transformation-Type. This is completely new. It's been believed that Quirks can't be altered to work differently like this. It's… If this only happened because she touched Shado Ikari, what are the chances that her Quirk may actually be evolving after putting her in a new environment like this school and around people with a wide range of Quirks? What do you suppose are the chances?"

"I have no idea. But if this is the case, we are in uncharted territory. Still…we can't rush into things so hastily just because one student's Quirk was reworked and the student now has to retrain the way they understand it. For all we know, this change may even be temporary. We won't know until much later."

"There's something else that Mr. Kon observed through his Spy Quirk. It would seem that one of the students of Class 1-A is…not adjusting well to the presence of Shado Ikari…and may actually feel threatened by her."

"This was to be expected; students would feel threatened by other students and need their disputes, if they even exist, resolved through adult intervention. However, a student feeling threatened by a child that hasn't done anything wrong…is unexpected."

"So far, the student in question hasn't done anything extreme to express their discomfort towards her just yet, but this isn't one of the most understanding of young individuals striving to be heroes."

It was hoped that the majority of Class 1-A would be able to adjust to their two newest members for the time being once the teaching resumes, but if one demonstrated an unwillingness to try and tolerate or even understand the two teen parents that had been abused and were now trying to rebuild their lives with their children, it was anyone's guess as to what could happen later on. But if one of the students was unwilling to adjust, even a little bit, there was a chance of disorder that could mirror the disorder that was the escalating situation with the villains targeting the new generation of heroes over facing the older generation now that All Might was no longer the Symbol of Peace.

"We'll deal with this if it progresses," Nezu told Recovery Girl.

But Recovery Girl wasn't so sure about this. If others felt threatened by a child that would rather keep her distance from them because she was afraid of those with a large propensity towards violence and possessed Quirks that required the use of their arms, this problem would likely escalate if it wasn't resolved properly or the students in question handled to understand that this was a complicated situation.

"Do we still have Gendo Rokubungi's old file from when he was here?" She asked Nezu.

"Yes," he answers her. "Why?"

"I feel the need to draw up comparisons between him and the students of this generation that demonstrate a potential lack of compassion."

-x-

With the minor exception of lacking posters or pictures, Shinji had to admit that his daughter's room was as…welcoming as it was right now.

"What do you think?" He asked Shado as she looked around.

Her futon was on the right side of the room, a circular carpet of green coloring on the floor in the middle, her five teddy bears huddled together by the patio window and with blue curtains.

"I love it," she told him. "How is your room?"

"Mine is still a work in-progress, but I'll find a way to make it look nice."

Of course, Shinji's room was more bare bones than Shado's or Rumiko's or Toya's. His counterpart from this world originally had more in the way of possessions before his kidnapping by criminals or forced imprisonment by his father, while he himself, a stranger in a new world, barely had any possessions in the manner of someone that had anything to live for, just the meager amount of what he did need to get by. When compared to the rooms of either Midoriya, Uraraka, or even Shoji, Shinji could have been in the same league as Shoji, who, unbeknownst to the student in question, reminded him of Rei Ayanami, who also seemed to be a minimalist. But, just as he had told his daughter, it was still a work in-progress, meaning that he still needed to develop his own sense of stability in his comfort zone; he was going to try and be a hero to three of the people he looked to for stability and needed them in his life here.

"…I don't trust anyone that can be more dangerous than they seem," Shinji thought he heard Bakugo say to someone, looking at one of the plain walls of his daughter's room.

"Daddy?" She asked him.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," he apologized to her. "I thought I heard someone talking."

"Like a lot of men saying 'money shot'?"

"Heh-heh-heh…no, nothing like that."

The time was now eighteen minutes after ten, and it was getting late.

"I'll just…be in my room and let you change into your pajamas," he told her as he turned to leave, but then a strange feeling came over him. What am I doing? What are you doing, Shinji? You know that's not right. She's not even five years old yet. Don't echo what you went through on her. You're supposed to be a good example for her more than anyone else in her life right now. Start showing your empathy.

He turned back around to face her and uttered, "I'm sorry, Shado. Do you want me to help you change into your pajamas and tuck you in?"

Shado nodded that she would like that.

Outside the little girl's room, Rumiko, just listening in from behind the door, smiled as Shinji realized his priorities towards Shado and walked away. He was still learning how to do right by his daughter, but he was sure to master his responsibilities as her father, just as she had to master her own as a mother to her son.

To think that we return to school tomorrow, she thought as she returned to her room, which was just as bare bones as Shinji's, looking at her school uniform hanging on the wall outside her closet. What good is my Quirk going to be when all I can do is keep track of people I know and care about? I want to be a hero, too, but my Quirk isn't…

She closed her door halfway, just in case Toya needed her, and then undressed out of her jeans and shirt. On her back were five scarred lines that were all that remained of her previous injuries by her mother before she took Toya and left, almost made worse by the small spots that had been where the doctors removed the bullets that had missed her spine and organs. While her mother was cruel with a belt, the people that worked for Gendo were just as worse with guns, willing to shoot a young mother and her child as they were escaping.

"Ugh," she shuddered as she thought back to the abuse, not wanting to go through any of it again. Get a grip, Rumiko. Your family's still on Hokkaido and they won't bother to come for you…and Gendo's locked in prison where he'll rot for eternity.

She used to be this perfect circle or heart that knew no hurt. But then her father and brother took advantage of her and left her an imperfect shape, not a circle or heart…but not a square, hexagon or even a star. She was just…dented by impure desires and impulses of rage brought on by unnecessary jealousy or just plain hatred. Luckily, she had Shinji, who was like herself in the suffering of hands that masked cruel intentions as they sought personal pleasure or something else that they were after. Slipping into a large, dark shirt, she sat on her futon and sighed.

Still, if I can get my Quirk to be more than a means to find people I care about, I could probably rise above my own expectations, she thought as she wondered what her parents and brother were doing right now.

-x-

It was dark out, but for some reason, Shinji found himself not in his room or anywhere near the Heights Alliance dorms…but in the city. It was likely the same city he found himself and Shado underneath of when he rescued her from his twisted father: Sapporo, Hokkaido. In front of him was none other than the very man that had scarred Shado, physically and emotionally, looking like he had just escaped from prison. The worst sight was that his arms looked like new, the nerves bulging under the skin.

"You thought you could be done with me so easily," he heard him say. "You have no idea what I'm capable of once motivated. I killed you before…and I'll kill you again."

Then, the buildings and streets shattered around Shinji as he fell into the darkness.

Gasp! He awoke, finding himself still in Shado's room, having fallen asleep beside her futon, and the little girl was asleep, holding onto her Ursa Guardian teddy as she slept.

It was coming back to him, why he was sitting there in her room; Shado had asked him to tell her a story, any story, and he obliged her. Since he didn't have any books on hand, he made one up that revolves around her stuffed animals and herself on an adventure on an island floating in the sky. She must've fallen asleep after at least ten minutes of listening to him and then he dozed off. Getting up, he quietly vacated her room and was about to close the door when he realized that that was probably the worst thing to do right now; after having been locked away from the world and just learning to be free again, it was better to leave it halfway closed, not to lock her in but to let her know that she was not a prisoner again. Then he returned to his room and changed out of his casual wear and into his pajamas. That strange dream didn't make any sense to him; it didn't feel like a dream because he felt tense in his hands, like he was about to go to battle against his father all over again. It was different from the tension he felt inside the Eva, as he was no longer connected to a giant, armored behemoth or facing giant monsters. This tension was like an anticipation of something else to come in due time, like a form of conflict with someone that would bring animosity towards either him or someone he put before himself.

It's probably just nerves, he wanted to believe; he had yet to see a therapist about what he and the others went through, but he understood that it wasn't something that they could just instantly recover from. School, Shado, therapy, recovery. School, Shado, therapy, recovery.

If he understood more on how his Quirk functioned, he would've suspected that he unintentionally used it twice by now. The first time when Shado, Rumiko and Toya were asleep and Mineta tried to sneak downstairs to maybe observe Rumiko…and the second time being just a few minutes ago as he awoke from his light doze. Hopefully, once he started training to better control his Quirk, he would be able to keep it under wraps until he chose how to make do with it. Still, that night it came into his possession, he never felt such exhilaration when he took his daughter away from his father and got out from underground and into the air. He had never felt such power as he had when they were finally able to be out and about, to jump across rooftops in the night, or even to glow the way he did.

It was like freedom, he chose to interpret the feeling. We had escaped from a dark time trapped in a cage, cut off from the world, from each other…and we were able to be seen and heard by the people for the first time in a long time. Is this how people feel the first time when they are able to do something like that? To feel a sense of freedom from confinement?

Laying down on his futon, he had a little over five hours left before he had to face the new day. Not as an Evangelion pilot or one tasked with saving the human race from an unknown threat…but as a regular student in a superhuman society where the majority possessed some sort of power that could enable them to be either heroes or villains, depending on the cards they were dealt with. And he wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be someone that could be dependent upon by the people when necessary.

"Be their hero!" He repeated his doppelgänger's final words to push himself further.

To be continued…

A/N: Honestly, after watching the first season of MHA and seeing how Bakugo can be, I don't expect him to be as tolerating as the other students in Class 1-A with the quartet of outsiders trying to make a new life in a new setting. But he will have to contend with the fact that the person he is fearful of the most out of the four is protected by the one he should not underestimate because of his morals and responsibility to look after his child. And as for Hagakure, as her Quirk has been altered, she will have to be re-educated on how to tap into it and control. This will also mean that she has to have a different hero costume.