Speech Guide

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

"SHOUTING!"

"I AM HERE!"

Reviews: (They're up here again… why? Cause I said so.)

DeathlyJazzHands55: I provide enlightenment in this chapter I promise.

Fencer29: He plans to just hide in the OFA quirk space until she's calmed down… whether or not that's going to work out for him is a different story. Yes, she absolutely has picked it up and has no goddamn idea. Yes, Nezu absolutely enjoys watching the puny humans suffer through the labyrinth he calls a school. (Also if he did theoretically have a blue box with a homicidal pepper pot in it, it would theoretically turn up in the apartment of whichever staff member (or others) were annoying him at the time. (He wouldn't let it out though, he would just let the non-stop muffled "Exterminate! Exterminate!" drive them insane.

Eala Bahn: Thank you :) Also, I'll let you in on a lil secret, she has no idea and she is gonna be PISSED.

I own nothing, zilch, nada… except Aiko I guess. This story does contain minor spoilers for the manga, you have been warned.

Chapter 6: Some Much Needed Context

13 years ago / 12 years from now

It was late spring as a young girl sat on a swing in a park, rocking back and forth. She was wearing her school uniform, the colours of black and red nicely complimented by her long crimson hair and burning red eyes. The girl grinned, beginning to swing faster and faster, higher and higher, until she was level with the bar on top of the swing set. She laughed gleefully and let go, launching herself upwards at the apex of her swing. For a minute she felt free, as she soared above the swingset, and the wind rushed through her crimson hair, she was happy.

She reached the peak of her jump and felt a feeling of floating, just for a brief instant, before gravity took hold. Twisting in midair, she turned towards the rapidly approaching ground, before tucking into herself. She touched the ground and attempted a roll like she sometimes saw her dad do when he was doing hero work, but instead of a controlled roll, it ended up being more of a flailing tumble. She rolled to a stop on her back, taking in the softness of the grass as the excitement died down and her crimson hair turned to white, her eyes from red to lilac.

The sun was in the center of the sky, shining directly on her as she lay still, it was warm. The soft thumping of approaching feet against the dirt alerted her that someone was coming, she turned to look towards him.

"AIKO, YOU OKAY?!" The black-haired boy yelled, as he ran towards her, his shining golden irises filled with concern for his friend.

Aiko smirked, her hair and eyes flashing back to crimson as she leaped to her feet, pointing at her oncoming friend. "Ha! Beat that height, Ishi!" The boy in question skidded to a stop, in front of her, scratching the back of his head.

"Aiko, I'm pretty sure that if I went higher than that I'd break my neck or something." He said with a nervous chuckle and a grin, showing off his unusually pointed teeth.

"Eh? C'mon are you the son of the Manly Hero: Red Riot or not?" Aiko mocked

"W-well yeah but…"

"C'mon Ishi, it's nothing to be afraid of," Aiko curled her right arm, showing off her muscles… or lack thereof being a 5 year old. "We're gonna have to face much worse than that if we wanna be the best heroes!"

"Y-yeah! You're right! I'm gonna go higher than you ever will Aiko!" The boy declared with a pointed finger and a grin, his sharp teeth coming into full view.

"Hmph, in your dreams Shark-boy! Now go and give it your best shot!"

Ishi ran up to the swing, going faster and faster, just as Aiko had done. He launched himself up with a yell.

'Hmph. Ishi thinks he'll do better than me huh? Well, he is pretty high…' Aiko thought as she watched her friend soar upwards. 'Wait, that's way too high, he's gonna-'

"ISHI!"

CRACK

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The steady rhythm of the vitals monitor was the only noise in the room.

There were only two people in the room, a boy and a girl.

Aiko's white hair was dirty and frayed, sticking out in every direction as she slept at her friend's bedside. Tear tracks could be seen glistening on her face. Laying in the bed was Ishi, it had been 3 days since the incident at the nearby park, and Ishi had yet to wake up. The doctors said the damage was extreme, he had broken an arm, and 3 of his ribs, but the worst of the damage was to his skull, which had fractured in 3 separate places. They continued that if his skull ever received a shock like that again, it would likely collapse in on itself, something he would not survive.

Aiko herself had been there the entire time, refusing to leave even when her Mom had begged her to. She hadn't switched to red hair the entire time, as she didn't have the emotions required, which made it the longest time she hadn't switched since she discovered her quirk. Ishi's Mom and Dad were also both there more than not, spending all their time there whenever they weren't on patrol, with her own parents checking in a couple times a day.

Aiko was sound-asleep, having finally collapsed from exhaustion a few moments earlier, when a commotion could be heard out in the hall, followed by a quiet conversation drawing closer.

"Why are we here again Deku?" A woman's voice asked

"Because Kirishima and Ashido's kid is here with serious injuries, and I figured you'd want to help." A male voice responded.

"Wait, Ishi's here? What happened?" Said the woman, sounding surprised.

"Apparently an accident at a local park, poor kid got some serious head trauma according to the doctors, apparently his friend had to carry him all the way home looking for help." The man sounded disappointed.

"All the way home!" The woman screeched, only to be shushed by a passing nurse. "Didn't he ask anyone for help?" She continued in a whisper

"She, and yeah she did," He sighed. Apparently, they either ignored her or told her to wait for a hero to show up…" He paused with a sigh "It's stuff like this that keeps bolstering the League of Villains numbers, Shigaraki preaches about over-reliance on heroes, and then gets proven right time and time again." There was a brief silence as the footsteps approached, stopping outside the door to Ishi's room.

The door slid open and two people walked in. The first a large man in green, white, and black hero costume, a yellow cape adorning the back. He had green curly hair styled into an undercut, and warm green eyes. He stood at 6'6" with a muscular build, his freckled face lacking the man's signature smile. Behind him came a teenage girl in a UA uniform, she had white hair and red eyes, and a horn sticking out the top of her head. She was slightly above average height, though looking much shorter compared to her mentor, and a gymnast's build. The two stopped as they saw the girl sleeping in the chair beside the boy's bed.

"Is that her?" Eri asked

Deku paused, examining the girl slowly before speaking "Yeah, that's her."

Eri walked up to the girl and crouched down, examining her closely, seeing the tear tracks on her sleeping face. "Poor thing," She turned to her mentor "Has she been here the entire time?"

Deku shrugged "I don't know. I didn't think anyone would be here right now. His parents are dealing with a hostage situation at the bank a few blocks over."

"League of Villains?"

"No, just some kids looking to make a name for themselves," The hero stared out the window, arms crossed taking in the city skyline. "Since I became a hero, I've done my best to inspire people, to be better than they were before. But, every day new villains appear, every day the league of villains gets larger while we get smaller. More and more heroes are retiring, dying, or just mysteriously disappearing, we just can't replace them fast enough… I don't know what to do."

Eri stared at her mentor "...Are you doing okay?"

Deku turned back scratching the back of his head nervously "Oh, uhhhh, yeah I'm fine. I mean kind of, reallyfineisrelativeatthisparticular-"

"deku." Eri said, attempting to stop the rambling with little success.

"-pointintimeeverydayischaosanduncertainty-" Her teacher continued to ramble on, not heeding his student's intervention.

"Deku…" She tried again.

"-Imeantheleagueofvillainsisgettingstrongereverydayandthestressofkeepingitallfromthepublicisreallystartingtotakeatoll-"

"DEKU!" Eri yelled, finally interrupting her mentor.

"Oh!" The Pro Hero snapped back to reality greeted by the annoyed stare of his student "Sorry," He rubbed the back of his head "Old habits die hard I guess."

"Nnh" A groggy grunt came from Aiko as she was roused from her sleep. Opening her eyes to see a blurry figure with white hair.

"Well, now look what you've done, she's waking up." The white-haired figure said, looking down at her with warm red eyes.

Aiko sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She could see the white-haired figure from before was dressed in a UA uniform, something she recognized from the two that still remained in her parent's closet, a uniform she hoped to wear herself one day. "Who are you?" Aiko asked.

"My name's Eri Aizawa, what's yours?"

"Aiko. Why are you here, are you going to try and help Ishi?" Aiko asked, receiving a nod in return. She looked at the ground glumly, "All the doctor's tried everything already… said that the damage was permanent." She pulled her knees to her chest as more tears fell from her eyes. "He'll never get to be a hero now, and it's all my fault!" She cried, burying her face behind her knees as she sobbed.

Eri approached the crying child and laid a hand on her head. "Hey now, that's not true."

"Yes it is, I'm the one who told him to jump off the swing, he didn't want to but I pushed him to do it. He'll never be a hero now, and I don't deserve to be." Aiko cried, the loud sobbing turning into a silent stream of tears as she sunk in on herself even more.

Unknown to Aiko, Deku watched the scene from where he stood on the other side of the bed. 'She's taking responsibility for her actions, and she's got a strong sense of heroism to boot, and she's at the right age… Interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on your progress. But that's in the future, what you need right now is a hero.' He put on his heroic smile and began to channel some of his inner All Might.

"I must say I disagree, young Aiko." He said, announcing his presence to her. 'Ok, maybe that was a little too much All Might.'

Aiko jolted in her seat as she recognized the voice, slowly lifting her head until her tear-streaked face looked across the room to see the number one hero standing there in full costume with his trademark smile on full display, her eyes widened in disbelief "D-Deku?"

Deku's smile turned into a more genuine and comforting grin "While what you did in pushing him past what he was comfortable with wasn't good, that doesn't make his injury all your fault. It was an accident, accidents happen, and you showed incredible resolve and bravery not only for taking responsibility for your part in it but for doing your best to save him. I spoke with both of your parents and the doctors, if not for your actions in carrying him home, he would not have survived." He paused as he made his way across the room, Eri moving out of the way as he kneeled in front of Aiko, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You saved his life. You area hero, Aiko Todoroki."

A different kind of tears fell from Aiko's eyes, as for the first time since the accident her hair and eyes turned red, joy and relief flowing through her body. It was gone as soon as it came however, although the guilt was gone, worry for her friend still remained. "But what about Ishi, he still won't be able to be a hero!"

"That is why I'm here, Aiko," Eri said from Ishi's bedside, she was flipping through a folder of patient information, looking for the approximate time of injury.

"But what are you gonna do?" Aiko asked as Eri found the information she was looking for. She placed a hand on Ishi and her horn began to glow.

"She's going to make him better, Aiko." Said Deku, still kneeling in front of her. "It's going to be okay now because we are here."

"My full name is Aiko Todoroki." Aiko answered Principal Nezu, watching the rat's feral smile widen even more, which she had no idea was possible.

"How many generations displaced?"

"Just 1."

"Paternal or Maternal?"

"Paternal?"

"Just thought to check, method of time travel?"

That one through Aiko for a loop "Uhhh what do you mean?"

"Was it by invention or by quirk? Are you from a different dimension or the same? Those kinds of things." Nezu explained

"Oh, well it was a quirk, and I believe everything but me was rewound through time so the same dimension I guess?"

"Very very interesting!" Nezu opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a large binder labeled "Contingencies and Code Phrases" Volume III and began flipping through it. "Out of all the methods of time travel, that is probably the most extreme. Give me no specifics, but I assume we were looking at an apocalypse level event for you to be that desperate."

"Yes sir, to put it simply the whole world was held hostage by a villain who could level cities just by touching the ground."

"Quite destructive, but hardly enough to warrant full reversal time travel, would I be correct in assuming there's more to it than that, that you can't discuss without giving too much away?" Nezu asked with a slight tilt to his head.

"Yes sir."

"Very well, and what do you need from little old me?" He asked, leaning forward across his desk, an interested gleam in his eyes.

"For now I'd like three things. One, UA plays a central role in the lead-up to these events, so I would like it if you could enroll me as a student here." She began

Nezu turned to the side and began machinegun typing into his computer, a rapid-fire clicking the only sound in the room for a few seconds before the mouse turned back to her. "Done."

"Wait, just like that?" Aiko asked, a bewildered look in her eyes

"Indeed, I put you in Class 1-A, and in order to even it out, I transferred a certain someone I've been keeping an eye on in Class 1-B from General Education. Now, what else do you need?"

"Oh, uh right! Well, two I kinda need a place to stay." She continued sheepishly

"Well that's no issue, we were considering implementing a dorm system next year anyway, no reason to not build the one you'll be staying in early, I'll have Cementoss do it over the weekend, until then, I can set you up in one of the on campus apartments for the staff, Aizawa has never used his, calls it irrational or something and just camps out wherever he pleases in his sleeping bag, so I'll have you stay there," Nezu said, continuing to look at the monitor of his computer as he typed.

'Wait, Aizawa doesn't have an apartment? What about E-' Aiko's thoughts were interrupted by a squeaky cough from the rodent principal.

"And the third thing?" He questioned

"Right, sorry! Lastly, I need something from you specifically, the plan me and my sensei made already failed because we miscalculated when exactly I would get dropped off at the USJ, it was supposed to be before 1-A arrived, but that didn't happen, as a result, I've already messed up the timeline." She paused, thinking of the incident with Shigaraki grabbing Midoriya, she looked at Nezu for an indication that he understood.

"Ah I see, that's quite unfortunate, I suppose that would create some confusion, but what does that have to do with me?" Nezu prompted her to continue.

"Well with your quirk, high-specs, and the fact that you already know I'm from the future, you seem like the ideal person to help me hopefully get things back on track… or at the very least prevent me from screwing it up more." Aiko finished, looking at the principal hopefully.

"Hmmm…" Nezu said, seeming to consider her proposal. "Absolutely not!"

Aiko fell face first onto the desk, she quickly pushed herself up. "EHHHH! But why not?! I can't do this on my own, I really need your help sir!"

Nezu raised his hands apologetically "My apologies, I should've been more specific, what I meant to say is I will not help you try to get things back on track, and I would urge you not to try either. It has already deviated, and any attempt to course-correct would likely steer it more off-course, to the point we have no idea what could happen."

"I suppose that makes sense sir." Aiko said, privately thinking 'I'm so glad I asked for his help, I didn't even consider that!'

Nezu glanced at the door. "Quick question Miss Todoroki, I assume you talked to my future self about this plan?"

"Yes we did sir, you were very helpful, why do you ask?" Aiko questioned confusedly

"You'll see. Well if that's everything, come with me Miss Todoroki, and I'll show you to your room." Nezu said, hopping off his chair and striding towards the door.

"Actually if you don't mind sir, please call me Aiko, I feel like it will be confusing to call me Todoroki when my dad's here." Aiko said aloud 'Also if I get used to him calling me that, it would be awkward if I accidentally responded to Todoroki when Nezu is talking to everyone.'

"Ah yes, I see your point, very well Miss Aiko if you would please follow me." With that, he opened the door to the office and stepped out, with Aiko quickly following behind.

Upon exit, they were immediately confronted by a very confused looking Toshinori, and a very annoyed looking Tsukauchi, Miss Kumi at her desk oblivious to the other two. "Would you mind explaining what that was about Nezu!?" The irritated detective asked.

"Yes I would mind explaining, detective, now Toshinori, if you would kindly go wait in my office until I return, detective you should join him if you have any further questions related to the attack today, I will be returning shortly."

"Hey, Nezu, where are you going with her!" Tsukauchi yelled, pointing at Aiko. "She needs to go down to the police station for questioning!"

"Questioning? Whatever for a detective?" Nezu asked innocently… a little too innocently.

"For her potential involvement in the villain attack!" a very exasperated Tsukauchi yelled. Aiko looked at Nezu, a little confused as to where he was going with this.

"Involvement? Dear Miss Aiko was on campus with my permission as a new addition to the hero course, she was supposed to be meeting her classmates today."

The detective pointed a very angry finger at the rodent principal "OH THAT'S BULLSH-" Tsukauchi's eyes flicked upwards, indicating it was the truth. "Wait… what?" He froze in confusion, his finger still in Nezu's face as Aiko stood off to the side holding in her laughter, realizing why Nezu had asked earlier. All Might stood off to the side, his face a mixture of confusion about Aiko's addition to the hero course, and worry for his currently frozen friend.

"In any case, me and Miss Aiko must be on our way," Nezu said with a straight face, sidestepping the frozen detective and walking towards the elevator with Aiko in tow. As they reached the elevator and pressed the call button, Nezu turned around once more to face the pair, "By the way Tsukauchi, as per the law and school procedure, anything you and Miss Aiko spoke about is now under student confidentiality. So if you speak about it with anybody, I will bring the full legal might of UA down on your head, good day!" Timed perfectly with the end of his sentence the elevator doors opened, and both he and Aiko stepped in. Just before the doors fully closed, Tsukauchi let out a strange scream of anger and confusion, just before he disappeared from sight.

Aiko immediately burst out laughing as the elevator began its descent, the sound thankfully drowning out the obnoxious elevator music. "I-I, Ha, Enj-joy, hoo, messing wi-hmph-th him too, but I, haaaa, didn't make him freeze up like that!" Aiko squeaked out as she tried to catch her breath. "How'd you do that?!"

"Well for legal purposes, I didn't tell you this, but it's the backlash to his quirk. When he's using it he has to keep an open mind about whether a statement is true or false, if he assumes the answer, and his quirk disagrees with him, it causes him to freeze up like that for about half a minute. It's quite a fun tool to mess with him, it's doubly entertaining when he gets ahead of himself like that." Nezu explained with an evil smile.

Aiko gained a similar evil smile "Well I'll have to keep that in mind for the future."

"Just remember," Nezu began as the elevator doors opened, "I didn't tell you."

With that the two began their journey to the teacher's apartments, a side building near the main one that housed the classes. It was rather plain looking, 20 floors tall, and was probably taken down when the dorms were installed, as it hadn't been there during Aiko's time here. Nezu took her inside and handed her a keycard that would open both the front door and the room she would be staying in, on the 19th floor. After riding another elevator, thankfully one without music, they arrived. Surprisingly, Aiko discovered that the entire 19th floor is actually the apartment she would be staying in. Nedzu gave her a full tour. It had a spacious floor plan, both a master and a guest, bedroom, and bathroom Though it had a kitchen, the 3 main meals of the day would be served on the first floor in a communal dining area.

Nezu turned to her"This is where you'll be staying for the weekend, I'll be back tomorrow morning with your student id card. You have until classes resume on Monday to familiarize yourself with the campus and staff, we've just missed dinner unfortunately, but the kitchen should still be freshly stocked. If you have any more questions, my lodgings are just above yours." He paused as Aiko took in his words. "Now, I'll leave you be, I know you've had a long day, and mine seems to just be beginning."

"Thank you." Aiko said simply.

The principal gave a nod and walked towards the exit. Just before reaching the doors, he turned around. "Our future is in your hands, Aiko Todoroki. And, for what it's worth, I believe in you." With that, he stepped into the elevator and left.

Aiko stared at the doors briefly. Shaking her head, she turned and walked to the kitchen, she opened the fridge and rummaged around a bit. Sure enough near the back covered behind various fresh produce items, was one of the jelly packets Eri and Aizawa were famous for. Though Eri always assured her that they were only for emergencies, something about making her dad eat real food. The empty apartment had reminded Aiko of something else she's learned today, Aizawa didn't use the apartment (Except to store jelly packets, apparently), which meant Eri wasn't here. Her teacher had always been, secretive about her past, so it was likely that Eri was either A: living with her mother, but she never mentioned her mother so that seemed unlikely, B: Adopted, more plausible, but why would a full-time hero and teacher adopt a kid, it seems like a poor decision without someone else to look after her, C: Some other reason that Aiko hadn't considered yet, or D: The possibility that somehow she had rewinded herself from existence entirely, a thought which brought Aiko to the verge of tears.

She shook her head as she quickly downed the jelly packet before moving to the guest bedroom, realizing she was still in her hero costume, she searched the dresser and found a couple of outfits, including a set of pyjamas. She changed, went to the washroom, guzzled some mouthwash, and laid down in her new bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Nezu was right, it had been a long day, and she kept seeing one thing in her head. That steel grey eye, glaring at her coldly as he tried to freeze her, without any of its normal warmth present, a look she had only seen once and had hoped to never have to see again. She whispered to herself as her exhaustion finally caught up with her.

"Dad… what happened to you?"

Sooooo… I do in fact still exist and plan on updating this story, I just got a little (RE: VERY) distracted, I don't know when the next chapter will be but it will definitely come quicker than this one did. That being said, any comments, questions, reviews, or challenges to duel to the death on horseback at sundown are welcome.