Chapter 9

Hope Spot

The SDMR had a little festival that Saturday in the park across the street from the building, to celebrate the last of autumn before it was winter and far too cold to be out and about outdoors.

For obvious reasons, most of the attendees were only people that were already "out," so Deku was expecting attendance to be sparse. But instead, the park was packed with kids and adults – most of them with visible quirks, but not all, buying food from stands and playing games in the sun. Quirkless games, by necessity, but still, it was fun.

Deku had skipped training this morning to help man a lemonade booth, along with a woman named Kanna. He'd train in the evening – it might be too hot, but he hadn't wanted to miss this.

It was very ingratiating to see a lot of the kids and a few of the adults had homemade One For All merchandise – cheaply pressed character T-shirts and bags, little dolls of the characters, a few pins. They hadn't made anything officially, but Shimura had suggested maybe they could sell some of it to crowdfund the fine for people like Mr. Hizashi, or to pay for better equipment in the training rooms.

"Midoriya-sensei!" Kaoru shouted, barreling towards him on all fours.

"Kaoru!" Deku said, walking form behind the booth and kneeling to catch the little dog boy in a hug.

"Midoriya-sensei! Look what my mom made me!" the little boy said eagerly, and stood back and sat back on his heels so Deku could see his T-shirt, emblazoned with Emi's depiction of All-Might. Deku's eyes stung with happy tears.

"That's great! I like it!" he said.

"Can I have a lemonade?"

"Of course you can," he said brightly and poured him a glass.

Kaoru stood by the booth to talk to him, repeating all his favorite parts from One For All and why he liked them, unfazed by pausing so Deku could pour lemonade for other people who approached when Kanna was busy, until his mother came to collect him. She shared her son's canine appearance, but unlike him, did not go about on all fours.

"I'm sorry if he was talking your ear off, Young Midoriya," she said, picking him up. "Kaoru, you were supposed to get lemonade and come right back."

"Sorry! I had to talk to Midoriya-sensei!"

"I don't mind, ma'am," Deku said quickly, and poured her a glass of lemonade. "I hope it didn't worry you."

"Oh no! I could still see him. I just thought I'd never get my lemonade. Can I have one for my husband as well?"

"Of course!" he poured one more glass.

"You're really good with the kids, Midoriya." Deku turned to face the man speaking. Despite everything that had happened, he still had to stop himself from jumping at the sight of Shimura.

"Thank you. I just try to be …" A bright light for them, like All Might. Who Shimura thought was a fictional character he and his artistic friend had invented for a manga. "The best I can be for them."

"You get a lot of compliments from the parents. Their kids feel better about themselves and their talents after you've worked with them. Between you and Togata, we should start a school."

Deku's heart clenched in pain for a second, but then … maybe that was his fate? To bring light into this world kicking and screaming by helping to train children, danger and all? If they raised several generations to use their powers, they could maybe all together fight against All For One. "I think I would like that."

Shimura smiled, caught off guard. He hadn't been serious. "We have to make the world a little safer first. Walk with me?" Shimura asked.

"Oh, uh … sure, if Kanna doesn't mind …"

"I can handle it for a while," she said brightly. "Take a walk."

They walked away from where most of the crowd was, to a more remote part of the park where few people had wondered. Which was a shame because it was a pretty spot – there was a little pond, with a beautiful bridge that crossed it, and benches to sit and enjoy the view. Deku was nervous – was this about last night? Had Togata and Asui not believed they were moving, did they think his family was homeless and needed help? Some families with quirks faced housing discrimination, should he pretend that was the case?

Should they sit down? Deku was still pondering that when Shimura spoke. "Where are you living, Midoriya?" he asked.

"I'm … staying in a hotel," Deku said as evenly as possible, knowing there was no use to lie after Togata, Tsu, and Amajiki had taken him there.

"May I ask why?"

"My family's moving houses, it's just temporary."

"Midoriya." He saw right through that – Deku had always been a bad liar.

"I'd rather not talk about it, sir." Shimura looked away for a second, and Deku was hopeful the subject had been dropped. Then Shimura destroyed that hope handily.

"There's so many kids who get kicked out because of their quirks – their parents just don't want to deal with it. It's usually when it's visible, but it can happen other times. Especially if there's something else going on that the parents disapprove of. Can you go home?"

"I can't," Deku answered honestly. He'd just let Shimura think that he'd been kicked out, even though the very thought of his mother doing such a thing was so offensive his eyes stung with tears.

"So, the man that was waiting for you wasn't your stepfather, then." Ugh, Deku should have stuck with the moving lie. He hated this.

"No."

Shimura was quiet for a while, then motioned to the benches. Deku nodded, and they sat down. "We have shelters, for kids who can't go home. You'd be with kids your age, who've been in the same place." Deku tried to run some numbers on this ethical dilemma … would it be morally better to take a spot from a kid who'd actually been kicked out, or to keep taking money from a crime lord? No direct harm was done by the latter, he decided. Chisaki would just spend the money on something else, maybe even something that would harm someone, if he didn't spend it on him. Whereas the resources from the SDMR were already too thin. Besides, the hotel afforded him more privacy to discuss what was going on with Mr. Aizawa and work on his goals. Even if those goals, for now, were mostly on hiatus with the exception of getting One For All finished.

"That sounds really great but I'm doing okay in the hotel, thank you."

Shimura looked away again, and this time started to rub his neck aggressively. It was so reminiscent of Shigaraki's neck scratching tic that Deku's skin crawled a little bit. "My dad and I have a very … strained relationship. He's a control freak, he always put us under the strictest rules. He hit me, a few times – and I don't mean I got spanked or swatted, I mean I got beaten. Usually it wasn't that, though, usually it was just being sent to bed hungry, or made to sit outside for hours no matter what the weather was like. It started before my power manifested, it continued after it was stolen, but it was at its worst while I had it. I'd have done anything to get out of that house. It's not like I don't understand." Deku was quiet – had he just learned something about his archenemy, had that happened to Shigaraki before All For One took him? Is that part of why he was vulnerable to being broken and molded?

"I'm very sorry you went through that, Shimura. But … I mean it, I'm okay. I don't want to take a spot in the shelter when there might be someone that really needs it."

"Who pays the bill? The guy Togata and Asui saw?"

"Yes." Sort of, indirectly.

"If he's not your stepfather, what is he to you?"

Uh … "He's a friend."

"A friend. How old is he? Togata said he thought he was thirty or so." Oh … oh no, did he think that Mr. Aizawa was … He should have said uncle … but they would have just said he was his uncle to Togata … they should have had a lie ready …

"I … don't know exactly how old, probably around thirty …"

"I'm just going to lay it out there, Midoriya. This guy who's putting you up in the hotel, he probably swept you off your feet, he probably told you you're mature for your age and that's why he likes you, and I know you wanted out of your parents' house, but he's taking advantage of you …"

"Oh no no no! It's not what you're thinking!" Deku said quickly, nervously making a "please stop talking" motion with his hands. That was a mental image he absolutely did not need.

"Then what is it? I'm not judging you, you're doing whatever you have to. But please, Midoriya, just tell me what it is." Deku searched desperately for a lie that wouldn't be incredibly transparent.

And then, he knew he should just tell the truth. He should trust him. He hadn't realized it before, because Shimura in his reality was someone he wouldn't have trusted if his life depended on it, who actively wished him harm. But here? Here he was a hero, not in the sense of fighting villains and rescuing people from natural disasters. But he did save people, he did everything he could to save them from a cruel system. He was trying to do that now, to save him from who he thought was a predator preying on a vulnerable teenager. "It's not what you think, but to explain is kind of a long story," he said lamely, stalling for one more bit of time to weigh the decision.

"I'm not going to drop it until I know you're not in a bad situation. I have time." And that was it – he had to. He couldn't lie his way out of it, and … he didn't want to.

Deku didn't hit as much detail as he had when he'd explained to Mr. Aizawa, since he knew Shimura read One For All. He focused on how he got here, on Leto and the fight with Katzu, and what had happened immediately after he got here. And who Mr. Aizawa was in this universe and who was paying the bills, to allay those concerns. When the story was done, Shimura was very quiet, and not looking Deku in the eye. He'd misjudged, Shimura didn't believe him …

"So you're telling me everything in those panels, every drawing, every word, happened in another world?"

"Well … I changed everyone's names and some of the details to protect people, but yeah … Emi, the artist, has a quirk where she can draw from people's memories and it all comes from me …"

Shimura hugged him. It was so sudden, Deku froze. The man pulled away and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. It's just. You have to understand …"

"I do! The longer I stay the more I do." But it's not all bad … Deku was incredibly glad he'd thought to ask Emi to change Shigaraki's quirk and appearance. He never, ever wanted Shimura to know what he was in Deku's reality.

"We'll do what we can to get you home, though I won't make any promises."

"I understand. I won't leave until All For One is gone, even if we did find a way."

"Don't say that, Midoriya. He's had so much longer to consolidate his power, totally unchecked, here. I don't think any one person can defeat him, even if All Might himself at full power were here."

"I know, but I have to be part of it. It's my fate, I know it!"

Shimura still looked skeptical, but he didn't say anything further.

They were quiet a moment, then Shimura got a call. "Shimura. What? Where?" he mouthed a harsh curse under his breath while the person answered. "Yeah, I'll be there. Thank you."

"What's wrong?" Deku asked when Shimura hung up.

"Another kid just got picked up, and sadly this time there wasn't anyone as brave as Mr. Hizashi around." Deku's blood went cold.

"But they just tried to take Chiyumi two days ago, do they usually work that quickly?"

Shimura shook his head. "No, but they've also never been foiled before. I need to go. Thank you for trusting me."

Deku watched him go, feeling numb. Another child, so soon after things had started looking just a tiny bit more hopeful.

Despair turned into determination. He clenched his fists. The manga was a good start – obviously it was – but he had to do more, one way or another, he had to figure something out.

The parents were arguing – from the moment he walked in. That never brought back good memories, but at least this argument wasn't violent.

The older brother, only a middle schooler, was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. "I can't believe you won't call the police," the mother shouted at the father.

"They never do anything to help anyway, and if we get the police involved, Akio might …"

"Oh? Might not be able to play his precious soccer? I'm so glad your priorities are in the right place, Nori," she snapped. Tenko cleared his throat. Both parents looked up, startled, and the mother covered her face in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry to intrude. May I speak to your son?"

"Of course," Mrs. Gima said, trying to sound unbothered, and Mr. Gima nodded.

"Akio? Do you want to speak? Is there somewhere we can go?"

"No," the boy said, not looking up.

"Akio, you should go …" his father said gently.

"No. It's my fault. I should have been with him."

"You said you were, you said you looked up and he was gone," Mrs. Gima said, her voice full of fury.

"I was talking to Mayumi … I told him to go …"

"You let your little brother who just got outed as a metahuman walk home alone, because you were talking to a girl?" she demanded. When the boy didn't answer, she smacked the back of his head, hard.

"Ma'am …" Tenko tried to break in. It had been a stupid thing to do – but the boy was thirteen, at the oldest, and he was never going to forgive himself as it was.

"I think you should go, sir, we're …" Mr. Gima started. "You're not … seeing us on our best day."

"That's okay, I know that. Please don't hesitate to call the SDMR, we have counselors on standby. And please reconsider reporting your son to the police. I understand your frustration, but there's only so much that can be done without an official report."

"We … really don't want them involved," Mr. Gima said hesitantly. "We don't want Akio registered …"

"Damn it, Nori, do you give a damn about your other son at all?"

"What are the police gonna do? They never help any of the others! It's too late!" he snapped back. This wasn't going to get better, and having an outsider present wasn't helping.

"I'll go. As I said – counselors are standing by," he said, leaving a card on the table.

God, he was going to have nightmares about the brother, just sitting there, still as a statue, torn up inside. If he was a praying man, even a little bit of one, he'd pray for him.

Tenko puffed on his vape pen absently while he sat at an intersection, debating internally.

He sympathized with Mr. Gima's hesitance to call the police – the police had done nothing in this kind of case so far.

But this was also the first time since he'd met Iida that they had a child that wasn't reported missing. And with the publicity over Chiyumi's attempted kidnapping, maybe …

He hated that it was probably already too late for Hikaru, but … if they could catch more of the snatchers, if they could end this …

He called Iida. "Hello, this is Iida."

"Officer Iida. This stays off the record if the answer is no. But I have a child missing – do you think you can convince your superiors to take action to capture the perpetrators as they return the child?" There was stony silence on the other end of the line. "I'll take that as a no. Have a good day, Officer …"

"Wait. I can't get them to do anything. But … I was in contact with some PIs that are looking into the issue for the parents of some of the wealthier returnees. They have a plan, but they don't have the manpower."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Can you get volunteers to stake out the locations? Just stake them out, order them not to confront or make the perpetrators aware of their presence. But just so we know before the morning, so my PI friends can get the security footage before it has a chance to go missing and, if we're really lucky, we might get a suspect description and a license plate number." Tenko breathed in and out sharply. It was dangerous, but he knew there would be people willing. There were currently volunteers taking shifts inside and outside Mr. Hizashi's apartment building and workplace twenty-four seven, to make sure he didn't fall prey to retaliation, and in front of Chiyumi's apartment building and her school, to ensure the snatchers didn't try again. He thought of what Midoriya had told him, just a few hours ago … how many people did he know who were heroes in another world? Mr. Hizashi was – he realized now, as soon as Midoriya told him it was real, judging by his quirk and general appearance, he was Present Mic, a pro hero and one of the UA teachers.

There were enough brave people in his world too, they just needed the right chance, a little bit of direction. "Yes. I'm sure I can."

"Excellent, I'll put you in touch with the PIs, I'll help coordinate."

"Will you be in trouble for that?"

"Probably. But I'm looking to go private anyway."

Tenko grinned. They had a chance. For the first time in decades, they had a chance.

"You're falling asleep again," Fumikage said gently. Haruka stirred.

"No I wasn't, I was just … resting my eyes," she insisted, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her quirk made all-nighters very difficult for her, but they'd both agreed – they wanted to be part of this, they wanted to be part of the volunteers watching and waiting for Hikaru's return, and they'd gotten permission from the little restaurant across the street from the storefront church marked as a potential return location to hang out inside, watching through the front door. One of the employees had let Fumikage in before closing, and he'd let Haruka in after she snuck out. He wasn't sure if her parents would be more upset to know where she really was and what they were really doing, or to think she was out all night with him under other circumstances.

He dared to glance down at his phone. Togata and Amajiki were on the other end of the possible return zone, in Togata's old beater parked across from a women's shelter, and Midoriya and Asui were right in the middle of it, sleeping across from an ER. They were taking shifts – he'd thought they would too, but Haruka had such difficulty staying awake without light for her flowers that it didn't seem wise, so he did his best to stay awake and keep her awake with him.

Togata had sent a cheerful video to the group chat of a dog attempting to carry a large stick across a bridge, and eventually realizing to turn it sideways. That was like him, to consider everyone's morale. In spite of his exhaustion, Fumikage smiled.

"Why are you smiling?" Tsu asked groggily, wiping sleep from her eyes as the alarm for the shift change went off.

"Togata just sent this," Midoriya answered, holding up his phone to show a video of a dog struggling to get a stick across a bridge. It was pretty funny.

"Midoriya … are we okay?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't we be?"

"You haven't said much tonight, and I know … Togata and I probably crossed a line, going to Shimura. But your stepdad gave us … a bad feeling." She still wasn't sure she believed that he was Midoriya's stepfather, he'd been so jumpy during that whole interaction, and the way they'd contradicted each other didn't seem natural, and there was something going on with Midoriya, they'd known that for weeks. Even Amajiki, who'd barely watched out of terror of confrontation, had agreed something was wrong. But Shimura hadn't insisted he go to a shelter, so it must not be what they'd thought it was as they drove away. "You are okay with him, aren't you?"

Midoriya turned his back so he wasn't looking her in the eye. "Yeah, we're fine I just … I don't know, he makes me mad sometimes. Because he tells me what to do and … he's not my real dad, he shouldn't try to be. But I wasn't mad at you guys, you were looking out for me. I'm just quiet because … Because I feel like I'm not doing enough. To help people."

"But you're here now."

"Yeah, I am. I hope it's enough."

"It's enough, Midoriya. Get some rest," she said.

"Okay, wake me if you see anything." There was still something he wouldn't tell her – she desperately wished she knew what it was.

Hitoshi rubbed his hands together, struggling for warmth on top of the roof. Hawks had put out the call for vigilantes to watch the spots Shimura hadn't been able to fill, so he was staking out a temple no one else had been able to take. Sneaking out had been a nightmare, but he wasn't about to sit it out, not tonight. "Don't engage if you see anyone. Really, don't, Shimura's already ready to kill me, and these are seriously bad dudes," Hawks had said in his message.

Seriously bad dudes that might lead them to Himeko. There was zero chance Hitoshi wasn't going to confront them if they came to his spot.

Most of the volunteers were now at the various possible return spots for the missing child. But leaving Hizashi open still seemed ill-advised. So, Shota had responded to the E-mail from the SDMR, the first time he'd done so in a long time, and had taken the post in the stairwell that led to Hizashi's apartment.

Well, at least they finally weren't depending on the police to do anything.

The SDMR wouldn't accept his help – they couldn't, even if they knew it was offered.

But, based on what Aizawa had said before Eri's teacher headed out to take a post protecting the guy that stopped the last kidnapping, most of the return zone fell in his territory – so Kai ordered his men to patrol it. Not openly, quietly. Just in case.

He put Eri to bed, and sat with her for a long time. Watching her breathe in and out, saw how peaceful she looked and noted it was the only time he'd seen her happy in days. And then he headed out to join the patrols. The snatchers had better hope it was one of the volunteers that spotted them first.

"You could sleep, I'll keep watch," Miyake offered. It was a cold night – winter was fast approaching, and the building was set up so that the stairwell was open to the elements. Tenko wrapped his coat closer around him and took a sip of hot coffee.

"Nah, I'm fine," he said. He wouldn't sleep anyway – not tonight, when it might be the night that was the beginning of the end for the national boogeyman.

And the sweet, "Good night, Mr. Shimura," Chiyumi had offered through a barely cracked front door just before her bedtime, several hours ago, had given him all the motivation he needed to stay awake and alert.

"Fumi!" Haruka said sharply. He'd finally gotten so tired, he'd let her take a shift by herself, and she'd managed to stay awake.

And thank God for that.

There was a black car parked across the street, in front of the storefront church. Two men got out, one of them looking very much like the man Keiko and Hizashi had described as the one that had tried to talk her into his car. Haruka and Fumikage peered out through the front door, barely leaning out enough to see through the glass and keeping the rest of their bodies hidden by either side of the wall. Dark Shadow was curious now too, also peering around the edge of the wall and through the glass, barely visible. Fumikage scribbled the license plate on the notebook he'd had prepared, not willing to trust his memory under such dire circumstances, while Haruka dialed the PIs whose number they'd been given. They'd been explicitly told to call them first, and then the police.

And while they watched, while Haruka described what was happening to the person who'd answered when she called, the two men opened the trunk and lifted out a little brown-haired boy, wrapped in a blanket. It was too dark to tell with his own eyes but Fumikage was sure it was Hikaru.

They carried the boy between them, one carrying his shoulders and one carrying his feet, and dumped him none too gently at the door. Like he was garbage. It was a cold night – if they held true to form, they'd call someone connected with the church on a burner phone to tell them to go get him once they'd left. But by then they'd be long, long gone.

"Okay, thank you," Haruka whispered breathlessly. "They can't get here in time to tail them, but they're on their way to see if they killed the cameras, if not they'll get the footage, now I'm calling the police."

"I'm going to tail them," Fumikage said firmly, the thing he'd decided on as they waited.

"You're what? You read what Shimura said, don't confront them, don't …"

"I'm not going to confront them, I'm just going to follow them."

"How?!"

He had never done it until a few weeks ago. He didn't know why Midoriya had written him into the manga (as a boy with a bat head and a sentient bat shadow, not a raven, but he still knew himself as soon as he saw it) only days after meeting him, but … somehow, it felt right. His fictional self could fly with help from his "Nightshade" and as soon as he saw it, Fumikage knew he could too, at least at night. And sure enough, when he'd tried it on the beach where they trained, in the dark of one Saturday night, when there was a new moon and it was so dark he couldn't see more than a foot in front of his face, he'd been able to soar. Nothing had ever felt more right. "I'm going to tail them from the air."

"Fumi, that's insane, what if they see you?"

"They won't."

"What if you get fined?"

"I can get another job to pay it off."

The snatchers had climbed back into the car, they were starting to pull out. He'd note what direction they went, and go the direction they had until he caught them. It was late enough there were relatively few cars, he could tail them, he was sure of it. "Wait, Fumi, take these," Haruka said, pulling two flowers from her head.

"Haruka, you're already so tired …"

"Don't, worry – use what I have left to tail these bastards," she said, already groggy, as she lowered her head to the ground, asleep as soon as she rested her head. The police operator was asking questions never to be answered – he'd have to call in the air.

He shoved the flowers into his mouth, feeling their warmth and strength seeping into him before he even swallowed, and watched the car drive off to the right. He slipped out the door after them, and took off in a run, Dark Shadow spreading his magnificent wings, able to fully extend them in the darkness of the witching hour and ascended into the air on silent shadowed wings.

He caught the car again – despite not trusting his memory, he remembered the plate number very well. He kept his distance, but kept his eyes on it, not even blinking for fear of losing sight of it. With Haruka's shared strength and the adrenaline of witnessing Hikaru's return, all tiredness was gone from Fumikage's mind and body. Cautiously, he took his phone from his pocket. "You've reached the police emergency line, what's your emergency?"

"Someone just spoke with my girlfriend and got cut off – we watched two kidnappers drop a missing child at a church."

"Yes, officers are en route. Is your girlfriend all right?"

"She's just sleeping. Please have one of the officers check on her. I'm tailing the suspects."

"You're doing what?"

"I'm tailing them."

"Please don't do that. Why am I hearing so much wind, are you in a vehicle?"

"They're turning east on forty-second street."

"Thank you, please turn off and don't follow them anymore."

He ignored her directives to stop following and continued to apprise her of every turn, in case they were separated after all, at least the police would have a starting point.

Hitoshi thought he was seeing things at first. He watched the car pass by out of curiosity – it wasn't the only one on the road, and there was an uneasy, paranoid feeling knowing any of the cars on the road could have the snatchers in them, with or without their young target.

And then, clear as day, there was a … flying boy?

He stood, his feet almost numb from cold, and started to follow. The buildings were close enough he could jump from roof to roof without much risk.

He wasn't going to be able to keep up. The car was taking its time, not attracting attention by speeding, but the boy in the air was still at a significant advantage. He pulled out his phone, and dialed Hawks directly. "Hawks, I think one of Shimura's people is tailing the snatchers," he said, using as much breath as he could spare, now running at a good at a good clip.

"You think what?"

"It's either that or something weirder is going on. There's a guy following them on … shadow wings, I think? It's not a quirk I've seen, that's why I'm assuming he's one of …"

"What's your location?"

As far as the brass was concerned, Tensei was just one of a few dozen officers surrounding the small, unobtrusive brick building one of the volunteers had tailed the suspects to. As far as Tensei was concerned, he'd been waiting for this all his life.

The radio crackled with news they had their warrant. The judge had signed off based on the statement from the boy who'd followed and from his girlfriend who'd also witnessed the child's drop off.

"Police, open up! We have a warrant!" one of his colleagues shouted, and pounded on the door.

Someone went out the back. Tensei ran for him without having to be ordered.

He caught the runner in a back alley as his colleagues kicked down the door, pinning him to the ground and removing the handcuffs from his belt to secure him. The suspect didn't fight back – did he have a quirk? If he did, he hadn't shown it.

Someone else went through a window, before Tensei could even finish securing the first runner and bolt for him, the second runner was pinned to the wall. Tensei finished with the cuffs and dashed to the man on the wall to find him struggling to get out of his coat, which was pinned by red feathers, expertly placed to capture him uninjured. "Let me help you with that," Tensei said sarcastically, and pulled him out of the coat to push him against the wall and handcuff him with his second set as other officers rushed into the alley to secure the first runner. He grabbed the feathers and stuck them in his pocket – no need to alert the other officers to how close they were to catching another long sought-after target.

Kai almost wished one of the runners had slipped past the police. He'd have had more fun with them than the police ever would.

But, alas, the police seemed to have things under control.

He put his car in drive and headed home – he didn't dare to hope the pigs weren't going to find a way to blow it, but he'd just have to wait.

It was five in the morning, but the SDMR headquarters were alive with activity and celebration. When the morning shift took over at Chiyumi's apartment, Tenko had returned to headquarters to find the most raucous party that had ever been held there well underway – most of the volunteers had regrouped there after the news came through Hikaru had been returned and the suspects had been cornered, and now? Now there was something worth celebrating, and others had filtered in, woken early by their phones exploding with notifications.

Five suspects had been arrested at the hideout Tokoyami had led the police to, all of them, so far as anyone could tell, quirkless, except one who had the electronics destroying quirk that had been the bane of the investigation for years, but was far, far too young to have been the culprit of all those poor, defenseless cameras' murders all this time.

Which meant he'd gotten the quirk from All For One when its previous user was unable to use it anymore or he'd displeased his master enough to have it taken from him. Which meant they had someone in custody who'd had direct contact with him – it was more than they could have ever hoped for.

Gigi had sacrificed a very expensive bottle of champagne for the occasion, pouring glasses for everyone of age. She was exhausted, having been posted across from a temple in the return zone, but was as bright and cheerful as ever as she poured him a glass. "Tenko! We finally got them! If I were ten years younger I'd kiss that boy, gold star be damned!" If she were ten years younger, she'd still be far too old to give him a kiss, but he didn't say anything.

"We don't have them yet," he said, and didn't take the glass. "None of them have talked, I guarantee these are all low-level guys. It might not go far." And if it didn't, it was going to be worse before it was better – the snatchers would get sneakier, crueler, smarter. But they'd keep hammering until something gave.

"We all know that, but it's the most progress we've had in decades!" she said and practically pressed the glass into his hands.

"Speech! Speech!" several people shouted, on recognizing him.

Well, now he had to, didn't he?

Gigi gave him a hand up, and he climbed on the front desk, to cheers from several in the crowd. "To Tokoyami," he said, raising his glass.

"To Tokoyami," everyone echoed back, and there was a brief cacophony of clinking glasses and soda bottles. The boy stood awkwardly, unsure what to do with the attention. "I don't know what was unclear about my instructions, but I'm glad that they were unclear." Everyone chuckled. "It's not over, more than likely it's just the beginning. There's a well-worn saying about how the night is darkest just before the dawn, and we may be about to enter that darkness. But this is still a night we should celebrate. Because tonight, we all came together. Tonight, a young man showed incredible courage, and his whole community was there to support him. Young Hino gave him strength – extremely literally." The young lady was drinking soda like it was about to be banned, and barely seemed to notice being praised. "And there were fifty-three possible return locations, and we had at least one volunteer at every one," if you counted Hawks' kids. "Without leaving Chiyumi or Hizashi open." He gave it a moment for people to clap and whoop. And then to try to put into words the warmth spreading through his chest. "Whatever happens next, we have each other. We're going to get each other through to see the dawn. Thank you everyone."

Tenko didn't stay for very long. Hikaru was probably awake now – he wouldn't be forming new memories yet, but he still wanted to be there for him. He slipped out while there was still laughter and dancing, work and school forgotten for the day.

Tensei knew, as soon as he climbed into the car with Handa, that something was wrong. Handa was edgy, not looking him in the eye. "What's up?" he asked.

"I just heard on the radio that one of those guys from last night hanged himself in his cell."

Tensei's heart thudded to a stop. "Which one?"
"Fuse, that's the one that had the power that screwed with the electronics right?"

Fuse. The only one that they knew had had contact with All For One. Their best hope at flipping the next level up. "Why the hell wasn't he on suicide watch?"
"He was supposed to be, apparently whoever was on duty screwed up and let him keep his belt."

Screwed up. Sure. Fuse was either murdered or he'd been allowed to kill himself through the grossest negligence, and Tensei didn't know which possibility made him angrier.

He rested his head against the window of the car, breathing in and out, trying not to let the anger overwhelm him.

He had to tell Shimura and Tsukauchi they blew the best lead they could have possibly hoped for. The former especially hurt to think about. "You're not gonna cry about it are you?" Handa asked harshly. "We've still got five other guys, and you can't be sad the son of a bitch is gone. He stole mutant kids."

"No, I'm not going to cry about it," Tensei said evenly. Handa was right, they did have five other guys – there was still a chance one of them might flip, and might know something worth spilling. But the very fact they were alive seemed to contradict that. "Let's get down to work."

It'd be a while before he could send the word out without Handa noticing. He was almost glad to have to wait, if it meant Shimura had hope for just a little while longer.

Next up: Leto

Izuku Midoriya has been missing for weeks, and Leto has never forgiven herself. But, with help from Mr. Aizawa, she's sure she can bring him home.

Author's Note

I debated a lot whether to have Kotaro still be an abusive jerk in this reality but I think living in this reality would have a lot of pressures, and even though the pressures were different, that would probably sadly push him in that direction, especially once Tenko had a very visible quirk in a world where this can have terrible ramifications for a family. Speaking of his quirk, I won't get into it in the main story but I do have a side story I'll probably post, it's basically a For Want of a Nail thing, where Tenko's quirk manifested in a ... much less catastrophic way that didn't lead to the deaths of his family.