"Well I thought you were very moving." Hizashi patted All Might's shoulder cheerfully. "Would have convinced me!"
"Hmm." Nezu walked ahead of them both, head down. His bowler hat was tipped down, hiding his eyes from passerbyers. "But it didn't convince her." All Might didn't answer.
"Oh, it'll be ok. Say what you will, All Might, kids these days are pretty brave." He grinned. "We'll find someone even better!"
"Yes, of course we will!" All Might straightened up, putting his hands on his hips. Gotta appear confident. Even though this couldn't be going worse. "They're out there, the heroes of tomorrow!"
"Mm-hm." Nezu gestured for Hizashi to go ahead. "Let me talk with All Might alone for a moment alone, ok?" He flashed Hizashi his usual pleasant smile.
Hizashi, enthusiastic as ever, nodded. "Ok sir! I'll meet you back at headquarters?" Nezu nodded in agreement, and he trotted away to the taxi waiting for him.
As soon as he was gone, Nezu's smile was replaced with a look of worry. "Toshinori."
Toshinori sighed heavily, knowing he was going to get it. "Yeeesss…?"
"The kid's a ghoul now, then?" Nezu gave him a sharp look. "Is that correct?"
"That's right." Toshinori crouched slightly in his armor to look Nezu in the eye. "It's the only way to save him. And he's got something...something rare, even if Hizashi doesn't believe it. We can't let someone like this slip through our fingers." He took a deep breath, trying to steady his pounding heart. "I believe he can do it. He can unite our worlds."
"So…" Nezu blinked slowly, his body tensing. Toshinori could tell he was deeply uncomfortable. "You transplanted that ghoul's organs into him-"
"Hedero." Nezu shot him a look, and he glanced away. "That ghoul's name was Hedero."
"Mmkay. Hedero. You had the doctor transplant Hedero's organs into Midoriya's body." Nezu tapped his long fingernails against his thigh. "So does that mean he'll have kagune?" Toshinori nodded. "And will he...will he need to eat…?"
"Yes, he'll need to eat...people." Toshinori squirmed awkwardly. He hadn't meant to tell Nezu his predicament, but the brilliant man had guessed after just a couple classes with him back in the academy. He had been in his third year, while Nezu was just joining as a first year. It hadn't taken long for the young man to confront him. He had been furious at first, but over time had been convinced that it was all for the best. "But I'll make it work."
Nezu sighed deeply and grabbed a cigarette from his pocket. "You got a lighter?" Toshinori shook his head, and he sighed deeply. "Mmkay. So, if he needs to eat people, is there any chance of him being a threat?" Toshinori opened his mouth to answer, but Nezu cut him off. "And I need you to be really honest with me."
"Weeeelllll...yes." Toshinori sighed. "There's no denying it. He'll start feeling hungry any minute now, and he'll try to eat human food. He'll realize it's disgusting, and he'll notice that his brain wants him to eat, um, people. Eventually, he'll reach a state where he is unable to hold himself back anymore."
"Eventually?" Nezu checked his watch. "How long will that take?"
"Between the amount of energy he's had to expend in the last few hours, plus his young age and growing body…" He thought about it. I have to be honest with him. "Maybe five to seven hours. It's not long."
"Well, I have to follow the rules of the CCG. If he even starts to hurt anyone, I'll dispatch him myself." He turned away on his heel. "But until then, proceed with whatever it was you had planned. I'll be in the waiting room." He vanished back into the hospital.
Toshinori watched him leave, then slunk into the darkest alleyway around. Normally, he would go back to the warehouse to change. But he couldn't afford to leave now. We have to move quickly.
After ditching his armor safely behind a random dumpster, he quietly scurried up the side of a nearby building. Just as he expected, Aizawa was up there waiting.
"Hey." The black-haired ghoul gave him a nod. Behind him, a grinning ghoul with red kagunes waved at him. "This is Kiego Takami. He helped me bring Hedero and the kid here. Don't ever ask how I know him." Takami burst out laughing.
"Aw, rude!" He bounded up to Toshinori and hugged him tightly, making him tense up. "Hey there! So you're this Skeleton Spider I've been hearing about so much!"
Toshinori blushed. He didn't like the name very much. "Please, just call me Toshinori." He hurried up to Aizawa. "So, um…" He glanced back at Takami.
"Right." Aizawa gestured weakly to Takami. "Thanks for your help."
"I'll be taking my leave then. Enjoy your date. And call if you ever need help again! It was fun." The young ghoul winked, then unfurled his blood red wing kagunes and leapt off the roof.
"Was the surgery successful?" Aizawa sat down with a grunt.
Toshinori crouched beside him. "He lived, so yes."
"But is he a ghoul?"
Toshinori shrugged. "I think so. I haven't actually seen kagune or anything. But it worked on me, chances are it'll work on him too."
"Right…" Aizawa leaned back, gazing up at the smoggy sky above. "Did you know the ghoul you got your new organs from?"
"Nope. My situation was a little different from Midoriya's. My mentor, Nana Shimura, a visionary among ghouls, gave me her own son's organs after the CCG killed him." Aizawa's eyes widened, and Toshinori winced. "I know, it's pretty weird."
"Anyways, where is he? Don't we need to take him back to the hideout or something?"
"Yeah, we do." Toshinori took Aizawa's hand. "Come with me."
Aizawa nodded and the two of them leapt across the 126 meter drop between their perch and the hospital roof. Toshinori led him across the roof, glancing around nervously, to the other edge. "Ok. Look into this window, but be sneaky."
Aizawa and Toshinori both leaned over the edge, using their kagune to grip onto the edge. Looking in, they could see a chubby middle aged woman crying softly into a pillow. In the hospital bed, a young green-haired boy drew inky black scribbles in a brand-new notebook. A few tears spattered the pages, smudging the ink and wrinkling the fresh paper.
"So that's the kid." Aizawa's eyes flicked to his shoulder, which was still covered in bandages. "That'll be healed by now."
"Maybe. His body is still adjusting." Toshinori heaved himself back upright. "I'm just so worried…"
"The CCG will kill him immediately if he acts up in a hospital. There will be no escape." Aizawa shrugged. "You should be worried."
"That's not what I'm worried about. I mean, that too, but...his mother." Aizawa gave him a perplexed look. "When Nana took me in, she did the procedure herself." Toshinori sighed as Aizawa wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Yes, I know. I swear wasn't as insane as she sounds. Anyways, that method had its drawbacks."
He lifted his shirt slightly, revealing the massive scar stretched across his stomach. "There were some complications. I don't want the same thing to ever happen to this kid, so I figured it would be best to have it done in an actual hospital. And with Chiyo's help, it worked out. But this situation creates a whole new set of problems."
"Yeah, no kidding. Where are you going with this?" Aizawa grumbled.
Toshinori huffed in irritation. "Look, if we leave him here, his mom will probably take him home in about an hour. And a few hours after that, he'll start getting really hungry. And she…"
"He'll eat her." Toshinori flinched at the bluntness of Aizawa's words.
Looking into his eyes, Toshinori could see the cold acceptance. For him, this sort of tragedy was to be expected. It was all he had ever known. But for Toshinori...even after years and years of being a man-eating ghoul...it still made him die inside whenever something awful like this happened.
"Y-yes he will." He swallowed hard. "And she's a good woman. She cares very deeply for her son. She doesn't deserve to see him become a monster." Aizawa shot him a look. "No offence."
"Eh." He shrugged. "No one really gets what they deserve, in the end." Toshinori's eyes widened. "But I see what you mean. If we can get him back, it is best to prevent unnecessary violence."
"Right." Toshinori nodded, relieved. "So the question is, how do we get him without the CCG chasing us?"
"Hmmm." Aizawa squinted hard. "Is telling his mom completely off the table?"
"Unfortunately, yes. We already tried the easy route of getting him straight into the CCG, but she refused. If she thinks that's too dangerous, she's not going to let us run off with him."
"Sure, but-" Aizawa awkwardly laid a hand on Toshinori's shoulder. "If she knows what'll happen to her otherwise…"
"She'll just call the CCG." Toshinori sighed. "While I'd love to believe that she loves her son enough to let him live...the risk is too high."
"Fair enough. So what then? Maybe we get Chiyo's help? She'll listen to a doctor, right?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "Is Chiyo a ghoul working as a doctor? What's up with that?"
"It's an awfully long story. Maybe another time." Toshinori got to his feet. "Let me call her." He whipped out his cell phone and began tapping.
She picked up remarkably fast. Toshinoi breathed a sigh of relief and held the phone to his ear. "Chiyo?"
"Toshinori, hey. So can I assume that the CCG running in was your idea?" Her voice was biting and bemused as ever.
"Yeah, that was my first plan. It didn't go well." I need to be careful here. She knows I'm a CCG hero, but she doesn't know which one I am exactly. And she doesn't need to. "So what now? We need to get Midoriya away from his mother before it's too late."
"I can distract her, if you can get in there and grab him. I'm in the lab right now, so I can only assume they're still there. Though I did clear them already-"
"You did?!" Toshinori couldn't hold back from shouting. "Chiyo-"
"Listen bud, I'm a doctor first. Traitor to humanity second." He snapped his mouth shut. "I can't keep them here forever. Just check and see if they're still there."
Toshinor sighed heavily and leaned back over the edge. To his horror, he could just see Inko's foot vanishing through the doorway. "Shit. They're already leaving."
"Ugh. Toshinori, you owe me." He heard the sound of her cane clattering on the other end. "I'll catch up with her once they're both outside. I'll lead her away as best I can, you grab him as soon as she's out of the way. Ok? No more chances after this."
"Thank you so much, Chiyo. You're the best." Toshinori sat back up and gave Aizawa a thumbs up. He gave a confused glare in return. "We'll get right on that. See you in a minute."
To anyone who reads this, first of all, hope you like it so far!
Second of all, I need help with names. Certain names for the heroes, like Pres Mic, don't really fit the edginess of the Tokyo Ghoul world. And since the CCG/Press gives nicknames to the ghouls, names like Eraser head or Hawks don't really work. And I need a hero name for Nezu. If you have any suggestions, feel free to message me, or just put it in reviews if you want.
One more thing! Potential manga spoilers for My Hero. Just letting you know