Hey guys ! I don't have much to say for this chapter so here is a general answers to the reviews I received !
Concerning what happened with Chisaki well yes, as one of you said Izuku made Chisaki "overhaul himself" but he didn't take his quirk to make things clear.
Now about Eri, well she won't be a BIG part of the story but she will definitely have her place and she won't be forgotten ... (EriXKota hinted ? :D)
Also ! Would like to thank Demonata1-04 for "Betaing" as he says this chapter !
(If there is a mistake in the A/N section it's coming from me, I just wrote it after he finished to check the chapter)
"Izuku Midoriya, I've been waiting all day for this!"
Tomura Shigaraki ... something about him had changed, at the U.S.J. he had seemed bored and now, Well, Izuku would rather not try to think about what was going on in his mind but one thing was clear, Tomura was VERY excited at this moment.
Still, he took his time to drop the food he had just brought back for Kurogiri before taking a seat at the counter. He was about to continue speaking but then he noticed the little girl sitting on a couch starring at him ... with HIS console between her hands.
"Who the hell is this?" Suddenly he was back to his bored and annoyed expression.
"She's with me." Izuku moved closer toward Eri, ready to jump in front of her in a moment, who knew how Tomura might react during their discussion?
Tomura muttered something Izuku couldn't hear and then turned his head to speak to Kurogiri. "... Kurogiri didn't I ask you to bring Izuku Midoriya? I never asked you to bring a random girl you might find on the streets, unless, someone else asked you to do so?"
"No, I didn't have much choice, Izuku was being chased by the police and he couldn't leave the girl alone." the barman responded preparing a glass of water for his leader.
Izuku gritted his teeth, the mist villain just gave away too much information, information that the leader of the League was already processing and about to use against him judging by his smile.
"Ohhhhhh, so the hero in training was being chased by the police, tell me, what kind of criminally reprehensible act have you committed?"
At this point it was useless to lie ... but perhaps it would annoy Tomura if Izuku kept being blunt with him. Yeah, he liked that plan. "I killed a member of the Shie Hassaikai to save Eri."
Tomura lost his grin and raised an eyebrow, Izuku hadn't notice before but it was the first time he saw the leader without his hand mask, his face was slightly scared ... probably by his own quirk, he'd kept scratching his neck at the U.S.J.
"I'm impressed, killing someone just like that ... and without a quirk at that, it just makes you more impressive."
"Kurogiri told me why I was brought here, and my answer is no."
...
"No?"
"I don't want to join the League."
Tomura stared uncomprehendingly. "Why?"
They were getting nowhere, Izuku felt like he was talking to a child who wouldn't leave him alone unless he had a clear answer, but what wasn't clear about a simple "No?"
"I want to be a hero, not a villain."
"You want to become something you hate? I don't understand."
"I don't hate heroes ... what makes you think I do?"
"Your speech at the festival ... about equality, the way you put that explosive trash in his place, how you dominated the events. You had a message and you made sure that as many people as possible were listening. Just like me, you want to make people listen to you, to make them see that you exist! We're the same"
Izuku thought about the U.S.J. ... killing All Might, trying to reach the top by killing the symbol of peace, the ultimate objective in a way. He had to admit it, Tomura was right, partially, at least.
"Then what was your goal? What was the whole point of killing All Might? Destabilizing society? The whole hero system? To take over Japan? You came to the U.S.J. with an objective but no message."
"No message? What did you not understand ?! We came here to show you how weak your symbol of peace is !"
"Well it didn't work, he is still alive and your Nomu didn't even manage a fight against him, I did, if he couldn't fight someone quirkless how was he supposed to fight All Might?"
Izuku just realized he had been stabbing a knife repeatedly in an open wound for the last ten seconds, Tomura had reduced his glass of water and its whole content to a pile of dust.
"You- ... you cheater-" Kurogiri felt that Tomura was about to go on a rampage and put a hand on the shoulder of his Leader, Tomura gave a terrifying glance to the barman but Kurogiri didn't seem to care much having spent years growing used to him.
Expression shifting Tomura chucked and was once again smiling, though it was smaller this time. "Tell me ... how did you do that? Strength Enhancement, Speed Enhancement, Regeneration, Shock Absorption ... how did you stand against that?"
Izuku thought about the question for a moment. " ... I've been studying quirks for years, it's easy enough to use the weaknesses of all these quirks once you have identified them, your Nomu might have Shock Absorption and an insane level of strength but energy is just transferred so you can send it back and use it against your opponent." This was, of course, complete crap, but Tomura might believe it.
"... Pfff, it doesn't matter now ... I've changed my plans, All Might is just the first step, I need to reach out for more people. At first I thought about recruiting Stain, his ideals match ours, but he's just another murderer among those who pretend they can change the world"
"What makes you so different from him? You would have killed me at the U.S.J. even if I didn't try and stop you."
"Of course I would, one less hero in this world is always a step further"
"Why do you hate heroes so much?" This question had been burning inside Izuku's throat for a long time, but he didn't expect a coherent answer.
"Heroes? ... heroes ..." Tomura changed the direction toward which he was looking about five times in the next ten seconds, he brought one of his hands to his neck and hesitantly he started scratching "Don't you hate to see them everywhere? In a society where your whole life is determined by the power you obtained the very moment you were born, those clowns dressed for a carnival, perpetual maintaining a false sense of order and equality, constantly lying to you. The truth ... the truth is- ... they are never here when people need them, they aren't really her, they keep telling you they protect everyone and that everyone can become a hero, that everyone can become another slave of this society..."
Izuku didn't like how the situation was turning out.
"How many times in your life did they tell you that you would never become a hero, how many times are they going to tell you this in the future? Will they even let you become one? What makes you so certain that this world can still work?"
...
"People like you exist, people like you and I, who understand what's really happening when they see something, during my whole life I have only encountered monsters, kids who abused me, adults who didn't care, heroes who only thought about themselves ... and yet every day I study with extraordinary people who are far more representative of a true hero than any of these creeps who ruined my life"
"... Hope? Uh, bullshit, they'll change over time and so will you, and the worst part is that you're actually aware it will happen."
Izuku frowned, "I take back what I said, we aren't the same, you are probably only able to see what interests you in other people." Izuku had nothing else to say and neither did Tomura. "We are done here ... still, if you ever manage to shape this world as you wish then I hope you will be satisfied, that's probably the only thing which could help you at this point." Izuku turned toward Eri who had been patiently waiting for them to end their conversation. "Sorry for the wait, I think we are done here, let's go home and-"
"I never said I would take no as an answer" when Izuku turned back Tomura was blocking the exit.
"... So, you're just going to kill me if I do not join you, I can't say I didn't expect that." Izuku glanced at Kurogiri, the barman wasn't moving, he said he wouldn't help Tomura if the Leader ended up choosing to kill him but Izuku couldn't trust a Nomu, the last one obeyed like a puppet to Shigaraki and Kurogiri would probably do the same.
Izuku would rather not use All for One but if he really had to then so be it, he wouldn't take the risk to use his new trick on the barman, he didn't need to create a cluster of portal in the bar, he could also take Tomura's quirk and hold him hostage to ask Kurogiri to let them go...
But then what would he do? How would he explain how he managed to find the leader of the League of Villains, a little girl and take his quirk? In fact, the situation was terrible no matter the result.
"I'm not going to kill you, it wouldn't be fair."
"... fair? It's- ... are you really comparing everything to a game?"
"Winning, losing, draw, it's just like a game, all you have to do is to put the odds in your favour to win. Yes if I killed you right now it might help a lot in the future but-" Tomura glanced at Eri, the little girl got scared and hid behind Izuku. "Too much collateral damage at this moment, Kurogiri send him out with the kid, I'm too tired to deal with this mess"
The barman didn't waste any time and engulfed Izuku and Eri with his body.
Izuku tried to grab Eri in his arms as soon as Kurogiri moved, it was useless, the first time it felt like he was floating in a void and this time his feet didn't even leave the ground. Once the mist had disappeared, he immediately recognized his surroundings, he was right in front of his apartment, and Eri was in his arms with her eyes squeezed shut.
"Hey! It's done! We really are safe now." ... and then Izuku realized he hadn't gotten his phone back, he cursed to himself before noticing that Eri was holding something in her arms.
"I-is this what you want? M-mister Kurogiri gave everything to me while you were talking with mister T-Tomura." He was impressed, the little girl had managed to stay calm in such a situation and she'd kept all his belongings hidden while Tomura was trying to convince him to join The League.
"Thank you Eri! That's great!" He carefully patted the girl's head, for a moment she looked like she was restraining an instinct to dodge or expecting to get hurt by him. He felt his heart sink, this sort of thing was completely new for her he realized.
This whole situation was wrong, no child of her age would have found it normal to get "kidnapped in a street" twice in less than an hour by a bunch of perfect strangers ... what did she consider normal?
Izuku took back his phone, his notebook and the earpiece Sensei gave him "Are you still hungry? It might be dinner time now, there is someone I want you to meet."
Now how was he going to explain everything to his mother? ... how was he going to explain everything to Sensei? He reached the door of his apartment and knocked at the door, he hears a few steps, apparently, his mother was expecting him.
"Mom it's me!" He announced before the door was even opened.
His mother opened "Sweetheart! Tell me how was your-" she didn't waste any time either to notice the little girl in rags that her son had brought back with him"
"We should probably sit for a moment so I can explain everything"
An hour of tumultuous explanations later
"So, to summarise ... you happened to meet this man called Chisaki who was, in fact, a member of the Yakuza-"
"Well no first I bumped into Eri, she was-" Izuku quickly looked at the girl, she ended up falling asleep over Inko's legs, "... running away."
"... and Chisaki was after her ... why though?"
"I don't know, I know what I did was wrong, but if I let him take back Eri who knows if she would even still be alive at this point."
"... I must admit, if I had been in your place that would have probably been my choice too, it's not your fault, it's just surprising that you keep finding yourself in these sorts of situations all the time." Inko smiled and rubbed Eri's head. "Well first things first we're going to give her a bath and get her out of those rags, I'll borrow one of your shirts until I can find proper clothes for her."
"We're keeping her right?"
"Of course, we are! It's not like we can explain this to the police! ... I- ... yes, I'll just figure out something, your cousin perhaps? Yes, that might work"
"We can't just pretend that Eri is my cousin that no one has ever seen her heard about ... do you even have a sister?"
"No, and your father doesn't have any sibling either as far as I know ... how about you ask Sensei? He might be able to figure out something with the law, he seems to know a lot on the subject"
Izuku had almost forgotten! Sensei didn't know what happened, "I'll give him a call right now," he ran to his bedroom and locked the door before dialing Sensei.
"Izuku! Finally! I was so worried! What happened?" Sensei didn't waste any time upon picking up his phone.
"That's a long, long, story!"
About twenty minutes of explanation later
"My mother is fully aware of the situation, but she doesn't know about what really happened after I got Eri away...I didn't mention the League obviously"
"And you did great, I cannot confirm whether or not Chisaki is still alive but considering your description I would say it was beyond repair, perhaps the police are trying to cover up this mess, I understand that they might want to avoid a new emergence of the Yakuza ... what about the girl? Where is she now?"
"Mom is giving her a bath, she is also going to try to take off the bandages ... she intends to keep her with us but we-"
"You need my help to "formalize" this right? Easy, I can pull some strings to make it as if Eri had always been part of your family, the government won't notice anything and the Yakuza will never find her again, too bad for them, though it's not like they would ever be able to lay a finger on her with a big brother like you."
...
"B-big brother?!"
Meanwhile
Tenya had received a call from his mother during the festival, his brother had been attacked by Stain, the hero killer. As soon as he learnt the news he had rushed to the hospital, his brother was "fine," he had been severely injured, but he would heal eventually.
At the hospital they'd spoken together, his brother told him how he felt when Stain attacked him, the fear, the hatred ... he would have lost his legs if someone else didn't interrupt Stain. Ingenium didn't see exactly who it was and how the only thought he had had was to run away.
Run away ...
To him it sounded like a humiliation, what if there had been innocent people this night? Would he still have decided to run away? Of course he wouldn't, fighting until the end would have been his choice no matter what. Though since it had only been his own life on the line Tenya was glad his brother had decided to take the blow to his pride instead of losing his life.
Tenya didn't understand why his brother thought he was a coward for running away. If he had stayed then Stain would have killed him and he wouldn't be here today to say what he saw, to warn the other heroes about this threat.
"... I'll take my internship in Hosu city" declared Tenya in the hospital bedroom.
"H-Hosu ? T-Tenya no ! It's too dangerous ! Stain targeted me, if you choose to do your internship over here then-"⁷
"Brother, I'm not doing this because I want revenge against Stain, I'm doing this because I want to show everyone that the Iida family isn't just a bunch of cowards! You said it yourself, you can't stop blaming yourself for running away! You are wrong, you made the best choice at the moment ! What if Stain had killed you? What if he had maimed you? I- ... honestly, I would have made a mistake, a REAL mistake. If I'm going to Hosu it's to recover our pride and let the people know they can trust in the Iida family ... besides Manual is a good hero, I could learn a thing or two from him."
"... Are you sure? If something happens to YOU then I won't be able to pardon myself ... please, if you encounter Stain, do not fight him, not alone. This is exactly what he wants, to hunt his prey when they are isolated."
"I'll do my best, Ingenium."
Inko woke up Eri without too much trouble, though the way she'd flinched back upon waking up as if she feared punishment was coming made Inko feel sick. Worried she might terrify Eri Inko did everything she could to not accidentally scare the poor child.
"I'm going to take off your bandages so I can give you a bath ... is that alright?" Asked Inko as kindly as possible.
Eri stared at the ones wrapped around her arms. "Y-yes." The girl hesitantly held out her arms, shaking ever so slightly with fear and Inko had to resist the urge to wrap her up in a hug and comfort Eri like she'd used to comfort Izuku. Had she done this before?
"... If you do not want too you can keep them," now that Inko was taking a closer look they looked fresh, probably not a day old. "But we will have to change them a few days after your bath if you need them, they won't hold much longer after coming in contact with the water."
Inko filled the bathtub with hot water for Eri.
"Can you do it alone? If you want, I can help but I understand if you need some privacy."
"N-no! ... I-I mean please, stay."
During the bath Inko kept glancing at Eri's old clothes, she had one upcoming task in her mind, burning those as soon as possible, she had been only wearing a dress! And by the state of it probably for months, maybe even years!
"Here," Inko helped Eri to get out of the bathtub and wrapped a towel around her. "Do you have a favorite color ?"
"... G-green!" Beamed the girl after a moment of reflection.
Around 9 PM Eri had taken a bath, had received new clothes, well, an oversized shirt belonging to Izuku but it was still a major improvement. Inko had prepared something for Eri to eat, she emptied her plate in less than five minutes and even asked for more.
Sensei was supposed to go to the Midoriya's household later that night to explain a few things to Inko about Eri's introduction into their family and wanted to check on the young girl. Izuku didn't know exactly what All for One would do once he would have access to Eri but he trusted his fat-Teacher! He trusted his teacher he hastily mentally corrected himself.
"He'll be here in a minute, it took longer than expected to get everything ready, something about paperwork always taking longer than it should." Announced Izuku as he put down his phone.
"He organized everything in about five hours? That's great! Eri is such a sweet girl...but still...I wonder how I am going to help her, from what I managed to learn she is about six years old ...she doesn't even know about her own age, she doesn't even know what a quirk is. I asked discretely, she said that she didn't want to touch me because she was cursed." Inko said tearing up near the end.
"Yeah, she told me the same thing ... I think Chisaki persuaded her that her quirk wasn't under her control, she probably believes that it's some sort of magic...I could try to explain but I doubt she is going to understand quickly, and we don't know what's her quirk is, for we know it could be like magic or something."
"It works with her hands that's all we know ... have you already seen anything similar during your studies?"
Izuku directly thought about Tomura, he pictured the leader of the League reducing random objects to the state of dust ... and then he pictured Eri at his place.
"Yes ... yes I have"
Aizawa had finished his job looking over the internships, his students had sent back their choices and he just had to transmit everything to the relevant agencies, then a long night of patrolling would start, just what he wanted...
He went to make himself some coffee, he'd need it for the night ahead and likely the next day as well. When he got to the breakroom however he found the principal, seemingly waiting for him to arrive.
"Nedzu? ... is something wrong?" Nothing was wrong of course, Nedzu was too calm for that, but if he was here then it meant he had something to ask.
"No, not really, in fact, I needed a small favor," bingo. "Do you think we can make an exception?"
"An exception about what? ... oh, I see, Izuku? It's too late, I already sent back the students' choices and ... well surprisingly enough Izuku didn't receive ANY"
"Not a single one?!" Nedzu was completely unaware of such results, usually, he would let the homeroom teachers handle this job. "He was first during the first two events, there has to be an error somewhere."
"Well no, but I have heard rumors, apparently Endeavor might be behind this but as always I can't prove anything... anyway, what was it about ?"
"... An old friend of Chiyo is actually interested in Izuku, I do not know much about him but he doesn't work at an agency, he just said he wanted to give him a tip or two, it would be unfair to simply leave Izuku alone for a full week. What do you think? It's not like anyone will have to know about this after all... Also, we intend to put Hitoshi Shinso in class 1-A temporarily, it was suggested by Midnight, but I think it's just one last attempt to bring Izuku into general studies."
Aizawa sighed ... well Nedzu could still help him to get some time out if he accepted his offer "Fine ... I'll help you with Izuku, and about Hitoshi, I admit I already had my eyes on him, he knows how to keep quiet when it's necessary, a great quality"
Nedzu laughed softly at the irony. "Well then, you can send an email to this person ... oh and warn Izuku by the way!" The principal left Aizawa's office.
"Let's see ... Gran Torino- ... but-but this is- ... ah damn it, Nedzu why do you have to make things so difficult sometimes?"
22 PM Midoriya's household
"... it's getting late, is Eri sleeping?" Izuku didn't really feel safe, Sensei was late but he knew why... perhaps it was the guilt of his actions? He couldn't explain why he felt the way he did but every time he looked at the door he felt like someone was about to come to his house and take back Eri.
"She is in my bedroom, I left her the light so she won't get scared, I'll sleep in the living room tonight, the sofa will do just well." His mother replied.
Someone knocked at the door, Izuku stared at his mother and she stared back, he readied All for One in his left hand and hid it behind his back, then, he went toward the door and opened it slowly ready to lash out and rip away the quirk of whoever was at the door.
It was Sensei, he was holding a box filled with various coloured papers and even though Izuku knew he didn't have eyes he felt like Sensi was blinking at him in confusion behind his mask. "... Is something wrong? I'm not hostile you know."
Izuku deactivated All for One and sighed in relief. "S-Sorry with everything that happened today I'm becoming paranoid."
"That's not necessarily a bad thing, a little paranoia can go a long way." commented All for One, Izuku let him enter and he headed straight to the living room greeting Inko by the way "I apologise for the further delay, I couldn't enter right away, a bunch of people were having an "argument" right in front of your building." Izuku gasped, but before he could overreact All for One reassured him. "Only drunk teenagers, it's fine ... well not much for them if they keep roaming like this in the middle of the streets."
He dropped the box on the low table in the living room and took out some pink paper sheets "This is for you will have to keep everything somewhere." Sensei explained as he handed the sheets to Inko. "I found an interesting security breach, your father Izuku has a VERY minimal file, no photo, no workplace information, nothing. Unless I'm mistaken he wanted to disappear and that's helping us, let me present to you-"
He took out something different, a photo of a woman neither Izuku or Inko recognised "Izuku, Inko this is Shirudo Hisashi!"
"... unless I'm mistaken, she doesn't really exist am I right?" Inko asked after processing the information.
"Officially no, ostensibly she does, she is Eri's mother who is currently working in Russia ... or Italy, or a European country ... anyway, she abandoned Eri at her birth and you Inko decided to adopt her, and so with the help of some paperwork Eri is officially your daughter and Izuku's sister."
The Midoriyas exchanged a confused look and had the exact same question in mind. "What if people ask questions?
"As far as I know the only "friends" this family has are the Bakugos and, tell me Inko, could you tell me when it was you last saw Mitsuki Bakugo?"
"... about four years ago" She admitted.
"Good, good, and Izuku, you never really spoke about your familial situation to anyone right ?"
"No? Well ... I did when I applied to U.A. I had to answer some questions, but it only concerned my mother and my father, so I guess it's alright."
"Fine, anyway U.A. will receive a correction soon, people will notice that the file has been modified, and it's credible since their database is so empty there is so little information on your father."
Inko offered tea to All for One but he politely denied, then Inko went to check on Eri. "I should probably look at her too ... How did you do that with Chisaki?"
"Do what?"
"You grabbed his quirk from a distance ... I never managed to do that, I tried once but the result was terrible, yet you found this out by yourself and you mastered it on your first try-"
"I didn't ... I only wanted to restrain him, to prevent him from using his quirk but instead ... I couldn't steal it, I didn't want to, it simply went out of control, Chisaki's quirk destroyed him from the inside."
The was a pause as All for One digested the information. "You forcibly activated it? Impressive, I have a quirk that allows me to do the same, but I must touch the user directly, so I have to use a separate another quirk to reach my target ... I have to compensate while you have naturally this ability, I admit it, you are superior to me, you are a stronger All for One than I am."
"Don't say that ... back in the alley, I didn't know how I should react, you were the one who pushed me to fight back and I'm glad you did otherwise Eri wouldn't be here at this time ... but- .. but I think I failed."
"Why?"
"I-I think Chisaki might still be alive."
All for One brought his hands against his head as if he was thinking. "If he is that could be a problem ... I'll cover up as much as I can to hide Eri, if she is indeed the key element for their weapon then he will definitely be looking for her." Sensei noticed that Izuku was depressed and that he felt guilty, "don't blame yourself, it's better than nothing and I'm sure next time you won't hesitate, even heroes have to get their hands dirty sometimes"
All for One signaled to Izuku that his mother was coming back. "Any interest in other projects for the next two weeks?"
Inko's motherly senses triggered and she intervened quickly. "No, no and NO, you are not leaving this house for the next two weeks! I shall remind you that you know have the responsibility of a little sister Izuku Midoriya! And no do not give me some excuses about becoming a hero! If you end up slightly breaking the laws to save someone each time you go out alone there is going to be a problem!"
All for One and Izuku stared at Inko in surprise.
"W-well sure mom," simply accepted Izuku.
"Fine ... then I'll be on my way now, I still have a few things to finish myself." All for One bowed to thank Inko for her hospitality and left the house.
Inko felt guilty "D-Did I just chased him from our house?!" She asked Izuku.
"N-no! Of course not!"
The next day, Manual's agency.
"Tenya Iida! Your brother Tensei called me yesterday! He told me to take good care of you, I'm sorry about what happened, usually, he wouldn't have been alone in such a situation." Manual greeted his temporary employee as he entered inside his office.
"Thank you ... it's still very hard to digest, I know it could have been worse, but as his brother and a member of the family, I have to show that Stain doesn't scare us, that we know how to keep our faces straight up. I'm sorry to admit it might not have been my favorite choice for the internships, but I'm still convinced I will learn a lot during this week."
"You are welcome, you are free this morning but this afternoon we will go on patrol, I'm going to bring you straight away into our environment, I hope you are not scared right?"
Tenya nodded with a determined expression, "I'll do my best sir."
