Fencer29 - I honestly Midnight is an extremely vanilla high school teacher here, with no showbusiness part to have to cater to and not an awful lot of revealing spandexes among the female celebrities to get inspired by :P
Shahryar - I get the feeling that it might be at least partially due to the whole 'straightforward soldier' and 'scheming mastermind' contrast, tbh.
(***)
To say that Tsuyu was indescribably nervous the whole time, would be an understatement. Even Izuku wasn't enough to calm her down to a manageable level this time, resulting in the need to borrow Ochako for the trip.
With Mocchan there, the chances of Tsuyu freaking out at the last second and escaping through the nearest open window were lowered down to a safe level.
Paladin dropped by to act as a tour guide, of sorts. Lead them to the meeting room, gave them a thumbs-up and one of his signature smiles (that guy is going to sell extremely well as a public hero), then vanished behind the corner.
He also mentioned something about the kids knowing they are supposed to meet their older sibling AND that they know that Tsuyu has slight problems communicating, but they are generally well-behaved so it should be alright.
Izuku somehow can't imagine a close family member of Tsuyu misbehaving. She was basically the nicest, kindest and most empathetic person he has ever seen. What would her 'misbehavior' look like, even? Would she hug random people without asking for their permission?
Tsuyu decided that she has to face her siblings alone. So she entered the room on her own, Izuku and Uraraka waiting on the bench outside.
"How do you think it's going to end up, Deku-kun?" Uraraka asks. They are sitting close to each other, but not too close.
"With a lot of ribbits, Mocchan." Izuku replies. Yes, she smiles. He likes her smile. It feels honest and genuine right now. Telling him the truth and Izuku accepting it must have felt like a large weight off her shoulders.
"And something more… serious?" Uraraka asks.
"Those will be very serious ribbits." Izuku replies. Yes, that smile again. "Jokes aside, how's your search for an appropriate home for us going?"
"Very well, very well." Uraraka nods. "I think I found one that's pretty much perfect, just a matter of the Principal sending the money. You'll absolutely love it. And we're getting ourselves a car."
"Okay." Izuku nods.
"What, nothing to add?" Mocchan gives him a questioning look.
"First of all, I'm content leaving such details to you, because… well, I'm not very good at the whole 'common sense' thing." Izuku admits. "I trust you to make better decisions when housing and transportation are involved either way. And second of all, I just like seeing you get so enthusiastic while talking about it."
"Jerk." She pouts at him.
"I like it because it makes you look cuter than normal, and you're already super cute normally." Izuku replies with a smug smile. Does that count as being smooth? Izuku has absolutely no idea.
"Flirt." She pouts at him some more. "But an adorable one."
He is doing his best.
(***)
In all honesty, they didn't have THAT much to talk about, so at some point of their long wait, they pulled out their phones and started doing things. At least on Izuku's side, the things were tangentially connected to work.
Repulse: Well it's great to hear that things are stabilizing in Musutafu
Defiant: more like 'so my promotion to number one hero is no longer an option, I see'
Repulse: xD
Repulse: I have my plate full with Tokyo alone, thank you very much
Repulse: I like sleep
Defiant: sleep what's that
Repulse: wow having three girlfriends must be really taxing
Defiant: Koichi pls
Repulse: I'm torn between asking you if you're insane and asking you for tips
Defiant: KOICHI NO
Repulse: just joking here, sheesh, I have a girlfriend and both me and Kazuho are 100% monogamous, chill down boss
Repulse: on a more serious note
Repulse: I think the MLA started terminating its villain collection scheme in the parts of the country that the Network has large presence in, since we have an uptick in those for the past week
Repulse: the local police seems to be suspecting the same thing
Repulse: probably potential villains that were courted earlier by Destro but he ended up writing them off, so they go out doing crime
Defiant: you think he's afraid of PSIA being on his ass?
Repulse: Well he certainly doesn't want to leave himself exposed, methinks
Repulse: it's one thing doing w/e you want when the government knows literally shit about the subject
Repulse: it's another thing to be doing the same when all of its agencies are getting enlightened about the meta-abilities existing and are actually capable of interpreting your activities properly
Defiant: that guy is cautious to the extreme
Defiant: worst type of villains
Repulse: yep
Repulse: I think I'm going to hate showmen as well
Defiant: ?
Repulse: Some asshole in a colorful clothes just robbed a bank (the one under investigation for money laundering) together with a group of clowns (not in terms of clothes but I'm going to call them all 'clowns' from now on because fuck them) similar to him, every single one troupe member seeming to have a meta-ability
Repulse: "Mr. Compress, the Peerless Thief & His Troupe of Magicians Extraordinaire"
Repulse: making money and other valuables disappear seems to be their favorite magic trick
Repulse: sigh
Repulse: I'm sooo done with this bs and we aren't even at the Reveal Day
Defiant: … send me the recordings, I'll try to figure out whatever I can about them
Defiant: Also we both know we're maybe 2-3 days out ahead of the RD
Repulse: I'm trying to not think about having to make public appearances and being looked up to by millions while being looked down at for being freaks by another millions, thank you very much
Defiant: mood
(***)
Tsuyu leaves the room in front of them almost three hours later. Someone braided her hair. She seemed to have gotten a very childish make-up (whoever tried it, did their best but lacked skill and experience).
She also appears to have a lego piece stuck in her hair, for some inexplicable reasons.
"Uhm?" Uraraka lets out, staring at Tsuyu with surprise on her face. Izuku probably mirrors her expression.
"I…" Tsuyu looks down, her fingers fidgeting. "... think that I like children, ribbit."
Yeah, that's more like it.
(***)
Nemuri Kayama finds herself facing probably the biggest predicament when her parenting is involved.
Biggest predicament for now, that is. Nemuri is vaguely aware that being a mother of a complex mutant will probably make her life harder further down the line. She doesn't really care - she agrees with her soon-to-be son in law that Tsuyu deserves all the nice things in the world.
Supportive mother included.
Because her biological parents, well, Nemuri would have been severely tempted to stab them to death with pencils, pens and whatever else she had at hand that would hurt (and kill, but slowly).
In the meantime, however, this happened.
"Tsu, I understand that you have siblings now." Nemuri says. Like in the case of most of their serious talks, it played out in close quarters. Very close - Tsuyu was as clingy as ever. They were standing in the middle of the room, hugging each other, her daughter looking up at her. "But I'm really not in a position to adopt them as well. Being a single mother for a single child is taxing, doing that for three is a bit…"
"Taxing, ribbit?" Tsuyu looks at her strangely, and Nemuri decides that she has to rephrase it before her daughter gets the wrong message.
"It's a lot of work to be a mother, Tsu." She replies. "I'm ready to do it for you, because I love you and literally nothing could make me change my mind about it. But while I could financially sustain all three of you…" UA salaries were no joke, and she could probably persuade Sasaki to be given some additional money for this, that man was treating the metahumans as an investment either way. "... the real problem is time. It's a lot of hard work, as I said, and I can't do all of it myself."
The idea was… tempting, to be honest. One of the reasons why Nemuri Kayama decided to adopt Tsuyu was because if the doctors she visited were worth anything, her chances of getting biological children were… small. They existed, but were very, very small.
It made things mentally easier, probably.
"So I could do it…" Nemuri decides to add. "... but they deserve to have parents that are there for them for as much as they could be. I'm already having my hands full with my job and you, despite you being, well, a rather free-range child if I'm to be honest."
Tsuyu wasn't a lot of work. Tsuyu sometimes felt less like her child and more like a disciple in the art of motherhood. She was learning what a mother should be like (useful part of her general rehabilitation), but… Tsuyu was basically an adult.
An adult that spends most of the time living with her boyfriend.
And no, Nemuri still didn't figure out what to think about that relationship's present arrangement.
"What if I help you, ribbit?" Tsuyu replies. "I could take care of them when you're at work." She is absolutely adorable in her strive to have siblings by law, not just by blood. It's something in her big eyes and with her tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve, probably.
"Tsuyu, you have a very serious job and a boyfriend." Nemuri replies. "The one you just told me you're planning to have your own child with as soon as possible." No, she still didn't figure out what to think about that either. "Not to mention you being very serious about being mom number two to Mei's child."
"Mmmm…" Tsuyu thinks it over for a moment. "... what about Yamada-sensei, ribbit?"
"Uhm, what?" Nemuri blinks. "What does Hizashi have to do with that?"
"If you two marry, you won't have to be a single mother, ribbit." Tsuyu calmly unleashes a bomb.
"Errr, Tsu, it doesn't work like that." Nemuri quickly replies, trying to not blush in front of her daughter. "Hizashi doesn't see me in that way, and while I admit that I find him, errr, attractive, it's not enough to…"
"He likes you too, ribbit." Tsuyu cuts in, her eyes still on her.
…
"Wait, he does?" Nemuri blinks at her daughter, shock visible on her face. She has no idea how that works, but Tsuyu seemed to be almost preternaturally adept at reading people, so maybe…
"Yes, ribbit." Tsuyu nods. "He feels when you're around like Izuku does when I'm in the room. And like you feel when he's there."
…
Wait, did she actually have a minor empathy quirk or what? Nemuri hasn't been so confused (and, slightly, hopeful) her entire life.
"What do you mean by 'he feels like', Tsu?" Nemuri asks. Because, yeah, she's getting to the bottom of this.
"I mean that he smells like that, ribbit." Tsuyu tilts her head a little. "But I think that 'feels like' sounds less creepy. Am I wrong?"
'Smells like'?
Some animals can detect emotions in humans through their sense of smell. Frogs supposedly weren't quite there (despite having a good sense of smell in general), but… wait, it wasn't some sort of connected secondary quirk, right?
A massively improved sense of smell?
It would explain so much, such as how good her emotional intelligence was when humans were involved. She observed them secretly for a long time, being afraid of interacting with them, but… if she could get a read of their emotional states that way, it would improve her understanding of emotions when humans were involved a lot.
This also meant that she probably wasn't wrong when she said that Hizashi Yamada is romantically interested in Nemuri Kayama.
"Oh, that, err, yes." Nemuri composes herself quickly. "Saying that someone 'feels like' instead of 'smells like' certainly sounds better. And while I can't promise you anything right now, what you just told me opens, uhm, possibilities. Now, could you please elaborate on what you think Hizashi feels towards me?"
All's fair in love and war, and all that.
(***)
Izuku was back at school, having just accompanied a very excited Tsuyu (Izuku has a clue on what she was going to try to persuade her mom to and he wishes her the best of luck) to her mother's apartment at school.
Sasaki was very particular about security measures when the Special Course was involved.
Then things got interesting.
He was walking back towards the assigned Eclipse warpgate area (she found it easier to open warpgates to the same location multiple times), knowing full well that Tsuyu wasn't getting back until evening, when he heard something akin to footsteps behind him.
He had good hearing.
He looked behind, but he saw nothing in the corridor.
That was odd. He trusted his hearing.
His mastery over One for All was steadily improving over time. He could activate it with a minimum amount of fireworks, just to get his Ignition sense to scan his nearest surroundings for things his amplified telekinesis could influence.
And so he did that.
And then things got very interesting.
It wasn't hard to get the work done, and then head towards the one place on UA that Izuku was fairly certain had no cameras. Because he wanted to keep at least some things from Principal Sasaki.
Namely, the nearest restrooms.
When he got to the male side of it and checked that no one was there (well, it was after classes), he released his grip and something fell onto the floor in front of him.
Something invisible, and busy gasping for air. Because his grip was anything but comfortable.
"I assure you, miss, that you'll find me a much more difficult assassination target than the Commissioner General Toyoda." Izuku says coldly while sitting in front of her (he knows the gender from shape alone, his ignition sense told him so much).
Bonus points for his quirk allowing him to make a comfortable sitting whenever he wanted. He is currently sitting in the air. A logical conclusion of him using Force as a mobility aid. It might have lacked a sheer firepower of quirks like what Amplitude had, but the versatility and unmatched potential in close quarters more than made up for it.
"I-I'm, aah, not h-here to kill you." The invisible assassin says, rising from the floor steadily. Yeah, he didn't want her to make any noise, so he held her quite strongly. And made sure he couldn't open her mouth, however… "I'm h-here…"
"You can as well stop." Midoriya cuts in dryly. "My telekinesis comes in a package with an ability to detect influenceable objects in the vicinity. In short, I know the shape of everything in this room. I can read your body language. You're faking that you have trouble breathing to make me lower my guard."
He hates describing a significant part of his quirk to someone that he doesn't trust to stay quiet. But… the alternative was his 'visitor' deciding that he might have more than one quirk. And while that would be entirely correct…
… he doesn't want the Moderates to go after him. He has no idea how much manpower and influence they have left, either way - but they DID manage to locate him in the UA. Something that Overhaul failed at for months.
And who could have more than one quirk (both of them not complex mutations) without working for Hisashi Shigaraki?
"Looks like…" The assassin stops pretending. "...the heroes are more serious than we were all thinking, eh? You're serious business. So, I guess it's introduction time then? I'm Chameleon."
"Doing our best in these trying times." Midoriya replies dryly, completely ignoring the introduction. "If you aren't here to assassinate me, what's your agenda?"
She is cornered, but she is clearly not bothered by that a lot. She is most likely not older than he is. How long was she trained into an assassin by the Moderates? It was probably years, at least. They are truly doing their best to not look much better than the Radicals in Izuku's eyes, even if their goals appear nobler.
Network's white morality versus Overhaul's and All for One's black morality versus Destro's and Yoichi Shigaraki's gray morality? It went somewhat like this, in Izuku's opinion. He had no idea where to put Kuroiro and Knuckleduster' vigilantes though.
The former on the verge of black and gray, the latter at the verge of gray and white, maybe?
"I was sent to deliver a warning to you about a very big threat to you and your organization." Chameleon replies. Of course, it was about that. They must have a spy or two left among the local Radicals. "And deliver an offer of assistance from…"
"No." Midoriya cuts in. "The Metahuman Network and the soon-to-be Hero Association of Japan are entirely uninterested in working with you. And if your warning is about Hisashi Shigaraki planning to visit me in order to brainwash me into working for the Council of Twelve, then I'm afraid I know about that threat already. He's in for a very bloody reception when he shows up."
She didn't expect that to happen. He can read that from her body language. She clearly didn't bother learning how to keep it concealed since there was next to no one who could actually see it.
Unless she could switch her quirk on and off, and she was baiting him with her body language. That was entirely possible.
"How do you know that?" And now she was on edge. Heh.
"I had a very emotional and fulfilling talk with a certain rat that I encountered on Gunga Mountain." Midoriya sees no issue with potentially making Nedzu a target for the Moderates. He generally has no issue with making him suffer or die. "About the Council of Twelve, the origin of meta-abilities, Hisashi Shigaraki and his world domination scheme. I'm in no need of the Moderates' assistance."
He's not telling her how he immediately identified her as a Moderate operative. Something to make her higher-ups sleep slightly less sound at night.
"You're in no need of…" She lets out a vague choking sound. "Are you kidding me? He is controlling the government that you're working for and…"
"I know." Midoriya cuts in. "And I find something akin to a delicious irony in the fact that he is using his influence to spearhead the rise of the superheroes in Japan, only for said superheroes to become the end of him. By the time he realizes that he helped his greatest enemy rise, dismantling the Hero Association without making the government fall and his control over the country die with it will be impossible. There is something poetic about it, don't you think?"
She says nothing. Well, suit yourself.
"I'm not interested in playing the game your way." Midoriya continues. "I don't believe for a second that they were going to treat me and my organization as equals, you just wanted more pawns for your war. To 'warn' me about Shigaraki, just to make me in your debt that you would keep using to make me act according to your whims."
The whole 'heroes appear more serious than we thought' slip-up made it clear for Midoriya.
"I'm ready to establish wide alliances and help villains rehabilitate themselves." Midoriya continues. "But I have to draw a line somewhere. You started a World War just to spite Shigaraki. Do you have any idea how many people suffered for that?"
If not for war, Uraraka's parents would be alive and she wouldn't flinch at the very thought of Izuku touching her. If not for war, Ayako would have never become a part of Midoriya household - but she would also be alive. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
He doesn't add it, but he is also testing if the responsibility for the war was a common knowledge among the surviving Moderates. Or if it was something that their leadership concealed from the rest.
Chameleon fails the basic morality test.
"It was a necessity!" She shouts back. "If not for that, All for One would…"
"I don't know that." Midoriya cuts in. "You don't know that. No one knows what 'might' have happened for certain. I don't know the details of how the Council looked before the war so I'm giving you a benefit of doubt over whether the atrocity you've committed was justified. It's the only reason why we're talking in private instead of me hauling you to Tartarus right now."
He considered it for a moment when his ignition sense told him that someone invisible was tailing him. But… he decided to play it differently.
"But I refuse to work with an organization who was ready to go as far as the Moderates did, because who knows when you'll do something horrible again." Midoriya continues. "And I do not think that ends justify the means. Besides, we're supposed to become an inspiration and symbols for the public. I need to work on my image, and association with people like you, if ever made public, would be the end of everything I'm trying to achieve."
Kuroiro and Knuckleduster were bad enough. But Kuroiro was going to stay quiet to not become an outcast among the criminals, and Knuckleduster was more of Aizawa's decision. The Moderates, though? Uhm, no.
"You think that you can stay neutral?" Chameleon hisses at him. "You think that you can face him on your own?"
"So, is it 'with us or against us', now?" Midoriya replies dryly. "Exactly how a fanatic would see it. See, Chameleon, I'm not staying neutral. I'm going to focus on ending Hisashi Shigaraki on my own terms. I'm simply not interested in whatever you're bringing to the table. We've dealt more casualties to his forces at Gunga Mountain that you seem to have dealt during the last few months. Do us all a favor and fade out from history already."
Is it acting out of character? Probably not. He killed Bakugou, he injured many Council goons at the Gunga Mountain - the former was long overdue, the latter was a necessity. He suggested allying with Kuroiro. He knew what sort of times he was living in.
He is much less anxious nowadays. Thank you, Overhaul, for beating childishness out of him and helping him grow as the type of a hero the Japan needed right now. They were all growing up thanks to him.
Besides, he was imagining what he was going to say if Moderates would contact him ever since Gunga Mountain.
"Yoichi Shigaraki really loved superheroes." Chameleon replies, venom dripping off her tongue. "Looks like their real version that he gave birth to turned out to be a major disappointment."
Oh, you don't bring up that name here and leave unscathed, girl.
"It goes both ways, villain." Midoriya replies. "My mother kept telling me how my long-dead father was the most heroic person ever. Nedzu telling me that my father helped his brother mind-control the world and then started a world war to cover up his mistakes was a major disappointment to me too."
He can see her eyes grow wider with his ignition sense. Someone didn't see that coming.
"You, him, you can't be…" She stammers out.
"Yoichi Shigaraki was my father." Midoriya drives the nail home. "And I'm going to finish what he started, but in my own way. You and the rest of the leftovers of his organization? Don't get in my way."
He is so done with the Moderates. But he has something to say. Something to avoid unnecessary bloodshed further down the line.
"So, the answer to your offer of alliance, is a big fat no." He adds. "If All for One uses his puppets in the government to order us to work against you, we'll mysteriously lose 99% of our skills and intelligence, I can promise you that much. And even that only until our inevitable confrontation with him, because then he will stop trying to order us to do anything."
Chameleon is staying quiet. Good. He doesn't want to hear her voice anymore.
"But if you touch anyone from my organization or anyone connected to me in any way whatsoever, regardless of who they are…" Midoriya adds. "... I'll see to the fact that you'll fear the Metahuman Network more than you ever feared the Radicals. You don't believe me? Ask the man that killed my mother. The police had to use shovels to pick up what was left of him."
He then leaves the restroom. Hopefully the lesson will stick.
(***)
Mr. Compress is here, and Hagakure Tooru gets a solid vibe check. Honestly, the heroes (and Japan as a whole) should be in a twisted way grateful for Overhaul's existence. He really helped the local heroes grow up. Midoriya went a long way to this from the kid that broke after the Marukane Ward fire. Good job creating your own enemies, villains (AFO had the same problem with Yoichi ngl).
