Chapter 47: A Precept of Death
"Now, now, dear. We don't need you to cause trouble for the heroes, do we?"
The first thing that popped into Doko's mind after oh shit, Overhaul, was Nighteye didn't want them to suspect anything! Can't let him suspect anything!
He forced himself into a relaxed expression. Something he'd had a lot of practice doing, but sometimes it was more convincing than other times.
"She wasn't causing any trouble," he told the man casually. Within his arms, the white-haired girl still trembled. "Don't worry about it."
"Still, I apologize. My daughter likes to run around and play quite a bit. Sometimes she gets herself a little roughed up."
"...Right."
"We're sorry, too, for bumping into her!" Mirio said next to him, in a much more enthusiastic tone. "You're Hassaikai, right? The mask?"
Chisaki shrugged. "Don't worry about the mask. It just helps me keep filth out."
Doko felt calmer now. Quite a tense situation, but nothing he wasn't prepared to handle.
"Anyway, I've not seen you heroes around before," Chisaki continued. His golden eyes seemed a little more suspecting, like he was sizing them up. "What agency do you belong to?"
Can't tell him Nighteye's name.
Mirio took control of the situation. "Oh, we're just students! Still quite new, and pretty nervous, haha!" He scratched the back of his neck easily. "It would be presumptuous to identify with an agency at this point. We've just been interning around at a few different places, right Everywhere?"
He's on his guard. "Yeah," Doko said, nodding. "Tough to stay anywhere for a long time. Some of these older heroes get tired of you real quick."
Chisaki chuckled, and in his heart Doko felt a little relief. "I suppose so."
"Anyway!" Mirio jumped in. "We've gotta finish patrolling before lunch! Let's go, Everywhere!"
"True enough." Doko stood, relinquishing his grip on the girl…and her hand tightened around the sleeve of his costume.
His heart skipped a beat. Don't look at her. Don't look…
He looked. Stupid eyes.
Her wide red eyes were brimming with tears. "Don't…don't go…" she murmured, low enough for only him to hear.
"Everywhere!" Mirio sang from behind him. "What's the holdup?"
Doko shook his head for a moment, broken from a stupor. Chisaki's eyes were burning into him, he could feel it.
"Sorry, you have to let go," he told the girl gently, hoping this was the right path. "Go on back to your dad." He took her small hand in his and pulled it off of his sleeve, slowly. Then, he released her hand. "And try not to get hurt so much. Take care. Always look both ways!"
"Come on back now, Eri," Chisaki called.
The girl seemed confused, and scared. But…surprisingly, she nodded at his advice, and backed away toward Chisaki.
Doko briefly met eyes again with the yakuza head. The man's eyes had relaxed. He doesn't think I suspect anything.
"Nice to meet you, sir. Gotta go." He nodded his head and followed Mirio. "Lemillion, wait up!"
He felt Chisaki's gaze linger on the back of his neck for a second more…and then it broke. Presumably, him and his daughter, Eri, had turned back into the alleyway.
"Weird place to suddenly appear out of," Doko muttered as he'd caught up to Mirio.
The third year looked at him sharply. "You alright?"
"What, afraid she broke my wrist or something? Yeah, I'm fine. Of course I am."
Mirio let out a deep, long exhale. "I…didn't expect us to run into him like that."
"The girl had bandages all over her."
"I know."
"She was terrified."
"I am aware. You handled yourself well, I think. He was suspicious at first, but I think we managed to relax him. He still doesn't suspect anything out of the ordinary."
"But something is out of the ordinary, isn't it? What's been done to that girl?"
"My guess? If she Chisaki's kid, then he's raising her in that organized crime environment. Not a good place for a kid. No wonder she was so scared."
For some reason, Doko didn't concede with that. "No, I think it's worse. You could be right, to a degree…but that wouldn't explain the bandages."
"Maybe she really does run off and get herself scraped up. I can't imagine yakuza as being very good at controlling their kids."
Doko took a step forward and diagonal, to block Mirio's path. Then, he whirled to look at the older, taller boy, his jaw set. "You're making excuses."
"I'm trying to be logical here. Right now, our duty is to collect information and interpret what we collect. There's no action we can take against the Eight Precepts of Death right now."
"We're telling Sir Nighteye about the girl."
Mirio sighed. "Of course we are. Did you think I was just going to sweep this under the rug? That I was genuinely being all buddy-buddy with Chisaki back there?"
Doko's shoulders slouched. His gaze averted away. "...No."
"Okay. Good. We're working together here, remember? We're a team. Just from how you handled that back there, I know I made the right choice to pick you." Mirio put a hand on his junior's shoulder. "Now, let's meet back up with the others."
…
It had begun to rain, dark clouds rolling in over the city. The five of them stood at a street corner. Deku and Bubble Girl stood next to Sir Nighteye, while Doko and Mirio faced them.
"This was my fault," Nighteye said with a sigh. "We could have avoided the situation if I'd used Foresight on the two of you before we split up."
"It's fine," Doko said. "He doesn't know we're with you, anyway. He has no reason to think so."
Mirio nodded. "Katayama handled himself well, even with the girl clinging onto him."
Doko searched his boss's face for any sign of approval, but Nighteye had the same grim expression. Whatever.
Deku's eyes were wide. "This girl…"
"A new piece of intel!" Mirio said excitedly. "Chisaki has a daughter!"
"Are you certain?" Nighteye asked.
"He called her his daughter, at least," Doko put in. "He called her Eri. She had white hair and a horn protruding from her forehead. I guess that's her Quirk, which must have manifested only recently, because I would put her age at around five or six at most. Red eyes. She had bandages all over her arms and legs, sir. She seemed terrified. I…" He took a deep breath. He hadn't even told this to Mirio, at least not directly, but…
Didn't he know the signs?
"I think she's being abused."
Bubble Girl gasped, and Mirio winced. Deku's eyes went wide. "A…abused?" the green-haired boy stuttered.
Nighteye blinked at him. "We can't take action based off of what a first day student thought might be the truth."
Doko lifted his chin. "With all due respect, sir, you didn't see the signs. You weren't there."
Mirio winced even harder.
"You're right. I was not. Maybe if I had been, things would have gone differently." Nighteye turned to the third year. "Mirio. What did you take note of?"
"All the observations Katayama made were true. Also, Chisaki was clearly on edge. I don't know why he appeared out of an alleyway, either." Mirio frowned.
"Based on the physical description of this girl, if she is truly Chisaki's daughter, then she must take after her mother quite a bit…" Nighteye muttered. "She has none of his physical appearance. Different hair, different eyes?"
"If she's in danger, then she needs help!" exclaimed Midoriya.
Nighteye turned to look at him. "You cannot think so arrogantly."
Midoriya went pale. "I only m-meant…"
"Haste makes waste. If we act upon this now, they will only slip from our fingers. At the moment, we're collecting further intel and asking other agencies to collaborate with us. Even if the girl does need our help, the yakuza are wise. They are going to ensure that she won't get it from us if they catch on. Do you understand? Patience. Patience is the key."
Deku wilted. "Yes, sir…"
"You three students, head back to the agency. I cannot ask any more of you today. Bubble, come with me."
"Sir," Bubble Girl nodded, and followed him off, leaving the three boys in the rain.
For a moment, no one moved or spoke. There was just the pitter-patter of drops against the pavement, the buzzing of the streetlight.
Then, Mirio. "It's probably hard for you two to face something like this. It is for me, too. I want to save people with a big smile! But we have to be smarter than them. And that way isn't always the smartest."
"Katayama," Midoriya said, giving him a look of absolute conviction. "I trust you. If you think this girl…Eri…is being abused, then I think so too."
Doko gave him a grim half-smile, his grey hair getting wet from the rain and drooping over his face, drenching it in shadow. "We would know, wouldn't we?"
Midoriya nodded.
"Where did you go with Bubble Girl, by the way?" he asked as they followed behind Mirio, beginning to walk back toward the agency.
"We staked out the yakuza hideout. They are holed up in this huge, fancy home." Midoriya frowned.
"Get any peeks at her ass?"
"H-huh? WHAT?!" Midoriya practically jumped out of his costume.
Doko snorted. "Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. You had to have been thinking about it, Midoriya. Just you…and an older girl…alone together, doing some stakeout work…"
"I! I don't think about that! Stuff! With her!"
"Hmm. Who do you think about it with? Uraraka?"
"Gurgghghflagh." Midoriya's brain seemed to short-circuit.
…
Overhaul sighed as he made his way down the tunnel. Walking along with him was his aide, Chronostasis, Eri safely, firmly in his arms. She had nearly gotten away this time, and had even run into some damn heroes. Luckily, they had been young and stupid, not suspecting a thing.
Chisaki sighed. "The young people today are sicker than ever."
He approached one of his subordinates, the one who had been SUPPOSED to guard her. What was his name, even? Minamoto? Morimoto?
"Boss, I was watching her like a hawk, I'm sorry! I don't know what happened, I swear! I…"
Overhaul swatted him toward the wall like a fly, activating his Quirk and blowing the man to pieces. I'm really becoming a parody, aren't I? Slaying my own subordinates like some movie villain…can't let my temper get away from me again.
"Get someone to clean that up," he growled to Chrono.
"Yes, sir."
They arrived at the testing room, where Eri's usual chair was waiting for her.
"You can't run away from me again, Eri," Chisaki said. "That will not do. It may seem like you don't have much else to hope for but escape, right now. Don't think I don't know how the gears turn in your little head."
Eri walked slowly away from Chronostasis, and toward the chair. She had that insolent little look of terror on her face again.
"However, take heart, Eri. There IS something to hope for, and you will be instrumental in it. You and I, we'll rebuild a better world…the one you'll grow old in."
"I don't want to grow old," she squeaked.
Chisaki sighed and scratched at his mask with a gloved finger. "The delusions of a child. All the times I have tried to make you understand, and you simply refuse to accept it. Get on up."
The faces of those two boy heroes flashed through his mind again. How absurd they had looked in those costumes!
They're all sick. And through her…they'll be cured.
"Boss!"
Overhaul turned. Mimic had come to inform him of something.
"There's a call for you, boss! It's Tomura Shigaraki!"
…
"Doko. Heyyy, Doko."
He started. Mina, his girlfriend. Who sat behind him. Right.
How much of her arms had been bandaged, again?
"How long have you been tapping my shoulder?"
Mina pouted. "It certainly FELT like hours."
He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. Just…"
"Thinking about your work study?"
"You got it."
"What the heck, Bakugo-kun?!" Toru exclaimed, waving her sleeves around wildly. "You're all beat up!"
Doko looked toward Bakugo, and winced. He was covered in bandages and bruises…just like Eri…
"Not just him," said Sero, nodding toward the back of the classroom. "Look at Todoroki."
"Wow," Jiro gasped. "Those provisional classes must be tough!"
"STOP TALKING ABOUT US LIKE WE AREN'T HERE!" Bakugo roared.
"CLASS IS STARTING!" Iida yelled, almost as loud. "Where are Uraraka and Asui? And Kirishima?"
"They all have excused absences, remember?" piped up Yao-momo. "They found heroes to do their work studies with."
Doko vaguely remembered Tsu mentioning that in the group chat. She and Uraraka had ended up together, with Hado…
He shuddered, remembering Nejire's ambush of him. Mina wouldn't like that if she found out…
Actually, there's a lot of things she wouldn't like…
He was going to die sooner than everyone else in this room, besides Aizawa. There was a little girl somewhere out there that he had just let go, back to her awful life among criminals. A former classmate was out there, too, in a position to break society completely just by revealing himself. And his real parents had been taken by All For One.
On top of all that, he had all this normal schoolwork. Aren't things just going great? Oh, they're going fantastic, aren't they?
After the practical lesson, in which both he and Midoriya had forgotten how to swim and had to be rescued by Aizawa's capture scarf, he gave them a stern look. "You two are having much more trouble focusing than usual," he said. "This performance is poor. If it has anything to do with the stress from your work study…"
"N-no!" Midoriya protested.
"Do not pull us out of it, sir," Doko said, trying to make himself appear as straight-laced as possible. If he makes us stop, we'll never save Eri. "We can handle it. We'll pull it together. Right, Midoriya?"
"R-right."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow at them, and then nodded. "This is a busy time. I want to see the best out of you at all hours, especially since you're normally exemplary students. However, what I want and what I expect are two different things. You don't have to be firing on all cylinders. But I do need you both focused. If you're not focused…" he looked away from them, already walking off. "...How do you ever expect to accomplish the thing you want to do?"
They both gasped, eyes wide, and then looked at each other. Somehow, he'd known.
He was good at figuring these things out, their homeroom teacher.
…
Nighttime over the city.
Twinkling yellow lights, distant honking cars, rushing of trains on tracks. Normal things you'd hear and see.
Plus, two massive villains, rampaging through the streets, destroying everything in their path in an attempt to get at each other. A man, shirtless, at least twenty feet tall, and another person, with the body of a megalodon shark. Fighting. Ruthlessly. Two villains.
Tsuyu's heart was all aflutter as she leapt up onto the rock that Ochaco had floated, sailing into the air after their third-year companion, Nejire Hado.
Finding out that Nejire had wanted to recruit them for her work study had been a great moment for both of the 1-A girls. The moment was slightly dampened when she cited her main reasoning for asking them was that they "looked cute." Still, Tsuyu could only assume that Doko had already known, from when Togata had approached him about his work study, and that was why he had acted squirrelly around her at lunch. He'd wanted me to find out for myself. And now, here we are.
She angled her large eyes toward Ochaco for a moment, who was floating in mid-air next to her as they rushed toward the battle, surrounded by rocks. Her brunette companion had the hardest job of the three of them, at least from an endurance perspective. But it was Tsuyu who would have to deliver the finishing blow.
She thought she would be nervous. The villains they approached were massive. But they don't see us. We've practiced this move a hundred times by now. It's no different from usual.
Tsuyu felt a grin spread across her normally flat mouth. We got this! She crouched on her flying slab, ready to leap.
Nejire kicked with her shapely legs, one-two, and spun in midair, using her gyrating yellow waves to halt herself over the top of the villains. "Maximum output!" she sang. "GRING WAVE!"
Two spirals of glowing energy erupted from the girl's hands, her coils of blue hair atop her head twitching from the recoil. The energy blasted through the villains, splitting them apart and busting a deeper hole in the already-ruined building beneath them.
The villains stumbled, briefly dazed. "NOW!" Nejire called back to the first years.
Tsuyu leapt off of the slab and spun, sending her tongue through the air at max length. It struck against the rocks, pushing them all toward one direction. Her tongue was tough; it only hurt a little. Just a matter of timing…
"RELEASE!" Ochaco shouted, and Tsuyu finished her spin, pushing the rocks away with her tongue and raining them down onto the villains like a meteor shower. The two massive opponents were hit square in the head several times each, and fell to the ground, completely defeated. Knocked out.
Tsuyu felt her chest relax as she bounded lightly to the ground, using her frog-feet to land without injury. Ochaco floated down next to her, looking a little paler than normal but not too queasy.
"Great job, you two!" Nejire emitted soft waves from her hands and feet, letting her toes brush the ground and finally standing straight, landing like some kind of graceful fairy.
"I want to land like that," Uraraka grumbled. "Still, we were able to do what were supposed to, huh?"
"I wasn't nervous at all," Tsuyu said flatly. "I thought that I'd be."
Nejire continued to smile brightly. "And you guys looked great, too! Ryukyu, did you see, did you see?"
Their boss, the Dragon Heroine Ryukyu, had walked up to them in her human form. She'd been in charge of getting the civilians out of the way of the buildings, along with the police.
"I caught the tail end of it," Ryuku said with a coy grin. "I can see why Nejire wanted to recruit you two."
"Thank you for taking us on," Tsuyu and Ochaco said together, bowing.
"Still, I wonder why they were fighting?" Nejire put a gloved finger to her chin. "Because they had similar Quirks? That's so weird. Or was there a different reason? Ryukyu, do you know?"
"Various villain groups have been set against each other lately," the heroine said with a frown. "At first, we thought it was a simple power vacuum, left behind by All For One. And that may still be a part of it. But…we also have reason to believe that one or more larger groups are stoking this conflict. Circulating certain products. Getting ready for a large scheme."
Tsuyu felt a dark feeling over her brain. Outwardly, she had her same old expression, but on the inside?
"A larger scheme?" Nejire made an O with her mouth. "Like what?"
Ryukyu chuckled. "It's why I'm glad you brought me these two newbies, actually. Uraraka and Tsu will be able to help with this new matter."
"What new matter?" asked Ochaco, her eyebrow furrowed with concern.
"We've received a call from Sir Nighteye, All Might's old sidekick. He wants our agency to help his in an operation."
"Nighteye?" Tsuyu's eyes widened. "That's where Dokkun is having his work study…"
"And Deku, too," Ochaco said. "What kind of operation?"
"The investigation and siege of a designated villain group. The Eight Precepts of Death."
Tsuyu's blood ran cold.
"It's a big operation…because we have reason to believe that the yakuza have made a connection with the League of Villains."
…
Shigaraki stepped forward. "What a drab office."
Chisaki shrugged from the couch. "I'm a minimalist."
"Certainly. Tell me, what's with these tunnels? I felt like I was walking around in circles for thirty minutes. Feel like an ant down here beneath the ground."
"We don't have the luxury of being as flashy as you."
"Intricacies like this are how we continue to survive!" Mimic added. "So, anyway, down to business. That thing you said on the phone, did you mean it? You would join us?"
"...Under certain conditions," said Shigaraki. He sat down on the opposite couch, and put his foot up on the glass coffee table. "You guys want the name recognition of the League. We want more followers. As it happens, we can help each other."
"I said such a thing the first day we met, remember?" said Chisaki, slightly annoyed. "Also, get your foot off the table. That's filthy."
"Take your foot off the table, please," Shigaraki rasped. "That's what you should be saying. You should be the one bowing to me."
"Be that as it may," Chisaki said. "Tell me your conditions."
"First of all, the League will put itself under no one. We will do what we want, at the end of the day. But if it happens that we want to do the same thing as you…" Shigaraki shrugged, leaving his sentence hanging.
Chisaki's eyes narrowed. "You're suggesting a joint partnership."
"Indeed. Also, tell me your plan. I feel like that's a reasonable condition. I feel like I might…" Shigaraki began to reach into his jacket.
In an instant, Mimic's muscular arm burst from his small masked avatar, and Chronostasis jammed the barrel of his pistol to the back of Shigaraki's head. They both beared down upon him, threatening.
"Don't get any funny ideas," Chronostasis warned.
"What do you think you're doing, punk?" asked Mimic.
"I could ask you the same thing," Shigaraki snarled, unfazed by the gun. "What do you think YOU'RE doing, acting all high and mighty? One of the lives of your little underlings is nothing compared to the life of mine. Plus Compress's arm, as well. Those debts remain unpaid. That is why I ask for concessions."
"He has a point," Chisaki groaned. "Chrono, Mimic, back off. Like I said before, we've cut down each other's forces enough."
Reluctantly, the aide and the director backed away from Shigaraki.
"You weren't finished," said Chisaki.
"Right. As I was saying, I would like to know your plan. I believe I know a little bit of it already." Shigaraki reached into his jacket again, and pulled out the bullet. The red bullet that had struck Compress's arm. "It has something to do with this, right?"
Chisaki sighed. "Indeed. My team and I have developed bullets that affect a person's Quirk."
"They already exist, in the crime underworld," said Shigaraki. "My master told me all about the drug Trigger. You've been selling some of that around to various groups, haven't you?"
"That, and a bit of a prototype of our real product," said Chisaki. "You saw it in action that night in the warehouse. Bullets that can briefly disable a person's Quirk."
"The hero side has a chess piece that can do that…" Shigaraki muttered. "I encountered him at USJ. The effect goes for as long as he blinks."
"Yes, Eraser Head. We know of him in the underworld. He's sort of in the underworld himself. But we've only started selling these temporary-erasure bullets to generate interest in the black market. They are not the final product, not even close."
"So, it is true." Shigaraki leaned back into the couch, putting his arms up. "You're going to make bullets that erase someone's Quirk permanently."
"That's the plan."
"How?"
Chisaki took pause for a moment. His eye twitched. "It's quite scientific. We need not bog you down in the muddy details."
"Oh, but it MUST be based on someone's Quirk, right? Who is it?"
"We've told you plenty enough," Chronostasis said testily from behind. "All that should matter to you is the results. You want the heroes destroyed, don't you? What better way than to take their power from them? Once we get our product fully developed…"
"Yes, but you don't really care about the heroes, do you?" Shigaraki interrupted, looking back at Chisaki. "You think Quirks themselves are the disease. You'd shoot these bullets into everyone if you could."
Chisaki's eyes narrowed. "And? You imply that our needs differ in that regard, but I assure you they do not. The very society you despise and want to tear down has been built because of Quirks. Once we remove that, we can return to a normal world…"
"It's not enough to return to a normal world," Shigaraki snarled. "It's not enough to just take the power away from the heroes. I want them destroyed. I want them to die."
Chisaki shrugged again, infuriatingly. "Whether or not they live is not something I particularly care about. However, I can tell you that realizing that dream of yours will be significantly easier with our product on your side."
"So once this product is finished, you'll let us share it?"
The young head's eyes narrowed again. "If you prove your loyalty. As of now, I have no real reason to trust you. You're a loose cannon. To prove that this partnership is true, and to test to see if we can work together practically, I would like to take some of your number on for work at the facility."
Shigaraki clearly did not like that, as evident by his piercing gaze. "I assume you have some specific people in mind."
"I want Bubaigawara, Toga, and Kurogiri."
"Kurogiri is away on a separate mission. I would not be able to call him back, and even if I could, he is my closest and most indispensable piece. I would never let you have him right away. Trust goes both ways, remember?"
Overhaul waved a hand. "Of course. The boy, then. The newcomer to your group. He has an electricity Quirk, does he not?"
"What, you want him to power these fluorescent lights down here? I can't give you Kaminari. The master had other plans for him."
"But you're willing to concede Bubaigawara and Toga?"
"...Possibly."
From there, the rest was only haggling.
…
"Kirishima, look! You're on the news!" Sero exclaimed.
The red-haired boy turned. "Huh?"
"New hero Red Riot makes his debut! You saved some people in an alleyway from a villain with blades! That's crazy! Look, everyone's praising you!"
Kirishima scratched his neck, sheepish. "Heh, I guess they are…"
"And that's not all!" Mina chimed in, leaping from her desk. "Tsu-chan, Ochaco! You guys are on my phone, too!"
"Wait, really?" Jiro's eyes went wide. "I wanna see this." She pulled out her own phone, scrolling through news. Yao-momo hung over her shoulder, interested.
Doko exchanged a glance with Midoriya, across the room. They were both exhausted and worried. Meanwhile, Bakugo was steaming at the news that some people in the class had made their debut before him.
Mina was scrolling through her phone, reading the article about Tsuyu and Uraraka. "Two new heroines instrumental in stopping massive incident! Holy shit, those guys look big!"
Uraraka pushed her fingers together. "Well, we did have some help from Nejire-chan…"
"See, you're even calling her that, and not Hado-senpai!" Mina gasped, pointing. "Work studies must be crazy! Man, I wish I had gotten into one…"
Doko's eyes widened. He hadn't been looking at her, and she hadn't aimed the comment to him…but for a moment, it seemed like Mina had just…let her true feelings spill to the other girls. She never really said to me that she wanted to be in a work study. I mean, she implied it, but…
"Are you sure?" Sero asked. "I mean, Kirishima's gonna have a ton of work to catch up on."
"That's alright," the red-haired boy reassured. "They said they were gonna give me supplementary lessons. That's what they've been doing for the remedial pair, right Bakugo and Todoroki?"
Todoroki nodded. "Yeah."
Bakugo ground his teeth together. "If I had to take supplementary courses, I'd rather it be because I was doing the shit you're doing, Shitty Hair."
"Oh, obviously. I wasn't trying to imply otherwise. Say, are you okay, Bakugo? You haven't called me Shitty Hair in a while."
"FINE!" he barked.
"Still…" Mina whined. "I'd be willing to take on the extra work…Yao-momo could just tutor me again…"
"Everyone has their own individual limit when it comes to workload," Momo said primly, closing her eyes and pressing a hand to her chest. "However, I feel obliged to mention that as students, our studies should be a priority."
"I completely agree!" Iida barked, appearing out of nowhere.
Tsuyu made a strange noise behind Doko.
For some reason, he felt compelled to turn around and look at her. With Mina out of her seat and chatting to others, he could see the girl who sat two seats behind him directly.
Tsuyu was looking at her phone. Her eyelids had slightly lowered over her large eyes. Her usually flat mouth was twitching, ever so slightly.
"Something wrong?" Doko asked. He didn't know why he asked. Randomly, he noticed that Uraraka had taken notice too, and was looking at Tsuyu with concern. Mina had gotten distracted, and indeed…no one else in the classroom was looking at them.
"They…" Tsuyu swallowed, letting out a strange croak again. It sounded almost like a sob. "They called me…"
"They called us cute," Uraraka interrupted quickly, seeming someone panicked. "Don't you see, right there, Tsu?" She pointed her finger at her friend's phone, seemingly to a word in the article. "They called us cute. So there's nothing to worry about, r-right?"
"Tsu." Doko leaned over Mina's desk, trying to get closer. "What did they call you?"
"Indifferent." Tsuyu blinked her eyes, looking directly at Doko. "They called me indifferent."
"Read it. I don't understand."
Her eyes went back down to the phone. Bathed in the blue light from the screen, it seemed like they were glistening. "One young heroine in particular, dubbed the Rainy Season hero, Froppy, has caught our attention," Tsuyu read. "While the other young heroines involved in the incident solved it with the usual spunky smiles and energy that the public has come to expect from the Ryukyu agency, and indeed most heroines working today, Froppy shows off a flat, indifferent expression in the midst of battle, as if none of this matters to her. This in and of itself is not a bad thing. Certain people have argued in the past that heroes appearing disinterested or bored may actually put them at ease, as it makes the situation seem less dire than it is. However, it has been proven by many social experiments and tests that the best way for a hero to put the public at ease is to smile and display happiness and spirit. In these times, especially with All Might gone, do we really NEED more young heroines that do not display these qualities?"
"Ridiculous," Ochaco said as Tsuyu lowered the phone. "They're just trying to get more clicks, stir up more worry because that's how they make money. Don't you worry about it."
"Sexist," Doko muttered.
The two of them looked up at him. "What?"
"It's sexist," he said, louder. A few of the other classmates had noticed them now, noticed what they were talking about. "Probably written by some dude who likes to see all the girl heroes happy all the time. A you're cuter when you're smiling type of situation. It's gross."
"But they have a point," Tsuyu croaked. Mina and Momo and a few others were hearing every word now. "With All Might gone…should I NOT be smiling more? If that's part of my duty, as one of the ones who must take his place? Isn't that all of our duty?" She looked up at Doko, and he saw that yes, she was crying a little. "Dokkun, I know it isn't easy for you to smile. Or Midoriya, for that matter. Something's been weighing you both down these past couple of days…weeks…maybe since the start, I don't know. But you at least have an excuse. And even with that excuse you still power through. I just don't smile because…I don't feel like it." Her words fell flat, cold. "What a lousy excuse for a heroine I am."
The room went silent, oppressed with discomfort.
"Tsu-chan…" Mina muttered. "That's not true…"
"Not true at all," Momo echoed. "You're one of the best in the class! Certainly better than me."
"Doesn't it say something that Hado-senpai chose you?" Jiro piped up.
"Yeah," Mina added, agreeing. "Really."
Even with this, Tsuyu's expression did not change, and she did not meet any of their eyes.
The bell rang. They heard Aizawa's footsteps approaching outside.
Somewhat dejectedly, Iida said, "Let us all get to our seats…everyone."
Reluctantly, Uraraka and Mina sat down, the latter blocking Doko's view of Tsuyu as she did so.
Doko exchanged a concerned glance with his girlfriend. Her black-and-gold eyes blinked back, seeming lost and confused.
Very slowly, he turned around, as Aizawa came into the room.
Class A continued their day, but something was hanging over them now. Maybe it was multiple somethings. The stress from the work study students. The feeling of frustration from Bakugo and Todoroki. The general pressure from having to work forward and fill All Might's gap.
And the shadow of Denki Kaminari.
Doko was unsure what the future held. I…I'm afraid…
Eri's face seemed to swim in front of his eyes, even as Mina tried to get his attention, snapping her fingers.
Little did he, Midoriya, Kirishima, Tsuyu, and Ochaco know, their work had only just begun.
…
I was very unhappy with how canon treated Tsuyu and Ochaco in the yakuza arc. I'm going to be doing something more with their characters.
Next time, an unpleasant talk…on multiple fronts.