Paths Of A Hero
Summary: Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. So why is it blurring now, as Eraserhead tries to keep his head low while unwittingly gaining 20+ kids, at least three Pro Hero friends and seems to have caught the eye of All Might himself, all the while his past is persistently trying to catch up to him?
Neither the National Public Safety Commission nor the Hero Public Safety Commission were very happy with how the Sports Festival had ended. In fact, both commissions have expressed how much happier they would have been if Eraserhead would have been crippled or downed by the injuries he had suffered at USJ so he'd finally be out of their hair, especially with the uproar from society as the video of him 'roasting' the audience full of Pro Heroes for their behavior towards the students during the one on one fights.
Hizashi felt a great amount of guilt and shame as he thought back to his own actions that day and how his behavior could have affected either of the kids. Uraraka could have lost her confidence. Bakugo could have lost his concentration and actually hurt her with his Quirk.
He tried his best not to think about how he'd felt when he'd seen the cuffed and muzzled teen tied to a pole on the champion's platform.
He also tried his best not to think about Eraserhead and where he was going now with Tsukaushi and All Might-san.
The same man that had given the order to arrest Eraserhead on sight not even a month ago had raged at them all for allowing the Vigilante to make fools of them all on national television and then get away, but a new guy had come in with him and he, for one, was pleased that they now at least finally had proof that Eraserhead wasn't Quirkless and that his Quirk was, indeed, the power to temporarily delete other's Quirks. No one was quite sure of the mechanics behind it, but the second someone had suggested it might have something to do with his eyes because Endeavor's Quirk stopped working after he had looked, Hizashi had found himself traveling down memory lane and it wasn't exactly pleasant.
Especially when others noticed and he was forced to reveal what had him so pale all of a sudden.
And so the story of the Missing Sports Festival Champion from fifteen years ago came to light once again.
"I don't remember his name," he'd said as he began the story. "But he was a Gen Eds kid. He placed third in the first challenge, second in the second one and then won first place. He'd not used his Quirk once during the entire event until I met him in the ring for the final round. His eyes had flashed red the second the bell announced the beginning of the fight and I couldn't use my Quirk. He charged towards me and I tried to defend myself, but I found myself on my way to being knocked out with a single right hook. He's the first and only Gen Eds kid to win the entire thing. He was supposed to transfer into the Hero Course next week, I think. Had a lot of offers despite not having a single class of Heroics Basics or anything. Everyone wanted the kid who knocked down all the stereotypes and set a new record, especially since he'd fought through the whole thing basically Quirkless. It's in his honor that the Quirkless can now apply to the school and take the entrance exam. However, he went missing the night before the official final transfer. His old homeroom teacher ended up being in league with some dangerous villain that wanted his Quirk or eyes or something. Bastard kidnapped him and shipped him off. A month later, he was declared dead. But it was all kept on the down low, so I'm not surprised none of you know about it."
And none of them had, except Sensoji, formerly of Class B from Hizashi's generation. He'd been one of the many, many arrogant kids with flashy Quirks that the Gen Eds kids had knocked down and climbed over to reach his goal. Hizashi will never forget standing on that second place platform looking at the determined, incredulous, incredibly happy boy who'd won, who held the gold medal as though it was something precious, who'd not cared for the cheer of the crowd but had instead cared only about joining the Hero Course so he could help people. Hizashi had wanted to become his friend. He'd even made plans of all the places he'd take his new friend, of how they could train together, walk home together. Maybe eat lunch on the rooftop together, like he'd already been doing with his other dear friend, Shirakumo Oboro. (He tried not to think of that friend. That would only bring him more pain and distress.)
He'd never gotten the chance.
That boy, Aizawa Shouta as Nezu revealed after 'consulting the records' - as though UA's rat overlord didn't have a perfect memory and as if he'd ever forget one of his two greatest failures to protect the students of his school - had been snatched away from them before that could happen.
They'd all thought him dead, but now a new hope was born that maybe he hadn't died, after all.
Because, in the end, it took a lot to stand up to two Hero Course classes and all those other classes, to all those students, and come out on top without having a flashy Quirk.
Aizawa was smart. Hizashi had easily seen that. He could have found a way to escape, eventually, but was he really Eraserhead?
Why hadn't he come back, if he'd escaped?
Of course, Quirk similarity wasn't solid proof of anything. In fact, they still can't be sure if Eraserhead even had a Quirk, because they were all still only working on theories, despite what some would like to claim. No police officer, let alone detective, would accept such circumstantial evidence to base a case on.
However, another lead had come up, which had Yamada going with All Might in his true form and Detective Tsukauchi to the house of a man he'd never thought he'd see again. Simple because the man had retired and Hizashi had never been close to him.
The lead, as it turns out, was a piece of material that belonged to Eraser's capture weapon. Scientists have carefully studied it and were baffled by the craftsmanship behind it, the materials so expertly woven that there was not a single flaw in the design. The fatigue they'd discovered on the scarf-like weapon shows that the thing had been in use for years and only after the fight with that Nomu thing had it finally started fraying at the seams.
The piece was only about two inches long, but the scientists have run various tests on it. It was heat and electricity resistant. It didn't absorb water. Acids and bases had next to no effect on it. They hadn't managed to find anything sharp or hard enough to cut it. Even lasers didn't work, only singed the material a bit! And they'd used enough force to pull on both ends that could tow an airplane and yet it had only started tearing when they went beyond, Plus Ultra style. And that was on two measly inches of the material.
No wonder no one had ever escaped Eraser after they were secured by the capture weapon.
Unfortunately, after discovering the materials used, the scientists and weapons/support items specialist have managed to place the maker of the capture weapon. Because that had been registered and prepared for official pick-up papers from Aizawa, fifteen years ago, but none of the forms went through for obvious reasons.
Kronos, AKA Tsukihino Shikaku, former head of the Support Department at UA and teacher of the third years, one of the best support items designers and makers in the country, was the one who'd made the capture weapon. Because of fucking course he was.
Yamada didn't know why he had to accompany the Number One Hero and his detective friend on this little excursion to Tsukihino-sensei's place. He had practically never talked to the man. Kronos had retired not long after Hizashi had started his first year at UA. He figured it was because he was closest to Eraser, having even given him his 'Vigilante' name. In truth, Hizashi had given him a Hero name, certain he'd be able to convince the Vigilante to change sides.
One might wonder how Hizashi even knew Eraserhead. Their meeting hadn't been by accident in the least.
In fact, it had been quite by design. Hizashi's design.
It had happened during his second year at UA. A few weeks after the Incident in Tasomiya. Hizashi had been there, as had Sensoji and Nemuri. He'd been teamed up with Sensoji, working under a Hero team known for their powerful attacks and strong emitter Quirks, the Buster Union. They'd wanted his voice and its destructive power. They'd been combat oriented and Hizashi had had nothing against that. He needed to let off some steam with screaming at the top of his voice every once in a while.
Nemuri had been working under His Purple Highness in Purple Agency and had recruited Oboro, their mutual friend, Hizashi's classmate from 2-A, Hero name Loud Cloud. He'd worked there for about two months.
Only he hadn't been working alone, exactly.
It had taken Oboro a lot of time before he decided to trust Hizashi with the fact that he had, in fact, befriended a Vigilante. A nameless one, about their age, only just starting out like them though the guy already had about a year of experience out on the streets. Oboro had really liked him and had insisted the other had a true 'heart of a Hero' and was determined he'd somehow bring him in to His Purple Highness and convince his boss to accept the kid as a trainee and help him get a license. Hizashi had not been sure if Shirakuma was pulling his leg with that, but eventually he'd come to see how good this Vigilante actually was.
On the day a huge villain who stockpiled Quirk-powers within his body and then used them as projectiles attacked Tasomiya, the Vigilante that will soon come to be known as Eraserhead had shown his true colors. He'd taken the villain down all by himself, when a team of Pros and His Purple Highness, and four Heroes in training interns, had been batted away like flies. Eraserhead, still unnamed, had stopped the rampage, saved a group of kids from a daycare and their teacher and had even tried saving Shirakumo when he'd realized Loud Cloud was still stuck under a fallen building and not responding. He'd only run when the police arrived at the scene because he wouldn't have been arrested.
Shirakuma had died on impact. No one could do anything. The villain had refused to talk but there were enough witness reports that he'd been shipped off to Tartarus for a life sentence. His Purple Highness could never return to active Hero work, but he kept his agency going for another few years. He'd kept it going mostly so Nemuri would have something to fall back on while she starts her own agency and finds her way in the world of Heroes.
The people of Tasomiya never forgot Eraserhead's deeds. That's why, to this day, people there were so uncooperative whenever there is an Eraserhead 'sighting'.
For about a month, though, future Pro Hero Present Mic had hated that Vigilante and had blamed him for Oboro's death. Oboro, his best friend, the only one, before Nemuri had joined their friendship group, who had tolerated Hizashi when he lost control of his Quirk in excitement or fear when he spotted a bug. If that Vigilante hadn't been there, Oboro would have lived, or so he would think.
Then he actually ran into the guy on one of his patrols in Tasomiya, only to find him feeding stray cats, helping old ladies cross the street, walking lost kids home, fighting bad guys and just helping the people in general. And everyone was just so grateful but he always just awkwardly shrugged it off. When a little boy he'd saved once before tried to get an autograph, the Vigilante had told him he should save that for the real Heroes, the ones who risk everything every day to keep them all safe. As though the guy didn't do the same day and night.
He'd returned to his usual night shifts only after Hizashi managed to wrangle him back into a semi-functional style of living instead of wasting away in his grief of not being able to save Oboro after their third meeting like that.
They bonded, telling each other their experiences with the cloud boy. They had both viewed him as a best friend and a brother they'd never had. They really formed an unbreakable bond as they mourned their lost friend. Eventually he gave Eraserhead his name and they even exchanged contact information, sort of. That gadget Eraser's using is really something else and the guy claims to have designed it himself, as well as done most of the programming. It's about that time that Midnight, just about to graduate, also joined in their circle. Eraser had been a bit wary of her at first, but they, too, soon got on like a house on fire. They became an inseparable trio when the two soon to be Pros were out and about in the later hours of the day or had night shifts.
Midnight wasn't completely sold on the idea of Eraser as something more than a Vigilante she occasionally joked around with until the guy had accidentally spilled that he really liked cats. Nemuri had immediately pulled out her own phone and showed him dozens of pictures of Sushi and told him all about her, only for the two of them to watch in shock as happiness and sadness warred on Eraser's visible features. (Yes, they'd known him well enough by then to, most of the time, be able to read his expressions even with what little of his face they could see.)
It came even more as a shock to learn that Eraser was the one who had given Sushi to Oboro after taking the cat in from a downpour but having no home for the darling. Oboro, though, had failed to inform him that he didn't exactly have the means to take care of it, either, and had taken it in, bringing it to school until Kayama fell in love with Sushi, named her after Oboro's favorite food and adopted the sweet kitten. Now they knew where Oboro's knowledge about cat-care came from and why it kept getting extended each day despite having been pretty bad at it in the beginning.
After that, Nemuri took to practically spamming Eraserhead with, what they called, 'daily Sushi'. By then, Nemuri was as protective of Eraser as Hizashi was. And not just because they were starting to see him as family, like they saw each other and like how they used to see Oboro.
No, Eraserhead was also someone who had been incredibly important to Oboro, who had probably even known the Vigilante's true identity, especially with how insistent he was that the guy would be a great Hero. Oboro had wanted to bring him out into the light, had wanted to keep him safe and keep him close, to be Heroes together. And while Mic and Midnight could clearly see Eraser preferred the shadows, they wanted to keep him safe and close, too. He was a part of Oboro's story and they never wanted it to be forgotten.
The fact that he was also such a sweetheart under the gruff exterior he showed the rest of the world wasn't helping them from not falling into protective sibling habits, especially as he was the youngest in their group.
Some other Heroes came along and joined the unofficial Eraserhead Protection Squad - not that the guy had needed protecting, until USJ; Eraserhead was more often than not the one saving Heroes from tough situations - others saw him as a menace. Some needed some time to get around to the idea of him, like Ingenium. Cops liked Eraser, too.
For years, Eraserhead had been this nameless shadow out on the streets that just breathed reassurance when you caught a glimpse of him, knowing everything will be alright. Because the guy was as tough as a cockroach and just as hard to get rid of or take down.
Now, after USJ and his sudden appearance at the Sports Festival, they knew he had his limits, too - or rather, they were forced to see them instead of ignoring them and pretending he was just the ghost in the night, untouchable and always there to have your back when you need him - and they may even have a name. A face. A face Hizashi had thought he would never see again, a missed opportunity at friendship.
He wasn't sure what to think about all of this, or what he wanted it all to be. Yes, it would be great to have an identity for his best friend, the last brother from a different mother. If he knew, he could do better at protecting him. But, at the same time, Aizawa Shouta was a ... sore spot, kind of, a regret. Did Hizashi really want to have anything associating with regret also associating with Eraserhead?
Would it change how he saw one of the most stubborn, caring, competent men he's ever known? To know this guy had once been kidnapped and cost one of UA's best assets and teachers his eyes?
Why hadn't he come back, if he was really Aizawa? Surely he'd heard about Kronos' forced retirement from everything. Did he not care?
Just thinking Eraser could be like that had him in turmoil.
Thankfully, he had All Might and Tsukauchi to distract him.
"-I'm just saying that the name 'Aizawa' sounds familiar to me, as though I've heard it somewhere before," the detective was saying and Hizashi locked onto it so he can escape his own thoughts'
"Maybe you just watched the Sports Festival and forgot? I mean, the commentator back then wasn't really as exciting and engaging as I am, but, then again, it was just your ordinary teacher, not an experienced radio host."
"No, I actually think I've heard the name Aizawa somewhere before, too," Yagi said with a shake of his head. "And it couldn't have been the news or anything. You heard what Principal Nezu and those guys from the Hero Commission said; the kidnapping had never made it to the news channels."
"Yeah, I fucking know," the voice Hero couldn't help but growl. He'd been quite disappointed to see how the school's image had been more important than a kid's life. And they hadn't learned from their lesson a year later with Oboro, either. Maybe that's why Aizawa, if he was indeed Eraserhead, never went back. But Eraserhead wasn't bitter. The guy was actually driven by logic, so he'd probably rationalize it all away and say it was only logical not to bring down the school's image when the future of Heroics was more important. Though he doubted Eraser would feel the same now, if a 1-A kid was involved. Or any kid, for that matter, but he'd kind of publicly claimed 1-A as his and boy, if the little rugrats hadn't been thrilled by that.
"I guess I can just check the database when I get back to the precinct later," Tsukauchi mused as they finally stopped in front of the right house. "Here we are. Tsukihino Shikaku's address. I only hope Kronos will be in the mood to entertain guests and answer questions."
"I'm sure he will," All Might proclaimed as he puffed up into his muscle form. "Retired or not, no Hero would hinder an investigation that may lead to a lost child!"
"Don't bet on it," Hizashi muttered to himself but stood there beside the two other men as All Might knocked on the door. These two didn't know that Kronos didn't give two fucks about the usual Hero standards. People with time-related Quirks rarely did, because they usually had the ability to see either future or past shit deeds that the Heroes who do follow such standards could have or had done. Kronos especially was jaded. He could see both future and past, even if the time frame he worked with wasn't all that wide. He'd been known as the most strict and terrifying teacher in UA when Mic had first enrolled.
When they waited for a whole minute without response, All Might knocked again - "Maybe he hadn't heard!" - finally gaining signs of life from within the house. "I'm coming, I'm coming! Don't get your knickers in a twist!" Followed by more grumbling, it made Yamada tempted to laugh. Man oh man, Kronos was even more of a grouch that he'd thought! Was that even possible? Seemed like it!
Appeased, All Might stepped a bit away from the door and the three men waited for the elder to finally unlock and open his door. Unlike other people of his generation, like Gran Torino or Recover Girl, Kronos hadn't lost much in height. He also looked as strong as the last time Hizashi had seen him, back when he was a student, which really came as a surprise. Kronos also moved without any aids, despite his old age and the fact that he was blind.
But what were eyes to someone with a Quirk that allowed them to see things in their own mind just before they happened?
"Ah, a detective, a cockatoo and All Might. Or should I say Yagi Toshinori?" That had them all choking on their own surprise, All Might even going as far as spitting out blood and losing his muscle form. Kronos did not look impressed in the least.
"How did you know that?" All Might demanded, voice on edge and the look on his face one of panic. His eyes darted around, as if trying to see
"That would be telling, now wouldn't it," Kronos mused with amusement before stepping aside to indicate to them to please come in. Hizashi was wondering if they should. It was kind of creepy, all of this. A man that can see into your future, even if it's just the next five minutes? Yeah, no, that's not his cup of tea. Did Eraser really put up with this? If he was Aizawa Shouta, that is. The old retired Hero lead them into a small living room, which was nicely furnished and had little things littered all around. None of them are a hindrance to the blind man when he could still 'see' in his own way, so why bother changing his lifestyle, right? Yagi was a bit awkward settling in while Tsukauchi ignored it with the familiar ease of a detective on a job. Hizashi just didn't care, or tried not to. "What can I do for you fine gentlemen on this day?"
"I'm not sure if you've heard about the USJ Incident, or, if you have, how much-"
"I don't follow Hero news," the former UA teacher interrupted, to which the policeman just nodded.
"Then I'll spare you the details." Tsukauchi took out the evidence bag holding the piece of the capture weapon they'd found at USJ. "We just need one thing from you, sir. If you could possibly tell us what this is?"
Kronos reached out and took the evidence bag, zipping it open with the same ease as though he could still actually see. The moment he had the piece of metallic cloth between his fingers, though, the man slumped down his own two seater to the floor, making all three younger men jump to their feet and rush towards him. "Sir, are you alright?!" All Might asked urgently, but Kronos didn't seem to hear him. The man was shaking.
"It's my capture weapon."