Chapter 13: Troublesome Trio

A/N: IMPORTANT: Alright, so I've had a few comments both in AO3 and saying that the lack of action has been boring. I'm sorry but there won't be any action scenes till UA. Just basic shenanigans, canon-divergence events, and the training spars. Please bear with me because once we get to UA, I can promise you, the action part is just going to get better!

"Izuku, can you get that?" Inko asked her son as the bell rang. Izuku nodded and stood up from the sofa. He walked to the door and opened it. "Detective Tsukauchi!" Izuku exclaimed with a shocked expression.

"Ah Izuku, how are you doing?" Naomasa asked and added in a lower tone, "And how is your training with Yagi going?"

Izuku spluttered, "How did you-"

"I'm a detective, it's what I do," Naomasa said with a proud voice.

"Oh, so you are the friend that Yagi was telling us about, who can help us with the Aldera case. What a coincidence!" Watanabe said as he peered from behind Izuku.

"H-how?" Naomasa asked.

Watanabe gave a wicked grin, clearly pleased with the shock on Naomasa's face, "Well, Yagi-sensei told us that he'll get his friend on the Aldera case. While he didn't tell us that you were his friend, he did mention that his friend agreed to help. So when I saw you, I was a bit surprised but assumed that sensei's friend just helped you out but didn't care to come. However, after you mentioned our training with Yagi-sensei, your relation with him became obvious."

"Are you sure, you want to be a pro-hero? Being a detective would be good for you too," Naomasa deadpanned.

Watanabe laughed, "While that would be fun, my quirk would be more useful in disaster situations. Ultimately, my goal was never to become a pro-hero, it was to help people as much as I can. Being a pro-hero just has a lot of added advantages."

Naomasa nodded, that was a good answer. "Izuku, who is it?" Inko called from the kitchen.

"Oh, it's Detective Tsukauchi mom!" Izuku replied. Immediately there was a crash in the kitchen. Watanabe gave his cousin a puzzled look.

"Ah come in Detective. Come in. You've been waiting outside for so long," Natsume appeared with a welcoming smile.

"No, no it's alright. I was just having a chat with Izuku and Watanabe," Naomasa replied with a smile.

"Well come in, then. No point in standing there," Natsume said warmly.

Tsukauchi nodded politely and stepped in. Natsume led him to the living room, where Ryuzen and Inko were already waiting. "Please have a seat," Ryuzen offered.

"Yes, certainly," Tsukauchi said and sat down, "Where is Izuku and Watanabe?"

"Uh, they are just kids, so I didn't want them to be here and listen to all this," Inko replied.

"That is fair but unfortunately the case has to do with them, so they should hear this too," Tsukauchi said with a grim face.

Inko looked like she wanted to argue but Ryuzen stopped her, "Watanabe, Izuku! Come here please,"

"Yes, dad?" Watanabe asked as the two entered the room.

"The detective would like you to be present to listen to what he has to say as well," Ryuzen informed.

"Oh, uh, ok," Watanabe spoke for both of them as they quickly took a seat.

"Alright, so I came here to inform you that we have most of the evidence ready. Therefore, I would like you to file the case immediately. I have brought the paperwork too, all it needs is the guardians' signature,"

"Wait, wait. Why are we rushing all of a sudden?" Natsume interrupted.

Tsukauchi sighed, "Well, I assume you all know about the recent article on quirk discrimination?"

"Yes," All of them replied. Tsukauchi caught Ryuzen glancing at Izuku and Watanabe through the corner of his eye. Brushing it aside, he continued, "Since the article has generated so much public support for those with weak quirks and has caused the public's trust in-hero society and schools, we think that lodging the case immediately would help us gain the upper hand immediately, in the court."

Ryuzen seemed to give Watanabe and Izuku an approving smile and replied, "But that would mean that we, as a family, would be in the limelight, if the case garners a lot of media attention, which I think it will,"

"Yes, unfortunately, that's a given,"

"I'll sign the paperwork right now, then. We have no other choice and I don't want to let Aldera or any other schools get away scot-free," Ryuzen replied with a sigh.

Tsukauchi nodded, "Another thing. Bakugou is part of this case too. Can you talk to his parents and ask whether they'd be ok with presenting him as a witness. It would let charges against him be dropped too, since he's a minor,"

Inko nodded, "Of course. But we don't want to lodge a separate case against him. Mitsuki has promised to set him straight."

"In that case, I'll tell the judge that you have settled it outside of the court, if you agree, that is?"

Inko smiled sadly, "Well, I don't want to let him get off scot-free after all he did to Izuku... But since Izuku wants to forgive him and Mitsuki has promised to teach Bakugou to be a good person, I'll let it slide."

Tsukauchi nodded, "I understand. Now here's the paperwork. If you could sign in the marked places, I just need to talk with these two privately for a moment."

Natsume looked puzzled but nodded. Tsukauchi smiled and stood up straight, he gestured Izuku and Watanabe to follow him.

"I assume Mr. Hattori knows you two wrote the article?" Tsukauchi asked. Izuku and Watanabe nodded.

"Good, at least you thought of telling one of your guardians,"

"More, like dad found out," Watanabe said with a weak smile, "We weren't going to tell him originally,"

Tsukauchi let out a deep breath, "Anyway, what I wanted to tell you, is to be careful while posting on the forum. Use a VPN or something. One of my colleagues almost traced you, because he thought it would be fun. Luckily, your data was deleted before the trace finished."

"Deleted? By whom?" Izuku asked.

"Wait, do you guys know who published your article?" Tsukauchi asked.

Izuku shook his head while Watanabe enthusiastically replied, "Yagi-sensei said his friend would help us. Did you publish it then? It makes sense since you could have also deleted our trace from the police station," Watanabe rambled but Tsukauchi cut him off with a chuckle, "No, no it wasn't me. Although I suppose it was a logical guess."

"Then, who was it?" Izuku asked.

Tsukauchi smiled, "I think, I won't tell you. You will meet him though, soon. He's rather interested in you,"

"Who?" Both Izuku and Watanabe asked, agitated.

"You'll find out when you'll find out," Tsukauchi replied with a grin.

"Hmph," Watanabe grunted while Izuku became disappointed.

Naomasa gave a small laugh, "Alright, on a more serious note, we need to talk about the case."

"Why?" Izuku asked.

"Court etiquette," Tsukauchi replied with a sigh.

"But we are minors, we wouldn't be expected to know court etiquette right?" Watanabe questioned.

"Well, no. But you still need to be ready in case their lawyer wants to ask you questions."

"Buuuut, I thought you aren't allowed to question minors too much in court," Izuku pointed out.

"Don't think that would stop them considering what else they have done," Watanabe deadpanned. Tsukauchi nodded in response, "Anyway, your lawyer will be preparing you, so you won't have to worry about that for now," Tsukauchi gave the two cousins an assuring smile.

"Fine," Izuku said. "Don't worry about it," Watanabe added with a chaotic smile.

Tsukauchi gulped.

After Naomasa had finished the paperwork with Izuku and Watanabe's parents, he had explained everything about the case to them. Once they had wrapped things up, Naomasa had left but not before reminding Izuku and Watanabe not to tell anyone about the case. Watanabe had, however, bargained with him and gotten permission to tell Kaminari.

Presently, the two cousins were in their room after they had had lunch.

"I'm glad Tsukauchi-san agreed that we can tell Kaminari about the case," Izuku said, smiling happily.

"Well, he said that Yagi-sensei had already told him that Kaminari knows about the article. So, I'm guessing he knew that Kaminari can be trusted," Watanabe replied.

"Yeah, I guess-"

"Alternatively, he might have felt sorry for you," Watanabe interrupted.

Izuku glared at him and Watanabe snickered, "Sorry, it was just a joke!"

"You have a rather dark sense of humor," Izuku commented.

"Eh, so I've been told by Kaminari," Watanabe laughed, "Oh, Kaminari just replied. He's free for a video chat right now,"

"Oh, nice! We'll use the desktop so we can both talk together," Izuku said.

Watanabe nodded and called Kaminari.

"Yo, what's up?" Kaminari received the call.

"Just wanted to tell you that the Aldera case is ready. Our parents signed the paperwork to file the case,"

"Oh, nice. Did they give you the court date yet?" Kaminari asked.

"No, the detective just came around a few hours back and got our parents to sign the paperwork. He thinks that we can use the article to gain the public's support,"

"Still not calling it your article?" Kaminari asked with a grin.

"Well, I- I mean, it's just," Izuku spluttered, embarrassed.

Kaminari laughed at Izuku's response, "Anyway, when are you guys starting class then?"

"Well, the case is going to take up some time, so next week is off the table. I guess we'll have to talk with the principal and explain why we'll be starting later than expected," Izuku replied.

"How's school going though?" Watanabe asked his friend.

"Pretty good for me," Kaminari replied, "But the bullies are a bit, well, out of control, you could say,"

Watanabe groaned, "Of course they are. The teachers are punishing them though, right?"

"Obviously. They have always punished the bullies. And now that your article has put schools under the microscope, there's no way that they'll let bullies go unpunished," Kaminari pointed out. Izuku nodded in agreement with that.

"I can't wait to see the look on all the bullies' faces once I get back," Watanabe scowled.

"Oh, no need, I've already taught them a lesson," Kaminari grinned back chaotically.

"Nice! What did you do?" Watanabe asked.

"Wait, are we really going to ignore Kaminari's chaotic grin?" Izuku asked.

"What about it?" Both of them asked simultaneously.

Izuku sweatdropped, "Which one of you rubbed off on whom?"

"Obviously Watanabe!" Kaminari immediately exclaimed.

"Wha- hold on now! Why am I the only one at fault here?"

"Really?" Both Izuku and Kaminari asked rhetorically.

"You made me write this article with you!"

"You introduced me as your deputy against bullies when you are absent at school!"

"You broke Bakugou's arms!"

"You broke the turtle guy's nose!"

"You-"

"Fine, fine, I get it!" Watanabe resigned. Kaminari and Izuku snickered. "Anyway tell me, how did you teach the bullies a lesson?"

Kaminari laughed sheepishly, "Well, they tried to corner me too. So I gave a fake scream and used 1 million volts to shock all of them,"

"And turned into an idiot in the process no doubt?" Watanabe deadpanned.

"Uh, right, hehe." Kaminari turned red with embarrassment.

"Wait, wait. Kaminari, why would you turn into an idiot if you use your quirk?" Izuku questioned with his analytical mind at the ready.

"Oh, right. My maximum output right now is 1 million volts but if I use it, my brain short circuits, and I turn into an idiot,"

"Well... why don't you just control your output then? I mean just 220 volts is enough to fry a human," Izuku pointed out.

Kaminari and Watanabe stayed quiet for some time but eventually, Kaminari broke the silence, "Watanabe you couldn't think of that!"

"Well, I mean I'm not that good at finding strengths of quirks. I'm mainly focused on weaknesses. Plus, I have helped you get better with your studies, so can we call it even?" Watanabe offered.

"I am thankful for the help man, but how come neither of us thought of this before. Instead, you thought of ways to murder me!"

"Uhhh," Watanabe spoke as Izuku narrowed his eyes at his cousin suspiciously, "Hey it was just me pointing out your weaknesses," Watanabe tried to defend himself.

"By killing him?" Izuku asked with narrowed eyes.

"In my defense... well I don't have a defense on that actually. It was just fun,"

"You're really dark Watanabe," Izuku said.

"Says the guy who helped me make some of those plans."

This time it was Izuku's turn to be stared at by Kaminari, "You what!?"

"I didn't know that it was about a real person. We were just discussing about someone with an electrification quirk," Izuku replied.

"Wait, I thought Izuku could only analyze strengths and Watanabe can only analyze weaknesses?" Kaminari asked confused.

"Given the time we can do both. But if you put us on the spot, that's how our skill goes," Watanabe replied.

"Says the guy who couldn't tell me to limit my electric discharge," Kaminari pouted.

"All right, all right, let's just call it a tie," Izuku offered.

"Yeah that goes with me," Kaminari grinned, "Anyway gotta go now. Unlike you two lucky guys, I have homework."

"Fair enough. Talk to ya later," Watanabe said.

"Bye," Izuku said as they hung up, "By the way Watanabe, have you made murder plans for me?" Izuku asked.

"You don't want to talk about this, trust me," Watanabe said as he sipped on his glass of juice.

Later that day, at night, on the forums

Hey, you guys saw the news on that school?
WOW_wow_WOW

Aldera right?
LightAssassin

Yeah. Apparently, a family charged them with abuse, child negligence, and turning a blind eye to bullying. The police filed the case on behalf of the guardians. That's what the official report says.
Sleep_whatajoke

I have a feeling the police rejected the case at first though.
LightAssassin

Huh wdym
Sleep_whatajoke

Well, I think they might have rejected the case at first but after the article caused public outrage, they accepted the case. I mean isn't the timing a bit too perfect.
Lightassassin

I guess so. But they would still need time to gather evidence. It's only been one week since the article. That's too little of a time to get enough evidence.
WOW_wow_WOW

Well yeah, Ig but maybe the family already had evidence. Or maybe the police plan to get info by the court date?
LightAssassin

Nah man, other people on the forum already pointed out that police are also discriminated against too. So I don't think they would reject a discrimination case. It makes no sense.
WOW_wow_WOW

Ok, the main thing is, the court will probably simply just give a fine. We can't have them just get off so easily. I mean they allowed quirk-induced bullying for god's sake!
Sleep_whatajoke

Yeah, that's true. But I think the public is going to pressurize for a worse punishment.
WOW_wow_WOW

I agree with that point. I don't think the judge would be very keen to have people riot because of him.
Sleep_whatajoke

Wait wait. We don't even know if everyone will be keen to put pressure on Aldera.
LightAssassin

Have you seen the rest of the forum and the news? The media especially is covering Aldera closely since it's the first school to be charged with the things the article pointed out.
WOW_wow_WOW

"Well, our article has done its job!" Watanabe exclaimed proudly.

"Phew," Izuku sighed, "I thought people would be too fixated on the other results from the article and wouldn't care about Aldera,"

"Still, for the case details to be leaked within two hours of filing is scary!" Watanabe said.

"Well, I suppose it makes sense. I mean people are hawk-eyed at present, ready to call out anyone who's made a mistake," Izuku replied.

"True, the media is reporting non-stop about the Aldera case. I'm pretty sure some of them fabricated parts of it."

"Unfortunately, the parts they fabricated are also true," Izuku replied with a sad smile. Watanabe didn't reply to that and instead looked away from his cousin. He didn't know how to comfort him.

"Well... some of the villains seem to be on our side too," Watanabe said suddenly.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Izuku asked, getting over his sadness.

"Some villains vandalized Aldera. Spray-painted it, broke tables and chairs inside and broke a few windows," Watanabe laughed and showed his cousin a picture.

Izuku's face grew blue, "I mean, it's good to see villains on our side too but they went a bit too far. Hey, I just got a message from Yagi-sensei!"

"What does it say?" Watanabe asked while scrolling through a news article.

"Just told us to take the next two days off to get everything about the case in order," Izuku replied stuffing the phone back in his pocket.

"Ah shit," Watanabe sighed tiredly.

"What? What is it?"

"Our names somehow made it on one of the coverages by the media,"

"What the heck?" Izuku asked and snatched Watanabe's phone. He read through the article and sure enough, they were mentioned as the victims. "How did they get that!?"

Watanabe shrugged, "I have no clue. I'm guessing the media have several people as informants. It's a drag, to be honest,"

"Well, at least we have most people supporting us, even the villains!" Izuku pointed out.

"Yup, and there have been no heroes supporting Aldera too,"

"Seems they learn fast," Izuku grinned.

"Shame. I would have loved to grill some more heroes like Endeavour and Death Arms,"

"Is the job done?" A voice whispered in the darkness.

"It's done," Someone replied.

"Are you sure we won't get caught for this?" A concerned third voice asked.

The first person snorted, "If we are going to get caught, they won't be fixated on this one detail, trust me."

"That may be true, but did we have to go out of our way to do this?"

"I think it will pay off. Plus, it didn't really take much to do this. Their security's hella lax!"

"Alright enough chitchat. We have to get going now unless you idiots want to get caught. We have more places to be"

The three nodded and disappeared into the darkness.

IMPORTANT: So, I want to theorize about UA traitor and unfortunately, half the people I know are more concentrated on shipping characters. So, my first guess is... Koda! I mean what if he can control Nedzu? He could have used birds as messengers for League of Villains too, right? Just saying.