9
Gang Orca invited Izuku to an aquarium tour with an open invitation to his friends as well. Nedzu went ahead and volunteered to bring the kids there. So Tenya, Shoto and Izuku were following Nedzu into the side entrance of the aquarium. Gang Orca made sure that they had the aquarium to themselves, so none of them would be bothered by any citizens during the tour.
Nedzu hummed quietly as he heard the small whispers among the friends of his child. They kept talking about how they were excited to see the aquatic animals that the aquarium had to offer. Shoto was excited to see the penguins and Tenya was ecstatic to see the stingrays.
Nedzu knew that Gang Orca was often invited to give tours like this, but they never really ended up well. He sympathized with him a bit. The children found his face scary so they always ended up running away when he was genuinely there to teach them more about the undersea animals. There have only been a few occurrences when a small child looks past his scary looks. Izuku was one of them, and it made Gang Orca ridiculously happy.
"Alright kids, this should be where Gang Orca will meet up with us." Nedzu said.
"Hello, everyone. Welcome to the beginning of our tour," Gang Orca began, approaching gently. He was dressed more casually than his formal looking hero suit. He was dressed in a light blue bottom shirt thrown over a white shirt with some sold blue jeans. Nedzu took a slightly more casual approach to the tour as well. He was only dressed in a white button down shirt with some black pants, and his signature red shoes that matched his son's sneakers.
"Hi, Mr. Sakamata. These are my friends Shoto and Tenya." Izuku greeted.
"Hello there. I'm your tour guide for today." Gang Orca introduced himself
"Hi. Are we going to see penguins?" Shoto asked shyly.
"Yes we are."
Tenya pushed up his glasses,"Are we going to see the stingrays as well? I'm very excited to view them."
Gang Orca nodded, "The stingrays would mostly likely be the first ones we see from the route we are taking."
"I just can't wait to see all of them! Especially the whales!" Izuku announced, almost jumping from the amount of excitement he felt.
Gang Orca chuckled, "You are in luck since we will visit each exhibit. We have all the time in our hands to see everything the aquarium has."
"That is a relief. I, myself, am here to see the dolphins. I can't wait to see another intelligent animal." Nedzu added as he walked behind all of the children with Gang Orca leading them through the glass entry which had all different fishes and stingrays swimming around them in the water. The glass aquarium curved around them highlighted all of the fish species that were swimming peacefully through the bright blue water.
Tenya's blue eyes widened as a stingray swam gracefully above them. Shoto pointed out some of the fishes with pretty patterns while Izuku read off the information about each fish that he showed interest in.
"You are going to spoil these kids rotten, huh?" Gang Orca asked as they watched the kids looked around in amazement.
"Who me? I don't have the slightest clue what you mean." Nedzu responded before heading off towards Izuku's direction once he saw the children head into the next exhibit. Gang Orca just shook his head fondly before catching up to his group to continue the tour.
The tour continued with Izuku's excited rambles about each new thing he learned about the animals inside on the little plaques. Shoto eventually watched the penguin feeding with everyone. Izuku got to see the large tank with all the whales swimming by beautifully. Nedzu finally got to see the dolphin exhibit which made him giddy on the inside.
The gift shop was the end of the tour. Gang Orca laughed softly as he watched Nedzu buy each one of the kids a plush of their favorite animal. Shoto got a baby penguin, Tenya got a stingray, and Nedzu got himself a little dolphin keychain.
Gang Orca ended up flustered when Izuku picked a killer whale plush. Nedzu smiled sneakily directly at him, daring him to question him. Nedzu knew he spoiled the kids too much, he didn't need anyone else to say it.
—
"Hey, you coming with us to karaoke?"
"No, I got to go talk to someone really quick." Touya replied. He wasn't in UA anymore, but he was a pro hero that was slowly growing in the ranks. He needed to visit Nedzu to talk to him about possibly already becoming a sponsor for Shoto if he needed it. He knew that he was still new, but he just needed to make sure that he could help out his youngest brother.
Natsuo was still in middle school, but he was already talking about doing something in the medical field to help out. Fuyumi was already in highschool, and she was talking about becoming a school teacher. He knew that Shoto wanted to be a hero. And he just needed to know that even if he is a new hero on the filed, he will still be able to take in interns.
Admittedly, he might be overthinking this. Because by the time Shoto gets into UA, he will be 25. He guesses it might just be the nerves, but just wants to double check what exactly he could do to help. Can he recommend him yet? Can he take him on as an intern? Okay, maybe he just has a lot of questions still about being a. Hero. Who can blame him? He literally only just graduated a while ago, he was still 18.
After a while, he finally reached UA. Touya passed a lot of people only to get into the familiarly almost empty hallway where Nedzu's office is.
"Nedzu, hi, sorry for the surprise but…"
Touya fell silent as he looked at the scene before him. Nedzu and Izuku were seated at a circle table with three chairs all around it. The lacy white tablecloth covered the table with an intricate design. All on the table were little sweets and pastries like macarons and scones. In the middle was there sugar cubes and honey next to two different pots of tea. Nedzu and Izuku looked up mid sip of their teacups.
"I would say I have been expecting you… but," Nedzu said looking down at the red boa around his neck. "This doesn't seem like the right set up for a movie quite like that.
Izuku fluffed his green boa before replying, "We have a purple one if you want to join. We are having a tea party."
"He found them in the old theater supply closet that we use to store old things from the culture festival. He found them itchy, but he likes them."
"They are itchy, but you get used to it." Izuku answered, taking a huge sip of his tea.
"Would you like a refill?" Nedzu asked his son.
Izuku smiled, "Yes please."
"Umm," Touya remarked as he walked up to the table. Letting out a sigh, he sat down at the table. Without another word, Izuku wrapped the purple boa around Touya's neck. Nedzu retreated the tea pot back after filling up Izuku's cup. "Thank you."
"We have lemon honey or earl grey. Which one do you prefer?"
"I'll take the Earl Grey." Touya replied, holding up his small tea cup.
"Good choice," Nedzu said, pouring him a cup.
Touya sipped his tea calmly while mostly listening to Izuku talk about what he recently learned.
Touya soon expressed his thoughts to Nedzu when Izuku retreated to the bathroom since he drank so much tea.
Nedzu leaned over to whisper, "You have no need to worry. By the time the two reach UA you can recommend and take them as your interns."
Touya smiled at his reassurance which turned into a small laugh when Izuku returned from the bathroom really excited when he remembered the name of a hero he wanted to talk about.
10
Nedzu bright Izuku over to the police station while he went to talk shortly with the detective in charge. He knew Izuku was in safe hands since Officer Sansa has proven to be an excellent help to him when he just has to talk to police for a moment. He watches over Izuku and even lets him play on his phone sometimes.
Nedzu headed inside the office of Tsukauchi quietly. "Hello again. Do you've any rather clues about the case?"
"We got close to nothing. All we have is locations but we can't really pin down his next location on where he will strike. And from the videos we have, we can't really pinpoint what his quirk is." Tsukauchi replied
"Quirk?" Izuku asked with a tilted head.
Nedzu looked back, "Izuku? Little mouse, why are you here?"
Izuku shrugged, "Sansa only has Clumsy Ninja and I already beat it twice. You don't know a quirk?"
Nedzu suddenly had an idea. "Tsukauchi, do you have a clear video of the suspect using their quirk?"
Tsukauchi nodded, pulling up a video on his computer to show them. Izuku pulled himself up on the chair to see the computer more clearly. Izuku watched the video, his lips moving as he muttered about the quirk that villain used.
"It looks like his quirk manipulates his victim's vision. Each time I see a person trying to get him, they are always just missing the mark of where they aimed. The quirk is either messing with their vision or their aim… It seems like the trigger is holding his breath because you can see him open his mouth here, but he won't open it again until he is in the clear. And you can tell he is holding back his breath from the way he is clenching while he holds it before letting go heavily afterwards. I wonder what else he could do with that…...muttter mutter mutter…." Izuku ranted, rapidly rewatching the video to gain more information.
Tsuakuchi's eyes widened before he started to look up the quirk database for anyone with a quirk that can mess up someone's vision or at least aim.
Safe to say, the police finally caught the suspect of the series of robberies with a little help from Izuku.
—
Nedzu was for the first time since being free from his past...was scared.
He was scared of how Izuku would react when he tells them. Today was the day that he had to finally tell Izuku he was adopted. He decided that now might be the best time since they were all alone in the apartment watching Cinderella. The movie that gave Izuku his nickname of 'little mouse'.
Oh goodness, memory lane does creep up on him…
"Izuku?"
"Papa?"
"I need to explain something to you. And I want you to know that I truly care and love you." Nedzu explained.
"I love you too, Papa." Izuku answered back automatically.
Nedzu sighed to himself befor ehe began the story. How it all started with a basket outside the UA gates. How he learned from the letter that his mother had died from childbirth and his father gave him up. How his father got convicted for child abandonment. And how Nedzu adopted him as his own.
Nedzu listened in silence as Izuku took in all the information quietly. With each passing moment whether it be seconds or minutes, he felt worried. Worried that Izuku might not take this information well...
Izuku looked up, "You are still my Papa, right?"
"Yes. And you are my little mouse," Nedzu smiled softly.
"Then… it doesn't matter how you found me."
Nedzu hugged his child close to him at that moment, acknowledging that for the first time in forever he shed a tear in his vulnerable state.
11
All Might stuck to his promise of taking care of himself…. most of the time…
He took his vitamins prescribed by Recovery Girl. He made sure that Nighteye had no reason to worry about his work because he cut his hero hours. He always made sure to keep his diet.. sometimes…
But he always slipped up a bit when trying to get used to his new schedule. Sometimes he will go over his set limit and push himself a bit even though he felt guilty each time.
So there he was on the field right after vanquishing a villain for the sixth time in just two hours. He coughed before waving at the civilians . He knew that he should have rested a bit more today especially since he worked a bit too hard the past two days, but he just felt like he had to…
"Excuse me! Whose child is this?"
"I'm the offspring of his worst nightmare." Izuku responded quietly heading straight for the tall hero and tugging on his cape.
All Might looked down only to fall victim to the most saddest puppy dogs eyes that Izuku could muster up.
"Why uncle All Might?" Izuku asked with a sad tone to his voice.
Oh god, All Might feels his heart ripping into two. The guilt is slowly weighing him down.
"I'm very sorry." All Might whispered, hugging Izuku close before taking off with him in his arms.
"Fly to Recovery Girl's office." Izuku ordered as the air flooded back his curls.
"Uh, I think I'll be fine."
"That wasn't a suggestion."
12
Izuku was watching the UA entrance exams carefully from the back since the teachers were up front to see about any potentials to put in their class. He watched Aizawa mark down a few students from the screen, paying close attention to how they worked with their quirk.
"Papa, what happens with the people with less physical quirks? Like the ones who didn't really have a chance to show what they have against the robots?" Izuku asked.
"Well, they can get in like Aizawa. He showed his drive to be a hero by scoring high in the sports fest." Nedzu answered.
Izuku looked hopefully, "Would it be acceptable for… a rule bender of sorts?"
"Care to explain?" Nedzu asked.
Izuku suggested, "Like maybe having a special spot or spots for people who didn't score high in the hero course. It would be used for others with more mental quirks like Uncle Zawa's. It could work sort of like an apprenticeship to help them train to get into hero course or just be a sort of secret recommendation of sorts."
"Where did you come up with the idea?" Nedzu questioned.
"I don't know. I was just watching the entrance exam with the robots… it is pretty unfair for people with strong mental quirks that don't work on robots. I know that I want to change it up, but I don't have a solid plan to revise it and I want to tell you officially when I do come up with a good revised version." Izuku explained.
Nedzu hummed excitedly, "Hmm, excellent idea. I hope to see your revised entrance exam when you come up with the plan. With the secret second chance program, I'll see about implementing it. Who knows? I might even put you in charge of finding worthy enough people to bestow upon the opportunity!"
Izuku smiled happily as he followed his father back to his office.
13
It was one of those times where Aizawa and Hizashi took a few hours off their schedule to look after Izuku while Nedzu was dealing with an intense situation with some other pro heroes.
It wasn't often that they get a chance like this. Most of the time, they would just hang out with him with others when they had the time on the weekends.
But today, it wasn't a particularly happy day for Aizawa and Hizashi to remember. It was the anniversary of Shirakumo's that's why Nedzu enlisted both of their help to watch over Izuku today. It was true that ever since they started caring for Izuku, their sadness for Shirakumo's death has lessened. But his death still bore a heavy weight in their heart. But still, every time they see Izuku, their heart grows lighter.
Maybe it's because his cheerful smile reminds them of their friend.
Izuku tilted his head, "Uncle Zawa? Uncle Mic?"
"Yes? What is it?" Hizashi asked.
"Why do you both look so sad? Is it because of something idiotic, or something that happened on yesterday's patrol?" Izuku questioned.
"No, no. It's not that," Aizawa replied.
"What is it? Can I do something to help?" Izuku offered.
Aizawa sighed, "It's just that.. today was the day our old friend died. We were still hero students bk then, before Nedzu took you in. He died when debris hit him when we were dealing with a villain attack."
Hizashi grinned, "Sometimes you remind us of him from the way you shine so brightly when you smile."
Izuku placed himself in between the two on the couch, "...can you tell me more about him?"
Aizawa smiled softly, "He had a cloud quirk. He always kept us entertained in the class, he was sort of the class clown. He always brought smiles to everyone."
"We were a fantastic trio. We were like the trouble trio for everyone in UA." Hizashi added, throwing an arm over Izuku while leaning back into the couch
"Did you get into trouble?" Izuku asked.
Aizawa looked away guilty, "Well..."
Hizashi laughed, "Don't lie to the kid now, Shota! Go ahead and tell them all about it."
"Zashi," Aizawa complained before seeing the hopeful look in Izuku's eyes. "Fine. There was one time that we all dressed in cat onesies just to mess with people."
"We dressed up during lunch period and went to class in full on onesie. Aizawa took the most convincing though." Hizashi added.
"Did you get in trouble?"
"Of course we'd did! No more onesies for us." Hizashi answered back before he leaned in, "But they didn't exclude the cat ears."
Izuku started to laugh while Hizashi explained the many times that he and Shirakumo put on cat ears when the teachers weren't paying attention. Aizawa smiled as he watched the bright smile grow on Izuku's face.
14
Izuku was keeping an eye on the hero news, noticing how All Might has been out for a long time that day before disappearing on a hunt for a sludge villain of some kind that committed a robbery a few minutes ago. Izuku took a deep breath, running his hands down his face .
Nedzu handed over his phone with Sir Nighteye already on call. Nighteye picked up on the second ring.
"Hello, Nighteye Speaking."
"Do you know Uncle Might has been out today for longer than he promised?"
Izuku could hear Nighteye's suffering sigh before he replied, "He distracted me with the amount of paperwork that I'm dealing with right now. How bad is it?"
"He will probably pop back into skinny Might anytime now. By the way, how is your own agency doing?"
"We are all doing exceptionally well. Bubble Girl and Centipeter are great sidekicks that deserve all the recognition." Nighteye responded, the sound of shuffling papers could be heard over the speaker, "So, what do we do about Toshinori? Do you want me to handle this one?"
"No, I'll be good at taking this one. Hey papa, where should he be by now?" Izuku asked, moving over to his papa who was sitting back in his desk chair.
"I believe he will be around downtown Musutafu by now. Do you want me to call on someone to help you get there?" Nedzu looked up with a small smile.
Izuku shook his head before handing the phone over to him on speaker, "I'll be fine. This will be a good time to use the jetpack backpack that Power Loader made for me for my birthday last year!"
Nedzu laughed softly, "Be careful, don't cause any property damage like last time."
"I won't! I don't think they are any large billboards this time. But I won't promise if any of them still have Endeavor printed on them." Izuku responded.
Nedzu replied, "I'm sure none of them have any of them, and if they do they have to talk to me about it. I won't tolerate any of that kind of publicity for that flaming receptacle."
Izuku laughed, "Wish me luck! Love you papa!"
"You don't need any luck, you'll do perfectly. I love you too, little mouse." Nedzu smiled as Izuku took off down the hallway. He could tell he was very excited to use the jetpacks since he didn't really get a chance to use them all of the time.
"He is going to be menace once he is old enough for his previous license. Villains will be terrified of him." Nighteye commented.
"Don't I know it." Nedzu replied with a small chuckle. "I raised him well."
Nedzu could see him through the window as Izuku expertly steered the jetpack towards where All Might was seen last. He had no doubt that Izuku would be a great hero.
Sooner than later, Izuku arrived at quite a scene with Mt. Lady covering the street with her body. Izuku tilted his head at the sight, she had only recently debuted and he remembers how earlier that day she stole the credit for taking down a villain from Kamui Woods.
Izuku landed just a few feet away from the scene where a sludge villain seemed to be holding a student with explosion powers in his grip in the alleyway. Izuku peered to see All Might in the crowd in his skinny form. He headed straight over to him.
"We are going to have a talk after this. I can only imagine you have no time as of right now, or if you do you only have a small amount. By no time to talk, someone is in trouble." Izuku said, matter-of-factly.
All Might watched as Izuku raced up past the crowd with a backpack that looked suspiciously like the one that Power Loader gave to him a year ago. Oh, maybe that's why he got here so fast, he had a jetpack.
"Hey, sewer sludge! How are you?" Izuku greeted with a bright smile, with his hands behind his back.
The villain scoffed, "What? Another kid? Sorry I already have a hostage, so get lost."
Izuku smiled tightly before reaching behind him to throw a small grenade looking bomb towards the sludge villains' face. The villain flinched only for the bomb to explode in a gas. Their eyes immediately started to water from the concentrated tear gas.
Izuku swooped in after fixing a pair of goggles onto his eyes just in case from the same pocket that he got the bomb from. He rushed in while the sludge villain was weakened to grab the kid from the sludge. With a strong pull, he got the kid out from the gross slime.
"Explode near the middle of his face, that will get us enough time to get back near the heroes." Izuku ordered.
The kid fired back, "Hah! Why should I listen to-?"
Izuku loudly sighed, "Please do it now or I will have to waste another tear gas bomb and I hate to waste such things."
A familiar voice yelled out, "NO NEED TO FEAR-!"
"Oh well, nevermind. Somebody beat you to the punch." Izuku added.
"I AM HERE! DETROIT SMASH!"
Izuku and the explosive kid watched as All Might punched the villain so hard in the air that he changed the weather. Later on, that explosive kid, even though he caused all the fire damage, was praised for his bravery. Something that Izuku questioned in his inner thoughts.
Izuku adjusted his goggles on his head before walking over to Kamui Woods and Dearth Arms who saw who was approaching and immediately stiffened up.
"Now, I understand that in most cases that waiting for support from other heroes in the area is needed, but I believe you two would have been enough to take down the villain. His weak point was his eyes since that was the only thing made of sludge, Kamui, you could have easily used your branches to poke his eyes and let Dearth Rams have the time to rescue the hostage. Then, the only thing left is taking the villain into custody." Izuku explained, gesturing to the two heroes how they could better handle the situation at hand. My. Lady almost giggled from the look on the other's faces as they were criticized by a small teen.
Backdraft remarked, "Don't laugh. That's Nedzu's son. He is freakishly talented in his analysis."
"Oh wow." She commented before asking quietly, "How good is his analysis?"
"I think he has enough to know how to defeat us by using our own quirks against us, or at least using our weak points. He can get so much information with only thirty seconds of footage." Backdraft whispered to her which caused a bit of color to drain from her face.
"Dang…" Mt. Lady mumbled, watching Kamui Wood and Death Rama bow in apology to a satisfied looking Izuku. Then she observed as the kid smiled so brightly before bringing down the two into a hug. She watched as the kid waved goodbye cheerfully, proclaiming about going off to find where his uncle went before he skipped down the street.
"Whoever that uncle is… it looks like he is in trouble…" Mt. Lady commented.
—
Izuku eventually found his uncle sitting against a brick wall while the sun was getting ready to set. "Uncle Toshi…"
All Might jumped once he heard the familiar voice that had a hint of hospitality behind the happy exterior. "Hi.. Hello, young Izuku…"
Izuku fixed him with a harsh stare, "Cut it out. Uncle, we talked about your limit already. Do I need to talk to you about it again? I can make a hole presentation about it! A full 100 slide PowerPoint with graphs and charts and everything. I can highlight the points you keep forgetting about."
"I didn't mean to go over my limit! Honest! I was in my skinny form at the grocery store when the sludge villain appeared. I thought it would be quick, but it took longer than expected since I lost sight of him for quite a while. I promise that I didn't want to go over my limit, I have been really careful lately."
Izuku sighed, "I'm not mad, just a little disappointed."
All Might pouted before Izuku extended a hand to him.
"Now, let's get back to UA. Nighteye should be there with Mirio already to talk about the whole successor thing." Izuku said with a tired smile. All Might allowed Izuku to slightly pull him up from the ground.
"I don't think the jetpack will hold two people though."
"Oh no, we are taking the train there." Izuku answered back, linking his arm with his uncle's arm as they walked to the train station. "You did at least take your vitamins today, right?"
"Yes, I did." All Might smiled.
It was Izuku's 15th birthday party.
And it was only a matter of time before his friends and him will go to UA for their entrance exam. Speaking of UA, that's where his party is being held right now. Yep, on the off day with no students around. Nedzu invited every friend that Izuku has made which included mostly everyone he has met.
Shoto was laughing at Tenya who accidentally knocked over his glass of punch when he karate chopped the air. Tensei was giving a boogie to Touya who looked to be utterly don. Natsuo was looking in the mirror after Best Jeanist gave him an impromptu hair styling. Fuyumi was talking to Hizashi about teaching. Aizawa was trying to nap in the corner in his sleeping bag that had a cat ear headband on the top of it.
Izuku smiled to himself as he looked over to everyone there. The Wild Wild Pussycats were eating at a table with Mandalay talking to the Water Hose Duo and their small child. 'Kota is so small and adorable,' Izuku thought to himself.
Gang Orca was talking with Thirteen about his recent patrol while Lunch Rush cut in to hear about it as well. Power Loader and Cementoss were whispering to each other cake. Midnight was helping herself to the strawberry macarons on the table while Vlad King took some of the red velvet cake layer that Izuku's birthday cake had. Ectoplasm was singing with Snipe in a little karaoke booth in the corner.
After years of training with his friends, Izuku felt ready to take on the world. The world top high school that his father was the principal of. He also heard that All Might was going to be a teacher, so that will be interesting to see…
"Happy birthday, little mouse." Nedzu greeted as he came to stand beside his son. Nedzu looked up to the green eyes of his son and smiled.
"Thanks, Papa." Izuku replied, smiling back cheerfully at his dad.
Nedzu looked into the smiling face of his now teenager son only to be reminded of the bright smile that he gave when he found him as a child. He reminisced on the day he found Izuku, he would be forever glad that Izuku came into his life.
He couldn't imagine what it would have been without his little mouse beside him.