Oh yeah, it's all coming together.

My Hero Academia Untold: The Fafnir Knight (Remastered Edition)

Saga I: Dusk

Arc II: The Incident

Chapter XXV: Home

"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can as we are and not be questioned."

-Maya Angelou.

Kai looked over some of the reports he had received from Hajime.

It was mostly a collection of statements from students, staff, and some semi-cooperative villains, along with information that the final report suppressed from the conference. He would have preferred going over these sooner. But, Ryu had been discharged from the hospital earlier that day and needed assistance getting to his bedroom. Thankfully, the boy's physician had informed him that Ryu should be able to make a full recovery, but would need to take it easy for the next few days.

The Spy had proven to be a complete surprise.

When Kai first met him with Hideyoshi and a sleazy lobbyist known as Kinro. He thought the boy was some kind of psychopath with Hisashi's face, meant to serve as a reminder of his guilt. Now, however? He wasn't sure what to believe. He knew now that Ryu wasn't just a mindless drone, especially since he stepped in and risked his life to save his classmates.

Kai knew Hideyoshi wanted to pin UA for safety and security issues. As it was a way for his movement to take more firm control of Heroics in Education. Yet, Ryu actively prevented that from happening; why? What did he have to gain?

Nothing except Hideyoshi's wrath if the old man ever found out that the boy had ruined a perfect opportunity to get UA in hot water.

"Kai honey, can I come in?" The man heard the voice of his beloved wife at the door of his private office. Instead of just answering, Kai placed down his papers and went to open the door for her. A warm smile grew on his face when he saw her balancing a large tray of tea and snacks with one hand.

"You could have just said, yes, dear," Saya said with a playful giggle. "You know I'd have no trouble opening the door."

"And you know I prefer to always be a gentleman for you." The man answered with a knowing wink as he quickly returned to his desk to pull up a chair for her and cleared his desk for the tray. With grace, Saya placed the tray on the desk, making a soft thump as the tray was laden with various snacks that Kai could already see had some of the usual items were missing.

"Ryu turned out to have a real appetite for spicy foods," Saya commented as she noticed Kai had been looking for some of her spicy pork mini buns. "Then again, he can eat fire, so that shouldn't surprise me."

"How is he doing?" Kai asked as he settled for a simple rice cracker to go with his tea while Saya grabbed a sandwich from the tray.

"Sleeping, I had him take some of the pain medication the doctor prescribed for him right after he finished eating. Poor boy; completely exhausted, unsurprising given what he survived."

Kai, however, threw a different answer before taking a sip of his tea. "I believe the school nurse helped speed up his recovery shortly before leaving the hospital. Apparently, exhaustion is a common side effect of the procedure."

"Ah, Recovery Girl, that takes me back..."

The two enjoyed their snack time in comfortable silence when the food was nearly finished. Saya put down her teacup before stealing a look at her husband, doing her best to gauge his current mood as she looked upon his scarred features.

"Kai...I think it's time that we had a talk."

The man sighed as he closed his eyes. After so many years of being married, he knew that tone that her wife carried in her voice and knew that this conversation would happen sooner or later.

"Of course; what's on your mind?" Kai asked as he turned his chair to face his wife, leaning forward on his desk, planting his elbows, and holding his hands by his mouth.

"I'm not sure where exactly to begin, Kai," Saya began saying before taking another nibble of her food. "It's been nearly a year since we brought Ryu home with us, and I didn't question it because I was just so happy to finally have a child in our life like we both always wanted. And he's been nothing but a good, polite boy –maybe a bit more aloof than what I would have hoped. Still, I also imagine that it would be difficult for anyone, let alone a teen nearing adulthood, to suddenly change and accept a new family."

As she spoke, Saya pulled out her cell phone from her pocket and brought up some photos on display; some were enough to make Kai's heart hurt just by looking at them.

"Given that the anniversary of his death next week...I needed to ask, did you have us adopt Ryu because he looks so much like Hisashi? I mean, even his...I mean...I almost thought that I was looking at his ghost the first time I met him. His appearance was...just so uncanny."

She continued to flip through some of the pictures of Hisashi, including one of him in his UA uniform, before pulling up one of Ryu in his UA uniform. At first glance, they could have been mistaken for identical twins or clones. It was only the shape of Ryu's eyes and the lack of freckles on his face where two differed.

Kai sighed; he didn't know how to answer without lying to her. He looked at the woman he loved; her once rich lavender hair now heavily mixed with gray, her doe-like brown eyes looking so sad. It bothered him to no end. So he decided to tell her some partial truths from his own investigation into the matter, leaving out what he could.

"I know...but no, I did not have us adopt him because of that. No, he came recommended by Representative Anno as a way to raise our public profile and fulfill our dream of finally having a child, like we always wanted." Kai then reached for his wife's hand, holding it firmly. "And like you, I thought the same thing...like...as if Hisashi had come back from the grave."

"I've heard rumors...about Hisashi had possibly been unfaithful to In-"

"No," Kai interrupted, not even allowing the words to be spoken.

"Hisashi had his faults...but he would have never done that to Inko, I know for sure." Kai stopped to take in a long deep breath.

"But I also confess that I may have thought the same thing, so I had some of my officers do some digging for me. They found that Ryu was the bastard son of a former politician, Takumi Saito."

"Oooh..." Saya grimaced with a sharp inhale, remembering the scandal that destroyed the man's career.

"Indeed, Ryu was bounced around from orphanage to orphanage until about six years ago, when he was finally settled in the one we found him in. Despite his bastard status. It seems like his father had left him with a considerable inheritance which included a scholarship to that private boarding school he attended last year."

"And his...surname?" Saya asked, curious about this particular tidbit about her adopted son.

"That...I have no idea where that came from, to be honest," Kai confessed as that topic made him ask more questions. "But from what I gathered, Ryu had picked the name himself."

"I understand wanting to distance himself from his disgraced father...especially how he ended up." Saya shuttered, "Of all the surnames to choose...why that one? Why didn't he go with ours instead?"

"I imagine it was to avoid certain conflicts of interest. The Neocons and the several schools that feature Heroics haven't had the best relationship. So some biases can be shown towards potential students with familial ties to known public members of the movement."

"Wouldn't that be illegal?" Saya questioned.

"There are loopholes that allow them to skirt that rather delicate issue," Kai answered with a slight chuckle of irony. "It is also one of the reasons we're listed as placeholder guardians for Ryu rather than have full legal guardianship. That title, I believe, belongs to one of Anno's aides who doesn't really dabble in politics."

As the USJ incident unfolded. Kai discovered that a young girl named Eri, who was at the USJ, had been living with the Midoriyas and doing the exact same thing with a Mr. Toshinori Yagi. The irony only went further as it was the Neocons were spared further humiliation by suppressing Eri's involvement from the USJ.

The first part was due to the investigation at the hideout of The Eight Precepts of Death, with the subsequent capture of their leader, Overhaul. The second part was that having educational facilities with heroic programs serving as assessment facilities was an idea promoted by the Neocons. As a way to help mitigate long wait times at medical facilities, with something that technically did not need medical staff involved. This was used to extend an olive branch to hero schools by the Neocons to improve their public relations with said schools.

'The old man would have a goddamn heart attack if word of that got out.'

Saya drained the last of her tea before continuing. "I guess it helps that Ryu is only a few years younger...than what...our child would have been if he had ever come to term."

Kai bit his lip as he remembered that day. The worst day of his life. The day that Hisashi had betrayed them both without them even realizing it until years later. The day their future had been stolen from them. Saya saw that familiar look on Kai's face. He made the same look whenever Hisashi was brought up, so she knew that Hisashi had somehow been involved.

"I kept quiet after your fallout with Hisashi as painful as it was for me, but I knew it was worse for you," Saya continued as she placed the empty cup on its saucer.

"Yet, I also know some part of you still loves him, Kai. If you couldn't tell me what he did to you...could you at least tell me that?" She pleaded, trying to get more information than her husband was leading on.

"Was whatever Hisashi did to you really that unforgivable? To the point that we couldn't even see Inko or Izuku at the hospital while we had the chance?" She added, regretting not having the chance to see the two of them. "It was so odd to have them just two floors down from us...especially since I haven't seen little Izuku since he was just a little over a year old."

Kai looked away, unable to answer as he took another sip of his tea. It wasn't enough; Kai's eyes then turned to this wine cabinet.

'Ah, to hell with it,' Kai thought as he placed his empty teacup down.

He really needed a strong drink right now. Saya became silent, not out of fear, but because she knew her husband was hurting. Caught between wanting to spare her feelings while keeping whatever pained him bottled up. Kai opened his private cabinet, which contained several of his personal achievements, alongside his personal liquor stock. The man shifted aside several medals and trophies. Looking through the various bottles of wine, spirits, and the lone bottle of tequila he had been given after a friendly shooting competition with a Latin Imperial Olympic Gold Medalist years ago.

Weighing his options, Kai settled for the bottle of rice wine from six years ago and quickly poured himself a cup that was downed in one gulp. Age had indeed improved its flavor, yet it still held a bitter aftertaste. Kai still couldn't bear to tell her why -no, what Hisashi had really done to the both of them all those years ago.

Yet, maybe she had a point; part of him still held on to the past, to the halcyon days, before the betrayal; when he could claim that he was a better man. As his belly grew warm with the wine, he moved to put the bottle away as Saya didn't partake in alcohol. However, in his rush to get back to her, his arm bumped a sizeable thin box that had been propped up against the inside of the cabinet wall, making it fall and open upon impact, scattering its contents on the floor.

A large black cloth with a sizeable black-gold medallion along with some of the stuffing that kept the items in place.

"Oh, Kai!"

"Ah damn it, just give a moment, dear. I had forgotten that I had moved this when I rearranged my office a couple of months back," said Kai. He quickly knelt down to grab all of the spilled items and tried to neatly replace everything as it once was. Only to notice a thin piece of paper that he swore wasn't in the box when he had inspected the contents after he had purchased it five years ago online.

Kai looked at the note and cursed himself. Even in death, the man's influence was far-reaching, more than everyone could see with the naked eye.

To the newly established grandmaster and my beloved son, Izuku,

as you take this badge of your office, always remember to keep these words in your heart.

Remember that courage is not the absence of fear but having fear and having the strength to overcome it.

There may be days when you may feel like your heart will falter, when it seems like life will do what it can to challenge you. When it tries to break you in any way it can. On the days when life feels hopeless and you feel like you could drown in despair, remember that Dusk may lead to a terrifying night; it will also always bring a bright new Dawn.

You were one of the most incredible things to have ever happened to me, and there could be no words to describe the joy you brought to my life every day I spent with you. Even on the days that I felt utterly lost, I remembered that I had you and the family I had in the home I had made. As that always gave me the strength to keep on moving.

I love you, son.

From your loving father,

-Hisashi.

"I think these ones will be the best to get him," Mina suggested looking over some of the flower arrangements with Eijirou. The two had been talking with each other for hours on end since yesterday. When Mina suggested that they visit Alex, knowing that Eijirou and herself still felt guilty about their senior's condition.

Eijirou jumped at the idea immediately and learned his hospital room number after a quick call to their teacher. However, they also agreed that it would only be right to come with a gift for him, like a simple set of flowers. So they had stopped by a local flower shop along the way.

"Yeah, they look nice," Eijirou commented, looking at the white flowers that Mina had pointed out. He didn't know much about flowers as they weren't considered the manliest of things, but that didn't matter to him right now. It was both the manly and honorable thing to try and get the best out of sheer respect for their fallen senior.

"Do you need any assistance?" An employee asked with a cheery voice. After seeing the two teens had been taking quite some time looking at all sorts of the different arrangements, he decided to step in and help the best he could. He was a tall older gentleman with a well-trimmed beard, kindly dark eyes, and simple glasses. He wore a brown short-sleeve shirt with a dark green apron and khaki slacks.

"Oh! Umm, yes, we could please!" Mina answered the kind man with a smile. "We were looking for flowers to give to our injured upperclassman."

The kindly man nodded with approval.

"How kind of you to be so considerate and respectful...hmmm, I see that you've been eyeing the Gardenias? A beautiful flower indeed, however, while I can see that you wish to give flowers to your injured friend. Do you have a particular message you want to convey with your gift?"

The two teens looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

"I mean, we could include a note?" Mina suggested while Eijirou nodded. The man gave them a warm chuckle at the idea.

"Of course, you can, but I meant that the type of flower and even their color can express a particular meaning or message you want to convey. For example, using the Gardenias, their meaning can be akin to purity or secret love. While to one receiving Gardenias is a way to tell someone that they are lovely."

"Oh! Flowers have meanings!" Mina exclaimed excitedly; she knew that flowers were often used in romance or grief but didn't know that they could have a greater depth of meaning.

"Hmm...that doesn't sound right for Springfield," answered Eijirou thinking hard. "He's more a jokester, a cheerful type of guy."

"Ah, now we're are getting somewhere." The man said at Eijirou's comment before turning around to grab a few different arrangements for them to choose from.

"In that case, might I suggest one of these?" He suggested showing them four different sets.

"We have a nice set of pink Hyacinths, which can mean playfulness and a sporty attitude." He started with the pink ones.

"Or how about some lovely Delphiniums which can mean big-heartedness, fun, lightness, and levity." He continued with a large set of violet flowers.

"Or maybe with a slightly more masculine twist, we have Daffodils often said to mean regard and chivalry with a dash of unrequited love." He said, showing a set of yellow flowers. Eijirou liked the meaning of those ones. Chivalry was always pretty manly; several of his favorite heroes always tried to display a sense of chivalry, like Crimson Riot or Fourth Kind.

Even Draco Knight had been huge on chivalry during his heyday.

"And finally, we have the Gladiolus," He said, showing a different set of soft pink flowers. "These represent the strength of character, faithfulness, and honor as well as a way to signify remembrance."

Mina was delighted to learn something new. While Eijirou was just surprised to know that something that seemed so unmanly could carry such a powerful meaning that was pretty damn manly if you think about it.

"What do you think? I'm sure one of these should be more in line for your friend."

"I like the Hyacinths and Delphiniums," Mina answered, looking at the first two sets.

"And I like the Daffodils and the Gladiolus," Eijirou commented, looking at the latter two sets.

The two seemed stuck on what to get before the man gave them one last suggestion.

"How about I make you a special arrangement? I'll take one of each of these flowers and arrange them together? I can even give you a special price on it."

"That actually sounds perfect!" Mina cheered, while Eijirou nodded with a bright smile that both would get to have their say for their collective gift.

"Wonderful! Give me one moment to get some of the back stock and arrange everything for you." The man said with a deep bow as he returned the arrangements to their respective spots. "Feel free to look around for anything else that might catch your eye for the time being. I will not be long."

"That went better than I expected," said Eijirou with relief.

"Right? Hey Kiri, mind you if you wait here a moment? I need to use the restroom, so I'll be right back, okay?" said Mina with a casual wink.

"Oh! Sure go ahead; I'll hold down the fort here." Eijirou proclaimed, placing an enthusiastic fist to his chest that made Mina giggle before walking to the back end of the shop. Once she was sure that she was out of Eijiou's sight, Mina stopped another employee so she could make a personal request of her own.

Mina had wanted to do something for him, to thank him. Back at the USJ, when she froze up because of Pit Viper, Eijirou had stepped up to defend her. It had made her think about her own growth since that time.

'He's changed so much since middle school...while I'm still the same...' She thought the more she continued to think about the lad's actions. He had drastically changed from that shy black-haired boy and more into a hunky red-haired man.

'Whoa, pump ya breaks, girl!' Mina had to interrupt herself, shaking her head. 'Now's not the time for those kinds of thoughts...'

"Excuse me?" She whispered to the employee who had been fixing up other displays.

"Yes, miss, how can I help you?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you can make a special order of the Daffodils and Gladiolus for me to be picked up later? Like in a few hours?" The more she heard of those flowers, the more she thought they perfectly described her horn buddy.

'Well, maybe save for the unrequited love bit. – Oh good lord, girl, control yourself!' Mina felt her face burn. 'Kiri's hurting too...As much as I love romance...Kiri doesn't need that now...'

Mina knew that he needed a pick-me-up and hoped that she could give these to him after visiting Alex as a way to cheer him up. After all, these were clearly the perfect flowers to give to a manly man like Eijirou. 'But maybe that could change later...'

Once Mina was out of sight, Eijirou followed the man making their collective arrangement, stopping right by the doorway so as not to trespass. He had wanted to get Mina a gift. A thank you for all of the help she had given him over the past day and some change. And after learning about those two flowers from earlier, he thought they described his horn buddy perfectly.

"Excuse me, sir?" Eijirou called out, seeing the man stick his head out of the corner of the hallway.

"Need any more help, sir?" The man asked calmly.

"I was wondering...if you can make a separate order of the Hy-umm...Hyca-Hyckin...uhh."

"Hyacinths and Delphiniums sir?" The man interrupted with a hidden yet knowing smirk on his face.

"Yeah, those ones...and I can pick those up later? Like in a few hours later?"

"Of course, sir."

"Okay, Tensei...make a death save roll." Rei requested from behind her Dungeon Master's screen. The table held their collective breath as they watched Tensei roll a twenty-sided die.

"Four," Tensei declared, looking at the die with a pale expression.

"Okay, that is your first strikeout of three," Rei explained with a slightly devious smirk on her face. Rei Todoroki turned out to be one hell of a Dungeon Master once she learned to play the 12th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Then again, Rei loved to tell stories. It helped that she could make changes on the fly or throw some excellent curve balls at the party.

A party that consisted of Tenya, Tensei, Shouto, Natsuo, Fuyumi, and Mei. -When she was available-

Meanwhile, Enji was spending some quality time with Hikari upstairs in her room.

"How did this happen?" Shouto questioned with a dreaded look, looking at the digital map with their character pieces. The encounter had gone entirely off the rails. "We were just asking questions in a kids' boarding school; how did it go so wrong?"

"Well... Mei thought blowing up one of the walls with one of her homemade bombs was a good idea," Fuyumi started listing off.

"My baby got the job done! We got inside the school!" Mei interrupted from her side of the table, holding up a card that featured the bomb that her Mechanist's made.

"I was handing the negotiations with the headmaster just fine before Natsuo went undercover and started to swindle children out of their pocket money!" Tenya interjected, accusing their resident Rogue.

"Hey, some of those kids were loaded! No reason not to make some extra money when I got inside." Natsuo defended himself while trying to stop laughing from all of the unfolding chaos. "Besides, it was Fuyumi who set that kid on fire!"

"I didn't realize how big the range of the fireball spell was!" Fuyumi defended her Wizard's actions with an embarrassed look on her face. "I thought it would just scare the kids!"

"And instead, you cooked Tensei in his armor." Shouto deadpanned, while Rei continued to narrate the scene with vigor and making a stoic face amid their commentary.

"Honestly, I'm worried about your actual students now, Fuyumi," Natsuo commented with a chuckle before Fuyumi shot him a nasty look and responded.

"Says the one who once tried using Touya and Shouto as makeshift stoves to cook breakfast once upon a time."

Rei stopped narrating, her face going blank for a brief moment. Only to entirely for it to contort into a fit of laughter. As memories of the day she and Fuyumi had caught the trio of brothers in one of Natsuo's "Science experiments" had come back to her in an instant.

"What?" Tenya exclaimed, looking at Shouto with disbelief etched on his face. At the same time, the boy slowly began his head to turn away from his best friend, unable to look at him in the face out of shame.

"You could have just called me; I got some babies perfect for making breakfast!" Mei proclaimed as she began flipping through her phone. "It was meant as a way to make breakfast for heroes on the go!"

"THAT EGG AND TOAST CANNON WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA!" Tenya shouted, remembering that disaster of an experiment.

"Not with that attitude, Teni!"

"Not with any attitude!"

"I'll admit that I got some kinks to work out of it."

"It ended up mostly shooting toast crumbs and piping hot egg whites," Tensei interjected awkwardly, remembering that experiment as well.

Rei, however, simply continued to roar with laughter at her family's past and present antics. She wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

Upstairs, Enji sat silently with Hikari, while the two simply watched her favorite show in her bedroom. Enji wasn't one for games, and Hikari was more interested in this than playing a game she viewed as too complex. So this was a rare time that granddaughter and grandfather would spend together alone. It was a welcomed change after the near heart attack he almost had when he heard about the USJ incident on the news.

'All Might better have a good reason he couldn't have been there,' He thought as he sat on the small couch while Hikari watched TV quietly. He personally wasn't satisfied with the answer given during the press conference. And unlike the press, he didn't fear pushing buttons to teach the man some humility.

Luckily for him, Nezu had finally called a new meeting, and it would be there where he would get his answers.

"Grandpa, you said that you met Mister Amina, right?" Hikari asked with a hopeful look on her face. Enji nodded to her before giving the lass a little more detail before she could ask.

"Indeed I have. Anima has assisted your father and I in several rescue operations before, with the help of local animals at the scene."

"Is he really as nice as he is in the show?"

"He is, but the real Anima is a bit more on the shy side," Enji commented as he remembered the large man during a small meeting of local pros.

"But he's on TV all the time, in front of many people!"

Enji looked at his granddaughter. He knew that she was both observant and intelligent like Fuyumi was when she was Hikari's age.

"If you ever decide to become a Pro-Hero. One of the first things you'll learn to do is create a persona, like the costumes we wear."

"Persona?" Hikari questioned with a puzzled expression, "what does that mean?"

Enji couldn't give her the dictionary meaning of the word off the top of his head. So instead, he answered the best he could.

"My name is Enji Todoroki, but I am the Pro-Hero Endeavor in Japan and around the world. When I put on my costume and go out to patrol, I need to be Endeavor the Hero, not Enji, the man. The same applies to any Hero, including Anima. While his real name escapes me at the moment, when he puts on his costume, he is no longer that shy man; instead, he becomes the Pro hero you know and enjoy watching."

"It's hard to understand," Hikari answered, still confused. Enji gently hoisted his granddaughter up and embraced her, seeing an opening to get something out of the way for her early, knowing he might not have the time to spare a month from now.

"It can be, but maybe this can help," Enji answered her as he pulled out three golden slips of paper. "You mentioned Anima, but you forget that Comicman is part of the duo, and he happened to owe me a favor. So I know your birthday isn't until next month, but this live show is for next weeken-"

Hikari squealed with delight seeing the tickets for the live show of her favorite TV show! The girl instantly hugged her grandfather as tightly as possible, making the man breathe a rare chuckle. He wouldn't be able to attend, but he knew that Tensei and Fuyumi would be able to take her in his instead, as the two had been trying to make more time for their daughter.

To him, it seemed like the perfect fit.

"Thank you, Grandpa!"

"You're welcome, my dear."

Ochako was happy to nerd out with Inko as she finally got a chance to know the real Draco Knight that very few actually knew. While Izuku and Eri sat on the couch watching Eri's favorite TV show. Ochako and Inko were at the kitchen table looking over some of the memories of the Drake's Den and even a few more personal pictures.

Like those of a certain green-haired boy's baby pictures that Inko was willing to share on the down-low.

"Wow!" Ochako exclaimed as she got to see pictures of the office and staff. At the same time, Inko regaled, happy to share what she could about Hisashi. Now that the secret was out, all of Hisashi's old photos had been restored to the household, to everyone's joy.

"And this is Daigo Urashima, an old friend of Hisashi's who left the agency. I believe he's working on I-Island right now," Inko explained as she pointed at another picture. The picture was of an almost entirely bald man with a comb-over and large thick coke-bottle glasses, celebrating his good-bye party alongside Hisashi with a toast. "He was always a bit of an oddball, but also a mad genius."

As the two continued to flip through the photo album, Ochako stumbled on some beautiful pictures.

"Are these your wedding photos?"

Inko sighed with a longing look.

"Yes, they are; actually, there are two sets here." She added turning the page to show another set of wedding photos, that only made Ochako confused.

"Did you have a costume wedding, Inko?"

"No, sweetheart, we actually had two wedding ceremonies," Inko answered as she started pointing out some of the differences. "Hisashi knew that it would be hard to invite all of our friends and family. So we had two ceremonies to make up for everyone who couldn't make it for the first."

"This one," Inko pointed to the photo of her and Hisashi in a snow-white wedding dress. While Hisashi wore a ceremonial armor set with a sliver sash on his waist and chest.

"Was a more western-style* wedding. It was also an excuse for Hisashi to wear that armor like the giant nerd he was," Inko whispered that last part to Ochako. Who was struggling not to laugh at the playful jab.

"The second ceremony was a more traditional -because Hisashi wanted to please my parents," Inko whispered again when she pointed out the photo of the two in traditional Japanese wedding garb.

They were accompanied by whom Ochako assumed were the bride and groom's parents, respectively. Inko with her father, a dark green-haired man, and her mother, that looked just like her, only with light pink hair. While Hisashi was accompanied by a tall, powerfully built, dark-haired man with a few scars that lined the right side of his face with bright dark eyes, and a tall, beautiful woman with rich lavender hair and bright doe-like brown eyes.

Everyone looked so happy together in the photograph.

"I guess it was fate that you got a name like Midoriya from your husband, huh? Even though your family was the one with green hair." Ochako observed with a slightly joking tone. Inko looked at her with a somewhat puzzled expression before she remembered that Ochako didn't know about Hisashi's surname.

"Ah...actually, Hisashi took my last name," Inko answered her, making Ochako very surprised. While she knew that it wasn't always the wife who dropped their maiden name and instead the husband would be the one to adopt the wife's name, but she didn't expect Draco Knight to be one of them.

"Was there a reason why?" Ochako asked, curious about this new detail.

Inko nodded with a sad look forming on her face, "Hisashi's childhood...was awful, to say the least. He grew up in a rather abusive home; it got so bad that Hisashi ended up living with Ryūko's parents."

"Oh no...I'm so sorry, Inko...I didn't mean t-"

"Oh, you're fine, Ochako...it just never gets easier, given where Hisashi came from, only to end up as he did."

Ochako looked at the photograph again, hoping to change the subject.

"So are those Ryūkyū's parents?" She asked, trying to fill in the blanks logically.

"No," Inko answered, looking at the photo again. "Those...were old family friends...or at least used to be...but they were the closest people that Hisashi had to a real mother and father."

Ochako was about to ask for more details before the two heard Inko's cell phone ring.

"Oh! Excuse me for a moment Ochako...I think that's All Might." Inko said, getting up. "Feel free to keep looking; I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," Ochako answered her before going back to the photos with a slightly dampened mood. She was sad to know that one of her favorite heroes had such a rough childhood. Ochako continued to flip the pages when she came across something she didn't expect; a copy of the Midoriya family registry. What she found really surprised her as she read Hisashi's original surname.

Husband: Hisashi Midoriya (né Kasei)

Wife: Inko Midoriya

Son: Izuku Midoriya.

Author's Commentary

How about that ending?

Welp, if you had read Draco Knight. You would have known this interesting fact about Hisashi in the very first chapter!

There is a reason I strongly recommended reading the companion prequel after all! I've seen readers ask questions that are already answered in Draco Knight! And will be eventually answered here, but Draco Knight answers them early and really helps set current things in perspective.

Just something to consider, if you end up catching up and still want more of what I got to offer for this story

Until next time!

ZX