"That depends on them," Ryukyu gritted out, her twin daughters looking back and forth between Todoroki and Endeavor.
Did that mean that Endeavor was…
"They're my grandchildren whether you like it or not," Endeavor all but growled, his supposed grandchildren hiding behind their mother's legs in response to his cruel tone.
Upon seeing their reaction, Endeavor's flames adorning his face petered out for a second, a pained look flashing across his face before he turned on his heel and marched out of the room.
Shoto, for his part, just stared at the little girls while a million emotions poured off him too fast to discern.
"What do I have to do?" Shoto asked seriously, confused but brimming with hope.
Fuyumi held her hand over her mouth as she was barely able to choke back a sob.
Ryukyu walked up to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "First, pack a bag. You're staying with us for the weekend," She ordered not unkindly.
XXX
It was Sunday, two days after the 'USJ incident' as the news was calling it and most of the class was still staying with their parents. Izuku understood but he wished he could see for himself that everyone was safe, sure Ochako and Tsu were keeping in touch but it just wasn't the same.
Currently, he was headed to Nezu's office, having scheduled a meeting with his mentor himself.
Nezu's door swung open as a woman exited the chimera's office. She was above average height, pitch black hair that went just past her shoulders, wore a black on black suit as well as a harsh expression, her bright purple eyes standing out in stark contrast to her attire. Between the way she carried herself with lethal grace and the way she seemed to size him up in a second, he knew this person was dangerous.
She almost seemed familiar but he couldn't figure out why.
"Midoriya," The strange woman said with zero doubt as to his identity. "Thank you," She finished curtly yet with sincerity.
"You're welcome? I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," He tried, curious as to who this could be.
"That's because I didn't give it," She said simply before stalking down the hall.
Izuku stepped into Nezu's office. "Who was that?" he asked.
Nezu sat at his desk sipping on his tea as if he hadn't overheard every word of the conversation.
"That, Izuku, was the Yaoyorozu family's head of security. She was here to ensure UA is making the steps appropriate to make sure that something like the USJ incident cannot happen again," Nezu said casually.
If Izuku was anyone else he would have taken the dean's casual demeanor for face value but he could feel the chimera's underlying stress and notes of fear.
"You're scared of her," Izuku claimed, knowing he was right and terrified because of it. Anyone that could make the rat overlord himself feel fear deserved respect.
Nezu blew out a sigh. "You would be too if you knew who that was," He said mysteriously.
"So who was it?" Izuku asked, his curiosity peaked.
"I'm afraid I'm under an NDA that makes that impossible," Nezu said regretfully.
Now that really made him curious, who exactly did Momo's family have employed?
"Now what did you want to discuss, Kit?" Nezu asked, clearly eager to move on.
Izuku set the identity of the mysterious woman aside for why he was really here. He sat on Nezu's expensive leather couch, his expression turning serious.
"I'm not here as a student or even as your protege sir, I'm here as a father. What's to stop that portal villain from showing up right in the middle of the Daycare and harming Eri…or Yuki?" He asked, Yuki's safety being just as important to him as Eri's for some reason.
Nezu took his time to sip at his tea while he gave Izuku an appraising look.
"Young Hatsume is collaborating with myself and Powerloader to sync the turrets up to the villain's portal signature. I must say that I'm surprised she did not mention this to you," Nezu responded.
"She…didn't mention it. She's been in the workshop a lot since the USJ…" He said, somewhat ashamed that Mei hadn't told him, he had figured she was just destressing her usual way but perhaps there was more to it.
"Is there anything else, Kit?" Nezu asked.
"One more thing. As long as you vouch for them, I want to evolve every staff member's Quirk. If anything like the USJ happens again I want the deck stacked in our favor," Izuku said.
Nezu smiled in a way that he knew to be predatory.
"I'll send them to you," The chimera chirped happily.
With his business concluded, Izuku stood and made his way to UA's support course workshops in search of Mei.
XXX
Izuku walked through the workshop's open door, the cacophony of power tools telling him Mei was indeed here.
As expected, he saw Mei with her back to him hunched over a table working on something with feverish determination. What he didn't expect to see was Momo right alongside her working just as hard, the light of her Quirk lighting up her soot stained face each time she used it. Both women wore matching coveralls tied around their hips and a black tank top. Mei's strong arms were covered in a sheen of sweat and grease, her pink locks dirty and tied in a ponytail with a cable. Momo's slender arms might have appeared less muscular but she was also 6'4" compared to Mei's 5'2" and Izuku knew all too well how difficult it was to appear muscular at that height. He honestly didn't know how All Might managed to look like a Mr. Universe winner at 7'3".
A shoulder bumping into him broke him from his observations. Looking to his side and down he saw Kyoka staring forward with a look of concern.
"Good to see you up and about, Green," Kyoka said casually yetsincerely.
"I was worried about you too," Izuku said dead serious.
Kyoka's cheeks tinged red. "I only had a few cuts and bruises, it was nothing compared to you," She said.
"Still, it's good to see for myself that you and Momo are safe. How are you two holding up after what happened?" He asked.
Kyoka sighed. "I'm ok, Momo's been blaming herself for Rumi's injuries, saying that she wasn't fast enough and that she had to rely on her and Himiko too much. Then there's her photographic memory…she'll randomly get this blank look in her eyes then she'll start shaking in fear…I think she relives it daily…I…I don't know how to help," She admitted, her hands balled into fists.
Izuku leaned into the petite girl lightly, making her adjust her balance. "Mei isn't doing too much better, she insists that everyone's injuries could have been prevented if she only had made enough babies for everyone. We had a talk with Hound Dog about it but I think she's still carrying around some misplaced guilt, you two should talk to him and…I'm sorry about Momo's memories, If I hadn't evolved her Quirk maybe-" He said, getting cut off by a small foot stomping on his.
"Knock that shit off. If you hadn't evolved her Quirk she might have died when she ran out of lipids, instead she didn't, because of her evolution," Kyoka reprimanded.
Izuku laughed. "Ok, Ok," he said with his hands up. "We should probably make them take a break. And hey, If there's anything I can do to help you or Momo, in any way, don't hesitate to ask," He said.
Kyoka smiled bashfully at him. "I'll keep that in mind, Green," She said, unslinging her backpack and opening it to reveal it was packed full of water bottles and high calorie nutrition bars. "Let's hose the girls down and get 'em fed and watered, ya?"
Izuku stifled a snort of laughter. "Ya."
XXX
Rumi grunted as she finished her squat set on the magnetic-weight machine.
"That's ten reps at five thousand pounds, you beat your personal best!" Izuku cheered, trying to lighten the mood.
He and Rumi had hit the on campus gym that evening to train. The base effectiveness of their Quirks heavily depended on overall strength and they were simply not strong enough at the USJ. They had already been here for hours...
"It's not enough! What happens next time we aren't strong enough!?" Rumi yelled in frustration.
Izuku sat heavily on the bench. "I don't know," He admitted.
Rumi sat beside him, steam rising off her bare thighs. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her ears drooping.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you," She whispered.
He laid a hand on her leg and activated Cell Activation to jumpstart the recovery process of the torn muscles fibers.
"You're right, we need to get stronger but we aren't going to make it happen in a single day. We should get back to the dorm, get something to eat," he suggested. He was starving after being here for so long, Cell Activation made him able to workout near endlessly but he still needed food to fuel the recovery process lest their bodies begin to metabolize their muscles for fuel.
"I could definitely eat," Rumi admitted, her stomach growling as if to punctuate her point.
XXX
"I wonder if anyone else has come back yet," Izuku wondered aloud as he and Rumi approached the dorm's large double doors hand in hand.
"I hope so, it feels so empty with everyone at their parents'," Rumi said.
Izuku opened the doors and was relieved to see the common room abuzz with activity, only Todoroki was missing. Hell, even Bakugou was there.
Izuku took a moment to appreciate the scene and the fact that he could finally see for himself that everyone was safe. Rumi leaned into him, apparently content to see everyone as well.
On the couch, Momo and Kyoka held game controllers in their hands. Sitting on the floor in front of them were Toru and Mina, also with controllers in hand. They looked to be competing in a shooter video game and judging by Mina and Toru's exclamations of 'screen-peeker' the two were losing badly.
Momo's back was rigid as she sat perfectly proper, her years of etiquette showing. The only thing out of place was the very tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.
Kyoka leaned forward, her elbows on her knees , her eyes nearly unblinking, her knuckles white.
Mina ducked and weaved her head with the movements of her on screen character, her tail wrapped tightly around Toru beside her.
Toru, for her part, just seemed to be having fun. She was visible, her luminous hair and eyes drawing the eye even more than her exaggerated movements, too used to needing them in order to be to be seen.
Over at the dining table was Sero, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugou retelling their experiences at the USJ with obvious dramatic flair if Kaminari's waving arms were any indication. Bakugou appeared by all accounts to be annoyed but his feelings told the truth, he was just happy to be included…and was confused by it.
Nejire sat at the breakfast bar next to Eri and Aoyama, all three in their tea party vestments as they judged Shoji and Tokoyami's decorative apple slices with as much snobbery as possible.
Aoyama was wearing the shit out of a fake diamond studded gown as he spoke judgemental sounding French through his pursed lips.
Shoji and Tokoyami, were both wearing frilly aprons and chef hats as they presented their finest works of apple slices.
Iida, Hitoshi, Mei, Ochako, and Tsu were all cheering on a game of cat and mouse, or cat and cat in this case.
Himiko had her shoes off and was on all fours chasing after Yuki who similarly had no shoes on. The two raced all around the common room, Yuki giggling as she ran. Himiko was certainly slower since she didn't have a pure big cat mutation Quirk like Yuki but she was giving the little girl a run for her money.
He had actually never seen Himiko run on all fours before but it was obvious her dual Quirk allowed the hip flexibility necessary to do it. Maybe it was her way of training.
Eventually Himiko's greater stature led her to winning by catching Yuki in a tackle that had them both tumbling across the floor laughing.
"I haven't been chased like that in FOREVER!" Yuki exclaimed excitedly, causing Izuku's stomach to drop at the realization that she had meant since before her parents were killed.
Himiko's eyes widened at the same realization and then again when Yuki nuzzled her cheek against her jawline just as she had done to him and Nejire.
Tears came unbidden to Himiko's wide eyes.
"What's wrong?" Yuki asked, seemingly worried she had done something wrong.
Himiko trilled in the same way he had heard her do when she first met Yuki, getting the same response as then, Yuki immediately relaxed at the sound, purring in response.
"My mom used to do that to me, a very, very long time ago. I never realized how much I missed it," Himiko said sadly, rubbing her cheek on Yuki as she held the girl close on the floor.
"There ya two are!" Ochako yelled, being the first person to finally notice him and Rumi watching from the doorway.
Izuku's smile only grew as he watched her approach without a limp from her injury, finally having proof that she wasn't still hurt. Tsu was right beside her and fully cognizant this time, the sight only lifted his mood further.
"You're all sweaty, ribbit," Tsu 'greeted'.
"Ah, sorry, we-"
"I didn't say I didn't like it," Tsu interrupted.
"Tsu!" Ochako whisper-shouted with a blush that told him that she didn't exactly disagree.
Izuku and Rumi shared a look before laughing loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the common room.
XXX
Nezu flicked off the video feed of 1-A's common room as he smoothed over his raised fur.
Himiko's statement had resonated with him on an animalistic level.
Perhaps he should pay a visit to the women's correctional facility where Himiko's mother was incarcerated.
Perhaps he would visit during her mother's yard time.
Perhaps he would have a meeting with the warden.
Perhaps the yard's speakers would accidentally be switched on and tuned to the warden's office right after Nezu asked what Ms. Himiko's charges were.
After all, it wasn't a pattern until it happened three times, just an 'unfortunate' coincidence.