04/07/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 84 - Family and Friends

Hitoshi swallowed as he looked at Ochaco. Given the offer made to him, seeing her lying on a hospital bed, bruises showing on every bit of exposed skin was confronting. Monitor stickers were placed at point on her body and at least she didn't have a breathing tube in. Except… there was an unnatural stillness to the way Ochaco lay there.

The sheets were perfectly stretched over her body and if you just glanced at her, except for the bruises, she would look peaceful. Except… this was not Ochaco. This was not how she was meant to be.

The Ochaco he remembered … from just the other day was vivacious and… it wasn't that she was always moving but she wasn't this still thing that could be a doll. This wasn't right.

But this was what could happen to a hero.

Not at home! His mind immediately yelled. Not where she was meant to be safe. He shared a look with Mei. The Support Student was usually so upbeat but she looked pale. Hitoshi knew that it really could have been either of them there. And while he might have been able to tell the attackers to go away, he couldn't be sure of that. And Mei didn't have a combat quirk. She could rely on her babies but…

"He should be here!" Mei hissed.

There was no need for her to specify who he was.

"I'm sure he wants to be," Hitoshi murmured, but before he could say more the door opened behind them. The two of them turned and saw a couple enter. There was a definite familial resemblance to Ochaco so they knew the couple had to be her parents.

Hitoshi racked his brains but for the life of him he couldn't remember what their names were. He knew he'd known them at one point but over the years they'd simply become Ochaco's Mum and Dad. And Ochaco didn't exactly call them by their given names when she spoke about them.

"Oh!" the lady exclaimed looking at them. She had the exact same colour hair as Ochaco. "You must be Ochaco's friends!"

She seemed happy. Hitoshi noted that her father was a bit more grim and suddenly felt glad that he'd worn his uniform. Though since she had been expelled, it wasn't necessarily a uniform he'd want to see. Even so, Hitoshi nodded to her mother and stepped forward, except Mei beat him to it.

"Hi! I'm Mei Hatsume," she gushed.

Hitoshi was impressed by how friendly she sounded. It wasn't that he didn't want to be friendly, it was just that, right at the moment, he wasn't sure he could be. He just wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Ochaco's mother looked surprised for a moment before she nodded. "Ochaco has mentioned you!" She replied. Hitoshi could clearly hear that she was being artificially bright. He could tell she didn't want to be. "And you must be Hitoshi!" the woman said to him.

He managed to nod. This wasn't how he envisaged meeting Ochaco's parents. Her father came over and sat in the chair beside his daughter. Hitoshi watched as he took Ochaco's hand in his own. Hitoshi saw him gently rub his thumb over her skin. It was kind of eerie that he hadn't said anything.

Hitoshi swallowed. What could he say? That he was sorry this wasn't a better time? That he didn't know why UA had expelled Ochaco? That- what the hell was an appropriate thing to say?

"We are so thankful that you've come," Ochaco's mother continued.

"Has no one else come?" Mei asked.

How did she manage to put aside any discomfort? Hitoshi wondered. How did she know what to say?

Ochaco's mother shook her head. "No. Not even that nice boy, Izuku, though-" she paused and HItoshi knew there were many endings to the sentence. They all knew there were. Izuku couldn't come.

"Well, let's change that," Mei announced, pulling out her phone. She tapped the screen and they all could see that it activated some recording app. "First, we are at the hospital with Ochaco. You should be here." With a flourish, Mei pressed send and her phone made a whoosh sound. She looked up at them with a smile. "There, that should do it."

Ochaco's mother looked a bit startled but she smiled tolerantly. "I don't thin-"

"He might as well come," Ochaco's father interrupted whatever she was going to say. Hitoshi thought it was probably something to say Izuku shouldn't be here. I don't think it's appropriate for him to be here or something similar.

"Sir?" he questioned.

"He might as well come," Ochaco's father said again. "He didn't do this to her and he's always been her friend. Far better than those who-" He shrugged and with his free hand gestured to the room.

Hitoshi looked around and for a moment wasn't sure what he was looking for. It was a hospital room. There was a bed there for the patient, a chair, which Ochaco's father was sitting in. A wheeled table was pushed aside and the bedside table was bare. Ochaco's tablet chart was at the end of the best and a television on an extending arm was folded up, near the ceiling. Privacy curtains were pushed against the wall but their runners extended around the bed. Everything that should be here was here, including multiple sets of power points in the wall, with some marked as belonging to the emergency, independent power supply.

Then Hitoshi realised what wasn't there. There were no cards or well wishes. No flowers or fruit. He blinked. Had they just not come? It took time to send that sort of thing but-

He shook his head slightly. There was time. Momo Yaoyorozu could have sent something. She was one of Ochaco's friends but maybe she was too tied up with what was happening to her? Hitoshi's mind offered the justification. But there were other friends… Or did people truly believe that just because she knew Izuku she was a villain, or a villain lover, as he'd seen online?

What did that make him?

A hostage? A bargaining chip? An information source? An example? Everything?

He suddenly understood why Aizawa wanted to talk to him but refused to do it at UA. They hadn't found a place the underground hero considered secure enough yet. Or rather they hadn't found an excuse for both of them to be there. But more than understanding that, he knew he had to make a choice. He'd told Izuku he'd still be his friend but Hitoshi hadn't really realised what that would mean.

Ochaco had made her choice- No. Ochaco's choice had been made for her and the world would live with the consequences. Mei and he had a choice, though they'd discussed this, what choice did they really have? Izuku was their friend. Ochaco was their friend and the world was not as it seemed. He knew that. He'd always known that. From the time his quirk appeared, he had known what the world was like. His parents had eventually come around but it had taken a while and Mei no doubt had her own lessons.

Hitoshi turned to look at Ochaco. He might be a hostage, the world might try to use him as a bargaining chip or an information source, but Izuku was his friend and he would help him change the world. Hitoshi felt something shift in his mind. The sensation was so odd that he frowned and a memory came to him for no reason. It was the first time he'd met Izuku's father. The man, Hisashi, had been pleasant and… Hitoshi didn't snort. Izuku's father had taken his quirk and had told him to support Izuku. Then he'd given it back.

He'd needn't have bothered. He was going to support Izuku. It was such an obvious thing. In his current situation, he couldn't say he would but that didn't change what he'd do.

Before he could think of it further, Mei's phone beeped. Hitoshi recognised the chime as an incoming message.

Mei pulled her phone out and looked at it. "First answered!" she exclaimed. Hitoshi understood her surprise. Over the past few days, Izuku hadn't been answering messages at all.

"What did he say?"

"Can't come. Look outside, and down the corridor," Mei read the message.

Hitoshi frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked.

Ochaco's father gave a coarse bark of laughter.

"Sir?" Hitoshi asked.

It was Ochaco's mother who answered. "There's several sidekicks stationed around the hospital," she told them. "They are here for Ochaco's protection."

"Supposedly," her husband coughed. From that Hitoshi knew he didn't believe it. He didn't believe it either. People didn't get attacked in hospitals. It was very rare that a villain attacked a hospital because they knew they might need the doctors and nurses themselves. Those villains who did attack hospitals… if the heroes didn't get to them first, other villains usually dealt with them.

Having sidekicks stationed here wasn't for Ochaco's protection, it was a blatantly obvious attempt to capture Izuku. Though really, how were they going to do that, he could take any quirk! Unless they were going to simply over power him? "Which sidekicks are they?" He asked.

Ochaco's parent's shook their heads. "Big and brawny," her mother said. That was an odd statement. Her husband could be described like that. The assessment confirmed his thought. If Izuku took their quirks, then they were going to rely on physical clout. He had a feeling that Izuku would be prepared for that. They didn't really know what quirks Izuku had but enhanced strength would be an obvious one.

"I'm sure Izuku will find a way to visit," Hitoshi assured Ochaco's parents. "Ochaco is his oldest friend and-" he didn't know what else to say.

Mei stepped up. "He won't let those who did this get away with it," she said fiercely.

Hitoshi was a little surprised. He knew he'd support Izuku but he thought Mei might be a little more… Oh, he might as well think it properly. He thought she might stay more with the heroes but he didn't know everything about her so…

"He's such a good friend," Ochaco's mother said. "His entire family are," she murmured.

"His dad?" Hitoshi couldn't help but ask.

She gave him a smile. "When your company is as small as ours, and you get onto a major construction panel, you know you have to have support," she explained. "He never said anything. He never asked for anything. Once we were on that panel, it was up to us, but we know how we got on it," she concluded.

Hitoshi nodded. He didn't know Izuku's dad well. He didn't think anyone did except for Izuku but while he was obviously a powerful villain, he was an equally successful businessman and he didn't seem to be afraid of using that influence. Most people would say it was wrong but Hitoshi could see the line Izuku's dad had drawn. He'd got Ochaco's parents on to the panel but as her mother had said, once there, it was up to them if they succeeded or not. And really, was that any different from a thousand others who would do the same? Or even more to help their friends.

The HPSC would say it was the way things were but… that seemed to be their answer when things were going their way. When they weren't… that was villainy. The world was never going to be perfect. You just had to accept that as true. But the world shouldn't be filled with double standards.

Hitoshi nodded to himself. That's what he wanted to destroy. And that's the status quo the Heroes wanted to keep. He looked at Ochaco. This was the outcome of double standards, of doing things because it kept the peace, even if the person had done nothing wrong. He felt his hand form into a fist.

Ochaco would be the last to pay that price.

-ted-

Detective Tanjiro looked around at the quiet efficiency of the team. He'd known when Heroes got involved in a case, they brought resources. It made sense. The more cases the Hero solved, the better their rating. What he hadn't realised was that the people involved in solving the case were quietly efficient. Once he'd told Detective Tsukauchi where he was with the case, the older Detective had nodded, and called Yagi to get a specific set of people. They'd arrived within the hour, had sorted through his evidence and begun calling … Well Tanjiro wasn't sure exactly who they'd called but they had gotten all the roadside security footage they could. Currently the small group was watching it. They had a map on the wall which showed the roads around Uraraka's apartment. There were little blue dots on it, which indicated the location of each of the cameras.

That's what had been on the map when he last saw it. Now it was covered in yellow dots which were plotting out points where the group had been seen on the camera footage. Another case board had been set up next to the map and Tanjiro could see that it contained pictures of the group. Obviously, once All Might's workers had found the group on the cameras, they'd then combed through the footage to get the best images of the assailants.

He flicked his eyes over the map… It appeared as if the group had originated from a small park. At least, that's what he thought. He had a gut feeling that the group didn't know each other and had gathered somewhere public at first, before they went to Uraraka's apartment.

"Have you had a chance to look at this camera?" He asked, pointing at a dot that represented a camera on the obvious route from the park.

"We're working our way there," one of the people replied politely.

"Actually," someone else said. "That might not be a bad idea." The person who'd spoken was sitting at another computer and while Tanjiro couldn't tell what they were doing, he could tell it wasn't looking at camera footage.

"You've got something, Henshu?" The entire team turned to him.

"I think so," the man, now identified as Henshu, said. "We're pretty sure that he's the vigilante Edge Dart, right?"

"Yes."

Tanjiro looked at the indicated photo. He was amazed that they'd already identified one of the assailants, even if it was a secret name. Some villains didn't mind if the public knew their name - like Tomura Shigaraki - though vigilantes were usually far more circumspect. They truly wanted to hide.

"How do you know that?" he couldn't help but ask.

The man named Henshu grinned at him. "We keep track of these things," he announced. The others from All Might's agency nodded.

Detective Tanjiro nodded but was thankful there was no rebuke in the tone.

"Plus the quirk use matches with Edge Dart's," Henshu added with a chuckle.

Right, they always held back. Tanjiro hadn't really heard of Edge Dart. If he was a vigilante then he was more a hero problem than a Police problem but he resolved to pull the files they had.

"Why do you think we should look there?" one of the others brought them back to the question at hand.

Henshu sighed. "The way the group walked indicated they aren't close friends, so I think Edge Dart called them to meet him at some public location."

"The park," came the understanding nod. "Is that what you were thinking, Detective?"

Tanjiro wasn't expecting the question but he managed to gather his thoughts enough to reply. "That was my thought. But I was unaware the group was unknown to each other."

"Yeah, that's a bummer," one of the women who was watching the footage sympathised, turning back to her screen. "But we just have to find the link," she added, as if it would be easy.

"And I think I might have it," Henshu spoke again.

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

"You didn't let me say so!"

Tanjiro held back a smile. It was obvious this team had worked together for a long time. Their banter was light and easy but it was equally obvious that they were very good at what they did.

"I think I have one of Edge Dart's accounts," Henshu said.

"An account?" Tanjiro breathed the question. If they had an account, then they had an IP and that could be used to track him online… which led back to where he was. They might know that the image was Edge Dart but that didn't mean they knew his civilian name. But with an account… Even if it was a free account on some forum, then- there were possibilities.

"It's been created with a free email," Henshu said. "And… I haven't had much time to check anything else."

"Well, you know what the boss will say?"

"Good job, take the morning off?" Henshu joked.

There were chuckles at that. Even Tanjiro knew it was not what their boss would say but he was curious as to what All Might would say. It only struck him then that these people had possibly met the Number One Hero. They worked for his agency, on cases he solved… God, what must that be like?

"Even villains deserve to be saved," someone said softly.

Tanjiro jerked at the sentence and for a moment thought it was just another joke, albeit one that wasn't well received, but then everyone nodded. He ran the words through his mind. Even villains deserve to be saved.

All Might said that. Tanjiro sighed. All Might was a far better man than he was. Suddenly Tanjiro understood why All Might was the Number One Hero. It wasn't just about his strength but about his compassion. With that one line, All Might showed he cared about everyone.

The Detective knew in his heart, he couldn't do that. But… He could care enough to ensure that the cases he was given were solved, and that would have to be enough.

-ted-

In chapter 33 of Nestling, the event Hitoshi is thinking about occurred.

As for the UA students who haven't visited or haven't sent anything, they are dealing with their own issues. Momo especially is having to cope with the loss of her quirk and may not be ready to see her friend Ochaco, knowing that one of Ochaco's other friends is responsible. Momo, at least, is in an awkward position but some of the others should have come and visited!

Thanks to Fire of Chaos for Bokusen's vigilante name for Bokusen Shoko aka Edge Dart.

My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!

-ted-

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