Chapter 21: Going Off the Rails
Tenya was fairly certain his entire body was just a single bruise at the point that Gran Torino called it for the day.
Gran Torino threw the student a can of orange juice, "I stocked up for you, kid. You'll have to be running low on fuel by now."
"Thank you sir," Tenya said, wincing a bit in pain as he caught the can and opened it, taking a drink.
"You've got talent, kid. Not to mention raw power. But you're too stiff. Too used to racing on a straightaway, not nearly as good in close quarters," Gran Torino said.
Tenya could not respond while he was drinking, so he swallowed, then was about to speak when he was cut off, "So what made you think you could take down the Hero Killer when you couldn't even touch me?"
Luckily, he was no longer drinking, so he couldn't spit out his juice. Still, he nearly choked on the air. "Sir, I- I wasn't-"
"Save it, the teachers knew. You weren't subtle, it was just so out of character that they never expected you to go through with it," Gran Torino frowned at him.
"You don't understand. I-" Tenya began, before Gran Torino cut him off.
"You think you're the only one who's faced tragedy like that? Ha!" The short old man shook his head before taking a seat. "A villain took my best friend. It was decades ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday."
Tenya balked at the man's serious tone. He struggled with his words before he said, "I am sorry to remind you of such a bad memory, Gran Torino-sensei."
"Eh, you get to my age, it doesn't take much to put you back in the past," Gran Torino replied. "Her name was Nana Shimura. Most people don't know her hero name, but she went by Nimbus…" He looked when Tenya jolted at that name. "You know her?"
"Midoriya-kun mentioned that Nimbus was All Might's mentor, the way that All Might was to him," Tenya explained. He was interested now.
"Yeah, well there was a villain who wanted her and her apprentice dead," Gran Torino said. "You gotta realize that at this time, All Might wasn't All Might. Not like you know him. All Might was a wet-behind-the-ears kid with a fresh U.A. degree. And this villain… he was the worst. I had to take All Might and run like hell. Nana kept him at bay, just to keep him from catching us."
Tenya was shocked, "The time he spent in America…"
"Yeah, he was training to get strong enough to kick that guy's teeth in, and to keep him or his agents from getting him," Gran Torino said. "And he did manage to put down his mentor's murderer."
Tenya felt the weight of this information settle in. He finally asked, "Did… did it help?"
Gran Torino shook his head, "Not even a little bit. Best thing I got out of that was the satisfaction that he wasn't going to hurt anyone else."
They sat in silence for a bit, before Gran Torino got up, "Well, that's enough of this old man's reminiscing. This is about teaching you! I already told you, you're too stiff. You need to be flexible. And then there's your admiration of your brother."
Tenya sputtered, "What are you talking about?! Tensei is a wonderful person and the ideal hero! A guideline that everyone should strive for!"
"And that's what's holding you back," Gran Torino said, leaving the room.
"What was that clicking noise?" Nejire asked.
Ochako blinked. "She bonded? And that quickly?!" she asked Izuku.
Apparently, Izuku said, equally surprised.
"Senpai, there's something I actually need to talk to you about. In private," Ochako ran interference, dragging Nejire off.
Izuku turned to Mirio, "So, what's happening with Eri? And that masked guy?"
"Turns out the masked guy's a Yakuza boss," Mirio said. "He's got a super crazy Quirk that allows him to destroy and reconstitute matter with a touch of his hands."
Izuku was taken aback. The kind of power inherent in that Quirk was phenomenal. "Wow! It's a good thing that I could effectively use Blackwhip, then. I knew that his hands were dangerous but… that's ridiculous!"
"I know! Really glad you were with me today, Izuku-kun!" Mirio placed a hand on the shorter boy's shoulders.
"Indeed," from behind them, Sir Nighteye appeared. "Covering his hands with an energy based capture Quirk was one of the few ways we could have detained him."
"I could sense that his hands were dangerous, and when he started to remove his gloves, I didn't want to chance it," Izuku said.
"Good. That's why you're alive right now," Nighteye said. "And you pressed your panic button immediately, so you followed protocol. There's a new wrinkle, though, the girl."
"Is she all right?" Izuku asked.
"She has obviously been traumatized and abused. There's no official record of her existence, so her birth was likely kept secret," Nighteye said. "They're trying to assess her medically, but it appears that any attempt to do so frightens her. And she's asking to see the 'nice people'."
"I assume that's us?" Mirio said.
"You do fit the description of 'The big man with sunshine hair and button eyes and the fluffy green man with the big black ropes'," Nighteye said with a chuckle.
Mirio laughed, and messed up Izuku's hair, "You are pretty fluffy, kouhai."
Izuku was a little miffed, but decided to prioritize, "Can we see her?"
"Of course," Nighteye replied, leading them towards the room she was in.
As they entered the room, one of the officers came to try and comfort the little girl, but she was scared. Her horn began to glow.
Danger Sense flared once more, and Izuku yelled, "Get back!" calling up Blackwhip to bring the officer away from the girl. The officer was startled as he was yanked back by the Hero student.
As that happened, a half-eaten orange flew from his pocket. It landed on the bed as the glow from Eri's horn spread out. Once it touched her, the orange began to revert to its original, uneaten state. Then, it began to lose its ripeness, until it reverted back into a blossom, and then, finally, disappeared.
Everyone who noticed that stared in shock. "Wow," Mirio finally stated. Eri, for her part, looked absolutely terrified.
"No, my curse… I don't want you to disappear…" she said as she trembled.
Izuku barely even considered it. He let out a small, thin strand of Blackwhip, totally calm.
"Buddy, we don't know for sure that it won't be affected by her Quirk," Daigoro said cautiously.
"Oh my God, he has AirPods in, he can't hear us!" Yoichi responded.
"Must you?" Daigoro snarled.
"I died memeing the first time, I'll die memeing again," Yoichi stated firmly.
Ignoring them, but trying to be cautious, Izuku brought the tendril of Blackwhip towards Eri, calmly touching her, ready to drop it at a moment's notice. When he failed to be affected by her Quirk, he wrapped it around her, loosely. "Hey, it's going to be okay," he said, smiling.
Eri looked confused, touching the tendril tentatively, "It's warm. And tingly."
He used the tendril to rub her face, "If this feels uncomfortable, please let me know."
Eri leaned into it, before the light from her horn dimmed. Was it smaller now? She collapsed, unconscious.
"Danger Sense isn't going off anymore," Izuku said, nearly collapsing once the trouble was over.
"That orange… it… It's like she rewound it," Mirio said in shock.
"Indeed," Nighteye said. "This may explain why no records of her exist. Without proper control, what would she have done to a person touching her?"
Izuku paled, but then a thought came to him, "But… with control? She restored that orange to the way it was before it was eaten! If she'd stopped there… She could have one of the most powerful healing Quirks of all time!"
"Ironically, so could Chisaki," Nighteye spat. At Izuku's confusion, he clarified, "The villain you apprehended. His Quirk, Overhaul, can restore living matter to his whim."
"He has a Quirk like that and he's a Yakuza boss?" Izuku said in disbelief. "I don't understand some people."
"Speaking of understanding people," Nana interrupted, "Ochako-chan needs help with Nejire."
Izuku sat up, "Sir? There's something I need to deal with."
Nighteye raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And what might that be?"
"One of Decade Force's involuntary manifestations," Izuku said, clasping his hands together.
Nighteye, having read Izuku's notes and spoken to Nezu, simply nodded, "Understood. I'll contact you if you're needed. Otherwise, inform me when you're done."
Mirio looked confused as Izuku left. "Sir, what's that about?"
Nighteye shook his head, "You're better off not knowing. I wish I didn't."
The bond was preparing him. Nejire-senpai was excitable and hyper. She was very excited about what she was learning. She had a ton of questions.
He still was caught off guard when she rushed him once he entered the room. Largely because she tackled him in a hug.
"You have a romantic Quirk!" Nejire cheered. "How does it work? Do you have to be in the same room? How much information do I get? Can you control it? Can Ochako-chan bond to people too? Do you guys ever fight? Does this mean we're dating now?"
Why doesn't Danger Sense work for this? Izuku wondered.
"She doesn't mean any harm," Hikage answered.
Rhetorical question, but thanks, Izuku groaned internally. Externally, he replied, "I don't really know how it works. We don't have to be in the same room, but I think I have to be speaking to someone. I bonded with Melissa over a video call, and she's out on I-Island. The information varies, but if you want something kept secret, the bond won't reveal it. I don't have any control over the Bonds, as far as I know. Occhan hasn't bonded with anyone, nor has anyone else. We haven't really fought, the bonds seem to anticipate it and try to defuse the situation, I think. And we've known each other for about five minutes."
Nejire let go in the middle of the rant, and now she had a finger to her cheek in thought, "Hmm, it makes sense that Ochako-chan can't bond to people. Or she'd have bonded when I started crushing on her."
Izuku's jaw dropped in shock. Ochako giggled, "Yeah, I think Nejire-senpai's the kind of person who crushes at the drop of a hat."
Izuku flushed, "Well, if you get tired of us, we think the bonds can break. We don't want to keep you if you find someone better…"
Nejire cocked her head curiously, "Why would I do that? Do you guys get jealous?"
Izuku was about to speak, but stopped while his mouth was still open. He looked at Ochako, "I mean, I don't think so? Not within the polycule, at least…"
"When you bonded with Momo, I thought I might be, or maybe should be jealous, but I got a flash of how lonely you both were and a sense of reassurance that you still cared for me as much as you did before…" Ochako replied, scratching her head.
"I mean, I got super angry at Mineta, but that's because he was staring at you like pieces of meat, and I could feel how uncomfortable that made you," Izuku said.
"Yeah, I honestly don't think we've gotten jealous. In fact, when I heard about your dates with the other girls, I felt… Huh, I don't even have a word for it. What's the opposite of jealousy?" Ochako wondered.
"Compersion!" Nejire answered. "Compersion is when you feel glad that your partners are enjoying time with one another!"
"Huh, that's a good word," Izuku said.
"Nejire-senpai, do you know about this sort of relationship?" Ochako asked, "Cause we're kind of winging it."
"Yeah!" Nejire said. "I'm poly, and I'm sooo glad you've got a way to stop those sorts of feelings. That's why Yuyu and I broke up!" As her companions winced, she waved her hands, "Don't worry, we're still best friends, we just couldn't stay as a couple. She wanted to be exclusive, and I can't really do that."
"Well, we aren't dating outside of the bonds, so that might be an issue…" Ochako said.
"I get to join a love cloud full of cute kouhais? I think that'll suffice," Nejire said. "How big a polycule is this, anyway?"
"I have eight, err, slots for lack of a better term," Izuku said awkwardly. "You're the seventh bond I've formed. So, nine maximum people."
"Yeah, that should be enough," Nejire said. "More than that and the relationships become unwieldy. And I think the bedroom would resemble a game of rugby more than anything."
The two first-years blushed heavily, which caused Nejire to giggle.
"This feels… fast," Izuku said.
"Well, we can go at whatever pace you guys want," Nejire said. "This seems like fun!"
The bond was telling both Izuku and Ochako that while she was sincere in wanting them to decide their own pace, she was really excited. And that might lead to her overdoing it accidentally.
"If my Internship goes south, I'm blaming you, Izu-kun," Ochako said, half-joking.
I'm blaming Nezu, Izuku replied. He was trying to lead me towards this.
"On the one hand, I'm kind of concerned about the power you attribute to the principal. On the other hand, he is responsible for a lot of this sort of nonsense," Ochako conceded.
I caught myself before I started praying to Nezu once, Izuku admitted. I think this is how cults get started.
"... Until the handle broke off and they had to call a doctor to pull it back out again!"
Inko burst into laughter as All Might finished the story. The hero grinned. It was so nice to spend time just relaxing. He'd not done so in a while.
It helped that Inko was a charming woman. Ever since the day that both she and young Uraraka were told the secret of One for All, All Might had chosen to spend more and more of his free time at the Midoriya home. And, with the Hero students at their Internships, All Might had quite a lot of free time.
He found himself smiling fondly as Inko's laughter subsided. She looked at the Hero, "Is something on your mind, Toshinori-san?"
How on Earth are you still single? No! Bad Toshi! All Might thought, then immediately chastised himself. "I'm merely feeling happy. Relaxed for the first time in a long time."
Inko gave a warm smile, so much like her son's, "Keep that in mind the next time you feel like straining yourself."
"You've been talking to Dave, haven't you?" Toshinori half-joked.
"Of course!" She replied. "He's wonderful, and so is his daughter! We're ready to give her a warm welcome once she transfers here."
All Might would have replied, but his phone began to blare, "Nezu is here! Nezu is here! Nezu is here!" He didn't add that ringtone. It was bestowed upon him. When he unlocked it, a text came up saying "Put me on speaker". He, of course, complied.
"Yagi-san! Midoriya-san! How nice to speak to you both!" came the voice of U.A.'s principal.
"What's happened to my baby boy?!" Inko said, worried yet fierce.
"So far, he has done admirably! I won't bore you with all the details of your son's Internship thus far, but within twenty minutes of his first patrol, he has managed to both save an abused child and apprehend a Yakuza boss!" Nezu was WAY too cheerful as he said that.
Inko looked simultaneously proud and infuriated. All Might took over, "Quite the accomplishment."
"Indeed," Nezu said. "The Nighteye Agency will be working on this case for a bit, it seems. However, we have a few conundrums until this is resolved. The first is the girl, Eri. She has no official documents. I assume she was born in captivity or delivered to these unsavory individuals in infancy. She is in the possession of a dangerous Quirk that we are calling Rewind. It's a wonderfully powerful Quirk! Unfortunately, she is about six years old, and she has little control over it."
All Might frowned. A dangerous Quirk that could not be controlled by its user? Quite the awful conundrum there. "What do you plan on doing with her?"
"She has been experimented on by a human who lacks any and all empathy for other creatures," Nezu said. "I cannot allow another sapient being to suffer that cruel fate. I wish to place her under the custody of U.A. The issue is this, there are two people who can help if her Quirk goes out of control, and there are two people who young Eri trusts. And young Izuku is the only person on both lists."
Inko gasped, "What?"
"Your son's Danger Sense was able to detect her Quirk's usage before it happened, and Blackwhip allowed him to touch her and give her comfort without her Quirk harming him. Eraserhead would be equally adept at helping us, as he can simply stop an involuntary use of her Quirk as it began," Nezu explained. "And Izuku protected her and apprehended her tormentor, alongside his fellow intern, a third year U.A. student named Mirio Togata."
All Might twitched at that name, remembering the argument he'd had with Nighteye regarding his choice of successor.
"Now, in addition to that, while their leader was apprehended, the rank and file of the Shie Hassaikai are still at large. While Yakuza are considered a joke in our age of Heroes and Villains, they are no laughing matter," Nezu said solemnly.
All Might frowned, "With a name like 'The Eight Precepts of Death', I would think not."
"We aren't sure what they'll attempt, or if it will involve the family of the boy who arrested their leader," Nezu said, and All Might could feel the evil smirk radiating from his phone. "Midoriya-san, how would you like a job caring for one of this school's wards? I can provide free room and board for you and your son."
"Eh?" Inko said, her flabbergasted look a mirror of her son's.
"Gotta say, kid, you're getting better. You can almost dodge, sort of," Gran Torino… complimented? Well, it was the closest he'd come to a compliment thus far.
"Thank you, sir!" Tenya replied earnestly, which earned him a head shake from the old Hero. Tenya stated, "I am attempting to be more flexible and limber."
"Hrm," Gran Torino grumbled. "Attitude's a good reason why you're having so much trouble with it."
"Sir?" Tenya asked, unsure about what he meant by that. He'd been confused ever since he'd heard the man's admonishment the previous day.. How could looking up to Tensei be a drawback? He was such a good Hero! Beloved, charismatic, able to lead, diligent! Why would wanting to be like that be a drawback?!
"Well, kid, you're sure to get a kick out of this," Gran Torino said, smiling at the way Tenya flinched when he said kick, "We'll be out villain hunting tonight."
Tenya blinked, "Wait, what? I thought you were trying to stop me from doing just that."
"We're trying to stop you from hunting the Hero Killer," Gran Torino amended. "If you're that eager, I might as well get you to cut your teeth on some weaker punks so you can understand what a dumb idea that was. And there's no one around these parts, so I'll be taking you to Shibuya."
"I'm honored that you trust me enough for this," Tenya bowed.
Gran Torino ignored that, "We'll be going by bullet train."
"Excellent, the fastest form of transportation available to get there!" Tenya stated.
"Feh, 'fastest'," Gran Torino scoffed. "As long as it's on the route, and nothing's blocking the track. Anything goes wrong, we'd be better off walking. Off its magnetized track, the train's a hunk of junk."
And, with that, something clicked with Tenya, "Wait, is that what you've been trying to tell me?"
Gran Torino grinned, "I don't know, why don't you let me know what you've figured out…"
"Well, the bullet train may be fast, but it's limited to its track. In the same way, you're telling me to change my mental state, because…" He thought about it, "Because any impediment I find stops me cold. And if I need to get somewhere that isn't the destination set out on that path, I can't get there…"
Gran Torino stroked his beard, "Well, it's a start. Glad that worked for you."
"I'm glad that I have deciphered your teachings!" Tenya bowed. At which point, Gran Torino kicked him in the face.
"Not everything I say is meant to be a lesson," Gran Torino replied. "But if you get inspired by it, and go in the right direction, that works for me."
"Damnit!" Tomura called out as he slammed his fist on the bar as Stain left via the warp gate. "The nerve of him, attempting to grief me. All that horseshit about conviction. He's not better than I am!"
"Tomura," The voice of Sensei came from the screen in the bar. "Not every attempt at diplomacy will succeed. We merely misjudged the Hero Killer's motivation."
A motivation that made absolutely no sense to Tomura. Why try to kill Heroes but proclaim that the worst ones were the only ones worth keeping? Apparently, targeting All Might and Player Two put Tomura on Stain's shitlist.
"I want that noseless bastard dead!" Tomura cried out.
"Tomura," Sensei admonished. Tomura scowled. Ever since the Sports Festival, Sensei had been keeping him on a shorter leash. Apparently, he wasn't happy about Player Two's "toddler" comment either, and wanted to rein it in to save face. He couldn't ask Sensei to give him Nomu to kill that bastard now...
Suddenly, he got an idea, "Sensei, I chose the Hero Killer because he's got rep. If I got him to join my party, that'd give us a lower difficulty to recruit villains who like him… But maybe we don't need to actually get Stain in order to do that…"
The doctor's voice scoffed, "What are you on about, you little-"
"Now, now, doctor. Let him speak. Tomura?" Sensei interrupted.
"Stain's going hunting now. If we sent a few Nomu out to attack Hosu, it'd look like we were working together. And if one of our Nomu managed to kill Stain, well, the Heroes would probably try to take credit for it, wouldn't they?" Tomura mused.
Tomura could feel Sensei's smile through the screen, "It's certainly a possible outcome."
"My lord, we only have three Nomu ready after the USJ fiasco," the doctor said.
"Irrelevant," Sensei replied. "Tomura's plan has merit. We should reward him for such clever tactics."
The doctor sighed, "As you command, my lord."
Tomura grinned, "Mission start."
"I feel bad about leaving her," Izuku said. Once the tests were finished, her wounds were treated, and the girl had regained consciousness, Eri had been brought back to the Nighteye Agency. They were taking her into temporary custody. Nezu was apparently trying to make her a ward of U.A., since they'd have the facilities to both protect her and contain a person with a dangerous Quirk.
"Mirio's with her, and this is something you need to learn," Bubble Girl told him. The sun was setting, and she'd elected to take him on another patrol. Either he or Mirio would stay with Eri if one of them had to leave. "Patrols don't always last a few minutes before you save a civilian and apprehend a villain."
"How often does that happen?" Izuku asked.
"More often than I'd like," Bubble Girl responded.
Izuku nodded. It felt weird to him that he was as tall as an adult sidekick. He was also trying like hell not to stare at her outfit.
"Appeal aside, that is way too little protection," Yoichi groused.
"You know, her Bubble Quirk's got some similarities to Laser Disc…" Ryouji teased. "Producing small projectiles… maybe she's your last Bond?"
She's an adult, a pro Hero, and she's currently teaching me, Izuku attempted to dissuade the now-chatty vestige. That'd be weird.
"Chief, why? We don't even swing that way," Isamu groaned.
"Teasing the younguns is a duty that surpasses orientation," Ryouji responded.
Izuku stifled a groan and a blush. Luckily, Danger Sense wasn't going off.
Unfortunately, Danger Sense was, at the end of the day, a sense. And some people could train themselves to be undetected, to essentially erase their presence to avoid detection by most senses. Including, apparently, Hikage Shinomori's Quirk.
One such person was looking at Izuku with amber, catlike eyes, and she licked her lips as she grinned, showing off her pronounced fangs.
Izuku, the U.A. staff, and Gran Torino had worked together to keep Tenya out of Hosu.
Fate, it seems, had other plans.
The bullet train that Tenya was riding on, alongside his mentor, was smashed open by a pro Hero being flung into it at high speeds. Tenya barely had time to react before a hand extended into the train car, grabbed him, and tossed him out into the air.
Thinking quickly, once he was in the open air, he angled his legs awkwardly, using his engines to reverse the downward momentum and cushion his fall. He saw that Gran Torino, noticing the use of his Quirk, took the opportunity to fly towards his intern's assailant.
As the creature took the smack in the face, Tenya could see that it was black in color, and its brain was exposed. "NOMU!" he cried out.
The long-armed Nomu sailed away as Gran Torino kicked it. As it did, Tenya could see that there were other heroes fighting these creatures, the most prominent one having multiple arms and chainsaws for hands.
Tenya managed to get to the ground without injury. Once he did, Gran Torino flew towards him, "Good, you're all right. Looks like our plans got changed. They need all hands on deck for this madness, so I have to get in there. You, on the other hand… You have my permission to use your Quirk, but only for the purposes of escaping and evacuation. You're too invaluable not to use here. However, you do not have my permission to fight. If you use your Quirk to fight any villains, I'm letting them throw the book at you, got it?"
Tenya bowed, as Gran Torino sped off. And, unfortunately, he wasn't exactly thinking straight at first.
This was the perfect opportunity! He was in Hosu, he could take his revenge! He even had permission to use his Quirk!
… Well, no. Gran Torino gave him permission to use his Quirk specifically to rescue people in danger. Although…
Tenya almost slapped himself. No! He couldn't betray Gran Torino's trust. He knew that Tenya had been planning to commit a crime and he still allowed him to aid in this situation!
But, how could he live with himself if he didn't take down the Hero Killer? How would he…
And then everything clicked for him.
All Might-sensei got revenge for his mentor, for Gran Torino-sensei's friend, but it didn't make it hurt less, Tenya thought. When Midoriya-kun's bully was expelled for assault, he didn't feel satisfaction. And even if I could kill Stain, that wouldn't erase Tensei-nii-san's pain. It won't heal his paralysis…
He felt shame from that realization. Then he shook his head, Like Shiozaki-kun said, we can't help our feelings. It's what we do with them that matters. I was going to make a mistake. But I can correct it… Gran Torino knew he couldn't win against the villain that killed Nimbus, but he could run, take All Might away so that he wouldn't die…
And so, Tenya ran. The Hero Killer was in Hosu. Everything was going to Hell in a handbasket, and thus the Hero presence was focused on the Nomu. Stain would use this opportunity to do more of his vile work.
Tenya couldn't take down the Hero Killer. But maybe, just maybe, he could prevent him from making another victim.