Chapter Three:

Dinner with all the tutors was a boisterous affair. Banjo liked to steal food off other people's plates (though only those who had said they didn't mind the game.) Kaiji enjoyed stabbing Banjo's hand with a fork for trying. The two of them had turned it into a surprisingly friendly competition given how they drew real blood. Everyone had asked after Yoichi's health, but in a casual way. Unfortunately, Yoichi being ill was nothing new in this household.

Izuku's conversation with Toshinori had left him feeling uneasy and not even sure why. This time, he decided to ask some questions that had never occurred to him before.

Leaning over to grab the water pitcher, Izuku said casually, "Eighth doesn't remember life before our house. Is that normal?"

"I would say so," En said. "None of us had lives before this place. I always assumed I came into existence in the master's office."

Izuku frowned. "You didn't have a childhood, then?"

"I can't imagine being a child," Hikage said. "Ugh, that sounds dreadful. Imagine being forced into the company of larger humans and not being able to leave."

Banjo said, "Hisashi probably had another life outside. Maybe he was a child at one point, like you, Izuku. I always assumed that only people in your family had childhoods, that you were different from us."

"No, Yoichi doesn't remember a childhood either," Kaiji said. He leaned forward, brows drawing up. "How did he look when you last saw him?" From Sanzou's stare, he was equally alert for the answer to this question even though they'd asked already.

Izuku said, "Uncle Yoichi had a headache. I'm sure he'll recover quickly with Dad looking after him."

Shoulders slumped, Kaiji muttered, "I should be there looking after my lover. I'm a failure. If only—" His jaw worked, as if he wanted to say something else, but no sound came out.

Comfortingly, Izuku said, "You know Uncle Yoichi doesn't like people fussing over him. Dad will irritate him enough without you two joining in."

Sanzou said, "We wouldn't infantilize him. He doesn't mind it when we take care of him, not like when—" He stopped, unable to finish his sentence. Instead, he put an arm around Kaiji. They leaned into each other.

As usual, Sanzou had stopped speaking right before saying anything critical of Hisashi. Izuku had often been irritated by his tutors' unwillingness to say a single negative word about his father, even when Dad was clearly in the wrong. However, for the first time, Izuku noticed it had been almost like Kaiji and Sanzou couldn't criticize Hisashi rather than wouldn't.

The notion left him cold all over. Izuku couldn't think of any reason that would be true—or at least no reason he wanted to think. His first reaction was frantic denial. This was normal. This was how the world had always been. His books were full of people above narrative criticism no matter how blatantly wrong they might be, usually the ones called main characters. Did that make Hisashi the main character of their small world? Dad certainly acts like a main character, Izuku thought sourly. He wondered why he was able to criticize his father, both in his head and out loud. If Hisashi had some strange power to compel people, then wouldn't he have used it on Izuku too? His dad had never brooked disobedience from anyone, and even Yoichi wasn't an exception to the lack of criticism rule, so why Izuku?

Come to think of it, Toshinori had been able to call Hisashi a jerk earlier. That was another data point to be added to the mystery.

Banjo took advantage of Kaiji's distraction to steal his largest chunk of chicken. When he realized Kaiji wasn't even trying to stop him, he put it back. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Banjo asked, "Kaiji and Sanzou, didn't you two have some memory problems in the past?"

"I wouldn't remember," Kaiji joked.

"No, Banjo is right," Hikage said. "I remember the time you two forgot all about dating Yoichi. It was amusing at first to watch you court him all over again, though frankly I got uncomfortable in the honeymoon stage when your PDA was at its worst. Then you forgot again! I had to endure your drama three times."

"Nonsense, we're always full of love." Kaiji kissed Sanzou's neck as proof.

Sanzou chuckled. "You must have misunderstood. We've been together forever."

"I never saw anything like that." En shrugged.

Hikage said, "It had stopped by the time you arrived. Yoichi's headaches used to be worse back then, too. I'm glad he's gotten better."

Nana murmured, "He always gets worse when a new person arrives. Perhaps it's stress."

Now this was very interesting. Izuku could accept that perhaps his tutors had come into existence as adults. He didn't know anything about how people were created. But the gap in Kaiji and Sanzou's memories afterward could not be so easily handwaved. If their memories had been erased, then maybe so had everyone else's childhoods. Izuku could not escape the thought that Hisashi had always disliked his little brother's romantic partners. Everything pointed Izuku toward a conclusion he did not like one bit. Because if he was right…it would be an atrocity with no solution. No one could stop his father.

Quietly, Toshinori said, "I wonder if I've forgotten anything. Sometimes I feel…out of place."

The others turned to him. Placing a hand on his arm, Nana said, "I doubt it. I can't recall ever experiencing anything like what Banjo and Hikage were talking about. It's normal not to remember anything before you came into existence in this world. You're new, but I'm sure you have a place with us. You already feel like family to me."

Toshinori returned her smile with one of his own. "I feel a connection to you, too."

Izuku cleared his throat, determined to bring this conversation back to useful information gathering. "Have any of you ever had superpowers?"

Everyone laughed. Banjo patted Izuku on the head. "Wouldn't that be cool, kid? I'm sure anyone your age would have fantasies about obtaining a power from a book or movie."

But Izuku had seen Toshinori flashing green and moving unnaturally fast. Nana had seen, too, although she hadn't reacted at the time. His eyes went to her. "How about you, Seventh?"

Nana shrugged. "I have dreams about flying. That's the closest I've ever come to being special."

"Everyone has dreams like that," En chimed in. "I dream about being invisible."

Banjo nodded. "Ooo, right, that dream where you're in class and you're naked but no one reacts to it?"

En said, "No, in my dreams I'm obscured by a black mist."

"All of you have interesting dreams," Hikage said. "I just keep ending up running around in the same forest."

Ugh, this hadn't been what Izuku had been looking for. He'd hoped for real clues, not dreams. He tried one more time. "Has anyone ever heard of superheroes or quirks?"

This only got him blank stares.

Banjo asked, "Superhero like a super powerful main character?"

Toshinori said, "It's a fictional character with special, often supernatural abilities."

Hikage shrugged. "That sounds like the entire fantasy genre. By quirks, do you mean like how a certain someone likes to steal food?" He grabbed Banjo's wrist reaching for his plate. "I'd say Banjo is the quirkiest of the eight of us."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Banjo smirked and used his other hand to borrow Hikage's drink.

The rest of the dinner turned into a food battle. Izuku suspected he'd gotten all the useful information he could, anyway. His tutors could not give him the answers he wanted. He feared hurting them if he pushed too hard. But Toshinori was different. Maybe the Eighth tutor could help Izuku unravel the mystery of their world.

As soon as Izuku entered foreign language class, Toshinori asked, "Any news on Yoichi's condition? I haven't seen him all day."

"Me, neither," Izuku admitted. "Dad said Uncle Yoichi still felt too sick to teach me literature this morning. It's been a while since he had a headache quite this bad."

Toshinori hesitated, fiddling with a pencil. After a moment, he said, "Headaches are a sign of amnesia."

"Huh. I never thought of that." Izuku tapped his chin. He started mumbling: "Blows to the head cause memory loss in books and movies. In some books, another hit to the head can reverse amnesia, but Second told me that's very scientifically unlikely. I've seen amnesiac manga characters act like their heads hurt during dramatic moments when they encounter something familiar, but I took that as more artistic license. It seems unlikely a head injury would linger so long, but I'm not a doctor. Truthfully I assumed Uncle Yoichi was exaggerating his illness this time. Usually his headaches last less than an hour but he's been known to drag them out if he wants to distract Dad. It seems like he wants Dad not to focus his attention on Eighth…I mean, you…" Izuku stopped talking as he realized he'd mumbled more than he'd meant to reveal. He glanced under his bangs at Toshinori, hoping he hadn't made his new tutor feel guilty.

Toshinori nodded. "That's an interesting analysis. You're a sharp one, my boy. I'm glad Yoichi—First might be better than he's letting on. I'm not entirely willing to give up my theory, though. I'll ask him if there are patterns to his headaches after he leaves his room. In the meantime, shall we begin class?"

Izuku took a seat. "Sorry we couldn't get a Superman comic for our lessons."

"Have no fear! I came up with another idea." Toshinori grinned widely. "What if we make up our own hero comic book? Then I'll translate it into English with you."

"Ooo, that sounds like fun." Truthfully, Izuku thought adding a bit of art class would be more interesting than learning a language only one other person spoke. "What kind of story should we tell?"

Toshinori pulled a chair over to Izuku's desk, and they put their heads together. Izuku didn't know anything about superheroes, so he let Toshinori take the lead in drafting the plot. With a few stick figure sketches, Toshinori outlined a story about a young quirkless boy who wanted to become a hero but had no power. The boy met a mysterious woman who had the power to fly. She also possessed a second, more subtle power—a transferrable ability that stockpiled strength and had been passed down for seven generations. His persistence won her over, and she agreed to train the boy. The story followed the boy obtaining a new power, a villain murdering his mentor in front of him, and his flight to a foreign country.

Pulling out his colored pencils, Izuku asked, "What should the main character's mentor look like?"

"She's a tall, muscular woman with jet black hair and a beauty mark."

"She sounds like Seventh."

Toshinori chuckled. "Maybe I was subconsciously inspired by her. Nana would make an amazing hero."

"She would," Izuku agreed. He'd drawn Nana before, so it was easy enough to put her into a superhero costume. As he sketched, he asked, "Where did you get the idea for this story? Is it from an English comic you read?"

"No, this is an original story." Toshinori's gaze turned distant. "I don't know where I got the plot from. Usually I prefer more upbeat stories. When you asked me for an idea, this one immediately came to mind. I wanted to tell you it, for some reason. Even though it's a sad story."

"The mentor's death is sad, but surely it has a happy ending," Izuku said. "The hero has to defeat the villain. That's how stories always end." He added with a chuckle, "My dad likes to complain about that. He says it's not realistic."

"This story has a more realistic ending," Toshinori said. "The hero doesn't win. The villain threatens his mentor's family, and prevents him from fighting back. In the end, he couldn't save everyone. He had to make a choice. He sacrifices himself."

Izuku frowned. "It can't just end like that. Ugh, I wanted him to win. Maybe we should have the hero pass on his quirk to someone new? That way the legacy continues." Izuku hated sad endings, but this story didn't solely belong to him, so he'd be willing to negotiate a bittersweet ending.

Toshinori startled, as if coming out of a daze. "Yes, that would be a fine ending. Or we could just have the hero defeat the villain. That's how superhero stories always end." His smile looked false.

Watching his tutor's sad eyes, Izuku asked, "What's wrong?"

Toshinori's shoulders sagged. "That ending just doesn't feel true to me. I'm sorry, I don't know why. I want this story to have a happy ending. It just…doesn't."

Izuku suggested, "Why don't we take our time to decide how the story ends? We can finish the first part for now."

"That's a fine idea, my boy. We shouldn't get too ambitious and make the story too long. Perhaps we'll grow bored after the first arc."

"No way! It's a cool story. I like the idea of heroes who swoop in to save the day." Izuku started designing the main character's outfit. Meanwhile, Toshinori wrote an outline. "What should our main character be called?"

Toshinori's brows drew together. "All…Might?"

Izuku laughed. "That's a rather boastful name for a teenager without a single victory!"

Toshinori hung his head. "Oh, you're right."

Worried his tutor seemed to be taking the rejection a bit too personally, Izuku said, "No, no, it's a fine name. All Might. I'm seeing the appeal. It strikes terror in the hears of villains with absolute dominance."

"Exactly!" Toshinori perked up.

"Want to see my design?"

"Of course." Peering over Izuku's shoulder, Toshinori said, "What a cool costume! I don't think the one in my head was nearly as cool." Izuku had drawn a jet-black bodysuit with green highlights and a helmet.

"I've always liked slightly villainous designs in my heroes. I can't help it. They just look cooler! Perhaps that's my dad's blood in me." Izuku twirled his pencil. "Even though my father prefers villains, he's like the hero to this house. He's the one who provides us with necessities and entertainment. Without him, we'd have nothing. I've always wished I could be like Dad, traveling to other places and bringing back necessities. But he says it's impossible for me. I guess I'd only slow him down."

"Nonsense, heroes are the people who make the impossible into possible." Toshinori flashed a wide grin. "You're a multitalented boy and a fast learner. I'm sure you'd be an asset."

"You really think so?" Izuku sat up straighter. "I keep hoping he'll take me along when I get older. I've gotten tired of waiting, though. I wish I could go to a foreign land and make my hero debut, like our main character. I'm so tired of this tiny house. I want to see something new."

"I'm sure you will," Toshinori said.

"Do you mean it?" Izuku looked up. His other tutors always had gently discouraged his dream, telling him there was nowhere else to go. "But there's nothing outside this house."

"I'm not convinced of that," Toshinori said. "The food and books must come from somewhere. I'd like to investigate, but according to the others, I'm not allowed to leave the house unless it's part of your lessons."

"We could sneak out tonight, after everyone is asleep," Izuku suggested. A devil had seized him. Toshinori was the first person to believe in Izuku's dream. In return, Izuku wanted to help. Besides, he had his own reasons. "I'll show you to the barrier around this world. You can see if you can find any way through."

"I shouldn't…" Toshinori said. "But we're making our main character a bit more of an antihero in our story, so why not?" His grin returned. "Thank you, my boy."

All the other tutors would have told Izuku to obey the rules. He'd half-expected Toshinori to be the same. He'd even braced himself for a lecture or a punishment. Now Izuku didn't know how to deal with the sudden agreement to his plan. It left him feeling nervous and scared. But he was determined not to let the first person to believe in his dream down. "I'll sneak to your room and fetch you tonight. I know where to find the key to the outside."

For dinner, Hisashi asked Izuku to come eat in Yoichi's room. Actually, it was more of a command than a request. But Izuku would have agreed regardless. He wanted to check up on his uncle's condition.

Izuku arrived before his father. Yoichi sat up in a poster bed piled high with pillows, reading a comic book. Izuku pulled over a chair. "Uncle Yoichi, how is your head?"

"I'm as good as new." Yoichi winked and lowered his voice. "A little fussing over me distracted your father from bullying the new tutor."

"I knew it." Izuku smiled. "I won't tell."

"How are you liking your new foreign language class?" Yoichi asked.

"It's been great fun. Eighth is very kind, he listens to all of my mumblings. We've been working on creating our own comic. Want to see?"

"Yes please!"

Izuku pulled out a notebook. "The sketches are still very crude. It will look better after I refine the drawings."

"Anything created by my nephew is perfect—" Yoichi stopped talking. He stared at the notebook in his hands. Trembling, he slowly flipped the pages. His jaw hung slightly slack. His hands trembled. Tears flowed from his eyes, falling on the paper.

Izuku snatched the notebook away, partly to save it from the flood and partly because it seemed to be distressing his uncle. "What's wrong, Uncle Yoichi?"

"I don't know," Yoichi choked out between tears. "I don't understand why. I suddenly felt sad. And ill. Very ill. My head…" He grasped his hair. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth.

Very concerned now, Izuku leapt up and screamed, "DAD!"

When Izuku ran out into the hallway, he collided with his father. Hisashi frowned. "Izuku, have you forgotten your manners? No running in the hallways."

"Uncle Yoichi, he…blood…" Izuku stammered. Should he not have left his uncle alone? A hero would have been more useful. Izuku ran back into the room, his father following him. Yoichi lay with his head lolling sideways on the pillow and his eyes semi-closed. Tears still fell from them.

Izuku ran into the attached bathroom and grabbed a towel to use to stop the blood. Hisashi cradled his little brother in his arms. Stroking his hair, Hisashi muttered, "Oh, Yoichi. I thought we were long past this." Snatching the towel, Hisashi pressed it against the thin trail of blood from Yoichi's mouth. "What did upset him? Did you say any particular words?" Red eyes locked with Izuku's own.

Izuku clutched his notebook to his chest. He did not want to admit the truth, for fear Toshinori would be blamed even though he'd done nothing wrong. If anything, this was on Izuku, for not remembering how his uncle had reacted to Superman. "I don't know. We just talked about what we wanted for dinner."

Hisashi exhaled. "Perhaps he's still suffering symptoms from yesterday. Izuku, you'll have to eat dinner without us. Yoichi requires my full attention."

"Can I do anything to help?"

"No." It was a clear dismissal.

Izuku left, casting one last worried look back at his uncle. Yoichi looked small and fragile, like a doll, cradled in Hisashi's much larger arms.

Dinner with the tutors was more subsided this time. It was rare for Yoichi to be ill for a full day. This time, everyone was worried.

Hikage suggested, "What if we make medicinal tea?"

Kaiji fidgeted with his chopsticks. "I don't know how."

"I don't know either." Sanzou hung his head. "We're far removed from contagious illness here. Usually the master knows how to make the headaches quickly go away."

Toshinori cleared his throat. "I remember making medicinal tea. I think. I'm not sure if I've ever done it before, but I know how to do it in my head."

All eyes turned toward him. "Can I help?" Kaiji and Sanzou said together. They sounded desperate to be able to do something to help.

Toshinori poked around the kitchen, finding tea leaves and honey. All the tutors trailed around after him, bumping into each other in their eagerness to hand him items.

When the tea was finished, everyone watched in rapt silence as Toshinori poured a cup. With a sheepish chuckle, Toshinori said, "It's no medicine, but it should soothe First's throat. Kaiji, Sanzou, why don't you take the tea to First? I'm sure he would like to see you two."

Kaiji hesitated, clearly mulling over something, then said, "You should bring the tea. It was your idea and mostly your work, and it might help the master like you more."

"Are you sure?" Toshinori asked. "It might be your only excuse to see First before he recovers."

Sanzou nodded. "Quite sure. He'll be sneaking out of his rooms to see us soon enough."

With a little more prodding, Toshinori agreed. He took the tray and left. Izuku trailed after at a distance. He didn't want to interfere with his eighth tutor taking credit, but he did hope to get a glimpse of his uncle. The horrible sight of Yoichi choking on blood had been burned into his irises.

From around the corner, Izuku watched. Hisashi stood outside Yoichi's room. He looked tired as he leaned against the door, his eyes gazing off into space.

Toshinori cleared his throat.

Hisashi jumped a foot in the air. He was tall enough that his head smacked into the ceiling. "YOU!" His eyes glowed red.

Driven by a sudden bad feeling, Izuku leapt into the hallway. "Dad, knock it off!" He ran protectively in front to Toshinori, arms outstretched. Toshinori balanced the tray, struggling not to spill the tea.

With bloodshot eyes, Hisashi growled at Toshinori, "What the hell were you doing, sneaking up on me like that?" He sounded defensive. Izuku would almost say that he'd been scared—but nothing scared his father. Particularly not the tutors, who he looked down on. Why would Hisashi feel scared of Toshinori?

Meekly, Toshinori said, "I brought a throat-soothing tea for First. I'm here to help."

Slowly, Hisashi said, "Yes, I'll have to get used to that." He snatched the tray. His wide-eyed look was replaced by his usual smugness. "Consider yourself dismissed." He entered the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

Staring at the closed door, Toshinori said, "Well, it would have been a waste to send Kaiji and Sanzou since they never even would have gotten to see First. I'm glad we didn't disappoint them."

Once again, Izuku wondered why his father had hired someone he so clearly disliked.

Even though Izuku was still very worried about his uncle, he could not miss out on the perfect chance to sneak out of the house. On some nights, his father looked in on his bedroom randomly and even watched him sleep, but tonight, Hisashi would be completely distracted looking after Yoichi. Sanzou would almost certainly be seeking comfort in Kaiji's bedroom, leaving his own empty. They could not afford to waste this opportunity.

Dressed in warm clothing, Izuku slipped out of his room. His socks moved nearly silently on the wooden floor. The tutors lived in a wing at the other side of the mansion from the family. Each of the tutors had a door with a number on it, starting at two. Izuku knocked on the door labeled Eight. Toshinori answered immediately, already dressed.

Placing a finger to his lips, Izuku gestured for his eighth tutor to follow him. None of the doors in this house had locks, except his father's bedroom and office. Slowly and quietly, Izuku opened the door to Sanzou's room. As hoped, it was empty. The P.E. teacher held the only key to the outside besides Hisashi, for their walks during class time. Izuku took the key hanging over Sanzou's bed.

At the front door, they donned coats, Toshinori taking one belonging to Hisashi. Each of them took a flashlight from the top shelf of the closet. Izuku unlocked the front door, and they stepped out into the cold, crisp air. There was no light except their flashlights shining across the stone pathway.

"No moon?" Toshinori asked.

Izuku shot him a funny look. "The moon only exists in fiction."

Toshinori shuddered, and it did not seem to be from cold. "I see."

The mansion had beautiful gardens which could not be seen currently. The hedges around them had been shaped to look like demons and cast odd shapes. When they reached the forest, the stone pathway turned into dirt. Their steps became squelchy as they left footprints in the mud.

Toshinori kept glancing over his shoulder. Izuku said, "Dad won't notice us. He won't leave my uncle's side tonight."

"Oh!" Toshinori startled. "It's not that. I have no rational reason to be afraid. I just feel like the forest might swallow me up." He laughed. "I'm not normally so jumpy. This is just a very odd forest."

"It is?" Izuku asked. This was the only forest he'd ever known.

"All the trees are very tall."

That was true, each of the trunks were was wide as Izuku was tall. "Dad likes everything big. My uncle says he's compensating."

"There's no sound. No insects or night birds."

"Who would want insects? They'd infest the house."

Toshinori shuddered. "The air keeps getting colder."

"That's because we're getting closer to the end of the world." Izuku stopped. He shone his flashlight directly on the boundary.

The barrier stretched up like an infinite wall meeting the sky above. It was a shade darker than black, standing out even in the night, seeming to suck in the light from their flashlights and give nothing back.

Toshinori swallowed. "I hadn't truly believed there could be an end to the world. Not until now."

Izuku kicked the barrier. "There's no way through. As a child, I tried every possible trick. It's harder than diamonds. I would know, because I stole my uncle's favorite diamond bracelet to try to scratch the surface. I cracked the diamond. He was furious."

"Hmm." Toshinori bit his lip. "There's something almost hypnotic about it." Slowly, he stretched out his hand. Under Izuku's shocked gaze, Toshinori's fingers sank into the inky blackness. Izuku gasped, his hands going up to his mouth. The fundamental rules of his world had been broken.

Then Toshinori stumbled and fell on his back, scrambling away from the barrier. His breath came out in harsh gasps.

Izuku ran forward. "Did you hurt your fingers?" He took Toshinori's hand, finding no injury. But his tutor trembled.

Staring up with wide eyes, Toshinori whispered, "There was nothing behind the barrier."

"Then you just felt empty air?" Izuku asked uncertainly.

"No, I put my hand into nothingness." A tinge of hysteria entered Toshinori's voice. "Nothing…nothing there…just endless emptiness…an emptiness more total than the vacuum of space…it almost ate me alive." He full-body shuddered. "There's nothing outside this place."

"Oh," Izuku whispered, disappointed. After what he'd just seen, he'd hoped for a miracle. A door out of this house, a new world to explore, a chance to chart his own destiny. But instead he'd learned he was even more trapped than he'd known. "I guess I need to find a new dream."

"No." Toshinori's face was pale in the darkness, but his expression hardened into determination. He mumbled disjointedly, not seeming to fully understand what he was saying: "No, no, no. Don't give up on your dream. He doesn't get to win. I refuse to believe the entire world is gone." Toshinori climbed to his feet. "Let me try something. Stand back, my boy."

Willingly, Izuku stepped aside. Toshinori drew back his fist. Izuku said, "Nothing happens if you punch it." He'd tried beating against the barrier many times, but it had never budged nor hurt his skin. Instead it had seemed to absorb his force without repelling it back at him.

"I have a very strong punch." Green sparks danced down Toshinori's arm. He swelled up in size, turning from a skeleton into a mighty mass of muscle. Izuku gazed in awe, the stuff of his books come to life before his eyes. Superpowers were real.

Toshinori punched. The impact created wind so strong it knocked back the trees around them. His fist pushed through the barrier. Turning to Izuku, a big smile on his face, Toshinori held out his other hand. "I feel something this time! The air on the other side is warm. I think we can get through."

"That's…that's incredible." Izuku stared at the outstretched hand. His mind reeled from so many revelations. First there was no world outside, then there seemed to be something out there after all? Now that the moment had come upon him, he felt afraid. How could he possibly leave his world and his family without even a note? What if he couldn't find a way to come back? But what if this miracle vanished before he had a chance to fulfil his heart's desire? Reaching out, Izuku took Toshinori's hand. "Let's take a quick peak outside. Keep our feet firmly planted in this world. I'm not ready to leave. I just need to know if it works. I need to know what is on the other side."

"I won't let you fall through," Toshinori said confidentially.

Holding his tutor's hand, Izuku stuck his hand forward—and slammed into the barrier. "Hey!" he yelped, more from surprise than pain. At least he hadn't led with his forehead.

"Oh, no." Toshinori stepped backward, out of the barrier, putting an arm around Izuku's shoulder. "It's just me?" His hair flopped back over his forehead as he deflated to his skinny form. "We'll figure out a way to get you through, too."

"I don't think we can," Izuku said glumly. "You were only able to leave because you activated your power. How did you do that?"

"I…I don't know. It just happened. I wanted to break through, and the power responded." Toshinori looked down at his hands. "We don't know how it works. There must be a way for me to share my power with you."

"You should go without me." Izuku pushed Toshinori toward the barrier. "Let me know what's on the other side. That would be better than nothing."

"I shouldn't." Toshinori planted his feet firmly. "What if I can't return? I have a strong feeling that I shouldn't leave you."

"I'm not special, not like you and Dad. I have no power. I'll never be able to leave this place." Izuku scowled. "Ugh, I hate that my father was right."

"And I hate that you disobeyed me," Hisashi growled from behind them.