Rule #15d: Don't sit on the sidelines when (your) people are in trouble
"Hagakure?" Aoyama interjected himself into the conversation as he came to a stop in front of the two, dropping his trash into a nearby bin as he did so. Tomura kept his head bowed so that the drooping hood covered his face, but wispy blue strands still escaped from the garment as they could not be contained by such mediocre means. "Are you done already, mon amis?" He smiled brilliantly, although that usually bright smile seemed a touch fragile. "Et c'est qui? A beau, perhaps?"
"Yama" Toru jolted, her wide eyes swinging up to the smiling classmate in front of her. With his ruffled chemise tucked into the waistband of his jeans, he was the picture-perfect image of rich kid trying to blend in with the lower classes. Just another high-society teenager slumming it at the shopping mall in order to meet up with his friends.
"Hagakure, are you well?" Aoyama worried as Toru tensed beneath Tomura's grip, but did not answer.
"She's fine—" Rasped Toru's blue-haired companion, his head barely raised to meet the blonde's eyes. Though it was his raspy voice that sent chills through both of the teenagers.
Where the fuck are the others?! Toru worried, knowing full well that Tomura could—and would—take out the both of them before they even blinked. She could only hope that if they kept him talking long enough, that their classmates would return in time to save them from his grasp.
"—Why don't you run along now, little boy?"
No! Wait! Don't go, 'Yama!
Eyes latched onto the bluenette with a certain terrified curiosity and childish defiance born of false bravado as Aoyama recognised the one encompassing his classmate. Shigaraki Tomura was the figurehead for the League of Villains, of course he knew that, All For One had spoken of him often. Usually it was in that tone that one might talk of novelty stationary, or whenever he threatened his family to keep quiet & carry out his orders, lest they regret it. And although he had only ever met the teen person once before, Aoyama remained stuck frozen in place; whether due to bravery or fear was still up for debate.
So, instead of moving along like Tomura had…suggested, the blonde stayed standing on front of the two with bags in hand and straightened to his full height. A clearly fake smile was plastered across his lips as he recognised both the severity and the seriousness of the situation. Clearly, none of them wanted to cause a scene in the middle of the mall (Aoyama, because he didn't want anything to happen to those he cared about. Toru, because she'd rather like to get off of the villain's lap and Tomura, because he'd rather not be on the receiving end of one of All For One's punishments), so the cards could fall either way and the outcome would be catastrophic no matter whom came out on top.
"Didn't you hear me, blondie?" Tomura sneered. "Go away!"
"Oui" The brittle smile lingered, just as shaky as his hands. Off to the side, Toru tensed further under Tomura's binding grasp. "But not—" He stepped closer to the pair and snatched up Toru's free arm and snatched her out of the villain's grasp. "—Without mon amis"
Toru stumbled over her own feet as she was suddenly yanked in another direction and she tumbled into Aoyama's arms, face colliding with his ruffled chest with a quiet "Oof!" Held there by much gentler arms, she could feel his heart beating wildly in tune with her own.
"You're pushing your luck, brat!" Tomura quickly rose to his feet as the two students quickly danced out of his way.
With Toru (who, despite the situation seemed to be blushing quite a brilliant scarlet) pressed up against Aoyama's chest as if she'd collapsed there, Aoyama spun the pair around as he reached out to take ahold of the outreaching arm of the villain. In one swift movement that spoke of years of ballroom lessons, the blonde pulled Tomura into the dance and as he spun Toru away with her free hand, his other was clasped around the wrist of the blue-haired villain. A few bystanders looked over at the abrupt movement, but merely brushed it off as teenagers playing around.
"Y-yama!" Toru stammered as she was flung aside, no sooner did her classmate twirl the taller villain around.
"It's quite simple, really" Aoyama slid one of his feet in between Tomura's legs, evidently pressing the two closer until he was practically nose-to-nose. This close, the blonde was tempted to fire his navel laser and watch the master's boy burn & shrivel beneath the concentrated power that was his quirk; but even then, he knew that the older boy had a far better handle on his own quirk and would retaliate in kind and with much better skill than he could ever hope to have. Instead, he moved in one quick motion, using a move that the invisible girl tended to favour, and jerked his knee upwards, hitting the older boy square in the crotch. Hard. "It is quite improper to grab a lady, so"
"L-lady?" Toru stammered as Aoyama pulled her back from the villain once more. She'd never been called a lady before; she been a slew of other things that were nowhere near as pleasing, but never a lady. She kinda liked it; it made her feel like one of those ladies from the period films. Tomura, on the other hand, quickly succumbed to both gravity and pain as he crumped to the ground in a pile of askew limbs and cursed groans.
Several heads in the general vicinity turned at the explicit mutters coming from the bluenette, and a collection of their classmates who had been returning to the meeting point hurried closer in their curiosity, as smaller hands further pulled the pair back from the villain on the floor. Calloused hands pulled her in closer as the invisible girl was handed off to Midoriya, who had appeared with Ochako in tow and arrived just in time to see the hooded villain fall. Whilst the greenette was busy fussing over the invisible girl, muttering a mile a minute about as he inspected her for any injuries, the gravity girl stepped up beside the blonde and stood as a two-man wall between the villain and their classmates.
"Is that…Shigaraki?" Ochako puzzled, clearly remembering the USJ incident the following lessons where they had been informed on who had tried to kill them all. She received no reply from either Toru or Aoyama, but golden eyes watched from over Midoriya's shoulder as Tomura—pale and shaking—heaved himself up onto his feet and spared the albino a glaring stare.
"This isn't over" He swore before he scrambled through the bustling crowd and eventually melted back into the sea of people. He was long lost before the rest of their classmates returned.
Ochako later reported the incident to the mall's security and the shopping centre was subsequently closed as both police and heroes showed up to investigate. They conducted a massive sweep of the area, but they needn't have bothered, Tomura was already long gone. Thankfully the closure was only temporary, but it did cut 1-A's shopping excursion a little shorter than expected. In the meantime, both Toru and Aoyama were taken down to the police station, where Detective Tsukauchi, the detective in charge of the League of Villain's case, was set to question them.
"Well, this is familiar" Toru muttered under her breath as the two teenagers were escorted into separate conference rooms. Toru went first, mostly because she was the one who Tomura had approached and who had spent the most time with the villain. Aoyama was next, though after the adrenaline had worn off, he had pretty much been a snivelling mess, so getting answers out of him was going to be fun.
Personally, Toru thought that being locked inside the cold four walls of the interrogation room was a bit much, considering she hadn't exactly asked to meet up with the crusty villain. But that didn't change the fact that they were still there. The room she was directed to was rather blandly spare, save for the single desk in the centre of the room and the single pane of one-way glass that was inserted into the back wall. Then again, She hummed, I s'pose interrogation rooms aren't exactly known for their "personality"
"Oh, hello again" Toru greeted as Tsukauchi slipped through the seam of the door, dropping a rather hefty manila file between the pair. It thumped onto the table with a hefty oof that kicked up a fews specks of dust.
"Hello" Tsukauchi nodded as he plopped himself down in the opposite seat and pulled out a pen to take his notes with. "Didn't think I'd see you again. Or so soon"
Toru nodded amicably in agreement as her gaze wandered around the bare room. "Yeah, this wasn't what I had planned for today"
A chaste smile flitter across his lips as he pulled the file closer and flipped it open. "Right, what can you tell me about your interaction with Shigaraki Tomura? Why were you at the mall? Who was with you?" He repeatedly clicked his pen, utensil poised at the ready. "Things like that"
"Uhhhhhhhh…" She blinked rapidly at the slew of questions that followed one after the other. She did her best to answer them, anyhow. "I was the mall with some friends from 1-A, 'cause we were going to get some things for the training camp that's coming up. Er, we'd split up to get our things, y'know? But I didn't need much and I was feeling thirsty, so I went to get a bubble tea after I was done shopping"
"And what about the rest of your friends? Your classmates?"
"Oh, we'd planned to meet up at the benches by the planters at, like, 12.30-ish, so we could go and get some lunch afterwards. I figured I'd be the first one done 'cause I've already got a lot of camping stuff and I wasn't far from the meeting place, so I just went to wait there" Toru shrugged. "I didn't really notice him there 'til he put his arm 'round my shoulders and complimented my phone charms"
The detective perked up at that. "He spoke to you?"
"Yeah, but it was just ramblings mostly" Toru nodded as she fiddled with her fingers under the table, knee bouncing in an unconscious motion. "Nothing all that telling"
"Such as?"
"Ah, it was mostly '…I am an all-powerful villain!" Toru replied, her voice taking on a rather cartoonish tone as she mimicked the bluenette. "And, 'I hate the Hero Killer! He upstaged me!' and 'Death to All Might!' Y'know, stuff like that" She replied, purposefully leaving out the bits about him calling her a monster and her connection to the Grim Reaper.
Tsukauchi narrowed his gaze on the invisible girl. "And did he give any indication as to why he approached you, specifically?"
"I—I think I was just there…?" She floundered, "Y'know, right place, right time…Or is it right place, wrong time? Right time, wrong place…?"
"I'm not sure the wordings really that important" He tried to move her along.
"Uh, right" She smiled sheepishly, "Anyway, when I recognised who it was, I mostly just tried to keep him talking until my classmates returned. Besides, he said he only wanted to talk and I knew he could very well kill me if he wanted to, so I figured that talking was the best option. And it was, 'cause soon enough Aoyama returned and pulled me from his grasp. Midoriya and Uraraka weren't that far behind, either"
"I see…And how did you come to recognise him on this brief exchange, alone? Had you interacted with him before?"
"Not outside of the incident at the USJ, at the beginning of the year, but other than that…? Eh"
"That doesn't answer my question"
"Rule #53"
"E-excuse me?" Tsukauchi blinked rapidly, caught off-guard by the prompt reply. It was startlingly different from the other long & winding answers she had given before.
"Rule #53" Toru repeated as if it were obvious, "Y'know those questions that they teach heroes?"
"What rules? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, is this something you learnt at school?"
Toru pouted at that. "Oh, I knew Koro-sensei was making them up!" She muttered grumpily to herself before turning back to the detective, "There these rules that Koro-sensei taught us, to help us with general life stuff. Er, rule #53 is: 'Knowledge is power…Wield it like a blade and secure it like a treasure…It is your most sacred weapon"
Tsukauchi sat back in his seat as he studied the invisible girl in front of him. "…And how many of these rules are there?"
"I dunno, like a hundred and something…?" Toru shrugged, not entirely sure. Each rule had at least one or two sub-questions, so there was like more than that.
"And do you have a favourite?" He asked conversationally as he flipped over to a new page.
"Oof! There's just so many to choose from, how can I pick just one?"
"…Alright, so this rule #53 is about knowledge, right? Knowing your enemy and all that, but how does this help you?"
"Well, this guy's apparently some figurehead for the League of Villains and clearly he's got some kind of fixation on All Might-sensei, which in turn means that he'll likely try to strike UA and its students again, and again until he gets what he wants. I mean, that's only logical, right? So, I thought it was pertinent to learn what I could about, so I had an idea of what we'd likely face in the future" Her hands clenched together under the table.
"And what did you find?" His gaze narrowed on the teenager before him.
"Not much" She replied, "When you search for him, you mostly get propaganda videos about the League of Villains—recruitment drives and whatnot—nothing substantial. Though, there was that thing about the Shimura murders that kept popping up. Then again, those might've just been recommended stuff; y'know, from the algorithms?"
"I see" He hummed, "So, how did you keep from losing any of your limbs?"
"I'm not totally sure" Toru admitted. "But I think that he just liked having something to play with. He certainly taunted me with it a few times, but nothing like what you're thinking" Lies.
Tsukauchi paused, brow quirked as he jotted down something she couldn't see. "Anything else?"
"He started talking about history, of all things" Stop talking! "And he mentioned that he knew an old…teacher of mine"
"A teacher? Who?"
"W-well, he was more like a friend of a teacher, or a teacher of a teacher—I had thought he was dead, so y'know…"
"That was it?"
"Yep—I mean, after Aoyama pulled me away, the two kinda…danced? And then he kneed him in the crotch, and the rest of our peers showed up"
"And that was it?"
"That was it"
Soon enough however, their interrogations came to an end and they were let go, letting them regroup outside of the clinically-dressed precinct. It was there, out on the curb in the cold of night, that Toru met up with Aoyama, his mother and Aizawa-sensei. "Great" Aizawa-sensei muttered to himself as the two teenagers moved to greet them, "More problem children"
"Aizawa-sensei?" Toru quietly murmured, head tilted in puzzlement as she watched the blonde's tearful mother embrace her son in an all-encompassing hug.
Their homeroom teacher stood off to the side as the blonde's mother doted on her son, clearly embarrassing him as he flushed a brilliant scarlet. Still, Aizawa's expression made it look like he was caught halfway between waiting to for the inevitable reprimanding from the worried mother or if she was going to just plain hit him. Given any other situation, it probably would've been humourous, now though, it was almost bittersweet. Grasping tight to the straps of her bag, Toru followed after the detective as they joined the others outside. "Hello, sensei" She greeted softly, coming to a stop a few paces from their teacher.
"Hagakure" Aizawa grunted in acknowledgement as his gaze roved over the invisible girl. "Are you well?"
"Yessir"
Meanwhile, Detective Tsukauchi had turned to the feline detective who had directed Mrs Aoyama over and stayed with her whilst she fretted, "Sansa, make sure that they get home safe"
"Sir!" Sansa saluted his superior, before motioning for the quartet to follow him over to one of the police cats parked in front of the precinct.
Toru shifted nervously on her feet, fingers clenching and unclenching around the straps. "Ah, it's all right, I'm not far" She politely refused, both wanting to get home as soon as possible in order to be ready for the last day of the semester and because it looked like it was going to be a tight squeeze to fit all of them into the vehicle. It was one of the larger ones, but still. "I can just walk—"
"—At this time of night?" Mrs Aoyama cut in before any of the others could say otherwise, "Je crois que non!"
"Um…" Toru blinked dumbly at the tall woman in front of her, every inch of the blonde full of maternal instincts and unable to find a way to refuse without sounding rude.
"Get in the car, morveuse!" She all but ordered, dark eyes somehow pinpointing Toru's golden ones even when she couldn't see them.
"Yes, ma'am!" Toru squeaked as she quickly slid into the backseat alongside both mother and son, whilst their homeroom teacher took the passenger's seat. She didn't have to know what those words meant, to know when she was being scolded.
Toru spent most of the short drive home, watching the world go by. The radio crackled throughout the car, filling the space with meaningless noise instead of the awkward silence that floated between the quartet. Soon enough however, her musings were brought to a close as the retirement village came into view. "Just up here" She directed the detective.
"Are you sure?" Sansa inquired as they pulled up outside of the large iron-wrought gate, "This is a retirement village"
"Uh, yeah, it's just me and my grandfather, now" Toru replied as she made to get out of the vehicle. "It's pretty good, all things considered"
"Was there a reason he couldn't come get you tonight?" Aizawa asked.
"I think he had a poker game tonight…or was it Bridge? Anyway, the residents have a curfew, so they're not allowed outside after a certain point" She replied as she unbuckled her seatbelt and collected her bag. "Thanks for the ride"
"Have a good night" Sansa waved from the driver's seat.
"See ya tomorrow, Aoyama, Aizawa-sensei" She waved from the curb.
It was quiet as she made her way up to the gate and buzzed to be let in, and the police car remained waiting out on the street until she slid through the side gate and disappeared up the path to the main building of the retirement suburb. The air was far cooler than the warm summer's day and she regretted not bringing a jacket as she traipsed up the gilded path towards her grandfather's allocated building amongst the other terracotta brick-a-brack houses. As she walked, Toru's gaze followed her feet as they took each step and she reminisced on the home that she now lived in. Unlike the one she'd lived in with her parents or the apartment that her grandparents' had collectively owned, this one was well-kept by the in-house staff. Not to mention, thanks to the high level of security here, she didn't have to worry about silly things like gang wars and drunken hoodlums.
That was to say that their original apartment hadn't been left in the dust, so to speak, it was still in her grandparents' name, afterall. But with what had happened there, she didn't blame her grandfather for wanting to move. Plus, thanks to the current agreement with the retirement home, it meant that until the lease on their previous apartment was up, the two could live in the village rent-free; at least until the one in Yoshiwara was sold to someone else and from there, they would have to pay the village's fees.
Toru was just thankful that the owners of the village were understanding. There was also the added benefit of all the elderly who enjoyed spending time with the younger generation, filling their lonely days with a younger company; most reminiscing on days that were long lost. However, the days still ticked down until all the remaining items had to be collected from the old apartment or they were resold to make way for the newest occupants. Gotta get on that.
From the entrance exams to the fitness test. Toru mused as she jimmied her key in the lock, Combat training, the League of Villains attacking the USJ, the Sports Festival, Tamaki & Yoshiwara, our internships & the Hosu incident, and not to mention our exams. So much had happened, but my first semester at UA is now over and summer is just around the corner.
Waving an absent greeting to the table of elderly men who replied with enthusiastic grunts, head jerks and raised brows, she diverted her path to the fridge for a snack, before moving onto her temporary bedroom in the spare room. Those gathered around the table sat hunched over their playing cards with various medical equipment hooked up to aging bodies, empty potato chip bags tossed aside and beer cans strewn about the table like it was a new landscape.
Although, She hummed as she set the kettle to boil. That doesn't mean we can just ignore our training. All of us need to be prepared for the evil lurking around the corner and hiding in the dark, because I doubt it'll stay buried in the shadows for long. We don't have time to stand around if we want to become real heroes, we have to keep running towards our goals. That bright and shiny light at the end of the tunnel.