Chapter 30

Chapter Text

"Shoto."

"The doctor told me you'll need a few weeks rest, but you should make a full recovery."

"That's what they told me."

"Is there anything you need?"

"No."

"Okay."

~*~

"For fuck's sake," Papa hissed quietly. "How can a man with a fire quirk be so cold?"

Hitoshi shrugged because he wasn't surprised at all. A good hero didn't get the sort of bad press that had plagued Endeavour recently. In Hitoshi's mind it all added up to the guy being a shitty husband and even worse father.

But he couldn't resist teasing his Papa. "I'm pretty sure Dad already told you to stop collecting hero students."

"But he needs us," Papa said, being his usual dramatic self.

"He does," Hitoshi agreed.

"And besides your dad brought him home first."

"I'm pretty sure that's just a temporary arrangement."

Papa smirked. "So were Katsuki and Izuku."

"But we're running out of room at home."

Papa nodded grimly. "At least Izuku doesn't need a bed."

"Actually that might change soon."

Papa blinked a couple times in surprise. "How?"

"There's a guy with a quirk that can make exact copies of people. Izuku is hoping that he can make him a body using his DNA. We're not sure how it works though because he was…on the other team." Hitoshi knew with how softly they were talking there was no one close enough to hear them without a quirk enhancement, but there was no sense in taking unnecessary risks.

"Do we have a name?"

"Yeah, Izuku wrote it in his diary."

And what a diary it was. Hitoshi had staggered into the kitchen this morning seeking the heavenly mana of coffee to find blackwhip quietly typing on an old laptop, already filling up page 109 when he'd glanced at the screen.

"Okay, well I'm sure your dad and Nedzu already have that well in hand."

"Yeah, from what I understand that is one guy you don't want playing for the opposing team, but they might prioritize Eri first."

"Eri?" Mic asked curiously.

"She's…um… Well according to Izuku she's…" Hitoshi really wished he hadn't started this conversation. If Dad had wanted Papa to know and worry about the child who would one day hopefully be their daughter he would have told him already. "She's um… someone with a powerful quirk who is important to the future."

"Well let's hope your dad can find her quickly then."

"Yeah," Hitoshi said, grateful to see Todoroki returning to them far more quickly than expected. Then again. Hitoshi had already acknowledged that Endeavour was as far from father of the year as a parent could get. Even Hitoshi's bio-parents hadn't tried to use him to advance their own careers. He leaned into Papa and tried not to shudder at such a horrific thought.

~*~

"Before we bring anyone else into this situation," Shota said, lifting the printed sheets of Izuku's "diary" up for Nedzu to see, "we need to find out why the HPSC was meeting with the Yakuza. Did anything come up in your investigation?"

Nedzu shook his head. "You're certain, Midoriya, that they were from the HPSC?"

Blackwhip nodded and reached for the whiteboard pen. "They were negotiating to buy quirk erasing bullets. I'm not sure if they're aware of how the bullets are being made, but they know Chisaki is Yakuza."

"Is it possible they were there on their own and not part of a sanctioned buy?"

"Possible but unlikely."

"Care to explain, problem child?"

"Do you remember a hero called Lady Nagant?"

"We do," Nedzu answered for both of them. "It's rather difficult to forget a hero who murdered one of our own."

"Except that's not the full story," Izuku wrote, his control of the whiteboard pen rather impressive considering how little time he'd had to practice. "At the beginning of the war it was revealed that she killed the Chairman of the HPSC and that's why she was sent to Tartarus. She'd been working as an assassin for the HPSC—including sanctioned killing of 'corrupt' heroes and people they labeled as terrorists—but when Lady Nagant started to question her orders, they made sure she was out of the way. Hawks was her replacement."

"Hawks is an assassin for the HPSC?"

The pen bobbed up and down. "He's already questioning his orders, despite having been raised by the HPSC after his mother sold him to them."

"I sent Tokoyami there." Shota rubbed a hand over his forehead to try and massage away the ache blooming behind his eyes. "I wish I'd known this earlier. Is he safe? Should I recall him from his internship early?"

"He's fine," Izuku wrote. "Hawks is a good hero and Tokoyami is safe with him. He did his internship there in the other timeline too."

"Any chance this other timline was just a really bad dream, problem child?"

"I wish," he wrote, "but Eri is exactly where we found her in the other timeline, being tortured by the same people. We have to get her out of there."

"How did you find her?" Shota asked. "I thought you could only jump between people you know in this timeline. Isn't that how you explained not being able to find Iida?"

"I'm still working on that theory," Izuku wrote. "I was really close to Eri in the old timeline, especially once she came to live with you, and her circumstances haven't changed yet in this timeline. On the other hand Iida had a traumatic reason for changing schools and was someone I barely knew and didn't like very much in this timeline." Blackwhip wriggled in place. A sign that Shota had realized was a sign of discomfort. "In both timelines Iida singled me out twice at the entrance exam. Once in front of the whole auditorium and with a spotlight on him." Yeah, Shota remembered that incident. In his mind it had been a black mark against Iida, not Izuku. "And the second time to berate me for something I had no intention of doing. I remember being less than thrilled when I found him lecturing Kacchan on the first day. At the time I'd been hoping that neither of them was in my class. Like I said, I'm still working on the theory. Iida probably hasn't changed that much. He still went after Stain alone, so it's probably because I disliked him before I remembered the old timeline."

Shota nodded his understanding—it was a solid theory based on the current evidence—and then flicked through the pages of information Izuku had compiled overnight and checked the details. "Okay, Eri is our first priority, but did it have to be Sir NIghteye?" he asked. "There are thousands of heroes in Japan. Why did he have to be the one working on Eri's case."

"Aizawa," Nedzu rebuked, tilting his head toward the blackwhip. Yeah, message received. Don't disrespect other heroes in front of a student. Ordinarily he wouldn't, but nothing was ordinary right now.

Shota shrugged. "He knows about Oboro. At some point in the future I'll trust this kid with my secrets as well as my life."

"I suppose such unique circumstance do create a rather strange loop of trust."

"Strange is putting it mildly."

"Tell me about it," Izuku wrote. "Last person I trusted sent me back in time with the instruction 'don't dodge.' If I'd known her plan was to kill me I might have considered my options more carefully."

"No you wouldn't have," Nedzu said, sounding very sure. "If there is one thing I am very good at, it is predicting who would make an extraordinary hero. We are still learning what you went through in the other timeline, but I can guarantee you would have taken the chance, even if you'd known what would happen the moment you came back."

Blackwhip dipped in what seemed to be embarrassment, but it was followed by a small puff of smoke that seemed to be Izuku's way of changing the subject.

"Eri's quirk is very dangerous when the horn on her head grows larger than the small bump it was last night when I found her. Keeping her calm will help, but it's best that you're there to erase it if it activates."

"That's why Mic and I take her in?"

"There's way more to it than that," Izuku wrote, "but it's why emergency custody is given to you the moment she's rescued."

"Okay," Shota said, reaching for his phone to find Sir Nighteye's contact details, "Mic is never going to let me live this down."

"How so?" Nedzu asked.

"Just this morning I was telling him to stop collecting hero students." Shota laughed softly. "He's going to be so happy to have a daughter, but we really need the dorms to be ready soon. We're running out of space."

Nedzu grinned. "I'll make your apartment the builder's number one priority."

"Appreciated," Shota mumbled as he dialed the number for Sir Nighteye's agency and waited for the call to connect.