Learning to Trust
"It is a principle universally acknowledged that an enemy cannot be subdued without fighting. Battles will bring about peace. I do not care to use weapons without good reason; but I do believe in 'killing one man to save a million lives.'"
-Katsura Kogoro (Kido Takayoshi)
Chapter 32: One Man to Save a Million
Tetsu slouched uncomfortably on the nearly empty train heading back toward UA, clutching his bag tightly. His hood was pulled up so far that the front edge dropped down low, and he could just barely peek out from under it.
That had been too easy. Why had it been so easy to get out of there?
He scowled fiercely at himself. Don't be stupid, Tetsu. They were distracted, and you have a built in smokescreen.
He hugged the bag tighter to himself and tried to stare out the windows. Still… it was almost too easy. Why didn't they have my device locked up better? He thought for a moment at their arrival to the station: Yagi gently taking the bag from his hands, removing the dull grey device which, when deactivated, did not look impressive nor imposing, and setting it gently on the officer's desk to be checked in. The woman at the desk had been on the phone, and that other officer, the cat, had approached them before Yagi'd said anything about it, ushering them inside. As far as that woman on the phone knew, it may have just been some weird sports equipment that was being dropped off for safekeeping, which is probably why it had never made it further than the desk—easily accessible when Tetsu had snatched it under mask of his smokescreen quirk while a new officer was getting coffee.
But a nagging thought kept tugging at his mind, infuriating him.
Too easy. Too easy. Too easy. Did they just let me go for some reason? Am I just naturally good at breaking rules? Does acting like a villain run in the family?
He tipped his head forward, hiding behind his long bangs. Gently, he rubbed his thumb over the dull, velvety smooth surface of his unit.
Shut up, Tetsu. It isn't her fault. Obviously she was captured and then brainwashed or something. Mom would never intentionally hurt anyone. She's a nurse! Nurses and doctors just help people…
But she hadn't really been acting like herself those last few months before she'd disappeared. More and more often she was late coming home as though she hadn't cared about them anymore. It had become a regular occurrence for her to just stay late in Jaku—days late—in order to help some doctor finish his projects. Eventually she'd stopped even calling to tell them when she'd be back. Tetsu and his father had just started assuming that she would tell them when she came in.
They'd begun living as though she was already gone long before she went missing.
That was probably why it took them so long to realize that she had been missing. First they assumed it was another long weekend. Then it stretched into a week. She'd been almost two weeks late before Tetsu's father had tried calling and gone straight to voicemail, unable to leave a message because her voicemail was full.
That was when he'd called the police. Because no matter how distracted Toga Katsumi was, she was meticulously organized. Her voicemails were always checked and deleted once she'd answered them. Texts were something she was often willing to ignore, but phone calls were always deemed to be emergencies and swiftly dealt with.
The police, of course, had put out an alert, but given the distance she traveled for work and the fact that she was already nearly two weeks late, it was impossible to pinpoint a date or a location from which she went missing. Even the hospital had been no help, unable to find any record of her having worked there for weeks. Apparently her project had not been officially logged.
That was when his father had decided to ask All Might for help.
Tetsu stared silently at the posters near the ceiling of the train. Grinning heroes promoting products or endorsing programs.
His father hadn't much faith in heroes in the first place. He said they seemed more interested in their image and their paychecks than their jobs. But All Might was different. Mitzutani Kaji had worked for All Might for years. He'd started out as a janitor earning enough money to work his way through college to get his business degree. When All Might had hired Nighteye, he'd managed to even get a promotion, helping with basic tasks and paperwork in order to free Sir Nighteye up for whatever else he needed to do. His father had never really gone into detail. He'd just been proud to help All Might in whatever way he could. Because All Might was the real deal as far as Mitzutani Kaji was concerned.
It wasn't until Kokoro had gotten sick, and their mother had been transferred to a better paying job in Jaku to help pay bills that their father had finally requested a temporary demotion back to janitor, so he could help properly care for his children during the day while his wife was at work. And when Kokoro had died, Kaji had never really gotten the nerve to ask for his old position back. Sir Nighteye had left by then, and it seemed like All Might was always busy. His father's position had apparently already been filled by some new employee that took care of both Nighteye and Kaji's old job.
But Kaji had understood that, too. No one could have foreseen his daughter's illness and Nighteye's leaving to start his own agency. Of course All Might hadn't been able to wait. None of this had shaken his father's faith in All Might.
Nothing had until he'd gone to All Might for help. He'd asked to speak with the hero directly, but had been refused, not even being allowed to see the new secretary, who had apparently joined All Might in his out-of-town vacation. The uninterested associate had simply taken down the bare minimum information from Kaji on a post-it note and had sent him on his way. When All Might returned, he never mentioned the incident. No one ever found Tetsu's mother. No one else even seemed to care that Toga Katsumi had vanished.
When Testu's father had tried asking about it, he was sent away by first one employee and then another—reminded that All Might was a busy man. He never even managed to access the main office where All Might and his secretary did most of their work.
That was the last time Kaji'd had anything good to say about any hero, even All Might.
Tetsu's jaw tightened. But it wasn't All Might's fault after all, was it? He was sick, too. Just like Kokoro. He'd been abandoned by Nighteye just like we were abandoned by mom. All Might didn't even know dad had asked for help.
All Might didn't fail us. He's just a human like everyone else, and he can't do everything. He can't take care of us and himself at the same time. And without help he really doesn't take care of himself very well at all.
Because Yagi-san and All Might had to be the same person… somehow. My device recognized him, which means it works. And if it works, then I can use it to test if this villain of his is… her.
Only three people had been programmed into the system completely to aid in Tetsu's test runs: his mother, his sister, and All Might himself. It wasn't going to be very useful if Tetsu was wrong about Shifters identity. Tetsu scowled. But he was pretty sure he wasn't wrong. It was too much of a coincidence that this villain who had appeared after she'd gone missing had a quirk like hers and dropped clues with the Fibonacci sequence and his sister's necklace.
She must have taken it from Kokoro before her funeral preparations in Jaku. I never noticed mom wearing it after she came back, but obviously she was keeping it somewhere.
He'd assumed Kokoro had been cremated with it. It had never occurred to him that his mother would have kept it. Tetsu's eyes darkened. If I'd have been allowed to go to her cremation, I would have known that though… Mom shouldn't have gone through with that ceremony without me or dad… It's like she didn't even care how we'd feel to never see her again…
Biting his lip, Tetsu rubbed hard at his eyes to clear his suddenly blurry vision.
The train recording turned on just then, announcing the next stop: Tatooine Station.
Almost there.
He swallowed hard, suddenly more frightened than he'd been in the safety of the police station when he'd made the decision to head off on his own to find her.
I can do this—for Yagi-san if nothing else. That detective said he's too sick to fight and live. I can't let him do that. Not after everything he's already done for me.
The frail man's kind face flashed into Tetsu's mind, smiling as he moved his own work aside to let Tetsu talk and explain things. He was the first person to actually listen to Tetsu in a long time—the first person to actually care.
And not only that, if I'm right and he really is All Might, then all of Japan needs him to live, too. Tetsu straightened at that, his eyes hardening with resolve.
If it's between his life and mine, then I need to make sure he survives. I'm just one kid. I can't do much, and no one will really even notice if I'm gone. But All Might… he's saved thousands—no, millions—of people. If he dies, all of Japan suffers, not just me.
I have to do this for him.
Toshi raced through the streets in the borrowed cruiser, squinting through the misty rain. He'd decided to stay in his weaker form until he was certain All Might would be necessary. He was guessing when he'd told Naomasa that he'd have about thirty minutes at full power, but really that's all it was… a guess. This illness had taken more out of him than he liked to admit. He had a bad feeling that his time was going to be permanently reduced again after all this was over.
After this I have to start limiting myself. I can only fight for three to four hours now as it is, and I can only hold the form for about six hours if I don't fight. If I keep pushing myself I'm going to run out of time…
Out of time…
His eyes darkened, and he tried to force those thoughts from his mind. He needed to focus on the boy for now. That kid was going to get himself killed for nothing. He has his whole life ahead of him. What was he thinking? But of course, Toshi knew exactly what he was thinking.
He feels alone and he thinks his life is worth less than the people he can save.
The rain began falling harder, big drops pelting at the windshield of the cruiser as Toshi jerked the wheel hard to the left and accelerated, tearing around the corner at a dangerous speed for the weather.
The wind picked up, whipping tree branches wildly and throwing dead leaves at the vehicle where they got stuck on the wet windshield. Toshinori threw the wipers on a higher setting.
It was obvious now why they'd been unable to get any communication to or from UA and the heroes for the past hour or so. With this chaotic weather, Toshi was currently lucky to be getting three bars of service. He knew the closer he got to UA, the worse it would get.
Obviously Floodgate's powers were already at work. Hopefully this meant that the heroes weren't captured and incapacitated, but merely trapped in the dead zone where no electronic communications were able to be sent or received. The last time they'd encountered Floodgate's powers, that range had been a few blocks past the storm's eye. He glanced down at the phone. Two bars.
His grip tightened on the steering wheel. I could really use backup right now. I didn't have a chance against Floodgate last time once he got close enough to use his Deep Freeze ultimate move. I'm not sure if Shifter is able to copy ultimate moves, but if so, then I may be even less help than I'd anticipated.
Toshi twitched a bit at his next thought. I could really use Endeavor right now, to be honest. I'm positive he could maintain his heat even with this rain, and it would give me an actual chance to fight. Or Midnight. Or Eraserhead, actually… that would be ideal.
Then again, if he had Eraserhead, then none of this would be happening. Toshi gritted his teeth, and skidded around another corner, blasting through an intersection just before the light changed.
Why didn't I just listen to him? I could have just agreed to back down and he'd have been with us. No one would have separated, and Shifter wouldn't have been able to move forward. This is all my fault!
The rain was so forceful by now that it sounded like it was blasting the paint from his vehicle. His eyes danced to his phone again.
One bar. Almost there.
UA was only a mile or so away by now, but Toshi found he had to drastically slow down. The road was getting too slippery. It wouldn't help anyone if he died in a car crash before he could even get there. And that kid would wind up another casualty of a war that wasn't even his.
It's my fault he's involved, too. I wouldn't listen to Eraserhead. I wouldn't listen to Naomasa. I wouldn't listen to Mic or Midnight or Nezu or even Young Tetsuya. And now my damned pride is the reason this kid is risking his life.
If that kid dies for me…
His thoughts were interrupted by the rain shifting to hail pelting the outside of the cruiser. Larger and larger chunks of ice dropped from the sky.
He looked down once more.
No service.
He was at most a few blocks away from UA. Toshi's expression was stone.
I need to make it up to him—to all of them, whatever the cost.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to granny_griffin and lolo popoki for the beta work. Sorry for the delay. I promise that "Foresight" is not replacing my time working on this story. I've just needed something lighter to work on. I'm still hard at work on this fic, too, though! Thank you for patiently waiting, reading, and reviewing (if you feel so inclined).
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Sincerely,
Sirius:)
