Chapter 77

.::Q&A Time with Aiko::.

Izuku felt tired as he left Shinsou's cell. They'd finally managed to find Sushi in the hall outside the bar, though that had only been half the struggle. The kitten seemed to greatly enjoy her newfound ability to turn invisible, because she kept disappearing every time they looked away. Which gave them multiple heart attacks as they scrambled to find her.

They still had no idea how she'd gotten past the closed doors. As far as they could tell she didn't turn intangible since they could still touch her while invisible, so it wasn't like it made her ghost-like. And since she couldn't talk, they couldn't ask her how it worked. Izuku wondered where Kouda was in this world, because this would be the perfect opportunity for him to help.

In any case they couldn't prevent her from using her Quirk, so they just settled for giving her a collar with a bell so she at least couldn't sneak around. Why Toga happened to have one on hand, he didn't know, and he didn't really want to ask. He had other things to think about.

He made his way towards the bar and bypassed the door to continue towards a corner leading to another hall. He hadn't actually gone to this part of the building before since he had no reason to, but he knew from the map in his journal that Kurogiri's bedroom was there. Izuku didn't want to visit the misty man though, but the other person who'd be likely to check on him.

Sure enough, when he turned the corner he found Aiko in the hallway outside his door. She sat on the floor with her phone, but glanced over at him with a smile. "Hey Izuku. Got Sushi back to Hijack's room in one piece?"

"Yeah, hopefully she'll stay there," Izuku said with a nod, and she hummed.

"Well, if she does escape, Tomura's setting everyone straight about not hurting her right now," she commented. "So that's one less thing to worry about."

"Yeah, I guess..." Shigaraki had sent Toga and Mustard to round up everyone at the bar to brief them on the new rules regarding Sushi. For once Izuku felt grateful for the villain's overprotective tendencies towards him, since it could be literally the difference between life and death for Sushi. Who knew what some of the people here would do to her?

The thought had him pausing, biting his lip. "B-by the way, what happened to all the other Sushis?" he asked. It had been on his mind on and off all day. Given other Sushis must have existed for Kurogiri to have a pattern and weren't here now, and how Shigaraki felt a need to warn the villains... It was only natural to worry about it.

Aiko hummed, crossing her arms as she thought over it. "Most of them got rehomed. We usually couldn't keep them around too long for various reasons, so we'd just find other places to take them. Three was already on the older side, so he stuck around for a few months before dying. Eleven and twelve were pretty sick when we found them though, so..." She trailed off with a small shrug, while Izuku stared.

"Wait, how many Sushis have there been?" He knew there had to be a few for there to be a noticeable pattern, but he hadn't expected twelve. He'd only lived with the Alliance for eight years!

"This one is number fifteen," Aiko replied. When Izuku just gaped at her in even more open shock, she just laughed. "Yeah, I know. For what it's worth, Sushi six was pregnant when you found her. She gave birth to seven through ten."

"Wait, they were all named Sushi?" he blurted incredulously, and she just giggled at his shock.

"We gave them other names pretty fast of course, but like I said, Kurogiri will name every cat Sushi, without fail."

"Why, though?" Izuku wondered, glancing at the closed door to Kurogiri's room.

"I don't think even he knows," Aiko replied with a shrug. Her smile faded as she leaned back against the wall, gaze growing distant. "He probably used to have a cat named Sushi, but can't remember it." The remark had Izuku looking at her in surprise and confusion.

"Why can't he remember it?"

"It's a long story, and not one good for children." She shook her head while Izuku just frowned at her. He wanted to get more details, but part of him was also wary of pushing too much. Something about her tone just seemed oddly sad.

Besides, he had other more pressing things to talk about. "So... You can see Quirks, but not in animals, huh?" he asked, trying to bring it up as casually as possible. His question made Aiko pause, her star-like gaze sliding over to him.

"...So you noticed it then," she stated, and he felt his heart skip a beat. In that instant, Izuku knew just what she meant by "it," and that there was no point trying to deny it. All at once he felt the tension drain from his shoulders, and Aiko pocketed her phone as she got up. "Come on, let's talk somewhere more private."

Izuku just followed in silence as she led him through the labyrinth-like halls, not really paying much attention to the trip. Soon enough their surroundings became more familiar though, until they finally reached a door with a sign he knew much too well. "Your lab?" he asked flatly.

"It's private, and no one ever goes down there," Aiko replied, throwing open the door with a shrug. Izuku sighed but followed nonetheless, she had a point after all.

Entering the lab admittedly left him on edge, especially after the brief tour. Fortunately though it had a small side room that didn't contain any chemicals, just a couch and a table for breaks. Aiko led him there, gesturing for him to sit on a couch while she went to a small fridge in the corner.

When she joined him a minute later she handed him a... chocolate bar? "Eat up," she told him with a smile as she sat down with her own bar. "This type kinda reminds me of chocolate milkshakes when it's frozen." Izuku just nodded, unpeeling the wrapper and taking a bite. He could see why she'd compared it to chocolate milkshakes; the texture seemed to be on the creamy side, so when chilled it definitely felt like a milkshake. Just crunchier.

For a little bit they just ate their chocolate bars in silence. Izuku nibbled at his half-heartedly, mind swirling in all kinds of directions, until finally he gave up and lowered it.

"I have a Quirk," he said quietly, for lack of anything else to say.

"You do," Aiko confirmed.

"And you can see Quirks."

"I can." Izuku twisted to look at her with an almost accusatory look.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? Either of those things?"

"Well, you normally know both," she replied, sounding faintly amused. "And there's no reason to tell you about that when you have episodes since it usually doesn't come up. I'm just surprised you figured out without breaking any bones this time," she added under her breath with a wry smirk, and Izuku felt a wave of déjà vu from his own world for once.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"During episodes, yes. Half the reason Tomura's so overprotective is because he's convinced they make you way clumsier than usual. And you don't really want to tell him you have one, since that'll just raise a bunch of questions you don't want to answer."

"But you would?" Izuku muttered, picking up on the lack of "we" in that sentence.

To his surprise though she immediately replied with a firm, "Of course not. It's not my place to tell people about other people's Quirks. You're the one who wants to keep it private." She huffed as she raised her half-eaten bar to take another bite, giving Izuku time to think. Well, that answered some questions, but raised so many more.

Izuku had a Quirk. This world's Izuku had a Quirk. It wasn't just One For All from his world like he'd half-suspected, but something this world's Izuku already possessed. Was it One For All? They seemed similar enough. But, hadn't All Might died? How did he get it then? Was it something else that was just similar? Was he just a late bloomer in this world? Did it come from some other source?

As usual in this world, Izuku had no idea, but for once he had an immediate chance at answers. "Um, what exactly is my Quirk?" he asked hesitantly. "I know I have super strength, but..." He trailed off and Aiko hummed, taking her time to finish chewing as she glanced over him. As the silence stretched on he frowned and went back to nibbling his own chocolate bar, trying not to focus on her too much.

"I'm... not entirely sure," she finally admitted, and Izuku jolted in surprise.

"Wait, but can't you see Quirks?"

"I see the factors, not the Quirk itself," she corrected. "Every person's Quirk factor is different, but I can't tell what the Quirks do. At most I can make educated guesses based on where it's concentrated the most, but... I don't really like to do that much." She chuckled almost bitterly, looking a bit put-out by the thought for some reason.

"Do you know anything about my Quirk, then?" Izuku asked, but she shrugged.

"Not much, just that you need to keep in shape or the backlash hurts you." Yep, definitely sounded like One For All. Aiko huffed softly as she continued, "I feel like there's definitely more to it though since I sometimes see it passively active, but I don't know anything else. And I don't think you know much either. You don't use it that much due to the risk, so we don't know what's up with it."

Passively active? Her brief ramble had Izuku frowning, glancing down at his hands. "What do you mean by passively active?" She hummed, tapping her chin.

"When a Quirk is being used, it looks different to me. More, 'awake' I guess? Still can't tell what it does, but yours tends to activate at random. And the activation tends to look... well, even more different, I guess." She crossed her arms with a small frown, seeming to consider her words. "So you know how some Emitter-type Quirks require conscious activation, like Katsuki's Explosions, while others can activate more automatically or just never turn off, like..."

"Like Tomura's Quirk?" Izuku suggested when she trailed off, and she shrugged.

"Well, that's a bit more active than I was thinking, since it still requires physical contact as a trigger, but I guess it works here. Anyways, the point is that the effects of those activation methods look different to me. And your Quirk somehow shows signs of both. Somehow."

She muttered the last word under her breath, clearly frustrated, while Izuku frowned and mulled it over. "So like... super-strength is a conscious Quirk, but there's times when my Quirk factor shows the other kind of activation?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Aiko let her head slump back against the couch with a groan, dragging a hand through her hair. "There's just another facet that activates passively, but I have no idea what it does. It almost looks like a different Quirk, but... not?" Now she tugged at her hair, squeezing her eyes as she whined almost childishly, "It just makes no sense! Even type-twos make more sense!"

"Type-twos?" Izuku repeated, but she shook her head with a groan.

"Forget it, they don't exist anyway." As usual, that cleared up absolutely nothing. Aiko sighed as she released her grip on her hair, though her cheeks puffed and her lower lip jutted out in a small pout. "It just feels so familiar and not, it's so weird. It's almost like a phantom Quirk, but—but not. It's the weirdest thing!"

Izuku just stared as she grumbled, still a bit off-guard by the whole rant. Most of the time he thought of Aiko as this terrifying, scary woman who could be nice but also traumatized Aizawa, but right now she seemed oddly... childish? Immature? He had brief flashes of Shigaraki's annoyed complaints about Stain at the mall, but mostly it just felt kind of jarring to see her talk like this.

But also, what was this Quirk? Last he checked, One For All didn't have anything "passive" like she described. So maybe it wasn't One For All after all? But that just left more questions! What else could this Quirk do?

He had no idea, and clearly Aiko didn't either. Izuku frowned, deciding to shelf that thought for later. It seemed pretty obvious that talking about his Quirk would just lead to more questions she couldn't answer, so he decided maybe he should ask about something else for now. Just for his own peace of mind.

"Well, anyways, what about your Quirk?" he asked, and that seemed to be enough to get her to pause her childish pout and glance at him curiously. "It's just, you said you can see Quirk factors? And I have a lot of questions about that of course! But... I thought you had some kind of compulsion Quirk?" The remark had her stilling briefly, and some of her tension faded as she faced him with a small upturn to her lips.

"Oh?" she asked lightly, head tilting. "A compulsion Quirk?"

"Y-yeah." Izuku bobbed his head, suddenly feeling nervous and weirdly shy. Something about the star-like dots in her eyes made her gaze much more intense, leaving him fidgeting with his chocolate bar as he rambled, "It's just, you stopped my panic attack, and... well, Uraraka can't talk about Nabu or you or anything with the Alliance. She called me and it was, uh, a really weird conversation." It wasn't even a lie, she'd called him last night to see if she could at least talk to him, but the censoring Quirk still had effect. "We figured you must have done something, so... Did you?"

"I did," Aiko replied without skipping a beat, not even trying to deny it. "It's nothing harmful, just a light compulsion to keep her from talking about me or the Alliance."

"Or Nabu," Izuku pointed out with a grumble. Aiko just looked more amused as she turned her attention back to her chocolate bar.

"Only if she talks about it in regards to the Alliance," she told him, and peeled more of the wrapper away. "Honestly, letting anyone go with that much knowledge is risky for obvious reasons. The other options were to either kidnap her or kill her," and she said that way too casually for Izuku's tastes, "neither of which I'd want to do even if she wasn't your friend. So this was the nicest way to make sure she can't tell anyone."

"But she can still say my name," he countered. "So if someone asked, she could say she went to look for me, right?" Maybe pointing that out was a bad idea, but—wait, no, Aiko was still smiling and now ruffling his hair with her free hand.

"That's so she can talk to you!" she laughed while he fixed his hair. Why did she always do that? "You don't have many friends, and she cared enough to risk joining the Alliance to find you, so it seemed like a safe bet you two would stay in contact." She paused then, smile replaced by a look of curiosity. "How did you two meet, anyway? Because you obviously know her."

Not good, abort abort abort! "I-I'd rather not say!" he squeaked. "It's just, I don't—uh, I-I don't—um—" He struggled for an excuse, suddenly feeling wary of lying to her. To his relief Aiko quietly huffed though, and flashed a soft, doting smile that he knew meant she wouldn't push any further. Oh thank All Might she liked him so much, but also... why did that smile remind him of his mother?

"Alright, fine, I won't pry," she said, oblivious to his sudden inner pangs of bittersweet nostalgia. "You have your own life to live, you don't need me around for all of it." Her smile faded as she turned forward again, gaze growing distant and slightly more somber. "...To answer your question though. The ability to see Quirk factors is a passive trait inherited from my mother. Sometimes people receive vestigial traits that don't directly relate to their actual Quirks, like a heat or cold resistance, you know?"

"Yeah, I think I get it," Izuku muttered with a small nod. "Like how Kacchan's skin is super smooth because of his mom's Quirk. Or, um..." He trailed off, trying to think of other examples, but he didn't really have any. He knew what she was talking about and had seen plenty of examples discussed in media and such, but he didn't know many personal examples. And any he would know would probably be from 1-A.

He decided it didn't matter. "If you got that from your mom, then what was her Quirk?" he asked curiously. Aiko's gaze remained distant, just staring down at her chocolate bar.

"I don't know," she said with a bitter twist to her mouth. "She died when I was four, probably? And not like there's anyone around to tell me about her. The only reason I know she could see Quirk factors is because I remember asking her about the pretty light the mailman had, and even then she didn't tell me it was Quirks. She gave me this pretty-sounding spiel about how it was the essence of life."

She waved a hand with an almost rueful chuckle before she took another bite of the chocolate, clearly using it to avoid having to continue. Izuku just looked at his own chocolate bar with a frown, taking a small bite even though he didn't feel that hungry anymore.

From what little she'd said, it sounded like Aiko didn't have much family left. Or maybe any at all. It reminded him of a previous conversation, and how she'd referenced not having many siblings anymore. Did all her family die?

It was a depressing thought, and one he didn't want to dwell on. "...Hey, can I ask another question?" he asked softly. She glanced at him with an affirmative hum and a small smile, still chewing her chocolate bar, and Izuku forced himself to meet her gaze. "How do you know Eraserhead?"

Her smile faded in an instant, looking first surprised but then somber as she turned away. She swallowed the bar and set it on her lap. "Guess I should have expected that, huh," she muttered.

"You did give him a panic attack," Izuku pointed out, surprisingly flat and sarcastic. He felt no shame or anxiety about his harsh tone. If anything, he still felt an undercurrent of anger and protective rage on behalf of his teacher's counterpart.

Aiko didn't seem offended by his accusation, just frowning at her lap. "Yeah, I noticed," she muttered bitterly. "Unfortunately can't say I'm surprised, given everything that must have happened to him. Being held prisoner for any extended period of time isn't good for someone's state of mind, even if nothing happens. And I doubt the last group were nearly as friendly as you."

Izuku felt his mood plummet at the reminder that Aizawa had been through some unknown hell well before Izuku even woke up in this world. It was something he tried not to think about too much since he seemed fine now, but judging by Mic's radio show, he'd been missing for probably around six months.

Just thinking about it wiped what little appetite remained, and he tossed the unfinished chocolate bar onto the table beside the couch. "I know, but after you showed up, he got worse," he said miserably. "He was... he wasn't fine, but he was at least okay before that. He was starting to open up and trust me, but after you came along..."

He trailed off with a grimace as he remembered how broken Aizawa seemed after Aiko left. Since then he'd gotten a little better, but overall he seemed so much more guarded. Worse, he seemed to be resigned to his fate. Remembering that made Izuku's determination flare, fists briefly clenching as he turned to look at Aiko with a harsh glare.

"I don't know what you did to him, but I swear he was having a flashback," he declared firmly. "And he wouldn't tell me what you did to him, like he was afraid of what you'd do if he did."

To her credit she didn't react with offense or try to dismiss the accusation, her gaze almost solemn as she met his eyes before looking away. Apparently she'd lost her own appetite as she lightly tossed her chocolate bar onto the other end table. "I'm not against him telling you what happened," she said quietly. "You can tell him that it's his choice to tell you or not."

"So you're just not going to answer?" Izuku demanded, feeling a spark of anger. "You're just going to act like you did nothing?" His voice came out angrier than he'd normally want to risk with an unknown enemy like this, but he couldn't help it. This was Aizawa. She wasn't even going to take responsibility for whatever she did to him, and just avoid it?

Aiko's mouth thinned, lips curling downwards before pulling her legs up to the couch to hug her knees to her chest. "It's not that," she muttered, tucking her chin against them. "I just don't want to reveal something that Eraserhead might not want to share. He's already been through enough, the least I can do is let him make the choice. All you really need to know though is that he and I met during probably the darkest time of our lives. And while I regret him getting dragged into it, I don't regret the outcome."

She scoffed softly, burying her chin and face further against her arms as she muttered, "If he wants to curse my name to hell and back for what happened back then, he has every right. Hell knows I do every night..."

Something about her tone had some of Izuku's hostility fading. It wasn't because he heard guilt or remorse, but a different emotion: loathing.

Specifically, loathing towards herself.

He frowned, tearing his gaze away to stare at his lap as he thought over it. He still had no idea what happened back then, and it didn't seem like Aiko would tell him. But while she claimed she didn't regret the outcome, he got the feeling she wasn't too happy about what she'd done back then either.

Good, some vicious voice in his head spat. No one should be proud about hurting and traumatizing Aizawa-sensei. It wasn't much, but knowing that sated some of his anger for now.

(More than that though, some gut instinct told him that the situation was a lot more complicated than he could imagine, that prying might lead to more confusion. And he couldn't overlook the possibility it was a subtle prod from the other Izuku's memories buried deep in his subconscious.)

After a few moments Aiko uncurled from her hunched posture and got up, grabbing both unfinished chocolate bars and carrying them to the fridge. "That's enough heavy talk for now," she declared as she closed the door. "We should head upstairs now, I need to check on Giri."

Izuku nodded and got off the couch to follow her out, falling into step beside her. "What happens when he has an off day, anyway?" he asked curiously. "Is it like when I have episodes?"

"Kind of?" Aiko hedged, crossing her arms with a mildly frustrated huff. "It's... almost like the opposite, I guess? Some parts of his memories he doesn't really think about kinda come to the surface, and it leaves him just feeling a bit... disjointed. I think the way he describes it is kinda like dissociation?" She shrugged while Izuku frowned, mind flashing back to that odd white-out with Aizawa on Saturday night.

"That... sounds bad," he muttered, and she hummed thoughtfully.

"I guess it kind of is, but I think it's also a good thing," she mused to herself, and when Izuku shot her a questioning look she just smiled. "Forget it, it doesn't matter. Now come on, I think we've both got plenty of other stuff to do today." Izuku nodded and they headed up the stairs, but as just as she reached for the doorknob she suddenly paused and pulled her hand back. "Oh, right, one more thing."

Izuku resisted a groan. "Yeah?" he asked, trying not to let his frustration show. After everything they'd talked about, he really wanted some time and space to think it over.

"It's about your Quirk." Okay, never mind, this was actually useful. He immediately stood straighter as she turned to face him. "I still don't know much and neither do you, but you did take notes on it and experiment with it."

"I did?" he asked in surprise. "But I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere."

"That's because you used a secret notebook," Aiko explained. "You use it to write about stuff you don't want to risk someone finding like your Quirk, my Quirk, Seiko... And I don't know what else, since I've never read it beyond that," she said with a shrug. "I only know about it because I usually kept an eye on you when you started training and experimenting with it, and you had me look over your notes now and then."

Izuku frowned, mind racing. A secret notebook? That made a lot of sense, and more importantly, it might be his best lead yet. Reading his counterpart's notes, even if they were just speculation, would probably help answer a lot of his own questions. "Where is it?"

"Don't know," she replied with a shrug. "It might be in your room at my place, or somewhere else? I don't exactly look for it since it's private. I just know it's not in this building." That made sense since his counterpart would be worried about an Alliance member finding it.

In any case, this was an actual, solid lead. "I guess I'll look for it after Kurogiri feels better then," he decided with a nod, and smiled. "Thanks for the tip, Aiko-nee." She noticeably perked up at the suffix and beamed brightly at him.

"No problem!" she chirped. "On that note, can you make me a promise?"

"Um, sure, I guess," Izuku replied, figuring she wanted him to say he'd be careful. Aiko's demeanor suddenly vanished though, all traces of her bright smile replaced with a serious frown. The sudden shift made Izuku feel more on edge and stand a bit straighter, eyes wide.

"If you feel weirdly hot at all, tell me," she told him bluntly, her starry eyes seeming to bore into his soul. "Call me, text me, ask Kurogiri to warp you to my apartment. Whatever it takes. Just tell me."

Her voice held a commanding yet earnest note, and combined with that soul-boring gaze Izuku felt himself shiver. "Um, s-sure," he stammered nervously. "Is, is that a thing that happens?"

Her expression darkened slightly as she turned away, lip curling with obvious displeasure. "It shouldn't be, but I'm not taking any chances," she muttered lowly before opening the door and walking away, and Izuku felt an odd chill. As wary as he was towards Aiko after everything they'd discussed today, he had a feeling he should probably listen to that request. His gaze flitted to his hands with a frown.

Just what did his Quirk do?

Won't lie, not fully satisfied with this chapter. But we finally got some answers, a long-needed conversation about Aizawa, and more questions! Everyone who thought Ignite!Izuku already had a Quirk gets a cookie!

Question for next time: What do you think is up with Ignite!Izuku's Quirk?