5 years later

The calendar, and the date circled on it, stared at me almost accusingly. Red ink stood out against plain white paper and I looked away with a frown.

Father's Day.

There were going to be events at school for it over the next week and I was not ready to face it.

Kacchan would take the opportunity to poke fun at my lack of a father and while it didn't use to bother me, lately the taunts were hitting closer to home.

Who even was my father?

Mom loved taking pictures, but despite the many photo albums she had, not one had my father in them.

I'd looked dozens of times, hoping for a glimpse of someone with crystal blue eyes like mine, but no. The only man was Bakugo's father.

Biting my lip, I snuck a glance toward Mom in the kitchen. She had work today, like most days, and probably hadn't even noticed the date.

When I'd asked about my father in the past, she'd brushed it off and told me she'd explain when I was older.

Maybe ten was old enough to know?

Standing up, I inched into the kitchen and cleared my throat. "Mom, can I ask you something?"

She stopped putting on her earrings to smile and nod. "Of course, Izumi! What's going on?"

The easy acceptance loosened the tense knot in my stomach and I asked, "Am I old enough to know about my dad?"

Her smile fell in a blink and I rushed onward, "I know you said you'd tell me when I'm older and I don't want to pester you, but I'm just really…curious."

I lost steam toward the end and looked away, the calendar dragging my attention again. She followed my line of sight and sighed, something like pained longing burning behind her eyes.

"It's alright, I should have known you'd ask again. You've always had a thirst for knowledge."

Setting down her bag, she gestured for me to sit. "I have some time before work. Let's talk."

I sat in a blink, excitement overshadowing the nerves from before. She was going to tell me about him! I'd hoped she would, but it almost felt surreal, actually hearing about him.

It took her a few seconds to collect herself, but once that was done, she jumped right in.

"First and foremost, you need to understand that he didn't leave because of you. Truthfully he…doesn't even know you exist."

All my excitement drained away like air out of a balloon. He didn't know I was alive?

Something sharp twisted in my stomach and I wrapped my arms tight around it as if to stop the pain.

"Why, did he…hurt you?" I'd heard stories of parents like that and even the thought of it happening to Mom was enough to make me never want to talk about my father again.

Was that why she didn't talk about this often?

Before I could start theorizing, she waved frantically and corrected me. "No, no! He was the sweetest, kindest man I've ever known. He would never!"

Relief hit like a truck and I slumped. "Oh, good, but then why?"

She leaned on the table and looked away. "Izumi, your father was…is a strong hero, one of the best. He has so many enemies. That's why he never considered having children to begin with. He worried what would happen if we were targeted. He left to protect me and I never told him about you."

The pieces started falling into place slowly and I digested it all.

"So he left to keep you safe and you didn't tell him to keep me safe?"

She nodded, relief twinging her expression. "Yes. That's exactly it. Your father is a good man so please don't think otherwise. Things just…didn't work out how we'd hoped."

Pain flashed through her tone and I inched closer instinctively, not wanting her to feel anything bad, especially because of a question I asked.

She smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "He would have loved you. Never doubt that, Izumi."

Hearing those words both soothed and ripped at an old wound I could never reach before. I wondered what he would think of me, if we suddenly met, but knowing we'd get along just made not knowing him even harder.

Leaning into her, I chose my words carefully and asked. "Who is he? Maybe, I can meet him once I'm a hero too?"

She winced, her normal reaction to my dream, and I fought past the usual hurt. She didn't mean anything by it, I knew that. She was just worried about me, like always.

It didn't make it hurt any less.

Forcing it back, I watched as slowly, she nodded. "Maybe, but for now it's too dangerous. You're only ten. His enemies are still a threat and, if they knew who you were, they wouldn't stop until you were hurt…or worse."

The air turned heavy and I swallowed hard, catching her meaning.

"Okay." There wasn't anything else to say, was there? She'd done what she had to keep me safe. I couldn't blame her for that and she was right, heroing was dangerous work.

There was a reason lots of heroes chose to keep a civilian identity separate from their hero one. Though that brought up another question. What kind of enemies did my father have that the usual precautions weren't enough?

A chill worked down my spine and I shook the question aside. Better to not think about that.

"Thanks for telling me, Mom." It may not have been what I was hoping for, but the topic wasn't an easy one and she'd still answered despite that.

She smiled, though it didn't quite touch her eyes. "You have a right to know about your father. I'm sorry you don't get to know him personally. He was one of the best…"

Guilt twisted the words and I hugged her. "I'll meet him someday, I'm sure of it. Until then, I have one of the best Mom's, so it works out."

This time the smile did meet her eyes and she squeezed me a hair tighter. "Oh you!"

She kissed my head and stood, returning to her previous routine. "I'll be heading out soon, have a good day sweetheart!"

I waved her out before retreating to my room to digest everything. Hopefully the new information would make Kacchan's barbs hit with less force.

The itching urge to know more dug under my skin and I slapped it down. Mom told me what she was willing to, I'd just have to wait to find out more.

In the meantime, there was a new story out and I needed to analyze the hero. I'd only seen glimpses of him so far but the newspaper I'd grabbed had a somewhat clear picture of him, the first yet.

Sitting on my bed with a notebook, I went over what little I knew. He used some kind of capture cloth and his quirk wasn't a mutation or physical one. He had impressive combat ability, made obvious from one of the few videos of him available before they were inevitably scrubbed from the internet, and…that was it.

This newspaper would hopefully spread some light on him.

The heading all but blared at me, "Eraserhead, Rising Underground Hero, Shuts Down A Crime Ring."

The name was what caught my attention before and I added it to the journal wordlessly.

I couldn't update it at school, I'd learned that the hard way. Rewriting all the information in the journal Kacchan destroyed took weeks and I'd prefer to never do that again.

Continuing down the article, I hesitated at one sentence toward the bottom.

"This rising hero is sure to go far, with a power like Erasure on his side."

I mouthed the words as slowly, something started falling into place. Erasure, the ability to temporarily stop a person's quirk.

Akane's power.

Excitement hit like a bus and I staggered off the bed, nearly falling on my face as I rushed to pull on shoes.

It couldn't be a coincidence. That quirk was one of a kind. He had to be Akane's father. He even looked about the right age!

We'd been trying to find out who he was for the past five years and now, we had an answer! She was going to be so excited.

A niggling doubt tried to dig its way to the surface even as I ran toward her house.

Lately she'd been on edge whenever the topic of fathers was brought up. I hadn't had a chance to ask why that was, but I'd be sure to bring it up after I showed her the newspaper.

Author's Note

I'm thinking of updating once a week, maybe twice if I'm feeling particularly motivated. I do have a if you want to support me and the paid tier has early access chapters from this and other fanfics I'm working on. See you next weekend.