Learning to Trust

"All human wisdom is summed up in two words—wait and hope."
—Alexander Dumas

Chapter 35: Wait and Hope

Tetsuya scowled in frustration at the locked dorm building, gusts of icy wind swirling around him. The UA Barrier had let him in just before the power had gone out, but now that he'd gotten all the way to his dorm it appeared to be in lockdown.

Which is logical, Tetsu had to admit. There is a potentially dangerous villain who's probably somewhere on or around campus. Why wouldn't Nezu have locked the school down? Especially if she'd gotten Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic like Yagi-San and his detective friend had been worried about.

Still… knowing this didn't make Tetsu feel any better. He hadn't had much of a plan when he'd broken out of the police station and caught a ride to UA, but what little he had worked out involved him uploading software changes to his support item from his computer. The blades had been removed and, as Yagi had suggested, a taser function had been added. Tetsu was suddenly grateful that he'd finally convinced Power Loader to help him finish the device before moving back to his usual work rather than making him wait two weeks. Still without the software upgrades downloaded to his device, the upgrades would remain useless.

Honestly… they might still be useless. He hadn't thought that far ahead. All that had really been running through his mind since then were memories of his family and worries that Yagi-san, who had been so kind to him, was going to get himself hurt.

He looked down at the bagged device still cradled in his arms. All Might, he amended. He's definitely All Might. And he's definitely sick. And I have to protect him.

I couldn't save Kokoro… but maybe I can save him. Maybe if I protect him… it will make up for letting mom take her away when she didn't want to go. Maybe it will make up for letting her die alone in that hospital.

I should have backed her up.

I failed her.

He set his jaw firmly then. Kokoro died, my mom must have lost it and became a villain, and my dad stopped caring about anything else at all. I couldn't save any of them. If All Might dies… what will that do to his family and friends?

I can't let them go through what we did.

He shivered as another gust of cold wind seemed to find its way through his soaked hoodie. Think. I have to think. I don't have much time before she finds me.

He scowled down at his device. This whole thing started because your self defense activated when you weren't supposed to. Now I can't even start it if I want to.

His eyes scanned the misty, eerily quiet campus. Suddenly they fell on the dimly lit Medical Building. His face split into a grin. I can't access my own computer, but I don't need to. Power Loader uploaded all of my files to the main database yesterday when we finished working on the hardware in class. If I can get into the Medical Building, I'll bet I can hack into those files. Once it's active, I'll find her and try to take her down with no lethal force. Then I just need to keep her down and call the police. It's perfect!

Tetsu grinned as he began jogging toward the lit building, careful to stay in the shadows.

For the first time since he left the police station—actually, for the first time in two years—he felt something flare up inside of him that he'd thought had died with his sister, Kokoro.

Its embers had only just started being rekindled when he'd met Yagi-san…

Hope.

Yagi—idiot though he may have been at times—was an intelligent man overall. He wasn't exactly what Aizawa would call smart—he did stupid things on a daily basis. And he certainly was not rational. But he was shrewd and observant. He put details together that other people didn't see. He connected dots that no one else noticed were even there.

Of course, that wasn't a surprise. You didn't survive for as long as he had as the number one hero with brawn alone—especially when being number one meant being top of the villain hit list as well.

So maybe Aizawa shouldn't have been so surprised that Yagi had managed to pull out the name of a girl who had died before Yagi had even considered stepping foot on the UA campus—a name that Nezu, himself, had seemed alarmed to see on the school entry log.

Then again, All Might always had done a damn good job putting on the face of an absolute moron. And frankly, Aizawa hadn't had any interest in the man outside of the very few times their paths had crossed during work. So, much to his chagrin, Aizawa realized that he had made the rookie mistake that every villain had probably made at All Might's debut.

He'd underestimated him.

Yagi had seemed so irrational in his desire to rush into danger. He'd seemed so foolishly dedicated to this case that was definitely going to get him killed. And he'd seemed so fixated on absolute nonsense, that Aizawa had missed what was now obvious.

Yagi, even in this form, was always All Might. He was always watching and observing. He was interacting with people and piecing details together.

As often as he seemed distracted by nonsense… he apparently never was.

Of course you already knew about the Mizutani girl. You've been spending time with her brother since you came here. And of course you already connected the family to your case.

And you're probably going to do something asinine about it in the end. Because not only was All Might irritatingly good at what he did, but he also legitimately seemed to care about everyone. So many heroes nowadays were more worried about their images and incomes to properly connect with the public.

But now you're here, willing to kill yourself to protect a kid you barely know just because you feel responsible for him, aren't you?

Yagi studied him, expectantly, with shadowed blue eyes. He strained to catch his breath,occasionally coughing blood into his sleeve. But still he watched Aizawa's expression like a hawk.

I don't even have to answer you, do I, Yagi? My face told you the answer. You're just waiting out of courtesy…

"What connection does Mizutani have to this case, Yagi?" Aizawa asked. "Why did a dead girl show up on the UA entry log?". Unlike Yagi, he didn't care to waste time on politeness.

Yagi shook his head, finally glancing up at the stairs as he conveniently avoided eye contact. "Not sure. I suspected that her mother was the Shifter when young Tetsuya told me about her quirk. It's a perfect match, and she went missing at the right time and from the right place. It mostly added up."

"Mostly?"

Yagi shook his head and motioned that he was ready to head upstairs. Slowly, he began trudging up, holding on to the handrail and pausing occasionally as needed. "No definite motive. She was angry that her child died, probably. It could have put enough added stress on her to snap… but it seems more logical that she would have taken out her rage on the hospital, not on a set of random students and heroes."

Aizawa nodded. "And?"

Yagi sighed deeply, and then fell into a fit of harsh coughing that forced him to stop a few steps from the landing to hack and wheeze, clutching the railing with a white-knuckled grip.

Two steps behind him, Aizawa paused, positioned to catch the man if he were to fall. To his relief, Yagi's coughing settled, and he rallied his strength again.

Yagi sent Aizawa an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. I'm several hours behind on my medications." He flashed a small smile at Aizawa. "I'd appreciate if you could leave the scolding to Recovery Girl for the moment."

Aizawa did not share the smile, but he also didn't comment for the moment, leaving Yagi to wipe up the blood and continue moving. "Sure," he replied shortly. "But at least wait to tell me the rest until we get you upstairs."

"No. I'm fine. You need to know, and I'm already slowing us down enough."

Idiot.

Yagi continued in his pained, winded voice. "There isn't much else to say anyway. She's my only suspect, even though the motive is missing. Maybe she borrowed money to treat her daughter. It wouldn't have surprised me if a yakuza organization loaned her some and is making her pay them back by committing crimes. And amping up her quirk with a drug enhancement seems right up their alley."

Aizawa nodded, even though he knew Yagi couldn't see him. Yes. Logical. All logical. "So how did that get you to her daughter's name?"

Yagi just shrugged, pausing on the landing for a minute as promised to catch his breath. "Shifter had to get past the UA Barrier somehow. She didn't shift into Midnight, since we found her near the center of campus. Everyone else is accounted for. She either took young Tetsuya's face or his sister's. It's the only option…" He paused, eyes narrowing. "Except…"

"Except?"

He shuddered and shook his head. "I'd rather not think about it, but do you think it's possible that someone has a Necromancer quirk or some variant?"

Something cold twisted in Aizawa's gut. "You think it's actually the girl?"

"I don't know," Yagi muttered. "I hope not… but Shifter needs to touch her victims to borrow the quirks. And until this Trigger amped her up, she couldn't hold more than one at a time. There's no way she's held her daughter's quirk for two years. And when she spoke to me earlier, she sounded more like an angry teenager than a mother." He met Aizawa's eyes. "I don't want to think about what it would mean if we were facing off against someone who could turn corpses against us… especially if they can use their quirks or amplify them with this drug, but I can't think of any other explanation."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of a door opening ahead of them. Footsteps moveded quickly and lightly toward them in the dimly lit stairwell.

Immediately Aizawa tensed, ready for a fight. He could see Yagi do the same out of the corner of his eye.

Before either of them could even make a move, a familiar voice echoed quietly in the nearly empty stairwell.

"Eraserhead? I saw you both coming in on the monitor." The slight form of the impeccably dressed chimera appeared before them. His sleek white fur almost seemed to glow in the cool lights. Black eyes surveyed the situation quickly before he focused on Yagi and continued in a no-nonsense voice. "And I see that medical supplies are in order." Aizawa didn't respond, instead shooting a warning look to the frail man beside him.

He needn't have bothered. Yagi hadn't moved a muscle. They were obviously on the same page.

Are you really Nezu or not?

Aizawa carefully pulled his goggles down and smoothly moved into position between his frail companion and Nezu.

"Ahhh," Nezu replied matter-of-factly, not missing a beat. "I'm sorry. Of course. You can't trust me at the moment, can you?" His beady eyes darted to meet Yagi's. "And to be honest, I cannot truly be certain that both of you are who you appear to be. Let's take care of that problem first, then." His expression softened. "And really, Yagi-san, you should not be here, per Recovery Girl's orders. Although I must admit that we may have need of your particular talents, this is exactly the sort of strain she warned you against, isn't it? It seems you may be taking Katsura-san's words to heart, after all?"

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

But at those words, Yagi seemed to relax, and Aizawa even saw a relieved smile twitch his lips as he replied simply, "Should I really consider my one life more valuable than a million innocent people, sir?"

Nezu leaned forward, a twinkle in his eye. "Yes, Yagi-san," he replied sincerely. "Always."

Before Yagi could reply to that, Nezu turned his attention to Aizawa. "I thought you refused to take part in All Might's plan, Eraserhead. Have you had a change of heart?"

Definitely Nezu. No one other than Nezu, Mic, Midnight, and Yagi knew that.

"I was trying to protect Yagi." Aizawa relaxied his stance. "I said I wouldn't help All Might," he replied simply, "if Yagi stayed in the fight."

"And yet here you are now. You have had a change of heart."

Aizawa snorted. "Just a change of perspective, sir. I can't help one without helping the other, can I? It's as simple as that."

Nezu just smiled faintly, motioning them forward. "Come then. Let's not waste any more time in this stairwell. Yagi-san clearly needs treatment, and I think we all could use a quick debrief." He turned and began walking quickly back to Recovery Girl's office.

Aizawa took Yagi's arm to help guide him up, ignoring the older man's blustering. "Accept help," he muttered sharply.

Somehow, miraculously, those words silenced Yagi, who finally accepted the supporting hand meekly.

Idiot, Aizawa found himself thinking again, not for the last time

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading this fic. I appreciate all comments and interaction. I hope you enjoy this short, but at least more quickly posted than usual update! Also, thanks to granny_griffin and lolo popoki for once again making this chapter readable with their invaluable beta skills!

Happy reading!

Sincerely,
Sirius:)