*Well, that was a mistake.* Izuku thought tempted to smack himself upside the head.
Izuku had told himself to remain neutral with Yamada-San but what does he do? All but blab about his suicidal impulses.
Izuku really would bash his head with a book if it wouldn't cause a riot.
But Izuku couldn't help telling Yamada-San just a bit about why he was such a hero to him, and if he really thought about it Yamada-San was the hero who had done the most to save him, even if indirectly.
However, Izuku would now have to be very careful with his interactions with Yamada-San and Kayama-San, maybe the rest of the staff depending on what they do or don't tell them.
*Ugh! * Izuku mentally groaned imagining tearing his hair out.
He just had to spill part of the worst of his secrets on the second day, didn't he? And to a pair of heroes of all people?
It was too late to back track or fix it though so he'd just have to do his best to deal with it, if he was actually lucky then maybe they would keep their mouths shut about it until he came up with a decent cover for when the rest start asking questions.
Izuku only hoped that this wouldn't somehow get back to his mom or his friends, he could live with his co-workers acting weird about it and the red-lights were too experienced with two-toes for him to lie about that kind of thing, but he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to face any of his friends again, much less his mom if they ever found out.
Izuku shook his head and slapped his cheeks.
He didn't need to waste the entire day thinking about that, he had a goal in mind today and he couldn't let himself be distracted from it.
He was going to find some time to talk with Haruki-San, as interesting as she was as a person Izuku had a more selfish reason for wanting to speak with the woman, or perhaps some people would see it as selfless depending on the context.
Haruki would be 116 this year and regardless if she was still an active hero or fully retired by the time she would likely know of Comet.
He had tried to find as much as he could about the woman but she was still under the Hero Privacy Act and wouldn't have her data and stats revealed for almost five more decades, and he'd normally go to the Vespas to find more but unfortunately, likely due to the target on her back Comet had been very thorough in purging her personal records.
The Vespas hadn't even known she had a son, according to their files she was only recorded as being pregnant once and that it ended up with her having a still born.
Almost certainly a cover story to protect her son after she sent him to an orphanage to protect him, but she hadn't been thorough enough given what happened to Tenko.
However, this only confirmed to Izuku that in order to find out more about the heroine he'd need to ask someone who would've actually known her or was around during her time, and the number of people who fit in either category was in even shorter supply.
And though it was a chance, Tenko seemed to know at least something about his grandmother given his attachment to space related things, it wasn't as strong as his subconscious draw to floating Pokémon but the allurement was there all the same.
As he continued on to class 1-A to meet with Ito-San Izuku plotted ways to speak to her alone, forcing the previous interaction to the back of his mind.
Wakana finished placing the cleaned pots back into place and ready for the next class, it was lunch now so she had some time before the next group and planned to simply place her stump in her bucket and give her book another read.
However, once she settled down there was a knock at the door "Come in." she called and the young boy, Midoriya poked his bushy head in "Ah, Midoriya-Kun. Did Bullet-San send you to fetch something?" Wakana asked.
Midoriya shook his head "No I was actually hoping to talk with you for a bit, if possible Haruki-San?" Midoriya asked back slipping fully into her classroom.
Wakana blinked sightly tilting her head to the side with a hum * How curious. * she thought motioning Midoriya to come sit with her, the boy crossed the room and settled on the second stool she kept for guest speakers.
She raised an eye when she didn't see any form of a lunch box "Where's your lunch Midoriya-Kun?" she asked and the boy blinked before he opened his bag and pulled out a bento box slightly red.
"Ah, good. I wouldn't want you to skip a meal. Now what did you wish to speak with me about?" Wakana inquired.
There were quite a few things the boy could be curious of and would come to her about, she was an arboreal and there were a few who'd want to know more about that, but Midoriya seemed to be far from the norm so it might be something more obscure like her reason to become a home EC teacher.
Midoriya opened the box and took a bite of rice before he spoke "Well, I noticed that your prosthetic is the same color as your inner rings," Midoriya tentatively said and Wakana would've smiled if she had a mouth but settled for a wheezy chuckle instead.
"Yes Midoriya-San, my peg leg here was carved from my amputated limb." she answered giving the little knee-cap of it a couple of pats.
Midoriya tilted his head his brows furrowing "But why would someone... did you request it Haruki-San?" he questioned and he wasn't the first, most people would physically recoil when they learned her peg leg was actually made from the one she lost.
Wakana's smile would've probably looked bitter-sweet now but she would've preferred it to become a large grin and she bent down to point to the letters burnt into her peg leg "I'm sure you noticed the initials here, right?" she commented and Midoriya nodded.
"Well the 'CB' is quite obviously short for my hero name Cherry-Bomb, but the 'DB' was for Dingle berry." she told the boy and he blinked.
"I don't remember a hero called Dingle berry... " the boy muttered and Wakana chuckled again.
"That's because there wasn't... there was however a boy from the support course of my year that I exclusively called a dingle berry every time I saw him. I didn't quite like him for whatever reason and frankly it has been far too long for me to remember why aside from being a moody hormonal teenager." she explained.
"I was pretty entitled back then, and with how stressed I was constantly having to prove myself I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around, and it was pretty easy to put the blame all on the Todoroki kid, especially with how clumsy he was." Wakana further elaborated for him but the kid jumped.
"Todoroki?" Midoriya questioned his eyes wide and she nodded.
"Yeah, old family that lot, think the name first popped up during the third or fourth generation, long line of heroes too. But I doubt you would know the one I knew, as I said he wasn't a hero like most of the family but Dabi sure had a strong fire quirk." Wakana told the boy with a wave of a hand.
"D-Dabi!?" Midoriya squeaked his mouth falling open and dropping a chunk of rice on the ground in his shock.
"I know, weird name but his mom was pretty peculiar and insisted on giving her kids strong names as a way to impress her expectations onto them, and apparently cremation was that strong name she was looking for. To be fair though, Dabi could turn bones to ash in about two minutes if he wanted to, so it was a fitting name." Wakana conceded with a shrug.
"But if he had a quirk that strong, why wasn't he a hero?" Midoriya inquired surprised.
Wakana huffed lightly shaking her head "Same reason most people don't do something, he didn't want to. That was one of the things that bugged me about him as kids, how this powerful son of a bitch refused to do anything but sit on the sidelines? It was just so baffling back then and I refused to understand it at the time." Wakana answered softly shaking her head.
"It wasn't until like two decades after graduating that we got closer when I joined an agency that he was also employed by that we started getting closer, having known him for decades after we reconnected, I can say with quite some certainty that Dabi never had a single spec of drive to ever become a hero and liked tinkering on his machines far more." she added.
"Admittedly how we reconnected could've been better but it taking a literal train-wreck to make me understand him, honestly feels a bit fair considering how much shit I gave him back in school." she conceded with a wave of the hand.
"You- you don't mean," Midoriya sputtered eyes widening in horror.
She slightly inclined her head "The one where I lost my left leg and retired from active hero work? Yup. Dingle Berry was there too and the one that cut it off so that I didn't die in the wreckage." Wakana confirmed, her thoughts briefly returning to that 'fateful' day.
"To be fair to him there wasn't much choice, the car caught on fire and I'd have died if he hadn't acted, and as I'm sure you know without both my stumps to gather minerals I couldn't get my quirk to work at the level I needed to stay in the top fifty. Can still do a bombardment with just right-y here, but my quirk was basically neutered and I was forced to retire." she said with a shrug and patting her right knee.
"That's awful." Midoriya commented and Wakana inclined her head again.
"It was, but Dingle berry sure made up for it. He felt so guilty about the whole thing and apparently the only thing he thought he could do was to get me a new leg, and in a brilliant moment of sheer lunacy he made it from well... me." Wakana puffed bemused.
"And frankly it should've been such an awful thing but as you can see, I rather appreciated it, especially given the fact he made himself quirkless for me so he could give it to me. See, Dabi's generation was the one to start the whole fire hair thing the Todoroki's are known for and unlike most of them Dabi couldn't turn it off and he shaved it all off so he didn't burn me or my peg leg." Wakana explained lightly shaking her head with another wheezy chuckle.
"Oh, don't let anyone tell you that age brings maturity. As someone who's lived through a century and still considered a bit childish to most people I think I'm living proof of the contrary, and frankly for a pair of thirty year olds I think people would've thought we were hormonal teens after that with how we danced around each other after that." she commented admonishing herself.
"But there is something to be said for stupidity considering the two of us ended up somehow getting together." Wakana mused leaning forward on her desk, she was quite glad Nezu had allowed her to replace the podium with a proper desk, the previous principals insisted that she had to keep it for 'uniformity' in the classrooms.
Midoriya actually choked on some of his food that time "Wait- You and he were-" the boy sputtered.
She hummed rolling her eyes "Yes, yes. Dabi and I dated and when we got married he took my name since he was formally disowned. He was already on the rocks with his mom for refusing to be a hero but dating an Arboreal was a step too far for her." Wakana confirmed, most people couldn't seem to wrap their heads around how she and Dabi were ever a thing.
At least her friends back in the day had the excuse of knowing what they were like in high school... but given how the family was now a days she supposed it wasn't that unexpected "Honestly, my only regret of taking up teaching here is watching the generations of Todoroki's taking after Dabi's bitchy sister, it feels like they've been slowly getting worse over the years." he commented crossing her arms.
Midoriya's eyes focused sharply on her and he straightened up "Haruki-San, if I may ask, what was Enji like as a student?" he asked.
"Oh he was such a brat, and it was a pain to get him to stop from burning everything in his way, if his parents didn't give as much money and had friends as high up as they did then that kid would've been out on his rear first year, much less graduate." Wakana offered shaking her head just a touch too hard and a marble-sized berry to fall and she quickly grabbed it before tossing it to the water barrel.
A large pop disturbing the water and causing some of the water come out in the splash, Wakana tsked, having only one leg didn't mean her berries weren't any less dangerous... just smaller.
"Apologizes Haruki-San." Midoriya said but she waved him off.
"It's fine Midoriya, I should've been more careful about moving, afraid my berries stems aren't as strong as they were in my prime. Be a dear and clean up the puddle though? Here's a towel." She requested grabbing one of the one's she kept on hand for things like this.
"Of course Haruki-San." Midoriya replied rolling up his sleeves as he stood up, unintentionally showing off a myriad of scars that had her a touch impressed, she hadn't seen that kind of work on someone outside of the heroes from her generation.
It probably would've concerned her if she didn't know the boy was quirkless, as awful as it was to say the scars were expected given the hatred of quirkless people still lingering, the boy wasn't self-conscious about them at least.
Midoriya was quite far from what she came to generalize the quirkless as, what with how confident he was compared to the brow-beaten people she knew... then again she hadn't been around many quirkless so she didn't really have a good frame of measure for them.
"Haruki-San?" Midoriya called and she turned to the boy with a soft home.
"I was wondering... if Comet went to U.A? I know she wasn't as popular but I found some old videos of her and I know she is one of the most outspoken about the need for the HPA." the boy inquired.
Wakana blinked and stared at the boy, she hadn't heard that name for decades, not since... looking Midoriya head to toe she paused to think of why this boy could possibly know that name before a thought struck her.
"Oh that girl, I know we are not supposed to have favorites but Comet was definitely one of mine, she was just too sweet sometimes." Wakana answered and going on to her newly formed theory she had a strong suspicion about why the boy was interested.
"Want to know a little secret?" she asked and the boy nodded quickly.
"The reason she picked her hero name was because she wanted to get her crush's attention. There was a boy from the Gen Ed course she had the cutest little crush on named Shimura and she heard from friends he loved astronomy, so she decided to call herself Comet: The Satellite heroine." Wakana told him.
"Oh those two were inseparable come second year after she got up the nerve to ask him out, as someone who's taught as long as I have they're one of the few cases of high school sweethearts that I look back on fondly, a real shame what happened to those two." she added and much like she expected the boy was hanging on her every word.
"But, I think you know what I mean, right Midoriya?" she commented and the boy tensed, he himself now looking her up and down with questions in his eyes.
"She never told me anything about what was going on... but it isn't so hard either to figure out why Comet would go so far to lie about their son being still born when you'll old enough to have most of the pieces fall into your lap." Wakana whispered to the kid.
Midoriya's eye became even wider "You know about... He who takes?" Midoriya whispered back and she inclined her head.
"Hard not to see the hints after being in the business for as long as I have, only knew for sure after Comet's... passing. And considering what your asking, I assume you're aware because of family reasons, yes?" Wakana guessed and the boy blinked confused before realization crossed his face and he reeled back.
"W-Wha!? No! No. I'm not related to Comet, I-" Midoriya denied only to cut himself off and his eyes scanned the room and he carefully got out his phone, getting closer to her "I, I have a student in a very delicate situation, his name is Tenko." Midoriya whispered tilting his phone to show her the screen.
Upon seeing it her breath caught in her throat, the young man in the picture looked eerily similar to Nana's husband.
'Tenko' was leaning heavily on Midoriya who looked fondly exasperated, the young man seemingly unaware of Midoriya giving him bunny ears as he grinned in the picture, she couldn't tell what color his eyes were since they were closed but the messy pale blue hair looked almost exactly like Goro's.
He also had the man's face shape and while his skin needed some treatment of some kind she spotted Nana's birthmark in the same corner Nana swore to her friends always appeared every other generation in her family, though it was the scars on the his face that truly drew her attention in.
"How, delicate of a situation?" she asked.
Midoriya slumped "Let's just say, Comet wasn't able to hide her son from He who takes. I don't know when he started given the circumstances... but he manipulated the family her son made so that he could use Tenko for his own means." Midoriya explained putting his phone away.
Wakana sighed folding her hands and resting her face on them, she sort of expected that... trying to hide the boy was a mistake since he didn't have any form of a support system or anyone to fall back on, especially given the man could have any number of tracking quirks in his hands.
And she remembered reading of the Shimura family massacre from the papers and couldn't help thinking that she was right about it.
"What does he want him for?" Wakana pressed, how Nana got on the man's radar was one of the things she had never concretely found an answer for.
Midoriya ducked his head "Did you ever notice that Comet's quirk got, stronger?" the boy asked and she reluctantly nodded.
At the start of her second year after Nana's marriage the girl seemed to have knuckled down and capable of falling from the sky to crash into the ground with enough strength to break concrete, a move she called orbital strike and if she came down at an angle for a hit it was a solar collision.
"Well... centuries ago, He who takes had a brother, and his quirk was to pass his own on and Nana was one of the holders of his quirk, He who takes has paid special 'attention' to those holders to try and get them to give him that quirk." Midoriya informed her.
"But so far each of the holders haven't given in, passing the quirk on to someone else before he killed them, Comet followed this by giving the quirk to her successor, All Might." Midoriya added a touch unsure in his delivery.
Wakana blinked leaning back as she thought of the man, the once green, quiet and scrawny blonde teen fumbling over his own feet and a deep pain in his blue eyes, she remembered asking her coworker at the time about Yagi's state of mind and what in the world had been left off his file to causing such visible hurt in the child.
Unfortunately, she had never found out at the time since Yagi had chosen to spend the next two years traveling abroad but with Midoriya's insight it made much more sense in context but didn't ease her heart.
"And frankly, what better way to emotionally break someone than to twist the child of someone you loved into an enemy that utterly hates your guts being forced to kill them because it's either you or them after they thought the kid was dead." Midoriya purposed his voice rather hollow and her fingers clenched.
"He's done all that, just to fuck with one person?" she hissed.
Midoriya stared back at her "You said so yourself Haruki-San, age doesn't make a person any less childish, or petty in his case." he replied "And it doesn't help that Tenko was quirkless before He who takes forced one into him, he has a strong grudge against quirkless like us." Midoriya told her.
She would've scowled if she had the mouth to do so "I suppose that explains why Goro was torn apart the way he was, he was quirkless as well, Tenko likely got it from him." Wakana mentioned crossing her arms.
"Hm, I wasn't aware of that. I couldn't find anything about her husband when I looked, but him being quirkless probably explains that, people don't care to look to deeply into those of things. They likely wrote it off as break in." Midoriya commented rubbing his chin before he lightly smacked himself.
"But he's able to put it aside at least partially to mold Tenko the way he needed, giving a quirk that would've be fatal to any quirked person, Isolating him, and having him stew in nothing but the worst of the world... I'd hate to meet the man He who takes wanted him to be, Shigaraki Tomura." he told her somberly, a gleam came to his eyes soon after.
"But for almost a year I've been chipping away at the shell Tenko was entombed in, he's getting better and doubts about He who takes have grown and in all of that time I've noticed that Tenko wasn't completely wiped away by He who takes... he doesn't truly remember his life from before, but he has strong urges to collect and keep things that resemble those he loved." Midoriya explained.
"Like things that float like his sister could, I can talk him into somewhat understanding heroes with air-based quirks, and he has a lot of space themed stuff... most of it being comets or satellites." Midoriya told her and all at once she understood.
"You wanted to ask me about Comet so you could help Tenko further break free from his control." Wakana said.
Midoriya nodded "Yes." he answered.
She nodded her head "Alright, I'll tell you what I can. I wasn't as close to her after she graduated but I kept somewhat up to date with her through news stories." Wakana promised.
I'm I taking full advanctage of the fact their is literally no canon about Nana's husband to turn him into a quirkless space obessesed nerd?
Why yes, yes I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Out take
Izuku: Hey Scar, did you know you're named after your great-uncle?
Dabi:?
Izuku: Yeah, I know right?