So unfortunately the second chapter is going to be more about world building and establishing the type of connection soccerors have with the government of the quirk centered future, more centered on legal powers though. This is important to the story I want to set up, trust. Again big thanks to my friend for reviewing this with me.
Once again I don't own MHA or JJK, they belong to their respective creators.
Chapter 2: The cold war between three powers
'That hadn't been too bad.' Where Izuku's first thoughts upon reaching his home. He had been scolded by Kamui Woods for nearly 20 minutes after he had finished with the media. Izuku also noticed that the media was surrounding all the heroes. Unfortunately that also included him and Kamui Woods. It was also noted that half way through the police and paramedics had left with the police having finished cleaning up and the ambulance leaving with its one patient. He still didn't know much about how Bakugo was doing.
The other heroes had tried to join but Kamui immediately shooed them away and went right back to lecturing him on how reckless he had been. Izuku knew it was to be expected but still. Listening to 20 minutes worth of a hero telling him how stupid he had been was rough.
By the end Kamui Woods had acknowledged his bravery, in between jabbing a finger at his chest while saying civilians shouldn't get involved in dangerous situations and was released. Albeit with the hero saying he'd keep an eye on him when he could.
After the lecture Fujima-san had been nice enough to help him home, his energy was almost completely spent. He really wasn't sure if he'd have made it on his own. Fujima-san had been asking him questions related to how he was feeling. Izuku barely had enough energy to give more than single word responses. That was actually probably enough of an answer on its own.
Another question that Fujima-san asked was if Izuku could dispel the bone sword protruding from his arm. A look down showed that the bone arm had still not gone away and was still constantly dripping blood, the blade itself was on his right hand and ended just a little past his wrist. The blade looked incredibly sharp and was extending past his fingers. Basically the same size as a smaller knife. Now that he thought about it, how had he gotten out of that situation without having the paramedics look over him. He looked at Fujima-san with a questioning gaze. The man didn't get it.
With great effort Izuku opened his mouth to try and speak more than a word "how did I… not get checked over?"
At that Fujima-san's mouth formed an O in response. A grin broke out across his face soon after. "Well if you must know, being an agent gives me certain privileges."
Izuku shot him an unamused deadpan, he was too tired to bother questioning further with words. Fujima-san frowned at the look he received but he still answered "Well, the reason you weren't checked over was because I had talked with the paramedics about that blade being a side effect of your 'quirk'." Izuku would have questioned his odd emphasis on the word quirk but his eyelids were literally drooping.
"Do you know how to make it dissipate?"
Izuku shook his head, no
Fujima-san's eyebrows shot up into his hair at that "Okay, so was that your first manifestation of your power?"
Izuku nodded his head, yes.
Fujima-san seemed to be even more surprised by that. His mouth had actually even dropped in astonishment. After a few seconds Fujima-san did manage to compose himself, but his surprise was still apparent.
"In that case i'd like for you to try and imagine letting any negative thoughts flow out of you" Izuku's exhausted mind couldn't help but note that it was a weird suggestion for dispeling a quirk. Even still with Fujima-san being part of the government, and a trained fighter, he probably had more experience with quirks as opposed to Izuku's obsessive study and theories of them.
So, he tried it. It was kind of weird but Izuku could have almost sworn he felt something actually leave his body. When he opened his eyes though the bone blade was still there, if a little smaller this time. Honestly he was surprised that it had somewhat worked. His surprise ended when his knees buckled out from under him.
It was only thanks to Fujima-san's quick reaction that he wasn't crumpled on the ground in a tired heap. It took 2 minutes of him being carried and guiding Fujima-san where to go with barely audible words. That he finally felt energized enough to slowly continue walking himself. They continued this cycle of izuku continuing to try and get rid of the bone blade. Finally by the time Izuku had gotten within viewing range of his apartment complex the protrusion had finally disappeared. In total it had taken five more times of losing all his energy for Izuku to achieve that feat.
It wasn't until they had made it to the base of his apartment complex that Fujima-san had given him his phone number and departed with a polite farewell. Izuku kind of wished he'd have stayed mainly so he could help until Izuku had made it up the stairs. The only thing that even gave him enough strength and motivation to climb was the thought of his bed.
Upon reaching his front door he weakly pulled out his keys and stumbled inside to find it completely empty. 'Honestly I'm not sure why I'm worried mom is rarely home this early' Izuku did not even want to consider talking with his mom in his lethargic state, or not until he rested. All he wanted to do was enter his room and crash. Which is exactly what he did.
He actually barely made it to his bed. Having closed his eyes for sleep right in front of his bed. Lucky still he fell right onto his pillow with his head, a leg and a good portion of his pelvis dangling off the bed but he wouldn't care when he woke up. All while still having his clothes on.
oOo
All Might or less commonly known as Yagi Toshinori did not feel okay. Of Course anyone who knew him also knew that he hadn't been medically okay for roughly five years. No right now what was making his stomach, what was left of it, twist into knots was what he had just witnessed. That villain with the sludge body quirk had been freed and going on a rampage. The villain he, just minutes prior, had defeated and securely captured. True his capture method was creative but he was confident the villain couldn't have escaped.
He'd already theorized how he'd lost the bottle containing the liquid villain and was certain it was when he was in the air with that kid. He honestly wasn't mad at the boy, he was a troubled youth who acted on impulse rather than any form of logic. He hadn't been intentionally malicious, just desperate so familiarly desperate. Toshinori pushed that thought aside.
The blame for the villain's escape solely fell on his own rookie mistake. Having focused on getting away to detransform so blindly that he was willing to push a boy off himself mid air from a certainly fatal fall. The same blind urge to find somewhere to detransform that allowed the bottle in his pants to slip past his notice as it fell. That mess was all his fault, he was such a worthless number one. Having to trust others to fix his own mistake because he couldn't do anything to fix it himself. His time limit had already been close to being met a couple hours after 12 P.M. chasing that villain and jumping to the roof had been the rest of what he could do today, and try as hard as he might. It was just too painful trying to go over his own limits. It felt like every worn muscle in his body was forced to tear then bulge in size like he was flexing imaginary muscle he no longer had, all while suffering cramps in all of them at once.
It was incredibly painful and the main reason that recently he only gets to use four hours of his quirk's power a day, probably not the main reason but it was a painful reminder of his limit. Thankfully if he wasn't actively using it he could stretch out his time for longer or the media and villains might have started to notice, he just had to be extremely careful about exerting himself then or else he'd promptly detransform. He knew he shouldn't have used up all his time during midday. It was just his nerves about his upcoming meeting with the principal that were getting to him. Yet now those nerves had caused a tragedy to happen and he couldn't help but hate himself for being so reckless.
Toshinori couldn't bear to see how the confrontation would end. Especially considering how the heroes on the scene had already pulled back to wait for reinforcements. Death arms had already sent his sidekicks away, it seemed the more experienced hero knew what was going to happen and didn't want his new sidekicks to see. So near when the new hero Mt. Lady went in for her last attempt; he had left the scene with the nausea he was still feeling even now 20 minutes later.
He was so ashamed. He didn't feel like the number 1 right now. Right now he felt like a failure, the biggest failure to the symbol of peace he stood for. It was really only his years of experience that he held him together these days. The media always liked to boast about All Might's perfect record of saving every civilian in a crime scene. That was only when he was on sight though. Rarely cases like these did pop up, they hurt every time, where a villain was able to escape him and unknowingly stall out his time limit. Most times the villains would lay low and wouldn't pop back up again for a few days. He hadn't been as lucky today though, to have witnessed the consequences of his inadequacy immediately after his realisation of his failure. Something notable though was the media's ability to somehow cover up his incredibly rare failures, he didn't like it. It always made him seem more perfect than he actually was.
Toshinori supposed that was the consequence of becoming a symbol and the cost to maintain it. Unfortunately for All Might he'd have to make a public appearance tomorrow to explain where he had been. After all, the media couldn't just pin the blame on inadequate police handling this time since he'd been spotted in pursuit of the villain not even an hour prior. He wasn't looking forward to having to make up a fake excuse. Even so he'd already gotten two calls from the HPSC president demanding what had happened and one recent call from Nezu, the principal of UA hero highschool, inquiring about the incident.
All Might was still needed and would be for a long time yet. Toshinori Yagi by extension was also still needed even if right now all he wanted to do was retire. Right now he didn't want to discuss this, disaster over the phone with anyone. So right now he was on the train heading for the section of the district that housed the impressive hero school. He'd much rather force himself to talk to the principal than the HPSC president. Politics hurt his head but he knew that being the number one hero he wouldn't be able to escape them, sadly.
That was all this was right now as well, politics involving him. Toshinori liked the principal yes but he couldn't deny that they're connection right now was more due to politics than actual friendship, he liked to think otherwise though. The main reason that he preferred the principal was actually because he did try to empathize. Sometimes the little mammal felt more human to him than the actual human HPSC president. Probably why Toshinori tried to spend as little time with the woman as possible.
It was no secret that Nezu and the HPSC in general were raging a pseudo political war and all the government did was sit back and calmly watch. Almost every hero with a few years under their belt knew and all of them also knew the singular rule that followed. Either stay the hell out of their cold war or join the side you can be deeply confident in. Toshinori had tried to be more in line with the former but right now his actions were leading him to be on the side of the latter.
Thankfully Toshinori didn't have to think too much about it anymore, having just arrived at his train's destination. Standing up he stepped off the public transport moving to the secluded spot on the platform before pulling his phone out and pressing a contact. The phone didn't even ring twice before the line connected.
"I'm assuming you're calling to tell me you'll be coming to visit?" Toshinori wasn't exactly surprised to hear that the mammal had guessed what he was doing. Although considering that the principal didn't respond in his jovial little line he was being serious. Uncomfortably so.
"Uh y-yeah I just got off the train. I thought I'd take a moment to let you know, but it looks like that wasn't necessary." If there was one thing he didn't like too much about Nezu it was definitely that the principal was almost literally ten steps ahead of everyone else. It was disconcerting to him.
"You're correct, I've already made preparations for your arrival and all possible staff that might see you have been suitably distracted." Toshinori couldn't help but notice the lack of the usual flare the principal had in previous conversations. This was most definitely going to be a serious talk. He'd only ever heard the principle this serious when he told him about his quirk 6 years ago fighting that monster. "Although the notice is appreciated, even if a little late."
"I thank you for the warm hospitality Principal Nezu, I'll see you in an hour" With a hum of approval from the educator Toshinori hung up the phone and brought up a taxi service app. Five minutes later a taxi was taking him to a random shop near U.A. highschool's entrance. It would have been suspicious for a random man to go straight to the best hero school in japan. He was still dressed like a civilian.
After a ten minute commute, and a two minute walk, Toshinori Yagi stood right outside of the massive gate leading into the hero highschool's grounds. He was a little calmed to the principal himself who walked out behind the right corner of the gate, all alone. The principal smiled up at him from his diminutive stature before producing a visitation pass from behind his back. Toshinori was about to speak but before he could the principal had brought up a paw hand.
"Not here, if you'd mind following me to my office we can begin our discussion there." That did make sense. Although he couldn't help but wonder how the principal would get around, he usually had his staff carry him to move faster. The educator did have personal transports but he rarely used them. Toshinori's pondering was quickly answered when Nezu walked back to where he'd come out off and brought to view a motorized children's scooter. The emancipated number 1 grimaced a little with how fast the principal was moving, the grimace was mainly from the fact that he had to partially jog to keep up.
Toshinori was even less amused when Nezu seemed to be taking the longer way to his office. Safe to say the educator was certainly upset at him, thankfully it wasn't the longest way to the dean's office but Toshinori wouldn't know that. Upon reaching the office Nezu had sped around the desk and, somehow, quickly sat in his personalized chair. Toshinori was ushered to sit into the chair right across from the principal. It was right when Toshinori had sat down that the principal's smile immediately vanished and was replaced by a critically calculative gaze.
"Now it's time for us to discuss what happened, in detail. So before I start telling you why this is bad I'd like to hear your side of the story. So please begin with haste." Even though the words were cold Toshinori did notice the slight beads of sweat forming on the U.A. principal's brow. Clearly there was something MAJORLY important he was missing. So with the fear of a potentially worse disaster happening Toshinori told the mammal everything that had happened that afternoon. Firstly starting with how he'd met the villain then lastly told of how he had left the scene of the progressing crime, and potential murder, in shame. He had not left out a single notable detail allowing Nezu to ponder over everything and formulate a proper response.
As time started to drag on the secret number one began to get more and more nervous, it really wasn't helping that Nezu had not moved at all. Eventually Nezu looked up at him and regarded him with a critical gaze. The principal then stood up on his chair leaning over the desk to stare directly at him. "I do believe I'm ready to share my theory. However you do not seem to be aware of the most important development that happened after you had left that crime scene. If you would allow me to fill you in first that would be appreciated."
"Yes, please do, you're making this sound like a potential disaster." The permanently crippled hero couldn't help but think of the worst. Every bodily action and verbal que Toshinori had been taught to pay attention to all pointed to the small principal being scared. If Nezu was worried by anything then that meant it was serious, at least from what Toshinori had learned by being around him.
"Well, I suppose it's obvious but my visible concerns have all stemmed from that incident today. I'll add this though my displeasure with you was misplaced and for that I am sorry. My concerns are from what happened after you had left." At that information Toshinori was happy to no longer be in the educators bad books but he was also much more curious about what he had missed. He couldn't help but loath how he'd missed something so major.
"As you had just told me the event took place after Mt. Lady had given up, for you see something unexpected happened. A government agent appeared at the scene in a rather violent manner but from what I could gleam he was barred access by Death arms which resulted in the aggression. It was then another more concerning thing happened. A boy was following him, originally trying to stop him but followed along and became involved in the agents confrontation with the villain" Nezu paused to take a breath, as well as pull out a tea set. The pot was already steaming.
Toshinori was a little ashamed to admit that it took him a minute to fully process what the principal had said. What the mammal was saying was unheard of, it was absolutely ludicrous nowadays. The HPSC in recent times had been incredibly strict and almost tyrannical in its absolute control over the heroics profession. Going so far to solidify its own absolute influence so as to bar any form of outside governmental influence other than its own. Honestly, if Toshinori had to say who were the main factors in the government of japan today. He'd answer that it was the Japanese government, the HPSC, and the Heroic Educational Alliance for Reliable Teaching, or often referred to as HEARt, formed by Nezu himself.
All of which had significant political standing, or they should have. In reality the political state of japan was starting to shift, Nezu had explained it to him prior. What he'd been told was unsettling to say the least and by all rights should have sounded like a wild conspiracy theory. Coming from Nezu himself though. It sounded a lot more convincing than a half baked speculation.
What Nezu had told him was actually how he had decided to become more involved in the political cold war. Why he had all but officially joined Nezu. What Nezu proposed was that the Japanese government was falling into obscurity, having little actual sway over anything related to heroic work resulting in a weakening of their power. It also didn't help that they had lost the political and cultural importance that was the Emperor during the dark ages of quirk appearances. During the peak of his rule.
In wake of the government's political decline came Nezu's alliance and the HPSC to absorb whatever powers they could when they, as nezu says, fall with time. Nezu and most likely the commission as well had been actively preparing for that event. One more actively than the other. It was unfortunate for Toshinori to think about knowing that such an important piece of Japanese history was crumbling with the new era. All because of that bastard. Although if what Nezu said was true then the government was up to something. Something that in the eyes of today's law was illegal.
"Would you agree that the government seems to be up to something?" The principal, ever the most intelligent in the room, seemed to be reading him as easily as a book and not being subtle about it right now.
"I do, but I'm still confused on why they'd act so spontaneously. It just seems so random." try as he might the skeleton like man knew he'd never be able to follow Nezu's train of thoughts. He was the number one hero due to his charisma and power not his intelligence, he knew that with certainty.
"Yes , I do admit their actions have surprised me as well. Something irregular must have happened but try as i might the government is already throwing whatever influence it has left in full force. They've restricted all security camera footage in the area, it's actually quite impressive." Nezu was stirring his tea looking into the cup as he did. "As of now I'm waiting for reports from heroes on scene but even still if the prime minister is going to such lengths. I doubt even I'll be able to get to them before they're restricted as well. They're hiding something and it unsettles me that so much influence is being exerted to do it."
It was then that the mammal looked up at him, this time a certain glint had appeared in his eyes. "There was something I was able to find. A trail of sorts, of redacted camera footage leading to this address."
Toshinori was handed a blank manila folder. Opening it revealed a familiar building. It was the building he had left the young quirkless boy on. The one where he'd left a clearly broken youth. 'D-don't tell me that they're acting now due to my actions. Oh kami, did they find the kid's corpse or something!' It was that thought that sent his partial stomach plummeting if that boy had actually….actually j-jumped then that meant he had been responsible for a-a murder.
He felt a paw touch his shoulder, Nezu had moved to stand on his desk, looking up he was met with solemn beady eyes. "What you did wasn't smart, but right now I need you to make sure the worst didn't happen. Right now I need you to be strong."
Toshinori nodded in response, he was right Toshinori had to be strong. Make sure his fears were unfounded. Make sure he hadn't just caused a child to…. he couldn't finish that though or else he'd undoubtedly start breaking down. Toshinori still had one question though.
"Principal, what do you think is happening?" he had to know if another war was in the near future. The principal's face darkened in response.
"I believe the world is on the brink of a new change and I'm only left to speculate how it can turn out. There is only one thing I can hope for, that the worst doesn't happen."
oOo
Fujima knew he was going to have his ear drum burst the moment he called. It was small mercies that they'd already, probably, seen a little bit of what he'd seen with the security footage. He'd still have to explain everything that he'd know to fill in all the blanks they still had. That was what he was fretting over. 'Oh well they can't kill me…. directly at least'
Oh well he'd been putting it off since he first sent the text at the crime scene. So with faux bravery he opened his phone and dialed the phone number of the devil herself. It didn't even get the chance to ring before he had to recoil away from the phone or go deaf.
"WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG YOU DUMBASS!" Maybe turning his phone to silent wasn't a good idea. Unfortunately anything he did now the demoness would somehow know about it.
"Well i had to take that boy back to his house, he was dead tired." Fujima couldn't help but cringe at the memory that unintended slip brought. He should probably recommend midoriya to a therapist for that shouldn't he. From the sharp intake of breath he could also tell that headquarters knew of the suicide attempt as well. Great, at least it'd probably be easier to ask for professional counseling.
"Is he alright?" It was pretty amusing to hear her caring side. Although he supposed they were in agreement in regards to children. It just sucked that he had to be the one to offer him such a shitty deal. After all, when you became a sorcerer you basically lost everything that made you a noticed member of society. Curses weren't human, their first targets if they can't get you are always anyone close to you. That was almost a guarantee for the sentient ones and he'd been lucky enough not to meet the higher functioning curses. It was safe to say that they would probably be worse though, much worse.
It was a safety precaution where the government tried its best to erase you from ever existing while still keeping your rights intact. After all, the only thing worse than beings that couldn't be killed normally was the people able to kill those beings turning on you. Resulting in personal intelligence agents from the government meant to 'keep track', monitor, of you. Still it was better than being left to be slaughtered by curses with a vendetta.
"Yeah the boy will be fine, I think." He hoped greatly that it was true. You never really know for certain when cursed energy was involved.
"You think!? What do you MEAN you THINK!" Poor choice of words on his part. Now he just had to fix this small mistake of the tongue, 'oh who am I kidding i'm still getting yelled at'.
"Yeah, I helped him as much as I could and made sure he wouldn't keel over and die. Unfortunately I don't know the drawbacks he might face. He could be out for a few days for all I know" That would, maybe, be enough to explain his delay and pacify her anger at him to more he wouldn't be threatened levels, for now.
Fujima could make out some other voice on the other side of the connection. The other person was most likely another agent or superior. It was a little unsettling for him, almost like awaiting a sentencing. Unfortunately it was understandable to him. He had after all just placed them on a surprise legal battle with the HPSC and convinced them to bend several other laws to hide the boy. They'd probably already figured out that the boy could use cursed energy like him, but they didn't know the literal diamond he'd stumbled upon. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait much longer.
"You are so damn lucky that I don't have the time to yell at you, you irritatingly spontaneous-" The line went silent for a few seconds. No doubt she was either blowing out of listening range or going through her calming exercises. Anger issues, exacerbated by him, and a quirk that enabled more animalistic tendencies due to its transformative nature probably weren't too great a match up. He did feel bad though for adding on to her stress. Resulting in him trying to make up for it as best he could.
"What the hell happened." time for the questioning.
"Well after my mission I was walking down the street back to my apartment. A villain appeared around where I was walking but well I walked off, it wasn't my problem." Sticking with the abbreviated notes would be quickest.
"The higher ups don't care about that right now they'll question you themselves. They want to know about the child." Straight to the point, that sounds like the higher ups. Well if they wanted to to get to it why shouldn't he? With later hind sight he'd probably regret what he's about to do. The government could take a more personal interest in Midoriya and no matter who was in power that was more often than not a very bad thing. That was not on his mind at the moment.
"I believe the kid knows how to perform reverse cursed technique innately." Fujima could have sworn he heard her jaw physically drop. If he was honest with himself that was probably his reaction as well. What he wasn't expecting was the full minute of silence as he continued on his walk. Fujima was pretty sure he didn't even hear her breathing.
"Y-you can confirm this?" That was another thing that the government needed sorcerers for, to confirm the presence of cursed energy. You'd think that after the years of knowing and technological development on quirk support gear they'd have at least something. They didn't and still hadn't made much progress on their research. Apparently there was a massive difference in trying to find an imperceptible, intangible energy compared to a mutation in the human DNA.
"It looked exactly like the manuals described. I could actually see the kid's body heal itself. So I do honestly believe he is capable of it, unconsciously." Fujima knew just how big a deal anything relevant to the partially lost pre quirk era of jujutsu was. All they had to go off nowadays was whatever was left over or could be salvaged from that time. Every sorcerer and subsequent sponsor shared in this exchange of lost knowledge all around the globe.
Apparently when quirks had first emerged humans had developed the ability to truly perceive stronger cursed spirits and strong cursed techniques. It was a catastrophe when cursed spirit cruelty became visible, civilians from every nation were calling for action to be taken against them. The known records detailed a sort of war that took place as a response. Obviously it wasn't labeled a war but when sorcerers fought back they were viewed as some of the first ever heroes. Those details were the ones published in history books where curses were attributed as the very first villains, humanity didn't know that they were actually monsters. Now that Fujima thought about it, curses weren't opposed to showing how inhuman they are; they could probably be blamed for the discrimination against mutation quirks.
Currently they only had a rough time frame to go off of for when the war happened, and subsequently when the old jujutsu ere fell, that being between a few months after the first appearance of quirks and until the peak of the quirk stealers rein. Almost everything jujutsu sorcery related was destroyed somewhere in the early days of the big bads rule, most likely by a combination of curses and villains, probably mistaking them for early hero bases. They had bits and pieces of the story but not enough to form a full time line. Fujima had the feeling he should probably go over their information again so he could properly explain to the midoriya's.
"That… I won't lie, the higher ups are definitely going to think this endeavor was worth it. You however will be required to make an IN DEPTH report on the situation. Immediately!" Oh he was going to hate this.
"Thanks for the paperwork Nuko, always a pleasure, till next time." With those parting words Fujima quickly hangs up the phone and focuses on the walk. He was not looking forward to having to write anything close to a report. Usually he always pushed it off and neglected to even do proper ones. He had to fight curses under government supervision and in secret from society. Who would he need to provide paperwork to to just basically confirm he killed the curse and point to where the damage is. Couldn't he just do an in person report sure i'd be pretty uncomfortable but still quicker than him trying to write it all out when he didn't want to.
As he continued his walk to the district government provided house he was left with his thoughts on the day. The curse today had seemed drawn here, sure weak curses appeared everywhere but they usually hunkered down in a single spot waiting for victims. This one was different, he'd found it roaming the back alleys behind buildings almost as if searching. The only thing he knew for certain about curses was that they were drawn to strong sources of cursed energy. That also usually was accompanied by large amounts of human negative emotions or a strong presence.
A worrying thought but he had no evidence to back it up. Still a theory is something to still consider. He'll include it in his report. By now he had arrived on the street where he temporarily lived. With nothing to do Fujima entered his 'home' then flopped on the couch thinking. Fully splayed out and trying his best to relax his incredibly sore muscles, that fight with the villain had been rough. All he wanted to do now was rest, unfortunately with everything that happened his mind inevitably began to wander. Today marked the first discovery in recent generations of someone with cursed energy potential, a quirkless boy.
Why did that poor boy have to be blessed with such great power? He deserved to have a happy life. Although considering how Fujima had found him his life probably wasn't good at all. He prayed it wasn't due to anything related to family issues. That kid was leaving a terrible place and now being forced to be a part of a new hell, he didn't even know about yet. Izuku midoriya even if he didn't want to become a sorcerer would still be a part of this unknown world and be subject to its unknown dangers. Life was so cruel.
oOo
Inko Midoriya, mother of one, was a kind and caring person at heart. Naturally that kindness extended to all those around her. Unfortunately that was a relatively small circle only including her best friend Mitsuki along with her family, a few of her colleagues at the law firm, and her only son Izuku. More unfortunately still was that due to her being the only provider in the house she often had to leave her boy alone. She regretted it greatly and had talked with Izuku about it. He'd understood and even said that he didn't mind because he knew she was doing it for him, she'd burst out crying that day and proceeded smothering him with hugs as well.
Today though she was on edge. Recently she'd received a call from Mitsuki which usually leads to them planning a day out together or another fun activity, but what she'd heard had not been pleasant. Apparently her son, Kastuki, had been involved in a villain attack, a very dangerous villain attack that Mitsuki couldn't get many details about. Inko knew her son had been falling out with her friend's son; she didn't know the extent but even so the quickest route home for both of them was roughly the same. If Izuku had been behind Katsuki then he might have gotten involved as well, she was probably overthinking it but she couldn't help it. Izuku was her precious and only son.
She couldn't not worry about him. The constant worry was probably not healthy and the fact that she was unable to stop it might not be a good sign but she'd been constantly exposed to the discrimination quirkless faced since her son was diagnosed. She loved her son but she knew that as more and more time passed, quirkless people were viewed more and more as disabled people rather than what used to be the human baseline. It had become a depressing pastime for her to look over data surrounding people without quirks so she could be aware of what might cause her son trouble.
It was sad reading and never something she enjoyed associating with her dear son. Right now though she was anxiously tapping her heel against the bus floor trying to patiently wait to get home to see her baby. She had to make sure he was okay and safe at home. She was the only relative he had, what with her parents having passed away four years prior in a villain attack. Then there was the topic of his father, her ex-husband, who had left the moment he heard of Izuku's quirkless diagnoses. She'd filed for divorce after he'd been gone for a few months to hold a stronger legal standing. Obviously she won the case and got him to pay decent child support but even still she'd had to lie to Izuku about it even up until now. He probably knew already considering his father had been on the news after having been arrested for leading a meta liberation effort.
Nearly 47 minutes later, Inko Midoriya had finally exited the bus, her overactive nerves finally calming down a bit when she was within walking distance of her home. Five minutes of hurried walking and she finally made it to her actual apartment. Upon entering she was immediately greeted with a familiar pair of red sneakers. All the worry she had been feeling that something was wrong had just been proven wrong but she still felt as though things weren't right. Bending down she picked up the red shoes tracing her fingers over them. Pulling them away revealed nothing, she still couldn't get over her feeling of wrongness. Even still she couldn't find anything different about the shoes so she put them back on the floor.
She couldn't hear Izuku but she knew he hadn't left the house again. Moving deeper into the apartment revealed nothing. Her son wasn't in the kitchen making food, at the table eating while watching for hero news, or even on the couch relaxing. Odd yes but not surprising. If Izuku had seen a hero he was interested in today he was most likely in his room furiously scribbling notes about whatever detail he'd noticed. Honestly, if she hadn't known he was quirkless she'd have sworn he had an analytical quirk. He didn't though and she was even prouder of him with how smart he'd become.
A quick peek into Izuku's room and Inko to her surprise found her son passed out and hanging halfway off the side of his bed. She was surprised, sure but that surprise instantly evaporated into worry for her boy. With years of practice she quietly slipped into his room, gently placed her hands on him and began to shift his weight. She was a little grateful Izuku didn't routinely workout because if he had she probably wouldn't be able to even have moved him. After she had pushed him onto his bed she began the arduous task of flipping him over without stirring him. It was actually a lot less harder then she thought, mainly because after one little slip of knocking his head into the wall she was pretty confident he wouldn't wake at all anytime soon.
Izuku was by no means a light sleeper and she knew that. She also knew that he'd have immediately woken up from the impact and startled awake then been rubbing his head while mumbling excuses about why he fell asleep. He didn't though, Inko supposed it wasn't a major deal but with that mounted on top of her already growing worry that something was wrong. She began to examine him a lot more closely. It was only until she'd done a full body once over that she realized something. His uniform had two shades of coloring. The collar along with his cuffs were slightly discolored, it was a little hard to notice, she did notice it though barely.
Reaching out she grasped the material feeling the somewhat damp material, why was it damp? Moving to the cuffs, Inko brought her attention to Izuku's right hand. The hand itself looked fine but upon closer inspection she saw small flecks of a dirty reddish substance. Grasping the hand gently and lifting it for closer observation she was unnerved to find the white undershirt her son wore also discolored, much more noticeably. The very tip of the cuff was stained by what appeared to be the same substance.
She couldn't tell anything more from what she saw, so her next course of action was to use another of her senses. Leaning forward she sniffed it, her nose picked up a slight metallic smell. That wasn't comforting, she had her suspicions but this basically confirmed it. Her son's clothes were stained in blood. The only problem was that she didn't know whose blood. In all the areas that the blood had stained she couldn't feel or see any injuries. He was in perfect visible health, so that begged a question: had her son gotten into a fight? She wouldn't think her Izuku capable of starting a fight, although a certain incident he'd had at four said it wasn't beyond being possible.
His knuckles did look rough or bruised either. How had his clothes gotten stained, was her baby part of some incident. What if he was being pushed around by a bad group, bullied physically. One of them might have had a healing quirk able to hide the damage. Izuku had never come home with any visible injuries although he had stopped asking for help bathing surprisingly young. No, no her mind was getting the better of her causing her to think the worse. If Izuku had been being bullied at such a young age she'd have told her at some point. No one would willingly remain silent for ten years while being so severely bullied, people have breaking points, unless he was being blackmailed then… 'No, bad Inko, you can't let your mind begin to spiral. Focus!'
Collecting herself she started to reexamine everything. Her son had blood stains on his clothes, he wasn't injured anywhere near where the stains were, she knew her son was a kind person at heart, and she knew he loved to watch heroes in action up close. She still hadn't checked his entire body but that felt like too far an invasion of privacy. She'd ask first then confront him about the stains when Izuku woke up. Her best guess was that he had somehow gotten too close to an accident of some sort and gotten blood on him. How did he get blood in two unrelated spots though?
Inko couldn't come up with an answer. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get more answers not until Izuku woke up. Her worry demanded she wake her son up and immediately asked but her more dominant motherly care forced her worry aside. Izuku, her son, clearly needed rest and she wouldn't interrupt him.
Unfortunately that left her to wallow in her worry. Moving to the living room a thought occurred to her 'If Izuku had gotten unintentionally involved in an accident then it'd probably be on the news!'
Hurrying to the living room she immediately snatched the remote and turned the TV on to the first news channel she knew, one izuku liked for its unbiased and analytical reports. The first thing she saw was a distinct headline reading 'Villain's rampage results in government intervention!' It was a surprisingly short headline but the news anchor looked haggard.
It didn't take long for her to understand why. Apparently earlier today a villain known for petty theft was being pursued by All Might after a successful robbery. The news made it sound like the villain got lucky in getting away but the worry on the anchor's face showed another story. All might had never let any villain he fought get away, he had a 100% capture success rate for as long as the public had known him as the number one. Apparently the villain had been found again trying to take over a child in the middle of a shopping alley. Inko's heart sank when she heard about the captured boy's abilities having something to do with explosions. That did not correlate well with what Mitsuki had told her about her son getting involved in a villain attack.
Another shocking revelation was that All Might had not shown up again to aid the other heroes. Although they did frame it more like All Might had gotten lost searching for the villain around where he was last seen, roughly 10 blocks away. Although Inko did note that they weren't showing footage of the hero having been around there. She also realized that they weren't using security camera footage but video taken by what appeared to be phone cameras. That was odd considering that thanks to the rise of villainy security cameras had been upgraded to be able to provide reliable video evidence, and the primary source for news outlets if they were available. News crews did still go out to interview heroes so they should have at least still had aftermath footage but apparently not even that was being shown.
Inko did get an answer, it just wasn't an answer she expected either. This news report was giving her more surprises then she'd had in recent memory. The government itself had restricted all official footage so that they could 'review it' themselves, stating that it contained classified information. The HPSC was apparently getting ready to go after the government legally. This was not at all how she expected to spend her afternoon having previously been so worried about her son. She knew she should be doing something for him but she couldn't think of anything to do right now besides wait till Izuku woke up. That was until she saw a head of familiar green hair in an unsteady recording. It was only for a few seconds but she still clearly saw a head of green incredibly familiar to her.
That head of hair belonged to Izuku, she was almost sure of it. Still with the poor quality of the video she only caught a glimpse of him 'WAIT IS HE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CRIME SCENE!' She didn't know if she could wait after that. If what she'd seen was true then Izuku had deeply been involved in hero vs. villain crime scene. For all she knew right now he could have been a second hostage or the main hostage! Inko really didn't think she'd be able to wait anymore. Cooking wasn't going to calm her down and eating had done nothing but make her gain weight. She needed answers and confirmation her baby was ok.
She quickly walked to Izuku's room. Inko might have been a little, a lot, more nervous but that was no reason to rudely disturb her son. She'd just gently coax him out of bed, although he had been sleeping pretty deeply. More forceful methods might be better, with that thought she turned back around and poured a glass of water. Izuku wouldn't mind right?
oOo
Most would assume that after a traumatic experience nightmares are sure to follow soon after, it's to be expected after all. However nightmares following such an event always vary but the expected range in which one will experience them has been found to be around three months. The time it takes for someone to process what happened can take weeks, months, or even years.
Izuku's sleep was dreamless. The moment he fell onto his bed he was out like a light, able to still relax in the uncomfortable position he knew he'd land in. Everything felt right in this one thoughtless and peaceful moment, so peaceful. At least it should have been peaceful. He felt something, it was weird to describe, feeling like an out pour of just negativity. The source of the feeling was moving closer to, he also noted that it had grown a tad bit more than it was before.
The presence was much closer to him now. It was actually almost sickening being this close. Although his body still refused to move even an inch he didn't feel like he was floating anymore more like being weighed down. 'Wait why am i moving' were his first coherent thoughts since he'd fallen to slumber. While he couldn't feel much he was certain that the presence had moved him to a more comfortable lying position, even if it'd knocked his head against something.
Any line of thought he was about to follow was immediately derailed as the aura he felt increased. 'It feels so… wrong!' It truly felt like he was being violently smothered in the surge of negativity. It was just too much and way too close, he felt cold there was just no way for him to properly describe it beyond a deep settling cold. He was actually incredibly thankful that it wasn't much longer until the negative presence moved away, and seemed to shrink down minutely.
That didn't last long, he could feel the terrible chill spike almost every other minute seeming to work itself up then calm down just a bit. It was incredibly distracting and Izuku knew he wouldn't be going back to that peaceful sleep from before anytime soon. He definitely wasn't going to even be able to ignore it when the presence soared to how it felt when it was right next to him, he still couldn't open his eyes. That suffocating negativity was coming back towards him again this time it seemed to be more determined about something, if the speed it was going was any indication.
It was right next to him again and it was really hard to not focus on the sense of worry he was feeling. Izuku didn't actually know why he was worried. Whatever the negative thing was it hadn't been hostile, just oppressive. Honestly with his not even half conscious mind he was of the opinion this was all a really weird dream, he couldn't even imagine why he was experiencing this.
Izuku's barely half conscious mind was rudely awakened by a large glass of cold water being dumped on his face. Apparently dreamily feeling it wasn't the same jolt as actually feeling it, although whatever he had been feeling in that dream immediately disappeared now. Opening his eyes, and ignoring the sense of lethargy he still felt, he sat up. It was then he was met with the wide, incredibly worried, and leaking eyes of his mother.
He came to one basic conclusion 'I'm in trouble'
Before Izuku's mouth could even begin to spew the first thing he barely thought about his mom had already lunged at him arms out for a hug. She was incoherently saying something in his ear which he could somewhat make out being along the lines of her being happy he was safe. As Izuku's mind began to wake up more, his first conclusion was that she had seen something on the news. It was most likely a big enough scoop to be the afternoon coverage's focus. Probably could also be part of the morning coverage if nothing big happened at night, or if more information was found mainly about All Might not being present.
It took a little for his mom to let him go, hands still on his shoulders. When she did she took a little to dry her eyes. Now Izuku, having lived with his mom his entire life, knew that Inko Midoriya was not a naturally scary person and there were only two things he'd seen make her upset. The first was when a parent from kindergarten had been mocking him for being quirkless in front of her, the second had been when his father had said he was leaving, resulting in a fight. That look she had during those times was now directed at him.
Izuku couldn't move. His mothers grip on his shoulders tightened while rooting him to the spot. Did all mothers have strength quirks when angry or was he just scared? His mom's eyes bore into him her usual warm if fatigued smile replaced by a stern frown and furrowed eyebrows accentuating her displeasure.
"What were you doing this afternoon?" In a situation of flight or fight izuku's response, like most, is to always run away. However there are two factors that change his responses. Those being the recently found trait of running head first into danger to save someone and the other being to shut down completely when flight is unavailable. Neither applied nor were viable ways to get around this situation.
'Wait… the whole point of Fujima-san coming tomorrow was so I'd tell my mom everything' It was originally so he could apologize, so he could not have to be so secretive with his mother. It was because he didn't want her to lose him without ever having been told the truth. Izuku had to do this, he must work past the lump already forming in his throat. His mouth already felt dry and his skin was clammy. Sweat was already forming on Izuku's brow, this was becoming impossible for him to do but he had to tell her…tell her about his…suicide.
As sad as it is, Izuku was in this moment a little thankful for the thoughts of his…his s-suici-… the attempt he made. It was what was allowing him to start calming down and think a bit more clearly. He needed to answer and by the look on his mothers face she had only not questioned further because of his panic. Although she seemed more worried then before. This was going to most certainly be the most difficult talk he'll have in his life, so far.
Izuku started the talk by revealing Bakugo's bullying; his mother wasn't at all happy about him hiding it. He showed her the scars some of bakugo's explosions had left, mainly being on his back and torso. Bakugo for all his anger and rash actions didn't try to leave visible marks that or he liked aiming for the bigger target. It did nothing to comfort the mother and son. Izuku then moved on to how Bakugo's bullying was encouraged by most of the teachers he's ever had and how his classmates always either looked the other way or joined in. That made her mad incredibly so, so much so that she almost got up to leave and call the police to investigate the school. It was oddly comforting for Izuku to see his mom act that way, even if he had to almost physically restrain her with a hug to calm her down. It was more her care for him then his strength but still, if his mom had left Izuku wasn't so sure he'd be able to start this talk again. The last thing he talked about was his…attempt.
At that point Inko had burst into fat blobby tears and was hugging his head so tightly it felt like it'd pop. With that large hurdle cleared, albeit sparsely detailed, they both agreed not to talk too thoroughly about it right now but still to seek professional help later. His mom had picked up on his extreme discomfort about the subject and his aversion to deep detail. Izuku also still left out All Might's secret identity but unlike with fujima-san he did tell her about his meeting with All Might. He didn't blame her for the dirty look she shot at one of the heroes merchandise posters. Looking into selling some of it would probably be a good idea for later. Finally Izuku talked about his meeting with the government agent after his incident as well as said agents offer to train him. Subsequently leading into his involvement at the villain crime scene and his sudden development of a quirk. Izuku's mother did ask about his quirk, what it did and if he could use it. The answer was he didn't know yet and he didn't actually know how to activate it. The only thing that didn't allow Inko to dismiss Izuku having a quirk was the fact that he was alive. She did believe his story but she was concerned that it was someone else's quirk rather than Izuku's own. Inko wouldn't push the matter though, for now. She was more interested in this government agent coming to visit tomorrow.
"So, a government agent intervened in a heroic confrontation and wants to train you to make up for you getting involved as well?" The look on his moms face perfectly summed up how Izuku felt looking back on that moment. It was weird, you'd think anyone from the government would enforce the rules rather than compensate you for breaking them. "Did he mention why he wanted to train you other than that?"
"He also said that he wanted to train me because of my powerful quirk and its self harming manifestation…Is the government after me because they think I have a powerful quirk." saying it out loud now definitely made it sound a lot more concerning. The only other branch of government known to train people it deems qualified are the HPSC. Izuku had never heard of a government trained hero, this was suddenly sounding less like a positive.
"I don't think we should jump to conclusions yet, but you're right it does sound peculiar." Inko's mouth was thin, her brow furrowed. Unfortunately it was late and both of them knew they wouldn't get any more answers to their new questions. Inko also came to that conclusion, Izuku could clearly see her worry but even still knowing there was nothing left for her to do she moved to tightly hug izuku. After a moment she let go and told him dinner would be ready in an hour. Although at the door she paused then turned to look back at him, her eyes were wet and puffy. "I love you Izuku, I hope you know that I truly love you with all my heart."
"Thanks mom, I love you too." Izuku knew it was an inadequate response but after everything he'd said he thought it was enough. When his mom left, Izuku slouched in on himself. He was happy for that talk to be over but Izuku wasn't under the illusion that this subject would ever be over for a while. Right now though he was proud he'd managed it. However, right now Izuku was left wondering what he should do after that.
In his personal opinion he wanted to go back to sleep, that talk had been emotionally exhausting. Along with that personal opinion though was also the reality that he'd been sleeping for over two hours and had just been awake for 20 minutes. To top it off his burning desire to study his new quirk would also be a driving factor for him to stay up. He just had to figure out how to manifest it, on second thought he should probably hold on practical study. Didn't want to alarm Inko with him screaming in pain from a bleeding bone blade having grown on his arm. It wasn't too much of a mood dampener; his favorite hobby did mainly involve theoretical ideas, he couldn't exactly train up close and personal with heroes after all.
Opening one of his drawers he brought out one of his empty note books, one with a fittingly emerald green cover, opening to the first page he titled it Notes on my quirk and Future. His mind was already buzzing with ideas for what his quirk was just based on the limited information he knew. Izuku knew his quirk was some kind of super self healing ability the question he had was stuck on though was how did that transfer to creating bone blades.
Izuku only took a break from note taking to eat dinner with his mom, it was a quiet night. After eating Izuku continued theorizing about his quirk until midnight when he was too exhausted to continue. His sleep was still dreamless, thoughts of his talk with Fujima-san tomorrow were among his last conscious thoughts.
Second chapter done! Ok so I introduced Nezu (I pat myself on the back for the acronym), a little bit of the government, still hasn't included an HPSC perspective, and I've neglected to mention vigilante reactions. So the main change I made is that Nezu holds more influence amongst the hero schools. It's more because I don't believe that U.A. would be that influential alone. I mean sure it's the top school but it's still only one school against a rogue government branch, so I made a change. For the HPSC well yeah I just didn't include that, vigilantes might come in later.