18/06/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 29 - Trusted Confidants

Yakuni tapped a few more things into his computer. Izuku thought they were notes about what he had to do before the young man turned around and gave him a look with his brown eyes. It said without words that he knew Izuku still hadn't finished his requests.

"When did you get to know me so well?" Izuku grumbled softly.

Yakuni grinned. "The instant you took over," he replied.

"Killing Tomura is taking over?"

"Yep. But you've been thinking ever since. Planning, or attempting it and trying to come up with something you can do to reach your goal, haven't you?" Yakuni pressed.

"Yes," he admitted. "But I-" Izuku sighed heavily. "I just can't come up with anything definitive."

It actually felt good to get that off his chest. It was even nicer when Yakuni just nodded his acceptance. He didn't look disappointed or anything.

There was silence for a few moments until Himiko fidgeted.

Izuku giggled. It was like her.

"You know your end point though?" Yakuni asked and Izuku could hear that he was thinking about something.

He nodded. He definitely knew his end point. It was just… "I want the world to see that heroes are holding them back. I get that people want to idolise someone. It's been done throughout history!" Izuku huffed. "But there's idolisation and stupidity, and the hero worship of today has moved into stupidity. In the past, idols weren't given anywhere near this amount of power. They had influence," Izuku allowed. "But seldom direct power. Society has given Heroes control over life and death." He shook his head. "That's gone too far. Now, we focus so much on Heroes that society as a whole is not growing and there is too much black and white. It has to be that way for heroes to work and be accepted but it's not that way."

"That's the end point, though what takes the place of heroes?" Yakuni asked. "Dragon, you know people want to idolise something, so what takes the place of heroes? How do you introduce that aspect to the public?"

Izuku blinked. That was a good question. It was a very good question. He'd never thought of that. His silence told Yakuni everything the formerly quirkless young man needed to know. "You are right," he said softly. "UA, with its presentation of the sport's festival has taken the place of athletes," he mused. It hadn't completely taken their place and sports were still played but there wasn't nearly as much professional sport as there had been before quirks.

"Actors and actresses," Izuku groaned. Again, people enjoyed watching television and movies but much of the acting was done by either active or former heroes who moved into that profession. Product endorsements were almost always current heroes. Though why you'd think their opinion of a washing powder was important, Izuku had yet to figure out. You'd be better off asking a housewife!

There was still the occasional scientist and intellectual who were idolised but that was only in certain circles and their fame didn't spread far.

"I'll have to think on that for a bit," Izuku admitted.

"It's only one thing," Yakuni warned.

He nodded and Izuku realised that he really wanted to speak to his dad. "Dad seemed to have a plan," he said slowly. "But I don't know how he was going to address some of those issues."

For a moment it looked like Yakuni wanted to ask a question but then thought better of it. Izuku filed the moment away. He'd have to ask later. "Changing society is complicated," Yakuni said.

"It is," Izuku agreed. "But there is one thing I think I'm going to need, regardless of whatever plan goes ahead."

"Oh?"

"Manpower."

At that, Yakuni chuckled. "Isn't that what the Nomu are for?"

"Only partially," Izuku shook his head. "They can do the heavy lifting and any brute force attacks. The High Ends can be more subtle but if I want to change society, then I need to get people."

Yakuni figured out where he was going with that. "They won't help you," he said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked.

"The quirkless, they won't help you," Yakuni explained.

"Why not? I have the ability, through you, to make lots of quirks and-"

Yakuni shook his head. "Let me explain," he said before he took a deep breath, obviously thinking about where to begin. He sighed. "This may not make sense but I'll do my best. First off, congratulations Dragon because you have realised that there is some sort of quirkless society out there," he gestured vaguely towards a wall.

"Where is it?" Himiko asked.

At that, Yakuni gave her a bland look. "All around us," he replied. "Quirkless society exists in parallel to regular society. It's not like it's separate," he said. "It would be so much easier if it was separate, but-" he shrugged. They didn't live in a world like that. "There are clusters and areas where the population is higher. There are areas where there are no quirkless people but they are out there."

"They have to be," Izuku said firmly. "There's twenty percent quirkless!"

"But they are mostly old!" Himiko objected.

Yakuni shook his head and Izuku looked over to her and confirmed his denial. "That's a fallacy the younger generation believes," the young man said. "There are fewer quirkless among young people, but that difference can be explained by more… pragmatic means," he finished after a brief pause.

"Pragmatic?" Izuku queried.

Yakuni sighed. "Homicide, suicide, filicide," he gave the list.

"They should all be investigated!" Izuku gasped.

The formerly quirkless young man gave him a sad smile. It said without words that he was sorry for bringing down Izuku's illusions but it also told him that this was the way of the world and he could not afford to be idealistic on this. "They are investigated," Yakuni said. "But do you know what happened when I got arrested for stalking Ryukyu?" he asked.

"You got arrested for stalking Ryukyu?" Himiko got the question out before Izuku could.

"For a while,' Yakuni shrugged. "Technically I was stalking her, and if the Doctor actually grew it, you will have a copy of her quirk, Dragon," he added with a grin.

Izuku laughed at that, but it was only a quick moment of mirth. "What happened when you were arrested?" He was beginning to feel that he'd missed out on too much while making his choice.

"Nothing," Yakuni said flatly. "I spent a few days in remand because there was another case taking up time, but once the Police figured out I was quirkless, they just let me go with a warning," he explained. "They aren't quite so blaise with a homicide but once they find out the victim was quirkless… It very quickly moves from murder, to manslaughter or self defence and then somehow it's impossible to find the assailant. And that's what happens if there's even a little bit of evidence, like a camera or something. If the Police just find a body-" Yakuni shook his head to indicate that there was even less investigation.

"I take it suicides are just written off as unfortunate but unavoidable?" Izuku asked, feeling vaguely sick.

"About that," Yakuni agreed. "Oh, no one ever says that society is better off, they all say that it was tragic that such a young life was cut short, and that the victim should have sought help and all the right words but once they are known to be quirkless, there is a bias, a big one, that leads to the belief that they are better off dead and that in some cases, they did the world a favour."

Izuku noticed something odd then. Yakuni's voice was firmly neutral. There was no emotion there. He had a flash of understanding. "Who was it?" he asked softly.

The young man looked at him.

"Who was it?" Izuku asked again. Who had Yakuni lost?

The question earned him an ironic smile. "His name was Michita," he whispered. "He was one of the lucky ones," Yakuni snorted at the statement. "Michita got a job, straight out of Middle School." Yakuni swallowed as he remembered and Izuku watched as he shifted slightly, looking up at the corner of the room. "It wasn't anything special. It was menial… I think he was rubbish disposal for one of the fast food shops, but I don't know. It meant he had some money though. It meant he had a job and for someone quirkless that's really important. They say the unemployment rate is about 3% but that number doesn't tell the truth."

Izuku decided not to point out that the unemployment rate had nothing to do with being quirkless… or at least he couldn't see how it would. If it was Yakuni's way of dealing with the issue then so be it, but he had a sneaking suspicion there was a link. He'd have to find out.

"I don't know what happened," Yakuni said. "But-" He shook his head. There really wasn't any need to go further. Something had happened and Michita had killed himself.

"Could he have been murdered?" Himiko asked.

Yakuni seemed surprised by the question but he shook his head. "If he'd been at work, or on the street then maybe but he was at home."

It wasn't impossible for it to be murder but it was perhaps less likely that way.

The young man swallowed again and then shrugged as if to dismiss the matter but Izuku had a feeling it couldn't so easily be pushed aside. "Then there's filicide," Yakuni sighed. "Thankfully- actually I don't know. The numbers suggest it's not bad but it does happen." He shook his head. "There's a spike in child deaths around age 4 to 5 but it's hard to tell what is causing it. They are almost always written off as tragic accidents, or occasionally a very bad quirk activation." Yakuni huffed. "Anyway, that's why there are fewer younger quirkless but the proportion is pretty even at all age groups."

"Okay," Izuku agreed. "But that doesn't explain why they won't help me."

Yakuni gave him an amused smile. "What's in it for them?" he asked pointedly.

That was obvious. If society actually acknowledged that they needed quirkless people then they'd be accepted. "Acceptance, respect, jobs," Izuku said. "Society changed to be more accepting."

Yakuni held up one hand. "I know that Dragon. I think that is genuinely what you want but they don't."

"Think?" Izuku queried.

The young man nodded. "Think," he confirmed.

"I want to change society," Izuku pressed. He was a bit offended Yakuni was doubting him.

Yakuni gave him a look. "Do you? Or do you really want something else? Something close, I'll admit," the brown haired man added.

"Something close?" Izuku murmured, trying to think what it would be.

"You were upset when your friend was expelled," Yakuni noted. "But would you have been upset if the rules had been applied equally and the others, those who showed up at Kamino were expelled too?"

"Less upset," Izuku allowed, trying to see what Yakuni was suggesting.

"So what you really want is the rules applied evenly?"

"And to do that, I need to get rid of the hero worship!" Izuku replied, though he understood what Yakuni was saying.

The scientist made a face, showing his doubt before he grinned. Izuku felt like he might have made a mistake here. "Even if the rules were applied evenly though, would you obey them, if you didn't like them? Or they didn't make sense?" Yakuni asked pointedly.

Izuku wanted to say of course he would but… No, he wouldn't, because he already knew there were certain things he could not, had not let stand. He'd warned Tomura against hurting dad, and the other boy had ignored him. Izuku would not have let that stand, even if the rules had applied to all.

He gave Yakuni a smile. He did want society to change, but maybe that wasn't the end goal or maybe it wasn't the goal at all but he wasn't yet sure what the goal would be. "For now," Izuku sighed. "Let's go with changing society." He held up one hand. "You might be right but, I'll need to consider it."

Yakuni nodded. Gigantomachia grinned, as if he understood and Izuku wondered what he knew but had the feeling the man would not tell him.

Izuku sighed. "So for now, if I want the quirkless onside, I'm going to have to prove that I want to change society, at least in relation to them?" Izuku mused.

"A bit more than that," Yakuni sighed. "About… oh probably 20 years now, there was a guy named Kiraware. He was eventually known by the villain name Bloodline. He used to work with quirkless people. His spiel was that he could figure out your 'bloodline' and determine what the activation conditions of your quirk were."

Izuku frowned, wondering where Yakuni was going.

"Of course it was hard work but for the promise of a quirk… their quirk-" The formerly quirkless man stopped, giving Izuku an ironic look.

"What did he do?" There had to be more to the story than that.

"Those he could, he strung along," Yakuni said. "Those who got too uppity just disappeared. It didn't seem that way, of course. Kiraware spun a whole heap of stories about how he'd given them their quirks and they'd moved into society."

Izuku snorted without humour. He knew where that went. "Into the society of the dead."

"Exactly," Yakuni confirmed his belief. "That's why, you are going to have to show them, and you are- Honestly it would probably be easier to pay them."

At that Izuku laughed and pointed at the tubes with quirk copies in them. It said without words that unlike Bloodline, he could give them real quirks.

"That will work for some, but not others," Yakuni warned him immediately. "Some of them are very proud of their quirkless status."

"Even though society rejects them?" Himiko asked.

"I think because society rejects them," the young man told her. "They are proud of their ability to function in a society that would rather they disappear and they are proud of the fact that they keep quirkless society functional," he explained.

"They are the leaders?" Izuku caught on to the implication.

Yakuni shook his head. "This is where it's not going to make a lot of sense. The answer to that is only sort of. Quirkless society doesn't have one leader. It's more a loose conglomerate of affiliated groups with the same goal."

"Goal?"

"Survival," Yakuni said.

"You send part of your pay cheque to them, don't you?" Izuku didn't really need the confirmation.

"A bit," the young man admitted. "Most of the groups are self sufficient but sometimes some of them need a bit of a leg up," he explained.

Izuku was happy to hear that Yakuni was still contributing. It meant he had someone he could send to talk to quirkless people even if it didn't solve his problem. He thought about it for a few minutes.

"You are a strange one," Himiko said.

Yakuni looked at her,

"Definitely strange," Himiko confirmed.

"How?" he asked.

Himiko shook her head and chuckled. "You have all this around you, you are doing all this," she said, gesturing towards the tubes and tanks. "And you still give them money, you still care?" she challenged, with a toothy smile. One of her canines was catching at her lip.

Yakuni looked at her and frowned. "I don't give a shit what happens to quirked bastards," he announced. "I'll help you out, because you are with Dragon but these," he copied her gesture, encompassing the new tank and the tubes. "I don't care about them."

"But you care about the quirkless?" Himiko prodded.

"They're my people," he told her.

"Not any more. Dragon gave you a quirk, that makes you one of us!"

Izuku was mildly curious to know how Yakuni would react to that. "Not officially," the young man retorted. "Never officially," he emphasised before giving a self depreciating snort. "I guess-" he actually laughed mockingly. "I guess we know how much my pride is worth," Yakuni said, referring to those he knew wouldn't accept a quirk, who would cling to their quirkless status as their badge of honour through their lives. "But I'll still help them because for the most part, they are good people, who don't deserve the shit that life gives them. And if I can help them, while giving the finger to quirked gits, then all the better."

At that Himiko chortled. "You'll do," she decided.

Yakuni blinked at the statement.

Izuku grinned. Himiko was the only one who hadn't met Yakuni yet and it was good that she approved of him.

"What?" he was somewhat breathless.

"You'll do," Himiko repeated. "Izu can rely on you," she explained.

"Of course Dragon can rely on me!" he snapped back, obviously offended by the suggestion that he wouldn't be reliable.

Himiko just grinned more. "It's good!" she said. "Izu only needs those he can rely on," she said.

Izuku didn't laugh but the statement did give him pause. It was true. He didn't need other people but… He might at some day. Those he'd have to pay or somehow make sure they did their part, unless he was specifically planning for them to fail. There was also… He'd been berating himself that he shouldn't be too protective of Himiko. That she wouldn't appreciate it, that she didn't need it… She was apparently just as protective of him.

He wasn't sure what to think about that.

Yakuni huffed but seemed to let it go.

"Can you talk to some of the quirkless groups?" Izuku asked. It wasn't terribly fair on Yakuni but if he knew the groups, then he could talk to them for him and that would save a lot of time.

"I know what you are thinking Dragon and that won't work either," Yakuni told him. "I can talk to them," he agreed. "I can go around and talk to each leader individually if you want but it won't convince them of anything."

"Why not?"

"I'm not in that group anymore," Yakuni told him simply. "To them, I'm the lucky git who landed in the cream with a job and that puts me at a bit of a distance."

"Surely some of them have jobs?" Izuku objected. Yakuni had brought up the jobless rate earlier so- He didn't get it.

"They do," the young man agreed. "But those people live in the community. I don't. Don't get me wrong, they are really happy I'm bringing in cash from a new source but it does mean there's a distance. Not many of them are that well off."

Izuku sighed. "All right," he said, holding up one hand. "I guess I can understand where they are coming from. A lot of people want manpower for some reason or another and they've had no qualms about using the quirkless as expendable peons."

"Yeah," Yakuni agreed. "There's that too."

"Too?"

Yakuni shrugged in a way that said, he really didn't mean what he was about to say. "They are expecting me to need help one day. They don't know exactly what I do but they know you aren't on the right side of the law so-" he gave a breathy laugh. "They think eventually I'll either disappear or I'll need help."

"Right," Izuku said, drawing out the word. It wasn't exactly untrue and… The quirkless didn't mean it this way, but just hearing that drove home to Izuku what was riding on his success. He wasn't just risking himself. He'd known that all the time but… that highlighted it.

"Concentrate on quirks first," Izuku ordered, "but I do want you to talk to them. Not necessarily the leaders, talk to others-" he paused as a new thought occurred to him. Changing society was hard because people often didn't want to change. When the government released some new policy that impacted people they advertised it… That, if the campaign wasn't bad, build up trust in the change and it was more readily accepted.

He wanted the opposite. He wanted people to lose faith in heroes but the advertising bit was the same. Tomura had even complained to him about it when his Nomu at Hosu didn't garner the news coverage Tomura had been wanting.

"Oh I know that look," Himiko cheered, clapping her hands.

"Unfortunately, so do I," Yakuni deadpanned.

"Find out who would take a quirk, no strings attached," Izuku said. "In fact, I'd prefer if they went public with their new quirks."

Yakuni groaned. He probably didn't see where this was going but he knew enough to know the excitement that formerly quirkless people suddenly gaining quirks would bring. "How many?" he asked.

Izuku totalled the quirks. There were three from UA - Bakugou's, Kaminari's and Iida's - the other two he might have more use for and then… no, none of the quirk's he'd gotten last night could be given away carelessly. "I've only got three that I really want to give away and be public but say six or seven people. I'll find quirks for the others," Izuku said.

Yakuni blew out a breath. "I'll see what I can do," he murmured, shaking his head.

"What?" Izuku demanded.

The young man looked up at him and smiled. "You are having way too much fun," he said.

Izuku grinned back. He might still not have a plan and he might be fumbling a bit but this bit… Yes, this bit was fun. He wasn't going to deny that and… he was really looking forward to seeing the reaction to this…

It would be… telling was perhaps the best word. And from there, he could maybe see what would be the best way forward. Until then, he'd just enjoy this.

-ted-

This conversation was important, both to show how the quirkless are treated, and because Izuku needs manpower. I believe that was one of the main reasons the MLA were introduced, and so easily taken over by Toruma in canon because Tomura needed manpower to challenge the status quo of heroes. Izuku needs man power too but I'm not going to bring the MLA into things this quickly, so Izuku is going to have to look at other alternatives. Plus, Izuku has been burnt by recruitment and he's going to be a bit more reluctant.

We are also getting into a bit of the underlying reasoning for Izuku doing what he is... and perhaps Izuku's stated goal isn't actually what he wants. He's sixteen so he has maturing to do yet.

Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!