Surprisingly, it took a few days for Tsu to approach Izuku about his offer to talk. He continued his preparations for his little excursion, and kept trying to come up with an excuse to get off campus. His best idea yet was pretending like he was homesick and applying for a home visit so that he could sneak out in the middle of the night and do what he had to do. That was kind of flimsy, though, because Izuku had just visited home for the new year, which … was a month and a half ago now that he thought about it. Maybe he should go and see his mother anyway. Izuku put that at the back of his mind, though, and forced himself to enjoy the time he had away from this little project of his. It was a little bit easier to do that after his talk with Ochako. Her whole mood in the days following their conversation had completely flipped around. She was all smiles, and didn't seem able to frown at all. Even when she got punched in the face by Kirishima during random match-up training, which had given her a nasty cut on her forehead she'd needed to get healed, she'd taken it with a smile and shrugged the attack off to pin Kirishima to the ground with his own weight. Ochako Uraraka was on cloud nine!
Izuku felt much the same. It was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He no longer felt that searing, shameful desire whenever he was alone with her, the heaviness in his heart whenever he realised that his eyes had caught on her, or the dissonance in how he felt, or the excuses that had slowly piled up in his mind stopping him from accepting his feelings. He just felt … good, in the absence of all of that guilt and insecurity. They'd sorted it out, and even if it was going to be hard having a relationship where one of them held no physical attraction to the other, Ochako had promised that she was going to stick with him through the challenge of meeting each other halfway. Izuku felt as though he was channelling One for All sometimes, even though he knew he wasn't. It was that rush inside, knowing that he had something that nobody else had.
They started slowly. The first thing that changed about how they treated each other was their policy on touching. It was nothing major, just little touches on the shoulder, the knee, or the back. Little brushes that let them know that they were there together. Izuku quickly discovered that this was a way that Ochako communicated affection, much more often than with words. She couldn't touch him with all five of her fingers at once, unless she wanted to send him floating up into the air, so Izuku noticed that she often tapped him in a strange way. One finger tapped him twice, and another tapped him four times. It seemed unconscious on her end, likely just something that she did reflexively, but it intrigued Izuku, so he tried his best to understand it. It was a few days after this started that he realised where he knew that rhythm from. Back during their first combat training class at UA, where the two of them had been partnered up against Katsuki and Hitoshi, Izuku and Ochako had used a crude form of morse code to communicate without risking Hitoshi's Brainwashing catching them. The tapping was in the same order that he'd used back then — tap-tap, tick-tick-tick-tick. He started doing it in return after he figured that out.
That was all well and good, but Izuku was still holding his breath. That proved to be a good idea when Tsu finally approached him after dinner one night. They'd given him a look while the two of them had been hanging out with Hitoshi and Ochako in the common room, and Tsu had insisted that the two of them head up to their rooms while they and Izuku catch up. Hitoshi and Ochako clearly found this odd, but they didn't question it. They said their goodbyes and left the two green-haired students alone with each other. When everyone in their class had left the common room, the two of them were left with a tense silence filling the air between them as they sat across from each other. After a moment of searching his gaze for something, Tsu spoke up.
"I value honesty. I like to be forthcoming, because then no one has to wonder what I think. I know that I can't emote like everyone else, because my face is shaped differently than other peoples', so that's why. I'm pretty blunt because of that, I think. It's a way to prevent misunderstandings. Sometimes I guess that can come off as rude, like when I tried to stop Hitoshi from going to rescue you in Kamino," Tsu said.
"I didn't know you did that," Izuku said, shocked. Hitoshi had never said anything, and Tsu had certainly never come to him with this.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to see you safe, too, but I was scared that they'd just get hurt if they went," Tsu said, croaking sadly.
"I understand. You were looking out for the people you care about. Thank you for making sure they were safe while I couldn't," Izuku said with a smile.
"That's another thing," Tsu said nervously. "You frighten me sometimes."
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked. His heart shattered into a million little pieces as a guilty yet determined expression appeared on Tsu's face. They thought they couldn't emote well because of their facial structure, but they were dead wrong. Izuku saw every little hesitation, and each one pained him, because each one made it more and more clear that this was something Tsu had been unable to share with him. He'd been hurting another person he cared about.
"You're so determined to save people. The power your One for All holds is incredible, too. It's admirable, and I've found strength before in knowing that you'll never waver. That doesn't change the fact that I'm scared for you sometimes. You're an unstoppable force. The thing is, you don't have an immovable object to hold you back when it's necessary. Even you can't stop yourself. I've seen you launch yourself at a problem head-first without thinking about it so many times, and every single time it's been on the behalf of someone else. I don't think I've ever seen you do a single thing for yourself. That's frightening to me, because I don't think that's good for you. For a long time, I've been watching you from the sidelines, and it doesn't feel good to watch you do so much without concern for yourself." Tsu put their head down, and when they looked back up at Izuku, they were on the verge of tears. "You dodge our attempts to help, you deflect when we try to understand what you're going through. I know you're dealing with something tough, but I don't know what or why. You're my friend, and I want to help you, but I can't. It just makes me feel so … useless. You don't let me do my duty as your friend and a future hero. I'm scared that this is the Hero Killer all over again. Don't shut yourself off from us. I see that you and Ochako worked things out, so please talk to me as well. I can help you if you let me. Please, let me make a difference."
"Tsuyu," Izuku said, his voice breaking. He didn't even bother being embarrassed by his tendency to join in when he saw someone else crying. "I'm so sorry. I should have known. I should have been able to see."
"No. I held this in, so I'm also responsible. I felt like I couldn't talk to you about it because all my other concerns had been brushed off as well. I felt like I wouldn't be able to help you if I tried. So I didn't. That's my failing. I wasn't nearly as heroic as I imagine myself to be," Tsu said, wiping the tears from their face. "What kind of hero lets someone struggle just because they can't work up the nerve to say something?"
"A hero who thinks before they act," Izuku said. Tsu looked at him strangely. "You've always been more cautious than me. You're right. Aizawa was hard on me during my winter break work study because of this exact thing. When I see someone in trouble, I just can't help but move to save them. I can't always think clearly when that happens. I just get so caught up in what I can do for that person who's in trouble. I have to act. You've always been the kind of person who can keep a cool head when stuff gets bad. I still remember how you helped Hitoshi during the USJ attack when he started panicking. You wait for things to make sense and then you do something. I just … haven't been making sense. That's not your fault. I'm to blame for my own mistakes."
"So you … understand?" Tsu asked. The look on their face — a mix between caution and hope — almost shattered Izuku again. It had to have been so hard to keep all of that in. He'd already thought that Tsu was the most emotionally intelligent person he'd ever met, and this just confirmed it.
"I do. Thank you for telling me this. I'm sorry you couldn't share your feelings with me sooner, but I hear you now. Please feel free to tell me what you think at any time. I'll never turn you away again," Izuku said, his voice steady.
"Thank you," Tsu said, smiling despite the tears streaming down their face. They wiped the tears away. "Now, will you please tell me what's going on with you?"
Izuku hesitated. His first instinct was to just say he was fine, and he truly did feel good and fine knowing that Tsu felt better. He'd managed to put his project and his motivations for it out of his mind. But he could never be completely rid of it. It was always there, eating at him in the back of his mind. He could feel it whenever he felt a little too good about himself, whenever he felt like he could do anything. It always came back to remind him that he wasn't good enough, wasn't strong enough to save everyone that he wanted to save. That was still stuck in his head and in his heart. So, was he okay? No. He said as much.
"I failed," he said, and realised how that sounded. "It's probably shallow, but that's what happened. During my winter break work study, I couldn't save someone. I tried and tried, fought like hell, but I failed to save someone who was right in front of me. They're not dead, but that doesn't make a difference. Either way, they'll never recover from what happened to them because I couldn't use more than twenty-percent of my power. I wasn't strong enough, and people got worse than hurt. I see them, sometimes. When I close my eyes. In nightmares. I watched it happen. And I can't stop reliving that moment in my head."
Tsu looked at him with wide eyes and a tight expression. "I couldn't imagine. I'm so sorry. Why keep that to yourself? You could've talked to us about this at any time."
"It's just hard. I'm sorry I pushed you and the others away because of it. That's not fair to you. I'm just trying my best to deal with that crushing failure. And now I'm failing my friends, too," Izuku said. He gave in to the burning desire to let all his feelings out through his tears.
"I think you're being a little too hard on yourself. It isn't any fairer to you, dealing with this alone. You're so understanding of everyone's faults, so can't you accept the same for yourself? I get why you would act the way you've been acting if that's what you've been holding in all this time," Tsu said. "I'm just sorry you couldn't say anything. I'm guessing it's classified, since we aren't technically allowed to talk about what happens during our work studies. I'm glad you told me anyway. I'm here for you," Tsu said. They hopped over the table and sat down next to Izuku, patting him on the arm. "You can trust me not to tell anyone else, if you don't."
"Thanks," Izuku said, sniffling. He smiled as he realised the turn the conversation had taken. "Hey, how'd this turn around on me? This was supposed to be about you and your feelings."
"Don't try to lighten the mood, or deflect. Hitoshi does that enough," Tsu said, giving him an expression he couldn't really read. "I'm glad you could be honest and vulnerable with me. That's what friends are for, as cliche as that sounds."
"Same goes for you. I'll do my best to make sure you have no reason to be scared in the future. I'm sorry for being a bad friend," Izuku said. He smiled down at them and got a smile in return.
"You weren't a bad friend, you were just in pain. Same as I was," Tsu said.
"Yeah, it does hurt. It really does," Izuku said, his voice breaking again as the tears flowed once more.
Izuku fell apart at that exact moment, the willpower to keep his feelings locked away having been eroded by Tsu's relentlessness. He began to cry and couldn't stop, and didn't want to. It felt bad to let all of those feelings out, the frustration, the uselessness, the guilt, the weakness, but he knew he'd feel better afterward, so he didn't try to put a lid on it. Tsu seemed to understand as they kept sitting by his side, taking his hand in a surprising gesture. It grounded Izuku, but he ended up crying more after that, as he realised for the first time in a long time that Tsuyu Asui was one of the greatest people he'd ever met. Sitting there and being there as he simply sobbed his grief and guilt out, holding his hand gently yet confidently, it overwhelmed Izuku just as much as the feelings he'd been ignoring. Froppy would be one of the best heroes some day. Izuku was certain of that. They were already a hero as far as he was concerned, they just had to prove it to the world.
Izuku spent a while crying. He had nothing left inside in the aftermath of his complete breakdown. It was like he'd been hollowed out and was just empty. That stillness of mind was pleasant after the crushing guilt he'd been drowning in since he'd watched Spinner and the other Vanguards go limp and be rendered brain dead right in front of him. Izuku and Tsu parted ways soon after he stopped crying, on good terms. Izuku was glad that he'd been able to help Tsu feel better, and glad that Tsu had gotten their chance to help him feel better, too. Then, when morning came, Izuku did feel better. He felt lighter, like he could think without his neglected feelings clouding his mind. With that clarity, Izuku came to a conclusion as he ran in the early hours of the day.
He wasn't going to be able to do this alone. Sure, Hatsume was working on a tool to help him pull this thing off, but he was struggling to do this in secret all by himself. If Izuku kept giving it his all at school and trying to do this, he was going to burn out soon. He couldn't be a nighttime vigilante and a full-time hero course student by day. It was unsustainable. He needed to bring someone else in on his plans, as much as that pained him to admit. Izuku had originally not wanted anyone to know what he was doing, just in case he was caught so that they could be truthful when they said they had no idea. He didn't want to make accomplices out of his friends. But his grades were slipping. Izuku had been pulled aside by Midnight the other day after hero art history class and asked if anything was wrong, since he'd gotten a seventy-one on a test in her class, where he'd never scored under an eighty. He was going to get found out soon, and so he needed help. The only question was who he could go to for help.
Katsuki was out immediately. He couldn't keep a secret to save his life, except for One for All. Izuku sometimes wondered if Katsuki didn't tell anyone about that particular secret for All Might, rather than for Izuku himself. Ochako? She would be very helpful, no doubt about that, and Izuku would really like to spend more time with her after their talk the other day, but she was too … herself. Sometimes she could be just as impulsive as him, which was why they worked so well together on the field when their instincts synced up, but this project needed someone who could resist instinct and remain unseen. Tsuyu? They were a good, well-rounded pick. They had good instincts, knew how to keep their wits about them when things got bad, and they'd just promised to help Izuku with anything he needed. But he didn't want to put them through anything more after hearing their story the night before. That left one remaining close friend of Izuku's that was suited to this mission, Hitoshi. He had been putting in after-school sessions with the greatest underground hero to ever exist, Eraserhead, since April. And they were best friends, even if there were things they disagreed on. Izuku trusted him. Hitoshi was the obvious choice.
When he got back from his morning run, Izuku searched the dorms for Hitoshi. He found him half-asleep, laying across one of the couches in the common room while — in a development that Izuku never could have predicted — Sero and Todoroki had a civil discussion about a manga they both apparently enjoyed. Ignoring that, Izuku walked over and smiled as Hitoshi hummed in a way that distinctly communicated his displeasure at being disturbed.
"I'm gonna guess that you didn't sleep so well last night," Izuku said as Hitoshi scowled up at him.
"That would be a good guess. What's up?" Hitoshi asked.
"I need to talk to you about something important," Izuku said.
"Awesome. I love important things. Especially when they interrupt nap time," Hitoshi mumbled as he stood. Izuku still thought Hitoshi looked much older than he was when he stood to his full height, visibly taller than Izuku even after his recent, albeit minor growth spurt.
Izuku led Hitoshi up to his room, and they ended up chatting on the way.
"Hey, I just want to say that I'm sorry, again, for snapping at you the other day. I was probably harsher than I needed to be," Hitoshi said.
"I think I needed that from you, to be honest." Izuku laughed. "It forced me to do something instead of doing nothing. I think that's why you're such a good friend. You don't tiptoe around stuff like that. Thanks."
"No problem. It's one of the greatest joys of my life to see you act like a puppy with an anxiety disorder on the fourth of July whenever you try to be cool with Ochako, so I'll happily give you a kick in the ass when you get lazy about giving me my entertainment," Hitoshi said with a grin. When Izuku didn't laugh, the grin melted away. "Too much?"
"Too wordy."
"Fair enough. I thought the All Might cultist would love that, given that I tossed in that reference to your holy land of the free," Hitoshi said, his tone just dripping with sarcasm when referring to the US with that moniker. "But whatever."
"Just get better jokes," Izuku said with a laugh. He pushed through the door into his dorm room and Hitoshi immediately face planted into his bed, upsetting his Best Jeanist blanket that he'd had trouble pinning down at the corners that morning.
"Now, what's this important thing that can be spoken about in the open?" Hitoshi asked as Izuku closed and locked the door, his voice muffled. He dragged himself back up into a sitting position and blinked slowly at Izuku as he sat at his desk. "Seriously, what's up?"
"I need your help. I'm doing something that you're probably going to hate, but I need you to keep quiet and take it seriously," Izuku said. He brought his case notebook out of his desk drawer and began flipping through it.
"That's not ominous at all. I'll hear you out if you stop being so vague," Hitoshi said.
"Alright," Izuku sighed forcefully. "So, during my winter break work study, we found a group of villains — well, they kind of found us — called the Children of All for One."
"All for One?" Hitoshi echoed, staring at him with sharp eyes that no longer held any of the sleepiness he'd had just a moment ago. "All for One has children? Other than you, I mean."
"Not really. I'm his only real child. The Children are clones of himself. Defective clones, maybe, because they all have different Quirks to him. Maybe that's why he hid them away. Anyway, we encountered the Children during winter break and we fought. I … they won. Only one or two of them are stronger than me, but when they're in a group like that, it's like trying to fight the top ten heroes at once," Izuku explained.
"Are there ten of them?" Hitoshi asked, frowning deeply.
"There are five. They range in age from preteen to adult. They're strong and fast even without using their Quirks, which are all strong," Izuku corrected.
"Just how strong are these guys?" Hitoshi asked again.
"I think the only person who'd have no trouble beating them is All Might. But …" Izuku trailed off.
"We don't have an All Might anymore," Hitoshi finished the sentence with a growing look of horror on his face.
"Yeah. They beat me and got away, but even though I'm not technically part of the investigation anymore, since my work study has concluded, I'm trying to track them. I figured out that they go to this warehouse here in the city, and I've been working on ways to do surveillance before going out there to check it out," Izuku said.
"Wait!" Hitoshi stammered. "You're going to go out there? Alone?"
"No. That's why I need your help," Izuku said, wincing when he saw the shock on Hitoshi's face.
"No way you're this stupid! What if they kill you? You and me!" Hitoshi laughed. "I'm guessing that the real heroes don't know you've been doing this."
"No, Aizawa and All Might will stop me if they find out," Izuku shot back. "They'll tell me to stay out of it, but I can't!"
"Why not?" Hitoshi leapt to his feet and stared down at Izuku. He almost turned toward the door, but stayed put. "Why can't you just stand still for a while?"
"Because it's my duty as the wielder of One for All to put a stop to All for One," Izuku said, also rising to his feet.
"He's in prison. The prison that nobody has ever escaped from. All Might defeated All for One back at Kamino!" Hitoshi said. He searched for something in Izuku's eyes. "Why can't you just let someone else take care of something for once? Why do you always have to have a problem to solve?"
"It's my responsibility!" Izuku's voice broke as he forced that out. It sounded like another excuse, even though he thought it was true.
"Funny! You're not being very responsible, are you? What if you go out there tracking them down like you're a real hero and die? You said it yourself — you can't beat them," Hitoshi shot back.
"They won't kill me," Izuku said. "I won't die."
"Why's that? Because you're so much stronger than the rest of us? Did your last win against Bakugo make you that arrogant?" Hitoshi laughed.
"Because we're family!" Izuku shouted, and immediately regretted it. Heavy silence blanketed the room. Hitoshi stared at him like he'd just said the sky is green. "I know. I know that they're not really my siblings. But that's the reason they didn't kill me last time. I think she's their leader — Kisei. She can learn things you know if she touches you. They were thrilled to learn that we're all the offspring of All for One. They called me brother. They wanted me to join them."
"Oh, my god." Hitoshi dropped down onto the bed. "That's pretty messed up. So … what? You're hoping for a family reunion?"
"No, I want to stop them. They're dangerous. They … they put the remaining Vanguards into vegetative states," Izuku said, also slumping into his desk chair.
"What?" Hitoshi asked, his face contorting due to confusion and shock. He'd also been targeted and had run-ins with certain Vanguards back during their summer camp, so it had to have hit Hitoshi had to have them brought up so abruptly.
"You know the villains we didn't catch at Kamino?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. Spinner, Magne and …" Hitoshi trailed off.
"Mr Compress, yeah, those three. The Childrens' leader, Kisei, her targets go brain dead. She used it on all three of the Vanguards. I think they're the ones who released the Children from their hiding place. Now they're hellbent on reuniting with their father," Izuku said.
Hitoshi laughed, but it was clearly forced judging by the look on his face. "Good luck to them, breaking AFO outta that hellhole — literally."
"I think they could do it," Izuku said, making Hitoshi's face go pale. "Remember how I said they're strong and fast without any Quirks? They're—"
"Crap," Hitoshi said, shakily sighing. "Of course they're Nomu."
Izuku grimaced. He'd been expecting that reaction, and was hoping that he wouldn't have had to talk about it just yet. Hitoshi had a bad history with Nomu. His Quirk couldn't ensnare them, as he'd learned when he'd tried to save his favourite hero Eraserhead from nearly dying by a Nomu's hand back during the USJ attack, which felt like it had happened years ago. He'd also been present for the Nomu attack during their internships shortly after that, too, and he'd been powerless to stop it from going right for Izuku. He no longer flinched whenever they came up, and he'd stopped agonising over the prominent facial scar that Aizawa bore as a result of his injuries fighting that Upper-Tier Nomu, but some wounds run deep, and Hitoshi still had a reaction on the infrequent occasions that they were relevant.
"They're not full Nomu. Their minds are intact. I think it's because they only have one real Quirk," Izuku said, hoping that made a difference in Hitoshi's mind.
"Great, so we've got half-Nomu running around Japan trying to break the most powerful villain to have ever lived out of the most secure prison in the country. And you want me to help you sniff them out. Wonderful," Hitoshi said. He held his head in his hands as his shoulders shook with silent laughter. He suddenly stood and held his head up high. "What do you need me to do?"
"You're in?" Izuku asked. He stood up and hesitantly awaited confirmation before saying anything further.
"Who else is gonna make sure you don't destroy yourself with that unwieldy power of yours?" Hitoshi asked back with a smirk. "You've saved my life, man! I'm not gonna leave you hanging. Especially when I've committed vigilantism to help you out before. I'd be a hypocrite if I tried to stop you now."
"Thank you so much!" Izuku said, grinning widely. "You won't regret this. I've been careful so far, so hopefully nothing dangerous should happen."
"Hopefully," Hitoshi mumbled. "When has that ever worked out for us?"
Izuku laughed, and got to work explaining to Hitoshi the entire case now that he'd agreed to help. He started from the beginning explaining everything that was relevant to the case and how he'd been going about investigating from his room. He detailed everything he'd learned about the Children, their Quirks, and their friends led by the guy with the plague doctor mask. Izuku caught Hitoshi up on the warehouse they met at, where it was in the city and how he'd gotten Hatsume from the support course to develop a covert camera so that they can remotely record the warehouse in real time, after they manually put it in place, of course.
There was the tricky part. Placing the camera Izuku had no clue how they were going to do that. It would come with time. Izuku concluded his explanation and answered any remaining questions that Hitoshi had concerning what he'd heard over the last hour or so. Izuku found that he couldn't answer most of them. Things like, When are you planning to place the camera? What exactly are you going to do with the information the camera gives you? Izuku had no answer for that. That was why he'd brought another person into it, so that they could work those things out together. When Hitoshi left Izuku's room, he was more awake and energised than he'd looked in weeks, and he left to go drink some of Yaoyorozu's fancy tea, the kind that calms you down for once.
Izuku quietly celebrated after that. They were going to figure it out. He was that much closer to actually figuring out the Children of All for One. Izuku couldn't wait!
Author's Note: The past five chapters since Izuku has returned to UA serve as a kind of prologue to this arc, focusing on Izuku's relationships and mindset while we take our time building up to the really good parts of this arc. Now that Hitoshi's on board, things are gonna start moving quickly. Hope you enjoy the ride!