06/07/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 34 - Fragile Friendships

Momo Yaoyorozu had gotten permission to spend the first few classes out of school today. She honestly doubted anyone would notice. The management students were nice but… She still felt like an imposter in their class and every time they looked at her, she could see the pity in their eyes. It had sort of been nice, at first, because she'd mistaken it for understanding but it wasn't.

It was pity.

She didn't need pity. Right at first, yes. She'd needed all sorts of help. They all had. Katsuki had been on a hair trigger over his quirk. He still was but he was determined to be a hero and to somehow take down Izuku Midoriya. It was an admirable goal but she couldn't see it happening. She could see him participating in the raid to take him down but not the stand up, fist to fist fight where Katsuki literally beat Izuku into submission that he seemed to have in mind. Even with the support gear Katsuki was being supplied with, he just wasn't that strong.

Kirishima was doing better in that regard. He was still trying to be a hero but had picked a variety of gear that helped him be more balanced and rounded. He was going to have to rely on surprise and he'd never be in the top ranks but… He'd have a good career.

If Bakugou didn't drag him down.

Momo didn't wince at the thought the way she once would have. Once she would have questioned herself for having any negative thoughts about people. Now… there wasn't a day that passed that she didn't think negatively about someone.

Usually herself.

Why had she gone to that challenge?

The note was puerile. It was… Momo huffed. She knew why she'd gone. She hadn't thought there was any danger and had been curious to see why someone had been so full of vitriol about their rescue. It hadn't come off the way they wanted it too but…

It really hadn't come off the way they wanted it to. It had been kept a bit quiet but heroes had died on that raid. An old hero named Gran Torino had been killed. Best Jeanist was still in a coma and… she wasn't meant to know it but they were talking about moving him into a long term ward.

Some of that had happened before they were there but…

So she had lots of negative thoughts. About herself. About the villain. About Izuku Midoriya. About her classmates. About… About everyone.

About the only person she didn't have negative thoughts about was lying in front of her.

Ochaco Uraraka.

It would be so easy to blame her for everything but…

Momo's therapist had forced to her to confront the truth. It wasn't Ochaco's fault. No matter how much she wanted to think that, it really wasn't. Ochaco had borne the cost of their actions, just in a different way. When she was expelled, Momo had been confused but there'd been so much going on that she hadn't known what to do.

And then, Izuku Midoriya had attacked them and she'd lost her quirk and…

Her therapist might have forced her to confront the truth but the days after that particular event were a bit of a blur. She remembered tests. She remembered interviews. She remembered her parents crying and them discussing what they could say at an interview. Momo remembered a lot but none of it made a lot of sense.

In that time though, Ochaco had been attacked and was still in a coma. She looked almost peaceful. She was peaceful but it was a false peace. Ochaco wasn't meant to lie so still. Ochaco wasn't meant to have no expression. Ochaco wasn't meant to be here.

Momo got up and shook her head savagely.

She didn't know why she'd come. Of course, it was to see Ochaco but… Did she hope that somehow, her presence would make Ochaco wake up and then she'd be able to beg Izuku Midoriya to give her quirk back?

That was a stupid thought. It was a stupid hope…

But yet…

Momo knew, a part of her really wanted it to be true.

Even if it wasn't. Even if it couldn't be.

She gritted her teeth, fighting back the tears.

She just wanted her quirk back. Was that so bad?

-ted-

Shouto sat quietly on the roof of the dormitory. He rather liked the thin dawn light and the soft quietness that lay over everything. There was a railing and he wasn't doing anything as stupid as sitting on the edge. No, UA had installed some chairs, strategically placed so that they got the best view. Today he was watching one of the sports ovals. It was an athletic's one with a running track around the edge and various painted marks on the grass.

A kid in a UA sports uniform had been running for the last ten minutes. From Shouto's observations they - he couldn't tell who it was - were moving at a good clip. He'd been kind of bummed with himself when he realised he'd automatically timed them for comparison with himself.

Shouto sighed and leaned back, looking up at the sky. It was currently a washed out colour and was slowly lightening. The last few weeks had been… hectic was a nice way of saying it.

It was odd to think it could be hectic when he was more alone than he had ever been. He'd never been close to his classmates. He just hadn't clicked with any of them, not even the other recommendation student, Setsuna. He felt a certain kinship with Momo but that was because they'd known each other for a while but Momo was in Class 1B and that automatically put some distance between them.

He should have felt kinship with Tenya but… Tenya was just so uptight that Shouto had been amused to think of the teen as telling his father off for some slight.

It was a nice thought but it was purely a dream.

And the last few weeks had shown him how much of a distance was between him and his classmates. It wasn't a distance in academic or heroic training, it was a distance in how they interacted. It had always been there. From the first day he'd been apart but now he was alone. While not all of them were friends with Katsuki, many of them took the lead from the group centred on the formerly explosive boy.

When Katsuki had declared him a traitor after his quirk was returned, most of the class… they hadn't nodded. They didn't know what was going on but they had, at least tacitly agreed. It didn't matter what the police had said. It didn't matter what the other heroes had said. It didn't matter what the UA teachers said. He had his quirk back so he was obviously a traitor.

No one had listened to him and now no one spoke to him. Oh, they did, because Aizawa expected them to work in teams during practical heroics classes but the words were terse and short. There was no warmth there. Before, he sort of had the impression that they were reaching out and not connecting. Now they weren't even trying.

His father said he should just forget them, that he should focus on his training but… Shouto couldn't help but feel that he was missing something and that there was something he could have done. He didn't know what though. He'd told the heroes and police everything he knew about Izuku and he'd given them his phone so they could track the number…

They'd gotten nothing. Whoever had instigated the conversation, because forensics didn't think it was Izuku, was careful and their number was now gone. They knew what they were doing. No one was sure who had paid the price to Izuku but Shouto knew the police and heroes thought it was the villain Dabi. They just couldn't work out why.

Everything he'd seen and heard made him believe Dabi had some connection to his father. The Heroes thought that as well and had questioned his father over his past cases. The HPSC had actually gone through Endeavor's case files looking for any villain who even vaguely fit Dabi's description. There weren't any. Oh, there were people but they were all accounted for. There were a few that weren't but they didn't fit Dabi's description. The Police had admitted that Dabi was the one villain they hadn't been able to identify from the Kamino event. They knew who the others were but he had appeared to come out of nowhere. With the scrutiny on the group, they had managed to pin several new crimes on Dabi but they had not led to any new information.

Shouto himself didn't think they'd find anything that way. Everything the villain had said to him screamed of something personal, something that wasn't on the books. There was a connection there but… Dabi didn't want the world to know. And Shouto felt that when they found what it was, everyone would be kicking themselves for not seeing it sooner.

He sighed and closed his eyes, focusing on the feel of the cool morning air against his skin. It was pleasant and he knew the day was going to be anything but.

Today they were going to integrate the students from the other schools into their classes. There were obviously too many for just the two heroics classes at each level of UA to take so they were making more classes. Today, officially class 1X began. The first years had it easy. The later years, despite the testing of students that had been done for the last week were going with 2X, 2Y and 3X, 3Y and 3Z.

And he'd been put into 1X.

The teachers probably thought it would be a good opportunity for him. A chance for a new start but he wasn't sure what to think. Some of the students would definitely know him as Endeavor's son. Others would know him from the incident with League of Villains, who had been suspiciously quiet of late or the students would know him from the fact that he had gotten his quirk back so had to have seen a villain. He didn't think they'd be sympathetic to him.

This was not a new start. It was just an opportunity to change the people he was with, but apart from.

Shouto sighed and leaned forward again. The UA student was still running and while he still couldn't see who it was exactly, he rather thought it was Aizawa's new shadow. The teen's name was Hitoshi Shinsou and Aizawa had told him privately that it was only the fact that Midnight had been calling the Sport's Festival match which had saved him in his battle against Hitoshi. 1A's homeroom teacher had been quick to point out that he didn't know for sure if Hitoshi would have won but he had been confident the match would have been different.

He hadn't known what to think of that, especially since Aizawa had refused to elaborate on how the match would have been different. The underground hero had said that finding out would be a good way to hone his investigation skills but then… after he was kidnapped, that was all anyone wanted to talk about and after he got his quirk back then… no one wanted to talk to him. So he was making exactly zero headway on an investigation.

"Are you really that unhappy to be in the new class that you are already ostracizing yourself up here?"

The question startled him. Shouto thought he had pretty good situational awareness, he was learning there were others just as good, or better than him. Instead he looked over. One of Shiketsu's students was hovering in the air. He recognised him. It was Inasa Yorashi from the Recommendation Exam.

"I never thought you'd be so desperate to be back at UA," Shouto snapped back and immediately grimaced. He remembered the lecture his father had given him because he'd come in second at the Recommendation Exam.

The Shiketsu student landed and thankfully did not walk towards him. "When you react like that, you really are like your father," he said.

Shouto tensed. That had been the problem last time and after his snap, he just didn't have the energy to fight today.

"But I don't think you want to be," Inasa continued.

That was a surprise. Especially given their previous encounter and Shouto swallowed and took a deep breath. "Sorry," he murmured. With a few second's hindsight, he shouldn't have snapped.

"Me too," Inasa said. He even sounded sincere.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Shouto sighed again. "I think they are hoping that by putting me in that class, it will allow… fewer prejudices," Shouto explained.

Inasa was silent for a few moments and Shouto thought he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say. Eventually the tall teen sighed heavily. "Or maybe you qualified for this class and they didn't?" he suggested. There was a faint tone of disquiet in his tone, as if he didn't want to say it.

That actually reassured Shouto. The taller teen hadn't completely changed. He opted to shrug his response and looked back to the playing field. There were quite a few people jogging now and it took Shouto a moment to see Aizawa's shadow. He'd apparently finished running and was now cooling down.

Behind him, Shouto heard Inasa take a few steps forward. "It's good to see so many people training towards being heroes," he commented, referring to the field.

"It is but-" Shouto didn't finish.

"But?" Inasa prompted.

"I wonder how many are really ready for it," he concluded.

He'd had a lot of time lately and had been thinking. Shouto was still living in the UA dorms but his dad had been thinking about it as well. All Might… He was not going to remain the number one hero for much longer. The only real question was if All Might retired, while still at the top, or if he slipped in the rankings before he retired. Endeavor was hoping for the later, but Shouto thought it would be the former. With all the students from Hero schools gathered here, there was obviously something going on and Shouto thought it would impact the timing of All Might's retirement.

"What do you mean?" Inasa demanded but Shouto could tell he was genuinely curious.

Shouto looked off into the distance. "The world of heroics is about to change," he explained. "When All Might retires, there is going to be a change. There has to be. Endeavor is-" he paused, seeking the right words. "My father is not the same man as All Might," Shouto said slowly, expressing something he'd always known but had never said aloud before. "I do not believe the villains will have the same respect for him."

The comment appeared to startle Inasa who just stared at him for a while before he nodded. "It's going to be more difficult," he surmised.

"It is," Shouto agreed. "And I'm not sure how many of them appreciate that. Izuku is… I do not believe he is going to go away soon."

The Shiketsu student nodded again but from the corner of his eye, Shouto could see it was sad. He wasn't good at reading people but that detail didn't make sense. He didn't say anything. He'd found out that he had no idea how to ask sensitive questions of people.

"What was he like?"

The question took Shouto by surprise. For the past couple of weeks, when people had decided to interact with him, they had, if they bothered to ask questions, all asked what it was like to have his quirk taken and then returned. No one, except the investigators, had asked about Izuku himself. It was a shock that someone from Shiketsu would be asking, given that they hadn't gone to school with him at all… At least Shouto didn't think Inasa had.

From what he understood the Management students were pretending he didn't exist. They'd gone from idolising him to being afraid. From what Shouto knew, Izuku wasn't after them. Strictly speaking he wasn't after any of them.

He took a deep breath and turned to face the Shiketsu student. Inasa was holding his breath, waiting for an answer but hadn't asked just to upset him. "You knew him?" Shouto asked as he thought about his answer.

"Only a little," Inasa admitted. "The teacher's know," he added before there was any follow up question.

"I see," Shouto replied. "He was-" he sighed, trailing off at the word. "He was very sure of himself, almost cheerful," he replied. "I didn't interact with him at all when he was at UA," he explained, "but the management students say he was always serious and that he seemed to be angry about something all the time."

"Yeah, his dad being a villain," Inasa spat, "and being locked up."

"Even before that," Shouto corrected. "It was known he didn't like heroes that much," he explained. "But everyone put that down to his family."

"Family?" Inasa sounded confused.

"He didn't just come to UA saying 'oh, by the way, my dad is a major villain,'" Shouto replied, trying to keep the mockery out of his voice.

"Oh, that family," Inasa nodded.

With the reply Shouto realised he hadn't been that snide. "The son of Windy Chui, who's husband suffered crippling injuries during the Toxic Chainsaw Tsu attack," Shouto provided the bare bones of Izuku's cover story.

"That's similar to what he told me," Inasa said. "Though he never mentioned his mother, just that his father had been injured in a hero raid."

"He didn't mention his father was the target of the raid?" Shouto asked.

"He failed to specify that detail," Inasa told him.

"The world is finding out that he had a gift for understatement."

"Not just lying?"

Shouto shook his head. "About the only lie that has been confirmed is that Windy Chui was his mother. She wasn't. Izuku's mother's name is Inko Midoriya."

"Has she said anything about her son?" Inasa asked, sounding curious.

"Not as far as I know," Shouto said. "I'm told she slammed the door in the face of the officers and refused to talk to them."

"That's allowed?"

"That's allowed," Shouto confirmed. "It's not like she's done anything wrong. Izuku was kidnapped from her when he was 4.5 years old by his dad," he gave the extra information. With the emergence of quirks and the civil unrest that accompanied them many of Japan's old norms had been torn down. Single parenting now had to be agreed to by the other parent, and no parent could just take the children from the other parent without consequence. Natsuo had looked into child custody rules a while back. He'd been horrified with what he'd found about the past, but the current rules did make some of Endeavor's actions with their mother more understandable. While she was considered mentally unstable, she could not object to her husband, who was paying her bills, being the sole parent to her children. Natsuo had been trying to find a loophole to have custody transferred to their mother. He hadn't found one. Even without the rules changing, Endeavor was considered fit to be a parent.

And this wasn't about him, but about Inko Midoriya.

Inasa took in the information. "Poor lady," he murmured.

Shouto tended to agree. The investigators had gone over Inko's life with a fine tooth comb. She had the misfortune to marry a major villain, but one who had been careful to ensure she never knew about it. The forensic investigators had been in raptures over the way the man had apparently set up his bank accounts. It was over 16 years ago but he'd done something which meant Inko would never have suspected a thing on that front. Then the poor woman had her son kidnapped and… She had apparently sued the HPSC for something a few years back but had settled out of court, so details on that case were scarce.

Shouto shrugged. "We don't get to pick our lives," he said.

"Maybe not initially, but we do get to choose our direction," Inasa objected.

"You are saying Izuku could have chosen another way?"

"If he wanted," the Shiketsu student confirmed.

Shouto thought about it for a few moments before he shook his head and looked up, past the sports field into the distance. It was fully light now and the chill of dawn had faded. "I don't… I don't think so," he said. "I'm not sure he could," he continued. "I think, the day that I met him when he gave my quirk back, I was seeing the real Izuku and he was cheerful, and confident because he had decided on what he wanted to do. He had made his choice."

"Given the influence of his father, was it much of a choice?" Inasa asked.

At that, Shouto smiled. It was one of those almost mocking smiles. "Does it matter?" he asked seriously. "It's a choice we are all going to have to live with," he pointed out.

Inasa sighed heavily at that. "Yeah," he agreed. "And I think… I think that's what we should all regret."

Shouto got up. It was time to get breakfast and then go see what his new class schedule was like. He looked over at Inasa. "We all have regrets."

There was nothing more to be said.

-ted-

Friendship can be so fragile. Momo is going through a bad time but she's at least visited Ochaco, so that's something.

As for Inasa and Shouto... second chances is the theme here. Obviously the UA Recommendation exam was a disaster but a lot of things have happened since then, to both of them so it is a chance to try again. Especially when they can bond over Inasa's friendship with Izuku and Shouto's experiences with him.

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-

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