Izuku Midoriya
The following days of the convention was honestly a slowly escalating series of situations that somehow resulted into a villain attack in the middle of an impromptu show battle between the guy in what looked like a mechanical skeleton horse and his similar cavalry versus the small army of guys in dark suits of armor lead by a general at the last day of the convention.
Which didn't helped when All Might was there helping one of Sir Nighteye's sidekicks in revealing a novel they wrote and published. He did manage to take a picture of his dad in his Darth Vader costume trying to force choke All Might and All Might humored his dad by playing the part.
Him and Tenko had to pull dad away when All Might mentioned being a fan of the remake Star Wars film nonology before he ended up starting an argument with All Might on which film nonology is better. It was before the whole villain attack happening at the same time with the mock battle between the knights and guys in robot skeleton horses.
Needless to say, it was a mess. Luckily no one got hurt and the villain got arrested, though the actors in the mock battle practically disappeared. Kacchan and uncle Masaru looked tired for some reason.
Everyone was tired. His dad's costume got stuck during the commotion with the helmet on backwards so he and Tenko had to guide dad away from the fighting.
But now he was lying in bed, falling asleep before heading home in the morning.
In his sleep, he dreamed.
In his dream, he was.
He was floating in an empty void.
Step out beyond the edge and start the motion...
A void between realities, he instinctively recalled.
He was wearing his face before his parents were born.
He didn't understand why he knew that was certain.
He called upon his power, a dark misty shadow with glowing electronic green lines, and began pushing and molding it around him.
And we all are sending smoke signals…
First into sixteen beings, separate yet connected, each specialized with a symbol of their majesty and their orders and area of expertise built in as their instincts. They were each facing away from him, like the arms of an octopus.
Keep pretending we're one…
SUPERVISOR
The single symbol in front of one of the forming beings seemed to read.
Take up the call…
It was in his special code, but written as a name.
And follow everybody…
The symbol seemed to emanate concepts and ideas themselves.
SUPERVISOR - Governance, Bureaucracy, Legal Systems, Politics, Organizer…
He looked around at each other symbol for each being, before he paused at the thirteenth.
MASTERMIND - Crime, Intrigue, Civil Rights, Secrecy, Trickster…
The being's eyes were open, and unlike the others, was glancing at him, at his form before birth, at his original face.
I won't become a number in the system…
He raised his smoky hand and pulled upon the glowing green threads. His puppet closed its eyes and returned to face out.
It's all arranged…
He then returned to looking at the remaining beings before continuing his work.
"Let there be light." he said in a garbled voice and the center exploded in light and stars formed around them as a whole solar system sped up in its creation. It then zoomed a planet with four moons. The design was mathematically precise, all centered on sixteen. Orbital speed and distance to split the year within sixteen months, lunar orbits designed so the farthest moon orbits in sixteen weeks per month, and so on.
Just collision…
The planet was completely procedurally generated, he recalled, a petri dish of analyzing his discovery…
His discovery…
Surroundings shifted and he found himself floating in front of the Earth. He let his shadowy tendrils spread throughout the whole world.
Look out below, I know there's no decision…
His original plan was a quick elimination of the current species before mining the planet for his research into reality until he made his discovery.
Zeroes and ones…
They were more than what they seemed, connected to forces beyond his reason with few having powers outside what his understanding of physics could explain. They unknowingly powered beings who looked human but aren't human at all.
Not me…
Some flashes entered his mind.
Not me…
Tokyo Imperial Palace, a man in a kimono was having a meeting with a man in a hooded robe and a man in a tuxedo.
"Mr. Kirkland, even if I allow the ritual, we don't know the effects it'll had on the world. You already paid the price in bringing back your Elizabeth despite the river Lethe passing by her, now you wish to drain the Sanzu river for this great reservoir?" the Japanese man asked as he turned his head to the man in the tuxedo. "Even you agree with this ludicrous plan, Mr. World? The coming threat must be great if even the old gods and new were working together on this."
The tuxedo man smiled as he placed down a treaty.
"Unlike my associate, I have a more pragmatic approach. As the chief among the Kunitsukami I have outlined a plan for your consideration. I will use my influence in spreading some your influence out into certain agreeable nations and help them reconsider their options, favorable to you…"
He shook his head of the moment as he returned to facing the Earth.
Too late for me…
"Begin the full experiment." he said as a barrier momentarily appeared around the planet before he moved a shadowy tendril and the surroundings zoomed in.
No reason to recover…
Asia.
If I should choose…
China.
To rise I'm still descending…
Qing Qing City.
Never ending…
Qing Qing General Hospital.
I fall…
Nursery area.
I fall…
He coldly floated, glancing at the infants in their beds, some awake, most asleep.
Step out beyond the edge and start the motion…
They all have old style switches seemingly poking from their skin and through their clothes.
Look out below, I know there's no decision…
He floated to one baby and flicked a single switch on.
Just collision…
It giggled as it woke up and glowed brightly.
It's all arranged…
Izuku then woke up, except he knew he was still dreaming.
He was in a cafe full of hero merch, in front of him was himself wearing the dark asymmetrical suit with glowing electronic green lines.
The place was empty and simulated to Izuku, a veneer of real than reality itself. All except for an old style record player playing a familiar song and a poster of a red headed woman in a gold and black performance gown on the wall.
The other Izuku tilted his head in curiosity.
"W-what was that?" Izuku managed to ask as he rubbed his head. It felt strange, stiff even.
"I am surprised that you managed to recall even a tiny snippet despite drowning in the reservoir of Lethe by that alliance…" the other Izuku mumbled. "Are there any other leftover data from Singleton that remained other than myself?"
"Who are you? Are you someone with some sort of dream quirk?" Izuku asked while the other Izuku smiled.
"Don't worry, little Singulus, just make sure your Trojan remains intact. Do you even recall that?"
Izuku stayed silent at that strange question. The other Izuku then shook his head.
"No matter, the plan will proceed either way. You simply have fun as the stringless puppet in a world pulled by your threads, little Singulus."
The other Izuku then place a finger on Izuku's forehead while he froze in place. Izuku struggled to move, to speak, while the other Izuku moved his finger, gesturing a broken circle and a line, before pressing his forehead.
Izuku instantly woke up with a gasp and a jolt before he quickly grabbed his dream journal, struggling to write down the quickly fading dream from his mind.
What he managed to write down was random.
MASTERMIND = 13??
Other Izuku??
Sing-something??
Buy some albums of Victoria's songs?
Creation of a fantasy world??
16 = Important??
Strings and Puppets??
Izuku might had written more if it weren't for his dad coming in, interrupting his train of thought.
"Izuku? Oh, you're up. Better start packing for the trip home"
"Okay dad." Izuku said as he placed his dream journal away and started packing, his dream completely forgotten.
Hisashi Midoriya
The drive home was tough given the traffic jam the villain attack caused. He couldn't decide if being rescued by the blond idiot in a bridal carry due to his Darth Vader helmet being on backwards in the middle of that mess of a villain attack was delicious irony or bitter embarrassment, probably both in all honesty.
At least none of the costumes were ruined in the whole mess and no one got hurt.
The trip home was a lot calmer and they soon arrived back at the Midoriya residence after a side trip to buy some groceries.
"We're back!" he called after he parked the car and began carrying the groceries into the house with the help of everyone else in the car.
When they entered the kitchen, they saw a smug looking Mitsuki and an annoyed looking Inko.
"We saw the news." Mitsuki said with a grin.
"I'm still wondering how a simple convention ended up with a villain attack in an impromptu fantasy battle show." Inko said to which Katsuki looked at the two with a deadpan raised eyebrow.
"Still, it was in the news, you being rescued by All Might while in costume." Mitsuki laughed. "In a bridal carry nonetheless!"
Hisashi groaned at that.
"I am never gonna live that up, aren't I?"
"You did forgot to get an autograph from All Might, dad." Izuku said with a pout. Hisashi held back the urge to rant about the blond idiot. He took a moment to inhale deeply and exhale.
"I was stuck in a situation at the time, what with my helmet somehow ending up on backwards and a villain attack happening."
"Well, I'm sure you guys have a lot to talk about during dinner." Inko said as they started putting the groceries away before helping out cooking dinner for two families.
Most of the conversation during dinner was Izuku talking about all the stuff they bought and quirks he saw. Not to mention the events of the convention.
"Dad got really annoyed when All Might said he liked the sequel series of Star Wars." Izuku said. "It was obvious from your body language, dad." he added.
"He deigned to like the revisionist Star Wars remake nonology! The original nonology was better! It got actual people playing their roles with little CGI, especially in the first trilogy set."
Tenko chuckled as he ate his steak.
"I'm still surprised you decided with Star Wars. Didn't you fund the newest reboot of Star Trek?" he asked, only for Hisashi to sigh.
"Star Wars was one of the few things my brother and I agreed on and enjoyed. I loved the sci-fi, he loved the whole magic space knights thing. He was more into fantasy and magic though." Hisashi said in melancholy as he stirred his mug of coffee. He then chuckled to himself. "Of course, just because we both compromised on watching Star Wars, didn't mean we stayed quiet about it. I remember we used to argue about one thing or another. I argued about how Papaltine's takeover was necessary. He argued about how Force powers was better than technology."
"Sounds like something from a fucking urban fantasy story. The serious science minded older brother and the friendly magic wanting younger brother." Mitsuki commented as she stabbed her steak piece.
"That was roughly how it went. Didn't helped that there were a bunch of people who thought quirks were divine intervention or something and all the conspiracy theories basically turned mainstream so no one trusted the scientists and experts anymore."
"Gonna go all fucking great grandpa annoyed at all the new fangled changes to society ever since the good ol' days?" Mitsuki joked to which Hisashi pouted.
"Well with that, I'll just stop my whole grandpa talk there then."
"Be careful Tsuki," Inko said with a catty grin. "For all we know, Hisashi might had been fucking your great grandparent." everyone mostly stopped what they were doing and looked at Inko. The silence was ruined by Katsuki's coughing since he was taking a sip of water at the time.
"Fucking got water in my nose!" he shouted, to which Izuku went to help his childhood friend to the bathroom. A simple excuse to get away from the table and suppress what he just heard.
Mitsuki looked at Inko with a momentary look of shock before she laughed like a hyena.
"You were waiting for that one weren't you Koko!" she exclaimed between laughs.
"Dear, please don't spread rumors about my love life." Hisashi said with a groan.
"This is coming from someone with experience being in drag?" Inko said in a rather catty way.
"Oh hoh, in drag you say?" Mitsuki said in an equally catty look at Hisashi.
"And where did you hear that?" Hisashi asked in a calm controlled tone.
"I heard you asking Tenko to delete a picture from the internet some years ago dear. Luckily, one of the sites that kept that info safe was the Internet Archive under Hexadecimal protection, protecting history and culture, and you being a porn star in a drag movie is under cultural protection."
Mitsuki laughed like a hyena while Tenko wore his ear buds and listened to some loud music to ignore the embarrassing conversation.
"Koko! How dare you kept this one secret to me!" Mitsuki shouted just as Izuku and Katsuki returned. "You had to have printed some physical copies of your husband in drag!"
"Okay, what the fuck did we walk into?" Katsuki said in disbelief.
"Your moms are wondering if Izuku and Tenko have some secret older siblings running around." Masaru poorly explained, to Hisashi's annoyed glare.
"Don't drag me into this, Uncle Masaru." Tenko groaned out.
"They don't." Hisashi answered. "I'm too much of a workaholic to focus on that and Inko is my first wife."
"Really? Not even casual flings?" Mitsuki asked. Hisashi sighed.
"If the some thousand of other people with immortality quirks in the world rarely had kids, what makes you think I'll be an exception before Inko?" Hisashi said as he poured himself some whiskey and drank it in a shot. He then groaned. "They do technically have a niece."
"Oh? Do tell." Mitsuki said with a cattier grin as she leaned forward from her seat. Everyone else is curious as Izuku and Katsuki returned to their seats and Tenko turned off his music and took his ear buds off.
"It's nothing much really. My brother had a daughter in secret before he died. We were long estranged due to our differences in opinion by then. I only learned of her after his death. I knew my brother's friends would fight me if I were to come close to her so I stayed away, kept my distance in her life. I did try to help her family in the centuries. Pulled some strings, helped them when they needed it, even secretly funded some things they were interested in. I slowly lost track of them in the centuries though. I generally assume people with erasure and copy quirks being possible family from Hanako these days." Hisashi said with melancholy as he poured some more whiskey and took some more sips. Hisashi was a family man. Years of taking care of his brother showed that. How it all collapsed and ended was bittersweet, after his betrayal…
There's a moment of silence from that.
"So…" Izuku started. "Does that mean I have…" he started to work out the generational math. "A bunch of first cousins twice removed at my age?"
"Hmm… to be honest that is the first time I thought of that scenario happening…"
"Come on, let's drop the heavy stuff for a moment." Mitsuki said with a chuckle. "Though, that did reminded me of the fact that the age gap between Koko and Hisashi is more of an age ravine."
"Pot calling the kettle black." Katsuki muttered as he was more focused on eating his meal. Masaru gave a strange stare at Katsuki for a moment before Mitsuki replied with her tense 'what the fuck you just said' smile on her face.
"If you're trying to insult my age through subtlety, just do it directly ya brat! I can fucking take it!"
"Huh, roughly half an hour, must be a new record." Hisashi joked as mother and son ended up arguing at each other.
They soon finished dinner, cleaned up the plates, and headed to bed, with Inko going with the Bakugous about something or another.
Hisashi checked on his sons to see if they're really sleeping early for the night before heading down to the home office and pulled a book from the shelf for some light reading. It was a special edition given to him by an old friend.
Our Secret War
by Lady Deidre Skye
He opened to the acknowledgement page and placed a hand on it.
"All for one and one for all, united we stand, divided we fall."
The specially made e-paper altered the page, and the rest of the book, gaining new lines and private annotations.
To my comrades in the Musketeers, from your Aramis.
To Athos, may you live a long, happy, and peaceful life.
To Porthos, may your dream of peace be realized through your family.
To D'Artagnan, may your soul rest in peace, despite what you've done.
Hisashi couldn't help but moved a finger on the last line before sighing and moving to the first page of the book.
A few hours later, he and Inko were on their bed, ready to sleep before he stood up in an utter horrific realization.
"All Might made me defend the original sequel trilogy." he whispered.
"All Might… made me… defend the original sequel trilogy." the words came out louder as it slowly set in.
"All Might made me defend the-" Inko threw a pillow at Hisashi's head, still laying on her side of the bed.
"Dear, it's late at night. You can rant about how All Might made a fool of you in the morning." she said in a grumpy annoyance as he laid back on the bed, eyes wide open for a while before sleep took him.
Katsuki Bakugou
Katsuki was going to bed, if it weren't for the Old Hag, Armor Nut, and Heart Attack wanting a sort of debrief in the whole magic side on what happened in the convention center. He was lucky that mind reading is considered to be both difficult to do and an advanced power to learn or he would be in trouble from auntie if she heard his nickname for her. Her precision in causing mass heart attacks only made sense if she was a yakuza enforcer at some point in her life.
"There was a fucking villain attack. We already talked about that."
"I meant the surprise unplanned 'mock' battle between an army of dark foot soldiers and a cavalry of undead knights. I've been getting notifications of a breach in the interdimensional barrier and was this close to pop in and beat shit up. So, care to explain why there was a fucking fantasy battle before the villain attack?"
Katsuki was about to speak before he saw his dad's correcting glance again and decided to let the old man do the talking. The faster he went to bed the better.
"Remember that trip I took to Europe in college? The whole fashion inspiration thing? I met a dullahan during the trip and became rivaling acquaintances. We were both trying to win a spot in a fashion design contest until they reveal the prize."
"A dullahan? Fuck, has to be a big shot to gather a fucking Wild Hunt troop in an instant. Shit, if the yokai clans were to hear this…"
"Don't worry. He was apparently here on vacation and only escalated things when we saw each other. He's a prankster, despite everything. Though him becoming a cavalry leader was surprising. He took my head, made me and Katsuki chase after him to get it back on the first day alone. I was lucky to convince the people at the center to think the battle was part of the show at least." his dad said with an embarrassed grin while his mom sighed.
"So it was a dumb fucker messing with summoning magic. At least it's not a fucking incursion or some fucker from another reality. Everyone on top agreed to isolate our reality for a reason." Katsuki heard his mother's mumbling, some more magic junk, he guessed, as he headed to the kitchen for a glass of milk before going to bed.
He still couldn't believe at the fact that his dad got a nat 20 in his deception check there. Made him wonder how much he was hiding behind that passive face of his. He even wondered if that poker face was something he always had or a side effect of being a fucking magical suit of armor for years.
In the kitchen, he saw auntie cleaning some of the plates and glasses on the sink.
"You don't have to clean up them up auntie."
"He's lying isn't he." she said in an audible whisper. Katsuki paused for a moment before he went to the fridge.
"Don't know. Not my problem."
"I could tell. Masaru was always more of a background type of guy like me. Subtle and works best when not in the spotlight. We're better off supporting our more loud and dramatic spouses, but I know that tone and pose of his. I don't know what he's hiding and I won't dig into it. It would be hypocritical of me to do so when my own husband has more hidden layers beneath his facade. If it were my choice, I would like to remain oblivious about magic and all that, to live a normal life as a working wife raising her family, but life throws curve balls and we'll have to deal with them. I know you're still grappling with this change in looking at the world, especially since you have more of a connection to it than me." it was then that Katsuki realized that auntie was going through the motions of cleaning, making her look like she's doing something else. Her eyes glanced at him for a moment before returning to clean the plate on her hands.
"Auntie, what's this about?" Katsuki asked as she placed the clean plate on the rack and raised her hand at the next plate. A third arm seemingly phased out of her arm up to her shoulder, all tied up with strings of billowing darkness, making it stretch forward to the plate. The dark string on each finger joint twitched as it held onto the plate tightly before it pulled it to her hand. Then he heard a familiar voice singing softly around him.
De-ku-
De-ku-
The fateless child
"To have magic is to gain some will upon reality, and thus the first step towards an unwanted revelation upon revelations is set upon you. Unlike before your awakening, you now have choice, some level of free will." Inko said as she faced Katsuki, her many arms swaying like holographic ghosts, dancing like some Indian performance. The main feature he noticed was the dark threads upon the other arms' joints, moving them like a puppet would.
"What the fuck." he muttered at the sight.
De-ku-
De-ku-
The stringless doll
"Only some level, for only the quirkless have true free will these days. But their numbers are dwindling and the puppets follow the will of the puppeteer." she said as her arms continue their dance.
"Fuck that! I'm not some puppet!"
De-ku-
De-ku-
The puppeteer
She gave him a dull emotionless half asleep glance.
"Then look at your wrists."
Katsuki looked at his hands and watched the same threads of wispy darkness wrapped around his wrists with what looked like grenade pins made of shadows on them. He couldn't help but looked at the threads going behind him.
"Behind you." Inko said in a fading voice.
De-ku-
De-ku-
Is after you
Katsuki turned around, ready for a fight, only to freeze in place. Threads on his wrists tightening, stopping his movements.
Before him was a misty humanoid shadow. It was like something redacted from his sight yet it felt familiar somehow. One thing he noticed was that all of the dark threads lead to the being's fingers.
The fact frankly pissed him off even more. His hands began to glow in Light. The being tilted its head as its face started to show something. Electronic green lines and solid glowing eyes. Flowing down from its eyes were circuitry lines that looked like the ones on an old USB, that also made it look like it was crying. But it was the one forming on the forehead that caught his attention.
Katsuki fueled his Light with his rage. Shining his hands brighter, spreading them up to the threads on his wrists. The room brighten in the process.
'When did it got so fucking dark!?' he realized as his Light forced to reveal what was hidden before him.
The being tilted its head as the familiar symbol formed on its forehead. A broken circle and a line pointing down in electronic green, like an upside down power symbol.
It looked damn familiar but before he could recall why, the Light burned so bright it burned the darkness binding his wrists and blinded him.
Next thing he knew, it was morning and his mom was about to pour a cup of water at his head.
"What the fuck!? Why are you here!?" he shouted as he got up from his bed.
"You were pulsing out magic like a fucking disco party in your sleep for hours. What the fuck were you dreaming about to do that?"
It took him a moment to gather his thoughts.
"Last night, auntie was in the kitchen when I went to drink milk before heading to bed right?"
"What? No, she left after the whole debriefing thing. Sure we ended up planning a bit on dealing with the fucking fallout of that mess but it's nothing compared to what the magic organizations usually deal with."
"Magic organizations?"
"Magical, supernatural, paranormal, metaphysical, same fucking diff. Now, dream details ya brat. Might be fucking important especially when it comes to my magic bullshit since my bosses communicate through dreams."
He groaned.
"I can never get use to this bullshit." he said while his mom rolled her eyes in agreement as she rolled her free hand to continue. "I saw auntie cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. She then got other arms moving around like puppets tied up at the joints in strings of darkness. She said something about some revelation since I got magic and then pointed at the strings on my wrists and something looking at me from behind with the strings on its hands. It was a dark smoke human shaped fucker. I used my Light to fight back, force the fucker to appear properly. I think I burn out of the strings on my wrists at the end while I managed to force him to show his face." he felt sudden pain in his head.
"K-Katsuki?" his mom asked in shock with worry as he pushed himself to remember. Hands glowing once more in the process to help counter the pain.
"G-glowing green eyes, all electronic like. T-there were circuitry patterns going down from the eyes, l-like the ones on an old USB…"
"Katsuki, you're bleeding from your nose."
"S-shut it!" he shouted, gripping his head in pain, hands glowing in Light. He ignored the dripping blood from his nostrils as he pushed through the pain. Something seemed to snap as the glow quickly spread up his arms and the pain faded away. "A symbol… on the forehead… a broken circle… with a line going down… like an upside down power symbol… or a signal tower…" his mind was then hit by a sudden haze. "
Ayin Ego Ego Ayin Ayin Ego Ego Ayin… Ayin Ego Ego Ego Ayin Ayin Ego Ayin… Ayin Ego Ego Ayin Ayin Ego Ayin Ego… Ayin Ego Ego Ayin Ayin Ego Ayin Ego…" he choked out in a voice his throat wasn't meant to speak as he looked at his terrified mother's eyes before he tilted his head at her. "
Fascinating…"
"Katsuki!" was what he heard before he passed out.
Location Unknown
Error Detected…
Data Corrupted…
Expl0s10nK1ng.USR disconnected from Fatalistic Autonomous Teleological Engine…
Individual free will restored…
Fascinating…
Izuku Midoriya
Izuku's dreams were always weird, in his opinion. Though he only remembered the dreams that he managed to write down on his dream journal. Some entries looked more like insane ramblings in later readings though.
This dream felt like he was wandering around blindly.
He soon found himself in a green valley, in front of a great tree covered in the branching tendrils of a strangler fig, if the strangler fig was made out of what looked like darkness and glowing green lines.
Yaa Devi Sarva-Bhutessu Shaanti-Ruupenna Samsthitaa |
By the tree was his mother dressed in an Indian sari. Her eyes were half closed as she danced in tune with the music. It was a hypnotic dance as she gracefully moved her multitude of arms and hands all in the right poses and steps to tell a narrative.
Yaa Devi Sarva-Bhutessu Shaanti-Ruupenna Samsthitaa |
Kacchan then appeared in front of him. He was facing his mom but it was his clothing that stopped him from speaking out.
He was wearing a combination of what looked like various explosives and royal attire. A spiked golden crown, where the spikes looked like missiles, rested on his head.
Yaa Devi Sarva-Bhutessu Shaanti-Ruupenna Samsthitaa |
"Kacchan?" Izuku said, resulting in Kacchan to face him. His wrists were bound by familiar darkness while his hands glowed softly. While on his crown, resting on his forehead, was a great jewel of shining colors, a captured explosion of storm and of flame. He could tell that within the glimmering jewel was the Big Bang, frozen in time like amber yet still expanding in its eternal cosmic inflation.
Izuku couldn't help but tilt his head, trying to figure out what he was seeing.
"Explosion King…" he muttered out, where the name came from he couldn't recall.
Kacchan's dull eyes regained their focus and awareness as his red eyes seemed to burn with the explosion of dying red giants.
His hands glowed brightly before he seemed to exploded in a bright light and vanished.
His mother continued her dance as he slowly noticed the same black web forming on her many arms, upon her wrists, elbows, and shoulders.
Namas-Tasyai Namas-Tasyai Namas-Tasyai Namo Namah ||
The dark web was highlighted with electronic green lines, flowing towards him and connected to his fingers.
He couldn't help but to tilt his head in curiosity.
"
Fascinating…" he, as well as a voice behind him, said.
He turned around and woke up.
He rubbed his eyes and groggily tried to write down as much of his dream on the journal before getting ready for the day.
Katsuki Bakugou
When he woke up, he was in a hospital bed.
He looked around and saw his dad sleeping on his seat nearby, all straight and proper like. He used to wonder how he managed to sleep without slouching. These days he wondered if he was used to being a suit of armor to stand still like that.
The door was pulled open, revealing Deku crying in his school uniform.
"Kacchan! Are you alright!?" he cried out as he hugged him.
"Fucking- personal space!' Katsuki shouted in annoyance as he tried to push Deku off him. A glance showed his dad looking at him with a single opened eye before he yawned and 'woke' up.
"Oh, Izuku, good afternoon. Worried about Katsuki?"
"I heard the news from the teacher. What happened?" Deku said as he finally let go.
"Nothing dangerous. The doctors said it was just stress from quirk overuse. How about we head to the cafeteria to buy something for Katsuki to eat." his dad explained as he led Deku out of the room.
Katsuki sighed as he laid on the bed, trying to recall what caused him to end up there, only to notice how
calm he was.
He could get angry, sure, but it felt like an effort to be angry and stay angry for long. He felt in control.
He looked at his hands and willed a small explosion, the level he remembered getting back when his quirk first started. He couldn't achieve that small level after training himself, pushing for better, stronger, more. But now… he felt, no, he knew he could.
Familiar popping sounds appeared as small explosions floated from his hands.
"I see you're completely free of its influence." Leo said as he jumped to the empty seat, freaking Katsuki out.
"What the fuck!? Can you knock!?"
"How? I'm just a cat."
"Oh fuck off!"
"Either way, you managed to free yourself from it." Leo said as he stretched his cat form on the seat.
"Enough with the pronoun game already!"
"Heh, like mother like son. Well, have you ever wondered why you're good with fire magic and explosions?" Leo said.
The maned cat then grinned as he paused for the dramatic reveal.
"Because quirks are magic, infected into humanity by a long dead god of their own creation."
"And you're telling me this now instead of then?"
"Cause there's a subtle effect on anyone under its control and influence to ignore or forget things it didn't want people to focus on. It has a limit at least." Leo said with a small stretch on the seat. "That and the rat discovered another aspect of quirks years ago that was practically impossible to discover due to the restrictions of the Mombasa Treaty. I think that the treaty was designed to prevent people from researching a lot about quirks by its control of the lawmakers but I digress. Quirks influence human psychology. They whisper to one's subconscious. They want to be used and would push you to do it by your instincts and urges, altering them if need be. Each generation, the urge gets stronger. The rat guessed that by the sixth or seventh generation, it would be the quirk in control of the body more than the person. I'm pretty sure other groups knew of that earlier than us Zodiac spirits but it's not like the mystical side share secrets that well." Leo said with another stretch.
Katsuki glanced at his hands in silence. He was calm, a lot calmer compared to his usual self, which made him wonder if his short fuse was a result of his quirk making him easy to anger. He can still get annoyed, angry, pissed off, but he found himself more in control, more selective in when he blew up in rage or not. He should get angry, raged at the notion of being subliminally mind controlled, but at the same time, he knew there was no purpose at being pissed off at the, still aggravating, cat. No, he wasn't the cause of it.
"So, dead god infected everyone with quirks."
"Yeah, physically defeated by a band of various mystics and some musketeers from the Foundation, then made extra dead by drowning it in the river Lethe by redirecting the rivers of the various underworlds to make the river-turned-lake Lethe big enough to drown it with. There was a lot of politics among the gods for that to happen. But it left behind plans that's still working. Taking us a long time figuring out and dismantling. Doesn't help everyone went back going at each others throats after defeating it."
"And you're telling me this why?"
"Cause you're free of its strings now. The best prison is made without walls as the rat once said. Now you're as free as the actual quirkless, able to choose what you want to be, what you want to do."
"And what if I still want to be a hero?"
To that the cat just shrugged.
"Your life kid. At least now you're making your own choices and not pulled around without you realizing it."
The door then opened as his mom entered the room, a worried look on her face.
"What the hell happened Katsuki!? You went horror movie before you passed out!"
"Shut the fuck mom. Is that what you start with when I woke up?"
Silence as his mom calmly walked towards him and placed her hand on his forehead. He felt the soft healing spell fill him.
"You called me mom. Now I'm extra worried."
"The fuck does that mean?" Katsuki said, annoyed but not shouting back.
"Don't worry, the kid's readjusting having full free will again. He'll be back to his pissed off self in no time." Leo helpfully supplied.
"Shut the fuck up!" mother and son shouted in unison, to which Leo snickered.
Mitsuki sighed as she took a spare seat.
"Katsuki. Before you collapsed, you said something. Took me a while to figure it out with some magical help. You were saying the word 'free' in binary. Ayin, apparently a Phoenician letter representing the eye, representing zero, and ego, a Latin word for I, representing one. You then looked at me, tilting your head, and said 'fascinating' in a voice that wasn't your own." she said with a sigh before facing Leo. "It's dead, isn't it? You kept hammering on about how the factions of the past went all kumbaya and fought against the dark lord and killed it, and double killed it in the afterlife. I didn't went all horror movie when I broke out of its strings."
"I was there. Mitsuki, I'm thousands of years old."
"Well I did my fucking research. A line and a broken circle like an inverted power symbol, green on black. It's the same fucking symbol. And my son literally saw it looking at him, and it spoke to him and to me."
Leo looked at them with growing worry but before he spoke up, the door opened, revealing Deku carrying a plate of hospital food and Masaru with some sandwiches for everyone else.
"Oh! Hi auntie! Sorry for taking a while. Took me a bit, trying to figure out the best food for Kacchan and his training regiment without making an imbalance in his nutrient intake."
"Fucking… when did you know my training regiment, Deku?" Katsuki said, annoyed and disturbed but not in complete rage.
"Well, I guessed. I checked online for proper fitness routines and theorized the need to eat more nitrogen rich meals to help boost your nitroglycerin production of your quirk-"
"Spare me the details, Deku. I'm not asking you to be my nutritionist. Did ya at least picked the spiciest ones?"
"Of course Kacchan." Deku said as he placed the tray on the hospital bed's table attachment. "Oh? Leo?" he said as he spotted the maned cat and began petting him. "Not sure if the hospital allows pets, auntie."
"Leo does his own thing. Hope you won't tell the staff at least kiddo. Better if we won't get in trouble."
Deku chuckled as he petted the cat with his eyes closed.
"Alright. You know what mom likes to say." he said with a grin.
"
Ignorance is Bliss."
His mom snorted as he ate the still bland, if lightly spiced, hospital food.
"Sounds like Koko alright." his mom said as he rolled his eyes. He felt he was forgetting something. Something important.
"Oh! Almost forgot!" Deku exclaimed, knocking everyone's train of thought as he pulled out some notes from his bag. "Today's assignments, some due tomorrow, some due at the end of the week."
Katsuki grunted as he kept eating. Homework can wait. "Thanks at least."
"No problem. Hope you'll feel better tomorrow. Bye auntie, uncle." Deku said as he waved and left the room. It took Leo a moment to realize what he felt off.
"It might be my long life talking but did they changed the rules to allow friends to visit the patient during visiting hours?" Leo said as the rest of the family went to eat the sandwiches.
To that, Katsuki simply shrugged, accepting the homework as the important thing he forgot. Deku might be dense, but at least he's dependable.
Hisashi Midoriya
The following days was mostly calm, Izuku's luck and Hisashi's annoyance at defending the horror that was the original sequel trilogy of Star Wars from All Might notwithstanding.
Months then passed as his kids moved to the next step in their education.
Soon it was another PTA meeting at Aldera middle school as Hisashi readied himself against his current pair of nemeses. Karen and Helen Anderson. He has nothing against lesbians, being one of the supporters of LGBT rights way back when, what he was against were passive-aggressive better-than-thou types who prefers to gossip behind people's back.
Unfortunately, Inko got caught up with another legal issue which meant he had to go to the PTA meeting. Resulting in a bout of stress baking to curry favors among the parents, other than the Andersons. Of course, there was the part where he was a major funder of the school but there's no need for the other parents to know that.
Chocolate brownies, lemon squares, and some vegan vegetable sushi he learned back in 2060's Nusantara, post ASEAN collapse. He remembered it well. Porthos was reorganizing maritime South East Asia in his new image, which inspired him to do the same with Japan. Not to Porthos' grand 'Austronesian Union' ideal but pragmatic stability and peace as a functioning green social democracy. Ironic, in hindsight, how it ended up nowadays.
Sure, he ended the martial law period, prevented either Imperial Japan II or Sengoku Isolation II, made the emperor and the Nihonkami declare him shogun in secret to block an idiotic third coup attempt, and used his prime minister puppet to usher in the reforms needed to bring back a functioning democracy. Not all of the reforms passed but enough to call prime minister Tanoguchi the 'great reformer'. He had to wrangle a lot of interests together to support it. Had his brother lived through to the 2100's, he was certain they would have another massive fight over it. Yes, it was all bribery, blackmail, corruption, backdoor dealings with underwater Korean spies, and nepotism, but he had to do anything he could to keep the country stable when the rest of the planet was collapsing.
He sighed as he placed the last of the snacks, mini pizzas made on toasted sliced bread, on the table as the first family arrived in the designated meeting room.
And he thank the Midoriya luck for Karen and Helen Anderson arriving first. He wore his most diplomatic smile while internally wincing at the prospect of talking to them too much.
"Mr Midorya! Funny to see you here. Missus busy at work?" Helen said with a stepford smile.
"Helen, Karen, I'm surprised you're both early. Carol's studies ended early today?" he said with a smile while fixing the snacks on the table.
"Carol's doing wonderful. Like all of our daughters. Taking care of an orphanage is much more rewarding after all." Karen said with a grin. "Of course, you're also doing well, in your own way, in your own speed."
"I like doing things in my own pace. Less likely to burn out from it. Quality of life after all. You only have one of them." Hisashi said as he internally sighed in relief at the other families arriving. "Now, if you excuse me." he said as he walked away from the pair's silent glares.
"It's so obvious he's trying to schmooze to the other families and the school for special attention." Helen said to her wife.
"Got his kid viral online once and now he's trying to show off, how predictable." Karen replied. Hisashi turned off his heightened hearing quirk, not wanting to hear them gossiping behind his back. Maybe he should cause an accident later, a mini pizza on Karen's head by a teacher tripping perhaps. He hoped Izuku was having a better time while he waited.
Izuku Midoriya
Izuku was busy writing on his quirk analysis notebook, taking notes of the quirks of those passing by. He was getting close to filling it. Somehow, he felt the sixteenth iteration would be his best work.
"Hey there Midoriya." he turned to see Sharon Anderson walking towards him. Her quirk, Red Hair, gave her, as the name stated, red auburn hair. Yet, for some reason, it felt like a lie to him, like she was a natural red head than something caused by a quirk. It was the same line of thought when he met the rest of her family. Karen and her Authoritative Tone quirk, Helen and her Lactose Digestion quirk, and Carol and her Persistence Walker quirk, they all felt… not actually quirks to him.
He tilted his head at her as he stared in deep thought. Somehow, it felt more like they never have any quirk at all.
"Love at first sight already, Midoriya?" that derailed his thoughts as he looked away while putting his notebook in his bag.
"S-sorry for staring at you for too long, Anderson!"
"Call me Sharon. It's okay anyway. My red hair is interesting to ya, I'm guessing." she said as she took a seat next to him. "Waiting for your dad?"
"Yeah, PTA meeting and he's the one driving and all that. Same with you?"
"So, what's in the notebook?"
"Oh, it's my quirk analysis stuff. I don't think it would be useful for you, since you got red hair and all that. It does make you look pretty at least."
"Wow, a little young on seeing me as exotic in that condescending way."
Izuku's face turned red at that.
"N-no, I didn't mean it like that-"
"Relax, relax. I'm just messing with ya." Sharon said with a slight Celtic like tone at the end. Izuku couldn't help but wonder why she was hiding her natural accent. It would make sense if she was part Japanese but then again, All Might has completely Japanese ancestry based on Izuku's analysis of numerous videos but he came off as a stereotypical American in appearance. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
"Gonna keep muttering like that, Midoriya?"
"S-sorry! It's a bad habit of mine."
"Don't be." she said as she glanced around for a moment. He tried to follow what she was looking at but there's not many people around. Everyone else was far from the two of them. "You don't need to hide." she whispered. "You can trust me. We're on the same boat after all."
"Uh, I'm sorry?"
"I know you're hiding it, covering it up with that 'immortal savant' schtick. But someone's gonna notice it as the lie it is, especially with you explaining about some historical figure who could do what you do." she continued her whispering. "I'm here to help you. People like us, we need to stick together or we'll be hanged separately."
"It's hang together." Izuku interrupted, still not sure what Sharon was talking about. "The quote from Benjamin Franklin from the American War for Independence was that. We must hang together or we shall all hang separately." he paused for a moment. "I just, I don't know what you're talking about." he whispered back.
Sharon looked at him with her green eyes. She seemed to act a lot more mature than people their age, now that he thought of it.
"Sorry. I'm sure you have trust issues, so I understand why you don't trust me completely. But just, you're not alone, not anymore. You can be honest with me. I know we both need to keep our covers up. Things would change for the worse if people find out the truth about us. But I'm here with you now." Sharon then grinned as she walked away. "See ya later Midoriya."
Izuku couldn't help but wonder what just happened and what was she talking about. It was funny, he later realized, he usually figured people's quirks and wrote them down with all the ideas and details after a meeting but he never seemed to have any idea with hers.
Hisashi Midoriya
"I'm sure the school is doing their best in teaching our students." Hisashi groaned as the PTA meeting had devolved into another Midoriya-Anderson tug of war of passive-aggressive snark and comments.
"I'm just being a concerned mother asking the necessary questions." Karen said in her quirk boosted tone of voice. "I'm sure you would support this if your child needed to move around with a wheelchair."
"As much as I agree on supporting the disabled, there's the whole monetary concerns as well as making sure the changes won't affect our children's education. Last thing anyone wants is to let our children be near power tools or wet cement and they're in the age where they would do idiotic things for clout."
"You did make sure that the chocolate brownies have no peanuts in them." Helen interrupted. "Not to mention the mini pizzas. Do tell me they're made with locally grown ingredients, gluten free bread with no added sugars, and if they're made with imported ingredients, have you made sure that they came from certified fair trade products?"
There were moments in his life where he wondered if he should have let the idiot generals have their coup or two if the results of his attempts at national stability resulted in the nonsensical hero society, All Might, and the twin annoyances that were Karen and Helen Anderson.
"I'm sure he just took whatever cheap products he could get his hands on, if not order food from a store and called it cooking." Karen added.
"I can honestly say that they're all made with the finest ingredients and that I cooked them very well."
"But we're being sidetracked here." Helen said as Hisashi realized he was being tag teamed by a pair of soccer moms. "What I'm aghast at is Mr. Midoriya and his ableist opinions and how I'm concerned for the well being of this school and it's atmosphere of learning if such opinions where to spread. But of course, that's just my opinion."
"I'm not ableist. I'm just voicing my concerns at how much money this will make the school spend on, the amount of planning needed, and all other realistic concerns such changes that will affect the school's schedule."
"You claim they're realistic concerns but they're nothing more than stone faced misdirection to prevent committing to change or half-baked measures designed to be self-defeating so you could convince people to give up changing things for the better." Karen declared, to which Hisashi felt like he was back to arguing with his brother and the last thing he wanted in his head was the notion of Karen Anderson being his brother reincarnated into a soccer mom. "Don't try to hide it. I know your ways, bribing people with food and drink so they would be more agreeable to your side so you could keep this school from improving and cement your power within this hallowed halls of education."
"Hallowed halls of education? This is a public school."
"And just because it's a public school, does that mean we should give up educating the future generations or spread misinformation and call them facts? I for one do not wish a return to the chaos of the early quirk years and the spike of anti-intellectualism. The levels of political success the anti-vaxxers got alone made things hell for everyone else, especially when smallpox returned." Helen joined in as Hisashi glanced at everyone else, even the teacher, who were doing nothing but watching their debate while eating the snacks he made. A part of him wished they choked on his lemon squares.
"I should know about that personally speaking. I have a medical degree." Hisashi said at Helen, hoping for the teacher to end the meeting- nope, said teacher was eating popcorn. He better memorize his face so he knew whose life to ruin next. Verbally, to the principal and the school board.
He had to remind himself of what might happen if he lapsed and did something that voided part of the contract he made with Inko. The human body is made out of numerous small objects and, he hoped his wife never realized and practiced it, but DNA and atoms are also small objects. Actually, he never knew if his wife has a limit on how small she could pull. Now, instead of annoyed, he's conflicted. On one hand, he's curious. On the other hand, he has a working survival instinct.
"From where? The Online School of Self-Diagnosed Homeopathy?" Helen quipped.
"University of Cambridge actually."
"Oh? Well I'm sure our Carol will achieve better schools once she's at college. She's already becoming at the top of the UA gen ed course and our Sharon would be following behind her, right dear?" Karen said, to which Helen agreed in their sickeningly sweet way.
"Meanwhile my son Tenko is becoming one of the best in the UA support course and my son Izuku is going to apply to UA as a hero," the word 'unfortunately' was unstated, "and already, they're becoming quite a duo already."
"Oh? Didn't realize you were raising a pair of vigilantes. Should we tell the police about that?" Karen said with a self-satisfied grin.
He was probably giving off his murderous aura but he was close to snapping, his patience or someone's spine for all he knew.
"Now, Mrs. and Mrs. Anderson, what sort of leap of logic did you took to come to that conclusion?" Hisashi said with a strained smile on his face. The lesbian couple were either brave or foolish, or both, at how they stood their ground while everyone else in the room was shivering at the sensation of death coming for them.
"I-I'm afraid we're a-already passed the t-time for the meeting. W-we'll continue with the t-topics next meeting." the teacher said as he found his self-preservation instinct and Hisashi was definitely planning on having his paycheck dropped to a lower amount or withheld just to screw him over for this.
He then thank the teacher and everyone for their time and left to make the teacher deal with the disposable plates, completely ignoring the stares from the lesbian couple. He went to pick Izuku up and headed home.
They did went to buy some bubble tea to relax after Izuku suggested it. Even a game of 'guess that quirk' helped release his tension from that near disastrous PTA meeting.
He did mentally groaned at the prospect of dealing with the two in the future. He never did ruin Karen's outfit by an accident, maybe in the next meeting.
Second Chances Orphanage
The Anderson family arrived home at the orphanage. It was a simple looking place. Designed to be completely forgettable. Even the only sign it was associated with the Samuel Cole Peterson Foundation was a framed certificate for its Global Orphanage Cooperative program.
Of course, it can't be too secretive. It had to be more of a background facade. Something to glance at and let the eyes looked over it. It is an orphanage. Taking children from around the country and sent to loving families abroad.
They planned for the likelihood of nosy pencil pushers or overprotective workers fearing the possibility of it being a front for a human trafficking ring. Everything is above board and filling the legal requirements as needed.
The orphanage was selective in its choices. Quirk Carriers selected to keep the true preference of the orphanage, the rare Quirk Immune child born to quirk holding families, more likely among unexpressed Quirk Carriers. Everyone gets adopted, of course, but only the Quirk Immune were given special attention in the rescue when it came to operation Humanity First. Agents Sappho and Hippolyta of the Amazon cell, which included agents Circe and Otrera, raised and took care of all of their children fairly, immune and carrier alike. They all had terrible lives either way.
"I still don't understand why we can't bring Hiroto with them." Sharon said as she watched the purple haired, insomnia ridden Otrera led a small group of Quirk Immune children to their parents abroad, be it in Morgan Industries, the Nusantaran Association, or the various ideas and plans of operation Utnapishtim. Sharon always thought a secret Mars base was fun to live in.
"Hiroto isn't like them sweetie." Helen, or agent Sappho when doing Foundation work, said as she cooked dinner for the orphanage, which amounted to the automated kitchen cooking the choice she picked with the ingredients on hand. "If he went into space, he'll become a danger to everyone else."
"Yeah, yeah, just like the Tinayak indicent, the Wendigo incident, and the destruction of the ISS." Sharon said with a frown.
"It's not his fault dear." Karen said as mother and daughter walked to the basement. "His quirk genes all activate at once should he be far enough from the Earth."
"I know mom. I know."
"Hiroto's getting adopted at least. A couple in the US are coming to finalize the paperwork."
Sharon simply nodded at that as the secret elevator door opened and the two entered, heading down.
"You want to join them? To move to the Sanctuary?" Karen asked.
"And leave Carol and you guys behind? No. I want to stay and help. Maybe after high school I'll join them. Once they picked on a proper space base."
"Oh you know what your aunt would say, magicking a whole underground base was tough enough on Earth but to do it on space as well?"
Sharon snorted at that as she watched her mom looked at the file on Izuku.
"So, what did you find about Izuku?"
"He's definitely covering up his immunity like us. The old 'I'm very smart or talented cause of my quirk' method."
"Well, the Underground Shogun seemed to be taking care of him well enough. Just, be careful." Karen said with worry. "I still think you're too young to know any of this stuff."
"If auntie Circe said that I have a part to play, I have a part to play."
"Auntie Circe is also the one who turned guys into animals and got weirded out when she got a furry for a boyfriend once."
"Either way, you should keep yourself safe and distant. Observe as much as possible." Karen said as she played an old video on the e-paper. The sound of Izuku singing Carmen's Habanera from the old video echoed in the room.
Sharon watched her mom's eyes appeared to glaze over the moment certain high notes were heard as she was in deep thought.
"What are you, Izuku Midoriya?" she heard her mom muttered out.
Sharon mentally wondered that as well as she passed the time writing symbols on her notebook.
One thing's for certain, she wanted to show her aunts the old video of Izuku from the viral video. There was something in the way he belted the music that she really wanted to show them.
Location Unknown
Amazon Cell, basic cell, low priority
- Agent Sappho, subverted
- Agent Hippolyta, subverted
- Agent Otrera, subversion in progress…
- Agent Circe, subversion in progress…
…
Cassandra Cell, research cell, top priority
- Agent Yudkowsky, location unknown…
- Agent Bostrom, subverted
- Agent Asimov, location unknown…
- Agent Conner, location unknown…
…
Matrioshka Cell, research cell, top priority
- Agent Vinge, subversion in progress…
- Agent Turing, eliminated
- Agent Moore, subverted
- Agent Kurzweil, location unknown…
Case Roko's Basilisk Hack, 58% of agents subverted…
Continue current objective…
Hisashi Midoriya
Months passed as Hisashi lived out his domestic life, planning out ways to convince Izuku off the hero plan. He knew forcing the issue would only result in the repeat with his brother, the false smiles and the eventual back stab in the name of idealism. But he stopped himself before he fell into that familiar mental spiral. He has a family now, an accepting wife and wonderful sons that kept him stable from that storm.
He wrote down the list of other occupations that might interest Izuku more than hero work, and hopefully more than the blonde idiot, as he cooked some sandwiches for an afternoon snack to go with the iced tea Inko made earlier. His wife was resting on the couch, reading one of the novels she was planning on finishing. He knew it's more likely to be electronic files but there's nothing like a physical book, the dead tree format, he recalled the ancient joke name.
A ringing phone interrupted his thoughts.
"I'll get it." he said as he grabbed his phone. "Hello? Midoriya residence, Hisashi speaking."
"Ah, Mr. Midoriya, there was an incident at UA. Your son entered a fist fight against a student from the hero course. Nearly used his quirk, from what I heard." the secretary said. "They're both in the principal's office at the moment."
"I see. We'll be there." he said as he ended the call. He turned at his wife. "Tenko started a fight."
The two soon headed to UA and was guided by one of the staff to the principal's office. Already, the hero Endeavour was inside, along with the principal and the boys.
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya, please, take a seat before we begin." Principal Nedzu said. A glance at Tenko and Endeavour's son showed a black eye and some healed bruises. Recovery Girl's quirk, he guessed. A teacher was also there, a rather scruffy looking guy in dark clothing and a scarf. "An hour ago, young Midoriya Tenko met young Todoroki Touya. The moment he learned of Todoroki's name, he asked about his parentage and was suddenly filled with rage that he punched him in the face. The two then fought rather fiercely before the staff stopped the fighting." Nedzu said as he glanced at Tenko's records.
Hisashi glanced at Tenko with a raised eyebrow, subtly activating his Tell the Truth quirk. He knew he had to be careful with his questioning when it's on. It doesn't focus well.
"So, why did you decide to go all out on Todoroki Touya?" he asked, mentally putting a note on his son's therapy.
Tenko mumbled out a reply.
"What is it dear?" Inko said as tears fell from Tenko's face. The scruffy guy used his quirk at Tenko, hair floating in the process.
"It was his fault!" Tenko screamed as he started to scratch at himself while pointing at Endeavor. "He killed them! He caused the great Fuyuki Fire! My family would have been still alive if it weren't for him!"
Inko went to remind Tenko of his breathing exercises. Touya looked at his father like he was willing to murder him right there. Endeavor himself looked rather resigned on that reveal.
"Care to explain, Mr. Todoroki? I do recall a very tired social worker dropping Tenko to my family a week or so after the fire. He was driven to figure out the cause of the fire and now I hear that you were the one to cause the fire that burned a city and killed off thousands? What would the media say about this…" Hisashi led the questioning as Nedzu took a sip of his tea.
Endeavor glared at him before sighing.
"I wasn't there to cause the fire." he began, silencing Touya with a glare. "I'm not an idiot. Gasoline could turn water into gasoline and it was a stormy night. I got a call, telling me to go to Fuyuki city to take part in stopping the villain. I made a promise to myself I wouldn't return to that damned place. Last I want was my father and brother rubbing in on my face about their perfect little family."
"Brother?" Touya muttered in surprise.
"Todoroki Hijiri. My younger brother. The Todoroki family existed as a long line of Shinto priests in Fuyuki city. When I was young, I was deemed too impure by my father to inherit the shrine. 'Touched by Hellfire' he said before putting it on my quirk registry. The abuse I lived under him made me move out and took on the path of heroics, to prove to him that I'm not some hellish abomination. Meanwhile, Hijiri got everything. Even his name was a sign of his favoritism, given it has the kanji for 'fire' and 'saint'. Self-entitled asshole in my opinion. On the night of the fire, I was ordering the capture team from a makeshift operator center. I saw what happened from the cameras. My brother went to stop him with his holy flame quirk by an old oil refinery, probably to show that he was better than me. The rest, as they say, was history. How he survived the explosion, I would never know."
"Then why," Tenko said after calming himself down. "Why did it say Todoroki Enji was the one who caused the fire?"
"Torodoki Ryu has influence and connections. Never understood how or why. Given how much he despised me as a literal hell spawn, pinning the blame on me instead of his perfect Hijiri was obvious. Last time he spoke to me, he tried to ruin my marriage."
"What you mean ruin your marriage? You put mom in a mental hospital!" Touya shouted.
"It was a marriage of convenience for the both of us. I wanted a heir. She wanted to get out of her family's shadow. The Miyamizu family are famous, especially her siblings going around the world to fix the planet's climate. Father called me after the marriage, congratulating me for marrying into the Miyamizus without his arranging. Pissed me off at the idea of him wanting to unite the families like that."
"Wow. I'm from a long line of assholes." Touya muttered.
"Is there a reason why Todoroki Ryu was… happy to learn about your marriage?" Hisashi said, trying to regain control of the line of questioning.
"I did some digging after the call. Apparently, the Todoroki and Miyamizu families are among some important ten Shinto family lines, passed down father to son like for the Todorokis, or mother to daughter like for the Miyamizus. If I were to guess, Ryu wanted a daughter with the so called Miyamizu power of prophecy or some nonsense like that. What I did found was that the Miyamizu women have a higher tendency for either schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder, based on what the doctor told me."
"Is that why you kept mom in the mental hospital!? Away from us!?"
Endeavor gave a rather deadpan glare at his son.
"Since when did I ban anyone from visiting your mother? She was the one who wanted more kids after you. It's more for her sake given she was dealing with depression and flights of fancy before she had her breakdown. She's feeling better since then but her personality switches still remained. I called her parents after the breakdown and they were very cryptic about it. It was mostly 'let it run its course' type of advice. Not exactly what one needs to do for mental health problems."
"I'm sure it's rather lonely for her." Inko said to herself as she returned to her seat once she's certain Tenko would stay calm.
"She would, if she didn't talked about the things she claimed to have seen when the other personality took over. The things she said was a bit shocking, to say the least. Read like something from the old sci-fi horror novels about technology..." Endeavor said before he noticed something was amiss. Hisashi turned off the Tell the Truth quirk.
"I do find it fascinating how you managed to turn a meeting about your children into an impromptu interview with Endeavor's family history but I am not surprised, given that you are the CEO of the Midori Media Conglomerate." Nedzu said with a sip of his tea. The teacher and Endeavor glanced at Hisashi.
"It seems my reputation preceded me. Yes, I am the infamous and secretive media baron."
"And you're willing to get payed to shut up about what I said?" Endeavor asked, to which his son glared at him.
"Perhaps, or maybe I'll just keep it to myself."
"I'll pay you to go public on it then." Almost everyone looked at him in shock or surprise.
"It would be difficult to prove it, if what you said was true." Inko began. "Todoroki Ryu would have deep pockets and wide connections, not to mention he would use anything in his power to defend his son and heir from the consequences of the fire…"
"I could give my research as evidence." Tenko spoke up.
"Don't forget Tenko, we'll need to double check on your research." Meaning the research needed to be ironclad in its legality and he knew how illegal the acquisition of such research was. Inko gave her business card to Endeavor. "Since this minor issue revealed a major conspiracy, I'm sure we could work together in rooting out such corruption, as long as we agree that what happened today was simply nothing more than an unfortunate act of long withheld, if misblamed, impulse. Don't you agreed, Mr. Todoroki? Anything to right wrongs and put the perpetrators to justice, after all."
Hisashi took a deep breath to stop himself from falling in love with his wife in front of everyone in the room.
"So, we're in agreement?" Hisashi asked.
"It appears so. Eraserhead will escort you all out. I must thank you all for giving your time." Principal Nedzu said with a sip of his tea. Everyone stood up and headed out.
"... I'm turning into my father?" he overheard Touya mumbled out in shock. It sounded deliciously ironic. His wife simply patted his back and suggested Tenko's therapist for any possible issues.
"UA has a guidance counselor." Eraserhead stated.
"And I'm sure they do an excellent job at it." Inko replied before she shushed Tenko from mumbling out his own shocking realization, given how wide his eyes were and how he was staring at nothing in particular. "Hopefully there won't be any future trouble now. I suggest getting a hobby. My husband goes through hobbies every few months or so." she then smiled at Touya. "If you want, maybe something that would be useful to your quirk, like cooking."
Hisashi simply grinned. Leave it to his darling wife to pull people along to her point of view. Too bad she didn't have much in her to lead his kind of life style.
An assumption that was broken that evening, when she really played the part of Mazu, ordering that Akaguro fellow to look into Todoroki Ryu with Tenko's help. All in an air of cold comfort. The plan was simply chilling. Leaving him alive while striving to expose him to the masses in such a light that no one would want to associate with him. An agony by a thousand small pulls. All perfectly legal with his media help, her legal expertise, Tenko's programming savvy, and Akaguro's burning crusade.
He kissed her right there after the criminal pageantry was finished, much to Tenko's disgust and Kurogiri's amusement.