Whilst a relatively uncommon occurrence, Nedzu did actually enjoy driving.
"Slow down!"
Having a custom seat made for his diminutive frame, getting the pedals extended so he'd be able to reach them, all of it had been rather expensive.
"That was the curb!"
And, honestly, most of the time it just wasn't worth it to get his vehicle out of storage. Public transit in Tokyo was among the best in the world.
"I'm going to be sick..."
Still, it was nice sometimes to find an excuse to get into the Ratmobile and just hit the accelerator!
"Was that Cementoss? Did you just run over Cementoss?!"
"He dodged." Nedzu clicked his tongue, turning to glare at Yagi and his backseat driving. "He's a pillar of living concrete, Yagi. My car certainly wouldn't have survived impacting him."
Again. He'd just gotten the Ratmobile repaired. And at a discount!
Yagi moaned and closed his eyes, clutching on to the center panel and assist grip overhead.
Nedzu turned his eyes back to the road, a manic chuckle on his lips as he dodged and swerved. It was certainly no exercise wheel but it was almost as good!
Three near-accidents later and they arrived at the apartment complex in record speed!
Nedzu stepped out of his car feeling incredibly refreshed. Yagi stumbled out and began the unenviable process of revisiting his lunch. Nedzu was patient enough to let the man finish up before they got moving.
"Really, Yagi." Nedzu commented as they ascended the stairs. "I've seen you jumping all over the city. My driving can't be nearly so disorienting."
"When I do it?" Yagi grumbled, one hand pressed against the void in his gut. "I'm in control. What you did was controlled chaos."
"But it -is- controlled!" Nedzu beamed, enjoying Yagi's discomfort. The chimera schooled his features to something a bit less malicious as he reached up and pressed the button for the intercom to the Midoriya household.
"...Hello?" A voice crackled through the old speaker. A woman's voice, Nedzu was sure. Certain tones and inflections just did not come through well when digitized.
"Mrs.Midoriya? It's Nedzu. I believe you were trying to contact me in regards to an update on your situation?" As much as the animal enjoyed teasing Yagi, he was here on actual business. At least one part of which involved a child that had been...
Well. Nedzu was no stranger to empathy. Even if he didn't have much to share with most people. Sympathy, certainly, he had that in abundance.
"Oh!" The woman's voice sounded delighted before she opened the door. Midoriya Inko, now that Nedzu could see the woman... Well, the difference was truly astounding. Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying but the stress lines around her face had lightened dramatically. Her posture, especially, had shifted. She stood straighter now rather than being hunched in on herself. "I wasn't expecting you so soon! Please, come in!"
Yagi, in his reduced form, took his shoes off at the door. Nedzu did so as well, revealing a set of comparatively minuscule paws that were usually well hidden within his drastically oversized orange sneakers.
"Nho~o!" A voice hissed from deeper into the apartment. "Heroes, you have vanquished me!"
"Yeah!" A young girl's voice shouted. "Nobody can stop Clock Girl and her sidekick, uh...?"
"Mighty Boy!" A young boy's voice chimed in, full of energy and enthusiasm.
The sight Nedzu found when he came into the living room was, well, incredibly unusual. A small black dragon covered in brilliant white spots was laying splayed out in between a couple of children. Both of whom were holding All Might action figures triumphantly over the creature as though they were weapons.
The girl had long white hair pulled back in a loose pony-tail and a tiny little horn on one side of her head. She wore a set of bright red overalls and had an astoundingly brilliant smile on her face.
The boy, presumably Midoriya Izuku, was wearing a very oversized shirt and equally overlarge pair of shorts held on by belt that was tightened well past the last hole it originally had.
"This would be our intrepid young man, wouldn't it?" Nedzu asked, delight in his voice. He may not care much for humans as a whole but children? Everything that had been done to him, it hadn't been enough to twist him that far.
"Woah!" The boy dropped his action figure on the miniature dragon, eliciting a squeaky 'Oof' from it before he rushed over to the Principal of U.A. "It's- You're Nedzu! The High-Specs Hero!"
"I am!" Nedzu preened, pleased as punch to be recognized. He wasn't exactly a frontline hero, after all. "But am I a dog? A mouse? A bear?"
"Possibly." The little dragon rolled over and stood to its feet. "Maybe. And definitely not. Of course, the most important thing you are... Is Nedzu."
"Very astute, Alec!" Nedzu grinned, at least as much as his face could. It was a bit difficult with his instincts screaming about being in the room with a large predator but he'd gotten control over such reactions years ago. "And I'm sure that you can guess as to why I'm here!"
Behind him, Yagi had frozen solid. Nedzu half turned to look at him and saw that the Symbol of Peace had his eyes locked on young Izuku, a haunted and stricken look on his face.
Well, as much as Nedzu didn't entirely disagree with what the man had said to the boy... All Might most definitely needed to learn such vital things such as tact, or the appropriate time and place to have such a frank discussion.
"Absolutely." Alec agreed, nodding to the two of them as he sat up. He was roughly the size of a small dog, perhaps a corgi, and thus was actually smaller than Nedzu himself. "Unfortunately I don't currently have the funds to donate to your school. If you could take me off your mailing list...?"
"Well, that is terribly unfortunate." Nedzu agreed solemnly, his tone failing to match the sharp grin on his face. "Especially because it's wrong!"
"No." Alec disagreed, the occupants in the room watching the two in confusion. "I checked my balance this morning. After I get food and a few books for Eri, I'll be back to flat broke."
"Ah, Eri?" Nedzu turned to look at the girl. The poor dear looked like she was barely holding back something. Perhaps she needed to use the restroom? For whatever reason, young humans found it difficult to communicate that. "I do apologize. I'd not meant to ignore you, I simply find your- Oh, thank you, Mrs.Midoriya."
Whatever he'd intended to say to the small child was interrupted when Inko stepped in from the kitchenette, a cup of tea in her hands. It wasn't a particularly expensive brand, basic green tea, but it wasn't filled with artificial flavorings or sugar. Nedzu had found it reasonably acceptable.
Nedzu took a long sip as he watched Yagi whisper something to Inko. She looked between the children, then Alec, finally to himself and then nodded.
"Izuku?" She asked, her voice filled with false cheer. "Why don't we go to your room and try to find something that fits a bit better. We have guests, after all."
The boy in question? Nedzu noted that his eyes were perhaps a bit too sharp for a young child. He looked between his mother and All Might before silently nodding and following along after her. All Might took up the rear, one guilty glance over his shoulder to the rat told Nedzu that the man was getting himself ready to do something extraordinarily difficult.
The chimera enjoyed another long sip of his tea as he met Alec's eyes in a clear challenge. The miniature dragon met him unflinchingly.
"...If you don't mind my asking, would you be willing to explain your answer in regards to myself?" Nedzu finally settled on, reaching for what seemed to be the easiest method of getting an extended answer from the shapeshifter.
"Well, several of your dimensions could be considered comparable with a rat or mouse." And Alec didn't seem opposed to answering. Really, Nedzu knew that most people overlooked the simplest answer of just asking what they wanted to know. "However that doesn't match entirely with your physical characteristics. Especially the tail. That shows more signs of being feline in expression, honestly, especially with how mobile it is. As for bear... Anyone who's ever seen an actual bear would be able to look at you and say that you don't fit. Unless we're talking about Koala bears but I somehow doubt even your Quirk could make up for those smooth-brained idiots deficits."
The dragon sighed for a moment, catching its breath though it never broke eye contact.
"Of course, that's just an observation on what you are. None of these answer the infinitely more crucial question of -Who- you are." The dragon tilted its head slightly, like a cat or a wolf looking at something interesting. "And who you are... Is Nedzu."
If the chimera hadn't had one paw full, he would have been clapping! It was a more philosophical answer than he normally got, extolling that a person was made up of their mind and their choices rather than their body. He quite enjoyed the idea that his personhood was determined not by a quirk of genetics but rather his ability to make choices.
Sadly it was something that Japanese law had disagreed on. Something he'd had to fight tooth and claw just to be recognized as something more than an oddity or property.
"Uh... Excuse me?" Eri spoke up. The girl had sidled up beside Alec but her eyes had been locked on Nedzu the entire time.
"Of course!" Nedzu spoke up, his enthusiasm masking the myriad of other emotions brought on by the stimuli in the apartment.
The hesitation he'd noticed in the girl's movements, it was more than just the anxiety of seeing a stranger. Something Nedzu was certain All Might had noticed, perhaps helping to push the man into what he was currently doing.
The rat had much more sensitive ears than a human. He could hear the man tearfully apologizing to young Izuku in the other room.
"Can... Can I..." She paused briefly and looked to Alec, who nodded to her. "Can I pet you?"
Nedzu blinked, tearing his gaze away from Alec to look into the girl's own red ones. His tail started to gently wag behind him.
"Please, feel free!"
