Chapter 19: Just Fine
Izuku woke up again feeling warm and cozy. With a big yawn, he sat up in bed, before abruptly remembering he was in the infirmary because two of his limbs got chomped by an alligator. His arm and leg didn't hurt at all, though.
After quickly opening his profile, Izuku confirmed his HP was full and that his exhaustion was nearly back down to zero. Both good things. It looked like he'd been fully healed now, thankfully. "Stats," he muttered.
VIT: 28, STR: 18, DEX: 20, INT: 43, WIS: 45, CHA: 22
Unallotted Stat Points: 10
Ten new stat points…
If he put seven points into INT to get back to fifty so he could unlock spellcasting, then he'd have three extra stat points to do what he wanted with. Maybe they could go into VIT? Or he could just save them?
He decided that he would wait until the end of the day before he put his stats back in order. While he didn't think he'd get any new quests, things weren't exactly back to usual yet, so it was possible a new quest would pop up that would change things.
Izuku, now remembering the events of the previous day (night?) quickly buried his head in his hands and groaned. What was he supposed to say now? He'd probably looked so suspicious! He didn't mean to, he'd just… froze. He hadn't been sure what to say.
Well, at least now he had some time to think about it.
Well, I can't just tell them nothing…
Maybe I need to tell them a half-truth? Like an interim truth until I know them better? But what half-truth would be both believable and something he could defend to Tsukauchi, who knew if he was telling the truth?
And, of course, the best lie wouldn't just explain his regeneration and Analysis, but would also explain other aspects of The Gamer as well, like spellcasting, in case he needed to use those too.
Part of a plan started to form.
The door creaked open. Recovery Girl again. "Ah, you're awake again. How are you feeling?"
"Good!" Izuku said. "Basically healed."
Recovery Girl ran him through a few post-injury questions and tests, most of them checking the functions of his arm and leg. They both looked fully healed, and Izuku didn't have any problems with mobility. "No scars, though I would have expected there to be some," Recovery Girl said, noting it down on her chart. "Though that might be part of your mystery-quirk, eh?"
Izuku flushed bright red.
"Don't worry too much about it," Recovery Girl advised. "Registering a quirk is technically the responsibility of the quirk physician, so it's not like you're really in trouble. But you are going to need to tell them, there's no getting around that."
"I get it," Izuku said, frowning.
"Don't look so down," Recovery Girl said, lightly chastising. "Telling them shouldn't be too big of a burden. They're your teachers. They'll do what's best for you."
Maybe it was true, but it was the wrong thing to say. Izuku had heard that before, but it never actually ended up applying to him, only to other kids. Her words just solidified Izuku's resolve to go forward with his alternate plan. "Okay," Izuku said. "What should I do now?"
"We have some regular clothes for you to change into," Recovery Girl said. "And Lunch Rush will get you something to eat. Meanwhile, we'll call your parents. You'll need to talk to the police at some point, too, but that doesn't have to be today."
Izuku nodded. "Okay. So… I'll just go change?" He was in hospital gowns right now, which made some sense considering the likely state of his blood-soaked outfit. Ah, I'll have to get a new costume then. It was a shame that the one mom made was destroyed that way...
"I'll call the number for your guardian in the meantime, dear," she said.
Izuku nodded, though a lump formed in his throat. He really didn't want Nedzu or Tsukauchi to bring up his weird regeneration in front of his mom, which meant he was going to have to enact his plan fast if he wanted to avoid that coming up during the meeting.
He quickly changed in the bathroom, and by the time he went outside, Recovery Girl was on the phone in the corner, and while he was gone Nedzu and Tsukauchi had both arrived and sat in the waiting room. Izuku felt a brief flash of surprise with how fast they'd gotten there. Maybe Tsukauchi was already at UA for the investigation, either that or he'd been waiting for Izuku to wake up.
Izuku gave them both an awkward look. "Ah," he said, by way of greeting.
"Hello, Midoriya," Tsukauchi said, giving a wave.
They don't look angry, which is good.
Hmph… I really don't want to say anything right now, let alone anything related to the truth, but mom is on her way, so I need to make this quick if I want to finish this conversation before she gets here.
"My quirk," Izuku said, and both Nedzu and Tsukauchi turned to look at him. He forced himself to keep talking. "My quirk… you really have to know?"
Nedzu just nodded.
I'm sorry I can't tell you everything right now, Izuku thought. I'll ease you in. If you really deserve to know the truth, I'll tell you the rest later.
"I get a new ability every time I almost die," Izuku said.
"True, " Tsukauchi said.
And it was. Emergency quests always showed up whenever he was in life-threatening danger, and they always came with new titles and new skills! Therefore, he got all sorts of new abilities whenever he almost died, making his statement true.
And of course, as a bonus, this meant he could justify almost any new ability so long as he said that he almost died getting it.
"It's part of my quirk," Izuku said, truthfully. "I've almost died multiple times now. I have lots of abilities, but technically speaking I only have one quirk."
Tsukauchi nodded in confirmation. At that, Nedzu's face changed from seriousness into what looked like understanding and relief. "A quirk that gives you new powers after every near-death experience… Midoriya, what abilities do you have right now?"
"Um, I can tell someone's name and quirk, plus the intelligence boost, which is what I have registered as Analysis," Izuku said. "I can also regenerate. I'm also resistant to acids and poisons and stuff."
"So the amount of near death experiences you've had… " Tsukauchi started.
"Three," Izuku said. "Almost getting killed by that slime villain before All Might saved me, almost dying because of toxic gas, and then at the USJ."
"I imagine the Poison Resistance corresponds with the toxic gas," Nedzu murmured.
"It does," Izuku said. "After surviving that attack, I could resist poison."
"Attack?" Tsukauchi said, frowning. "It wasn't an accident?"
"Well. Um. I mean, it was sort of an accident. I mean, like, they meant to attack me, but the part with toxic gas where I almost died was not on purpose," Izuku rushed to explain, mostly telling the truth because of Tsukauchi's Lie-Detector.
"...Huh," Tsukauchi said. "Do you… want to elaborate on that?"
"Not really," Izuku said, also truthfully.
"So Analysis after the slime villain, and regeneration with the USJ attack," Nedzu murmured to himself. "Interesting."
"We'll have to update his quirk registry," Recovery Girl said, setting down her phone. "His mother's on her way, just so you know."
"Good," Nedzu said, nodding. "But I'm not so sure about the quirk registry part. At least not right away."
"Wait," Izuku said. "We don't update my quirk registry?"
"I'll explain my reasoning," Nedzu said. "Firstly, you need to know that your quirk physician was arrested around six PM last night."
"What?" Izuku said. "Wait, why did he get arrested?"
Nedzu grimaced. "He was involved in quirk experimentation."
Izuku felt his stomach drop. Experimenting on humans was highly illegal, of course, but since animals so rarely manifested quirks… well, the law didn't stop some. "So why does that stop me from getting my quirk registered?"
"We arrested him, but not everyone he was working with," Nedzu explained. "We're worried he might have mentioned you. If you come out with a new and interesting quirk, I'm worried you might attract negative attention from his… colleagues."
"Oh," Izuku said. He felt a little bit like he'd had ice dumped over his head. "So that's why you wanted to know if I told him everything about my quirk earlier. Was it good that I lied to him?"
"Quite so, it was a very wise decision-" Nedzu started, but after receiving a stern glare from Recovery Girl, quickly added, "-not that I approve of lying to medical professionals!"
Izuku's regret over lying about his quirk began to slowly evaporate. So it's a good thing that I'm not telling people, he thought. I've run into at least one person who was really dangerous in the past who I risked telling. I mean, I still feel bad about hiding it from these people, but… less bad.
"We might want to wait a little bit until we've caught the people he was working with, or at least until things settle down a little," Nedzu said.
Tsukauchi gave a considering but skeptical hum. "I agree, but I would recommend registering it by the end of this semester," Tsukauchi said. "You're supposed to document any major changes in your quirk fairly soon. Within half a year is reasonable, but any longer than that and it would be my duty as a police officer to say something."
"Okay, then," Izuku said, since Tsukauchi and Nedzu's opinions on the subject both sounded pretty reasonable. "We can register it when the semester ends."
"Alright," Recovery Girl said, shrugging. "At least we've got that figured out."
Looks like it worked! Now, if I almost die again, I can just say I manifested spells from that! I mean, I'd have to almost die again, but still…
"That's certainly unique," Tsukauchi said.
Nedzu checked something on his phone, then said, "Ah, Midoriya, your mother is here! I'm going to go let her in."
"Sure," Tsukauchi said. "Midoriya, want to come with me to the meeting room?"
"Oh! Wait, one last question," Izuku said. "Nedzu, what kind of soup did I have?"
"Lunch Rush made it! Why?" Nedzu said.
"It made me regenerate a lot," Izuku said. "I was just wondering."
"Ah, interesting," Nedzu said. "That could be helpful if you're injured in the future."
Izuku agreed with that assessment. He'd never had any problem with being healed so highly by soup before, only ever vegetables, so it hadn't even crossed his mind to worry that it was a problem. Just his luck he'd get weirdly effective soup.
Maybe Lunch Rush was just especially good at making it? Now that he thought of it, he was keen to use Observe on the soup at some point in the future.
"Okay," Izuku said. "I'll come." With Izuku's question answered, the group split up. He said good-bye to Recovery Girl on the way out, Nedzu went towards the school's entrance, and Tsukauchi escorted him through the halls.
"So, Midoriya," Tsukauchi said. "I actually wanted to ask you something too."
Izuku swallowed, a bit nervous. "What?"
"Did you tell me everything about your quirk?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Um-" think fast, Izuku, "Everything you need to know," Izuku said, nodding and trying to sound confident.
Tsukauchi, though, having years of experience of people trying to dodge his questions, didn't fall for it."'Everything I need to know' is not the same as everything," Tsukauchi said.
There was a brief silence.
"I did tell you the truth," Izuku said, after a few moments, trying to suppress the maw of fear opening up in his belly. "There's just a little more to my quirk than I said! I figured I'd go in steps. Start with some of what my quirk does, and tell you more about the rest later. That way you'd actually believe me!"
"Hm. I understand your reasoning," Tsukauchi said. "But it wasn't a very good idea. What if Nedzu and I had wanted to register your quirk right away? We'd have registered it wrong."
"I could have changed it later," Izuku said. "People update their registries all the time."
"Most registry staff only accept one or two major changes after initial registration," Tsukauchi said. "You would have gotten a little more freedom with it, since your quirk physician was arrested for malpractice, but it's still an unnecessary risk. What if you'd been stuck with the wrong quirk description?"
Izuku fumbled a little over his words. What Tsukauchi said was a legitimate point, but Izuku still strongly believed that he'd done the right thing to protect himself. "Well, maybe," Izuku admitted. "But it was still the right thing to do. My quirk physician was experimenting on people and I was probably next," Izuku said. "What would have happened if he knew what my quirk actually was?"
Tsukauchi frowned deeply. "I suppose, but that shouldn't have happened. The likelihood of your doctor being a serial killer… is normally very low."
"It still happened," Izuku muttered. "Sometimes secrecy is the best option if you're not sure it's safe to tell someone. And I'm not sure."
Tsukauchi sighed at that. "Tell you what," he said. "Keep your secrets for now. But…" He dug through his pocket and handed Izuku a business card, one embossed with Tsukauchi's number. "For when you realize it's safe to tell. If you ever want to tell the truth, call me, and I'll back you up."
[ALERT: HEROICS QUEST ACTIVATION!]
Heroics Quest: Test of Truth
Goal: Tell Nedzu and Tsukauchi the truth about The GamerREWARDS: +3000XP, Title "Lion-Heart"
[Alert! This quest has a time limit!]
Time Remaining: 4 months, 3 weeks, 1 day
Izuku had never encountered a time limit in his quirk before, but he could guess what it meant in this scenario. The time limit is the end of the semester, Izuku thought. The quest wants me to tell Nedzu and Tsukauchi the truth before then. Before my quirk gets registered.
"I…" Izuku looked up at Tsukauchi, still caught off-guard by the quest. "Thank you."
"I'll be waiting," Tsukauchi said, with a simple nod.
Izuku had a lot to think about. Both the quest, and what Tsukauchi had said.
The two arrived at a small meeting room not long after.
Already sitting at the table were Aizwa and another man, whose head was a cat and who was dressed in a police uniform. His name tag said Sansa, and Izuku guessed this was one of the police officers he was going to be talking to.
Aizawa drew his attention more than Sansa, though, because Aizwa looked different than what he normally did. His hair, rather than being long like it had before, was now chopped short, not even long enough to reach his ears. He probably had been forced to get it cut after the conflagration zone set it on fire. Underneath his capture weapon, Izuku could see white bandages layered on his neck, probably from the burns. His hands, though without bandages, had pale white burn scars running across his palms.
Izuku wasn't happy to see the scars, but the ones on his hands weren't too noticeable at least, and Aizawa seemed well overall.
"It's good to see you, Aizawa-sensei," Izuku said. "I'm glad you're okay."
Aizawa nodded in response. "I'm fine."
The door behind them opened, revealing Nedzu and his mom, Inko.
"Oh, you're okay!" she said, rushing over and squeezing him in a hug. "I was so worried about you when I'd heard--villains attacking?! It just seems unbelievable--"
"I'm fine, mom!" Izuku said. "Recovery Girl healed me pretty fast! You just had to wait for me to be done sleeping."
"I'm glad you're done sleeping now," she said, inconspicuously wiping away unshed tears. "So what was everyone saying about questioning?"
"A few of the perpetrators escaped," Nedzu explained. "We were hoping he would be willing to talk with our police detective and tell us about what happened, so we have more information to go off of. Considering your son's quirk…"
"I see," Inko said. "Izuku, are you feeling up to it? We could always wait."
"No, let's do this now," Izuku said. "I'm ready." Best to get it over with.
"Would that be fine with you, Ms. Midoriya?" Nedzu asked.
"Yes, I believe it would," she said, sitting down at the meeting chairs. Nedzu and Tskauchi followed suit, sitting down in meeting chairs next to Aizawa and Sansa.
"Alright, let's start then," Tsukauchi said. "Midoriya, can you explain to me what happened after the villains arrived?"
The first part of his explanation went pretty well. Sort of. While he tried to downplay it, Izuku did have to admit going towards the center to get a look at the leaders of the attack. His mother was horrified, which made him feel bad, and Aizawa actually looked a little upset too.
"What part of stay put and hide did you not understand?" he asked, exasperated.
"Um," Izuku said. "Sorry? I was mostly trying to go towards the entrance and since it was… on the way… "
Aizawa gave him a look that said we'll be talking about this later.
Midoriya did not want to talk about this later.
"Midoriya," Tsukauchi said, graciously intervening on his behalf, "So when you got closer, did you notice the leaders' names and quirks?"
"I did, actually," Izuku said.
At that, Aizawa's eyes widened slightly, while Nedzu simply broke into a grin.
"So who were they?" Tsukauchi asked.
"So you know the one who was ordering everyone around, he had a hand on his face?" Izuku said. "I got two names from him, Shigaraki Tomura and Shimura Tenko. I think one of them might have been an alias. His quirk was called Decay."
Something strange happened while Izuku explained this. While Sansa and Aizawa didn't react, upon hearing the name Shimura Tenko, Tsukauchi and Nedzu exchanged a strange glance.
"Do you think it's related to--" Tsukauchi asked Nedzu.
"I don't know," Nedzu said. "We'll have to come back to it later."
"Do you know who he is?" Izuku asked, frowning.
"Ah, one of the last names is familiar, but it may simply be a coincidence," Nedzu said. "Continue. Did you get any other names?"
"The second guy standing right next to him," Izuku said. "The mist villain who could teleport."
Tsukauchi said perked up a little. "We were struggling to find someone with a quirk like his in the Database. His name would be very useful."
"But there was something else about him," Izuku explained. "The Analysis part of my quirk also lets me see if someone is under quirk effects.I didn't know about that for a while… since I haven't really seen many people under the effects of quirks, but I could tell this guy was definitely affected by them."
"What quirks?" Tsukauchi asked, dutifully noting down what Izuku was saying.
"Mind-weakening, control, brainwashing," Izuku said. "And one other. I forget the last one, but it was definitely four mind control related quirks. I don't think he did this willingly."
"Interesting," Nedzu said to himself. "I suppose… with a quirk so versatile… yes, I can see these villains wanting to recruit him… what was his name and quirk?"
"His quirk was Warp Gate, but I got two names from him too," Izuku said. "Kurogiri, and Shirakumo Oboro."
"I see," Tsukauchi said, obliviously writing that down, but the moment those words came out of Izuku's mouth, Aizawa's face twisted, and Nedzu's posture suddenly grew stiff. Neither of them spoke, but something was wrong.
"Um… did I say anything wrong?" Izuku asked in the face of their silence.
"Midoriya," Aizawa said. "If this is some kind of joke, it isn't appreciated."
"I'm not joking," Izuku said.
"Midoriya, I just said it wasn't funny," Aizawa said.
"I'm serious, his name was Oboro!" Izuku said, a bit desperate.
"Shirakumo Oboro is dead!" Aizawa snapped, voice just short of a shout. His hands trembled, and his eyes blazed with fury.
For another moment, no one spoke.
"Aizawa," Nedzu said quietly. "Take a walk."
Aizawa swallowed, and gave a quick nod. He left the room brusquely.
Dread formed in Izuku's stomach as Aizawa left.
"...What was that about?" Midoriya Inko wondered aloud, and Izuku couldn't help but wonder too.
"Shirakumo Oboro was someone he used to know," Nedzu said, lips twitching downward.
Izuku abruptly remembered that Aizawa had said Shirakumo was dead, and that Nedzu had not contradicted him. Had he thought Izuku was taking part in some kind of morbid prank?
"M-maybe it's a different Shirakumo!" Izuku said quickly. "Or it might just be an alias, so maybe he went by Shirakumo at some point, but he's not actually him!"
"All those things are possible," Nedzu said. "But do not worry. We'll find Kurogiri and get the truth--and hopefully rescue and rehabilitate if possible, considering what you said about him being trapped under mind control."
Izuku nodded, thankful. He glanced back at his mom to check her reaction. Part of him expected her to be perturbed by Aizawa's strange behavior, but she seemed to be brushing it off quite well. Izuku probably should have anticipated that. While most of his teachers had been at least polite, he'd had a few act much angrier than that at him for less. It wasn't exactly new for his mom, really.
"Is he going to be upset with me for bringing up that name?" Izuku asked.
Nedzu shook his head. "No. I imagine he'll be much more upset with the villains impersonating Shirakumo than you," Nedzu said.
"Ah... alright," Izuku said.
"Did you get any other names?" Tsukauchi said.
"The guy with the alligator quirk who bit my arm was called Taniguchi, but besides that, no," Izuku said, and the interrogation moved on.
He could have been lying, but... no. Tsukauchi didn't even blink. He immediately agreed with Midoriya's assessment, meaning he really did see the name Shirakumo Oboro.
Aizawa sat at a desk, thinking, staring into space.
What could that mean?
"Hey Shouta! Something wrong? You look down!" Hizashi asked, with a beaming smile.
"No... no, everything is fine, Hizashi," Aizawa murmured. "Just fine."