Chapter 288 - 35

Chapter 35: The Calm Before Part 1

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

It was't often that All Might was caught completely unawares and flat footed. He prided himself on being able to know what was going on around him. However, even with all his years as a hero under his belt he, nor were any of the other teachers in the room, ready for Himiko to look him dead in the eye and say, "Are you sure you wouldn't be more comfy if you relaxed a little? No reason for you to be all bulked up for a little meeting like this right?"

Midnight almost dropped her notepad while Aizawa made an annoyed sigh. Nezu chuckled but hid it behind a paw. All Might shifted uncomfortably as the scheduled meeting, to go over everything that had happened to Himiko the past few day, was derailed, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean Young To-"

"I freaking live here and you 'sneak'," Himiko made sure she used the most aggressive air quotes she could, "around in the same horrible yellow suit when you're tiny that you stomp around in when you're big."

All Might looked over at his fellow teachers for help, but none seemed to have any idea how to help him. Defeated and then deflated, All Might sighed, "It's not an ugly suit." He knew Himiko knew about One for All, so he shouldn't have been surprised that she also knew about his shrunken form. Maybe he had hoped she had learned about it from Izuku when they had talked, but from the sounds of it, that little detail had gotten out because of no one else but him.

Midnight waved her hand, making a 'so so' gesture. "It is a tad gaudy."

Himiko rolled her eyes, "It's brighter than his freaking hero costume," which got a chuckle from Midnight. "I mean would it kill you to wear some decent clothes? You need help."

Aizawa cleared his throat, "Maybe we should focus on what this meeting is supposed to be about and not focus on All Might's fashion sense."

"Or lack thereof," Both Himiko and Midnight said at the same time.

"I'll have you two know," All Might said. Pointing at the snickering hero and student, "That I've had quite the nightlife wearing that brand of suit! The ladies love it!"

Himiko leaned forward, a devious smile on her face, "Oh? And how's it working with Inko?"

All Might froze while Midnight sat at attention at the mention of some juicy gossip, "Inko? Who's that?"

"Izuku's mom."

Midnight's jaw dropped as she looked at All Might, who was sweating, "You're not!"

"I AM NOT COURTING YOUNG MIDORIYA'S MOTHER!"

"Bull. Fucking. Shit. I saw you after the sports festival. You were embarrassing to watch. It's like you've never been laid."

"Moving on!" Aizawa growled out, not wanting to hear any of what was coming, "We're here to go over everything that happened to you this past week. We have the official reports but we need to hear from you, Toga. Your point of view on the matters and how you feel about them."

"Normally," Nezu stepped in, "you've had sessions with Midnight to go over your progress and to gauge how you've been. However, considering the scope of everything and that we teachers were forced to get directly involved, I thought it best that more of us be here to hear you."

Himiko glanced over at Aizawa. "That's why he's here, I take it. Since he's my homeroom teacher he sees me more than anyone else besides Midnight over here."

"That's correct. Aizawa was always supposed to take a more active role in your rehabilitation and hero training, once Midnight felt you were ready to have him step in. Which, from her last assessment of you, she feels you are."

Himiko nodded. "And you're here because?"

"Why, I'm the principal of course."

Himiko rolled her eyes. "Riiiight."

"Of course I assure you that your privacy and confidence will be kept even with more of us than your normal talks. But if there are certain matters you don't feel comfortable sharing, private matters, you are of course free to share them with Midnight as normal after this. She is still your counselor and will work with you and ensure your right to patient confidentiality ."

"Within reason," Himiko added. Not angrily. She was simply stating a fact. She knew Midnight reported to Nezu, and that Nezu distributed this info to the other teachers and probably the police and Hero Commission as well when it was necessary.

Nezu nodded. "Within reason."

All Might rubbed his chin. "I am curious why I was asked to be here. Midnight, Aizawa and you, Principal, I can understand. But me?"

All Might was a little surprised when the three looked over at Himiko, who just shrugged, "I asked that you be included. You're my heroics teacher. Going forward, both you and Aizawa will be two teachers I deal with here in U.A. So I figured if Aizawa was getting brought in, you should too."

That, All Might thought, is actually a logical and believable explanation.

Midnight crossed her arms, "You sure it wasn't just so you could brag about finding out All Might's secret?"

The smile that split Himiko's face was anything but innocent.

Midnight groaned while Aizawa rubbed his brow at Himiko's supposed childish game.

"If we're ready to begin, classes start back up tomorrow and I'd rather not be half asleep during lessons because I was kept up late in a meeting," Aizawa said, ignoring the looks he was getting.

Half asleep, he says.

The meeting went on for some time. At first the heroes had tried to be delicate with their questions as they were aware that Himiko had been through a lot. Add onto it her already questionable stability and they didn't want to give her a reason to become agitated. The how's and why's that led up to the event in Hosu City were covered quickly enough. Himiko did have some choice words for Tenya's actions and the fact that his teachers weren't able to realize what Tenya had planned, but she ultimately laid the blame on the Hero Commission and their decisions that led to his brother getting hurt. Aizawa conceded that missing just how dedicated Tenya was at getting justice for his brother was the staff's fault, but each individual present that night was responsible for their own actions. Himiko's group of friends were lucky that an official story was created by the police and that the group had agreed. Otherwise there would have been consequences.

Nezu quickly stepped in and reminded the group that per the agreement, Himiko, Izuku, Shouto, Ochako and Tenya were the only students that were aware of the true story, and that besides themselves and a select few staff that were at the hospital because of the incident, no one else at the school knew the real story, or could be allowed to know it either. Once this meeting was over, the real event should not be discussed if at all possible. Nor was it to be used against the five students if they happen to get in trouble for whatever reason.

Soon after the last two issues that the teachers wanted to discuss were brought up; the fallout of the fight with Stain and Himiko's encounters with the police and Tartarus. Though by this point, Himiko had become very disinterested in the meeting as was busy typing away on her phone. While Aizawa was clearly annoyed, Midnight carried on as if everything was normal and encouraged him to as well, keeping this from becoming an issue. Himiko didn't hold back when talking about the police and Tartarus. Her language got to the point that the meeting was paused so that Midnight could fetch some blood packs for Himiko to drink so she would calm down. Midnight had made sure to grab one from the batch that Izuku and Ochako had donated from. When questioning continued, Himiko stated that during the first encounter, while she had maybe not been the most polite to the group she had run into, she had ultimately agree to accompany them back to their headquarters so that the issues could be squared away. After a pause she admitted this was more so she could force Tenya to come with her and get him off the streets for another night.

All Might confirmed Himiko's story. Bringing up he had talked with his friend, Detective Tsukauchi, and had been told that before the attack Himiko had agreed to come with him for questioning and to ensure she had been telling the truth as to why she was in the same city as Stain. Nezu made sure to commend Himiko for having agreed to accompany the police and Tartarus. It made the actions of Tartarus afterwards even more egregious and with the added official statement from the police, was going to make his case against them to the Hero Commission even more of a slam shut case.

"You going to throw the book at them?" Himiko had asked, hopefully.

"I'm going to throw a whole library."

Himiko liked that a lot.

After that, when the subject moved to the fallout from the attack, Himiko still answered the teacher's questions, though her flippant responses from before were much more muted. Especially when dealing with the resulting injuries. For herself and the others.

More than once, the teachers caught Himiko playing with her eye patch when talking about herself. Even though she had assured everyone she didn't consider the loss of her eye that big of a deal. She had already adjusted, for the most part, to the blind spot she now had in her vision. Though Nezu was insistent that Himiko take some time after regular classes to make sure she was as capable as she thought she was. Some target practice with Ectoplasm was agreed upon soon after. It was when she talked about her friends' injuries that she became unusually quiet. Ochako and Shouto had gotten away with little to no injuries. Tenya's injuries had needed some extra work and she was at least glad to hear he had gone in for the procedure to get his arm worked on. Aizawa agreed with her that allowing the injury to remain would have been foolish. When Izuku was brought up though, Himiko paused at what she was typing on her phone. She shuddered at the memory. Made worse because most of the injuries he had suffered he had done to himself trying to save everyone from Stain.

"Can we agree that Izuku isn't fucking normal? Like what he does to himself constantly isn't fucking normal right? And now he has all new ways," Himiko glanced over at All Might, "to hurt himself."

"The issues with Young Midoriya are going to be addressed. By me." All Might said, "So you don't have to worry on that front."

Himiko didn't look exactly convinced but she moved on. "And what about the other issue from that night? The fact that the fucking League of Villains tried to kidnap him?"

Nezu leaned forward, "The League's attack and apparent partnership with Stain was a shock, but I think it shows they don't have the force they had originally. The Nomus, while dangerous, were nowhere near as strong as the one that attacked the school. Also it was only Nomus that were used, no one else. I don't think this was a planned attack, it was too costly. Shigaraki also was nowhere to be seen so he must still be recovering. As for Midoriya, he was extremely injured at the time. That event was most likely an impromptu attempt spurred on by the convenience of the situation."

"It is concerning that it was even tried," Aizawa said with a frown. "Given Midoriya's past action against the League, it's possible that Shigaraki could hold a grudge against him."

"Maybe you should just move him here with me," Himiko suggested, not even bothering to hide the smile and blush at the idea of having twenty four hour availability to Izuku if he was on campus all the time. Though her idea wasn't just spawned from her own desires. "Or maybe the whole family while you're at it."

Nezu rubbed his chin, "The idea has merit, but I don't think we are at that point yet. As was said, the last attempt was made when Midoriya was critically injured. Since All Might is planning to ensure such occurences don't happen again, there shouldn't be an issue."

Midnight rolled her eyes. "Don't try and hide the real reason you want Midoriya here. I see that smile of yours."

Himiko smirked. "What? Worried I might get a little bold?"

All Might laughed softly. "Any bolder and you'll kill the poor boy." All Might was aware HImiko had eyes for Izuku. He also knew Izuku was perhaps just a bit too innocent for anything Himiko came up with.

"I dunno, he handled that kiss I gave him pretty well before Ochako left."

There was a pause before All Might almost fell out of his seat and Midnight whirled around to look at Himiko who was smiling and blushing as she typed on her phone. "What- hold on. You kissed him?"

"Yup. And then I told him I loved him."

Holy crap, All Might thought.

"That's…" Midnight began, "rather bold of you. Considering last we talked you didn't think he was ready for that kind of stuff."

Aizawa groaned and rubbed his forehead, "Getting off topic here…"

Himiko ignored him. "After the shit we went through I decided that keeping my feelings a secret wasn't going to work anymore. I needed to tell him and I think he needed to hear it." Midnight and All Might blinked at that last part.

"Didn't you three then kinda form your own team before she left?" Midnight asked.

"Green Tea Rescue? Yeah."

Midnight frowned, a slight worry creeping up that now that Himiko had made a move behind Ochako's back after they had formed their group that there could be trouble on the horizon.

Himiko saw the worried look and laughed. "You're worried I'm backstabbing Ochako, aren't you?"

"Maybe we should discuss this in private, Toga," Midnight suggested, unsure if this was really the time for Himiko to be airing out these kinds of things.

"Please," Aizawa groaned again.

Himiko waved her off. "It's fine. I told Ochako I was in love with her too and we made out."

This time All Might did fall out of his seat.

With the meeting now more or less over, and the teachers secure in their opinion that Himiko had not done anything to instigate Tartarus's actions or had done anything that would warrant a breach in her original deal with the school, Midnight put down her notes and glanced over at Himiko. Who was still typing away on her phone. "Toga, what have you been doing on your phone anyway?"

"Group message to my friends."

Aizawa huffed while All Might gave a small chuckle, "You've been going at it for a while. You must practically have a small novel there by now."

Himiko shrugged. "Well I have a lot of shit I have to confess to and explain."

The teachers froze, except for Nezu who remained calm. "And what exactly are you confessing?"

"Why I was living on the streets, my time with Stain and all the people I've killed."

"Ho-hold on a second! You're not serious!" Midnight asked in alarm. Himiko held up her phone so Midnight could see what she had been writing. "Holy… you are serious."

Aizawa frowned. "Delete that immediately."

Himiko glared at Aizawa. "Most of my friends already know about me. At this point, keeping it a secret from the rest of them is going to do more harm than good. I'm pretty much convinced it's going to get out. I'd rather it come from me than some random whistle blower with a chip on his shoulder against the establishment. Or a rouge police officer that thinks this will help get me locked up." Himiko noticed the deep frowns on the teachers faces. "I have two law enformcent agencies that fucking hate me and one of them tried to rip me out of my hospital bed so they could lock me up. You really think it's a stretch that they won't leak my story as an anonymous source?"

Following Himiko's reasoning there was an uncomfortable chill throughout the room. The gag orders that were in place should prevent such situations from happening. But now that there was friction between the Hero Commision and U.A. against Tatarus, the idea was a lot more possible than anyone was comfortable with. Nezu however was still calm. "I was wondering if you were going to move forward with telling the rest of your friends. Though I wasn't expecting you to try it with a text message."

Himiko shrugged. "Didn't want to lose my nerve by waiting… Wait? You were expecting me to talk? Even if I'm not supposed to."

All Might rubbed his chin. "The others were already figuring it out because of the whole Hosu City incident. Because of the official story covering up that night, the others' learning could be brushed away with that as well. This, though…"

"Technically," Nezu began, "The gag order keeps us from talking to outside organizations, the press and individuals generally outside the sphere on influence of the Hero Commission. As her friends are students of U.A. they could be considered a party that is allowed to be told the truth about Toga."

Four sets of eyes turned to look at Nezu. Aizawa crossed his arms. "It sounds like you've been ready for this kind of situation."

Nezu smiled, which Himiko still found super unsettling. "My hope was always that Toga would come to see the school and the students as her home. To build a level of trust with others that she could be open with her rehabilitation. I will admit I imagined this taking much much longer to happen but well. Here we are."

Himiko tilted her head to the side. "Soooo, I can send this then?"

"I'd rather you didn't." Himiko frowned but Nezu continued, "I think sending this kind of info in a text isn't the right call. I appreciate your desire to do so before you lose your nerve but I believe hearing your story directly from you and a few teachers will help with everything. Remember, your other friends were with you when a lot of horrible events were taking place, so they were already inclined to side with you. Shinsou, Asui and Hatsume are completely out of the loop and could react very differently because of that."

Himiko glanced down at her phone. "That… makes sense, I guess."

"Also a message like that the night internships end is also not great timing. Nor do I think tomorrow would be good as well. Everyone will be unwinding and getting back into a rhythm. I would suggest you tell them the day after tomorrow." Himiko was about to say that wasn't such a bad idea but Nezu continued, "And I'd wonder if you would like to inform the rest of your class."

Midnight looked alarmed. "Wait- you want to inform the whole of 1-A?"

Nezu nodded. "I admit, Toga's concerns aren't without merit. I fear her story is going to get out sooner than any of us would like. Given that, I think we need to control the narrative as best we can and we can do that through select controlled releases. 1-A has been through a lot given their run in with the League of Villains and that has helped form strong bonds between them that would have taken much longer to create. I'd like to take advantage of that."

Aizawa could see the logic behind it. "So have the remaining friends and the rest of the class hear from Toga and the school. That could work. Though they would need to know ahead of time this is not information they can simply spread around without consequences."

"They will be told beforehand that this is a meeting where they must agree to the gag order first before learning anything. It's not completely unheard of for heroes to sign NDAs or to be ordered to remain silent about ongoing investigations. This could be used as an example of something they may face as professionals. That is if you are open to this idea, Toga."

Himiko leaned back in her chair as she thought about this. There were a lot of potential ways everything could go south. She was going to go in front of her class and admit she was a killer. Yes, the teachers would be able to spin it for her. They'd even bring up that her kills were not against civilians but other street villains. They could bring up her rehabilitation and all of that, but in the end, it was a fact she had killed people. Still at this point, after what she had seen, this was probably the best choice. "I agree to the plan, on one condition. I am the one to tell the rest of my friends. Izuku, Ochako and the rest that were with me… I want them there for it when I do. Then you can take over and do a class meeting or something."

Nezu found that an acceptable idea. "I will send out a message to your friends, requesting that they meet in my office before classes start the day after tomorrow and letting them know they will hear about a meeting from Aizawa in the morning. I'll also make sure that for the time being they should not talk about the text or meeting until it happens."

When no one objected, Nezu clapped his paws together. "Excellent. Then I think I'm going to give the lawyers a call so they can get all the paperwork ready for everyone to sign."

"Mom… There's something I need to talk to you about."

Inko looked up from her dinner and over at Izuku, who was poking at the last few bites of his meal. After a very emotional homecoming, which the tenants below were still drying out from after the tidal wave of tears that ripped through their apartments, Inko had noticed that Izuku had seemed a little nervous around her. He played with Eri while she cooked dinner but whenever she asked if he was okay, he got cagey and talked around the subject. She was almost worried she was going to have to call Ochako to understand just what was going on with her son.

She knew he had gotten hurt. She had been called about it when Izuku had been brought to the hospital and had been updated on his recovery. When All Might himself had dropped Izuku off he had gone over their time in the hospital and praised how brave her son had been during a very trying evening. He had then made a hurried exit. Saying he had some teacher work to get through before classes started. Which was unfortunate because Inko had some choice words for the teacher that was supposed to be keeping her son out of the hospital. All in all, Inko thought she had a pretty good grasp over everything.

At least the official story.

"Of course Izuku. What is it? Are you feeling alright?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, I'm… fine."

It wasn't a total lie. Overall Izuku was fine. Physically he was completely recovered. Mentally? He was still working a few things out. His feelings for Ochako were at the forefront of his mind now that he was home. Then of course there was his talk with Himiko and her confessing her feelings for him. Those two things had him all mixed up and would take some time to figure out. Tonight, however, Izuku had a more pressing issue.

His new Quirk: Boric Pyre.

A Quirk that was, more or less, his father's.

Izuku had promised that once he had returned home he would call his father to try and learn what he could about his new Quirk. That was what he was supposed to do, but the moment he had returned home, he kept thinking up excuses and reasons to put it off.

"Izuku?"

Brought out of his thoughts, Izuku rubbed his head nervously. "Sorry mom. I guess this feels kinda tricky… to talk about. It's been a busy week."

"Trickier than me having to get a call from your school nurse telling me that you were in the hospital again?"

"I mean no… Maybe? I'm not sure."

Eri from her seat looked from Izuku to Inko. Eyes wide as she gasped, "Oh oh! Mrs. Midoriya! Is this 'the talk' you and the loud blonde lady were talking about when Izuku was gone? When we went to have lunch?"

Izuku blinked. "Huh?"

Inko however waved her hands about as she tried to get Eri to not say anything else. "No no no! That was a private talk between adults, Eri."

Eri tilted her head to the side. "But you were talking about Izuku and Ochako. And how you hoped that they had protection, which is silly because they have their costumes. But if they didn't you were going-"

Inko made a mad dash for the kitchen and grabbed a candied apple out of the fridge and gave it to Eri. "Here you go. Why don't you go watch a little tv before bed?"

Eri took the apple with a smile and began eating it with gusto, completely forgetting what she had been talking about. Izuku blinked a few times and asked, "Loud blonde lady?"

"I took Eri with me when I went to visit Mitsuki and Masaru for lunch."

"Kacchan's parents? Oh."

Thinking about it, Izuku could recall that his and Katsuki's moms always used to hang out, though that happened less and less as his and Katsuki's relationship soured.

I wonder what exactly they were talking about?

Inko, seeing Izuku was thinking about things she didn't want him to, quickly moved to get back to the original subject. "So Izuku. What exactly did you want to tell me?"

"Oh… right." Izuku shifted in his seat, "So… You know how I got… hurt this last week." Inko nodded so Izuku continued, "Well something else happened too."

Inko watched Izuku closely. Easily able to tell this subject was making him uncomfortable. She was trying to think about everything she knew about to try and guess what was bothering her son, Wait… Does he not know I know about…

"Mom, I have a fire breath Quirk now."

"Is this about your new fire breath Quirk?"

Both Izuku and Inko spoke at the same time and Izuku's eyes bulged. "Wait?! You know?"

"Izuku, I was getting regular updates from your school's nurse about everything. They told me about that during the first phone call."

"Oh… Yeah that actually makes sense…" Izuku scratched at his neck. "I probably should have thought about that."

Thinking back, Izuku replayed the past few hours since he got home and now knowing that his mom knew about his new Quirk, tried to think if he noticed her acting at all strange. Which he couldn't. From the moment he was home she had just acted like his mom.

Inko could see the gears turning in Izuku's head, "Were you worried about me knowing about your new Quirk?"

"I mean… kinda."

"Why?"

Izuku looked away, "I mean… I didn't want you thinking I was more like…"

Inko filled in the last unsaid word.

Father.

Immediately Inko was out of her chair and was enveloping Izuku in a tight hug, "Izuku. I don't want you to ever worry about something like that. You are a kind and caring person. Just because your Quirks are similar doesn't mean the two of you are." Pulling away Inko smiled down at her son. "Besides. From what I was told, your Boric Pyre is much cooler than regular old Fire Breath."

Izuku flushed in embarrassment, but he was smiling all the same. "Thanks Mom."

Inko returned Izuku's smile. "I'm still not happy you were put in so much danger to get it though. I swear, I need to have a word with that All Might and his responsibilities. Maybe Toshinori can get me a meeting with him."

It was late evening now and Izuku was curled up in his bed. He could hear Eri softly breathing as she slept in the bunk bed below. He was about ready to turn in for the night when he heard his phone chirp. Reaching over, Izuku pulled his phone up and tapped at the screen, halfexpecting a message from Ochako but then remembering her last one from earlier in the day, saying she was home but was going to be turning in extra early. Izuku had guessed her last couple of days with Miruko must have been tough.

Ochako hissed as she carefully reached for her phone, doing everything she could not to move her legs. Every pang and throb made her curse Miruko.

Learn how to kick, she said. I'll teach you one of my signature moves... I swear next time I see her I'm going to kill her.

Ochako glanced down at her legs. Both were covered in ice bags and compression bandages from her feet, all the way up to her upper thighs. The cold and compression working overtime to reduce the swelling and bruising she was dealing with.

Tomorrow. Is going. To suck.

Izuku scanned the message, his eyes widening when he saw who it was from, "Principal Nezu?"

Good evening young students. I apologize for the late timing of this email, but I wanted to make sure this got out as quickly as possible. I am informing you that the day after tomorrow your class will be taking part in a private meeting with school staff. However, I am contacting you five specifically because before your homeroom starts on that day, I would like you all to meet with me in my office. I would like to go over with you some of the specifics of the meeting before your class discusses it. This request comes from Toga herself. The subject of this meeting is over the subject of why she is currently residing here at U.A. As her friends she wished for you all to hear this from her first.

I want to assure you that no one is in trouble but the subject of this meeting is of a touchy and serious nature. No one is in trouble, but the subject of this talk is not to be discussed with anyone outside of your class. As such until our meeting tomorrow, I ask that you do not even discuss this email or that you'll be meeting at all. I know this may seem strange but a part of becoming a hero is learning that discretion is sometimes necessary. I will be shortly sending a message to the rest of your class, detailing that they will be having a meeting the day after tomorrow, but I will not be giving them much detail. Nor will I mention this has anything to do with Toga. Your teacher Aizawa will go into more detail tomorrow. As I said, this is to stay private.

Izuku read over the message again, making sure he grasped the full nature of it.

Toga's going to tell everyone about her past… Not just us but the whole class… She must think that her story is going to get out sooner or later. Probably because of Tartarus; after how they acted I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to ruin Toga's chances of recovering from her mistakes and proving themselves right about her… Still, I can't imagine how scary this is for her.

Midnight rubbed her brow as she listened to Himiko explain her master plan. "That makes no sense Toga."

Himiko cackled, "It makes perfect sense! I'm going to be the cupid to those two slow idiots, and after they're together, then the three of us will be together. It's perfect."

Himiko went back to cackling as she skipped down the hallway, with Midnight at a complete loss for words. She had the feeling all her upcoming sessions with Himiko just got a lot more complicated.

Izuku was tempted to send her a text but Nezu's warning about not discussing anything about this until they were in his office the day after tomorrow kept him from doing anything. Finally, deciding there wasn't anything else he could do then, he put his phone away and laid his head down and drifted asleep.

Knock

Knock

Knock

After knocking on the door, a young man waited patiently for the occupant of the room to reply. When there was no immediate answer, the young man puffed out his chest to call into the room through the door, "Sir? It's me."

Not long after the door opened and Sir Nighteye stepped into view. "Ah, Toogata. Come in, I won't keep you long."

Mirio smiled brightly as he walked into the office. "No problem at all. Centipeder is driving me home so I don't have to worry about catching the train."

"Hmm that's good. You should be on your way home soon. I don't want you falling asleep in class because you were staying up too late on my account." Mirio laughed, thinking Sir Nighteye was telling a joke. "How was the assignment I gave you to do over the week?"

Mirio shrugged. "It was alright. Broke up a Yakuza drug manufacturing plant, but it wasn't making anything special. No Trigger or whatever that other drug Centipeder discovered."

"You're aware of the Quirk Erasure Bullet?"

"Centipeder and I talked when he drove me over here."

Sir Nighteye nodded, "Hmm, then that saves me some time having to bring you up to speed. Good. You are aware that you are not to go talking about this outside our agency, correct?"

"Of course sir!" Mirio stood at attention when he replied.

"Good… good."

Mirio tilted his head to the side, "Are you alright? You seem a little tired."

Sir Nighteye waved him off. "It's been… a long week. My investigation into Chisaki's Yakuza has taken a few strange turns. You've heard about his missing daughter?"

Mirio nodded, "Yes. What do you make of that?"

"... I'm not sure yet. There's too much I don't know to make any kind of guess. As of now, we're in a holding pattern on that lead. On the drug lead as well. We still don't have enough info to follow up on it just yet. Unfortunately we may have to wait for the drug to be used more before we can use it to our advantage."

Mirio crossed his arms and frowned. "So we're still at square one then."

Sir Nighteye was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "Not… necessarily."

"Sir?"

"... Toogata, what I'm about to talk to you about must stay between us. Understand?"

"What about Centipeder and Bubble Girl?"

Sir Nighteye shook his head. "This is a more… delicate situation and I feel at this point bringing them in now would… complicate things. There is… another lead regarding Chisaki that we may be able to follow… That you may be able to follow."

"Me, sir? I don't understand."

"There is… a student at U.A. that I believe has a connection to Chisaki."

Alarmed, Mirio frowned deeply. "You mean a spy?!"

"No." Sir Nighteye responded immediately, "No not like that. In truth this student's connection to Chisaki in all likelihood hasn't even been made yet."

"Yet?"

"I used my Foresight on a student a few days ago." Mirio's eyes went wide. "It was the winner of the first year's sports festival, Midoriya Izuku."

"Oh him! He's the kid that fights all crazy and that All Might picked to teach during their internship… Wait, why'd you use your Foresight on him?"

"The why is… private. Sufficient to say I went to see him and All Might at the beginning of the week."

"Oh wow. But aren't you two still…" Mirio trailed off. While he didn't know the reasons, he knew the relationship between the two was not on the best of terms. Even if Sir Nighteye had All Might merch around his office. Mirio then paused as he started to put some things together. "Bubble Girl said you left the office suddenly and when you came back you had her and Centipeder in a mad dash for information on the Yakuza. Is that at all connected to your trip?"

"It is. During my visit I used my Quirk on the boy. Normally as you know, I see events played out in chronological order that they are going to happen. However this time was… special. I was hurried and my time to use the Quirk was very brief. These two facts seemed to force my vision to skip ahead to a moment between Midoriya and Chisaki."

"A moment between the two? What kind of moment? A meeting or…"

"It was… a battle. Somehow Midoriya is going to come into conflict with Chisaki. I don't know how, and I don't know when… Though if I had to guess, the boy is still a student when this happens. All I saw was… the briefest moment of the fight. Nothing else. Something is going to happen that will bring these two together."

"Should we… have him put into protective custody? Or…" Mirio trailed off when Sir Nighteye shook his head.

"Midoriya is under the direct oversight of All Might himself. And the school, though more so with Principal Nezu. As it stands he's the most protected he can get."

"Then what are we…" Miriop paused as some things clicked into place. This info was only being shared with him. Midoriya was a student at U.A. and so was he. "What am I supposed to do?"

Sir Nighteye nodded, glad to see that Mirio was already catching up. As he knew he would. "I want you to keep an eye on him. As he is your junior and a fellow sports festival winner I want you to befriend him. Take him under your wing if you will and teach him some things that he might not be learning as a first year. And I would like you to report on his progress and on anything unusual that may be happening around him. You have the best chance of spotting whatever connection forms that ties him to Chisaki."

"I'll keep an eye on him. Since he's my junior it's only right… Though I admit it feels a little… icky to attempt to become his friend under these kinds of pretences. I'm guessing you never told him about what you saw?"

Sir Nighteye shook his head. "No. All Might is very much… against people learning about what I see. I'm also afraid that you will more than likely be immediately scrutinized and suspected by All Might and the boy. A side effect of your connection to me. Do not lie that you are there because I asked, but do not tell them about the vision."

"That makes things tricky. What if All Might tells me to stay away?"

"He won't. Not if you offer the boy genuin help and friendship. I understand he has a group of friends he hangs out with. Perhaps they and your friends Amajiki and Hadou will be able to help. Though they can not know about the reason. Just that I wanted you to. Understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Thank you, Toogata. Midoriya may be the key to finally taking the Yakuza and Chisaki down, and you may be the only one to figure out how that is."

Sir Nighteye wished he could relax, knowing that Mirio was going to be able to keep tabs on Izuku for him should have been a weight off his shoulders. But he knew that the scrutiny Mirio was going to get because of his past with All Might was not going to be easy or fair.

But in the end, life isn't fair.

Because even with these actions, Sir Nighteye still didn't see his vision changing. He could still see Izuku dying.

Izuku wasn't really sure what to expect when he and Ochako walked into class. Perhaps he should have expected to be bombarded with questions. He had, after all, accidentally sent out a mass text with his location. That location being smack dab in the middle of a League of Villains attack and where Stain was. So a few questions from his classmates should have been expected.

It was more than a few questions.

"You had me so worried!"

"Dude, why'd you send a text like that?"

"I can't believe you were in Hosu City during the attack!"

"What happened to you?"

"Tokoyami isn't saying anything!"

"Todoroki isn't either!"

"WHY IN THE HELL DO YOU HAVE MY NUMBER?!" Katsuki exploded over everyone, shoving his phone into Izuku's face, with his text still there. "I didn't hand it out to you when the class was doing that stupid number exchange! Who gave it to him?!"

Izuku tilted his head, "Kacchan you've had the same phone number since we were little kids. You never change it no matter how many phones you go through."

"...!"

"I mean back when we were little you'd blow them up all th-"

BOOM!

Katsuki's hands slammed on his desk, "Don't go bringing up that old shit!"

Ochako snickered. "Oh my god that's hilarious."

"Putting aside Bakugou's phone fatalities," Tsuyu said, "Are you alright? The news said some students had to get saved during the attack."

Tenya cut in. "Myself, Uraraka, Toga, Todoroki and Midoriya were caught up in the battle between Endeavor, All Might and the villains attacking the city."

Izuku nodded. "During the attack I sent out the text as an S.O.S. to get All Might's attention. I accidentally sent it as a group text. I'm sorry if I worried you all."

Hitoshi hissed, "Who'd you run into? The Nomu's or Stain?"

"Both," Ochako answered with a frown, "Stain… ambushed our group during the attack. Fortunately All Might and Endeavor were able to get to us before things got… bad."

"After that a Nomu showed up and tried to kidnap me," Izuku went on.

Tooru winced. "Man. That's some bad luck. At least you all got out alright."

Izuku, Tenya, Ochako and Shouto all shared some muted looks, which the class all picked up on. Katsuki frowned as he noticed the way Izuku was getting fidgety. "You get your shit kicked in again?"

While Ochako glared angrily at Katsuki, Izuku nodded. "More or less. I was in the same shape I was in the last time I ran into a Nomu."

The class went silent. Katsuki leaned forward. "You're shitting me. You got yourself fucked up again?"

The door to the class opened up and Himiko strolled in, "Oh it was so nasty. His arm was all broken again and his legs were just a couple of noodles."

Everyone turned to greet Toga as she walked in but stopped when they all saw the eye patch she was wearing. Mina tilted her head to the side while pointing up at the patch. "Sooo is that some kind of fashion look you're going for?"

Himiko laughed, "While I do look good in this thing, it's not a fashion choice." Himiko pulled it up to show the room her pale yellow eye and the scar over it. "Izuku got his shit kicked in while I got turned into a pin cushion."

With Himiko joining their group, the five fully explained their story about the incident much to their classmates and friends' shock and horror. Himiko waved off the concern stating quite plainly that she was fine and she didn't need anyone worrying about her. Tsuyu however wasn't satisfied with that and after pushing the issue got Himiko to agree that if she needed help with anything, she would call her.

Fumikage lowered his head. "I regret I was not with you that night to assist. If I had been…"

Ochako shook her head. "You were with Hawks saving people. Please don't worry about it."

Denki shook his head. "Man, I guess it really was you guys in that video then."

Izuku looked up. "Video?"

Denki nodded. "Yeah there's a video going around about Stain. It has footage of him being arrested and him just going off on the heroes." Izuku glanced at his friends nervously. "It doesn't show any of the fight with All Might and Endeavor but we do see some people getting loaded up in ambulances. I swore one of them looked like you, but they were so messed up it was hard to tell."

"Yeah… I was not in good shape."

"I still can't believe someone that so many people seem to think is so cool actually attacked you guys."

Himiko held her tongue and was surprised when it was Tenya that spoke up. "From what I've seen, and experienced, Stain is a very charismatic individual. Many evil individuals in humanity's past were able to amass followers because of their personality and their message. Wanting to get rid of fake heroes if taken at face value might have some merit, but his methods are extreme. And who is real and who is fake are up to his twisted ideal image."

The class nodded. Tenya then looked up at the clock and chopped his hands. "Now, we should take our seats. While I'm sure everyone wants to share their own stories from the week, class is about to start and we should be in our seats. Aizawa Sensei doesn't like it when we waste time."

Nodding in agreement, the students all went back to their seats. Mina, as she was still trying to wrap her head over everything that she had just heard, shook her head in shock. "It's still so shocking to think about. You guys ran into Stain, Toga almost died, then a Nomu showed up and almost killed Midoriya. You guys sure you're now leaving anything out?"

Ojiro shook his head. "After an adventure like that, I can't imagine anyone having anything else to add to the story."

Izuku paused as he started to sit at his desk and glazed over at his friends who had been with him during the attack. Tenya and Shouto had calm but knowing looks. Ochako and Himiko looked like gremlins. Snickering loud enough to get a few confused looks. Because there was one fact that none of them had mentioned yet. Izuku calmly sat down at his desk. Waited for everyone else to be sitting too before he just came out and said, "I can breathe fire now."

Ironically, the class froze at that, before a new onslaught of questions slammed into Izuku.

"What huh?"

"I'm sorry did you say fire?"

"What, like pyrokinesis?"

"THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

Katsuki turned around in his chair and was glaring down at Izuku who just shrugged. "I can breathe fire now."

"What? Like your fucking old man?"

Izuku's eyebrow twitched and his mouth settled into a hard line, "Pretty… much."

"Bull-fucking-shit."

"Kacchan I wou-" Izuku felt his nose twitch as something tickled it. "-I wouldn't lieee-" The tickling got worse, "I woul-woul- ACHOO!"

FWOOOSH!

A wave of green fire and smoke blasted out of Izuku's mouth as he sneezed and slammed right into Katsuki's face. The class went dead silent. A few jaws hit desks. Izuku wasn't paying them any mind though, his focus was squarely on Katsuki. The other boy was frozen. His hair singed, his uniform a little charred at the seams and his face just a little dusted with soot.

Izuku blinked.

Katsuki blinked.

Himiko, Ejirou, Denki, Hanta, Mina, and Ochako all fell out of their chairs and started laughing. Their laughter unfroze Katsuki as his face twisted into a snarl. "YOU SHIT!"

"I'M SORRY!"

Katsuki's hands began to pop and sizzle with small explosions as he started climbing over Izuku's desk to get at him. "I'M GOING TO KILL YO-"

The door to the class slammed open and Aizawa strolled in. Took one look at everything and decided; no.

"Sit down. It's too early in the morning for this."

Promptly, everyone returned to their seats, though Katsuki was still glaring daggers at Izuku as he cleaned himself off. "How does this nerd have a second Quirk?" Katsuki grumbled to himself.

When the class was settled down, Aizawa sighed. "Alright, let's get the obvious things out of the way first. Toga, I'm assuming you've answered questions about your injury?"

"Yup."

"Good, saves me the trouble."

Mina's hand shot up. "What about Midoriya?"

Aizawa glanced over at Izuku, giving him the floor. Izuku quickly explained the events, or at least as much as he could without letting the class in on how the attack on Hosu City actually went, that led to him discovering his Boric Pyre. He then went over the theories Recovery Girl had on why he had this new Quirk. Overall the class seemed to accept everything, though Katsuki was still glaring at Izuku pretty hard.

With the explanation over, Aizawa moved on. "If you all still have questions, ask them during lunch. We don't have time to fixate on one issue. However, Midoriya," Izuku stiffened as Aizawa looked right at him, "I expect you to get a handle on your new Quirk as quickly as possible. I will not tolerate accidental misfires like what you just did. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Neither will I tolerate you hurting yourself again misusing your new Quirk."

Izuku gulped as he became aware that his classmates were looking at him. Sheepishly Izuku sank into his chair and added, "I sorta… almost burned myself to a crisp when I used it for the first time."

Katsuki growled, "because of course you fucking did."

With that settled, Aizawa began writing on the board. "Good. Now onto today's lessons…I have an announcement. Tomorrow morning, this class will take part in a discussion. The matter will cover a private subject regarding this school." The class, save for Izuku and his friends, went stiff, though they were also paying close attention. "This is an extremely private and confidential matter that is not to leave the class. You are not even to discuss the meeting once I am done with this announcement. It is for 1-A only. Is that clear?" Aizawa's tone made it clear there was no room for debate.

"To take part in this, you will have to sign a NDA, a non disclosure agreement. This will prevent you from talking about anything that you hear about in the meeting with anyone outside of this clase or the teachers of U.A. This includes friends in the other classes or even family. This is a binding contract with the school and the Hero Safety Commission. Failure to uphold this agreement will have legal consequences."

Around the room the class shifted nervously. "I can understand your apprehension. This kind of matter isn't something first years like yourselves normally deal with. But this class has already been through its fair share of unusual events. If you do not feel comfortable signing something like this, you will be escorted to an open study hall where you can study in the meantime. You should know, however, that if you choose not to take part, the information discussed will not be given to you at a later date. You won't learn anything from your classmates that do attend. This may seem extreme but as heroes there are times when taking such measures is necessary. Open investigations and different kinds of settlements often have these kinds of gag orders. You're just learning about them much earlier than normal. "

Momo raised her hand, "Sir. Can we at least know what this meeting will be over?"

Aizawa shook his head. "No. In order to keep the affected parties safe, we must keep as little information as possible from leaking out. Even the subject of this meeting must be kept under wraps. Think about what you want to do, but be prepared with your answers by tomorrow morning. And remember, this is not to be discussed outside of this class. Once lessons begin, keep your mouths closed."

"Man, you just don't have any luck with those Nomus. Do you, Midoriya?" Hitoshi asked as he sat down for lunch with his friends.

Izuku groaned while Ochako elbowed him in the side with a laugh. Izuku, deciding he really wanted to change the subject, looked over at Tsuyu and Hitoshi. "So you guys know how our week went. How were your internships?"

Himiko snickered as she drank a blood pack, "Oh yeaaaah. I wanna hear about Ms. Joke."

Hotishi's normally cheerful face soured into the exact duplicate of their teacher, Aizawa. "Ugh."

Ochako tried not to laugh. "Uh oh. Sounds like you had the hardest time out of all of us."

"I had to try stand up comedy and ventriloquism," Hitoshi said with obvious disdain, "and I suck at both. Though apparently that was just as funny as if I was able to do it."

"According to Ms. Joke?" Tsuyu asked.

"Yeah."

Hitoshi hated the looks of pity he got from everyone. Moving the subject along as quickly as he could, he said, "I do think there might be something to the voice thing. I can't do it naturally, but I was thinking about maybe artificially."

Tenya nodded. "Not a bad idea. If you are able to sound like someone else that adds another edge to your Quirk that people won't be ready for."

"Ms. Joke also said something about talking to Aizawa Sensei about another piece of support gear, but didn't tell me what. Said it will be funnier when I get it."

The pity was back and Histoshi grumbled into his lunch.

"So," Himiko began, "we know about everyone else's internships but yours, Tsu. What happened to you?"

Without missing a beat, Tsu simply said, "I fought a villain while I was with Selkie apprehending smugglers."

The table froze before they all turned to look at her.

"You can't just say something like that!"

"Explain! Explain right now!"

"As a student of U.A. it is greatly impressive you were able to assist in such an event, but remember, we are still only students and do not have license to attack villains!"

"...You do not get to talk."

While Tsuyu summed up her week, making everything sound like it wasn't that big a deal, Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine. Something bad was coming and his instincts were telling him to run. But he was at U.A., so what danger could he possibly be in? Then the doors to the cafeteria slammed open.

"YOU KILLED OUR BABY!"

Mei screamed over the noise of the room. Izuku paled and covered his face with his hands. Oh my god Hatsume, noooo.

Izuku tried to ignore the snickers coming from his class and the gospining whispers coming from the other students as Mei marched up to the table and put the remains of his costume headgear in front of him. The small crest that was supposed to help him with headaches now looked more like scrap then a high tech piece of equipment. The stainless steel finish was blackened, corroded and cracked. A glance inside made it pretty clear something had caught fire and melted.

...I should have stayed home today.

Izuku looked up at Mei and tried to smile. "H-hi Hatsume. It's good to see you-"

"What. Did. You. DO?!"

While Izuku wilted under Mei, Hitoshi reached over and picked up the broken gear she had put down. "What is this supposed to be?"

Mei crossed her arms, "It was a part of Midoriya's new costume that I made. Before he broke it!"

Izuku raised his hands up to defend himself. "I didn't mean to, I swear! Things got really crazy and I had to push myself a little harder than I normally would is all. Recovery Girl says because I was in danger I had a bout of hysterical strength in order to surv-"

"Hysterical strength? Really?"

Izuku froze. Not expecting his story that had been vetted by All Might and Recovery Girl as an completely believable excuse was getting dismissed so immediately. Mei pointed down at the crest. "I expected you to get stronger, so I knew eventually I'd either have to upgrade the crest or make a whole new one. So, to know when I'd have to do that, I made it so my baby was constantly sending me feedback on your power output. As the creator or your costume and support gear, it's my job to make sure you're provided with the best equipment to better your chances to survive. It's why I built in a safety factor so that I'd have time to make those changes. So that you wouldn't suddenly be without any gear in the meantime."

"Hatsume I-" Izuku tried to talk but Mei wasn't having it.

"I gave my baby a safety factor of ten." Izuku froze. "You would have needed to exceed your Quirk's power output by ten before my baby would be in danger of breaking. Would you like to know how much stronger your power output was before I lost the signal?"

Izuku gulped. Which Mei took as a yes.

"Five hundred thousand."

The rest of the table looked stunned. Hitoshi was absolutely speechless while Tenya, Shouto, Himiko and Ochako recalled all the damage Izuku had been able to do that night. Ripping apart the alley and hurling it. They also recalled the state Izuku had been in afterwards. Not his damaged arm and legs, but the bleeding from his head. Before it was nosebleeds, but after his attack, he had been bleeding from his eyes and ears as well. Ochako shuddered to think what might have happened if Izuku hadn't been wearing that crest. It had probably saved Izuku's life before it broke.

Tsuyu was struggling to wrap her head around all of this. "Five hundred thousand, kero? What does that even mean?"

"Midoriya went from outputting enough energy to lift three tons of weight to outputting enough energy that's the equivalent of almost four tons of TNT. That much power, it's like one of All Might's punches that can level a building."

A few jaws dropped. The table was so engrossed that no one noticed Katsuki bolt upright in his chair. Much to the confusion of everyone else sitting there. They looked around to see what had shocked him but Katsuki had quickly sat back down and told them to shut up.

Mei sighed and sat down at the table, "Midoriya. I take my responsibilities seriously. My babies are made to keep heroes safe. Which means I'm supposed to keep you safe. I can't do that if suddenly I don't know what you're going to do. So I need to know. Right now. Was this a one time, on the brink of death, kind of thing? Or when I make a new crest for you, should I make sure it can take this kind of power?"

Izuku wasn't sure what to say. He was suddenly being asked if his new strength was going to be the new normal. He and All Might had thought it better to avoid that as it could raise suspicion. But Mei did have a point. She couldn't make gear for him if she didn't know what to expect.

"Perhaps your Quirk awakening did more than give you a new Quirk. Perhaps it also did give you a permanent boost in strength," Tenya said, rubbing his chin in thought. "The phenomena is still not completely understood. Who's to say it didn't just give you a new Quirk?"

Mei turned to look over at Tenya as he explained everything in more detail and Izuku was eternally grateful that it was someone else that made the excuse. If these excuses kept coming from him, Izuku swore he was going to get strangled by them. Izuku also noticed that Ochako had relaxed a little as well. Izuku assumed that she was also glad Tenya had brought up the idea.

"New Quirk?" Mei's head snapped back around to look at Izuku who saw a very familiar and very terrifying gimmer in her eye.

Uh oh.

"Yeah. He can breathe fire now," Himiko said in between bites of her lunch. "It's pretty crazy."

Mei's eyes went to Izuku's mouth and he could see the gears starting to spin in her head. "How much fire? How hot was it?"

"It was similar to something I or my father can produce," Shouto answered.

Katsuki was out of his chair again.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

"Cram it Lightning Dolt!"

Ignoring the strange commotion going on over at the other table, Mei rubbed her chin. "Is that why your costume was all burned around the neck and chest and your mouth guard was melted?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah when I used it for the first time I kind of burned myself and pretty much overheated. I was going to come see you later today to talk about some new upgrades."

Mei was starting to vibrate, "The material of your costume will need to be updated to be fire and heat resistant. You'll also need something to help cool you down." Mei started listing off changes that Izuku would need and as she started to get lost in her thoughts, Izuku relaxed. He was finally safe.

"I'll need you to tell me everything you know about your new Quirk of course. The more info I know the better. I guess a lot of it will just come from experience. Unless you know someone with a Quirk like yours."

...Oh… crud…. Please no one mention my father. Please no one mention-

"That shouldn't be an issue. Midoriya was going to contact his father as soon as he returned home to ascertain any useful information that would help him get better control over it. His father has the same Quirk so we all agreed it would be the best course of action to call him as soon as possible," Tenya said.

Hitoshi hissed, "I'm sure that was a fun call to have to make… Wait, does Midoriya know we know about…?"

Ochako nodded, "He knows."

...I should go… Yeah just leave now and run.

"Still that's very mature of you Midoriya. Putting your issues aside to take care of something so important, kero."

"How did your call go, Midoriya?" Shouto asked. "Was your father able to tell you anything useful?"

Izuku shifted in his chair and poked at his lunch. "Um."

Ochako blinked a few times before she leaned forward. Eyes beginning to drill into Izuku. "Deku?"

"Soooo, here's the thing," Izuku began to say slowly.

Himiko, though, quickly stepped in. "You didn't call him, did you?"

More eyes were drilling into Izuku now. Gulping, Izuku shook his head. "No. I didn't."

'Dekuuuu," Ochako said with a frown, but Izuku turned away from her. Doing his best to ignore the disapproval in her voice. Unfortunately he turned and ended up looking at Shouto.

"Midoriya. I thought we discussed this?"

Izuku sighed. "I just… forgot is all. And besides, I've got plenty of time to get a handle on it. There's no reason to have to call my father about this."

"Well that sounds dumb," Mei said immediatly.

Izuku growled under his breath, "Well, no one asked. Besides, it's no big deal. All Might has offered to help me practice with it after school. So it won't be a problem."

Tsuyu tapped her chin. "But your Quirk is a problem right now though?"

"I mean…"

Hitoshi added, "You sneezed and blasted Bakugou with it."

"Which, while hilarious, wouldn't be as funny if you did it in the hallway if it was filled with students," Himiko pointed out

"Or if you were playing with Eri," Ochako added.

Izuku grit his teeth, wishing everyone would just drop the subject, "Then I just won't use it anymore. Problem solved." It wasn't, and he knew it. He was just starting to get really annoyed and wanted everyone to leave him alone.

Shouto shook his head, "We both know that's not a solution. You need to be responsible and-"

"Fine!" Izuku's patience snapped, startling his friends. Reaching into his pocket, Izuku yanked out his phone and started angrily tapping at the screen. "Fine! I'll call him! And you know what, I'll even put it on speaker so you all can hear how little my father will care about this! That way you'll never think me talking to him is in any way a good idea again!"

Everyone at the table was shocked. No more so than Ochako. She had never heard Izuku snap like that. She wasn't even angry at being yelled at. She was too preoccupied dealing with the sudden turn of events. "Deku h-hold on a-"

Izuku, not paying attention to her, slammed his phone on the table and let it ring. Crossing his arms, Izuku sat in his chair in a huff. Ignoring his worried friends as they tried to understand what just happened. It then dawned on Izuku, after the third ring from the phone, exactly what had just happened. He had just called his father, out of the blue and without even thinking of the timezone change and he had put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear what was about to happen. Worse of all he had done all that while yelling at his friends who had only been trying to help him.

Oh god, what have I done?!

Everyone watched as the color and anger drained from Izuku's face, replaced with a look of sickly horror. Several hands reached for the phone to hang it up before anyone answered.

"Izuku?"

But they were too late.

Hisashi sat at his desk at rapt attention. Making sure to keep his eyes and face forward at all times. While he tried to exude an air of confidence, inside he was a nervous wreck. Normally when he would send in a report it would be reviewed and he would only hear about the higher-ups' decision later on. Tonight was different. By some stroke of luck Hisashi's continued work had gotten the interest of some key people. He had been told that instead of his own manager reviewing his work, it would instead be none other than two of the Top Commanders of the Meta Liberation arm, Tomoyasu Chikazoku and, rather unfortunately as far as Hisashi was concerned, Chitose Kizuki. He had not been told that a third individual would be joining the review. On the computer monitor joining the Top Commanders was none other than Rikiya Yotsubashi. Re-Destro, the leader himself. When he had joined the call, Hisashi almost swallowed his tongue.

Chitose smirked and did a horrible job of hiding her laugh with her hand.

Hisashi sat silently as his report, over potential overseas recruitment candidates, was read over and discussed between the three. Answering any questions sent his way. Most of the time it was asking for a little more information over an individual listed. Or his personal experience if he had met the person. It was still a relatively new responsibility for Hisashi and this was only his third report that had a direct effect on matters pertaining to the Meta Liberation Army. Until only a year ago, he was still only working as part of Detnerat Company's overseas operations. But his loyalty and work ethic had finally started to pay off. He just had to make sure nothing happened that put his new found opportunities at risk.

"Hmm," Rikiya hummed to himself as he flipped through the last of the report, "I must say you've vetted these individuals very well. I can see why your reports have become more the standard others are being asked to follow."

"T-thank you sir."

"But out of the hundred you were responsible for checking this time... Only five are listed for potential recruitment? That's a very low percentage."

"I simply wanted to ensure that anyone who received my recommendation would be an asset to the cause. I feel the ones I selected are… practical."

Rikiya nodded, a smile of understanding on his face. "Practical, because of their Meta Abilities. Correct?"

"That is correct sir. Their Meta abilities precisely line up with their fields of experience."

Chitose rolled her eyes, "A little narrow minded, don't you think? My Landmine doesn't exactly fit with my job. Should I have been looked over like so many in this report?"

This bitch, Hisashi kept his cool and shook his head, "Of course not, ma'am. Your talent was spotted by Mr. Yotsubashi himself. I can not claim to have the same eye as our great leader, so I must use more… practical means to assess an individual for recruitment."

Chitose smirked. "So you admit your methods are…" her smile widened, "limited?"

This fucking bitch!

Rikiya raised a hand. "Now now, Kizuki. Midoriya is still new to this field of work. Oh course we must always be on the lookout for those with Meta Abilities that can help our cause and it seems like Midoriya has a good eye for this. He just needs to expand his view. Which I'm sure he'll be able to do."

"Of course Mr. Yotsubashi."

Tomoyasu, not interested in whatever game Chitose was playing, since she wasn't even supposed to be involved in this meeting, went back over the five individuals Hisashi had approved. "At least these ones look competent. How open are they to moving out of the country and traveling her-"

Ring

Hisashi froze, unable to stop the shock and then horror that began to creep up his face. He had been so focused on making sure he had everything ready for this meeting that he had forgotten something so fundamental.

He forgot to put his phone on silent.

Ring

Chitose smirked, not even bothering to hide how hilarious she was finding the whole situation. Tomoyasu was clearly annoyed at being cut off while Rikiya just seemed amused. At the very least, Hisashi didn't see the dark blotches appearing on the man's skin. An obvious tell that his Stress Quirk was activated and a sure way to tell he was getting upset.

Ring

"I-I am truly sorry! Let me just," Hisashi reached into his pocket to quickly turn the phone off. Fumbling it, it landed screen up on his desk. He quickly moved to stab the ignore call button on the screen but when he looked down, he saw who was calling him. "Izuku?"

Chitose leaned forward, trying to get a good look at the phone from her side of the computer monitor. "Oh it is your son! Your little champion is calling you? That's so interesting."

Ring

Chitose zeroed in on the confused stare on Hisashi's face as he froze up. It was obvious that the idea that his son had called him had thrown the normally collected and composed man for a complete loop and she was loving it. The airs he always put on, the mask he wore, hid away the real person he was and she did so enjoy poking holes in his facade. Peeling back the layers to see the truth was how she got her name, after all. And she was very curious to know why Hisashi's son had called. "Answer it and put it on speaker. I want to hear this."

Chitose wasn't asking. She wasn't speaking as the executive director of Shoowaysha Publishing. She was commanding as a Top Commander of the Meta Liberation Army and Hisashi knew it.

Ring

Hisashi briefly looked at the other windows to see if either Tomoyasu or Rikiya would counter her order but neither said a word. With no other choice, and not wanted to risk the call going to his voicemail, Hisashi quickly tapped on the screen and answered the call on speaker, "Izuku?"

On the other end of line, a few hushed noises came through the speaker. They almost sounded panicked.

"H-hello father."

Hisashi glanced over at his clock and did some quick math to determine what time it was for Izuku in Japan. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

"It's… lunch."

Hisashi supposed that explained the background noise on the line. Though some of it was very close. He swore he heard someone saying something. Ask him, or something along those lines, "I see. Izuku you should know I am in the middle of a very important meeting right now and," Hisashi's eyes glanced up at his computer monitor, "you are on speaker."

The chatter noise on the phone quieted noticeably. "Y-you are? W-who...?"

"Hello there young man. It's a little strange but it's a pleasure to meet you. Everyone here saw your spectacular display during the recent sports festival. You put on a wonderful show." When Rikiya spoke, Hisashi's head snapped up in surprise.

"Oh, um, hello Mr…?"

Rikiya smiled. "Yotsubashi. Yotsubashi Rikiya."

"Mr. Yot-" There was a small burst of static before someone other than Izuku could be heard speaking over him, "Yotsubashi?! That's the CEO of Denerat! They make some of the best lifestyle support items in the whole-!"

Whoever the new voice was, they had been hushed and by the sound of it, physically yanked away. "Hatsume, please!" Izuku could be heard trying to hush someone. "Um, It's an honor, sir, and thank you."

"Izuku," Hisashi tried to keep his voice level but it was a struggle as his embarrassment began to rise. "Are you on speaker?"

"Yes."

It took Hisashi a great deal of self control to not explode at that. The disrespect that Izuku was showing not just his leaders, but himself was beyond words. "Izuku. You are aware I am very busy and do not have time to play games with you and your friends. If you are having issues your mother should be who you call as she is available to help you. But you shouldn't be having issues. As long as you are behaving. Right?"

Hisashi needed to get Izuku off the phone so he could get back to work. He could figure out a proper punishment for this later.

"M-my friends they… Todoroki they… wanted to be sure I made this call."

More voices came in over the line. Tell him. Ask him. Things like that. Not that Hisashi was paying it any mind. He was more concerned with the name Izuku had just dropped. It had even gotten a few raised eyebrows from everyone else. One way or another, the Meta Liberation Army suddenly had a direct connection to one of the top heroes in the country. That could be useful.

"Todoroki? As in the youngest son of Endeavor?"

"Yes."

"He's your friend?"

"Yes?"

How in the hell did someone like you manage that?! That's someone that is part of a social standing. Someone that's actually important! Is what Hisashi thought, but he didn't say it as another thought came to mind, "Your friends wanted you to call me? Why?"

There was a long pause. If not for the whispering over the line, Hisashi might have been convinced the call had been dropped.

"I can breathe fire."

And suddenly, the whole mood in the room changed. Tomoyasu, who had been ignoring the call, was suddenly paying close attention. Chitose who moments ago was having the time of her life at Hisashi's expense was now actively searching something frantically on her computer. Rikiya was no longer amused, and his whole demeanor had taken a serious edge. Like he had said, they had all watched Izuku's matches in the Sports Festival and knew what his Quirk was and how strong it was.

Or at least they thought they knew.

Hisashi blinked a few times. "You… what?"

"I can breathe fire," Izuku repeated.

"Like… me?"

"Well… Endeavor said it was more like his fire… and mine is green."

Hisashi's mind ground to a halt. He froze as he tried to comprehend what he was hearing. It just didn't make any sense. And he said it was like… Endeavor's? What could that mean?

"Father? Are you there?"

When Hisashi didn't say anything right away, Rikiya spoke up, "Your father seems to be in shock. I admit, so am I. I was under the impression you only possessed Psychokinesis. To suddenly claim to have a new Met- a new Quirk, is rather hard to believe. And to say it's somehow similar to Endeavor too. That is a lot to take in."

"I, I suppose I should explain. You see that was true, I only had my Psychokinesis Quirk, until I was attacked in Hosu City." Chitose was typing even faster now while Izuku kept talking. "Did you hear about the attack, Father?"

Hisashi, now unfrozen, cleared his throat. "I was… aware. The news did mention that some U.A. students had been attacked during the assault. You were one of them, then?"

"That's right. That night I was attacked by a Nomu. A flying one. In order to escape I…" As Izuku talked Chitose quickly shared her screen and showed the group an image taken the night of the attack. It was a few blocks away, but up in the sky was an unmistakable green pillar of fire reaching up into the clouds. One look at the fire and Hisashi was beginning to see how his son's fire was being compared to Endeavor's. However, none of the group had time to look for very long. "Father, do you know what a Quirk Awakening is?"

Rikiya leaned forward, his interest in the situation and Izuku himself now amplified to a whole new level.

"I'm aware of the concept," Hisashi answered. "Is that what happened to you?"

"That's what U.A. thinks, yes. I've already had it registered through the school as Boric Pyre."

Hisashi leaned back into his chair, hand on his forehead as he took everything in. "Izuku this is…"

"My Psychokinesis is also stronger now."

Hisashi recalled the battles Izuku waged in the sports festival, and the feats he had displayed. "Stronger?"

"Potentially… a lot stronger."

If Hisashi was not dealing with his world getting flipped on its head, he would have noticed that the tone in Izuku's voice had changed as he had been talking. He would have started to hear the pride Izuku had.

What in the hell is happening?

"Father, the reason I called is because when I used my Boric Pyre for the first time it… it almost killed me."

Hisashi's head snapped up in surprise, "Almost killed you?" Hisashi looked back at the image, now images from different viewpoints of the pillar of green fire. The newest one was the closest yet. In it the group could now see the fire starting point, hundreds of feet up in the air, and just underneath it, barely visible from the harsh contrast of the fire and dwarfed by the pillar, was a young man in a tattered green costume.

Hisashi didn't question how his son had ended up in the air, he was focused on the fire. How much there was. "... You overheated."

"Yes."

"Burns too?"

"Yes. Father I don't… understand my new Quirk very well yet. I'm going to start doing some extra curricular training starting today but it would help if I had a better understanding of things going into it. You have Fire Breath, so I figured you'd be able to help me."

Every eye turned towards Hisashi, waiting for him to say anything. Hisashi suddenly found himself in a position to have some direct influence on his son, and by extension his friends since they were listening in on the call. Though he was concerned with only laying down some very quick ground work before he focused on the more pressing matter. "O-of course. Your friend Todoroki was correct that you needed to call me as soon as possible. Todoroki, you have my thanks for making sure my son took care of this issue."

There was a noticeable pause on the other end before a new voice came through the line, "Midoriya is my friend. I am only doing what makes logical sense. Fire is a very dangerous Quirk if not handled properly."

"Exactly. It took me many trials and errors to get a handle on my own Fire Breath. As my son of course I'll pass that knowledge onto you. Now Izuku, if you are beginning to hone our Me- our Quirk then of course you should understand some of the basics. How much power you're putting into the fire is a part of how strong the flame will be but just as important is how you breathe when using your Quirk. The deeper the breath, the hotter the fire will be. At the same time, how you breathe out is just as important as how you breathe in. A hard breath, like you're blowing out a candle will give you a more narrow flame while if you breathe like you're trying to fog a mirror or warm your hands will spread the fire out. However, what you don't want to do is to start hyperventilating when using your Quirk, otherwise you'll have no control over your fire."

"I see."

"No control can lead to overheating, but you already know you can overheat if you over use the Quirk. Also, until you have a handle on it, do not whistle. It would be bad if you accidentally used your Quirk while you were."

"Whistle?"

"As I told you, how you breathe out affects the fire. A harder breath narrows the flame and makes it more intense. Whistling does that but to a much more extreme degree. I found that using my Fire Breath while whistling is the fastest way to a heat stroke. It's an unusable combo, so avoid it." Hisashi frowned. Admitting a failure like this was not something he enjoyed doing, but he needed to make sure he gave his son good advice. It wouldn't look good to the others if he left something so important out and he injured himself or worse, hurt someone of importance at the school.

"However the heat build up in your body doesn't have to be a bad thing. I've found a trick with using that heat. You can warm yourself up by building the heat inside your lungs as I breathe but not expelling it as fire. It took me some practice but once I was able to do it, it comes in handy during cold winters."

"And what about cooling yourself off, or regulating your body temperature?"

"Unfortunately there isn't a way to use our Quirk in that way. At least not in a quick way. You can expel the heat inside your lungs by breathing out the heat without igniting it, but this only gets rid of the source and not the effect it's had on your body. You'll more than likely be blowing out smoke when you start trying this so do it outside. Once you get the hang of the technique it'll just be hot air."

"I see… Thank you… father. This will help me a great deal as I start training. I'l… I'll let you get back to your meeting."

"Yes, good." Hisashi answered immediately but then added, "If you have any issues going forward… I think it best if you call me immediately. Understand?"

"Yes. Goodbye."

A soft click later and Izuku had hung up. Hisashi sighed, and put his phone back into his pocket. Making sure to put it on silent this time. When he looked back up at his monitor he found three pairs of eyes drilling into him. Immediately Hisashi tried to regain his composure but he hadn't even gotten done straightening himself in his seat before Rikiya asked, "What is your relationship like with your son?"

That was not something Hisashi had expected to be asked, "My relationship? I don't-?"

Tomoyasu cut him off. "I'd say not good, considering your phone records don't show many calls to either the boy or your family in general. In fact, you've only made one call since your son won the U.A. Sports Festival. Before that only a handful of calls to your home, to I assume your wife."

Hiashi frowned deeply. "My personal relationships should not be an open matter. I take care of them financially so that my wife doesn't even have to worry about work. There are no issues."

Chitose shook her head. "A very cold way to view your family."

"I'm a very practical man."

"But not well informed," Chitose countered. "Because you had no idea your son was capable of even before his Meta Ability awakened."

"I-"

"And speaking of not being informed," Tomoyasu continued, "I decided to see just what you think is you 'taking care of them financially' and apparently you're not the only one if these bank records are accurate. And these police reports I just dug up."

Hisashi blinked, his face a mask of confusion. "What? Police reports?"

Tomoyasu shared his screen, showing a report. "According to this, your wife and son have begun fostering a little girl who is the subject of an abuse case. Extreme abuse, if this report is accurate."

"They've what?"

"Apparently your son found the girl and contacted one of his teachers for help. All Might." The mention of the hero put everyone in the room on edge. "After some rather poor investigation work on the side of the police, your wife offered to take the girl in and All Might has begun to wire them payments to ensure the girl's needs are taken care of." Tomoyasu put the report away and returned to the screen, glaring at Hisashi. "You didn't know about any of this?"

"I… no."

"Your son and your wife are forming connections with the police and heroes that we could be using. If not for direct influence, at least for information. Remind me, what exactly is your job again?"

Hisashi gulped. "T-to find potential recruits for our forces."

"And you let a goldmine like your son slip through your fingers?"

HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT WORTHLESS KID WAS SUDDENLY GOING TO BE WORTH ANYTHING?!

"Mr. Midoriya," Rikiya began slowly, silencing everyone else. As he spoke, small black blotches began to form on his face. "It's obvious that your time abroad has put a strain on your relationship with your family. Otherwise I don't think you would have let such opportunities for us slip by. To have the son of a member of our movement, a boy with such obvious potential, grow up without being brought into the fold is a travesty. Even before you took on official duties for us, it was still your responsibility to properly educate your son."

Hisashi felt a growing dread fill his body as Rikiya kept talking.

"I'm sure you are aware of how difficult it is to have people on the inside of the hero organizations. We may have people in different sectors of the government, but we've only been able to get one active licensed hero. While we have many members with children, none have been able to get into a hero school. Though," Rikiya spread his hands out in concession, "it's not a path we've actively pursued. The risks of discovery must be weighed. However, the moment your son began to seriously prepare to get into U.A. we should have been notified. The moment he was accepted we should have been notified. This dereliction of common sense, especially considering the duty you now hold, is a travesty."

Hisashi was dead. He had seen people killed for things like this. He'd recommended death to other members for things like this.

Rikiya took a deep breath and clasped his hands together in front of himself. "However, I will share some of the blame for letting this issue get where it is now. After your son's win, I sent my congratulations and expressed a desire to meet the boy. Afterwards I never followed up. I will not make the same mistake again. Things may not be ideal, but I do not think this situation is beyond saving. Given that the boy reached out to you because he went through an awakening shows that there are still opportunities to rectify this and we will. Your son is in a unique position to be of great influence to our cause, but we must move quickly to begin bringing him in."

The black marks on Rikiya's face receded and he was smiling again. "Mr. Midoriya, I think your business abroad has come to an end. Finish any work you must do yourself and ensure the remaining projects are handed off. You are to return home and prioritize repairing your bonds with your family. Your son is of course your top priority. You are to offer him any advice and help you can with regards to his Boric Pyre. At the same time you need to get a feel of his world view and report back to me directly on it. I need to begin seeing how we can begin molding this boy into one of our own. Of course I'll have you bring the boy to me as quickly as possible in Deika City so I can see him for myself, and see how much damage this society has done to him. We will work together to bring him into the fold. You should also improve your relationship with your dear wife. She may have become disillusioned before but that does not mean it has to stay that way. Find out what kinds of connections she has now with the police and All Might given she has involved herself with that child…"

Rikiya paused and glanced over at Tomoyasu who immediately responded, "Eri. The child's name is Eri."

"Yes, thank you. Given that your wife has taken in this little Eri. I would suggest you make sure you do everything you can to support this little girl as well. This is now your top priority Mr. Midoriya. Your boy has too many connections to other growing heroes in his classmates we can manipulate. Connections to pro heroes we can exploit, and to be frank, your son is just too special, too powerful, to let slip away. Understood?"

Hisashi bowed deeply. "Yes, I understand completely. I will begin work immediately to prepare for the move back to Japan."

"How long will it take you to be ready? Given the number of projects you were in charge of, a couple of weeks at most?"

Hisashi almost swallowed his tongue but was able to keep himself straight faced. He would have liked to say a month at least, but after what Rikiya said, and the urgency and importance of his new task, he thought it best to confirm the man's timeline and just figure out how to make it work. "Yes sir. That should be plenty of time."

Rikiya leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Good. Very good. Mr. Midoriya, you and I find ourselves with a very fortuitous opportunity. To spread our word to the young and talented individuals at U.A. through your son. But while we now have one foothold, I think it would be a mistake not to get another."

"Another, sir?"