Chapter 2: to commit no mistakes
Izuku stepped off the train to Yongen-Jaya with a nervous frown, suitcase in hand. He hadn't expected to be sent out to Tokyo, if he was being honest. After everything that went down, he expected to be put in juvie. That was just the luck he seemed to have when it came to authority figures and punishments that were supposed to be fair. But he hadn't gone to juvie, he'd been given a chance to work through the charges he now had, because…
Izuku looked down at the letter in his hands. Because of this. Signed, Yagi Toshinori, the letter read. All Might. The man offered to support him during his probation. His speaking out for him in court was the only reason he'd gotten it down to a probation in the first place…
Izuku looked around at Yongen-Jaya's station, at the small platform and the staircase that led aboveground, and felt almost overwhelmed by its unfamiliarity. He'd grown up and spent his entire life so far in Musutafu… he and his mom hadn't even really gone on vacation outside the Shizuoka prefecture. To be so far from home, without his mother… He was nervous, shaky. But he had to stamp down the anxiety. If he wanted to get rid of the charges on him, he had to follow the instructions he'd been given.
The man you'll be staying with is named Torino Sorahiko. I've enclosed instructions on how to get to his address. He sometimes likes to prank new people, so be aware he might pull something. I will instruct him not to, but I thought I should warn you just in case, the letter read.
Right. A man named Torino… the address wasn't too far from the station when he checked the map on his phone. He began heading up to street level to find his way there.
I will be supporting you financially during your probation. Your tuition for the new school, food, uniform costs, whatever you need. The only stipulation on this is that I wish to meet with you on Sundays to check in. As you likely know, my agency is over in Roppongi, so it shouldn't be too hard to do,the letter continued. We can meet in between Yongen-Jaya and Roppongi, or one of us can simply go to the other. The choice is yours. My contact information is below so that we may work out details.
Izuku wondered what reason there was for them to meet. All Might made his position abundantly clear the first time they met. What else was there to say between them? Why had he spoken up for him in court? Was there some… ulterior motive to his support? Izuku didn't know. The thought of meeting again only made him more nervous.
His mom had taken the sudden show of support as All Might looking out for somebody wrongly accused because he'd been on the scene to witness the truth, but she didn't know about the meeting that happened just before the incident. After all, it was Yagi-san, not All Might himself, that made an appearance in court, so perhaps she thought it was simply a distant kindness the hero was extending without making it personal by sending his secretary to handle things.
There was no point in thinking about it so hard, though. He would have to accept whatever conditions All Might set whether he liked it or not in order to get the financial support he needed. His mother certainly couldn't have afforded the tuition the new school asked for, that was for sure, and the school he was going to was the only one who would accept a student out on probation on short notice.
Izuku sighed to himself. He was getting too into his thoughts. He made his way onto a main street and checked the map again. Only this time, as he did, an app popped up on his screen. Some icon with a black and red eye. It was an app he didn't recognize. Izuku assumed he'd gotten a virus or some kind of spam on his phone, so he tried to swipe it away… only it didn't budge. He tried to move it again, but it went nowhere. And instead, as he was getting more and more frustrated with it, the world around him seemed to slow.
Izuku blinked, looking up as everyone and everything around him slowed to a dead stop. He blinked owlishly, then a little more frantically he spun around looking for the source of the disturbance. Was there a villain attack? Why was he able to move and nobody else? What was going on? Izuku looked towards the end of the street, where it seemed to erupt into bright, blue flames for a just a moment. They were almost as tall as some of the buildings nearby.
With wide eyes seeing nothing but the flames now, for a single moment, Izuku could've sworn… that he saw a face staring back at him. But just like that, when he blinked again, the flames were gone and everyone was back to normal. Nobody even seemed to be reacting to whatever the hell just happened.
Izuku looked around once more, but in the tiny back streets of this small neighborhood, nothing particularly stood out to him. Nobody looked suspicious, there were no burn marks where the blue flames had been, and nobody seemed to be bothered in the slightest. What… was that? Izuku looked back down at his phone to see the app still there, and he wondered if it had been the app's doing. Somebody with a technology quirk making him hallucinate…? No, that was too specific.
Whatever the case, he couldn't afford to make a scene even if he wanted to. He was on probation. If he got in trouble for crying out about blue fire nobody else could see… Izuku shook his head. He didn't need to think about that right now. He was finally able to swipe the app onto the 'delete' option of his phone, getting rid of it. Good riddance, Izuku thought.
He took a deep breath. Whatever the hell that was… he couldn't afford to report it and risk looking stupid to the cops. If nobody else was reacting, neither would he. Izuku swallowed down the nerves and tried to convince himself that whatever he'd just seen, it was because he was so stressed he was imagining things.
Take a right, the map chimed in. He had somewhere to be - no time for hallucinations.
The building the letter described was, well, interesting, to say the least. It seemed to be an apartment building, one that was smaller than a typical one might be, with no active tenants. It had a big 'welcome' sign out front, but otherwise there was no indication that anybody even lived there. It was sandwiched between two other buildings covered in graffiti, and all in all, it seemed like an area of town most people tended to avoid.
Izuku was a little nervous. This was where he'd be staying for the next year? If this was what the building looked like, what was the owner like? According to the letter, this 'Torino' was both the owner and the only person who lived in the entire building.
Well, all he could do was find out.
Izuku went up to the front door and knocked firmly. There was a grumbling from behind the door, and then it opened to reveal… a very short, old man. Was… this Torino? The old man had a cane in his hand, and he eyed Izuku cautiously, like he was judging his potential or something. "So," he said. "You're Midoriya, are you?"
"Um… yes, sir," Izuku nodded. "Are you… Torino-san?"
"That's me. Torino Sorahiko," the man confirmed. He tapped Izuku's legs with his cane appraisingly, which nearly startled him out of his wits. "Huh. Didn't think somebody with vigilantism charges would be so jumpy… and thin. Guess it really was blown out of proportion… well, whatever. If Toshinori saw something in you, who am I to judge? Come on inside."
"You know Yagi-san?" Izuku asked quietly, following the man inside. The inside of the apartment building was spacious, more so than Izuku thought it would be at first glance. It seemed as though the man had converted the entire bottom floor into his own personal home, with a staircase to the other floors in the back. The inside was much better taken care of than the outside.
At his question, Torino laughed. "Know him? Ha! I should've known he wouldn't tell you much. He can be an airhead sometimes, even if he is a good hero. I was Toshinori's teacher - I've known the brat since he was in high school. That's why he volunteered me to watch over you during your probation… he knows I can handle you, and he trusts me."
Izuku's eyes widened. This man was All Might's teacher…! The hero fanboy part of him was overwhelmingly excited to meet somebody so cool, but the other half of him was nervous because holy crap this was All Might's teacher. The man must've been incredibly tough to teach somebody like All Might. He could only imagine what living with him would be like.
Torino led him upstairs, to the second floor, where there was a few small apartments all in a row. "You're gonna need a room while you're here. I cleaned this one up for you," Torino unlocked the door closest to the stairs and handed Izuku the key. "I also put a futon and a desk in it for you. If there's something else you need for school or whatever, let me know. Your mother sent over your things ahead of time, so there are boxes in there for you when you're ready to unpack."
"Thank you," Izuku bowed his head respectfully. "For setting this up, and for being willing to take in somebody with a record."
"Bah, that puny charge ain't a record, kid," Torino grumbled, muttering something under his breath. "I saw the news. That sludge villain thing, right? Where you ran in to help a friend of yours or something? That was worth a slap on the wrist at worst. Whoever charged you must've been some rotten asshole on a power trip."
Izuku's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You… think so? You don't think I deserved it?"
"I know so. I've met plenty of real vigilantes in my day, and no offense, that wasn't really vigilantism. Anyway, whatever the case is, I'm just glad Toshinori managed to convince the courts to let you go under probation… just stick it out for a year, kid, and you'll be alright," Torino nodded to himself. "Well, I'll let you unpack. While you're doing that, I'll make dinner. Hope you like beef stew. After dinner, you should get some rest. We'll be heading to your new school in the morning to introduce you to the staff and get your paperwork sorted out. You'll want your energy."
"Do you know anything about the school, Torino-san? I wasn't able to see much online when I looked it up." He wanted to know if it was going to be another Aldera, or if he'd have to figure out an entirely new minefield to navigate. He wasn't dumb enough to expect anything great, because nothing ever was when you were quirkless, but it was worth investigating at the very least.
"Your school? I only know the basics," Torino shook his head slowly. "Shujin Academy. It's a combination junior high and high school. It's known for its junior high students graduating into high school hero programs or high school students into college sports programs. One of the teachers there is pretty respected too, from what I heard. Some guy who used to be a hero but retired to be a teacher or something. That's all I know."
Izuku hummed thoughtfully. "Well, thanks anyway, Torino-san. I suppose I'll get out of your hair and start unpacking. Thank you again for taking me in."
"Yeah, yeah. Just treat the room with respect. No breaking windows or punching holes in the walls. Otherwise, I don't really give a shit what you do with it, if you wanna decorate or something. I'm not leasing these rooms out or anything, so…" Torino shrugged nonchalantly and turned to head downstairs. "Just give me a holler if you need me for anything, kid."
Izuku watched as Torino headed downstairs, and then he was alone.
Well… Torino didn't seem too bad, even if he was a little crass sometimes. Izuku supposed he should be grateful he didn't get stuck with somebody who looked down on him for a situation out of his control. Sure, he shouldn't have run in, but Kacchan had been right there… and he needed help, and none of the heroes had moved at all, and so… Izuku sighed and went inside the room Torino had offered him. It would do him no good to dwell on things.
The inside of the room was clean and homey, and it seemed to be a sparse, tiny studio apartment. There was no proper kitchen, but there was a nook with a a sink, some cabinets, a tiny dishwasher, and single-burner stove where he could at least make tea or perhaps heat something up. There was a proper bathroom as well. The rest of the apartment was a single room, wherein Torino had already put in a futon and a desk, as he said he had, and even a small, one-person kotatsu that he hadn't mentioned. It wasn't half bad, honestly. Izuku was grateful for the privacy the room would afford and the fact that he could make tea without having to bother Torino to use his kitchen.
Sitting next to the bed were two boxes, neatly stacked and marked 'Midoriya Izuku' in his mother's handwriting. Izuku frowned… he missed her already. He'd said goodbye just this morning, and his heart already ached. The courts had said he wasn't allowed to see her for the entire year he was on probation. You weren't strict enough with a quirkless child, the social worker had scolded his mother, as if they knew anything about her. They always act out for attention, you know. We can't allow him to stay with somebody who will continue to enable him like you have.
Yeah, right. As if his mother ever enabled him in his life.
Izuku loved his mom, but an enabler she was not. She got nervous just thinking about him going into heroics, so her allowing him to just act out and be a vigilante, well, that would never happen. But the courts didn't care… all they saw was a reckless, quirkless child who was so desperate for attention he'd resorted to vigilantism.
Izuku opened the boxes to find one full of clothes, toiletries, and a few miscellaneous things like his laptop and such, while the other was filled with sheets, books, and several pieces of his All Might merchandise. He pulled out a figure of the hero, and he recognized it as one he'd had for a long time. One of the very first pieces of merchandise he owned, in fact. He held it in his hands and couldn't help but think back to the letter.
I will be supporting you financially during your probation…
Why? Why in the world would All Might offer to financially support him? Was it because he pitied a quirkless kid so badly after meeting him that he felt like he owed it to him? It wouldn't be the first time somebody had coddled him for being quirkless, but… perhaps it was because he wanted Izuku to keep his mouth shut instead. You mustn't tell anybody about this side of me, you understand?
He'd accidentally seen All Might's secret identity on the day they met, the day of the sludge villain incident. That seemed more logical than pity. All Might would definitely want to make sure a civilian who knew his identity kept their mouth shut about it. Maybe that was why… if Izuku tried to tell somebody, he could threaten to take away his ability to meet his probation guidelines. That would make too much sense. He couldn't know for sure, though, and Izuku didn't want to think badly of his favorite hero. As much as it hurt at the time to be told being a hero was unrealistic for him by All Might… he still couldn't just rid himself of years of being a fan.
Thinking on the potential reason behind why All Might had gone so far for him just made him sad, honestly, so he'd just focus on unpacking. By the time he was done, Torino finished dinner. The two ate in silence, almost awkward since neither of them knew each other well enough to make small talk. When he was finished, Izuku thanked him for the meal, and he returned to his room. He needed his rest, after all.
As Izuku lay in his bed, in a completely different part of Japan and being watched over by somebody who wasn't his mother, he found it difficult to sleep. His mind kept drifting between thoughts and memories, most of it being things that led him up to this point.
"Midoriya Izuku?" an officer with a serious expression on his face sat across from him in a police station. His mother sat beside him, trying to soothe him, but he was too nervous to focus. He'd been called in so suddenly, with no warning or even an explanation… "I'm afraid we're going to be pressing charges."
"H… Huh?! But… What… What did I do?!" Izuku was mortified. Surely this had to be a mistake!
"You're being charged with vigilantism and obstruction of justice for your involvement in the sludge villain incident last week. Please, come with me. We'll begin the process shortly…" The officer trailed off, waiting for Izuku to follow. But he couldn't - he wouldn't. This wasn't right.
"But… but nobody said anything at the time! I wasn't trying to interfere with hero work, I-I just… Kacchan, he couldn't breathe, and I had to do something! None of the heroes were doing anything! I just didn't want him to die, I wasn't trying to be a vigilante! H-He was… he looked so afraid…"
The officer just shook his head with no trace of sympathy in his eyes. "I'm sorry. The decision wasn't made by any of the heroes at the scene. That's all I can say right now. Please, if you'll come with me…"
Izuku still had no idea who it was that decided to press the charges, if it wasn't anybody at the scene. He almost wanted to know, because then he'd know who to blame for this mess. Who to blame for why he was now on probation just for saving somebody's life. Izuku was loathe to admit it, but he had a lot of internal anger. He was so often forced to repress it, because quirkless kids couldn't act out or else this kind of thing happened to them. Izuku's anger had been building for the last fourteen years of his life like water in a pot and it was steadily bubbling, almost to the boiling point.
He wanted to know who had almost ruined his life so he could direct that anger at them. The one who deserved it.
Izuku supposed he wasn't going to be sleeping any time soon. He checked the time on his phone and sighed. He might as well try and dig up more information on Shujin Academy if he couldn't sleep. Maybe he'd find out more about the retired hero Torino mentioned. He opened up his phone to try and scroll, but something stopped him.
That weird app was back…
The eye on the icon stared at him, leering, almost judging. Izuku frowned and swiped it away again. This time, it went without any trouble. How creepy,he thought. He was sure he'd deleted it the first time. Perhaps his phone really was infected with a virus. He'd have to get it looked at.
But for now, scrolling until he was able to sleep came first.
Izuku woke up to the sound of chains rattling gently.
He blinked, and then with mild alarm, realized he could barely move his arms. They were… handcuffed in front of him? He woke up quickly then, sitting up in bed and realizing he was wearing a set of chained handcuffs all of a sudden. Izuku almost panicked, if it weren't for the fact that he knew for a fact he'd gone to sleep at Torino's residence, and Torino hadn't seemed off to him at all. Usually he was able to tell when people were faking being nice…
He looked around, and it seemed he was on a thin bed in what looked to be a prison cell. It almost mirrored the type of cells he'd seen in pictures of Tartarus online, except for one big change… the walls were lined with blue velvet paneling instead of the usual flat white tiles. What… was this? Where was he? This couldn't have actually been Tartarus, since only max security criminals ever went there, and it was impossible to get into without causing a scene.
"Am… Am I dreaming?" Izuku whispered, mostly to himself. Yeah, he thought, this has to be a dream. Doesn't it?
To Izuku's shock, he got a response: a laugh. A deep, deep laugh. And then the deep voice spoke: "If you'd like to call it a dream, then you may."
Izuku spun around to realize that he wasn't alone. There was a thick, plexiglass wall, the kind that realTartarus might have, with a small insert, perhaps for where meals went through. Izuku wasn't sure. On the other side of the glass sat a desk, and at the desk sat a man. He was short, with long white hair surrounding a bald top, wild eyes and a long nose. He even wore a three-piece suit. The desk was ornately fancy and sat atop a rug, so he didn't look entirely out of place, but… what was this? He turned to look elsewhere for a moment, and-
"Eyes front, inmate!"
Izuku's eyes snapped down directly in front of him, where two young, twin girls in prison guard's uniforms stood in front of the other side of the glass. They were serious and intense… Izuku swallowed thickly. Was he really in a prison right now? He remembered reading somewhere that people couldn't see faces this clearly in dreams, so was this not a dream? The guards just pointed back to the man in the suit.
"Trickster… welcome to my Velvet Room," the long-nosed man held out a hand in welcoming. Izuku presumed he was supposed to shake it, but it wasn't like he could, trapped like this…
"Hmph," one of the guards spoke up. "Took you long enough to come to, inmate."
The other guard nodded, and spoke a little more gently. "Indeed. The 'you' in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream."
So this was a dream? Izuku was confused… and his head hurt.
"You're in the presence of our master," the more stern of the twins said, tapping the glass with a baton. "Stand up straight! Pay attention!"
Izuku followed orders. Whether this was a dream or not, he wasn't about to piss off anybody in authority. Quirks made people look all kinds of ways, so who was he to say whether these two weren't actually guards of this place? He didn't want to make them mad…
"Welcome," the man at the desk spoke again, grinning widely. It seemed his expression didn't change very much. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Midoriya Izuku. This place exists between dream and reality… between mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well."
Izuku nodded. He was having a hard time following along, but he could remember names, at least. Igor… he committed it to memory. He had no idea what contract Igor was talking about, or what the whole 'between dream and reality' thing meant, but… he figured too many questions might make the guards mad. Tentatively, he asked, "So I really am… asleep? Is this a quirk, or something else?"
The guard with the baton smacked the glass angrily. Great… he was right. "Speak when you're told to, Inmate!"
"Now, now," Igor chuckled. "Let him be. It's only natural that he be confused. This is no quirk, child. You will certainly come to understand that in time. The significant part is that I summoned you here to speak on important matters. It involves your life too, so you would do well to listen."
"My life?! What… what did I do?" Izuku asked, stepping a little closer to the glass, only to feel his leg yanked back. His leg was shackled to the wall too, unable to fully reach the glass.
"It is a surprise, though…" Igor murmured, looking around the room. "The state of this room is a reflection of the state of your heart. To think a prison would appear, and you would be restricted so heavily… you must be carrying a heavy burden in your heart. You truly are a prisoner of fate… aren't you? Listen to me now. There is no mistake that ruin awaits you in the near future."
Izuku's eyes went wide. "Ruin? What do you mean?"
"I speak of the end of everything, of course. However, there exists a means to oppose such a fate. You must be rehabilitated… rehabilitated towards freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin, understand? Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of this world, Midoriya Izuku?"
"I… I don't understand," Izuku said, feeling weak at the knees. The end of everything? Like… the end of the world? Somehow, Izuku got the sense he wasn't joking. And as crazy as it might be, Izuku almost believed him. Yet… this man wanted him to fight that?! How?! He didn't know how to fight, he didn't have a quirk, he had no muscle… Izuku blinked and realized with growing horror that perhaps this meant he couldn't be a hero after all. A hero would've said yes without thinking if it meant saving others. He hadn't even done nothing to better himself up until this point… he didn't even try and get fit or learn martial arts. What had he been doing this entire time…?
Was his dream truly doomed, like All Might had said…?
No, no. It couldn't be. He'd just have to work as hard as he could from now on. He would have a lot of work to catch up on, but Izuku refused to give up his dream.
"Do not panic, child. Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation. Ah… and pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline, and to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here," Igor said, gesturing to the two in front of the glass.
"Hmph. Try and struggle as hard as you'd like, inmate," Caroline said, baton clutched tightly behind her back.
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates," Justine said softly. "We are also your collaborators… that is, if you remain obedient."
"I shall explain the roles of these two at another time… it seems the night is waning," Igor hummed thoughtfully. "Take your time to slowly come and understand this place. We will surely meet again."
He pointed to the ceiling, and Izuku heard his alarm clock blare loudly all around him. And then… he woke up.
Izuku jolted awake in bed, covered in a cold sweat. What… what was that dream?
I am here! I am here! I am here! I am-
Izuku shut off his alarm with an overly aggressive slap, not in the mood for it right now. He was still a little freaked out by how realistic that dream had been. What did it mean? Was it real, or just some stress-induced nightmare? The man behind the desk, Igor, had spoken of the end of the world, but… that couldn't have been real, right? There was no way he wanted Izuku to…
"You awake?" Torino's voice and a knock on his door startled Izuku out of his thoughts. "I heard your alarm going off up here. If you are awake, go ahead and start getting ready. We need to be at Shujin soon. Got it?"
"Y-Yeah," Izuku called back. "Got it. I'm awake."
"Good kid. Meet me downstairs when you're ready. I'm taking care of breakfast today, but after that, you'll be on your own in the mornings, alright? You can use my kitchen whenever you need," Torino said.
"Yes, sir. Thank you," he said. There were footsteps heading back downstairs, so Izuku assumed Torino had left. He let out a deep sigh and stared down at his hands. He supposed that dream was another one of those things he just had to deal with. It wasn't like he could just tell Torino about it - after all, Torino had to check in with his probation officer every couple of weeks. If they smelled something fishy, his future would be down the drain in an instant.
Izuku quickly ran through his morning routine and got dressed, and when he got downstairs, there was a steaming bowl of okayu waiting for him on the table. Izuku sat down and thanked Torino for the meal.
The old man seemed to wave it off as not a big deal. "No need to thank me. I mean, cooking is part of what I accepted when I chose to take care of a kid for a year. I just prefer to sleep in most mornings… So long as you handle making your own breakfasts, I'll make sure you get lunch and dinner every day."
"I can handle breakfasts," Izuku murmured, taking a bite of his food. Honestly, making his lunch and dinners was more than generous. He had to admit, he was curious why Torino was being so nice… "Thank you again."
Torino gave him a look. "You look like you want to ask me something. Go ahead, I won't be offended."
"Um… well… I was just thinking that you're being really kind. Making me food, letting me stay, and everything. It's just… even if Yagi-san asked you for a favor, it feels like you're really going out of your way to help… somebody like me," Izuku muttered, taking a bite again.
"Somebody like you?" Torino repeated, confused. "What do you mean?"
"You know… a kid with criminal charges. A quirklesskid with criminal charges…" Izuku poked around at his food, a little embarrassed to have to bring it up. "Most people don't really like the quirkless, so… I was just surprised…"
"Hah! Is that what you were worried about?" Torino laughed and slapped his knee, seeming genuinely amused by the thought. "Sonny, when I was your age, nearly half of the population was still quirkless, sometimes more in certain parts of the world. I had tons of friends who were quirkless growing up. It's not a big deal for me. And I already told you my opinion on your charges, didn't I? Don't worry so damn much. I took you in 'cause I wanted to, not as a favor. When I see a kid who was wronged by the justice system, like you were, it's hard to just ignore. That's all there is to it."
Izuku gripped his spoon a little tighter in his hands, trying not to get emotional. People who didn't mind his quirklessness were few and far between. So far, the only people he'd ever met who didn't care were his parents, but even then his father was overseas for nearly every part of the year. It often felt like he only had his mother on his side. To hear somebody so easily say they just didn't care…
"Thanks," Izuku choked out, shoving another bite of food into his mouth so he didn't embarrass himself. Torino just shook his head and muttered something about 'kids these days' to himself.
When breakfast was over, it was time to get going. Izuku gathered his bright yellow backpack over his shoulder and double checked that his clothes were clean and smooth. The last thing he wanted was to make a horrible impression at the new school - it was bad enough he was quirkless. Torino might not have cared, but Izuku knew better than to think the school wouldn't. Teachers and kids his age had almost universally disliked him his whole life, after all.
"Ready?" Torino asked.
Izuku nodded. "As I'll ever be."
The train ride to the school was packed. Torino had taken him by train so he could get a feel for the route he'd be taking for the next year, and also because he didn't own a car. When they got there, though, the school loomed overhead almost intimidatingly. Izuku gulped. What would Shujin Academy turn out to be like…?
The inside was nice enough. It seemed like a normal enough school, although it was large, and it had some extra displays and equipment that made it seem high-end. There was the junior high on one side, the practical building in the middle, and the high school on the other side. Shujin was fairly well-respected as a prep school (especially because of its sports teams and graduates to hero schools, like Torino had said - the displays hung up around the school were certainly proof of that), so Izuku supposed it made sense that it would look this nice.
He and Torino were brought to meet the principal in his office. The principal was a large, bald man, wearing a pressed suit and a bright red bowtie. Beside him, a young woman stood with a smile on her face. Was she a teacher, Izuku wondered? She had white hair with red flecks in it, and she was wearing a white button-down with a pink cardigan over it. She seemed nice enough.
"You must be Midoriya-kun," the woman said, sticking her hand out for him to shake. Izuku gently shook it, noting how abnormally cold her hands were. Was it her quirk or something?
"Yes, ma'am. Midoriya Izuku. Thank you for having me here."
"And you must be Torino-san, his caretaker," the principal followed up, shaking Torino's hand.
"Yes. Torino Sorahiko. If you have any problems, call me. I disclosed all of my information in his transfer paperwork. I'm free most hours of the day… I'm retired after all," Torino sighed. He didn't seem very happy about being retired… "I don't expect you'll have many problems, though. Kid's pretty quiet from what I've seen so far."
"We'll be the judge of that," the principal cleared his throat. "I'm Principal Kobayakawa. You'll be starting here tomorrow, Midoriya. I expect you to be on your best behavior. And just so we're clear, you'll be expelled immediately if you cause any problems. In my opinion, you're a liability for us, but we have our own circumstances to consider…"
Torino looked annoyed at the way the man was speaking down to him, but Izuku just nodded along. The hostility was nothing new, honestly. Neither was being called a liability. It was like this everywhere. At least this was more familiar to him. He had a lot more experience treading the minefield of authority figures who disliked him.
Principal Kobayakawa continued on when nobody said anything. "Whatever you might've gotten away with in Musutafu, it won't be tolerated here at this academy. If you're thrown out of Shujin, there's nowhere else for you to go. We're the only school that would allow somebody on probation to attend, and that's because as I said, we have our own circumstances. Am I understood, young man?"
"Yes, sir," Izuku nodded quickly.
"Good. Now, please meet your teacher for the next year. She'll be in charge of your homeroom," the principal gestured to the woman beside him. She smiled, and then pleasantly held out a card for Izuku to take.
"Hi! I'm Todoroki Fuyumi. I'll be your teacher for the next year. I hope you learn a lot in my classroom. Here, this is your student ID. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Make sure you study the school's rules so you don't end up in trouble. I'm certain you'll be able to make a new life here at Shujin Academy, but I won't be able to protect you if you get in trouble, okay?"
Izuku took the offered ID with a nod. She seemed… nice. Perhaps she was just acting friendly in front of the principal. Her openness to having him in her classroom almost unnerved him a little.
"Well, that should be everything, then. You have your ID, and… ah! Of course. Forgive me, I almost forgot. Here!" Todoroki-sensei gathered some things sitting on a shelf nearby - a neatly-folded uniform in a plastic package and a folder stuffed to the gills with papers. "Your uniform, plus your missing paperwork, orientation guide, rulebook, class syllabi, and a list of recommended supplies in case you don't already have them! Most of your paperwork has already been forwarded, but we're still missing a few things. We know it was a short-notice transfer, though, so we understand you didn't have time to get it all filled out. So long as you and your guardian here are able to have it in by tomorrow, things should work out alright."
"Of course. Thank you, Todoroki-sensei," Izuku bowed respectfully after he'd gathered his things. "I'll do my best not to trouble you or the school. I look forward to learning from you."
"Well, at least you have some manners," Principal Kobayakawa muttered. It probably wasn't meant to be heard, but Izuku got it anyway. He chose not to comment on it, but judging by the deepening frown on Torino's face, he didn't need to. Torino had heard it just fine as well.
"Is that everything you need from us for today, Principal?" Torino asked, tapping his cane impatiently. "I have somewhere to be soon."
Kobayakawa huffed, clearly sensing he was losing goodwill with the man. "I see. Yes, that should be everything. We'll contact you if you're needed for anything else. All I have to say is that you should keep a close eye on him, Torino-san. His old school warned us about him. He's a handful. I don't know how many you've met, but frankly, all quirkless children are handfuls."
"As you said yourself… I'll be the judge of that," Torino grinned cheekily. Principal Kobayakawa leaned back in his chair with a 'harrumph.'
"Er, well, just make sure to come to the faculty office first thing in the morning, okay?" Todoroki-sensei said gently, trying to diffuse some of the tension. "I'll make sure to show you to your classroom. I didn't have any extra copies of the school map, but I'll have one printed up for you."
Izuku felt just as awkward right now. He was ready to get out of here. "Of course, Todoroki-sensei. Thank you again."
Torino and Izuku took their leave afterwards. Once they were near the entrance of the school and long out of earshot of the principal and Izuku's teacher, Torino grumbled and stamped his cane. "What an ass, treating you like some hardened criminal. He had to have seen the news footage of the sludge villain incident. It's not like he has reason to think you're a serious vigilante. I just don't get some people's attitudes…"
"It's alright, Torino-san," Izuku said placatingly. "I think anybody would be nervous to have somebody with criminal charges at their school, minor or not. It can go very badly for their reputation if something happens, you know? I can't blame him for being wary…"
Torino huffed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, don't defend him. Look, just tell me you'll behave yourself even if you've got a principal like him breathing down your neck, okay? You need a clean year to stay out of juvenile hall, and unfortunately, he was right about Shujin being the only school willing to take you in. I don't want to see you throwing away a second chance like this. Not many people get them, you know."
Izuku shook his head. He didn't need to be told that. He hadn't expected to get a chance like this in the first place. It still didn't feel real, in all honesty. Who just handed a quirkless kid a second chance on a silver platter? All Might, apparently. He was still nervous about having to meet the man again… "I won't waste this chance, Torino-san, I swear. I appreciate you looking out for me."
"Heh, I can't help it. Even if I retired a long time ago, a pro hero's instinct never really leaves," Torino seemed to relax a little, hearing Izuku so seriously wanting to keep his word. Izuku's eyes widened. A retired pro?! Torino used to be a pro hero?! "Don't look so surprised! Yeah, I used to be a hero when I was younger. I told you I was Toshinori's teacher, didn't I? I used to teach at U.A. I went by the name Gran Torino. But we can talk about that another time - we should be heading home before rush hour. Make sure not to lose anything on the train, alright?"
"Yes sir!" Izuku nodded quickly, following along as Torino headed back to the train station. His eyes sparkled with the prospect of learning more about older heroes. He was woefully lacking in the information department when it came to heroes that worked prior to All Might, in all honesty. Izuku thought that perhaps, even if he missed his mother, living with Torino wouldn't be so bad. Here, there was no Kacchan, nobody would outright know he was quirkless unless he told them (or if somebody elsetold them… he'd know if any of his teachers were the type to let that out soon enough), and he had the chance to learn information nobody else knew about All Might and heroes that came before him.
He would try to make the best out of the second chance he'd been given. He'd keep his head down, go to school, and not get into trouble.
Fuyumi stood quietly out in the courtyard and studied the papers in her hands. The transfer student apparently had criminal charges, and not only that, but a number of red flags from his old school. But… it didn't match what she'd seen in the meeting. The boy had been polite, if a little distant.
He didn't really give off… well, signs of being a vigilante or anything. Years of living around her father had given her a knack for telling when people were stronger than they looked - he often brought his work home with him, so to speak, and whether she liked it or not she'd picked up a few things from it. Midoriya Izuku set off no metaphorical alarm bells in her head. He just seemed like… a normal student.
A normal quirkless student, to be sure, which she didn't often see these days, but she tried not to judge a book by its cover like a lot of others might. She often thought in the days after her brother passed that perhaps being quirkless would have been a blessing for him. Then he wouldn't have suffered the way he did. But…
"Seems like you're in a troublesome situation. I heard all about that new transfer student!"
A voice brought Fuyumi out of her thoughts. When she turned to see who it was, she fought back a frown. Kamoshida, the PE teacher. If anybody set off the metaphorical alarm bells, it would be him. Fuyumi was a brand new teacher here, having just graduated college the year before, so she didn't know everything, but there was definitely something off about him. There was something nobody was saying, and they skirted around talking about him every chance they got. He was supposed to have been a former hero, before he got injured on the job and had to retire to take a less strenuous position, but she knew better than to think that made him a good person.
Her own father was proof enough that pro heroes could be very different people than what the public saw behind closed doors.
"Ah… I suppose it could be considered troublesome, yes," Fuyumi said, deciding it was better to be polite than to start trouble with him. "I've never dealt with a student in his particular situation, but I'm certain he'll prove to be a model student. He seemed quite polite when I met him. He must be taking his probation seriously."
"I sure hope so. I can only wonder why in the world somebody like that was admitted here in the first place, though," Kamoshida shook his head in annoyance.
"Well, I suppose the Principal has his reasons. He told me it was for reputation, but… Whatever the case, I look forward to seeing the transfer student improve himself," Fuyumi said, still just as polite. She held her papers a little closer to her chest. She wasn't eager to talk to Kamoshida for very long.
"Reputation?" Kamoshida frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I would've thought my volleyball team has contributed more than enough to the school's reputation. Normally only hero schools can say they've hired pro heroes, after all. What more could he ask for?"
"Yes, well… I couldn't say why the principal was worried about reputation. Anyways, was there something you needed, Kamoshida-san?" Fuyumi asked, subtly turning her body so she was facing more towards the door. Hopefully he got the hint. "I should get back to filing the transfer student's paperwork. There's a lot that goes into transferring so suddenly like this, after all."
"No, just making small talk," Kamoshida smiled at her, leaning in a little closer. Clearly, he didn't get the hint. "Be careful around that new student. Let me know if you need a hero to come and wrangle that vigilante, alright? Then again, if it were me, I'd just kick him out the second he tried anything."
"Um… right," Fuyumi said, a little awkward now. That was a little harsh. And strange to say about a student she told him was polite. She didn't need to be rescued from anything… "Well, I'd better get going. See you, Kamoshida-san."
As she turned and left on the spot, leaving the PE teacher both annoyed and confused, Fuyumi thought to herself that perhaps she ought to keep an eye on Kamoshida on the new student's behalf. The last thing she wanted was his time here to be filled with trouble because one of the teachers had it out for the poor boy.
Yes, she decided, she'd do just that.
Elsewhere, prosecutor Niijima Sae watched the news in her boss' office. She had a frown on her face as the footage of a train accident displayed for the second time since it was reported.
"That was direct footage from the accident. According to police, the engineer's life was not in danger thanks to the timely arrival of All Might, who was on-scene at another villain attack nearby. He stopped the train and many civilians credit him as the reason there were no injuries reported. After questioning, the engineer could not explain his high speed when entering the station. No further comments were made."
Sae's boss let out a deep sigh. "It's less of an operating accident and more of a crime of the company and the government. Site inspectors apparently reported the deterioration of the tracks and ATC nearly six months ago. Seems the railway company and the Ministry of Transport both turned a blind eye. Since All Might was the one to resolve this, there's no way they can hide now… this'll go all the way to the top. Everything he's involved in always does. It's too publicized."
Sae chose not to comment. She understood well how the involvement of heroes had contorted the justice system to fit in line with heroics in recent years. Especially with the arrival of All Might - ever since he'd been labeled the 'Symbol of Peace,' people relied more on heroes than on police and laws.
"Now, onto our main story," the TV newscaster continued. "With this derailment accident, as well as a string of other recent incidents of unknown motive, concern is spreading among the general public. Just what could be causing such a drastic change so suddenly in these people? Many believe it to be the work of a network of villains, raising concern over whether the current heroes can keep up and over why more is not being done to prevent these incidents…"
"And you're thinking all of these incidents are connected? Perhaps done by this network of villains many are suggesting?" her boss asked, turning to look at her.
"I don't know if it's a villain network, per se…" Sae murmured. "But I do believe they're connected, yes."
"Well, there's not much that can be done on our end," her boss sighed and shook his head. "That aside, are you free? It's been awhile since we've gotten drinks."
Sae shook her head. "Sorry, sir. I have another meeting to attend."
Izuku arrived back at Torino's apartments with everything still in hand. They'd just missed rush hour, thankfully, because it mean they just missed that subway accident that had happened after they got back to Yongen-Jaya. Izuku went to put his things away, and afterwards, helped make dinner. He'd feel bad if he just left Torino to do all that work when he was already doing a lot for him.
Tonight's dinner seemed to be a simple meal of grilled fish, rice, miso, and sunomono. They were all things his mom made often, so he knew how to help prepare. Torino seemed mildly impressed.
"You cook, kid?" he asked, watching Izuku tend to the fish carefully. Izuku nodded.
"Mhm. It's just me and my mom most of the time, since dad works overseas, so I help her cook a lot. She taught me everything she knows," Izuku said, a small smile on his face when he thought of his mom. Nothing made him feel better after a difficult day at school than when he'd come in the door and smell his mother's cooking. No matter how hurt he was, physically or emotionally, a meal with her would make just about anything better.
Torino seemed to think on that for a moment. "What's your favorite thing to make with her?"
"My favorite thing to make? Oh, anything, really. Just spending time with her is the best. I can't wait to cook with her again…" Izuku lamented. But he didn't want to bring the mood down too much, so he shook his head. "Her katsudon is the best, though. I've never had any katsudon as good as hers."
"You seem like the kind of kid who'd like katsudon," Torino snorted. Then, more gentle, "But don't stress too hard about seeing her again. You'll only be here for a year, and then you can go home. I know it seems like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it's short. You'll still have all of high school to cook with her."
"Yeah, I guess so," Izuku murmured. Torino was really nice, Izuku thought - he was glad he got to live with somebody like him during his probation. When he first got told he was going to have to live elsewhere, Izuku honestly thought he'd get stuck with somebody that would treat him awfully. But this hadn't been too bad, at least so far.
Dinner was finished shortly after, and the two of them ate quietly together. Once they were done, Izuku helped him do dishes, and then he said goodnight and headed upstairs to his room. Izuku was honestly exhausted, even though he hadn't done a whole lot today. Meeting the Principal and his new teacher was draining emotionally - he had to prepare himself to navigate an entirely new school. While there was no Kacchan, that also meant no predictable anger and usual routes to follow. If somebody decided to get to him after school, he'd be out of luck until he figured out the fastest, sneakiest way to the train station.
With that thought in mind, Izuku changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and decided to lie down and look up a map of the neighborhood before he fell asleep. Maybe he'd be able to pick a route to follow. He also wanted to read up on the train accident that had apparently happened that day…
But as he opened his phone, something else distracted him: that weird app he'd seen on his first day in Yongen-Jaya. Hadn't he deleted that already, though? With a frown, Izuku dragged the app into the trash folder again and hoped the app wasn't actually a virus or something that had buried into his phone. That was the last thing he needed right now. He began to nod off slowly, though, now that he was laying down, and he decided he'd look up routes tomorrow morning.
As Izuku drifted off, he hoped that, at the very least, his new school wouldn't be another Aldera.