Ch. 17: Eri Saichirou
Eri tossed and turned in her sleep before sitting up suddenly, breathing heavily. Another nightmare. Just another to add to the ever-expanding list. She looked around her room to get her bearings. Her bed was comfy but as she looked around the sterile, unremarkable room, a cold chill washed over her. She was still there. Locked in her room underground. She sighed as she laid back into her bed and waited. She couldn't leave the room and had no real desire to get out of bed to play with any of the numerous gifts and toys that she was routinely showered with.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Breakfast time, Eri," a random grunt called out from the hallway before letting himself in. He walked up and handed her a plate of eggs and toast and set a cup of orange juice down on the end table next to her, "Be sure to eat everything or your father will be upset." He said as he left the room to let her eat. Eri slowly began to eat away at her breakfast, stopping to take a small drink every few bites.
Her father. Her new father. That's what she'd been told. She had been there ever since her birthday when it happened. That her mother didn't want her and gave her up to Chisaki after her real father died…
After she killed him. After she made him disappear. She doesn't remember the event all that well... She hugged her father and then… he was gone. She rubbed the horn on her head, the one that grew after his death. Now, it was the only thing that ever appeared when she went to sleep, forcing her to relive it, over and over and over again. With one exception…
"Eri, are you finished?" Eri winced slightly as she heard a new voice call out to her. The door opened to the familiar Chisaki and his right-hand man, Chronostasis. The two walked up to her as she set the now empty plate on the nightstand. "Good. I'm glad to see that you're eating well." Chisaki removed the blankets and allowed Eri to get out of bed. The man in the plague mask held out his hand for her to hold, which she reluctantly took without complaint.
Eri walked down the sterile hall of the Shie Hassaikai underground base with Chisaki holding her hand. She peered behind her to see Chronostasis following behind them, making sure she couldn't go anywhere even if she could break free from her so-called father's grip. 'She had gotten used to this,' she told herself. "This was all to help people," she was told. She wanted to believe it. She had to believe it.
It was the only way to endure the pain that she was about to feel.
Chisaki unlocked the door leading into his lab and pushed it open. The lights flicked on as Chronostasis flipped a switch. Eri took a deep breath as Chisaki led her to the elevated chair in the middle of the room before picking her up and sitting her down in it. The chair was specially designed with the armrests being replaced with small sinks connected to a large container on each side. Chisaki wordlessly strapped her wrists and ankles to the chair to prevent her from thrashing.
"Chrono, are we ready?" Chisaki asked as his comrade walked over with several surgical tools. Chrono nodded before setting the tools down on a tray beside his boss. Chisaki unwrapped the bandages around her arm that were supposed to keep her arm clean and grabbed a scalpel to cut a deep gash down Eri's arm from elbow to wrist, causing her to scream out in pain as blood poured from the wound and into the sink, "Endure it, Eri. The pain will end when we're done here." As she spoke, the wound began to close all on its own, a side effect of the power of her blood.
Which meant more cuts.
Eri's throat ached from her screams as he continued to slice her open to remove more blood, some of it even getting onto Chisaki's clothes. Pint after pint oozed out from her until she finally began to feel the effects of the blood loss. Her eyes drooped as her brain struggled to make sense of what was going on with only the blinding pain of her arm being constant. She could feel it coming as her body became colder as she became sleepier, eventually passing out from the loss of blood. Death had come again.
She woke up a little while later, no worse for wear, only with the new memories of the latest donation of blood to Chisaki's plan. Chisaki was washing his hands after trashing his blood-stained gloves. His clothes were no longer covered in her blood, no doubt because of his quirk to clean them. He quickly put on a new pair before walking over to Eri. "You've done well today, Eri. I'm proud of you. Thanks to you, we'll be able to save this world," Eri nodded, feeling a slight bit of pride in his words. He needed her to do this to save the world. From what though… she didn't know. Chisaki helped her out of the chair after cleaning and bandaging her arm up before setting her down on the floor. "Let's take you back. Chrono, I'll leave the set up to you."
"Understood." Eri grabbed Chisaki's hand and walked out with him, being lead back to the solitude of her room.
The students of Class 1-A all stared silently at Eri with various stages of shock, horror, and disgust, trying to internalize what the little girl had told them. Even the normally cold and indifferent Todoroki and Bakugou looked on, appalled at the treatment of Eri by this Yakuza boss.
"They did that… to a little girl like her?" Hagakure asked, in complete disbelief. The class looked to Nezu who just solemnly nodded, sadness and pity for Eri etched onto his face. Ochako, shaking with rage, smashed her fist into the armrest next to her, causing it to nearly break beneath her fist as she accidentally activated One For All in anger.
"I want to vomit every time I think about it. What those monsters did to her…" Ochako's voice was a low rumble, unnerving her classmates.
"I think 'monsters' might be too kind of a word for them," Tsuyu added, doing a better job at hiding her own anger.
"How about, 'abominations'?" Minoru offered with a smirk, "That sounds better, right?"
"Yeah, those bas… guys were totally unmanly to do that to a kid!" Kirishima shouted, almost forgetting in his disgust not to swear in Eri's presence. Iida cleared his throat before speaking, voice a bit shaky with uncertainty.
"So, you three knew, then?"
"Of course, we did. What, you think he wouldn't tell us?" Minoru asked, sass in his voice.
"Though, we didn't find out until last November. We knew that he had helped Eri, we just were never told how or from what," Tsu clarified, "The most we were ever told is that he found Eri alone one day and rescued her from the streets," Minoru had to bite his tongue. He actually knew about her circumstances since the day she was rescued but he couldn't say anything without also explaining that he knew Izuku was Noh for years and was aiding and abetting him with Nezu right there.
"So, he lied?" Todoroki pointed out, "He lied to his so-called friends to protect himself."
"...He did it to protect Eri too. We've told him off for it, but it's not the point here," Ochako countered, "We want you all to understand why we believe in him." The class looked at her apprehensively. They were a bit wary of the fact that Izuku was willing to lie just to protect himself but they understood wanting to protect Eri. Yaoyarozu figured it was a good time to ask the obvious question.
"Why did they want Eri's blood? Because it could heal?" Tsuyu motioned Eri to continue, hoping that hearing what happened next would explain and also help with the class's anxiousness.
Eri lied in her bed, now four months into the experiments. She fiddled with the relatively useless bandages that covered her arms and legs. No matter how deep the cut, her blood would always fix it with no scarring. Even then, when she ran out, her "Dad" would just fix her up, good as new. If only she didn't have to endure the unholy pain she felt every single day, it wouldn't be that bad in her mind. A knock on the door ripped her from her thoughts.
"Hey, Eri! I'm here with a gift from your dad!" Eri looked up at the door and said nothing as it was just another grunt. She lost count of how many were assigned to take care of her. She quietly mused how long this one was going to last…
Last one lasted about a week when they forgot to lock the door and she decided to look for a way out. Didn't work and the grunt was punished. In front of her.
"Eri, this is what happens to people when you don't do what you're told," Chisaki told her before reducing the man to a red stain on the wall. She hasn't had the urge to leave since then, afraid of more people getting killed because of her.
The new grunt walked in carrying a giant doll and set it down on the nightstand. "Here's the doll I was asked to pick up for you. We hope you like it," he said as he walked to the door and exited the room, leaving Eri alone with the doll… and a masked individual standing near the door, Eri nearly screamed in fear but the figure quickly put a finger to the lips of the mask to silence her. Terror filled her body as she watched him approach her slowly and kneeled down by her side. She wanted to run away, get out of there as fast as she could but her body wouldn't listen, too petrified by the masked stranger.
"Don't be scared. Everything will be okay," the stranger tried to reassure her, allowing her to figure out that they were a boy. The voice was so gentle with her and unlike everyone else, she didn't get the same feeling of it being fake. Like how her Mom and Dad used to talk to her before she was given away. It was warm and comforting.
The feeling that the boy was going to die… less so.
"You can't be here. If he finds you, he'll kill you," She wanted the boy to run. To get away from this place so he didn't end up like everyone else that Chisaki killed. Turned to nothing but blood.
"Who, Overhaul?" she nodded quickly but her body locked up as the boy touched her bandaged arm and examined it, "What happened to you?" Eri was hesitant to talk about it but then figured it probably wouldn't matter anyway.
"Daddy has to take my blood so that he can clean the world," The words she recited from all the times Chisaki had told her that this was for the good of the world. That it would help everyone.
"Clean the world?" The boy sounded confused, unsure of what it was that Eri was saying. To be fair, neither did she as asking for explanations beyond that was frowned upon.
"Though when he takes too much, he has to take me apart and put me back together again," It sounded innocent enough for her since she always came out the other side fine but the boy started shaking a little. She couldn't see his eyes but she could tell he was upset.
"..." The boy said nothing and simply looked to the door for a second, as if he could hear someone coming, something Eri herself couldn't.
"Sorry about this, but I need you to stay where I send you and don't move. I'll be there soon," Eri looked at him as if he was speaking in a foreign language.
'"Stay where I send you?" What does that mea-' She wasn't able to contemplate his words any longer as she felt a strange force pull her up and set her back down, ending with her on a patch of cold, hard concrete. She looked around and saw sunlight peeking out through one of the open windows near the top of the building she was in. Unfortunately, the light wasn't enough to really illuminate her surroundings, leaving her in almost pitch darkness. She stood up and was about to walk around but the boy's words echoed in his head to stay put.
*Pop* Eri jumped at the sound and quickly looked around to see what made it. However, due to the lack of light, whatever made the noise was invisible to her and that just made her start to shake with fear. She shut her eyes and waited. Waited for something to happen but it never did. She opened her eyes again and wondered if the pop was just her imagination.
*Pop* Turns out nope. A second pop, this time just to her right, occurred and with it, the masked boy appeared. Eri couldn't help but cry out in surprise at the sudden appearance of the boy, causing the boy himself to jump back. Was it the same as the power that let Chisaki take people apart? That he can just appear out of nowhere and move her too? She looked at the looming figure, shaking with fear of what the boy was going to do to her.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. Calm down," He quickly stepped away from her and got to a knee to make himself smaller, "I'm not going to hurt you." His words seemed genuine to the girl but she could only think to move backwards when the boy held his hand out to her. She only stopped when her back hit a wooden crate. The boy sighed and dropped his hand. He looked at the ground for a moment before realizing he still had his mask on. Finally, after removing the mask and hood, Eri could finally see the boy's face.
And he looked just like any other kid. He gave the warmest smile he could, "I won't let Overhaul hurt you anymore and I won't let him kill me either. I am here to help you so please let me." Eri let out a small gasp at his words. They were said so confidently that even she started to believe them. No more pain? No more being locked underground? No more death? These were what he was promising him and she wanted so desperately to get away from all of it. Tears formed in her eyes as all the fear of the boy fled her and she ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him and digging her finger into his hoodie to keep him there. She could feel two warm arms gently hug her, one of which soothingly ran up and down her back. She felt safe here. Like all the horror of living with Chisaki was now over. "There, there, it's going to be alright-"
The boy stopped talking before turning towards the door, surprising Eri as she was picked up and carried to the door. She wasn't sure what was happening but she could just barely make out Chisaki's voice. He was here. He knew where she was and was coming for her. She buried herself into his shoulder for protection before the boy quickly ran back to the crate.
"Eri, I'm sorry to leave you alone again but I need to take care of something. I need you to stay in this crate and not make a single noise, no matter what. Do you understand?" He tried to put her in but she just held on tighter. No, she couldn't let him go. She knew that if he left, he would die.
"Please… don't go…" Eri cried as she desperately tried to hang on, only for the pulling from earlier to reappear, causing her to fall into the packing peanuts in the crate. She poked her head out from the crate to see the boy give a confident smile.
"Don't worry, I only need to take care of one thing and then we'll be out of here and safe from Overhaul. They won't hurt you anymore now that I am here!" As terrifying as Chisaki was… this boy's smile told her that he could do this. That he would win and that she would no longer have to be subjected to the same pain day in and day out. The lid of the crate was placed on top, shrouding her in darkness again. She waited silently in the dark crate for him to return, listening for any sign of the boy. She heard a metal door open and a few sets of footsteps.
"See anything, Shin?"
"A lot of nothing, I'm afraid…" She didn't recognize anyone named Shin but her thoughts were cut off as they continued to talk, "There's a lot of packing peanuts on the ground. She must be in one of those crates." Eri stopped breathing as they already knew where she was. Before she could even think of trying to hide under the peanuts, the lid was ripped off and she was once again brought face-to-face with Chisaki. And he was not happy with her. While the lower half of his face was covered, his eyes still bored into hers, striking terror into her as she stared into his rage-filled eyes. He reached in, grabbed her by the back of her gown and lifted right out of the box.
"Eri, you will tell me how you managed to get out. You know what happens when you make me have to go into filthy places like thi-" Eri felt the pulling sensation again and was lifted out of Chisaki's hands and into the green-haired stranger's. She was then immediately warped away again, this time landing on a nice, soft bed. She quickly looked around the room that was slightly illuminated by a lamp of a muscular man that she was familiar with but didn't really know who he was. Though, whoever he was, the boy was clearly his biggest fan as merch of his lined the walls, the shelves, even the bed had a blanket of this beast of a man with a smile as bright as the sun. Eri didn't know why, but she felt… safe here. Being surrounded by this smiling man filled her with a sense of security, just like how that boy did.
The boy. He saved her again and she was so happy about that but now… now she didn't know if he was okay. Not to mention the fact that they found her the first time, what's stopping them from finding her again? The feeling of dread consumed her for the minutes she waited, before hearing a sound that nearly caused her to cry with relief.
*Pop* The boy warped in, completely unharmed. He stood up and took his hood and mask off again before letting out the mother of all sighs.
"That… was too close…" Eri's tears filled her eyes again as she jumped off the bed and hugged her savior. The boy that rescued her from that horrible life. Her hero.
"Haha, looks like I've kept you waiting," He kneeled down and returned the hug, "I'm sorry about that, Eri but you don't have to worry about them anymore. I took care of the guy that was tracking you so Overhaul will never find us again," The words caused all sense of restraint to fly out the window. She cried and cried hard into his chest, the feeling of relief overwhelming the poor girl. Eri held on for dear life for a good while before she finally calmed down, only now getting the chance to ask.
"Um… what's your name again?" The boy's warm smile faded a bit as the question suddenly struck him, causing him to bashfully scratch his cheek.
"Oh, I guess I never told you that, huh. My name is Seigo. Seigo Saichirou."
"Seigo, huh?" Aoyama commented, "A name with a variety of meanings. Depending on the kanji, it could mean, 'pure me' or 'subjugate me'," The class all turned to look at the blond pretty boy, completely bewildered by the trivia.
"Why do you know that?" Sero asked.
"My mother taught me calligraphy and one of the important factors for it is not only how you write, it's the meaning of what you write," He explained with a proud grin, "Understanding kanji on an expansive level will allow you to-"
"We get it, you're a regular poet, moving on!" Ashido interjected before the sparkle boy could go on for much longer, causing his eye to start twitching in irritation.
"So, Midoriya, without knowing why Overhaul needed Eri's blood, just decided to save her because of the bandages on her arms?" Tokoyami inquired, making sure he understood what was being said.
"Well, it was more the fear she had for Overhaul that he decided to get her out, feeling she would be better off anywhere that wasn't there…" Minoru clarified, before getting an upset look on this face, "Until he actually found out what his plan was."
"Which was?" The four all turned to Nezu, checking to see if disclosing what Eri's blood could do would be okay.
"We're this far into the story now," Nezu noted with a smile, "However, I do want to point out that everything involving Eri's blood is, under no circumstances, allowed to leave this room. If it does, I'm bringing in my lie-detector and having him question all of you… and immediately expelling the culprit." Nezu threatened, causing them all to gulp in fear, "I already have enough problems getting the government to lay off of her due to the potential of it. I do not need you all making it worse." The class nodded before returning to Eri and co., with Minoru deciding to explain.
"Eri's quirk is called Rewind. It allows her to rewind a person to a previous state but how it does this is what makes it really dangerous in someone like Overhaul's hands. Eri could either de-age you… or de-evolve you." The class went silent as they contemplated what Minoru was explaining, "His plan was to create special bullets made of Eri's blood with the sole goal of destroying a person's quirk, turning them quirkless."
"Making someone quirkless? She can do that?" Sato asked.
"That's… insane…" Ojiro shook his head in denial at how incredible that was.
"There's no way… right?" Kaminari looked around, hoping it was some kind of joke.
"And yet, completely true," Nezu added, "Her quirk is unlike any I've seen before in terms of how upending of the status quo it is. The only thing that could rival it would be the first quirks to ever exist."
"That's the reason he decided to take care of her since then," Ochako explained, "He was afraid that taking her to the police was just going to result in them using her to wipe out villains." The class went silent for a moment before Iida spoke up.
"I understand why Midoriya would do something like try and save Eri and I understand that he's not a bad person despite his actions as a thief. But it doesn't really change the fact that he still did all those things."
"Which is why he's here, trying to make up for them," Ochako immediately fired back, "He's not just here to be a hero because Nezu asked him, he's here because he wants to help."
"I hear you say that but there's one thing I want right now," Iida replied, "I wish to speak with Midoriya himself. While I understand that he's done a lot for you four and even his actions at the entrance exam show me that he's truly capable of being a hero, I still want to talk with him directly about all this. Only then do I believe we can make an informed decision about his future as our classmate."
"I agree wholeheartedly!" Nezu cheered, "I needed to head for the hospital anyway so I'd be more than happy to send him back here as soon as possible."
"Please do, Principal Nezu," Tsuyu approved, "Izu deserves the right to say something here."
"Very well! If you'll excuse me then," Nezu got up from his seat and left the dorm, leaving the class alone again.
"We should probably keep going while we wait for Midoriya to arrive," Shoji recommended, "I'll admit I'm curious as to not just Eri but also why you three believe in him so much," Eri nodded and continued.
"Let's see… we can't have you going out looking like that," Seigo noted, examining Eri's white hospital gown, "I'll have to get you some new clothes…" He also took a look around the room and noticed that there was only one bed in the storage unit, "And your own bed would be a good idea."
"So, I'll be staying with you now?"
"Well, I'll leave the choice up to you. I personally think you'll be safer with me since… I don't trust the police to not pull the same stunt that Overhaul was doing." Eri nodded with understanding, "However, if you don't want to stay here, I could take you to an orphanage or something," Eri looked at her feet and thought about it. But then she realized she didn't have a clue what an orphanage was.
"Um… 'or-fan-nage'?" Seigo scratched his head before explaining.
"It's a place for children who have no parents to live. How old are you?"
"I'm four," Seigo shook his head with a sigh, looking at her with sympathy.
"Wow, that's young…" A small ding came from Seigo's pocket, causing him to pull out a phone, "Ah, looks like he's home right now."
"What's going on?"
"We're going to meet a friend of mine to make you some new clothes," Seigo informed her with a warm smile, "He might be a little... weird... at times but he's a good friend and I trust him." Eri nodded after a moment and took Seigo's hand, allowing him to warp them in front of an apartment building.
"Ow…" Eri looked down on the ground and noticed she landed on a pebble, going into her uncovered feet.
"Oh, crap, sorry!" Seigo quickly picked her up off the ground to carry her, "I forgot you're not wearing shoes." He quickly checked her feet for injury but sighed when there was none. Eri was happy that he seemed worried for her safety, "Looks like you didn't get cut at least. Come on, I'll introduce you to Minoru." The two walked up to the third floor and knocked on the last door on the floor. After a moment of silence, Eri could hear footsteps coming to the door. When it opened, she saw no one.
"Oh hey, Sei, what's up…" Eri looked down to see the voice of Minoru, staring at her with a look of complete confusion that quickly morphed into annoyance as he looked to Seigo for answers, "Okay, what did you do this time?" Seigo chuckled nervously at the question.
"Eheheheh… I just happened to pick her up off the streets," Minoru looked at her with a skeptical look but decided to drop it.
"Fine, whatever. But I'm not letting this slide later," Minoru warned as he stepped aside to let the two in.
"I promise, I have a good explanation."
"Uh huh, and I'm All Might next sidekick," Minoru snarked as he closed the door and led the two to the living room, TV tuned to a movie that Seigo didn't recognize. He set Eri down on the couch with Minoru taking a seat in a recliner. "So, what's up?"
"I need clothes for Eri here," Minoru looked over at Eri and noted the hospital gown she was wearing… and how clean it was. Not the sort of thing found on homeless kids. Yeah, Sei was lying through his teeth but he wasn't gonna grill him in front of the girl.
"So, her name's Eri?" Minoru smiled as best he could, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Eri. I'm Minoru, Seigo's best friend and self-designated wingman."
"Wingman?" Eri asked innocently.
"I'll explain when you're older."
"Sure, but you're paying for the fabric like always," Seigo nodded at the terms, causing Minoru to hop out of the chair and grab a strip of measuring tape. "Let's get started then." Seigo helped Eri to the floor but as Minoru got close, she hid behind Seigo's leg, causing him to snicker.
"She's got trust issues."
"Yeah, no kidding," Minoru snarked with a smile before he handed Seigo the tape instead, "Since she likes you so much, you do it. I need to figure out what to design anyway."
"Just remember that she's four-"
"Yeah, I know! I'm not that big a perv!" Minoru argued as he left the room.
"You're right, he is weird," Eri noted, causing Seigo to start laughing.
"Well said. All right, arms up like this…"
"You sew?" Kaminari said with a snicker, with Minoru looking less than amused.
"Shut it. I'm allowed to have a hobby," a few other members of the class started to chuckle at the purple boy's expense.
Eri was on the couch watching TV as an interview with the giant muscle man was playing. She finally learned the name of the man as "All Might" and that he was the "Number One Hero" and "Symbol of Peace"... whatever that meant. She finished getting her measurements and Seigo was in the nearby kitchen making her something to eat. It was true she was hungry, especially after how crazy the day had started. With her rescue as well as knowing that her time with her "Dad" was finally over, Eri relaxed into the couch cushions, happy to escape that horrible life. Though she wondered what this new one had in store for her. The boy, Seigo, had been nothing but kind to her and even agreed to take care of her, she wasn't sure how long he would want her around. As she thought about it, Seigo walked into the living room, holding a plate with small ham sandwiches, some apple slices, and a glass of milk.
"Here you go," Seigo offered with a cheerful smile, "It's a bit simple but Minoru's mom hadn't gone grocery shopping so we're light on options." Eri took the plate and stared at it as Seigo went and grabbed his plate and glass to eat with her. She thought over what she wanted to say as she waited for him to return. He sat down beside her and watched the interview, watching All Might talk about some promotion thing she didn't really understand. Something about a charity.
"What's wrong?" Eri looked up at Seigo who was gazing at her with worry, "You don't like it? Not a fan of ham? I probably should have asked fir-"
"Why do you want me to stay with you?" The question surprised Seigo but he just kind of smiled at it.
"Let me guess, you think I'm afraid of you?"
"I made my dad disappear… I don't want to hurt anyone again," Eri's eyes filled with tears as she feared for the worst thing that could happen. She didn't want to make him disappear too. Seigo sighed and placed a hand on her head.
"Look, I know a thing or two about what you're going through. I was literally used by a supervillain to be made into a weapon. I struggle every day with the knowledge that I could hurt someone with no effort. But you know what? I don't let it get me down. I do everything I can to control the power I have so it can never harm someone unless I need it too. I might not be a good teacher but I'll do everything I can to help you with your quirk so you never have to be afraid again." With the last part he ruffled her hair and gave a comforting smile, calming her down.
"...Thank you…"
"You're welcome,"
"You two are cute together," The two turned to look at Minoru who arrived with a shirt and pants, "If it wasn't for the hair, you'd almost pass for brother and sister."
"I don't know about that…" Seigo bashfully stated, though Eri thought about it for a good second. She never had a brother so she wasn't sure what that was.
"What's a 'brother'?"
"Wow, talk about sheltered," Minoru commented with a sigh, "Well… Technically a brother is any guy who shares the same parents with someone but it's a bit broader than that. I would describe it as a boy who's always got your back and is looking out for you. Kinda like how Seigo is for me. I can always count on him to have my back, just like how he can count on me to have his. A sister is just a girl version of that."
"Even if I'm the one doing most of the work."
"You're the brawn, I'll be the brains."
"So, a brother and sister are family?"
"Yeah, exactly. Though, family isn't just someone you're related to. I'd call Seigo here family in a heartbeat."
"...Does that make me and you family?" Eri asked Seigo, catching him off guard. He quickly flashed her another smile at the thought.
"If you'd like, you can be my little sister. I wouldn't mind that at all."
"Sister..." Eri felt her heart beat skip at the thought of having this warm boy be her brother. Her family.
"Then I guess that makes her 'Eri Saichirou' now, huh?" Minoru mused. The name sounded so nice to her; she couldn't help but give the smallest of smiles.
"Eri Saichirou… It's nice. I like it," Seigo and Minoru gave approving smiles as the name sunk in. This was who she was now. Eri Saichirou, little sister of Seigo Saichirou.
"Then we're brother and sister from now on!" Seigo affectionately pat Eri on the head again, a gesture she was growing to love as she leaned into it.
"Alright, after you finish eating, I'd like you to try these on. I need to make sure they fit right or if they need to be adjusted." Eri nodded as Minoru left the clothes on the armrest of the couch and returned to his work. Eri bit into the apple slice and was surprised by the sweetness.
"It's so sweet…"
"Is that bad?"
"No… it's good. I want some more," Eri said as she bit into more of the apple slices, slowly picking up speed with each bite to get more of that delicious sweetness.
The class continued to listen, as Eri finished her story. Everyone in the room was unsure of what to think anymore. While it's true that Midoriya would go out of his way to help others and was a friendly guy, they'd all been told since they were kids that criminals, regardless of the crime, were bad news. Then the imagines of Midoriya brutally slaying the Nomus, the blood, the bottomless rage on his face, it became hard to believe they were the same person. As they all struggled with the conflict between what they were taught and reality, Eri continued to talk.
"Since then, Bro's always been there for me. He's cared for me, kept me safe, even taught me so many different things about the world. I didn't even know how to read before he saved me," she stated with confidence, her determination showed through her face as she glared at everyone, "I don't care that you guys are afraid of him. I'm Eri Midoriya and I won't let you insult my brother anymore!"
"Eri…" Ochako mumbled, touched by her will, "The same goes for me, Tsu, and Minoru. Izu's been nothing but kind and a genuine friend to us. He makes mistakes,"
"Good god, does he ever make mistakes," Minoru interjected, with Tsuyu nodding in agreement.
"Seriously."
"But even so, he's willing to make up for them and put his past behind him and become someone that people can count on. We understand that you guys are unsure of him, but as far as we're concerned, he's just as much a hero as any of the pros out there."
"Yep," Minoru nodded.
"Absolutely." The room when silent for a few tense moments as everyone digested the four's declaration.
"I guess all that remains," Todoroki began, voice missing the abrasiveness it once had, "Is to wait for Midoriya now."
"Let's take a break while we wait," Yaoyarozu suggested, "Our families are probably worried about us and we should probably reassure them that we're all fine. We'll reconvene when Midoriya returns." The class nodded as they all dispersed, leaving Iida, Ochako, Minoru, Tsuyu and Eri alone.
"Not going to call your parents, Iida?" Tsuyu inquired.
"They already know I'm fine. I called them earlier after I was questioned by the detective. I was just wondering how you three met Midoriya," the three looked at him, curious of his reasons. "It's clear that you all think highly of him but I'd like to know your experiences with him." The three exchanged glances. Minoru scratched his head before answering.
"Well, sure, if you want to know…"