While on the train ride home from Central Tokyo to Isshun's house, it was uncharacteristically quiet.
Well, mainly because they were on a subway, and even Nejire knew better than to be loud there.
Genzai, however, was watching the news on his phone with a complex expression.
The stations were barely able to get even a snippet of the Sky Egg Stasis Incident, but there was footage of people suddenly being teleported onto the surface near reporters.
Genzai was fully aware of his son's abilities.
He was also fully aware of how intelligent his son was.
Genzai and Kako were relatively lax parents, though that mentality mostly came from raising a child who seemed capable of raising himself.
Isshun hadn't thrown tantrums as a child.
When he went to school, he always had the highest grades.
He was respectful, did chores, and helped clean without needing to be prompted.
All in all, with the exception of his withdrawn personality, Isshun could be considered what most parents called a perfect child.
Even if Isshun's personality was a bit eccentric.
Genzai had also seen how easily Isshun defeated the monster during their Akita vacation.
He didn't know many Spatial-Type Quirk users besides Isshun, but the teleportation shown in the footage was identical to how Isshun did it.
No charge up, visual indicator, nothing.
One moment, no one was there—and the next, they were.
'Shun-kun probably had a good reason for doing this.'
(He didn't. Nejire just asked so he did.)
Nejire had already gotten permission from her parents to stay over for the weekend, so when they arrived, she took a bath first as the guest.
Once Nejire was gone, Genzai and Isshun were finally able to talk.
"...Was the person behind the Sky Egg Stasis you, Shun-kun?"
In contrast to Genzai's solemn tone, Isshun didn't see any reason to hide it. Anyone familiar with his teleportation could make the same deduction.
Spatial-Type Quirks were rare, after all.
"Yeah. I did it," Isshun said plainly. "I'm not lying, and I won't deny it."
Isshun shrugged.
Genzai was momentarily disoriented by the immediate admission, but then he shook his head and chuckled in exasperation.
Of course. This is just how my son is.
"Shun-kun," Genzai said, "why do you want to become a Hero?"
'Wow, coming out of left field', Isshun thought, before giving the first answer that came to mind.
"Because Nejire said we should be Heroes."
'Just get married already', Genzai inwardly complained. 'This old man's going to get diabetes.'
"That can't be your only reason…" Genzai looked at Isshun's unchanged expression, confusion creeping in. "...Right?"
"Dad, no offense," Isshun said, raising an eyebrow, "but I'm like ten years old. Do you really expect me to have some deep, well-thought-out reason?"
He paused.
"Let's just say I'm in it for the money."
"...It really is hard to lecture you, Shun-kun," Genzai said, shaking his head with a tired smile. "Then why did you protect everyone at the Sky Egg?"
"Again—because Nejire asked me to save everyone."
'...Kako really should have been here to hear this.'
Genzai sighed. "Well, as long as you understand your own motivations, I guess that's fine."
Then he added, quietly, "Just know that I'll always be on your side."
"Thanks dad."
"And don't get caught."
--<>--
"Hmm…"
Nezu hummed as he studied the information in front of him.
"Who would have thought that just as I was dreading the tediousness of finding Blink, information like this would fall into my lap?"
The computer file contained profiles of everyone who had attended Captain Celebrity's farewell event.
Normally, the population density in Blink's known area of operation was far smaller than the number of people present during the Sky Egg Stasis Incident.
This, however, was the first time Nezu could properly observe the scope of Blink's true abilities.
By comparing Blink's usual operational range with the individuals present in and around the Sky Egg, Nezu could begin narrowing down suspects.
All of this, of course, rested on the assumption that Blink had to be within a certain range of their operation to use their Quirk.
If it turned out that Blink didn't have such a limitation, then while tracking them would become far more difficult, their threat level would increase dramatically.
"Well then," Nezu said, smiling faintly, "let's start with the most obvious step."
Filtering the list down to individuals who were still students and had residences in Musutafu, the pool of suspects shrank once again.
After isolating the prime candidates, however, the problem remained the same: catching someone who could teleport without moving themselves was nearly impossible.
They would have to hope the suspect teleported personally, and that it was caught on camera.
…Though there was one Hero better suited than most to detect teleportation.
--<>--
Elsewhere, other Hero agencies were also examining the Sky Egg Stasis Incident.
After all, it was the largest recorded instance of illegal Quirk usage slash Vigilantism in recent history.
While some agencies were reluctant to investigate someone who had effectively acted as an unknown ally, others were being pushed by the Hero Public Safety Commission.
In their view, leaving a rogue Spatial-Type Quirk user with overwhelming power unchecked was unacceptable.
Most Heroes refused.
Some chose to look the other way. Others simply couldn't help due to their specializations.
Mirko was an example of both.
If the unknown individual had saved her, and hadn't made a show of it, then fine. She wasn't about to chase ghosts. Besides, she'd been one of the Heroes completely immobilized during the incident.
What the hell did the HPSC want her to do?
She didn't even run an agency, and she certainly wasn't specialized in tracking.
So despite her high ranking, she ignored the HPSC's request.
Uwabami was much the same.
She'd been immobilized as well, and investigative work wasn't her forte. She opted out, citing exactly that.
Surprisingly, most Heroes followed the same line of thinking.
While Emitter Quirks and sometimes Transformation Quirks could do something, when they remembered that feeling of helplessness when being stuck, most thought it was wise to not poke the tiger if it was feigning sleep.
Maybe if the person behind the incident did more than unauthorized Quirk usage, they'd intervene.
But for now, it was better to just not disturb the sleeping tiger.
--<>--
A/N: I finally have 5 advance chaps on my patreon! My days it took longer than i thought!
P@tr30n at Cypresss!
Also all of you guys are really motivated, cause it's amazing looking at the differences in power stone count.
--<>--
3000PS - Complete
6000PS - Complete
8000PS - Not Complete