Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Oaths and Vows
It has been two days since his failed attempt at Planeswalking. After assuring his worried parents that it was just a Quirk malfunction caused by recent stress and by no means was he leaving (again lying right in their faces), they calmed down quite a bit. But it leaves him alone with dozens of questions running through his head per second.
Why did his Planeswalking fail? Was there some sort of phenomenon on Earth that prevented it? Was it linked to the reason he had such difficulty returning home during the ten years? Was there an artefact of sorts out there? The thought of something like the Immortal Sun on the plane imprisoning the next Nicol Bolas was a frightening one that sent shivers down his spine.
After hours spent theorising and experimenting he soon discovered that if he tries to reach out to the wider multiverse, he couldn't. As if a shroud was encompassing the entire plane keeping it hidden from sight from outsiders, as well as preventing those within from looking outwards. A specialised prison plane perhaps? Designed by an eccentric Planeswalker before the Mending? Did it have something to do with the mana he was sensing within the humans of the plane?
He tries meditating on it, probing at the veil between planes and the Aether. As long as he made no actual attempts to cross through it, there is no backlash on the level of the small explosion. Instead, it felt more like being probed back, a minor headache after a dozen repeated attempts, but nothing serious.
It answers his question on 'what', but it leaves 'who', 'why', 'how', 'where' and 'when' unanswered.
"Izuku, are you alright?"
He nearly leaps out of his seat, startled by his mother interrupting his thoughts.
"You've been staring and mumbling at your breakfast this whole time." she informs, looking worried, "Is there something wrong with it? Do you want something else?"
Izuku hurriedly shook his head, afraid he had accidentally offended his mother, "No, mom. It's just…I just have a lot on my mind."
"Do you… want to talk about it?" Inko asks carefully. She and Hisashi had talked about Izuku in their room the day he arrived, and he had mentioned how Izuku wasn't ready to talk about how he spent the past ten years. She barely slept afterwards, worrying about what her poor son experienced in those times.
"You shouldn't worry about me too much, mom. Muttering and staring off is just a bad habit of mine."
That was true at least. Despite the efforts of some members of Gatewatch, mostly Chandra, he's never been able to kick the habit. He remembers the number of times she'd flick her fingers at the back of his head, or maybe set off a few sparks under his feet, in order to snap him out of it.
It definitely would explain why he felt that meals were too quiet the past few days. He was missing the Gatewatch already. The banter between Chandra and him, discussing theory with Jace and Teferi, and…
And Ajani…
He finds himself thinking sometimes, why Ajani and not him? Ajani, a strong warrior and mage, could slay entire squads of enemies with his axe in one hand while banishing another with a helix of lightning. Why had the Phyrexians not gone for Ajani and not him, the weakest of the bunch? Why did he still live while someone he cared for, and looked up to, now exists as a cold cadaver used as a puppet?
Why Ajani, and not him?
"I'm fine, mother." Izuku insists, surprised by how easy lying to his parents was becoming. Shame had become an emotion he was most intimate with these days.
His mother looked unconvinced but didn't press further.
To see a loyal, kind, friend twisted into a pawn for their enemy. He hopes against hope that there's a cure out there in the vast, endless multiverse. Somewhere out there could be a cure for compleation. But could there truly be a cure for being reformed into a machine and having your soul torn out?
Worst comes to worst, a quick, clean death. But knowing Ajani's strength it won't be either clean or quick. It may be a selfish wish, but he hopes at least the rest of Gatewatch and him won't be the ones to do it.
"Izuku, are you really alright?" his mother asked once more, looking more concerned and worried.
Izuku opened his mouth to respond again but was interrupted by his father who just entered the dining room,
"Perhaps he's just stressed? Honestly, the past few days have been so to all of us." he says, "Which is why I'm suggesting something, how about a trip to the mall?"
This catches the attention of both Izuku and Inko.
"The mall?" They both ask for different reasons.
"Are you sure about that, dear?" Inko asks, "I thought you had to go to work?"
"It's fine, I called my boss yesterday. I should get the week off." he places an assuring hand on her shoulder, "I'm not going to waste this second chance."
Izuku smiles at the sight of her mother looking touched by his father's actions. But still, one question rings in his mind.
"But, what exactly is a mall?"
"..."
"..."
"On second thought, yeah, going to the mall seems to be the right idea."
***
"So…this is some sort of market?" Izuku asks. It was impressive in its own way, he supposed, definitely cleaner than the markets he's been to, and the fact it was indoors. There was also a slight chill in the air, likely artificially generated as it contrasted to the hot air on the outside.
"Kind of." Hisashi says as he gestures everywhere, "Besides, we need to get you new clothes as well, stock up on groceries, and we should get you a phone as well."
"A phone?" Izuku asks confusedly as his father looks at him baffled before sighing and patting him on the back.
"Right, we're gonna have to work on that." he mutters when all of sudden a sharp repetitive ringing was heard. Izuku flinches and searches the area for the source when he realises the source was from his father's pocket, who pulled out a flat rectangular device.
"Is something wrong?" Inko asks as Hisashi looks at the device frustratedly.
"One moment." he says as he steps a distance away before placing the device to his ear and speaking to it. It must be some sort of communication device, Izuku realises.
He doesn't know what the conversation was about, but he could tell the general direction. His father looked stunned and then frustrated and angry, yelling something that he couldn't decipher before glaring at the device as if attempting to set it on fire, before pocketing it.
"Everything alright, father?" Izuku asks as he returned.
"Just fine, just peachy." Hisashi says contrary to his expression. He sighs before looking at Inko, "I'm sorry, but that was my boss. He's called me in for something. Apparently some dumba-" he stops mid-swear at Inko's glare, "-I mean, idiot, messed up one of our projects. Since I'm practically the only one who knows how to fix it, I've been called in. It shouldn't take long hopefully, just half an hour at most."
Izuku nods, he's familiar when duty calls and forces you to answer. He supposes he'll accompany his mother until-
"Why don't you go with him, Izuku?" Inko suddenly suggests surprising the two of them, "It would be good. Hisashi, you said you wanted to show Izuku around your workplace, right?"
"Well, yes but-" Hisashi says but was interrupted by Inko.
"It's fine, I can handle a few groceries by myself." she assures and nudges Izuku towards his father, "You should also spend time with your father. I'll be fine by myself, really."
She gives them an assuring smile as the two look at each other unsure before shrugging and going along with it. After all, she was insisting.
She had seen the look her husband had in the hospital, when Izuku bluntly asked for his identity, not recognising his own father. He puts on a solid facade sure, but at night she swore she could hear some weeping from him when he thought she was asleep.
He needed time with Izuku, all of them needed time together. But she can wait, right now she believes her husband needs the time more.
***
"So, this is where I work." Hisashi admits somewhat reluctantly gesturing to a large shop with a glowing sign spelling out; 'Helix Tech'
"It looks impressive." Izuku says slightly unsure as he has no idea the scale of shops in the plane and what is considered impressive or not, "You must have an important job here?"
Hisashi sighs, emitting a small puff of smoke from his mouth, "Kinda. I'm in charge of the commissions. Sometimes we receive customers with Quirks that don't fit the standard, so I help manufacture them."
"It sounds like a good job." Izuku says as they walk into the shop. He passes through multiple items stocked on shelves, ranging from what appear to be simple attires and household equipment.
"Thing is, we don't get many commissions." Hisashi explains as he gestures to the stocked shelves, "Most of the standard stuff works just fine, and if people want personal support items they go to the big brand types like Detnerat. So really I just spend most of my time pointing out to customers what they need and getting yelled at for not giving them discounts. Just your average retail life."
He explains sounding a tad bit bitter and resigned. Remembering a detail his father mentioned, Izuku asked another question,
"You said you had a job overseas. Was it like this?"
"As I said, it was developing Support Items for Pro Heroes." his father says as he sighs, remembering his old job fondly, "It was a big company, I got my own office and lab."
'And now he is basically a minor employee, when he was once a renowned artifi- engineer.' Izuku thinks to himself with guilt, 'Because of me.'
Noticing the guilt on his face, Hisashi hurriedly says, "But hey, that doesn't matter. Because I was away I wasn't able to see you often. I'd take any job if it means I can both support you and your mom, and stay close at the same time."
It didn't really make him feel better, his father was a bad liar. But he was also a good man.
Before their conversation could continue, a man from the counter calls out,
"Midoriya! There you are! Stop yapping about with the customers and get over here."
"This is my son." Hisashi corrects annoyance to the man who Izuku assumes to be some co-worker or even boss, "What happened? I told you all not to touch anything?"
"Just standard double-checks then it all fell apart." the person says in a rough manner, "Get to work already."
Hisashi struggles to calm himself as Izuku notices smoke emerging from his nostrils before he takes a deep breath to calm himself, turning to Izuku, "I'm going to get to work now, do you mind waiting here? It should only take a moment or two."
Izuku nods and watches his father go behind the counter and into the shop's backroom leaving him alone. The shop was almost empty save for him and a handful of others, but he ignored them as he strolled across the store glancing at equipment.
He glanced at the shirts he saw earlier and read their label, hoping the kanji of Japanese was similar enough to Common Kamigawan. Unless he was wrong, the shirts were supposedly flammable only to temperatures above 900°C. He supposes it would be useful if someone lost control of their fire Quirk, preventing them from burning their clothes, or were unable to turn off their Quirk. Some other clothes offered resistance to being damaged by piercing or slashing, resealing damage, or stretching to accommodate large-sized individuals.
They weren't fairly impressive, but then again they were for civilian uses. He wonders how different Support Items used for Pro Heroes differ. Just as he was thinking his attention diverges to a set of goggles placed near the counter.
They were labelled to be flash-resistant goggles of sorts but really they just looked to be normal welding goggles. Picking up one to inspect them, they reminded him of the type of goggles some pyromancers like Jaya and Chandra would wear.
He slides them on and gaze into a nearby mirror to see how he looks with them. He hums to himself approvingly, they were not bad. He thinks he would like them.
Suddenly he noticed someone walk up to the counter behind him thanks to the mirror. A girl with purple hair and a strange pattern streaked across it. Was that natural? It doesn't seemed like any hair dye he's seen.
The strangest part were her ears, some sort of thin cords made of flesh trailing beneath her earlobe with small spikes at the end of them. Fashion statement? Mutation? Could they be used as weapons of-
"Hey, Goggles." she snaps as she turns to face him, "I can hear you, ya know?"
…Now he understood why Chandra was always insistent on stopping his stuttering. He turns around and takes off the goggles to face her. She was wearing a shirt with the words 'Deep Dope' plastered over it and a black jacket made of some leather material. She was also holding what looks like a pair of metallic earmuffs.
"Sorry, did I say that out loud?" Izuku asks apologetically.
The girl points her ear-things at him, lending more credence to the theory of being some sort of mutation, perhaps it had something to do with her Quirk?
"Just loud enough for me to hear with my Quirk." she grumbles irritatedly before gesturing to the empty counter, "Is the shop closed or something?"
"No, they're currently resolving an issue somewhere in the back." Izuku responds as he gestures to the backdoor, "Some sort of equipment failure I heard."
"Great, fantastic." she mutters frustrated before pinching the bridge of her nose, "How long until they're back?"
Izuku shrugs unsure, "Well I think they said they'll be back in a moment or two…which was five minutes ago."
"Damn, I was hoping to hurry this up." she says to herself, "Of all the days, it just had to break down..."
Izuku glances at the metallic earmuffs she was holding, "I take it that you came to have that repaired?"
"Yeah obviously." she waves the device in her hands frustrated, "They broke last night meaning I couldn't get a wink of sleep."
That certainly explained her attitude.
"You can't switch off your Quirk?" he asks, curious about her Quirk knowing that it was some sort of enhanced hearing with some physical mutation. Frankly, he wanted to study more of all Quirks, and wanted to find their relationship with magic and mana, but he has yet to find a library nearby. He knows that the amount of mana in a body likely relates to the strength of a Quirk, his father had a small fire-breathing Quirk and he had a noticeable amount of red mana gathered around his throat, and his mother had hints of blue mana around her hands.
"No, I can't just switch it off." she answers annoyed as if she heard that question a number of times, "If I could, would I be here trying to get this damn thing fixed?!"
Izuku raises his hands placatingly as he backs up. In hindsight that was probably a dumb question to ask, but his curiosity got the better of him. The girl sighs and takes another deep breath to calm down,
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me." she apologises, "I was just hoping to have this finished quickly, rush home to take a nap, then squeeze in some training."
"It's fine, I understand that." Izuku assures before realising what she said at the end, "If you don't mind me asking, training for what?"
"Entrance exam for UA." she grumbles, "It's in three weeks, been trying to cram as much as I can for it."
There it was again, the same name he had heard during the dinner with the Bakugou family, the same school Kacchan was apparently applying for. Ever hungry for knowledge and sympathetic to the girl's plight, he extends an open hand towards her.
"Maybe I can help fix it?" he offers to which she looks at him in surprise, "I believe I'm fairly good with machines."
He was quite familiar with the inner workings of multiple artefact and artefact creatures across the multiverse. One has to have in-depth knowledge of them in order to summon them to battle after all. He had to study how to take them apart, put them back together, what each component does and so on. He was confident he could handle a simple civilian-use sound blocking device.
The girl however was reluctant, "You're kidding. What if you break something, then I'll have to pay even more for repairs."
An excellent point to which he counters,
"My father works here, I was actually waiting for him to finish up with his business here before you arrived." he says gesturing to the backdoor, "If I happen to break it, and I won't, I can persuade him to offer his services for free or at least a significant discount."
One of the perks of being mentored by a man who was once the Living Guildpact was lessons in diplomacy, persuasion and such, from the very best. He can see the gears spinning in her head as she weighs the pros and cons, now he just needs to deliver the final touch.
"And what do you want in return?" she asks, suspicious of a stranger's goodwill.
"Just someone to talk to, to pass the time." he says with a shrug, "I get to satiate my boredom, you get your item fixed for free right now."
That and some answers to questions he had in mind. If he outright asks things that may be common knowledge, it would quickly paint him as an even stranger person or drive her away leaving his questions unanswered.
Again she weighs the pros and cons of the offer, but once she realises the benefits far outweigh the costs, she would likely agree. True to his predictions she offers up her ear muff-like device,
"These are custom for me. Don't break them." she warns as he takes them off her hands and inspects them, finding there to be screws and seams on the device, as well as some sort of hole in the interior, some sort of port perhaps for the girl's ear mutations?
A simple wave of his hand engulfs the device with blue mana as it levitates in the air and unscrews, taking it apart carefully piece by piece to the girl's alarm.
"What are you doing?!" she whisper-shouts at him as she spun her head around as if worried they might get caught. But for what? As far as he knew they weren't committing anything noteworthy.
"I'm…fixing your device?" Izuku responds confused, wondering what the fuss was about.
"With your Quirk? Are you even allowed to do that?" she asks in fear with panic in her eyes.
…It seems there was some sort of cultural taboo against that? Or was it a written law? Evidently, it was something he was not supposed to do but he can't stop now.
"If it gets it done as quickly, do you care?" he asks carefully to test the waters.
She seems hesitant before looking around one more time and leaning against the counter, "Fine, but if we get caught it'll be your ass."
Izuku nods as he studies the internal components carefully as he disassembles them with his telekinesis. As he does so he asks his questions,
"So, you mentioned something about UA. You plan to study in that institution?"
"Shouldn't you be focusing?" the girl asks in a whisper hoping that doing so will raise less attention to them.
"I work better like this, besides, if I recall we made a deal where we would chat in return for my service." he reminds as he inspects what appeared to be a mechanism connected to a wire that was dislodged, "Did you happen to drop this device recently?"
"Well, it was in my bag a week ago when I accidentally dropped it." she recalls, "And as for your question. Well, obviously I do. In the Hero Course specifically."
Hero Course? So the institution provides training and education for one to become Pro Heroes at such an age? It does make sense to get as much training in as early as possible for a dangerous job.
"It's a dangerous job. You're brave for wanting to be one." he compliments as he identifies the damage. It appears that what looks to be a sound dampener wasn't connected properly, and the drop caused a few cracks across the systems. Nothing a quick spell won't fix as he gathered some white mana. Not difficult as they were in a city.
The girl twirls her elongated earlobes bashfully, "It's not a big deal, really."
"And you are stressed because of the school's entrance exam?" he asks once more as he surgically applied the spell to repair and furnish the components.
"Yeah, I am." she sighs exhausted, the stress and lack of sleep finally catching up, "How can I not? There'll be thousands of other applicants besides me! Who knows how good they are, or how strong their Quirks are, or how smart they are? And I'm just… me."
Izuku pauses for a slight second as he hears that. It was a familiar sentiment he shared. It was not often but there were moments he felt inadequate, where he felt the least of the Gatewatch, the kid hanging on to them like a parasite. Only strong because they spared a moment of their time to teach him what they knew.
"I… understand that." he says honestly, "Feeling you're weak and inadequate, fearing that you would fail to match up."
"You? Weak?" she asks disbelievingly as she gestures to the display of magic he was performing, "Doesn't look like it."
"Yes I am." he confirms, "I had to learn how to get where I am now from people far stronger than I am. And I've yet to surpass them."
He smiles wistfully at the thought of Gatewatch before turning back to the girl, "But back to UA. It's not the only institute with a Hero Course is it?"
He does his best to make it sound rhetorical and the girl sighs, "Jeez, you're starting to sound like my parents. Of course, I know there are others, but this is UA we're talking about! They churned out heroes like All Might and Endeavour! If you get in and graduate you're basically guaranteed to make it big in the hero business!"
Hero business…that was something he was hearing a lot of these days. The word itself seems very contradictory. Being a hero was being selfless, sacrificing one's self for the sake of others, and having the ability to run but choosing to stay. Being a hero is an inherently selfless thing, and turning it into a business contradicts it.
"I just want to make my parents proud." she says but from the volume and tone, it was likely she unintentionally spoke it out loud.
"Pardon?"
The girl debates with herself if she should answer him, she had not meant to say that out loud. The lack of sleep must have been affecting her worse than she thought. Perhaps that was also why she decided to answer,
"My folks, well they always thought I'd be a musician like them. And so did I for a while, but times changed, and one day I told them I wanted to be a hero. I thought I'd have to argue and fight but they accepted it, and told me they were proud of me no matter what I choose. Now I feel that if I get into anything less than UA, I'm letting them down."
"...your parents sound like wonderful people." Izuku says after a moment as he reassembled the device, "You've done all you can do to prepare? Trained and studied? And you'll complete the exam to the best of your abilities?"
"Of course, I will."
"Then there is nothing to fear, is there? Whether you fail or pass you will enter UA with all the preparations you can muster, knowing you have done your absolute best to pass their exam."
"...So you're basically saying everything I'm doing doesn't matter and I should just accept that?" she asks slightly ticked off.
"What? No, I-!" Izuku reacts flustered suddenly afraid he had offended the girl, "I just mean that you shouldn't be afraid to fail. Even if you do fail, as long as your will remains, you will become a hero one day. It may not be from UA, but at the end of the day, you will be doing the same job, saving people who need saving. Isn't that all that matters in the end?"
This seems to put the girl in thought, "Well I want to be a hero to bring happiness to others. Like my parents do as musicians."
"And do you need UA to accomplish that?"
"If you put it that way, I don't think so." she says with an exhale as if a weight lifted off her back, "But I'm still going to try anyway."
"I didn't say you shouldn't. You might get knocked down, but you can always backtrack and find another route to your goals." It was a sentiment he was familiar with all his life. Countless efforts to locate Earth and return home, countless efforts failed, but he never stopped. He took steps back, reevaluated, and tried another way.
"Has anyone ever told you that you sound old-fashioned?" she asks after a moment, "Like someone trying to sound like an old wise mentor?"
Izuku's jaw dropped in incredulous, "I gave you advice and that's all you got from it?"
The girl laughs for the first time, "Hey, don't get me wrong. I needed that. Five stars would receive a motivational speech again, but you really do sound like you're going for that."
Izuku pouts, sure he was trying to sound like Gideon but he didn't think he was really intending to sound like that, "I wasn't trying to sound like an old man."
"Whatever you say, gramps." she chuckles. At least she was happy, or at least less stressed than before, but Izuku still pouts and waves the device in his hand, dangling it on his finger.
"Well shame I'm so old, it might slip." he retorts, pretending to almost drop it.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." she says with no trace of being apologetic, still he hands it over, "Hey, it even looks brand new."
"I took the opportunity of refurbishing it while I fixed it." he explains, "Does it work now?"
"Hold on, let me try." she says as her earlobes stretch and plug themselves into the earmuff's interior before sliding them on, "Holy shit, yeah it does. Can barely hear a thing. Try saying something."
"I'm a dimensional travelling wizard who went missing ten years ago and just returned home after nearly being blown to shred while fighting an army of biomechanical monstrosities." he says bluntly to her face with a blank expression.
She nods obliviously as she takes off her earmuffs, "It works great, couldn't hear a word. That's a sweet Quirk you got there. That telekinesis or something?"
Izuku shrugs and wipes the excess blue mana trace from his hands, brushing off mists of blue, "Or something. Telekinesis and repairing items are amongst those talents."
"Still, it's pretty cool." she admits, "Are you planning to be a hero as well? Or go into the Support industry?"
Now it was Izuku's turn to sigh as he leaned against the counter, "Well…to be honest, I'm not really sure."
Not even sure that he'll stay that long. Long enough to graduate from school. Can he live a simple life knowing that his friends were fighting for their life while he sits in a classroom?
"You don't know what you want?" she asks and he shrugs.
"Everything's been moving so fast ever since I came back." he replies absentmindedly, his thoughts half there and half elsewhere, "Everything's just…confusing. Up is down. Left is right. And I'm just trudging along with barely any idea where I'm going."
"Came back? You went on a trip or something?"
"Or something," he says with a sigh, not giving anything else. Realising she wasn't going to get an answer about that she focused on the issue,
"Well, yeah growing up can be a rush." she misinterpreted what Izuku was saying, "Honestly they should've given us more time. I mean, Hero Courses should be a college thing or something not high school. But it's what it is. What do you want?"
"I guess…that I want to be a hero. All my life, it's what I always wanted." he says with a shrug, his mind going back to the members of Gatewatch, specifically the moment the founding members swore their oaths to guard the Multiverse. Four heroes, each swearing their own oaths to protect life across the infinite Multiverse. They tried to talk him down from joining, he was a child after all, but he eventually did swear his own oath.
"Until I find my way home, I will keep watch."
"So what's the problem?" the girl prods, "You seem to have it figured out."
"...my parents." he answered, "Every day I look at them, I can tell they're worried and concerned. I worry that if I told them that I wanted to be a hero…" if he tells them that he wants to leave and fight in a multi-planar war, "I worry about how they'd react. And I know that if I tell them what I want, they'll beg me not to. And I know that I won't be able to argue with them."
Silence reigned between them and for a moment Izuku thinks that's where the conversation will end before the girl spoke up,
"Well, sorry for being blunt, but I think it's bullshit." She says, "If you think being a hero will make you happy, just tell them."
"And what if they try to stop me?" Izuku asks frustrated, "I don't want to see them upset. They're good people."
"If they're as good as you say, then they'll accept and support you."
"But-"
"You think I wasn't terrified when I went to my parents and told them I wanted to be a hero instead of a musician? I was pissing myself and ready for them to start begging me to change my mind. They didn't and I'm glad they supported me, but if they hadn't I'd still have fought tooth and nail to convince them. It doesn't mean that I don't love them, but it didn't feel right throwing away my dream just because they think it would've been too dangerous, or that I couldn't handle it."
"...So go straight to the point and damn the consequences?" he summarises, "It's certainly a blunt way to tell them."
She shrugs apologetically, "Sorry, it's just the way I am."
"No, it's fine." Izuku quickly assures her, "I appreciate the bluntness actually, it was refreshing. You definitely gave me something to think about…"
He trails off as he realises he never caught her name, nor did he introduce himself. He extends a hand to her,
"I'm Izuku Midoriya."
She shakes his offered hand, "Kyoka Jirou."
"A pleasure to meet you, Jirou." he says with a smile.
"Likewise."
Now there was silence between the two as they both wondered what to say to each other, with Jirou making the first move.
"So…what are you gonna do now?" she asks curiously as Izuku rubs his chin in thought.
"I think I'll talk to my parents." he decides, "They deserve to know, and at least I'll get it off my chest."
"Good luck." she says sympathetically, "Best not to beat around the bust and just get to the point."
"Your advice is appreciated."
"Yeah, no sweat, I owed you one for fixing this up." she says as she waves her earmuffs, "Do you think you'll be going for UA?"
"Perhaps." Izuku shrugs, "It sounds like a fantastic place if they trained someone like All Might. I think I'd learn much from that."
"Cool, maybe we'd even get into the same class." she smiles before it turns slightly bashful, "And, maybe we should exchange numbers."
"Pardon?" Izuku asks, looking at her oddly, never having heard such a phrase before.
"Don't make it weird." she says pointing her ear jacks at him, "It was a good talk, and I'd actually like to get to know you more."
"Yes, but…what numbers?" he asks, genuinely confused, surprising her, "Is that some code? Password?"
"Waitaminute, do you even have a phone?" she asks incredulously.
"Well not yet, but my father's taking me to get one later." Izuku says, confused by her reaction, "Is something wrong?"
Jirou still looks at him like he was insane, blinking repeatedly before holding out a hand, "Do you have a pen, then? Something to write with?"
"Uh, sure. Give me a moment." he says, borrowing bits of mana from the surroundings to create a fountain pen and handing it to her.
"Huh, neat trick." she says admiring the pen, "Now your hand please."
Izuku hands his hand to her and she began to write on his palm, a sequence of ten digits.
"What's this for?" he asks as she hands back the pen to which he dispelled, "Some password of sorts?"
"You're a smart guy, I'm sure you'll figure it out." she says laughing at his guess before stepping away, "Sorry to cut this short, but I better head home now. Gotta cram as much training as I can. See you, Midoriya."
"Good luck with your training." he says, "Fate be willing, we may meet again in UA. I look forward to learning with you."
She leaves with a wave and a smile, leaving Izuku to stare at the strange code of numbers written on his palm. Something he'll have to ask his father about, he supposes.
As if on cue, the backdoor opens up with Hisashi storming away with a stream of curses from his lips,
"-sucking son of a bi-!" he cuts himself off at the sight of his son before coughing into a fist, "Sorry about that."
"It's fine. Everything alright?" Izuku asks his father.
"Everything's peachy." Hisashi grumbles as he glares at the door, "Sorry for the wait, but those idiots just can't help but mess everything up. I swear if you put those idiots in the general vicinity of a nuclear power plant, you'll end up with a meltdown in less than a minute."
"Sounds like you should fire them." Izuku suggests. If they were as incompetent as his father claimed, what was the point of keeping them around?
"Afraid I don't have the power for that." he grumbles, "They're the boss' cousins."
Ah, nepotism. A tale as old as the multiverse itself. That certainly explains it.
"Anyways, you found something you like?" Hisashi asks, pointing to the goggles around his neck.
"Yeah, I suppose so." Izuku nods as he toys with them, his father smiling and patting his back.
"Well let's go meet your mother, I'm sure she's almost done by now."
"Shouldn't we be paying for this?" Izuku asks as they left and his father scoffs.
"Hell no! Fuck this place, fuck my boss." his father whispers to him, "Now come on, your old man's gonna teach you how to shoplift from this place."
Shoplifting with a father, truly there was no better bonding activity.
***
"I'm so glad to hear you had a good time." Inko says as she dug into dinner. There was no grand feast this time, instead, they took the liberty of ordering from outside and dining at home, take-away, they called it.
"I like those goggles, they look nice on you." his mother compliments, "You bought it from Hisashi's workplace?"
"Yes. Bought it." Hisashi says awkwardly, "Definitely. For a cheap price. Very cheap."
"Yes, agreed." Izuku says with the same amount of awkwardness, "Practically stole it."
His father kicked him from under the table warningly. Inko glances at the two's antics before shrugging it off,
"So how's your new phone, Izuku?" Inko asks to change the subject.
Izuku shrugs, "It's an interesting device. I look forward to using it."
"Just let us know if you need any help with it."
Izuku smirks, he's piloted thopters, and used a variety of complex magical artefacts in his adventures. He was sure he could figure out how a thin piece of metal is used to communicate with others. Still, he has trouble deciphering the code Jirou gave him earlier.
Which reminds him…
He looks at both his parents enjoying their dinner, they both appear to be in a good mood. If he should do it, might as well now.
"Mother, father." he says slowly, getting their attention, "Remember a few days ago, there was talk about returning to school."
Inko immediately looks worried, "You've been back for only three days, Izuku. Should you really be rushing to go to school?"
"Your mother's right, son." Hisashi says, "Perhaps we can go for homeschool for the moment? I can look around for a tutor to help. There's no real need for you to join a school right off the bat."
"A particular school actually." Izuku carefully says as if threading on a lightmine field, "I…have interest in joining UA."
You could hear a pin drop from the silence.
"You…mean the General Education Course, right?" Inko asks hopefully, desperately. It pains Izuku to press on but he did,
"No. The Hero Course." he says quietly.
She gasps but Izuku takes advantage of the shock to state his claims, or else he might not have the chance later.
"I can only guess what you might have to say." he quickly states to his parents in a neutral voice, "That it's dangerous, or that I am not ready, or a myriad of other things. But let's make this clear, I want to be a hero."
"B-but why?" his mother asks, "This is so sudden, did someone put you up to this?"
Izuku shook his head, "No, this has been something on my mind ever since I was young. As for why?"
He steels himself, for this requires telling them inklings of the truth. The truth of what he has been doing for the past ten years, even if it wasn't the whole truth.
"Where I went…I saw things you couldn't believe. Monsters that even to this day I struggle to understand." he shudders at the memory of the first time he saw an Eldrazi, the defence of Sea Gate and other battles, "But I saw people, the greatest heroes I've ever known, stand against them. They took me in, trained me, and taught me to protect myself. And I also saw some of them die."
He winces at the last part, seeing his mother's expression of fear, worry and panic at the information she was receiving. His father had put on a neutral face the whole time, and so far he had issues deciphering it.
"I want to get stronger, that's why I want to join UA. I want to be strong enough to protect those I care about, stop them from dying, I want to stop being so useless!"
The last part was filled with pent-up frustration he has felt in the past days, requiring him to take a moment to calm down. His mother was near hysteric,
"Izuku, you don't have to do that. We're safe here, there's plenty of heroes to protect us." his mother protests and Izuku bites his lip.
'You're not the only ones I want to protect.' he wishes to say, 'And there's so many out there, so many things worse. If the Phyrexians spread, if they found Earth…'
Before he could say anything his father spoke up at last,
"Izuku." he says softly, "Is this really what you want?"
He nods, "More than anything. All I've ever wanted is to save people. I have the ability to do so, to squander that is to make a mockery of everything I've been taught. To spit on the graves of those that taught me."
They were both silent, both stunned by the conviction in his voice. In Inko's mind, she always saw him as her sweet little boy, even when he returned a decade older, but now all she saw was still her son but all grown up. She has to stop treating him like he was the fragile boy that cried because he learnt that he was Quirkless.
"Will it make you happy?" she asks after a moment of silence, surprising Izuku. He was stunned before nodding,
"Yes."
Both Inko and Hisashi share a silent conversation with each other, staring into each other's eyes before turning back to Izuku.
"If you really think that being a hero is what you want. Then your father and I will support you."
Izuku was honestly surprised, his jaw dropping, he had expected both his parents to put up more of a fight but they seemed so…accepting of it.
"Truly?" he asks surprised, his mother reaching across the table to grasp his hand.
"You're our son, Izuku. All we ever want is for you to be safe, healthy and happy. Being a hero is dangerous, but if you believe it'll make you happy? If that is your dream? We won't stand in your way, and we'll help however we can." she says as she wraps her hands around her son's.
"Besides," Hisashi says, "I remember I was in the same spot with my own parents. Told them I wanted to be in the Support Department, but they kept complaining about how I was gonna waste my Quirk by doing that, those absolute pricks." he chuckles to himself before placing a hand on his son's shoulders, "I'm not gonna be like them. If being a hero is what you want, I'll support you all the way.
"Mom…dad…" he couldn't help the tears running down his eyes as words failed him. He doesn't deserve them, he truly didn't.
At that moment he made a vow for when the inevitable comes and he finds his way to the frontlines against the Phyrexians once more, he will come back, no matter what. He will get stronger to do that, so that not even the entire Phyrexian army, their praetors, or even the multiverse itself, will stop him from coming back.
***
"What do you mean we lost her?!" a man in a leather jacket screeches in fear. They were hidden behind an alley, an agreed rendezvous point in case there was trouble. And this was very much a big problem.
"I mean that we lost her!" the person getting shouted at retorted, "Lost her in the fucking train station!"
"The train station?!" the first man shouts in fear at the ramifications, "Do you know what this means?!"
"J-just calm down." the other man says with panicked breathing, "We can work with this. There's a buncha camera on the trains, if we get to some security guard we can-"
"You can do what?"
A third voice was heard from the end of the alley.
The two men froze in fear as the third approached, dressed with a mask resembling a plague doctor from mediaeval times, and a dark olive bomber jacket, his golden eyes piercing through their souls. What was most terrifying to the two men was that he was removing the pair of surgeon gloves he always wore.
"B-b-boss…" the first man babbles in fear as he instinctively takes a step back, "Please, we're almost there. We can find her, just-!"
He doesn't get another word out before the third man places his bare hands on his face, and in a split second, the first man was transformed into a red stain against the wall, with pieces of him splattering on the second man who could do nothing but stare in horror.
"Find the security footage." the third man says as he puts back on the glove, "Find which station she fled to, and then I will kill you."
The third man walks away without receiving a response. Filled with terror and despair, knowing that he was dead either way, the second man draws a knife and screams as he lunges at the exposed back,
"Damn you, Overhaul!"
He never took more than two steps before being turned to a matching stain on the wall. Sighing, Overhaul pulls out a phone and dials a number.
"Chronostasis? I require a cleanup crew for two at my position. Afterwards, I want you to task a crew with what men you can spare, get them to comb the train footage, find where she fled and track her down…No, no need for the Eight to get involved, yet. Not with those heroes breathing down on our necks." he orders with frustration evident in his voice, nearly crushing the burner phone in his hands. After the call is finished he uses his Quirk on it once more, scattering its remains everywhere.
What cursed luck he was having today, first he came back to base to find that the child had fled once more. Not uncommon sadly, but always manageable. She would be tracked down, the slacking caretaker punished, and everything returned to normal. But this? This was the furthest she's ever gotten, this was the closest she got to ruining his plans.
Perhaps once she returns he should do the same thing he did to the old man. It was not as if she needed to be conscious to supply him with material for the experiments.
He just needs more time with his experiments, once he eradicates this sickness that plagues society, the Yakuza can rise once more and the boss can wake up to see just how wrong he was, once he sees how the Yakuza returned to their glory days.
Somewhere on a train, the travellers take note of a small girl curled up in the corner, shuddering from either cold or fear. Some look at her with pity but make no move to help her, and some do their best to ignore the sight, all sharing the same thoughts that a Hero will solve the problem. It wasn't their job to help her, after all, they were just civilians.
"Now arriving at Tatooin Station.", an artificial voice rings out across the train as it slows to a stop, the doors sliding open.
The girl suddenly springs up at the sight, running through it as fast as possible. Again, while many were disturbed or stunned at the sight of a young unkempt girl stumbling through the crowd was concerning, they still believe that a Hero will be there soon to bring her to safety, why should they waste time doing their job for them?
'Someone...someone help…' she thinks to herself as she blindly runs, 'Please…I can't… someone help me…'