Chapter 22: Aftermath
A chill had descended on the small, sound-proofed conference room that Naomasa had been offered at U.A. Originally he had planned on interviewing the uninjured students from the USJ informally, to try and help them mentally recover somewhat after the attack. The cameras and electronics in the USJ had continued recording during the event, having been simply prevented from transmitting to the main campus. Principal Nezu was already in the process of sifting through the videos and audio to gather what information he could. Therefore, there wasn't quite as pressing a need for intense debriefings of the recently traumatized students. Their input was necessary, but could play more of a supporting role in trying to understand what had happened.
Unfortunately, the HPSC representative, an unconvincingly named "Taro Yamada," that had shown up surprisingly quickly had insisted on being present for the debriefs and making them a far more formal event than strictly necessary. The man was unremarkable in every possible way, ending up notable if only for how average he appeared in every aspect. He did not even possess something as simple as freckles to help pick him out of a crowd. Naomasa highly doubted that he had been given the man's real name, as Yamada had simply presented an HPSC ID and never outright stated his name, obviously aware of Naomasa's quirk. Dancing around certain topics and careful wording always stood out to him, and Yamada had both behaviors down pat.
There had been a tension between the two during the interviews, but Naomasa had tried to keep a professional face on in front of the students. Now that the two had finished their interview with the last student, however, the air between the two was positively frosty. Naomasa, however, wasn't entirely sure what the cause of the rift was. As far as he could tell, the debriefings had gone fine, even if it was worrisome to have to perform them on children just in high school. They still had the seven most injured students to interview, but those could come after they had recovered somewhat. Curious as to the HPSC's reasoning for sending Yamada, and about the stiffness in the air, Naomasa decided to try to speak with the man.
"Do you have any thoughts, Yamada? Anything stand out to you to follow up on?" The HPSC representative simply hummed while continuing to take notes. "What about the students that claimed they ran into villains with multiple quirks?" That got a response from the man, as he stopped in the middle of a word to look up at Naomasa with a flat look.
"Since I assume that none of them were lying," Naomasa gave a curt nod. "Then they must have been mistaken. The villains must have been lying to mislead the students."
"And the reports from Jiro about the multiple quirks demonstrated by the villain in the ruins zone? Between his obvious mutations, and the reported strength, speed, hypnosis, and remission of her sonic attack, it beggars belief that all of those could come from a single quirk."
"Stranger quirks have existed." Naomasa wasn't a quirk specialist so he couldn't speak to that one way or the other, but Yamada apparently believed it. "We can't confirm either way, as the students killed the villain in question." The man's mouth thinned into a line at this, and Naomasa found his doing the same. The fact that students, children, were forced to kill in defense of their lives was a tragedy.
"Is that going to be a problem?"
"Not my place to say." Naomasa had to fight against grinding his teeth. This man must be intentionally acting this frustrating. After a moment, as if it were being drawn out of him against his will, he continued. "Assuming that the video footage backs them up, though, they will have a very strong self-defense argument. U.A, on the other hand, left their students in a situation where they had to kill in self-defense." Yamada let the implications hang in the air.
"It's not entirely fair to judge the school based on such a large, well-coordinated attack making use of such a powerful warping quirk." It was notoriously difficult to perfect a security system to protect against all angles of attack from warp quirk users, which was why they were all required to register with the government. Unfortunately, Naomasa was already fairly sure that they would come up empty when searching for a quirk in the government quirk registries that matched this "Kurogiri's" quirk. Yamada simply hummed before returning to his notes.
Once again Naomasa was struck by the oddness of Yamada being present at all. While a villain attack on a hero school campus was well within their jurisdiction, the HPSC generally allowed local law enforcement and justice systems to perform their jobs. This particular case was likely to become high profile, but that in and of itself was generally not enough to ensure their attention.
Above and beyond all of that was the sheer speed with which Yamada had shown up. Usually, the further from central Tokyo you went, the slower their response time. Hawks' presence might have accelerated things somewhat, but the number three hero was involved in all sorts of cases that did not have the HPSC descend on them immediately.
"I have everything I need from the students, I believe." Naomasa was shaken from his reverie by his companion standing up and beginning to gather his things while checking his cell phone. "Please do let me know if anything particularly different comes from the interviews with the injured students."
"You don't want to sit in on those interviews as well?" For all the man had thrown his weight around to get into this first round of debriefings, Naomasa had assumed they would be stuck together through the entire interview process.
"I have other obligations that I must attend to. We have an anti-teleportation quirk specialist being flown in from Fukuoka to help with improving security here at U.A. That takes higher priority than after action reports, unfortunately."
That was reassuring, at least. Naomasa wouldn't have admitted it, but the presence of a villain group with such a powerful warping quirk was deeply unsettling, especially given that they had apparently chosen U.A as a target. At least the HPSC was putting some effort into protecting the school and making sure the students could stay safe.
What the after action interviews had to do with that, however, Naomasa wasn't sure. He hoped that the HPSC was not playing politics with the safety of the students. Professional heroes generally knew what they were getting into, but students never really did. They had already experienced a villain attack in their first year. They did not need to add politics on top.
---
Not even a week into the semester and Izuku had already been to Recovery Girl's office twice. Granted, this time was due to a villain attack taking place on campus, something that obviously wasn't a regular occurrence, but still. This was a pattern that he felt like he should break as soon as possible. At least this was the first time that he had woken up there, having been too injured to make it away from the USJ before passing out.
Izuku didn't remember too much of what had happened after All Might had launched the nomu through the roof. The adrenaline that had kept him running through the fight at the top of the stairs had worn off shortly thereafter, and the pain of his shattered leg quickly became his primary focus. Recovery Girl had provided him with a healing kiss on site, but the stamina drain from repairing both his leg and his arms had been enough to knock him out nearly instantly.
Sitting up in his recovery bed, Izuku found that he was not alone in the room. While he was in the bed closest to the window, Todoroki and Awase lay in beds further into the room. Both boys were still unconscious, with Awase still looking a sight paler than he usually did. There was still daylight outside, although the sun appeared to be setting, meaning he had been out for a few hours. He hoped it had only been a few hours, and that he hadn't lost over a day of time.
Apparently his awakening had made enough noise to alert Recovery Girl as she entered the room shortly after Izuku had sat up. She sighed as she walked up to the side of his bed. "You really put your body through the wringer, didn't you? How are you feeling, sonny?"
Izuku stretched his arms slightly and twisted from side to side. Despite the bandages that were wrapped tightly around his arms, everything seemed to be in perfect working order. Somewhat more gingerly, he attempted to move his leg, still fearful of the pain that had assaulted him earlier in the day. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his leg moved completely pain-free. Recovery Girl's quirk sure was something else!
"Based on your reaction I assume that everything feels the way it should. You should count yourself lucky, boy. What percentage did you use?"
"With my leg, I went all the way to one hundred percent, ma'am." Izuku attempted to express some level of contrition, but it was hard. He wasn't sorry for what he did; he was only sorry that it didn't work. The villains were threatening not only him but also his classmates and injured teachers, and given that the bird-faced nomu had apparently defeated Hawks, he knew that he would need as much power as possible. If one hundred percent had been enough to help out and he hadn't done it out of risk to his body, he wasn't sure he could ever forgive himself.
The elderly woman seemed to pick up on Izuku's feelings and snorted as she pointed the end of her cane at his face. "Without my quirk you would have done real, lasting damage to your leg today. I know that these were unusual circumstances to say the least, but this is something I want to make as clear as possible. Keep yourself within your limits. You are only a student, not a full-fledged hero. Even worse, any permanent injuries that you accumulate now will only grow worse and worse over time." She sighed, putting her cane down with a distant look on her face. "I don't want to see another student forced into early retirement due to lingering issues from an injury. Just keep that in mind, kid."
"I … I will." Perhaps it was the fact that he was holding All Might's quirk, perhaps it was the relative prevalence of healing quirks amongst hero-associated hospitals and medical services, or perhaps it was his own feelings of adolescent invincibility, but Izuku had never seriously considered what it would mean to suffer a permanent injury so soon in his career. He couldn't promise that he would never go beyond his limits if it was necessary, but he would keep Recovery Girl's words in mind. "How are Todoroki and Awase? They didn't appear as injured as I was."
Recovery Girl sighed. "Physically, no, you were the worst offender of the students." Izuku decided not to ask about the pro heroes on scene, at least for the time being. "These two, though, pushed their quirks far beyond what their bodies could handle. Todoroki was suffering from acute frostbite and hypothermia through his entire body, even though only his right side produces ice. Awase pushed his quirk so far that he had cranial hemorrhaging in at least two places." She glanced at him briefly and his worry must have shown on his face. "They'll both be fine, but their healing drained them even more than yours drained you."
That was a relief. Izuku hadn't known that Awase had pushed himself that hard when he Welded the nomu to the floor, and felt somewhat guilty that he had let his classmate push himself that far. He made a point of ignoring the little voice in his head that told him that he would have done the exact same thing in Awase's situation. The fact that he had saved Todoroki's life later on helped only slightly in dealing with his guilt.
"Now, as long as everything seems to be in working order, then I'll be able to discharge you. The school is closing temporarily so we can improve our security." That was sensible. A villain group had already demonstrated they could attack campus at will. Keeping all of the students gathered together in the dorms sounded like a recipe for disaster. "The HPSC has sent representatives to make sure all of your classmates get home safely. I'll go find yours now."
That was slightly odd. It seemed highly unlikely that anyone would be attacked while heading home, and while the moral support of having someone with you to make sure you got home safely was undeniable, it wasn't something that was generally in the HPSC's wheelhouse. Izuku continued to have thoughts along these lines as he changed from the hospital gown he had been placed in back to his school uniform. It was better to force himself to think of possible reasons for the HPSC's actions than to remember just what had occurred at the USJ: the crack of bone, the smell of blood, the knowledge that he had ended a life. No, far better to focus on the here and now.
The nurse returned just a few minutes later with a tall man in a suit following her. His black hair was trimmed short, with freckles dusted across his face, and eyes that seemed as if they were taking in every detail of the room all at once. Something about him, though, from the shape of his face to the rhythm of his stride, was familiar to Izuku.
"Here he is, fully recovered." Recovery Girl said to the man. A small smile flitted across his face as he seemed to realize Izuku's attempts to recognize him.
His voice was deep and familiar, one that Izuku only remembered hearing over the phone. "It's me, Izuku, your father. Let's get you home safely."
---
Hisashi knew that he wasn't going to be able to simply waltz back into Izuku's life as if nothing had happened. If his first interactions with Inko were any indication, he was going to have to work long and hard to earn any sort of trust with his family at all. That was to be expected after disappearing across an ocean for over a decade. If he had known that Izuku would develop such a quirk, he might not have pushed quite as hard for the position in the states. There was no point to focusing on the past though, he had a family to reintegrate with. And he was willing to do what it took, for as long as it took, to show them that he was indeed back for good.
After all, his son would need a good influence in his life to counteract the pure fluff and idealism that U.A was sure to inject into his head.
As such, no matter how much he wanted to lecture his son on all of the things that U.A had done wrong that had led to an event like the USJ attack happening, Hisashi held his tongue. It didn't matter that the thirty four villains taken prisoner after the attack had previous captures and convictions by heroes associated with U.A, usually All Might, nor that most of them had been let free due to pushes for leniency often spearheaded by Nezu himself. It didn't matter that U.A focused so heavily on rescue training so early that their students were caught underprepared for a villain attack. It didn't matter that tension between the HPSC and U.A was so high that it was only due to luck that Hawks had been present and able to hold the villains off before All Might could arrive.
Izuku wouldn't listen to any of that, especially not right now and especially not from his recently returned father. So instead the two of them drove in silence, save for Izuku's occasional mumbles. Hisashi wasn't sure exactly when that habit started, but it was something else that he would have to deal with now that he was back in Izuku's life.
Even once they arrived at Inko's apartment, Izuku still seemed to want to try to pretend that Hisashi was just another government worker, heading up without saying a word to Hisashi. Typical petulant teenager. After taking a deep breath, ignoring the slight trail of smoke on exhalation, Hisashi followed his son up.
He didn't remember exactly what number his wife's apartment was, but didn't need to, because her wailing and crying as she hugged Izuku could lead him there from a block away. She had only become more emotional in his time away. Hisashi hung back for a moment to let her work through her emotions with her son. Even had he been around for the past decade, he wouldn't have intruded on a moment like this.
Not long after, Izuku begged off so he could use the bathroom, and Inko let him with the agreement that they would need to have a long talk afterwards. As soon as the boy was out of earshot, though, his wife turned to him with a hard look in her red-rimmed eyes.
"Let me do the talking." For all of the sobbing that she had just been doing, her voice was firm and unwavering, brooking no room for disagreement. Hisashi was in no mood to try to shift his wife from something like this, and quickly demurred. At least she let him stay during the coming conversation; it would give him a good sense of where how his family had changed over the past decade.
Izuku returned to find both of his parents seated in silence in the living room, simply waiting for him to show up. His anxiety was on full display as he stopped dead, eyes flickering between his two parents. Hisashi noticed that his son seemed more worried about him than his mother, and had to suppress a sigh. That would have to be dealt with.
"Izuku, I…" Inko began, before glancing quickly at her husband and continuing. "We are deeply concerned about what is happening at U.A. No mother wants to hear that her child was nearly killed in a villain attack on their school."
"That's hardly U.A's fault!" Izuku's defenses went up immediately. "You can't seriously try to blame them for what the villains did."
"You're right, but I can blame them for lacking in security." Hisashi had to suppress a smile at that. Sometimes Inko reminded him why he married her in the first place. "I can also blame you for not telling me about the dangers they're putting you through on a daily basis."
"...I don't know what you're talking about." Oh now this was interesting.
"So you didn't know that you broke your arm before classes even started?" Even Hisashi wouldn't automatically hold that against U.A. Depending, of course, on the circumstances. Izuku had just awakened his quirk, there was necessarily a learning curve. Not telling his mother about it indicated that there was something worrisome here, though. "Or that your classmate nearly bled out in your first heroism class? Part of the agreement to let you go to U.A, Izuku, was that I be able to help keep you safe. I can't do that if I don't know what's going on."
"But Recovery Girl…" Admittedly the presence of Recovery Girl allowed U.A to get away with more dangerous trainings than the average hero school. When they bothered to have combat training, that is.
"I don't want to hear it!" And there was Inko on a warpath. "I don't care who they have as school nurse! There's always a chance that you won't get there in time, or there will be something they can't fix! Throw in the possibility of villain attacks on top of all of this and it's all just too much. I don't know how I can deal with you and hero school." Warpath Inko faded away into sobs surprisingly quickly. That backbone that Hisashi had always admired was still there, just hidden under her tears.
"I know that being a hero is dangerous!" And apparently Izuku had inherited some of that spine as well. "That's why I want to do it, so other people don't have to! If you are this worried about my education, how will you feel when I'm actually a hero? Or were you lying about supporting me no matter what?!" That just made Inko cry harder, and Hisashi felt that he ought to step in, at this point.
"Now son, I think what your mother is most upset about is you not telling her everything that's going on. I'm sure that…" Hisashi never got a chance to finish before Izuku broke in.
"No, you're sure of nothing!" No matter how Hisashi tried, he wasn't able to interrupt his son, and had to sit through the verbal assault. "You disappear for eleven years and think you can just show back up as if nothing happened. The only reason you came back is because I developed a quirk, don't think I don't know that! You couldn't care less about mom or me other than how my quirk might help you in your career, so you don't get any say in this!" There was a dangerous glint in Izuku's eyes, and Hisashi was suddenly all too aware of the fact that his son had apparently killed a man earlier today. It had been in self-defense, true, but the fact remained.
"Izuku, he's still your father!" Inko had drawn herself away from sobbing to level a stern rebuke to his son.
"No." For the first time tonight Izuku met Inko's eyes evenly, his gaze as hard and unforgiving as his tone. "He gave that up when abandoned us, when he didn't have any faith in us. Do you have faith in me, mom? Because it doesn't seem like it to me right now."
Izuku turned on his heel and stalked back into his room, the sound of a door slamming echoing through the apartment, leaving Inko and Hisashi in a deeply unpleasant silence. As it dragged on, Hisashi desperately wanted to break it one way or another. He settled on saying, "Well, that could have gone better." In retrospect, it was a bad choice.
"Get. Out." The heat in Inko's voice could rival Hisashi's own quirk in temperature. However, he still had one card left to play.
"I know you're worried about him, Inko, but I'll see what I can do on my side with the HPSC. I know a few people who are in a position to get things done that could help." More than a few, really. And he was going to talk to them regardless, but making sure Inko was fine with it was important for appearances sake.
"Now!" Inko practically snarled at him.
There wasn't much he could say to that.
---
Blood pounded in Izuku's ears, drowning out every sound other than his own heavy breathing. He stood panting, staring at the door that he had just flung shut behind him, but not truly seeing what stood in front of him. Faintly, he realized that he could taste something metallic, like a hint of copper. And above it all, a dozen thoughts on two dozen topics swirled through his head, unable and unwilling to be corralled.
His father showed up out of nowhere to pick him up at school as an HPSC representative. His mother found out that he and Pony had been hurt in training. His father listened to their whole conversation and wanted to jump in and play peacemaker. His mother implied that she wanted to pull him out of U.A and possibly hero training entirely. His father had worked for the HPSC for years and never once thought to speak with his son who was enamored with heroes.
His father had the sheer, unmitigated gall to think that Izuku would be happy to see him in any capacity, especially having shown up just after Izuku had developed a quirk.
He was frustrated with his mother, yes, but they had worked out their issues before and they would again. The emotion that Izuku felt about his father was very different: anger. It was an unfamiliar emotion, one that he wasn't entirely sure that he enjoyed the feeling of. The rage sat deep in his stomach, spikes of intense displeasure shooting through his entire body at the mere thought of his father. It compelled him to action, any action, to let loose the building tension within him, but at the same time begged him to stay put and stoke it to even greater heights. If Izuku wasn't careful he would meltdown entirely. He stumbled to his desk, holding himself up with his arms on the desk, eyes screwed shut. Deep breaths were all that he focused on.
In and out.
In and out.
His anger faded away slowly, although Izuku couldn't say exactly how long it took. Time felt like jelly as he simply focused on his breathing and letting the rage drain out of his system.
Immediately, Izuku knew that he wouldn't be able to have anything even resembling a calm conversation with his mother as long as his father was present. Unfortunately, he didn't know if or when his father would be leaving, and the very thought of even opening his door to find out threatened to resurrect the fury deep in his belly. Even if his father had left, he was still frustrated enough with his mother (and himself, although he would never admit it) that any conversation would almost instantly degenerate back into yelling and sobbing and they wouldn't get anywhere.
Izuku's chest tightened at the thought. His mother was exasperating at times with her worry. She always seemed to think that he was fragile, that his quirklessness made it so that he was more prone to injury or clumsier than the average child. Izuku had used clumsiness as an excuse so she wouldn't worry about the bullying once it became obvious that the schools weren't going to put a stop to it, but she should have been able to see that he wasn't actually clumsy around the house. She didn't have faith in him when he was quirkless, and even getting a quirk hadn't helped, preferring to fall back into her old worrying routines.
Unfortunately, Izuku knew that he had messed up some by not telling her about any of his or Pony's injuries. That wasn't any reason to float the idea of not letting him go back to U.A, though. Right now, though, with the rage at his father and guilt from the USJ sitting just beyond his control, he knew that he wasn't be able to admit his own missteps at all, and would probably just dig himself deeper.
With a sigh, Izuku sank into the chair at his desk and idly began to wonder just how long he'd be able to camp out in his room before his parents would force him to leave. The fact that neither had shown up to his door (that he could remember hearing, at least) immediately after he stormed off indicated that they were probably waiting for him to cool off and show himself before they made any move.
Given that he had some time to himself, an idea came to him. Izuku pulled out his phone and sent a brief message to Kyoka. She had told him that she would always be there for him and that her parents were the same. It was time to put that to the test.
Thankfully, their apartment was only on the third story of their building, and Izuku had proven just earlier today that he could fall that far with his quirk active and still be fine. Turning to his closet, he pulled out a handful of clean clothes and stuffed them into his backpack. He couldn't sneak out to the bathroom to grab any sort of toiletries, and had to hope that the Jiro's had a few extras that he could borrow. If not, going a day or two without wouldn't be the end of the world.
His phone buzzed with Kyoka's response. Relief bloomed inside of Izuku as he read it, and saw that she was willing to help. He didn't know what he would do without her, honestly. He looked around the room one last time for anything obvious that he was missing, but could not immediately find anything.
With that, Izuku opened the window and dropped to the ground, lightning around him as he flared his quirk. Once on the ground, he set off towards Kyoka's house. Izuku simply couldn't spend any time around his parents. Not now, not in his current state of mind.
---
Even an hour after Hisashi had left, there had still been no sign of Izuku. Inko knew that if she pushed him now, invaded his space and didn't let him cool off, she'd have an even harder time convincing him to be honest with her moving forward.
In all honesty she hadn't meant to go quite so far when talking with Izuku, but she also hadn't expected Hisashi to be there. Her annoyance with her husband, combined with her frustration with having found out that Izuku had been hiding things from her, was a volatile mixture. Add in the fact that Izuku's class had been attacked by villains in a high-profile assault on All Might, and she was somewhat proud of restraining herself as much as she had.
If any of the students had been more injured, or god forbid, died, she was sure that she would be talking about more than just the possibility of pulling Izuku out of U.A. Inko hadn't made her peace with Izuku being in life-threatening situations yet; she had expected to have another three years before she really had to worry about it, though. That they had to decide how to deal with them now felt unfair in some ways.
The one thing that gave her hope, however, was the sheer unprecedented nature of the attack. No villains had ever attacked U.A before. No villains had ever attacked any hero school in the past twenty years. All Might had made it very clear at the last attack on a hero school that targeting children and teachers would ensure a very prompt and personal visit from the number one hero. Inko was sure that the perpetrators would be hunted down and arrested in short order, and that they would not have to worry throughout the rest of Izuku's education.
Clinging to that one lifeline, Inko had just begun to prepare dinner when the phone began to ring. It was odd, the only people who generally called the landline were Hisashi and Mitsuki. She had just sent Hisashi off with instructions to stay away, and had spoken with Mitsuki earlier when the news of the attack was just breaking. She picked up the phone, not truly knowing who to expect on the other end.
"Hello." The voice on the other end was deep and smooth, with just a hint of oil floating on the top. "May I please speak to Mrs. Inko Midoriya?"
"You are. May I ask who is calling?"
"My name is Katashi Oh and I am the Director of Education and Training at the HPSC. I just finished speaking with your husband and he suggested that I call you to discuss matters relating to your son's education at U.A. It is a pleasure to speak with you ma'am." Hisashi had said that he had some important people that he could cash in favors with, but this was beyond what Inko had expected.
"T-The pleasure is all mine, Director Oh. What can I help you with?"
"I have heard of the injuries that your son and other students have endured just a few days into the semester, as well as the attack from earlier today, and I must say that my heart goes out to you and all of the other parents. For your children to be in such danger so early in their education must be terrifying."
A small gasp escaped from Inko and she barely even noticed. Finally she was getting some sort of validation from the HPSC, someone that seemed to understand what she was going through. All of the other contacts that she had spoken with at the HPSC had seemed like they were going through the motions, simply humoring her and her worries. The other parents that she spoke to had some level of understanding, but no one in any position of power. But now… now the absolute top of the food chain for the entire nation's hero education was speaking to her and actually understood her worries and anxieties.
"That… that is an understatement, sir. And I just get the feeling that U.A doesn't care about the worries of us parents. I know there have been injuries in training and even in the entrance exam, but as far as I know, there have been no communications between U.A and the students' parents. I know that when my son was injured in an early quirk assessment test, I was not informed by the school. I'm sure that the only reason I heard about his injuries today is because the HPSC and police were involved." Inko didn't bring up that she had only heard about Izuku's injuries because she had been speaking with other parents; she didn't want it to reflect poorly on her relationship with her son.
"I have a suspicion that you may be correct, ma'am. I will say that you are not the only U.A parent that has expressed such concerns to me. Unfortunately, U.A is being quite stubborn in how many changes they are willing to make to their policies. If we had some relatively unified pressure from the families of students, however, I believe they would be far more amenable to our suggestions."
"I suppose that makes sense…" Inko was not particularly politically minded, but she could see how pressure from parents would help influence U.A. Even if they were willing to push back against the HPSC, having parents threaten to pull students out would be something they would want to avoid.
"And I believe that parents would be more amenable to concerns shared by a fellow parent than by some distant bureaucrat." That also made sense to Inko; if she had received a call out of the blue from some HPSC worker, even if it were Director Oh himself, without having reached out earlier, she would be justifiably suspicious.
"So what do you want from me?" It was obvious that the director was pushing her to help him in some capacity.
"I have a list of contact information for all of the parents of students in Class 1-A. I expect that most of them would be open to discussions with other parents, such as you, about the safety of their children. If you happened to get your hands on such a list, minus those parents that are heavily involved in heroics already, such as the Todoroki and Yaoyorozu families, perhaps you would be able to organize a parents protest of U.A. It would certainly make our negotiations more fruitful." While Inko had never been the most socially outgoing person, this was something she felt she could do.
"You can count on me, sir."
"Fantastic. Now, I have other tasks to attend to. You should receive an email with the information soon. Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya." As the line went dead, Inko's mind was already racing to try and catch up to what she had just agreed to do. She needed a plan: some sort of script that she could work from. There was no way that she would be able to convince anyone if she were just improvising.
She was shaken by surprise as the phone in her hand abruptly began ringing once again. The number was unfamiliar, but local at least. Her initial thought was that Hisashi was calling from a nearby hotel to follow up on Director Oh's call. That thought was dashed as soon as she heard the woman's cautious voice on the other end of the call.
"Is this Inko Midoriya, mother of Izuku Midoriya?"
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"My name is Mika Jiro, my daughter Kyoka and your son are friends, I believe." They were bound to be more than friends if the way Izuku talked about her was any indication, but Inko had enough on her plate trying to get Izuku to be serious about his safety. Thankfully, she knew her son; he was shy enough and blind enough to his own emotions that it was unlikely their relationship would get to that level anytime soon.
"Yes, I've heard quite a lot about your daughter, all good things of course." Quite a lot of good things, if she were being honest. Inko had only met the Jiro girl once, in non-ideal circumstances, but she hadn't had any real complaints from that time.
"I'm glad. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that your son was currently at our house, asking to stay the night."
"No, that's not right, he's right here in his room…" Inko walked over to Izuku's door and knocked, only to receive no response. She tried the handle and found it unlocked, pushing it open. A deep sigh escaped her lips as she took in the empty room and the open window on the far side of the room. Had Izuku really jumped out the window just to get away? "Nevermind." This must have been Hisashi's doing. Izuku really did not respond well to his presence. "I suppose I should have expected this. His father has been out of the picture for a long time and showed up unannounced today. You can tell Izuku that Hisashi is gone, but since he's already over there, I suppose he can stay the night."
"Of course. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine on your end, especially given what happened earlier today." Oh yes, the Jiro girl was one of his classmates. This would be a good start to talk with other concerned parents like Director Oh had suggested.
"Actually speaking of that, I have a few things I was hoping to speak with you about."
---
Mika ended the call with Mrs. Midoriya with discomfort roiling in her stomach. If the woman expressed her thoughts like that when Izuku was around, she wouldn't be surprised if it was more than just his father's presence that had driven the boy from his home.
It was one thing to be concerned about the safety of your children and the environment in which they were growing up. It was another thing entirely to undermine their high school and begin a crusade to make sure they could remain safe. At some point that sort of behavior was only going to come back to bite Mrs. Midoriya in the ass.
It wasn't as if Mrs. Midoriya didn't have some good points. U.A could certainly stand to better communicate with the parents of injured children, if what Mrs. Midoriya said about the injuries from the entrance exam were true. Kyoka had told her and Kyotoku of her issues with hearing after the exam, but it hadn't been any permanent damage so they hadn't worried at all. In truth, Kyotoku was far too impressed with their daughter having taken down a ten story tall robot to even think about worrying. If more serious injuries that needed a healing quirk to help deal with them had not been reported to families, that was concerning, but still not a reason to start a parental protest, at least to Mika's point of view.
Mika trusted her daughter to tell her when she got injured in her time at U.A. There was no question that it was going to happen, just a question of how soon and how bad. Hero training was intense, and actual hero work even more treacherous. Mika and Kyotoku had forced themselves to make peace with their daughter's choice of education well before she had started at U.A. If Mrs. Midoriya didn't make her peace soon, she was only setting herself up for more and more unpleasantness.
The sound of laughter from the living room drew her attention. Peaking into the room, she found that Izuku and Kyotoku were apparently getting along like a house on fire. She smiled fondly at the two, and at Kyoka who was apparently regretting her every life decision that had led to this moment. Mika knew that Kyotoku had been suitably impressed with Izuku from the very first time that he had come over, and it was good to see her husband be himself with one of their daughter's friends, instead of the stern parent image he always seemed to try to project. She simply let herself watch and enjoy the scene for the moment.
It was one of those fleeting moments of parenthood that most never managed to appreciate until they were long gone. Mika and Kyotoku had always tried to live for the present with a mind to the future. The children had also gone through enough today that even if Izuku's laughter was a little forced and Kyoka's complaints were a little muted, something resembling normality was good for them.
The doorbell ringing with the arrival of their take-out food brought the moment to an end quickly enough, with Kyoka jumping up and racing to the front door in an effort to avoid her mortifying father and Kyotoku moving to the kitchen to set places for everyone. Mika took the moment to step forward and privately speak with Izuku.
"I spoke with your mother." The boy startled at Mika's words, obviously not having heard her approach. The fact that his eyes were locked to Kyoka's retreating form may have had something to do with that, Mika thought with an internal smirk. Neither of the two were particularly subtle, but as far as she and Kyotoku knew, they still claimed to just be "friends."
"You did? What… what did she say?" Izuku visibly steeled himself for whatever his mother had said to Mika, and didn't that say quite a lot about their relationship? It wasn't necessarily Mika's place to get involved in another parent's relationship with their child, but it was fairly obvious that Izuku needed support in his life where he could get it.
"She said that you could stay the night." Mika was glad to see him relax significantly at this. "She also said that your father came back into the picture suddenly, and that probably had something to do with this." This caused a more muted response from the boy, with an obvious hesitation before a small nod. "I know it doesn't mean much, but I know what you're going through with that at least. My relationship with my own father was… is… strained at best. If you ever want to talk, I'm happy to listen. About that or anything else with your parents that is bothering you."
"Thank you, Mrs. Jiro." Izuku blinked rapidly as he shot a quick glance or two towards Mika. Obviously something more that he didn't want to talk about, but she wasn't about to push. Yet. "I'll, uh, I'll keep that in mind." There was a pregnant pause as Mika considered her next words carefully.
"You should also know that your mother is worried about your safety at U.A." She spoke quickly to head off the obvious comments from Izuku. "So worried that she's trying to gather some parents for a protest of some sort." Whatever he had been trying to say died on his tongue, as he looked at Mika with no shortage of confusion. "Kyotoku and I fundamentally disagree with her on several points. I just wanted to make sure that you know that you and Kyoka have us on your side." Mika looked up to see her daughter walking towards the kitchen with the takeout food in her hands, and Izuku followed her gaze. "You have us on your side in this and in other ways as well."
Izuku didn't reply, but his rapidly reddening cheeks made it clear to her that he understood her message perfectly before he hurried off to help Kyoka with the food. It was a bit more direct than Mika liked to be, but she'd had enough of the two dancing around each other.
---
Kyoka couldn't sleep. Way too much had happened today, and that was before Izuku had texted her asking for somewhere to lay low for the night and she had had to suffer through perhaps one of the most awkward and uncomfortable evenings of her life. Not because of anything Izuku had done, at least not intentionally, but rather because of the looks that her parents had been shooting her and each other. She had enough of that from the other girls at school and had thought that if nothing else, she would get a bit of a reprieve while staying at home.
Not being able to sleep was not particularly familiar to Kyoka. Normally, if she was having a hard time falling asleep due to getting trapped in her head, she could redirect herself onto thinking about music, finding a song or two that she had been interested in recently, replaying them in her head, pondering how she could sing or play them herself.
That wasn't working tonight. Whenever she tried to pull her mind away from what happened at the USJ, she found herself instead focused on the green-haired boy sleeping (presumably) in the guest room just across the hall from her. If she tried to redirect her attention away from Izuku, all of a sudden she found herself back in the USJ, staring down one of the three nomus that had tried to kill them or the blue-haired villain who had covered himself in human hands. If she tried to think about anything other than the USJ again, she inevitably ended up thinking about Izuku sleeping under the same roof as her and cursing the fact that the entire house was soundproofed due to her and her mother's quirks.
Kyoka decided that she wasn't getting anywhere just lying in bed bouncing between topics that she didn't want to think too hard about. Checking her phone to find that it was just after midnight, she sighed before pushing up and out of bed. She was thirsty, and figured simply getting up and moving around, going to the kitchen for a glass of water, would help reset her mind and settle her nerves.
All of the lights one the second floor were off and in the hallway Kyoka couldn't hear anything. Even with the soundproofing she could usually hear conversations in the next room over if she tried. The natural conclusion to Kyoka, therefore, was that everyone else in the house was asleep.
She was wrong. Izuku was apparently also awake, if the fact that she caught him searching the kitchen, in the dark, for a glass to get himself some water was any indication. The moment she flicked on the light he froze, green eyes glinting in the sudden light, almost as if he thought that she hadn't already noticed him.
"Guess I'm not the only one who can't sleep." Kyoka walked past where Izuku remained frozen to get herself a glass for some water. "Want one too?"
The slight acknowledgment was enough to get her friend moving again. "Y-yeah. Sorry, Kyoka, I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I was trying to be really quiet. Then I realized I didn't know where anything was kept."
"Don't worry about it, Green, my mom had this place soundproofed years ago."
"Ah, that makes sense." Kyoka handed him a glass of water before filling one up herself. Izuku had slipped back into silence, staring at the water in his hands. It wasn't a comfortable silence, though. She had experienced enough of those with Izuku to know the difference. He seemed anxious about something, breathing quick and low. If Kyoka was honest with herself, she was anxious, too.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Izuku's head shot up at her words, emotions flickering across his face faster than Kyoka could keep up with. Ultimately, he settled on determination. That was one of the things she admired about him: his endless well of motivation and resolve.
"Well, we can talk about at least one thing that's on my mind. I…" She was happy to let Izuku take the time he needed to find his words. "Did you mean those things you said in the USJ earlier today?" His tone of voice was strained, almost plaintive. "I just went along with it in the moment, but I can't get what you said out of my head."
"You mean after everyone else had evacuated?" A nod. "I meant every word of it, Izuku." She'd had plenty of time to think about it after everyone had evacuated, and had hoped that Izuku had picked up on what she'd been saying. It made her heart swell to hear that he had.
"You really care about me that much?" The desperation in his voice struck Kyoka to her core. Her friends must have had a point, if he found it that hard to believe anyone would care about him.
"Izuku, meeting you was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I don't want see anything happen to you." She could feel a blush dusting her cheeks, and could see a similar affliction on Izuku as well.
"I don't want to see anything happen to you either, Kyoka." Kyoka could have swooned to hear him say that. Wow, she really had it bad for him if even that was enough to set her off. She was happy to exult in finally talking with him about this before he surprised her. "I'm sorry."
"What the hell do you have to be sorry for, Green?"
"We didn't get to have our relaxing evening jam session tonight. Although I guess neither of us expected U.A to send us home tonight, or for my dad to show up out of nowhere." Izuku was going to be the death of her if he thought she'd be upset about that. And despite the knowing glances of her parents all night, it had been fun to hang out with Izuku. More privacy would be better in the future, though. For a variety of reasons.
"Seriously Green, it's not your fault. We'll just have to make up for it in the future." Kyoka kept her voice light and her earjacks calm, but inside her heart was doing flip-flops. She had a few particular ideas about how they could make it up.
"Well…" Izuku trailed off somewhat, cheeks turning a brilliant red as he did.
"You sound like you have an idea, Green." If he was willing to speak up about it, it was probably something that he had put a lot of thought into. And if he had put a lot of thought into it, it was probably a good idea.
"I was just thinking that there's supposed to be a Lightning Nine concert in Tokyo next weekend. I'm not sure what school is going to be like then, but it would be fun to go. With you. If you want. I know that they're not your absolute favorite but I was pretty sure you liked them. And if you don't want to go we can find another time, but I hope you want to go…"
Izuku was rambling at this point, but there was anxiety building up within Kyoka's chest, something that she needed to deal with. She interrupted him, asking him quietly, "Green, are you asking me out on a date?"
For a moment Izuku just stared at her, mouth moving but no sound coming out. Eventually, he shook himself and managed to bring himself to answer. "...Yes? I mean, if you want, we could just do it as friends. I know that you probably…" He was rambling again, but cut off when he heard her chuckling. She knew she had to speak when the hope on his face began to crumble.
"I can't believe you beat me to it."
Once again, Izuku was at a loss for words, staring at Kyoka as if he couldn't understand a word she had said. "I… but… what?"
Kyoka chuckled again before responding, awed at how easily she was talking about this. It was probably the sheer exhaustion of the day catching up to her, but it felt good to finally get all of this out in the open with Izuku. "I was going to try to find a time to ask you out, too. I thought about using our jam session tonight, but we got kinda thrown off by today. And here you go and beat me to it. To think I was worried about you not being interested."
"But… you… really… me?"
"Breathe a bit before you pass out there, Green. Is it really that hard to believe?" Izuku took a deep breath before responding.
"I mean… yes?" Kyoka huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes at that, but Izuku continued on regardless. "I'm just plain old me, and I've never dated and I have no idea what I'm doing and…"
"And I do? I've never been on a date before either, Green." Izuku considered this a moment, but did not have a comeback. "How about we call this a practice date. If for whatever reason either one of us changes our mind afterwards, we can go back to friends. Deal?"
He thought for just a moment before the familiar determination entered his eyes. "Deal. And Kyoka?"
"Yeah, Green?"
"I'm not going to change my mind." Kyoka didn't think she would ever get over hearing Izuku's confidence-filled voice saying things like that to her.
Her chest was full to bursting with happiness as her cheeks regained their luminescent glow. It was all she could do to utter a simple, "Thanks."
Silence again descended between the two, but a far more comfortable one this time. Far closer to the ones that they had experienced during their training, but with a hint of something different. There was a pleasant, warm feeling deep within her that bubbled up uncontrollably at the thought that she actually had a date with Izuku. Kyoka wore a small smile that she just couldn't banish. A quick look at Izuku showed him with a similar smile, balanced by a wide-eyed thousand yard stare of disbelief. Whether he didn't believe what he had just done, or that Kyoka had agreed, was up in the air. Knowing him, it was probably both.
Kyoka wasn't sure exactly how much time passed, but eventually Izuku broke the silence with a huff of laughter before asking, "Is it just me, or did that take a lot out of you, too?" As soon as he said that, a yawn threatened to crack Kyoka's jaw, but she tried to hold it down.
"No, it took a lot out of me too." The yawn finally broke free, and the two of them descended into giggles. She glanced at the clock and was shocked at how late it had gotten. "We should probably try to get some sleep. It's almost one and we shouldn't slack off on training tomorrow just because we're not at school."
"Yeah, and I'll have to head home and talk with my mother. And probably the police, too. Not looking forward to the conversation with my mother at all. It's always a battle to have her realize that I am going to be a hero, no matter what she thinks."
"At least your dad won't be there." Kyoka tried to keep the mood at least somewhat light by pointing out that it wouldn't be quite as bad as he feared. She also reached out to grab his hand, giving it what was a hopefully reassuring squeeze, finding that her exhaustion was still giving her the courage that she wasn't sure she would have possessed in other circumstances.
Izuku readily returned the gesture. "Fair." Izuku hummed, taking her comment into consideration. A fair amount of the stress that he was carrying in his shoulders did evaporate, thankfully.
The pair of them continued to hold hands all the way back to their rooms on the second floor. Kyoka found that she really didn't want to let go. Worrisome thoughts about what could have happened to Izuku at the USJ danced just on the edges of her mind. Both of them had come terrifyingly close to death multiple times, but it was always Izuku throwing himself into the fray time and again that came to her mind. He went to pull away and head towards the guest room, but she tightened her grip on his hand to keep him in place. "Green? Can you leave your door open tonight? I can't hear what's happening in there due to the soundproofing if you close it. It'll just help me sleep better if I can hear you."
"Of course, Kyoka." His smile was soft and personal, nearly taking her breath away once again. "Good night." He let go her hand and disappeared into the guest room, leaving Kyoka alone in the hallway, staring after him.
"Good night, Izuku." After a terrible day they had both needed a good night. And Kyoka was sure they had both just had one.