Chapter 3: A Fatherly Meeting
Not much time had passed since our little hero, his mother, and his shadowy friend left the hospital. In fact, it was the same day.
After the same ten-minute-long trip Inko performed last night, they had finally reached the apartment complex they lived in. Once Inko arrived at the parking lot of the apartment complex, parked with her car, stopped its engine, and unlocked the locks, Izuku, who was still in his pajamas, unbuckled himself, got out of the car as fast as he could, and with his bare feet, he rushed to the stairs and ran up on them to the entrance of his home, all the while the shadow followed him close behind.
"Izuku, wait!" Inko exclaimed as she took the red blanket she used to cover Izuku out of the car and closed the door of the car.
"Come on, mommy! I want to show our house to my shadow!" Izuku shouted excitedly up from the stairs down to his mother with his shadow next to him, then continued his way towards his home. After he did this, Inko just shook her head and smiled at her son's behavior, then closed the doors of her car, placed the car's key into its hole, locked the doors, pulled the key out of the car from the keyhole of the driver's seat door, and proceeded to go up the stairs as well, reaching the door of her apartment, where her little broccoli head and his shadow were waiting for her, "Come on, come on, come on!" Izuku demanded while jumping up and down in his excitement as Inko put the key into its keyhole in order to unlock it.
With a clicking noise let out by the lock, Inko unlocked the door, grabbed its handle, moved it down, and started to open it, allowing Izuku and the shadow to finally enter the apartment. Just as she opened it a little bit, Izuku jolted through the opening, opening the door wide and rushing inside his home in the process, while the shadow was behind him, still following him. Once he was inside, he ran to the middle of the hallway, turned around, and looked at his shadow.
"Welcome to our home, shadow! This is the hallway!" Izuku announced as he spread his arms wide in a presenting manner, while the shadow observed its master with an interested look on its face as Inko entered the apartment, closed the door, and was about to put the key back into its hole once again to execute its closing fully. After introducing the hallway to his shadowy friend, Izuku went towards the bathroom for the purpose of showing it to his shadow, leaving his mother, who was locking the front door at the moment, in the hallway. As he ran off with his shadow, Inko turned her head looked at Izuku, rolled her eyes playfully, and formed a sweet, calm smile on her face. Now, she was finally relieved. Relieved, because she saw her son was happy with his Quirk. Relieved, for knowing that he was not angry at her. And most importantly, she was relieved that her son was not in danger anymore. At last, it seemed like everything was going to turn back to normal. But little did she know, that was not the case.
After she closed the door, she headed in the direction of her son's room to get some new clothes for him to wear. Once she reached his room, she casually grabbed the handle of the door, pushed it downwards, opened the door, and went inside. Once she was in the room, she went to the wardrobe, opened it, and began to search for clean clothes that Izuku could wear. After a little thinking, she chose an orange shirt, white underwear, and blue trousers. Then, she closed the doors of the wardrobe and exited her son's room. Just as she was about to search for him, a familiar voice called out for her.
"Mommy!" Izuku exclaimed from the distance, possibly from the living room.
"I'm coming!" Inko answered, starting her way toward the living room of her home. After she reached the doorway of the room, she peeked inside and saw that her expectations were correct: Izuku was indeed in the living room. More accurately, he was standing on the sofa, which was behind the small desk that still had that old-fashioned radio on it, and was talking to his shadow, mostly about what they can do in the living room.
After she witnessed her son in the room, Inko moved her mouth and opened it in order to speak to Izuku.
"Yes, honey?" she wondered as she stepped through the doorway and entered the living room. Hearing his mother's voice, Izuku turned around and focused his attention on Inko, while the shadow also set its jungle-green eyes upon its master's mother.
"Mommy!" Izuku beamed joyfully as he got off of the sofa and ran in front of his mother, "Mommy, turn up the computer! I want to show the video to my shadow!" Izuku requested cheerfully, hopping in his excitement like a bunny, while his shadowy companion nodded in agreement. Before she spoke up, Inko let out a small sigh. She couldn't understand how he could watch that same over and over again, but she didn't care about it. As long as he was happy, she was happy as well.
"All right, I'll let you watch the video." she allowed with a small, sweet smile on her face.
"Yay!" Izuku cheered happily, sharing the same emotion with his shadow.
"But first, you must dress up." Inko suggested, reminding Izuku of the simple fact that he was still in his pajamas.
"Okay!" Izuku agreed as he ran back to the sofa and climbed up on it. Once he got up on it, he turned around to face his mother, who put his clothes next to him. After he turned around, with the help of Inko, he took off his light red pajama top, which, with the kind aid of his shadow, he replaced with the orange shirt that his mother chose for him. As our little heroine was about to take off his dark blue and white horizontally striped pajama trousers, he asked his mother and his shadowy friend to cover their eyes, for obvious reasons, which they did without thinking. After he took off his pyjama trousers and got the white underwear on himself, Izuku let Inko and his shadow open their visionary organs. Lastly, with the help of his shadow, he put the blue trousers on. After being helped to dress up, Izuku jumped off of the sofa and ran in the direction of his room, where the computer was.
"Come on, my shadow! Let's watch the video!" Izuku bubbled, excited for witnessing his favourite video yet again, despite seeing it a million times. Before following its master, the shadow insisted to grab his pyjamas and take them to the bathroom by extending its pitch-black arms towards it, but its action was quickly interrupted by its master's mother.
"No, that won't be necessary." Inko refused, holding up her left hand "I'll do it." she said to the shadow of her son which nodded in understanding, then followed its master by flying out of the room and after him. Before following them, Inko folded Izuku's pajamas in a fine pile, then walked out of the living room and directed her way towards her son's room. Once she arrived in front of the room's door, which was slightly open, she opened the door more and entered. The sight she saw inside wasn't surprised her one bit: Izuku was already sitting in his chair with his favourite All Might toy figure in his left hand while he was leaning back and forth in his undeniable excitement, while the shadow, which was at his left side, observed him with curiosity, inquisitive for what triggered its master to be that excited.
Inko stepped next to her son, booted on the computer, and began searching for that certain one video while Izuku and his shadow continued the act what they were doing when she entered the room.
"Hurry!" Izuku told heatedly, leaning back and forth.
"Jeez, you've probably added ten thousand views just by yourself, Izuku." Inko remarked jokingly, as she was still searching for that certain video, "It's so scary for me. I can't watch it." she confessed as she finally found the video and clicked on it, starting it in the process. Once the video started, Izuku stopped his wiggling and looked at the screen with a big smile on his face, while the shadow watched the screen with curiosity.
The recording started with a smokey area, then the camera moved to the side, revealing a place of a disaster with a lot of smoke, debris, and fire. There were a lot of people in the place, most of them dirty and injured thanks to the disaster. Screams of fear, desperation, and pain could be heard in the video. The screen moved to the right, showing a grown man with brown hair, a white shirt that had a lot of dust and dirt on it, and bruises on his face. The man turned his head and looked into the camera.
"Can you see that? He's already saved a hundred people!" the man noted, then looked at the scene of the disaster, "That's crazy! It hasn't even been ten minutes!" the man finished. Suddenly, a figure with six people on his back and two people in both of his hands slowly walked up on a wreck of a bus, causing the crowd and thus, the cameraman who was recording to look at their great hero. The figure was a very large man with an equally-muscular and well-defined physique. He had chiseled features on his face: a strong jawline, pronounced cheekbones, and bushy eyebrows. He also had short blond hair, which was swept backwards and possessed two distinct tufts that were stuck up above his head, leaning slightly to each side.
He was wearing a skintight blue bodysuit decorated with a red symbol that resembled a "Y" of some kind, with a white diamond at its center and a white line connected to it that traced from his chest to his shoulders. The lines were trimmed with the aforementioned red symbol. The symbol seemed to own wings on the side that ran from the top of his torso before ending around his back, over which was a similar red and white design absent of the white diamond. He also obtained large white patches lined with red-covered each side of his hips before ending at his lower thighs, and he wore a gold belt that had a silver buckle with red eyes. His forearm sleeves were colored in gold that each had white lines, covered in blue accents over his wrists, and had spiked fins on the sides of his arms, his feet were covered in shin-length gold boots trimmed with white and red accents. Izuku knew exactly who he was since he had seen him when he was three years old. He was the Number One hero of Japan, the Symbol of Peace, and Izuku's favourite hero of all time: He was All Might.
As All Might appeared on the screen and let out his well-known happy laugh, without any trace of fear, Izuku's smile became wider and wider while the shadow looked at the pro hero in surprise thanks to seeing how strong and muscular he was.
"He's laughing!" a man remarked as the camera focused on All Might who was still walking up on the bus and continued his laughter. With one last step, All Might stopped at the top of the bus and looked at the crowd.
"It's fine now! Why?" All Might declared as Izuku's smile became bigger, waiting for what All Might was going to say with shining eyes, "Because I am here." All Might announced with his signature line. Like a huge gust of wind, an exhilarating feeling went through Izuku's body and caused him to look at the screen with a joyful smile, while his shadow was as enthusiastic as its master by seeing the video.
After the end of the video, Izuku developed a hectic smile and raised his left arm into the air.
"He's so cool!" Izuku remarked as he looked at the All Might figure in his lifted left hand, "And now that I have my Quirk, I can finally be like him too!" he celebrated as his shadow congratulated him by clapping its pitch-black hands rapidly in its enjoyment. Inko observed all of this happen with a smile on her face. She was so happy for her son for having such a good time with his Quirk. So, to not interrupt the scene, she quietly left the room, and slightly closed the door, leaving the two alone in the room.
After that, she started to walk back to the living room to grab Izuku's pyjamas and bring them into the bathroom where she could put them inside the washing and clean them. When she arrived at the doorway of the living room, she casually stepped in and went for the small pile of pajamas, but she was about to pick them up, she noticed something different about them. Not the pajamas in particular, but what they had on their surface: There was a piece of paper on the top of the tiny pile, and it had a writing on it written by a pen with red-colored ink in it. Who put it there? How could they put it there if she didn't hear anyone move inside the apartment aside from herself, Izuku, and his shadow? And what purpose did they put it there? As she thought this, she decided to take the small paper with her right hand and read the writing, but when she did it, what she read answered two questions of her's out of the three and shocked her to her very core.
"My dear Inko,"
"It's been almost five years since our wonderful arrangement! As part of our deal, I would like to ask for a little "favor" if you don't mind, my dear. Would you be so kind to send your little boy down to me? I've been dying to meet him! You can send him by using the radio I had kindly gifted to you all those years ago! Just turn on the radio, rotate both of the side buttons all the way six times, tune in to the sixth channel, and push the little button between the two other buttons! It's very easy!"
"Oh well, I suppose I won't hold you up any longer. I hope you can bring the little boy of ours to me as fast as you can."
"Your good friend and partner-in-crime,"
"Alastor"
It was Alastor who sent the letter. But why now? Why all of a sudden after almost five years? How did he put the letter there? Why did he want her to send her son down to Hell to him right now? Of course, she knew he wanted to meet Izuku but why did he insist on meeting him? What if he's going to do something with him? What if he's going to hurt her little broccoli head? What if he's going to turn Izuku into some kind of evil dealmaker like him? She couldn't let that happen. But, judging by the writing style of the letter, Alastor didn't want to cause Izuku any harm and just wanted to meet his son. But what if this was just a mask and he secretly wanted to do something dangerous to him that could possibly make him feel pain? With these worried and desperate thoughts running through her head, she looked at the paper and read the letter again, checking it if she had missed any detail. But she didn't. She read it correctly, without missing anything in it. So, after thinking over and over again what to do, she looked at the radio that was on the table since she had made the deal with, then looked at the sheet of paper in her right hand, and made her decision. Even the mere thought of doing this cause her discomfort and sureness due to her not knowing the best solution, but she thought after Alastor gave her a chance to raise her own child, she owed him at least with this. And if he hurt her sweet baby, she would go down there one way or another and beat the living shit out of Alastor, no matter how strong he was.
After making the difficult decision, with a determined and a little bit woeful expression on her face, and the piece of paper in her right hand, she started to walk out of the living room and went back to Izuku's room. When she reached the door of the room, she peeked inside to see what her son and his shadowy friend were doing. There were still watching the same video, probably for the third since she had left them alone. Inko put up a small smile by observing this, but it quickly disappeared, then knocked on the door twice, revealing her presence.
"I-Izuku?" she called out.
"Yes, mommy?" Izuku wondered as he turned around in his chair, while his shadow floating next to him did the same.
"C-Can you come with me to the living room for a second?" Inko requested, trying to hide her worry and stress from her son.
"Of course, mommy!" Izuku answered joyfully as he got off of the chair, then ran out of his room with his shadow following him behind, not noticing his mother's distress in the process. However, unknowingly to both of them, as the shadow and its master went past her, the shadow did notice the hidden discomfort on her face, making it suspicious for what was the reason for its master's mother to ask its master to stop his fun time and go out of the room.
Once they left the room, Inko followed them closely into the living room, where Izuku climbed up on the sofa and sat down on it, with his shadow staying next to him on his left side. After sitting down, Izuku looked at his mother with excited and curious eyes, while his shadow became a little bit suspicious.
"What are we going to do, mommy?" Are we going to watch TV?" Izuku questioned with curiosity in his voice.
"Izuku." Inko started seriously.
"Yes, mommy?" Izuku asked cheerfully, his smile never disappearing.
"D-Did you ever wonder why your father isn't around?" Inko asked nervously.
Izuku placed his right index finger on his chin, looked up to the ceiling, and thought for a short amount of time, then let his index finger down from his chin and focused his attention on his mother.
"No, mommy! You always said daddy is somewhere far away and he can't see us." Izuku replied with his answer, which, to be honest, was true at some level. After his answer, he noticed his mother's worry and stress on her serious face, "M-Mommy? W-What's wrong?"
"W-Well..." she started, gulping a little bit of her saliva down on her throat, "He wants to see you." she finished.
"Really?!" Izuku exclaimed as all the worry vanished and judging by the sound of his voice, it was replaced with utter excitement, while his shadow's eyes widened in surprise.
"Y-Yes, but y-you have to be careful with him." Inko advised.
"Why, mommy?" Izuku wondered as he raised his right eyebrow in confusion, tilted his to the left, and lowered his left ear.
"Because... he's unpredictable. You don't know what he's thinking because you can't read it from his face." Inko answered, then crouched down to her son's height, "Izuku..." she started once again, "He wants to meet you, but I don't what's the reason behind it. He's very mysterious and he's not what he seems to be. He may be very friendly, but behind that mask, he can be very dangerous because you don't know what's going on inside. He's a spirit full of mystery." Inko explained, referring back to the time Alastor slowly manipulated her to make a deal with him nearly five years ago, which, in secret, she didn't regret. After her explanation, with an anxious and concerned look on her face, she outstretched both of her arms, placed her hands on Izuku's shoulder, and asked her son seriously "Izuku, are you sure you want to meet him?"
Izuku was taken aback with worry and a little amount of fear by his mother's words. What kind of man his father was? What did he do that made him so mysterious? Did he really want to meet his father? Judging by his mother's words, the best choice was not to do this, but his curiosity about meeting his father for the first time was stronger than any other emotion inside him. So, with an expression of determination, he fixated his eyes on his mother and opened his mouth to speak.
"Yes, I want to meet him." Izuku responded confidently, although with a little bit of misgiving in his voice.
With his answer revealed, Inko's eyes were shot wide in surprise, but it quickly faded away, and she let out a defeated sigh in response. She turned around to face the red old-fashioned vintage radio on the table and grabbed it with both of her hands. Once it was in her hands, she turned on the radio, allowing it to shine with a yellow light from its loudspeaker. She touched the button on its right side with her right fingers and turned the button fully six times, then did the same with the button on the left side, making it let out some interference sound, and tuning it to the sixth channel in the process, just as Alastor instructed her in his little message. While doing all of this, Izuku, alongside his shadow, observed her mother's act with interest and curiosity. During his life, he didn't think much of the radio they had. As his mother told him, they got this radio from his father before he was born, which, yet again, was quite true. But why his mother grabbed the radio so suddenly? Was it due to his father? That's what Izuku was curious about.
After tuning in the radio, Inko put it down back to its place on the small table, then stood up, and went aside, letting Izuku to get a closer look at it, which he did. While getting down from the sofa, Izuku's shadowy friend faded away from sight, turning itself into Izuku's shadow. After its disappearance, Izuku got off of the sofa and approached the radio with inquisitiveness, then looked at his mother with unsureness in his eyes, doesn't knowing what to do next.
"P-Push the button in the middle, Izuku." Inko advised worriedly, not capable of deciding if this was a good idea or not.
As his mother guided him, Izuku pushed the middle button, causing it to make a click, as if it activated something. But when he did this, something unexpected happened. As Izuku pushed down the button, a fire erupted from the radio, shining in red and orange colors. It went straight in the direction of Izuku, who flattened his ears, closed his eyes, and crossed his little arms in a defensive formation, trying to defend himself from the incoming flames, while his mother jolted towards him in a chance of saving her son the flames.
"IZUKU!" Inko called out in fear of losing her child by the flames. But it was too late. The flames engulfed our little hero completely. Shortly after, the flames fastly went away, revealing that her son had vanished. Inko moved her head left and right in fear as she tried to find where her son could be, when an idea popped up inside her head, making her possibly realise why Alastor insisted on her using the radio: It was a one-way portal into Hell. So, with a concerned look on her face, she glanced at the radio and hoped for one singular thing: She hoped her son was okay.
Meanwhile, Izuku was still in the same position, waiting for the flames to burn him. But to his surprise, none of this happened. Instead, when he opened his eyes, he was amazed by what he saw. As he opened his green eyes presented with a beautiful, some kind of ring made out of fire formed around him by the same flames that came out of the radio. He straightened his ears and watched in amazement as the rind of fire morphed around him and slowly disappeared around his body. In the moment it faded away, Izuku looked at his surroundings and was shocked by one, simple fact: He was no longer in his home.
He found himself in the middle of a vest inside a house. Its walls were covered with tasteful red wallpaper, full of black-colored flower adornments and symbols all over it. But these flowers weren't similar to the ones Izuku knew. They rather looked scary and hellish, making Izuku uncomfortable as he observed them. Some of the flower's leaves looked like long, sharp thorns, while others had an eye in the middle of their flower. There were two oil paintings on the wall, one on each side, representing some parts of Hell, which, of course, Izuku didn't know. One showed a scenery of a lake with mountains in that background filled with green vegetation, and a red sky with dark red clouds in the distance. The other illustrated four, demonic-like entities in a boat in the middle of another lake, having the same-colored sky and clouds the other oil painting had.
The floor was made out of dark red wooden planks and it had a small, fine, red-colored carpet in the middle of it, which was laying horizontally to the walls and was the carpet Izuku was standing on at that moment. The ceiling was also red, similar to the walls. Behind him, there was a door that was also made out of the same dark wood. The door possessed a window whose glass pans that were colored with different shades of red and yellow formed the face and antlers of a deer with red eyes. In front of the door, a red doormat, decorated with two black antlers and a deer skull facing forward, was placed, accompanied by a coat stand, which had holders looking like deer antlers, and a large vase next to the door, at the sides of it. The vase was ornamented with a bunch of yellow-irised, narrow-pupilled eyes and they had some kind of red-petaled flowers in them with an eye at the center of their flowers.
While observing the place, his shadow appeared next to him, calming and assuring its master with the fact that he was not alone. Izuku looked at his shadowy friend with small, but just as he did this, they were startled by a sound coming from a nearby room. Izuku proceeded to move his ears in the direction of the sound in order to identify it. It sounded like...old-styled music? It was antique music indeed, and it sounded like it was coming out from the room at the right. So, with cautious steps and a mix of curiosity and nervosity, and with his shadowy companion at his right side, he started to walk in the direction of the music. Unbeknownst to both of them, ghostly figures watched and followed their every move. More accurately, two entities. They were similar to our little broccoli head's shadow, but they had a few differences. Both of them possessed pitch-black horns on the top of their heads, with one shadow having long horns pointing downwards at the end and the other shadow having short ones standing upwards, and both of them had stitches on their pitch-black bodies, like the ones a Voodoo doll would have.
The next place he found himself in after he left the vest was a small hall, which was decorated with the same wallpaper that the vest had and with a red carpet which was laid perpendicularly to the carpet in the vest. At both of his sides, he could access two rooms by going through their doorways, while there was a staircase on the right side of the wall in front of, covered with a long, red-colored carpet that came down from the top of the staircase to the bottom of it. Judging by his hearing, the music came out of the room at his right. So, with cautious and silent steps, in the shadow's case, flying, Izuku and his shadowy friend quietly approached the entrance of the room. When they got there, both of them moved their heads and peeked inside. And what they found really surprised them.
It was the living room of the house they got a glimpse of. The source of the music was a gramophone that was at the right side of the room, next to the wall. Speaking of which, the walls were covered with the same wallpaper as the hall and the vest, indicating that all walls inside the house were ornamented with the same type of wallpaper. The four corners of the room were occupied by the same vases that were next to the door in the vest and had the same kind of flower in them. In the middle of the wall furthest away from them, a fireplace was placed with burning wood inside it. On the ends of the shelf of the fireplace, two, blown-away candles were standing, with a demonic skull between them, while another oil painting, showing a landscape full of mountains, was hung above the shelf. But this was not visible to them, thanks to an armchair that was showing its back to Izuku and his shadow, which was standing on a large, light-red-colored carpet and between another armchair and a one-legged table with a radio, which was not turned on at the moment, on it. The armchairs had huge bone-like spikes at the sides of the armrests, curving downward with their ends pointing down to the floor. But the reason they were surprised was not that they found the living room. They were surprised because someone was sitting in the armchair. Although they didn't see the body of the person fully, but they could still witness the bit of the person's red hair, his small black antlers, and his red, black-tipped deer ears at the top of his head.
Seeing someone inside the room, Izuku and his shadow started to back up, with the former doing this in fear, as quietly as possible, hoping that the man won't notice them if they get out of there. Their plan was executed perfectly, until Izuku stepped on one of the planks, making it let out a loud rasping sound as he put his left foot on it. Izuku and his shadow froze in place instantly and looked at the plank as it let out this sound, then looked back at the man in nervousness, clinging to the hope of that sound was not heard by the person in the armchair. Unfortunately, they were not that lucky.
The man in his seat moved his left ear in the direction of the sound as it went off, causing him to stick his head out from behind the armchair, thus revealing his face. He had beige-colored skin, dark-red sclerae, bright-red irises, thin-black pupils, a dark-red, oval-shaped monocle, rimmed with black, over his right eye, two red, black-tipped deer ears, two tiny black deer antlers, pinkish-red hair, and a large smile on his face. Although both Izuku and his shadowy companion didn't know his identity, for the sinners of Hell, there was no doubt who he was: He was Alastor, the Radio Demon.
"Ah, I didn't see you there!" Alastor said with his broad smile on his face, showing off his sharp, yellow teeth, "I was believed with the possibility that your mother was going to send you to me later, but it appears to me that I was mistaken!" Alastor noted joyfully as he closed the book he was reading in his hands, put it down, stood up from his seat, stepped up to the gramophone, lifted the needle of the needle in order to stop the gramophone from playing the music, and walked up in front of Izuku with his arms behind his back, revealing his true height in the process," Ah well, that doesn't matter anymore. You're here at last, my lad!" Alastor announced cheerfully, then continued his speaking, "Looks like you have arrived safely. How was your journey? I hope it was a fiery experience, ahahahahaha!" Alastor laughed as the laughter of an imaginary crowd, sounding like it was coming out of an old fashioned-radio, followed his own laughter.
While Alastor was laughing, Izuku and his shadow were just standing, in the shadow's case, levitating, in shock by just the sheer size of Alastor. Izuku lowered his ears and flattened his tail in fear, covering the light-green-furred part of his tail with the dark-green part of it. This didn't go unnoticed, however, and when Alastor finished his laugh, he glanced at his boy with his signature smile on his face.
"What's with that surprised face, my boy? I've been known to tickle the ivory from time to time, but I think this is too much." Alastor chuckled, followed by the laughter of the same imaginary crowd, then crouched down to his son and looked into Izuku's eyes, showing no sign of danger, "You can calm down, my boy, there's no need to fret."
Izuku didn't dare to open his mouth as Alastor spoke. He was too afraid to speak. But a lingering thought didn't allow his mind to rest: Was this man really his father? Was this cheerful, happy man, who his mother described as a mysterious, dangerous, really his other parent? He had to know. So, he gathered as much encouragement as he could and raised the question that people usually ask when they meet a new person.
"W-Who a-are you?" Izuku wondered with a trembling voice, while his shadow retreated behind his back.
"Oh dear, what a tragedy!" Alastor declared dramatically, "I thought your mother had already told you about me! Oh well, that isn't important. Allow me to introduce myself!" the Radio Demon replied, placing his left hand on his chest, "My name is Alastor. I'm your father, Izuku." he revealed.
Izuku's theory was true. This man, who referred to himself as Alastor, was indeed his father. How could he be his father? There were no similarities between him and Alastor? That's what Izuku thought. But as he took a closer look at Alastor's appearance, he saw that his ears and antlers that were just seemed like his own ears and antlers, including the sharp teeth in his mouth, with the exception of the difference between the color of his and Alastor's teeth. This was enough for Izuku to prove the statement Alastor said previously. With a still nervous but shocked expression on his face, he continued his questioning.
"A-Are you m-my d-daddy?" Izuku inquired, still in shock.
"Indeedy!"Alastor responded cheerfully, standing up in the process, "And I was very eager to meet you for a really long time, my boy!"
"R-Really?" Izuku wondered unsurely, still afraid of Alastor.
"Of course! As your father, it is my duty to be present in my child's life!" he pointed out, smiling non-stop. Then, he moved his red eyes and focused his attention on the shadow hiding behind Izuku, "Oh, a shadowy companion, I see!" Alastor referred to Izuku's shadow, making it lower its pitch-black ears and back up behind Izuku even more, "Do not fear, my shadowy friend! I don't attend to hurt you!" he assured, "After all, I have my shadows as well."
Alastor raised his right arm and with a simple flick of his hand, he snapped with his right middle finger and thumb. Just as he did this, five living shadows surrounded him from behind, including the two of them which were coming to him from behind Izuku and his shadow, and observed them as they walked inside the house. After the shadows got around him, Alastor's own shadow showed itself as last, doing the same thing the other shadows did. It had cyan-blue eyes and a mouth with pointy, pitch-black teeth in it, a big smile, and grabbed both of its owner's shoulders. It was also as large as Alastor, who glanced at his shadowy friend with a toothy grin and hid his right arm behind his back.
"See?" Alastor claimed, while our and his shadow looked at him and his shadowy minions in awe, especially Izuku's shadow. It believed it was the only member of its kind. It never expected there were others like it. So, with straightened ears, wide-opened eyes, and a surprised look on its face, it came out of its hideout and slowly approached its fellow shadows by levitating. Once it was between its master and Alastor, the latter's own shadow moved forward and floated before the smaller, younger shadow. They stared into their colorful eyes, until Alastor's shadow extended its pitch-black right hand for a handshake, which Izuku's shadow accepted by outstretching its own right hand and grabbing the other shadow hand. Just as it shook Alastor's shadow's hand, the Radio Demon's shadow wrapped its body around the smaller shadow, catching it off guard. Izuku's shadow looked at the larger one in surprise, then recognised a cyan-blue smile on its face. The shadow didn't know what to make of it at first, but shared the same mimic on its face at last, enjoying the gesture of the bigger shadow, all the while Alastor and Izuku witnessed the whole scene, causing Izuku to curve a small smile on his and calm him down a little bit.
"What a delightful moment." Alastor remarked, "Oh well, I suppose that's enough about regarding me! What about you, my boy? What kind of program would you desire to do to get our relationship strengthened?" Alastor asked, focusing his attention back on his little boy. As he dropped his question, all of the shadows looked at Izuku, waiting for his answer with curious eyes.
Did he hear it correctly? Alastor, his father, wanted to spend time with him? With his little son? It was like a dream come true for Izuku. So, after a little amount of thinking, he decided on the place he wanted to go.
"I-I want to g-go to t-the p-playground." Izuku requested, still scared a little bit.
"The playground it is!" Alastor cheered, "But first, we must get you a change of wardrobe!" Alastor stated, pointing at the clothes Izuku was wearing. Izuku set his eyes upon his wearing with a confused and scared look, then looked back at his father.
"W-Why?" Izuku quizzed uncertainly.
"Because..." the Radio Demon started, moving his left hand towards Izuku's head, stopping it above his boy's head and extending his left index finger, "A gentleman must look like one." he explained as he swirled his hand over Izuku's head. At that moment, Izuku's clothes magically shifted form and look, making him really surprised. His new clothes were quite similar to the ones his father wore: he sported a green pinstripe coat with dark-green lapels piped with white, which was ragged along the bottom hem. Under the coat, he wore a bright green dress shirt with a black cross on his chest, and long black dress pants with matching bright green cuffs. He also possessed a black knotted bowtie with a bright green center, black gloves with green at the fingertips, and black pointed-toe boots with green deer hoofprints emblazoned on the soles. All the fear and worry that Izuku contained inside himself disappeared in an instant, and these emotions were replaced with amazement, excitement, and joy.
"How did you do that?!" Izuku queried with sparkling eyes and a big smile on his face.
"Oh, it's just an old trick of mine, my boy. It's nothing so special." Alastor simplified as retreated his left hand and hid it behind his back.
"Can you teach me that?" Izuku interrogated enthusiastically.
As he heard this question, Alastor had gotten two wonderful ideas, but to test that his idea was accomplishable, he had to ask his little boy a certain thing to do. However, he could only pop up that question after they reached the playground. So, with his wide, toothy smile on his face, he answered Izuku's question.
"Sure." Al assured, then went back to his old, cheerful himself, "Now then, let us go to the playground." he announced, then left the living room and went towards to entrance of his house, while Izuku tried to keep up with and all the shadows followed their masters. Once reaching the door, all the shadow had vanished, except Izuku's shadow, and Alastor grabbed the doorhandle with his short-clawed right hand, and pushed it downwards, thus allowing it to open outwards. When he opened the door fully, Alastor offered his left hand to Izuku to hold, which Izuku did, grabbing his left hand with his own right hand, and stepped out of the house with Izuku's shadow behind them, thus revealing the looks of the place where Alastor lived. When they got out of the house and Izuku looked around, it certainly proved one thing for him: He was clearly not at home.
What he saw was a neighbourhood with full of houses that looked like they came from the early 30s. Most of the houses had a first floor, as Izuku thought by the size of the houses, and were mostly dark-red, and possessed yards with some trees, bushes, and other plants that looked quite similar to the ones up on Earth, while in the distance, he could witness larger, taller, more modernish buildings. Izuku moved his head upwards and saw the same red sky that the oil paintings had. But there was a key difference. Most of the sky was dominated by a dark red orb with a huge pentagram on its surface, and a gigantic red pentagram, which was the main defense of the city and the reason why the city was named Pentagram City. As they went down on the stoop by going down its three staircases and got a little bit of distance from the house, Izuku looked back at the house to see how it looked. Its color was the same as the other houses in the area, and it was one-storied as well and retained a radio antenna at the top of it. Then, they began their journey to the nearest park in the area, with Alastor leading the way towards it.
During their walk in that retro neighbourhood, Izuku didn't see that many of the inhabitants, but he witness a few, and let's just say: he was utterly surprised. Some of them had human-like features with the addition of some animalistic ones, or extra limbs, or wings, while others didn't look like humans at all. And even the ones they had encountered looked at them with confusion, utter fear, or with a mixture of both emotions. As they continued their journey, the more modern structures got bigger and bigger, indicating that they were getting nearer and nearer to the end of the quarter Alastor lived.
When they reached the edge of the center of Pentagram City, Alastor began to hum a song from the time he was alive, with his humming being followed by the same music playing in the background, sounding like it was coming out from a vintage radio. All the demons that were nearby went silent or hid in fear when the music got louder and louder, signaling for them that the Radio Demon was close. But for Izuku, it was the complete opposite. He felt calm when his father hummed this music. It ensured him that his father was at his side and he was not lost in a place he didn't know. He even enjoyed listening to the song and Alastor's humming a little bit.
After a thirty-minute walk, which was longer due to Alastor using the longer way and not wanting his son to witness any kind of drug or sexual-themed building, they had finally reached their destination. The dark-gray gates of the park were wide open, allowing all sinners and all kinds of demons to enter it. Alastor and Izuku stepped in and found themselves in a beautiful lush forest with dirt roads guiding the visitors of the park through itself with the addition of some benches, letting the demons rest if they got tired, and some lampposts to light up the park.
Izuku and his shadow were astonished by how gorgeous the forest was. It was so similar to the ones he, Kacchan, and his friends usually go to explore. While they observed the forest, Alastor, who now stopped his humming and was still holding his boy's hand, looked at his son with a gentle smile. He was actually happy for his son. He didn't pretent to be his usual, cheerful, charming himself, he felt actual happiness for his little boy, like a normal parent would. What a strange feeling, he thought. The last he felt like when he was around his mother. And now, as a father, he experienced the same feeling after a long time.
After a short walk, they reached a small, but more open area, where they saw the playground, which, to Izuku's surprise, was not empty at the slightest. Some devil-like creatures inhabited it, playing and chasing each other, enjoying each other's company. Unlike sinners, the exterior of these beings was built on the same foundation: All of them had one pair of horns at the top of their heads, with most of them having black and white stripes on them, red skin, yellow scleras, black slitted pupils, and an arrow-tipped tail. Unbeknownst to Izuku, there were the imps, the lowest ranking in Hell's hierarchy.
As they reached the edge of the playground, they stopped there and Alastor looked at Izuku, who was a little bit afraid of the imps.
"Now, go and play, my boy! Enjoy yourself!" the Radio Demon advised smilingly.
"O-Okay." Izuku replied insecurely, then let go of his father's hand, and with his shadow behind him, he started his way shyly in the direction of the sandbox, which was occupied by no imp.
"Have fun!" Alastor cheered, waving for his son as he left off. Then, he turned around, went to a nearby bench where he could look out for his son, and sat down on its left side, "What a wonderful day we have, aren't we?" he asked from a trio of imp parents who were hugging each other in fear and were shaking like a leaf at the other end of the bench thanks to his mere presence.
Meanwhile, our hero and his shadowy companion quietly headed towards the sandpit, with Izuku flattening his ears and keeping his head down. He didn't dare to lift his head. Even with this, he could still feel the confused and shocked eyes of the imp kids gazing upon him as he approached the sandpit. Once reaching it, he climbed into it and began to build a small sand castle from the sand. Just as he started this, all the imp children went back to play with each other, leaving Izuku alone in the sandbox with his shadowy friend. This went on for a couple of minutes, until the sound of approaching steps became louder and louder, stopping in front of Izuku.
"What are you building?" someone asked with a high-pitched voice, pointing at Izuku's unfinished castle. Izuku and his shadow looked up from his unfinished structure to see who talked to him. It was an imp girl, around the age of five. She had red skin, hair that was kept in a baby-styled ponytail, curved horns that were leaning backwards and were pointing upwards at their ends, blackish, grayish hair, yellow scleras, red irises, black slitted pupils, long, black eyelashes, black lips, a mouth full of sharp, tiny, white teeth, a devilish tail, and red hooves. Her attire only consisted of a one-piece black dress with lots of red dots all over it and a pair of black stockings on her hooves. She was looking at our hero with her yellow eyes and an innocent smile on her face, holding her hands in front of her.
"A-A sandcastle." Izuku answered timidly to the little imp girl, keeping his deer ears lowered.
"Can I join you?" the imp girl wondered with interest. Izuku said nothing to this, just nodded with his head in approval. Seeing his response, the imp girl kneeled down to the sand in front of Izuku, and started to gather some sand with her red hand to help our little green beanie, then looked back at Izuku, "What's your name?" she queried
"I-Izuku. Izuku Midoriya." he introduced himself.
"I'm Mellow! It's nice to meet you!" the imp girl, referring to herself as Mellow, announced, offering her red hand for a handshake. Izuku grabbed her hand and accepted the gesture of the imp girl, then went back on continuing the construction of his sandcastle, "I like your shadow." Mellow praised, pointing at Izuku's shadow, which hid behind its master as she mentioned it.
"T-Thank you." Izuku remercied shyly, looking up at Mellow for a little bit, then went back on building his sandcastle.
"So, are you some kind of sinner?" she inquired, "You don't look like an imp, or a succubus, or a hellhound at all."
"What's a 'sinner'?" Izuku quizzed, tilting his head to the left and raising his right eyebrow in his confusion.
"You don't know?" she wondered confusedly, "They come here from the human world and stay here forever after they left that world." Mellow explained, "Aren't you one?"
"N-No. I-I'm a h-human." Izuku answered timorously.
"A human?!" Mellow questioned, both shocked and excited at the same time, "I've never seen one! I didn't know they looked like this!" Mellow noted jumpily as she leaned closer to Izuku with a big smile on her face and waggling her tail in her excitement, "I always wanted to know about that world! Please tell me more about it!"
"W-Well, w-we have houses that we live in." Izuku started, a little bit uncomfortably thanks to how close Mellow was to him.
"Ooooh." she cooed inquiringly and curiously.
"A-And w-we have s-shops w-where we c-can buy f-food!" he listed.
"Woooow!" she marveled with starry eyes.
"A-And we h-have h-heroes." he finished.
"What is a 'hero'?" Mellow questioned in a curious manner.
With this question said out loud, Izuku's ears jolted upwards in his excitement, and Izuku was back to his well-known hero fanboy himself, "They are people who save us and protect us from villains." Izuku clarified, smiling in happiness.
"Can you tell me more about them?" Mellow requested with interest and a smile on her face.
"Of course!" Izuku agreed, and started to list his favourite heroes, "First, there's the strongest and coolest hero in our country called All Might, then there's Endeavor, the number two hero of Japan, then..." he detailed, then continued the listing of his favourite heroes and talking about them and about their Quirks for a few hours all the while Mellow listened his fanboying throughout this time. As they proceeded with this, Alastor just watched them from the bench he was sitting on. He was delighted to see his little boy make his first friend in Hell. Although it was an imp girl he was chumming up with, but as long as Izuku was not alone, he didn't care about that much. He just enjoyed observing his son having a good time. But unbeknownst to Izuku and Mellow, their colloquy was about to end.
During their exchange of views, an imp boy with an evil smile curved on his face slowly approached them, with a not-too-good idea in his mind.
"And that's why All Might's Quirk can be superhuman strength!" Izuku finished, ending his long theorizing on All Might's Quirk.
"That's so awesome!" Mellow stated, fully excited by all the things she had just heard, "And do you also have a Quirk? Can I see it?" she wondered curiously.
"Yeah!" Izuku replied, then reminded himself to what the doctor said touched his right thumb and right middle finger in order to snap with them. He snapped and at first, nothing happened. Izuku, confused by this, he attempted to snap with them, but yet again, it didn't do anything. Finally, for the third try, he snapped with his fingers, allowing him to show his Quirk to his newly found friend. When he snapped, a fiery portal appeared at his right side and a large tentacle, three times larger than the kneeling Izuku, came out of it, pointing at Mellow with its end.
"Wooooow." Mellow remarked in the same amazement that Izuku had by seeing his Quirk for the first time. The tentacle slowly moved towards Mellow and when it reached her, it began to tickle her body, much to Mellow enjoyment, who giggled innocently at this in her pleasure, "Can you control it?" she wondered as the tentacle slithered back next to Izuku.
"Of course!" Izuku replied, turning his right hand in the direction of the tentacle and trying to concentrate on controlling it while a bright green aura appeared around his right wrist. Then, after a short amount of time, the same aura surrounded the tentacle and just as it showed itself, it fastly faded away from both of tentacle and Izuku's hand. After that, Izuku started moving his wrist back and forth, and to Izuku's, Mellow's, and the shadow's surprise, the tentacle mimicked the move of his hand. Izuku, Mellow, and Izuku's shadow witnessed this with the imp girl and the half-demon half-human boy smiling, the latter doing this with a mixture of an excited and a big one, while Alastor watched this happen in satisfaction as his son practiced his one of his abilities for the very first time.
"And do you have other cool powers?" Mellow inquired as the tentacle Izuku was controlling went back into the portal and disappeared.
"Yeah, my shadow!" Izuku responded, referring to his shadowy companion which came out of its hideout nervously and levitated next to its master's left side as he mentioned it.
"Does it have a name? Mellow queried curiously.
"No, it isn't." Izuku replied.
"Really? Ah, that's a shame." she remarked sadly, then got an idea in her mind, "Oh! I have an idea! What if I give it a name?" Mellow advised happily.
"You would do that?" Izuku wondered.
"Of course!" she answered truthfully, "Now, what its name should be?" Mellow questioned as both of them started to think about a fitting name for Izuku's shadow, while the shadow was moving its head left and right, confused by not knowing what was going on. Just after a few seconds, a potential, suitable name popped up in Mellow's head, "Oh, I know!" Mellow exclaimed, causing our protagonist and his shadowy friends to look at her in surprise, "How about, Shadow? You know, since it's a shadow." she suggested.
"This name is so cool!" Izuku remarked excitedly, completely forgetting about his unfinished sandcastle. Then he turned his head to the left and looked at his shadow, "What do you think about it, shadow? Do you like this name?" he asked from his shadow, which nodded in agreement, "Then it's settled! Your name will be Shadow." Izuku announced joyfully. Gaining his name, Shadow, flew around them in his happiness for a little bit, then wrapped himself around Mellow like a snake in his delight. Mellow wasn't even surprised by this, just giggled at Shadow, freed her arms from his grip, and hugged Shadow like he was a teddy bear, which Shadow found quite enjoyable. But unfortunately for them, this wholesome moment was cut short.
"Hey!" someone shouted aggressively, getting the attention of the trio. They looked at the side of the sandpit and saw the imp boy that had an evil smile on his face previously, which was now out of sight. He had black and white horns that were pointing towards the red sky of the Pride ring, short, white-colored hair, red skin, yellow sclerae, black-slitted pupils, sharp teeth, red hooves, and a long tail. He also had a white circle around his left and white markings on his right arm, resembling small claw marks. He was wearing a black tank top and gray hose.
After he got into the sandpit, he went towards our little hero and his newly found friend and when he reached them, he looked at Izuku's sandcastle, then looked at Izuku.
"That's my sandcastle." the imp boy declared, pointing at Izuku's not fully constructed sandcastle.
"No, that's Izuku's sandcastle!" Mellow corrected, standing up from the sand and defending her friend.
"Izuku? What a stupid name." the imp boy remarked rudely, "You're just like your name. Stupid." he stated while Izuku flattened his ears, clenched his fists on his, and looked down at the sand of the sandpit at the edge of crying. Shadow glanced at the small imp boy with anger, then lowered his own ears in sadness and placed his right hand on his master's left shoulder in a comforting manner.
"No, he's not!" Mellow argufied, "He's nice and kind!"
"You know what's else nice and kind?" he questioned, then did something none of them expected. The imp boy lifted his right leg and with a swift mode, he kicked into the unfinished sandcastle, destroying it and making most of its pieces fly into Izuku's face and body, much to his discomfort. Mellow gasped loudly and ran to the almost crying Izuku to help him and Shadow to clean the sand off of our little broccoli head's face. Then, after she reached her friend and began to clean off the sand from his face, Mellow looked at the imp boy angrily and was about to say something to the imp boy, when suddenly, the imp boy spoke up, "Mommy! He destroyed my sandcastle!" he shouted as he looked at a feminine figure sitting on another bench nearby, who stood up by hearing this, and pointed at Izuku, Shadow, and Mellow.
"Hey!" Mellow exclaimed angrily to the imp boy who formed a cocky smirk on his face.
"What the fuck had just happened?!" the mother of the imp bellowed belligerently as she got the sandpit and stepped into it, arriving next to her son. She had a not-so-welcoming appearance. She had horns similar to her son, lots of white spots on her red-colored body, a long red tail, yellow sclera, black-slitted pupils, and black lips. She was a little bit fat and was wearing a simple gray shirt and blueish jeans which were torn apart at some places, a necklace and earrings that were made out of white orbs.
"H-He d-destroyed m-m-my s-sandcastle." the imp boy remarked, pretending to be at the edge of crying.
"No, we didn't! He destroyed it!" Mellow protested, pointing at the imp boy in the process.
"Now, listen here, you little bitch!" the imp mother started, grabbing Mellow by the dress and lifting her up, "This is none of your fucking business! So you better get out of it before I smack you, you bitchy bitch!" she cursed without any sign of respect.
"Hey, leave my daughter alone!" another imp mother exclaimed as she approached them, possibly Mellow's mother. Izuku looked at his left side and glanced at Mellow's mother. Her outlook was way more welcoming than the imp boy's mother. She had the exact horns that her child possessed, and the similarities of a regular imp with the addition of the red irises that her daughter had and some white spots on her tail and her right arm. She was wearing a black shirt, a red skirt, a pair of black stockings, and white-colored high heels.
"Then raise some fucking manners into your little bitch of a kid, you hoe! Besides, I didn't even talk to your fucking daughter!" she explained furiously, then turned her head and glared at Izuku with her rageful eyes, "Now, about you.." she began, then grabbed Izuku by his shirt and pulled him to herself, "Give me one fucking reason why I shouldn't kick your fucking ass so hard that your own parents won't recognise you!" she threatened Izuku, who's waterworks slowly began their jobs.
This was the point when Alastor had enough. Usually, he would come here to watch imp parents tear each other apart for some dumb reasons, which he delightfully enjoyed to witness. But now, this situation was different. It was Izuku, his little boy, who was about to get his butt kicked. He could never let that happen. So, after seeing this, he stood up from the bench he was sitting on, summoned his cane into his left hand, hid his hands behind his back, and walked towards the group, while trying to cover his burning anger with his usual toothy grin. When he reached them, he stopped behind Izuku and looked at the rude imp mother.
"Is there a problematic situation, darling?" Alastor asked, trying to hide his hatred towards the imp mother, causing Izuku to take a look at his father while he was held by the imp mother.
"Yeah, there is! Your freak of a child destroyed my son's sandcaaaaa..." she began her complaint, but immediately stopped in shock and fear when she saw who she was speaking to: The Radio Demon. The Radio Demon was in front of her in the flesh and she was talking to him. As she was staring at him in shock, Alastor stepped a little bit closer to her.
"My apologies. It appears to me that you didn't hear me perfectly, my dear. Allow me to repeat my question." Alastor said, then leaned forward to get closer to her face, "Is there a problem, darling?" he wondered once again, but now showing off the bit of his demonic form by shifting his pupils into the shape of radio dials, distorting the area around him, elongating his antlers a little bit, causing a red X on his forehead to show itself, and making various Voodoo symbols to appear and float around him.
"N-No, a-abosultely not, s-sir! N-Not at a-all!" the imp mother answered with a trembling voice as she dropped Izuku on the sand from her hands, "Y-You know w-what? I-I g-guess we'll g-go n-now." she said, grabbing her son's hand and starting to head out of the sandpit, while Alastor still continued to watch her, "C-Come, honey. I-It's t-time to go h-h-home."
"But-" the imp boy began.
"I-I said, i-it's t-time to g-go home." the imp mother repeated to her son with a fearful expression on her face as she looked at her son, then Alastor. After they got out of the sandpit and left the area, Alastor changed back to his normal form and leaned back to his original posture, then looked at his son with his never disappearing smile curved on his face.
"Are you alright, my boy?" the Radio Demon queried with his yellow toothy grin as he glanced at Izuku and poofed his vintage microphone away.
"Y-Yes, d-daddy." Izuku sniffled as he cleaned off his tears and Shadow looked at him with a concerned and a worried look on his face.
"That's good to hear." Alastor noted, then set his eyes upon Mellow and her mother, "And are you alright as well, my dears?"
"Y-Yeah, w-we're alright." Mellow's mother responded in shock and a little bit of fear which she experienced thanks to the Radio Demon's presence. After letting her answer known, she looked at her daughter and opened her mouth to speak once again, "C-Come, s-sweety. I t-think i-it's t-time for u-us to g-go h-home too." she stated, then attempted to grab her child's hand and leave the place as soon as she and Mellow could.
"Okay." Mellow replied gloomily, then looked at her newly found friend and his shadowy companion, who still had some sand in his hair, and waved at them, Goodbye, Izuku. Goodbye Shadow." she said farewell, then walked out of the sandpit and at last, left the playground. Keeping his ears lowered, Izuku looked at the sand in mournfulness while Shadow tried to comfort him by placing his head on his master's head and touching the top of it with his pitch-black right hand, and touching his master's chin with his pitch-black right hand while closing his eyes in sadness. After witnessing the leave of the imp girl and her mother, Alastor focused his attention on his little boy.
"Looks like your playtime has ended, my boy! What do you desire our next destination to be?" Alastor inquired with his casual large smile.
"I-I w-want to e-eat an i-ice cream." Izuku stammered sadly
"Then the ice cream shop it is!" Alastor announced, offering his short-clawed left hand for his son to grab, "Are you ready to go, my boy?"
"Y-Yes, d-daddy." Izuku answered down in the dumpster, taking his father's hand with his right hand in the process. With this, our hero, his father, and his shadowy friend got out of the sandpit and left the playground, going back inside the forest of the park and continuing their journey on the routes of it. As they walked in the direction of the exit of the park, Izuku was still looking at the ground in his sorrowfulness, which was understandable. He didn't just possibly lose a good new friend of his who maybe he will never see again, didn't just get sand all over his face thanks to that imp boy previously, but he got bullied and even threatened as well, just like Bakugou and his friends did to him almost every day in his life. However, this didn't go unnoticed by his father.
As they were on their to the exit, Alastor took a quick glimpse at his son and started to think about how to light up his son's mood again. After a little bit of thinking, Alastor finally got the perfect idea to cheer up his boy. He's going to cheer him up with the one thing that, in his opinion, can make every human and demon gladdened: He's going to tell Izuku some of his favourite and best jokes of all time. So, with the perfect plan in his head, looked at his sad son and his shadow and opened his sharp toothy mouth to speak.
"Don't hang your nose over those uncultured swines, my boy! Their cruel words don't worth anything at all!" Alastor advised.
"B-But, M-Mellow-" Izuku started.
"I understand your sadness for the loss of your new friend." Alastor added, then continued, "But don't you worry, my boy! I know the perfect medicine for your pain!" Alastor stated cheerfully.
"R-Really?" Izuku questioned bitterly, looking at his father.
"Of course! Allow me to tell you one!" Alastor said, then began to tell his jokes, "Why was the stadium so windy?" the Radio Demon asked the question, which to Izuku hadn't reacted at all, just went on observing the route with the same sad expression on his face, "Because there were a lot of fans, ahahahahaha!" Alastor laughed with joy while an imaginary crowd followed his laughter, "Oh, I have another one! What do you call an untruthful ball of jelly? Jam-ball-lya!" he cheered as the imaginary child laughed at his joke. However, this didn't cheer up Izuku at all. He still looked at the ground in his unhappiness while Shadow tried his best to comfort him. Despite this, Alastor still continued his jokes, "Here's another one! Why does Norway's navy have barcodes on the side of their ships?" he asked, waiting for a little bit for Izuku to guess, which he didn't do, "So when they come to port, they can Scandinavian, ahahahaha!" he chortled in joy, while Izuku observed the ground with his teary eyes. Shadow, who was keeping his right hand on his master's left shoulder, looked at his master's father with his jungle-green eyes and a concerned look on his face, indicating that the dad jokes weren't helping at all. Acknowledging this, Alastor finished his joke-telling, sighed, and crouched down to his son's level.
"You don't have to be sad, my boy. I told you, you don't have to bother with the rude words they had told to you. Those words mean nothing." Alastor counseled, looking at his son.
"B-But, t-they hurt m-me." Izuku stuttered as tears stood in his eyes.
"That's the reason why I have defended you. I didn't desire you to get hurt. And I'll never let that happen." Alastor explained, still smiling.
"T-Then, w-why d-didn't you p-protect m-me e-earlier?" Izuku stated, catching his father off-guard.
"Pardon?" Alastor quizzed.
W-Why d-didn't you v-visit m-me and m-mommy s-sooner? Y-You don't l-love m-me and m-mommy?" Izuku questioned stammeringly.
This was not a question Alastor was expecting of. But what could he say to his little boy? Of course, he couldn't tell him that he didn't meet sooner because he was only able to leave Hell at certain points of the year and could only do that for making deals with humans on Earth, just like every other Overlord was allowed to do. But he had to say something to his son as an explanation for his question either. So, with a short and a little bit unsatisfied answer in his head, he opened his mouth full of sharp teeth to speak.
"Well, it's rather complicated than easy." Alastor began, then looked into Izuku's eyes and placed his right hand on his left shoulder, which he was capable of thanks to Shadow moving his own right hand away just in time, "But that's why I have insisted on meeting you today, my boy. I want to fill in that I had with my presence not being around you. You're my little boy, Izuku, and from now on, as your father, I will always be in your life and I will protect you for the rest of your life." Alastor announced with a truthful tone as cleaned off a tear from his son's cheek.
"D-Do you p-promise?" Izuku queried with tiny tears in his eyes.
"I swear by my life, my boy. After all, I'm a man of my word." Alastor reassured jokingly. After this, something unexpected happened. Izuku hugged the Radio Demon. Alastor was absolutely shocked by this and a tiny bit uncomfortable, hence he didn't like being touched too much, but he endured it due to the need of emotional support for his son.
"T-Thank you, daddy. I love you." Izuku stated as he hugged his father tightly.
How long had Alastor not heard this sentence? Years? Literal decades? And this strange, warm sensation he felt in his heart since he had met his little boy? This strange feeling brought back so many memories of his mother, some of which he thought he almost forgot. How she loved him, took care of him, helped him, just like a real mother should do her child. And now, this feeling made him clear that he's the next one in the line. It's his turn to raise and take care of his own child, just like his mother did to him all those years ago. So, to comply with this, he slowly hugged Izuku and caressed his hair in the process.
"I love you too, Izuku! I love you too!" he assured with a low tone. Even Shadow joined the wholesome moment by wrapping himself around two slowly, laying his head on Alastor's head once he was done with this. They kept doing this for a couple of seconds, then Izuku let Alastor go and broke the hug, just like Shadow did. After the end of the hug, Alastor looked at his boy, raised his right arm, and with his clawed hand, he wiped Izuku's tears away from his face.
"Have you calmed down, my boy?" Alastor inquired.
"Y-Yes." Izuku answered, then raised his ears and sniffed for one last time.
"Then let us go to the ice cream shop. We don't want the ice cream to catch a cold." Alastor cracked the joke. This small joke finally made Izuku chuckle, making Alastor satisfied with the fact that the cheer-up of his son was successful. Just when Alastor stood up from his crouch and both of them observed each other with smiles on their faces, a sudden third voice directed for them was heard from not far away.
"Alastor?" a feminine voice said a few feet away from them. Both Izuku and Alastor looked at their sides to see who was speaking to them. To be honest, Izuku found the person's appearance kinda strange and a little bit of a shock. The figure who was standing in front of them was a female demon. Her height was rather tiny, just a little bit larger than Izuku's. She had one eye, just like a cyclops. Her one large eye had a hot pink and yellow sclera with a light yellow iris and a black pupil. She also possessed a single eyebrow and white skin. She sported short pink hair with a yellow highlight. Her teeth were light yellow and were as sharp as knives. She also had a pair of small pink dots at the corners of her mouth, evocatived of dimples.
Her wearing consisted of a red 1950s maid dress with a white apron over it and three red dripping splotches on it, looking like small stains of blood. She was also wearing a dark red neckerchief. She had small, pointed, dark red legs and black arms with short claws at her fingertips. She was holding a reddish paper bag in her left hand with something in it, while her other was free. She also obtained an innocent smile on her face.