"I'm home."
Isshun called out, walking past his parents who were watching the television on the couch.
"Welcome back, Shun-kun."
Kako responded, not looking away from the TV.
On the TV was a recording that felt like an edited video. It showed Pop☆Step destroying the buildings in Naruhata, then, the next second, as if the tape had rewound, all the damage had suddenly disappeared, along with the criminal.
If it weren't for the people being unmoved, it would've been completely identical.
And with the headline [TOKYO AND MUSUTAFU VIGILANTE STRIKES IN NARUHATA] and the fact that both parents knew their son was heading there today, it wasn't a surprise that his secret (not really) would be exposed quickly.
"...So how was Naruhata?"
Kako asked, turning around with an incredulous look.
"It was pretty okay."
Isshun said, teleporting his bag away and heading to the kitchen.
"Pretty okay, eh?" Genzai responded with an amused expression. "And did you eat nothing while you were there? What's with the late snack?"
"The food there wasn't that good."
Isshun shrugged.
He technically wasn't wrong. The food at Hopper's Cafe was cakes or snacks with the occasional light meal, and convenience store food wouldn't fill him up that much.
So all in all, he was still hungry.
Kako got up from the couch and followed Isshun into the kitchen.
"I know you aren't the type who wants to stand out, and as parents we wouldn't stop you from using your Quirk, but can we know why you did all this?"
She nudged Isshun to the dinner table, and Isshun sat down while Kako started reheating leftovers of their own dinner.
They didn't expect Isshun to return hungry, seeing as he had the money to eat out and Isshun was returning late. Though, knowing her son's appetite, she still made a hearty meal so there were lots of leftovers, just in case.
Genzai also went into the kitchen after turning off the news, sitting across from Isshun, with curiosity on his face.
"I feel the same. You don't seem like the type… Last time you did something like this was when Nejire-chan—"
"I didn't do it just because of Nejire that time." Isshun countered with a straight expression.
"Sure, sure." Genzai waved it off with an amused look. Who was he kidding? Why else would his son do it if he were in a place filled with Pro Heroes?
"..."
Isshun fell silent at that response, paused, then ignored it altogether. "...Anyway, I was just doing it because I got curious about something."
"Oh?" Kako's voice rang from the kitchen. "Curiosity leads to saving a… Villain?"
"Technically she was being controlled by something else, but yes." Isshun promptly responded.
"...It feels like the situation is way more complicated than I'm hearing," Genzai couldn't help but call out.
Control?
What was she being controlled by?
And what about it piqued his son's curiosity?
"Can I ask for the entire story…?" Genzai asked.
"Sure," Isshun shrugged. "It isn't really that long anyway."
After waiting for Kako to finish reheating the leftovers and for both parents to sit down, Isshun took a bite of his food and started eating.
"You know how I went to Naruhata for fuel cells?" Isshun continued even before a response came. "Well, after I got them, I went to this cafe…"
Kako and Genzai listened quietly to Isshun's story. As they did, their expressions grew increasingly complex.
After Isshun finished his story, they could only look at him with exasperation.
"So… you did all that because you wanted to see if you could revert some shady experiment… just because you were curious?" Kako promptly summed it all up into a single sentence.
"That's basically it."
Isshun shrugged, teleporting the finished food into the sink.
While everyone at the table knew he could technically sterilize the dishes without washing them, they all agreed it felt a little weird to put them away immediately without at least rinsing them with soap.
"...And you're going there over the weekend to finish the deal."
"Mhm."
Kako didn't know what to say.
She knew of her son's intelligence and his personality, but she didn't expect this at all.
Rather, how was she even supposed to predict that the reason behind him saving that girl was so that he had leverage and trust and could try and heal someone because he was curious to see if he could?
What kind of thought process was that supposed to be?
"Well… I guess it doesn't matter as long as you don't get caught…?" Genzai shrugged, falling back on his usual thinking.
Whether it was because he knew of his son's capabilities or his hands-off approach to parenting, Genzai merely paused at the absurdity of the reasoning.
If his son wanted to try, who was he to stop him?
"You're just promoting this behavior!" Kako sighed.
"But this has only been the second time," Genzai defended himself. "There's barely a precedent. And the first one could even be counted as self-defense!"
"..." Kako paused. Her husband did have a point… sigh.
"How confident are you in curing them?" Kako asked.
"With enough prep time…" Isshun hummed. "Around 89.73%?"
"Not 100%?"
"Nothing can be 100% certain in the real world." Isshun shrugged. For example, if a Quirk Factor influenced the bioengineering, he might have some trouble.
Mainly because Quirk Factors were essentially Schrödinger's cats.
They existed in the context of being pooled around the area in which a Quirk would be activated, but most times when that Quirk Factor activated, whether it be transformation or emission, that Quirk Factor could be anything or nothing.
Maybe if he had a Quirk Factor that could influence other Quirk Factors, there wouldn't be an issue.
Or if he properly observed the manipulation of a Quirk Factor, it'd also be possible.
He wasn't that interested in it right now, though.
"89.73…" Kako mumbled.
"I guess that's fine… but as your dad said," Kako started.
"Don't get caught, yeah, I know."
--<>--
A/N: A bit of a transition chapter to for the final chapter to finish off the vigilantes arc. This is the bonus chapter from last week and i posted this on sunday for me so its still technically the weekend, haha.
Man ZZZ is actually a drug. When you hit those high numbers... thats a dopamine rush like no other.
Same ps goals as last week for this week.
3000PS - Extra Chapter
4500PS - Extra Chapter