(Seems I didn't do that well explaining last chapter. Sukuna's not the type to update his parents on every single detail, so technically Kaori and Jin still think he's in Kyushu, having no idea about this little excursion.)
...
"Sukuna when I find you Sukuna..." Shigaraki growled out, as the binoculars in his hands started decaying.
"Master Tomura, let us go before we are spotted."
"Yeah yeah whatever..."
...
"Hey, isn't that the kid who defeated those Nomu thingys all by himself?"
"Yeah, he's pretty strong, but I heard he got praised by the Hero Killer."
"Eh, maybe that guy's just spitting gibberish."
"But is he wrong though? Some heroes really do act the way he said."
"Shh! Don't say that out loud. People might think you support him or something."
Sukuna sighed, his hands in his black hoodie's pocket as he heard the gossip about him. Even at the Hosu General Hospital, people still manage to gossip about him.
He was at the hospital to visit Iida, whose injuries he received from fighting Stain had to be treated.
"You're in a good mood today." He glanced at Todoroki approaching him. He too was here to visit Iida.
"Depends on perspective I guess." Sukuna shrugged. Todoroki glanced down at his phone.
"Only a day has passed and there's already hundreds of articles made about him. Stain's ideologies are out for the world to see, I even read one on the way here." Todoroki showed Sukuna his phone.
"Don't read this one, it's full of shit. And the sources are invalid." Sukuna pointed out. Todoroki blinked, looking back at the article.
"Most of these 'professional detectives' glossed over the fact that he was a vigilante before he became a villain. In my opinion, if you want to do a biography about someone, do it properly even though we know Stain's a rotten man. And besides, most of these people are in it for a quick cash grab. You can tell with the way they're faking their words and how they get their info across." Sukuna revealed as they walked towards the elevator, heading towards Iida's ward.
"Huh... I never knew...Oh, there's this article about your contributions during the Hosu Incident. Basically they're arguing about whether you should be taken to court because you acted on your own without a hero license. This one has your meme face as the headline." Sukuna paused in his steps, glancing at Todoroki.
"I know you shared it in the group chat, but I can't prove it." Sukuna narrowed his eyes at him. Todoroki's face remained neutral as he looked down at his phone.
"Nah, I've done something even better."
"And what would that be?"
"I made it into a sticker." Todoroki held it up for Sukuna, showing that he had sent a sticker of Sukuna's 'I'm so done with this shit' face to the 1-A group chat. And it was no surprise that Bakugo was the first to react, with the teen reacting by typing a long line of 'haha' in all caps.
Sukuna witnessed in real time, his own classmates soon followed by reacting with emojis or text. He glanced at Todoroki, who still had a nonchalant expression.
That's when Sukuna realized, that Todoroki was a monster, worse than the worst villains in this world.
"Don't worry, I won't share it with the other classes." Todoroki assured, like that made it any better.
Sukuna sighed, palming his face. "I'm sure they already made their own. Whatever, let's just go—"
"Todoroki, why did you send a sticker of my face in the group chat?" The two turned around to look at Tokoyami walking towards them, his phone in his hands.
"Wait you sent another one?" Sukuna glanced back at Todoroki's phone to see that he indeed, had sent a sticker of Tokoyami's excessively shocked expression to the group chat.
"You just wait until we make one that has your face!" Dark Shadow suddenly popped out, pointing at Tokoyami. Todoroki shrugged, not really caring. Dark Shadow growled, disappearing into the shadows.
"Never seen him pop out before." Sukuna commented. Tokoyami shrugged.
" Where's Midoriya? Did Sir Nighteye ground him or something?"
"Here! I'm here!" Izuku rushed towards them, panting a little.
"So, did you get scolded by Nighteye?" Sukuna questioned as they entered the elevator together. Izuku laughed a little, scratching the back of his neck.
"Yeah well..."
...
"You acted without authorization. You compromised formation. A hero who cannot think beyond the immediate moment is a liability." Nighteye critiqued during the aftermath of the incident. They were in an alleyway, far from everybody else. Nighteye wasn't about to ruin his own image now.
Izuku's head was bowed down, fists clenched tightly before he looked at Nighteye with conviction in his eyes. "You're right. I know I didn't think far enough ahead, Sir. But when I know my friend is in immediate danger, there wasn't time to calculate."
The teen sighed. "If I had stopped to think about positioning, or permission, or projections, I would have watched it happen, and you know that, Sir." Nighteye listened, his expression unchanged.
"I know teamwork and strategy matters but... if... if I train myself to hesitate in that moment… what kind of hero am I becoming?" He took in a deep breath, before continuing.
"All Might didn't wait for perfect conditions, now did he?" His mentor's eyes widened in shock. Izuku knew he'd struck something deep in him. Nighteye shook his head.
"And that is precisely why we cannot afford another." He replied.
"But sir..." Izuku frowned. "If we only act when the outcome is guaranteed, then people will die in the spaces between certainty. I'm not saying that I want to ignore strategy. I want to get strong enough that my instinct and the plan are the same thing."
"You mistake me, Midoriya." Nighteye immediately countered. "I'm not asking you to hesitate, I'm asking you to think faster."
He deliberately continued. "A hero's instinct is valuable, yes. But instinct without refinement is unpredictable, and that creates casualties. You believe acting immediately is courage. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it is merely impulse wearing a heroic mask."
That line stung Izuku a little, unfortunately Nighteye wasn't finished.
"You admire All Might, right?" Nighteye suddenly asked. Izuku straightened a little as he stared at the pro hero, before nodding slowly.
"What you fail to see is that the Symbol of Peace wasn't reckless. He made it look effortless because he had already calculated the cost before the fight." He stepped closer to him a little, staring straight into his soul.
"You are not there yet, Midoriya. Until your power, judgment, and awareness can match your heart, you will follow orders." Izuku looked down silently as Nighteye walked past him. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around, looking at Nighteye smiling at him a little.
"Chin up, that was some good fighting."
...
"So yeah, that's how it basically went down." Izuku explained as they stepped out of the elevator.
"How about you? Did you two get scolded by Hawks?" He asked the two.
"Ask him. He's the one that fought the Nomus." Tokoyami pointed at Sukuna.
"Way to throw me under the bus, you didn't mention the fact that you also wanted to join too." Sukuna deadpanned at him.
"Well I'm not the one that has the whole nation debating about me, aren't I?" Tokoyami looked at him in amusement.
"There's tons of footage of you destroying the Nomus without a single speck of emotion showing. And now they're framing you as a reckless danger, a flaw to the system. Though there are some that call you an icon to the interns." Todoroki added. Sukuna snorted.
"You see the hypocrisy? This is the same society that demands heroes to act decisively while also punishing them for acting without permission."
"It feels... off... You know what I mean?" Izuku commented.
"How so?" Todoroki asked.
"Well, Sukuna risked his life to save people, but instead of getting thanked, he gets dissected on television."
"That's the news for you, Midoriya. They don't run on gratitude, they run on pure drama." Sukuna glanced at him, before stopping in front of a room. Taking the lead, he knocked on the door.
"Come in." They heard Iida's voice from the other side. Sukuna slid open the door, as he and his friends entered the room.
"Ah, you're here!" Iida had a bright smile on as he greeted his fellow classmates.
"We bought some stuff." Sukuna held up a fruit basket and a bunch of orange juice, setting on the stand beside Iida's bed.
"I must say, your appearances were miraculous. Who would've thought you three would be passing Hosu at the same time?" Iida commented, glancing at Izuku, Sukuna and Tokoyami who only gave him smiles in return.
"How are your injuries, Iida?" Izuku asked, pulling out a chair to on from the corner of the room.
"It's nothing serious, the doctor says I can leave tomorrow." Iida looked at Sukuna.
"I read up a lot during my time here. There are HSPC officials debating whether they should punish you for intervening when you shouldn't have." Sukuna sighed at Iida's words.
"I'm not surprised at this point. Good intentions don't override regulation for those guys. Can't blame them, it's their job after all."
"Hear me out first, they're not treating this as some random act of vigilantism. Since there was immediate threat to life, your actions did reduce harm, and you were technically under the supervision of a licensed pro, the punishment would become political."
"All I'm getting from this is I won't be sent to jail." Sukuna replied, to which Iida nodded in agreement.
"They could just let you go without doing anything, but they want to signal to the public that they maintain standards. You'd likely receive a formal warning, or maybe Hawks will be the one responsible since you're interning under him." Iida ranted.
"You're pretty knowledgeable about this." Izuku commented. Iida smiled a little.
"You have my brother to thank for that, Midoriya."
"How is he?" Tokoyami asked. Iida was silent for a while before sighing, shaking his head a little.
"My brother is paralyzed from the waist down, meaning he would be retiring from the hero scene." A grim atmosphere took over the room.
"Well it's not like he's dead or anything. You should be glad that he's still alive and kicking." Todoroki suddenly said. Everyone stared at him, wondering if he has no tact at all.
Iida snorted a little, a smile on his face. "Yes, you're right. I suppose I should be grateful for the little things in life."
"Sorry for intruding." The five of them glanced at the door, noticing a tall man with the head of a beagle walking in.
"Ah, it seems that you are here too." He glanced at Sukuna for a moment, before looking at Izuku. "I was going to find the two of you separately, but since you're all here, it makes my job easier."
"I'm Tsuragamae Kenji, chief of the Police Force. You've made quiet the storm last night, there's footage of your fights with the Nomu and with Stain." He began. Well, that certainly made things much heavier. Izuku wondered how people managed to capture his and Iida's battle with Stain as the beagle continued speaking.
"You have acted with intent to sav, that will be acknowledged. But you do not decide when the law pauses. We do. You kids don't get to redefine authority." Sukuna narrowed his eyes at Kenji a little.
"Now don't get me wrong, I personally commend your actions, and as someone who trys to keep the peace, I'm thankful. But legally, I cannot justify your actions. Picture this..." He walked up to them a little.
"If an unlicensed intern engages violently in a major incident and walks away with nothing, it signals to every ambitious student that If they were strong enough, the rules would bend around them. And we don't want that kind of rule bending to become culture now do we?"
He inhaled before continuing. "So, we along with the HSPC have decided on this. The three of you that were heavily involved in the Hosu Incident would receive a formal citation for unauthorized quirk use in a public crisis zone. It would not be a criminal record, only an official one. Don't worry, we've made sure it won't hinder your progress in becoming a hero." He assured.
"And we have also decided that you would have restricted field privileges until your provisional license exams are formally completed. But I have been told by your teacher that there wouldn't be any interning for your class any time soon, so there wouldn't be any limitations for you at all."
"So... we're being punished, but we're also not being punished?..." Izuku tilted his head at the contradiction. If that's so, what was the point of all of this?
"Let me explain. The system has two audiences, the public and the individual." He looked at Sukuna. "You have saved lives under Hawks' supervision, and you've done a pretty good job at that. In reality, the authorities don't actually want to limit your growth. To them, you're extremely valuable. But, they still do need to demonstrate that the process still matters."
"So on paper I'm punished, but in reality nothing really changes for me. You guys are just containing the narrative." Sukuna replied. Kenji nodded in response.
"Bingo. We don't need to kneecap your careers. But we, the Police Force and the HSPC, need to prevent copycat recklessness and reassure the public that oversight exists."
"Like a double edged sword. If you punish us too harshly, you risk backlash. But if you do nothing, you also risk the same thing. This is the only viable middle ground, I presume." Tokoyami commented.
"Spot on. And I see the three of you are okay with this?" Sukuna looked at Iida and Izuku who nodded at him. Sukuna turned to look at Kenji once again.
"We accept your terms, chief."
Though internally, he doesn't accept that the system gets to define when he's allowed to act.
The tension only rises from here...
To be continued...