Chapter Text
Friday Night
The kanji on the wooden hyousatsu was too worn, weather-beaten, and altogether rotted out to be clear, but he could tell it used to read Sako. The house itself had probably been a nice place in some distant past, a comfortable home where a thriving and happy family once resided. Now, the windows were clouded with grime and mold, the front yard was overgrown with weeds, and the engawa-porch had warped into a terrain of its own. As he stood before the front door, looking over the address he’d copied from his notes one last time, Aizawa was reluctant to imagine what state the interior was in. With some disappointment at finding he was in the right place, he let out a tired sigh and rang the remarkably still intact doorbell.
A short conversation. In and out. No hassle.
From the other side of the door, a muffled voice immediately answered the bell with an exasperated shout. “No, no, no! There are far too many people here already! I did not sign up for my home to become the halfway house for wayward youths!”
Aizawa frowned and took a strategic step back, bracing himself for possible aggression as a series of rapid footfalls grew louder and louder in their approach.
“Well, who’s here now——” the voice continued, only to go dead silent when the front door was flung open, aside from a quiet, “Oh.”
It was odd seeing Sako Atsuhiro without his mask. He looked younger than he sounded and from the way he stared at him in bewilderment, Aizawa suddenly felt his visit had not been expected after all. “Good evening,” he said. “I have a certain matter to discuss with Todoroki. I was told to meet him here.”
“That was quick,” said a third voice from beyond the genkan-entry, and both men turned to see a familiar shock of white hair appearing from a side door. Aizawa almost flinched at the sight of the massive black and purple bruise that darkened one half of his face. “Come on in.”
“Now, wait a minute!” Sako rounded on him. “Why would you tell him where I live? Have you no regard for my privacy, young man?”
Todoroki Touya gave him a blank look. “He already knew where you lived. Remember how he took down all our information when he apprehended us last time?”
“And let you off with a warning, don’t forget,” Aizawa added bitterly.
A broad grin was flashed in response, only Todoroki winced when the movement agitated his bruise. He clapped a hand over the left side of his face and nodded toward the doorway from which he’d come, a clear invitation for him to follow. For his part, Sako muttered a string of words under his breath that Aizawa had personally found himself using to describe Yamada a time or two and suppressed a small smile.
“If you prefer I don’t enter your house, I can always find another time to meet with him.” Or I could stomp in there and haul him out myself.
“No, no. You came all the way out here.” The former illusionist stepped aside for him with a resigned shake of his head, then disappeared back into the house.
For a moment, Aizawa considered his options, then deciding he’d rather not have to track Todoroki down a second time this weekend, he knelt to remove his shoes and made his way inside. Past the genkan, the house opened into a long hallway that split into a T at the end, and two paces in, he could see a larger-sized tatami room to his right where a sandy-blonde girl not much older than his students sat at a low table. She’s new, he thought. The Vanguard was made up entirely of adult men and one woman all in their twenties and thirties. Was this girl someone’s sister? He wasn’t sure, but he could feel her unblinking, gold eyes watching him as he turned to his left and headed into a small kitchen.
“Who’s that,” he heard her whisper.
“That, my dear,” answered Sako. “Would be Pro Hero Eraserhead.”
“He’s a Pro?”
The sound of hissing oil drowned out any response as Aizawa watched Todoroki pour a liberal amount of soy sauce into a pan of rice, egg, and assorted vegetables, then aggressively stir at the mixture with a pair of long chopsticks. “I didn’t know you knew how to cook,” he remarked, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. “I always figured a family as well off as yours would have hired someone for the housework.”
“We used to have a housekeeper,” the younger man said, not looking up from the rice. “But she retired after a back injury, and rather than hire someone else, my sister and I mostly took up the chores. So yes, I can cook.”
“Mm-hm. The bruise is new.” Very new. From how dark it was and how severe the swelling, it couldn’t have been more than a few hours old, and now that he was standing relatively close by, he could see Todoroki had taken out some of his ‘piercings’ and the broken blood vessels had discolored his usual scars to a livid black. “Did you get into a fight today?”
“With a very big man who is usually on fire. Stand on this side, will you? I can’t see out of this eye at the moment.” He jerked his head in a nod toward his right. “Anyway, Sako agreed to let me stay here tonight while things cool off at home, so I’m making dinner. Then Iguchi and Toga showed, and then I got your message, and——”
“Spinner is here, too?”
“Yeah, turns out Lizard’s having one of ‘those nights,’ whatever that means, so he’s out waging war on the garden like it owes him money.”
“It’s not a garden, really,” Sako stated as he passed by the door with a basket of what appeared to be wet blankets. “I think it gave up on being a garden about fifteen years ago and decided it would grow up to be a jungle instead.”
“There’s a lot of brush to clear,” the girl——the aforementioned Toga, he supposed——agreed, following after with a similar burden.
Aizawa allowed a small laugh through his nose. “So is this what you all do when times are rough? You invade your friend’s home and do housework to earn your keep?”
“Hey, I had to do a quick grocery run on my way here,” Todoroki said with what had to have been a painful eye roll. “Apparently, Sako subsists purely on rice, microwave meals, and a tragic amount of booze I found stashed in that cupboard over there.”
“I see.” Aizawa nodded, studying him closely. He wanted to get to the reason he’d come here and leave as soon as possible, but now he felt another concern took precedence. “Does your father hurt your brother the same way,” he asked. He didn’t need to clarify which brother.
“Nnnnot usually. If he does, it’s more often a blow that was dealt in the training room and can be explained away as sparring gone awry.” Todoroki lifted the pan off the burner and set it aside. “But Shouto’s a good boy. He does what he’s told.”
“Are you being honest with me or are you being bitter?”
At that, his head snapped around, his good eye flashing angrily. “Todoroki Enji can do what he likes to me, I can take it, but whatever you’re thinking, I actually got my skull rattled today because I stood between him and my brother.”
“He was going to hit him?”
“No, he was just scolding him over school stuff and it was starting to get repetitive, so I thought I’d intervene.”
Aizawa narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “You understand I am both a Pro Hero and a teacher and therefore doubly obligated to report abuse of a minor, no matter who the abuser is?”
“And I am telling you that Endeavor does not ‘abuse’ Shouto.” Sighing, Todoroki put aside the chopsticks and turned to face him directly. “Look, I’ve never seen him strike my brother outside of a training session, so I really have nothing else to report. Fuyumi checks in with our brother so frequently I’m surprised Dad hasn’t caught her, and Shouto is repeatedly adamant that he doesn’t consider his training abuse no matter how many times she goes over it with him. Endeavor denies it, Shouto denies it, the bruises can be explained away by training, and no thanks to Dad being a high-profile Hero who ‘can do no wrong,’ the system will just dismiss the case. I’m not telling you to drop it,” the younger man said. “In fact, by all means, see if you can find a way to get through to my brother. It’s just that Fuyumi, Natsuo, and I are, at this juncture, limited in our options.”
“No one is limited,” Aizawa answered sternly.
Todoroki’s good eye narrowed to a small, blue slit. “We are when the one concerned doesn’t see the need to ask for help and won’t.”
Aizawa studied him closely, wondering how much of his words were to be believed, but before he could speak, he heard a door open somewhere in the house and turned to find the heretofore absent Iguchi, covered in dirt and shredded plant remains, making his way inside. Upon seeing him, the gecko-heteromorph blinked in surprise and said, “Holy shit, we got another visitor?”
“No, I have visitors.” Sako interjected, reappearing from the other end of the hall. “You don’t live here. I don’t recall you signing a lease! And thank you so much for not brushing off before you came in. I was just thinking the hallway was looking a little too dirt free.”
“Hey, is the food ready,” the girl asked, peering around Sako. “I’m hungry.”
Todoroki sighed. “Get the plates.”
This was supposed to have been a brief discussion. A quick rundown of Principal Nezu’s plan for the students and then he would head on his way. Yet when Aizawa watched Sako pull a handful of crockery from a cabinet and brought them into the tatami room, he counted five plates being laid out on the table. One mental headcount later and he realized that unless there was yet another member of this motley crew somewhere in the house, the extra place of steaming fried rice was supposed to be his.
“Are you gonna stand there and make everyone uncomfortable or are you gonna sit down,” Todoroki asked.
With no real way to extricate himself from the situation politely, and privately cursing his adherence to social convention, Aizawa took a seat at one end of the table. Todoroki took the other, Sako and Iguchi, somewhat cleaner, sat on one side, and the girl sat across from them.
“Itadakimasu,” Sako said once everyone was settled, lifting his glass of water.
“Itadakimasu,” Iguchi and Toga echoed.
Aizawa repeated the word to himself in a mumble, but Todoroki remained silent. Without any further prompting, the present Vanguard members and the girl took up their chopsticks and began to dig in. They had a peculiar range of reactions: Sako and Todoroki were impassive, Toga took one bite and then shoveled another into her mouth so quickly that Aizawa warned her to slow down on reflex, and Iguchi narrowed his eyes and stared down at his plate in disbelief. As for himself, while he wasn’t entirely unconvinced this wasn’t an attempt to poison him or something, Aizawa found he surprisingly had some confidence that an underhanded method like that wasn’t the fire-user’s preferred strategy. If ‘set it on fire and see if it stops moving’ could even be considered a strategy. Keeping his resignation as hidden as best he could, Aizawa pinched a clump of rice, some egg and a bit of ham and popped it into his mouth. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. As he’d said aloud earlier, he had assumed the Todoroki household had some hired help to cook their meals, so even with his prior explanation, expecting the renowned delinquent to show any kind of proficiency was, in his mind, hard to imagine. Aizawa let out an irritated sigh and put the chopsticks down.
Todoroki narrowed his eye. “Is there a problem, Eraser?”
“After what an absolute hellion you’ve been for years and all the trouble you’ve caused me and other local Pros, I was determined to dislike your cooking.” He let out another irritated sigh. “But this is delicious, so fuck yourself.”
In response, the white-haired man let out a wild cackle, only to immediately clamp his palm over his black eye and cry out, “Shit!”
“Yeah, what he said,” Iguchi snarled. “For every reason I have to hate you, you come out with crap like this? Come on, Dabi, if you’re going to be an asshole, at least follow through with it!”
“Just eat, okay,” Todoroki snapped, then jerked his head in a nod toward him. “So what’s this about, Aizawa? Your text said you had a proposition for us, so let’s hear it.”
…
The Vanguard Action Squad was a notorious vigilante group that operated in the Hamamatsu area. They’d appeared some years back without warning or provocation in the form of back alley muggings where the culprits were found restrained after an anonymous tip to the authorities. Small-time thugs and old world yakuza wannabe’s were targeted. Information pertaining to ongoing police investigations would appear in unmarked envelopes taped to the doors of precincts. And it wasn’t just violent crime either. The first time anyone had actually seen a member of this elusive band had occurred when a typical businessman had walked into a hospital ER accompanied by the young man who had talked him out of taking his own life. That young man had later been identified as Shimura Tenko, who later proved to be the leader of this odd collective of renegades.
Vigilantes weren’t anything new, but the Vanguard was a new breed of what Aizawa and other local Pros had termed annoyingly efficient. They weren’t often caught and were frightfully adept at worming their way out of an arrest when they were.
“Whatever do you mean, officer? I’m just a hapless civilian who was too curious for his own good and got caught in the middle of something dangerous.”
“I got lost and I stumbled across these fine folks committing a crime, so I called you. So what if I had to defend myself in the process?”
Or the ever cutting:
“It took forty damn minutes for a Pro to show up after we sounded the alarm. A pizza could have gotten here in half that time and honestly might have been more useful.”
In truth, it was the impoverished districts that benefited the most, areas of the city where the civilians found themselves pushed to the sidelines, ignored by the very Pros whose selfishness Stain has sought to expose to the world. Missing folks and runaways where leads had gone cold seemed to turn up quicker and homicides began to decrease as well. But vigilantism was still a crime, and it discomfited the underfunded police in particular to appear inept compared to the Vanguard’s actions. Personally, Aizawa was content to let the group roam the streets and go about their business, but there had been one occasion where he’d been compelled to apprehend the vigilante Dabi, suffering a few minor burns for his trouble, only for the maniacal bastard’s Pro Hero father to bail him out in a gross example of nepotism. Although, from the enraged look on Endeavor’s face as he bodily hauled his errant child out of the precinct by the back of his neck, he’d had a sinking feeling whatever punishment the Flame Hero had in mind would be far worse than what the law had to offer. And he found himself unable to feel particularly sore over what the wealthy and influential could get away with. Dabi hadn’t been seen for a disturbingly long time after that night.
Criminals, technically. But for what UA had in mind, they were in many ways the best suited to the job at hand.
“You saw on the news what happened at the USJ last month, right,” Aizawa began.
Everyone else at the table, including the girl, exchanged glances like a quartet of lawyers determining if such a question was legally safe to answer, then Iguchi spoke up. “Yeah. Some madman claiming to be with the Paranormal Liberation Front crashed a practical class with a small army of villains. At least that’s how I heard it.”
“That sums up what I heard,” added Todoroki. “Both from the news and Dad’s remarks about UA’s incompetence in keeping its students safe and all.”
Aizawa didn’t doubt Endeavor had quite a bit to say about the incident. “You’re correct. Most of the villains detained did confess during interrogation they were PLF members and their aim was to spread terror in the community.”
“If it’s been a confirmed attack by the PLF,” said Sako. “Then why haven’t the police arrested Yostubashi already? Certainly the testimony of such a large group would be enough to implicate him.”
“It would appear his attorneys and PR team are claiming the wider PLF organization was uninvolved and the group that targeted our students was a disgruntled outlier gone rogue. The police are investigating, of course, but if he was in anyway involved, it’s entirely possible he and his remaining cronies will have their tracks covered by now.”
“How convenient for Detnerat Co.,” said Todoroki. “And what about the rumors of the monster that apparently even All Might had difficulty defeating? Because I saw what you looked like at UA’s Sports Festival and I’m curious to know what did that to you.”
Aizawa hesitated.
“Come on, Eraser. I have a feeling you’re going to ask us for a favor, so shouldn’t we have trust between us?”
It wasn’t just a matter of trust, though. Even if he was privy to all the police’s information, he wasn’t sure if it was his call to spread that to civilians. Even if they were vigilantes.
“I’m confused,” Toga announced. They all turned to her. “Who’s this PLF and Detnerat and Yotsu-whoever?”
“Ah, allow me to elaborate,” said Sako, setting down his chopsticks in order to gesticulate with both hands. “Years ago, there was a man named Yotsubashi Chikara who led a reformation movement that called for liberation of people with Quirks, or meta-abilities as they called them. The Meta Liberation Army, as they came to be known, has a philosophy in that these powers we have,” As he spoke, he made a movement with his hand and Toga’s water glass vanished into a small, blue marble. “Were natural talents that should not be suppressed as they are in today’s society. They believed all people should be free to use our personal gifts.” The cup returned with a pop, wiggling lightly on the table and spilling some drops of water.
“Basically, they were advocates for anarchy,” Aizawa clarified. “Anarchy being a society without an organized government or laws based on the unrestricted usage of meta abilities.”
“That sounds fun,” the girl said with a grin, her gold eyes flashing.
“It’s fun until you get enough psychos together to commit genocide against people like me,” Iguchi growled.
Toga thought about it for a moment, then said, “I guess, but wouldn’t heteromorphs be able to fight back as much as they wanted?”
“And there would be even more pointless death on both sides than there is now.” The young man with the gecko Quirk reached for his water. “I’m not saying I’m happy with the way things are now and there needs to be change, but we can’t just rampage like the animals and monsters and non-human things we look like. That’s just proving the hate groups right.”
“Hmmm.” Toga pursed her lips. “So…say I don’t like Mr. Eraserhead here.”
Aizawa tensed.
“And I’m not saying I don’t like him. I haven’t decided yet,” the girl mused, rolling a loose pea around on her plate. “But if I tried to kill him because I don’t like him, and he had the right to kill me, and if we ended up killing each other and nobody lives, what you’re saying is the world would be a sad place without both of us and maybe it would have been better if we tried to cooperate instead? Or at least tolerate each other?”
“That’s…” Todoroki frowned. “Actually, that’s pretty close.”
“Anyway, as I was saying,” Sako continued. “The current Yotsubashi is the leader of the Liberation Front, only they added Paranormal to their branding and they go by the PLF now and are allegedly peaceful advocates for their former goals. As for Detnerat Company, that would be Mr. Yotsubashi’s legal business. They specialize in products catering toward individuals with unique Quirks, especially for non-typically shaped humans.”
Iguchi turned to Todoroki. “You buy clothes through them, right?”
“Cheapest prices for fireproof textiles.”
Sighing, Aizawa spoke up again. “Now that I’m aware you all understand the situation, the attack on the USJ——one of UA’s specialized training locales,” he added quickly as Toga raised her hand for another question. “Principal Nezu has had concerns a similar incident could happen. Naturally, we’ve increased security in order to protect our students, but right now, we’re considering another approach.”
Again, the four looked at each other, eyebrows knitting together in collective confusion.
“What we’re hoping to arrange with the Vanguard Action Squad is an ambush simulation for the training camp that will take place for the first years this summer. You would pose as villains and stage an ‘attack’ in order to demonstrate how quickly a peaceful situation can devolve into a crisis. And give the students vital experience in how to react accordingly. As vigilantes and not registered Pros, it’s unlikely you’ll be recognized and this——”
“Are you high,” Iguchi exclaimed. “Of all the things that you could have said, that’s the last thing I expected. You want us to march into your little summer camp and scare a buncha teens half to death? Dude, that’s fucked up.”
“I agree,” added Sako. “Is that not a little harsh?”
Aizawa leveled his gaze at the pair. “This is the future career these students have chosen. After graduation, they’ll have a lifetime of unforeseen circumstances, surprise attacks, and moments where all is right with the world only for that peace to be snatched away in an instant.” As he spoke, memories of the last day Shirakumo was alive flashed through his mind. That sunny morning, chatting cheerfully with those kids…and then the rain. “In this simulation, we will train our students for that reality. I would rather our future heroes be well prepared for the day an attack such as this is not pretend.”
The members of the Vanguard and Toga did not answer him, each working through their own thoughts.
“Well,” Iguchi broke the silence and turned to the other head of the table. “What do you think, Dabi?”
Todoroki narrowed his good eye. “Why ask me?”
“You were set for the hero path once,” Iguchi said. “Actually set for it, not just a kid dreaming about it. So not to put too fine a point on it, but aren’t you the best gauge of what’s ‘too far’ that we got? Plus, that brother of yours is a first year at UA, right? Think he and his friends can handle something like this?”
The question hit a nerve. From where he sat, Aizawa could see the young man’s resentment in the way he gripped his chopsticks and bit down a little too hard when he chewed, and when he finally spoke, he did not actually answer the question, “This seems like something you should discuss with the boss.”
“I imagine that All Might is talking it over with Shimura as we speak,” Aizawa answered. “You on the other hand have a much more fractious attitude towards Pro Heroes in general, so I thought it would be best to meet with you separately.” He glanced toward Iguchi and Sako. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two tonight, but I’m sure all three of you can pass along the message to Bubaigawara and Miss Magne?”
“Four of us,” piped in Toga with a grin. “I’m the Vanguard’s newest member.”
Aizawa regarded her with an even stare, then turned to the others. “I wasn’t aware you were recruiting teenagers into your ranks.”
“Not intentionally,” said Sako. “Think of the young lady here as an obstinate feline determined to adopt our little collective as her own. Surely you know how difficult it is to shake a cat after you’ve fed it once.”
“Mew,” Toga said, showing off a set of unusually sharp canine teeth.
This’ll complicate matters a little, Aizawa thought. Vigilantes were one thing. Even with little to no formal training, all six confirmed members of the Vanguard were competent fighters, worked well as a team, and had a decent handle on their Quirks. And it didn’t hurt that two of them had connections to respected Pro Heroes who could potentially vouch for them. Underage, untrained high school students participating in what Principal Nezu had in mind was another issue entirely. “In any case, the plans are still in the making and I am not expecting an answer tonight, so please take a few days to talk it over amongst your group. Although we are hoping to hear back from you by Monday.” Aizawa set down his chopsticks and nodded to Todoroki. “Thank you for the food. I was actually expecting a late dinner tonight, so this was a nice surprise.”
“My pleasure,” the young man said with a smile that made Aizawa almost rethink his poison suspicions.
“Is there anything else,” Sako asked.
“I don’t believe so.”
“Excellent. Toga,” the former illusionist turned to the girl, who lifted her head at the sound of her name. “Since Iguchi worked hard clearing the garden and Todoroki was gracious enough to cook dinner, would you care to help me with the dishes?”
Toga’s face split into a delighted smile as she leapt up and began collecting emptied plates. Sako refilled everyone’s water glass before standing himself and the pair disappeared into the kitchen.
“Before you go,” Todoroki said once they were gone. “Do you think you can do us a favor?”
Aizawa lifted an eyebrow.
“The kid’s hiding out from her parents.” Todoroki gestured toward the kitchen with his thumb. “We told her she either has to go home before her curfew or call home and tell her parents where she is. Since she’s still here and that curfew is up in about five minutes, I think it’s safe to say she’s chosen the latter.”
“And?”
“And there’s a reason she doesn’t want to go home. It’s not like she’s being physically abused or anything, they’re just,” he paused. “Mishandling the backlash of a previous incident.”
“This is the same Toga Himiko who attacked a classmate in middle school, yes?” He didn’t know all the particulars, only the fact the girl had been a runaway for a short time and there had been bulletins put out to all the surrounding agencies to be on alert. The only reason she stood out to him was on account of how young she was.
If Todoroki was surprised to hear he was familiar with the case, he didn’t show it.
“So how did she fall in with you and yours?”
At that point, Iguchi spoke up. “Shimura and I are the ones who actually found her. It was a couple weeks after she ran away and she wasn’t doing well, so we brought her to the nearest izakaya and got some food in her while we heard out her side of the story. After that, we called this guy,” He nodded to Todoroki, “Because his little sis volunteers for a teen shelter, so she knew all the proper channels. So they showed up, Toga went home to her family, and they’re still sorting out the incident at her middle school.”
“She’s a good kid,” said Todoroki.
“Yeah, nice kid. Little creepy at times, but nice,” Iguchi agreed.
“A kid who attacked a classmate,” Aizawa pointed out. He was starting to lose track of where this conversation had started and decided to get back to the main point, “What does any of this have to do with me?”
“We’re going to make her call home and tell them where she is, apologize, and do whatever they want. As her parents, they do have a…right, let’s call it, to enforce their curfew. And she’s a minor, so it’s not fair to Sako or any of us if we take the fall for any accusations that come of sheltering a runaway.”
“Again, not seeing what this——”
“When her parents demand she go home, would you…” Todoroki sighed. “Could you be the one to bring her back?”
Aizawa was silent.
“Yeah, she might get in less trouble if it’s a registered, legit Pro who returns her home rather than one of us,” Iguchi added. “Look at us. You got a lizard-mutant and that guy with his face all messed up in more ways than one. You think her parents are gonna be all that trusting when we show up with their daughter?”
“There’s Sako,” Aizawa suggested half-heartedly.
“Right, a thirty-something year old man with no credibility is so much better.” Iguchi rolled his eyes.
“Besides,” Todoroki gave a malicious half-grin. “After defending the students at the USJ incident and hosting UA’s Sports Festival, people actually remember you exist now.”
He sighed. The girl didn’t have any visible bruises or other signs of harm, so he did believe the pair when they claimed there was no physical abuse, and she seemed relaxed enough in the company of her friends, even if they were a little older than was appropriate, that it was plausible they were genuinely providing a safe place for her to be. Besides, knowing how the Vanguard operated, he was confident taking advantage of children and teenagers was in absolutely no way part of their conduct. That much was obvious from having personally seen the aftermath of what they did to people like that. Whether or not she was a ‘good kid’ as they said was still up for debate, but he supposed he didn’t know her full story as well as they did. For all he knew, her attacking her fellow student was a matter of self-defense taken too far and the media had gone and mocked it up for ratings. In any case, it couldn’t hurt to bring her home and assess the situation himself. Maybe file his own report if necessary.
Seeing his decision on his face, Todoroki’s grin faded and he dipped his head in a serious nod. “Thank you,” Then turning, he called, “Toga, come in here.”
Immediately, the muffled chatter in the kitchen stopped and Toga came skipping to the door. “Yeah?”
“It’s time. You know what to do.”
For the first time since he’d arrived, the girl’s face fell. Hesitantly removing her phone from her pocket, she pressed home button until the device powered on, apparently having been shut off, and pursed her lips as the screen lit up.
“How many missed calls?” Iguchi leaned over her shoulder to see for himself.
“Seven.”
“Any messages?”
She shook her head. From his place at the table, Aizawa watched her thumb moving slowly over her phone screen. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then tapped down on the call button. As the speaker began its muted brrr, Sako came to the door drying off his hands but said nothing. The entire room was silent as they waited, and then on the second ring, an angry, male voice answered. Not the shouting and furious sort of angry, he noted. Just the profoundly disappointed and condemning tone of a father who had long ago lost his patience.
“And just where do you think you are, young lady?”
“Hi, Dad. I’m…” Toga swept a glance around at all of them as though asking to just hang up and forget about everything. “I’m with friends.”
“You don’t have friends, Himiko,” the sobbing voice of a woman joined in. “Your teachers told us you don’t interact with other students! Why are you lying to us? What are you doing right now.”
“I’m sorry,” the girl said, her formally bubbly tones growing small. “I just needed to——”
“Needed to what? You were told to come home immediately after school if you didn’t have your appointments,” the harsher male voice spoke. “You had no appointment today, you have no excuse for your absence, so what do you have to say for yourself?”
Toga pressed her lips together and Aizawa felt a small pang when he saw her shoulders were starting to shake. “I’m sorry. I’ll come home,” she said quietly. “I’ll leave right now. I’ll be home in twenty minutes.”
“No,” her father’s voice cut her off. “This is the last straw. You’re done.”
Aizawa stiffened in shock.
“Honey!”
“If she can’t respect the rules of this house, then I’m done with her. She’s already caused us too much grief and now she’s out who knows where doing who knows what with these mysterious friends! No. I am done with her. Himiko, you are not welcome back in this house.”
Toga’s eyes had gone wide with terror. “But where do I——”
“I don’t care. You can figure that out yourself, you ungrateful brat.”
“Wait——”
In a single stroke, the connection died and the sound of the dial tone went on for what felt like hours until Toga finally ended the call on her side. In all, Aizawa doubted the call had lasted longer than thirty seconds. Thirty seconds and this girl’s entire world had been upended right in front of him.
After a moment of hesitation, Todoroki laid a hand on the girl’s head. “I…wow, fuck, I’m sorry, kid.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “They left me.”
“Hey, hey, maybe they didn’t!” Iguchi held up his hands as if he weren’t sure what to do with them. “You know, your mom sounded pretty upset after your dad went and said all that. Maybe he was just angry and didn’t mean it. Maybe she’ll talk him around. Maybe they’ll call you back right away and everything will be fine!”
“Maybe if I hadn’t run off in the first place——”
“Young lady,” Sako interrupted. “They were practically keeping you confined to your room whenever you weren’t at school.”
“It was my punishment for what I did. They said I was dangerous and I shouldn’t——”
“It was them putting you away and pretending you don’t exist,” Todoroki corrected her. “My family did the same to me after——it’s not——it doesn’t help anything. It just makes everything fester.”
At that moment, though, Aizawa couldn’t be sure if the girl was even listening anymore. She was too focused on keeping her eyes down and scraping her palms against her cheeks as if they couldn’t all see the tears. For a long time, no one spoke or even knew what to say. The male Vanguard members kept looking at each other, and then at him, as if willing each other to speak. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stave off the incoming headache. This was supposed to be a brief visit, a brief conversation, in and out, no hassle. Now, it seemed he was going to have to——
“Well,” Sako said suddenly, smiling a classic performer’s smile as he brought a hand down on Toga’s shoulder. “Looks like I have three overnight guests tonight.”
“Really?” Toga turned to him. “You’ll let me stay here, too?”
“You can stay as long as you need until we figure out something more permanent. After all, you don’t…”
Aizawa tuned his words out as Todoroki split off from their circle and headed down the hall. Leaving Iguchi and Sako behind to comfort their young friend, he followed him as his strides became faster and faster until he threw open the back door and practically leapt into the yard. Before Aizawa could say anything, the young man ignited in blue flame and let loose the most ungodly scream of rage and frustration he’d ever heard from him. The blast of heat that hit him in the face caught him off guard and forced him to close his eyes. He threw up an arm to protect his face as his skin began to prickle and burn from the flames’ proximity, the way a wood fire felt when one warmed their palms against it for too long. After the initial shock, though, he raised his eyes and focused on the vague shadow standing in the azure torrent. It was like staring into the sun, but amid watering eyes, he managed to activate his Quirk and the flames died as instantly as they’d started. As Todoroki stood in the middle of the yard, smoke still rising from him, Aizawa saw he’d finished up Iguchi’s earlier vegetation massacre with a patch of scorched, smoldering earth that extended in a three meter radius around his feet. He could almost imagine the look on Sako’s face when he saw it.
“Feel better now,” he asked dryly.
Todoroki made a sound that was half-growl, half-sigh as he slunk back to the engawa and threw himself gracelessly into a seat.
If he was going to go along with UA’s plan and obtain a provisional license to operate under registered Pro Heroes, Aizawa thought grimly, he was going to have to get a handle on these childish outbursts. He couldn’t be around for every time he let his Quirk rage. But he suspected the young man already knew that, so he kept quiet on that front. “From what I’ve overheard so far,” he began, stepping forward to take a seat. “It sounds like you did the right thing. Or were going to do the right thing.”
“And look where it got us,” Todoroki muttered. “She’s just a kid. Sure, she screwed up big time by attacking a classmate, but he lived and she was punished for what she did. Battery and illegal Quirk usage committed by a minor landed her in juvenile corrections for a time, the lawyer her family hired got her a lesser sentence by reason of insanity and she’s been going to counseling. She actually has a counselor that works pretty well with her. Has a similar Quirk and everything, so she actually gets her.” He leaned back on his hands. “What I’m saying is she’s trying to get back on track. Compared to what real villains have done, she shouldn’t have to pay for her mistakes at every single turn the rest of her life. She deserves better than to be ‘the girl who went crazy and nearly killed a classmate’ or however the media spun it.”
Aizawa didn’t answer.
“Shit, we should have just sent her home and reported her as an attempted runaway or something. That would have prompted the CGC to at least send someone to evaluate——no, that wouldn’t have worked. They were feeding and clothing her, no one was hurting her, she wasn’t actually locked in her room or anything——”
“Why didn’t you? Send her home, I mean.”
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I guess I thought she needed a break from that family. Sako must’ve thought the same. It’s his house. It’s not like I have any authority to kick her out. I just thought…”
“As Iguchi said, maybe her parents will come around. Sako has agreed to give her a place to stay, so her situation is not currently urgent. I’m sure even with your tantrum just now, you’re already thinking about who you’ll need to contact.”
“In the morning.” He let his head drop. “First thing in the morning. Right now, I’m tired.”
“It is okay to fail sometimes.” Aizawa said. “No one’s died and we can fix broken things. Even if it takes awhile.”
“Okay to fail. You know, no one’s ever actually said that to me before.” The younger man lowered his head until it was nearly resting on his knees and Aizawa could see the individual vertebrae in his neck. “I don’t want to go home, Eraser, but it’s been less than a day and I already miss my sister. I want to leave that house, but I can’t leave Fuyumi and she can’t forget the happy family we used to have. So she stays and I stay for her, and we both stay for Shouto even though I hate him and what he represents. My face hurts, my body hurts, I hurt. All the time.”
When he’d first become aware of the vigilante Dabi, Aizawa had thought him a spoiled, rich brat allowed too many liberties by his parents. He knew the story about the No. 2 Hero’s lost son who had burned up in a massive forest fire on Sekoto Peak, only to return three years later with no explanation or even clear memory of what had happened to him. At the time, it had meant little more to him than the touching tale of an unlikely family reunion. Some wholesome excitement in the media before it was overshadowed by the next big thing. By rights, that should have been the last time he’d ever heard of Todoroki Touya.
So why are you here, bruised and hiding out from your father when you should be safe at home, enjoying the second chance so many never get to have?
“You never answered my question about this Nomu, by the way.”
It troubled him that he even knew the name of that creature in spite of the police choosing not to release that information to the public at this time, but he decided it wasn’t worth addressing right now. Maybe All Might had gone and told his ‘adorable, little nephew’ about it or something and then Shimura had spilled it to his gang of vigilante friends. If that was the case, then a few more details wouldn’t hurt.
“You didn’t hear this from me.”
Todoroki turned to him, smile back on his face.
“And I would appreciate it if you kept this amongst your circle. Yes, the PLF suspects did have a monster-like accomplice with them. After he was defeated, he went completely unresponsive and was taken into custody by the authorities. That’s all I can tell you because that’s all I know so far. Satisfied?”
“I am, actually.” He raised his only good eye to the sky darkening overhead and starting to dot with the first evening stars. “I’m sure you’re aware something big is coming. The disgruntled whispers in the back alleys we patrol are getting louder.”
I do not have any doubts about that, he thought as he fished two cards out of his pocket. “Listen,” he said as he slid them across the porch step. “If the situation in your home life gets worse and your brother——if any of you start to feel unsafe there——please let me know. Give one of these cards to Toga as well and let her know the same.”
He half-expected Todoroki’s usual derision, a sardonic laugh, maybe burning the cards on the spot. Instead, he blindly dropped a scarred hand to the porch and dragged them closer. “You have a bandage on you?”
“Uh, sure.” He always kept first aid supplies in his gear. “You need a standard one or——”
“If you got one of the bigger, square ones, that’ll be better.”
“Right.”
As soon as Todoroki had it in his hands, he peeled off the packaging and quickly fixed the gauze over the blood that had begun to leak from his seams.
