Chapter 20 - A Sword's Lament
Tsukauchi Naomasa muffled a petulant sigh in order to focus on the situation at hand, or rather the detained villains that were being shoved into a nearby transport convoy.
Off towards the distance, he saw Mount Lady leading the rest of the U.A. students back into the school proper, where it was most likely safe from stray villains. All Might followed them alongside a blond haired teen and a familiar Emiya Shirou.
Or was it Takeyama-Emiya Shirou?
In honesty, Tsukauchi didn't really know.
They had come underprepared for the scale of the villain attack. When Tsukauchi originally came with reinforcements, he didn't expect that every villain that they encountered had already been defeated.
In hindsight, All Might was there so he shouldn't have really worried so much for the children, but he still held that worry for his old friend.
All Might, or rather Toshinori had hidden it rather well – with his stripped, yellow, worn and torn teacher's suit – but Tsukauchi could see the slight winces and grunts as he made his way out of USJ.
He had been wounded. A villain during that attack was dangerous enough to wound All Might, the very Symbol of Peace among their society.
Tsukauchi knew he wasn't invincible, yet the fact remains that their number one hero had received some trouble in that encounter… and that the very same villain that wounded him had escaped.
This is getting worrisome…
Villains always got stronger on the second encounter, that was the most basic rule of their line of work.
Although, the next time this villain appeared, the heroes and students of this school would not be caught unprepared. Tsuragamae Kenji – the chief of the Hosu police force – was in the middle of a meeting with both U.A.'s principal and Musutafu's own police force chief about improved security measure.
For some reason, police chiefs from both Musutafu and Hosu felt that this was a very pressing issue. Hopefully, they'd come up with a solution together, or at least some form of countermeasure.
Tsukauchi shook away the distracting thoughts.
He had something more important to focus on.
"Report," Tsukauchi ordered as he approached a fellow officer. Vaguely he remembered that he had a birthday today, but celebrations would have to come later. "What's the situation?"
"The perimeter is secured, we've already sent in a unit to retrieve the downed villains," He reported. "The pro heroes have already agreed to accompany our units. The present plan is to sweep the forest before moving towards the designated disaster zones."
That was a good plan. There could always be villains hiding away just looking for an opening or even the slightest chance to escape. Not that they could with the numerous units surrounding the building, each with heat-vision, x-ray, sonar-detection, and other such detection equipment.
A bit superfluous, but when there could be quirk users that could slip past even the greatest of surveillance drones, then it didn't really appear to be so.
Still, even with the greatest equipment, human wit could overcome it –
"Good," Tsukauchi said. "If the chief gets back any time soon, notify him that I'm going to be accompanying them."
– Hence, why he decided to go in himself.
Tsukauchi walked away and focused on the crumbling building before him, debris falling to the side as emergency teams handled damage control.
The wall beside the entrance had been destroyed which let a few slightly villains hobble out only to be detained – courtesy of Mount Lady – and the ceiling above had holes in seemingly random segments.
While Tsukauchi didn't know why the ceiling had faltered, he felt that it was related to All Might, somehow. A strange sixth sense just told him that.
As he stepped into the building, it did not take long before a pair of officers walked out beside him, an unconscious villain wearing a skull mask in tow.
Tsukauchi recognized the villain. He was wanted and charged for arson, yet he distinctively remembered handing this one off to the prison warden.
That means he was an escapee…
Almost all of these villains had been detained weeks or even months ago, yet they had all escaped for this single planned attack, right under the noses of the police force. That itself set a worrying precedent.
Rushed footsteps echoed from behind him, to which Tsukauchi turned and found a fellow officer, a senior officer by the looks of his badge, hurried over to him with bated breath.
"Sir! You need to come and see this."
Tsukauchi held his breath and prevented his irritation from being shown. "You know that we have a radio for a reason, senior officer?" However, that didn't stop Tsukauchi's feet from hurrying on forward as he followed the senior officer. "Give me a summary."
"W-well… we found a villain," The senior officer said. "However, he seems to be… incapacitated."
"Any additional detail?"
"There seems to be a spear through his heart."
Tsukauchi's feet momentarily stalled. It was with great effort that he did not promptly fall over, but the slow blink he gave back told enough.
What?
He pushed past the scenery, through the shattered tree trunks, eviscerated landscape, and fallen concrete…
… Where he found a coal-black body, bleeding long since halted, with bits and pieces of limbs strewn across the forest floor. A bloody crimson spear glistening – seemingly from the broken ceiling's pale sunlight – as several officers around tried to ignore it lest their stomachs fail them.
Tsukauchi knew the worst side of humanity, he had seen villains do worse than what he was looking at right now… but even so, it did not quell the unnerving groan his gut returned to him.
Tsukauchi didn't recognize this one, which meant that this was a new villain, possibly related to why this attack had occurred at all. Although that was only conjecture, the villain could easily be a random one found from off the street.
The police inspector did not address the rest of the officers on the scene, who were all too busy snapping photos for evidence and collecting a few blood samples. Instead, Tsukauchi walked over to the body and gazed at the spear.
An officer, a new recruit by the looks of it, looked a tad bit green on his face but held it in, finding the task of picturing the spear more important.
"This is terrible…" The recruit muttered. "This guy was a villain, right? Even villains don't deserve this…"
Tsukauchi could count a few people in their very own department that would disagree but did not state it out loud. Instead, he gazed at the body, the eyes rolled back and gazing nowhere as its brain had been sliced open.
"What are we looking at?" Tsukauchi asked. However, he was gazing towards a separate officer, a field medic that had been in their department for several years already working on an autopsy.
"Hmm…" The medic muttered, ignoring the looks of disgust he received as he grabbed a coal-black dismembered fingers to inspect, medical gloves included of course. "This is an index finger… and yet the body has two fingers already…"
The medic then gazed at all the other body parts. "There are other body parts here and yet the body itself has them already present. Perhaps this villain had regeneration as a quirk?"
"Very possible…" Tsukauchi admitted. "I heard that fighting those with a regeneration quirk is a hard task, especially if they could not be damaged…" Not to mention the fact that this villain's arm was wider than his entire body. "It's very possible that subduing him was impossible and killing was the only choice left… in other words, self-defense."
"Self-defense?" The recruit muttered with a hint of grim acceptance. "Man, heroes-in-training get scarier every day if they could do that."
"Yes… or rather, one in particular…" Tsukauchi didn't know why that left his mouth, but luckily no one else had heard him and kept to their roles.
It was a blood red spear, unlike anything they had ever seen before, completely unique with the way the design of it seemed to scream out in an almost bestial nature… and yet, why would someone leave it behind?
The only reason Tsukauchi could think of was that it was disposable… as if more could always be made…
–Once more, a ginger boy appeared in his mind.
… like with a weapon-creation quirk.
"Look at this, inspector Tsukauchi," the medic called once more. "Look in the chest cavity where the spear is. What can you tell me?"
Tsukauchi knew he wasn't one to play around so obliged. He leaned over and peered into the gaping hole, where the ravaged and shredded heart of the body sat. The spear was still lodged there too – very evident from how deep it was driven – driving into the dirt beneath it as well.
Tsukauchi knew that wasn't all so focused a little harder. Their medic was an eccentric about these types of situations so what he'd focus on would be the actual heart itself…
… the still twitching and flubbing heart?
"Is he still trying to regenerate!?"
The recruit next to him nearly tripped over a limb as he heard his impromptu shout.
"Yes, it seems like it… and yet," The medic confirmed with hesitance. "Its heart is, without a doubt, essential for its regenerative process, yet the spear is keeping the heart from fully regenerating, evident from how the necrosis isn't spreading as far as it usually would. It is very possible that the heart itself is the very origin point for the regenerative quirk."
While there was indeed a gaping hole on the heart, there were also numerous lacerations all around it, almost as if someone had taken a line of barbed wire and tightly wrapped it around the heart… or as if something had sprouted out from within it.
Tsukauchi sent one more glance at the aptly-colored bloody red spear.
After all his years working as a police inspector, it was clear to him that there was without a doubt in his mind that this spear unnerved him greatly. As to why it did so, he could not tell.
What in the world did Yu's kid make?
Tsukauchi frowned as he turned back to the medic. "In layman's terms?"
"If we isolate the heart, then nothing else of the body will try to regenerate." The medic concluded.
Tsukauchi would need to remember his name soon. He felt bad that he still didn't know it, which isn't odd seeing as the medic never really gave out his name for some reason.
"Prepare a team to transport the body," Tsukauchi ordered the recruit, who saluted and made his way to a nearby team, all the while he turned back towards the broken entrance of USJ.
Tsukauchi sighed in exhaustion.
He was not looking forward to handing in this report.
Shirou would have let out a sigh of relief, knowing that it would do nothing with the tense atmosphere around him, but he himself knew he had almost nothing to be relieved about.
The villains had escaped.
Enemies would always get stronger on their second encounter, which means that Shirou would have to be prepared, all of them would have to be.
All Might had left earlier, leaving both Shirou and Bakugo with their classmates. They were all being led towards their respective classrooms so that they could get their things and simply call it a day.
The one leading them through the winding road to their classroom was none other than Mount Lady.
His adoptive mother.
The same mother that was currently watching over four of his classmates – Asui Tsuyu, Mineta Minoru, Kirishima Eijiro, and Midoriya Izuku – as they were taken to the infirmary by familiar robotic drones.
He didn't pay attention to any possible banter that the robots were seemingly programmed to have – something about being useless meat-bags – but instead focused on the fact that his mother turned back towards him once their wounded classmates were out of sight.
"Shirou! Are you okay!?" She rushed over to him, admittedly weaving through the crowd of his classmates without issue, and grasped his head. She looked over him in a worry. "Did you hit your head anywhere like that frog girl? Are your ribs okay? They didn't crack, right!?"
His ribs did break a while ago from Avenger's kick, but he had always healed fast so it didn't stay long.
He didn't realize that it wasn't normal to heal a couple of broken ribs.
"No. I'm fine, Yu."
"Are you sure…?" Yu muttered unsurely. "What if it's a late reaction? I should get you over to Recovery Girl…"
"I'm fine, Yu," Shirou replied. "If anything, everyone else seems worse off than me."
Yu sent a glance to all his classmates, who had stopped to stare with wide eyes of confusion, and shrugged.
"Meh, they can come along too."
That wasn't the answer I was hoping for.
"Um… Mount Lady, was it?" Yaoyorozu chimed, raising a hand as she did so. "What is your relation to Emiya-san…?"
Yu, the most prominently well-known upstart female professional hero, simply blinked with a raised brow. "He's my son, why?"
…Yu, you really need to learn a little bit of tact.
""WHAT!?""
The thunderous roar of confusion came from the crowd, yet its intensity did not seem to subside.
"You're his mother!?"
"You don't have the same last name though…?"
"You lucky bastard!"
One of those wasn't like the other, but Shirou didn't let it remain a concern in his mind. He didn't need to make it one seeing as Jiro promptly kicked the offender onto his rear.
"I'm adopted," Shirou added to quell the confusion. "Look, I'm sure we're all tired so let's just all get to class so we can go, okay?"
It seemed that the rest of his classmates followed his suggestion, some with reluctance, but none of them could deny that they wanted the sweet safety and comfort of their homes.
Yu left him and hopped her way to the front of the group, taking point to lead them once more. Wait a minute, did Yu know her way around U.A? Oh right, she was an alumnus of the school, wasn't she?
"Oi."
Shirou did not flinch at the harsh tone because he noticed the caution that was held under it. He was at the far back of the group where no one could hear them if they whispered. "What is it, Bakugo-san?"
"Does she fucking know?" Bakugo whispered, which wasn't really saying much since he was still a bit too loud. "Does she know about that guy?"
Shirou shook his head. "No, she doesn't… and before you ask, neither do I."
"Tch…" Bakugo growled with a frowned. "Fine, you sword bastard! Keep your damn secrets!"
Bakugo pushed forward closer into the group, not close enough to be a part of it but close enough that there was a bit of distance between Shirou and the blonde student.
Shirou held no ill will and he could tell that Bakugo held none as well, but he knew that the teen was frustrated beyond belief.
Shirou knew this because he felt the same.
"Well, here's close enough," Yu declared as she came to an abrupt stop, halting the metaphorical train of students in the same manner. "There are tons of security cameras and pro heroes on the premises so you guys should be safe to walk in. Off you go~"
A couple students hesitated, but the much more weary ones decided it was best not to question her and hurried along. The hesitant students followed soon after.
Shirou made to do the same.
"Hurry up, okay?"
Shirou's feet did not stall. Instead, they hastened at Yu's behest. He didn't know why, but he felt like he should be doing so… the worried tone she seemed to be holding for the entirety of the escort trip seemed to weigh heavily on them both.
Yu sighed at his retreating figure.
To think that all she wanted to do was give him his lunch… what a blunder that was. She didn't even manage to do that small task.
She knew she was being unfair to herself – she couldn't really give it to him since the school was under attack – but she couldn't help it! The child she adopted was thrust into danger and she couldn't do anything to stop it!
URGH!
It frustrated her, truly it did.
"Mount Lady?"
Hm, that was a familiar voice.
Yu turned around and watched as several pro heroes walked pass her, most likely towards USJ itself, but only a single one halted in his steps to face her.
"Shinji?" She muttered before looking at the collection of professional heroes, seeing that most of them were less combat orientated and more for detaining and capture operations, much like himself. "Oh, you're here to help detain the villains, right?"
"Yes, that is correct," He concluded, watching as his colleagues traveled towards the crumbling building. "I am surprised that you are not off to aid them as well."
True, her quirk was good at both combat and restraining…
"Well…" Yu muttered once more, staring off into the school proper. "There are a lot of things going on…"
Nishiya Shinji – or popularly known as Kamui Woods – followed her gaze, finding his own soften in response. "Worrying for your son?"
"… Was it that obvious?" Yu moaned. "Yeah, you're right. He was just in the middle of something like that…"
"I'm sure he will be fine," Nishiya commented. "From what I remember, he had a strong gaze. Someone with a gaze like that wouldn't be shaken from a disaster such as this."
Yu snickered. "Speaking from experience?"
"Yes."
At the blunt response, she couldn't help but snicker once more. "Yeah, he'll be fine… but that's not what I'm worried about."
He raised a brow in confusion. "Then what would be the matter?"
Yu sighed, once more with bated breath, staring back at the school, no longer as impenetrable as once thought.
"… It's the fact that I know that Shirou won't truly be shaken by it."
The moment Shirou stepped back into his classroom, he was met with all of his classmates seated around randomly almost as if in a circle.
Jiro was facing out the window alongside Sato, yet both of them kept their backs to each other. Kaminari tried striking up a conversation with Shoji, but both of them had their eyes flickering left and right. Even Yaoyorozu herself held a polearm in her grasp, gripping it every once in a while with almost no intent to let it go.
They were still in their combat mindset. It would take a day of rest before they returned to their usual selves, nothing to truly worry about.
Bakugo had seemed to leave already, probably due to the tense atmosphere. Aoyama – a blonde wearing modified armor that Shirou wasn't sure would really complement him – alongside the invisible girl, stood off to the side as they took it all in.
Those two didn't really seem like they were in conflict very much. It was likely that they hid from the attack itself, which Shirou thought was a good thing. The less danger they were in, the better.
A few more of the students that he was unfamiliar with – such as Tokoyami Fumikage, Ojiro Mashirao, Koda Koji, and Sero Hanta – sat away from their usual seats and sat in the center tables and chairs. They also seemed confused by how some of their classmates acted.
"Ah, Emiya-san," Yaoyorozu called. "I apologize, but I think we won't be able to continue our training for today."
Shirou nodded. "That's fine, I wasn't planning to do it today. Just get some rest for now…" He sent a glance to the rest of the class. "… That goes for the rest of you as well."
"We're resting though?" Kaminari argued, not noticing his eye twitching towards the windows. "Just a bit spooked, you know? Nothing wrong with being just a bit cautious, right?"
Or maybe he did notice but was trying to justify it.
"It's true that you should always be vigilant…" From the other entrance to the classroom, Todoroki walked in with his hero costume discarded in favor of his uniform. "However, if you remain stressed at times like these, then you won't be able to rest properly. There are pro heroes here, let them deal with it."
Not exactly how Shirou would put it, but that was fine. It got a few of the students to simmer down and relax, their tense muscles relaxing at the prompt.
"I'm sorry, everyone." Iida chimed up, hands clenched in frustration. "If only I had arrived earlier with the rest of the pro heroes…"
"No one here's blaming you, Emergency Exit!" Kaminari argued.
"If we're playing the blame game, then blame me," Sato called out from the side, fists clenched in frustration. "If I had cleared the way with my quirk just a bit quicker…"
"No, no, no!" Sero argued, holding his elbow out as if he was going to use it. "I should have caught that warp guy earlier and stopped him from warping!"
"Then I should have used my quirk on–"
"I should have–"
"ENOUGH!"
The entire class fell silent. They turned to the one whose voice echoed, trailing back to the one who blamed himself first, Iida Tenya.
"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have started this," he lamented. "Let's just forget about blaming anyone…" He let out a sigh. "Blaming won't do anyone any good."
A bit hypocritical coming from him, but Shirou said nothing and simply nodded.
After all, Shirou was a bigger hypocrite than him.
"Emiya," Todoroki called once the class had decided to begin some small banter, courtesy of Ashido. "Can I talk with you for a bit?"
Shirou didn't miss the way his head tilted to the door and obliged, following Todoroki out of the room, much to the curious gazes of their classmates. He paid them no heed and focused on the gaze he received from the heterochromatic teen.
In all honesty, Shirou didn't know what this was about. He hoped it would be an issue that they could solve relatively quickly and move on – if it was an issue at all – but he was not naive enough to believe that.
The best he could hope for was that it wasn't too serious.
They stood alone in the hallway with the afternoon amber sky being the only source of light. Neither of them really said anything, silence being their admittedly willing company.
Idly, Shirou noted that Class B wasn't here nor were any of the other students from the other courses, most likely having been evacuated once news got out that villains had infiltrated.
"You fought the ultimate countermeasure to All Might, didn't you?"
Ah… so that was what he wanted to talk about.
Shirou nodded, much to the creasing brow of his confused classmate.
"How?" Todoroki asked. "Midoriya said that this thing, this Nomu, was able to handle a punch from him without issue."
"I don't know," Shirou admitted. "I can only guess that it only works on blunt force."
"Ah, you use swords, which is the complete opposite of blunt force… but you don't need me to tell you that…" Todoroki muttered, his eyes downcast. "I see, that makes sense…" His gaze flickered back to the ginger magus. "… But, there's something more to it though, isn't there?"
Todoroki was certainly sharp and equally as inquisitive too, which Shirou felt were good qualities in their own right.
"Midoriya didn't see, but he also had regeneration like Aven– the Beast did," Shirou said, berating himself for his slip of tongue.
Whether Todoroki noticed it or not, Shirou couldn't really tell as he had a guarded look on at all times.
That guarded look faded into a frown.
"Regeneration…?" He repeated. "Then, wouldn't your swords be rather useless? If this Nomu could regenerate wounds then–"
"My swords would have been useless, true…" Shirou concluded before he could. He didn't really want to explain that he could create a spear that ignored regeneration while it remained present in this plain of existence, so interrupting bought him just a bit of time to think up an explanation.
Which also reminded him that he needed to somehow get rid of the Nomu permanently because Gae Bolg was starting to drain on his reserves. He wasn't sure if Gaia was still in this world, but having a Noble Phantasm – especially one that he wasn't completely use to tracing – would certainly be too much of a strain for him and his body.
"… However, its regeneration did not extend to its heart." Shirou concluded, finding that explanation at least half-truthful seeing as he didn't even know if that was true. "It fought like a mindless beast so it was easy to… predict…?"
Shirou trailed off as he noticed the wide eyes he was being sent.
Was this Todoroki's eye problem again? Shirou had seen something irritating them while they visited Archer's cafe.
"You… killed?"
That tone of voice…
Shirou grimaced as he took it in.
"It was threatening the lives of all our classmates," Shirou replied as cordially as he could. "I don't like the thought of killing either, but if killing it would have kept everyone alive, then I would gladly do so."
"Really? You-" Todoroki found himself uttering. There was confusion in his eyes, but held tightly under his self-control. "… The fact that you killed a villain doesn't bother you, at all? Not even a bit?"
Shirou shook his head.
"It doesn't, Todoroki-san."
He didn't consider the villain Nomu to really be a person to begin with. Kanshou and Bakuya's anti-monster properties had been reacting to it heavily, implying it was more monster than man.
In addition, taking into consideration how it fought and how it acted…
It was without a doubt a mindless monster… there was no reason that he should feel regret in killing it… right?
In turn, Shirou gazed out the window, finding the sun starting to set almost entirely.
"I have to go," Shirou declared. "It was nice talking with you, Todoroki-san. However, my mother will be worried if I stay out too long."
Todoroki moved to argue, but once more he halted before he could make a sound. Thoughts were rampaging in the boy's head, yet Shirou did not know how to help him in that.
In the end, he managed to get something out before Shirou even touched the classroom door. "... You don't see anything wrong with this? Don't you know that killing is wrong? That's not the job of a hero."
"No, I don't," Shirou confirmed, a soft frown settling on his visage. "You may not wholly agree with my decision, but it was for the best." Hopefully, what he said could be taken as some form of closure. "… If there was another way… then I would have taken it."
Killing the few to save the many… it was something that Archer had adopted, but something that Shirou himself hated. After all, he wanted to save everyone.
The Nomu wasn't a person. It might have been alive but it wasn't sentient, it wasn't something that could be saved. The fact that it was already a mindless monster in the eyes of a Noble Phantasm only solidified this idea.
He didn't fail, everyone had already been saved. None of his classmates had died and most of the villains were being rounded up already.
… All he did was slay a monster…
A monster, not a person… right…
When Shirou returned to the classroom to grab his clothes and head to the changing rooms, not once did he turn to see the look that Todoroki had sent at his retreating figure.
Asui Tsuyu, severe concussion with a possible skull fracture.
Mineta Minoru, torn scalp and bruised limbs.
Kirishima Eijiro, physically healthy and yet unable to wake up.
… and Midoriya Izuku, several broken bones in both his limbs and ribs.
As All Might – now in his skeletal and significantly less muscled form of Toshinori Yagi – sat in the infirmary with only a single sigh escaping his maw. He worried for his students, as any other teacher should, but knew that they would be fine so long as Recovery Girl was there.
When he first arrived in the infirmary – after concluding a small meeting with the principal – he had found Recovery Girl diligently treating their wounds. She used her quirk on each of them, even the young and physically-able Kirishima.
Asui Tsuyu had recovered enough so that she would wake up by the end of tomorrow. The same could be said for Mineta Minoru and Midoriya Izuku, much to Toshinori's relief.
They'd have to send a notification to all their parents to pick them up, hurting the school's reputation in the process… However, school reputation be damned, as long as his students were fine, then all was right in the world.
The main problem here was with young Kirishima.
The ginger student had awoken after treatment, causing a bit of an incident when he used his quirk instantly to attack whatever came close, but calmed down once he realized that he was no longer in USJ.
Recovery Girl had deemed him physically capable enough and allowed him to leave, which young Kirishima did. Although Toshinori could not shake off the feeling that his student was still off in some way.
Not physically, he was walking fine and without a doubt recovered, yet there was a very small yet minute difference in his behavior.
Toshinori had not known the student for long, yet he had the feeling that young Kirishima was supposed to be rushing out of the infirmary with haste in his step… not walking slowly with his eyes staring hard into the marble floor.
There was something mental happening to him, something out of Toshinori's expertise.
Recovery Girl was not incompetent and noticed what he had far long before he actually did. She handed the young Kirishima a slip of paper, most likely with her phone number, if he needed any help. She didn't specify what that help meant or was but Toshinori had a feeling that young Kirishima just knew.
… those were his students. His precious students. He wasn't even close to tackling the injuries and pains that his fellow pro heroes – both Thirteen and Aizawa – had faced while trying their very best to protect them.
Thirteen, having several lacerations and ruptures on his back, would have bled out without the aid of young Sero Hanta's quirk. In a way, the student had saved his life.
… and Aizawa… concussion on his head severely worse than the one that young Asui had suffered. Skin having been turned to dust which allowed his muscles to be seen with the naked eye, no doubt letting thousands of germs and infections to seep into his body. Limbs broken in odd places as if they were twigs…
… All of which could have been solved if he had arrived earlier.
Toshinori sighed in frustration once his students had left. Tugging off his rugged and battered teacher's suit and revealing the bandages that wrapped his torso, where that villain had stabbed and dug around in his flesh.
"If only I had been quicker…" Toshinori muttered in lament. "While I was relaxing in my office drinking coffee… my colleagues and students were–"
"Stop with that, All Might."
His words fell as he sent a glance to Recovery Girl. "But if I had–"
"Do you have superhuman hearing? Do you have precognition? Can you predict the future?" She asked with incredulity. "No? Then nothing. You could not have predicted what happened. The villains got us all by surprise."
She hopped onto a stool so she could stare straight into the eyes of the sitting Toshinori. "I'll repeat in just in case your brain becomes the Symbol of Idiocy. It wasn't your fault, are we clear?"
As tense as the situation was, it was nostalgic to him. Toshinori often remembered his old teachers reprimanding him for being too hasty, being too reckless, and above all… being too unforgiving of himself.
"Apologies, Recovery Girl," Toshinori offered. "I seem to have lost myself there..."
"With an altruistic fool like you, it's obvious that you would," Recovery Girl berated with a sigh. "What's done is done, no need to beat yourself up for what had already passed."
Toshinori let a small chuckle escape him. "Yes... I suppose you're right."
The wounds his students had were grievous, yet Toshinori decided that taking solace in the fact that they had lived through that incident was good enough.
In that single moment, he could not help but remember the one who had helped him onto this path of heroism...
Master... even now, I still have a long way to go, right?
The sound of a door being slid open caught his attention.
"Excuse me," the voice said. "All Might, it's been a while."
Toshinori mellowed. "Tsukauchi? You're here too?"
"Well, it was a big incident," The inspector chuckled out the reply as he shut the door. "How are the students?"
Toshinori sighed. "They're recovering just fine. They'll be able to leave once their parents come to pick them up."
"That's good news," Tsukauchi said with a smile. That faded when he let out a sigh. "Sorry to cut to the chase, but has an officer already interviewed you?"
"Yeah…" Toshinori muttered. "I told them all I knew, which wasn't much."
He had told them about how he subdued a plethora of villains at the entrance before being ambushed by a special villain, one with a confusing quirk capable of reflecting damage towards the one that inflicted it.
He had told them of their battle, of how his power was useless in it and how that villain was without a doubt, a danger to any pro hero that would try to fight him head-on.
… and he had told them of how a team of villains had caught him in a trap, where he would have fallen, or gotten gravely injured at the very least if it weren't for the intervention of two of his students.
That was all he knew. After the fight, he had wounded up straight in the infirmary with his students, only being lightly injured thanks to Recovery Girl's quirk.
"I thought as much," Tsukauchi muttered with a sigh. "Well then, might as well let you in on the information. You are the Symbol of Peace, after all."
As Tsukauchi grabbed a stool to sit on, Toshinori straightened his own back to listen properly.
"Based on the testimonies from both students and captured villains, the perpetrators for this incident is a group known as the League of Villains," Tsukauchi started. "They were responsible for breaking out prisoners and rounding up the villains for an assault."
Toshinori sighed. "I thought as much…"
"We know that one of them is known as Kurogiri and has a warp-quirk, but apparently he's an underling to the pale villain named Shigaraki Tomura," Tsukauchi continued. "This one was the apparent ringleader, capable of reducing objects into dust via disintegration of some kind."
So that was who broke down the U.A. barrier…
"As for their third member, named Angra Mainyu apparently… I'm sure you were already acquainted with him, correct?" Tsukauchi asked. At Toshinori's nod, he continued. "After running a check with eye-witnesses, he was someone who we had detained previously but escaped, most likely through the aid of villains Shigaraki Tomura and Kurogiri."
"Oh, so we have records of him. That is good news." Toshinori commented.
"Yes… although, what we had on him has already been considered outdated," He sighed as he continued. "He was apparently the villain known for brutally murdering blonde civilians like a wild beast."
Like a–?
"Ah… That fellow…" Toshinori muttered. He had recognized it from that small description alone, for it was a truly tragic incident to behold. "Wasn't he described to be wild and mindless?"
"That's what we thought…" Tsukauchi muttered. "However, it appears his few months with the League of Villains have done wonders for his psyche…" He chuckled just a bit. "At least we won't have to hire a psychiatrist for him again."
He coughed to himself. "Moving on. It was reported that the Beast had a quirk for reflecting pain, not damage. It is very possible that he had somehow strengthened his quirk during those few months… and gained another one."
… What?
Toshinori felt his heart stop.
"That regeneration wasn't a part of his original quirk, was it?" Toshinori asked, unknowing that his hand had trailed to the railing of an empty nearby bed.
At the nod he received, Toshinori swallowed some bile that threatened to rise.
"So… he has decided to make a move…" Toshinori gazed out the window, unaware that his shrunken form had grown as he gripped the railing, bending and warping the metal like paper.
"Yes, he has," Tsukauchi muttered. "However, that isn't all, All Might."
"What more is there?" Toshinori asked, a hint of incredulity in his tone. Something he could not help after the news he had just gotten.
"There was a fourth villain."
Shirou stepped into the apartment to follow Yu, who had already dove straight towards the bathroom to get a quick shower. She had said that he was going to be next, which he had no complaints over.
Once he had left his classmates, an unfamiliar officer had came over to him and talked. It was routine apparently, asking the victims for a testimony of what they were doing during the attack in order to aid the investigation. Shirou had no problem with saying what he had done but kept several key points hidden enough so his magecraft wouldn't be revealed.
After that, the officer left and interviewed the rest of his classmates. Shirou didn't really know what else had happened afterward because Yu dragged him off into a taxi.
Shirou sat down on the living room couch, placing his bag to the side and stared out their apartment window towards the relatively peaceful night sky.
A far cry from what his classmates had experienced today.
He felt it deep in his bones, there was something more Shirou could have done and he knew it.
Could he have prevented Midoriya from over using his power?
Could he have prevented Aizawa from being beaten half to death?
Could he have prevented Avenger from getting away?
He didn't know, but something deep within him told him so.
The bathroom door opened quickly as a robed Yu walked out.
"Done already?" Shirou commented. "I expected you to take longer."
"I just needed a quick fresh shower~" Yu drawled before narrowing her eyes on him. "Besides, you need it more than I do. No offense, but you do stink a lot."
Shirou simple sighed as he walked into the bathroom.
"I'll whip up a quick dinner, okay?" He heard Yu call from her room, most likely changing into something comfortable.
"Okay!" Shirou shouted back once he put away his clothes into a nearby laundry basket.
It didn't take long before his shower was done and he returned to his room to change, around five minutes or so. Hopefully, he could go over and help Yu out in her cooking, he needed that sweet relief.
When Shirou stepped into the dining room – wearing a black polo shirt with a sword on it that Yu bought because she thought it was funny – he found that there were already plates set up alongside the cutlery.
So Yu already learned how to arrange the table while she cooked? That was interesting. It meant Shirou had less work to do, which was not really something that he found to be relieving.
He ventured into the kitchen, ready to help his adoptive mother out in her endeavors, only to be stopped by Yu herself.
"Nope, just sit down over there and wait." She said while gesturing to the nearby couch.
Shirou admittedly felt his brow twitch in what must have been in irritation. "Pardon?"
"You just came back from a villain attack and you expect me – your mother – to let you work your ass off in the kitchen as soon as you come back?" Yu said. "Not happening, get comfortable on the couch because I'm not done here."
The ginger magus could only watch as Yu sauntered back into the kitchen, his holy paradise of relaxation, and resumed cooking.
Was this envy?
Should someone like him be feeling something like envy?
Shirou parsed his mouth and sighed in irritation. He could have disregarded her orders, but he knew that she had some sense in them. Any regular person would want their loved ones to rest after an experience such as the recent attack…
… However, Shirou wasn't a regular person. He had a feeling Yu knew this too, but why keep him from cooking?
"Can I just–?"
"Nope!"
I didn't even finish that sentence!
Shirou held back the retort and walked off to the couch. He sat down abruptly and – after a quick inhale – exhaled deeply.
He was irritated.
Avenger be damned, this was a far bigger issue!
After several minutes of a painstaking wait, Yu finally exited the kitchen with two covered bowls, most likely containing what she had cooked up... and Shirou had no idea what it was. The scent couldn't really escape from it so he was at a loss as to what it could be.
Possibly a soup? But he hadn't gotten around to teach Yu that, so maybe some form of a don?
It was definitely a don, judging by the chopsticks she had balanced neatly on top of it.
"It's done!" Yu cheered, raising a spatula in triumph. The presence of a spatula could mean that there was meat in the don, possible fried seeing as anything else would need more time. "Now, let's get eating!"
Feeling a bit calmed by the upbeat attitude, Shirou let out a small sigh – something he had become accustomed to doing – and took a seat by the dining table.
He couldn't really help the slight pout he wore on his slightly childish face as he took off the bowl cover. He was met with the usual appearance of a don. It was without a doubt a chicken breast on top of lightly seasoned rice. Nothing too extravagant even when you considered the haphazard mint for garnish.
It was an acceptable first look for a beginner's dish.
Shirou noticed that Yu did not begin eating as she normally would, but instead focused a look directly towards him as if awaiting some form of judgment.
With a subtle nod, Shirou grabbed the chopsticks – which were made of stainless steel so they could be reused after a simple wash – and held the chicken securely.
Nothing seemed out of place, so Shirou gave it a bite.
Soft and easy to tear with his teeth, which meant that Yu had remembered to tenderize it. He tasted a hint of salt and pepper on it too, most likely residue from the rice seasoning, as well as an almost buttery tang. She must have buttered the pan while frying it.
Shirou quickly added a portion of rice to his maw, noting how the salt and pepper didn't overwhelm the sense much like her previous dishes and chewed.
After a quick judge of the dish, Shirou shrugged. "Simple and could've been better, but not too bad."
Especially considering what her cooking was like a long time ago.
"Yes!" Yu cheered, gripping her chopsticks with vigor. "That's approval if I ever saw it. By the way, how would you have improved it?"
He would have already improved it if he was in the kitchen.
"You could have used other forms of seasonings or spices to improve the chicken's flavor," Shirou started. "Not to mention that since you most likely pan fried it, there must be some buttery residue left on the pan, right?"
"How did you know!?"
It's obvious when you know where to look.
"If you fried the rice on the same pan you cooked the chicken with, then you could have had fried rice that shared a similar flavor due to the remaining chicken juices, enhancing the unity of the dish," Shirou concluded. "Other than that, not too sure. I'd have to experiment myself."
If only he were talking about his magecraft, then Rin would have been proud.
"Damn, if only I thought of that…" Yu growled in annoyance. She finally sighed as she let go of that frustration. "I'll write that down later. In the mean time, mind telling me personally what happened during the attack?"
"Is this for your hero report?" Shirou asked, biting into the chicken with another mouthful of rice.
"Yes and no," Yu said after swallowing a bit of dinner. "Yes, because having a bit of information for my report would be great… but it's also a no," Her eyes mellowed. "… I'm your mother. I want to know what happened, Shirou."
Shirou felt an uneasy frown develop on him, but because the bowl was up to his face, Yu couldn't see it. Somehow, he thought of that as a good thing.
"I'll tell you what I told the officer," Shirou parroted. "I helped a classmate of mine escape to get help and went off to help Aizawa as soon as possible–"
"Why?"
He blinked at the interruption, lowering the bowl and gazing back at Yu, the pro hero having long since devoured her bowl of dinner.
Shirou would have noted the impressive feat but from the look in her eye… it was both nonchalant yet focused. A dichotomy that Shirou didn't know could exist.
It unnerved him.
"What do you mean?" Shirou found himself saying.
"Why did you throw yourself in danger? When the teachers specifically told you not to?" Yu questioned. "And don't lie, I asked your classmates while you were talking with that blonde kid earlier."
That was when he was talking to Bakugo…
Shirou sighed.
"Aizawa looked like he needed help," Shirou replied. "He was trapped without a chance for escape and by chance a few of my classmates were there too. So in the end, by going there, I ended up saving them."
Yu regarded him for a second before sighing.
"I know that…" She muttered with her downcast eyes growing mellow by the second. "I know that… yet it doesn't make me feel happy, you know?" Her eyes rose back to him. "I know you managed to save people, but you're still my son. Hearing that you put yourself in danger like that isn't something I'd like hearing on a daily basis."
Shirou furrowed his brow. "What do you mean by daily–?"
"If you become a pro hero, then you'll be throwing yourself at villains until there'll be no more jobs for the rest of us," She said it lightly, yet there was sadness encroaching on that tone. "Day in and day out, once you become an adult you'll just keep fighting… but what about your own? You're a person too, my own son."
Shirou frowned... something that Yu already caught onto as he finished his dinner.
"I told you why I wanted to be a hero, right?"
Yu nodded, it was a story that neither of them could forget. A couple of months after the adoption was finalized, Shirou had told her that he wanted to be as happy as his father who saved him. He envied that look of being saved, his look of utter joy.
It was something that Yu both admired yet abhorred, but Shirou could not understand why.
"Saving people isn't wrong," Shirou said. "Besides, everything ended alright. There's nothing to worry about now."
Other than Avenger still being on the loose with a whole League of Villains beside him.
"I know that that but it's still frustrating–!"
Yu's rant fell silent before it could fully take shape. She took a calming breath and let out a sigh.
"You're preaching to the choir here, Shirou. I'm a hero too, you know? Saving people is my job… but that doesn't mean that I make it my only reason for living."
She leveled her gaze. Shirou didn't miss the glistening in her eyes as tears threatened to fall.
"I have you, my son, here as my reason for living. A person shouldn't just live for a single goal in mind, not like what you want." She rose from her chair. "Damn it… I sound like my mom. Sorry about today, Shirou."
She walked away, most likely back to her room to rest from the very stressful day.
"But…" Yu muttered as she turned back. "I am happy that you're alright, Shirou."
Shirou heard a door close itself while he continued to stare at the empty bowl in his hands.
He sighed and stared up to the dangling ceiling light, noting that the gripping feeling that coiled around his chest did not fade… all the while the wall clock to the side ticked away.
… Looks like he was going to be doing the dishes tonight.