Izuku raised his arms up over his head, stretching and relieving the little bit of stiffness that had built up over the last few hours. His wings followed the motion, at least as far as they could before the tips hit the walls of his bedroom.
He'd just wrapped up his last analysis request of the day; a unique and highly specific form of telekinesis that seemed to only work on copper and copper alloys. Now it was time for him to get moving. He could feel the steady streams of contentment that 'Observation' was picking up from the other members of the apartment begin to fade away, replaced by the soft kaleidoscope of emotion that typically came with wakefulness.
Rising up from his desk, he moved over to the glass wall that connected to the balcony, taking a few moments to bask in the morning sunlight. Then, already dressed for the day from when he'd returned from his night out as Oni, he made his way to the door, which slid open at his approach.
As he passed by the door that led to Iona's room, he smiled as he glanced in with 'All Sight' and saw her curled up against Kemono, both of them wrapped up in a blanket.
Moving into the kitchen, Izuku set about gathering up everything he would need to start preparing breakfast. He had everything set out and was just turning on the stove when he felt the stream of emotion from Ochako change abruptly, signaling a sudden awakening. Shifting his focus with 'All Sight,' he saw her sitting up and reaching for the alarm clock that was likely the culprit. Seeing that, he picked up the pace, moving a bit quicker to prepare the food.
A few minutes later, Izuku hummed quietly to himself as he moved through the kitchen. The smell of breakfast filled the apartment, helping its occupants to wake up.
Ochako had already gotten up and made her way to the kitchen, and was sitting at the table, her head propped up on an arm as she tried to keep herself from falling back asleep. Despite her efforts, her eyes were still beginning to drift shut.
Before she could dose off though, Izuku leaned over the table to set a plate of food in front of her, with just a touch more force than was necessary. The resulting thunk of ceramic on wood and the smell of the food right under her nose roused her from her almost-sleep.
"Good morning." He said with a smile, already turning back to prepare another plate.
"Mhm… Mornin'." She mumbled in response, already picking up her fork to dig in.
Another minute and Izuku had three more plates set out, just in time as Rei, who had since woken up and gone to retrieve Iona, emerged into the living room, carrying her. Iona had her arms around Rei's neck, and looked to barely be awake.
Rei smiled at him as she sat Iona at the table, settling in next to her and holding her upright, slowly urging her to wake up.
A few minutes later and the three of them were faring much better. Ochako was almost completely alert, Iona was able to remain upright under her own power and had started eating, and Rei—who had already been the most alert of the three—was following her example, savoring the food Izuku had prepared.
Izuku joined them at the table, and for several long minutes they simply ate in silence, enjoying the food and the comfort of each other's company.
Before too long though, Izuku—having determined that everyone was awake enough to engage in conversation—spoke up.
"Do you know how many of the others are supposed to be there today?" He asked Ochako.
"As far as I know, it should be just about everyone. I think Todoroki and Bakugou are the only two that haven't given an answer."
With Yueii's summer camp coming up, as well as the trip to I-Island—which evidently a few other members of 1-A were planning to attend as well—some of their classmates had put together a plan to meet up and do all of the shopping that needed to be done in preparation for both events. As well as eat lunch together, and likely whatever else they felt like.
Izuku didn't see much appeal in meeting with everyone else just to complete a few errands, but the idea seemed to excite Ochako, and the two of them did still need to go out to do just that. Besides, it would provide an opportunity for him and Rei to take Iona out, both to spend time with her somewhere that wasn't the apartment, and to give her a chance to pick out decorations for her room, and likely more toys and other such things than she would know what to do with.
That trip happened to be scheduled for today. The timing of that worked out fairly well. Aside from the fact that they were just a short few days away from the I-Island trip, Izuku had also put in an order for a number of clothing items especially for that trip, something that he'd paid quite a bit to have expedited so it would be ready in time, and which was due to be picked up today. More than that, the store that he'd ordered from: the one he frequented as Oni for those particular outfits, happened to be located in the same shopping center that they would be going to today.
Currently, the plan was to leave in a few hours, and arrive at the shopping center in time for lunch. Said shopping center wasn't even that far of a trip from the apartment. They'd be able to travel there on foot and make it in a reasonable amount of time.
Izuku nodded. "Makes sense. Those two have the least amount of association with anyone else in the class. Does anyone even know if either of them are going to I-Island?"
"Kirishima is pretty sure that Bakugou is going, but I don't think anyone knows anything about Todoroki."
Aside from Izuku, Ochako, and Tsuyu, the classmates that were evidently going to I-Island were: Iida and Yaoyorozu, who got tickets to the expo and the gala afterwards by virtue of their families, with Momo bringing Jirou and Ashido along with her, Kirishima, Sero, Satou, Hagakure, Shoji, Kouda, Tokoyami, Aoyama, and Ojiro, who bought regular tickets to the expo, but not the gala, and Kaminari and Mineta, who managed to get a temporary job at the expo, granting them admittance.
Actually, with the possible exceptions of Bakugou and Todoroki, everyone in their class would be attending.
Well, except for Izuku. Technically 'Izuku' wouldn't be attending at all.
Rei looked up from her food. "How long does the I-Island trip last again?"
"Including the day we leave, eight days, with us getting back on the ninth." Izuku answered. "The tickets we have grant us early access to the Expo, so we'll get there a day before everything starts. The Expo itself lasts for a week, with the reception party taking place on the evening of the last day. Then we'll be traveling back the day after that."
Rei squinted for a moment, thinking, before smiling at him. "Back just in time for your birthday then. Good."
Izuku grinned at her. "Yep, just in time."
"What's I-Island?" Iona asked, looking up from her food.
"I-Island," Izuku answered almost immediately, smiling down at her "is a really big city out in the middle of the ocean. A bunch of really smart people work there. They do all sorts of stuff like learning about quirks and making costumes for heroes."
"In fact," he continued, "I'm pretty sure that the people there make Miruko's costumes for her."
"Really?" She asked, eyes widening, her early-morning exhaustion all but forgotten. "Can I go too?"
"Maybe not this time." He said, reaching out and ruffling her hair. "But don't worry. Next time I go I'll take you along with me."
That seemed to be good enough for her, as she responded with an excited "Okay!"
From there they fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the food and one another's company as the other three slowly woke up fully. Soon enough, Izuku was collecting everyone's plates and started the process of cleaning everything up.
As he did, Ochako got up from the table, taking Iona with her. They were heading to Iona's room so Ochako could help her pick out an outfit for the shopping trip. Rei remained at the table, watching him.
"Four days in and you're already planning trips for her?" She teased after a minute.
He grinned. "Of course. She'll like it. And evidently her doctor recommended that she go there at some point anyway so that they could take a closer look at her brain, so if we can manage to confirm her health while we're there, then all the better."
"Oh and don't tell her yet," he continued, "but I'm fairly certain I can also arrange an actual meeting between her and Miruko at some point."
Rei's eyebrows raised. "Oh? How's that?"
"I met Miruko when I took Ochako to her internship. She attacked out of the blue when we arrived, and I fended her off. Before I left, she expressed an interest in actually fighting me. She came across as a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to arrange something like that in exchange for meeting Iona."
"An adrenaline junkie, huh? The two of you ought to get along quite well then."
"Ha. Maybe. Depends on how much of a fight she can put up. In terms of close-quarters-combat and raw strength output, she's supposed to be second only to All Might, at least in Japan. And actually, she might be greater than him in certain aspects, since his superior physical capabilities have led to him relying more on simply overwhelming his opponents than actual skilled combat, unlike Miruko, who excels in just that."
"Isn't that how you fight as well though? Just brute force your opponents?"
"For the most part, yeah. But with the majority of my fights putting me against multiple combatants, and with my habit of letting the enemies make a move before retaliating, unlike All Might, who more often than not incapacitates his opponents before they can do anything, I have a fair bit of experience moving around and dealing with my enemies' attacks rather than simply overpowering them. This, combined with my general fighting experience and outright speed, means that I can respond to just about any sort of combat skill or style an opponent could use against me. And if it doesn't, I am nothing if not adaptable."
Before Rei could respond, Iona and Ochako returned to the living room, interrupting their conversation. The two of them had picked out a lime green shirt and pink pants for her to wear. They ignored Izuku and Rei, instead settling down in front of the tv. Izuku, having finished cleaning up, turned to watch them. He smiled as Ochako lifted Iona into her lap.
It had only been a few days since Izuku and Rei had adopted her, but things were going almost perfectly. Certainly as well as he'd hoped, if not better. She was getting along with all three of them exceedingly well. She actively interacted with everyone, and was happy more often than not, which Izuku was able to confirm with certainty thanks to 'Observation.' She still wasn't quite able to eat dinner in the kitchen with them, and she'd been woken up by a nightmare again last night, but both situations were improving. They could get her to eat while in the living room, so long as either Izuku or Rei was the one helping her, so that their tail could block Iona from seeing the kitchen and the door that led to it from the outside. And the simple fact that she wasn't having nightmares every night was enough of an indication that she would be able to get through it.
Even Kemono, Iona's quirk, was warming up to them. He couldn't quite interact with them in most conventional ways, lacking the ability to speak and only being visible to Iona and Izuku, but he was still doing so in his own way. More often than not he was physically manifested, rather than staying within Iona, and would either sit a short distance from everyone, watchful but relaxed, or would be sitting on or against one of them, particularly Rei and Izuku, as he'd apparently taken a liking to laying on their tails.
Last night, after Iona had come to him after being woken up by a nightmare, and had fallen back asleep in his arms, Izuku had noticed Kemono curled up within the coils of his tail.
Izuku's smile faltered for a short instant as a thought entered his mind, one that been doing so on and off since he and Rei had first brought Iona home, before returning.
"I think I'm going to tell her." He said, quietly.
He looked over at Rei, who had turned to look at him. "Iona. I think I'm going to tell her about my quirk."
Her eyes widened. "Whoa, are you sure?" She asked, voice hushed.
"Not really. But it's something I need to do at some point. She'll find out eventually, just like Ochako did. Better that it happens now deliberately, when I can control the situation and explain it under my terms, rather than later accidentally."
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "And besides, despite the apprehension that I feel at the prospect, part of me does want to do this."
He was nervous, sure, and this was a spur-of-the-moment idea, but despite that, this was something he both wanted and needed to do. Logic aside, Iona was now essentially his child. He wanted her to know about him and his quirk, and not just because there were a number that he wanted to show off to her. Maybe it was the result of some form of parental instinct that he was unaware of. Some sort of desire to be loved by one's child. Whether that was the case, or he was simply making connections that weren't there to quantify his desire to follow through with this, didn't change the fact that he would be, despite how much his nerves made him not want to.
He knew that there was a chance that she would react negatively, that she would respond with fear, which was where most of his apprehension was coming from—he loved her, had claimed her as a member of his family, had brought her into his home, and had already decided that he would do anything to make sure she got the chance to grow up happy. He didn't much like the thought of her being afraid of him—but the advantage was his. Iona was young, which meant that she was highly suggestible. Children her age generally believed and understood what they were told, especially if it came from an adult, and even more so if said adult was a parent or parental figure. Combine that with the fact that he could choose how he explained things to her, and had the ability to monitor both her thoughts and emotions to gauge her reactions, meant that he could reveal his quirk in a way that would not invoke fear.
Rei looked at him with concern. "Well… so long as you've thought it out, and you're sure. Just… be careful, alright?"
His smile became more genuine at her words. "Don't worry. I will."
"When are you going to tell her?"
"Today. Probably before we head out to meet up with everyone."
Rei nodded. "Alright. How do you want to do this? Do you want either myself or Ochako to be there, or would you rather be alone with her?"
"Alone." He answered. "I'll take her into either my room or hers."
"Okay." She said, before moving closer and wrapping him in a hug. "Good luck. I hope everything goes well."
He reciprocated, wrapping his arms around her, even as he kept his eyes on Ochako and Iona. "Me too."
As soon as the show that Ochako and Iona were watching was over, Izuku and Rei moved. Rei called Ochako away, to explain what was about to happen, leaving Iona alone in the living room. Izuku approached her barely a minute later.
"Hey Iona." He called, grabbing her attention. "I've got something cool to show you. Wanna see?"
She looked up at him with her too-big eyes, full of childlike excitement and curiosity. "Okay!"
Gesturing for her to follow him, he led her back to his room, leaving hers for her to retreat to if the worst outcome of this conversation came to pass, and she ended up running from him in fear.
With the door closing behind her, he lowered himself down to her level and held out his hands like they were cupped around something.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yeah!"
Taking a deep breath, he opened his hands, holding them palm-up to show the flowers that completely covered them, courtesy of 'Florist.'
Iona gasped, and her eyes went almost comically wide. "Wooaah. They're so pretty!"
He smiled at her reaction. "That's not all." He said. "Watch."
Focusing on the flowers blooming across his hands, he pulled on and activated 'Lightbulb.' A few seconds later, they began to glow.
Were it possible, Iona's eyes would've widened further. As it was, her mouth had dropped open, and she reached out to grab at one of his hands, pulling it closer so she could look at the glowing flowers.
"They're so pretty!" She repeated, before looking up at him. "How'd you do that?"
"You wanna know?" He asked, as more flowers sprouted, the effect starting to climb up his wrists.
She nodded. "Yeah!"
"Well…" He drawled. "It's a secret. But if you promisenot to tell anyone else, then I suppose I can tell you."
She was nodding almost frantically before the words had even fully left his mouth.
"I won't tell! I promise!"
"Alright then." He said, leaning closer and lowering his voice. "I actually have more than one quirk."
Iona tilted her head at that, and Izuku—who had already been watching her emotions with 'Observation'—could feel the confusion mixing in with the excitement she'd just been displaying.
"But I thought that everyone only has one quirk?"
"That's true." Izuku said, nodding. "Everyone is born with only one quirk. But the quirk that I was born with is special."
"You see," he continued, "my quirk lets me take quirks from other people."
He was relieved when the stream of confusion didn't give way to fear or anything like it. She was still just curious and trying to understand.
"But… isn't taking things wrong?"
Izuku nodded. "Most of the time it is, but it depends on why you're taking it, and who you're taking it from."
He thought for a moment, before continuing. "You know how bad people, like the villains on tv, get in trouble with the police, and get taken to jail so they can't do bad things anymore?"
"Uh huh."
"That's kinda like what I do." Izuku said. "I take quirks away from bad people. That way they can't use them to hurt anyone else."
Iona's eyes widened a little bit, and Izuku felt a bit of excitement work its way back through the confusion.
"So you're kinda like a hero?"
Izuku's hearts clenched at that, and he smiled at her. "Almost. I go around and save people, and I punish the villains."
"In fact," he continued, lowering his voice a bit, "I even have a costume. Would you like to see it?"
She gasped at that. "Yeah!"
"Alright, close your eyes for me. And no peeking, okay? Kemono too."
She nodded immediately, before slapping her hands over her eyes.
Izuku smiled, even as he pulled on the quirks needed to change his face to Oni, using 'Florist' at the same time to pull back the flowers that decorated his hands. It was done within seconds, horns sprouting from his head and hair changing in length and color. The only thing he didn't change was the presence of his snake tail; he'd leave that in place for now. With that done, he pulled a black vest—he was already wearing a red button-up—from within 'Hotbar' and donned his mask.
"Alright." He said after a moment, his voice altered. "You can look now."
Iona moved her hands away from her eyes to look at him, and immediately gasped at the sight. This time, Izuku chuckled at her expression.
"You-! You're the-! The hero that saved me!"
His hearts warmed at her calling Oni, calling him a hero.
"Yep! That's right. I'm the one who found you that night, and stopped the bad men from hurting you.
Iona was practically vibrating in place, her hands absently reaching for him, making little grabbing motions.
He bent down and scooped her into his arms, and she reached up to touch his mask.
"I go out almost every night to help people like you, and stop the villains."
She didn't react to that, too preoccupied with his appearance. She pulled his head forward by the mask, and reached up to touch one of his horns.
"Those are the kind of people that I take quirks from." He said. "Bad people, who try to hurt others."
She reacted to that though. Pulling her hands back, she looked up at him.
"So… you only take from bad people?"
Izuku nodded. "That's right. Only bad people."
She seemed to think for a moment—the thoughtful expression on her face was adorable—before smiling. "Okay!"
He almost laughed at how easily she accepted it. Shifting her around in his arms, he set her down, before reaching up to take off his mask. He held it out to her, and she grabbed it and immediately held it up to her face. Izuku wished he could take a picture to show Rei.
As she looked up at him through the mask, she seemed to just notice that his face had changed. And just like that her focus shifted again.
"How come your face looks different? Is that because of…" she paused to look around, before lowering her voice to a whisper that probably would've been audible through his door if it wasn't soundproof. "Is that because of a quirk too?"
"That's right." He responded, using the same quirks to revert the changes to his face. Her eyes widened once more as his face changed, horns receding into his head and hair lengthening and changing color. Her hands lowered from where they were holding the mask to her face.
"Wooah." She whispered, reaching out to him again. He lowered himself to her level, and she reached out to pat at his once-again-curly hair where his horns just were, confirming that they were really gone.
"How many quirks do you have?"
"Oh, lots and lots." He answered. "They let me do all sorts of things. They make me as strong and as fast as All Might, they let me fly, and breathe fire. They even let me see through walls and control the weather."
"Woah!" She exclaimed again. "That's so cool!"
Izuku felt the last of his anxiety, which had been slowly fading away as the conversation wore on, disappear with her reaction. Not once during his explanation had her emotions shown even the slightest bit of fear.
"You really think so?" He asked, smiling.
"Yeah! People are only supposed to have one quirk, but you have lots! And they make you really strong!"
She gasped, as if she had a sudden realization. "You might even be as strong as Miruko!"
Izuku wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to handle her being so adorable for much longer. Smiling at her, he reached out and set his hand on her head, ruffling her hair and pulling her into his arms.
"I wish I had a quirk like yours." She said, voice partially muffled.
And oh-.
If Izuku didn't have the ability to check with 'All Sight,' he would've thought that both of his hearts had burst right then and there.
He swallowed back a sudden lump of emotion in his throat. This child… She would be the end of him. So innocent, so openly honest about liking the part of him that for so long had been the part that he hated the most. If it hadn't been a certainty before, it most definitely was now; he would do absolutely anything for her.
She could ask him for the world, and he would present it to her on a silver platter.
But… that thought gave way to another. He looked at Iona and knew with absolute certainty that he would do anything and everything in his power to ensure that she could grow up happy, healthy, and loved. He knew with certainty that he would sooner tear out his own heart than let anything happen to her. As far as he knew, this was a common sentiment among parents—though perhaps his was stronger, or more intense, if for no other reason than because he was capable of doing so much more for her than most—so then… Why hadn't his mother felt the same?
Iona could stab him in the heart right at this very moment, could declare that she hated him and wanted nothing more to do with him, and he knew that his determination to provide for her and protect her would not falter in the slightest. Hell, she could even do to him what he had done to his mother and it wouldn't change a thing. So where was the disconnect? What was the independent variable?
Of the six people that knew of his quirk, she was the only one to not at least accept it. Even Yagi, though he had more reason than anyone to dislike it, and though he had revealed the secret to Gran Torino in a moment of fear-induced weakness, had accepted it, and had even displayed curiosity and interest in it. She was the odd one out. Granted, of the six, she'd been the only one for whom the revelation had come in the form of him taking her quirk, but it had been without pain, and the result of an accident.
So, if she was the only one to dislike it thus far, despite knowing him far better than anyone else had at the moment of learning about it, and had reacted so harshly that she either ignored or completely discarded the parental instincts that Izuku was fairly certain that most parents possessed, enough to even go so far as to try to—however indirectly—kill him. Wouldn't that mean-?
If she was the outlier in so much of this, if so much evidence pointed to her reaction being the one that was strange…
That would mean that the fault for what happened to him lay entirely with her, wouldn't it?
Izuku's head felt slightly fuzzy, and his vision was a bit blurry. He vaguely recognized Tamako darting away from his mind.
Iona shifting slightly in his arms snapped him back into focus. Blinking his eyes, he realized that the blurriness was the result of tears. Activating 'Shower in a Can' had them drying instantly.
Moving a hand up to Iona's head, he ruffled her hair again.
After a moment, he noticed Kemono appear a few feet away, looking at the two of them.
Smiling, Izuku extended a hand towards him in a silent invitation, which was accepted immediately. He scrubbed his hand across Kemono's furry head before pulling him into the hug as well.
After a minute of this—which Izuku may or may not have pulled on 'Quick Thinker' to extend so that he might savor it just a bit longer—he separated from them.
"Would you like to see some of the other quirks that I have?
Excitement was once again Iona's predominant emotion as she responded with an enthusiastic "Yeah!"
Smiling at her reaction, Izuku picked out the one that he felt she'd enjoy the most.
Then, without warning, he transformed into a cat.
He was pretty sure that, sound proofing or no, Rei and Ochako heard her excited squeal.
Izuku hummed to himself as he moved down the sidewalk. Rei was at his side, the two of them parting the crowd of pedestrians like the Red Sea, Ochako and Tsuyu were walking just ahead, and Iona was sitting on his shoulders, fingers buried in his hair. They were currently on their way to meet up with the rest of 1-A at the mall.
The day was perfect for something like this, both in terms of weather and in general. Izuku was on cloud nine at the moment after revealing his quirk to Iona—both the relief at her reacting with excitement, enthusiasm, and curiosity rather than fear, and the excitement he'd felt at showing off so many of his quirks to her had him almost giddy—and had pulled on 'Tempest' to make the weather match his mood.
As the mall came into view, Izuku noticed a few of their classmates standing outside, likely waiting for everyone to show up. Specifically, he saw Ashido, Hagakure, Kaminari, Shoji, and Kouda.
Once they were close enough for Ochako and Tsuyu to notice them, they picked up the pace to meet up with them. Izuku, Rei, and Iona caught up a minute later.
Before Izuku could even get a greeting out, Ashido cut him off.
"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, moving towards him. "Etsumi! Who is that!?"
She stopped just a few short feet away, staring up at Iona with wide eyes. "She's so cute! Is she your little sister?"
"Hello to you too, Ashido." He greeted. "This here is Iona. And she isn't my sister. Technically she's my daughter. We adopted her a few days ago."
That stunned her into silence. Now she was staring at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. Kaminari and Hagakure mimicked her shock behind her, and even Shouji and Kouda displayed a bit of emotion at that.
It took her a few moments to recover, but once she did-.
"Your DAUGHTER!?" She all but screamed, attracting the attention of the surrounding pedestrians.
"Yes." He answered. "Please lower your voice."
He reached up to Iona as he spoke, settling his hand on her back. She'd been handling Ashido's attention surprisingly well, but he'd felt apprehension and the slightest bit of fear manifest at the scream and the attention from everyone around them.
Thankfully, Ashido listened to him, and the pedestrians were too busy with their own lives to spare much more than a glance once they realized nothing was happening.
"What the heck, Etsumi?" Ashido asked, much quieter this time. "We haven't even finished out first year at Yueii, and you adopted a kid?"
"That's what I just said, yes."
"Why?"
"Because I could. And because I wanted to. What other reason do I need?"
Before she could get a chance to say anything else, Izuku patted Iona on the back.
"Iona, this is Ashido. She's going to Yueii to become a hero just like Ochako and I."
"H-hello." Iona greeted, lifting a hand to wave. "I like your eyes. They're pretty."
Ashido made an odd squeaking noise, clenching a hand over her chest.
"So adorable." She whispered. Then, looking back to Izuku. "I can't believe you adopted someone so cute and didn't even tell me!"
"I'm telling you right now."
She narrowed her eyes at him, but he started moving towards the mall again before she could respond.
"Come on." He said, gesturing for her and the others to follow him. "Obviously you all have lots of questions. If you're going to harass me, it might as well be while we're eating lunch."
They all complied, trailing behind him as he led them into the mall and to a restaurant with outdoor seating able to accommodate his and Rei's tails. Soon enough, they were seated around a few tables, and the other students got a chance to fawn over Iona. Most of it was done by Ashido and Hagakure, who did their best to keep her for themselves, but even the other three had their attention completely captured by her. Izuku even saw Shouji and Kouda entertaining her with their quirks. Shouji was splitting his arms apart and morphing them for her amusement, and Kouda used his to call nearby birds to him, convincing them that Iona wasn't a threat, and to perch themselves in her hair.
Izuku was pleasantly surprised, and quite pleased to see how well Iona was handling their attention. Considering the fact that they were all strangers, and that her first meeting with one of them had slightly scared her, he thought that it would've taken a bit longer for her to warm up to them. He imagined it was at least partly due to the friendly dispositions of Hagakure and Ashido in particular, and the fact that they were fawning over her. Then there was also Iona's interest in everyone's quirks. With how much she enjoyed seeing them, and with how curious she was, Izuku was beginning to suspect that him revealing all—or at least most—of his to her earlier in the day had fostered some sort of fascination with quirks.
Even Kemono made an appearance to interact with the students. Particularly with Hagakure, likely due to the similarities they shared. He was limited in how much he could actually interact with them, but it wasn't long before Hagakure was fawning over him as well, fascinated both with his invisibility and how he was covered in incredibly fluffy fur.
The students' interacting with Iona only died down once their food arrived. Instead they took the chance to bombard Izuku with questions.
As they ate, and as Izuku did his best to satisfy their curiosity, more of their classmates began to arrive in the mall. Some made their way over to the same restaurant that Izuku and the others had chosen, sitting at nearby tables—which caused a repeating cycle as each new arrival noticed Iona—and some ended up eating elsewhere.
Once they finished eating lunch, and the few remaining students arrived, everyone split into groups to start shopping. Izuku, obviously, stayed with Rei, Iona, Ochako, and Tsuyu.
They made their way around to a few different stores to pick out what they needed for the two trips, which actually wasn't very much. Izuku already had plenty of clothes and, thanks to her shopping trip with Rei earlier in the year, so did Ochako. They mostly only needed the suitcases to carry everything, and perhaps a few toiletry items.
Izuku had already picked up the only clothes he'd needed to get today; a set of outfits that he needed for I-Island, and the plan that he'd been putting together for the trip. He now carried it all draped across his arm, and would try them on once he got home, as he needed legs to do so.
For the most part, the majority of the shopping that Izuku—and Rei—did was to treat Iona. They hadn't yet taken her shopping for clothes and decorations for her room, and so were taking this opportunity to do just that. Between all of the stores they visited, they accumulated a number of bags stuffed full of everything from clothes, to posters, to hero merch, to even toys. By the time they'd gotten everything for her that they wanted, they were carrying enough to make Izuku decide to start making subtle use of 'Hotbar,' tucking away a bag at a time every few minutes, until it was a much more manageable amount.
Soon enough, they'd nearly finished up. They only had another stop or two before they'd be ready to head home.
They were moving towards one such stop, with Iona still on Izuku's shoulders and Rei by his side, and Ochako and Tsuyu walking ahead, when a voice sounded out from behind them.
"Izuku?"
Izuku froze in place immediately, surprising Rei, who stopped a moment later upon noticing, looking back at both him and the person behind. Ochako and Tsuyu stopped a few seconds later.
"Izuku?" Rei said, looking at him in confusion and concern, glancing again at the person behind him.
He didn't want to turn to look. He recognized that voice. He knew who it belonged to. And even if he didn't, even if his enhanced mind would let him forget it after all this time, he could never forget the face of the one it came from, the face that had abruptly captured all of his attention, and that had him questioning how he'd missed its approach.
"Wait…" Tamako said. "Isn't that…?"
Izuku dry-swallowed, and forced himself to move.
"Ochako." He said, voice a bit strained. "You and Tsuyu still need to find dresses for I-Island, right?"
"Yeah." She responded, nodded. "Izuku, what's-?"
Izuku cut her off. "Why don't you two go on ahead to do that." Then, reaching up to pick Iona up off of his shoulders, he continued. "Iona, how about you go with them. Help them pick out something pretty. If you do a good job, you can pick one out for yourself as well."
"Okay!" Iona said excitedly, running over to them and taking Ochako's hand.
Ochako was looking at him with confusion and concern, but she turned to walk away as he gestured for her to go.
As they disappeared into the crowd, Izuku took a deep breath, preparing himself. He definitely was not ready for something like this.
Then, forcing his expression into what he hoped was a friendly smile, Izuku turned around to look at Inko Midoriya, his mother.
She'd hardly changed at all since the last time he'd seen her, aside from perhaps being just a bit heavier, and from a slight bit of visible aging.
"Hello." He greeted. "Sorry, did you need something?"
He was not prepared for something like this. He'd never thought that he'd ever see her again. In fact, a significant part of him had actively hoped that he wouldn't. For so long his thoughts and emotions surrounding her were and incomprehensible storm flip-flopping between sadness, self-hatred, disappointment, and outright anger. The scant few times he'd thought about this scenario, he could never be sure of how he would react or what he would do.
And now here he was, with Inko standing just a few feet away, and he still didn't know. His best bet was to pretend as though he didn't know her, and try to end the exchange as quickly as possible and beat a hasty retreat.
"I-Izuku." She stammered out. "It's- it's me. I'm-. I-."
As she tried to stumble through whatever she wanted to say, Rei continued to glance between her and Izuku. He could practically see the gears turning in her head.
Then, without warning, he felt the stream of emotion from Rei go from a mix of confusion and concern, to a quick flash of realization, and then to a wave of pure rage, something that shocked Izuku far more than even Inko's appearance.
"You!" She hissed, expression twisting to match the fiery anger that Izuku felt from her.
She lunged at Inko, hands outstretched, only to halt in place as Izuku grabbed her by the shoulder to hold her back. At the same time he had to force Tamako to return to him, as they had chosen that moment to try to jump to Inko.
Rei's head whipped around to look at him. Her eyes were wild.
"Izuku!? Let me go! Don't you know who-"
"Reiko." Izuku said, cutting her off, his tone and the look in his eyes making her go silent. He gave his head a small shake, and she pulled back, her expression evening out somewhat.
Pulling her back so that she was behind him, he looked back to Inko, trying to smile.
"Sorry about that. Now, did you need something? Because if not, we still have a bit of shopping to do, and I'd like to get back to it."
"I-Izuku, please. I'm-. I'm your mother. I've been wanting to see you after I realized-. After I saw you in the sports festival. I wanted to tell you that-. That I'm sorry-."
Izuku's eyes widened, and the storm of emotion within him, that had been present whenever he'd thought of her over the last almost fifteen years, finally settled on one emotion in particular.
In the blink of an eye, all of his enhancers were yanked into place. His hand was halfway to her throat before he caught himself, just barely refraining from crushing her.
His fist clenched hard enough to fracture the bones in his fingers as it returned to his side. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Sorry?" He whispered. "You dumped me on the side of the road like an unwanted pet and you're sorry?"
His anger was not eased in the slightest by the fact that he actually felt genuine regret and sadness from her. No, somehow that only made it worse.
"Do you have any idea what I had to go through just to survive? Do you have any idea how hard it is for a child to survive being homeless in a city?"
"I-Izuku, I-."
"Hard enough that you almost got what you wanted." He continued, cutting her off. "I very nearly died, somany times. Had it not been for a mixture of my quirk and sheer luck, I would've been dead by the third day. Strangled to death in that very alleyway."
"And even after I just barely managed to get away from that, had I not been found by the woman behind me, my sister, who is an absolute saint by the way, I wouldn't have survived the week. She is the closest thing to a mother that I have, because she is the one who ended up raising me when you couldn't cut it. Maybe try apologizing to her for making her do your job."
Inko was speechless, stuck staring at him with her mouth hanging open. He could feel her sadness and regret growing more intense. That, in turn, only served to intensify his own anger, though maybe that was simply due to her continued presence.
He huffed. His anger was making it difficult to think.
"I mean, what did you think was going to happen here?" He asked. "Did you think that you'd just come up to me after nearly fifteen years, interrupt me spending time with my family to beg for forgiveness, and then- what? Expect me to get all emotional that I finally get to see my long-lost mother again? Did you maybe expect things to go back to the way they were before, mother-and-son, as if I'd be anything even close to happy to see you?"
"N-no, but-."
"But nothing." Izuku hissed. "You have no reason to speak to me. If you seek forgiveness, try speaking to Rei, or maybe go to the police and confess your crimes, hell, pick a god and pray if you have to, just don't expect any from me."
"You have no reason to speak to me." He repeated, leaning in closer and dropping his voice even lower. "You no longer have any place in my life. You made certain of that all those years ago. You've lost the right to approach me, or to even view me as your son. You've lost the right to be part of my family, and you've lost the right to even interact with the little girl that would've been your adopted granddaughter."
Inko's eyes widened, but before she could say anything, a new voice called out from behind Izuku, interrupting the exchange.
"Auntie Inko?"
In an instant, Izuku leaned back away from Inko and forced the anger from his expression as much as he could.
Bakugou stopped next to Izuku, looking between him, Inko, and Rei, whose face was still displaying more anger than Izuku had ever seen from her before.
"Ah, Bakugou." Izuku said, with a smile that he could tell was strained. "You know this woman?"
"Yeah, she's an old family friend." He answered. "Inko Midoriya."
"Oh, that explains it." Izuku said. "I think she might've made the same mistake you did regarding my identity."
Bakugou's expression darkened a fraction, and he looked at Inko.
"Auntie." He said, voice slightly strained. "Our Izuku's gone. You should know that."
"Ka-Katsuki." Inko stuttered. "Please. I'm-. I'm not wrong. This is Izuku, his quir-."
A sudden, very targeted exertion with 'Conqueror' cut her off, and had her dropping to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh dear." Izuku said, not an ounce of emotion in his voice, as Bakugou rushed to her side to check on her. "Is she dead?"
"She's fine." Bakugou said. "Or, she's alive at least. I'm not sure why she just passed out like that."
He pulled his phone out as he spoke, already dialing the emergency number.
"Well, it seems as though you have this under control." Izuku said, turning around. "So I think we'll go catch up to Ochako and the others."
Without sparing another glance at Bakugou or Inko, Izuku set off towards the store that Ochako, Tsuyu, and Iona had found themselves in, with Rei following just behind him.
She caught up to him a moment later, bumping up against his shoulder.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Mostly." He answered. Then, seeing her looking at him—her expression still seemed rather irate—he continued. "I am. I mean, I'm angry, unbelievably so, but I'll be good in a few minutes. I'll put everything off until tonight, when some very unfortunate criminals will have to deal with Oni blowing off some steam."
Rei reached up to rest a hand on his back.
"It's just…" He sighed. "Where does she get off trying to apologize after all this time? As if any apology could make up for leaving your own child for dead."
She started rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. "Maybe both of us should take a minute to cool our heads before we meet up with the others." She suggested. "I don't think I've ever actually been this angry."
He sighed again. "Good idea. Probably best to not let Iona see us like this."
With that, the two of them moved off to the side, to a spot next to a store entrance where they could get out of the way of the crowds, and simply take a few minutes to breathe, and relax, and take comfort in each other's presence. Izuku kept an eye on Ochako, Tsuyu, and Iona. Once they had found their dresses, Izuku and Rei would move again. Until then, they would take this chance to get their tempers under control.
Oni strode towards his first targeted location of the night, moving with purpose, and with enough weight in each step to send tiny cracks spiderwebbing across the ground as he walked.
Fourteen people spread across two floors. No quirks to be wary of, and two that he intended to take. At a glance, there didn't seem to be a single modicum of skill in the group.
As he neared the building, he ignored the door several feet to his left, instead aiming for the brick wall. He didn't slow as he reached it, and it exploded as he walked straight through, hand already wrapping around the neck of the man who was standing on the other side.
As everyone in the building reacted to the noise, he threw the criminal in his grip further into the room, right into another man. The two collided with enough force to render both unconscious.
Oni cracked his neck as the remaining twelve criminals began to gravitate towards him, the two others that were already in the room already heading straight for him, from opposite sides. One carried a knife, while the other's fists were wreathed in fire.
As they ran at him, he focused on them with 'Observation,' letting most of the world around him fade away.
Visions filled his head. As he'd already expected, he saw the knife being stabbed towards his chest, and a flaming punch thrown sloppily towards his head.
Waiting just a moment, he stepped to the side just as both of them attacked exactly as he'd seen. As he did, he watched the panic appear on both of their faces for a split second as they realized that they were both in the path of the other's attack.
Reaching out, he grabbed ahold of both of their wrists, shattering the bones beneath, before yanking the two of them together, careful to ensure that their attacks did not land. Their heads impacted with a dull thud, and a follow-up exertion with 'Conqueror' had them going limp.
Letting them fall, he stepped over their bodies towards where the next criminals would be appearing from.
The moment the first one appeared in the doorway, Oni darted forwards, with enough force to crack the ground beneath him. His hand latched onto their head, slamming it into the doorframe an instant later.
The other three scrambled to stop once they noticed him, but he didn't give them a chance to. One found their head slammed into a wall just like the first, and the second two were both grabbed and lifted by the neck, before being slammed into the ground.
He stepped over the fallen bodies as he continued onwards. six to go.
Moving through another door and into a hallway brought him face-to-face with all six. Among them were the two quirks he would be leaving with; a halo quirk, and a mutation that granted a thick, scaled tail.
The other four quirks were either useless, ugly, or uninteresting, so he wouldn't even spare them any attention.
One of the criminals said something, but he ignored it as he continued to walk towards them. After a moment, they gave up on whatever they were trying to say, and all six charged at him.
In the blink of an eye, he'd sank into the shadows and reappeared behind them all. In the time it took them to notice that he was gone, he'd grabbed ahold of the arms of two of them, crushing the bones in his grip, before grabbing their heads and bringing them together, cutting off their screaming.
Then, as the remaining four finally reacted, he stepped forward and planted a foot in the chest of one of them, sending the criminal flying down the hallway. His hand latched around the head of another and brought them close enough for him to headbutt, dropping them.
The final two were the ones in temporary possession of his new quirks. He caught both by the neck, pulling their quirks from them simultaneously in a swift yank that had both screaming. A quick exertion of 'Conqueror' had them shutting up, before he dropped them to the floor.
Oni took a deep breath as he felt the new additions settle into his chest. He tried to savor the sensation for a moment, tried to ignore the frustration that still bubbled away within him.
He sighed a second later, frowning as he looked around at the criminals sprawled across the floor. Nope, this wasn't working. His frustration hadn't abated in the slightest. He needed something more substantial, more challenging.
Shaking his head, he sank into the shadows, appearing outside the building an instant later. Maybe he should try the next one without any enhancers. Give the petty insects the slightest chance to hit him, and give himself a chance to push his body without the risk of killing anyone with a wayward flick of his wrist.
A few hours later, Oni stood on the edge of a roof, doing his best to enjoy the cool night air.
He looked down at his hands, bruised and bloody from hours of constant fighting and countless punches thrown. He hadn't yet pulled his regeneration quirks back to heal them, or the other numerous bruises and miniscule cuts that littered his body. He was still trying to savor the novelty of a somewhat challenging fight.
He wasn't feeling much better than he had been at the start of the night. In fact, if anything, he felt worse.
Sure, beating a ridiculous number of criminals senseless all night long had served to relieve the burning frustration he'd been feeling, and there had been a few moments where a fight had been almost exhilarating, but the lack of frustration just freed his mind to dwell on other things, and the minimal excitement hadn't been enough to outweigh it.
His frustration had mostly been a result of Inko appearing before him in the first place, and her belief—or at least his perception as such—that an apology could even begin to make up for what she'd done, and for what he'd gone through because of it.
Beyond that, once he'd spent a night exerting himself, dealing and receiving pain to clear it away, he was left feeling shitty, and guilty of all things.
Guilty because, despite his almost-realization after his discussion with Iona that Inko was the one at fault, not him, she was still his mother, and had come to him to apologize, feeling legitimate grief and regret, he had completely shut down her attempt to do so. He'd responded with anger, and very nearly with violence.
He knew that he'd had every right to react in such a way after what she'd done to him, but something about her being his mother, and about his refusal to even consider that apology had him feeling guilty.
He would need to talk to Rei in the morning, if for no other reason than to have his logic repeated back to him by someone else, to try to convince him that he had no reason to feel guilty.
And then all throughout the night, he'd slowly been feeling shittier, because—once again, despite his recent revelation—as he continued to pummel criminals, beat them senseless, leave them bloody and broken, he kept returning to his long-held belief that he'd deserved what had happened to him, that she'd abandoned him because he was a monster.
As he spent hours breaking bones and battering flesh, tearing quirks from their owners, he couldn't stop himself from thinking that-that was what he was: a monster that stole, and ruined, and crippled with every touch. He couldn't stop those thoughts even as he continued to move from hideout to hideout to keep doing just that. He couldn't stop himself from thinking that with each broken criminal and new quirk tucked away into his chest, he was proving his mother right, providing justification for what she'd done.
The result was that now, finally giving up on the futile endeavor to improve his mood by breaking petty criminals, all of the doubts, grief, and self-hatred that he'd been harboring since that day were all at the forefront of his mind, returning to him in full force.
Rolling his neck and taking a deep breath, Oni tilted his head back to look up at the night sky as his visitor finally made it to the roof, having watched him climb the stairs for the last few minutes.
"Hello Eraser." He greeted dryly. "How are you doing this wonderful night."
"Oni." Eraserhead responded. "What's going on with you tonight? You've been causing messes all across the city. There's been such a huge influx of criminals to process that I'm pretty sure Tsukauchi is tempted to start actively calling for your arrest again."
"If he thinks that's bad, then he definitely wouldn't envy the precincts in Hosu and Kamino. I left a much bigger mess for them to clean up."
Partway through the night he'd had to make a sudden jump over to that part of the country just so he wouldn't run out of criminals to fight. It'd had the added bonus of providing him opponents that were ever so slightly more challenging. Members of The Triad were a small step above the insects that made their home in Musutafu.
"Did someone piss you off?" Eraser asked. "You're usually much more low-key than this."
"I just needed to blow off some steam. Today was… frustrating, to say the least."
Oni turned to face Eraser as he spoke, and the man startled ever so slightly at his appearance. Oni wasn't particularly surprised. He knew he was probably quite the sight at the moment.
A significant portion of his clothing had been reduced to torn and burnt tatters hanging off his body, enough that he'd been forced to activate his scaled legs quirk to preserve his modesty. He was absolutely covered in bruises and cuts, and he was splattered with blood, both his and others'. Partway through the night, he'd taken his mask off, and in doing so had earned himself a broken nose not long after. On top of all of that, his right horn was broken off about halfway down, a result of a lucky hit from a particularly uppity member of The Triad, and the most significant injury he'd sustained.
"Must've been quite a bit more than frustrating." Eraser said, inching forward as he looked Oni up and down. "What exactly happened? What made you do… this," he gestured at Oni," to yourself?"
"Familial issues." Oni answered. "Trauma that I've been trying to bury and ignore for the past fifteen-ish years was suddenly dragged back to the surface by the one who caused it."
"And don't worry about the injuries." He continued. "They're barely even superficial. Just the result of me trying to find a challenging fight so I could blow off some steam."
As he spoke, he pulled his regenerators back into place, and immediately heat suffused his body as they went to work. Bruises faded away, cuts stitched themselves shut with a slight itching sensation, his nose snapped back into place with an audible crack, and his broken horn abruptly fell away to make room for a new one to grow in its place.
In mere seconds, he was completely healed, with just the blood and the tattered clothes remaining as evidence that anything had been wrong in the first place.
Eraser stared, wide-eyed at Oni as his injuries disappeared. He could practically see the questions on the tip of the man's tongue, but Eraser shook his head, evidently deciding to follow his other train of thought.
"Are you… okay?" He asked. "Is-. Is it anything you want to talk about?"
Some of the tension in Oni's chest, and the unpleasant thoughts and emotions in his head abated somewhat at the concern in Eraser's voice, which was mirrored by the stream of emotion picked up by 'Observation.'
Oni closed his eyes. Fuck, he was so tired. After the night he'd had, he was exhausted, much more emotionally rather than physically, but either way it was almost enough to make him miss the sensation of sleep.
He opened his eyes to look at Eraser, the concern written in his expression, and then through him to look at the concern that he was feeling.
Fuck it, might as well.
"It's nothing too exciting." He said, looking off into the distance. "My mother abandoned me and left me for dead in the middle of an alleyway on my fourth birthday."
He ignored the way that Eraser blanched at the sudden revelation.
"As you can imagine, that can leave quite the mess in a child's mind. Abandonment issues, separation anxiety, self-hatred, depression, all that fun stuff. Add to the mix all the other bullshit psychoses you end up with when said child then has to survive on the streets amidst criminal insects and other homeless, and you get quite the volatile mix."
He glanced back to Eraser. "There's a reason that my nightly actions toe the line and, more often than not, cross the line into sadism. All of that bullshit had to have an outlet somewhere."
Oni looked away again, continuing, even as Eraser opened his mouth to try to say something.
"Anyway, I've worked pretty hard over the last fifteen-or-so years to bury all of that and move on with my life. And I think I've done a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. I'm in a good place in life, physically, financially, and most of the time, mentally."
He sighed. "But today I ended up running into my mother, after years. And instead of the disdain or disappointment or even outright hatred that I'd been expecting, that I'd convinced myself she must've felt in order to do what she did, instead she showed up with grief and regret, and an apology of all things."
Oni huffed out a small laugh. Just the thought of it was sparking up frustration again.
"Can you believe that, Eraser? An apology. She just walked up to me out of the blue and tried to apologize, as if it could do anything to make up for fifteen years of suffering and almost dying and- and growing up without the love and support of a parent and- and-. FUCK!"
He turned and kicked at the lip around the edge of the roof as his anger burned through him once more. Without his enhancers present, or even his shock absorber, the impact broke all of his toes, and fractured his foot, injuries which were healed in an instant.
Oni's legs suddenly gave out beneath him, forcing him to catch himself on the same lip he'd just kicked as his knees buckled.
He waved Eraser off as the man stepped closer out of concern, just shifting himself into a seated position, leaning up against the lip. He leaned his head back to stare up at the sky. His momentary anger was already bleeding away after his outburst.
"As you can probably imagine," he said, "I didn't react too well to it. I was angry, and only just barely managed to stop myself from resorting to violence."
He knew he probably shouldn't be telling Eraser any of this, and he knew that, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even consider it, but right now he didn't care. He just… didn't. He was tired, and hurt, and confused. By this point the words were just spilling out of him.
"That's a perfectly valid response." Eraser said, kneeling down a few feet away. "After what she did, that's more than reasonable. You're not obligated to accept any apology."
"I'm aware. I can see the logic, and I know that, to a degree, my response was justified. But despite that logic, now, of all the possible things to be feeling, I feel guilty. Guilty that I completely disregarded my own mother's attempt to apologize for what she's done."
Eraser remained silent at that. His concern hadn't faltered through Oni's explanation. Rather, it had actually intensified to the point that it practically radiated off the man. There was also a slight bit of confusion that seemed to indicate that he didn't know what to say.
"Even worse than that though, is that when I sought out my usual outlet for anger and frustration, fighting criminals, I just ended up feeling shitty. Every bone I broke, every criminal I rendered unconscious, every useless insect I left to be dragged off to a hospital just seemed to justify what she did. The same justification that I've held on to for the last fifteen years: that she did what she did because I'm a monster. That-."
"Oni no!" Eraser interrupted, startling him.
He looked at the man, surprised, both by the outburst and by the fact he'd actually raised his voice.
"You're not a monster, Oni. Not even close. Not then, and certainly not now. I don't know the specifics of what happened between you and your mother, but if she abandoned you in such a way, and especially at such an age, no matter what you might've done, that makes her the monster, not you. And as for now, you're right in that your actions tend to toe the line of sadism and unnecessary force, but that doesn't make you a monster. You help far too much for that to be the case. Tsukauchi might groan and complain every time you give him extra work, but I've heard him talk about how much the crime rate in Musutafu has dropped since you became active. If you can singlehandedly drop the crime rate of an entire city without killing the criminals you target, then you're not a monster."
Eraser had such an earnest expression as he spoke, and Oni could feel in his emotions just how much the man meant what he said. He smirked as he laid his head back again.
"I appreciate the sentiment, Eraser. Really, I do. But if it were simply a matter of logic and justifying myself with my own actions, I would've dropped this train of thought years ago. But this is a belief that's been sitting and festering in my mind since about three days after the incident that caused it."
He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes. "That's part of the reason I'm so frustrated with all of this. I knowI shouldn't think like this. I'm in a better situation now than I ever have been, surrounded by more people that love me than ever before, I even have a child of my own. But now, just because my mother decided to show back up after fifteen years, these dangerous thoughts are being dragged back to the forefront despite all of that."
"You… You have a child?" Eraser asked, both his expression and his emotions morphing to display sheer bewilderment.
"Ah, shit." Oni cursed, realizing what he'd said.
He sighed. "Sorry Eraser, but it looks like that's where I'm going to have to call it. Thanks for the impromptu therapy session, but it looks like it's time for me to go."
Without giving Eraser a chance to say anything else, Oni moved. He pulled back all the quirks he'd deactivated for the sake of a challenging fight in an instant. Then, placing his hands on the lip behind him, he used his flight quirk to flip himself up and over the edge of the building, dropping over the side. The instant he was out of Eraser's sight, he vanished into the shadows, reappearing halfway across the city.
Taking a seat on the edge of the new building, he looked out over the beach that it sat next to.
Well, that had been an interesting conversation.
On the one hand, he'd revealed more to Eraserhead than he'd ever considered revealing before, even accidentally letting slip that he had a child. He knew that-that would come back to bite him in the ass at some point.
On the other hand though… He did feel a bit better after that conversation. Whether it was Eraser's reassurances, backed by such genuine emotion, or simply a matter of Oni voicing his issues to someone, he felt better than he had all night.
He sighed, sinking into the shadows once more, this time emerging in his bedroom. He would talk to Rei once she woke up. Hopefully repeating the process, voicing his thoughts, and inevitably receiving countless reassurances in return, would yield the same results. Though either way he had no doubt that talking to Rei would make him feel better.
Cracking his neck, he pulled on the quirks he needed to change his appearance. For now though, he would at least try to focus on his analysis to keep his thoughts occupied until she was awake.