Chapter Text
Deku appreciates his occasional evenings with his daughter. About twice a week one of them would be home while The other remained at the office or on duty for an evening shift. They really didn’t mind as it meant that they both got one on one time with their daughter.
Nanako was 8, soon to be turning 9. Of course, soon had started about 6 months ago it seemed, as Izuku couldn’t remember a month going by recently where his daughter hadn’t asked about her birthday. He couldn’t be annoyed at it though, this year Nanako started going to third grade 2 weeks before her birthday, in a new school since their family had moved, so there was a lot for her to look forward to.
Izuku was more worried than Nanako or Ochako about the transition, but his early school years had been harder on him than most. For the most part, it sounded like things were going well for Nanako, who was making friends and getting used to the new schedule.
Deku finished preparing dinner for himself and Nanako. Nanako told her dad about her day at school.
“I learned that they have treats when it’s your birthday, that’s cool.” Nanako pointed out to her dad, “so I get a treat next week on my birthday.”
Izuku Midoriya smiled and looked over at his daughter, “Actually, they might need to do your treat the next day.”
Nanako looked up from her food in confusion, “Why? My birthday is Thursday. Is school canceled?!”
Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle at the genuine worry in her eyes. He was immensely grateful that her first few weeks had gone so well.
“No, but your mother and I were thinking that it might be fun to go see Eri on your birthday.”
Nanako’s mouth dropped open, “Really?”
Izuku continued, “Yep. She still has to be on campus, but your mom and I spoke with the school, and they said we could come to be guest teachers on your birthday. If you’d like, you could come with us or go to school that day.”
Eri had been Nanako's main babysitter growing up, right until she got accepted into UA. Living on campus made babysitting practically impossible, but they still tried to see her when they were able. It was strange for Izuku, to see the girl he often felt was like a younger sister, become an older sister figure to his daughter. Strange though it may sound, he was immensely glad that Eri was still a part of their lives.
Izukus was pulled from his thoughts as Nanako began bobbing her head and muttering what sounded like pure gibberish. Had Ochako been present, she would have started recording her, but Izuku was just happy watching the gears turning in her young mind.
Nanako suddenly whipped back to face him, eyes bulging out of her head.
“Does that mean we’re going to UA?!” Nanako asked excitedly. She had heard so many stories from her parents' days there, from them and others. Now that Eri was enrolled there, it seemed like Nanako felt left out.
Izuku nodded, smiling at her abundant enthusiasm. “We’re going to UA, but it will be a school day, so you’ll have to behave.”
“I always behave!” Nanako declared with an indignant scowl.
Izuku, taking a large bite of katsudon in his mouth, gave her a single raised eyebrow.
“I try to...” Nanako all but whimpered.
Izuku’s face broke again into a large smile, “I know you do, I’m sorry I tease you.” He kissed her on the forehead as he began to stand up. “I’m going to call and check on your mom, then once you're done eating we can look at your homework.” Nanako nodded, smiling again, eating her dinner with the energy only an 8-year-old with a nearby birthday could.
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Nanako practically skipped with excitement as they made their way up towards the main UA facilities. She held to her mom’s hand as she looked around at all the buildings. This place was HUGE! She could see the dorms where Eri now lived, and some of the other buildings farther off where the classrooms would be. However, her parents told her that they were going to meet with Eri’s class in the USJ building, where her parents would lead some training.
A cold breeze passed by, and Nanako snuggled against her mother’s leg. Ochako reached down and picked her up.
“No kidding, it is chilly today.”
Izuku looked over at them and placed his and Ochako’s hands into his coat pockets.
“I kinda like it cold,” Izuku said, squeezing Ochako’s hand.
She smirked at him, “You would, but that’s what you get for being too hot.”
Izuku rolled his eyes away, trying to hide a blush, “Every year you make that joke, and I walk into it. First cold day of every year.”
Ochako smiled and leaned into him, “Well, I’ll keep saying it till you stop being so attractive.” Nanako pressed her face into her mom’s shoulder, not wanting to be exposed to this conversation any longer.
Ochako turned to face her little girl, “Looks like Izuku isn’t the only one tired of my flirting. Don’t worry sweet cheeks, I’ll try to tone it down when we get to Eri’s class.”
Izuku couldn’t help the chest tightening feeling that hit him. When they were told to expect a girl, he didn’t know what to think. Like any good father, he was nervous, excited, and occasionally terrified by the prospect of a daughter. Now, he couldn’t be happier.
Nanako has his green hair and a dusting of freckles on her cheeks. She even shared his green eyes. From her mom, she got some bright pink sweet cheeks and little pads on her fingers. Today she had on some blue jeans and a small pink sweater to help brace against the cold.
Izuku poked his daughter's shoulder to get her attention. “Nanako, remember when we get there not to go wandering around. UA is a big place, and I don’t want you getting lost.”
Nanako nodded, “Is Eri in that building ahead of us?”
Ochako looked ahead, “that’s where she should be in a little bit. How about I let you down and you can go see!”
Nanako took off down the short distance to the USJ building.
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Nanako couldn’t believe her eyes. There were areas that looked like destroyed cities, mountains, and even a lake with a waterfall! The biggest buildings she had been inside were school sports facilities, but they paled in comparison. She saw the large staircase in front of them that seemed to lead to the middle of this huge place. She ran towards the steps, only to be swooped up by her father.
“Wait just one sec!” Izuku said laughing, “your mom and I need to change into our hero suits.”
Nanako looked pleadingly at him, “I won’t go far! I just want to see the waterfall!”
Izuku sighed, but before he could respond, the door behind them opened to reveal a young blonde girl, in a brand new UA uniform, with a prominent horn growing from her forehead.
“Eri!” Cried Nanako. She wiggled her way from her father's grasp and ran to her. Eri squatted down to pick up Nanako in a big hug, “Nanako-Chan! How are you already bigger than the last time I saw you! Happy birthday!”
Nanako held tight to Eri before pulling back. Izuku and Ochako came up around the two. Eri put Nanako down to give Izuku and Ochako hugs. Izuku has to fight his emotions for just a sec, happy as he was to see Eri working on becoming a hero. Ochako simply smiled and shook her head before addressing the young heroine, “It’s good to see you Eri. I thought your class wasn’t starting for another 15 minutes. How long do we have to change?”
“You still have time” Eri reassured, “Aizawa sent me ahead to check on you, just make sure you were in the right spot.”
Deku nodded, “Sounds good. In that case, we’ll go get ready.”
“In fact” Ochako chimed in, “would you be willing to stay here with Nanako while we go get ready? She is a little excited to start looking around.”
Nanako looked from her father back to Eri with the biggest eyes she could muster. Eri smiled, “Does that sound alright to you Nanako?”
“YES!” The little girl blurted out. Eri and her parents chuckled at that.
“Alright, we’ll be back in a bit, behave yourself,” Ochako said. Nanako gave her a pout, but that didn’t stop Ochako from planting a loud kiss on her forehead. Nanako crossed her arms and looked away in embarrassment. Izuku smiled and took Ochako’s hand.
The two adults made their way to the changing rooms, leaving Eri and Nanako free to their own devices.
“If I had to take a guess, I think you want to visit the waterfall?” Eri mused. Nanako bobbed her head up and down and immediately took off towards the stairs that led to the large center opening. Eri laughed for a moment but quickly fell in step before this little girl could get too far ahead of her.
By the time they arrived behind the waterfall feature, Nanako was gasping for breath. She had run the whole way. Even Eri showed some sign of being winded. Nanako plopped to the ground, exhausted.
“Not a bad warm-up little green.” Eri huffed out between deep breaths. “If you keep running around like that, you’ll be in great shape to apply here one day.”
Nanako smiled, finally getting her breath back. She stood up and brushed herself off. From where they were they had a great view of the small lake housing that looked like a large cruise ship, and the abandoned city next to it.
“What is going to happen today?” Nanako asked looking up at Eri.
“What do you. . .oh! You mean what’s my class doing?” Nanako nodded. “I’m not sure to be completely honest with you. Our teacher doesn’t really tell us what’s going on until the moment before it happens.” Eri said with a smile.
“My guess though would be, since your parents are here, we will be working in that city portion over there.” She gestured towards the small group of disheveled buildings. Nanako was curious to see what was inside. Much to her parents' anxiety, Nanako had turned out to have her father's curiosity, and it drove her to explore her surroundings. She loved trips like these that took her family to new places, and UA was full of places to explore.
Nanako went down towards the small simulated city, following a dirt path around the waterfall back into the open center floor.
“Wait Nanako!” Eri shouted behind her. Nanako was afraid Eri might stop her.
“I just want to see the insides! Mom and dad said I could go with you.” Nanako reasoned. Eri sighed. She loved this little girl, even that curious part of her.
“My class will be here any second, we should…”
Right on queue, Aizawa lazily meandered into the entrance of the building high above them. A class of students followed.
Eri picked Nanako up and began to run her way up to the main entrance. Nanako didn’t even question it when Eri managed to run them both up the long flight of steps without suffering extreme exhaustion. Growing up with two top heroes did make her a little oblivious to what was considered ‘normal’ physical fitness.
Eri set Nanako down as they approached her class. Nanako took her hand and walked with her to Aizawa. All three received strange looks from her classmates, clearly not knowing what Nanako was doing with Eri in the USJ.
Aizawa ignored the looks and asked Eri, “Are our guests ready?”
Eri shook her head sheepishly, “They haven’t come back from the changing rooms, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were waiting to...you know…”
“Make an entrance?” Eri nodded and Aizawa just let out a sigh. Deku just had to model all might in any way he could, didn’t he?
Shaking his head, Aizawa instructed the students to follow him down to the buildings Eri had expected them to be training near. When asked about Nanako, he simply said she would be observing their training today.
Aizawa’s age has certainly taken its toll, but he knew his place. Though it wasn’t always obvious, he lived for two things, shaping young heroes and Eri. Those two things had folded into one this year as Eri was admitted to UA’s class 1-A. It had been one of the happiest days in Aizawa’s life.
He gathered the students in front of the makeshift city, “while heroes should be prepared for as many situations as they reasonably can, the fact is most of you will work in large cities. Today will be a rescue exercise following severe city damage. What caused it isn’t important for our purposes today…”
Nanako’s thoughts drifted away as Aizawa instructed his class on what they would be doing today. She stood by Eri in the back of the class, right by one very interesting yellow building. It was diagonal like it was knocked sideways. Nanako wondered if you could climb on the floor well enough to get to the second story.
“Eri, would you please come and introduce our guests?” Nanako looked up at Eri, who smiled at her and squeezed her hand, “I’ll be back in one sec!” Eri trotted up to the front of her class.
“You all noticed we had one surprise guest already, but she didn’t come alone,” Eri announces loudly. A few eyes passed over Nanako before looking back at Eri, “we have a couple of heroes to help us in our exercise today.” Eri took a deep breath, and called out a little louder, “they’ll help show us what it means to go...”
A whirl of green suddenly came slamming down just a few feet from Eri, followed by another in pink next to him. As soon as the light tremors stopped, Deku and Uravity pumped their fists in the air and yelled, “Plus ULTRA!”
An awkward silence followed their triumphant entry as stunned faces processed what was happening. Aizawa ducked his face behind his costume to hide a slight smile. Confusion soon gave way to excitement as students found their voices.
“That’s Deku!!”
“He and Uravity both came!”
“Why can’t we have one easy day…”
The excitement drowned out most worried grumbles. Only some weeks into UA, they were still getting used to the frequent pro hero visits and sightings. Uravity spoke before Aizawa had a chance to silence them.
“We’re happy to be here. Some of our best memories were in class 1-A, and some of your teachers' worst.” She eyes her teacher knowingly. Aizawa gave her a shrug.
“Most of my memories then are good too, it’s just the ones involving your husband that keep me up at night.” Aizawa retorted. Deku’s face mixed shock and betrayal. Aizawa made a joke during precious class time, which was already a strong sign that the aging teacher had changed in his later years. That he would throw Deku under the bus in that joke...it was unexpected, but not undeserved.
With no comment, Deku nodded his head. The students got a good laugh at that before Aizawa got their attention.
“Alright, enough distraction, we have two pros with a great deal of experience in combat and rescue situations, particularly in high population areas. While an ideal rescue should be planned out to avoid putting civilians in danger, we often don’t have much time to plan. Today you and your assigned team will need to think on your feet.”
Two students went around with team assignments. As they did, Uravity leaned over to Aizawa, “Do you know if Nanako went somewhere?”
Aizawa started, looking towards Eri in the back of the group seeking out her teammates. Aizawa looked near her for a moment, but couldn’t spot the younger girl anywhere. He spotted Eri and hoped she had some idea where she was.
“Eri,” Aizawa called. Eri’s head popped up and she turned to face him.
“Yes d...sir?” Eri stuttered out. Aizawa waved for her to come closer. Eri started to move towards him until she saw the look on Uravity’s face, then it immediately hit her.
She spun around to look where Nanako had been but didn’t see her. She quickly looked up and around.
‘Calm down, she is probably nearby exploring’.
She turned back to her dad and the two heroes.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t thinking. She must have wondered to explore the buildings behind me while I introduced you, I’ll just be a second.” Before any of the adults could tell her otherwise, Eri had run back towards a slanted building that, she suspected, housed a little trouble maker.
Izuku and Ochako watched Eri run off in search of Nanako. Deku turned to face Ochako and his old teacher.
"I'll go with her, shouldn't be hard to find her with the two of us, " Deku reasoned. Just as he started towards the building, Aizawa grabbed his arm and his expression betrayed his panic.
“What’s wrong?” Ochako demanded.
“Those buildings have been equipped with pressure plated in walls and floors to trigger obstacles during this exercise.”
Ochako’s heart sunk. So, her daughter was likely exploring a building designed to test class 1-A in high stakes situations. Just perfect. Not only that, but the building she most likely went into was built diagonally, and would probably be outfitted with even more traps than the other structurally sound looking buildings. So, in short, not good.
Deku pulled his arm free of his teacher, “Then we need to get them out of there!”
By this point, the students were fully aware that something was amiss, and Deku was beginning to panic. He looked at the building. He could be very precise with his quirk, but he was used to navigating outdoors, in the middle of a fight. Ochako on the other hand…
“I’ll head in," Ochako announced. Before Deku could retort, she cut him off, "I’m the most experienced with an indoor rescue. Keep everyone out here quiet so I can hear any response from Nanako.” Ochako instructed, and immediately removed her own gravity and made her way into the building. Deku and Aizawa made it clear to the students to remain quiet, while the two of them took up spots just outside the building, Aizawa below and Deku floating above.
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Nanako loved buildings like this. Sure, the inside wasn’t super different from a normal building, but since it was slanted, going through rooms and hallways was more like crawling than walking. The back of the building was darkest, which she knew from experience is where you find the most interesting stuff.
Nanako was a conundrum. She did not come across as a thrill seeker. She usually spoke with a soft voice and wasn't quick to befriend new people. However, get her going, and her determination matched that of either of her parents. She loved discovering new things. Bugs. Rooms. Toys. She loved whatever was novel. Her aunt Momo would even go through the effort of making scavenger hunts for her and Rei in their home and yard so the two of them could entertain themselves for hours at a time.
She was on the second floor now and had followed the slant of the building down to its lowest room. The room was empty all but for a desk that was pressed to the back wall. It looked completely out of place, almost brand new. Nanako made her way into the room skirting the wall on the left to keep her balance going down before going across the back wall to check out the desk.
Once she reached it, she took a moment to look it over. The dresser was enormous for starters. Even aunt Momo's wasn't this big, and it was made of very dark wood. She looked at the drawers and decided to start pulling them out from the bottom. But before she got a chance to even open a single drawer, she heard someone shout.
She nearly jumped out of her skin until she realized Eri was in the building looking for her.
“I’m over here!”
She could footsteps speeding up in her direction. “Nanako! Say that again!”
“I’m in this room!”
Footsteps got closer and soon Eri was standing in the doorway, holding the frame while she looked in the room.
“Nanako, there you are! You gave me a heart attack.”
Before Nanako could answer her, she heard someone else call from a distance, but didn’t understand what they said. Eri shouted back to them, “I found her Uravity! She’s in a far back room!”
Oh no , Nanako thought. Her mom would not be happy to have to come looking for her, but it wouldn’t be too bad, for now. She would probably get a talking to in the car.
Eri turned back to Nanako, “come over here Nanako, we need to go back to everyone else.”
Nanako lightly stomped her foot. She wanted to explore, but she knew she would get in more trouble if she didn’t obey now. She started walking towards Eri at the doorway. She could hear her mom get closer as they both made their way towards Eri.
Click
Nanako and Eri heard that. Nanako felt something shift under her feet like she stepped on a button. She looked up at Eri, confused. Eri’s face betrayed her fear and Nanako stopped moving.
“What’s going on?” Nanako whispered, frightened.
Crack
Large cracks formed in the ceiling above Nanako. The little girl looked up, heart racing, but she didn’t have the will to move her legs. The cracks stopped spreading for a moment.
Then the ceiling dropped.
Eri screamed for her to move but little Nanako simply looked at the new cracks in the ceiling. She wouldn’t move. Eri ran down toward the young girl. She could hear Ochako yelling behind her, but there was no time.
Eri leaped as the bits of the ceiling fell, but she could tell she wouldn’t be able to move Nanako in time. She would have to try using her quirk. She had made significant progress using her quirk alongside the likes of recovery girl and other healing heroes, but it’s effects were still unclear. Why people got better remained a mystery, but she was nonetheless effective.
But that was in a hospital, in a controlled environment. Trying to prevent someone’s injury while it was happening, was something else entirely. The only time she had ever done that was with Izuku, and that was well before she ever started trading in earnest. But just like then, she had no choice now.
Eri grabbed onto Nanako's wrist just before the ceiling hit her and willed her quirk into her to prepare for injury. In a flash of light, Eri felt Nanako slip from her hand and a chunk of the ceiling collide with her head. Then everything went black.