Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"This is outrageous!" The Police Commissioner of Musutafu exclaimed as he glared down at the offending file that had him calling this meeting with Pro Heroes and policemen in the first place. Almost every detective working closely with Heroes in Musutafu and a good chunk of the top ranking Heroes themselves had been gathered in the biggest conference room the National Public Safety Commission HQ had to offer.

It was sorely needed, as even with all that space, it was still so crowded the bigger Heroes were bumping into each other.

Though the discomfort circulating the room certainly wasn't caused by a mere lack of personal space, but rather the topic they were all being chewed up over.

"Fifteen years, hundreds of appearances practically every night and over two hundred Heroes just in this city alone and yet a single potentially Quirkless Vigilante can't be brought in?! Do you have any idea how this looks!? What it says about our competence?! How can the citizens of this fine city sleep in peace when a single man can evade all of our combined forces for fifteen years!? And the worst part is, even the mayor doesn't care! Meanwhile, on the other hand, I have the Hero Public Safety Commission breathing down my neck because a nameless Vigilante is still out on the streets, causing mayhem and disorder!"

"Actually, chief," a naturally loud and attention-catching voice spoke up, causing everyone in the room to look to the stupid and/or brave speaker, who just so happened to be none other than the blond, bold Voice Hero: Present Mic, also known as Yamada Hizashi to his friends and fellow UA teachers. Clad in his black leather, with orange sunglasses on and his directional speaker snug around his neck, the radio host/teacher/Pro Hero looked rather laid back despite the tense air permeating the room. "He goes by Eraserhead for, like, almost fourteen years now, almost since his 'debut', if you will. And Eraserhead's not known for causing trouble; he's usually the one that prevents chaos from spreading. Even faster than some Heroes, might I add."

Endeavor, sensing the slight against him, glared at the shorter, slighter man, but out of the two of them, it was quite possible Present Mic had the more dangerous Quirk. As in, from this distance, Yamada could make his head blow with his voice before Endeavor could shoot a single fireball at the blond.

"Besides, it's not even like Eraser causes property damage or beats up his targets. He just ties him up, notifies the police and leaves them somewhere they can pick them up like pretty packages."

The higher ranking police officers present couldn't help but nod. Despite the man being a Vigilante, which would usually leave him in the same ball field as if he were an outright criminal that robbed banks or vandalized property or sometimes even categorized him into villainy, almost no one from the police could find it in themselves to dislike him. Eraserhead wasn't like other Vigilantes. He never went overboard. His targets/victims (the actual criminals and villains) were barely worse for wear when they would inevitably pick them up from the locations Eraser left for them. The worst injury they've found so far is a broken arm on a serial rapist with enough hard evidence against the man as well as his last would-be-victim willing to testify against him that they could put him behind bars for life.

And, as if his unusually 'gentle' and/or efficient approach to vigilantism wasn't enough, the man left them reports! Actual incident reports! More detailed than almost any Hero in Musutafu bothered! All written in an almost deadpan neat scrawl that they had first thought was typing until they realized no font matched. It was impossible to find a match for the handwriting anywhere in the system, so the police knew Eraserhead must have trained himself to write this way for the sake of protecting his identity.

Though how the man managed to do that with just a pair of weird yellow goggles, an even weirder scarf-thingy that seemed to have a mind of its own and his messy hair for fifteen years was probably one of the biggest mysteries about the black-clad Vigilante. Eraserhead didn't want attention. He kept to the shadows than the best Underground Heroes any of them had ever worked with and wore secrecy like a cape. He was almost like that fictional hero from Pre-Quirk comic books, Batman, protecting Musutafu by night, working with the police while being, technically, chased by them, only they all doubted Eraserhead was an angsty, traumatized, orphaned rich playboy that had too much money and too much time on his hands.

Besides, Eraserhead didn't seem to be out for revenge. He didn't want recognition. He hadn't even had a name until fledgling Hero, Present Mic, had met him for the first time about thirteen years ago and declared him to be Eraserhead. The name only started to stick when Eraser ended up helping more and more the loud blond and his fellow Heroes overheard and the name stuck.

Other than 'his' name, no one knew anything about him, not for sure. Even his black hair had been reported, by several different would-be-victims and witnesses from all over Musutafu, to be blond, ginger, red like fire, dark purple or even snow white, and they can't tell if Eraser's just occasionally dying his hair for the hell of it or if he wears wigs. It had even taken them a while before they realized that the rest of the description of what happened from the witnesses matched up with an already overly familiar MO.

Though, they noticed that the residents of Naruhata and Tsumiya Wards seemed more defensive whenever they were asked questions about their rescues. Then again, Naruhata was well known for the vigilantism that thrives there, as rare few Heroes patrol the more rural areas like that. Fat Gum was usually the only one who bothered and even that had happened because Eraser had provided the police with evidence and clues as to the Trigger drug distribution going on there.

Tsumiya Wards' reason for being almost protective of Eraserhead was even more of a given, considering what he had done for them during his almost legendary, at this point, 'debut'.

Many police officers outright mourned that Eraserhead was a mere Vigilante and not a licensed Hero. He's been such a help to the force since he became active that they couldn't help but wonder why someone so scarily talented didn't apply for a Hero Course. He was almost UA quality.

Though, given how little they knew about him, it is possible that he is Quirkless. No one has solid evidence of him using a Quirk, which has actually given most Heroes the excuse to give him leeway as vigilantism by itself wasn't against the law; unlicensed Quirk usage, however, was. This little loophole allowed certain, more lenient Heroes to make friends - or as much as one can be friends with a person who won't even give them their name, that is - with the Vigilante.

Present Mic had been the very first, starting even before he got his license, and Midnight was quick to follow given the two were close friends from their high school days. Ingenium, eventually, was also somehow drawn into the unlikely circle of friends and while the four can't exactly hand out, they had a strong bond of friendship that was practically infamous in the police and lesser-ranked Hero circuits. Villain circuits, too. More than once has someone tried to use one of the three Heroes to draw Eraserhead out, but they were usually overwhelmed by the three even before the message actually reached Eraserhead through whatever means it is that they use.

Fat Gum, Manual and even Edgeshot also seem to be fairly well acquainted with the man. Kamui Woods, too, because the Vigilante had actually watched out for him whenever he took late night patrols in his beginner days. Native knew to not try and get in the man's way when he finishes his business and tries to get away and Death Arms has decided to ignore the man's existence for plausible deniability reasons.

The Wild Wild Pussycats, though, were known for trying to lure him out for 'play-dates' at cat cafes, they were that close. Also that stubborn and tactless. Even Present Mic knew that a Vigilante trying to hide his identity wouldn't actually go out with a bunch of heroes anyway, though rumors say that Eraser always looked like he was suffering when he denied them. Go figure the terrifyingly efficient and logical man would have a soft spot for the picky animals.

The rest of the Hero community, though, never missed a chance to attempt to arrest the Vigilante.

And they always failed.

The Police Commissioner really was right. It was ridiculous at this point. In fifteen years, never once has any Hero or group of Heroes been able to pin Eraserhead down, to arrest him and just be done with it. The man was slippery, shadows were his friends and allies and they have all stopped trying to catch him in Naruhata and Tasomiya, knowing it was pointless as the man seemed to be some sort of local hero there. No trap seems to work. He's always on guard, he doesn't leave fingerprints anywhere. The guy may as well be a black ghost in the night, if not for the fact that at least Endeavor has felt the reinforced heel of his booth during his attempts to stop the Vigilante's escapes.

In fifteen years, Eraserhead has remained uncatchable and, to be honest, most of the police force didn't even bother to try. They didn't have direct orders to arrest him and he's never once given them a good enough reason to even really consider it. He wasn't violent. He wasn't destructive. He could be dangerous, as he was that skilled, but he didn't use said skills for anything other than catching and knocking out various criminals and villains. It was with Eraserhead's help that they've stopped three human trafficking rings, five major drug cartels and arrested two of the biggest weapons dealers in Japan in the past ten years since they've finally accepted that Eraserhead should just be left alone unless they're ordered otherwise.

Yes, it is slightly morally ambiguous to just let a 'felon' run around and do as he pleases, but that didn't stop any of them from sleeping at night, especially not given their knowledge that Eraser was working with them, not against them.

(They all had this terrifying feeling that Erase would be an enemy one should never make.)

Certain Heroes and police officers also know that, more than once, the Hero Public Safety Commission has tried to approach Eraser and bring him in to work directly for them. Hawks, who is directly affiliated with the Hero Commission, actually has plenty of stories he shares fondly and in good humor of the many different ways Eraserhead has rejected him and how that ended in the current Number Three Hero hanging from various and oftentimes hilarious places. Hawks' own favorite was some poor woman's laundry line, even though he nearly had all of his feathers plucked when she got scared and freaked out upon just seeing him hanging there.

This has all been going on for years.

No one knew why, all of a sudden, the Hero Commission was making a fuss about it now.

And why even the Number One Hero, All Might himself, has been brought in for this.

"Don't mouth off at me, Present Mic! This Vigilante," the Commissioner spat the word like a curse. "And the Hero Commission is contributing to my current migraine just fine!"

"Just sayin', yo," the Hero himself said with a shrug, leaning back in his seat with crossed arms and a bored expression.

"If I may ask, Sir," Chief Tsuragamae spoke up respectfully. "This has been going on for a very long time and neither NPSC nor HPSC have made a big deal out of it until now. So, to put it bluntly, why now?"

Almost unnoticeably, All Might twitched. But everyone was too focused on the two high ranking police officers to notice. Besides, only one other person in that room would actually know what that brief moment of tension in the Symbol of Peace actually meant and Detective Tsukaushi Naomasa knew better than to say anything about it.

"You think I have the clearance to ask that? You clearly think too highly of me," the Commissioner said tiredly, rubbing a hand over his forehead to try and massage away the headache. "Look, the why now doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it is high time Eraserhead," he said sarcastically with a pointed glare at the voice Hero, who huffed at him just as irritably, only settling down when Midnight placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. "Has been brought in and answered some questions. So, effective immediately, all Pro Heroes, Sidekicks and Heroes-in-training with a provisional license are under direct orders to arrest Eraserhead on sight. Failure to do so will not only cost you your license, but you will be charged with obstruction of justice and considered a criminal accomplice. No exceptions."

"Uh, excuse me if I may seem a bit ignorant," All Might spoke up, raising his hand like a school boy waiting to be called out by his teacher to have a word. "But doesn't this seem a bit ... excessive for a single Vigilante? One who may not even possess a Quirk?"

"He may be Quirkless," Rock Lock begins a bit irritably. "But the man most certainly has something that disrupts Quirk usage."

"What do you mean?" The larger hero asks, perplexed. "Do such things even exist?!"

"Drugs that mess with Quirks do. Like Trigger," Fat Gum supplies, even though he seems reluctant to implicate the Vigilante to be using something so illegal and dangerous.

"Or it could be a support gadget. It doesn't matter," the green and yellow dressed Hero waves it off. "What does matter is that, whether we like it or not, Eraserhead is in possession of something that stops us from using our Quirks, which allows for a clean getaway for him. And if one of us tries fighting him, well," he gestures at Endeavor, who scowls darkly in obvious rage and probably humiliation. "He makes fools of us, one way or the other."

"Even if Eraserhead's only solid charge is evasion of arrest and not Quirk-misuse, we can't discount the fact that he does, indeed, have unregistered support items that can easily be classified as dangerous," Death Arms commented, crossing his arms. "Even that scarf thing of his. It's not a fashion accessory; I've seen him bind Mt Lady with that thing and topple her over as though it was easy as breathing. I've also borne witness to its use enough times to tell you that it's fire resistant. That's a high quality material right there and we can't be sure if it's a support item or a part of his Quirk."

"As for the possibility that he's using a drug to stop us from using Quirks," Centipeder spoke up. "That can be really dangerous. Quirks are deeply rooted into our DNA and there is no telling what a drug like that could do to our long term health."

"But what if it's not a drug?" All Might mused. "I don't mean to doubt your words, my friend, but has anyone actually seen how he does it? How he takes away Quirks?" No one said anything. Because no, no one has, ever. "What if ... Could it be possible that that is his Quirk? An ability to stop other Quirks? I mean, he does go by Eraserhead, right?"

"Actually, the name was a joke," Midnight interrupted before they could start on the Quirk thing. "Mic started it when Eraser, still unnamed back then, started pecking him with the eraser head on his pencil when he had been writing a report for the police after capturing a villain. It's only later that we caught on to the fact that he could block our Quirks, even if it's temporarily, though the means were as unknown then as they are now."

"And seriously? A Quirk that can, what, erase other Quirks?" Endeavor scoffed, finding the whole concept hilarious and entirely unlikely. "Impossible."

All Might, had his face not been frozen in his perpetual wide grin, might have arched an almost condescending eyebrow at the Number Two Hero. "Would it really be that surprising? Our very own Ryukyu has the ability to transform into an actual dragon, but you draw the line at a Quirk that, even temporarily, takes away other's Quirks? It is actually not as unlikely as you may believe."

Only Midnight noticed Mic stiffen and that was only because she still had a hand on his shoulder. The R-Rated Hero glanced at her long time friend and found a contemplative expression on his face, one that was mixed with nostalgia and an effort to recall an old memory. Kayama Nemuri has known Hizashi for fourteen going on fifteen years now, but there were still things they didn't talk about, so she had absolutely no idea what it was that All Might had said to trigger this reaction in the DJ.

"Yes, but, All Might," the dragon Hero herself countered. "Quirks like mine aren't really that rare, even if the shape I change into is. I have a friend in China and he can turn into a hydra and another in Portugal who can turn into a phoenix. A Quirk that deletes Quirks just seems like ... fiction. No offense."

All Might, for a second, looked like he might argue but then he just let out his characteristic booming laugh and assured her that he wasn't offended.

"So," Vlad King, another teacher from UA, eventually asked. "What's the plan?" He had never personally interacted with Eraserhead, so he didn't really have any specific reservations about arresting him. The only thing he had to judge the Vigilante was the thick file that got passed around for everyone to at least vaguely familiarize themselves with the man they will be hunting.

Mic and Midnight purposefully kept the file in their own hands for way longer than is needed, trying to keep as much information about Eraser from spreading. Because that's what best friends do.

00000

Meanwhile, halfway across the city, a dark figure stared down at the streets, watching, waiting, black hair whipping around in the wind.

Eraserhead, one Aizawa Shouta, had no idea about the chaos coming his way.

But he will learn, soon enough.

Chapter Text

At first, Aizawa wasn't at all suspicious or alarmed by the increased attempts at his arrest. Most of them were either by Heroes not fond of him, Vigilantes in general or Heroes who've never met or worked with him before, so he wasn't surprised they'd go after him even if he'd done 90% of their job for them. It wasn't anything out of the norm of the past fifteen years of his life and besides, at thirty and still a Vigilante that's never once been caught, there wasn't even much left that could surprise him out in the streets.

He figured it would probably take something like All Might himself coming out to hunt for him for Shouta to even be slightly confused at this point. Not after the weird life he'd lived.

But then, he got a bit confused when Manual actually fired a stream of water at him. His aim was way off, but it was only the two of them around on the crime scene. No other Heroes, especially not the anti-Vigilante kind, not even any civilians besides the unconscious victim that's nearly been kidnapped, no press and no police officers. Just Manual and Eraserhead. He escaped the scene as swiftly as he usually would but that interaction, or actual lack of, kept tickling at him, something - his survival instincts and bullshit-dar, probably - inside that alerted him that something was wrong.

Then he didn't see Midnight nor Mic for a whole month. That, also, wasn't all that surprising, as a new school year was starting at UA soon, therefore they had to prepare for the entrance exam and then the first days of school, which were always hectic for both students and teachers. Aizawa tried his hardest not to remember his own very short stay at UA, because those were not overly happy memories and definitely not something he should be thinking about while out on patrol when his usual Hero ... 'friendlies' were acting so strange. He figured they'd get back on the scene once the entrance exams were over and the new Hero-hopefuls have been chosen. He mentally wished all the kids luck and moved on from such thoughts, instead focusing on his Vigilantism at night and his Quirk Theory major at Musutafu University during the day.

His main source of income was renting the two spare rooms of the quaint little house he lived in just fifteen minutes away from the main commute towards the city center, so he has enough money in his pocket every day, not even taking into account just how he had the money to even buy that house in the first place. It certainly wasn't his parents', not that those fuckers would ever want to have anything to do with him again. He tried not to think about them, either, as it was counterproductive to his focus on more important things.

Aizawa Shouta wasn't overly concerned with anything, choosing to take life one step at a time relying on logic and reason instead of emotions and impulses, taking everything at his own pace and never caring about something so much that its absence from his life could cause him pain or inconveniences. He may be one of his class' top students and his professors were all trying to get him to be their mentee as that would mean their name would end up on his almost revolutionary Quirk Theory thesis as his mentor when none of them had done zilch for that paper, but he didn't actually care about getting that diploma. It would just be a fancy piece of paper. And he definitely didn't want recognition or fame. He'd enrolled in the course for no other reason than to broaden his own understanding of Quirks in an attempt to understand how his had come into being. It's unheard of for a kid of parents who both have physical mutation-based Quirks to get an emitter mental-like power, especially not one with his particular ability.

In fact, he wanted to see if his Quirk was truly the first of its kind and the likeliness of Quirks similar to his emerging further down the evolutionary line of humanity and Quirks.

Some of the things he's discovered along the way were simply too interesting not to write about and somehow it turned into a whole Thing where everyone wanted to put a name on a halfhearted work by a man too tired to give a fuck about academic awards and recognition and the type of status and callings this could all give him. He'd seen what status and the such did to people. He'd met two people like that and he'd rather not end up like either of them.

So, no, he didn't care about many things.

He did care about people, though. He could count on two hands the amount of people he'd consider himself close to and whom he'd die for in an instant if need be, even if he would never admit it.

So he very much cared when, after the entrance exams ended and all the students have been sufficiently placed in their respective classes, with only two weeks until school starts, Nemuri and Hizashi were still nowhere to be found on their usual patrol routes, as is the usual since the two eccentric extroverts that have declared themselves his friends have started teaching at UA about six years ago. He didn't yet get worried, as they were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but their absence did put him more on alert.

It allowed him to notice certain Heroes he usually ran into on patrol have switched routes, going farther away from him. Ms Joke had even moved her route all the way to the area around the school she teaches at when she usually likes to loiter just within the circle Aizawa has claimed as 'his', even though only his friends seem to notice the pattern to his patrols, even if only vaguely. He always goes outside of that circle twice a month to throw people off, going to random wards and also definitely visiting Naruhata and Tasomiya before going back to how things usually were. Fat Gum had also retreated slightly from where he could usually be found and Tensei had relocated to Hosu altogether.

If theirs was a normal friendship, he'd start worrying he'd done something wrong to scare them off.

But then, one night, just as he was tying up a villain, it happened.

It being the only thing that could possibly surprise him at this point.

Meaning, All Might appeared, landing before him in all his flash and glory and Shouta felt like just sinking into the ground and never crawling back out ever again. And maybe gauging his own eyes out, because the man was dressed in the ugliest eyesore of a suit that matched Aizawa's sleeping bag in color and he was standing there, proud and practically preening, as if he were wearing the sexiest outfit in the world. It was causing him a headache, honestly, just looking at the thing.

It also nearly distracted him enough that All Might finished some cliche 'Stop, felon!' speech or something because the next thing he knew, the big oaf was making a lunge for him and Shouta didn't even think as he pulled out pepper spray from one of the compartments on his utility belt and sprayed it all over the Number One Hero's face.

And then he just wanted to die, because that was embarrassing!

All Might started yelling and flailing around just as police sirens sounded in the distance. Given the situation and just how weird everything has been the past couple of weeks, for the first time in fifteen years, Shouta didn't leave an incident report for the police to find. He's sure All Might can fill them in. as for himself, Eraserhead simply had to get out of there, pronto.

He wanted to think it a one-off thing, but two nights later, at almost the same time but in a completely different ward, Best Jeanist tried to take control of his capture weapon. The shock on the blond's face - or the part he could see, anyway - was priceless, because obviously the man had not expected the scarf-looking item to be something he couldn't control. Aizawa knew how soft and warm it felt, but that didn't change the fact it was made out of a special, one of a kind steel wire alloy woven with carbon nanofibers, making a material that can be cut only by a knife made of a specific multi-metal alloy and with an exact sharpness and edge profile. The thing was otherwise nearly indestructible. It was fire, water and electricity resistant and was made for dexterity as well as having an incredible traction strength. Aizawa had once tied a falling three story building to another stable, bigger building with a single capture weapon to hold it while he evacuated civilians from underneath the falling rubble and it hadn't started fraying. He'd had to replace it only twice, though he had plenty of spares from his old mentor of sorts.

(The old man worried too much. He wasn't that old. He won't hit the bucket for at least another ten years. Shouta will make sure he's taking care of himself properly to achieve that.)

Then, half an hour after he'd escaped Jeanist, he ran into Endeavor, who loudly boasted about being the one to take him in. He was way easier to deal with than Jeanist because Jeanist had impeccable self-control, though this time, Shouta thanked Endeavor's tendencies to announce his actions that will 'make him the Number One Hero', as he finally learned what was going on.

His heart warmed just that bit more at the thought of his friends trying to stay as far away from him so they won't have to try to arrest him.

Even Manual didn't loiter around Musutafu and instead promptly returned to Hosu since he was no longer needed unless Eraser goes to his agency's ward.

Shouta now knew he had to be way more careful, even more so than usual.

He was an active target now and he can't afford to be caught.

Not after all the years he's spent on the run.

He met All Might a second time two days before the school year was supposed to start. Shouta figured that, once it did, he'd at least be free of the menace that is the Symbol of Peace, given there were rumors he'll be teaching at UA as of this year. There were many speculations as to why he would make such a move but Shouta had a feeling he knew.

Not even All Might can fight forever, after all.

All Heroes must, at some point, put down the cape.

Their second meeting nearly started off the same way as the first, only this time, Shouta had a kid in his arms, a boy snatched up by a tug working for a child trafficking ring. The boy was so terrified, most probably going into shock, that not even All Might's sudden familiar booming voice proclaiming "I am here!" was enough to make him unclench his fists from Shouta's black jumpsuit. Eraser made sure to duck his head so more of the lower half of his face would remain hidden by his capture weapon even as he tried to sooth the boy with shushing noises and comforting words spoken gently as he cautiously walked towards the Symbol of Peace. He hoped All Might will prioritize the boy over capturing him. He seemed like the type, anyway, but one can never be certain. Shouta himself usually seemed like the type that would be shit with children but was actually a natural.

He tried not to think about that, too, and the first person who ever told him he should consider being a teacher or a daycare worker.

He had a lot of things he did his best not to think about.

"Here, you should take him. I'm sure his parents are worried sick," he told the taller, bigger man gruffly, doing his best to speak just loud enough for the blond to hear him, but also low enough that he won't be able to recognize his voice should they ever bump into each other when he's out of his Eraserhead gear, as unlikely as that was to happen. He also spoke softly so as to not further frighten the boy.

Which still ended up being futile, as the boy whimpered and panicked the second All Might tried to take him from Eraser's arms. The kid had a strong grip, his hands even going as far as transforming into bird-like claws, meaning he basically had a raptor stress grip on Shouta, which was not fun, by the way. Not when the kid accidentally pricked him right over his clavicle. He was just thankful that his clothes were black, because he's sure All Might would tell the police the kid may now have some of his DNA stuck under his nails and the kid would never get home until they took all the samples so they can try and find something out about him.

Not that it would work. Shouta hasn't just been on the run most of his life. He no longer even used his actual last name, the one he got at birth, but rather an identity he'd constructed when he was eight. The government itself had made sure there are no traces of him in any database. Boy did they regret losing their best possible pawn. But they weren't the first ones he'd escaped.

He had quite the track record with that, actually.

Eraserhead sighed as All Might started panicking when the boy wouldn't stop panicking until the blond was at least a good ten feet away from him and his rescuer. Only then did he retract his Quirk, at least. Shouta allowed the boy to bury his face into his capture weapon as though to block out the rest of the world before turning his attention back to the befuddled Hero. "Listen, I'll take the kid home. You wait here for the police to arrive and give the report. The guy works for a child trafficking ring that deals in Japan, China, Mexico and America. No, I don't know where their 'hideout' is, but I am working on that. Call the parents and tell them that their kid is on the way home."

"Do you know why they've taken the boy in the first place?" The older man asked, voice sounding as though he was both surprised and impressed, a reaction Aizawa typically gets from Heroes and police officers that are exposed to how he works for the first time. He's been told time and again that he would have been a marvelous Underground Hero. Shouta knows that, but he's chosen his path, even if it wasn't all completely by his choice alone. Life can be a bitch.

"From what I've seen of this trafficking ring, they're dealing in kids with powerful Quirks. This boy obviously has some form of manifestation Quirk, probably similar to UA's Suneater in some way or form," he says with a meaningful nod towards the child in his arms, or rather his hands, which were still gripping him tightly even though he wasn't using his Quirk anymore. "Though his seems to be centered around emotions. I have to go now. Call his parents."

"Excuse me if I offend you, but how can I trust you will do as you say?" The Hero asks and Shouta wishes he could just pull his goggles off and glare at the man for even suggesting he could be a danger to a child. But, then again, this is the first time All Might has actually interacted with him. He's never seen him work before, nor has he had the time Mic, Midnight, Ingenium, Joke, Fat Gum and some other Heroes have had to get to know him enough as a character. He's actually acting like a good Hero should, worrying about the well-being of an already traumatized boy. He can respect that.

So he pulls out his custom-made phone, taps in a certain code and has to hide a smirk when he hears the familiar beep. The sound startles All Might, as it is coming from some hidden pocket or something that really shouldn't be possible to exist on that skin-tight body suit but still somehow does - David Shield seems to know what he's doing, alright - and the huge man immediately takes it out, brow furrowing in confusion when he no doubt sees the unfamiliar number saved on his phone and a tracking app.

"It's a one time thing. You can track my movements through that," he explains when the older man looks at him, nodding down at the surprisingly standardized phone in the Heroes big hands. "Though it will shut off when I reach my destination and deactivate it. My phone also changes its number every two hours-" Not entirely true, but he wasn't about to tell All Might all about his hacking skills. No one needs to know about those. It will actually give them a good reason to arrest him. "So don't think you can use it to track me again. For the trust you're giving me in getting this boy to safety, I in turn am giving you enough trust to give you a way to contact me should you ever need my particular skill set."

"Didn't you just say your number changes every two hours?"

"It's complicated," he says with a sigh. "If you try to call that number from any other device, you won't get a signal. And even if you call from that phone, my phone has been programmed to screen all incoming calls. I'll see who's calling and I can choose the message you'll receive if I don't want to pick up: anything from being unavailable to the number no longer being in function. What I gave you might look like a phone number but is, in all actuality, a code that allows you to contact me should you need me. Several other Heroes have it, too, though don't be so sure I'll be answering any calls from now on. I won't fall into any traps, All Might-san. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get the kiddo home. I think he's been through enough."

With that, without bothering to wait for an answer or any more questions, Eraserhead swung up with the help of his capture weapon to the top of the nearest building, using the rooftops to get as fast and as far away from the Number One Hero as he possibly could. He didn't want to tempt fate. All Might was, after all, one of the Heroes most likely actually able to capture Eraserhead and that could be disastrous for everyone involved in more ways than one.

Shouta didn't want to be the one to snuff out what little is left of All Might's Quirk.

Chapter Text

"Hey, Teach. How was the first day of school?"

The familiar voice startled All Might right into a fighting stance where he had been overlooking Musutafu from the top of Might Tower, whirling around to face the owner and almost attacking had he not found himself seemingly alone on the roof. However, as an experienced Hero of several decades, he knew not to rely on his eyes alone, especially considering who the voice belonged to. This was only the third time he was interacting with the ever elusive Eraserhead, but by now he's learned that the Vigilante was right at home in the night and among shadows. Sure enough, as much as he looked around, he couldn't find any clue as to where the younger man could be hiding until Eraser finally decided to show himself, almost literally walking right out of a shadow and into the lights created by the ever-awake city around them.

He didn't know quite why, but he relaxed upon seeing the Vigilante.

Well, that would be a lie, actually. Yagi Toshinori knew perfectly well why he relaxed - it was because, inexplicably, he found himself trusting Eraserhead, at least enough to know that the younger man won't try to kill him. It could be because one of his very first encounters with the Vigilante allowed him to see a sweet, kind side of the supposedly rough and gruff man, whereas most other Heroes who've ever managed to get a decent interaction with him had needed months if not years to work up to that single moment of partial vulnerability.

Yagi has been in the game long enough to be a pretty decent judge of character, especially where people who could be classified as criminals or villains were concerned. It was almost a sixth sense at this point and Eraserhead didn't trigger it. Yagi was convinced that this young man was indeed a good person, though he wished they have had more experience with each other so he could actually ask the other why someone as talented as him hadn't gone down a heroic path if he was so adamant in following the rules as it was. Naomasa has told Toshinori that the night he'd first met Eraserhead was the first ever time the Vigilante hadn't left a report for the police to find about why the criminal needed to be arrested. No other Vigilante did that.

Eraserhead acted with more responsibility than an embarrassing number of Heroes All Might knew.

He had honestly thought it won't be quite some time until he sees the man again, but it seems Eraserhead likes to surprise people. It's actually quite cold of him to scale the Might Tower, one of the biggest Hero agencies on the entire continent. Heroes went in and out at all hours of day and night, not to mention that All Might himself was stationed there. Eraser could easily be caught if they were all to go after him at once.

Yet here he was, keeping a distance, sticking close to the shadows, ready to bolt at any second no doubt, but here nonetheless. How very bold of him indeed. Toshinori could see why this single man intrigued so many Heroes as to create personal connections with him, or, alternatively, infuriated them to no end as he did not fear them. Eraseread carried himself with an easy confidence that bespoke of skill and experience, years of it. The man didn't do things rashly, was said to be lead by logic and rationality, but this right here was neither rational nor logical. It made the Number One Hero curious as to why the black haired man had come and what he could possibly want. Surely not just to chat!

"It was great! A bit overwhelming, I will admit, hahahaha!" He said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. In truth, he had been so completely out of his depth that he was surprised none of his classes had ended in a catastrophe. Well, excluding Midoriya-shounen breaking bones again. Though that wasn't during his class. Class 1-A's new homeroom teacher seemed as overwhelmed by their students as All Might was. He didn't envy Mister Blaster one bit, but he was also of the opinion that the man approached his job all wrong. Especially when he tried to outclass Bakugo-shounen's explosive Quirk with his own.

Sensoji-kun wasn't even an active Hero anymore, not since his Hero team broke off and they all went solo. Mister Blaster seemed okay in a group but by himself, he soon turned out to be inefficient as a Hero. Probably why he jumped at the opportunity to become a UA teacher. The same recognition and publicity as a mid ranking Hero with half the work. All Might wasn't all too sure why Nezu had picked the man, though, as most of his former students all dropped out of Hero work within a few years of graduating, either by choice or by necessity due to injuries. Three of his former students even ended up KIA! All Might knew he wasn't meant to be a teacher - he was too much of a natural at being a Hero in order to properly pass on his knowledge and experience, though he did his best - but Sensoji-kun didn't even try harder than the absolute minimum he needed.

He assigned homework, he could be late to class three out of five times, he handed out pre-made pamphlets to explain just about anything from the usual class schedule to actual lesson plans. One time, while preparing a lesson plan for his first ever class with 1-A, Toshinori had made the mistake of asking for assistance from the man and while he seemed super pleased to show off to the new teacher, who also happened to be the Number One Hero completely clueless as to how he should go about being an educator, he only ended up making him more confused and Yagi had to bother Nezu for three hours after school just to straighten out what he should do. His first official lesson with 1-A is set to be tomorrow. He is still not confident enough that the exercise he prepared will be good enough.

And then he has to review all the information he gets from how everyone does and grade them. How is he supposed to grade them!? It's not a simple test! It was a practical exercise! How does one count points!?

"You don't sound so confident about that. Are they a bunch of problem children?" That had Toshinori focusing back on his companion, only to find Eraser now perched at the edge of the rooftop, a jelly pouch seemingly having appeared from nowhere raising to his mouth for a single, long, powerful sip that drained the whole pack in one go. Okay, that was impressive lung power right there.

"Uh, no? I mean, they can be a bit rowdy-" And understatement with 1-A, that's for sure, especially in kids like Bakugo-shounen or Mineta-shounen. Though for completely different reasons. "But they're respectful and all very talented! They'll become good Heroes one day, I am certain!" Why was he telling all of this to a complete stranger, though?

"Then it's the teaching staff."

"Wow, way to hit the nail on the head," he mumbled to himself but didn't reveal anything about the teachers at UA. It felt disrespectful, especially as it was only one person that wasn't as helpful as the others. All Might had heard rumors Midnight was supposed to be 1-A's homeroom teacher but that Nezu had changed his mind at the last second. Supposedly to try and drag something out of Sensoji-kun that would qualify him to keep his current job.

"Sensoji? As in, Mister Blaster?"

"... Did I say that last part out loud?" Eraser, he thinks, shot him a look. It was hard to say with the goggles he always wore. "Shit."

"I can understand why you're having trouble if you're having to contend with him," the black clad man said with a derisive snort.

Toshinori frowned. "Do you have something against Mister Blaster?"

"Not personally, no. Though he is a Quirkist idiot who believes only people with flashy Quirks should be Heroes. I pity the kids in his class. His skills are mediocre, his Quirk itself is more flash than strength so it's not like he has room to judge and he makes dangerous, irrational calls out in the field. I've had to save more than a few civilians from the debris he himself created while 'saving' them. I think, personally, that he's enacting Endeavor too much. One city fire hazard is bad enough, thank you."

'I didn't know Sensoji-kun has Quirk-based prejudices,' he thought within the confines of his own mind. What Eraserhead said really made sense. It was, dare he say, illogical of Sensoji-kun to have such an opinion. His quirk was really about 45% power and the rest was all flash. "How would you know all of this, Eraserhead?" He asked with his usual unassuming bright All Might smile.

Eraserhead didn't seem impressed nor fooled. "Rumors get around. Information travels. Then you meet a guy and get the chance to judge just how right or wrong the rumors are. Take you, for instance. All of this," he waved a hand at Toshinori's whole self and he couldn't help but stiffen. "Is a front. Yes, you are a kind person. Yes, you would probably die for a kitten. Yes, you are probably the strongest man currently alive on this godforsaken Earth. But that smile? That's fake. Your invincibility is fake. Everyone bleeds, All Might-san. You are no less human than a Quirkless person. Behind the symbol is a man who had his own life, his own opinions and his own dreams and feelings. Can you really express them, though, with the media always hounding your every step? No, not without causing an uproar. So you keep everything hush hush. I really doubt that your birth certificate, wherever it may be, says All Might, and I doubt you haven't aged a day past your silver age appearance. You're human. Not even All Might is forever."

"But the idea behind the Symbol of Peace can be," he said a bit hesitatingly, but at least he relaxed. He ... didn't actually know what to do with what he'd just heard. Did Present Mic and Midnight discuss such things with Eraserhead? Did anyone? Did anyone ever ask his view on today's society? His dreams? The reason why he chose vigilantism over heroism? People usually had some reason and their reason usually differed the good Heroes from the great ones. Take the newly debuted Heroes as an example: Kamui Woods wanted to help people above all else while Mt Lady wanted to do that while looking good, drawing attention to herself. From what rumors he himself has heard, she wants to take Midnight's place as the sexiest female Hero, a title Midnight unofficially held since her own debut, meaning a little over a decade now. It caused a huge difference in how people perceived them and how they did their jobs.

They both did good work, but Kamui Woods could be seen getting down and dirty and not caring when the press inevitably surrounded him afterwards, while Mt Lady tried to keep her hands clean and fixed up her appearance before going to the reporters. Kamui spent more time with the victims, too. People instantly felt at ease when he arrived at the scene.

Kamui also happened to pay less for property damage caused by his fights with villains. Public perception also depended heavily on that.

All Might and Endeavor were also one of the best examples as how motivation made for different Heroes. Todoroki Enji, whether he had other motives besides, always portrayed that he cared about his status and reputation the most. He made for flashy fights in an effort to gather as much attention from the public so he can, supposedly, surpass All Might in their minds. Yagi Toshinori, though, had decided to become a Hero to put people at ease, and build a pillar of belief in their society so they, as a whole, can fight back against villainy. That's why he always wore a smile and always said 'I am here!' in an effort to reassure the poor victims of any crime. He didn't care how big or small some deed was. He didn't care about flair, though that happened all on its own with a Quirk as powerful as One For All and the mastery of it.

But Eraserhead wasn't wrong when he said a good deal of All Might was a front, now more than ever. He had just a little over three hours left and he was weakening fast, ever since he passed his Quirk on to Midoriya-shounen as the Ninth holder of One For All. He would have to retire soon. After all, not even All Might is forever. But will the pillar he'd so painstakingly built hold? And if it crumbles, is Midoriya-shounen really ready to build it back up by his own hands? Will he know how? His protege is so smart and cunning, but also so jittery and awkward. He had his heart in the right place, but not his mind. The only times he displayed qualities of the next Symbol of Peace was when he looked ready to jump in and help someone, regardless of what that might do to himself.

"Are you sure?" Eraserhead asked, looking away from the blond who now gazed at him questioningly. "Nothing hurts more than when an idea, an ideal crumbles. Whole countries have disappeared for it, both good and bad. Not to mention how unfair it would be to put such expectations on any single person. I don't know how you've managed to carry all those expectations all on your own, but I can assure you people like you are once in a lifetime kind of characters. Anyone else in your position, isolated at the top, surrounded by nothing but the vultures that call themselves the press and enemies or rivals that want to take you down one way or the other, they wouldn't be able to take it, All Might-san. You may have built an ideal, but no one else can live up to it. They will look at that person, compare them to you, and they will find them lacking. How can society rely on that person if they always find them lacking?"

"I ... guess I can see your point, my friend," he mumbled, sitting down on his own ledge overlooking the city. "What would you do, though? If you were in my position? If you've served your country and the world for so long that you know they rely on you to carry all that weight on your shoulders, know you can't let them down. What would you do when you found that, as much as you want to continue fighting, it is simply your time to put down the cape and retire?"

"Well, first, I would never make the mistake to put myself into such a position in the first place," quickly retorts the Vigilante and Toshinori winces, wondering why he was even asking or why he was expecting a different response. He knew Eraserhead liked his secrecy. Whether it was to protect his identity so he doesn't get arrested or simply because he doesn't like attention at all is a different matter, a topic he should probably ask the younger man one day, if he gets the chance. He shouldn't have expected any other answer, really-

"However, if I were in a situation like that, I would do what you are currently doing." When Yagi almost had a heart attack at the thought of someone knowing about passing along One For All, the Vigilante continued. "I would become a teacher at a Hero school and train the next generation of Heroes so they, together, can carry that weight I knew existed and was slowly crushing me now that I am no longer able to bear it on my own. I'd teach them my ideals, teach them to keep themselves and others alive, teach them to work together and not only to rebuild a pillar that may or may not be crumbling, but to also reinforce it. The original ideal may die, All Might-san, but its legacy can live on. I wouldn't want to pass on my ideal; I'd want to pass on my legacy."

All Might couldn't help himself; he laughed like he hadn't laughed in six years, free and light and genuine and relieved. Amazed, too. "Why aren't you a Hero?" He blurted out without thinking and found himself stiffening, ready to see Eraserhead gone in the next second for his thoughtless question.

Eraserhead hadn't moved a muscle beyond turning around to look at him. The goggles, messy hair and ridiculously long scarf weapon thing were unfairly and unbelievably successful in hiding the younger man's identity. All Might could only tell he had pale, smooth skin and possibly high cheekbones.

Everything else was somehow hidden.

As had been the case for fifteen years, it would seem.

"I wanted to be," the smaller man replied after a long bout of silence. "But then life got in the way and I realized this was better. That this was where I belonged. Heroes don't usually patrol at night, not at the times I usually do. That's when the people are actually at their most vulnerable. The police can't handle it all and Underground and nighttime Heroes are so few and far in between that people are mostly left to fend for themselves. I don't care about fame or recognition. If I had been a Hero, I would have gone underground. There's so much to do and yet not enough people to do it ... How can Heroes claim to protect society when most overlook the most important parts just because there's no press there to take pictures?"

All Might thought back to six years ago, to his fight against All For One. He thought back to twenty four years ago, when Nana fought that same great evil just to give him a chance to escape and live and fight another day. Neither fight was ever covered by the media. The world couldn't find out about All For One. The most dangerous and important fights of their generation were thankless and so hush hush that anyone would ever find out, no matter the amount of digging they did. The only people in the entire world that even knew about the fights were All Might himself, his one time teacher Gran Torino, his former sidekick Sir Nighteye, Tsukauchi as of the last few years and-

He frowned, barely recalling messy, black hair, dirty round cheeks and wide tired eyes with no trace of fear in them, just weariness and wariness, both deeply seeded in the child's eyes and for good reason. The boy had been, what? Five? Six? Nana had just handed him over and made Toshinori rush the kid out of there just as the fight was starting. Toshinori had pushed the kid onto Gran Torino and rushed back to help his master. By the time he'd gotten back, the fight was already in full swing and it was all too obvious that All For One would emerge victorious. Gran Torino had been faster than him back then, when he was still discovering all of his limits and all the ways he could use One For All. It is hard to get used to a Quirk after being Quirkless your whole life, no matter how well suited you may be for it. Nana had told Gran Torino to take him away, to train and raise him until he was ready to stand on his own feet by himself. She had passed on the torch to him and trusted him to be the best Hero he possibly can.

That was the last time he saw her. He was sure even her corpse had been destroyed in the ensuing fight, when the last embers of One For All finally faded from her.

Too consumed in his grief and rage, Toshinori had not thought back to the boy they had rescued until the next day, but all traces of the kid were already gone. The police officers Gran Torino left the kid with claimed government-approved social workers had come to pick the kid up and place him into a safe orphanage where, hopefully, the villain that had had him wouldn't be able to find him. Gran Torino had demanded they see the boy themselves, because Toshinori had been so out of sorts he couldn't calm down until he made sure the fruits of Nana's last deed as a Hero were secure, that the boy was indeed alright and safe, but the government officials had deemed it too big of a security risk.

Something about the way they had acted, the way they had said the boy's Quirk was too dangerous to be left unattended until he learned to control it never sat well with Toshinori, but he had been young and stupid and grieving.

Eventually, he had let it go, figuring he'd get the chance to pursue the case more once he became a Pro.

Only, by the time he graduated from UA, he found out the kid had run away. Gran Torino had known for months and had never told him, knowing he would try to find the boy and waste away his time and the many chances he needed if he was to fulfill his dream of becoming the Symbol of Peace.

Just one of many things Toshinori never quite forgave his teacher for.

Just another thing he regrets and will regret until the day he dies. Or at least he finds the boy with the golden stare once again and is sure he's alright.

He can see Eraser's point. Hell, he's mostly guilty of much the same himself. Though, for his part, he literally has to fight only fights in which he can be seen, now that his time was slowly running out. He needs to give the people their Symbol for as long as he can, as often as he can, because soon enough, there won't be any of All Might left to give. If there's even any Toshinori left at all. This means he's working a lot less at the riskier times and that's been the truth for the past six years. It's a wonder if he'll have any time for heroism now that he's a teacher, which is a full-time job even when one isn't teaching fledgling Heroes.

"It would have suited you," he says instead of commenting Eraserhead's observation of society. "You would have had your place among Hero ranks, even if it's not actually among the, you know, rankings." He wasn't sure why he fumbled with his words there. Did Eraserhead make him nervous? Impossible, surely! He didn't even know the man!

"Hm, possibly. But I like it how it is now."

"Oh."

"Sorry."

"It's, um, it's okay? I wasn't trying to recruit your or anything!" All Might reassured, once again finding himself flustered and making a fool of himself. There was just something about the way the Vigilante held himself that made him feel like he was in his true form and even that didn't make any sense. 'Small' Might, as some teachers at UA teasingly called him, would still tower over Eraserhead, even hunched over as he may stand.

"I know." That had Toshinori stopping. Eraser stood up all of a sudden, that strange scarf suddenly dancing around his shoulders. All Might didn't even have the time to feel uneasy at the possibility that Eraserhead might attack him when the younger man half turned his face towards him. "I have to go. Just spotted my target."

"Target?"

"I've been searching all night. See ya, All Might-san." And with that, the Vigilante fearlessly jumped over the edge, his scarf-like weapon shooting out and catching onto signs, windows, buildings, lampposts and anything and everything else as Eraserhead pursued whoever it is that he's been waiting for. Toshinori didn't bother to go chase after him. In fact, in order not to feel tempted, he turned back into his true form and sighed tiredly.

Eraserhead had been bold and confident enough to use Might Tower for stakeout, uncaring of all the Heroes within the building and All Might's presence, which was most logical, as well. He'd come to the building because it was one of the tallest in town and offered the best villain-spotting view.

The Number One Hero couldn't help but be both impressed and amused by the gutsy move.

Eraserhead sure was intriguing.

Chapter Text

Shouta felt like shit.

Not a week after his last run in with All Might, after going through all that trouble to move adresses for more privacy, just in case, Shouta stumbled upon something that, for the first time since he picked up his capture weapon and decided on his path, had chased him into the bright light of a an early afternoon, none of his friendly and familiar deep shadows in sight to help him keep a low profile and stay hidden.

If he wasn't so sure that the situation was dire as fuck, he probably would have waited until nighttime to try and do something.

But not this time.

This time, he knew he couldn't gamble with that. Couldn't afford to be wrong.

It all started the night he had chased down his target after his strangely ideological chat with the Number One Hero himself on top of the man's own tower. Just after he had tied things up with the would-be re-instigator of the Trigger drug trafficking ring in Musutafu again, he'd spotted none other than the information broker, tug recruiter and weapons dealer Giran. Now that was a man hard to find. Giran was smart. He was careful and paranoid, which is why he has survived for so long. He struck all sorts of deals in the criminal underworld. He was practically the professional middleman for the biggest criminal organizations and petty villains and was one of the richest and best informed men in Musutafu's black books.

His mugshot has been taken exactly once, two years ago, and that was by sheer luck. No Hero has ever seen the man in person since. No Vigilante, either.

Eraserhead had debated snatching him off the streets on the spot and risking it by bringing him in to the police himself, because Giran was not the type of person to just leave lying around for pick up, even if he's unconscious, but decided figuring out what the infamous middleman was up to might be of better use. He followed the man into a seedy deadend alley, but Giran was alone.

And then a warpgate, of all things, opened, so dark a purple it was almost black and out stepped two men. No, a boy who only just entered adulthood and the warpgate itself, which collapsed into itself until it took on the form of a butler-dressed man of fog. Shouta was too far away to hear exactly what they were saying, but the words 'UA' and 'tomorrow' definitely made alarm bells ring in his head. Then, as he was low-key panicking inside his own mind, Warpgate-san gestured towards a new portal for Giran and the middleman followed the two possibly-most-probably villains through before they all disappeared from his sight, gone like they had never even been there in the first place.

Without even really thinking about it, Shouta turned back around and immediately made his way towards Might Tower, only to curse when he found the rooftop empty. All Might had either moved on to the next crime of the night or he had decided to call it quits for the night and gone wherever it is the Symbol of Peace lives.

Realizing there's nothing he can do at that moment in time, Aizawa had gone back to his own new humble apartment and started brainstorming. No Hero knew about this. He wasn't sure if he should actually tell anyone. It might be a false alarm and he doesn't want to be declared the boy who cried wolf if that's the case. He's spent years building up the reputation of competence and reliability he carries now with both the police and a good number of Heroes. He can't risk that by incomplete or faulty information, because there were things Eraserhead can't do on his own, important raids that could mean the difference between life and death of hundreds if not thousands of people.

He'll have to get some solid evidence before he contacts any official authorities, just like he's been doing since he was fifteen.

No one can afford to be startled by a false alarm.

So he turned on his laptop - state of the art, custom programmed by Aizawa himself under the guidance of his old 'mentor'; one of his rare indulgences where spending money was concerned - and hacked into one of the news stations' systems to create an opening for himself. A backup photographer. No need for him to say anything and he can wear a cap to keep his face in the shadows. Can't be too careful. And with this fake identity, he will have prolonged access to UA, or as far as the press can go. It's enough to do a bit of recon and that all he needs.

No one suspects him. The journalists were all far too interested in harassing students and teachers as they entered the campus. Standing before the gates of UA felt nostalgic, but he wasn't here to reminisce about his own unsuccessful student days. He was here to keep inconspicuously out of Principal Nezu's cameras' view and to scan any passersby for suspicious behavior.

He thanked the heavens for being a Quirk Theory major, because it gave him insight in how many Quirk types work. Quirks always evolve, with each new generation, be it in form, delivery or strength, but there are archetypes that all Quirks follow. Telekinesis based Quirks, elemental Quirks, strength Quirks, sound-based Quirks etc etc etc. They can have millions upon billions of variations, but, ultimately, there was at least one common factor connecting them all. Teleportation-based Quirks, be it portals or movement at the speed of light or anything in between, usually relied on the person knowing where they wanted to land on the other side. Warpgate-san can't possibly know the layout of UA. The place changes every few years for security reasons. Principal Nezu took no chances when his students and staff were involved.

Which means these guys will be forced, at least this time, to come in right through the front gate. If they can just get in, they'll already have practically all they need to explore the grounds and either make a map by themselves or get it from the mainframe systems. The latter, someone like Shouta could do with one of their hands tied behind their back and their eyes closed. Well, if they've at least once seen how UA has built up their firewalls, which Shouta has. Between his hard earned and delicately polished hacking skills and having seen the style in which the firewalls were made, he could do it easy peasy lemon squeeze. Other hackers would need a pre-programmed virus to help them get in or else they would risk taking too much time, getting discovered and getting caught.

Shouta hoped his bad guys didn't have someone like him. He really, really did.

Classes have started and rolled by one by one and Shouta still kept vigil in front of the gates, along with the annoying reporters. At some point, everyone else decided to take a short coffee break, never quite leaving the gates but stepping a bit aside or taking a few steps back from the big metal doorway. Shouta scanned the area before finding a shadow to obscure him from the cameras and any possible would-be-intruders.

That's when he saw him.

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he was the guy from last night with Warpgate-san. Shouta withdrew more into the shadows and watched the guy study the gates before he approached the left side's frame. He knelt in front of it and it seemed like he was just picking up something - like a coin or whatever - but Shouta thought he also saw the guy graze a hand against the metal. Then he just walked off. How very suspicious. Shouta thought about following him, but that's when that one very persistent female reporter got frustrated and tried to stomp right through the gates. Shouta prepared his ears for the loud siren and eyes for the painfully bright red lights-

But they didn't come.

The reporters took less than a minute to storm the grounds all the way up to the three big doorways of the school itself.

In all that chaos, the Vigilante managed to catch sight of the white/pale-blue hair of Warpgate-san's friend but when he tried to follow after him, he was nowhere to be found.

'Fuck.'

This, of course, made for one paranoid Vigilante. UA buffed up their security, just in case, but it wasn't the level of security they'd need, Shouta knew, because they were preparing for reporters getting gutsy again.

Eraserhead, on the other hand, was the one that picked word off the streets that Giran was recruiting large numbers of random small-time villains and criminals. In the dozens. If they were all being recruited for a single customer ... Aizawa's finger hovered over several Pro Heroes' phone numbers. But he couldn't be sure yet if this group was being amassed to attack UA.

He continued following Giran's movements to the best of his abilities, to the point that he sort of worried some of his Hero friends when they didn't spot him a single time out on his usual patrols. He didn't reply anything beyond saying he's busy. Most Pros knew by now that this meant he'd found something big that may or may not later require their help, so they'll no doubt be waiting for his summons.

All Might, though, was still new. He, apparently, didn't know what the word 'busy' meant when it wasn't in connotation to himself.

He'd been pestering Eraserhead for three days now, after he heard from other Heroes that the Vigilante has been curiously quiet.

Shouta had almost called on him last night, when he ran into a strange ... creature-like guy that had almost managed to kill him, but Eraser hasn't been surviving on the streets as a Vigilante for over a decade to so easily fold. It wasn't pride. It was that he knew when he could take care of himself.

What worried him, though, was that it seemed like the guy had multiple Quirks.

And while that wasn't completely abnormal - people could be born with up to four Quirks wrapped into one, either as auxiliary Quirks or as parts of a so called composite Quirk and, rare still, people could be born with secondary Quirks - this guy didn't naturally have those multiple Quirks, not to mention that it was over four. And that's not even mentioning the exposed brain, something no Quirk did. Quirks were a new step of evolution for human kind and, occasionally, animals. In all the two hundred or so years since the Quirk Phenomenon, not once has a Quirk left any part of the nervous system exposed, or any other vital organ, for that matter. All sorts of physical mutations have taken place, but never once has the general structural integrity of a human body been endangered in such a way.

Shouta was lucky with this one. Besides whatever mutation Quirks hardened its skin and gave it wings, this ... thing had an emitter-type regeneration Quirk. Shouta had to put in a lot of work to get it contained. He's used up all the police-grade Quirk suppression cuffs he'd carried on himself last night, but he'd finally felt it was safe to leave the brain-guy to the police, though he did leave a few notes on the thing's strange behaviors and Quirk status, as well as what type of containment it might need.

And if its Quirks don't come back until a few days later, well, Shouta didn't want the police officers to get hurt while transporting that thing.

Strange brain-guy aside, it would have actually been just like any normal night. Except Shouta had found that guy while tracking Giran's recruiting route. That guy had either just been recruited or Giran was about to work him over. Either way, before his night shift was over, Shouta overheard from some low-tier villains that Giran was going underground for a while, which was his usual practice after recruiting a certain number for any organization.

This was, without a doubt, the most he's recruited for a single customer in all his known career.

Shouta couldn't make himself go to bed. He couldn't. He knew something was going to happen, and so he said 'fuck you, sleep' and 'fuck you, dry eye' and instead started patrolling the city in the middle of the day for the first time since he'd donned the mantle of a vigilantism. He patrolled and patrolled and patrolled and eventually found himself near UA.

To the day he died, he'll never be able to explain what urged him on to go towards the USJ when he knew UA was the target of these villains. It was off-campus and Aizawa had only ever seen brochure pictures. Regular classes are not, well, regularly held there, but he fucking went there, anyway. Something in his gut was screaming at him to. And so he did. By the time he found himself on the big dome, looking in through the white concrete-glass-like-material-or-whatever-it-was, trouble had already started brewing.

Not good.

There were only two Pros present and twenty students they would have to protect all by themselves while fighting off the villains.

Double not good.

The Heroes in question were Thirteen and Mister Blaster, a rescue Hero and a Hero dependent on fighting in a group to be in the least bit effective due to his dismal hand to hand combat skills.

Triple not good.

And the villains - Warpgate-san and his little friend, who was now covered in fucking hands of all things - had one of those brain-guys.

Fuck.

Aizawa checked his phone and found that the signal was being interfered with. He knew that it wasn't because of the dome itself, but rather because something or someone was disrupting the signal from within. He still had some bars left, but everyone inside was probably completely isolated communications-wise.

Aizawa sent an alert to all the Heroes he had in his contacts, hoping someone will receive it and pass it along to those close enough to actually do something to help, before he left his phone on the dome and took out the knife he carried at his lower back. He had no doubt that it can break the dome's encasing material. This knife was the literal only thing in the whole fucking world that can cut his capture weapon and that is no small feat. So, without hesitation, he hit the dome once, twice, thrice until the knife got embedded in the material. He secured it and stood up, ready to stomp it until he can break in.

Down below, he could see the warpgate guy appearing behind the trying-to-evacuate students and teachers, preventing them from reaching the doors. From behind them, from down below in the center square of USJ, the villains were predatorily stalking towards where the kids and Pros were. Mister Blaster charged towards the top of the staircase, hands crackling with explosions uselessly in an intimidation attempt, but he wasn't counting on there being shooters down there. A single hit and blood was spilled. The Pro went down like a log.

Fuck!

Thirteen was now alone with an injured comrade and twenty kids!

The thought alone was enough to give him the extra rush of adrenaline to break the dome's ceiling and he and the knife gracefully fell though as that whole square shattered. Eraserhead quickly oriented his fall, catching the knife and tucking it back into its place, before activating his Quirk. His capture weapon flared around him and he felt his fall slowing down just enough that he could safely land. His entrance was so surprising that no one made a single move to stop him until it was too late.

The shooters tried to use the same trick on him as they'd managed with Mister Blaster, but Eraserhead wasn't such an easy target. They were down in seconds, because most villains rely exclusively on their quirks when fighting, no hand to hand skills to speak of.

"Who's that!?" He heard both from above and behind him and right in front of him, villains and Herolings both. He paid neither any mind, instead focusing on the dozens of villains in front of him. Heroes were coming for backup. They'll be here in five to ten minutes. Mic and Midnight were no doubt at UA. They just need to convince everyone to come to USJ immediately and not ask questions of why they should listen to a Vigilante. He can hold out for five to ten minutes. Fifteen, maybe.

As long as the big, black brain-guy doesn't dive in.

"Thirteen, protect the students!" He called out when he had to jump back up a few dozen steps in evading a mutant-type villain. He wrapped his capture weapon around him, twisted and slammed him into the incoming guys that looked like they'd escaped a circus. Aizawa wasn't Quirkist by any means - he's suffered through his fair share of 'villain-Quirk' bullying - but this was just stating a fact. Some of these guys literally looked like pre-Quirk circus clowns from horror movies.

Another villain tried to use their Quirk to attack him but he simply erased it and punched the naive fool straight in the face.

"Holy fuck, that's Eraserhead you fools!" One yelled, finally figuring out who the black figure they were fighting against actually was. Well, shit. He quickly focused on that guy, stopping him from blabbing further. Not even villains or other Vigilantes knew about how his Quirk worked, or if it even was a Quirk and not some drug that messed with control.

"Step back, ya pansies! I'll get the little dancer!" A guy with four arms and two-tuned rocky scales declared, running towards Eraser with too-easy-to-read movements. Shouta dodges his punch, pivots on his foot while doing an almost-Limbo dance move, kicks another guy out of the way before using his momentum to kick four-arms away from him, too, sending him flying with the force. He then sends his capture weapon after him, wrapping it around his leg and then slamming him into a group of five villains. Thankfully, that knocks them out. For now, at least.

He hears screams from the top of the stairs and curses, but when he tried to run towards the kids, more villains come at him. Useless like cannon fodder, but they still just kept coming and coming. Warpgate-san was still blocking the entrance and endangering the kids. Handsy McMike was still standing by the fountain, scratching his neck, with the brain-guy just standing beside him like a loyal mutt.

Now that doesn't sit well with the Vigilante.

He doesn't know how long he fights like that, taking down villain after villain. Some of them go down and stay down, others manage to get up after some time and go back to making Aizawa's eyes burn from Quirk overuse. Fuck, but he needs a moment to use some eye drops! But he can't stop. He knows he can't stop, had suspected the fight would go like this the second he had dropped from the sky and decided to protect these kids. There were too many villains all around him. It's not a matter of skill. It's a matter of space and numbers and time. He wouldn't have enough time to squeeze in a drop in each eye, not to mention that it would be a dead giveaway as to his weakness. He's just lucky to not have sustained an injury yet. That would just make things even more complicated.

Eraser's a little surprised when he suddenly finds no villains making a lunge for him. A quick scan of his immediate surroundings reveals a fountain square full of groaning or passed out villains struggling to get back up and fight some more. Persistent bunch, some of them. Almost admirable. But mostly just really annoying, because that means he'll have to keep fighting.

"Eraserhead!" A new voice calls and Aizawa whirls around only to see Handsy McMike running towards him, one hand outstretched towards the Vigilante in an obvious intent to grab him.

"So, you're the boss?" He asks as he lunges towards the apparent leader, launching his capture weapon, Quirk flaring to life despite how much his eyes hurt from overuse. Handsy McMike manages to catch it, but Shouta's not worried. They keep running at each other and he dodges the too obvious move the villain makes to grab him, instead using his elbow in an attempt to hit his windpipe and, hopefully, render him useless on the ground. Only the villain grabs his elbow with his free hand at the last second.

"It's hard to tell when you're scampering around," Handsy McMike says almost calmly if not for the maddened edge to his words. "But there are moments when your hair falls down." Shouta did his best not to give any outwards indications of his reaction to someone noticing that. Damn, he's been fighting too long if someone noticed. The reason no one's ever found solid evidence that he even has a Quirk at all was because he always finished his fights as quickly as possible and was always moving about so that no one could tell if his hair suddenly floating about his head was a result of Quirk-usage or movement. "Every time you finish a given move, it happens. And your max duration is getting shorter and shorter."

His eyes itched. They hurt.

He had to blink.

Searing pain from his elbow actually caused tears to spring to his too dry eyes.

The manic look in his opponents red eyes, behind that decayed hand on his face, unsettled him almost as much as facing that first brain-guy had.

"Don't overdo yourself, Eraserhead!"

"Tch." Without hesitation, Shouta decked the villain, hard, sending him flying several feet away from him, giving him a moment to collect himself through the pain, catch his breath and blink away the tears. Those might actually come in handy, as already his eyes felt the tiniest bit better.

He was ready for the next group of villains, never loving his capture scarf as much as he did now for its versatility in the many ways it can be used. Most weapons can't be handled as easily with a single hand, and with his elbow now disintegrated down to his muscle, his right hand was all but useless unless he wanted to destroy it irreparably. He will, if he has to, because he now understands in just how much danger those children actually were.

The cannon fodder villains still went down relatively easily, but now he had to ignore both Handsy McMike taunting him about how 'useless' his Quirk-stopping Quirk was - which was a goddamned lie and only an idiot would think as much; emitter were the strongest and most common Quirk type, after all, and he only couldn't affect mutation-based types ... most of the time, anyway - and the agonizing pain radiating from the open wound.

"Yet you jumped right into this. Hoping to make those kids feel safe? So cool. So cool," the man-child praised and he was the one person Shouta definitely didn't want praise or acknowledgment from.

It was true, though.

Part of the reason he had so confidently leapt into this death-trap of a fight - for him, anyway - was because he needed those kids to focus on getting the hell out of here and harm's way. They needed backup. Backup they knew could hold up their own, at least long enough for them to escape. Shouta needed to hold out just long enough.

"By the way, Hero," his little villain admirer said with a sneer just as Shouta felt a presence at his back, seconds before its shadow covered him. Even before the Vigilante looked back and up, he knew it was the brain-guy. He was the biggest thing here, perhaps even larger than All Might. "I'm not the final boss."

'Final boss? As in ... In a video game?' Was the last thought he managed to have before his whole world was filled with pain and screamed and breaking bones.

Everything after that was fuzzy.

Chapter Text

Aizawa wasn't even sure how he was still conscious. Or how his goggles were somehow still in place, still in one piece. He could feel the lower frame of the right one scraping painfully against his cheekbone, but that hardly mattered now.

No, what mattered was getting that fucking brain-guy off of him, now!

Even as it held his injured elbow hostage, Shouta turned his head around and allowed Erasure to flare to life, red light flashing from within the dark safety of his yellow goggles, but all it earned him was more mocking from the villain and the thing - Nomu, was it? - shattering the bones of his other arm as though they were nothing but twigs.

The pain was excruciating. He could feel his mind trying to shut down in a desperate attempt to keep him sane from all that agony coursing through almost every inch of his upper body. His head now ached from more than overusing his eyes and he has never been more grateful towards the geniuses behind support gear as he is now. Without the incredible integrity of his goggles, not only would have his eye sockets been in direct danger, but his identity would have been revealed, too.

Who cares if he dies here? As long as the only name they can write on the tombstone is 'Eraserhead', then he'll be able to rest in peace. His old teacher won't know he has to mourn and all those monsters from his past won't know where to dig to dissect his body in search for answers.

But he knows he can't die yet. Not until backup comes, real backup. Pro Hero backup.

Preferably, All Might, for his incomparable power, or maybe Midnight, so she can put all of these bastards right to sleep and end it.

Just as long as those kids were okay. They were too young for this shit.

He would know.

He'd been in pretty much the same shitty situation when he'd been their age, not even a month into their first year at high school.

But now was not the time to think of burning smoke, of blood and debris, of not being able to see, of hearing the only adult who he's ever been able to trust in his whole childhood fighting desperately to catch up, to reach him. Not that it ever was. He can't think about any of that without going straight into a panic attack and losing control and no one can afford for him to lose control right now.

He has to stay conscious.

"Canceling out Quirks? Pretty cool but nothing special." (Had he been in the right state of mind, he probably would have snorted. Half of his life drama was caused by Erasure.) "Up against crazy strength, you might as well be Quirkless." (If only!)

If only this bastard would shut up, it'd be much easier.

But he has to focus, to stay awake.

He has to wait for All Might to get here-

"By the way, what do you think of the bioengineered villain? The Anti-Symbol of Peace, though we just call him Nomu."

Okay, scratch that. Not All Might.

But if not All Might, then who!? Who could possibly fight against the thing that was, apparently, created to fight the strongest Hero alive?

Again, he thinks of Midnight and her ability to put people to sleep.

Nomu seems pretty male. Even if he's a strange creature that doesn't even resemble humanity anymore.

Nemuri would probably be able to put him to sleep.

Mic's voice Quirk might also be enough to literally make that exposed brain explode.

This brain-guy was definitely stronger than the one he'd fought that had actually led him to being here in the first place. Would such simple tactics work on this one?

There's one thing that would undoubtedly work, but it has been ages since he'd done it last. He'd promised himself he wouldn't use it unless the situation was absolutely dire. It was something that should be buried and forgotten about, for it is gold and gold always causes greed and power-hunger. Shouta refuses to be anyone's puppet or source of profit. He knew it can't be used for anything but ending society as they know it and he's no anarchist. Every system has its flaws, but so much more harm would be done if that was unleashed on the world.

Humans no longer knew how to live without Quirks, after all. Even just a momentary loss of a Quirk unbalances people so much that a single untrained child could break in or out of the most secure and well-guarded facilities in the country.

But when he catches sight of three kids - two green haired, a boy and a girl, and one smaller boy with purple hair(?) - in the lake just behind Handsy McMike, he knows he can't let this continue. The second these villains are done with him, they'll notice the kids and Shouta doesn't know their Quirks, their skills, doesn't know if they can keep themselves alive just long enough for the Pros to arrive already damn it!

So he tosses caution into the wind and twists his head, glaring at Nomu through the slits of his goggles.

He's nearly blinded for a second - the pain in his eyes lessening, yes, but he can now see the-

And then he has to blink as he cries out in pain when the villain twists his shoulder out of alignment forcefully and forces his head against the pavement with one big hand. Aizawa can't fight it, not without proper leverage, but he doesn't care.

Even a second is enough.

Even just one second is enough. It was always enough.

It should have been enough to give these kids a fighting chance, because something had given.

It won't last long, he hadn't looked at the creature nearly long enough, but even five minutes is enough. Even one minute could be enough.

"Oi, oi, oi, you're too persistent, Eraserhead. Why are you even here? I know you're not a Pro Hero, no matter how often you're seen working with some. Though I guess it ultimately doesn't matter." Handsy McMike comes to stand before him, staring down at him, a hand even reaching towards his head. "You're in my way."

But before he can be disintegrated, Warpgate-san returns, stopping Handsy McMike in his tracks. "Shigaraki Tomura."

'Well, at least I now have a name to hunt. If I survive, that is.'

"Kurogiri." And another name! Lucky day ... "Is Thirteen dead?"

Oh gods, please no!

"They're incapacitated-" Yes! Thank you! "But ... " And here Kurogiri hesitates for but a second before continuing. "There were some students I couldn't warp away. And one of them escaped."

"Oh?" Oh, yeah, Shigaraki sounded unhinged and pissed. But Shouta couldn't give a fuck. One of the students, at the very least, was perfectly safe. One kid would survive, at the very least. Not everyone will die. Thirteen was injured, but they won't die, either. Not now. Not yet. And clearly these Hero-hopefuls were fighting back, which means that probably all the other kids are relatively fine, too! That's enough, right? Shouta's done enough. Can he sleep now? Whoever it is that's run out is hopefully fast and will, at least, be able to tell the story, to reinforce Shouta's reason for calling backup from all the Heroes he personally knows and trusts. He hopes they get here soon. He's getting a bit dizzy. Some sleep would ... really be ... really nice ... "We're leaving."

'Leaving?' He couldn't help but echo in his mind. He'd kind of spaced out, but he was sure Shigaraki was having an anxiety attack just a moment ago about other Pros arriving at the scene. Which means that they really weren't nearly as prepared as he'd feared. Was that guy an actual fucking child in an adult's body? How can you so easily give up when you're haughty enough to declare you'll kill the Symbol of Peace? Where's the drive?

No, something wasn't right here. Don't get him wrong, he's happy they're leaving, but something simply doesn't add up. Shigaraki's goal was, supposedly, to kill All Might, but the first second something doesn't go his way, he's all pouts and temper tantrums? He doesn't care about the dozens of villains that he's leaving behind that can easily identify him, all he cares about is that things didn't go according to plan? A shitty plan at that. One Vigilante was able to mess it up like no one's business just by being there and, honestly, Shouta's presence was an accident at best. A group of untrained kids could mess it up!

Why would Giran get involved with a guy like this? It affects his own reputation within the underworld if he's associated with guys like this, all bark no bite.

Shigaraki is acting like he was sent here to do one thing but was allowed to do whatever he pleases as long as he accomplishes the ultimate goal. That goal being to kill the Number One Hero, while Shigaraki seems to be in it for the destruction he can cause.

These villains had all bragged that they'd be famous for killing Heroes and defeating All Might.

Low-tier villains as cannon fodder.

A connection with Giran and the money to afford it.

A goal that does not seem to be personal at all but is followed through nonetheless.

No, Shigaraki definitely isn't the 'final boss'. He's no less a pawn than the cannon fodder Shouta's been fighting just minutes ago.

Something bigger is at hand here and Shouta had, somehow, found himself in the middle of it the second he'd decided to track Giran and first saw Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

Shit.

"But before that," those words and that tone had Shouta focusing back to the present faster than Ingenium can run. He didn't like it. 'Open your eyes. Come on, eyes; open!' He had a bad feeling about this. "Let's leave a few dead kids," Shouta nearly choked on his own blood that was running down his throat from his broken nose. He'd been right. 'Eyes, open!' He managed to crack his eyes open, yes! Now, he just needs to ... "To wound the pride of the Symbol of Peace!"

He's going for the kids! The kids in the lake!

Shouta's eyes are open but he needs to lift his head!

But Nomu was pushing him down and he didn't have the strength to fight him. He didn't have the leverage, not with both of his arms in the state that they were. Those kids are going to die and he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it!

"You got this, Shouta! You can do it, Shouta! You're the only one who can protect everyone! It's alright, you've got this! You have what it takes! If you put your mind to it, you can do anything! Because I know you're strong! You won't lose!"

He managed to, somehow, through some means, to find the strength to lift his head. He doesn't know where it came from, but he doesn't care. He just ... He needs to look at Shigaraki before he touches that girl's face!

The outstretched hand lands, everything stops.

Nothing happens.

Shouta can barely feel his hair levitating around his head, sneaking in between Nomu's thick fingers. He can barely feel his face, actually, nor his arms. Perhaps it's better that way, because he knows the alternative is unbearable pain. But that's alright. This is simply like Tasomiya. Erasure is the key.

Erasure just saved the green-haired girl what's-her-face and most probably the kids with her, too.

He can see Shigaraki sigh in annoyance and exasperation, but the words that come from him are laden with begrudging respect. "You ... really are pretty cool, Eraserhead." Aizawa was gritting his teeth to stay conscious and keep his eyes open.

He can't use it.

Not now that Shigaraki has moved and left the students in his line of sight. They're Hero-hopefuls. He can't end their careers before they even start. Kids' obviously have potential if they've made it through all of this shit this far. The world needs competent Heroes, not more Endeavors!

He just has to keep focusing on Shigaraki, to keep his eyes open-

The hand on his skull tightens and then he's slammed, harder than ever before, into the concrete and the last thing he truly feels before darkness takes him is his goggles digging into his right cheekbone, the bone beneath it shattering and he has but a second to use it to save his eyes from fatal damage before he has to shut it off lest he passes out with it left uncontrolled.

Everything after that feels like he's stuck in limbo.

He hears something that sounds like an explosion coming from what he thinks is the direction of the entrance.

He feels a gust of wind.

He thinks he hears a familiar voice apologizing to him, though he's not sure anymore what's happening so he doesn't know why.

He feels warm and secure, for a second, and he thinks it might not be a nightmare but a dream, a resurfaced memory from when he was so small and was being taken away from the fire of an ongoing war zone highlighted in gold.

He hears childish voices arguing over whether they should remove his goggles. He vaguely hopes they don't. They might further damage his eyes.

He hears fighting.

He hears more kids.

Then a familiar yell. Mic.

The Pros were finally here.

After that, there's nothing and by the time he wakes up, he's sure he's dead.

Instead, he finds himself in an infirmary he's not seen in fifteen years when he just barely manages to open his eyes through the bandages covering his whole face and head, though he hisses when the light assaults his poor, poor, oversensitive, painfully dry eyes.

"Stop that," a familiar voice says and Shouta tenses. "You need your rest and your eyes need it especially! Honestly! Do you actually see anything? Because it'd be a right miracle if you weren't blind."

"I see fine," he answers quietly, not moving his mouth too much, not yet sure of the full damage. He feels numb, which means he's on the good meds. Which would also explain why he's currently not freaking out about someone knowing his identity, possibly. "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

The kids, was his instinctive answer. The children he'd done his best to protect. The random bunch of teenagers he's never met and who will, most probably, in three years time do their goddamned best to put him behind bars.

Before he can answer, there's a loud knock on the door. "Recovery Girl! Is Eraserhead awake yet!? We want to see him!" More voices sound agreements and complaints from the other side and Shouta tries to do a headcount by distinguishing their pitches alone. He sighs heavily in relief when he discovers twenty. Twenty kids. All twenty kids. He almost wants to cry. And curse at the medication for making him so irrational.

Shouta turns to finally look at Recovery Girl, finding the motion not nearly as painful as he'd feared it to be. She's glaring at the door, then she looks at him and glares at him, too, before wobbling over to let the kids in. They blink in surprise before they register the bandaged man resting on the bed, eyes boring into them. Shouta is alarmed to see a good half of them immediately get tears in their eyes as they almost trample the small woman in their rush to get to his bedside. They're surrounding him in seconds, all twenty of them, though some hold back a little.

A spiky haired boy with red eyes looks, on the outside, like he'd rather be anywhere but here, but there is something like respect and wonder in his eyes. He stays. Shouta recognizes the youngest Todoroki child also holding back, though his expression is even harder to read. A tall student with multiple arms is also holding back, but that might be because he can see over the others' heads while he would have blocked their view if he were in the front. A kid with the head of a raven or something is also putting up a bit of a distance, but he stays, too.

The ones closest to him were the green haired boy and girl and the purple grape-hair kid that he'd saved at the last second. All three of them have tears in their eyes. A kid with red spiky hair is also crying, declaring how utterly manly Eraserhead was, though he's not entirely sure what that's supposed to mean. Standing besides Ingenium's younger brother was a brunette girl with round cheeks and she also seemed to be crying. So was a girl with pink hair and skin, a tall boy that seems to have a face shaped like a rock, he thinks an invisible girl might be crying, too, and a girl he recognizes must be from the Yaoyorozu family also looks on the verge of tears.

So many tears, but for what? Him? Why?

The rest are beaming at him. He can see awe on their young faces, in their eyes.

Again, why? What was so great about him? Was it because he fought for them? That's illogical. Any Hero would fight for them-

But he wasn't a Hero, was he?

"We're so glad you're okay, Eraserhead-sensei!" Now that brought his attention back to the group, because seriously? Sensei?

But, seeing the looks on their faces, he decided he can let it slide.

Just this once.

Chapter Text

While her official Hero name might be Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl, Shuzenji Chiyo is far from young. She's seen so much that, after a while, she'd thought she'd seen it all.

She's seen Yagi Toshinori walk away from a fight with the world's worst villain in the history of mankind and Quirks with a hole in his side. She'd seen that same Yagi Toshinori live to tell the tale, live to suffer having only one lung and no true stomach to speak of. She'd seen him push through it all, push past it, Plus fucking Ultra, and continue being All Might, continue fighting daily even as the time in which he could hold his 'hero form' slowly dwindled over the years.

She'd seen many friends retire or fall in battle.

She'd seen the most unlikely students graduate and become fine Pros and she'd seen the most promising ones bulk under the pressure and either give up their dream or, unfortunately, end it prematurely in the worst way possible.

She'd seen UA take hits the likes of which no one would think the school's reputation could survive.

She'd seen a miracle happen, once: a General Education student winning the Sports Festival, not using his Quirk until the very last match in the final round.

She'd seen a friend break, finally, over the loss of that student. Over his inability to protect him.

She'd even seen a traitor in UA's own staff.

She'd seen many things, but Eraserhead was something the likes of which she'd never seen and never thought she'd see.

Chiyo didn't know whether she should pinch herself to check if this is real or if she should cry.

She'd seen his face when she'd cleaned off all the blood.

She'd recognize it anywhere, even after all these years.

She's never once forgotten a former UA student, but this one is truly one she's sure she'd recognize blind.

Because this is the student that broke the Time Hero: Kronos. Chiyo's best friend, the man she'd once loved and thought they could maybe have a life together. They'd given up on that hope long before this particular student had walked into their lives, but Kronos, or as only a few know him, Tsukihino Shikaku, had made a special bond with the boy. A bond over their shared intellect and ideas. Shikaku had received the challenge of a lifetime from the boy that cannot be repeated.

And if Chiyo had ever had doubts about Eraserhead's identity, the presence of his scarf-like weapon was proof enough.

That, too, she'd recognize even if she were to go blind.

What she heard had happened as USJ is a gruesome and almost unbelievable story. She wishes it were only a tale, but she's seen the physical marks on twenty students and four adults, one of whom should not even be here at all. Thirteen will probably need a few weeks before she recovers fully. Toshinori's time as All Might has decreased to about an hour, maybe even less. Sensoji was lucky to have survived those gunshot wounds. He probably won't be able to do Hero work anymore, not that he has in a while. Question was, will he be able to teach? Also probably not. Not in the Hero department, that is. Not practicals.

The fourth was Eraserhead, a Vigilante that had, single handedly, saved two Pros and twenty kids. He hadn't been able to fight off the 'League of Villains' all on his own - that one that had injured Toshinori and pushed him past his limit had nearly killed him. That one had been his limit.

But Shuzenji had heard from the students that Eraserhead had fought for as long as he could.

Midoriya, Asui and Mineta wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been for this man's tenacity. His persistence. His strength of will.

Now, she watched as the man was surrounded by the kids he'd nearly died for, the kids that had seen their teacher that had never connected with them almost die foolishly and had seen this Vigilante come to their rescue when it was neither his obligation nor his job. And he looked confused by their gratefulness, by the fact that they seemed to like him. Him. Not a Hero.

He let them ask questions and even answered some. He bopped Midoriya-kun and Asui-chan on the head when they tried to thank him or apologize for not doing more, for getting in the way, and Chiyo made a disapproving noise, threatening them all with her cane if he breaks those casts.

Gods, he'd been in awful shape when Shoji had brought him over to Chiyo. For a moment, she had honestly thought they had handed over a corpse. But he had been breathing and he was still breathing.

Breathing and berating the children like he was born to deal with them. Like a teacher.

And these 1-A brats listened.

He'd earned their respect, after all.

"Eraserhead-sensei," Toshinori's little successor finally spoke up, a certain spark in his eyes that Recover Girl had seen a few times, usually when Quirks were being discussed. "I don't mean to be rude but it's really been bothering me since we saw you fight and I've heard of some of your other fights, though of course it's really hard to get information on them and even harder to find any visuals-"

"Breathe, Midoriya-chan," Asui-chan instructed and the freckled boy flushed, looking away from the raised eyebrow of the bandaged up Vigilante.

"Sorry!"

"Just ask me directly and concisely. It's illogical to beat around the bush."

Midoriya flushed again but nodded his head decisively. "Is it true that you can erase people's Quirks?"

"Midoriya-kun!" Iida admonished, chopping through the air with his usual robotic gestures. "You can't just ask that!"

"Yeah, it is a bit rude," commented dear, sweet Jirou. The only one from this class that hasn't been hurt since the beginning of the school year from this class until today.

"But you gotta admit that it's what we all want to know, right?" There goes Kaminari. No one can refute his claim and they all kind of nervously glance at the man they have declared 'sensei' despite knowing, surely, that he is no such thing.

Eraserhead sighs, long and loud, and slumps even more against his pillows. Yaoyorozu seems to instinctively move to fluffen them up for his comfort, only to blush and edge away when he sends her a questioning look. Chiyo's heart squeezes painfully. Does this man know no kindness? Then again, if he really is who she's pretty sure he is ... Maybe he doesn't, truly. Or maybe he'd forgotten.

(Shikaku's heart might break all over again, if that's the case. Gods, she hopes it's not the case. It's hard to watch one's friend and dearest person suffer all over again.)

"Yes, I can erase Quirks. It's only for as long as I can keep my eyes open and maybe a bit afterwards and it works on most Quirk types- What are you doing?"

Midoriya looks up from his notebook - that seems to have come out of absolutely nowhere - confusion and sheepishness warring on his face. "Uh, taking notes for my Hero Analysis For The Future? It's kind of my hobby? I, uh, don't show it to anyone, don't worry!"

"Let me see," Eraserhead says, beckoning him over. Chiyo watches as the whole group of students observe nervously as though he's testing them or something instead of just reading one of their classmate's notebooks. She admits, the things he writes in them can be either criticized or praised, even though she's never read it, but surely there's no need to act like they were taking a test! "Not bad, kid. Though, this is very dangerous."

"I-"

"You need to write it in code. What if a villain got their hands on this? You've analysed a lot of Heroes here, displaying both their strengths and weaknesses, the strategies they usually use and the flaws in their costume design. Information like that could get many Pros killed." Midoriya went pale. The rest looked curiously and worriedly at the simple-looking notebook. "Here, give me a pen. I'll give you a cypher that not even a computer can crack. Though I can't guarantee your Principal overlord would be unable to do it. Nezu is scary like that."

Spoken like an experienced UA student.

Yes, there was no doubt who this Vigilante was.

She wonders, though, if she should tell Kronos.

"Wow, that looks so pretty!" Ashido exclaims and wait, is that man using his hands to write!?

"You! You're supposed to be resting!"

"You're the one that let the children in, Recover Girl-san."

"Don't give me that sass," she huffed, wobbling over to his bedside to whack him over the leg with her cane. "I was barely able to begin repairing the damage done to your arms and your face! Don't make me undo my own work by whacking you over the head! Or worse!"

"What could possibly be worse for a head trauma victim?"

"I'll kick the kids out."

"No!" Class 1-A protested immediately and Bakugo's hands started cracking with explosions.

"Like hell you are, hag!"

"Kacchan! Don't be rude!"

"Silence." It was no louder than anything else he'd said this whole time, but the kids immediately shut up. It could be the way his hair started levitating, it could be the flash of red from his eyes - was that idiot using his Quirk already when just a few hours ago there'd been the possibility that he'd go blond!? Unbelievable! - or it could be the presence he carried, authoritative and 'no-nonsense' like. But the important part is that the kids listened. Even Bakugo didn't look nearly as angry as one would usually see him. A natural, it would seem, when dealing with children. "I'm fine, Shuzenji-san, I promise. I've done more with much worse injuries and much less sufficient medical assistance."

She could guess. She'd seen some of his scars. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't be resting."

"That doesn't mean I should be here to begin with."

"Of course you should be here!" Cried Kirishima, aghast. "It doesn't matter if you're a Vigilante or a Hero! You needed help and deserve the best medical attention available!"

"Yes, I am, indeed, a Vigilante," Eraserhead said pointedly. "Which means, as soon as I am even remotely well enough, the police or Heroes will come in to arrest me."

"They can fucking try," Bakugo declared, hands cracking again.

"Yeah!" Ashido cheered. "They'll have to get through us, first!"

"Please don't get arrested on my account," groaned the man but the kids all just started planning their attack should anyone try to storm the infirmary. They hadn't known this man for longer than half an hour and they were already ready to throw hands for him. Sensoji could have been with them for the whole year and he would have never gained their trust like this.

Bless the man, he had tried to help them, but he had not given them the confidence to fight back like Eraserhead's fearless actions have.

And in this one half an hour, this man has listened to them more than Sensoji would ever bother.

Senosji was simply not meant to be a teacher.

He could try, but that was simply not in his nature. He didn't give off the air of calm and control and confidence. And trying to earn respect through intimidation won't work with Hero-hopefuls.

Eraserhead, though, could be intimidating with a simple single gesture and these kids fall over themselves to do as he says. As though he's going to expel them at any moment. How very peculiar. If this man were a Pro Hero or even just an ordinary civilian, she'd immediately recommend him to Nezu as a teacher.

"Problem children," said perfect-teacher-candidate called, gaining their attention with ease once again. "I am glad you are all alright. And I wish to sincerely apologize for not protecting you better." The kids immediately cried in outrage, protesting this statement, but Eraser just shook his head. "I should have done better. I could have done better. I had the means. Instead, some of you have gotten hurt." He looks down at his bandaged arms and hands. "I had enough information that there might be an attack on UA, even if I had no solid proof or confirmed facts. I should have risked raising a panic over letting this happen. It's my fault you kids had to go through all of this."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for things you couldn't control," young Todoroki, of all people, speaks up. "You should be proud of what you've accomplished."

"If it hadn't been for you, we'd all be a lot worse off than just with a few scraps and bruises," Ojiro assures.

"We're really grateful you were there!" Hagakure insisted. "And you were so cool!"

"Yeah! So manly! I wish I knew how to fight like that!"

"Probably not in a million years, Kirishima," Sero teased.

Eraserhead just watched them all, still seemingly unable to believe what was happening. Then again, he's a Vigilante. Due to how most Heroes generally view them and how they preach that belief over various media channels, a good portion of the population views Vigilantes as no better than criminals or even outright villains. Even when Vigilantes do their best to keep people safe, they're immediately reported by the very people they've just risked their own safety to save.

And Eraserhead has had fifteen or so years of that treatment. It must be unusual to him that he's being thanked so genuinely for something he's been doing thanklessly for all this time.

"Shuzenji-san," Eraserhead suddenly calls out to her, bringing all the attention in the room to himself yet again. Chiyo ignores the stares of the students as she focuses on the former student. "May I have a moment with the problem children?"

"Problem children? Is that going to be a thing now?" Yaoyorozu asks to the other students in a conspiratorial whisper that's still more than loud to be heard by the two adults, who choose to pretend otherwise.

"Gods, I hope so!" Kaminari, of course, seems to be all but vibrating out of his skin at the prospect.

Chiyo wants to huff a laugh. Eraserhead still seems confused, but also embarrassed? If she's reading what she can make out of his expression under all those bandages, that is. "I'm coming back in five minutes. I'll make sure no one comes in if they come to check up on you."

She walks out and never leaves the door, even though it's closed. She knows Eraserhead is well aware that she's there. She's aware he must have realized she'd know who he was, so he wasn't bothered by her overhearing this. After all, there was simply no way Chiyo wouldn't know. Even if she didn't remember all the faces of the students she's treated for three years in this school, even if she didn't remember and immediately recognize the boy Kronos was to this day mourning, she'd treated him. She'd taken blood samples, to make sure no infection had seeped in, that he didn't get syphilis or any other disease or infection after cleaning up his wounds. With the shape that he's been brought to her in, it was inevitable.

And by running blood tests, she'd get a DNA match.

She hasn't checked it yet, of course. She doesn't need to.

She'd recognize Aizawa Shouta with amnesia and no eyes.

Chiyo just couldn't believe he was alive at all. It was a miracle.

The old school nurse still remembered the Sports Festival of fifteen years ago. The incredibly talented young man who couldn't make it into the Hero Course because the entrance exams consisted of fighting robots. That was practically their trail run, the first time Nezu and the school board approved and implemented them. They had been inspired by All Might and his ability to seemingly win in any situation, so the board and all of the school's sponsors wanted more powerhouses like him to come through these halls. They wanted big, flashy Quirks, completely forgetting just how essential other Quirks could be. How essential the so-called 'support' Heroes could be in any given situation.

All Might wasn't the type of Hero that would be versatile for every situation. No, that was all Toshinori and his brilliant mind and his natural talent to be that type of Hero. Endeavor, just one generation of graduates later, proved as such. Anyone else with a Quirk even remotely similar to Toshinori's would be a safety hazard in 67% of the situations All Might can deal with. Toshinori already leaves a lot of property damage if his fights extend for longer than a minute.

No, All Might wasn't the, ironically, one-for-all solution. His Quirk wasn't meant to be like that. It's meant to be powerful and it's meant to fight the most powerful kingpin of villains in the world. The most powerful Quirk in the world.

Aizawa Shouta, on the other hand, had the ability, the capacity, the potential and the skill to be that. With his Quirk, he could easily make things even. He levels the playing field and when people rely only on their own bodies, in this age of Quirks, they get tripped up. They're at a disadvantage.

Though Aizawa has proven he can be that even without taking Quirks away left and right. Aizawa had won the sports festival based on his own physical readiness, quick wits and by being an opportunist. He hadn't registered a support item, but Chiyo knew he'd ordered one. From Kronos himself, the legendary head of UA's Support Course. Kronos never forgave himself that he hadn't given Aizawa the capture weapon the teenager had carefully constructed in his mind and explained to the man. Kronos had taken weeks, for the first time in decades, to construct a single support item and he refused anyone's help. He'd been excited to see Aizawa utilize the final results for his first week in the Hero Course.

Instead, one of the biggest tragedies of UA struck the literal night before Aizawa was supposed to be officially transferred. They had all thought the boy gone to them for good.

Kronos had never stopped mourning.

Chiyo just wondered how Aizawa had the capture weapon today.

She sighed and returned to the room, figuring she'd given the kids enough time to bother the Vigilante.

She wasn't expecting to walk in on a group hug with a very awkward Eraserhead in the middle.

She'd have snapped a picture if he wasn't covered from head to toe in bandages. She wasn't even sure whom she would show the picture to.

But, as sweet as the sight was, she knows she has to shoo the students away if she wants to get a chance to chat with their lost Sports Festival Champion before she makes him go back to sleep. If he's asleep, then no one will bother him, never mind arresting or questioning the Vigilante.

"Okay, kids! You've had your time, now git! He needs a lot more rest before he'll be back on his feet and he needs that as soon as possible. And you rugrats also need to go home and rest, recuperate after everything you've just been through. Don't worry about Eraserhead. I'm sure he'll be out on the streets annoying Endeavor in no time."

Young Todoroki's eyes widened and he gazed at Aizawa like he saw him in a whole new light.

Eraserhead, she thought, was smirking under the bandages. Little shit, she thought fondly, recalling the confident young man claiming the golden medal. He'd taunted the entire Hero Course and the whole staff and school board by winning. As if to say, 'You didn't want me here, so here I am'. As if to prove just how faulty their new entrance exam was. She's glad that part of him hasn't changed, though it does seem to appear more sparsely now. She hopes that's just the result of growing up and not more trauma added to the boy's already overly full plate.

The kids complained a bit more about leaving but eventually did so. Not without a hearty "Goodbye, Aizawa-sensei! Thank you!"

"They're never going to drop that, are they." It wasn't even a question but Shuzenji still confirmed his fears, making him groan. "I thought dealing with the 'Big Three' was bad enough."

"You've met them, too?"

"Fat Gum's a friend and Ryukyu doesn't try to arrest me unless there's Heroes who'll tattle on her if she doesn't make an attempt."

"And young Lemillion?" She asks in amusement as she approaches his bed, jumping up onto her stool so she can examine him again now that he's awake and can actually give her feedback on what does or doesn't hurt or feels funny.

"He keeps following Suneater around, from time to time, so I met him through him. Now he tried to arrest me, because Sir Nighteye, apparently, doesn't share All Might's op-" He shuts his mouth and Chiyo laughs. Of course Eraserhead would grow on All Might! Isn't that how it always goes, between cats and dogs?

"Don't worry, he told me about your little rooftop chat, Shouta-kun."

"... So you do remember me." He said after a pause, looking away from her, pointedly not looking at where his, now tattered but still whole and usable capture weapon lay on the bed by his feet.

It wasn't a question. A statement of fact. A confirmation of what had already been suspected and known. Yet Recovery Girl answered anyway.

"Who could forget the only student who's ever gone missing from UA's own grounds."

Chapter Text

Shouta had suspected Recovery Girl knew since the moment he realized she'd seen his whole face and not just the bits showing in between his hair, his capture weapon and his goggles.

He'd known she would call him out on it, so he hadn't minded that she was just outside, within hearing range, when he told Class 1-A his name. (He wasn't sure what it was about these kids that had made him say it. Perhaps it was the same thing that eventually warmed him up to Hizashi and Nemuri and the others. Surviving a near death experience together tends to create such bonds, alright. And they had seemed so genuinely happy to see him awake and to talk to him ... And, well, Shouta knew that, for a while at least, he will be their association with security. All Might might have done the final saving, but it had been Eraserhead that had made it so that all of them were even alive to be saved by their resident Number One Hero. So he knew he couldn't just ... cut them off, keep them out. Not now, when they were at their most vulnerable, right after the attack. Even the most confident - and aggressive - kid had reached out to touch him to make sure he was really here, that it wasn't a hallucination.)

He hadn't expected she would go straight to the heart of UA's first real tragedy.

It had happened right after the first year Sport's Festival, back when Shouta had tried his hand out at UA. By some stroke of luck, he'd won. He was the talk of the school, the talk of the country, even! The first Gen Ed kid to beat all the Hero Course students and climb to the top, to claim that gold medal. Shouta wasn't even in the Hero Course yet - not officially, as the appropriate papers were still going through - but he was already being sought after by fifty different Hero agencies for the first year internships. The young Aizawa Shouta of back then couldn't be happier.

The only way he could have been happier was if Kronos-sensei had just finished his capture weapon right after the Sports Festival so Shouta could start training with it. He'd wanted to be ready for his first classes in the Hero Course and for the internships.

He never got the chance, because it turned out his homeroom teacher was either a traitor from the start or became corrupted.

The crux of the story was that he had called Shouta after classes ended for a meeting and had managed to get a drop on him and knock him out. Next thing Shouta wakes up to is Kronos-sensei fighting against his kidnapper, only reinforcements came. Shouta, now bound, blindfolded and gagged, was handed over to a crony and rushed off while the rest continued fighting his enraged and desperate mentor.

Only Shouta had refused to be a damsel in distress. He'd lived through far more frightening and dangerous situations, with far more powerful villains, when he was younger to suddenly play at being helpless. He didn't win the Sports Festival by standing there and looking pretty!

So he'd started working on his restraints. He just needed to free his hands enough to uncover his eyes. Once he could see, shit will get real and he'll make these goons regret ever daring to lay a single hand on him.

It took longer than he thought it would and by the time he'd managed to free himself, they were already on a boat heading for only god knows where. Well, not with Shouta on board, that's for damned sure! He'd just gotten into the Hero Course! He will not let anyone get in the way of his dream. If he has to, he will fight his way out of here!

He ended up having to, but he hadn't won the Sports Festival for nothing. Leading up to enrolling into UA, Shouta had attended several martial arts classes. It wouldn't be enough for Pro Hero work by itself, but he had always thought it would be for the best to have some base to work on once he got into the Hero Course, one way or the other. It came in quite handy when he had to fight his way off of that goddamned boat. He figured he'd have to work a lot on his strength as he rowed himself back towards shore. That had taken longer than he had thought it would. He hadn't realized just how far out the ship had gotten before he'd detached a lifeboat and started rowing. Fighting the waves and sea currents wasn't easy and he hadn't been dressed for the cold winds wiping at him, but Shouta was nothing if not stubborn.

He'd had to use it for orientation. To see the lights flickering in the distance as a guiding star. It took him two whole days just to get back to shore. And another two to get back to UA, as he had no ID on himself, no money and no phone. Not that he'd have anyone to call, either way. Well, maybe Kronos-sensei. The man had taken a liking to Shouta on their first meeting when Shouta had hunted him down in the Support Course's work labs to give him specifications of what he needs for his capture weapon. Kronos-sensei had liked the challenge and had kept Shouta in the lab discussing it and various other topics - Sensei had even given him tips in his current fighting style and how to reach the final round of the Sports Festival - before finally letting him go home. They met up almost every day with Kronos-sensei telling him about his own short Hero career and why he preferred using his Quirk in creating support items instead of fighting overall. They got close.

Kronos-sensei was the only adult in his life Shouta trusted at that point and that was perfectly fine.

The man must be worried sick about him at this point. He'll probably fret when he sees him as he is now, all but dehydrated and very, very hungry. On his way towards his school, Aizawa had had to resort to old tricks since before he was eight, sleeping like a homeless person, stealing things from food stands - not very heroic, he's well aware, but he's learned early on in life that survival is what mattered most, and after all that he's survived, he wasn't about to let starvation be the thing that does him in - and taking coins from fountains when he absolutely needed money for something. He had ended up taking clothes from clothing lines in order to change out of his absolutely ruined uniform, figuring UA won't mind giving him a new one, not after the shit they just let him go through.

Not that it was traumatic to him, at this point. He's been through worse and when he was younger, too. At least this time he'd been able to fight back.

When he finally got back to UA and saw the big gates, he was ready to start crying from relief. His feet hurt, he hasn't had a decent meal in nearly five days and he was tired. A shower and a warm bed was all he wanted. Maybe to snuggle with a cat if someone could get him one. And he wanted to make sure Kronos-sensei was alright and didn't feel guilty for not managing to save Shouta that night.

However, before he could walk up to the gates themselves, Shouta saw something that made his blood turn to ice in his very veins: government agents. A black car had just rolled up and out stepped government agents. Shouta even recognized two of the five that marched right on into the school!

It was then that it occurred to Aizawa that a UA student has been missing for four days - he had to be all over the news by now.

He immediately left UA and found an Internet cafe. He spent what few hundred yen coins he had left on a beagle and took residence at one of the computers, immediately looking up the news feeds of the past few days and then, when he read that his mentor was injured, hacked both UA's files and the hospital records. What he saw there had him entering a near panic attack. When everything combined together, he knew going back to UA was not an option. Not if the government agencies were getting involved with his kidnapping case.

He refused to go back.

But he couldn't just ... not ever see Kronos-sensei again. No, he had to see the man one last time, at least. To absolve the man of whatever guilt he might be feeling. To tell him Shouta was alive. He couldn't not do it. Not after what the man has lost in his fight against Shouta's kidnappers in desperate attempts to get the Erasure-wielder back.

Shouta had honestly thought that that would be the end of his Hero dreams, that he'd have to forget the promise he'd made to the Heroes that had saved him that he would one day return the favor to the world by becoming like them. He'd thought: this is it, I can't do more than this. And then he'd walked into his Sensei's house after the man was released from the hospital, the old man's doors unlocked, only to find him having a nightmare, muttering Shouta's name and apologies. Only to find the Hero costume Shouta had requested, complete and just how he'd imagined it, capture weapon and all, within arm's reach of the Hero's bed.

That was the last time Shouta had allowed himself to cry.

And after all these years, after leaving the man's house with the only trace of his presence being a single salted licorice candy piece on his mentor's bedside table, he felt like he might actually cry again. Stupid medication.

Shouta had gone back to Kronos-sensei's house plenty of times over the years. He'd do things around the house that the now really old retired Hero no longer could. Repairing his roof, fixing the floorboards so they don't squeak anymore, installing a better door lock and even implanting a security system in his house that would alert Shouta of any funny business so he can come help his mentor immediately. Heroes make a lot of enemies over the years of their careers, after all.

He, at first, never spoke to the man, of course, but Kronos-sensei always knew it was Shouta that came to visit him, even without gazing into the timeline with his Quirk. Not that Kronos-sensei ever said anything, either, not until Shouta had been ready for it and/or started it first, but he would always leave out whatever new equipment he made in his home workshop for Shouta when he was around. It made Shouta want to gouge his own eyes out so he can give them to Kronos-sensei. It made him want to break into Tartarus - and it would be so easy to hack that place after all the training and lessons he's had with Hal, AKA A. Ashou - and tear his former homeroom teacher to bits and pieces, but he knew that would only bring Kronos-sensei more pain, to see what Shouta would have become.

It's why he took so long before he spoke to the man, why he never told him what the gear he was making was used for, though he might have suspected after some time. Shouta had never given up his dream of saving and helping people, but the path of heroism was closed to him forever. He'd known that since he'd picked up the capture weapon for the first time. He'd known the only way he can keep his dream slash promise alive was if he turned to vigilantism.

Kronos-sensei never outright learned his precious Aizawa Shouta was the infamous Vigilante Eraserhead that had half the Hero society hunting him and the other half (begrudgingly) befriending him.

And that's how Shouta wanted it to be.

Kronos-sensei knew he was alive and well and that will have to be enough. It has to be, for the both of them.

Looking at his tattered scarf-like support item now, Shouta had to be grateful that it's stayed that way all these years. His old Sensei would no doubt have a heart attack if he were to be informed just how badly Shouta had been hurt and what kind of fight Eraserhead had so carelessly thrown himself into. The capture weapon was made, by design of both creator and the one making the request, to keep Shouta safe in any fight he might find himself in. Kronos-sensei had taken as long as he had in perfecting the alloyed cloth just so it could survive even All Might's strength. Shouta's not sure if it really could, though it's unfair to the capture weapon for Shouta to start doubting it now, after all these years of use. It says a lot about its quality that it's only now started fraying and fatiguing at the edges. Aizawa knows he can't safely use this one anymore. The Nomu had seriously done a number on it.

Thankfully, he has plenty of spares, courtesy of Kronos-sensei himself.

"Will you tell the Heroes? The police?" He asks Recovery Girl, not bothering to look away from his most trusted companion of the past fifteen years. Which is a bit sad, truthfully, but Shouta doesn't give a fuck.

"Eraserhead's true identity or the fact that a missing, thought to be dead UA student is neither dead nor missing?" The old woman asks back with a sigh that suggested he's fighting a headache. "Because I might have no choice in the matter, Shouta-kun. You're in really bad shape and really shouldn't be awake yet. I still have a lot of damage to fix."

"I need to leave," he told her instead. "I refuse to be caught. I can't. There's something out there, Shuzenji-san. Something that the Heroes are blind to. I may be the only one who can find it, at this point. At least before something like this can happen again, or worse. We all barely got out alive from this. If the circumstances were just the tiniest bit different, you'd have been doing autopsies, not cleaning scraps and healing bruises."

"You have both your elbows shattered, one of your shoulders dislocated, severe head trauma and your right cheekbone and eye socket is shattered!" The little old nurse snapped with a ferociousness that would have made any other man but Aizawa Shouta flinch back and cover before all of her four foot glory. You just don't mess with a doctor. "You've lost enough blood that you nearly went into shock, your nose is broken and you wouldn't even be able to breathe if not for my intervention! How your skull hasn't shattered against the pavement, how your neck hasn't been snapped and how you're not blind is all due to some greater miracle at work! You shouldn't be alive, Shouta-kun! Not with the kind of punishment I've heard you've taken!"

"I've had worse." And he has. Last year, a giant of a ... man, maybe, whatever. It had looked like a walking mini mountain and it had been wandering the streets. Some kid had directed him in the completely wrong way from his destination and had instead sent him towards the police station. Good thinking on the kid's part, but the police simply weren't equipped to fight that guy. Shouta had managed to lead him far enough away so it doesn't kill the officers - enough were already going to be paralyzed for the rest of their lives as it was - but that had eventually angered the mountain of a man and he had literally stomped on Aizawa the first chance he got. How Aizawa's spine hadn't snapped like a twig, leaving him just as crushed and paralyzed as the police officers, was a bigger miracle than him surviving USJ. If it hadn't been for a kind ginger man and his kid, who both had some seriously powerful healing Quirks, Shouta probably would be dead right now.

Point was, Shouta can handle it.

And he definitely wasn't about to either sit around and do nothing while this so-called League of Villains roams the streets and endangers more kids nor let the police arrest him. Fuck that shit!

Shuzenji must have realized as much because she sighed heavily and jumped onto his bed. "At least let me heal you some more. Especially that eye of yours. How your goggles haven't gouged your own eyes out when your face was smashed in, I don't know."

Shouta dodged her incoming healing kiss expertly, making her frown. "Fix my arms. I can deal with my eyes."

"Shouta-kun-"

But Shouta beat her to it, activating it and feeling the uncomfortable sensation of things shifting, the bones going back into their own place and healing underneath the skin. It may have brought so much trouble to him over the years, but he could never hate it. It was a part of him. It was what made Shouta so unique that he'd pursued knowledge on Quirk Theory and found so much fun in all that research. It is what allowed him to, eventually, meet so many amazing people, to make friends, to be more than just a kid with a weird Quirk, if it can even be called that. It certainly defies all definitions of a Quirk.

Shuzenji all but lunges at him to stop him, but by the time she reaches him, his hair has already settled back into place as the deed was done. The woman was about to start lecturing him as she swiftly cut off the bandages to get a look at his eyes, only to recoil back as she no doubt found that area to be almost completely healed. "Wha-? You're eyes, they've just ...? But how? I know, for a fact, that your eyes are r-"

"Does it really matter?" He shrugged, trying to play it off as unimportant.

"It does when it mysteriously heals your injury!" Huffed Recovery Girl. "So you can heal yourself?"

"Only my eyes, unfortunately. I can't really explain. Not now, nor ever. It's my secret. Just that I showed you anything is already putting you in danger."

"Knowing dangerous secrets is what I do on a daily basis in the past decade or so, young man."

"My secret is much more dangerous than All Might's." He sees her stiffen and nearly wants to scoff. He doesn't. He doesn't elaborate, either. That's not a conversation for them to have. He won't tell anyone but All Might himself how he knows, why he knows. It's no one else's business but their own, though he's not actually sure if he wants to bring that up. That was an event and day he'd rather forget, but knows he can't. And not just because of trauma, either. "Can you just please heal my arms? I need to go."

"Will you tell Shikaku that you're alive? He's still mourning you, you know. He nearly had a breakdown when he couldn't see your face even in the timeline's past anymore."

Shouta looks away. He hates learning how much pain he'd caused the one man he might have viewed as a father figure if only they'd had more time. (He was aware of the irony of someone with the Quirk Timemaster not having enough time, but it's not like Sensei actually controls time; rather he could gaze into the timeline up to five days into the past and five days into the future, for objects, while for people he can only see five minutes into the future. Weird restriction, but who was Shouta to judge when he had virtually none. Or, at least, as far as he knows.) "He already does."

"Oh."

"He doesn't know about Eraserhead, though."

Recovery Girl hums. "Well, at least I know now that he's avoiding this place more out of practicality than out of grief."

But of course. There was never a news release that Shouta's been found or that he'd returned. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Aizawa Shouta was still missing, most probably dead by now. Kronos-sensei understood this meant Shouta didn't want to be found. So he never told anyone. Hence why he's avoiding UA. You can't really hide things from Principal Nezu and he and Recovery Girl were too close for her not to notice a change in his behavior. And she'd want to see Shoute herself, if she'd known he was back, to at least check up on him. What neither Shouta nor his mentor could nor would risk was Recovery Girl choosing to 'do the right thing' and report Shouta's return.

Yes, it would put him straight back on the track he'd been following, the path to becoming a Pro Hero, but the government had found out about him and he refused to go back.

"Will you heal my arms?"

"You still have head injuries, fool!" Chided the nurse but Shouta wasn't going to give ground, either.

"Please, Chiyo-san?"

The woman looked as though she was in pain. "No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to wear that wounded kitten expression and call me by name while acting all cute." Aizawa had absolutely no idea what the aged Heroine was talking about, because he knew for sure he was the farthest thing from cute, especially with whatever colorful bruises he was sporting right now. "I'm not Shikaku, damn it! I won't fall for it!"

Needless to say, Aizawa soon found his arms in only bandages instead of casts and was wrapping his capture weapon back around his neck and shoulders, healed enough to make the trip home. "I'll need to look into the League of Villains. Something is seriously not adding up here. That Shigaraki guy doesn't have the leadership skills to acquire an alliance with someone like Nomu, especially not to the point someone so much stronger than him would listen to every word he says."

"You need to rest until the rest of your injuries heal, not jump around town at night, chasing the very villains that nearly killed you!" Snapped Recovery Girl, but Shouta wasn't about to quit being Eraserhead just because his old school nurse found out about him. "If you go out sooner than at least a week has passed, I'll tell your students."

The black haired man turned towards her incredulously. "They're not my students-"

"Kids, then."

"No, not that, either. And why should I care if you tell them?"

"Because they'll be upset and worried about you, probably to the point where they can't concentrate at all, which they can't afford with the Sports Festival just around the corner." She looked smug as she delivered all of this and Shouta felt his eye tick. "You wouldn't want to sabotage their future by your own reckless behavior, now would you?"

"Damn you, woman," was all he said before he jumped out of the window, rolling a little on the ground to lessen the impact. He quickly made it towards the treeline separating the school from the gates, careful to scout out any cameras and stay out of their fields of vision. In the end, he opted to go by treetops and used his capture weapon to get over the wall. He swiftly makes it across town to his simple apartment, not particularly caring for 'taking it easy' as Chiyo had insisted.

He knows his limits. And he knows his situation. He can't risk Heroes going after him when he isn't yet fully healed. He'll probably have to visit a hospital or private clinic as a 'victim' and one of Eraserhead's 'rescuees' - oh, if only the Heroes knew how much he used that excuse all over the city, they'd eat their heart's out; best cover in the world for his various more serious injuries over the years that needed professional treatment, as between Eraserhead's less than legal activities, the money collecting dust most days in Shouta's bank account and his hacking skills to create new identities when he needs them, no one has figured out Eraserhead himself has been visiting various medical facilities. He's a little disappointed in them all for falling for it. It's not like Shouta works like other Vigilantes! He leaves them reports. Very detailed reports of every incident he's ever stopped. How they didn't figure out someone was slipping in through the cracks, he has no clue. He guesses it's because the police forces have truly come to rely on him and trust his word that they don't even question it or look into any 'Eraserhead sightings' anymore. Useful for him but dangerous for the police to be so negligent and trustful - for a follow up in the next couple of days, to at least get the bandages changed.

But he can't keep his promise to Chiyo-san to take it easy.

No, something was not right. Something, someone out there is bioengineering creatures like that 'Nomu' fellow. Or is it 'fellows', because the one that appeared with Shigaraki at USJ is certainly not the first one Shouta's met.

Something big is coming. Something big and bad and he doesn't like it. He'll have to keep his eye out for more 'Nomu' around the city.

He'll listen to Chiyo-san only tonight and tomorrow night. After that, he'll be returning to the streets. And it's not like he's going to laze around at home in the meantime, either!

Patrol isn't the only way to survey the streets when one can hack the CCTV cameras.

Chapter Text

USJ had a lot of consequences, way more than All Might had thought a single incident possibly could.

For one, three Pro Heroes have been injured in various degrees and one civilian - because Eraserhead is a civilian, even if he's a Vigilante in the eyes of the law - had nearly died. One student, too, ended up having severely broken bones, but that was all Midoriya-shounen's inability to deal and cope with the power of One For All. He'll get better and stop breaking his bones ... one day. He'd healed fast enough, within hours, and then he'd left the medical ward Chiyo-san had put them in, mentor and protege, to go meet his classmates and they all went off to do something together. No one of the teaching staff knew it at the time, but they sure did learn the day the kids were back for classes two days later.

Two, All Might's time as, well, All Might has decreased once again because he had forced himself so well beyond his limits. He had barely about an hour in his muscled form, which meant he'll now only be able to do Hero work on weekends and days when he's not teaching any classes. Those were few and far in between, but he's starting to realize where his priorities now lie. He's a teacher. After watching what Thirteen had gone through and after seeing just how much Eraserhead had done for a bunch of kids he had no obligation to, Yagi Toshinori has realized his days as an active Hero are coming to an end but his days as a teacher are just beginning. No more distractions. He'll be on call for more serious incidents and leave everything else to the hundreds of active Heroes and sidekicks of Musutafu.

(Besides, he knew the streets will be in good hands, once Eraserhead emerges once again. If he does. Gods, does All Might hope he will.)

(He may mourn a bit that he's only had one late night chat with the Vigilante he's unexpectedly come to respect and that they've never gotten a chance to work together, but he fears he won't even have the courage to look at the man once more after the sacrifices the man has made for children Toshinori was supposed to protect.)

Three, society was in a bit of an uproar after the attack, speculations were made, UA professional integrity and capabilities were put into question, as though the school hasn't been running successfully for decades now without a single incident before this one. The media frenzy was even worse than before and Toshinori had to waste one day of being All Might on interviews and statements that were meant to reassure the public that it will not happen again.

Four, word got out who the first responder was and Eraserhead's popularity suddenly skyrocketed. Suddenly, half the city knew about his existence when before he'd been as anonymous as any non-Hero or non-Vigilante. Investigative reports swarmed the police departments all over the city, the gossip magazines tried accosting the students of 1-A for statements about Eraserhead and more and more Heroes were asked less about their own work to be, instead, questioned if they have ever worked alongside or against the mysterious, brave Vigilante.

Of course, the question of how and why Eraserhead had been there to respond so quickly eventually came up, from the reporters, the Hero Commission, Principal Nezu, other Heroes and of course Detective Tsukaushi himself, as he was the one in charge of the case, only for a different detective to reveal that the night before the attack Eraserhead had apprehended a villain might similar to Nomu, though smaller, weaker and of a different color. That detective, more used to working with Eraserhead than Naomasaa since his station was so close to Naruhata, was convinced the reason Eraserhead had been there at the right time was because he was investigating that captured villain. He doesn't know any more than that, as is usually the case until Eraserhead has solid leads, but it's still a great clue and it only got Eraserhead more attention once it somehow got leaked to the media.

The Hero Public Safety Commission raged, long and hard, at the Heroes who had been there when the order was given to arrest Eraserhead on sight when a title appeared in one newspaper.

ERASERHEAD: VIGILANTE OR UNDERGROUND HERO? Why does the HPSC allow such treatment of one of our Heroes?

The article was both printed out in thousands of copies and posted online and it was one of the most popular and read texts for days before the UA Sports Festival and will probably continue to be so for a while yet after it. No attempts from any of the higher ups to deny Eraserhead's 'Hero' status were accepted as truths, not when the mayor himself was convinced it all made sense now. Apparently, Eraserhead had saved his daughter some years ago and he'd been confused by it, as Vigilantes are usually trying to go against the system, mostly because of politicians or other figures in power that they view as generally corrupt. In an interview, the mayor explained it wasn't like that with Eraserhead. The man had just saved his daughter from a hostage situation and left without even waiting for a thanks. He'd seen the young girl was safe and that was it.

Eraserhead's selfless acts at USJ seem to support this kind of behavior and a good half of Musutafu was convinced Eraserhead was, indeed, a Hero, even if he was an underground one and that's why they've never heard of him before.

Had All Might not spoken to the man himself, he also might have believed it. The evidence so far suggested it to be true, after all. Eraserhead truly was kind and only wanted to help people. He wasn't in it for defiance or the fame.

The fifth consequence that came from the USJ Incident was that Mister Blaster officially could no longer be a Hero. Even with Recovery Girl's expertise and half a dozen surgeries, Sensoji had simply not been lucky. His heart was simply too fragile for the strain and with his hands shot, the blasts he could produce were minimal and could do no damage to anything or anyone. The man seemed even less motivated to be a teacher after that, not that Class 1-A noticed.

That brings us to the sixth consequence: Class 1-A were officially Eraserhead's biggest fans. It started almost without the teacher's noticing upon the kids' return after the USJ Incident. That Sensoji-kun didn't notice until he walked in on the kids talking about it very loudly two days before the Sports Festival surprised no one, but it did come as a surprise that it was All Might, the most inexperienced of the teaching staff, had noticed it first. Though, to be honest, that was only because he's been stressing himself over Eraserhead's last known condition and how the man might be now that he's been almost obsessively following any and all information regarding the man that wasn't media speculation. No police reports mentioned him at all in the week preceding the Sports Festival and even the streets were awfully quiet.

Eraserhead was the talk of the classroom in 1-A, from Kirishima and Kaminari discussing how cool he was, to Midoriya, Asui and Mineta recounting how he'd saved them at the last second to Yaoyorouzu then joining in to discuss possible reasons for the capture weapon's movements. None of the kids mentioned a single thing about Eraserhead's Quirk, even though the UA staff already knew he did, indeed, somehow, have a Quirk-cancelling Quirk. A few debated over whether they should support a Vigilante's actions or not; Iida found himself torn on that one while the rest of the class adamantly denied Eraserhead being anything but a Hero.

All the teachers knew within two days that Eraserhead may currently possess more of these kids' respect than they themselves did save maybe All Might, but Sensoji only truly understood when he dared accuse Eraserhead of being as much behind the attack as the League of Villains and Bakugo fucking lost it, attacking his homeroom teacher. Midnight had to put him to sleep just to keep him from doing something truly stupid.

Sensoji-kun had brought his concerns over 1-A's new fascination with the Vigilante to Nezu, but the Principal could only say that it would be cruel to take Eraserhead away from the kids when just the mention of him seemed to be keeping the worst of the possible trauma they've acquired away. Mister Blaster could only fume silently whenever he walked into his own classroom and heard the talk of the Vigilante continue until whatever topic had been brought up ended. He had even less control over those kids than when the year had started and, at this point, even the inexperienced educator Yagi was wondering how that was possible.

The seventh and final big consequence that Toshinori was aware of after the USJ Incident was that 1-A became rather popular in the days preceding the Sports Festival, and not in a good way. Yagi had overheard what kids from other classes had said and he can't help but be disappointed in them all for envying victims for being attacked just because it brought them 'fame'. And even more disappointing and a bit distressing was that a couple of them were from 1-B, the other class in the Heroics Course. How could they leave the future of Heroics to such children if they would blame a victim for being attacked? Though, to be fair, only one kid seemed to be truly acting like an arse to 1-A while others were just scoping out the competition. Or throwing down the gauntlet, in young Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu's case.

Monoma Naito, though, might have some serious issues.

1-A didn't seem overly bothered by Monoma's words, but some of them were nervous for the Sports Festival. Toshinori himself felt like a jackass for putting so much pressure on Midoriya-shounen's shoulders on his first Sports Festival, but this event was important for getting noticed and the next Symbol of Peace needed to show himself to the world as soon as possible. Toshinori knew he probably only had a year or two left for Hero work in any capacity before he won't be able to use even leftover embers of One For All. He needed the boy to be ready. He's the one who had chosen to go Yagi's footsteps, though he'll make sure his successor doesn't have nearly as bad a life as he himself has lead.

Though, with the greatest evil gone after the fight that nearly cost Toshinori his own life, Midoriya-shounen just needed to grow up, get stronger and then, when he's the best Hero of his generation, keep a weather eye on the horizon for anyone trying to take All For One's place. Yagi hoped to live long enough to see it, but with his condition, nothing was certain.

The preparations for the Festival were no laughing matter, either. All Might had never found himself so busy, even when he'd been doing all of his work as both All Might and his own PA at Might Tower since his injury. He guessed he should have expected it, given how important and big the event was, but it still somehow managed to come at him from the left field. Maybe he really wasn't suited to be a teacher if something like a school event manages to trip him up to this extent, never mind that said school event is what has basically replaced the Olympics since the widespread emergence of Quirks. There were a lot of things to prepare besides training the students and preparing them both physically and mentally for what was to come while also continuing the curriculum. And he had to prepare a speech, too, because he was supposed to be the one to lead the awards ceremony at the end.

He couldn't help but wonder who the best three will be, or maybe even the best four, it varies from year to year. Bakugo-shounen was undeniably one of the most talented students of his generation and even Todoroki-shounen was extremely powerful. If that kid decided to use his fire, too, he'd be a truly terrifying force to contend against. Most first years wouldn't know what to do against someone like him, especially as he had such a cool head. (Pun not intended.) Tokoyami Fumikage was also promising. His Quirk was powerful and versatile, though potentially dangerous in dark places with no light, if Toshinori understood it well enough. Though perhaps the boy could work on relying a little less on the power of his Quirk. Hand to hand was also important. Ashido Mina also had a rather dangerous Quirk, given how deadly acid can be, and Yaoyorouzu-shouji's was beyond incredible, if she manages to use it right.

Quite frankly, Toshinori worried about Midoriya-shounen. The boy was still far from being able to control One For All, didn't even think of it as his own Quirk but rather something that could go away at any point in time. He didn't feel it, couldn't connect with it like how his classmates naturally did after at least ten years of honing their own, but Toshinori had been born Quirkless, too, and received One For All at roughly the same age as his protege. He'd never struggled with using it. The Quirk even used to come to him a bit too eagerly, but he eventually learned how to control his power fully.

However, young Midoriya-shouen was going at his own pace and it was surprising just how slower it is than Toshinori's own had been. Perhaps the Quirk had grown too powerful? Stockpiling Quirks of any kind were troublesome, but One For All stockpiled pure power. Toshinori was unsure of how to teach his successor when it had all come so naturally to him. He'd learned how to do everything by feeling. He didn't overthink things like Midoriya-shounen did. Sure, it worked for the boy, but would it be enough for him to control One For All? Quirks aren't exactly about thinking unless they're mentally controlled ones, like telekinesis, telepathy or other such Quirks. Everything else works on feeling. And Midoriya-shounen relied too much on thinking. Toshinori had given him what advice he could, but he wasn't exactly an experienced teacher.

So he asked for help from the one person who he could that actually knew about their true predicament. He hopes Gran Torino will know how to help his student.

And then the Sports Festival was underway and Midoriya-shouen was actually doing really great between his own ingenuity and the friendships and alliances he seemed to be making with the ease of breathing. All Might sort of envied that ability, a bit. The kid was, in truth, as socially awkward as Toshinori was, but they each wore it in a different way. On Midoriya Izuku, it was adorable and endearing. Perhaps it had been like that with him, too, once, but now it was just, well, awkward. And it had never actually helped him make friends.

All Might made friends and those friends accepted awkward Toshinori as a part of the package, as though that was a side identity and not his true self. Mirai, for certain, saw All Might first, saw the symbol before the man. Dave, too, to an extent worried more about the loss of the Symbol of Peace and the power he held than the man that actually wields that power. Naomasa may have met All Might first, but he definitely befriended Yagi Toshinori, though their friendship stayed awfully formal most of the time. They actually rarely saw each other outside of work or things even remotely work-related.

Midoriya-shouen made friends for all his awkwardness and enthusiasm and nerdiness and fanboying. The power he now carried only came as a plus, not as the first thing that caught someone's attention. And that made Yagi both incredibly glad and maybe a little irrationally jealous of his successor because he'd never managed to make friends like Iida-shouen and Uraraka-shouji are to Midoriya-shounen.

Then again, he guessed he was also a bit jealous of the very man he's been worrying about for days now, especially since he escaped Recovery Girl's care despite his injuries being far from healed. Eraserhead, despite being 'a wanted criminal' due to his nighttime vigilantism, actually had quite a few close friends among Heroes and even a couple of police officers. He knows Present Mic, Midnight, Fat Gum and the Wild Wild Pussycats are always trying to drag him out to do stuff together. Ms Joke and Ingenium, too. No matter how many times he turns them down or the fact that they're supposed to be 'enemies', they're all good friends, even when they can't really hang out with each other.

Yagi, on the other hand, couldn't make friends as Yagi because people, even his new colleagues who knew his true form and about his injury, always saw All Might first.

He feels selfish and despicable throughout most of the Festival, especially when he feels a bit disappointed when Todoroki-shounen wins despite it being clear that the boy had really needed to hear whatever it is that the green haired boy had told him in the second round of the one on one matches. He is selfish, isn't he? Wanting Midoriya-shounen to inherit the Symbol of Peace like he had inherited One For All so Toshinori could finally rest a little. He'd put so much pressure on the boy that Midoriya-shounen had ended up irreparably damaging his own hands. He'll have scars there for the rest of his life. A reminder against recklessness. A reminder of what Heroes do to achieve anything and how much it could cost them.

Recovery Girl definitely chewed them out for that, demanding of Toshinori to find a way to better and more safely train Midoriya-shounen and soon.

He spent the rest of the first day of the Sports Festival in a sort of guilty haze that had Nezu asking him if everything was alright and if they should change the awards ceremony, but Yagi just waved him off. He was just thinking. Besides, he didn't want to deprive his first ever students of congratulating them in person like that. He even planned on hugging them!

But things didn't exactly go to plan, as Bakugo-shounen wasn't cooperating and the kid was put in Quirk-suppression shackles and a muzzle of all things. Then again, the ash-blond was really scary at the moment, trying his best to escape his restraints. All Might figured he would apologize to the boy later. It was horrible, what was done to him, but it was better than the alternative if he showed to the world just how foul his language could be and how bratty he can act. People were already critical of him because of how 'villainously' he'd fought against Uraraka-shouji and all his other classmates, as though this wasn't a competition where they actively encouraged these kids to go all out.

No single Sports Festival had ended with a quiet battle. It was simply how things were.

(Ha! If only he knew!)

As he finished congratulating Tokoyami - and the absent Iida - and Todoroki and finally placed the First Place medal on Bakugo-shounen - after a brief struggle because the boy really didn't want it after Todoroki refused to use his fire on him in the final match - he turned to give a speech to the crowd when he saw a black blur in the corner of his field of vision. Before he could really react, it was already too late as Eraserhead made his first appearance since USJ by dropping down onto the champions' podium into a graceful crouch, causing Bakugo-shounen to stop struggling and the other two boys to widen their eyes.

"Sensei!" Called out every single member of Class 1-A in surprise at the sight of the Vigilante. The crowd suddenly went deathly silent, only occasional murmurs emerging here and there as Eraserhead rose to his full height in one fluid motion. He looked to be doing good, no visible injuries left, which meant he probably got treatment, which was honestly a great relief to the Number One Hero. His goggles, hair and scarf-like weapon still did an astonishingly good job at hiding most of his face, even in the absence of his beloved shadows to protect his identity.

"This is disgraceful," the Vigilante said, hand reaching out to take off the cuffs from Bakugo-shounen. Toshinori had no idea what the man did, but the cuffs were remote-controlled and only Nezu had the ability to take them off. Yet he heard the clear ping of them turning off and suddenly Bakugo was free. "To treat your own Sports Festival champion, your student, in such a way. Not very heroic of you, let alone Plus Ultra." Yagi cringed when the man looked in his general direction over his shoulder, though he could have been looking at all of the teachers and not just him.

"How did you get in here!?" Vlad King demanded but Eraserhead only snorted, like it was far too easy to do it and he didn't feel up to explaining such mundane things. Which really shouldn't be possible with how tight security usually was when the Sports Festival was happening, let alone now, after USJ.

"Eraserhead-san," Principal Nezu called out cheerfully, though Toshinori could hear a dangerous note to his voice. "What, may I ask, has brought you here?"

"Nothing much," replied the black-dressed Vigilante. "Came to see how my kids were doing, to make sure there were no lasting consequences from USJ, see how much they'll kick ass, cheer them on. That sort of thing, since they insist on calling me Sensei and gossiping about me." He nodded at Mic when he said the last one, as though to indicate how he'd found out that piece of information. "I thought they would be safe in your hands, that you'd treat them accordingly, especially after what happened. Guess I was wrong," he continued as he lifted the handcuffs up to make a point. "I thought you, of all people, would be against such things, given your own past with human cruelty. How very disappointing. Also, stop letting my kids get hurt."

"Your kids?!" Demanded Sensoji-kun with a scuff.

"Yes, my kids. Did you see the state of Midoriya's hands? Or the cramps Bakugo was suffering because none of you gave him adequate medical treatment for Quirk overuse? Also, someone tell that flaming rooster calling himself your Number Two Hero to stop yelling and distracting kids from their matches, especially when fire is involved. It's a fucking safety hazard. And while we're at the topic of the Pros in the audience acting inappropriately, show me where the man who'd started that whole booing Bakugo thing because he was going all out at an opponent. Does he really call himself a Pro? Because he's clearly blind to both of those kids capabilities and tenacity. Bakugo wasn't being cruel or abusive. No, he was fighting with all he's got against an opponent he recognized could take it and give back as good as she got. Uraraka may seem cute and frail but she's not weak. Anyone who says otherwise can meet me outside and I'll show you a fragment of what she's been through, like every other student of 1-A when the villains attacked them. If you're all really that shortsighted, you should consider looking for a new job."

"Ouch! Eraserhead's roasting the crowd!" Yamada-san crowed from the commentators booth, only to shut up when the man looked up in that direction.

"You're no better, either. We all heard you 'kind of' agreed with them. Do you, like these simple-minded fools, suggest he should one day go easy on a villain just because they're female? I've just got one thing to say to all of you: get that sexist bullshit away from my very capable female student. And if you're out to boo a child for doing their best in a competition, you should do it elsewhere, preferably somewhere far away from me, where I can't hear you. You won't like the consequences if I hear you."

"Are you threatening us?" Someone asked incredulously in the crowd and Ms Joke laughed loudly, as though that's the funniest thing she's ever heard.

"Trust me, you'll know when Eraserhead threatens you."

"What are you all even waiting for!?" Endeavor suddenly yelled at the entirety of the stadium full to the brim with Pro Heroes and security personnel. "Just arrest him already!"

Eraserhead snorted at that and looked at Endeavor. The man's fire-beard, mustache and eyebrows suddenly went out and he tripped on his way down the stairs in surprise, eliciting a choked giggle from the man's own son. Instantly, the whole stadium was on their feet, trying to use their Quirks, only to find them unavailable.

Eraserhead turned around to face the UA teaching staff. "I'll be taking these. I have just the guy in mind that I'll need 'em for. Now, don't do anything I wouldn't do and we won't be seeing each other in this context again, hopefully." Then he turned once again towards the three boys. "Congratulations on your winnings. Tokoyami, practice hand to hand combat more. Preferably start utilizing a close range weapon for self defense. Todoroki, as Midoriya said, it's your power. Fuck Endeavor." Todoroki choked on another incredulous surprise laugh and Toshinori had to put a hand over his own mouth not to cough up blood in his own shock. "Bakugo," the man finally said, focusing on the champion.

"What?" The teen asked a bit snappily, but it was nothing like how he acted with just about everyone else. That was cause for more surprise than anything else that could have happened. Sure, they'd known 1-A liked Eraserhead more than Hero Course students probably should a Vigilante, but they'd never thought he had this amount of respect from them!

The long haired man took the medal and placed it correctly over the explosive blond's head. "This isn't the end of your journey. One unsatisfying match doesn't determine how the rest of your career will go. Take this medal home with pride because you've earned it. Battles don't depend solely on strength or wits. Luck and one's own mood can be just as much of a factor. And don't ever disregard your classmate's mental state, no matter how angry you are. You've all lived through hell and came out of there together. You share an experience that will help you get better, that will motivate you to always strive to be better so something like it can never happen again. This medal is yours today, but there are still two more years ahead of you. Next year, you protect this platform, which means you cannot hate it today." Eraser then stepped away, head tilted down as though his eyes were still locked onto the medal. "To win the Sports Festival of UA is no small feat. Hold your head up high and honor all of your fellow competitors' efforts as the best UA has to offer this year. You're not the first nor the last who will stand there, so stand there today with honor and uphold the tradition of this school. Plus Ultra."

The Vigilante avoided a net-bullet Snipe shot at him easily and jumped up into the air. The capture weapon unraveled from around his neck and shot up to wrap around the railing of the seating area and propel himself further upwards, repeating the process until he was all the way up on the mobile roof of the stadium.

"1-A!" He called, instantly gaining a ready "Hai!" and soldier-rigid postures. But he didn't say anything else. The cameras just zoomed in on his smirk before he disappeared from sight.

The second he was gone, the stadium went wild.

No Pro could follow him for half an hour.

Chapter Text

Neither the National Public Safety Commission nor the Hero Public Safety Commission were very happy with how the Sports Festival had ended. In fact, both commissions have expressed how much happier they would have been if Eraserhead would have been crippled or downed by the injuries he had suffered at USJ so he'd finally be out of their hair, especially with the uproar from society as the video of him 'roasting' the audience full of Pro Heroes for their behavior towards the students during the one on one fights.

Hizashi felt a great amount of guilt and shame as he thought back to his own actions that day and how his behavior could have affected either of the kids. Uraraka could have lost her confidence. Bakugo could have lost his concentration and actually hurt her with his Quirk.

He tried his best not to think about how he'd felt when he'd seen the cuffed and muzzled teen tied to a pole on the champion's platform.

He also tried his best not to think about Eraserhead and where he was going now with Tsukaushi and All Might-san.

The same man that had given the order to arrest Eraserhead on sight not even a month ago had raged at them all for allowing the Vigilante to make fools of them all on national television and then get away, but a new guy had come in with him and he, for one, was pleased that they now at least finally had proof that Eraserhead wasn't Quirkless and that his Quirk was, indeed, the power to temporarily delete other's Quirks. No one was quite sure of the mechanics behind it, but the second someone had suggested it might have something to do with his eyes because Endeavor's Quirk stopped working after he had looked, Hizashi had found himself traveling down memory lane and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

Especially when others noticed and he was forced to reveal what had him so pale all of a sudden.

And so the story of the Missing Sports Festival Champion from fifteen years ago came to light once again.

"I don't remember his name," he'd said as he began the story. "But he was a Gen Eds kid. He placed third in the first challenge, second in the second one and then won first place. He'd not used his Quirk once during the entire event until I met him in the ring for the final round. His eyes had flashed red the second the bell announced the beginning of the fight and I couldn't use my Quirk. He charged towards me and I tried to defend myself, but I found myself on my way to being knocked out with a single right hook. He's the first and only Gen Eds kid to win the entire thing. He was supposed to transfer into the Hero Course next week, I think. Had a lot of offers despite not having a single class of Heroics Basics or anything. Everyone wanted the kid who knocked down all the stereotypes and set a new record, especially since he'd fought through the whole thing basically Quirkless. It's in his honor that the Quirkless can now apply to the school and take the entrance exam. However, he went missing the night before the official final transfer. His old homeroom teacher ended up being in league with some dangerous villain that wanted his Quirk or eyes or something. Bastard kidnapped him and shipped him off. A month later, he was declared dead. But it was all kept on the down low, so I'm not surprised none of you know about it."

And none of them had, except Sensoji, formerly of Class B from Hizashi's generation. He'd been one of the many, many arrogant kids with flashy Quirks that the Gen Eds kids had knocked down and climbed over to reach his goal. Hizashi will never forget standing on that second place platform looking at the determined, incredulous, incredibly happy boy who'd won, who held the gold medal as though it was something precious, who'd not cared for the cheer of the crowd but had instead cared only about joining the Hero Course so he could help people. Hizashi had wanted to become his friend. He'd even made plans of all the places he'd take his new friend, of how they could train together, walk home together. Maybe eat lunch on the rooftop together, like he'd already been doing with his other dear friend, Shirakumo Oboro. (He tried not to think of that friend. That would only bring him more pain and distress.)

He'd never gotten the chance.

That boy, Aizawa Shouta as Nezu revealed after 'consulting the records' - as though UA's rat overlord didn't have a perfect memory and as if he'd ever forget one of his two greatest failures to protect the students of his school - had been snatched away from them before that could happen.

They'd all thought him dead, but now a new hope was born that maybe he hadn't died, after all.

Because, in the end, it took a lot to stand up to two Hero Course classes and all those other classes, to all those students, and come out on top without having a flashy Quirk.

Aizawa was smart. Hizashi had easily seen that. He could have found a way to escape, eventually, but was he really Eraserhead?

Why hadn't he come back, if he'd escaped?

Of course, Quirk similarity wasn't solid proof of anything. In fact, they still can't be sure if Eraserhead even had a Quirk, because they were all still only working on theories, despite what some would like to claim. No police officer, let alone detective, would accept such circumstantial evidence to base a case on.

However, another lead had come up, which had Yamada going with All Might in his true form and Detective Tsukauchi to the house of a man he'd never thought he'd see again. Simple because the man had retired and Hizashi had never been close to him.

The lead, as it turns out, was a piece of material that belonged to Eraser's capture weapon. Scientists have carefully studied it and were baffled by the craftsmanship behind it, the materials so expertly woven that there was not a single flaw in the design. The fatigue they'd discovered on the scarf-like weapon shows that the thing had been in use for years and only after the fight with that Nomu thing had it finally started fraying at the seams.

The piece was only about two inches long, but the scientists have run various tests on it. It was heat and electricity resistant. It didn't absorb water. Acids and bases had next to no effect on it. They hadn't managed to find anything sharp or hard enough to cut it. Even lasers didn't work, only singed the material a bit! And they'd used enough force to pull on both ends that could tow an airplane and yet it had only started tearing when they went beyond, Plus Ultra style. And that was on two measly inches of the material.

No wonder no one had ever escaped Eraser after they were secured by the capture weapon.

Unfortunately, after discovering the materials used, the scientists and weapons/support items specialist have managed to place the maker of the capture weapon. Because that had been registered and prepared for official pick-up papers from Aizawa, fifteen years ago, but none of the forms went through for obvious reasons.

Kronos, AKA Tsukihino Shikaku, former head of the Support Department at UA and teacher of the third years, one of the best support items designers and makers in the country, was the one who'd made the capture weapon. Because of fucking course he was.

Yamada didn't know why he had to accompany the Number One Hero and his detective friend on this little excursion to Tsukihino-sensei's place. He had practically never talked to the man. Kronos had retired not long after Hizashi had started his first year at UA. He figured it was because he was closest to Eraser, having even given him his 'Vigilante' name. In truth, Hizashi had given him a Hero name, certain he'd be able to convince the Vigilante to change sides.

One might wonder how Hizashi even knew Eraserhead. Their meeting hadn't been by accident in the least.

In fact, it had been quite by design. Hizashi's design.

It had happened during his second year at UA. A few weeks after the Incident in Tasomiya. Hizashi had been there, as had Sensoji and Nemuri. He'd been teamed up with Sensoji, working under a Hero team known for their powerful attacks and strong emitter Quirks, the Buster Union. They'd wanted his voice and its destructive power. They'd been combat oriented and Hizashi had had nothing against that. He needed to let off some steam with screaming at the top of his voice every once in a while.

Nemuri had been working under His Purple Highness in Purple Agency and had recruited Oboro, their mutual friend, Hizashi's classmate from 2-A, Hero name Loud Cloud. He'd worked there for about two months.

Only he hadn't been working alone, exactly.

It had taken Oboro a lot of time before he decided to trust Hizashi with the fact that he had, in fact, befriended a Vigilante. A nameless one, about their age, only just starting out like them though the guy already had about a year of experience out on the streets. Oboro had really liked him and had insisted the other had a true 'heart of a Hero' and was determined he'd somehow bring him in to His Purple Highness and convince his boss to accept the kid as a trainee and help him get a license. Hizashi had not been sure if Shirakuma was pulling his leg with that, but eventually he'd come to see how good this Vigilante actually was.

On the day a huge villain who stockpiled Quirk-powers within his body and then used them as projectiles attacked Tasomiya, the Vigilante that will soon come to be known as Eraserhead had shown his true colors. He'd taken the villain down all by himself, when a team of Pros and His Purple Highness, and four Heroes in training interns, had been batted away like flies. Eraserhead, still unnamed, had stopped the rampage, saved a group of kids from a daycare and their teacher and had even tried saving Shirakumo when he'd realized Loud Cloud was still stuck under a fallen building and not responding. He'd only run when the police arrived at the scene because he wouldn't have been arrested.

Shirakuma had died on impact. No one could do anything. The villain had refused to talk but there were enough witness reports that he'd been shipped off to Tartarus for a life sentence. His Purple Highness could never return to active Hero work, but he kept his agency going for another few years. He'd kept it going mostly so Nemuri would have something to fall back on while she starts her own agency and finds her way in the world of Heroes.

The people of Tasomiya never forgot Eraserhead's deeds. That's why, to this day, people there were so uncooperative whenever there is an Eraserhead 'sighting'.

For about a month, though, future Pro Hero Present Mic had hated that Vigilante and had blamed him for Oboro's death. Oboro, his best friend, the only one, before Nemuri had joined their friendship group, who had tolerated Hizashi when he lost control of his Quirk in excitement or fear when he spotted a bug. If that Vigilante hadn't been there, Oboro would have lived, or so he would think.

Then he actually ran into the guy on one of his patrols in Tasomiya, only to find him feeding stray cats, helping old ladies cross the street, walking lost kids home, fighting bad guys and just helping the people in general. And everyone was just so grateful but he always just awkwardly shrugged it off. When a little boy he'd saved once before tried to get an autograph, the Vigilante had told him he should save that for the real Heroes, the ones who risk everything every day to keep them all safe. As though the guy didn't do the same day and night.

He'd returned to his usual night shifts only after Hizashi managed to wrangle him back into a semi-functional style of living instead of wasting away in his grief of not being able to save Oboro after their third meeting like that.

They bonded, telling each other their experiences with the cloud boy. They had both viewed him as a best friend and a brother they'd never had. They really formed an unbreakable bond as they mourned their lost friend. Eventually he gave Eraserhead his name and they even exchanged contact information, sort of. That gadget Eraser's using is really something else and the guy claims to have designed it himself, as well as done most of the programming. It's about that time that Midnight, just about to graduate, also joined in their circle. Eraser had been a bit wary of her at first, but they, too, soon got on like a house on fire. They became an inseparable trio when the two soon to be Pros were out and about in the later hours of the day or had night shifts.

Midnight wasn't completely sold on the idea of Eraser as something more than a Vigilante she occasionally joked around with until the guy had accidentally spilled that he really liked cats. Nemuri had immediately pulled out her own phone and showed him dozens of pictures of Sushi and told him all about her, only for the two of them to watch in shock as happiness and sadness warred on Eraser's visible features. (Yes, they'd known him well enough by then to, most of the time, be able to read his expressions even with what little of his face they could see.)

It came even more as a shock to learn that Eraser was the one who had given Sushi to Oboro after taking the cat in from a downpour but having no home for the darling. Oboro, though, had failed to inform him that he didn't exactly have the means to take care of it, either, and had taken it in, bringing it to school until Kayama fell in love with Sushi, named her after Oboro's favorite food and adopted the sweet kitten. Now they knew where Oboro's knowledge about cat-care came from and why it kept getting extended each day despite having been pretty bad at it in the beginning.

After that, Nemuri took to practically spamming Eraserhead with, what they called, 'daily Sushi'. By then, Nemuri was as protective of Eraser as Hizashi was. And not just because they were starting to see him as family, like they saw each other and like how they used to see Oboro.

No, Eraserhead was also someone who had been incredibly important to Oboro, who had probably even known the Vigilante's true identity, especially with how insistent he was that the guy would be a great Hero. Oboro had wanted to bring him out into the light, had wanted to keep him safe and keep him close, to be Heroes together. And while Mic and Midnight could clearly see Eraser preferred the shadows, they wanted to keep him safe and close, too. He was a part of Oboro's story and they never wanted it to be forgotten.

The fact that he was also such a sweetheart under the gruff exterior he showed the rest of the world wasn't helping them from not falling into protective sibling habits, especially as he was the youngest in their group.

Some other Heroes came along and joined the unofficial Eraserhead Protection Squad - not that the guy had needed protecting, until USJ; Eraserhead was more often than not the one saving Heroes from tough situations - others saw him as a menace. Some needed some time to get around to the idea of him, like Ingenium. Cops liked Eraser, too.

For years, Eraserhead had been this nameless shadow out on the streets that just breathed reassurance when you caught a glimpse of him, knowing everything will be alright. Because the guy was as tough as a cockroach and just as hard to get rid of or take down.

Now, after USJ and his sudden appearance at the Sports Festival, they knew he had his limits, too - or rather, they were forced to see them instead of ignoring them and pretending he was just the ghost in the night, untouchable and always there to have your back when you need him - and they may even have a name. A face. A face Hizashi had thought he would never see again, a missed opportunity at friendship.

He wasn't sure what to think about all of this, or what he wanted it all to be. Yes, it would be great to have an identity for his best friend, the last brother from a different mother. If he knew, he could do better at protecting him. But, at the same time, Aizawa Shouta was a ... sore spot, kind of, a regret. Did Hizashi really want to have anything associating with regret also associating with Eraserhead?

Would it change how he saw one of the most stubborn, caring, competent men he's ever known? To know this guy had once been kidnapped and cost one of UA's best assets and teachers his eyes?

Why hadn't he come back, if he was really Aizawa? Surely he'd heard about Kronos' forced retirement from everything. Did he not care?

Just thinking Eraser could be like that had him in turmoil.

Thankfully, he had All Might and Tsukauchi to distract him.

"-I'm just saying that the name 'Aizawa' sounds familiar to me, as though I've heard it somewhere before," the detective was saying and Hizashi locked onto it so he can escape his own thoughts'

"Maybe you just watched the Sports Festival and forgot? I mean, the commentator back then wasn't really as exciting and engaging as I am, but, then again, it was just your ordinary teacher, not an experienced radio host."

"No, I actually think I've heard the name Aizawa somewhere before, too," Yagi said with a shake of his head. "And it couldn't have been the news or anything. You heard what Principal Nezu and those guys from the Hero Commission said; the kidnapping had never made it to the news channels."

"Yeah, I fucking know," the voice Hero couldn't help but growl. He'd been quite disappointed to see how the school's image had been more important than a kid's life. And they hadn't learned from their lesson a year later with Oboro, either. Maybe that's why Aizawa, if he was indeed Eraserhead, never went back. But Eraserhead wasn't bitter. The guy was actually driven by logic, so he'd probably rationalize it all away and say it was only logical not to bring down the school's image when the future of Heroics was more important. Though he doubted Eraser would feel the same now, if a 1-A kid was involved. Or any kid, for that matter, but he'd kind of publicly claimed 1-A as his and boy, if the little rugrats hadn't been thrilled by that.

"I guess I can just check the database when I get back to the precinct later," Tsukauchi mused as they finally stopped in front of the right house. "Here we are. Tsukihino Shikaku's address. I only hope Kronos will be in the mood to entertain guests and answer questions."

"I'm sure he will," All Might proclaimed as he puffed up into his muscle form. "Retired or not, no Hero would hinder an investigation that may lead to a lost child!"

"Don't bet on it," Hizashi muttered to himself but stood there beside the two other men as All Might knocked on the door. These two didn't know that Kronos didn't give two fucks about the usual Hero standards. People with time-related Quirks rarely did, because they usually had the ability to see either future or past shit deeds that the Heroes who do follow such standards could have or had done. Kronos especially was jaded. He could see both future and past, even if the time frame he worked with wasn't all that wide. He'd been known as the most strict and terrifying teacher in UA when Mic had first enrolled.

When they waited for a whole minute without response, All Might knocked again - "Maybe he hadn't heard!" - finally gaining signs of life from within the house. "I'm coming, I'm coming! Don't get your knickers in a twist!" Followed by more grumbling, it made Yamada tempted to laugh. Man oh man, Kronos was even more of a grouch that he'd thought! Was that even possible? Seemed like it!

Appeased, All Might stepped a bit away from the door and the three men waited for the elder to finally unlock and open his door. Unlike other people of his generation, like Gran Torino or Recover Girl, Kronos hadn't lost much in height. He also looked as strong as the last time Hizashi had seen him, back when he was a student, which really came as a surprise. Kronos also moved without any aids, despite his old age and the fact that he was blind.

But what were eyes to someone with a Quirk that allowed them to see things in their own mind just before they happened?

"Ah, a detective, a cockatoo and All Might. Or should I say Yagi Toshinori?" That had them all choking on their own surprise, All Might even going as far as spitting out blood and losing his muscle form. Kronos did not look impressed in the least.

"How did you know that?" All Might demanded, voice on edge and the look on his face one of panic. His eyes darted around, as if trying to see

"That would be telling, now wouldn't it," Kronos mused with amusement before stepping aside to indicate to them to please come in. Hizashi was wondering if they should. It was kind of creepy, all of this. A man that can see into your future, even if it's just the next five minutes? Yeah, no, that's not his cup of tea. Did Eraser really put up with this? If he was Aizawa Shouta, that is. The old retired Hero lead them into a small living room, which was nicely furnished and had little things littered all around. None of them are a hindrance to the blind man when he could still 'see' in his own way, so why bother changing his lifestyle, right? Yagi was a bit awkward settling in while Tsukauchi ignored it with the familiar ease of a detective on a job. Hizashi just didn't care, or tried not to. "What can I do for you fine gentlemen on this day?"

"I'm not sure if you've heard about the USJ Incident, or, if you have, how much-"

"I don't follow Hero news," the former UA teacher interrupted, to which the policeman just nodded.

"Then I'll spare you the details." Tsukauchi took out the evidence bag holding the piece of the capture weapon they'd found at USJ. "We just need one thing from you, sir. If you could possibly tell us what this is?"

Kronos reached out and took the evidence bag, zipping it open with the same ease as though he could still actually see. The moment he had the piece of metallic cloth between his fingers, though, the man slumped down his own two seater to the floor, making all three younger men jump to their feet and rush towards him. "Sir, are you alright?!" All Might asked urgently, but Kronos didn't seem to hear him. The man was shaking.

"It's my capture weapon."

Chapter Text

"It's my capture weapon."

That strangled whisper was the only sentence that rang out in the elder's home while they did their best to calm the man down. Toshinori, still reeling from the fact that this man had known Yagi Toshinori when he'd been faced with All Might, immediately found his mind focusing on this piece of information even though he had no idea what to actually do with it.

Was it a confirmation on Eraserhead's identity?

Best not to jump to conclusions.

Besides, the man needed their attention now. The retired Hero had looked so strong when he'd first seen the man that his current state came as quite the shock. It took them nearly half an hour to finally calm him down, Yamada-kun having at some point wandered off to get the man some cold water and a blanket while Tsukauchi and Yagi reassured him that everything was alright.

When the man was finally calm and didn't look like he'd have a relapse into that panic attack, Tsukauchi dared to ask him to elaborate.

"Fifteen years ago, a UA student from General Education came to my work lab on the first day of the semester. He'd introduced himself as Aizawa Shouta and explained his plans to win the Sports Festival in order to join the Hero Course. He'd said he wanted a weapon that would work well with his Quirk, something that would help him keep his opponents far away if they're mutant types or help him bind the ones he can take down in close combat. He'd sounded so sure he'd win that I immediately asked him what he had in mind. That was the first time I've received a challenge in as long as I've been making support items."

"We are aware of Aizawa Shouta's fate, if you don't wish to relive those moments," All Might offered, only to get incredulous looks from his two companions.

Kronos, opposite him, snorted. "Never done a questioning before, have you, All Might? Every detail matters. If you've come all this way just so I can tell you about a tattered piece of cloth, you shouldn't have come at all. You've just caused me emotional turmoil and reawakened my mourning."

Toshinori flushed, feeling greatly chastised. "I apologize."

The man just snorted again. "Anyway, I kept seeing the kid practically every day in between his bouts of self-training so we can hash out the details. He had some very specific requirements for his support item. It was so simple in style yet the way he'd imagined using it was for defense, offense, detaining criminals and mobility. The more I listened to him, the more fascinated I became. The boy was completely driven by logic. He knew what he wanted. He'd even researched how he could get it. Together, we worked out all the possible kinks and, finally, I'd started working on this almighty support item. The result is the capture weapon whose piece you've brought me. A long scarf-like item, made of a special steel alloy woven with carbon nanofibers. Flexible, agile, heat and electricity resistant, fire resistant, water resistant, heavy enough to throw around but light enough to carry it around one's neck like an ordinary scarf, strong enough to be practically unbreakable and cuttable only to a specifically made knife, also requested by Sho-kun. Hard enough to fight with but soft to the touch so it can be used in rescue without harming the victims. And in perfect conjunction with a secondary telekinesis Quirk."

"Eraser doesn't have telekinesis," Toshinori heard Yamada mutter to himself from his side but decided to ignore it for now.

"It was harder to make and took longer than I expected, which is why I loved it all the more. Had to miss most of the Sports Festival just so that it would be done for when Sho-kun moves on into the Hero Course. If you know his fate, then you know it never happened." The three men tensely nodded, not interrupting. "That night, I fought with my all to save Sho-kun, but I simply wasn't enough. That bastard managed to gouge out my eyes and injure me enough that it was quite touch and go where my future mobility was at stake. Could have ended up paralyzed. I would have gladly accepted that fate, if only it meant those fuckers would have kept searching for Sho-kun."

Toshinori winced at the betrayal, rage, bitterness and venom in the man's voice. He tried to drown out the grief he heard. He's better off not realizing just how much this man regretted not being enough to save a student he'd clearly been fond of. Perhaps this hadn't been the smartest idea.

"When I'd recovered enough, I cleaned out my work space and left UA. Settled in here, mourned as well as I could. Tried not to hate Nezu, whose own paws were as tied as my hands were by the Commission. Lived a civilian life."

"When you cleared out your lab, did you perhaps take the capture weapon with you, or did you leave it behind? Sell it?" Naomasa asked, no doubt using his Quirk this whole time to tell if and when the man might have not been telling the truth. So far, the answer seems to be a big fat zero, which was good.

"I took it with me, of course. It was meant for Sho-kun and was literally the last thing of his that I had, even if it was never his. Do you realize I've never had children of my own?" He gestured around at his own house. "Not even a partner. I'd always thought I'd die alone. No family, just a few close coworkers that might have been friends. Then Sho-kun came and I saw him as my own son. I treated him as much. I think I was a father figure to him, too. Despite our short time together, we were close. Would you have left behind your only reminder of your only child, now dead? I don't think so."

"Then can you explain to us how your capture weapon seems to have ended up in the possession of a Vigilante?"

Kronos' face shuttered, for a moment, before he replied. "A few days after I settled here for good, someone broke into my house and stole it. It's not like I'd kept it in a safe or something. It was just lying around there. Could have been mistaken for an ordinary scarf. Nothing else was taken, though. Just that. Someone had known what they were after and had taken it. I have no idea who, though. I had no idea someone besides the two of us knew about it!"

"You say you have no idea who could have taken the weapon," Naomasa repeated and Toshinoari immediately tensed up. If Naomasa asked someone to repeat something, it means his Quirk caught a lie.

The old man hesitated for a second before sadness settled over his face. "I have no idea, but I have had hopes." Hopes that it had been Aizawa, no doubt. "But now, I have other hopes, ones that go along the lines of 'I hope he hadn't taken it'. Because whoever it was that may have been using my capture weapon, if you have a piece of it, then that person is definitely dead."

"I assure you," Present Mic said in a surprisingly cold and sharp voice. "That Eraserhead is very much alive."

Kronos paused at that. "Is that his name? Of this Vigilante you'd mentioned?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Kronos' face had this devastated expression on it for a second before he forcefully cleared it of all emotion. Toshinori felt for him. He'd done much the same after his mentor's death. "There's no way Aizawa Shouta would ever settle for a name like that."

"Eraserhead didn't name himself," Yamada replied to that, but the retired Hero just shook his head.

"I said settle, not come up with. Thanks for getting my hopes up, only for them to crash land. Now, if that is all, I'd like you all to leave me to mourn all over again in peace. You know the way out."

They didn't need more of a dismissal. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"

Naomasa shook his head mournfully. "Yeah, he was telling the truth. Though I have noted that he may have suspicions on who might have known about the capture weapon besides him and Aizawa Shouta and it is true that he'd hoped it was him who had taken it. Probably had thought of it as a sign that the boy was still alive, that he hadn' failed him. Must be hard, living with that guilt."

"I feel bad now," Toshinro had to admit. "Like we've reopened an old wound that may have only recently begun to heal."

"I'm more worried about what the NPSC and HPSC will do with this information," admitted Yamada-kun.

"I'm more worried about the implication that Eraserhead had gotten his hands on the capture weapon through utterly illegal means," the detective in their group countered. "Eraserhead's been hiding behind loopholes in the law for years now. If we have a single solid piece of evidence, we'll have to charge him. And things appear to be stacking up."

"Eraser would never actually do something illegal. We can't even prove if he has a Quirk! Eraser's always been good at hiding everything he does and how he does it out on the field. He leaves incident reports, sure, but he's never specified why people's Quirks suddenly stop working. For all we know, it could be that he talks them into believing their Quirks don't work!"

"You think he's convinced people to think he has the power to take away Quirks? Like some sort of psychology trick?" That sounded fascinating. Although too roundabout for someone so blunt and straightforward. Though, as unlikely as it may sound, it wasn't entirely impossible. Eraserhead was smart enough to use his opponents' minds against them. He only needed to say one suggestive thing and the mind would eat it up and convince itself and the body that it was true.

But then, the footage from USJ came to mind. Only a few cameras had survived, but it was enough to see portions of the fight. Eraserhead had never been close enough to one for it to catch if he'd said anything, except at the beginning, when he'd told Thirteen to protect the students. They can't tell if he'd said anything, so he might have, although with all that moving around, Toshinori wasn't sure if he'd stayed still enough to properly catch his breath, let alone chitchat.

And Shigaraki had been able to use his Quirk.

Kurogiri, too. That's how they escaped.

Shit. This was just getting more and more complicated. The more they thought they found on Eraser, the further they were from finding out any actual facts. It's like Eraserhead was actively leading them on faux trails when it was clear the man himself couldn't be bothered by what the police and the Commissions were up to. He probably won't even care until they find out his actual identity, but even that's questionable. Changing your appearance isn't very hard and Naruhata's known for having all sorts of dealings, including forged identity specialists. Eraser could just skip town and start anew. Change his image just the tiniest bit and go back to being a Vigilante. If he's bothered by that much, anyway.

"It's not off the table," Yamada-kun says with a shrug. "Look, my dudes. Compared to me, you two are novices when dealing with Eraser, especially you, Yagi-san. It's been fifteen years and no one's ever found a single solid fact about Eraser. We don't even know if black is his actual hair color! Facial recognition is no help, either, because those goggles cover his eyes, the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows and his cheekbones, all key points for the software. His hair covers a lot of his face so we don't even have a proper face and head shape to put in and his chin is more often than not buried in the capture weapon. Eraser moves around, he never stays in one place but revisits places at a random schedule. Naruhata and Tasomiya are just special in that he goes there more often and that things are all the more difficult for anyone searching for Eraser there because those people are fucking grateful for all he's done for them. He's not your run of the mill Vigilante. Eraser doesn't fool around. He's never left any DNA behind, he's never made a mistake."

"Didn't the Nomu draw blood at USJ?" Naomasa suddenly asks and Toshinori feels sick just remembering that day. The literal puddle of blood he'd found Eraser in, Nomu standing over him, ready to end him in an instance. "I think some was sent to the labs, along with Nomu's. Actually, All Might, I have something to talk with you about outside of Eraser's case."

"Huh?"

"It's serious," was all the detective said and Toshinori nodded, wondering what it could possibly be. "In the meantime, we all need to write a report on our ... 'findings'." A heavy sigh came from the man. "This is seriously ridiculous. Why now? Eraser's been out on the streets with no more than halfhearted efforts to bring him in for over a decade and yet now they want him arrested? I don't trust this. The Hero Commission seems to be up to something."

"You think the NPSC is in on it, too?" Warily asked the younger of the blonds.

Tsukauchi just shook his head. "No, we're all tools, here. At least that's the feeling I'm getting. This seems to be about Eraser directly and I don't know who he is or what he's done to garner their attention, but I kind of don't want the Hero Commission to get their hands on someone like Eraserhead. I just have a bad feeling about it."

"Why do you think that is?" The Number One Hero asked of his friend.

"You know Hawks is taking orders directly from the Commission on a daily basis and has been doing so for years, since the day his Hero training started?" Both blonds nod at that. "He's like their own personal puppet. He has no life outside of what they allow him to have. And he's been spotted trying to recruit Eraser more than once."

"Eraser never mentioned it to me," Mic commented. "Although there was this short span of time when he refused to come anywhere near me or Nem. We thought we did something to make him angry."

"He was probably just trying to make certain you're not the Commission's pawns."

"That would imply Eraserhead is actively in a standoff with one of the most important government bodies in the country," Toshinori pointed out, not really liking the thought of it. It could lead to an unsatisfactory conclusion that Eraserhead might actually be a national enemy and he didn't want to even think that.

"That's not even important. Why would they want him? Remember, this was before we even began speculating that he might have a Quirk-stopping Quirk. Why him?"

They all fell silent at that, neither blond knowing how to answer Naomasa's reasonable question. The silence stayed with them even when they got back into the car that would drive them back to UA, where Yamada and Yagi had plenty of work cut out for them as the students prepared for their week-long internships. Once they arrived, Yamada waved them goodbye as he rushed to meet up with Kayama, the two of them getting into a cab and no doubt going to check on Ingenium.

Toshinori's actually very much pissed that Eraserhead's the one being hunted and focused on when the Hero Killer: Stain was running around, hurting or mutilating Heroes in broad daylight. The latest incident in Hosu has greatly affected Iida-shounen. All Might wasn't close with the boy, but it was obvious, his change in behavior.

They should be focusing on catching an actual villain instead of pursuing a man who's never done anything other than help them.

(He remembers Eraser being on pretty good terms with Ingenium, friends, even. He wonders how the Vigilante was taking all of this, when he could not even comfort his friends or take comfort with them like how Yamada and Kayama were doing for each other. He wondered if Eraserhead will risk it to check up on the man in the hospital. He'd braved the Sports Festival and still managed to escape; a hospital should be easy peasy for him.)

"What is it that you wished to discuss, my friend?" All Might asks after he leads Naomasa into an empty office. These were generally used for one on one parent-teacher meetings or if students had questions. Teachers generally did their work in the teacher's lounge, except the homeroom teachers, who had their own offices and could do their work there instead. Power Loader was often forced to take that route because his new protege, Hatsume Mei, knew no concept of personal or appropriate time and the man didn't want to bother others on their hard earned breaks. Sensoji stuck with his office, too, but that's because he's never quite managed to fit into the camaraderie that always fills up the teachers lounge when they were all there.

That and he and Midnight seem to have a bone to pick with each other.

The only other staff member besides Nezu and Recovery Girl that has a space of his own was Hound Dog, though Yagi doesn't see much of him. That might change, now that things are getting heated between the League of Villains and Stain's most recent activities.

"I know this may be distressing to you, my friend - and hell, I shouldn't even be bringing this to you with the case still open and investigation ongoing, but I had a feeling this was just something I had to inform you about, All Might." The graveness in Tsukauchi's voice let All Might know just how serious this is. A bad feeling settled into the pits of what was left of his stomach. "It's about that guy you've fought at USJ, Nomu." He shuddered just remembering that guy, that creature. It had been like he wasn't human at all.

"What about him?" He asked warily and wearily, already knowing there was no way he was going to be able to relax after this. Not for a long, long while, if ever.

It turns out he was right, as the nightmare Tsukauchi has discovered unfolds before him.

He knows what this means; there was only one explanation.

He'd failed. He'd fucking failed, goddamn it.

All For One still lives.

Chapter Text

"You seem broody," Aizawa greets when he sees green haired Problem Child - one Midoriya Izuku - muttering up a storm under his breath in one of the alleys in a more rural, beat up part of town. The 1-A student jerks in surprise at hearing his voice before the kid all but beams at him, though he quickly seems to revert back to his default-setting: fanboying embarrassment. It was cuter than it should be and Shouta wondered just when the hell he'd gone soft on a bunch of kids he'd literally met only once.

But he'd come to Bakugo, he was meeting Midoriya now even though he could have continued on his merry way and he was going to visit the Iida brothers, to make sure Tenya doesn't do anything stupid. Ingenium himself had asked him to keep an eye on the kid - after thanking him to high heavens and back for protecting his younger brother at the risk of himself at USJ a couple of weeks back.

For some reason, he couldn't ignore these children, more so than any other child he'd ever saved.

This one in particular, though, was a real Problem Child among his newly acquired Problem Children. Shouta had been there for the entirety of the Sports Festival and wouldn't have done or said anything besides be one of the audience members, observing how well the kids were coping after USJ, up until that stunt with Bakugo, which had made him lose his cool. Since he always had his gear on him, usually in a backpack or something, he'd quickly scuttled off to a bathroom, changed and made an appearance. He hadn't expected the reaction he got from that little appearance, but that wasn't the point right now.

Right now, the point was that he'd seen this kid recklessly break his fingers with his own Quirk.

Or rather, should he say All Might's Quirk?

Shouta wasn't like others. His Quirk - if Erasure can even be called that - was specifically designed by nature in such a way that it can do its job perfectly. Part of that 'perfect package' was the ability to see other people's Quirks when he was using his own. At USJ and generally until the kid used his Quirk, Aizawa couldn't exactly connect it with the pulsing, living, blinding light that was All Might's Quirk. That was her Quirk, even if he had only seen it in embers in her, like how it is now in All Might. Midoriya, in comparison, didn't seem to be as compatible with One For All - that's what she'd called it, if he remembered correctly - as the previous two users. Could be because he was still young. Can't be because he'd been born Quirkless. All Might had been, too, and yet One For All had embraced him like a halo would a saint.

So what was tripping Midoriya up?

That's what the kid seemed to be trying to figure out, so Shouta might as well play up to the title the kids had given him and play 'Sensei'.

"Aizawa-sensei! It's really good to see you, sir, but what are you doing here?"

"Headed out for Hosu," the Vigilante replied as he jumped down from the building to land in front of the teenager. He took in the kid's costume and couldn't help but grunt approvingly. It seemed to be made well. Could use some protectors on his forearms and shins if he's gonna be a close range combatant. Maybe even a weapon until he figures out how to settle with One For All. "Internship?"

"Uh, yeah. With Gran Torino. Not sure if you've heard of him. I kind of never have-"

"I have," Aizawa cuts in before the kid could start rambling.

And boy has he ever. Gran Torino had been there with her and had been one of the three people that had saved him from that nightmare, but Gran Torino had also been the one to carelessly give over a child with the ability to erase Quirks off to a government agent. Shouta, despite it all, has some mixed feelings about the now no doubt elderly Hero.

He guessed it made sense Midoriya would end up at his doorstep. Gran Torino had taught All Might. Surely he could train the man's successor, too. Though, judging by the scraps and forming bruises and the mess in the alley, perhaps he wasn't doing as good of a job.

"Seems like you're having trouble. Training?"

"Uh, yeah. I, um, can't seem to get a good feeling of my Quirk. I can use only a certain amount without hurting myself but I can't seem to maintain it at that level." The green haired boy seemed really awkward as he explained, even almost ashamed. Shouta repressed a sigh as best as he could. Midoriya seemed like a great kid, but he obviously had self-worth issues, not to mention confidence issues and the fact that he seemed to be overdoing the overthinking, seeing as he was trying to logically figure out feeling something.

Now, Shouta had no ground to stand on where either overthinking things or rationalizing them is concerned, but even he knows you can't rationalize using a Quirk. Or Quirks in general. Hell, if Quirks followed logic to the letter, Shouta probably wouldn't exist as he is today.

Neither of his parents had Erasure or even Quirks that Erasure could have derived from. No, Erasure had come out of the left field, to him, his parents and the Quirk specialist who went mad after his session with Shouta and almost killed him. Shouta could still remember it like it was only yesterday. People with Quirks never did deal well when their Quirk goes bye-bye. Especially not people with powerful Quirks that allowed them to temporarily or permanently cut off genomes in the DNA chain.

Shouta had, back then, reacted on pure instinct. Or, well, Erasure had. It simply didn't want to be, well, erased, no matter how dangerous it was to a Quirk-based society. And Shouta hadn't wanted it to go, either. It was his.

Doctor What's-his-face - who became the notorious Quirk-experimenting villain Dr Quirk, if anyone is interested - didn't stand a chance. He shouldn't have even tried. Shouta had been a child, not even five yet! The worst part of that part of his life was that his mother and father had given him away to that man when he'd offered them money. Not even that much, not even the salary of a part-time job! They'd just wanted to get rid of the 'abomination' that was not their son. They didn't care what a mad doctor slash scientist would do to him. Five year old Shouta had spent nearly an entire year with that monster and it had left his Quirk in a state of constant activation in an attempt at self-perseverance and defense.

Eventually, Dr Quirk had slipped up and someone found out about Shouta. Though that didn't mean he was saved, even if Dr Quirk had been taken care of once and for all. Far from it. Shouta simply had a new jailer for another month or so, though this one had turned out ... considerably kinder to him, overall. Until their last night together, where Shouta could have been killed because that bastard wanted to use him as a pawn against his arch nemesis.

Shouta had been barely saved by the efforts of three people and even that was extremely close.

In the end, the reason he had been saved at all was himself. After everything that had happened to him, Erasure was always active. Shouta had just had to look and their chances of a victory or clean escape would grow.

Too bad that bastard's Quirk was buried so deep inside that Erasure hadn't had the time to reach it before he was handed off to Gran Torino and taken away from the raging battlefield.

Aizawa forcefully snapped himself back to the present before he dwelled too long and too deep on his ruined childhood. He really needed to get better at Not Thinking About It, especially when he's out and about as Eraserhead. It could get him hurt, captured or killed, if he wasn't being careful enough. Instead, he focused on the kid in front of him, who had taken this chance to mutter up a storm again. Shouta stopped him by bumping a fist against Midoriya's forehead, light and meant to grab attention, nothing else. Midoriya stopped and looked up at him apologetically.

Shouta, though, wasn't interested in apologies. "Use your quirk to your current upper limit without breaking yourself. Now, Problem Child," he added sternly when the boy just blinked at him.

This caused Midoriya to react like a soldier, back straightening, shoulders drawn back, arms tight to his sides. All followed by a crisp "Yes, sir!" This kid, honestly. (Well, these kids would be more correct, as every single student from Class 1-A reacted that way to him giving them something even loosely resembling an order. Their teachers must hate him.) Then the kid up took a shaky 'fighting stance' or whatever that stance was supposed to be and green lightning started sparking all over his body while red energy raced over parts of his skin before sinking in. Shouta felt the hairs on his neck stand up as the power settled, so he activated Erasure and One For All fled. Midoriya blinked in confusion, looking down at himself. "Huh?"

"Again."

"But-"

Shouta sent him a look.

"Yes, sir!" Squeaked the boy before making another attempt.

Shouta let the power build - noting it happened a second faster than last time - before he activated Erasure again. One For All fizzled out again and Midoriya now looked really confused as to Shouta's intentions. The man ignored it. "Again."

"Yes, sir!"

Power up.

Erasure activates.

Bye bye, One For All.

"Again."

"Yes, sir!"

Power up. Faster and faster, the Quirk coming easier.

Erasure activates.

One For All deactivates.

"Again."

"Yes, sensei!"

Over and over until One For All came almost as naturally as breathing to the kid. Then again and again, for as long as Midoriya was willing to train.

"Again."

"Hai!"

The power came in two seconds. Aizawa couldn't help but feel proud. "Now hold it."

"Huh?"

"Hold it for a minute," he repeated, taking out his phone and starting a timer. "When this goes off, you drop it. You get a five second refractory period, then another minute. Keep it up for as long as you can."

They did that for another hour, Midoriya so focused on maintaining the power for a given amount of time that he didn't even notice how Aizawa increased the time he needed to hold and decreased his rest time. The kid was a quick learner, but needed to learn to focus on more things than one. Aizawa figured that can wait. The kid needed to learn to control his power first.

"Okay, that's enough of that. Now, I want you to use 1% less of the power you can manage at this point when you hear this sound." A beep came from his phone. "You hold it at that level for as long as the sound continues, then, when it stops, you go back to the maximum you can manage."

"Um, sensei, not to question you, but, uh, what's that going to do?" The UA student asks and Aizawa tsks.

"I'm trying to help you get a feel for your Quirk," he explained. "First, I made you feel what it's like when your Quirk stops immediately and without your control, to make you feel that contrast. It also helped you call on that power faster. Then, I made you create that contrast yourself while also making you build your stamina. Now, we're working on finer control. You may not be able to go bigger than you are now, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have 100% control of the power you're using now. Now, are you done questioning me, or are you going to trust my method and do it?"

"Yes, sensei!"

Shouta nodded as Midoriya activated his quirk - 1,5 seconds, probably the best he can push the kid in speed activation in a single night - and waited for about a minute before pressing a button. The beep filled the night air and Aizawa closed his eyes while activating it. He could see the Quirk in his young companion fluctuate as Midoriya tried his best to bring it from 5% down to 4%. He took a moment, but Shouta let the beep sound for a long moment until Midoriya got it. Then he held it for a moment longer before he let the beep fade away. Midoriya took a moment to build the power back up to 5%, but it was easier than lessening it. Well, reaching a limit is easier than controlling it where Quirks were concerned. Shouta himself had needed a year and a half to bring all to selectively limited.

It took the Problem Child half an hour to master this exercise, so Shouta moved on to the next one. Using it. Midoriya already had an idea what he wanted to do, but Shouta wanted him to take it easy and stayed to monitor him.

Midoriya cheered when he finally managed to zig zag to the top of the buildings making up the alley three times in a row without slipping or slamming into the wall and then somehow zipped down to draw Shouta in a hug that lifted him off the fucking ground like he was a fucking weightless doll. The kid heard his displeased grumble and let go with a string of apologies and bows. Eraserhead just waved him off. "Now, before we call it a night," he started and Midoriya immediately focused on what he was saying. "Let's try pushing it, in safe conditions with my supervision, to one percent above your current limit."

The boy was reasonably hesitant. "Is that really a good idea? I mean, I just got a handle of this-"

"Are you questioning me?"

"No, sensei!"

Shouta sighed. "Look. I'll tell you something I've never told anyone before. Erasure allows me to see Quirks, active or not, and how they behave. That's how I'll know when to cut you off before you hurt yourself." Midoriya looked conflicted and Shouta sighed again. "Look, I know this requires a lot of trust for a guy you don't even know-"

"That's not it, Aizawa-sensei," Midoriya is quick to interrupt and reassure, waving his hands in front of himself as if to utterly dismiss the mere notion of it. Shouta is of the opinion that this kid - these kids - trust him too much given they'd had only one real interaction with him. "It's just ... Are you okay? To use your Quirk, I mean? I mean, weren't your eyes hurt? We were all really worried ... "

The man tried not to feel the "warm fuzzies" Hizashi sometimes talked about at that. These kids ... He took off his yellow goggles and heard Midoriya gasp. He leaned down and let fretting, painstakingly careful fingers touch his new scar under his right eye. The only damage left from the Nomu smashing his head in hard enough to shatter his cheek bone and eye socket. "Don't worry about my Quirk, kid," he told the freckled boy gently. "It's a survivor. Any damage I received was gone before I left Recovery Girl."

"But Recovery Girl's Quirk can only heal what the body can heal by itself but does faster!"

"It's not Recovery Girl that's healed it," he replied, making Midoriya go wide-eyed. "Erasure preserves itself. And that's also something I've never told to another person - or living being in general - before. The point is, if anything ever happens to my eyes - don't sweat it. It's gonna be fine as soon as I use my Quirk again. Now," he straightened up and wiped away the few tears that had managed to escape his ... student's eyes. "Why don't we try it? And, by the way, why did you object only now? Like, we spent like an hour or so with me constantly erasing your Quirk at the beginning of this little training session."

Midoriya flushed in embarrassment, which meant the kid had probably forgotten altogether.

Aizawa sighed and just told the kid to get down to it.

00000

"Thank you for your help, Sensei! I'll see you later!" Gran Torino heard early the next morning and quickly made it to his bedroom window. He didn't dare open it, but he did peer out between the curtains.

And there he was, just how Toshinori had described him.

Eraserhead.

Did that awkward green bean seriously just call that man Sensei? He'd thought his old pupil was kidding, but apparently not. Did that mean Toshinori also wasn't joking when he said he admired the Vigilante? Were all One For All users dumb-dumbs? It's like Nana took the last of the sanity-preservatives out of the Quirk, damn.

Then again, Gran Torino isn't sure if he didn't believe the most recent musings about Eraserhead being an Underground Hero. There's no way someone with that kid of skill wasn't formally trained. The man's been evading arrest for fifteen years without a single concrete piece of information ever being found out about him. And that's not mentioning the kind of dedication one would have to have to go out and face the worst of humanity every single damned night. Vigilantes simply don't do that.

The old man watches Eraserhead ruffle his new intern's hair before that strange scarf-like weapon shoots out to grab into a street lamp or something out of his line of sight and the man whisks himself away like some Spiderman-wannabe. Midoriya stays outside looking out after the black-clad figure until Eraserhead is finally out of view. Gran Torino watches the boy then look down at his battered fist before giving a firm nod and going back inside.

Gran Torino figures this might be the first that boy will see of sleeping since yesterday and it's still too damn early to be doing anything. Gran Torino figured they can have a bit of a late start today, at the very least. He can't exactly take the boy out when he's too tired to think straight.

Besides, he still has to evaluate the boy and get him to finally start using One For All in such a manner that he doesn't break anything, since Toshinori was useless as a teacher in that regard. That's what you get when you're a natural genius.

A few hours later, Sorahiko isn't sure if he's impressed, ashamed, pissed or just relieved when Midoriya nearly manages to seriously take him out in a single blow. And, as he learns, all thanks to Eraserhead. Apparently, the Vigilante had spotted the kid training outside in the middle of the night while he was out on patrol and decided he needed to intervene. Don't get him wrong, he's grateful Midoriya won't be breaking anything anymore, but he's still pissed that an outsider had managed to teach the next successor of One For All better than Sorahiko could have. In a single night, no less! Even Toshinori had needed some time to let the crystallization of power that is One For All settle.

It hasn't been settled within Midoriya when he'd come in yesterday.

It's more than settled in now. It comes readily, Midoriya can control how much of the power he can use and he can even go 1% above what they'd thought was his limit yesterday! How did a single night of training, with absolutely no knowledge of One For All - its history and mechanics - on the tutor's part, result in this big of a difference!? 'Deku' could move almost fast enough to keep up with Gran Torino! Toshinori had needed weeks to be able to even come close to grazing him! And while Midoriya has had One For All for about three months now, it's only as of this past week or so that the kid has shown even an ounce of a hint of gaining control of all that power!

Toshinori could use One For All from the beginning, but finer control came a bit slower. Midoriya Izuku had needed longer to adjust to the power and let it settle, but finer control seems to be coming more easily to him.

Or was that Eraserhead's influence? Could a single man truly be that good at teaching that he'd be able to get a kid to control a power like One For All after only a single night of exercises? (Though, judging from Midoriya's little rant about all the things he'd done the precious night, they were exactly the kind of exercises he needed. Which implies that Eraserhead is far more dangerous than they had previously thought him to be. That way of thinking, the logic applied, the reasoning behind each exercise ... It sounded like Quirk Theory. Very rare few could apply for Quick Theory courses, let alone finish them. Was it a hint at Eraserhead's identity? Sorahiko will have to check up on this new potential lead. They can't ignore a Vigilante with the knowledge to dissect the workings of Quirks to run around unsupervised. Perhaps those rumors really are true that Eraserhead has some device or chemical that disrupts the work of a Quirk. If he understands them ... Then he could easily have even made such things by himself.)

Either way, Gran Torino couldn't argue that this was a good thing, as it cut down on the things he needed to teach the kid.

As it was, after a few test runs with Deku, it was finally time to show him what real Hero work looks like.

Chapter Text

"You've looked better," a voice greets and Iida Tensei can't help the chuckle that escapes him, knowing who his visitor was even before he looked towards the window. There, standing on the ledge with the white, semi-transparent hospital curtains only partially blocking him from view, was the familiar black form of Eraserhead, capture weapon snug around his neck and iconic yellow goggles in place.

"I see security is rather slack despite me being the victim of an attempted murder. By Stain, no less," he says with irony and his old friend - as reluctantly as they've started out, snorts, dropping from the window into the room on feet as silent as death's prowl. Eraserhead had always moved like a cat, all easy grace and deathly silence. Tensei remembered when it used to drive him insane how easily the man could come up behind him or sneak away at the drop of a hat.

The early stages of their 'working relationship' were rocky, as Eraserhead would come to his aid but Ingenium would then try his damnedest to capture and arrest him. Of course, he'd never succeeded, despite technically being faster than the Vigilante. But, well, Eraser had more maneuverability as corners and wider or narrower, longer or shorter streets made no difference to him when he could just swing whichever way he wanted with that capture weapon of his. And that's not mentioning the fact the guy could scale a ten story building in a couple of seconds. Ingenium has simply never worked with a flying Hero or had a sidekick that could fly. Grave oversight, now that he thinks about it, but he's not overly sure if even that would have been of any help in apprehending the man.

He's heard enough stories from Hawks or Ryukyu to know Eraser always had a backup plan ready, no matter which Hero(s) he's running from.

They were just damn lucky he's a Vigilante and not a villain.

"How are you feeling?" The secret worrywart asks and Tensei takes a moment to consider before answering truthfully. He'd just be taking up Eraserhead's time when he'd called the man all the way to Hosu for a completely different reason.

"The painkillers keep the worst of the aches at bay, but that's not really what bothers me. No Hero worth their salts hasn't avoided being acquainted with at least a few dozen hospital beds, after all. What's bothering me, though, is that I can feel my Quirk in my veins but I know I can't use it. Not if I want to keep my arms from exploding. Stain was very throughout when he destroyed the engines. I ... I also haven't told the doctors yet that I don't really feel my legs from the knees down, either. They know I'll never be able to walk again because too many of my muscles and ligaments have been torn and cut up, but ... I think I have some serious nerve damage, too, and I don't know what to think about that. Should I tell my parents and younger brother? They worry too much already as it is ... "

"So Ingenium truly is, once and for all, retired from Heroics? What a loss for this community," Eraser says solemnly and Tensei wants to smile at his very strange friend but can't find it in himself. He can keep up a smile for his brother, because he doesn't want Tenya to worry even more, but Eraserhead would see right through it so why bother, anyway, right? Save the smiles for his fretting family.

"I wouldn't say that," he corrects gently, finding it in himself to grin in pride when he thinks of Tenya in his Hero costume. "My little bro will soon enough be zooming around the streets, all white, shiny armor and powerful engines, carrying the name Ingenium and doing it greater justice than I ever could. He has the makings of a Hero that I could only envy."

"Yet you worry enough to call me, a Vigilante, to keep an eye out for him in this city."

The older Iida brother sobers instantly. "It is because he respects you as much as he respects me that I ask this of you, my friend. I know my brother; he's been acting like he's taking the news of my injuries and their lasting effects okay, but I see the despair, the anger and the hatred in his eyes and I worry. I worry that he'll do something that he will regret for the rest of his life and that will ruin his dreams to become a Hero. If I were to bring my worries to anyone else, they'd take him out of the internship program immediately, but he needs this if he wants to be a Pro one day. But he also needs guidance and since I can't provide it," he shrugs as best as he could without causing himself any undue pain. "Well, I can't think of anyone else better than you."

"There are a lot of people better for that role than me."

"Are there? Funny, because from what I've heard, it was Vigilante Eraserhead that had appeared out of nowhere like some comic superhero and saved the day. Or at least protected the student's of Tenya's class until the actual Heroes arrived. You, All Might and Thirteen ... You did your best and took a lot of damage because of it."

"Mister Blaster was there, too."

Tensei waves the other off. "Kudos for trying, but Sensoji hadn't really done anything but make himself a liability. The kids ended up having to protect him, not the other way around. I've read all the reports, Eraser, and Tenya himself had told me the whole story in horrifying detail. It's you those kids respect now more than any other adult figure in their lives baring maybe All Might himself, but he is the Number One Hero we've all grown up loving and admiring, so that's kind of an unfair competition right there. Though, that might have changed." Tensei grinned teasingly at the embarrassed huff that came from his visitor. "Oh, yeah. I've seen the footage from the awards ceremony at the end of the First Years' Sports Festival. I watched it with Tenya and we were both very impressed. That was gutsy. Also more showy and impulsive than I thought you had it in you."

"Believe me, that's as far as my impulse control would allow me to go. I nearly yelled at that idiot during Bakugo's and Uraraka's fight when he'd started booing a kid doing his goddamned best in a competition. And it's not like Uraraka herself was complaining but was rather taking it like a champ. Seriously, some people are just illogical."

The injured Pro couldn't help but laugh out loud at that, a full on, deep belly laugh. Seriously, Eraserhead could sometimes be quite hilarious when he grumbled about how 'illogical' or 'irrational' people and Heroes villains can be. His views were never wrong, given he rationalizes them himself, but when he delivers some big thought with such a deadpan tone it sounds like a joke and just compels you to laugh. But then you think back on his words and start looking for the signs and then you see it. Eraser never jokes. No matter how funny some of the things he says sound, he never jokes.

"Yeah, I guess I can see it that way, when you look at it," he agrees with a few more chuckles. "A very you view. But you're just proving my point, you know."

"What point?"

"That there's no one better for the role that I am asking you to play."

"Tensei-"

"Look, Eraser. I may not know what you really look like nor do I know your name or history, but I do know that there is no one better on this damned continent, at the very least, who is better at dealing with kids than you. No one. You're simply a natural." Eraserhead goes suddenly and unexpectedly very tense. Tensei can't, for the life of him, figure out why because it's not exactly a secret that Eraser's good with kids like no one's business. He's almost famous for it among the Pros and policemen that don't try to arrest him on the spot. "And Tenya and all his friends and classmates trust you and you just keep doing things that reaffirms that trust. So I trust you to keep a proper eye on Tenya and, should it happen, stop him from making a stupid mistake. He trusts you and he will listen to you if you tell him not to do it."

"It's not about telling him he shouldn't do it," the other man says after a pause. "It's about him realizing why he shouldn't do it. If I just tell him 'No', that won't stick. One day, a coworker, a friend or a loved one will be injured or worse. Maybe I won't be around when it happens, so who will tell him 'No' a second time? And it will only be worse if it happens when he's a Pro. The name Ingenium is already associated with the Hero Killer. If your brother were to exact revenge on someone in the future, this incident will no doubt be brought up and your entire family will be dragged through the mud, disgraced and ridiculed. Worse yet, the faith in Heroes in general will be rocked. Don't you remember a few years ago when Endeavor's oldest son suddenly disappeared from the hospital after his Quirk nearly burned him alive? We had All Might to stabilize the situation by simply being an example of all a Hero should be." Tensei couldn't see Eraser's eyes because of his goggles, but he could have sworn the man rolled them anyway at that last bit. Well, Eraser never had agreed with the way the media hounded the Number One Hero nor the reckless way he approached most situations. "Will your brother have All Might, should the worst happen?"

"I have a feeling All Might's not going anywhere anytime soon, my friend," he said in a half-joking tone.

The set of Eraser's mouth was grim. "He's only human, Tensei. He's been at this for longer than any other Pro active today, but even he's got his limits."

'And one of them is you, isn't it, Eraserhead?' He almost says, recalling that All Might had been at that meeting where they were ordered to arrest this man on sight and that the Number One had reported two sightings of the Vigilante. Was Eraser right? Would All Might have been capable of catching him if he were just a few years younger? But All Might always looked so invincible, like he could do anything!

Wait ...

Is this another one of those things that Eraser could see because he's an outsider that other Pros are simply blind to because they're Heroes and stick 'within the box'? It wouldn't be the first time. There were plenty of times the Vigilante had discovered various crime lords he couldn't take on by himself and had simply delivered information to the Heroes he believed most suitable for the job or those he trusted enough not to just brush him off because he wasn't a trained Pro Hero. How many lives had been indirectly saved by the man now casually leaning on the wall beside the open window? Tensei himself had to learn the hard way that Eraser was more professional than even he himself could claim and he took his job very seriously.

Eraser was perceptive to things none of them could hope to ever see. There were too many instances where Pros had taken months researching something only for someone to run into Eraser and the man to tell them the answer they were searching for right off the bat. Simply because he ran in different circles.

The Underground Heroes especially loved him, the rare few that Tensei had had the pleasure to work with. (All through recommendations by this very same Vigilante, too.)

Was this a situation like that? What did Eraserhead see when he looked at their beloved Symbol of Peace?

How did he see past all that incredible, awe-inspiring, amazing, terrifying power and see a mere human?

Just who was Eraserhead? A question many have asked in the past fifteen years and yet no answer was forthcoming to this day. At this point, he was more unreal than All Might!

"Look, I'm not saying I won't keep an eye on your brother," Eraser says after a long stretch of silence. "I don't know how or why but I somehow found myself entangled into those kids' stories and I, quite frankly, have also found myself hesitant to leave it just yet. Call it shared trauma type of bonding or whatever. It doesn't matter," the man continued as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'll probably be for them even when they don't want me to anymore, for as long as I can. I just think they should have better role models than a Vigilante."

"If you must know, Eraser, I often found you to be my role model." He smiled tiredly when he thought the other shot him a confused and shocked expression. Kayama and Yamada had always been better at reading the parts of this man's expressions that they got to see between all the hair and the folds of the capture weapon and the goggles. "Don't sell yourself short. You did for those kids more than any Pro ever has and it's not even your job."

"Thirteen and All Might also almost died that day."

"But it's their jobs," counters the bed-ridden man. "They were trained to do that. They signed up for it. They receive a paycheck, no matter how little that part matters to them. They're Pro Heroes. You, on the other hand, despite your nighttime ... escapades, are just a civilian, still. As much a civilian as those kids. Maybe even more so, after all the official training they've received. Sure, you have more experience, but they have official, professional training. Tenya, for that matter, has been receiving training by Quirk experts our family hired and by myself and our father since the moment he decided he wanted to be a Hero. That Todoroki kid has probably been training since his Quirk manifested, knowing Endeavor and his obsession to surpass All Might. If they were at USJ, they were no longer 'just civilians', Eraser. They were future Heroes. In all actuality, they should have been protecting you, not the other way around. Thirteen and Mister Blaster, especially."

"Thirteen is a rescue Hero. They don't fight nearly as often as regular Heroes do," the black-clad male defended the other near-casualty of USJ. "And Mister Blaster isn't exactly suited to fight by himself."

"You know that's not exactly true-"

"He's not suited to fight by himself because he doesn't know how," Eraser cuts off in an annoyed glower. "Those kids were just lucky I was literally passing by at the right time and that there were only two serious threats present in that group of idiots."

"Two? The two that escaped?" Because he was pretty sure there was a third guy who'd nearly fought All Might to a standstill. What was his name, again?

"Nomu and that Warpgate guy, Kurogiri, one of the two that had escaped. The other one has a pretty dangerous Quirk, but he himself is deranged, not dangerous. He acts like a child not allowed to play their favorite video game. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how he views the world."

"Scary. Do you think he's really the leader?"

Eraser hesitates before shaking his head. "I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think so. I've been ... investigating this 'League of Villains' even before their first public attack. It's actually thanks to that that I was there at all, to help those kids. Nomu wasn't actually the first guy I saw with an exposed brain."

"You mean to tell me there's more of those guys out there?" Maybe he should just wrap his little brother up in bubble wrap and hide him somewhere so he can keep him safe. Fuck family traditions and heroism! He just wants his brother to be safe! The Hero Killer was one thing, but those brain guys were just the first sign that the world was turning on its head!

The Vigilante before him hesitated again and Tensei knew it couldn't be anything good if Eraserhead hesitates twice. "Actually, I'm not too sure they're even human anymore. I don't think 'Nomu' is that guy's name," he put an almost shaking hand underneath his goggles. (Was he contemplating taking them off?) He lowered his hand before he even touched the yellow support gear. "I think it's a term to call a multitude of ... bioengineered living, breathing, Quirked weapons or servants. That one at USJ was made to fight specifically All Might. I don't know how many more there might be, how they're made, who makes them, where and why or what purpose each of them may potentially hold. What I do know, though, is that something more is going on here and no one is aware."

"You are!" Iida pointed out almost hysterically. "You could do somethi-"

"What, Tensei?!" Snapped the Vigilante. "I could do what!? I don't have anything solid, for heaven's sake! I'd just be proclaimed the boy that cried wolf and then when I finally do get something concrete, they won't listen!" 'They' obviously being the Pro Heroes and maybe even the police. "Especially not after the UA Sports Festival! They'll just declare it a cry for attention! When have I ever wanted attention!?"

"Have you already tried telling anyone?" It sounds almost like he's saying all of this from experience.

Eraserhead stiffened. "Not this. I was in a relatively similar situation once, a long time ago. Many people nearly got killed. I owe a lot to my fellow Vigilantes."

Tensei winced at that, almost positive he knew what event the Vigilante was talking about. Just three years ago, Eraser had brought to their attention a possible attack aimed at the Tokyo Sky Egg. He hadn't had anything concrete at the time, just his own word because time was of the essence. No Pro had taken him at his word, despite years of instances proving it otherwise that Eraserhead wanted anything other than to help people. Tensei was ashamed to say he had been one of the Heroes Eraser had come to, only to turn him down because he had no concrete evidence. His reason (excuse?)? Eraserhead hadn't given him any solid evidence that an attack might happen and Ingenium couldn't risk his own neck because a Vigilante told him so without proof to back it up. Eraser had been considerably colder towards him after that, for nearly a whole year.

Perfectly understandable.

Had it not been for Eraserhead, the Crawler and a few other Naruhata Vigilantes, the Sky Egg would have definitely fallen because they were the ones that eventually alerted the Heroes celebrating Captain Celebrity's retirement party and got them involved in the shitshow going on just outside. And then there is the fact that Eraserhead had hunted down Detective Tsukauchi to make the man call All Might to the scene.

It was a mess and a half, but had it not been for the Vigilantes ... Well ...

"I see your point," he conceded. "But what are you going to do about this?"

"What I always do," Eraser replied as he turned around and walked back towards the window. "You just rest up. I'll deal with it." And with that, the man disappeared just as the door to his room opened to admit his nurse, probably there to check on his vitals and give him his evening medication. She didn't seem to think anything of the open window, when it had, in fact, been closed the last time she'd been in here and he'd had no official visits nor had he pressed the call button.

Tensei just sighed and tried not to think about it, any of it. It was all in Eraser's hands now and if anyone knew how to handle themselves and such a shitload, it was Eraserhead.

All Tensei could do was heal to the best of his ability and try not to worry about his brother too much.

He, too, would be safe in Eraser's hands.

Chapter Text

The world is going bonkers!

That was the only thought circling through All Might's mind as he read the report Naomasa had made after questioning Native, Endeavor, Manual, Gran Torino, a few other Heroes and the three 1-A boys that had been involved in the Hosu incident with the Hero Killer.

It was like disaster after disaster piled upon one another these days and it all seemed to have started with the order to arrest Eraserhead. Not that All Might was blaming the Vigilante for these incidents.

It was more that he was actually suspecting karma paying them back for trying to repay the man's kindness with the kind of attitude and actions they've been taking against him these past few weeks. At this point, it was the only theory he had that made an iota of sense. Nothing else seemed logical at this point and he knew that was a sad fact indeed.

It was as if it wasn't bad enough to finally learn why Eraserhead had been around USJ in time to save the students, things just kept on coming. They'd already known Eraserhead's been investigating a villain similar to Nomu, only for test results of both villains to come back not declaring them family, but bioengineered monsters with multiple Quirks! This was further confirmed in Hosu on the same night that Stain was finally arrested, when three different Nomu were released to wreak havoc on the streets, attacking indiscriminately both Heroes and civilians alike. Only one had been arrested. Two had been killed, one by Endeavor by burning its head off, the other by Stain when he had, of all things, saved Midoriya-shounen!

What's more fascinating was that Eraserhead had helped in arresting the third Nomu before he'd run off to find Todoroki-shounen, Iida-shounen and Midoriya-shounen. He had arrived by the time their fight with Stain ended and had just helped in wrapping up their injuries given Midoriya-shounen had received a nasty cut to his leg. Native, as was per usual for any ... interactions he may have with Eraser, didn't try to interfere with the Vigilante and just carried the injured Midoriya-shounen out while Todorok-shounen and Iida-shounen dragged the unconscious villain behind them. Eraser had, as per the report, monitored them from the building above and watched out for any trouble.

Eraserhead only got more violently involved when a winged Nomu swooped in and tried to take Midoriya-shounen after the other Pros had arrived. Stain had managed to get his hands - or, well, tongue - on the Nomu's blood and paralyze it long enough to kill it in seconds, but Eraserhead had been just as swift to yank Midoriya-shounen out of its slack grip so Stain would have no potential hostages, even though the Hero Killer wasn't known to operate in such a way anyways.

All Might had watched the entire video, even before the by now infamous one was first posted online. He'd seen how no Hero had been able to move while Stain stood to face his adversaries. Only Eraserhead had sent his capture weapon out to grab the other two boys and drag them onto his rooftop. Whether he would have concentrated on protecting the injured students or if he would have joined the Pros in the potential fight was a mystery to them all, because Stain had ended up fainting standing up due to a broken rib digging into his lung, leaving him in critical health and in need of immediate medical attention.

Toshinori was ashamed of his fellow Heroes for all but forgetting about the children that had been in their care mere moments earlier for about five minutes as they fretted over dealing with the comatose villain. They'd been in safe hands, no doubt, as they'd been with Eraserhead, who had thoroughly chastised them for their actions and then, apparently, mother-henned them all over again.

The rest of the story was quite a sad one where aspiring Heroes were concerned. Those three boys had saved a life and detained one of the biggest threats of their generation and no one would ever know about it. They had also almost killed Stain in their efforts to stop him and that could have very easily ended in them being kicked out of the Hero Course for good. Thankfully, Detective Tsuragamae did not want to punish good deeds and they were mostly off the hook. Mostly. The rest of their first internships were spent in the hospital and even if they were released, they were not allowed to do any Hero work. Their mentors, too, were punished. Manuel's pay was docked and Gran Torino lost his teaching license.

It could have been so much worse ...

But, for the first time since his first turned in report, Eraserhead left an inked falsehood before all but disappearing from their radar for a solid week. He wasn't injured, everyone who'd been there had seen that in how he moved after it was all over. The three boys worried over it, even if Detective Tsuragamae assured them that Eraserhead was just busy with a lead he'd found.

And indeed he had found a lead, of sorts. Shigaraki and Kurogiri had been watching a few blocks away the whole time and left a bit after Stain killed the flying Nomu. Footage from a news camera confirmed as much. But Eraserhead brought in information saying the League of Villains was unlikely an ally to Stain because he said Shikaraki seemed to be in possession of a new wound, a knife wound to be precise, to his left shoulder.

Eraserhead then proved to be a bit of a blade expert, wherein he described what he'd managed to see of the wound. Forensics, just based on that description, could tell the wound was most probably caused by a weapon like the sword Stain's known for wielding.

Eraserhead proved to be more and more of a mystery.

Then Midoriya-shounen showed great progress during their first Hero Studies class, showing impeccable control over One For All and even being neck to neck with Sero-shounen at the finish! His control and mobility both have vastly improved and Toshinori had been so proud! He'd called Gran Torino right away to thank his old teacher for the help, only for the old man to inform him that he'd had almost no hand in it. Toshinori had been halfway to assuming Midoriya-shounen himself had somehow figured it out - all the better! - only for the old Hero to drop the bomb on him that, apparently, Midoriya-shounen had had a training session one night with a passing-by Eraserhead.

Questioning his successor only confirmed the story and the boy had been super excited to tell him all about the techniques Eraserhead had used to help him gain control of his Quirk.

Toshinori actually felt kind of irked that someone could teach his successor better how to use One For All than himself, but he was just glad Midoriya-shounen will finally stop hurting himself.

Though that wasn't the end of his woes.

As the final exams approached and the teaching staff discussed the best way to test the students, Toshinori finally ran into Eraserhead one early morning. He'd heard a cry for help as he was making his way to UA super early for one of the before-school meetings Principal Nezu insisted on and didn't even think twice about it before he rushed to the person's aid. However, by the time he arrived to apprehend the criminal, Eraserhead was already tying up the purse snatcher, looking up at him with what was probably a bored or unimpressed expression on what could be seen of his face.

"Shouldn't you be on your way to UA?" The Vigilante asked as he politely handed back the purse to the old lady he'd assisted with a small half bow. The woman returned it and even stretched up on her toes in an attempt to pinch his cheek like the kind of grandma that bakes cookies and pies all the time. Toshinori had to bite back chuckles at first and then had to fight to hold onto his muscular form due to overwhelming shock when Eraserhead actually indulged her by bending down just enough for her to reach. That seemed to please the woman more than anything and she bid the Vigilante goodbye, not sparing All Might a single glance.

He wasn't sure if he was amused or bemused by that.

"Shouldn't you be ending your patrol by now?" He asked in turn instead of answering, because Eraserhead wasn't exactly known for sticking around once the sun rose up above a certain point in the horizon. Regular Pro Heroes start patrolling the streets at around this time, so it would be a lot harder for the man to avoid notice.

"What would you know about my patrol?" Eraserhead asked with a snort, clearly amused. "For all you know, I patrol in daytime, too. You Pros just overlook me." The blond opened his mouth to say something about that but the dark haired man just shakes his head. "I guess I got carried away, though. I've been busy."

"Your absence from police reports supports that."

The shorter man snorted again. "Listen, about the League of Villains-"

"You should probably stop chasing them. I don't think you realize just what you are facing up against," Yagi felt the need to warn him, wishing almost desperately that this kind, brave man wouldn't get involved and end up being killed. Now that he knows without a doubt that All For One was alive and making a move again, he didn't want the Vigilante out on the front lines.

For some reason, he had the feeling the other was glaring at him something fierce. "We'll address the fact that you think you have the power to tell me when, where and how to move or act later, for now, before I break it down to you, I would like for you to tell me how the Problem Children are."

"Problem Children?" He echoed in confusion.

"Class 1-A," Eraser clarified. "Specifically Midoriya, Iida and Todoroki. You know, the ones who actually took down Stain? Got hurt pretty bad in the process."

"Ah, yes, um, they're doing as well as one can after such an experience. They're all more determined than ever to become stronger and better Heroes!" He proclaimed, striking his usual All Might pose, only to receive an almost condescending scoff from his 'audience'. He dropped it immediately in case he somehow managed to chase away the man. "Their injuries, at least, are all almost completely healed up. And Midoriya-shounen tells me you helped him a great deal last week, with controlling his Quirk."

"The boy acts almost as though he's had his Quirk only for a month or something."

Toshinori flinches but hopes his immediate laugh covers up the movement. Trust Eraserhead to hit the nail on the head. Dangerously observant, this one. Yagi will have to be more careful around this man. "It's quite a complicated case, actually! Midoriya-shounen was thought Quirkless until just a few months ago, because his Quirk was simply too powerful for his body to handle when he was younger, so it could only manifest once his body was strong enough not to kill him! Or so Recovery Girl theorized, anyway, since it first manifested at the entrance exam and she saw the damage it could still cause him first hand. It was just his body's way of preserving itself until he was ready!" He laughed his signature laugh, glad they'd come up with that lie in case Midoriya's records were ever looked up at some point in the future. The boy had registered as Quirkless, after all, and that had stayed on his record despite Nezu being perfectly capable of throwing it into obscurity.

Sometimes he really wondered what his former Principal and now boss was up to with some of his moves.

Was letting the Quirkless take the entrance exam really just a publicity stunt? If so, All Might is severely disappointed in his friend.

Eraserhead snorts, drawing his attention back to the man and making him stop laughing. "Don't do that."

"Do what, my man?"

"Lie to my face," the shorter of the two instantly replied. "It's unbecoming of a Hero, especially the one lauded as the Symbol of Peace and Pillar of Justice. Not to mention very insulting towards my intelligence. I don't need to have a Quirk like High Specs to know that what you just spouted is utter bullshit." Toshinori may or may not be on the edge of breaking out into a nervous sweat right about now. "I know one of the kids has probably told you about my visits to them. Midoriya, at the very least."

"Visits?" He couldn't help but echo, because what the hell was the Vigilante talking about? Did he mean the whole thing in Hosu?

"During their internships," Eraserhead said in a manner that implied he was rolling his eyes behind his goggles. "Those kids have decided to call me Sensei, for whatever reason, so I figured the least I could do was live up to it. Or has my little ... stunt at the Sports Festival not been enough of a giveaway."

"What did you do with those high grade Quirk suppression cuffs, anyway?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Well, that, at least, was a clear sign that Eraser wasn't going to give him an answer to that question. Though this probably meant he hadn't actually used them yet. Maybe. Had he seriously just impulsively taken the cuffs after freeing Bakugou-shounen?

"When did you manage to visit the kids during their internships? I know for a fact a good number of their temporary mentors are very anti-Vigilante opinionated!" Could Eraser seriously get past them with that much ease and long enough to have more meaningful interactions like he'd had with Midoriya-shounen and even Todoroki-shounen and Iida-shounen? "How did you even know which Heroes they were interning with!?"

Eraser shrugged. "Their schedules are easy to follow and the kids actually do know what I look like when not going out as Eraserhead. I could literally walk up to them and act like a Hero fan that'd watched the Sports Festival, for the Heroes that don't appreciate the hand I give them but still take all the credit for my share of the work. Not that I care about that, anyway, but it's still hypocritical. Oh, and the kids told me." He took out that same device he used as a phone but probably was much more than a phone because Yagi had researched the most advanced models and never came across one like it. "I gave them all a way to contact me when they visited me in Recovery Girl's recovery room after USJ, like I did with you and dozens of other Heroes. Why do you think I was there in time to at least immediately tend to their wounds in Hosu? I got there faster than any Hero, that's for damned sure."

There were a lot of things to process from that little information dump, like how the kids' trust in Eraserhead apparently wasn't one sided, nor was the affection and protectiveness. Not a single student had told anyone about the fact that they know what Eraserhead really looks like or that they had the means to contact him. Nor the fact that they'd gone to see him after he'd nearly died for them. Nor that he'd, in turn, visited them to make sure they were doing okay on their internships.

Why, exactly, couldn't have Eraserhead been a Hero so Nezu could boot Sensoji-kun out and bring him in instead to be 1-A's homeroom teacher? What is this injustice!?

"And, really, not that many Pros are actually outright anti-Vigilante. Definitely not as many as you think. Death Arms just ignores me. I think I might actually intimidate Gunhead a bit, but we had fun teaching hand to hand his newest class of interns. Uraraka certainly seemed to be having a blast. I definitely intimidate Uwabami. I guess you could say I bullied her into actually getting the girls she'd taken as interns experience some actual Hero work. Her managers protested, as you can imagine, but they were just as intimidated. I don't know why. I'd literally just stood there."

Yagi didn't blame them for being intimidated. Here he was, All Might, the supposedly strongest man on Earth, and he wouldn't be ashamed to say Eraserhead intimidated him, too. It was getting brighter and brighter outside, he had plenty of time in his form and Eraserhead was probably exhausted after a night of vigilantism and yet Yagi had this feeling that, should they fight, it might just be the pepper spray incident all over again.

(That had hurt like a bitch. He'd never been in as much agony except when All For One had all but ripped his lung out. He had a whole new level of respect for anyone who dares go out to protest anything while risking pepper spray as punishment because fuck, it takes balls to willingly risk exposing yourself to that pain. It probably didn't help that Eraser had great aim and had gotten it all straight in his eyes, nose and mouth. Good reaction time on the Vigilante's part, bad for All Might's ego and general health. Naomasa had at least had a good laugh.)

Eraserhead was simply not a person to take on lightly.

"Mt Lady, too. Though I think both she and Mineta deserve each other. She'd at least whipped some respect for women into him by making him do house chores and his ... less than adequate attitude and behavior towards the female sex has put her on her toes and made her more vigilant of her surroundings at all times. A little paranoia is good for this kind of job."

"Are you sure you're not just taking revenge for young Kamui Woods and his stolen debut?" He asked in good humor, because he knows Eraserhead had watched out for the wood Hero when he'd still been getting the hang of the ropes and that the Hero, in turn, respected him greatly for it.

Was Eraserhead going to treat the entirety of 1-A much the same?

"Hawks and Jeanist were fun to hassle," the black haired man continued as though Toshinori had not just teased him with what may actually be the truth. The Hero had to repress chuckles at that. "Hawks definitely doesn't like being dangled from the tallest building in Kyushu-" That, though, had him nearly hacking up blood in surprise because what the hell!? "But he should know better if he's going to take on an intern that he can't just do everything so fast that the student doesn't have a chance to learn anything. And he should know better than to try to get someone who clearly states they can't fly to 'try it out' just because they have a single bird feature."

"What the hell?!" This time, he intones his incredulity, though it is directed more towards Hawks than the Vigilante and his disciplinary measures.

"Yeah, Tokoyami had it rough for the first two days." But, judging from the man's smug tone and how satisfied Tokoyami-shounen was at the end of it, Hawks had taken Eraser's criticism to heart and heeded his warning. Tokoyami-shounen has a good future ahead of him as a successful Hero. "Jeanist needs to understand that stuffing people into jeans isn't the answer to the 'problems' he sees in their image or behaviors. Sometimes talking is more than enough."

"You're talking about Bakugou-shounen's internship?" Eraser nodded. "How did that go?"

"Good, once Jeanist stopped trying to force a certain image on the kid. Bakugou's not stupid, but he's temperamental. You want to cull his more wild side, it will only come back and bite you in the ass." Well, All Might could certainly attest to that. The explosive blond didn't appreciate people trying to change him how they thought a Hero should behave or look like. Hell, Endeavor wasn't the most popular of Heroes but he was still Number Two.

"How do you suggest dealing with his ... explosiveness instead?"

Eraser shrugged. "Give him a goal. Remind him being a Hero isn't all about combat. He should have taken an internship with someone like Thirteen."

"A rescue Hero?"

The man only nodded. "Explosions aren't very effective on disaster sites and scared civilians would cull his temper considerably. Especially children."

"Jeanist report suggests he actually scared some children during a patrol after the Stain thing."

"Wouldn't you be pissed if someone tap danced all over a touchy subject? Those kids should have been taught better than to antagonize anyone, let alone a Hero in training and one that's gone through enough shit as it was." So Eraserhead knew about the Sludge Villain incident? Which of that bastard's victims actually told him about it, Midoriya-shounen or Bakugou-shounen? Or has he simply watched the reports on TV?

"They're just kids-"

"They're kids living in a world where traumatic shit happens daily. I don't fault them, I fault the system. PTSD is more common now than Quirklessness and 20% of the whole population of the Earth isn't exactly a small number either, All Might-san. Every Hero out there suffers from some form of PTSD or another. Villains and victims, too."

"Vigilantes?"

"Oh, most definitely," the black haired man replied. "Have you ever watched a building fall and crush a friend, All Might-san? Right there, in front of you, mere feet away, and you couldn't do anything about it? And you can't even try to save that friend because a giant villain was still wrecking chaos and you're the only one there that can do anything to stop it? The Heroes on the scene had only been a hindrance." The last bit was said mournfully, but with frustration, and it was probably not meant for All Might to hear but hear he did.

'He must be talking about the Tasomiya incident!' Toshinori thought and realized, for the first time, just how young Eraserhead must have been back then. Probably still only a child, maybe the age of the students he now teaches. Present Mic had been only in his second year at UA, after all, and Eraserhead didn't seem to be much older than him. "So, what? You think their parents should teach them about PTSD?"

"No, but the educational system can at least hold bullet point presentations once a year to at least brief the public in general on how to help someone suffering through a panic attack. Some people can asphyxiate because they can't calm down fast enough and are breathing irregularly during such situations. In a world full of superpowered civilians, villains and Heroes, is it really such a good idea to let someone lose total control and beg whatever higher power may or may not exist that their Quirk won't devastated their surroundings?"

"You have a point! I shall try and talk with Principal Nezu about this! I am sure he will know what to do to implement such an idea into the general education of the populace!"

Toshinori wasn't sure, but the way Eraserhead's head actually snapped up to properly look up at him for the first time since this little interaction had started heavily suggested he'd finally managed to surprise this man! "Wait, you're actually going to bring that idea up with someone?"

"But of course! You are definitely right that it is unsafe and unfair to those who suffer from trauma not to get the adequate help they need in the most timely convenience! You'd be a fine educator, Eraserhead!"

"Tch. Me? A teacher? How irrational." Well, would you look at that - Eraserhead is embarrassed! A day for new surprises!

"But Eraserhead, you already are a Sensei, are you not?" He teased unashamedly and laughed when Eraser actually hissed at him like a disgruntled cat. Then he suddenly found his arms full of the criminal the Vigilante had stopped and he blinked up at the Vigilante scaling one of the alley's buildings towards the roof and sweet escape. "Uh, Eraser-"

"Report him in and head off, or you'll be late, All Might-san!" Called the other before disappearing from his view in a matter of seconds, leaving Toshinori with his catch and already very late for the staff meeting. To which he will be even more late now that he has to take this guy in.

"Cheeky brat."

Chapter Text

"You're not going to believe what I found," was Tsukauchi's greeting two days later when Toshinori picked up the phone.

The blond couldn't help but roll his eyes. "While, hello to you, too, Naomasa! How are you? Me? Oh, I'm just fine. Stuck with doing a mountain of paperwork all alone plus Sensoji-kun's stack, too, because I am a sucker who doesn't know to say no. What may be the purpose of your call?"

A snort answered him. "Very funny, Yagi. Now, do you want to hear what I found about our maybe-Eraserhead or not."

"We actually have one of those?" That was news to him. Hadn't their last 'lead' ended in a deader than dead deadend with the still missing and most probably deceased Aizawa Shouta? They'd certainly opened some not yet healed wounds on an old man's heart and it proved to be virtually for nothing. They'd only gotten some new information about the capture weapon, but even that wasn't much as Kronos wouldn't tell him how to make a knife that could apparently cut through the cloth.

"Shut up and listen."

"Rude."

Tsukauchi ignored him on that one. "You know how the name Aizawa seemed to ring a bell but I couldn't recall from where? And no, it's not the Sports Festival fifteen years ago."

"Yeeeees?"

"Well, listen to this: I ran the name Aizawa through the police files and do you know what I found? Or rather, who? Aizawa Ashou, better known as the cyber criminal Hal. You must have heard of him. He's one of the most notorious hackers in the world, indiscriminate in who he's stealing money from, national banks, business tycoons, charity foundations, mafioso or criminal organizations, it didn't matter to him."

Why yes, Toshinori did remember him quite well. He'd been caught while he was preparing to hack Might Tower and all the organizations connected with his agency. Apparently, a kid had seen some suspicious activity around Hal's place of residence and had reported it to the police. The police found nothing nefarious outside, so they'd broken in and the Heroes helping in the operation, as well as a few detectives, had recognized Hal from Wanted pictures. They found nothing else wrong in the area, so they'd written it off as a flavorless prank that actually resulted in a good bit of luck, but now Toshinori was questioning it.

He'd questioned it before, of course, because that was just too much luck, but he was certain now. Well, almost certain.

"Is he in any way related to Aizawa Shouta?"

"Not according to the records, no, but their last names are spelled exactly the same, Yagi,, down to the last character" Tsukauchi revealed. "And there have been rumors at some point that Hal's been seen around with a kid. No one knew for sure if it was a bot or a girl, but a child has definitely been in the picture. There were a couple of kiddie things found in his house. Well, if you can call a remodeled warehouse a house. And get this," the detective said and a few clicks could be heard from the other side of the screen. "Hal's been robbing people left and right for years. He should be filthy rich, Yagi, but his old bank account's been empty since before we could take any listings for evidence or, you know, return the money to the state or give it to charity. Not a single coin left."

"Did he transfer it so he can have money on a different account for when he gets out"

"Doubtful. It's been clear for years that he'll probably end up with a life sentence. He's simply piled up too many charges and he knew it."

"Did you confront him about it?"

"Yeah, that's the weirdest thing: when they interrogated him about the state of his account, the officer in charge said the man had laughed and had seemed delighted and proud."

The blond pursed his lips in thought. "So you think Aizawa Shouta, what? Reported his own father because he wanted to be a Hero? Live a normal life away from crime and villainy? Just kept himself out of the foster system through the money he'd, what, hacked from his master-hacker father? Like said father probably taught him? No offense, my friend, but it seems a bit far fetched and like we're grasping at straws. And what does this have to do with Eraserhead?"

"Toshinori, please follow me: Aizawa Shouta disappeared fifteen years ago. He was kidnapped and they never found him again, even though his kidnappers themselves were arrested two years later. By Eraserhead, might I add. Except Aizawa's shitty homeroom teacher - Kronos had bagged that guy despite the injuries he'd received on the night of the kidnapping. Now, Aizawa might have been just a kid, but he had managed to defeat an entire Hero Course at the Sports Festival, Yagi. He's not some helpless kid, a damsel in distress."

"You think he managed to save himself and then decided to live under a different identity instead of returning to his dream school and becoming a Hero like he'd obviously wanted?"

"Don't make it sound so insane, man," whined the detective.

"It does sound insane, though, Naomasa. Give me one good reason why a teenage boy who'd finally managed to get into the Hero Course - changing several stereotypes along the way, mind you, and setting a record that is as of yet unbeatable - would discard his one chance and just run off, to, what? Be a Vigilante when he'd had the opening to be the real deal?" It just sounded too unlikely to him. "And there's no record of him being overly savvy with computers either, Tsukauchi."

"As if any sane hacker would show off their skills in the middle of the best Hero school in Japan, All Might." Okay, he had a point there. But only there! "And think about it: he'd been kidnapped and the system had done nothing to protect, save or find him. He was at a delicate age. He could have decided it was simply not for him. Not after what he'd lived through. And maybe Aizawa Shouta isn't Eraserhead, but I strongly believe that the kid is at least still alive and out there!"

The tall blond bit his lip. "If you're going to investigate this, too, Tsukauchi, then please don't bring it before Kronos before you have any solid evidence. We don't want to break his heart if we're wrong."

"So you think my theory might have some truth in it, too," the policeman declared triumphantly and Yagi rolled his eyes.

"I hope it does, my man. Not the same thing. I, too, would like for a missing child to be found, even if that child is no longer a child. One less thing to keep certain people up at night." Yamada-kun. Nezu, probably. Kronos most definitely. Maybe even Recovery Girl! Heavens know that woman remembers every student she's ever treated in UA's shiny halls. "How would we even go about checking this?"

"Well, even the best hackers have to slip up sometime-"

"I thought Aizawa-kun had wanted to be a Hero," Toshinori interrupted, arching an eyebrow despite knowing there is no way for Naomasa to see him doing so. Instead, he did his best to project the gesture into his words, too. He took that moment to also look around the teachers lounge and to be grateful that he was still completely alone. He wouldn't want anyone, especially Present Mic, to walk in on this little conspiracy theory session going on. "I doubt he would go down Hal's footsteps, even if he lost all belief in the Hero system."

"He has to keep himself hidden somehow, Yagi," the police officer pointed out. "He has to have a bank account he can use, documentation that would allow him to get a drivers license, library cards, pay bills, buy things, maybe even a phone to use-"

Toshinori stopped listening to Naomasa at the mention of a phone. 'No, it can't possibly be ... But what if it is?' He looked down at the phone in his hand, his friend still going on and on about how the police usually tracked people and especially hackers, all of it little more than background noise to him right now. He was thinking about his first conversation with Eraserhead when the Vigilante had to take that poor boy that almost been kidnapped home, and then the conversation on the rooftop of Might Tower that followed soon after.

Eraserhead himself had said that the number he'd been given was a special code, had mentioned special programming on a very strange phone model that Toshinori had never managed to find anywhere else despite hours of browsing. Did he seriously have the answer right under his nose, this whole goddamned time?

But no, Eraserhead wasn't known for hacking. Eraserhead may be a vigilante, but never once had he been caught actually doing something illegal. This was all starting to resemble a game of cat and mouse where Eraserhead had them thinking they were the cat and he was the mouse when it was the exact opposite. Only Eraser wasn't chasing them; he was playing with them, playing them. For incompetent fools, at that.

But that also didn't sound like Eraser and there is simply no way a man that relies so heavily on practicality and logic would throw any sort of breadcrumbs, like it seems that he's doing - fake trail or not - their way when the risk of making an actual critical mistake was so high. No, Eraserhead hasn't stayed a free man and an active Vigilante for about fifteen years because of making bold and daring moves like that. Eraser was cautious, paranoid even. Which means that these little revelations were all accidents. But were they really finally making headway in discovering Eraser's identity, or were they barking up the wrong tree. These clues, this case ... They were glacier cold by now. Cold, old and closed. Were they really right to go digging up finally settled graves? The coffin was still empty.

Would it even be better to have something to finally put in it, figuratively or literally?

"All Might, are you even listening to me anymore?" Tsukauchi's half annoyed question finally reached his ears and he coughed in surprise, trying to apologize around the handkerchief he had to put to his mouth lest he spew blood everywhere.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. My mind must have wandered off during that last part."

"Which last part."

"..."

The man on the other end snorted, amused and half exasperated. "I know chasing Eraserhead can be quite frustrating, and the man himself often does not exactly help that feeling-"

"No, no, Eraserhead is fine. Quite intriguing and fun to talk to- Shit."

"... You've talked to Eraser, Toshi?" Came the teasing inquiry from his friend and Toshinori groaned, long and loud.

"Double shit."

That only had the police officer cracking up. "I swear, you're no better than Mic and Midnight! Or half the Heroes in this part of Musutafu!"

"And Hosu. And Kyushu. And Naruhata and Tasomiya," the blond Number One supplied tiredly, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Hell, half of UA is that man's friend."

"Really?"

"Well, 1-A are. Thirteen has, apparently, also joined their Eraserhead Is A HERO Change My Mind club, which is understandable, after USJ. Principal Nezu has even expressed a desire to speak with him, but neither Yamada-kun nor Kayama-san are willing to hand over their phones to contact Eraser and since no one knows I have a way to contact him, too, they haven't ask-"

"You have a way to contact Eraserhead?! Since when!?"

"... Triple shit."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I ... forgot to mention it?" It was the truth, actually. He really had forgotten. And it's not like the thought of giving Eraserhead's number away was at the forefront of his mind. He owed the man that much, at the very least. "I, uhm, remember that time with the kid with that emotion-based, animal-trait manifestation Quirk?"

"Since then!? Toshi, that was before the school year started! Two months ago!"

"Well, yes, but he kind of told me it would be useless to use the number from a different phone? He, uh, doesn't answer unknown numbers?"

"Are you forgetting what my Quirk is, All Might? I can tell that you are, at least partially, lying."

'I'll run out of shits at this rate!' He gave an awkward laugh to his friend in reply. "It's, uh ... It's not exactly a lie ... He, uhm, he screens? his calls? Or something like that? I didn't really understand." And that is the truth. Yagi Toshinori is not an idiot by any means, but he's not exactly tech-savvy. Eraserhead, though, seems to be the exact opposite. 'Maybe I should finally move on to the fucks, because this is a whole new level,' he mused to himself.

Naomasa sighed and the Pro could just imagine him rubbing at his forehead. "Why, exactly, did he give you his number? Are you secretly dating now or something?"

"Unlike the kids, I still don't even know what he actually looks like- fuck!" Yup, you guessed it. He'd finally leveled up. What is wrong with him today? Why such a loose mouth all of a sudden? Surely it can't be nerves. He's been keeping secrets - tens of thousands of times bigger than these ones involving Eraserhead - for a whole lot longer without difficulty and yet he cracks under pressure now?

'I'm not going to be able to look Eraserhead in the eyes - or, well, goggles - ever again, am I?'

"Mind explaining that?" And so Yagi sighed and explained how the kids got to visit the Vigilante after USJ and how, in turn, Eraser had taken to visiting them during their internships and making the experience even better for them. By the time he finished, he'd heard Naomasa make a popping sound that resembled pills being popped out of their tablets and he knew the police officer must have taken some medication to battle the headache no doubt waging war with his head the longer he listened. "Damn. Or, as you like to say, shit. And none of the Pros reported any of this?"

"Well, he didn't exactly approach them all as Eraserhead."

"The fact that he can just take off the goggles and scarf and blend in is really annoying right now," grumbled the police officer. "Then again, I'd actually rather keep the guy out on the streets. He turned in another Nomu just last night."

"Seriously? Does he know they're not exactly human anymore?"

"I have no idea what that man does or doesn't know," Naomasa replied immediately. "Anyway, Eraser has given us the location where he'd caught the Nomu. Seems he finally used those handcuffs he stole off that Bakugo kid. They did a pretty good job at restraining the Nomu. Big, green, only one giant eye, plenty of teeth, exposed brain. Didn't fly but looked like it could be a pretty damn good swimmer."

"Shit. Is he specializing them now? Bastard." He had to refrain himself from puffing up into his muscle form as rage coursed through him at the mere thought of All For One and his many devious, evil deeds.

"Don't know. My point is: Eraser seems to have the best - or worst, depends on how you look at it - luck at running into these things. Chances are, he'll find the actual hideout and give us the info so we can actually plan a proper raid. Eraserhead has never run into a situation head on if he knew he couldn't fight his way out of it."

'But that's changed, hasn't it, Namoasa?' He thought, recalling the state he'd found the smaller man in at USJ. Even if it weren't for the Nomu, Eraserhead could have fallen to the many villains all over the place. The ones at the central plaza hadn't been the only ones there, after all. Eraser had simply faced a good bulk of them all on his own and he'd nearly died for it. Eraserhead had jumped into that fight without hesitation, simply to ensure twenty children would be able to evacuate. 'And he'd do it again in a heartbeat, if the way he talks about them is anything to go by.'

Those kids and Eraserhead shared some sort of connection now and neither side is willing to let go.

Only Eraserhead would let his end go if it meant saving the kids.

Toshinori could only hope it will never come to that.

The kids of 1-A would never forgive them, any of them, for it. Not even All Might.

"I guess we'll be on standby if he needs assistance," he said instead of revealing all of that because he had the feeling Eraser wouldn't want such an obvious weakness to be exposed. "What are you going to do about your Aizawa investigation? I mean, it seems like things are getting a bit ... hectic, where Eraser and All For One are involved and there was also that Stain incident. Will you really have the time to devote to another such big investigation?"

"I'll find time. We'll find Aizawa Shouta no matter what, All Might!" Naomasa said with conviction and Toshinori couldn't help but get excited and smile, too.

"Sounds like a plan, my man!"

They talked for a short while longer before hanging up, leaving Toshinori alone with his thoughts. He should seriously be doing some school-related work - the finals were coming up, starting in only one week - but he just knew he wouldn't be able to focus at all. Not with all the thoughts swirling around in his head and UA's teachers lounge is definitely not the place to be thinking about this the way it deserves. 'Maybe a walk will help clear my head.'

The one thing he could appreciate about his true form, so skinny and sickly-looking, is that no one recognizes him as All Might and that, as such, gives him anonymity and peace to go about his day like any other normal person instead of being surrounded by a horde of paparazzi or fans. Besides, he has to save up his time for teaching these days. Hero work was reserved only for the weekend and the days he didn't have any classes! With all the drawbacks that came from his injury and this form, it still somehow had this one good thing to it.

He wasn't sure how long he even walked around like that, but he ended up stepping out of UA's fates at some point and just wandered around the streets surrounding the campus for a while. At one point, he saw a couple of kitties rushing into a alleyway that was already very noisy with the sounds of other cats and he got curious. Was some kind old lady feeding the animals? Maybe she needed help!

Unable to repress his own curiosity, (Sm)All Might peered into the alleyway to find it, indeed, full of cats and at least ten cans of cat food strewn all around. Bowls of water, vitamins, wet wipes, brushes and flea collars, both old and new, were also in the mix of felines - of all shapes, ages and sizes - but at the center of it all was a person who seemed to be struggling with petting the cats weaving around their feet while also at the same time wiping a kitten of cracked mud and filling hard, dry food into other bowls that the cats can eat at a later date.

And that person was no little old lady.

Messy black hair up in an artfully messy bun at the back of his head that kittens swiped at, pale skin only slightly smudged from a calico trying to bury its face into his, a short stubble decorating jaws, chins and upper lips and a pair of tired eyes he'd recognize anywhere at this point. He nearly hacked up his good lung when the young man looked up at him from his crouching position surrounded by cats. They were so black, a little bloodshot with dark bags underneath.

The man was no doubt in his late twenties to early thirties, dressed in a simple black shirt - long-sleeved with a shallow V cut - and snug dark denim pants and a pair of black boots, but Toshinori would recognize the supposedly missing and/or dead Aizawa Shouta anywhere after studying his last taken picture - from the Sports Festival fifteen years ago - for an hour and trying to picture that young man wearing yellow goggles, all black clothing and a white scarf-like weapon. He tried to say something - anything - maybe even hack up some blood, but he couldn't seem to make his mouth move.

And then a deep baritone reached his ears.

"All Might-san."

(Yagi Toshinori nearly hacked up his lung.)

Chapter Text

"I-I'm not-" He tried to deny in a panic, for the moment forgetting that this might really be Aizawa Shouta and focusing on keeping his most important secret, well, secret, but the tired-looking younger man just waved him off.

"Don't bother to deny it. I can see Quirks and yours is very recognizable, All Might-san. To try to deny what is obvious would be an insult to both of our intelligence and I would rather not be indirectly insulted." That shut him up with only a stammered apology leaving his lips. They stayed - awkwardly, in his opinion, quiet - for a few moments longer before the maybe-Aizawa-kun sighed exasperatedly as he finished putting on a flea collar on the kitten he'd been tending to, putting it down next to an open can of food for kittens. "You don't need to worry. I've never ratted out a Pro's secret identity before and I won't start now. You have my word."

"I, uh, thank you!" He said with a hasty bow and the dark haired man hummed.

When Toshinori stayed at the mouth of the alley even after that, the man looked up again. "Do you need something?" He asked with an arched brow and Toshinori felt sweat starting to bead at his forehead.

Should he confront the man? Ask him if he was the kid missing for fifteen years? Ask why he'd never come back? Should he try to gain his trust first and then have him meet Tsukauchi so that the human lie detector can properly question him about his disappearance? Should he ask him if Aizawa Ashou is his father? But that would be a weird question without first finding out if his name was actually Aizawa at all! Or if he's actually Aizawa Shouta.

The records, for one, never said anything about Aizawa Shouta being able to see Quirks!

Nor had the surly fifteen year old looked so handsome in his picture.

Then again, that might be human decency preventing him from having inappropriate thoughts about someone so young or it could be the bruises and grime from the Sports Festival.

"I, uh ... Do you need a hand, perhaps? It seems that you have a lot of cats to deal with ... " He ended up saying, even trailing off at the end when the other fine eyebrow arched to join the first. Okay, wow, he'd never been this awkward in his life! He could actually sympathize with Midoriya-shounen when he suddenly met a new Hero and started nerding out!

"Sure," the man surprised him by agreeing, gesturing to the brush and the many, many unkempt stray cats that were obviously in need of some good, proper grooming. "Just leave the injured ones alone, for now. I have bandages and medicine for them and they usually take longer with food or water. Be careful not to press too hard, spend about five minutes on each one and try not to get the flea collar off. Once it's undone, there's no putting it back and I've only brought so many with me."

"Right," the taller male replied as he searched for a good place to sit down so he can begin with his assigned task. The stranger was kind enough to offer him a crate from ... somewhere behind him, though Toshinori had not spotted it before the maybe-Aizawa-kun had grabbed it and dragged it over. Some of the cats expressed their displeasure at all the jostling and moving this resulted in but settled down once the stranger gave them a few pets and picked up another kitten - this one truly small, practically fitting in only one of his new companion's hands - to wipe down any dirt it may have accumulated. Once he'd settled down, Toshinori picked up the brush and carefully picked up one of the friendlier cats that had come over to sniff at his leg before rubbing against it. "So, uh ... Come here often?" He winced at his own words and even got what seemed to be a reprimanding claw to the backside by a very curious older kitten.

He tried not to let the ground swallow him whole when maybe-Aizawa-kun looked up from his task once more. "... I honestly can't tell if you're trying to flirt with me or not."

The Number One Hero went red as a strawberry at that. "Uh, no! That's not what I- Shit!" He cursed as he started coughing, though thankfully there was no blood. Yet, anyway.

"Shit, are you allergic? You better not be allergic! I'm not going to have All Might's death on my hands!" The stranger made a move to sit up and move over to check on him but Yagi just waved him off.

"I'm fine. It's, uh, a condition. A result of an injury from a long time ago that acts up every now and then. Today's just a bad day for me," he lied effortlessly, even going as far as flashing a smile at the stranger, who only looked skeptical.

"You're really not used to people knowing your secret, right?"

"Huh?" He intoned, smile slipping in his confusion.

Dark eyes rolled. "I see you, All Might-san. Not that buff front you show to the cameras. You as you really are. That's how this conversation started, remember?"

"... Right," the blond muttered weakly, blushing even more as he realized the stranger was right. He'd just naturally slipped into 'dealing with reporters mode' and gone straight for an outright lie. A lie that was not appreciated, if the look in the younger male's eyes was anything to go by.

"I don't know what happened to you or why your Quirk seems to be considerably weaker than the last time I saw you in person-"

"And when might that have been?" Surely this person hadn't known about his current condition of slowly losing even the embers of One For All since it began!

"I think it was ... five months ago? Sounds about right," the stranger nodded to himself and Toshinori nearly sagged in relief. The stranger was only now learning that All Might soon won't be able to be All Might. He seems to be taking it well enough. Most civilians would be panicked at the thought of losing their Symbol of Peace. But, then again, this young man claims to see Quirks, which meant that he appreciated people all the more for it, beyond their Quirks. Maybe. On the other hand, maybe he just didn't care. People like that exist, after all. "Anyway, my point is: there's no use in trying to really hide from me or lie to me. I can easily tell you're not exactly well so save the energy you'd use for lying to actually groom the cats, if you still want to, that is."

"Right!"

They worked in an almost comfortable silence after that. Maybe-Aizawa-kun seemed perfectly content to ignore his overall existence, or maybe the cats were simply more interesting than a deflated Symbol of Peace. Toshinori at one point wondered if this man would have acted differently if All Might was sitting here with cats roving around and over his feet, but then maybe-Aizawa-kun handed over one of the kittens he'd been tending and the little creature let out such a heart wrenching meow that Yagi forgot about everything else but doting on the cute fuzzball.

And it seemed petting and grooming cats was quite relaxing.

"I'll have to find a home for those kittens," the man with black hair eventually said, though it could have been to Yagi as much as it could have been to himself. "They're too young to be on the streets like this. They are too young to hunt, a dag could easily catch them and they're obviously not knowledgeable in avoiding moving cars. I'll walk by a middle school or something. Kids love taking kittens home."

"Why not take them yourself, until they're fully grown?"

"To, what? Toss them back out on the street?" The man sneered, clearly disgusted by the mere suggestion of such an idea. "Besides, my landlady is allergic. I think she apologized seven times the first time I expressed an interest in taking in a stray. Thankfully, I've found a home for that little one. Hopefully, these ones will get the same happy ending."

"If you don't have that much luck, I can always arrange for something," he offered, knowing that if All Might ever expressed a desire to find a forever home for kittens, his fans would all but fight for the cats. Fans were weird like that.

"I'd appreciate it," the man told him softly and he couldn't help but smile at the stranger. This caused the other to flush and look away, focusing on the next cat in his hands. A real warrior, that one. It had many patches of fur missing and a big gash on its back. It looked like it had fallen through a treetop and still landed on its feet relatively hale and whole. The stranger's hands were careful and gentle as he cleaned the wound and then wrapped it up. It, apparently, didn't need any stitches. The one that came after it, a really old tabby, wasn't as lucky but the maybe-Aizawa-kun seemed to be well equipped and skilled enough to handle what looked like a nasty dog bite that had nearly taken a piece of the cat's hide out. How the cat had gotten out of that one must be one hell of a tale, if only the cat could share it. Perhaps if they had Officer Sansa with them! "You know, I've always figured you'd be more of a dog person."

Now that amused Toshinori. "How do you know I'm not a parrot person? It's not always cats and dogs."

The younger snorted at that, not at all impressed. "It's always cats and dogs. Even people who don't like animals have some sort of preference, even if it's just which one they dislike less. And a parrot? Seriously?"

"What! I could have a parrot!"

"What, a cockatoo?"

"You have something against cockatoos?"

"Against one in particular, sort of. Too damn loud."

The blond could only chuckle at that as the stranger grumbled while expertly giving the cat three stitches. The cat had no problem in letting the man work on it and it occurred to Toshinori that this guy probably did this regularly. "Are you a vet or something? You seem to really know your stuff," he said with a nod towards where he was now bandaging the cat when those dark, bloodshot eyes looked up at him again.

The younger, however, surprised him by shaking his head. "I'm actually just a private graphic designer - you know blogs, web pages and the such - who dabbles in Quirk Theory - comes useful when combined with my Quirk - and occasionally volunteers at the local rescue shelter. I'm a fast learner so one of the vets showed me basic care for injuries. I picked it up quickly enough so I sometimes even help in easier medical procedures so the vets can tackle the big stuff. And I'm pretty good with cats. These guys, especially, are so compliant because I've been feeding them for months since I moved to Musutafu."

"Oh, you're new to the town!" Really, this stranger seemed full of surprises. "Wait, you said you 'dabble in Quirk Theory'; what does that mean?"

The man didn't answer until he made sure that the bandaging was secure and then gave the cat what appeared to be an antibiotic of some sort, probably to ensure nothing gets infected. He only answered once he'd turned to the next cat. "Got interested in it a few years ago. Applied for college classes one summer on a whim, mostly. I had noticed something interesting due to my Quirk and needed scientific sources to try and put it into words. Ended up being convinced to write a whole paper on it. I'm majoring in it. Should be done this year."

"You do know using your Quirk in public without a license is illegal, right? And, no offense, but it kind of sounds like you've had a late start," he said carefully but the man just laughed.

"Yeah. Told you it was on a whim. As for my Quirk, well, it's in a constant state of activation, so I can't not use it even if I wanted to."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"But how does one end up interested in Quirk Theory on a whim!?" He couldn't help but ask incredulously even as he carefully moved on to one of the injured cats his companion had just treated. They eyed him suspiciously but obviously detected no ill intent - as there wasn't any; Toshinori liked animals, though it is true that he is usually more of a dog person - and let themselves be pampered.

Quirk Theory was harder to finish than medicine or law school these days! All sorts of Quirks kept popping up left and right, gene mutations happened more and more, creating completely new, unrelated Quirks to the child's parents. Or Quirks skipped several generations altogether before re-manifesting again in a great grandchild. And the way certain Quirks acted, their limits and the ways they might impact the user's body could be near unpredictable!

Quirk Specialists need to finish both medicine and Quirk Theory if they want a license to work. They were one of the rarest occupations in the world. As rare as leaders of state!

"Not sure," the black haired man replied with a shrug as he picked up a kitten with what seemed to be either a broken or a sprained paw. "Was in a bookstore. Saw an interesting caption. And it was on sale. I guess that's what got me interested. What about you?"

"What about me?" He asked back in confusion, looking up from his careful grooming of the injured cat to the 'vet'.

"How did you decide you wanted to be a Hero? Or, well, I guess I am more interested in how you've decided to become the Symbol of Peace. Where did that idea come from?" The maube-Aizawa-kun asked, looking up from his own work to regard him with steady eyes. It was only then that Toshinori noticed a healed, crescent scar marring the skin under his companion's right eye. He wondered how he got such an injury before reminding himself that he had been asked a question.

And not just any question, but the Question, with a capital Q.

"I've always wanted to help people, so my reasons for becoming a Hero were nothing special, nothing new. Nothing the world hasn't heard before a million times. Becoming the Symbol of Peace, though, has been my goal from the beginning." He found that he had the other's rapt attention focused on him. The kitten in his lap didn't seem to mind that its treatment was being delayed, since the younger man was scratching it between its ears. "There were already plenty of splendid Heroes fighting the good fight, keeping people safe and evil at bay, but the people still didn't feel safe. They went to sleep every night fearing they will be taken from or murdered within their own homes, that their children will never return from school one day. They watched all these Heroes fight day and night and yet they had no hope that they will ever see true peace. So I decided that I'll be a pillar of strength and hope. I'll hold the whole society on my shoulders if I need to. I will become their symbol, something and someone they can believe in, that they can turn to when it all looks like it's been lost to the darkness."

He had to look away from his audience of one as he recalled one of his first ever conversations with Nana.

Why was he telling all of this to a complete stranger?

He really shouldn't.

And yet it kept coming.

"Sounds pretty insane, right? Don't worry, it wouldn't be the first time I've heard it. My old master, Nana ... She told me that she thought it was crazy the first time I've revealed my dream to her, but she'd then helped me build it, make it a reality."

"I don't think it's crazy at all." That, though, surprised him enough to make him turn back around to look at his companion. The younger man had a faraway look in his eyes and he'd stopped petting the kitten, though the little one seems to have fallen asleep a long time ago so didn't mind in the least. Probably wasn't even aware of it. "It's a noble cause. A bit unreachable to anyone else, maybe, but not everyone has your drive, All Might-san. Not everyone can be a Hero like you, can handle the pressure of so many expectations. You've been prepared for this from the beginning, if your words are true. No one else would be able to carry this burden."

"It is a torch that must be passed down to the next generation if it is to have any meaning." Like the sacrifices of every precious One For All user. Like the Quirk itself. All Might might be the Symbol of Peace, but he is, first and foremost, Yagi Toshinori, the Eight holder of One For All, Shimura Nana's successor and Midoriya Izuku's predecessor. He continued the line and he'd passed down the torch, though he refused to pass on the responsibility that came with bearing that Quirk.

He will be the one to deal with All For Once once and for all when he is found. The fiend won't stay in hiding for long. There is no way he has any more time left with his own injuries than Toshinori does. They will both make one final stance against each other, but All Might has a successor. Deku will continue bringing the world peace once All Might is gone.

All For One, he can only hope, has never thought of having one himself.

Though Shigaraki Tomura's role in the League of Villains' leadership is suspicious.

"Then make sure the next generation is ready. Don't go getting yourself killed; you still need to teach them," the shorter man said firmly and Toshinori blinked, focusing back on the present.

And on the fact that he had just had such a conversation with a man whose name he didn't even know. How could he do that?

Then again, hadn't he been the same with Eraserhead? And on a pretty similar subject?

He even got similar advice, too!

Then again ... He almost felt like he was talking with the Vigilante again ...

This young man seems to be giving off the same confident air as Eraserhead, a vibe that tells you he is intelligent and capable and trustworthy. And Toshinori could already tell that he is so very kind, if he finds the time in his pretty much overly busy schedule to come here and take care of all these cats. If only he could see how the man was with kids, then he could really compare him with Eraser.

'Stop it, Toshinori,' he scolded himself. 'You're jumping at shadows. This young man could be neither Aizawa Shouta nor Eraserhead. Don't jump to conclusions just because you don't get out all that much anymore! For all you know, there are a lot of young people who act like Eraserhead! And no way would someone as intelligent as Aizawa-kun leave himself virtually unchanged if he's indeed trying to hide the fact that he wasn't dead. Keep your overactive imagination for classes - you might actually think up of an interesting exercise! Aaand now you're talking to yourself- No, I'm talking to myself ... But who would you even talk to about this? ... I should probably stop before I develop schizophrenia.'

Luckily, that was the moment the younger man's phone rang and the black haired male put down the kitten he'd started treating while Toshinori had been lost in thought to answer it. "Hey, Ichiro, what's up?" A reply came from the other side but Toshinori couldn't make out what was being said. Whatever it was, it caused the owner of the phone to still completely. "Wait, seriously? Are you sure? Didn't we deal with those assholes already? I thought they were finally shut down for good, five years ago."

'Uh oh, it seems he's having some serious problems.'

"Fuck. Yeah, no, I'm not busy with anything, just treating the cats in central Musutafu. No, no, I'll come by. It's okay, I don't need a ride." The younger man rubbed at his forehead while something else was being said over the phone. "Yeah. Fuck, can't believe they're back at it. Why don't people learn their lessons the first ti- Was that Jiro? Did he seriously just yell 'They're back like herpes!'?"

Toshinori had to bring out a handkerchief to spew blood into it at that. Shit, but that was hilarious, despite how serious the situation sounded!

The man snorted to himself. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I'll be on my way in a minute, I just need to pack up. Don't worry about it. I'm actually glad you called me. We need to nip this in the bud. I guess I'll just have to cancel my lesson with the kid again." He snorted again. "Yeah, he's gonna be pissed with you. But, hey, just make sure you have coffee ready and the fluffiest cat at hand next time I bring him over and you're gold. Speaking of which, you may have called at the best possible time, now that I think about it. Found some kittens. Five younger and three older ones, one's got a broken paw. Would it be okay- Yes, thank you. I'll bring them with me. How are the ones that'd been put on adoption? Really? Last week? Good. Good. Yeah, if Koichi vouches for them, then they should be good. Anyway, see you in a few. What do you mean what I'm wearing? What, is there a dress code now or something?" A reply, sounds of laughter, and his companion snorts again. "I thought the expression was to 'dress to impress', not depress." More laughter.

Toshinori looked his companion up and down. The other noticed him doing it and arched an eyebrow in askance and, feeling bold for some reason, the Number One grinned at the suspicious cat-lover. "Well, with how good you look in such simple clothes, I'd have to agree with your friend. You'd dress to depress simply because of how handsome you'd look."

Unexpectedly - and delightfully - that earned him a deep red flush from his companion and more laughter from the other side of the conversation, meaning that whoever was calling had heard his comment. That almost made Toshinori blush himself but he did his best to push forth All Might's blinding smile and fake it till he makes it that he wasn't embarrassed by his own boldness. The younger man hissed at him much like a disgruntled cat at that before looking away, ears still a little red. He exchanged a few more words - most of them sounding scolding and vaguely terrifyingly threatening - before the conversation seemed to be coming to an end.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He put his phone away before Toshinori could register the call was over, then turned to packing his things away even as he spoke to him, sounding very much put together and as though the little embarrassing exchange hadn't happened at all. Impressive and a bit sad that he didn't get to tease him some more. "I have to go, something came up. You're welcome to stay as long as you want. This crate here," he patted a small black one a bit further down the short alley. "Is where you can put away the brush later. People know not to touch anything inside. If you want, you can come back whenever, even if you need to work on your flirting-"

"Hey, now! It wasn't that bad, was it?" He complained good naturally but only got a Look before the man continued what he was doing and saying as though he hadn't just dissed him.

"There's always some cats around here and I myself come when I have the time. The locals feed the cats and there should be enough food in the crate for at least a week, anyway."

The man stood up and grabbed a random box from the alley, put a blanket at the bottom and scooped up all the kittens, who only meowed at him. Then the man had a laptop bag thrown over his shoulder and bowed in farewell to All Might.

"It was a pleasure talking with you, All Might. Once again, I promise to keep your secret safe. Thank you for your assistance."

The blond couldn't help but smile warmly at the kind, polite young man. "It was my pleasure! I'm really glad that I've met you. And, honestly, this was one of the most relaxing afternoons of my life. It certainly helped me clear my head a little."

The stranger who wasn't as much of a stranger anymore rightened up, nodded and gave him a small half-smile. "I meant it when I said you can come by anytime you want."

Toshinori gave another teasing grin at that. "Now it sounds like you're flirting."

The younger glared at him even as red started creeping back into his cheeks. He turned around and left without another word, which, fair. But he didn't seem overly angry, so Yagi figured he hadn't actually offended the younger man. He stayed with the cats, chuckling to himself, until he got a worried call from Thirteen when no one could find him on campus despite the fact he was supposed to be in all day. He sighed as he waved goodbye to the cats and made his way back to UA.

On the whole way back, for once, his thoughts weren't centered around All For One, his duty as All Might, Heroics in general, teaching the students, training Midoriya-shounen, Aizawa Shouta or even Eraserhead. Instead, all he could think about is a handsome man with a very kind and caring character and when he could possibly come back to that alley again. Those kitties definitely needed more than one person's attention, after all.

And if more flirting or teasing were to happen in the process, just to see that cute blush again?

Well, that will be Toshinori's little secret.

Chapter Text

A week after meeting All Might in one of the many alleys where he took care of strays as nothing more than a nameless citizen who just happens to have a 'Quirk-seeing Quirk' and found out some idiot was trying to sell Trigger again, Aizawa Shouta received a call relatively early in the morning while he was training his newest protege.

And the kid wasn't even from 1-A, though he did attend UA. As a Gen Eds kid.

The one that managed to get into the third round of the Sports Festival.

Shinso Hitoshi.

Aizawa had honestly gone to the Sports Festival for no other reason than to make sure the students of 1-A - 'his' students, apparently, as he was their Sensei - were doing okay after the events of USJ. They were young and tenacious, but they were still kids and they were human. Trauma might take some time to settle in and he'd wanted to personally judge their mental, emotional and even physical health to assure himself that he had, indeed, done at least a good enough job to make sure they won't be scarred for life. He had been extremely pleased to see how well they were doing in general and he cheered especially hard when he saw how well they were doing in the Festival, but he had also noticed several kids from other courses that could have also had prosperous careers as Heroes. If only they had a bit more of a drive, that is.

That's how he noticed Shinso in the first place. The kid had the drive, the determination, the sheer will power to survive what the world will throw at him, but he didn't have what Shouta had when he'd been in his place.

Shinso had trained his Quirk well enough, but his physical abilities were abysmal. Shouta had quickly - and far too easily; UA should seriously do something about their cyber security - hacked into the school's system and checked out his record. Good enough first grades, he supposed, but his physical readiness was not even half of what the Hero Course demands. His entrance exam results also weren't very impressive even for people who fight without a physical Quirk with their fists. Hagakure had made it into the Hero Course and even into the better class of the two! Hell, even Mineta had managed to get in and his Quirk was far from offensive, though it can be used to lay down traps. Tripping over robots until they fell and got smashed was a pretty good tactic, though the concept of the test wasn't just to destroy the robots. In fact, it is very clearly stated that they must be 'incapacitated', which included entrapment or simply turning them off, like Hagakure had been doing by sneaking up on them from behind and finding the off switch.

(She would definitely benefit from hacking. Shouta will have to ask her if she'd consider it. He'd teach her well enough that she will be able to get in, get out and hack into any system she might come across in her Hero work.)

Shinso was exactly like Shouta, though. Shouta had had twice as many villain points and rescue points. (That he'd also had a near perfect score on the written test was irrelevant in this situation.) But Shouta had prepared. Shouta had known from when he was little that he couldn't rely on his Quirk alone. Erasure only leveled out the playing field, brought his opponents to their base level, made them fight with their bodies instead of their Quirks. Shinso had relied on Brainwashing to get him through the Sports Festival.

Had he been teamed up with a quiet type like Tokoyami or even Todoroki, it's very possible that the first match would have been over and done with even faster than it had with Midoriya as his opponent.

(Although Shouta was kind of glad that it had been Midoriya, because when the kid had been a step away from going out of bounds, something had happened and Shouta had been the only one to notice Midoriya's fingers starting to twitch and glow. He hadn't hesitated for a second to close his eyes and activate his Quirk, ignoring all the distracting lights all around him and focusing on that supernova residing within the kid. That's when he'd seen them. He'd known Midoriya's Quirk was special from the moment he'd used it at the USJ Incident, but now he could clearly see it. One For All. And all of its previous wielders, huddled in the hall behind Midoriya, watching him, over him, helping him. Mere imprints of who they used to be but with enough personality that each had had their own expression. He'd seen them, just like the last time he'd seen them, but there was a new imprint, making it eight instead of seven like it had been that night. Then Midoriya's fingers were moved and the shockwave brought him out of Shinso's trance and the kid simply pushed the purple haired boy out. Shouta had felt both proud of Midoriya and sad for Shinso. He'd wasted one of his opportunities and the next Sports Festival was only going to be more impossible to win without proper training.)

Still, the kid had talent. Potential.

Only no one saw it. It wasn't even Quirkist prejudices, as UA had none - if you don't count one asshole named Sensoji - but simply that none of them knew what to do with a kid like that. The Sports Festival had only ever had one Gen Eds winner and that had been Aizawa Shouta himself. They'd never gotten the chance what he could be, how he would train to make himself stronger, into a Hero. They had nothing to base their observation of his potential on because they weren't sure how this kid would work as a Hero.

Shouta himself could already see it, as he'd contemplated such a career for himself, once, a long time ago. Shinso, if he had the guts for it, would make a great Underground Hero. His Quirk kind of demands secrecy, though the kid was such a natural douchebag that Aizawa wouldn't be in the least surprised that he'd still be able to make people fall for his Quirk even if they knew its exact mechanics.

Still, even though Shouta had plans on making Shinso a proper Hero, Underground or whatever, he'd never expected the kid to purposefully find his way to Naruhata and wait around for him to show up. Three days in a row. He only knew it was that long, right after the Sports Festival, because he used to hang out for a couple of hours at the Hotta brother's cafe and had actually been ballsy enough to outright ask them. Civilian or Hero, by that time - USJ had made him kind of famous, after all, and the stunt he'd pulled at the Sports Festival had not been any help whatsoever - everyone should have known that no one in Naruhata was going to give away any information about Eraserhead. The Vigilantes of Naruhata were the only people on this Earth that knew Aizawa Shouta as well as Eraserhead, but they by no means knew those two were the same person. (How, to this day, Shouta will never understand. His 'disguise' didn't actually hide all that much.)

Then came 1-A and they actually know that.

And then came Shinso, who'd brazenly called a very sleep deprived Aizawa 'Eraserhead' as he was entering the Hotta's cafe and he'd actually looked towards the kid before he could realize his mistake.

Thankfully, Shinso wasn't out to get his real identity and reveal it to the world. Rather, he'd wanted Eraserhead to train him.

"I've seen footage of your fights," the purple haired boy had said, a determined gleam in his eyes. "They're considering my transfer into the Hero Course, but they're going to test me to see if I can keep up with the students of 1-A and 1-B."

"Then why ask me for help?" Aizawa had shot back as he sipped his coffee, eyes trained on the teenager sitting across from him, drinking his own cup of the nectar of gods. For insomniacs, anyway.

"Because I think your fighting style would suit me the most. And because you and I are in basically the same boat, Quirk-wise."

"I'm a Vigilante."

"You're actually a lot more respected than some Heroes."

Shouta had snorted and they'd continued drinking their beverages in silence. He could tell, at one point, that Shinso began fidgeting, for the first time openly showing how much this meant to him and not even the lazy felines surrounding him could distract or calm him.

Aizawa had simply taken out his phone and sent his standard code to the teen, watching as confusion set over his features when he checked upon hearing it ping. Aizawa finished his drink, gave one last pet to the pudgy, fluffy cat sprawled all over his lap and got up. Hands in his pockets, back turned towards the Gen Eds student, he made his way towards the bar, where he was supposed to have a word with the Hotta brothers about a bunch of kittens he'd found that might need a new home and some help in finding it.

He could practically feel Shinso's disappointment. He didn't need to see it.

He also didn't need to see his elation and excitement when he finally spoke up again.

"I'll send you a location and time. Find some gym clothes that don't shout 'UA student' and be ready. I'm not an easy teacher."

And so, here they were, Aizawa watching over Shinso building his upper body strength by climbing a rope to the top, over and over again, when his phone alerted him to a call.

From Yaoyaorozu Momo, one of his Problem Children.

Didn't they have their practicals today? Was she finished? He answered it anyway.

"Eraser speaking." Because he never knew who his students might be around. It's always a reminder to the kids that they need to be careful how they addressed him unless they were absolutely sure there was no one around them that couldn't figure out his real identity, which meant all of UA staff as they all knew who 1-A's 'Sensei' was, and the Pro Heroes they'd interned with. Probably their own parents, too.

"Sensei? This is Yaoyorozu." He was immediately tense when he heard how uncomfortable and unsure she sounded. That wasn't the Yaoyorozu he'd been acquainted with so far. Did something happen?

"Is everything alright, Yaoyorozu? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, no! I'm fine, Sensei, no need to worry, I promise!" She hastened to reassure him, but he wasn't so certain she was fine.

"You don't exactly sound like it."

A pause. The girl was clearly considering what she was going to say and what she wanted to keep to herself. Shouta waited, though he kept an eye on Shinso in case the kid lost his grip and needed rescuing. Finally, he heard 1-A's Vice-Rep take a deep breath before she spoke up again.

"We have the practical exam today," she started and the Vigilante hummed to let her know he's listening. "We were supposed to fight robots, but the Principal decided to change the test at the last second. So we're fighting against teachers instead. In pairs. I got paired up with Todoroki-san." Well, shit. The two students who got in through recommendations? That had to be intentional. Though whether it was because it was well thought-out or just because, he couldn't tell until he learned who made up the pairs in the first place.

Sure, if Aizawa had been their actual teacher, he'd probably do the same, but he had a strong, good reason. Just based on this conversation with Yaoyorozu, he could see that her confidence was shaken, probably due to the Sports Festival. She'd been taken out in the first match by Tokoyami because she couldn't decide on a game plan fast enough while Todoroki, for better or worse, didn't hesitate much and had made it all the way to second place. Had received the most offers for internships too, according to what the little gremlins told him when he'd visited them during said internships.

Shouta would put those two together to teach Todoroki about what it takes to be a Hero besides brute strength - cooperation, planning, caution - and to teach Yaoyorozu to rely on herself, to trust in her own judgment. She was a smart girl, the best student of 1-A academically speaking. Her Quirk demanded that she keep studying. She was in relatively good physical condition, though she should probably work more on speed at the very least.

But she had a problem similar to Shouta's at around her age.

She overthinks.

Shouta had needed a good friend - from the Hero Course, a classmate, perhaps, in another life - to tell him he could do anything he put his mind to. Shouta had needed a desperate situation to force himself to believe it and to realize said friend had been right. (He tried not to think of clouds and laughter and kind eyes and friendly smiles, a shoulder to lean on should he ever need it. Not of falling debris, collapsing buildings, a behemoth looming over him, children crying, dust and blood and sirens in the distance, no Heroes around; just him. He couldn't afford to be lost in those memories. One of his students - even if they're not really his students - needed him.)

He wouldn't want Yaoyorozu to go through the same thing. He'd want to be the one to teach her that in a safe environment, because her future career and life might depend on it.

Surely whoever was pitched against them could do it instead? Midnight, maybe? If it's Nemuri, he can call her right now and-

"Against Sensoji-sensei."

And fuck his life.

He groaned out loud, not caring if either of his 'students' heard him, because Sensoji would only make the situation worse. Shouta remembered him, back during his only Sports Festival. He knew his stance on non-offensive Quirks and he'd taken great pleasure out of knocking him out for it, back then. (Or any other time he was unlucky enough to run into him while out on the job.) It didn't even matter that Mister Blaster was very Anti-Vigilante. Even if he wasn't, Shouta wouldn't trust him with something so delicate. The guy was all brawn, no brain, though he didn't have much brawn either.

"Sensei?"

"Sorry," he mumbled when her uncertain voice came over the phone again. "That's just my instinctual reaction to the mere mention of that man. Is there any particular problem about this? I mean, did either of them say something to offend or hurt you?" Unlikely in Todoroki's case, but he wouldn't put it past that bumbling, arrogant, explosive fool.

"No, Sensei, it's not like that. It's just ... I'm not sure I can do this."

Ah, there it is. Well, if she's going to outright say it, then Shouta can move right in and fix that. "And why is that?"

"Well, Todoroki-san and I started out our year here at UA the same, but he's so much better than me. It's not even been three whole months and the difference in our power is so obvious-"

"Let me stop you right there, Yaoyorozu." Normally, Shouta would listen her out till the end, but there were just a few things he couldn't let slide. "First off, your Quirks are completely different in nature. Todoroki has a composite Quirk that affords him both offense and defense. You, on the other hand, have a manifestation-type Quirk. Your Quirk's strengths aren't the same as an offensive Quirk's. Todoroki packs destructive power, while you have variability. If the two were to be compared from a specialist's point of view, however, your Quirk would be deemed more powerful, both at the beginning of your training in the Hero Course and today. Second, you actually have much better control over your Quirk than Todoroki does, since he hadn't been training his hot side for most of his life. It's stunted the Quirk's growth and development and will need serious training to make it as strong as his cold side. Third, just how is Todoroki better than you? In my humble opinion, you too have improved greatly, at about the same pace. At least from what I've seen."

"Todoroki-san is braver than me-"

"Oh? Did you run away from the villains attacking you and your classmates during the USJ Incident? Because I am pretty sure I remember Jirou and Kaminari complementing your quick thinking and bravery during the fight."

"He has more experience-"

"He'd interned and lived with the current Number Two Hero, Yaoyorozu. He'd been exposed to Heroism longer than you, even if he hadn't participated. And Heroes with kids usually train said kids, either as self-defense should an enemy target them to get at the Hero or because they expect them to follow in their footsteps. You've decided to be a Hero all on your own, the first of the Yaoyorozu to do so, right?"

"Well, yes-"

"And if we're going to combine your two examples of why Todoroki is 'better' than you, then you should really learn to look at it as it is. Todoroki doesn't hesitate. He just throws himself headfirst into danger, usually without a solid plan in place. Or, if he has a plan, he doesn't have much of a backup. The Stain incident is proof of that. He came to help with only a location told to Endeavor as a reassurance that experienced Heroes would be there to-" And here he had to take a deep breath so he could actually tell this lie. "-save them from the Hero Killer. He could have died. You are a bit slower to react, that's all, but that's because you overthink."

"But didn't you just say that one needed a good, solid plan before taking action?" The girl asked and Aizawa could just picture her fiddling with the phone in her hand or even biting her lip uncertainly for questioning him.

Aizawa was actually pleased that she'd dared to do that, as it meant not all of her confidence had been trampled over by her insecurities. He dreaded to think what would have happened had he not made Uwabami take her and that orange haired girl from 1-B to do actual Hero work instead of acting like celebrities. Yaoyorozu's confidence would be almost entirely destroyed. If she's willing to question him, then she'll make Todoroki actually discuss a plan together instead of letting the boy run around doing all the work.

"That's true, yes, but you're not focusing on the right wording. I said overthink. Thinking through a plan is necessary, even if it's a plan you make on the fly, but overthinking things makes you hesitate. Makes you trip yourself up and set yourself up for failure from the get go. You can't do proper Hero work like that, Yaoyorozu. You have to be confident in yourself and the decisions you make. You're a smart, strong girl. One of the most competent kids I've ever met. Just because you had a streak of not ideal luck doesn't mean you're not Hero material. Take it from someone who'd seen dozens of Heroes blunder dozens of times, over the years. And remember: you shouldn't compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own way of doing things and yours is not wrong. You just need to be more confident and- Are you crying?" He cut off, alarmed, when he heard hitched breathing and what sounded like a barely suppressed sob. "I-I didn't mean to upset you." Fuck.

"T-thank you, Sensei," Yaoyorozu said before the man could apologize further. Her voice was thick with tears, but even then he could hear a smile was stretched across her lips. "T-that's ex-actly what I n-needed to h-hear." And she was still crying but Aizawa could now, at least, be sure that she wasn't upset anymore. He sighed in quiet relief. These kids are going to be the death of him. "I-I need to go now, S-Sensei. Todoroki-san and I will be sure to update you on how we did."

"Sure, kid. Just a piece of advice?"

"Yes, Sensei?"

He grinned in a way Shinso had told him was terrifying. "Hit him where it hurts."

"Yes, Sensei!"

He snorted and ended the call. By this time, Shinso was climbing down, so he decided it would be a good time to have a break. "Here," he called out, tossing a water bottle towards his new ... apprentice, he guessed could be the title Shinso held. The purple haired boy caught the bottle, his reflexes having improved somewhat since they'd started a little less than two months ago. "Catch your breath. You're doing good so far, but don't overdo it. If you feel like you're straining yourself, just tell me and we'll move on to a different exercise. There's no point in going over your breaking point."

"I thought you said the point was to take me to my limit, Plus Ultra?"

Shouta huffed at the teen. What is it with these kids and hearing only parts of his advice and/or instructions? They're going to give him gray hairs, he swears. "I said to your limit, not break through it. Besides, limit and breaking point are two very different things and there's a load of difference between those two points. If you go beyond your breaking point, you're just going to hurt yourself and possibly undo all that you've accomplished so far. Muscles can take only so much strain. They need rest to grow, too. And we don't want to stunt your growth, either. You're tall for a kid your age, but you still have a long way to go. Overworking yourself will only negatively affect your health."

"Says the man that hasn't had a decent night of sleep in a week, lives off of coffee and jelly pouches and works night and day, be it on the streets or behind your screens." Those violet eyes regarded him suspiciously. "Did you actually get any sleep in the past seven days, Sensei? How are you even functional? How do you even have time to train me every other day? I swear you're pulling more hours than there are in a day."

Shouta frowned at Hitoshi, not liking being called out. "A nap two days ago, about three hours. I'm an adult. By drinking a lot of coffee and occasionally eating a big protein bar. Didn't you know? I'm magical. And this is seriously important." Shouta hated Trigger. Not only was it illegal but highly available, it was also a gamble of luck because the dealers sold both a safe and unsafe version of the Quirk-enhancing drug and you never know which one you got until you come down from the high - either dead or alive. Or, occasionally, just Quirk-crippled for life. It had taken him, the Vigilantes of Naruhata, the police and Fat Gum a lot of effort and about a year of non-stop investigation before they finally took the ring down and yet someone was, once again, going around selling the drug. The Hotta brothers used to be dealers before they met Eraserhead. Now, they were his confidants and partners in taking down any drug rings that might spring up in Naruhata or the surrounding wards. Drugs are an evil they can never fully vanquish, but cutting them off in the bud prevented the development of serious cartels. It was nothing new, honestly, but what worried Shouta this time more than any of the other attempts to start a drug ring in Naruhata was that it was Trigger and that the main dealers, so far, have turned out to have a connection with the Shie Hassaikai, an old yakuza.

Yakuza were extremely rare these days. Organized crime was, in general. Wherein, once, the mafia was the strongest underworld organization that could pluck strings all over the world, had thousands of devoted followers and connections and power between politicians, businessmen, military and police as well as among criminals, today they were practically extinct, or edging it. That's why they tended to stick to a code of 'honor', which differed from the region they used now. In China, for example, selling weapons is unacceptable while America does that and drugs. Latinoamerica still preferred human trafficking and Vietnam's famous for their sex brothels. In Japan, however, the yakuza have sworn off of drugs on the pain of death, the Shie Hassaikai especially.

And yet rumor has it that they're not only dealing in Trigger now, they're also, apparently, trying to create a new Quirk-cancelling drug. The test runs they're selling now are effective for only a few hours, which can be devastating enough if a Hero is hit on the job, but the end result is something that permanently destroys the very Quirk factor carried in DNA. The inspiration? All For One's ability to take away Quirks and Eraserhead's fighting style. They're, apparently, trying to figure out 'what he is using' to stop people's Quirks from working. They didn't know it was his Quirk and not a drug or a machine and he'd prefer it to stay that way, but regardless, the reason why this was taking place as his top priority is because he'd, inevitably, been the inspiration.

He'd managed to get a sample from one of the dealers he'd caught red handed and had begged the Detective investigating the yakuza to send the bullet-like injection for testing and he's still waiting for the results. He has no doubt that they won't inform him - it's not Tsukauchi or Tsuragamae; what's worse, this guy's used to working with Sir Nighteye and that guy doesn't like Eraserhead in the least - but that's not exactly going to prevent him from seeing the results. The police are a piece of cake to hack.

Now, it's the waiting game and all Shouta can do is indulge it. Thankfully, he has things that will keep his mind off of it, for the moment, at least. Like training too curious, too mouthy Gen Eds students who remind him all too much of himself and no, it's not just the perpetually tired look in his eyes. Shinso had been given as little of a chance as he himself had, but Shouta had managed to fight for his place in the Hero Course by himself, even though he'd never gotten to actually attend it. Shinso was being given another chance to prove his worth but he needed help. Help no one at UA, apparently, knew quite how to provide, so the kid had sought him out.

Shouta was tempted to tell the kid about his own experiences but figured it would be more like rubbing salt in a wound than actually motivational. And it might even get the wrong message across. Shouta had, after all, in the end decided to throw away his hard earned chance to become a Hero and instead settled for being a Vigilante. He didn't want Shinso to go down that path. He wasn't like Shouta. He hadn't been on the run since he was five turning six. He wouldn't have the money to support such a lifestyle. Shouta had no actual job under his belt, not for a lack of trying but because he couldn't imagine himself being anything but what he is now. He's sustaining himself purely on the money he'd cleared from his old mentor's account.

Aizawa Ashou, or Hal as most of the world may know him, had been an incredible hacker and had robbed many people blind in a matter of seconds. With a Quirk that amounted to being technopacy - though he couldn't control machines, just coding in programs - there was literally nothing and no one that could stop him, until he felt sorry for a street urchin, took him in and taught him his ways. Shouta never felt guilty for reporting the man in and he knew Ashou would never feel betrayed or hateful towards him. Ashou had known of his desire and determination to become a Hero since day one and had even been supportive. Said Shouta was the one Hero he wouldn't mind being arrested by. Shouta often felt like he'd let the man down by becoming a Vigilante, but Ashou had always been such a carefree guy that he didn't doubt the man would still be proud of him anyway.

Ashou had only cared about Shouta sharpening his computer skills and Shouta was just glad that the man had been so insistent and throughout in his teachings. Especially as it meant Shouta got access to Ashou's account and rained it of all the money. It would just go back to the state where politicians can then use it for their own goals. As it was, Shouta was so filthy rich that he could make a whole damn lake of cash and he didn't even use much of it. In fact, if he were to stop donating to orphanages, child medical facilities, schools, programs to help the homeless, libraries and just about any charity he could find, Shouta would have enough money to sustain his current lifestyle at least fifty times over.

If he were indeed an ambitious evil mastermind, Shouta had enough finances to probably go up against the biggest villain of all time. And he'd win, too, but that's not what's important here.

Hal had been one of the richest people in the world, no matter how dirty the money was since it was all stolen, and yet he had lived a relatively simple, humble life.

Hal had also not liked kids but, apparently, he saw something in Shouta that made him take him in. They'd met when he was eight, when Ashou had bought the little street urchin lurking in front of a bakery some of the goods and left him a handful of cash that would sustain him at least for a week if he used it wisely. That could have been that, had Ashou not literally been cornered by a group of thugs just around the corner because he was 'taking too long to fulfill his end of the deal' and their boss got twitchy about it. Ashou was a hacker. He'd never once had to fight in his life, so there was no way he could have resisted. They'd grabbed him, using their Quirks, and tried to drag him away but suddenly found they couldn't.

They then found themselves knocked out by an eight year old with a dirty plank of wood he'd picked up from the garbage cans nearby in his hands, eyes blazing red and hair waving up over his head. It had been the least he could do after the man had shown him such kindness, after all.

Hal had snatched him up and powerwalked them to his home and let him stay the night to repay him for saving his life, but somewhere between making them actual lunch and Shouta asking questions about a text he was reading from Ashou's coding books, the hacker had decided he'd let him stay. A week later, he'd even decided to teach him how to use computers and it became a downward spiral from there, right into the hacker rabbit hole.

He ended up staying with the infamous cyber criminal for two years, learning all of his tricks until Shouta could easily be called the second best hacker in the world, second only to Hal and his technopacy-like Quirk. Hal had even helped Shouta create a new identity for himself, gave him his own surname so Shouta would actually be someone instead of a no-name kid. He owed a lot to Hal, but he'll be first to admit that he'd never seen the man as family.

Shouta didn't even know what family is, so it's not for a lack of liking the man or vice versa. In fact, he knows Hal looked at him as much of a son as Kronos-sensei did. Shouta does his best to stay in some form of contact with Ashou, the least he could do for the man that had saved him from the government. Shouta would have been like Hawks had Ashou not taken him off the streets when he had, just a puppet on the Hero Commission's strings, or would be dead by now, probably. Ashoua, unknowingly or not, has been protecting him for years just by creating a fake identity for him, by keeping him off the street.

Ashou certainly enjoyed the messages Shouta sent to him in Tartarus. A bit of an extreme measure for a mere hacker - Ashou had never even hurt a person - and ultimately useless, should they ever let the man escape their sight for one second. Shouta could hack into Tartarus since he was ten and he didn't have Techopacy. Ashou, if he knew how to disguise himself or if he decided to wreck hitherto unheard of chaos, could get out of there by simply hacking into Tartarus' systems. It would probably set the other prisoners free, too, most of whom had been robbed by him at some point, no doubt, but Hal could do it even without that drawback. He wasn't the best hacker for nothing.

Shinso didn't have that kind of background or skill to fall back on, not like Shouta did. He had always been just a regular kid with a pretty useful - or villainous, if you're an asshole Quirkist - Quirk. He didn't have that ingrained instinct to fight, he had to learn it. And Aizawa will teach him to the best of his abilities.

Just as he was about to tell Shinso that they can get back to training if he had no more nonsensical questions, his phone beeped, signaling a message had arrived. He frowned as he pulled it out, wondering who could it be this time, only to be even more surprised when he saw it was a message from the police. Opening it, he felt himself tense when he saw it was actually the results of the bullet-injection he'd sent, as of now dubbed Deleater Shot, apparently.

And as he read through the analysis, he felt his blood grow ice cold.

"Sensei?" He vaguely heard Shinso call but he couldn't focus on that. No, all he could focus on was the 'found traces of blood in the sample' part of the report that he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of.

Shie Hassaikai wasn't just selling and making dangerous Quirk-affecting drugs. They were making them through human experimentation, by apparently taking the blood from a living breathing human being. Someone who had a Quirk even remotely similar to Erasure. And Shouta had very little doubt that the person was in their hands willingly. The amount of blood that would be needed just to make test shots, let alone a proper finished product ...

"I need to go. I'll probably be on radio silence for the next week or so, so don't freak out," he said quickly so Shinso can't protest or question him. "Keep doing the basic exercises I've shown you and work on your stamina. See you in a week."

"Sensei-"

"This is important, Hitoshi," he cut him off, making the boy pause because Shouta didn't actually use his name lightly. "Someone out there is doing something that could affect the world as a whole and I need to stop it now, before it spreads and it's too late. I'll be back, so just ... Wait for me? Okay?"

"Yeah," the boy said with some hesitation but nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll wait. You just be careful, alright? You have students now, you know. You can't just ... leave us hanging."

"Don't plan on it, kid," was his parting words before he took off, springing into the nearest alleyway and easily scaling the building even without the help of his capture weapon, which he is yet to take out of his bag. He's good at parkour, so he doesn't need it in this part of town, where the buildings weren't too high and were mostly the same height.

He needed to get back home, to his computer, where he can start tracking the Shie Hassaikai, find plans of their base, learn their schedules and routines and plan the best possible raid without involving the police because, weakened and near extinct or not, the yakuza always had a way of getting moles in the police force and this was simply not something Aizawa could risk or just leave to the Heroes.

Not that he needs them. Not for this, no matter how many cronies they might try sending his way. This was actually just up his alley.

If they want to play with erasing Quirks, then he'll gladly show them just what Erasure can do.

Chapter Text

Summer break had started for UA students and staff but the Hero Course always had some extra activities or chaos going on. Shouta knew this from past experiences shared with him by Midnight and Mic, but he had thought that he'd be too busy this year for such nonsense.

After all, he had informed the Hero fledglings that he'd be extremely busy and that they really shouldn't call on him unless it was a dire emergency.

So he was just a little bit annoyed when he got a call from Kaminari the literal night before he was going to enact his plan to raid the Shie Hassaikai hideout, reviewing his plan and making contingencies for various situations that could go wrong. He contemplated, for just a second, not answering at all but then sighed and put the phone to his ear. "Eraserhead."

"Aizawa-sensei-" He nearly reprimanded the boy for saying his name at all, especially with that moniker added on, but the electric blond was speaking again before he could get another word in. "You said you know how to hack, right? I mean, you helped me out during my internship, remember?"

"... What is this about, Kaminari? Are you in trouble? Where are you?" Fuck the raid, if one of his kids needed him now, he'll just postpone it for a few days until the next perfect opportunity arises. Ongoing crisis above future ones and all that. Besides, the Shie Hassaikai were struggling to get the financing they needed to continue this project and that's not going to get any easier now that rumors are going around that their boss is bedridden and his adopted son, Kai Chisaki, is taking the reins to try and keep the afloat. Shouta has time, but he'd still rather not waste it.

Good thing helping his students is not a waste of his time.

"Um, yes? We're on I-Island-"

"We?" Oh, he did not like the sound of that.

"Hi, Sensei," came the synchronized greeting from Midoriya, Bakugou, Kirishima, Uraraka, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Mineta and Jirou.

Shit.

"Oh gods, what did you do?"

"Hey, I resent that!" Kaminari immediately replied but let out a pained yelp that was probably a result of Jirou's earphone jack smacking him. "Hey! That hurts!"

"Just focus on the damn problem, shitty pikachu!"

Well, trust Bakugou to know his priorities.

"What's going on?"

Thankfully, Iida took it upon himself to explain the situation, Midoriya filling in the blanks.

"Okay, so, let me get this straight," he said as he rubbed at his forehead. "You all somehow ended up going to I-Island without knowing that you may run into each other there or that others were even going, were supposed to go to some fancy party that was a part of an event that is starting soon when villains came out of literally nowhere because I-Island has always boasted a security system the likes of Tartarus. Then said system was overridden by the villains, every Hero and civilian present has been either quarantined or restrained by the security drones, including All Might, and the villains have the party goers at gunpoint. Meanwhile, the only reason you lot weren't caught in said sticky situation is because you were late for the party and no one is aware that you're all still free to move about as you wish. And, finally, the goal of the villains is to get an abandoned project made by Prof David Shield, which is a support item that does, what, exactly, Midoriya?"

"Uhm, it ... enhances the power of a Quirk?" An unfamiliar female voice answered instead of the Hero-nerd, sounding a bit unsure. "My name is Melissa Shield. Deku-san and the others told me I could trust you, but I don't honestly know much about that project of my father's."

Great, now Shield's daughter was in on this, too.

"How, exactly, did All Might let this happen?" He wondered more to himself but the others heard him and tried to defend the Number One Hero. "Rhetorical question. I know he's not perfect, but this is also a bit too much. You Problem Children always end up in some sort of trouble. So, what do you need me for?"

"Kaminari-san said that you know how to hack, Sensei," the green haired teenager answered immediately. "We know we can't fight the villains by ourselves - there's simply too many of them and they have hostages-" Well, at least they've thought that through instead of just jumping into it without thought. "And the only way we can actually help at this point is to free them, but to do that Melissa-san told us we need to reach the central computer, which controls the entire island's security, which is a hundred floors up from where we are and the whole place is in lockdown and even if it wasn't, they're monitoring everything so we can't exactly use elevators-"

Aizawa took a deep breath to stop a headache from forming as Midoriya muttered and muttered on and on in his ear. Yes, he appreciated the extra information on how well thought out their plan of action was - so much better than Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki just jumping into the fight against Stain; probably Yaoyorozu's influence, so clearly she was doing great after the practical exams about a week ago. He'd definitely been proud of his students, even though a few of them hadn't passed the test at all - but he was already tired from a long week and even a bit stressed. Finding out his Problem Children were, again, in a difficult and dangerous situation with villains involved was seriously making him contemplate to just snatch all of those kids up, stuff them onto an airplane and leave them on a tropical dream island or something where they would be safe once and for all. He could even buy it; he's definitely got the money needed for it.

"So while we could just get Melissa-san up there, we thought maybe it would be faster and safer if you could, indeed, do it while we were still in reach of Pro Heroes in case things go bad."

Ah, so Midoriya was finished. Guess they were now waiting for a response from him.

"You seriously want me to hack I-Island? One of the supposedly most secure places on Earth? The mechanical island full of genius inventors who've created a security system the likes of which only Tartarus, the prison of the most dangerous criminals in the world, has? That I-Island?"

"W-well-"

"Sounds fun," he cut Kirishima off when the boy tried to justify their apparent absolute belief that he can do literally anything he puts his mind to. (He'll have to contemplate that at a later date. No time to dwell on past traumas now, is it? Not between this and tomorrow's raid.) "Give me, hm, five minutes," he estimated as he already pulled up a program to search for I-Island and connect him to the private server. He's actually done this, once, some years ago, for shits and giggles and to see if he can really do it. And then he'd watched the so-called top scientists of the world running around like headless chickens trying to kick him out of their system while eating popcorn. It was some of the best entertainment he'd had in months at that time.

"You actually expect me to believe that you can hack into I-Island in five minutes, sir?"

Shouta snorted. "Look up the name Aizawa, Ms Shield. I think you'll find all the answers you need from there." He made a triumphant little sound. "Ha! I'm in."

"Didn't you say you'd need five minutes?" Mineta asked in something like freaked out awe and Shouta snorted again.

"Well, yeah, to override the system and start it up again, sure. That takes a bit of time because I need to bypass a lot of encrypted firewalls that prevent just anyone from putting the island on lockdown and bypassing the authorization codes and alarms and the such, which is easy but time-consuming. And the system itself will need a moment before rebooting, so, yeah, about five minutes in total. I'll also check the security footage and other measures to try and figure out how these villains even got in. That place should be as secure as Tartarus, but clearly it isn't."

"Clearly, if someone can so easily hack us," grumbled the American and Shouta rolled his eyes.

"Missy, I could hack into Tartarus when I was ten. Believe me, I-Island is a piece of cake. Oh, here are the security systems! Let's see what we have in their memory files. Communications, deliveries, arrivals and departures, all that nonsense," he mumbled to himself more than to the kids as his fingers moved over the keyboard quick as lightning. Program after program, lines of code one after the other, flashed across his screen as he worked. Some, he altered, others he deleted or simply removed from the sequence to be returned later, after he was finished and ready to leave the system. He didn't have to worry about leaving a 'signature' because that was one of the first things Ashou taught him how to never develop and the laptop he's using is untraceable, made specifically to his preferences - that had been expensive but definitely worth it - and coded by him personally.

He finished the command that would override the system and watched as the bar steadily progressed towards full, before turning his attention to the security files. It's not that the I-Islanders weren't allowed to contact the outside world, but it also required special permission, since they're dealing with some seriously confidential and dangerous research over there. By all means, Shouta could be shipped off to live there, too, if his paper got too much recognition, since it touches a topic of Quirk evolution no one seems to have considered before that is actually absolutely revolutionary, but he has no desire to live the rest of his life confined to that fake paradise.

Still, the point was, every outside communication was monitored. Which means he could see them here, in these files. He came across an email from one Melissa Shield to All Might, of all people, but he guessed it made sense the two would know each other given how many years Shield had spent as All Might's first ever sidekick while the man had been heroing in America. But the name Shield kept cropping up the further he searched, though this time it was David Shield and an unknown burner phone and ... Prof Shield's assistant to that same number?

Shouta immediately cut to the security feed in the main computer room, where the most sensitive projects were also kept since it was, supposedly, the most secure place on the island, and sure enough, there Shield was, working at the main station. Unlocking the vault holding the project Midoriya and Ms Shield had mentioned. Only neither Shield nor his assistant, one Samuel Abraham, were being held at gunpoint. No, the villains there were calm and relaxed, as if ...

Shouta ran facial recognition on the villain's leader and continued doing research, including trying to recover the phone calls Shield and Abraham had been making, ignoring the conversation he could hear going on from the other end of the phone as the kids discussed between themselves what they should do now. The Vigilante had more important things to focus on, because as soon as his program finishes and he lets the security system restart itself, chaos will ensue on the mechanical island and he is entirely too far away to protect the kids if this turns out to be as messy as he has a feeling it is. Thankfully, he's always been rather good at multitasking.

The facial recognition came back with results soon enough. As did the recorded phone calls both scientists had been making. And then Shouta hacked into Wolfarm's phone and ran diagnostics on his most recent call history, tracing the numbers until he found one leading back to an undisclosed location in Japan, Tokyo.

Shouta managed to recover a bit of the conversation and his blood froze as he recognized the voice on his end.

Fuck.

"Midoriya, listen to me." The kids shut up the second he spoke up. "The security system will be back up in less than a minute, so I have very little time to explain everything, but I will be sending you the information I found and I need you to show it to All Might or any available Pro Hero from Japan you might find over there. Preferably someone who doesn't hate, well, me. Ms Shield, know that I have nothing personal against your father when I say that this whole thing has been orchestrated by him and his assistant. Shield was expecting fake criminals to come and hold people hostage so he may steal his life's work and continue doing it elsewhere, away from the government's prying eyes, while his assistant didn't believe the project should be discarded or used for only one purpose. I'm sure Midoriya could figure out what that one purpose is, if he knows how much Shield cares for his old partner."

He heard the greenette gasp and the others try to question him, but Aizawa was not done but his program almost was. They were running out of time before the action starts.

"That's not all." Silence, again. "Wolfram, the leader of those villains, is in league with a very dangerous criminal known as All For One, All Might's nemesis from a long time ago that everyone presumed dead. It is only logical to presume that he either really wants Quirk Amplification Device or he really wants to hit All Might where it might hurt the most. In short, stay out of the fight that's about to start unless you have no choice. And don't tell the US Heroes who helped you get all of this. Eraserhead out."

He didn't actually sever the connection; he had to keep listening in to make sure the kids stayed safe and he did so until, finally, the last of the villains was handcuffed without a hitch. Unfortunately, with the villains, David Shield was arrested, too, for endangering the civilians and scientists currently on the island. No matter how All Might tried to smoothen things out, Shield was going to be serving time, big time. Shouta bit his lip and wondered if the Number One Hero will hate him after this. The kids were only asked not to tell the American Heroes about him, not All Might and the man was smart enough to guess who would be the only person they could call in time of need, even if Eraserhead was not known for being a hacker.

He guessed he could worry about that when the blond is back in Japan.

For now, he had a yakuza to take down once and for all, all the while avoiding All Might's only other Vigilante-hating sidekick.

Fun.

00000

Eraserhead was no more than one of the many shadows of the first minutes of dawn, before the sun even began showing itself on the horizon, as he watched over the compound belonging to the yakuza. He watched as the men went in and out, all sleepily shuffling about either because they'd just woken up or because they'd spent a long night standing watch. The perfect time for an ambush. Shouta wanted this over as quickly as possible because he knew Fat Gum and Suneater had the night shift and will still be awake, maybe even on duty at this time so he'd already sent the UA's Big Three shy boy an alert about suspicious activities at this exact address.

Amajiki will no doubt by now have informed Fat Gum and Lemillion, which meant the police and Sir Nighteye were minutes away from being informed, too, which meant he had a mere fifteen to twenty minutes before they stormed the place.

But that's okay. Eraserhead's used to having to work fast and make faster exits. He already has sent Tsuragamae - his preferred go-to detective - an outline of his findings, which should be enough to write up an arrest and search warrant, but he'll be leaving a report as well. This is big enough that Eraserhead can't keep the information to himself, even if he wants nothing more than to burn every scrap of information on these Quirk-destroying drugs right here and now. He doesn't trust the government with such power in their hands.

Just as the guards at the entrance to the compound changed and sounded off, Eraserhead finally made his move. The guards, old and new, didn't even see it coming. He took the radios off of them, tied them up and left their weapons out of reach. For good measure, he let Erasure come to life for a brief moment before feeling his hair settle back down around his shoulders. That ought to hold them for a while, at least until the police or Pro Heroes come by to tag 'em and bag 'em.

The Vigilante made it into the house in much the same fashion, taking down any guards and tugs without alerting anyone else of his presence. He knew these were just low level henchmen and that the so called Eight Bullets won't be as easy to get past, but as long as he has the element of surprise and doesn't let them use Trigger on either themselves or him, everything should be fine.

He wasn't worried about security cameras - he's been in this place's systems for days; not only does he know exactly where every camera is and what it sees, he had also taken the precaution of reprogramming the main server to edit him out of the image the second the camera registers him - nor about getting lost - he also had memorized the layout of this place as well as downloaded a map on his phone in case he needs references the further down he goes. This is the sort of shit he's been doing since he was eighteen. The first few years of his Vigilante work were pretty vanilla and then he'd found the type of missions rare few Heroes, underground or not, could do as well as he does it. He'd stopped dozens of criminal rings and organizations just by sneaking around and then alerting the appropriate muscle and/or firepower in the Pro community, but this time he knew he couldn't wait for backup.

He'd known from the second he learned they were making Erasure-like drugs.

The fact that they had hostages only made waiting even more impossible.

He wasn't sure how many thugs he'd taken down before he finally came across one of the Eight Bullets; Hojo Yu, to be precise, with his Quirk Crystalize. He'd just walked out of what seemed to be a cafeteria. Shouta still had a drop on him and combined with the use of his Quirk, the bald man went down fast. Shouta took out the handcuffs he'd stocked all over his body and the light, flat-looking backpack on his back and tied him up. For good measure, he, too, got to experience Erasure, even if he was already knocked out. Soon after running into that guy, he ran into two of his friends. Toya Setsuno and Soramitsu Tabe were almost a challenge, but once their Quirks were erased, Shouta had no worry. Though he did have a bit of a chortle with how startled Tabe seemed when he bit into the capture scarf and found he couldn't chew through it. Toya's smug expression falling right off when it didn't matter that he managed to catch one end of the weapon was also priceless.

Shouta's auxiliary Telekinesis Quirk was what the capture weapon was made for. It was especially strong and agile when Shouta touched an object. He didn't really have a range of how far an object he was manipulating could go once he has it in the grasp of his power, but it has to be within arms reach at the beginning if he hopes to catch it at all. Toya could try to use his Quirk as much as he wants. Shouta's was stronger, at least where the capture weapon was concerned. Kronos-sensei had made it literally for Erasure's auxiliary Quirk.

When he ran into Rappa, his cover of secrecy was finally blown but by then, he was so deep into the underground facility that it would have been impossible to stay hidden for long. Then, as the muscle-bound, battle-hungry moron tried his best to punch a hole through Shouta despite his strength being erased, the hallways began to shift and change and Shouta knew he couldn't play with Rappa when Mimic was using his Quirk, especially on such a big scale.

Shouta knew Trigger has finally gotten involved and that just made him even more keen to kick Rappa in the balls, tie him up real fast and use it on his surroundings. The shifting stopped immediately and Shouta found the man now stuck in a wall like a bad phasing joke. He knocked him out, put Quirk-hindering shackles on him and left him to hang, literally.

He ran into a few more thugs and the rest of the Eight Bullets, but he didn't exactly stop for any of them. No, he'd hacked back into the security cameras and saw three men running towards what he knew to be an emergency underground exit and one - an ordinary thug - rushing to meet them there, though he seemed to be carrying something.

Something that set Shouta's blood on fire and made his eyes blaze, eliminating the burn and he knew ...

He knew that they were no longer facing the Aizawa Shouta that had wanted to be a Hero.

No, they were now facing the Aizawa Shouta who had defended Tasomiya, the Aizawa Shouta that would not stand by as he watched children get hurt.

This wasn't Eraserhead.

Aizawa was an avenging angel as he caught up to them and descended upon them with a vengeance no Pro Hero has ever witnessed from him.

The thug went down first, but they were already in Overhaul's sight. The man chucked his gloves and immediately touched the ground, making spikes sprout like flowers in spring. Shouta grabbed the thug's precious burden and even the thug himself, as undeserving as the man may be in his eyes right now, dragging them up into the air, towards the ceiling, with the help of his capture weapon. Bullets started flying towards them, but Eraserhead's capture weapon, when combined with his auxiliary Quirk, was not just the best offense, but also defense, as the scarf-like metal weapon sprung in front of him and his cargo, creating a shield of swirling cloth. Shouta unwrapped the other end of his weapon and used it to swing further and further away, but Overhaul's assault kept following them on the ground. He clucked his teeth and shuffled his burden around in his arms until he could take out a couple of grenades and threw them at the ceiling several feet behind him. As soon as a moderate explosion blew a hole in the ceiling of the hallway, Shouta hauled them up through it, escaping Overhaul's attack. He found an empty room to deposit his precious cargo in, not even having time to tie up the thug, before he had to go back because Overhaul and his two remaining lackeys have made it to beneath the hole.

"Who are you?" The one in the black poncho with the gun said, his voice projecting and ringing in Shouta's ears, but whatever it was meant to do besides annoy him, it had no effect on him. "You're not compelled to confess and repent?"

The Vigilante snorted. "The only one who should be repenting is you."

"Kai-sama," the one in the white raincoat-like garb, supposedly Chronostasis, says to the man with a jacket whose collar is lined with the garrish purple 'fur' or feathers or whatever that is. "Leave him to us-"

"No, Chrono," Chisaki cuts him off, sounding almost ... pleased? Shouta grit his teeth and tried not to clench his fists to visibly display his rage and unease. He can't lose his shit now. The source of the Deleter Shot bullets needs him to stay calm, so he can get them out of here in one piece. "Don't you recognize him?"

"Overhaul-sama?" The other one, with the voice-based Quirk, questions, and Overhaul gestures grandly at the black-clad Vigilante.

"My loyal followers, meet Eraserhead."

'Shit. So he does know who I am. Does he know my 'Quirk-stopping fighting technique' is actually due to my Quirk? I can't let a man like him find out about Erasure.' He didn't say anything even as the white one took off his hood and mask to get a proper look at him. This man gave off a bad vibe, but Shouta wasn't scared. Hell, he didn't remember a time if he'd ever been truly frightened. There had never been anything that could truly scare him, even when he was little and especially as he grew up and got stronger. Learned to fight and defend himself, be self-sufficient, learn what he wants to be.

It comes with Erasure, he would guess. There's little to be scared of with a power like that under your belt.

"I'm impressed that you've managed to get this deep inside our hideout, Hero," the last was said mockingly and tauntingly and Shouta rolled his eyes behind the safety of his goggles. "However, you won't make it out alive if you don't return my things to me."

"She's a human being," he bristled, already even more enraged than when he'd first seen the small, white haired girl with bandages around her legs and arms, carried by the thug unconscious one level up. It's as he'd feared. That girl, somehow, had a power that had a similar effect, at least in the long run, as Erasure. And this man, this utter monster before him, along with his two lackeys, only saw that powerful, terrifying power and not a person.

Oh, how bitter it tastes to see your own past experiences haunt another child. He didn't even bother to wonder where the little girl's parents are. As far as he was concerned, the only way a child could end up on an experimenting table is if the parent has given their consent or if they are dead.

This is why Shouta has spent his whole life on the run and in hiding. This is why he couldn't return to UA when he saw government-licensed vehicles parked in front of UA upon managing to escape his kidnappers fifteen years ago. They'd found out that he was still alive and they wanted their failed project back. But Shouta had never been Hawks, who they'd found vulnerable and childish. Shouta had learned from before turning five that his power is what people will want and that's why Ashou and Kronos never found out about the true extent of Erasure, about it. Shouta couldn't afford to tell them.

This girl, perhaps six or seven years of age, was now going through the same thing only there was no greater villain who'd learned of her power and had come to take her away. There's no Hero to save her from a villain like that, like the man in front of him.

Only him, only Shouta.

And boy, is Overhaul going to wish it had simply been All Might Detroit Smashing him by the time Shouta's finished with him.

It was an open secret: Eraserhead won't stand for child abuse. That was the one offense that made him turn brutal against those he fights. And Chisaki has just trampled all over that one trigger and all of his worst childhood memories.

Shouta had to let the world bleed red before he blinks.

(No matter what his birth parents had said about him, he is not a monster, he is not evil, he is not a villain.)

"So it is a Quirk," Chronostasis breathed and Overhaul let out a delighted, deranged laugh, going on into a cliche villain monologue about how he was going to overthrow All For One and the League of Villains with this new power and how he didn't even need 'that Eri' for it. Shouta took this time to take out a clean sheet of paper and start jotting down his report, as he was kind of on the clock, here. It took a while for the yakuza to stop prattling about how this is going to write their names down in history and make them rich and famous and Shouta only noticed when he heard sounds of frustration coming from below. He looked up from his half finished report to regard the three men in boredom. "What is this?!" Overhaul demanded, enraged and frightened, as he kept touching the ground and yet nothing happened.

The other two had no better luck and Shouta let them continue trying until the black-clad one started shooting at him again. He glared in annoyance - not that they'd actually see it behind the yellow goggles - even as his capture weapon easily deflected the bullets like one would see in a movie. (Hey, what good is an auxiliary Quirk if one does not train it to be as useful as the primary/main one, right? It's only logical.) Sighing, he tucked the pen and paper away before giving his full attention to the three bastards he wanted nothing more than to dropkick straight into hell.

"What have you done?" Asked the horrified Chronostasis and Shouta let himself grin in a dangerous way.

"You've wanted to see what it is like if one had the power to erase Quirks, did you not? Well en-fucking-joy."

And then he drop kicked them.

All in all, a good day's work.

Chapter Text

Shouta sighed as he finished up his report. All the villains were tied up, he'd destroyed every sample of the girl's blood in the labs and most of the notes on the drug's progress and had even written up a five page report. He still had at least two minutes to get out of here, but now he is to face his greatest challenge yet: a traumatized, scared little girl.

This, he had not planned for.

After making sure one last time that the Quirk-inhibitors were in place on Chisaki - the only real problematic one - and that his report was in a clearly visible place, Shouta made his way to the room where he'd left the random thug and Eri. He knocked on the door to be polite despite the insanity of such a concept in such a situation, before he stepped in. The thug was still unconscious where he'd left him, but the little girl had tucked herself away into the farthest corner of the room. There were tears streaming down her face and Shouta realized that her horn was glowing, which he just knew couldn't be good, no matter what kind of Quirk the kid had, even if it's not something similar to Erasure.

Red, round, fearful eyes were watching him and Shouta didn't hesitate. He dropped to his knees right there in the doorway and let his voice take on that tone he'd only ever heard from himself when speaking with children, especially frightened ones. "Hey, there. Is your name Eri?" A moment of hesitation and then a jerky nod. He couldn't help but smile but this was a smile he's only ever directed at cats. He could just feel the way it settled on his face was different than any other smile he could make. "My name is Aizawa Shouta. I'm here to take you someplace safe, Eri-chan. Away from all these bad people."

"Are you ... a-a H-hero?" The girl asked in a shaky voice but Shouta was impressed by her bravery to speak up at all to a complete stranger after what she had no doubt just been through.

"Yes. I'm a street Hero," he half-lied, because Vigilantes were their own little brand of Heroes, even though they weren't legal. Though, in all honesty, all Heroism was birthed from Vigilantism, it's just that people have decided to put laws and restrictions in place. Not all of them were logical, due to people going so complacent in trusting in Heroes that they wouldn't use their own Quirks to save their own loved ones from a fire despite having a water Quirk. It was a big flaw that no one but those who've suffered at the hands of it realized. It is why Aizawa had ultimately decided that he would rather become a Vigilante than the government's plaything. (He didn't know they had a young Hawks at that time, or else he would have saved the kid.) "I know it must be hard to trust anyone's intentions right now, Eri-chan, but I promise that I only want to get you out of here. I'll even let you choose where you want to go afterwards."

The white haired girl stayed quiet for a long moment and Shouta just waited her out, no matter how much he just wanted to get out of here. At least one Pro must have arrived by now. Unless Amajiki never got the chance to pass on the message to Fat Gum or any other Pro Hero. He dearly hoped that wasn't true. He'd have to risk going out the front door just so he could look at everyone with Erasure on one more time to keep their Quirks subdued. After all, only those with dangerous Quirks had gotten the Quirk-inhibitors and Quirk-inhibiting cuffs.

"Y-you saved m-me ... F-from that r... rough man," Eri-chan stuttered out through her tears, wiping at her eyes. Shouta only wanted to reach out and gently wipe them away for her. Gods, he hated seeing kids cry. It always felt like a punch to the gut, even if he wasn't the source of their tears. "B-but h-h-how do I-I know t-this isn't s-some trick b-by Chi-Chisaki-i?"

"He's tied up right outside, if you want to see for yourself. He is no friend of mine, Eri-chan. I don't condone what he did to you," he told her gently, not making a move, never raising his voice above barely above a whisper. He didn't want to frighten her, especially not into activating her Quirk, whatever it may be. That would just scare her and she'd never let him help her.

To his surprise, Eri just nodded right away and he moved out of the doorway to let her exit the room as she feels comfortable. He made sure to keep his distance though he stayed crouched to her level so as not to intimidate her with his height when she was so small. He was not a short man by any means, though his height wasn't anything unusual in this world of Quirks where there were people as tall as All Might and Endeavor practically everywhere.

Eri actually gasped in disbelief when she saw the little package Aizawa had made of Chisake. Hell, he'd left a literal bow on the man's head, mostly to piss off Sir Nighteye but it seems to have served a greater purpose. Eri started crying again but he had a feeling this might just be relief. He'll have to ask Midoriya - he's the pro crier in this city.

His phone chose that moment to beep and he pulled it out, looking down at the CCTV camera footage around the perimeter of the Shie Hassaikai compound. Heroes and the police were arriving. Their response time was so-so this time, but he guessed that had worked in his favor this once. When he looked back up at the girl he was trying to rescue, she was already staring back at him. Only this time, she didn't look as afraid. Progress.

"Eri-chan, we need to leave. Quickly. Can I pick you up?"

Red eyes widened in fear once again, panic settling over her features as she stumbled back and nearly fell through the hole in the ground. "NO!" Shouta acted more on instinct when he lunged forward and grabbed her around the waist to stop the child from getting hurt and he immediately opened his mouth to apologize, afraid he'd upset and scare him more, but she only tried to escape his hold frantically, beating at his chest and crying. "Let go! Please let go! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Eri-chan, it's fine, you won't hurt me-"

"But I will!" Eri wailed, fat tears running down her face like a waterfall of pure sadness. "I will I will I will I will I will I will!" She still struggled but she was too close to the edge of the hole for Shouta to just let her go. She could fall and seriously hurt herself, or worse ... She was just ... so small. Was she malnourished? "I don't want to hurt you! You're warm ... " It was whimpered and Aizawa's heart broke for her. Had she never known the warmth of kindness? He needs to get this kid to meet his other kids. Most of them were fucking rays of sunshine. Maybe the Big Three, too. And All Might. All kids like All Might, right?

"You won't, Eri-chan, because you are kind."

"I will hurt you ... I always hurt people."

Her horn was glowing brighter in her distress and Shouta thought he finally understood. So he placed a hand on her head to get her attention and let his eyes flare red and his hair stand up against gravity. "You won't, because you can't hurt me, Eri-chan." The light of her horn faded away and Eri stared up at him in awe. "As long as I am like this, I can cancel your Quirk, Eri-chan. That's what my Quirk is: Erasure. It's only temporary-" Not really, but Shouta would need to look at her Quirk with it before determining if anything more would be lethal to the girl's health. Quirks don't just create special powers, they create special conditions within one's body, a whole new and completely different homeostasis. No two people have an identical homeostasis these days. Everything is so different. The biggest part why Quirk Theory exists and why Shouta's taking it is so people could understand how having a Quirk has changed people's bodies on a molecular level besides the added power. People's health could seriously depend on the changes their Quirk caused. Yamada, for instance, would go both mute and deaf if he were to lose his Quirk. People with regeneration or healing Quirks would die within days of their Quirk manifesting if it were to be taken away. They'd simply ... super-age to death. Someone like Endeavor would probably feel cold for the rest of his life without his Hellflame Quirk. Whatever Quirk this little girl had, she was far too young to even contemplate losing it. "But I can take it away for as long as you need to finally learn to control it. So you won't have to fear hurting people anymore. Until such a time, just rely on me, okay?"

"... Will I really not hurt you, Zawa?"

Eraser felt his heart squeeze at the cute little voice and the absolutely adorable face Eri was making. Gods, he wasn't equipped to deal with this. He barely resisted the teenagers he'd found in his 'care'! "I promise you won't."

Eri nodded and finally relaxed in his hold. She leaned against his chest and seemed to almost immediately doze off. Poor dear must have been worn out to her limit. It will be a long way to recovery for her. Shouta had no delusions about that.

He also had no delusions about what he'd just offered and basically promised this little girl. His lifestyle is going to have to change by a considerable amount. Thankfully, most of his daylight activities can be done from home and the world can afford not to have Eraserhead out on the streets for a couple of nights while Eri settles in. He might worry Nemuri and Hizashi a bit, but the two know him rather well by now. They'll assume he'd simply went off on a stint in Naruhata or Tasomiya again.

"Let's get out of here, Eri-chan."

Ge felt her nod against his shoulder and Shouta set a quick pace, all but running through the underground hideout and then through the compound once he got to ground level. This is where he had to employ all of his skills to just barely manage to avoid being seen by the first responders, among them being, as expected, Fat Gum and Suneater. Some more local Heroes had answered the call, Aizawa observed from the shadows of a tree with Eri still safely dozing in his arms. He'll have to write recommendations for this part to have more Heroes on patrol because they clearly didn't have anyone on duty when he'd sent out the alert. But he'll do that later.

For now, though ...

He pulled out his phone and started searching through kid stores to buy a bed, some toys, books, coloring books, notebooks, colored pencils and crayons, anything he could think of that a kid would need. Clothes included. He also called delivery to get groceries and some food for breakfast that should arrive by the time he gets to his apartment.

He hopes he can get everything ready for today, so Eri-chan can settle in immediately and get some degree of normalcy in her life.

He also hopes she likes the name Aizawa and that Ashou will never, ever learn that he is, by all technicalities, a grandfather.

Shouta will never have a moment's peace again.

(He has a feeling that, for Eri, he wouldn't mind.)

00000

Toshinori did not expect to be pulled right from the airport to the police station to deal with a new disaster after just dealing with the shit that had happened at I-Island. He really wasn't in a mood to deal with just about anything besides maybe Midoriya-shounen, but then the name Eraserhead was dropped and he didn't even think to protest that he needed to at least get his things back to his apartment.

These days, anything that could possibly involve Eraserhead were things that explicitly interested him.

Especially after the little announcement he's made while hacking I-Island and rebooting their security system. At the behest of Kaminari-shounen. Just one phone call had been enough to reveal that Eraserhead was one hell of a hacker.

The announcement had been in Japanese so only a few people had understood and any trace of the announcement being made had been deleted from the systems, no matter what the numerous computer scientists on the mechanical island tried to do to get it back.

The message had been simple.

This is 1-A's Sensei speaking. You have endangered my students. I do not appreciate this. This is the only warning I will give. Peace out.

That's it. That's all the warning both villains and Heroes got before the restraints were deactivated and they could fight. Not to mention that the island's security was back on so the drones were more than ready to offer assistance.

And then Eraserhead had revealed just how brilliant he was: he'd sent the kids from 1-A, all of them that had been on the island even if they weren't in the Tower, a piece of information on just what had happened. It didn't paint a promising picture for Dave and no matter how Toshinori tried to spin the story, he knew his best friend was going to jail. Melissa had definitely been very disappointed in her father but also very interested in the man her new friends called 'Sensei' and her honorary uncle 'Eraserhead'. The police had also had questions, but the students had only had so much they could say. And Eraserhead wasn't even on American soil nor did they have the authority to try and bring him in. Japan wanted their number one menace all to themselves, after all.

To go from that to this yakuza mess ...

Toshinori never seems to get a rest.

Oh, and did he mention he has to work with Nighteye again, after not speaking with his former sidekick for six years? That's right, you read that right, because the universe hates Yagi Toshinori.

And it almost feels like Eraserhead is purposefully adding to his headache.

"So, let me get this straight," he said with a very tired sigh to Tsukauchi, Nighteye and an unexpectedly present Gran Torino. He really wasn't sure why the old man was there, though it could be just an attempt to stop things devolving into an argument between him and Nighteye. Or, well, the fact that the old man has come to grudgingly respect Eraserhead after his quick reflexes in rescuing Midoriya-shounen from what is essentially a hostage situation in the making. "While I was in America-"

'Watching my best friend and first sidekick give into human greed, stop viewing me as more than a symbol and seeing the Quirk before the man and get arrested for ostracizing a civilian-endangering faux villain attack that turned out to be the real deal anyway, while also getting the feeling that I am being indirectly scolded by a Vigilante that has adopted my successor's class for getting caught and needing them to control the situation instead of keeping them safe as is expected of me as the Number One Hero and their teacher.'

"-Eraserhead made another appearance, by contacting Fat Gum's long time intern, Suneater, one of UA's Big Three, who in turn informed Fat Gum and Fat Gum called for police as well as Hero backup, all the while our resident uncatchable Vigilante took down an entire yakuza all by his lonesome, tied them all up with a bow on the leader's head, left his customary report and disappeared without a trace to the point that no one would even know if he was there if not for the report, all in the span of, what, twenty five minutes? And this wasn't even a small case, but the case of attempting to redistribute the Quirk-enhancing Trigger drug?" Goodness, what is it with everyone and Quirk-enhancing bullshit these days?! Why can't people just train their Quirks and be done with it? "And by doing all of this, he stole a case right from under Nighteye Agency's nose?"

"I've been compiling evidence to make a proper case against the Shie Hassaikai for a year," the usually unflappably calm Nighteye hissed. "And he manages to get all of this in just under a week!?" He gestures lividly at the huge stack of files and papers and even a small pile of disks, all relating to this case, all collected by Eraserhead and delivered to Detectives Tsukauchi and Tsuragamae, though some of the papers seem to be the yakuza's own experimentation notes, the results from a local police lab about the contents of one of the injector bullets dubbed as 'Deleter Shot' and a few of the disks were even live footage from the compound's security cameras that allowed them to view the Shie Hassaikai's rare few allies and even what Overhaul had done to his own stepfather in order to step into power. "Just how is this possible?"

'Because Eraserhead is a hacker that can break into I-Island with just a phone call away from one of his 'students',' Toshinori thinks to himself but doesn't say it. 'And because Eraserhead might actually be Aizawa Shouta, who is quite possibly the son of the greatest hacker of all times, Hal. But does that mean the man I've treated stray cats with is the Vigilante everyone seems to grudgingly respect? Is he Eraserhead? Is he the missing Aizawa-kun? Or is it all a freak coincidence?' There's a reason why Yagi has yet to tell even Naomasa about his encounter with the stranger in an alley. Heck, he'd actually thought he'd dreamed it up or hallucinated it if not for the fact that, apparently, Sensoji-kun is allergic to cat hair and Toshinori had been covered in it.

Ultimately, All Might decided to act as though his former sidekick hadn't spoken up at all. "And all interrogating Overhaul resulted in was him hysterically proclaiming Eraserhead a 'perfect monster'?"

"And accusing him that he'd kidnapped his five and a half year old daughter," the yellow and white clad elderly Hero added, though he sounded mostly suspicious of his own words. "Though, from what I know, Eraserhead is not exactly known for taking potential abuse victims away from the scene, usually leaving them with the police or, if they have family, said family."

"Maybe the girl has no other family?"

"Are we forgetting that Eraserhead has made no mention of this child in his 'report'?" Sasaki fairly spat out the last word in disgust. "Or the fact that we have no proof that she might even be an abuse victim? None of us have even seen the girl and all of the video footage we could pull from the cameras has been tampered with even before Eraserhead supposedly stepped foot in the compound."

"It's true that none of our technicians can remove the editing from the footage," the only police officer present confirmed. "Eraserhead has either managed to stay out of the cameras' lenses entirely or he had some serious signal blockers."

"Most probably a combination of both," Gran Torino guessed. "But as worrisome as a supposedly missing child is - don't forget that we're literally chasing a child that allegedly exists only based on the words of a known villain and crime lord wannabe - what really worries me is some of the notes we've found in the labs."

"What were they about?" The Symbol of Peace asks, not liking the grave tone his old teacher has taken.

"Quirk-destroying bullets, based on a person's Quirk and DNA, according to these," Nighteye says with a sigh as he picks up some of the papers and waves them at his once partner. "Eraserhead had, apparently, delivered an unused bullet as a sample about a week ago to a detective from a nearby precinct and the results came back with traces of human blood in them." Yagi felt his blood turn to ice right in his veins. "The bullets themselves work only for a handful of hours and have only just begun being distributed, probably to commercialize their merchandise to the bigger players with more money to support further research and production. Eraserhead, supposedly, came across these new drugs when hunting down the new Trigger dealers and one of them had Deleter Shot bullets on him, too."

"Interrogating the villain known as Chronostasis, one of the main scientists behind the bullet's creation, even openly admitted that 'Kai-sama', that is Overhaul, got the inspiration from seeing Eraser fight," Gran Torino reveals and Toshinori feels a spike of fear and dread for the Vigilante's safety. "He also said 'It is a Quirk', whatever that means."

Yagi froze and so did Tsukauchi, which means this was the first time he was hearing this, too, or else there would already be a search for Aizawa Shouta going on, even if it were to be just Tsukauchi and Yagi, maybe Yamada, but definitely no one else.

"Did anyone say anything about the girl?" Yagi asks in order to divert the attention away from the Quirk that sounded like it belonged to a missing UA student.

"She supposedly has red eyes, pale skin, is really small for her age, has long white hair and a small horn on the right top-side of her forehead. Her name is Eri," Tsukauchi quickly supplied, meeting his eyes and a silent message was exchanged between them right then and there. They will have to talk about this. Later, perhaps at a later date, even, but they will have to talk about it nonetheless. This was both what they had hoped for and silently sort of feared. Because Eraserhead now had an identity. He was no longer a nameless shadow of the night that helped out the Heroes like some legend of old. He was no longer a phantom of the night, but a human being, a man who had been a child, a Hero-hopeful who had given up on the dream and had instead taken up the mantle of vigilantism.

As always when things were concerning Eraserhead, every bit of (maybe) information they get results only in more questions than answers.

"We can put out a search flyer or something."

"She's a lost child, not a lost pet, Sorahiko-san," Nighteye respectfully corrected the elder while fixing his glasses. "I want to see that footage, though."

"Didn't you say no technician the police had at hand could retrieve the original image?" Toshinori half asked, half pointed out and the dual-toned haired man nodded but did not seem deterred.

"There's a hacker in Tartarus that probably can, though." Yagi and Tsukauchi went stiff all over again and he's pretty sure Gran Torino caught on to the fact this time. "The criminal known under the alias Hal, Aizawa Ashou. He's infamous for being able to get into any system, undo any code and manipulate it all to his will. If he's willing to make a deal with us, he will probably at least get a reduced sentence to fifty years instead of what is basically a life sentence in prison. It's not like he's a murderer."

"You want to enlist the help of a known criminal?" He asked in a voice that suggested he thought Nighteye should rethink his choices. He just wants the future-seer to drop this train of thought. He doesn't want the name Aizawa dragged into this mess. Especially if Eraser is, indeed, Aizawa Shouta. He'll probably learn of his maybe father's involvement and disappear so underground they will never find him again.

And they can't afford that, if he truly has the girl with him.

No matter how much Toshinori trusts the man with his life, despite knowing next to nothing about him, this isn't about Toshinori's life, but the life of a possibly traumatized, abused little girl.

"We need confirmation that Eraserhead has, indeed, left with her, at the very least."

"It's very possible that he did," Yagi couldn't help but muse. "Eraser has a soft spot for children. I've seen it first hand." Both with a random almost-kidnapped boy and Class 1-A. "If he had even the slightest suspicion that there was a child in danger, the girl wouldn't have been left behind."

"And with how you idiots have been hunting him, there's no way someone as cautious and clever as that man would stay and risk getting arrested by the police," Gran Torino added and that was that. No one could argue a solid, rational point. "Question is, though, if this Eri girl is with him, will Eraser go out again or will he focus on caring for her."

"What makes you think he'll keep Eri?" Nighteye asks and Torino snorts.

"My intern was very enamored with Eraserhead's character. And besides the point that this Eri doesn't exist on paper? She's most probably traumatized, as Overhaul doesn't exactly strike me as a caring caregiver. There's no way he would just drop her off with child services or something like that."

"You had an intern?" Nighteye asks suspiciously, no doubt understanding instantly what that meant. The way he eyes Toshinori said it all; Sasaki Mirai knew All Might had chosen a successor and it wasn't Togata Mirio, as he'd been hoping because Togata was still very much doing his work study with Sir Nighteye.

"Yeah. Nice kid. Reminds me a bit too much of this goofball here, but that's a good thing as well as an exasperating thing."

And Toshinori was touched, honestly! To think anyone would compare such a wonderful child like Midoriya-shounen to him ... He couldn't have received a greater compliment! He's quite proud of that, actually. And he's also relieved and immensely grateful that Sorahiko approves of his choice of successor! After all, the man had trained with Nana back when they were partners since they were young and then he had trained Toshinori with her and then by himself, after Nana's last fight against All For One. Gran Torino was practically an expert in training One For All users, so it is no wonder Midoriya-shounen returned from his work study with a greater understanding of his Quirk and definitely better control. Though, both intern and Pro Hero had had some 'Sensei help'. Eraserhead had done the most important part of the whole teaching Midoriya-shounen to use One For All thing and that was that he taught the boy how to feel the Quirk, to embrace it as though he'd been born with it.

Toshinori always found new things to be grateful to the Vigilante for, it seemed. Maybe, one day, he'll be able to treat the man to a drink!

"So you've chosen a successor? And you didn't think to tell me? I want to meet him," Sir Nighteye said and the blond couldn't help but inflate into All Might, not really liking the tone Sasaki was using. The clairvoyant might say 'meet him', but he actually means 'evaluate him' or, if they were being honest, 'judge him'. And maybe Toshinori would have once been eager to show off his wonderful little successor to his former sidekick, but ever since Sasaki had dared to use his Quirk on him without permission, he couldn't find it in himself to feel the warmth he once did for this man and he knew Sasaki was just as bitter. There is no way he would let Midoriya-shounen get mixed up in that. The boy had enough on his plate, what with the League of Villains, Eraserhead's near death right in front of him, One For All breaking his bones up until recently, Stain, the demanding UA Hero Course curriculum, the thing with Shigaraki at the mall and then the shit that had happened on I-Island.

The legacy of One For All was a hard one to bear; Midoriya-shounen didn't need the bitterness of those left behind to drag him down. Dave had proven to be more than enough, and that was a far more bitter pill to swallow than anything Sasaki could dish out.

Still, that didn't mean he'd be letting Sir Nighteye meet Deku.

So Toshinori smiled wide and bright, the best media-practiced smile in his arsenal, and watched as Sasaki seemed to be stuck between fanboying like in his youth and being irritated that Toshinori was directing such a fake expression at him of all people.

"If you wish to meet him, you will have to arrange it with his Sensei!"

Tsukauchi and Torino choked on their own breath, understanding perfectly what that would mean and entail and clearly finding it both amusing and ballsy of Yagi to bring it up.

The second tallest man in the room looked confused. "His Sensei? What does a teacher have to do with anything even remotely relating to One For All?"

Yagi just nodded, striking a pose and laughing his signature All Might laugh. "The boy says he's certainly helped him a lot where controlling it is concerned! And if it wasn't for him, my boy and all of his classmates would probably be a whole lot worse off today!" He really tried not to think about that, about Thirteen's ruined suit, or about the limp, broken body lying in a pool of the man's own blood. It's an image that will haunt him as much as the teary, relieved faces of his students.

"The youngster is definitely a better teacher than you," Torino quipped between what sounded like choked, held-in gaffs.

"He definitely does paperwork better," came Naomasa's two cents, sounding to be in about the same predicament as Sorahiko, and Toshinori was both offended and ashamed that a Vigilante did more and better paperwork than he did. He'll take it up with his friend later about calling him out on it, though.

All Might, though, still just kept smiling and he had to hold in his own amusement as dawning realization settled over Sir NIghteye's face. He found it within himself to speak with a steady voice. "You see, he's very protective of his class. He won't take it lightly if someone hurts one of his kids in any way!" His little announcement at I-Island has surely made that very clear. Even from halfway around the world, Eraserhead protected Class 1-A in what way he could. That was very admirable. Though that level of computer skills was also very dangerous and actually envious. All Might still had trouble with the simple grading program they used at UA.

"You can't be serious," Mirai tried almost desperately. It was no secret that he disliked the Vigilante in question greatly, even though some of his sidekicks and interns were okay with him. Togata Mirio in particular, which was an extra sour spot for Nighteye, since he had hoped the boy would be Toshinori's successor. And while Midoriya-shounen hadn't been chosen out of spite but because the boy had definitely earned it, the Symbol of Peace couldn't help but be viciously glad it was the green bean after all, no matter how skilled and good Togata was. Call him petty but he'd never said he was perfect.

"I'm sure we can get Eraserhead's number for you to arrange a meeting." And he laughed again.

"This is a fucking nightmare."

Chapter Text

An interlude with Shigaraki ...

Shigaraki Tomura was not at all happy, but happiness came hard to him most days, so that wasn't exactly anything new. In fact, he can't even remember the last time he'd been properly happy, though he had some days when it was just him and his video games and Kurogiri doing something quietly in the background that came relatively close to what might classify as happiness to him these days.

But as of about two months ago, he found himself in a relatively 'grumpy' mood that simply wouldn't let up.

It all started the day they were supposed to attack the USJ. Or, well, he guessed it would be more accurate that it all started the night before they were supposed to attack the USJ, when one of the weaker Nomus went missing and they only later found out it was because a certain annoying (cool) Vigilante had captured it and left it to the police, but the real annoyance began not twelve hours later.

It was supposed to be easy, all things considered. Sensei's newest creation was perfect, made especially to fight All Might to a standstill, and Kurogiri himself was perfect to fight that other Hero. The third one was taken down so quickly Tomura even forgot about his existence unless Kurogiri mentioned him. The kids were all just low level threats, or so they'd thought because some of them turned out to be damned powerful. Maybe if Kurogiri had just separated them so they'd all been alone? Surely children that had only just begun their training couldn't be such an obstacle if they're left to fend for themselves. Oh well, a learning experience, if nothing else.

The most annoying thing was that their plan hadn't failed because of All Might. Hell that smiling fool hadn't even been there when his schedule had said he should have been! Such an irresponsible teacher, really. So much for the perfection of All Might.

No, the plan failed because Eraserhead had to just show up out of fucking nowhere and take down the whole hoard of common villains Giran had managed to collect for them as if it were nothing. The man was fast and turned out to have a pretty curious Quirk. Very useful. Except Tomura had been quick to figure out its limitations and weaknesses and the Nomu's sheer strength had been enough to take him down.

But Eraserhead had kept fighting until he finally lost consciousness, concrete cracked underneath his face, yet he was still breathing. Shigaraki had thought him cool for how he moves when he fights and that strange scarf of his, but even his shallow admiration gained depth when Eraserhead managed to save that frog girl and her two friends despite the Nomu pushing his head down, red specks coming from behind those curious goggles of his. He actually wasn't sure if Eraser's Quirk came from his eyes or if it was mental, but he had a time limit and his goggles definitely hid something besides his identity.

Still, Eraserhead had not been enough to defend those kids alone, but he'd been enough to buy time for other Pros to come to their rescue, All Might first among them. The blond oaf had definitely not been smiling when he saw the scene he'd walked in on and Shigaraki had honestly been afraid. For a moment. Then he'd set the Nomu on him and the battle between the two brain dead musclebound idiots began, a sight to see.

But something became obvious as the fight progressed. It took time and multiple hits, but the Nomu eventually buckled, which Tomura knew wasn't supposed to happen. It still healed and regenerated. It still had shock absorption, and yet, for some reason, it had buckled. It wasn't its strength or speed, either, and All Might can boast all he wants, everything and everyone living has limits. Nomu are not the living. And it had been fine before that. The Doctor would never let a failed experiment leave his lab. Which meant something had happened to his pet/servant/monster thing between stepping through Kurogiri's warpgate and fighting All Might.

He knew that his assessment was right by the surprise Sensei showed in his voice when he heard his creation was defeated. Sensei knew what it takes to fight All Might; Sensei wouldn't have made such a miscalculation. And yet the Nomu had lost.

Then Kurogiri reported what had happened, short and sweet, concise, and Sensei had listened quietly.

Up until Kurogiri mentioned the Vigilante and Tomura revealed he had a cool ability to cancel out Quirks. Though that hadn't worked on the Nomu the first time, so obviously it did nothing to mutation and transformative Quirks.

But Sensei's "What?" had him wondering if he'd missed something.

"Explain. Describe this individual to the best of your ability, Shigaraki Tomura."

"Yes, Sensei," he'd replied to the order before complying. "He's the Vigilante they call Eraserhead, relatively unknown but apparently infamous among criminals and villains. He fights mostly hand to hand and his martial arts skills are pretty cool. He also uses this strange scarf thing that feels both soft as wool and like metal, pretty long and agile and strong. He'd wrapped it around the Nomu at one point and it couldn't break free until he'd lost his grip and the Nomu just shrugged the scarf off. Couldn't tell much about his face, he was wearing yellow goggles and his hair - long, black - and scarf hid most of it anyway. He was wearing all black and had an utility belt with many pockets. His Quirk, from what I could tell, made his hair stand up when activated and it seems to mess with how other people's Quirks work. I can't be certain, but I thought I saw a light from behind the goggles at one point."

"You think it might come from his eyes? What was the color of this light, Shigaraki Tomura?"

"I don't know, it was impossible to tell, but I do know that it was no gadget or drug like people speculated. The color was red."

"Are you positive it was red?" Sensei had asked and Tomura had been confused because yes, he was certain. Had he stuttered? Had the connection broken and Sensei thought he'd heard wrong due to static or something?

"Yes."

"Hm." A pause. "Do you think he might have done something to the Nomu for it to have lost? Because the Quirks I put in its body were intricately woven into its being so that their combination would hold up against All Might's unwavering strength, especially as he should be considerably weakened by now."

"All Might seemed just fine to me," Tomura had spat bitterly, still lying on the floor and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds that Kurogiri was now leaning over him trying to clean, stitch and bandage. It hurt like a bitch.

Sensei had then assured him that this defeat did not matter as long as he learned something from it and assured him he'd have many other chances to come before the connection was cut. Tomura had then spent days agonizingly thinking over and over in his head about what had happened. Then there was the UA Sports Festival and he watched those brats he hated so much make a spectacle of themselves like cheap whores, but he also watched how everyone behaved. The world of Heroes had been a bit shaken up by their bold attack on USJ and UA had been receiving criticism for still holding the Festival like nothing was wrong. The commentator was annoying, the ringleader lady was perverted, but there were some interesting kids with the potential to turn to their side if pushed right.

That 1-B kid that acted so superior but didn't even make it into the final round.

The bird boy with his imaginary shadow friend. He had a darkness in him.

Maybe even the Number Two's own son! He definitely looked like he had a dark past behind him! (Tomura dismissed him after his fight against Midoriya Izuku. Whatever those two had been yapping about during the fight had clearly changed something in the two-toned boy and he was no longer interesting.)

And, of course, the loud, explosive blond. The one that the Heroes slash his teachers tied to a pole, suppression cuffs on his hands and a muzzle in his mouth! And he was their champion! Yes, Tomura could see potential in this one. He would make a fine villain with that attitude, even All Might looked wary of approaching him.

And then, to the astonishment of all, Eraserhead himself made a bold appearance. The easy confidence, the way he criticized the Heroes, the way he defended those brats he'd saved that day, calling them his kids. The way he'd escaped, an entire stadium full of Pro Heroes unable to follow him or stop him or just do anything at all. So cool, so cool. Eraserhead wasn't like the Heroes, wasn't like the Vigilantes. He didn't follow mindlessly. He lead.

And that might actually make him more dangerous than Shigaraki had realized.

Not that he had much time to ponder the Vigilante once Sensei and Kurogiri got him involved with that bastard, Stain. The lauded, infamous Hero Killer. Shigaraki honestly wasn't much impressed with the man, because he was haughty and believed himself to be superior to Tomura because 'he had a reason for his killing' or some such bullshit. At the heart of it, Stain just killed the things he didn't like, as Tomura realized later after he cornered Midoriya Izuku and had a little chat with him in the mall. But before that, he'd gotten stabbed, threatened, considered and dismissed, he'd let loose three Nomu onto Hosu and watched them wreak havoc as the Heroes fought fruitlessly to stop them. In the end, it was some old guy in a yellow cape and Endeavor that proved to be the only ones even remotely capable of fighting the Nomus. They were weaker than the one they'd sent to fight All Might but clearly still more than strong enough to make even the Number Two struggle.

Then he realized three UA brats had managed to capture Stain without any Pro help. Now that had been interesting. He'd only noticed because he thought he'd seen a shadow moving across the rooftops and following it he'd realized it was Eraserhead once again rushing to the brats' aid. Eraserhead had ended up being nothing more than nanny and sentry regarding Stain, but he'd been the one to save Midoriya Izuku when the flying Nomu had snatched him up. Stain had been the one to kill it, but Eraserhead had saved the kid, ultimately. Eraserhead had been the only one able to move since Stain had started gushing killing intent.

Stain ended up being arrested anyway and Eraserhead had disappeared once more. Shigaraki hadn't heard a word of him since, though Giran had gotten a tip off that the Vigilante had been tracking him for some time now. Then Eraserhead arrested another sentry Nomu and Shigaraki realized that, more than the Heroes, Eraserhead was the one to watch out for.

Now, over two months since he'd first encountered the Vigilante, Shigaraki was in a 'meeting' with his newest recruits as he tried to think up a good plan to attack the Hero Course students during UA's customary summer camp.

Now, Mister Blaster has proven to be a non-threat and any of the League of Villain's new Venueguard Action Squad would be more than capable of taking him down, even Mustard if he weren't to use his Quirk at all, but Sensei had managed to get information on who else would be there with the UA teachers. Vlad King has a decent record of successful missions and his Quirk was pretty good, but Toga Himiko would be an unsuitable opponent for him. The more he bled, the more weapons he had at his disposal and he wouldn't even be able to bleed to death, so fatal wounds would only be a hindrance, given Toga only fought with a knife. She's decent at hand to hand and probably used to do gymnastics, but this was a Pro they were talking about. That wouldn't be enough to take him down. And his Quirk would probably nullify the effects of her Quirk, so there's really no point in sending Toga. She'd be more effective against the students themselves.

Instead, perhaps Dabi would be a good match against the Blood Hero. Tomura absolutely despised the burned man who seemed to think him a brat despite them being roughly the same age, but he can't deny that his fire Quirk was powerful. Powerful enough that it hurt even him, if the burned patches of skin were anything to go by. Dabi was actually their only real long distance fighter. Mustard was just a kid who wouldn't be able to save his life without the little old fashioned gun he'd somehow gotten his hands on, so if anyone could bypass his poisonous gas, he's done for. Dabi, though, could fight both up close and at a distance. It'd be best to team him up with Twice, the schizophrenic. The more Dabi clones they had running around setting things on fire,the bigger the chaos and the bigger are their chances to fulfill this mission without a hitch.

Most of the rest of the Venuguard will be on capture-the-kids duty and they'll be lent a Nomu to prevent anyone from interfering from the sidelines. Class B kids were of no real interest to them. Some had pretty good Quirks, but they weren't as strong as 1-A. (And Tomura really didn't want to subject himself to that blond kid that looked like he had rabies.) Kurogiri was, of course, their entrance and exit, Mr Compress was on containment duty and Big Sis Magne, Moonfish and Spinner were going to team up against the other Pros, the group of Heroes called the Wild Wild Pussycats.

Now, Muscular was there as a deterrent in case All Might were to show up, as unlikely as Sensei said that was, but he was also a deterrent in case Eraserhead comes along. Though the question remains: can Eraserhead's Quirk affect him? The Nomu at USJ had seemed unaffected but then Sensei had insinuated that the Nomu should have been capable of withstanding All Might's assault. The Nomu had only come into contact with Eraserhead beforehand, not counting Midoriya Izuku punching him in his attempt to get Tomura away from the frog girl. Midoriya only had superstrength.

Eraserhead was proving to be more troublesome the more Tomura had to get involved with him, or rather Eraserhead had to get involved with Tomura. And all because, what? He wanted to be a Hero? Then why wasn't he? Why be a Vigilante? Surely someone of Eraserhead's skills could have gotten into an Hero Course he wanted. Tomura's ready to bet his left hand - and all of his family's hands - that Eraserhead was even cooler than he'd seen so far and his right hand that the man will continue to be a nuisance to him and his League in the future.

The worst part was that they had no real known weaknesses to exploit. Giran couldn't find shit about the man and targeting 1-A can work only so many times. But Eraserhead was on their tail, that much was clear, as he'd known to go to USJ the day they had attacked. It was only a matter of time before someone like Eraserhead found the bar or, worse yet, one of the Nomu factories. Yet Sensei was doing nothing about the Vigilante, just telling Tomura to go on as planned, to continue making the League grow.

Shigaraki huffed as Kurogiri finally sent everyone off through one of his gates. He didn't like that most of the new Vanguard were Stain's followers, Spinner and Toga especially, though he guessed Dabi was the most dangerous one of them all. Muscular was strong but he'll be satisfied if Tomura just lets him kill things and Mr Compress was a former thief or con artist or something. His priorities differ. Magne is in it for gender(?) rights and freedom and Twice is just crazy. He couldn't give two shits about why Mustard was there and Moonfish had similar reasons as Muscular, though he's, apparently, a cannibal. (If that sicko looks at him like that just one more time, he'll end up in an ashtray. Just try him. There's only enough space for one insane member of the League and Twice has already fulfilled it. Though, it's not like they don't already have overcapacity of that, too, what with all the other members. Tomura swears Kurogiri is the only sane one. And yes, he is self-aware enough to know he's not completely right in the head himself, something that couldn't be said for some people.)

Dabi, though ... He said he follows Stain's preaching but there's a look in his eyes that does not match Spinner's and Toga's.

Shigaraki has no doubt Dabi wants to destroy the Hero society, but his reasons are his own. He isn't about Real and Fake Heroes like Stain's usual followers, but rather he wants to destroy it all. He doesn't complain about rules nor does he preach about a more just society. He doesn't want to just kill and destroy, though he clearly enjoys it. No, Dabi seems to have a specific goal in mind, one that he's been nurturing far longer than Stain's been active. Tomura knows he'll have to be weary of that one.

"Shigaraki Tomura," he was snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Kurogiri's voice. He looked over to his partner/guardian/butler/servant/caretaker, only to find the mist construct of a man already staring at him intently. Or, well, with the same intensity he's always looked at him, really. Kurogiri seems to have only one setting and that's ... whatever this is. Loyal to Sensei to a fault, subservient to Tomura, fulfilling his every whim, protecting him, providing for him and the such. Kurogiri had started off as little more than a caregiver slash guard but as he grew and Sensei molded him into his successor, Kurogiri seemed to gain new roles to play. Transportation remained his main role, as did looking over Shigaraki, but now Kurogiri was expected to fight, too, despite his Quirk only sometimes being good for a fight.

Shigaraki would never admit it, to anyone, not under the pain of death, but it terrified him to think that the purple mist man could one day be taken from him, be it in the form of an arrest or death. Kurogiri has been his only constant for far too long. He'd probably go more insane than Twice and/or Moonfish if something were to happen to him, despite his own threats thrown at the bartender every no and then. Kurogiri was the one person in this world he'd never try to decay.

"What?"

"What do you plan to do once the target is brought here? I doubt the boy would be happy or complacent."

"Did Giran bring what we asked?"

"Yes." Eerie yellow eyes glanced towards the indestructible chair and the suppression cuffs they'd bought from the dealer. "Will this not send the wrong message, though?"

"It will send the right message," Tomura countered as a grin split his face. "He'll realize that the way the Heroes have treated him this whole time isn't very heroic and then we'll let him walk around free, no restraints, as we explain to him why he'd be better off with people who actually understand him and won't judge him." He stopped grinning, going back into what that fucking burned chicken nugget dared call his 'emo-mode'. "Besides, whether he joins us or not isn't really important. The main goal will be achieved the second they take him. It will not only tarnish UA's reputation as the second incident they couldn't prevent and the second time they couldn't protect their own students despite being lauded as the best Hero school in the country, it will tarnish All Might's reputation and even disrupt the belief in the entire Hero system. If we get a new follower, that's just a bonus. Whether he joins us or we kill him doesn't matter. Both scenarios will weaken our enemies."

"And what if that Vigilante shows up?" Giran, who had just entered the bar, asked, smoking his cigarette in an unconcerned manner. "It would be foolish not to expect it at this point. He's been there for those kids every single time. A colleague of mine from the US just told me Eraserhead hacked I-Island for them."

"... What?" Deadpanned the youngest of the three.

The information broker snorted. "Yeah, I almost didn't believe him, but he got the message Eraser sent."

"What are you even talking about?"

"You seriously didn't hear about the incident at I-Island? I thought it would be right up your alley." The man shrugged,taking another puff of his cancer stick. Tomura hated the smell of cigars. It was disgusting. Smoking could lead to lung cancer, half a dozen blood anomalies, brain damage if you're seriously unlucky and it often causes shaking fingers and as an avid fan of games, Tomura swore he'll never smoke. He's decided a few years ago that if he ever needs to 'take the edge off', he'll just go out and turn something into dust. At least homicide only harms others and not yourself. "Apparently a group of criminals was all but invited by Prof David Shield and his assistant to take hostage of the whole place so they could steal some Quirk-enhancing device. One thought them to be fake criminals, the other knew them to be villains. Anyway, they somehow managed to use I-Island's security against them and everyone was put in quarantine and all the present Pro Heroes were captured as though they were the intruding villains. What no one knew was that All Might had, apparently, supposedly, brought some 1-A kids along for the ride to enjoy that Expo event they hold every year but they weren't captured and, well, one of the kids called Eraserhead."

Tomura almost grimaced in sympathy for the overseas villains. If those kids were involved, they wouldn't have stood a chance against the Vigilante. "He seriously managed to get onto I-Island and hack into their systems without anyone arresting him? So cool."

Giran suddenly gave a nervous, very unsettled laugh. "If only. Eraserhead was reported to have been active in town the next morning, local time. Took down that pathetic yakuza trying to redistribute Trigger. No, Eraserhead didn't go to I-Island. He hacked into their servers from a distance. He didn't have direct access. He did it remotely. And he did it, as analyses showed, in less than five minutes."

Well, fuck. Shigaraki was no computer genius but he definitely knew that the security on I-Island was topnotch, matching the security of Tartarus prison, which has some of the most dangerous inmates in the whole entire world. And Eraserhead could hack into a system like that without having direct access to the system? Tomura now hoped Eraser actually finds the bar and not a Nomu factory. He'd no doubt be able to get any and all information on the computers, even if they were wiped clean. "I didn't know he was a hacker."

Giran snorted. "Neither was anyone else. Get this, though. My colleague has an informant who got the chance to see the analyses made by the scientists on I-Island afterwards of the method used to crash their firewalls and take over their system. The compatibility is less than 3% but the line of coding is so familiar to any hacker or programmer worth their salt that he immediately said it looked like Hal's work."

"Hal, the infamous hacker who robbed all sorts of people for billions of dollars?"

"That's the one."

"Isn't he already twenty years in jail with no access to any piece of technology based on coding?" Kurogiri questioned and Giran nodded.

"Yup."

"... Fuck. Seems everyone's playing the successor game, huh." It was the only possible explanation. No one would be able to hack into a system like that in conditions like that unless they'd been taught by the best programmer slash hacker in the world. Hal's life story isn't exactly public knowledge, but criminals and villains know some of it. Started off as an ordinary student looking to start an IT company of his own, apparently got hate for his Quirk helping him 'cheat' through MIT, returned to Japan with stolen information and robbed bank accounts of dozens of people, went into hiding and started his own little black market dealing. Had the best business because his prices were actually relatively affordable unless you're asking for something special but he was picky and always looking for a challenge. "Weren't there rumors that he suddenly had a kid, just a year or two before he was arrested, and that said kid was the one that ratted him out?"

"Rumors with no evidence to support them," Giran waved him off. "Besides, Hal had always been very openly asexual. Said he'd rather stick his prick in an electrical outlet than in another human and that he'd rather let a elephant hump him than be on the receiving end of sex."

Tomura grimaced. "I hesitate to ask how you know."

"Like I said: very openly asexual. In the beginning years of his, uh, career, people tried to throw sex slaves at him in an attempt to gain his favor and he'd tell every single one of those foolish would-be-clients that his price remains the same and that exact same phrase. People eventually got the message. Though I do know of someone with a Quirk that allows them to transform into a robot for about an hour a day tried it again anyway. Bad move on their part. Hal apparently screwed up their mind to the point they no longer knew what was up and what was down. You don't have a robot-transforming Quirk and piss off a person with a technopathy Quirk."

"They got what they deserved, if he'd made his stance clear before." Personally, Tomura would just acquaint annoying, persistent assholes like that with all five of his fingertips and settle for washing his clothes of dust, but he guessed the infamous hacker didn't exactly have that option. His way was still kind of badass. "What are the chances Eraserhead was Hal's apprentice or something?"

"Both very likely and very unlikely," replied the man as he finally finished his smoke. "Eraserhead's such a goody goody that I doubt he'd ever willingly associate himself with a criminal but the kind of skill and that exact type of code that had been used, well ... He's either a very good copycat or, indeed, Hal's student."

"Why did anyone even contact you about this, anyway?" It seems a bit strange that Giran would receive information about what had happened in America, even if it was because something as monumental as a Vigilante from Japan hacking into I-Island.

"Because a lot of people abroad now want the hacker that'd done this. My colleague didn't actually know, it was Eraserhead. They tried tracing the signal and it bounced all over the world in thirteen other countries, twenty cities from each, twenty four locations in each city. So my colleague hadn't tried to get more precise information but had, instead, called me to see if I knew the voice from the message since Japan was one of the thirteen countries. The second I heard '1-A's Sensei', I knew who we were dealing with."

Eraserhead was really just so cool!

Too bad he's turning out to be too big of a menace and will need to be eliminated. Hackers were the worst. Hackers that can fight and have a Quirk-canceling Quirk were just a nightmare and a disaster waiting to happen. As cool as Eraserhead was, he's becoming more and more of a threat. He's clearly good enough to track and tail Giran without anyone noticing until now. And the fact that he's kept hunting Nomu indicates that he has a problem with the League, too. He's an enemy.

"Let's hope he shows up, then," Shigaraki grins, feeling a bit of manic excitement ignite in him. They could either kill him on the spot or ship him off to the highest bidder in the US and wash their hands of him once and for all. And the rest of those 1-A brats would be left all the more defenseless and shaken without him. The streets would also be safer for villains and criminals to go about their business without the infamous Eraserhead patrolling in the night. "The sooner we deal with him, the better."

And that's when the TV flashed on, Sensei's voice coming over the speakers. "Do not 'deal' with this Eraserhead individual, Shigaraki Tomura." Said young man stiffened and turned around to look at the old TV set despite knowing that, as always, the screen will have no signal, no image, let alone the image of his mentor. "I believe I have unfinished business with him. Should he turn up, he is to be captured and brought to be alive and unharmed. Spread the word to your new followers. Immediately. Have I been understood, Shigaraki Tomura?"

"Yes, Sensei," he replied dutifully but sullenly. And he had just been looking forward to getting rid of the menace, cool as he was!

Sensei let out a half pleased, half contemplative hum. "I'll leave it to you then, Kurogiri." The audio cut off.

Tch, figures he'd expect of the bartender to be Tomura's impulse control. It's as if he thought him to still be that stupid, naive child, Shimura Tenko, that he'd found that day on the streets and extended a helping hand to. Tomura was not. Whatever shreds of innocence or naivety might have still clung to him when Sensei had found him and took him in, it's all gone by now. Tenko is dead. At this point, Tomura suspects he even enjoys killing more than Sensei does. Maybe not as much as Muscle or Moonfish, but definitely more than Sensei. Toga ... Toga's a weird one and he doesn't want to compare himself to her and he still isn't sure what to make of Dabi, exactly.

"Guess I need to call that trashfire now and update the newest orders. Tch. Damn Vigilante."

Still, if Sensei wants Eraserhead's Quirk all for himself ...

So cool. So cool, Eraserhead.

Chapter Text

All Might couldn't help but sigh tiredly as he walked slowly back towards his agency. He was exhausted. The search for Eraserhead has become even more of a priority, as of late, and that's not even mentioning the long discussions he had to endure with Tsukauchi about the only known wielder of a Quirk-canceling Quirk, Aizawa Shouta, and his continued questionable status.

As tempted as they might be to write off Chronostasis or Overhaul's words - testimonies, as the Police Commissioner was becoming desperate enough to dub them in order to have some concrete information about the Vigilante - as just the ramblings of two clearly not entirely stable individuals - Overhaul especially seemed kind of unhinged, especially when he started talking about his plans and goals - it was becoming more and more clear that there was no denying it. Eraserhead had a unique Quirk and while it might not be Aizawa-kun's Erasure, the Hero Commission finally had a solid charge against him to warrant his arrest, which was already bad enough. Eraser might actually finally be forced to leave the scene once and for all if he doesn't want to end up behind bars.

And then, the Vigilante himself being set aside, was the question of the missing girl, Eri. They found out that she does, in fact, exist - the granddaughter of the previous boss of the yakuza, Chisaki's adoptive father, who is now in a critical coma for unknown reasons, caused by Overhaul himself - though her medical condition is more than questionable with the amount of blood they'd found in the lab in the hideout of the Shie Hassaikai. And that's just of what had survived a fire set to the lab, whether by Eraserhead or by the lab-users themselves remains to be determined. None of the research was left behind except what the end goal was. The blood samples they'd found correspond with the traces of blood they'd found in that 'Deleter Shot' or whatever it is called bullet, which sent a shiver of ice cold dread down all of their spines.

No wonder Eraserhead hadn't stuck to his usual MO. Whether he'd known it was a child or just human experimentation in general, it made sense he'd forgo everything and not risk people being used as lab rats for one moment longer or, worse yet, those monsters escaping so they can continue their research.

Toshinri also suspects Eraserhead to be feeling guilty. After all, his style - his Quirk, as they've all discovered only now - was what had inspired these people to pursue something like this. He was, of course, not guilty for the actions of others, but the way he'd handled the whole raid spoke volumes to someone who'd gone through a similar guilt and still couldn't 'get over it already'. (USJ could have had casualties had it not been for Eraserhead and it was all All Might's fault. Yagi knew this. No one could convince him otherwise, as those villains had been there for him in the first place. And that's only the most recent source of guilt for him to stew over.)

Naomasa had managed to get Overhaul to brag about his brilliant plan and they learned about his Quirk, about his most recent operations and about Eri-chan's Quirk. It was very powerful and very dangerous for a child to possess, especially if she has no control. It opened more options as to why Eraserhead would have just picked her up and never left her in someone else's care. Erasure, even if temporary, would stop her from using her Quirk long enough to calm down and after talking to the man those few times that he did and seeing him with that one boy and hearing about him from the students, Toshinori knew the Vigilante to be more than capable to calm a distressed child. Quirk-safety/threat-wise, Eri-chan was in very capable and safe hands. Naomasa and he could agree on that and back each other up if anyone tried to add kidnapping to Eraser's 'list of crimes'.

The other reason Eraser might have taken her was because there's no way the government wouldn't want a power like Rewind for their own purposes. Who is to say that they wouldn't just hire Chronostasys to finish what he'd begun? Yagi has never been disillusioned to the fact that the Hero Commission was not perfect, that it was still politicians who controlled the Heroes. And politicians always work for their own benefit, even those with the most virtuous intentions. And it was clear that Aizawa-kun himself has something against them, with the way he rebuffs Hawks anytime the two meet when not even Endeavor gets such treatment and by this point everyone knows Eraserhead does not like Endeavor.

As always, learning something about Eraserhead only leaves even more questions in its wake, especially after Sir Nighteye managed to convince everyone that they should at least try to talk Hal into helping them to lessen his own sentence.

The man had agreed to talk with them, had even said he was bored enough to indulge them, and so was brought the tampered footage all the way to Tartarus with seven other computer experts overwatching him in case he tried anything. Meeting Aizawa Ashou was not at all like what he'd thought it to be, though that might be because Yagi had expected at least some resemblance between him and the man Toshinori had treated cats with, whom he was sure was indeed Aizawa Shouta.

Aizawa-san, for one, had short, bright blue hair with streaks of red and green, two thick yellow lightning-rod-like bangs framing his electric blue eyes that seem to be swimming with green glowing numbers, probably a result of his Quirk. His skin was slightly tanned even after years in Tartarus and the prison wasn't exactly famous for its sunny weather or all that long or frequent courtyard time. He had a eight o'clock shadow of a stubble and no eyebrows to speak of, for some reason. The look on his face made him resemble more a college IT professor or something and not a notorious criminal capable of hacking into any and every computer or system on the planet. His face nor head shape didn't resemble Aizawa-kun's, either.

The air of easy confidence, though, was rather similar to both the man he'd pampered cats with and the Vigilante whom he deeply respected by this point.

Aizawa-san was acting surprisingly cooperative throughout the little briefing they gave him of the situation, keeping most of the details to themselves, talking about a Vigilante tampering with crucial evidence or something like that. In fact, he seemed disinterested for the most part, just making grabby motions at the laptop they'd brought him. Yagi reasoned it must be hard for someone with a Quirk like his to be isolated from technology for as long as he had, but it was a fact of security that he wasn't to be allowed near anything with even the basest amount of coding or working on electricity. The man was kept inside an old fashioned cell the likes of which hadn't been seen since the 2050s, which was like a forever ago, even for Yagi.

Yagi and Tsukauchi had watched, beside Sir Nighteye and two other detectives - one of whom was Detective Tsurugamae - and the computer experts as Hal had opened the security camera footage and what appeared to be the coding of the program that's blocking the image of whoever it is that's fighting the Shie Hassaikai foot soldiers and then Chisaki and his inner circle. The review of the coding didn't last even five seconds before Hal snorted, slammed the laptop shut and gave them all a look.

"If you think I'm about to dismantle coding as beautiful as this and expose a fellow hacker with such talent, then you're clearly delusional. I'll take my life-sentence, thank you very much."

Of course, to Tsukauchi and All Might this might as well be confirmation that Eraserhead - Aizawa Shouta - was, indeed, beyond every doubt related to Aizawa Ashou. The man looks old enough to be the father of what is now probably a thirty year old man and what the others were foolishly writing off as 'even the legendary Hal having lost his touch' was clearly nothing less than fatherly protectiveness.

So, of course, Yagi and Naomasa pulled some strings that allowed them to question Hal privately. Yagi then, somehow, after much arguing, managed to kick the policeman out of the room as well, shut off all recording devices and isolate the room so that their conversation can't get out of that room in any way. Sitting across from the man, bound as he was and a full All Might hour under his belt, Yagi still felt a bit nervous when those strange eyes locked onto him curiously.

"Aizawa-san," he started, trying to keep his voice even and not reveal anything. "I know you know who tempered with that footage. You could probably see it thanks to your Quirk even without removing the program that's altering it." Hal just quirked a not-eyebrow at him. "Did he always like cats?" He dared to ask and watched as shock gave way to protective rage turned into realization and then shifted to something that looked like cautious approval. Clearly, he had come to the conclusion that Toshinori had met Aizawa-kun - who is now officially confirmed as Eraserhead, hallelujah! - had figured out his identity one way or another and had still chosen to not turn him in.

"Logically," snorted the blue-haired man, grinning. All Might had to grin at both the word and the grin. Oh, he could see the resemblance now. "Cats are the superior pet preference. Dogs slobber all over the place and are loud. Not good company for insomniacs with overworked eyes. They're also so needy. Nothing against dogs, I mean, but they're just inconvenient to me. I mean," he gestured at himself. "I am very well known in the circles I used to work in, so every time I would step out of the house, I'd get accosted by someone. That's actually how I met my Sho-chan."

He felt his brain short circuit. "Met?"

The man had just grinned at him. "I am not Sho-chan's biological parent. Quite frankly, the people who are were undeserving of him and I am glad that he ended up with me, even if it's only for two years-"

"Did you kidnap him?!" An alarmed Yagi had demanded despite himself and Aizawa-san had surprised him by not being offended, but rather amused.

"No. Kid was on the streets for months before I met him. Saved me from some goons. Always did want to be a Hero, that one. Well, as long as I've known him. Sho-chan's story is a very long and complicated one, Yagi-san. All I can tell you is that, if you come after him as a Hero Commission representative, say bye bye, because he'll disappear. For good, this time, as apparently he's done something to earn their attention for the third time in his life."

"Third time?"

Hal had cocked his head to the side, as if in consideration on how much he should reveal before deciding he'd already said more than enough and shaking his head. "How did he look? Was he healthy? Happy? Does he have a partner? Kids? I hope he has kids! I wanna be a grandpa."

Yagi had thought about telling him about Eri but had decided not to tempt Hal into finding a way to hack his way out of Tartarus. Besides, he'd still had tons of paperwork and two more meetings to go to before he could head home. So here he was now, utterly exhausted and envying Mister Blaster and Vlad King for having the past half a month to worry about nothing but the Summer Training Camp. Not that that was a small thing, but they didn't need to worry about Eraserhead and his latest rather bold move. They have somehow managed to keep it under wraps that the Vigilante was the one to raid the yakuza hideout and instead put it off as a police and Hero combined effort, but it's also only a matter of time before someone slips and reveals the truth.

The Commission is aiming to arrest Eraser before that happens, but now that Toshinori knows this much about Eraser, there's no way the man would let himself get caught, not in a million years. Not when he now has a little girl to think of.

What had the Commission wanted from Aizawa-kun that their involvement in his search and rescue was enough to make him give up his dream of being a Hero? Was it as he'd suspected for Eri? Erasure was one hell of a Quirk, even if the registered limitations make it considerably weaker. But then Yagi would think back to the Sports Festival and the half an hour of no free Quirk usage after Eraser's escape and he would wonder if Aizawa-kun had created a fake Quirk registry, too, just like his identity. At least it now made sense that Aizawa-san and Aizawa-kun don't resemble each other except in mannerisms. Mannerisms can be learned and two years of exposure to them is a long time for a child.

"Like this, Eri-chan."

That voice and that name had Toshinori snapping out of his thoughts and freezing in the spot in front of an alley he'd been passing, his head whirling around to look at its mouth immediately. There was a lot of meowing and purring coming from there and the blond Hero could not believe his luck! He inched his way towards the alley on silent feet, not wanting to be sighted before he was ready, peaking around the corner of the wall he was pressed against to see into the alley. Not as narrow as the first one where he'd been treated to a sight like this, but the scene was familiar nonetheless.

He felt his heart squeeze almost painfully at the adorable sight before him.

There he was, the very man who'd been occupying his thoughts for far too long now, even without counting the police shitstorm after the Shie Hassaikai raid and arrest, with a girl he hadn't stopped worrying for over the past two weeks. The dark haired man was showing the girl how to wipe down the kittens and huge, round red eyes were staring at the tiny creatures with all the awe a five and a half year old can manage, her long pale blue-gray hair done in an intricate braid and decorated with cute cat clips. Aizawa-kun himself had his hair in a half-updo that made Yagi's heart squeeze for a completely different reason (-he looks like Nana-) and was dressed in a white dress shirt with sleeves rolled up and no tie in sight, lower half clad in the same jeans as last time. He was smiling even as he treated one poor cat's mangled leg. There were cats all around and over them and while the little girl occasionally twitched or flinched from loud noises or unexpected contact, she looked to be having fun.

But in her short-sleeved dress, her bandaged arms were starkly obvious and Yagi felt the urge to go back to Chisaki's containment cell to beat him into a pulp because that monster had hurt this precious child and no wonder Eraser had acted the way he did. No wonder he hid her. She didn't need more bullshit piled on top of her and she was clearly having a good time here with Aizawa-kun! Eraser was truly incredible with kids if the way the girl gazed at him with that blinding smile as though he had hung the very moon and stars and sun on the heavens.

He must have the worst luck in the world because his phone chose that very moment to blare "A message is here! A message is here!" He cursed himself when Eri-chan seemed to flinch and curl in on herself while making a move closer to the adult while said man jumped to his feet in a battle-readiness no ordinary civilian could possibly have. Toshinori took note of the way Aizawa-kun's hand flew towards his throat area and that was practically the last confirmation he could get besides maybe seeing the man using his Quirk in person or having the man himself outright say it.

"Ah, I apologize! I thought I heard a familiar voice, is all!" He said apologetically, stepping fully in view with hands up in a surrendering/placating motion and that seems enough for the younger man. The little lady, though, was now clutching onto Aizawa-kun's clothing so hard her little knuckles were so white that Toshinori felt even more guilty. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," sighed the other as he ran a hand through his hair before noticing the state of his charge. Without hesitation, he dropped into a crouch before her even if she protested having to release his clothing from her tight grip. When they were at eye level, he gave her a reassuring smile and patted her head. "It's okay, Eri-chan. It's just a noisy friend of mine. He won't hurt you. Besides, I'm here with you, right?" She hesitated for only a second before nodding. Aizawa-kun smiled again and opened his arms. "Want a hug, just in case?"

The girl was in his arms before Yagi could blink and it was adorable. He almost took a picture with his phone but that would not only be disrespectful and dangerous - what if someone saw and connected the dots!? He didn't want to get Aizawa-kun arrested! - but illegal, too, as he did not have Eri's guardian's permission. (He doesn't care about how legal it was that Aizawa might introduce himself as Eri's guardian. He approved and if the younger man were ever to need assistance, he'd help him get legal full custody of the girl.)

"Sorry," he said again and the man waved him off.

"She's just really shy," the man replied and Yagi knew it wasn't the whole truth, but that's insider knowledge so he just nodded. "You want to join us?"

"Oh, I couldn't! I don't want to intrude!"

Aizawa-kun shot him such a deadpan look before rolling his eyes for extra measure while gracefully, effortlessly standing to his feet, Eri and all. "As if I'd ask you if I thought you shouldn't be here," the younger man threw over his shoulder as he made his way back to his seat. Eri-chan seemed to grip his shirt harder and Aizawa-kun sighed gently before picking up one of the kittens playing at his feet and placed it in Eri's lap where she was sitting on his. "Could you do the same thing as last time?"

"Ah, yes, of course!" He was quick to comply, being sure not to let his footsteps thunder or, heavens forbid, land on the lounging and playing cats all carefully waiting for their turn to get pampered. There seemed to be rare few injured, which was good.

He saw from the corner of his eye that Aizawa-kun had twisted himself in such a way so that he could still work on the cat that had started licking at its wounds. Aizawa-kun shot him a look when he sat down and Yagi nearly fell over when the man smiled. Though he figured out it was because a cat had managed to make a bed out of the extra clothing hanging off of his lanky frame. He doesn't mind, if it makes the shorter man smile like that.

"Is that the worse one?" He asked, gesturing to the now complaining cat as Aizawa-kun tried to set its apparently broken leg right before he can secure it with bandages.

"Yeah. I'll have to take him to a vet's. He needs proper care and a place to stay while he heals."

"But can't we take him?" Eri-chan surprises them both, apparently, by speaking up, looking hopefully up at the man holding her. She'd started petting the kitten in her lap at some point and it seems both kitten and child were content.

"Oh, sweetie, I wish we could, but the building doesn't allow for pets." Both of them looked heartbroken at this and Yagi spoke before he even registered just how much of a bad idea it could be.

"I could take him in." Black and red eyes locked onto him at that, both surprised and the little girl looked to be in awe. Yagi felt a familiar grin spread over his face, always taking great joy in making children happy. "It would be no problem, I assure you!" He said before the man could ask him if he was sure. "And you can come check on him or just play with him whenever you want!"

"All Might-san, taking care of a pet, even one as independent of a cat, is no small decision to make," the younger half warned, half admonished. "You can't do this on a whim. Are you absolutely sure you have the time to take care of him?"

"Of course!" He booms and this time, Eri-chan doesn't flinch away from the noise but rather claps her hands in glee. Aizawa-kun can't seem to fight them both on this point and just decides to trust Toshinori. Who is, by the way, terrified at the prospect of having to take care of an innocent life that is going to rely on him for a good number of things, especially in the beginning as it heals, but the cat seems to be in good health if one ignores the injured leg. Probably a result of Aizawa-kun's no doubt long-term care. "Leave it to me!"

"I guess I'll have to do just that." Then the man went on and rattled off such a specific health plan that left the blond wondering just why the hell this man hadn't pursued a career as a vet. "I can make you a proper list if you didn't catch all of that."

"That would be great," he said in relief and Aizawa-kun nodded, finishing up with the cat and twisting around a bit more to reach a messenger bag. Eri-chan seems to have recovered from the fright and jumped off of his lap so she could go back to what she had been doing before, though she cast shy glances at Yagi every now and then. The alley soon fell into a content silence with only the sounds of the street, the cats and Aizawa-kun's scratching pen as background noise. It was as relaxing as the last time, just pampering cats, watching what Eri-chan did so he knew how to treat his own soon-to-be-pet in the future and then Aizawa-kun when he picked up one of the six really small kittens from a cat bed hidden behind his seat. Leaning over and straining his neck to see around the Vigilante-in-street-clothes, he spotted a big cat bed with a mother cat with swollen nubs and six kittens trying to get more milk but the cat was obviously exhausted. Looking back at Aizawa-kun, he nearly melted from the cuteness that was watching the man bottle-feed the kitten in his hands.

How could he have worried for the little girl leaning against Aizawa's leg now so contently, when there were no better hands for her to be in? Eraserhead - Aizawa-kun - was nothing but kind.

"Here," Aizawa-kun said and Yagi looked down as a piece of paper was thrust at him. The instructions and list the younger man had mentioned earlier. The taller of the two took it gratefully and even did a little bow in his seated position. Inspecting the things written on the paper, he soon reached the bottom and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a name, an address and a phone number written down. He looked back up at the man without bothering to read through the recommended vets list also jotted down there, meeting the others slightly nervous(?) gaze immediately. "I thought it would be best if we had a way to stay in contact. In case you need help. Or find you can't always take care of him. The address is to a cat cafe in Naruhata that a couple of my friends run. You can leave him there if you're ever too busy to come home for a couple of days and don't have anyone to cat-sit."

Naruhata.

"And the vets I recommended also have an adoption system going so if you can't take care of him at all or something comes up. Their prices are rather affordable and if you tell them I sent you, you'll get a discount-"

"Thank you, Aizawa-kun," he interrupted, trying out the name for the first time out loud in this man's presence. "I'll be sure to take good care of him. I won't let you down!"

Eri-chan giggled at his enthusiasm and his heart melted all over again for this sweet little girl. He'll need to look more into what may have happened to her, because the bandages on her arms were thick, indicating many, many cuts, no doubt. The girl will probably be unfortunate enough to carry marks only suicidal or self-harming people do and he hopes to all the gods that may or may not exist that society won't judge her by them.

"We trust you, All Might-san. Right, Eri-chan!"

"Y-yes!"

Aw, shit. There goes his heart. Probably left forever at the feet of this new little family. He doesn't even regret it. Eri-chan's smiles were tentative and looked ... out of practice, like she hadn't known how to until recently and isn't that just heartbreaking? And Aizawa-kun looked like he was only now learning to relax for the first time in his life, which was even sadder. He remembered Hal's words and wondered what the man had all been through before and after he'd been kidnapped from UA. What kind of life had he lived that he could only now relax?

And did this mean ... the end of Eraserhead?

Yagi sure hoped not, as Eraserhead was a greater Hero to many than some of the top ranking Pros.

And then there was Class 1-A!

But, then again, didn't they already know his identity outside of the capture weapon, black clothing and yellow goggles? He'd probably already given them his home address or will do it soon if he hadn't. For them, he didn't need to stay Eraserhead. He was simply their Sensei. Yagi, though, couldn't help but wonder would Yamada-kun receive the same honor? Kayama-san? They were the closest to the Vigilante, friends of fifteen years. If Eraser were to suddenly disappear, they'd no doubt be devastated. But would they like Aizawa Shouta, adopted son of the infamous hacker Hal, who is still a mystery to Toshinori who now, despite everything, was probably one of the very few people who knows even this much about him? After all, a part of Eraserhead is his anonymity. Would knowing his name change their view of him?

Then again, Yamada-kun had been so adamant to find out if Aizawa Shouta was still alive, so guilty and regretful at a chance lost-

"A-are you okay?" The tentative question in a timid little girl voice drew Toshinori's attention down to a worried and nervous Eri, who looked about ready to explode from nerves for even asking. Aizawa-kun was looking at him, too, from the corner of his eye, but he said nothing, obviously more than content to let Eri learn to interact with other people. He'd definitely make a great teacher, as he always seemed to know what a child needs. Midoriya-shounen's story was a great example!

(It didn't occur to him then, or for a while later, that this man had told him a partial lie about himself, his Quirk, not until he got to see him in action in his full glory against the man who'd managed to ruin his life twice and almost a third and fourth time, too.)

"Y-you s-seem s-s-sad." It was obviously taking a lot of courage for her to even say those two sentences, those six words, and the urge to hurt Chisaki returned all over again with a raging vengeance. A quick glance at Aizawa-kun's face showed that the black haired male was having much the same moral struggle of whether that level of violence would be acceptable or not for what was done to this girl. And he actually probably knew what was really done to her! Yagi was only guessed and was already ready to start gushing blood lust. He couldn't imagine just how much self control it took to refrain from hunting that monster down and killing him on the spot.

Aizawa-kun clearly had more control than Toshinori had ever had. It's the reason he today has a hole in his side. He had not been able to quell or at least moderate his need for revenge and that rage had ravaged him of everything he'd aimed to be as All Might. He'd been ready to kill All For One without an ounce or remorse and it didn't matter that he was the worst evil since the dawn of Quirks. Yagi shouldn't have fallen down to his level.

But that was not an issue for now. Right now, he had a timid, traumatized little girl looking on the verge of tears for daring to ask for his well-being. So he put on a smile - and it was easy to do so, for this little girl and her grumpy-looking caretaker; so, so easy that he was almost scared of it but longer for their presence nonetheless - and did one of the less bombastic All Might poses, a hand on his own bicep as he clenched a fist. "No need to worry, Eri-chan! I promise I will be alright. Why?" He put his hands down and smiled a far more gentle smile, gazing at the little family-in-the-making. "Because people as nice as you are here. Kindness is what makes us all Heroes, Eri-chan. Never forget that. Sometimes just asking someone about their day is enough to make you their Hero, even if only for a little while. But I don't doubt that a nice little girl like you has trouble with that."

He grinned as those pale, chubby cheeks flushed and the girl turned around to bury her face in her caretaker's clothes, hiding. It was cute.

Said caretaker was mouthing 'Thank you' while he gave the child an encouraging and/or comforting pat on the head and Yagi found himself grinning again, which had the man looking away with something like a blush to his own cheeks. Too precious, the both of them.

Eri recovered soon enough and they all went back to their respective cat-pampering tasks for another half an hour. By the time they were finished, the youngest of the three was both tired and famished and so Aizawa-kun packed up with Yagi's help and hoisted the girl up into his arms. Yagi, in turn, bent over and picked up his new pet, which made Eri-chan look up at him in awe again as though he'd just caught a building for her. It kind of reminded him of the admiration Midoriya-shounen showed for the slightest thing he did, especially in this form. And while Yagi personally preferred All Might, it seems Yagi Toshinori had two of his own fans. Aizawa-kun might just be the third, because he was definitely more relaxed around Toshinori than he was around All Might. He'll have to try it out with the man, but not as Eraserhead.

"Make sure to visit this little fella," he found himself saying with a grin as they moved towards the mouth of the alley, about to return to the real world and leave their catty safe haven behind. "I'm sure he'll miss you."

"Um!" Eri nodded before a yawn caught her by surprise. Cute.

"You have my number," was all Aizawa-kun said, though he, too, had a small smile on his lips. It made him look younger than he was. "Send us the address and we'll stop by, one of these days."

"Will do!"

"And make sure to take care of him, okay?"

"Of course, Aizawa-kun!"

That seemed to please the other and he nodded. They finally exited the alley and were back on the busy streets, people walking around them or shooting them curious glances. They must make a sight, the cutest little girl in the world, her gruff but handsome parental figure and a lanky, incredibly tall man in oversized clothes that didn't seem to fit in with them at all but they were a group somehow still.

"I guess we'll be seeing you later, then, All Might-san," Aizawa-kun said quietly and took a step in the opposite direction of Might Tower to signal his intention to leave and the blond couldn't help himself. He smiled and winked at the secret Vigilante.

"Please, call me Yagi."

The resulting blush?

So worth it.

Chapter Text

It's been three weeks since Shouta had raided the Shie Hassaikai base and found the newest addition to his already very strange and very complicated life, but he didn't regret it one iota. Eri was a child in need of special care and attention after the shitstorm she'd been through and Shouta was both willing and capable to give it to her, even if he'd had to skip three weeks of both Vigilante patrols and the occasional classes he still attended. He'd even abandoned his paper, instead focusing all of his energy on nurturing Eri and trying to help her understand the world she'd been all but isolated from since the moment she'd developed her Quirk, to help her unlearn that adults will only hurt her.

It wasn't easy and they both still had a very long way to go, but she was progressing surprisingly quickly for someone of her age. Maybe it was even because of her age that she was accepting it all so remarkably well. Kids were incredible at adapting and seeing as he was exposing her only to the better sides of life to counter whatever the hell Chisaki had all done to her, she had no reason to resist or reject it.

It also helped, he guessed, that Eri had latched onto him as a source of security and protection, because she didn't hesitate to come to him for absolutely anything that might be bothering her.

That took the first two weeks to implant that idea deep in her mind and Shouta was eternally grateful to All Might - Yagi - for his unknowing part in it. By accepting Eri-chan's request to take in that one cat - now affectionately named Kuro, for the black fur he sported, as Yagi-san had updated them on two days after the cat was brought to his new home - he had shown the girl that it was okay to ask for things. Eri had taken a day to gather up the courage before she came to Shouta and expressed a fear to sleep in the dark and with the doors closed, so Shouta had quickly gotten her a nightlight and stopped closing her room when he tucked her in. For good measure, he'd even left his own door open and had woken up with a warm weight on his chest and small fists tightly clenched into his sleep shirt. Eri started talking more after their first visit to Yagi-san to check on Kuro nearly a week later and Shouta could only feel relief, even if this meant he'd have an energetic, far less shy child on his hands from now on.

But seeing as that's his goal, he's really more than happy.

The first two days had really been the worst. His purchase had gotten to his apartment in time for him to put Eri to sleep in an actual bed, something that hadn't really existed in Shouta's apartment before that. He'd had his yellow sleeping bag and a couch and he didn't need anything else. He'd not even had a proper table to eat at, but that wouldn't do for a child, now would it? So Shouta had done his best to dredge up all of his own childhood memories - or, well, the ones from eight to ten, the two years he'd spent being taken care of as an actual child by Ashou, who wasn't exactly the best dad material but he'd tried and succeeded at, at least, always making him feel welcomed and comfortable and he figured that was the first thing Eri will need once she wakes up - and get things a child of her general age group might need. That included more than kid things, such as toys, a bed, some clothes, hygiene supplies. No, it included things for Shouta's apartment that was now going to have to house two people, one of whom was a traumatized little girl who may not yet still trust him fully, despite him having saved her.

So Shouta had ordered a TV, a dining table and four chairs - they came as a set and he was neither picky nor lacking money, so he'd decided to just go for it this once - a coffee table, kitchen appliances other than the stove and fridge, kiddie books, more towels for the bathroom, a work table for him with locks on compartments and drawers. A swivel chair, too, because if he's going to be sitting there and working, he's gonna be comfortable, damn it. He also bought two big chests and two wardrobes, one for Eri and one for himself. The chests, though, both went into his room, one containing his spare capture weapons and other gear he used as a Vigilante, the other things he didn't want a five soon to be six year old accidentally messing with and then feeling guilty about it.

Mainly his laptop, some files he'd worked on for years and things fragile but important to him that he'd rather not lose. Among them were a few pictures he'd let people take of him - with his five dumbass Hero friends (Mic, Midnight, Ingenium, Fat Gum, Joke), with Kamui Woods when he decided to go solo and finished his sidekick gig, with Kronos-sensei just before the Sports Festival, the paper clipping of the Sports Festival with Shouta standing on the highest platform, gripping a golden medal in his hand, with a friend he'd lost (on the day he became Tsumiya's local hero, even though he wasn't a Hero), with Hal when he was a kid; hell, he even had a picture with 1-A, taken with a camera made by Yaoyorozu on the day he'd nearly given his life for those kids at USJ, him covered in bandages like a mummy and the kids all still in their Hero costumes - the papers meant to transfer him into UA's Hro Course, Class 1-A, an old pair of broken goggles and a speaker, Hizashi's old leather fingerless gloves, Nemuri's first pair of handcuffs (broken, now), a project Kronos-sensei had dared him to do but he'd never finished, a glass cat figurine Hal had given him, a birthday present from the Naruhata Vigilantes that was really just a framed picture of him, the Crawler, the Hotta brothers and their crew arguing over the best place to put a cat tower in their soon-to-open cat cafe with signatures and well wishes written on the back, the little witled wooden cat family of a mamma cat and three kittens from Kamui Woods as a thanks for all of Eraser's help and guidance ...

All irrational, sentimental things to keep, really, but Shouta had kept them anyways. And he'd gladly share that part of himself with Eri, but he doesn't want her accidentally breaking something and then withdrawing from him because she's expecting punishment. There will be time when he'll show her his little treasure chest, a time when she will no doubt add to it, but until then ... Well, it's best to stop a mess than clean it up.

The matter of clothes had been more difficult to solve than he'd have liked, so he'd simply texted Koichi and Kazuho and asked them to pick up clothes for a little girl. He gave them Eri's rough measurements and told them to go wild, he'd pay them back double the amount. He also asked for suggestions for toys, crayons and whatnot, including cartoons kids might like these days that aren't too violent. He got a few texts back expressing confusion but neither of the two younger Vigilantes actually have the guts to question him, which is why he'd chosen them instead of (insert shudder here) the Hotta brothers. Besides, he trusts these kids - though they're not really actually kids - to know what to get. And it might serve as a bonding experience that will, hopefully, lead to those two finally figuring out their feelings for each other. Honestly, Aizawa feels so old when around those two, who are acting like teenagers in love. Uraraka and Midoirya nor Yaoyorozu and Todoroki aren't that bad and he'd seen them all together only once. Twice, if you count the rather impersonal 'interaction' during the Sports Festival.

So while he left the two Vigilantes running around getting clothes for Eri, he instead focused on the most daunting task of all: grocery shopping. Even if it was online, as there was no way he was leaving a sleeping traumatized child all by herself after she'd just been rescued from a more than shitty situation, it all just exhausted him. And no, it wasn't because of the fight and the night before he'd actually had decent sleep just to be at his best for the raid. He just hated grocery shopping.

Still, it was all definitely worth it - even if he had to chase away the Crawler and PopStep with a stick at one point - when Eri woke up and found herself in her new home.

She was, of course, wary and timid and distrustful at first, but she'd latched on to Shouta as a comfort from the start, even if she'd not really dared show it at first. As long as he was in her line of sight, she was relaxed. Shouta knew he'd have to do something to prevent that from becoming a form of conditioning, but he figured they could go one step at a time, baby steps version.

The first problem they ran into was that she wouldn't let him see her arms, to treat her injuries. It took a lot of haggling - and a whole lot of apple bunny slices - before she'd let him just take off the old bandages and then Shouta had to do subtle breathing exercises when he saw the many cuts. From the logs he'd managed to download and then destroy the original of in the labs, Chisaki and Chronostasis had only recently begun their sick experiments, but Eri-chan's arms were in this state already? When he saw her legs, he was ready to commit murder. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that that would, inevitably, force him to leave Eri behind and she probably couldn't handle that, too, after everything, so he'd forced himself to calm down and did his work diligently, gentle and careful. He'd nearly had a heart attack when he looked up and saw tears streaming down her face.

He'd started apologizing and removed his hands immediately, but Eri just shook her head and said she'd never felt such a kind, warm touch before.

And that's how he'd introduced Eri to hugs.

She normally didn't ask for them, those first two weeks, but apparently Yagi-san had scared her quite a bit that day he'd stumbled upon them in the alley and she'd clearly liked them even more, afterwards, because she asked for one now at least five times a day. Shouta always obliged and half the time found himself with an armful of sleeping Eri-chan that did not want to let go of whatever shirt he happened to be wearing at the time.

That day with Yagi was actually only the second time he'd taken Eri out. He'd not wanted to overwhelm her with all the noise and people outside so he'd let her stay in until she got used to him and the fact that no one was going to hurt her. A week after she'd first been brought into his home, he took her out for a short walk through a park. It was early in the morning, so there weren't a lot of people and they could easily avoid the few that were already out and about. Eri had, indeed, been a bit overwhelmed by it and wanted to go back rather quickly, clinging to Shouta's hand as if her life depended on it, but the next week she'd spent gazing longingly out the windows. Though every time Shouta had asked if she'd like to go out, she'd declined.

Then, one morning, there was a cat lounging in their window, one of the strays Shouta fed, and the little girl was both scared and fascinated by the feline. Eri had been both scared and curious, as she was with most things she'd never seen before, which was a distressing number. (Don't get him started on the adventure with his new blender.) Shouta had only noticed her distress when she'd whimpered and had immediately had a knife in hand to defend them in case someone from the Shie Hassaika had actually managed to escape from the police and had come after them, only to relax when he saw his usual - and only real - visitor. Then followed the explanation about cats and then a petting session and then when Eri-chan seemed mesmerized by the friendly, lazy feline, Shouta had told her about the many alleyways he visited in order to give random street cats the care and good they desperately needed. That's what lead to their second outing and Aizawa Shouta's second meeting with All Might, or rather Yagi-san.

Who had outright flirted with him, right there at the end.

Shouta hadn't been able to disperse the heat in his cheeks until they finally reached home and he was supposed to make lunch for his new charge.

The week since then had been a bit of an adventure in figuring out what Eri likes besides apples, because only now had the girl realized she can express displeasure without getting punished for it. She didn't like mac and cheese but mashed potatoes were some of her favorites. No pickles, but she liked tomatoes because they were 'the vegetable apples', even though tomatoes were just as much of a fruit and didn't really resemble apples in taste at all. He guessed she just liked the umami flavor from them or maybe even just the color so let her be. Red paprika was just as much of a hit but she didn't like radish. She also didn't like pork or chicken and preferred geese above all other types of meat. She liked miso ramen and didn't like katsudon - because of the pork - and she preferred the hot soba than the cold one. She wasn't much of a fan of sushi but she liked the rolls with the vegetables. Really, it was a learning experience for the both of them.

The only 'bad' thing they discovered was that she had a sweet tooth and Shouta refused to let her eat more than one candy bar a day, which lead to her learning to pout and that was deadly. It was just too cute for Shouta's heart.

Besides the food part, Shouta also learned Eri had a mild allergy to dust bunnies, so he had to both buy her some allergy medicine and clean up his house to be even more spotless than when he'd first brought her here. He also found out that she didn't know how to read or count so he set up a 'schooling' hour, teaching her some of the most basic things a child her age should already have known but she didn't due to her circumstances. That, as it turned out, included holidays, which ended up making Shouta call Hizashi and half-ass a lie about a kid he'd saved panicking but seeming to like American holidays based on their clothing. Mic had taken the bait far too easily but Shouta was just grateful that he'd had even that little bit of help.

He was surprised, though, to hear that Yamada had been worried about him and had missed him.

"You haven't made an appearance in three weeks, Eraser. Even after the USJ shitstorm, you came back in less than two. It was a bit concerning."

Shouta had had to swallow a lump in his throat when he heard the genuine concern in the loud blond's voice. "I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

The voice Hero had just scoffed. "Yeah, well, fuck that! Nem and I will worry anyways, so at least give us some signs of life after doing something like that next time, 'kay? Midnight was this close to crashing into Overhaul's cell and beating the answer out of him, sadist mode activated." Shouta grimaced and he was pretty sure both of them shuddered at the mere thought of that 'mode'. Gods, but Nemuri could be terrifying when someone manages to make her enter sadist mode. Heavens forbid she finds an actual masochist somewhere. Aizawa was pretty sure she'd manage to convert them back to neutral with just one session, what with how intense she was. "So spare us all and call us next time, or at least send a text or something! Don't just leave us hanging, man."

"I'll see that I do," he'd replied and that had been that.

Aizawa could understand why they'd begun to worry, really. It was, indeed, the longest Eraserhead hasn't made an appearance in all the fifteen years he'd been active as a Vigilante. Only grave injury has managed to keep him away in the past and never before for this long. But Aizawa currently had a new priority. He couldn't just leave Eri alone after promising himself and her that he'd give her a good, proper home where she would feel safe and secure and cared for. He hadn't created Aizawa Eri lightly. He wanted to give her what Ashou had given him, the only difference between him and his own surname-giver was that Shouta had no intentions of committing crimes that harm others, in any way, nor did he plan on preparing Eri to join in on his business. Yes, Ashou had always been supportive of whatever Shouta might choose to be, but that hadn't stopped him from dropping hints here or there that there was someone who will inherit the Aizawa name and, ultimately, his business.

Shouta hadn't wanted that and that's how he'd ended up packing up his stiff and turning Hal in.

Shouta didn't want for Eri to pick up Eraserhead's mantle, either, despite how much she liked him. If she wants to help people, she can do it legally, as a Hero or doctor or police officer or in the military. She can choose, but Shouta will probably discourage her from being like him. She's suffered enough already.

Her Quirk would be best used in a hospital, anyway.

Maybe he can get her to visit Chiyo-san? The old woman would probably be happy to have an apprentice with a power like Eri's, but it will be up to Shouta to teach her how to control and use it. It's at times like this that he thanks the stars that it allows him to see Quirks and how they behave when used and the fact that he had chosen to study Quirk Theory, as it gave him a pretty damn good idea where to start off with Eri's training. She still wasn't exactly emotionally stable and her Quirk is still a relatively recent addition to her life, so they'll have to wait for a while longer before they begin training. At least it's not like they're rushing towards anything. They have time.

For now, Shouta would divide his time between playing with Eri, doing house chores, doing research for both his paper and the other case he'd kind of neglected for a while, keeping in contact with his students and his usual training routine. The League of Villains has been quiet as of late, though the Erasure wielder can only track any possible movements through CCTV footage from the streets and stores all around Musutafu. (They run on a special facial recognition program that he'd developed and should send him an alert the second Giran, Kurogiri or Shigaraki show up.) His 'students' were off to that Summer Training Camp UA's Hero Course got to go to in order to train their Quirks. Yamada and Kayama were doing paperwork this week at UA so he didn't have to worry about them getting hurt on their own patrols and as tragic and horrible as it is, Tensei can no longer patrol so Shouta didn't have to stress over him, either.

Really, it had all had the makings of a quiet night with Eri watching cartoons and him doing some research on the League when she suddenly raced over to him, tugging urgently on the hem of his shirt. "Zawa-san, Zawa-san! There's a big blue fire in a huge park!"

That had Aizawa's attention turning from the concerned soon to be six year old to the TV screen, where he realized that the 'huge park' was actually a forest and a big patch of it. The news anchor, however, had his attention captured even more swiftly. Because she was saying that that forest had been the site of the UA Summer Camp!

His goddamn kids were there!

He both listened to what the woman was saying and the text scrolling down at the bottom of the screen, short and concise.

League of Villains attack.

UA traitor strikes again.

One Pro Hero missing.

Two Pros are injured.

The Wild Wild Pussycats!

Injured students.

Mustard gas!

Bakugo Katsuki missing-

Shouta jerked into action quicker than he'd thought possible. He had his phone in hand immediately and started calling numbers. Mandalay wasn't answering and neither was Pixie Bob nor Ragdoll. Tiger answered briefly to say he can't talk now because he's speaking with police officers and Shouta knew immediately that it was more for his own protection than for inconveniencing the pursuit after Bakugo. That's fine.

He'd rather Bakugo be found than take away attention from his search and rescue party.

He tried a few other Pro Heroes but the only one that had the decency to tell him anything was All Might and even that wasn't helpful because I'm sorry doesn't make it fucking better, nor does it return his fucking student!

And since no one else was giving him any information, Shouta found himself doing what he did best. He hacked into the police's systems, the Hero network, everything, and started gathering intel for himself. That's how he found out that Pixie Bob and Mister Blaster were severely injured. There was even questioning whether the man would live. Ragdoll was the missing Pro. out of the forty students that had been present, fifteen were in critical condition due to the poisonous mustard gas. Eleven others had injuries of varying degrees. Thirteen were uninjured. One was missing and it just had to be one of his kids.

On the other hand, three of the villains were arrested on the scene, caught red handed. When Shouta found out their identities, he felt like he might just faint. Muscular and Moonfish were extremely dangerous criminals, murderers, and they did it for fun. Moonfish was even suspected of cannibalism, for crying out loud! Why were only two teachers and four other Pros with the kids!? Someone like Present Mic or Ectoplasm would have been of far more use in any situation concerning protecting the students than Vlad King and Mister Blast - who was, might he add, already in questionable fighting condition after his injuries at USJ.

Shouta grit his teeth. Getting angry and irrational would help no one in this situation. Now, he had a headcount and he knew whose phones to hack. He went first for Mandalay because he actually knew her best. He was actually the only person with a Quirk that her nephew, Kota, liked because he can take them away, though only Kota knew that. (Mandalay had introduced them when she'd been at the end of her wits in the beginning, when she'd just been given care and custody of her cousin's son. The Wild Wild Pussycats had, at that point, known Eraserhead for five years and had even called him out on some of their mountain rescue missions to assist when they were sure the cause of it was an errant Quirk, but they'd never found out he had Erasure and had probably written it off as a gadget/trick/drug like everyone else. The point was, they knew he was pretty good with kids and so Mandalay had reached out to him for help, because the boy wasn't eating, was getting very little sleep and talked to no one because he didn't hate Heroes, he hated Quirks altogether. So who better to talk to than a supposedly Quirkless Vigilante who had a way of temporarily blocking Quirks, right? Logical. Kota ended up liking him and Shouta even babysat the boy a few times when the Wild Wild Pussycats had to go far away. And man, was it hard to go home and not take off his gear because no, Kota did not need to know who Eraserhead was, as that would only put him in even more danger than being a part of a Hero's family already did.)

When he got in, he saw a half finished, never sent message meant for him. She had been trying to either ask for help or inform him the kids were in danger and would eventually need him.

The other Pussycats hadn't gotten even that far. There was absolutely nothing from them. They'd been ambushed and hadn't had the chance to send out a call for help.

Vlad had called the authorities, but they had arrived too late to be of any help but put out the fire and arrest the villains. Mister Blaster hadn't done anything, as far as Shouta could tell. He had to refrain from cursing like a sailor when he realized just how useless that man had been in the whole situation. The students had done more than their teacher.

Students ...

He quickly turned to hacking his kids' phones, pausing only long enough to get Eri dinner and tuck her in for bed, assuring her that everything would be alright soon enough. (Because he will damn well make sure of it.) It turns out more than half of them had tried to reach out to him but had been stopped for one reason or another.

Midoriya's and Kaminari's phone gave off absolutely no signal, which meant they'd been broken or Kaminari had fried his while using his Quirk. Yaoyorozu had left no message, which he found weird, as she and Iida were extremely responsible and would have asked for help even if they'd had 100% confidence in the Pros' ability to keep them safe. Bakugo's signal was being blocked, but that won't be able to stop Shouta for long. Todoroki, Tokoyami, Shoji, Uraraki and Asui apparently hadn't had a chance to send anything, either, though judging by the list of injured students, it made sense why the girls and Shoji couldn't. Tokoyami, too. Dark Shadow had probably broken loose of his control in all that darkness. Aoyama had sent an almost incomprehensible message, which lead Shouta to believe that he'd probably been in a situation where a villain was too close for him to reveal the light of the phone's screen and had sent a message without looking. Koda, Hagakure and Jirou had left nothing, either, but he could see that they're victims of the mustard gas. (He had to refrain from going to where they were holding the villains just to wring that little fuck's neck.) Sato, Sero, Iida, Mineta, Ashido, Kirishima were the only ones who had been able to send clear, understandable messages, all begging him to come help them in one way or another, as though they thought he could just jump down from the sky like at USJ and save them.

How he wished he could. More than anything, he wished he could have been there for them, but he hadn't. He'd been miles and miles away, with no idea as to their location or situation. He'd failed them, simply by being a damned Vigilante and not a Pro and their actual teacher as they all clearly so wished.

But he had no time for regret. He had police reports to go through, surveillance cameras and security systems to hack and monitor and demolish whatever it was that was blocking Bakugo's signal so he could find him. If his phone was being blocked, then he still had it on him. That might not last for much longer, but Shouta wasn't about to discard the idea that he could find the kid.

He worked like that, multitasking, all the way till morning. Eri woke up and he had to get up to give her breakfast, but he took only one toast and coffee for himself and returned to his laptop immediately afterwards. He could feel her worried red eyes on him and he turned to give her his best reassuring smile, and that seemed to calm her a little, but he had to return to what he was doing soon afterwards. He was tempted to break into the villains' cells and interrogate them personally to get some information out of them, but he could already tell that they'd been recruited through Giran.

At this time, Eri turned on the TV to watch her favorite cartoon, but nothing but the news was broadcasting on every channel. Aizawa sneered when he looked over and saw the gates of UA flooded by reporters. Vultures. Aizawa would rather swim with sharks while covered in blood than stand before them for even one second.

"Eri, would you like me to put in one of the CDs?"

The girl hesitated but eventually nodded with a quiet "Yes, Zawa-san." Shouta ruffled her hair affectionately as he walked past her to get one of her cartoons and she seemed to finally relax, even though she was clearly smart enough to tell that not everything was fine.

The first day since the kidnapping went on just like that, Shouta working desperately to try and get information while the Heroes scrambled to do the same. He swore he was going to kill whoever had eventually destroyed Bakugo's phone. The signal had ceased existing just seconds before Shouta would have cracked the signal dampener sometime last night so he was back to square one on that field. (It was times like this that Shouta actually wished he was really an Aizawa, that he had some variation, if not the exact copy, of Ashou's Quirk. Ashou would have had that signal in a matter of minutes while Shouta had lost it in under an hour. One might wonder how he could hack into I-Island but not something clearly far less secure. Well, let's just say that when he hacked I-Island, he used their own servers and strong network connection, which made the job far easier. Whoever had been blocking Bakugo's phone's signal had shit tech. And, as he was starting to fear, that might have actually been on purpose. Which meant the League of Villains knew he was a hacker. Fuck. They'd probably heard about the I-Island incident. Double fuck.)

Eventually, he overheard - or, well, hacked phones and all; he was sure Tsukauchi and Yagi-san won't mind - that the Pros had some clue and were already preparing the top Heroes for a raid. A hidden bar in an old-looking building, huh? A guy with a patchwork of scars on his face? Shouta can work with that. Another half a day went by just like that and night was approaching. Shouta knew he couldn't leave Bakugo waiting any longer. Digital research has been exhausted. He can't find out anything more from this remote method than he already has. He'll need to go out in the field. Fuck.

He can't leave Eri alone. He doesn't have babysitters he could call. Going all the way to Naruhata would eat up a lot of his time and he was already suffering a shortage of it. The last useful peace of information he'd gotten from the Hero network was that, apparently, Yaoyorozu had managed to plant a tracker on a Nomu - where the everloving fuck was All Might to fight that one!? - that had attacked them at the Training Camp and that there were two locations to raid. Shouta might have to stakeout both of them. If he can get Bakugo out before the Pros come, then they'll have only the villains to worry about.

He had two problems with all of this: one, he needed to find someone to look after Eri; two, Yaoyorozu had made a bug that sent a signal to only a specific device, which was also made by her. The likeliness that Aizawa could hack it and take the frequency in time to get to Bakugo before the raid was minimal. There's also the fact that he rather doubts the League would lounge around with the Nomu looming over them. They were too arrogant and childish for that. No, that second location, the one Yaoyorozu's quick thinking - good girl, good for her - had uncovered ... That was what he'd been looking for since USJ.

The Nomu factory.

Bakugo wouldn't be there. Not if they'd gone through the trouble of taking him alive.

But he'll deal with that after he drops Eri off with her new, unsuspecting babysitter.

"Eraser?" Togata Mirio, AKA Lemillion, UA third year student and Hero-in-training, intern at Nighteye Agency, looked reasonably incredulous to open his door and see none other than the Vigilante he'd once tried to arrest for his mentor only to be stopped by his best friend standing there, and with a little girl no less. Shouta had no doubt that Lemillion didn't actually know about Eri, as he'd seen that her case file was labeled as confidential, which is why he'd picked the enthusiastic blond. He knew Togata could be trusted and he knew the kid wouldn't even realize the importance of the little girl Shouta would be leaving in his care, while also being certain that the young man would rather give his life than let harm come to her. "Wha-"

"I need you to babysit," he cut the other off before this interaction could possibly drag on into something long and drawn out. Eraserhead was kind of in a hurry. It was already dusk and the Heroes were making plans to attack when it gets dark. He's not certain of the hour, but he needs to find Bakugo and, most probably, his other stupidly brave and tenacious students, too, so they'd both be out of harm's way and the Pros', too. The Heroes didn't need to worry about children right now. "Here's all you need to know, make sure she's in bed before nine thirty at the latest. Don't put on any violent movies or bass-heavy music. I'll pick her up in the morning, most likely. Call Nejire and Amakiji, if you need. Also, if you dare tell Nighteye about her, I swear to the heavens all the way back down to hell that I will ruin you in ways you'd never thought possible."

It was clear the UA student wanted to ask him questions, and probably a lot of them, but he ended up deciding against it and set his mouth in a grim, serious line, nodding. "You got it, Eraser."

Shouta nodded back before turning around and crouching down in front of Eri, who'd been hiding behind him since Togata had opened the door. "Eri-chan, I'm gonna need you to stay here with Lemillion. he's a Hero-in-training and I trust him, so you can trust him, too. He'll keep you safe. I promise to come back for you, okay?"

"But where are you going?" The little horned girl asked fearfully, red eyes flitting towards the blond looking curiously down on them and shrinking shyly away from his gaze. "Can't I go with you?"

"Not this time, Eri-chan. A student needs me. A kid like you needs my help, just like you did, okay? I need to go get him back from some really bad people and that would be too dangerous for you, so you're staying with Lemillion instead and when I'm done, I'll come back for you. I swear I'll come back and we'll go visit the cats tomorrow, okay?"

"You're going to search for that Bakugo kid, Eraser?" Togata asked and Shouta looked up at him over his shoulder. He didn't need an answer. "I figured you would. I'm actually a bit surprised you haven't busted him out already, but I guess I understand now." The older of the two males stiffened at that, the realization that Togata knows- "Don't worry, Eraser. This will be our little secret, as long as you don't tattle on me to Sir Nighteye!" The blond reassured with a bright grin and a thumbs up and Shouta couldn't help but relax at the sight of it. He'd keep the secret. He watched as Togata all but dropped to his knees in front of Eri, smiling warmly and friendly at her, which caused her to relax some even though she still looked to Shouta for guidance whether that was a good decision or not, to which he nodded. "Hi, Eri-chan, was it? My name is Togata Mirio! My Hero name is Lemillion because I aspire to save one million people! You can call me whatever you like, though. Don't worry, we're gonna have so much fun! And my two really good friends will come, too, and we can play makeovers or watch Disney movies or play with dollies! Oh! I'm sure Nejire has some! This is gonna be such a fun sleepover! Eraser will be so jealous that he had to miss out! But! We will just have to invite him to the next one!"

Shouta watched as Togata's friendly disposition calmed Eri further and how his excitement and enthusiasm slowly started to affect her. It was heartwarming, but he had to shove that down. He had no place for warmth right now, not when Bakugo was off somewhere in cold shadows of the unknown and uncertainty.

"I'll leave it to you, then," he said and waved the two goodbye before hurrying back out onto the streets, scaling the nearest building and taking the rooftops across town. The journey lasted for about forty minutes before Aizawa found himself in the absolute gutter of the city, the place where the worst of the worst gathered, the underworld of the underworld. The so-called underground. Giran's domain, his and those like him. Hal's once playground. If one is smart, one could go in and find out the filthiest and most mysterious secrets of Japan here, but one never returns as they'd entered. People have lost themselves to the darkness they'd found in the underground of the criminal underworld itself, the place where only the worst of the worst have made their home, where depravity and pain were as common as air.

Shouta had only once entered it and he'd just barely escaped from it with his own sense of self intact. (There were far too many mind-manipulating Quirks in this place, this one literally underground facility where the black market and the best illegal information brokers made their of light heart, shaky morals and weak mind who were to go in would find themselves lost forever. Most villains are different shades of gray and black, due to some tragic backstory or something. Those who dwell here are pure black and Shouta has seen it, has been a part of this place once and only once as an outsider going in, and he'd barely made it back out. One needed a good reason to fight it all. Shouta had twenty two at the very least, not counting his fifteen years long friends nor whatever the hell it was that was developing between him and All Might.) Back then, he'd been searching for a corpse stolen straight from a hospital, a friend that had allowed him to once again believe in himself.

Today, he was searching for a boy, his student, one of his kids.

And so, he braved the darkest darkness and let it sink in.

He had a damn good reason not to get lost.

No matter how deep he went.

Chapter Text

Katsuki wasn't sure what to make of this whole situation.

When he'd first imagined going to UA as a Hero Course student, he had imagined things to be a whole lot different than how they'd actually happened.

For one, he'd thought he'd get the same worshipful treatment as he'd had in middle school, where he'd had the by far strongest and most versatile Quirk than all those other damn 'd also thought he would finally be rid of Deku once and for all. That's not how things had gone. Instead, he was in a classroom full of powerful kids his own age, some who might even actually be stronger than him in certain circumstances. And Deku, who'd been a Quirkless loser for as long as Katsuki had known him, suddenly had a Quirk so very similar to All Might's and he was quickly learning how to control it, was also in UA. In Class 1-A, no less. It was as though that nerd will never stop haunting him.

Two, he'd expected a halfway competent teacher, at the very least. Whether they'd like him or not hadn't really mattered to him. He'd be the Number One Hero one day, soon enough, and didn't need anyone's approval. Instead of a halfway competent Hero, they'd gotten some practically unknown boastful, arrogant bastard that had a Quirk that seemed like a cheap knockoff of Katsuki's own. Katsuki had asserted his dominance on the first day, not that it really mattered.

By their second week, the third strangest thing he never would have imagined to happen to him as a UA student, did. They were attacked by villains and it wasn't the teachers that had saved them, not really. It had been a Vigilante. Eraserhead. Katsuki hadn't really known what to think of the black-clad man when he'd first jumped out of seemingly nowhere to their rescue but by the time he'd been warped away, fought through a hoard of villains and made his way to the main plaza where the Vigilante had been fighting only to find All Might struggling against that big ugly motherfucker with the exposed brain and the Vigilante in critical condition being carried away by Froggy and Grapeboy, he'd grown to respect the man. Visiting him in Recovery Girl's wing had been a collective decision he'd had no part in, but had tagged along when Pikachu and Shitty Hair had gotten annoying about it.

Seeing the state of him had been a shock and perhaps even a wake-up call. It had also made him consider the man once again. Eraserhead had risked his life for them when he'd never even met them before and it wasn't even his job. He'd kicked the asses of a couple of dozen villains all by himself and had, apparently, managed to save Deku, Grapeboy and Froggy even after his face had been smashed into concrete, his arms broken and shoulders dislocated, one of his elbows having even been decayed by Fuck McHands. He'd held on and fought until he couldn't no more and then some, Plus Ultra, just to make sure they could all evacuate. He was in the state he was because of them, for them, and Katsuki felt ... grateful. All Might may have given the final punch, but it had been Eraserhead that had saved them.

It was only natural to grow protective of him. He was theirs now, damn it. Katsuki will explode anyone who tried to take him away and had no qualms about saying as much, much to the apparent shock and confusion of the man.

Then the man had surprised them, in turn, by telling them his full name and later on even showing them what he looked like without the scarf-thing or the goggles - or the bandages - and Katuski felt like he'd been given something precious. They all did. And so they gave something precious in return. Aizawa-sensei was theirs, after all, so it only made sense to call him 'Sensei'.

Winning the Sports Festival in the way he did would be the fourth thing that he hadn't imagined would go that way. Stupid Icyhot. Stupid teachers. Stupid audience. Stupid All Might. But then Sensei showed up and told them all off, which had been a fucking delight to watch. Really, it had been the highlight of Katsuki's day, especially as Sensei had taken his side and released him from the stupid muzzle and cuffs. Something had bugged the ashy blond for weeks to come, though, about that little interaction when Aizawa-sensei had placed the first place medal properly around his neck. Bakugo couldn't tell what it was, but the way Sensei had acted, the inflation of his voice ... It was almost as though he was recalling something nostalgic. Which didn't make sense.

Sensei was a Vigilante, after all.

Why would he be nostalgic about the Sports Festival?

That would imply Sensei had, at one point, been a UA student, but if Sensei had been a student, then there's no way he wouldn't already be one of the best Pros in the business!

It must have been Midnight's Quirk muddling his brain, still.

He'd brushed it off.

Working with Best Jeanist had also not been how he'd imagined it to be, though Sensei's intervention had, once again, been more than welcome. Fuck Jeanist and his attempt to change Katsuki's personality! Thank the stars or whatever that Eraserhead had set him straight! The image of Jeanist danging from a lamp post by Eraser's capture weapon while the dark haired man scolded him was one Katsuki will remember to his last breath and cherish it like fucking gold. Say what you want about the Vigilante, but he's badass as fuck.

The continued relationship of Class 1-A with Eraserhead was definitely a pleasant unexpected turn of events. He always seemed to be right there for them when they needed him, be it through a phone call miles upon thousands of miles away or in person, it didn't matter. Katsuki knew how much they all had come to depend on him. His calm was like a balm to their frayed nerves as villain after villain seemed to come after their class. Even for the exams at the end of the semester, he knows his fellow classmates had reached out to the Vigilante, to at the very least inform him of how it had gone. He himself had done it, after all, even though he'd denied it when the others had asked.

He just ... always seemed to be just there, seconds away, every time they needed him, even for the smallest of things.

He guessed that's why they'd all at least at one point looked upwards, searched through the trees or out of the corner of their eye every time shadows moved during the attack on the Training Camp, expecting to find him rushing to their rescue in all of his yellow-goggled, capture weapon whirling, Eraserhead glory.

But he hadn't, because he hadn't known where they were, because none of them had had a chance to call for help.

So now, here Bakugo was, shackled once again, though this time it was because he'd been kidnapped by the League of Villains, and he was kind of expecting Eraserhead to come bust him out any second now. He wouldn't even be surprised. The man always seemed to know everything that was happening. Class 1-A had heard about the raid three weeks ago on that yakuza hideout. Deku was still as big of a nerd as ever and that came in handy when one's trying to figure out what was truly some Hero's work or what was them taking credit for Eraserhead's efforts. If only the damn nerd wouldn't mutter so much while explaining his deductions!

The League wanted Bakugo to join them, which was stupid, really. He was in the Hero Course for a goddamned reason and it's because he wants to be a Hero. He wants to save people, to fight bad guys, to be like All Might! Just because he doesn't spout the goody two-shoes bull everyone else does all the time doesn't mean he doesn't have the same ideals!

What both annoyed and concerned him was that the public seems to have some doubt about this, about the solidity of his character and this time, there was no Sensei to set them straight because Eraserhead was a Vigilante, a criminal in the eyes of the law and half of the population. That pissed him off, too. Aizawa-sensei was nothing like these maniacs in front of him and not just in a moral sense, either. Aizawa-sensei would be a damn terrifying villain because he kept his cool, wasn't talkative, was focused and wouldn't make the mistake of making presumptions.

Besides, he definitely had better speeches - made on the spot, no less - than the bullshit Fuck McHands had spouted to try and sway Katsuki to his side. So what if they'd tied him up at the Festival? So what if they'd gagged him? Yes, it had brought back the unpleasant reminder of the Sludge villain incident, but Katsuki didn't care. He had his shitty classmates in his corner, he had Sensei in his corner and he even had his parents in his corner, though his mother had a weird ass way of showing it most of the time. And he obviously had UA in his corner, judging by the way Midnight tried to speak up for him and the old rat supported her words as the media tried to rip both him and them apart for their own sadistic pleasure while he faced off, free - because these fuckers were fucking idiots and had set him free in order to 'show good will and camaraderie', as if those empty words meant anything, especially as they won't be letting him go if he were to try to leave of his own will - hands at the ready and Quirkjust pumping up, against the League of Villains in their shitty bar.

He just had to hold out, just long enough like Sensei had. Just long enough until someone comes and helps him get the fuck out of here. His bet's on either All Might or Eraserhead and they're honestly the only ones he would trust to get him out of here to someplace safe, because the location of the Training Camp had been a secret! There's a mole in UA or in the Hero Commission or somewhere in the system and it could be anyone. Anyone but All Might, Thirteen and Eraserhead, the three people who'd nearly given their lives for them at USJ. But Thirteen would be fatal in this situation, especially against the warpgate purple fart cloud and while Katsuki knows Eraserhead must have learned about his kidnapping by now, he wasn't sure how the man could possibly find him. The League had made a mess of the Training Camp, but he rather doubted they'd left a map to their secret hideout or something. The police were probably just as fucking clueless.

He had to hold out and while he'd gotten a good hit in by surprise, Fuck McHands had managed to dodge somehow the worst of the blow and the only thing he'd done was knock that hand off of his fucking face. He looked a little shaken and his aggressiveness had the rest of the League wary of approaching him again, which was damn fine in his book. He didn't want them closer, they're all close quarter combatants and while his hand to hand was pretty good, he didn't want to let the patchwork goth or the tacky magician currently asking him if this was his attitude - violent and aggressive and antagonizing - why he couldn't just pretend to have been swayed over to touch him because one could burn him into incapacitation while the other could turn him back into one of those stupid fucking marbles. He can't let that happen. He has to fight.

He has to hold out.

Because he knows at least someone would come to save him.

All Might or Sensei, he didn't care.

Just one of those two.

(One of the two people he could trust completely and unconditionally, because they've proven time and again that they'd go that extra mile for him.)

Fuck, he'd probably accept Deku or Half 'n' Half right now, too. He had to escape. He can't let them hold this over UA, over All Might. He won't be what ends the Symbol of Peace, goddamn it! He won't!

"If I'm feeling something, I ain't gonna lie about it," he tells the cliche clown magician guy. "And I'm not in the mood to hang around this boring dump for much longer." He brings a hand up, letting off a few smaller explosions just to warm his hands up for the fight that's coming.

But the leader is still standing like he'd been frozen after Bakugo's first strike, head swung to the side. There were minute tremors going though him, so small they were almost unnoticeable but the purple fart cloud seems to have seen something no one else has because he springs forward, calling out for Fuck McHands not to do anything. To which the white haired menace just looks at the ash blond UA student and Bakugo feels something like madness and killing intent stab into him like a knife, for just one second. Then the guy is bending over to pick up the fucking hand from the ground. "Just stay back, all of you ... This kid ... "He pauses to put the thing back onto his face, which is really a creepy fetish. "Is an important pawn."

"Tch."

"I wish you would've listened," Fuck McHands continues. "I thought we might understand each other."

"Nope," he replies in as annoying a tone as he could manage, channeling his inner Kaminari-Mineta-Sero combo. It should be deadly to anyone without steel-clad nerves. He thinks back to his stay with Jeanist during the internships and what the man had told him the first day, about how villains and Heroes are the same side of the coin but their conduct and morals are what makes them different. Katsuki knows he doesn't have the best of attitudes, but he'll never become a villain.

"What a shame." The guy almost sounded like he meant it. Well too fucking bad. "We all just heard about the investigation so I can't waste anymore time trying to convince you. Sensei." Bakugo couldn't help but perk up a bit at that word. It's practically a reflex at this point, to hear that word and think of Eraserhead. But the dark figure ain't here and Fuck McHands seems to be talking to ... an old, broken(?) TV set? here's certainly no image playing, just the usual NO SIGNAL display when the cable's not working. "Lend me your power."

Okay, he did not like the sound of that.

Nor the chuckle that suddenly came from the TV, deep and menacing. "Very well," the owner of the chuckle had just as deep of a voice as the laughter had implied. "A smart choice, Shigaraki Tomura." Oh yeah, this can't be good. That fucker from behind the TV screen made shivers run down Bakugo's spine and the guy wasn't even in the same room.

"Haaah? Sensei? I was pretty sure you were the boss around here. Pretty disappointing, I must say."

"You have no room to talk," the bastard threw back. "You worship the ground those Heroes walk on. And let's not even mention the Vigilante. I'm actually a bit impressed by how they get you to listen to anything they say."

"Want me to listen?" Katsuki scoffed. "Try saying something worthwhile, otherwise stuff it and go to hell."

He could just feel the glare directed at him at that. "Kurogiri, Compress, let's put him to sleep again so he doesn't make anymore trouble for us."

Bakugo stiffened at that before forcing himself to relax so he'd be ready for any attack that might come. Just as he started debating strategy within his mind, there came a knock from behind him, on the locked door. "Hello, Kamino pizza delivery," said a voice from beyond as they all turned, confused to regard the door.

'Wha-'

He didn't even get a chance to finish the thought before All Might was smashing through the door, crumbling it and the wall and any furniture on or near said wall in a matter of seconds. The building shook under the force of the hit, debris and dust flying through the air. The villains all cried out various sounds of surprise and alarm, especially as more Heroes came through, including Kamui Woods, some old guy in a white and yellow jumpsuit and cape and Edgeshot. From outside, he could hear police officers and the familiar shouting voice of Endeavor. More Heroes were out there too, apparently, if All Might was to be believed.

"Must've been scary," the big, muscly blond Hero said with his usual smile stretched over his face. "Good job on holding out! I'm sorry it's taken us this long to find you, but have no fear! You're okay now, Bakugo-shounen!"

Katsuki will take it to his grave just how near crippling the relief that washed over him felt, so he hid it behind his usual bluster, anger and bravado. "Sca-Scary!? As if! I almost had 'em!" But all All Might did in reaction to that was shoot him a thumbs up like an idiot. Bakugo wanted to tsk but that would be too rude, even for him.

The League were all bound up in Kamui Woods' binds. Edgeshot even had the warpgate guy under wraps, keeping him unconscious so he can't use his Quirk. The bloodsucking mosquito chick and the schizophrenia guy were thrashing about. Compress and that patchwork fucker seemed to be knocked out cold. All Might and Fuck McHands were exchange words about their resolve and rage and whatever, it didn't matter. There was a brief mention of the Nomu. It looked like a clear win for the Heroes and the police, and yet something didn't feel right here. The guy from the TV set hadn't said a word through all of this but Katsuki had a feeling he was still observing. Why was he letting this happen?

"You gotta be kidding. You gotta be kidding!" Oh shit, looks like the crazy hands fetish guy finally snapped. "Defeated, here, like this ... Just like that? No freaking way! Get out of here! Go to hell!" Damn, this guy makes Katsuki's worst moments seem tame, but at least he's just explosiveness and shouting and temper. This guy's all craziness and killing intent. He hadn't been like this at USJ! What the hell's going on here!?

"Where is he?!" All Might demanded and Katsuki felt sort of lost, like he didn't belong here, like he'd somehow gotten involved in something that didn't concern him at all. Yet he knew who All Might was talking about.

That TV guy.

It had to be him.

"I ... Hate you!" Shigaraki yelled and somehow that exclamation brought about a new fucking portal opening out of fucking nowhere despite the purple fart cloud being restrained by Edgeshot! Nomu just kept coming through the splashy-like portals and the Heroes were already scrambling on what to do with this new development.

Then, it happened in a second, out of fucking nowhere.

While All Might was ordering Kamui Woods to make sure not to release any of the villains, black liquid suddenly manifested in Bakugo's mouth and started overflowing. By the time All Might noticed, Katsuki already felt like he was both choking and fading away and then he just wasn't ... there anymore. Instead, he was elsewhere. In an instant, he's in what appears to be an industrial area, standing in front of a man about as tall as All Might, wearing a suit and a knock off Dart Vader mask. The most horrifying part was that there were defeated Heroes all around. Katsuki's eyes fell on Best Jeanist and something in him felt like it had twisted up and died when he saw the state of the Number Four Hero, his one time mentor. Sure, Jeanist had annoyed him and he'd felt like the first couple of days of his internship had been wasted, but the man was a good, just Hero and he'd talked to Katsuki with respect he might not have earned with his own behavior before Aizawa-sensei had stepped in. He didn't regret going to his agency, learning under him. He couldn't stand the sight of him now, broken and beaten, hair a mess and his clothes thorn all over.

Best Jeanist wasn't supposed to look like that. Best Jeanist was supposed to always be composed and perfectly in order.

"Apologies, Bakugo," the behemoth of a man said and Katsuki looked up with an annoyed, enraged and questioning tone, even as more of that fucking black liquid appeared and the League tumbled through. "You've failed again, Tomura." Well, at least the guy was no longer interested in him, but Katsuki now realized this was the TV guy, the big bad mastermind behind the League. Fuck McHands' 'Sensei'. "But you mustn't lose heart. There will be chances to set things right. That's why I've brought along your little band." Did that mean the League Of Villains Vanguard Action Squad hadn't been meant as a permanent thing? An experiment, perhaps? Would they have just ... killed them, if they'd gotten bored of them? Fuck, just how much power did this guy have to pull to be able to play with people's lives like that? "And the boy, because you've determined that he's an important pawn." Oh, screw that! Katsuki just wants to get out of here already! "So try again. That's what I'm here to help you to do," the boss villain said while extending a hand for Fuck McHands to take. "It's all for you." Then, all of a sudden ... "I knew you'd come."

And then All Might was there, hand to hand with the villain, the two of them wrestling with pure strength and nothing else, face to face. All Might wasn't smiling, just like back at USJ. The shock wave from their collision destroyed even more of the buildings in ruins around them, sending debris flying and almost knocking Bakugo over where he stood.

"You're gonna give it all back! All For One!" Bakugo had never heard the Number One Hero sound so furious before, so hateful. Just what the fuck was going on in this hell!?

"Here to kill me again, All Might?" Taunted the villain as they grappled. "What took you so long?" To Katsuki's shock, this All For One character managed to fling All Might away, something he'd never seen anyone be able to do. Fuck, he was sure Deku had never seen anyone do it and that fucking nerd knew everything about All Might. "It's about five kilometres from here to the bar and it took you about thirty seconds to arrive here after I've sent the Nomu. You're losing it, All Might."

"So are you. What's up with that industrial-looking mask? Are you sure you should be up and about in that state?" Oh, All Might sass? Deku's going to eat his heart out for missing this! (Yes, Katsuki is very aware that he shouldn't be making light of this fucking mess but he's two steps from having a breakdown and not thinking about it as a catastrophe might just be what's keeping him from falling over that him for trying to fucking cope! He's been kidnapped for two days, which he had, unfortunately, spent with those fucks and all he wants to do is go home and sleep for twelve hours and maybe forget this shit had ever happened. He'd rather not panic, thank you very much. He'll only be a hindrance to All Might that way.)

He must have missed a part of their conversation because the next thing he knows, All Might is launching at All For One and then he's sent flying like he's nothing more than a scrunched up paper ball with a single punch. That had been a transmitter Quirk, Katsuki was sure. Where the fuck was Eraserhead when you needed him!?

"ALL MIGHT!"

"Don't fret," the villain had the audacity to say, addressing Bakugo as though consoling him. "That won't be enough to kill him. If only it were that easy." Bakugo sneered at him, explosions cracking along his palms, ready to fight for his life if he needed to because like hell's he getting taken again. But All For One turned his attention to Fuck McHands, his own fingers seeming to do something strange, turning black with red lines. "You need to flee, Tomura. And take the boy with you. I will deal with All Might."

"Like hell you're taking me!" He actually took the initiative to launch an explosion at the villain, stopping him just a second before the extended fingers or whatever the fuck they were - just how many fucking Quirks did this guy have!? - could sink into the fart cloud, thus providing the League with an escape route.

"Now that wasn't a very smart thing to do," the main villain said but then All Might was back again and the fucker didn't have time to worry about Katsuki or getting the other fuckers an escape route because he was clashing with All Might all over again. The crappy magician guy insisted that they start running since All For One was too busy to offer them transport and then they all turned towards Katsuki, saying they needed to 'pick up their pawn'.

"Like hell," he grit out, falling into his preferred fighting stance. They attacked him all at once, no holding back, no care in the world for if they hurt him this time or not. He had to keep evading them but even he can't do that forever. He's just grateful patch-job was still unconscious, lying on the ground next to fart cloud. Those two were the real trouble, but it was still six to one and he hadn't had proper rest or anything to eat since the night he was taken. But the mime guy was also a big fucking problem for him because if that guy touches him, it's game over.

All Might tried coming to get him a few times but All For One kept him fairly busy as they continued to further decimate the site. The debris flying from their direction wasn't helping him any, either, fuck.

And then, to their utter shitty luck, blue flames lit up the night because now, apparently, patch-job's woken up. He looks a bit unstable on his feet but he's able to focus and so the League just got back their only long distance fighter and he's an arson maniac. Katsuki's explosions can't do anything against fire. If anything, this is his one biggest weakness, because the nitroglycerin his sweat glands produce will just blow up before he wants it to, which would actually only hurt him, maybe even blow his fucking hands off! Katsuki's never really liked summer unless he's in the mood to fight seriously. He always kept making explosions, even when he didn't want to. One year, he'd nearly brought the whole house down when he'd forgotten to turn up the AC in his room.

He was so busy avoiding the flames that he must have missed the fucking magical clown sneak up behind him and for a second there, he thought that was it, he was about to be taken away again and All Might will no doubt be put to blame, but then the next second ozone and green crackling electricity filled his awareness as fucking Deku crashed into the fucker and sent him flying. Deku, who'd been in such shit condition when Katsuki had last seen him, that he really shouldn't be out of a hospital bed, let alone pressing himself to stand back to back with him. Also, why the fuck was the shitty nerd dressed like that!?

"What are you doing here, Deku!?" He thundered even as the bloodsucker squealed and Fuck McHands sneered, the others just preparing for a bigger fight.

Patch-job did not hesitate to send a torrent of fire at them, only for the attack to be blocked by a glacier of ice. Then shitty hair was decking the mosquito and glasses and ponytail descended on that magnet one and the lizard one. Mime did not get back up. Seems like Deku had decked him alright.

"We're here to get you out of here, Kacchan!"

"Yeah, Bakubro! What's it look like?" Kirishima threw in between dodging knife-swipes from the crazy lady, Quirk active before he decked her. There was a lot of punching and dodging involved as those two fought because apparently little Ms mosquito was a fucking gymnast or something.

"Getting into fucking trouble, that's fucking what!"

"Don't worry!" Yaoyorozu called from where she'd made a shield and a weapon of her own to deal with the lizard freak. "I've alerted Sensei!"

Bakugo couldn't help the grin that split his face at that. "Music to my ears."

"We need to get out of here!" Iida yelled, for once not doing his robot shtick as he was in charge of the magnet dude. "Do not engage above ensuring your escape!"

"That's a bit hard to do, Class Rep," said Todoroki in turn, where he seemed to be fighting fire with fire and ice. He and patchwork seemed to be having their own minuscule epic battle going on.

That left Deku and Katsuki with Fuck McHands and the schizophrenia clone guy, who had, unfortunately, taken the opportunity to create two more patchworks, two more lizards and one more Fuck McHands. At least he hadn't been smart enough to make more of the mime. Fuck, but that would be a fucking nightmare. As if it already wasn't.

"We're here for you, Kacchan! You don't have to fight alone!"

Red eyes met green before Katsuki looked away, conceding having a partner for this one fight. "Then let's do this rationally! Die, motherfuckers!"

Even if he said that, it wasn't that easy. Fuck McHands had the most dangerous Qurik in this fucking group of fucked up misfits and he had his eye set on Deku, who was a close range combatant. Katsuki was, too, but he could make his explosions reach further. Especially if he has his gauntlets. Fuck, but he's never missed his gauntlets as much as he does fucking now! And he can't fight the clones with the fire Quirk, either. One wrong move and he'd sooner blow himself and Deku up than their opponents.

This was the worst possible Quirk match-up either of them could have gotten. Half 'n' Half was busy with the pyromaniac, shitty hair had his own hands full with the little bloodsucker and Class Rep and Vice-Rep were also busy. And All Might was apparently also fucking busy fucking fighting the strongest villain Bakugo had ever fucking seen.

"You shitty extras shouldn't have fucking come, Deku," he told his childhood friend, wondering at the irony that the two of them might just die together, back to back, as though they were still the friends they'd once been, so many years ago. How fucking death puts things into fucking perspective. Maybe he shouldn't have been such a bully to the only true friend he'd ever had, one who'd admired him but hadn't worshiped him simply for his 'Hero-like' Quirk. And maybe Deku should have given up on him long ago instead of putting up with it. Fuck. "At least that way, UA would have taken the heat for only one of us dy-"

"Don't you dare say that!" Deku screamed and it was like they were at the practical exam all over again, Deku desperately trying to get him to just listen to him and accept him, even if only for one moment, even if only this once. "What is up with you and quitting lately!? Where's the Kacchan that would fight until he won!? Where's the Kacchan I've looked up to all my life!?"

"Still fucking here, Deku, but I don't want people dying over me!"

"How touching! How boring!" The schizophrenia freak gushed/sneered and Katsuki sneered right back, teeth bared as though he were a dog. He doesn't care for the comparison. At this point, he just wants his idiot classmates out of here. The League wants him, right? But, then again, they've tried killing Icyhot and Deku before. There's no guarantee that they'd leave them be if they had him.

"Deku, any ideas, you fucking nerd?"

Deku didn't even deign to be surprised by his sudden cooperativeness. But he also didn't even get a chance to reply before Fuck McHands was talking again. "Twice, make a clone of Mr Compress to pack 'em up. We can take both. I'm sure All Might will be devastated!"

"Great idea! Why didn't I think of that? Because it probably won't work!" Both of the boys tensed when a new clone of mud appeared, taking shape, details and then color until another 'Mr Compress' stood before them, twirling one of those damned marbles in his gloved hand. "Capture them! Let them go!"

But just as the clone moved, as their classmates and even All Might turned around to watch with wide, alarmed, maybe even terrified and despairing eyes as they're taken away once again-

The clone stopped, shuddered and sloshed down into a puddle of mud.

In fact, all the clones did.

Then patchwork's blue fire died out and the lizard freak suddenly couldn't move, falling limp to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

The biggest change, though, was that All For One also thumped down onto the ground from where he'd been floating while powering up some super move or something, stumbling as he tried not to fall over.

Everything had stopped.

No, Quirks have stopped.

Deku realized it as fast as he had and immediately, they looked around, craning their heads to search, to see that one figure they'd somehow come to trust as much as their childhood Hero and idol. A man they hadn't known for three months. A man who they should, by all means, start hunting the second they become Pros because he is, technically, breaking the law.

News helicopters had arrived at some point. That old Hero from before was here, too. Mt Lady had sat up, conscious but not able to hold her giant form, probably concussed.

A glance down at his hands revealed that he could still make explosions, which meant only the villains' Quirks have stopped.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw it. A flash of white, a glimpse of yellow.

Turning around, he drew everyone's attention to where he was looking, up on the closest still standing building, taller than the other ones around by two stories. There, something dangling from the edge, crouching like a gargoyle, was none other than the Vigilante most suited to help in this fucked up situation.

Eraserhead.

Sensei!

Chapter Text

He was cold.

Things were on fire but it was cold. It would have been snowing had the fight that had started not begun with the two powerhouses colliding in a strong enough clash to literally force the clouds to part. The newcomer, a woman, had been flung away while that ... monster or whatever it was that he actually was remained standing, laughing as he set more things on fire. The night was lit with the fire and the sky was blocked out by smoke and ash.

He had tons of it in his hair, clinging to his clothes and skin. The wind was still somehow very cold despite the heat that surrounded him.

He was hiding, the only thing he could do. He couldn't let that monster have his Quirk or trick him into using it against whatever Hero had come to stop him. He had to keep hidden. Maybe ... Maybe he could escape? But how? There was nowhere to go. The battlefield was determined by fallen buildings, upturned tarmac - which was slowly melting under the head, creating pools that would burn alive anyone who was unlucky enough to step into them - and the new wall of flames.

There were only two, no three people besides himself and him. One was further away and didn't shine as bright. The other two shared a similar shine. The same Quirk. Only one was slowly fading away, losing its light. It was the woman. The other Hero - he looked like a teenager - he had that same light, but brighter, possibly brighter than the woman had ever had hers before. And it wasn't like how it is when kids inherit their parent's Quirk; it was the same Quirk, somehow passed on from that woman to the younger Hero. He'd not yet gotten a good look at him, but he was tall and muscular. He'd even mistaken him for an adult until he'd caught sight of his face and it seemed far too youthful.

Somehow, these two people had, at one point, possessed the same Quirk and there was this feeling ... Like they weren't the first ones, perhaps? But he'd never heard of something like that. That crazy doctor didn't ever mention that it was possible for people to share Quirks. But, then again ... No one had heard of Quirk that can take and give Quirks as the user wishes, so a Quirk that can be passed on like a torch didn't seem all too strange.

Hell, he was the strange one here. No one else could possibly be as strange as him.

Dr Quirk had said it, hadn't he. "That boy's unnatural! A monster, an abomination! Just kill him! Kill him before he kills us all!" He kind of wished the bad man had killed him. He'd never thought his power would lead to him having this sort of life. He hadn't asked for it, okay? He didn't want it! In fact, he was almost tempted to give it away at this point! It's only ever brought him pain and misery! His own parents sold him to that stupid mean doctor over it, as though he could control how he was born! The doctor had held him for months, running tests on him, using different Quirks on him, making him use his Quirk. When he'd realized he was immune to Quirks that don't do direct, straightforward, physical, external damage - fire, mechanical damage done to the body, electricity, acids - he'd started testing out the limits of that immunity and it had started to evolve. It also soon reached a point where it was constantly active to prevent further damage coming to him or it.

He didn't need to blink his eyes anymore. They can't get dry, they don't ache. He's fairly certain that he can't even cry anymore. Any damage done too close to his eyes was also instantly healed, it didn't matter what kind of damage it was or what had caused it. He was immune. It started affecting every kind of Quirk, too, to prevent those with super-strength or mutations that can hurt him from doing so. It was disturbing to see the mutant ones simply lose control over a limb or over their entire body, falling limp before him.

He'd once made a mistake to blink in front of a mutant. Her horns had fallen off, her scales had peeled off, revealing normal human skin she'd never had before. She'd gone blind because her eyes had been a part of her Quirk.

He himself was starting to lose control the longer the tests went on. Dr Quirk wanted to find out everything he could about it, about Erasure. His tests lead to an auxiliary quirk being developed to prevent things from touching his skin. It was weaker further away from his body, but it could protect the surface of his skin even against the strongest Quirk attacks.

They had started making him wear specialized blindfolds so he can't see, can't prevent them from doing their tests. Erasure evolved once again, granting him a special kind of vision. It allowed him to see Quirks themselves, even if his eyes are closed, even though objects. He can't erase them like this, but he could see even when the rest of the world was nothing but darkness.

It's how he first saw him. The villain kingpin, the greatest evil since the dawn of Quirks, apparently. All For One.

He'd gotten word Dr Quirk had gotten his hands on an interesting new, never before seen Quirk. He'd wanted it. He'd destroyed that research facility and everyone on it to get his hands on him.

After months and months of being a lab rat, Shouta, for the first time, got to breathe fresh air.

He wasn't as much of a lab rat for All For One, but he was a prisoner. Shouta honestly had no idea what the man wanted from him. All For One at times let him take the blindfolds off. He didn't abuse him. Shouta knows that the man had tried to take Erasure, but even if it wasn't constantly active, Shouta was now immune to Quirk influences. Especially if he still had no real control.

All For One had breakfast and dinner with him each and every day, for some reason. Shouta didn't trust it, didn't trust him. The villain wanted Erasure - everyone wants Erasure, for one reason or another - but Shouta wasn't going to give it to him.

He met another doctor/scientist. He did blood tests, DNA tests, Quirk tests, but he never hurt Shouta except to take that one dose of blood in the beginning. He, of course, found that Erasure had evolved yet again. All traces of the Quirk's existence, well, erased themselves from his DNA the second it left his body. Erasure could exist, apparently, exclusively within Shouta. Doctor Garaki even theorized that Shouta's kids, should he have any, would be Quirkless instead of inheriting a Quirk from him. Erasure was apparently so one of a kind that it will stay one of a kind. Shouta was one of a kind.

Shouta got the impression that the two ancient villains were trying to win him over to their side. As though Shouta would ever allow himself to be their puppet, Erasure their tool.

It's why he'd ran the second All For One had teleported them to this place. He hadn't even properly started wrecking chaos when Shouta had forced him with his auxiliary Telekinesis to let go of him and had run off to hide. Shouta didn't want to hurt anyone and Erasure could hurt. He'd seen it. Not everyone can live without their Quirk and Erasure takes them away so completely that some people literally start falling apart. The lady Hero had thankfully arrived almost as soon as All For One had made his presence known and then the two were fighting.

Shouta debated between running and hiding.

If he stayed in one place, someone could find him or the fire could catch up on him.

If he ran, the debris might kill him like it already had a few unfortunate people and All For One had greater chances of finding him, even as focused as he was on the fight.

Shouta was almost tempted to run in front of a flying giant piece of debris just to end himself, to end everyone's misery. He was, by far, the most dangerous Quirk wielder in this field of ruin and destruction and chaos. He won't go back with All For One. He won't. It would be better if he just disappeared and let Erasure go with him.

But then the woman was knocked down near where he was and she spotted him, hiding in the shadows of an overturned giant piece of concrete, thankfully stable on the crushed cars it was laying on. Shouta's eyes widened and he immediately closed his eyes. It hadn't been too long, right? It hadn't been five seconds, right? He hadn't erased the struggling flame still lit within her. Shouta couldn't help but sigh in relief when he saw it so merrily flickering, despite its struggle to stay lit. He hadn't erased it.

"Hello, little one," the woman said in a kind voice, somehow calm despite the hell raging on all around them. They were hidden from All For One's view here, the reason Shouta had chosen this particular hiding place. "Are you alright?" He nodded. "Are you hurt?" This time, he shook his head in a negative. "Can you walk?" Another nod. "I need you to run away from here to somewhere safe. It's very dangerous here."

"Can't. He'll come after me."

He could just imagine the frown or the confusion on her face at that one. Adults were often confused by kids. "Do you know maybe why?"

"My Quirk," Shouta replied. "It erases other people's Quirks. It can work as only a temporary cancellation if I blink or look away before five seconds are up of looking at someone, but if I blink after five seconds then the Quirk will be gone for good." He turned his head away, despite not even looking at the woman because his eyes were close. He'd had to throw away the blindfold in order to navigate the world besides avoiding other humans. Cars, debris, objects, fires ... He needed actual eyes to see those. "They called it an Anti-Quirk."

"Who did?"

"Everyone who ever saw it. Dr Quirk, Doctor Garaki, All For One. I'm an abomination. You should just leave me here to die and save yourself. Your Quirk is flickering out."

A pause. "How do you know?"

"I see Quirks, whether my eyes are closed or not, through objects. I can tell what they are, what they do. Yours was a stockpiling type but you had another one, too. Something that made you float."

"That's right. You have a very useful Quirk, little one. What's your name?"

"Shouta."

"Well, Shouta," the female Hero had said as her hands reached out for him and Shouta tried to back away from her hands but he had nowhere to go. His hiding place was dark but shallow. He was trapped. He hadn't considered that before. "My name is Shimura Nana and I am here to rescue you. I'll make sure All For One never sets his hands on you again."

"But your Quirk is flickering! It will go out soon!" And the momentary Quirklessness from Shouta looking at her hadn't passed yet. "You should just let me go! There's no need to save this monstrous Quirk! The world will be better off without me!"

"Don't you ever say that, Shouta-kun," Nana-san had scolded him. "Every life is precious, power or no power and no matter the power. And your Quirk is a very good one. Think of all the people you could save if you were to become a Hero or a cop or a firefighter! Quirk accidents would be solved in seconds thanks to you! You are more than worth saving, Shouta-kun, and I promise I will teach you that. But for now, I must get you to my apprentice. You and he should leave this place. This is not your battle to fight."

With that, Shouta allowed her to scoop him up but it was at that moment that All For One appeared behind them, his voice sounding amused as they taunted them both. "So this is where you'd run off to hide. How very amusing." Then the man's cruel eyes had zeroed in on Shouta, who was clenching his eyes tightly shut so he wouldn't accidentally erase Nana-san's Quirk. "Time to hand over Shouta-kun to me, Shimura. I may even let your little successor walk away if you do so now."

A hand came to cradle Shouta's head closer to Nana-san's shoulder, turning his head away from the villain. "You know I won't be doing that, All For One. Not now and not in a million years. Not even over my cold, dead body. So just give it up and get it over with."

Could she feel that her Quirk wasn't in her reach yet? Did she regret finding Shouta? He wished he had control over his Quirk, but a lifetime of abuse made it impossible to fight its practically instinctive need to keep Shouta safe, to keep itself safe. Shouta sometimes thought it had a mind of its own but knew it was just survival instincts kicking in. (It would keep him safe for a long time afterwards. Save his life, a few times, even, in the years to come.)

Maybe the monster will kill them both, taking away Erasure with Shouta's life? That would keep others safe, right?

He clenched his eyes tighter and waited for the blow to come.

It never did.

Instead, a strong gust of wind whipped both Shouta's and Nana-san's hair around as a loud yell of "SMASH!" filled the air and All For One was catapulted halfway across the battlefield. Turning around, eyes still closed, Shouta's 'inner eye' was assaulted with that light like Nana-san's but so much brighter. The person holding this power was taller, broader, male no doubt and, apparently, a far more suitable vessel for the Quirk these two had shared. Beneath that, though, unlike with Nana-san and her floating Quirk, there was nothing. This person was Quirkless at birth.

(Shouta will never learn how to explain the things he saw when he used Erasure in that state. Everything had been so much different back then, or any time he used it afterwards and even after years of researching Quirks in hopes of understanding and explaining away his 'Anti-Quirk', he never did find the answer. Wasn't even close to it. Erasure was, apparently, meant to stay a mystery. Even from its wielder himself.)

"Good timing, Toshinori," Nana-san praised, sounding fond and proud and thankful. "Or should I say All Might?" And that sounded ... teasing? Has Shouta ever been teased good naturally? He can't remember. He couldn't even remember his parents' faces, not that he tried all that hard. They didn't want him so he didn't need them. Not like they'd ever actually been there for him before, either.

"Are you alright, Shishou?" The other asked in a deep but young voice, sounding genuinely concerned and even relieved. Probably from seeing that Nana-san was relatively okay despite the devastating battle that's been going on. "Who's this?"

"We're both fine," the woman reassured before hoisting Shouta up a little higher in her arms. "And this is Shouta-kun. All For One held him prisoner because of his Quirk-erasing Quirk. We need to get him out of here and somewhere safe where that man can't find him."

"The special forces have already set up a perimeter. I'm sure one of them can take him."

"Then get him to them," Nana-san said and at this Shouta's head snapped up in alarm. No, he didn't want to go with anyone anywhere. He wanted to stay with Nana-san! She'd sounded sincere about keeping him safe and away from All For One! She wasn't scared of him or hated him because of his Quirk. He didn't want to leave her!

"It's alright," the newcomer said soothingly and something about their tone of voice made Shouta want to look, to see who this person was. Just for a second. Surely his Quirk will come back soon if it's just one peek, right? "Why? Because we are here!"

Shouta gave into the temptation and dared to crack open his eyes. Just the smallest amount, just for a second. Then he closed his eyes again and nodded his acceptance to be handed over to the newcomer. But in that one second where he'd dared let himself look, he'd been met with a youthful face and golden hair and really pretty blue eyes. (Eyes that will never fade from his mind. Eyes he will admire as he grows up. Eyes he will one day meet as they stand as equals, discussing philosophies, students, cats, life, anything and everything, both as themselves and the heroes they strive to be. Eyes that will forever make him feel safe.) Big hands take him from Nana-san's hold and this Toshinori-san presses him securely against his barrel chest, all hard muscle. The strong beat of his heart underneath Shouta's ear was far too calming for the situation they were currently in. Shouta felt like he could take a nap right here, in these strong arms, and be content.

When was the last time he'd slept without fearing what the next day may bring?

"Go! All Might!" Nana-san ordered and then Shouta felt air pressure fighting against them as they flew(?) away from Nana-san. He heard an enraged snarl come from behind them and, for some reason, didn't hesitate to unbury his face from Toshinori-san's chest, instead fighting to look over his shoulder. That's right, look. What he saw was All For One descending on Nana-san and the two of them starting a fight of even more epic proportions than before the woman had found him, but All For One was no longer toying with her. The light of his Quirk, that seemed related to the Quirk of the two Heroes, was swirling with his emotions and all of them were different forms of rage. He was coming down on Nana-san harder than her own flickering flame could hold up against, mostly trying to dodge his attacks and just keep his attention away from the two boys under her care as the older of the two took them away at truly astonishing speeds.

But then All For One started faltering and Shouta saw his fire, his Quirk, slowly decreasing in size and strength. Shouta blinked and the Quirk stayed that size, growing smaller as Shouta once again looked at it. Blinked again. Erasure was doing what it was meant to - erasing Quirks. This man, somehow, due to his own Quirk, had dozens of others, but under Shouta's golden gaze, his true Quirk was being bared more and more. The longer Shouta looked, the more Quirks were stripped away and the bigger Nana-san's chances were. And then, the second he blinked, those Quirks he'd stripped away were gone for good.

All For One was slowing down.

All For One was growing weaker.

'Just a little longer!'

But then they were taking a turn behind some more or less stable building and Shouta no longer had the villain in sight. He closed his eyes and focused with his 'inner eye' on where Nana-san and that monster had been fighting. Both of their powers had drastically decreased. Nana-san's Quirk was fading fast. All For One had lost most of his power, too, though. And, somehow, some way, that was Shouta's doing. He'd helped a Hero. Nana-san would be dead had he not been there.

His Quirk had finally done something good!

"Toshinori!" A new, older male voice called and Toshinori-san came to a stop as he met up with the third Hero Shouta had 'seen' earlier. This one had some sort of jet propulsion from the soles of his feet. He was fast; faster than Toshinori-san. "Where's Shimura?"

"Still fighting!" Toshinori-san's voice sounded urgent now, distressed. Worried. His Quirk was swirling with it, too. Then Shouta was suddenly being shuffled in his hold before he was thrust into yet another stranger's arms. "You need to get the boy to safety, Gran Torino! His Quirk is erasing other's Quirks and All For One wants him!"

"Shit!"

"I know! Take him to safety! I'm going back to help Shishou!" And then Toshinori-san was rushing back into the fight despite Nana-san clearly not wanting that. But then Shouta didn't have time to be concerned as suddenly they were flying again, sort of properly flying now through the use of this Gran Torino's Quirk. Shouta had to hold on to the older man because he hadn't taken the time to properly rearrange him the way Toshinori-san had for maximum comfort and protection and security.

"Shit! That damned fool! Both of them! Sorry, but you're gonna have to hold on, boy. We're moving fast."

Soon afterwards, Gran Torino landed behind the perimeter line police and special forces units and even government enforcers had set up. The night was even colder here, especially after the two flights Shouta had just suffered through. It was darker, too, despite the many bright lights they'd set up so they can properly see any danger that might come at them. There were no other Heroes around, apparently, which was bad. Nana-san and Toshinori-san were out there fighting that monster all on their own! But then Gran Torino was handing him over to a random government agent and rushing away to help the other two Heroes - one only a Hero-in-training, actually - with barely any explanation besides a warning to keep him safe and be careful of his Quirk because of its power.

That's about the time Shouta blacked out, due to the exhaustion, stress and the smoke he'd inhaled.

He didn't realize that he was, once again, walking into a new hell until he woke up, only to find himself not in the presence of Nana-san and Toshinori-san and Gran Torino-san, but in an all white room with no windows and a hidden door, the only furniture around the very bed he was lying in and a small segment of the room set up as a 'bathroom', separated only by a curtain from the rest of the room. He was dressed in all white pj-like clothes with short sleeves so that the devices around his arms could comfortably be accessed as they monitored his vitals.

It didn't take long at all for Shouta to realize he'd ended up as a lab rat once more.

He's not sure how much time has passed since Nana-san's fight with All For One. In fact, he lost all track of time due to a lack of windows. He only measured time by the meals they brought him, the scientists, doctors and Quirk specialists that came in trying to talk to him, to research Erasure. They all left reasonably shaken when a single one-second glance left them Quirkless for hours at a time. They didn't put a blindfold on him, though. Instead, they came in one day, covered from head to toe, in suits usually used to clean out nuclear reactors or things that had once contained toxic waste. Shouta could see them but couldn't see them, not one part of them. That, apparently, as enough to stop Erasure's effects.

This fascinated the scientists and Quirk specialists. The doctors were more concerned and fascinated by the fact that no matter how long he didn't blink, his eyes never got dry or tired or stressed. The doctors might have been the worst. They did experiments on his eyes. They actually blinded him, once. Slashed his pupils and let them ooze out. They hadn't even given him sedatives, had let him feel all of that pain. Erasure had exploded at that. Had left him in a wave of power that rendered the entire facility Quirkless in seconds and then restored his eyes so there were no traces of damage ever done to them. This violence done to him brought his auxiliary Telekinesis back into full defense mode and no one could touch his skin from then on. They would be met with a four inch barrier that could not be broken. The Quirk specialists kicked the doctors out and the scientists were soon to follow when they suggested trying to dissect him.

The Quirk specialists did much the same things Dr Quirk and Doctor Garaki and All For One did - they brought in people of various Quirk types to see how Erasure would affect them. Shouta, after being tricked thrice in three different ways, refused to open his eyes again. He was used to living without eyesight. He'd spent a long time without it when he'd been Dr Quirk's guinea pig. Erasure adapted, once again. It gave him bare outlines of objects so he wouldn't stumble over them but that proved insufficient. So instead of Erasure evolving once again, Telekinesis did. As long as one part of him was touching a surface, he could feel everything else connected to it. Shouta stopped wearing slippers and started moving around his room relying on his Quirks rather than sight.

That only fascinated people more and, soon enough, the agents working for the government came to visit him. The government, especially the Hero Public Safety Commission, was interested in him, in making him into their agent, their puppet, their tool, their weapon. (Like they would do with Hawks just a few years later.)

"His Quirk keeps evolving," one of the Quirk specialists had said. "The more we expose him to, the more it reacts. It's powerful enough now that it can affect this entire facility if his eyes are endangered. People lose their Quirks for hours on end! And if he looks at you for longer than five seconds, that's it. The next time he blinks, your Quirk is gone. What's more, the scientists and doctors have determined that, once the Quirk is erased, every trace of it is, too! Even in the DNA! It's as though the person had been born without a gene to carry the Quirk factor! As though they were a kid of two Quirkless parents! Not even that! Even the Quirkless possess the gene that can bear a Quirk, they just don't have the gene that actually possesses a special mutation that creates the powers we all possess. If this kid looks at you and blinks, then all of that is erased. It's why even those with mutation Quirks are affected. Also why some people die. That gene that carries the Quirk gene is what allows our body to properly adapt to bear our Quirks."

"This boy is the natural enemy of Quirks," a doctor had said. "Like a virus. One look is all he needs to bring Quirk society down."

The scientists had had an even more fascinating view on him and Erasure. "He is nature's response to the Quirk phenomenon. He is the balance. Today, about only 20% of the population is Quirkless, which means about 80% possesses a power, a trait we can call 'shared'. A species has evolved to a certain level without disruption and now nature is taking it's usual course: it's curbing the excess. It's introducing a predator to the top of the food chain. It's creating balance. And while this boy's Quirk looks like it can't exist outside of his own body, more Quirks like his may start appearing. Ladies and gentlemen, we humans have reached the peak of our evolution as a Quirked society and now we were introduced with our predator."

"He will be a good asset," the Hero Commission representatives had commented. "We just need to train him and then we will possess the greatest power in a Quirk-based society. We can make everyone bend the knee."

"He's dangerous," a government representative had countered. "He needs to be controlled. Culled, maybe. That power possesses too much potential for villainy. To kill him would probably be the best option."

"He's a one of a kind specimen," the scientists, doctors and Quirk specialists had argued. "We need to properly study him. Something as unique as him and his Anti-Quirk cannot just be killed. How are we to know how to deal with the possible repeat of this phenomenon?"

They argued, right there, in front of Shouta, within his little white cell. But, for once, there were no guards stationed by the door, as was the norm when he had any sort of visitors. It was just some squabbling adults and Shouta and a mirror he'd managed to swipe from one of the women that occasionally brought him food, one so clearly disinterested in him and what he was that she didn't even care that she wasn't supposed to bring anything into his room.

Shouta was alone a lot of the time. He'd had a lot of time to think, to plan, to theorize. And if what everyone said was true, if his own experiences were anything to go by, Erasure defends itself, defends him. And Erasure erases. So, if he were to look into a mirror, one of two things would happen: he would either erase his Quirk and finally have some peace or Erasure will ... Well, who knows how Erasure will retaliate.

Either way, those options were way better than living the rest of his life like he had for the past two years.

So Shouta didn't hesitate to take the little hand mirror out and let himself meet his own eyes in it.

The boom of the tidal wave of power was actually enough to shake the entire building, up and down, as though an earthquake had hit them. The wave spread for miles and miles, as he'd later learn. Affected everyone. Disoriented almost everyone. Knocked them over. Including the cold, uncaring, sick people occupying his 'room'.

Erasure just flashed stronger and Shouta, for the first time in his life, felt his eyes go dry as the Quirk finally, finally deactivated. He had to blink a couple of times and actually got scared for his Quirk when he considered what if both had happened, but the second he focused on his Quirk, it came back. Only, now, he could control it. Somewhat. He still had more control than ever before. He used it - and his Telekinesis - to escape that room,that facility, that utter bullshit. No one was in the right state to stop him. And anyone who tried got backhanded by Telekinesis. Seems his Quirks were just as sick of this place as he was.

When Shouta finally made it outside and out of the bounds of the facility, he realized he was way too far from a normal settlement. He had miles to walk but he hadn't let that discourage him. He'd finally escaped that hellhole and he had decided he was sick and tired of adults. He was keeping Erasure a secret from now on.

On his way to civilization, Shouta thought through his escape, the way his (Anti-)Quirk had acted. It was still as strong as ever. He still had all the additional abilities it had evolved to have. It still made his eyes glow golden when he used it but now he could actually deactivate it. It allowed him to see his eyes for the very first time since he'd visited the Quirk specialist that will become known as Dr Quirk almost two years ago. They were so dark they looked black. His hair was in disarray, but it wasn't as long as he remembered it being from glimpses caught every now and then when he'd been with All For One for about a month. They'd cut his hair off, apparently. Whatever. It will grow back out.

He spent the long trek back to civilization by finding random berries here and there to sustain himself and he'd even found a water source, once. Most of the time while he walked he'd spent with the mirror in front of his face but his eyes not really looking at it as he trained his Quirk. If he wanted to disappear, he'd have to get rid of the gold his eyes glowed with and the overwhelming power they contained and channeled. It would take him another two months after finally getting into town and finding that one bakery that didn't mind giving him some of their pastries to make it through day by day before he finally, somehow, managed to downgrade Erasure with sheer will power.

Now, Erasure acted as an ordinary Quirk. It 'erased' Quirks in the sense that it canceled their effects for as long as he was looking at the wielder and maybe lingering like that for some moments later. It put a strain on his eyes, though, and because he's suppressing what he's come to refer to as 'Gold' - which was, in all actuality, the true Erasure - it can't heal him, so now he suffered from chronic dry eye. He did his best not to use Erasure all that much while he'd lived on the streets because he couldn't afford eye drops, but that worry didn't last long as he eventually met and saved Hal, or Aizawa Ashou. He became Aizawa Shouta and lived two years with the hacker, learning how to hack himself. Then he turned the man in and ran, living his own life with his own identity.

One thing didn't change, though, even as everything else did. Even as he got himself a place to live, eventually moved, applied for middle school and then a high school. Ever since he'd met Nana-san and Toshinori-san, Shouta wanted to become a Hero like them, so that he may help them fight All For One and stop him once and for all. He wanted to help people, to make sure no one ever went through the same things as he had, to never have to see children like him suffer.

So he applied for UA and didn't manage to get into the Hero Course. He got into Gen Eds, though. He knew he had another chance at the Sports Festival, so he trained his ass off. Failure was not an option. He met Kronos-sensei, too. Made friends with him. Somehow developed a father-son relationship in just the couple of weeks he'd known him. Won the Festival. Got kidnapped again just before he was supposed to transfer and start his journey as a Hero. Escaped, used Gold for the first time in seven years. Returned to UA only to find out the government had found out about him, suspected Aizawa Shouta to be their escaped experiment. Ran away again. Became a Vigilante, nameless for about a year.

Met a bright boy from the Hero Course, made friends with him. Oboro Shirakumo, Hero name Loud Cloud. He was the first friend Shouta ever had. He didn't judge him about his choice. Didn't hate him for stealing the spotlight in the Sports Festival. In fact, Shirakumo and another friend of his - Yamada Hizashi - had been planning on befriending him once he'd transferred, but it had never happened. So instead Shirakumo looked after him now as they fought together, brought Villains and criminals in.

When Shouta was sixteen, he lost that first, precious friend. He lost him that summer, when a big Villain with a Quirk-power stockpiling Quirk started destroying Tasomiya. Shirakumo had been out on patrol and Shouta had gone with him. A building collapsed. Loud Cloud saved a bunch of kindergartners and their teacher. The Villain raged on. A group of Heroes had already been felled by the Villain. Shirakumo's mentor, His Purple Highness, too.

There was no one else to fight. Only Shouta.

And Shouta had fought.

Shouta had won.

That was the birth of the Vigilante that would soon enough be named Eraserhead.

The birth of his resolve.

There were several casualties that day. Several funerals that will have to be held soon.

Shouta discreetly attended Shirakumo's funeral, hiding in the crowd. Watching as the casket was slowly lowered into the ground. His eyes were hurting. He hadn't stopped crying since that day, which was a considerable feat given how dry his eyes were these days. He wasn't even aware of doing it,but suddenly he was using Gold. Erasure, in its truest form. The form that allowed him to clearly see Quirks.

It, apparently, worked even on corpses because Shouta could see that that was not Shirakumo's cloud Quirk! That was not Shirakumo in the casket. They weren't burying a hero. They were burying a decoy.

Shouta left the funeral and never came to the fake grave. Instead, he searched and researched. Found some strange men had come and stolen Shirakumo's true body by hacking the hospital's security cameras. For years, even as he moved on with life in general, made new friends among aspiring/Pro Heroes, became both famous and infamous as Eraserhead, stopped crime left and right, Shouta tried to find out what had happened with his friend's body. He'd found nothing, even as he'd dived into the deepest depths of the criminal underworld's underground, the darkest place with the cruelest of evils.

Only tonight, after taking a second plunge into that dark, dark sea of human depravity, Shouta got some answers. Got a lead that led him to visit a certain Doctor Ujuma Daruma who turned out to really be Doctor Garaki Kyudai, All For One's little friend and personal physician. Found his little Nomu lab underneath the Jaku Hospital where he 'worked' at, hacked his computers there, accessed all the other Nomu factories and storehouses, prepared a self-destruct sequence and connected them all to his phone. Then he wrapped the now wrinkled monster up in his capture weapon just as he finally received word from one of his kids.

Bakugo's location.

Creati, Ingenium, Red Riot, Shoto and Deku needed assistance to get Dynamight to safety while All Might fought what appeared to be the true leader behind the League of Villains.

By the time Aizawa arrived at the scene, the kids seemed to be in a pickle and All For One was keeping All Might too busy to help them. And between the clones and the League themselves, the UA students were truly outnumbered and outclassed. If Shouta were anyone else, he would have been next to useless in this situation unless he had another One For All.

But he wasn't anyone else and he had something much better than One For All or All For One.

So he let his eyes bleed into gold and watched the fires of the villains Quirks slowly snuff out.

It would seem tonight is the night Eraserhead finally dealt with all of his demons.

Chapter Text

When all the villains Quirks suddenly stopped working, All Might couldn't help but fear both dread and relief. By this point, All Might knew practically only one person possessed the power to make something like that happen and while he would usually be glad for the assist, he also knew just how bad of an idea it was to expose Eraserhead to the risk of All For One taking a Quirk like that for himself.

In a world dominated by Quirks, where practically everyone relied on them for even the smallest day to day inconveniences, let alone major fights for one's life, Erasure was, indeed, the most dangerous power one may possess, especially if that someone's a piece of work wanting world domination like All For One.

Still, the relief was overwhelming. The kids had been surrounded, outnumbered, especially Midoriya-shounen and Bakugo-shounen. While the others were somehow making do, at the very least staying uninjured, the clones of Shigaraki, Dabi and Mr Compress would have been too much for the two boys after their previous ordeals. He doubted either of the boys had properly recovered after the intense training at their summer camp gone wrong, nor the fights they'd had to battle that night. Not to mention Bakugo-shounen had been kidnapped and Midoriya-shounen had somehow managed to use One For All at 1, 000, 000% power, something Toshinori would have honestly thought impossible if he didn't know just how insane the Quirk itself was. One For All was all about breaking expectations and going far and beyond, Plus Ultra!

Not that that was what was important right now. He'll scold his successor at another time, if they all make it out alive tonight. (He prays to the previous wielders of their Quirk that they will. That the students, at the very least, will. But now Aizawa-kun was there so perhaps that's insurance enough for their rescue and safety. He'll take it. Even if it might mean that he will take the same role as his master had and let himself die so Midoriya Izuku, Deku, may live.)

For now, he should focus on taking down All For One while Eraserhead still held his Quirk back. No one really knew how his Quirk worked, but from what Yamada-kun had said during that one meeting after the Sports Festival, it came from his eyes. And from previous experiences of various people, their Quirk could be gone from either a few seconds to a handful of minutes. Then there was the half an hour at the Sports Festival ... All Might couldn't know how long Eraserhead could hold someone's Quirk back, so he ought to move fast. For his own sake, too. His own time was running out. He was nearing his limit.

He had to beat All For One now so Midoriya-shounen wouldn't need to worry about him in the future!

"So it is you," All For One breathed before Toshinori could move to take him down, surprising everyone close enough to hear him. Considering he was speaking loudly enough in hopes of his words reaching the Vigilante whose form his gaze - even though he no longer had actual eyes to speak of - had not strayed for one second, it was everyone down on the ground. Toshinori looked back to the younger man, whose hair was standing on end, capture weapon also seeming to be lifted along for the ride of power, the yellow goggles in place. "I had feared you lost to death that day. The Hero Commission surely isn't famous for their proper treatment of powerful Quirks."

"Neither are you," Eraserhead called down, voice calm and collected on the surface but Yagi could swear he heard undercurrents of boiling rage just underneath.

'Well, that answers some questions about his disappearance.'

All For One seemed to focus in on the thing Aizawa-kun had brought with him. "I see you've managed to track down and capture my dear old friend."

"I just thought that the good old doctor should receive his just deserts at the same time as his dear old friend."

And, indeed, the thing ensnared and dangling from his capture weapon seemed to be a short, frail, ancient looking man in a lab coat. He was apparently unconscious, as he made no move to struggle or panic at the treatment he was receiving.

"Oi, oi! How the hell did you find that rat in the sewers doctor!?" Shigaraki called out, sounding pissed off and incredulous.

"That's actually very impressive," praised the oldest man present, even going as far as to start clapping even as a grin entered his voice. "He was well hidden."

"If you think that is impressive," the Vigilante said, bringing a hand up, something held in it. A phone, Yagi believes. The phone, the one Eraserhead had shown him when he'd sent Yagi a code by which they could communicate after their first real interaction! The phone that he now realized must have been custom made for the hacker Eraserhead secretly was. A phone worthy of Hal's own adopted son. "Then this will blow your mind." And with what appeared to be a press of a button, several explosions all over the city shook the ground, the blaze reaching towards the sky flaring and lighting up the night. Hell, the building the other team had been raiding also blew sky high and All Might was just thankful that the fighting had taken them away from it or else the explosion would have hit them, too!

He took notice that the children took this chance to disengage safely from their opponents and retreat, towards the building where Eraserhead was standing. Hair still up, body unmoving. As though he had no care in the world for just destroying what, if Toshinori's guess was right, were definitely several if not all hideouts, labs and bases All For One had had in Musutafu. (By morning, he'll learn that Eraserhead had, with that one button click, actually blown up all the hideouts, labs, Nomu factories and bases All For One had in the whole of Japan and the emergency services had been forced to call on the local Pros to help them ensure the safety of the sites, even though everything found there was very much dead.)

Looking back at his nemesis, the blond saw he was no longer clapping.

Shigaraki seemed to be gawking.

Strike one for Eraserhead.

"Let this be initiative," Eraserhead said in the most menacing voice All Might had ever heard the man produce. "To not touch a fucking strand of hair on my kids' heads."

Instead of raging, All For One suddenly boomed with laughter. "Truly, you are as marvelous as I'd always thought you would be, Shouta-kun!" All Might stiffened at hearing the Vigilante's name fall so casually from the villains lips. The 1-A students did, too. Eraserhead, though, just casually stood up with lethal grace, balancing on the edge of the rooftop as though he did this all the time. And he did, didn't he? For fifteen years. "Too bad you've chosen to be a goody two-shoes! And not even a proper one! Though, that is a bit surprising."

"Don't act so innocent," the Vigilante retorted. "I know it was you who was behind that fucking idiot's actions fifteen years ago. The question is, how did you figure out it was me?"

All For One stopped laughing. Just stopped altogether. "Wait, that was really you? Not Hal's brat?"

"Can't it be both?" Mocked Eraserhead. "I can't believe this. And after all the trouble I went through to make me as unrecognizable to the likes of you as I could. Do you realize you've ruined my life three times over?"

"... I'm afraid I must ask after the third one, as the first two are understandable but I have no recollection of how I could have possibly done you damage of any sort the third time."

"Wait, what is going on here, exactly?" Dabi asked, clearly not understanding the little showdown the most infamous Vigilante and the Symbol of Evil were having at this moment. Yagi sort of agreed, but at least he'd managed to put together some of Aizawa-kun's story together so he at least had some idea about what these two were discussing. A glance over at the kids showed that they had no idea, either, though Midoriya-shounen's eyes sparkled in that way that said he recognized a name. No doubt he finally realized whose surname his beloved Sensei actually shares. Then again, Hal's cyber-reign and eventual arrest had been well before their time, not to mention that the governments of the world had done their best to keep his existence a secret in hopes of one day convincing him to use his skills for their own ends. Japan even had first dibs!

"Does it matter? Just watch Eraser, Dabi! The second his hair goes down, burn him to a crisp!" Shirgaraki Tomura ordered and the fire villain readied himself, but Eraser only snorted and All For One actually looked ... panicked in his body language.

"If you think it's such a good idea for me to blink-"

"Wait, Tomura! If he blinks, all of our Quirks will be erased forever!"

"WHAT!?" All Might was pretty sure they all shouted at the same time, but then he didn't have the time to contemplate how such a Quirk had remained unregistered for so long because suddenly, something tickled at his memories, something he had sort of forgotten over the years as he worried about his career, his dream to become the Symbol of Peace, fighting All For One and then finding a successor to his Quirk. He immediately looked towards his old teacher, who had a stupefied expression on his face, clearly recalling the same thing they had pushed to the back of their minds until they had all but forgotten all about it.

"I see you didn't update your little puppets on the dangers of facing my Erasure," Eraserhead said and then casually jumped right off the roof, his capture weapon acting as an elevator of sorts to prevent him from smacking into the ground and hurting or killing himself. "Dabi, AKA Todoroki Touya-" Said young man went absolutely still, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide, clearly taken by surprise at this new information dump. "Quirk: Cremation, eldest son of the Number Two Pro Hero Endeavor and his wife Rei." Toshinori actually wanted to curse at that. Hadn't he heard, several years ago, that Endeavor had to hold a funeral for one of his children? That it'd been an accident or something involving the boy's Quirk? "Shigaraki Tomura, AKA Shimura Tenko-" All Might's eyes widened upon hearing that last name and Gran Torino cursed like a sailor. But surely it couldn't be! "Quirk: Decay, eldest child of Shimura Kotaro-"

"Stop."

"-and his wife Shimura Nao, younger brother of Shimura Hana-"

"Stop!" Shigaraki thundered the second time, unlike the first, almost strangled whisper as he reached up to grip at his hair.

"And grandson of Shimura Nana, Seventh holder of One For All."

"One for what now?" Spinner asked but was ignored by all involved as Eraserhead casually came to stand in front of the children, not even looking at them - probably for their own good - as he took on a casual but protective stance.

"How do you know that?" All For One asked and Aizawa-kun just snorted, clearly unimpressed and so done with this situation.

"I fucking hacked your systems, that's how. It was easy. If you're really going to use Hal's programs and handmade, original operating systems, then you should consider updating them-"

"Why do you think we tried to kidnap his kid!?"

"Isn't that dude in jail?" Mange asked.

"You are truly naive if you think a technopath needs to be in contact with technology in order to hack it." Well, that was news to All Might! Here he thought they had a detailed enough description of how the man's Quirk functions and then something like this comes out of the left field. "That man could escape any time he wants, yet he chooses to waste away in Tartarus like a common birdbrained criminal," All For One sneered and Eraserhead lifted his goggles off of his eyes, for the first time in fifteen years in the presence of anyone as far as anyone knew, and grinned one of the most terrifying grins All Might had ever seen and he'd looked the greatest evil of this century in the eye, twice.

"Why do you think that is? Hal has never made it a secret that once he found someone to be a worthy successor to him, he will let that person turn him in. Seeing as he trained me in hacking so I'd be worthy of the Aizawa name and could always have something to defend myself with outside of combat, it is only logical that he's content to stay where he is. No one can target him in Tartarus lightly. Think of it as long earned retirement. I know he does. Now, to get back on topic, shall we?"

The capture weapon suddenly slashed through the air, whipping around until it wrapped around all of the members of the League of Villains except the still downed Mr Compress and Kurogiri and All For One, who was further away, still in fighting distance of Toshinori. Struggling was futile, that much was obvious. Eraser had them wrapped tight and the capture weapon did not give under Toga's or Spinner's blades. If All Might remembered correctly, Kronos had said that only one knife exists that can cut through it, so any attempts by these blades were utterly useless. And seeing as the others can't activate their Quirks, well ...

"Shall I be so nice as to list every instance when you've destroyed my life, Shigaraki Hisashi?"

"How do you-"

"Remember the name, bitch. It's not that hard." That shut the evil mastermind right up. Toshinori's not sure if he's ever seen something so hot before. "Now then, number one: when you took me and tried to groom me into whatever the hell Shimura is supposed to be now-"

"I saved you from Dr Quirk-"

"-only to treat me in a similar manner. I'll give it to you that you've been better than those fuckers working for the government and the Hero Commission, but not by much. Part of one is also the fact that you've killed the woman who actually saved me from your clutches and severely injured her successor, who had taken me away from your destruction."

"Oh sweet heavens, it is him!" Gran Torino breathed, collapsing onto his behind in shock and maybe relief and Yagi completely agreed. For years, they had wondered what had happened to the boy from that fateful night. The child with the ability to erase Quirks, though he had lacked control. Now, it seems, he has it. "How have we not connected the dots sooner?" He agreed with that sentiment, too. Some Number One Hero he was. Shouta-kun was Aizawa-kun and Aizawa-kun was Eraserhead. And Eraserhead had been in front of him this whole damn time. Even after hearing about Aizawa-kun's Quirk, even after figuring out Eraserhead had that same Quirk and was as such that missing boy now grown up, it had never even occurred to him that he may be that boy he'd saved with Nana and Gran Torino that night, the boy whose trail was lost not long afterwards so completely they could never find him again.

'I'm so sorry, Shishou. We've failed you. Shouta-kun has suffered because of our negligence and carelessness.'

But he was alive. Despite it all, he was alive and that was already more than Toshinori could have ever asked for. One of his biggest regrets had been resolved and now he can move on to making it up to the man. Starting by making his landlady fucking let him keep a as many cats as he wants in his apartment.

"The second time you ruined my life," continued Aizawa Shouta, starting to walk towards where All For One and All Might were still ready to continue their fight at a second's notice. "Is when you dared order my kidnapping. I don't care for the fucking reason. My mentor, my teacher, the one adult in this godforsaken life that I trusted so completely I considered him family within less than a week, a wonderful Hero ... Kronos-sensei lost his eyes because of you! The government was onto me again because of you. I had to give up UA after breaking an astonishing record by winning the Sports Festival over arrogant Hero Course students. Ever since that night, since Nana-san and All Might-san and Gran Torino-san saved me, all I've ever wanted to be was a Hero. So I can protect people the way they have protected me, so I can stop monsters like you. So that I will get the time I need to erase Quirks enough to stop villains in their tracks. I've brought my eyes to near ruin dozens of times while trying to gain control, to seal away the parts that make Erasure devastating. You ruined it. For what? Greed?"

Eraserhead was now standing just in front of the unconscious warpgate user, mere feet away from the two powerhouses. All For One clenched his fists, the only thing he could do, really. He had no Quirk left to fall back on. Toshinori wondered how it felt to be Quirkless when you'd always had access to any number of Quirks you could possibly want. A taste of his own medicine. A taste that only Eraserhead could give.

"And finally ... Fourteen years ago. Tasomiya. I'm sure you remember the incident."

Tasomiya.

"Now, Shouta-kun-"

"I don't care what you wanted there, what you thought you would get by sending that villain Garvey, but that day ... That day, I lost my first friend."

"Shouta-ku-"

"And now I'm getting him back."

"Wha-"

Before anyone could actually question what that was supposed to mean, Eraserhead let his eyes - burning gold up until that moment - turn into a wicked looking red before he closed them in a blink and his hair fell down.

"NO!"

Aizawa-kun didn't seem to pay mind to the raging villain and casually ignored him. He instead looked down at Kurogiri. In the darkness of the night, it was easy to see his eyes light up gold once more - and wasn't that just the most nostalgic color Yagi had ever seen? - and suddenly, the mist making up Kurogiri's body started shifting, parting, drifting away ... Until all that was left was the body of a man. The only misty part left was on his hair, but it looked like hair now. The metal body piece Kurogiri wore around his neck fell away. 'Oh gods,' he realized. 'He was a Nomu!' Toshinori, for a moment, feared he was staring down at a corpse, as the base of the Nomu from USJ had, indeed, been the body of a dead man. But even in this bad lighting, he could see the chest moving up and down. Breathing.

"KUROGIRI! KUROGIRI! You bastard, what have you done to Kurogiri!?" Shigarak- No, Shimura Tenko, screamed, anguished, at Eraserhead, trashing violently in the hold of the capture weapon but Aizawa-kun just tugged on the cloth in his hand and the young man was wrapped up even more, and more tightly, than before.

"I've erased the effects of the All For One Quirk, taking away everything that suppressed Shirakumo Oboro but leaving everything that keeps him alive." The Vigilante's voice was different now. Relieved. Fond. Desperately happy. The look on his face as he deactivated his Quirk for the second time that night was one Toshinori had seen on his own face after having fought All For One for the first time, six years ago, despite the hole in his side that he now spourted. It was the face of someone who finally achieved a goal long thought impossible.

Just like he'd thought it impossible to fulfill his master's and all the previous One For All holders' will, avenge his Shishou and finally rid the world of its greatest evil was near impossible and probably the one thing that he'd die for in order to achieve, it would seem Aizawa-kun had thought the same for the possibility of fulfilling this, saving his friend, one way or another. Only Aizawa-kun's motive and MO were far more virtuous than Yagi's. Aizawa-kun has not set out to kill. Aizawa-kun's revenge was not death but punishment the likes of which All For One perhaps deserved even more than death: being Quirkless.

"So you have taken justice in your own hands? Are you sure you are worthy of even the consideration of being a Hero?"

"What the fuck did you just say, you bastard!?" Bakugo-shounen thundered, the other kids protesting, too. All Might wanted to as well, but Eraserhead didn't seem the least bit fazed as he turned to look at All For One again, but with the most bored, deadpan and unimpressed expression Toshinori had ever seen in his life, and he knew Gran Torino when he'd been younger and Nana was still training him as her successor and then he'd worked for years with Sasaki, who- if you're not All Might, was not easily impressed, at all.

"I only temporarily erased your Quirk. All of your Quirks. With the amount of time I've been looking at you, it should last about three months, which is more than long enough to get you all nice and settled in Tartarus and even for you to find out that, despite your infamy, you won't be on the top of the food chain." The dangerous grin from before returned, only this time it held a healthy dose of gleeful amusement. "That position, apparently, goes to the guy who can arrange for you to exchange emails with your family, broadcast sport games and place bets in your name and, above all else, get you porn. And you've pissed him off before even meeting him in person." The grin, if possibly, spread another notch. "That's right. Hal runs Tartarus' inmate community and unless you can suddenly pull an internet cable out of your ass, all the inmates will turn on you at a single word from their entertainment and news from the outside provider. And you tried to kidnap his kid."

"I thought you only saw Kronos as your parental figure."

Aizawa-kun waved the villain off as though he was a bothersome fly. "Perhaps, but no one said others haven't come to consider me family."

"You tell 'im, Shou," a wrecked, tired voice said and that had everyone's attention snapping to the previously warpgate Nomu, who was apparently finally conscious and far too tired to move besides turn his face to the side and raise a fist in a supporting/encouraging manner. "Ow."

"Alright, time to wrap it up," the Vigilante said with a sigh, turning towards the students, once again completely ignoring the criminal mastermind he'd just stripped of all of his powers, caught his associate ( and old friend, apparently), his heir and his fledgling new villain organization, along with destroying(?) his most loyal servant. "Yaoyorozu, call the emergency responders. I want you all checked out by doctors and you're all going to give statements if you're already here. I'm sure All Might-san will have no qualms about vouching for you. Someone should call your parents, too. They must be worried-"

"No need, felon," a new voice said and Toshinori cursed when he saw Enji had finally caught up with them, his flaming beard lighting up the 'clearing' he and All For One had made in their clash. "I am already here to take care of my rebellious son-"

"Sons," Aizawa muttered to himself but not loudly enough for the monologuing Number Two to hear. Looking over to 'Dabi' - or, apparently, Todoroki Touya, Endeavor's long lost and thought to be dead eldest child - Yagi wondered if that was perhaps for the best, that Endeavor did not know this villain was his son. Not for the man's oh so precious reputation, but because Dabi already looks unhinged enough that he doesn't need more provocation to truly descend into the terrifying sort of madness that leaves fields of bodies in his wake.

"-clean up All Might's failings as a teacher-"

"Did he just-?"

"Oh, I'm going to fuck him up!"

Endeavor ignored Midoriya-shounen's and Bakugo-shounen's little, well, two cents and continued on as though he was the one that had defeated - or even fought - the Symbol of Evil when he'd only just come to the scene. "-and finally capture you and bring you to justice, Eraserhead. There's no more use to hiding. I know what you look like."

"And people are just going to take your word for it?" Eraserhead asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You have no evidence, the children I know for sure won't back you up, All Might can plead plausible deniability as he was busy with the greatest evil mastermind of the Quirk-society since the dawn of Quirks and I'm pretty sure the League of Villains would rather cut out their own tongues than support a child and wife abuser."

The elder/eldest Todoroki's flames flared threateningly in his outrage. "WHAT DID YOU JUST ACCUSE ME OF , SCUM?!"

The man's (two) son(s), on the other hand, were staring at Eraserhead as though he's a miracle sent down from the heavens and that left a bitter taste in Toshinori's mouth. He'd had his suspicions since the Sports Festival that Todoroki-shounen didn't exactly have the best upbringing or home life, but he would have never guessed it went as far as abuse. How had no one noticed before? It was actually a bit obvious, now that he thinks back on it. It was in the way Todoroki-shounen acted sometimes or the way the simplest concepts that are not stated plainly could confuse him because he takes them literally. How had he not noticed before that one of his students was not safe or happy?

How did Eraserhead notice when he could have talked to the boy in person only a handful of times since they'd first met back during the USJ Incident?

"Of your crimes," Aizawa-kun stated plainly. "Of the things you have, indeed, done and that I can get proof of with a single click of a button."

"Are you threatening me?" The flame Hero asked in a dangerous voice, the air around him betting hotter and hotter before, all of a sudden, they were once again shrouded in the darkness of the industrial district of Kamino. "Wha-"

"I am telling you things as they are," the younger man replied as his hair danced around his head, eyes burning crimson in the shadows of the night. "I will not resist arrest when the police arrive, as I am currently the only one capable of detaining this group of villains until and after they come and my long lost best friend has to be checked over by a doctor after fifteen years of being Nomufied with no real will of his own. I need to give my statement and hand over the droves of information I've gathered so that the police and Heroes may work together to, once and for all, thoroughly dismantle All For One's two hundred years old empire. I have all of my affairs settled and my Problem Children are all safe and accounted for. And with so many people now knowing my identity, to run would mean to leave Japan altogether and I can't do that. My kids need me, my old mentor needs me, my friends need me. Hell, the Hero community needs me because all of you share two brain cells between you all and they both belong to Nezu." More than one person had to choke back laughter at that, including Toshinori himself, even if he was part of the critiqued group himself. Aizawa-kun's humor had always been something he couldn't resist, ever since first meeting the man. "Whatever the justice system may decide for me, as long as the Hero Commission stays the fuck away from me, I'll accept it. I've worked hard for fifteen years. I've done and achieved more than I had ever thought I will be able to. Whatever awaits me next, I will accept it with open arms. That, however, does not mean I won't take down any and all corrupt politicians, figureheads and Heroes before I go down myself. So you have two options: give custody of your children over to your wife or oldest daughter or watch as I ruin you with a click of a button. Your choice."

"Okay, can I just give myself up peacefully? Because I want to see this shit go down," Dabi said in the ensuing silence and that was the last thing anyone got to say or comment before the sound of sirens filled the air, getting closer and closer. All Might took the distraction to swiftly and securely handcuff a surprisingly cooperative and unresisting All For One. Aizawa-kun turned his back on all three Heroes and the captured villains, instead finally getting a proper chance to check his students for any injuries. From what he could see from way over here, it seemed that there were none, but Aizawa-kun seemed deeply displeased by, what he guessed, the news of Midoriya-shounen's new arm fragility after having fought Muscular during the attack on the Training Camp.

News choppers were circling above now that the fighting seems to have stopped and he knew at least one of those had been there to see Aizawa-kun - or Eraserhead, really - stop the battle in its tracks, by still not at all obvious means. Police choppers came soon enough, too, as did ground vehicles. Tsukauchi was one of the first to brave the crater-like landscape, before even the medics dared to step into the disaster zone, and then everyone else followed. Heroes were checked over, the villains were more thoroughly secured, the former-Kurogiri was placed in Quirk-surpassing handcuffs and into a separate vehicle that Gran Torino immediately boarded to ensure he wouldn't disappear, the doctor hanging from the building also taken down and arrested and then Tsukauchi, after checking up on Toshinori and being incredulous at his relatively good state, turned to the students, only to stop in his tracks as he finally came face to face with Eraserhead, with Aizawa Shouta.

Who, without preamble, extended his wrists towards the detective after having made sure the students would need no immediate medical attention besides Bakugo maybe being given some proper food.

"Wha-"

But the kids were there, in front of their beloved Sensei in an instant, blocking the black-clad Vigilante from Naomasa's reach. "You're not taking him," Todoroki-shounen was the first one to assert, both hands at the ready to use either fire or ice to attack/defend/deflect and give the adult behind him and his classmates a chance to run, despite Aizawa-kun having made it clear he will do no such thing. Not this time.

After fifteen years of pursuit, Eraserhead would finally be put in handcuffs and escorted to the police station and it was only happening because the man himself was giving himself over.

"I know Eraserhead is a Vigilante, but we would all be dead several times over if not for him!" Iida-shounen added, for once not doing those weird hand-chopping motions, instead standing perfectly still, clearly ready to launch into action at the slightest hint that such a thing was needed.

"Please, you can't take him away! Not after everything Eraserhead has done for the people, for the Heroes! All For One wouldn't have been brought in so easily if it wasn't for him!" Midoriya-shounen pleaded, looking between both his mentor and the police officer.

"That's not manly at all, bro! You can't thank someone by arresting them!" Kirishima-shounen said, looking just as distressed as the other children.

"Please, All Might, Detective Tsukauchi! Please don't take him away! The League of Villains could have still been at large had he not been here to stop their escape! Bakugo-san could have gotten hurt when they'd tried to take him this time because they weren't holding back! We could have lost our classmate had it not been for him!" Yaoyorozu-shoujo cried, looking distraught and even on the verge of tears until a hand landed on her shoulder. Before Aizawa-kun could say anything, though, the final of the present Class 1-A students had already spoken up, accented by the explosions going off on his palms.

"Like hell are we letting you take Sensei! You expect us to just stand to the side while he's taken away when motherfuckers like him," insert rude finger pointed at Endeavor standing a few feet away to the side, who bristled and fumed at that, his Quirk now returned and hissing in rage as it crackled like a forest fire. "Get to call themselves Heroes? No! Fuck no! I don't care what anyone else says: Sensei is a Hero and one of the damned best I've ever seen and I'm sure the damned nerd can agree with me! So back the fuck off or else I'm going to-"

"Bakugo, that's enough." Bakugo-shouen stiffened, snarled angrily but backed off immediately. Just like that. Just those three words, spoken in the same intonation and at the same volume that the man always used anyway, and the most explosive and agressive of UA's Hero students had forced himself to calm down. Just like that, Aizawa-kun had displayed why these kids call him Sensei, the respect each and every one of them held for him, like it was nothing when Bakugo-shounen didn't obey even All Might like this.

A hand came to rest on the ashy blond's head even as Aizawa-kun gently pushed his way through his young defenders to once again stand in front of the police officer and his friend, the Number One Hero. The kids tried to protest but Aizawa-kun just shushed them.

"I have already said that I will give myself up to the police in order to help this thing get shut down once and for all. All these years, all the things that I've done, it was all meant to lead to something like this. As long as the Hero Commission doesn't get involved, I am not opposed to whatever sentence may await me, as long as it is rational and in actual accordance to the crimes I might have committed or the laws I may have broken. To fight now would be irrational, as it would only hinder your future careers as Heroes. Heroes that I can see, even now, will create a better and more just society. Take what you've learned from me, both today and in the past, and use it. Work together to save this world from itself. And be sure to drop by to visit me, every once in a while." The last was said with a small smile. "I, after all, want to see how my first ever students fare on the rankings and how quickly it will take you to take them over completely."

Ah, shit, the kids were crying. Hell, Toshinori felt like crying, too. How were they supposed to arrest the man now?! Not that he'd ever wanted to in the first place, but Aizawa-kun had put the goggles back on his face and had taken back his capture weapon once the villains had been properly secured according to protocol and so now everyone could see Eraserhead handing himself in, so they couldn't ignore it. He shared a glance with Naomasa who looked equally ill at ease at these proceedings, only for both men to have their attention drawn back to Eraserhead when the Vigilante spoke up.

"Just do it, Tsukauchi. You don't even need to read me my rights, I already know them. Just ... Don't let it become a media spectacle, please?"

The detective nodded, swallowing hard. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I can ask."

All Might stayed behind with the children as they tried to hold back tears as Tsukauchi escorted Eraserhead into a police car, hands cuffed behind his back and - Shit! - getting filmed in the process as the media caught sight of the elusive Vigilante finally being taken in for justice, swarming the car like vultures as they've yet to catch sight of All Might in all of that destruction. Perhaps it was for the best, as not a second later, he lost control of his Quirk and turned back into skinny ol' Yagi Toshinori, scaring the crap out of his students and nearly getting blown to bits or deep-frozen by two of them. Shit, seems like he'll have a lot of explaining to do, but that can wait.

No, he first has to deal with the Eraserhead situation. He can't let Aizawa-kun get arrested - or, well, get charged, really, or go to jail - or let the Hero Commission get their hands on the Erasure user, not after everything they seem to have already put him through. He can't let the man be taken away for years at a time when there was a sweet, traumatized, only just recovering little girl no doubt waiting for him to return home. Not when there was a cat cafe that awaited the return of their no doubt favorite customer. Not when all those poor kitties all around the city still needed their semi-regular pampering sessions. Not when the students of Class 1-A clearly still needed the Vigilante to be their hero. Not when Present Mic still felt regret over Aizawa Shouta and cared so much about Eraserhead that this might break his heart. Not when the retired Time Hero: Kronos might be awaiting his return. Not when Shirakumo Oboro will need his friend by his side as he acclimates to the new world he was going to have to live in after being a slave for so long.

Not when Toshinori and Sorahiko have finally found the boy Nana had risked her life for, twenty four years ago.

Not when Toshinori had only just started to really get to know him, the man behind the yellow goggles.

Not when Eraserhead still has so much more to give to the world, to do for it, to change it.

Not when Aizawa Shouta still had so much more to give than just his Quirk.

So he'll save the explanations to his students for later.

Right now, he needed to call Nezu.

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku, from when he was very, very young, had always admired Heroes and had imagined a day when he, too, would be able to be one, to help and save people with a smile. The Hero he admired the most was, of course, All Might, the Number One Hero for many years and a man they hailed as the Symbol of Peace. A man capable of changing the weather with a single punch, a man that can save a hundred people in under ten minutes.

A Hero that never lost his smile, that never faltered in the face of evil, that always won in the end.

Izuku and his best friend, Bakugo Katsuki - or Kacchan - had always admired him together, had always spoken of how, one day, they'd be just like him, how they'd meet him out on the streets as Heroes and how they'd all work together to save the day.

For years, even after he'd been diagnosed Quirkless, lost all of his friends, lost his old friendship with Kacchan, when his mother cried over his fate, when people treated him as either a disease or something fragile to be pitied and handled with care or shattered like glass, his admiration for All Might and his determination to keep hold of the dream he'd inspired within his little heart never wavered, never faltered, never lessened. Even when teachers ignored him or kids bullied him or Kacchan told him to take a swan dive from a roof and pray for a Quirk in the next life, Izuku held on, desperately, to that admiration, to that dream.

And then he was saved by All Might, then he learned his secret, about his injury and then he dared ask the man the Question that had always received answers that almost pushed him to listening to Kacchan's advice but that stubborn hope always stopped him at just the last second. All Might, to his crushing disappointment and unspeakable sorrow, gave him the same answer.

He'd thought that was it. That that was the end. His Quirk analysis didn't mean anything in the end, after all. There was nothing he could really do, was there? No one would want a useless, Quirkless Deku to save them, after all.

But then Kacchan was attacked by the same Sludge Villain he himself had been saved from. Kacchan was fighting it. There were Pros all around, all just observing and hoping someone with a more suitable Quirk would come and save his childhood friend, not moving a muscle to help.

Izuku had known All Might wouldn't come to Kacchan's rescue like he had Izuku's. The man himself had told him that his time was up for the day, that he can't do any more Hero work because he can't hold his Quirk.

No one was coming to Kacchan's aid.

Izuku moved before he could think.

And then, when it had all seemed futile, when it had seemed both boys would die right then and there, All Might came and saved them.

And then he'd tracked Izuku down and made him an offer of a lifetime. Ten months fast forward, Izuku suddenly had an amazing Quirk - that he had no idea how to control, admittedly, and actually hurt him when he used it for a good while - was taking the entrance exam at UA and was, somehow, admitted on nothing but rescue points, earning himself a place in Class 1-A of the Hero Course. A few weeks later, he met all his classmates - who were all incredibly friendly, all around, and he actually made a few good friends in the first couple of days, too - he got to see more Pro Heroes up close than he'd ever thought possible and it was on a daily basis, All Might was one of his teachers and he was slowly but surely making his way towards fulfilling his dream.

The things that followed were both good and bad, memories he'll both cherish and keep in mind so he may remember his own naivety and foolishness as he grows so he may learn from them and become better and stronger.

He'd always known that there was no way being in the Hero Course could be easy and 100% safe - training accidents do happen every now and then, after all, even to the best Hero school in the country - but he'd never thought he'd get to face villains in the first two weeks in school.

Nor had he ever thought he'd get to meet Eraserhead and that the man would fight for them with his own life on the line.

Nor had he thought he'd ever get to actually call the man 'Sensei', as the entirety of their class had decided sometime between meeting the man and actually learning his real name and identity.

Eraserhead, truly, was a mystery the likes of which has not been solved for fifteen years. No one had known where he came from, who he might be, if the appearance they see was what he actually looked like, if he had a Quirk and why, for the love of god, someone so talented wasn't a Hero and thankful all the same that he wasn't a villain either. An enigma that was rarely sighted during the day, a Vigilante with the support of two very separate wards, a friend to a good number of Pro Heroes, Eraserhead has been active and avoiding police arrest for fifteen years, seemingly relying on nothing else but support items, gadgets and his own ingenuity.

After learning that he was Quirkless at the age of four, Izuku had never thought that someone without a Quirk - at all or a big, flashy, destructive one - could be a Hero, could make a difference and then he'd discovered this Vigilante and though it was wrong to revere someone who technically breaks the law like people do Heroes, Izuku couldn't help but look upon Eraserhead as a beacon of hope. Here was someone, doing something, making a difference even if they seemed to have no Quirk and they were accepted.

Years later, when he met the man and even after he learned that he did, in fact, have a Quirk - and Erasure was so freakin' cool, Izuku had never heard of a Quirk like it before; to be able to cancel the effects of someone's Quirk, even temporarily, was an incredible power, an overpowered ability, one might even say, in a society brimming with Quirks of all kinds and people relying on them nearly 90% of the time, be it in a fight or their day to day business - it didn't diminish his respect for the man and the hope he had inspired. If anything, he found he respected the Vigilante even more, as he sat before them wrapped in bandages nearly from head to toe, a visible reminder of what he'd willingly gone through just for them, twenty kids he'd never met before and whom he owed nothing. It wasn't even his job.

Eraserhead had earned the trust and respect and even affection of all twenty students of 1-A in a single afternoon faster than any teacher ever has earned any kid's before.

Facing horrifying circumstances that could have led to more than a single near-death does that, apparently.

Eraserhead never quite left them, even if he wasn't physically always there, though he often was. The Sports Festival had been an eye opener for Class 1-A just what their 'Sensei's' ideals were, though Izuku, personally, had noticed something else during the reward ceremony when he'd gone down and freed Kacchan. Kacchan himself had actually approached him and demanded to know if someone like Aizawa-sensei had possibly ever won the Sports Festival. The greenette had had to pause and seriously review all of his obsessive knowledge of All Might's Alma mater before admitting that he didn't know. Kacchan didn't scoff or yell at him for it. In fact, the explosive blond had demanded that Izuku 'open that nerdy page he obsessed over' right that instance so they can review all of the images and videos from past Sports Festivals and determine if Aizawa-sensei had, indeed, also went to UA but had quit or something.

They'd spent hours just sitting on a random bench in a random park not too far away from either of their homes and it almost felt like they were kids again, like they were friends again. Like ten years of bullying had never occurred. At the time, he'd been too focused on analyzing the Quirks of everyone from the footage - and unlike Kacchan, he actually focused more on the Gen Eds students than the Hero Course ones; Eraserhead's Quirk wouldn't have been suitable against UA's entrance exam, after all, but something like the Sports Festival seemed like something that would be right up Aizawa-sensei's alley! - to notice, but now, when he thought back to it, he could see where miniature changes in Kacchan's behavior started occurring.

Actually, ever since they enrolled in UA and met their classmates, Kacchan had started getting calmer. He yelled a little less and he let off less explosions. Could be that he was saving his energy for the practical classes, could be that he actually got to let off enough steam in said classes so he was automatically less aggressive, like how dogs behave better after a good, long walk or little kids slept better after getting to play long enough to use up their excess energy. Not that he was comparing Kacchan to a dog or a toddler or anything! It was just the first comparison to jump to mind ...

Anyway, after viewing the last twenty years of Sports Festival footage, they ended up concluding that Kacchan may have looked too much into Eraserhead's words on that first place podium. They both doubted it, as that would mean they had both thought wrong and that's actually really rare, but back then, things were still too bad for them to share their thoughts or theories with each other and had simply left towards their own homes to stew over it alone.

It wasn't until weeks later that they got a reasonable answer as to why it had sounded like Eraserhead was speaking from a personal experience of some sort but there was no footage of a time when it could have happened: during the I-Island Incident, they learned Eraserhead was one heck of a hacker. He should have realized it was a possibility earlier, given that the man had told them his name and Hal was both famous and infamous, internationally, and it's something he's kind of beating himself over even now, as he walks from - yet again - the hospital towards the police station, where his mentor was supposed to be and where Eraserhead was definitely being held.

Last night had been haggaring, for more reasons than one. From seeing All For One decimate the team of Heroes - lead by the Number Four Hero, Best Jeanist himself - sent to deal with the Nomu factory to seeing All Might exchange blows with All For One to seeing Kacchan standing off against the League of Villains to finally seeing Eraserhead arrive to the scene and deal with the entire situation with such ruthless efficiency that Deku praized whatever higher power that the man was on their side, even if it's only as a Vigilante. Eraserhead would be a seriously too scary villain.

Then they learned about the man's past and learned to admire him even more, if it was at all possible at that point. With the kind of backstory the man came from, it's a pure miracle that the man hadn't turned to the dark side and started ravaging the world for his own pleasure. Between his Quirk, his intelligence, his strange brand of charisma and his hacking skills - and connections the name Aizawa would no doubt bring him, as the successor to Hal, Aizawa Ashou - it would be almost too easy, especially when the Symbol of Evil couldn't even stand up against him in a fight. Izuku was determined to find a way to thank the retired Kronos and this new Shirakumo person who had been Kurogiri but was actually a mind controlled Nomu for keeping Aizawa-sensei on the side of light despite his tragic story. If it hadn't been for them, Sensei would have never become their Sensei. Hell, they probably wouldn't even be alive today, Class 1-A. Not all of them, at least.

Actually, a lot of Pros wouldn't be alive today if not for Eraserhead, now that he thinks about it. Ever since he met the man, he'd actually done as much research as he could with the limited information available online on the Vigilante. A lot of Pros and a lot of civilians owed their lives to the man. A lot of police officers, too. So many people would have been gone or lost forever, had it not been for him and yet he was being thanked by being put in a cell?

It didn't sit well with Izuku, which was why he was heading towards the police station. Surely he could talk All Might into vouching for Sensei and pulling a few strings? All Might himself had clearly expressed his displeasure with the treatment the Vigilante was receiving.

Another reason last night had been rough was because All Might had had to explain to Kacchan, Kirishima-kun, Iida-kun, Todoroki-kun and Yaoyorozu-san the truth about his Quirk, injury and current condition. It had started off merely as informing them that it was a secret and that, sometime in the near future, he'll have to retire once and for all from Hero work because he simply can't hold his Quirk for much longer than an hour and that even that timespan was growing shorter by the day. He'd explained it was due to an injury he'd received the first time he'd fought All For One. He'd slipped about it all coming to a head just before the school year started and Kacchan caught on to it, probably recalling their conversation from after their first practical lesson, Todoroki-kun soon following, finally having found an adequate answer to his theories and questions of why All Might was so invested in him.

So All Might and Izuku fessed up and the Symbol of Peace swore them to secrecy. Not even their parents may know. Not anyone. They were now in the now and all the more endangered for it, even if the greatest threat to One For All is, for now, behind bars.

Since All Might had been so forthcoming with information, Kirishima-kun had asked for a more detailed explanation of his relationship with Aizawa-sensei, which brought on some more surprises, even beyond the vague explanation of how the two actually met for the first time. To learn of this gentler, caring side of Sensei ... Not that they had ever been all that blind to it; they were probably the rare few exceptions who got to see him actually express concern and care and affection, but to hear about his generosity and charity, to find out he had saved a random little girl from the yakuza and had taken her in, in order to protect her and give her a proper childhood where she would want for nothing ...

Well, they may have been a tiniest smudge jealous that she got so much of his time, attention and affection before feeling overly guilty for it once they remembered what she must have all been through.

They'd been told to stay in the hospital for the night until their parents/guardians may pick them up and so they can be checked over for injuries. But with the chaos caused by last night's battle, transportation wasn't working as it should be and taxis were overbooked in turn so none of their parents - save Endeavor, whom Todoroki-kun refused to leave with - could pick them up until later today, when the police manage to get things back into control.

Which worked out fine for Izuku, as this allowed him to sneak out and head towards the police station to fight for Sensei's freedom in whatever small way he can without outright breaking the man out of jail. That would only get them both labeled as actual villains and he knows Aizawa-sensei would feel guilty for ending his career before it had even begun.

What he hadn't expected, though, was the mob in front of the station, the cops doing their damned best to keep order but the mob was louder, if not aggressive. And he definitely didn't expect to see it being lead by all nineteen of his classmates, Shinso-kun from Gen Eds, three other, older UA students, a small girl with white-bluish-gray hair and red eyes and a small horn or that Shirakumo guy who had been the Nomu Kurogiri from last night!

"Oh, look! There's Mido!" Ashido-san was the first to spot him, waving him over excitedly.

"Hey, man, c'mon! You're late!" Sero-kun called, also waving him over. The rest of his classmates gave him similar greetings and Izuku was even more surprised to see that the rest of last night's adventurous quintet was there, too, plus Kacchan!

"What's going on?" He asked Todoroki-kun when he came to stand next to him but it was Uraraka-san that answered.

"Haven't you heard, Deku-kun? As soon as the news got out that it had been officially confirmed that Eraserhead had been arrested, a peaceful protest was immediately organized!"

"It's a joint effort of Tasomiya and Naruhata wards," Shoji-kun supplied, one of his arms turning into a mouth and moving closer to Izuku to be heard better over the noise.

"Even people of Kamino ward pitched in!" Hagakure-san added, enthusiastically waving around a sign that demanded Eraserhead's release despite her being one of the students that had been affected by the gas and having been unconscious until last night.

"There are even a few Pros strewn around!" Kaminari-kun said, pointing over to where Fat Gum, Ms Joke and even Kamui Woods were standing with the civilians, holding their own signs that asked for justice for Eraserhead or some such message.

"So we thought we'd join the protest," Jirou-san supplied with a small smile and a shrug. She was a little pale in the face but her breathing was regular and she was standing strong, so at least the gas hadn't had any lasting negative effects.

"If not us, then who else?" Aoyama-kun said with one of his usual dazzling poses and a smile.

"My whole family came to support this protest," Iida-kun stated with his usual robotic arm-chops and Izuku could see them, from the older Iida brother in full Ingenium costume even as he sat in a wheelchair, to a woman that looked like an older, female version of his friend to a man who had slightly darker hair and the exact same face-shape as Iida-kun.

"So far, only lower ranked policemen have come out to try and talk to the crowd, but no one's budging until we get results!" Kirishima-kun said excitedly.

"I didn't know Sensei knew so many attractive women," Mineta-kun said a bit enviously as he looked around, no doubt ogling what looked like Ryukyu in street clothes and the complete Wild Wild Pussycats group, even their two injured members and Kota-kun, a few doctor-like women, a middle aged daycare teacher and a bunch of twenty year olds and many more that were all probably at some point saved and/or assisted by Eraserhead. A mother with a very upset son stood somewhere towards the front of the mob, along with two guys that looked like they were brothers and owned a cafe - or a pound, given how many cats were hanging off of them - with two big mutant-type guys and two twenty year olds that looked slightly familiar. The boy seemed to be an All Might fan, judging from his limited edition All Might hoodie he wore. He and the brothers were arguing(?) with a police officer. A female police officer with crab-like styled hair soon joined their group from where she'd been protesting with Fat Gum. She and the other girl started chanting a demand for Eraserhead's release, which was soon picked up from the people from Naruhata.

"Shirakumo-san was the one that had taken us from the hospital early this morning when the protests started," Todoroki-kun finally spoke up, pointing to the man with the mist/cloud like hair and blue eyes that flashed yellow whenever he seemed to lose control of his Quirk and his hair started swirling. Funnily enough, while his hair was the same color as Kurogiri's body-encompassing mist had been, his eyebrows were a light blue that really looked a bit like they were made out of clouds. The man was still dressed in Kurogiri's clothes, though he seemed to have ditched the tie and the vest was left unbuttoned, the top two buttons of his shirt also undone and the sleeves rolled up. He seems to have gotten a metal pipe or poll from somewhere. "My brother and sister are also coming and bringing my mother. I don't know how they pulled that off, though."

Was it Aizawa-sensei?

"What about Endeavor?"

"What about Endeavor?" The two toned boy replied with a shrug and Izuku couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, what's eyebags doing here?" Kacchan asked, but for once he wasn't yelling or complaining. Looking over to where his childhood friend was pointing - which was childish and rude but Izuku valued this temporary peace between them too much to aggravate the ashy blond - he found the purple haired Shinso. More importantly-

"Is that Sensei's capture weapon!?" Tokoyami-kun exclaimed and they all zeroed in on that thing hanging around the mindcontrolorer's neck.

"Yes, it is. or one like it," a new voice said and that had their attention turning to what appeared to be a blind man walking without help or a stick, dressed in civilian clothes except for one very telling feature that had Izuku instantly entering Hero-nerd mode because holy shit he'd recognize that lime green watch anywhere!

"OH MY GOODNESS, YOU'RE THE TIME HERO: KRONOS!"

"Wow, what a pitch! You could give Zashi a run for his money!" Shirakumo-san said, grinning at Izuku before turning towards the retired Hero. "It's good to see you again, Tsukihino-sensei! Too bad you retired so soon after I started school: I always wanted to have a specialized support item made by you!" He then turned to Shinso-kun. "Lucky~!"

"Wait, you made Sensei's capture weapon?" Yaoyorozu-san asked and the old man nodded.

"Some of my finest work, though this young man's needed some adjustments to help him control it, given that he doesn't have an auxiliary telekinesis Quirk."

"What brings you here?" Sato-kun asks and Kronos scoffs.

"I'm here to finally fully get my boy back! If I have to, I'll kick the ass of anyone and everyone who dares to stand in my way!"

"Yeah!" The blond of the three older UA students cheered, the raven haired boy beside him seeming to melt into his shadow when attention was turned their way while the only girl in their group waved at them with a friendly smile. "We need to get Eraser out of there, ASAP! Eri-chan misses him."

"Wait, you're Eri-chan?" Izuku asks the cute little girl held securely in the blond's arms. "Sensei's new ward?"

The girl perked up adorably at this. "You know Zawa-san, too?" And Izuku just felt his heart melt all over again because that shit was cute!

"Yeah. He helped me a lot with my Quirk a little while ago! Aizawa-sensei is really good with Quirks, it seems," he said with a small laugh before beaming gently at the girl. "My name is Midoriya Izuku, or I guess it would be easier to just call me by my Hero name, Deku. It's nice to meet you, Eri-chan!"

"Enough chit chat," Kacchan exclaimed, though he thankfully wasn't nearly as loud or explosive as he usually was, probably in consideration of Eri-chan and any trauma she might be suffering from that could easily be triggered by such shows of aggression, even though Kacchan's wasn't villainous in the least, just a part of how he expressed himself. "If we don't get any information on Sensei soon, who's going in with me to beat it out of the fucking lazy cops?"

"I'm not sure Sensei would want us to become villains, Bakugo-chan," Asui-san - or Tsu/Tsuyu-chan, as she prefers - stated, a finger by her mouth as it usually was when she makes her blunt observations.

"Wow, this year's first years are so fun!" The female of the three older students gushed with a big, happy smile on her face while the other boy was still trying to hide himself.

"I'll go with you," Shinso-kun said casually towards Kacchan. "But we try my method first."

"Whatever, eyebags."

"Hold it, you two," Kronos said, a hand reaching out to snag Shinso-kun by the black shirt he was wearing. "You're seriously underestimating Sho-kun if you believe he needs rescuing of any kind. You think he is where he is today because he waited for someone to save him?" That got everyone's attention and they turned to look at the old man. "Hell no. That little brat took his life and fate in his own hands and steered them in the direction he wanted. The day someone like him needs saving is the day you know we're all doomed. Besides, if you two hotheads, or anyone else for that matter, were to just break him out of here, he'd have to really leave Japan for good and while he's set for life, he really does like the name Aizawa for some reason. In other words, he wouldn't want to change his identity and he wouldn't want to leave, either. Who else would watch over his idiot friends, proteges and students?"

"Hey!" More than one group of people grumbled in offense but none could exactly contradict him.

"Just leave it to Sho-kun. That boy has never let anything stand in his way and he's not about to let something knock him down and stay there when he now has so much to do, to strive towards, so many people to return to. Maybe, a few years ago, he would have been content if he were to be sure All For One was taken down for good, but not today. He has friends and family and he still doesn't know this idiot," he said while pointing at Shirakumo-san, who squawked in offense and indignation. "Is completely okay. Trust me, there's no way that one's going to jail anytime soon, if ever."

"But how can you be so certain?" Kaminari-kun questions and Shirakumo-san is quick to answer.

"Tsukihino-senei's Quirk allows him to, by touching a person or object, gaze into the timeline of the same, thus seeing the past or future of said person or object. He has limitations, of course, but he sees every possibility based on choices, which means that he sees how every choice impacts the future and so he can lead people towards better options. He used it mostly in his craftsmanship so he can immediately create flawless support gear for Heroes and the items he's made are marked as some of the best in the entire world!"

Izuku opened his mouth - to ask one million questions about the man's Quirk that have always been bugging him; Kronos had not been an active fighter for long and rarely was it obvious when he was using his Quirk, so he hadn't really had much information to base his analysis on - only to have Kacchan put his palm over it, preventing him from speaking. "Ask all your nerdy questions later, Deku. We need to decide what to do. The fucking vultures are multiplying."

Indeed, what had started off as three or four news crews was now fifteen to twenty and they were all shouting questions, at the police, at the Heroes, the other protesting citizens and there were even a few approaching towards the UA students. he Pros supporting the protest saw and moved to intercept them but new crews were arriving by the second and there were now microphones being thrust in all of their faces, demanding answers.

"You're all from Class 1-A, right? What are your thoughts on Eraserhead's arrest!?"

"Is it true Eraserhead kidnapped a yakuza boss' granddaughter!?"

"Was Eraserhead part of the rescue operation plan or has he come to sabotage it?!"

"Bakugo, how's it feel to be rescued from the League of Villains!? Will your parents sue UA?!"

"Are you really Eraserhead's 'class'?"

"What are your thoughts on the Vigilante finally facing justice for his many crimes!?"

"How did Eraserhead know where to be at just the right time, twice already? Three times, if one counts Hosu? Isn't that suspicious? What are your thoughts?"

"Do you think Eraserhead is just hiding the fact that he works for the League of Villains by pretending to protect you?"

"Do you think Eraserhead's bravery deserves to be punished?"

"Hey, isn't that the Time Hero: Kronos? I thought you were retired, sir! May we know why you're here?"

"How does it feel to have been attacked by villains three times in as many months as UA students!?"

"Can we get a reaction?!"

"Do you trust All Might and UA to keep you all safe after they have failed twice!?"

"Who's the little girl? I'm talking to you, blond guy!"

"Bakugo, why are you always targeted by villains?! This is, what, the third, fourth time?"

"Does Eraserhead have a Quirk?!"

"Do you know Eraserhead's true identity?!"

"Todoroki Shoto, what are Endeavor's thoughts on this!?"

The questions were coming from all sides, overlapping each other and were far too loud for any of their hearing, let alone for people like Shoji-kun and Jirou-san with their sensitive hearing and poor Koda-kun was doing his best to hide behind Sato-kun, shy as ever. Izuku himself was too busy trying to keep Kacchan from doing something stupid and blowing up at th reporters while Iida-kun, Kirishima-kun and Yaoyorozu-san were trying to mitigate the chaos, unsuccessful as they might be. Shinso-kun seemed to be doing all the glaring for Kronos while Shirakumo-san was trying his best to keep the reporters away from them both, only to be, in turn, accosted by an observant one that noted that his hair looked similar in properties to the images released to the public of Kurogiri, the warpgate villain. The rest of his classmates had surrounded the three older students - and the little girl in the blond one's arms - and were giving a variety of 'No comment's and stoic silence. Kaminari-kun even went as far as releasing low levels of electricity to mess with the media's equipment so they'd leave them alone but then the cameramen moved to the back and the reporters started yelling even louder.

It was pure and unadulterated chaos.

And then-

"Oh, so you want a shouting match, is that it?" A voice said, a voice that was loud without any effort and 1-A immediately put their hands over their ears because they knew just how loud the owner of said voice can be. "Begone THOT!"

In an instant, everything fell quiet and practically all of the reporters' equipment fried or short circuited as they were not meant to take the power that was Present Mic's voice even at 10% of his full potential. They all turned to look at the source of the noise, only to find Recovery Girl and Principal Nezu quickly sneaking into the police station while, apparently, Midnight and Present Mic had been sent out here as a distraction.

"Wow! Loud as ever, Zashi!" Shirakumo-san with an elated and relieved grin and whatever Present Mic was about to say actually died off into utter silence as his glasses nearly fell off of his face.

"... Oboro?" They'd never heard the man be this quiet in all the time they'd known him, directly or not. Beside him, Midnight looked like she had seen a ghost and there were actual tears gathering in her eyes. "This is not a dream, right?"

"Nope!" Shirakumo-san said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, an equally sheepish grin in place on his mouth. "I didn't get much of an explanation as it seems no one quite knows what happened to me, but this old guy called Gran Torino told me I'd apparently died or something and was turned into this brainwashed thing called Nomu to serve some great evil villain overlord or something and then Shouta saved me last night." Then the happy switch seemed to be turned off as seriousness took over the man's features. "Listen, Hizashi, I have no fucking clue as to what is going on besides that Shouta's finally been caught and, quite frankly, I don't care but you have to help me get him out of this mess-"

"... Shouta?" If at all possible, Present Mic looked even more stricken and was even more hushed in whispering Aizawa-sensei's given name.

"Yeah! You remember that guy that clocked both you and me at the Sports Festival in our first year, right? The one that was kidnapped? Check it out, the dude had escaped by himself but had to run for it when he returned to find that the government was looking for him! Became a Vigilante instead!" Izuku and Kacchan exchanged a look at that. Seems they finally had an actual answer, even if it wasn't exactly detailed. They could guess, after last night, why the government would want Sensei; Erasure was a one of a kind Quirk and probably the most powerful ability in a world full of them. "He's the one that's been helping me and hanging out with me during my patrols! Come on, I've told you about him!"

"Oh my god," Midnight said, a shaking hand before her mouth. "You're talking about Eraserhead?"

The blond Voice Hero looked ready to keel over. "All this time ... " He spent another moment shocked before a scary sort of determination settled over his eyes. "Well, we'll just have to make him our friend officially now, won't we."

Shirakumo-san grinned at that and Present Mic finally returned it with one of his own more sunny expressions. The entirety of Class 1-A had no idea what was going on besides the fact that their Sensei was about to get hounded by two overly friendly, determined, tenacious, Hero extroverts.

"Poor Sho-kun," mumbled Kronos and Shinso-kun nodded along. The dark haired boy of the three older students seemed to agree, though he seemed really shy - or socially anxious and boy does Izuku feel for him; he knew exactly how that felt and it was only since getting into UA that he'd started feeling more comfortable around people. A life of Quirklessness would do that to you, but he wasn't sure that was the case with his senpai - and didn't indicate it in any way, instead trying even more to hide behind the blond one. Was that even possible? Well, Plus Ultra and all, he guessed.

"Guys, I think we'll have to catch up later," Midnight said and pointedly jerked her head towards the reporters. Izuku looked over to see that they seemed to have adjusted the pieces of equipment that were still functional and were getting a second wind in their sails.

"Fucking vultures," Kacchan, Shinso-kun and Kronos all said together and Present Mic prepared to shout again by inhaling a long, deep breath but the press had seen that and were already shouting their questions or complaints at the treatment they were being given. More police officers came as if to prevent having everyone's eardrums explode while the UA group just placed their hands over their ears. Yaoyorozu-san even went as far as making noise-muffling earphones for Jirou-san and Shoji-lun, who were most sensitive to all that noise. Their English teacher had to hold back his Quirk unless he unintentionally hurts the police officers just doing their job but that just meant they were, once again, bombarded with even more questions and all of them were all the more degraditory towards Eraserhead, UA and even the students and All Might!

After a particularly nasty comment that practically declared Eraserhead a villain that had Present Mic going "So you have chosen death" - both literally and figuratively; the man even said it so all can hear and for once since the second wave of irritable questions had descended on them, Midnight and Shirakumo-san looked ready to not stop him but rather help him in a second's notice, as did more than half of the Heroes here to support the Vigilante - Deku just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Is this how you show appreciation and gratefulness to someone who's been keeping your streets safe at night for fifteen years!?" His shouting actually made the reporters shut up and tune in on him, as this was actually the most reaction anyone had given outright besides showing irritation towards the 'fucking vultures'. "Do you have any idea how many cases Eraserhead helped solve or solved for the police outright!? Who do you think stopped half the drug or human trafficking rings plaguing Musutafu and surrounding areas?! How very hypocritical! What kind of message do you think you're sending out there with the kind of implicatory and accusatory questions you're asking!? It is people like you that create the atmosphere suitable for crime rates to rocket and for there to be more criminals and villains on our streets! Eraserhead had acted as more of a Hero than any of you could ever understand!"

"You go, Deku-kun!"

"Show 'em who's boss, Mido!"

"Tch, finally grew a spine, did you, shitty nerd? About fuckin' time!"

"And what about the Pros!? Huh? What about all of you!? I only see a few here but it's practically common knowledge after all these years that Eraserhead does more than half your job for you and then just lets you take the credit! Is this how you repay him!? Not very heroic of you, or is he right and all Heroes care about these days is reputation?"

The media cries out in outrage and they immediately turn on him, shouting at him that he is clearly a Stain-follower and supports the very villains that had been arrested last night. Some even went as far as accusing him of being the one to have leaked the information about the Training Camp, which nearly had Kota-kun punching scrotums and the Wild Wild Pussycats scratching faces off. Ms Joke was just cracking her knuckles when Endeavor, of all people, dared step forward, the media parting way for him, either from fear of getting burned by the flames of his costume or simply to document whatever drama was about to unfold.

Izuku held his ground and felt Kacchan and Todoroki-kun flank him immediately.

Endeavor glared down at them, eyes lingering on his own son, before refocusing on Izuku. "Children who do not understand the severity of the crimes Eraserhead has committed should not speak up in defense of a known criminal. Hell, after his behavior last night, he can safely be classified as a villain."

Kacchan immediately started letting off small explosions and both sides of Todoroki-kun's Quirk came to life in his outrage. Hell, even Izuku felt One For All wake up and flare up as his anger soared. Their classmates behind them also roared their rage and indignation while the press seemed to be all just eating it up.

And then-

"Stop saying such mean things about Papa!"

Silence.

Absolute and stunned silence as they all turned to focus on the little girl that was no longer being held in the arms of the older blond student, but was instead standing there just behind the troublesome trio, her little hands clutching with white fists onto her little red dress. She was frowning and her lips were trembling as tears streamed down her face. Hell, she was shaking all over but she wasn't backing down.

The weight of her words and their exact meaning hadn't even begun to sink in yet when she dared speak up again, voice shaky but loud and sure. "Papa is the nicest, kindest person in the whole world and he saved me when no one else would! Y-you can't c-call him a vi-villain after what he d-did for m-me! Y-you can't take him from m-me!" She was outright sobbing but still glaring down the adults that stood opposed to the UA group. The police officers that were trying to keep order between the press and them looked so guilty Izuku almost pitied them. Almost. They, too, had a part in making this child cry. "He's t-the only one t-that's ever o-offered me w-warmth and h-hugs and he takes c-care of kitties a-an-and ... I want my Papa!"

The weight of her words, the implications behind them, breaks Izuku's heart and he can see he's not the only one. Fat Gum and Ryukyu especially look heartbroken. The blond senior student, too. Like they knew something. (Probably about who Eri actually was and what she must have been through before Eraserhead came for her.) Looking at his classmates behind him, Izuku saw Yaoyorozu-san and Kirishima-kun crying and Iida-kun biting his lip in rage. The others looked heartbroken even with just that little information.

"Eri-chan-" he begins, moving towards the girl to try to comfort her, but then another voice speaks up from behind the officers, Endeavor and the press.

"I am here."

Chapter Text

It was a long night behind them all, filled with stress and panic as they all tried to ensure that the efforts spent were not to go to waste. The police focused on properly containing the villains, All For One being the main priority. The former Kurogiri went to the hospital along with the children. All Might himself had to be checked over by his personal medical team at one point because he had strained himself, again, when fighting his arch nemesis and Tsukauchi and him had a lot to talk about, first and foremost the fact that Eraserhead's identity came as absolutely no surprise to him.

Eraserhead, Aizawa-kun, who was arrested and had spent the night in an interrogation room, being questioned on and off by different detectives. They tried to keep Naomasa off of his case because he was technically biased towards the man but he was the only one with any power to get real answers out of the man because of his lie detector Quirk.

All Might actually spent the night explaining himself to several different people. Tsukauchi, the students, Principal Nezu over the phone and, eventually, Gran Torino. All required different explanations and Principal Nezu even required an explanation of what Toshinori was hoping the rat/bear/mouse/dog/whatever-he-was could do for him. For Aizawa-kun.

Tsukauchi at least wasn't angry at him for keeping it a secret, not after Toshinori told him about the cat-caring sessions and the way a little traumatized girl wasn't acting quite like it after only a couple of weeks.

The students had been understanding and seemed to respect him even more after learning of his struggles. They didn't look at him as though he was fragile - or pitiful - now that they knew his true form, for which he was immensely grateful, and they'd all promised to keep it a secret.

Gran Torino, though ... Well, the both of them had spent at least half an hour in utter silence as they tried to reconcile with the fact that the boy they'd thought lost to them forever, their one final failure to Nana, was in fact alive and doing relatively well, all things considered. He was alive and he was within their reach ... But they couldn't exactly do more than vouch for the man. Even with all of their strings and connections and the weight All Might could pull, they could not exactly influence what would happen to Eraserhead, not when the government itself wanted him.

Now that the true story has come into light, Yagi didn't know what to do.

As the night passed and more and more aggravated detectives left the interrogation room he'd been observing from afar for hours, he felt more and more helpless and that just made a simmering rage grow within him. At the system, at himself, at the Hero Commission and the very government he'd trusted to keep his secrets safe after his fight against All For One. At the public, as he checked his phone and found hundreds of half-assed articles written poorly about Eraserhead's arrest and how he was 'finally getting what was coming to him'.

People were so fickle, public opinion so unstable ... The press more of a turncoat than anything or anyone else All Might had ever seen. Just two months ago, they'd been ready to call Eraserhead a Hero! (And Underground one at that, which was, in Toshinori's own opinion, the highest compliment anyone could get because Underground Heroes were the most like the noble Heroes at the dawn of Quirks, fighting for the good of all, not money or fame or recognition.) Today, they were ready to tear him apart like sharks.

But there were also people ... People of Tasomiya and Naruhata and from all over that came to show their support to Eraserhead, that came to demand his freedom and for true justice to prevail, as he was their Hero regardless of whether he was a Vigilante or a Pro. The entrance to the police station was swarmed and early in the morning, the live-feed he'd been following even showed his own students coming! Pros were out there, too, not willing to let their friend, a good man, go to jail for no good reason when all he'd ever done was help them and protect the innocent.

Eraserhead had never acted like a Vigilante, and that worked in his favor today.

Eraserhead never imagined himself to have the right to be judge, jury and executioner. He'd always done things by the book.

A lot of the police officers outside were there to, apparently, ensure that the protest can't be discriminated or discarded because 'it was violent' or something like that, their own way of showing their support without losing their badges. Some had even forgone that and were actively protesting with the people!

Toshinori nearly had a heart attack when he saw UA's Big Three show up with a very familiar girl in their arms but that was when another detective and Sir Nighteye left the interrogation room, frustrated and flustered and baffled. Sir Nighteye even outright stomped away, not even looking at him, which was really strange behavior for Sasaki. Then Naomasa exited the observation room and sighed, frustrated and amused in equal measures.

"Nighteye tried to use his Quirk on him as a form of interrogation. Didn't work. Nighteye just used up his one chance to use his Quirk today and it didn't work in the least. He didn't seem to be actively using it ... "

"But?" He questioned when the detective trailed off in some form of uncertainty.

"He said his Quirk defends itself," Naomasa said finally. "My Quirk didn't detect any lie, but it just seems ... impossible."

"Hmm," he sounded consideringly. "I'm honestly doubtful that anything is truly impossible. Not after the things I've seen so far. I've lived a long, crazy life, my friend, and I have yet to see an actual impossibility."

"Then try getting this guy to talk about anything but what happened last night," Tsukauchi said with a snort.

"I'd be willing to."

"I was hoping you'd say that, actually," the police officer said, raking a hand through his hair. "I've even got permission from the higher ups. They want answers. Bad enough that they're willing to forego protocol on this one."

"You want ... me to question him?" He asked a bit incredulously, because he'd not exactly hidden how fond he'd grown of the gruff, caring, kind man behind the Vigilante. He's as compromised as Present Mic, Midnight and the students outside! "I'm not too sure that's a good idea, Naomasa."

"I want you to talk to him, not interrogate him. Not even question him! That's what I did and it had no results unless it was questions relating to how he'd found Bakugo-kun and the others last night, though part of those answers kind of scare me, too."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember that guy we'd had to take down from the building where Eraser had literally left him hanging? Okay, so, he's one of the first Quirk specialists in history and he's also the one to invent the Quirk Singularity concept and theory. Meaning he's well over a hundred years old, Toshinori. He may even be older than All For One! Regardless, that's not the point. The point is that he is a man used to making himself disappear so he can continue on living his life and working like a doctor and Quirk specialist. It's how All For One got some of the most powerful and rare Quirk types from all over the country. Doctor Garaki Kyudai was a part of the deepest levels of the criminal underworld, just like All For One and their secret operations, especially in the last six years. That's why we'd never even had a hint of their activity until we'd started getting Nomu in our jail cells." Naomasa paused, looked a little pale. "The so-called underground of the criminal underworld is the darkest place humanity has ever managed to create. Not even the light of the Symbol of Peace can reach that place, All Might. Human, organ, sex, weapons and drug trafficking, information dealers, pedophiles, rapists, mass murderers, criminals and villains of the worst possible record and rap-sheet ... That's the kind of level of corruption I'm talking about. The most depraved people belong to the underground of the underworld. Villains are disgusted by them, but people who belong there, in those circles of hell ... They hold power and information the likes of which we could never hope to fight against. That's why Hal was so sought after, Toshinori. He was the only one not belonging even to the criminal underworld, let alone the underground, that had the access to the same information, to the same resources. Do you understand what I'm trying to get across, All Might?"

"I think so." The circles Naomasa was talking about sounded more than perilous. It was a type of deep seated corruption that not even five lifetimes would unearth. It was all of humanities depravities gathered in the deepest pits of hell, but only very, very real. To say that it was dangerous would be the understatement of the century. It makes sense that All For One and his greatest associate would hide there and that only there, information about them could be found before All For One felt ready to make his move. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I've heard that even those of greatest bravery and sturdiest of hearts have faltered and fallen there, my friend. And yet he hadn't."

"... What?" He couldn't help but ask, not quite sure he's getting what Naomasa was trying to tell him. Or maybe he was too busy denying it to realize just how much it all made sense. No, he really must have heard wrong, that's all! There's no way Aizawa-kun would have gone to that pl-

"Think about it, Yagi!" Naomasa almost snapped at him. "He had the doctor, he had the information about all those other factories and hideouts! And while the latter could be attributed to his hacking skills, the former was information he could have only gotten from that pit of filth and depravity! And yet somehow ... Somehow he'd come back practically unchanged. A little aggressive in speech when addressing Endeavor, but he was the same old Eraserhead ... That's ... That's honestly terrifying."

"It's admirable," was what Yagi countered with. "You weren't there, Tsukauchi. You didn't hear the things he'd said, about his life, his past, the things he'd been through ... I think All For One might have even held him captive in this ... underground, once, before he'd been saved. He's unwavering, my friend. And if he'd dived down that deep, he'd done it with a reason and that reason was why he'd come back. Because he had a reason to. Probably twenty something reasons, actually."

The detective huffed, begrudgingly amused. "Yeah, I'd seen the broadcasts. But enough about that. Would you be willing to speak with him, Toshinori? I think he might actually talk with you instead of just listing information and his sources."

"I don't know why you even felt the need to ask. You know what my answer will be." Besides, he'd been hoping to have a proper talk with the man. There were things he noticed missing or not addressed enough in their interactions and the things he'd said last night. In short, Toshinori had questions. And he needed to buy time,for the both of them. Nezu was amazing but even he couldn't make something happen with the snap of his fingers. "Anything specific you'd like to know?"

Naomasa grinned. "Nope. Just get him to talk about anything other than last night. Literally anything about his past." Anything that can help us play him off as a victim of the system is what was left unsaid and Toshinori felt a swell of warmth from within that his friend already knew what he was trying to pull with Nezu and was already setting him up to help himself and this whole screwed up situation.

"I'll get to it, then."

The interrogation room was nothing special, almost identical to what you'd see in the movies. A bare room with a light hanging overhead a simple table in the middle of the room, one chair on one side, two on the opposite side and a big one-way glass window mounted on the wall. The man sitting in there alone was much more fascinating. Eraserhead had been stripped of all of his gear, though Naomasa had made sure that it was being guarded by Officer Sansa so there'd be no funny business with the incredible capture weapon or whatever else Eraserhead had had in his utility belt, including his phone. But Aizawa-kun himself seemed unbothered by having been left bare in nothing but his jumpsuit and boots, casually sipping the coffee they'd tried to bargain with him over. They probably thought that a man that looked that sleep depraved would be desperate for it, but Aizawa-kun had held out very well and still ended up giving zero information but with a coffee cup in his hand. They'd yet to offer him to eat, as far as he knows, and he'd never been allowed to have the one phone call he had rights to as a citizen, accused of a crime or not. That made Yagi frown but he decided to dwell on it later.

Instead, he focused on the black eyes that were already boring into him from the second he'd entered the small room.

Almost imperceptibly, Aizawa-kun relaxed. "All Might-san."

The taller of the two offered a small smile. Small, but very much genuine in its affection for this peculiar man. "Come now, Aizawa-kun, I thought we'd gotten past that."

The ravenette tilted his head like a curious cat. "Perhaps. Then again, until this very moment, I was unsure if you'd known about my true identity the last time we'd spoken. And now I am certain. Tell me, Yagi-san, how long have you known?" The Vigilante that'd caused such a stir leaned onto the table, gazing at Toshinori, indeed, like a big cat ready to pounce. "And what gave me away? You better not have started spying on my students in an attempt to get to me-"

"Goodness no, Aizawa-kun! I swear!" He quickly denied, waving his hands in front of him as if in an attempt to ward off such accusations. Incredibly, the ever cautious Vigilante that had remained uncaught for fifteen years simply took his word for it. Toshinori felt something thick lodge into his throat at that show of trust. He swore he'll treasure it and never betray it. "It's actually a few things that clued us in."

"Detective Tsukauchi."

He nodded. "Our first clue came after the Sports Festival fiasco. People started seriously talking about you having a Quirk-nullifying Quirk of some sort and Nezu and Present Mic were kind of dragged into it. That's the first time I heard your name: Aizawa Shouta, UA student in General Education who had been the first and only one from that course to win the Sports Festival. We learned that you'd been kidnapped shortly after and never seen again, the last to have actually seen you alive being Kronos. We visited him with Yamada-kun with a piece of your capture weapon that had been ripped off and found in USJ and he gave us his side of the story. During that whole thing, Tsukauchi said at some point that he could have sworn he'd heard the name Aizawa before and he ended up looking into it, connecting it to, of course, Hal."

"Tsukauchi is an impressive detective," Aizawa-kun said with a nod of his head and Toshinori felt proud for his friend. "Did you visit the old man?"

"Yes. He explained that you weren't his by blood, only in name, but we went to him only after your little raid on Shie Hassaikai."

"There's actually something that's been bothering me since I realized you might have known who I was when you met Eri-chan," Eraser cut in before Yagi could say much more. "I get the feeling you knew who she was. Who I had to be if she's with me. Why didn't you turn me in right then and there?"

Toshinori considered how to word his answer. "She's happy with you, isn't she? We'd managed to get the whole story out of Overhaul." Aizawa-kun leaned even further forward. Apparently, he didn't actually know the whole story of the little girl he'd so generously taken in. Truly, this man was a marvel, a one of a kind. "Her mother left her with her grandfather, Chisaki's adoptive father and the true leader of the Shie Hassaikai who abhorred drugs, after her Quirk came in and she accidentally rewound her father, who'd been holding her, out of existence. Not long after she'd been left in his care, he'd in turn left her in Chisaki's because they had 'relatively similar Quirks', only Overhaul started experimenting on her. When he'd brought his findings to his father, a way to maybe one up even the kingpin All For One himself, the grandfather had tried to shut him down and, in turn, Chisaki had left him comatose, took over the yakuza and continued experimenting on Eri. Their first products hit the streets pretty soon, along with Trigger, which is, I'm guessing, how they garnered your attention. My point is, that little girl has known nothing but pain and suffering in her short life. And yet, when I met her, besides being a bit jumpy and overly shy, she seemed ... Happy. She smiled and laughed and played. For a trauma and abuse victim ... She'd been very well taken care of and she'd clearly come to care for you as much as you did her. To take you away, when I already respected Eraserhead so much to begin with, would be cruel and something I could not swallow down. Heroes are meant to make a better society. How can I do my part if I bring in such a kind and caring man?"

Aizawa-kun blushed and had to look away. He seemed to be fighting back both tears and a smile. Toshinori smiled to himself even as he wondered just why the man seemed so unused to genuine praise. It didn't sit well with him. Eraserhead had done so many good things for so many people, surely he'd received praise and thanks befo-

Except this was different, wasn't it? This was't just Eraserhead receiving praise for his Vigilante work. This was Aizawa Shouta being praised for being a good person. As himself. As the man, not the shadow in the night.

And that's not even mentioning that Eraserhead had never been one hunting for recognition. He'd probably left more often than not before those he'd saved could thank him.

Truly, one of a kind.

"How is he? Hal, I mean. I ... send him emails every now and then." Yagi almost arched a questioning eyebrow before he remembered what his arch nemesis had said last night about the infamous hacker. Technopathy did not need technology in immediate reach of the user. Aizawa-kun had known that and had kept in touch with Aizawa-san over the years. "But I haven't seen him since I'd turned him in."

"He seemed fine," Yagi reassured, smiling when the other seemed to relax at his words. "Vibrant as ever." That earned a snort. Probably because Aizawa-kun was all black and Aizawa-san was all color. "They'd wanted to bring him in on the security footage you'd tempered with from your raid. He took one look at the code and politely told them to fuck off, in not so many words. I spoke to him in private afterwards. By then, I'd already met you, you know, in that alley, with the cats." They both chuckled at that. "So I got him to talk by mentioning you. Learned that he wasn't your biological parent but had always seen you as his own child. That he was proud of you." Aizawa-kun lowered his gaze to the floor at that. Whether in regret or sorrow or embarrassment, it was hard to tell, but he soon looked back up, composed as ever. "I learned, sort of, how you met."

"He told you I kicked ass for him? That's new," commented the black haired man and Toshinori grinned.

"Not quite, actually. He said you saved him and always wanted to be a Hero. He also warned me not to be in cahoots with the Hero Commission if I want to approach you. Why did he think you'd manage to earn their attention for the third time?"

"You heard me last night, didn't you?" The younger cocked an eyebrow at him.

"I'd like a proper explanation, I should think."

Aizawa-kun sighed but indulged him anyway. "You no doubt realized, at this point, that I am the kid you, Nana-san and Gran Torino-san have saved from All For One on the night she died." Yagi nodded, not having expected the other to cut straight to the chase like this. Then again, he'd learned so far that the man before him was very, very blunt. He should have known this was how this would go. "Well, after Gran Torino-san left me with the government agent on the scene with only a brief 'description' of my Quirk, they had me sent to one of their research facilities, where I stayed for several months. I don't know how long, but by the time I'd escaped, seasons had changed. That was the first time. The second time was after the Sports Festival, fifteen years ago. All For One was the one that had ordered my kidnapping, but the government has been suspicious that 'Aizawa Shouta' was the same person as 'their Shouta', only having finally learned control. They came to 'lend a hand' in the investigation but ended up calling it all off sooner than UA would have otherwise and had continued their own search of me by themselves. I couldn't return or else they'd take me back and make another 'Hawks case' of me. And I refused to be a tool."

"But you had to give up your dream for that."

"Except not really," Aizawa-kun countered with a shrug. "My dream was to help and save people the way you three have helped and saved me, temporary as it had turned out to be. It's why I'd turned Ashou in. He'd wanted to introduce me to his scene and I'd rather not become a criminal. So when my only legal option was destroyed, I'd opted for the less legal one. I trained myself, I learned the proper protocols and did things by them, I saved people. I ended up making friends. I ended up making a difference. It was small and I changed people's lives one step at a time, but it was worth it. I'd never wanted attention. I would have probably become an actual Underground Hero had I stayed and graduated from UA. I've had enough attention to last me a fucking lifetime, thank you very much. I ended up liking it. Yes, it would have been easier with a license, but a license would have kept me from Eri for who knows how much longer when she'd already desperately needed help. That, if nothing else, is enough of a reason for me to prefer my current lifestyle than what could have been."

Toshinori supposed that made sense. It's not exactly applicable to every situation, but in this one, it was very, very true. "You'd have made a great Hero. Hell, you already are! And don't you dare let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Aizawa-kun snorted, looking away with a faint blush dusting his cheeks. "You're talking about the little crowd outside, aren't you."

"How did you-"

"I already told you, Yagi-san. I can see Quirks. Physical obstacles mean nothing to me. Yes, I have to look directly at someone in order to erase their Quirk, but I can see and assess Quirks regardless of obstacles in between me and others. Well, if I'm using Gold, that is."

"Why call it 'gold'? Is it just because of the color?"

"One of the reasons is the color," the younger male replied with a shrug. "The other is greed."

"Greed?"

"Gold causes greed. My Quirk has, in others, caused nothing but greed and fear, but greed has somehow always been the dominant reaction and emotion. And Gold is a unique metal, precious. It has a unique color, is rather meldable, as is my Quirk, is quite literally 'out of this world' - another thing that might as well be attributed to Erasure - and has often been associated with godhood. And in a world full of Quirks, what is more dangerous and powerful than something that takes them away, permanently, with only a glance? Erasure is the first and only of its kind, Yagi-san, and it has opened my eyes to a theory none have been aware of until it and I came along."

"And what theory might that be, Aizawa-kun?"

"Simple, really. Quirk evolution. Much like the evolution of living creatures, Quirks evolved greatly from the first ones that appeared. First, they spread, turning from a minority to a majority of the population being Quirked. Today, a little under 20% of the whole world is Quirkless. Even some animals have Quirks, like Principal Nezu. Second, they started getting stronger, more versatile, more complex. Auxiliary, secondary and composite Quirks came into being. This part, though, can't go on forever. Surely you have noticed how the younger generations have fairly strong Quirks, much stronger than even some of our students."

For some reason, that our greatly pleased Yagi.

"The little doctor I'd gifted you, Garaki, made a Theory that's widely known today as Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory, saying that, eventually, Quirks will become so strong and complex that people will be unable to control them. We're very close to that point that I think we might have already reached it. Just look at Eri or 'Dabi'. Eri has some sort of time Quirk that pushes time through the body of whoever she touches, rewinding them to a previous state of existence. It will be probably years before she can properly control that power. Dabi's Quirk is on the other end of the spectrum: it hurts him. He has excellent control, but it's simply so strong that it burns his own skin. Might be a side effect of having a body suited for an ice Quirk he'd inherited from his mother, but the fact is that Endeavor had achieved what he'd originally wanted: a child with a fire Quirk that didn't overheat. Dabi doesn't overheat. He just ... burns. Twice, too. It's his Quirk's cloning ability that has created schizophrenia in him. Hell, if my guess is right, I'd say he'd spent a lot of his time cloning himself before the clones eventually developed a sense of self and tried to kill him in an attempt to be the real one."

"Shit."

Aizawa-kun just snorted. "Garaki made a good, sound theory that would have probably been true, but he forgot one major factor that would be the key variable in this equation."

"Oh?" Yagi couldn't remember the last time he'd found what sounded like a lecture this interesting.

"Nature, as in everything that it is and that it creates, is all about balance. The second a population of any species reaches over sixty percent, it starts playing natural selection roulette. Humans may think it was them that had, through their choices in spouses in the early days, when Quirk marriage was allowed, caused the new Quirks that are present today to develop, but they forget they can't account for how and which genes will combine. It took four tries until a 'perfect' Todoroki was born, right? One that can't overheat, but in a safe way. What I'm saying is, one part of this little roulette game was nature going its course and deciding which Quirks will stay, develop or disappear altogether. It lead to the current world, as we know it. The other part, well ... Food Chains exist for a reason."

"You lost me," admitted the older of the two.

"When a species starts closing in on overpopulation, Yagi-san, nature throws in an obstacle. A virus, a parasite, a natural disaster or a predator."

"You," the Hero said in a fit of realization. "Nature throws in you."

The Vigilante just nodded. "Not me specifically, but Erasure, yes. Something that could very easily wipe the slate clean, take out a lot of the population, bring the status quo back to fifty-fifty, to balance. Nature is all about balance and Quirks happened by nature of human evolution. Hence, an 'Anti-Quirk'. Or rather, the theory I'm writing my paper on ... It is only a matter of time before nature decides it is time to throw in these 'Anti-Quirks' into our society as a part of the natural progress of the world. My existence, the things other scientists have found out about me, the many texts I've read over the years, the things Erasure allows me to see ... It all lead to that conclusion. It may seem obvious once it's stated plainly, but then you look back on the past two centuries or so and realize no one else had ever thought these Quirks will ever disappear, ever go away. There were Quirks that could be called a prelude, a premonition to 'Anti-Quirks'. All For One and its ability to take away Quirks, leaving someone Quirkless. Dr Quirk's Quirk, before I'd accidentally erased it when he'd tried to block mine, could technically also count as one of those preludes, as he was able to cut off genomes in the DNA chain, including the one that holds the Quirk factor. Eri's, too, could be a variety of it, if she learns how to target specific things and not the whole body. Erasure was just the first Anti-Quirk. It will probably be the only one like it, but there might come more in the future."

"Why do you think others won't be like it?"

"Erasure evolves, develops, learns," the wielder of said Anti-Quirk explained. "It wasn't able to do nearly as many things in the start as it can now. I couldn't see Quirks, I didn't have auxiliary Telekinesis, it didn't heal my eyes nor did it allow me to not blink, like, ever except if I wanted to or forgot not to. It defends itself, Yagi-san, it is as close to having a mind of its own as it can come. And it defends me. It also cannot exist outside of my own living body. The second it leaves my body, it is undetectable. Even if I were to have children, to be cloned or something, Erasure will not go to them. It will die with me."

"How is that even possible?" He couldn't help but ask, because that sounded like fantasy to him.

Aizawa-kun only shrugged. "Hell if I know. It just ... Is what it is. Now, are you going to actually ask me something or is this just a chat to satisfy Tsukauchi's secret vanilla voyeurism kink?"

Yagi spluttered at that, coughing up blood in his surprise as a blush crept up from his neck to his hairline. He was sure his friend was having his own fit of a reaction to that comment, but he kind of couldn't focus on imagining usually cool-headed Naomasa falling out of his chair in a fit of flustered shock. He was in here for a reason and should be asking very specific questions! Questions that will, hopefully, help them in ensuring freedom for this man. And maybe even something more.

"Okay, can you just ... Start from the beginning? On your life story? What happened to you, Aizawa-kun? How did you become Eraserhead?"

Aizawa Shouta regarded him with guarded eyes for a moment, seemingly assessing him and trying to figure out his intentions and Yagi did his best not to squirm. It was a very intense stare that he was on the receiving end of. But then Aizawa-kun sighed and relaxed and started talking. And talking. And talking. Wow, Aizawa-san hadn't been kidding when he'd said his adopted son's story was a long and complicated one.

By the time the younger man was finally finished, Yagi realized just how lucky they were that this man kept to his morals, to his beliefs. That he didn't hate the society that had nearly lead to his death or disability several times over. He admired him for not turning dark and bitter and vengeful at the things done to him. He was surprised to hear that a criminal and villain had treated him better than those who supposedly worked for the government meant to serve the people but had instead condoned the torture of a number of their citizens and children, no less. It was a wonder Aizawa-kun had trusted Hal and Kronos as much as he had. Recovery Girl, too, from what he'd implied. He finally understood why the people of Tasomiya and Naruhata were willing to go to such lengths to defend him. He finally understood how and why Aizawa-kun had been able to better train Midoriya-shounen in using One For All in a single night than Toshinori had in half a semester. He finally understood how he befriended Present Mic, Midnight and so many other Heroes. He finally understood a lot of things.

"You're really very amazing, Aizawa-kun," he praised, ready to refute the man's rebuttals at the very true compliment, but a new, different voice coming from the speakers cut them both off and caught them by surprise, too.

"I very much agree!"

"Principal Nezu?" Damn, that rat moved fast.

"Hello Yagi-san, Aizawa-san. It is a pleasure to be talking to you two again, especially you, Aizawa-san. It's truly been such a long time." The black haired man nodded towards the one-way glass, as though in greeting, though he seemed warily confused. "You may stop now."

"Wha-"

"Your mission is finally over. Well done, Eraserhead. It was thanks to your diligent work that we've finally caught the nefarious villain, All For One, and put him under lock and key once and for all! You can finally rest now. You'll need it, before you can go back to your Hero work again."

"What are you-" A new, unknown male voice - to Yagi, at least; Aizawa-kun, on the other hand, seemed to stiffen upon hearing it, which made the blond unconsciously clench his fists as though he's about to Detroit Smash who- or whatever was causing his companion discomfort - started but then a recognizable female voice, the one belonging to the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission, spoke up, cutting him off.

"He is indeed right, Eraserhead-san. I suggest you rest up until your next assignment. Good work out there. We need more Heroes like you." The way she said this was a bit tight, her words terse and tense, especially the 'more Heroes like you' part, but what was most important was the fact that she admonished the other speaker and apologized for whatever difficulties her employees may have caused to Eraserhead during these last few months of this 'very important mission'.

Yagi turned a baffled stare at his friend, but found that while the Vigilante was keeping a straight, impassive face, the look in his eyes was just as confused and shocked.

Toshinori knew what he'd asked of Nezu - to somehow procure a Hero License for Eraserhead or something that would help keep him out of jail - but he's not sure what the mammal overlord of UA had actually done.

Not until the HPSC President spoke up again. "I hope this finally makes us even, Nezu-san. Please don't ever contact me ever again unless it has to do with direct business of UA and nothing else. Have fun with your pet Hero."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, as always, madam!" Chirped his boss and Toshinori shuddered at the overly cheerful voice. That voice never meant anything good. Oh god, what has Nezu done this time!? "Thank you for clearing my dear friend's name and lessening the burden placed on my staff! Have a nice day!" They heard the distinct sound of heels walking off and then the doors opening and closing. The silence, before Nezu spoke up again. "Well, well, well, you truly are a hard person to find, Aizawa-kun! How long has it been? Fifteen years? It's a good thing UA finally has its lost Sports Festival Champion back."

Aizawa-kun barked out a laugh. "You're crazy! Just how the hell did you manage to make me a Hero of all things?"

"Very easily," came the rat/bear/dog's reply. "Let's just say that the dear President owed me and your conduct over the years has been more than Hero-like, so we didn't have to bend the truth too much. The recent rumors of you being an Underground Hero already helped. Also, Ashou-san told me he expects a call soon."

The former Vigilante turned Hero snorts. "Figures. Between the two of you and possibly with Kronos-sensei's help, I wouldn't be surprised if you take over the world in an hour, let alone manage to create a whole fake Hero work history for a single Vigilante."

"But it's not fake, Eraser," came Tsukauchi's voice and Toshinori could clearly make out the grin in it. "I have every single one of your reports to prove it and back it up, as well as testimonies of over fifty cops and ten other detectives. The mayor vouches for you, too, as do several Heroes, most prominent among them, of course, being All Might."

"Welcome to the Hero world, Eraserhead!" Chirped Nezu again and Toshinori couldn't help but break out into relieved, delighted laughter, which only grew as he saw the stupefied, elated and disbelieving look on Aizawa-kun's face. Oh, how precious this was! How unbelievable! Nezu had surely taken his request and gone well and truly above and beyond, Plus fucking Ultra! "Please come to conference room six and have a brief chat with me and Shuzenji-san before going out to meet with your students and friends and stop them from killing off the reporters. Welcome to the team!"

"Indeed, Aizawa-kun," Toshinori said with warmth and affection, gazing down at the still disbelieving man as he stood up, walked around the table and offered him his hand. "Welcome to the team."

And with no hesitation whatsoever, Aizawa Shouta took it.

It felt like a victory as big as the one against All For One.

It would seem that the times were changing.

In the best way possible.

Plus fucking Ultra.

Chapter Text

Shouta couldn't believe the mess that greeted him after he'd finally finished his brief - but also even more shocking - conversation with Principal Nezu and Chiyo-san.

Yagi-san had been waiting for him just outside, chatting with Tsukauchi, who scuttled off as soon as he saw the doors opening to reveal the former Vigilante, now staring stupefied at the Hero License declaring him as the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead, Type: Underground, Status: Active, Clearance: S (the highest order, oh my god; people worked all their lives to get this level! And very few ever managed it!), Name: Confidential and the same status for the rest of his personal information, or even his 'professional' information. Gods.

He had, somehow, done it. He was a Hero.

Well, Nezu had done it, actually, but the mouse/bear/dog had just spent ten minutes lecturing him about acknowledging his own achievements and not handing them off to others. "You deserve this, Aizawa-kun. This isn't charity or a meaningless gift. And it's not even just an apology for never having done right by you. No, this is because you are a marvelous Hero, one our sorry society would benefit to have. You and your story should be an inspiration to all. Despite your hardships, never once have you faltered and never once have you lost hope and belief in a better world and a more just society. I can't thank you enough for being you, Aizawa-kun. Don't sell yourself short and please see just how good you are."

Chiyo-san had been fussing over him throughout the entire conversation and had even admonished him when he'd called Nezu crazy upon hearing the proposal the mammal had brought to the table. She'd made him consider, she'd made him think of just how suited he was for the role and she'd made him at least think on it before making a final decision. Shouta kind of already knew what he wanted to do, but he wanted to go over all the details, make the arrangements and give Nezu a few of his own terms. Just because the mouse/bear/dog had saved him from jail and given him his dream on a silver platter did not mean Aizawa Shouta was suddenly going to walk on eggshells around him or kiss his feet (paws?). He hadn't done it for Hal and not for All For One. He hadn't done it even to All Might and his two teachers. He won't do it for Nezu.

His gear was waiting for him with Yagi-san and the man seemed greatly pleased to see him back in his full Eraserhead regalia. "What?" He'd gruffly, asked, only to have the taller chuckle fondly and shake his head.

"Nothing. Just relieved that I get to see you like this again. And that we're on the same side now." And then he'd grinned, all giddy and elated like an idiot and it made the entire station light up without him needing to be All Might and flash that practiced smile filled with too many teeth.

And Shouta couldn't be blamed for blushing with an embarrassed and only half-seriously annoyed "Shut up!" because he's sort of always had some sort of crush on the blond. It couldn't be helped, not after how the then teen had saved him and reassured him, or how, when he himself was a teenager and All Might returned to Japan, his hormonal mind and body had decided 'Yup, this is the one you'll be all awkward and flustered for. Don't even try to fight it.' because, of course, they hated him. By then, he'd already met Oboro and his best friend had done what all best friends did - tease him mercilessly over his crush. And now, years later, he'd spent two very peaceful afternoons surrounded by cats, conversing quietly with this very same man, and had spent at least three separate nights in a similar manner, minus the cats.

This happiness at them finally being comrades rather than All Might officially having to arrest him was just unfair on him. What had he done to the universe for it to continue shitting on him by making him awkward in front of his first ever and only crush. Hasn't he suffered enough?

Clearly not, as after he'd managed to finally get everything in order within the station - he took great delight in very pointedly, very obviously putting his very new Hero License away into one of his pockets so a very stupefied Sir Nighteye can see him doing it, which had caused All Might-san to be very amused - and Shouta followed his companions (fellow Heroes and gods, how very strange that was and how much he would need getting used to it) outside, only to see three, maybe even four mobs standing off against each other. The police and protesting Pro Heroes were relatively calm, though a few on both sides looked either uncomfortable or approaching anger. Some were outright outraged by that point and he wasn't yet sure what had caused it, so he further surveyed the situation. The other two groups were the more actively fighting ones: the media vs his students, his Naurhata Vigilantes - oh god, what did those idiots do?! - his closer Hero friends, his people of Tasomiya and Naruhata (they were as much his as he was theirs and he was definitely, unfailingly theirs; they'd claimed him years ago) and - oh my fucking god! - UA's Big Three with Eri!

'What the fuck is going on here?' He thought to himself, but Nezu must have seen something in his face or just outright read his mind - he wouldn't put it past him - because he took great delight in explaining. With each word that left his mouth, Shouta felt his headache mounting.

And then the argument between his students and the press+Endeavor happened. He couldn't lie: he was very impressed and oh so proud and very touched by how Midoriya had come to his defense, even though he really shouldn't bother with these types. Shouta didn't care, either way, what the public may think of him. There's a reason he'd always considered going Underground if he became a Hero. This was all just too much of a hassle.

He was also glad to see how Midoriya and Bakugo seemed to be getting along better and that Todoroki wasn't afraid to step up to his father. The three of them would make a devastating team, each one with the potential to outdo All Might himself one day. The Hero world wouldn't know what to do with them. Shouta was almost tempted to steer them in that direction for nothing else but entertainment value and the chaos it might cause, but that would be irrational reasoning. He'll instead say it's the only logical course of action, as all three of them want to be Number One and are strong and talented to be it. Why beat each other up when they can instead take first place together and beat down anyone who dares try to wrestle it from them? Hm, he'll have to think on that one before interfering, if at all.

And as much fun as it would be watching these three teenagers beating Endeavor right here and now, in front of all these people and cameras, that wouldn't be very Plus Ultra of them and UA already had enough shit on their plate to deal with without having to reassure the press that their three top first year students aren't going to go down the path of villainy just because they beat up a bitch who well deserved it.

But before he could decide on a course of action, a usually timid and quiet voice cut through the air.

"Stop saying such mean things about Papa!" He couldn't believe it. No, that couldn't be- But it was. It was Eri-chan. Sweet, innocent, traumatized, shy, timid, only learning to smile Eri. His Eri, the girl he'd saved and taken in, for whom he'd risked it all, risked officially being named a criminal and maybe even a villain for how he'd broken into the Shie Hassaikai hideout and beat the snot out of anyone who'd gotten in his way.

There she was, standing on her own two feet, hands clenched probably painfully tight into her dress, glaring at the press and Endeavor to the best of her ability through her tears and speaking up for her caretaker, for him-

"Papa is the nicest, kindest person in the whole world and he saved me when no one else would!" Her lip started wobbling and Shouta already knew she was about to start sobbing. Shit! He was already taking a step towards her, but she wasn't done yet. "Y-you can't c-call him a vi-villain after what he d-did for m-me! Y-you can't take him away from m-me!" His heart broke at hearing her voice break. It was too much. He can't just stand here and watch her bring her tiny fists up to now rub at her tears, trying to brush them away as she continues doing her best to defend him. Gods, what had he done to deserve this child? These Problem Children, the lot of them, all looking so touched and heartbroken at her words? "He's t-the only one t-that's ever o-offered me w-warmth and h-hugs and he takes c-care of kitties a-an-and ... " A supporting hand lands on his shoulder and Aizawa knows it's Yagi, knows this was meant to be reassurance or comfort, but in that moment it only feels like a clamp preventing him from going to the girl that so clearly needed him right now. "I want my Papa!"

That was all he needed. Gods, that was all he needed to fall to his knees right then and there and outstretched his arms with a very simple, quiet and yet audible "I am here". It made everyone shut up and look at him, Eri included. More tears started rolling down her face the second she saw him and then she's all but flying into his arms, hugging him tightly as he drew her into his chest, pressing her close. "I am here, Eri-chan. I told you I'd come back."

"Papa! Papa!" Eri cried into his chest and he held her closer, all but curling up around her. "I was so s-scared when Lemillion t-told me you were in t-trouble and n-needed saving!" He could only imagine. In her young mind, Shouta was probably superhuman after having saved her from the hell she'd lived in. The fact that he might need saving from time to time had probably never even occurred to her.

"It's okay now. Everything's okay."

"Sensei!"

"Eraser!"

Those two cries had him looking up just in time to see his students, friends and the Big Three all launching themselves towards him and he barely had any time to stand up and brace himself with Eri in his arms before he was engulfed in the biggest group bearhug in existence. He'd probably have fallen over had Yagi-san not stood right behind him. That man was strong even in his skinny form. The world was then thoroughly drowned out as the students all cried and crushed him in their hugs, all trying to speak over each other and express their worry for him. He tries to reassure them that he's fine but he has Eri clinging to him from his chest and Hizashi and Oboro hanging off of his neck and that's nearly choking him right on the spot. He's just grateful Mindight hasn't decided to torture him - yet - by suffocating him with her breasts like she sometimes does when she can't win an argument against him. (Whether she does that to annoy him or disorient him, he will never find out, but they usually derail into a different argument after that, usually whether public indecency and trying to suffocate a citizen is enough to revoke her License.)

"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE!? WHY ISN'T HE IMPRISONED BY NOW!?" The unnecessarily loud question draws attention back to the present and Shouta looks up over the many, many heads trying to rest against his chest or arms or, really, any part of him in reach at this point, glaring through his goggles at the flame Hero.

"Shut up, Endeawhore."

Chaos breaks loose the second All Might starts coughing up blood with how hard he's surprise-laughing and Midnight's cackling. The teenagers, being teenagers, immediately start shouting things like "Buuuuurrrrn!" and "Oooooooh!" and "Savage!", which is just ridiculous. Somewhere from within the crowd, Todoroki's older brother releases a delighted cackle of his own while the mother and daughter look to be trying to suppress giggles. Ms Joke joins in on the cackling in her usual spit-taking glory and Nezu seems to have gotten tea from somewhere, just so he can goggle it down and cackle around the reddish liquid so it could look creepy as fuck. Mic, of course, has to ruin his enjoyment of the stupefied look on Endeavor's face by screaming in delight, nearly bursting everyone's eardrums until he erases his Quirk just to shut him up.

The press, of course, take this as permission to approach and shove microphones into his face and the faces of his twenty five Problem Children - yes, the Big Three, Eri and Shinso included if they're gonna be in this irrational cuddle pile - which just irks him. They shout questions, as if he needs more reason to not answer any of their inquiries and they're all so rude about it that Shouta just wants to hack into all of their files and accounts and shut them down for several months to teach them a lesson in respect. But that wouldn't be very heroic or Plus Ultra of him, now would it? Can't risk his new License so soon.

"How do you deal with this?" He asks the blond behind him while trying to push Hizashi's face from mushing against his. No thanks, there's absolutely no need for that. He also needs to bat away Oboro's hands from his goggles.

"I can't believe you kept them! Though the upgrade is awesome!"

"Wait, Oboro gave you your signature goggles?" Nemuri asked, drawing his attention to her before the Symbol of Peace could impart on him his wisdom of dealing with the fucking vultures still trying to get answers to their annoying questions. Bakugo was starting to let off explosions again. "Just how well do you two know each other?"

"Nearly a year before I met you two," Shouta replies.

"He used to help me take down bad guys on my patrols! He was so fucking awesome I couldn't just ignore him! And then it turned out that he's the missing Sports Festival Champ! You know, the one that decked Zashi!"

"Hey, man, don't act like he hadn't handed you your ass, too! I at least got to the final match!"

"Aizawa-sensei, you went to UA?" Ashido asked and Hizashi jumped to the chance to talk.

"Hell yeah, little listener! This gruff cat is none other than the very first Gen Eds student to have won the whole Sports Festival, yo!"

Shinso's eyes, which had already been pretty wide upon hearing that his mentor had had aspirations to become a Hero and had even gone to the same school as he was now, got even wider upon hearing that little tidbit. Cameras started flashing even more at that, which really irritated Shouta's eyes. Hey, Gold might heal them in an instant, meaning it took away his chronic dry eye, too, but his eyes were still sensitive. Result of actually having them gouged out once and slashed across at least on three different occasions. (Dr Quirk and the scientists/doctors/Quirk specialists working for the government/Hero Commission actually did quite a few identical experiments once they'd realized Erasure defended itself.)

"Can we catch up after we leave the fucking vultures behind?" He said pointedly, not at all caring that his words were no doubt caught on camera. Shouta's never been one to censor himself - even around Eri, he slipped up sometime and then told her those were words only adults were allowed to use because she had no business cussing like a sailor - nor will he start now for these people who had no sense of privacy or propriety. "I'm tired. And hungry. And I want a nap."

"Do you want the Daily Sushi?" Nemuri asked teasingly, already whipping out her phone and listing through her picture gallery, laughing when Shouta perked up.

"Whaaa~!? The little one's still alive!?"

"Cats can live up to twenty years, Oboro," Aizawa said with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, did he ever tell you guys that he was the one who actually found Sushi?" Oboro said while poking Shouta's cheek and he slapped the man's - god, was it strange to think of Oboro as a man when his last memory of the cloud boy was just a teenager of seventeen - finger away. "Found her out in the rain but didn't have a home to take her to so I'd volunteered! Then Nemuri adopted her and I guess she's having a happily ever after?"

"The most pampered cat in the world," confirmed Shouta, Hizashi and Nemuri. That seemed to mollify Oboro and he finally loosed up his grip on Shouta a bit.

"I'm really glad to see my most important people have found each other even without my guidance! You guys deserve each other!"

"Don't get all sentimental on us! And you need to go greet Tensei, too! Poor darling's probably feeling all left out over there," the older female in their friendship group pointed to the wheelchair bound older Iida brother, who waved at them dismissively.

"I'll get my turn after the stampede of kids leave!"

"Don't be embarrassing, Onii-san!" Iida the younger called back, only one of his arms bothering to detach itself from the cuddle pile to robotically slash the air at his brother.

"Excuse me," a journalist finally called out, trying - rather rudely, in Shouta's humble opinion, as it was pretty clear that none of them wanted to speak with any of the press at that moment - to get their attention. "All of this is all oh so very touching, but we have a right to get answers. The people demand answers and deserve the truth."

Shouta grimaced at that, almost telling him where to stuff his microphone, but the other paparazzi have taken this momentary silence as their cue to start asking questions again. "Oh for god's sake."

"Eraserhead, have you blackmailed the police into letting you go?!"

"How does it feel to bamboozle young minds into believing you're a Hero?"

"Have you no shame?"

"That little girl is your daughter? Child services allow this? What is your defense against the obvious stipulations why you are not a suitable parent?"

"Do you have blackmail on all of these Pros and that's why they're supporting you?"

"Tell it to us straight Eraserhead: are you a Hero, a Vigilante or a villain!?"

"Why were you allowed to walk out of the station!?"

"Have you really been a Vigilante for fifteen years? How have you avoided arrest until now?"

"Eraserhead, give us a statement!"

"Eraser, what's your real identity!?"

"What next, Eraserhead!?"

The kids were getting agitated again and his friends had all stopped cuddling him so they could straighten up to their full heights and be more intimidating that way as they glared at the crowd. The Hotta brothers, his prototype Problem Children and the two workers at Hoppers Cafe all started yelling protests. Fat Gum started admonishing the press for such rude ways to ask questions and the police had to start restraining the crowds again, both the reporters and the groups that had come to support him. His Problem Children stuck to his side, but they were agitated alright. Bakugo was letting off small explosions again and Dark Shadow was actually starting to stir towards the dangerous mode despite it being bright outside. It was getting annoying and actually a bit dangerous. Time to step in, he guessed.

"Enough." As always, he didn't raise his voice in the least, but a hush fell over the entire area almost instantly, everyone tuning in on him. Shouta glared at them from behind his goggles as he slowly reached into a pocket on his utility belt and took out the one new document he'll probably take a long time in getting used to it. "I didn't blackmail the police; there was no need to. I didn't trick anyone into anything. Heroes aren't just the ones that punch villains in the face. No, I have no shame, because I have nothing to be ashamed of. You want to take my custody over my daughter to court? Bring it; I'll bury you into the ground before you can make a single half-assed argument. Plenty; they're human, too, and love fooling around. You should see the pictures I have of Present Mic serenading a-"

"I thought we agreed we don't talk about that!" Screeched Hizashi, causing Shouta to smirk despite himself and Nemuri to cackle. She'd been the one at fault, after all, with her toxic alcoholic concoctions that should be labeled as health hazards.

'Oh god,' he thought as he just realized something very crucial. 'I'm going to be their designated sober/tipsy babysitter for life now that they know who I am.' Not that he hadn't, sort of, already been fulfilling that role ever since that one time he'd accidentally stumbled upon them after a drinking binge with the other UA teachers a couple of years ago.

"As for my allegiance," he said as he finally pulled out his new Hero License, showing it off for the first time. He had a feeling this will be monumental. "As you can see, the rumors from a few weeks ago," he couldn't help but smirk near ferally. "Weren't wrong." Everyone around him fucking exploded into motion, all of his kids whirling around so fast they might have started mini-tornadoes as they all snapped their eyes towards the License declaring him an Underground Hero. Heh, the biggest lie he'll ever tell and yet the media itself had made it believable just a month ago all on their own. Kudos to Nezu for knowing how to use that to their advantage. "I was allowed to walk out because I am not guilty. The last fifteen or so years, because of my suitable Quirk and rough background, the Hero Commission had assigned me an undercover mission of epic proportions that I was perfectly suited for. They pushed forward my graduation tests and I became a Pro in secret while declaring myself a Vigilante so I may have access to all the same networks usually only villains have while working for the betterment and safety of our society. This allowed me to feed the police and/or ranked Heroes information to carry out raids or other sensitive missions that one can't easily get information for. Intel is half the mission, the other half consists of one part luck, two parts preparation and three parts planning. The actual fighting is the smallest part of the fight. Anyone who doesn't agree can fight me on that, but another day. As my License clearly says, my personal details are confidential. Now if that is all," he puts away his new License and starts walking away, ushering all of his Problem Children to go with him. "Never speak to me and my 20+ children ever again."

"Sensei, that was fucking awesome!" Kaminari was the first to break the tension as they all boarded the bus Nezu had brought when he and Recovery Girl had come earlier, apparently having anticipated this turnout. Not surprising at all.

"Since when are you a Pro!?" Screeched Mic and Shouta activated his Quirk to shut him up again as he pulled down his goggles, tucking them in under his capture weapon.

"Since today, actually," All Might supplied as he boarded the bus at the back of the group. "That was some bullshiting, Aizawa-kun! One might think you're a Pro!"

"Ooh! All Might, you naughty boy! You'll corrupt the kids!"

Shouta snorted at Nemuri's unrealistic 'concern' and 'admonishment'. "As if they don't hear far, far worse from Bakugo daily." Though he noted that none of the kids had noticed Nemuri's slip-up and decided he will need to up their situational awareness training. That could save their lives one day.

Said ashy blond opened his mouth in offense where he sat in between Kirishima and Midoriya, before closing it and shrugging. "Fair."

"Wait, Mighty boy, did you know?" The louder of the two blonds demanded and Yagi-san just shrugged. "Don't start trolling me now, man!"

"SHOTOOOOOOO!" Came Endeavor's voice from outside of the bus seconds before Kronos-sensei peaked his head through at the door. "Room for four more?"

"Sensei," Shouta greeted with a grin, even though he knew the man couldn't really see it. Not until he touches him and even then, it is unlikely that Kronos-sensei will be able to see his past or future, not for a long while. When he'd first met Kronos-sensei, fifteen years ago, he'd abstained from using Gold - Erasure in its truest, strongest form - for years before that, since before meeting Ashou. That's the only reason Shouta could come off as a normal person and not the first carrier of an Anti-Quirk that knew how to defend itself without conscious input from him. Ever since that Nomu at USJ had him accidentally triggering Gold - tearing apart some of the Quirks holding it together but he hadn't had the time to properly look at it long enough to properly take it apart - he'd been finding it harder and harder to keep it back under control. It had kind of had it with him getting hurt by Quirks it could easily block, but he's managed to wrangle it under control once before, he'll manage again.

"Don't dally and just get on already, Shikaku," Chiyo-san grunted affectionately and the man nodded in her direction before effortlessly moving towards where Shouta was sitting with Eri in his lap. The three good Todorokis came in after him and immediately settled near the fourth one, where they started talking plans on getting Dabi - Touya - out of prison. With the way they kept looking at him, they obviously expected him to pitch in and held them free him of his charges. Shouta's not sure if he can actually do that; Dabi was very much a criminal. He may not have murdered anyone, but he's known as an arsonist. Shouta thinks the kid, more than anything, needs therapy and then they can talk about anything else. Endeawhore, though, he can deal with, any day, any time.

"So, that better be my granddaughter," Kronos-sensei said right off the bat and Shouta had to repress a groan, as he'd been half expecting this since the moment he'd adopted Eri. What he hadn't been expecting, though, was for All Might to start booming with laughter. "What?" Kronos-sensei asked a bit snappishly and the blond tried to get a hold of himself before he started hacking up blood.

"It's just ... that ... HA! ... Aizawa-san ... Hahaha ... Aizawa-san had said much the same thing! Oh, my abdomen!"

"Jeez, take it easy before you hack up your remaining lung, man," Mic commented, rubbing the taller blond's back, but the other waved him off.

"I'll be fine. Stars, this is some of the best fun I've had in years."

"Better than Nighteye's expression when he saw my shiny new License?"

"Eraser! You didn't!?" Mic and Midnight howled with laughter while Shirakumo just watched on in amusement but not really understanding, as he didn't know just how against Eraserhead All Might's old sidekick was.

This was actually his first chance to properly look at his old friend after he'd reversed the Nomufication on him. Erasure doesn't just erase Quirks, it erases the effects of Quirks. He can literally erase a fire started by a fire Quirk even after it had started burning things and acting like any normal fire would, but only Gold can do that. Erasing the effects of All For One was no different. Not only had he destroyed the mutations and modifications All For One had forced onto Oboro's body to make him capable of carrying multiple Quirks without it frying his mind, but he'd also erased most of the Quirks the villain had forced onto his body, especially ones that ruined his free will and personality. The only Quirks he'd left behind were the ones that were allowing Oboro to live today despite having been dead once and the constructed warp Quirk, though the latter was more because it was now so thoroughly intermingled with Oboro's natural Quirk that, should Shouta try to erase it, Oboro's cloud Quirk will be erased, too. And Oboro needed his Quirk if he wanted to become a Hero.

While it wasn't impossible to be a Quirkless Hero, Oboro wasn't exactly stellar at hand to hand without tricks with his clouds, so it's best not to risk it.

Besides, with how rare warping Quirks were, Oboro will only benefit from his. Everything that made Kurogiri an efficient warpgate was still there, from the limitless number of people and/or things that he could transport to the exact coordinates where he can reach, it was all still the same.

It's only logical to give Heroes an advantage in this age that will come, the scramble to fill up the vacuum that is now all that is left from All For One's century of reign. They'll need every trick in the book, every advantage, because the villains will become unbearable. Especially as All Might will have to retire soon. From what Aizawa had seen, he won't last longer than the end of summer break before he runs out of time completely with how recklessly and irrational he is spending it right now.

"Are you turning into a trolling monster?" Chiyo-san asked and that had Nezu cackling into his new mysteriously refilled cup of tea all over again.

"I never thought Aizawa-sensei had it in him!" Ashido cheered, clearly more than pleased by this development.

"Hit the accelerator, here comes the walking trash fire," Aizawa says instead of outright answering his student and that had the entire bus howling with laughter anew as the automatic buss started driving just before Endeawhore could reach them.

"ERASEEEEER!"

"Sheesh, that guy yells more than Hizashi!" Oboro said with a vince and that just had the buses laughing themselves silly all over again.

It was quite ... freeing. With Eri content and curious on his lap as she watched all these silly, silly people making jokes and bonding, more than ever before, over making up stupid insults at Endeavor's expense - much to the other Todorokis delight, even if the daughter tried to be discrete about it - with the teachers and even Nezu pitching in, Kronos-sensei still sitting next to him while speaking calmly with Recovery Girl and Yagi for once just having fun instead of always having this doom and gloom demeanor hanging over him like a rain cloud and with Shouta now, finally, somefuckinghow, a free man through and through, a Hero ...

He closed his eyes and sighed in content, just taking it all in and letting it lull him into the best nap of his life.

Maybe he shouldn't overthink Nezu's offer, after all.

It's where he belongs.

Plus Ultra.

Chapter Text

"I'm surprised you actually agreed to come and talk with me, Shouta-kun," All For One said as he gazed at the young man who had once been a fearless, unbelievably powerful boy who had looked upon him, saw the same thing the rest of the world did, and never once faltered or balked at the sight of. Yes, All For One hadn't been nearly as scary in outward appearance as he was now, due to the injuries Yagi Toshinori had dealt him during their first clash, six years ago, now, but he'd been considerably more powerful, as he'd not been restricted by his condition, nor had he had only a copy of his own Quirk while true All For One waited for young Shigaraki Tomura to inherit it as his heir, the next Symbol of Evil, the king of villains. And this boy, if no one else, had been perfectly aware of that due to his own Quirk and yet ... He had not feared.

All For One might have known him for a very short time, but he'd never actually seen fear in this boy's eyes.

Though, he is no longer a boy, but rather a man. A grown adult, who had learned the value and power his Quirk held, who had mastered that power and let it mature, grow, do what it was meant to do: evolve. Neither All For One nor Garaki have ever seen something like Erasure before. The power couldn't very well be called a Quirk at all!

Quirks were like muscles. They need to be trained and they have certain limits. Most of those limits can be overcome with growth, maturing and training, but there was always at least that one limit that can't be crossed without risking the user's life. Quirks can be creatively utilized and used in many different ways, but it's always the user that adapts, not the Quirk itself. Not even All For One and One For All were exempt to this 'rule', so to say.

Erasure, though, has no limits. It adapts and adapts and All For One had a feeling that, had people continued doing more tests on Shouta-kun, Erasure would have acquired a few more additional defensive measures. Or rather, most probably it would just pump more and more power into the telekinesis auxiliary Quirk it had already gifted its wielder for greater defense. After all, Telekinesis is actually a very versatile and very powerfully dangerous Quirk, especially if it were to inherit Erasure's lack of limits. Erasure also didn't damage the body due to overuse. Erasure healed, not damaged. Shouta-kun had spent probably two or more years of his early life with it active non-stop due to what Dr Quirk and then later, apparently, the government were doing to him in order to understand this new power. Erasure did not have a concept such as 'overuse'. What's more, All For One would have sworn on his life that Erasure was at least semi-sentient. It sure did protect Shouta-kun when the boy had been incapable of watching out for himself due to sleep.

A Quirk that worked without conscious thought that wasn't a mutation, that defended itself and its wielder, healed damage done to parts crucial to its survival, developed and evolved with no limits in sight and even somehow granted new powers ...

Yes, Dr Quirk had been perfectly right to call Erasure an Anti-Quirk.

And Erasure's wielder was just as ... quirky as it was. Shouta-kun had not had an easy life, had had many wrongs done onto him and yet he only did good onto others. As opposed to the first moments when his Quirk was Erased and panic - shamefully - overwhelmed him, All For One could now feel his Quirk right where it was, even though he can't reach it. It's not even the Quirk-inhibiting restraints, it's all Shouta-kun's doing. Apparently, the young man had not only figured out how to create a Quirk-like profile for Erasure that allowed him to move freely and register his Quirk without raising suspicions, though that appeared to severely level down Erasure's true power, but Shouta-kun had also figured out how to, by using these two modes of Erasure, keep a Quirk erased temporarily for certain amounts of time. He didn't quite understand how that works or why it's possible, but he's learned many years ago to never actually write anything off as impossible. That would be hubris of unspeakable proportions on his part.

Especially towards this man who had seen so much, lived through even more and suffered through it all but had still decided to fight to help people, even when he knew their gratefulness would be nothing but fleeting, if even that.

"I have a lot of questions that only you may have answers to, Shigaraki," replied his visitor and All For One couldn't help but chortle.

"That is mutual, Shouta-kun."

"Then maybe we can help each other."

All For One mused on this for a second before giving an agreeing shrug. It was a fair enough arrangement, all things considered. "Which of us should go first?"

Shouta-kun, apparently.

"All those years ago ... Why did you take me? More importantly, why did you treat me with ... With kindness?" He asked and All For One could tell this was actually something that had been bothering the man for many, many years. It made sense. He possessed a power no one understood and eventually came either to fear or desire. This led to Shouta-kun either being tormented or experimented on. All For One and his dear old friend hadn't actually done anything to Shouta-kun. The most intrusive test they've run was a blood test, to try and find if the boy had family and to find out more about his unique Quirk. They, of course, found nothing. They had to run special facial recognition algorithms to try and locate the boy's parents, only to discover a pair that made even them sick. And they've seen a lot and done even more.

He wondered if he should tell Shouta-kun that he has siblings. A pair of twins that had inherited their parents' weakling Quirks and were still being mistreated by them despite them being what the scoundrels had wanted. Well, they used to be. A week after Shimura and her cohorts had stolen Shouta-kun from him, All For One had gone out of his way to ... erase them from existence, placing the twins into a safe care center and leaving them a small fund to live off of once they're old enough.

Garaki had questioned this move on his part, but he hadn't had a good reason to give.

It's ... probably for the best that Shouta-kun not be reminded of his old life or told he has family elsewhere that had had it just as rough as Shouta-kun, outside of the fact that he seems to be a villain/criminal magnet. They've lived a fairly ordinary orphan life.

Besides, Shouta-kun had a new family now. A better one.

"Why me?" Shouta-kun finished, already looking emotionally worn out and dejected. All For One regarded the young man. "Why was I the only one to receive any form of kindness from you? I saw how you treated other people. I saw what you did to them. Just ... Why me?"

"... You were actually the first child I've ever interacted with," he began, thinking over his answer and how best to word it as he spoke. "It's true that the only reason why I sought you out when I heard of your existence was Erasure. I won't insult either of our intelligence by lying about that. The reason why I took you was because I could not take Erasure from you but I wanted your power for myself regardless. I was not cruel to you because I wanted your trust. But that was in the beginning. I never knew you can grow so attached to a young human in such a short amount of time. Since I'd never been cruel, I was already one step closer to being kind. It was ... a new experience, almost. I certainly couldn't recall the last time I'd been kind. Not since the death of my brother."

"Hm, yes, Tomura-san seemed quite surprised by your treatment of me even in our brief interaction a few nights ago," commented the other and All For One tilted his head curiously. He had to rely on body language to express emotions that usually required the whole face ever since six years ago.

"Did you visit my young protege? You seem awfully ... friendly in addressing him."

"I was not talking about Shimura, Shigaraki Hisashi," Shouta-kun said and if All For One still had eyes, they would have been blown wide as the realization sank in.

"How-"

"The same way I know your name," the Vigilante said, cutting in. "Erasure allows me to see Quirks. One For All is a Quirk that is passed on from one person to another. They shape it and cultivate it, through hard work and living and adapting to it and it to them and how they will use it. An ... imprint of the person's personality remains. Perhaps even a bit more than just that. They're sentient and conscious and they all seem to enjoy making rude gestures at you." All For One couldn't help the incredulous laugh that was startled out of him at that. Yes, he could perfectly imagine his perpetually polite younger brother making the less impolite 'fuck you' signs until the other One For All weilders showed up and corrupted him. Heavens, he almost wishes he could see it, too! But that doesn't exactly explain how Shouta-kun knew his or his brother's real names. "They were definitely delighted to be seen by someone after years of not being able to communicate with anyone else but each other and, occasionally, the current user or exist as nothing more than a shadow of what they used to be. They can't speak to me because I can only see them, but I've learned to read lips and sign language over the years, so by the time I met the Ninth wielder, we could definitely communicate. They all introduced themselves and Tomura-san was kind enough to reveal some information about you that only he could know. The rest I could find out on my own. You're not nearly as scary to the underground as a man capable of erasing Quirks once and for all."

Well, that explains it. Shows why Erasure is so unique, too. He's pretty sure a Quirk-seeing Quirk is as unheard of as a Quirk-erasing one. Shouta-kun is just full of surprises!

"Were you truly raised by Hal, though? You don't act like him." He's met the man and he could be vaguely annoying at times. Don't get him wrong, the man was intelligent and no one could match him in his field of expertise. It wasn't even just the nature of his Quirk! Technopacy, as all Quirks, must be trained and Hal had trained his to its peak perfection. To insinuate anything else would be a blatant lie.

However, as intelligent as Shouta-kun was and as much time as the two had spent together - about two years was his estimate, if the rumors were anything to judge by - it was like Hal had not influenced the young man at all. He could see no traits of Hal's personality rubbing off on Shouta-kun. He was just as much shying away from attention as when All For One had first met the boy, which made sense, given his life story and the occupation he had ended up choosing.

"I was raised by myself and no one else. I had people that occasionally provided me with aid and help, but I was always my own parent. I almost let someone become family to me but then you had to order my kidnapping and fucked it up." The villain kingpin nearly flinched at the bitterness in the younger man's words. "Did you take Shimura Tenko just to spite Nana-san because she rescued me?"

"I'll admit it was part of my decision. The other part was a strategic move, both on the account of the boy's strong and destructive Qurik and the fact that, one day, I can use him against All Might to mentally torture him. Yagi has always been far too easy." Like hell was he telling Shouta-kun that one of the reasons he'd picked up that lanky, pale child with shaggy black hair and big eyes was because Tenko had reminded him of Shouta-kun himself and he never did get over the regret that he didn't get the chance to raise the boy. Though, to be truthful, he wasn't sure if he would take on a different approach in raising Shouta-kun than the way he'd raised Shimura. Shouta-kun would immediately have known what Kurogiri, or someone like him, was and Shouta-kun was too pure a soul to allow that. All of his and Kyudai's work on their Nomu project would be undone, over and over again, each and every single day with only a glance. "I named him after my brother to spite his spirit and memory, to cause the greatest irony of this world that the first person who could even remotely stand up to me and had only wanted to do good and save the world would share a name with someone who only wanted to destroy it all." And because, damn his heart - why couldn't he get rid of the pesky organ without dying? - he'd come to miss that fool in his old age. Meeting Shouta-kun had opened a floodgate of emotions other than blood lust, glee and enjoyment of others' suffering after so long of ignoring such things even existed. "What did you do all of these years, in between Hal and UA and today?"

"Studied, trained, became a Vigilante and started writing a revolutionary paper in Quirk Theory," Shouta-kun replied blandly. "Recently, I've become a Sensei, a Papa and, now, a Hero."

He almost spluttered. "A Hero!?" He spat and then watched a grin that might as well have been taken right off of Hal's face and plastered upon Shouta-kun's. Ah, he guessed the older Aizawa had rubbed off on his adopted son in some ways. That grin was nothing less than unsettling.

"Yes, indeed. It was a strange path I've taken and it has definitely taken me longer than I would have ever expected, but I am an official Pro Hero. Seems doing good does pay off, eventually," he said with a shrug as he took out his new License and showed it off. "Where is the real All For One Quirk?"

"How can you - and for how long have you been able to - dismantle Nomu?" He threw back, not willing to reveal all of his secrets. If Shouta-kun hasn't found it yet-

"I can and will find it, Shigaraki," the man himself said, voice firm and certain. "It's not even a matter of time. I know where your main hideout was. All I need to do is go there and look through the rubble."

"Then why ask me?"

The other studied him with laser-like focus. "I thought you'd get bored. No one else besides All Might is allowed to visit you, after all." All For One stared at him in disbelief. Surely he'd misheard? Why in the everloving stars would Shouta-kun want to come visit him? As if reading his thoughts, the newly minted Hero offered a reply he had never expected. "Tomura-san asked. He said it seems I have a positive effect on you, whatever that means. Tch."

He didn't know what to say. His brother, even after all these years, even after all that he'd put him through and then killed him ... Tomura still cared for him? Why? How? Surely even he wasn't that foolish and naive! Not even All Might thought people were inherently good, despite their deeds proving otherwise and he was a paragon of goodness! Tomura must be a damned crazy fool to still care for the monster his once protective, good older brother had become! (Not that he'd ever been wholly good, though. His morals had always belonged to that murky gray area, especially when protecting his Quirkless brother in that new order that was rising as more and more people were born with Quirks from the pricks who thought they were entitled to bully him just because he didn't have a Quirk. Though it had ended up that he did, which was just a big middle finger to both Hisashi and those bullies. Tomura had always been good at that, even though he'd never actually done something as rude as flip someone the bird. He wondered if he did that now, when only the other One For All users and Shouta-kun could see him.) Not even All For One thought he was worth caring for!

"It's useless trying to rationalize it," Shouta-kun said, cutting through his almost frenzied thoughts about the brother he'd so heartlessly, carelessly killed, so, so long ago. "Emotions aren't logical."

"No, they're not," agreed the (much, much) older of the two. And then he answered the other's question because whether he did or didn't tell him wouldn't matter anyway. Shouta-kun was right when he said he could find it.

"I've been able to dismantle Nomu since I've first encountered one," Shouta-kun also answered despite not really having to. "Or, well, I theorized that I could. I confirmed it during USJ."

"So I was right that it was only because of you that All Might defeated my Anti-Symbol Of Peace. Heh." One For All and Erasure sure seemed to always be working together. It's as though those two's paths were intertwined from the start.

"Kurogiri was the first Nomu I've actually completely dismantled. Or, well, as much as I could without killing Shirakumo Oboro a second time. Sorry not sorry to undo your greatest work."

All For One wasn't even mad. He had no reason or used to feeling angry. He'd never been emotionally invested in Kurogiri. He was simply one of his greatest creations, the peak of Nomuness while retaining intelligence. "I apologize Garaki went after you and your friend."

A pause. "You're sincere," observed the shocked Vigilante-turned-Hero. "You actually mean that."

"Not even I am a cold, unfeeling, heartless monster to that extent. Kyudai and I aren't that close or intimate in our friendship, but I can't imagine a world where he is not by my side. Just knowing that he is alive is enough. I would feel ... incredibly lonely, in this modern world, without him being in it, too." Such companionship comes almost naturally after spending decades, unaging, while the world moves on around you, ever changing, ever shifting. "You have no more questions?"

Another pause, this one a bit hesitant and almost disbelieving in what he was about to ask. It piqued All For One's curiosity and then sent him into peals of amused laughter when Shouta-kun finally managed to make himself grit it out.

"Are you Midoriya Hisashi?"

"Goodness, Shouta-kun!" He said as he tried to calm down. "Of course not! Where did you even get a silly idea like that?"

"Todoroki Shoto seems to have made it a hobby to make conspiracy theories about random people's relation to each other based on random, superficial or not so superficial singular similarities or idiosyncrasies they might have in common. He insisted that I ask. And considering Midoriya Izuku and All Might both were losing their heads over it, since the boy's father has been 'working abroad' for these past several years, I thought it might be worth a try to ask. They'll be pleased to have it confirmed that no, you are not the Ninth wielder's of One For All father. At least Kirishima can stop making Star Wars references."

He just snorted again, doing his best not to fall into another peel of laughter. Seems like Shouta-kun has managed to surround himself with good people. Good kids. And, perhaps, just maybe, good future Heroes. If Shouta-kun is in any way involved in raising them, they will certainly be spectacular, one way or the other. He was glad at least twenty future Heroes may end up being good, may end up changing society for the better. He was glad Shouta-kun's life seems to be finally looking up. "If I may ask one last question myself?" Shouta-kun nodded readily. "What will you do now?"

The younger paused, clearly thinking about it, before shrugging and giving his answer. "Right now? I'm going to visit Ashou. Haven't seen him in ages. Then I'm going to see Dabi and talk to him about roasting Endeavor and getting his mother out of the hospital and custody over his youngest brother to his sister. I still haven't studied just how much he himself has done to see how long he has to do time and if we can switch it up to a trauma recovery ward to help him deal with the trauma he's clearly been through. I should visit Shimura and Toga. Not sure how they will receive me but they need help."

If he had an eyebrow, he would have arched it. "And why would you do that? Think that? Provide that?"

"Why shouldn't I?" He shrugged, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. "It's in human nature to help each other. Or, well, it was. People can be right dicks sometimes. Or ignorant to how much good they themselves can do as opposed to waiting for Heroes to do all the work. I probably wouldn't be here today if not for a certain few people in my early life who'd helped me, Ashou among them. I don't think they need help, I can tell. I'm not sure what happened to Shimura, but I do know his whole family disappeared years ago. And, knowing his Quirk, I fear I have a good guess what might have happened. He clearly hasn't received any help in getting over that, in mourning and moving on. Toga Himiko, similarly, is young, as old as my students." All For One almost arched an eyebrow again at that. Shouta-kun did realize he wasn't actually those children's teacher, right? "Her blood-based Quirk must have received some backlash from society, because she has to hurt people in order to use it. She needs Quirk Therapy, because she seems to lack a true sense of self-"

"She had Quirk Therapy. They told her not to use her Quirk and it drove her crazy."

"Then she clearly had a shit Quirk Specialist," Shouta-kun countered. "I study Quirk Theory myself. I know how blood-based Quirks are received, how they work and how they affect the wielder. The answer isn't not using the Quirk, it's using it wisely. Besides, if she'd be willing, she'd be a spectacular Underground Hero with her Quirk. She'd be fucking worshiped."

"You speak as though from experience."

Shouta-kun snorted, standing up and stretching. "I do, technically. Fifteen years of it. But, didn't you hear? My 'Underground Hero career' may as well be over. Everyone knows Eraserhead's face now, though thankfully not Aizawa Shouta's and his connection to the most famous 'Underground Hero' of our generation. Might be for the better, though. I got a new job offer to consider."

"You're going to work for those bastards in the Hero Commission?" All For One all but growled, surprised the one person who'd clearly suffered the most at the hands of their greed would, in the end, submit to them.

Shouta-kun looked offended. "Fuck no! Though I do have to deal with them and soon. Too much corruption in such a high place. Besides, Hawks is in a tight spot because of them. He's been through enough shit on his own already. Time to reach out a helping hand, I guess."

"Then what?"

The newly minted Hero winked at him. "Wouldn't you like to know. See you next month, Shigaraki Hisashi. I'll try to keep All Might away from Shimura until he settles. And thank you, I guess, for keeping Shirakumo Oboro's body alive." And with a little halfhearted wave, the former Vigilante was gone.

Hisashi just shook his head. He had a feeling the world was not aware of what kind of force of nature it had just welcomed into Hero society with open arms.

Whoever made Aizawa Shouta a Hero with that level of clearance, they were going to have their hands full.

Shouta-kun does not do things halfheartedly, no matter what.

All For One can't wait to see the changes he brings.

00000

"You'll actually come see him again?" Gran Torino asks the second the youngest male in their company emerges from the safe, highly secured sector where he had been speaking with All For One. Naomasa couldn't help but agree with the skepticism clear in the man's voice as Aizawa approached them, calm and cool headed as Eraserhead had ever been.

The former Vigilante shrugged. "There's a whole treasure chest worth of information about Quirks and their development from the time of the dawn of Quirks or the criminal underworld and the underground in that head of his and, unlike Doctor Garaki, he wouldn't mind sharing. Not with me, anyway. Besides, in about one month, the effects of my Quirk will fade away and he'll be able to use his Quirk should the inhibitors stop working at any point in time. If that were ever to happen - which it could, rather easily; he still has followers somewhere out there and it's only a matter of time before they try to get their boss out in order to earn a few favors - then everyone here would be dead in a matter of seconds. A minute at most. If I don't come back and erase his Quirk again, these people will be facing mortal peril in a way that would not be true even if all the other prisoners were to break out."

"Then why not just erase it for good? You said you can do that, right? That's how you reversed the process that had made Shirakumo Oboro into the Nomu known as Kurogiri." Naomasa didn't understand why Aizawa wouldn't simply do that to All For One, get rid of that Quirk once and for all. Then All Might and his successor can rest easy and simply prepare for the latter's future Hero career without either of them having to wonder if Midoriya-kun will have to fight this great evil that had killed seven other people who had shared his power and almost managed to do the same to All Might, too.

"Because Erasure destroys everything ever associated with a Quirk, to the point that not even One For All or All For One would be able to give a Quirk to someone who'd once been exposed to it and had their Quirk truly erased. This includes factors that might keep people alive. All For One is very, very old and very, very injured. The only thing that is keeping him alive today is his Quirk and the Quirks he'd stolen from other people in order to keep himself alive. Erasure, on All For One, works like removing layers, each layer being a Quirk. It's why I can't just let Erasure run its course. The healing and life-preserving Quirks are mixed in with the dangerous, destructive ones. And no matter how much wrong he has done, I will not be a murderer."

"Even if this puts everyone in danger of the possibility he will escape, wait out the effect of your Quirk and go back to business as usual?" The older Hero challenged and Aizawa snorted.

"What 'business as usual'? My name isn't Aizawa for no reason, you know. I've already drained all of his accounts of every last penny and destroyed all databases containing their research information and with no labs or hideouts left due to them going boom the other night, well ... Only fanatics would follow him." Well, that was honestly very impressive. Though the same level of competence and care Eraserhead had always shown in his work. "And he has enough enemies that, in his temporarily Quirkless state, he'd end up dead before the effects of Erasure lift up. Besides, I can control how long Erasure holds his Quirk back. Give me a day long visit and permission to use my Quirk in here and you won't need to worry about him for approximately fifty years. I'll still be alive at that time, if we're going by statistics, and can give him another 'dose'. By that time, I would hope that better ways of suppressing Quirks that are non-violent and non-invasive and I wouldn't be needed."

"Or that he'll simply die," Gran Torino grumped and neither younger man protested that attitude. The man had nearly lost all he'd held dear to that man and All For One has been terrorizing the country - and the whole world, let's be honest - for a very long time. He has a rap sheet longer than he is tall and just as many corpses left in his wake. Honestly, Naomasa has never wished death on anyone, but even he can't say he doesn't hate All For One and he hadn't even dealt with the man personally, ever. Yagi hates him but Aizawa, somehow, doesn't.

Naomasa isn't sure if the man is simply that kind or perhaps a bit too deep in the gray spectrum after the life he'd lived. Both were a possibility. Could even be a combination of both.

"What will you do now? Are you really going to visit those villains? You do realize you don't owe them anything, right?" The police officer asked. "I mean, All Might will definitely take care of Shimura Tenko-"

"No," Aizawa cut off, making Naomasa stop and stare, dumbfounded, at the former Vigilante.

"... What?"

"That kid has a genuine hate for All Might and until we find out why, you need to keep him away from Shimura. He's traumatized and psychotic and has a deep set belief that Heroes are all like Endeavor or the such because they only care about reputation and ratings. On top of that, Midoriya told me about their encounter at the mall. Clearly he blames Heroes, probably All Might himself - he did accuse All Might of smiling like an idiot as though he can save everyone - for what happened to him and his family. You cannot force him to interact with All Might until he is ready, after extensive therapy. It will only harm him more to force it. Besides, he's just lost both of his caretakers and is, for the first time, encountering life without a Quirk and, most importantly, that his actions have consequences. I know from experience that people don't take it well when their Quirks are suddenly out of their reach, even if Shimura hasn't lost his Quirk forever. He's not ready to confront All Might, who might just be the source of his trauma."

Well, when you put it like that ...

But Toshinori will be sad that he can't talk with his master's last remaining relative anytime soon. But if it could help reform a young man, even if it's a long journey to recovery and maybe redemption ...

"As for the rest, well ... They're young. Twice hadn't even committed any serious crimes like murder, but his Quirk has lead to schizophrenia and definitely needs a good Quirk Specialist, one who won't tell him not using his Quirk is the answer, and therapy. Dabi ... No, Todoroki Touya deserves a second chance at a normal life and a normal family. His biggest offense, as far as any of us can tell, was Bakugo's kidnapping. And no, I haven't forgotten, let alone forgiven these people for what they've done. Far from it. But if I didn't believe in second chances, I'd have taken my own life when I was five years old or six or fifteen or sixteen." Well, that was chilling to hear.

What five year old contemplated suicide!?

'Probably one that saw no other escape from a life full of despair, pain and torture.'

"And as for what I'll do about my life from now on ... Well ... Aizawa computer skills are going to be needed for the next little while. We can't have the body that's in control of Pro Heroes to be full of corrupt politicians and Endeavor deserves to face some consequences. At the very least, the Todoroki children deserve to be free of him and his influence. His wife deserves to be freed from the hospital she's spent the last, what, seven, eight years in and Touya deserves closure to his own trauma, whatever it may be. Though, judging from Endeavor's little, hmm, performance at the sports festival, he has an inferiority complex of some sort and an overly competitive nature combined with a lack of care for his child's emotional welfare. Beyond that, well, I have to raise Eri. And I really do have a very tempting job offer. Hm, I guess I can update you on that once I decide."

"You're not going to disappear again, are you?" Gran Torino asked, sounding suspicious and ready to stop him should he try. "Because Toshinori and I never forgave ourselves for losing you. Though, I do have a question: how long did it take you to run away from the government?"

"Months," replied Eraserhead. "Why?"

"They told us less than a month after the battle that you'd run away and that they had no idea where you were."

"I think they moved me to a different facility at some point. Just ... the whole room I was in. I know I thought I felt movement at one point but, well ... I never could tell if something was happening. I was trapped in this small white room with no windows or anything. That was my whole world for far too long. That and immoral scientists, doctors and Quirk Specialists."

Gran Torino looked like he was shaking in place at hearing that. Naomasa himself was disgusted and unable to believe that people like that ran their country, a country All Might, his friend, was ready to die for. That so many Heroes, policemen, military officers and firemen fought for and risked their lives daily for. That they trained new young Heroes, far too young, to fight for.

Just how was Aizawa Shouta still on their side?

Perhaps it's for the best that they'd finally made the man a Hero. Had Aizawa ever decided he was done with them, well ... They all saw how easily he took down power behemoths like Hal and All For One, kings in their own ways in the criminal underworld and the underground. Hal, Aizawa Ashou, the unmatched hacker and information broker, the cyber criminal that has robbed so many people of millions and millions of dollars. And All For One, whom only All Might had survived fighting and even that was just barely. Intelligence, skill, adaptability and power ... All of it wrapped up in a man practical to a fault. A man resilient and ready to do what needs to be done. A man whom you can't really hide information from ...

They had seriously lucked out. Aizawa ... Eraserhead ... That was one enemy Tsukauchi would rather not cross paths with.

"Boy, you ever need anything, ever, you come to me, okay? You hear me? No matter what it is. Even if you need help hiding a body!"

"Gran Torino!" Naomasa cried, because he can't ignore that. Aizawa, though, just chuckled and shook his head.

"I'll let you know."

"Eraserhead!"

"Good," the old man nodded his head in agreement. "Oh and don't leave Toshinori hanging for too long. He's been worried about you. And, apparently, so have been Deku and his classmates. And those loudmouths you call friends. So, seriously, don't disappear. I'll definitely come hunt you down."

"I have no doubt. And I'm not planning to. I won't take long. Besides, I have a daughter now. Can't disappear even if I wanted to. She's made friends of the Big Three and 1-A. She'd be heartbroken if she couldn't see them again. Not to mention we still need to give Kuro a visit again. Eri misses him."

"Wait, you know about Yagi's new cat?"

Eraserhesd gave him an amused grin. "Why do you think he has him at all?"

Naomasa burst into laughter. Of course Yagi I-can't-afford-the-time-to-devote-to-a-pet-and-it's-dangerous Toshinori would get a cat if Eraserhead was the one who asked him to adopt it! "Well, it's a very lovely cat."

"Toshinori has a cat?" Gran Torino asked, stupefied and clearly shocked, and the two younger men laughed heartily.

"What did I miss?" A new voice asked and Naomasa and Gran Torino fell into defensive stances when they looked over their shoulders and found none other than Aizawa Ashou, Hal, standing there, serene and calm as can be, smiling gently at the younger Aizawa, who didn't seem the least bit surprised by his presence there, despite the lack of guards and the fact that he should be locked up in his cell.

"Finally grew bored of waiting for me?"

"Yeah, you were taking forever! You can't tell me you're visiting me and then stall. I missed you, Shou-chan!" The man exclaimed as he moved towards the former Vigilante to draw him into a hug. Eraserhead let him, even leaned into the embrace, before drawing back. "Okay, come on, let's go back to my visitation room before the whole prison starts freaking out about how easily I left my cell. Seriously, Shou-chan, these people underestimate me! Even if I wasn't a technopath, I know how to pick a lock!"

"Yes, people can be quite illogical in their arrogance. Did you hear about the new prisoners?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll watch out for the munchkins. Now, what I'm more interested in is what you've been up to as of late! Also, what is this I'm hearing about a new Aizawa! Tell me when you got hitched! And I demand to meet my grandchild!"

"She's not mine. I saved and adopted her-"

"Continuing the Aizawa tradition, I see! Even better! And a granddaughter! How cute! But first, why were you hacking I-Island, anyway?"

"Well, you see-"

Their conversation faded away the further down the hall they went and Naomasa just shook his head. Just what has he gotten himself into?

This felt like Yagi Toshinori all over again.

He guessed that that's why he liked it.

(He had a really weird choice of friends.)

(He wouldn't have it any other way.)

Chapter Text

"Finally made it back, eh?" Shirakumo Oboro said as a greeting when Aizawa Shouta finally came to pick up Eri from where the Big Three, Class 1-A, he, Nemuri, Hizashi and All Might were watching over her in 1-A's classroom at UA. That Yaoyorozu girl had gone and created sleeping bags for them all and a pillow forth and they'd all just ... settled in, making a small slumber party.

The funny thing was, this whole thing had started when Shouta had asked the staff of UA to watch over the cute little girl, but then the Big Three got word of it and Togata called Midoriya, who told the others and suddenly they were all there, just hanging out and imparting the joys of childhood upon the little girl that had suffered through so much. Eri-chan had been a bit anxious at first, but had soon relaxed and definitely come to enjoy 1-A's energy. It was heartwarming to watch.

Now, Shouta was back and they were all asleep except for Oboro, who couldn't find a wink of sleep on this fine summer night. He'd been waiting for Shouta to come back, fearing the man will disappear as he was wont to. A big part of him knew Shouta wouldn't do that to Eri - the girl was learning to open up and interact with more people, but she never stopped looking around and asking about her new Papa's return and whereabouts; it would no doubt crush her if he didn't come back for her and Shouta no doubt knew that, which meant he would come back - but a still too big part of him still feared it might happen, if not by Shouta's own choice. You never know what life might throw at you and Shouta's has been crazy enough as it was.

And Oboro had missed most of it. No, he wasn't counting the fifteen, sixteen years Shouta had lived through on this Earth before they'd met as a new Vigilante and a Hero in training. He meant the fourteen years he'd missed since they had met, became friends despite their unlikely circumstances and he'd promised Shouta he'd always be there for him. He felt like a liar, a failure, a fraud, and that wasn't even counting in the heartbreak he'd caused his other friends.

Hell, the reason Hizashi had reached out to Shouta at all was because he'd wanted someone to mourn with! Nemuri had this scary ability to move on no matter the shit she goes through or just hide how much it bothers her but Hizashi needed to be strong for someone else in order to be strong himself.

Shouta, who'd just lost the first and only friend he'd ever had, must have been a mess when they'd met and Hizashi was just the type of person who could help him get back up on his feet.

The fact that the two were now considered best friends by all those who know of their interactions, so many years later, spoke just how well they'd helped each other deal with their grief. Hizashi needed to be strong for someone and Shouta was a natural mother hen, even if he'll never admit it. Hizashi probably didn't even notice Shouta was returning the favor tenfold the whole time. He just wouldn't be Shouta otherwise.

Hell, he'd been taking care of Hizashi and Nemuri and Tensei! Tensei! Iida Tensei, the most by the book, rule abiding guy Oboro had ever met! He was friends with a Vigilante! Just shows how great of a guy Shouta is. Hell, half of Musutafu's Heroes today were on relatively okay terms with him! All Might was friends with him! In fourteen years, Shouta had made quite a name for himself as the Vigilante Eraserhead and he was now finally a Hero.

Meanwhile, Oboro had been a babysitter for the guy who would, eventually, damage Shouta's right elbow with his Decay and order a Nomu to all but kill one of Oboro's best friends by smashing his head into concrete. And Oboro had just stood there ... Or, well, he had been kind of busy all but killing another Hero and scattering terrified teenage Hero-hopefuls and then just watching as Shigaraki nearly disintegrated Shouta right in front of him and then that girl and-

He tried not to think that his corpse had been used to create a monster that hurt people. He had next to no memories of the things he'd done over the years - and he was both grateful for that fact and hated it, because while he didn't have to live with the memories and the guilt, it also meant he can't help others find closure and move on or just maybe help people who had been recently brought to his 'former master' - and it was jarring to lose consciousness as a teenager and wake up in an adult body that's far too different even without the age difference. Kurogiri was a real patchwork of Quirks and experiments. Oboro did not like looking down at his body while he changed these days because there were so many surgery scars that made him question just what had been done to him. He's sure he has a mechanical heart, at the very least, and he does not want to question the big, ugly scar nearly hidden by his hairline. It was body horror at its finest. It made sense that they'd had to do so much shit to him if they were going to bring him back to a state that could be considered 'alive'.

And the changes to his Quirk ... He could still make clouds. Kurogiri could have, too, but the knowledge of how had been blocked from him in order not to accidentally trigger any memories of who he actually was. Oboro, now that he's back - thanks to Shouta, no less, and holy shit how did that work!? - can use Warpgate along with Cloud. He needs ... a lot of practice, it's true, because Warpgate is so much more complex than the Quirk he'd been born with and every time he tries to use it, too much information starts running through his head, he actually gets dizzy with it all. It's overwhelming. Cloud is so much easier to control, too. Warpgate requires a lot more focus and information. Like coordinates. Thank goodness that information had stayed over from Kurogiri or else he'd probably be dead if he tried to open a gate.

Then there's how what has been done to him and his Quirk has changed his physical appearance. His hair used to be this pretty white-blue cloudy mass but it was now a misty dark purple. His eyes remained the same ... most of the time. If he tried to use Warpgate, they turned to that lemony yellow that he'd seen in pictures of Kurogiri. Traces of Kurogiri remained in him, no matter how much they all wished to have no reminder of the Nomu. Shouta couldn't do more of it away or else he'd risk Oboro having health problems further down the line. He'd looked guilty about it but Oboro had reassured him he didn't mind, which wasn't 100% true. More like 99%, maybe 98, which wasn't an all that big of a difference. Not for Shouta's peace of mind. He'd freed Oboro, saved him. He didn't deserve to suffer for it. It didn't really matter if he can't destroy everything that had once made him Kurogiri.

Well, technically, Shouta had said he could erase Warpgate completely but he wasn't sure if it would actually affect his appearance in any way regardless, but Oboro had waved him off. Warpgate was actually a very powerful, practically one of a kind composite Quirk - classified by Shouta, who'd apparently taken up Quirk Theory damn, and then analyzed by an overly curious Midoriya - and very, very useful. And Oboro, more than anything else right now, wanted to be useful, to help people, to help Shouta and Hizashi and Nemuri in any way he can.

Principal Nezu was actually kind enough to let him take the next provisional licensing exam when 1-A takes it at the end of summer. (They were taking those in the first year now?! Apparently not, but the Hero Commission was expecting a jump in crime now that All For One was arrested and his empire taken down, because others will try to fill in the vacuum left behind by this new development. Besides, All Might was, apparently, also aiming to retire real soon. Probably by the end of the year. It made sense that they were thinking of boosting their numbers, even if it's just Hero students. But, well, these kids, Shouta's kids, weren't really 'just students', were they? Not with what they'd been through.) He'll have to have a trial period of one year before they let him take the actual final exam. In that time, he needed to have a crash course in the one and a half year of lessons he'd missed due to his ... Yeah. Oboro was really grateful, don't get him wrong, but he kind of feels like he's being given a gift he hadn't exactly earned.

He tried not to think about that. Not when he's around his friends with whom he had so much catching up to do or around the kids so eager to get to know him and hear his tails of their 'Sensei'.

He especially tried not to think about it around the ever tactless and simple minded Sensoji. Hell, he's impressed the guy had made it as a Hero and that he was even still alive to this day. He remembered the first year Sports Festival. He remembered how easily Sensoji had gone down when he encountered one Aizawa Shouta in the first round. Shouta had been considerably weaker, slower and less skilled back then, less experienced. Shouta had improved by bounds and bounds since then without any Pro help in training while Sensoji seemed to have remained on the relatively same level as when Oboro had last seen him. And considering the kind of villains wandering the streets these days, it really is a miracle he'd only now been injured seriously enough to take him off of the field.

"How did it go?" He asked, trying to distract himself from his own thoughts and the turns they kept taking.

"Well enough," the black haired man replied, arching an eyebrow at the mess of sleeping bags, pillows and blankets all around. "You know, when I used to imagine my first time walking into 1-A's classroom, this is not what I thought I'd see."

"Expectations don't always come true, man," he said with a teasing grin. "Besides, this is definitely better than my time in this classroom! They're all such great kids, you know? I can understand why you got attached. And, well, um ... I guess I want to thank you? For ... For being friends with Zashi and Nem, you know ... After I-"

"Hizashi was the one who found me, actually," cut in the slightly younger man. "We ... didn't exactly start off on the right foot. He was angry and I was wary. It took us a bit to trust each other enough for him to not try and take the goggles you gave me."

Oboro's eyes widened. "You really still have the same goggles!?"

Shouta shrugged, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly and not exactly meeting Oboro's eyes. "The lenses broke when I was fighting Garvey so I had to get them updated." He pulled out the yellow goggles that were practically his signature from underneath his capture weapon. "Kronos-sensei and I worked out this was the best design. I know it's very different and they are reinforced,but it's actually still the same goggles. I ... hope you don't mind."

"Man, you have no idea how touched I am right now! Of course I don't mind!" Shouta shushed him when he got too loud and the two students with the really sensitive hearing stirred. Man, these kids must be at their limit to be out like a light like this. Then again, it's been a really stressful week for them. A stressful semester, really. The adults and the older students, though, have no excuse. Even if it had been just as haggering a time for them, the adults were all experienced Pros and the Big Three hadn't actually been involved until Eraserhead had given Eri to them for protection while he goes and does his thing. "Right, sorry. But, anyway, Shouta," he continued after the other stopped glaring at him. "What will you do now?"

The former Vigilante snorted. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Because you've been living day by day - or rather, night by night - with no real goal in mind that we knew of until you went and saved me and helped arrest All For One and now we all worry that you'll just ... drift, aimless, now that you no longer have to look over your shoulder. Well, not as much, anyway. There's still the Hero Commission. Man, but those guys are bags of rotten dicks, Shouta! If it hadn't been for Nezu and All Might, Eri-chan and I would have been shipped off into 'their care' while you were still being detained by the police!" Shouta's eyes darkened at that like an incoming storm. The tips of his hair were starting to lift and his eyes flashed but it was too fast for Oboro to be able to tell if it was that scary looking red or that bewildering gold that was, in all honesty, even more terrifying.

"Well, they've just made themselves my first priority very firmly."

The former Nomu eyed him warily. "What do you mean?"

"I have some things I need to do, so I'll probably be radio silent for a while. Probably about a week or so. Maybe a bit longer, so don't freak out."

"Shouta, you can't just disappear on us again, man!" Oboro replied, aghast. "Nemuri and Hizashi would have a heart attack! All Might might actually have his remaining lung fail from stress! And the kids! If nothing else, think of the kids, Eri-chan especially! They need you, Shouta! You can't just go off and be a Vigilante again - you've got so many people go out of their way to make you a Pro Hero-"

"Oboro, I'm not going to disappear or go back to Vigilantism!" Snapped the Erasure wielder a bit irritably. "That would be irrational and counterproductive! I am now, officially, an Underground Hero with the highest clearance, meaning I have a right and a duty to this country and its citizens to expose any and all corruption I may find within the system meant to protect them and I, for one, am actually perfectly suited and have just the right experience to be able to do that. With All For One put away and the League of Villains going to therapy or the such, it is a perfect time for reforms. Nezu already has a firm paw on the pulse of the Hero Public Safety Committee so he'll be able to help them get new, uncorrupted members to sit at that table, which will automatically change the Hero society as a whole in a matter of weeks, maybe months but still definitely less than a year or, god forbid, years, Oboro. The Heroics education system will change, will no longer resemble a child-soldier factory, for heaven's sake! Who knows, it might even help in Quirkism prejudices! And the entire country won't rest on the shoulders of one man who's already ripe for retirement even if he wasn't sporting an injury that one can usually only find on a fucking corpse! There's a lot of change that can happen just by placing the right people into a government organization the likes of the HPSC and I, for one, don't plan on letting this chance pass me by."

"Shouta-"

"It's because of these kids that I am doing this, Oboro," Shouta interrupted him again, a fire in his eyes that definitely had nothing to do with his Quirk. No, it was that same indignation at the injustice of the world, of the system, that Oboro had seen years ago - which felt like just yesterday to him, which was weird - first at the Sports Festival seconds before his lights were knocked out and then again and again after he met that same sports Festival champion a year later as a Vigilante hell bent on making a change and doing it logically. It's what had drawn him in, what had made him want to get to know Aizawa Shouta in the first place. That tenacity, that sense of justice, those morals, that passion ... It was all there again and Oboro already knew he was done for. He won't object whatever Shouta had set out for himself to do because he knew Shouta could do it.

He'd always known Shouta could do anything he set his mind to.

After all, it was Shouta.

"I want to better the world they will enter in a few years. I want to create a foundation they can build their ideals on. They're the ones that will make this world better, but someone has to give them a proper starting point and maybe instructions and I am ready to do that. And besides, Eri and I aren't the only cases of kids who are born with spectacular, unheard of before powers that people get greedy over. I call true Erasure Gold for that exact reason. If I do this, then maybe I can set a precedent that will show people what happens to bastards like Dr Quirk, Overhaul and those fuckers from the government. Besides, it's about time someone helped Hawks. He's been the Commission's puppet for years now, a replacement for me, no doubt. Someone has to save a Hero, too, you know."

And, if All Might's story is anything to go by, that's something Shouta has been doing since he was little. Never really stopped doing it. He just grew up and did it even better. Everyone needs saving sometime. Even Heroes.

"Just ... Don't go without a bye, okay? And keep safe, alright?"

Shouta nodded and came to sit beside Oboro. The two leaned against each other and watched over the sleeping mess that was twenty one first year students, three third year ones, a should-be preschooler and three Pro Heroes slash teachers. Sitting side by side like this with Shouta, who was friends with his other closest friends in the world ... It felt like a dream he'd had once, many years ago. He remembered it, of course. That dream was perhaps the one thing All For One could never eradicate from his mind and heart. He'd always wanted to start an agency with Shouta, Hizashi and maybe Nemuri, if she would be willing to stray from her own dreams of an agency full of servants who wait on her hand and foot. Even if she didn't, they'd still always be in contact and work together. They would make it to the top fifty on the ranking charts and Shouta would bemoan his fate because he genuinely did not like that kind of attention. Life would be good and full of laughter and their agency's mascot would be none other than the cutest little fluff ball known as Sushi.

They would save the world, one kitten at a time.

And despite how convoluted the path to becoming a Hero had been for both him and Shouta, they had still somehow made it. Well, Oboro will make it, in a year's time, but Shouta was already there, as he deserved. Fifteen years of thankless service was more than enough.

"You won't actually be able to be an Underground Hero, you know?"

"I know. Everyone knows Eraserhead's face, after all."

"You could start an agency. Like we talked about." Oboro felt his breathing starting to even out and his eyes getting heavier.

"Hn."

"I bet the kids would come right there after they graduate. That way you can be a proper mentor to them, like they all want even now, you know."

"I do."

His eyes were already closed as he made his final comment as they both slowly drifted off to sleep. "Told you you'd be a good teacher."

"I guess you were right after all."

Soft snores were all that followed.

00000

"Leaving already?" Shikaku commented more than asked as the sun just began rising over the horizon. He'll probably never see a sunrise in person again, and he lamented at that fact a little, but the sacrifice of his eyes was a very small one compared to the living, breathing, healthy and hale young man that had just exited the classroom belonging to this year's 1-A, a small, still sleeping girl in his arms. "Don't you think you should stay around to say goodbye?"

He actually wasn't surprised. Shou-kun had taken a year before he definitely revealed himself to the retired Pro and he'd actually had the kid's trust. It wasn't until Shirakumo's death that Shou-kun had felt comfortable enough to approach him and let him touch him with his own two hands. He couldn't see the boy, not even with his Timemaster Quirk that allowed him to view the timeline of anything he touched for a certain amount of time. Shou-kun had always been immune to such Quirks, especially if he recently used his Quirk at its true power. Though, after using Gold, Shou-kun tended to be immune to all Quirks except ones that directly affected the physical world by brute force. It had been frustrating in the beginning. Really, Kronos had not wanted to let the boy go but knew he couldn't exactly hold on to Shou-kun forever. But he couldn't even see him when he did touch him. The only way Shikaku could see his once student was if he used his Quirk on an object that had been touched or will be touched by Shou-kun.

He had to get used to it. At least, by the time Shou-kun gained the name Eraserhead, the teen was coming by a lot more often than just after the boy first spoke to him. After a while it was almost as if things hadn't really changed, except everything had. Shou-kun would come by practically every day, they would talk, Shikaku would repair his equipment if it came to it that he needed it. The capture weapon never did, that thing was as resilient and tenacious as the person it was made for, but Shou-kun, over the years, did rip or damage his utility belt, boots and jumpsuit. So they spent evenings discussing upgrades, improvements, replacements.

Shikaku had suggested a face mask.

Shou-kun had rejected the idea, saying he needed clear airways if he wanted to be able to go out all night long.

A visor was similarly rejected due to Shou-kun's attachment to the goggles his supposedly dead friend had gifted him.

They spent years like that, going back and forth, discussing equipment. Then Shou-kun discovered an interest in Quirk Theory and their discussion themes changed. Shou-kun was, of course, a fast study and soon he knew more about the topic than the older man did. It was fascinating to see how Shou-kun applied this new knowledge with what Erasure, especially in its Gold form, could show him. After a while, Shou-kun even started writing his own paper!

It was going as good as it could ever be, between a retired Pro Hero and a Vigilante, especially with their past in the way. The guilt over not having saved Shou-kun from his kidnappers never went away, even though he could see (insert snort of irony) that the - by then - young man was fine and healthy.

Then things changed. He'd always known Eraserhead was well respected and liked by a good number of Heroes and most of the police officers he's ever come in contact with. However, he also knew there were a lot of Heroes who'd put him behind bars in an instant. Shou-lun had never minded that, never begrudged them. (Except maybe Endeavor, but Shou-kun had never been fond of the flaming Hero.) Things changed, though, when, suddenly, all Heroes in Musutafu were explicitly told to all but hunt him down and turn him in on the spot, an order given by the government and, especially, the Hero Public Safety Commission. They had the top ten ranked Heroes, they had All Might, on the lookout for a single Vigilante, so both Shou-kun and Shikaku knew this was about more than Eraserhead 'duping the Heroes and police forces for fifteen years'.

Eraserhead caught on before the Hero Commission could even call that meeting with everyone to make it official or whatever. Aizawa Shouta was not an Aizawa for no reason. Hal had not given him his family name for kicks and giggles. Shou-kun had been aware of that order coming for a good three weeks before the Heroes were made aware to hunt for him. He stopped coming around. It was for the best for him to be on the lookout, move around with Eraserhead's gear only as Eraserhead. He appeared in his Vigilante persona only at night and was extremely careful.

He did not hear anything about Shou-kun for about two months.

Then All Might, Present Mic and Detective Tsukauchi came and showed him the scrap of capture weapon and he relieved those moments when his student was taken all over again.

And when the younger of the blonds said Eraserhead was very much still alive despite encountering something with the same strength as All Might, he had to do his best to keep his composure. The Detective had a lie detector kind of Quirk and Kronos had to rely on his experiences from alternate timelines he'd seen at some point and carefully chosen phrases that wouldn't trigger the man's Quirk. And all the while, he had to worry about Shou-kun and keep on worrying about him as he did not return to visit.

This is the first time they were seeing each other in a long while with any medicorum of privacy since then. The thing at the police station didn't count, as there were just too many people around.

Now, everyone was asleep and not even Principal Nezu was in his office spying on them through his monitors. They could talk.

Figures it would happen in the middle of Shou-kun's attempt to sneak off.

"Don't you think you shouldn't lie to the police and respectable, if loud and obnoxious, Heroes?" Shou-kun returned with his usual sass and an arched eyebrow, no doubt.

"Don't you think you shouldn't lie to Chiyo?" He replied right back, also arching an eyebrow.

He could just imagine the younger man wincing. "Yeah, that probably wasn't the best idea, but I wasn't sure how much she'd tell others or to which level she'd want to get involved. I already wasn't sure if she'd reveal my actual identity to the police. She could have been questioned. I didn't want you two to get involved in my mess."

"But you had no problem involving All Might?" Then again, Shikaku knew, sort of, the history behind those two. Shou-kun hadn't gone into details but he could fill in most of them on his own. All Might - or rather Yagi Toshinori - had been the one who saved him that day, along with Shimura Nana - an all but unknown Hero - and Torino Sorahiko. Shou-kun never forgot them and All Might was, for a while, someone Aizawa Shouta admired and respected. The respect stayed but the admiration was soon dialed down by rationality and Shou-kun's ever growing distaste of attention and the way the media commercialized Hero work. Shou-kun wasn't even a Pro and yet he criticized them all to their faces for the money and the fame being more important than the people they were supposed to be saving. It's why a good number of - 'fake', if you go by Stain's terminology - Heroes hated Eraserhead, because Shou-kun could see right through them and wasn't afraid to say it.

"He got involved all on his own," grumbled the former Vigilante. "Besides, he'd suspected who I was for weeks and never said anything to anyone and then, by the time I got Eri-chan, I think he was already certain as to my identity and yet he never made a move to take me in. For whatever reason, he trusted me," Shou-kun said with a shrug. "So I trusted him in turn."

"Fair enough," Tsukuhino had to concede. "So, I know you're probably sick of this question by now, but what will you do from now on?" He ignored the groan this earned him as Shou-kun started walking away towards the exit. "I heard Nezu made you an offer. Have you considered it?"

"I actually already made a decision," revealed his once student.

"Is he aware of this?"

"I have ensured that he will be made aware, yes," Shou-kun said with what sounded like a grin on his face that might terrify people but to Shikaku, it only communicated that Shou-kun has found a way to get his way in things that he'd been fighting an uphill battle for that looked hopeless. Shikaku wondered if they should expect a big change come next entrance exam, here at UA. No doubt Nezu will do something to change it regardless of Shou-kun's final decision, because that rat is not stupid. Who knows how many others like Shou-kun the school had turned away because of their biased practical entrance exam? The Crawler and PopStep are only two of no doubt many that would have been wonderful Heroes, based on Shou-kun's stories about them. "With a few conditions, of course. I guess it largely depends on his response now what the majority of my time will go to outside of raising Eri and finishing my paper, though that thing could be done by the end of the week. I'll also probably have to dodge All Might for a good long while, so there go a few more hours out of my day."

"You could always come to stay at my place," he offered but knew it wasn't as good an idea as it sounded. His bond with this amazing young man was quite obvious by now, after all.

"The Hotta brother's cafe is also not an option. I might be tempted to just end up staying with Knuckleduster or one of the other Vigilantes, but I don't want to spoil the surprise."

"What surprise?"

He imagined Shou-kun might have winked at him. "Now, that would be telling."

Shikaku huffed, escorting his former student and said students adopted daughter all the way to the gates. They were locked, of course, but that didn't really mean anything to an Aizawa. Hal had trained Shou-kun far too well for even UA's famous security to stand in his way, which might just piss off or impress Nezu. One can never tell with that rat-bear-dog man. "You have any idea who the mole is or should I go around and start investigating?"

"I figured it out the second I went to eat some of the cafeteria food," Shou-kun replied, adjusting his grip on Eri-chan so he could take out his phone and remotely hack the gates to let him out. "I'm honestly not even surprised none of them noticed. All For One made a really good choice with whom to place as a spy. Or, well, who to replace with one."

"And how did you?" He asked, curious and never doubting. He's never had a reason to doubt Shou-kun's words before, after all.

"For one, my phone always gathers data and collects signals from all computerized devices in my surroundings, which ultimately makes it easier to hack things should I need it. The cafeteria had been closed save for the Todorokis, Principal Nezu, Recovery Girl, my students, Eri, All Might, Midnight, Oboro, Present Mic, the Big Three and the two of us. And, of course, Lunch Rush, who had served us food to recuperate from the shitstorm we'd just all been through. Most of them all had their phones on them, but I had their numbers and signals saved already except for the Principal and I've already gathered the security systems' signal earlier this year, during the USJ disaster and then at the Sports Festival. Oboro, of course, didn't have a phone and neither did Eri. Lunch Rush had a phone but two signals came from their direction and that's what first caught my attention. I confirmed my suspicions when I used Gold so no one else would notice and saw that they had no Quirk. I have no idea where the real Lunch Rush may be but the one currently puttering away in the kitchen is just a replacement robot, not an actual person. And I know Lunch Rush is an actual person because I've viewed their Quirk out of curiosity back when I'd been a student here myself." The gates opened for Shou-kun without pause. "I've left my findings with Principal Nezu, of course. A small thank you for letting me become a Hero, too, and for saving my skin. I know you two aren't on the best speaking terms since the incident with my kidnapping, but please work together to try and find the real Lunch Rush."

It would make sense for Shou-kun to ask this of him, of them. Between Nezu's High Specs and Kronos' Timemaster, they should be able to find Lunch Rush in no time. But one question still remains, though. A very logical one. "Why not just hack into the robot's processor and be done with it? Wouldn't it be easier and quicker?"

"I'm not exactly trying to promote my very much illegal hacking skills, Kronos-sensei," was the deadpan reply he got. "Besides, this will be a good reconciliation exercise for you two. And take Chiyo-san, too. You two have some catching up to do." With that, Shou-kun started walking away as the gates slowly started closing once again. "I'll be seeing you soon, Kronos-sensei."

Shikaku huffed and crouched down to touch the ground so he could watch him go, in his own strange way.

'What a problem child.'

Chapter Text

A week passed before anyone could quite notice and it wasn't a peaceful or slow week, either.

Nezu did, indeed, find Aizawa Shouta's response to him the morning after the man left in the dead of the night. It was hidden in his personal email account, which he usually did not look at almost at all because people tended to always send him things over his work account. The white-furred Principal of UA thought it very devious - and very delightful, for that very reason - that Eraserhead would hack both of his - tightly secured, might he add - accounts and determine how he'd delay Nezu's response in stopping him from leaving and disappearing until he was good and ready to come back. He'd carefully read the message, some parts of it leaving him solemn, other's relieved or excited.

Overall, Eraserhead's message brought great satisfaction to UA's mammal overlord, even if it meant a lot of paperwork he needed to do for one man.

At least the traitor has finally been found. The real Lunch Rush's current status and location remain unknown, but between Nezu and Kronos, no one doubts that the cook will be found soon enough. No one's quite sure when the switch could have been made, which brings out a few more problems regarding security and student files confidentiality and privacy, which has UA upping their security on all levels to an extent no one has ever seen before. The public has mixed opinions but UA just steamrolls right over it.

The second thing UA does in that week is start building the student dorms and the teacher dorms meant to accompany them. Though homeroom teachers will stay in the same dorms as their classes, the rest of the staff will live on campus, too, for security reasons. If Lunch Rush had been replaced by an evil mastermind, any of the other teachers could also, just as easily, be replaced by some less intelligent villains and no matter how short the deception would last, every second would count and UA will take the heat for every second. After USJ, the Training Camp and Bakugo getting kidnapped, UA could not afford another bout of doubt from the public.

So each class got a dorm of its own and each dorm will have at least one designated teacher as a minder and another one as a substitute. Most Heroes that taught at UA were still active Heroes and couldn't be expected to never again go out and do field work, after all.

Cementoss had been quick to build the dorms with the help of Power Loader and Ectoplasm, who helped mostly in moving furniture with his many clones. The dorms were done within two days and furnished fully by the end of the third. The rooms were ready to accept their new lodgers.

Which meant the homeroom teachers had to set out and do their own bout of work: convincing the parents that UA can, indeed, still protect their children and keep them safe, no matter what. This was extra important for the first year Hero courses because 1-B and especially 1-A had been attacked by villains and many of them had gotten hurt.

The whole staff was pensive about 1-A's chances of filling up again, given Sensoji wasn't exactly the most welcoming, heartwarming, trust-inspiring or reassuring character around, but hopefully All Might's usual charm could counter that. The blond had left UA grounds the morning of the fourth day very nervous in the company of Mister Blaster and the rest of the teachers had all looked after the retreating car in worry. Nezu had been the only one relaxed and he'd cackled at their uncertainty.

All Might had returned slightly bewildered, saying all twenty students had been allowed to continue studying at UA. "They'd thanked me," the Number One Hero had said, leaving the other teachers just as bewildered. And while, yes, it wasn't rare for the Symbol of Peace to be thanked, none of them had actually been expecting such a smooth transition or such gratitude. They had, after all, let those children down on multiple occasions. A Vigilante had done more for those kids in certain situations than all of them combined.

It had felt almost like cheating to reap the profits of Eraserhead's hard work and sacrifices.

Regardless, the students' things were moved in on day five and the students themselves got to move in on day six, which was conveniently a saturday. They arranged their rooms how they liked, explored the dorms and found themselves puzzled over the locked room that was meant to house their homeroom teacher.

"Sensoji-kun quit this morning," All Might told them when he came to check up on them later that afternoon. "He and Nezu got into an argument about his position here at UA and Sensoji-kun quit. I have no idea who your new homeroom teacher will be but it will be announced on Monday. All I know is that it's not me."

Because, for all the All Might had ended up deciding that 1-A deserved to meet Yagi Toshinori after all they'd been through in this half a year, the rest of the students were still very much not in the know about his condition and the little time he has left in his Hero form. He couldn't risk someone walking in on their class while he was Yagi Toshinori when it was All Might that was supposed to be teaching the class. And, this way, he got to spend some more time out and about as All Might, slowly insinuating that he's retiring from Hero work and focusing on his job as a teacher so that the world will be ready to, one day, no longer have the All Might safety net to fall back on.

The last day of that very busy week was spent, by the students at least, relaxing while the teachers prepared for the intense training the kids will have to go through if they hoped to send them off to get their provisional licenses this early. The teachers also spent a lot of time speculating if the new homeroom teacher of 1-A will be someone new or someone from their current staff. No one had any idea as to what was going on but people suspected it might be Midnight who gets chosen to look after the most troublesome, danger-magnetic class UA has seen in quite a while, maybe ever. The students also speculated about their new homeroom teacher while spending their days pouting about Aizawa-sensei's disappearance again.

To them, he had barely left a note at all!

Just a short, curt message on the black board in their classroom for them to find in the morning.

Just a simple 'Work hard, Plus Ultra'. No real personal message, no promise of coming back. The man had just picked Eri up and left. Shirakumo-san had assured them that he'd stayed the night but he'd also fallen asleep, they knew, and slept until late morning right alongside them. Kronos-sensei was actually one to tell them that he'd left at sunrise, but that didn't exactly make them feel any better. Jirou and Shouji actually were berating themselves for not having heard Eraserhead leave while the other adults were berating themselves for never having heard him come in. Had he been anyone else with ill intentions ... It was not something any of them wanted to think about. It would have been their biggest mistake yet, one that no one would have ever been able to forgive them for, let alone they themselves.

Then again, on the other hand, it's also very telling just how skilled Aizawa Shouta was and just how much they'd missed out by never having Eraserhead be an Underground Hero. And it was also telling them just how lucky they'd been all these years that Eraserhead had been on their side from the beginning and firmly stayed on it. Anything else would have been a disaster.

Another thing that should be mentioned about the week and the students was that, honestly, none of them had expected to see Todoroki Shoto in their class again, given that, within days of Eraserhead's 'official public debut' and release from police custody, Endeavor, Todoroki Enji, got called into court. The details were not public knowledge, but everyone knew Endeavor was officially divorced. No one knew who got custody of their children - or, well, their one child that was not yet a legal adult, though things with Todoroki Natsuo were also a bit iffy - but it became clear Sensei had kept his word, once again, as they'd known he would, when Todoroki turned up in front of 1-a's shiny new dorms.

Another thing that was viral and unavoidable, both on TV and social media, was the official transfer of Toga Himiko, Todoroki Touya, Shimura Tenko and Bubaigawara Jin from Tartarus to special mental institutions meant to help them deal with their Quirks, their traumas and reconnect with society in a healthy environment. Todoroki told them Aizawa-sensei was going to be visiting them twice a week to make sure they were being treated properly and to ensure no one was experimenting on them. (Not that anyone was sure they wanted to mess with Eraserhead these days. It was, by then, common knowledge that it had been Eraserhead that had taken down All For One's vast empire with a single click of a button and no one wanted to tempt that sort of vengeance being rained down on them should they piss the man off. The thing about Underground Heroes was that they actually had way more leeway than the ones competing for a spot in the ranking lists. An independent Underground Hero, as Eraserhead was listed these days thanks to Nezu, especially one with the highest clearance - also provided by Nezu - does not need to inform anyone about anything before taking action as long as they later remain accountable for the police investigation. The government knew this, knew there was nothing they could do to save themselves, so they stayed quiet while the sword of Damocles hung over their heads, just waiting for the day Eraserhead will finally make them pay their due. They didn't have to wait long: day five after Aizawa's visit to All For One in Tartarus saw many, many incriminating evidence delivered to the police, to the media and to a good number of Heroes so that certain politicians and almost half of the HPSC could be arrested and replaced. Not even teams of the best lawyers in the world could save them from the damning evidence Eraserhead had provided, just like in the Todoroki case, or so Shoto told them. Eraserhead was scary when he focused on efficiency before everything else.)

Igushi Shuichi, Sako Atsuhiro and Hikiishi Kenji stayed in Tartarus, though the first two had way lighter sentences than Magne due to the fact neither of them had killed anyone, or at least not on record. Spinner was surprisingly okay with being in Tartarus, probably because he got to meet Stain.

As for Mr Compress, well, let's just say that a certain Aizawa felt like he was being harassed and kept trying to break into All For One's cell so the younger man would stop trying to flirt with him, not that that ever deterred the thief. His type was, apparently, the colorful kind and Ashou was not amused. The staff at Tartarus and All For One were, though, which was why they kept letting the two infamous men play their game. Off the record, there were even bets if and when Hal will give in and if Mr Compress had sexuality-turning powers. (Aizawa Shouta was in for one hell of a visit the next time he comes to speak to his surname-father.)

Giran was also arrested and the police were trying to prepare for the second type of vacuum in the criminal underworld with him in prison. Okuta Kagero had been one of the best brokers and black market dealers in the country. They were lucky he'd been in association with the League of Villains and on site when they'd been arrested, or else who knows when they'd be given such a perfect chance to take him off the streets. The same goes for Doctor Garaki Kyudai, though his arrest lies solely at Eraserhead's booted feet.

Speaking of the League of Villains, Shirakumo had offered to go and speak with Shigaraki Tomura, which was met with a lot of protests and just as many refutations.

"Kurogiri has been his caretaker for years, a pillar of support when he'd had none other, as close to family as that guy could have gotten in such circumstances," the therapist assigned to the villain had said as she turned his offer down. "To see that family taken away in such a way and then see someone else who was supposed to be Kurogiri but definitely wasn't ... He's not stable enough for that meeting. Give him a couple of weeks, at least. Not to mention you yourself will probably need therapy before you can face him. You may think you're ready, but you're not. We don't want you freaking out on him and making him freak out in turn. Heavens know we don't need that on either end, for either of your recovery. We will stay in touch and we will inform you when we think he might be ready. Also, you try to sneak in? We have Eraserhead-san on speed dial. He'll be here before you can blink." And, really, nothing less to be expected from a scary woman from Tasomiya.

Similarly, All Might was also not allowed to speak with Shimura, not until they determine just why he hates the man so much, much to the blond's displeasure.

"I have to agree with Eraserhead on this one, my friend," Naomasa had said after delivering the news to the Number One Hero. "You might actually get through to him if we give him time to heal. Besides, you have to focus on your students now! Especially now that Eraserhead seems to be so busy there are no appearances of him anywhere."

And, really, no one heard from the newly minted Underground Hero since the day he'd left UA. Not the police, not his friends, not All Might, not the students. Hell, not even Nezu or Kronos! It was as though the man had disappeared right off the face of the earth! It worried some and baffled others. Why the need to disappear when you're an official Pro now? Those who knew what Eraserhead could get up to worried that he'd gone underground again and that, this time, they might not be getting him back. Thankfully, only certain Pros, the police and, of course, criminals and villains knew of the underground, so at least the students didn't have to worry about the disappearance of their Sensei beyond the thought of if he'd finally left them for good.

It's this somber and pouty atmosphere that finally greeted Monday, with Class 1-A sitting in their seats in boredom and waiting to see why they'd been pulled from what was left of their summer vacation, some sleeping, some playing games on their phones, some chatting and some outright complaining while Iida tried, unsuccessfully, to scold them all at the same time.

"Man, this sucks," Kaminari was saying as he sprawled over the top of his desk. "We're stuck doing some probably hard training again, Aizawa-sensei seems to have disappeared and I bet All Might will be late again."

"Probably got stopped by Shirakumo-san or Midnight or Present Mic, asking about Sensei, you know," Kirishima offered, though even he wasn't as sunny as usual. Hell, no one really was. No one could be after what'd happened to them just a little under two weeks ago or, well, throughout their first semester of their first year of high school.

"Deku-kun, did Aizawa-sensei really not make any appearances at all since that day?" Uraraka asked the resident Hero fanboy, who had about as many answers as everyone else.

"Eraserhead hasn't been spotted by anyone, if that's what you mean, but an A. Shouta has published a scientific research paper on Quirk Theory, though I can't be sure it's Aizawa-sensei since Shouta is a pretty common name. I would have downloaded the paper to read it because it seems like an interesting topic that it's discussing, but since it's new, unless you have a premium profile on the academic site it's been posted on, it costs a whole fortune and I can't really ask my mom to give me that kind of money when we have bills and food to pay and-"

"Oi, shut up, Deku. We didn't need all of that mumbling shit for a simple yes or no question!"

"Sorry, Kacchan!"

"Could it really be Aizawa-sensei?" Hagakure offered the question that's on everyone's mind. "Is Sensei even going to college or something?"

"Sensei does seem like he's well versed in how Quirks generally work, but that could be a side-effect of what his own Quirk allows him to see," Yaoyorozu commented and Todoroki nodded beside her.

"He had a few recommendations on how Touya-nii could use his flames to their maximum power but without damaging his skin further and some of the suggestions I've overheard for the rest of the League suggests he knows this matter more intimately than what I single read would afford."

"But would Aizawa-sensei even have the time to write a paper?" Tokoyami asked, crossing his arms and looking out of the window in thought. "Even if we exclude this week, which saw Eraserhead extremely busy, especially if he was the one to finally get Hawks free of those black suits and paper pushers, Sensei has spent the past fifteen years constantly out on the streets at night and most probably sleeping a portion of the day. When would he have had the time to attend the necessary classes that would even allow him to, eventually, write a scientific paper of his own?"

"If you think that man sleeps, you clearly need to get your eyes checked," Ashido pipped in.

"And Sensei seems to prefer those jelly pouches instead of actual food, so he probably saves a lot of time by eating those instead of preparing food, kero," Asui guessed, a finger to her chin, head tilted slightly in contemplation.

"Are we seriously talking about the same man that scolded me for eating only sweet things even if my Quirk depends on it?" Sato asked, incredulous. "Aizawa-sensei said he consumes those jelly pouches only when he's out working because he can't afford to be slowed down by a full stomach. He may be practical and efficient to a scary fault, but he also knows what a poor diet will do to his body given the activities he indulges in."

"Sensei also exercises like crazy! Mt Lady and I couldn't keep up with the training regimen he left us back during my internship," Mineta revealed, shuddering at the memory. "My everything hurt for days afterwards! I think I would have preferred doing house chores instead."

"Tch. Of course you would. How did you even end up in the Hero Course?" Jirou asked and Mineta sulked.

"Sensei has to stay in shape if he wants to keep his speed and muscle mass," Shouji hummed. "I once got the pleasure of seeing him climb a six story building in five seconds." The class all oooh-ed at that, totally believing it because they knew Eraserhead well enough by now that he could do anything he set his mind to.

"You guys don't think he went to that underground place again, do you?" Iida asked quietly of the other five that had been present the night when Aizawa had helped finally take in All For One and the League of Villains.

"I thought the underground was only a myth?" Ojiro asked, sounding a bit disturbed.

"No, it's very much real, mon ami," Aoyama, of all people, replied. "It's not a place one should casually talk about. True horrors hide there."

"But surely Aizawa-sensei will be alright, right? I mean, that guy's so badass, he practically invented it!" Sero tried to say cheerily, but everyone could hear his worry loud and clear and they shared might not actually know what goes on in the underground, but if even Pros are somewhat scared of it ...

"Can't we just call him?" Kouda asked in a whisper and they all turned to look at him, making him shrink in on himself a little, before seriously thinking the idea over. They'd wanted to, but they had always been stayed by one simple question: What if he was doing something dangerous and they distracted him?

Or, worse yet: What if he didn't want to talk to them anymore, now that they were no longer in danger from the League of Villains?

"ONE MINUTE UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF CLASS, EVERYONE! GET IN YOUR SEATS AND QUIET DOWN! WE MUST MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION ON OUR NEW TEACHER!" Iida yelled, making everyone sweatdrop because he was, without a doubt, the loudest one in the room and the only one not even remotely close to his desk. But they knew his antics by now and just followed the chopping hand motions by arranging themselves a bit more properly in their seats.

Really, they didn't actually care about their teacher's first opinion of them, not when they knew who they wanted for a teacher. But it seems that, even with a Hero License, it was simply not meant to be. So who cares-

The door opened and they all just stopped and stared, frozen, jaws on the tops of their tables, shocked beyond words or any real reaction. Their new homeroom teacher lazily strolled in until reaching the teacher podium and tsked at them when they still did nothing to greet the teacher or react in any way at all, for that matter.

Then Midoriya all but jumped out of his seat, finally brought back to life as his brain processed what his eyes were seeing.

"S-sensei!?"

"Tch," Aizawa Shouta, AKA Eraserhead, clucked his tongue, gazing at them with half disapproval, half amusement. "It took you eight seconds to react. I expect, by the end of this summer, for you to halve that time at the very least. As it is, it is unacceptable and dangerous. You could get killed out on the field with this delayed of a reaction."

"AIZAWA-SENSEI!" The class as a whole cheered as it finally registered in all of their brains just who was standing in front of them, with a folder in his hands and their class registry placed already on the desk in front of the black-clad man and just what all of it meant. It was like a dream come true and, at this point, none of them cared that they seemed to be sharing the same dream, which could only be the result of a Quirk, because it felt all too real so they knew they couldn't be dreaming. And, honestly, if they were? At this point, they weren't even sure if they wanted to wake up!

"What are you doing here?" Kaminari was the first to blurt out and Aizawa-sensei smirked at them.

"Let's just say that Nezu offered me a job and seemed pretty willing to meet my conditions in order to get me on his staff roster, so here I stand. Now, as rudimentary as it may seem, let me introduce myself. My name is Aizawa Shouta, the Underground Pro Hero Eraserhead, and for the rest of your stay here at UA, I will be your homeroom teacher and Heroics instructor. I will also be holding a few extra credit classes on several different subjects, from practicals to theory, which I will further inform you about tomorrow. For now, all I want to tell you is get ready to train so hard you will think you're dying, but please don't actually die." A scary, almost manic grin spread over the man's face. "As soon as we finish homeroom, we'll be having a Quirk assessment test and anyone who places last will have to clean the dorms for a month, with a toothpick and a toothbrush."

The class didn't even have it in them to groan in dismay. Instead, they all but launched at their, now official, Sensei and hugged the life out of him.

Their earlier yell had, unfortunately, caught the attention of several other teachers, one of whom just so happened to be Present Mic, the first one to bust their doors down. The blond froze, then his eyes got all teary when he, too, realized what the former Vigilante's presence there meant and he let out an ear-splitting, near deafening "ERASER! WELCOME BACK TO UA! PLUS ULTRA!" This, of course, almost immediately had Shirakumo and Kayama piling into the already far too big group hug and the rest of the teachers and students all poking their heads into the already crowded classroom.

"Enough," Aizawa said and the class, somehow, immediately all but teleported themselves back into their seats, rigid and at attention, all but trampling the man's three best friends in the process. Yagi Toshinori paused in his 'stealthy' approach towards Aizawa, getting a warning look that had him going as rigid as the student. "As you can see, there will be some considerable changes going on around here. For starters, as of today," he said and motioned towards the staring and gossiping student body outside of his - new - classroom, which caused a familiar indigo-haired boy to step forward almost on instinct. "Shinso Hitoshi will be joining the Hero Course." A good number of the students outside that belonged in Gen Eds immediately protested the unfairness of this decision, despite only Shinso having made it to the final round of the Sports Festival. "Anyone who has a problem with it can take it up with me or Nezu."

The rest of Gen Eds, though? They cheered Shinso on, as did Class 1-A, especially Midoriya and, for some reason, Kaminari. Shinso, for his part, looked ready to collapse right then and there if not for his mentor's hand steadying him by the shoulder, a grounding presence as always.

"Second thing all of you gremlins might have to get used to: I have a daughter and she's staying with me in 1-A's dorms if any of you make her cry, you'll rue the day you were born." This was said, of course, with that same menacing grin and Erasure activated, making everyone gulp and pale like a sheet. "The third thing you should know regards my teaching style: Nezu has given me the privilege to expel and re-enroll students as I see fit. This means that, should any of you ever get into my class, your position is not concrete. It is glass. This includes the current structure of 1-A." If possible, the students went even more rigid. "I will not allow anyone to graduate under my watch when they are not willing to put in the work to always surpass themselves, Plus Ultra. I will also always award those with potential and those without it will be sent on their merry way, but I will not tolerate slackers or people with halfhearted goals or no will to reach for them relentlessly."

"What gives you the right or qualification to do that, huh?!" Monoma challenged, sounding indignant, and Aizawa just looked at him.

"The fact that I am the first and only Gen Eds kid that won the Sports Festival and my fifteen years of experience out in the world, seeing the worst of humanity's depravities and having survived to tell the tale. I was literally fighting villains on my own when I was your age. I actually assisted in fighting a villain you all may know under the name All For One when I was around six years old. I have more arrests than some of the top fifty ranked Heroes. Believe me," the former Vigilante said. "I know who can and who can't survive out in the field. And you, if you don't get your act straight, will definitely not be one of the ones who makes it to retirement. Now, onto less morbid topics," the Erasure Hero says, turning back towards his - now official - class and ignoring the gawking Monomo and the cackling Bakugo who was clearly taking great joy in the copycat getting roasted like that.

Shinso was standing kind of frozen on the spot, staring up at his mentor in awe, mind having been blown during the first half of his first sentence. His - nor former - fellow Gen Eds students were gawping just as much at the man who had done what looked like it was impossible, mute in shock. Aizawa-s trio of childhood friends were cackling at the reactions this simple fact about Eraserhead was getting from the students. Yagi was just kind of surprised that Aizawa had enough of a flair for the dramatics to deliver that roasting in such a way.

"Starting tomorrow, you will be training and inventing special moves. The provisional license exams are being held at the end of summer-" Aizawa stopped himself when he noticed the extra people in or just outside of his classroom weren't leaving. "what are you doing? Get out, you all have classes to teach and Oboro has a meeting with Nezu in five minutes." They all stared at him for a long moment and his hair started levitating again. "Out. Now." That had the desired effect of everyone scrambling off to their classrooms or other engagements. "Not you, Shinso. This is your classroom now, , if you'd please make a desk for Shinso?"

"Right away, Aizawa-sensei!"

"We'll change the seating arrangements another day," Aizawa said as he watched Yaoyorozu turn around and get to work, the other girls immediately moving to shield her so she wasn't indecent. "For today's homeroom, I only have one more thing to say before I get into the provisional license exams and the training you will be getting for the rest of the summer."

"What is it, Sensei?" Ashido, who feared no god, asked excitedly and the rest of the class found themselves sitting on the edges of their chairs in anticipation.

"As you all know by now, my 'career' as an 'Underground Hero' is now mute due to my face having been plastered all over every news channel and social media network since my arrest or maybe even since my little Sports Festival appearance." The kids all nodded, frowning a little. Did this mean there will be no more Eraserhead for the people that really needed him? "And as sad as that is, this also presents me with an opportunity that will probably cause me more of a headache in the next few months but will be beneficial to us all, long term." That definitely got their attention. Aizawa smiled and it was a nice, fond smile, not the creepy one from before! "In short, Problem Children, I am opening my own agency and I would like to, one day after our three years here have passed, to offer you all employment, for however long you may like before going your own way."

Now, Aizawa had expected some tears and maybe a cheer or two. Because clearly these kids had gotten attached to him about as much as he'd grown attached to them. What he hadn't expected was the cheer waterworks he got as a reaction, nor the second group hug and the 'thank you's and the promises that they will definitely do their best to live up to his expectations for them.

Really, they didn't even need to work all that hard for that. Aizawa could tell that they will all be great Heroes some day, good Heroes, Heroes that their country can be proud of.

This group hug he did not disperse until they'd all calmed down and they still had ten minutes of class time to spare!

It was going to be a pain to be a teacher and to open an agency of his own, but he wanted to help these kids in whatever capacity he could.

Besides, they were all such Problem Children. It was only logical to gather them somewhere he could keep an eye on them.

00000

"Is this why you disappeared off the radar so completely for a week, Aizawa-kun?" Shouta stopped walking upon hearing that familiar voice and looked up at the tall, thin blond man that was actually their Number One Hero. Yagi was smiling at him so fondly that Shouta felt a need to hide. He was not used to people being fond of him, even after years of being Kronos-sensei's pseudo son and having three very close friends, despite their different sides until recently.

(Though, Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. Why has that changed now? Why had it blurred so much just when Eraserhead was doing his best to keep his head low as his past tried to come and haunt him? Things would have been so much easier if that boundary had never existed or if Hero Course entrance exams were fair for all types of Quirks. Shouta will try his best to change that. It had actually been one of his conditions for working at UA as a teacher, but Nezu had said he can't just change something like that overnight, unlike the other things Shouta had requested. Instead, the mystery mammal had offered Shouta a chance to help him convince the school board in making some radical changes that were long overdue and Shouta was more than up for the challenge. He took down All For One, made Endeavor lose custody over his kids and made him divorce his wife so the woman could finally have peace, took down the corrupt HPSC and a good portion of the corrupt government officials. Those pansies sitting at the board would be nothing, especially not for the combined efforts of Nezu and Aizawa, especially with his new highest level of clearance.)

(Aizawa was not stuipd. He had a good idea now why Nezu had given him that clearance level. Clearly, the mouse-bear-dog man wanted someone with an in everywhere and not even All Might had that because the highest clearance for Underground Heroes was not the same as the highest clearance for ranked ones, even if it's All Might. Nezu has made himself an invaluable ally, especially as said ally was the 'successor' of the great and infamous Hal. The things Eraserhead could get his hands on were practically limitless and it would all be legal. Trust Nezu to know every loophole in the law and the procedures.)

"I'm afraid you'll have to clarify," he informed his companion dryly, arching an eyebrow. "I've had quite the busy week."

"Yes, I've heard about the arrests of government officials, the scramble to reassemble a less corrupt Hero Commission, the Todoroki trial and the prisoner transfer," Yagi nodded as he listed each great big scoop of the week, all caused by Eraserhead, of course, ticking them off on his fingers. "How did you manage to hide the fact that you're opening an agency of your own, though? I'm surprised that the media weren't on you like a pack of hungry jackals."

"I'm supposed to be an Underground Hero, Yagi-san," Shouta said with a smirk. "My agency will be official but won't be public knowledge. I don't need all sorts of people snooping around, given the fact that my first two employees are also former Vigilantes." When the older man's jaw all but dropped to the floor, Shouta couldn't help but chuckle. "You know them already, Yagi-san. The Crawler is a rather big fan of yours, though, and I'm sure he'd be over the moon if you'd let me introduce you to him. PopStep, too, is a wonderful potential Hero. Those kids only wanted to help people. Do you know that the Crawler would have probably applied to a Hero Academy had he not been late because he was saving a girl who nearly drowned? And do you know that girl was PopStep, who was then inspired by his brave deeds to help people, too? I made them getting provisional licenses a condition for working at UA and Nezu was only happy to oblige."

"That's very kind of you, Aizawa-kun," All Might said gently, smiling at him again in a way that really made him want to hide because it radiated the kind of energy that suggested he was something great. He wasn't, not really. It would be illogical to keep two Heroes with such potential from helping people. Besides, they were his first Problem Children, those two. His Prototype Problem Children, one could even say.

It was just too sad that Knuckleduster wanted to continue doing his own thing his own way until he can find his daughter. At least the man can now rest easy in knowing that All For One could no longer misuse his former Quirk, Overclock.

"So, you're a teacher now. Officially, at that," the older Pro said with a small laugh, sounding both amused and pleased. "These kids will have much to learn from you. We are very lucky to have you. Oh! You and Eri-chan should come over to my dorm room later! Kuro has missed you."

Shouta felt a curl of pleasure settle in his stomach at the offer. "Are you sure you're not trying to flirt with me again, All Might-san?" He teased, because why not? Yagi had gotten flustered the last time around and it had been amusing. Though, the man had returned it tenfold on their very next 'civilian personas' meeting.

"Trust me, Aizawa-kun," the taller man said as he leaned down so he was all but looming over him but also invading his personal space, like he would kiss him at any moment. That, for some reason he would not examine too closely - because he would instantly know the answer, has known the answer since their first meeting; he's never told anyone that he might have a very small, very slight crush on the Number One Hero and that it has been going on since he was about six but got into the full swing when the man officially debuted in Japan - made his breath hitch and his heart flutter in his chest. "When I flirt with you, you'll know it." He tried not to gulp. Yeah, he could definitely tell the difference between a friendly offer and flirtation. Like, right now. He could feel his face starting to warm.

But then Yagi moved back out of his personal space - and no, that wasn't disappointing, not at all - and continued cheerily on as though he hadn't just tried to fry Shouta's brain and overwhelm his heart with just that simple sentence.

"This time, it's just a friendly invitation! I don't get the chance to cook for many friends and anything more complicated would be hard on my stomach, or what's left of it anyway, so you and Eri-chan would be doing me a favor! Besides, the first date I will take you on will be to a cat cafe, where you'll be relaxed and actually willing to talk to me without spiraling into plans on how to take down the dismal Hero system and build it back up better and more rational!"

Aizawa did blush at that, because he did tend to segue into that direction and he was aware of it. But now that he was already actually on the way to dealing with that, maybe it won't happen and he and Yagi-san can discuss lighter matters on their eventual first date. They can discuss philosophy, morality, teaching methods and other such topics from the second date onwards. And wasn't he irrationally hopeful that there will be a second date, let alone more than that? Yet he had a feeling those future dates might just happen.

After all, he was here, wasn't he? In the halls of UA, in the Hero Course, even though it was because he was a teacher now. He had a Hero License, he would open his own agency and hire all twenty one (or twenty three or maybe even twenty six, depending on whether the Big Three would want to join them) of his Problem Children until they are ready to fly on their own or for however long they wish to stay with him. He had friends. He had found a family for himself, perhaps three times over. Hal, Kronos-sensei and Loud Cloud, Ingenium (Sr), Midnight and Present Mic definitely considered him some sort of family and he was definitely family to Eri-chan, who called him Papa.

Really, would it be so improbable that he and Yagi-san could work out after all that he'd been through and still somehow ended up where he is now? No, he didn't think so.

'After all,' he mused as Yagi-san led him to the teacher's lounge where Nemuri and Hizashi were probably already waiting for him along with the other teachers, Nezu and Oboro to give him an official warm welcome as a new staff member. 'Every Hero has walked down a different path, even if the goal is relatively the same.'

And as far as paths of a Hero went?

His just fit and was well worth it.

And that's all that mattered.

Plus Ultra.

OWARI