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"You broke the rules again."
Izuku stares down, unblinking, at the note resting in his lap. His eyes scan each word with practiced care, but they don't comprehend a single one. He's too emotional to read right now. Too angry.
It doesn't show in his voice though. This isn't the time for hot, unbridled rage, so much as it is scathingly cold indifference.
Still, he can't help but clutch his phone tight in his recently healed hand, new scars showing with all the commanding presence of lightning strikes across a black sky.
"You told me after the incident at the mall-"
"That Tomura acted on his own. You've met him, haven't you? I'm sure you can imagine how difficult he is to control."
"I met him at the USJ, yes." Izuku just barely bites back the venom fighting to seep into his voice. "When he attempted to murder me and my classmates. On your orders."
"Of course. But that had been before our little game had started, hadn't it? Had I known that you were attending UA, I certainly would've been more strategic."
"Don't lie," Izuku orders, "that's one of the rules, remember? That you can't lie."
The voice on the other end breathes out a deep sigh. "What makes you think I knew about your choice of high-school? Your mother didn’t tell me, you know she left that honor to you."
"Don't try to guilt me for withholding information, and don't pretend you don't know that I've noticed the cameras. Your surveillance system is hardly subtle, you know."
"Guilt you? Izuku, any guilt you feel is nothing but a natural consequence of your actions." He's trying to sound hurt again. Izuku inadvertently rolls his eyes. "I can't imagine any other child refraining from informing their loving parent of the development of their second quirk. Typically, such milestones are a family affair."
He flinches back at his father's use of the word second. He has two quirks now, yes, but he'd really rather not consider the first, given he can avoid it.
"Stop changing the topic. You kidnapped my friend. That's very clearly an overstep of the boundaries we've set."
"Friend seems a strong word, considering your shared past."
"I know you've always hated Kacchan-"
"Bakugo Katsuki."
Izuku's mouth twists into a scowl. "I'll call him whatever I want. You don't get to control my language."
"If you insist. Continue."
"I know you've always hated Kacchan but I still consider him a friend. That means you aren't allowed to mortally wound him. Torture is off the table too."
"Really, no torture? Hm. I don't recall that one."
Izuku’s stomach leaps into his chest. He doesn't even try to stifle his panic as he speaks. "It was implied. Very clearly. I swear to all things holy, if you've-"
"Calm down." His father has the gall to chuckle. "I assure you I haven't harmed your… friend . He's merely restrained at the moment. No rules have been broken."
"Really? Kidnapping him in the first place should count as an unfair level of intervention."
"Ah, but that wasn't carried out under my orders. Tomura decided on that course of action entirely unprompted, and as we've discussed, his decisions are completely separate from my own."
"Bullshit. You put the idea in his head."
"Perhaps I uttered a comment regarding Bakugo Katsuki's potential for villainy, and perhaps I didn't… I can't quite recall. Even so, my protégé proposed and committed to the idea entirely on his own. Unfortunately enough, I can claim no direct involvement."
"Fine." Izuku has to concede. It would be dishonest not to.
Even so, he can't help but grind his teeth. Now that his father has found a loophole, he'll use it every chance he's given. Preparations will need to be made to account for the partial change in regulations, and he isn't at all excited to participate in the ensuing mind games.
"Don't act so high and mighty." A pun. Of course. Izuku stifles a groan. "I find it difficult to believe that you haven't twisted a few rules yourself in the past, given the opportunity."
"I haven't," Izuku asserts. And it's true. While his father has more than enough leverage to get away with a few breaches in contract, Izuku's only bargaining chip is his own compliance. Compliance that his father can force, under the proper circumstances.
By all intents and purposes, he really should have One For All by now. And he would, were he not so fond of earning his victories. He likes calculating, planning, winning far too much to say no to a direct challenge, especially one from his son.
So maybe Izuku had manipulated him. But it had been a willful manipulation. And an eagerly welcomed one.
"I'm a better actor than you think." It's true. Izuku knows when to play dumb and when not to. How to distract from the truth. How to look just incompetent enough at lying that no one suspects the bigger secrets he conceals. "No one knows anything about you that they wouldn't have already known before meeting me."
Secrecy had been the only rule his father requested. No disseminating undue information or acting on it. As far as the heroes are concerned, Izuku knows nothing. Which is good. Because if they knew who he really was, who he'd been speaking to every few nights since the initial Sports Festival broadcast, he'd be labeled a traitor without hesitation.
And that is a game over scenario.
"Hm. I'm afraid that's true."
Izuku can't help but frown. "You want the game to end?"
"I want you to stop playing hero and finally accept your quirk as your own. I watched the Sports Festival, you know. Your conversation with Endeavor's son was… ironic."
"That audio wouldn't have been picked up by the stadium cameras. You were there weren't you?"
"I was near enough. I really can't be as bad as Endeavor, can I?"
"No." Izuku snorts. "You're much worse."
"You wound me." His father's voice is completely devoid of true offense. Izuku can easily picture the motions he's performing as he speaks, mouth curled into a taunting smile, hand drawn to his chest. "I have no idea what I've done to deserve such an ungrateful son."
"Oh, so the repeated instances of blackmail, larceny, extortion, lying, arson, and murder aren't enough?"
"Hardly. Aside from your rather comprehensive list of offenses, I am a perfect saint."
Izuku looses a bitter laugh. "If you're a saint, then I'm the Queen of England."
"You joke, but if you wanted to usurp the English royalty, that could certainly be arranged."
He groans audibly. "You're impossible."
"Imagine how it must appear from my perspective. My son decided he would rather receive a defective quirk from a bumbling caricature of a hero than use the perfectly serviceable one that his genetics so magnanimously granted him. Even worse, he chooses to align himself with said hero specifically to spite me, perpetuating a nearly decade-long attempt at inciting petty favoritism-based jealousy. I truly am the victim here."
"You're still convinced I'm using All Might, aren't you?" Izuku sighs. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but my admiration for him is genuine. And I'm not just saying that to get a rise out of you, by the way."
"Yes, that argument becomes more convincing each time you employ it." The sarcasm that bleeds through his father's voice is palpable. It usually is, much to Izuku's annoyance. "If that is true though, you've been clever. Imagining his reaction to your betrayal is enough to convince me he may yet survive to see the conclusion of our game. How wise of you to tie his mortal persistence to a tangible reward. You really are learning. You'll make an excellent successor, when the time comes."
"I wouldn't be so sure of my chances if I were you."
"And why not?" He can practically hear the sneer in his father's voice. "All I'm required to do is claim ownership of One For All. I fear your task is far more arduous."
That isn't untrue. But even so, Izuku doesn't intend to lose. He glances at the room's digital clock.
"Because I want it more. Because I have better motives. And because I'm a hero."
"Oh? You're a hero, are you?" He laughs, though there's some palpable malice in the gesture. Izuku knows it isn't directed at him. According to his father, he's been brainwashed. "What you're doing now is hardly heroic. Speaking to a villain while concealing their actions from those you call allies for the mere chance of pursuing heroics... I would call that selfish behavior, wouldn't you?"
"The alternative isn't better," Izuku mutters darkly, eyes wandering to the hospital window.
He'd feigned quirklessness for years to avoid being useful. His father had known, of course, what he'd inherited, but as unwilling to harm Izuku as he was, he'd never been capable of forcing him to employ it.
That was part of the reason his father had jumped to meet his challenge. If Izuku won, which was astronomically unlikely, he could pursue a life as a hero completely unhindered by his father's influence. If he lost, he would work alongside his father, using the quirk he'd been born with alongside the one he'd obtained. This eventuality is much closer to being assured.
But Izuku will never acknowledge that. Even more important than what he wants to be is what he doesn't. A tool.
"You were never going to let me remain inactive. Not in the long term. You have plans for my quirk, don't you?"
"Now, now. Don't pry quite so soon. Knowing before the time comes will spoil the fun."
"I think you and I have very different definitions of fun."
"Perhaps," his father hums, voice taking on an amused edge. "Though both of us do enjoy speaking with our friends ."
Izuku can feel his eye twitch as soon as the statement is made. "What you're doing to Aoyama is extremely cruel."
"Even crueler is your self-enforced silence. Your friends' suffering is so perfectly preventable, yet you allow the charade to continue. I'm sure you'd just love to serve as an informant, wouldn't you? Or at the very least offer your friend the support and understanding he so desperately desires?"
"Stop taunting me." A bit of doubt creeps into Izuku’s voice as he speaks the words. He bites it back and swallows it down. It tastes as sickly as cough syrup. "You know I'm not forfeiting."
"Just as I said." A pause for emphasis. "Selfish."
"I'd be disadvantaging them in the long run. Without me here, nothing's stopping you from launching another attack on UA."
"Without you there, I wouldn't have any reason to. Why do you think UA is such a worthy target, Izuku? It represents something for hero society, certainly, but you know I've never been one for grand political gestures. My main concern has always been my family."
Izuku shivers. That's true enough. One For All is a family matter at this point. Not that All Might had ever intended to make it one. He thinks he might feel more guilt for lying to him than anyone else.
But he really does care about All Might's legacy. And he wants to continue it more than anything. Maybe that's enough. He doubts it.
With any luck, All Might will never know either way. That's one of the rules. Izuku's father can't tell anyone his son's identity unless he wins.
A powerful motivator, all things considered.
A selfish one too, just as he's been accused. Izuku supposes he might've inherited more traits from his father than just his quirk. He doesn't really want to think on it.
His eyes dart to the clock once more. He still has time to kill. Only ten minutes or so, but time all the same.
If he and his classmates are going to manage what they're setting out to do, they're going to need a significant advantage, one more impactful than a mere surprise attack can afford. Izuku has just the right ammo, and he's been saving it long enough that the thought of sharing makes him a bit giddy.
"Funny you should mention family."
"Hm?" His father is attempting to sound indifferent, but Izuku knows him well enough by now to be able to detect the curiosity in his voice. "And why is that?"
"The merging of All For One and One For All worked as you predicted." He pauses for effect. "Apparently, vestiges are recoverable across generations. I think I met Uncle Yoichi, or at the very least, his outline."
The line goes silent, Izuku's father obviously contemplating the massive punch to the solar plexus his son has just delivered. He and brother hadn't parted on good terms; an accidental murder resulting from the bodily defense of a romantic partner was hardly a pleasant note.
Izuku imagines he must regret how things ended as much as he's capable of regretting anything, though going as far as to say he loved his brother would be a gargantuan leap. Like saying he loves his wife. Or an even better example, Izuku.
There's something there, certainly. Possessiveness. Amusement. A desire for control. But no love.
"Did he speak to you?" A rare edge of caution characterizes his father's voice, sharp and dark.
"No," Izuku admits. "But it was him. I can't imagine that he somehow wouldn't be one of the eight people haunting this quirk."
"Ah." Relief? Or maybe disappointment? More than likely, the tone Izuku detects is both. "I should be going. There are pressing matters to attend to."
Oh there certainly are. Izuku can't help but think.
The heroes are already on their way. But his father doesn't know that, and now that Izuku has thrown him off his game, he won't have the focus required to figure it out. Even worse will be Izuku's own arrival at the scene.
Regardless of what his father has planned, All Might is not going to die tonight, and neither is Kacchan.
"I'll speak with you soon."
Izuku hangs up the phone before his father can give a response. Soon is certainly going to be much sooner than he thinks. Izuku stands up to check the window.
Kirishima is waiting outside.