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Bolt is an eager Pro Hero. His quirk gives him great speed. It’s not exactly a unique quirk, but he learned to use it to his advantage, which gave him a bit of an edge against opponents who were stronger than him.
He’s also a fairly new hero, debuting just over five years ago. He’s sure that he’s about to get his big break soon and then he’ll begin to rise in the ranks just like Hawks once did.
He wonders what happened to Hawks. The hero used to be out in the streets of Kyushu daily. Then one day, a couple years ago, he just vanished. Bolt wonders if Hawks has been captive this whole time. Wouldn’t it be quite the story if Bolt was the one to find and rescue Kyushu’s beloved golden boy?
Thus began Bolt’s little side project: to hunt down the inactive League of Villains and find out what happened to Hawks.
“I like this,” Kumi says, holding Touya’s hand as they walk down the pathway to the street together.
“Like what, birdie?” Touya asks, making sure the front door is closed before he continues walking with Kumi along the sidewalk.
“Walking with you. Whenever I go outside, it has to be with someone else because they’re hard to remember. But I can’t go outside with you or Kei Papa because people know who you are super easily. So it’s nice to walk with you without you wearing a hat and a mask and sunglasses and a big jacket and all of that. I like walking with you just like this.”
“Oh.”
“Is it because you walk to work every day when I’m at school? So everyone between home and your store already knows you?”
“Something like that. You’re a real clever birdie, aren’t you?”
Kumi giggles. “I’m the smartest ever! I’m the smartest in my entire grade! My sensei said so.”
“Mm, I’m sure you are.”
“Hey, Papa, why can’t you and Kei Papa find the man that gave you me and ask him if I can have a brother? I really want a baby brother.”
Touya nearly trips over his own feet. “Have you been thinking about this since we visited your grandparents?”
Kumi nods.
“Well . . . your papa and I have to talk about it first.”
“But you did super good taking care of me, so now you know what to do if you have another baby!”
“Well, you have a point there.”
Touya watches Kumi lift her wrist to her mouth and talk to the tiny little feather that’s always tied to her wrist. “Did you hear that, Kei Papa? You gotta talk about it now!”
Touya chuckles. “Stop talking to Kei Papa. He’s busy catching up on his paperwork.”
Kumi rolls her eyes. “Paperwork is so boring. Maybe I don’t wanna be a hero anymore.”
“Birdie, all jobs have boring parts about them.”
“Even yours?”
“Mhm! Sometimes you can’t do anything because a lot of things are in the oven and there’s no space to leave new things that need to go in so you just have to wait. It’s boring but it’s part of the work.”
Kumi frowns. “Like nap time at school? We have to do it and be quiet even though I hate it.”
“Exactly like nap time at school! It’s boring but it’s part of school, and you enjoy the rest of school, don’t you?”
“Yeah! You’re so smart, Papa?”
“You hear that, chicken?” Touya asks the feather that usually stays hidden beneath his clothes as it hangs from a gold chain that he holds up. “I’m smart.”
“You just said we shouldn’t trouble Kei Papa.”
Touya imagines Keigo rolling his eyes but smiling fondly at the sound of him and Kumi’s chatter. It should keep him pushing through the remainder of his paperwork. He tucks the feather away again and grins.
“We should get Miko an anniversary present,” Touya hums. “Do you want to make her something at the store when we get there?”
Kumi’s eyes light up. “I can use the clay?!”
“Mhm. I’ll teach you how to use everything properly.”
Kumi jumps up and down a couple of times. “You’re the best, Papa!”
They get a few blocks away from the house before someone stops them. “Hi, you’re Dabi, right?”
Touya holds Kumi’s hand just a little tighter. “I don’t answer to that name anymore.”
“But you are still the same person, aren’t you? Scary blue flame villain?”
Touya narrows his eyes. Anyone on this street knows that his name is Touya and he likes to talk about his daughter a lot. “Who are you?”
“Ah, I’ve been following you around here for a while. I’m looking for an in with the League of Villains.”
Touya tugs Kumi behind him. “The League no longer exists. Anyone who’s looking is either a hero or a Commission bastard, and since you don’t look like a stuck-up suit bitch, I can only assume you must be a hero. Your acting sucks, kid.”
“Fine, ya got me. Name’s Bolt.”
“Nice to meet you, Bolt. Excuse me, I have a shift scheduled and I’m not fond of being late.”
“Just a second!” Bolt cries, grabbing Touya’s arm. “C’mon, at least let the kid go. Kids don’t need to be around villains like the League. I’ll take the kid somewhere safe.”
Kumi squeezes Touya’s hand, shuffling closer to him.
“The League,” Touya says firmly, yanking his arm from Bolt’s grasp, “doesn’t exist.”
“Dude, look, all I’m after is finding out what happened to Hawks. I’m not really after the League to arrest y’all. If I can rescue a kid in between that, that’s great for me.”
Touya lets Kumi hide behind his leg. “You are scaring my daughter. Leave.”
Bolt scoffs. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you’ve been feeding her to keep her from trying to run away. I’m not surprised. Listen, let me just take her off your hands and I’ll say I found a lost kid. No one will ever have to hear your name. How about that?”
“Kumi, we’re leaving.”
“Wait!”
Touya raises a hand to shove Bolt away from Kumi, but the hero has already let go and is doubled over, clutching his arm.
“Ah, shit, now you’ve done it,” Touya mutters, catching sight of the feather that softens and tickles Kumi to make her laugh. “You pissed off my boyfriend.”
In a stark contrast to how soft the feather distracting Kumi is, Keigo slams the front door shut and marches the three blocks Touya and Kumi have slowly walked down. He must be really pissed off.
“H-Hawks?”
Keigo grabs the hero by his collar and forces him to stand upright. “You touch her again and the next one will chop your arm right off, you worthless excuse of a hero.”
“Baby, put him down.”
“Papa’s blushing,” Kumi teases as Keigo releases the hero.
“I wish we never taught you what blushing means,” Touya mutters to Kumi.
Kumi giggles.
Touya grabs the back of Keigo’s shirt and tugs him away. “We’re fine. Let’s go home.”
“Home?” Bolt says incredulously. “You — you kidnapped a kid and Hawks? Wh-What did you do, give him Stockholm Syndrome?”
“Bolt,” Touya says, “I suggest you think very carefully about what you’re implying.”
Keigo glares at Bolt. “I’ve heard of you. Rash, impulsive, thinks he can do anything because he’s got a quirk that makes him fast. Are you even cleared to be in this district right now?”
“I’ve been cleared to look for you.”
“Congratulations. You found me. Now, leave me alone.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you can’t seriously be okay with the League kidnapping children.”
Kumi tightens her hold on Touya’s hand. Touya gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“You need to leave. I am not against stabbing people that threaten my daughter’s safety and right now, you are scaring her.”
It all happens in the blink of an eye. Bolt snatches Kumi away from Touya and zips back up the street. He probably would’ve gotten a lot further, but Keigo’s feathers are faster than Bolt.
Keigo grabs Touya and flies the somewhat short distance, leaving him to console Kumi as he leans on the rock-hard feather sticking out of Bolt’s thigh. “What part of ‘leave’ did you not understand? If you try that again, I’ll kill you.”
At the commotion outside their house, Tenko steps out. “Kei! What are you doing?!”
Keigo glances up. “He tried to rescue Kumi.”
“Rescue? From what?”
“Us.”
Tenko shrugs. “Oh. Carry on, then. Come here, baby chicken. Giri will make you a hot chocolate.”
Kumi wipes at her eyes and glances at Touya, who nods and gently ushers her in Tenko’s direction. She gets to the sidewalk before Bolt tries to grab her again. Kumi screams when he falls in front of her, coughing up blood.
Tenko sweeps her up, burying her face in his hoodie and staring in horror at the feather Keigo retrieves from the hero’s back.
“Is he dead?”
Keigo shrugs. “Maybe. Probably. I don’t know.”
“Kumi,” Touya says, “go inside with Tenko.”
“No! I wanna stay with Papa! Put me down!”
“What do we do with him?” Touya asks when Tenko passes Kumi to him.
“I dunno. I could call Natsu. He might survive.”
“He shouldn’t,” Keigo says. “He tried to take Kumi twice.”
“Yeah, but murder isn’t exactly a great thing to be doing.”
“It was self defense. He attacked us.”
“Uh, guys?”
Both of them turn to Touya. “What?”
“Stranger.”
Keigo brandishes two feathers as longswords, glaring until he recognises the figure running towards them. “Hey, weren’t you in Tokoyami’s class? Shinsou?”
Shinsou nods and looks at Bolt. “Did you . . . kill a hero?”
Keigo nudges Bolt with his foot. Bolt doesn’t move. “Maybe.”
“That’s . . . not good.”
“What are you gonna do? Arrest me?”
“I kinda have to. And you, too,” he adds, looking at Tenko.
Kumi grips Touya’s shirt tightly. “What about Touya Papa?”
Shinsou scratches his head. “I mean, the League was declared dead when you all dropped off the face of the earth, so technically, Dabi’s dead and you can’t exactly arrest a dead man. Plus, he didn’t kill the hero.”
“Tenko didn’t kill the hero either,” Keigo points out.
“Yeah, but he’s Noxious and Noxious has not been declared dead.”
Tenko shrugs. “That’s fair. So, what now?”
“Couldn’t you just go to the station and wait for me there? They’ll give you some comfy quirk suppression cuffs and a nice interrogation room. I have to deal with this mess you made here.”
“You’re seriously gonna trust that we’ll go?” Tenko asks.
Shinsou gestures to the house, where Himiko stands in the doorway and watches. “I know where you live.”
“We could vanish.”
“Yeah, I doubt that.”
“Fine,” Keigo says. He turns to Touya. “Take Kumi inside.”
Once Touya and Kumi head inside to tell Himiko what’s going on, and Keigo and Tenko head down the street, Shinsou sighs and pulls out his phone to call for help. It would probably be best to clean up before the rest of the street comes to see what happened.
Tenko is being very stubborn. “I told you, I’m only gonna talk to Eraserhead.”
“Aizawa is in class,” Shinsou says for the fifth time. “He’s busy.”
“Then I’ll wait.”
“Noxious — what name would you like us to use, since Shigaraki is a dead man?”
“You can call me Noxious. I don’t feel like telling you my name.”
Shinsou sighs. “Noxious, I have a patrol shift tonight. I really don’t need to babysit you until Aizawa has a free moment.”
Tenko nods at the officer in the interrogation room. “Then he can babysit. What can I do? I’m already chained to the table.”
“Yeah, but sooner or later, people are going to find out we have Hawks in custody and I’d really rather not deal with that. So why don’t you tell me what Bolt was doing in this area and we can at least deal with the Hawks situation? You can stay here until Aizawa is ready, then.”
Tenko shakes his head. “Nope. Aizawa is the only hero I trust. And maybe Shoto, but there’s not a chance I’m involving him.”
Shinsou sighs again. “Fine. I’ll call Aizawa again.”
Shinsou leaves the interrogation room and sends his old teacher a text.
“Tough day?”
He looks up and offers Detective Tsukauchi a smile. “Pain in the ass vigilante.”
“Ah, Eraserhead’s had his fair share of those too. So, what happened when you got there?”
“Dead hero, Hawks with the weapon, vigilante standing there. Neither of them want to tell me what happened.”
Tsukauchi pats Shinsou’s shoulder. “Good luck with them.”
When his phone rings, Shinsou sighs and answers.
“Tell me why I got a text that says you arrested my most cooperative vigilante.”
“Because he walked to the station himself?” Shinsou asks. “Can you come here? He won’t talk to me and Hawks is just as quiet.”
Aizawa is silent on the phone for a moment. “Give me ten minutes.”
Aizawa stares at Tenko. Tenko stares back.
“I thought we agreed you’d lay low and stop killing people.”
“I didn’t do it! I just happened to be there!”
“So why’d you get arrested? You could’ve just denied that you’re Noxious. You’re not even in costume. Shinsou understands the value of a cooperative vigilante.”
“Because your stupid student was going to arrest Kei and I didn’t feel like handing Kei over.”
Aizawa blinks slowly at Tenko. “Kei . . . your niece’s father . . . is Hawks?”
Tenko frowns. “Have I not mentioned this before?”
“No. You have not.”
“Oh. My bad.”
Aizawa sighs. “Okay, what do you want from me? You let yourself get arrested. I can’t help you out of this.”
“Oh, I can get myself out of this. I just needed you to come down here because you’re the only hero I trust. You have to help us get Kei out of the Commission.”
“Huh?”
“They’ll kill him if he just tries to retire or work elsewhere. So, you have to help us help him escape.”
“From the Hero Commission? You want me to take on the suit bastards?”
Tenko pouts. “You put on a suit when we kidnapped the explody boy.”
“Yeah, because UA held a press conference. I’m an underground hero. I don’t do corporate warfare or whatever.”
Tenko leans back in his chair and drums his fingers against the table. “If you help us, I’ll work for you. Officially.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Wait, on one more condition.”
Aizawa raises his eyebrows.
“You have to help clear our name.”
“The League’s name?”
Tenko furrows his eyebrows. “The Hinotori family’s name. So we can go outside without worrying that some dumbass hero like Bolt is gonna try to arrest us.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“You know the former, current and future Number One Heroes. You gotta have some sway. We’ll bully Endeavor for you. Come on, Himiko wants to get married sometime soon and Touya wants to go for his brother’s wedding next year without having to hide his face. I’ll be the best sidekick you could ever have. I’ll follow your instructions and I’ll listen to the rules and I’ll take the stupid license test and everything. Please.”
Aizawa sighs. “I will see what I can do. Now, about this Hawks situation. How are we supposed to get him out of the Commission?”
Aizawa doesn’t like the giddy look Tenko gets. “We have to take down the Commission, of course.”
“I regret asking already.”
Keigo stares at Aizawa like he’s grown a second head. “You want to what?”
“I don’t want to do anything,” Aizawa says. He gestures to Tenko behind him. “Your little troublemaker wants to take down the Hero Commission.”
“That’s insane,” Keigo tells Tenko. “If we could do that, we would’ve done it when Kumi was born.”
Tenko shrugs. “We didn’t have Eraserhead when Kumi was born. Nor did we have the ability to persuade Endeavor. We also didn’t have Rumi. They both work with the Commission, so they have some sway there. Plus, now we have a way to use all the evidence we’ve been compiling.”
“I’m sorry,” Shinsou cuts in, “what evidence?”
“That the Commission buys children and trains them to be obedient little soldiers who do filthy work for them.”
“That would ruin Hawks’ image.”
“Not necessarily,” Tsukauchi pipes up. He raises his eyebrows when the four of them turn to look at him. “I mean, Bolt’s death was self defense. I’ve already had several calls from residents in that street who are one hundred percent ready to fight for Hawks. Some of them outright stated that if necessary, they’d testify as witnesses. I’m pretty sure some of them haven’t even seen what happened. If this is just one street, I’m sure it can be painted that Hawks and the other heroes were victims of the Commission.”
Tenko gestures at Tsukauchi. “See? We can do it now that we have help.”
“Can we see this evidence?” Aizawa asks.
“You can,” Tenko tells him, glancing warily at Shinsou and Tsukauchi.
“What about the rest of you?” Keigo asks. “They’ll accuse the League of brainwashing me too.”
“I think your neighbours and friends have that covered,” Shinsou says. “Someone named Yanase Iori called to ask if you need bail two minutes before your next door neighbour called about the same thing.”
“You have people willing to vouch for you,” Aizawa says.
“Children’s testimonies carry a lot of weight,” Tsukauchi says. “The Hamasaki children you mentioned claim that you are all heroes. Not to mention, Minami Daichi and Hinotori Kumi’s accounts of your family are very important. Children get caught in their lies easily, so when questioned, it’s easy to find the truth in what they say.”
“You are not interrogating my daughter,” Keigo snaps.
Shinsou snorts. “Yeah, I’ve seen what happens to heroes that bother her. We choose life, thanks.”
“You can talk to her, though. If she wants to talk to you. But you’ll do it in my house, not here.”
“Great!” Tenko says. “So, since it’s cleared that Kei killing Bolt was in self defense—”
“It really wasn’t,” Shinsou mumbles under his breath.
“Can we get on home? Shuichi’s not great at babysitting alone and everyone else has work or something to get to, and I don’t think Touya wants to take her outside anymore.”
“Hang on,” Tsukauchi says. “We can let Hawks go, but Tenko here is a notorious vigilante. We can’t just —”
“No, he’s not,” Aizawa says. His face is blank and his tone is flat. “Noxious is my sidekick. We’ve been over this.”
Shinsou’s eyebrows lift slightly.
“Have we?” Tsukauchi asks.
Aizawa nods. “We absolutely have.”
“You’re lying to me again, aren’t you?”
“I would never.”
“Can we go?” Tenko asks again. “Someone has to stay home with Kumi.”
Aizawa stands. “I’m coming with you. I’d like to speak to Kumi as soon as possible — if she’s willing, of course.”
“Fine,” Keigo grumbles.
Kumi stares at Aizawa. Then she turns to Tenko. “Why is there a hero in our house?”
Tenko smiles at her. “Don’t worry, baby, we like this one.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Angel, Eraserhead wants to talk to you for a little bit. Is that okay?”
“Alone?” Kumi asks Keigo. “Like when Rumi wanted to know more about us so she asked me when she took me to the park that one time?”
“Yeah, kind of like that.”
“Hm.” Kumi frowns at Aizawa for a moment. “Okay. But only because you asked first.”
“Do you want one of us to stay with you?” Tenko asks.
Kumi shakes her head. “Papa has paperwork and Shuichi needs your help with his tournament. If Eraserhead is mean to me, I’ll just start crying and then he’ll feel bad.”
Keigo smiles and ruffles her hair. “That’s my girl. Call me if you need me, okay?”
“Okay, Papa.”
Aizawa waits until he’s alone with Kumi in the living room before speaking. “Hello. Your father told me you like to be called Kumi.”
Kumi nods. “What do you like to be called? Eraserhead?”
“You can call me Shouta.”
“Okay. You should sit down. Standing for long makes you tired.”
Aizawa sits on one of the couches and Kumi hops up on another.
“What do you wanna talk about?”
“First things first, Kumi, how old are you?”
“I’m seven! How old are you?”
Aizawa smiles. “I’m thirty-eight.”
“Woah! That’s a whole thirty-one years bigger than me!”
“Yes, it is.”
“Cool. You’re older than both my papas.”
Aizawa nods. “I am, yes. In fact, I taught your Uncle Shoto.”
Kumi gasps. “Did you teach Dynamight too? He’s my favourite!”
“I did.”
Kumi’s eyes widen. “Can you tell him to meet me? Shoto says he’ll corrupt me if I meet him, so I’ll only get to see him when they get married, but I wanna meet him before.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Aizawa says.
Kumi lets out a giddy giggle. “Thank you! Okay, you can ask me stuff now.”
Aizawa nods. “Okay. Have you always been here with your family?”
“Yup! Kei Papa had a quirk accident and that’s how I was born! He said he thought it would be best to put me up for adoption, but Touya Papa told him that was a bad idea.”
“Oh? What would you think if he had done it?”
Kumi shrugs. “My family is different because of me. If Kei Papa and Touya Papa didn’t keep me, then Kei Papa would still be just another hero and everyone else would still be villains. Tenko said there was going to be a huge fight and lots of people would’ve died because of someone called All For One. Also, one time when I was smaller, Shuichi bumped into someone with a funny quirk that would show you what would’ve happened if you didn’t meet the most important person in your life and when they came home and told us about it, they said that if he didn’t know me, then lots of heroes would’ve died and even some of my family. But I don’t think I would’ve been upset if Kei Papa had, because I like him and my family the way he is because of me. I don’t think I’d like them very much if they were like the old stories Giri tells me. So I wouldn’t be upset. I’d probably be glad.”
Aizawa blinks a few times at Kumi. “Wow. Tenko said you were smart, but I thought he just meant you can count really high.”
Kumi giggles. “I can! I can count super high!”
“You remind me of my kid.”
“You have a baby?! Like me?!”
“Older than you. But she was your age when she came to me.”
Kumi leans forward. “What’s her name? Is she cute like me?”
Aizawa smiles. “Her name is Eri. She’s cuter than you, I think.”
“Cuter than me?! No way!”
“Absolutely. But maybe that’s just because she’s my baby. I bet your family thinks you’re cuter than every other kid out there.”
“Hm. I guess. How old is she?”
“Fourteen.”
“Woah! So that means she’s going to high school next year! My friend Maki is going to be in high school soon.”
“Oh? You’ve got a friend in middle school?”
“Mm! Her name is Hamasaki Maki! She wants to be like her new mama.”
“Hamasaki . . . that’s one of the kids you helped rescue, isn’t it?”
“You know about my friends?”
“Tenko told me.”
Kumi wrinkles her nose. “Does Tenko tell you a lot of things?”
“Sometimes. Kumi, were you afraid when your family came to get you?”
Kumi shakes her head.
“Even when they fought the bad guys?”
Kumi tilts her head. “Touya Papa told me to close my eyes. I heard lots of shouting, but mostly it was Kei Papa asking about my friends. Then we went outside and I helped rescue my friends.”
“Tenko told me you wanted to go down the hatch yourself. Weren’t you scared?”
“Of what? All the bad guys were inside and Kei Papa and my uncles were dealing with them.”
“Hm.”
Kumi tilts her head again. “Why are you asking me about that day?”
“I was wondering why no one ever took you to see someone —”
“Like a therapist? Like the one Tenko goes to?”
“Yes. Like a therapist.”
“Oh. Tenko took me to his therapist but she said I’m fine. I told them all that but they wanted to be sure and Tenko only trusted his therapist to be alone with me. She said I can come back if I ever need to, though. I saw her once again after someone else tried to kidnap me from school last year. I’m probably gonna see her this Saturday to talk about what happened today so everyone knows I really am okay.”
“How — how many times have you been kidnapped?”
“Just once and a half. Jin walks with me to and from school now to make sure I get there and come home safely.”
“I see.”
Kumi swings her legs. “Any other questions? I told Rumi all about what my family does and who their friends are. Giri’s a bartender, now!”
“I know everything about that already. Tenko can’t shut up. I just wanted to meet you and talk to you.”
Kumi glances around before leaning forward and whispering, “Are you gonna get Kei Papa away from the bad heroes?”
“Bad heroes?” Aizawa asks.
“Mhm. His bosses. They’re really mean to him and sometimes he has to go away for a long time because they want him where they can see him. I think it’s unfair, but Kei Papa doesn’t want them knowing he’s here or they’ll find out about me.”
“And what happens if they find out about you?”
“They’ll make me into a soldier, like they did with Kei Papa.”
“Hm.”
“You can help, right? Tenko trusts you and Tenko only trusts people that aren’t gonna hurt us.”
“I’ll do my best,” Aizawa promises.